Ming Jiang sighed, before placing a bottle of wood essence before Mei.

"Well, I suppose that was inevitable."

Mei wasn't sure how to feel. Could it be that she gained some sort of talent for body cultivation from her meridian damage? She wasn't a fan of muscling around...

She turned to look at Wang Wei, who seemed just as shocked.

"Wang Wei, there are two reasons why you stood no chance." the elder said.

"One, your physique. Her arms are much larger and more muscular than yours. Don't think that your level of body cultivation is all that matters. Having a good physique will vastly amplify your strength! It's not out of the question for a muscular person to beat a scrawny one with higher body cultivation."

"Second, her foundation! Her body cultivation was built up over years. It's only natural she would be several times stronger than a person of the same level."

"But even with that, you wouldn't have lost that easily! You were only using a quarter of your strength! Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

Oh. So that was why.

Mei felt a little guilty. Was there even a reason for Wang Wei to antagonise her? She had just been overthinking it.

"Mei Xiu, the reason why I disqualified you was because of the reasons I mentioned. Well, the latter. It would be unfair to the other disciples."

"But you've heard from the sect master about her situation, right? Her talent got wasted because of it!" Wang Wei protested.

Hearing that, the disciples turned to look at Mei.

"Her being unfortunate does not discount the efforts of others! If we rewarded people based on misfortune, wouldn't disciples just throw themselves in danger constantly?"

"What? No?" Wang Wei said. "And for her, it's not like she chose to!"

"Urgh." Ming Jiang grunted. "Alright, that was a bad example, I admit. I'm not good with words. But in any case, let's not waste time arguing about this."

Wang Wei looked dissatisfied but kept quiet.

He turned to look at Mei.

"Mei Xiu, while your solid foundation makes you a formidable foe right now, it will not help much in the long run. As you progress more, that increase in strength will become negligible. Though, it doesn't mean you're unsuited for body cultivation. How do I put this..."

Ming Jiang paused, seemingly in deep thought.

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"If you think of your body as a piece of tofu, with your meridian damage... it's like you've been stabbed all over the place with a fork. And stabbed tofu absorbs marinade better."

Mei: ...

Some of the disciples laughed. Ming Jiang looked to the side, slightly embarrassed. He wasn't trying to make a joke?

"Anyway!" he shouted, taking out a pile of black jade slips and dropping them on the table. "These slips are identification, to show you are my disciples! You use them to unlock the body refining rooms! And there are instructions for body cultivation within! That's all, submit the fee of 10 Jade to me tomorrow!"

He walked off in a hurry, leaving the room. Then he quickly walked back, dumping a pile of body refining powder jars onto the same table.

"Take one each! 30 Jade tomorrow!"

Ming Jiang rushed out a 2nd time.

What a weirdo... If he pretended he had intended to make that joke, he wouldn't have lost any face.

With the body elder's departure, the disciples began to talk to one another, livening up the training room. They began walking up to the table and each took a jade slip and a jar of powder. Some of them smirked at Mei and Wang Wei, much to her annoyance.

Xiuying was the first of her friends to come up and was about to say something, but Wang Wei made a pleading motion. Reluctantly, Xiuying left the room with the other 2, not saying a word.

As the disciples took the materials and left, Wang Wei spoke up.

"To be honest... I didn't expect you to win like that."

Huh?

"I wanted to make it look like we were about evenly matched, then let you win. Since I didn't like how he excluded you," he mumbled, looking to the ground.

Ah.

Tsk, so he thought he was stronger, but wanted to pretend he was trying his best to not make her feel bad. Mei felt a little annoyed by that.

She reached for the bottle of green and tilted it back and forth on the table. The clanking sound of glass echoed through the empty room.

"Sorry," she said.

"Huh? Why are you apologising?" Wang Wei said.

"I thought you weren't satisfied with just beating everyone and wanted to beat me too. I misunderstood," she mumbled.

"Why would I do that? Do I seem like that kind of person?" Wang Wei sounded a little hurt.

"Well... you're kind of competitive, I guess?"

Wang Wei pouted.

"Maybe." he paused. "Well, since I'm so competitive, how about we compete for real this time?"

He grinned at her. Mei was surprised for a moment, then laughed.

They pit their arms together and after a short wait, pushed with all their might. This time, she felt a fair amount of pressure from him! Hah... but not enough. Wang Wei's face started to turn pink from the effort, but his hand was slowly pushed down.

"I guess I really underestimated you, huh?" Wang Wei said. "Haha..."

Somehow, Mei got the impression he was a little frustrated. There was silence for a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay with me just having this?" Mei said, picking up the bottle.

"Yeah. I felt like you need it more. Besides, I make a lot of money anyway, so I can buy my own."

...

Fair enough.

The wealth of an alchemist was truly enviable. Unfortunately, that path also meant spending countless hours memorising thousands of dumb herbs, which Mei would rather die than do. Not that she'd be good at it.

Wang Wei and Mei talked more a little more and said their goodbyes, before leaving the training room, preparing to head to the refinement rooms.

Having absolutely no idea what room she was assigned to, she took out her newly acquired slip, sending a sliver of her qi in. Her hunch was right, the slip immediately listing her room, 156.

Mei stood around for a bit, feeling a bit reluctant to enter her room. Was she really going to have to spend most of her days in a stupid bathtub until she was ready to enter the Foundation stage? That would be so boring...

Wait.

Wasn't this actually, perfect?

A beautiful thought came into mind. If she took a book with her to the refining rooms, wouldn't that mean she could progress in cultivation while lazing around?

...

Maybe body cultivation was more suitable for her than she thought. Grr...

Why wasn't normal cultivation that easy?