Zhang Long had often times heard in stories of warriors drawing strength from their friends and families - a hero collapsing to the ground and then suddenly finding the strength to rise and fight as the memories of their allies ran through their minds was a well-known trope in stories in this world as well as back on Earth.
This, however, took 'the power of friendship' and made it quite literal.
There were still limits to this ability - it could 't copy bloodline-related abilities like Chen Yu's [Steelskin], and it probably couldn't copy things like Tang Ze's talent either now that Zhang Long thought about it, but still, this was quite useful.
Techniques took time to learn and master - and there was no one who could learn all of them. Some of them didn't suit certain cultivators or they lacked the kind of capacity needed in order to learn them - but this could bypass some of those issues.
Zhang Long thought it would be useful to teach this to everyone in the sect, or at least, to many people, but as he finished the text- it vanished, disappearing like the morning dew, as if it had never existed in the first place.
Zhang Long might've even thought that the whole thing was just in his imagination, were it not for the fact that everything that had been written in the manual was now completely engraved into his memory.
He felt that even if he tried to forget what was written on it, he wouldn't be able to.
Despite the manual containing pages and pages of the writer's philosophy on what enlightenment was, there was almost nothing on who had written it. They had not even left something like a signature for Zhang Long to try to piece together who it was - though their distinct writing style and language gave him some insight into what he thought that this person's character and personality were like.
Still, no name, and although he had asked around the village, no one remembered anyone of importance living there who could have written it.
This technique by itself was not that hard to learn, relatively speaking, so while it was somewhat unique in that Zhang Long had not heard of something like this before - it could be that the person who had made it had not been anyone outstanding. It might even be possible that there already was such a technique, and it was just Zhang Long who had never heard of it before.
But it didn't look like it would be easy to spread this technique, not until he had mastered it first himself.
Even after mastering it, it would be difficult to use, as this technique had a chance to fail - even if the bond between two people was quite deep, it could not be the same as them being a single soul!
Again, this was a relatively easy to learn low-level technique - there probably was a way to refine it and advance it further so that the odds of it succeeding were higher.
It was likely that that was the reason why the inheritance had been made in the first place, because the person who had developed it had been stumped, given up on it - and either died, or moved on to some other project. But, if it had been the latter case, they had likely hoped that someone would come along and finish their work for them which they themselves were unable to, which is why they left this manual there.
It was possible there was another version of this book, and this was just a copy of that one.
But, given how long ago the inheritance had been set up, it was safe to assume that the original maker had already long since passed away.
If Zhang Long knew more about secret realms, he could've investigated this a bit further - but as a Qi Condensation cultivator there was little he could do.
Those kinds of secrets could only be learnt at the Golden Core stage.
Before he knew it - just while dwelling on these small matters time had passed by quickly and Zhang Long made his way back to the sect, the taxes in the form of produce being hauled in the cart he was sitting in.
For the farmers, it was hard to get their hands on coinage. They often bartered among themselves, and as such, being able to pay taxes in the form of produce was quite convenient to them - not to mention they might suffer a loss if such produce was sold on the market when tax season was near and everyone was selling at that time.
They would have to pay a cut to whoever was helping to facilitate the deal, not to mention the travel expenses incurred.
Sometimes, sects would demand payment of taxes in coinage regardless, but because Zhang Long was a sect member himself, he was able to easily smooth things out when it came to this.
No wonder that there were many cheers and shouts when he had come to the village - he had been welcomed and sent off like a conquering hero.
Zhang Long was the only serious cultivator in the village - his father had some talent but had taken so long to accumulate resources in order to join a sect that before he knew it, his hair was already as white as snow, and so, he left this task to his son.
And the return on such investment was already evident - that was to say, in this year's taxation.
"Mother, father, Jin Zhen, I'll be sure to keep making you all proud!" Zhang Long said, as the visage of his home faded away in the distance.
Zhang Long was not satisfied with just his progress yet - he needed to go further.
Ideally, he wanted to reach Qi Refinement stage within the next three years, and then bring Jin Zhen along with him as a sect member.
That was quite ambitious - and likely to fail given his current lack of a strong backing. However, Zhang Long was not one to give up hope.
After all, who knew what surprises life had in store for him?
This inheritance was just one of the many unexpected things that could happen in the future!
hr
Back at the sect, the four Initiates - Zhang Long, Chen Yu, Yin Tiang, and Tang Ze were finally reunited after just under a month of staying apart.
Chen Yu and Yin Tiang, though they hadn't been treated as favorably as Zhang Long, had still had relatively enjoyable experiences with their solo missions.
Tang Ze on the other hand...
His face looked like that of man who had been left to wander the wilderness for several months on his own and who had just found his way back to civilization. Which was actually not too far from the condition he had been left in.
While Zhang Long had returned from his solo mission feeling revitalized, Tang Ze looked like the life had been sucked out of him instead.
Of all of them, Tang Ze was the happiest that they were finally together again!
Zhang Long felt an immense wave of guilt upon seeing Tang Ze's face like that - the difference in their treatment by the sect was like the difference between night and day!
Not only had Zhang Long gotten the opportunity to rest and relax, but he had also chanced upon an inheritance that granted a special technique! It could be said that his path had practically been paved with gold - his luck was just too good.
On the other hand, Tang Ze had clearly suffered.
Zhang Long had almost forgotten about Tang Ze's condition after finding that inheritance - he couldn't help but curse himself inwardly.
'Ah, even more so ironic that the inheritance was on friendship, and here I had completely neglected the suffering of one of my friends!'- Zhang Long had such thoughts.
It was like seeing a friend lose his job after you had just gotten a big promotion. On top of that, as Squad Leader, one of his responsibilities was to take care of the well-being of the other members as well as his own.
Zhang Long couldn't help but feel that he had failed in that regard.
"Ah, Tang Ze - did anything happen during your mission?" Zhang Long asked. Being posted out in the wilderness meant that one would be at risk of encountering not only the likes of bandits, but wild beasts as well. Had Tang Ze ran into one of them? The odds of such a thing happening were rather low, but never zero.
"Eh? No, it was quiet," Tang Ze said. "Too quiet!" He might've actually welcomed a small group of bandits attacking, because that would have at least meant that there was something for him to do. He was more than confident of being able to take on any ragtag group of ruffians.
Instead, he had just sat at that toll booth day in and day out. It was busy this time of year, but the people tended to come in waves so to speak, so sometimes, he would not get a single visitor, while other days he would be busy from sunup to sundown. The days where he was busy were far better than those days where he got no visitors.
Because then, he was all alone - with nothing but his thoughts to comfort him.
And none of Tang Ze's thoughts were positive.
While it could be said that Tang Ze had not suffered physically - his mental state, which had never been that stable coming into this world to begin with, had taken a huge toll from this task.
Also, there had been one incident that Tang Ze hadn't shared with them, because he didn't think it was worth talking about.
When he came back to the sect from his job, the prefects had asked him to turn out his pockets. "We just want to make sure that you didn't skim anything off the top," they told him.
Tang Ze had never heard of anyone else getting searched like this, not to mention they seemed to have been disappointed when they reviewed Tang Ze's performance and found nothing wrong with it that they could chastise him for.
It was clear as day now that they really were going out of their way to give Tang Ze a hard time.
Zhang Long had been a member of the sect for a while, and the prefects clearly approved of him and his performance, treating him like the golden child of the family. That was why he had gotten such a nice and cozy 'mission.'
Tang Ze on the other hand, felt like he was being treated much like Cinderella was by her stepmother.
Who knows - maybe if he dressed up as Cinderella, he'd get a pumpkin carriage and a fairy godmother who'd magic away all of his problems?
Or maybe he should just cut out the middleman and become the fairy godmother he wanted to see in this world?
"Oh, it's good to hear that you didn't have any problems..." Zhang Long said, though he could see from Tang Ze's expression that what Tang Ze was saying did not express the whole of it. Something was still clearly bothering Tang Ze.
But, what did all that matter now? Now, they were back together as a group! That was the important thing.
Hopefully that would cheer Tang Ze up, and hopefully he'd find a way to advance when it came to his cultivation.