The actual process of redoing his first round of body refinement ended up being a lot less dramatic than he had pumped himself up for.

He had already worked out the kinks and problems of his particular method during his last two refinements, so now all that was left for him to do was to apply the same principles to his understanding of Fire.

It took him little more than an hour and a half to completely fix his uninformed mistake, after which he woke up from his trance completely drained of energy but with a heart full of satisfaction.

A foul smelling smoke arose from his flesh, a clear sign that he’d succeeded, but before the stench could settle into his robes or the rest of the room Elder Lai stepped forward and destroyed it with a casual wave of his hand.

“Ah, how did your refinement go my apprentice? From what I can sense everything seems to have gone as planned…” The older man trailed off, eyeing him up and down in muted worry like a concerned hen.

Yu Xiang picked himself up from his position, seated on the ground with his legs crossed, with a quiet groan of effort, rising on unsteady feet made weak by the intense process of body refinement.

“Everything went exactly as planned master, I had no problems during the refinement.” The young cultivator assuaged the inky eyed elder’s worries, cracking a joke to show he was being genuine. “My compliments to the chef.” He said with a smirk, shaking around the now empty glass vial that had previously contained his elixir.

Elder Lai snorted in amusement, drawing back from his position hunched over the younger man’s form. “Well, that’s good. I will let our esteemed ‘chef’ know that you found her work satisfactory. I’m sure she will be delighted.”

Instead of returning to his own work, his master stayed put, humming to himself as he contemplated something.

With a thin hand, left gnarled by age, the Elder reached for the folds of his inner robes, extracting from the crimson and golden folds a thumb sized bead of white wood.

With the index finger of his other hand, the old array master traced a symbol over the small sphere, dark lines as black as ink following the tip of a perfectly trimmed nail, after which he casually handed the wooden pellet over to Yu.

The emerald eyed youth could not decipher the meaning of the rune that his master had placed upon the bead, as despite the fondness that the older cultivator showed for him he still had yet to explain to him how to read his scripts, but he didn’t really need to as the moment the wood came in contact with the palm of his hand he immediately understood its purpose.

His previously heavy body became as light as a feather, his tiredness becoming far less debilitating as gravity seemed to almost disappear from around him.

Elder Lai nodded to himself in satisfaction, while Yu Xiang was busy marveling at the skill and power of the older cultivator, who had just created an artifact in but a handful of moments, no matter how ‘simple’ it was.

“That should keep you from having any difficulties while you recuperate.” Commented his master with a small smile. “Now, why don’t you go rest somewhere? Eat some good food or take a strol through the mountains. Go spend some time with your other young friends maybe.” He then raised his right hand in front of Yu’s face, wiggling his index finger disapprovingly. “Just as long as you don’t straing yourself too much! Now off you go.”

The young cultivator could not help but just nod dumbly at his master’s words, still far too thrown off by his casual display of skills honed over centuries.

>>>

If there was one thing that Yu Xiang had yet to grow used to since his triumphant return to the sect after that disastrous mission from half a year ago, then it would be the way other disciples, some of his own physical age while others older than even both of his lifetimes put together, showed so much deference and servitude to him whenever they interacted.

It was uncanny, not to mention uncomfortable, just how hard some people tried to suck up to him in some vain hope that he’d be able to catapult them ahead of their peers just because of the little golden badge hanging off of his belt.

And they weren’t even good at it! Yu Xiang would have almost felt insulted that they believed he couldn’t see past their obviously fake smiles and honeyed words if he wasn’t amused at the mere notion of him being able to dictate who could or couldn’t get a sponsorship by their sect’s Golden Prince.

Ok, he had managed to convince him to lend his support to Huang Lei. But that was different! She’d been fighting alongside the rest of his companions and helped keep everyone safe while Chun Dai was too poisoned to fight! She’d earned her backing, not like those random idiots who thought throwing him some half hearted compliments could buy them an in with the heir.

With that being said, there was no denying that such naked attempts at ass kissing could come in handy sometimes.

After leaving the Hall of Knowledge behind him on his master's orders, Yu Xiang had beelined directly for a decently large building erected near the central 'square' of the sect's inner compound.

That building housed at least a dozen fully furbished kitchens, always manned by expert cooks ready to serve anyone who asked some excellent dishes.

Safe to say, there was always a line of hungry or simply gluttonous disciples waiting to get fed some delicacies, or at least as much of a line as a bunch of cultivators could be expected to maintain.

Now, Yu? All he had to do was flash his shiny golden badge and five minutes later he was on his way to find Lin Fen, his arms now overflowing with food and drink aplenty.

He'd gotten some nasty looks from some of the waiting disciples, but what he could he do? It wasn't his fault that they didn't have any of his connections~.

Although he might have overdone it a bit with the number of dishes, as he had a couple of almost disasters on his way to the apothecary.

Being a full member of the sect's premier group of alchemists, Lin Fen had his own personal laboratory set aside in one of the apothecary's side buildings, and since this wasn't the first time Yu Xiang had dropped in for a visit he was thankfully spared the hassle of finding someone that could give him some directions.

The young cultivator hobbled his way to his oldest companion's door, balancing their early dinner precariously as he tapped the base of the laboratory's entrance with a foot.

The feline alchemist was quick to answer the door, which Yu Xiang knew meant that he'd arrived at a good time.

"Yu?!" Exclaimed Lin Fen, somehow recognizing him from behind the pile of food. "What are you doing here?" Asked the grey haired alchemist as he carefully helped his taller friend to step inside the room and set the mountain of dishes down on a hastily cleared table without letting a single one fall.

The now officially recognized alchemist was sporting a set of robes different from the usual blue and purple of the inner disciples, faint hues of cyan and pale green instead hugging his diminutive form in a perfect fit, just like all other robes provided by the sect. His hair was set into a low, loose ponytail, leaving it out of the way just enough for it not to be a bother while he worked. Two silvery bangs fell to the side of his head, framing his androgynous face in a way that made him seem more friendly and approachable.

Yu Xiang didn't know the exact reason for why members of the apothecary had to wear different robes from everyone else, but if he had to take a guess he would've said it was to make them more easily discernable from the rest of the sect's disciples. After all, you want your healers to be easy to find and recognize in case of emergencies.

"Why do you think? I came to see you!" Answered Yu with a jovial grin, happy to be talking with his oldest companion once again.

Lin Fen shook his head, smiling happily as well despite what came out of his mouth. "You shouldn't have, really. I wouldn't want to keep you from training with your master."

The young reincarnator rolled his eyes, pushing his friend to take a seat as much as he was able to in his current condition. "Don't you worry about that, I'm out of the library relaxing on his direct orders. So you just tell me how you've been and what you have been doing lately and I'll do the same!"

Lin Fen's smile widened even further at his words, which ended up making Yu smile more too, easily accepting his suggestion.

The two old friends, companions for years, sat down at a table, a veritable feast sprawled between them. And as they enjoyed the abundant food on the table they chatted about everything and nothing animatedly, both of them having clearly missed talking to the other.

Unfortunately, they did not manage to finish their early dinner reunion unbothered by the outside world, as someone neither of them expected suddenly appeared at the door.

"Knock knock." Mimed Guan Hui Chen cheekily as he tapped his knuckles softly against the doorframe. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He said, his tone sounding far too innocent to not be facked.

Yu and Lin blinked in surprise, their heads turning to look at each other briefly before their eyes returned to settle on the Golden Prince.

Hui Chen looked at them with half lidded eyes, his mouth set into a small amused smile. "What is wrong now? Are you not going to invite me in?"