Duan Qi didn't want to die, but he died at the moment he regretted most.
His obsession was so deep that after death, he never entered the cycle of reincarnation. From then on, his lonely spirit wandered the world.
In the centuries since he became a yao immortal, the thing Duan Qi regretted most was stepping through the doors of Qifeng Tower on the seventh day of the seventh month and bringing home an enormous nuisance he couldn't get rid of.
Nuisance: "You ran your sword through the beauty in my arms. You owe me compensation."
Nuisance: "This is the finest wine favored by the mortal emperor. I brought it especially for you. You came from the mortal world, so you should like it."
Nuisance: "The Red String Immortal refuses to show me the marriage register. I'll find a chance to steal it, and then I'll prove that our match was decreed by fate."
The nuisance wouldn't leave him alone, but Duan Qi's heart remained as still as water.
*
Fu Zhang, the God of War of the Ninth Heaven, was highborn but behaved outrageously. His reputation as a playboy was known throughout the three realms.
He had more former lovers than anyone could count.
Even so, countless people still offered him their sincere hearts, hoping he would trample them.
Recently, during a trip to the mortal world, he had taken a liking to a little yao immortal with very little cultivation, who was cold and proud by nature.
To win over the beauty he desired, Fu Zhang, who had never known the meaning of shame, "borrowed" a pearl treasured by the Old Dragon King of the Eastern Sea and gathered rosy clouds woven by the immortal maiden Miaojin. He sent them all to the snowy mountain where Duan Qi lived.
The people of the three realms, long familiar with this routine, all gathered to watch the spectacle. "What a sinful man! He's about to make another heartbroken victim."
But before they could see the drama they'd hoped for, Duan Qi died in a heavenly tribulation.
The spectators shook their heads, turned around, and began placing bets on how many days it would take this carefree prince to find someone new.
They never expected that Fu Zhang had truly fallen in love this time. To bring the little yao back to life, he turned the three realms upside down, and then vanished without a trace.
Theme: Let go of your obsessions, and you'll see the light.
