A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: The Heart-Calamity of Yao

When Han Li found A Yao, whose legs couldn't move, in a ruined temple, he never imagined he would wager his whole life on that little girl.

In the depths of winter, he tucked her frostbitten feet against his chest to warm them. Even when his own feet got frostbite, he said, "It doesn't hurt." He joined the Seven Mysteries Sect as a servant, then ran back to the ruined temple in the middle of the night with a rice cake, afraid she might be waiting anxiously. When a thug tried to steal the grass-rope good-luck charm she had made for him, he fought desperately even as blood ran down his forehead. "A Yao made this for me. Nobody gets to take it!"

People from the Sacred Maiden Hall shattered their peaceful life. An elder ran a sword through his heart and dragged A Yao toward a spatial rift. "A mortal and a sacred maiden were never meant to belong to the same world!"

A Yao clung to his hand and wept. Gripping the broken grass rope, he swore: even if he had to fight his way through the Spirit Realm, the Immortal Realm, and the Divine Realm, he would take her back!

When they met again, A Yao had become Lingxi, the cold and distant sacred maiden of the Sacred Maiden Hall.

She plunged her sword into his shoulder. "How dare a mere mortal call me A Yao?" But he only smiled. "A Yao, I know you're still in there." At night, she secretly slipped into the ice prison again, crying as she used the sacred maiden's essence to heal his wounds. "Brother, don't come back. Lingxi will kill you..."

Only later did he understand that her coldness was forced upon her, and that she had tried to kill him to make him leave. Seeing him hurt pained her more than anyone.

He cultivated the Evergreen Technique and used the Heavenly Bottle to speed up his training. He braved the Chaotic Star Sea to seize the essence fragments and fought his pursuers head-on. On the life-or-death arena of the Lingxi Realm, when she struck with her third sword, he instead leaned closer. "Will this help you remember the charcoal fire in the ruined temple?"