After being shown spoilers of a fate in which she would be "torn limb from limb and utterly annihilated," Chu Miandong flees Lingyun Sect in the middle of the night, on the eve of the apprenticeship ceremony.
If she's going to die, why bother taking a master?
From then on, Chu Miandong becomes a happy, unaffiliated cultivator, wandering the martial world with her sword and living freely.
At the same time, at Heaven's request, she takes on a side gig as a roving talk therapist, specializing in going with the flow and giving the people of the Three Realms a little psychological shock.
The young pavilion master who ran away on the eve of his succession, a wise ruler of the mortal world and his powerful minister, a demon lord who loves joining in the fun all over the cultivation world despite the pain of having immortal energy coursing through him, a young phoenix who does everything in his power to refuse to grow up...
Over the years she travels through the Three Realms, she sees the most beautiful sights, drinks the strongest wine, tastes every delicacy under the heavens, and makes friends with beautiful people everywhere.
Until one day, she meets a young man.
He will bury peach-blossom wine with her in the gentle spring breeze, and share a bowl of chilled sweet soup with her amid the cicadas' song on the summer solstice.
He will take a basket and gather fruit and vegetables when the autumn wind first rises, and drape a crane-feather cloak over her shoulders when the first winter snow falls, warming a pot of wine as they chat about the world.
She thinks she may have found the person with whom she can explore the Great Way.
Then Chu Miandong happens to see a letter lying open on the desk.
It is addressed to "Venerable Yun You Immortal." The letter reads, "Grandmaster, when are you thinking of returning to the sect?" It is signed, "Sect Leader of Lingyun Sect."
Chu Miandong: ? Isn't this Venerable Yun You Immortal the very cheap master she nearly took on?
Chu Miandong: ...Your Lingyun Sect is full of tricks.
Chu Miandong packs her things and leaves again.
*
After cultivating in seclusion for eight hundred years, Yan Wuchen finally becomes the sect's grandmaster and decides it's time to take on a little disciple.
But his prospective disciple disappears in the middle of the night, on the eve of the apprenticeship ceremony.
...She even leaves behind a note saying, "The world is so big. I want to go see it," before running off on her own.
Yan "Cultivation Maniac" Wuchen can't understand what the outside world has to offer that's worth a disciple abandoning her lonely master and wandering so far away.
So he leaves the sect to see this wide world that has lured his disciple away.
Later...
Yan Wuchen: So good.jpg
Delicious food and beautiful scenery are captivating; poetry, wine, flowers, and tea are intoxicating.
What's more, he realizes that the two of them really aren't meant to be master and disciple.
They are meant to be Dao companions.
*Primarily a travelogue, featuring food, scenery, people, and stories
*My take on an immortal-cultivation road novel and a guide to healing psychology. The setting is very loosely grounded.
Please take home my next new story~
"The Immortal Lord Is the Spirit in My Painting"
Cyberpunk cultivation x gender-swapped version of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
Love begins with freedom, not restraint.
Blurb
Yan Nanxing has the power to bring her paintings to life with a brush.
The landscapes she paints become their own worlds; objects become painted images; people become painting spirits.
Normally, all these forms created from ink and brushstrokes vanish without a trace on the third day.
So when the young painting spirit displays a self-awareness unlike anything she has seen before, Yan Nanxing decides to let him experience all the beauty of life during his brief three-day lifespan.
On the first day, she takes him to eat hot pot, telling him it's the most powerful spell for "making people feel like they're truly living life to the fullest, with passion."
On the second day, she takes him on the first maglev train, showing him high-rise rooftops and verdant fields scattered with morning light, then leading him into a vast sea of indigo flowers. She smiles and says, "This is the present."
On the third day, she paints a world and takes him through it, showing him the origins of his past and the road that lies ahead. She tells him, "Even if our lives are like morning dew, we can still find a place of peace amid all the hardships of life."
But late on the third night,
The young man doesn't vanish like a bubble. Instead, he turns into a fluffy-feathered immortal crane and nuzzles affectionately into Yan Nanxing's arms.
Yan Nanxing falls silent for a moment.
Yan Nanxing is confused.
Yan Nanxing thinks with the weight of years.
Yan Nanxing: Maybe you should still go.
The mood has been built up this far. If he doesn't disappear now, won't it be awkward?
*
As an immortal crane who diligently cultivated and trained until he finally ascended, Shu Jianli is only one step away from joining the Heavenly Court: settling his mortal ties.
To do so, he separates out a wisp of his primordial spirit and merges it with a body:
a painting spirit with a lifespan of only three days.
And so, just as his mortal ties are settled, a new bond forms.
On the final day of his three-day term, he confesses everything to her and speaks earnestly, filled with joy and longing:
"I owe you a karmic debt, so I can't return to Heaven."
Then he hears the girl calmly reply:
"You don't owe me anything now. Go back, then."
Shu Jianli is stunned for a moment.
As her words fall, the strands of karma wrapped around him disappear, and his mortal ties are severed.
She has freed him from the bonds of karma,
and given him the freedom to choose again.
But all he wants is to remain in the mortal world, by her side, three days at a time.
*My take on cyberpunk cultivation: with the cultivation world still in existence, the mortal world has developed into the near future. The upper realm has a cyberpunk Heavenly Court, and the mortal world has an Immortal Alliance University.
*Expected to be around 150,000 words, a short and sweet story. Planned for August to October; currently building a backlog~
Upcoming stories in line, take your pick
"Three Years of the Phoenix Lord's Pleading"
A funny, sweet daily life taming a little black phoenix villain.
It is not fate that determines our choices; our choices give meaning to fate.
"He Said I Used Him and Tossed Him Aside" - A cultivation-world version of the man who loved the dragon, but with a misunderstanding
"After Grinding My Way into an Ancient God, I Gave Up" - A devoted, gloomy believer and arrogant genius gets a warm welcome and a makeover
Visit my profile for the full blurbs~
Theme: Delicious food and beautiful scenery, traveling the world
So cute! Already blushing.
Once you start to be suspicious, there will be no end to it.
Wuchen was tricked this time. I can sympathize with you for a second.
Ah? How did it tie up??? I haven't seen enough yet [Hold your chin] Such a shallow pit
Hhhhhhhhh I'm sorry, I usually don't laugh unless I really can't help it 🍉 🍉 🍉
Hahaha, it's really romantic [Sahua] Just by reading the text, you can imagine what a fantastic and magnificent scene it is 💪
Wow, is Mingqiu a psychological counselor in modern times? He is so good at teaching people 💪[Spread flowers]
The words are so cute, it's just human nature [Three Flower Cat Head]
Hahaha, what a miserable realm spirit (no mercy) [Caigou]
It is the joy of catching fish. There is no need for the leader to say anything. Fishing is actually human nature [Caigou]