[Young spouses | Nothing but hatred between them]
[She slaps him, he tears the roof beams down | They bite each other and refuse to let go]
[Third-person narration]
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[Yun Ci's perspective]:
From the day I took my place among the immortals in the Celestial Palace, Chu Yun and I became irreconcilable enemies.
Our master wanted us to at least keep up appearances and get along, but I refused. During the centuries we cultivated in the Penglai Sea, we were sworn rivals, always fighting to come out on top. How could we possibly make peace overnight?
Besides, on the day our cultivation ended, I secretly slipped a laxative into his crane's food and reached the Celestial Palace half a quarter-hour before him. The Jade Emperor bestowed his favor on me, making me the first High Immortal in a hundred years.
I grew up poor and often went hungry. When my master took me in to cultivate, I developed a bad habit of loving money to death.
Chu Yun never forgave me for tricking him on the day our cultivation ended. For the seven hundred years after we returned to the Celestial Palace, he opposed me at every turn.
Naturally, I wasn't about to back down. He had a weakness, too: he valued his life far too much.
With the grudges we'd built up over years of rivalry in the Penglai Sea, the two of us made life in the Celestial Palace unbearable.
--After we angered our superiors, he and I were banished to the mortal realm to undergo a lifetime of trials.
Just fifteen minutes earlier, he'd ruined an expensive piece of brocade that I'd earned by spending twenty percent of my power. My heart was aching with anger.
I'd just crippled half the life of the spirit beast in his sea of consciousness, and hadn't even gotten the chance to fight him properly before the Jade Emperor flicked us both into the mortal pool.
Then came the worst part: Chu Yun and I mistook the heart-pounding hatred we felt whenever we saw each other for love at first sight. (Neither of us had any experience, so let's not get into it. It was all fury.)
In the mortal realm, we became husband and wife in every sense.
When we returned from our trial in the mortal realm, the old Moon Immortal cheerfully arranged a match between Chu Yun and me.
The Celestial Palace's ten-thousand-year-old rule: if two High Immortals have consummated their marriage, they must stay together. If they refuse, they have to pay a terrible price: they must enter the Reincarnation Pool, lose most of their cultivation, and no amount of money can restore it.
I couldn't bear to part with my money, and Chu Yun couldn't bear to part with his life.
We were forced to stay together. Whenever we brought up the mortal realm or the Penglai Sea, we fought. I slapped him, and he tore the roof beams down.
He wasn't exactly reasonable, either. Taking advantage of the karmic red thread the old Moon Immortal had tied around us, he took out his anger on me in bed every fifteenth day of the month.
I really couldn't stand this life anymore. An old woman in Crane Spring Cave told me how to sever the karmic red thread: die first, then visit the underworld. Wait three or five years, then return looking pitiful and beg the Jade Emperor. He'd surely dissolve the marriage.
On the day I died, I didn't even bother to complain that Chu Yun had taken the money from my cash box that morning. I called him back, looking weak and sickly, and gave him quite a scare.
I suppressed the corners of my mouth as they tried to curl up and weakly teased him, "You may be shameless, but your lips are just my type. They taste like the herbal jelly I love."
Watching the shock on his face, I contentedly breathed my last.
My soul became a faint, floating wisp, suspended inside a colored-glass lamp in the hall, waiting for the red thread to break.
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[Chu Yun's perspective]:
The moment Yun Ci died before my eyes, I nearly died of fright myself.
I never meant to anger her to death. Overcome with guilt, I urged the immortal physician to examine her. He said, "Thank goodness the karmic red thread hasn't broken. Once she reincarnates, wait a few years and you'll still be husband and wife."
Before I had time to think, I blurted out, "How can the red thread be broken?"
The immortal physician said, "You have a golden beast in your sea of consciousness. Have it bite through the thread and eat it, and the red thread will be severed for good. Maybe without that bond, she'll wake up."
If the golden beast emerged from my sea of consciousness, I'd lose half my life, too.
Seeing that Yun Ci was barely hanging on, I gritted my teeth and used it on her, but in the end, it only kept her clinging to life by a thread.
The poor thing, my shoulders shook uncontrollably.
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--Yun Ci jolted awake.
A chill touched my lips. I was dazed, pursing my lips and thinking that the salty, bitter taste seemed to be Chu Yun's tears. By the time I realized what was happening, the red thread had broken, and Chu Yun had died before me.
Me: ??? I'll fight you for this! You even beat me to dying!
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[Underworld skit]:
I knew my way around the place, so I went straight to the Bridge of Helplessness and crossed my legs under a canopy. Then I saw Chu Yun presenting himself as a good High Immortal who loved his wife, his people, and the gods with all his heart, just so he could suffer less.
At last, when he falteringly said, "Let's not bring up the past. I had my reasons, and she had it hard, too," I couldn't take it anymore.
I slapped the table and jumped to my feet. "Do you have no shame? Why do you get to decide we won't talk about it? What hardships did you face all those years? All you did was try to ruin my life! And the morning I died, I didn't even praise your kissable lips. You must have been thrilled. I should've slapped you senseless first!"
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#So what if we hate each other? It's perfectly normal to suddenly kiss in the middle of hating each other#
#The deeper the love, the sharper the blame. If I can't stand you, it must mean I love you too much#
#You pay so much attention to me. Could it be that you're in love with me?#
[Before-reading tips]:
*The skit was inspired by something online: "You had your reasons back then, too..."
*Neither lead is a perfect character [pay attention to this]
*Three parts: the Penglai Sea + married life in the mortal realm + entanglements in the Celestial Palace (tentative)
*This isn't a purely sweet romance. Pure hatred, pure hatred, pure hatred [!!]
*Both leads are virgins
*Synopsis screenshotted and saved on June 26, 2025 (to be revised/polished and shortened; the core will stay the same)
Theme: Young spouses growing old together
