[No female lead, no clichés, not a wish-fulfillment story, excellent writing, first-rate plot. If you don't like this kind of story, please don't read it.]

The thirty-first year of the Gregorian calendar.

Snow falls in the cold winter.

Many things happened that year: a new divine child was born in the Divine Sect, thirty-six golden lotuses bloomed in the Buddhist Temple, and a madman emerged from a dilapidated Taoist temple on the verge of collapse.

The North Sea churns as if to swallow the heavens and earth.

A small blade of grass grew on the three thousand miles of barren land in the Demon Kingdom.

In the same year, a brother and sister walked into Chang'an City, carrying a crumpled letter, and stepped into the grand scheme of things.

......

Years later, Li Ziji sat cross-legged on the peak, a long sword across his knees, and murmured to himself: "I would rather suffer eternal damnation than seek liberation from the saints."