Fate Chooses You (佳偶天成) brings together martial artists from every major sect at Chong Ling (崇灵谷) Valley. The reason? The legendary Immortality Pill. Only thirty Gongshan (宫山) Jade Tablets were issued, but suddenly fifty show up. Bai Zongying (白宗英), the head disciple of Tianyuan (天元) Sect, claims to have twenty. The crowd gasps. What they don’t know is that he stole most of them.
Among his victims is Xin Mei (辛湄), a young woman who secretly admires him. She has no idea her jade tablet is also in his hands. But someone else sees clearly. Lu Qiaoqiao (陆千乔), a two-hundred-year-old ancestor, knows Bai’s tricks all too well. When he spots a familiar black wooden tag hanging from Bai’s waist—the same one Xin Mei refused to give him as a wedding gift—he finally understands: her heart belongs to this fake hero. And he decides to do something about it.
The Fake Hero
Bai Zongying presents himself as a model disciple. Strong, righteous, and charming. Xin Mei has liked him since childhood. She calls him “Senior Brother Bai” with genuine affection. When Lin Muhan from Lingji (灵寂) Mountain accuses Bai of stealing four jade tablets, Xin Mei refuses to believe it. She defends him without hesitation. But Lu Qiaoqiao knows better. He remembers the black wooden tag. In the prison where they married, Xin Mei wouldn’t give it to him. That moment stuck with him. Now he sees it hanging on Bai’s chest. He connects the dots immediately.
Bai is not what he seems. He uses dirty tactics—stealing, lying, even attacking others in the dark. He took Lin Muhan’s (林慕寒) tablets by a classic diversion. Then he took Xin Mei’s without her knowing. Yet she still trusts him. She still blushes when he speaks. Lu Qiaoqiao watches all this and feels both anger and disappointment. Not jealousy exactly. More like frustration. How can someone so blind to a liar? If Bai were a decent man, he might accept it. But Bai is a fraud. So the old ancestor decides to tear off the mask—without a single lecture.
He asks Xin Mei for help. Not with explanations. With action. “Call him to the back mountain for a chat,” he says. She agrees, still not knowing what he plans. That night, while Xin Mei keeps Bai Zongying busy under the stars, Lu Qiaoqiao enters Bai’s room. Six jade tablets sit there. He could take them silently. No one would ever know. But that’s not his style.
The Clever Trap
Lu Qiaoqiao uses the same trick Bai used on Lin Muhan. The diversion. But he adds his own twist. Instead of sneaking away, he deliberately rings a bell with his magic. The sound cuts through the quiet night. Bai Zongying hears it and rushes back. He finds Lu Qiaoqiao standing in his room, holding the jade tablets. No hiding. No running. Just a quiet face waiting for him.
Bai attacks. He has no choice. But he is no match for a two-hundred-year-old cultivator. Lu Qiaoqiao doesn’t even look at him. He turns sideways, bends his knees, and gathers energy in his palm. One strike. That’s all it takes. The force throws Bai across the room. He hits a pillar so hard the wood cracks. He falls to the ground coughing blood. His back bends like a broken bow. Lu Qiaoqiao stands there, calm, unmoved. He didn’t even break a sweat.
Then Xin Mei arrives. She ran when she heard the noise. She sees Bai bleeding on the floor. Before she can speak, Lu Qiaoqiao says one sentence: “Your jade tablet is also in there.” She freezes. The meaning hits her like a wave. Someone stole her tablet during the gathering. She never knew who. Now she knows. It was Bai. Her senior brother. The man she secretly loved. The truth arrives not through arguments or proof—but through a single moment, a single line.
Actions Teach Best
There is an old saying: People teaching people rarely work. Events teaching people work every time. Lu Qiaoqiao understands this deeply. He could have told Xin Mei, “Bai is a liar. He stole your tablet.” She would have argued. She would have defended Bai. Words cannot break a childhood crush. But seeing Bai beaten, seeing her own tablet inside his room, hearing him unable to deny it—that changes everything.
Lu Qiaoqiao looks at her and asks, “Now do you see clearly?” She nods. In that moment, she realizes her feelings were never real love. Just admiration for strength. A habit from her younger days. She liked the idea of Bai, not the man himself. The man himself steals, lies, and hurts others. That is not someone worth loving. Lu Qiaoqiao says gently, “If it’s just a habit, you can still change it. It’s not too late.”
That is the wisdom of two hundred years. Not power. Not tricks. Patience and a well-placed truth. He let her discover the lie herself. He gave her the scene, the evidence, and the space to feel the betrayal. No lecture. No “I told you so.” Just a simple question and a quiet answer. Xin Mei walks away from Bai that night. Their future collapses. And she is finally free.
