After a moment of thought, Fang Yun remembered.
Back when he was at the Smoke Cloud Pavilion, he'd greeted Senior Brother Wu Junxin before leaving. The man with Senior Brother Wu at the time was this very Inner Sect disciple.
"It's all right if Junior Brother Fang doesn't know who I am. I guess that's what I get for being so low-key all the time…"
Before Jiang Yan could finish, he was interrupted by Wang Yourong, who had just finished counting the pills.
"Junior Brother, it's fine that you don't know this guy now. In fact, it'd be for the best if you never get to know him."
"Junior Sister Wang, just listen to yourself! What do you mean, 'it'd be for the best if he never gets to know me'? And you should be calling me Brother Jiang, not 'this guy'."
At his words, Wang Yourong shot Jiang Yan a glare. Only after he took a step back did she nod in satisfaction and put away the small porcelain vials and the six pounds of Clear Water Rice from the tabletop.
Then, she counted out one hundred and fourteen Lower Grade Spirit Stones.
Jiang Yan eyed the Spirit Stones on the table and casually slung an arm over Fang Yun's shoulder.
"Junior Brother Fang, your alchemy skills aren't half bad. I feel like giving you a few pointers. How about we head over to the Smoke Cloud Pavilion for a chat?"
He then added with emphasis,
"Of course, you're buying."
This Inner Sect senior brother, surnamed Jiang, struck Fang Yun as a bit of a scoundrel.
But even if the man was a scoundrel, Fang Yun knew he still had to be respectful as a junior brother.
Just as he was about to speak, Wang Yourong shouted, "Jiang! Don't be a bad influence on Junior Brother Fang! What could you possibly teach him? How to blow up furnaces better?"
Wang Yourong's voice was so loud that Jiang Yan jumped, and even Fang Yun was startled.
It was the first time he'd ever heard Senior Sister Wang raise her voice like that.
At that moment, Wang Yourong seemed to realize she had been a little too loud. She didn't care that Jiang Yan had flinched, but it bothered her that Fang Yun had flinched as well.
"Junior Brother Fang, even though that Jiang character has excellent Alchemy Talent and is our senior brother, you absolutely must not listen to a word he says. If you ask me, he's just squandering his gift."
"Hey now, Junior Sister Wang, I'm not wasting my talent. I'm clearly honing my gift to better serve the sect in the future."
"Just look at the state you're in! You want to talk about the future? Junior Brother Fang has Five Spirit Roots; he can't afford to be like you, constantly dreaming up one new thing after another. He needs to play by the book. That's his only chance of becoming an Inner Sect Disciple. From the looks of it, he's doing just fine on his own and doesn't need your nonsensical 'guidance'..."
Fang Yun listened quietly to their exchange.
From their conversation, he could tell that Senior Sister Wang Yourong and this Senior Brother Jiang were actually quite close.
This Brother Jiang was a talented Alchemy Master, but one who was perhaps a bit too creative during his alchemy.
Having new ideas in alchemy was a good thing, as it could lead to the creation of new pills. But there was a fine line; too many ideas could be counterproductive.
Wang Yourong's point was clear: Fang Yun had Five Spirit Roots, which meant his Spirit Root Talent was poor. He couldn't afford the cost of trial and error.
Jiang Yan, on the other hand, was in a different situation.
"After all that talk... tell me, Junior Sister Wang, you've got a thing for Junior Brother Fang, don't you?"
"Maybe I do. But Junior Brother Fang only has eyes for Senior Sister Song."
Wang Yourong's seemingly casual reply made the otherwise quiet Fang Yun speak up at once.
"Senior Sister Wang, you shouldn't say such things!"
'Nothing has even started between me and Song Qiaoqiao. If word of this gets out, the next time I see her, she'll probably deliver another well-practiced rejection before I can even say a word.'
"Alright, alright. I won't say it again."
"Junior Sister Wang, you've changed. You've really changed! You weren't like this before. Back then, you were totally into me."
"Get lost!"
Provoked by Jiang Yan's comment, Wang Yourong's emotions flared. 'I must have been blind back then.'
'The dramatic history between a senior brother and sister…' Fang Yun couldn't help but be reminded of the tearjerker dramas he'd watched as a kid in his past life.
He swept the one hundred and fourteen Lower Grade Spirit Stones into his Storage Pouch. He'd been standing here long enough; it was time to go.
The moment he tied the Storage Pouch to his waist, Jiang Yan once again slung an arm around his shoulders.
This time, Jiang Yan leaned in and whispered in his ear.
"Junior Brother Fang, you need to remember this: women are fickle." Jiang Yan glanced back at Wang Yourong before continuing, "Ahem, but let's not dwell on that. Let's see... How about we talk about Brother Junxin? That's Senior Brother Wu. Don't let his usual easygoing attitude fool you. He's absolutely ruthless in Magical Combat! He's ranked seventh on the Battle Peak's Inner Sect Ranking..."
The Celestial Cloud Sect had five major peaks: Cloud Summit, Dan Cloud Peak, Artifact Casting Peak, and Smoke Cloud Peak.
The last of these was Battle Peak.
Any conflicts between disciples could be settled on Battle Peak through sparring and Magical Combat.
But more than just settling disputes, the Magical Combat on Battle Peak was often used for friendly sparring to improve one's strength, better preparing disciples for missions outside the sect.
Life Talent and Combat Talent.
Just as one could gain Talent Points through life skills, one could naturally gain them through combat as well.
Unlike Life Talent, which was limited to gaining Talent Points from only three chosen life professions, Combat Talent had no such restrictions. As long as you fought, you could earn points.
Until he upgraded his Combat Talent, Fang Yun had no intention of going to Battle Peak for a "friendly" spar.
"...So, Junior Brother Fang, if you're interested in some of Senior Brother Wu's childhood stories, we could head over to the Smoke Cloud Pavilion. I could tell you everything over a nice meal."
"No, thank you, Brother Jiang. I still need to go to the Disciple Marketplace to buy some Alchemy Materials."
Fang Yun declined Jiang Yan's offer. He was telling the truth; he really did need to buy the Spiritual Materials to refine Cyan Jade Pills.
"What a shame."
At his words, Jiang Yan could only shake his head in resignation.
"Senior Sister Wang, Brother Jiang, I'll take my leave."
Slipping out from under Jiang Yan's arm, Fang Yun headed for the exit of the Dan Cloud Pavilion.
Jiang Yan let out a soft sigh and turned to Wang Yourong.
"Junior Sister Wang, I'm here to take on an alchemy task." At this moment, Jiang Yan seemed much more serious.
"There's a task to refine ten batches of Qi Nourishing Pills."
"What?! Qi Nourishing Pills? You want me to refine something so simple? Are there no other alchemy tasks?"
"Oh, so our great Brother Jiang hasn't heard?" Having calmed down, Wang Yourong looked at Jiang Yan with a smirk. "Elder He has already issued an order. If you can't even properly complete a task to refine Qi Nourishing Pills, you're not to accept any other alchemy tasks."
"Damn it! That old coot! Er… my dearest junior sister, could you possibly…"
As Fang Yun walked away from the Dan Cloud Pavilion, the voices of his senior brother and sister grew fainter until they disappeared completely.
Fang Yun surmised that this Senior Brother Jiang must have a strong background within the Celestial Cloud Sect.
The alchemy tasks issued by the sect were meant to cultivate Alchemy Masters. It was generally acceptable to use many of them for practice—they still offered a minimum reward regardless—but there was a limit to how much one could "practice."
There was a limit.
Clearly, this Brother Jiang had wasted a great deal of Spirit Medicine.
That was why an Elder had placed restrictions on him.