After My Ex-Husband Faked His Death and Returned

Also known as The Roots of Love Are Hard to Sever and After Killing My Husband to Prove My Dao, My Former Husband Faked His Death and Came Back

Three-sentence summary:

The former husband I killed with my own hands has faked his death and returned.

And he even successfully won a place as my male consort.

Too bad he doesn't know that I'll raise my sword against him again.

There was once a celebrated love story in the cultivation world.

The Immortal Lord Huailang of Cangzhen Mountain, Lin Lanqiu, and the Fairy Xieying, Jiang Muyu, were a match made in heaven. Childhood sweethearts from equally distinguished families, they loved each other for a hundred years before finally becoming a couple.

But just seven days after they joined their fates, the immortal lord was accidentally poisoned by a demon while fighting demons. He later went berserk, took his own life, and perished, his cultivation destroyed.

The Fairy Xieying was left to keep vigil alone by his grave.

Her devotion never changed, and she never loved again.

A match made in heaven, deeply in love: that's how the story goes.

* Male Lead's Perspective:

Lin Lanqiu was reborn in a new body, with no memory of going berserk before his death.

But when he returned to Cangzhen Mountain under the assumed name Lin Rubie, he discovered that his beloved Dao companion had surrounded herself with a collection of substitutes who looked and acted like him.

So much for keeping vigil alone by his grave?

It seemed she hadn't suffered all that much.

Lin Lanqiu watched coldly from the sidelines.

He did not rush to reveal himself to his Dao companion. Instead, while investigating the cause of his death in his previous life, he impersonated himself and approached Jiang Muyu under the guise of being his own substitute.

He had always been used to loving her.

It didn't take long for him to catch the attention of his former beloved. Amid the envy and jealousy of the other male consorts, he became the one substitute she favored above all others.

Then, beside his own grave, Jiang Muyu ran a sword through his heart.

As he lay dying, he heard her sigh softly:

"You look too much like him."

"Are you him?"

He died without ever learning why she had killed him this time.

Did she love him? Or hate him?

Had she killed him because she hated that this substitute looked too much like her "Lin Lanqiu," or was there another reason?

Perhaps because he had died with regrets, Lin Lanqiu came back to life once more.

This time, he truly came back to life, his soul returning to his original body.

He awoke in the secret chamber Jiang Muyu had built for him.

He had lost his memory.

Lin Lanqiu had forgotten everything, even who he was.

But he clearly remembered who had killed him.

...It was the woman who had stayed by his side since he woke up, the one who claimed to be his Dao companion.

He would never let her go.

* Female Lead's Perspective:

Jiang Muyu was a madwoman.

In cultivation, and in love.

Her father was a bastard who abandoned his wife and daughter, even severing his own ties to immortality for the sake of some woman who had come from nowhere. He had even cursed his own daughter, telling her that she was destined for a tribulation of love and that her path to immortality would be short. So she put an end to that curse herself, by ending his life.

But the "curse" was far more terrifying than she had imagined. Even though she later paid no mind to her father's vile words, it wasn't until she accidentally killed Lin Lanqiu that she realized her cultivation had been stalled for a long time. At last, she understood that she had developed feelings for her Dao companion, and that he really was an obstacle on her path to cultivation.

She had a fortune told and discovered that the legendary tribulation of love was real.

Fifty years of solitude, yet her feelings remained and her love would not fade.

Later, she met many people who looked and acted like him, but none of them could truly be his substitute.

Each one resembled him, yet none was the real him.

Each one loved her, yet none loved the real her.

Until one day, a man appeared.

He remembered the flowers she liked, the miscellanies she enjoyed reading, the pastries she liked to eat, the wine she liked to drink, and the music she liked to hear.

He also had a pair of eyes she found quite appealing.

But sometimes, he would look at her with a complicated, unfamiliar expression.

His eyes held equal parts affection and suspicion, yet he still pretended to be emotionless and unmoved.

Jiang Muyu knew she had finally found him.

*

In her life, Jiang Muyu had drawn her sword against Lin Lanqiu three times.

The first time, she had her own reasons, but no choice.

The second time, she put those reasons aside and acted without hesitation.

Neither time had she raised her sword for personal revenge, nor for justice.

She had a secret.

One day, the Palace Master of the Stargazing Palace read her fortune. The reading said she would face three tribulations of love on her path to cultivation.

If she saw through them, she would ascend to immortality.

But Jiang Muyu never imagined that all three tribulations would be tied to the same person.

Back then, she had been certain that killing him was inevitable.

But...

The third time she raised her sword, she hesitated.

Character profiles: A refined, depraved, gentle madwoman of a female lead × A charming actor with a hidden dark side of a male lead

Content warnings:

Mild angst.

The female lead is very unstable, and the male lead has issues. Read with caution.

Both leads have rather strange personalities. They may seem stubborn, even hypocritical, but they are mutually devoted.

As you can see, this is a love-and-hate story where they really would give their lives for each other.

The ending may be open, or it may be a happy ending.

Although the blurb makes it sound like a bloody love story, it's actually not too angsty.

The first twenty or thirty chapters, before the male lead's identity is revealed, are mostly from his perspective. After that, the story is mostly told from the female lead's perspective.

Both leads have secrets of their own.

I'm terrible at writing blurbs, so I'll leave it at that for now.

P.S. The story begins with the male lead faking his death and returning. He approaches the female lead under the guise of his fictional younger brother, so there is also a bit of a substitute storyline.

At its heart, this is a redemption story disguised as a melodramatic tale of rekindled love, estrangement, unrequited feelings, and an endless struggle to the death.

Please don't apply real-world logic to the story.

It may not be as melodramatic as the blurb makes it sound, but all the promised plot points are there.

Thank you for reading.

Theme: Indifference can never compare to the pain of loving too deeply.