What Was Heaven's Will?

Qiu Wuji discovered that having someone who understood her better than she understood herself did have its benefits.

In theory, that made him a kindred spirit... unfortunately, he was no true kindred spirit. The reason he knew her so well was far too frustrating.

But there was no denying that her loneliness as a stranger in a strange land had faded to almost nothing.

Because she had someone familiar beside her... the most familiar stranger.

She let out a soft breath and said quietly, "Since I'm here, of course I want to know."

Chu Ge smiled. "Let's go. Before I help you experience all that, keep me company over a meal."

Honestly, although the gap in fighting ability between Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji was absurdly vast, and he risked getting beaten up or even stabbed at any moment, mentally, he actually stood on higher ground.

Ultimately, she was a woman he had "created."

He felt a strong sense of purpose in guiding this woman through the world, believing it was his responsibility.

With that mindset, he felt little of the fear or hesitation their difference in strength ought to inspire when he looked at Qiu Wuji. Instead, he was genuinely rather excited to act as a father and teacher.

What would it feel like to guide a woman who had stepped out of a book through the modern world?

He didn't know... but it was fascinating.

Character customization plus a life simulator, in the flesh.

Chu Ge casually stopped at a roadside noodle shop and ordered a bowl of beef noodles, then turned to Qiu Wuji. "Want some?"

Qiu Wuji hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Two bowls, both with an egg."

Chu Ge found a table and sat down with Qiu Wuji, asking in some puzzlement, "You really need to eat? How many years has it been since you stopped needing food?"

Qiu Wuji's current state lay outside Chu Ge's predictions. By rights, she should have been a wandering soul, yet she had a physical body, complete with a goddamn fragrance. It was as though she had forcibly condensed a flesh-and-blood body, and her strength was far below what she displayed in the book.

Now she even needed to eat.

Qiu Wuji said, "Your world is rather strange. A pure soul has difficulty remaining here, so I forcibly condensed a physical body. This isn't my original body, nor was it fashioned from any heavenly treasures. It was weak to begin with. At present, its strength is at most at the Qi Refining Stage. I can only cast a few minor spells."

Chu Ge nodded. That was still consistent with his setting.

Qiu Wuji's world was only a "mortal realm" to begin with, where everyone still sought ascension to a higher realm. Its power level wasn't particularly high, roughly comparable to the Chinese Paladin series and still far from destroying heaven and earth. Although Qiu Wuji stood at the pinnacle of her world, after splitting off a portion of her soul to cross worlds and having to condense her own body, she clearly couldn't retain much strength. She wasn't one of those mighty beings whose Divine Descent could manifest anywhere across the Myriad Heavens.

Put that way, she merely had greater combat strength than ordinary people. In practice, most immortal wonders were beyond her...

Even at her original strength, she would probably find it hard to feel superior in this world-ordinary people could reach the moon, while she couldn't.

Thinking of it that way, why did Qiu Wuji, who was clearly a female tyrannosaurus, now look like a stray cat? Just look at the confusion in her eyes as she tried so hard to appear composed... tsk.

Qiu Wuji had no idea what Chu Ge was thinking. She glanced warily around. The other diners were all giving her strange looks, so she lowered her voice and asked, "Didn't you say no one would care about my clothes? What about now?"

Chu Ge came back to himself and pointed with amusement at his short-sleeved T-shirt, then at Qiu Wuji's heavy enchanted robes. "It's summer. Do you think everyone's immune to heat and cold?"

Qiu Wuji: "..."

"Didn't I tell you not to wear those robes? Ignore Father God's advice, and-"

Qiu Wuji gritted her teeth. "Shut up!"

The owner brought their noodles over just then, also studying Qiu Wuji with a strange expression and a touch of regret in his eyes. Such a pretty girl. Too bad she wasn't right in the head...

Chu Ge coughed. "Anime stuff. You know."

The owner gave him an understanding look, shook his head, and walked away.

Before Qiu Wuji could explode, Chu Ge lowered his head to eat. "Come to think of it, it's been a long time since you really savored an ordinary meal, hasn't it?"

That single sentence broke through Qiu Wuji's defenses.

Qiu Wuji ate through gritted teeth, privately wondering whether her most urgent task should be to change her way of thinking so this guy would stop knowing every thought in her head. It was far too embarrassing.

But...

These noodles are so delicious.

How could the mortal world have food this good? Shouldn't this be the work of immortals?

Uh, what immortal would make beef noodles?

Qiu Wuji pondered somewhat distractedly and asked, "In our world, material goods are scarce. Common people go year after year without tasting meat or even a trace of fat. All living beings suffer... here, meat is clearly available everywhere. Why did you write it that way?"

Chu Ge said, "Because that's real. This world was like that in ancient times, too. It's just that we now live in an age of prosperity, the greatest in all history-the sort you wouldn't trade even for the Immortal Realm."

Qiu Wuji fell silent, her thoughts unknown.

Chu Ge said evenly, "You don't need to treat that part as something I invented. Just regard it as fact. Actually, I don't want you to think of your entire world as false, either-you are real, and so is your world. The Qiu Wuji in my heart should have that conviction." Qiu Wuji narrowed her eyes at him. "Why don't you crush my spirit? Wouldn't that benefit you more? Why are you encouraging me instead?"

Chu Ge spoke indistinctly around his noodles. "Because that wouldn't be my Qiu Wuji."

Qiu Wuji watched him for a long while, then lowered her head to eat without another word.

Chu Ge finished his noodles and wiped his mouth contentedly. "Although I'd love to show you more of the world outside, unfortunately, we have to go home first."

Qiu Wuji asked, "Why?"

"I've already missed a day's updates, and I haven't even started revising the outline I wanted to change." Chu Ge scanned the code to pay and sighed. "Do you think I write books just to fantasize about you...? First and foremost, it's how I put food on the table."

Qiu Wuji watched his method of payment in bewilderment, wanting to speak but holding back.

Even cultivators can't transfer spirit stones like that... are you sure the shopkeeper can receive your money?

Her confusion over the payment method made Qiu Wuji forget to debate the profound question of "Why do you have to write about me to earn your living?" In fact, only after they returned to Chu Ge's rented apartment did she remember that he had called it "going home," and she hadn't offered a single objection.

She had once thought Chu Ge was the muddleheaded one. Now it seemed she was.

With her acting so befuddled, where was the bearing of someone who dominated an entire world?

But the biggest problem was that she really did seem to have to go home with him. He was the only person she knew. Although she felt she could rob the rich to help the poor and get through the initial period, staying beside Chu Ge was clearly the easiest way to learn about this world quickly.

Especially since... he really didn't seem to mean her any harm.

"Because that wouldn't be my Qiu Wuji." Chu Ge's words flashed through her mind. Qiu Wuji knew there had been nothing lecherous in his meaning when he said that.

He meant the Qiu Wuji he had written.

"Here..." Chu Ge sat at his computer, pointing at the outline on the screen. "This is the next part of the plot. You hear that there may be an Azure Dragon Shedding Scale in the Ten Thousand Snake Cavern, ten thousand li to the southwest. It would help you set up the Four Symbols Formation, so you lead a group there. Deep inside the cavern, you encounter the Poison-Hand Demon Lord and fight him at the Fallen Dragon Pool. You originally have the upper hand, but he ambushes you with a sinister magical treasure. You fall into the pool and are afflicted with Strange Serpent Poison."

Qiu Wuji said stiffly, "How could the Poison-Hand Demon Lord possibly be a match for me?"

"Exactly. That attitude."

"..."

"Your sect's disciples are in the outer parts of the cavern, too. Chu Tiange... well, naturally, the protagonist's luck is different from everyone else's. By sheer accident, he obtains a Snake Saliva Fruit, which happens to be the antidote you need."

"Antidote?" Qiu Wuji grew wary. "Are you going to write some hackneyed storyteller's tale where I'm drugged with an aphrodisiac?"

"Holy shit, I never wrote that your world had stories like that. Is this the world filling in its own cultural background?"

Qiu Wuji snapped, "Get to the point!"

"You already know that's a tired cliché. Why would I write it that way? Using worn-out tropes these days is just asking for a flop. It's only about Chu Tiange earning credit and gaining more of your regard. My style has always been to build things up step by step. The real point of this plot is the protagonist's chance encounter. He gains plenty himself, and helping you is merely incidental. After all, the gap between you is absurdly large. It's still far too early."

Qiu Wuji gritted her teeth. "You have a perfectly good chance encounter, yet you insist on dragging romance into it. You make money writing this sort of thing?"

"Do you think just anyone can make romance entertaining? That takes skill! All right, stop looking at me like that. I already said I'd revise the outline... huh, wait..." Chu Ge's expression slowly turned strange. "Actually, now that you've seen the plot, the Poison-Hand Demon Lord shouldn't be able to ambush you... but if I still write it this way, will you fall for it anyway?"

Qiu Wuji froze for a moment, her expression turning strange as well.

Did this count as foreseeing the future?

If she foresaw the future and he didn't change the plot, would she still have to fall for the ambush?

Was heaven's will inescapable?

Chu Ge hesitated, then asked tentatively, "Should we try leaving it unchanged? Can you accept being poisoned? It might be a little unpleasant."

"Injury and poison are nothing..." Qiu Wuji hesitated as well. "I want to try, too... but none of that touching and physical contact."

"Of course," Chu Ge said readily. "I'll write that you find the antidote yourself at the bottom of the pool. Because as of yesterday, there's no longer anything between you and Chu Tiange."

Qiu Wuji pressed her lips together and asked tentatively, "You didn't seem willing to revise it before."

As Chu Ge revised the manuscript and deleted scenes, he answered casually, "This is your life. No one has the right to control it, whether it's me or heaven. This test of ours is precisely to ask... what is heaven's will?"

Thanks

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(End of chapter)

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