The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#222 - Old acquaintance

When Lu Jing saw the dark-faced man beckoning to him, not only did he not show any joy, but he instead asked vigilantly, "What do you want?"

"… … … …"

The dark-faced man was momentarily speechless at the sight, but this also made him more certain that Lu Jing's previous appearance was indeed not an act. So he said again, "You want to know if this civet cat is a strange creature, and what its use is, right?"

Lu Jing nodded, "That's right."

"I might be able to help you."

Hearing that the other party was talking about the black cat, Lu Jing's spirit relaxed again, and he cupped his fist and said, "Please enlighten me, senior."

"I told you not to call me senior… I'm just a farmer. If you really have to call me something, just call me by my name, Wu Han," the dark-faced man said. "As for the person who can help you, it's not actually me. Her name is Ye Gongmei, she is the real senior.

"Senior Ye was originally a fifth-rank supervisor of the Sitianjian, and came from Beast King Valley. Her family's beast-controlling technique is very powerful. Before entering the academy, she was already a well-known beast-controlling master. Later, she even combined spells with beast-controlling techniques.

"No one in the bureau is better at dealing with animal-like strange creatures than her, but later something happened… She has been living in seclusion in that maple forest behind the mountain.

"However, Senior Ye likes quietness and dislikes noise. She usually doesn't like to see people, and has set up a formation outside her house. Even if ordinary people go to that maple forest, they won't be able to find her.

"Fortunately, Senior Ye also needs to eat and drink. I am responsible for delivering her vegetables, rice, and noodles. I happen to know how to pass through the formation she set up."

Lu Jing was overjoyed when he heard this, "Thank you for your guidance, Uncle Wu."

However, Wu Han shook his head and said, "Don't thank me yet. I can tell you how to find Senior Ye, but I don't know if she is willing to help you. Actually… uh, her temper is indeed a bit strange.

"Otherwise, she wouldn't have always disliked seeing people. Alas… she wasn't like this before, it's all because of that incident.

"How about this, I'll give you another small basket of lychees. These are Senior Ye's favorite food. Maybe she will be willing to help you for the sake of the lychees.

"Finally, be sure to remember that no matter what you see in that maple forest, you must not show any contempt for Senior Ye."

Wu Han earnestly instructed.

Lu Jing thanked Wu Han, then carried the black cat, suspected to be a strange creature, in one hand, and the basket of lychees in the other, and walked towards the back mountain.

Wu Han, carrying his hoe, stood by the field, watching Lu Jing's figure disappear into the sunset, his expression momentarily lost in thought, not knowing what he was thinking.

… …

Lu Jing walked into the maple forest, and without much effort, he found the large rock that Wu Han mentioned, shaped like an old turtle.

Then, he walked twenty steps east of the rock, turned and walked twenty steps north, closed his eyes, turned around twice, retreated thirteen steps, and then opened his eyes, and saw… an old acquaintance.

The mountain spirit felt someone approaching from behind, threw down the broom in its hand, and bared its teeth at the person, revealing a fierce expression.

However, when it saw the appearance of the person, the teeth that were half-bared could no longer be bared.

The expression on its face also changed from ferocious to terrified. Before Lu Jing could speak, it ran into a thatched hut not far away in a puff of smoke.

Lu Jing was a little embarrassed, wanting to call out to the monkey and tell it that he wasn't there for it, and to let it sweep the ground in peace, but in the blink of an eye, the mountain spirit had already fled into the house.

Then, Lu Jing heard an old voice coming from the house, "Who is it?"

"Lu Jing, a new student of the academy," Lu Jing said respectfully, "Entrusted by Uncle Wu, to deliver lychees to Senior Ye."

The person in the house was silent for a while after hearing this, and after a moment said, "Why didn't Wu Han come himself? Forget it, I'll have my maid take them."

Lu Jing was a little strange when he heard this, because he had previously heard Wu Han say that Ye Gongmei was clearly living in seclusion here alone, and he didn't know when she had acquired a maid.

Could it be that like the mountain spirit, she is also a strange creature?

While Lu Jing was wondering, he saw that the door of the thatched hut had been opened, and a little girl who looked only about ten years old walked out from behind the door.

She was born with red lips and white teeth, green hair and vermilion face, eyebrows like willow leaves, and her small face still had some baby fat, looking full of childishness.

However, the expression on her face was quite mature, and she nodded to Lu Jing, then reached out and took the basket of lychees, sniffing the scent under her nose.

She also looked up at the black cat that Lu Jing was carrying in his hand, and suddenly said, "Did Wuzi Erbai Ershiyi suffer a loss at your hands?"

"Wuzi Erbai Ershiyi?"

"Oh, that's the big monkey that just ran into the house."

"I did fight with it, but that was more than a month ago," Lu Jing said.

"More than a month ago?" The little girl tilted her head and thought, "The academy hadn't started at that time, which means you defeated it purely with martial arts, no wonder its memory is so deep. Wait… the name Lu Jing sounds a bit familiar.

"Before, when the Tianji List was changed, there were two young people under the age of twenty on it, one was a female disciple of the Yunshui Jingci Pavilion, and the other was you, right?"

"That's right," Lu Jing nodded again.

"Let me guess again, you came to find me… my master, for the sake of this guy, right." The little girl raised her chin at the black cat, "What benefits did you give Wu Han that made him tell you how to enter here?"

"I didn't give him any benefits," Lu Jing spread his hands.

"No benefits at all?" The little girl frowned, "That doesn't sound like his way of doing things."

Lu Jing waited for a while, and seeing that the little girl didn't say anything more, and didn't seem to want to take him into the thatched hut, he had no choice but to take the initiative to speak again.

"I heard that Senior Ye's beast-controlling technique is unparalleled in the world, I wonder if I can ask her to help me see if this civet cat is a strange creature?"

"It's definitely one," the little girl said without thinking, "Your civet cat is not young, judging by its coat, it has long surpassed ordinary civet cats, and also its claws and eyes, hehe, it can even understand our words, it might even be several hundred years old.

"How are its skills?"

"Very agile, but not much stronger than ordinary civet cats, still within the normal range."

"That's also normal, many strange creatures don't take strengthening their bodies as their direction of evolution," the little girl nodded.