Inside the house of the Shang Clan's first General, Shang Bu Li an expert in Gu worms of fire and ice. As an elder of the Shang Clan he was put in charge of the trading of servants, his authority even stretched higher than the young masters of the Shang clan.
He is currently chowing down on raw leopard meat. Every time a piece of meat was about to reach his tongue it was cooked to perfection using his fire path Gu, and then chilled enough so that it wouldn't burn his tongue.
However, most of his attention wasn't on controlling his fire path Gu. It was on the strange person in front of him, all of his instincts told him that he should kick the man out at this exact moment, but his mind for some reason felt serene and peaceful, reminiscent of the times he would sit in his sauna, contemplating the many ways he could improve his killer moves.
"My daily activities consist of three primary things, Practicing the use of Gu in everything I do, like with how I'm eating my food right now, inspecting servants to ensure that no spies get into the higher-ups of Shang Clan." He stated as he carefully watched every note taken by Xie Ling before adding, "And lastly I train servants to make sure they can complete every task that is required of them."
Even now as the man had his eyes carefully on the paper, taking notes, Bu Li could feel eyes watching his every move, not leaving out even the smallest twitches in his muscles.
Lifting his pencil off the paper, Xie Ling questioned, "And can I assume your habits and interests follow the same pattern?"
Bu Li absentmindedly nodded his head, before gulping, "Can we get this over with, I have important matters to attend to."
Xie Ling adjusted his posture while putting on a peaceful smile, before spinning the pencil in his fingers. A common tactic used by professionals to help calm the air, it shows that he's thinking about it, to make the other party feel more like they are in control, while also distracting them to put them less on the defensive. He then clicked his fingers as if he had an idea, speaking out, "How about this - If you were to improve the durability of Gu worm, how would you go about doing it?"
The last part of Xie Ling's statement felt off, like broken language, but not too much. It forced him to think more about the question and less about his current gut instincts.
Bu Li took the bait, "If I were to improve a Gu's durability, I would use one of my many Ice path refinement techniques that would put a Gu in a less volatile state."
Xie Ling leaned in to show his interest, giving Bu Li a sense of awkwardness, but at the same time a feeling of value, as if he was a teacher imparting wisdom to a student.
Bu Li scratched his cheek apprehensively, before elaborating, "Well Gu worms are like a liquid - too hot and they disperse, too cold and they freeze. To improve their durability you need to use methods that cater towards them."
Nodding his head with an air of deep understanding, Xie Ling suggested, "Ah, but tampering with beasts proves the be far easier than Gu."
Bu Li laughed with a comment, "The bodies of beasts and humans alike, are completely different. We can exercise to improve our muscles, through using our flesh our bodies change for the better. Gu, on the other hand, don't improve no matter how much you strain them."
Pausing for a moment to think, his mind racing with the knowledge he's collected over the years. Then like lightning realization struck him, before he corrected his statement, "There are only two exceptions I can think of. There is 'Righteous Gu' where when used for righteous actions it will feed on such things raising its rank. And similarly, there is Accumulate Qi Gu a rare specimen that I've personally actually once seen before." He leaned back in his chair, before adding, "However, that was a long time ago. It's probably in another city or heck, even a different continent by now."
Xie Ling rose from his seat with a bow, saying his goodbyes.