DC 63

After dragging himself back down from the peak of the mountain, Feng Jiao barely made it through the door to his room before collapsing into bed and startling Bai Fu. She looked around and realized that the sun wasn’t up yet. The connotation of a boy and girl sharing a bed in the night painted her face a faint shade of red in the dark before she realized that Feng Jiao was already snoring peacefully.

Getting an early start on the day, Bai Fu managed to wash up using one of the herbal soap bars that Tan Sai left in the washroom, returning to the room almost an hour later just as Feng Jiao woke up. Although she already noticed on the journey to the Sect, it still astonished her how little sleep the young boy needed nightly. The two of them managed to wake up their new friend and roommate, Tan Sai, and departed for the mess hall just before the sun peaked above the mountain covered horizon.

Speaking to how expensive space-enhancing formations were, the mess hall did not have one built into it. Instead, it stood out as a massive building constructed of expensive looking fortified hardwood with several satellite buildings and conjoined courtyards. Although the mess hall never truly closed due to the varied sleep schedules of cultivators, there were a few meal times where the better food was served. Translating it back into words that Feng Jiao cared about, there were only 3 times per day that meat was available, sunrise, noon and sunset. 

The three of them managed to queue up at the central building fairly early with only a couple hundred fellow disciples in front of them. Asking about it, Feng Jiao realized that there really were too many mouthes to feed in the sect. Even counting only the Outer Sect disciples who would be sharing the mess hall with him, there were a few thousand of them.

Apparently, there was only one Mess Hall in the sect and it was located in the Outer Sect. Nominal disciples were given a bag of rice every month and were allowed to grow their own vegetables in their domatories, of course the ones that worked in the Mess Hall would frequently eat meals at work and smuggle food back. As for eating meat, that would depend on whether or not they were capable of hunting in their free time or had enough money to purchase their own. The mess hall workers who tried to smuggle it out were caught almost every time.  

Outer Sect disciples gained the right to eat at the mess hall but it was on a first come, first serve basis. The central mess hall served food four times per day, with treated beast meat thrice per day. Throughout the day, they would also put out vats of rice and clear soup for those who showed up late. All of the food was made with high quality ingredients grown by the various disciples in the sect nutritious both for the body and the cultivation, but the meat was especially so. Although only the lowest grade beasts were raised for slaughter, the benefits and taste of their meat could not even be compared to regular chickens and cows. The only reason they didn’t raise higher leveled beasts was due to the difficulty dispelling or balancing against the beast Qi present in the muscles and fat.

As for the Inner Sect disciples and higher, there were specialty restaurants in the Inner Sect that they preferred to patronize. Both the ingredients and atmosphere were better and, of course, they didn’t have to wait in lines with the ‘lesser disciples’. The restaurants frequently employed immortal chefs, cultivators who specialized in pairing herbs, treating meat, and preparing meals that could compliment cultivation. Their skills simply could not be compared to the disciples who were practically impressed into the job.

All of that being said, Feng Jiao was very excited to try professionally prepared beast meat for the first time. Back home, it wasn’t financially viable to eat it as nobody on the mountain raised beasts and the complementing herbs and spices for hunted game were expensive. Even the Golden Crow restaurant that he visited in Willow Mountain City chose to use regular meat and only improved the herbs and spices. After twenty minutes of waiting, the line behind Feng Jiao was nearly four times longer than the line in front of him and there were several lines at the satellite buildings as well.

Tan Sai explained that those buildings catered to specific alliances and were awarded through competitions the same way she won the rights to the mountain they were staying on.  The only downside was that they had to provide the majority of the ingredients cooked in the side buildings, but they also gained the exclusive rights to the food. As the line in front of him slowly shuffled forward, Feng Jiao put it out of his mind and simply stared forward practically drooling.

The inside of the mess hall was proportionally massive, with three floors of balconied and an entire wall dedicated to serving food. Several disciples ran to-and-fro behind the counter where food was served, wearing monotone green robes that identified them as nominals, and a few outer sect disciples stood behind them giving orders. Cooked food like meat and vegetables was set out and there were a couple open cooking areas where the chefs were making eggs and such to order. The entire mess hall worked surprisingly efficiently and within ten minutes, the couple hundred disciples in front of Feng Jiao and co. were gone and it was their turn to select their food. They each grabbed a large wooden tray from the stack at the beginning of the line.

Before to long, however, they hit a snag.

“What do you mean you are out of meat? I can see an entire seasoned hog right there!” Feng Jiao pointed to the still-steaming roasted hog behind the chef. As he got closer, he realized that the meat was out of reach and they were required to ask the disciples to slice it off for them. When he asked for some, he was blatantly lied too.

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t see any meat. There really isn’t anything I can do for you, we only prepared enough meat for the first one hundred and fifty disciples. Seriously, you can ask my supervisor if you don’t believe me.” Even though she was only a nominal disciple, the girl continued to lie to Feng Jiao with a very deadpan expression on her face, as if she were used to the line of questioning.

“But I can literally see-” Feng Jiao was about ready to assault the girl with his tray and leap over the couter before he was shoved aside.

“I’ll take 250g of bacon.” the person who shoved Feng Jiao aside was a boy who looked around seventeen years old, average in both build and looks. The only thing that stood out about him was the annoyingly flamboyant metal pin stuck over the breast of his Outer Disciples roles, shaped like a sun rising over a green mountain. If he remembered that Tan Sai had told him, that was the insignia for the Radiant Gardens alliance that she had conflict with. She’d warned him that most of them were cocky alchemist wannabes with large egos filled with arrogance. Repetitive, he knows, but those were her exact words.

“Absolutely, coming right up.” The plain-faced nominal disciple showed emotion on her face for the first time since Feng Jiao spoke to her, giving the man a flirty glance before backing up and slicing him several thick pieces of pork.

The average looking man didn’t even thank her before grabbing his tray back and going around Feng Jiao and company. The girl, of course, pretended nothing had happened and returned to her deadpan expression looking at Feng Jiao. Seeing that Feng Jiao was ready to fight both the man and the serving girl on his first day, Tan Sai pulled him along the line wondering to herself who managed to raise such an aggressive and bold daughter. 

When they finally sat down to eat, Feng Jiao was still scowling at his tray which contained only half-egg rice and stir-fried vegetables as well as a couple of bread rolls and a very thin chicken-bone broth, with no chicken in it of course. He glared back at the serving lady and the pig behind her that now only had a fourth of so remaining. He just about leapt out of his seat when he saw a large roasted bird of some sort coming out to replace the big.

“Junior Sister Jiao, calm down. I warned you yesterday that you needed to be one of the first in line to get meat. I wasn’t referring to them running out, but that only a small amount of what is served is given away to disciples like us. Everything around here is run by the 4 Fs, and the mess hall is a really good example of that. Don’t worry too much about it, it's not like this is a restaurant. The meat they serve is barely more nutritious than the vegetables here.” Tan Sai continued working damage control on Feng Jiao.

“It’s not even about the meat at this point though, is it? It’s the blatant disrespect!” Feng Jiao huffed and puffed a little bit, making it a point to memorize the face of the utterly ordinary looking serving girl who had scored him. Telling himself that he was likely to be the only man in life that would ever make a point of memorizing such a boring face, he felt a little better. “What did you mean by 4 Fs?”

“I thought you weren’t going to ask for a second there. The 4Fs are Face, Favor, Fights, and Fate. Everything around here is run through that system. Really, everything in the word does. Although they are kind of self explanatory, I’ll spell it out anyways.

“First and foremost is Face, sometimes called Fame but mostly Face. If somebody is a direct disciple of an elder or a member of a prominent organization or alliance, they are given face. For example, the Radiant Gardens is a pretty big alliance so that member behind you was given bacon while you were ignored. That was the nominal giving him face for both being a member of Radiant Gardens and one of the few men in the Outer Sect. I’m sure you’ve noticed, we women out number then men almost 5 to 1 in this sect.

“Second is Favor. This is both referring to nepotism and actually favors, but more so the latter. For example, the Outer Sect members who still farm ingredients and contribute them to the Mess Hall are more likely to receive preferential treatment than someone who only does combat related missions. Of course, if you did a nominal disciple the favor of giving them money or goods directly, they’d do the favor of giving you meat.”

“Isn’t that just bribery?’ Feng Jiao cut off Tan Sai’s tirade. 

“Obviously, but the ‘3 Fs and a B’ doesn’t sound nearly as catchy as the 4 Fs.” Tan Sai fired back with her witty response before moving on.

“The third is Fights. This refers more to the competitions than actual fights, but sometimes the competitions are actual fights too. By participating in competitions or making a name for yourself through peer-to-peer fights, you gain respect from fellow disciples which directly translates back into face. You get the idea. If you make a name for yourself as a rising star or a winner, the sect treats you better and you get better resources.

“Finally, Fate. That basically just means that if you don’t have any of the other Fs, its just down to your fate or destiny or whatever. It’s just a fancy way of saying luck if we’re being honest, but of course ‘3Fs and an L’ doesn’t sound so good either. The entire world is run this way.” Tan Sai finished her sage lesson and went back to eating her boiled green beans and leeks. Although Feng Jiao was still disgruntled about it, he accepted his position and began eating, resigned to start his own garden as soon as possible.