Does the Hehuan Sect Have to Cultivate the Heartless Way Too?

Now available: "Mistaking a Substitute for My One True Love," a love-triangle showdown with one woman and three men. The blurb is at the end.

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I only ask that the moon hang high in the sky. Whether it shines on me alone is none of my concern.

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Everyone knows the two biggest pitfalls in the cultivation world: the Hehuan Sect and the Ruthless Dao.

The former acts outrageously, while the latter inspires fear.

Shen Jixue was unlucky enough to be involved with both.

She cultivated the Ruthless Dao in the Hehuan Sect.

After cultivating for several hundred years, she was just one step away from ascension when the Heavenly Dao forced her to kill her husband to prove her Dao.

Her master pulled her aside and patiently reminded her: "Our sect rules forbid trampling on sincere feelings. Never betray a good partner. You absolutely must not break this rule."

Shen Jixue took the advice to heart. To avoid harming a good person, she searched the world and found a partner who also cultivated the Ruthless Dao. The moment they met, they struck a deal: "We'll each get what we need. Kill your husband or wife to prove your Dao."

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After they stabbed each other at their wedding ceremony, she ascended in glory to the Celestial Realm, where she was put in charge of the gate. Her partner, who had also cultivated the Ruthless Dao, perished completely.

Shen Jixue was depressed for a while, puzzled for a while, then sad for a while, before casting the whole affair out of her mind.

One day, while the celestial guards were chatting, they mentioned that Emperor Liwang had spent a thousand years wandering the mortal world. At long last, he had reunited with the fated love the Heavenly Dao had severed in a past life, only to be stabbed through the heart by his partner on their wedding night. Tormented by love, he had been trapped in reincarnation and met a tragic end. Everyone lamented that the emperor's partner was a real piece of work.

Shen Jixue nodded along.

She just had a vague feeling... that the story sounded familiar.

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Several hundred years later, news that Emperor Liwang had returned from his tribulation spread throughout the Celestial Realm. Shen Jixue went along with the other immortals to see the excitement.

There, amid an endless sea of clouds and atop a towering palace, sat the very partner she had once stabbed with her own hands. Shen Jixue thought, This is bad.

The next moment, in full view of everyone, Emperor Liwang bypassed the crowd and walked to her with an unhappy expression. He wound red threads around their wrists and tried to drag her back into reincarnation.

Shen Jixue: "Your Majesty, is it possible that you might, perhaps, have mistaken me for someone else?"

Emperor Liwang: "Don't worry. I'm not blind."

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When Shen Jixue ascended, Xie Zhuo thought he would never see her again in this life. His soul wandered through the netherworld for a hundred years before he finally decided to let go. Then, after waking from a dream, he became Emperor Liwang of the Celestial Realm, and the person he had longed for across countless years was right beside him.

So what if he felt guilty? He would have his way regardless.

Half-dead but still kicking, ridiculously powerful, and never one to waste words when she can use force, the heroine x cold on the outside, snarky on the inside, a dramatic, shameless, power-worshipping hero

Shen Jixue x Xie Zhuo

Both leads inexperienced in love, happy ending.

Other notes:

1. The heroine will become the only god in the world.

2. The Ruthless Dao and the Hehuan Sect are entirely my own inventions, with no reference to any source material.

That's it. Enjoy!

The following is the blurb for an upcoming story, a love-triangle showdown with three men and one woman:

Su Yunwei's one true love died.

She was heartbroken.

So, over the next three years, she found ninety-nine substitutes to help her remember him.

The hundredth substitute was perfect, except for his terrible temper. He was arrogant and fiery, and flew off the handle at the slightest thing.

But it didn't matter. His face looked so much like her one true love's that she could forgive anything.

*

Ye Wanwang had never imagined that the person who constantly claimed to truly love him had been treating him as a substitute for her one true love.

When he learned the truth, he angrily went to confront her.

Su Yunwei neither explained nor made excuses. She just smiled and told him, "If you don't want to do it, you can leave. There are plenty of people who do."

Ye Wanwang flew into a rage and swore he would make her pay.

Su Yunwei didn't take him seriously.

*

Dongfang Jibai had been dead for three years.

Weeds had overgrown his grave. His soul watched over it, but Su Yunwei had never visited, not even once.

He heard that she was always taking on new favorites, each one looking just like him.

She told them he was the love of her life.

Yet she had watched him die in the mud without so much as changing her expression.

Dongfang Jibai thought it was ridiculous and absurd. By a stroke of fate, he finally went to find her himself.

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A rainy night.

Su Yunwei was trapped in a deserted palace.

A drenched man walked toward her step by step, his eyes dark and deep. "Didn't you say you loved me? Why are you trembling so much now that you've seen me?"

"I used your substitutes to get myself back. Aren't you happy?"

Su Yunwei turned around with a pale face and met Ye Wanwang's eyes.

"Don't worry. We have plenty of time."

"We can settle what you owe me, slowly."

*

Later, after finally escaping his control and making it to safety, she turned around and saw her elder brother standing there with a cold expression, holding out a set of chains he had prepared long ago.

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A heroine in excellent mental health x a resentful dead lover / obsessive and unpredictable / cruel and arrogant

Su Yunwei x Dongfang Jibai / Su Jingyuan / Ye Wanwang

Other notes:

1. The male leads are inexperienced in love, but the heroine isn't. The characters have flaws. Please spare me the moral lectures.

2. The pairings are one-on-one at different stages, and each gets a one-on-one ending. If that's not for you, don't read.

3. This isn't a tragedy. At heart, it's a story about three men giving the heroine the cold shoulder while acting like her dogs.

4. If you have a problem, blame the male lead. The author is innocent.

If you're okay with all that, enjoy!

Theme: Cherish life.