academic deadlock
Karl Iron Shield's earth-shattering three-day slumber was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples within certain circles of Rockefeller Academy. Students at the Knight Academy were whispering among themselves about a terrifyingly potent "Eastern Secret Medicine" found in a secluded alley, its effects immediate, though its aftereffects were a bit too much for their pillows. Several burly students, who prided themselves on their robust physiques and had been stuck at a bottleneck for a long time, secretly came to inquire, only to be stunned by Finn's exorbitant price and the disclaimer, "The effects are too strong; use with caution," and remained hesitant for the time being.
The shop seemed to have returned to its usual rhythm, serving mercenaries in the morning and dealing with noble servants in the afternoon, with a few curious students occasionally popping in. Finn was counting money until his hands were sore, and Ling Yao was happily absorbing magic cores; it seemed that everything was back on track.
However, beneath this seemingly harmonious scene, an undercurrent is brewing. And the source of this undercurrent is not the cold surveillance of the Inquisition, but rather the potions laboratory deep within the academy, filled with books and instruments.
Professor Eleanor Silverstalker has been locked in her laboratory for a full week. If Ling Yao's manual purification and bizarre alchemy had only cracked a few fissures in her solid magical worldview, then the other party's casual modification of the basic stabilizing array last time was like stuffing explosives into the cracks and then lighting the fuse without hesitation.
For a week, she worked tirelessly, trying to explain the various "miracles" that Ling Yao had displayed using all existing magical theories. She hypothesized about unknown elements, deduced new energy structures, and even consulted forbidden documents describing ancient divine power or otherworldly creatures, but without exception, all her efforts failed.
On the experimental table, the expensive and sophisticated crystal instruments still gleamed with a cold light, and the data streams flowing on the screens remained complex and orderly, but they could not tell her what the power flowing from the black-haired girl's fingertips was. They could only report "error," "unknown interference," and "unable to analyze" again and again.
This utter, unproductive sense of frustration was like an invisible hand gripping Eleanor's throat, leaving her feeling a suffocating sense of bewilderment. The logic and laws she had believed in throughout her life became pale and powerless in the face of phenomena that were utterly incomprehensible.
Pride? Self-esteem? In the face of the pure and cruel "unknown," those things seem to become less important.
Finally, on an evening when the setting sun painted the sky orange-red, Professor Eleanor abruptly pushed open the laboratory door. Her eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses were bloodshot, and her usually meticulously styled hair was somewhat disheveled, but her gaze was astonishingly bright—a light that was a mixture of confusion, resentment, and a burning thirst for knowledge.
She didn't even change out of her lab coat before walking straight out of the main castle of the academy and striding quickly toward that secluded alley, her steps carrying a resolute determination like burning one's boats.
At this moment, inside the "Oriental Secret Medicine" store, Finn was excitedly showing Ling Yao his newly designed "Deluxe Premium Skin Brightening Dew Gift Box"—which was actually just replacing the original crystal bottle with a more fancy carved glass bottle and tying a ribbon around the outside.
"Miss Ling, look! With this kind of packaging, the price can at least double! Those noble ladies and young ladies love this!" Finn said smugly, as if he could already see gold coins raining down on him.
Ling Yao was examining a newly arrived, strange ore containing a faint trace of lightning energy when she heard this. She merely lifted her eyelids lazily, silently expressing her disdain for such extravagant packaging. In her opinion, instead of wasting time on fancy decorations, they should think more about improving the efficacy of the medicine or reducing costs.
Just then, the shop door was pushed open, and the afterglow of the setting sun cast a long shadow of the visitor. Professor Eleanor Silvershine stood in the doorway, backlit, her expression unclear, but her serious and somewhat obsessive academic aura instantly filled the entire shop.
Finn's smile froze instantly, his heart skipped a beat. Professor Yinrui? Why is she here again? Wasn't she badly hurt by Miss Ling last time? Is she here to challenge us again?
He instinctively stepped in front of Ling Yao, forcing a professional smile: "Professor Yinrui, good afternoon! Would you like some 'Radiant Skin Dew' or...?"
Eleanor ignored him completely, her gaze passing over him and locking firmly onto Ling Yao behind her. She took a deep breath, as if making some great decision, and stepped into the store, walking straight up to Ling Yao.
The expected questioning and challenge did not occur. Eleanor simply stared intently at Ling Yao, remaining silent for a full ten seconds, before speaking in an extremely dry voice, even with a barely perceptible tremor, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between her teeth:
"tell me."
"Tell me, what exactly is the principle behind that?"
"What you're using isn't magic. What is that power? What are its operating rules? What's the basis for the fusion of medicinal properties? Those runes... those formations... why do they still work despite violating the fundamental laws of the elements?"
Her barrage of questions came like a machine gun, her tone no longer condescending and skeptical, but filled with genuine, almost consuming confusion and yearning. "I've tried every known method; I can't analyze it, I can't reproduce it, I can't understand it. This is impossible! This doesn't make sense!"
Finn was startled by the professor's near-hysterical questioning and instinctively tried to smooth things over: "Professor, please don't get agitated, this... it's a trade secret, hehe, a trade secret..."
But Ling Yao put down the lightning ore in her hand. She looked at the female professor in front of her, who was almost driven crazy by the "unknown," and for the first time, a very subtle emotion, similar to "sympathy," flashed in her usually indifferent eyes.
She could sense that the person before her was different from Silas, who was single-mindedly focused on eliminating heretics. She was truly trapped within the walls of her own perception, struggling to reach the sky beyond those walls.
Ling Yao has always maintained a rare patience with those who truly seek knowledge—after all, she herself has been through that process.
She thought for a moment and decided to explain in a way that the other person might find easier to understand. She pointed to some medicinal herb samples on the table next to her—calming flowers, purple floss grass, silver leaf grass, and a small piece of moonlight dust.
"Medicinal properties, like those of a monarch, minister, assistant, and envoy, interact and counteract each other," Ling Yao said slowly in her still somewhat stiff but clear standard Mandarin. "They work together, either enhancing or inhibiting each other, to achieve a balance and direct towards the desired result."
She picked up the calming flower and another slightly thorny, heat-inducing herb called "Fierce Sun Grass": "This one calms the mind. This one excites. They are incompatible. Used alone, they may be useful. Used together, they counteract each other, resulting in minimal effect."
She then picked up the purple floss grass and silver leaf grass: "This one calms the mind. This one clears the channels. They complement each other. When used together, their effects are enhanced."
Finally, she pointed to the pot of "Ling's No. 1" basic medicinal liquid being simmered in a crucible engraved with array formations: "Force is not the key. Order is the core. Force them to perform their respective functions and achieve balance, and that will suffice."
This theory of "ruler, minister, assistant, and envoy" and "mutual generation and mutual restraint," when expressed in the language of this world, although simplified to the extreme and even somewhat inadequate in its expression, clearly conveys its core meaning.
Professor Eleanor was stunned. She couldn't follow this line of thought at all! While potion-making also involved ingredient combinations, those were based on elemental affinity, magical resonance frequencies, and stable energy structures! There was never any concept of "mutual reinforcement and mutual restraint"! Nor was there any such thing as a "ruler-minister-assistant-envoy" relationship that sounded like a description of court politics!
"Balance? Order?" Eleanor murmured to herself, her brow furrowed as she tried to grasp this completely unfamiliar concept. "But... how is energy guided? How do you ensure they 'each do their job'? Without precise magical control and incantations, they'll only clash and even explode!"
"Why guide them?" Ling Yao countered, her tone as natural as if she were asking, "Why do we use chopsticks to eat?" "Set the rules, and they will follow them."
"Rules? What rules? Whose rules?" Eleanor felt like she was about to grasp something, but the thought slipped through her fingers.
Ling Yao paused for a moment, seemingly pondering how to explain the concept of "Dao" or "Law". Finally, she raised her hand, a barely perceptible wisp of immortal power gathering at her fingertips, and gently touched the air.
There was no magical aura, no convergence of elements.
But Eleanor's keen senses "saw" that, centered on Ling Yao's fingertips, the various active and chaotic elemental energies around them seemed to be instantly "organized" by an invisible, higher-level force! They were not forcibly controlled or commanded, but rather naturally, like rivers flowing into the sea, briefly entering an extremely harmonious and orderly flow! Although it was only for a moment, that scene was deeply imprinted in Eleanor's mind!
"This...this is..." Eleanor was too shocked to speak. She couldn't comprehend this power, but she could sense the meaning contained within it, which was almost like the "rules" themselves!
"Heaven and earth have their order, and all things follow their laws." Ling withdrew her finger and uttered the last eight words calmly. This was the closest explanation to the essence that she could offer.
Eleanor fell completely silent. She stood there, staring blankly ahead, as if her soul had left her body and flown to some unknown realm. Her mind raced with unprecedented speed, attempting to connect, compare, and integrate Ling Yao's utterly unfamiliar theoretical system with all the magical knowledge she had acquired throughout her life...
But the result was more chaos and contradictions.
"The relationship between ruler and minister, assistant and advisor... mutual generation and restraint... establishing rules... order in heaven and earth..." She repeatedly chewed on these words, each word like a heavy hammer, striking her established cognitive system.
The art of potion-making strives for absolute control and precision. But what the other party is describing sounds more like... a harmony and compliance based on some supreme law?
These are two completely opposite paths!
Seeing Professor Eleanor in a daze, as if her worldview was being reshaped, Finn didn't dare to breathe loudly. He could only express his horror to Ling Yao with his eyes, "What did you do now, boss? The professor seems to be breaking down!"
Ling Yao remained calm, picked up the lightning ore again, and continued to study it, as if she had just casually given a lesson in elementary school biology.
After a long while, Eleanor finally came to her senses. She looked at Ling Yao with a complex expression, her eyes filled with shock, confusion, and frustration, but more than anything, with a bewildered excitement as if a new world had been opened to her.
She didn't ask any more questions or say another word. She just turned around abruptly and, as if sleepwalking, staggered out of the shop, even forgetting to say goodbye.
"Professor? Are you alright?" Finn called out to her retreating figure, but she didn't respond and quickly disappeared into the alleyway.
"Miss Ling..." Finn turned around worriedly, "Professor Yinrui... she wouldn't do something rash, would she?"
"Thinking," Ling Yao commented succinctly, "is a good thing."
Finn: "..." He felt that it was more like a sign of going mad.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Silverstalker, staggering back to the academy, plunged headlong into the dusty, forbidden section of the library. She no longer sought evidence for magical theories, but instead began frantically flipping through ancient myths, lost philosophies, and even legends of other worlds.
She had a vague, insane idea. Perhaps what the black-haired girl spoke of wasn't some new kind of magic, but something... older, closer to the origin of the world?
These things may have long been completely forgotten and abandoned by modern magic systems that pursue "precision" and "control".
For the first time, her research veered off the path of magic, heading towards an uncharted, fog-shrouded, unknown sea.
All of this was naturally recorded by eyes in the shadows, compiled into a new report, and placed on Judge Silas's desk.
"The target had prolonged contact with Professor Yinrui...the conversation involved an unknown theoretical system...Professor Yinrui subsequently exhibited abnormal mental behavior and broke into the restricted book area..."
Silas stared at the report, his fingertips icy. Bewitchment! This was a deeper level of mental manipulation! It had begun to corrupt the professors of the academy!
His gaze fell on the words "unknown theoretical system," and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
We must act quickly! We cannot allow this evil knowledge to continue spreading!
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