When the goddess Xiyu went traveling, she returned with a mortal named Chen Xuan.
Using the Silent Flame as a catalyst, she gave up half her cultivation to guide him into becoming the second god of the Azure Sea.
She asked if he could stay in the Azure Sea with her forever.
Back then, he nodded and stayed by her side. Being with her had always been what his heart desired.
Later, he accompanied Xiyu to the wedding of Lord Xiye of the Spiritbound Marsh.
Xiye and Xiyu were old friends. On the eve of the wedding, the two got drunk together in the Cloudwater Grotto-Heaven.
When Chen Xuan arrived, he heard them talking about him, including Xiyu's cool, clear voice.
"Chen Xuan... is very much like him."
*
Anyone who lived through the years of war between the Immortals and the Demon Domain would never forget General Yunyao, who burst onto the scene from the Great Wilderness Marsh.
He was the first God of War to command the Immortals.
And he was Xiyu's lover.
She was born to protect all living beings. It was her duty as a goddess.
But in the annals of the Immortals, the one who ultimately ignited his divine body and soul to quell that great war was not her.
After that, the Immortal Realm never spoke of Yunyao again.
*
When Chen Xuan first met Xiyu, she too was still a mortal.
She was a beauty his imperial brother brought back from an inspection tour, a favored consort who reigned over the entire harem and even tried to seduce him, a bewitching concubine.
She was his sister-in-law.
Only on the day he died did he learn that all the love, resentment, longing, and suffering that had consumed his heart in that brief lifetime had been nothing more than a diversion for a goddess from the heavenly realm.
[Substitute trope. The male lead is the reincarnation of the female lead's first love. In the mortal-world arc, the female lead has past experience while the male lead does not. Many original details; blurb and title to be revised, but the premise will stay the same.]
Theme: Cherish the one before you
