Novel blurb:
At the end of the capital's most bustling main street, around three corners,
there's an unremarkable little shop.
They say you can buy anything here:
a day's worth of life, three days of good luck, a dream you never wake from.
Some trade their marriage prospects for wealth, others exchange virtue for talent,
and some hope to shed their mortal bones and ascend to immortality in a single step.
There are even those who give up their supreme cultivation, wishing only to be ordinary people.
But the price is never gold or silver.
You must offer something that interests the shop's owner in exchange.
The owner is a young scholar, blessed with such striking, seductive features that he seems born to ruin hearts.
Whenever he makes a deal, he adds a barbed remark that no one wants to hear:
"People shouldn't fixate on things that were never meant for them."
His sharp tongue is utterly unapologetic, yet somehow that face makes it impossible to stay angry with him.
He can't perform the slightest bit of magic. The only thing in the shop's main hall is a shrine to a god no one recognizes.
On the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, he burns incense and purifies his hands, borrowing a faint trace of divine power to handle transactions entangled with karma.
There's also an "uninvited guest" living in the shop, a great demon who's lived for countless years.
His face is cold enough to keep strangers at a distance, but his features are breathtakingly beautiful and noble, like a flower atop a snow-capped mountain that no one dares pluck.
The great demon never speaks of his past, and no one knows why he insists on staying in the shop.
He rarely concerns himself with the shop's affairs. But ever since he arrived, no one has dared cause trouble there.
Look closely, though, and the demon's face is exactly the same as the idol worshipped by the scholar.
Together, they watch over the shop, welcoming and sending off people through their joys and sorrows, their partings and reunions.
Gradually, all beings across the three realms come to love and fear the shop:
They love it because it can give them anything they desire.
They fear it because it truly dares to demand anything.
But the scholar slowly discovers that every transaction points to the same secret:
Someone is manipulating the fates of humanity from behind the scenes.
For thousands of years, the rise and fall of dynasties, the joys and sorrows of partings and reunions, have all been guided by that invisible hand.
And behind it, there seems to be an even greater secret yet to be uncovered...
The mysterious "great demon" at his side seems to hold the answers to every question.
Heaven and earth, what is a demon?
To become an immortal or a Buddha, all are still part of the mortal world.
May all beings learn the highest way and never fall into heretical views.
Welcome to the mortal world.
A little scene:
The scholar once asked the great demon three times:
"Have we met before?"
Each time, the great demon said no.
The first time, the scholar naturally didn't believe him.
The second time, the scholar was half convinced.
The third time, the scholar truly believed him.
But much later, the scholar finally understood.
"Liars. You're all liars..."
Reading guide:
1. Happy ending, one-on-one romance. I'm terrible at writing blurbs, so bear with me.
2. Sharp-tongued, tsundere heartbreaker bottom x noble, cool, and gentle top
3. Plenty of original worldbuilding, all in service of the plot.
4. Enjoy the story. No need to let me know if you drop it.
5. The whole story is already written, so read with confidence.
Theme: May all beings learn the highest way and never fall into heretical views.
Big update from the author of Squat [Panda Head]