Spirit Prefecture, Jade Summit Mountain.
Chen Shu went to visit the Vice Sect Master first.
The Sect Master was not someone just anyone could see. The Vice Sect Master, though, had looked after him well, so a visit was in order.
The Vice Sect Master's courtyard was also on Jade Summit Mountain. It was small and had the plain simplicity of the older generation. When Chen Shu arrived, he was feeding birds—not birds he kept, but wild ones from the mountain.
"Vice Sect Master."
"You're back?"
"I came to pay my respects."
"But you've only..." The Vice Sect Master stopped what he was doing and turned to look at him, uncertain. "You were gone for half a year or so?"
"Nine months."
"That's not long."
"It is."
Chen Shu glanced at the grain in his hand, a handful of millet, and said casually, "You've lived more than two hundred years. I'm still young. Count them up, and I haven't even lived through that many nine-month stretches."
"You're twenty... two?"
"That's right."
"True..." The Vice Sect Master nodded wistfully and went on scattering millet. "So young."
"I'm at the peak of the Fifth Tier."
"And?"
"I got hold of some rare materials. Quite a lot of them, and all different kinds. I checked, and they include the ingredients for Sixth Tier Breakthrough Auxiliary Potions—enough for a dozen or so, I think." Chen Shu paused. "I can't do anything with the materials myself, so I might as well hand them all over to the sect. If there's anything left that's extinct and worth researching or breeding, sorry to trouble the sect to pass it on to the state for me. The rest can count as my contribution to the sect."
"Good."
The Vice Sect Master said calmly, "I'll have someone collect them