The Years I Was a Live-in Son-in-Law for the Demon Cult

Shen Dayong, a live-in son-in-law who scrubs backs at a Jinling bathhouse, bears seven scars on his back—the "Thousand Rivers Have Water" meridian lock carved by his father Shen Huaishan before their family was massacred. The Shen family ferry was destroyed, and the Eastern Depot, the Red Lotus Cult, and the salt merchants all harbor hidden agendas. Shen Huaishan lurked on both sides for twenty years, ultimately walking into a water prison to await death, hiding the truth at the bottom of Yanziji and pushing his second son into the bathhouse to wait until he grows up and unlocks it. The jianghu does not let people go. The Red Lotus Cult's altar master turns himself in and goes to prison, his daughter follows with sword in hand; Hua Wuqi plays the zither to draw out the lock, wanting him to be a "sound envoy"; old subordinates present account books saying "your father chose you to live"; an escaped prisoner from the Eastern Depot begs him to mediate; the bronze stele name list is handed to him, demanding he take it up. He refused them all. All seven rings fully opened, three thousand zhang of listening to water. The eighth note, "Soundless," shuts off resonance, making him a "mute craftsman" unseen in three hundred years—from then on, no one could play him. He does not kill Wang Yuanchang, does not kill Hua Wuqi, does not take the name list, does not go to Jiujiang. He returns to Xuancheng and opens "Old Shen's Bathhouse," scrubbing backs, mixing medicines, wiping the counter. His father said, "Don't learn from me." He didn't. An anti-formula wuxia: no leveling-up thrill, no beating the world. A man who has been rubbed by fate for twenty years chooses the hardest path—to live, not hate, not kill, not take sides, quietly scrubbing backs. What you scrub is not others' backs, but this world. Once scrubbed, dry off; tomorrow, more will come. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Years I Was a Live-in Son-in-Law for the Demon Cult — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠