The tall man looked at him and continued "He Jifeng is still unconscious. Yue Fei got a scolding and was confined to his courtyard. He isn't allowed to come out till he reaches mid stage fifth level of cultivation. Junior sister Yue was sent back to the Yue family. Given that senior brother He is a first class talent from a poor background it is obvious that they'll get married and he will get to enjoy Yue family resources.
This brother welcome join us take a seat. My name is Lin Yingjie this is Pan Mu and Wan Lin. What is your name? How long has it been since you joined the sect?"
"Surname Zhang given name Wuji." 'I've always wanted to say that introduction' "It's been four years"
"Four years? We joined around the same time. This is the first time I'm seeing you."
Zhang Wuji grumbled inwardly 'Old Zhang Wuji was a socially awkward shut in. It is already a wonder he knows about Yue Yinghua. If even you know of him that would be a disgrace to his shutin-ness.'
"I spend most of my time within my room. It isn't surprising that you haven't seen me. And anyway it isn't possible that you would know everyone in the outer sect."
"It may be true that I know not every outer sect disciple but I know everyone that joined with me four years back. Till you showed up and proved me wrong. No worries. Now I know everyone."
'Couldn't there be other shut ins?' Zhang Wuji wanted to say but hesitated. What if he thinks that he is insulting him? Cultivators are famous for their intolerance atleast in the novels. Better be careful. It is already good enough that he didn't mind his sudden intrusion. But he still got the answer to his mental retort.
"For four years you've been saying the same but were now proven wrong. How can you be so sure there isn't another such shut in." the round faced Pan Mu retorted in his stead.
"I don't believe shut ins that could hide from my eyes for four years are so common place that there's two in the forty odd outer disciples that joined in our batch."
"Wanna bet on ... no I will have to agree with you on this." The tanned kid named Wan Lin put on a rueful face to show his frustration towards a missed betting opportunity.
'What's with the face? Are they making fun of me? Zhang Wuji look what I have to suffer because of you. I must think of a good reply. Let me think let me think let me think... Alright make all the fun you want to. See if I care. Hmph.' Zhang Wuji gave a fake smile.
"I missed a lot of stuff while I was in *cough* seclusion. Could you catch me up to some general knowledge?"
"Yeah no problem. That's my speciality. Let's see. I'll devide the news into two parts cultivation and celebrities. Let's cover cultivation first. You should know cultivation requires four things land, manuals, companions and wealth. Of the four, as long as there is a minimum concentration of spiritual energy in the surroundings, body refinement realm's land requirements are fulfilled and there is no improvement even if the concentration is increased and that requirement is fulfilled even outside the sect and is therefore irrelevant. There are speculations that there could be better manuals but nobody has either seen or heard of them and is therefore irrelevant. As for companions, there is a method which requires either a nascent soul realm cultivator or a few core formation realm cultivators along with a formation, that could speed up the process of body refinement but neither are things we could obtain and are therefore irrelevant. Finally wealth. This one is always relevant at all stages of cultivation. There is always higher tiered herbs that you could use for nourish and heal steps and speed up the refinement but isn't really sustainable as I don't think even the sect could provide so many high tiered herbs to a body refinement realm cultivator and even if it could it wouldn't be our turn.
The only things left are pills. There is three kinds one of which is the grade 1 Rebirth pill which would change one's body forever and makes one sail through body refinement with much ease and speed. The pill ingredients are rare and only the Alchemy Guild has the method to make them. The ingredients give a better profit margin when used in qi condensation and foundation building realm pills. Therefore the guild only makes two cauldrons of these every year with each cauldron giving five pills. Four of these are sold to the sects, three to the royal family and the remaining three are auctioned off. The sect then wastes these pills giving them to fifth grade spirit roots reducing their time within body refinement from two to one year. If they were given to us third grades we would've gained four years. FOUR YEARS! They are so precious. Haaah.... moving on.
The remaining two kinds are qi recovery and body restructuring pills. You are already familiar with qi recovery. Get a better quality pill and it shows better effects. Restructuring pills, better not use it unless absolutely necessary. They restructure the body with violent medicinal essence often leading to internal injuries that bar you from foundation building. This is the effect of only one pill. If you take more even qi condensation would become an impossibility. How many you can take before that occurs depends on your body and the extent of injuries. But still the maximum is three. You take more you will be stuck in body refinement for the rest of the life and will also lose a great deal of vitality greatly reducing your life span. Also they are costly. In short do not use them. As for their effect. You would jump two levels in low and mid stages and one level in high stages."
"I heard Elder Wang used the pill when he was surrounded by enemies back in his youth. He still reached core formation realm. He must've gotten some fortuitous encounter." Pan Mu jumped in and added.
"Yes and he once advised all body refinement realm cultivators to carry this pill. Who knows it may save your life." Lin Yingjie gave a 'don't interrupt when I'm speaking' look to Pan Mu and continued. "There is a milder version of the pill called body nourishing pill again exclusively produced by Alchemy Guild in small quantities and put up for auction in nearby auction houses. There is a monthly auction held in the city's White Serenity Auction House. There's a few nourishing pills every time. They are affordable for every now and then. Next Sunday there is an auction. We will be going why don't you go with us? Even if you fail to buy anything you can broaden your horizons. What do you say?"
"Sure why not." 'The only thing old Zhang Wuji left behind is his savings which are now mine. It's time to put them to use.'
"Now back to the topic. Aside from the four there is one more part of cultivation which sometimes has greater influence than the four combined. It could change your whole life *snap* just like that. And that is fortuitous encounters or simply luck. Random ones aside there is one constant source of such encounters, the secret realms. There's two kinds natural and man-made. Natural secret realms are only useful for foundation building and above cultivators. For those below they are just resource rich grounds or lands of certain death. Man-made ones could be inheritance grounds left behind by powerful cultivators or some great faction's secret grounds. They usually come with age and/or cultivation restrictions. There is only one inheritance secret realm in the whole country that is useful for body refinement realm cultivators. It has separate spaces for body refinement and qi condensation realm cultivators. You pass all the tests of unknown number and you win the inheritance. Aside from that each test gives a reward on successful completion. The more tests you pass more rewards you will get. It opens every four years and there's still two years till it's next opening. The sect only sends those in higher stage of body refinement and if nothing unfortunate happens the three of us will break through the seventh level till then. By the way brother what level are you at. The three of us are at the sixth."
Zhang Wuji didn't answer and sat still. Lin Yingjie waited a few breaths and said "Brother Zhang?"
'Shouldnt there be a 'I totally understand if you choose not to say afterall one's cultivation level is the most personal thing there is'? Alright here goes nothing.'
"Fourth level." 'Nope. There went my pride.'
"Pfft FOURTH LEVEL!!" Wan Lin was drinking wine at the time and sprayed all of it at Pan Mu's face.
Pan Mu was still shocked and did not have the leisure to take not of the wine that dripped mouth from the tip of the nose then his lips finally into his mouth.
"Brother Zhang are you perhaps majoring in the auxiliary arts?" Lin Yingjie managed to suppress his shock and asked naturally. Well, he tried. He couldn't do anything about the unnatural twitching of his face.
'This is fucking embarrassing. Zhang Wuji it's good that you are dead otherwise I would've beaten you to death. Wait is he really dead? Is he hidden in some corner of the body or maybe transmigrated into my body like I did in his? If so I really feel sorry for him. He now has to deal with the mess I made with my life. No wait! Lucky bastard! He gets to live in the peaceful world leaving me behind in this stupid cultivation world where I can not even shit in peace'
"What do you mean?" Zhang Wuji asked with clenched fists under the table trying his best to hold in his frustration and rage and keep his face straight.
"Auxiliary arts. Alche...""
"Not that. The majoring part."
"Oh that, you know how disciples are kicked out if they fail to reach qi condensation realm before the age of twenty right, there is actually a way to circumvent this rule. As long as you are able to achieve grade one in any of the auxiliary arts you would be allowed to continue your stay in the sect and use its resources. Also if you show great talent in them then you could become one of the Wisdom Hall Elders' disciple. If that happens your cultivation journey would be smooth sailing." Lin Yingjie hesitated a bit and then said "Brother Zhang it is best if you shift your focus to the auxiliary arts otherwise unless you come across a great fortune you will be kicked out the sect."
"I'll think about it." Zhang Wuji said seriously. Lin Yingjie was clearly trying to help him out and the idea was indeed helpful. 'Once I become an alchemist it would rain gold. I can already see the fog covering my path clearing up. I could easily procure resources from the gold, make my own pills and much more. Aah this Lin Yingjie fellow is good. When I become a big shot alchemist I'll provide him pills free of cost...'
Before he could sink further in this line of thought he filled a rage filled shout. "Wan Lin I'll KILL you! HOW DARE YOU SPIT ON ME!! You're dead. D.E.A.D. dead." The moment he came out of his shock he tasted the wine. It was filled with rich flowery aroma. It tasted warm and earthy. The restaurant's main speciality was bamboo wine and that's what Pan Mu used to drink. They also have a wide range of other wines including a flower wine made out of grey dandelion that Wan Lin frequently ordered. It had a nice and different taste that he quite enjoyed. Till he remembered the source that is.
.....
After an exaggerated 'you and I can't breathe the same air, live on the same piece of earth' episode and discussing some of the relevant notable characters in the sect the four of them went to the sect and parted ways at the outer sect disciples residential building moving towards their respective rooms and saying their goodbyes. Zhang Wuji jumped straight onto the bed and indulged in his alchemy dao emperor fantasy till he fell asleep.