The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

In the Ghost Cry Garden, the smell of gunpowder and sulfur had not yet dissipated, mixed with a burnt sheepskin smell that made people cough.

Su Shi lay sprawled on the cold ground, his eyes vacant as he stared at the night sky, flickering in and out of the firelight, muttering nervously, "Gone... my ahoge is gone... that was the only hair on my body with any backbone..."

Jiang Lin was amused by his behavior, slumped in the wicker chair, unable to move, and could only weakly tap the ground with his fan: "Alright, stop howling. A hair for a life, you've gotten a great deal. Besides, which hair on your head has any backbone?"

"Headmaster, you don't understand." Su Shi tried to spring up, but failed and fell heavily back down, rolling right to Jiang Lin's feet. He grabbed Jiang Lin's leg, tears and snot streaming down his face again. "Just now, just now! When that arrow came flying at me, my mind went completely blank! I thought I was going to die here! But suddenly, a force, a surge of righteous energy, shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head! It gave me a push! It must be the God of Literature descending to earth!"

Jiang Lin wanted to pull his legs out in disgust, but he had been maintaining his composure and expert image, and now his legs were so numb that they felt like they weren't his own, and he couldn't exert any strength at all.

"That's because your leg cramped up." Jiang Lin ruthlessly shattered his illusion. "With a weight of 200 pounds, standing on one leg for a long time, it's no wonder you get cramps. You should be glad it was your leg that cramped up; if it were your face, you'd be a dead champion by now."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Su Shi shook his head vigorously. "I felt it! That was divine power! Headmaster, don't lie to me, this is what you called 'physical exorcism,' isn't it? Using the noble spirit of us scholars to mobilize the power of heaven and earth!"

Shen Kuo, covered in dust and dirt, crawled out from a pile of shattered copper pipes and sheepskin bags, clutching a small, undamaged valve piece in his hand. Upon hearing this, a hint of disdain, typical of a science and engineering man, flashed in his eyes behind his glasses.

"Senior Brother Su, from the perspective of natural philosophy, your actions just now constituted 'involuntary displacement.' The main cause was muscle fatigue leading to spasms, unrelated to righteous energy. As for that explosion..." Shen Kuo's eyes instantly turned fervent, "That was my great attempt to demonstrate the 'explosive combustion effect' that can be produced when 'fierce fire oil and gas' is pressurized in a confined space and encounters an external impact! Although the data model couldn't fully record it due to equipment damage, a preliminary estimate suggests that the instantaneous thrust was enough to push a fully grown ox three zhang away! What a pity, what a pity..."

As he spoke, he stroked the broken piece of copper with a pained expression, as if he had lost a beloved son.

Su Shi was stunned, feeling as if his worldview was being repeatedly trampled on by the two people he admired most.

"So... my earth-shattering 'divine fall' that repelled three thousand armored soldiers was actually just a leg cramp that happened to run into the powder keg you were playing with, Shen Kuo?"

"It's 'gas deflagration,' not an explosive barrel," Shen Kuo corrected meticulously.

"Is there a difference?!" Su Shi felt that the highlight of his life had instantly turned into a farce, and he was completely dejected.

Niu Aihua silently carried a basin of water from the kitchen, walked to Jiang Lin's side, squatted down, and began to wipe the soot off his face with a wet towel. Her movements were gentle, and her expression was indifferent, as if the thrilling battle just now was not as important as a bowl of braised pork.

"Headmaster, are your legs numb?" she asked.

"Yeah, I overdid it." Jiang Lin honestly admitted, abandoning all pretense of superiority. "Could you please rub it for me?"

Without saying a word, Niu Aihua stretched out her hands, which could swing a horse-slaying saber like a windmill, yet she controlled her strength perfectly, massaging Jiang Lin's calves with just the right amount of pressure.

In the corner, Jin Wanliang crawled out from under the stone table, trembling. He had almost wet himself from the loud noise and was still reeling. Looking at the bizarre scene before him—the headmaster slumped in a chair enjoying a massage, the scientist muttering to himself while clutching a broken piece of copper, and the top scholar questioning his existence—only one thought occupied his mind: Who were these people? Gods? Or madmen?

"Jiang... Jiangshan is long..." Jin Wanliang mustered his courage and scrambled over, "Zhao Liben ran away, are we... are we safe now?"

"Safety?" Jiang Lin didn't even lift his eyelids. "Do you think a prefect would just let this go after suffering such a huge loss in public? He's running back now not to admit defeat, but to call for reinforcements. Before dawn, the regular Imperial Guards will probably surround this place under the pretext of 'suppressing the sorcerers.' At that point, it won't just be a few hundred archers anymore, but a real battlefield."

Jin Wanliang's face turned pale instantly, and his legs, which had just straightened up, went weak, and he wanted to kneel down again.

"Then...then shouldn't we run?"

"Run?" Jiang Lin finally opened his eyes, his gaze icy. "Where do you think you're going? If you run, it will confirm that we are demons. Zhao Liben can then rightfully pin all the blame on us, and then burn this place down to the ground. Your secret of the underground hell will be buried forever."

He paused, then turned his gaze to Jin Wanliang. That look made the former Vice Minister of Revenue feel as if he had been stripped naked and seen through completely.

"Besides, do you think you can escape? You hid at the bottom of the well for three years, and Zhao Liben couldn't find you. Now that you've come out, all the spies in Daming Prefecture will swarm here like flies to the smell of blood. Do you believe that the moment we leave, you'll become an unidentified corpse and appear in the mass grave outside Daming Prefecture?"

Jin Wanliang shuddered, cold sweat instantly soaking his back. He knew that every word Jiang Lin said was true.

"Then... then what do we do? Just wait to die?" His voice trembled with tears.

"Who said we were just waiting to die?" Jiang Lin gestured for Niu Aihua to stop, then slowly stood up, supporting himself on the handrail. His legs were still a little weak, but he stood very straight.

"Zhao Liben wants to kill someone to silence them, so we need to dig out all the evidence of his crimes before he does and deliver it to someone he can't touch." Jiang Lin's gaze swept over Zhao Lingjun, who had been standing silently in the shadows.

Zhao Lingjun's heart skipped a beat, knowing that Jiang Lin was targeting her. She stepped out from the shadows in the corner, her usual mischievousness gone, replaced by a seriousness beyond her years.

"Headmaster, what can I do for you?"

"Not now," Jiang Lin shook his head. "If you step in now, you'll only get yourself into trouble. What I need is someone who can present evidence to the authorities at the most crucial moment and convince them. You are the most suitable candidate, but not now."

He turned around and faced Jin Wanliang again, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

"The show's over, the excitement's over. Now it's time to get down to business."

Jiang Lin stretched out a finger and pointed to the deep well that was still emitting blue flames.

"Jin Wanliang, I rescued you not so you could cry here. Now, bring me a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and draw out the 'underground purgatory' you described, from the entrance to the structure, down to every single pillar, exactly as it was."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an irresistible pressure.

"We need to go down there. We need to deliver a return gift to that fleeing Prefect Zhao, something he definitely doesn't want to receive."

Jin Wanliang looked at the deep well, as if he could see those three years of darkness and despair again, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

"Go...go down again? Down there...there are ghosts down there! There really are ghosts!"

"Ghosts?" Jiang Lin laughed, his smile chilling in the firelight. "Perfect. I'd like to see whether the ghosts on the ground are more terrifying, or the ghosts in people's hearts."

He patted Jin Wanliang on the shoulder, not with much force, but it made the latter shudder.

"Draw. This is your only way to survive."