Su Ya had gone to Sanyou Bookstore intending to buy a book.
Earlier, while sitting in on Poseidon's tutoring session on divination, she had accidentally knocked over an ink bottle onto a copy of Star Divination and Fox Tail Omenology—a field of study that combined the distinctive signs displayed by fox tails under different celestial configurations, such as the frequency of tail twitching and changes in fur color, for divination. Even among foxes, it was an extremely obscure area of research.
It was comparable to wizards' tea leaf divination.
And the copy of Fox Tail Omenology she had ruined was one of only two copies in the mansion.
Fortunately, the teacher had been too busy holding her big tail and carefully analyzing the connection between yellowing tail fur and Mars's activity to notice the little accident. Together with Poseidon's timely cover-up, that had kept her from getting beaten on the spot.
But the ink-stained book was beyond saving.
Afterward, Su Ya tried every method she could think of—from Scourgify, to "Thin Filth, I Cleanse," to Vast Waves of Water. Traditional cleaning magic removed the ink stains, but also erased the printed words along with them. And when she rubbed on Moon Dew Moss, a treasure specifically used to clean fox tail grease stains and something like wizards' soap, the ink stains only became more firmly set.
Only then did she remember the jade-dust absorption method.
But by then, the ink stains seemed to have acquired an oily film. Sprinkling jade dust over them produced no reaction at all.
Li Meng gave her a suggestion and had her borrow some Targeted Decomposition Solvent from Lin Guo, something often used in alchemy. Depending on the "primer" added—for example, the ink that had gotten onto the pages—it would only break down the pigment