He was once the last ruler of Southern Tang, a monarch who lost his kingdom and an emperor of poetry.
"Ask me how much sorrow I bear: it flows eastward, like spring waters filling a river."
In this life, he was reborn as Zhang Zhenliu, the illegitimate fourth son of the Celestial Master's residence on Mount Longhu.
With three older brothers ahead of him, the position of sect leader would never be his, and he couldn't be bothered to compete for it anyway. He napped beneath the altar table in the Ancestral Temple and escaped the heat in the chambers of the Zhengyi Hall. With a bowl of noodle soup, he could draw a true talisman; with a single copper coin, he could strike down a demon.
Yet he was the most monstrously gifted of them all, and the most beloved by the three venerable patriarchs. At thirteen, he received his ordination and attained sudden enlightenment overnight. At sixteen, during the Grand Luotian Ritual, the entire Taoist world took note of this laid-back young man.
Then disaster struck below the mountain: on Mount Lanke, someone opened a door that had been keeping demons and monsters sealed away. A tide of demons surged east, the roads became strewn with bones, and the common people were treated like grass and dogs.
The family decree said: Magic may only be used to fight evil, heal the sick, and protect the innocent.
Then so be it: down the mountain, heading east.
As he slayed demons and monsters and sent restless souls on their way, he would often blurt out phrases even he did not understand. And every line made heaven and earth change color:
"Ask me how much sorrow I bear: it flows eastward, like spring waters filling a river."
His enemies crumbled like a collapsing mountain.
He didn't understand why seeing the people suffer made his heart ache for no reason; why his dreams were always filled with brightly lit palaces, dilapidated huts, and gleaming execution blades; or why the old man who opened the door sang a song from a lost homeland.
In his previous life, he failed to defend a single city.
In this life, he journeyed eastward, defending all under heaven.
A river of spring water flows east.
Each verse is a spell, and every word becomes law. A lazy genius is forced to fight evil and defend the way, eventually becoming a legend of his age.
