Chapter 45 - A Not Unexpected Development
The next day Benton ran errands while the twins cultivated. His first stop was the Heavenly Transit Mercantile Association. Ma An had agreed to pick up the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood from the warehouse, but the city wasn't exactly arranged with street names and addresses like one would expect on Earth. His men and carts had to be escorted to the correct location to pick up the load.
That task accomplished, Benton spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon finding and talking to the woodworker, the alchemist, and the blacksmith that Ma An had recommended. Each agreed to the price and timeline that the merchant had suggested, so by the time the workday ended, Benton had deals in place to get his spears made. The finished product was expected in ten days.
After a dinner out with the siblings, the three returned to the warehouse where Benton guided his disciples in practicing their various techniques until, late in the evening, Zou Tian knocked on the warehouse's door and was let inside.
The boy shook as he kowtowed. "Sincerest apologies, Esteemed Master Cultivator. This lowly one was forced to report your movements yesterday to the gang leader. He knows that the Esteemed Master Cultivator is in possession of a king's ransom in city notes."
The development was not unexpected. After all, the kid had been placed as a lookout for a reason, and Benton had told him not to risk his life by withholding information.
"What was his reaction?" Benton said.
"His eyes are filled with visions of treasure, but his greed is tempered with caution. He trusts that this lowly one's reports of the Esteemed Master Cultivator's power is accurate and, even if he didn't, he would think that anyone carrying such a large sum of money probably has the means to protect it. This lowly one expects him to sell the information to one of the cultivator gangs in return for a portion of any treasure they steal."
"How soon will the cultivator gang make a move? Tonight?"
"That would be this lowly one's best guess, Esteemed Master Cultivator. They wouldn't want to take the chance of their prize slipping away."
"You did well. Thanks for bringing this information to me." Benton handed the kid ten silver taels.
Zou Tian's eyes went wide. Obviously, he'd been expecting punishment, maybe even death, not a reward.
"You do your thing and stay safe," Benton said. "We'll be ready."
After the kid had departed, Benton turned to the twins. "You heard that?"
"Yes, Senior Brother," the two chorused.
"And what do you think?"
They exchanged a look.
"I think we'll be ready," Yang Xiu said.
"You two have gotten pretty good at killing beasts, enough so that I have confidence you can take on any given rank two solo. I'd even be willing to pit the two of you as a team against a rank three without worrying too much." Benton paused. "Killing cultivators, killing humans, is a different thing, though. If we stay here and face this attack, we can't be merciful. None who trespass into this building tonight will be suffered to live."
The twins exchanged another glance.
"We understand, Senior Brother … Master," Yang Xiu said.
Benton hated, hated, hated that he was about to have his disciples face what was coming. It wasn't even necessary. They could leave town. Hell, even relocating to a different portion of the city would be enough. They had enough money to rent rooms in an upscale, very secure inn. No one would dare bother them if they took up residence in one of the rich areas where the City Lord's forces actively kept the peace.
But facts were facts. A cultivation world shared little in common with the world of his birth, one where the rule of law held at least a modicum of sway. Killing rival humans was a fact of life here. If the twins could not or would not kill, their use as the sect's main combat team was worthless, and it was better to find that out sooner rather than later.
"I want our sect to value human life even more than a typical righteous sect," Benton said. "If someone offends us accidentally, we will educate them and move past it. If someone deliberately disrespects us, we will punish as is appropriate. If someone stands nonviolently between us and our goal, we will remove them. But we will not kill."
His voice was grim as he made the statement, and his disciples' faces matched his tone.
"If someone comes against us with the intent to harm any one of us or to take what is ours, then, in my eyes, that someone has ceased to be human. We will end that someone." Benton channeled his inner Sean Connery. "Here endeth the lesson.
"Now, let's talk strategy…"
Yang Ru fidgeted. He didn't normally fidget, but if any situation warranted it, the current one did. The time was well past midnight, and he, his sister, and their master expected a gang of cultivators to attack at any moment.
And he didn't know how to feel about that.
He certainly didn't consider himself to be an introspective person. Through most of his life, he'd simply obeyed his parents. When they told him to clean the house or help in the shop or whatever other chore was necessary, he did it without complaint. When they told him to go live with his uncle on the farm, he didn't even consider refusing. When they told him that his job was to protect his sister if anything ever happened to them, he took that responsibility seriously.
Life had been simple. He was fed enough. Happy enough. Content. Up until when Fang Wei took a liking to his sister, anyway.
The moment Yang Ru found out that men had killed his mom and dad, he had never felt so helpless, so powerless. Sure, he was bigger and stronger than a lot of the other teens, but he could do nothing against grown men who wielded actual weapons, who knew how to use those weapons.
How could he fulfill the promise he'd made to protect his sister when he held no power?
It was the first time in his life he'd known true despair.
In that darkened warehouse as he stood impatiently waiting for their enemies to arrive, he knew that everything had changed. He had cultivation. Skill with his spear. Hours spent hunting and killing spirit beasts.
He was ready.
Tonight, he would show that he had power.
Master called him the tip of the spear. After their enemies had entered the warehouse, his job was to start the attack by charging fast and hard and, as his master had put it, end the first person he encountered with all due haste.
Normally, he'd be much more worried about his sister than himself, but they had constructed what his master called a sniper's nest in the rafters using the materials from what had been the three tables. Master assured him that it was extremely unlikely that any trash cultivators could leap high enough to reach her, and the heavy wood planks surrounding her should protect her from arrows and other ranged weapons.
While Xiu'er sniped, his master would take care of the most dangerous threats among their enemies.
Yang Ru didn't know much about such fights, but the strategy appeared sound. Of the three of them, he was the most likely to take injuries, but that was okay. Master's healing pills worked like a miracle. Besides, pain or injury or even death did not frighten him. His only fear was that he would let his master and his sister down.
"Ware," his master said. "They're getting close."
Yang Ru tightened his grip on his spear. Seconds turned to minutes as time dragged until, eventually, he heard scratching at the door.
It was barred with a single piece of wood.
Yang Xiu had asked why they were bothering with securing the door, and Master had told them that it would make the cultivator gang too cautious if it were left open. He wanted to kill as many of the men as possible inside, and for that, he needed them overconfident.
Metal scraped against wood. Thud. Something softly landed on the dirt floor near the entry.
Everything went silent for several long moments, and Yang Ru imagined the men at the door listening intently for any sign that anyone inside was awake.
Soft snoring came from the direction that his master waited, and for a moment, Yang Ru was quite confused. Surely, his master hadn't actually fallen asleep? His master didn't even snore!
Ah. A ruse. And it worked. The next sound Yang Ru heard was the gentle squeak of the door's hinges followed by the shuffling of feet as one after the other their enemies crept inside.
The warehouse was too dark for him to see the gang members, so he couldn't get an accurate count. He left that to his sister, who had a perception skill, and his master, who probably knew not only the position of each man but also his cultivation and everything else relevant about him.
Yang Ru's instructions were to hit the group after as many of them entered as possible but before they started to disperse, so he did his best to track their movements via noise.
It wasn't easy, though. They were all the way on the other side of the warehouse, and there were a lot of them. Were they all inside? Were they all together?
He really, really wanted to ask if it was time to charge, but his master had been clear. The timing was solely Yang Ru's decision.
His master could have given a signal. Yang Xiu could have given a signal. But no, the person the least equipped to know what was happening was tasked with starting the attack.
Yang Ru saw the tactic for what it was. A test. Or as his master so often put it, an opportunity to learn.
He had no idea what the enemy was doing, but he'd been patient enough to show his master that he wasn't being impulsive. Quietly, he removed an object from inside his robe and secured it between his palm and his spear's haft. Time to move.
An image flickered across his mind, a glowing red flow of liquid rock moving down a mountainside. He'd of course never seen such a thing, but his master had described it so vividly that Yang Ru could envision the incredible sight.
How hot would rock have to get to melt? How heavy would a flowing mass of it be? How unstoppable?
Hot. Heavy. Unstoppable.
With those concepts in mind, he charged.
Chapter 46 - Shock and Awe
Benton's enhanced spiritual senses detected sixteen men and three women slowly entering the warehouse. All but one were in the Qi Gathering Realm, mostly minor realms three and four. A couple were in minor realm two. One was in the fifth. Two were in the sixth and another in the seventh. The man Benton assumed was the leader was the only exception, a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the second minor realm.
Gutter trash. Nothing he couldn't handle.
Or so Su's memories told him.
Su was used to a life of combat and killing bandits and even rival sect members, though. In sharp contrast, Benton was a middle manager for a Fortune 500 company whose last fight before coming to this world had been in junior high.
The gang leader probably conducted raids on a regular basis, putting Benton's one youthful indiscretion to shame in terms of relevant experience. And not only that, but the gang leader severely outclassed Benton in cultivation level. There was an enormous gulf between one major realm and the next. Even if Benton were at the peak and the leader barely past it, the leader would still have a huge advantage in cultivation.
Instead, Benton was in the eighth minor realm, meaning that, in addition to the huge gap of the major realm that stood between the two, four minor realms also separated them.
On paper, the matchup seemed poor for him and his disciples not even taking into account being down nineteen to three in sheer numbers of people. Quantity did have a quality all of its own after all.
No, Benton was not feeling nearly as confident as he'd made it seem to the kids.
On the plus side, he did have two levels of body cultivation, which definitely helped close any gap in physical stats between him and the leader. And Su's memories were probably right in that any wandering cultivator who joined a gang, even as its leader, wasn't likely to have access to particularly good cultivation methods or techniques. Benton, on the other hand, had System granted knowledge taking him to Large Success in fighting with a spear, and his cultivation base was pristine.
Additionally, he and his disciples held a clear advantage in equipment. The gang members all held mortal grade weapons, and Benton didn't sense any talismans or other qi treasures on them.
Tired of dealing with weapons that broke way too easily, he'd picked up a few personal weapons and some other necessary supplies in his wanderings through the city. None of the weapons were fancy—not nearly as nice as either the system supplied ones or the spears he was having produced—but neither would they snap the first time a Qi Gathering cultivator blocked them. With a spear in his hands, a sword hanging in a scabbard on his left hip, and a sheathed dagger on his right, he felt ready for what was to come.
His doubts were just pre-fight nerves. He and the twins would do fine. Right?
Benton was definitely impressed with his disciples. As eager as the kids were to start the battle, they both showed admirable patience. Yang Xiu stayed silent and alert in her sniper's nest, and Yang Ru had waited much, much longer than Benton had expected.
He didn't know how his disciple knew when to charge, but he timed it well, starting just after the last of the gang had filed into the warehouse. Benton fell in behind him, following nearly soundlessly in his shadow.
The gang had spread out to each side of the doorway, but they were still centered on it. Which was good for Benton's plan because that was exactly the direction in which Yang Ru charged.
The warehouse was around two hundred feet long by fifty feet wide, and he started about as far width wise from the entrance at he could. He was big for a fifteen-year-old and months of sparring and practicing his spear technique and hunting spirit beasts had honed his body into a finely tuned machine.
From his physical characteristics alone, the kid's momentum after fifty feet would be something that might give pause to an NFL linebacker, and that calculation was before one took into account that his cultivation gave him essentially superhuman powers.
All that to say that Yang Ru was a load.
Each step thundered in the silent warehouse, sound waves bouncing and echoing from the deep, empty recesses. Heavy. But not slow. No, fast. Much faster than one would have thought possible. Accelerating constantly.
Though Benton could sense the gang members' locations by their qi, he couldn't actually see them, so he didn't see their reactions. He had to imagine that the sudden, hard, fierce, thudding footfalls hurtling toward them drew their complete attention.
Not one of them moved.
That was what Benton wanted. For them to feel fear. Shock and awe. To sense the inevitability of their demise.
If only Yang Ru would remember to…
He did!
Just before impacting the poor soul who stood, too slow to get out of the way, at the forefront of the others, Yang Ru triggered a talisman.
A blue tear-shaped shield of qi flashed into being around him. And he struck.
It was like watching a giant bowling ball impact the center of a mass of human-sized pins. And the gang members stood just about as much chance against Yang Ru as the bowling pins did against a ball.
He blew the first guy backward and to the right, taking three others to the ground before coming to rest. Maybe he was alive, maybe not. Even if he was, Benton doubted he'd be able to get up quickly enough to contribute to the fight.
Yang Ru barely slowed after hitting the first guy, soon launching a second guy back and to the left to much the same effect. And a third, that one a girl. Before finally his momentum and the qi from the talisman ran out.
But he'd reached the last row, and he still had his spear ready to strike. Which he did, penetrating all the way through one of the gang members.
Benton wasn't standing idle while his disciple cut a swath through their enemies. He threw four qi light orbs, simple array devices that produced a soft glow, around the space to give Yang Xiu the illumination she needed to do her work. That task accomplished, he darted toward the presumed leader.
Qi Gathering versus Foundation Establishment did not mean a sect veteran was at a disadvantage. Benton had the better weapon, better skill, and, from Su's memories, more experience. There was no way his opponent was anything more than trumped up…
Whoa. Benton shook his head. His adrenaline had made him get carried away a little bit there. If he didn't watch it, he'd find himself unironically shouting, "You're courting death!"
Benton held his spear poised to strike as he accelerated toward his foe. The leader raised his sword, desperately trying to get it in position to block.
Honestly, Benton thought the guy was trying to fake him out with how slowly he was moving. Surely, it had to be a trick. There was no way the guy could possibly be that sluggish. Turtles and snails would obliterate him in a race. It felt like a scene from an episode of The Flash, where Barry Allen was rushing hither and yon while bullets literally stood motionless in the air.
Nope. No trick. The guy was that slow. Truly.
Stabbing him through the heart was just about the most anti-climactic moment Benton had ever experienced in his life. All that build up and worry for nothing.
He sighed.
Looking up from the leader's gurgling last breath, he spotted Yang Ru piercing a fourth realm with his spear. One of the gang members had gotten behind him, though, and was about to take his head off with a sword.
Benton was too far away to intercede in time, so he opened his mouth to yell a warning.
Twang!
The guy with the sword suddenly sported an arrow shaft sticking out of his head.
Never mind.
Yang Xiu certainly hadn't been slacking. The sound of her bowstring vibrating as arrows released had occurred at a frequency to rival a machine gun. Besides the leader and the ones killed by Yang Ru, all the other gang members save one sported the same head worn accoutrement as the guy who'd tried to decapitate Yang Ru.
So, one gang member left, then.
Twang!
Never mind.
Benton scratched the back of his neck. Su's memories had indicated that he and his disciples weren't really in much danger from this gang, but the actual experience was more than a little ridiculous.
Better equipment, better training, better techniques, better cultivation methods. There was a reason that sects were feared.
With all those who had come to rob them dead, Benton opened his mouth to congratulate the kids, but he noticed that Yang Ru was on his knees.
Benton immediately feared he'd been injured. The boy didn't look hurt, though. There was no blood visible. His expression was contemplative, not pained.
He was meditating! Consolidating his gains. What a good kid.
Scratch that. From the complete lack of noise coming from the sniper's next, Yang Xiu was probably doing the same.
What a couple of great kids.
Benton patiently waited for them to finish until a blue box popped up.
Host's Disciple, Yang Ru, has reached Mastery in the Fundamental Spear Combat Essentials.
Host is awarded two Sect Points.
Host has thirty-eight Sect Points available.
"Alrighty then," he told the twins. "Good job."
Chapter 47 - Reactions
Zou Tian watched nervously as the Twelfth Discordant Brigade crept toward the warehouse. Though Chao Su was one scary guy, the same could be said for Yao Yahui, the leader of the cultivator gang.
Few organizations other than the City Watch and the three sects could match their might. Everyone in the slums were scared of them.
It looked like Chao Su and the pretty girl were about to meet their ends.
Zou Tian sighed. Regrettable. So regrettable. He'd miss the silver tael a day he was being paid to report back about his gang's activities.
That wasn't the only reason for caring, though. Chao Su was so unlike anyone else. He was an odd combination of scary and just strange. His mannerisms. The way he made it seem like mortals actually mattered to him. He was unlike any other person in the slums, much less any other cultivator. But in a good way.
Zou Tian had never dealt with someone who was so honorable. When he'd reported the news of the attack as he'd been ordered, he fully expected to be killed by Chao Su, not rewarded, especially not with ten whole silvers. And then the man had told him to stay safe. To stay safe!
No one had ever expressed a lick of concern for Zou Tian's wellbeing before.
He wished that the trio would simply run away. Far away. But it was too late for that. The gang approached.
With growing horror, he watched as they cut the wood barring the door and made their way inside.
From the clear sounds of fighting, whatever happened in the warehouse didn't take long. Why would it? How much time should it take nineteen cultivators to kill three targets?
Strangely, what did take forever was for the gang to leave. Stripping the valuables off three bodies should have been the work of minutes for such experienced street fighters. After all, Zou Tian had been inside the warehouse many times. It wasn't like there were a lot of places to hide treasures.
Instead of seeing the gang stream out, however, minutes stretched. And stretched.
What were they doing in there?
Finally, though it was a risk, Zou Tian crept to the still open door, peeked inside, and saw not three dead bodies but nineteen.
"Alrighty then," Chao Su said to his disciples. "Good job."
Zou Tian's mouth gaped. As far as he could tell, none of them had even been injured.
"Ah, just the kid I wanted to see," Chao Su said, meeting Zou Tian's eyes. "What should I do with the bodies?"
"Uh… Dispose of them, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
"That seems boring. I could use them to send a message to your boss. They'd look fantastic draped all over his desk." Chao Su paused. "I know. I could write him a nice note thanking him from his thoughtfulness and apologizing that I must return his present." He actually pulled paper and a writing implement from his ring. "What was his name again?"
Zou Tian's mouth went dry at the thought of something like what was being suggested actually happening.
"Deng Yun, Esteemed Master Cultivator, and …" He hesitated. Normally, he would never even think to contradict the idea of someone so powerful, but he was beginning to believe that was what was actually desired of him. "This lowly one would not counsel the Esteemed Master Cultivator to do such a thing."
"Really? Why not?"
"Nineteen bodies, those of the Twelfth Discordant Brigade, showing up at the gang's hideout could not be hidden. Rumors would spread. The City Watch would become interested. This lowly one does not recommend getting the attention of the City Watch, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
Chao Su sighed. "You're probably right. Better to get rid of them in the forest after I leave the city. Have the Stupid Name Brigade mysteriously disappear." He shook his head. "That's not nearly as satisfying but, yeah, okay."
That Chao Su was definitely not simple.
Benton was both pleased and horrified. Nineteen people had come to his albeit temporary abode to take what was his. All nineteen lie dead on the dirt floor of the warehouse.
That they failed in their attempt was to the good. The fact that they all lay dead was more than a little bit iffy for him.
He was not yet used to the cruel realities of living in a cultivation world.
Not that he was going to let his disciples see that. After securing the door with a new piece of wood, he calmly went to each of the bodies, separated out what few taels or serviceable equipment they had on them, and pulled the valuables and corpses into his ring.
As soon as the last disappeared, he had a horrible thought. He was putting dead bodies in the same space he stored his food. Yuck. That was kind of disgusting.
Su thought of the space inside the ring as a kind of void that both froze everything placed inside in suspended animation and kept each item separate from everything else. Which made sense. Benton had stored hundreds of gallons of a water from a pond and various running streams inside without any containers holding it. None of the other stuff he pulled out was wet.
Still. Dead bodies. Food. Yuck.
On the bright side, the fight had gone great. The menace of the cultivator gang was ended for good, and he guessed he'd bought some time to hopefully finish up his business and get out of town before anyone else could get organized to come against him. His battle plan worked perfectly. Neither him nor either of the twins had gotten hurt. Both had performed incredibly well. Yang Ru had even used the fight as inspiration to reach mastery with his spear technique.
The talismans had been a great purchase. He'd bought four at a thousand silver taels each, which seemed expensive for a single use device. The price was, after all, more than he was spending for a spear that could be used over and over again. On the other hand, it did allow them to use a qi shield created by a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator. They were true life saving measures when applied correctly in the right circumstances, and the high-quality crafting meant that the shield lasted seconds instead of the mere instant seen in cheaper versions.
Between those and the five hundred he spent on his sword, spear, and dagger, he was starting to feel a bit poor, considering how much he still had to buy.
But that was a worry for another day. First, he had a couple of System tasks he had to take care of.
"Yang Ru," he said. "Congratulations are in order. Great work reaching mastery! What kind of technique do you want for your reward?"
Predictably, the kid said, "Whatever technique that Senior Brother thinks would be best."
Benton was definitely of the mindset that independent thought and decision making should be encouraged in children, but his experience parenting had also taught him to pick his battles. The boy simply wasn't ready to make that kind of choice for himself yet.
Not that Benton really thought that anything beyond the obvious should be a serious consideration.
"We can't afford to spend a thousand taels every time you go into battle, so considering your nature and fighting style, we need another way to mitigate you getting hurt. I'm thinking stone skin."
"A … a thousand taels? A thousand…"
"You're probably thinking that stone skin sounds like it would limit your mobility, but it really doesn't," Benton said. "You'll still be able to perform gross movements just fine. Of course, the hardening of your skin will impact your fine motor skills, but agility isn't exactly your forte in the first place. Plus, the technique isn't something you'll keep active at all times. The goal is to toggle it on just before taking a hit."
"A thousand taels, Senior Brother?"
"Obviously, it's not going to do much at first, even once you reach mastery. There's only so much you can do while still in Qi Gathering. But the trick is to layer protection. We give you stone skin and then we get you doing body cultivation and then find you a nice battle robe. None of those in and of itself are a silver bullet, but combine all of them together, and you'll be surprised at how easily you shrug off injuries."
Yang Ru's mouth hung open, and he stared at Benton blankly.
"So stone skin is okay?"
The boy didn't answer, not even with a grunt.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," Benton said.
Creating the technique presented a minor dilemma. Such a useful technique was something that other members of his future sect were sure to want. It made sense to spend a full ten points so that all future uses were per profit.
There were two counterpoints to his initial consideration. One, he was really low on Sect Points at the moment. Spending ten when he only needed to use three was a real negative. If he didn't watch it, he could actually run out.
Two, the technique wasn't a foundational one. It was something that Yang Ru would use at least through the peak of Foundation Establishment and maybe longer. A technique aspected to him solely would be stronger, and he would learn it faster, than a technique made for anyone to use. He was one of the sects two premiere fighters. Every advantage that could be given to him should be given to him.
Benton decided to make the technique personalized, costing three sect points, and he handed the jade slip to the boy, who just held it like he'd never seen one before.
Oh well. He'd figure it out eventually.
An even more fun task awaited. The two points that Yang Ru earned by reaching spear mastery just so happened to be the forty-ninth and fiftieth point that Benton earned, meaning it was time for an upgrade.
The choice was once again obvious. He'd just faced a Foundation Establishment cultivator, albeit a weak one. There was no guarantee the next one he encountered wouldn't belong to a sect, though. The sooner he advanced to the next major realm, the better.
He locked in his decision and called up his status.
Sect Name:Not ChosenSect Members:0Disciples:14Sect Points:35Shop Points:18Host Cultivation:Qi Gathering - Minor Realm NineQi Available:110Host Body Cultivation:Bronze - Minor Realm TwoHost Techniques:Basic Spear Combat - Large SuccessBasic Archery - Large SuccessMenus:[Cultivation Method][Technique][Quest][Perk][Advancement][Shop - LOCKED]Nice! Qi Available topped one hundred, and he was only two Sect Points away from reaching Foundation Establishment.
That accomplished, the three of them settled in for the night. Benton took first watch, letting the two kids try to get some rest. Obviously with the excitement of the evening, it took them hours to actually fall asleep, so he ended up just staying up all night to let them have their rest.
Early the next morning, a knock on the door woke the kids. Their hands immediately went to their weapons, but Benton reached out with his spiritual senses.
"Don't worry. It's just Zou Tian."
Benton let the boy inside.
"Apologies for the disturbance, Esteemed Master Cultivator, but this lowly one has just returned from the gang's hideout. This lowly one had no other choice but to report to Deng Yun that the Twelfth Discordant Brigade entered the warehouse but did not exit. This lowly one further reported that the three occupants of the warehouse appeared to be unharmed and occupied with cultivating. Of the Twelfth Discordant Brigade, there was no sign."
"I see. And what do you think his reaction will be."
"For now, this lowly one believes he will make no moves. If the Twelfth Discordant Brigade could not handle the Esteemed Master Cultivator and his disciples, then Deng Yun's gang of mortals would stand no chance. There's not enough profit in him reporting the disappearance to the sects or the City Watch to offset the chance of bringing too much attention to this area. His eyes are still full of silver taels, but this lowly one sees no way for him to move against the Esteemed Master Cultivator in the immediate future."
"Interesting." Zou Tian's analysis matched well with Benton's own thoughts. "We'll proceed for the moment on the assumption that your prediction is correct, but we'll remain cautious. I'm especially worried about catching the attention of the sects or the City Watch. Probably best for us to spend the day quietly in the warehouse for any heat to die down just to make sure."
Chapter 48 - Retail Therapy
True to Benton's decision, he and the twins spent the entire day in the warehouse cultivating, sparring, and practicing techniques. In the early evening, Yang Ru reached Small Success in Stone Skin, quickly returning one of the three Sect Points that had been spent on the technique.
Benton pulled up the boy's status.
Name:Yang RuAffiliation:Host's DiscipleAge:15Cultivation:Qi Gathering - Minor Realm SixQi Available:87Techniques:Foundational Spear Essentials - MasteryFoundational Archery Essentials - Small SuccessStone Skin - Small SuccessSpiritual Roots:A-Qi Aspect:Low viscosity lava flowing down Mount Burning ThunderJust because he hadn't done it in a while, he did the same for Yang Xiu.
Name:Yang XiuAffiliation:Host's DiscipleAge:15Cultivation:Qi Gathering - Minor Realm SixQi Available:87Techniques:Foundational Archery Essentials - MasteryFoundational Spear Essentials - Small SuccessPeerless Peering and Perception - Small SuccessSpiritual Roots:AQi Aspect:Perfectly smooth ice balanced on the razor edge of freezing and thawingHer progress on advancing techniques had stagnated a bit, but to be fair, their schedule while they'd been traveling didn't leave her much time to do anything besides minimal cultivating. Overall, he was very pleased with both the twins' progress.
Other than checking and re-checking System stuff, it was mostly a quiet, boring day for Benton. He really needed to find a hobby since he wasn't cultivating. The only thing he had to occupy his time was planning for the next day.
So far, they hadn't accomplished much in the way of their goals for the trip. The only big tick marks on the checklist were selling the wood and securing the manufacturer of a supply of really good spears.
Recruitment so far had been a total nothing burger. At best, they had one potential prospect in Zou Tian, but given the sect recruitment restrictions, who knew how much trouble it would be to get the boy out of the city without drawing undue attention. Benton had a feeling that, if he tried to leave with a wagon full of orphans, he'd be stopped by the City Watch.
The fact that his prospects were looking so negative in that regard was a big problem. He needed more sect members, ones without ties to the village.
All he could do would be to keep his eyes and ears open and hope that an opportunity presented itself. Which wasn't exactly a plan. Ugh.
The rest of his To Do List was more easily solved. He had in his possession just under one hundred forty-eight thousand silver taels and a lot of stuff to buy, including food for the village and for his future sect, weapons, spirit herbs for body cultivation, fabric for sect uniforms, and various materials to hopefully get his disciples doing alchemy and arrays and crafting talismans and creating all the other stuff necessary for cultivators to thrive.
Yeah, that huge pile of city notes seemed like a lot until he started thinking about how much he had to buy. On the other hand, in neither of his two lives had he gotten to spend so much money at one time. The closest comparison was when he put down fifty thousand bucks as a down payment on his house.
Some retail therapy, as his wife used to say, sounded like a fine idea after the stress of yesterday followed by the boredom of the morning and afternoon. The only question was—should he leave the siblings cultivating in the warehouse or drag them shopping?
Okay, so he was probably projecting the attitude of his kids back on Earth when they'd been teenagers onto the twins. They actually seemed to enjoy seeing the sights of the big city.
Not like they had gaming consoles and the internet to keep them occupied.
A thought occurred to him. He was grooming the twins to be the leaders of a sect. The more life experiences they had, the better. Going out into the city with a list and a pile of cash would be a good learning opportunity for both of them.
That seemed dangerous, though. The number of Bad Things that could happen to the pair in a cultivation world was endless. Bandits. Looking wrong at a member of the City Watch. Offending a member of one of the sects. Running across an arrogant young master. Being accused of stealing. Having their money pickpocketed. Scam artists. The list went on.
Yikes.
Benton sighed. When he was a kid, he spent his summers outside. His mom shoved him out the door after breakfast, and other than maybe coming home to grab a quick sandwich for lunch, he wasn't expected to be seen again until the streetlights came on. If he and his friends ended up riding bikes miles away from home, no one knew or cared.
In contrast, his grandchildren were raised practically encased in bubble wrap. Want to ride a skateboard? You'll need a helmet and kneepads and elbow pads. Want to play at a friend's house? Mom will arrange a playdate and drive you there. His youngest granddaughter didn't start walking the two blocks to the school bus stop alone until she was in fifth grade.
Benton's worst fear as a parent was that something truly bad would happen to one of his children. He understood the impulse to lock them in their rooms so that nothing could ever hurt them.
On the other hand, he and his wife weren't raising kids; they were raising adults. To get to that point, kids needed to experience freedom and to make mistakes and to get scraped knees and to make their own decisions.
That philosophy applied even more to the twins. They were, after all, already considered to be adults in their society.
The next morning, he addressed them after breakfast. "My budget for filling three wagons with food for the village and the sect is seventy-five thousand taels. We also need enough fabric to create two to three robes for at least one hundred people. My preferred colors are blues and silvers." He handed each forty thousand taels and a copy of the mayor's list. "Be back by dinner."
"Yes, Senior Brother," the two chorused.
Neither looked fazed at all by his instructions, and when they left, Benton grinned. They really were two very good kids.
He quickly found Zou Tian in a nearby alley. "I'm going to be at either the Excellent Celestial Emporium, the Flawless Tower of Herbs, or the Swift Hunter Weapon Vault. Follow my disciples and come find me if they get into any trouble."
Just because he'd decided to let the kids walk a tightrope didn't mean he wasn't going to make sure that the safety net was in place.
Since the city apparently had rules about craftspeople only being allowed to sell their wares wholesale to distributors, Benton had had to ask the people making his spears for recommendations on the best places to buy what he needed. The three shops he'd told Zou Tian about had been the consensus choices.
With less than seventy thousand taels to buy all that he needed, he decided to go in order of the most important items on his list to the least important, and the absolute must have was spirit herbs. Those little green treasures were his ticket to convert taels into Sect Points—and of course to strengthen and protect his sect members—through Body Cultivation.
A relatively short walk found him at the herb shop, which he almost walked right past. He was, after all, expecting a tower. Instead, he found a run-down shack in the middle of a lot of other run-down shacks.
If he were judging a book by its cover, he would have kept on walking past it by design instead of accident, but it had been recommended. Once inside, he was glad he hadn't followed his impulse. An overwhelming but not unpleasant wall of herbal scents hit him as soon as he walked through the door. The place was literally packed with herbs.
Quite possibly the oldest woman he'd seen on two planets greeted him, and he explained his need for spirit plants that could be used in Bronze level cultivation baths.
"Does the gentleman have a recipe?" she said.
"No, sorry. I just need herbs that work in general."
She hmmed. "How many?"
That question was the one that most concerned him. He didn't want anyone in the city to know he was starting a sect. Food and even fabric could be purchased in large quantities without drawing much attention. Herbs and weapons, though…
Try as he might, there wasn't much he could do about the possibility of raising suspicions. At his best speed, it was a two-month roundtrip journey from the village to the city. It might be a year or more before he returned to buy supplies. He needed to equip his soon to be established sect for the interim period.
His only choice was to mislead and obfuscate as much as he could.
"Depends on the cost," Benton said. "My client gave me limited funds but were really hoping I'd be able to get enough for about fifteen hundred baths."
"Fifteen hundred? Why would they need that many?"
"It's a small sect that recently experienced a beast tide, so they're awash with cores. Instead of converting all those to money, they decided to make all their members into body cultivators."
She hmmed again. "This lowly one can see the benefit. Expensive to use all those cores, but if that's their priority, this lowly one can't gainsay them."
Once the lady got over her shock, they started dickering. It turned out that there wasn't a whole lot of spirit in the spirit herbs for the Bronze level, so the plants were reasonably cheap, less than ten tael per bath after a discount for volume was applied. The issue was that she just didn't have nearly enough for that many baths.
"How many do you have?" he said.
"If the Esteemed Master can give me a week, eight hundred?"
Ugh. That would help a lot, but he really wanted to lay in a supply for the foreseeable future.
Seeing his dismay, she quickly said, "These herbs aren't all that hard to grow. This lowly one can get the Esteemed Master books and seeds. Mortal tools are sufficient for harvesting."
Well, he did have a lot of kids he was feeding that really didn't have any other job. Surely, he could find someone who wouldn't mind working in a small herb garden. Not to mention that, with the entire village having retreated inside the walls, there had to be farmers who were out of work.
"That is acceptable," he said.
They settled on nine thousand taels, half paid immediately and the rest upon pick up. Budgeting for the entire amount so he didn't accidentally spend it left him with just under sixty thousand taels.
Next stop, the weapon store, which he was sure would take a large, large dent out of his remaining funds.
Upon entering, he spotted a smiling middle-aged man helping a customer and a teenage boy sweeping. Benton, as was his wont, scanned all three of them. The man and his customer weren't anything special. But the boy…
Affiliation:Swift Hunter Weapon VaultAge:16Cultivation:NoneSpiritual Roots:BQi Aspect:A bar of iron slowly liquifying in a hot forgeWow. Benton's eyes almost popped out of his head. Not only did the kid have the highest potential out of anyone he'd seen thus far save the twins, but his qi aspect practically destined him to become a blacksmith.
Benton quickly approached the boy.
"Hello, Esteemed Master, how may this lowly one be of service today?"
"Do you know much about weapons?"
"Yes, Esteemed Master, as much as an apprentice can. Weapons have been lowly one's passion for as long as I could remember."
"Interesting. And you really wanted to sell them instead of making them?"
The boy's face fell. "This lowly one's family is not rich enough to afford to apprentice me to a blacksmith." His tone brightened. "But this shop is the next best thing, and this lowly one will strive to serve the Esteemed Master well."
The boy's interest in smithing was exactly what Benton had expected considering the qi aspect, which only made him want the boy for the sect so much more. The combination of such a high potential with a well-defined and necessary role made him the perfect recruit, and given his circumstances, Benton thought he had a chance to pull it off.
The first step of his plan was to gain the merchant's respect, and there was no better way to accomplish that goal than to spend that bunch of cash.
While Benton wanted every member of his sect, or nearly every member of his sect, to wield a spear, he wasn't planning on pushing archery nearly as hard. Still, given the condition of the wilds surrounding the village, he needed to be able to field a solid number of archers to man the walls in the event of a beast tide.
"I'd like fifty bows, please, of various styles, sizes, and pull weights, ranging from solid mortal weapons all the way to a few that are suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators."
When Qi Gathering cultivators fought with melee weapons, they actively used their power to make themselves much stronger and faster, meaning the weapons needed to be far tougher than anything used by a mortal. For bows, the main difference was that cultivators could utilize a far higher draw strength, which didn't result in nearly as big an impact as with melee weapons. He was fine saving a little of his limited funds to give some sect members good but slightly inferior bows until he could afford to replace them with something better, especially since he had a use for every tael he saved that he felt was even more important.
The boy was far too junior to negotiate such a major deal, so the man was called over. Using the same "small sect client" excuse, Benton settled for twenty-five mortal bows, twenty Qi Gathering bows, four regular Foundation Establishment bows, and one custom order bow that had been half paid for by a Golden Core cultivator who'd never returned to pick it up. He also selected one hundred inexpensive spears to use in training, a thousand arrows, and two dozen basic knives.
And just like that twenty-five thousand of Benton's remaining taels were gone. On the plus side, the man would have the weapons ready the next day instead of a week like the other place, and even better, the man was looking at Benton like he was right up there next to the City Lord in terms of status.
Benton feigned turning to leave before stopping and turning back to the man. "I just had a thought. I believe your young clerk has some interest in smithing. Is that correct?"
"Yes, Esteemed Master," the man said doubtfully.
"I actually have need of someone with that interest. I'm having some equipment custom made, and it would be a benefit to recruit someone who could watch the process and then travel with me to perform simple maintenance and upkeep tasks when required."
The boy's eyes lit up with hope. He turned to the man expectantly.
"This one is sorry, but Shi Long has entered into an apprentice contract with the shop. This one cannot excuse that commitment."
This guy! It apparently wasn't enough that he'd gotten paid in order to basically receive free labor in exchange for teaching the boy, but he also wanted to get paid more to let the kid out of the deal.
Fortunately, Benton had funds, and a recruit like Shi Long was worth almost any price.
"I would certainly be willing to provide remuneration to obtain his contract from the Swift Hunter Weapon Vault."
Benton found the negotiation that followed to be quite distasteful. He felt like he was buying a kid outright, which was icky in the extreme. Giving into such feelings would have served no purpose, though, so he hunkered down and bargained, settling on a ridiculous five hundred taels. There was no way that the original apprentice contract had cost a quarter of that, but Benton had apparently made his interest way too well known.
Regardless, he was happy with the result as he ended up with his third best recruit so far following him from the shop. Even after having to pay another five hundred taels to convince the blacksmith making the spear tips to teach Shi Long his techniques, Benton felt like he'd gotten a bargain.
Benton's final stop was the Emporium. His main goals at the closest thing to a general store that he'd seen was to buy tubs suitable for the body cultivation baths and to pick up whatever he needed to get Wan Ai started down the path to become an alchemist, a profession Su didn't know much about.
Benton believed that she wouldn't be able to use a pill furnace at all until Foundation Establishment. The saleswoman disagreed.
"If you're expecting a Qi Gathering apprentice to produce a healing pill that can be used by a cultivator, you're right," she said, "but one can absolutely still use an external heat source to create pills suitable for mortals. With recipes from a beginner alchemy book, which we have in stock, and a few basic ingredients, your apprentice can get valuable experience drawing out herb essences and combining it into pills that have a real use."
Benton was sold. The more his disciples could do earlier, the better. And the whole setup was cheap compared to everything else he was buying. He also found a beginner book on arrays and twenty-five flags that were reasonably priced. All told, those items were less than two hundred taels, so he splurged on Wan Ai's knife, purchasing one for a thousand taels that the woman insisted would serve her for harvesting, cutting, and, in a pinch, self-defense through Foundation Establishment.
The bathtubs were also not as simple as he'd imagined, since ones specifically meant for body cultivation had various arrays etched into them. Each one was a thousand taels, much more than he had expected to spend.
But he needed them, so spend he did.
No sooner had he finalized the purchase than Zou Tian burst through the door. "Esteemed Master Cultivator, come quickly. There's trouble!"
Chapter 49 - They Do Exist!
Yang Ru was pleased with himself. He and his sister had arranged for all the food on the list to be picked up in three days' time, and the cost was only forty-six thousand taels, a staggering sum to him but much less than the budget that Master had given them.
Of course, that success was mainly due to Yang Xiu's talent at haggling, but Yang Ru had done a nice job of "standing behind her and looking menacing."
The nice lady as the market had even helped them make sure all of it would fit in the wagons that they had described to her. He thought those would definitely be overloaded for a long trip, but that was okay. Master would probably be storing all of it in his ring anyway once they were out of sight of prying eyes.
Why Master didn't seem to care if people knew he had a spatial ring but went through much effort to conceal the treasure's size was beyond Yang Ru's comprehension, but that lack of understanding was okay. Master was supposed to be unfathomable.
After arranging for the food purchase, they had found a textile shop, and Yang Xiu purchased bolt after bolt of fabric in silver and a few different shades of blue, lamenting the entire time that no one in the city apparently had enough of a single hue for so many robes. Total, the seventy-five bolts cost eight hundred taels, leaving them way under their overall budget.
That they had saved money was good. The most important thing, though, was that their master had given them a task, a learning opportunity, and they hadn't let him down.
Head held high with his sister trailing him, Yang Ru walked toward the warehouse.
"Don't look," Yang Xiu said quietly, "but there's trouble up ahead to the right."
Yang Ru looked, spotting a young man wearing a dark green cultivator robe with the symbol of a claw on the left breast. The guy noticed and turned his attention toward the pair. He didn't look happy.
"I said not to look!"
Honestly, who doesn't look when someone tells you not to look? If Master had said it, okay, probably not, but his sister?
"This is not good," Yang Xiu said.
Though he tightened his grip on his spear, Yang Ru wasn't worried. He had absolute confidence that, as long as he followed Master's instruction, everything would work out fine, and Master had already given them instructions on how to deal with situations like this one—be polite to everyone but don't bow to anyone unless he tells you to.
Back in their home village, some people had thought Yang Ru stupid because he was big and didn't talk much. That wasn't the case. He understood things fine. It was just that, when they were young, Yang Xiu had talked more than enough for the both of them. Growing up, he'd had to decide whether to fight to get a word in edgewise or just give up on the whole speaking thing.
That was why he'd started grunting.
Obviously, Master hadn't meant for his instruction to be followed absolutely. As in all things, his disciples were supposed to use judgment. If the City Lord walked by and Master wasn't there to tell them what to do, they should bow. The same went for a cultivator of a much higher realm.
Unfortunately, neither of the siblings had reached Foundation Establishment, which meant that neither of them had a spiritual sense yet. The primary ways Yang Ru could judge a fellow cultivator's strength was by apparent age and the power displayed in their movements.
The fellow storming toward them appeared to be similar in age to the siblings, and his walk showed none of the grace and power that characterized Master's movements. In fact, he didn't seem to be either as agile as Yang Xiu or as strong as Yang Ru.
He could only surmise that the young man was of a similar or lesser realm.
Likewise, the young man's status as an obvious member of the Poison Claw Sect did not automatically mean Yang Ru should kowtow. His master had displayed no particular veneration of sect members.
The will of his master was clear.
Yang Ru looked back at his sister and shared a glance that said, "This looks to be a confrontation. I'll take the lead." She nodded.
"What are you looking at, gutter trash?" the young man shouted when he arrived within arms' length. "Why are you not bowing?"
Not an auspicious start to the conversation.
Yang Ru grunted in what he considered to be his most polite manner. Better than hitting the rude guy, anyway.
"Are you defective? You can't even talk?"
Yang Ru shrugged.
The young man's face reddened. "If you know what's good for you, you'll kowtow, gutter trash."
Yang Ru grunted again but didn't move.
The cycle of yelled threats followed by indifferent nonverbal responses continued for quite a while with the young man growing angrier and louder by the minute. Yang Ru's most aggressive visible response was to wipe spittle from his face, but inwardly, he found himself wishing that his master would show up soon to tell him it was time to no longer be polite.
Watching the young sect member accost Yang Ru, Benton's emotions swung back and forth between amusement and bemusement. The twins had found a real life arrogant young master. The closest they'd come so far was Fang Wei, but that guy was a mortal and thus couldn't truly claim the title.
But there was the definitive proof. They did exist!
Benton scanned the idiot.
Age:14Affiliation:Poison Claw SectCultivation:Qi Gathering – Minor Realm SixQi Available:???Techniques:Bend Like the WillowSpiritual Roots:DQi Aspect:Hard but brittle oak standing strong against all elementsMeh. Some kind of wood-based movement technique to help dodge blows for the title and spiritual roots that weren't very impressive.
Since sects did not induct anyone under the age of fourteen, the boy must have been cultivating for less than a year. Reaching the same minor realm as the much more talented twins in that amount of time was quite fast. Which meant that resources had been poured into his advancement.
The logical conclusion was that he was the son of someone important. That deduction was further evidenced by his horrendous attitude. He clearly acted like one supremely unused to hearing the word "no."
What did impress Benton was Yang Ru's behavior. Three things stood out about his disciple. One, the kid had the patience of a saint. Benton would have decked the guy by that point. Two, the kid had no fear. The sect member might as well have been a fly buzzing his ear for all the reaction Yang Ru showed. And three, damn did that kid follow instructions well. He really took that lesson when he'd had his spear taken away to heart.
Behind them, Yang Xiu did not appear to be handling things nearly so tranquilly. Benton was pretty sure that the only reason she hadn't stepped in was because her brother had taken the lead, which was actually a small surprise. Since they encountered the sect member in a social situation, he would have thought that Yang Xiu would have taken the lead.
The two definitely had developed a complicated hierarchy of who was in charge based on the circumstances. As long as it worked for them, he didn't have to understand it.
It was actually kind of fun watching a member of a supposedly prestigious sect totally lose it in public. The guy was apoplectic, looking like nothing more than a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.
If he was representative of the quality of the Poison Claw Sect, Benton didn't think much of the organization.
The other interesting thing was the attitude of the passersby to the ranting lunatic. Everyone kept a respectful distance and obviously didn't do anything overt to attract his attention, but the glances shot his way held as much disdain as fear.
Maybe scenes like the one playing out weren't as common as stories back on Earth made it seem.
"This Master Cultivator tires of this charade, gutter trash." The fool unsheathed a very nice blade. "Give me your spear as a token of your respect or suffer the consequences."
Benton shook his head. From spoiled brat to highwayman in one sentence.
Yang Ru simply said, "No."
"Then prepare to die!"
Uh oh. That was Benton's cue to act.
Stifling the absurd desire to yell, "He didn't kill your father," Benton silently raced toward the idiot, catching Yang Ru's eye as he did. Beyond the merest twitch of a head nod, his disciple didn't move an inch.
The amount of faith the kid had in Benton was insane.
Of course, he couldn't let the kid down after that. As the blade swung hard and fast toward Yang Ru's neck, Benton grabbed the offending wrist just before metal could contact skin.
A bone in the cultivator's arm snapped as its forward motion simply ceased immediately. The sect member cried out in pain, and the sword fell to the ground with a clang.
The boy spun, clutching his wrist with his opposite hand. "Who dares lay a hand on this Master Cultivator? Who! Dares!"
"You spoiled, ignorant child. I dare. In fact, I dare you to call me gutter trash like you did my disciple. Your head will roll before you get the first syllable out of your mouth."
The boy started to speak.
"Calm down and think before you say a word," Benton said. "Seriously. This moment might be the most important one, or the last one, of your life. Be calm. Think."
The boy earned at least a modicum of credit by taking a deep breath before speaking. "You can't do this to me."
"Well, that's just a patently untrue statement. Clearly, I did do that to you, so my ability to do it has been conclusively proven."
"Once my master finds out about this—"
"If he pulls a sword on me or my disciple, I'll guarantee you I'll do the same thing to him."
"You can't—"
"You have no idea what I can and cannot do. You're in the Qi Gathering realm. Your spiritual sense is literally non-existent. You have no information about me. None. Think about the fact that I know nothing about your master, yet I am absolutely confident that he is a non-issue for me. Is he Foundation Establishment? I don't care. Is he Golden Core? I don't care. Think."
Benton saying he didn't care at all about the master's cultivation was a bit of an exaggeration in that he only had enough points to instantly advance to the fourth minor realm of Golden Core, but he also knew that no one would be able to get a read on his cultivation. That fact alone would give any cultivator pause. Generally, if one couldn't determine an opponent's cultivation level, it meant that one was outclassed by a minimum of a major realm.
For the first time since Benton arrived at the site of the confrontation, the kid seemed to realize he might actually have screwed up. "But you're not a member of a sect."
"Okay, genius, how did you arrive at that conclusion? Because we're not wearing robes from one of the sects in this area? The world is a big place. There are lots of sects. Lots and lots and lots of sects, many of which make yours seem trivially small. How do you know I don't belong to one of them?"
The boy's mouth gaped open and closed like a fish.
"Exactly. Think. There are more mysteries in this world than you can fathom. You tempted fate today. Watch yourself in the future."
He inclined his head. "This one apologizes, Esteemed Cultivator."
As Benton was about to respond to let the boy off the hook, a shadow passed overhead, and a green robed man riding a flying sword descended. The boy grinned.
It appeared that the cultivator's master had arrived.
Chapter 50 - Planning for the Best
Benton fell immediately in love.
Not with the cultivator's master—a dude—obviously, but with that guy's sword.
It flew. It was a real flying sword, and Benton wanted one more than he'd wanted anything in either life.
Admittedly, he knew flying swords were a thing from Su's memories, but that was kind of like knowing that superheroes were a thing because he'd watched all the Avengers movies. Seeing one actually being used in person was a whole different story, like you're walking down the street and suddenly Iron Man flies down and lands in front of you. In real life.
To really utilize one of the devices like they should be used, one needed to reach Golden Core. Twenty-two points. Just twenty-two points. Spending them would be totally worth it to be able to fly.
Not that he could in good conscience justify such a thing.
Of course, a more immediate concern was the cultivator who was landing in front of him, the one who was definitely real and definitely angry. From the control he demonstrated over the flying sword, he was at least early Golden Core.
Maybe he'd start a fight. That would justify spending the twenty-two points.
By reflex, Benton almost scanned the newcomer, but he thought better of it. Through Foundation Establishment, it was highly unlikely that a cultivator would be able to sense the source of such a scan. If the flying man was actually a major realm above that level, things changed. Su's memories put it at about a fifty fifty chance that the attempt would be detected.
Worse, the cultivator might be able to gain information from the power of Benton's scan, and there was no way to know what conclusion that observation would lead the man to. For what was surely about to happen, it was far better to remain as complete a mystery as possible.
Benton slightly inclined his head toward the man as one would do for a cultivator who was of a similar level when one didn't know which of the two held supremacy. Importantly, the same gesture could be used when a cultivator of a higher level wished to give face to one of a lower realm.
The man paused, obviously having expected a much different response. He came to a dead stop, staring at Benton intensely.
He understood exactly what had happened. The guy had scanned him and didn't get any reading at all.
The man must be furiously working through which of the three possible reasons for the failure was most plausible.
One, Benton was at least a major realm higher than him, which meant at least Nascent Soul assuming the guy really was Golden Core. At first blush, that explanation would seem the least likely due to cultivators of such a high realm being so rare and Benton appearing to be so young. On the other hand, his youth could actually be an argument for him being Nascent Soul as everyone knew that such cultivators' bodies were essentially reborn upon ascension to that realm.
Two, Benton was not actually a cultivator. Of course, the man wouldn't be able to sense anything if there was nothing to sense. But that explanation was illogical. For one, Benton was dressed as a practitioner. To not be one and dress that way was essentially a death sentence if his ruse were uncovered, which it almost certainly would be. For another, he had somehow cowed the arrogant young master. No amount of words could do that without an accompanying show of force.
Three, Benton had a treasure that hid his cultivation. That explanation was both the easiest to accept and the most unlikely. Such devices were, if anything, even more rare than Nascent Souls and expensive in the extreme. Benton wore nice robes but nothing extravagant, and the only visible equipment was a spatial ring, though the man couldn't judge its quality from afar. Nothing indicated that Benton could afford such a thing.
The man quickly responded with a nod that exactly matched Benton's, showing his adherence to a major rule of life for old cultivators—if you suspect that you might be in the presence of someone who can curb stomp you, play it safe.
Benton chuckled internally as he was reminded of a quote he once heard. Paraphrasing, "There are old cultivators, and there are bold cultivators. There are no old, bold cultivators."
"This one is called Kang Ya-Ting," the man said. "Who does this one have the pleasure of addressing?"
"This one is called Chao Su."
Just because Benton trampled over what he considered to be unnecessary social niceties whenever he thought he could get away with it didn't mean he wouldn't use them when he had to.
"This one apologizes if this one's lowly disciple has caused offense, Master Cultivator," the man said.
"It's just a minor disagreement between juniors. Nothing to be concerned about. This one believes the Esteemed Cultivator's disciple may have learned a valuable lesson."
"What lesson might that be?"
"The folly of acting without knowing all the facts."
Kang Ya-Ting glared at his disciple. "Would that the lesson will finally stick. This one has tried to convey just that message many times."
The disciple in question looked like he was praying for the ground to open up and swallow him. The encounter definitely hadn't gone the way he had intended.
Benton, on the other hand, was beginning to think the whole situation might just come up roses for him. "It appears that the Esteemed Cultivator's disciple was covetous of this one's disciple's spear."
Kang Ya-Ting glanced at the weapon in question. "It does appear to be a finely crafted piece of equipment."
"This one couldn't help but notice that the Esteemed Cultivator's disciple is in possession of a fine blade. Perhaps a wager is in order."
The young master swallowed hard.
"He is," Kang Ya-Ting said, looking like he was sucking on a lemon. "What did the Esteemed Cultivator have in mind?"
Sect members were so worried about face that they were sometimes quite easy to manipulate.
"Simply that the juniors exchange pointers, and the winner keeps the loser's weapon," Benton said. "This one assumes the Poison Claw Sect has an appropriate venue for such a spar?"
"The sect does," Kang Ya-Ting said through gritted teeth.
Benton turned to Yang Ru and the young master. "So how about it? Do the two of you want to exchange pointers?"
Yang Ru grunted. Benton took that as a yes.
"This lowly one would very much like to exchange pointers with the Esteemed Master Cultivator's disciple, but this lowly one has broken his wrist and is afraid that a spar will not be possible at this time."
"Nonsense," Benton said. "I'm sure I can scrounge up a spare healing pill."
Kang Ya-Ting cleared his throat. "The Poison Claw Sect is not so destitute as to require others to spend resources to heal our members. He will be seen to."
"Fantastic," Benton said. "So… meet tomorrow, say noon, at the Esteemed Cultivator's sect's entrance?"
Kang Ya-Ting glared at his disciple, and the young man audibly gulped.
He cupped his hands toward Yang Ru. "This one wishes to invite the Honored Disciple to exchange pointers at the Poison Claw Sect on the morrow."
Yang Ru, true to form, grunted.
"That's a yes, by the way," Benton said cheerfully. "See you tomorrow."
Business complete, Kang Ya-Ting practically rushed through the niceties required before departing, hauling his dejected disciple onto the sword behind him and rushing off.
As soon as they were out of sight, Benton called Zou Tian over from out of the shadowed alley where he'd been watching the happenings. "I really appreciate you keeping watch and coming to find me. Things could have gone much worse had you not."
"This lowly one is not deserving of such gratitude, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
In contrast to his words, the boy's face was beaming.
"Unfortunately, you had to approach me in public when you retrieved me," Benton said. "I don't think it's safe for you to work for the gang anymore."
Zou Tian nodded sadly, probably thinking he was about to be hung out to dry.
"I think you should move into the warehouse and, when we leave, come with us. From now until you decide you want to move on, you'll work for me."
The boy just stood there not saying a word.
"If that's what you want, of course," Benton said. "Alternately, I could give you enough silver to live on for a while?"
"No! This lowly one simply could not understand why such an Esteemed Master Cultivator would make such an offer. This lowly one would gladly enter the service of the Esteemed Master Cultivator."
Alright. One more recruit. Probably best to wait until they got out of the city to start him cultivating, though.
Yang Ru, his sister, and their newest addition followed their master until they all reached the warehouse. Once inside, he asked for a report but not on the subject that Yang Ru was expecting.
"So how did shopping go?"
Yang Xiu filled him in on their purchases.
"You spent less than forty-seven thousand taels? That's fantastic! We have nearly sixty thousand left. Great job! Both of you!"
The twins exchanged a glance. Yang Xiu's eyes said, "Are you going to ask him?" To which, Yang Ru replied, "Nope."
"What about what happened after, Senior Brother?" Yang Xiu said.
"Well, the walk back here was pleasant. There were some amazing smells coming from some of those street vendors' stalls. I'm thinking we can hit them up tonight to celebrate."
"Senior Brother is teasing us!"
Their master laughed. "Senior Brother is. Seriously, though, you did exactly what I told you to do as far as I can tell. Arrogant young masters like that idiot are just one of the obstacles life throws at you sometimes. My main hope is that, if you ever find yourself acting like that fool, you cringe hard at yourself and correct your behavior immediately."
"And the spar? Is Senior Brother worried? We might lose the spear."
"Honestly, we can get other spears. In fact, we've ordered a hundred of them. Sure, that one is probably better, but we'd be just fine without it. And besides, I really don't think Yang Ru is going to lose."
"But the young master is sect trained, Senior Brother."
"So are you and your brother even if we haven't officially formed the sect yet. That guy's talent is trash compared to either of yours, and it shows. He's slower and weaker than Yang Ru. A bit more agile, granted. But the big difference is in weapon skill. From the way he swung that fancy pigsticker of his, I'd say he's not even using an actual technique at all. He probably only has a lame movement skill to help him dodge."
Benton felt pretty darn confident making that determination since he'd read it in the boy's status. "Meanwhile, Yang Ru crushed spear mastery like a boss."
"Senior Brother seems awfully exuberant," Yang Xiu said.
"Yeah. I guess I am. I'm so happy I can't stand it. If my plan plays out how I want it to, I get to tick off all my boxes for this trip." He paused. "Of course, there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip, but don't you two worry about that. All I ask is that you try your best. Understood, Yang Ru?"
"Yes, Senior Brother."
"Oh, yeah. That reminds me. I kind of switched to playing the role of your master with Kang Ya-Ting, so it would be best if you, all three of you, used that honorific going forward."
"Yes, Master!" the three shouted.
Chapter 51 - Exchanging Pointers
Yang Ru stood across a sandy arena from his opponent, the arrogant young master who had since been introduced as Pan Jiang.
The first hint of fall was in the air, and the sun was straight enough above not to get in either of the boy's eyes. It was a good day to fight.
Yang Ru once again pondered how far he'd come in such a short period of time. In less than half a year, he'd advanced more than halfway through the first major realm of cultivation. Of course, only part of that success was due to his apparently immense talent. His master had supplied both a superior cultivation technique and a pill that propelled Yang Ru from barely reaching the third minor realm to midway to the fifth in a single day.
Still, his master was obviously proud of his progress, and the upcoming exchange of pointers was his next learning opportunity.
He would not let his master down.
Yang Ru almost barked out a chuckle. If the kid he was a year ago had been told he'd be facing a fight against a cultivator and his biggest concern was not meeting expectations to win, he never would have believed it.
Yet there he was.
Pan Jiang flexed the wrist that had been broken yesterday, suffering no obvious discomfort from the movement. He sneered across the field. "There's no one to protect you today."
"Nor you."
The guy snarled, and Yang Ru tried not to shake his head. So easily riled.
An unfamiliar, green-robed cultivator entered the arena. Master had said that a sect elder would oversee the duel, so Yang Ru was not surprised.
The man stepped between the two combatants. "The rules for this contest as agreed to by your respective masters are as follows. Contestants are to fight with one hundred percent of their abilities as if the stakes were death. The surrounding arrays will absorb every blow just prior to impact and transmit the feeling that you would have experienced had the blow landed. You will feel the pain associated with the strikes fully but none of the physical effects. There will be no blood, and you will not die even to a strike that would have decapitated you or went straight through your heart. The duel ends when one contestant has received an amount of force the arrays deem to be lethal. All pain inflicted by the arrays will disappear from both contestants as soon as the fight ends. The loser will present his primary weapon to the winner, who will gain ownership of it."
He paused to look at each of the contestants in turn. "Understood?"
Yang Ru cupped his hands toward the elder and bowed as his master had instructed him. Pan Jiang did the same.
The man gave an acknowledging nod. "Begin in three … two … one … go!"
Yang Ru had wanted to simply charge his opponent like he had against the cultivator gang, but his master thought it was a bad idea. For one, there was no darkness to hide such a headlong rush. More importantly though, while Yang Ru held an advantage in speed, he lacked in agility. It would be too easy for Pan Jiang simply to sidestep the attack.
"Besides," his master had said the previous evening, "I want to see a direct comparison of your spear technique against his sword moves. It will be instructive for both of us."
So, Yang Ru held his position, waiting for his opponent to make the first move.
Seeing him motionless seemed to enrage Pan Jiang even more.
"You don't talk," the arrogant fool yelled. "You don't move. What kind of cultivator are you?"
Yang Ru did something that felt really silly but that his master really wanted him to do. He stuck his arm out toward his opponent, palm facing himself, and flicked his four fingers toward himself three times.
Apparently, the gesture had some kind of meaning where Master came from.
It certainly worked to further enrage Pan Jiang, who yelled like an idiot before lifting his sword above his head with both hands and charging. Yang Ru didn't think there was any actual technique involved in the move. It sure didn't look like it, anyway.
Pan Jiang sprinted across the sand, slowed by his feet sinking slightly with each step. A little bit of qi applied to the balls of his feet would have solved that issue, but the boy was either too enraged to think of it or not experienced enough in internal qi manipulation to do so without burning too much of his reserves.
Perhaps both.
He finally reached within sword range and swung downward with full force. Did he really expect that to work? Like Yang Ru could possibly be caught off guard by an attack that he literally saw coming from across the arena.
In making such an aggressive, predictable assault, the idiot had left himself defenseless. Instead of ending the contest immediately by stabbing him through the heart, Yang Ru simply deflected the blade with a contemptuous sweep of the spear.
Off balance from the missed blow, Pan Jiang again left himself wide open. Yang Ru literally had time to think about whether a strike through the heart or the throat would be more quickly lethal while the idiot gathered himself.
At least with the opening salvo easily countered, the fight could start in earnest.
Nope.
Pan Jiang lunged forward with an angry thrust that contained all power and no finesse.
The correct response was a dodge down and to the side followed by stabbing up through the stomach to reach the heart, but Yang Ru simply swept that attack aside just as easily as the first one.
The only bright side was that Pan Jiang didn't leave himself nearly as open as he settled into a stance once again.
"Three times," Yang Ru said.
"What?"
"That's how many times I've actively chosen not to kill you so far."
Pan Jiang narrowed his eyes, clearly thinking the factual statement to be a boast. He again made a wild, uncontrolled swing with the blade.
Yang Ru stabbed just to the left of the idiot's heart, easing back on the thrust so as not to cause too much pain. He wanted his opponent to be able to continue effectively. Well, as effectively as was possible given the apparent lack of skill.
The blow was little more than a slight tap, really. Yang Ru had taken blows many times worse from the blunt end of his master's spear.
In contrast to the relative lack of severity of the strike, Pan Jiang's reaction was extreme. Acting like he'd never before been touched in anger, he fell to the ground clutching his chest.
"Get up," Yang Ru said.
"I don't understand. How can you be so much better than me?"
"You're swinging your sword like a child. Hasn't your sect taught you a technique?"
"I've never needed to use one. Everyone I've fought has been defeated by a few basic moves, most on the first strike."
Yang Ru was beginning to understand why his master didn't particularly venerate other sects. If the child lying on the ground before him was an example of what kind of fighter they produced, he didn't have much respect for them, either.
"Surely you were taught the proper use of your weapon at least?" Yang Ru said.
Pan Jiang nodded pitifully.
"Maybe now is a good time for you to start trying to apply those lessons, huh?" Yang Ru said.
"Why? You clearly could have ended this already. Why give me the chance?"
"Master wants to see us fight to judge my skill against yours. I will not disappoint my master because you are too inept to give me a challenge."
Groaning, Pan Jiang stood and finally took up what appeared to be a proper stance. What followed was not pretty. The kid tried to use his blade as it was meant to be employed, but his skill was simply lacking.
Many exchanges took place with him attacking and Yang Ru defending, countering each blow easily and returning a light tap. Or attempting to. There were a few strikes the Poison Claw Sect member managed to dodge by using a technique.
Eventually, Pan Jiang was left sweating profusely and breathing raggedly. He gave a bow meant for use by an inferior cultivator to his better. "This one apologizes. This one does not have the skill to compete with the Esteemed Disciple. End it."
Yang Ru glanced up into the stands and briefly met his master's eyes. Upon receiving a nod, he didn't hesitate. He thrust the spear directly toward his opponent's heart, ending the fight quickly and mercifully.