Tree King: What? I've become the Abundant Pharmacist?

Chapter 578 The Mad Research

“Eve, I have a bad feeling. Could there be another secret behind the Tree Garden disaster?”

Feng Jin felt scared at that moment.

The tragic state of the tree garden, coupled with the contents of the scroll, gave her a chilling feeling as if a cold wind was blowing down her back.

“It’s okay, I’ve seen crazier things,” Eve comforted her.

"Huh?" Feng Jin looked bewildered.

Is there anything crazier than this?

"Don't worry about it."

“Okay.” Feng Jin nodded.

"Let's go to the library and see if we can find any clues."

............

The Hall of Friendship.

Feng Jin led Eve into the library.

The books, which were originally neatly arranged, are now a mess due to the invasion of the Kuroshio Tide, with books scattered everywhere.

"This is the Tree Garden's library, the Hall of Friendship."

While being careful not to step on the books, Feng Jin explained.

"The writings of the seven major schools are all collected here, as well as foreign philosophical, poetic, and religious books... It is said that cities that seek wisdom from the Tree Garden must offer equivalent knowledge."

"Many absurd things have happened throughout history. It is said that the 'Taupe School' once borrowed a manuscript from a writer, but returned only a copy, while the original was secretly hidden here."

“I can understand; it’s the kind of stubbornness that intellectuals have.” Eve nodded slightly.

"Hmm?" Feng Jin looked at Eve with a strange expression.

"No need for such euphemisms... This is downright robbery!"

"Because I've also seen home invasion robberies."

Eve thought of the Life Theorists and the Element Theorists in the Church.

These two factions feel uncomfortable if they don't snatch something from each other every day.

"All right....."

Feng Jin's gaze towards Eve grew increasingly strange.

She couldn't help but wonder, what exactly had Eve gone through?

"By the way, did Tree Court 'rob' Suspended Peak City?" Eve suddenly asked.

“I don’t know about that.” Feng Jin shook her head. “Some people say that Xuanfeng City doesn’t even have a dictionary. Maybe it was lucky to escape this calamity.”

“As expected, Wan Di lied.” Eve laughed.

It seems that the Suspended Peak Man really doesn't have a dictionary.

"The catalog of the Hall of Friendship is too extensive; it's impractical to browse through each volume one by one. Let's use the lithographic tablets to retrieve the materials we need and bring them back to Ohma for further research."

“Okay.” Eve nodded.

While Feng Jin was working on the slate, Eve looked at the books and scrolls scattered on the ground.

Knowledge should not be treated this way.

She sat on the abandoned shelf and used her divine power to lift each book up to examine it.

A book covered with numerous scholarly annotations is titled "Sophistry: Forty Ways to Improve Your Debating Skills".

Eve skimmed through it, and the methods highlighted included hypothetical causes, false premises, contradiction transformation, confusion of name and reality, erroneous punctuation, substitution, and generalization, among others.

Interspersed among these are scholars' exclamations: "This is enlightening! The art of language is endless," "If you can't learn sophistry, at least you can learn some self-defense techniques for honest people," and so on.

"The last resort is... 'If all else fails, resort to force.'"

"An interesting point of view." Eve couldn't help but smile.

Sometimes, reasoning doesn't work.

At the same time, when your wisdom and power reach a level that no one can match, your super wisdom will tell you when to use your super power.

"next."

Eve rolled up another scroll to examine it.

This is a collection of research proposals submitted by a scholar of the "Goat School," along with responses from prominent figures within the school to his research proposals.

Project 1: A research application was submitted to investigate the discovery that many mythical creatures known for their long lifespans actually live in areas where birth and death records are poorly managed. Response: Lacks research significance; application not approved at this time.

Project 2: Research application submitted regarding actual plants in the tree garden mimicking the growth pattern of the nearby *Dracaena sanderiana*. Response: This is a research direction of the "Lotus Food School" and is not approved at this time.

Project 3: Feasibility study of placing a flying bird inside a fire tube to guide its flight direction. Response: Too far-fetched; not approved at this time.

The topics that followed became increasingly diverse, but the responses remained the same.

“This kind of perseverance…is very much in line with the beliefs of a scholar,” Eve said, expressing her appreciation for his actions.

Eve neatly arranged the scrolls and books she had read on the shelf, and then rolled up the books again to look at them.

However, this time it wasn't a log or a research paper, but a thick stack of complaint letters from scholars against Anaxagoras, the "blasphemer."

Judging from the accumulated dust and the intact packaging, the complainant had never opened them and simply discarded them in a corner.

"Oh? Information on Anaxagoras? Or a complaint letter?" Eve became interested.

As the former head of the Order of the Church, she maintained a zero-complaint record during her tenure.

Just as Eve was about to open it to take a look, she suddenly remembered something and called Feng Jin over.

As soon as Feng Jin came over, she was choked by the dust on the envelope.

"Cough cough, so much dust..."

“I think you’ll be interested in this.” Eve held the envelope out to Feng Jin.

"What is this? A complaint letter?"

Feng Jin was somewhat surprised.

She said that when she was a teaching assistant, she never received any complaint letters. She thought it was because Teacher Xia taught very well. It turns out that all the complaint letters were thrown here.

"However, even without opening it, we know it must contain something like, 'That Xia was disrespectful to the gods, and his very existence is a threat to social order'... or something similar."

"It seems to have a lot of influence."

Feng Jin smiled helplessly. "Otherwise, how could he be called a 'great performer'? It's said that the first thing the teacher did after founding his school was to read his works aloud in front of everyone."

Feng Jin imitated Xia Ke's manner and read the passage aloud.

"As for the Titans, do they truly conform to mortals' understanding of gods? The world created by gods must be perfect, yet Onpharos is filled with dullness and ugliness!"

"That's very much his style, and then what?" Eve asked curiously.

"He was taken to the dock before he could finish speaking," Feng Jin said helplessly, spreading her hands.

"However, it was called a trial, but it was actually a debate. He had to respond to the scholars' accusations one by one, or he would be expelled from the Tree Court."

"The first accusation is: cough cough—'Do you agree that the Titans shaped the heavens and the earth, and that the mountains and oceans are their masterpiece?'"

After Feng Jin finished speaking, she looked at Eve.

"Do you want me to answer from Na Kexia's perspective?"

"Mmm." Feng Jin looked at Eve expectantly.

Eve thought about it for a moment.

"I agree."

"According to the myth, the ocean, the sky, and the earth were all creations of the Titans, without a doubt."

"For example, a thousand winds blow away the ice and snow and reshape the earth, and throw down rock spears to turn them into mountain ridges."

Feng Jin sighed.

“If the teacher could have answered like that, he probably wouldn’t have had to suffer. But he used the history of fire-chasing as an example to promote the idea that humanity also has the possibility of taking over divine authority.”

“The opponents were naturally very dissatisfied with this answer, and thus came up with a second complaint.”

"Do you admit that you defile the soul in the name of studying the soul, engaging in transactions abhorred by God?"

Eve immediately became serious.

"This is a very serious accusation. Did he really do such a thing?"

"The teacher always wears an eye patch, not even when he is alone. Some people say he uses one eye as a material for alchemy."

"All people in the world are protected by the Titans of Kephale, especially the Golden Blood who are bathed in the blood of the gods. If this is true, it is undoubtedly blasphemy."

Fortunately, due to a lack of evidence, the accusation ultimately came to nothing.

"The teacher then engaged in a heated debate with the assembled scholars, arguing with each challenger. Finally, one scholar asked him, 'Anaxagoras, are you impious?'"

He paused for a few seconds, then replied, "I never deny that Titans should be great beings."

"This... there's clearly a hidden meaning. His subtext is that the Titans aren't great."

“I do not deny this point. Exaggerating divine authority is to deny human rights, even if God really exists.”

"But obviously, this is not something that can be said here."

Feng Jin nodded. "Yes, indeed... I don't know how the commotion was quelled, but the teacher ultimately stayed at the Tree Garden. Even though he was considered a heretic, he continued his research."

"By the way, this stack of complaint letters reminded me that there is another place in the tree garden where there might be clues that cannot be found even in the stone tablets."

"Where?"

"Between the roots and the rocks, that was Teacher Xia's alchemy laboratory."

"Given the style of Shuting's book collection, how could such an oversight occur right under his nose?" Eve couldn't help but ask.

"It's a secret: apart from the chief, who is a figurehead, the other seven sages each have a forbidden area where they can conduct their research undisturbed when they are lost in thought."

“Even the administrator of the Hall of Friendship cannot overstep the ban and accept the sage’s research. But now that the Tree Garden is in such a state, it shouldn’t be a big deal to break the ban a little... I’m sorry, Teacher Nakaka.”

"I said playfully."

Eve couldn't help but smile.

Although Anaxagoras was radical, some of his views coincided with Eve's emphasis on human rights.

But when it came to the topic of soul research, Eve became serious.

This is taboo content.

.............

Between the roots and rocks, that was Xia's laboratory.

"We've arrived, but... there's absolutely nothing here?"

Feng Jin led Eve to Na Ke Xia's research lab, but it was deserted and there was nothing there.

"The alchemical materials, the magic array diagrams, and even the seal of the prohibition are gone... Could they have all been destroyed by the Black Tide?"

"No wonder, there wasn't a single decent precaution along the way." Eve seemed to have realized something.

Have you been here before?

Feng Jin shook her head. "No, I've never even come close."

"Alchemy is a high-risk activity, and at that time, Teacher Xia was also fond of strange materials. The students often saw him go in fine, but come out covered in dust or even with his hair standing on end, so naturally they dared not go near this place."

"Huh? The bookshelf over there is the only one that's been preserved in such good condition."

Feng Jin noticed the bookshelf in the corner, which was well preserved except for some dust.

"Let me take a look."

Feng Jin blew away the dust and picked up a book to read.

This is a document that Anaxagoras requested to retrieve.

Several documents from different fields were collected in one place, including "Titan creation", "the universality of the soul", "alchemy" and so on.

Most of the materials appear to still fall within the research scope of the "Intelligent Race School," however, a notebook titled "An Investigation into the Background of the Golden Descendants" is interspersed among them.

A hastily written journal entry (Part 1)

Saints Tibo, Tian, ​​and Tinin of Janusapolis... descendants of the saints of the Temple of the Three Fates...

The Golden-Wearing Aglaya of Ohma City... the Meneta Priest Family...

The prince of Suspended Peak City... and the wind violet of the Dim Courtyard... both have origins that are related to the Titans or Titan powers to varying degrees.

........

Golden blood...is it inherited from a priestly family...or a royal family...?

........

Anaxagoras, himself. No such connection has been found yet.

What exactly did the creator, Cephalus, rely on to create the golden blood... and shape the golden descendants?

........

But the Death Servant of Aedria... is neither a Titan priest nor a demigod... yet he has walked the earth for a thousand years and possesses the ability to grant "death"... Where did he obtain this ability?

........

Another document records the legend of the dragon in Stikosia... the alchemy of extracting "souls" from the remains of dragons, intriguing...

The existence of dragons... seems to be a creation of the Titans...

Is there a way to reverse the process, using alchemy to re-integrate the human "soul" with the Titan creations, thereby enhancing the purity and divinity of the golden blood and bringing it closer to ultimate purity?

........

This is a verifiable method; an experiment will be conducted on a later date.

After watching it, Feng Jin felt that lingering fear again.

"What's going on... Everyone in Ohm, including me? Even I'm in the teacher's research area?"

"It seems that Anaxxramas wanted to use alchemy to purify the 'golden blood' within the Golden Blood, so that it might reach divinity."

Eve had already guessed Xia's purpose at that moment, but it still needed to be verified.

"This is the meaning of alchemy's 'approaching perfection'."

“But… to regard both Titan creations and human bodies as materials for alchemy is going too far.” Eve said with a serious expression.

Using people as test subjects is something Eve absolutely cannot accept.

“Eve, I… I have a bad feeling.” Feng Jin tugged at Eve’s sleeve and handed her another book.

Eve could feel the violet trembling.

"Look here..."

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