Cruel tyrant Taxian\-jun killed his way to the throne and now reigns as the first ever emperor of the mortal realm. Yet somehow, he is unsatisfied. Left cold and bereft, abandoned by all he held dear, he takes his own life...only to be reborn anew. Awakening in the body of his younger self\-\-Mo Ran, a disciple of the cultivation sect Sisheng Peak\-\-he discovers the chance to relive his life. This time, he vows to attain the gratification that once eluded him: all who defied him will fall, and never again will they treat him like a dog. His greatest fury is reserved for Chu Wanning, the coldly beautiful and aloofly catlike cultivation teacher who betrayed and thwarted Mo Ran time and again in their last life. Yet as Mo Ran shamelessly pursues his own goals in this life he thought lost, he begins to wonder if there might be more to his teacher\-\-and his own feelings\-\-than he ever realized.

The longer Mo Ran spends in his life reborn, the less he understands the man he once was, to say nothing of the teacher he so hated. As emperor of the mortal realm, Mo Ran loathed Chu Wanning with all his being, but the Chu Wanning of this life has sacrificed himself for his student’s sake time and again. Nevertheless, with the day of Chu Wanning’s greatest betrayal on the horizon, Mo Ran clings to his hatred and his hopes: he must not let the past repeat itself. Yet strange new tragedies continue to unfold, and Mo Ran finds himself working alongside Chu Wanning to hunt down the mysterious culprit—a cruel mastermind who may know more about Mo Ran than even he remembers.

THE LONELY ROAD TO HELL As Mo Ran accompanies Chu Wanning in pursuit of the mastermind behind the mysterious incidents plaguing his life reborn, Mo Ran finds his hatred for his teacher beginning to waver. Yet all too soon, disaster strikes the opening of the Heavenly Rift, a tear in the fabric of the world that would set hell's most terrible demons loose upon humanity. Despite all he has seen since rebirth, Mo Ran is unprepared to face the greatest tragedy of his past life\-\-the calamity that turned him against his teacher forever and set him on the lonely path to a bloodstained throne. If Mo Ran is to avoid this bitter fate, he must make a new choice and break with the past. But while the tragedy of this life may unfold differently, the sacrifices will be no less great.

ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART BURN HOTTER Chu Wanning has slumbered for five years since Mo Ran rescued his soul from the underworld. He wakes to find the world changed—and the greatest change of all is to his disciple Mo Ran. Now grown up, Mo Ran is nothing like the callow youth he remembers, and Chu Wanning finds himself drawn to his disciple with a force he never anticipated. Meanwhile, Mo Ran has at last set aside the misunderstandings of two lifetimes. When his hatred for his teacher falls away, he finds the feelings beneath are not respect between master and disciple, but fiery passion. Yet even as the two wrestle with their own hearts, Mo Ran begins to realize that this world is diverging from the past life he remembers in strange new ways.

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE As the day of Nangong Si and Song Qiutong’s wedding draws near, a scandalous rumor circulates among the guests at Rufeng Sect. The gossip implicates not only the bride and groom, but also Nangong Si’s childhood companion and Song Qiutong’s savior: the young hero, Ye Wangxi. When the wedding festivities are interrupted by a mysterious man claiming to know even more explosive secrets, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning are thrown together in the ensuing chaos. But the more time he spends at Chu Wanning’s side, the more torturous it is for Mo Ran to suppress his feelings of fierce attraction and deep tenderness. Could love finally tame the beast that was the cruel tyrant Taxian\-jun?

CALM BEFORE THE STORM After two lifetimes of misunderstandings, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning have at last opened their hearts to one another. Mo Ran is determined to treat Chu Wanning with all the devotion his teacher deserves, but Chu Wanning has his doubts: has Mo Ran truly turned his attention from his first love, the beautiful Shi Mei, so easily? Yet the pair must put aside the bloom of new love all too soon. When a crucial clue about Xu Shuanglin’s whereabouts comes to light, the foremost powers of the cultivation realm set out to confront him. But the more devious moves their opponent makes, the greater Mo Ran’s suspicion grows that behind Xu Shuanglin lurks another player—a true mastermind who holds all the pieces.

POINT OF NO RETURN After failing in their quest to capture the treacherous Xu Shuanglin, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning pursue him to the impenetrable Mount Jiao, accompanied by the noble Nangong Si and the leaders of the cultivation realm's great sects. There, they find the ancestral tomb of Rufeng Sect transformed into a macabre spectacle under the influence of Xu Shuanglin's forbidden magic. And their adversary's work is not as Sisheng Peak and their allies fight their way to the top of the mountain, Xu Shuanglin resorts to a powerful and mysterious magic that threatens to tear their world asunder. As the combined forces of the cultivation world race to stop Xu Shuanglin, Mo Ran must finally confront the past he's been running from since his rebirth. Will Mo Ran lose everything he has gained in this life\-\-including Chu Wanning?

CAUGHT IN THE SPIDER'S WEBIn the aftermath of the censer's spell, Mo Ran awakens on Dragonblood Mountain beside a slumbering Chu Wanning, everything between them forever changed. Yet before he can explain himself, Hua Binan\-\-the mastermind behind their plight\-\-arrives on the scene and kidnaps Chu Wanning, leaving Mo Ran utterly alone. Down the mountain, a man with Mo Ran's face has been committing heinous crimes, and the cultivation world clamors for blood. Helpless to rescue Chu Wanning and fearful of the consequences for Sisheng Peak, Mo Ran returns to face the justice of Tianyin Pavilion and the darkness of his buried past. Meanwhile, trapped in Hua Binan's grasp, Chu Wanning is haunted by dreams of his past life\-\-the life he shared with Taxian\-jun. What he discovers in them stands to change everything he thought he knew about Mo Ran's bloody path to becoming the cruel tyrant he once was.