At eight o'clock the next morning, Du Yu hailed a ride on his phone and set off to collect his reward at the Bookhouse headquarters.

The whole way, Du Yu felt kind of weird.

Sitting in the back seat, he kept feeling like the taxi uncle was secretly checking him out?

Every time Du Yu glanced forward, their eyes would meet right in the rearview mirror.

Could it be that my eyes are just too darn good-looking?

Thinking that to himself, Du Yu pinched the brim of his cap and pulled it down a bit lower.

Finally, just as they got close to the Bookhouse HQ, the cabbie uncle couldn't hold back anymore and asked, "Hey, kid, are you Du Yu?"

"Uh." Du Yu looked puzzled. "Do we know each other?"

"Haha, told you I recognized you!" The cabbie grinned ear to ear. "I watched your finals on TV, the provincial channel broadcasted it!"

Du Yu: "Huh?"

The cabbie gave him a big thumbs-up. "Say no more, you're frickin' awesome!"

Du Yu: "..."

The cabbie chattered excitedly: "That arrow you shot at the Blue Team's big shot—tip-to-tip, that one.

The cameras did a close-up, replayed it tons of times! I watched the replay myself over and over again!

Blew my mind, honestly, haha!"

"Ah, just got lucky, got lucky..." Du Yu played it humble, but his mind was already firing on all cylinders.

Man, Liu Junting had it rough, huh!

I'm showing off my moves on every replay,

and he's just... dying over and over?

Thank goodness the cabbie uncle only opened up right near Bookhouse HQ, so Du Yu didn't have to chat with him for too long.

Still, listening to the guy, Du Yu ended up reliving his finals all over again.

Good grief~

Ran into a hardcore fan—dude can recite the whole thing back!

How Du Yu beat Liu Junting, how he saved Lin Shiwei, how he held off Liu Juncai, how he led his team to take the Fourth District...

When they got out, the cabbie uncle even pulled Du Yu in for a selfie by the Bookhouse front gate.

Du Yu found the whole thing pretty wild—never thought he'd have fans, not in a million years!

What made it even sweeter, the cabbie uncle comped his ride!

Hmm... doing the math, a selfie with me goes for about 23.9 yuan?

Oh, right.

Got to add a yuan for the gas—so it comes out to 24.9!

With these mixed feelings, Du Yu ducked his head and walked into the Bookhouse building.

Per his agreement with Section Chief Wang Zongying, Du Yu headed straight to the indoor gym on the west side of the first floor. Sure enough, there was Wang, already waiting for him.

"Morning, Brother Wang." Du Yu pushed the gym door open, greeted him politely, and gave a little wave.

"Come here, Xiaodu." Wang Zongying beckoned him with a smile. The big gym was basically empty—just a single table beside Wang.

"Congrats, number one in the whole province." Wang Zongying cheerfully pushed up his glasses. "If this were the college entrance exam, you'd be the provincial champion, right?"

Du Yu: "..."

Of all things to say, why compare me to the college exams?

I'm not any kind of champion—more like a crash dummy...

As Du Yu walked up, Wang Zongying's expression shifted a bit too.

Because the Demon Breath swirling around Du Yu was crazy intense!

"You're about to advance?" Wang Zongying reacted instantly. "You can advance first; we'll hand out the prizes after. Cultivation comes first!"

"No need, Brother Wang, I'm not about to level up." Du Yu shook his head, leaving it at that instead of explaining.

A regular guy like that cabbie uncle couldn't sense any Demon Breath, but there was no hiding it from Wang Zongying.

"Hmm... All right then, let's check out the goods first." Wang Zongying sounded a bit uncertain, but when he saw Du Yu insist, he went ahead and popped open a silver briefcase.

The inside was lined with foam, with three glass jars nestling in the grooves.

Each jar was a whopping 30cm tall, all squared off, and inside each one was a little magical lantern.

The tiny lanterns were rectangular and kind of ethereal, with a classic old-school vibe—looked like fancy little nightlights.

Wang Zongying explained: "Demon Lamp Po, produced by the Demon Plant · Demon Lamp Tree."

Du Yu nodded. Other trees might just flower or bear fruit, but the Demon Lamp Tree grows little lanterns—yeah, this world's pretty freakin' magical...

"This here's a Library Ring." Wang Zongying produced a small square box and handed it to Du Yu.

Gotta admit, when Du Yu opened the box, he felt a little bit nervous inside.

But the ring's material didn't really surpass his expectations.

It was just a Dark Gold Ring, not platinum or anything.

Wang Zongying: "This is from the Ancient Pine Tower City Demon Spirit Bookstore, issued to you on behalf of the provincial headquarters.

You get all the perks and benefits for every Third-level Demon Spirit Realm under Ancient Pine Tower's jurisdiction."

"Oh?" Du Yu perked up—this ring's coverage totally blew away his expectations!

He picked up the Dark Gold Ring, checking it out carefully.

The dark-toned ring looked a little weathered, carrying that old, storied feel.

Engraved on the inside was "Du Yu", making it clear this was a personal item. On the outside were four big words: Demon Spirit Bookstore.

Du Yu asked, "Brother Wang, from what I know, there's more Third-level Demon Spirit Realms for Imperial Demon Masters than just the Twin Tree Realm, right?"

"Right!" Wang Zongying nodded without hesitation. "Don't worry, you get access to all of them."

Du Yu's mind started spinning: "So what about a Fourth-level Demon Spirit Realm with a Third-level training camp—like Mountain Fire Blade Training Camp?"

Wang Zongying made a weird face—he thought it over, then finally said, "Yeah, let's just pay up for those. I mean, it's not like eating out or staying at a hotel is that expensive."

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