Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 437 - 388: Master and Disciple

"Uh?"

Ouyang Shi hesitated. "But I haven’t really read the Academic Palace’s exam materials..."

"No worries. The Academic Palace exams are neither too simple nor too complex. With five to six months left until the exam, there is plenty of time. Given your intelligence, you should have no problem. If you need them, I can come over again tomorrow and bring you some materials."

Li Ang smiled. "By the way, are you willing to accept me as your teacher? Let me make this clear—I indeed have some personal grievances with Xi Yangyu, but this has nothing to do with him. I should, perhaps, probably, still be able to teach a thing or two, right?"

Qiu Feng stared wide-eyed in amazement, and Ouyang Shi froze for a few seconds. Only when her mother coughed gently from behind did she come to her senses and quickly nod. "Yes, I am willing."

"That will do. Do you have any cured meat or jerky at home? It would be best to have some as a traditional offering to mark the occasion."

"We do."

Ouyang Shi ran to the kitchen to get the cured meat.

Qiu Feng tugged at Li Ang’s sleeve, his expression questioning.

In the Yu Country, the relationship between a teacher and a student was one of the most stable, second only to blood relations.

Li Ang was now highly respected, teaching dozens, if not hundreds, of students in the Imperial Medical Bureau. Even if these students had attended only four or five of his classes, they could respectfully call him Teacher or Master. However, unless personally recognized by Li Ang, they could not publicly claim to be his disciples; otherwise, they risked being suspected of trying to curry favor.

It was the same within the Academic Palace.

Doctors treated all students equally in the classroom and would only gather with their acknowledged disciples after class to delve into topics of interest.

Considering Li Ang’s current reputation and the future importance of Penicillin and Artemisinin, Ouyang Shi becoming his acknowledged disciple was a path to soaring success.

"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing," Li Ang patted Qiu Feng’s hand and said in a lowered voice.

Ouyang Shi was tenacious and quick-witted. On her very first day at the Imperial Medical Bureau, she could recite from memory the textbooks he had compiled. During classes, she also demonstrated a sincere passion for studying medicine.

Medicine could not be advanced by just one or two individuals; more disciples meant more assistance.

TAP TAP TAP.

Ouyang Shi trotted back, her face smeared with dirt, holding two pieces of old cured meat tied with straw ropes—the cured meat bore the marks of smoke and scorching, probably having hung from the kitchen beam the whole time.

"Master, please excuse this humble offering." Ouyang Shi’s cheeks turned slightly red as she handed over the cured meat and prepared to bow.

"No need for the kowtow; that’s not our custom."

Li Ang took the cured meat and recalled the scene years ago when he had apprenticed himself to Pu Liuxuan. What should a teacher say at a time like this?

"Well... from now on, you must respect your ancestors, follow the rules, maintain an upright character, and be diligent in your studies..."

Li Ang mechanically recited a few lines and a passage from the first Chapter of the "Great Learning," then clapped his hands. "Alright, the ceremony is over. According to tradition, I should give you a gift in return."

He took out a stack of flying money notes from his sachet, each with a denomination of one hundred strings of coins, placed it on the table, and instructed, "Remember to come to class tomorrow," then left with Qiu Feng.

No sooner had they stepped out of the courtyard gate and walked a short distance than Qiu Feng could not help but ask in a whisper, "I remember your teacher has a deep-seated resentment toward Xi Yangyu, doesn’t he...?"

"Hmm? Has that news spread already?"

Li Ang waved his hand. "My teacher taught me Confucian classics, not medicine, so strictly speaking, we are not of the same lineage."

Qiu Feng shook his head. "Who knows if Xi Yangyu will think you’re taking Ouyang Shi as your disciple just to spite him?"

"Hmm, let’s put it this way. If Xi Yangyu genuinely cared about his daughter, he wouldn’t be too angry. My achievements are already hanging on the walls of the Academic Palace History Museum. My future status will certainly be much higher than that of a mere Master. As my disciple, Ouyang Shi’s future can hardly be considered bleak."

Li Ang continued, "And if Xi Yangyu doesn’t care about his daughter and only cares about his own reputation and face, then why should I care about him?"

Times had changed; Li Ang was no longer the young man who had once worried and fretted over a divination comment.

「Academic Palace, Supervision Building, Sacrificial Officer’s Office.」

Xi Yangyu, with a gloomy expression, pushed open the room’s door.

He found Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu, the three Masters Xue Che, Cui Yixian, and Tantai Leshan, and several figures wearing black-veiled hats that concealed their faces, adorned with jade pendants from the Supervision Department.

This formal?

Xi Yangyu frowned, his gaze sweeping over those from the Supervision Department—it was a mysterious and unpredictable body; even with Xi Yangyu’s status as a Master, he was unclear about its exact members.

He closed the door and asked, "What has happened?"

"A spy lurking in the Zhou Kingdom reported that someone is secretly gathering bronze instruments related to Yin Shang and the Nine Nether. Their methods are very clever. They never take the lead themselves but instead spread rumors claiming that Yin Shang’s bronze instruments grant various abilities without any side effects—such as eternal youth, curing diseases, bewitching hearts, and so on. They entice Zhou Kingdom cultivators to dig and search everywhere. Once someone actually finds something, they mysteriously die. The unearthed bronze instruments also vanish without a trace."

Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu rubbed his forehead and said softly, "Zhou Kingdom’s spies don’t possess that capability. Considering that during the Qixi anomaly, the item missing from the bottom of Xingqing Palace’s Dragon Pond was also a Bronze Artifact... We have reason to suspect that Zhao Ming is behind this."

Xi Yangyu furrowed his brows. "What do they want with so many Bronze Artifacts, causing such a huge commotion?"

Cui Yixian asked, "Perhaps they want to transcribe the Divine Evil Cloud Talismans inscribed on them?"

"No, most Divine Evil Cloud Talismans have been passed down to the present day. The few that are lost don’t have overly exaggerated effects. They are even less effective than the new-style talismans issued in the past century," Tantai Leshan shook his head.

"But there are exceptions, aren’t there? I’ve heard that in the Yin Shang period, there was a secret technique where different inscriptions, when pieced together, could unleash immense power..."

The group expressed their opinions, debating nonstop.

Xue Che, with his arms crossed, clicked his tongue impatiently. "Maybe..."

The noisy discussion abruptly stopped. Everyone turned to Xue Che, waiting with probing eyes for him to continue.

"Ahem," Xue Che’s old face turned red. "Maybe they’ve been rebels in the wild for too long and now they want to experience the noble life of bell tolls and tripod meals too? I see those noble families; they all use tripods for dining. Each tripod even has a number on it to prevent family members from taking the wrong bowl, especially if the family is too large."

"..."

The room fell silent for a few seconds. Then, the others immediately turned back around and resumed their debate more fervently, completely ignoring Xue Che, who was wildly speculating and offering absurd ideas.

Alright then.

Xue Che pursed his lips, stepped back to a corner, and casually started flipping through the exam papers on Chen Danqiu’s bookshelf, only to see this year’s Body Refining Students’ disastrous results.