The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#174 - Fish watching from the sky

Passing through the bamboo path, a clearing suddenly appeared before Lu Jing.

In the center of the clearing stood an ancient tree of unknown age, lush and verdant. Its thick trunk was likely impossible for ten people to encircle, and its enormous canopy seemed to blot out the sky.

“What sort of eerie thing is this?” Lu Jing asked Old Chen, who was ahead.

“This isn’t an eerie thing.” Old Chen first respectfully bowed towards a large hall behind the ancient tree before straightening up and replying to Lu Jing, “This is just an ordinary banyan tree, planted by the founder of the academy over a thousand years ago. It's said that it was only a little taller than a person back then.

“Through the meticulous care of successive Rectors, it has grown into what it is today.

“The office has monitored deceased… Generally, if the remains can be found, they are sent back to their hometowns, returned to their parents. If they have no relatives, or for some reason, cannot return home and have no special requests, they are all buried under this banyan tree.

“And regardless of where the remains are buried, a memorial tablet will be placed in the great hall behind the tree, and the academy will hold regular sacrifices.”

As the two were speaking, four people emerged from the great hall.

Their attire didn't resemble that of the academy students, and their expressions were uniformly solemn and respectful.

The leader saw Old Chen and stopped, nodding, but said nothing. He simply took out a wine gourd and poured some wine at the base of the banyan tree.

Afterward, he and the other three each took a sip from the remaining wine in the gourd before hurriedly departing.

Old Chen sighed as he watched their backs, then turned to Lu Jing and said, “Entering this line of work is like living in the darkness. Most of the time, no one knows what you’re doing. Even if you save the world, no one will remember you.

“However,” Old Chen’s tone shifted, “Fortunately, there are always some people, some places that won’t forget what you’ve done. Let’s continue on.”

With that, he led Lu Jing forward.

And as they stepped out from under the banyan tree’s massive canopy, Lu Jing sensed a change in the light compared to before.

Looking up, he saw the most astonishing sight he had encountered since entering the academy.

At first, he thought it was a dark cloud.

But upon closer inspection, he discovered that the object floating about thirty zhang above his head was actually an upside-down lake.

The lake water was clear and bright, shimmering with light.

With Lu Jing’s eyesight, he could even see fish swimming leisurely within.

Whenever a gentle breeze passed, ripples would spread across the lake’s surface.

“This is one of the Eight Scenic Wonders of the academy, the Suspended Lake Gazing at Fish.”

Old Chen was responsible for guiding new recruits, so he was already accustomed to the expressions on their faces.

“The Suspended Lake Gazing at Fish is also the newest of the Eight Scenic Wonders, appearing only about five hundred years ago. It’s because the Rector at the time told people that the famous academies outside all had eight scenic wonders, and we only had seven, putting us at a disadvantage.

“So later, we had this eighth scenic wonder, the Suspended Lake Gazing at Fish.” Old Chen was evidently quite talkative, and since he also had a good impression of Lu Jing, he added a little extra.

“Later, if you have time, you can also look at the other seven scenic wonders, because it’s said that these eight scenic wonders aren’t just magically beautiful; each one also contains a good treasure, but obtaining it depends on luck.

“Well, you’d better not spend too much effort on this. At ordinary times, your studies are the most important, because if you can’t pass the final exam, not only will you be unable to become a Supervisor, but you also won’t be able to take away anything you’ve learned during this time.

“What, is the final exam dangerous? Will you die if you don’t pass?” Lu Jing asked.

“It’s not that extreme. Do you remember what was on Huang Supervisor’s desk in his room after the assessment?”

Lu Jing recalled for a moment, “The Four Treasures of the Study, a stone slab, and… a bowl of tea? Is there something wrong?”

“That bowl of tea isn’t for him to drink himself. If you didn’t pass the previous assessment, he would invite you to drink that farewell tea, and after drinking that bowl of tea, your memories of the last ten days would disappear.” Old Chen said.

“And if you can’t remember what happened, of course, you might have to drink four bowls.”

“…”

“Human hearts are difficult to fathom,” Old Chen sighed, “The existence of eerie things is a secret that the Directorate of Celestial Observation has always guarded. Besides worrying that they will hinder the development of civilization, it’s also because they, despite their thousands of wonders, are essentially very dangerous things.

“If they fall into the hands of someone with malicious intent, it’s hard to guarantee that it won’t lead to disaster.”

At this point, Lu Jing had basically figured out the academy’s and the Directorate of Celestial Observation’s attitude towards eerie things.

If he were an ordinary person and they discovered he had an eerie thing in his possession, the Directorate of Celestial Observation would most likely try to take it back.

But now that he had passed the assessment and entered the academy to study,

It was as if one foot was already in the Directorate of Celestial Observation, then an eerie thing like A’mu, which didn’t have much harm, shouldn’t be a big problem to bring into the academy, after all, the academy wasn’t lacking in eerie things.

Speaking of which, the two had been separated for more than a month, and Lu Jing also missed the little wooden training dummy. He wondered if it would be too lonely alone in the courtyard.

Afterward, Old Chen led Lu Jing to recognize the lecture hall, the library, and other important buildings within the academy, explaining in detail the rules of living in the academy.

Unfortunately, the academy was too large. According to Old Chen, they had only toured a corner of the academy, and Lu Jing would have to explore the other places himself in the future.

He finally led Lu Jing to a small house with peach trees planted in the front yard, “This will be your residence in the academy from now on. You can go inside and take a look first. If you’re not satisfied, you can always apply to me for a change of residence.”

“Alright.” Lu Jing only glanced at it and was quite satisfied with the residence.

He had originally thought that he would have to squeeze into a room with several people, like in ordinary academies.

But perhaps considering that they were all martial arts practitioners and came from different sects, each with their own unique skills, it would be inconvenient to live together and practice martial arts on a daily basis. Therefore, the academy thoughtfully prepared a small courtyard for each of them.

However, to Lu Jing’s surprise, when he opened the door, he found that there was already someone in his small courtyard.

That person stood with their back to him under a peach tree, looking at the clouds in the sky.

Lu Jing thought he had entered the wrong house and subconsciously wanted to turn back to find Old Chen, but unexpectedly, the next moment, that person turned around.

“Congratulations, Young Swordsman Lu, on entering the Tianji Ranking… No, perhaps I should call you Great Swordsman Lu in the future.” The person smiled, appearing even more innocent and charming than the peach blossoms on the tree.

“Xia Huai.” Seeing the girl before him, Lu Jing finally knew who the old friend Huang Supervisor had mentioned earlier was, and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “You… why are you here too?”

“I arrived three months earlier than you. Actually, I had already been in contact with the people here two years ago, but at that time, I didn’t know anything.”