The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#218 - Write a word

Lu Jing wasn't too surprised about being punished; he had already prepared himself mentally before entering the Other World.

However, he hadn't expected things to escalate to such a degree, not only alerting Supervisor Huang but also alarming the other instructors in the academy.

Now, he feared that everyone knew about it, and Lu Jing and Xia Huai couldn't help but feel uneasy.

It wasn't until Supervisor Huang announced the academy's punishment for them that the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Cutting one hundred bamboos from Bamboo Path, farming the academy's fields for two months, and organizing five thousand books in the library; Lu Jing hadn't experienced the latter two tasks and couldn't comment, but he knew how difficult it was to cut bamboo from Bamboo Path. It wasn't easy to cut down even one, let alone one hundred.

However, compared to the trouble the two had caused, these punishments weren't too severe.

Seeming to sense what they were thinking, Supervisor Huang then warned, "This time, considering it's your first offense, the punishment is only a slight reprimand. But next time, if you two violate the academy's rules again, these labors won't be enough to compensate. You should... be mindful of your actions."

Supervisor Huang shook his head, "Alright, that's all I have to say. Clean up and go to class if you have nothing else to do."

Seeing that things had finally come to an end, Lu Jing and Xia Huai bowed to Supervisor Huang again before heading out of the river valley together.

Lu Jing named his newly acquired messenger bird Gu Jing, as a way to commemorate the two Sky Survey Division seniors he met in the Other World. The name was quite easy to pronounce, but it always reminded Lu Jing of a famous sauce-flavored baijiu.

Soon after, he and Gu Jing completed the final step of their contract, pressing his fingerprint under Gu Jing's right wing.

This was the least visible spot, and combined with Gu Jing's inconspicuous appearance, it would ensure the latter's safety during delivery.

However, Lu Jing didn't choose to take Gu Jing away immediately but left it with its mother to ensure it learned how to fly, forage, and survive in the wild.

This process shouldn't take too long; Lu Jing estimated it would take about one or two weeks at most. Anyway, he didn't need a messenger urgently, so he wasn't in a hurry.

In comparison, the matter of catching up on lessons was more of a headache for Lu Jing.

He and Xia Huai's trip to the Other World had caused more than a month to pass outside, which meant they were a month behind the other new students.

As a result, when Lu Jing first sat in the lecture hall and listened to the professor explain mystic power, he felt like an elementary school student listening to advanced mathematics.

He could understand every word the professor said, but when combined, he had no idea what the professor was talking about.

Xia Huai's situation wasn't much better. Although the girl's mystic power compatibility was the best among the new students, it didn't mean she could understand the professor's teachings without any basic knowledge.

Fortunately, Professor Zheng, who was in charge of teaching mystic power, took the initiative to keep them both behind after class.

He then took out a piece of rice paper and spread it out on the desk.

Next, he took out a packet of powder made from some unknown substance from his sleeve and poured some into the inkstone, waiting for the powder to dissolve into the ink.

He didn't rush to explain the purpose of these things but stroked his beard and asked, "Well, how much of what I just taught did you two understand?"

"Almost nothing," Lu Jing said truthfully.

Professor Zheng looked at Xia Huai again, and the girl shook her head, "Me too."

Professor Zheng didn't seem surprised. He smiled and said, "Although some new students have sneaked into the Other World in the first year before, you two are the only ones who went in before classes even started."

"You've fallen behind on a lot of things, and it will take a lot of time to catch up, but don't worry. First, write a character for me to see."

As he spoke, he pointed to the brush rack on the side.

Xia Huai took the lead and went up, choosing a purple brush. After dipping it in ink, she picked up the brush and wrote the character 'Huai' on the paper.

She used running script, which is a form of calligraphy between regular script and cursive script, combining both correctness and elegance.

From this one character alone, one could see the extraordinary heritage of Xia Huai's family. The girl's calligraphy was obviously taught by a famous teacher, with elegant and refined strokes, yet not as restrained and meticulous as that of ordinary ladies from noble families. On the contrary, it was quite unrestrained, with a hint of rebelliousness from someone in the martial world.

So Professor Zheng couldn't help but praise, "Good character."

But after Xia Huai wrote the last stroke, she saw that the first half of the character had changed color, turning from ink to gold. At the same time, the color of the second half was also gradually changing.

The admiration on Professor Zheng's face grew even stronger, and he exclaimed, "Gold appears with the stroke, truly worthy of the name. I've been teaching in the academy for so long, and there are only a few cultivation talents as good as you."

Perhaps because Xia Huai had given him too many surprises, he then turned his expectant gaze to Lu Jing.

"It's your turn."

Seeing this, Lu Jing didn't waste any words. He took the purple brush from Xia Huai's hand and wrote the character 'Jing' on the right half of the rice paper.

However, with Xia Huai's brilliance before him, Lu Jing's calligraphy looked a bit ordinary...

Because he had practiced calligraphy for a while in the youth class when he was a child, so in all fairness, his characters couldn't be said to be ugly and unbearable to look at.

But it was basically at the level of normal writing for conveying information. To talk about aesthetics and artistry was obviously beyond Lu Jing's current ability.

Moreover, as a pragmatist, since he didn't have to take the imperial examination, he naturally hadn't spent much effort practicing calligraphy after transmigrating, lacking the motivation to write the characters better.

Fortunately, Professor Zheng wasn't focused on his calligraphy in the first place. Seeing his characters, he only frowned slightly and didn't say anything.

Only after a full cup of tea had passed, the ink characters on the paper were still ink characters, without any change.

Before Professor Zheng could say anything, Lu Jing himself was a little embarrassed and asked, "How much longer do I have to wait?"

"Uh, everyone can practice mystic power, it's just a matter of how fast they learn. I asked you to write characters in order to test your mystic power compatibility... The better the compatibility, the faster the characters on this paper will turn gold. In contrast, if the compatibility is worse, the speed at which it turns gold will naturally be slower."

"The slowest speed recorded in the academy should be one hour, so... your characters shouldn't take too long to wait, but in order not to waste time, I'll start by telling you about the basics of mystic power," Professor Zheng said.