The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#613 - Qi Wenren

After discussing the matter of [Class B, Five Hundred Twenty-Seven] and those six copper coins, Supervisor Huang's face also took on a serious expression.

Lu Jing knew that they were about to get down to business.

Supervisor Huang had only returned to the academy recently, and he had specifically asked a messenger to bring him a letter, which obviously wasn't just to summon him to collect his equipment and salary.

The previous two matters were more like afterthoughts; what followed was probably the real reason Supervisor Huang had called him back.

Sure enough, after waiting a while, Lu Jing heard Supervisor Huang speak again.

“I have something I want you to do.”

“Is there another case you want me to investigate?”

Having witnessed the one-eyed Daoist's hurried appearance, Lu Jing had a direct understanding of the workload of the people at the Sitianjian.

No wonder Guo Shouhuai had even set his sights on these new recruits from the academy. Although it hadn't been long since the previous case ended, Lu Jing had already prepared himself mentally to throw himself into new work immediately.

After all, he was quite familiar with the 996 work schedule.

However, he then saw Supervisor Huang shake his head, “It's not a case.”

“What is it then?”

“A supervisor from the Sitianjian?” Lu Jing thought for a moment. Since he was Supervisor Huang's classmate, there were only two possible paths: either staying at the academy as an instructor or becoming a supervisor.

Since Supervisor Huang wanted him to find this person, then he definitely wasn't at the academy.

However, Supervisor Huang's answer was somewhat beyond Lu Jing's expectations, “He is not a supervisor.”

After a pause, he added, “He left the academy before completing his cultivation.”

“Wouldn't he have to drink the farewell tea and forget everything here?”

“Not really. His situation is quite special. His body simply couldn't continue cultivating. Speaking of which, your situations are somewhat similar, but he completed the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment before being unable to cultivate due to an accident. You, on the other hand, didn't have any secret force affinity from the start. You are even rarer.”

Lu Jing scratched his head, wondering why Supervisor Huang's praise sounded a bit strange.

“In short, after realizing that he could no longer cultivate, he found the director of studies at the academy at the time and proactively proposed to leave the academy, but he didn't want to just return home like that.

“After knocking on that door, he, like most people here, realized the importance of the Sitianjian to the world. So even if he lost the possibility of cultivation, he still wanted to contribute to our cause, just in a different way.

“He no longer wanted to be a supervisor but became a researcher. In the Sitianjian, besides dealing with those strange and bizarre objects, he also took the initiative to study secret realms.

“Let's put it this way, in terms of understanding secret realms and the origin of secret forces, he is even on par with Professor Zheng. You heard it outside the door just now, right? Director Su led people to investigate the secret realm north of the academy and found that the situation there is very bad.

“According to Professor Zheng's calculations, that secret realm may not last too long. Because of this, I want to find him and hear his opinion.”

“Hmm, is he not in the Sitianjian now?”

“About ten days ago, he went to Liang Province alone.”

“Liang Province? Isn't that place at war?”

Those Tubo people in the Northwest were not clamoring to build a country for the first time, but in the past, they mostly just wanted to use this as a bargaining chip to get more favors and rewards.

But this time was different. Seeing that the Great Chen Dynasty was nearing its end, those barbarian people's thoughts also began to stir, so this time they wanted to get serious.

The imperial court sent a large army to quell the rebellion and had several head-on battles with those barbarian people, and they were still able to gain some advantages on the surface, basically winning more than losing, but it seemed impossible to swallow the opponent in one gulp.

So in the end, the war still slid towards a war of attrition.

If this continued, those Tubo people would certainly be uncomfortable, but the pressure on the imperial court's money and food was also getting bigger and bigger. Now both sides were gritting their teeth, competing to see who could last longer.

As a result, the area of the three northwestern provinces also became extremely chaotic.

Supervisor Huang said, “He went to Liang Province to investigate a secret realm there. Now we don't have enough manpower, and it's impossible to investigate all twelve secret realms, so we can only send people to the nearby area to take a look. No one is more suitable than him, after all, he has been studying secret realms for more than twenty years, so he also volunteered.

“As for why he was the only one who went in the end, isn't it because the Sitianjian really can't spare any manpower now? After discovering that the secret realm north of the academy also had problems, I sent a messenger to Liang Province to find him, but I couldn't find him, so I can only send someone to make another trip.

“What do you think, are you willing to go to Liang Province to help me bring him back?” Supervisor Huang looked at Lu Jing.

Lu Jing nodded, “Can you tell me some more information about him?”

“Of course, his surname is Qi, and his given name is Wenren, but he likes to use the name An Shi when he goes out to do errands. His appearance is very distinctive. He is seven feet tall, with hands that reach past his knees, and there are three moles on the back of his right hand. He should be easy to recognize.

“Later, I will also tell you the location of that secret realm. See if you can find him in that vicinity.” Supervisor Huang said.

If it was just a simple matter of finding someone, this job sounded relatively easy.

Even though the imperial court and those Tubo people in the Northwest were fighting fiercely in Liang Province.

But for Lu Jing, a large army was still easier to deal with than strange objects. After all, if he couldn't beat a large army, he could still run away, but strange objects were unpredictable, just like that Buddha statue he encountered last time.

If he hadn't been able to produce that cleaver, Lu Jing estimated that he would have had a hard time getting out alive.

After going back to pack up a bit and explaining the matter of taking care of the ginseng field to Chen Hanqing, Lu Jing set off again.

However, this time he was also careful because Kui had warned him that he had been targeted by Mr. Ji, and there were also Mr. Ji's internal agents in the Sitianjian, so Lu Jing also brought a human skin mask this time.

When he arrived in Liang Province, he found a deserted place and put it on his face, and the ginseng merchant Feng Jiulang reappeared in the world.

As soon as he stepped onto the street, Lu Jing felt the tense atmosphere in the city.

Because just half a month ago, a large Tubo tribe nearby had sent people to besiege this place, said to have mobilized a full 30,000 troops. Although they didn't capture it in the end and withdrew.

However, many of the traces left behind during the previous attack were still clearly visible, and because this city was a mixed bag, with people from various tribes, the garrison did not dare to slack off and was strengthening its vigilance, patrolling everywhere to prevent those who had already secretly defected to the enemy from suddenly opening the gates and surrendering the city.

Everywhere Lu Jing looked, there were armored soldiers.