socalfunplaces Chapter 28 A Spark of Fire
Chapter 28 A Spark of Fire
When Yan Zu left Rongbaozhai, he had an extra contract and a deposit of ten silver soul coins in his sleeve.
Xiao Wu skipped along beside him, chattering excitedly, "Little brother Azu, our book is really going to be printed! Will anyone buy it?"
"Yes, they will." Yan Zu looked at the pedestrians on the street, "because people need stories, they need laughter, and they also need... a little spark of wisdom."
For the first few days, everything was calm and uneventful.
One hundred copies of "Starry Night Tales" lay quietly on the bookshelf of Rongbaozhai, standing out from other practical books such as "Illustrated Compendium of Soul Beasts" and "Basic Meditation Method".
Occasionally, customers would glance at the pages, but they would just smile and put them down—in the world of Soul Masters, who has the time to read these stories meant to amuse children?
The turning point came on the fifth day.
The seven-year-old boy, the youngest son of the Nottingham City garrison captain, happened to open this book while waiting for his father at Rongbaozhai.
He was amused by "The Clever Fox Teases the Three-Headed Wolf" and insisted that his father buy it for him. The captain couldn't refuse and spent one silver soul coin.
The next day, the child took the book to school.
And so, the story spread like wildfire.
"Did you know what? That fox pretended to have a scary ally and scared away the three-headed wolf!"
"I prefer 'The Ants Moving Mountains'! Tiny ants, united, can actually move a boulder millions of times their own size!"
"My dad told me 'The Nightingale and the Rose' last night, and my mom cried while listening..."
One hundred copies were sold out in just three days.
Long queues formed outside Rongbaozhai—children dragged their parents to buy, servants from noble families came to find it on the orders of their young masters and misses, and even several college teachers came to inquire, wanting to use it as extracurricular reading material.
Manager Chen was both surprised and delighted. He immediately printed an additional 500 copies and sent a message by carrier pigeon to the headquarters of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, along with sample copies and a sales report.
On the tenth day, the news reached Tiandou City.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, the school master's study.
Ning Fengzhi put down the letter and the thin booklet in his hand, a look of surprise appearing on his refined face.
He had just finished listening to his daughter Ning Rongrong pestering him to "tell the story of the fox again," and now, seeing the words "Notting City sold out in three days, and an additional 5,000 copies were printed and sent to various branches" on the report, he was deeply moved.
"Dad, this story is so good!" Eight-year-old Ning Rongrong nestled on his lap, her delicate face full of anticipation. "The storyteller must be very clever and gentle! Can we meet him?"
Ning Fengzhi gently ruffled his daughter's hair, but his gaze remained fixed on the words in the story.
These seemingly simple parables contain the concepts of equality, cooperation, wisdom, and kindness, which subtly align with his ongoing contemplation of the path to sect development.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School cannot rely on Sword and Bone Douluo forever; it must cultivate more talent and unite more forces.
"Rongrong, do you want to see the author?" Ning Fengzhi asked gently.
"Yes!" Ning Rongrong nodded vigorously. "He must be a very interesting person!"
"What a 'Wen Yansheng'..." Ning Fengzhi muttered to himself, "Go investigate, I need to know everything about this gentleman."
Furthermore—"He decisively ordered, 'Send word to Rongbaozhai in Notting City to print an additional 5,000 copies and send them to major cities in Tiandou and Xingluo via our trade routes! Remember, the price remains one silver soul coin, with the sect subsidizing any losses!'"
"Sect Master, this..." An elder hesitated, "One book costs one silver soul coin, so five thousand books would be five thousand silver soul coins, which is equivalent to five hundred gold soul coins. Although it's not a huge sum, but..."
"You don't understand." Ning Fengzhi's eyes gleamed. "This is called 'investment'."
This person can write such words; their future is promising. Offering help now is a hundred times better than adding to someone's future success. Moreover…
He looked at his daughter's adoring face, a slight smile playing on his lips. "These stories truly deserve to be spread throughout the mainland."
Nottingham College, Dormitory 7.
In the stillness of the night, Yan Zu sat cross-legged on the bed, his mind sinking into the spiritual world.
For three consecutive days, he could clearly feel the tremors of the Xuanyuan Sword phantom.
It wasn't a violent fluctuation, but rather a subtle resonance, like spring rain nourishing the earth. The originally dim golden patterns on the sword brightened at a visible speed; roughly estimated, the unlocking rate increased by about 3%.
Even more remarkably, he "heard" sounds.
It was not a tangible sound, but a torrent formed by countless faint thoughts—
After reading "Ants Moving Mountains," a child mustered up the courage to tell the classmate who was bullying him, "We can play together."
After hearing a storyteller tell the tale of "The Wise Old Tortoise" in a tavern, a commoner Soul Master muttered to himself, "So it turns out that using your brain is more useful than using your hands."
A noblewoman closes "The Nightingale and the Rose," gazes at the moonlight outside the window, and for the first time ponders "what is true love."
These subtle feelings of recognition, emotion, and reflection, like countless fireflies, crossed space and converged on Yan Zu, merging into the Xuanyuan Sword. They are not soul power, yet they are more fundamental than soul power—they are the spark of civilization, the echo of wisdom.
"I see..." Yan Zu opened his eyes, his dark pupils shining brightly in the night. "Cultural transmission is essentially about sowing seeds of ideas. Everyone who accepts these ideas will develop a desire for 'identification'. And the Xuanyuan Sword, as the sword of civilization's tradition, is nourished by these ideas."
He looked at Xiao Wu, who was fast asleep beside him. A sweet smile played on the girl's lips; she was probably still savoring the story in her dream. Qilin Xiaoyu lay beside her pillow, its body radiating a warm, jade-like light, as if it too had been nourished by the power of the vow.
"That's not enough," Yan Zu said softly. "Right now, it's just Notting City. If the story could spread throughout the continent... how magnificent would the collective power of wishes be then?"
He already had a plan for the next step. "Starry Night Tales" had opened up the market; now, he could release works with greater depth and impact.
The chivalry of Roland's epic and the ideals of equality in the Arthurian legend will both become part of the seeds of civilization.
At the same time, in Yu Xiaogang's dormitory, Tang San was flipping through the borrowed "Starry Night Tales".
This book is currently very popular in Nottingham, and many students in the college are reading it. Yu Xiaogang borrowed it to see what this so-called "cultural trend" is all about.
He quickly flipped through a few pages, finding only the playful banter and intellectual battles between soul beasts, with not a single practical skill for soul master cultivation. A disdainful smirk immediately appeared on his lips, and he casually tossed it onto the table: "This stuff is just for entertaining children, and it deserves to be this popular?"
He found it absurd and couldn't understand why such a story, which offered no practical guidance and was only meant for entertainment, could attract so many fans.
In his view, the core of a Soul Master is ultimately cultivation and combat power; wasting time on such trivial books is simply putting the cart before the horse.
But when he returned to Dormitory Seven that night, he witnessed a scene that made his blood boil—Xiao Wu was lying next to Yan Zu, her eyes sparkling as she clung to him, her voice filled with anticipation: "Brother Zu, can you tell me the sequel to 'The Fox and the Wolf King'? Can the fox really make all the soul beasts live in peace?"
Yan Zu shook his head helplessly, but still patiently continued, "Later, the fox led the wolf king to a water source and taught everyone to divide the work of foraging. The territory, which was originally constantly fighting, gradually became harmonious..."
His voice was gentle as he recounted the details of the story, vividly depicting even supplementary plots not found in the handwritten copy.
Xiao Wu listened with great fascination, occasionally exclaiming in amazement. She could even repeat classic lines from the book along with Yan Zu's narration, her admiration undisguised.
Tang San stood at the door, watching the two of them being so intimate, and seeing Xiao Wu's eyes filled only with Yan Zu's focus, an uncontrollable jealousy welled up in his heart.
He didn't understand why Yan Zu, who was a work-study student just like him and should be focusing on cultivation, could always attract Xiao Wu's attention with these trivial things.
The book he disdained, Xiao Wu listened with such fascination.
He clenched his fists instinctively, crushing the teacup in his palm. The shards cut his hand, drawing blood, but he was oblivious. Jealousy, like a poisonous vine, spread wildly in his heart, making his gaze towards Yan Zu grow ever colder.
Yan Zu was completely unaware of this and didn't care. He was planning a significant future cultural export—the adaptation of "The Epic of Roland" was already on the agenda.
The explosive popularity of "Starry Night Talks" is just the first spark of civilization spreading.
The cultural landscape of Douluo Continent is about to be changed because of him.