The Junior Fifth-Grade Hundred Households Officer of the mighty Black Banner Battalion, with a budding intelligence network in his hands, could get taken for a ride by his own servants? That chance is pretty much zero, because even if Wang Jian didn’t say anything, he and the others would regularly check up on all of Shen Hao’s servants and their connections.

Anyone daring to stir up trouble at Shen Hao’s house would only end up living a fate worse than death in the dungeons of the Black Banner Battalion.

Nie Yun took out his little wine flask and started sipping bit by bit. All those dozens of jars of wine he’d hauled back had been poured into this gourd. Whenever he remembered, he took a swig, enjoying it with no intention of sharing it with anyone. Since this wine was especially fragrant, every time Nie Yun popped the cork, he could always hear the suppressed swallowing sounds of those around him.

Don’t think that the sect cultivators are all detached from desire and only care about cultivation-related matters. The sect is just somewhat isolated, but most of the people inside still have all the usual wants and needs.

Sipping wine, watching as a Pang Tou fish was cleaned and sliced in half—its big head left with some flesh, split down, set in a large dish, and steamed over a rack. The other half was sliced into fillets, salted, coated in starch and egg white, then dropped into hot oil to fry.

As soon as the fish fillets were fried, Nie Yun snatched a few pieces and stuffed them in his mouth. Honestly, they were pretty tasty—a perfect snack with a drink.

He kept munching while watching Shen Hao grab two big handfuls of green and red long peppers, chop them fine over the board, then toss them in a pan with minced garlic and a bit of oil to sizzle until fragrant. Once seasoned, the pepper mixture got poured right over the steamed fish head.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle..."

The blistering, red and green chili oil danced and leapt joyfully over the fish head, instantly filling the whole room with a mouthwatering aroma.

One plate of fish head, one of crispy fish fillets, plus a bowl of stir-fried beans—plenty of dishes to go with the booze.

The two carried their haul out back, each picked a little stool, and started digging in without a word.

"Whew! Drinking with you is still the best, all good stuff! Way better than the bottles you gave me before!" Nie Yun had a jar of Wuliangye by his side. This time, the wine jar was red, not the kind found outside.

"Of course. This stuff’s been cellared for a year, you can’t buy it anywhere. If you like it, I’ll send you a jar when you leave."

"So stingy, just one jar?"

"I’ve only got a few left myself! Want it or not? Don’t want it, forget it."

"Want, want, want! What’s the rush?"

As they drank and chatted, the fish head was the first to be wiped clean. As Nie Yun put it, the mountain gate meals were so bland that aside from salt he could taste nothing at all; only during trips down the mountain could he truly indulge. He kept singing Shen Hao’s praises as a cook, saying that if he ever couldn’t make it in life, he could apply for a chef’s job at Gui Mountain Cultivation Institute—he’d even vouch for him, guaranteed he could get in.

Shen Hao was pretty casual talking to Nie Yun, having figured out his personality. He wasn’t afraid of offending him, treating him as an equal and a true friend.

"Nie, don’t tell me you’re drinking and have forgotten what you brought?"

"Oh, I almost did forget!" Nie Yun laughed heartily, reaching into his storage bag to take out a small bottle and a fingernail-sized jade token.

"What’s this?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"There are a few Great Nourishing Pills in the bottle, a little extra I got for you. And the jade token is the ’Great Five Elements Technique.’" Nie Yun shoved a piece of fish fillet into his mouth, mumbling his introduction.

"Are you saying this thing is a cultivation technique?" Shen Hao was tempted by the Great Nourishing Pills, but even more intrigued by that tiny jade token. From what Nie Yun just said, this was actually the earth-level technique ’Great Five Elements Technique’ he had been waiting for?!

"What? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a jade scroll? Tsk, you really haven’t seen much. Come on, give me another jar of this year-aged Wuliangye, and I’ll give you a proper introduction."

Shen Hao: "..."

The so-called jade scroll is actually a kind of magical artifact, but it’s a one-time consumable, sort of like a talisman.

Jade scrolls can store complex information in great detail and are highly secure; unless you open them the way they’re set, the info inside gets destroyed instantaneously. They’re usually used for transmitting high-tier techniques.

Compared to books, they last longer, are more secure, and a lot more convenient. Of course, they’re much harder to produce.

When you use one, you don’t need to flip through pages. Instead, it acts directly on your Sea of Consciousness, mapping all the info within the jade scroll straight into your mind with nothing left out. Unless you deliberately delete it, what’s mapped in your mind won’t be forgotten.

But whether you can actually understand it, or how much you understand, now that depends on your own level of comprehension.

Nie Yun, feeling smug from his successful deal, explained how the jade scroll worked while urging Shen Hao to get on with it, so he could help out with a few pointers from the side.

Hearing this, Shen Hao activated the jade scroll just as Nie Yun had shown him, and instantly, a vast torrent of information surged into his Sea of Consciousness.

The experience wasn’t very pleasant. It was like a big wad of cotton being crammed into his brain—uncomfortable, not exactly painful, but made him feel swollen and dizzy.

Luckily, Shen Hao’s soul strength was pretty high. After a few breaths, he got his bearings back, closed his eyes, and started processing these fresh memories, now sorting themselves out in his mind.

Just as Nie Yun had said earlier, the ’Great Five Elements Technique’ was a direct evolution of the ’Great Five Elements True Qi Talisman’. In fact, the core cultivation path hadn’t changed a bit—it just had a lot of tweaks in the details, pushing both the true qi conversion rate and storage to a whole new level.

Though he hadn’t officially practiced it yet, Shen Hao already figured that this earth-level technique was sure to bring him a big surprise—his cultivation speed was about to rocket up again.

Pulling his consciousness out of the Sea of Consciousness, he discussed some thoughts on the ’Great Five Elements Technique’ with Nie Yun, and quickly discovered that Nie Yun really did have a lot of good advice to offer.

"Nothing strange about it. I never practiced the ’Great Five Elements Technique’ myself, but I studied it before, so I know a thing or two. But if you keep digging into it, my advice won’t help that much—I’m afraid you’ll be on your own for the next steps."

"I get that. Still, thanks a lot, Nie. If you hadn’t helped, I wouldn’t even know where to find such a perfect earth-level technique for myself."

"No need to thank me, but how about another jar of wine?"

"...There’s really not much left!"

"Hahaha..."

One plate of fish head, one plate of fillets, a bowl of stir-fried beans—every last bite finished, and each of them downed a whole jar of wine. Shen Hao had Xia Nu clear the table, then brought up a pot of tea with two cups, and they kept chatting out in the courtyard.

Shen Hao realized that Nie Yun was different from the other high-tier cultivators he’d seen. He had this air of laziness about him, as if he couldn’t be bothered with anything except drinking.

Usually it was Shen Hao asking, Nie Yun answering. Taking this chance, Shen Hao learned quite a bit about the group known as sect cultivators.

"Seeing how interested you are—next month on the fifteenth is the Gui Mountain celebration for the hundredth anniversary of Chang Baifeng. I’ve got an invitation. Want to tag along and see the fun?"