The Immortal Venerable's Expired White Moonlight

Fairy Shi Ran of the Upper Clear Realm was born with a flaw. A sage once foretold that she would not live past the age of twenty.

To save his daughter's life, Lord Zishan searched far and wide for rare treasures of heaven and earth, but never found a way to break the curse.

At eighteen, Shi Ran secretly ran away from home, only to run into a young man who was wanted by the authorities.

They traveled together, and the young man cared for Shi Ran every step of the way, tending to her with great care.

They promised to travel together across all the famed mountains and rivers, but Lord Zishan caught up with them and forcibly took Shi Ran home.

To save Shi Ran's life, Cang Zhu traveled alone with nothing but his sword, braving the world's most perilous secret realms. At last, he found a life-prolonging technique in a dangerous place.

On the eve of Shi Ran's death, Cang Zhu hurried back. Holding her in his arms, he brought her beneath the corridor to watch pear blossoms drift down. His shy, inexperienced kiss fell on her forehead alongside the petals:

Shi Ran, wait for me. At most eight hundred years. No, five hundred. I will come back and marry you.

When Shi Ran awoke, Cang Zhu was gone from the world. Not even a wisp of his ghost remained, in heaven or on earth.

Cang Zhu had lived at Yuxu Palace since childhood. As the personal disciple of the palace's current master, Primordial Lord, he was being groomed to become the next Immortal Venerable.

Primordial Lord once said that Cang Zhu was born to be a sword cultivator. His cultivation would proceed smoothly, and he would attain immortality through the sword, but he would face one great calamity: love.

Cang Zhu had never believed a single word of his master's prophecy, not until he met Shi Ran...

There was no life-prolonging technique. It was simply one life exchanged for another.

Cang Zhu gave Shi Ran his sword heart and all his immortal bones, then transferred his entire life's cultivation to her.

He only hoped she would be safe and well every year, happy with each passing season,

and that she would not forget him.

Five hundred years later, the bells of the Jade Clear Realm rang nine times. Dragons and phoenixes danced in the sky. Someone in the lower realm had attained the rank of Venerable with a mortal body.

Shi Ran joined the assembled immortals in paying respects to the new Immortal Venerable. When she looked up, she saw a familiar face.

The Immortal Venerable looked just as he always had, his smile unchanged, but now he held a lovely, charming mortal woman in his arms.

They said she was the Immortal Venerable's wife.

Reader's Guide:

Female lead is not a virgin; male lead is a virgin. Second male lead takes the top spot. Two men compete for one woman. Everyone except the female lead gets a bad ending.

Coming next, Haunted by a Sinister Monster

Cheng You'an is a diligent, conscientious office worker who works from nine in the morning until nine at night, always one step away from collapsing from overwork.

One night, just before bed, an ad for a product popped up on her phone: AI glasses that let you see a virtual lover.

Put them on, and you'll get a perfect lover all to yourself: handsome, with a lovely voice, always at your beck and call, ready to catch your every little mood and be your most understanding confidant.

Lonely Cheng You'an was tempted. Even hardworking wage slaves need a comfort dog.

At a glance, the price was only 9.9. You couldn't lose at that price, so Cheng You'an ordered without hesitation.

As soon as the product arrived, Cheng You'an tried it on. But it was nothing like the seller's description.

Her virtual lover was indeed handsome, but he couldn't speak. He could only make simple syllable sounds, like a mute.

Cheng You'an contacted customer service, and they told her not to worry. Every virtual lover had a different personality, and they could be raised over time.

Her virtual lover was shy.

Cheng You'an looked at the cold, mysterious man before her, whose domineering aura was impossible to miss. She couldn't see anything shy about him.

Fine, then.

What could you expect for 9.9?

Cheng You'an kept him, and from then on treated him like a confidant, complaining to him about her perverted boss, the old man next door who bullied her, and the office snake who always dumped her work on her...

The more she complained...

The more Cheng You'an realized something was wrong. Her perverted boss's tool exploded, and he was found hanged at home. The old man next door went out for a walk, missed a step, and fell to his death in the park. Even the office snake who kept dumping work on her was electrocuted in her own bathtub...

She assumed they had simply been unlucky, until one day, after she'd complained about a creepy man on the bus, she got up in the middle of the night and put on her glasses. Her virtual lover seemed to have just come back from outside, his hands covered in vivid, bright red blood.

She screamed, ripped off the glasses, and hid under the covers, too terrified to sleep a wink.

The next day, a news alert appeared on her phone: a local man had apparently been attacked by a mysterious beast and died a gruesome death.

Cheng You'an thought of her virtual lover's bloodstained hands. Terrified, she threw away the AI glasses and never dared use them again.

But no matter how many times she moved, at night she could always feel something wrapping around her hands and feet, making hoarse, single-syllable sounds by her ear.

"You... You'an... mine."

"Don't... leave... me. Don't... fear... me. I'm... very... good."

Theme: Love is by nature unpredictable