Synopsis:
Yan Zimo transmigrates into an unfinished urban Lovecraftian cultivation novel, becoming a prodigy skilled at drawing talismans.
The original owner wielded talismans with black backgrounds and red patterns, using them to suppress evil spirits. He was immensely popular and had countless fans among the book's readers.
But the moment Yan Zimo takes over this body, his dreams shatter.
Word around the village is that the once-renowned prodigy offended some great power and was already dead when he was sent back home.
Yan Zimo is cold, hungry, and in constant pain. He hasn't even inherited all of the original owner's memories.
Fine. Yan Zimo consoles himself: With the plot he knows, he can surely carve out his own path to greatness in this strange world, reach the summit, and become a legendary hero for the ages.
Talismans turn into tentacles, spells come with whispers, and cultivation means madness. Cultivation? No, this is survival.
"Senior Brother, I've told you, I transmigrated into a book. We should go cozy up to the protagonist," Yan Zimo scolds his freeloading senior brother.
"Junior Brother, absolutely not. We're just nobodies. Wouldn't it be better to study diligently?" His senior brother tries to soothe his riled-up junior.
"There are countless paths in this world, Junior Brother. You're still too young. Just come beg for food with Senior Brother and Master." His cheap senior brother ties him up with a nylon rope, tosses him into the air, then carries him off to distant horizons.
"Xiao Qiyu, hurry up and let me go! Other people transmigrate into books and get to cling to the protagonist in feel-good stories. I get tied up by my senior brother and dragged away from the protagonist group. How is that reasonable?"
His senior brother calmly kisses his forehead. "Junior Brother, be quiet."
The soft touch leaves straight Yan Zimo petrified.
No one told him that the more he cultivated, the more sinister this world became. He nearly strayed onto the wrong path, and even Master and Senior Brother weren't human.
"You've been found out." Xiao Qiyu speaks softly, his usual gentle smile gone. He has prepared a coffin of darkwood for Yan Zimo, assembled entirely with mortise-and-tenon joints and no nails, fitted so tightly that it can never be opened from the inside.
[1] Characters: Yan Zimo, who only wants to cling to the original protagonist and survive, versus Xiao Qiyu, his seemingly apathetic senior brother who just wants to coast through life, but is secretly a lovesick, inhuman maniac.
Theme: Study hard and improve every day.
