Scholars, witches, mystics—and finally, even ordinary people holding books in their hands.
Countless phantoms appeared beneath the moonlight within the [Grand Library].
In the streets, inside buildings, atop the city walls...
The original citizens, the countless phantoms, the seal-builders—throughout the entire city, more and more readers were gathering. Their momentum was so immense that it seemed poised to surpass even the vast sea of books.
[Orange] was still channeling power, with no time to spare for anything else.
Persimmon’s eyes reddened slightly as she kept calculating the new progress, overcome with excitement.
“At this rate, we can easily complete more than half of it. Shopkeeper, what is this [Reading Day] the readers keep mentioning? Does it refer to some special day that occurs once every 120 years?”
Chen Miemie was excited as well. He had never expected his tentative attempt to actually work.
He was about to confirm Persimmon’s guess.
But the words stopped at his lips.
Among the countless phantoms, he had spotted two familiar figures—two people who should never have appeared.
He silently looked toward them.
The two phantoms saw him as well. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they both gave him a slight nod of respect.
“[Reading Day], Year 3765 of the Seventh Epoch. Witch [Chameleon], reciting *The Butterfly Transformation*.”
“[Reading Day], Year 3765 of the Seventh Epoch. Scholar [Four Seasons Tea], reciting *Pride and Prejudice*.”
Chen Miemie changed what he had been about to say.
“I thought so too, but perhaps it isn’t.”
He was puzzled as well. What exactly was [Reading Day]? If it came only once every 120 years, these two should not have appeared.
Only then did he realize that the first year of the Eighth Epoch—the same year as Year 3783 of the Seventh Epoch—was not a multiple of 120. So why had it been universally recognized as [Reading Day] in the Book-Sealing Archive?
The joy on Persimmon’s face did not last long.
The phantoms of the readers were providing a steady stream of energy, but the requirements for this seal were simply too demanding. It had to contain nearly a thousand aberrations for countless years. Once the seal passed the halfway mark, the phantoms’ efficiency at supplying power noticeably declined.
After it exceeded sixty percent, its progress slowed to a snail’s crawl.
Persimmon was a master of changing expressions. Her smile vanished at once, replaced by a miserable look.
“How can this be? Even with so many readers, it’s still not enough?”
[Orange] had anticipated this.
“For these readers to use reading to cross time and space, turning phantom power into something real and lending us their strength—the results have already far exceeded our expectations.”
“But... but at this rate, we can only hold out until seventy percent. It still won’t be enough.”
And reality proved Persimmon right. Once the progress passed sixty-five percent, the assistance provided by the phantoms had become negligible. The progress bar practically ground to a halt.
The situation had once again fallen into despair.
On the surface, Persimmon merely looked a little anxious. Inside, however, she was nearly frantic.
Watching the pleas for help continually arrive from all over the city, she bit down hard on her tongue, forcing herself to calm down.
She kept muttering to herself.
“There must be another way. The witches’ help, humanity’s help, the shopkeeper’s help—we’ve already used all of it. What else can help us? Persimmon, think! Think of something!”
Unfortunately, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. The [Grand Library] had already played every card in its hand. Thinking alone could not solve every problem.
An air of despair began to spread.
More often than not, people are not afraid of sacrifice. What they fear is making sacrifices that accomplish nothing.
It was not only [Orange] whose hair was gradually fading to white. The same was happening to the other fifteen seal-site repairers.
At the seal site in the north of the city, the witch assigned to guard it was already on the verge of collapse.
Her hands had grown too weak to keep holding the book open.
“Is this going to fail? It hurts so much...” Her eyes brimmed with tears.
A strange book called *The Book of Tearstains* fluttered over. “Hey! Why aren’t you reading properly? You’re actually crying? I’m going to record what you look like when you cry. Go on, tell me—why are you crying?”
The witch had seen *The Book of Tearstains* before. She had never imagined that one day she herself would be entered into its pages. Trying to make her last words sound a little more grand, she said, “The great cause remains unfinished, yet I perish midway through. Alas, how tragic.”
*The Book of Tearstains* was having none of it. “What is that supposed to mean? Can’t you say it plainly? I only record the truest feelings.”
The witch rephrased it.
“I can’t complete the seal. I feel terrible. I want to cry.”
“Now that’s more like it. Entry complete. I’m off.”
Flapping its little wings, *The Book of Tearstains* flew away.
After calls for help had been sent out from every quarter and no replies came, everyone understood what that meant.
Certain thoughts began to take root.
On the rooftop—
Seven or eight witches ignored all attempts to stop them and forced their way up.
Leading them was a witch codenamed [Peeling Paint].
Persimmon stood in their path. “[Peeling Paint], what are you doing?”
[Peeling Paint] ignored her and called directly to [Orange], “Lady Orange, the situation is obvious. This can’t be done. We should give up.”
Persimmon’s eyes widened. “[Peeling Paint], do you even know what you’re saying? If we fail to complete the seal, we’ll lose at least half the city. This is our city!”
Only then did [Peeling Paint] look at Persimmon.
“Our city? Officially, perhaps. But how many witches are there among us? We don’t even make up one percent of the population!
“Lady Orange, Persimmon, don’t you see? It’s already certain that we can’t complete it. Dying now would be meaningless. And even if we did complete the seal, would this city truly still be ours?
“If every high-ranking witch among the human witches dies, will humans sing our praises—or will they simply take our place?
“Decades ago, we tried to enter every human city. No witch has forgotten what happened then.
“Even if we retain only half the city, wouldn’t that be enough for witches to live in? Why should we risk our lives?”
[Orange] raised a hand, stopping Persimmon from continuing the argument.
She looked quietly at [Peeling Paint].
Though she did not say a word, [Peeling Paint] could not help breaking out in a cold sweat.
At last, Orange spoke.
“[Peeling Paint], your intentions are good. You are weighing the costs and benefits from the standpoint of our race, and your calculations are clear enough.
“But you need to understand: governing a city is not the same as running a business. Cost and profit cannot always be measured by immediate gains and losses.
“Reputation, public trust, the will of the people, the spirit of the city... these are things you cannot see or calculate.
“This is our city now. If we surrender half of it whenever we face a powerful enemy, clinging to life in whatever remains, then today we yield one step to the Aberrants; tomorrow, another step to hostile races; the day after that, yet another to witches from other branches. One day, there will be nowhere left to retreat.
“Listen carefully. We human witches will not yield the first step.”
[Peeling Paint] did not directly contradict [Orange]. “You’re right, but in the current situation, throwing our lives away won’t solve the problem. Fighting to the death may be noble, but when we know it can’t be done, retreating is the only way to preserve a future.”
[Orange] sighed inwardly as well.
This sealing was actually one of her single-use abilities. Before activating it, she had no way of knowing exactly how much energy it would require—only that it would be an immense amount. Who could have imagined it would require this much?
If she had known from the start that it would be nowhere near enough, she could indeed have chosen not to begin. But now, there was no stopping it.
For one thing, once this ability was activated, there would be only one chance. If she gave up, that chance would never come again.
For another, all the factions were now working together, and the people had placed their hopes in this effort. As the city’s administrator and the one who had initiated the plan, how could a proud witch possibly flee like a deserter?
Chen Miemie had already left the rooftop earlier and was now wandering through the city.
He had done everything he could to help, rallying a huge crowd and completing over fifty percent of the progress. For the moment, there was nothing else he could do.
“Huh? There are so many book aberrations up ahead. What are they all huddled together for?” Ever curious about a spectacle, Chen Miemie headed over.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
