14 Wang Jun

Cha Ming woke up the next morning to the sound of a turning key. His locked door opened softly until sunlight lit up his bed. A short figure with long blond hair was looking through the crack in the door. He seemed to realize that another person was in the room and shut the door softly.

Cha Ming sighed and got up. It looks like I have a roommate now. Better get up quickly and let him in.

He got up and brushed his teeth, washed his face, and put on a set of clean clothes. It was past breakfast time, but he would have preferred to sleep for a couple of more hours. Finally, he opened the door only to see the blond-haired male sitting cross-legged. The man was slender and seemed to be the same age as Cha Ming, and he gave off an aura of being detached from material possessions. The young man slowly opened his eyes and smiled.

"My apologies for waking you up this morning. Most cultivators get up at dawn, so I assumed you would not be in the room at this time. I will make sure to knock in the future." The youth slowly got up—he was wearing simple green robes, but his demeanor was anything but simple. After getting up, he clasped his hands and gave a light bow, which Cha Ming reciprocated.

"My name is Wang Jun, and I assume that you are my roommate, Cha Ming. I was a little late in my travels, and so I've only just arrived. My circumstances are a little special, so the academy has made an exception for my tardiness. I hope that I can take you out for supper tonight to make up for the inconvenience." Wang Jun smiled sincerely.

Cha Ming couldn't think of any reason to turn him down, and he should probably be on good terms with the person he would share a room with for the school year. Realizing that Wang Jun was still standing outside of what was technically also his own room, Cha Ming opened the door and invited him in.

Wang Jun had only been carrying a single briefcase, but out of this briefcase he pulled out several changes of robes, some light crystals for his desk, pens, and many stacks of paper. He immediately began to pore through papers with a focused expression on his face.

What a hard worker, thought Cha Ming. Surely he must either have supplementary studies to complete or he belonged to an aristocratic or merchant family he needed to manage. Seeing this, Cha Ming sat on his bed and cultivated for a few hours, after which he went to lunch. Wang Jun was too busy to eat, but he insisted that he only needed to eat once per day and that Cha Ming didn't need to worry about him.

Once he got back to his room, Cha Ming began his practice on writing talismans. The first portion of the book was background, simple drills to be completed with a normal brush and ink, and calligraphy exercises. He completed them one after another until suppertime came. Seeing that he'd completed his drills, Wang Jun got up and led Cha Ming out of the academy.

As they walked, Cha Ming took the opportunity to look around the city. He had never gotten a chance to look around the entertainment district in Green Leaf City, as he had only been to the Hong family's house, the central square, and the school. Once they entered the entertainment district, everything changed. While the city looked fairly run down but still well maintained, the entertainment district looked brand new. In contrast to the stone construction of most of the city, this district seemed to keep true to the city's name. Lush trees, bamboos, and other foliage could be seen everywhere. Trellises were quite popular everywhere as well. The roads were no longer made from gray stone either; it seemed that no expense was spared and the roads were constructed with a hard red-tinted wood that softened everyone's steps as they walked. The chirping of birds could be made out between the occasional pauses in everyone's conversations.

Eventually they made their way to a large restaurant. The restaurant was built with the same wooden décor as every other building, but in front there was a unique fence made of jade-green bamboo. Over the door of the restaurant was a sign written in gold characters that said Jade Bamboo Restaurant. At the doors, a man was greeting guests. He frowned slightly, about to shoo them away until Wang Jun flashed a purple jade token to him. He immediately straightened and bowed to the two students. "Young Master Wang, if you could please follow me, I will lead you to the manager. He will be able to properly seat and assist you."

Cha Ming had been impressed before, but now he was shocked. How could the host already know Wang Jun if he had just arrived today?

Wang Jun smiled sheepishly and explained the situation. "The Jade Bamboo establishments are all owned by my family. I have been temporarily assigned to handle an assignment here in Green Leaf City. I just showed him a Wang Family authority jade. It is necessary for conducting business transactions on behalf of the family." They continued into the restaurant, after which they were greeted by a cultivator in green robes.

"Master Wang, greetings to yourself and your guest."

This figure was quite distinguished, with white hair. While he emanated an aura of superiority, he was quite subservient. Finally, he brought the two to a private balcony on the second floor. Wang Jun ordered a couple of dishes and insisted that Cha Ming pick a few, so he chose a few unique-sounding vegetable dishes. The menu did not have prices, so he wasn't sure if he was being impolite. The older man bowed and went to bring their order to the kitchen.

"I always prefer these private balconies on the second floor. There are a total of five of them in each Jade Bamboo Restaurant, and they give a full view of the guests in attendance." Wang Jun motioned to the tables below. "Only the most high-class citizens of Green Leaf City can afford to eat here. Of course, you are my friend, and anytime you visit this establishment, you'll receive the most distinguished service free of charge. Of course, don't abuse this privilege too much, or you'll run us out of business." Wang Jun chuckled while covering his mouth, making Cha Ming wonder if he was just a handsome guy or a girl in disguise. He had read many Chinese novels in the past, and this seemed to be a common thing.

"I am originally from Gold Leaf City," he continued. "I come from a fairly wealthy business family. Our family does not vie for political power, and instead focuses on making money. I have seven brothers and sisters. Since I have four older siblings, I have been sent abroad to help the family business. What about yourself?"

At this point, the food arrived. The preparation was truly too fast, and he had a feeling that powerful cultivators may have had something to do with it. As if to answer his question, Wang Jun chuckled and explained that these dishes had been prepared by high-quality spirit chefs. These foods were not only delicious but also beneficial to cultivation. Now Cha Ming understood why only the upper class could eat here, as such chefs and ingredients must be in high demand.

They quickly helped themselves to the food. Cha Ming told his story, from his humble origins as a cow herder to his journey to the school, and his recent adventures pursuing talisman crafting. Cha Ming had a very good first impression of Wang Jun, so he did not spare many details. When Wang Jung heard Cha Ming mention his adventures in five-element cultivation, he frowned.

"I think you have the wrong impression of the five-element cultivation technique," said Wang Jun. Taking a sip of his tea, he closed his eyes briefly and continued. "Where I come from, it is quite a prestigious technique. It is very difficult to be lucky enough to cultivate it, and it has very high comprehension requirements on the user. Five-element cultivation is much more powerful than four-element cultivation because the full cycle of five elements both reinforces and destroys at every point. The advantages don't typically get realized until later on." He then shot Cha Ming a strange look.

"We all have our secrets, but I'll get straight to the point. I have a very special talent, a talent in appraisals. I am able to look at an item and instantly judge its relative value. I am also able to look at any cultivator and tell his talent, the grades of his techniques, etc. While you say you've been practicing five-element cultivation, I happen to know that the school only contains one version of it, which is graded as a bronze technique. This version is incomplete. However, when I look at you, I don't see the glow that a bronze cultivation technique would bring.

"You see, each cultivation technique gives off a certain aura. This aura is difficult to spot until you've reached a certain cultivation, but I am an exception to the rule. A bronze technique would give off a bronze aura, a silver technique a silver aura, and a gold technique a gold aura. Even higher than that and I would see a purple aura, which only a select few geniuses on this continent would cultivate. This is curious because I do not see any of these colors on you, only a pure white aura.

"The current versions of the five-element cultivation technique are the lesser, middle, and greater five-element cultivation techniques. There is no purple-level technique that I know of. Therefore it is curious that the aura you give off is white. There is no need to share your secrets, and I realize you could be in a difficult position, but I won't pry. However, I would suggest that you don't be self-deprecating when mentioning your cultivation technique. The technique is very prestigious abroad, and the ones who criticize it don't know how high the heavens are or how low the earth is." Wang Jun continued sipping tea and refilling their cups, while Cha Ming stayed deep in thought. Before he knew it, a full hour had passed.

Looking at Wang Jun, he smiled. "Thank you for not prying. I do have some secrets that I wish to keep. Perhaps one day I will be able to tell you."

Wang Jun smiled, waving it off. After all, he definitely had his own, much darker secrets.

--

A week passed by quickly as Cha Ming worked furiously at his drills for making talismans. The next set of training drills involved imbuing regular ink with qi and guiding its spiritual force while he practiced the calligraphy outlined in his book. As he practiced, he noticed that his training speed had improved significantly. He made sure to use his qi evenly to maintain a balance between the elements. As he practiced his calligraphy drills, it became less and less taxing on his spiritual force.

He asked about this during another match of Angels and Devils with Elder Ling. His teacher explained that while his level of cultivation would have a large impact on which talismans he could make, his soul could also be trained by constantly controlling spiritual force, similar to how a muscle is trained.

Of course, Cha Ming had remembered to buy something for Mr. Mao Mao. He bought him a shiny pendant, and while Mr. Mao Mao did not seem to appreciate the pendant itself, he appreciated the show of subservience.

By the second week, Cha Ming was learning to write out the most basic low-level talismans: Lesser Recovery talisman, Lesser Flare talisman, Lesser Wall talisman, Lesser Shield talisman, and Lesser Frost talisman. Apparently, writing the character "lesser" to start off a talisman intentionally reduced its power. It also reduced the use in qi and spiritual power. While these characters were already fairly weak—frost being weaker than ice, which was in turn weaker than blizzard—they were a little too powerful for grade-one talismans and much too draining for beginners.

At first it took him a half hour for each talisman, then twenty minutes, then ten, and finally five. At five minutes per talisman, he seemed to reach some kind of bottleneck. Eventually he realized that he'd finished all of the ink that was given to him. He had made ten of each of the five talismans with a failure rate of approximately fifty percent. From what he understood, anything above thirty-three percent success was quite good, and a success rate of twenty-five percent had been assumed when Elder Ling had gathered his starting materials.

By the end of the second week, Hong Xun finally came back from his adventure. He took everyone out for supper after returning. Not only did they have an above-average trip, he had also broken through to the sixth level of qi condensation, which was cause for celebration. Hong Xin was relieved. She had missed her brother terribly, and she didn't appreciate playing board games or sparring like Cha Ming did.

That week, Cha Ming, Hong Xin, Feng Ming, Gong Lan, and Wang Jun attended their second fundamentals class. Wang Jun had been exempt from the first class and had spent the past two weeks working away in their room and cultivating, as well as taking long trips to town for business. Cha Ming wondered if he actually needed to attend school or if he was simply using it as a front so that people would underestimate him.

While classes continued, Cha Ming practiced another four lesser low-grade talismans for each element to build a strong foundation. The five-minute barrier seemed to eventually fade away with experience, and the talismans could simply be completed as a thirty-second calligraphy exercise. That week, he finished twenty-five talismans, and his success rate shot up to ninety percent. Elder Ling was shocked at his progress and instructed him to not waste his time on first-grade talismans any longer and gifted him with a book of grade-two talismans. The book contained instructions on ten talismans, two for each element. It was gifted with the intent of keeping him busy for a few weeks.

One week later, Elder Ling was floored again. Cha Ming had completed ten of each assigned talisman in only a single week, and the number of talismans implied that he had a fifty-percent success rate as opposed to the usual twenty-five. He was truly a highly talented child. To bring him down a notch, he gifted him another book of ten talismans for each element, this time for third-grade talismans. Third-grade talismans were the peak of the lesser mortal-grade talismans.

This time it took Cha Ming two weeks to complete seven talismans for each element. His success rate had been knocked down to thirty-five percent, which was still above average but quite believable. Since Cha Ming had already broken through to the fourth level of qi condensation, Elder Ling decided to push him a little further with fourth-grade talismans. After two weeks, Cha Ming returned with only five of each. Still, his talent was indeed quite high. Most cultivators could not make talismans at their same level of cultivation. Instead they needed to reduce it by one or two levels. While it was not economical for Cha Ming to make fourth-level talismans, as he was only breaking even, it was still rare for someone to be able to achieve this.

Since he seemed to have reached a plateau in crafting talismans, Cha Ming decided that he should really upgrade his battle techniques. Alas, he was too poor. Once he explained his problem to Wang Jun, the latter nearly fell off his bed laughing. After recovering, he sat on his bed and explained.

"You are literally printing money, and you're concerned about money. It truly baffles me." Wang Jun shook his head mockingly.

Cha Ming was confused. He'd had a feeling that his talismans were worth something, but he had never looked into it or been taught by his teacher.

"I saw you writing out mortal-grade-one talismans about six weeks ago. Each of these are worth about four spirit stones each, and the materials are worth about one spirit stone each. At a twenty-five percent success rate, you break even.

"Grade-two talismans are worth about twenty spirit stones each, and materials cost roughly five spirit stones each. Grade-three talismans are worth fifty spirit stones each, and grade-four talismans are worth two hundred spirit stones each. I happen to have an eidetic memory. If my deductions on your rate of crafting and approximate paper and ink usage are correct, and accounting for your failure rate, which I judge based on you crumpling a talisman and throwing it into the garbage can, and the number of talismans you need to turn in, I would guess that you have about 1,645 grade-one talismans, 250 grade-two talismans, and 100 grade-three talismans. Is this correct?"

Cha Ming gaped at him, astonished. The number was spot on. Was his friend having him monitored? After all, Wang Jun was away for at least four hours daily. Slowly, he nodded his head.

"No need to be surprised. I'm very good at this sort of thing," he continued. "Now, talismans are usually sold fairly quickly and low-level talismans like yours are in high demand. They are essentially a commodity and can be traded like money at seventy-five percent of their price in shops. If you do a bit of math, you'll find that your talismans are worth approximately 18,300 spirit stones at retail value. Their liquid value is about 13,700. So tell me, are you lacking in spirit stones? Also, you can likely get five contribution points per value in spirit stones if you trade them to Elder Ling. So tell me, are you lacking contribution points?"

Cha Ming paled, realizing something, and he gasped. "You're telling me…"

Wang Jun's otherwise temperate demeanor was lit up with an expectant smile.

"Wang Jun…" Cha Ming said gravely, "I've basically lost 15,000 to 20,000 spirit stones in the past four weeks improving my talisman-crafting skills!"