The main story is written in third person.
[Blurb in progress]
Everyday life raising a child + the Ninth Elder and the great villain's love born of bitter hatred
I am the sect's ninth elder, insignificant and powerless, ignored by everyone and reduced to sweeping the back mountain.
One day during my lunch break, I happened to overhear some juniors planning to use a Reverse-Time Mirror to transmigrate back seven thousand years and save someone, bringing him back to revive the sect. That's when I learned that the sect had fallen into decline and was repeatedly bullied.
The juniors realized I was listening. They didn't recognize me, and couldn't kill me without consequence, so they forced me to join them.
I agreed because I heard the name of the person they were talking about.
Ji Xiao. He was an old acquaintance from a very, very long time ago.
The juniors fought their way through obstacle after obstacle in ancient times, finally making it into the Dragon-Prison Bone Jail where Ji Xiao was held.
They were attacked from all sides, and I was the only one with a free hand.
They shouted, "Go save him!"
I picked up a knife from the ground and walked step by step toward the man hanging from the frame.
Many voices swept past my ears like the wind.
I seemed to see that day again: the flames reaching the sky, Ji Xiao slaughtering my father, mother, brothers, and sisters. The vows of eternal love we'd once made sounded ridiculous and grating amid the endless fighting and screams.
I walked up to him. His head hung low, and our arrival stirred no emotion in him.
The juniors were struggling, already at the end of their strength.
"Save him, Yan Zhang!"
The man's expression shifted slightly on the gallows.
I raised my knife, aimed for his heart, and plunged it straight in.
"Yan Zhang! What are you doing?"
The juniors went mad.
The man raised his eyes. His dark, brooding gaze moved as slowly as in a dream. He looked at me as if I were someone he'd known long ago.
I pulled out the knife and stabbed him again, even harder.
He smiled.
He lowered his head toward me, his cold lips covering mine.
"If I live, I'll return to you. If I die, I'll miss you forever."
"May the years be long and the days short. Zhang Zhang, may you always be at peace."
Note from 2025.06.25
Theme: In the dust of this world, I would rather love and hate.
