Advise Me to Lay Down the Knife, Madam, Why Do You Use It Again?

Yun Sangsang is a celestial being known as the Broom Star, a deity of misfortune who has been despised by all other immortals for over a thousand years. After a mission where her eleven companions deliberately sacrificed her to draw the lot for death, she narrowly survives but discovers they have already spread false news of her demise across the Celestial Realm, where they are celebrating with a banquet. Humiliated and heartbroken by their collective hatred, Yun Sangsang refuses to return and instead descends to the human realm, determined to find a mortal willing to worship her so she can restore her fading immortal power before she dies.

For ten days in the human realm, Yun Sangsang encounters eight destined mortals, but each one reacts with terror, begging her to leave rather than worship her, as her misfortune causes them physical harm. Her immortal power drops below thirty percent, and she faces imminent death. While resting in a mountain, she witnesses a massive purple thunderbolt strike down at a child below—a Thunder Tribulation meant to kill him. Acting on instinct, Yun Sangsang intercepts the tribulation with her remaining power, saving the child. The child is actually Yuan Ning Wang, the sovereign of the demon realm, who had just survived a betrayal by his adopted nephew and was hiding in the human realm in an eight-year-old boy’s body. He recognizes Yun Sangsang as the infamous Broom Star but conceals his true identity, pretending to be the orphaned, abused child Xie Yuanning.

Yun Sangsang attempts to persuade Yuan Ning Wang to worship her by offering him protection, wealth, and a family. She reads his fate, revealing his tragic backstory: orphaned at three, abused by greedy relatives, and destined to die that day. Yuan Ning Wang remains unmoved, expressing a desire to become a vengeful ghost to kill his abusers. Yun Sangsang refuses to support murder but offers to help him teach his relatives a lesson instead. When her appeals to hatred, love, and dreams all fail, she resorts to cooking a wild rabbit for him. Throughout their interactions, Yun Sangsang’s misfortune causes a series of disasters: their shelter collapses, she accidentally sets herself on fire, and Yuan Ning Wang loses a tooth. Despite these calamities, Yuan Ning Wang finds her amusing and agrees to stay with her temporarily, using her misfortune aura to repel demon spies who are tracking him.

Yun Sangsang moves into a cave with Yuan Ning Wang and continues her attempts to win his worship. She shaves his head to avoid wasting power on washing it, and during the process, she reveals that she has a husband, the Lingyao God, with whom she has separated. Yuan Ning Wang, intrigued by her indifference toward her former husband compared to the rumors of her obsessive love for him, begins to suspect the gossip was inaccurate. He tests her by asking if he is better than her ex-husband, and she teasingly agrees, offering to be his “celestial maiden wife” if he worships her. Yuan Ning Wang declines, noting that her misfortune would ruin him, but he is curious about why she needs worship so desperately.

Yun Sangsang explains that as a star lord, she must gather starlight radiance through worship to maintain her immortal power. Yuan Ning Wang, recognizing their shared status as exiles hiding in the human realm, considers helping her but insists she first convince him to become a good person. When he asks what would happen if he chose to remain a villain, Yun Sangsang pleads with him not to, claiming his suffering stems from past-life sins. Yuan Ning Wang rejects this, stating that the world has shown him only malice, so he sees no reason to be good. Yun Sangsang embraces him, promising that his suffering ends now and that she will be the first person to treat him kindly, regardless of whether he worships her. She secretly gives him three days to decide, planning to move on if he refuses. The story concludes with Yun Sangsang announcing her intention to visit Yuan Ning Wang’s relatives the next day to perform a “good deed,” leaving Yuan Ning Wang puzzled by her sudden shift from helping him seek revenge to advocating for kindness.