What Kind of Book Spirit Is This?

"'This man is the one who harmed your sixth junior brother, and your sixth junior brother loved monkeys in life, so I had people find two big macaques, lock them together with him, and leave them on Mount Hua.' As she spoke, she reached out, clasped Linghu Chong's wrist, and sighed: 'Who would have thought that I, Ren Yingying, would end up locked together with a big macaque for life, never to part.' Then she smiled sweetly, infinitely tender..."

Outside the window, the sky was already bright with daylight. Unknowingly, Chen Luo had written through another night, and only when he reached the final sentence did he set down the character "End" after the last page.

With that, The Smiling, Proud Wanderer in his mind was completely written.

Ji Zhong's eyes turned green as he stared at the stack of manuscripts. Chen Luo had said before that he could only read them once they were finished. Now seeing Chen Luo's relaxed expression, he quickly asked: "Young master, is it done?"

Chen Luo nodded: "It's done!"

Ji Zhong was overjoyed and reached out to grab the last batch of manuscripts. But just as his hand neared the stack, a sound like a sword being drawn rang out from within the pages, followed by a flash of sword light shooting out. Ji Zhong didn't notice in time, and his finger was cut by the light.

"Such sharp sword qi!" Ji Zhong exclaimed in surprise. Then a thought struck him, and he looked at Chen Luo: "Young master, can this book also condense a book spirit?"

Chen Luo ignored Ji Zhong's question, focusing entirely on the pages. Just like when Zhong Kui had appeared, all the manuscripts of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer rose without wind, floating in midair. Then, one by one, the characters on the pages detached themselves and flew out into the void. Nearly a million characters came together to form two humanoid figures, practicing various martial arts.

Ji Zhong's eyes went wide. He had intended to use Righteous Qi to condense his vision and watch the techniques being demonstrated, but the humanoid figures formed by the characters suddenly shot two more sword qi beams at him, aimed straight at his Righteous Qi-filled eyes. Ji Zhong dodged the attack and quickly dispersed the qi from his eyes, and the phantom figures stopped attacking.

But Ji Zhong, as the number one fan of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, recognized all the martial arts from the movements of the Elegant Script phantoms.

"That's Chong Ling Swordplay!"

"Mount Hua Swordplay!"

"Mount Song Swordplay!"

"Wudang Swordplay!"

"Mount Heng Swordplay!"

"By the sage, Nine Swords of Dugu!"

"My god, Sunflower Manual!"

By the end, Ji Zhong couldn't control himself. Excitedly, he grabbed Chen Luo's arm: "These moves really exist! They can really be cultivated!"

Chen Luo stared fixedly at the two humanoid figures practicing their techniques. Having experienced all kinds of blockbuster spectacles in his past life, he wasn't surprised. He was waiting for the book spirit to appear.

At that moment, Zhong Kui silently materialized behind Chen Luo and said in a low voice: "This is Book Spirit Manifestation, master. This book spirit is no ordinary one."

Chen Luo nodded slightly. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the two phantoms stopped their movements, then collided fiercely, merging into a sphere wrapped in characters, suspended in the air.

Chen Luo reached out and gently touched the sphere of characters. Cracks appeared on its surface. As the cracks slowly widened, a seven-colored light shot out from the black sphere of characters.

As the cracks grew larger, the sphere suddenly burst apart, turning back into individual characters that fell like raindrops back onto the paper. The paper arranged itself into a neat stack and descended from the air onto the desk.

Now, a mass of seven-colored mist floated in midair, looking exactly like the seven-colored mist inside Chen Luo's body. Just then, a paw stretched out from the mist.

A paw?

Chen Luo was stunned. Why a paw? And it looked like a cat's paw.

That little pink pad...

No, that's not the point! Where was the book spirit of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer? What was this thing?

As Chen Luo's thoughts wandered, a crisp sound came from the mist—

Meow~

Had something gone wrong? There were no cat-eared girls in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer!

Before Chen Luo could think further, the figure in the mist slowly poked its head out.

Sure enough!

A round head, two small flying ears drooping down, a sword-shaped mark on its forehead, pitch-black all over without a single trace of other colors. A pair of adorable big eyes reflected the candlelight in the room!

It was a black cat!

The black cat stepped gracefully out of the seven-colored mist. First, it looked around the study, then cast a disdainful glance at Ji Zhong and Zhong Kui. Finally, its gaze settled on Chen Luo.

"Meow—"

The black cat took a step forward and landed on top of Chen Luo's head, curling up into a ball. The seven-colored mist followed the black cat, flying toward Chen Luo, and finally merged into his body.

"Young master, is this... the book spirit?" Ji Zhong struggled to hold back his laughter. The Smiling, Proud Wanderer was so vast and free, he had wondered what kind of book spirit would appear, but it turned out to be a little cutie.

The black cat on Chen Luo's head glared at Ji Zhong. It remembered this person—every time he looked at it, he had a lecherous expression. And now he was mocking it?

The black cat pushed off with its hind legs, ready to pounce and scratch Ji Zhong, but Chen Luo raised a hand and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, lifting it up to eye level.

The black cat blinked its gem-like big eyes, its limbs dangling in the air, wearing a resigned, pitiful expression.

Seeing this adorable creature's behavior, Chen Luo sighed. Hadn't they said it was an extraordinary book spirit? How had it turned into this!

"Little guy, what abilities do you have?" Chen Luo teased. Unexpectedly, a clear little girl's voice rang out in his mind: "Master, I'm amazing!"

Chen Luo was startled and looked at the little black cat: "Was that you talking?"

The black cat nodded, then turned into a streak of black light and shot into Chen Luo's body.

A surge of information flooded Chen Luo's mind, and he instantly understood the origin of this black cat book spirit.

"So it's you!" Chen Luo sighed inwardly, then turned his head to look at Ji Zhong. "Brother Ji, care to spar a couple of rounds with me?"

Ji Zhong was taken aback: "Young master, you're just an ordinary person!"

"Try it. If you beat me, you'll be the first to read my next martial arts novel too."

"There's a next one?" Ji Zhong was overjoyed. "Let's go!"

In the small courtyard outside the study, Ji Zhong looked at Chen Luo with a half-smile and said, "Young master, if you want to concede, now's your chance."

Chen Luo smiled faintly. "In The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, there's a martial art no one ever mastered. Yet it's more powerful than the Nine Swords of Dugu or the Sunflower Manual. Do you know what it is?"

"How could there be such a martial art? Even if you're the author, you can't just make things up." Ji Zhong's Righteous Qi swelled around him. "I won't bully you either—I'll only use one tenth of my strength."

With that, Ji Zhong raised his hand, pointed at Chen Luo, and shouted, "Go!"

Dark moon, high-flying swallows,

The Barbarian King flees by night.

Light cavalry sets out in pursuit,

Heavy snow fills bow and blade.

As Ji Zhong's word "Go" fell, a phantom of a light cavalryman coalesced before him, wielding a Horse-Slaying Blade, and charged at Chen Luo. Though Ji Zhong claimed to use only one tenth of his strength, his mind was taut, ready to dispel the cavalry phantom at any moment to avoid harming Chen Luo.

He was just indulging the young master in a bet to lighten the mood!

But Chen Luo's expression turned grave. His right hand held his longsword, slanting downward, while his left hand's fingers counted off—one to five, then clenched into a fist, thumb extended, then index finger, until all five fingers were spread, then thumb and index finger curled back... All of this was intricate to describe, yet it happened in an instant, almost like the hand seals from some Japanese manga.

Seeing Chen Luo's movements, Ji Zhong's heart jolted. He really did seem to recall such a technique described in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, but he couldn't quite place it...

In the blink of an eye, the light cavalryman reached Chen Luo and swung its blade down at him. A cold gleam flashed in Chen Luo's eyes.

"Now!"

Chen Luo suddenly sidestepped, dodging the cavalryman's slash from an impossible angle, then dashed forward toward Ji Zhong—not in a straight line, but along a bizarre, twisting curve.

Ji Zhong's expression shifted slightly, and he shouted again, "Shield!"

Tall Pine appeared once more, but Chen Luo's longsword pointed straight ahead, bypassing the pine tree phantom's defense, evading the phantom birds that burst from the tree, and stopping the sword's tip at Ji Zhong's throat...

"You let your guard down," Chen Luo said, withdrawing his longsword.

"What? How?" Ji Zhong looked utterly astonished. Though he had held back, Chen Luo's final strike had felt inescapable.

"Let me reintroduce my Book Spirit," Chen Luo said. The Black Cat materialized above his head, looking at Ji Zhong with an air of pride.

"Its name is: How Tai Shan Is!"

Chen Luo was about to say more when a sudden, piercing pain shot through his mind, like a thousand silver needles stabbing into his brain. His vision went black, and he collapsed...

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