Aquatic Precious Herb, Pulian Heart

“They won't block us anymore in the future, right?”

“With Senior Brother Bai having spoken up, who would dare?”

“Why did Senior Brother Bai leave?”

“Maybe he already ate.”

“To think Senior Brother Bai actually... actually went out of his way to make a trip for people like us... sniffle.”

“Y-Yeah, unlike those heartless, wealthy scoundrels! Only Senior Brother Bai... is worthy of us calling him senior brother!”

“Shh! Watch your mouth! They're still here.”

“They're all terrified of having offended Senior Brother Bai right now. How could they possibly care about us? Either way, I will be loyal to Senior Brother Bai forever!”

...

“Fifth Young Lady, Fifth Young Lady, you can come out now. Senior Brother Bai has left.”

“Is he gone?”

Chen Jinzhu crawled out from under the table. Her once-haughty eyes were now filled with nothing but nervousness and fear. “Senior Brother Bai didn't see me, did he?”

“No. Senior Brother Bai just came in, warned Liang Shaohua, and left. He didn't look over here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I was watching Senior Brother Bai the whole time.”

“Then Senior Brother Bai didn't see you, right?”

Sitting directly across from Chen Jinzhu, a rather tall female disciple suddenly froze. “I... don't think he saw me?”

Her voice was soft as she lowered her head, not daring to meet Chen Jinzhu's gaze.

“What do you mean 'don't think'!?” Chen Jinzhu grew anxious. “You're always by my side! If Senior Brother Bai saw you, he would know I was here too!”

“What should I do? What should I do?” she asked anxiously. “How should I explain to Senior Brother Bai that I was just happening to eat here, and that I had absolutely no idea about the nonsense Liang Shaohua and the others were pulling?”

“But Fifth Young Lady, you did know. Didn't Zhang Laisan specifically send word to Sister Qing'er to ask for your opinion?”

A round-cheeked female disciple with an innocent look in her eyes spoke with stuffed cheeks, holding a steamed bun in one hand and a braised pork shank in the other.

“You said...”

“Shut up!” Chen Jinzhu glared at her.

“Oh.”

The tall female disciple cast a helpless glance at the girl, who had tightly shut her mouth and stopped stuffing food into it, before speaking.

“Fifth Young Lady, if Senior Brother Bai didn't see you, wouldn't you be exposing yourself if you went to explain?”

“If you ask me, you should first test the waters to see what Senior Brother Bai knows. If he does know, then we can take our time figuring out how to explain it to him.”

“Yes, yes, how do I test the waters?” Chen Jinzhu leaned forward, listening intently.

Controlling Yan Pingsheng, Zhuang Xun carried a bowl of noodles and a plate of sauce-braised beef as he walked down the aisle one table away from Chen Jinzhu.

Since Bai Yujing had already eaten lunch, Zhuang Xun had controlled him to leave as soon as the issue was resolved.

Zhuang Xun sat down next to Zhang Tie, a slight smile playing at the corners of his lips as he listened to the discussions about Bai Yujing all around him.

While everyone was gossiping about the incident, no one noticed that in this neglected corner, a young man was quietly slurping noodles...

“Zigeng, what's with you? Ever since Senior Brother Bai arrived, you've been staring at him like you lost your soul. Now that he's gone, you still haven't snapped out of it.”

Hearing An Dafu tease Li Zigeng, Zhuang Xun looked up curiously.

When he saw the blush rising on Li Zigeng's dark face, he froze for a moment, and then a wave of sheer panic rushed through his heart.

“No, I didn't!”

Li Zigeng said in a low voice, “I was just thinking... how great would it be if I could be as amazing as Senior Brother Bai.”

As he spoke, his gaze drifted.

He recalled the moment Zhang Laisan had slapped him in public while everyone mocked him.

Then he thought of Bai Yujing kicking Zhang Laisan away in public, leaving everyone in awe.

Oh, so that's it. That gave me a cold sweat... Zhuang Xun encouraged, “Keep it up. You can do it.”

“Huh? No, no, I was just saying. How could I ever be as amazing as Senior Brother Bai? Senior Brother Bai is not someone a person like me can compare to.”

Flattered and embarrassed, Li Zigeng hurriedly shook his head.

“Sigh, if only I were as handsome as Senior Brother Bai too,” Zhang Tie suddenly lamented.

Well, I can't encourage you on that one. I'd have to splash some cold water on your face to wake you up... Zhuang Xun lowered his head and continued slurping his noodles.

“Hey, don't you guys think Senior Brother Bai and I look kind of similar? Especially around the eyes and the corners of the mouth.” Zhang Tie tilted his face, running his hand back and forth along his jawline.

Zhuang Xun, An Dafu, and Li Zigeng: “...”

Zhang Tie snapped in annoyance, “Damn it! What's with those looks!?”

...

Because the incident in the dining hall was resolved so quickly, it didn't cause any other consequences aside from becoming gossip material for the Outer Court disciples.

There were only two victims.

One was Zhang Laisan.

After the incident, he was beaten up and abandoned by Liang Shaohua.

Having lost Liang Shaohua's protection, the disciples he had bullied in the past came knocking on his door. He now received at least two beatings a day.

Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and left the Wanxing Martial Academy, but disciples still went to his home to beat him up.

The second victim was Liang Shaohua.

That very evening, he was dragged over by a Liang family elder to apologize and make amends to Bai Yujing.

Looking at the bruised and swollen Liang Shaohua, who could barely speak clearly, and the Liang family elder, who remained polite throughout and offered a precious herb as an apology gift, Zhuang Xun generously expressed his forgiveness.

Afterward, Zhuang Xun took the precious herb to the Principal.

He learned that this item was an aquatic precious herb called Pulian Heart, which had the effect of clearing the eyes and refreshing the brain when consumed for the first time.

In layman's terms, it could improve eyesight and enhance Comprehension.

Before leaving, Zhuang Xun also asked the Principal for a copy of the Classic of Precious Herbs to prevent himself from mistaking rare precious herbs for common weeds if he encountered them in the wild in the future.

After all, this Pulian Heart looked very much like a common plant root.

“Since it can enhance Comprehension, this thing must be extremely expensive. To think they actually sent it as an apology gift. Is my influence really this big now?”

“I feel like I could stop the Paramount War.”

Zhuang Xun lay back in his armchair, playing with the Pulian Heart, which was only about the length of a finger.

There was a tiny nick at the tip of the Pulian Heart.

This was because Zhuang Xun had worried the Liang family might have tampered with the Pulian Heart, so he had created a clone to test it for poison.

Now that a day and a night had passed and the clone hadn't died, the Liang family likely hadn't done anything suspicious.

Furthermore, after that clone ate it, although his brain didn't exactly tingle, it felt quite cool, indeed giving the sensation of enhanced Comprehension.

However, because the clone had eaten too little, it only had a temporary effect.

Zhuang Xun observed the motionless young clone for a moment, then converted his entire flesh and blood back into points.

The points on the Character Creation Panel increased by one, matching the exact cost of creating this clone.

For clones whose stats were not modified afterward, if they sustained even the slightest injury, the points converted from their flesh and blood would be less than the cost of creating them.

Since the converted points were identical to the creation cost, it proved that nothing had gone wrong with this clone.

Relieved, Zhuang Xun put the Pulian Heart into his mouth.

The moment he bit through the root, bitter juice seeped out, transforming into a cool sensation that rushed straight to his brain.

After the coolness subsided, Zhuang Xun didn't feel any change in Bai Yujing's body. He immediately realized that Bai Yujing's Comprehension was already maxed out, so the Pulian Heart had no effect on him at all.

He quickly found a box and spat the Pulian Heart into it.

“That was close. I almost wasted this precious herb.”

Zhuang Xun controlled his two clones to meet deep in the bamboo forest behind the Sparse Bamboo Residence, where they handed over the Pulian Heart.

Afterward, Bai Yujing went to his usual clearing to practice martial arts, while Yan Pingsheng hid behind a large boulder to eat the Pulian Heart.

This time, the cool sensation was even more intense. As he chewed, wave after wave rushed straight into his brain.

Zhuang Xun could clearly feel Yan Pingsheng's mind clearing and his vision becoming sharper.

He opened the Character Creation Panel and looked at Yan Pingsheng's Comprehension column.

The numbers next to Comprehension kept ticking upward, only stabilizing after one shichen.

[Comprehension: 50 → 54.7 (Average Comprehension)]