The Scorpion and the Night Blossom

Gr 9 Up–Àn’yīng was 10 when the mortal Kingdom of Rivers fell prey to the demonic forces of the Kingdom of Night, she has struggled to protect her younger sister Méi’zi and her mother ever since. Nine years later, Àn’yīng is ready to travel to the Kingdom of Skies and use her skills as a practitioner to win a coveted pill of immortality to mend her mother’s tattered soul. But all is not as Àn’yīng expected from her dead father’s journals about the ancient art of practitioning as a warrior able to tap into spirit energy. Instead of structure and support, Àn’yīng is immediately thrust into a cutthroat competition with deadly consequences. Finding unlikely allies including fellow competitor Yù’chén, competing in the Immortality Trials will challenge everything Àn’yīng thought she knew about the power balance between the realms and about her own family. This atmospheric story features rich worldbuilding inspired by Chinese mythology. Zhao dedicates this book to “the C-drama girlies” and delivers all of the swoony romance and dramatic twists C-drama viewers would expect. High action is balanced with thoughtful characterization for Àn’yīng, who has to reconcile her own (now abandoned) dreams of seeing the world and becoming an accomplished seamstress like her mother and sister with her harsh reality as the sole caregiver and protector for those she loves most.