Updates
In order of when it landed. Use the chips to narrow.
Chapter 112 - If You Want to Do It, Just Do It
The moon hung bright with few stars visible. Under the night sky, the bells had already struck the hour of the Rat. Throughout Jiangning City, myriad lights glowed like the city's skeleton and framework. Speeding carriages and lantern-beari
Episode 7: The Fire Ritual
Episode 7: The Fire Ritual Even now, I still thought about it sometimes. "Onee-sama. I think... I might have fallen in love with someone for the first time." When my sister said that to me — was I able to smile? "Aimée-senpai. I'm plann
Chapter 106 - Uninvited Guest
Ma En ate with full attention, one large mouthful after another, and listened to the customers beside him talk. These were not politicians, not scientists, not public intellectuals — they were simply people with time on their hands, venting
Chapter 105 - Walking Among Humans
Kamishima Kousuke. Gone. Matsuzaemon. Gone. Professor Mitarai. Gone. Room 3 neighbor friend. Gone. They were different in every way — in status, in standing, in capability, in knowledge. Every difference imaginable separated them. And yet
Chapter 111 - Adding to the Chaos
"Who exactly is this person..." "I've never seen her before..." "A newcomer?" After the song Water Melody Prelude ended, whispered conversations filled the air. If anyone else had sung this song, the evaluation would likely have been eit
Record.1 - The Final Seal
"Humaaan, humaaan, are you done wiping the windoooows?" "Almost. Just a little more...!" Calling back to the voice summoning him, Ren dipped the rag in his hand into the water. The water in the bucket had been drawn from an Underworld st
Chapter 110 - Lingering Sound (Part 2)
After parting ways with Yuan Jin'er and returning to the second floor, the Su family was still discussing how they could get Lü Xia to choose their side. Although they understood the Xue family probably had their own bargaining chips, Su We
Chapter 104 - Good Luck, Ma En
Ma En switched off the television, moved to the desk, and reviewed the day's lesson plans. He'd resumed teaching at the Academy of Peaceful Learning the day after the earthquake. Despite the shared concern between him and Katsura-sensei th
Chapter 109 - Lingering Sound (Part 1)
Sneaking, sneaking. Yuan Jin'er crept along the building's long corridor¹, her eyes searching the opposite doorway for her target. When she spotted the figure heading downstairs, she broke into a short run. After a few passing girls gave h
Illustrations
Prologue - His Memory
The distant, distant past. Too many ages to survive in written record, too many years for the spoken word to carry-- Those who remembered his footsteps were not human. They were the dragon, the angel, and the demons who had fought at his
Episode 6: The Land of Bonfires
Episode 6: The Land of Bonfires When I—Léa Cœur de Lumière—opened my eyes, I found myself in the royal palace's infirmary. _(Huh?)_ A blanket had been tucked snugly up to my shoulders, and I was lying in the bed where Kotton was supposed
Chapter 102 - The Cogwheel Turns
Classes, study, breaks, study. Alongside the problem-solving came memorization — no path forward except to fill his mind with what he could understand and what he couldn't. This was painful. Ma En knew exactly how painful it was. Before h
Chapter 108 - Smile
Nie Yunzhu and Yuan Jin'er had indeed come to sell preserved eggs. Only a few days had passed since Yuan Jin'er jumped into the water and left Golden Wind Tower, but rumors about her mysterious disappearance were still spreading wildly out
Epilogue - Will You Come With Me
A night that glowed blue. The crimson currents that had blanketed the sky of the Underworld sank below the horizon, and cold blue winds blew in from the permafrost to the north. Gazing down at the rocks below as they frosted over before h
Chapter 101 - Ma En's Cogwheel
This was a dream. Most of the time, dreams are fragments of memory and sensation rewoven — spreading from one point to another, points that may have seemed unrelated in waking life, but when consciousness descends into the deep sea, these
Chapter 107 - Chance Encounter at Smoke and Emerald Tower
As daylight faded, Jiangning City came alive. Painted boats and pleasure vessels lit up one after another, brothels glowing with lantern light along the riverbank. The nightlife here naturally offered more than just visiting pleasure quarte
Chapter 100 - Warm Hues
Ma En could sense clear differences between his present self and his past self — one of them lay in how he approached things. His past self would probably have moved to obtain information on Professor Mitarai through his own means. His pres
Chapter 105 - Petty
The water in a mere bathtub could hardly drown anyone. Even in a moment of panic, only a limited amount would be swallowed. After the initial fluster passed, Su Tan'er finally came to her senses, embarrassment and the desire to create dista
Episode 5: A Story of the Night
Episode 5: A Story of the Night "Gyaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" We were running for our lives. "RYSHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!" What echoed from behind us was a gigantic ostrich-like creature with dozens of snake heads. It kicked at the ground with its
Chapter 104 - The Bathroom
In the courtyard, Su Tan'er's expression appeared somewhat dazed. She had always addressed Ning Yi as "Husband,"¹ but this time when she called him "My Lord Husband,"² her voice was soft, carrying a warmth that seemed to seep into one's hea
Chapter 99 - Spider's Web
Ma En had grown a little sensitive to knocking — though he couldn't have said exactly when that had started, or where it came from. The feeling was complicated, a particular kind of tension: as if opening the door would let something inhuma
Interval
It was a space utterly divorced from everything in the world. A sealed world with no door to reach it, no exit to leave it. The noise of the city, the presence of other people--all of it was absent. No, absent was the wrong word. Severed w
Chapter 103 - Su Tan'er's Day (Part 2)
The clatter of carts and horses echoed from the streets beyond. In the alley behind the warehouse, dappled tree shadows fell across two figures sitting there, each cradling a bowl of cold jelly¹ and eating slowly. "I have to visit and mana
Chapter 98 - The Program
Ma En slid the VHS tape into the player and adjusted the TV to the right input channel. He expected the program to start immediately. Instead, the screen filled with static snow for several seconds, then stuttered through a few seconds of v
Chapter 102 - Su Tan'er's Day (Part 1)
The noon heat made the Qinhuai River dock streets even noisier than usual. In this wharf district packed with shops, cargo moved constantly between boats and warehouses. Behind the modest Su Cloth Merchants storefront sat their massive ware
Record.6 - Heroes Living in the Present
1 Discant's self-suggestion. It was no mere psychological effect -- it was a power that manifested invincible protection in the real world. Under the protection that "no enemy can defeat the Spirit Beast Discant," all interference -- whe
Episode 4: The Fire Trial
Episode 4: The Fire Trial There was a man. Coughing up clots of blood, he moved through a dusty warehouse, searching for something. The vivid skull mask he wore narrowed his field of vision. He kept walking, desperately scanning his surrou
Chapter 101 - Confucianism
Li Pin was still in the room, probably digesting those ideas, maybe even taking notes. That was fine. Once he'd said certain things, he didn't care if Li Pin pondered them later—those would become Li Pin's own thoughts and path. Some ideas
Chapter 96 - Ma En's Analysis
Ma En stopped at the first intersection and adjusted the deep red hat. He'd been conscious of it throughout — whether this meeting with Asuka would attract the enemy's attention. The monsters' surveillance capacity was formidable. His analy
Record.5 - The Unscathed Beast
Beings clad in radiant garments, their translucent bodies permeable to light. No — could those bodies truly be called "flesh" at all? No matter how hard he stared at the presence hovering above, he couldn't be sure. A substance as faint a
Chapter 100 - The Current Situation (Part 3)
"If we really let go—*bang*—the Wu Dynasty, this whole country... would all be gone." In the room, Ning Yi made a "bang" gesture with his hand. Li Pin frowned: "How could it come to that?" Ning Yi was silent for a moment: "Brother Li, hav
Chapter 95 - Duty Calls
The last time Ma En had seen Asuka, she'd still been helping out at her family's ramen shop. He'd heard she wanted to become a manga artist and was working continuously on her submissions — he didn't know how far she'd gotten. Japan's manga
Episode 3: To the Most Exemplary Academy
Episode 3: To the Most Exemplary Academy _Click, click, click, click. Click, click, click, click._ _(What... is that sound...?)_ "Hehe. Look at that face. He's drooling." "H-hey now! Everyone, move aside!" Voices reached me through the
Chapter 94 - Burning Candlelight
Seeing past-self's hidden message had shaken something loose in him — a slight tremor. He sat quietly for a while, then re-read all the pages that had contained hidden content, committed their messages to memory, tore the pages away, and he
Chapter 99 - The Current Situation (Part 2)
Time had actually been gradually transitioning out of the dog days of summer, but the weather still hadn't shed its scorching heat. In this study at Yushan Academy, Li Pin poured two cups of tea and handed one to Ning Yi. "When it comes to
Chapter 93 - Secret Message
More and more situations were converging in one place. Viewed individually, none of them was particularly strange — they were the kind of ordinary occurrences that happen every moment in the world, natural phenomena, social behaviors; even
Chapter 98 - The Current Situation (Part 1)
Nie Yunzhu's recent meetings with Old Qin by the river weren't actually accidental. Though Ning Yi had suggested she accept Old Qin as her adoptive father and she wasn't opposed to it, Nie Yunzhu was, by nature, an independent woman with he
Interval
"Sorry about this. Making you play tour guide." "It's the holy maiden's duty. ...Or so I'd like to say, but even I've been too busy with official business to visit, so this is a good excuse." The ancient temple of Canaan. Likely the olde
Chapter 97 - History and Libertine
The rain was falling as the carriage left the nearby streets. Xi Junyu lifted the curtain to look back at the Su family's grand estate in the rainy night. All he could see were probably just the two lanterns still glowing beneath the side g
Chapter 92 - Fangs Beginning to Show
The news insert had run for under thirty seconds. In that brief window, Matsuzaemon demonstrated an unusual intensity — but to Ma En's ear, what he said was, exactly as Katsura had described, thoroughly conventional. The content amounted to
Record.4 - Whispers in the Night
A night glowing blue. The Hellfire currents that had blanketed the Underworld's sky sank toward the southern horizon, and in their place, an eerily cold blue current blew in from the north. As the flame-loving beasts retreated to the scor
Episode 2: In London, Brick Lane
Episode 2: In London, Brick Lane There was no direct route from Azure Academy to Chaos Institute. As a result, I had to transit through Changi International Airport in Singapore before heading to Heathrow Airport in London. _(Whoa! This p
Chapter 91 - Matsuzaemon
He was careful not to rush to conclusions. Among all the possibilities he could account for, the likelihood that the mysterious person was Kamishima Kousuke was highest — and that led easily to more questions in sequence. Red Party Interna
Chapter 90 - Eavesdropping
Ma En straightened up and looked toward where the guns had fallen. None had slid far, but one had come to rest near the feet of the fat man and the thin man — both of whom reached toward it on instinct, then made the mistake of glancing at
Chapter 95 - Warning (Part 1)
"The matter with Flourishing Fortune House is settled. I've reached an agreement with Manager Yu—we can deliver goods before the sixth day of the tenth month. After that, there shouldn't be any problems. I have an idea..." In the Su family
