Report
As soon as everyone exited Benton's office, he got right to work. He'd given himself a week to get everything on his list accomplished, which would have been impossible without his ability to manipulate time. With his new Aura, though…
Well, he had no idea. It all depended on how long certain elements took and if he got sidetracked and various other unknowns. He might finish with days to spare or seconds from his self-imposed deadline.
The first item on the list was rebuilding the towers, which he had to do from scratch. Parts of the process were easier on the second go around since experience had taught him the most efficient methods for inscribing the particular arrays he used, but one aspect was a major headache—both the towers had been sheered into two pieces just below the ground level. And while it was tempting to use a combination of alchemy, formations, and good old construction knowhow to simply rebuild atop the old foundation, the fact was that there was no way to make the new joint as strong as when the trunk had been a single log.
Benton had no choice but to demo the entire foundation and start over from scratch.
Making judicious use of his Time Aura, he worked through the night digging, getting rid of the old structure, and building back up to level with the surface. As the sun crested the horizon, his sect members from the Formations Pavilion showed up to watch, seeing two bare logs sticking up out of the ground.
Benton slowed way down for a while and explained all his actions—how and why he was inscribing so many different paths for the qi to travel, the purpose of the sticks jutting from divots in the base's surface, all the arrays he used on each rock. He even let them practice those arrays, though he didn't dare use them on the tower. They just weren't up to the standard needed to protect the sect.
Once he was sure that they all understood the what, why, and how, he utilized his Time Aura once again to finish the tedious part of layering the rocks all the way up the tower. Eventually, they reached the main weapon array and the turret, and he again went into instructor mode, using his Gravity Aura to levitate them up to the top of tower to watch him inscribe those arrays as well.
Those guys and gal might not have been the most accomplished of his sect members so far, but they showed true dedication in spending the entire day watching him zoom around rapidly finishing the tower. And by sunset, he scratched that item off his To Do list.
His next task was to create contingency rings. He wanted to make sure that every person on the council, at the very least, got one. Other than that, he really didn't have a plan on who to distribute them to or how many to make.
The thing about manipulating time the way that he did was that, while he might look like he was moving faster than a speeding locomotive from the outside, on the inside of the bubble he was moving at his subjectively normal speed. Meaning that he couldn't just blow through chores. He got to experience each and every tedious second.
Joy.
After the pure boredom caused by most of the individual parts of constructing the towers, he was in exactly no mood to forge and inscribe nearly a thousand rings. Though his eventual goal was for each member to have one, there was no burning need for that to happen that night. Or even in the next day, month, or even year.
Benton settled on making one hundred new rings. That would get a decent chunk, ten percent, of his eventual goal taken care of and would ensure that everyone who really needed one immediately should be able to get it. For the distribution, he'd just hand out several to all the council members and tell them to give it to the sect members they felt most needed or deserved it.
Nice. Delegating would give the kiddos something to do, and it solved a problem for him. Win-win.
The rings didn't take much objective time, and since he didn't want to show up at Fatty Ren's palace in the middle of the night, Benton decided that the productive thing to do would be to make greater spirit coins. Those were so useful for feeding minor and major formations around the sect, replenishing qi pools, and as a form of cultivator currency. It was one of those things he could never realistically have enough of. Even better, creating them didn't take much concentration at all. He couldn't read or anything while doing it unless he wanted to use Dual Mind, but he definitely could somewhat veg and let his brain mostly turn off.
The next morning, he sent off a few messages. He notified Yuan Yaozu and Sun Hua that he'd be away from the sect for one to three days, the former so he would be prepared to be the sect's sole high realmed defender while the sect leader was away and the latter so she'd know she was well and truly on her on and in charge. Benton also left her a bag full of rings along with instructions on what to do with them.
His final message was to Fatty Ren, giving him advance notice—albeit very short notice—to expect the imminent arrival of his sect leader. About five minutes after the paper dragon reached the palace, Benton teleported.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Fatty Ren! Great to see you again."
Since the big man had been given a heads up, he wasn't nearly as surprised as he might otherwise have been. Which, on the one hand, wasn't much fun but, on the other, was a much more considerate and polite way of doing things.
The Town Lord cupped his hands. "Greetings, Friend Su."
Though his tone was light, it was clear from his tone that he was curious as to the reason for the visit. Benton's message had been terse, stating only that he would be arriving soon.
"Just stopping by to construct the Grand Defensive Formation for your palace," Benton said.
Instead of being happy to have his protection finally being put in place, the man seemed a bit disappointed.
"What's wrong?" Benton said.
The big man sighed. "It's just that our sect members here haven't seen much of you, Friend Su. The newest inductees haven't met you at all."
Fair enough. Benton hadn't exactly been giving the branch sect much attention. Of course, it was something of a tricky situation to navigate. Fatty Ren was the clear head of the branch sect, and though everyone knew that the sect leader was above him, Benton didn't want to step on anyone's toes.
He'd been on both sides of such situations back on Earth. There was nothing worse than leading a team and having the boss come down from on high and contradict everything you've been telling your people. Conversely, it was difficult as the more experienced person to see someone making mistakes and keep your mouth shut.
Fatty Ren's other concern was that, since he inducted so many new people that he hadn't had a chance to properly vet, he feared the other factions might have snuck in some spies.
Benton shrugged. "That would be unfortunate, but there's a limited amount they can discover here at the branch sect. Definitely investigate thoroughly anyone who might want to move to the main sect."
"How should I handle any traitors, Friend Su?"
Benton didn't care all that much. He would probably expel them from the sect, maybe put them in some kind of jail for a while. Or try to exact a penance from whatever organization backed them. But he didn't want to dictate too much of the minutia of running things. "Whatever you think is best."
There was also the twofold issue of having a lot of work to do to create a complicated custom formation around the palace and not wanting to show his true strength. As such, he planned to limit himself to using his Time Manipulation technique in lieu of his more powerful, less concentration intensive Aura.
Benton ended up spending three entire days in Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town completing the task he went there to accomplish and spending time with the new members, personally presenting each of them with their sect token that would get them through the palace's GDF. By playing the unfathomable ancient master role, he also dispensed the occasional nugget of wisdom without impugning on Fatty Ren's authority.
When Benton finally returned to the main branch, he was glad for making the effort to get to know the new people. While there were no outstanding talents, there were quite a few craftspeople that were sure to aid in the burgeoning pavilions. The first batch would be hitting minor realm four while he was on his expedition, and since he'd been otherwise occupied when the first batch had advanced to minor realm three, he gave Fatty Ren enough Qi Condensing Pills for all of them to immediately step up to minor realm five upon reaching the lesser milestone.
Benton made a mental note to return after the auction to start the process of transporting some of the more promising craftspeople to the main branch. While they could simply learn the necessary techniques at the palace, he really felt that being in an environment with others practicing the same craft would speed their progress.
With the GDF creation crossed off his list, he was left with two tasks—creating custom weapons to trade to the Poison Claw elders and upgrading his personal power. Two days. Two tasks. Not bad.
The first item, the Poison-aspected sword, was easy. There were no major differences between it and the ones he'd already made. And he had enough starsteel remaining to make it.
The second weapon, though…
First of all, he was faced with a major decision. A glaive was a polearm, basically a head containing a blade attached to a long pole. Which led to the obvious question—should the pole be made of starsteel or Orange Vigor Spirit Wood?
Benton's sect had a monopoly on the production of the wood. The more he spread around its use, the better from his sect. But there were problems.
For one thing, enhanced starsteel was simply stronger and conducted qi better than the wood. The main benefit of the latter was that it was cheaper and was almost as durable and nearly as good a conductor. Almost wasn't good enough, though, when making a masterwork.
The problem was that he didn't have enough ingots left for both the oversized head and the pole. And when it came to the crafts he'd mastered, a sense of perfectionism made it difficult for him to cut corners, so he ended up buying more ingots from Kang Ya-Ting.
His test version of the weapon—he'd bought plenty of metal to serve his needs for the foreseeable future—was … an abject failure. His Swordsmith Mastery really helped him a lot with making swords. Not so much with polearms.
It was so bad that he didn't even consider giving the result away to a junior. Instead, he destroyed it with Void so that no one would ever see it.
He was honestly tempted to spend the points needed to become a master of creating polearms as well.
Benton didn't normally think of himself as stubborn, but sometimes, certain things stuck in his craw. He was a Master Blacksmith. That meant something on this world. He possessed all the skill he needed to create a perfect glaive. All he needed was a little practice.
More like a lot of practice.
He kept hitting snags where he couldn't get the weapon quite right and even had to call Xun Wu, who had made a few polearms in his day, over for advice. Even with Benton using his Aura, nearly two full days had passed by the time he completed the work to his satisfaction.
Just in time. It was nearly morning, and he and his disciples would be leaving for their expedition at dawn. If he stretched the moment, he should be able to complete his powerup without them having to wait on him.
Benton re-activated his Time Aura. He didn't have long before the kids were ready to depart for the expedition to the mountains, and he didn't want to delay them. Before they arrived, he needed to check his gains he'd made since the last time he looked at his status and decide how best to upgrade himself further.
In the last two weeks, twenty of his sect members had made a total of five advancements in Bronze Body Cultivation, gaining him one hundred Sect Points. Additionally, Wan Ai had figured out how to incorporate the herbs he'd purchased for the twins into baths about a week prior. They each gained him three bonus points upon reaching Silver and another four in making it to minor realm two, so fourteen points total. Testing had proven that Jin LiJuan could use any of the baths, and she had chosen to emulate her Senior Sister Yang Xiu. For no extra cost, the little girl got him another seven points.
Benton's total gain for Body Cultivation over the time period was one hundred twenty-one points. Not bad.
He really liked Body Cultivation for the super consistent gains it provided while at the same time making his sect members much stronger, faster, and more durable. And it wasn't really that expensive. Even if they eventually ran low on beast cores, his ability to easily create mass quantities of greater spirit coins would offset the costs.
So worth it!
As profitable as Body Cultivation was, it just couldn't hold a candle to Spiritual Cultivation, considering how rapidly he had expanded his sect. After all, the low minor realms were fast point earners. Unfortunately, he fully expected his current pace to slow greatly unless he stepped up recruitment.
The village was getting close to tapped out as a resource for new members, only having a few hundred who were un-inducted, and neither he nor Fatty Ren were too enthusiastic about adding random citizens from Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town.
Benton did have some thoughts about possibly adding people from the village where he found Xun Wu, though. That place was run-down and barely hanging on. Those people were unlikely to have been approached by other factions to be spies and were likely to jump at the chance to improve their lot in life.
Sure, there were only one to two hundred people left there, but that was a lot of Sect Points when you extrapolated out to them reaching Foundation Establishment.
On the other hand, the need for rapid advancement had dwindled greatly. He was a Nascent Soul and could go toe-to-toe with anyone on the continent. Sure, eventually reaching Nihility would further ensure his sect's safety, but there was no reason to feel like he had to focus solely on that goal.
As for the actual points gain from Spiritual Cultivation, Mistress Zhong's original eight orphans gained him eight points advancing all the way to Qi Gathering minor realm seven. It was hard to believe that those little guys and girls were getting so close to Foundation Establishment.
The third set of fifty villagers advanced to Qi Gathering minor realm five, making him a nice fifty points. That amount was eclipsed by the fourth set, who he missed getting pills to when they got to third minor realm—he really needed to keep a better watch on that or, even better, give the task to Sun Hua. Anyway, he did get them the Qi Condensing Pills in time to have them go from minor realm four to five, earning a cool one hundred points for him.
The fifth set of villagers was similar, but he got to them on time, advancing them from minor realm three to four for another one hundred fifty points. Both the sixth set of villagers, all seventy-five of them, and the seventh, the biggie totaling three hundred, all made it to Qi Gathering minor realm two. As did the one hundred Fatty Ren recently inducted.
All told, Benton gained a whopping seven hundred and eighty-three points from Spiritual Cultivation.
Unfortunately, there was only so much time in a day, and he'd told his sect members to focus on Spiritual Cultivation first and techniques second. That left them little time for either Mind or Soul Cultivation, and no one advanced in either of the categories in the last couple of weeks.
Techniques were likewise very slow. Benton had underestimated just how much work it took to move through the stages of success. On the plus side, each level really upgraded the practitioner's ability with the technique, making the hard work worth it.
From a Sect Point gain standpoint, however, techniques were almost chump change. He got twelve from people completing trials and another fifty-nine total counting everyone in his sect.
Still, seventy-one points were seventy-one points. Not that long ago, he'd have been overjoyed at gaining a fraction of that many in such a short time frame.
All told, his Sect Point total went up by nine hundred and seventy-five from all sources. Almost a thousand points. In two weeks.
Even anticipating that those totals would begin decreasing, he was very encouraged for the future, and he had a nice amount to work with—two thousand two hundred and ten. Which was a good thing because he had some purchases he really wanted to make.
To start with, he really liked his two Auras and saw no reason not to expand his abilities in that regard. Since his big four Concepts, as far as he was concerned, were Gravity, Time, Space, and Void, it was a no-brainer from him to purchase Auras for the two he was lacking.
There went sixty-four of those points getting Space and Void to Mastery.
He was less enthused about adding regular techniques, though. While he was sure that he could think of something to improve himself, he just didn't see the need. His current combat build combined with his new Nascent Soul toughness and Auras should be enough to dominate anyone in his realm. His experience had taught him that, what he really needed, was the ability to punch up a major realm, and the techniques just weren't well equipped to provide that functionality. Using them to that way was difficult at best and impossible at worst.
No, he needed different avenues to explore to possibly allow him to take on the equivalent of a Nihility realm cultivator. Fortunately, he had just the thing in mind—Mind. And Soul. Neither of which he'd really put any thought into since advancing both of them to the peak of the level he was currently allowed by the System.
Time to rectify that situation.
While advancing a major realm in Spiritual Cultivation resulting in a huge increase in power by opening up an entirely new type of technique, like Concepts at Golden Core and Auras for Nascent Soul, Mind Cultivation mostly led to the ability to enhance already existing techniques. On the plus side, the System gave him a discount since he'd already reached Mastery with them previously.
He upgraded all five of his Mind techniques. Dual Focus became Split Focus, allowing him to concentrate on twice as many things at once, four total. Mind Stun transformed into Mind Strike, a much more intense stunning effect. Mind Crush improved to Obliterate Mind, which caused enough damage in a single strike to impact even a Nascent Soul opponent.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
The next technique, Telekinetic Push, had been quite disappointing for Benton. Even though he'd known its limitations, he'd kind of hoped for it to be useful as a limited form of true telekinesis. Instead, it was so weak he almost never used it, instead substituting manipulation of Gravity for the same effect. The upgrade was simply called Telekinesis, which excited him greatly.
The final one, Inflict Fear, might as well have been called Cause Unease for all the effect it had, but Benton expected the upgrade, Terrify, to be of much greater use.
His suspicion was that, like Nascent Souls could suppress a Golden Core's Concepts, cultivators in the Nihility realm would have a way to counter a Nascent Soul's Auras. Since people in that realm were almost mythical existences, the sects on this continent didn't know much about them. If Benton hadn't been a cheating cheater who cheats, he'd be left guessing on how to deal with such a powerful entity if he encountered a beast at that equivalent realm on the mountain.
Luckily, he had the System, and gladly used the four required points to purchase Knowledge of the Nihility Realm.
After the information eased into his Mind Cultivation enhanced brain, he reviewed what he'd learned. As he'd expected, Nihility cultivators could suppress Auras. The method they used was called a Domain, an area of space inside of which they could dominate all qi.
The realm also increased physical, mental, and soul strength but not nearly to the extent that the respective cultivation methods did. Benton would definitely have an advantage in each of those areas, and he was optimistic that his newly upgraded Mind techniques would be much more beneficial than the inferior versions had been against his Nascent Soul opponents.
Next, he reviewed the impact of his Soul Cultivation upgrade and discovered an interesting synergy between that upgrade and his new status as a Nascent Soul. Obviously, all people had a soul, and as a cultivator grew in power and realm, their soul strengthened. That strength allowed the soul to persist for a while after death, but it wasn't like Benton had to worry about one of them coming back because an unembodied soul had no way to exert influence on the world.
Or more accurately, an unembodied soul that didn't have access to at least the Nirvana realm of Soul Cultivation had no way to exert influence on the world.
At that realm, cultivators acquired just that ability. Given the proper techniques, Benton would actually be able to either take over an existing body or even build one for himself, making him much, much more difficult to kill and have it stick.
Needless, to say, pushing his sect members to advance in Soul Cultivation became a much greater priority. He also purchased four techniques for thirty-two points each—Soul Transference, granting him the ability to will his disembodied soul into a new vessel; Soul Sap, an attack that wore down an opponent's soul for the purposes of allowing him to take over its body; Soul Material Manipulation, a completely soul-based telekinesis that allowed him to shape and reconstitute organic matter into a form his soul could occupy; and Soul Stun, a weak stun attack much like the previously upgraded Mind Stun.
With his upgraded Mind technique, he almost decided not to spend the points for that last one, but as his non-qi attack options were already limited, he decided that having an option just in case his enemy was resistant to Mind effects was probably a good idea.
All in all, he spent two hundred seventy-six of his new Sect Points, but he didn't regret the expense even a little bit. For one thing, he was still left with a massive profit of six hundred ninety-nine points for the two-week period. For another, he felt much more prepared just in case he needed to punch above his realm again.
His safety and associated protection that provided to his sect members was well worth the cost.
As he reviewed the changes to his status, he grinned.
Sect Name:
Rising Tide
Sect Points:
1,934
Host Techniques (Qi Gathering):
Knowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 1 – Mastery
Knowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 2 – Mastery
Knowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 3 – Mastery
Knowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 4 - Mastery
Knowledge of Herbs – Mastery
Knowledge of Nihility Realm – Mastery
Knowledge of Pills – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 1 Alchemy – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 2 Alchemy – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 3 Alchemy – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 4 Alchemy – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 4 Formations – Mastery
Host Techniques (Foundation Establishment):
Blacksmithing Rank 2 – Mastery
Blacksmithing Rank 3 – Mastery
Blacksmithing Rank 4 – Mastery
Forging Rank 1 – Mastery
Forging Rank 2 – Mastery
Forging Rank 3 – Mastery
Forging Rank 4 – Mastery
Pill Creation Rank 1 – Mastery
Pill Creation Rank 2 – Mastery
Pill Creation Rank 3 – Mastery
Pill Creation Rank 4 – Mastery
Rank 1 Herb Preparation – Mastery
Rank 2 Herb Preparation – Mastery
Rank 3 Herb Preparation – Mastery
Rank 4 Formation Construction – Mastery
Rank 4 Formation Construction Acceleration – Mastery
Rank 4 Herb Preparation – Mastery
Rank 4 Inscription – Mastery
Swordsmithing Rank 1 – Mastery
Swordsmithing Rank 2 – Mastery
Swordsmithing Rank 3 – Mastery
Swordsmithing Rank 4 – Mastery
Host Techniques (Golden Core):
Sharpness – Mastery
Host Techniques (Nascent Soul):
Space Aura – Mastery
Void Aura – Mastery
Host Mind Techniques (Expert):
Inflict Fear – Mastery
Mind Strike – Mastery
Obliterate Mind – Mastery
Split Focus – Mastery
Telekinesis – Mastery
Host Soul Techniques (Nirvana):
Soul Material Manipulation – Mastery
Soul Sap – Mastery
Soul Stun – Mastery
Soul Transference – Mastery
Zou Tian had come to a difficult decision. He'd been invited to explore the nearby qi-rich mountain, and he wanted to accept. The opportunity was a great one for many reasons, such as being able to practice Hide Presence against beasts of a higher realm and serving the sect by scouting for the other expedition members. Both activities would give him good, practical experience in areas that he intended to perfect in coming years.
Unfortunately, Zou Tian would have to refuse. He simply had too much to do to get ready for his mission to Sixth Flawless Flowing City. Even though it would be months before he left, the list of things he needed to accomplish was so long that he feared not being able to get to them all.
Over the last week, he'd done a lot of thinking, and he'd had multiple sessions with Senior Brother Yuan Yaozu, though it felt weird to call a Nascent Soul level cultivator Senior Brother. But no other title fit. He wasn't officially an elder of either sect, and Zou Tian already had a master.
The conclusion the two of them had drawn was that his best chance of fulfilling his mission was to avoid notice. There were a couple of problems, though. One, people in the city knew him and knew he had left with Master.
Two, all cultivators emitted a qi signature that signaled one's realm to anyone with a spiritual sense. While Zou Tian's high affinity with his Shadow aspect combined with his hiding technique minimized his qi signature, minimizing was not the same as eliminating. A Foundation Establishment cultivator like Senior Sister did not have a sense strong enough or experienced enough to detect him, but most Golden Cores could if they happened to notice him. And he'd stand out like a sore thumb to any Nascent Soul.
If he couldn't figure out a way to completely eliminate the telltale signs of him being a cultivator, the mission would be far too dangerous for him, so his first goal was to make it so that not even Senior Brother Yuan Yaozu could detect him.
The other thing the two of them had discussed were his techniques. Zou Tian had both Hide Presence and Foundation Dagger Essentials at Mastery, and Shadow Perception was at Large Success. If he worked hard, there was no reason he couldn't get that perception technique to Mastery, without even using the Trial Pagoda, before he left to travel to the city. That was goal number two.
Skills for hiding, sensing, and a weapon were a great foundation for what he needed to accomplish, but there was always room for improvement. So the third goal they had come up with was for him to pick up a new technique to aid in the mission. Senior Brother Yuan Yaozu was convinced that Master could provide literally any technique that they could think up, leading them to discuss a lot of options.
The main category of ideas they considered was general knowledge of specific spying abilities, like how to blend in, how sects hid secrets, how to discern the truth of rumors, etc. The problem was that every single one of them sounded like something he absolutely needed, but he only had time to learn one. Barely. He'd probably need to use the pagoda even to get the technique to Large Success.
At his urging, they also discussed the possibility of trying to advance him quickly to Foundation Establishment so that he could pick up really useful techniques. He was at least a year away from making that transition, though, and rushing his cultivation that much might have severe repercussions for the future. Even though he was willing to try it, Senior Brother Yuan Yaozu correctly noted that Master would doubtlessly object.
Since Zou Tian couldn't learn any skills that used external qi, they really couldn't come up with any techniques that taught him an actual ability that would help as much as knowledge would. In the end, he decided that the best thing that could help him immediately was a technique to teach him a general overview of spycraft, something that sacrificed depth in any one useful subject in order to give him a foundation in all the areas he needed to know.
Which meant that, prior to his departure for his mission, he needed to get one technique from Large Success to Mastery and learn another and get it all the way to at least Large Success. To do that, he might even have to skimp a bit on his cultivation in order to spend more time practicing.
That realization led him to the inescapable conclusion that, as much as he wanted to go on the expedition, he just couldn't.
When Senior Brother, Senior Sister, Kang Lin, Jin LiJuan, and Ganzou met with Master as scheduled at dawn outside the Administration Hall, Zou Tian joined them and asked Master for a private conversation. The sect leader immediately agreed to the request and teleported both of them to his office.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"So what's up?" Master said.
Zou Tian cupped his hands. "I'm afraid that I must decline your invitation to go to the mountain, Master." And he explained why.
"I see. We'll miss you, of course, but your reasoning appears sound. If it helps, I'm sure there will be other expeditions, and I'm proud of you for prioritizing needs over wants."
Being barely able to remember his parents, Zou Tian was self-aware enough to realize that he'd latched onto Master as a father figure, and the man expressing how proud he was really meant something. Zou Tian paused a moment to gather himself before continuing with the conversation.
"Gratitude, Master. Before you go, there are two things that I need."
"Okay. Tell me."
Zou Tian explained his and Yuan Yaozu's idea for a knowledge technique that would convey an overview of spycraft. The sect leader easily granted that request, handing over a jade slip after a few moments' thought.
"The second idea is a bit more problematic, Master. I'm not even sure if it can be done."
"This should be interesting. Shoot."
"One of the trials the pagoda offers is to Add or Modify Qi Aspect."
"Yeah. Xun Wu has already done that," Master said. "It works just fine. Are you trying to add a qi element?"
"No, Master. I need to be able to hide my cultivation better, and my theory is that, if I could increase my affinity with Shadow even higher, it might just give me the boost I need."
Master rubbed his chin. "You know, you got me there. I honestly don't know if that will work or not. I see why it might as, in a way, that is a modification of your aspect. On the other hand, I equally see how the pagoda might be ultra pedantic about what it allows. Either way, though, you have my permission to give it a shot."
Zou Tian cupped his hands again. "Gratitude, Master."
His first obstacle—the easiest one, really, consisting of getting Master's approval—was accomplished, but Zou Tian still had a lot to do. Best get to it.
Kang Lin had no idea what to expect from the expedition that Master had planned. The mountain had been the source of the beast tide, and when he and the twins had first encountered it, they'd given it a wide berth. The wood harvesters who'd been associate members of the Righteous Rain Sect had heard rumors about missions that sect had organized to take advantage of the natural treasures in the area, but they didn't know any actual details.
Basically, the entire place was surrounded in mystery. The only thing everyone agreed upon was that, the closer one got to the base of the mountain and then the higher one climbed, the more dangerous the environment and the beasts became. That fact actually didn't worry her too much, mainly because she had grown to trust her abilities and the battle prowess of her companions.
Oh, and she was almost positive that Master wouldn't drop them off in an area that was too dangerous for them. That helped her confidence a lot, too. And the contingency ring she wore on her finger.
Whatever they would be doing on their journey, they'd definitely be working with a safety net.
There was a slight delay as Zou Tian, who had told the rest of them in advance that he wasn't going and that he would be requesting a moment of Master's time, disappeared with Master. When they returned, Zou Tian looked pleased, so his requests must have been granted.
They all said their goodbyes to the boy, and he went off to do whatever activities had him so occupied. The Rising Tide Sect didn't keep many secrets, especially from members of the council, so the fact that no one knew exactly what had him so busy was a source of endless speculation. Contrary to what Yang Xiu guessed, Kang Lin was positive those activities had little or nothing to do with his girlfriend.
Soon, though, she put thoughts of the scout out of her mind as she had something infinitely more exciting to consider as they soon left the sect grounds behind. The journey was interesting with all four of the Foundation Establishment cultivators having their own gliders. Jin LiJuan's even had a small platform just for Ganzou.
Kang Lin definitely saw the convenience of the devices. Master didn't have to pull them on a sled like other elders would have had to do. And she loved the autonomy it gave her. The four of them could use the gliders to retreat or to gain altitude to evade a threat or to scout for dangers or treasures. When her cousins and her friends back in the Poison Claw Sect found out about the device, they would turn green with envy.
It seemed like barely any time at all before they neared the start of the valley leading to the mountain. Shortly after it came into view, Master led them to descend all the way to the ground at an outcrop overlooking it.
"I'll leave you here," Master said. "The quantity of beasts is still greatly diminished, and you won't find anything above a rank two anywhere near. On the other side of the valley near the base of the mountain, you'll start hitting a few rank fours, with rank threes ranging in between. Consider it an exercise for the student to determine how far you should go and how fast you should try to get there. If you get into trouble, don't hesitate to trigger your ring."
"Yes, Master," the four of them chorused.
And with that, he was off, leaving her with three cultivators still in the first minor realm of Foundation Establishment just like she was. Master had previously killed a Nascent Soul equivalent beast, a rank ten, near where they were. It occurred to her that most other sects, including her own, probably wouldn't have let the four of them, all relatively junior cultivators, anywhere near such a dangerous location.
If nothing else, life with the Rising Tide Sect sure was interesting.
Benton wasn't too worried about leaving the kids behind at the mouth of the valley. If it were just Yang Xiu or Jin LiJuan, he'd have been a bit concerned, but Yang Ru and Kang Lin had good heads on their shoulders. Besides, the four Foundation Establishment cultivators plus Ganzou represented a nice little fighting force, definitely head and shoulders above anything his spiritual sense had detected short of the mountain.
Speaking of that particular detection ability, however, he frowned as he turned his attention to the rapidly approaching peak. Normally, he was well pleased with his ability in that regard as it allowed him to determine more information at greater range than most cultivators. In his current circumstances, however, there was a problem.
The entire mountain lit up like a Christmas tree, showing qi everywhere. Just about everything from trees to rocks to water to the very air was saturated, so much so that it was difficult to determine details. That issue was going to make separating the wheat from the chaff nearly impossible.
Though he'd somewhat expected that result from his previous times being in the area, he had hoped that advancing to Nascent Soul might have given him an extra level of discernment.
No such luck.
There was one thing that stood out as he drew close—a cave near the highest peak. He sensed Thunder qi inside and a lot of it, coming from a living source. If he had to guess, he would have to say that the cavity housed a beast higher in cultivation than him.
Benton sighed. Confronting such a creature wasn't ideal. He really had no desire to fight, and he had no moral authority to barge in making demands. After all, he was the interloper on the mountain, intruding on the beast's area.
Not only did he not want to face the beast due to ethical concerns, but his recent experience had taught him to be wary of entities at a higher realm than him. He found it quite tempting to simply turn back. The auction hadn't even taken place yet. Maybe he'd find everything he needed there.
No need to disturb a beast at the equivalent of the Nihility realm.
The problem was that every instinct Benton had told him that such a creature wasn't just a threat to him but to his sect and to the entire region. As a sect leader, it wasn't something he could ignore.
He sighed. Sometimes, it really sucked to be an adult.
Not wanting to spook whatever was inside, Benton descended slowly toward the cave. The entrance was large, over fifteen feet high and half again as wide. He waited for a moment after he touched down, giving whatever was inside plenty of time to get used to his presence, and when he started forward, he moved at a slow, consistent pace.
A corridor led off the opening, and it remained the same large size, running at least fifty yards straight back before hitting a bend. As Benton approached that curve, the feeling of the beast's presence grew stronger and stronger, and when as soon as he rounded it, he saw the creature.
The cave opened into a large cavern, easily a hundred yards long and at least half that wide with a height matching the width. At the very end perched on a rock outcrop was a bird. It wasn't just a bird, though. The thing was massive, easily fifteen feet tall. And its feathers were iridescent. As Benton approached, its color shifted from blue to silver to gold.
His sense placed its cultivation at the equivalent of the mid realm of Nihility, so a rank fourteen beast. He was tempted for a moment to use Analyze on it, but most high realmed cultivators could detect such techniques being used on them. And some of them would take exception to such an act, thinking it rude.
There was no reason to risk upsetting the beast for a little addition information. If things went south, he could always manipulate time to give him a moment to Analyze it before the fight truly got started.
Benton prepared himself for anything to happen.
Well, really he prepared himself for an attack because, in his experience thus far in dealing with spirit beasts, that was the most likely outcome of an encounter.
What actually happened when he reached about a dozen yards away took him completely by surprise. The beast spoke.
"Greetings, Cultivator. Do you abide by the agreement?"
Waves of Thunder qi rolled off the creature, and even if Benton hadn't been able to sense that element so clearly, the deep rumble of its voice gave ample evidence of its aspect. It was actually quite nice, though. Kind of like James Earl Jones but more rumbly. If Benton ever got his planned movie studio off the ground and he established a good relationship with the bird, he'd have to ask it about doing voiceover work.
The surprise wasn't the niceness of its voice or the fact that it spoke at all—the cyclops had possessed the ability, however rudimentary its vocabulary and intelligence might have been. No, the surprise was the overall politeness and relative eloquence contained in the words and, moreover, the reference to an agreement.
"To be honest with you, Honored Beast." Benton floundered a bit after saying that as he wasn't sure if referring to a beast as a beast was offensive or not. "While I have no aversion to abiding by agreements in general, I must confess that I have no knowledge of the specific one you seem to be referring to."
Benton decided that he might want to consider buying a technique to help him with interspecies diplomacy because that was … yikes.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"Are you not a member of the Righteous Rain Sect, Cultivator? It's been quite some time since I've seen one of your kind, but the hue of your robes seems similar."
Ah. That old sect did wear blue robes as well.
"No, Honored Beast. This one is the sect leader for the Rising Tide Sect, a recently formed organization. Unfortunately, the Righteous Rain Sect is no more, having been destroyed by demonic cultivators some twenty years ago."
"Gratitude for this knowledge, Sect Leader. It explains much. Part of the agreement was that the sect would perform a culling of lesser beasts in intervals no greater than five years. Several were missed, leading to the formation of a tide recently."
Benton had guessed that the destruction of the sect had led to the tide, but it was interesting to have that supposition confirmed. Having now been to the mountain and seeing firsthand the infusion of qi, he easily understood how such a place would produce spirit beasts in excess of what the land could support.
"What else was contained within the agreement, Honored Beast?"
"The Righteous Rain Sect agreed not to overhunt and to honor myself with gifts, Sect Leader. In return, they were allowed to take a reasonable amount of resources from the mountain."
Translation—give the creature a bribe, and Benton would have permission to take away any materials that he needed should he find them. Even better, his sect members would have hunting grounds for the future.
"My sect is but a small one, Honored Beast, but if you would agree, we would like to take up the mantle abandoned with the destruction of the Righteous Rain Sect."
The creature's beak moved, and Benton wondered if that was its version of a smile.
"This offer is worthy of consideration. What does the sect leader have in mind for a gift?"
"May this one Analyze you, Honored Beast?"
"You may, Sect Leader."
Benton used his technique, and a status popped up.
Type:
Greater Thunderbird
Rank:
14
Title:
Lord and Protector of the Eternal Celestial Peak
Qi Element:
Thunder
Yeesh. Benton had been hoping that Analyze would provide him some hint as to what to gift the bird, but if such a clue were contained within the results, it eluded him. There were a couple of bits of interesting information contained in it, though
First of all, it was nice to know what type of bird it was, a mythical thunderbird. Other than that there was a car of that name on Earth as well as an Air Force squadron that did air shows, the name didn't tell Benton a lot about the creature.
Another interesting factoid was that the bird was both the Lord and Protector of the mountain, but those positions were made somewhat evident given the nature of the agreement it was willing to enter into with nearby sects.
The final interesting tidbit was the name of the mountain, Eternal Celestial Peak. Though somewhat pretentious, it was better than calling it "the mountain."
The long and the short of the situation was, though, that Benton was on his own to come up with a gift for the creature. Whatever he gave it, he definitely didn't want to skimp. Considering the treasures abounding all over the peak and the experience fighting beasts of the appropriate level could give his members, the agreement could be a very good thing for the future of his sect.
On the other hand, he didn't want to provide it with a powerful offensive or defensive treasure just in case the thing turned hostile toward humans.
Hmm.
Then the thought hit him—hands. It looked like the beast spent a lot of its time in the cave, and its wings weren't exactly equivalent to human arms. The only thing it could use for grasping things were its talons, which also served as its feet. Obviously, as a Nihility equivalent realm beast, it could use its will to manipulate its environment, but that wasn't the same as being able to, say, scratch its back. How freaking convenient would it be if it could manipulate items like a human could?
"I have an idea for a token of the esteem our sect will hold for the Honored Beast. As a Master craftsman, it will take me but a short time to create it. May I be excused for a moment?"
"Of course, Sect Leader."
Benton cupped his hands. "Gratitude, Honored Beast."
He immediately activated his Time Aura and teleported back to the main sect branch directly to his favorite forge. His idea was to create bracers that would go around the base of the bird's legs. Each would accept Thunder qi as an input. The output was the complicated part. Benton wanted to form a tangible arm, complete with a hand and opposable thumbs.
Honestly, he wasn't sure he would have been able to accomplish such a thing without his new Soul Material Manipulation technique. That skill's entire purpose was to allow him to mold organic matter into a new body for himself.
That purpose wasn't exactly what Benton was trying to do, but the knowledge the technique granted him was invaluable as he inscribed arrays that used Gravity, Force, and Earth to meld rocks and dirt into an arm and hand, one for each bracer.
Using the thing well would take some practice, but he was positive that a Nihility level existence could do so with ease. Benton just hoped the creation was as useful as he thought it might be.
He finished the bracers off by adding self-repair and durability arrays before teleporting back to the cave.
"You're back already, Sect Leader? No more than several blinks have passed."
"This one can manipulate Time, Honored Beast, and as I said, I am a master craftsman, able to forge, inscribe formations, and create pills at the highest level known to humanity. At such levels, experience translates to both speed and creativity."
"I see. The sect leader is truly formidable. Let's see what you came up with."
From the tone, Benton would have imagined that, if it were human, it would have been rubbing its hands together gleefully in anticipation.
"Of course, Honored Beast." Benton held up his arms and wiggled his fingers. "I've always thought that these were one of humanity's greatest conveniences. We take being able to easily grab things or scratch our backs or use weapons for granted. I hope my reasoning isn't too human centric, but I thought that maybe you'd like the experience of being able to use them as well."
He removed the bracers from his spatial ring and floated them with his will toward the thunderbird. When they reached about the halfway point, they were taken over by the bird's will.
A thin stream of qi entered one of the bracers from the bird, and nearby rocks and debris were drawn to the device and molded into an arm about eight feet long. Jerkily at first but becoming smoother by the second, the arm and fingers moved and flexed.
"Interesting, Sect Leader. The former sect who participated in the agreement brought me only trinkets and treats. None formed something as magnificent as this gift. You have truly showed your respect today, Sect Leader. I will gladly enter into an agreement with you."
Yes. How awesome was it when a person—or being—actually appreciates your thoughtfulness in choosing a gift? Benton thought that the occasion just might be the start of a beautiful friendship. Now if only he could find at least a few of the materials he needed.
Benton had confidence that one pressing issue had been resolved. Having come to an agreement with the Lord and Protector of the mountain, a rank fourteen thunderbird, he didn't think he'd have any problems with being attacked by anything more powerful than him.
Which meant he could focus on finding the materials that he required in order to make qi sources. In theory, such materials, being rich in qi, would stand out to his spiritual sense. And in reality, they probably did.
The problem was that, while his sense was fantastic at picking out a needle in the middle of a dessert, it wasn't nearly so great at picking out a particular needle on a peak that was filled with the things. Everything in front of, below, and around him was steeped in qi. Every rock. Every blade of grass. Every tree. Every fallen twig. Everything.
For two days, he did everything he could think of. Flew far above the mountain trying to sense only the biggest sources. It worked to find him fantastically great treasures. Probably. But not the treasures he needed.
He tried flying really close to the ground and checking everything in detail. It took him hours to cover a couple of yards, and the mountain was simply ginormous.
Eventually, he hit on the idea of sorting for the qi elements that he needed, Shadow for example. From high above the mountain, unfortunately, even his advanced spiritual sense wasn't good enough to detect a small speck of Shadow in the ocean of light. Moving closer to the ground yielded the same problem as before—it took forever to cover much ground. At least he could actually find sources of Shadow qi that were nearby, but none of them turned out to be what he needed. Mostly because they were too weak and a couple because the materials were contaminated with other elements.
And an additional problem reared its head—he easily could be passing up, say, an Ice treasure while fruitlessly searching for a Shadow one. And switching back and forth between all five that he was still searching for—having everything he needed for Fire either in hand or en route to the sect—slowed him down even further.
Needless to say, it was a frustrating two days, especially since he had gotten so accustomed to manipulating time. Because he was interacting with the world, sensing qi emanations from the surroundings, he couldn't use either his Aura or his technique when far from the source of the qi. And it turned out that trying to include only part of the ground in his time bubble was possible if he got close enough, but it drained qi fast. Really fast. And even with the agreement with the thunderbird in place, he thought it would be incredibly idiotic to leave himself vulnerable by running his qi pool too low.
Basically, he spent most of those two days in real time, which made things even more irritating. Finally, though, Benton remembered something important—he was a cheating cheater who cheats.
"System," he said internally, fearing the thunderbird might be able to hear him anywhere on the mountain, "can I make a Detect Treasure technique that fine tunes my spiritual sense to seek out only a specific thing that I tell it to?"
Host may create such a technique. At Foundation Establishment level, however, it probably will not be strong enough to filter out the strong interference from the ambient qi in Host's current environment.
Well, that answer wasn't a no. It just meant that the System was trying to get more points out of him. Benton could live with that outcome.
"System, what would I need to do to create a technique powerful enough to filter out the strong interference around me?"
Host should associate the Foundation Establishment level technique with a Concept specifically created to empower the technique.
Honestly, Benton should have figured that out by himself. Obviously, the technique needed to be stronger, and he had the roadmap from previous experience on how to power it up. Self-recriminations didn't help, though. Better to focus his attention on figuring out a good Concept.
So what qi element would help with filtering out qi emanations from so many sources? Obviously, the correct qi element to use was…
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Or maybe…
How about…
Ugh. He couldn't come up with a single thing that would help. His mind just went blank.
Benton tended to think of qi elements like they were energy types from Pokemon Go, which he'd played a bit with his grandkids. Electricity, Rock, Metal, those kinds of things. Though he knew intellectually that a qi element could be pretty much anything he could imagine, it was difficult for his old brain to break out of the mold and get creative. It seemed like the current situation might be one of those times when he would have to do just that.
"System, I would like to purchase the Concept of Treasure to Mastery. My idea for the qi element is to define a treasure as any substance, be it animal, vegetable, or mineral, that I am interested in finding at any particular time."
And that worked. The System charged him his normal sixteen points for the Concept to go with the eight for the technique, and just like that, he had a way to detect treasures.
He really, truly did love being a cultivator. There he was floating several football fields above a mountain using his will alone to hold him aloft while cheating the heck out of the circumstances to find the treasure he needed.
Too sweet.
Yang Xiu really, truly did love being a cultivator. There she was traipsing through a valley with her brother, her best friend in the world, and a sweet but intense kid and that kid's wolf while hunting spirit beasts and using the fights to practice her techniques. And they even had the possibility of discovering treasure. Too sweet.
Honestly, though the thought of finding valuable resources was appealing, Yang Xiu wanted for nothing. When she was hungry, she ate at the cafeteria for free. When she needed a resource to advance her cultivation, Master provided it, mostly kind of for free. She did sometimes have to pay Contribution Points, but those were nebulous at best. And her supply always outstripped her needs.
Combined with having friends she liked and could count on, her brother by her side, and being able to pursue her dream of being a cultivator, there was nothing she could possibly want. Nothing that was attainable at any rate. Not even Master could bring her parents back.
She shook off her suddenly morose thoughts and concentrated on the game trail they were following. Not much time passed before Kang Lin spoke.
"Incoming. Rank two. Yang Ru, you're up."
For the past two days, they'd developed a system of taking turns. With four of them, humans anyway, they alternated which one kept their spiritual sense active to detect beasts and which different person got to fight any beasts they found solo. When it was Jin LiJuan's turn to keep watch, one of the other three surreptitiously also took an extra turn. The little girl was diligent and really tried hard, but she just wasn't experienced enough yet.
Of course, Ganzou was better than all of them. A wild beast had yet to get close to the group without the wolf detecting it well in advance.
"You want it, Jin LiJuan?" Yang Ru said.
The little girl cupped her hands. "Gratitude, Senior Brother."
Giving all the rank twos to her had become their practice as well. The weak creatures really did nothing for the three of them, but Jin LiJuan's techniques needed so much work than even the small amount of challenge represented by beasts almost a full major realm below her helped a lot.
The thing was that the girl was being quite persistent in her practice. When they were at the sect, she spent more time in the pavilion working against the combat dummies than literally anyone else, often with Pan Jiang mentoring her. Still, though, her sword technique wasn't even close to Large Success, and despite weeks of effort, she hadn't gotten her Nature technique to Small Success yet, either.
Confused by the lack of progress, Yang Xiu had asked Kang Lin about it, obviously out of earshot of the girl or the wolf. It turns out that talent doesn't just impact cultivation speed, but the time it takes to learn techniques as well. Not only was Jin LiJuan the least talented member of the sect, but her pathways were still really messed up. Kang Lin thought it a miracle that the girl was making any advancement at all.
That was a bit of a shame because, in all other respects, Jin LiJuan had crazy advantages. All she had to do to advance was to feed Ganzou spirit beast cores, and considering the plethora of them available given the recent tide, her way to Golden Core was clear. If Master hadn't insisted that she take the time to shore up her techniques and obtain her own cores, the girl would have already made it to that realm.
It also appeared that she could use any technique. Any element. She could channel her qi into one of Kang Lin's techniques and use Lightning. Pick up one of Yang Ru's and produce Momentum. If Yang Xiu hadn't herself felt so incredibly privileged, she would have wept at the unfairness.
Rustling sounded ahead of them, and Yang Xiu turned her attention to the approaching beast. The valley was quite lush with trees and bushes and tall grasses. If not for the group's spiritual senses, they would have been ambushed several times already.
The approaching creature obviously didn't rely on stealth, however. It crashed through bushes and small saplings, avoiding only large trees, and soon, it appeared on the trail a dozen yards ahead of them. A badger.
Ugh. Yang Xiu couldn't help but recall the Shadow aspected one that gave them so much trouble during the tide. If not for Zou Tian, they might have lost a lot of people to that beast.
She didn't expect the one in front of them to present nearly as big a challenge. To her, Kang Lin, Yang Ru, or Ganzou anyway. Jin LiJuan was another matter entirely.
Fresh off a new round of cheating, Benton obviously needed to try out his new technique. He elevated high over the peak so that he could see the entire mountain at once, and triggering an old school memory of the Wonder Twins from the Superfriends, kind of, he said internally, "Detect Treasure activate. Form of an … Ice aspected beast core, rank ten or higher."
He waited a moment, staring at what he imagined as specks of light representing qi below him. They were so numerous that they literally all blended together into one big light. Surely something would happen. Something would pop out for him to notice, maybe shining brighter than all others.
Nope. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
"Detect Treasure activate. Form of a … rock emitting lots of Ice qi."
Still nothing.
Same for a Momentum aspected beast core. Honestly, he was starting to think that the technique was a dud, though that would have been a first. Still, it had required the use of a Concept. Maybe he'd messed that part up somehow.
Or maybe the mountain didn't happen to have the exact materials he needed for every qi aspect handy. Those things were supposed to be rare after all.
"Detect Treasure activate. Form of a … plant emitting lots of Momentum qi."
That time, something did happen. Almost all the qi specks blanked out. All save one, actually. That tiny little pinprick burned as bright as the sun, drawing him to it.
Suddenly bereft of his ability to sense spirit beasts and other dangers while under the influence of his skill, he let himself drift slowly downward until he could make out the plant in question.
"Cancel technique," he said internally.
The enormous flood of information returned to his thankfully enhanced brain, and he checked for any beasts that might have taken the opportunity to set up an ambush. None of them were apparently that stupid, though.
Even diverting his attention away from the plant for a moment, he had no problem locating it, having used one of the four instances his mind was capable of splitting into to keep focus on it.
Benton actually didn't know a whole lot about plants. Herbs were a different story. His techniques had given him encyclopedic knowledge of anything that could be used for alchemy. If it wasn't part of that group of catalogued flora, though, he couldn't tell you much about the things.
A group of dozens of unfamiliar plants with long stalks with bulbous ends were growing near an outcrop overlooking a canyon. Winds naturally whipped through that canyon and up the wall before being funneled onto the outcrop where it blew the tips all around.
In the qi rich environment of the mountain, the tips naturally absorbed much of it and took on an aspect dictated by their surroundings. As one might expect, most of those tips acquired a Wind aspect. Several, and one in particular, had instead taken on a Momentum aspect as they were whirled around.
Analyze told him that Detect Treasure was absolutely correct. That particular plant had grown saturated enough with Momentum qi to fulfill the needs of the qi source he was trying to create.
Perfect.
He left the others in place and made a mental note of the location. Given enough time, it was quite possible that the three other plants would absorb enough as well.
With his new technique, scouring the mountain for the rest of the materials he wanted took very little time. Most simply didn't exist, which made sense. It took much time and an unusual confluence of circumstances to make a material purely aspected with a single qi element of the strength that he required.
The Eternal Celestial Peak was quite an unusual place, however, and he located two more materials, both rocks—one with the Shadow element and one with the Time element.
All in all, Benton was quite pleased. With the results. With the mountain as a source of cultivation treasures. And most of all, with his continued ability to cheat his way through any situation that arose.
Since his job was finished, he decided to spend the rest of the week spying on the kids' progress, a task that was sure to be interesting, fun, and educational.
Jin LiJuan purely hated spirit beasts. Most spirit beasts anyway. Despite herself, Ganzou was starting to grow on her.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Regardless, whatever she felt for the wolf didn't have much of an effect on her feelings for the badger approaching her. She hated everything about it.
Its stout, flattened body. Its short legs. That ludicrous white strip that ran down the center of its ugly face.
Mostly, though, she hated that it would likely be so hard to kill. For her anyway. Any of the others, including Ganzou, would surely destroy it with a single swipe.
She steadied herself. It didn't matter what they could do. What mattered was that she needed to learn, to advance, to grow. Master and Ganzou had given her a tremendous advantage in being able to ascend realms at ridiculous speeds and to be able to use any qi aspect.
There was a catch, though. She had to attain Mastery of techniques to maximize those advantages. Once she did, she'd be unstoppable, second only to Master in terms of strength in the sect, passing even Town Lord Fatty Ren.
First, she had to work hard. But that was okay. She'd never been scared of hard work.
Jin LiJuan set her jaw and settled into her combat stance, her jian held in the ready position.
Her goal for the trip was to advance just two of her techniques to their respective next ranks—the Strong Oak Sword technique to Large Success and Ensnarl to Small Success.
Both goals seemed so tiny, eclipsed by the wonder that was advancing all the way to Foundation Establishment. But neither was easy. She had to fight tooth and nail for each minor improvement. Even with how easy Master said Ensnarl was or with how much help Senior Brother Pan Jiang had been with the blade, she just couldn't seem to make big gains.
That was why she would be forever grateful to her fellow disciples accompanying her on the hunt. Not only was she able to concentrate fully on improving her technique since she could trust any one of them to save her if she truly got into trouble, but they were giving her all their turns.
Oh, she did understand that the rank two creatures she fought weren't a challenge for any of them, but to hear Pan Jiang talk, it wasn't unusual at all for a cultivator to take what was theirs by right whether it actually benefited them or not. She was glad that her sect and her fellow disciples weren't like that. Though she felt that she really didn't know any of the three of them that well at all—they were, after all, three of the most important people at the sect and she was several years their junior—but she also knew that each of them would do everything in their power to help her.
Jin LiJuan vowed right then and there to follow their example to the best of her ability. She'd been given great gifts and, as soon as she gained Mastery of enough techniques, would become one of the most powerful members of the sect. Her responsibility was to help others as they were helping her.
The badger was almost upon her, though, so it was time to put away errant thoughts.
It waddled toward her with an awkward but powerful gait.
"The claws on the front feet and its teeth are its main weapons," Kang Lin yelled. "It will be deceptively fast in a straight line, but with your agility, you should be able to flank it relatively easily."
The eldest of the group, the girl seemed to know a lot about just about everything. Jin LiJuan nodded, both as thanks for the information and recognition that such knowledge was a type of power in its own right.
She truly hated sitting and reading, preferring to practice her sword or other techniques, but as she was expected to eventually be one of the leaders of a new Beast Pavilion—she mentally shook her head at the thought—it would be good for her to learn more about them.
The badger hesitated at the yell, surely realizing it had no hope at five against one with all its opponents at a higher realm than it. Jin LiJuan, however, was quite some distance ahead of the others, and none of them made a move to get closer.
Apparently coming to the conclusion that it was worth the risk—either that or it let its natural aggression get the better of it—the badger darted forward with a snarl.
Jin LiJuan thanked the heavens for Kang Lin's warning. The thing was fast. Really fast. Way faster than Jin LiJuan would have expected given the beast's awkward gait and its overall pudgy appearance.
Without having been told to be on the lookout, she might have been taken by surprise. Instead, she dashed to the right just as the badger began its burst. And as expected, the beast wasn't able to turn in time, dashing right past her.
Jin LiJuan was ready. She slashed at the creature's flank. Wind Whipping the Branch added both power and speed. Her blade fell, slashing the badger just in front of its tail.
It yelped.
The cut was deep, and blood flowed from it.
That was good. An improvement. The beast was only a rank two, but it was strong and fast for its rank. And she'd hit it on her first try, an attack made after a successful dodge.
Pan Jiang would be so proud when he learned of her actions.
The badger, on the other hand, didn't like being struck. It tried to flee, obviously in the direction opposite her group.
Ganzou, at rank four, was much faster than the badger. The wolf also know that the kill wasn't his to make, so he instead used his speed and the threat of his teeth to herd the badger.
The bloodied beast was driven, hissing and snarling, back to Jin LiJuan, and by the time it reached her, it was too agitated to do anything other than strike out blindly. She saw the attack coming almost before it made it.
Her footwork felt perfect as she stepped to the left.
The badger's teeth missed her by inches, but she barely noticed. She'd already started her next move, a backward thrust with her jian.
Root Seeks Water.
The metal of her root found liquid as intended, blood taking the place of water. The blade sliced between the ribs and found the beast's heart, killing it.
She'd won.
More importantly, she felt something change in her understanding of her sword technique. She'd done it.
Large Success.
Yes!
"Jin LiJuan?" a voice said from behind her. Kang Lin.
"Yes, Senior Sister?" Jin LiJuan had been so wrapped up in the excitement of advancing her technique that she hadn't heard the others approach.
Pan Jiang would be disappointed in what he called her situation awareness.
"Why didn't you use your plant technique to hold the beast in place?" Kang Lin said.
"Uh…"
Zou Tian sighed. In the five days since the expedition had departed, he'd been hard at work preparing for his eventual mission. Cultivating. Working on his Shadow Perception technique. Getting his Knowledge of Spycraft technique to Small Success. Sparring with his dagger.
Everything but entering the Trial Pagoda.
Brother Peng Zhen had given Zou Tian permission to use it any day he wanted. He just needed to run by the Contribution Points Shop first thing in the morning and make the reservation.
For three days, he'd tried to psych himself up for the trial but unfortunately ended up psyching himself out—one of Master's phrases—instead.
His fear wasn't exactly the same as last time. Before he'd generally been afraid of failure just because he didn't want to be the first to be put in that position.
Instead, his current fear was much better grounded. The mission was important to him and to the sect, and he didn't think he could achieve what he needed to accomplish without upgrading his affinity with his aspect.
Of course, he could try again if he failed. And he would try again. It was just that he felt that the lack of success might destroy all his confidence, making the next try that much more difficult.
He sighed again. Regardless, he had to try at some point. Soon. He needed to know.
Tomorrow. He'd do it tomorrow.
Yang Ru had spent the previous five days watching Jin LiJuan slowly, very slowly, improve her techniques, finally getting her plant manipulation ability to Small Success the previous afternoon. Due to her being assigned to his processing group after the beast tide, he'd spent more time with her than his sister or Kang Lin had. He'd actually been there when Jin LiJuan had found the wolf pup that would become Ganzou.
It was really ironic how embracing the thing she hated most—a beast—had become the path to power she so desired. Yang Xiu had gushed about it being like something out of one of the novels she read. Yang Ru didn't say anything, but his opinion was that an author who came up with such a stupid plot device must not be very good.
He had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, that he envied Jin LiJuan's easy advancements. She hardly cultivated at all, instead only having to feed Ganzou spirit beast cores. But he didn't feel that he had any right to complain. Kang Lin told him all the time that her fellow sect members would weep blood to hear someone with his talent whine about someone else's advantages.
Which was quite true. But it was still difficult not to be envious.
Not that he didn't like Jin LiJuan or bore her any ill will, however. In fact, he'd do anything in his power to support her.
The girl reminded him a lot of himself. They both had a similar background in that they'd lost parents to violence. If anything, she'd had it even rougher than him, losing her parents at a younger age and witnessing the event. It was a miracle that the beasts hadn't taken her as well.
While he'd focused inwardly, though, blaming himself for not being strong enough to protect his family, she'd directed her anger toward the creatures that had killed hers. Toward revenge.
Watching her fight to get that hate under control reminded him of his early struggles with his desire to protect Yang Xiu. Even though he'd recognized that his focus on that particular goal was unhealthy and unreasonable, he had a hard time getting past it. Even to the current day, it was still hard for him to admit that, if she couldn't save herself, there were only isolated situations where he could do anything to help.
Meeting Kang Lin helped a lot with overcoming that mindset, though. He felt like his thoughts were turning more toward the future instead of the past, allowing him to focus more on steady growth and stability for himself instead of being concerned about protecting his capable sister.
Yang Ru felt like he'd come a long way from the boy he'd been less than a year ago when he'd first encountered Master.
Returning his attention to his surroundings, he sighed. They'd moved out of the territory mainly populated by rank twos and into the area near the base of the mountain, which was filled with rank threes and the occasional rank four. The three older disciples in the group still gave up their turns at the lower ranked beasts to Jin LiJuan, as Yang Xiu had done several minutes ago.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The younger girl was not doing well with the more powerful beasts. For one thing, they were faster. And stronger. Using Ensnarl to hinder them with plants accomplished only the briefest of delays, and while one of her seniors would have been fast enough and skilled enough to take advantage of the opportunity that distraction gave, she … wasn't. And therein laid the real problem. She simply needed more experience.
Jin LiJuan was progressing. It was just that the pace was so slow compared to everyone else.
Still, if Master asked for a recommendation, Yang Ru would firmly advocate for the girl to be allowed to hunt in the valley on her own. Could she handle all the challenges present? No. Definitely not. Could Ganzou? Absolutely. And the two of them worked well enough together for him not to worry overly much about them, especially as she had a contingency ring.
She was currently fighting a giant centipede, easily as long as she was tall. The thing was just nasty, a creepy crawly if he ever saw one. Nothing that big should have that many legs. Thankfully, it wasn't very fast, but it made up for its lack of speed with extra toughness.
Though Jin LiJuan had gotten in several strikes with her sword, she'd yet to break through the beast's chitin exoskeleton to do any real damage.
Kang Lin, whose current job was to watch the surroundings instead of the fight, suddenly spoke. "Incoming. Rank four."
Yang Ru grinned. His turn.
Trusting his sister, Ganzou, and his likely future fiancé to watch Jin LiJuan, he reached out with his spiritual sense, immediately spotting the quickly approaching ball of qi.
Their group was approaching the mountain from the northwest, and the beast rapidly making its way to them came from the east. The forest was too thick to see it, though, and the dense underbrush also impacted his ability to build up Momentum.
That was okay, though. It was only a rank four, the equivalent of his level. Fighting using different methods from his normal tried and true was good practice, and the situation gave him to perfect opportunity to do just that. Rather than using Inevitability and Momentum Transfer, he'd go with his original skills—spear combat and Stone Skin.
The fact that it felt weird for him not to be rushing toward the beast told him he was becoming too set in his ways. It was good to discover that fact while in a low danger situation rather than against rival cultivators.
Soon, the beast broke through the cover of the brush, coming into view less than ten yards away. A spider.
If there was one type of creature under the heavens that Yang Ru despised, it was a spider. The hay at his uncle's farm was simply infested with arachnids, and he couldn't even count the number of times one had fallen on him from above, crawled inside his shirt, and bit him.
Yang Ru felt his heart start to race, tainted by anger and disgust, so he took a deep breath, calming himself. Losing himself to his emotions would do him no good.
Not for the first time, he considered how weird it was that he preferred being cool and calm, a trait associated with Ice, while his twin preferred emotion and excitement, much more Fire aspected characteristics. What the fact that they portrayed a mentality associated with their sibling's aspect meant, he had no idea.
Meanwhile, the spider, instead of charging or attacking, simply turned back the way it had come. For a moment, Yang Ru was disappointed, thinking it was running just from the sight of him.
It turned out that wasn't what it was doing.
There was one thing most beasts that he fought lacked—a ranged attack. Which worked out great for him since he rarely used the bow he stowed in his ring. With his skill still at Small Success, he'd be lucky to even hit a moving target, much less strike it somewhere critical enough to actually hurt it.
The spider, though, proved to be an exception to not having the ability to strike at range. Its first move was to shoot a web at him.
Though he could move at incredible speeds when he got going, he wasn't quick. His acceleration was slow, steady, and Inevitable. There was no way he could dodge the mass of sticky web coming at him.
Well, so much for using only his spear skills and Stone Skin to fight the beast.
Yang Ru had not been lax about continuing to practice and learning new uses for his signature abilities after reaching Mastery. In fact, he'd recently achieved a breakthrough that he thought of as a real gamechanger.
The only problem was that he needed something connected to his body to serve as a conduit for his qi, and he definitely didn't want his spear to touch that sticky webbing.
His previous thoughts about the bow probably influenced his decision to pull a single arrow from his ring.
Perfect.
He held it out toward the incoming webbing, and as it neared, he triggered his Momentum Transfer technique. Instead of transferring his own Momentum to a target, though, he stole the web's motion and transferred it to himself.
Two things happened simultaneously. One, the web collapsed to the ground, its forward progress simply halted. Two, he accelerated instantly.
Since the web didn't weigh nearly as much as he did, the Momentum imparted actually wasn't all that great, but the spider was at a huge disadvantage. Shooting the web at him had required it to turn its backside toward him.
By the time the beast realized that he was not enmeshed in its trap, he was more than halfway to it. All it had time to do before he reached it was to make a halfhearted stab with one of its many legs.
Yang Ru didn't even bother to block it, trusting his shield to handle the blow. Which it did with aplomb.
His strength as a Foundation Establishment cultivator was decent but not really in excess of the similarly ranked spider. The additional strength provided by reaching the second minor realm of Silver Body Cultivation, however, eclipsed the arachnid by at least a degree of magnitude.
He thrust his spear with perfect technique and all his considerably enhanced muscles driving the blow. The spider's abdomen practically exploded, leaving him covered in the spider's blood.
The good news? His opponent was dead. The bad news? Kang Lin was absolutely going to insist that he find a place to bathe before he was allowed within twenty yards of her.
He sighed again.