The story begins at the very beginning. Mu Sheng, one of the seven primordial spirits of the Divine Realm, was in charge of the power of growth. Her abilities were immense, and her responsibility was great. The sustenance of the Three Realms depended entirely on her blessings.
Fortunately, Mu Sheng was exceptionally reliable. Ever since she chose to descend into this world, all things in the Three Realms had grown robustly, and there had been no more famines.
The turning point occurred when Mu Sheng was three thousand years old. She descended to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation, a tribulation of love.
Her tribulation target was the Demon Lord.
She landed casually in the wilderness and encountered the Demon Lord, who had run away from home after an argument with his father.
At that time, the young Demon Lord was arrogant and looked down on everyone. He glanced casually at the strange woman and walked away, showing no interest.
The Demon Lord had no interest in Mu Sheng, but Mu Sheng was interested in the Demon Lord.
This was the first living person she had encountered, so naturally, she had to pester him, asking his name, his age, where he was going, and if he wanted company.
The Demon Lord still ignored her. Mu Sheng's eyes darted, and she thought of a good idea: to pretend to twist her ankle and fall.
Mu Sheng was gambling. If he was a kind person, he would stop.
If not, then so be it. What was the point of knowing someone without kindness?
As a result, the Demon Lord stopped. He walked back to Mu Sheng.
He asked her where she lived and offered to escort her back.
Mu Sheng used her divine power to build a house for herself in a small mountain village below, fabricating the identity of a village girl.
The Demon Lord carried her on his back and walked towards the foot of the mountain.
On his back, Mu Sheng chattered incessantly about her tragic past, about being an orphan with no parents, how the villagers bullied her, and how, with the autumn harvest approaching, she alone wouldn't be able to finish it. If there was heavy rain, the grain would rot in the fields.
The Demon Lord said not a word. Anyone else would have found him rude.
But Mu Sheng didn't think so. She was a person with great love and only saw the good in others. The Demon Lord didn't find her annoying, which meant he was a truly good person.
They soon reached the foot of the mountain. The Demon Lord took her to the small wooden house and turned to leave.
Before he got too far, Mu Sheng called out loudly, asking him to come and help her with the autumn harvest in two days.
The Demon Lord paused, but still made no sound, and quickly disappeared through the doorway.
Mu Sheng immediately jumped off the bed and began to calculate, her hands behind her back. This young man was good. Their meeting was fated. If he returned to help, then she would choose him as her love tribulation.
At that time, in Mu Sheng's eyes, overcoming a love tribulation was a simple matter: find someone to fall in love with, then kill him yourself, and the tribulation would be successful. She would then return to the Divine Realm.
She was indifferent to life and death because she understood the cycle of reincarnation. Birth, aging, sickness, and death were natural laws that no one could escape.
Even as a deity, if she failed to overcome her tribulation, she would still face the fate of falling.
Mu Sheng's plan was excellent. The hook had been cast, and she was just waiting for the fated person to take the bait.
Meanwhile, the young Demon Lord, having run away from home, wandered aimlessly in the mortal realm, finding a large tree to rest under at night.
Two days later, he was resting on a branch when a cold drop of water landed on his face. It had started to rain.
It was raining. He remembered what the woman had said a few days ago: if it rained during the autumn harvest, she, a weak woman, wouldn't have time to gather the crops, and they would rot in the fields.
He raised his hand to catch the rain. After a while, he sat up, thinking that since he had nothing else to do, he might as well go and help her harvest the grain.
He returned to the small mountain village and walked around it twice. In the lowest-lying area, he found Mu Sheng working in the rain.
Mu Sheng sensed someone approaching. She looked up and met the gaze of the young Demon Lord through the rain.
She smiled and waved happily, thanking him for coming to help.
From that day on, they were officially acquainted.
The Demon Lord worked in the fields all day in the rain, carrying the wet millet home. He inexplicably felt that it was not bad.
Being a farmer was not bad either; it was more interesting than practicing martial arts all day.
That evening, Mu Sheng invited the Demon Lord to stay for dinner. This time, he did not refuse.
Jian Lin recalled those days and summarized them in four words: simple and sweet.
Unknowingly, their relationship grew harmonious, and their lives became synchronized. The neighbors all assumed they were a couple.
Mu Sheng deliberately did not explain. She carefully observed the young Demon Lord's expression and found no trace of disgust.
As they spent more time together, she could tell what he was thinking from his subtle expressions.
If he didn't dislike it, it meant he liked it.
Mu Sheng was very confident. Before long, he would be willing to marry her.
Her return to the Divine Realm after overcoming the love tribulation was just around the corner and would surely be realized.
The change happened very suddenly. At that time, the Demon Realm was not stable, and many forces were causing trouble in secret.
Strictly speaking, one of the reasons the young Demon Lord ran away from home was due to instigation by enemies.
The enemies wanted to deal with the old Demon Lord and capture his precious son, the young Demon Lord, to force the old Demon Lord to submit.
It was a typical autumn afternoon, crisp and clear, with the sun shining brightly.
Mu Sheng and the young Demon Lord went to the mountains to pick mushrooms, planning to dry and store them for the winter.
Mu Sheng was delighted to have found a fairy ring of mushrooms when suddenly, several dark figures descended from above, their cold glint aimed at her forehead.
The young Demon Lord immediately rushed forward to protect her and engaged in a fierce battle with the black-clothed figures.
Mu Sheng, after understanding the situation, was extremely anxious. However, as a deity, she had restrictions when in the mortal realm. She could use divine power, but she could not attack people or demons within the Three Realms. The only person she could attack was her tribulation target.
At that time, the people of the Demon Realm practiced true evil arts; they were bloodthirsty, cruel, and had no bottom line.
The young Demon Lord, caught off guard, was exposed to a flaw by his enemies. A piece of flesh was torn from his arm, bleeding profusely and looking incredibly tragic.
Mu Sheng felt the pain as if it were her own, her scalp tingling. She didn't know how to help.
She thought the young Demon Lord was finished when suddenly, a burst of dark energy erupted from his chest, and a powerful force surged out, instantly shattering the black-clothed figures.
It was an even more brutal and bloody scene. Mu Sheng was splattered with blood and stared blankly at the young Demon Lord.
The young Demon Lord turned around. His dark gray coarse cloth robe was stained with blood, and his face was also smeared with red. He looked back at Mu Sheng and smiled painfully, "See? I'm a monster. Are you scared? From now on... we won't see each other again."
At that time, the young Demon Lord could not fully control the power of the Xingtian Sword. When his life was threatened, the Xingtian Sword would protect him, releasing terrifying energy.
Sometimes, the Xingtian Sword's judgment was not accurate and would harm innocent people. The young Demon Lord could not accept this and did not want to continue practicing the Xingtian Sword, hence his defiance of the old Demon Lord and his decision to run away from home.
In the Demon Lord's eyes, Mu Sheng was just an ordinary mortal. Forcing her to witness such a terrifying scene was his own fault.
The young Demon Lord turned mechanically and slowly walked away.
Mu Sheng snapped back to reality and called out to him, "Wait! Why are you leaving? You're injured. Come here, and I'll bandage you. Don't play with your life."
The young Demon Lord turned back and confirmed again, "I am a monster. You—"
"I don't care about those things," Mu Sheng interrupted him, saying earnestly, "I only see you as a kind person who would come to help me harvest grain when it rained heavily."
The young Demon Lord remained still. Mu Sheng ran over, tore off the hem of her robe, and bandaged the wound on his arm.
After that incident, their relationship progressed by leaps and bounds.
Mu Sheng did not ask about his identity. She just wanted to continue as before, inviting him to do farm work, pick wild fruits, and repair their house to prepare for winter.
Those days were quiet and beautiful, and both of them enjoyed them.
Unknowingly, Mu Sheng changed her mind. She decided not to kill him. She would accompany him until the end of his life and then return to the Divine Realm.
Unfortunately, their identities were destined to prevent such a perfect ending.
Soon, the old Demon Lord arrived and dragged his son back. The young Demon Lord struggled desperately, saying he didn't want to cultivate anymore. He wanted to marry that mortal woman and live a commoner's life with her.
How could the old Demon Lord agree? He tried every means to break them apart, even intending to send someone to kill Mu Sheng to end it all.
Jian Lin sighed deeply. Her only feeling about those past entanglements was that he hadn't shown so much love before, but at the critical moment, the young Demon Lord was willing to risk his life for her.
She thought that the old Demon Lord's insistence on breaking them up was actually a form of assistance.
Once a person's rebellious streak kicked in, it was difficult to suppress.
Jian Lin recalled many fragments: him carrying her, injured, as they fled. It was also a rainy day, the world vast and desolate, but his back was warm and sturdy.
It was a deeply unforgettable love. Mu Sheng's mindset gradually shifted. She couldn't bring herself to do it; she couldn't kill the young Demon Lord.
Their love was as strong as gold, yet the story inevitably slid towards tragedy.
The most important reason was that the young Demon Lord's power was not strong enough. He could not resist the old Demon Lord, and Mu Sheng could not intervene.
Of course, Mu Sheng had other options: abandon the young Demon Lord and choose another person for her love tribulation.
But she couldn't. In her helplessness, she chose to end her life, hoping to return to the Divine Realm and find other ways to overcome the love tribulation, such as waiting for the young Demon Lord to grow up before reappearing.
When they met for the last time, neither of them said anything explicitly, but they both understood the meaning.
The only twist was that after Mu Sheng committed suicide, the young Demon Lord returned, and she died in his arms.
What a huge tragedy caused by a series of unfortunate coincidences.
Perhaps due to the impact of the accident, Mu Sheng's path back to the Divine Realm was affected. She was thrown into another small world and became Jian Lin, a modern person.
After the young Demon Lord was taken back by the old Demon Lord, seeing his son heartbroken, the old Demon Lord had no choice but to seal his son's memories of that mortal girl.
The seal could only be broken after the young Demon Lord married and had children. The old Demon Lord thought that by then, he would have let go.
Moreover, with a wife and children by his side, the pain of the past would gradually fade away.
The Divine Realm was not very clear about these events that happened in the mortal world. The gods were all waiting for Mu Sheng to return to her post.
As they waited, they realized something was wrong. Mu Sheng had disappeared. The tribulation had caused her to be lost.
Among the seven primordial spirits, four had already perished and returned to the void when Mu Sheng descended to undergo tribulation.
Shortly after Mu Sheng's disappearance, Li Yang, another primordial spirit, perished, leaving only Tian Yi in the Heavenly Realm.
A hundred years passed. Tian Yi felt a sense of foreboding, sensing his own impending demise. He foresaw that in the near future, the Divine Realm would have no one to preside over it.
No gods meant chaos in the Three Realms and the danger of the collapse of small worlds.
In the midst of this crisis, Tian Yi exerted all his strength to search for Mu Sheng, snatching her back from another small world. He used the task completion as an incentive, luring her to overcome her love tribulation and return to preside over the Divine Realm as soon as possible.
The period when the system disappeared was when Tian Yi was attacked by the Void Realm, and his power was insufficient to maintain his disguise as the system.
Fortunately, the groundwork laid earlier was sufficient. During Tian Yi's absence, Jian Lin and the Demon Lord's relationship developed rapidly, and the Demon Lord once again became Mu Sheng's tribulation target.
Despite the twists and turns, with Tian Yi's trickery and deception, Jian Lin plunged a sword into the Demon Lord's chest.
In reality, that was not a tribulation for ascension, but Mu Sheng successfully overcoming her love tribulation.
Jian Lin stood on the edge of a cliff, gazing at the floating divine palace in the distance. Recalling all the events, she felt an overwhelming sense of emotion. It turned out the Demon Lord was truly a great fool.
On the other side, Tian Yi, having absorbed the primordial spirit power brought by Jian Lin, felt much better. He stood up, walked out of the great hall, and came to Jian Lin's side.
"My Lord," Tian Yi reminded her, "Now that you have recalled everything, I have nothing more to say. There are more important matters to attend to. The Three Realms are in chaos and need you to quell it."
"Wait a minute," Jian Lin turned back and glared at him, pretending to be serious. "Don't think that just because you're using work as an excuse, I'll let you off. How dare you deceive me and force me to do so many things! Who said I wanted to manage the chaos in the Three Realms? You said I could return to my original world, and that's what I want."
Tian Yi looked troubled and explained in a low voice, "My Lord, those were all temporary measures. If you couldn't overcome the love tribulation, you wouldn't be able to ascend and definitely wouldn't be able to return to the Divine Realm."
"Then you shouldn't have tricked and deceived me into killing the Demon Lord!" Jian Lin accused him angrily. "What kind of person does that make me? A great villain who killed an innocent person with her own hands."
"That..." Tian Yi said weakly, "My Lord, the Demon Lord is not dead..."
Jian Lin froze and asked excitedly, "Is that true? You're not lying to me?"