The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#611 - Hanshanke's Gift

The one-eyed Daoist hurried over, and after working with Lu Jing to resolve the issue of the living corpses near Ju County, he hurriedly left with Yu Chan. The reason he was in such a rush to come and go was because he had two other cases on hand.

According to the one-eyed Daoist, one of them was only half-finished. He had heard that Lu Jing's situation was more urgent, so he temporarily put aside his work to come and help. Now, he had to go back and continue dealing with the other matter.

Originally, the one-eyed Daoist wanted to encourage Lu Jing a bit more before leaving, but the words got to his lips and he felt unable to say them. They had been working together until now, and although he was the one who ultimately caught the person,

Lu Jing had contributed no less in the process. Not only had he overfulfilled the task he had been given, but Lu Jing had also killed most of the living corpses that had been attracted.

Even with Chen San at the end, if it hadn't been for Lu Jing's good hearing, he might have escaped, which would have meant more trouble.

Looking at Lu Jing, he still wasn't flushed or out of breath, while he himself was quite exhausted. The one-eyed Daoist didn't feel like encouraging Lu Jing; instead, he felt that Lu Jing could encourage him.

So, in the end, he only said, "I will tell Supervisor Guo to give you official surveillance status as soon as possible. It's a waste of your skills to stay in the academy. Now is the time when we need people, and the Directorate of Celestials definitely needs young people like you."

After saying goodbye to the one-eyed Daoist, Lu Jing first returned to Green Dragon Fort.

Now that the quarry had been cleaned up, he could naturally arrange for people to start mining stone.

In this day and age, with bandits and living corpses, a walled fort could provide some sense of security. Lu Jing was quite looking forward to the day when the stone walls were erected.

After that, he went up the mountain as usual to take care of his ginseng field, but he received a note as soon as he finished.

Lu Jing recognized that the nightingale delivering the letter was a messenger from Supervisor Huang, which meant that he and Professor Zheng should have returned to the academy as well.

Lu Jing opened the note and glanced at it. The content was simple, only saying that Lu Jing should go to him now.

So, Lu Jing didn't delay any longer in the fort and returned to the academy as soon as possible.

He had just walked to the small courtyard of Supervisor Huang when he heard voices coming from inside before he even entered.

"How is it?"

"The situation may be worse than we expected. When Supervisor Guo was investigating the secret realm in the East Sea, he discovered that the decline of the mystic power there was a process, from slow to fast. It took about three years from the beginning of the decline to being perceptible. So, I thought the secret realm north of the academy should be the same."

"And the result?"

"The result is that Supervisor Su and several professors went in to take a look and found that the mystic power inside took less than half a year from the beginning of the decline to the present, and the rate of decline is even faster than the ten-thousand-year-old secret realm in the East Sea."

"Why? I remember that the secret realm north of the academy is much younger than the one in the East Sea. Even if it starts to dry up, it should be slower."

"The reason is still under investigation, but Supervisor Su has already told us to prepare for the worst."

Lu Jing said "Oh" and then walked in. As expected, he saw Supervisor Huang and Professor Xu standing by the flower bushes.

Professor Xu glanced at Lu Jing, said nothing, and walked towards the courtyard gate with his cane.

After he left, Supervisor Huang took out a wooden box from his arms and tossed it to Lu Jing.

Lu Jing opened the wooden box and saw that it was a red leaf, with blood-like red liquid circulating in the veins, like a living thing.

"This is something Han Shan Ke sent you. The Directorate of Celestials has already checked it, and the threat assessment is low-grade, so they sent it back."

"Its number in the 'Register of Strange Objects' is [Yi Zi Wu Bai Er Shi Shi Qi]. As for its effect... it's a bit strange. The people from the Directorate of Celestials tried it for a long time before they discovered it. This leaf can be used to make tea."

"Make tea? Can drinking it prolong life?"

Lu Jing thought to himself that Han Shan Ke had spent most of his life cultivating immortality, so it seemed possible that the leaves he transformed into after death could make people live a few years longer if brewed into tea.

But then he thought again, if this leaf was really that powerful, Guo Shuhai should have found a large vat, brewed a large vat with it, and then called everyone to drink tea.

This time, however, Supervisor Huang did not immediately answer Lu Jing's question, but said to him, "Why don't you brew it yourself and have a taste."

Lu Jing nodded, found the tea set, lit a fire to boil water, and then threw the red leaf into the teapot.

Then, a magical scene appeared, and the red liquid in the veins seemed to dissolve in the boiling water, and the leaf turned emerald green and stood upside down in the water.

But when Lu Jing looked into the pot, he found that the tea was still crystal clear.

Lu Jing poured out two cups, one for Supervisor Huang and one for himself.

Supervisor Huang didn't touch the cup of tea, but just watched Lu Jing drink it.

At first, when it entered his mouth, Lu Jing didn't notice any taste, feeling like it was just plain water, thinking that the effect of this leaf might be to purify everything into plain water.

Then he wouldn't have to buy a water purifier in the future.

But the next moment, as the tea flowed to the tip of his tongue, Lu Jing's mind seemed to explode.

He saw himself riding a tall horse, wearing a crimson gauze robe, with wide sleeves hanging from his shoulders, swaying in the wind, looking very proud.

In the sedan behind him sat Xia Huai, looking shy, wearing a coronet and a green dress, looking like she was about to get married.

And that wasn't all. When the tea flowed to the root of his tongue, Lu Jing saw Yan Yun behind Xia Huai, Wen Xiaochuan behind Yan Yun, and Gu Caiwei next to Wen Xiaochuan. The three women were also dressed like Xia Huai.

Lu Jing couldn't close his mouth with joy. Good fellow, he was marrying four at once.

The tea entered his throat.

Lu Jing saw his old friend, Master Zhao of the Tianma Escort Agency, and a group of martial arts colleagues, coming to give him congratulatory gifts.

In addition to the dazzling array of gold, silver, and jewelry, there was also a plaque with the four characters "The World's First" written on it.

Then Supervisor Guo and Supervisor Huang also came, also bringing a plaque. This plaque was even more impressive, with the fourteen characters "Sword Qi Spreads Thirty Thousand Miles, A Sword's Light Chills Nineteen Provinces" written on it.

Lu Jing felt that this sentence sounded somewhat familiar, but it didn't matter, as long as it was praising him. Then Guo Shuhai came over and personally led his horse.

Lu Jing said that it was unnecessary while taking the opportunity to check his upper dantian and found that he was already a Nine Palaces cultivator.

However, this made him surprised rather than happy. Wasn't he going to explode?!

But soon he found that he could absorb mystic power from the heavens and earth and practice internal energy. In other words, the bug on his body disappeared after reaching the maximum level.

Lu Jing was immediately ecstatic.

Normal! I'm finally normal! I no longer have to worry every day and be careful, and now I have nothing to practice, and I am invincible.

All of this came too coincidentally, and the wonderful taste made Lu Jing feel ecstatic.

And this was exactly when the tea flowed down his throat into his stomach.

When the last drop of tea flowed into his stomach, Lu Jing woke up again and found that everything just now was just a daydream.

And the more beautiful and moving everything in that dream was, the more lost and disappointed he felt when he woke up.

The saddest thing in this world is not the inability to obtain and possess, but the loss after obtaining and possessing, which is the most tormenting.