“Greetings, Master,” Jin Huang said, bowing quickly after picking himself up.
“Greetings,” Cha Min said. “How fare your experiments?”
“Quite well,” Jin Huang said enthusiastically. “In fact, I got some very good results while studying woodcap infusion with bloodfeather sprouts and blue phenol—” He stopped, blushing. “Sorry for blathering on. I’m sure it wouldn’t be of interest to you.”
“Alchemy interests me greatly,” Cha Ming said. “But your skill exceeds mine. My offer to instruct you in runic arts still stands, but if you wish to discuss alchemy, I’m afraid you’ll be the one teaching me instead.”
Jin Huang smacked his forehead with his palm. “Don’t worry about it. One of these days, we really need to talk about runic alchemy. I’ve been reluctant to practice it since the fiasco in Evergreen, but I think it has a lot of potential.”
Cha Ming wasn’t sure what the Evergreen fiasco was, but everyone seemed to be tight-lipped about it, even the alchemists in Haijing. Given their rhetoric about science, they didn’t seem to want to touch Jin Huang’s profession with a ten-foot pole. He could only assume something disastrous had occurred. Just the thought of exploring runic alchemy with the younger man made him sweat bullets.
“We’ll definitely study it together in the future,” Cha Ming said. “Have you seen Ling Dong?”
“The last time I saw him, he was training with the City Guard,” Jin Huang said. “Something about training demons. Or arming them. Or both.”
Arming demons? Now that was interesting. Speaking of which, it seemed like Huxian had said something about getting a wardrobe change. He wondered if those two were related.
“I’ll have to go pay him a visit one of these days,” said Cha Ming. “For now, I’m off to see the elders.”
“Take care, Master,” Jin Huang said, bowing. Before Cha Ming could tell him bowing wasn’t necessary, he scampered off.
Cha Ming made his way through the stone alleyways in the academy. He walked past the library and the workshops as he did. There were no storefronts here, as commerce was prohibited within the school’s grounds. Any buying or selling had to take place outside the building. The move was largely symbolic, meant to show that science and commerce should be kept separate. He liked that idea, as inconvenient as it was.
For science, he thought, chuckling inwardly as he walked onto a short street. The walkway was mostly empty, save for members on both sides glaring daggers at each other. Some things never changed. He ignored the Alabaster Group and Obsidian Syndicate guards as he made his way into the white building. Some friendly faces nodded and greeted him according to his station as junior partner. Since there were no storefronts in this branch, nor accommodations, he made his way to the back offices and entered the only boardroom in the building. Six older cultivators were seated there, including Elder Gan.
“Sorry I’m late,” Cha Ming said, taking a seat.
“Not at all,” Elder Gan said. “Though I really wish you’d let us know before secluding yourself like that. Your disappearance was… inconvenient to say the least.”
“What happened?” Cha Ming asked. He hadn’t been aware that his presence was required, and Lu Tianhao had said nothing about this.
“You’re new, so you naturally don’t know these things,” Elder Gan said. “Every few months, the elders get together to vote on some matters. Things like dissemination of knowledge, time-disc allocation, facility allocation, etcetera.”
“It all sounds rather boring,” Cha Ming said. “Time-disc allocation?”
“They’re things like these,” Elder Gan said. He summoned a bronze disc inlaid with blue runes and a small blue dot. “We can use the concentrated time essence to research faster or even speed up experiments without speeding up time for our physical selves.”
Cha Ming thought of the disc in his possession. How much was it worth? “Can I pass on my votes instead of voting in person?” Then it struck him. “I forgot to pass on my votes, didn’t I?”
“That’s right,” Elder Gan said. He passed a jade to Cha Ming. “Please review this and imprint your soul signature. With it, we’ll be able to represent you in the next meeting. Our members were rather disappointed to hear that our newest addition, a full quarter of our voting power, didn’t deign to defend their interests.”
“I take it Zhou Li fanned the flames?” Cha Ming asked.
“Dealt with that ray of sunshine before, have you?” Elder Gan asked.
“I have,” Cha Ming said. “It sounds like he’s been cooking up trouble.”
“More than just cooking,” one of the two female cultivators present said. Elder Xia’s age was difficult to tell, since any gray hairs were either hidden, removed, or nonexistent. However, her gaze seemed far too experienced to have lived less than a few centuries. “He’s rallied many neutral factions and wrestled away some key research facilities and funding. He was also rather blatant about trying to curb our influence.”
Cha Ming frowned. “While that is concerning, Elder Xia, I’m more concerned about his ulterior motives. Most of his actions, while detrimental to us, are likely a smokescreen.” There was a pregnant pause. “Have we done anything to fight back?”
A black-haired, bushy-eyebrowed man snorted. “We have no trump cards anymore,” he said. “We’ve fought tooth and nail all these years and have nothing to hide. Despite all our best efforts, our membership is dwindling. We simply have nothing good to offer new members, which limits the generation of new elders. We each have about twenty apprentices, and unfortunately, most of our knowledge isn’t exclusive. Meanwhile, the Obsidian Syndicate has a private library for study should members join and sign a confidentiality agreement.”
“Hm…” Cha Ming pondered. He had a fair amount of higher-tier knowledge, but he was a little concerned about protecting it. Seeing his hesitation, a scholarly looking man with blue hair, Cang Fuxi, spoke up. “We’ve been approached by the grand elder, Dai
