Han Jingyi was beyond perfection. He was the Jade Star of the cultivation world, the prodigal son of the gods. Han Jingyi was said to be the strongest person in the first volume of "Ascending to the Stars", even stronger than the protagonist and the antagonist after their major power-ups at the end of the volume. He was the peak of what was labeled by fans as "The rising age", the time before the protagonist began his journey to save his future 3rd wife from the antagonist.

Han Jingyi was also incredibly beautiful, having many cultivators at his beck and call solely because of his beauty. Even the straight-as-a-line protagonist commented on how beautiful Han Jingyi was. And the antagonist even went out his way to corrupt Han Jingyi's sister and make her his 1st wife, it was never explained why but it was clear to everyone that it was because she had Han Jingyi's face.

In short--Han Jingyi was an incredibly overpowered and amazing character, who--surprisingly-- was neither an asshole nor a flat or unnecessary person. He was the master who taught both the protagonist and antagonist when they were in the same cultivation sect. He strengthened them equally and created the bases of the two men who would rival the heavens, he also could have done much much more.

There were already a million ways that the antagonist could fall from grace and end up turning evil so why? why? why?

Why did Han Jingyi have to die?

--

Han Jingyi, gentle as can be, fixed Wang Zhixin's posture.

"Try again?" Jingyi said and smiled, raising his fan up to his lips, a soft smile gracing his face.

Wang Zhixin tried the movement Han Jingyi had been teaching him and looked at Jingyi to see if he did it better this time. Han Jingyi just smiled and nodded and then turned to look at Zhao Yingjie.

“You’ve got it down now too.”

Both young boys were Han Jingyi’s disciples whom he had chosen out of the disciples who entered the sect a few years ago. They were both 15 years old and reminded him of himself so he was very fond of them. The two of them were very talented.

“...Han Jingyi...You’re way too soft on them. It’ll take forever to teach them that way.” Xia Qianfan scolded as he walked into the room.

“They’re learning at a fine pace, Shixiong,” Jingyi said and patted his students’ shoulders.

“They’re the strongest disciples of their age group.” Han Jingyi said and held his head up high, smiling.

“...Whatever... Just get to work, someone paid a lot for you to do a mission.” Xia Qianfan murmured.

—

“Shizun. The array is finished.” Zhao Yingjie said and had Han Jingyi come over and inspect the array.

“Very good.”’Jingyi said and nodded before turning to look at the client.

“You can just stay behind the door. We’ll deal with everything quickly.”

The client nodded and scurried to the door that had been covered in talismans by Wang Zhixin.

“Well...now we wait.” Han Jingyi said and stood in between his two disciples readying himself for what was coming. He wasn’t at all worried about the mission but both Zhixin and Yingjie seemed uneasy.

“Shizun...something doesn’t feel right…” Zhixin murmured. Yingjie held Jingyi’s arm and nodded.

“Hmm?” Han Jingyi was confused. He didn’t feel anything too out of the ordinary, and it wasn’t like this was their first mission so he didn’t understand why they were so scared.

“It’ll all be okay. Even if it’s something really strong I can beat it.” Han Jingyi said and looked forward at the empty garden where they were waiting for a ghoul to come from.

Zhao Yingjie and Wang Zhixin were still quiet and nervous. And Han Jingyi just stared forward, ready for anything.

Except that.

Han Jingyi only felt a large amount of energy rushing toward Zhao Yingjie when it was almost directly in front of him. He moved without thinking. He could’ve pulled Yingjie toward him but instead, he moved himself in front of Yingjie instead. He didn’t expect the energy to do much even if it was this much, he had his Aura of immortality so it should be strong enough to save him from the attack.

Zhixin and Yingjie embodied Jingyi’s inner emotions as they watched a blade covered in spiritual energy stabbed him in the chest. Jingyi didn’t show it because he didn’t want to worry his disciples but he was dying. He was certain of it. The blade had cut through his immortal aura and its mix of negative and positive energy was destroying him from the inside and leaving him unable to heal his body.

“If it’s like this…” Han Jingyi murmured, sending his own sword covered in spiritual energy to the assailant. He looked blank like he felt nothing but he couldn’t control his expression as he stayed in position.

‘I guess we’re going down together…’ Han Jingyi thought as he felt his sword stop and return after defeating the assailant. He fell to his knees and Zhixin and Yingjie couldn’t control their tears as they tried to look at his wound and tried to heal him.

“Xia Qianfan...He better not bully you two…” Han Jingyi murmured after coughing up blood. He had quickly come to terms with his death. Zhixin and Yingjie begged him not to speak as they laid him down and tried to treat his wound quickly.

Han Jingyi stared up at the sunset sky, he felt bad now, maybe he had babied his disciples too much. Maybe now they’d be too soft to deal with the tragedies of the future. It hurt to sigh so he just closed his eyes and sighed in his mind.

‘It’s a shame I couldn’t find a husband before all this… I guess dying for the future generation is my destiny.’

In his final moments, he remembered something, something from his past life. It wasn’t his whole life story or anything. Rather it was just a short moment that would be seen as insignificant in normal circumstances.

It was a memory of being a young man reading a web novel called “Ascending to the stars”. He read all 5 volumes and he hated every second of it.

Being a young gay man, he had only read it after hearing praise for its beautiful “gay representation” that was unlike any in the genre. He read the first volume with great enthusiasm, right until this very moment. Right when the Protagonist and the Antagonist’s mentor dies from an attack that is never explained past the line “an evil that had targeted the protagonist for a long time had finally found its chance, and upon failing they decided to end the man who was loved by the heavens instead”. This moment filled that poor reader with grief and sadness at first but that sadness turned into blinding fury upon reading a comment from the author in the comment section.

[FatherOfTheDivine (creator): Rest In Peace Han Jingyi, you’ll definitely find a great husband in the next life.]

[ZhixinLOVE: Oh my god! Han Jingyi was gay?! I can’t believe that I like him so much more now orz]

[MyWifeZhangBiyu: Gross.]

[YingjieEnthusiast: Rip king :(]

This young reader read the whole series and even after reading it all he was furious. Han Jingyi’s death led to Wang Zhixin being corrupted and turned into a demon after being in grief for years and it led Zhao Yingjie to leave the cultivation sect and travel around aimlessly, just trying to live a normal life. Han Jingyi’s death led to almost every development in the story from then on but it DIDN'T HAVE TO.

Wang Zhixin was an impressionable 15-year old who could’ve easily been corrupted by words and his parents were secretly demonic cultivators so it was even easier! Zhao Yingjie was pretty lazy from the beginning, his progress would have slowed without him leaving the cultivation sect! And more than half of his wives were cultivators!

Han Jingyi, the poor gay character who DID NOTHING WRONG didn’t have to die goddammit.

[FatherOfTheDivine (creator): It’s truly a shame that I had to kill off such a wonderful character but it was for the sake of the story.]

Bullshit.

Perhaps it was because this past life as a reader of “Ascending to the stars” also ended without him getting a lover but his soul was suddenly lit aflame with rage. This rage was odd for Han Jingyi who usually had a good temperament but this young reader knew it well. It was rage that had become normal for him after starting "Ascending to the Stars".

‘Find a husband in the next life my fucking ass!’

Han Jingyi couldn’t see but he knew his soul was starting to leave his body and he couldn’t allow that to happen. He used all the power he had left and it was almost like he grabbed his soul and pulled it back to his body.

‘I REFUSE TO DIE WITHOUT A HUSBAND, YOU SHITTY AUTHOR!”