CHAPTER 1802: CHAPTER 23: THE LIVING BOOK

Zheng Qing was currently using the law book provided for free by the school to scholarship students. It had a reddish-brown cover, soft mulberry paper, and measured one foot two inches six parts long, eight inches nine parts wide, with one hundred eighty pages thick.

If the spell formulas were concise and the handwriting neat, it could record eight to nine spells; if the handwriting was slightly messy, it could only accommodate five to six spells.

The law book that Zheng Qing had originally customized at the Lower Yuan Bookstores could easily hold more than ten spells. But now that law book had turned into a ’trigger’ for forbidden curses, rendering it unusable.

Xin Fat Man also noticed the look of the law book that Zheng Qing was patting and raised his eyebrow: "Can you still use your original book?"

On the Black Prison Battlefield, the scene of Zheng Qing opening that law book and summoning the slender Red Sky Pillar had been discussed countless times by the hunters of the Absolution Hunting Team. Everyone was very interested in the spells recorded in the law book.

Zheng Qing sighed, pulled the law book from the grey cloth bag, and waved it in the air towards Xin Fat Man: "What do you think? Want to give it a try?"

"Isn’t that book empty?"

With extraordinary agility, Xin Fat Man slipped from the balcony and appeared in front of the scholarship student in the blink of an eye, wiping his hands on his robe as he laughed: "I’ve always wanted to try... can I use the spell you’ve recorded in it too?"

Zheng Qing let out a cold laugh, without explaining.

Xin Fat Man, suspecting nothing, took the law book, opened the leather clasp on it, and turned the milky white cover. On the pages that had turned blank on the Black Prison Battlefield, line upon line of spell formulas appeared, their ink very faint but extremely clear.

Noticing the gaze of the unfamiliar wizard, a thin layer of red light suddenly lit up between the spell formulas and runes, as if the whole book was set aflame, with swirling fiery shapes forming one fierce face after another, rushing madly out from the book.

Xin Fat Man shrieked, his hand trembled, and he tossed the law book away.

Zheng Qing seemed to expect this scene, reached out, and caught the flying law book in mid-air, snapped the clasp back, and quickly stuffed it into the grey cloth bag.

The whole process was as smooth as flowing water, appearing extremely skilled.

Xin Fat Man breathed heavily, the terror and surprise still on his face, his voice trembling a bit: "What’s going on! Did that book come to life?!"

Zheng Qing pouted.

"Perhaps."

The warlock shrugged lazily: "You’re the second, uh no, the third wizard to witness it... a while back after I woke up, the school sent people to the hospital to investigate what happened in the Black Prison, intending to take this book away, and they too were startled. Only the school’s wizard was bolder, directly shoving it into a box with a pair of Dragon Skin gloves and taking it away."

By this time, Xin Fat Man had recovered, raised an eyebrow in surprise upon hearing this: "Since it was taken away, what are you holding now?"

While speaking, he took a snack box from his watch and placed it on the desk. He needed a little snack to comfort his startled mind.

The box contained assorted pastries and dry goods.

Zheng Qing hesitated for a moment between the roasted broad beans and rice sticks, eventually choosing the sweet snack, picked one up, and put it in his mouth while sighing:

"That’s why it’s troublesome... the very night the school took it away, the book inexplicably returned to my grey cloth bag. Just like it had never been taken away."

"Then what?" Xin Fat Man’s mouth full of cake made his voice sound a bit congested, so he used concise words to express his curiosity as much as possible.

"Then what? Then the school sent people again, used talisman to seal it, and took it away again."

Zheng Qing carefully picked up a broad bean and crunched on it: "Then it returned again that night... then the third time. The book even gave itself a name, called ’Trigger’."

"It can talk?"

"No."

"Then how do you know it gave itself a name?" Xin Fat Man’s logical thinking was always quick when calm.

Zheng Qing sighed and patted the grey cloth bag: "I can take it out and show you again... during the third visit from the school officials, I discovered that next to where my name was originally written on the front page of the law book, a new name box appeared, showcasing the words ’Trigger’... I didn’t write it, and no one else wrote it either, so if you don’t think the book wrote it itself, what other possibilities could there be?"

"And then?" Xin Fat Man had clearly taken a strong interest, persistently inquiring — the young scholarship student had reason to believe that if Xin Fat Man’s hands weren’t currently full with snacks, he would have already taken out his notebook and feather pen to start writing an interview draft for some bizarre adventure column.

"Then nothing."

Zheng Qing spread his hands, licking the sugar off his lip corners, and added: "Third time’s the charm. After the third time, the school didn’t dispatch anyone to take the book again, maybe the wizards who seized the book didn’t want to bear the responsibility of losing evidence... anyway, the book has been resting quietly in the grey cloth bag without causing any more mischief. Until today."

"The school couldn’t have simply conceded; the reason that forced them to give up was probably a reason they couldn’t refuse."

Xin Fat Man rubbed his smooth chin, staring thoughtfully at the grey cloth bag at Zheng Qing’s waist: "We should let the Doctor have a look, his extensive knowledge and experience surely know what’s going on."

"Meow!"

The sudden call of Furry Bean interrupted the two warlocks’ discussion.

Maybe it smelled the food, it squeezed out from under the bed and huddled around Zheng Qing’s feet, weaving around his legs while meowing excitedly.

Tuan Tuan perched atop Xin Fat Man’s head, its tail hanging down behind his head like a fluffy braid. It regarded the tail-wagging Gouzi from a high vantage point, its gaze full of disdain.

Xin Fat Man picked up a piece of jerky from the snack box, extended it upwards, and the Fat Cat immediately forgot its arrogance, lowering its head to gnaw on the meat with relish.

"By the way, why hasn’t the Doctor returned yet?"

Zheng Qing bent down, scooped up Gouzi, stuffed a piece of jerky into its mouth, and scratched its chin to quiet it, at the same time looking at Xin Fat Man: "When did he leave?"

"Nine in the morning," Xin Fat Man checked his pocket watch: "We came back to school at midnight last night, so the Doctor didn’t attend morning classes today... um, now it’s past eleven, he’s been gone two hours."

"Besides wandering the shop and bringing back those sprites, did he have any other plans?" Zheng Qing felt Gouzi was getting heavy, so he dropped it back to the floor. Furry Bean, thinking the warlock was playing a game with it, circled round his legs even more joyfully.

"No," Xin Fat Man shook his head: "In theory, he should have been back long ago."

Tuan Tuan let out a soft cry, flicked its tail, signaling Xin Fat Man to reduce his head shaking as it was affecting its eating. Xin Fat Man promptly retracted his neck, signaling that he had taken heed of the warning.