They Say My Husband Cultivates the Heartless Way

Su Niantong was born premature and frail, a sickly child who survived only after she took a plane tree in a Taoist temple as her godmother. She spent years bedridden, growing up frail and sickly until she turned eighteen, when her family chose a suitable husband for her. Her husband, Xiao Yan, came from a poor family. His parents had both died, but he was quick-witted. Not long after their engagement, news arrived that he had placed first in the imperial examinations. Her family was overjoyed and took her to pay their respects to her godmother again. That day, for some reason, she fell asleep beneath the plane tree and had a dream. She dreamed that the world she lived in was actually a world where one could cultivate immortality. And her future husband, Xiao Yan, was the protagonist of a storybook, blessed with exceptional talent. In the third year of their marriage, an immortal's incarnation, traveling the world, would take Xiao Yan as his disciple and demand that he pursue the path of severed emotions, personally cutting off his worldly bond with his wife. She, Su Niantong, appeared in no more than two pages of the story before he killed her with a single stroke of his sword, ending her life for good. After waking up, Su Niantong pondered the matter. Every doctor she had seen said she wouldn't live to twenty. Yet after marriage, she would live an extra year? What a bargain! If she married someone else, she'd only be worn down by household troubles or die of illness. She might as well marry Xiao Yan and enjoy three peaceful years. Without a qualm, Su Niantong married him and spent three years living as she pleased. Three years later, the immortal's incarnation really did come looking for Xiao Yan, demanding that he cultivate the path of severed emotions and cut off his worldly ties. Xiao Yan raised his sword, and Su Niantong closed her eyes. But when she opened them again, she saw Xiao Yan run his sword straight through the immortal's vessel. Blood splashed across his cheek. He casually wiped it away and pulled her into his arms, his eyes dark and bewitching. "My wife, don't be afraid. I've killed that lying demonic priest. If anyone else spouts such nonsense, I'll kill them all." Su Niantong: "...Uh." So much for cultivating the path of severed emotions? Everyone knew that Xiao Yan, the top disciple of Taicang Sect, was fiercely ambitious and nearly fanatical in his cultivation, all so he could ascend to immortality as soon as possible. Everyone wondered when he would abandon his wife, who had no talent for cultivation. But no one knew that whether he was accumulating power in the mortal world or killing his way to the top of the cultivation world, it was all so he could protect her and grant her eternal life. A lazy, sickly beauty x an ambitious mad dog * A slice-of-life story, more or less. The male and female leads are both natives of this world. * The male lead in the heroine's dream has been transmigrated into by someone else. Theme: Love should be built on mutual trust.