Wu Zhi was doing his habitual screaming at this point. He had grown so tired of the pain that he lay on the floor motionless. After what felt like years he finally managed to get up at some point. Taking a deep breath he sighed. Motionless for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do he eventually just left the estate and headed for the for the sect cafeteria. He could have gone elsewhere but he was starving, and he didn't want to eat porridge mixed with bone nectar in it.
Finally arriving at the cafeteria he got himself the same banquet he had after he had finished his first secluded meditation all those years ago. He ate like a hawk, precise and sharp in his intent. Like a famished beast finally having food he protected his meal as such. With bags under his eyes barley staying awake he ate and ate and ate some more. When he was finally done he left the cafeteria staff a whole lot of dishes to clean and headed strait back to the estate. Once there, he ignored all the stares and went straight back into his room to sleep until he wasn't tired anymore. He eventually woke up a while after from a knock on the door. *Knock* it was a firm and loud knock as Wu Zhi arose from his slumber to answer the door.
He was surprised to see Elder Ming greet him at the door. "Elder Ming how can I help you?" Wu Zhi responded politely.
"Call me father from now on" elder Ming responded.
"...Father how can I help you" Wu Zhi asked.
"Well I'm glad you asked, I would like to examine your body, specifically your bones" elder Ming replied.
"Of course, come right in" Wu Zhi replied.
After that elder Ming had Wu Zhi give him his wrist to examine. When elder Ming held his wrist he sent a strange feeling through Wu Zhi. It was like someone looking at him through a different set of eyes. 'Spiritual sense' he realized. Spiritual sense is a type of sense that cultivators develop once they hit the later parts of core formation if they're lucky or nascent soul if they're not. It is described at looking at the world through another pair of eyes. Just these eyes show everything to the cultivator who encompasses such thing in there spiritual sense. If a cultivator shaped their spiritual sense like a bubble, than anything inside that bubble would be clear to them. This is one of the biggest advantages that higher level cultivators have over lower level cultivators. Not only do the higher level cultivators have an immense advantage in strength but also in information. If they use their spiritual sense to cover something, everything that happens in that area is revealed to them. This makes hiding secrets from high level cultivators especially hard and dangerous if caught.
A look of confusion appeared on elder Ming's face. "It really does seem like you have a new type of bones. Great, the clan will reward you with some more resources for building and developing your bones. We will have to be on a tight schedule if we want to give you flawless bones before the palace of eternal love opens."
Wu Zhi gave him a tired smile and said "Yes, that's great news".
"Hmm, clean yourself up and get some more rest, and food. Recover as much as you can I will personally deliver the resources to your abode." elder Ming said as he left with a smile on his face and a spring to his step.
"Fuck me sideways" Wu Zhi cursed under his breath. He just had to take the 1000 year old ginseng because he was determined to progress his technique. Now it seemed he has drawn attention from the clan for his unique new set of bones. Which they will surely ask him to develop as much as he can before the advent of the palace. In other words, he was going to have a long road ahead of him fraught with agony and discomfort until his bones were as good as flawless. He went to go celebrate by washing up at the bathhouse, eating some porridge from the chef and going to sleep right after that.
"good news son, I have been able to convince the clan to send you a large amount of resources to you for the upcoming palace of eternal love. It seems the clan has some high expectations for you. With your talents and our divination we are sure you will be able to reap lots of rewards from this upcoming event" elder Ming said with his biggest smile yet. It was so big he doubted he would ever see a smile like that from him again.
"That's great to hear I'm excited to start cultivating my bones further" Wu Zhi said while trying not to sound sarcastic and putting on his best poker face he could manage.
"That's great that great! Guess what, I will be overseeing your further cultivation from now on until you marry my daughter. I will make sure you have the best results we can possibly give you" he said with a somehow even bigger smile.
Wu Zhi was now deeply afraid of what was about to come next. With elder Ming overseeing his future cultivation and the clan showering him in resources to develop his bones it painted a pretty clear picture for Wu Zhi. 'I'm fucked' Wu Zhi thought to himself. There was no way he could get out of this. These were without a doubt going to be the worst years of his life.