My Dao Companion Cultivates the Heartless Way

Pei Zhibai is the final disciple of the head of Wenjian Sect. He is handsome and exceptionally gifted. At fifteen, he slays the Nine-Headed Infant demon beast on Penglai Island, obtains an innate supreme treasure, and spends three years in seclusion forging Jiuyou, the greatest sword in the world.

But before he can attain enlightenment and break through to the next realm, he is exposed as a natural cauldron. From then on, he falls into an abyss, and even his senior brothers and sisters begin to covet him. Later, Pei Zhibai is framed, his cultivation is ruined, and he is humiliated and reduced to a cauldron.

Reborn, Pei Zhibai knows his constitution is unusual, so he chooses the Heartless Dao from the very beginning. After ten years of sword practice, he breaks through with his sword and roams the heavens, earning the title 'Number One Sword Under Heaven.'

Xie Xiang, famed as the Gentleman Sword, travels the world. He is upright, with a heart as steadfast as stone.

He once discussed swordsmanship with Pei Zhibai of Wenjian Sect for three days and nights, and they became close friends. When they parted in the North Sea, he thought they would meet again someday and resume their discussions and friendly duels, making a fine tale to tell. But when their reunion was near, he learned that his friend had been framed, his sword broken, his cultivation ruined, and that he had become a cauldron before taking his own life.

From then on, there was no more Xie Xiang, the 'Gentleman Sword' obsessed with the sword dao. He killed his way across the Nine Provinces, slaughtering everyone who had once humiliated Pei Zhibai, then finally cut his own throat in front of Pei Zhibai's tomb.

Reborn, Xie Xiang only wants to change his friend's fate:

The first time, Pei Zhibai is taken back to Wenjian Sect, then vanishes without a trace.

The second time, Pei Zhibai chooses to cultivate the Dao, and they pass each other by.

The third time, on Penglai Island, Pei Zhibai finally meets him, and their fates converge. Xie Xiang stays by his side, fulfilling their promise from their previous life to discuss the Dao and cross swords.

But that night, beneath moonlight as cold as frost, his friend slays the Nine-Headed Infant. Pei Zhibai is covered in blood, his eyes bright as ice and snow. Using the demon beast's soul as a guide, he says with absolute resolve, 'A Xiang, I want to ask you to help me sever my ties of affection.'

Severing emotional ties brings the Heartless Dao to completion. But his close friend doesn't know that the countless threads of affection can only be severed by someone who has feelings. Xie Xiang has feelings, but willingly helps Pei Zhibai achieve a heart without attachments.

The path of severing one's feelings begins with love, then casts it aside. The Heartless Dao is the cultivation of the Great Dao's lack of feeling.

Reborn, Pei Zhibai is not heartless by nature, but his state of mind has changed. To enter the Dao by severing his feelings, he must first experience the world and learn the Great Dao.

As he gradually follows the Heartless Dao, Pei Zhibai has long since stopped thinking of worldly feelings and desires. The only thing he holds onto from his previous life is that he parted from his kindred spirit in the North Sea and never kept his promise to meet again.

He never expected to meet his kindred spirit even earlier in this life. They meet again in another life, and that person is still the only friend he trusts and cares about. Pei Zhibai originally wanted to practice swordsmanship with a like-minded friend, roam the world, master the sword, and see through the Dao of Severed Feelings. But an accident leads to his constitution as a cauldron being discovered once more.

Dew hangs thick in the night. The Heartless Dao is broken, Jiuyou roars, and its blade presses against the neck of his former close friend. Pei Zhibai is furious. 'I treated you as a close friend. You treated me as a cauldron?'

Xie Xiang endures humiliation and hardship. Though poor with words, his eyes are full of feeling, his gaze bright and unwavering. 'Not a cauldron. My beloved.'

PS: 1. The first part focuses on Pei Zhibai's cultivation and growth in Wenjian Sect. The second part follows Pei Zhibai and Xie Xiang as they roam the world. The latter part includes some light mystery and deduction. It makes up a smaller part of the first half and a larger part of the second.

2. In this story, the Heartless Dao can be broken, and there is backlash, but it won't affect the happy ending.

3. The gong breaking the shou's Heartless Dao is an accident. The gong only does things to be good to the shou.

A chaste, quietly protective, upright gentleman x a sword-obsessed, oblivious, cool and aloof beauty adored by all

Theme: Respect others and keep a heart of universal compassion