Tempting the Divine

The Demon Venerable Shen Jixue glimpsed her destined death in the Hongmeng Mirror

The Divine Venerable Chang Yuan led the armies of the Divine Realm in slaughtering the Demon Realm. Amid mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, she too was pierced through by the Demon-Slaying Spear.

The Hongmeng Mirror revealed that the only way to survive her destined death was to sabotage Chang Yuan's five lifetimes of romantic tribulations: first make him fall in love, then kill him.

[First Lifetime] She was a servant sold into the Lin household, assigned to serve the gentle, blind eldest young master, until the moment of life and death

The gentle young man, blindfolded, reached out urgently. "A Xue, come with me!"

Shen Jixue walked toward him step by step, sword in hand. Her smile was wicked, but her voice gentle. "Young Master, we can't get away."

[Second Lifetime] Through a twist of fate, she entered the Xuanxiao Sect and made the cold, heartless Sword Venerable fall for her, until the eve of their bond ceremony

The Sword Venerable, his old wounds not yet healed, slowly approached, his eyes full of her. "A Xue, will you walk the path of cultivation by my side?"

Shen Jixue glanced at the tribulation clouds she had summoned on the horizon, then smiled and withdrew her hand. "I won't."

[Third Lifetime] Hunted by the Xuanxiao Sect, she hid among mortals and found a pitiful little boy displaced by war. She doted on him as he grew up, until he threw a tantrum and ran away from home, only to be spotted by his pursuers

The hopeful young man was covered in blood. "Master, save me..."

Shen Jixue pried his hand from her hem. Her expression was cool. "Your master can do nothing to help."

Later, the fourth lifetime's demon prince, betrayed by everyone, and the fifth lifetime's master of Guixu, who had long been lonely... all died by her hand.

The war between gods and demons was about to erupt. She thought Chang Yuan had failed to overcome his romantic tribulation and had already entered the cycle of reincarnation, but then she saw the long-absent Divine Venerable on the battlefield.

He charged into the Demon Realm's army like a madman, making straight for her.

*

He waited for her alone in the cold darkness for a hundred years, going from hatred to remembering all the good in her.

In the end, he prayed every day that, even if she came to kill him, he could see her one more time.

"I would abandon my place among the gods for you."

Reader's Guide:

1. Many changes to the original setting. If it's not to your taste, please don't flame me.

2. The female lead is a Demon Venerable, not some great saint. Gods and demons are enemies, so pursuing the male lead to kill him is perfectly normal to her. Readers with strong moral sensibilities, please steer clear.

3. The male lead has a bit of Stockholm syndrome.

Blurb screenshotted November 8, 2023

Coming soon: Mistaking the Demon Venerable for a Dog

[Blurb]

After Shen Ning died suddenly, she transmigrated into a cultivation novel as a cannon-fodder character who appeared only as a corpse.

And the unlucky System bound to her had only one task on its panel: betray her sect and conspire with the Demon Venerable.

Shen Ning: 6

This was the first time she'd seen a System that practically sent its Host to their death.

The one saving grace was the "Death-Feigning Pill" in the rewards list.

*

The original story only mentioned that Shen Ning betrayed her sect and conspired with the Demon Venerable. It never explained how she did either, so all she could do was wait for the Demon Venerable to come looking for her.

Shen Ning had no choice but to keep lying low in the sect.

Until one day, she noticed the quest progress bar had moved: 2%.

But in the past few days, she'd only been in contact with familiar people from the sect. There was no one else...

Wait

Her gaze dropped to the little black dog she'd found by chance. It was sticking its rear in the air, wagging its tail wildly as it gnawed on a steak. She fell into deep thought.

The venerable Demon Venerable certainly had some peculiar tastes.

*

Shen Ning crouched in front of the doghouse and opened A Guide to the Demon Realm's Cuisine for the little black pup, sleeping belly-up. "Tomorrow, I'll make you charcoal-grilled tuotuoshou with chilled Zhuyu fruit juice."

Her eyes shifted, and she smiled ingratiatingly. "Esteemed Lord Helian Shuo, when would be an auspicious day for me to betray my sect...?"

Shen Ning didn't notice that her "delicate, helpless" junior brother was nearby and had heard every word.

The young man narrowed his eyes. If he hadn't misheard, she'd just called him by name while talking to a dog?

*

Shen Ning watched as the quest progress shot up from 2%. She'd thought the "Demon Venerable" was naturally shy and enjoyed role-playing, but who could have guessed she'd picked the wrong mountain and mistaken the wrong person for her boss?

The dog she'd been treating like a treasure really was just a dog. The junior brother she'd been ordering around was the real final boss.

How was she supposed to survive this?!

She might as well die.

Theme: Love is born through care, dies through scheming, and is rekindled through trust and sincerity.