After spending enough time in the Onyx Treasure Tower to at least take a cursory look at the many different treasures gathered there, Wu Ling bid Fu Xi farewell and led his companions elsewhere in the sect.
"Let's stop here for a moment," Wu Ling said, pointing to a large building surrounded by well-tended gardens. "This is the Jade Lantana Hall, it's where most of the junior disciples live. Sister Meifeng, if you choose to move into the sect, this is likely where you'd live."
A few words with one of the mortal attendants was all it took to secure a tour of the luxurious building and the different types of accommodations it offered. "You can live as lavishly or frugally as you wish," the attendant explained as she showed them a simple room. While the room itself was only four meters on a side, all of the furnishings in the room, from the soft bed draped in luxurious fabrics to the expertly carved wardrobe, were of the highest quality and showed refined taste in their selection.
"A room like this one can be rented for ten contribution points a month," the attendant explained. "There are larger rooms with space for a private bath, separate rooms for entertaining guests, and even kitchens for cooking your own meals if you prefer. The more luxury you wish to enjoy, the more you will need to contribute to the sect."
"So everything here requires contribution points?" Yao Meifeng asked, feeling like this could quickly become a trap if the sect functioned like a debtor's prison. At the same time, if it wasn't exploitive, then maybe it was fine that things worked this way.
"Yes, everything requires that you contribute to the sect," Wu Ling said simply. "It's not as bad as you might be thinking though. Take this simple room, how many nights would you need to perform at a place like where we met in order to pay your rent for a month?"
"Um, this is nicer than where I've been staying," Yao Meifeng confessed, trying not to think too much about the rundown room she'd been living in for the past several months. She'd learned quickly that she could pay for luxury or she could pay for security and some of the places that looked nice and affordable were also places that sold copies of the keys to women's rooms to men with enough coin to buy them. The place she lived now might be run down but at least the locks could be trusted. "Ten nights probably?"
"Okay, so let's say you wanted a room like this here in the sect," Wu Ling replied with a smile. "You wouldn't even need to take any of the missions from the Dark Half of the sect to do it. Ten of the simplest performance missions from the Light Half of the sect would allow you to pay your rent. Just because I want to recruit you into the Dark Half where there are more lucrative missions doesn't mean you can't do more common work to meet your needs," Wu Ling said.
It was something his mother suggested he emphasize if Su Yao seemed uncomfortable taking on missions for the Dark Half of the sect right away, and he was glad she'd made the suggestion. While Su Yao didn't seem as apprehensive, Yao Meifeng had clearly collected a few scars of her own while evading her family's pursuit, and that made her cautious. Pointing out that she could still do work from the Light Half of the sect to pay her bills would help her ease into the darker parts of the sect without feeling as though she was being forced into darkness before she was ready for it.
"Besides," Wu Ling added. "With your talent, you could likely take some of the higher-end performance missions that pay three or five contribution points, which means you'd work less to live better. That gives you more free time for cultivation and to chase the kinds of missions that would let you get a new zither," he explained.
"So everything takes points, but it isn't any different from working independently outside," Su Yao said with a smile. At this point, all thoughts of living a life as the pampered wife of Fang Lin had fled from her mind. She wouldn't live any worse in the sect, in fact, she'd live much better! Seeing all of this, she finally understood why Wu Ling had been so skeptical about her rushing toward marriage to secure a future for herself.
"In fact," Su Yao said, putting words to her feelings. "Working for the sect pays better than working outside and lets you live better. Sister Wu Ling," she said, her blue eyes flashing with resolve. "I think I'm already ready to join the sect. I may not be an amazing talent, but in a place like this, even if it takes me years to work my way forward, I know I can do it."
Once Su Yao made her declaration, all eyes turned to Yao Meifeng.
"Honestly," she began after several moments of consideration. "Junior Sister Su is right, this isn't much different from the life I've been living, but the rewards and opportunities are greater and I gain the safety of a powerful sect to keep my family at bay. Sister Wu Ling, thank you for bringing me along. Seeing all of this, I wish I'd thought to ask for help earlier," the doll-like young musician said. "What do we need to do in order to become disciples? Is there a test we need to take, a ceremony, or something else?"
"Let me show you to the Midnight Lily Hall," Wu Ling said with a relieved smile. "There are some tests that you'll need to pass, though I don't see any issues," Wu Ling advised them after thanking the attendant for the tour. "Mother said that I'll likely need to take the tests along with you since I skipped them when the Hall Master pulled me directly into the sect."