Only when Yun Ran was dying did he realize that, to Lu Baixiu, he had never been the only one.
Besides him, Lu Baixiu had other little spirit birds, smarter, prettier, and more useful than he was. He was the most insignificant of them all, like a blade of grass underfoot, like a mayfly that flits past. A little kindness now and then had been enough to make him willingly fall into demonic corruption.
Yet the person Yun Ran held dearest, the one he wanted to protect even at the cost of being shattered to pieces, drove a sword into his body after he turned demonic.
A three-foot green blade, its sword aura bright as a rainbow. The tassel Yun Ran had made himself from his own feathers swayed in the air from its hilt.
Great drops of blood and tears rolled from Yun Ran's eyes. He leapt from the cliff, his heart shattering as he turned into scattered feathers and vanished.
*
When Yun Ran awoke again, he had passed through his trial of love and returned to his immortal phoenix form. He had become the Star Lord Yinghuo in the Heavenly Palace, but his shattered heart could not be mended.
Fortunately, Yun Ran didn't care. He casually found a piece of jade to take its place. From then on, he was free of love, hate, and attachment, living a carefree life.
He never expected Lu Baixiu to come looking for him. The heaven-blessed prodigy who had once been peerless across the Nine Provinces had become a lowly half-demon, crawling on the ground, covered in wounds, his eyes bloodshot as he begged desperately, "A-Ran..."
Yun Ran walked forward slowly and stepped on his shoulder, pinning him beneath his foot. "Who gave you permission to call me that?"
In the end, Lu Baixiu became a Demon God who shook the Eight Wastelands. Yet he willingly walked alone into an immortal clan's trap, burning his blood with every step, his soul shattered and bones broken, just to reach out to the person who would never again feel sorry for him. "A-Ran, I'm here to take you home."
One-on-one pairing, happy ending, no change of gong
Xianxia angst, a tiny bit of replacement trope, and a groveling chase
Theme: If you have something to say, say it properly.
After Reincarnating as Cannon Fodder, I Turned My Life Around With My Beauty and Sweet Voice
After Becoming the Villain Who Raised the Male Lead
He Walked Through Time
After the Marquis Raised Me into a Couch Potato
The Villain Became the White Moonlight (After Transmigrating into a Book)
Forget Your Worries