She Died on the Wedding Night of the Ruthless Sword Sovereign

[The Aloof Paragon of the Ruthless Path Breaks His Vows and Goes Mad for Love] [Status Gap, Regret and Redemption, Taking by Force]

[The aloof, controlling Sword Venerable, enthroned above all x the clever, sweet mortal girl]

Zhenzhen was nothing more than a medicine meant for the Sword Venerable's private use.

Though mortal, she was well-behaved and quick-witted, and sweetly pretty to boot. She was just barely acceptable.

That night, on the Cold Jade Terrace, the godlike man sat upright in meditation, still fully dressed. His cold, clear phoenix eyes held not a trace of desire. He looked at her as if she were an ant. "Know your place. Do not covet what you have no right to desire."

The Sword Venerable of Mingyu Sect was the head of a noble house and the foremost of the immortal sects. Born to unmatched privilege, he was aloof and dispassionate. The only exception was the Holy Maiden, Xue Ruo. He indulged her, giving her everything he could. And when she spoke, he would naturally make an exception for the nameless, titleless maidservant at his side.

The Sword Venerable's poison was cured.

He was about to marry the Holy Maiden.

Red stretched as far as the eye could see across the mountains.

And the lowly mortal girl who was no longer of use was driven out of Mingyu Mountain.

In the end, she never made it out of the maze. She froze to death in the snow.

She had crossed into this world.

And just like that, her brief eighteen-year life came to an end.

*

The Sword Venerable went mad on his wedding day.

The groom abandoned the bride and searched every mountain for a mortal girl.

Pei Lian, dressed in red, lifted the stiff corpse of the mortal girl from the snowy formation.

He stared at her for a long time.

Then blood suddenly spilled from his lips.

The cinnabar mark between his brows changed color, and his Ruthless Path shattered.

On his wedding night, the groom killed his bride.

Pei Lian fell into demonic cultivation, becoming a fiend who defied heaven and violated the Dao, committing every evil in pursuit of forbidden arts to bring her back to life.

*

The day Pei Lian and his beloved wife, Ji Zhen, held a wedding that was announced throughout the Three Realms was also the day the righteous sects launched their campaign to exterminate the demons.

The bride wore a loose brocade robe that concealed faint red marks. Gold locks trembled at her wrists and ankles as she joined the groom in accepting the demons' congratulations.

Outside the tower, the demon-slaying formation was complete, its power soaring into the heavens.

It was certain to destroy the fiend's soul and deny him rebirth for all eternity.

Pei Lian stood atop the mountain, looking down with a scornful laugh. He drew his sword, and a single flash of its light severed countless heads.

When he turned back,

everyone saw it.

The proud Sword Venerable, who had never deigned to look down at the dust below, witnessed the most unforgettable sight of his life.

His sweet, obedient little wife, whom he had searched a hundred lifetimes to find, lifted her veil and smiled at him. Then, without looking back, she leaped from the top of the tower and plunged into the demon-slaying formation.

Until we meet again.

"This is the ending that suits you best, Pei Lian."

Later, people said that the Ruthless Path god who had once sat alone upon his lofty dais had fallen completely into the mire, driven mad by love.

He searched the Three Realms, lowering himself into the dust, all to beg for a fragment of his dead wife's soul.

[Reading Guide]

1. Both are sexually inexperienced, happy ending, possessive love. The heroine isn't dead and doesn't want to die. The hero is a domineering, unhinged daddy type, an entitled aristocrat of the cultivation world, forceful and awful.

2. Old-school tragic romance, strong male lead and weak female lead. The heroine suffers first, then the hero.

3. Patriarchal melodrama, a love as deep as the sea of hatred. Nobody is decent. The hero starts out lofty and ends up groveling.

If you're okay with all that, we're good, qvq.

Theme: Celebrate beautiful love and criticize unhealthy love.