--
There was an old saying that the Shu family of Jiangnan was a once-in-a-thousand-years swordsmithing clan. Their ancestors became famous after forging a legendary sword for a mighty cultivator who ascended to immortality.
It was said that every generation of the Shu family inherited an astonishing talent for forging. Everyone wanted to find the family and have them make a sword, hoping to obtain a legendary weapon, greatly increase their cultivation, and comprehend the Great Dao.
To keep their ancestral legacy alive, the Shu family had no choice but to leave their home, live in seclusion, and protect themselves with a maze of mechanisms, walling themselves in.
Shu Chaonian had been lonely and isolated since childhood, with only mechanical puppets for company. One day, his parents brought home a child about his age and told him that the boy would be his playmate from then on, someone who would grow up by his side.
The young boy was named Feng Chen. Chaonian fell for him the first time they met. Blushing, he took Feng Chen’s hand and led him to see the spirit weapons he had forged, then called him Senior Brother.
Shu Chaonian thought Feng Chen would stay by his side for all eternity, and that they would never be parted.
Then one day, Feng Chen died for him. Only then did Chaonian learn from his parents that Feng Chen had been chosen to be his shadow guard from the start, destined to die for him.
But he didn’t want his senior brother to die for him. He wanted him to live well. No wonder his senior brother’s eyes were always so full of sorrow. He was always silent, sensitive, and watching Chaonian with an inferiority complex.
Shu Chaonian was devastated and drowned himself in drink and despair. Even when he was forced to take Forget-Worry Grass, it couldn’t stop the heartache of losing Feng Chen.
He forgot Feng Chen’s peerless beauty and the reason for his death. All he remembered was that his senior brother had gone out, and would come back eventually.
By day, Shu Chaonian was no different from anyone else. At night, he would mourn and regret, over and over, like a madman.
Ten years later, he went with his men to deliver a sword at the place agreed upon with their employer. A man in blue, carrying a qin, pushed aside the beaded curtain and stepped onto the stage. The whole room fell silent.
His subordinate stared, dumbstruck, practically drooling. “I have never, ever seen a man so... beautiful!”
Shu Chaonian hastily turned away, scolding himself over and over in his mind: Stop looking. No one in this world could be more beautiful than Senior Brother! (But his eyes honestly couldn’t look away.)
Attacker’s perspective:
Before the Shu swordsmithing family brought Feng Chen home to serve as their shadow guard, a fortune-teller had declared that he had a rebellious streak, and would never be loyal. If they took him on as a retainer, he would surely betray them.
But the Shu couple ignored the warning and brought him home anyway, muttering that their son was too lonely.
No one was wrong, really. Feng Chen had agreed to become the couple’s son’s death-sworn guard only so he could survive. He had no wish to submit. He thought that if he learned enough, he would be able to control his own fate one day.
They were all born of parents, so why should he have to live in someone else’s shadow, forever playing second fiddle?
But later, the couple who had brought him back to preserve their legacy risked their lives to protect them, and the noble young master even chose to take his own life rather than let Feng Chen die.
And in the end, Feng Chen really did die for him.
Feng Chen had no regard for the worldly ideals of gratitude and loyalty, but in the end, he surrendered to love.
He fell in love with someone and willingly gave him everything.
I went mad for ten years after my senior brother died.
A beautiful attacker with a rebellious streak x a gifted receiver with a split personality
Theme: Is there really such a thing as unwavering devotion?
