Jian He spent the next couple of hours showing Shu He around the sanctuary, the number of animals being kept here surprised Shu He as it easily surpassed what he thought a single person could look after.
"Do you really look after all of these animals by yourself?" He asked, doubtful.
"The majority of them yeah, there are a couple members that come by and help me every now and then, but other than that I spend most of my free time here if I'm not cultivating". Jian He explained with a smile.
"But isn't that too tiring? Do you even find enough time to cultivate?"
Hearing this Jian He's expression became mixed between sourness and a helplessness.
"Well… it's true that my cultivation progress isn't as fast as it should be… I just can't help it, being here among all these different animals, observing them, helping them, it just makes me happy, to me that's more important than cultivation".
Shu He stared at him thoughtfully with his mouth slightly open.
"What is it?" Jian He asked, feeling slightly awkward from the silent stare.
"I just… never expected to find someone here that didn't prioritise their cultivation over anything else".
"Surprised? People do say I'm stupid for thinking like this but I'm not alone… there are a few kindred spirits in the other creationist divisions".
"Really? I'll look forward to meeting them then…" Shu He murmured the last part to himself.
"So, what's your impression of this place so far?" Jian He asked him to prompt Shu He to pause in place.
"I… if I'm honest it kind of reminds me of the village I used to live in, the atmosphere is peaceful and full of greenery, though there's no people all the different animals living here makes it feel alive… it just feels calming I guess?" Shu He said as he stared through a window in the hallway leading to the outside, he could see some sort of wild cat resting at the base of a tree in the distance while birds chirped away on the branches above.
"Then that's great, I was worried you'd be put off with how odd the animals were towards you".
"That… it's probably unavoidable for now, I know it's not their fault" Shu He let out a wry chuckle after speaking.
They soon reached the end of the hallway and re-entered the workshop, Elder Bai was waiting there laying on a workshop with his eyes closed.
Fortunately, his clothes were still on.
"Ah! You two are done I see."
He hopped up and began to walk over to the two but stopped after a couple steps, his nose twitching as he began to stare at Shu He strangely.
"You… have you been getting a bit too close to some of those beasts?" His eyebrow was raised as his expression read 'Did you really do THAT?'.
"I hope you're not implying what I think…" Shu He replied, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance and disbelief.
"Elder Bai it's not Shu He's fault, all the animals kept acting weird towards him I've never seen anything like it!" Jian He defended Shu He's honour and dignity.
He went on to explain how each of the animals had a strange attraction to Shu He and seemed ecstatic whenever they got near him and then left after getting their fill.
"Hmm… I think it might be to do with Shu He's scent" Elder Bai said.
"What do you mean? Is he wearing some weird perfume or something?" Jian He said as well trying to catch the scent from Shu He, but all he smelled was a mixture of animal scents assaulting his nostrils.
"Of course I don't wear perfume…" Shu He muttered as he pushed Jian He away slightly to get some personal space back.
"Scent… right Elder Bai didn't you mention something about my smell when you fist saw me? Something about a 'Mother'?" He asked the white haired elder that was staring at him.
"Yes I did, you do smell like mother" The elder nodded.
"Who's 'mother'? Your mother? Aren't you a spirit beast? So do I smell like a spirit beast?"
"No, mother is mother, the one who made me but not the one who birthed me" Elder Bai explained, which confused Shu He even more.
"Then who is it?!" He complained, not understanding at all.
"Elder Bai I think you need to explain it a bit better than that…" Jian He spoke, finding the elders explanation appalling as well.
"It's not hard to understand, a lot of spirit beasts were once normal animals too and so was I, my mother that birthed me is one I cannot remember, but the mother who made me 'me', it is a scent I remember fondly" He tried to explain even deeper.
"I'm still not really getting it… so it's not your biological mother but the one who made the current you? But then who is that"
"Shu He you don't know how a spirit beast comes to be do you?" Jian He spoke, realising a problem.
"No of course not I barely learned anything about them until today".
"Oh, that's my fault sorry, Elder Bai let me explain it to him".
Jian He pushed Elder Bai to the side as he took centre stage.
"As Elder Bai explained, spiritual beasts or spiritual animals, whichever you prefer, come in one of two categories, they're either 'Birthed' or 'Ascended'; Birthed refers to a spirit beast born from two other parents that are also spirit beasts, this is the vastly common way one comes in to the world, the other way is an incredibly rare event that we haven't been able to properly reproduce, a normal animal is blessed by the world and is reborn anew as a spirit beast" He explained.
"How does such a thing happen? Why can't it be reproduced?" Shu He went straight to asking questions as always.
"The simple answer to both is 'we don't know'" Jian He spoke with a slightly depressed face before continuing "There is next to no pattern observed for a animal's ascension to happen, the few times we've found a beast in the process we could only observe all the qi in the surrounding atmosphere being absorbed and not much else, many have tried to force an animal to ascend with different methods from using various pills, valuable materials or saturating their body with qi to little success"
"So there was some success?"
"…Yeah, a couple of experiments here and there manage to succeed in making a beast ascend, but from recorded data there are next to no links or patterns between the successes, it just seems like a random event" He lent back on the workbench behind him while slightly shaking his head.
"Now no one really tries those experiments because they hold no consistent value, they're just a waste of resources".
"…Have you ever tried it?" Shu He asked, out of curiosity.
"Not personally… but we have had beasts ascend in this sanctuary, in fact Yingzi is one of them".
"That big do- wolf? Is he the first of his kind then?"
"Yeah, I was the one that named his kind".
It was then that Shu He realised something wrong.
"If he's the first of his kind then how would he reproduce?"
Jian He sighed after he asked that question.
"You see it's possible for spirit beasts to breed with normal species, but the fertilisation rate is low, and the births usually have problems, that's why it's rare for new species of spirit beasts to propagate well."
'I guess they assist with that stuff here as well' Shu He thought, looking at specific implements that were hanging on walls or stored away, he didn't ask about that though since it'd get a bit too detailed.
"Anyway, in relation to what Elder Bai was saying earlier, when he's referring to 'mother' he would be referring to what caused his transformation from animal to spirit beast".
Shu He looked over to Elder Bai with a dim light of understanding in his eyes now.
"So I smell like… the world?"
"The world, the earth, the heavens; Whatever you want to call it, I clearly remember the scent during that moment, it was memorable and comforting like a mother's embrace…" A wave of reminiscence flooded over Elder Bai as a blissful expression plastered his face.
'That… kind of makes sense, this golden qi can be found everywhere but only in small amounts, and it's never consumed it just exists in a cycle, I'm pretty sure that it's the reason for this smell that Elder Bai is sniffing out on me…'
"Did you realise what's causing the scent Shu He?" Jian He asked, seeing Shu He go into deep thought.
Shu He paused due to having his thought process interrupted and looked at his senior.
"…Yeah I have an idea".
'If this golden Qi is involved in the process of a beasts ascension, then it's even more valuable than even I thought'.
"Haah well now that we've solved that problem for now, Shu He would you mind giving me your token?" Elder Bai asked after he snapped out of his blissful memory.
"Huh? Okay". Shu He handed over his token without thinking as he was pre-occupied by his own thoughts.
'I wish I could see one of those ascensions… the only instance I've seen the golden qi externally be used was the 5 elements formation, but that isn't a natural process… I just need something….' He bit the side of his lip in frustration, he's always on the edge of discovering what this golden flame was but he could never cross that last line.
"Here you go" Elder Bai handed back his token.
"Thanks… wait" Shu He snapped out of his thoughts when he looked at the token in his hand.
'Why did I hand it to him?!' He wanted to hit himself in the face for not paying attention.
He spun the token on its side to see if anything had changed and surely enough it did, on the previously blank fourth side there was now a symbol for 'Beast' at the top.
"What did you do?!" He looked at Elder Bai annoyed that he did something without permission.
"Relax, I just added you to the Beast Taming Division".
"But I never said I'd join did i?!" He yelled, exasperated as he looked between Elder Bai and Jian He.
"Elder Bai… that's a bit underhanded" Even Jian He looked shamefully at his elder.
"It's fine isn't it, I'm confident he will fit in well here!" He went to pat Shu He on the head, but the latter dodged as he glared daggers at Elder Bai.
"I was going to visit the Alchemy Tower soon, and probably join the Alchemy Division!" Shu He was genuinely angry, he had heard there was a cool off period for leaving and joining divisions, he didn't want to have to wait even longer!
"Calm down Shu He, you can still join another division!" Jian He began to hold his junior back from trying to tear his Elder a new one.
"What! Eh? Really?" Immediately Shu He calmed down as he turned to his senior brother.
"Yes, Yes! Look at your token there's three slots for the symbols!"
Shu He quickly took a look at his token, and indeed there were three indentations that were barely visible, only the first taken up by the 'Beast' symbol.
He let out a large sigh of relief.
"Thank heavens…" he whispered to himself.
"See! There was no need to get so riled up" Elder Bai spoke like he had been victimised.
"Elder Bai, you're the one at fault here" Jian He admonished him.
"Even my own junior has betrayed me!" He began to sulk.
"That's it, I'm going back to my pond" He said as he rushed out the door and disappeared off into the distance as the other two watched.
"Sorry about this Shu He" Jian He apologised once more.
Shu He just sighed to calm himself.
"It's fine… as long as I can still join other divisions I'm fine with joining this one".
"Really? That's great! I'll have to get the other members to introduce themselves soon!" Jian He looked overjoyed once he heard the news, like a child at Christmas.
'Is this how it's going to go for me every time I visit some sort of club, sect or such?' He couldn't help but remember how Chao Shi had constantly pushed him in to coming here as well.
'Well, he didn't straight up trick me like this pain in the ass elder' He shook his head, why was everything so stressful sometimes?
"Anyway, I'm going to feed Yingzi soon, do you want to join me?" Jian He asked his new junior.
Shu He reluctantly shook his head.
"I've seen enough today between here and the entertainment district, I think I need some sleep" He could already feel his eyelids starting to weigh like fishing lures.
"Okay, I'll see you soon then, can you find your way back out?"
"Yeah I remember, I'll be fine".
The two spoke a bit more before parting ways, Shu He perfectly followed the path back up to the surface, the sky hard turned dark and there weren't many people walking around at this point, the quiet wind of the sect made Shu He feel a little lonely.
He had a quiet walk back to the hallway where the outer disciple rooms were and opened his door, he stepped in and removed his outer robe as he heard the door slide shut behind him.
'Too tired to do anything else'. Was his only thought.
He collapsed on his bed and quickly fell asleep.
It had been quite a day.