Zu An thought to himself, "Aren't these just undergraduate and graduate students from my previous life? Hmm, in a fantasy novel, they'd be outer disciples and inner disciples."
"Becoming a disciple of the Back Mountain is the second most important goal pursued by many students of the National Academy," Jiang Luofu continued.
Zuan was taken aback: "What is the first target?"
Jiang Luofu replied, "Of course, it's to become the chief priest's personal disciple. However, over the years, the chief priest has only accepted 12 disciples, so this goal is obviously difficult to achieve."
"Twelve disciples." This wasn't the first time Zuan had heard that the High Priest had twelve disciples. "By the way, does the academy have alchemy furnaces?"
He had been thinking about getting a pill-refining furnace, since ordinary medicine furnaces couldn't be used for refining pills, and after asking many people, they all said that only the academy could provide one.
"An alchemy furnace?" Jiang Luofu exclaimed in surprise. "What do you need an alchemy furnace for?"
"Just refining pills for fun," Zu'an replied.
Jiang Luofu's eyes widened, and her voice unconsciously rose: "You know how to refine pills?"
Zu An was annoyed: "What kind of look is that? Can't I know how to refine pills?"
“It is indeed a bit strange, after all, there is a very high threshold. You have given me a lot of surprises.” Jiang Luofu smiled and said, “Alright, after visiting the Grand Master of Ceremonies later, I will go to Shen Xuzi’s place to find you an alchemy furnace. Looking at the entire capital, there is no one who can match his alchemy skills.”
"Kidney Deficiency Master?" Zu An was taken aback. Could there really be someone in the world who took such a Taoist name?
Jiang Luofu smiled slightly, clearly guessing what he was thinking: "It's the 'Shen' in 'Shizhi' (什至). He greatly admires those great alchemists in history, such as Chongxuzi, Xuanxuzi, Qingxuzi, and so on, so he wanted to give himself a similar name. Unfortunately, most of these alchemists in history had the same idea, and almost exhausted all the available 'Xu' (虚) names. Helpless, he decided to take a different approach and gave himself the name Shenxuzi (甚虚子), so that even if he didn't achieve anything in the field of alchemy in the future, he could still be remembered in history because of this name."
"This is quite a character." Zu An couldn't help but chuckle, thinking to himself, "Is he sure he'll be remembered in history? He might very well become a laughingstock."
Meanwhile, a luxurious carriage traveled along the mountain road to Dong'e Fish Peak, the highest point on the back of Yuquan Mountain.
"Stop the carriage. I will walk there from here to avoid appearing disrespectful to the Grand Master." A pleasant female voice rang out from inside the carriage.
A palace maid hurriedly opened the carriage door and helped the master inside get out.
A magnificent palace dress was revealed, and accompanied by the tinkling of jade pendants, a stunningly beautiful woman slowly stepped down from the carriage.
"Your Highness, be careful," a maidservant warned. It turned out that this group of people was none other than the Crown Princess leading her entourage.
Bi Linglong smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I'm not that delicate."
She looked up at the pond not far away, watching the clear water, the emerald green lotus leaves on the surface, and the lotus flowers of various colors—pink, pale yellow, snow white…
Together, they create a stunningly beautiful scene that is breathtaking at first glance.
The Crown Princess couldn't help but exclaim, "The climate on this mountaintop is rather cold, which is not suitable for lotus flowers to grow. Yet this pond of lotus flowers is growing so well. The Grand Master is truly a master craftsman."
"So the Crown Princess is also a lover of flowers." A deep voice slowly drifted from the distant pine forest, neither happy nor sad, making it impossible to discern the speaker's current mood.
The Crown Princess bowed and said, "Linglong has come to pay her respects to the Grand Master of Ceremonies."
There was no reply from the wind, only a creaking sound, clearly the sound of the door opening.
The Crown Princess's face lit up with joy. She knew that the Grand Master rarely received guests, so his willingness to see her meant a good start. She quickly signaled to the people around her to stay and wait for her, and then walked alone into the pine forest.
On the other side, as Zu'an and Jiang Luofu passed by a lawn, they saw a group of young students arguing heatedly.
"Nonsense, how could fire not be hot?"
"Of course fire can be not hot, because fire is the name and heat is the reality. 'Fire' is not hot; if 'fire' were hot, people would burn their mouths if they said the word 'fire'; if saying 'fire' does not burn the mouth, it can be seen that fire is not hot."
"That's just sophistry!"
"Do you think I'm wrong? If you are, then point it out. You can't point it out, yet you just say I'm wrong. That's not the way of a master. Teacher, do you think I'm right?"
The student bowed to a short, stout man sitting down. The man was fat, but he was wearing a blue robe and a hat. He had a mustache and a strangely comical appearance.
Upon hearing this, the fat man said, "Park Guk-chang is right; he has grasped the essence of my master's teachings."
Having received his praise, the student who had been talking so smugly looked at his classmate with a defiant glance.
The other student looked gloomy, having lost face in front of the teacher and become a stepping stone for others.
Zu An couldn't help but look at Jiang Luofu beside him: "Is this even possible?"
Jiang Luofu smiled bitterly and said, "This is the way of the School of Names. This is how their lineage works. That short and fat man is Yin Shi, the eleventh disciple of the Chief Minister."
Zu An thought to himself, "Isn't this a bunch of trolls? Jiao Si Gun will definitely be in his element here."
Wait, this guy is also ranked eleventh... How the hell am I so destined to be with trolls?
Just then, the short, fat man named Yin Shi seemed to sense something and subconsciously turned around to look this way.
Jiang Luofu's expression changed, and she hurriedly grabbed Zu An's hand: "Let's go!"
Zuan was completely confused. Why leave? Could there be any danger at a prestigious national academy?
But the immense force coming from her hand showed that Jiang Luofu was not joking; he was pulled so hard that he staggered.
Zuan immediately became more vigilant and prepared for battle at any moment.
Suddenly, their vision blurred and a fleshy ball rolled in front of them. When the ball stretched out its limbs and stood up, they realized that it was Yin Shi from before.
"Oh, it's Eighth Senior Sister. Why did you run away when you saw me?" Yin Shi stroked her mustache and said with a smile.
Zu An stared at Jiang Luofu in surprise: "Eighth Senior Sister?"
...
Today, the two chapters have been combined.
The cameo role of Park Guk-chang in this chapter was provided by reader Gaishi's cameo role. It also seems that another reader, Mozi Xun, provided the cameo role. Looking at the homophones, did the two of them reveal something?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
