Have You Learned Forbidden Curses?

It was still that small office partitioned off by several large bookcases.

It was still lit by the glowing fruits hanging from vines overhead.

Only this time, Poseidon was gone from the office, along with that exquisitely designed, complex alchemical instrument. Su Shijun sat behind her desk, with several thick stacks of documents already laid out before her. A few Quill Pens happily skipped between different files, leaving strings of elegant cursive writing across the pages.

"Sit." Without looking up from the materials in her hands, Su Shijun asked, "What would you like to drink?"

As she spoke, a transparent glass teapot with a short spout, round body, and a handle shaped like half a phoenix neck floated unsteadily out of a nearby cabinet. Several broad leaves bobbed in the boiling water inside, brewing up a pool of emerald-green tea. Behind the teapot floated a tiny teacup barely an inch tall, like a hen leading a chick.

"Water will be—" Before the young publicly funded student could finish saying "fine," the little teacup landed before him with a clunk. Then the flying teapot tipped itself and poured half a cup of tea into it.

Zheng Qing glanced at the emerald tea and the teapot floating back and forth in front of him. In the end, he did not insist on his preference. Silently, he lifted the tiny cup and took one sip, then another, then a third.

The cup was empty.

The flying teapot tipped itself again and refilled Zheng Qing's cup.

Then the young publicly funded student continued repeating the rhythm of raising his cup and sipping.

Cup after cup, until the water in the teapot changed from vivid green to pale green, then finally became nearly transparent.

The witch behind the desk kept her head down, processing documents