DC 56

Walking into the doorway of the egg-shaped building, Feng Jiao noticed a couple things at the same time. First and foremost, it was cooler in there than outside. Although the summer was rapidly setting in, the building seemed to have a refreshing draft constantly pressing against his face from the moment he crossed the threshold, almost like a sea-side breeze.

Next, he noticed that everything was overly-alabaster. It was white as far as he could see which, it turns out, was a lot farther than he should have been.

“Is everything this sect owns enchanted? First it was Elder’s tent and now this egg building. I’m starting to think spacial enchantments aren’t nearly as rare as people made them out to be.” Bai Fu directly voiced Feng Jiao’s thoughts at a volume that was neither loud or quiet. Feng Jiao nodded his head as he turned to squint at the almost-bright white wall. He felt that there were markings there that he could but couldn’t see. One second he’d be convinced he could see symbols and the next the wall would be just as plain white as it was before. 

“I’m afraid not, young lady. I’m not sure what elder owns an enchanted tent but this Aspect Hall is one of the most expensive, and yet esciental, buildings in the entire sect. I’m sorry if that disappoints you.” A deep voice droned from behind the group and both Feng Jiao and Bai Fu whirled around to face the man they’d not heard or seen approach. Tan Sai only sighed heavily as if she’d expected it.

“I didn’t realize that the infamous womanizer would be working in here today. In fact, I specifically checked that you weren’t on the schedule before coming.” Tan Sai slowly turned around and glared at the man who was smiling at them with an unnerving smile. 

“Your tongue is as sharp as ever, my sweet Sai. I wasn’t on the schedule today but Juu’san was called away due to some complications related to a lagged group of pledges, I’m sure you know the one. Either way, you’re being rude and should introduce me to the young ladies beside you.”

Before Feng Jiao could speak up, Tan Sai spoke.

“These two are Feng Jiao and Bai Fu, my roomates.” The man’s eyebrows rose when he heard the term roommate but he didn’t speak. “Feng Jiao, Bai Fu, this is Pye Lee. He is a snake and will take any advantage of you that you let him, but he’s not a bad person.”

“Not the warmest introduction I’ve received, but it was pretty nice coming from you, Sai. You really should try to be warmer to those of us who still risk speaking to you, we aren’t many.

“As for you two, I take it that the both of you were a part of the intake today, no? Don’t answer, I would have known if two cuties like you were wandering around the sect before today. As I’m sure that Tan Sai explained, this is the Aspect Hall. Specifically, this is the Lower Aspect Hall and within the inner sect is the Upper Aspect Hall. There isn’t too much of a difference between the buildings and their missions, it is mostly a qualitative difference. The Lower Aspect Hall keeps the techniques for those who are still in the Mortal Realm and the Upper Hall keeps those for anything beyond that. 

“As a member of the sect at the peak of awakening, both of you are entitled to a free low-ranked cultivation method. If you have a specific elder’s endorsement or sufficient merit points, however, I can take you deeper into the hall to select one of a higher quality.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, Senior Brother Pye. As members of the sect, why wouldn’t we be entitled to the strongest cultivation technique available for our aspects? Does the sect not want to empower its members to the best of its ability?” Bai Fu, ever the outspoken woman, immediately called into question the validity of Pye Lee’s words.

“That is one way to look at it, I suppose. Unfortunately, I don’t make up the rules. If I had to guess, it is set up this way so that every single disciple has to work to better the sect. If you were able to wander into the Aspect Hall and take the best cultivation techniques for free, and do the same for hallowed techniques, and cultivation resources, then why would you bother to work for the sect? What would be the point of growing crops for everyone to eat? To forge weapons? To contribute pills? Things like high-tier cultivation techniques have a price tag in order to encourage members to interact with the sect, to better the experience for everyone.”

Bai Fu furrowed her eyebrows but seemed to accept his explanation begrudgingly. Truthfully, it was like the man had said. He didn’t make the rules, that was up to the sect, so he could only work within the confines of his ruleset. Without any more questions, Pye Lee led the way forward to the middle of the room. Feng Jiao, Bai Fu, and Tan Sai followed behind him silently.

“Little Sister Fu, could you please tell me what your affinity or desired aspect is?” After reaching the center of the room, Pye Lee took a seat and indicated for the others to do the same. Tan Sai was already in the motions of seating herself so Feng Jiao saw no reason not to comply. Bai Fu glared at the Pye Lee for his liberal use of her given name, feeling it was far too informal for a man she’d just met, but said nothing about it.

“Ice. For both.” Unlike the last time Feng Jiao had heard her state her affinity, this time he really believed her. She’d been bubbly and happy sounding when talking to Senior Baldy but it appeared that this Senior Brother was starting to rub her the wrong way and the Ice bled straight through into her voice. 

“Ice it is.” Pye Lee didn’t miss a beat, almost as if he couldn’t hear the naked aggression in her answer, and started to move his hands around in the air in front of him. Slowly, a circle of blue light began to glow under him and expanded to hold all four of them in it. The white that had been surrounding them since they’d enter slowly faded to gray as the color of the circle below them intensified. Small lights began to slip into existence like stars in the night, seeming far away and within reach at the same time.

“Surrounding you now are brief descriptions of all of the low-tier Ice cultivation techniques that the God Tree Grove has access to. If you reach out for one of the motes, you will find the information readily available to you. If it isn’t to your liking, you can release it. If it is the technique you’d like to learn, hold onto it and let me know and I can begin transferring the information to you. Keep in mind that, while cultivation techniques are not permanent, you should not not change your path too many times as it can lead to complications and deviations.” 

Pye Lee closed his eyes and maintained a look of meditation while Bai Fu began to select and release motes, seemingly discontent with her options. 

Out of curiosity, Feng Jiao decided to reach for one of the techniques to see what they were like. With his hand outstretched, he willed one of the motes that Bai Fu had not yet selected to approach him. Although he couldn’t see the mote of light moving, he could feel it nearing. As it finally entered his outstretched palm, Feng Jiao felt like he had a slight headache. When trying to identify where said headache was, the information in the mote interjected itself into his thoughts. 

‘Yin Rabbit’s Ballad. Low Tier Ice Cultivation Technique. Designed by Fairy Starlet Bai Tuzi in the year 10023, the Yin Rabbit’s Ballad is an ice cultivation technique that highlights the gentler aspects of Ice. Cultivation technique is incomplete, recovered up to the end of the Mortal Stage from ruins of the Frozen Gate Sect. Rumors dictate that the full technique was capable of allowing a cultivator to brush up against the laws of Yin. Recommended for those with affinity for both water and ice, or rabbit-type martial spirits. Due to intricate relation to rabbits as well as Yin, this cultivation technique is extremely compatible with most Dual Cultivation manuals.’

Feng Jiao immediately released the mote of light upon fishing registering the information present within it. For reasons he didn’t really understand, his face began to warm and he went out of his way not to make eye contact with the increasingly annoyed Bai Fu. while he was looking anywhere but at Fu, Jiao’s eyes wandered back over to Pye Lee. 

Although he was still seated in a meditative posture, Feng Jiao could tell that he was struggling to maintain control of the formation being utilized to showcase the motes. Sweat slowly slipped out of his hairline and dripped down his face as the color slowly left his face. Just when Feng Jiao was sure he was about to give in, he let out a sigh of relief. Looking over, Feng Jiao could see that Tan Sai was now seated similarly to him and appeared to be sharing the load for the formation. Pye Lee weakly shot her a smile, but she did not make eye contact with him or even acknowledge his thanks.

After looking through nearly two-thirds of the motes of light, including the one that Jiao had released much to his dismay, Bai Fu stopped looking through them. The only one she’d spent longer than a breath looking at was exactly that ‘Yin Rabbit’s Ballet’, which she held onto far longer than she needed to while giving Feng Jiao, who was looking away red-faced, a flirty look. Even that, though, was released.

“None of these techniques is particularly compatible with my martial spirit, or even appealing in the least bit. How many merit points does it cost to access the high-tier cultivation techniques and how long does it take to earn merit points?” Bai Fu, done looking through what she considered to be slag, asked Pye Lee pointatedly. 

“On average, it takes a nominal disciple nearly two years to accumulate enough merits to purchase a medium level cultivation manual by doing their assigned tasks. I mention this because, without stepping out of Mortal Awakening, you’d only be eligible for nominal disciple jobs. As for a newly-peak awakening disciple being able to afford a high-tier technique? It doesn’t happen. It would take nearly thirty years for a nominal to accumulate that many merit points and they’d have long been gone from the sect before then.

“There are exceptions to this, of course, but they are few and far between. Without an inner court elder’s sponsorship, you’re unlikely to see a high-tier technique before condensing Qi. Of course, there is no reason to give up so soon.”

Tan Sai audibly scoffed and stopped assisting Pye Lee in supporting the formation. With his concentration partially lapsed, followed by the abandonment of Tan Sai, he was unable to keep the formation up and it came crashing down. Not literally, but the greyscape was shredded instantaneously and the blindingly-white Aspect Hall slammed itself back into everybody’s sight. Tan Sai obviously knew what was going to happen, so she’d had her eyes closed and slowly opened them. Everybody else winced hard, as if somebody had thrown open the curtains in the morning, with Pye Lee looking much worse for wear. 

“As I was saying,” Pye Lee coughed for a little while as the color slowly filtered back to his face, “I might be able to help you out, just a little bit.”