The Divine Venerable and I Are a Bad Match

[Main story complete; bonus chapters updating]

#What should you do when you meet your ex-wife again a thousand years after your body and soul were destroyed?#

#What do you do when you pathetically become a lovesick puppy again?#

#Want a fluffy bandage for that wound?#

Wild, younger wolf demon with a devoted, paternal streak as the pursuer × gloomy, world-weary, beautiful yet tragic Divine Venerable as the pursued

Both reborn | Substitute romance | Mutual salvation | Pursuer dotes on the pursued | Happy ending

Han Lang was the unluckiest wolf in the world.

The young lord of the demon clan, born under an ill-starred fate despite his noble status, he was abandoned as a child, with no family or friends, and sent to a human cultivation sect to temper his violent nature.

He hated humans most of all.

Humans were trouble.

Sick humans were even more trouble.

That was Han Lang's unshakable creed.

Until he met a frail, beautiful human.

His long black hair fell like a waterfall, his skin was fair as snow, and his lowered lashes made him look like a pool of moonlight that might scatter at any moment.

Han Lang conceded: Maybe humans weren't all that much trouble.

You can lean against a wolf's chest.

Wangchen was the last silver-feathered phoenix in the world.

Phoenixes drink only from sweet springs and roost only in parasol trees. The one he admired had once been a proud yet sincere young general, who brought him frost-kissed jade dew and watched the clouds drift by with him.

But he was merely a blade forged by the Heavenly Dao to destroy the Ghost Emperor. With no offerings or worship and no one to care about him, he was fated to burn himself to death young.

His love meant nothing.

After his Dao companion died, all that remained was a walking corpse.

A thousand years later, he was a fugitive remnant wanted by the Three Realms. Poisoned and forced to change his name, he hid away in a remote little sect, quietly waiting to die.

Then a white wolf caught the hem of his robe in its teeth.

The wolf was young and reckless, with a laughably possessive streak. He treated everything that happened to Wangchen as his own business, eagerly offering to brew his medicine and stubbornly insisting that he keep living.

Wangchen knew Han Lang wasn't him.

But the fiery passion in those eyes was just like that of the person who had pulled him from the snow on a snowy night a thousand years ago.

Wangchen let himself fall. He let himself treat Han Lang as a substitute, always thinking: Once I die, I'll erase his memories. He won't remember loving someone he shouldn't have loved.

Wangchen lowered his eyes to the person applying medicine to him. “I won't live much longer.”

The youth rested his forehead against Wangchen's knee and nuzzled it with a muffled sigh. “I know. I'll find a way. Don't worry, I'm here. I'll stay with you.”

Wangchen looked at the face so like that person's. “You're still so young.”

You can still change your mind.

But the youth looked up, eyes blazing. “I don't care. I don't care if I'm young. Just don't even think about leaving me behind.”

Later, Han Lang recovered all his memories.

He wasn't a substitute. He was the very same hapless ex-husband Wangchen had never been able to forget!

A thousand years ago, he had sacrificed his soul to save Wangchen. A thousand years later, he had walked the same path for him all over again.

Han Lang stood outside the room, gazing for a long time at the pale, gaunt profile inside. He ought to hate Wangchen. In his last life, Wangchen had deceived him utterly, and he'd died without ever understanding why. This time, when they met again, he should have looked on coldly and let Wangchen fend for himself.

But once again, that pale wrist lay in his palm, cold as a handful of snow.

He heard his own voice, fierce yet trembling despite himself. “You want to die? You're such a heinous criminal that I'm going to be first in line!”

For once, his ex-wife's dull eyes lit up. “Then when are you planning to do it?”

“...Tomorrow.”

One day after another, and there were so many tomorrows.

Months later, Wangchen asked again, “When are you going to do it?”

With a comb between his teeth, Han Lang held the ends of Wangchen's hair and impatiently turned him back around. “Finish your medicine first. Be good, and I'll kill you tomorrow.”

He'd been saying “Be good, and I'll kill you tomorrow” for three months now.

Han Lang lowered his head, his expression hidden.

Be good and take your medicine. Be good and stay alive. Be good and let me keep you for one more day.

Even one day would be enough.

#Don't ask why he became a lovesick puppy again#

#His ex-wife likes puppies. What else can he do?#

#But even puppies get scared, scared that this time they still won't be able to make you stay#

[Reader's Guide]

1. Both leads are reborn. It's 1v1 throughout, and they only ever belong to each other.

2. Past and present lives intertwine. The substitute is a misunderstanding; devotion is instinctive.

3. Younger, straightforward wolf demon × frail, world-weary phoenix. Sweet and angsty, with a happy ending.

Theme: A harmonious family brings success in everything.