Master, Don't You Have Any Shame?

The story is underway. I wonder if anyone will add it to their collection

It's a bit quiet here, but thanks to all the lovely readers who braved the cold-water swim. I hope you'll throw me a lifebuoy~ Also, here's a recommendation for my other story, which I'm updating twice a day: The Tyrant Has Lovesickness (Reborn).

1. The classic angsty, melodramatic version of the blurb:

The second time Mingzhu died, it was in the polar wasteland of the Western Wilderness, by the banks of Ruoshui, as immortals and demons faced off.

On one side stood her master, Muyuan, her god, who had come to save the world.

On the other stood her husband, Wutian, the Demon Lord. Behind him lay Yuyuan, the only place in this world where she could belong.

"Muyuan, you created this demon god with your own hands!" Wutian pointed at her and laughed wildly. "Can you bring yourself to destroy her?"

The immortals hurriedly protested, "Nonsense! This traitorous disciple chose to fall to demonic cultivation herself!"

"What are you waiting for? Kill her!"

"That's right, kill her, and Yuyuan will be sealed forever."

Muyuan acted as if he hadn't heard them. He only gazed at her, as gentle as ever. "Mingzhu, come back."

He had been like this for millions of years. But Mingzhu knew that this tenderness had never been meant for her. She had been born because of him, though.

She wanted to say something. Her lips moved, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to ask. He was her master, and she was his disciple. Let her most secret feelings stay buried forever.

"Master, I believe you."

I believe you. Do you believe me too?

She crushed the seven-leaf lotus pedestal. In the corner of her eye, she saw Muyuan finally lose his composure and stumble toward her...

The boundless land fell silent for an instant. Yuyuan shattered with a thunderous crash, and a towering divine tree burst forth from the deepest darkness. But Muyuan only clutched the fragments of the lotus pedestal, frantically trying to mend them with his spiritual power.

This disciple really had been created by his own hands. Back then, Ye You had asked him, "Are you sure? The seven-leaf lotus pedestal is a demon god's weapon. If it loses control, all six realms will be destroyed."

"It's just an object. As long as her heart stays righteous, what does it matter if the weapon belongs to a demon?" Muyuan had been utterly confident. "I'm her master. If she takes the wrong path, I'll cut off the road. If she becomes a demon, I'll destroy Yuyuan and bring her back."

He had never considered what he would do if she offered up the world herself. How could he undo that?

2. The more serious version of the blurb...

Mingzhu was one of the lowest-ranking disciples at Xuanwu Sect. She didn't join the sect until she was fourteen. After examining her aptitude, the sect leader, Immortal Venerable Muyuan, had said, "A low-grade spiritual root. She can train as an outer disciple."

As an outer disciple, she would simply follow the crowd, without a personal master to guide her. Naturally, she had no real path to immortality. The aloof Immortal Venerable who had determined her fate would only ever glance at her from afar.

For an ordinary person with unremarkable looks, unremarkable cultivation, and a timid, easygoing nature, this was the pinnacle of her life.

She could live quietly without asking for much. Even a few decades longer than an ordinary mortal would be nice. But even such a humble wish was beyond her reach.

She was sent to exterminate a demon, but died at the hands of her fellow disciples. Her name became one on Muyuan's desk: "...The deceased is named Mingzhu, a low-ranking disciple. She may have been injured by a demon after consuming its core, and her soul has been utterly destroyed."

When she woke up, she discovered that she hadn't died, but she wasn't alive either. Her soul had transmigrated into the white sandalwood statue in Muyuan's room???

Everyone in the sect knew that this wooden statue was Muyuan's beloved from his mortal days. He had kept it by his side for a hundred years of cultivation. Rumor had it that he was only one step away from ascending, but his attachment to love kept him from seeing through the world.

After watching the Immortal Venerable sleep and change clothes, with a full, unobstructed, uncensored view, hundreds of times, not to mention all the other indescribable things, Mingzhu finally realized that the statue wasn't his former lover at all. Now that statue was her, and it was clearly the Immortal Venerable's daily confessional!

"Meetings are such a pain..."

"My disciples are so dumb..."

"Demonic cultivators are so weak..."

"Sect Leader Liu plays favorites again. Xuanwu Sect is doomed!"

"If only I could transfer Hu Qingqing from the women's dormitory peak to the kitchen. Her braised pork is the best in the world! Too bad I can't eat much!"

"Keeping up appearances is exhausting. White robes are such a hassle. Even a speck of mud ruins my elegant image! Sigh, I'm a little jealous of the demon sect's black robes!"

Of all his complaints, the ones he repeated most often were "Xuanwu Sect is doomed" and "Cultivating immortality is so boring!"

At last, Mingzhu could no longer stand his nonstop chatter. She shouted, "Shut up!!! I'm the one who's annoyed. I'm going crazy!"

Couldn't she just be left alone to quietly play the part of a dead piece of wood???

Muyuan was horrified. What should a lonely old immortal do when his human-shaped confessional starts talking back and demands to run away from home? He had nothing left to keep him going!

Content warnings:

1. One-on-one romance, happy ending. The Demon Lord husband has nothing to do with it~

2. This is my first cultivation fantasy, and it has some original worldbuilding. Please don't overanalyze it~

3. An aloof master who only pretends to have social anxiety, but secretly fires off a barrage of snarky comments, x a furious, ridiculously strong little disciple who is always plotting revenge. Their daily life cultivating immortality

4. Once the story starts, I'll try to update daily without breaks. Please support this author getting back into writing

5. I'll address any other questions as they come up~

Theme: Learn to cherish the people you have in your life.