Cultivating Chai

27:

“Psst, hey, look at him. That’s Xiao Feng,” A young female recruit whispered to a friend that was sitting next to her.

“Who’s Xiao Feng?” The response came in a disinterested sounding tone from a female recruit with short amber-coloured hair asked.

“Didn’t you hear?” The tone of her voice dropped conspiratorially. “It’s only been a day since he joined our division, yet he’s already courting a full-fledged alchemist.”

“What? Stop joking,” The amber-haired recruit replied. “I’ve tried talking to alchemist designates so many times and they always ignore me unless it relates to their duties,” She added, her tone cemented with skepticism.

“That’s not all,” A third person, a male recruit seated opposite them in the mess hall joined the conversation. “Do either of you know Senior Alchemist Lianhua?” He asked.

“Of course we do,” The amber-haired recruit snapped at the uninvited addition to what was their private conversation. “Who doesn’t?”

“Well,” He said, undeterred by her response. “You know how she doesn’t accept disciples despite being a Senior Alchemist, right?”

“Yeah,” The female recruit who had originally initiated the conversation replied, before her friend snapped back again.

“She took a disciple. His name, coincidentally, happens to be Xiao Feng,” He explained to the clear and abject shock of the two female disciples.

“No way. Senior Alchemist Lianhua is the sacred flower of our Alchemy Division. If she were to accept a disciple, it would be a girl,” The amber-haired recruit refuted, her cheeks flaring with emotion at the clear slander to a person she very much looked up to.

“I’m friends with old Jian. He told me that directly, face-to-face. If you wish to doubt the blacksmith-shopkeeper who makes it his business to know the going-on’s within our Division, that is up to you,” The male disciple replied with an unbothered shrug, having said his part.

Oh, that old codger, Xiao Feng, who had queued himself in the line for the buffet that had been arrayed for all recruits within the Junior Division, thought. When I see him again, I’m going to show him exactly why I’m valued by Elder Haoyun so much. Though… I guess I need to practice my martial techniques before then, He wryly thought, only slightly annoyed.

After a quick five minute wait as he waited for others before him to take their pick, Xiao Feng finally got access to a tantalizing selection of dishes.

Xiao Feng ended up shamelessly going for five different types or maybe cuts of meat with a ladle full of diced spiritual roots serving as garnish for his carnivorous diet.

Some cuts of seared meat were stringy, others overly chewy as Xiao Feng dug into his lunch with his simple but trusty wooden chopsticks. It was a far cry from the spiritual beast meat Xiao Feng got served in the Martial Division, but he supposed that it made sense.

He was dining in the recruit section, so he couldn’t expect to be treated like royalty. However, the more likely reason was probably the fact that alchemists didn’t need to be fed Qi dense cuts of beast meat, as they were not required to maintain their physique to the standards required to participate in battle.

Not all cultivators were equal at the same stage, or for that matter, the same layer. Xiao Feng was the strongest cultivator present in the entire mess hall, even though he was not the highest layer one at the Foundation Establishment stage..

Every cultivator who wished to ascend a stage was required to face Heaven’s tribulation. However, not all cultivators faced the heaven’s might, it’s decree or any of the dozens of names and titles given to the phenomenon, equally.

Martial Cultivators like Xiao Feng faced heaven’s tribulation with ordinary robes clothing their physical bodies, a powerful sword in hand to not just defend themselves, but fight back against the might of the terrifying, bone-chilling thunder seeking to smite their mind, body and soul.

However, Alchemists chose the easier path. They tackled Heaven’s tribulation clad in expensive, often single-use armor that was reinforced to degrees that were not tenable in actual combat.

They did not wish to brave death to ascend and thus the rewards the mighty heavens bestowed upon them were far from equal. Alchemists at the same stage and similar layer as Xiao Feng did not possess even near the capacity of Qi he could contain in his dantian. Their meridians were nowhere near as resilient as Xiao Feng’s and their physical bodies were not capable of achieving the explosive growth he could by weight training.

In a nutshell, the alchemists considered martial cultivators to be pig-headed madmen and the martial cultivators looked down them, considering them to be cowards who were too afraid to cultivate the proper way.

Lunch ended up being a brisk affair, as Xiao Feng shoveled down the meat in a martial cultivator style. He didn’t expect Lianhua to eat in the Junior Division’s mess and she had told him that she’d be checking on him today, so it was best for him to get back to his room as soon as he could.

Well, that and the fact that Xiao Feng seemed to have no friends at his own level and his reputation amongst the recruits seemed to already have been sullied.

Yeah, I’m done here, He thought, as his superior hearing, hearing that exceeded what the alchemists were capable of mind you, picked up on a young recruit gossipping about the serial womanizer, Xiao Feng.

As he walked down the passageway that led to his dorm room, Xiao Feng contemplated the options he had when it came to dealing with the egg.

Unfortunately, his ponderings came to an end as he noticed a familiar silhouette standing before his room, patiently waiting.

Xiao Feng’s expression froze.

Normally, he would be wondering if Lianhua was doing all this on purpose, as four, yes four disciples peeked upon her from the other end of the passageway, their expressions gawking as they watched a Senior Alchemist dutifully wait for a recruit to return to his room.

Instead, Xiao Feng was simply at a loss for words as he noticed that Lianhua’s ponytail had been tied into a bun that was held together by the very blue jade hairpin he had gifted her.

It went perfectly with the azure, floral imprint robes she was wearing, a dance of flowers represented on the tapestry that was her dress conveying an elegant beauty that only her visage could surpass.

Whoa, He thought. I guess I didn’t make a faux pas, after all.

And then, Xiao Feng realized that he had just made mortal enemies with Grand Alchemist Xin Wu, as Old Man Jian’s admonition finally clicked into place.

Oh man, the whole 'can I take your daughter on a date' is not going to fly with that stern old dude, is it? I'm going to get my chai poisoned, aren't I, He thought wryly before making his presence known.