Chu Ge's face went purple from holding it all in.
That's right, I wrote you for exactly this — maybe even for the porn version of it.
Because the one I was projecting into was the protagonist — it was me who wanted to do that with you.
If she beat me to death over this, I couldn't even cry injustice.
But now... I can't project myself in anymore.
He could no longer feel the protagonist's joys, angers, sorrows and delights, none of that character's feelings — yet Qiu Wuji stood before him in the flesh. That was projection of an entirely different order.
And if I wanted to write you like that now, the only partner left for you would be the Father God of Creation, wouldn't it...
His thoughts made one lap around his skull, but of course Chu Ge didn't dare say any of it aloud. He snapped straight into righteous indignation: "What are you talking about? You've seen my first two or three hundred chapters — is there any scene like that in there? I'm a committed pure-love writer. It's just that my pure loves happen to number a few more than usual! That kind of smut, I condemn it absolutely!"
Qiu Wuji stared at him coldly, not believing a single word of it — and since when was "my pure loves happen to number a few more" something to say so self-righteously? She fought down the urge to smash a fist into his face and said flatly, "I think I'll go out and walk around. There's no need to sit here like an idiot waiting for your introductions. If I watch and listen more, I'll understand on my own."
Chu Ge closed the sex-scene blockbuster without a flicker of expression and clicked at random on one of those god-tier anti-Japanese war dramas.
Boom — boom! The glare of shellfire painted Qiu Wuji's eyes red.
Her pupils contracted slightly. "Is this... a performance, or—?"
"It's a performance, but things like this really did happen, and this is only showing wars from the early years. Today's magical treasures are far more vicious than anything back then. So you think you're strong enough to run wild in this world?"
Chu Ge said helplessly.
"If your true body came over, it might be a little better, but even then blending into the world normally would be hard — you'd most likely have to hide away in some mountain and cultivate in seclusion. And with this split soul, you're out of place in everything. If something goes wrong, I'm afraid you'll get arrested on sight as a 'walking five hundred thousand' — and you won't even have time to cry."
"What do you mean, a 'walking five hundred thousand'?"
"A spy. An infiltrator. You understand that much?"
Qiu Wuji understood. So this world had wars between different nations too.
For a moment she felt a small twinge of worry.
Just as Chu Ge said, she was out of place here — didn't that make her look exactly like a spy? If her true body came, relying on her cultivation she could still roam the blue heavens without fear. But what could this body of hers do now? One blast from one of those steel cannon barrels, and it seemed she truly wouldn't hold up...
So the heaven realm really is the heaven realm. Even with no spiritual energy at all, it's this powerful.
Chu Ge stole a glance at her. Looks like the con worked? How would she know cannons aren't something you can just fire off whenever you like? Never mind cannons — ordinary cops don't even carry guns, and even if they've got one, they've got no bullets.
To be fair, it wasn't purely a con. If things really blew up, she genuinely wouldn't hold up.
"Hyah!" On the TV, a burly man seized a Jap soldier's body and, with a "shhk", ripped him in half. Blood sprayed.
Qiu Wuji's eyes went wide. She instinctively backed half a step, nearly dropping into a defensive stance right there.
Fine, relying on magical treasures — but their body cultivation is this strong too?
This world is terrifying!
And what's even more terrifying is that you're just putting on a show on a stage — why are you tearing people in half?! And then there's that business of showing people having sex like it's nothing. Is this the immortal realm or the demon realm?!
Chu Ge watched her expression out of the corner of his eye, swallowing a laugh until it hurt. She's actually kind of cute all of a sudden...
"Exactly. Immortal and demon are one thought apart — you may as well treat this place as the demon realm." Chu Ge told her with a perfectly straight face: "It's dangerous out there. With the body you've got now, don't go running around. Save it until your true body gets here."
Qiu Wuji badly wanted to say, "What would this Sect Master fear?" but the words never made it past her lips. She only said, "I'm not watching this anymore. I want to watch history."
Better understand the ins and outs of this world first. Know the enemy and know yourself.
So you can rip a person in half — does that mean this Sect Master can't?
Such a tsundere... Chu Ge saw through her little scheme at a glance, and of course he wasn't about to call her out on it. He sat back down at the computer and searched for Five Thousand Years of China; it struck him as a good way to give Qiu Wuji some rough background. A search turned up nothing free — it all cost money. Chu Ge sighed. Copyright protection kept getting better and better for every kind of work these days. So how come web novels never got their turn?
He was perfectly happy to pay for it. He opened a used-book site and ordered a set, and threw in a set of A Brief History of China while he was at it. "We'll wait for the books to be delivered. It'll take about two or three days. Nothing to be done until then."
Qiu Wuji watched him work with curiosity. "Someone will bring books to you just like that? A thought sent ten thousand li? A letter flown on a sword?"
"No... Ah, well, it's the demon realm — there's always something a bit special about it." Then something occurred to Chu Ge, and he asked, "Can you do it now — one sweep of your divine sense and you've memorized everything in a book? By rights your cultivation counts as Qi Refining, and a normal Qi Refining cultivator hasn't cultivated divine sense yet, but in your case the divine sense came first and the body was condensed afterward, so I don't know how to count that."
"If the word count isn't too large, I should be able to." Qiu Wuji gave him a puzzled look. "Why do you ask?"
Of course Chu Ge was hoping she'd stay a while longer — lounging against the windowsill, reading at her leisure. If one sweep of her divine sense finished the whole thing at once, that would kill the mood entirely.
At that thought, Chu Ge's gaze began to drift.
It was nearly one in the morning now. One man, one woman, alone together in one room.
She won't watch the shows anymore, the books were just ordered and haven't arrived and on this long, long night — what exactly are we supposed to do?
Qiu Wuji's lovely eyes slid over to him sidelong, half-smiling and half not.
Chu Ge shrank back awkwardly. Never mind the long night — but if she really can stay a good while... isn't this two-bedroom-and-a-living-room just about perfect?
Qiren, this really isn't yours truly casting out the old for the new...
But then Qiu Wuji said, "Bolting it down whole like that would defeat the purpose of reading history. Once the books arrive, I'll just read them slowly... I see you still have an empty room here. These next few days, I'll stay here... Mm. Sorry for the intrusion."
"???" You're answering before I even ask now?
Chu Ge was delighted and baffled at once.
From what he knew of her, she shouldn't be this forward about sharing a room with a man. He'd assumed he'd have to wear his tongue out talking her into it. What was going on? Was that line he'd said, "If you're going to look, it should be for the Father God of Creation," still working on her? Or was it simply that yours truly was devastatingly handsome?
A teasing glint flashed in Qiu Wuji's eyes. Finally there's a time you can't guess what I'm thinking, isn't there?
But this time I've got you figured out... All those little schemes of yours — you want me to stay and live here, don't you? You're sitting there working out how to sweet-talk me?
What's there to sweet-talk about? What's wrong with staying here? We're only next door to each other, it's not one room — what great difference is there from neighboring rooms at an inn? The only difference is in people's minds.
Besides, I'm not afraid of you. You're not the one who can rip a person in half. If you dare try anything, I'll beat you to death.
She said unhurriedly, "What's that look on your face? Cultivators have no notions of man and woman to begin with. If not for a certain sleazy Father God pulling strings in the dark, I, Qiu Wuji, would have had the light breeze for company and the bright moon for a companion. As it is, we're merely living next door, each of us on our own road to the future — bright wind and clear moon, open and aboveboard. What is there to fuss over?"
With that, she walked straight into the second bedroom.
Chu Ge called after her, "There's no bedding in there!"
But Qiu Wuji was already sitting cross-legged on the bare bed board, eyes closed, sunk in meditation, saying nothing more.
Chu Ge went back to his own room in a daze, washed up quickly, and flopped onto the bed.
His head kept tumbling over the same thing: a stunning woman is living right next door to me — we're cohabiting... The restless heat in his chest was hard to put into words.
Fine. You're bright wind and clear moon; I'm the sleazy, filthy one. Happy?
Honestly, how long had it been? And already he couldn't guess her thoughts anymore? Was his own level just too low, his characterization not complete enough — or was a woman's heart a needle at the bottom of the sea, and no male author could ever fully grasp it?
Chu Ge rolled back and forth all night. Insomnia had him again.
It was the first time in Chu Ge's life that he had "lived together" with a woman — and the woman was the female lead of his own book.