"It's the Phoenix Renewal Festival," Bai Ning said. "The whole sect is preparing for it, not just the inner courtyards."
"But there's a Phoenix Renewal Festival every year," Wei Zian said, confused.
"Yeah, but this year is special."
"Special?" Wei Zian asked. "How?"
"I don't know, some heavenly alignment nonsense," Bai Ning complained, waving his hand dismissively. "Why does it matter? It's an excuse to have an even grander celebration than usual. Don't question such good fortune, I say."
"Heavenly—" began Wei Zian with a raised eyebrow when something occurred to him. "Wait, you mean the Great Celestial Convergence?"
"Yeah, that," Bai Ning agreed. "What's that anyway?"
"Do you have several incense sticks to spare?"
"On second thought, I don't want to know," Bai Ning quickly backpedaled, laughing nervously.
Wei Zian snorted. So easy to intimidate. The truth was that Wei Zian knew very little about the Great Celestial Convergence, and probably couldn't speak about it for longer than a few breaths. It was a rather obscure topic. Wei Zian strongly suspected that Bai Ning was right, and that it was simply being used as an excuse for a more extravagant celebration.
"So what did you do over the summer meditation break?" Bai Ning asked.
Wei Zian groaned. "Bai Ning, you sound like my village schoolmaster. 'Now, children, for your assignment you will write a short scroll about what you did during the summer meditation break.'"
"I'm just being polite," Bai Ning said defensively. "No need to get angry just because you wasted your break."
"Oh, and you spent it productively?" Wei Zian challenged.
"Well, not by choice," Bai Ning admitted sheepishly. "Father decided it was time I start learning the family trade, so I spent the entire break helping him and acting as his assistant."
"Oh."
"Yeah," Bai Ning agreed, clicking his tongue. "He also made me select merchant arts as one of my cultivation paths. I hear it's a really difficult path too."
"Hm. Can't say my break was particularly stressful. I spent most of my time reading cultivation novels and avoiding my family," admitted Wei Zian. "Mother tried to make me take care of my little sister this year, but I managed to refuse."
"You have my sympathy," Bai Ning said with a shudder. "I've got two younger sisters and I think I'd suffer a qi deviation if they came to live with me here. They're both absolute demons! Anyway, what cultivation paths did you select?"
"Formation Theory, Spiritual Alchemy, and Advanced Trigrams."
"Eh!?" Bai Ning blanched. "Brother, you're really taking this seriously, aren't you? I guess you're aiming for a position in one of the artifact refineries, huh?"
"Yes," Wei Zian said.
"Why?" Bai Ning asked incredulously. "Creating mystic artifacts... that's difficult, demanding work. Surely your parents could find you a place in their business?"
Wei Zian gave him a strained smile. Yes, no doubt his parents already had a role all planned out for him.
"I'd rather beg for scraps outside the sect gates," Wei Zian told him honestly.
Bai Ning raised an eyebrow at him, but then simply shook his head sadly. "I think you're crazy, personally. Who did you choose as your guiding elder?"
"I didn't get to choose," Wei Zian scoffed. "There was only one left by the time I was asked. I'm assigned to Elder Xu Yan."
Bai Ning actually dropped his chopsticks at this, staring at him in shock. "Elder Xu!? But that elder is a nightmare!"
"I know," Wei Zian said, releasing a long-suffering sigh.
"Heavens, I'd probably transfer cultivation paths if I got assigned to that demon," Bai Ning said. "You're a much braver man than I, that's for sure."
"So who did you choose?" Wei Zian asked curiously.
"Elder Cao," Bai Ning said, immediately brightening.
"Please don't tell me you chose your guiding elder based on appearance?" begged Wei Zian.
"Well, not just based on appearance," Bai Ning said defensively. "They say she's pretty lenient..."
"You don't want to do any extra cultivation," Wei Zian surmised.
"This whole thing is like a pleasure journey to me," Bai Ning admitted sheepishly. "I get to postpone joining the family business for two years and have some fun in the meantime. You're only young once, you know?"
Wei Zian shrugged. Personally, he found studying cultivation techniques and gathering knowledge to be enjoyable in itself, but he knew all too well that very few people shared this opinion with him.
"I suppose," Wei Zian said noncommittally. "So is there anything else that everyone knows that I should be familiar with?"
He spent another hour or so conversing with Bai Ning, touching upon various topics. It was particularly interesting to hear which of their fellow disciples would be joining them this year and which ones wouldn't. Wei Zian had thought the ninth level breakthrough was relatively straightforward, but apparently he was mistaken, since roughly a quarter of their fellow disciples would not be joining them. He did notice that most of the failed disciples were from common backgrounds, but this wasn't terribly surprising, disciples from cultivation families had familial support when learning techniques, and a legacy to maintain. He was pleasantly surprised that one particular arrogant young master wouldn't be joining them this year, apparently Young Master Boran lost his temper during his disciplinary hearing and got himself expelled from the sect. He wouldn't be missed. Honestly, that disciple was a menace and it was disgraceful they hadn't expelled him sooner. Fortunately, it seemed there were some things that just couldn't be overlooked, even if you were the heir of the prestigious Boran Clan.
Wei Zian left when Bai Ning started discussing the merits of various female disciples in their cohort, not willing to participate in such a conversation, and returned to his room to study his borrowed jade slips. He hadn't even properly started meditating with the first one when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Very few people would bother tracking him down to his quarters, so he actually had a pretty good idea of who it was before he even opened the door.