The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#283 - Xuan Ji

The green-clad girl's cultivation time wasn't long, only about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

But in that short amount of time, the snake venom had attacked the area near her heart meridian dozens of times, only to be blocked by Lu Jing's true qi each time.

In other words, if Lu Jing hadn't been protecting her, she would have died dozens of times already.

No wonder she said earlier that she couldn't practice this martial art without help.

However, on the other hand, her progress was also astonishing. An ordinary person wouldn't even feel any improvement in their cultivation after practicing for this long. Yet, Lu Jing could clearly sense that the true qi in the green-clad girl's meridians had grown by nearly seventy percent after swallowing that piece of snake venom.

This rate of growth could be called shocking. If she continued practicing like this, the green-clad girl would probably enter the Third-Rate realm in less than a month.

However, after the green-clad girl finished her practice, she told Lu Jing that the next cultivation session would be in five days. She needed five days to completely digest the snake venom in her body.

From beginning to end, neither of them had asked the other's name, just like a young man and woman who accidentally sparked a connection in a late-night bar, spending a night of passion in a nearby hotel, each getting what they needed before going their separate ways.

However, Lu Jing still felt a little guilty because his previous 'I poison myself' explanation could only fool a simple person like the green-clad girl, who hadn't left Mirror Lake Valley in years.

Any ordinary person here would probably have realized immediately that the enemy he spoke of was himself. After all, as the most prominent First-Rate expert recently, his name was almost universally known.

Oh well, he'd hide it for as long as he could.

Lu Jing scratched his head. Anyway, he hadn't lied; he had been telling the truth all along. Even if the green-clad girl found out the truth one day, she couldn't do anything to him.

Returning to the academy, Lu Jing reported to Wu Han and then slowly shook his head under the latter's eager gaze.

Seeing this, Wu Han instead comforted him, "It's okay, this is only the first day. Don't worry, there are plenty of extraordinary people in Mirror Lake Valley; there's always a way."

Lu Jing had learned to be clever and no longer refuted him directly. He nodded, accepting Wu Han's comfort, and then left in a rather cheerful mood.

He hadn't expected that a mission he thought would be full of danger would bring unexpected joy.

Although he hadn't found a substitute who had fallen into the mortal world, finding the descendant of Myriad Poison Valley was a major gain nonetheless.

Even though the green-clad girl's Myriad Poison Convergence looked unreliable, Lu Jing could at least obtain three new types of poison from her. Next, he would see how effective they were.

Seeing that it was almost noon, Lu Jing simply didn't return to his residence. He first went to the academy's cafeteria to eat something, then headed to the Scripture Depository.

As a result, he saw the small-mustached man standing on the stone bridge over Ink Washing Pond from afar, staring blankly at the sky with a worried look on his face.

Lu Jing walked to his side and, imitating him, looked up at the sky. However, he saw nothing but a cloud, so he said, "What's wrong? Did you sleep wrong last night and get a stiff neck?"

The small-mustached man must have been lost in thought because he jumped in fright when he heard someone's voice. He turned his head and, upon discovering it was Lu Jing, his expression improved slightly.

But then a look of panic appeared in his eyes, and he said, "The Scripture Depository is closed today and not open to the public, so you can't go inside to organize the books for now."

"Oh," Lu Jing nodded, not really taking it to heart.

Anyway, he had already taken care of the bamboo for Bamboo Path, and the academy had also started helping Wu Han deliver vegetables. His progress was already fast, so it didn't matter to him if the Scripture Depository was delayed for a few days, or even a dozen days.

Lu Jing turned around, intending to go back and continue practicing, but after walking a few steps, he heard the small-mustached man's voice behind him again, "Wait, wait a minute…"

Lu Jing stopped, "Is there anything else?"

The small-mustached man didn't speak immediately but looked around furtively to make sure no one else was nearby before beckoning Lu Jing to come closer.

Then he lowered his voice and said, "Junior Brother, your eyesight is very good. Can you do me a favor?"

"What favor?"

"Help… help me hide someone," the small-mustached man seemed to have mustered a great deal of courage to say this.

"Help you hide someone?" Lu Jing looked puzzled. "Did you just take a concubine and are afraid of being discovered by your wife?"

"Junior Brother, don't joke with me. Yu has never taken a wife," the small-mustached man said awkwardly.

"Then who are you hiding from?"

"Guo the Vice Director," the small-mustached man seemed to be quite afraid of this name as well, and he didn't forget to look around again when he said it, as if afraid the other party would suddenly appear before him.

"Guo the Vice Director, you…" Lu Jing had a flash of inspiration and thought of something, blurting out, "The person you're hiding, could it be someone from a book?"

"Keep your voice down, keep your voice down!" The small-mustached man immediately shuddered and hurriedly went to cover Lu Jing's mouth. However, he could block Lu Jing's mouth but not Lu Jing's strange gaze.

The small-mustached man knew he was in the wrong and smiled wryly, "I know that as the Secretary of the Scripture Depository, my most important duty is to ensure that the books in the depository are not affected by that strange object and that there are no omissions. And I told you that before, so I know what you think of me now."

"This matter is indeed my fault…" The small-mustached man was still sighing, but Lu Jing had already slapped his hand away and asked, "Let me guess, it's a woman?"

The small-mustached man first nodded and then shook his head, "It's a woman, but the relationship between us isn't what you think. Xuan Ji and I are innocent, just friends and confidantes. She adds tea for me when I'm reading, she plays the zither for me when I'm tired, I…"

"Alright, alright, save the parallel sentences for later. When is Guo the Vice Director coming?" Lu Jing asked.

"I don't know. About half an hour ago, I received a letter from his messenger saying that he would come to the Scripture Depository to check the books this afternoon, so I closed the building," the small-mustached man said慌慌张张.

He was obviously completely flustered and didn't know what to do at this moment.

"If Guo the Vice Director discovers Xuan Ji's existence, it's a small matter if I lose my job at the Scripture Depository. I'm afraid that Xuan Ji will also be slapped back into the book by him. That strange object's selection of books is uncontrollable, and there are tens of thousands of books in this Scripture Depository. The next time it's Xuan Ji's turn to come out, it'll probably be a hundred years later."