The Ruined White Moonlight

When Xie Qingchen underwent his mortal trial, he was saved by a young man from the Lu family of Yecheng.

The young man cared for him with the utmost attention. Their feelings deepened, and they spent a passionate night together.

After overcoming his romantic tribulation, Xie Qingchen willingly gave up his memories of the mortal world and returned to Tianheng Sect to resume his place as its leader.

Before leaving, he gave the young man a jade pendant.

"I won't rekindle our past relationship. Other than that, you may come to Tianheng Sect and ask me for one favor."

*

Eight years later, Lu Suining arrived at Tianheng Sect.

He had only one wish: to become Xie Qingchen's disciple.

As the sect leader's sole apprentice, he was cherished and cared for by many in the sect.

Lu Suining was clumsy, but obedient and well-behaved. Every night, he fell asleep holding the jade pendant Xie Qingchen had given him, his eyes brimming with affection.

Until three years later, the Lu family's second young master also arrived at Tianheng Sect.

In front of everyone, Lu Huaijin exposed Lu Suining for stealing the jade pendant Xie Qingchen had left for him and deceiving the sect.

He said, "Brother, why are you still such a liar, selfish and self-serving, just like when we were children?"

He said, "You love taking everything of mine. Now you're even stealing the bond I shared with the sect leader in the mortal world."

He said, "The sect leader told the person who saved him that day something. I doubt you have any idea what it was."

Lu Suining truly had never heard those words.

His last moment with Xie Qingchen had been separated by a door.

Lu Huaijin had pinned him to the ground, smashing one of his ears until it was a bloody ruin.

Lu Huaijin snatched the jade pendant from him and forced him to sever his spiritual roots and lose his cultivation.

Even his master treated him as a deceitful liar and abandoned him.

Unable to endure the humiliation amid everyone's jeers and insults, Lu Suining chose to take his own life.

A fragment of spiritual consciousness that had once been attached to him shattered, bringing Xie Qingchen's memories back with it.

In a flash, Xie Qingchen seemed to remember so much.

He remembered that in a shabby servants' room in Yecheng, someone with hands covered in wounds had once brought him two steamed buns, trembling.

He also remembered promising, as if he were mortal, to stay with him for a lifetime, take him away from that prison, and find a place in the mountains to spend their days together.

Last of all, he remembered their desperate lovemaking on a narrow, rickety bed on a winter's day when snow filled the sky.

Lu Suining's eyes were wet as he clumsily tried to kiss Xie Qingchen on the lips.

"Remember me," he said. "And don't leave me behind."

Xie Qingchen answered, "All right."

A very old-fashioned, melodramatic Little Mermaid trope plus a fake-death pursuit of the wife, with a touch of nonhuman elements.

The top's true form is a black dragon. The bottom is deaf in one ear.

A cold, stern master-top, aloof as a mountaintop x a foolish beauty who goes from full-hearted devotion to slowly growing disappointed

Theme: Learn to rely on yourself and find your direction in life