Chen Miemie had slept all day, so he was wide awake that night.
After making a fuss for a while, he accepted the “tragedy” that his [Mysticism] was only at 4.99.
He took the study notes Xi had given him out of the Origami and found the page on advancing [Mysticism].
“To advance [Mysticism] from 4.99 to 5, you need a highly compatible material and a corresponding ritual. Everyone’s ritual is different, and each mystic must figure out their own method.
“I have no problem with the highly compatible material. I possess a large meteorite. But what exactly is this ritual?”
Chen Miemie went to find the strongest ally he had.
‘Xiao Shuang, are you there?’
【I am.】
The white characters appeared quickly. Xiao Shuang was as aloof as ever.
‘I want to advance my [Mysticism] to 5. Do you know what my ritual is?’
【There is no fixed answer. Everyone’s ritual must be gradually discovered for themselves, and is subjective and unique. This body of yours has advanced too quickly and lacks sufficient accumulation.】
‘Too quickly? If I hadn’t been held back by the major-rank bottleneck, I might have already advanced several ranks in a row.’
【That would not have happened. Advancing [Mysticism] is not a simple increase in numbers. It requires all kinds of accumulation. The ritual, for example, is a test of that accumulation.】
‘Do you have any suggestions?’
【Broadly speaking, it should be related to your [Moonlight] ability.】
Chen Miemie ended his conversation with Xiao Shuang and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“Accumulation, huh? That makes sense. It’s only been a few months, yet I’ve already walked a path that would take most mystics an entire lifetime. I usually don’t rely on my own [Mysticism] in battle, so there’s no need to rush.”
The Forbidden Fruit Bestiary flew over to him.
“Chen Miemie, can I go out and play with my friends?”
“Hm? Didn’t you just come back from playing with From Beginner to Giving Up this afternoon? Who are you meeting this time?”
“This time it’s How to Elegantly Rip a Hole in a Sock. It invited me to go shopping.”
Chen Miemie: ...
What kind of friends do you make?
Of course, with books now flying all over the city, Chen Miemie did not stop the Forbidden Fruit Bestiary from going out. On the contrary, he fully supported it. Every time it came back, it brought plenty of firsthand information with it.
“Let’s go. I’ll take a look around too.”
Chen Miemie took the Forbidden Fruit Bestiary and walked out through the [Crack Between Doors], arriving on the streets of Fairy Tale Road.
In theory, with countless new oddities appearing throughout the city, everyone should have been on edge and terrified. At the very least, people should have needed some time to adjust.
Unexpectedly, the people in this city had an unbelievably strong capacity for acceptance.
Yesterday had only been [Reading Day], yet today everyone had already grown accustomed to the books that appeared out of nowhere all over the streets.
A few mischievous children by the roadside even dared to approach the book oddities of their own accord, clamoring to hear stories.
Chen Miemie arrived at the [Four Seasons Café].
“Qiu Tian, give me a drink.”
“Not ordering coffee today?”
“It’s too late for that. I won’t be able to sleep if I drink coffee now.”
“All right. Just a moment.”
After rummaging around inside the counter for a while, Qiu Tian actually brought Chen Miemie a pot of tea.
The old teapot poured out clear tea with no strange odor.
Chen Miemie remained highly vigilant. He inspected it carefully, afraid that Qiu Tian had come up with some new trick.
“You can brew tea too? What kind of tea is this?”
“It’s a kind of tea my father often drank. When he was still alive, I used to brew it for him.”
Chen Miemie took a small sip.
“Hm? It’s actually ordinary tea!”
Qiu Tian nodded. “My ability to make anything I brew taste delicious only works on coffee. It has no effect on tea. This is just ordinary tea, but my father especially liked it.”
Chen Miemie knew a little about tea himself.
“The leaves and the flavor are both rather mediocre. Chunhua actually liked this?”
“‘Rather mediocre’ is a polite way of putting it. This was really just cheap tea leaves, prepared with an amateur’s brewing technique.”
“Heh heh. My father could make any tea taste especially good when he brewed it himself. But he often said that delicious food created through [Mysticism] was missing a touch of reality. That was why he unexpectedly liked the tea I brewed for him.”
“Perhaps. By the way, what do you think about the book oddities that have recently appeared in the city?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you adapt to them? Are you afraid of them?”
“Haha, Chen Miemie, look at the people around us. Does anyone seem abnormal?”
“Not as far as I can tell.” That was precisely what puzzled Chen Miemie.
“Exactly. This place has been a [Library] for countless ages. People here have long been accustomed to living alongside books. Book oddities are books too, and books are our eternal companions. Now that they can control their passive effects, the final barrier between us and them has disappeared. I even invited two books to have coffee during the day.”
“Books can drink coffee too?”
“Not literally. I placed the coffee in front of them so they could smell the aroma. They said they liked it very much.”
Since the café was still open, Chen Miemie did not go far. After making a brief circuit and confirming that the people and book oddities were getting along peacefully, he returned to the café.
When he reached the entrance, he stopped.
“Hm? The mailbox can be used again?”
He happily returned inside and began writing a letter.
Dear friend,
How have things been on your end recently?
I have some good news to share with you.
We have always been discussing the mutual integration of the old and new families. I’ve made some progress on my end. It isn’t a merging of two families, but three.
I initially thought this would be difficult for everyone to accept and had even prepared myself to deal with all kinds of obstacles. Unexpectedly, everything went remarkably smoothly.
During this trial integration, I met many people and experienced many things. Their various choices and circumstances have given me a great deal to think about. In the form of “fulfilling commissions,” I influenced them, and they influenced me in return.
We’ve made an excellent start, though the road ahead will still require careful guidance and proper structure. After everything I’ve experienced, I’ve gained a strange confidence. I believe I can make this work in more places as well.
It’s still too early to hold a celebration banquet. I’m telling you all this because part of our situation is similar. I hope this example from my side can show you that coexistence is a viable path.
By the way, you said last time that you were going to make a decision. How have things gone since then?
I look forward to your reply.
After Chen Miemie finished writing, he attached a five-color stamp and placed the letter in the mailbox.
Everything seemed normal while he was putting it in. But once the letter had completely dropped inside, something happened that was different from the previous three times.
The mailbox began to shake violently, rocking wildly from side to side.
About half a minute later, it became still again.
“What’s going on?”
Chen Miemie examined the mailbox carefully.
The ancient box was covered in cracks, as though it had suddenly aged by many years.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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!
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.
