Ma Feifei's Yang Chengzhi

In the following days, Yang Chengzhi began to frequent the 'Mysterious Bookstore' daily. The story of The Legend of the Condor Heroes had already captivated him, and he was deeply immersed in it.

Every day, as soon as Ma Feifei opened for business, the first person he saw was Yang Chengzhi. The look of anxiety in his smile made Ma Feifei sigh, thinking: the cultural industry in this world is truly too backward.

This is a world of cultivation, where spiritual practice is paramount. Although ordinary people make up the vast majority on the Azure Dragon Continent, this vast majority of ordinary people serve the small minority, the so-called cultivators.

People have few spiritual enjoyments; entertainment and cultural industries are practically nonexistent. This is even more true for cultivators. This point is evident not only in Yang Chengzhi but also in Zhou Guanyu and Zhao Xiaodao.

In such an environment, The Legend of the Condor Heroes was exceptionally captivating.

The Legend of the Condor Heroes was different from Half a Mu of Flower Fields and Andersen's Fairy Tales before it. The former was a diary written by the author during his lifetime, reflecting a detached and regretful attitude towards life. The latter was an allegorical fairy tale. Neither could be considered a novel; they lacked a complete worldview, characters, and so on.

But The Legend of the Condor Heroes was different; it was a world, a complete story.

Although compared to the Azure Dragon Continent, The Legend of the Condor Heroes depicted a low-martial world, a low-martial setting doesn't mean it can't attract people from the Azure Dragon Continent, especially a book like The Legend of the Condor Heroes that draws readers in with its plot.

Therefore, Yang Chengzhi was captivated, utterly and completely.

He had been cultivating since he was five years old, for a full twenty-one years. Yang Chengzhi cultivated relentlessly every day, never stopping.

Cultivation was dry and lonely. If not for the desire to climb higher and gain more, Yang Chengzhi felt he might have gone mad.

This book, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, suddenly added color to his lonely life. Reading the words, Yang Chengzhi felt as if he had entered another world, a world where he wore fine clothes, rode spirited horses, and roamed the land with a sword.

As the book said, this was called 'Jianghu' (the martial world).

There was no achieving immortality, no flying swords, no great divine powers.

Instead, there was Jianghu, with its swift joys and sorrows, loyalty and righteousness, and the Legend of the Condor Heroes fighting for the country and its people.

Yang Chengzhi was captivated, but Ma Feifei wasn't idle either.

After finishing the transcription of My Fair Princess, Ma Feifei began using Yang Chengzhi as his text, creating his own story daily.

"In the 35,002nd year of the Azure Dragon Continent calendar, a son was born into an ordinary family in Dubian Town. Legend has it that when this child was born, celestial phenomena appeared, with rainbows surrounding him, and birds and beasts for ten thousand miles bowed down. It was truly miraculous."

"The City Lord of Yuanfang City, upon hearing this, personally traveled to Dubian Town to find the child. Upon seeing him, he was greatly astonished, exclaiming: 'His bones are extraordinary, his appearance is that of a celestial prodigy.' He then took the child as his adopted son and bestowed upon him the name Chengzhi!"

Good heavens, it was fortunate Yang Chengzhi didn't see what Ma Feifei had written. Otherwise, he would have found it hard to accept that he suddenly had such an incredible background!

Setting aside the fact that he wasn't from Dubian Town, the celestial phenomena and the bowing of all beasts were simply unreliable! Legend had it that only when Goddess Yin Yue, from the Canglong Fairy Ranking, was born did a phoenix and a luan bird sing in harmony, astonishing the entire Azure Dragon Continent.

And Goddess Yin Yue lived up to her reputation, entering the Spirit Saint realm at the age of fifty, setting the record for the fastest ascension to sainthood in the history of the Azure Dragon Continent.

Phenomena like celestial omens had only occurred once in the Azure Dragon Continent's thirty thousand years, with Goddess Yin Yue being the only one. Now, Yang Chengzhi had become the second! Of course, this was according to Ma Feifei's writing.

"Chengzhi could speak at a hundred days old, understood all the classics by the age of three, achieved minor success in cultivation at eight, reaching the Peak Spirit User Stage Nine, and reached the Spirit Master Stage Nine at ten. His cultivation talent was unparalleled throughout history!"

Well, Yang Chengzhi was almost being written as a god by Ma Feifei. However, if the book continued to be written this way, the subsequent event of him being put in his place by Xiaoyaozi wouldn't happen. Therefore, at this point, it was time to increase the difficulty of the instance.

Ma Feifei continued writing.

"When Yang Chengzhi was twelve, he went to the imperial capital to cultivate. He met a woman and was instantly smitten. He confessed his feelings but was rejected! Chengzhi was persistent, confessing again, and was rejected again! Chengzhi returned home dejected."

"Afterward, Yang Chengzhi remained devoted to the woman for fourteen years, his cultivation stagnating! The celestial prodigy devolved into an ordinary person."

"Fourteen years later, Yang Chengzhi entered Zhenguan Academy in the Chu State to cultivate. He coincidentally met the same woman from fourteen years ago, only to discover she already had someone she loved."

"Chengzhi refused to accept this and challenged her."

"He was crushed..."

"Damn it, even I, the author, am getting fired up writing this! If this book isn't a hit, it's against natural law!" Ma Feifei stopped writing, looked at the story he had written, and couldn't help but praise it.

Honestly, it was the first time he felt so talented!

Meanwhile, the pitiable Yang Chengzhi was still engrossed in The Legend of the Condor Heroes in a corner, completely unaware that Ma Feifei was using him as the protagonist of his story.

"This book absolutely cannot be seen by Yang Chengzhi once it's written," Ma Feifei thought.

Although the story was inspiring, and the protagonist's ending was ultimately beautiful, Ma Feifei had forcibly turned it into a love triangle. If Yang Chengzhi saw it, he might come looking for a fight!

"Next, I can write about Yang Chengzhi being crushed and then coming to my bookstore to diligently cultivate. Should I embellish the image of my bookstore a bit here?" Ma Feifei pondered.

He wondered if, should this book become popular, the 'Mysterious Bookstore,' which provided Yang Chengzhi with rapid cultivation in the story, would attract readers' attention?

If he made the bookstore seem a bit more mysterious and upscale, wouldn't that be more beneficial?

This could be considered maximizing business potential!

With that thought, Ma Feifei picked up his pen again.

"Chengzhi was defeated by his love rival, his spirit broken, and he wished for death. He found a mountain and leaped off. Fortunately, there was a river at the foot of the mountain. Chengzhi fell into the river and was carried downstream by the current to a small island."

"Is it appropriate to place the bookstore on a small island here?" Ma Feifei considered. While this approach would add mystery and a hook to the bookstore, what if someone actually went to the island looking for the Mysterious Bookstore? Wouldn't that be shooting himself in the foot?

Ma Feifei shook his head, crossed out that section, and rewrote it.

"Chengzhi was defeated by his love rival, his spirit broken, and thus left the academy. He returned to his hometown, drowning his sorrows in wine daily. The City Lord of Yuanfang City reprimanded him for his lack of ambition and thus severed their father-son relationship. The former child prodigy who had astonished the continent became ordinary."

After reading this section, Ma Feifei nodded. He felt this worked. The protagonist's downfall and loss of everything, pushing himself to the brink of death, would make the subsequent opportunity he encountered seem even more incredible.

"One day, Chengzhi was wandering in Dubian Town. He walked about two miles north of the town and coincidentally encountered a bookstore named 'Mysterious Bookstore'."

"The bookstore's name was grand and majestic, and one could vaguely sense a profound aura. The interior was enveloped in spiritual energy, with clouds and mist swirling, truly magical."

"The bookstore contained only two or three scrolls, each one astonishing."

"Chengzhi was captivated, forgetting to eat and sleep."

With tens of thousands of words poured out, Ma Feifei finally finished the preceding section. He sighed comfortably, put down his pen, glanced at Yang Chengzhi, who was still reading, and thought, "The groundwork for the story has been laid. Now it's up to you, my friend."