I Invite You to Your Execution

May You See Me Slain: Please, Kill Me

[Two chapters a week, posted whenever]

Wildly fabricated tales, ensemble cast, secret identities

The first volume consists of different episodic arcs, with a little of the main plot woven in. Proceed with caution if that's not your thing.

What makes Yi Yuanyu, the heir of Luo'an who was ennobled at eight despite having done nothing to earn it, so exceptional? Some say he's a once-in-a-century genius; others claim the reason lies in a royal secret.

When you meet him, he looks three parts divine, but acts eight parts spoiled young master. Easygoing and gentle by nature, he's also sweet and charming.

Yi Yuanyu pretends to be obedient and harmless, hoping to stay out of the game. Yet he keeps getting dragged back in. This game is so absurd that nothing surprises him anymore, not even the dead.

Forced into the game time and again, he has become a pawn passed from hand to hand, seemingly destined to be its sacrifice. Yi Yuanyu has had enough of playing the good boy. This time, he'll overturn the board, striking at the gods above and the vengeful ghosts below.

Expect him to accept his fate? Even his nightmares have never been so vicious.

(The blurb is too long, so you can skip the rest.)

|| Main Plot Version (with plenty of side plots)

The heir of Luo'an, Yi Yuanyu, faked his death to escape the world. Now he ventures out to uncover the truth behind the destruction of his family years ago. Gradually, he realizes that behind the bizarre cases that are always solved with startling speed, two other forces are at work. Sometimes they cooperate wholeheartedly; other times they clash head-on.

He cannot see through either of them, so he masks his sharpness with a mild, obedient demeanor and quietly enters the game. When the game reaches its end, he turns everything around.

When the fog clears and the clouds part, desire once again prolongs the darkness.

|| The Wild, Vengeful, Unrestrained Version

They spent twenty years weaving this web. Those who knew the truth and those who didn't are all guilty when the net is finally drawn tight.

The chaos of a troubled age cannot break a person's integrity, snap a steadfast spine, or extinguish their resolve to clear the names of loyal and honorable people.

Eight years ago, the Prince of Luo'an's residence was mysteriously destroyed. The heir, Yi Yuanyu, escaped, but had no choice but to fake his death and disappear.

Eight years later, Yi Yuanyu emerges from seclusion and travels west, where he encounters old friends and learns the hidden truths behind the old case. They enter the game with their lives on the line, then break it open again, exposing the darkness and tearing through the long night.

Along the way, he roams freely through the martial world, sees desire and sin growing everywhere, smells the fragrance of rice filling the city, and walks a path paved with bones...

He has always been gentle, sensible, and unfailingly loyal. Others think he's a docile little colt, but in this troubled age, no one is ever completely loyal.

In his homeland, Luo'an, small grudges are settled overnight, while great ones are plotted over a thousand days. Every Luo'an native knows this. For him, life and death are no obstacle: repay every kindness and every grievance, even if it means mutual destruction.

If everyone makes me their pawn, then I'll use pawns to swallow pawns.

People worship the gods, kneeling to them at dawn and dusk. But some who possess divine power kill people and steal their skins, willingly becoming ghosts. To repay a debt of gratitude, they defy the gods' taboos.

People fear the ghost envoys, driving them away by day and hiding from them by night. But some who are ghosts make medicine and save lives, bringing blessings to countless people. To satisfy a single desire, they refuse to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

Humans have never been bound by fate. They swear to the heavens: Our destiny is ours to command, not yours. We will collect our debts from the gods above and claim our lives back from the ghosts below. Everything depends on what we do!

[Leaving behind a trail of Hongfei imprints, with no distinction between main and supporting characters]

At eight, he wrote down his wish: "A thousand golden-armored riders break through the encirclement; ten thousand arrows fly to strike the northern foes. Banners flutter, and wine flows at the feast."

Years later, when asked what he wished for, he said nothing.

On the empty upper floor of the pavilion, the southern breeze stirred, but the person he longed for never appeared. His pen trembled as he wrote: "Now I climb Yiying Tower, but the one I knew from years ago is nowhere to be seen."

"Water drips from the eaves, each drop falling in the same place. The evil I committed years ago has fallen upon me. This is my retribution, and yours is yet to come, dripping in the very same spot. Father and son, we are caught in the cycle of cause and effect, both trapped here."

"A nation's finest general dies only for his country. Even in death, he does not betray it."

In the damp, freezing prison, the frail scholar wept tears of blood, then raised his head and chanted:

"Better to shatter like jade than survive like broken tile; the world has eyes, yet the traitors are blind.

Vermin gather in swarms, each kind among its own; they feast upon my flesh and turn my bones to dust.

They tread upon my bones to ascend the halls of power; Heaven's way cycles round, and every cause bears fruit.

Though my corpse has no golden form, my words still have a backbone; let my pure resolve be recorded for all to see."

"You really are pitiful, serving people like that. Everyone in the martial world says you're cruel and vicious. How come you can't even show anger or joy anymore?"

"I hate you too. I hate that you aren't my sister's child. I really do hate it. Why couldn't I have been your aunt?"

Like a little child, he charged toward the cold water, running, running, running... He transformed into a child five feet tall. Hanshui crouched down, and he threw himself into Hanshui's arms, looking up with hurt, blinking eyes. "Lord Hanshui, I didn't take innocent lives."

"Lord Siming, do you know why the Battle of Xiuyou broke out? Because we called ourselves gods and claimed we were acting on humanity's behalf. In truth, we took away people's power to decide their own fate."

That night, the shores of Ziyao Lake blazed with lights. Holding his parents' hands, he smiled innocently and called out, "I want to celebrate the Ziyao Festival with you again."

"Of course. We'll come every year from now on."

[Reader advisory: No power fantasy, complicated cast, multiple hidden plotlines, original worldbuilding and allusions. Please don't judge it as historical fiction. One chi in this story equals 23.8 cm.]

Volume One: May You Be Recorded, episodic road-trip arc

01 Old Friends Meet Without Recognition: Entering the Game

02 A Bowl of Wine in the Martial World: Two Liang of Jiangque

03 No One Can Have It All: Three Zhang of Palace Walls

04 Family Bonds in Commoners' Clothes: The Shiyuan Gu

05 Desires Run Wild: Gaogian Imperial Terrace Nectar

06 A Song of Sorrow from a Master: Unheard, the Hairpin Falls (I'm a little stuck and may delete this)

07 A Twist of Fate: Your Heart, My Heart

08 The Gods' Grievances Fade, and the Waters Flow Again: Rice Fragrance in Aoyong

09 The Gods' Taboo: Wansheng Forest

10 Old Friends Reunite and Let Go: Duanya River

Volume Two: May You Walk Into the Trap, Court Arc

01 A Foreign Land: Prince Fengyi's Residence

02 Across Life and Death: Ruler and Subject

03 Snow and Wind Fill the Sky: Casting Off Armor to Expose Treachery

04 Returning to One's Homeland: Dreams of the Past

05 The Cycle of Cause and Effect: Water Dripping from the Eaves

06 Endless Internal Strife: Loyal Hearts Beneath Misty Temples, Righteous Souls Amid Cloudlike Hair

07 Seeking Peace: Red Plum Blossoms Slaying Snow

08 Legitimacy: I Know Not the Face of an Old Friend, Nor Hear an Old Friend's Sigh

Volume Three: May You See Me Slain, Fulfilling Vows Arc

01 Clearing Injustice: Vindication

02 A Great Victory in the Southern Defense: Taboo

03 Journeying to the Southern Kingdom: Divine Punishment

04 Endless Longing: Listening to Bamboo in the Divine Palace

06 Farewell: A Journey in the Breeze

Volume Four: Tales and Legends

01 Qin Zhizhi Arc: Turning the Whip at the Broken Cliff

02 Su Xizhou Arc: Changyuan Knows No Restraint

03 First God Arc: Chasing the Moon

04 Siming Observatory Arc: Turning the Dial, Painting Dreams

Theme: Country and family, ruler and subject, keeping one's integrity, defying fate