The Aftermath

Man Ying was one of Luo Province's three major manga magazines, with each issue selling over 300,000 copies. If a manga ranked first in the reader Popularity Polls of one of the Three Great Manga magazines, its creator could basically be considered a well-known manga artist in Luo Province.

If they went one step further and regularly topped the polls in a magazine like that, then they had already reached the pinnacle of Luo Province's Manga Industry.

Dong Yun, who had transferred from Feng Yu Comics to Mo Yu, was that caliber of manga artist. In Luo Province, she was already among the best. If she wanted to expand her influence further, her only options were Modu or RB Island.

Dong Yun was an ambitious woman. In the seven years since she started drawing manga, she had successfully risen to her current position in Luo Province's Manga Industry. To outsiders, her career had been smooth sailing. At just twenty-six, she had made a name for herself in Luo Province's Manga Circle and stood at the top.

But only she knew that while her achievements made her one of the best in Luo Province, they meant next to nothing across the Dragon Kingdom.

So when she learned that her work had lost to a newcomer's at Mo Yu's Serialization Meeting, her first reaction wasn't to laugh or find it hard to believe.

On the contrary, she had felt a weight settle in her heart. Unlike the somewhat conceited Song Jiayu, Dong Yun knew all too well what a newcomer could be capable of.

After all, she herself had made her debut with a newcomer's work, climbing over a host of veteran artists to reach the top of Tian Yin Comics.

She knew the two most popular series currently running in Mo Yu Comics, Magic Realm and Tian Shu, very well. Her new series, Secret Girl, had already surpassed Tian Shu in popularity after its first episode was published, ranking second. As for Magic Realm, she was confident she could overtake it in the Popularity Poll within a month and stay at the top for a long time.

If that happened, then once Secret Girl was finished, she would have ranked first in both of Luo Province's top magazines. That would be a huge advantage when she went to develop her career in Modu. With those results, and Song Jiayu's promise to help her, she was confident she could establish herself there.

The only wild card was...

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal!

Dong Yun looked at the latest issue of Ink Shadow in her hands.

She flipped to the installment of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Honestly, an ordinary reader wouldn't be able to tell much from the first episode's forty-plus pages. But for some reason, as Dong Yun looked at each page, she felt an intense sense of pressure.

Time flew by, and another week passed.

Sun Ji had been a loyal reader of Man Ying for six years, and he bought practically every issue.

As far as Sun Ji was concerned, the latest issue of Man Ying was undoubtedly high quality. It had not only the established hits Magic Realm and Tian Shu, but also the new series by Luo Province's top manga artist, Dong Yun, which had begun serialization in the previous issue.

But besides those three, Sun Ji was also quite invested in a manga serialized in the previous issue called Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

It told the story of a swordsman caught up in the upheaval of an era on RB Island more than a century ago.

The artwork flowed smoothly, and the story unfolded seamlessly. Not a single page felt like filler.

Although he found it hard to relate to a series whose protagonist belonged to the Yamato, the Dragon Kingdom's largest ethnic minority, once he got into it, he realized just how good it was.

Killing to save people, killing to end the chaos of a troubled age—there was a contradiction at the heart of it.

It was very different from the other works in Man Ying. He was sick to death of all those school manga!

After finishing the latest episodes of Magic Realm, Tian Shu, and Secret Girl, Sun Ji turned to the newest installment of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

The story interspersed memories of Kenshin and his master with the tale of how Kenshin pursued his ideal of saving the age, eventually arriving in Kyoto and becoming a swordsman feared by the people there—or perhaps more accurately, an executioner...

Gradually, Sun Ji's expression grew serious.

The girl who had left the tavern, Kenshin attacked on a rainy night...

At last, Kenshin cut down his formidable foe as the assassin struck. The sequence was crisp, clean, and utterly without hesitation.

Sun Ji's blood surged.

That was so cool!

But the very next scene shifted away from the fierce, stylish, bloody battle.

Standing before Kenshin was a woman. She held an umbrella and wore a white kimono. Blood from Kenshin's slaughter of the assassins had splattered across the umbrella, her clothes, and her face.

The wound on Kenshin's face was bleeding again...

He looked up and saw only a beautiful face, lightly flecked with blood.

"You... really do..."

"Bring... blood and ruin wherever you go!"

Although the woman was covered in blood and standing at the scene of Kenshin's killings, that image filled Sun Ji with an indescribable sense of beauty.

Sun Ji eagerly turned the page.

Who was that woman?

What kind of story would unfold between Kenshin and her...?

But then Sun Ji's face stiffened.

The next page had only seven large characters.

"Act One: The Executioner. The End!"

What?

That was it?

Author, where was your sense of decency?

The founding father of cliffhangers?

Sun Ji's expression soured.

But he was itching to know what happened next. Having a story cut off right at its climax was truly agonizing.

Would he have to wait until next week?

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Sun Ji noticed his own attitude had changed.

He thought back. After reading the latest episodes of Magic Realm, Tian Shu, and Secret Girl, he had merely felt that they were pretty good. He hadn't felt any urge to keep reading.

But after finishing the latest installment of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, it was completely different. He felt a sense of anticipation he hadn't experienced in a long time.

"Interesting!" Sun Ji murmured.

The more manga he read, the more discerning he became. It had been a long time since a series had made him so eager for the next installment.

"Not bad. The author's name is Shui Xin, right? I'll remember that. I'll make an exception and spend a little time voting for you on the website today!"

The same thing was happening in Ming City, and across Luo Province as well.

Because the first installment of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal had been extended, the first two chapters of the original manga had been combined into one for the previous issue. That meant the second installment was actually the third chapter from the Serialization Meeting, and it ended with Xuedai Ba and Kenshin meeting for the first time.

Originally, manga industry workers across Luo Province had eagerly picked up the previous issue of Man Ying to read the series. But they found that the entire installment was devoted to introducing the characters. The plot had no real conflict and moved at a leisurely pace. On top of that, the first installment of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal had received only middling poll results. Some had been disappointed and even thought Mo Yu's Editorial Department had collectively misjudged the series!

But after reading this installment, nearly everyone had the same thought.

"Incredible!"

No wonder it had beaten Dong Yun's work and won a chance to be serialized.

For a time, many people in Ming City's Manga Industry began asking where this newcomer named Shui Xin had come from.

And was a work like this really drawn by a newcomer?

Could it be that some veteran manga artist had changed pen names and launched a new series?