The Yuan Qing Chronicles

Synopsis:

Straightforward Blurb:

The Nine Provinces first saw cultivators five hundred years ago. There were martial arts, the Way of the Scholars, and ingenious crafts.

Cultivators' realms were divided into four categories.

Take the true scriptures from the Langhuan Cave, sink into the body as the soul's dreams conceal your tracks; only by mastering yourself can you recognize that you are one with heaven and earth; return to the void, and with one foot on the threshold, set out on the path to immortality.

No one knew what the path to immortality looked like. Only four people had reached the Return to Void realm: one from each of the four great sects, and... her.

Thirty-year-old Zhao Yuanqing buried her master in a remote mountain ravine on an island. Carrying out his last wish, she took her disciple to the mainland to make a living and broaden her horizons.

She met many people and gradually came to understand one thing.

More often than not, a person's circumstances are what determine whether they become good or bad.

Female Lead Blurb:

Just as Zhao Yuanqing had finally reached the point where she could eat her fill, she met a fox. The fox then turned into a stunning beauty, charming, innocent, and adorable enough to steal her soul.

The beauty said she had fallen in love with her at first sight. Truthfully, Zhao Yuanqing liked her a little, too.

But she had no money and couldn't afford to keep such a wonderful beauty.

So her love became a hand reaching out, restrained, yet unable to hold back.

She thought that people had no control over when they met or parted.

But he wanted to die with her. She thought he was a little clingy, but didn't dare say so.

The beauty was incredibly good at acting cute. He took over everything for her, asking only that she look at him every day, think of him, and be utterly infatuated with him...

Male Lead Blurb:

I told you, it all comes down to how you go about it. Love at first sight was entirely deliberate seduction on my part. I even trimmed my eyebrows and bangs to make myself look younger.

Everything else is easy. The only hard part is seducing Zhao Yuanqing, because she doesn't want anything.

Luckily, I'm always a paragon of virtue. In both theory and practice, I'm aiming for first place. (Giddy, smug, twirling like a princess, with the female lead helping throw flower petals.)

Reading Guide:

1. The male lead is too clever, so they don't spend all that much time together, about half the story. He officially appears in chapter fifty, and they don't kiss until chapter one hundred and forty. He solves mysteries; she handles the fighting. In fact, whether he solves the mysteries or not doesn't affect anything.

2. A prince-like male lead with psychological issues x a knight-like female lead with some serious problems. (The female lead never has a breakdown. She thinks rationally from start to finish and remains at the top of the power scale throughout.)

3. The mysteries unravel layer by layer, from a seaside village to the world line.

4. The idea behind this story came from two things I've always wondered about. First, after the heroes in novels save people, do they just leave them there? What if the villains come after them again? Second, where do all those spiritual-root tests, flying ships, and other things in fantasy novels come from? I made a mind map of about ten thousand words, along with timelines and so on, trying to find the logic, but eventually I gave up.

5. The timeline is set before anyone has begun cultivating immortality, but when some people have already started cultivating. The setting is high martial arts, low magic. Martial artists rely on inner force; cultivators rely on spiritual energy.

6. They like each other both physically and emotionally. They're both virgins; the male lead spent six months learning the, um, techniques. They're two people who are both very cautious about love and think it's a bad thing, yet they fall in love. The only romance in the entire story is between the two of them. No love rivals and no misunderstandings. Since the male lead has some psychological issues, he's always the one sulking, but he doesn't dare make too much of a fuss because he fears the female lead will leave him.

I love female leads who are strong on the inside and emotionally steady, so I'll write her a second book too. =.=

Theme: If freedom is at stake, everything else can be cast aside.