He didn’t hesitate to use it.
[-150 Spiritual Energy]
Name: Mei Lingxi
Age: 19
Level: 186
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment (Late Stage)
Health: 2900/2900
Spiritual Energy: 2290/2290
Spirit: 458
Strength: 273
Stamina: 327
Agility: 302
Mei Lingxi’s relaxed expression was broken as her sharp gaze met his eyes. She sensed it, obviously. But he didn’t regret his decision. In fact, he wanted to see her Luck, too.
[The skill Detailed Observe is not available on target]
[The cost to use Detailed Observe is 600 Spiritual Energy]
William wasn’t too surprised it wasn’t possible. The cost to do so had always been four times Observe, but he had some hope it wouldn’t carry since the initial cost was already so great. Still, it gave him an idea of the value of Mei Lingxi’s Luck attribute.
More than Li Xinyue’s two hundred, at the very least.
It made sense to him that the greater the cultivation, the greater the Luck since they likely influenced how far a cultivator reached on their path to immortality.
Leaving that aside, the thing that stuck out the most from Mei Lingxi’s information was her age. He had been under the impression that she was much older, mainly because he thought Lan Yin, his senior sister who was also a sentinel, was an older cultivator.
William couldn’t, for his life, remember why he had thought Lan Yin was much older, but it caused him to apply that thinking to Mei Lingxi. How they had spoken to each other like rivals led him to that conclusion.
Now that he knew Mei Lingxi was under twenty, it likely meant that Lan Yin was around the same age. It also explained why the Grand Elder thought so highly of her.
He somehow landed a future cultivation monster as his attendant. He could work with that.
“Interesting, I didn’t know you also have talent in divination, Disciple Wei.”
William didn’t expect that, but he should have since the Grand Elder’s cultivation was likely beyond Nascent Soul. Still, he didn’t regret it. Maybe it was the tea, but he felt it would be easy to play it off.
“Divination?”
“Indeed,” the Grand Elder looked at him like he was an interesting test subject, “You are full of surprises. Is this the first time you have done this?”
“I get a sense of people when I really want to,” William slowly admitted, “I didn’t know it was divination, though.”
“How interesting,” the Grand Elder looked eager, “What can you tell about me?”
William shrugged helplessly, “Nothing. It never really worked with cultivators in higher realms.”
The Grand Elder sighed as he nodded, “That is usually the case. It’s a useful ability, but be careful not to overuse it. I wish I could recommend a divination master to you. Unfortunately, those are as rare as phoenix feathers.”
There was a lull in the conversation as they enjoyed the remaining tea while relaxing to the sound of the gentle waves. At least, William was doing that. He wasn’t sure what the Grand Elder was thinking, and Mei Lingxi seemed to have put aside her issue with him using Observe.
The silence was broken by the Grand Elder. He had a frown on his face as he placed the cup on the table and stood up, his robes rustling softly.
“I’m afraid I must take my leave. It seems I’m needed elsewhere,” the Grand Elder paused, “But feel free to enjoy the hospitality of the Jade Lotus Teahouse. I’ll inform Little Qinglian to put this on my tab.”
It seemed that whatever needed his attention was urgent since the Grand Elder rushed out the door.
William was in the middle of finishing the last sip of the tea when this happened. After a fraction of a second, when the door was shut again, that was precisely what he did.
“We should get more tea, Sister Lingxi,” he suggested as he placed his cup back on the table, already feeling some negative emotions returning.
“Hm,” Mei Lingxi stared at him doubtfully, “I suggest you not abuse the Grand Elder’s generosity. It might give the wrong impression of your personality, Young Master.”
William wanted to argue. This impromptu meeting was likely to gauge his true feelings on Zheng Tao and the ground that absorbs souls, and if that was the case, he passed with flying colors. But he also recognized that both of them could be correct.
“How much do you think it will cost to buy more of this tea myself?” He was about to look at the measly wealth in his possession before remembering that the shops in the Inner Court only took sect points. With a deflated tone, he said, “Forget I said that. I don’t have any points.”
He actually had negative points, so he had less than no points.
“Maybe I can help you there,” Mei Lingxi said with a slow smile, “What did you learn about me, Young Master?”
William blinked slowly when she leaned closer to him. He tried to see if she seemed angry, but all he sensed was curiosity.
“Are you angry, Sister Lingxi?” He blamed the tea for having no filter, but he knew that was just an excuse.
“I’m not,” she said, “I would have preferred you if you just asked me, but it isn’t a big deal.”
That was good. William found a silver lining to the Grand Elder acknowledging that Observe was a type of divination skill. He could do what Mei Lingxi just mentioned. Ask the older disciples if they could allow him to use Observe to gather more data on the most popular point allocation cultivators preferred.
That way, he would be able to see if ordinary cultivators had different allocations compared to ‘elite’ or ‘genius’ cultivators. Before allocating his unused points to the attributes, he wanted all the information possible.
“Well?” Mei Lingxi prodded, “Are you going to tell me?”
William decided to be vague but still truthful. “You’re really young, under twenty years old. And you’re in the late stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.”
Mei Lingxi stared. “That’s it?”
“Well, no,” William admitted, “I can tell the amount of Qi you have and your strengths, but I don’t know how to compare it to others since you are the first cultivator not in the Qi Gathering Realm I tried it on.”
“Then what about yourself?” Mei Lingxi asked curiously, “Not your normal state, but when you activated your martial skill. You took care of those two trespassers with little issue even though I was having trouble.”
He wondered when this question would come up. She didn’t last for long when they were finally alone.
“My strength would be twenty-five percent above yours. The same applies to my speed,” William told her the truth, “But you would still have far more Qi than I could imagine.”
“Amazing,” Mei Lingxi sighed, “I knew the sect values you. It’s obvious with how much attention Elder Yu gave you, and even more so when the Grand Elder, but I didn’t know it went as far as to give you such a broken martial skill. It must be an Earth-tier, at the minimum.”
He felt his pride stoked to higher levels as she praised his Force Multiplier.
“Nobody gave me that martial skill, Sister Lingxi,” William said smugly, “I created Force Multiplier myself in the Shard.”
There was a blur before he found himself staring into Mei Lingxi’s eyes at a much closer distance. She had moved her chair directly next to his, and her hands were placed on his shoulders to stop him from moving away.
He felt like he was being stared at by a dragon. One that was filled with greed.
“The more I learn about you, the more impressed I am, Young Master,” Mei Lingxi’s voice had no hint of teasing like it usually did, “I hope you know to keep this to yourself.”
William nodded rapidly. Elder Yu had told him the same, but Mei Lingxi wasn’t just anybody. She was his attendant for the foreseeable future, and they were in the heart of the Jade Healing Sect’s power, where he had support directly from the top. He saw no harm in telling her.
“Good,” a stunning smile formed on her lips, “So, when will you teach me this Force Multiplier.”
The door to the room opened, conveniently stopping him from answering.
“Excuse-” Su Qinglian stopped, giving them a strange look, “I apologize for interrupting, but Elder Yu has requested Junior Wei Liang to meet her outside.”
Mei Lingxi didn’t bat an eye at being caught in an odd position and stood from her chair. “Thank you. My Young Master will leave immediately.”