[Investiture of the Gods] Tan Xuan

[Not abandoned. Building up my collection and stockpiling chapters.]

Warm on the outside, cold within, and extremely averse to trouble heroine x Sun and Moon, the twin princes of Xiqi

◎ Blurb from the dual male leads' perspectives, Part One:

Ever since waking up, Bo Yikao has felt that he has forgotten something.

He returned to Mount Qi to search for clues, finding only a few words carved into the rock face: “Tan Xuan, the day of Jingzhe, Year Yisi.” The carving was unmistakably his own work.

But... who is Tan Xuan?

In the third year of the great drought in Xiqi, ten-year-old Bo Yikao and six-year-old Ji Fa escaped the ancestral temple in search of water. By the Wei River, they happened upon a girl roasting sweet potatoes.

Seeing their predicament, she generously shared her food, entertained Ji Fa by making little animals out of foxtail grass, and treated the brothers' injuries. She seemed warm and kind, yet turned a blind eye to the refugees dying before her.

He couldn't help asking, “Why won't you save them?”

“Medical fees are expensive. Only you two can afford them.”

She smiled slyly, yet spoke with cold indifference.

Even so, he was deeply drawn to her.

A young man's first love was like an absurd dream. In it, the pear blossoms he longed to see fell upon the shoulders of the girl who occupied his every thought.

But at the end of that dream, she resolutely erased all his memories.

Nine years later, when Bo Yikao, now with his memories restored, met the girl again by the Wei River, he deliberately pretended not to know her.

Once she let down her guard and accepted him again... he smiled and told her he had been waiting for her for a long time.

*

After eight years as a hostage in Chaoge, Ji Fa's dream of becoming a hero still hadn't come true.

One day, he rescued a female slave from being trafficked on the street, and she became his personal maid.

Was she really a maid? That's what it looked like to outsiders, but in private, it was hard to tell who was in charge.

She only did the chores she felt like doing, freely used her master's things, and even pinched his cheeks and called him “Little Ji Fa.” She was completely out of control.

Yet he fell in love with her so easily.

Just as he finally worked up the courage to confess his feelings, the audacious slave knocked him out and vanished from Chaoge!

When they met again, she was walking alongside his older brother

So she loved his brother?

If so, why hadn't she let him die?

Ji Fa hated her so much that he pinned her to the bed and bit down hard on her neck.

“Even if I die, I'm dragging you to hell with me!”

She let him bite her without a word.

“Young Lord, it seems you've forgotten that mortals can't kill immortals.”

In the Red Sand Formation, Ji Fa finally remembered everything.

He watched the girl shield him beneath her body and take the tribulation in his place. By the time he finished crying, all that remained was numbness.

“Ah Tan, let's die here together.”

Only then would she stop pushing him away.

◎ Blurb from the heroine's perspective, Part Two:

As Taishang Laojun's most beloved and most troublesome disciple, Tan Xuan was punished with a trip to the mortal realm over a trivial matter. She was forced to memorize two commandments:

“Serve out your century-long sentence.”

And “Don't meddle in other people's business.”

Ha. A mere hundred years.

The first eighty years had flown by in the blink of an eye. She thought she could spend her century-long sentence at leisure, until a chance encounter by the Wei River.

Mortals really are troublesome

The first time she used magic on their behalf, she had a bad feeling.

One exception was a warning.

After that, she was swept deep into the maelstrom of the Shang-Zhou transition and the apotheosis catastrophe, unable to escape.

Only then did she realize

Her original resolve had shattered completely.

Her warnings had all become prophecies.

At the very end.

The new dynasty had just been founded. In a teahouse in some city,

a young storyteller disguised as a man animatedly recounted a tale of immortals and mortals. The patrons listened with rapt attention, while the new king, disguised as a commoner, called out to ask: Did the immortal fall in love with the mortal in the end?

The girl stroked her fake mustache and smiled, dimples appearing in her cheeks.

“Good sir, an immortal who falls for a mortal will be punished by heaven!”

Blurb finalized on 25.1.30

Reader's guide: 1. The setting draws on Investiture of the Gods, the film Creation of the Gods, the vernacular account of King Wu's campaign against Zhou, historical sources, and original worldbuilding. It's a hodgepodge, and relevant author notes will explain things. The story focuses on the mortal world, with few immortal stories. You don't need to have read the original to enjoy it.

2. The heroine is Taishang Laojun's junior disciple. She starts at max level and is not a protagonist who grows stronger over time. She works in the Heavenly Court, but is not an officially appointed immortal, has nothing to do with the Investiture of the Gods, and takes no part in the ideological disputes between the Chan and Jie Sects. This is not an epic narrative.

3. The first volume is told from other characters' perspectives and deliberately avoids the heroine's inner thoughts. The narrative returns to her perspective starting in Volume Two.

4. This novel has two male leads. Supporting characters will be added to the character list as they appear in the story.

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Theme: Stay true to yourself