Zhou Yi finished his tea and was about to leave with the signed contract when the owner stopped him awkwardly.
“I’m just wondering… Do you have any extra books that you’ve copied? I really like your calligraphy and I’m willing to pay a high price for a copy.”
Calligraphy was a form of art for the people in that time. Plenty of calligraphers would spend a lot of time perfecting their arts, to the point where a nobody could become a person praised by many.
Collectors of calligraphy works would use any means necessary to get their hands on a work they were fond of, and some would even resort to stealing, threatening, grave digging, or worse.
Even though Zhou Yi’s writing was far from the famous calligraphers, it was still unique and pretty. No one could even come close to his copying ability and the elegance in his work.
But it usually took a lot of time for Zhou Yi to copy an entire book, and he had trouble deciding on a price to sell it for.
He would not be able to profit if he sold it for three to five dollars, but if he sold it for eight to 10 dollars, it would make him look like a scammer instead. What Zhou Yi wanted was a long-term trade solution.
Seeing that Zhou Yi was still pondering, He Yongyan assumed that he wasn’t interested in selling his book. “I’m sorry for the rude request. It’s obvious that your work is priceless.”
“How many copies do you want?” Zhou Yi asked with a smile. “Is it possible for you to sell at least a copy a day?”
“Wait, you’re willing to sell your work?” the owner exclaimed in shock. Most calligraphers would usually waste their talents by thinking that their works were either priceless or worthless, but Zhou Yi was different.
“It’s hard to find a place to stay in the capital. I’ve been living in an inn for more than 10 years, and I’m planning to purchase my own place soon.”
Zhou Yi always had the intention of selling his works from the beginning. Since the Scholar’s Library was good at dealing with businesses and most scholars in the capital would frequent the place, he was confident that the bookstore would give him a good price and service.
Zhou Yi wanted to move away from the inn because the place was always crowded with people, and there was little to no privacy there.
“I see. Your calligraphy is some of the best I’ve ever seen, and each scripture could sell for…” He Yongyan paused for a moment as he calculated. “It could sell for at least 10 dollars each.”
“Good. I’ll deliver the works to you every three to five days.”
Zhou Yi smiled as he thought to himself, ‘Damn, I sure am talented. I really owe this success to my hard work.’
The man knew that he could only get so much from selling Tale of Executioner, and there was also the possibility that it might be a flop. However, he could buy himself a house by selling his transcription works as long as he was hardworking enough.
It was easier to make money by selling his calligraphy.
“I’ll be in your care from now on, Mr. He,” Zhou Yi said with a smile.
“Likewise. Your work will definitely be one of Scholar’s Library exclusive!”
“Thank you. I’ll see you soon then.”
“See you soon!”
They waved goodbye to each other, and Zhou Yi left the Scholar’s Library. Instead of heading to the Resource Division, he purchased a yellow calabash at the Western Market.
He then left the city and asked a passerby for directions to the Emerald Peak. After moving to a secluded location and making sure that there was no one around, he used his escape method to fly toward the mountain.
Learning an escape method was vital for every cultivator as it was a technique that could be used in any situation. If one could learn a unique escape method that was faster than their peers, they would be able to outrun their opponent even if the latter were much stronger.
As long as one was fast enough, they could basically run and turn back to shout, “So what if you are a first-grade-level cultivator? Come and catch me if you can!”
Zhou Yi had mastered many different escape methods, but most had mediocre speed and weren’t very unique.
The one he was using now was known as the Escape Method of the Five Elements. He got it from killing a demon in Cell B. It was a method where he could move freely among the five elements.
He could dig into the ground, breathe in the water, step on fire, move along metals, and climb trees. This was one of the rare, unique escape methods that Zhou Yi knew.
Of course, the method was far from the Earth Escape Method that the Earth God used. Even a simple forbidden magic circle was enough to stop the Escape Method of the Five Elements.
The Emerald Peak was about a hundred miles away from the capital. It only took Zhou Yi a few minutes to land on top of it.
For most normal people, searching for the source of the Greenwave Pond would take hours of following the stream back up. Zhou Yi, however, simply stood on top of the mountain and used the Qi Inspection technique to study the mountain. It didn’t take long for him to locate the spot with the densest water spiritual qi.
He approached the spot and found a crack in a stone where the spring water was gushing out from. A stele was erected not far from it.
Two huge words were carved in the middle of the stele, Qin Spring. On the bottom of it was a poem written in smaller letters.
The knowledgeable prefers water,
while the merciful prefers mountain.
The best of both worlds,
lies in one spring.
Originating from its will to penetrate the hard rock
with its unstable power…
The words were in italics, but Zhou Yi could feel the strength of the person who wrote the poem.
Unfortunately, the last few words seemed to have been deliberately scratched out by someone, and Zhou Yi was unable to learn who the actual author was.
He reached his arms out and scooped the water from the spring to taste it.
It was sweet and refreshing, and the spiritual qi in the water was much denser than the one he had tried at the Scholar’s Library. This was to be expected since the store had kept the water in a jug over a long period of time, and the spiritual qi had dissipated over time.
After having his own fill, Zhou Yi filled the calabash that he had brought with him with the spring water.
When he returned to the Resource Division to work his shift, it was already half-past ten.
Zhang Cheng was sleeping soundly on the chair. When he heard the door open, he woke up.
Zhou Yi put the calabash on the table and said, “This is filled with spring water from the Emerald Peak. It’s a better substitution for the well water that you usually use for tea. This will taste much better.”
“Since when do you know so much about tea?” Zhang Cheng scoffed and opened the calabash to take a sniff before a smile appeared on his face. “Not bad. This is the water from the Qin Spring.”
“You know about the Qin Spring as well? There’s a stele next to it, right? The poem on it is quite interesting. Do you know who wrote it?”
On his way back, Zhou Yi kept thinking of the implications of the poem. The more he thought of it, the more he could tell that the author wasn’t your average joe.
“Why do you even care? All I can tell is that the person is not in the right mind. Think about it, will someone normally just go around and leave a poem on a stone in a place like that?” Zhang Cheng said as he pulled out a tea set from a purple pot as if he was pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
The pot was a storage item that Zhou Yi could only look at longingly, but could not afford to get.
Buying a house in the capital would cost around 30,000 to 50,000 dollars, which was something achievable with a little hard work, but a storage item was priceless and almost impossible to get even when the market was selling it.
‘It’s okay. Once I get my hands on the devil’s power and learn the Art of Paradise, then the storage item would be useless to me.’ Zhou Yi comforted himself in his head.
…
He Yongyan was fast with his work. It only took him two days to complete the bookbinding.
It was bonded by the best of the best that the Scholar’s Library had to offer.
The proofreading for Tale of Executioner was completed by then as well. Not a single word was changed, and it soon entered the printing process.
Delighted by the speed He Yongyan had shown, Zhou Yi decided to give two copies of the scripture that he had just transcribed for free.
The owner repaid the kindness by assuring Zhou Yi that he would send the copies to a few famous calligraphers to review and spread Zhou Yi’s name across the whole capital. By doing that, they might be able to increase the price of these scriptures in the future.
Half a month had passed since then, and the Tale of Executioner was now on sale.
Since spreading the word around wasn’t easy at that time, it was hard to announce the launch of the book. Another problem the Scholar’s Library was facing was that they had many other titles on sale as well.
That was why the owner of the store decided to use another approach. Instead of solely relying on announcing the new book by placing them in the most obvious locations in his store, he would also give out a few free copies to government officials and, most important of all, famous academies.
The four biggest academies in Great Qian were the Jixia Academy in Luojing, the Yujing Academy in Hongzhou, the Longchuan Academy in Wuzhou, and the Bailu Academy in Jiangzhou. The latter three were located in the southern part of Great Qian, while only the Jixia Academy was in the northern part.
However, the government officials had more alumni from the Jixia Academy than all the other three academies combined. It was evident that the Jixia Academy had more influence in the empire.
Whenever students of the Jixia Academy would bring new books to their professors, the latter would always write reviews for these new books.
Any book that received a good review from the Jixia Academy would instantly become a hit in the capital.
These professors were willing to do reviews because once these books were circulated in everyone’s hand, their own fame and standing would rise with it. It was a legit way to become famous.
Whenever the academy got their hands on a high-quality title, the professors would fight among themselves just so they could be the first ones to review it. Some would even go out of the way to write a prelude for the book.
Since the prelude would be printed at the beginning of the book, they could be part of history if the title were to remain famous for hundreds of years to come.
The principal of Jixia Academy once wrote the prelude for the New Academy Five Classics published by the Scholar’s Library 15 years ago. It still remained as one of the bestsellers in the market.
That was how Yan Yuanzheng became more famous than the principals from the other three big academies.