Chapter 55: The Spotlight, Buying a House

The action at Rongshuxia was swift. *I Desire to Become an Immortal* was posted on Rongshuxia in the afternoon, and by 8:00 PM that same evening, an announcement appeared at the top of the Rongshuxia homepage.

——"A taste of the new work *I Desire to Become an Immortal* by Zhongyuan Yidianhui!"

The number of readers and authors whose eyes were caught by this announcement was countless.

Yes!

It wasn't just readers who were attracted; there were also some authors.

As the most popular web novelist on Rongshuxia, or rather, on the entire internet, many authors would subconsciously keep an eye on his movements.

Many people were paying attention to what he would write for his next book.

Everyone wanted to know if his next book could be just as popular.

Therefore, after Rongshuxia released this announcement, many authors couldn't help but go and check out *I Desire to Become an Immortal*, all wanting to know what kind of book it was.

Was it good?

Mr. Ning was one of them.

After he finished reading the two chapters currently serialized of *I Desire to Become an Immortal*, he stared blankly for quite a while, muttering to himself: "The style has changed drastically... Is this guy's cultural foundation this deep? This stuff, this stuff... I couldn't write this, could I?"

Xing Yusen was also one of them.

When he finished reading the only two chapters of *I Desire to Become an Immortal* currently available, he looked up at the ceiling, dazed for a long time, a bitter smile appearing on his face as he shook his head slightly and said: "He actually dares to write about immortal cultivation... Is he that confident? Does he want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Huanzhu Louzhu? Isn't his ambition a bit too big?"

Li Xunhuan was also one of them.

After he finished reading the two newly released chapters of *I Desire to Become an Immortal*, he gave a faint smile, appearing dismissive, but that night, he tossed and turned, finding it hard to fall asleep.

Yu Baimei also saw the announcement on Rongshuxia and finished reading the first two chapters of *I Desire to Become an Immortal*. After finishing, he frowned for a long time, opened a document, and tried to write the opening of an immortal hero story himself, but he couldn't produce any text that satisfied him. After trying for over an hour, he pushed the keyboard in front of him away and said angrily: "Write, write, write! Write my foot! Not writing anymore!"

Anni Baobei saw the Rongshuxia announcement the next day at noon and saw the new book *I Desire to Become an Immortal*.

After reading it, her brows furrowed tightly.

Then, every little while, she would refresh the computer page. After refreshing N times, she muttered: "Still not updating? The new book was just published, shouldn't you update a couple more chapters? You can't be this lazy!"

……

The next afternoon.

Cao Sheng arrived at the internet cafe, and after updating one chapter of *I Desire to Become an Immortal*, he watched the posts in the book review section with a bit of anticipation.

Bawang Yishi: "This book reminds me of *Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu*, it's great! I like this type of work, looking forward to the follow-up being even more exciting! I hope you can update a bit faster. Don't think we don't know that this book of yours has already published several volumes over in Wanwan. With so many chapters in reserve, are you still going to update one chapter every two days like your last book? Is that appropriate?"

Lü Wenming: "Update faster! Even the donkey at a landlord's house wouldn't dare to be as lazy as you!"

Gao Sheng: "Why did I have to see this book so early? Is this going to make me chase updates every day again? I can't take it."

Ai Zhe Shu: "When will it be published? Your online serialization is so slow, you might as well publish it quickly! I'll buy it, okay?"

……

No matter how the readers urged him to update, Cao Sheng remained unmoved. For the next period of time, he consistently maintained an update schedule of one chapter every two days.

In fact, in this era, his update speed was already considered quite fast.

In this era of writing novels purely out of love, everyone's update speed was generally very slow.

There was almost no one who could manage to update every day.

Being able to update a chapter every two or three days was already considered fast.

Some authors only updated one chapter a week, known as "weeklies."

Some authors only updated one chapter every half month or even a month, known as "fortnightlies" and "monthlies."

Cao Sheng's update speed could already be called the fighter jet among roosters.

It's just that if readers like your book, they will never be satisfied; they would love to lock the author in a dark room, forcing the author to write 24 hours a day without stopping, the kind where you don't get food if you don't write.

Of course, if they don't like your book, then do as you please. Even if you cut it off and stop writing, they won't care, and might even leave a comment in your book review section: "Finally entered the palace? You should have entered the palace long ago!"

"Entering the palace" means becoming a Eunuch.

It is a playful term for works that are left unfinished.

Cao Sheng was actually writing every day.

This summer vacation, although the weather was very hot.

But he could freely manage all his time every day; he didn't have classes, no classmates to disturb him, and every afternoon and evening, he would write his manuscript in the dormitory.

He would write until late at night every day.

In the morning, he would still get up early to run on the playground. He didn't run much, only one kilometer each time, but he always ran at the speed he used for the high school entrance exam physical test back in the day.

His physical fitness wasn't bad; if he ran slower, he could run more laps, but he always wanted to save time, finishing the kilometer at the fastest speed possible, working up a sweat. This way, he could achieve the effect of exercise while also saving time.

Although running saved time, he generally didn't write in the morning.

This was a habit he had formed from years of writing before his rebirth, and it also had to do with his state of mind every morning; in the morning, he always found it hard to find the "feel" for writing.

Therefore, he had been quite leisurely every morning recently.

He usually read books in the dormitory.

He was reading the recently purchased *Investiture of the Gods*. Besides this book, on his bookshelf, there were also *Journey to the West* and *Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu*.

Although he had written several immortal cultivation novels before, he had never read these three original works, having only seen their film and television adaptations.

Recently, he wanted to read these three original works once, hoping to make *I Desire to Become an Immortal* even more exciting.

He felt a sense of urgency in his heart.

He knew that with his current level of writing, in the short term, he should have no rivals in the web novel industry.

But he knew even better that his rivals would appear very soon, and when they did, they would appear in droves. In a few years, the wildly growing web novel industry would enter a period of explosive growth.

During this period, writers with talent and perseverance would emerge one after another.

There wasn't much time left for him.

……

During the time he spent silently reading and writing, he took the time to go to Binjiang Road a few times to look at houses, because the money in his bank account had increased again.

Originally, he had given his parents fifty thousand this summer vacation, and the money left in his account was only a little over thirty thousand.

But recently, Huachengchubanshe had deposited the second advance royalty payment of over thirty thousand into his account.

Xinchang Publishing House had also paid him royalties for two volumes, amounting to eight thousand yuan.

The amount in his account exceeded eighty thousand.

With money, the idea of buying a house popped up again.

He had thought about buying a house in Jingcheng or Shanghai.

But in the end, he decided to buy one in Huizhou first, for his own residence.

By the end of the year or next year, he would take the time to go to Jingcheng or Shanghai to take a look; in any case, the housing prices in those two cities wouldn't change much in these two years.

And if he bought a house in Huizhou first, he wouldn't have to live in the school dormitory in the second half of the year.

He didn't like living in the dormitory.

Before his rebirth, he had his own house and car, and he had long been accustomed to living alone and driving himself everywhere.

He was very unaccustomed to living in an eight-person dormitory.

Before, he was poor, so there was no choice.

Now that he was well-off, he wanted to get himself a nest.

With a nest, there would be a better environment for writing.

There would also be a place to put his computer.

In the future, he wouldn't have to keep running to the internet cafe.

In mid-August, he successfully bought a courtyard on Binjiang Road. In the courtyard, there was a two-story small building with three rooms up and down, and two single-story rooms, which were the kitchen and the bathroom respectively.

The courtyard wasn't very big, only forty or fifty square meters.

But pushing open the courtyard gate, you were on Binjiang Road, and on the other side of the road was the Xinanjiang.

By the river, the willow trees swayed, and the riverbank was lined with stone embankments; the scenery was very good.

Cao Sheng spent two mornings cleaning the courtyard inside and out, and then moved his luggage over.

This courtyard didn't cost him much money; he got it for fifteen thousand yuan.

It was considered quite expensive for the neighborhood.