Lin Fen stared surreptitiously at Guan Hui Chen as he shamelessly took a seat at their table, seemingly either uncaring or unaware of the fact he’d interrupted a touching reunion between him and his oldest friend.

For a moment, a traitorous part of his brain pushed forward the notion of voicing his discontent, but his common sense won over his irritation.

It would not do to antagonize the heir of their sect, without mentioning that he was their sponsor as well. So Lin Fen ended up swallowing his completely justified, in his own mind, indignation and instead sat back in his chair, eyeing the Golden Prince impatiently.

“Do you mind if I sample a bit of your feast?” Asked the straw haired man, his placid gaze settling on his ‘protege’.

Yu Xiang shrugged uncaringly, not seeing anything wrong with the request. Why would he deny his benefactor something so small after all? It would have been the height of pettiness to spurn him just because he’d walked in on their dinner. “Feel free, I got it from the mess hall without paying thanks to your badge… So you kind of paid for it anyway.”

The two of them let out an almost simultaneous chuckle.

Lin Fen observed the brief interaction between the two, his silvery eyes narrowing slightly as he consciously picked up on something he’d only ever noticed subconsciously.

It was almost eerie how the two cultivators’ mannerisms and expressions mirrored one another. If it were not for the clear difference in both build and shape of the face someone might have even been likely to mistake them as brothers.

Lin Fen knew that the Golden Prince had provided in some way for Yu when he was younger, even if he didn’t know the specifics of their relationship, but he’d never quite realized just how heavily the older cultivator had influenced him.

Even during their previous meetings, the Golden Peak heir had kept a certain aura of aloofness and detachment, never stepping over the line and keeping a mask of serenity at all times.

Even their acting was similar!

The feline cultivator dismissed that train of thought, resolving to ask Yu Xiang more about his early childhood some other time if only to sate his curiosity, and returned his attention to Hui Chen.

The straw haired cultivator had taken a few morsels of a couple of different dishes, enjoying himself with a relaxed expression taking over his face and eyes closing for a moment in silent pleasure.

“Remind me to find whoever cooked this, later.” The older cultivator mused out loud.

Yu snorted in amusement, an eyebrow rising towards his hairline. “Sure, I’ll give you a description, later.”

Hui Chen sighed contentedly, giving himself a few more seconds of relaxation before his eyes snapped open and a touch of professionalism returned to his gaze and posture.

“As much as I would like to stay and chat for a while, I am afraid I have other duties that require my attention, so I will not take too much of your time.” He said as his back straightened against his chair’s back.

“What do you need?” Yu asked his face turning a touch more serious.

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Instead of giving them a direct answer, the older cultivator responded to their question with another question. “What do you know about the desert that takes up a good part of the center of our continent?” His eyes shined with interest.

Yu Xiang shrugged, geography never having been a great interest of his. “I only know that it’s really big, most people avoid it because the spiritual energy in there is out of wack and that there’s apparently some really weird spiritual beasts that make it their home.”

His eyebrow once more rose in question. “Haven’t really gone too in depth on what’s there, why?”

Hui Chen nodded to himself as if he’d already expected the younger cultivator’s lack of knowledge, taking a sip of some sweet wine from a cup resting at their table.

“Even if you had looked more into the matter you would not have found much more recorded in the Hall of Knowledge, as most of that information is kept under lock and key.” He revealed nonchalantly.

Both Lin Fen and Yu Xiang straightened in interest, scooting forward with their chairs a bit to get closer to the Golden Peak heir, who was looking at their reaction in clear amusement.

"And why is that?" The feline alchemist prodded, always ready to get some more knowledge into his brain, even when it didn't pertain to alchemy or spiritual plants.

Hui Chen hummed, taking a second to himself just to let them stew in their anticipation.

He drained the rest of his cup in one gulp.

"At the center of that desert," He began in a low tone. "There is an enormous construction. A palace of metal that pierces the clouds and which no spiritual beast, be it from the desert itself or any other part of the continent, dares to approach, no matter their power. A castle that has stood for thousands of years and which has swallowed whole hundreds of greedy cultivators blinded by their hubris, thinking they could conquer its depths and lay claim to its riches."

The Golden Prince's mouth stretched into a cheek pulling smile. "We are going to go there."

The two disciples turned to one another, their wary gazes mirrored in the other's eyes.

"Err." Began the young reincarnator with some hesitation. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Hui Chen chuckled, metaphorically waving away their worried expression with a hand. "Dramatics aside, that place has been a treasure shared between the strongest Sects of the continent for hundreds of years. Under all the mystery and mysticism surrounding its existence, it is nothing more than a testing ground for young cultivators, with many other treasures waiting for those brave enough to take on its trials."

"Why didn't you say that from the start?!" Exclaimed Yu Xiang excitedly, already picturing what he might find inside.

"Now now, don't get too eager." Cautioned the older cultivator as a serious look replaced his previous calm expression. "There is a very real chance that you might die if you aren't careful inside there, so do not let your gluttony lead you astray once you set foot inside it."

Yu Xiang was too busy rubbing his hands together while picturing what treasures he might get his hands on to reply verbally, merely nodding his head to signal he'd heard his benefactor.

Hui Chen didn't seem content with this factor and, faster than either of the two disciples could perceive, his hand shot forward, trapping the lost cultivator's ear between his pinched fingers, which he used to pull him closer.

"I am being serious Xiang." The Golden Prince looked down on his protege imperiously, the formal use of his surname lending weight to his words. "Do not be blinded by what you may find in there. Simply keeping yourself alive is more than enough."

"Ouch ouch, I get it! I promise I won't do anything stupid!"

Hui Chen eyed him critically for a second before he released him. "Very well, I will trust you to follow your survival instincts. Hopefully this time you won't try to take on the attack of a stronger spiritual beast on your own."

The green eyed cultivator grumbled as he raised a hand to massage his stretched ear. "When are we going to leave anyway?" A spark entered his gaze, as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "Oh, yeah. What's the place called? You never gave us a name."

The Golden Peak heir nodded at his question. "Roughly one month from today. And as for the name of this treasure..."

The older cultivator leaned forward, with the two inner disciples following his lead and getting closer as if he were about to whisper some secret in their ears.

"From what scraps of writing we have managed to find and decipher over the centuries, that construction is called the Blood Iron Tomb." He said gravely.

Lin Fen turned towards his oldest companion, noticing the shine that had taken over his gaze.

It looked like his plans of staying inside the sect's compound for the foreseeable feature had to be completely scrapped. Bummer.