The following version of this novel was used in the creation of this study guide. Parker-Chan, Shelley. She Who Became the Sun. TOR. 2021. Hardcover. First Edition.

Part One starts in the small town of Zhongli as a young, unnamed girl and the remaining members of her family struggle with starvation. Her brother, Zhu Chongba, is said to be destined for greatness while the girl has no future. However, when their father is beaten to death by bandits, Chongba gives up on life. Enraged, the girl takes his name and, after seeing her family’s ghosts, leaves for the monastery her brother was once promised to. Once there, she suffers through four days of abuse before the Abbot invites her inside, impressed by her resilience.

After the next decade, the girl - who now goes by the name Zhu- endures stringent monk training. She develops a strong friendship with Xu Da who, despite knowing that she is not actually a boy, treats her like a brother. One night, a strict leader named Prefect Fang sees Zhu and mistakenly thinks that she was sleeping with a nun. When he tries to take her to the Abbot, she knocks him unconscious and makes it look like he drank too much.

After the Abbot disrobes Fang for disobeying the precepts, he reveals to Zhu that he knows she is the one who set him up. However, the Abbot is impressed by her cleverness and offers to teach her directly. A year later, Zhu is ordained, but the monastery is burned down by General Ouyang after the Abbot refuses to give up the monastery’s income to support the Yuan army against the rebels.

In Part Two, Zhu travels to the city of Anfeng where she befriends Ma, the daughter of the betrayed Red Turban general. Zhu is forced into the vanguard by the arrogant General Guo but manages to wipe out the opposing Yuan army at Yao River, humiliating Ouyang. However, when the Prime Minister praises Zhu, General You demands that she prove herself by taking the city of Liu. With some support from the duplicitous Left Minister Chen, Zhu gathers a small army and is thrilled to meet Xu Da on the way to Liu. Together, they sneak into the city and Zhu convinces the former governor's widow Lady Rui to gather her husband's supporters against the new leader. However, Lady Rui demands that Zhu kill the new governor, and she does so, earning the woman's allegiance.

Meanwhile, Ouyang is chastised for his failure at the river, but Esen convinces his father Chaghan to spare Ouyang’s life. Esen's brother, Baoxiang, refuses to join the army as he believes his administrative work is more important. His father gives the position and his land to Baoxiang's rival Altan instead, angering Baoxiang. Meanwhile, Ouyang learns that his failure means that Esen will go with his father to the Great Khan's spring hunt. Seeing this as fate, Ouyang plans his revenge against the man that killed his family.

In Hichetu, Baoxiang gets his revenge on Altan by having him falsely exiled, but is disowned by Chaghan who sees the act as cowardly. During the hunt, Ouyang saves Baoxiang from a pack of wolves and takes a corpse back with him. As expected, Chaghan’s horse panics at the smell, and the Prince is thrown off a cliff to his death.

Back in Anfeng, Little Guo calls for an attack on the city of JIankang even though the minister wants the spiritual victory in Bianliang. While the attack is a success, Little Guo mistakenly names the city and the Prime Minister is told that he wanted to take it for himself. Little Guo is executed and Zhu, who has successfully trained an impressive battalion, is promoted in his place. However, Ma is devastated by Little Guo’s death because he refused to listen to her warnings. Zhu, who admires Ma’s compassion, reveals her true identity and asks Ma to join her marriage to act as her advisor. Ma agrees and the two are later wed.

Meanwhile, Esen becomes exceedingly cruel after his father’s death and disowns Baoxiang, convinced that he is responsible for Chaghan’s death. He decides to take up his father’s ambitions to defeat the rebels and asks Ouyang to prepare for an assault. However, Ouyang neglects to tell Esen that the rebels are looking to take Bianliang.

After Ma begs Zhu to find a way to survive the upcoming coup without declaring allegiance to either side, Zhu plants cursed food with the intent of spreading a small illness. However, the plague spreads like wildfire and many of her men die due to her mistake. Just after this, Minister Gou’s coup attempt is stopped and Chen has him executed.

They decide that they are going to take Bianliang, and Zhu is assigned to create a decoy to distract Ouyang. He eventually reveals that he knew about the plan all along and cuts Zhu’s arm off to disfigure her as badly as himself.

Part Three opens as Ouyang recruits the Zhang family to help take back Bianliang while convincing Esen to accompany him on the journey.

Meanwhile, Zhu spends many months recovering while pondering how to stop Ouyang. Once she and the army arrive at Bianliang, Zhu talks to Ouyang herself, convincing him to shoot a note containing proof of Chen’s betrayal to a spot where the Prime Minister will find it. The next day, she and the army wait as Ouyang’s army begins its invasion and they only manage to escape once the Prime Minister and the Prince of Radiance show up. However, Zhu kills the Prime Minister, claiming his blessing of Buddha for herself.

Back at Bianliang, Ouyang and his men turn on Esen but he lets Baoxiang since he helped keep the plan a secret. Unwilling to fight Ouyang, Esen walks into his friend's sword, and Ouyang mourns his death. Afterward, he announces to his new battalion that they are going to kill the emperor.

Meanwhile, Zhu makes plans to take back Jiankang and, after she summons her own Mandate of Heaven, decides to kill the Prince of Radiance so that she will be the only one with the mandate. While Ma is heartbroken to learn this, she agrees to be Zhu’s empress as she announces herself as the Radiant King.