Starting Over

The graveyard of the witches is far more interesting than one might imagine; it is not filled with the solemnity of "death," but rather with the witches' whimsical perspectives on it. The Wine Immortal Ridge graveyard was likely established during the Republican era, which was also when large numbers of Chinese witches brought back customs from their Western counterparts.

They were Westernized, humorous, romantic, and highly learned.

On one tombstone, the epitaph read:

"Seeking a partner. Any witch of the Necromancy school, please feel free to reach out."

And on another tombstone where mushrooms were growing, a comical cause of death was inscribed, ending with:

"...I hope my way of dying brings a smile to your face."

Beyond these, there were also more serious ones, such as:

"Our cause is destined to triumph."

This optimistic attitude toward death is omnipresent; after all, every year, a few witches conquer death, and there are also those who quietly crawl back up after being conquered by it... Such occurrences are rare among ordinary witches, but they become quite common among Archwitches. Confirming that an Archwitch is truly dead is no simple task.

Perhaps one day in the future, Jiang Han will also be able to exist in this world while ignoring death.

After wandering around twice, Jiang Han could understand why witches held barbecue parties in the graveyard.

The materials in the graveyard are truly abundant... The soil is saturated with the magic power decomposed from the corpses of witches, providing an excellent growth environment for supernatural plants, and the pervasive magical energy preserves the spirituality of items. It is an excellent location for both storing and producing magical items.

Where there is demand, there will naturally be witches coming to do business.

Gradually, the graveyard, which is naturally an excellent warehouse for magical items, became a common trading market, which also gave rise to fast food like hot pot, barbecue, and fried meat skewers...

If you were to ask whether this affects one's appetite, the answer is naturally no.

The vast majority of witches have had the experience of slurping noodles in a morgue—Jiang Han learned from her own notes that she had such an experience; slurping noodles in the morgue, and the notes even mentioned it was braised beef noodles.

Sigh, I wonder how the me in the other world is doing. I wonder if she was replaced by the witch Jiang Han of this world; does she know how to use electrical appliances proficiently? Will she get used to the life of an ordinary person without magic power? Or have both I and the version of me played by her in the other world already vanished?

Jiang Han sighed inwardly. She was used to keeping notes in her previous life as well. If the original owner of this witch body traveled over there, she should be able to get some useful information from the notes—I just hope that, just as I don't mind that she was a virgin, she doesn't mind that I was a virgin...

No, no, how should I put this... Perhaps when she traveled over, it was also 1994, and in that case, I was only an 18-year-old virgin, which doesn't seem too embarrassing.

While her thoughts were wandering, Cen Jing and Li Li were chatting idly:

Cen Jing said, "Miss Li Li, have you considered your future career?"

Li Li replied, "Of course I have."

The Fox Witch's eyes sparkled: "I want to hunt dragons, observe their habits, and continue our family's research on dragons."

Li Li wants to inherit her family's business, but she is indeed a witch who is very interested in dragons... Jiang Han nodded secretly. Since knowledge in this world is so expensive, following the path of knowledge already available in the family is clearly the best choice—changing careers requires a massive accumulation of wealth.

Moreover, being able to turn one's hobbies into a profession must be a very happy thing. Jiang Han felt envious, envious of those who have their own goals.

Others have things they want to do, things they want to accomplish in this world.

What about herself?

What does she want to do?

Jiang Han followed silently, listening to the witch and the sorceress talk about their ideals.

She has tried very hard to integrate into this world, tried very hard to become a witch, but this effort cannot resolve the fundamental sense of alienation—the madness of witches, the world of witches, the freedom of witches. No matter how hard she tries, there is always a faint barrier between her and this world.

Her younger sister Jiang Zhenling is still sharp-tongued.

Her mother Ye Keshu is still self-centered.

Father... Mother Number Two, Jiang Xuan...

She smiled when she thought of the term "Mother Number Two."

It must be said that the world of witches has its own unique, strange sense of humor, always able to make people laugh when they are feeling down.

Her mood shifted from pessimism to optimism with this burst of joy, and she regained her courage from the loneliness of being in a foreign land.

Jiang Han remembered her previous life, what happened when she transferred to a new school in a new city. At that time, she had this same feeling of being in a foreign land, having to smile at her mother who cared about her every time she went home. Admittedly, this world has family members who care about her, but what about the other world? What about her original world?

The human heart is not impartial!

The same love, the same family, the same feelings for classmates—the weight they carry in one's heart is vastly different.

Her father has affection for her, and her mother has affection for her, but Jiang Han knows that the weight of her mother in her heart is much heavier than that of the rest of her family. This is unfair, yet it is a quintessentially human emotion. If she had to choose between the affection here and the affection over there, she wouldn't even hesitate for long before choosing the original world.

But she must summon her courage.

Summon the courage to face the pain; these pains that cannot kill a person will only make one stronger.

Jiang Han knows that she will definitely be like she was when she made new friends at the new school, summoning her courage to start over in the new world and re-adapt to this world of witches.

She quietly patted her face, determined to pull herself together and face this new world that made her feel alienated.

The graveyard still made her a bit uncomfortable, but she tried to think about it using a witch's mindset:

Perhaps the witches all decide on their epitaphs years in advance, just waiting for that day to come, and then write all sorts of witty and brilliant epitaphs...

Alright! I'll start by thinking of a high-class epitaph for myself!

She set her first small goal.

After wandering around the graveyard again, Cen Jing even bought them both some small gifts.

For Li Li, it was a mushroom that, according to Cen Jing, would paralyze a dragon for a few seconds if it ate it.

As for the one given to Jiang Han, it was an Ai Jun Mushroom, contained within a jet-black glass bottle, said to be an auxiliary ingredient for the Dispel Magic potion.

Although none of these items were particularly precious, they still allowed one to feel the warmth and attentiveness of the witch Cen Jing.

Having finished the day's lessons, Jiang Han returned home, leisurely holding a book and reading for a while, thinking to herself: A substitute teacher is a substitute teacher indeed, leading us to slack off for another whole day. Sigh, Jiang Han, oh Jiang Han, you've resolved to make a fresh start, yet you're still slacking off; you absolutely cannot continue like this tomorrow...

But a few seconds after this thought crossed her mind, she deleted it from her brain.

According to this kind of format, it usually wouldn't succeed and would only end up becoming part of a joke!

Thus, she sat up, took the business card for the Witch House out of her notebook, and fell into deep thought...