It was 7:40 p.m.
The Rainbow Moon hung high in the sky.
Gongshu Feiliang had been invited to Number 1, Fairy Tale Road.
What had once been the Demolition Office had now been completely converted into Chen Miemie's reception office.
Even the sign had been replaced with a conspicuous one that read: “Private Reception Area (For Chen Miemie’s Exclusive Use).”
The agreed-upon time was eight o’clock. Since Gongshu Feiliang had arrived early, he did not go straight inside. Instead, he waited at the street corner until his daughter arrived from the Society.
“Little Yue, are you sure it’s only a matter of carving a few small stone ornaments?”
“Yes. That’s what Chen Miemie told me.”
After confirming the situation, Gongshu Feiliang immediately perked up. “With this master on the job, it’ll be a piece of cake.”
The father and daughter pushed open the half-closed door of Number 1, Fairy Tale Road.
The interior was quiet, and no one was in sight.
The tables and chairs had already been cleared away, leaving the room completely empty. In the very center stood a yellow stone taller than a person, with a large chunk missing from one corner at its base.
“Is this the material we’re supposed to carve?” Gongshu Feiliang moved forward to take a closer look.
“Stop. Don’t come any closer,” a voice rang out.
Gongshu Feiliang jumped in fright, but Bridge Princess recognized the speaker immediately.
The Forbidden Fruit Codex flew up from a corner and blocked the two of them from the stone.
“This is the chief steward of the Book Anomalies, the Forbidden Fruit Codex,” Bridge Princess introduced it to Gongshu Feiliang.
“This is my father. He’s been invited here to do some stone carving,” she then introduced him to the Forbidden Fruit Codex.
The Forbidden Fruit Codex spun around in midair. “I know. But until Chen Miemie arrives, neither of you may approach.”
The two nodded and stepped aside.
After receiving Bridge Princess’s message, Chen Miemie soon came over from the shop.
“You arrived so quickly. I’ll have to trouble you today.”
“Not at all, no need to be so polite.” Gongshu Feiliang beamed. How could he possibly let an opportunity to build a connection like this slip through his fingers?
In the eyes of all the various factions within the Moon Library, Chen Miemie was a highly sought-after prize. He was human, a descendant of the Third Seat of the Witches, and a representative of a new species. With such an astonishing background, his future was practically limitless.
Chen Miemie did not waste time on pleasantries. He took out a small sketchbook.
“The material is the large stone inside. These are the designs for all the small objects that need to be made.”
Gongshu Feiliang flipped through the design book. Most of the items were small ornaments, and to him, they were kindergarten-level work.
“Don’t worry. Leave it to me.”
“Then I’ll have to trouble you two. I still need to go back and watch the shop. I’ll come back later to entertain you. Tonight, there’ll be more than enough barbecue and coffee from the shop next door.”
“Can we begin? I need to examine the stone first.”
The question caught Chen Miemie off guard, but he quickly recovered.
“Of course. For the next few days, you both have my permission to handle my meteorite.”
After Chen Miemie left, the Forbidden Fruit Codex began circling around the two of them.
Gongshu Feiliang examined the stone at close range, while Bridge Princess continued pondering Chen Miemie’s strange choice of words.
“How strange, how strange. This is a type of stone I’ve never seen before.” Gongshu Feiliang’s eyes widened.
“It really is strange. That inexplicable permission Chen Miemie mentioned just now sounded as if he was speaking to thin air.” Bridge Princess was puzzled as well.
The two of them were filled with questions. Fortunately, there was someone present they could ask.
“Chief Steward Forbidden Fruit Codex, is this stone very valuable? It actually requires you to guard it personally.”
“Of course it is. This is the treasure of our entire family. For the sake of this stone... Ah, forget it. Even if we sold the entire city, we still couldn’t buy another one.
“But I’m not here to guard the stone. No one could steal it. I’m here to protect you two.”
“Protect us?”
“Of course. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have touched the stone before receiving permission.”
Gongshu Feiliang spent a long time trying to discern the stone’s properties. In his eyes, it had no offensive qualities, nor any obvious strengths or weaknesses. It was so ordinary that it seemed utterly unremarkable.
Curious, he continued the conversation. “What would have happened if we had touched it just now?”
“Heh heh. You don’t want to know.” The Forbidden Fruit Codex did not answer.
Although he had not figured out the stone’s properties, that did not affect Gongshu Feiliang’s work.
He took out his specialized stone-carving tools and prepared to make the first—and largest—item: a large serving platter.
Clink!
The small knife, which could cut through metal as easily as mud, shattered like glass with its very first stroke.
Gongshu Feiliang and Bridge Princess: ...
Neither of them could believe their eyes.
It was the carving knife that had broken—not the stone!
At the same time, the father and daughter’s common sense shattered along with it.
“How is this possible?! This is a Mysterious Item I’ve used for more than a decade!”
“Dad, you must have been careless just now. You didn’t use your [Mystery], did you?”
Gongshu Feiliang’s face turned even paler. How could he have been careless? In order to better demonstrate his skill, he had just used one hundred percent of his ability.
“I did use it. I combined my [Mystery] with the Mysterious Item, and then... the knife broke.”
Bridge Princess finally understood where that strange feeling had come from.
At last! This was more like it. There was no way anything Chen Miemie was involved in could be simple!
Gongshu Feiliang had become a universally acknowledged master of bridge construction not only because of his family’s inherited craftsmanship, but also because his [Mystery] was exceptionally well suited to him.
He had developed two particularly powerful skills that worked only on stone materials.
The first was called [Peel Potato].
With it, he could peel the rough shape out of a stone just as easily as peeling a potato, then refine the details as smoothly as peeling an apple. For a stone ornament larger than a car, something that would take another person an entire day could be completed by him in the time it took to burn a stick of incense.
The second skill was called [Hollowing].
He could excavate the inside of a fist-sized stone and carve seven hollow layers, each of which could rotate without falling apart. No matter how complicated the formation, he could engrave it onto stone.
With just these two abilities, it was obvious how formidable he was in the field of stone carving.
After turning pale, Gongshu Feiliang’s face began to flush red.
He was a renowned master sculptor, yet after confidently boasting that he could handle the job, he could not even cut into the material.
“This isn’t your fault,” the Forbidden Fruit Codex consoled him. “Even ‘that one’ would have to put in a great deal of effort to cut this stone.”
Gongshu Feiliang seized the opportunity to ask, “What exactly is this material?”
The Forbidden Fruit Codex flapped its tiny wings.
“Don’t play dumb. A yellow stone that comes from a new species—can you really not guess what it is?”
Even Bridge Princess could not stop a fleeting trace of greed from passing through her heart.
Such a priceless treasure, simply left here in the open... Was it really safe?
“Heh heh. Does anyone actually dare to steal it? If they did, the King in Yellow would personally pay them a visit.”
After being contacted, Chen Miemie hurried over again.
“Sorry, I didn’t think this through. How about this? For today, just mark out the cutting lines on the stone. I’ll handle the larger cuts myself. As for the finer details, I’ll find a way to provide you with suitable tools.”
Chen Miemie returned to the shop and began to think.
“The meteorite is too hard. What could I use as a carving knife? What in this world can damage a stone from the Eternal Moon?”
Whenever Chen Miemie found himself at a dead end, he liked to roll around on the sofa. This time was no exception.
As he rolled, he felt something hard inside his clothes when he turned over.
He reached in and pulled it out.
It was a nail about as long as a pen.
One end bore the engraving of a four-leaf clover, while the other was razor-sharp. There were also several dark-red stains on the shaft that could no longer be wiped away.
Chen Miemie touched the spot on the back of his head where the nail hole had long since healed.
“As expected of a gift from Chen Miaomiao. Now I’ve got a carving knife.”
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!"
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...
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.
