"Senior, how about I send you two boxes of medicinal herbs as a token of gratitude?"
"Cough, cough, well, if it won't take too long for you to take care of your business, it's not out of the question," Scholar Song chuckled lightly.
However, tomorrow afternoon's class had been scheduled way before the semester started, and unless there was a special reason, it wouldn't be canceled.
Not wanting to linger on this topic, Scholar Song quickly changed the subject, "You're heading to Ghost Lantern Temple, right? By the way, didn't you confirm the location of Ghost Lantern Temple before you left?"
The naive girl easily accepted the change of topic, "Um, I only know it's in the Luo Xin district of J City. I just asked my juniors to help book the plane tickets and rushed over. I didn't expect Ghost Lantern Temple to be so hard to find."
Juniors… Does that still exist in this day and age?
Scholar Song pondered as he began typing on his keyboard, searching for J City, Luo Xin district, and Ghost Lantern Temple.
There was information on J City and Luo Xin district, but nothing on Ghost Lantern Temple; it wasn't even marked on the map.
It must be a very small temple or one that has already closed down?
"Senior Song, could I borrow your computer? I want to do some more research. Maybe the Hermit of North River in our group has some information!" Fay Yu suddenly asked.
Scholar Song nodded, logging out of his chat account before moving aside to make room for her.
Fay Yu flashed a sweet smile and took a seat, quickly logging into her chat account.
The Hermit of North River still hadn't responded, which was unusual for such a senior to be offline for so long. Scholar Song had thought this person was a true master, always online twenty-four-seven.
Fay Yu felt a bit disappointed and closed the chat window. Then she began searching for all available information on the Luo Xin district and its temples. She wondered if Ghost Lantern Temple might not exist anymore or if it had been renamed.
Scholar Song watched her for a moment before it suddenly dawned on him that both of their phones were out of battery.
"Fay Yu, can I borrow your phone for a bit? I have a universal charging port; it'll be fully charged in about an hour," he said.
"Thank you, Senior!" Fay Yu quickly pulled out her phone and handed it over.
Scholar Song took it, along with his own phone, to charge them.
…
In that split second when he turned away, Fay Yu's fingers danced swiftly over the keyboard, clicking away at lightning speed. Her APM (actions per minute) must have hit at least 900! With such speed, if she were a professional gamer, she would effortlessly dominate against various masters in different genres.
Windows popped up and closed rapidly on the computer screen, and webpages opened and refreshed in a blur.
Before long, the information of a male student popped up.
It was a half-body photo of Scholar Song, alongside his personal information.
Scholar Song, Jiangnan University, Mechanical Engineering Department, Class 19, Group 43.
Next, another window quickly opened with the class schedule for his group.
Then appeared the details for the Monday afternoon class… taught by Professor Ren Shui.
He was a young, capable, and handsome professor. Tall and upright, wearing black-framed glasses, with a gentle smile perpetually gracing his lips. The kind of guy who could attract a flock of young girls just by standing there.
All of this… happened in an instant.
After obtaining the information she wanted, Fay Yu quickly closed all the pages on the computer.
A class that had already been scheduled wouldn't just be canceled, but there were always many unexpected circumstances—like the instructor getting hit by a car, twisting an ankle, or even tripping and falling out of bed, all leading to various injuries. With such incidents, tomorrow afternoon's class might just be suspended or delayed by a few days.
Fay Yu thought to herself that this was a brilliant idea and mentally gave herself a thumbs-up.
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Meanwhile, over ten kilometers away in the teacher's dormitory,
Professor Ren Shui, who was playing with his daughter, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, followed by several sneezes. He rubbed his nose: Was another student missing their handsome and charming teacher?
Being good-looking also came with its troubles; he had already started a family and settled down.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
After Fay Yu closed the webpage, she quietly turned to glance at Scholar Song. Finding him still busy charging their phones, she breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like she was getting away with something mischievous behind her elder's back.
At the same time, after browsing through a wealth of information, she instinctively felt… the more she looked at Scholar Song, the more he appeared to be just an ordinary person.
She recalled how Scholar Song had introduced himself when they first met: "You can call me Xiao Song or Song Hang; please don't call me Senior."
Was it that Scholar Song's skills in 'worldly experience' were too profound, or was she simply misunderstanding?
After closing all the pages, Fay Yu stretched her fingers.
Next, her eyes fell upon an open notebook beside the computer. It was filled with a myriad of medicinal herb names, precisely the simplified formula for the body refining liquid that the Alchemical Sage had shared in the Ninefold Land group.
Scholar Song had jotted it down to take back for his cousin Zhao Yaya to study. However, it lacked ingredients like the Fresh Tyrant Branch, Nine Sun Red Flame Bamboo, and Morning Dew Mystic Grass that sounded rather extravagant.
"Is Senior Song also researching this formula?" Fay Yu thought to herself.
But soon she noticed that the formula Scholar Song had copied seemed incomplete. Why did he only jot down the basic herbs?
Why not include ingredients like the Blue Dew Mystic Grass?
Wait, could it be that Senior Song wanted to improve upon the Alchemical Sage's formula? Perhaps to further reduce the cost of refining the body refining liquid?
With this thought, Fay Yu's eyes lit up.
Coincidentally, at that moment, Scholar Song turned back just in time to catch her staring intently at the notebook—oh no, that contained the formula of the rather extravagant body refining liquid!
This was akin to stepping in a puddle—she would definitely think of him as a fellow enthusiast, a deep-seated fan of cultivator fantasies.
Sure enough, Fay Yu immediately blurted out a question that sounded entirely outlandish to Scholar Song, "Senior, are you also researching the Alchemical Sage's formula? How many batches can you successfully refine at once?"
Fay Yu asked cheerfully, eager to seek advice from her senior.
She had tried following the formula provided by the Alchemical Sage several times herself, but due to her lack of skill in controlling the fire, she had only succeeded three times out of ten. Although she loved alchemy, she had absolutely no talent for it.
Wasting medicinal materials like that would surely lead other cultivators to drown her in a flood of spit. But she had a powerful and wealthy father, so the cost of the wasted materials for the body refining liquid was merely a drop in the bucket for Ling Die Island.
"I haven't refined any," Scholar Song said, nearly in tears, realizing he had been mistaken for a fellow enthusiast.
"Why not? Is it because Senior Song wants to improve upon the Alchemical Sage's formula?" Fay Yu's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"…" Scholar Song fell silent. He had thought of directly answering that he might be interested in refining such an extravagant formula. But seeing the gleam in Fay Yu's eyes, he felt reluctant to crush her enthusiasm.
After pondering for a long time, he decided on a truthful answer: "The truth is, it's inconvenient for me to find the medicinal materials. For various complicated reasons, I don't have any on hand, so… I haven't had the chance to refine anything."
That was the honest truth; the total cost of the ingredients listed on that formula, excluding the extravagant ones, was still a significant amount. Just think about it—ginseng and other precious herbs were priced by the two!
As a student, he couldn't afford it; not even selling a kidney would suffice!
"Ah? I'm sorry, Senior, I didn't know that was the case," Fay Yu nodded, feeling a bit relieved.
Although she didn't know why Senior Song didn't even have the basic medicinal materials for the body refining liquid, those herbs were piled high on Ling Die Island!
"Senior, when I get back, I'll send you two boxes of medicinal herbs as a token of my gratitude!" Fay Yu said—this was her way of thanking Scholar Song. Regardless, she had decided to have Scholar Song help her find Ghost Lantern Temple.
Two boxes of medicinal herbs, how bold that statement was!
To put it more directly: "Senior, I'll send you two boxes of ginseng as a token of gratitude."
If that didn't sound straightforward enough, consider this version: "Senior, I'll send you two boxes of gold bars as a token of gratitude!"
The value of the medicinal herbs Fay Yu wanted to send far exceeded that of gold by several times.
Unfortunately, Scholar Song had no idea of the worth of the two boxes of herbs that Fay Yu mentioned; otherwise, he would have been on his knees before this wealthy girl!