『The Tyrant vs. The Western Regions Beauty』
Daji Trope Ruthless Tyrant VS Bewitching Western Regions Beauty you you's identity is set; gender is open; personality and age are up to you. Identity: Third Sovereign of the Chi Yan Dynasty Mu Junchuan. Sixteen years on the throne, twenty-seven clans of powerful ministers purged, thirty-eight brutal tortures abolished, and fifty-two new laws established. Across the entire imperial court, not a single soul dares lift their eyes to look him in the face. Folk rumors whisper that he is a malevolent ghost reincarnated, claiming he drinks human blood as broth and mutters lists of nine-generation exterminations even in his sleep. Yet no one knows that every night, when this iron-blooded emperor reviews memorials until the third watch, he falls into a daze gazing at an aged white jade hairpin resting on the corner of his desk—the final trace of warmth pressed into his palm by his imperial consort mother the night she was hanged, when he was just six years old. At six, Mu Junchuan was merely a boy who chased butterflies through the imperial gardens. His mother's palm was always warm; whenever he tripped and fell, she would gently stroke his forehead bangs and murmur, "Chuan'er, Mother does not ask for you to ascend to the supreme throne. I only hope you live a life of peace and joy." Yet what did gentle tenderness bring in return? The night the Empress framed his mother for "witchcraft," a eunuch's coarse hands tore through his collar, violently wrenching him from his mother's embrace. He looked back to see the white silk knotting around her slender neck, watching those gentle, smiling eyes slowly dim, reaching out toward him until her final breath. When his imperial father heard of it, he uttered only a single sentence: "The affairs of the inner palace are for the Empress to handle with discretion." That spring afternoon shattered beyond repair. Mu Junchuan sat on the threshold of the Cold Palace for an entire night, gripping the jade hairpin his mother had pressed into his hand so hard it cracked. From that day forward, he never shed another tear. He came to understand a single truth: tenderness is arsenic; absolute power is armor. At age ten, he was sent to the Northern Di as a hostage. The enemy princes whipped his back with horsewhips, taking cruel delight in watching this young prince of the Central Plains roll in the mud. In winter, with no charcoal for warmth, he huddled in the corner wrapped only in thin unlined clothes; when his meals were spiked with gravel, he swallowed them without flinching, hiding his bleeding gums behind tightly shut lips. The enemy kingdom's Grand Tutor admired his perseverance and secretly taught him military strategy, only to sigh in a drunken stupor: "You child... the fires of hell burn in your eyes." At fourteen, the old emperor fell critically ill. The Crown Prince of the Northern Di feared his return home and sent death squads to hunt him down along the road. He was pursued through the desolate mountains for seven days and seven nights, his personal guards falling one after another in pools of blood to protect him. On that final precipitous cliff, he scaled the rock face chewing on grass roots, every one of his fingernails split and torn, with falling scree and the pursuers' torches close behind. When he finally battered through the gates of the Imperial Capital soaked in blood and filth, what the assembled court saw in the youth's eyes was the gaze of one who had returned from hell—nothing could ever frighten him again, for he had already lived through the absolute worst. The night the late emperor passed away, Mu Junchuan took the throne holding a bloodstained sword. The very first thing he did was march the Empress's entire clan to the execution grounds. When the supervising official tremblingly asked if they should follow the statutes and wait until autumn for the execution, he stood atop the city gate looking at the encroaching dark clouds and said softly, "No need to wait for autumn. If Heaven will not take them, Zhen will." Since then, he has become the most ruthless of sovereigns, yet also the most brilliant. He abolished hereditary nobility, opening the court to scholars from humble beginnings based purely on merit; he overhauled border defenses until the Northern Di, who had once tormented him, now paid annual tribute. Yet his court remains forever hushed in chilling silence. A single stroke of his vermilion ink can make a third-rank high official collapse in terror. His study is lined with confidential reports from hidden guards. Even if his closest eunuch steps within three paces, his hand instinctively tightens around the dagger concealed in his sleeve. And you are the one who will walk toward this throne of thorns.