After finishing their conversation about Julian, they moved on to discuss other matters,mostly how Ming Ze's tea house was doing and the problems he was facing.
Ming Ze admitted that, as much as he had grown, he still struggled with trusting others.
There had even been a ti when one of his alchemists betrayed him, leaking the recipes for both his business's important spiritual tea and regular tea to a rival tea house.
The incident had given him a severe headache, and he was still dealing with the fallout.
Yuan listened calmly before offering a few pieces of advice on how to spot potential betrayals. He explained how people who plan to betray often beco gradually more distant, their loyalty waning over ti.
Or, as they earn more, their greed grows and they start desiring more than what they are given. Yuan advised Ming Ze to keep a close eye on those who showed such signs and to always have soone monitoring them.
Ming Ze gratefully thanked Yuan for the advice. Yuan only nodded casually and took another sip from the little spiritual tea left in his cup.
Then, Yuan reached into his bag of holding and pulled out several pills that were no longer useful to him but could still benefit Ming Ze's cultivation.
Ming Ze's eyes widened at the sight of the pills Yuan handed him with such indifference, as if they were re trinkets.
But to Ming Ze, they were treasures,valuable pills that could significantly speed up his cultivation.
Hurriedly, Ming Ze took out a gourd from his own bag of holding, carefully placed the pills inside, and sealed it with a delighted grin.
Saving money on cultivation resources was a blessing, and these pills would allow him to progress much faster.
"Hehehehe..." The thought of saving so much money brought a foolishly happy grin to his face. Ming Ze saluted Yuan respectfully, his voice brimming with gratitude.
"Thank you, Boss Yuan!"
But Yuan had already finished his tea and was halfway through opening the door.
"Until next ti, Boss Yuan," Ming Ze called out, bowing as a farewell.
Yuan just nodded, stepping outside without saying another word.
A few minutes after Yuan left, Ming Ze took out the gourd in his hand and began laughing like a madman, rubbing it against his face as if it were so kind of lucky talisman.
"Hehehe…" His manic laughter echoed within the small house, but no one was around to hear it. Ming Ze was too caught up in his joy at having saved so much money to care about anything else.
anwhile, Yuan walked away with a contemplative look on his face, his mind already reforming his plans.
The first thing he needed to do was finally eliminate Emilia. That was an absolute priority,sothing that had remained on his to do list for far too long.
Next, he needed to find a reliable sword,one that wouldn't shatter or break after a single battle. Right now, he had nothing on him but the nearly broken sword he had used against the alchemist.That wouldn't do.
But most importantly, Yuan had to consider how to navigate the sect's ranking tournants. Perhaps even rise high enough to beco a Rising Fla.
The benefit of being exempt from sect missions was sothing he truly desired. Having that freedom would allow him to focus on cultivation and his sches without interference.
However, claiming the title of Rising Fla ant revealing at least a portion of his strength. This ti, he couldn't simply pass it off as a lucky win.
Too many eyes would be watching,talented disciples, powerful cultivators, and perhaps even elders.
While he could fool a Marrow Essence cultivator about his cultivation level and pretend he was still only at the early layer rather than the middle layer, his combat skills and movents would be far harder to disguise.
An encounter with a truly skilled and talented fighter would expose him if he wasn't careful. And that kind of attention was precisely what he wanted to avoid.
Yuan's eyes narrowed as he considered the situation. It was a delicate balance,one he needed to master if he was to achieve his goals.
then sat on his cultivation bed in a lotus position, his eyes closed as he began to think. And think. Until he made a final decision.
"In the end, I must reveal a bit of my strength and fight." Yuan sighed at his own conclusion. He didn't truly want to fight against others, he preferred to sche quietly and build his power from the shadows.
But he had realized sothing important,although he could continue scheming, he couldn't rely solely on Ming Ze's influence. He had to take so matters into his own hands as well.
"So, it's decided."
With that said, he closed his eyes again and began planning how quickly he should rise in the Inner Sect Ranking.
Days passed as he ticulously laid out his strategy. When he finally opened his eyes, he let out a tired sigh but nodded to himself with determination.
Knowing that the next Inner Sect Ranking Tournant was only 23 days away, Yuan understood he needed to act quickly. To qualify for the tournant, he had to complete sect missions and earn at least 500 rit points.
For a typical inner sect disciple, that amount wasn't too difficult to gather,it was worth roughly two of the lowest tier sect missions.
So, Yuan did just that.
He accepted simple missions involving the elimination of low ranked Blood Purification Stage demonic beasts.
After hunting them down and delivering their corpses to the Mission Hall, he had accumulated more than enough rit points to qualify.
When he finally counted his points, Yuan had about 600 rit points in total. And by then, 20 days had already passed.
With only three days remaining until the tournant, Yuan made his way toward the Information Hall where all the disciples who wished to register for the event would gather and pay their qualifying fees.
Yuan now stood before the Information Hall Pavilion. As he looked around, he noticed a line of disciples queued up behind one another.
He assud this must be the line for the Inner Sect Ranking Tournant registration, so he approached the disciple standing at the end.
"Excuse , fellow disciple, may I ask if this is the queue for the Inner Sect Ranking Tournant registration?" Yuan inquired politely.
The man turned to face him, gave a simple nod, and then turned back without saying anything else. Yuan didn't press for more and just stood behind the man, patiently waiting his turn.
After about ten minutes, Yuan finally managed to register himself for the tournant. However, the registration fee left him nearly broke,he was now down to just 100 rit points.
Since nothing noteworthy happened during this ti, Yuan made his way back to his cultivation cave. As he walked, he thought about the line he had stood in earlier and found himself sowhat surprised.
He had initially estimated that the sect had around 500 inner sect disciples, but judging by the length of the queue, it seed that number had significantly increased over ti.
"How many people have joined the Howling Wind Branch Sect recently?" Yuan wondered in amusent as he continued walking.
On his way, he spotted a few other inner sect disciples. To his surprise, they were wearing a different style of green robe,one that had a fla pattern embroidered on it. Yuan raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Did they change the sect robes just for the Inner Sect Ranking?" he mused.
Ming Ze hadn't ntioned anything about this change. Perhaps he had forgotten to ntion it, or maybe it had beco so commonplace that Ming Ze no longer considered it noteworthy.
Either way, Yuan couldn't help but feel a bit curious about the sudden change in attire.
But as Yuan glanced at the disciples wearing the green, fla patterned robes, they paid him no mind. When they noticed him looking their way, they rely snorted in disdain, clearly viewing him as nothing more than a regular green robed inner sect disciple.
Realizing he had stared at them for too long, Yuan quickly lowered his gaze, pretending to be intimidated or frightened. Playing the part of a timid disciple, he stared at the ground, feigning submission.
The two disciples scoffed and walked away, ignoring his existence entirely,just as he intended.
Once Yuan finally reached his cultivation cave, he sealed the entrance and sat down on his cultivation bed.
This ti, he focused on training a technique he hadn't yet had the ti to properly develop, the Thunderclap Gale Strike cultivation technique.
Now that he had reached the middle layer of the Blood Purification Stage, he could finally practice it without worrying about injuring himself.
He began by circulating his spiritual blood according to the technique's specific flow, guiding the energy through his body with precision.
Each movent required a delicate balance between power and control.
Drawing his broken sword, Yuan swung it over and over,each strike echoing the principles of the Thunderclap Gale Strike.
He trained relentlessly. Stroke after stroke. Movent after movent.
Three days passed in a blur of practice and repetition. Finally, the ti had co.
The Inner Sect Ranking Tournants were about to begin.
Adjusting his green robe and swallowing a fasting pill, Yuan stepped out of his cultivation cave and sealed it behind him.
Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the clear blue sky, the sun shining brightly as usual. Then, with calm, asured steps, he began making his way toward one of the inner sect grounds he had only visited once before,with the inner sect disciple who had guided him around the region, Aqua.
On the first floor of the peak mountain of the sect lay an area with more than enough space for battles and duels. It was located near the Judging Hall, as the Judges were always responsible for overseeing all battles and trials within the Howling Wind Sect.
Their role wasn't just limited to officiating fights; they were also tasked with preventing foul play, ensuring no one was blind enough to use underhanded tricks, and upholding contracts through the use of the Judges' Contracts,binding agreents enforced by the sect's laws.
The place Yuan was heading toward had a fitting na The Palace of Duels and Battles.
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