259: Book Spirit Senior

Zhou Yan retreated back into the reading room.

Although there was no one on this floor, that shout just now would likely attract some trouble.

He quickly dragged the bird-like Soul and hid in another reading room.

"Wake up, are you okay?"

Zhou Yan tried shaking it, but it still had its tongue hanging out, looking half-dead.

However, Zhou Yan glanced at the other's panel again.

[Qingxu Book Spirit]

[Realm: Mortal ~ Unknown]

[Vitality: 1/1]

[Mana: 1/1]

After confirming that the other's stunned state had worn off, Zhou Yan also roughly guessed that this little thing was likely faking unconsciousness.

That punch just now had indeed startled him, so he used some force and triggered true damage.

However, although this fellow's health bar was only one point, its Realm appeared strange, so that punch didn't truly hurt it; it only produced a stun effect.

Since it was no longer stunned yet still hadn't woken up, combined with its earlier act of playing a ghost to scare people, Zhou Yan realized this was probably not a good thing.

Looking at the crow-like spirit before him, a mischievous grin appeared on Zhou Yan's face, though his tone still sounded panicked.

"Oh no, oh no... Who on earth is this? Does this count as intentional injury? No, it should be intentional homicide, right?"

Seeing no reaction, Zhou Yan continued talking to himself.

"Damn, my life has just begun; it can't be ruined like this... It seems I have no choice."

"Since it's just a Soul body, I might as well refine it while it's still out. Then there'll be no witness, and no one will know I killed a Soul."

"Cough, cough-cough... Who am I? Where am I?" Hearing that Zhou Yan wanted to refine it, the crow Soul stopped pretending, let out a few fake coughs, and struggled to get up.

"Stop pretending," Zhou Yan said, his smile vanishing. "First playing a ghost to scare me, then faking death to trick me. Who exactly are you? If you don't talk, I'm really going to act."

The crow originally wanted to be tough, but it lost its nerve when it remembered that the other's fist could actually knock it unconscious.

"You junior, why are you so bad at taking a joke! You're clearly the one who attacked first, and I didn't even hold it against you, yet you're turning around and blaming me?"

Zhou Yan clenched his fist, making a move to deliver another punch.

"Hey, wait, wait, wait! I'm the Book Spirit of the Library, you can't hit me! I'm a Senior; you should respect your teachers and their Dao, honor your elders, and love the young, brother! Calm down!"

The Book Spirit hurriedly backed away, extending a wing to signal Zhou Yan to stop.

It was originally the Book Spirit of the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven. Usually tasked with guarding the vast collection of books, it was always bored, so it occasionally played pranks on the Disciples who came to read.

But recently, it heard that a Saint had returned. The Disciples were either preparing for the ceremony or staking out the Saint everywhere, so no one came to the Library, making it even more bored.

Then someone suddenly arrived, even carrying equipment from the Eastern Region. It thought Zhou Yan was an outsider and decided to use him as a target for a scare. After all, most of the locals knew of its existence; only outsiders were easy to frighten.

As it turned out, it had miscalculated.

Of all its calculations, it never expected that a junior at the Nascent Soul Stage would have the means to directly attack its spirit body and even knock it unconscious.

Although it knew the other's cultivation wasn't enough to refine it, since he could knock it out, there might be other means... It was truly afraid of what Zhou Yan might do to it.

After hearing this explanation, Zhou Yan's expression returned to normal.

So it's a Book Spirit; such characters are indeed common in Xuanhuan novels.

Speaking of which, can't Book Spirits usually be used as search engines? Through it, could he find the information he needed faster?

"Haha, so it's Senior Book Spirit. I've heard much about you."

Seeing Zhou Yan suddenly become enthusiastic, the Book Spirit was taken aback.

How could he be so polite one moment after wanting to refine it the next? To be arrogant first and then respectful—the thought of it made the bird want to laugh.

"Cough, what, you've heard my story?" The Book Spirit immediately adopted a haughty expression, its previous dishevelment gone.

Zhou Yan smiled along from the side.

"Of course, of course! Everyone says Senior Book Spirit is well-read and omniscient. You must have read every book in the Library; your knowledge must be boundless."

"Cluck, cluck, cluck, don't, don't, don't..." The crow became completely smug, one wing covering its mouth as it laughed incessantly, the other waving repeatedly. "Don't stop, keep the compliments coming."

Zhou Yan then praised its beautiful form, vibrant feathers, and elegant speech from all angles, making it laugh so much it couldn't stop.

Seeing that the other had mostly forgotten about being elbowed by him, Zhou Yan finally got to the point.

"Um... Senior Book Spirit, since you are so well-read, this Disciple would like to find a few books. I wonder..."

"No."

The Book Spirit maintained its smile but rejected him flatly.

Zhou Yan's expression froze.

So all my praising was for nothing?

"It's not that I couldn't help you," the Book Spirit said slowly, "but you attacked me just because I gave you a little scare, and you even threatened me."

"So, I, the Great Book Spirit, naturally won't tell you."

"Just use the terminal to look them up yourself!"

With that, the Book Spirit vanished on the spot, making a face at Zhou Yan before leaving.

"You dead black-boned chicken! Don't let me catch you!"

After a meaningless interlude, Zhou Yan was somewhat speechless. This Qingxu Grotto-Heaven really had all sorts of people; even the non-humans were so eccentric.

This Sect is going to be finished sooner or later.

After lamenting for a while longer, Zhou Yan looked at the terminal the dead chicken had mentioned.

This was his first time in the Library, and he hadn't asked for details before, so he really didn't know what it was. A large disk was mounted on the wall of the reading room; it looked like a decoration no matter how you sliced it. Who would have thought it could be used to look up books?

Zhou Yan touched it curiously. Seeing no reaction, he injected a sliver of mana.

The disk immediately changed, revealing a rectangular interface.

Judging from the text on it, this should be a Library management System. With the proper authorization, one could directly search for and teleport books, which was very convenient.

However, only Inner Sect Disciples had access; outer Sect members could only check locations, and servants could only view sections.

But none of this affected Zhou Yan.

He pressed his Saint token against the scanner, and the interface underwent a drastic transformation.

All the small ads in the corners disappeared, and the useless buttons vanished.

The overall interface was clean and simple, and the screen-switching speed was much faster.

Zhou Yan quickly locked onto the books he needed.

«Latest Edition of the Encyclopedia of Laws», «Encyclopedia of Human Race Physiques», and «Fifty Years of Cultivation, Thirty Years to Nascent Soul».

"Yeah, these are the ones."

After clicking to order, the door to the reading room was pushed open again.

Seeing the newcomer, Zhou Yan also revealed a kind smile, because the one walking in holding three books was none other than the Book Spirit with an awkward grin.

"Cough, cough, Big Brother Saint... Can we... can we reconcile?"

Zhou Yan didn't answer; he just smiled as he walked past it and closed the reading room door again.

Grace City.

"Hello, the form is filled out. Can it be approved now?"

Mo Ran handed the form to the staff member with both hands.

The other person took it casually, glanced at it, and tossed it into a nearby machine for scanning.

As the contents of the form appeared on the screen, the staff member tapped several keys forcefully, highlighting a few issues.

"Why are you the only member? What are your church's qualifications?"

Seeing the other's overbearing manner, Mo Ran just rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

"We're newly established, so we're still..."

"Enough, I don't have time for your nonsense. No qualifications means no qualifications; don't use 'newly established' as an excuse."

With that, the person grabbed a snack and stuffed it into their mouth, then marked "Startup" in the "Taiyi Sect" column, canceled some benefits, and then, with an oil-stained hand, tossed the newly printed license in front of Mo Ran.

Seeing the license he had spent so much money and time to obtain being treated this way, Mo Ran felt a wave of discomfort, but he held it in.

But when he saw the words written on it, he finally got a bit angry.

"Wait, I filled in 'Taiyi Sect', so why did you type 'Taiyi'? Is it a typo?"

The staff member frowned, grabbed a piece of paper to wipe their hands, and looked impatient.

"Taiyi Sect is already registered."

"It's already good enough that I changed it to a homophone for you. Otherwise, you'd have to add a suffix, like 'Taiyi 9527'."

Seeing that the other's attitude was still poor, Mo Ran couldn't help but want to argue.

"But why didn't you say so beforehand? How can a deity's name be changed so casually? This is blasphemy, don't you know..."

"Enough!"

"A profit-making organization just looking for money, and you're putting on airs? I've seen plenty of your kind. What's a stinking outsider like you pretending for?"

"Either leave the license here and I'll void it on the spot, or get out. Any more trouble and I'm calling security."

Mo Ran felt a chill from behind.

Looking back, two security guards in exoskeletons were already standing by with weapons, as if they would strike if he made even the slightest move.

In the end, Mo Ran lowered his hands and turned to leave unwillingly.

Just before leaving, he silently picked up a strand of hair the other person had dropped.