The Great Quack-Saving Operation

The system made it very clear that the Spirit Crystal consumed in lighting the Lotus Lantern had nothing to do with the system; the Spirit Crystal were simply the price for lighting the Lotus Lantern. Furthermore, Ma Feifei lit the Lotus Lantern to operate the Bookstore at night, and the system could not gain any benefit from it, so it would not share the cost with Ma Feifei; everything had to be paid for by himself.

But isn't this a bit too expensive?

Six hundred thousand Spirit Crystal a night is indeed not expensive in the Mysterious Bookstore, because the system does not take any cut, and all the Spirit Crystal paid to the Mysterious Bookstore by readers from the books belong to Ma Feifei alone.

The Spirit Crystal that readers pay to the Mysterious Bookstore for the gains they obtain from books usually starts at a million. This means that during the nighttime opening hours, as long as a reader obtains a gain from a book, such as a magic weapon in "The Legend of the Swordsmen of Shu Mountain" or a martial arts technique of Yellow Quality or higher after completing a dungeon in "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles," a certain percentage of the gains must be paid to the Mysterious Bookstore.

But...

Looking at the deserted Chang'an Street, Ma Feifei glanced back at the pitch-black Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two. In the current situation, wouldn't lighting the Lotus Lantern be a complete waste of Spirit Crystal?

The same Bookstore, in different places, can have vastly different results.

"We made the wrong choice. We should have started the trial operation at the main store directly." Ma Feifei sighed. The opening of the branch store tonight was destined to be a complete failure. In fact, before the Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two was up and running, the "Reading by Lamplight" function could not be used at the second branch. It could only be used during the day. Otherwise, we would really lose a lot of money.

You have to understand that Ma Feifei is currently burdened with a loan of six billion yuan. If Yun Qingyang hadn't agreed to lend him money a few days ago, he probably wouldn't even be able to afford Elementary Advancement Pill.

Even the impoverished Ma Feifei would rather split a single Spirit Crystal in two to use it, so how could he bear to spend a thousand Spirit Crystal per minute to open a money-losing shop?

At this moment, Chang Kong also came out, glanced at Ma Feifei's back, and then plopped down next to Ma Feifei.

The two sat on the steps, watching Chang'an Street gradually darken, silent and lonely.

"Phew~"

A gentle evening breeze is blowing softly...

"Yawn..."

Ma Feifei couldn't help but sneeze.

"Woof woof woof!"

The commotion was quite loud, startling a chorus of barking dogs.

However, the barking stopped quickly.

"Hmm?" Ma Feifei and Chang Kong frowned at the same time and looked to their right.

It was still completely empty, but a faint smell of blood lingered in the air.

"Whoosh~"

Suddenly, a shadow flashed by in the moonlight, disappearing in an instant.

"Whoosh~"

Then several more figures appeared, chasing after the one in front.

"Whoosh~"

In the blink of an eye, the first figure had already arrived in front of the Mysterious Bookstore Branch Two.

Chang Kong's hands, hidden beneath his Chang Kong sleeves, leaned slightly forward in a defensive posture, ready to protect Ma Feifei at any moment.

Ma Feifei looked at the middle-aged man in the dark gray robe with curiosity.

He appeared to be seriously injured, with blood flowing from his chest. His dark gray robe was tattered, and his hair, which was held up with a hairpin, was disheveled.

However, his gaze was very deep, as if he could see through people's hearts. At least when he looked at Ma Feifei again, Ma Feifei felt as if he had Detect by him.

The middle-aged man was clearly surprised that there were people sitting in front of shops in Tianzhu City at night, enjoying the scenery. He paused for a moment, then stopped and did not continue his escape.

'Whoosh~'

Three figures closely following behind surrounded the middle-aged man; one carried a knife, one a sword, and one a hammer, all dressed in black and masked.

Ma Feifei glanced at them and noticed that the three men in black had all reached the Ninth Stage Spirit Venerable realm, and the middle-aged man in the middle even had the first level of the Spirit Emperor.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't be being chased Sticky Hold by Ninth Stage Spirit Venerable.

Moreover, the appearance of such important figures as Spirit Venerable and Spirit Emperor in a lower-class city suggests they were undoubtedly being chased all the way from a higher-class city.

Faced with such grudges and entanglements, Ma Feifei felt it was best to stay out of it and got up to go into the Bookstore.

"Hey~ young man." The middle-aged man suddenly called out.

No one expected the middle-aged man to suddenly speak, so much so that both Ma Feifei and the three masked men in black stopped and looked at him.

The middle-aged man seemed completely unconcerned about his situation as he walked towards Ma Feifei.

"Hmm?" Chang Kong stood up and took a step back, positioning himself between Ma Feifei and the middle-aged man, his brows furrowed as he stared at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man cupped his hands in greeting and said with a smile, "You misunderstand, sir. I meant no harm; I simply wish to say a few words to this young man."

Hearing this from behind, Ma Feifei couldn't help but curl his lip, thinking to himself, "Uncle, you're being chased yourself, and you still have the mood to chat with me? Are you out of your mind?"

However, Ma Feifei certainly wouldn't say this rashly and invite unnecessary trouble for himself. Instead, he thought for a moment and said, "Just say what you want to tell me quickly, or I'm afraid the three of them will get impatient."

As soon as Ma Feifei finished speaking, the three masked men in black who had been surrounding the middle-aged man instantly poured their Spiritual Power into their magical artifacts and struck at the man.

The three of them weren't fools. The reason they had surrounded the man without moving before was because they hadn't figured out the situation and assumed that Ma Feifei and the middle-aged man knew each other. Now that Ma Feifei had said those words, the three of them immediately realized that the two sides didn't actually know each other. Naturally, they wouldn't give the middle-aged man a chance to breathe and directly attacked him ruthlessly, delivering a fatal blow.

This time, the middle-aged man didn't run. Instead, he shook his head, and a Spirit Crystal appeared out of thin air in his hand. He then gently dropped the Spirit Crystal vertically.

'Clatter'

The Spirit Crystal fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

'Buzz'

Immediately afterward, the Spirit Crystal vanished, a wave of light spread out, and the three men were completely disoriented, losing their bearings and cautiously circling around in place.

A thin layer of light waves faintly appeared around them, as if it was this layer of light waves that trapped them inside.

"A master of formations!" Chang Kong frowned even more deeply upon seeing this.

As a Ninth-tier formation master, he couldn't sense when the middle-aged man had started setting up the array. Clearly, the middle-aged man's array skills were far superior to Chang Kong's.

The term "Ninth-tier formation master" is simply a general term for Ninth-tier formation. Just like cultivation levels, arrays are also divided into minor levels such as early, middle, late, and peak.

Especially after reaching the advanced level of array master, the difference between each minor level is still quite significant.

Although Chang Kong is a Ninth-tier formation master, he is actually only at the early stage of the ninth level. He is unable to successfully set up many difficult arrays, let alone achieve the state of 'forming an array with a wave of his hand' like the middle-aged man in front of him.

However, this formation was not advanced. The three masked men in black kept trying to break through it. Each Tackle would cause a ripple of light, and the shaking would become larger and larger. Obviously, the formation could not hold for much longer.

The middle-aged man clearly realized this as well, and quickly clasped his hands in greeting to Ma Feifei, saying, "Young brother, I am quite knowledgeable in physiognomy. I only had a quick glance just now, but I noticed that your forehead is dark, your spirit is scattered, and your face is deathly pale. This is a very ominous sign!"

'Ding! Congratulations, host, you have triggered a new Side Quest —Operation Save the Charlatan!'

'Mission Details: Jing Xing, the dismissed head of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion, is being hunted by an unknown organization. Host, you must rescue him and ensure he regains Qin Shi Huang's Jing Xing and is reinstated as head of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion.'

'Quest Reward: Epic-grade- quality Formation Book <Eight Formations Diagram>'