Yu Zhige, one of the Seven Outstanding Disciples of Wenchuan Mountain, was every bit the sect's prodigy.
But then disaster struck. Wenchuan Mountain was destroyed, and beneath the pouring rain, her bones and sinews shattered, her sword lost, she lay amid mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.
Just as Yu Zhige thought she would die with regrets, her sworn enemy, Dong Chiyi, emerged from the shadows and took her away.
Everyone knew that Yu Zhige of Wenchuan Mountain and Dong Chiyi of Ghost Garden shared an irreconcilable grudge.
When they were young, Dong Chiyi burst onto the scene and cut off Yu Zhige's path to victory.
Years later, Yu Zhige struck Dong Chiyi across the brow with her sword, disfiguring her.
Now that Yu Zhige had fallen into Dong Chiyi's hands, countless cultivators waited eagerly to see the beloved prodigy brought low.
So when Yu Zhige discovered that her new abode was lavishly furnished and every meal was fit for a king, she sat atop twenty-eight layers of silk padding and pondered:
Was this another way for Dong Chiyi to keep up appearances? As her rival, shouldn't she be striking while she was down?
She was certain Dong Chiyi was plotting some grand scheme.
Later, while Dong Chiyi was out, Yu Zhige sneaked into her bedroom and found a book on the bed titled How to Make Your Archenemy Fall in Love with Me.
Alarm bells rang in Yu Zhige's mind.
She must want to make her fall in love, then humiliate her mercilessly!
Dong Chiyi: That hint was obvious enough this time, right? A-Wu will definitely get it.
Yu Zhige: She's going to hurt me. Run!
A little scene:
The hot springs of Ghost Garden
Dressed in sheer gauze, Dong Chiyi advanced step by step through the mist along the spring, closing in on her. “Does A-Wu really not understand?”
Moonlight shimmered on the water, casting a bewitching glow. For once, Yu Zhige found that her fearsome, murderous rival smelled kind of nice.
A brash princess who doesn't realize she's falling in love x a cool-headed young mistress who's a little scheming, but not much
A companion novel of the same type, The Savior Has Taken Her Own Life Nine Hundred Times. Here is the blurb:
Wu Chu had been feeling dizzy and muddled lately. As a crow of the Phoenix Clan, she could no longer sense the misfortune surrounding her.
She was her master's most loyal subordinate, so she decided to recuperate from her injuries along the way while heading to the human lands on a mission.
But the misfortune spell, which had only affected her, inexplicably became bound to a human. If the human was on the verge of death, so was Wu Chu.
So Wu Chu had no choice but to bring her along to the human lands. Along the way, the woman swallowed poisonous insects whole and deliberately walked into traps, as if determined to make them both into saviors.
Wasn't it obvious that Wu Chu was a wicked demon who killed without batting an eye?
Trying to tame her? Dream on!
At the human borderlands, a village was trapped by a demon array, blocking their path. Wu Chu turned around to find Wen Jiyue reclining with a hand at her waist, pretending to be frail and on the verge of collapse.
Wu Chu: Save yourself.
Wen Jiming: I can barely lift a finger. If you can bear to leave me, by all means.
Wu Chu cursed under her breath, Wu Chu sneered, and Wu Chu saved her.
After Wu Chu pulled the blade from her shoulder and spat out a mouthful of black blood, she declared firmly, “This is the last time I'm helping you.”
Wen Jiyue: “Oh, my great benefactor, you said the same thing last time. And the time before that, and the time before that...”
From the moment she was born, Wen Jiyue was a Divine Lord created by humankind. Her very existence was meant to lead her to immortality and godhood, and to keep the demon clans in check.
She had lived through this world hundreds and thousands of times, searching for her heart, comprehending the Dao, saving the world and helping the people, only to fail again and again.
So she took her own life and started over, took her own life and started over...
But this time, she finally found the one solution among countless possibilities.
If you're interested, please add it to your reading list! A wicked little crow and a human Divine Lord on the run, trying to survive together.
Theme: Staying true to your original aspirations
