The Fragrant Herb Beauty (Reborn)

Reason for entering the contest: Save yourself, and never give up.

Jiang Zhiruo is peerlessly beautiful and the daughter of Luoyang's wealthiest family.

In her previous life, she was proud and ambitious, determined to become empress.

Her father helped Prince Li Zhao of Chenliu recruit soldiers and raise an army.

When Li Zhao became emperor, he bestowed phoenix robes and a crown upon another man's woman.

Reborn, what will Jiang Zhiruo choose?

1. Take her by force

2. Desperately try to win back his wife

3. The heroine has a secret identity

The heroine's perspective:

The tragedy of Jiang Zhiruo's life began when she married Li Zhao.

He was of imperial blood, while she was a merchant's daughter.

He married her only because circumstances forced him to.

She wanted to leave, but Li Zhao refused to let her go.

Yet when war broke out, he abandoned her,

fleeing with his childhood sweetheart, his cousin Pei Ajiao.

He fought for the empire and married another noble, virtuous woman.

After ascending the throne, he had wives and concubines aplenty,

including the virtuous Empress Sun and his childhood sweetheart, Consort Pei.

Meanwhile, Jiang Zhiruo was left alone and died far from home.

The male lead's perspective:

His parents' tragic fate taught him from childhood

never to lose himself in love.

Yet in his life, he still fell for two women surnamed Jiang.

One was the moonlight in his heart,

Jiang Zhiruo, Luoyang's most beautiful woman,

and his first wife, who died far too young.

The other was his cinnabar mark,

Jiang Yansheng, the most talented woman in Shu (the heroine's secret identity),

brave and resourceful, beautiful and gifted. He admired her,

but fate never gave them the chance to meet, and she died young.

Reborn, he thought he could make up for the regrets of his previous life.

Who could have guessed that the woman he loved had cut herself off from love and wanted nothing to do with him in this life?

Note: In his previous life, the male lead was a devoted servant of the state, but he'll learn to be a devoted husband in the end. He loves only the heroine (and loves her deeply). The romance is strictly one-on-one.

On the night of Xie Xiaoqing and Shen Xingcha's wedding, the groom ran away from home.

"My mother is the Celestial Maiden Yunhua. I have no desire for the love between an ordinary husband and wife. Let me go, and I promise that once I attain the Dao, no matter how many lifetimes or tribulations pass, I will come back to save you."

Everyone has their own ambitions. Xie Xiaoqing's heart softened, and she let him go.

A hundred years later, when they meet again,

he is the Dao-attained Perfected Lord Zhaoling, worshipped by countless people,

commanding twelve hundred ragtag gods under his banner as he slaughters demons across the land.

She is a ghost with no memories, serving a fox demon and just the sort of thing he wants to destroy.

When memories of her past return,

Xie Xiaoqing brings her knife down, draws his blood, and drinks it greedily.

The blood of an imperial grandson is extraordinary. Just one drop can help her become a ghost immortal.

But is the humble rank of ghost immortal all she can settle for?

One bowl isn't enough. Bring another!

**

The Perfected Lord Zhaoling has never lost his yang essence, so many female demons want to join with him to cultivate immortality.

But one female ghost stands apart: all she wants is to cut into him and drink his hot blood.

Little does he know that this ghost is the wife he abandoned a hundred years ago.

Born of a union between an immortal and a mortal, he abandoned his wife to cultivate immortality and win his mother's approval.

He never imagined the retribution would come back twice as hard. His wife is even more ruthless than he is.

Shen Xingcha holds their swaddled infant and begins his desperate quest to win his wife back...

Content warning: One-on-one romance, both leads have only been with each other.

Theme: Face difficulties and never give up.