I Planted a Love Gu in My Ex-Husband, Then Faked My Death

A lazy heroine who loves flirting with everyone vs. a male lead who is a righteous prodigy in public and a dark, obsessive romantic in private

Yun Wei, the most shamelessly idle undercover agent in history, is ordered to assassinate Xie Wuchen, the righteous cultivation world's once-in-ten-thousand-years genius. From the start, she hits him with a love gu and successfully lures him into becoming her cultivation partner.

Who would have thought that even after the gu entered his heart, the young man before her would remain cold, self-possessed, and free of desire?

She takes off her outer robe, and Xie Wuchen wraps a quilt around her bare shoulders and tells her not to catch a chill. She pretends to be drunk and falls into his arms, and he calmly hands her a hangover remedy.

He can be so unmoved even with a love gu inside him? Is this guy cultivating the Path of Heartlessness or what?!

Her target is right in front of her, but whenever she looks at the young man's cool, jade-like face, her hand holding the dagger goes up and then down again. By the time she finally steels herself to strike, her identity is exposed first, and the target of her assassination runs her through with his sword instead.

Good news: Xie Wuchen is controlled by the love gu, so his sword misses her heart.

Bad news: She's been poisoned. If she doesn't get the antidote within six months, she'll be reduced to a wandering soul.

To find the antidote, she has no choice but to disguise herself and infiltrate Xie Wuchen's side as a new disciple.

A few days later, she quickly comes to terms with things. Spending three years pining after an unresponsive block of ice was asking for trouble.

The senior brothers in her sect are all gentle, considerate, and charming.

The gentle and refined eldest senior brother patiently teaches her to use a sword. When she struggles to learn, he stays with her and practices until dusk.

The second senior brother, who usually keeps everyone at a distance, smiles whenever he sees her. He often takes her down the mountain to buy all kinds of pastries and cheer her up.

Then there's the third senior brother, the junior fellow disciple...

There's just one annoying thing.

Whenever she's a little too close to any of the senior brothers, there's always a heavy gaze following her, binding her in place.

At first, Yun Wei thinks she's imagining it and pays it no mind.

Until one evening at a sect banquet, when the wine has gone to her head.

The usually composed and proper young man suddenly loses control, trapping her firmly on the bed. His burning breath falls over her as he murmurs her name over and over between his teeth.

Yun Wei's scalp prickles. That very night, she sends a carrier pigeon to the person who gave her the gu, berating them. It would be one thing if the love gu had a delayed effect, but how could it find her so precisely even after she changed her appearance? What a heartless scam!

The next day, she receives a long letter of apology. It says that they'd forgotten to tell her back then that the love gu doesn't work on someone with Xie Wuchen's top-tier cultivation.

Yun Wei: "??!"

*

Worried her identity will be exposed, Yun Wei only wants to get the antidote and run. She's heard Xie Wuchen never lets anyone into his bedroom, so there must be some precious treasure hidden inside.

With the sect deserted, Yun Wei boldly pushes the door open. But there's no antidote in sight, nor any magic treasure.

Instead, the walls are covered with paintings.

They all depict the same woman. At first, her clothes are neat and proper, but as the paintings go on, they're more and more disheveled, until finally...

Her expression grows darker and darker.

Her eyes fall on the final painting, which clearly shows her current disguised appearance.

So he'd recognized her long ago and never let on. Was he keeping her around so he could torment her?

Yun Wei's mind goes blank. Forgetting all about the antidote, she turns to flee in a panic.

She turns and finds a solitary figure looming before her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Are you going to leave me for those senior brothers who've been trying to win you over?" The young man approaches step by step, holding a bloodstained sword. His smile is cold and sinister. "Tell me where they touched you."

[Reading Guide]

1. One-on-one pairing, both leads are each other's first. The heroine is a little bit of a heartthrob, but she has never liked the senior brothers or been intimate with them. The supporting male characters are the only ones with one-sided crushes.

2. The male lead has liked the heroine for a long time. He wasn't deliberately trying to kill her at the beginning.

3. A sweet romance. The heroine isn't a strong, independent type; she's genuinely a lazy, carefree slacker.

Theme: Communicate properly