Jiang Fengyu was a heretical cultivator, practicing one of the demonic arts: the Path of Dying for Love.
Unlike the conventional paths of passion and detachment, the Path of Dying for Love demanded that one perceive the will to die within love, then attain rebirth through death. The more times he died, the stronger he became.
To prove the Great Dao, Jiang Fengyu traveled the world and met four successive cultivation partners.
The first was the most outstanding cultivation genius of the Sword Sect. Since it was said that sword cultivators on the Path of Detachment were most likely to kill their wives to prove the Dao, Jiang Fengyu struck first. In the life-and-death realm, he ran his sword straight through the cultivator who had shielded him.
The second was the lord of the Demon Realm, whose true form was a sleek, glossy-furred leopard. Jiang Fengyu had spent many nights resting his head against the other's soft, vulnerable belly. In the end, he used a spirit blade to cut open the other's abdomen and take the core.
The third was a Buddhist sage. For Jiang Fengyu, he left the monastery and returned to secular life, going from a widely praised holy monk to a disgraced man of the mortal world. Even Jiang Fengyu felt sorry for what had happened to him, so he waited until their wedding night to poison him with the deadly wine they shared.
The fourth was a revered demonic cultivator. By then, Jiang Fengyu was only one step away from ascension. He had begun to feel an uncontrollable weariness, and even his favorite games of manipulating people's hearts no longer interested him.
He approached the demonic cultivator and made no effort to hide that he was a spy sent by the righteous sects.
Either he could use this chance to complete his final act of dying for love and ascend in a single leap, or the enraged cultivator could kill him outright and destroy his soul. Hoping for one thrilling final gamble, Jiang Fengyu openly revealed his treacherous intentions.
But everything went far more smoothly than he could have imagined. The revered cultivator turned a blind eye to all his betrayals.
What a blind and foolish man, Jiang Fengyu thought.
After killing the revered cultivator, Jiang Fengyu completed his final act of dying for love. He closed his eyes, knowing that when he awoke again, the Gate to Heaven from the Immortal Realm would open for him.
Who would have thought that when he woke again, he would be lying in an ice coffin?
Jiang Fengyu was bewildered. He tried to climb out, only to find that his limbs were firmly bound by chains.
A man he had never met stood outside the ice coffin. Above him was the Gate to Heaven, where immortals rode phoenixes, their robes of rosy clouds draped over cranes.
Jiang Fengyu stared in a daze, unable to break free of the chains and step through the gate. He could only watch as it slowly closed before his eyes.
In the darkness, the man took hold of the chain around his wrist and gave it a light tug. It rang with a crisp clink.
The man bent down and tenderly kissed Jiang Fengyu on the forehead.
"A-Yu, you vile, treacherous liar think you can ascend to immortality?"
*
The main story begins with the third vignette.
The love interest is an immortal who descended to the mortal realm to undergo a trial of love, only to be killed four times by the one he loved. After being killed again and again, his mind completely shattered, and he became a fallen immortal.
The love interest only remembers the previous vignettes just before dying each time. The fourth vignette is unusual: after dying three times, the seals have been repeatedly battered, and he gradually regains all his memories while still alive.
Theme: If only our hearts remain firm as gold, we will meet again in heaven or on earth.
