The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#170 - Questions and Answers

After announcing Lu Jing's assessment results, the middle-aged man with a square face put down the stone tablet in his hand, returning to his previous amiable demeanor.

He first poured some millet into his hand, beckoning the nightingale on the copper stand by the bookshelf to fly into his palm and eat, before speaking to Lu Jing again.

"Now you can ask me any questions you have."

Lu Jing breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this, and after organizing his thoughts, he asked the first question, which was also his biggest concern, "Where is this place?"

The square-faced middle-aged man was clearly not surprised by this question, and while stroking the nightingale's feathers, he said, "The academy."

Lu Jing was slightly taken aback, and then asked, "What academy?"

The square-faced middle-aged man shook his head, "This place is just called the academy, it doesn't have a name. It is said that the person who established this place initially wanted to come up with a name, but after realizing that there was no other academy in the world that taught the same things as here, there was no need to distinguish it from other academies by name."

That was quite the boast, but considering the various mysterious methods displayed by Kui and the black-clothed man in the Yama Flute notes, there was nothing wrong with this statement.

"May I ask for your name…" Lu Jing looked at the square-faced middle-aged man.

"My surname is Huang, and I am the director of the academy, so everyone calls me Director Huang. I am responsible for compiling the assessments of new students, as well as supervising the academy's finances, the conduct of teachers and students, and some other miscellaneous matters."

After finishing speaking, the square-faced middle-aged man paused, and then continued, "You haven't even been admitted yet, and you've already spent the academy four thousand one hundred and twenty-four taels of silver."

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lu Jing said, breaking out in a sweat. Of course, he knew where this money had been spent.

After all, during the trial realm, he had been freeloading fire lantern grass and white-eyed cicada slough every ten days on the dot.

And he had previously asked Gu Caiwei to help him purchase them on the market, and knew that the prices of these two items had now been driven sky-high.

It seemed that the academy had bled quite a bit to supply him with medicine.

Although Lu Jing had been happily taking advantage of the situation, he knew that since he would be studying on their turf in the future, there was no reason to have an unpleasant relationship with Director Huang over these four thousand taels of silver.

So he quickly said, "I will pay this money back."

However, Director Huang shook his head upon hearing this, "No need, since Senior Dong promised you beforehand, it is only right that the academy covers this money. However, if you want more in the future, you will have to pay for it yourself."

After a few simple exchanges, Lu Jing roughly figured out Director Huang's personality. The man before him was clearly someone who was fair and impartial, intolerant of any impurity, and acted in a very upright manner.

No wonder he was able to sit in the position of director.

Even though he had shown his appreciation for him from the moment they met, he still made it clear that the academy would not pay for his personal expenses.

People like this were often stern and unfeeling, but Lu Jing had quite liked dealing with such people back in his company in his previous life.

At least you didn't have to be so mentally exhausted, as long as you followed the rules and regulations, he wouldn't make things difficult for you.

Lu Jing then asked, "What can I learn here?"

"You were recommended for admission by Kui, and it is said that you even worked with her to solve a strange object. Since she gave you a waist tag, I believe she should have told you some things about us, but since you asked, I will try to answer in more detail."

"This world is far from as simple as it seems. Our ancestors were born in chaos, and through observation and exploration, ignited the fire of wisdom, gradually came to understand this world, and then began to change it, developing civilization on this basis."

"It has developed into the current golden age. Looking at our Chen Dynasty, the territory is vast, the four seas are prosperous, there are countless natural treasures, talented scholars and poets, and skilled craftsmen gathered, and all of this is built on a correct understanding of the world."

"Let me give you an example," Director Huang pointed to the bookshelf on the side, "The invention of paper allowed people to easily record words, making it easier to spread poetry and articles, allowing more people to be educated by the sages."

"However, let's now imagine a situation where the words you write on paper become unreliable, they will spontaneously change their order, or even secretly run onto other people's paper, would you still record those precious thoughts in your mind in a timely manner?"

"Would you dare to copy incomplete poems and verses onto paper? Even more seriously, even the emperor's edicts and the files of cases would no longer be what they originally were, what unimaginable consequences would this cause? Can we still trust paper and use it to record and spread our words?"

Seeing the look of surprise on Lu Jing's face, Director Huang said, "Don't think this is wishful thinking, because this is something that has actually happened. Item B, Number 219 is such a thing."

"At first, it only rearranged the words written on it, but because no one noticed it for about a hundred and twenty years, its power accumulated more and more, enough to affect all the paper in a city."

"Fortunately, the people in the bureau finally discovered it, brought it back, found a way to cut off its connection with the outside world, and properly stored it away."

"And then there's [Well]," Director Huang paused and continued, "It is a very special and rare strange object, it has existed for even longer than the academy, but it has remained very stable, with almost no changes after thousands of years. We use it to quickly travel to where we want to go."

"It can even cross tens of thousands of miles in the blink of an eye, and thousands of years ago, a very powerful expert in the bureau successfully connected the [Trial Realm] to the [Well], allowing you newcomers to go directly to the [Trial Realm] through the [Well]."

"Strange objects like [Well] are almost harmless to the world and can also facilitate people's lives, but the bureau has always been hiding the secret of its existence, not because we want to take it for ourselves and are unwilling to share it with the world."

"Is it because the existence of [Well] is not beneficial to the development of the world and civilization?" Lu Jing asked.

If it were someone else here, it would probably be difficult to understand what Director Huang meant, but as Lu Jing, who had transmigrated from a previous life of technological explosion, he was very clear about what Director Huang, or rather, the people of this mysterious organization, were worried about.

In order to travel faster, humans domesticated horses, invented wheels, and then developed them into carriages. Carriages have evolved continuously, becoming automobiles, then trains, and airplanes…

Although the sources of power are different, these things are essentially the results of human beings' continuous understanding and transformation of the world.

And civilization has also developed in this process.

But [Well] is different. Things like [Well] do not conform to any objective laws, and research on [Well] cannot promote the progress of overall civilization, and may even hinder the development of the world.

After all, if you can go where you want to go through [Well], no one will be willing to bother to invent wheels and carriages.