"Lotus Lantern"

Li Bieli wanted to go back to the Bookstore with Ma Feifei for a simple reason: he couldn't protect the championship prize he had won.

Yellow Quality books and Sacred Beast- quality sprites are enough to make cultivators lose their minds, especially when facing Li Bieli, who is only at the Spirit Ancestor Stage Five realm. They don't need to consider the consequences at all; they'll just kill and rob.

Since Ma Feifei intended to save Li Bieli, he naturally wouldn't just stand by and watch him be killed by those cultivators.

On the way back, Ma Feifei waited for the system to release new Side Quest; because according to previous practice, new quests would usually be added after each Side Quest was completed, but this time, for some reason, there were no quest notifications until Ma Feifei returned to the Bookstore.

Ma Feifei expressed some regret about this, saying that doing tasks was actually quite fun, and at least there were rewards.

Moreover, Ma Feifei is a complete slacker. If there are missions, he can find something to do; otherwise, he doesn't know what to do with his days. (If there were no missions, I wouldn't know how to continue writing...)

However, Ma Feifei has quite a few tasks on his shoulders, so the absence of new Side Quest wouldn't be a big deal.

The top three winners of this competition attracted a large number of eager cultivators who followed them on their way back.

Fortunately, Li Bieli had Ma Feifei by his side, Liu Ying had Chang Kong by her side, and even Jiang Yibei had a powerful figure at the Spirit Emperor realm specially sent by the Jiang Family.

It was thanks to the protection of these people that the three of them were able to escape unscathed on this twenty-mile stretch of wilderness and eventually enter Dubian Town safely.

After taking Li Bieli back to the backyard of the Mysterious Bookstore, Ma Feifei went inside and took down the Diamond Sutra from the Bookstore. Suddenly remembering that she hadn't checked her mission reward yet, she hurriedly ran to the cashier and opened the drawer.

A red Poké Poké Ball and a black-covered book lay there quietly.

The book has a three-character title: "The Lotus Lantern".

Picking up the newly published Epic-grade book, Ma Feifei couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

'Mythological books.'

The mythological books mentioned here do not refer to books of mythological quality, but rather to the myths and legends that have been passed down for thousands of years in Ma Feifei's world. People collected these orally transmitted mythological stories and compiled them into a series of stories, gradually forming an Eastern mythological system.

Compared to Western mythology, Eastern mythology contains some conflicting, incompatible, and inexplicable elements, meaning it cannot be as self-consistent as Western mythology.

But that doesn't matter; Eastern mythology is just awesome.

The novel "The Lotus Lantern" is based on a story passed down from ancient mythology, and the author then expands upon it. Of course, the author focuses on the plot and does not modify or add to the mythological figures. In fact, the novel downplays the particularly powerful mythological figures and mentions them very little.

The stories are mostly written around Chenxiang, the protagonist of "The Lotus Lantern," and Erlang Shen, a mythological figure.

It is precisely for this reason that the quality of the book "The Lotus Lantern" is systematically classified as Epic-grade, rather than as Legendary-grade like "Journey to the West" or "Investiture of the Gods".

In terms of broader context, "The Lotus Lantern" is on par with the two books that follow; it also features prominent figures from mythology such as the Jade Emperor and Sun Wukong Lotus Lantern.

"It's better if the difficulty is a bit lower; it should be easier." Ma Feifei happily put down "Lotus Lantern" and then picked up the Poké Ball next to him.

Compared to "Lotus Lantern," Ma Feifei was more interested in the Poké Ball; because there was a Side Quest that required Ma Feifei to have a Pokémon to participate in.

Moreover, Ma Feifei himself also wanted a battle pet to enhance his image.

Yun Qingyang doesn't count; she wouldn't let anyone ride her at all.

Ma Feifei put the Poké Ball into his spatial bag, then took the Diamond Sutra and walked out of the Bookstore. Li Bieli was still waiting; the Pokémon matter had to be postponed.

"Come, sit down." Ma Feifei came out of the backyard and saw Li Bieli standing helplessly in the yard. He couldn't help but want to laugh.

"Okay." Li Bieli nodded. In front of Ma Feifei, it seemed that the shy boy from before had returned. He hurriedly grabbed the small stool that Ma Feifei usually sat on and sat down nervously.

Ma Feifei sat in the rocking chair, looking at Li Bieli, and said, "Let me ask you a question: do you really want revenge?"

Li Bieli nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes."

Ma Feifei hummed in agreement, thought for a moment, and continued, "Then would you mind taking your revenge a little later?"

The method provided by the system is excellent, allowing Li Bieli to be reborn, or even achieve immortality; however, the process is quite lengthy. Once Li Bieli becomes Book Slave, there is no way to remove him from this state until Ma Feifei obtains the Eternal grade- quality Book Slave, "The Tianshu."

Since there is no way to break free from the Book Slave status, it means that Li Bieli cannot Carrying Book Slave and seek revenge on the Jiang Family; only when Ma Feifei obtains the "Tianshu" can Li Bieli be freed.

That's why Ma Feifei asked Li Bieli that question.

Li Bieli hesitated for a moment and said, "Actually, I know I can't take revenge right away, but my body tells me I can't delay any longer."

As one of the 'Twelve Kings', the Jiang Family has existed for over five thousand years and possesses a very solid foundation. To avenge one's mother by attacking the Jiang Family, one must first overcome the Jiang Family's strength. Putting aside other matters, one can see a clue from the cultivation level of Zhou Wuji, the head of the Zhou Clan. As members of the 'Twelve Kings' families, it makes no sense that only the Zhou Clan has Spirit Emperor while the Jiang Family does not, or even Spirit Saint.

In this situation, Li Bieli would need to cultivate to at least the level of Transcendent to Saint before he would have any chance of taking revenge on the Jiang Family.

Even with the best aptitude, it's impossible for a cultivator at the Spirit Ancestor Stage Five to reach the Spirit Saint realm in a short period of time.

Li Bieli knew this better than anyone else. The reason he came to the Mysterious Bookstore was simply because he clung to the last bit of hope that a magical place like the Mysterious Bookstore could help him; but in reality, he didn't have much hope.

Ma Feifei patted the Diamond Sutra in his hand and said, "There is a way to cure you, but you will have to pay a price, and this price is not only unbearable for ordinary people, but the time period may also be very long."

At this point, Ma Feifei paused for a moment, seemingly pondering something. After a while, she came to her senses, smiled slightly, and continued, "However, in return, besides curing your illness, you will also gain some unexpected benefits."

The reason Ma Feifei was distracted just now was because the system had fed him some information about Book Slave; one of the pieces of information was that once you become Carrying Book Slave, you can enjoy all the benefits from the book that the Book Slave carries.

In other words, if Li Bieli chooses to become Book Slave to the Diamond Sutra, then he can enjoy the benefits contained within the Diamond Sutra.

What is in the Diamond Sutra?

Practice and Power of Faith!