The four men, all in their fifties, would be hard to mistake as a group of middle aged men. Every rank a Cultivator increased would more than double their lifespan. A Core Formation Cultivator would usually live nearly five thousand years, give or take a few centuries. How early a Cultivator reached a high rank played a part, but for the most part most Cultivators didn’t die of old age. They usually fell in battle or to foul play. Those of high ranks were also usually well treated by the organizations they belonged to and would get access to life extending pills, serums, and treasures which sometimes made it possible for them to soldier on more than twice the time they should have. Most Sects measured themselves by the number of Rank 6s they had, just like the Holy Flame Sects Peak Masters. It was always a mystery just how many Old Ancestors a Sect had squirreled away in secret chambers, extending their lives with special techniques and treasures. It was a sort of Cold War that made all-out war between Sects a rare occurrence.

The first thing the four men did was order a round of stiff drinks. They had gathered at their favorite restaurant, still the ‘Delicious Dream’, and downed cups of the signature wine. Even to this day they all weren’t sure whether they loved the atmosphere or the wine more. Was it their favorite wine because of the restaurant it was served in, or was it their favorite restaurant because of the wine they served? The four didn’t even bother to comment on Sage’s new freakish appearance and merely downed a few rounds of drinks. It was only after they were all sufficiently sloshed that they finally broached the question and Sage explained.

“I was unlucky enough to stumble into an ancient array. I thought it was locking up some sort of treasure, but when I activated it, it knocked me out. When I came to the array was destroyed upon use and I was transformed like this.”

The others nodded their heads, it was the consequences for chasing after treasure. They’d all been on training missions before and seen many things. Some would profit and gain great advantages from hidden treasures, but many more merely died trying to make gains.

“It’s not all bad… these scales seems pretty tough and my senses have improved. Peak Master Zhen has said she will help me explore the new changes.”

The explanation of his condition and the following cover story had been decided by the Peak Master while they were still at the Soul Taming Abode. He didn’t plan on consulting her and revealing all of his secrets, but she offered the idea mainly to help deflect questions. His change was quite drastic and with the assurance of the Peak Master, more conservative Sect members would be less worried about Sage being as dangerous as he looked. He was also told to check in with her every so often in case there were any changes he himself hadn’t noticed.

“That’s good, very good! Finally, your fame will catch up to ours. Our names will rise together! Hurry up and become an Elder, Brother Sheng. Then we can team up and earn a title. The four… champions of Holy Flame!”

Yuan Hu started boasting, seeming quite pleased with his creation of a name for their group only to be interrupted by sharply mocking voice. Qiu Hou insulted him rapidly, “Four Champions of Holy Flame, my butt. More like Four Champion Holy Farts if you’re the one in charge, you great windbag! Don’t pick on Little Sheng, he’s always worked hard and now he’d had this setback. We’re here to celebrate he made it back in one piece, not to satisfy your delusional dreams!”

“You damned smelly monkey!”

As was common among them, the Tiger was prideful and the Monkey mocked him to no end. Sage’s two good friends always enjoyed arguing far too much and they spent the rest of the night trading insults between rounds of drinks. Sage and Geng He would merely trade looks and laugh about their friends fiery natures. Qui Hou just loved to tease and infuriate people and Yuan Hu was just a vigorous and prideful man. The two of them together were the perfect recipe for explosive arguments. In the beginning they had actually fought a few times, but after a few years their rivalry became more of a hobby. The two of them seemed to enjoy it and held no animosity. Sage liked to think they were merely training at unusual skills. Yuan Hu was a Minstrel and enjoyed the challenge of trying to resist Qui Hou’s natural skill at bringing people down and pushing their buttons.

The next morning, Sage woke with a pounding headache. The hangover from a night of drinking wracking his body with pain. Focusing his Qi, he sent it running through his body and after a few circulations he slipped into meditation. In a few more minutes he was able to expel the effects of the hangover and clear his head. It was a simple technique that most Cultivators knew, a more minor version of expelling poisons. Haha, back on Earth people would probably kill to have such a skill. Clearing hangovers in just a couple minutes with a perfect success ratio? Amazing.

Sage still lived in the same dorm since he’d first arrived at the Holy Flame Sect. When the others eventually started becoming Inner Sect Disciples they had left, but Sage stayed behind. Since it was normally supposed to house four, other Outer Court Disciples had moved in for a time, but when they moved on Sage just started paying for the whole place himself. Once, after finding a bunch of treasure the other three had pooled contribution points and purchased the house for their Brother Sheng. They had done it as a gift to commemorate his promotion to a three-star Tamer. It was also nostalgic for them to be able to always visit the place they all met and became friends.

Sage kept it more for selfish reasons. Through the years he’d expanded the shack in the yard quite a bit and it housed a sizable collection of insects. He’d experimented quite a bit with mutating and combining different features of the Spirit Insects he’d captured or purchased. These bugs were also a decent source of revenue for him, given that there were only three Insect Tamers in the Holy Flame Sect. One of them focused on the most common purpose for Insect Tamers, and that was breeding poisonous insects. Poison Master was a very rare profession, but it nonetheless existed and they needed suppliers. More common was the usage of poison in medicine and pill making. Many poisons could be used as medicine by mixing them with other ingredients, as well as the practice of using one poison to counter another. The other Insect Tamer was more of a warrior. He used his Insects as fighting partners and was quite effective.

Sage’s main method of making contribution points these days was selling off the products of his experiments. He focused on mixing and matching Insect abilities to create low ranked insects for utility purposes. Just like the Alarm Crickets he brought on the expedition, he had bred a few lines of useful bugs and now he merely collected them every so often and sold them in the markets. Along with his semi-annual harvests of Moonhoney from his Silverbee hives, it was more than enough contribution points for his normal expenses with a small stockpile as well. It was only when he wished to train in the Sunfire Pagoda or purchase techniques would he have to take on extra tasks. Best of all he’d just earned ten thousand contribution points and a huge pile of treasure.

Time to count my money and plan for the future!