Zhang Buyan led Wu Ling and Jin Wuya to a private dining room in another part of the cafeteria. For the price of a few contribution points, he was able to treat both his friend and junior sister to fine tea and sweets in a room with a pleasant view of the lake and the many boats sailing on it.
Both the tea and the sweets were more refined than the burly man himself could appreciate, but seeing the delighted look on his junior sister's face and Wu Ling's appreciative smile, he felt it was worth the expense.
"Aesthete Wu, if you don't mind my asking," Jin Wuya said as she doted on Hou. "Where did you acquire such a marvelous contract beast? My mother's family has long searched for a Golden Crow but never found a trace of one."
"He's not a contract beast," Wu Ling explained. "He's a special kind of painting. He and his sister are my close Guardians who keep me safe. If you'd like to spoil him, he eats spirit crystals and other things that have a strong flame energy to them."
"Here, Brother Hou," Zhang Buyan said, following Wu Ling's advice and holding out a spirit crystal. "Would you like a treat?"
Hou instantly perked up at the offer. After spending a moment rubbing up against Jin Wuya for an extra bit of the young woman's attention, the gluttonous bird quickly bounced over to the towering Brawler to lavish some attention on his latest source of snacks. Yue might prefer the company of delicate Fairies but Hou didn't particularly care who fed him so long as he received a tasty treat!
"Since he's a painting, could, could Aesthete Wu paint such a companion for me?" Jin Wuya asked hesitantly. Having never encountered a painting brought to life in this manner, she wasn't sure how difficult of a request she was making. If it took extraordinary resources to produce something like Hou, she would need to turn to her mother for help. Even then, however, she was certain that her mother would dip deep into the family treasury if it turned out that Wu Ling could supply them with Guardian Golden Crows like Hou.
"No," Wu Ling said directly, dashing the young woman's hopes before she could think too much about them. "Hou and his sister Yue draw their power from my cultivation method," Wu Ling explained, hoping that she would understand the difficulties involved, and let matters lie at that.
While it wasn't technically true that he couldn't paint a Guardian Beast for someone else, the requirements to do so meant that he needed to have direct access to the other person's Inner World, and that was only the first challenge to bestowing a Guardian on someone else. There might come a day when he would offer a Guardian to his closest loved ones, but it wasn't something he felt he could approach any time soon.
"If you join on our adventure," Wu Ling added, hoping to at least offer the young woman something. "You're most welcome to spend time with him. I don't know if you'll be able to draw insights from studying his flames or not, he's not a true Golden Crow after all, just a painting of one," he explained. "Still, I believe you may be able to learn a bit from observing him, and even if not, he's still very good company."
"Brother Wu, why don't you tell us about the adventure you have in mind?" Zhang Buyan prompted, hoping to shift the topic slightly since it didn't seem like Jin Wuya would be able to obtain a Golden Crow of her own.
"Of course," Wu Ling said, taking a sip of the pleasant tea before diving into his explanation. "First, are you both familiar with Gold Veined Spirit Jade?"
"I've heard mention of it, but I've never seen any," Jin Wuya said, reaching out with a spirit crystal of her own to tempt Hou back to her. As much as she was disappointed to learn she wouldn't able to obtain a Golden Crow of her own, Aesthete Wu was right that Hou was adorable in his own ways and free enough with his attention to be delightful.
Not one to refuse a free meal, Hou instantly abandoned Zhang Buyan for the younger woman and the fresh treat in her strong fingers.
"I've seen a few pieces of Gold veined Spirit Jade," Zhang Buyan said, scratching his beard in thought. "Only in the Inner Sect. It's very useful for a number of spirit tools and I've even seen it used in the construction of powerful weapons but it's very rare. My father said that it used to be more common but the supply seems to have dried up and each year there is less of it circulating in the markets. Brother Wu, have you found a source of Gold Veined Spirit Jade?"
"It's not that the source was ever really lost," Wu Ling said, producing a map from his cosmos bag. "While Gold Veined Spirit Jade is prized by some women in my sect for jewelry, what my sect prizes more is the Gold Wind Bamboo that sometimes grows in the vicinity of the mine that holds Gold Veined Spirit Jade."
When Wu Ling planned this expedition with Warden Mu, he'd been sincere in asking for ways that the mission could help the sect. Gold Wind Bamboo took hundreds of years to absorb Gold energy from the earth, but when a stalk of it appeared, it could be turned into between two and four bamboo flutes.
Those flutes not only produced clear, beautiful tones but they also helped in the cultivation of Wind arts to a tremendous degree. Bringing a stalk home to the sect would be a considerable achievement as, much like the Gold Veined Spirit Jade, the Bamboo had become increasingly difficult to obtain for quite some time.
"There's a bamboo forest on Jade Wind Peak that holds a boulder field said to contain Gold Veined Spirit Jade as well as other rare spirit jades," Wu Ling said, tapping a point on the map on the edge of territory claimed by the Paragon Sword Sect.
"The mountain peak was claimed several hundred years ago by a powerful Emerald Winged Roc and its flock. Since then, the whole mountain has become home to countless spirit beasts, making it impossible for mortal miners to reach the bamboo forest or the jade boulder field. Only cultivators have a chance to reach these places and return with anything of value."
Wu Ling said it simply but both of the young Brawlers from the Golden Tide Martial sect realized that things couldn't be as simple as wandering up to a boulder field and picking up a few loose jades. If it was that easy, the supply wouldn't have dried up in the centuries since the Emerald Winged Roc took over the mountain.
The Gold Veined Spirit Jade and the Gold Wind Bamboo were both treasures. It wasn't just that only cultivators could harvest them. It was that only cultivators who were willing to risk their lives had a chance of obtaining these treasures and returning home to enjoy them!