Twelve Lower Grade Spirit Stones was too much. For Outer Sect disciples like them with no backing, a meal costing three or four Lower Grade Spirit Stones was already a luxury.
"Mengzhu, didn't I tell you before? Your big brother Fang Yun has decent Alchemy Talent and is pretty much an Alchemy Master now. I can totally afford twelve Lower Grade Spirit Stones. Besides, today's my eighteenth birthday. No matter what, we have to celebrate."
He hadn't celebrated his birthday once since he began cultivating.
Without any Spirit Stones on hand, he couldn't celebrate even if he wanted to.
"Brother Fang Yun, it's your birthday today?" Huang Mengzhu hadn't known when Fang Yun's birthday was.
After understanding the situation, the little girl immediately took out her Storage Pouch and pulled out ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones.
"What are you doing?"
"I can pay for most of this Spiritual Food."
So far, Huang Mengzhu had collected eleven months' worth of disciple benefits, giving her a total of eleven Lower Grade Spirit Stones.
After paying ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones, she would still have one left.
"We can talk about that later." Fang Yun's heart warmed, and he teased, "Right now, you're still just a poor little girl."
"Besides, I already told you, I'm an Alchemy Master now."
Finally, Fang Yun looked at Huang Mengzhu with a very serious and earnest expression, letting her know he wasn't joking.
This was only the second time Huang Mengzhu had ever seen Fang Yun look like this.
"I know… Brother Fang Yun." Huang Mengzhu responded in a small voice, putting the Spirit Stones she had taken out back into her pouch.
To keep the young girl from feeling burdened, Fang Yun spoke to her in a relaxed manner as their meal was served, and she finally started to loosen up.
After the four dishes of Spiritual Food were served, the two began to eat.
Watching Huang Mengzhu's blissful expression with every bite of the stewed Spirit Egg, Fang Yun nodded in satisfaction.
After Fang Yun had eaten half the food and Huang Mengzhu a quarter, leaving about a fourth of it on the table…
A young man dressed in the uniform of an Inner Sect Disciple walked up to Fang Yun's side.
"Junior Brother, it seems we haven't met before."
Fang Yun looked up at this Senior Brother from the Inner Sect. It was true, he'd never seen him before.
Though he didn't know why the man had approached him, he still showed the Senior Brother due respect and gave his name.
In his life within the sect, when interacting with other disciples, he would be amicable whenever possible.
"I am Junior Brother Fang Yun. It hasn't been a year since I joined, so this is the first time we've met, Senior Brother."
"Ah, so you were specially recruited. I am Senior Brother Wu Junxin." Wu Junxin wasn't surprised to hear this and quickly gave his own name.
He could tell with a single glance that the Spiritual Food on the table cost twelve Lower Grade Spirit Stones.
An Outer Sect disciple who dared to order such a meal, and one he didn't recognize at that, must have a remarkable talent in some area.
And he, Wu Junxin, loved to befriend such junior brothers and sisters.
His opening line was just a conversational tactic.
"So it's Senior Brother Wu. A pleasure to meet you."
"My apologies for interrupting you and your junior sister. I live at number thirty in the Inner Sect's B Zone. If you run into any trouble later, Junior Brother, you can come find me."
'So he's extending an olive branch.'
Fang Yun accepted this gesture of goodwill.
'Looking at the fine dishes on our table, it makes sense he'd be willing to befriend an Outer Sect disciple like me.'
"Then I thank you in advance, Senior Brother."
"I haven't helped you with anything yet, so there's no need for thanks. We can talk about it if I'm able to help you with something in the future." At this point, Wu Junxin felt the time was right. "I won't disturb you and your junior sister's meal any longer."
There was no need to talk too much during a first meeting.
They could talk more if they had the chance to meet again.
He had committed the name Fang Yun to memory. Later, he could ask around and see if this junior brother was worth getting to know better.
Throughout the entire conversation between Wu Junxin and Fang Yun, Huang Mengzhu remained quiet and didn't say a word.
"Brother Junxin, you're back! Hurry up and sit."
"Jiang Yan, you already ordered the Spiritual Food…"
The Celestial Cloud Sect disciple named Jiang Yan was also wearing the uniform of an Inner Sect Disciple. However, the same uniform looked somewhat sloppy on him compared to Wu Junxin.
"It's all ordered."
"You ordered everything, so what am I supposed to order?" Wu Junxin shot Jiang Yan an exasperated glare.
"Brother Junxin, you know me. Don't worry, I ordered all your favorites."
"But you always order the most expensive things."
Wu Junxin and Jiang Yan were childhood friends. Whenever the two of them appeared at the Smoke Cloud Pavilion, it was always Jiang Yan who was there to freeload a meal.
Jiang Yan pretended not to hear Wu Junxin and changed the subject, deliberately bringing up something that would interest him.
"Brother Junxin, you just went over to talk with that junior brother. What's the situation?"
"How much can you really talk about in a first meeting? For now, we've just introduced ourselves. All I know is that his name is Fang Yun."
"Fang Yun…" Hearing the name, Jiang Yan stroked his chin, trying to recall something.
"You know something about Junior Brother Fang? I heard him say he's been in the sect for less than a year."
"I remember now."
"Tell me."
"I overheard Junior Sister Wang mention him. This Junior Brother Fang Yun has good Alchemy Talent. Apparently, he's been seen refining pills in the Alchemy Rooms on Dan Cloud Peak a lot recently."
"Oh, so he has good Alchemy Talent." Wu Junxin nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe in the future, I'll have a chance to ask Junior Brother Fang to refine pills for me."
To be attempting alchemy less than a year after joining the sect, he clearly possessed excellent Alchemy Talent. Otherwise, he wouldn't be spending so lavishly at the Smoke Cloud Pavilion.
A meal of over ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones.
Practicing alchemy frequently showed he was hardworking. A junior brother like that was undoubtedly worth befriending.
Based on the information he got from Jiang Yan, Wu Junxin further analyzed Fang Yun in his mind.
"Brother Junxin, did you hear what you just said? If you need someone to refine pills, you can just come to me! Given our relationship, I wouldn't charge you a single fee."
"Oh, please." Wu Junxin stopped his analysis and gave Jiang Yan a speechless look. "If I let you refine pills, even if you actually managed to produce something, I'd be afraid it would have some weird side effects."
This childhood friend of his certainly had Alchemy Talent, and a very good one at that, but he never followed the conventional rules of alchemy.
Faced with this situation, Wu Junxin was helpless. He was a layman when it came to alchemy and couldn't really discuss the specifics with Jiang Yan.
"Brother Junxin, you don't understand me either? The most important thing in alchemy is innovation! That's how you refine even better pills. I always thought you understood me."
"Understand you? No, it's more like I *know* you. I may not understand alchemy, but don't you think I know you? And what I'm especially curious about right now is this: show me one other Alchemy Master with your talent who's as broke as you are!"
"Sigh, you really don't get the finer points of alchemy. Forget it, let's not talk about this. I say, Brother Junxin, let's talk about our childhood instead."
Just then, Wu Junxin saw a junior sister from the staff bringing over their Spiritual Food, and Jiang Yan obviously noticed it too.
"Go on, go on. Just eat your food and shut your mouth."
"You got it, Brother Junxin!"