He looked at the clothes scattered across the sofa… honestly, they gave off a rather decadent air.

Sexy lingerie, black thigh-high stockings… just strewn there any which way, and unwashed, straight off her body.

A few days ago, the sight might have set his imagination running. But right now Chu Ge had not the slightest interest. He quietly gathered them up and threw them into the washing machine. He pressed the start button, listened to the drum begin to turn, and stood there staring into space for a good long while. Finally he shook his head and went to his room to write.

And yet the dungeon arc he had planned out so thoroughly in advance — the same arc he had been writing at flying speed, one he could write even while squatting on the toilet — now stalled. He sat for ages, utterly blocked, unable to get into the scene.

The moment he typed the name "Qiu Wuji," her every smile and frown surfaced in his mind; even the spots where she had hit him still throbbed faintly.

She was a real person now, not a fictional character he could shape however he liked.

And then he would hesitate — how much does what I write affect her now?

For instance, he had already cut the overlap between Qiu Wuji and Chu Tiange, but ordinary exchanges and pointers between a sect master and her disciples were still necessary — otherwise there was no point in the protagonist joining the sect at all. So now if I write Qiu Wuji giving Chu Tiange pointers, can she tell whether she wants to teach him or I wrote it? And if she figures out it was me, will she still be willing to teach him?

His thoughts were in a snarl and it was genuinely hard to write. Fortunately this stretch of plot was simple. After ages of forcing it, he squeezed out two thousand characters, and with no heart for polishing, posted it in a hurry, completing his usual quota of two chapters a day.

This might well be the most soulless chapter he had written since the book began; he didn't even know what the hell he was writing. Chu Ge didn't dare look at the comments. After a moment's hesitation, he opened the group chat instead.

The readers' group he used to lurk in every spare minute hadn't been opened in two days. He was starting to feel like he didn't even resemble a writer anymore.

When he opened it, the group was busy criticizing the new chapter, and their reasons were remarkably uniform:

"Too short, too weak."

"How many pages is that? I didn't even get my pants all the way down on the toilet before I finished it."

Chu Ge: "…I've been fixing the outline these two days. Bear with me, okay."

"Oh hey, Big Chu's here! So when are you gonna push Qiu Wuji?"

"Hurry it up, hurry it up…"

"By the way, Big Chu, these last two chapters are getting better and better!"

Chu Ge: "?"

Are you sure? I clearly half-assed that chapter. Nearly half of the last one was written on the toilet — a chapter with a certain aroma.

Someone said: "I feel like Big Chu's writing has gotten more delicate these two chapters. He doesn't miss a single flicker of expression on Qiu Wuji. Oh, right, and he's spending more ink on her outfits too. Big Chu was never good at that, was he? It's like he's writing from a live model."

"Yeah, Big Chu's leveled up."

Chu Ge's hands hovered over the keyboard, hung there a good while, then drew back. He grabbed the mouse and posted a two-dimensional dirty picture.

The chat derailed instantly: "You call that dirty? I could post a picture of a balloon dirtier than that."

The group erupted into a dazzling flood of dirty pictures, and the discussion of whether Chu Ge had improved was flung clean out of everyone's minds.

Chu Ge, having maliciously derailed the chat, leaned back in his chair and watched the group chatter with a faraway look. It all felt remote and detached, as though he were sitting in a bustling reception hall — voices clamoring everywhere, and yet it was like another world.

The world inside the book.

Qiu Wuji opened her eyes in the hidden chamber, still ringed about by the formations and treasures she had prepared for her "tribulation." Treasure light blazed, spiritual energy circulated, and for a moment it stood in the sharpest possible contrast to Chu Ge's ordinary rented room.

A world away now…

Qiu Wuji looked down at herself. She was still wearing her solemn sect-master's magic robe. That outfit she had been wearing just now — it seemed like a dream.

Such was the dream.

She let out a breath, rose to her full height, and left the hidden chamber.

"Sect Master, you've come out of seclusion?" A core disciple on guard outside bowed respectfully. "Elder Zhou reported just now that word has come — there may be an azure dragon's shed scale in the Ten Thousand Serpent Cave, ten thousand li to the southwest. He said it was to be reported to you the moment you emerged."

Qiu Wuji smiled. "Noted."

In the manuscript this would have been "Qiu Wuji said flatly." Qiu Wuji's lips curved in the faintest pout.

The disciple stared at her, dazed for a moment.

The sect master almost never smiles. When she does, she's really beautiful…

Qiu Wuji glanced up at the moon, then went treading away on the moonlight. "Have them assemble in the council hall."

The disciple acknowledged the order and left, glancing up at Qiu Wuji's departing figure in the sky, puzzled.

Why is the sect master holding her sleeves down while she flies?

"This matter of the azure dragon's shed scale — this Sect Master has heard of it," Qiu Wuji told the elders in the council hall. "I mean to have that item; I will have to go in person. Besides, the Ten Thousand Serpent Cave holds many wonders, and its outer reaches are well suited to disciples' trials. Since I am going, I should take some of the sect along. They may find their own destinies there."

An elder said, "Then we will go select some disciples…"

"The clue was found by Chu Tiange, at the southern border market, was it not?" Qiu Wuji said. "That disciple carries fortune about him. He should come… This Sect Master will also grant him some extra guidance and rewards as a prize for the news. Go call him here."

The elders exchanged glances. She had only just come out of seclusion — how did she know it was that Chu Tiange who found the clue?

Could the sect master's divination have reached such a level? But she had never seemed to cultivate divination at all… she only grew more unfathomable by the day.

Chu Tiange was summoned. He cautiously entered the council hall, surrounded by big shots, and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Sect Master."

As he bowed, a strange feeling came over him.

He kept feeling there was… killing intent in the way the sect master stared at him.

Probably his imagination. Why would the sect master want to kill him out of nowhere? And if she really did, he might as well lie down and wait to die; nothing to think about. Hmm — her expression has turned amused, so she was only testing his character.

Qiu Wuji's gaze had indeed shifted from killing intent to amusement.

She had noticed that this Chu Tiange looked a little like Chu Ge. Of course he did — he was Chu Ge's own projection, the hero he wrote by inserting himself into the part. Only his description could never follow his own template exactly. Chu Ge himself was quite handsome, for instance, but to write an ordinary man as the protagonist, Chu Tiange could only be written as "plain in appearance, but sunny and resolute."

And Chu Tiange was still a "youth," while Chu Ge was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Yet with Chu Ge's template in his brows and eyes, he looked like nothing so much as his alt account — or his son?

That was it. He had created him, hadn't he? He was "Father God," so wasn't this his son? At the thought, Qiu Wuji was inwardly delighted. Strictly speaking, wasn't Chu Ge now competing with his own "son" over a woman?

That realization wiped out even her irritation at having her red thread tangled up by someone else; she just wanted to laugh.

At the same time, she felt a little sympathy.

You think you got here on your own hard work?

It's all written by somebody…

Qiu Wuji propped her right hand on the arm of the chair and leaned lazily sideways, resting her forehead against it. "Discovering the clue to the azure dragon's shed scale is a great merit to this sect. Chu Tiange, what reward would you have from this Sect Master?"

Chu Tiange said hurriedly, "I wouldn't dare. It was only my duty."

Qiu Wuji said lazily, "I grant you seven days of contemplation on the third floor of the Scripture Repository, where you may choose any one Profound-rank technique."

The elders were all moved. This reward was truly generous. At Chu Tiange's level, getting into the second floor of the Scripture Repository would already be good, and the technique granted would generally be Yellow-rank. This jumped straight to the third floor, a Profound-rank technique…

Why has the sect master suddenly become so generous?

Qiu Wuji pouted inwardly. What, was this Sect Master supposed to teach him in person? This much will offset it.

Right — in his version it was the second floor. What changes will a thing like this cause? Worth watching.

"Also…" Qiu Wuji thought for a moment. "Chu Tiange has not yet entered inedia, correct? Tell the dining hall to add a bowl of beef noodles for him today, as encouragement. That will do. Everyone go and make your preparations; seven days from now we set out for the Ten Thousand Serpent Cave."

The elders: "?"

Chu Tiange: "???"

The corner of Qiu Wuji's mouth curved into a smile once more.

Nothing to it.