Speaking of the Star Lord of Fates, he was, after all, a well-known big shot in the literary circles of both the Heavenly Palace and the Underworld.
There were countless immortals in the Heavenly Palace, and even more ghosts and gods in the Underworld who had yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation. With so many people around, there was naturally a demand for spiritual and cultural entertainment. And where there was an audience, there would naturally be people writing storybooks.
As a senior civil servant of the Heavenly Realm, the Star Lord of Fates treated writing storybooks merely as a side job. His writing was mediocre, and his plots were nothing special. The reason he was famous came down to just two words: melodrama.
No one in Heaven or on Earth could outdo him when it came to melodrama.
He was in charge of the fates of all living beings, so he naturally had plenty of material to work with. Whenever he came across something interesting, he would seize upon it and turn it into a story.
The stories he wrote were nothing more than extremely clichéd tales of love, hatred, and tangled relationships. His tastes were hardly refined, and he was especially fond of domineering, coldhearted male protagonists and plots involving forced love.
Naturally, the female immortals in Heaven and the female ghosts in the Underworld were not so easily fooled. However, when everyone had nothing better to do, they also enjoyed reading some clichéd, ridiculous stories to pass the time.
Thus, although the storybooks produced by the Star Lord of Fates did not enjoy a particularly good reputation, they sold quite well. More importantly, they had never caused any trouble by slandering the Heavenly Court or disrupting people’s thinking.
That was, until one day, when he accidentally left a newly written storybook in the mortal realm, where it was discovered by a mortal.
As it happened, that mortal had been reincarnated into a new life, and the protagonists in the storybook were none other than the people around him, including his own family.
The Star Lord of Fates scrambled around in a panic for quite some time, trying to put out the mess he had caused.
Fortunately, that mortal was quite capable. Not only did he resolve the trouble perfectly, ensuring that no one ever discovered the existence of the storybook, but he also managed to take in the baleful star who had descended into the mortal realm, allowing the latter to live out his life in peace.
The Star Lord of Fates was immensely relieved. He assumed the crisis had been resolved perfectly and returned to writing his storybooks with peace of mind.
However, his peace did not last long.
Life in the Heavenly Court was beyond the reckoning of mortal time. The Star Lord of Fates had no idea whether sixty or seventy years had passed before the baleful star returned to his rightful place in Heaven.
As soon as the baleful star returned, he learned about the storybook.
According to the accounts of the heavenly soldiers and generals who had been present at the time, when that particular baleful star obtained the book and flipped through it from beginning to end, his eyes bulged with fury. He snatched up the divine weapon beside him, mounted the clouds, and charged straight into the Star Lord of Fates’ residence.
Although the two of them were both Star Lords, that particular individual was the Star Lord of the Seven Killings. He presided over slaughter and governed warfare and calamities in the mortal realm.
The Star Lord of Fates was merely an old man who had spent tens of thousands of years writing little smutty booklets. Naturally, he could not withstand the Seven Killings Star Lord’s overwhelming fury.
Fortunately, just as the Star Lord of Fates was being beaten until his face was bruised and swollen, scampering wildly around the Heavenly Court and nearly alarming the Heavenly Emperor himself, an Immortal Lord arrived.
It was none other than that mortal.
As it turned out, the mortal had originally been a disciple under the Heavenly Emperor. After cultivating for ten thousand years, he had been sent down to the mortal realm by the Heavenly Emperor to undergo a tribulation.
During his time in the mortal world, he had risen to the highest position among the ministers, brought blessings to people across the land, and earned great merit by relieving disasters and suppressing baleful forces. He had saved tens of thousands of lives, performing a great act of benevolence. Thus, upon returning to Heaven, he had been conferred the title of Immortal Lord by the Heavenly Emperor.
At that moment, the Star Lord of Fates was so battered that he could barely tell which way was up. Just as the baleful star’s long halberd was about to plunge into his back, the Immortal Lord arrived in a flutter of robes.
His white garments billowed in the wind. Beneath his tall white jade crown, his glossy black hair, smooth as satin, cascaded down his back.
“Xue Yan,” the Immortal Lord called out.
The long halberd, which had already touched the Star Lord of Fates’ spine, came to a halt.
The Star Lord of Fates tremblingly raised his head, only to see the Seven Killings Star Lord clad in black armor, his crimson cloak billowing fiercely behind him. Holding the long halberd in one hand, he stood frozen, staring blankly ahead.
The Immortal Lord blinked.
In the next instant, the Seven Killings Star Lord tossed aside the divine weapon in his hand, strode forward, and pulled the Immortal Lord into his arms.
He held him especially tightly.
“Your appearance has returned to what it was when you were young. How come your temper has become just as short as it was back then?” the Immortal Lord asked with a soft laugh.
Yet the baleful star who had just been so ferocious that he had made the Star Lord of Fates feel the threat of death for the first time in tens of thousands of years now lowered his head. His voice was deep, and its ending was filled with tender affection.
“I died before you. By Heaven’s reckoning, it has only been a few moments,” he said. “…And yet I’ve already begun to miss you.”
The Star Lord of Fates: “…”
He felt as though his eyes had been blinded by the sheer glare of their affection.