This night, Lu Xingzhou was genuinely a little captivated by emotion.

The little demoness was too skilled at flirting and letting go. The fresh fragrance after her bath, her alluring charm, those hazy eyes almost dripping with water, accompanied by a soul-stirring voice, could truly intoxicate gods and immortals.

The two unknowingly moved from the table to the bed. By the time Lu Xingzhou slightly regained his senses, they were already at the brink.

He stopped, panting, facing Pei Chuyun’s hazy eyes.

The air seemed to still for a few breaths. Lu Xingzhou pursed his lips and saw mockery and disappointment in the little demoness’s eyes.

What was she disappointed about?

Disappointment that she hadn’t successfully hooked him in the end, that the prepared virgin female profound skill still hadn’t been used?

Or disappointment… that she hadn’t planned to use the skill, but the man didn’t dare to believe her?

He didn’t know, and he didn’t dare to guess.

Pei Chuyun wouldn’t say either.

The hazy spring water in her eyes finally receded, leaving only a somewhat powerless smile: “Hold me and let me sleep for a while.”

Lu Xingzhou didn’t say anything, quietly lay down and held her. Pei Chuyun then nestled her head on his shoulder, impolitely entangled her legs and feet, smacked her lips a couple of times, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

Lu Xingzhou, however, was completely sleepless. He simply focused his mind on cultivating to pass the time.

He felt that after provoking this little demoness, life was harder than before… Shen Tang would help solve problems, but the little demoness just killed and left the mess, then still entangled with you afterwards.

Going on like this will be stifling… must think of an idea…

Early the next morning, Lu Xingzhou brought Meng Guan’s letter to visit Meng Guan’s elder brother, Meng Li, an instructor at the Dan Academy.

Instructors were established in both the Imperial Academy and the Dan Academy. If a county instructor was often the top leader, in the capital Imperial Academy they would probably be considered an academic dean, responsible for educational work. The position in the Dan Academy was more like a political commissar, not responsible for teaching professional alchemy, but for controlling students’ ideological education and medical ethics, teaching loyalty to the monarch and patriotism, refining pills for the people, doctor’s benevolent heart, and so on…

The position was below the academy head, the second in command. With the current emphasis on alchemy in Great Qian, both the academy head and instructor held extremely high ranks and were pivotal figures.

The little maid Pei Chuyun threw a tantrum today and refused to follow. Lu Xingzhou also knew what temper she was throwing and didn’t have the nerve to call her. It was still A Nuo pushing his wheelchair to Meng Li’s home.

Having the connection through his younger brother, Meng Li was very friendly to Lu Xingzhou: “I know about your matter. You and the Ho family don’t get along. I heard you were still troubled by Ho Jin during dinner yesterday?”

“Yes. Junior doesn’t worry too much about other things, just fears that during the Dan Academy examination, the Ho family will trip me up and create a black curtain. I still hope Instructor Meng will help.”

Meng Li stroked his beard and smiled: “Actually, this time, it will be difficult for the Ho family to do anything… because His Majesty said a few days ago that he would personally oversee it. Who would dare cause mischief under His Majesty’s eyes?”

Lu Xingzhou was not surprised. The Emperor had personally overseen this examination many times over the years. He didn’t think the Emperor would specifically oversee it for him. After all, in his heart, the Emperor didn’t pay much attention to Shen Tang, and a mere guest official by Shen Tang’s side was even less worth special attention.

“The worry about a black curtain can basically be put aside, but His Majesty’s personal presence also means the examination will be stricter, and even the exam questions might be set by His Majesty himself. Without real talent and knowledge, the scene will likely be very ugly.” Meng Li sized up Lu Xingzhou: “I don’t know your actual level. Old man will give you a paper and test your medical theory?”

Lu Xingzhou cupped his hands and bowed: “Instructor Meng, please give me the question.”

Meng Li then took out a ready-made test paper and handed it to Lu Xingzhou. Lu Xingzhou immediately took a brush to answer it on the spot.

Seeing Lu Xingzhou thinking and answering, Meng Li was quite surprised.

Because this was not an entrance examination paper, this was the Dan Academy’s “final exam paper” for this academic year, used to assess the learning outcomes of alchemists who had cultivated deeply for a year after entering. It involved a large amount of knowledge about upper three-grade pills. Entrance examinees who could guess two or three questions were already very impressive; handing in a blank paper was considered normal.

As a result, this Lu Xingzhou, although answering quite slowly and needing frequent thought, actually answered nearly half… and as long as he put his brush down to answer, all the answers were correct.

Who would have thought Lu Xingzhou was also sweating profusely from the effort. Damn, this is too difficult! Is this the entrance medical theory exam?

He had Maha’s notes plus the Incense Burning Tower inheritance, far exceeding the knowledge amount that normal five or six-grade alchemists should have, yet he still had half of the knowledge he hadn’t encountered… He originally thought this was like taking the college entrance exam for Qingbei, but it seems more like taking the doctoral exam for Qingbei!

Just as he was deeply focused on answering the questions, a servant came in to report: “Madam Ye has come to visit.”

Meng Li’s expression became serious, and he was actually a little nervous: “Please invite her in.”

A woman wearing a light veil slowly entered the door. Seeing someone in the room bent over answering questions, she transmitted her voice and asked: “Instructor Meng, this is…”

Meng Li slightly bowed: “Lu Xingzhou, a student taking the Dan Academy examination this session. Old man is first checking his knowledge.”

Madam Ye seemed a bit startled: “He is Lu Xingzhou?”

Saying this, she subconsciously moved a few steps towards Lu Xingzhou and lowered her head to look at him answering.

After just a moment of looking, her beautiful eyes became more and more surprised: “This… some medical theories are things that the Incense Burning Tower would know, so it’s not strange for him to know them, but some…”

Meng Li lowered his voice: “Does Madam also see it? Some of his answering angles are very exquisite… Although it’s three-grade knowledge, the thinking is like a one-grade…”

“One-grade?” Madam Ye smiled: “That’s because you only know one-grade.”

Meng Li was shocked.

Both only used sound transmission, so neither Lu Xingzhou nor his disciple could hear. A Nuo always opened her round, slippery big eyes and sized up Madam Ye. She felt that this older sister must be very beautiful, and just those beautiful eyes were as good-looking as the starry sky.

It was a pity that this older sister’s light veil also seemed to be a treasure, simply impossible to see through.

So she tried to do a divination.

She couldn’t divine anything and almost suffered a backlash. A Nuo was startled and didn’t dare to divine again.

This little kid was divining about herself, and Madam Ye naturally discovered it. She smiled, squinted her eyes, squatted down, and pinched A Nuo’s face: “You’re divining about me, huh?”

A Nuo gave a conciliatory smile: “Sister, you’re so powerful, I was wrong…”

Madam Ye asked with interest: “Where did you learn your divination art?”

“That, learned it from a wandering old Taoist…”

Madam Ye’s eyes held a smile. No wonder it was Yuan Mu Yu’s divination method; this opening was just deceiving people, and the nature of a dead demon essence was also in the same vein as Yuan Mu Yu.

She didn’t know how many years it had been since anyone dared to divine about her. She didn’t expect such a fearless child to come. She also felt a bit of childlike interest and said with a smile and squinted eyes: “Little girl, I will restrain my power and let you divine. Let’s see what you can divine, okay?”

A Nuo was strange: “Sister, is your path ahead unclear, and you also just want a simple true divination?”

Madam Ye was a bit startled and nodded.

Subconsciously, it should be so.

Since ancient times, it has been difficult to divine about oneself while divining about others. Also, no one has ever been able to divine about themselves. The path ahead is unclear, and one is unbearably tired. Borrowing the childlike interest of teasing a child and casually taking a look, what’s impossible?

This time, A Nuo pinched her fingers and divined again, and indeed there was no backlash… but as she divined, her little fat face became more and more strange.

“What’s wrong, little girl?”

“That, how is your divination image so similar to a sister I know…”

“Who?” It wouldn’t be Yuan Mu Yu, would it? Then you, this child, still have some skill.

As a result, A Nuo answered: “Sheng Yuan Yao.”

This seat and the Sheng family girl, what similar places could there be? Thinking left and right, except for both being women, there wasn’t a single point of similarity. It was obviously a wrong divination.

Madam Ye was even too lazy to ask about the specific divination image. She lost interest, shook her head, stood up, and said to Meng Li: “Instructor Meng, I came here to ask your younger brother, County Governor Meng, if he has any private opinions on the infant ghost case. Don’t use official statements to fob me off… fob me off.”

“Uh…” Meng Li pointed to Lu Xingzhou: “The person involved is here, Madam. Instead of asking me about this, why not directly ask him?”

Just at this time, Lu Xingzhou sighed and handed in the paper: “Instructor Meng, I can really only answer these. It seems the difficulty of the Dan Academy’s entrance examination far exceeds my estimate. I have to pack up and go home to study for two more years.”

Meng Li’s hand holding the paper was even shaking.

He actually passed…

Although just barely passed… but you haven’t even entered yet, do you know how many students who studied for a whole year in this session failed?

If even you have to pack up, then the Dan Academy might as well close its doors.

Meng Li’s voice even floated: “This, this is not the difficulty of the entrance examination, it’s others, others. The entrance examination will be simpler than this. Go back to your residence and read more alchemy books, don’t be lazy. The examination is only next month, there’s a very big opportunity, a very big opportunity…”

Madam Ye couldn’t help but laugh.

Lu Xingzhou breathed out, his gaze also falling on Madam Ye: “This is…”

“This is Madam Ye, accomplished in both alchemy and divination art.” Meng Li hurriedly said: “Madam Ye came to ask for details about the infant ghost case. Just take this opportunity, you can also seek advice from Madam Ye.”

Madam Ye… sounds like a married woman, possibly from a famous family or inner relative. No wonder she wants to wear a veil.

Since she was introduced by Meng Li, she should be in the same line as Meng Guan. He could speak with some reservations. Lu Xingzhou then bowed: “Greetings, Madam Ye. May I know what Madam wishes to know?”

Madam Ye gazed at him: “I feel it’s simply inconceivable that Ho Bin would invite infant ghosts to kill you on the street. He couldn’t possibly be this stupid. What I want to know is, how much did you frame in this matter, and whether it’s flawless.”

Lu Xingzhou smiled: “Ho Bin inviting infant ghosts to kill me is a real thing. Even if you search their souls, this is the answer you’ll get. It’s just that the assassination location they chose was inside Hongfa Temple, and the long street was something I created for people to see. But this doesn’t matter, the fact is established, isn’t it?”

Madam Ye’s eyes relaxed a lot and she smiled again: “Not bad. What pointers on alchemy do you hope to get?”

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment: “Madam’s cultivation is so strong that I can’t see through it, absolutely in the upper three grades. May I seek some guidance on cultivation problems?”

Madam Ye nodded: “You may.”

This aura, this confidence… she didn’t even ask about which aspect of cultivation problems, as if she could answer no matter what aspect of cultivation was asked.

Lu Xingzhou gritted his teeth: “Madam, please don’t blame my abruptness… I want to ask about problems regarding Yin and Yang harmony, which have been very troublesome for me recently.”