Peering into Heaven

[Next Novel: Pure-Hatred God of War, Cutting People Online. The blurb is below this novel's blurb.

Mu Shaojing was born with extraordinary talent. At a young age, she became the foremost practitioner of both the Divine Martial and Spirit Commanding paths, earning the chance to ascend to immortality, along with a mandatory pre-ascension mission: conquer Senior Brother Wei Yunlou to ensure a smooth ascension.

To clear every obstacle in her path to ascension, Mu Shaojing decided to get to know her senior brother.

She brought him chicken soup. He wouldn't drink it.

She offered him spirit stones. He wouldn't accept them.

She invited him to practice swordsmanship, but he was always distracted.

Her senior brother was hopelessly unromantic. Mu Shaojing was done trying. She focused on cultivating and advancing, and whenever she saw him, she went out of her way to avoid him.

Conquest? What a load of nonsense. Men would only slow down her ascension.

*

As the heir to the foremost immortal sect, the bearer of Heaven's will, Wei Yunlou had always played the part of a refined, distant figure, as radiant as the moon but impossible to reach.

Until he received a life-extending mission: conquer junior sister Mu Shaojing to guarantee a long life.

His junior sister was powerful and beautiful, with a sweet smile. Before long, she had become friends with everyone.

But Wei Yunlou didn't believe in fate, nor in any life-extending mission.

He would become the leader of the immortal sect. He couldn't let anyone hold him back, not even his junior sister.

His junior sister brought him chicken soup and spirit stones. He liked them, but couldn't accept them.

His junior sister invited him to practice swordsmanship. Her eyes were too bright, always dazzling him.

His junior sister wanted his magical weapon and his twelve spirit meridians. That might be all right, too.

At last, Wei Yunlou believed in fate.

But there were far too many people around his junior sister, and he was only one of them.

If only he were the only one by her side.

*

Mu Shaojing realized that something seemed off about her usually gentle and refined senior brother.

She continued eating, attending classes, and going on adventures with her fellow disciples as usual, but whenever she turned around, she would see her senior brother standing in the shadows, silently watching her.

Or else he would ask her over and over, day and night, "Junior Sister, you once said you liked me. Was that all a lie?"

Mu Shaojing chose to redirect the issue. "Heaven's will broke its promise. It hasn't sent down a tribulation, and it won't let me ascend. I don't know what I should do. Why don't you teach me, Senior Brother?"

Wei Yunlou, who had once lived only to obey Heaven's will, shattered the Heavenly Gate and opened a path for her.

"Then we'll destroy Heaven's will."

[Reading Guide]

1. One-on-one romance, devoted to each other in body and heart.

2. All the good people get happy endings, while the villains meet pretty miserable fates.

3. Lots of original worldbuilding, romance and plot in equal measure, with a touch of ensemble cast.

4. Brilliant, deceptively sweet junior sister who hides a dark side x refined senior brother driven mad by love.

5. The setting leans toward low-magic cultivation. Awakening spiritual power does not naturally extend one's lifespan, except through special methods. Only after ascending can one become immortal and never age.

6. A brief note on the magic schools: the Five Paths are the Divine Martial Path (physique and weapons), Spirit Commanding Path (spiritual power), Five Aggregates Path (senses and mind), Arcane Mechanisms Path (artifacts and control), and Life-Creation Path (healing).

Next Novel Preview: Pure-Hatred God of War, Cutting People Online

[Kind-hearted in appearance, cold-hearted pure-hatred god of war x sickly green-tea schemer addicted to putting on an act]

Everyone says that Miss Ning of Wentian Temple may lack spiritual roots, but she can still exorcise demons and monsters for the people. She is a benevolent, righteous hero, an impeccable good person by anyone's standards.

Miss Ning responds with a cold laugh.

Ning Wuya is the world's one and only "ghost chaser." As the name suggests, she drives ghosts that have escaped from the underworld back to the land of the dead. It's a virtuous line of work that earns merit.

Few people know that kindhearted Miss Ning has a private hobby: killing people.

She kills all sorts, especially anyone who gets in her way.

Her parents abandoned her to preserve their own good fortune? Kill them.

Her master tried to sacrifice her to ascend and become a god? Kill him.

But at the Taoist temple next door, there is a young priest named Yin Wutu. He is gentle and kind, always hovering around her and telling her, "A Ning, all I want is for you to live in peace."

For the first time, Ning Wuya didn't think of killing someone to eliminate future trouble.

Later, though, she learned that she and Yin Wutu were "fate-defying twins." If he thrived, she would never find peace. If he suffered, she could rise to greatness.

Fate-defying twins? Fine. Kill him.

Who knew that even after becoming a ghost, that "harmless" man still wouldn't leave her alone? Day and night, he would whisper in her ear, "A Ning, A Ning, you cross between the worlds of the living and the dead so often. Why won't you come visit me in the underworld?"

So Ning Wuya really went to the underworld, brought his soul back to the mortal world, and then scattered it until not a trace remained.

Later, people finally saw Miss Ning's "true colors" and came to condemn her for her heresy and betrayal of her master.

Thousands upon thousands of living people who feared and hated her, along with the vengeful spirits she had killed, waited for her to fall from her pedestal.

Yin Wutu, whom she had killed more times than she could count, gazed at her with a faint smile from the mortal world, waiting for her to sink into the Infernal Abyss with him.

Ning Wuya walked steadily up the ladder to ascension, never once looking back.

"Destroy the divine and demonic paths, sever the bonds of the mortal world, and help me attain the Dao and ascend to immortality."

Theme: The journey is full of twists and turns, but the future is bright.