[Two male leads + faking death + from universally despised to universally adored]
Shen Yu's perspective:
Even as a servant with a five-element spiritual root, he was determined to rise above his station and dreamed of attaining the Dao and becoming an immortal.
To improve his aptitude and cultivation, he repeatedly sought out shortcuts.
After being unable to advance any further, Shen Yu decided to die in order to clear Shen Qingkong's name in the theft of the sect's sacred treasure, abandoning his ethereal dream of immortality. What he hadn't expected was that Shen Qingkong himself would execute him. Before he died, he even heard Shen Qingkong call him nothing but a clown who'd amused himself. Shen Yu died with his eyes wide open.
When he opened his eyes again, Shen Yu discovered that he had been reborn a hundred years later. A man who claimed to have transmigrated found him and gave him a golden finger: if Shen Yu killed someone who had wronged him, he could copy one of their talents...
Other perspectives:
Shen Yu was nothing but a pretty face and a calamity to the men of Lingyun Sect. He was dull-witted yet arrogant, and seduced the sect's prodigies for his own selfish ends. In the end, he conspired with the demonic cult to steal the sect's sacred treasure. The prodigies he'd ensnared finally came to their senses and eliminated this menace.
Their happiness lasted barely a hundred years. The cultivation world discovered that another menace had appeared, one even worse than Shen Yu had been. This time, not only did he make the prodigies Shen Yu had once deceived fight jealously over him, but even more powerful figures joined the fray.
At last, everyone was dismayed to discover that this formidable figure was none other than an upgraded Shen Yu, returned to make a comeback.
Main characters: Shen Yu, Shen Qingkong
Other characters: Song Shi (Shen Qingkong's personal guard), Yun Ji, Lin Qi, Yun Shuyao, Liu An, Liu Zhou
