The whole affair turned out to be pretty entertaining for one Yu Xiang, getting to work on a project this particular and this relatively advanced to his heart’s content was not something he got to do much in the half a year he’d spent learning in the ins and outs of array formation.

He’d mostly been focusing on widening his library of theoretical knowledge on advice from Elder Lai, with the rest of his focus landing on the more practical uses of the art, like building various useful trap formations, barriers, and shrouding arrays, and the occasional artifact, nothing more than trinkets for the most part as he was nowhere near good enough to actually produce anything too advanced on his own.

The green eyed cultivator knew that he had the option of asking either Elder Lai or Hui Chen for some rarer materials or advanced techniques, but it didn’t sit right with him to take advantage of their generosity, as he was pretty much certain they would happily indulge him without question, when they’d already done so much for him…

Oh, well. He just needed to get good enough that he wouldn’t feel that such resources were wasted on him, a beginner.

Meanwhile, Su Rong was having a decidedly less pleasant time.

He sat stiff backed on his chair, his wounded arm stretched forward towards Yu, who kept one of his hands around his stum at all times while his other one traced glowing lines of energy upon his soon to be new hand.

The constant pinching and prodding of his arm’s spiritual channels, which he could never get used to, kept him flinching every few seconds, a spike of… not pain- but something uncomfortable enough to be even worse making him quietly gnash his teeth and regret ever asking his ‘friend’ for help.

Fortunately for him, his torture came to an end soon enough.

Yu Xiang let go of his stump, which Su Rong quickly retracted and cradled against his chest, holding it like he would an infant.

“This should be good enough for what you need.” The young array builder said to his fellow disciple, handing him a now faintly glowing golden gauntlet.

Lines of bluish light traced over most of the armored prosthetic’s surface, joining together and splitting as they criss crossed over the fake hand in a complex pattern meant to bring the cold metal to a facsimile of life. The glowing lines were not a true formation, as they were only an impression left behind by the cultivator equivalent of a marker to make it easier for the aspirant weapon master to carve them by himself.

“Good enough? That doesn’t sound reassuring at all…” The fiery cultivator frowned slightly, eyeing his creation critically for a few moments before he shook his head and gave up trying to understand the meaning behind the array. “Especially with how much I’ve had to deal with.”

Yu Xiang rolled his eyes as he rose from his seat. “Oh don’t be such a baby Su Rong, the array is going to work just fine just as long as you follow the guidelines and don’t make too many mistakes.”

The fiery cultivator snorted derisively, his back straightening in an outward show of confidence. “You don’t have to doubt my abilities Xiang, I’m more than up to the task.” He then sent the young cultivator, now busy gathering his tools back into a bundle, a dirty look. “I’m not the one who has less than a year of experience in my chosen field.”

“Don’t use my array then, I already got more than enough from this venture to make it worth the wasted time. If you want to pay someone else to take a crack at it then be my guest.” The green eyed cultivator didn’t even deign his former rival with a look as he continued his clean up while he kept up the banter.

Su Rong shook his head, dismissing the notion out of hand. He raised his sole remaining hand towards the other disciple shooing him with a wave. “Get out of my workshop Xiang. I have to start working on this thing.” He bit out with no real heat to his words.

The young reincarnator smirked smugly, making sure that the other member of his ‘group’ could see his smile before he actually left the other man to his devices, carrying his bundled tools safely held under the crook of his arm.

“See you another time Su Rong.” Yu leisurely strode out of the small building, his unoccupied hand waving lazily behind him.

Just as he left, he made sure to give the door a good kick to close it, sending it smashing back into its frame loudly and producing another cloud of unidentified materials flying inside the workshop.

“Achoo!” Su Rong sneezed as he inhaled the floating detritus. “Ugh.” He looked around the room, noting the mess he’d left it in before he crashed the previous day.

“I better clean up before I start on my work.” He muttered to himself.

>>>

Meanwhile, Yu Xiang was on his way to the Hall of Knowledge, the giant semi sentient library that housed most of the sect’s gathered knowledge over the many years of its life.

And also the place where his master, Elder Lai, would be once again waiting for him.

Even after around half a year spent as the man’s personal apprentice, Yu Xiang was still mildly perplexed by the older cultivator.

His speech and mannerisms were so animated and devoid of masks that he seemed more like a particularly peppy and joyful grandpa, rather than the venerable Elder of the strongest sect of the northern part of the continent.

He simply lacked the... ah, refinement, let us say, of his fellow Elders. Although he could fake it pretty well when he was not talking to him in private.

Not that Yu Xiang found it a bad thing, on the contrary, he actually liked that about him, as it made it easy to forget he was talking to someone who had probably lived for centuries on end and that could extinguish him from existence with nothing more than a thought...

He could still vividly remember that day, now feeling so far off into the past, when he'd first set foot into the Elder's classroom and left him flabbergasted at his seemingly prodigious advancement.

After he returned to his senses, the Elder asked him to wait there for a few moments, vanishing into thin air before Yu Xiang could even ask why. Of course, the young reincarnator acquiesced with his request, not being dumb enough to provoke one of his sect's elders.

After less than five seconds the older cultivator had returned in the same exact spot he'd left from, a thick bundle held in his arms. Before he could even let out a sound, Yu Xiang was handed some kind of purple and red scarf to put over his neck and shoulders, while the Elder lifted what the reincarnator could only describe as a poncho made of solid gold over his head, swiftly dropping it on his shoulders and almost making him sink to his knees.

You see, unlike what he'd first thought, the 'poncho' was actually made of some kind of cloth, but it had obviously been sewn for someone at a higher Realm of cultivation than his, as the weight, both physical and spiritual, pressed down on both his body and soul heavily.

"Kowtow three times!" Elder Lai urged him into motion, the green eyed cultivator now thoroughly confused and on the verge of panic.

After three, slow, painful, and stilted prostrations, Yu Xiang returned to his feet with much difficulty and with a string of curses on his lips aimed at his younger self for never bothering to learn a proper body enhancing technique.

After he climbed back from the ground, Elder Lai handed him a small decorated cup no bigger than two thumbs put together, looking vaguely like a shot glass. An image that was further enforced by the cloudy semi transparent liquid that was waiting for him inside the small glass, which reeked of alcohol so strongly that Yu Xiang's eyes almost started to water.

Fortunately, at this point the green eyed cultivator had gotten an inkling of the reason for all of this weird ceremony.

He looked up at the Elder, waiting for him eagerly with an identical cup held in his hands, and considered for a single second if he needed to say something.

He decided not to. Actions speak louder than words after all.

With a deep steadying breath taken, Yu Xiang lifted the thumb sized shot glass in the air in a silent cheer, before he knocked the entire contents of the glass into his gullet.

A trail of burning lava slid down the young cultivator's throat, leaving him gasping for breath and feeling more awake and alive than he'd ever been at any other point in either of his lives.

His maniac energy was temporarily stopped by Elder Lai's right hand clutching his shoulder, stopping the wild vibrations that had taken over the green eyed cultivator's body. The older cultivator looked down on him with kindly eyes and an eager face. "From this day forth, you shall be my personal pupil! And let no one object to this new bond formed between Master and Student!" His voice thundered in his ears, setting his brain aflame and his heart to palpitate madly.

Yu Xiang grinned up at the taller cultivator, still held by the shoulder by the man's hand.

Then, just as his heart's beating reached a crescendo, everything went black.

Turns out that even the drink he'd been given was geared towards cultivators in higher realms, ...oops?