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.”
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.
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
