Who Wouldn't Love a Thousand-Gold Smile

After transmigrating into a chaotic age and surviving until the age of twenty, Shi Xi finally learned that he was actually the young heir of the State of Wei.

His father was a Confucian sage of his generation, his mother was a princess of Wei, and his betrothed was the mysterious and noble future head of the Yin-Yang School.

Anyone hearing that would have to say, with envy, “You’re so lucky.”

But the truth was:

His mother was insane and hated him to the bone. Every day, she found new ways to torment him and tried to kill him.

His father was a hypocrite who practiced forbidden Confucian arts, intending to wipe out countless people in Wei so he could transcend sagehood, become a god, and achieve his path to ruling as a sage within and a king without, the Human Emperor.

Those two lunatics were actually fine. What terrified Shi Xi most was...

His betrothed, the next head of the Yin-Yang School. Compared to Ji Jue, the name everyone knew him by, Shi Xi was more familiar with his other name: Xu Pingle.

*

“Your name in the modern world was Xu Pingle? Hmm, that’s a lovely meaning. Your parents must have really loved you.”

Deep inside 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 said politely.

“When did you transmigrate?” Shi Xi asked again.

Xu Pingle looked at him. It took a long while before he calmly replied, “Not long ago.”

“Just like you, I got caught up in the Yin-Yang School’s selection of a saintess as soon as I transmigrated. We’re both pretty unlucky.”

Shi Xi thought, Yeah, right.

And just as he had expected, Xu Pingle had transmigrated long before him.

The ruthless Ji Jue, said to have been raised by Dongjun from birth and to have a mercurial temper, had been Xu Pingle all along.

Later, the Qianjin Tower collapsed.

On the eve of the twin moons, Shi Xi injured his enemy a thousand times at the cost of hurting himself eight hundred times, then staggered out of that living hell.

The lights of Qianjin Tower burned through the night deep in the forest. Ji Jue’s long hair dragged on the ground as he lowered his head to look at the wound on his wrist, deep enough to reach the bone. He never once looked up.

*

The Hundred Schools of Thought each had five ranks to sagehood and seven to godhood. For thousands of years, no sorcerer on this continent had ever broken through the seventh rank.

But in the Yin-Yang School’s forbidden grounds, the child 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 Qianjin.

Along the way, a wildfire swept through the dense forest, turning half the sky red.

At the time, he had no idea that this fire would soon burn across the Six Provinces for a long, long time. The five states were caught in turmoil, and an endless night fell upon the world.

And he was the only one who could change the course of events.

Content warnings:

1. Both leads transmigrated. Ji Jue is the top, Shi Xi the bottom. Some ensemble cast elements and a progression fantasy.

The main story begins after Qianjin Tower collapses, after the events described in the blurb.

The story opens with their reunion. The first dozen or so chapters will include flashbacks to their younger days.

This era is no less advanced than the modern world in technology or thought, so once the leads grow up, they don’t pay much attention to their modern identities.

You can tell what I’m writing just by looking at the table of contents, even if you haven’t read the story = = Please stop starting ship wars.

2. An alternate chaotic era, low-magic progression fantasy. Romance and plot are evenly split. The Hundred Schools of Thought each have their own power rankings, from rank one, initiation, to rank seven, godhood. For example, I directly borrowed the Daoist stages of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, so Qi Refining is rank one and the Golden Core is rank three for Daoists. The villain in the first arc is a Confucian, but the setting is extremely far removed from history. I have absolutely no intention of disrespecting Confucian culture!

4. “In this fleeting life, sorrow lasts long, while joy is scarce; who would willingly give up a thousand gold for a smile?” In the original poem, “lightly” means “to think little of,” so the line means, “How could one give up a rare moment of laughter for a thousand gold?” But I removed the word “lightly” when I used the line as the story’s title, so it no longer means quite the same thing as the original poem. “Willingly” is the meaning I intend for the word “would.” You should understand once you’ve read the story.

Theme: A young man’s success is a great misfortune