By the time TianGou got the notice that someone had made their home in the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range, You XiaoMo and the others had pretty much finished their home.
The palace was vast and desolate, so You XiaoMo took out all of his past furniture and even got some plants for the hallways. Although there were only four people living there, once it was carefully furnished, it became full.
By the time Tian Dao sent people over, they already settled down.
Due to the current climate of Xi Jing, when they weren’t sure if it was friend or foe, TianGou took greater care in their approach. However, as careful as they were, they were still sent rolling down the hill by Ling Xiao.
The ones who were sent to investigate were the disciples of Hua Gu, a man called Xiao San (little three/third-wheel) and another called Hua Diao. Since it was easy to remember, they all called them that.
Before, Xiao San wasn’t even at the Imperial Realm, however, ever since he joined the Weeping Ghost Shore with Hua Gu, he became an Imperial Realm practitioner. However, that was still pretty weak and traveling in the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range was as if traveling beside death’s door. But, that didn’t mean he was useless.
Tian Dao gave him a magic pill that could hid his scent, with that, if he wasn’t stupid, he shouldn’t be found. Xiao San was very reliant on the pill, thus when he was struck by Ling Xiao, his whole expression went blank. You XiaoMo even started to wonder if he hit his head and went stupid or something.
“Why do I think he looks familiar?” You XiaoMo said as he tilted his head and looked quizzically at Xiao San. He wasn’t to blame since it was years ago when they last met and that was when Xiao San was still a passerby. It was normal that he didn’t recognize him.
However, just because he couldn’t didn’t mean Ling Xiao couldn’t either. With one look he replied casually, “He’s probably one of Hua Gu’s disciples.”
You XiaoMo made a face of sudden enlightenment and said, “What’s your name?”
Finally Xiao San came to his senses. You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao made a lasting impression on him, if it wasn’t for them, the three of them would still be a hired thugs (hatchet man) in Xing Luo City. Hua Gu wouldn’t be regarded highly by TianGou either. Now, they were much stronger than before.
“Bo-Boss, it’s you! When did you guys come back?” Stripping away his dumb look, Xiao San said with excitement. “Oh, my real name is Hua Shan but everyone calls me Xiao San.”
You XiaoMo nodded and asked, “Why are you here?”
Xiao San scratched his head in embarrassment, “Sir Tian Dao said that some unidentified personnel had appeared in the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range so he told us to come check it out. We didn’t think it would be you guys. If they knew, they would be very happy.”
You XiaoMo continued, “Then go and report back to Tian Dao, after a few days we’ll go find them. Also, PiQiu and the others are still in the Weeping Ghost Shore, right?”
Xiao San knew that PiQiu was the boss’ wife’s contracted demon beast, so he nodded hurriedly in response, “Some of them, but some of them aren’t. If the boss really wants to see them, I can tell Sir Tian Dao to call them back.”
“No need to call them specifically. We’re going to be in the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range, so for the duration of our stay, we can see them at anytime.” You XiaoMo shook his head in rejection. If they were sent away by Tian Dao, then they must have stuff to do.
Xiao San only stayed for a short while before he went to report back to Tian Dao and also to tell everyone the good news.
You XiaoMo paid it no mind and poured his heart and soul into the palace instead. Ever since he saw the Leisure Pavilion of Tian Xiu, he had kept dreaming of his own pill refining room and library. Now that he had a home, he was obviously going to build a Leisure Pavilion for himself.
Both Fu ZiLin and You JunQi were called over to help. One built the bookshelf and the other, the magic herb shelf. As for Ling Xiao, he was sent off by You XiaoMo to buy books, since they needed books for a bookshelf.
There weren’t many books in Xi Jing, since not many demon beasts were interested in it. You XiaoMo only discovered it after searching around a few major cities, thus he dragged Ling Xiao to Zhong Tian. Zhong Tian was the most populated place in TongTian Continent, even some of the famous places of the South Continent could compare. Other than magic herb shops, there were also bookstores.
In reality, jade drives could also store a lot of content and it was both convenient and hassle-free. However, there were always some who liked paperbacks, and most of the mages who had their own bookshelves, preferred paperbacks.
It hadn’t even been a month since the Peach Blossom Ruins incident but the public opinion had already changed. As long as they kept a low profile, it was unlikely that anyone would notice them.
But, ever since Ling Xiao got the upper-hand, twice, against You ZhenTian, there was another person added to the TongTian Continent list of Sacred Realm powerhouses. Also, due to him being five stars, his fame and popularity overshadowed everyone else. Almost everyone was talking about him.
It was important to note that just a few years back, when people knew of Ling Xiao, he was still a Divine Realm seven star pinnacle level. But now he suddenly turned into a five star Sacred Realm practitioner. There was a lot of cries of disbelief, if it was that easy to advance, there wouldn’t be so many people stuck on around the Divine Realm.
When the two arrived at the Central City, the sun was high up in the sky.
They weren’t in a hurry to buy books so they found an inn to rest at first.
Currently the talk of the town was no longer the Peach Blossom Ruins incident, nor the match between You ZhenTian and Ling Xiao. Rather, it was about the upcoming competition.
The competition hosted by the TongTian Palace was different in quality to the one hosted by the Mage Association. The competition was mostly for recruiting talented people, but the Mage Assemblage was a grand meeting geared towards the whole continent. Every time it was a sight to behold.
Since they were already there, You XiaoMo decided that, after they bought the books, they should go check out the XiaoYao Institution. He was going to gather some information from Jiu Ye and Qiao WuXing.
After resting at the inn for half an hour, the two headed for the largest bookstore in the city, PengLai Bookstore. You XiaoMo found it when he was shopping around before, he took a look then and found that it was the richest collection of books he had seen. Even his Shifu’s personal library was less than half of the bookstore.
Although he was mostly buying for show, he wasn’t dumb enough to buy stuff that was completely useless.
Magic herb guides, Demon beast ancient text, TongTian Continent geography, etc. It all added up to quite a bit.
Ling Xiao was acting as a carrier. Just as he was about to be engulfed by books, he finally said something, “Are you done already? You like these books?”
You XiaoMo rubbed his nose embarrassed, he was just a bit curious. PengLai Bookstore didn’t just sell mage books, but also all kinds of interesting stories, like fiction novels but that’s besides the point.
The main point was that they also sell all kinds of [Playboy], [Eighteen Methods to Dual Cultivate], [How to Capture your Lover], [How to Take it By Force], etc. books. All kinds of weird, but these were also the most popular types of books.
The one You XiaoMo was holding was called, [A Horrifying Life], which described the personal experience of a practitioner. He was really curious about the horror stories of this fantasy world, that was the real ‘fantasy’.
The thing behind him were those [Playboy] type books. It wasn’t the first time he glanced over, any men would be a bit interested.
After that, they finally went to the front desk to pay.
The cashier working there was also shocked, since they really bought a lot of books. With a quick glance, there was at least five hundred, a whole shelf was emptied. The ones who saw it didn’t know if they should laugh or cry at it.
The interesting sight caught the attention of a lot of people.
“Miss, please calculate the price of these books.” You XiaoMo said with a smile. He was actually thinking that it wasn’t enough, after all, everyone else had thousands of books, his goal wasn’t this low.
Due to the amount of books, the female cashier wasn’t enough, so she called over a few more helpers. Even though the PengLai Bookstore had a few hundred thousand books, it was their first time with such a big sale.
The abacus clattered on as they calculated the cost. Some books were expensive while others were cheap, but none more expensive than a high level magic pill. You XiaoMo’s wallet was already feeling strained from the transcendent level magic herbs he bought, but he could still afford this little amount of books.
Finally, after fifteen minutes or so, they finally came to a sum. The female cashier added them together but just as she was about to hand it over to You XiaoMo, a voice interjected.
“These as well.” Ling Xiao placed the ten or so books in front of the cashier. The latter paused for a moment, but after she saw the cover, her beautiful face was tinted red.
You XiaoMo tiptoed to take a look and also went red, an even bigger reaction than the cashier. So that’s what he was doing when he left. [Shunga Playboy], [Eighteen Methods to Dual Cultivate], etc. What is this fucked-up feeling?
Seeing as the cashier added these to the total with a red face, You XiaoMo felt as if his eyes were spitting out fire. He seriously wanted to take them and shove them back onto the shelves. It was not about losing face. It wa only that if Ling Xiao read them, the one who was going to suffer was him!
At last, You XiaoMo could only watch as the ten books got stuffed into the magic bag. He wondered if they accepted returns?
