Book Shoots of a Single Hue, an Endless Aftertaste

Faced with the sudden appearance of the plump, fair-skinned figure, Qiu Yan did not seem particularly surprised, as if he had expected it all along. And the plump figure, after appearing, did not panic; he simply raised his hands and threw out the brocade pouch.

Snap!

Qiu Yan caught the brocade pouch, his expression changing slightly.

"This brocade pouch..."

The brocade pouch in his hand, judging from its appearance alone, did not seem particularly unusual, but it stirred something within Qiu Yan, because he had already recognized its origin.

"This is a brocade pouch given to me by the Book Elder from the Spring and Autumn Academy. Inside is a small Sage Paper! However, I clearly carried this with me, so why is it here now?"

Not long ago, Qiu Yan visited the Ma Residence and was taken to the Spring and Autumn Academy. In the Library Pavilion, he met an old man with a clear purpose: he asked Qiu Yan to use the Sage Worthies Hall of the Spring and Autumn Academy to go to the Scholar Forest, but in exchange, Qiu Yan needed to do something for him.

At the time, Qiu Yan did not make a decision immediately. After returning, he met Chen Jing, accepted the invitation, and then entered the literati through the underground Sage Worthies Clay Statues of Scholar Forest. The matter was then put to rest. However, he did not expect that the brocade pouch given to him by the old man would appear here.

The brocade pouch Mortal Realm belonged to the mortal realm and was a material object, while I, being in the Scholar Forest, am a soul, and the things around me are all thoughts. Yet this brocade pouch has now appeared before me, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Qiu Yan rubbed his fingers together, trying to open the brocade pouch to see what secrets the Sage Paper held, but the pouch remained firmly shut. No matter how much Qiu Yan ignited his Heart Fire and circulated his soul power, he still couldn't open it!

"Kindness?"

Just as he was surprised, a crunching sound came from the side. Qiu Yan looked over and saw the chubby little boy. The little guy was lying on a stalagmite and biting it. Crunching, crunching, he actually bit off a layer of powder from the stalagmite.

"This little guy is really a handful. However, he didn't react at all when we were at the foot of the Historical River and the Book Mountain, but he suddenly jumped out now. I wonder why."

Thinking to himself, Qiu Yan walked over. Looking at the dazzling stalagmites along the way, a guess arose in his mind.

"Could it be because of these Book Mine? Hmm? Book Mountain, Book Mine... Speaking of which, the elders of the Spring and Autumn Academy are called 'Book Elder.' I wonder if that's related to this place?"

Click! Click! Click!

The chubby boy was biting the stalagmite with gusto when suddenly his neck was tightened, and he was lifted up by the neck. He clung tightly to the stalagmite, but unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough, and in the end, he was thrown into the air, waving his arms and kicking his legs, his face full of displeasure.

Looking at the chubby white figure that was still baring its teeth and claws, Qiu Yan frowned slightly, then visualized and projected it out. The next moment, fabric appeared out of thin air on the chubby boy, solidifying into a short outfit. Because it was too small, it looked somewhat like baby clothes.

"Hmm?"

The chubby boy had been struggling, his bright black eyes fixed on the half-eaten stalagmite, but now that clothes had appeared Creation from Nothing on him, his attention immediately shifted. He curiously touched himself and then burst into laughter.

Feeling the changes in the little one in his hands, Qiu Yan shook his head helplessly. "You Ginseng Baby, you're really unruly. It was fine that you followed me here, but what are you doing out here now? It's not safe here. Hmm, however, you're currently in a state of soul Spirit Projection, in the form of an infant, so calling you 'Ginseng Baby' isn't quite appropriate anymore. We need to change the name. Let's just call you 'Ginseng Treasure'."

This chubby little boy, named "Ginseng Treasure" by Qiu Yan, is actually Ginseng Baby.

In the Mortal Realm, when Qiu Yan left the inn, the Ginseng Baby clung to him and accompanied him. Later, when Qiu Yan opened the Path of the Scholar Forest, the Ginseng Baby, who had been following him closely, also had its soul Spirit Projection and unexpectedly hid within Qiu Yan's Divine Soul.

Although rare, there are historical precedents for this situation where a soul is hidden within another soul. The reason it is possible now is that the Ginseng Baby has been listening to Qiu Yan recite and read aloud every day for the past few years, receiving his Literary Thought. Its lineage of Literary Thought is almost identical to Qiu Yan's. It is precisely because of this that its soul is resilient and almost originates from the same source as Qiu Yan's Divine Soul.

After arriving with the soul, the Ginseng Baby remained peacefully within Qiu Yan's soul until now, when it finally revealed its true form.

Qiu Yan visualized a set of clothes for the Ginseng Baby, put it down, and then sent out thoughts to communicate with it.

Although the Ginseng Baby can now Spirit Projection its soul from its body, it clearly lacks sufficient understanding of the vocal system. It cannot speak through mental vibrations and can only communicate through thoughts. Moreover, due to its limited thinking ability, many things are unclear, and Qiu Yan can only understand the general outline.

But even this rough estimate surprised Qiu Yan.

"You mean, the stalagmites surrounding this Book Ore Crystals are a great tonic for you?"

After understanding the Ginseng Baby's goal, Qiu Yan couldn't help but feel puzzled. He observed the stalagmite that had been half-eaten and tried to sense the radiating artistic conception from it.

These stalagmites, encased in crystals, would melt if broken, so they hadn't caught Qiu Yan's attention. Now, thanks to Ginseng Baby's reminder, after careful observation and contemplation, he finally made a discovery.

"I see. If the Book Ore Crystals inside represent human thoughts, then the stalagmites encasing them are like the sound of reading aloud. Ginseng Treasure's favorite thing is listening to me read aloud, and the reason it came out now is because it discovered something similar."

Thinking to himself, Qiu Yan glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the stalagmites scattered on the ground.

"For Ginseng Treasure, the ground is filled with the sound of reading, no wonder he can't stay calm." Thinking about this, Qiu Yan hung the brocade pouch at his waist, looked down and saw that Ginseng Baby had already gnawed the stalagmite clean, leaving only a piece of yellow crystal.

Ignoring the jubilant Ginseng Treasure, Qiu Yan picked up the crystal, its essence permeating his soul, revealing insights into Go.

At this moment, Qiu Yan had two crystals in his hands, one related to the Painting Dao and the other to the Way of Chess.

"The information contained within the two crystals cannot be deciphered through Incense Faith, so the only option is to directly imprint it..."

With a thought, Qiu Yan felt the two insights he had been holding onto drift through the Soul Aperture and into the Heart Demon Body.

After escaping the Pitch-Black Space, it fell into weakness, and its Heart Demon Body was torn apart. Its main part has been rebuilt and is now hidden in the Divine Power Space of a deity.

After receiving the two insights, the Heart Demon Body rapidly changed, absorbing the insights and simulating the feelings within, like creating a wax figure, imprinting it out of thin air.

This kind of rubbing is not Qiu Yan's own understanding and insights, but a forced imitation through a hasty and superficial approach. The process does not increase knowledge, but only leaves a rough outline for future research.

Once the two insights were copied, the copies traveled through the Soul Aperture to the Divine Spirit Body and were placed on the continental projection Divine Pool, while the original insights were returned.

After finishing all this, Qiu Yan came to his senses, looked down, and was immediately speechless. He saw that every so often along the way, there was a crystal lying there, gleaming with a pale yellow luster, surrounded by many fragments, clearly the traces left by some Taotie.

After taking two steps forward, Qiu Yan suddenly paused, realizing a problem he had overlooked.

"The light emitted by these crystals all seems to be the same..."

With a start, Qiu Yan bent down and picked up a crystal at his feet. As soon as the crystal entered his hand, the insights within it spread out, constructing a dao (a system of strategic alliances) in Qiu Yan's mind, with black and white chess pieces facing off.

This is a Book Mine about the art of chess.

Surprise flashed in Qiu Yan's eyes, his expression changed slightly, and he silently took a few steps forward, picked up another exposed crystal, and after holding it, the crystal's artistic conception also constructed a chess scene and profound insights in his mind.

"Could it be...?"

Qiu Yan's eyelids twitched. He suppressed his surprise, quickened his pace, and his figure flashed like lightning, almost turning into a phantom. With a thought, the crystals along the way flew up on their own and landed in his hand, where he was comprehended.

Then, Qiu Yan's surprise deepened, and her eyes filled with delight.

Finally, he saw the plump, white figure staggering ahead and stopped.

Compared to before, the Ginseng Baby's belly was slightly bulging, indicating that it had eaten quite a bit, but it was still gnawing on the stalagmite beside it, clearly showing no sign of stopping.

"Ginseng Treasure," Qiu Yan said, approaching the stalagmite and sending it a thought, "Can you identify the type of enlightenment hidden within it? And by following the connections, find similar Book Mine?"

Upon hearing this, the Ginseng Baby stopped what it was doing, looked up, a bewildered expression on its face, its eyes darting around, and uttered a muffled phrase—

"Same taste, gets better with every bite..."

At the same time.

Inside a cave within a cave, in a long passage, three figures stood motionless.

These three men were Sun Yong, Zhou Meng, and Huang Xun. Their expressions were somewhat different from when they were outside the cave.

Outside, the three of them displayed an atmosphere of close friends from a distinguished Aristocratic Clan, treating each other as equals. Sun Yong even occasionally showed respect and deference to Zhou and Huang, as if he were a junior student.

But now, Zhou and Huang, who are figures who have brought together the Literary Heart, are bowing their heads and looking down, appearing as servants and subjects. On the contrary, Sun Yong is composed and authoritative without being angry.

Strangely, the three of them did not obtain any Book Ore Crystals along the way, and they paid no attention to the stalagmites along the way, as if they did not care about them at all.

Sun Yong raised his hand and touched the cave wall. His hand gleamed as he carefully sensed it, then squinted and said, "We're very close, but as the road extends outwards, it gradually drifts further away. We must carve out a new path."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou and Huang nodded, each taking out an item from their sleeves—two mirrors—and then their Literary Thought flowed into the mirrors.

Swish!

The mirror flashed, casting light onto the cave wall, which then began to melt!