Chapter 9: Professional Online Writer

Mu Tong was unaware that the seeds of disaster had already been sown. She entered the alchemy room and began crafting pills.

A month later, stepping out of the artifact workshop, Mu Tong instinctively stretched her arms. This habit was something she had developed on Earth and had continued to keep unconsciously. Stretching every now and then was quite comforting.

During that month, she produced a great many talismans. All the ones she could make, she made abundantly—until she had used up all the materials for talisman crafting.

She also refined numerous pills, crafted magical tools and equipment, and made several formation arrays and flags. When needed, she could simply place these formation arrays or flags at the formation's core point to activate them.

Additionally, she created various everyday items. For example, tents for camping were made from specially treated demon beast hides, engraved with formations that provided defense, concealed scent and aura, or even invisibility. Different items bore different formations tailored to their purposes.

Mu Tong was very satisfied with the items she had produced this time. If she hadn’t run out of materials, she would have remained secluded for several more days before emerging. There were still four days left before she returned to Earth.

Stretching once more, Mu Tong looked at the now emptier storage compartments and smiled. Soon, she thought, she would go to the market to buy more materials.

Entering the kitchen, Mu Tong began preparing delicacies. Since she did not plan to open a shop, she set up a formation to block the aroma, preventing the delicious smells from drifting out and attracting a crowd of immortals.

She worked tirelessly for a full day and night, unable to stop until more than half of the ingredients were used up. Truly, cooking was a form of enjoyment.

Originally planning to go shopping soon, Mu Tong finally stepped outside.

Out of habit, she headed to Mu’s General Store and walked inside. “Senior, do you have any new biographies, travelogues, or entertaining reads?”

Mu’s General Store didn’t just sell sundries; it also sold a wide variety of books the owner had collected during travels—books about mortals, immortals, and even deities; from magical civilizations, technological civilizations, cultivation civilizations, and even some civilizations beyond imagination, such as the Insectoid civilization.

In short, there was only the unimaginable, never a book missing from Mu’s General Store. Of course, these books were not about mystical arts or alchemy and artifact forging techniques, but rather miscellaneous books unrelated to cultivation.

Because these were miscellaneous books, they were not very valuable. In the entire Hidden Immortal Town, Mu Tong was the only person willing to spend money on such books.

Why did Mu Tong buy these? It was because, back on Earth, she made a living from these very kinds of books.

She was a professional online novelist with a name that resonated far and wide. Known for her rich imagination, excellent prose, strong immersion, captivating plots, and rapid updates, every novel she published attracted enthusiastic fans and became a legend in the online literature world, earning her a considerable income.

In truth, where did she get so much inspiration? The novels she published were all based on these miscellaneous books, combined with Earth’s reality, revised and edited before publication. She was more of a successful adapter than an original creator. Some works were even copied verbatim.

From Mu Tong’s perspective, writing online novels was merely one of her means of survival. Compared to other survival methods, this was far easier. After all, no one had the power to roam the entire universe and expose her for plagiarizing alien novels.

“Of course, we have some,” Mu, the store owner, said with a genuine smile upon seeing Mu Tong. “You’re the only discerning cultivator in the whole town! All these books I painstakingly collect finally find someone who appreciates them.”

He pulled out a large pile of books made from various materials and said generously, “Pick whatever you like, half price plus a gift!”

“Then I won’t be polite,” Mu Tong replied, lowering her head to carefully select books. Mu was truly kind-hearted. When he encountered books he couldn’t understand—mainly due to unfamiliar languages—some of which were 3D, 4D, or even 5D magical books or advanced technology tomes, he would hurriedly share the knowledge by pressing a finger to Mu Tong’s forehead, transmitting all related language and textual information directly into her mind.

Thus, by Earth’s standards, Mu Tong was an unqualified scholar fluent in numerous alien languages.

Mu Tong often marveled that, fortunately, she was a cultivator. Her divine sense was weak in Hidden Immortal Town, but it was more than enough to absorb such vast amounts of linguistic and textual knowledge. If this were an ordinary mortal, their brain would have surely exploded from the overload.

After careful selection, Mu Tong gathered a large collection of books: biographies, travelogues, flora and fauna guides, various novels, and even some suspected alien gossip...

She purchased alien flora and fauna guides specifically to incorporate appropriate plants and creatures into her novels. If she had to invent every species herself, she simply wouldn’t have the time.

“Oh, senior, I’ll also need these materials,” Mu Tong said after finishing her book selection, handing Mu a list detailing the names and quantities of raw materials she required.

Mu’s General Store offered fair prices, especially for Mu Tong, who always received a generous discount.

“Here you go,” Mu said, placing all the items onto Mu Tong’s storage pouch. “Are you leaving again? Or will you come back in a month?”

Mu Tong nodded. “I’m leaving in two days, but I’ll definitely be back in a month.”

Every time she returned to Earth, the timing corresponded to when she left. But whenever she arrived in Hidden Immortal Town, it was always after spending a month in both places. She didn’t understand the exact ratio of time flow between the two worlds. No matter how the flow of time compared, it was simply unscientific!

Then again, Hidden Immortal Town itself was an unscientific existence, and her entering it was also unscientific. So she no longer obsessed over the irrational time flow. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t uncover the truth.

Almost all the townsfolk, except for not knowing how she came and went, understood her pattern of movement. So it was no secret that Mu Tong would leave in two days.

After leaving the general store, Mu Tong went to the equipment shop. After spending all her immortal crystals and most of her spirit stones, she purchased a wooden house crafted by an immortal.

Though called a wooden house, it looked more like a standalone two-story villa, enclosed by a tall wall, offering great privacy.

This seemingly palm-sized wooden house was actually a top-tier magical artifact. Once refined and activated by the owner, it would expand into a modest dwelling with nearly five hundred square meters of usable space: two hundred square meters inside the house itself, and nearly three hundred square meters combined in the front and back yards.

The wooden house came fully equipped with all basic living facilities, and the yards could be used for planting flowers and tending grass, depending entirely on the owner’s preference.