Unyielding Heroine

[The aloof, revered Imperial Preceptor x the irreverent, carefree Saintess]

Before Jiang Ci turned eight, the best thing she had ever eaten was half a steamed bun tossed down from a carriage.

After she turned eight, she was brought back to the capital, where delicacies were hers for the taking.

They called her the Saintess.

The Saintess has descended to earth, and the nation will know peace.

Everyone placed their hopes in her and granted whatever she asked for. Only one person was different: the Tianshu Imperial Preceptor.

He was the one who announced the prophecy of the Saintess. He was the one who divined her whereabouts, allowing her to come to the capital.

But he refused to give her so much as a second glance. In his eyes, the Saintess everyone else clamored to see was no more than a speck of dust.

Pale and beautiful as a mountain spirit, he would occasionally cast a glance her way.

She was determined to make him look again.

Everyone thought Jiang Ci ought to be grateful beyond words, but she had a willful, mischievous streak.

She was the sort of wicked girl who would pin the Imperial Preceptor down by brute force and kiss him until his face turned bright red.

The lofty Imperial Preceptor was pure and immaculate as snow on a mountaintop, but she was determined to drag him into gauzy bed curtains, into the mortal world of passion, and keep him entangled with her.

How could the Saintess, in whom everyone had placed such high hopes, turn out like this?

*

Yet Jiang Ci grew faster than anyone could have imagined.

Year after year, through bitter winters and scorching summers, she never slackened in her martial training.

By the age of twenty, she had become the nation's strongest line of defense.

With her there, border cities could not be breached, and enemy forces retreated.

Until the day a rumor erupted: The real Saintess was dead, and Jiang Ci was a fraud!

The emperor flew into a rage, the people panicked, the army's morale faltered, and the enemy began to stir.

The Saintess is dead. The Chu Kingdom will fall.

As the nation teetered on the brink of collapse, a spear pierced the dark clouds pressing down on the city, its red tassel like blood.

"There may be only one Saintess, but there are countless millions of us.

"When our faith reaches its peak, even gods and ghosts must give way. Even if it lasts only a moment, countless millions of us will make it happen countless millions of times.

"Jiang Ci stands here. Until every drop of blood is shed, the Chu Kingdom will remain unbreakable, and Jiang Ci will not retreat a single step!"

Theme: Human will can triumph over fate