A Delicate Beauty, Yet Strong Enough to Lift a Cauldron

Qi Rugu transmigrated into a book, becoming a weapon-refinement disciple of Qinshan Sect. He worked hard until he became an elder, then completely gave up and decided to lie flat, happily raising young spirit beasts.

But cultivators lived for so long that he couldn’t stand the loneliness. He accepted a cold sword cultivator’s marriage proposal, and even gave him a sword he had forged himself as a wedding present.

After they married, the sword cultivator told him he practiced the Heartless Dao.

Qi Rugu: “...”

Did you think I hadn’t read any novels?!

It was fine, really! In those novels, 80% of heartless sword cultivators were hopeless romantics, and only 20% were bastards who killed their husbands to attain the Dao.

When the sword cultivator proposed, he had practically thrown himself at Qi Rugu, looking downright cheap. Qi Rugu judged him to be a hopeless romantic.

As it turned out, on the night the sword cultivator ascended, Qi Rugu was killed by that hopeless romantic as a sacrifice to attain the Dao, using the very sword Qi Rugu had forged with his own hands.

*

Only after dying in this life did Qi Rugu learn that the book he had transmigrated into wasn’t a sweet romance about his master and his master’s wife. It was a tragic BL romance about him and the sword cultivator.

Qi Rugu was the protagonist who got pursued, and the sword cultivator was the protagonist who pursued him.

Qi Rugu: “...Then what had I been working so hard to do all those years, helping my master win his wife over?”

After Qi Rugu died, his soul drifted about and uncovered the sword cultivator’s big secret! The sword cultivator had also transmigrated into a book, was heterosexual, and had fallen in love at first sight with Qi Rugu’s young disciple.

But in order to attain the Great Dao, he had to swallow his disgust and follow the System’s instructions, forming a cultivation partnership with Qi Rugu and earning rewards to improve his cultivation. After completing the entire book’s plot, he finally couldn’t hold back and killed Qi Rugu with a single sword, taking revenge for years of humiliation. Later, he even adopted the young disciple under the pretext of taking responsibility on Qi Rugu’s behalf, hoping to pull off an older-man-raises-his-younger-lover romance.

Qi Rugu had this to say: “Scumbag, stay away from my daughter!”

*

Qi Rugu was reborn on the very night his cultivation partnership was sealed. While the sword cultivator slept, he hoisted his cauldron for refining artifacts onto his back and ran back to the sect in the middle of the night. He decided never to leave the mountain again, to become a shut-in, stay away from scumbags, and raise his little ones in peace.

But before he left, was there a little black snake in the spirit beast pen?

Little Black Snake: “You’re the little black snake! Your whole family are snakes! I’m a dragon wyrm! A dragon!”

*

The demon dragon Shi Qi failed to transform into a dragon and was seriously injured. A little girl found him and tossed him into a spirit beast pen that was basically a pigsty.

Not long after, a delicate, beautiful immortal lord returned and cleaned the “pigsty” until it sparkled. The beautiful immortal lord looked like a willow branch in the wind, as if he would break at a touch. In reality, he could carry a cauldron, work a forge, and use a guqin to make someone completely helpless. He could also eat three bowls of rice and five pork knuckles in one sitting.

Though he looked down on righteous cultivators, the immortal lord took such meticulous care of him that he couldn’t help enjoying it.

Shi Qi’s words said one thing, but his actions said another: “Since that’s the case, I’ll take you on as a servant.”

But there were always people coveting his servant: the little ones in the spirit beast pen, the elder from the neighboring mountain, the genius disciple from the neighboring sect, the young peacock lord of the demon race... Shi Qi mocked their overconfidence, sneered at them, and told them to stay away.

Until one day, a sword cultivator claiming to be the immortal lord’s partner came to the door. The immortal lord guiltily hid behind Shi Qi.

Shi Qi grabbed the immortal lord by the wrist, his eyes bloodshot. “You’ve been married?”

At first, Shi Qi was angry. But later, he told the sword cultivator, “Hah! The one who isn’t loved is the third party. You’re the third party. Get lost.”

Sword cultivator: “...You’ve got it completely backward.”

A seemingly delicate, beautiful immortal lord, beloved by everyone but strong enough to carry a cauldron, is the pursued lead x a seemingly arrogant dragon who is actually a jealous, possessive, hopelessly lovestruck pursuer who talks himself into everything

[Reading Guide]

1. Both leads are inexperienced. The ex-husband is heterosexual and closeted, and his relationship with the pursued lead is platonic. But since there’s an ex-husband, this can sort of count as a new-love-interest story.

2. Both the pursuer and the pursued have hidden identities. The author loves melodramatic past and present lives and is a master of piling on tropes.

3. A lighthearted, everyday-life story. There may be a slice-of-life account of raising little ones, so read with caution.

Theme: A simple, peaceful life is what matters most.