A Heart's Desire

Also known as "Going Down with the Male Lead" and "After Taking My Revenge" [Note: Cultivation in the Age of Declining Dharma, a high-martial-arts female lead, an all-hate pairing, not a traditional cultivation setting, and little romance.] Many years ago, when Fang Cunxin was still the young mistress of the demonic sect Tianyi, she rescued a minor cultivator. After decades of trials, living and dying together, the two fell in love and became cultivation partners. The young mistress's wedding brought the demonic sect a night of celebration. Who could have guessed that on the wedding night, countless righteous cultivators would surround and attack Tianyi? In a single night, Tianyi was destroyed. The minor cultivator revealed himself as a beacon of righteousness, one who would uphold the Great Dao and offer himself to the demons. Only that night did she learn that he was Pei Junyue, a peerless talent from A Dream in the Sea of Clouds, and her equal in fame. The immortal and demonic paths are irreconcilable. The two of them were destined to become sworn enemies. Later... Fang Cunxin was gravely injured. When she awoke, she had forgotten the past, and he deceived her into thinking she was his fellow disciple, leading her from the demonic path to the immortal one. Another hundred years passed in a flash. Pei Junyue loved her to the point of obsession and would do anything to become cultivation partners with her. On their wedding day, demonic cultivators appeared without warning and attacked the immortal sect. Fang Cunxin had never lost her memory... The battle between good and evil lasted seven days and seven nights, and the two died together. Pei Junyue was pinned to the Wuhuang Tree with a sword through his heart, while Cunxin was bound over the Qingxu flames. Later still... The years raced by, and the flowing waters took no notice. Someone pulled Pei Junyue's Thunderbone Sword free and unfastened Cunxin's Dragon Soul Whip. The two of them awoke. The Tianyi Sect was gone, and so was A Dream in the Sea of Clouds. They had slept for countless millennia. Love and hatred had faded into the distance, and the Age of Declining Dharma had arrived. Reader's Guide: 1. This is not a traditional cultivation setting, and the ranking system has been greatly simplified. 2. The main focus is the plot, with little romance. 3. I've never cultivated immortality, so I make the rules for the cultivation world up as I go. 4. I'll add more if I think of anything. [Thanks to my friend Tianya Pai Caocao for the cover and character designs.] Upcoming story: "Her Beautiful General" -- It is widely rumored in the capital that Pei Xiaolang of the Dingyuan Marquis household is in love with Lu Sanniang, daughter of the Imperial Tutor, but cannot win her heart. That's why he keeps a flower-growing girl who looks just like her, Li Shaohuan, and lavishes her with good food and fine clothes, just to spite Sanniang. A lovely jade earring, placed on her ear; a beautiful pearl dress, worn on her body. Today, there's chilled lychee cake from Qingfeng House; tomorrow, crystal dumplings from Luming Pavilion... Every one of them is something Sanniang likes. Everyone says Li Shaohuan hopes to climb into the branches and become a phoenix. She only knows that this dangerous man is generous, the sort who lets silver slip through his fingers. She spends three years under a contract of indenture. When the term is up, she dusts off her hands and returns to her hometown, without even leaving him a word of goodbye. With the silver she'd saved at the marquis's residence, she opens a little restaurant and rents a flower garden. She thrives, and forgets the beautiful young master of the Pei family, who once took her breath away at first sight like Zhou Yu, though she mistook him for someone else. Who could have imagined that the marquis's household would be falsely accused, convicted, and confiscated? When she sees him again, he's unconscious in her woodshed, an escaped prisoner on the road to exile. She rescues him and dresses him in women's clothes, passing him off as a maid in her shop. She doesn't treat him particularly well. The clothes have to be the ones she likes. Whether he likes them doesn't matter. The food has to be what she chooses. Whether he likes it doesn't matter. When he learns that the clothes are the colors loved by the person in her heart, and the food is what her beloved likes, he clenches his fists, the old ferocity returning to his eyes. Perhaps he'd truly fallen for her. But so what? The splendor of spring is like a dream, and in the end, spring must be let go. Years later, he returns with his horse, now a young general famed for his military achievements. He corners her against a wall and sneers. "Widely rumored? Known to all? Then why am I the only one who didn't know I was in love with that third daughter of the Lu family?" "Li Shaohuan, you have no idea what's good for you!" Theme: Live life with determination.