The Immortal Gathering Pavilion stood on the busiest stretch of Qingshan County's main street.
It was a three-story wooden building with sweeping, upturned eaves. Two strings of large red lanterns hung outside, visible from far away.
Two attendants in blue stood at the entrance. Seeing Jiang Fa in the martial hall's distinctive training clothes, they hurried to greet him with smiles.
Jiang Fa went upstairs to the second floor and found the private room Xu Feng had reserved.
The room was small but quite tastefully furnished.
A landscape painting hung on the wall, a pot of asparagus fern stood beside the window, and four plates of cold dishes and a pot of wine were already on the table.
Xu Feng was sitting in the seat of honor, leafing through the menu. When he saw Jiang Fa enter, he quickly rose to greet him. "Jiang Fa's here! Sit, sit!"
Jiang Fa sat opposite him and glanced around. "The others aren't here yet?"
"I ran into Ma Ping and Zhao Chuan downstairs just now. They said they were going to buy a few things together and would be right over. As for Xu Xiaomeng..." Xu Feng chuckled. "Girls always need time to get ready before going out. Let's just wait."
Before he finished speaking, footsteps sounded outside, and Ma Ping and Zhao Chuan walked in one after the other.
Ma Ping looked quiet and reserved. He merely nodded to the two of them upon entering, then took the empty seat beside Jiang Fa.
Zhao Chuan was much more outgoing. The moment he entered, he called out to Xu Feng, "Fatty Xu, you certainly know how to pick a place. A table here at the Immortal Gathering Pavilion must cost at least two or three taels of silver, right? How much extra spending money did your father give you this month?"
"Oh, get lost. What do you mean, my father gave it to me? This is my own private stash."
Xu Feng cursed good-naturedly and pushed the menu toward Zhao Chuan.
"Hurry up and order. Stop spending all your time making things up about me."
Zhao Chuan stood on no ceremony. He took the menu, flipped through it, and casually named a few dishes.
After ordering, he turned to Jiang Fa and Ma Ping. "Anything you two don't eat?"
Ma Ping shook his head.
Jiang Fa said, "Anything is fine."
As they spoke, another set of soft, unhurried footsteps sounded outside.
Xu Xiaomeng pushed open the door and entered.
She was not wearing her training clothes today, having changed into a pale blue-green dress. Her black hair was loosely pinned behind her head with a plain silver hairpin. Compared with her appearance on the training grounds, she looked a little less sharp and a little more softly girlish.
As she entered, her gaze swept over the three faces. She gave a slight nod, then naturally took the seat by the window.
"Everyone's here!"
Xu Feng clapped his hands, signaling the attendant to serve the food.
Before long, the hot dishes arrived one after another.
There was braised carp, rabbit stir-fried in sauce, lightly stir-fried seasonal vegetables, a large steaming bowl of mutton soup, and two plates of the Immortal Gathering Pavilion's signature sauced beef, sliced paper-thin.
Xu Feng poured everyone a cup of wine and raised his own first. "Come on, let's have a drink. From now on, we're fellow disciples. Let's look out for one another and lend each other a hand."
They raised their cups and clinked them together.
Jiang Fa took only a small sip before setting his cup down. He did not like drinking, but he did not want to spoil everyone's fun at a time like this.
After three rounds of wine and with most of the food eaten, the atmosphere at the table gradually grew livelier.
Xu Feng talked the most, telling a string of amusing stories from the outer court. Then he recounted how he had been so nervous on the day of his assessment that he had nearly wet himself, making everyone rock with laughter.
Though Ma Ping spoke little and only occasionally added a remark, he gradually loosened up.
Xu Xiaomeng ate quietly throughout, occasionally pressing her lips together in a smile at something Xu Feng said, but she never said much.
She ate delicately, chewing each mouthful for a long time. Her gaze drifted beyond the window now and then, and there was no telling what she was thinking.
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Xu Feng laid down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. His smile faded a little, and he cleared his throat. "All right, enough small talk. Let's discuss something serious."
The others all put down their chopsticks and looked at him.
"Apart from Qin Xuan, everyone in our batch of new inner court disciples is here."
Xu Feng's gaze swept over their faces.
"The inner court isn't like the outer court. In the outer court, all you had to do was bury yourself in training. In the inner court, you also have to find ways to earn silver yourself. We can't keep relying on our families and eating through their savings until nothing's left."
"Medicinal herbs for training, weapons, hidden weapons-which of them doesn't cost money? We're all at early Ming Jin, right when we need to build our foundations. Without money to buy medicine, it'll be difficult to make any further progress in cultivation."
The others looked at him in puzzlement.
Xu Feng took a sip of wine and said slowly, "I've been asking around these past few days. Inner court disciples generally take paid posts along three paths: working as escort runners at an escort agency, serving as household guards for wealthy families, or hunting beasts on Black Wind Ridge."
"Each path has its own advantages and its own risks."
"My father has some connections at the Weiyuan Escort Agency and can put in a word for me, so I plan to work there as an escort runner for a few months first."
As he spoke, he looked at Zhao Chuan.
"Zhao Chuan, didn't you say your family was distantly related to Escort Master Liu at the Weiyuan Escort Agency? Why don't we go together? We can look out for each other."
Zhao Chuan thought for a moment, then nodded. "All right. I'll write a letter and ask later."
"What about you, Ma Ping?"
Xu Feng turned to Ma Ping.
Ma Ping was silent for a while before saying in a low voice, "I want to work as a household guard for the Liu Family."
"The Liu Family?" Xu Feng frowned slightly. "The Liu Family of the three great lineages?"
"Yes."
Ma Ping nodded.
"A distant relative of mine used to work for the Liu Family and can help introduce me. Guard work doesn't pay that much, but it's steady, and I won't have to travel far. My mother's health is poor. If I go too far away, my family won't feel at ease."
Xu Feng murmured an acknowledgment without saying anything more, then finally looked at Xu Xiaomeng.
Xu Xiaomeng put down her teacup, her tone level. "I don't plan to take a post for now."
At those words, the others could not help looking at her.
Xu Feng went so far as to ask outright, "No post? Then what will you do about the medicinal herbs you need for training?"
"I have my ways."
Xu Xiaomeng said only those words and nothing more.
A faint layer of aloofness rested on her delicate face. Though she was not exactly keeping everyone a thousand miles away, she clearly did not wish to say more on the subject.
Xu Feng knew how to read the room. Seeing this, he had the sense not to press her and turned to Jiang Fa instead.
"Jiang Fa, what about you?"
Jiang Fa toyed with the wine cup in his hand and considered for a moment. "I plan to train hard for two months first, then decide once my foundation is more stable."
"Train hard?"
Xu Feng frowned. He did know something of Jiang Fa's circumstances.
They were all disciples from the same intake, and among the four, Jiang Fa alone came from a poor family.
Everyone had seen how hard Jiang Fa trained.
His breakthrough to Ming Jin truly had been ground out bit by bit.
His temperament and perseverance were far beyond those of ordinary people.
In that regard, Jiang Fa was still the one among them Xu Feng thought more highly of.
"Training hard for two months... that is one way of doing it."
Xu Feng thought for a moment, then abruptly changed tack.
"But Jiang Fa, I have to remind you: cultivating at Ming Jin isn't like training in the outer court. With hard training alone, your blood and Qi will grow extremely slowly. Just maintaining the normal circulation of blood and Qi at Ming Jin takes at least ten taels of silver in medicine every month. If you want to improve quickly, even twenty taels might not be enough."
"The way I see it, on the martial path, fall behind one step and you'll fall behind at every step. While we're young and have plenty of drive left, we ought to forge ahead boldly. Relying on hard training alone isn't wise."
Xu Feng looked at Jiang Fa and spoke earnestly.
Jiang Fa nodded without offering much explanation. "Sorry for the trouble of worrying about me, Senior Brother Xu. I know where I stand."
Seeing Jiang Fa's response, Xu Feng did not try to persuade him further.
They drank another round, and the conversation gradually shifted from paid posts to cultivation.
Zhao Chuan complained that the lifting of force in the second level of the Mountain-Breaking Stance was too difficult to grasp, while Ma Ping said he always got stuck at his knees and could not get past them.
Jiang Fa listened from the side, occasionally adding a remark or two to share the little he had understood that morning.
Zhao Chuan nodded repeatedly as he listened. Though Ma Ping and Xu Xiaomeng said nothing, they both listened intently.
The meal lasted until nearly the hour of the pig.
Before they parted, Xu Feng went to the counter to settle the bill. Though he had already expected the Drunken Immortal Pavilion to be expensive, he still could not help wincing at the cost when he returned.
Jiang Fa returned to his room and lit the oil lamp. In the darkness of night, he settled his mind and once again circulated the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art's mental method, tempering his body.
Outside the window, the moonlight lay like frost, casting a cold, pale sheen over the bluestone paving.
A few dogs barked in the distance, only for the night wind to swallow the sound moments later.
On the panel, his progress in the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art rose by another point.