Chapter 179 — The Returning Elixir Great Tonic Divine Art

Suddenly there came a knock at the door. The Snow Fox, dragging her round, drum-tight belly, ran to open it. Wei Yong walked in, his nose twitching, and laughed, "It's just the noon hour, and I smelled something good coming from Brother Shen's place, so I came to beg a meal... Heh, has that stone dragon-lion at the gate come to life? Little fox, how did you get fatter than me?"

The Snow Fox gave a snort.

Then Wei Yong saw Shen Mu sitting by the fire, and was all the more startled; he blurted, "Little fox, have you been draining Brother Shen's essence? Why is he so thin?"

The Snow Fox was both angry and flustered: "I haven't drained anything yet! Don't talk nonsense!"

"If you didn't drain him, then who did?"

Wei Yong said doubtfully, "I knew there'd be trouble the moment Brother Shen asked where the brothels were the day he entered the city. Sure enough, his body couldn't take it, could it?"

Shen Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry, and asked him to sit.

Wei Yong wasted no courtesy on him; he tore off a great chunk of fish, tasted it, and it was so smooth it nearly slid his tongue down into his belly too. Astonished and delighted, he sighed in praise and said in his rumbling voice, "You haven't been to the lectures these past months, and several of the Directorate's men are rather displeased, saying the Academy's doctor is a man of no learning and the Emperor should never have promoted you. But what happened to you? How did you get so thin?"

"My cultivation went wrong and I nearly lost my life," Shen Mu said. "Luckily I caught it in time. I'm making it up now."

Wei Yong laughed. "You've got nerve, cultivating so wildly. I'm a scholar of the Imperial Academy now, and I've some standing in the Duke's mansion too. What elixirs do you need? I'll fetch them from the mansion and build your body up."

Shen Mu shook his head. "Once I finish this fish, my body will be restored. No need for any more spirit elixirs."

"Did you know? Libationer Bashan and Grand Libationer Gu have come to blows. They fought outside the capital till they were bloody from head to foot, and even the Emperor was stirred up."

Wei Yong gave a satisfied belch. "My old master went to make peace, and other first-rank officials went too, and that's how they were finally parted. Just now I went out to ask around, and they say the Emperor summoned them all and gave them a fierce dressing-down. Once I'd gathered the news, I came back here to scrounge a meal off you. Before you came back, Libationer Bashan found me and said he wanted to take me out to temper myself in the world. I reckon..."

"Brother Wei, no talking while eating."

Before long, Wei Yong, that plump round youth, had grown rounder by another ring and truly could eat no more; yet Shen Mu was still devouring great mouthfuls, and though slice after slice of fish went into his belly, his belly did not swell.

Wei Yong was amazed; then, seeing Shen Mu's dry, thin body puff up as if being inflated, firm muscle wherever one pinched, he was more amazed still.

When the great fish was finished, leaving only an enormous fish skeleton over three zhang long, Shen Mu's body had recovered as before -- seemingly even a shade more robust than before, to Wei Yong's boundless envy.

"A fish this good -- where did you buy it?"

Wei Yong's mouth watered; he wanted more, but could not eat another bite. He asked, "I've never seen a fish this big in the capital's markets, nor eaten one this good. I must buy a few and have them cooked for me!"

Shen Mu said carelessly, "I fished it out of Jade Dragon Lake."

Wei Yong's eyes bulged. He said in alarm, "Which Jade Dragon Lake?"

"The one at our Imperial Academy."

Wei Yong shuddered and said in a shaking voice, "Our Academy's Jade Dragon Lake? This fish is one of the fish kings of Jade Dragon Lake?"

Shen Mu glanced at the Snow Fox. The Snow Fox nodded. "I told Dragon Big to pick a big one, and the one he caught was the biggest of them all."

Wei Yong's face went the color of earth. Catching sight of mulberry leaves and branches scattered all over the courtyard, he said in a trembling voice, "Just now I saw that the Tree of Advancement at the Scholars' Lodge is nothing but a stump. Could it be..."

"That big mulberry is called the Tree of Advancement?"

The Snow Fox said in surprise, "Trees have names?"

Wei Yong's face was ashen. Trembling, he backed toward the door, and said, as if his soul had left him, "Felling the Tree of Advancement, using the Tree of Advancement to roast a fish king of Jade Dragon Lake -- a man would need more heads than he has, and the Emperor would still not have enough to cut off. I've never been here, I've never been here..."

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