The Abandoned White Moonlight

Blurb:

Before the Moonshadow Sect was destroyed, it had produced two peerless talents, as the greatest sect in the Nine Provinces.

The first was Ji Yueshu, cool and aloof, whose mastery of the Clear Breeze Sword Style was unmatched.

The second was Xue Qiongyu, gentle as jade, with a Fengluan zither in hand. One song could shake the Nine Provinces in attack, or heal all things in defense.

They say Ji Yueshu and Xue Qiongyu were childhood friends, and that Xue Qiongyu loved Ji Yueshu deeply but could never have him.

They say the massacre ten years ago was caused by the two of them. Xue Qiongyu fell into demonic cultivation because Ji Yueshu would not return his love, slaughtered the Moonshadow Sect, and spared only Ji Yueshu.

They say Ji Yueshu married into the Hidden Spirit Sect to restore the Moonshadow Sect, taking a spouse he did not love.

They say Ji Yueshu abandoned the Hidden Spirit Sect’s young sect master at their wedding and vanished without a trace.

But Xue Qiongyu, one of the people in those rumors, only knew that during the massacre ten years ago, someone crippled his cultivation and severed the tendons in his hands and feet. When he lay in the sea of flames, Ji Yueshu saw him and walked away without looking back. He himself endured the pain and crawled out of the fire. Then a little beggar gave him a piece of bread and saved his life.

The little beggar was sweet and well-behaved, with a bright smile. When Xue Qiongyu couldn’t move, the beggar would go and find food for him. When someone picked on him, the beggar would stand in front of him and chase them away with a fierce glare.

The two depended on each other, kept each other company, came to understand one another, and promised to stay together for a lifetime.

But the little beggar, the young palace master who had run away from the Hidden Spirit Sect to escape an arranged marriage, was eventually found by the sect. That day, Xue Qiongyu learned that his little beggar was named Fang Fengchen.

That day, the Hidden Spirit Sect gave Fang Fengchen a choice: him, or the sect.

Fang Fengchen chose the Hidden Spirit Sect without hesitation. When they parted, he did not even look back once.

Many years later, when Fang Fengchen came to him again, there was another person standing beside him:

That person had a refined air, serene and bright as the moon, like an immortal from the woods.

Xue Qiongyu looked at the two people he had not seen for decades. For a moment, his heart ached with bitter sorrow, as if lifetimes had passed.

Fang Fengchen, however, was full of excitement. He led Xue Qiongyu over to Ji Yueshu. “Master, this is the person I told you I’d chosen. In this life, there’s no one else for me.”

Ji Yueshu ignored Fang Fengchen and fixed his cold gaze on Xue Qiongyu. Yet his voice trembled in a way even he did not notice. “Xue Qiongyu, if I hadn’t come looking for you, how much longer would you have hidden from me?”

Cover art authorized by: Juansi Ji, Ergou

Theme: Charge forward bravely.