Ten Thousand Books, But Only One You

03 The book Snowy Mountain with a Peach Blossom Tree: Volume I

Chapter 3: The book Snowy Mountain with a Peach Blossom Tree Volume I

"This is the book that the Young Master entered over a month ago but failed to return. We also lost all contact with him," said Han Dong as he placed a book with a pink pastel-coloured softcover on the table in front of me. "Take it, read it and think about what problems there are in this book."

I trailed my fingers along the creases on spine of the book. The librarian assistants must have read this book from cover to cover multiple times to find out what happened to Ji Kai.

"It's contemporary literature so you would be able to handle it on your own." Han Dong stood up with his notebook and writing brush. "I will be on the ground floor if you need me."

I watched as he left the veranda and disappeared down the stairwell of the Tower. Even though he called this book 'contemporary', there was no sarcasm or mocking. Rather, there was urgency and tiredness in his tone.

Drawing in a deep breath, I turned open the first page of the four hundred pages long book and started reading attentively.

Snowy Mountain with a Peach Blossom Tree had a beautiful title, an attractive blurb, and a pretty cover with drawings of a lonesome tree perched on the summit of one of the mountains with snowy peaks. Originally written as a historical web novel by Ba Zhang Ba Kua, Eight Applauses Eight Compliments, in 2014, it was later published due to its popularity with netizens. Although it had a wuxia setting, it was more of a romantic comedy.

The male protagonist was Bai Zhen. He was an up-and-coming hero in the martial world, whose martial arts would become unparalleled as the story progresses. At the start of the book, he was expelled from his martial sect, Snow Mountain Manor, due to a political misunderstanding and ended up wandering about jianghu, the pugilist world, to look for his shifu who went into seclusion some years ago. He intended to take revenge on the corrupt leaders of his former sect who had schemed against him.

While exploring jianghu and upholding social justice, he befriended Mo Yue, the young but powerful heir to Jinghe Palace, a prominent orthodox organisation. Later on, at a martial arts tournament, they would encounter the female protagonist, Chu Shiyin who would gradually fall in love with Bai Zhen after multiple chance encounters. Chu Shiyin was from Plum Blossom Valley, a secret clan of physicians, and she made it her mission to help Bai Zhen heal psychologically and physically when he became injured. Bai Zhen and Mo Yue would form a brotherhood, but their friendship was cursed to suffer challenges. Unfortunately, and unknown to everyone but the readers, Mo Yue had a blood feud with Chu Shiyin. He had been secretly plotting to kill her behind Bai Zhen's back despite knowing that she was his sworn brother's love interest.

This would make Mo Yue the antagonist of the book. However, during an ambush halfway through the book, Mo Yue saved Chu Shiyin's life, got injured in the process and declared that he was going to recuperate in seclusion. The author had dropped hints that Mo Yue would reappear in the future to have his revenge on Chu Shiyin, suggesting that he had planned the ambush to gain the trust of the male and female protagonists. Following his declaration, Mo Yue's character did not appear again in the second half of the book.

Instead, the author introduced a new antagonist, Wu Heng, who practiced evil martial arts and was the stereotypical villain from an unorthodox sect. Wu Heng turned out to be Chu Shiyin's senior brother and first love who spent years tracking her down. He wanted her to regain her lost memories that she was born a member of their unorthodox organisation.

As for why Ji Kai had to enter the book as a Librarian, it was because Wu Heng had gained awareness and was doing evil and committing crimes in jianghu which were not intentionally written by the author. Due to his gain of consciousness, Wu Heng's mission was to dominate the martial world instead of pursuing after Chu Shiyin. As a result, he had waged a war with the orthodox sects which was beyond the author's intention. This departure from the original plot would require rectification by the Librarian. However, when Ji Kai entered the book's universe to perform his duty, he encountered some difficulty which caused him to be trapped in it.