Crossing the Cloud River

Supremely Badass Sect Leader Master vs. Beautiful, Tragic, Wolfish Disciple

Romance-focused blurb:

Female lead's perspective

Many years ago, Xie Yunsheng followed her master into the palace to divine the fate of the empire. She learned that the empire's fortune would last only one generation, and that a member of the Pei clan would kill the emperor and slaughter his brothers, collude with foreign powers to seize authority, and bring about the empire's collapse, leaving the people to suffer amid devastation.

Years later, Xie Yunsheng had mastered her studies and become the leader of the Qianji Sect. With the world at heart, she was taken by surprise when her master asked her to accept someone as her disciple on her deathbed.

He was skilled with a sword, exceptionally handsome, and highly perceptive, but his character and destiny were both difficult to describe.

He was vindictive, arrogant, unruly, and unfathomably calculating.

Fated to become a traitor who would bring disaster upon the nation and its people, he was destined for a miserable end.

Yet this very man told her he refused to accept his fate.

Since he wouldn't accept the destiny of a traitor, she would help him defy fate and change it.

But as she tried to change his fate, her disciple grew increasingly rebellious. He climbed into her bed, locked an arm around her waist, and said in a low, weary voice, "Xie Yunsheng, if you were with me, if we were close and intimate, would you be happy?"

Male lead's perspective

Pei Xingchuan was born a royal, surrounded by fine clothes and good food.

But a single reading of his fate changed his life forever.

For years, he was confined in Jinyong City, hidden from the light of day and subjected to endless torment.

When he finally regained his freedom, his mother had died of grief, and his father's chronic illness was beyond cure.

The flames of vengeance raged within him, but his father's final words suppressed all his hatred and fury.

To fulfill his father's last wish, he schemed his way into the Qianji Sect and unexpectedly became a disciple of its leader, Xie Yunsheng.

At first, she didn't act like a master at all. She taught him nothing and always sent him charging into the fray.

He resented her, but at some point, everything suddenly changed.

She taught him swordsmanship and divination, and gave him a new life.

Her kindness as his master rivaled that of his parents.

By all rights, he should have respected her, but a voice deep inside him kept clamoring. He could suppress it no longer, and eventually gave in.

"She is a good person, a very good person. She may not be the kind of sage described in the classics, but she is my sage, the one who brought me from the underworld into the human world. The sage may be impartial, treating the people like straw dogs, but she has compassion, and she has guided me into becoming human."

"I may not be able to become a god, but that is not her fault. If the sage's life is in danger, I will take her place."

Plot-focused blurb:

The storms of the martial world have never ceased, and bloodshed rages over one ancient tower.

It is said that the Yue Clan Treasure Tower was where craftsmen of the previous dynasty stored their treasures. It holds countless gold and jewels, as well as martial arts manuals, and some even say the fate of the dynasty is hidden within.

For decades, no one knew where the Yue Clan Treasure Tower was, until the emperor's beloved eldest princess dreamed of an immortal. She summoned a painter to create a portrait of the dream immortal and offered a reward for anyone who could find the tower using the clues in the painting. Heroes across the land rose up to pursue it.

Everyone thought a mere painter was no threat, and that seizing the Dream Immortal Portrait would be effortless.

Who could have guessed that the painting would reach Luoyang safe and sound?

The painter was being escorted by Xie Yunsheng, the current leader of the Qianji Sect, who was well versed in the esoteric arts and highly skilled in martial arts.

It was said that her weapon was an umbrella called Cloud-Escaping. The umbrella was strange and uncanny, and the instant it opened, it could take a life.

The Dream Immortal Portrait was genuine, but the immortal had dug a pit, buried herself underground, and lit five soul-anchoring lamps.

Alas, when the Judge's brush writes a life or death, neither gods, demons, nor ghosts can escape.

Reader's guide:

1. One-to-one romance, both leads are strong, but the male lead is strong and the female lead is stronger. Take note, and proceed with caution if that's not for you.

2. Plot comes first, with the romance following the story. Proceed with caution if you prefer otherwise.

3. There are no actual gods, demons, or ghosts in the story. This is not fantasy or xuanhuan.

4. Divination serves the plot and fits the setting, where esoteric arts were prevalent. The story touches on Liu Yao, Taiyi Shenshu, and Qimen Dunjia, but only to a limited extent and when the plot calls for it. Proceed with caution if you don't believe in such things.

5. Some ideas are rooted in the social context of the time and draw on Taoist classics such as the Book of Changes, the Kunlun Immortal Sect's Daodejing, and the Qingjing Jing.

My next book will be Pengshan Fu. Here's the blurb. If you're interested, please add it to your collection so you'll be notified when it starts.

The human emperor seeks the divine sword Dingque to glorify his empire. He digs nine feet into the earth, diverts a thousand rivers, and topples ten thousand mountains.

The barrier around Pengshan is destroyed, unleashing the demons, and the human world is nearing its end.

To preserve humanity's fate, the goddess of Pengshan, Yi Zhang, seals the mountain with her own body and sends down a fragment of her consciousness to capture the demons.

Shen Yizhang's life was full of misfortune. Born into a noble family, she ended up in the pleasure quarters. After enduring countless hardships to return to the capital and reunite with her family, her father, a renowned Confucian scholar, drowned her.

When Yizhang climbed out of the river, she was no longer the same person.

But her mortal body could not absorb the essence of the sun, moon, and stars, and she could not see into the void. The slightest misstep could land her in a serpent's jaws or a tiger's maw, rendering all her abilities useless.

Amid her perils, she met a young man. Handsome and gentle as jade, he was like a pine on a mountain or snow on a ridge, even though he was blind and deaf, and covered in scars.

He carried her across icy rivers and through rivers of fire, a paragon of kindness and righteousness. She burned away a sliver of her spiritual core so he could see the mountains and rivers and hear the five tones.

Yet this man, who was as steadfast as a pine and as bright as the moon, plunged a dagger into her heart without hesitation, then spread his arms and pushed her over a sheer cliff.

With the clear, luminous eyes she had given him, he looked at her and spoke in the pure, resonant voice she had bestowed upon him: "So you're a goddess, but this world doesn't need gods."

Later, Yizhang received guidance from the last earthly immortal in the world. With half an immortal bone, she healed and saved people, and the people built temples to her and revered her as the Lady of Pengshan.

When the world loses its virtue, the people fall into chaos. When the world loses the Way, warhorses roam the countryside.

Rival powers rose up everywhere. The human emperor's palace was destroyed, and his golden dragon carriage was smashed.

Inside the temple, the emperor wore plain robes, with a tired little colt at his side.

His flawless, handsome face was etched with deep confusion as he prayed with utmost sincerity for the goddess's favor.

But the goddess said, "A goddess may save the world, but she may also choose not to save someone."

The divine light in the emperor's eyes went out. He left the temple and pledged himself to an evil god. After rebuilding his power, he destroyed the goddess's temple and chose a legitimate daughter of the Shen family as his consort.

Amid the people's condemnation, the emperor smiled nonchalantly. "Ascending to heaven by day makes one an immortal. Escaping the corpse and leaving the tomb makes one an immortal. The Lady of Pengshan has done neither. How can you call her a god? All under heaven is the king's land, and everyone within its borders is the king's subject. If I want to take the Shen girl to my bed, what is wrong with that?"

The Shen girl he spoke of gazed calmly at him, raised a hand to grasp a wisp of smoke woven from purple and gold, and asked, "Your Majesty, do you know what this is?"

Theme: Good deeds bring good fortune