Seven days passed in a flash.
Qiu Wuji stood atop the mountain peak, head raised to the moon.
Time did not run the same for everyone… Chu Ge needed only an instant to write "seven days later," and she had truly lived all seven.
Of course, those seven days were a case of "while the plot isn't on the page, the characters go about their own business."
During those seven days Qiu Wuji made no further attempts to break through the boundary. Thanks to his "patch," that business was no longer so difficult or dangerous, it seemed; the problem now was that her divine soul was not tempered enough, and her time on the other side too short.
Chu Ge could extrapolate traits from her behavior and add them to her, but he could not forcibly inflate her raw strength; that required a process that fit "logic."
So she settled her mind and tempered her divine soul, and along the way observed Chu Tiange's performance in the Scripture Repository.
—He did go up to the third floor, but unfortunately, the sect's tiered setup had its own reason and was not there merely to sort people into ranks. His cultivation was insufficient; even on the third floor he could grasp nothing. The techniques kept there were all too profound for him.
Chu Tiange was not discouraged. As agreed, he picked out a technique he liked and put it away for future study, then went back down to the second floor and set to work, down to earth, on what he ought to be learning at his level.
A fine quality.
Qiu Wuji sighed, with no praise for that quality whatsoever, because every quality Chu Tiange had was wish-fulfillment dreamed up by that fellow Chu Ge — piling every admirable trait onto his own protagonist. What was there to praise?
Just as there was nothing to praise in her own qualities either — the resolve, the compassion, the pride, the beauty included, he had set all of it.
Never mind. Qiu Wuji could not be bothered to think about it for now.
What was truly worth a sigh was what those three tiered barriers revealed.
Chu Tiange reached the third floor and still could not learn anything, and had no choice but to retreat to the second… Was that simply how things naturally were, or was heaven's will blocking him?
After all, Chu Ge had written the second floor, so that made it heaven's will, fixed. If he said second floor, did that mean second floor and no further?
Then what about her battle with the Venomous Hand Demon Lord?
Chu Tiange had never "seen through the truth"; he could not break through the unseen will of heaven. That was understandable.
But I have seen through it. I know what's coming… so what happens then?
Chu Ge's words flashed through her mind: "This test of ours is precisely to ask… what is heaven's will?"
Qiu Wuji drew a deep breath and sent her voice across the mountain: "Set out."
Ten thousand li of distance was no instant journey either, for a cultivation sect dragging along a whole crowd of disciples.
Flying on her sword through the air, Qiu Wuji looked back at the disciples crammed onto the magic treasures and wondered, How fast do those flying machines in that world go per hour? Which is actually better?
At heart, she still felt that flying by one's own cultivation was naturally superior.
But for a society, to let ordinary people who needed no cultivation at all fly through the sky and burrow through the earth — that was remarkable. That was what it meant to be able to bear up the whole world.
Each had its advantages, she supposed.
And precisely because that world had so many fascinating aspects, she needed to understand it.
Next time she went over, she would be better prepared.
Only, perhaps… the difficulties would also become ever clearer.
Chu Ge was on a call with a friend.
Yang Dingtian: "ID card? Just report it lost and get a new one made. Twenty yuan for the fee."
This fellow using the Ming Cult leader as his handle was Chu Ge's college classmate, real name Lin Wuyang. After graduating he passed the civil service exam and became a glorious people's police officer. Chu Ge had never understood why fellows like Lin Wuyang and Zhang Qiren always loved handles that bragged about their manhood — was it because the real thing was especially small?
Nanjiang City was a provincial capital. Nationwide it counted as only a third-tier city, but it had one advantage: not many of his college classmates had scattered across the country after graduation — most still worked and lived in the same city. The pity was that these days classmates barely crossed paths after graduating. Apart from the occasional reunion, even the WeChat group was dead.
The more years since graduation, the deader the group got… the ones who were really close had their own little group.
Lin Wuyang and Chu Ge were only casual acquaintances; they had not spoken in years, and Chu Ge did not even know which section or department Lin Wuyang worked in now. Turning up out of the blue like this made his own face burn a little, and the other man's lukewarm manner was entirely expected. Perfectly normal.
"Uh, it's not that I lost my own ID card. I just got into a flame war on a forum about the census and came to consult an expert."
"Tsk. The great author really is full of passion, still finding the leisure for forum flame wars." Lin Wuyang casually replied "dipshit, your mom's dead" to someone on a forum while informing Chu Ge with a righteous face, "Not like the rest of us — the weight of life grinds us more zen by the day."
Chu Ge: "Going from zen to demon in a few days is easy. Publish a book on Qidian, get a recommendation slot, and read the comments."
"Come on, who's got the time. Speaking of which, the writing in those dumbed-down web novels of yours is terrible, and that garbage makes money? Maybe I could too…"
"Yeah, yeah. So, the census…"
"I'm no expert on that either — I'm not in household registration — but I know the basics. What exactly are you asking about?"
"People say the census these days is all for show, because there aren't any unregistered households left. I figure there are. Years back, an abandoned baby gets picked up by some rag-picking beggar, that kind of thing…"
"Are you writing a story here?" Lin Wuyang said helplessly. "The kind you're describing might have existed years and years ago, but now, probably really not. People who've never been registered might still exist in small numbers in poor mountain areas, but even now that's very rare."
"Right, right, that's the kind. So that's exactly why the country needs the census, isn't it?"
"Right… you can go reply to that guy on the forum now. Have some class, okay?"
"So when the census reaches people like that, do they just get registered on the spot?"
"The specifics I'm not too clear on. Should be possible, if the identity's confirmed."
"Then when's the next census?"
"Usually once every ten years. They just ran one last year."
Chu Ge: "…"
Lin Wuyang sensed something off. "Is this the kind of thing you ask for a forum flame war?"
Chu Ge was unruffled. "We just got to talking and I rambled a bit more. It's called social research."
Being a writer did give Chu Ge an edge when it came to asking questions, and Lin Wuyang evidently was not thinking too hard about it: "Shouldn't a writer say he's 'gathering material'? That's the proper way to put it, isn't it?"
"Then let's call it gathering material. Say it's not census time — if those unregistered households went and registered themselves, could they get it done?"
"That I really don't know. I'm not in household registration, and this kind of thing is so rare I imagine even they'd have to send an official letter up to the higher-ups. Speaking of which, if you really are gathering material to write about this — it's just a web novel, no need to be so precise. Just make something up. These days I see books with a 'War God Protector of the Nation' in them, and nobody says that's not allowed."
"Fair enough… Let's grab a meal together when you're free."
"Speaking of which, there may be a reunion in a while — it's the fifth anniversary, isn't it? Old Hong mentioned it to me a while back… watch the group chat when the time comes."
"Sure. We'll talk then."
Lin Wuyang exited WeChat, refreshed the forum, and found his account had been muted.
Deftly he switched to an alt account and started a thread: "Just a pure passerby here, honestly speaking — wasn't that thread from earlier perfectly normal? Private forums, huh. Muting people at will…"
A knock came at the door.
Lin Wuyang shut the forum in a flash, jumped up, and opened the door. His expression quickly turned a little fawning.
The woman before him was breathtakingly beautiful, and alas, he was already married. Sigh… why didn't we meet before I took a wife?
"President Gu! Hello, hello. What instructions do you have for me?"
Gu Ruoyan smiled politely. "Chief Lin, you're too kind… I was wondering about the materials I requested some time ago…"
"That, well, to be honest, it really is a little difficult… we need time."
"I'll be staying in Nanjiang City for a while yet. I hope there'll be good news."