Naath’s mother Zhu Ta was the first at the dinner table along with the various chefs and general servants of the household. This time they had made enough food for everyone and had made less of a meal and more of a grand feast. There were stews, soups, tens of sides, baked goods for dessert, fried and even food that needed to be frozen to cook. It was laid out across three side tables brought into the room around the main table. It was a very large ensemble. The smells from the various foods pervaded through the entire family estate attracting the nose of every single servant there.
Naath's mother took a step back to admire the various dishes she had laid out. Ice-flame lotus tea, Deep earth ground wine, Ice Oxtail stew, fried Lightning Eagle wings. Etc. On and on the list went, all valuable and delicious rare foods that would make even emperors salivate at the thought of. Naath’s Father Zhu Gao in the yard was the first to smell all of the foods and immediately threw the rock he was lifting with to the side. His drool formed a puddle on the floor in just a moment before he wiped his chin and nearly ran into the dinning area. On his way inside the doors he tripped and slammed his face on the floor but didn't even flinch or slow down as he made way for the food.
Zhu Leng was the second to smell it when he reached the entrance to the family estate, he had more control than his father but still hurried his steps when he smelled all of the food. Along the way he passed Naath’s room and paused, seeing his brother in deep thought, meditating. He walked into Naath’s room and lightly grabbed his shoulder to wake him from his deep thoughts. Naath gently opened his eyes and the second he did his sense of smell returned and he uncontrollably started to drool a little. He stopped it from dripping down though and swallowed his saliva. His stomach let out a loud grumble as well and Zhu Leng laughed when he heard it. The two of them made their way down to the dinning area where this smell was coming from.
Zhu Shuan Was just arriving from school and smelled everything all the way from the street by the family manor. In fact it was attracting a bit of a crowd as they were all drawn by the magical smells. He swallowed hard to stop from drooling and stepped through the family estate's gate. He picked up his step a bit and met up with Naath and Zhu Leng along the way and the three of them all came to the doors and opened them. The other set of doors to the dining room opened at the same time as well as their father arrived at the exact same time. Their mother as well as the servant who had already arrived couldn't help but chuckle at this occurrence. Now that everyone was here they wordlessly took their seats at the dining table and looked to Zhu Ta to explain what the special occasion was.
She cleared her throat and said “I don't know why, so don't give me all of those looks! My intuition just said that tonight's dinner would be incredibly special and that I should give it my all.”
The four seemed to accept this reasoning and with a simple nod from her everyone got up and rounded their plates and filled their cups. Following the main family the servants followed suit and once everyone was seated with food and drink Naath’s father picked up his chopsticks and started the feast with a bite of the Ice Oxtail stew. Like that the clattering of dishes and cheers rang out around the room. Naath’s father, after a few minutes of everyone enjoying their meal, finally cleared his throat to speak.
“So everyone”, he waved his hands indicating he meant everyone seated for the meal, not just the main family. “ Apparently the Zhang trio who have always been rash and bull headed towards us for some petty grudge have officially apologized. In fact earlier today while everyone was out I received a letter of apology from their family head!” Excited whispers ran through the dining hall before he continued “I was thinking, perhaps our families should bury the hatchet and start to do some business together. What does everyone here think?”
Whispers of apprehension ran through the servants' tables, Naaths mother went into deep thought Zhu Shuan seemed flabbergasted. Naath was indifferent as he had no idea who the Zhang trio were. Zhu Leng spoke up however while everyone else was skeptical and apprehensive.
“The Zhang trio personally apologized to me, I could tell they have been punished quite severely for their past actions and have undergone genuine change. I feel that their apology as well as their family head’s is sincere and that we should accept it and give them a chance. The trio not only apologized but kneeled as they did so in the middle of the street. It was definitely full of sincerity, I can tell that the past ignorance they once had has long since left them.”
Their mother spoke asking “Zhu Leng is that true? If that's the case I say we offer them a chance. Dear, I think we should try opening a small business with them of one kind or another. Our family has not exactly been on the rise for any reason other than Naath after all and it doesn't feel right to rely on our ten year old child, even if he is a reincarnator. Perhaps a martial arts dojo is in order, cultivation and martial arts are never out of style and with two noble families working together to open it I'm sure it will flourish. What does everyone else think?”
There were general nods of agreement around the room when she suggested this but their father sighed and said. “That’s true but what martial arts could we possibly teach them? Everything is related too closely to our family and it’s heritage. Anything we teach would be too close to family secrets.”
Hearing this Naath’s head perked up and he grinned as he spoke. “Father, I can help with this. You won't have to wonder about what martial arts to teach, only a cultivation method to pass down. I have a complete cultivation artform with martial arts that even non-cultivators can practice and use in combat. Cultivation simply amplifies the martial arts used. Them learning the artform is fine but the cultivation methods are to be kept an absolute secret! They are far, far too powerful to get into the hands of the general public. It is 3 a three star gold rank cultivation technique that absolutely cannot leave the family!
Don’t worry it is not the method that I practice. My own cultivation technique probably goes past the normal system of rankings. I don't mind if the people in this room all learn this full artform, as far as I’m concerned everyone here has been with the family as long as or longer than I have been in this life. We are all one large family!”
Everyone looked at Naath with wide eyes and his father and many of the less composed servants fell out of their chairs. They all simultaneously stuttered “T-Th- you have a- Naath are you serious?! A three gold star method?!” Naaths father alone continued “ Thats far far to precious we cannot possibly-”
Naath cut him off and said “father I am a reincarnator with two live under my belt already. I consider everyone here my family and trust you all with my life, what is some simple three gold star artform compared to the family you all have given me?”
Everyone went silent some eyes went wet and Naaths parent just smiled with their faces full of unyielding pride and love. With this the matter of the families opening a dojo was almost completely solved, as for a cultivation method the two families could put their heads together and figure something out! If not then the title of noble families was absolutely wasted on them. At least all the members of the Zhu family thought so. The meal continued on and the general attitude was even more happy and merry than before.
Zhu Shuan spoke up this time and said “mother, father, I don't think the school lessons are very beneficial to me any further. I already know what they are trying to teach and today even wrote several pages marking the instructors mistakes. Being around brother Naath has led to me passively absorbing all of this information from his random mutterings when he starts thinking. If anything I'm willing to start a school myself for the younger children who have yet to start cultivating in order to guide them.”
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His mother and father shared a glance and his mother nodded, his father spoke. “Zhu Shuan, that sounds fine, we will cancel your schooling there then, instead you can teach at the dojo we will be opening. You will oversee a class of young students ages 5-9 they can practice in class and learn until they either have learned enough or turn ten years old and embark on to the path of cultivation. At that point we can let them graduate to a higher class where they can practice Naath’s martial arts and learn from us how to cultivate.”
Their mother nodded at this idea, clearly she thought it to be an excellent one and heavily approved. Zhu Shuan smiled wide and thanked his father for this gratefully before going back to his meal. The mood in the room grew brighter once again as everyone continued to eat for several minutes before Naath spoke up with a question this time.
Naath imitated his father and cleared his throat, after he did that the entire room went silent. One could hear a single grain of rice bouncing on the floor if it were dropped at this moment. Naath had never cleared his throat to speak, only important matters would be spoken of after this was done. Naath just minutes ago wrote off a three star gold cultivation art as something trivial. For him to clear his throat the room went dead quiet. Even the steam from the various foods seemed to take pause when he cleared his throat.
Naath spoke “father, mother, everyone. Recently I came across something interesting and I need to share some secrets with all of you. Nothing too major. I just need you to know I cultivate in more than one way, not just the system based around the dantian you all are used to. I also cultivate through my mortal body as well. Recently I came into contact with another form of cultivation as well and need some advice. I know I need to cultivate it to stabilize my other two or I may full well cripple myself. I have sealed my two cultivations for now in order to balance it. This new method involves certain means to create a treasure in my souls to balance the energies out and gain proper control. However I can only make a single treasure object that will live on as long as my soul exists.
Even if my body dies again and again and I reincarnate dozens of more times this treasure will remain. It will lose all of its energy after I die but it won't be destroyed unless my soul is gone as well. My question for everyone inside of this hall is, what treasure should I make? Keep in mind this treasure does not run on normal principles, it could be an umbrella that summons the rain and wind. A hammer that can forge a mountain into a single ingot and refine and purify it into a heavenly metal. It could even be as simple as a sewing needle but with the ability to absolutely penetrate any material.
Of course the treasure needs the power of the cultivator and abilities to be roughly on par with it or their miraculous abilities will only be a dream.”
Everybody in the room felt the weight and severity of this master weigh on them when they heard the question. One treasure for myriad lives, irreplaceable and irreversible as well. They all sank into thought and soon people were raising hands to state various ideas. An axe that could split anything with enough energy provided, a brick that could multiply and form any house or fortress Naath needed. A shield that could not only block attacks but reflect or absorb them as well. A scythe that would attack the soul as well as the body. Countless ideas were thrown around the room by everyone, including Naath’s brothers, mother, and father.
At the end of it hundreds of ideas were given but in the end not a single one struck Naath as grand or well rounded enough. He wanted a general purpose tool that could do almost anything. Someone did mention a multitool that would form new tools based on Naath’s needs in the situation. Naath let out a breath and thanked everyone for the ideas and dismissed everyone back to the meal. Everyone had finished their dishes now and was full and satisfied. Naath’s mother got up and waved her hand bringing all of the dirty dishes into a spatial ring. She then clapped her hands and got up in unison with all of the chefs and brought out dessert. Cakes, wines, cookies, teas, various baked goods, and sweets and homemade candies filled all of the tables.
When the deserts rolled out everyone's eyes sparkled like gems and the mood picked right back up from its previous heavy state. Naath was the first one to get up and fill his plate with sweets. A few people went into laughter seeing the youngest member of the family despite having lived multiple lives jumped at the opportunity for sweets. The atmosphere became lively as everyone followed suit and grabbed various delicious sweets. When they sat down again everyone ate happily while chatting and discussing various things. The room was all smiles and cheers as they ate and enjoyed the feast. After half an hour the noise finally died down and the room was quiet and everyone had full satisfied bellies. Only a few people were still sipping on some wines here and there, even the guards who were outside had come in and enjoyed this large feast.
When everyone was quietly enjoying the atmosphere and chatting happily Zhu Leng spoke up. “Everyone, earlier I was at the market and got something for my brothers and parents. Now I see this wasn't enough so I, with my parents' permission, would like to grant everyone here 10 gold coins to go and buy themselves something special as a treat. I feel that this suits the occasion quite a bit. After all, we have decided in one night to become friends with another noble family, open a dojo. Learned we will all be getting a three gold star cultivation art, and tossed around fun ideas to help my genius little brother!”
He looked to his parents who glanced at each other and nodded with big smiles. His mother nodded and spoke. “Zhu Leng, that is a beautiful idea, consider it done. It seems the only one here has not gotten something from all of this is you, what should we do to amend this?”
Before anyone had a single chance to say anything Naath spoke up “Ah I know, brother, how about I personally guide you on the whirlwind arts i'm going to teach you?”
Zhu Leng’s eyes went wide as saucers and he hastily agreed this was like a blessing from the heavens! After Naath agreed to it their father spoke up.
“That sounds good as well, in that case Zhu Leng can teach it to the rest of us and have an instructor's place in the dojo as well! Now what about those gifts?”
Hearing this Zhu Leng chuckled and pulled out a throwing knife that radiated earth energy and passed it gently to his father. His father smiled wide and gently stroked the throwing knife. He used throwing blades to compensate for the inherent weakness of earth elemental arts, range. This knife was a precious item to him that might well save his life one day. Seeing his fathers reaction made Zhu Leng smile brightly and then he pulled out a pair of jade earrings that gave off a cold sensation to his mother who gasped with surprise and joy and hastily took her old ones off to put the new ones on.
Various compliments rang out in the hall when she did and that made her smile that much more brilliant. Seeing this Zhu leng nodded and pulled out the good luck charm that he got for Zhu Shuan. Zhu Shuan immediately smiled wide and put the ring on, admiring it on his finger. Seeing this wide smile Zhu Leng nodded and then pulled out Naath’s gift. When he was handing it to Naath though, suddenly the string snapped and the beads fell everywhere and the bracelet fell to the table looking whole again with the single carved bead remaining on the string and no others.
Zhu Leng and everyone else in the hall immediately went red from anger at the faulty bracelet that was meant for Naath. However the one who was receiving the gift froze with his hand outstretched as he stared at the broken bracelet on the table. It was as if everything else in the room was non-existent. Naath was completely focused on the broken bracelet, everyone thought it was from disappointment for the first few moments and then they saw Naath’s eyes go wide. It was like he was struck by divine inspiration and he reached out slowly and touched the bracelet’s single remaining bead. He jumped up in joy yelling.
“Brother Leng! Thank you!!! This is the answer, a bracelet with many beads stores as one! I found the answer for my true treasure! I’ve got it!!! Thank you brother!!!”
Naath jumped from his seat and hugged Zhu Leng as tightly as he could with his sealed cultivation. It was like a miracle as Naath knew exactly what he wanted for a true treasure now! With that dinner concluded and everyone left the hall still chatting and with a feeling of warmth in both their hearts and their bellies. This was the best meal any of them had had in their lives, in Naath’s case in all of his lives. Dinner was over after several ups and downs had occurred.