The Retired Demon Venerable Is Forced Back to Work

Completed [The Demon Lord's Sword Saint, His White Moonlight] Wuxia, [The Frail Beauty Races Across the Battlefield] Court Politics

Cold on the outside, warm on the inside, a man of action who isn't good with words, gong / passionate, sensitive beauty who loves dirty talk and knows how to draw people in, shou

1. From the Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Celestial Spirits and the most powerful being in the Nine Heavens, to a Demon Lord feared by all the immortals, Yue Ruyin paid a terrible price for the justice he believed in. Surrounded by the immortals, he thought his soul had been destroyed when the Demon-Sealing Pestle pierced his body.

When he awoke, a hundred years had passed. Wearing little more than rags, he was taken in by an elderly couple and assumed the name Yin Ruyue. At last, he was living the life he had always dreamed of: he opened a tavern and spent each day drinking, eating sweets, and listening to gossip.

When he met Ye Wuchen again, the other man had become the much-talked-about senior disciple of Taiwei Mountain. Like Yue Ruyin, he was now an ordinary mortal, and he had lost his memories.

Facing Ye Wuchen, drunk and with his clothes half-open, Yue Ruyin's heart pounded. Remembering that night in the Demon Gathering Cave, he pulled Ye Wuchen's slipping clothes back into place and muttered, “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.”

Ye Wuchen stared at him in bewilderment and grabbed his hand. “???”

2. Demons and monsters suddenly began falling to the dark side and losing their minds, slaughtering innocent people across the mortal realm. Sensing something amiss, Yue Ruyin decided to sneak into Qingqiu to investigate. Partway there, he ran into the reserved and dignified Ye Wuchen. Remembering the two times he'd taken advantage of him, he was overcome with shame and bolted.

Ye Wuchen took a few steps and blocked his path. His thin lips pressed together, his expression uncertain. After a few moments, his neck turning red, he said, “Brother Ruyue, about that night...”

Yue Ruyin hurriedly explained, “You were just too tempting. I couldn't help myself. It was all my fault. Just pretend nothing happened that night. I have something urgent to do, so I'll be off!”

With that, he turned and ran.

Ye Wuchen raised the Dragon-Binding Whip and drew him close. He lowered his eyes and stared at him without blinking, then lifted a hand with long, elegant fingers and rubbed the red mark on Yue Ruyin's collarbone with his thumb.

Ye Wuchen: “Does it hurt?”

Yue Ruyin had thought the other man was going to strangle him. His face was full of shock: “!!!”

3. On their wedding day, Yue Ruyin raised his bound wrists. “You love me. Could you untie me first?”

Ye Wuchen refused. “No.”

“Why not?”

Ye Wuchen replied slowly, “Luo Qinghuan gave me an illustrated book today.”

Yue Ruyin's heart skipped a beat. “W-what kind of book?”

Ye Wuchen pressed his chest against Yue Ruyin's. “It shows exactly this.”

Yue Ruyin's breath caught, his body going rigid. “W-Wuchen, have you been possessed?”

Ye Wuchen stopped. “Brother Yue, do you love me?”

Yue Ruyin sighed inwardly. “What do you think?”

“I want to hear you say it yourself, Brother Yue.”

This time, Yue Ruyin answered without hesitation. “I love you.”

Reading Guide (Content Warnings):

1. The setting and worldview draw in part on Taoism; everything else is my own invention. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

2. Main pairing: gong and shou, 1v1, happy ending, both sexually inexperienced.

Preorder: [How the Villain of a Political Intrigue Novel Can Save Himself] Transmigrate Into a Book

One day, Sang Ru transmigrated into a political intrigue novel as its villain, Pei Huannian, a former dynasty prince who had failed to restore his kingdom. Sang Ru barely remembered the book's title or plot, but the ending had made a lasting impression: being torn apart by five horses.

To survive in this world and find a way back, Sang Ru decided to latch onto the male lead, Liang Qiancang, and become his “grandson.”

Of course, this “grandson” was not that kind of grandson.

When the emperor sent Liang Qiancang to the freezing frontier, Sang Ru went with him to guard the border and devised strategies to repel the Hu people who repeatedly raided it. When the crown prince framed Liang Qiancang and landed him in prison, Sang Ru used his own connections to uncover the truth and clear Liang Qiancang's name. When Liang Qiancang was isolated and powerless at court, Sang Ru secretly helped him build up his forces, all the way to a position second only to the emperor.

Sang Ru stayed by Liang Qiancang's side from the time he was an overlooked prince of seventeen until he became emperor at twenty-four. Knowing that “the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be battered by the wind,” Sang Ru ran away on the day Liang Qiancang ascended the throne.

But just when he thought he'd hidden himself perfectly, a wanted poster bearing his likeness appeared.

The melon seeds in his mouth suddenly didn't taste so good.

Sang Ru: Am I still doomed to be torn apart by five horses?

Liang Qiancang died in the second year after ascending the throne. Before his death, Pei Huannian stabbed him with a sword coated in a deadly poison for which there was no cure. Reborn, Liang Qiancang vowed to kill Pei Huannian at their first meeting, the coming-of-age banquet, and nip the threat in the bud.

But who could have guessed that Pei Huannian, whom he pushed into the water, would come back up seeming like a different person? Unlike in their previous life, when he opposed Liang Qiancang at every turn, now he clung to him day after day, following him wherever he went and refusing to be shaken off.

Looking at Pei Huannian beside him, all harmless smiles and foxlike eyes, Liang Qiancang frowned.

What was he plotting now?

But when that delicate flower rescued him from danger time and again, Liang Qiancang finally realized that his hatred for Pei Huannian had long since faded. On the day of his enthronement ceremony, he surveyed the assembled officials from on high, but Pei Huannian was nowhere to be seen. For the first time, he panicked.

His hands clenched beneath his dragon robe, knuckles cracking. Liang Qiancang gritted his teeth: Pei Huannian, you think you can sleep with me and then run away? Not a chance!

In the middle of the night, Sang Ru was sleeping soundly when he felt a faint tickle on the side of his neck. The moment he opened his eyes, his heart nearly leapt out of his throat. Liang Qiancang, who should have been in the imperial palace, was lying beside him, his cold gaze like a curved blade at Sang Ru's throat. “General Pei, you slept with me and now you think you can run?”

Sang Ru closed his eyes, close to tears. “I-I was drunk, and things got a little...”

Before he could finish, a sharp pain struck his neck. He opened his eyes in pain. Liang Qiancang drew his peerlessly handsome face away from his neck. “Hm?”

Sang Ru couldn't help screaming inside: He knew it! The little wolf would never outgrow his habit of biting people!

He ran, the other chased, and neither could escape.

Scheming former-dynasty prince shou who pretends to be a “grandson” VS patient, calculating current-dynasty prince gong who pretends to be a “brute”

1. Happy ending, 1v1, transmigration into a book and rebirth, fictional setting with many original elements. Please don't compare it to real history.

2. A powerful team-up, with both career and romance. Please go easy on me.

3. There is a pursuit-to-win-back-the-beloved arc, but no groveling redemption arc.

Theme: Good and evil are always repaid in the end; cherish the people by your side.