Thank You for Your Patronage

Seeing Lin Xiao seemingly having a bountiful harvest, Jiang Youfu was surprised and full of admiration as he said, "Wow, Brother Xiao, you found so many so quickly. That's amazing! I'll go look for more right away!"

With that, he carefully placed the "Brief History of the North and South Spiritual Domains" on top of the large stack of books Lin Xiao was holding. After making sure they wouldn't topple over, he turned around and went back to the area he had been searching earlier to continue looking.

Lin Xiao: ...

Holding so many books was inconvenient, so he planned to temporarily store them in the storage ring Senior Liao had given him earlier, only to find that these books could not be placed inside it.

After thinking for a moment, he had no choice but to place the books on the ground for the time being, deciding not to put them into his private inventory.

After all, he didn't know what kind of restrictions had been placed on these books. If he forcefully stored them in his private inventory, there was no telling what kind of trouble it might attract. It was better not to take such a risk.

Since they were here to buy books, not steal them or cause trouble, and the shop owner didn't allow items to be placed in storage spaces, it was best to honestly abide by the rules.

Senior Liao, who usually had a sarcastic comment for everything he did, was currently very quiet.

Lin Xiao thought about it and realized that Senior Liao hadn't made a sound since they entered this shop.

Perhaps he felt it was inconvenient since this was someone else's territory.

With these thoughts in mind, having freed his hands, he began searching for more books.

In Lin Xiao's view, the books here were not very expensive. The average price of a jade slip was about five to ten spirit stones.

Traditional paper books were even cheaper, basically ranging from one to three spirit stones each.

Although for a cultivator who grew up in the cultivation world, the contents of these books might be common knowledge, making it a waste to spend spirit stones on them.

But for the current Lingxian Sect, what they lacked the most was precisely this common knowledge of the cultivation world.

Even though they had Senior Liao and Liu Chun to occasionally provide them with piecemeal knowledge about the cultivation world, it was only whenever they remembered something. It couldn't compare at all to someone who had grown up here.

But it would be much better if they had books.

Books were the true essence of the inheritance of human wisdom.

Therefore, Lin Xiao was already prepared to bleed his wallet dry tonight.

However, as he looked at the bookshelves further inside, he realized his preparations for bleeding dry were still quite insufficient.

The prices of the books inside grew increasingly expensive.

Lin Xiao didn't rush to check the contents. Instead, he walked straight to the very back in one breath, only to find that the books there, whether traditional paper or jade slips, were all priced exactly the same: a whopping five hundred spirit stones each!

He quickly checked to see what kind of books they were to be so expensive.

He discovered that they were all seemingly advanced mental cultivation methods, cultivation techniques, spells, and books related to the Four Arts of Cultivation.

Lin Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he wouldn't feel too bad about missing out on these books for now.

After all, their sect didn't have a pressing need for these things.

As for the Four Arts of Cultivation, the four comprehensive basic manuals in their sect were currently more than enough.

Even someone with strong talisman-making abilities like Liu Chun wouldn't dare say he had mastered everything in the comprehensive basic talisman drawing manual.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiao turned around decisively with relief and returned to the low-priced bookshelf area to continue browsing.

The pile of books he had picked out and placed on the ground next to him grew larger and larger.

By the time Jiang Youfu happily came over to find him carrying a few books, Lin Xiao was almost completely hidden.

Looking at Lin Xiao, whose top half of his head was the only thing visible behind the huge pile of books, Jiang Youfu asked in confusion, "Brother Xiao, why do you have so many books piled up on the ground here?"

Lin Xiao was still reading the book in his hands with great relish. Hearing this, he replied casually, "Oh, I'm planning to buy all of these."

Jiang Youfu: ???

He lowered his head again and scanned the pile of books beside Lin Xiao from bottom to top and left to right.

There had to be at least a few hundred books here, right?

As expected of Brother Xiao, to love reading so much!

With that thought, he pushed aside a small portion of the books to make a path for himself. Then he walked to Lin Xiao's side, saw that he was flipping through a traditional book, and leaned his head over to read along.

[Later, the chief disciple of the Tianxuan Sect said, "Our sect discovered this first, so it naturally belongs to us. Leave at once." Li Sandao was infuriated and thought to himself: Even if I destroy it, I won't yield it to you ungrateful wretches! ...]

...]

Still wanting more, Lin Xiao prepared to turn to the next page, only to find that he couldn't flip any further.

The free trial reading had ended.

So he immediately placed this book into the pile beside him as well.

Turning his head, he saw Jiang Youfu blinking at him.

Lin Xiao: ...

"Well, Fuzi, I actually suddenly realized that we don't only have to buy history books. As long as they look decent, we can buy some to take back and read. Many of the unwritten rules, details, and deeds of the cultivation world aren't always recorded in those historical records. You can look around more. Buying more won't hurt."

Hearing this, Jiang Youfu understood.

With bright eyes, he looked at Lin Xiao and nodded, "Okay, Brother Xiao!"

Saying that, he turned around and ran back to the bookshelf area he had been browsing.

Earlier, he had seen several interesting books but didn't dare to take them!

Now that Brother Xiao told him to grab more, that was just wonderful!

Just like that, when the two met up at the exit a few hours later, they were both using their object manipulation spells to levitate massive piles of books in front of them.

The books the two of them brought over had practically swept away a third of the inventory in the bookstore's low-priced section.

Perhaps the owner of the bookstore hadn't expected someone to come in and buy so many books at once, so the shop didn't have any containers prepared, leaving them to move the books themselves.

When the two stopped in front of the exit with their books, they saw the small sign by the door. The words on it had changed from the original [Leaving without buying a book costs five spirit stones; if buying, just pay for the books] to [A total of 1,300 books. Total price: 5,122 spirit stones].

Over five thousand...

Lin Xiao looked at the books in front of them, his heart bleeding.

But thinking that they would soon have a library pavilion, and once it was built, all these books would go in to enrich its contents, he endured the heartache and paid the five thousand-plus spirit stones.

It had to be said that this bookstore was quite stingy. The exit wouldn't open until he placed the very last spirit stone into the glowing slot.

After he finished paying, he saw the words on the small sign change again to [Purchased books may be collected by the customer. Thank you for your patronage].

Seeing this, Lin Xiao tried putting the books in front of him into his storage bag and found that they could now be stored normally.

Following that, he and Jiang Youfu stored all the books into their respective storage bags.

Only after all the books had been packed away did they make their way toward the exit and leave the bookstore.