As the personal disciple of Guan Men, master of Xihe Peak in the Xuanling Dao Sect, Li Xinyan had two secrets no one knew.
First, she was a puppet planted by the Demon Cult.
Second, she liked Xie Jun.
There wasn't much to say about her identity as a Demon Cult puppet. Her family had been destroyed, she'd lost her memory, and she'd been abducted and forced to take Bone-Breaking Powder. Then, in the name of sacrificing herself for the Demon Cult's century-long plan, she'd been sent to infiltrate the righteous sects and await orders.
As for liking Xie Jun, that was only natural.
Xie Jun, the second senior disciple of Xihe Peak, had fine features and an elegant bearing. He was as graceful as an orchid or a jade tree. With his striking looks, he could easily have topped the sect's female disciples' list of dream partners, if not for one thing: his tongue was as venomous as a snake's.
Xie Jun always said she couldn't read, that she abused idioms, and that she was beyond teaching. But he added a small desk to his study and made her practice reading and writing.
Xie Jun scolded her for spending all day studying farming instead of cultivating, calling her stupid and greedy. Yet whenever he went down the mountain, he always brought back the finest spirit-plant seeds and the newest pastries from Drunk Moon House.
Xie Jun showed her every view on Xihe Peak, helped her rediscover the simple pleasures of mortal life, and personally taught her how to practice swordsmanship and control her breathing...
Then one day, Li Xinyan had a dream.
In the dream, the war against the demons broke out once more. The demons joined forces with the puppets inside the sects, attacking from within and without and devastating the righteous sects. The demonic armies swept through everything in their path.
On the battlefield between immortals and demons, her master lay unconscious with grave injuries. Her radiant, spirited eldest senior sister was ravaged by miasma, her body covered in wounds. Her proud eldest senior brother's spine was crushed, his sword broken in the Blazing Desert. Her gentle third senior sister, who loved to cook, had both arms severed. Her cheerful fourth junior brother had lost his spiritual consciousness...
Xie Jun was killed by the Demon Lord himself, his body and soul destroyed.
When Li Xinyan awoke, she looked at the still-living faces of her fellow disciples and burst into tears.
Much later, the war against the demons broke out once more. When a rain that awakened all things fell and the cultivation world, ravaged by years of war, gradually regained its vitality, Li Xinyan finally found her path. But her second senior brother had gone mad, possessed by demons.
By then, Xie Jun's elegant, peerless features had shed their youthful softness. He stood with sword in hand by the miasma-shrouded gorge in the Blighted Marsh, his voice hoarse and full of anguish.
"Li Xinyan, did I ever tell you to die in my place?"
The heroine does not die, does not die, does not die. A perfectly happy ending.
Theme: Good and evil each have their own way.
