When he was young, Lin Heying was an abandoned child begging by the roadside, trampled by everyone and barely scraping by.
On a snowy day, as he lay dying, someone saved him.
Later, he found a place he could call home, a place that was always warm and clean.
The person who saved his life and gave him a home was respectfully known as the Immortal Venerable Yunze. Apparently, he was a renowned cultivator on the immortal mountains, always fond of gathering friends and wandering abroad, leaving for months or even years at a time.
But whenever he returned, he was always tender and indulgent toward Lin Heying.
Lin Heying was addicted to his presence. He looked forward more and more to each time the man came home, and put on his most generous, sensible front to win his favor.
Yunze said he wanted to see him become the leader of the righteous path.
So Lin Heying cultivated diligently and became the foremost disciple of the immortal sect.
Even though he saw little difference between right and wrong, good and evil.
Yunze hoped he would punish evil and protect the human world.
So Lin Heying took up his sword and struck down demons without blinking.
Even though, in his eyes, everyone in the world except Yunze was a demon.
The world was a purgatory, but Yunze was the god who had brought him back to life as a human.
On the day he succeeded to the position of sect leader, flowers bloomed in profusion and auspicious clouds filled the sky.
Lin Heying stood amid the cultivators of the Three Realms, who had gathered to congratulate him, while words of praise rang without end.
Yunze watched him from afar and smiled.
Then he turned and left, never to return.
People said the Immortal Venerable Yunze might have passed away quietly long ago.
But Lin Heying searched the Three Realms from end to end and could not find even a trace of his soul.
This world had always been a purgatory.
Since the gods had abandoned him,
he would become the greatest demon in the world.
*
Yunze's mission was to guide the villain in the book back to the righteous path.
The great villain, Lin Heying, was inhuman and twisted, and would ultimately cultivate into a great demon who dragged the whole world down with him.
Yunze spent ten years successfully raising him into a leader of the immortal sects and a beacon of righteousness.
With the mission complete, he hurriedly clocked out and ran off.
Less than two days later, he heard that the world of the book had been turned upside down.
The great villain, who should have been properly serving as a leader of the immortal sects, had shown his true nature, and the cultivation world was about to run red with blood.
Yunze hurried back to fix things.
But on the very first day of their reunion, he was "invited" into a lavish cave residence, where layers of wards trapped him inside, leaving him unable to escape.
Confused and at a loss, Yunze recalled the tone he had used in the past and chided him, trying to sound composed. "I taught you to be good. Is this what you learned?"
The once-slight boy had long since grown much taller and broader than him. He held Yunze tightly from behind, nuzzling him like a lover.
"Good people deserve rewards. You know what I want most."
Theme: Never give up, no matter how many setbacks you face.