A crowd gathers below, looking up at Qing Heng as he plays the lute on the high tower. Most of these people are the children who have entered the mansion. The children may not fully appreciate the beauty of Qing Heng’s music, but they all know that the sight of him playing from afar looks magical, like something out of a fairy tale.

Up on the high tower, amidst the clouds, it seems as though the call of a phoenix echoes in harmony with the music. Ming Qiao tilts his little head upwards, refusing to look down even when his neck starts to hurt. A child in red standing next to him isn’t looking at Qing Heng. Instead, he gazes at Ming Qiao with a confused and curious expression.

After a few moments, the child hesitantly asks, “Did I mishear you earlier? What did you say you saw?”

Ming Qiao’s little face flushes with excitement, still buzzing with energy. He points upward with his chubby finger and proudly declares, “I saw my mother!”

The red-clad child stares in disbelief: ???

After showing off, Ming Qiao glances at his mother, who he can’t quite see clearly from below. He then looks at the much taller and older child standing in front of him. His eyes shine brightly as he eagerly asks: “Hey, can you see what my mother looks like?”

The child in red falls silent. He realizes that this little round-headed kid is just talking nonsense! Everyone knows that up on the tower are the city lord and Immortal Qing Heng. Neither of them could be anyone’s mom!

“Forget it, since it’s your first day here, I won’t argue with you.” The red-clad child crosses his arms and gives a sideways glance. 

“You’re lucky you ran into someone as patient as me. Here’s some advice: If you want to get along here, you’d better be careful with your words and be more observant.”

Leaving this bit of advice, the child in red walks away. Ming Qiao doesn’t even spare him a glance as he leaves. His mother is right above him, although Ming Qiao can’t see him clearly, he still wants to keep looking.

Time passes, and eventually, the sound of the lute fades. The curious children who have been watching below, disperse one by one. Unable to see the Immortal’s face above, they grow bored standing there after a short while.

“Oh, Qing Heng, look down there. There’s a really small child left.” Wang Feilong, from the upper floor, casually glances down and spots Ming Qiao, who hasn’t left yet.

His sharp eyesight allows him to clearly see Ming Qiao’s chubby little face, which made him suddenly freeze in surprise. “Qing Heng, this child… ”

“He looks a bit like you…”

The words linger on the tip of Wang Feilong’s tongue but he swallows them back forcefully. Qing Heng’s master and Wang Feilong are old friends, but that doesn’t mean Wang Feilong can recklessly offend Qing Heng.

“This child is a bit too small.” Wang Feilong quickly changes the subject and says: “I wonder how the steward allowed him to take the token. I’ll check on that later—”

“If he can take it, then it’s his own ability.” On the floor above Wang Feilong, Qing Heng lifts his hand and puts away the lute. His voice is clear and melodious, like gravel splashing in a water spring, or jade striking against a porcelain bowl—extremely pleasant to the ears.

Upon hearing his words, Wang Feilong nods in agreement. “You’re right. If this child can take the token, he must be exceptionally talented. I shouldn’t interfere too much.”

The conversation between them is brief. Wang Feilong knows Qing Heng’s aloof nature, so he doesn’t linger much.

“Now that you’ve finished playing, the children can begin their tests officially”

Qing Heng’s music signals the start of the spiritual root test. Ming Qiao is fortunate to arrive just in time. If he had come any later, he would have missed the competition entirely.

“Alright, I think it’s getting late. I’ll go arrange the first test.”

“Qing Heng, you can rest. I won’t disturb you any longer.”

“Alright”, Qing Heng replies simply and gets up to leave.

Next to the Zhaixing Pavilion, there is another tall building, known as the Library Pavilion, which houses countless volumes of books. (藏书 – Cang Shu: Library)

The guardian of this pavilion is a book spirit that comes from the pages of books. This spirit has a constantly shifting appearance, and can take on many forms. It has no gender, no name, and no particular preferences. It only reads, organizes, and manages books. Whenever someone wants to borrow a book, it observes them in the shadows for a moment. No one knows its criteria, but after observing, it decides whether to let them borrow a book and from which floor.

Books on the first and second floors are the easiest to borrow. The third and fourth floors are harder, and the fifth and sixth are quite difficult. As for the seventh floor and above, it’s nearly impossible—even Wang Feilong was chased away by the book spirit. Currently, the only person who can go up to the seventh floor and stay is the Immortal Qing Heng. Wang Feilong privately mutters to himself, “This book spirit must be one that judges by appearances!”

Seeing Qing Heng’s unmatched beauty, it seems the spirit has thrown away all its principles, eagerly welcoming Qing Heng to stay in its tower. In the blink of an eye, Wang Feilong and Qing Heng both disappear into the Zhaixing Tower. Ming Qiao stands below, rubbing his eyes. The excitement on his little face fades into disappointment.

“Sigh.” He lets out a tiny sigh. He still wants to see his mom, hugs him, and gives him kisses. As he is happily daydreaming about being with his mom, a voice behind him snaps him back to reality.

“Ming Qiao, right? Come here”, says the voice, which sounds familiar. Ming Qiao shakes his little head and turns around, spotting the steward who had given him the token earlier at the entrance.

He runs over, his little feet pattering on the ground. He looks up with his pretty little face, asking softly: “Uncle, are you looking for me?”

“Yes, I’ll take you to your room. You’re the youngest of this group, so make sure you don’t upset the older kids, or you might get bullied.” 

The steward can’t refuse such a small child entering the garden. He sits outside for a while, thinks about it, and still feels uneasy. So, he comes in again to check on this little one who is much younger than his own son. The dormitory room accommodates six children. After the first test, some children will be eliminated, reducing the number to four per room, then two, and finally one, until the winner is chosen.

Ming Qiao follows the steward into the six-person room. As he enters, he sees that the other five children are already inside. The oldest among them is about ten, while the youngest is around six or seven. Seeing such a tiny child like Ming Qiao, they all look surprised.

“Ming Qiao, greet the older brothers. You can team up with them for tomorrow’s test.” The steward says kindly, hoping that Ming Qiao can make friends with the older kids, so they might help him if he faces any difficulties.

Sensing the steward’s kindness, Ming Qiao’s long eyelashes flutter nervously. Under the gaze of the older kids, his little voice trembles, but he bravely speaks up.

“Hello, brothers. My name is Ming Qiao, and I am three years old.”

After a brief moment of surprise, the older kids respond. Some smile faintly, and one of them comes over and holds Ming Qiao’s small hand. Seeing them get along well, the steward smiles in satisfaction, gives them some final instruction then leaves.

The door to the room closes. Once the door closes and the sound of footsteps fade, the older boy who just held Ming Qiao’s hand quickly lets go with a look of disdain. “Who are you? That steward only handles registrations and has never personally escorted anyone inside.”

“Why do you even care? His background can’t be higher than yours.” 

Another child interrupts the conversation, saying in a calm voice, “He’s so small, there’s no need to bother with him.”

“Du Sheng, Yang Zhi is right. Just ignore him. Let’s get back to our game.” The other children join in, and they seem to be well-acquainted with one another. Among them, Du Sheng, who is the most confrontational toward Ming Qiao, also appears to be the one with the highest status, while the others are clearly accommodating him.

Ming Qiao can tell they were pretending to be friendly. He clenches his little fists in frustration then climbs onto the only remaining small bed, turning his back to the older children. From his storage ring, he takes out some dark, bitter pills and starts eating them one by one. The sound of him chewing loudly makes Du Sheng, who dislikes him, frown even more.

“A little kid still eating candy? What are you even doing here?”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s just here to join the fun.” 

“He’s really annoying, just like my little brother.”

Their conversation isn’t quiet, and Ming Qiao can hear everything. He pouts and looks at the bitter pill in his hand, thinking to himself that if they mistake it for candy, they must be idiots! Competing with such fools didn’t scare him at all!

The next day is the first round of the spiritual root test, measuring the quantity and type of roots. There are five spiritual roots: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The more roots one has and the broader they are, the better the person’s talent. The results won’t be revealed immediately, so Ming Qiao doesn’t know how he does. But he does know that he has to take the test many times. In the end, he makes it past the first round.

The six-person room turns into a four-person room. And to Ming Qiao’s dismay, the most annoying person, Du Sheng, is still in the same room with him! Du Sheng’s gaze becomes even more unfriendly now that Ming Qiao isn’t eliminated.

Though Ming Qiao seems well-behaved, he does hold grudges. His daddy taught him to remember when people do him wrong and to always tell the grown-ups! Instead of complaining to the steward, he runs off to the Library Pavilion where his mother is staying. He discovers that his mother lives there.

The library is empty, and there seems to be an invisible barrier at the stairs, sometimes preventing people from going up. But Ming Qiao can go up. He counts on his chubby fingers and realizes he can now reach the fourth floor!

To go upstairs, he needs to ask the book spirit to borrow a book. While borrowing a book, he holds the book tightly and sits on the stairs, looking up to complain. Even though there is no one else on the stairs, Ming Qiao pouts and begins to whine in his baby voice.

“Mommy, Du Sheng tripped me while walking again!”

“He rolled his eyes at me!”

“He even said bad things about me!”

After complaining for a while, Ming Qiao takes a deep breath. He then pulls out a pen and a blank piece of paper from his storage ring. He spreads the paper on the borrowed book. With his chubby hand holding the pen, he carefully draws a little stick figure with a big head and short body.

“This is for you.” Ming Qiao is talking to the invisible book spirit. 

He squints his eyes in gratitude and says: “Thank you for lending me the book.”

“And for letting me sit here to complain.”

“You’re really nice.”

The drawing of the little figure is Ming Qiao’s way of saying thank you. He doesn’t know what the book spirit looks like, so he draws the figure based on his imagination and leaves it on the stairs. The next day, when Ming Qiao comes back, the drawing is gone. And he can now climb to the sixth floor!

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Author’s Note:

Book Spirit: Helping the little one find his mother!