A few drinks at the Inn's back

It didn't take long for Theo to, as usual, leave his disciples to his own devices. He stood behind only for long enough to ensure they didn't misinterpret his instructions and were hard at work putting his orders into action.

The second Theo decided it was now okay for him to leave, he turned around and moved toward the back of the inn.

'I'm stocked on everything but money and knowledge,' Theo thought, hiding in the back of the inn.

With his students around, even if they were fully focused on training, Theo couldn't really put himself into the right state of mind to plan. When around others, Theo would be mercilessly reminded of how the people he was using were still… well, people.

Theo worked hard to make sure his disciples would grow so that everyone's eyes would be on them rather than him. He even made sure that there would always be a witness to his lectures so that his secrets to cultivation would be widely known. He worked hard to make sure no one would ever bother trying to extract any information out of him as whoever would be capable of doing so would be more inclined to just wait for Theo to spill everything out himself.

The same could be said about the gambling guild that Theo made a deal with. He didn't look into turning this cooperation into a proper alliance. No, the guild couldn't offer him anything worth allying them over. He simply used them for what they were worth and would readily ditch their side the second it would be beneficial to do so.

No.

When it came to crafting nefarious plans that would bring the best potential outcome for Theo, he had to be alone, with nothing to remind him how the people he was using as tools were actual people with feelings, pasts, and futures to think about.

'I should still be able to earn some from the cups. It's the knowledge that I'm lacking,' Theo thought, raising his eyes to look at the darkening sky.

He arrived back at the inn sometime after the early afternoon. And between the time for the lecture, small explanation and then overseeing the training of his disciples, Theo already reached the hour where the sunlight was starting to quickly die down.

'The time is speeding like mad,' Theo thought, his thoughts derailing towards some random notions. 'Why is it so tough to find even a single day that I could spend just studying?'

There were a lot of reasons for Theo to worry about his state of knowledge.

Sure, he understood the essentials behind the entirety of the bodily cultivation… But the material that he studied during his visit to the library only ever touched upon that. Anything above the third stage would be within the domain of the inner sect and thus locked in the buildings Theo had no access to.

What's more, as if this barrier to what knowledge Theo could gain wasn't enough, there was something wrong going on in the sect.

Theo could hear it from every direction and every other person he encountered.

The merchants were limiting their trade, wary of the coming trouble. Important people in the sect were pained over the measures the patriarch took to challenge some sort of problem on the frontline, indicating a huge response was in the making…

And Theo had no idea about the details of this event. He could only guess how it would affect the sect, the business, his fragile relation with the division elder… Things were about to change, but Theo had no idea how to prepare for such changes not knowing what they would be in the first place.

Being blind to the future like that infuriated Theo to no end. Sadly, he had no means of changing his position.

"Killing yourself over problems you have no influence over, aren't you?" A familiar voice reached Theo's ears.

He looked to the side only to see someone whom he didn't expect to ever approach him so silently Theo wouldn't take notice.

Paichi stood in the courtyard at the back of the inn, staring at Theo right through the huge hole in the doors leading toward where he was.

"Is it all over my face or something?" Theo asked in return before treating the doors with his leg, opening them up for his senior to enter.

"Whenever you think about something hard, you tend to pull your eyebrows together and raise your eyes to the sky while squinting them a little," Paichi pointed out right as he stepped inside and pulled out a small crate from behind his back.

The glassy noise that came out from the crate in response to the sudden movement told Theo everything about its content.

"I never knew," he said shortly, taking a sit at one of the piles of rubble removed from the main area of the inn before pointing Paichi towards another.

Theo's senior sat down without a single qualm about the quality of the spot. Instead, he placed the crate down and pulled two, roundish bottles before passing one over to Theo.

"Cheers," Paichi said, unplugging the bottle with a swift twist on its cork. He then raised the crystal and took a deep gulp of the precious liquid.

Theo followed in the man's step, confident in his party-developed endurance… Only for his entire world to twist after just a single sip.

This wasn't just some everyday booze. It wasn't even a simply high-quality drink that would cost a treasure for a common folk or a spare change for a cultivator.

No, what Paichi brought was truly a one-of-a-kind, cultivator's brew.

A simple, herbal and alcoholic drink. Yet, between herbs that worked to lower the consumer's resistance to the harmful substance and the spiritual energy-based alcohol, it was the special type of drink that even cultivators could get wasted on, as opposed to the normal drinks.

The two of them continued to drink in silence for a while, more than happy to just enjoy each other company over a bottle of a good brew.

"I'm really happy to see you so full of life again," Paichi threw out a small comment in the middle of his second bottle.

"What do you mean by that?" Theo asked back, finishing up his first. He raised the bottle and turned it around before giving it a solid shake, ensuring no drop of the precious liquid was left inside.

"Ever since you got those disciples of yours…" Paichi looked over Theo's shoulder and into the proper part of the inn. Being the inner sect cultivator, he could easily peer into the other room even if his physical vision was obstructed by walls and doors. "Ever since you accepted those five, I heard that you are running all over the place," Paichi said, wiping his mouth before uncorking his third bottle with no visible marks of struggling to maintain such a hasty pace.

"I guess I'm just busy," Theo shrugged his shoulders. "Rather than being lively, I guess I just don't have the time for anything," Theo shook his head. "A moment to just chill down, like that, is all the more precious to me," he added, raising the bottle towards Paichi in a mute salute and thanks for the man's visit.

"It's a pity we won't get to enjoy this kind of times all that much in the future." Paichi's eyes went off somewhere and locked on something only he could see. "With the shit that's about to go down, it's all hands on deck for everyone," he commented.

"Could you spare some more details for your clueless junior?" Theo requested offhandedly, hoping his approach wasn't too direct.

"I could tell you…" Paichi hesitated for a second. He then twisted his lips in an ugly grin as he put his half-finished bottle aside. "But I would rather show you. Come with me!"