Branding the Bones, Burning Incense

She gifted him a breathtaking solo dance; he vowed to love her devotedly for all eternity!

Across heaven and earth, he feared neither the wilderness, the Six Realms, nor all living beings. The only thing he feared was her not being by his side.

That year, flowers filled the sky. His master tossed him down from the heavens, and he crashed into a great tree, snapping countless branches. She fell from the tree and landed straight into his arms.

In that life, he braved every danger to capture and tame a white phoenix newly imbued with spiritual power atop a snowy mountain, then placed it in her hands, all for the radiant smile she wore beneath the falling snow.

In that lifetime, he used the wolf clan's highest forbidden art to seal a thousand years of cultivation inside her, where it fused into a poppy, so she could live forever without birth or death until he returned.

After enduring his tribulations in the mortal world, he finally understood why he had devoted a thousand years to cultivation yet remained one step away from becoming an immortal.

But this time, he no longer wanted to become an immortal. He wanted only her.

That day, he knelt before Mahakashyapa and begged for another life. Mahakashyapa smiled without answering, then asked him, "How much do you love that woman?"

He said, "I would descend into the wilderness and sever all ties with the Six Realms, live without a body and die without a soul, if only I could protect her in our next life."