The Immortal Venerable Is Working a Day Job

This story has the feel of A Record of a Departed Wife! If you don't understand the underworld's departed beloved, then goodbye!

Everyone, I picked through the original setup and moved bits of it into other stories, but I changed the names, so let's leave it at that.

--

Before he turned over a new leaf, Xu Yuechen was a great villain. He loved to manipulate people, and his goal was to find a sliver of hope beneath the pressure of the Heavenly Dao.

But now he's reformed. He can no longer live the life of a great villain who could command the wind and rain. All he can do is work diligently to earn the money needed to save the world.

--

Yuechen isn't particular about what he wears. Even the hair tie on his head is made from a sash he stole from his friend.

Jiuye Shuhua scolded Yuechen: "All you do every day is steal my white sashes to use as hair ties. White sashes are worn by people in mourning. Back home, you wear one only when your parents or your wife have died. Aren't you worried it'll bring bad luck?"

Yuechen whistled and kept stealing them anyway. Hair ties are consumables. What's wrong with stealing a couple?

After he had stolen more than a dozen, Jiuye Shuhua chose to sacrifice himself to save the world. He forged a sword with his body and soul, saving all living things from disaster.

Yuechen had planned to die with him, but Shuhua said the world still needed saving. He begged Yuechen to live, and to live for his wish.

"Live on, and let your heart truly beat," Jiuye Shuhua pleaded with Yuechen in his final moments.

Before he ever knew love, Yuechen's true form was a piece of Kunlun jade created by the Heavenly Dao. He knew nothing of human joy, sorrow, love, or hate, and understood nothing of human feelings. He only knew that a longtime companion had suddenly died, and his heart felt heavy, though he couldn't make sense of it. It wasn't until someone came along who was willing to teach him all about emotions that he began to remember, and only then did he feel the pain in his heart. But it was too late. The one he loved was gone, leaving nothing but regret.

--

Yuechen is a man with a story. He spent years painstakingly freeing himself from the constraints of being a creation of the gods. The sword on his back holds a compassion capable of saving shattered souls. He's very familiar with the Demon Lord of the Demon Realm, and he's also very familiar with the leader of the Immortal Alliance.

And yet this man can't find a single coin in his pockets.

He makes a living sculpting dough figurines. When he's hungry, he eats flatbread that costs two coins each; when he's thirsty, he drinks from streams in the wild.

As a traveler who has to save the world, Yuechen doesn't think he needs to worry too much about food and lodging.

His companions, however, still think he's far too stingy.

"So, what have you been doing with all the money you've saved from sculpting dough figurines?" Lu Yao, traveling alongside him, couldn't help asking.

Yuechen replied earnestly, "I'm saving up to buy a house with a snowy view."

And then wait for someone to come back.

When he looked back, he saw one mountain after another stretching into the distance. Snow fell in silence. His heart was beating, and he was spending his whole life missing someone.

Ninety thousand miles of sky screen, a jade hook reaching across the heavens.

A hundred years passed in a blink, and the traveler had yet to grow old.

The heavens lowered their gaze for a moment, and the ways of the world changed.

Where can I borrow a killing song to break through this deadly formation?

I raised my head and challenged the vast sky, then drew my sword and cleaved the sea.

The sea can still be cleaved, but the past can never be reclaimed.

A note before reading: This is a prequel to The Immortal Venerable Is Currently Unemployed. The story's main themes are an unforgettable departed beloved who just won't stay gone, a love triangle, and a chaotic mix of pairings. You could call it pure romance, since all three people in the love triangle are men. But one of them is dead, so I'll categorize it as multi-relationship romance after all. There will also be scenes from other characters' perspectives. I even wrote a 190,000-character prequel just to explore the theme of an unforgettable departed beloved who just won't stay gone.

Theme: Let go of the past and pursue a new life.