Chapter Sixty-Two: Jumang
After Luxu fainted, Luxianbei and Professor Ma were stunned for a few seconds, and then hurriedly helped him up and took him to the hospital.
The once noisy dormitory quieted down, leaving only the lingering fragrance of flowers in the air, still narrating the chaotic scene from a short while ago.
The bright sunlight near noon poured into the quiet dormitory through the balcony window, and suddenly, with a gentle shake of the window, the light bent slightly.
“Whoosh—Bang—!” The window suddenly opened without anyone pushing it, and a refreshing breeze rushed into the dormitory, causing the clothes on the balcony to sway.
Accompanied by the cool wind, a maiden in green robes fluttering, as if stepping out from the void, slowly descended in the center of the dormitory.
She steadied herself, gazing lazily through the small holes in her strange mask, surveying the surroundings, her eyes finally locking onto the scattered charred wooden blocks on the ground.
“Looks like… this is the place?”
The girl mumbled softly, stepping forward to pick up a piece of the not completely damaged Chuqing Chunfeng Charm, where the traces of the incantation were still discernible on the peach wood that hadn’t turned completely black.
Holding the talisman in her hand, her delicate fingers toyed with it for a moment, and a playful smile gradually appeared in her eyes.
Earlier, she had been lying on the grass in the rooftop garden of Huacheng University Library, enjoying the morning sun while surveying the entire school, searching for the new student mentioned by Lin Yiqi, the mythological species.
In that moment, a peculiar spirit energy fluctuation suddenly appeared within her perception range. Normally, with so many demons and monsters concealed within Huacheng University and numerous strange spirit energy fluctuations occurring daily, she wouldn’t pay much attention to ordinary ones.
But that sudden spirit energy fluctuation was too special; it reminded her of some interesting things. After much hesitation, she decided to come and check it out.
“Didn’t expect that there are still people who remember the method of making this charm, but…”
The girl said, bringing the talisman to her nose to sniff, frowning, “Which fool made this? Using the core of an urban legend as material, that’s too extravagant!”
After a pause, she suddenly chuckled lightly, “Heh, interesting. I really want to see which little genius could pull something like this off!”
As she spoke, she tightened her grip on the charm, waving her long sleeve, causing a gust of wind to rise.
The soft, weak wind contained an inexplicable force that swept up the scattered talismans on the ground, and as her figure gradually faded away, it was as if they were blown away by the wind, disappearing without a trace, leaving only a few pink peach blossoms falling.
……
Outside the emergency room of Huacheng People’s Hospital, in the corridor.
Luxianbei sat on a bench against the wall, furrowing her brow, lost in thought, occasionally biting her fingers.
In the earlier urgency, she had been careless and forgot to clean up after. Those used talismans were left in Luxu’s dormitory, and she didn’t know if they would cause any bad consequences.
Tsk, I shouldn’t have helped Professor Ma with this from the beginning. If I get dragged into some trouble because of this, that would be too unfair! Luxianbei thought, feeling distressed.
While Luxianbei was thinking, a doctor walked out from Luxu’s hospital room, and Professor Ma immediately went over to him.
“Old Hu, how is my student doing?”
Hearing the conversation between Professor Ma and the doctor, Luxianbei immediately perked up her ears and leaned closer.
The doctor took off his mask, glanced toward the patient room, and lowered his voice to speak to Professor Ma, “Old Ma, you need to tell me honestly, what’s up with your student?”
“Chronic lack of sleep, listlessness, irritability, tendencies toward violent behavior; when he was brought in, he was overly excited. If there hadn’t been no residue of drugs detected in his bl**d, I almost would have thought he was suffering from the aftereffects of an overdose on stimulants!”
Professor Ma was momentarily at a loss for words, subtly glancing at Luxianbei, who was turning her back, staring at the ceiling, expressionless, whistling quietly.
Luxianbei’s meaning was very clear—don’t look at me! I know nothing! I didn’t administer any drugs!
Seeing this, Professor Ma helplessly withdrew his gaze and forced a smile at the doctor, “I don’t know how he got into this state; when I went to his dormitory, I found him collapsed on the floor, so I brought him here right away.”
Both Luxianbei and Luxu were his students; equal in importance, and since Luxianbei didn’t want anyone to know her secret, Professor Ma chose to help her keep it hidden.
After all, he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Ah—!” Seeing that Professor Ma also didn’t know the reason for Luxu’s serious condition, the doctor sighed lightly and said helplessly, “For now, his condition has stabilized with medication.”
“But given his situation, my suggestion is to observe him in the hospital for a while. I’m just worried that he… has Nightfall Syndrome. In any case, you all should pay more attention.”
Hearing the mention of Nightfall Syndrome, Professor Ma’s expression became a bit strange, and he nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, we will keep a close eye on his condition from now on.”
Nightfall Syndrome is a special disease that only appears when nights start to lengthen; its cure rate is even lower than that of late-stage cancer. Once diagnosed with Nightfall Syndrome, it’s basically a d*ath sentence.
Fortunately, after witnessing the earlier scene, Professor Ma was quite clear that Luxu was not suffering from Nightfall Syndrome but was rather entangled with an urban legend.
Uh, now that I think about it, the situation doesn’t seem much better than Nightfall Syndrome, does it? Professor Ma reflected, noting that whether facing Nightfall Syndrome or urban legends, the power of ordinary people seemed particularly inadequate.
“Um, when he wakes up later, you can go in and see him.”
“Alright, thank you, doctor.”
After the doctor finished explaining, he left. Professor Ma stood there for a moment, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, then turned around and walked to sit beside Luxianbei.
“Luxianbei…”
Before Professor Ma could finish his sentence, Luxianbei firmly interrupted him, “I don’t know!”
As long as I keep insisting I don’t know, he can’t do anything to me. He can’t possibly drag me to the Siye Society, right? Luxianbei thought.
Professor Ma, caught off guard by Luxianbei’s interruption, was stunned for a few seconds before shaking his head, chuckling bitterly, “I understand. Everyone has their secrets; if you don’t want to say it, I won’t press you.”
“What I actually wanted to talk to you about was the special characters on those little trinkets.”
Luxianbei tilted her head to look at Professor Ma, quietly waiting for him to continue.
Seeing this, Professor Ma tidied his messy hair, straightened up, and continued, “Based on the special characters on those trinkets, they should belong to a clan once referred to as Dongyi in ancient times…”
Professor Ma spoke slowly, and his previously disoriented spirit began to concentrate again. Even though there was only one student in front of him, he still delivered the same quality as he would in class.
“They’re called Dongyi, but in reality, Dongyi is a very general concept. The Book of the Later Han records, ‘There are nine types of barbarians, namely, Quan Yi, Yu Yi, Fang Yi, Huang Yi, Bai Yi, Chi Yi, Xuan Yi, Feng Yi, and Yang Yi.’ From the style of your characters, they should be the script of Feng Yi.”
Professor Ma was very good at lecturing; relying solely on strictness wouldn’t make students learn attentively and absorb knowledge.
His magnetic voice flowed like water, even some tedious content would evoke a feeling similar to listening to the village old man narrating tales.
Luxianbei nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.
Feng Yi? No wonder it’s called the Chuqing Chunfeng Charm.
“By the way, Luxianbei, you should go back and look up information on this topic, write a small paper. It’ll count as your exam for this semester.”
Luxianbei, “？？？” Is that allowed? This transition is a bit too fast, isn’t it?
“Well, you’ve learned most of the content from the textbook, right? Remember, the word count for the paper can’t be less than ten thousand words; if you can’t hand it in, you’ll lose points!” Professor Ma said with a smile.
Luxianbei, “……” d*mn it! What’s with the laughing?! Did you finally catch me on this?
After assigning the task to Luxianbei, Professor Ma continued talking.
“As for the content recorded above, I’ve roughly interpreted it, and it resembles a passage from the Book of Rites, which can be roughly translated.” Professor Ma said, as if recalling something, pausing before continuing, “In the month of Mengchun, its spirit is Jumang, all spring months…”
While Luxianbei quietly listened to Professor Ma, when she heard him recite that familiar-sounding passage, a sudden thought flashed through her mind, and she hurriedly covered Professor Ma’s mouth.
“Professor, no, no! If you keep going, it’s going to be a big deal!”
Professor Ma, “？？？” What’s wrong with this kid all of a sudden?
Seeing the look of confusion on Professor Ma’s face, Luxianbei explained, “You promise me not to mention that again, and better not think about it either, and I’ll tell you the reason.”
Professor Ma nodded, and Luxianbei released him and explained, “Well, it’s a bit complicated. From our perspective in mysticism, when you describe a certain urban legend, it can resonate to some extent, and, um, deities can also be considered a kind of urban legend.”
“Hahaha!” Professor Ma let out a hearty laugh, patting Luxianbei on the shoulder, “Luxianbei, although I’ve seen your abilities, I still have to say, are you being a bit too sensitive? You can’t believe all of this!”
“I’ve studied the content of special characters for so many years; I’ve encountered similar content more than eight hundred times, and I’ve certainly read aloud and silently during the research process, and I’m doing just fine now!”
Luxianbei, “……” If what you say is true, then I’m also quite curious why you’re in good health now. You must have some trick up your sleeve!
I’ve only recited Zigu’s prayer a few times, and it’s still staring at me!
Aren’t you effectively being observed by countless pairs of eyes with this approach? Luxianbei thought. Liangyue’s memory is correct; researching history is indeed a high-risk profession.
Seeing that Luxianbei had stopped talking, Professor Ma patted her shoulder and said earnestly, “While mysticism has its unique aspects, we should primarily rely on science, understand?”
“Got it, got it.” Luxianbei replied perfunctorily and then subtly moved aside, trying to distance herself from Professor Ma without him noticing.
The further away, the better. You watch him, don’t watch me, I have nothing to do with this.
