The Cost of Breaking Through to the Fifth Rank

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Crown Prince Yan picked up a corner and began reading Han Feizi. (Mobile version m)

Ma Feifei walked straight out of the Bookstore and went to Li Bieli.

"Get up," Ma Feifei said softly.

Li Bieli has been kneeling for three days; if she continues kneeling, she might really die.

"Please, shopkeeper, help Bieli," Li Bieli bowed and kowtowed.

Ma Feifei subtly dodged the attack and said, "Get up first."

Li Bieli's face lit up with joy. Since the shopkeeper said so, it meant he must have agreed. He hurriedly tried to get up, but because he had been kneeling for a long time, his knees had lost all feeling. He only got halfway up before realizing that he couldn't put any weight on his legs and fell back down.

Ma Feifei her hand, using her Spiritual Power to hold him up and prevent Li Bieli from kneeling again.

"Thank you, shopkeeper!" Li Bieli said, his pale face showing a hint of excitement as he looked intently at Ma Feifei.

When Ma Feifei saw those eyes, she instantly recalled the scene when she first met Li Bieli.

Back then, he was called Jiang Bieli, a silly young man, a bit straightforward, a bit effeminate, with eyes full of sunshine and positive energy.

Now...

"Sigh!" Ma Feifei couldn't help but sigh.

This is probably the person who has experienced the most change since he came into this world six months ago.

"Come in," Ma Feifei said, turning and walking into the Bookstore, heading towards the backyard.

Li Bieli followed excitedly behind, limping as if she would fall at any moment, but each time she regained her footing.

In the Bookstore's backyard, Ma Feifei looked at Li Bieli and said, "Actually, I really didn't lie to you. There are no quick ways to cultivate in this Bookstore. If you want to avenge your mother, you must first learn to be Bide."

Ma Feifei runs Divine Bookstore, which is indeed amazing, but whether or not one's cultivation level increases, or whether one can acquire cultivation techniques and martial arts skills, depends entirely on the reader's talent, and Ma Feifei has no say in that. Not to mention Li Bieli's even more outrageous request: he actually wants to ascend to the heavens in one step and obtain powerful strength to return to the Jiang Family for revenge.

Li Bieli fell silent for a moment.

Li Bieli knew in his heart that this idea was too unrealistic, but he had no other choice.

"Shopkeeper, actually I don't have much time left to live," Li Bieli said after a moment's hesitation.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ma Feifei didn't understand.

Li Bieli looked up at Ma Feifei, took out two Poké Ball from his spatial bag, and then summoned Venusaur and Clefable. Pointing at them, he said, "The reason why Clefairy and Bulbasaur were able to evolve to the fifth stage is because of the Moon Stone in Clefairy's hand."

"Moon Stone?" Ma Feifei frowned, then remembered that Li Bieli, this little Clefairy, was captured by Liu Changsheng at Mt. Moonview, and at that time, the Clefairy was holding a Moon Stone.

The Moon Stone is said to be a meteorite from outer space, possessing divine power. In Pokémon, Clefairy did indeed evolve into Clefable through Moon Stone.

Li Bieli nodded and continued, "Yes, when I trained Clefairy and Bulbasaur to level four, I found that they could no longer advance; but later Clefairy took out this Moon Stone and told me that the Moon Stone could allow Pokémon to advance."

"Then I tried using Spiritual Power to activate the Moon Stone, but who knew that the method to activate the Moon Stone wasn't Spiritual Power at all, but life force."

At this point, Li Bieli rolled up his sleeve, revealing a withered arm.

Ma Feifei was startled when he saw the arm. It was filled with an aura of death and didn't look like the arm of a young man at all.

"Moon Stone can evolve Pokémon, but the price of activating Moon Stone is life force..." Ma Feifei fell into deep thought.

There is no concept of using life force to activate Moon Stone in Pokémon. This is probably a system setting, since the system does not allow Pokémon to break through to the fifth rank without Elementary Advancement Pill.

Since Li Bieli's little sprite Sheer Force broke through, it naturally had to pay a corresponding price.

"So, does that mean Jiang Yibei's Charmander evolved because of the Moon Stone?" Ma Feifei suddenly remembered that Jiang Yibei's Pokémon had also broken through to the fifth tier during the resource competition among the 'Twelve Kings' families in the capital.

Li Bieli nodded and said, "That's right. At the time, I didn't know that activating the Moon Stone required consuming life force. I was happy to tell Jiang Yibei this news and wanted to help his little sprite advance as well."

"However, advancing to the next level with three Pokémon at once completely drained my life force. My body is devoid of vitality, and the doctor said I only have six months to live at most." As he said this, a trace of sadness appeared in Li Bieli's eyes.

Ma Feifei opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know what to say.

Li Bieli is really young. If Ma Feifei remembers correctly, he should only be seventeen years old this year, in the prime of his youth.

At seventeen, he's already at the Spirit Master Eighth Stage, which is enough to prove his talent in cultivation; with a little more effort, his future achievements will be no less than anyone else's.

But now...

"But it doesn't matter!" Suddenly, Li Bieli grinned, revealing a bright smile, and looked at Ma Feifei, saying, "This way I can see my mother sooner!"

The boy's persistence finally moved Ma Feifei, who decided to help him.

"There's a medical book in the Bookstore called 'Thousand Gold Formulas' (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold). I don't know if it can cure your lost life force, but you can give it a try," Ma Feifei said. However, he wasn't very confident, believing that if 'Thousand Gold Formulas' could bring back a person's lost life force, it wouldn't really be considered an 'illness' anymore, as it was beyond the scope of treatment.

Just as people grow old, life fades away.

If the "Prescriptions Thousand Gold Formulas" can even cure this, then this book is incredibly powerful; possessing it is equivalent to achieving immortality.

Li Bieli was clearly aware of this, so he didn't immediately look for the book "Thousand Gold Formulas" at the Bookstore. However, since Ma Feifei had already suggested it, he could only nod and prepare to give it a try.

Seeing Li Bieli nod, Ma Feifei continued, "The Bookstore will be holding Pokémon Championship in two months. The first-place prize is a Yellow Quality book. I think you should give it a try; maybe that book will grant your wish!"

This wasn't Ma Feifei trying to fool people; he actually thought it was possible.

Because the prize for the competition two months later would be the first time the Divine Bookstore had given away books from its system.

Unlike previous "My Fair Princess" items that were sold wholesale, this is a unique item, the kind that will be gone once given away.

And what difference would those donated books have from the ones in the Bookstore? Ma Feifei herself didn't know, but it was precisely because she didn't know that Ma Feifei felt she could look forward to it.

Although Li Bieli's Pokémon are all of ordinary quality, they are currently the highest grade, giving him a good chance of winning the Pokémon Championship.

"Okay!" Li Bieli nodded.