Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1262 603: Life Within the Wormhole_4

Regardless of scale, depth, or height, "Jade Fragrance Record" is clearly superior.

It seems more than just a bit superior...

"How is this possible..." Boss Lu's hands trembled slightly. This edition he was holding was the first edition revised by Zhang Xiuling, and at that time, only thirty sets were sold. Zhang Xiuling reserved a set especially for Boss Lu. The content of the book had hardly been altered, making it extremely precious.

If it weren't so precious, Boss Lu would have torn the book in his hand.

"Hahaha!" Yu Yaoming laughed heartily all the way down from the second floor of the bookstore, "Boss Lu, with this batch of equipment, I estimate it won't even take a month before I can..."

"Why are you shouting? This is a bookstore! A quiet place for scholars, don't you have any understanding of the rules?"

Yu Yaoming was stunned for a moment. Despite having known Boss Lu for all this time, he had never seen him lose his temper.

He quickly went up to the second floor, not daring to say another word.

Boss Lu frowned, his face stern, as he continued reading "Jade Fragrance Record."

As night deepened, Boss Lu set the book down and went to his bedroom to rest.

A little after four in the morning, the door of the bookstore was opened.

A man in black quietly entered the bookstore, first making a circle around the second row of bookshelves, and then passing through the aisles of the third and fourth rows.

The man in black ascended the stairs and arrived at the storeroom door on the second floor.

He heard snoring inside; Yu Yaoming had just fallen asleep after finishing his experiment.

The man in black took a ring out of his pocket and put it on his right index finger. He slid the ring down the door seam, unlocking the door, but it didn't open.

The man in black knew there was a mechanism on the door. He felt around with his fingertips for a moment, seemingly finding the mechanism's pivot.

With a pinch of his index and middle fingers, he disabled the mechanism on the door, only to see a character emerge from the door seam:

Who?

The character "word" split from top to bottom, pulling on the mouth of the man in black, forcing him to speak.

The character "person" transformed into short prongs, stabbing toward the chest of the man in black.

The character "bird" turned into a hunting net, binding the man in black to the staircase.

The man in black sliced open the hunting net with his ring, breaking free from the "word" character on his mouth, but couldn't shake off the "person" character on his chest.

The "person" character and the man in black tangled for several exchanges, drawing a book from the shelf, using the Searching Ink Technique to summon a surging wave of words, encircling the man in black.

This puzzled the man in black. The Searching Ink Technique was an Earth Skin technique of literature cultivators, not fresh by any means, but the puzzling part was, the technique wasn't used by a literature cultivator but by a character.

This wasn't even a complete character; it was part of the "who" character.

The space on the staircase was limited, and the man in black found himself besieged.

He immediately jumped down to the first floor and was about to pass through the bookshelves when the books on the shelves unfolded one by one, and the words on them swiftly detached from the pages in succession.

The previously stair-enforcing "who" character came behind the man in black, and having battled him for so long, it only suffered minor injuries, without diminishing its combat ability.

Before the man in black lay thousands of characters, each with combat prowess no less than that of the "who" character.

The man in black surveyed his surroundings, searching for an opportunity to escape. This seemingly small bookstore gave him no glimpse of a way out.

Seeing that the man in black was on the verge of demise, a man wearing a long robe and a bamboo hat, with a row of copper coins hanging below it, entered the bookstore, picking two books from the shelves and tossing them toward the man in black.

The two books alternately opened and closed, resembling a pair of large hands grasping a wave of words, sweeping them aside repeatedly, clearing a path through the bookshelves.

The man in black followed this path and escaped the bookstore alongside the man in the bamboo hat.

Arriving at a bank, the two entered the back hall. The man in black took off his mask; he was the owner of the bank, He Jiaqing.

The man with the bamboo hat was Mr. Kong Fang.

He Jiaqing drank an entire pot of tea, still in shock, and after taking several deep breaths, he said, "I never expected Boss Lu's combat prowess to be so high."

Mr. Kong Fang chuckled, "You're reckless. Do you dare play tricks in his territory all on your own? Do you even realize that not even the Wenxiu Ancestor might be able to defeat him?"

He Jiaqing boiled another pot of tea, pouring a cup for Mr. Kong Fang, "Yu Yaoming is in his hands, and he's using Yu Yaoming to research the Boundary. I estimate it will soon be completed."

"Why the rush? If he can do it, can't we?" Mr. Kong Fang sipped his tea, "My subordinate has already returned. What Yu Yaoming knows, he knows most of it too. Even if there's something he doesn't know, given the equipment Yu Yaoming purchased, he can deduce a rough idea.

Even if we're a bit slower than Zhou Badou, it's not a loss. Once we have a way to unlock the Boundary, we'll have the means to dominate Puluo State. In the future, let's not go looking for trouble with Zhou Badou. This time he let you off the hook because of me. Next time, you might not be so lucky."

...

Boss Lu put on a robe, went to the hall, and picked up the scattered books from the floor, organizing them back onto the shelves.

Snoring continued on the second floor. Boss Lu sighed deeply, "What a carefree person, sleeping so soundly!"

Boss Lu returned to bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He took out the "Jade Fragrance Record" and "Rust Frost Collection," comparing them over and over. As dawn neared, he looked closely between the lines and saw two words covering the entire book—crushing!

"Rust Frost Collection" was crushed!

"The younger generations are so arrogant!"

Boss Lu sat at his desk and picked up a pen, writing down a line.

"Rust Frost Collection · Continuation."

...

Cui Tiq stood at the summit of Knife Ghost Ridge, watching Knife Labor Ghost prepare for the New Year celebration.

He received news from Du Wenming, learning that He Jiaqing was researching a way to break the Boundary and had gained support from Snowflake Beach.

"Breaking the Boundary is great; without it, no one can stop us!" Cui Tiq looked at the rising Sun, adjusting his red suit.

He pondered a serious question: "What should I name the second technique?"

PS: I must write "Rust Frost Collection," "Jade Fragrance Record," and "Fragrant Words Tales," and dedicate them to my esteemed readers. These three books are really fascinating!