Chapter Thirty-One: The Book of Eli
Is there a book worth 100,000 Rand?
There is no doubt that they exist, such as the forbidden spellbooks secretly passed down among the Forbidden Spellcasters, or a certain Spring Palace ukiyo-e painted by a dark era Helva court painter, and their value far exceeds 100,000 Lant.
But a worn-out holy warrior in tattered armor, shouting about something worth 500 lant on the street might still be believed, but shouting about an unknown book worth 100,000?
What a joke!
Does he think others are all idiots and morons with too much money?
This is the Mubuk Street, where the top scholars and literati of Baisha City gather. Would they not understand book knowledge?
What's more, someone has already seen the unknown book that this declining Saint Warrior is holding - that book, although it really uses very expensive paper, and even the cover is made of magic beast skin with silver corners, but every page inside is empty without a single word!
"Only a true sage can see the words in this Book of Eli."
When people who have seen it express doubts, the aging Saint Warrior always responds with a serious expression, as if he is indeed stating facts.
That's right, the name of that unknown book that Old Saint Warrior held tightly in his arms was "The Book of Eli"... This is a joke without a punchline in this otherworld.
The Book of Eli
There has never been a book worth over 100,000 Rand in this catalog!
However, a few days ago, this old holy warrior suddenly appeared in Baisha City and tried to sell "The Book of Aili" for 100,000 Lant along the Bamubuk Street, which successfully attracted people's attention.
On the evening of the first day of peddling, several little rascals tried to rob the old holy warrior's "Eli's Book", and the result was that the little rascals were all knocked down by the old holy warrior with bare hands.
The next day, another idle and extremely bored rich young man, after reading the old saint warrior's "Eli's Book", specially sent someone to the city's True Knowledge Sect to invite a very prestigious high-ranking pastor, who secretly cast the spell "Detect Lie" on the aging saint warrior.
And it turned out that what Saint Warrior said was true: "Only a true sage can see the words in this book, 'The Book of Eli'."
This means that the "Book of Ely" by the declining Saint Warrior may actually be hiding some secrets!
However, the high-ranking pastor of the True Knowledge Sect also said: "The Lie Detection spell can only distinguish between true and false words, but whether there is a secret in the 'Eli Book' sold by the old holy warrior for 100,000 Lant, only God knows."
The high-ranking pastor's words sounded very profound, but the meaning was actually very simple - the old holy warrior firmly believed that there were secrets in "Eli's Book" that only wise people could understand, so he could pass the lie-detecting technique, but the old holy warrior's firm belief may not necessarily be a fact, it might just represent that this old guy had been deceived badly.
In this era that has just ended the world war, this story full of weirdness and suspense easily attracted reporters from various newspapers in Baisha City for interviews, as well as scholars who were so idle that they had nothing to do with their eggs, or simply idle people who didn't even have eggs, and those who claimed to be cultural people came to watch.
Reporters are just after scoops and wouldn't care about the authenticity of Old Saint Warrior or The Book of Eli.
Scholars and pseudo-scholars come forth, naturally in order to increase their knowledge and fame.
Later, after the joint identification of these famous scholars, they unanimously determined that the wordless and blank "Eli Book" of Lao Shengwu Shi was at least 15,000 years ago in the dark age, but the problem is still that no one can see through the secret of the wordless "Eli Book".
This circumstance, even this morning, has excited the interest of the celebrated blood-banker, and equally celebrated scholar, Sors-Chausen-Claud, who is now removing his banking-house to Bannmuuckle Street; he bets that he can unravel the secret of the unlettered Eli book.
Unfortunately, the final result was that Solrs retreated in defeat, while the declining Holy Warrior gained the right to camp and "set up a stall" on the new 300-square-meter headquarters of Solrs Bank before selling out in "The Book of Eli".
This latest development has brought almost everyone in Baisha City who claims to have some cultural knowledge flocking here - they are watching the old holy warrior, they are studying "The Book of Aili", and they are trying to unlock the secrets of "The Book of Aili".
Unfortunately, everyone was disappointed and no one could achieve the third point.
This situation continued until Malong, who had exhausted all his strength, squeezed into the innermost circle of the crowd.
"Excuse me, may I also take a look at it?"
Ma Long stood silently for a moment before suddenly standing in front of the old and sorrowful Saint Warrior, speaking in a low voice.
"Boy, if you want to understand the secrets in this book 'The Book of Eli', wait until your hair is fully grown before we talk."
The old holy warrior, squatting on the ground, replied without even raising his eyelids. His reply caused a burst of laughter from the onlookers - indeed, as the old holy warrior said, Ma Long looked really too tender.
Even Mr. Thorsen, the long-lived and erudite banker of the Blood family, couldn't see through the secrets of "Eli's Book", so how could this little guy with uneven hair possibly figure it out?
The old saint warrior's disdainful reply and the onlookers' guffaws made Ma Long's face flush bright red in an instant.
"Oh, this boy, his face is turning red and it's just too cute! I really want to pinch him..."
There is a flower-crazy woman who made such an evaluation in the crowd.
However, even with his cheeks flushed bright red, looking very weak, Malong did not retreat. He just continued to stare at the old holy warrior and "The Book of Aili".
"I don't care if I can see the secrets in this book or not, and whether my hair is long or short has nothing to do with it! Some people are born clever and know everything from birth, while others live for hundreds of thousands of years but remain just a lump of human-shaped bread dough! What makes you think you can make judgments? What makes you dare to mock me, Marlon-Lester?"
Ma Long said loudly, these two sentences of his words that pierced people's hearts, pierced the onlookers one by one, and they couldn't help but laugh out loud again.
Yes, just like this kid said, what makes us dare to make a conclusion and what makes us laugh at him? Laughing at a child is not something that people like us should do.
"Ma Long - Li Zhi?"
In the crowd, a reporter repeated the name "Malong" and suddenly exclaimed: "Ah, I remember! A few days ago, the president of Feicuiwen Publishing House, Yvonne, gathered me and some other reporters to read an excerpt from a story called "The Little Prince", which was said to be written by a genius young writer. The name of that genius young writer who was signed by Feicuiwen Publishing House for 500 yuan per 10,000 words seemed to be Malong-Liszt!
"Five hundred lant per ten thousand words?!"
Someone gasped: "No wonder he's so arrogant! He dares to say that some people are born with innate wisdom and knowledge!"
"Impossible! Those who can get 500 RMB per 10,000 words are all well-known bestselling authors with many years of fame. Who would give this little kid 500 RMB per 10,000 words?!"
Some people expressed absolute disbelief.
"Let me take a look!" Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Malong didn't go to verify his identity, but instead pointed at the worn-out Saint Warrior's head and repeated, "Don't worry, I'll follow your rules, just looking at one page."
The old saint warrior seemed to hesitate for a moment, then slowly and carefully flipped through the pages of "Eli's Book" and spread it out for Malong to see.
