Reborn Before Taking on Disciples

[Opens with rebirth; sickly but highly skilled master shou x formerly scummy gong who reforms and becomes devoted]

Reborn before taking on a disciple, Zhu Yin decides not to accept Pei Chen as his student.

In his previous life, Zhu Yin gave Pei Chen his whole heart and taught him everything he knew without holding anything back or slacking off for even a moment.

As they spent more time together, Zhu Yin fell for him. In a moment of danger, he placed his own spiritual root inside the unconscious Pei Chen, only to lose all his cultivation and suffer severe damage to his soul.

Later, Zhu Yin made Pei Chen a promise and laid his heart bare, but never got a reply. The grievous injuries he’d suffered when his spiritual root was removed forced him into seclusion the very next day.

A year and a half passed in the blink of an eye. On the day Zhu Yin emerged from seclusion, he saw Pei Chen seated in the sect leader’s place, looking down at him. Meeting his master’s eyes, the man smiled and said, “Immortal Zhu is a heaven-blessed prodigy and a leading figure in the immortal sects. I imagine you wouldn’t want to be the one beneath someone else in bed, either.”

One mistaken night of passion was their last encounter. After that came two years of imprisonment and torment.

Death was even more beautiful than he’d imagined. Just as Zhu Yin thought he’d finally be free, he saw his elder sister, whom Pei Chen had killed long ago, walking toward him with a bowl of steaming noodles.

Zhu Yin’s eyes filled with tears in an instant.

Karma comes full circle, and every deed bears its fruit.

He thought perhaps he could start over.

*

In the final moment before his death, Pei Chen thought of Zhu Yin.

He hated his master to the core, and used every method he could to crush the pride in that man’s bones.

When he opened his eyes again, he never expected to be reborn on the last night before the disciple-selection ceremony. If he got another chance, Pei Chen thought, he would rather die than become Zhu Yin’s disciple.

Yet on the day of the ceremony, with guests filling the hall, the elders of Hengyu Sect offered him positions, but Pei Chen couldn’t see Zhu Yin anywhere.

After that, Zhu Yin simply disappeared from Hengyu Sect.

For six whole years, Pei Chen wasn’t as happy as he’d imagined he would be. Then the two met again, and later he learned the truth...

“Master...” Pei Chen tried to make him stay.

Zhu Yin bowed with clasped hands and replied coolly, “I’m afraid you’ve mistaken me for someone else, Young Master Pei.”

Pei Chen fell silent. Only then did he realize that he might have lost everything long ago.

·Also known as “Tracing Dust.” The title will be changed after the story is complete.

·Both leads are reborn, with the shou reborn before the gong and discovering the truth first.

·The shou transmigrates with his sick, original body; the gong is reborn as a soul.

·One-on-one romance, misunderstandings, no switching love interests.

·Strong leads.

Theme: Love rebuilds flesh and blood