Li Yan: Where We Return Together

They walked side by side for thirty-four thousand years. For Zhu Yan, those were all the years from loving the warmth and bustle of the human world to being feared by all as a calamity. For Li Lun, they were the years from quietly observing heaven and earth to keeping a gentle, steadfast vigil for one solitary wanderer beneath his verdant branches. He was a disaster beast cursed by his bloodline, jolted awake from ignorant happiness and struggling in the abyss of self-loathing. He was an ancient tree who had seen the vicissitudes of life and cared nothing for worldly affairs, yet stepped into the human world for him, becoming the only anchor and haven in his vast, desolate world. “All things seek their perfect match,” Li Lun said. “You and I are the most perfect match of all.” From the frigid wilderness of the demon realm to the bustling lanes of the human world; from their innocent companionship to the anguish of separation and fate tearing them apart. When Zhu Yan was once again consumed by the violence in his blood, losing control and staining the world with blood, all the demons feared him and all living beings abandoned him. Only Li Lun stood before him. “We... will never leave each other, in life or death.” The fires of tribulation could burn all three realms, and time could crush mountains and rivers. But some bonds are destined from the day two people meet: Even if mountains and seas collapse, this heart will never regret.