Drowning in the River of Oblivion

Shen Yuan, head of the Heavenly Court's Office of Fate, has felt no love for a thousand years. He takes the orphan A Yi as his disciple and teaches her the art of crossing calamities: washing the roots of love from immortals and casting them into the River of Forgetfulness. At the bottom of the river, A Yi finds a fragment of memory: her master kneeling by the bank, removing his own root of love with his hands and murmuring, “This time, forget it too.” And in that root of love, there is nothing but her face. She doesn't know that Shen Yuan sustains his life by washing away love. Each time he does it, he forgets her, then falls in love with her again. She also doesn't know that a Drowning Immortal Calamity is sealed within her, and that if she falls in love, her soul will be destroyed. He washes away love to bear the calamity for her, and to prove his loyalty to the Heavenly Court. If he refuses, the Court will kill her. A Yi descends to the mortal realm to undergo her tribulation and becomes Princess Zhaoning of the Dayan Dynasty, sent north to marry into the Di. Shen Yuan seals his immortal powers and takes mortal form as Shen Lin, protecting her along the way. When she asks why he saved her, he says he owes someone a favor. She asks who, but he falls silent. The Lord of Fate secretly gives her a Memory-Waking Pill. If she takes it, she will remember everything. She chooses not to. “I'm afraid that if I take it, I'll find out he's a fake, and that I don't even have the right to love him.” Later, she returns to the Heavenly Court and remembers everything. Shen Lin is Shen Yuan. The person she has always loved is the same, yet she has never truly had him. The Heavenly Court sentences Shen Yuan to the punishment of a Drowning Immortal. A Yi jumps into the River of Forgetfulness, trading away her own root of love to restore his. Shen Yuan survives, but becomes a person without love. She sinks into the river and becomes the new Drowning Immortal. He opens the Book of Fate and asks, “Who is A Yi?” The Lord of Fate says, “An immortal who crossed calamities.” He says, “Oh.” At the bottom of the River of Forgetfulness, A Yi clutches the memory fragment and whispers, “You washed me away for a thousand years. This time, it's my turn to remember you for us both.”