Without a Rose

[This is an unedited pirated copy. The revised version has 17,000 new characters.

[Gentle, Self-Controlled Senior Disciple x Alluring, Passionate Little Demoness]

Yan Qi, courtesy name Wugui, is the unruly young lord of the demon realm.

She considers herself a prodigy, never imagining that one day she’d fall into the hands of a disciple from a prestigious sect and lose her freedom.

When she first met him, he was smiling like a flower, warm as a spring breeze. Yan Qi felt like teasing him. "What an upstanding gentleman, as fine as jade."

The moment she finished speaking, the "upstanding gentleman" shackled her hand to his, for life, with no escape.

Yan Qi: "? Do I even know you, bro?"

He replied: "I’ve had a crush on you for a whole century."

Yan Qi refused to give in and kept trying to seduce him. "Such a handsome young master. How about we spend a night together?"

The man stared at her with unblinking, pale violet eyes and smiled. "Sure. Outside?"

Yan Qi was horrified and cursed him for having no shame.

Yan Qi didn’t believe he could lower himself to fool around with a demon like her.

She smiled brightly. "What path do you cultivate, young master?"

He answered, "The Great Path of Ruthlessness."

Yan Qi slapped him. "You cultivate the Ruthless Path and still dare to kiss me?"

She wanted to get away from Yu Xian. Who could have guessed he’d really shatter his cultivation path and become a demon, then raise an eyebrow and ask her, "So, what’s my status?"

Yan Qi: "..."

Yu Xian, courtesy name Xingyun, had carried the burden of saving all living beings since childhood. Yet he was cold and detached by nature, regarding all things as mere straw dogs.

That was, until he saw a demon woman kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times as she prayed to the goddess.

Later, in a prophecy, he saw himself holding a woman in a wedding gown as they were buried together in the same coffin.

Oh. He’d died for love over an unrequited crush.

So, under the gaze of countless onlookers in the Ghost Realm, he brazenly asked the drowsy little demoness to define their relationship. "What are we now?"

He didn’t expect the demoness to answer lazily, without a care in the world, "Secret lovers?"

A moment later, she kissed him and stroked his chin as she coaxed him. "Don’t be mad, my cultivation partner."

Reader’s guide:

1. Leans slightly toward a female-led story, with plot and romance split evenly. There’s a secondary couple, which will be noted in the blurb.

2. Both leads are strong, with some ensemble elements. Feel free to ship anyone except the official couples.

3. I’m old-fashioned: all couples get happy endings and extra sweetness. No misunderstandings.

Here’s my upcoming novel, "The Funeral Mourner"

It starts after the current novel, on November 1. The first ten chapters will be posted on opening day. Come take a look, my dear readers!

Mu Sui, the funeral mourner of Bone Mountain.

She devoted herself to catching ghosts and, after completing her training, lived with her master on Bone Mountain. Yet everyone insisted that she belonged in the capital.

She had no memories from before the age of ten and knew no one. But after catching a ghost and showing her face, people from the Five Great Families came after her, intent on killing her.

Those who told her, "Long time no see," included old friends and enemies. One by one, they went mad trying to drag her into the capital’s maelstrom.

Even Mu Yang, who traveled by her side, was no different.

Mu Sui didn’t want to get involved. Furious at being deceived, she slapped him.

He caught her hand, pained yet manic. "You were born to sit in the grand hall and make everyone look up to you."

After that, the Five Families held their selection of the Whale. Mu Sui stole the show, her identity as a funeral mourner was exposed, and she became the target of a manhunt.

Mu Sui wielded her tears as a weapon. Her enemies wanted to gouge out her eyes so she could never cry again.

Too bad they forgot that before Mu Sui became a funeral mourner, she had been unrivaled in talismans and formations.

All Five Great Families mobilized, along with half the ghost hunters in the land.

The suona blared, the wailing rose, and dazzling talismans flew from the girl’s pale hands.

They watched as she wept while twisting an enemy’s head off.

Eerie and beautiful, she became famous overnight.

A passerby heard the rumors and asked in confusion, "Mu Sui? Didn’t she die years ago?"

They said Mu Sui became a disciple at eleven and left the mountain at twenty. With tears as her weapon, she held life and death in her hands. In just half a year, she stirred up the capital, upended the Five Families, and became head of the Mu family, second only to the Sage.

Everyone was amazed that a young woman could accomplish so much. Mu Sui had only one thing to say: "I didn’t want this either."

The first time Mu Yang saw Mu Sui, she was at her most confident, brilliant, and powerful.

The woman’s red robes fluttered in the wind, and his heart skipped a beat.

After that, he stood against the Mu family for her. Even when he was exiled to the wastelands on a mission, he didn’t mind.

During the Lantern Festival a year later, he pushed himself to finish his mission three days early and rushed back to the capital, full of anticipation at the thought of seeing Mu Sui.

Instead, he saw the woman’s cold corpse.

He watched the Five Families deny Mu Sui even the peace of death, trying to marry her off to someone from the Lai family and subjecting her to every kind of humiliation.

Mu Yang went mad. He slaughtered his way through the Five Great Families, begged the Sage to grant him a marriage decree, carried Mu Sui’s corpse back to Bone Mountain, and knelt before his master, pleading for help.

He gathered her bones and called back her soul, trading one life for another.

His master asked if it was worth it. Mu Yang only said, "If she can’t see the world, then none of it means anything to me."

So, one in life and one in death, Mu Yang became a wandering spirit and kept watch on Bone Mountain day after day for ten years.

Until the girl came down the mountain, humming a tune, and stepped on his skull.

He cleaned himself up and carefully spoke from beside Mu Sui. "Hello. This is my skull. Could you be a little gentler?"

Theme: Save all living beings.