Nightmare Forbidden Zone [Infinite]

[I'm very busy, so updates will be very, very slow. I'm revising the story.]

[First published on Jinjiang. Arc One is complete!]

[Next up: the xianxia novel This Mastery Isn't Worth Keeping [Book Transmigration], blurb below.]

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Wen Ling has been unable to feel emotions since childhood.

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When the "Nightmare Dream Syndrome" broke out and countless people were dragged into deadly games in their dreams, her extreme coldness and lack of emotion made Wen Ling the most indomitable player.

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In the dreamscape, skeletons whisper, white flowers bloom in the abyss, the shadows of children blur, statues flee in the night, and demons of sin and desire poke their heads out and reach toward

"You're all too noisy."

The young woman, expressionless and wielding a long blade, cuts down every last ghost.

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Wen Ling, who had always gone it alone, was saddled with a temporary fellow explorer named Nan Ke.

Nan Ke's combat ability was inversely proportional to his looks. Monsters were always chasing him, but his intuition was incredibly sharp, and he could easily detect all the unknowns in every Nightmare Domain. Wen Ling had no choice but to bring this deadweight along with her every day.

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Just as everything was about to reach its end, Wen Ling entered the final Nightmare Domain.

But the Nightmare Emperor was nowhere to be seen atop the throne of white bones.

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Wen Ling looked at Nan Ke thoughtfully.

The young man blinked. "I didn't do anything."

I'd only run away, that's all.

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Wen Ling x Nan Ke

Strange, emotionally numb woman x easygoing, smiling man whose origins are a mystery

Deadpan jokes x someone who acts up whenever he gets the chance

Executor x Explorer

The real powerhouse x the fake weakling

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Weibo: @Jiu Zou. I'll post some of the monster models and sources of inspiration from when I was writing.

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Fantasy novel The Dragon Proudheaven Hero's Power Fantasy Plot Has Completely Fallen Apart is complete.

Modern-day romance Sleep, Sleep, Today's the Day is complete.

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Thanks to my bestie A Mu (@Feng Yihe) for the cover, mwah!

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◆◆Reader's Guide and Content Warnings◆◆

1. One-on-one romance, happy ending. A self-indulgent story, over-the-top and full of nonsense, with a mountain of author-created lore and maybe a tiny bit of inauthentic cosmic horror.

2. The female lead may be strange and aloof. The male lead has a combat rating of only five inside the trials, but he's not just window dressing. See the blurb: the leads are closely paired up throughout.

3. There are supernatural abilities, but this is [not a powerful female lead, not an invincible protagonist story]. The female lead is just a person. She can win or lose a fight, characters can fall ill or die, and she won't ascend to godhood.

4. This isn't a complicated puzzle-solving story. The mystery and deduction elements are very weak. I type whatever comes to mind, the prose is all over the place, there's tons of rambling, and the pacing is poor. I'm an obsessive reviser, terrible at this but still love writing it. It's a first-love story. I'll do my best to finish, but I really struggle, and updates are irregular.

Strongly recommend my bestie's completed Chinese-style cosmic horror novel The Unspeakable Town by @Zi Qiong. Go read it! (screaming at the top of my lungs)

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◆, Blurb for This Mastery Isn't Worth Keeping [Book Transmigration], ◆

Everyone knows that Fairy Fuyao was once the greatest figure in the righteous path.

Her beauty captivated all, and her cultivation was astonishing.

Sadly, in the end, she sacrificed herself for the common people, dying alongside Jiang Jiu, leader of the demonic cultivators, at Mount Ten Thousand Demons, where they fell together into the abyss.

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Afterward, her disciple, Perfected Chenghua, swore to wait for her for the rest of his life, hoping his master would be reincarnated.

This improper relationship between master and disciple should have been condemned, but Perfected Chenghua's devotion was so sincere and moving that, little by little, it became a tale celebrated by all.

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Fairy Fuyao herself, Meng Fuyu, had only one thing to say about it:

"What a bunch of idiots!"

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After Meng Fuyu transmigrated into the first half of a tragic xianxia romance, the idiot System assigned her the task of dutifully serving as the male lead Gu Cheng's master.

She was afraid that, like in the original, she'd oppress the male lead too much and be killed when he rose from being a good-for-nothing with a grudge against her.

But this male lead didn't need a reason to kill people. She'd tried so hard, and he still ambushed her while she was confronting the demon lord. Just like that, she was dead.

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Fortunately, the System had a sliver of conscience left. Before vanishing after the mission failed, it gave Meng Fuyu a hand.

Rescued but stripped of her cultivation, Meng Fuyu couldn't go back. She had no choice but to stare awkwardly at the demon lord, who'd also survived, at the bottom of Mount Ten Thousand Demons.

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Meng Fuyu: O.O

Jiang Jiu:, _

Meng Fuyu: O.o

Jiang Jiu: →_→

Meng Fuyu: ... QAQ

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Gu Cheng has loved his master ever since the day she brought him home.

But Gu Cheng also hates his master, because she doesn't love him, a resentment that goes back to his previous life... and continues to this day.

Gu Cheng thinks that since his master doesn't love him, he'll cripple her cultivation and break her pride, leaving her unable to escape or fly away, forced to depend on him.

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Later, his master returned.

She brought a man with her.

And while she was at it, she brought the entire righteous path to heel.

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"Master," Gu Cheng, badly wounded and sprawled on the ground, pleaded with hope in his eyes. "Kill me."

Even if he couldn't be with his master, he was still her only disciple, her one and only...

The woman turned her head slightly. "Gu Cheng, I don't think I've ever told you this, but whether I take disciples or not doesn't really matter to me. But if the disciple I take is you, "

As she spoke, a fierce streak of sword light severed the contract between them.

"Then I don't need to be your master anymore."

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"So were you actually happy to help the poor, or did you bump into a ghost while walking at night?"

Jiang Jiu's eyes were filled with the "tenderness" reserved for someone looking after an idiot.

"...Don't ask. Let's just say I'm a good actor and I was having fun."

Meng Fuyu smiled sweetly, while inwardly pulverizing the long-dead, busted System another eight hundred times.

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Meng Fuyu x Jiang Jiu

Fairy Fuyao x Abyssal Demon Lord

Theme: Between the unreal and the real, staying true to your principles and your original purpose is the key to success.