Forging Swords

(Main story complete) Yu He transmigrated into a cultivation novel. The heroine works hard to cultivate and avenge her family. She and the male lead go through a series of tangled love-and-hate entanglements, and in the end defeat her master, who has turned evil in order to resurrect his fiancée. The twists and turns of the story fill a million words. But Yu He is just a mortal, not even given a name in the book. She only wants to live in peace and, while she’s at it, find a way home. She never imagined she’d somehow marry a man, let alone that her husband would be a tall, handsome cultivator who loves her desperately. In this world, cultivators are everywhere, but Yu He doesn’t think much of it. She and her husband watch flowers drift in the spring breeze, admire fireworks on winter nights, and live freely in seclusion for more than ten years. Then one day, several strangers come to their home and make her husband take a certain medicine. The husband who loved her to the point of obsession suddenly becomes a different person. “Miss Yu,” he says distantly, his expression indifferent. “What we had was a misunderstanding.” Only then does she learn that her husband is a prodigy of the immortal sects with a bright future, and that he already has a childhood sweetheart who is his fiancée. The feelings he developed for Yu He were merely an accident caused by a gu poison. Now that the gu poison has been cured, Xie Hengzhi has not a shred of affection for her. Yu He receives a generous compensation package. As for her husband, Xie Hengzhi, he will return to the immortal estate and resume the life he was meant to live, marrying the fiancée who is a better match for him. Much later, Yu He becomes an unnamed low-ranking disciple. Apart from the brief misunderstanding she once shared with Xie Hengzhi, there is nothing between them. So when danger strikes, it is only natural that he saves his fiancée instead. Yu He dies by his sword, but the disaster sends her back to her own world. Unfortunately, she returns to the cultivation world before long, this time fifty years after her death. Xie Hengzhi, once the leader of the righteous path and supposed to be living happily with his beloved, has become a demon feared by all. Everyone in the four seas knows he is a complete madman, committing one deranged act after another in his pursuit of his beloved’s resurrection. Yu He can’t help but sigh when she hears about it, but none of this has anything to do with her anymore. Notes: 1. Warm, resilient little ray of sunshine x quiet, taciturn mad dog 2. Old-school tropes and plenty of melodrama 3. Not traditional cultivation fantasy, with many original worldbuilding details 4. Please don’t bring real-life people into the comments, so readers can enjoy the story Preview of a planned novel in the author’s collection: Sick Wen Miao is the daughter of a cook and is responsible for looking after the young master, who is frail and often ill. Everyone says Xiling Yan won’t live long. Only Wen Miao says he’ll live to a hundred. After falling in love with a demoness, Xiling Yan turns demonic and kills everyone in the household. Wen Miao, who cautiously carries him a sugar figurine, is the first to fall in the bloodbath. Back when he was still mortal, Xiling Yan was confined by his frail body to a small courtyard. What he saw most often was either the crooked, ugly jujube tree in the yard or the undisguised pity in everyone’s eyes whenever they looked at him. Back then, only Wen Miao didn’t look at him that way. She was so foolish and stupid. Everyone told her he was as good as dead, yet she smiled at him every day and said, “Young Master, you’re sure to live a long, long time. Longer than me.” Her words came true. She died, and he lived a very long time indeed. Later, Xiling Yan saw every kind of look: fear, admiration, envy, hatred. No one dared pity him anymore. + Jianwei, the master of Wen Miao’s older brother, saved her. When she woke again, nearly a hundred years had passed since the Xiling clan was wiped out. The world had changed, and she had come to understand many things. The dead were gone, so the living had to keep living. Life was fragile and brief, so she should give her heart to the right person. And Xiling Yan wasn’t that person. Xiling Yan had never liked her, not even a little. So when she received a spiritual medicine to save Jianwei’s life as thanks for saving her, she had no choice but to agree to marry Xiling Yan, who had by then become the leader of the demons. Then, on her wedding day, she chose to run away. Xiling Yan steps across the blood soaking the ground, his wedding robes blackened with it. His demonic eyes reflect the sight of his bride leaning against someone else. As Xiling Yan stands before her, nearly crazed, Wen Miao’s hand trembles around her sword, but she resolutely places herself in front of Jianwei. He stares into her eyes. “Do you hate me?” Wen Miao shakes her head, wearing an expression so unfamiliar to him, and so utterly despairing. “I pity you.” Ordinary, down-to-earth heroine x beautiful, vicious, brooding ghost 1. Not traditional cultivation fantasy, with many original worldbuilding details 2. Pure melodrama with a ridiculous plot 3. The protagonists grow over time. This is not a story about an all-powerful female lead Theme: Learn to let go