Gu Zhi immediately went to make a letter to his parents. Confined to the sect for 200 years he at least wanted his parents to know. He hadn't sent them any new letters as he just returned from the palace so it was about time to inform them. He had heard that Wu Mao his brother, might be fit to join the sect soon but he wasn't sure.
After writing and then sending the letter he went to the library. Due to his status in the sect and some handling from elder Ming, his debt to the sect was already paid off. What his sect members struggled with he accomplished with ease thanks to his connections.
"Hi, I'm looking for the talent refinement technique" Gu Zhi said to the librarian.
She looked up with a frown on her face before saying "Isle 4 row 2".
"Thank you" he said as he was about to make his way to the towards the book.
"I would be careful, spending too much time trying to make up for your lack of talent might doom you" she said.
'She must think, I'm one of those desperate fools elder Ming talked about'.
"Don't worry, I don't have inadequate talent" he said as he made his way to the back.
After finding the technique he quickly skimmed through it before bringing it back up to the librarian.
"I'd like to purchase this technique" he said.
"*Sigh*, that will be 50 contribution points" she said.
He handed her a jade slip as she took away the contribution points and gave him the technique.
After acquiring the technique he went back to the estate as fast as he could to study and practice it.
The talent the technique referred to is the talent to draw qi into your body. The amount of it you could absorb and condense in order to strength yourself and improve your cultivation. This directly correlates to your spiritual root so at a base level this is a technique used to refine your spiritual root. Refining your spiritual root is notoriously hard and very dangerous. A permanent injury could doom your cultivation entirely. Because of this the talent refining technique is the only safe and regularly practiced technique that refines your spiritual root. At least in the public eye that is. Who knows how many hidden, forbidden or lost techniques could refine or improve your spiritual root existed. But, using common logic if any of those techniques were stronger than the talent refining technique they would be very popular and highly talked about. Since that isn't the case they're either a very well kept secret, or they don't exist.
Due to the talent refinement techniques ability to refine the spiritual root, it is obviously very popular. Almost every sect, big or small has a copy of it. That being said, the difficulty in this technique is the time spent practicing it. It is notorious for being a slow technique, with questionable results considering the time spent practicing it. But almost every talent that has an abundance of lifespan practices it because its value - ironically - has the most impact for the people who are already talented.
The technique is very simple: you use the qi your spiritual root gathers to refine your spiritual root and wash away its impurities. Gu Zhi immediately started practicing the technique. Refining his spiritual root could be considered as improving his foundation. The more he dug, the more he realized just how many things could improve his foundation. It wasn't like he had to have a perfect foundation in foundation establishment either. He could improve his foundation in higher levels as well. With just 100 years of extra lifespan that foundation establishment gave people, there was no way they would complete a perfect foundation in that amount of time.
As Gu Zhi practiced his technique, his parents caught wind of his letter.
"Wu Mao, I think its time we get your spiritual roots examined" Wu Hao said.
"Ok" was the only response he said.
"Darling, Gu Zhi sent us a letter" Wu Ning said.
"Oh, what did he say, it's been around 3 years since he last sent one".
"Bad news, apparently he's confined to the sect due to an accident".
"What accident".
"He didn't say, only that it was out of his control".
"That's not good".
"It gets worse, apparently he's confined for 200 years".
"200 years! We'll long be dead by then".
"He said he might be able to host visitors but he is not sure since we aren't apart of the sect".
"That's bad, hmmm... let's get Wu Mao to visit him then, maybe he will have talent just like his brother".
"I hope so... take him to the city today, we still got time, it's better to do it now than later".
"You're right, come on son! Let's go see if you're fit for cultivation like your brother" Wu Hao said as he made his way to the city.
-----
"Did you hear the news recently" A young cultivator asked.
"No, what happened" A man with a big build and deep voice asked.
The flicker of lamps lit up the room as the noise of the tavern below muffled out their sounds. With fine silk and pillows dotted around the room the two sat around a long wooden table sipping tea with their food. The lone moon barely shone through the window as they seemed to be cave, adding a somber mood to the discussion.
"Apparently, the great earth sect got their hands on a large amount of nine heavens ambrosia". the young cultivator said slowly.
"Nine heavens ambrosia! how'd they get it".
"I don't know, the news has been kept under wraps.... But I did hear it might have something to do with their young genius".
"Chu Ling?" he asked.
"That's the one" the cultivator leaned in close to make sure no one heard. "She says she's been reincarnated... something about a god she worshipped before dying".
"You know we shouldn't talk about stuff like that, talk about those "entities" should always be done with caution".
"Anyway, she's quite the topic..." his eyes darted around the private room making sure there was no one watching. "I heard rumors about a recent cult... something about... reincarnated people".
"Shhh! Not another word" the man looked around as well. "Recently Yangoo been at peace, but there are forces moving in the dark. This next conflict looks to be a big one" he said.
In a few rooms over in the tavern, a lone man sat by himself, smiling as he listened to the conversation.
(I will be posting exclusive chapters, that you can find over at royal road if your interested. They will be chapters that I haven't released yet on Webnovel - Zorback)