"Elder Mu, what if the fool is correct and we don't find any clues about the brat." Zumo Tian was concerned as he sat on the bed provided to him by the sect leader.
The white robed elder looked at him with a tired expression and answered.
"I really don't care what happens, I'm just here because the sect master asked me to be."
Zumo Tian despaired and looked up at the ceiling in disappointment, he knew if he was unable to locate Zhishi Wu and bring him back to the sect leader he would die for sure.
"However, we can make a few logical deductions about the matter,"
Zumo Tian's face lit up and he looked at the elder eagerly, he had long heard about her strategic abilities, she had accompanied the sect leader in establishing the divine union sect and in ultimately reaching the level of the three great sects.
"Since the sect leader has said he is here, then he is here no matter what, in addition if he is here that means he is weak and lacks help."
"I see, if the owner of the blond hair was still accompanying him he wouldn't need to hide in the wasteland."
"Indeed someone of that strength is not one who would fear any sect, nor would any sect offend them for a small matter."
Elder Mu sat down on one of the chairs within the room and started to cultivate, she had found that cultivation often helped her think better.
"To survive the wasteland and to seek any semblance of hope he must have started his cultivation journey, loose cultivators cannot survive alone, thus he probably joined a sect."
Zumo Tian had his mouth wide open forming a small smile.
"Meaning he'll be present at the next gathering of sects, a formal tournament like event in which division of land is decided."
Zumo Tian was so happy he tried to hug the elder before he was promptly kicked away, this didn't phase him though and he immediately got on one knee.
"If I survive this mission I will be eternally grateful to you elder Mu, please ask me for anything."
"How about you cultivate diligently and stop annoying me instead."
"..." Zumo Tian remembered that he did not have much to offer to this late stage foundation establishment cultivator and silently started to cultivate, trying his best to slowly make his way to the middle of Qi condensation.
…
Mei Fan and Zhishi Wu arrived at a cave within the upper area of the sect, this cave had a view that let it see everything below, a worthy place of residence for an elder of the sect.
"And that concludes our tour, we've seen the entirety of the sect including the alchemist pavilion, formation hall and lastly the spirit beast keep." Mei Fan sighed as she finished up with the work that had been assigned to her.
"Indeed." Zhishi Wu had paid close attention during this tour.
The alchemical pavilion was the place where pills for cultivation were made and the formation pavilion was where formations were studied.
"I see that the spirit beast keep has you as a supervisor, what about the alchemist pavilion and the formation hall."
Mei Fan was stroking the panda spirit beast's fur gently as it chewed on some bamboo.
"Those halls used to have elders."
Her face contorted revealing an annoyed expression.
"But those greedy bastards ran at the slightest prospect, can you believe it abandoning your sect for a few hundred spirit stones."
Zhishi Wu wasn't sure what type of face to make, he could understand the thought process on both sides of the situation so he just decided to nod.
"Well, in terms of basic knowledge, pills and formations both range from Mortal to Earth to Sky grade in terms of quality."
"So reaching the sky grade represents mastery." Zhishi Wu's heartbeat started to hasten, this entire time he had been running around trying to chase an illusory goal and now he was starting to get somewhere.
The idea that he could explore the truth behind these pills that had fantastical abilities and formations that were quite literally supernatural had him practically bouncing from excitement.
"Yeah I guess if you learned to refine Sky grade pills or formations you'd be considered an elder of the pavilion."
Zhishi Wu had already tuned out of the conversation arguing with himself about the mechanics of these pills and creating a hypothesis, but he somehow managed to pull himself back in when he remembered the last stop they had.
"And the spirit beast keep, how does that work?" he had to learn more about spirit beasts as well, not just for his curiosity but to also help him manage the sleeping serpent within his robes.
"Why would I give away my secrets, are you aiming for my position?"
Zhishi Wu instantly retreated verbally.
"My apologies, I did not mean to be rude pay it no mind." he stood up straight and bowed slightly.
"Hahaha, relax I was just joking." Mei Fan slapped his shoulder and proceeded to explain.
"Spirit beasts can be subdued and tamed, the taming process requires intense mental negotiations utilizing Qi, essentially a tamers Qi has to be both better controlled and more cohesive than the target beast."
She then turned around and hugged the panda spirit beast.
"Of course Gomu here didn't need to subdued, I found him as a cub and took him in, he naturally allowed me to tame him even without force."
Zhishi Wu nodded as was in character of him.
The snake seemed like a real headache for him, he was unsure if it would allow him to tame it, but this too was a experiment he looked forward to carrying out, as he was thinking about this a glaring fact started to present itself.
"How am I going to feed that glutton." Zhishi Wu felt like he was stuck on an incredibly difficult math problem.
"I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now let's follow my plan."
For now, he was going to cultivate for a brief period and then visit the alchemist pavilion and formation hall. He wanted to use up the spirit stones he had gained from the three disciples he initially met, an experiment to see how much they could boost his cultivation.
His final goal for now was to reach foundation establishment while in the process learning as much as possible and he needed to minimize any possible distractions.
"Oh I almost forgot to mention." Mei Fan called out as she was about to leave Zhishi Wu's cave aboad.
"You have to teach one sect wide lecture and take the three disciples that brought you here as your own during your time here." following this statement Gomu shook the ground and bolted leaving Zhishi Wu staring at an afterimage in his cave aboad.
"....Back to the planning board it is."