People in the Imperial Music Bureau: The Storytelling Demon Child Nezha

"Ten years ago, you fell off a cliff and lost your memory." Zhao Kaishan pointed to the star ring on his left hand. "This ring is the Imperial City Guard's most prized possession; it can connect to... another world..."

Before the words were finished, the man in gray burst through the window, his chain wrapped around Li Qiye's neck: "He must complete the sacrifice! The chaos of the Great Feng should have been purified long ago—"

The edges of the fragments were as sharp as blades, cutting a fine line in the palm of the hand. The moment blood dripped down, the mirror suddenly reflected another scene—Su Yuqing's vines were not penetrating the bluestone slab, but some kind of semi-transparent barrier. Beyond the barrier was rolling black mist, and the outline of a huge chain could be vaguely seen in the mist.

"Wake up! You're trapped in your own storybook!" Su Yuqing's voice had a metallic buzzing quality, as if it came from the deepest part of a well. 0.4

Her vines suddenly transformed into the tip of a pen, writing a line of distorted words on the mirror: Where the cause-and-effect line breaks, lies the exit.

The gray-clad man's chains were already wrapped around Li Qiye's neck, and the smell of rust mixed with the stench of blood filled his nostrils.

Zhao Kaishan's sword, "Zhenxie," was half-drawn from its sheath, and the blade reflected the writhing black shadow behind the gray-clad man—it was not an ordinary cloak, but a living creature woven from countless tiny chains.

Chapter 283 Vines Transform into Bridges

"Ten years ago, when you fell off the cliff, you were clutching half of the Abyss Mirror in your hand." Zhao Kaishan's voice was steady, and the runes on the hilt of his sword lit up. "The Star Ring can connect to the 'Book World,' and you've been using storybooks to mend the causal rifts in reality."

The gray-clad man suddenly let out a shrill, inhuman scream, as the barbs on the chains pierced Li Qiye's skin: "His memories must be sealed away forever! Dafeng City cannot be allowed to be corrupted by the power of 'over there' any longer—"

Before he could finish speaking, the fragments of the bronze mirror in Li Qiye's arms burst forth with a blinding light. 07

The fragments automatically pieced together to form a complete mirror, and Su Yuqing's vines transformed into a bridge, pulling him into the mirror world.

In his last glance, he saw Zhao Kaishan in reality raise his knife to strike the man in gray, and when the man in gray turned his head, the black flame tattoo on the corner of his left eye had spread to half of his face.

When Li Qiye opened his eyes again, he was standing at the edge of the Eternal Night Forest. The moonlight was as usual, but the air was filled with the smell of undried ink.

The fallen leaves beneath my feet are yellowed pages, with tiny characters hidden among the veins: Chapter Thirty-Seven: Shi Hao's Ancient Bronze Mirror.

"Welcome back, Shadow of the First Priest." A familiar, hoarse voice came from the shadows of the trees, and the Witch God appeared, leaning on broken chains—but his chest was no longer empty; instead, it contained a core of light that was healing. "Now, are you a character in a storybook, or the one who has come to correct cause and effect?"

Li Qiye subconsciously touched his palm, and the wound in reality was transforming into the patterns on the star ring in the mirror world.

He noticed a transparent barrier at the edge of the forest behind the Witch God. Beyond the barrier were the streets of Dafeng City, where pedestrians moved mechanically like shadow puppets, and each passerby had a hair-thin crack between their eyebrows.

“This is the space between the ‘world of books’ and reality.” The Witch God kicked aside the fallen leaves and pages at his feet, revealing the dense marks of revisions underneath. “Every time you write a story, you are stitching up the cracks in reality. But ten years ago, you fell off a cliff, which caused the storybook ‘Perfect World’ to be missing its thirty-seventh chapter, and the crack can no longer be covered up.”

Su Yuqing's vines suddenly sprouted from the ground and pulled Li Qiye to the front of the barrier.

He saw himself lying on the floor of Tingfeng Tower, with the gray-clad man kneeling beside him, a chain piercing his chest, while Zhao Kaishan's knife-wielding posture froze in mid-air, like a shadow puppet whose pause button had been pressed.

“Your consciousness is trapped in the Book World, but your body is in the real world.” Su Yuqing’s vines wrapped around his wrist, and runes of the Chaos Codex appeared in the golden-red light. “The words that the Witch God didn’t finish saying back then were—the Abyss King has already possessed the ‘Narrator’.”

The Witch God sneered: "That's right. The one who created the character 'Li Qiye' is the true Abyss King. He imprisoned you with storybooks and used the 'Chosen One' script to deplete your power until you became his puppet."

Li Qiye felt a wave of dizziness, and countless fragments flashed through his mind: his master's dying words, "The Star Ring must never leave your body," the words that flowed automatically from the tip of his pen when he first wrote "Perfect World," and the memories that mysteriously disappeared in reality after each revision of the manuscript.

He looked down at the star ring, and the ring face suddenly cracked open, revealing an internal gear-like structure—a sophisticated sealing device.

"Do you see that?" The Wizard God raised his hand, and a gear identical to the Star Ring appeared in his palm. "We are both created characters. The only difference is that I chose to be the needle that mends the cracks, while you almost became the knife that pierced the world."

Chapter 284 Disrupting Narrative Logic

In the distance came the rustling sound of pages turning, and the entire forest began to twist into spiral-shaped text.

Su Yuqing's vines were suddenly pulled into the sky by an invisible force. She looked at Li Qiye in horror: "He's here! The Abyss King is using the 'main storyline' to reclaim us!"

In the midst of a fierce wind, a giant ink bottle fell from the sky, pouring out black ink that melted the pages of paper wherever it touched, leaving them blank.

Li Qiye recognized it as a pen he often used in real life, with the words "Tingfenglou" engraved on the bottle—but now it was seeping out a dark red liquid, like blood.

“Li Qiye, it’s time to get back to your script.” A deep voice came from the ink bottle, accompanied by the rustling sound of paper rubbing together. “Su Yuqing will be devoured by the Heavenly Evil Bloodline, the Witch God will be completely corrupted, and you will become the hero who saves the world—what a perfect ending.”

The gears of the Star Ring suddenly reversed direction, and Li Qiye felt a force pulling him toward the ink bottle.

The sorcerer suddenly pounced, binding his waist with chains: "Remember the third path you chose in the mirror? Now it's time to use your pen to rewrite this bullshit script!"

Su Yuqing's vines suddenly pierced the ink bottle, and a line of large characters burst forth from the golden-red light: To hell with the main plot! The ink bottle shattered in response, and the blood ink condensed in the air into the shape of a brush, the tip pointing at Li Qiye.

"Take this." The sorcerer shoved the broken chain into his hands. "In the world of books, the pen is a knife, and words are blood. Will you write your own ending, or continue to be a puppet on a string?"

Li Qiye gripped the pen that the chains had transformed into, and the blood ink automatically gathered at the tip. He could feel his fingers in reality unconsciously gripping it, as if the bodies of two worlds were beginning to overlap.

The distant void is closing in, engulfing the edge of the Eternal Night Forest. With each tree that disappears, a lamp in the real world goes out in Dafeng City.

"What should I write?" he asked, his voice echoing both in the literary world and in reality.

"Write the truth." Su Yuqing's vines spread out blank pages at his feet. "Write that light and darkness are one, write that cause and effect need no sealing, write—"

Her words were interrupted by a loud bang. The phantom of the Abyss King emerged from the dark clouds. It was a blurry figure wearing a scholar's robe and holding a paperweight engraved with runes: "You think breaking the fourth wall will give you freedom? Don't forget, even 'resistance' was a setting I gave you."

Suddenly, all the gears of the Star Ring fell off, and Li Qiye felt something surging out of his body—not power, but memories.

He saw himself from ten years ago standing on the edge of a cliff, the Abyss Mirror in his hand reflecting two worlds: one was the myriad lights of Dafeng City, and the other was the eternal night forest of the Book World.

My master's voice rang in my ears: "When you can't tell which side is reality, poke your finger with the tip of your pen—the side that hurts is the real one."

Without hesitation, he plunged the pen tip into his palm. The intense pain of the publishing world and the numbness of reality struck him simultaneously, suddenly bringing him to his senses.

The blood-red ink flowed automatically across the paper, writing the first line: My name is Li Qiye, I am a storyteller, and also a prisoner.

The dark clouds surged violently, and the phantom of the Abyss King (Norma) let out a piercing scream: "You are destroying the narrative logic! The world of books will collapse because of OOC (Out of Character)!"

“Then let it collapse.” Li Qiye wrote the second line. Light and darkness do not need to be balanced, because they are two sides of the same coin.

Before the words were even finished, the barrier of the book world began to crack, and the streets of Dafeng City in reality overlapped with the forest of the book world. Pedestrians and men in black robes appeared in each other's field of vision at the same time, but they did not interfere with each other.

Chapter 285 The Ancient Bronze Mirror Makes its Debut

The Witch God looked at his gradually transparent hand and smiled with relief: "So that's how it is... When two 'truths' coexist, cause and effect no longer need to be sealed." His body turned into points of light and merged into Li Qiye's pen tip, leaving behind a final whisper: "Remember to apologize to the Priest of Light for me."

Su Yuqing's vines wrapped around Li Qiye's wrist, and their blood mingled on the paper as they wrote the last line: The ending of the story is decided by the writer.

The dark clouds vanished with a roar, replaced by the morning sunlight.

Li Qiye found himself lying on the floor of Tingfeng Tower, holding the complete Abyss Mirror in his hand. The mirror reflected the gray-clad man lying at Zhao Kaishan's feet, while Zhao Kaishan was using the Evil-Suppressing Blade to cut open the gray-clad man's sleeve—revealing the same Light Priest Mark as the Witch God.

“You’re finally awake.” Zhao Kaishan handed over a clean cloth. “Ten years ago, you trapped yourself in a storybook to seal the rift. Now… it’s time to see the real Great Feng City.”

Li Qiye got up and saw countless pages floating in the sky above Dafeng City outside the window, each page automatically writing a new story.

He took out a bronze mirror from his pocket. In the mirror, Su Yuqing's vines were winding under the bluestone slabs in the real world, and the tips of them pushed open a stone tablet engraved with "Causal Array Eye".

The star ring suddenly emitted a faint light, and the gears began to turn again, but this time it was not a seal, but a calibration.

"What should we write in the next chapter?" Zhao Kaishan asked.

Li Qiye picked up the manuscript of "Perfect World" from the ground, crossed out the two characters "Shi Hao", and wrote a new title: Li Qiye: Between Reality and the Book World.

As the pen fell, the pages outside the window turned, revealing densely packed small characters on the back—the true history deleted by the Abyss King.

Three days later, Tingfeng Tower was once again packed to capacity.

Li Qiye gripped the gavel formed from the Blade of Severance, looking down at the gray-clad man in a bamboo hat, Zhao Kaishan with an "Evil-Suppressing" pendant, and the mysterious woman gently stroking blood-red vines in the corner. The moment the gavel struck, the words on the manuscript flowed automatically, forming a completely new paragraph:

When the first ray of sunlight pierced through the cracks in the pages of the book, I finally understood that reality and illusion are simply two sides of the same book.

The Abyss King still lurks in a certain chapter, while my pen will become the sword that pierces the fourth wall.

"Ladies and gentlemen," his voice was clearer than ever before, "today we shall begin the first chapter of 'The Two-Faced World': The Awakening of the Author—"

Before she finished speaking, the mysterious woman below the stage raised her head, a golden-red light flashing in her blood-red eyes.

The vines on her fingertips curled around the teacup on the table, carving a line of small characters on the surface: Chapter Thirty-Seven, it's time for the ancient bronze mirror to make its appearance.

Li Qiye smiled knowingly and wrote on the manuscript: Su Yuqing pushed open the window and entered, her hand holding a blood-red vine wrapped around half a bronze fragment, the runes on the fragment perfectly matching the gears of the Star Ring.

Outside the window, the real wind blew through the gaps between the pages of the book, bringing the scent of the distant mountains.

In some unwritten corner, the phantom of the Abyss King clenched his fist, and the paperweight in his hand was quietly cracking for the first time.

Li Qiye's fingertips caressed the fragments of the Abyss Mirror, and the vine patterns on the mirror's surface suddenly began to glow faintly.

A dull tremor emanated from beneath the bluestone slabs, as if something ancient was awakening.

Zhao Kaishan suddenly drew his "Evil-Suppressing" sword. The runes on the sword and the star ring lit up simultaneously, projecting a complex array onto the ground.

Chapter 286 Ink Bottle and Paperweight

"The core of the formation is below Tingfeng Tower!" Zhao Kaishan kicked open the floorboards, revealing a bronze disc covered in dust. The disc was engraved with black and white chain patterns identical to the Mirror of the Abyss. "Ten years ago, when you fell off the cliff, the mirror shattered and you were injured, and the core of the causal formation was also sealed off."

The gray-clad man struggled to his feet, his left cheek completely covered in black flames: "You think breaking the narrative can stop the abyss? Every brick and every book in Dafeng City is the king's tentacle—" He suddenly let out a strange chuckle, his body turning into black mist that seeped into the gaps in the array.

Su Yuqing's voice came from the mirror: "Quickly activate the array eye with the star ring! But remember... don't completely trust what you see."

Li Qiye pressed the star ring into the groove of the array diagram. Amidst the sound of gears turning, the rustling sound of pages turning came from underground.

The fragments of the Abyss Mirror automatically adhered to the edge of the disc, and the mirror suddenly reflected three images: on the left was the ruins of the Eternal Night Forest, in the middle was the bustling streets and alleys of Dafeng City, and on the right was a blank pure white space.

"This is... the past, present, and future of the book world." Zhao Kaishan's voice trembled. "Back then, the first priest forged the Star Ring with his own soul, precisely to exist between three different timelines..."

Before he could finish speaking, countless ink dots suddenly appeared in the pure white space, transforming into the phantom of the Abyss King.

He raised his hand and waved it lightly. The pedestrians in the scene of Dafeng City covered their ears, and black mist seeped from the crack between their brows—that was the backlash from the tampered memories.

Li Qiye felt a headache coming on, and images that didn't belong to him flashed through his mind: the bookshelves of Tingfeng Tower were filled with manuscripts of "Perfect World", each with a different ending, and in each version he died as the "savior".

"Do you see that?" The phantom of the Abyss King reached out and touched Su Yuqing in the real scene. "She is nothing more than a tool of redemption that I tailored for you, just like the Witch God, Zhao Kaishan, and even the entire Dafeng City—all of them are just your foils."

The gears of the Star Ring suddenly accelerated, pulling Li Qiye's consciousness into the triple dimension.

He stood beneath the charred tree, Su Yuqing's vines withered and blackened, entwined around the shattered Four Divine Artifacts.

The witch god's chains were stuck in the ground, and Zhao Kaishan's corpse lay beside him. The sword with the words "Suppress Evil" engraved on his chest was broken in two.

"This is the first time you've tried to break the script's ending." The Abyss King's voice came from the depths of the ruins. "You chose to save Su Yuqing, but this caused the collapse of the book world, and the real-world Great Feng City also fell into eternal night."

0 ······Requesting flowers 0 ····

The pedestrians on the street moved in unison, each holding a copy of "Perfect World" and reciting fixed lines.

Li Qiye saw "himself" standing on the Listening Wind Pavilion, his smile mechanical. When the gavel fell, everyone applauded at the same time—like a puppet on a string.

...... .... 0

"This is the ending you accept from the script." The phantom of the king appeared behind "Li Qiye the Puppet Master". "You will become a respected storyteller, but you will never know that your heart has long been replaced with a mechanical gear."

There was nothing there except for the floating ink bottle and paperweight.

Li Qiye touched the paperweight, and a line of small characters suddenly appeared on it: To the dear narrator, thank you for infusing my work with soul.

“This is the starting point of the truth.” Su Yuqing’s vines sprouted from the pure white, and golden-red light illuminated the back of the paperweight, where the same gear pattern as the Star Ring was engraved. “The Abyss King is none other than... another you.”

Li Qiye suddenly stepped back, and another version of himself appeared in the reflection of the paperweight—wearing a scholar's robe, holding a paperweight, with a black flame-shaped birthmark at the corner of his left eye.

Chapter 287 Shouldering This Responsibility

“That’s right, I am your projection in the world of books, responsible for maintaining the narrative logic.” Mirror image Li Qiye raised his hand, and the paperweight transformed into the scepter of the Abyss King. “And you are nothing more than a puppet I created to experience the story.”

In reality, Li Qiye felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw the gears of the Star Ring peeling off, revealing a birthmark underneath that was identical to the one in the mirror image.

Zhao Kaishan's voice drifted from afar: "The first priest once said that the writer and the character '940' were one, until they developed self-awareness..."

Su Yuqing's vines suddenly pierced through the chest of the mirror image. In the golden-red light, the mark of the Light Priest, identical to that of the Witch God, was revealed beneath the mirror image's robe: "You're lying! The soul of the Light Priest has split in two. One half is the writer who creates the story, and the other half is the character who rebels against fate—and Li Qiye is the fusion of the two!"

Mirror Image Li Qiye roared, and his scepter transformed into a black dragon as he pounced.

Li Qiye instinctively raised the fragment of the Abyss Mirror. The image of himself as a storyteller holding a gavel was reflected in the mirror, overlapping with the image of a warrior holding chains.

“I see…” he murmured. “I am both the created character and the unawakened writer.”

The gears on the star ring suddenly reassembled, forming a complete yin-yang symbol in his palm.

Li Qiye simultaneously grasped the gavel and the chain. The two forces collided within his body, but no longer clashed—instead, they merged like light and darkness.

“The third option,” he said, looking at the mirror, “is not to destroy you, but to accept you.”

The ink dragon vanished the instant it touched the yin-yang symbol, and the mirrored Li Qiye's body began to become transparent. He retreated in terror: "You will destroy the entire book world! Without a narrator, a story has no meaning—"

"The meaning of a story is never defined by any one person." Li Qiye simultaneously shoved the gavel and chain into the paperweight, "but by every living character, every real moment."

The moment the paperweight shattered, the three dimensions of time and space collapsed with a deafening roar.

Li Qiye opened his eyes and found himself still standing by the array eye below Tingfeng Tower. Zhao Kaishan was using the "Evil Suppressing" sword to cut through the last wisp of black mist, while Su Yuqing's vines had completely materialized, wrapping around her as she walked out of the mirror.

“You’ve succeeded.” A smile played in her blood-red eyes as she held the complete Mirror of the Abyss in her hand. “When the writer and the character become one, the world of books no longer needs a narrator….”

Li Qiye looked out the window. Golden pages floated in the sky above Dafeng City, each automatically writing a new story.