Author: Cyan Wings
Volume: 3
Age Rating: Teen
Exclusive Extra: √
Translator：Yu Manman, Iris Hu
Editor：Shukun Xue, Namio, Jian, Rei

Synopsis

Is the Demon Venerable in seclusion to study cultivation manuals…
or read romance novels?

Demonic sect leader, Wenren E, accidentally stumbles upon a romance novel featuring tragedy and plot holes. Most importantly, it seems to mirror his own world. In the novel, he is destined to die for the sake of a woman he doesn’t care about, driving his subordinate Yin Hanjiang’s descent into madness and destruction.
First of all… Why?! None of it makes sense to him, and he isn’t about to let it happen either. Armed with this forbidden knowledge, he decides to rewrite his own story—starting by saving Yin Hanjiang.
As they journey through bloodied battlefields, snowy wastelands, and illusionary realms, their bond deepens, shaped by loyalty, sacrifice, and something far more dangerous: love. With demonic cultivation threatening his soul and an ancient Blood Demon rising once more, Wenren E must face the past that broke him, the future that awaits him, and the man who would follow him into hell. Can a man forged in blood learn to choose love over fate?

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Preview

Volume One

It had been seven days since Demon Venerable Wenren E secluded himself in the Profound Abyss Sect. The door to his room remained firmly sealed, with provisions brought by his subordinates left untouched. One could only wonder what profound new technique he had mastered this time.

As the one in charge of the sect headquarters affairs, Altar Master Yuan found himself in a difficult position. The Venerable Lord had entered seclusion without so much as a word beforehand. Uncertain of when he might return, or whether he had grasped new cultivation techniques or made any improvements to his realm, Altar Master Yuan was left with a difficult decision: should he prepare for a celebration, or not?

Demon Venerable Wenren E was not an extravagant person, nor did he care for frivolous ceremonies. However, if the Venerable Lord had truly advanced to a higher realm, Altar Master Yuan had to, at the very least, gather his followers in the reception hall, where they could await Wenren E’s emergence, congratulate him on his advancements, and anticipate the future dominance of the Profound Abyss Sect in the cultivation world.

After much deliberation, Altar Master Yuan ultimately decided to seek help from Yin Hanjiang, the sect’s Left Protector. Not only was Yin Hanjiang a trusted confidant of the Venerable Lord, he was, as far as they knew, the last one to have spoken to him. If there was anyone in the world who understood Wenren E, it would have to be Yin Hanjiang.

For the past seven days, Yin Hanjiang, clad in black, had stood guard outside the door with a frosty face. Only when he heard Altar Master Yuan’s predicament did his usually frigid and detached expression betray a hint of uncertainty.

The short-statured Altar Master looked up at Yin Hanjiang, waiting expectantly for his instructions.

The corner of Yin Hanjiang’s mouth twitched. “Not yet.”

Altar Master Yuan raised his brows in surprise. “Your humble servant heard that the Venerable Lord obtained a secret tome and immediately entered seclusion seven days ago. Not only has it been years since the Venerable Lord has made a breakthrough, but few techniques are even good enough to catch his eye. Could it be that he is going into seclusion in anticipation of something?”

“I said no.” A sharp light gleamed from Yin Hanjiang’s sword.

Altar Master Yuan knew this was his sign to back away, and left him alone.

After he left, Yin Hanjiang looked at the shut door behind him, and his indifferent expression morphed into bewilderment.

Indeed, the Venerable Lord had obtained a book seven days ago. Everyone had assumed it was a secret manual of sorts. Only Yin Hanjiang, the lord’s Left Protector and the one physically closest to him at the time, had caught a glimpse of the book’s title—The Splendid Torturous Romance: You Are My One and Only.

Looking at the title was enough to make Yin Hanjiang grind his teeth down to nubs. No matter how one looked at it, this book could not possibly be a cultivation manual. Even romances written by those bitter, worldly scholars had titles with more class. He had assumed then that Wenren E would take it upon himself to torch that useless tome and rightfully render it into ash… To his surprise, the Venerable Lord had instead opened the book, taken a glance at it, and sighed deeply before going into seclusion with said book in hand.

Was a trivial storybook from the mortal world truly worthy of the Demon Venerable’s attentive scrutiny, and for seven whole days at that?

The longer he stood outside that door, the more complicated Yin Hanjiang’s emotions grew.

This was the cultivation world, after all, not something to be compared to the mundane world’s Wulin and Jianghu. Those communities practiced martial arts and cultivated their bodies so that they could be just slightly stronger than the average person, but no matter how exceptional their inner prowess, their peak was the Acquired state. To defeat a wild beast with a single punch was the best their ranks could muster. The cultivation world existed on a higher plane. Cultivators severed their ties to the mundane world and continued to strive for even higher realms, and eventually, immortality, like the divines. This transcended state was known as the Innate state.

People of the mundane world might still yearn for the romance tales of heroes and beauties, but those of the cultivation world sought instead to sever their familial and romantic ties, detaching themselves from the mundane in order to chase after the Great Dao. Especially common in demonic sects such as theirs, there were those who relied on carnal relations as a means of cultivation, but it wasn’t the emotional aspect they were after. Rather, they sought only to nourish themselves with the true qi of another—sentimentality or affection was never a factor.

One need not mention Wenren E himself, who followed the Path of Slaughter and steered clear of the worldly desires that usually plagued humankind. How could he, out of anyone, have spent seven days and nights reading The Splendid Torturous Romance: You Are My One and Only?!

It was simply unfathomable. Nevertheless, Yin Hanjiang was the Demon Venerable’s protector and his most loyal subordinate. He had sworn never to allow Wenren E to come to any harm for as long as he lived. Thus, even though he knew that the Venerable Lord was reading a romance novel instead of cultivating, Yin Hanjiang continued to stand guard silently outside the cultivation room with his sword in hand, not budging an inch from his post by the door.

On the other side of the door, Wenren E’s palm hovered over the cover of the book as though he wished to obliterate it. Yet, his hand trembled in hesitation. In the end, he drew back.

He pressed a fist against his furrowed brow, trying to soothe the headache brought on by this complicated dilemma.

Seven days ago, when Wenren E was discussing with his confidant, Yin Hanjiang, about the punishments deserved by the righteous cultivators for spitting threats at them and calling for the downfall of their Profound Abyss Sect, a thick book suddenly appeared in his hand. As one of the two strongest individuals in this era’s cultivation world, unless a divine being from a higher realm descended, no one could have slipped a book onto his palm without him noticing.

Despite his wariness, he did not destroy the book. Instead, he endured its… choice of title and flipped to the first page. Immediately, a few lines caught his eye:

【Due to numerous plot holes and significant reader disapproval, it has been decided that the book’s most popular character will be chosen to verify the plausibility of the manuscript and make appropriate revisions.】

That was the sentence that prompted Wenren E to enter seclusion immediately and spend the next seven days reading this thick book with over a million words from beginning to end, letter for letter, sentence for sentence, again and again. With divine senses as powerful as his, he could recite the story backwards and forwards after the first read-through without needing a second glance, yet he still flipped through it once more, mulling over the meaning of each word.

Alas, even after so many days, the book remained an enigma to him.

Every word and sentence was straightforward, the scenes altogether easy to imagine unfolding whilst one read… so why couldn’t he understand what was going on?!

The book told an ambivalent tale of love and hate between two souls, stretching across two lifetimes.

In her past life, the heroine was a primordial deity. Unlike those who achieved their divinity through cultivation, she was born alongside the universe. Presiding over calamities, she was responsible for spreading disease, disaster, and death among mortals. At a glance, one might consider her malevolent, but her existence was essential to maintaining the balance of the universe. Where there was death, life must also be present; where life flourished, death must also be sown. This endless cycle was necessary for the universe to exist, and she must uphold that duty without bias, showing favor to no single race. Century upon century passed, and she carried on with neither joy nor sorrow.

Eons went by, the primordial deities fell one after another, and the divine realm saw the rise of numerous ascended beings. These individuals were humans, who, in that era, had become attuned to the heavenly Dao. They had achieved an understanding of the universal laws and absorbed the power of Heaven and Earth into their bodies. Then, by enduring myriad trials and tribulations, they gained powers equal to those of the primordial deities and ascended to divinity. Among these ascended was the male lead.

The male lead was someone who regarded all beings in the world as his personal responsibility. After his ascension, he learned that the heroine—one of the last few primordial deities—was responsible for unleashing many of the disasters and catastrophes he had personally witnessed as a mortal. Henceforth, he focused his attention on convincing her to change her ways.

The heroine was as emotionless as the universe itself. In her eyes, the male lead was no different from the clouds in the sky, the birds soaring between them, or even the insects buzzing in her ears—in short, a chattering nuisance at most. She often shut him up with her silencing spells before tossing him out of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three Devas.

However, the male lead was undeterred. Every time, he would crawl his way back, figure out how to undo the silencing spell, and continue his earnest plea to the heroine.

Tens of millions of years passed until one day, the heroine’s predestined tribulation arrived.

Just as the world must face the three greater calamities of wind, water, and fire, their utter destruction and countless rebirths, so too did the deities. Accepting her fate, she confronted her tribulation head-on. Unexpectedly, as the trials raged on, the male lead returned once again.

The tribulations faced by the primordial deities were exceptionally terrifying. The heroine knew that she would perish this time. Only by protecting her divine soul, passing the tribulations, and once more attaining the enlightenment of the Great Dao would she have any chance for survival. Thus, she had sealed her divinity away in the cultivation world prior to this day. Should she regain her godhood in the future, she would be able to restore her powers and return to the divine realm.

As the thunderbolts came down one after another, and the heroine was on the verge of abandoning her physical body to enter the cycle of reincarnation, the male lead appeared and took the final strike for her, bearing part of the tribulation in her stead. Consequently, they reincarnated together, and the red strings of destiny were thus tied between the two.

Upon reincarnating and eventually joining a cultivation sect, the naive and innocent heroine saw the sect’s chief disciple for the first time and felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

Wenren E analyzed the phrase, “struck by lightning,” by studying its description in the book: “Her whole body felt numb and tender with that single glance, and she could neither tear her gaze away nor take another step.”

Having never been in love, Wenren E surmised that the only logical explanation for such symptoms must be an actual lightning strike.

It was love at first sight for the two protagonists. In this life, the heroine, now called Baili Qingmiao, was completely smitten with He Wenzhao, the sect’s chief disciple, whose love and care for the common people did not falter. Her unconditional devotion led her down a path of torment, both physical and emotional. Despite this, her infatuation knew no bounds. She eventually gave up her divinity for He Wenzhao, wishing only for a life envied not by those illustrious immortals, but by the affectionate mandarin ducks, who themselves are symbols of everlasting love.

The rest of the plot could be summed up as follows: after being framed and misunderstood, Baili Qingmiao was imprisoned, tortured, poisoned, and even hunted down, yet her coveted position as He Wenzhao’s bride still fell to another woman. Although several key male supporting characters devoted themselves to her, He Wenzhao was the only one for Baili Qingmiao. She turned a blind eye to the affections of these other men and pursued him relentlessly, only to suffer never-ending harm from him, his wives, his admirers, and his fellow sect members. Despite being rescued by the other male leads multiple times, she continued throwing herself back into the arms of pain and torment.

This nonsense that dragged out for over 800,000 words nearly drove Wenren E into Qi Deviation. If Baili Qingmiao were to appear before him right now, he’d want to crack her skull open just to see what was going on inside.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t more of the torrid tale on the final page, but comments that were more in tune with Wenren E’s own thoughts—the “book reviews,” as they were called. Most of them were something along the lines of…

【The MC is crazy. How could she give up her divinity to stick by such a worthless two-timing scumbag!】

【Pure trash with a terrible ending. What a chore. I kept going so I could finally see the MC reclaim her divinity and torture that scumbag, but she never got over her pathetic self.】

【He Wenzhao says he loves the MC… but the common people, his sect… basically everyone else is more important to him. She’s someone He Wenzhao can abandon at any time. May this love never find me.】

【He Wenzhao ruined the heroine’s life—twice. She was a primordial deity. Her perspective on things was different from that of an ascended deity like him. Releasing catastrophes unto the world was simply her duty, and she did it to balance the heavenly way. Still, he tried to force her to favor the human race and even interrupted her tribulation, dooming her into being emotionally entangled with him for the rest of her next life. What a dangerous guy… He basically tortured the MC to death under the guise of righteousness!】

【Their love at first sight was supposed to be a result of karma, but it sure didn’t seem like karma had any effect on He Wenzhao… Baili Qingmiao was so hopelessly in love that she could even die for him. Meanwhile, he went off to marry the master of the Amethyst Spirit Pavilion. Why couldn’t Baili Qingmiao just marry Zhongli Qian or Wenren E instead? Is the heir of the top cultivator family not handsome enough, or is the Demon Venerable not cool enough? Why must she cling onto that scumbag?】

【Wenren E is the only reason I soldiered through the whole thing. I just wanted to see him tear the male lead apart, but instead he ended up dead because of the MC…】

【Wenren E, Zhongli Qian, Yin Hanjiang, any of them would be better than He Wenzhao. The MC is blind!】

【Let’s maybe skip Yin Hanjiang tho. He’s creepy.】

【Kick Yin Hanjiang out. Even his name haunts my dreams.】

【Kick him out +1. Let’s talk about Wenren E instead.】

Wenren E, Yin Hanjiang, and Zhongli Qian were repeatedly mentioned in these comments, and it was the familiarity of those names that kept the Demon Venerable reading the book through to the end. One thing was for sure: these names referred to the very same people he knew.

According to the book, Wenren E was merely an infatuated, domineering second male lead in The Splendid Torturous Romance: You Are My One and Only, and their world was nothing more than a tale written within.

…

^{Translation: Yu Manman
Copy Editor: Shukun Xue, Namio, Rei
Proofreader: Annie, Pengie}

More information coming soon…