Fermentation

Man Ying, as one of Luo Province's three major comic magazines, sells over 300,000 copies per issue. If a comic can rank first in the reader popularity poll on one of these three major magazines, its author can essentially be called a renowned manga artist in Luo Province's comic scene.

If they can go a step further and consistently top the popularity polls in such magazines, then their author has already reached the pinnacle of Luo Province's comic world.

Dong Yun, who transferred from Feng Yu Comics to Ink Fish, is a manga artist of this caliber. In Luo Province, she is already considered a top-tier artist. To further expand her influence, her sights could only be set on Magic City or RB Island.

Dong Yun is a very ambitious woman. In the seven years since she started drawing comics, she has successfully achieved her current status in Luo Province's comic scene. To outsiders, her path as a manga artist has been smooth sailing. At just twenty-six years old, she has achieved fame and stands at the top of Luo Province's comic circle.

But only she knows in her heart that while her current achievements can be considered top-tier in Luo Province, they are nothing when viewed across Dragon Country.

Therefore, when she learned that her work had lost to a newcomer's work at Ink Fish Manga Company's serialization meeting, her first reaction was not amusement or disbelief.

Instead, she felt a heavy weight in her heart. Unlike the somewhat arrogant Song Jiayu, Dong Yun knew very well what a "newcomer" truly represented.

After all, she herself had ascended to the top of Tian Yin Comics by relying on her debut work as a newcomer, stepping on the backs of many established seniors.

Currently, she is very familiar with Ink Fish Manga Company's two popular works, Magic Realm and Tian Shu. After the first chapter of her new work, Secret Girl, was published, its popularity already surpassed Tian Shu, ranking second. As for Magic Realm, she was confident she could surpass it in the popularity poll within a month and hold the top spot long-term.

If that happened, after Secret Girl concluded, she would have achieved first place in two top-tier magazines in Luo Province. This would be immensely beneficial for her future development in Magic City. With such achievements, coupled with the promised help from Song Jiayu, she was confident she could establish herself in Magic City.

The only variable was...

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal!

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

She flipped the book to the serialization section of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Honestly, for an ordinary person, the forty-plus pages of the first chapter wouldn't reveal much. But for some reason, as Dong Yun looked at the panels of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, she felt an intense sense of pressure.

Time flew by, and another week passed.

As a six-year fan of Man Ying, Sun Ji bought almost every issue.

In Sun Ji's opinion, the recent issues of Man Ying were undoubtedly of very high quality. Not only did they feature the established popular comics Magic Realm and Tian Shu, but the new work by Luo Province's top manga artist, Dong Yun, also officially began serialization in the previous issue.

But besides these three comics, Sun Ji was also very invested in a comic serialized in the last issue called Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

It told the story of a swordsman in a chaotic world during a period of change on RB Island over a hundred years ago.

The art was fluid, the plot flowed like water, and not a single page of the comic was wasted.

Although he didn't feel a strong sense of connection to a work whose protagonist was from the Yamato people, the largest ethnic minority in Dragon Country, once he got into it, he found the work truly captivating.

Killing to save people, killing to save a chaotic world – this in itself is a contradiction.

It was vastly different from the other works in Man Ying. He was sick of reading those school-themed comics!

After finishing the new chapters of Magic Realm, Tian Shu, and Secret Girl, Sun Ji flipped the manga periodical to the latest chapter of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

The story interspersed flashbacks of Kenshin and his master, and how Kenshin, following his ideal to save the era, eventually came to Kyoto and became a swordsman who struck fear into the hearts of Kyoto's citizens... or perhaps, an executioner...

Gradually, Sun Ji's eyes became serious.

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

Finally, the panel where Kenshin slew a powerful enemy under a killer's assault, clean, sharp, and without unnecessary flourish.

It instantly made Sun Ji's blood boil.

This is too cool!

But in the next scene, the style of the intense, cool, and bloody battle changed.

Before Kenshin stood a woman, holding an umbrella, wearing a white kimono. Blood splattered on her from Kenshin's killing of assassins, on her umbrella, her clothes, her face.

Kenshin's facial wounds were bleeding again...

He looked up, only to see a beautiful face smudged with a little blood.

"You... truly..."

"Can summon... a storm of blood and gore!"

Although the woman in the manga was stained with blood and stood in the place where Kenshin had killed, this single drawing gave Sun Ji an indescribable sense of beauty.

Sun Ji eagerly flipped forward.

Who was that woman?

What story would unfold between her and Kenshin...

But immediately, Sun Ji's face stiffened.

The next page of the manga had only seven large characters.

Act One, Executioner, Complete!

What?

It's over?

Author, where's your integrity?

The originator of cliffhangers?

For a moment, Sun Ji's expression soured.

He felt a tickle of impatience, though. It was truly unbearable to have the story climax suddenly cut off like that.

Do I have to wait until next week?

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Sun Ji noticed the shift in his own mindset.

He thought back to it. After finishing the latest chapters of Magic Realm, Tian Shu, and Secret Girl, he had merely thought they were decent works. He hadn't felt this urgent desire to keep reading.

But after finishing the latest chapter of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, it was completely different. That sense of anticipation, which he hadn't felt in a long time, had returned.

"Interesting!" Sun Ji murmured.

Having read so many manga, his resistance had grown stronger. It had been a long time since he'd encountered a work that made him so eager to keep up with the updates.

"Not bad. The author is Shui Xin? I've got it noted. I'll make an exception today and waste a bit of time voting for you on the website!"

The same scene was playing out in Ming City, and even in various places across Luo Province.

Because Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal had an extended first serialization, the first two manga manuscript chapters were combined into one for the previous issue. Therefore, the second chapter in this issue was actually the third chapter from the serialization meeting, ending with the first meeting between Xuedai Ba and Kenshin.

Originally, the manga industry professionals in Luo Province had read the previous issue of Man Ying with anticipation, only to find that the entire chapter was dedicated to introducing characters. The plot had no real conflict and was rather bland. Coupled with the mediocre voting results for the first chapter of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, they were somewhat disappointed at the time, even thinking the Ink Fish editorial department had collectively misjudged!

But after reading this chapter, truly, almost everyone had the same thought in their minds.

"Incredible!"

No wonder he could defeat Dong Yun to get the serialization opportunity.

For a time, many people in the Ming City manga scene were inquiring about where this newcomer named Shui Xin had come from.

And could such a work really be drawn by a newcomer?

Wasn't it some veteran manga artist using a pseudonym to release a new work?