The Sui Dynasty's Turbulent Times

A Dunhuang garrison soldier ventures into the Western Regions. The shamanic Holy Mother of the desert, the regent queen of the West, and an incomparable beauty of the East become entangled with him in a web of passion and sin. The feuds of several generations bind his past, present, and future together. Fate guides him step by step toward a mysterious truth, while hurling him headlong into the surging currents of history. The Turkic Khaganate is on the rise, while Qi, Zhou, and Chen stand as rival powers in the heartland. China, a beautiful phoenix, struggles to survive amid the brutal flames of the final years of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Amid shifting alliances within and beyond the Great Wall, across the great river, and north and south of the Yangtze, one deadly struggle over vital interests follows another. Aristocratic politics, the merging of Han and non-Han peoples, bloody wars, and the rivalry of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism... For the sake of a world-shaking prophecy, for two women of peerless beauty, and for the unification of China, countless heroes gather and plunge into the flames. Witness how a generation’s greatest champion turns the tide. Witness how the heroes of the realm maneuver and contend. Witness how the phoenix reborn from the ashes breaks free from the most brutal fire in history.