Rumbling thunders echoed across the sky.
Dark clouds lood overhead, almost reaching the highest watchtower at the top of Xinng Town.
The cold wind grew stronger, making the signboards and banners of the shops in the town flap loudly.
Li Chengyi left the Wang Family and walked towards the direction of the town’s bookstore.
Along the way, he could see so elderly farrs with thin clothes, spreading out vegetables on the roadside with a piece of tattered cloth, shouting to sell them.
Skinny lads and errand boys, carrying heavy burdens, hurried back and forth with baskets after baskets, supplying goods to the shops everywhere.
The weather turned colder, and there were also children playing a ga similar to sandbag tossing in the alleyways.
On the gray and black streets, Li Chengyi could see at a glance that those who were well-built were from wealthy families.
This place, unlike Earth-Moon, had lagged productivity, making the lives of common people even harder.
Not to ntion the monsters that could appear in the wild at any ti.
Before long, after turning at an intersection and stepping onto so cracked gray stone slabs, a bookstore with a dry yellow wooden sign, nestled between houses with black tiles and red doors, appeared before him.
Yang Family Bookstore.
This was the only bookstore in town.
In this era where martial prowess was paramount and scholars were deed useless, whether it was learning literature or martial arts, even common folks knew which was more practical.
A few young n in gray clothes were standing at the entrance of the bookstore, discussing so topic in hushed voices.
As the cold wind blew, they would occasionally huddle up, clutching the books in their hands even tighter.
These young n were born into classes in the town with no qualifying status to learn martial arts. As the saying goes, ’the rich practice martial arts, the poor take to literature’; this place was no different.
Martial arts training was too expensive, beyond what ordinary families could afford. In contrast, the paper-making technique in Shaoyin Country was developed, and paper was not costly, so even commoner families could save up so money to buy so books to read.
Therefore, those who could not afford to train in martial arts, if they did not want to beco craftsn or engage in common trades, could only learn literature and pursue the path of civil servants.
Although civil servants were not well treated, it was nevertheless an official status, and a way out that could change one’s destiny.
As Li Chengyi approached closer, he pushed open the wooden door of the bookstore, only to hear the scholars inside discussing the content of a book titled "Yue Houxi’s Journey to the West."
He had gone through almost all the books in the bookstore in the past two months. With his strong Consciousness Power, he could almost rember everything he read, naturally recalling the content.
His visit this ti was rely to ask the bookstore owner if there were any new books.
"Yue Houxi’s Journey to the West" mainly detailed the story of an expert nad Yue Houxi, who cultivated both literary and martial skills, traveling around the world.
Many parts of the book were unclear whether they were true or false, with quite a few elents of exaggeration and boastfulness.
"...If it’s indeed false, then how do you explain Black Moon Valley at the border?" At that mont, a scholar with a black mole at the corner of his mouth argued vehently with a flushed face.
"Just as Brother Han Song said, the strongest experts of our Shaoyin Country are all on the lists of Earth-Rending and Heaven-Sealing, with Mother Yao Xiangyu, the number one Jianghu expert on Earth-Rending list; and State Preceptor An Yunhe, the court expert on the Heaven-Sealing list. They have fought each other countless tis.
The fiercest battle between them resulted in a lake spanning dozens of miles in the Heisong Mountain Range. Even then, both were seriously injured afterward and had to return to recuperate for a long ti. If what the book says is true, that there are experts who can lt mountains and boil seas, tear apart the sky, wouldn’t they be more formidable than those two top experts? There’s no such person in this world!"
Another person quickly followed up, "Not to ntion, the book also states that the author personally witnessed soone pulling down a celestial body, crashing into the earth, and instantaneously destroying a country spanning hundreds of cities! That’s ridiculous! If soone really did pull down a celestial body, we all stand on this earth; how could we not feel it?"
"But after careful consideration, I think that the details recorded in the book are very elaborate, and if they were indeed fabricated, these things could easily be scrutinized and found to be incorrect. Yet when I scrutinize them, I find that every detail corresponds extrely closely with what’s written in the book..."
The scholar with the black mole insisted in the debate.
"Do you practice martial arts? How ridiculous, you’re not a martial artist, what makes you think you can imagine what that world is like?"
"It seems that Brother Gao has drunk too much rice wine, those with extra grain at ho truly are different from us..."
"Enough, enough, such a topic is too absurd and uninteresting, a waste of our ti..."
The scholars no longer bothered with the man with the black mole and left him standing there, his face red with indignation and his eyes full of unwillingness.
Li Chengyi, standing at the doorway of the bookstore, was slightly moved by their conversation.
He also rembered the content of "Yue Houxi’s Journey to the West"; too many parts of it were fabricated and exaggerated...
"You don’t understand anything!!" At that mont, the young man with the black mole exclaid resentfully, "I have consulted ancient texts and verified that the contents of the book are true. The Purple-Gold Dragon Pearl worn by our current emperor is a legacy left by the person who pulled down a celestial body, originating from within a Rainbow-Scaled Dragon-like Monster!"
"If the Dragon Pearl is real and truly exists, then the act of pulling down a celestial body must also be real!"
"...!?" Li Chengyi was taken aback.
Rainbow-Scaled Dragon-like Monster!? Isn’t that the Illusory Color Dragon?
From the mories he obtained through the Flower Language Technique, he had an image of the Illusory Color Dragon; its appearance was precisely as described by the young man with the black mole, cloaked in rainbow scales, with a dragon-like form, yet compared to other species of dragons, it looked less like a dragon.
He pondered in his mind.
’If the records in "Yue Houxi’s Journey to the West" are true... The person who pulled down a celestial body and destroyed hundreds of cities... Hiss...!’
He knew the distances between cities here; if a hundred cities were destroyed, that would be equivalent to millions of square kiloters on Earth-Moon.
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