"Good morning! Master!" the three disciples greet their master altogether, and bowed 90 degrees facing him. Although the three subordinates had seen this scene yesterday, to see it once more still gave them a shock, especially when the three of them were serious about all this master-disciple relationship.
"At ease, let's have the breakfast together, and everyone will return to their own duties. Tang Yuan, did you went to the Knowledge Pagoda to view some of their cultivation manuals?" Zhang Wu Ji paid his attention first at Tang Yuan, his first subordinate. It was important because the fact did he understand his motive to advise him to visit the tower will lead him to see how well can this subordinate perform.
"Yes, Master Senior. I found out the weaknesses in my cultivation, and I had made a copy of a cultivation art. Can Master senior please check their contents if it suits me?" Tang Yuan withdraws a manual from his chest, and hand it over to Zhang Wu Ji with both hands. This was the basic manner one needs to follow when facing a senior, or their masters.
Eagle-Soaring Cultivation Art
-Usage 1: Agility +3
-Usage 2: Strengthen the user with 1 Strand of Fighter Qi in every 72 hours
-Usage 3: Strengthen the user with 14 strands of Inner Qi in every 72 hours
-Durability: 4/4
"Not bad, it was a good choice." Zhang Wu Ji flips through their contents for a quick glance, but in reality, he was going through the description of the Item as he flips their pages. After he finishes his act, he returned the book to the subordinates, trusting that their speed of cultivation will be depending on how frequent is their speed of learning.
"Master Senior, Xia Hua, and Ya Pin also found some Qi Essence Silkworm. Unfortunately, the few that we have were not healthy enough to be spun for their essence silk. We will need a few materials before we can start to feed them with the Yuanning's Mulberry Leaves. We cannot simply purchase a large amount of the leaves to feed them because if they were fed with withered leaves or those without proper moistures inside, the Qi Essence Silkworm will end up with a disease."
"I would suggest that we plant our own Yuanning's Mulberry Tree, and for the purpose of feeding the Qi Essence Silkworm alone. This way, we can directly control the Qi Essence Silkworms diet so they can produce more of the essence silk. But to succeed with this, we will need one to two person to specialize in handling this matter, because the Qi Essence Silkworm is very sensitive to their surviving environment." Zhao Xiao Hua finished her first starting followed by Zhang Ya Pin with the ending.
With their explanation are so detailed, Zhang Wu Ji agreed with their request to plant the Yuanning's Mulberry Tree. Since this plant's purposes are only to be made into Xuan Paper (With the exception of his specialized Mulberry Xuan Paper) or Qi Essence Silkworm's food. In fact, without cultivating their own tree, they can easily gather the leaves from the wild or purchase them from the Botanist Hall, but the two subordinates were questioning their quality.
It was a correct approach because the mass-produced leaves might come with a disease, unethical fertilizers or method, or any others tricks for the sake of increasing their sales. Since the Qi Essence Silkworm was a sensitive lifeform, a slight change in their food will end up destroying the whole batch of materials. This was accurate, because their end product, the Qi Replenishing Pill's quality will be affected by the Essence Silk they gathered.
"Master Senior, can Ya Pin give a suggestion for now?" he daringly came out with a temporary solution, but still, it was important to be approved by Zhang Wu Ji before he proceeds with it.
"Go ahead, I am all ears." Zhang Wu Ji replied. This kind of personality is what made his subordinates dare to suggest, and will not hesitates to find the way for the best approach in their task. As long the quality wasn't disturbed, it will be good changes.
"I believe I hear that the Hunting Department in the Apprentice Hall were available to dispatch? Can we utilize their expertise and strength to escort me to collects the wild Yuanning's Mulberry Leaves for now? I will personally go to the Outer Zone of the Southern Bamboo Forest to collect sufficient numbers of the leaves and return. It will be a simple mission." Zhang Ya Pin suggested.
"That is out of the question for now. You're barely a 1st Stage Inner Qi Cultivator. Even at the outer zone of the forest is slightly safer, we cannot put aside the fact Young Wild Beast and Peak Wild Beast resides in this zone. If the Hunting Team were to encountered the Flame Eye Bear, you're toast!" Zhang Wu Ji rejected the suggestion. It was a good idea nevertheless, but it was still too dangerous.
"Master, can this disciple made a suggestion?" the Department Elder participates in their conversation.
"Go ahead, it was good that there was an additional suggestion when we're questioning a possible way to cultivates those Qi Essence Silkworms." he was opened for a suggestion since they were still in the part of looking for a solution method.
"This disciple does have his own variety of cultivated Yuanning's Mulberry Tree. Because the sundried Yuanning's Mulberry Leaf is perfect to be made into tea, the three of us are very obsessed into the making and cultivating of the leaves and the main tree. If the master needs the seeds for the tree, this disciple has many stored inside of his shared manor." unexpectedly, his disciple is the one that provided a solution method to Zhang Wu Ji.
"This three old man. I forget that back in my world, the Mulberry was used and planted for their high concentration in anti-oxidation and anti-aging effects! It was also used as blood sugar controlling medicine for the diabetic patients! How did this three know that it was perfect to be made as tea?" Zhang Wu Ji smiled when he looks at the three new disciples.
How ironic. Will this matter can be concluded in such an easy way if he did not accept this three as his disciples?
"It was worth taking them in. Since this three were so obsessed with drinking Mulberry Tea, they should have quite a good number of plants right?" Zhang Wu Ji was having a good expectation at their collection, and without wasting his time, he decides to went to see their collections!
"Bring me there, the three of you, follow me as well, let us pay a visit to my three disciple's shared Manor," he ordered. And full of expectation, the three of them quickly lead the others to follow along until they reach a manor so tightly covered by the pots of shrubs. From afar, the identity of the plant already revealed themselves.
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Yuanning's Mulberry Tree, or better to say, shrubs.
They were grown in a controlled environment, thus, their height and also the number of growing fruits were controlled to preserve their utmost quality. Fruits that were grown from these well-maintained plants are always better in comparison with the other natural grown trees, thus when they were dried and harvested for the seeds, it can be grown into a more healthier and stronger tree.
Based on the number of trees in their small garden, It seems that the three of them did not lack patience in growing the tree. A touch on the still unripe fruits revealed all their effort placed at cultivating all the trees here.
Yuanning's Hybrid Mulberry Fruit
-Usage 1: consuming this fruit will enhance the longevity of the consumer by 1 minute
-Usage 2: the seed in the center of the fruit can be cultivated and grown into a new Yuanning's Hybrid Mulberry Tree. The speed of the seeds growth will be matured in one month.
-Usage 3: by drying their leaves under the natural sun, it will enhance consumer's aging process by 1 second, effective one time every day.
-Durability: 14/14
It was a very good plant, plus, the plant he was inspecting at this moment was the youngest among the 31 pot arranged in a circle. If this plant's fruit were to be replanted again and again, very soon, all the other pots will be replaced by a higher quality Yuanning's Hybrid Mulberry Tree.
"Make sure you leave this fruit for me when it was dried. Pass it to Tang Yuan or Ya Pin so they can start to cultivate our own. As for the leaves, it seems that there were over three thousand leaves for Ya Pin to select, do you mind giving some to your master to cultivates his own Qi Essence Silkworms?" Zhang Wu Ji reminded them to present the first seed to him for cultivating purposes and requested to be given a small portion of the leaves.
"Of course! It was our honor to have the Mulberry Trees we cultivate is suitable for the master to use." the three of them were so happy that their lifetime effort was accepted by their talented master. But in Zhang Wu Ji's mind, he will not accept their goodwill without giving them something in return.
"Tang Yuan, gather some dried branches and went to the kitchen to light a fire. Make sure the Cast Iron were hot when I come in. The three of you, go and prepare the best quality container for your dried tea leaves for me, leave them in the kitchen." he completes his instruction and went for a small bamboo basket. With the small bamboo basket at the size of a frying wok, Zhang Wu Ji walk around the Mulberry Trees and randomly plucks their leaves.
"Aargh! My chest hurts!" the three of them felt the same way, looking at how careless is their master in collecting the Mulberry Leaf buds, and ignoring those wonderfully grown fully spread leaves. He did not stop at one but went through all 31 trees to collects all their leaf buds before heading to the kitchen.
Inside, Tang Yuan already completed the heating preparation of the Cast Iron Plate and retreated a few steps to let the Master Senior take his position. The three elders soon followed and come with a clean container that was really well made. It was made from Hundred Year Spirit Oakwood and was a good material to preserve natural ingredients, especially medicinal herbs.
"Leave me alone. Close the door." Zhang Wu Ji rolled the clothing on his waist and waited for all of them to leave the kitchen before he started with the roasting. After looking at how the three placed the matured leaves widely spread on the bamboo made strainer, he understood how the Mulberry Tea leaves were enjoyed by the three. It seems like they were using the most orthodox technique in preparing the tea, thus it ended up looking like a rolled cigarette paper, but with a browner greenish color.
But by using the method of roasting the tea leaves, Zhang Wu Ji applied the same on the young buds of Mulberry Tree, in order to bring out their flavor even further. By skipping the process of withering, he can maintain their flavor without allowing them to oxidized further and drying them in one same process. Using his hand skilfully, he roasts the tea leaves by copying the technique he'd seen from the videos distributed all over the multimedia devices in his previous world.
The results came out beautifully. The leaf buds came from the combination of 31 Mulberry Trees end up with only an estimated 3 grams of prepared roasted tea leaves. The fragrance of mulberry, bitterness of the tea, and some sweet and sourness of the Mulberry fruit are spread the moment the door into the kitchen is opened, and intoxicated the six of them that still stands outside of the kitchen.
"What an amazing fragrance! It is qualified to be called the god amongst all tea!" the three tea obsessed elder cannot help but to praise the quality of the produced tea leaves which carries the fragrance they were still deeply intoxicated with.
"Prepare six teacups and two pots. Bring me some hot water that was freshly boiled." Zhang Wu Ji stepped out from the kitchen, along with the container covered with a lid on its top. Each of his steps calmly executed, bringing this Master Senior to the chair placed not too far from them as he took a seat and rest himself.
Following after a few minutes, Tang Yuan, Zhang Ya Pin, and Zhao Xiao Hua returned with two tea sets and also a big pot of boiling hot water. The six of them soon seated right before their master, before Zhang Wu Ji stands up and opened the container with the roasted Mulberry Tea Leaves inside.
The blast of tea's fragrance blown them away for the second time, as he placed two spoons of the tea leaves into two smaller pots. With a quick action, he filled the two pot with boiling hot water before he used the water within the pot to clean the teawares used in the tea ceremony. With the first three steps is completed, the teacup used to hold the tea were turned to be cleaned by the second pot of tea, and it was also the hint of the beginning of the actual ceremony!
The next pouring of hot water was like how two dragon dance as they both went into the two pots at the same time! If it was back in his own world, this was an unachievable feat, but with the aid of Inner Qi in this world, he can easily branch them into two, using his Inner Qi that was invincible to heat and cold.
Waited for a total of 45 seconds exactly, he poured the two pots of tea into their pitcher cup to rest for a total of 15 seconds, before it was distributed into six evenly cups. With all the preparation is completed, Zhang Wu Ji waved his hand, directing the vapors into the nose of the six of them.
"Drink." it was a very simple instruction, but this also meant as the approval to the six of them to enjoy the cup of brewed Roasted Mulberry Tea.
The first moment when the tea entered their mouth, the tongue immediately releases the first impression. The sweetness of the Mulberry Fruit, The sourness of their outer parts, the bitterness of the recently grow leaf bud, and the condensed fragrance of the Mulberry Tree, was delivered from their tongue into the brain before the sip of tea entered the airway of their throat.
The swallowing action emptied the liquid from the through, going straight into their stomach as the beneficial nutrient from the sip were absorbed into their body. This mouthful of tea causes a release of a gas going back to the throat, as a satisfied light burp came back to the outer world.
It... Still... Brings the flavor of a Mulberry as it comes out from their throat. This was what they called;
The appreciation from a sip of a tea...
But that was not all it is from the seemingly sophisticated Tea Ceremony! In fact, how can a mere Roasted Mulberry Tea Leaves personally prepared by Zhang Wu Ji can be as simple as a burp?
Roasted Mulberry Tea Leaves
-Usage 1: Removes the severity of Illness and Injuries by 15% when the tea was prepared through a proper Tea Ceremony (Effect only applicable once)
-Usage 2: Enhance the cultivation by 10% for all cultivator below Sheng Tian Process when the tea was prepared through a proper Tea Ceremony (Effect only applicable once)
-Usage 3: Increase the ability to fight against the Inner Demon during advancement when the tea was prepared through a proper Tea Ceremony (Effect only applicable once during advancement)
-Durability: -/-
With the elder leading the changes happening on their body, his old injuries due to the scuffle between him and an enemy is beginning to recover. Although the injuries were only recovered by 15%, that was all it needs for him to completely expelled the negative effect the injuries carried! The removal of the injuries further enhances his guts to try and break through from the 55th stage into the 56th stage.
It was the same to the other two elders, where the slight 10% increment of Strands of Elder Qi is all they need to break through the border of 51st Stage to their 52nd Stage! In a flash, the three elders were trying to advance in their cultivation under the look of four younger disciples a quarter of their age.
The tea also granted Zhao Xiao Hua and Zhang Ya Pin with a small amount of increase in their Inner Qi. Although it wasn't enough for them to entered the Inner Qi Fighter tier, it was still beneficial for them because the effort they need is shortened by a significant time.
Soon, a commotion breaks right inside of the Seven Star Sect. And to be exact, it comes from the direction where the elder's of the sect resides. Three white lights beamed through the clouds, indicating the process of an advancement is a success.
"What is wrong in this world! How can three elders advance altogether at the same time? There must be something amazing happened, quickly go there to have a look!" the commotion leads the crowd to question what had just happened right inside of the Elders accommodation area, and decided to went there to have a look.
But halfway, the crowd were stopped by two signs written on the left and the right.
"No unauthorized Disciples within the Elder's Accommodation Sector!"
"Restriction Ahead, Proceed only under the escorts of Elder's living within this sector!"
"Damn! We can't get in! How are we going to see what had happened inside there?" the mixed crowd belonged to the slave disciples and Inner disciples are gathered right outside of the entrance, unwilling to risk their future just for the sake of seeing something unknown to them.