Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 412 - 363 Master and Disciple

Judging by the condition of the Ten Thousand Spirit Book, it was undoubtedly treated as a normal Former Sui Cultivator’s notes and stored in the Book Collection Pavilion.

That is to say, it had shown no abnormalities when checked by the Book Collection Pavilion before.

Somebody had once obtained the Ten Thousand Spirit Book and, through some means, tore out a page to create the Spirit Summoning Paper. It wasn’t until I brought the Spirit Summoning Paper that the Ten Thousand Spirit Book was reactivated. Of course, it’s also possible that the Ten Thousand Spirit Book itself actively split off a piece of Spirit Summoning Paper...

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, rapidly pondering. The Ten Thousand Spirit Book feeds on everything of its host and is certainly no benign entity.

He had already been parasitized by Mo Si and lacked the energy to resist a new curse.

If it couldn’t be destroyed, could it be discarded? It can’t be destroyed, nor discarded, much like a piece of beef stuck between my teeth.

Li Ang slowly exhaled a breath of foul air, suppressed the irritation in his heart, and after calming himself for a moment, picked up the Ten Thousand Spirit Book. He walked down to the main hall to ask the administrator, "Excuse me, Instructor, I would like to check the storage date and borrowing history of this book."

"Hmm?"

The Instructor shifted his gaze away from the magazine and glanced at the Ten Thousand Spirit Book in Li Ang’s hand—once someone other than Li Ang was present, the Ten Thousand Spirit Book would turn back into a Demon Cultivator’s diary.

Li Ang carried the seal of the Supervision Department and had the authority to check.

"Alright," the Instructor nodded, picked up the Ten Thousand Spirit Book, and entered the next room. After a while, he came out, looking somewhat puzzled, and said, "I can’t find records for this book."

Li Ang frowned and asked, "How come? Shouldn’t the Book Collection Pavilion have records for everything?"

The Instructor nodded and said, "That’s true, but about a decade ago, an accident occurred in the Book Collection Pavilion, and some borrowing records were burned. It’s possible that this book was also on the list."

A decade ago... Li Ang instantly realized that this was precisely when Jun Qianzi had defected. Is it a coincidence? Or is this some sort of plot...

With doubts in his mind, Li Ang left the Academic Palace and returned to the Golden City Mansion under the glow of the evening sun.

As soon as he entered, he heard Song Shaoyuan and You Xiao chatting joyously, and... the voice of Pu Liuxuan.

"Teacher?"

Li Ang was delighted to see his teacher, Pu Liuxuan, and his teacher’s wife, Guan Lishu, sitting in the hall having a meal. In Guan Lishu’s arms, she held their son.

"How come you are in Chang’an? You didn’t even write to let me know, so I could have gone to the city gates to welcome you."

Li Ang quickly walked into the courtyard, using Telekinesis to place the package containing the Ten Thousand Spirit Book into the study.

"We came by the Academic Palace cart. The journey took just two days altogether, which is even faster than sending a letter. We decided not to write," Pu Liuxuan said with a smile. "Come, sit down. Your teacher’s wife has cooked yellow croaker for you."

At the dinner table, after rounds of wine and a variety of dishes, Li Ang and Song Shaoyuan, who had left Yizhou together two and a half years ago, reminisced about their days studying at the Yizhou State School, feeling quite nostalgic.

Pu Liuxuan smiled as he talked about the changes in Yizhou over the years. Since Li Ang and Song Shaoyuan had both been admitted to the Academic Palace, Yizhou State School had indeed created a small miracle, with a noticeable increase in its enrollment rate.

The restaurant previously run by Song Shaoyuan’s family had customers streaming in and out continuously. Li Ang’s ancestral home, the Little Medicine King’s house, was meticulously cared for by the citizens of Yizhou. Even the fallen leaves and accumulated snow at its door were promptly cleared away by volunteers.

The group drank wine and ate, casually discussing matters of Yizhou, unaware that it was already deep into the night.

Song Shaoyuan was dragged home by You Xiao, while Pu Liuxuan took the chance, while his wife and son were moon-gazing in the courtyard, to give Li Ang a meaningful look—Song Shaoyuan was also one of his disciples at the Yizhou State School, but some matters were not suitable to be discussed in front of him.

"Teacher," Li Ang said with a frown, using Telekinesis to slightly close the door, "did you come to Chang’an suddenly because of Jun Qianzi?"

Previously, Pu Liuxuan mentioned that his family had urgently come to Chang’an in an Academic Palace carriage, without even having time to send a letter. It all looked like a hasty decision.

"Yes," Pu Liuxuan nodded. "People from the garrison have already told me about what happened during the Chinese Valentine’s Day in Chang’an. Chen Danqiu, the Sacrificial Officer, fears someone might harm me, so he asked me to return to the Academic Palace first."

Pu Liuxuan’s choice of words was "someone," not specifically "Jun Qianzi." It’s clear that the people aiming to harm him are not just one or two.

"Teacher, what exactly happened between you and Jun Qianzi back then?" Li Ang furrowed his brow and asked the question he had always wanted to ask.

"Sigh, after all the twists and turns, we are back to the start. This is also my fault. Initially thinking that Jun Qianzi had died, I didn’t explain this matter to you clearly, which led to so many complications."

Pu Liuxuan shook his head with a bitter smile and took a deep breath. "You might have heard from Ju Xiu and the Mountain Master, right? Jun Qianzi and I were both students from Yizhou and entered the Academic Palace in the same year, considering each other confidants. His talent in talismanic study was exceptional, reaching High-level Cloud Patrol at a young age. His Natural Science talent was even higher, once on par with Su Feng. He was considered a pivotal future pillar of the Academic Palace. Back then, he was a very dazzling person."

"Dazzling?" Li Ang raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly. No problem could stump him, no predicament could confine him. Together, we traveled through hundreds of State Mansions in Yu Country, helping the local common people build roads, bridges, canals, and manage flood, drought, and locust disasters."

Pu Liuxuan continued slowly, "Traveling abroad was arduous, and our greatest pleasure, after a long day, was to talk late into the night by lamplight. We would discuss the future of Yu Country and the Academic Palace, and how we could use our talents to improve the lives of Yu Country’s citizens."

Pu Liuxuan paused, his expression complexly amused. "Back then, we were still young and spoke indiscriminately, harboring many wild ideas. Such as flattening the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains to allow the humid mist from Tianzhu to blow into the Western Regions of Yu Country, bringing rainfall to the desert; planting trees extensively on the loess upstream of the Yellow River to improve the sedimentation downstream; breeding thousands of Nearby Worms, distributing one to each state and township so orders from Chang’an could reach locales overnight, weakening the influence of the nobel families. These ideas even included some that were rather disrespectful towards the court."

Pu Liuxuan smirked, and Li Ang immediately understood. There has always been a saying among Yu Country’s common people: "The Li Family and the Academic Palace share the world." But when generation after generation of Emperors and court ministers are disciples of the Academic Palace, does the Academic Palace really still need an Emperor to rule over them, sending so-called "Academic Supervisors" to be stationed there? Why not... take a step further? Seek greater power?

People in the Academic Palace who thought this way always existed. However, whether they were Doctors or students, there was an unspoken agreement not to discuss it.

"It’s possible that all geniuses have some arrogance. Aside from being somewhat haughty, he was the standard, exemplary student of the Academic Palace at that time," Pu Liuxuan said. "Until one time, he and I went to inspect the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains."