Things of Utmost Yin

Lin Ye smiled as he looked at the purchase order in front of him.

No wonder it had seemed familiar before. The batch containing those twenty Black Spiral Grass plants had been handled by the previous owner of this body when he was transferring supplies with the warehouse.

It was just that the Black Spiral Grass bought by the school laboratory had all been air-dried, so they looked somewhat different.

On top of that, the batch had been huge, so he had not remembered it right away.

But was this stuff really so valuable?

One plant cost four hundred—more expensive than a lot of ginseng, wasn't it?

He looked at the medicinal herb description on the form. Black Spiral Grass grew best beneath pine trees on shaded mountainsides and treated deficient kidney essence and depleted marrow and blood.

"One effect of Night of the Black Goat is a small permanent increase in the drinker's strength and agility. Looking at it this way, it does match up."

He picked up his phone, opened SuperChat, and found "Teacher Zhuang," the previous owner's university advisor.

His advisor had taken a liking to him at the beginning of his third year. It was foreseeable that he would continue studying under Teacher Zhuang in his fourth year as well.

Universities here did not have anything like entrance exams for graduate school. It all depended on whether an advisor chose you.

If no advisor took a liking to you and accepted you as a student, even top grades were useless. After graduating in the fourth year, you had to enter society.

The vast majority of students went through their entire university years without being chosen by an advisor and could only graduate directly.

Without an advisor's letter of recommendation, it was also difficult to enter a truly top-tier company.

After all, the number of university students had increased greatly compared to the past.

Still, university students as a whole were considered highly skilled talent.

The previous owner of this body had been fairly lucky to catch his advisor's eye.

"Teacher, do you still have any Black Spiral Grass?"

After sending the message, he put away the purchase order and returned it to the folder.

Before he could close the drawer, his phone vibrated. He hurriedly turned back to look.

[Teacher Zhuang]: "Yes. What's wrong?"

Lin Ye's face brightened, and he immediately typed back. "Teacher, I'd like to buy three plants. Is that possible?"

Though the formula only required one plant, he might not succeed on the first attempt.

[Teacher Zhuang]: "You want that? What for?"

"I have a dog, and it's been rather weak lately. I saw that the description for Black Spiral Grass said it could help with that, so I wanted to buy some for it and see whether it works."

After he sent the message, the other side fell silent. Nearly five minutes passed before a reply came.

[Teacher Zhuang]: "All right. The effect should be quite good. Come to the laboratory building warehouse tomorrow to collect it, and put it on my tab. But I think there's only one plant left. There probably won't be another shipment before the semester starts."

"Thank you for the trouble, Teacher."

[Teacher Zhuang]: "All right, then. Come by my office after you pick it up. I happen to have something to discuss with you."

Seeing the words "my office," Lin Ye could not help drawing in a cold breath. For no reason at all, he felt a little nervous.

"Okay, Teacher."

He closed SuperChat, reopened the shopping platform, and searched for "White Tin Powder."

Before long, Lin Ye frowned at the image on his phone screen.

"Silver White Tin Powder?"

"If I remember correctly, normal White Tin Powder should be grayish white, right?"

"It's different."

He gently shook his head.

"And... why is this so expensive too? Ten yuan per gram? That's nearly the price of silver."

He stared at the screen in silence for a while, then opened the browser search bar.

"Why is White Tin Powder so expensive?"

Related pages popped up. He browsed for a while, but no one offered any particularly authoritative explanation.

However, an old report caught his attention.

It mentioned that in certain ancient legends passed down on the West Continent, mysterious organizations were often said to use white tin vessels to seal demons.

It also said that white tin was an object of utmost yin, and frequent contact with it might cause one to see things ordinary people could not.

He closed the report, paused for a moment, then picked up the sheet of paper containing the Night of the Black Goat formula.

His gaze swept over the words.

[Mix with White Tin Powder and use the blended powder to draw the "Dark Night" rune.]

After reading through the whole thing, White Tin Powder seemed to serve a purpose only in this step.

The "Dark Night" rune was not one of the twenty-four basic characters of Old Gulyain Script. It was a variant rune even more complex than the "Mountain Guardian" rune.

Besides dark night, it also carried the meanings of profundity, flow, starry skies, and wind.

Propping up his chin with his left hand, he held the formula in his right and gently kneaded the paper.

Confusion surfaced in his eyes. He had to draw a rune, then burn it and collect the ashes.

That step seemed rather inexplicable.

It felt... like some kind of ritual that infused the ingredients with power from the mysterious side, allowing the potion to gain power related to the night.

Since supernatural beings existed, such rituals should have an effect as well.

Perhaps the "Dark Night" rune represented the power of the mysterious side, while white tin was the key connecting the mysterious side to the present world.

That was why, compared to his previous life, white tin here had been endowed with mysterious power and become different.

That might be why white tin was so expensive. It had never been an ordinary material.

His fingertips tapped against the desk as he leaned back in his chair.

Though this speculation still had holes, he could at least confirm one thing: White Tin and Gulyain Rune were definitely connected to the mysterious side.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain why a pile of materials with utterly unremarkable physical properties could be brewed into a potion with a fantastical effect like "receiving the Blessing of the Dark Night."

But final confirmation would have to wait until he brewed and used the potion.

He placed an order for forty grams of White Tin Powder.

Well, it was not that he was buying two portions. He was worried the seller might skimp on the weight.

After buying it, he glanced at his balance: 3305.6.

It was enough for the time being.

After that, he preordered castrated Black Goat Horn and blood. They were strange, but not rare, and could be bought within Coast City.

Once he had finished all that, he turned off his phone screen and lightly brushed his fingertips over the cover of the Rhine Script Dictionary.

He swore that even when he had challenged the Ozaki Eight in his previous life, he had never studied this seriously.

The supernatural.

Those two words were too alluring, like beautiful and deadly poppies that intoxicated the mind.

Especially for someone like him.

When all was said and done, had he not challenged the Ozaki Eight in his previous life for that genetic lock he knew did not exist?

Still, he had to try.

Otherwise, how could he accept it?

He reclined in his chair, his gaze resting on the leaves outside the window stirred by the breeze. He slowly raised a hand, his eyes distant.

"The supernatural..."

With that murmur, he slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

Early the next morning, Lin Ye stepped off the bus and looked toward the gates of Coast University ahead.

The gates were imposing, flanked by two enormous square white marble pillars carved with dragons and tigers.

Coast University, the only university in Coast City.

It was located in the land-scarce South Bank Core District, displaying its powerful backing.

He swiped his card and entered the campus. It was already summer break, and most of the students had left. Only a small number remained at school.

After waiting at the entrance for a while, the campus bus slowly arrived. He boarded it, and after roughly twenty minutes, he reached a laboratory building.

The laboratory building was not tall, only seven stories high. It was entirely white and shaped like a simple square block.

Following the familiar route to the warehouse beside the first floor, he had just pulled open the iron door when a black van drove past on the asphalt road behind him. Its glossy paint reflected human figures.

The Coast University emblem was stuck to the rear of the vehicle: a simple design formed by three blue waves.

"Is that... transporting medicine?"

A black vehicle like this came to the Department of Pharmacy every so often to collect medicine, usually special drugs independently developed by the laboratories that were not available on the market.

However, only a small number of outstanding students could participate in developing such drugs. He had not come into contact with it yet and had only heard an older student mention it.

"You're Little Lin, right? One Black Spiral Grass?"

The warehouse worker's voice from behind the iron door made him turn around. A young married woman sat behind the low window, smiling at him.

"Yes, Teacher sent me here to pick it up."

"Mhm, Professor Zhuang told me about it. Here, take it."

After leaving the warehouse, Lin Ye entered the laboratory building and climbed the stairs, looking at the black grass in his hand.

It was sealed in a transparent vacuum bag and looked somewhat shriveled.

But the serrated structure along its edges confirmed that it was the Black Spiral Grass from the Elementary Potion Manual.

Arriving on the third floor, he headed straight for the office at the end of the corridor.

A metal nameplate beside the office door read: Department of Pharmacy—Zhuang Huaizhang.

He stepped forward and lightly knocked on the door.

"Knock, knock."

"Come in."

An aged, gentle voice came from inside the office.