In the tenth year of Tianye, a master of illusions opened the illusion realm he had spent a century creating, inviting talented cultivators to explore it and hone their skills.
Pei Tianqing left home to travel and joined the others in entering the realm.
A month later, she flooded the master's illusion realm.
The whole mortal world was stunned.
*
The illusionary figures within the realm were called "Guides." Their job was to lead the immortal cultivators who entered the realm through its storylines.
One of them was a village boy. Orphaned as a child, he lived alone in the mountains. One day, he met an outsider who had ventured into the mountains and helped them find an immortal herb, only to die at the jaws of a demon beast.
That was the unchanging fate assigned to him in the illusion realm.
Countless cultivators entered the realm to train, so the village boy's fate repeated itself countless times.
Then one day, the boy suddenly became aware of a reality beyond his assigned fate. He wanted to break the cycle and escape.
But no matter how many times he tried to save himself or called for help, the cultivators entering the realm remained oblivious to his struggle.
Until, on his final attempt to call for help, Pei Tianqing stopped.
*
Xu Ang, courtesy name Fangyi, was the young master of the Buxu Pavilion. Upright in character and unmatched in talent, he was known as a cold and snowy immortal prodigy whom no one dared approach.
To break through to a new realm, Xu Fangyi sealed away his own memories and trained painstakingly under the master of illusions. By blending reality with illusion, he actually became a Guide in the realm.
Life and death, repeated in an endless cycle, and all his pleas going unanswered: this was the tribulation he was meant to endure before breaking through.
But when the illusion ended, he returned to the Buxu Pavilion in a daze, looking distracted and listless day after day.
The disciples saw him and were all astonished, so they went to ask the elders for an explanation.
Twisting his beard with a smile, an elder said, "That wasn't a life-and-death tribulation. It was a tribulation of love."
*A fantasy take on a full-dive game romance with an NPC
A sincere, naturally charming heroine with maxed-out combat skills, and a reserved hero troubled by love
Pei Tianqing (Pei Xi) and Xu Fangyi (Xu Ang)
Reader's Guide:
1. The story is split roughly equally between the illusion realm and the world outside it.
2. The hero is an NPC inside the realm, but he's a living person.
Theme: Challenge your fate
