On an ordinary afternoon seven hundred years ago, Bai Tan conjured a flower from his palm to soothe his pain. The sight sent a storm crashing through the other man's heart. He leaped onto a flowering crabapple branch, making it tremble. Petals drifted down onto the osmanthus cakes he had carefully kept intact. He presented them to Bai Tan and named him Bai Mu, after the scene before them.
Mu, though you can't stay with me for this whole life, I want to stay with you for yours.
He would keep his eyes on Bai Tan's back, but look away whenever Bai Tan turned around. He wanted to hold his hand, but dared only tug at his sleeve. He wanted to hold him as they slept, but in the end could only wind a strand of his hair around his finger. Even when Bai Tan put food to his lips, he wouldn't let his teeth touch the chopsticks.
In the end, Bai Tan ran a sword through his heart.
Seven hundred years later, within the illusion, he took Bai Tan's hand amid falling petals as heavy as a torrential downpour and led him back to the peak. He named him Bai Mu and gave him quarters in the side hall. At the grand ceremony, he knelt and offered a cup of tea, calling him Master. He placed a jade die in Bai Tan's hand and made him his closed-door disciple.
I think I've forgotten what you look like.
Your master is so afraid he can't protect you.
Bai Mu, everyone in the world may wrongfully say that your master is no good, but you must never do so. You, of all people, absolutely must not! Don't let your master down. Whatever you do, don't let me down, or I'll kill you.
In the end, before Taiyin Sect, he risked everything. On Mount Liaowu, history repeated itself: Bai Mu was pierced through the heart by him once again. This time, however, he was reborn as the Demon Lord.
Master, don't choose him. Choose me.
I'm sick. I love you, and that means I'm sick! I'm terribly ill, so far gone that only a cup of your poison can ease the pain.
Nice! Unconventional, the ending is