Who Wouldn't Love a Thousand-Gold Smile

[Not a daily update. Not recommended for following as it comes out. Please don't argue.] After transmigrating into a chaotic age and surviving until the age of twenty, Shi Xi finally learned his true identity: he was the young heir of Wei. His father was a revered Confucian sage, his mother a princess of Wei, and his fiancée the mysterious and noble future head of the Yin-Yang School. Anyone would hear that and say enviously, “What a lucky life.” But the truth was: His mother was insane, hated him to the bone, tortured him in new ways every day, and wanted him dead. His father was a hypocrite who practiced forbidden Confucian arts and intended to wipe out the millions of people in Wei, using them to break through to godhood and achieve his path to becoming a sage within and a sovereign without, an [Emperor of Humanity]. Honestly, those two lunatics were manageable. What terrified Shi Xi most was... His fiancée, the next head of the Yin-Yang School. Compared to the name known to the world, Ji Jue, he was more familiar with his other name: Xu Pingle. * “Your name in the modern world was Xu Pingle? Hmm, what a lovely meaning. Your parents must have really loved you.” In the Yin-Yang School’s lightless snake pit, even the sound of dripping water was crystal clear. Xu Pingle leaned weakly against his shoulder and smiled. “Thank you,” he replied politely. “When did you transmigrate?” Shi Xi asked again. Xu Pingle looked at him. After a long while, he answered calmly, “Not long ago.” “Just like you, you got dragged into this selection for the Yin-Yang School’s saintess as soon as you transmigrated. What bad luck.” Shi Xi thought to himself, As if I’d believe that. And just as he’d expected, Xu Pingle had transmigrated long before him. The infamous Ji Jue, raised under the watch of Dongjun from birth, moody and murderous, had been Xu Pingle all along. Later, the Thousand Gold Tower collapsed. On the eve of the twin moons appearing in the sky, Shi Xi fought hard, injuring his enemy at the cost of severe wounds to himself, then staggered out of that living hell. The lights of the Thousand Gold Tower burned through the night in the forest. Ji Jue’s long hair trailed on the ground as he looked down at the wound carved to the bone on his wrist. He never once raised his head. * The Hundred Schools of Thought. At the fifth tier, one became a sage; at the seventh, a god. In all the centuries this continent had existed, no practitioner had ever broken through the seventh tier. But in the Yin-Yang School’s forbidden grounds, [Ying] delivered a prophecy: within ten years, the first god would appear in the Six Provinces. Everyone was waiting, and everyone was placing their bets. Shi Xi left the Mohist Mechanism City and set out alone for Yunge, the imperial capital of Wei, to repair the divine artifact [Thousand Gold]. Along the way, a wildfire consumed the dense forest, turning half the sky red. At the time, he had no idea that before long, this fire would burn across the Six Provinces for years to come. The five kingdoms were caught in a swirling storm, and an endless night fell upon the human world. And he was the only one who could break the deadlock. Warnings. 1. Both leads transmigrated. Ji Jue is the top, Shi Xi the bottom. A lightly ensemble-focused progression story. The main story takes place after the Thousand Gold Tower collapses, after the events described in the blurb. They reunite right at the beginning. The first dozen or so chapters will intermittently flash back to their youth. Technology and ideas in this era are no less advanced than in the modern world, so once the leads grow up, they don't pay much attention to being modern people. Even without reading the story, a glance at the table of contents should tell you what I'm writing, right? = = Please stop being a troll. 2. An alternate-world chaotic age, with low-magic progression. Romance and plot get equal weight. The Hundred Schools of Thought each have their own power tiers: tier one is the beginning, and tier seven is godhood. For example, I directly borrowed the Daoist system of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment. Qi Refining is tier one, and the Golden Core stage is tier three for Daoists. The first arc's antagonist is a Confucian, but the setting is so far removed from any real era that I have no intention of disrespecting Confucian culture! 4. “A life full of regrets leaves little time for joy; who would willingly trade a rare smile for a thousand gold?” In this poem, “trade” means “think lightly of.” The original meaning is, “How could one give up rare moments of joy for money?” But I removed “trade” when I used the line as the title, so the meaning is a little different from the original poem. “Willingly” means being ready to do something. It should make sense after you read the story. Theme: A young man's success can be his greatest misfortune