After Pretending to Be My Senior Brother’s Widow

[New Blurb]

Only after Yun Yaoyao died did she learn that she was her master's tribulation of love, the final stepping stone on his path to the Great Dao.

Her master had made exceptions for her, indulged and favored her, all to lay the groundwork for the sword that would one day pierce her heart.

When Yun Yaoyao opened her eyes again, she found herself back on the night she had confessed her love to her master.

It was too late to back out. She was already sitting bashfully before him.

Her master set down his teacup and, just as he had in her previous life, asked her, "You said you had someone you admired. Who is he?"

Cold sweat immediately soaked Yun Yaoyao's back.

Changing her story at the last minute was impossible, but jumping back into the same pit was even worse.

She gave a couple of awkward laughs, trying to look composed, then let her gaze drift to the snow falling outside the hall.

Yun Yaoyao remembered that in her previous life there had been someone who, while drunk, had tucked an ice flower that would never wither into her hair.

After waking from that dream and sobering up, they parted for three years. By the time news of his death reached the sect, the flower was gone, too.

By her rough calculations, Cen Wuwang was already dead and his Dao destroyed. No one just knew it yet.

Yun Yaoyao steeled herself and said sorrowfully, "Your disciple has fallen deeply in love with Senior Brother Cen. His life or death is unknown. I beg Master to let me go down the mountain and search for him."

The next day, before Yun Yaoyao had even left the mountain, she learned of Cen Wuwang's death and put on a tearful performance of utterly heartbroken grief.

From then on, the rumors about her in the sect changed from a forbidden romance between master and disciple to the story of a devoted woman who had lost her lover.

As the story spread, Yun Yaoyao's reputation for devotion reached across the land, and plenty of tragic romance stories about her and Cen Wuwang were written.

Yun Yaoyao took the opportunity to move into Cen Wuwang's shabby little courtyard.

On the surface, she was defying her master's orders and resolving to remain faithful out of love. In reality, she shut the door, counted the spirit stones and immortal herbs she had saved, and planned her escape from the sect.

Unexpectedly, she was stopped in Weiyun City after descending the mountain. Her sword heart was ruined, and she failed to escape.

Just as she resolved to leave the past behind and seek another path, the snow cleared on the first day of the new year. A shadowy figure in dark blue stood beneath an evergreen tree.

Cen Wuwang arrived on a breeze, his eyes filled with her reflection.

Seeing she couldn't avoid him, Yun Yaoyao greeted him with forced composure. "What a coincidence, Senior Brother."

Cen Wuwang, newly returned from a trial in a mountain of corpses and sea of blood, answered gently, "No coincidence, Junior Sister. This is where I live."

"There's something I've been wondering about. I want to ask you."

"I heard I have a devoted widow. Do you know where she is now?"

Yun Yaoyao, the widow herself: ...

Oh no, the person she made up those rumors about had come knocking.

--

After his unexpected fake death and the recovery of his true body, Cen Wuwang had no intention of returning to the sect.

But the rumors outside about him and his junior sister had gone on and on, only getting more and more outrageous.

After reading a tragic romance story about himself and his junior sister, Cen Wuwang tossed and turned all night.

He carefully recalled the little moments from the time they had known each other, and suddenly came to a strange realization.

Maybe he and his junior sister really were like that.

[Old Blurb]

When Yun Yaoyao was ambushed and pursued to the end of her rope, someone stepped in front of her and took a fatal blow in her place.

The two of them fled their pursuers all night, then became trapped in a dark cave in the mountains.

Through the thin mountain mist, they couldn't see each other's faces, but, in tacit agreement, neither lit a fire for light.

The one who saved Yun Yaoyao was her long-estranged senior brother, Cen Wuwang.

They had known each other when they were nobody, and had seen each other at their most wretched.

They had depended on each other as mortals, but after joining the immortal sect, they gradually drifted apart.

Yun Yaoyao knew Cen Wuwang hated her, but when she reached a dead end with no hope for the future, she still found herself thinking of the past.

Rain soaked their clothes, and their cold, damp skin pressed together.

Yun Yaoyao pretended to be upset, letting tears well in her eyes, deliberately trying to disgust Cen Wuwang.

"Cen Wuwang."

"Senior Brother."

"Big Brother."

Her voice grew more despondent with each name.

As hot tears fell, Yun Yaoyao asked, "Do you hate me? Do you resent me?"

Yun Yaoyao looked up and saw that the silk ribbon hiding her senior brother's neck had come loose. A few blurry characters were embroidered on it: her name.

Cen Wuwang's Adam's apple bobbed. He wiped away her tears first, then stopped the hand she was about to use to cause trouble.

"Yaoyao, you're clever and clearheaded. You should know that I'm not the one who's been heartless."

Before Yun Yaoyao could react, Cen Wuwang bent down and kissed away the tear about to fall from the corner of her eye.

When Cen Wuwang met Yun Yaoyao, his heart was like ice and snow meeting spring.

Nothing burned hotter than her tears, not even breath or firelight.

Even if half of them were sincere and half were feigned.

-

Cen Wuwang returned with grave injuries and fell seriously ill.

As he lay in bed, a prohibition at his throat kept tormenting his mind.

His body and soul both grew hot and feverish.

In a daze, he saw Yun Yaoyao bring him a bowl of medicine with trembling hands.

Cen Wuwang lowered his eyes, remembered her teasing him in the barren mountains, and scoffed at his own wishful thinking.

He simply drank the medicine his junior sister had brought.

To his surprise, the medicine didn't kill him.

Instead, the feelings in his heart grew ever stronger, until they clouded his reason.

This time, he was the one who called her name again and again.

[Before You Read]

1. Medium to long-length story.

2. SC, with a heroine who grows over time and isn't an innocent little white rabbit. Her awakening won't happen in an instant; she'll grow through the experiences of both her lives.

3. A mountain of headcanons.

4. The second male lead gets a groveling arc, but the heroine won't forgive him.

5. A Mary Sue story. Lots of characters will fall for the heroine.

Theme: The Dao cannot manifest itself without things, and things cannot exist without the Dao.