Chapter 23: A Chance Encounter with a Herb

Lin Mu gave all the unexpectedly obtained money to Wang Junli and returned to his school dormitory.

After gaining a better understanding of this world, Lin Mu began to seriously consider how to restore his power, after all, he could not just cultivate slowly like this.

If he continued at this speed, in which year would he be able to return to his original strength?

Looking around the dormitory environment, Lin Mu felt that living on campus had become somewhat inconvenient. There were too many students coming and going, with many eyes around, and it was uncertain what might happen.

He turned on the computer and searched online for rental information. After spotting a few good properties, he changed his clothes and went out.

Huacheng Mingyuan was a villa community not far from Donghai University. Although the prices were not very expensive and couldn’t be compared to Dinghu Villa Area, the cost of several million for one set was still something ordinary people couldn’t afford.

Strolling into the community, Lin Mu casually looked around and found that the landscaping was quite good. There were green lawns and trees everywhere, with flower beds and ponds also easily seen. At the very least, it looked very comfortable.

“This place seems quite nice to live in.”

Lin Mu was quite satisfied with the environment of Huacheng Mingyuan. It was indeed a high-end community; just for this environment, the money wasn’t wasted.

Soon, following the signs along the road, Lin Mu found villa number eleven, which had posted the rental information online.

He gently pressed the doorbell. In less than a minute, he heard a series of quick footsteps inside, and then the door opened.

A boy who looked no older than a middle school student came out. His delicate face still showed a trace of youthfulness, but he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses to appear more mature.

Lin Mu looked at the boy, then glanced at the number 11 sign in front of the villa, seeming a bit puzzled. “Was the rental post from here?”

“Correct. Are you here to rent?” The boy looked Lin Mu up and down in a precocious manner.

Lin Mu nodded.

“Come in and have a look. If you’re satisfied, we can discuss the price.” The boy took a pair of slippers from the shoe rack and tossed them in front of Lin Mu, then turned and walked back inside. “By the way, I’m Meng Xuan. Meng as in Mencius, Xuan as in Xuanyuan. And you are?”

Lin Mu changed into the slippers and followed inside, looking around as he smiled slightly. “I’m Lin Mu. Lin as in woods, Mu as in pasture.”

The interior of the villa was quite exquisite, decorated in a Chinese style. Paintings and calligraphy of flowers, birds, fish, and insects were visible on the walls, and the furniture in the living room was uniformly antique rosewood.

For Lin Mu, this was perfect. Although European-style decor looked quite luxurious, he preferred things with an ancient flair.

There was no helping it; after all, he was a Cultivator. On Earth, only the Eastern style suited his taste.

Meng Xuan brought Lin Mu to a room downstairs, opened the door, and said, “If you want to rent, the entire first floor can be yours. The upstairs is already occupied. The rent is four thousand a month, paid once a year. No deposit needed.”

Hearing the price, a hint of surprise flashed in Lin Mu’s eyes. Although he had no real concept of money, from what he had heard and seen during this time, he understood that this price was a bit steep for ordinary people.

“Just for one floor, four thousand is a bit expensive.”

“No problem. There are many cheaper rental houses nearby, costing only a few hundred. You can go check those out.” Meng Xuan pushed his glasses up, looking very nonchalant.

Money wasn’t really an issue. Just as Lin Mu was looking around the room and still considering, a series of slapping slipper sounds came from upstairs, followed by a somewhat lazy voice drifting down.

“Another person here to rent? I say, Little Xuan, you’re not short on money. Why are you as shrewd as your parents? It wouldn’t matter if the first floor wasn’t rented out, right?”

As soon as the words fell, a beautiful woman with black-framed glasses appeared at the corner of the second floor. Lin Mu turned to look and was immediately surprised inside. It was actually Song Yuru, the counselor from the History Department.

But this Song Yuru wasn’t dressed in her usual mature style; instead, she casually wore a one-piece nightgown made of semi-transparent silk, through which her red underwear was faintly visible.

Even more, Lin Mu’s sharp eyes caught the vague outline of two small points beneath the underwear. But after just a glance, he immediately averted his eyes.

“Hello, Teacher Song,” Lin Mu greeted politely.

Meng Xuan looked at the two strangely and asked, “You know each other?”

“Of course we know each other. Lin Mu is a student at Donghai University, and he happens to be in my class.”

Song Yuru smiled slightly and walked down the stairs.

Lin Mu, who had been considering whether to move in because the environment was good, immediately dismissed the idea upon seeing Song Yuru.

The reason he didn’t want to stay on campus was because too many people knew him, and he chose to move out to prevent leaking any information. If he lived right under his counselor, he might as well move back to the dorm.

“So Teacher Song lives here.” Lin Mu nodded with a smile, then looked at Meng Xuan. “Sorry, the rent here is a bit expensive, and paying for a whole year at once is still a bit tough for me. My apologies.”

Watching Lin Mu leave, a strange look flashed in Song Yuru’s eyes. She knew about Lin Mu’s family background; although not top-tier wealthy, he certainly wouldn’t care about ten thousand or so.

Could it be that after losing his memory, Lin Mu wasn’t receiving help from his family?

Frowning in thought, Song Yuru couldn’t figure it out and could only shrug helplessly before turning to go back upstairs.

After leaving Huacheng Mingyuan, Lin Mu went to a nearby residential area. The community consisted of high-end elevator apartments. After looking at several independent rental units there, Lin Mu finally rented Room 803 in Building 24.

It had four bedrooms, two living rooms, one kitchen, and two bathrooms. Each room had its own balcony. The place was quite large, but the decoration was entirely in a luxurious European style, and the price was naturally high—six thousand a month.

Considering there weren’t any better rental options nearby, and this place was relatively quiet and convenient for living alone, Lin Mu didn’t hesitate further. He paid the full two years’ rent at once.

Looking at the very complete set of various tools in the kitchen, Lin Mu felt a slight urge to cook. Back when he was cultivating, he lived a simple life without desires and never found a fixed dao companion in his entire life, but he did have a fondness for good food.

Although he hadn’t cooked himself since arriving here, with his tens of thousands of years of accumulated cooking experience, mastering these simple tools was naturally no problem.

He casually bought some ingredients from a nearby supermarket and cooked himself a nice meal. While eating, he used his laptop to go online, browsing information about herb markets and auction websites.

Usually, extremely valuable herbs like this were publicly auctioned to fetch a good price. Some genuinely good items also circulated on auction websites; it just depended on whether someone recognized their value.

Suddenly, a picture displayed on the computer screen made Lin Mu’s hand, holding the chopsticks, stop.

It was a clear photo of a plant rhizome—a slender, pale yellow body with three long tendrils hanging below. It looked quite similar to ginseng.

Lin Mu examined it carefully, moved his fingers to zoom in on the image several times, and the picture immediately showed a clear close-up view.

As he looked, Lin Mu suddenly smiled. “I never thought I’d see a three-hundred-year-old Wood Spirit Grass. It’s practically tailor-made for me!”

He didn’t mind that this Wood Spirit Grass was low in age. After all, Lin Mu was no longer at his previous cultivation level. If a thousand- or ten-thousand-year spiritual herb were placed in front of him, he would actually be at a loss.

With his current physical condition, consuming a herb of that age would definitely lead directly to his body exploding and dying.

“So it’s in Nangu City.”

Looking at the herb’s location, Lin Mu frowned slightly. It seemed that if he wanted to buy this herb, he would have to make a trip personally.

He checked the auction time; it was tomorrow morning at ten. If he wanted to get there, he could only take a flight tonight direct to Nangu City.

Searching online for flights from Donghai direct to Nangu, he found that because both cities were very prosperous and developed, the flights actually had no available seats. If he wanted to go, he would have to wait for the next day’s flight.

After thinking carefully, Lin Mu’s eyes suddenly lit up. He picked up the phone and dialed the Dragon Guardians Corps Base.

In less than ten minutes, a call came back, and they also sent the booked flight information to his mobile phone.

Looking at the flight info displayed on his phone, Lin Mu nodded and smiled. “Indeed, having an organization behind you is a very good thing. It seems that my previous life of cultivating alone was a mistaken decision.”

Calculating that it was almost time for the flight, he tidied up the house a bit, then took a taxi straight to the airport.

After completing the check-in procedures, Lin Mu received a First Class Cabin ticket. Although it was his first time on a plane, he had seen it many times on TV, so he had no trouble boarding the flight direct to Nangu City.

In the First Class Cabin, Lin Mu found his seat. The entire First Class Cabin seemed very empty; a place that could seat dozens had only five people inside.

Even with him added, there were only six people total.

Watching Lin Mu look around curiously, Luo Bingyun felt somewhat strange. However, she was wearing an oversized pair of sunglasses, which hid her expression well.

She had originally booked the entire First Class Cabin for this flight, so naturally no additional tickets were sold to the public. But just now, her bodyguard suddenly came and told her that the airport had received an important call and needed to arrange a seat temporarily.

The economy and business classes were already full. If they had to add a seat, naturally it could only be in First Class.

But as Luo Bingyun carefully observed Lin Mu, the look of confusion in her eyes grew stronger. A plain T-shirt paired with jeans, and ordinary sneakers on his feet—he didn’t look like an important person at all.

How could someone so seemingly ordinary have such influence?

Luo Bingyun couldn’t help but feel curious.