A Guide to Reforming a Useless Demon Lord

This novel is also known as Swallows Under the Eaves

[False aloof, secretly passionate Daoist top × chatty, frail beauty bottom]

"May you be like the swallows beneath the rafters, meeting year after year."

Long Life Maiden: Spring Banquet

Yan Xuanyi was a peerless prodigy, as radiant and untainted as the moon, and the revered immortal master of his sect. Yet he was branded a demon, reviled by all, and ultimately met his end with his soul scattered and his bones lost.

When he woke again, all his cultivation was gone. He was a sickly wreck, coughing up blood every few steps and unable to stand.

Worse still, rumors said that the new immortal master was moody and implacable, and wanted to tear him limb from limb.

Yan Xuanyi: "..."

What a rotten stroke of luck.

He would emerge from the demon's lair, turn evil, fall into demonic cultivation, and drag into the abyss one by one all those who had once shoved him into it...

None of that happened.

Yan Xuanyi said cautiously, "Actually, being a lazy fish isn't so bad."

Just as the new sect leader was struck by disaster and rumors spread that the great demon had returned, the truly infamous, fearsome demon neither turned evil nor made a comeback. Instead, he opened a teahouse and quietly settled into a lazy life.

That was until one day, a blood-soaked cultivator staggered through his door and held a sword to his throat.

*

Shen Sui was reborn.

With no memories of his previous life, he opened his eyes to find himself an immortal master, revered by all and surrounded by admirers. He only vaguely remembered that he needed to find someone from his past.

While undergoing a trial, he was framed. Covered in blood, he stumbled through the door of a teahouse and came face to face with a beautiful, frail young man who could barely stand.

Shen Sui froze when he saw him.

The beauty burst into tears. "Spare me! I'll do anything!"

Shen Sui: "It's a misunderstanding... Wait, you'll do anything?"

*

Yan Xuanyi thought he'd struck gold.

The Daoist he'd picked up for free cooked for him, made his bed, kept him safe, and cleaned up every mess he made.

The only downside was that this man, with his face of serene detachment, agreed to every teasing thing Yan Xuanyi said, and did everything, whether he could or not.

Yan Xuanyi clutched his aching waist and gritted his teeth. Worth it!

Thinking of the increasingly perilous situation he was in, Yan Xuanyi promptly latched onto his new ally. "The new sect leader is cold-blooded, ruthless, and absolutely no good!"

Shen Sui: "Mm."

Yan Xuanyi: "If he ever comes looking for me, you know I'm innocent! You have to protect me!"

Shen Sui: "Mm."

The tall man held the frail, ailing young man in his arms, bent down to kiss him, and coaxed him softly. "This is such a dangerous undertaking, Ah Wan. Will you pay me a little something in return?"

*

One day, after hearing a report from his subordinates, Yan Xuanyi was about to sneak back to his room when he saw through a crack in the door as a cultivator respectfully bowed to Shen Sui.

"Immortal Master."

"..."

Yan Xuanyi was shocked, uneasy, and utterly horrified.

Oh no! You have a secret identity too?!

Faced with a split-second choice between saving his own skin and keeping an ally, Yan Xuanyi chose to run.

But this time, the weapons of every sect stood in his way.

Seeing his dream of a lazy life shattered, Yan Xuanyi finally dropped the act.

But just as he gripped his long saber and faced the silent abyss, with ten thousand ghosts bowing before him, that familiar figure broke through the crowd and seized his hand.

The immortal master who had once been radiant and untarnished by the mortal world now had bloodshot eyes, on the verge of tears. He stared at Yan Xuanyi and said, each word deliberate:

"Yan Xuanyi, I've suffered so much trying to find you."

Yan Xuanyi: "..."

Maybe I can still clear my name.

Yan Xuanyi had once been the peerless prodigy coveted by every sect and an immortal master revered by all. But overnight, he fell into the mire, stripped of his immortal bones, reviled by the masses, who would have gladly stabbed him ten thousand times to keep him from ever rising again.

It was as if his pride had truly been shattered. He walked the road to the underworld, covered in blood and unable to fight back, then disappeared for over a hundred years, dragging his crippled, ailing body behind him.

The sects of the immortal world treated him like a chess piece, but he was determined to overturn the board that had become a trap.

One day, he would take up that sword again, to suppress evil spirits and challenge the heavens.

"The heavens are unjust and the immortal realm is in chaos. I will tear open the endless night, defy all laws, and fight for myself beneath the vast, bright sky."

PS:

1. This novel contains many flashbacks and an amnesia plot.

2. It may get a little melodramatic. (No love triangle, no replacement romance.)

3. Everything in this novel is fictional. Please don't conflate it with reality. We firmly uphold a materialist view of history.

4. The main couple are each other's only partners, and this is a one-on-one happy ending.

Theme: Exterminate demons, defend the righteous, and save the people