Back into the Scabbard

Everyone knows that Jin Tian Sect has an unparalleled sword cultivator, a genius blessed by the heavens. He was born for the sword and died for it. Like the brightest shooting star, he dazzled briefly before shooting skyward and then falling.

Some say he sacrificed himself to the sword. Though he died, he had already become one with it. Others say he was nothing but a fraud, propped up by pills, and that was why he fell so easily beneath the tribulation lightning.

To Qi Wuyi, the name Heng Meng is both familiar and strange.

They belonged to the same Jin Tian Sect, but Qi Wuyi was merely an abandoned baby who had been taken in. Born with a limp and mixed spiritual roots, he was nothing like Heng Meng, the chosen prodigy selected from countless candidates and taken as the sect leader’s personal disciple.

Unlike the others, Heng Meng never mocked him. But he never showed any concern for him either. In Heng Meng’s eyes, Qi Wuyi simply didn’t exist.

Even when Qi Wuyi went astray in his pursuit of greater cultivation and betrayed the sect, that heavenly prodigy never spared him a glance.

Qi Wuyi couldn’t believe Heng Meng had fallen to a mere tribulation. But he waited a hundred years, long enough for the several treasured swords forged by the sword cultivator Heng Meng to be divided up among others, and for the clans that had risen thanks to those divine weapons to fall one by one. Still, Heng Meng never returned.

Everyone said that the sword cultivator Heng Meng really seemed to be dead.

Only Qi Wuyi refused to believe it. He couldn’t believe that the person he’d made his goal, the one he’d cultivated toward at any cost and become neither human nor ghost for, could die so easily.

Heng Meng, who had forgotten every bit of his life’s memories, including his memories of the sword, looked at the stranger who didn’t seem like a good person but had unexpectedly been taking such good care of him. After a little thought, he declared, “You like me.”

Qi Wuyi, who planned to beat him half to death once he recovered his strength and finally fulfill his long-held wish: “...No. I’m your enemy.”

Heng Meng: “Would an enemy heat up my breakfast? Would an enemy save me? Would an enemy help me find my sword? I think you just like me. Don’t worry, I won’t discriminate against you.”

Qi Wuyi: “...”

Heng Meng: “If you haven’t realized your feelings yourself, I can understand that too. But think about it carefully. You don’t feel any hostility toward me at all. You even care about me.”

Qi Wuyi, whether because he didn’t want to keep arguing or because he truly thought so, expressionlessly agreed. “That makes sense.”

Their unfortunate companion, who had witnessed the whole thing and had plenty of romantic experience, couldn’t help slamming the table. “That’s not what’s happening at all!”

Pairing: The sword-obsessed, aloof ice block who was a fool after losing his memories in death, a true sword cultivator gong (Heng Meng/Dang Gui) × a resentful, neither-human-nor-ghost shou who can turn into a big black bird (Qi Wuyi/Wu Yi).

A story about a sword cultivator who didn’t quite die, lost his memories, and borrowed a corpse to return to life. He gradually finds all his swords, gets to know again the junior brother he never noticed before betraying the sect, and falls in love with him. In the end, he sees through the villain’s scheme and gets a happy ending.

Heng Meng was an arrogant, single-minded sword fanatic in life for a reason. His absentminded self after losing his memories is his natural state. He won’t suddenly regain his memories, change personality, and turn his back on his lover. No tragic romance.

Qi Wuyi has always been pretty resentful. His feelings for Heng Meng are complicated at first, probably a mix of jealousy, admiration, longing, and all sorts of other tangled emotions. But he’s half-dead already, so he’s learned to take things as they come and doesn’t angst over it.

I’ve reached the stage where I hate everything I write and keep doubting myself. I’ll just see how it goes.

Theme: Give equal effort and sincerity to receive love in return