Recaps

Jiang Yibei sent Jiang Bieli to catch Bulbasaur while cultivators outside the Bookstore feared that deaths in the Book World might be real. Ma Feifei confirmed that they were, then learned the system could charge him and his employees for dead readers; it revealed that Yun Qingyang had over a hundred million Spirit Crystals.

• Jiang Yibei told Jiang Bieli to catch Bulbasaur and dismissed his worries about the three protectors, reminding him Uncle Zhou was waiting outside.
• Cultivators watching the projection wondered why the three defeated men had not emerged, and one suggested they might truly be dead.
• Ma Feifei asked the system whether death in the Book World was real, and the system confirmed that it was.
• Ma Feifei protested that entrants had not been told the risks, but the system warned him not to reveal the Book World's rules and explained that he was responsible for readers who died.
• The system told Ma Feifei that unpaid Book Qi debts could be taken from employees' Spirit Crystals and revealed that Yun Qingyang possessed over a hundred million.

Jiang Bieli caught a Bulbasaur and was sent out of the book world, confirming the cultivators’ suspicions about how people returned. Meanwhile, Zhang Wu struggled to find food or shelter until a kind local woman welcomed him into her home, where her husband offered him wine.

• Jiang Bieli caught a Bulbasaur, disappeared from the book world, and reappeared outside the Bookstore.
• Jiang Bieli told the cultivators that he had been sent out immediately after catching the Pokémon, and they concluded their guess was correct.
• As night fell, Ma Feifei spotted Zhang Wu wandering the streets without food or lodging because he refused to ask for help or set aside his pride.
• Zhang Wu knocked on a local woman’s door and asked for food, and Xiao Ying invited him inside to make noodles.
• Xiao Ying’s husband greeted Zhang Wu and went to fetch homemade wine to warm him.

Zhang Wu drank heavily with Xiao Ying’s husband until both men were drunk, then collapsed and knocked Xiao Ying down when she tried to help him. The chapter left Xiao Ying crying out for him to stop.

• Xiao Ying served Zhang Wu noodles, and her husband brought out his homemade wine.
• Zhang Wu praised the wine and drank cup after cup with Xiao Ying’s husband.
• Xiao Ying’s husband passed out, while Zhang Wu became heavily intoxicated and fell off his chair.
• Xiao Ying tried to help Zhang Wu up, but he rolled over and knocked her to the ground.
• Xiao Ying cried, “Guest, don’t!”

Zhang Wu assaulted Xiao Ying, killed her husband, and dragged her away while Ma Feifei was forbidden by the System from interfering. Outside the Bookstore, Chang Kong threatened to kill Zhang Wu, while the crowd recognized the masked woman beside him as Miss Liu Ying.

• Zhang Wu attacked Xiao Ying, and Ma Feifei asked the System if she could intervene, but it refused because the plot had not yet harmed a native.
• Xiao Ying's husband woke and tried to pull Zhang Wu away, but Zhang Wu struck him and caused him to fall onto broken glass and die.
• Zhang Wu slapped Xiao Ying, dismissed her grief, and dragged her by the hair toward the room.
• Chang Kong declared that he would kill Zhang Wu, and the cultivators recognized him as one of the Sword Sect's Nine Emperors.
• The crowd identified the masked woman beside Chang Kong as Miss Liu Ying and surged toward them, so Chang Kong unleashed his aura and warned that anyone who came closer would die.

Ma Feifei killed Zhang Wu to save Xiao Ying, but the system penalized him despite rewarding him for protecting a native inhabitant. The projection then showed Liu Changsheng reaching shore with Lapras, only for cultivators to harpoon Lapras, and Liu Changsheng picked up a harpoon.

• Zhang Wu attacked Xiao Ying, but a palm that appeared out of nowhere struck him dead before he could kill her.
• The cultivators outside the Bookstore realized Zhang Wu had not returned from the Pokémon world and feared that he was truly dead.
• Ma Feifei received system rewards and penalties for Zhang Wu's death and the native inhabitant's safety, then saw Xiao Ying asleep at home with the man of the house.
• Lapras carried Liu Changsheng to shore, but cultivators threw a net over it and fatally harpooned its neck.
• Liu Changsheng silently watched Lapras fall, then walked over and picked up a harpoon.

Ma Feifei watched his book energy plunge as deaths mounted, while hundreds of cultivators caught Pokémon and left the book world. When rare and Sacred Beast-quality Pokémon began appearing, Gongsun Qiong told Zhao Xiaodao she had devised a way for them to catch one.

• Ma Feifei learned that 130 people had caught Pokémon, but their Pokémon would remain in the book until everyone left and they paid Spirit Crystals to retrieve them.
• Over five days, more than a hundred cultivators died and over five hundred caught Pokémon, leaving Ma Feifei more than twenty million book energy points in debt and just over two hundred people inside.
• The system announced that rare-quality Pokémon were appearing in large numbers and that a Sacred Beast-quality Pokémon had appeared, prompting the remaining cultivators to search frantically.
• Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao continued washing dishes at the restaurant because they lacked the coins to leave and were wary of their ability to catch Pokémon.
• Gongsun Qiong told Zhao Xiaodao she had thought of a way to catch Pokémon, and they set out to try it.

Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao joined a huge gathering of cultivators around a powerful Pokémon, and Zhang Yunji warned them that death inside the book might be real. As Gongsun Qiong agreed to leave with him, a roar sounded and a figure shot into the sky.

• Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao found more than fifty cultivators gathered around a pit, where Gongsun Qiong sensed a powerful Pokémon that was not listed in the Pokédex.
• Zhang Yunji arrived and explained that cultivators believed anyone killed inside the book would die for real.
• Zhang Yunji urged Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao to leave with him and catch Pokémon elsewhere.
• Gongsun Qiong agreed to leave, but a deafening roar rang out and a figure shot into the sky.

Flame Emperor appeared before the cultivators, who rushed to capture the Sacred Beast while Zhang Yunji tried to leave and was repeatedly scorched by its attacks. The cultivators then joined forces to attack Flame Emperor.

• Ma Feifei recognized the Pokémon as Flame Emperor, and the cultivators outside the Bookstore discussed its rarity and their desire to capture it.
• Chang Kong admitted he wanted Flame Emperor, while Zhang Yunji and Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao headed away from the gathering crowd.
• A passing cultivator distracted Zhang Yunji, and Flame Emperor burned him twice as the cultivator fled toward the battle.
• Ma Feifei decided to recruit Zhang Yunji for the Bookstore, while Zhang Yunji told his companions they should leave.
• More than a hundred cultivators agreed to work together and attacked Flame Emperor from multiple directions.

Flame Emperor overwhelmed the sealed cultivators, killing some and driving hundreds to flee. As Flame Emperor cornered the injured Zhang Yunji, Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao stayed beside him, and Ma Feifei weighed whether to intervene despite the punishment.

• Flame Emperor repelled the cultivators and killed one who charged him, while Chang Kong judged their chances against the Sacred Beast to be about even if he were there.
• The System told Ma Feifei that Pokémon at or above Sacred Beast level did not have to be captured through strength alone.
• Flame Emperor's flames burned Zhang Yunji's knees, then he unleashed attacks that killed or drove away hundreds of cultivators.
• When Flame Emperor charged toward Zhang Yunji, he urged Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao to escape, but they stayed with him.
• Ma Feifei considered risking a System punishment to save Zhang Yunji, and Flame Emperor appeared in front of Zhang Yunji as Chang Kong and Liu Ying watched tensely.

Gongsun Qiong’s plan to befriend Pokémon with food led the Flame Emperor to choose Zhang Yunji as its trainer. The first One Book Multiple Travels journey ended, and the returning cultivators gathered to see which spirit beasts they had obtained.

• The Flame Emperor took the Pokémon food beside Zhang Yunji and ate it, while Gongsun Qiong explained that food could help people befriend spirit beasts.
• After eating, the Flame Emperor licked Zhang Yunji and rubbed against his arm, and Gongsun Qiong urged him to use a Poké Ball.
• The Flame Emperor entered Zhang Yunji’s Poké Ball willingly, then Zhang Yunji vanished from the Book World projection.
• Gongsun Qiong revealed she still had more Pokémon food, while the other cultivators abandoned attempts to catch Sacred Beasts and caught Pokémon of lower grades instead.
• On the afternoon of the eighth day, the Book World journey ended, and the returning cultivators gathered around the book to see their spirit beasts.

Zhang Yunji reached the front of the line to claim his Sacred Beast, but Ma Feifei demanded twelve million Spirit Crystals, which he could not afford. Desperate to keep the Flame Emperor, Zhang Yunji offered his younger sister to the shopkeeper.

• Cultivators lined up to claim their little spirits, while some borrowed or lent Spirit Crystals to cover the costs.
• Elder Yan gave Lang Kun three hundred thousand Spirit Crystals for his rare-quality little spirit, then secretly sent a disciple to find out where Lang Kun was staying.
• Liu Ying arrived with Chang Kong, who scolded Zhang Yunji for leaving and ordered him to claim his Sacred Beast quickly.
• Zhang Yunji worried that he had no money and considered, then rejected, asking Gongsun Qiong or Chang Kong for a loan.
• Ma Feifei told Zhang Yunji that the Flame Emperor cost twelve million Spirit Crystals, and Zhang Yunji admitted he could not pay.
• Zhang Yunji offered his younger sister, a peerless beauty, to the shopkeeper.

Ma Feifei persuaded Zhang Yunji to join the Divine Bookstore by explaining why Flame Emperor had chosen him, and Zhang Yunji accepted in exchange for the Sacred Beast. The Bookstore gained its second employee, while onlookers speculated that the Zhang family’s standing would rise.

• Ma Feifei offered Zhang Yunji a Sacred Beast if he became the Divine Bookstore’s second employee.
• Ma Feifei told Zhang Yunji that Flame Emperor had chosen him because he had risked his life to protect Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao.
• Zhang Yunji agreed to serve the Divine Bookstore, completing Ma Feifei’s recruitment quest and earning him The Art of War and a new side quest.
• The system produced a Poké Ball containing the Sacred Beast, and Zhang Yunji left with it to start work the next day.
• Onlookers saw Zhang Yunji’s Poké Ball and speculated that the Zhang family might rise in rank, though some expected a Saint to come out of seclusion.

After the little sprites were sold, Ma Feifei discovered the bookstore had earned a fortune, but Yun Qingyang caught him hiding his profit share. His excitement faded when the system deducted the value of a free Sacred Beast from his book aura.

• Ma Feifei told Yun Qingyang that the Spirit Crystals from the day's business had gone to the books, but the system credited his profit share to the checkout counter.
• Ma Feifei retrieved a space pouch containing ten million Spirit Crystals, his ten-percent share of the bookstore's hundred-million-coin earnings.
• Ma Feifei celebrated his wealth and calculated that he could earn 120 million Spirit Crystals a year, while Yun Qingyang listened from the doorway.
• Ma Feifei checked his system panel and learned that an employee's free Sacred Beast had cost him twelve million book aura points, leaving him with thirty-six million.

On the Mysterious Bookstore’s first day after its expansion, cultivators speculated that the Diamond Sutra might grant cultivation or contain techniques, despite nobody having understood it. Ma Feifei made Zhang Yunji a Bookstore employee, and the gathered cultivators suspected Zhang Yunji had chosen the Bookstore’s protection rather than risk returning to the imperial capital.

• Cultivators waiting outside the expanded Bookstore debated whether it had gained new books and noted that nobody had discovered the Diamond Sutra’s effects.
• A cultivator argued that the Diamond Sutra might increase cultivation or provide techniques, since Puzhi had paid no fee and gained no obvious special effect.
• Ma Feifei opened the Bookstore and appointed Zhang Yunji to collect tickets and maintain order.
• The cultivators speculated that Zhang Yunji had joined the Bookstore to protect himself from being intercepted on his way back to the imperial capital.
• The cultivators discussed Chang Kong’s relationship with Zhang Yunji and concluded that forcing Zhang Yunji to return could endanger both him and Chang Kong’s daughter.

The Bookstore reopened with a vast spatial formation and a private room, drawing crowds eager to browse its books. Ma Feifei asked Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao to have the Wantong Chamber of Commerce organize the Pokémon Championship, but his proposed date clashed with Great Chu’s state banquet.

• Cultivators entered the newly expanded Bookstore, marveled at its spatial formation, and crowded around the books while Ma Feifei ordered them to keep quiet.
• Ma Feifei led Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao to a private room, where they tried the specialty Enlightenment Tea and felt their understanding and cultivation improve.
• Ma Feifei asked Gongsun Qiong to have the Wantong Chamber of Commerce organize the Pokémon Championship, and she welcomed the opportunity.
• Ma Feifei proposed holding the competition five months later, and Gongsun Qiong pointed out that the date coincided with Great Chu’s once-every-five-years state banquet.

Ma Feifei and Gongsun Qiong found a way to hold the Pokémon Tournament despite King Chu Heng’s state-banquet restrictions. They settled on a disputed buffer zone outside Dubian Town, then Ma Feifei took Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao to browse the Bookstore’s new books.

• Gongsun Qiong explained that Great Chu’s state banquet would make holding the Pokémon Tournament during its scheduled period illegal.
• Ma Feifei rejected moving the tournament earlier or postponing it because there was not enough time to gather and train enough participants.
• Gongsun Qiong suggested holding the tournament in a disputed buffer zone outside Dubian Town, and Ma Feifei agreed despite Zhao Xiaodao’s concerns about King Chu Heng.
• Gongsun Qiong said she was confident the Wantong Chamber of Commerce could hold the tournament even if King Chu Heng objected.
• Ma Feifei invited Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao to browse the new books and explained that private reading rooms cost one hundred Spirit Crystals per hour.

Ma Feifei helped Zhao Xiaodao and Gongsun Qiong choose books in the Bookstore’s private room, finding one to aid each of them. After they went to read, he returned to copying books and reflected on a new system quest to help a reader reach Spirit Saint.

• Ma Feifei showed Zhao Xiaodao and Gongsun Qiong the remaining books and selected The Pacification of the Demons for Zhao Xiaodao to improve her cultivation.
• Ma Feifei found Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art and recommended it to Gongsun Qiong for its advanced arithmetic methods.
• Gongsun Qiong accepted the book and went with Zhao Xiaodao to the private room to read.
• Ma Feifei returned to the cash register and planned to copy his system-rewarded books, including The Art of War.
• Ma Feifei considered the Transcendent to Saint side quest, which required him to help a book lover reach Spirit Saint within a year.

By December’s end, Dubian Town had grown past a million residents, but the influx of cultivators brought displacement, violence, and danger to Pokémon owners. Chang Kong and Liu Ying took bodyguard work near Nine Heavens Mountain after Liu Ying spent their Spirit Crystals on a Jigglypuff, leaving them unable to afford tickets or lodging for long.

• Dubian Town’s population exceeded one million as cultivators and merchants arrived, driving out most ordinary residents while law and order deteriorated.
• Assassins began targeting cultivators with Pokémon, and the Wantong Trading Market established a bodyguard service to protect them.
• A cultivator watched his Charmander battle a fourth-tier Azure-eyed Wolf while Chang Kong and Liu Ying worked nearby.
• Liu Ying reminded Chang Kong that their bodyguard job would earn enough for two exclusive-number tickets, and Chang Kong hid his anger over her purchase of an ordinary-quality Jigglypuff.
• Chang Kong recalled that Liu Ying had spent their remaining Spirit Crystals on the Pokémon, leaving them short of money for tickets, cultivation, and lodging.

Charmander advanced to fourth-tier after defeating an Azure-eyed Wolf, while Shen Xiaobao tried to persuade Liu Ying to attend an auction in exchange for exclusive numbers at the Divine Bookstore. After he left, Chang Kong and Liu Ying came upon two cultivators testing sword techniques they had learned from books.

• Charmander ate the Azure-eyed Wolf's core and advanced to fourth-tier, then its cultivator recalled it and prepared to return with Chang Kong and Liu Ying.
• Shen Xiaobao invited Liu Ying to the Wantong Trading Market auction and said four Yellow Quality books would appear at the Divine Bookstore the next day, making exclusive numbers difficult to obtain.
• Shen Xiaobao offered Liu Ying two exclusive numbers if she attended the auction, but she refused, so he left and told them their mission was complete.
• Chang Kong declined Liu Ying's suggestion to follow Shen Xiaobao, and they headed toward the trading market to collect their payment.
• Chang Kong and Liu Ying encountered two cultivators dueling with sword moves to compare techniques they had comprehended from books at the Divine Bookstore.

Ma Feifei attended the Wantong Trading Market’s first grand auction, where Gongsun Qiong gave him five million Spirit Crystals in gratitude for the Pokémon Tournament’s boost to business. Meanwhile, Chang Kong and Liu Ying revealed that he had put an item gifted by his wife up for auction, hoping she would not find out.

• Chang Kong and Liu Ying admired the sword techniques that cultivators had learned from books before heading to the auction house.
• Ma Feifei arrived at the auction with Yun Qingyang and Zhang Yunji and asked them to lend him Spirit Crystals if he wanted to bid.
• Gongsun Qiong joined Ma Feifei and gave him five million Spirit Crystals, explaining that the Pokémon Tournament had greatly increased the market’s profits.
• Yun Qingyang urged Ma Feifei to accept Gongsun Qiong’s gift.
• Liu Ying asked Chang Kong why he had put up for auction an item his wife had given him, and he said his wife would not find out.

Ma Feifei attended an auction where a rare Eevee sold for six million Spirit Crystals, then won the Yang Bell of Winged Flight for nine hundred thousand. Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo recognized the bidder in VIP suite number one as a target for a future tomb raid.

• The auction opened with a rare-quality Eevee, which sold for six million Spirit Crystals to guest number xxx.
• The auctioneer introduced the Yang Bell of Winged Flight, and Ma Feifei decided to bid because it might help with his Tomb Raider side quest.
• Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo, who had little money left after Li Beiguo bought a Pokémon, began bidding against Ma Feifei.
• Ma Feifei outbid Lin Wuchi at nine hundred thousand Spirit Crystals and won the bell.
• Lin Wuchi asked Li Beiguo to find out who occupied suite number one, then revealed he wanted to dig up their family's ancestral grave.

At the auction, Gongsun Qiong sold the eighty-eight mansions near the Mysterious Bookstore for huge sums. Ma Feifei bid on the final mansion as a gift for employee Zhang Yunji, but Chang Kong raised the price to compete.

• The auctioneer opened bidding on Mansion Number One, and it sold for two million Spirit Crystals.
• Gongsun Qiong explained to Ma Feifei that later mansions would sell for less, though the auction would still earn her a fortune.
• Chang Kong considered buying a mansion for his family, but another cultivator bid six hundred thousand for the final lot, Mansion Number Eighty-Eight.
• Ma Feifei learned Zhang Yunji was living at an inn and instructed his maid to bid seven hundred thousand to give him the mansion.
• Chang Kong raised his paddle and bid eight hundred thousand.

Ma Feifei outbid Chang Kong for an estate at the auction, then gave its deed to Zhang Yunji. Afterward, Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo recognized Ma Feifei as the man who had taken their Youthful Appearance Pearl, while Chang Kong abandoned his plan to make a deal with the bookstore owner.

• Ma Feifei raised his bid to nine hundred thousand Spirit Crystals and won the estate, while Liu Ying warned Chang Kong that further bidding could leave them unable to buy exclusive numbers.
• After the auction, Ma Feifei gave the estate deed to Zhang Yunji and left with Yun Qingyang.
• Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo recognized Ma Feifei from the incident involving their Youthful Appearance Pearl, and Lin Wuchi planned to follow him and rob his estate.
• Chang Kong and Liu Ying recognized Ma Feifei as the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore, and Chang Kong decided not to make a deal with him.

Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo tried to break into the Mysterious Bookstore to steal its books, but their lock-picking skills failed against its strange doors. They climbed onto the roof to enter from above, where they noticed the tree’s shadow seemed unusually short.

• Lin Wuchi persuaded the nervous Li Beiguo to pick the bookstore’s front door, but Li Beiguo could not find its lock.
• The two tried the back door and failed to pick that lock as well.
• Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo decided to climb onto the roof and remove tiles to get inside.
• As they crept across the roof, they saw their shadows stretch to the well and noticed the tree’s shadow looked too short.

Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo tried to break into the Mysterious Bookstore but were trapped in ice by Yun Qingyang. Ma Feifei captured them and demanded they admit their guilt, leaving Li Beiguo pleading for forgiveness.

• Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo removed roof tiles to enter the bookstore, but a Ninth-tier formation blocked their way.
• A cold wind froze the two thieves on the roof overnight.
• Ma Feifei found the frozen men and asked Yun Qingyang to free them.
• Yun Qingyang shattered the ice, but Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo tried to escape, so Ma Feifei knocked them into his courtyard.
• Lin Wuchi denied wrongdoing until Yun Qingyang slapped him twice, then he stopped arguing.
• Li Beiguo confessed and begged Ma Feifei to forgive them.