"I tamed the wilderness since I could walk. I am a warrior, I even killed people. The totem should recognize me."
Feng Chonglin scoffed:
"Your elemental nature and temperament are too distant from it. You aren't Yang enough. The stronger your soul foundation and power, the more likely a totem like a tiger is to recognize you despite your nature. But your soul is normal, you'd have to do much more to be accepted. Have you considered selling the totem to Lei?"
Xin rolled his eyes. Does he imply that I am not manly enough? Apparently, not being impulsive is a character flaw? Still, the totem shouldn't be a rational being. He understood where Feng Chonglin was coming from.
"I am not selling it. I feel that it's important that I keep it. It's intuition, and I trust it, I am not just some overthinker, believe me. I understood that manuscript you made me read, I think I can try invoking at least one aspect now." Xin was confident that he could bargain with the beast. That's how the wolf became a dog, after all. First, you establish mutual interest, then you earn the beast's trust over time. Took generations upon generations, though.
"Getting tired of you, kid. I this, I that, I this, I that. So much 'I', you are making my head spin. The peppers, keep them. Tomorrow, you wake up early, go to the library and read about the Qi Deficit Material Hunger Inducing ointment. You'll need some spirit stones, but it's an important first step."
Wait, was the pepper thing meant to prepare him for his studies all along? That was embarrassing. So, if the totem doesn't want to open up, if it doesn't recognize Xin, he could torture it, forcing it to at least attempt to bargain? The ointment's name was pretty lame, but at least it explained what it did.
"I get it now, master. I will figure something out. I'll head to the sect and sleep there, to save on travel time."
"Don't be late tomorrow, there will be consequences."
Could he not communicate in threats? Xin hated this, but also appreciated the old man. It was true that many Foundation stage masters had a very shallow foundation, ironically, as they focused on boosting their cultivation first and foremost. His master was much different. Why was he stuck at this stage, then?
The next morning, when Xin woke up, his neighbours were still sleeping, except for Rui Ming. He was just lying there, staring at the ceiling.
"Windsplitter, what happened?" Xin whispered. Rui Ming was constantly in motion, it was hard to pin him down, and he only came back to his room to sleep. In their few weeks living together, Xin had never seen him so melancholic.
"Let's not wake the guys up. I am fine."
Something in Xin forced him to act.
"No, stand up. Follow me, we'll talk." He exuded a gentle aura, but also a subtle air of authority.
Rui Ming obliged, and they sat on a bench in the corridor.
"I can see that something is wrong, tell me." Xin had an overwhelming list of tasks to tackle today, and he hadn't even finished the preparatory reading for his lectures yet. He was planning to wing it using his previous knowledge, but last night's talk with Feng Chonglin made him consider applying himself more. Still, he felt like talking to Rui Ming was more important.
"I failed my breakthrough. Again."
That's tough. Rui Ming was a second year student, brilliant in combat but struggling in his studies. He played the flute, enjoyed nature and was overall a pleasant person, unless he discussed philosophy, that was when he got spiky. Still, his breakthrough failures undermined what he preached, thus it was twice as painful for him to fail.
"Shit. How many times already?"
"Two. The first time, the whirlwind damaged my stomach meridians. Took me two weeks to recover. This time, heaven qi just didn't get absorbed. I don't understand it, what did I do to anger the heavens?"
Xin felt that there was an obvious answer, but suspected it wasn't as simple.
"Both of my parents broke through at some point in their lives. I've read a lot, too. Can you explain what you did?" Xin was eager to share his xiandao expertise.
"And share my cultivation secrets?"
Xin rolled his eyes at Rui Ming's immaturity, but decided to support him, as he was clearly struggling.
"Look, I have no use for your secrets, we're of drastically different elements. And if they were so valuable, you'd break through. No offence. You can tell me."
"Fine. So, I am using a sattvic asceticism approach, wind intensity boosting materials and an earth element foundation. Then I am using a cyclone method to syphon some energy inside, and trying to manage a big surge of energy with an anticyclone in the final stage."
"I understand the sattvic diet, but the cyclone and anticyclone thing, I have no idea about. So, you made a whirlwind to trap a lot of heaven qi? It should be less reliable than making a well, like in the classic teachings. Don't you think there could be a leak due to a lack of density and stability?"
"There is no leak, I can feel the vacuum in my stomach when I channel the energies. But for some reason, heaven qi just doesn't flow. It wasn't like that the first time. I've done several recon and caravan duties, all to buy or gather these breakthrough materials, and it's all for nothing... Again. I will consult my master today, but he'll probably try and steer me towards the water path, just like the last time. I am not refining my wind bloodline, end of story!"
"That would be stupid, you are great at wind path. It's what makes you so unique, after all. Look, I'll read about it and share my thoughts."
Rui Ming smiled.
"I don't think you have enough foundation to help me, but it's nice that someone cares. Thank you."
"Don't you dare underestimate me, we'll break you through, and once you become a master — you'll owe me, hehe."
"Has Lei bitten you recently? Fine, I hope you figure something out."
"Go and study, I am not your crutch."
"Sure, you jerk. Have a nice day at your lab, I've got to train!" He jogged away, then stopped and sprinted back to his room. "Forgot my sword!"
Xin chuckled. What a guy.
In the library, Xin returned the scrolls he read yesterday.
"Already giving those back? Are those not to your liking?" The Foundation stage master in his thirties asked.
"I understand all of these, I just needed to make some notes. I'll test them in my lab."
"Took me a week to learn these when I was your age, nice job."
Xin shrugged.
"Look, I am not like other people my age here. I've studied since childhood."
"Stop bragging, kid. What do you need?" He also studied since childhood, as he was sectborn, and Xin's comment stung him.
"So, for my lab, I need a Qi Deficit Material Hunger Inducing ointment recipe."
"That's a weird one. The one that drains the qi from materials? Why would you need it?"
Xin was a bit nervous.
"I think it has something to do with mass production of materials. Some elements might get uneven." A lie, obviously.
"That's an expensive solution."
"I don't know, my master requested it. Oh, and I need something else."
"Sure, tell me." The man was already climbing the stairs, having found the scroll with the help of a small pixie spirit that whispered its location into his ear.
It was a vaguely humanoid tiny creature, with thin transparent wings, its silhouette mostly obscured by a veil of white, flickering energy. Xin wasn't allowed to talk to it, though, so he just observed it from afar, captivated. Several such spirits were helping out around the library, in exchange for favours from the sect.
Oh, the librarian just asked a question, I need to answer!
"Treatises of Five Winds. There is a segment on earth qi there that can help me in my breakthrough."
"That's some jumping through hoops, I'll be honest. Try Third Generation Wuxing notes. Treatises are teenage fiction, not serious cultivation literature."
"I... someone mentioned a passage there that could work in my breakthrough poem. I need this one, please."
"I get it, kid. I'll loan it out, but only for two days. It's not a lab-specific request. You can come and read it here anytime, though."
"That's sweet, thank you, master."
The man nodded, but Xin noticed the man look at him suspiciously. What's wrong with the wind path? Why does everyone treat it like trash? It's not blood path, after all. He could only imagine the ostracism Rui Ming was subjected to.
Xin sat down in the study hall and seriously exerted himself. He had time before the lectures, and he had to spend it optimally. It was funny that most other "prodigies" barely visited the library. Most of their "prodigy" status was just having previous knowledge, as opposed to the newbies. An advantage of previous life experiences and resources, not necessarily talent, Xin concluded.
He opened the First Transition manual, describing the philosophical aspects of different elements, and how they interact when attacking, supplementing or destroying other elements, both physically and spiritually.
He knew how to write the notes optimally, and managed to create a list of bullet points. He quickly skimmed through the stuff he already knew, and made a small note called "Obscure interactions". This is what the teacher is going to ask, need to be ready.
He then opened an old recipe book with the Qi Deficit Material Hunger Inducing ointment manual. The author told the story of his life, and the relevance of this ointment in saving his artefacts from becoming unbalanced through overconsumption of qi over the years. So many tedious details!
It got worse. Three more pages of prayers to the ancestors and minor family gods, some advice to his descendants, filled with inside jokes, and an introduction to the premises of this work. Still, Xin had to read it all, as the author liked inserting random pieces of advice into the mix. "Oh, nephew, remember when you couldn't distil the herbs for this ointment properly, two summers ago? You see, what you did wrong was...".
This was unbearable.
Xin reached the page of an actual recipe, and realised that the recipe stages aren't in order. If he could lava spit like Lei, he would spit into this man's face. What a buffoon.
He couldn't take it anymore and read the Treatises of Five Winds instead.
The book was surprisingly good. It was like being invited into the mind of a person with a gentle soul, with their rich life experiences and unique insight. Each of the "winds", the main characters, had a small story associated with them, teasing the cultivation insights to come, and every chapter was supplemented by beautiful poems. Xin kept reading, engaged.
If I can understand Ming's favourite work, perhaps I can find the issue with his approach? His breakthrough methods look alien and unconventional, but quite reasonable. Still, as a youngster, not having the masters to rely on is a significant disadvantage, and our masters refuse to indulge his ways.
Oh, a poem.
"You stand firm on the ground, yet the earth leans on itself.
The four mountain ranges are a wen coin, meant to sell you on the idea of order.
To fly is to die, abandoning the I in favor of Me."
This poem was weird, appearing as its own separate chapter, without any setup or connection to the adjacent chapters. What did it mean?
Xin pulled a wen coin from his pocket — a round coin with a square hole at its center. The four mountain ranges, each corresponding to a direction of the world, stood as the Imperial Formation, guarding the very laws of reality. Is this the symbolic meaning of these coins? A square, symbolising matter, trapping a circle representing the spirit? Or is it the opposite, and the matter is shaped by the idea of the Empire? Interesting, I wonder if this was intended when they were designed.
You stand on the ground, yet the earth leans on itself… Does it mean that true greatness is self-reliance? Might be a shallow read.
Hmm. The wen itself is worthless, but the blood shed in the mines, the expensive clothing the ministers wear, all of it makes the system work, creating an illusion of value. The whole empire is like that, a self-perpetuating play. Yet there is no escape from it.
Abandoning I in favour of Me? What's the difference? Xin had a version. "I" is something you think of yourself. Me is what you feel. A narrative against a feeling? Not sure…
Looking at Rui Ming, he had to fly to reach the heavens, yet the heavens rejected Him. But what was his "I" and what was his "Me"? Why did he fail? Xin was confused. Did I understand the poem correctly? Or is the poem meaningless, and I'm just grasping for straws?
He sighed and closed the book. I'll return to this later.
Time for the lecture. Huang Lingbo again, teasing his students and causing trouble. All in the name of teaching, of course.
During the lecture, Xin answered the lecturer's two questions, inserting himself into the discussion, but this time strategically. Short, precise comments, based on the notes he wrote, as he predicted where the conversation would go today.
Then, when he felt that he impressed his teacher, he sacrificed the lesson to keep reading the alchemy manual. It was tedious, but by the end of it, he managed to formulate an actual recipe and wrote it down, pretending that he was taking lecture notes.
The lecturer was too busy discussing his lesson with the "seeds", who formed a clique and sat around each other during the lessons, even those with rivalries. Lei and the noble guy, Murong Zhan, for example. Or Lei and Yao Nang. Lei and some second year internal disciples, and many others. Apparently, it was Lei who was everyone's rival.
Despite this, he somehow managed to insert himself into different social groups, and was at least acknowledged in most of them, despite his constant teasing and provoking. Xin was too busy for this sort of thing, and he knew he could just ask Lei to connect him with someone if he needed help.
When the lesson ended, the pair looked at the Combat Pavilion with puppy eyes, just like they did this whole week, and hurried to the post station, where they took a cart to Tealstone again. Today, they'd finish the preparations and open officially.
They entered a shop, crowded with people. Inside, they saw Feng Chonglin, Jia Li, Cha Dai, Peng Shan and several workers from the guild, mostly the people that helped with cleaning up, decorating and moving stuff around.
"Hi, people! That's quite a party we've got here. I am glad that none of you forgot about Xin's birthday!" Lei cheerfully exclaimed.
Xin was stunned. He looked around, and he saw a confused look on the faces of almost everyone in this room. Only Feng Chonglin seemed unbothered.
Jia Li almost jumped.
"Xin, I am so happy for you! I... brought you this, look! Happy birthday!" She took out a handkerchief from her bag. It was blue and had red stripes on it, woven into intricate ornaments.
"Jia Li, are you stupid?" Xin stared at her.
"What's wrong with you? I am just trying to congratulate you." She frowned. Xin appreciated how dramatic her face looked when he called her out.
"There is no birthday. Lei made it up. And you are acting as if you remembered about it, although I never told Lei my birthday."
"Well, I was trying to be nice, maybe you could appreciate it? I was trying to gift you a handkerchief, after all, it's not cheap!"
"It's probably used, why would I need your used handkerchief? Is this your idea of a gift? A piece of cloth that probably had your snot on it at some point?"
Lei, who previously managed to restrain himself, burst out laughing, gasping for air, almost choking.
"I am telling you, this guy is a walking circus. I love him! Hahaha!"
Jia Li put on a blank expression and said:
"Xin, my expectations of you were pretty low, so I am not disappointed. You, Lei, on the other hand, are getting worse with each passing day. Disgusting." She then left, her chin raised high.
Cha Dai shrugged.
"Mate, she tried being nice, did you have to be so rigid? You are fucking ridiculous."
"It's none of your business. Got anything relevant to say, ponytail?" Xin stared at him with a blank expression.
Feng Chonglin coughed.
"Look, kids, I've seen a monkey fuck a donkey once, that interaction looked smarter than whatever I just witnessed. Get back to work. Now."
"Yes, master." Lei nodded and went upstairs, then brought down a big wooden sign, painted with various colours. "Check this out, it's finally finished! Good job, Mei." He nodded to the pretty and upbeat girl who was helping them decorate, who was still confused about the Jia Li incident. She smiled.
The sign displayed an inscription that said "Feng Chonglin's alchemy shop". Below it, there was a detailed pentagram symbol of Five Elements Transition school, and an inscription saying "quality assured by".
The cherry on top was a cute rendition of Feng Chonglin's face, in a minimalist, humorous style. The man was almost completely bald and smiled earnestly, and there was a potion near his head, fuming out green steam.
"You sure it will boost sales?" Feng Chonglin was confused. "I am not that bald, by the way."
Mei scratched her temple. "Eh, at this point I'd shave it all off, granpa. And yes, it's a modern sign, these are popular these days. We need a playful style, but we also need to emanate authority. Your face, but more trustworthy, and a sect logo will make people more likely to trust us. I wanted to draw each of five elements as a cute elemental, but it would be too much, sadly."
"So, my face is not trustworthy?" He asked her with a very calm voice. Xin was terrified for her life.
"Yes, you are grim and I've never seen you smile."
Lei was also nervous now, she was walking on the edge.
"I've lived a tough life. Can't just go around like a happy puppy."
"Yeah, right! But the customers don't need to know this!" She smiled back at him.
"You make sense, girl. Now, go console your friend, these young masters have embarrassed her greatly."
"Sure, pa." She smiled again and left.
Feng Chonglin coughed.
"What a demon, this girl... You two, we are opening! Lei, go signal the barkers. Xin, go meet the new workers. You've seen them briefly, but it's time that you properly get to know each other."
"Yes, master." Xin hurried to the second floor.