A Dream of Love in the Martial World (BL)

Blurb:

A serious overview of the story:

Main romance one: Hua Shu and Jiu'er share an unspoken understanding and a profound love. Their bond is deeper than the sea, and their devotion is both resolute and profound.

Main romance two: Hua Shu and Yan Xin are kindred spirits and close friends who have faced life and death together. Their love is selfless, stirring the heart without becoming romantic.

Themes: Heroic righteousness, carefree adventures in the martial world, and the pleasures of love, but never putting personal interests above what is right, and always placing the greater good first.

Style: A traditional chaptered novel, written like a storyteller's tale, with a double reverse-chronological narrative.

Volume One: Blood on the Sick Plum Blossoms: Hua Shu, ruler of the Northern Kun Kingdom, is the last descendant to carry the blood of the ancient Five Gods. Though he sits upon the throne, he was born with an illness, and every physician has declared that he will not live past twenty. After campaigning across the land, Hua Shu falls gravely ill and seeks treatment. He falls in love with Jiu'er, a disciple of the medical sage Shi Zhonghong, but the Empress Dowager uses despicable means to take him back to Northern Kun. Jiu'er misunderstands Hua Shu for three years before finally finding his jade pendant. He discovers that Hua Shu's health has been steadily deteriorating in the palace, and decides to take him away from court. Knowing he has little time left, Hua Shu leaves the palace with Jiu'er. The Empress Dowager orders Luo Xia of the martial arts clan Cang Xiangping Manor to help. Once hailed alongside Hua Shu as a match made in heaven and the noble son of Huaxia, the dashing Luo Xia harbors an unusual affection for him. Just as Luo Xia exhausts himself helping Hua Shu and his companions escape their pursuers, Hua Shu drives him away.

After escaping through a secret passage, Hua Shu, ruler of Kun, recuperates at Qingtao Pavilion on Biyuan Mountain. He hides from Jiu'er that he coughs up blood day after day. Yan Xin, a prince of the Han Tang Kingdom, visits the mountain to challenge Hua Shu to a contest, but discovers how ill he is. Yan Xin tells him that his terminal illness is not incurable: it is the result of Hua Shu blindly removing the Nine Dragon Golden Ring. Hua Shu is grateful to Yan Xin, and thankful that Heaven has spared his life, but he has no choice but to return to the palace he so recently escaped and reclaim the ring. After a series of interlocking events, Hua Shu finally discovers that there was foul play in the death of his father, Hua Tao. Abandoning his former gentleness and refinement, he stages a coup, seizes power, and kills his mother in the name of righteousness, slaughtering the Duanmu nobles as well. But when the deed is done, he realizes he has committed a terrible wrong. Mentally shattered, Hua Shu avoids Jiu'er and flees the palace.

Volume Two: The Poisonous Flower Wan: According to the rumors of the martial world, Flower Wan poison can be taken in one of two ways: look into a mirror, and your memories will be erased; look at another person, and you will fall deeply in love with them. After making a grave mistake by killing his mother, Hua Shu's resolve falters, and at last he drinks Flower Wan. Looking into a mirror, he forgets his past. At the same time, the evil manor of the martial world sends assassins to ambush Jiu'er. Though Hua Shu has forgotten the seven years he shared with Jiu'er, his sense of righteousness still drives him to take the blow in Jiu'er's place. Wounded, Jiu'er plunges into an icy lake to save Hua Shu, but at the last moment he can no longer hold on and sinks to the bottom. Hua Shu summons all his strength to rescue Jiu'er and bring him ashore, only to be taken advantage of by the evil manor's men and forced to drink the deadly Flower Wan once more. The evil manor's physical and mental abuse of Hua Shu finally makes him, a man who has never given up on life, lose all hope of living. Can Jiu'er, who once shared an unspoken understanding with Hua Shu, make him find the will to live again this time?

Hua Shu finally discovers that all sixteen people who abused him were his own trusted brothers and subordinates, and that they had all been incited by a treacherous villain. He can neither kill nor release them, and is plunged into utter anguish. In the name of righteousness, Hua Shu chooses to endure humiliation and turn the tables, making an enemy of the Duanmu clan his consort. But the Duanmu clan resorts to despicable means to conceive a prince. Can the ever-benevolent Hua Shu bring himself to kill his enemy? Should the prince be spared or not? Can he accept the humiliating past he endured? Was his year away from the palace an act of selfishness, an attempt to fulfill his dream of escaping court for the martial world? Or was it a trial sent by Heaven to make him a worthy ruler of Northern Kun?

And can Jiu'er, who is more than four years younger than Hua Shu, understand the hardship behind Hua Shu's belief that a man should be ready to die for his loyalty? After all the immature attempts to run away and all the misunderstandings, how can their love return to the heart-stirring instant when they fell in love at first sight?

[Jiang Yan, May 19, 2013, revised second draft]

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