Town Chief's Son

Late at night, Zhao Xiaodao left. When she left, she did not even glance at Ma Feifei, looking utterly distraught.

But Ma Feifei was delighted. He felt like he was about to fly.

He had overheard something from Zhao Xiaodao and understood the reason for her breakthrough.

"So completing tasks not only raises my cultivation level, but also benefits the people who read the books."

Reading could increase one's cultivation!

No one would believe that if he told them!

Although Ma Feifei had never doubted the Mysterious Bookstore's abilities, he sometimes sat outside the door and wondered why everyone else who transmigrated got some fancy high-end system, while he had ended up with this damned Mysterious Bookstore system. The entire bookstore had only one book, and he had to copy it himself.

But now, it seemed this Mysterious Bookstore system was actually pretty good.

As a progressive young man of the new century, Ma Feifei did not like fighting and killing. Being able to raise his cultivation just by copying books could not have been better.

Now that he understood the Mysterious Bookstore's effects, Ma Feifei naturally had confidence in his bookstore. Without even eating dinner, he began copying Half a Mu of Flower Fields according to the plot provided by the system.

As it happened, Ma Feifei had actually read Half a Mu of Flower Fields before. He had picked it up purely because its author had moved him deeply. Only after finishing it did he realize that the young girl had written very well. Unfortunately, the author had already passed away by then.

This book could also be called the final song of a beautiful girl's life. Well, it told of her reflections on life and youth, her gratitude, and her resilience after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The fact that she could bravely face death was enough to earn Ma Feifei's admiration.

It was called a book, but it was really a collection of blog entries the author had written while alive, little stories that others compiled and organized after her death before finally publishing them as this book.

Compared to Andersen's Fairy Tales, this book did not even have a tenth as many words—just over five hundred thousand. Yet Ma Feifei discovered that copying this book of over five hundred thousand words actually took him three days!

That made Ma Feifei understand something else: the time needed to copy a book had nothing to do with its word count. Then what did it depend on? Based on his guess, it should be related to the book's rank.

Since Half a Mu of Flower Fields appeared after Andersen's Fairy Tales, its rank had to be higher than Andersen's Fairy Tales.

Of course, this higher rank definitely did not refer to the book's quality. After all, Andersen's Fairy Tales was popular worldwide, and everyone on Earth had heard of it. If they were comparing quality, few books could measure up to it.

So it could only be a system established by the Mysterious Bookstore itself.

Would reading this book raise a person's cultivation by even more?

He would only find out when the time came.

What made Ma Feifei happy, however, was that after reaching Spirit User Stage Nine, his physique had improved tremendously. After copying books for three days, his hands were not sore at all.

Ma Feifei did not understand martial arts, but by his own estimation, he would probably have counted as a grandmaster back in his previous life!

Just yesterday at mealtime, he had lifted a thousand-jin stone with one hand.

Half a Mu of Flower Fields took three days to copy, and throughout those three days, no one visited Ma Feifei's little shop.

Even after he finished copying it, no one came to patronize his shop.

But Ma Feifei's mindset was much calmer now. This time, he did not sit outside the door. Instead, he moved his little stool into a corner of the shop, where it was convenient for him to play with his money.

The clinking of gold coins felt really nice.

"Maybe I should make a rule: open from Monday to Friday, then travel on weekends and see the world outside." Ma Feifei stroked the gold coins and thought to himself.

Having come to such a magical world, Ma Feifei was full of curiosity about it. Previously, he had neither money nor the ability to protect himself, so he had not dared to think about it. But now, he had money and had reached Spirit User Stage Nine. The desire to see the outside world began to grow.

"Mm, it's settled then. Tomorrow happens to be Saturday, so I'll go out for a walk. First little goal: tour all of Dubian Town."

Heaven knew that after nearly a month in this world, Ma Feifei had never gone farther than one li from his little shop.

Oh, except for the day he chased Zhao Xiaodao.

But that did not count.

Was Dubian Town large? It was actually quite large. Ma Feifei's shop stood on the outskirts of Dubian Town. Going north for two li would take one out of town, but going south required fifty li before leaving Dubian Town.

In Ma Feifei's old world, that area would have been comparable to an entire county town.

"Huh, a bookstore?"

A very familiar opening.

But this time, it was not a young lady. It was a teenage boy of sixteen or seventeen.

White clothes, white shoes, and a white fan—he looked incredibly stylish, instantly drawing Ma Feifei's attention.

"Hello, would you like to read?" With a customer at the door, Ma Feifei stopped pondering. He did not even care about the gold coins on the floor, quickly rising with a smile.

That looks so cool! Tomorrow, I have to visit a clothing store. I want to buy an outfit like that too. Ma Feifei secretly resolved.

Zhou Guanyu froze and asked instinctively, "Read?"

Ma Feifei smiled faintly and pointed at the sign standing in the middle.

'Reading: 1 Spirit Crystal per hour.'

"Not for sale?" Zhou Guanyu asked.

"Not for sale, and the books cannot be taken out of the bookstore," Ma Feifei replied.

Zhou Guanyu nodded in understanding, but then his expression suddenly turned strange. Pointing his fan at the sign, he asked in surprise, "One Spirit Crystal per hour?"

Ma Feifei nodded, keeping his smile. He could not explain it. He could hardly tell the man, Brother, I'm not trying to scam you. Reading my books can increase your cultivation, so spending a few Spirit Crystals is worth it.

The man would have to believe him first!

So Ma Feifei felt that his bookstore should be called the "Fate Bookstore," not the Mysterious Bookstore.

Zhou Guanyu looked at the sign, then at Ma Feifei. Seeing him still standing there with a smile, Zhou Guanyu thought that although the man was somewhat dark-skinned, his eyes were clear. He probably was not running a shady shop.

But charging one Spirit Crystal per hour to read was simply unheard of.

Dubian Town mainly used currency for transactions, though Spirit Crystals were sometimes used as well. But where? Weapon shops, pill shops, pawnshops, and similar places frequented by cultivators. Yet this mere "bookstore" used Spirit Crystals as its unit of trade. This was the first time Zhou Guanyu had encountered such a thing.

But rich people were like that. The more something piqued his curiosity, the more Zhou Guanyu wanted to see just what was so magical about this bookstore. He elegantly took out a Spirit Crystal and handed it to Ma Feifei.

Of course, if the place failed to live up to its claims and deceived him, then this bookstore would have no reason to continue existing.

Hmph, my father is the town chief of Dubian Town!

Ma Feifei accepted the Spirit Crystal, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

What could one Spirit Crystal do? Read for one hour? How much could he read in that time?

But the bookstore had not required customers to read for a minimum number of hours, so Ma Feifei could not say anything. He stepped aside and let Zhou Guanyu enter.

"This..." Zhou Guanyu looked at the bookshelves around him. Only after walking closer and circling the room did he discover that this enormous bookstore actually had only two books!

Ma Feifei awkwardly raised a fist to his mouth and coughed, then said calmly, "The other books are still being shipped. At present, the store only has these two."

Zhou Guanyu was a little unhappy. His fair face darkened slightly, and he felt as though he had been deceived.

However, as the town chief's son, Zhou Guanyu had some shrewdness despite his youth. In an instant, his face regained its color, though he had already decided to have someone seal this bookstore tomorrow.

At this point, he had lost most of his interest in the place. He casually took down a book and walked over to sit at the table.

Ma Feifei glanced over and found that Zhou Guanyu had chosen the newly released Half a Mu of Flower Fields.

Zhou Guanyu's expression while reading was quite colorful.

At first, he looked surprised. Then confused, then surprised again. In short, those two expressions repeatedly appeared on the face of this sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy.

An hour was neither long nor short. Ma Feifei stared at Zhou Guanyu's outfit for a while, then grew tired of it and went to the corner to tidy up his gold coins.

Now that there was a customer, counting money did not seem appropriate.

After Ma Feifei finished picking up the gold coins from the floor, a golden flash suddenly passed before Zhou Guanyu. The book on his table vanished, and when he looked again, it had returned to the bookshelf.

"Huh!"

This time, Zhou Guanyu was the one who was shocked. He was sixteen and at Spirit Master Third Stage, yet he had not sensed the slightest warning before the book disappeared in front of him!

Not even a Spirit Lord could accomplish something like that.

He looked up at Ma Feifei, but he could not discern his cultivation level. He looked like an ordinary person.

Ma Feifei did not think much of it. He simply walked over and asked, "Your hour is up. Would you like to renew?"

Zhou Guanyu did not understand what "renew" meant, but judging from Ma Feifei's expression, he was probably asking whether Zhou Guanyu wanted to keep reading.

The book was quite interesting. Zhou Guanyu had never read anything like it before. Although there were many parts he did not understand, that did not affect his fondness for the book. What surprised him even more was that his spiritual power had fluctuated somewhat as he read, as though he were cultivating.

But it was not very obvious. Only when he reached particularly moving passages could he clearly feel his spiritual power fluctuating.

Zhou Guanyu silently took out five Spirit Crystals and handed them to Ma Feifei. "Five more hours."

But this time, Ma Feifei shook his head. "The store closes at five. It's three o'clock now, so you can only read for two more hours."

It was not that Ma Feifei was deliberately showing off. Even when Zhao Xiaodao read, the bookstore had to close at five in the evening. Once it was five, the sky grew dark, and it became difficult to see people inside the bookstore, much less read.

Ma Feifei had tried lighting candles before, but they were useless. Presumably, that was one of the system's settings.

"Then two hours."

Zhou Guanyu felt that such a thin book should be enough to finish in two hours. Besides, he could not return home too late, so he ultimately paid for two more hours.

But to his utter surprise, when the book flew back to the shelf two hours later, Zhou Guanyu realized that he had not even read a third of it!

Zhou Guanyu could not even remember how he got home. His mind was filled with the plot of Half a Mu of Flower Fields. Its magical story and beautiful prose rippled endlessly through his thoughts.

Then Zhou Guanyu could not sleep.

Early the next morning, Zhou Guanyu ran to the Mysterious Bookstore, only to find that it was closed!