Nerezza

I wish, but my sense of humor is drier than the Sahara Desert🤣🤣

I think we just have a fundamental disagreement on what makes a good story! 🤣

To you, giving a character an ego is "pulling them down." To me, it’s giving them a personality that makes the eventual character growth actually mean something. If he starts off perfect, he has nowhere to go.

I didn't write the plot to "pull him down"; I wrote the plot to create tension. A hero who is a bit too full of himself meeting a woman who isn't impressed by him is a classic trope for a reason—it’s fun! It’s not about one person "winning" or being in a "spotlight"; it's about the sparks that happen when two strong personalities clash.

I wrote him with an ego because flawed characters are interesting. I’m writing a rom-com, not a PR statement. If he were perfect from page one, we’d have nothing to read.

At the end of the day, it's fanfiction, it’s meant to be an exploration of feelings.

Truly no hard feelings or whatsoever, thanks for the chat, it was definitely entertaining! 🥂✨

To be honest, I’m enjoying this back-and-forth way too much! 🤣

By your logic, are the millions of fics on AO3 and XHS all "disrespectful" too? That’s a lot of fans for you to stay mad at! Fanfiction is a genre literally built on "What If" scenarios, it doesn't follow a strict set of rules. I use these characters because I love their chemistry; that’s the whole point. If I wanted a 100% carbon copy of the show, I’d just wait for the drama to air. Writing an AU isn't "disrespect," it’s how fans play with the dynamics they love.

Besides, we both know 魂判九川 is a loose adaptation. Are you 100% sure the drama character is going to be exactly the same as what YOU think he is? Since it’s a loose adaptation, most of us here don't even know what he's actually like yet because the director is changing so much of the original text.

Characters change with every version and every author.

Lol, exactly! 🤣 Compared to my other drafts, this is basically a rom-com. At least in this one, everyone is alive and well, even if their pride is a little bruised.🤣 You’re welcome, guys! 😌 Charr

Lol, I changed them because I didn't want my notifications to go "bling bling bling!" But I'm glad someone gets it, if we can’t have a little obsessive pining in a fanfic, then what is the internet even for? Why stay in the shallow end when the drama is so much better in the deep end?🤣🤣

When did I ever say the actor was like that? You’re confusing a fictional character with the real person.
By your logic, since Yuanzhi has a sharp tongue and likes poisoning people, or Bie Fan is simpleminded, does that mean Rui is like that too? No. He’s smart and talented. That’s the point of acting and fiction.
In this AU, the banter and "ego" were part of a specific character dynamic, not an insult to the person playing them.

I actually only wrote this because I saw an edited picture of A’dai and Jiuchuan and the chemistry just clicked for me.

To clarify, Jiuchuan wasn't chasing after her "foolishly", in my head, it’s more a case of mutual affection where both characters are the type to "deny, deny, deny" until they finally can’t anymore. He just happened to be the 1st one to let it slip out.

Also, even if I don't seem like it on MDL, I’m actually very active with Rui on other platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and X—constantly posting about his activities and variety shows. I’d never want to "drag" him or his characters. But to keep things simple, I’ll just change the characters to Ji Ling and Wuyi. 😊

Thank youuu! I'll see about a part 2, if it happens, I'll post it later tonight for sure! 🥰

AHHH, thank you so much!! 😭 I knew you’d appreciate the glasses, a man with specs just hits different, okay? 👀Thank you for always hyping me up🥹🫶🏻

At Mingde University, everyone is obsessed with exactly two things: their GPA and their hopeless crushes.

For some reason, even in this day and age, people here still insist on the “romance” of a physical love letter. I don't really get it, is it actually romantic if you’re too terrified to deliver it yourself?

Apparently, most girls on this campus would rather watch their grades tank than actually strike up a conversation with their crush.

And that’s where I come in.

I’m Lu Wuyi, the girl who turned campus-wide social anxiety into a steady stream of pocket money. I’m basically a professional middleman for the romantically challenged.

For a flat ten-yuan fee, or a tray of convenience store sushi, if I'm feeling hungry, I’ll deliver your letters, your gifts, or even handle the awkward verbal confession so you don't have to.

It’s not that I’m desperate for cash; it’s just that a ten-minute walk basically pays for my afternoon milk tea. Who doesn’t like free stuff?

"Okay, let me double-check," I said, squinting at the sticky note on my phone as I glared at my “client”, or more accurately, my best friend since the womb, Wu Wangyan "Tall guy, white turtleneck, silver frames, and a “face that belongs on a billboard.” From the Computer Engineering department, Class 4B, right?"

Wangyan kept fidgeting like there was an itch she couldn’t scratch. Her face turned bright red as she nodded aggressively, not saying a word. She just gave me a desperate, pleading look that could have melted stone.

I swear, I thought as I adjusted my bag strap, my clients treat these guys like rare Pokémon, but this is hitting a new low. "Wangyan, seriously?" I sighed, flicking the screen of my phone. "We’ve shared clothes, secrets, and literally had our first heartbreak together in middle school. Why are you acting like I’m a stranger? Just give me the name!"

But she just shoved the sparkly pink envelope into my hands and pushed me toward the door, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Whatever, I thought, rolling my eyes at her dramatics. Most of my clients won't even tell me the guy's name, like it’s some top secret, but I expected better from my own best friend. I’m an errand girl, not a private investigator. You’d think she’d want me to, you know, actually succeed?

I shook my head, already mapping out the quickest route to the engineering building.

I finally found the lecture hall. It was packed. I scanned the room for a white turtleneck and spotted a guy with his back turned to me.

Even from behind, you could tell he was the one. You know that saying? That you can tell a guy is handsome just from the back of their heads, perfectly trimmed hair, broad shoulders, and very tall too.

"Hey, excuse me," I tapped a random guy near the door. "Where is that guy over there, seated?"

The student sighed, a look of pure exhaustion crossing his face. He pointed to a desk that was currently surrounded by almost the entire female population in the room, with only one brave male friend occupying a seat next to him, leaving the other side vacant.

"Wew," I murmured, watching the scene. "A total player, then. Good luck to Wangyan; she’s going to need it."

I shoved my way through the crowd. "Excuse me... sorry... coming through!" I ducked under a few glares, slid the sparkly pink envelope deep into the shelf under his desk, and bailed before he could even turn around.



Ten minutes later, the bell rang. Ji Ling finished his conversation with his friend Wu Shiguang and sat down.

As he reached for his textbook, a flash of glitter caught his eye. A pink envelope slid out and landed on his lap.

"HAHA! No way," Shiguang cackled from the next seat. "Ji Ling, is this number five this week? I thought you already issued a public service announcement that you won’t get into a relationship until you're 60."

Ji Ling swatted Shiguang’s hand away. "Shut up. It’s probably a mistake. Someone probably misplaced it."

"Nope," Li Jie, his friend, grinned, leaning back. "I saw the whole thing. A very pretty girl, definitely not from our department, sneaked in and put it there. She looked pretty determined, man. Maybe you should actually read this one."

Ji Ling frowned. He opened the seal and pulled out the paper.

“I will love you as long as the sun burns in the sky, as long as the moon shines its light into the dark night, until the raging blue oceans become calm and run dry. I will love you until the end of time. Please, let our fates intertwine.”

Ji Ling grimaced. The words were so dramatic they practically gave him a headache. She needs to spend less time reading novels and more time studying. He thought, as he shoved the letter back under the desk, feeling a bit of annoyance. She was clearly wasting her time on him.



While they were heading for lunch the next day, Li Jie suddenly froze.

"Hey! Isn’t that her? The girl from yesterday who snuck into our classroom!"

Ji Ling looked up. Across the cafeteria, a girl was walking toward the tea shop. It’s just like what Li Jie said, she’s indeed very pretty, but her focus should be on her studies, not on her love life, and so he quickly followed her.

"I'll catch up with you," Ji Ling said curtly.

Ignoring Ji Lie and Shiguang’s confused shouts, Ji Ling adjusted his glasses and started walking toward A Dai. He had to set her straight. For her own good, she needed to know that he’s not into relationships, even if she hadn't actually asked.

While Wuyi was leaning against a stone pillar, savoring her brown sugar bubble tea and a bag of honey-butter chips.

“Classmate, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Wuyi paused, a chip halfway to her mouth. She turned around, blinking, and pointed a confused finger at herself. Coming toward her was a guy who was more than a head taller than her.

Oh, great, she thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Another one? She didn't recognize him at all. Given her track record, she just assumed he was another admirer who had tracked her down from another department.

She moved her snack and drink, ready to bolt. She really didn't have the energy for a "it's not you, it's me" speech today. But before she could even take a step, he was already standing in front of her.

Wuyi took a breath, ready to politely shut him down before he could even start. "Look, if you're gonna ask for my—"

"You," Ji Ling said, his voice dropping an octave.

Wuyi blinked, trying to look as "no-thoughts-head-empty" as possible. "Me?"

"We need to talk," he said, his expression flat. "About that thing. I believe we should clarify some things before expectations get out of hand."

Wuyi stared at him, her straw still between her lips. Things? Clarify expectations? What's with this guy? This is the 1st time I've seen him.

"Clarify expectations?" Wuyi repeated, her voice flat. She took a slow sip of her tea. " I don't even know who you are. And "out of hand"? The only thing out of hand right now is your ego. Even if I did do something, it shouldn't be that deep. No need to make a scene, right?"

Ji Ling frowned. Not that deep? She had literally said, "I will love you until the end of time."
The denial phase, he noted internally. She’s trying to save face because she’s embarrassed about getting rejected.

"It is deep," Ji Ling corrected her, stepping closer. "And while I appreciate the...effort, I have a very strict schedule. My studies come first. I don't have time for "fates intertwining" or whatever other fantasies you've been harboring."

Wuyi almost choked on a pearl. Harboring? ME?

"Wait, you wha—" she started, but Ji Ling cut her off with a flick of his wrist.

"I’m not finished. However," he paused, looking at her confused face and mistaking it for heartbreak, "since you went through the trouble of going through all that. You can walk with me to the library. We can discuss why your focus should be on your own department's curriculum instead of me."

Step one: Establish boundaries. Step two: Slowly let her down. This is the most responsible way to handle a fan.

"Hehehe... yeah, maybe next time," she said, slowly backing away. "I actually have a lot of... life... to do. Okay, bye!"

Before he could even process the rejection of his invitation, she bolted. She didn't stop running until she was two buildings away.

"Wooh!" she leaned against a wall, catching her breath. "What is with that guy? This is why it’s important to get enough sleep, people. Stay in school and get your eight hours, or else you’ll end up delusional like that handsome guy."

"Wuyi! Over here!"

She looked up to see Wangyan running toward her, looking like she was about to have a heart attack. "How was it? Did you find him? Is the letter safe? Did he... did he look at it?"

"Of course," Wuyi said, popping her straw back into her mouth with a shrug. "Who do you think I am? I’m the number one middleman in this University. Mission accomplished. Letter delivered. No refunds."

Wangyan let out a high-pitched squeak, her hands covering her face. "Oh my god, I’m going to die. I’m actually going to die. Did he look disgusted? Or did he look like he was contemplating what to say? He’s an old soul, Wuyi, you have no idea. He probably read my letter and felt his soul shifting."

"Sure, Wangyan. Soul shifting. Totally," Wuyi lied through her teeth, not having the heart to tell her friend that the "old soul" guy she’d delivered her letter to was actually a self-absorbed weirdo and a playboy.





Two weeks later.

Wuyi was convinced she was being haunted. It was the only logical explanation.

For fourteen days, the campus prince, whom she now knew was named Ji Ling, had been pestering her. It didn’t matter if she was at the cafeteria, the library, or just trying to take a shortcut through the park; he was there.

And his words? Flabbergasting.

"Wuyi" he said, cornering her near the vending machines for the third time that week. "I saw you looking at the Engineering building today. I must repeat: I have no intentions of being in a relationship. A relationship would only hinder your growth and mine. Please, restrain your heart."

Wuyi froze, a coin halfway into the machine. "I was looking at the building because there's a noodle shop next to it, Ji Ling. I’m hungry. That’s the only thing my heart is feeling right now—hunger."

"Denial is a common stage of grief," he replied solemnly, adjusting his silver frames. "I respect your persistence, but it can never be."

He turned and walked away, leaving Wuyi standing there with her jaw hitting the floor.

What is his problem?! she screamed internally.

It was like a glitch in the matrix. Every time she ran into him, he acted like she was in the middle of a grand & tragic confession, and he was the noble hero turning her down for the sake of her own future. She was being rejected for a romance she wasn't even in!

"I can't do this anymore," Wuyi groaned, leaning her forehead against the cold glass of the vending machine. "If he tells me "it can never be" one more time, I'm going to pay him ten yuan just to shut up."





Ji Ling was in his usual spot in the library, his fingers flying across his keyboard as he finished a complex script. He was just about to pack up and "accidentally" cross paths with Wuyi to give her his daily lecture on emotional discipline, when he saw her.

She was sneaking through the aisles, looking around suspiciously, before sliding a bright, yellow sparkly letter onto a table near the window, the table belonging to a guy from the Architecture department.

Ji Ling froze. His hands balled into fists.

This woman... is she truly so fickle? he thought, his heart felt like it was being squeezed. It was just 2 weeks ago when she sent me that letter about fates intertwining and loving me until the end of time, and now she’s here, confessing her love to another guy?

Before he could stop himself, he was on his feet. He stopped her by the biography section.

"Wuyi," he whispered

"Ack! You again?" Wuyi jumped, clutching her bag. "Are you a ghost? Why do you always show up behind me?"

"I should ask you the same," Ji Ling stepped into her personal space, his silver glasses glinting under the library lights. "I just saw what you did. How many people do you “love until the end of time,” exactly? Do you hand out these letters like flyers? Was your “Love” to me just a temporary lapse in judgment?"

Wuyi blinked, her brain short-circuiting. "Wait... my what? My love?"

"Don't play innocent," Ji Ling countered, looking genuinely hurt despite his cold tone. "The pink letter. The poetry. You went to my lecture hall just to give it to me, and now I catch you doing the same for someone else? Have you no shame?"

Wuyi's jaw dropped. The pieces finally clicked together.

Oh. My. God. She stared at his very handsome and completely delusional face. He thought she was Wangyan. He thought she was the one who had written those cringy, flowery words. He had been "rejecting" her for two weeks because he thought she was in love with him.

She opened her mouth to scream, "IT WASN'T ME! It was Wangyan! She’s my best friend and she’s obsessed with you!" But the words died in her throat. If she said that, she’d have to explain the ten-yuan fee. She’d have to explain that she didn't even know his name.

WORST OF ALL, she’d have to refund Wangyan’s money because she had failed her part of the deal.

And Wangyan would probably die of embarrassment if the Campus prince knew she was the one behind the letter.

"I—I..." Wuyi stammered, looking like a deer in headlights.

"Well?" Ji Ling prompted, crossing his arms. "I am waiting for an explanation. Is your heart a revolving door, Classmate Wuyi?"

Wuyi looked at him, then at the yellow letter across the room, then back at him. She felt a hysterical laugh bubbling up in her chest.

I can’t believe I’m getting scolded for “cheating” on a guy I’m not even dating for a letter I didn't even write.

"Look, Ji Ling" she said, her voice shaking with the effort of not laughing or crying.
"You’re right. I’m just... a very busy person. My heart has a lot of... errands to run. Maybe you should just go back to your coding and forget you ever saw me."

Ji Ling’s expression shifted from anger to something that looked suspiciously like jealousy. "I see. So it’s a game to you? Well, I won't have you disrupting the focus of other students with your... sparkly distractions. If you're going to pester someone, pester me. At least I am equipped to handle the distraction."

Wuyi stared at him. "Wait... what?"

"You heard me," he muttered, looking away, his ears turning a faint shade of pink. "I’ll be at this table until 8 PM. If you have more letters... you can just give them to me directly. No need to sneak around."

He turned and walked back to his desk, leaving Wuyi standing in the aisle, completely flabbergasted.

Did... did he just ask me to pester him? she thought, taking a massive gulp of her bubble tea. I’m going to need so much more than ten yuan for this.





Wuyi bolted past the history section and out the library doors before Ji Ling could even blink.

Ji Ling returned to his seat, his head throbbing. He sat down next to Shiguang, who was still mid-argument with the TA. "I’m telling you," Shiguang waved a pen around, "if you don't optimize the back-end first, the UI doesn't matter!"

Ji Ling ignored him and reached into his bag, pulling out that sparkly pink envelope. He opened it for the first time since that first day, his eyes narrowing as he scanned past the "intertwining fates" nonsense.

And then, he saw it.

Hidden in the very bottom corner, written in tiny, elegant script that was almost obscured by a glittery heart, was a signature: Wangyan.

He frozed.

Wangyan? He re-read it. Wangyan. Not Wuyi. Not the girl with the brown sugar milk tea and the honey-butter chips. He looked at Shiguang, who was currently laughing at something the TA said, and then back at the name.

Oh. SHIT!

It hit him then. The letter wasn't for him. It was for the guy sitting right next to him. Wuyi wasn’t a girl in love; she was a delivery girl.

A clumsy, careless, and somehow incredibly captivating messenger who had dropped the letter in the wrong spot and then just... let him believe it was for him, for two weeks.

An irritated sigh escaped him.

"Yo, Jiuchuan, where are you going?" Shiguang called out, startled as Ji Ling suddenly slammed his laptop shut and stood up. "Our debate was just about to get good! We haven't even touched on the API yet!"

"I have business to attend to," Ji Ling said, his voice dropping into a sub-zero chill.

"Business? At 7:30 PM?"

Ji Ling didn't answer. He was already halfway across the library. He wasn't going to let this slide.

He had been humiliated. He had been delusional. But more importantly, he had been wrong.

He had to find that girl and tell her that she was the worst courier in the history of the university.

And maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see if she’d finally look at him without thinking he was a complete lunatic.






The sunset was hitting the campus in all the right ways, turning everything gold, the kind of lighting Wangyan always joked was “ romantic aesthetic.”

Wuyi was sitting on a stone bench, finishing off a bag of dried mango, when she saw it happen. It was like watching a slow-motion movie.

Wangyan was standing near the fountain, looking like she wanted the earth to swallow her whole.

And standing right in front of her was Wu Shiguang. He was holding the sparkly pink letter, the actual one, looking completely stunned.

Apparently, while Ji Ling had been busy "rejecting" Wuyi for two weeks, Shiguang had found a second, much smaller note that Wangyan had tucked into his locker herself when she finally grew some courage.

"I... I read the part about the “ melody," Shiguang said, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked uncharacteristically shy, his usual tech-guy energy replaced by a massive blush on his face. "Honestly, I thought I was hallucinating. Nobody has ever called my keyboard clicking a 'melody' before."

Wangyan squeezed her eyes shut, her face the color of a ripe tomato. "I can take it back! I was sleep-deprived! I can pretend I never wrote it!"

"Don't," Shiguang stepped closer, a genuine, dorky smile breaking across his face. "It was actually... really nice. Do you... want to go grab dinner? I know a place that has the best spicy noodles, and the Wi-Fi is actually decent."

Wangyan looked up, her eyes sparkling like the glitter on her stationery. "I love spicy noodles."

Wuyi watched from the bench, a piece of mango frozen halfway to her mouth.

She saw Shiguang awkwardly reach out and take Wangyan’s hand, and Wangyan looked like she had just won the lottery.

"Wow," Wuyi whispered to herself. "It actually worked. My success rate just hit 100%."

"It most certainly did not."

Wuyi jumped, nearly choking on her snack. She turned around to see Ji Ling standing behind her.

He wasn't looking at the happy new couple. He was looking at her, and he looked like he was about to explode.

"Oh, hey, Ji Ling," Wuyi said, quickly recovering. She pointed a thumb at the fountain. "Look! Success! Wangyan and Shiguang. My job is officially done. If you're here to reject me again, you’re late to the party. The romance is already happening over there."

Ji Ling ignored his roommate entirely, stepping into her personal space. He stood so close she was forced to tilt her head back at an awkward angle just to see his face

"I know it wasn't you," he said

Wuyi blinked. "Oh. So you finally learned how to read the fine print? Congratulations. Does this mean the daily lectures are over?"

"It means," Ji Ling said, leaning down until they were eye-to-eye, "that you let me make a fool of myself for fourteen days. You watched me 'reject' you and you didn't say a word. You just took your tea and laughed at me."

Wuyi shrugged, though her heart was doing a weird little dance. "I have a reputation to uphold. Professionalism and discretion, remember? Plus, watching you like that was the best entertainment I’ve had all semester. It’s not my fault you’re a narcissist."

"A narcissist?" Wuyi’s jaw tightened. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten-yuan bill, slamming it onto the stone bench next to her mangoes.

Wuyi stared at the money. "What’s this? A tip?"

"It’s a fee," Ji Ling said, his eyes burning behind his glasses. "I’m hiring you. New contract."

"Oh?" Wuyi arched an eyebrow, her interest piqued. "Who’s the recipient? And what’s the message?"

Ji Ling didn't look away. "The recipient is sitting right in front of me. And the message is: Stop taking other people’s letters. If you’re going to spend your time delivering confessions, start with your own. I’ll be waiting in the library tomorrow at eight. Don't be late."

He turned on his heel and walked away before she could say a word.

Wuyi sat there, stunned, looking from the ten-yuan bill to the retreating back of Ji Ling.

Near the fountain, Wangyan and Shiguang were laughing and walking away together, but Wuyi barely noticed.

She picked up the bill and tucked it into her pocket with a slow, mischievous smile.

"Well," she murmured, taking a final sip of her bubble tea. "I guess my schedule just got busy."

MODERN SETTING

Wuyi runs a campus side hustle delivering love letters for a ten-yuan fee. When one goes to the wrong desk, Ji Ling mistakenly thinks the flowery confession is from Wuyi herself.

Fr, I’ve stopped trying to predict the dates because we all know these melons mean nothing until the first episode is actually playing.😆 At this rate, I’m just going to tell people it’s coming in 2030 so I can be pleasantly surprised when it actually drops! 🤣🤣

Actually, it's just the surname 🥹

Facts! It’s like fans have a PhD in finding things to be offended by. There’s just no winning🤣🤣

Right?! Can you imagine the comments? "My fave has more talent and star power, yours just has fewer lines in their name." 💀 It’s going to be a comedy show in the comment sections if this actually happens! 🤣

Same! Honestly, if this actually stops the constant fighting, I’m all for it. I just hope fans don't find a way to argue about the stroke counts next.😭

Edit: Actually, never mind. I just saw a comment that made me realize fans will always find a way. 😆 I can already hear them: "S/he’s only first-billed because of a stroke of luck!"

Basically, the melon going around is that the authorities are cracking down on those messy billing battles between fanbases. Instead of fighting over who gets top billing, the new rule would supposedly list actors based on the number of strokes in their surname. It’s meant to completely stop the drama over equal or lead billing. As for Ju Jingyi, if this actually becomes an industry-wide standard, it would just mean her name would be placed based on that stroke count rather than her status in the cast.

Wait, you can't see it? Lol! I was over here thinking you were already half-done with it.🤣 It's posted in the comments of the Part 1 thread 😭😭

Also, just in case you forgot (which I honestly don't think you would🤣🤣) Jiu Ying is Jingyi

PART 3

PRESENT TIME

Three new disciples sneaked into the hall covered in dust, their lanterns flickering in the big hall. They were looking for ancient artifacts to boost their own cultivation when they suddenly stumbled here, not knowing what the jade seal in the center of the room was.

"Look," one of them whispered, pointing at the glowing, faint cracks in the jade. "The residual energy in that seal is massive. If we can take it, we’ll surpass the seniors in a week."

They didn't see the warning runes drawn on the floor, now worn away by time. They approached the seal, palms glowing with greed, and placed their hands against the cold surface to drain its power.

They expected a steady flow of Qi. Instead, the seal started shaking.

As they pulled, they didn't realize they weren't draining the seal, they were feeding it. The surge of their spiritual energy hit the core of the jade, acting like a key in a lock that had been rusted shut for a century. 

The hum of the seal turned into a high-pitched, agonizing whine.

The jade cracked. A single line from the top to the bottom.

"Wait, stop, it’s too much!" one disciple shouted, trying to pull his hand away, but he was stuck, his Qi being ripped from his body.

The seal shattered.

It didn't explode outward like they thought; it imploded, the jade turning to fine gray dust that fell on the floor. Ji Ling fell, his body hitting the stone with a heavy thud.

The disciples backed away, trembling as they watched him stir awake. 

He hadn't aged a day. Slowly, he pushed himself up, his hands scraping against the stone. 

When he looked up, his eyes weren't the brown they had been a century ago. 

They were a cold, dark red, burning with hatred because of the 100 years of imprisonment.

He didn't look at the disciples. He didn't even seem to notice them. He just looked at his own hands, flexed his fingers, and inhaled a sharp breath.

"Still here," he whispered, his voice raspy from a century of disuse.

He stood up, his gaze fixing on the door of the Hall, his mind immediately locking onto the one thing that hadn't changed in his mind: his vendetta.

Ji Ling didn't hesitate. He crossed the room in two strides, his hand snapping out to lock around the throat of the disciple closest to him. 

The boy’s eyes bulged, his hands clawing at Ji Ling’s wrist in a frantic attempt to break free. He tried to move his body but it felt like it was pinned by a heavy force.

Ji Ling didn't look at the boy’s face; he looked at his dantian. With a sharp, jagged pull, he began to drain the disciple's Qi. It was a violent, rushing sensation, a stream of golden light forced from the boy’s veins into Ji Ling’s own cold  skin.

"Tell me," his voice sounded raspy. "The Elders. Are they still on the main peak? And where is Jiu Ying?"

The disciple gasped, his body shivering as his cultivation was slowly being sucked. "The—the Elders... they still reside at the summit of the main peak. Jiu Ying....she’s now the youngest elder…so-so she also resides there"

Ji Ling’s grip tightened for a second, his red eyes narrowing with a flash of pure, cold malice. He shoved the boy aside. The disciple collapsed into the ground, his cultivation completely gone.

Ji Ling turned and stepped toward the doors. He didn't bother to glance at the other two; they were already curled on the floor, their minds broken by the sheer, suffocating pressure of his presence.

As he stepped out of the Hall of Reflections the pristine, white-marble walkways turned gray beneath his feet. 

The air, once filled with the crisp, clean energy of the mountains, turned into a thick, swirling dark mist. 

As he moved through the central courtyard, disciples rushed forward to stophim, their swords drawn, but they didn't get within ten paces.

The moment they went near him, the air within them turned hostile. They fell to their knees, clutching their chests as their meridians snapped under the pressure. Some fainted, their spirits overwhelmed, while others simply crumpled as their hard-won cultivation collapsed into nothingness.

Ji Ling walked over them as if they weren’t there at all. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ji Ling reached the main peak, the air around him so thick with dark energy that the plants nearby started decaying. The Elders stood there, weapons drawn, but they hesitated when they saw him. He wasn't attacking them; he was walking past them, his eyes locked solely on Jiu Ying.

She stood behind the elders, her face pale as she realized with dread, that she had nowhere left to run. 

But Ji Ling didn't attack. He simply raised a hand, and the dark mist surrounding him surged forward, revealing the truth. 

He forced her memories out, projecting them like a cruel film against the sky. 

He forced every disciple and elders to see the vision of the night Wuyi died. Every word of betrayal, every drop of malice she’d held for Wuyi, was laid bare. 

Then the memory shifted to the innocents she’d killed, one after another, their lives drained to feed her own strength.

The silence that followed was deafening.

“She’s as corrupt as anything else you’ve tried to kill," Ji Ling said, his voice as cold as ice. 

He looked at the Elders. "You want to talk about righteousness? Open your eyes. Look at what she’s actually done."

The Elders, who had spent a century honoring her as their star pupil, stood frozen in horror. Their expressions shifted from confusion to absolute disgust as they witnessed the cold-blooded nature  of their youngest elder. 

They didn't move to stop him. 

They couldn't. The truth was already right in front of them 

Ji Ling walked up to Jiu Ying. She was trembling, her facade of arrogance shattered, backing away until she hit the cold stone of the wall.

He didn't kill Jiu Ying. But he made sure to strip her of her cultivation, shattering her golden core until she collapsed, powerless, and stripped of the status she had sacrificed everything to maintain.

He raised his hand. Black, viscous energy, the same darkness he had spent a century refining in the silence of his jade prison, coiled around her like serpents.

He snapped his fingers, and the space around her began to change. The ground turned to black mist. It was the same illusion realm he had been inches away from locking her in a century ago, but now, it was more refined and infinite.

He shoved the reality of his own torment into her mind.

Jiu Ying screamed as the illusion took hold. In that realm, she wasn't herself; she was Wuyi. She was forced to experience the betrayal from the perspective of the victim, to feel the slash of the blade she had wielded, the pain of a slow death, and the feeling of being killed by the person she trusted. 

Over and over, the cycle repeated. A century’s worth of his own agony, compressed into a singular, eternal moment of suffering that she would have to endure, second by second, without end

She collapsed to the ground, clawing at her own face, her eyes wide as she relived her own cruelty, trapped in the prison she had made a 100 years before.

The Elders watched, their faces pale, unable to pull their eyes away. They saw the justice in it. A terrifying but necessary balance.

Ji Ling didn't look at her again. He stepped over and turned his back on the screaming woman and the silent, horrified sect. He had no more words for them. He showed the truth and he had his vengeance. 

He walked through the winding stone corridors of the inner sect, his heavy footsteps echoing against the walls. The disciples he passed didn't dare look at him. His presence felt suffocating, a reminder of the darkness he had unleashed and the truth he had laid bare.

He stopped in front of a small door at the end of a quiet, moss-covered hallway. It was Wuyi’s old room.

The wood was rotted, and the door hung slightly off its hinges. No one had entered this space in a hundred years. He pushed it open, and the air that greeted him was filled with thick dust and faded scent of incense.

Her robes still hung on the rack, though the fabric crumbled at the slightest touch of the dark mist surrounding him. Her inkstone was dry, the brushes brittle.

He stepped inside, his boots crunching on the decayed floorboards. He moved toward her small desk, and there, sitting in the center  was a small, wrapped box and a letter. It hadn't been touched by the neglect of the sect, as if the room itself had been holding onto it, waiting for him to return.

He opened the box. Inside was a hand-sown sachet, a simple, elegant thing meant to shield the wearer from spiritual corruption. He remembered seeing her sew it, her laugh as she promised this little trinket would keep the wearer safe from the "darkness of the world." Back then, he thought she made this for herself.

He picked up the letter. Her handwriting, graceful and elegant. She wrote of her hopes for his future, her pride in his righteousness, how she saw him as her moonlight that helps her move forward, and her absolute belief that his heart was stronger than any trial he would face.

The words hit him like a physical blow. He stared at the parchment, and the memories of the last hundred years, the agony, the coldness insides the seal, the hunger for vengeance, suddenly felt like a fever dream he was finally waking up from.

His eyes stung, He didn't fight it. The dark red eyes that had defined his existence for a century wavered, and then faded, dissolving like mist in the morning sun. The familiar, deep brown of his eyes returned, wet with tears that hadn't fallen.

He clutched the charm to his chest, the weight of his sins finally sinking in. 

He left the room, leaving the door standing open behind him. He didn't look at the sect or the Elders waiting in the distance. He walked out the main gates and into the wilderness, moving toward the forest where everything had begun, and where he would finally, truly, let go.

The forest was exactly as he remembered it. 

He reached the grave and stared at the stone carving he had carved her name into a century ago. He stood there for a long time, the wind flowing at his robes.

He had walked for hours, intending to lie down here and let his soul fade into the earth beside hers. But as he looked at the moss-covered stone, his hands began to shake.

 He looked at his own reflection in a nearby rain-filled basin, the marks of the dark magic still lingered, a jagged, dark vein running up his neck from forcing himself to cultivate demonic arts.

"I am not worth it," he whispered. To lie beside her would be tainting her, even if it’s in death. 

He turned away, and walked for days, stumbling deeper into the forest, to a place where the trees grew twisted and the ground was barren. He stopped in the center of a clearing where the soil was black and cold.

He didn’t reach for his sword. He didn't need it. Instead, he reached inside, grabbing hold of the twisted Qi he had nurtured, and started to pull it apart.

It was a slow, agonizing process. He stood in the center of the clearing, his body beginning to break. Cracks of black and gold light crawled across his skin like molten glass, and every time he moved, he felt his own nerves snapping under the pressure. He dropped to his knees from the pain, but he didn’t let out any sound.

He just stared up at the moon high in the sky as his surroundings blurred and his vision began to fade.

"I’m coming, Wuyi" he whispered. He knew he wasn't going to her, he was going to the void, to the nothingness that waited for people like him.

But as the final surge of energy tore through his chest, the coldness he expected never came. For a moment, the scent of the forest vanished. The air changed, smelling faintly of the incense from her room.

He felt a touch, a hand, light as a falling leaf, brushing against his cheek.

Then, the light in his eyes faded. As he began to disappear, the heavy, suffocating mist that had blanketed the mountains for a hundred years started disappearing

Outside, the moon rose high over the mountains, casting a silver glow over the forest where his robes lay in the dust. There was no grave to mark him, and no statue to honor his name.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

600 YEARS LATER 

The village market was bustling, the air thick with the smell of roasted chestnuts and mountain rain. 

An old man sat on a crate, leaning on his staff as a group of children gathered around him.

"And so," the old man said with a scratchy voice, "The one who caused great darkness that plagued the mountains for a century ended up just like that. He simply ended himself. Left nothing behind but his name that most people have eventually forgotten."

A young girl in the front row frowned, looking toward the busy street. She tugged on the man’s sleeve. "Grandpa, look! That man and woman……they look just like the paintings in the old books."

The old man didn't even look up. He took a slow sip of his tea and shook his head. "Imaginations, child. Legend says they never found peace. Too much blood, and too many souls have been sacrificed. They are long gone, scattered to the winds 600 years ago."

The girl huffed, refusing to look away. "But they’re right there."

A young man and woman were moving through the crowd. The man, with brown eyes full of warmth, kept his hand tucked inside his robe, clutching a small, worn sachet. Beside him, the woman walked with grace, her fingers tracing the surface of a jade pendant in the shape of a lotus at her throat.

"You’re just seeing things cause I just told you the story" the old man muttered into his cup.

He didn't see the woman reach out and take the man’s hand. He didn't see the man stop to adjust the pendant around her neck, or the way she looked at him, like she had been searching for his face for hundreds of years and had finally found it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


For six hundred years, Wuyi had stood by the banks of the River of Forgetfulness. She had been offered the cup of oblivion a thousand times, but she always refused. She knew if she drank, the memory of him would vanish.

 She spent centuries watching the horizon, convinced that Ji Ling had become powerful and an immortal, had long since moved on, living his life while she remained there, waiting.

She didn't know he was serving his own time for the sins he had committed.

Then, when the Heavens finally released him from his prison, he appeared at the riverbank, hollowed out and weary. 

He had seen the passage of time; he assumed she had already lived three lifetimes, that she had long ago forgotten about him. 

But when he saw her sitting by the riverbank, looking at him with warmth, the joy in his heart couldn't be contained.

"You're still here," he had whispered, his voice trembling as he reached for her. "I thought… I thought you would be long gone by now."

Wuyi had only smiled, the same soft, patient smile from a century ago. "I wasn't going anywhere without you."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The man looked down at her, his expression serene. "Are you happy?" he asked in a low voice..

She smiled, "Of course, I am. I feel like I've been waiting for this my whole life."

They turned the corner and faded into the flow of the crowd, just two people walking the same path, finally heading in the same direction.

Behind them, the old man kept talking, still weaving his tale of a man who lost himself to darkness. He was still caught up in his story, oblivious to the fact that the 2 people in his story were no longer just legends.