Shackles

[This blurb was screenshotted and archived on 2025.2.26]

The little lock is reborn.

After the righteous sects unite to defeat the world-destroying Demon Venerable, he is imprisoned in Guixu. And to make sure he cannot escape, they put a spiritual lock on him as well.

The little lock is the shackle on his body.

In his previous life, he fell in love with the Demon Venerable. The Demon Venerable bewitched him into letting him out of Guixu, only to make him the first person he killed after taking his revenge.

Fortunately, Heaven gave him the chance to live again.

This time, he refuses to be captured and made into a spiritual lock. He'll conceal his identity, live freely, and stay far away from that Demon Venerable!

But when he opens his eyes, he's pressed against the Demon Venerable's chest...

No!

While the Demon Venerable is gravely injured and unconscious, he tries to sneak away.

He barely gets a little distance before a large hand pulls him back into an embrace...

"You've locked my heart. Where do you think you're going?"

Zhou Lanjun is the Demon Venerable.

Invincible in battle, he was ambushed by the righteous sects and imprisoned in Guixu. Every day, he suffers the punishment of heavenly lightning. His boundless hatred eats away at his heart, making him wish he were dead.

The spiritual lock binding him has been asleep all this time. Then one day, it wakes up and stretches right over his heart.

He chats with the spiritual lock, and somehow his resentment and the agony in his heart begin to ease. So he talks with it every day, using it to help heal his wounds.

Until one day, the spiritual lock says it can open the gates of Guixu and let him leave, as long as he stops doing evil, conceals his identity, and lives a good life. And... doesn't forget him.

So easy to fool, the Demon Venerable thinks.

But after leaving Guixu, he discovers the outside world is a trap laid by his enemies.

Feeling betrayed, he returns to Guixu and cuts the spiritual lock down with a single stroke. Then he goes on a killing spree.

He gets his revenge and reaches the pinnacle of the immortal realm, but he is not happy. It always feels as if something is missing from his heart. Only he knows what it is.

Later, he learns by chance that the spiritual lock let him out by exchanging hearts with him and taking the heavenly punishment in his place.

"He couldn't withstand the force of the heavenly punishment and would have died soon anyway, but you still killed him with your own blade. Look at it another way: you did give him a quick death."

Zhou Lanjun uses all his cultivation and spiritual power to tear through time and space, returning to the past.

This time, he won't seek revenge. He only wants to be with the little lock, forever and without parting.

Theme: Don't judge by appearances alone