The Phoenix's Heart Is Mine Alone

[Complete]

Blurb:

Phoenix Princess & Adorable Pet / Demon Lord & High God / Phoenix Emperor & Demon Venerable

An aloof, cool beauty who loves fiercely and hates just as fiercely &

A proud, unruly Demon Venerable who turns the tables against all odds

Synopsis:

Feng Siling, princess of the Phoenix Clan, was famed throughout the Three Realms for her beauty and cool, distant temperament. Yet in the year she turned seventy thousand, she adopted an orphan abandoned by the Demon Realm, a child with a pair of deep blue eyes, and named him Fusheng.

Back then, she could never have imagined that he would be the one to accompany her for the rest of her life.

Framed and plunged into tribulation, shrouded by dark clouds, and reborn through nirvana, Feng Siling's life was never destined to be ordinary.

(Character-focused)

As Feng Siling passed by, she saw a tiny figure, no bigger than a bundle, with its back to her.

He was curled up in a corner. Following everyone's gaze, he turned around, cautiously poking his round head out from beneath a black cloak to look around. She saw his eyes, deep blue and clear, the color of the ocean.

He looked at her. At first, unease and nervousness showed in his eyes, but soon they faded. He lifted his head to look at her, or rather, to stare at her.

"Your Highness, look! This child is staring at you!"

She seemed intrigued and raised an eyebrow, though her face remained cool and distant, as if untouched by the mortal world. "What is your name?"

Those were the first words she ever said to him.

He fell silent, saying nothing.

"If life is as brief as a mayfly's, then you must fight for yourself." He always remembered the determined look in her eyes as she spoke, all other emotions gone. He would remember those words for the rest of his life.

"I'll call you Fusheng." With that, she turned and left.

Light shone in his eyes as he watched her leave, until she became a pale blue silhouette in the distance. He seemed to grow accustomed to her tone, which left no room for argument.

"You know perfectly well that a phoenix's rebirth is a near-certain death. You can't save her."

He lowered his eyes. His deep blue gaze was profound and still, yet it seemed that the vast ocean reflected in it might surge and roar at any moment. The fierce emotions within could swallow everything. "I know. But I will never allow anyone to hurt her."

"No matter what she becomes, no matter whether she still has her memories of the past, I will find her."

(Past-life arc)

In her past life, Cang Yue fell to the demonic path, while Chang Ming was a lofty High God.

She had once been so cautious, but after falling to the demonic path, she became just as obsessive. Once someone fell to the demonic path, it seemed that the evil thoughts within them were magnified without restraint. She became utterly uninhibited, even wanting to lock him by her side.

But she never expected that he would use the warmth that was uniquely his to thaw her heart, layered over with ice, and give her the courage to find her original self again, and the right to love and be loved.

Though everyone condemned her, in Chang Ming's eyes, she had never been the evil, cruel, and vicious demoness the world claimed deserved to die. She was still the same Cang Yue she had always been. She had simply been forced to bear far too many burdens that should never have been hers.

If she could, Cang Yue would have wanted things to stay this way for the rest of her life. At least, that was what she thought.

But she never imagined that one day he would suddenly perish while saving her. It all happened so unexpectedly that Cang Yue could not accept it. She watched over the flickering remnant of his soul in the Soul-Gathering Lamp day and night, as if she had gone mad.

Until the remnant soul lit the lamp and its faint glow returned. She saw how he had given up his divine bones to save her and let a ghost enter his body. She saw the kiss marks he left after she fell asleep, and heard the promise he made on the summit of Xuanyin Mountain to meet again in their next life.

From beginning to end, he never wanted her to be controlled by evil forces and burdened with a lifetime of blood debt. Nor did he want her to suffer the agony of being burned and having her bones eaten away when she entered the cycle of reincarnation. He hoped that in her next life she would not become a demon, because she was never meant to be one.

He had loved the cautious little immortal who kept her talents hidden in the Immortal Realm, but he had also loved the obsessive demoness whom everyone feared.

He had once wanted to spend a lifetime with her, but he could not bear to watch her continue down the wrong path, stained with sin, until she eventually fell unconscious.

"So, there's nothing wrong with living for all living beings, and nothing wrong with living for one person, either."

In this life, he lost his divine bones and was born a demon. She gained divine bones and became a princess of noble status in the Phoenix Clan.

Their promise to meet again in the next life would be renewed.

"Fusheng, why is it you?"

Seeing Fusheng, Feng Siling smiled calmly. A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes when the legendary Demon Venerable Fu Jinye did not arrive as promised, followed by a calm sigh of emotion.

She did not remember how much time had passed, but she knew that the little one from back then had grown up.

He looked at her and smiled. His eyes seemed to hold all the tenderness in the world, as did his voice.

"I'm the one you've been waiting for. That's just another name of mine."

Reading Guide:

1. He starts out as an adorable pet to raise, then grows up later.

2. Younger man and older woman romance in the present life.

3. Both leads have contrasting sides in the early and later parts of the story.

4. The past-life romance has a tragic ending and a bittersweet tone; the present-life romance has a happy ending.

5. I decide my own fate, not Heaven.

6. The art of flirting and being flirted with.

Theme: Burn away the dark night, and from then on, shine forever.