Chapter 154 - 94-100

Chapter 94 – That's Not a Problem; This Is a Problem

Prosperous Gray Forest Village was a quiet place, especially for the last ten years or so. They rarely received visitors, and other than the occasional spirit beast attacking the walls, nothing much happened.

The death of the village that Mo Jian presided over was a slow one, one characterized by starvation, lack of resources, and boredom.

When the mysterious cultivator, Chao Su, actually returned with food as he'd promised, it was both a happy, if concerning, surprise and a blessing. The village would be able to survive the winter with the stores he'd brought.

It didn't take long for things to get out of control. The cultivator offered a deal with the village that was, honestly, too good to be true. Skeptical as Mo Jian might have been, it wasn't like he could refuse anything from such a powerful cultivator. Just questioning the man had risked death.

And the cultivator had founded a sect, pulling an entire arena from his ring. The heavens themselves had witnessed his oath.

And another cultivator had shown up briefly at the walls before heading to the site of the new sect.

Mo Jian had no idea what that was about. Was Chao Su being attacked? Did the three sects object to a new one being formed? There was no way to know.

There was a knock on his door, and not even waiting for his servant, Mo Jian rushed to it, sincerely hoping it was the cultivator. He was the only one who knew what was happening.

It was just Guang Yin.

"I just heard that we had another cultivator show up, a female," the wood harvester said. "What happened, Honorable Mayor?"

"I'd love to know. The last I heard she ran toward the arena."

"Do you think the sects detected the heavenly lightning and came to investigate, Honorable Mayor? Or did they somehow find out about Chao Su founding a new sect and came to threaten him? The village could be in danger. The sects might hold all of us responsible."

"Wait. I thought you said Chao Su had the blessing of the three sects, and now you're saying he doesn't and we're in danger because of it?"

"This old man doesn't know, Honorable Mayor. I was an associate member stationed remotely from the sect grounds, a peon, less important than a janitor serving the outer sect. It's not like I know what's going on in Sixth Flawless Flowing City!"

"Then why did I listen to you?"

"I don't know!"

Before the two could come to blows, there was another knock at the door that the servant answered. Mo Jian gathered himself and tried to look dignified as he waited for the new arrival to be shown in.

Chao Su appeared before him.

"Honorable Mayor," Chao Su said, grinning. "How are you this fine day?"

"Worried, actually," the mayor said, deciding that trying to play word games with the unfathomable cultivator was a losing proposition.

Chao Su nodded sagely. "It's good that you are. We have trouble."

"The female cultivator brought bad news? Is it the sects? Are we to be punished?"

"What? Where did you get a silly idea like that?" Chao Su said. "She's the granddaughter of my friend, Elder Kang of the Poison Claw Sect. He just sent her to exchange letters with me."

Mo Jian let out a sigh of relief. "That's good at least. She brought good tidings then?"

"Well, no, not really. It turns out that the father of this guy I killed on my way here is in seclusion trying to break through to Golden Core seventh minor realm. When he finds out his son is dead, he's likely to come after me."

"That's terrible news! What are we going to do about it?"

"That's not the bad news. That guy is nothing for you to worry about. I strongly implied in my letter that I'd destroy the entire Jade Chameleon Sect if anything happens to the village or my disciples. I'm sure Friend Kang will let them know to have him attack me only."

The mayor sputtered, unable to form a coherent thought.

"The Esteemed Master Cultivator is so sure of defeating a high realmed Golden Core cultivator from the Jade Chameleon Sect?" Guang Yin said.

"Oh yeah. No worries. I'll deal with that issue when the time comes. We have a much, much more pressing problem."

The mayor was beyond perplexed. If a Golden Core cultivator from one of the big three sects wasn't a problem, what could possibly be considered one?

"So ... So … What is the problem then?" Mo Jian said.

"A beast tide is coming."

Benton had to admit that he was rather enjoyed playing his unfathomable old cultivation monster role with the mayor. Mo Jian was so much easier to fluster than Kang Ya-Ting.

Putting aside his silliness, he explained everything he knew about the coming beast tide, which wasn't a whole heck of a lot. About the only real information that he could give them was that it was one hundred percent definite that one would strike the sect and the village and what his best guess of the timeline was.

"The best thing we can do is to make both the sect and the village as strong as possible," Benton said. "I have my list of roles that I want filled by villagers to satisfy your end of the deal, and I'm ready to proceed with inducting your choices whenever you want."

He handed the mayor the list he'd written up during the meeting.

"This doesn't look too difficult to fill," Mo Jian said. "Once the rumors of a beast tide get out, everyone is going to be clamoring for protection. The sect will look like a great option."

It was all Benton could do not to steeple his fingertips together like a melodramatic villain. He loved it when a plan came together. Or you know, when random elements worked together for his benefit. Tomato, tomahto.

"How quickly can you get all fifty people together for the induction?" Benton said.

He was already counting those unhatched points, both of the Sect and of the suddenly important Shop varieties.

"As early as tonight," the mayor said. "If not, tomorrow morning at the latest."

Perfect. The mayor seemed reasonably competent at his job at least.

"Great," Benton said. "And I'm glad you're here, Guang Yin. When can we start harvesting wood for the wall? Tonight?"

"Best to start fresh in the morning, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It's a long walk there and back. By the time we gathered everyone and began any actual work, it would be time to return."

Ugh. Fine. He made a good point. Besides, it would be best not to press too hard, considering the newness of their working relationship.

"What would you think about me having some of my sect members help with the harvesting?" Benton said.

Guang Yin grimaced. "The process is really quite delicate, Esteemed Master Cultivator. We not only have a technique specifically for harvesting spiritual wood, but we've refined our skills over decades. Getting young people involved as apprentices is a fine idea, but they'll be hindrances at the start rather than a help."

The man brought up another good point, but if Benton's sect members happened to have access to a top heaven grade technique for wood harvesting, he couldn't help but think they'd aid in ramping up production faster than anyone would think.

Benton didn't spend much effort thinking about whether or not to create such a technique as the sect would need it at some point, so he internally navigated to the correct menu.

Welcome, Host, to the Technique Creation Menu.

Select Cultivation Realm:

Qi Gathering

Foundation Establishment

Golden Core

Nascent Soul

Nihility

Ascension

Half Immortal

True Immortal

Immortal King

Immortal Emperor

Heavenly Saint

Celestial Being

He obviously chose Qi Gathering.

Cultivation Realm set to Qi Gathering.

Sect Point Factor set to one.

Select Applicability:

Targeted to Specific Qi Aspect

Sliding Scale (Specify)

Any Qi Aspect

There was no reason to mess around with anything other than Any Qi Aspect.

Any Qi Aspect selection accepted.

Please specify what skill or ability the Host wishes for the technique to impart.

Benton thought for a moment about specifically targeting the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood, but the benefit of doing so versus the lack of future convinced him otherwise. He willed it to select the ability to harvest spiritual wood.

Skill/ability specification accepted.

Please allocate 100 Technique Creation Points in the following three categories:

Ease

Power

Foundation

On one hand, he loved the flexibility that particular allocation offered him. On the other, he hated having to make the choice. All the categories were good.

Okay. Foundation was probably the least important for wood harvesting. It wasn't like he planned on giving them Foundation Establishment versions of the technique later. If they could master the Qi Gathering version, that was good enough, better than the harvesters from the village. Set that one to … ten?

In contrast, Ease was crucial. The technique would be used by very low talent sect members, and the quicker they were able to pick it up, the better. He'd rate that category as the most important.

Power, generally speaking, was a measure of the effectiveness of the technique, but applying that metric to one that almost solely provided knowledge wasn't straightforward. It wasn't like there was much internal qi manipulation to boost. The main point of the technique was to tell the cutter where to cut, not to help strengthen a particular muscle when making swinging the ax.

He threw ten in the last category, leaving eighty for the former.

Technique Creation Point allocation selection accepted.

Please provide a name for your technique.

Ugh. His second least favorite choice. He went with Spiritual Wood Harvesting Essentials.

Hey, it wasn't flashy or interesting or anything else, but it was descriptive.

Name accepted.

Congratulations, Host, on the creation of the Spiritual Wood Harvesting Essentials Technique!

Would you like to create this method for ten Sect Points?

Yes, please.

Technique created.

Host has 68 Sect Points remaining.

Yikes. From a high of one hundred thirteen, he was back down to sixty-eight. That was okay, though. He expected points to start rolling in over the next few days and weeks.

Benton tossed a jade slip and a rank one spirit beast core from his ring to Guang Yin. "Do you think something like this would help?"

The man immediately dove his consciousness into the ring. "This is … This is amazing, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It's so much simpler but, at the same time, comprehensive than the one I learned. What grade is this?"

"I believe it to be top heavenly grade."

"Is it really?" Mo Jian said.

"I'm not nearly experienced enough to answer such a question, Honorable Mayor, but considering the quality I'm sensing, I wouldn't doubt it one bit."

"Friend Kang was very complimentary of the sword technique I gifted his sect. He judged that one to be heavenly grade as well." Benton paused. "Speaking of quality, I hope this doesn't offend, but I can't help but notice that the quality of your cultivation method is quite poor, Guang Yin."

"This one does not take offense, Esteemed Master Cultivator. The Righteous Rain Sect did not believe me or my men to be important at all and openly admitted providing us with a trash tier method."

"Hmm. It would benefit both the village and the sect if you had a higher quality method," Benton said. "Mayor, how about this? I'll throw in sect membership for the six harvesters as a freebie, added to the twenty-five already under your command."

"That is quite generous of you," the mayor said hesitantly.

"You're wondering what the catch is, right? There isn't one. I don't know if you've experienced a beast tide, but I have. It doesn't matter how powerful I am. I can't be everywhere at once. The better you and the village can defend yourselves, the happier I'll be."

It was hard to say no to an argument like that one.

Benton wasn't one hundred percent sure how to proceed with cultivators who already were using a technique, but he figured he could wrangle some points out of the deal somehow.

Chapter 95 – One Fell Swoop

Wan Ai was at the orphanage deeply engrossed in studying the Body Cultivation scripture Master had given her when Zou Tian came for her. It felt like she'd barely even scratched the surface of everything she needed to understand, and the distraction was not welcome.

"This one was able to find a perfect lab for you, Senior Sister," he said.

Wan Ai blushed. No one had ever referred to her as a senior before. She certainly didn't feel qualified to give orders to anyone other than small children, much less someone who had the ear of Master.

Hiding her face, she silently started gathering her items.

"There's too much there for us to carry by ourselves, Senior Sister. Just grab the most important items, and this one will have laborers carefully pack up and transport the rest."

She cupped her hands and bowed.

The boy escorted her to a house not too far away from the orphanage, and while she explored the multiple rooms, he left to arrange for her alchemy equipment to be transported over. There were a few tables set up in the largest room, located in the back corner of the house, and she spread out the herbs she'd carried with her onto them.

Master expected her to prepare hundreds of baths. Hundreds. Each required cutting many herbs in a way that preserved whatever essence the dried material still retained. Then the various essences had to be mixed in hot water and combined with a spirit beast core.

Wan Ai had no idea how to do any of that. She didn't even know where to start. Beyond some basic cooking duties, she'd never used a knife or mixed things. Besides learning how to access Master's jade slips, she knew nothing about beast cores.

How in the world was she supposed to do any of it? And Master was counting on her. He kept saying over and over how important her task was.

The two techniques and the cultivation method were supposed to help her, but the information held within them was so overwhelming. Her head felt like it was about to explode. She'd never held a cultivator technique prior to the day before but was expected to learn two of them fast enough to get the baths prepared as soon as possible.

She didn't want to let anyone down, especially not Master. And not her new sect Brothers and Sisters. They were counting on her. What if they got in a fight and got hurt or killed because they weren't strong enough because she hadn't figured out the baths fast enough?

Time passed as she stood frozen, one hand on a bundle of herbs and one on her dagger. Not cutting. Not really even holding. Just with one hand on top of each.

There was a knock on the front door.

"I'll get it, Senior Sister," Zou Tian said, leaving the room.

She startled. What? When had he returned? How long had she been just standing there like an idiot?

When he came back, he led four men carrying crates stuffed with straw to protect the fragile glass inside. They quickly unpacked them, leaving her pill furnace and all the glassware set neatly on an unused table.

"Is this workshop to your satisfaction, Senior Sister?" Zou Tian said.

"What? Oh. Yes. Sure."

"If this one might comment, it seems like Senior Sister is having difficulties."

She sighed. "I guess, but that's my problem, not yours."

"This one begs to differ, Senior Sister. Master assigned me to help you. Let me do my job."

"I don't know what you can do about it! I don't even know what I can do."

"Why don't you start by talking me through the issue, Senior Sister?"

She might as well. It wasn't like staring off into space was getting anything done.

"Fine." Wan Ai held up one of the jade slips. "This tells me what essences or what herbs need to be added to a mixture in what quantities and then how to combine them all together with the right amount of water heated to a certain temperature and then how to release the energy of a spirit beast core in just the right way into the bath."

She held up a separate jade slip. "This one will teach me, among a great many other things as far as I can tell, how to tell which sections of a herb have the best essence inside and how to cut off the bad portions so as to not lose any more of the essence in the process. And that's very important because the bath doesn't require a certain amount of herb; it requires a certain amount of essence. And if I get that wrong, the whole bath will be ruined, including the very expensive spirit beast core, but I won't know that it's ruined until the whole thing is finished."

Finally, she held up a third slip. "And this one is supposed to help me learn how to use my knife so that I'm quick and efficient and precise, which is also important because the herb processing technique is supposed to tell me where to cut, but if my hands can't get the precision part right, I could cut the essence instead of the dead part."

She glared at him. "What can you do about it?"

"Not much, Senior Sister. I can only share a bit of wisdom that Master told Senior Sister Yang Xiu. He said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Don't worry about the last mile or the hundredth mile or even the first mile. Just take a step, any step, and then take another," Zou Tian said. "Master has confidence in you. He wouldn't have asked you to do this if he didn't believe in you."

Wan Ai slowly inhaled, held it for a moment, and exhaled. "You think so?"

"I know so, Senior Sister."

Maybe the boy could be of some help. She felt calmer already. In fact, she felt much calmer than she should.

"That's weird," she said. "I usually feel uncomfortable when around other people. With you, it's almost like I'm alone."

"That's my special talent, Senior Sister. I can mask my presence. I can stand in the middle of a room and most people in the room will gradually forget that I was there."

"That's really interesting."

"Master was really smart to assign me to assist you, Senior Sister. Not only do we share the dagger technique, but I think you'll be more at ease around me than around anyone else."

"You think he understood that when he picked you to help me?"

"Absolutely, Senior Sister. Master is truly unfathomable," Zou Tian said. "Now, if you'll allow me to give you some tips about learning techniques?"

Maybe she could perform the huge task required of her by starting with taking a single step. Maybe. With help.

She cupped her hands toward him. "Gratitude."

Benton found himself with not much to do after lunch, so he took a run through the wilds and killed several rank three spirit beasts, very deliberately not using his void qi to avoid damaging the pelt or any of the meat. Rank three materials were quite pricy, and he employed a waste not, want not kind of attitude.

After he got back, he received a pleasant surprise. The mayor had been busy. He reported that all fifty-six villagers, including himself and the six harvesters, were ready to be inducted into the sect.

Benton was super excited to gain so many points at once and to fill so many necessary positions in his sect.

The only problem was that these were to be the first sect members that were not to be inducted first as his personal disciples. If his experience with the twins was any indication, the System would expect some kind of official ceremony, and the last thing he wanted was another long, drawn-out ritual involving tea.

From Su's memories, the other sects didn't do anything like the bai-si ceremony. There were tests, and those who passed were admitted. Which would be great, but Benton didn't plan on testing anyone. Every one of the fifty-six were expected to be admitted.

He had an idea that played into the whole testing thing, though, based on the sorting hat from Harry Potter. The question was whether the System would accept it. How embarrassing would it be if he said, "Boom! You're all sect members now!" but the System didn't acknowledge them because it didn't like how he'd inducted them?

Like just about anything in his new reality, gathering everyone took a while. There were no cell phones or even landlines to call people, after all. Messengers had to be sent to each house. People had to be tracked down.

The whole process was a pain.

Finally, though, the fifty-six villagers and an escort of Ye Zan's guards were ready to make the trek to the arena.

It occurred to Benton that he could have used the time at lunch to get the amphitheater set up so he could use that instead.

Nah. The arena was fine. And he'd eventually need the beast cores he'd just collected.

Apparently, stories about him had been circulating because the villagers seemed more scared of him than potential beasts. That wasn't an optimal result, but their fear at least kept them quiet throughout the trek.

Once in the arena, he had all the villages sit in one section of the lower stands while he stood in front of them on the sand. He pulled a table from his ring and put the orb on top of it.

"Welcome, everyone, to the first official induction ceremony for the Rising Tide Sect. One by one, you'll come up here and touch the orb. I'll then tell you about your talent level and qi aspect and gift you an appropriate cultivation method along with a spirit beast core to use to access the jade slip.

"With the mayor's help, I'll then assign you an official position in the sect.

"Once everyone is finished getting tested and assigned, you'll officially be named members. After that, I'll guide you all through the process of sensing and cycling qi."

He paused to let all that sink in before saying, "Any questions?"

There were none, thankfully.

"If the Honorable Mayor wouldn't mind coming up first?" Benton said.

"Of course, Esteemed Sect Leader."

The mayor, as Benton knew from the first time he'd scanned him, was a nature aspected E- talent. Nothing special at all for the town. Benton presented him with a jade slip containing the Supreme Growth of Heaven Cultivation Method and a rank one beast core.

"The Honorable Mayor will remain in charge of the village and command the sect members placed under his authority as he sees fit," Benton said.

No one seemed surprised by the announcement, which was good. Even if the villagers thought the arrangement odd, they didn't say anything about it.

Honestly, it did rankle Benton a little, and he couldn't wait for the day that the entire village would hopefully be more integrated into the sect.

Baby steps, though. Baby steps.

He had the rest of the villagers come up, starting with the man seated nearest the stairs leading down to the arena floor. He turned out to be one of the math whizzes slated for the Formations Pavilion. After announcing the man was an F+ ranked nature aspect, Benton desperately wanted to call out, "Ravenclaw." He managed, somehow, to restrain himself and assigned the man to the correct pavilion.

Not much of interest happened during the sorting. Not counting the harvesters, there wasn't a single villager better than E+, and forty-seven out of forty-nine were nature aspected. He gave the two who weren't the Supreme Foundation of Heaven Cultivation Method.

All six of the harvesters were either D or D- ranked, and all had nature aspected qi. Benton wasn't as sure what to do with them as far as what to method to give them, so he had them stand by so he could talk to them while the others tried to sense qi.

Once each of the villagers had been sorted, Benton said, "By the power invested in me by the immortal heavens, I now pronounce each of every one of you members of the Rising Tide Sect."

As hokey as that statement was, the System accepted it because he immediately received a notification.

The Quest, Recruit Additional Disciple, has been completed. Host is awarded 56 Shop Points.

Host currently has 104 Shop Points.

After instructing the villagers on how to sense qi, Benton turned to Quang Yin and his fellow harvesters. "All of you are in the third or fourth realm of Qi Gathering, and frankly, I'm not sure what to do with you. It seems like a waste to have you continue to cultivate that terrible technique, but changing methods mid-realm is difficult in the extreme. Not to mention that such a thing is likely to cause a qi deviation or even kill you outright."

"We're fine how we are, Esteemed Sect Leader," Quang Yin said. "We accepted our fate long ago. The only thing we were hoping to get was that spiritual wood harvesting technique."

"Yeah, giving you that is a no brainer, but I'm not quite so sure I'm willing to just let your talent go to waste. I know you're all older, but you also have much better spirit roots than the vast majority of people in my sect. It just seems a shame to have you languishing at the lower levels of the first major realm."

"What option do we have, Esteemed Sect Leader?" Quang Yin said.

Benton quickly queried his System exactly that question. It turned out that a pill that would completely cleanse the cultivation of someone of such a low realm was pretty cheap, two per Shop Point. Definitely worth it.

"I can wipe out your current cultivation completely, meaning you'd have to start over from scratch. In return, you'd get a much better cultivation method. The only problem is that I really don't want to delay building my wall, and you won't be able to harvest the wood for a while if you reset. I'm not sure the best path forward."

"The Esteemed Sect Leader would really expend such effort, including a valuable resource like a Cultivation Cleansing Pill, on lowly ones such as us?" Quang Yin said.

"Of course. You're my sect members, now."

Benton wasn't sure, but he thought that, at that very moment, those six men started to think of themselves the way he thought of them, as members of the Rising Tide Sect.

"If it pleases the Sect Leader, these lowly ones would first harvest the necessary wood and then reset our cultivation."

"That would be perfect. Gratitude," Benton said.

"No, Sect Leader, gratitude to you."

Of course, resetting their cultivation would also wipe their techniques, so there was no point in them learning the new one until later. The harvesters all agreed with that assessment.

It took a few hours, but before he left the arena, he'd gained fifty Sect Points, bringing him to one hundred eighteen available and giving him five to spend on himself. In one fell swoop, he'd literally almost doubled the size of his sect. Additionally, by assigning the new members to various pavilions, he'd fulfilled the requirements of the Pavilionize Quest, earning him an additional five Shop Points.

Chapter 96 – Dislike, Excitement, and Ambivalence

After escorting his newest sect members back to the village, Benton returned to the area outside the arena. As the site of his sect and land he personally owned, the place was already becoming special to him, and he wanted to spend as much time as possible there.

Work was never finished for a sect leader, apparently, because he had no time to wander his territory just to get familiar with it. He had System business to attend to. Three items, actually. One he didn't want to do; one he was excited by; and the final one he was kind of ambivalent about.

His mom had raised him to eat his Brussel sprouts before dessert. Speaking of that nasty vegetable, he hadn't encountered it on his new planet. If for no other reason, his being transmigrated to a cultivation world was truly a blessing.

The first item—the thing he didn't want to do—was a certain status check, but wants and needs were two different things indeed.

"System," he said out loud because there was no one around to hear, "show me the Build a Proper Foundation Quest status."

Build a Proper Foundation QuestPrerequisites:Found a Sect Quest CompletedMinimum 100 Sect MembersAverage Loyalty Rating greater than 6Reward:1 Perk PointSpecial:Host may view current Average Loyalty Rating by querying System

Just as he'd thought. The first two prerequisites had been fulfilled. His average loyalty, however, had dropped below the required six with the addition of the new sect members.

Time to see exactly how bad it was.

"System, what is my current average Loyalty Rating?"

4.9Well, that wasn't as bad as it could have been. The villagers must all have some loyalty toward him, or the average would have been much, much lower.

Okay, the fun stuff was up next.

He had five points to spend on his personal power. Actually, he seriously considered moving his allotment to twenty percent now that Sect Points were rolling in with such relative frequency. Only the fact that he'd committed to spending another thirty-five for the sect members dissuaded him from immediately acting on his impulse.

"You know, what I really need to do is to set a hard benchmark, or I'll always find some reason to put off increasing my personal draw. So, here goes. The next time my total Sect Points rises above one hundred with no expenditures pending that I've already committed to making, I will raise my personal allotment to twenty percent."

Benton tensed, but no lighting flashed.

The lack was good. Imagine if every little promise he made resulted in such theatrics. Really, it would be kind of cool, but it would get old at some point. Surely. Maybe.

That decision tackled, he moved on to making the choice of how to spend his current points.

His technique for attaching qi to the tip of a weapon was quickly becoming his go-to attack. It was both powerful and flexible. He could just imagine cutting down beast after beast by attaching small amounts of void qi to the tip of his arrows during the tide.

Five points wasn't enough to max out the technique, however, with him being one point shy of making that purchase. Besides, he needed to start incorporating the other techniques that were to become his staples into his combat style, and to accomplish that, he needed to buy them at Small Success to start practicing them.

That left his choices as some combination of pausing time, folding space, the variable shield, or the gravity area attack. He wanted all of them. That night. Immediately.

Alas, he didn't have enough available points. The shield cost four points just to learn, so that one was out as he preferred to add two new techniques.

That elimination meant he needed to also get rid of one of the remaining three. Of those, the one that would affect his combat style the least was pausing time. He felt that it would eventually become his ace in the hole. The ability to stop in the middle of a chaotic situation and figuratively catch his breath and plan his next move would be invaluable. But the use of such a technique should be fairly intuitive.

The other two required practice, making them a higher priority at the moment.

"System, please give me the techniques we previously discussed for folding space and creating a gravity area attack, both at Small Success."

The System confirmed his choice, giving him the Folded Space Quickstep Technique and the Variable AoE Gravity Burst Technique.

That purchase left him with one point remaining, and fully expecting to be swimming in points in the near future, he didn't want to save it.

"System, please increase my body cultivation by one minor realm."

The choice to raise that particular category was easy. It was the only thing listed on his master plan that cost a single point.

With the happy task finished, he moved on to the one he was ambivalent about.

"System, I would like to create a Soul Cultivation Method."

Please select a Soul Cultivation Realm:

Manifestation

Netherpassage

Fulfillment

Nirvana

Imperishable

"Okay, those possibilities are … interesting. Give me Manifestation, please."

Benton expected the next screen that popped up to be the one to select a qi aspect, but the System skipped that one. Maybe qi didn't matter for the soul?

The territory was completely new for both Su and Benton, so he really had no idea.

Please allocate 100 Soul Cultivation Method Creation Points in the following categories:

Inviolability

Attribute Enhancement

Size

Strength

Tempering

None of those categories sounded familiar at all. What the crap was soul tempering? What benefit was it to have your soul get bigger? Or stronger, for that matter? Sure, bigger and stronger was, for most things, better, but what, specifically, did it do for one's soul?

With so many things on his mind, he just didn't have the bandwidth yet to figure it all out. Luckily, he had a cheat.

"System, if my primary objective were to have my disciples' souls resist demonic cultivator draining techniques, which of these categories should I choose?"

Soul Inviolability is a measure of the soul's resistance to outside intrusion of any kind and protects against all manner of soul attacks, including those by demonic cultivators.Okay, well when the System put it like that…

"System, give me five points in each of the attribute enhancements and place the other eighty-five in Inviolability."

His selection was confirmed, and he was asked to come up with a name. Man, he hated that part with such a passion.

"System, call it the Defense Against Dark Incarnation."

He chuckled. DADI would protect his sect members.

Name accepted.

Congratulations, Host, on the creation of the Defense Against Dark Incarnation Soul Cultivation Method.

Confirm creation of this cultivation method for 25 Sect Points?

"Confirmed."

He ignored the next screen in favor of calling up his status.

Sect Name:Rising TideSect Members:111Disciples:55Sect Points:78Shop Points:109Host Cultivation:Foundation Establishment - Minor Realm OneQi Available:1,110Host Body Cultivation:Bronze - Minor Realm ThreeHost Techniques (Qi Gathering):Analysis - Large SuccessBasic Archery - Large SuccessBasic Spear Combat - Large SuccessPill Basics - Large SuccessHost Techniques (Foundation Establishment):Folded Space Quickstep – Small Success

Layered Variable Shield Breaker with Void Finisher Weapon Augmentation – Large Success

Seeking Speeding Arrow – Small SuccessVariable AoE Gravity Burst – Small SuccessMenus:[Cultivation Method][Technique][Quest][Perk][Advancement][Shop][Sect]Ye Zan escorted Xun Wu and his son into the house. "As you can see, I have four guards on the perimeter, and I will be just outside your room. No one and nothing will interfere with you while you're incapacitated."

"Gratitude, Ye Zan. I and my family thank you for your diligence," Xun Wu said.

Ye Zan didn't know the blacksmith very well and didn't want to upset him, but his curiosity got the better of him. "May this one ask you a question?"

"Of course, but no need for such formalities. As far as the sect goes, I'm the inferior one."

Said the man who was soon to be an A ranked talent and who was already an expert blacksmith. Ye Zan would never think himself superior to someone like that just because he'd been cultivating six weeks longer.

"Why did you decide to take the pill? Yang Ru won't say anything about his experience, but to hear Yang Xiu tell it, there was a lot of pain."

Xun Wu pulled back his sleeve, revealing a scarred forearm. "You don't become an expert blacksmith without experiencing the flame. Pain doesn't scare me. To answer your question, though, it's because my entire life has been about bringing out the potential in a piece of metal through the purification of the forge. I figure that's exactly what the pill will do to my spiritual roots, bring out my potential through purification. Can't do that without a lot of flame and a big hammer. I'm hoping that the pill is both."

Ye Zan could understand how a blacksmith could have that perspective. He just didn't know if he'd have the dedication to do the same. A relatively short while later, screams of pure agony come from inside Xun Wu's room.

It was probably a good thing that Master hadn't made such an offer to Ye Zan.

After those thoughts, he was thus quite ashamed when the next visitor arrived—Peng Zhen with his son, Peng Hanying.

"You both understand that, even though we're not positive, it is extremely likely that using these pills will be the most excruciatingly painful experience of your life," Ye Zan said.

The father looked hesitant, but the boy nodded. Ye Zan was tempted to write off the bravery as a youngster who had no idea what he was about to go through. But something about the boy's eyes changed his mind.

"You don't have a doubt at all, do you?" Ye Zan said. "May I ask why?"

"If there is anything that my father taught me, it's that life only offers you so many opportunities. It may be a handful; it may be three; it may only be one. You have to be ready to grab hold with both hands when one comes along."

Peng Zhen smiled. "I just hate that you're going to have to suffer for it, my son."

"I trust Master. The pain will only be temporary, but the benefits will be for my very long life."

More and more, Ye Zan found himself impressed not only by his master but by his fellow sect members. He was truly glad that he'd accepted that escort request offer from Kang Ya-Ting.

Chapter 97 – Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Benton met the twins the next morning at the gate. The three of them made a quick run clearing both sides of the road leading to where the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood grew and doing a sweep through and around it.

He killed many beasts, mostly rank twos, but didn't use any of his new techniques. They required practice before being put into use, and he preferred to do such experimenting out of sight of his sect members, even the twins. Exhibiting Mastery of a skill the first time he showed it off helped build the mystique of an ancient elder that he was shooting for.

It didn't take long before he could no longer sense any beasts within a half mile radius of the Wood, so he called the two siblings to a stop before heading back to the village. "I've got a whole list of things to handle this morning. We talked about you two supplementing Ye Zan's guards here today in protecting the harvesters. I'm assuming you're still planning on that, right? It's a good place for cultivating, and the two of you are getting close to a breakthrough."

Yang Xiu grimaced. "We were actually hoping we could start spear and archery lessons today, instead, Master."

"Zi Delan's crew and the other kids from Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town are all getting really close to minor realm three. Wouldn't it be more efficient to do group lessons for everyone at the same time? If we wait four or five days and use the Qi Condensing Pills, in addition to getting both of you to minor realm nine, I should be able to get all of them to minor realm four. That way, we'd have a large group ready to learn weapon techniques from you at once."

The two shared a glance. As their realm rose, the hours of sleep they needed decreased, so they typically used nighttime for cultivation. They probably didn't like the idea of spending an entire day babysitting while not accomplishing any of their other tasks.

"How about this?" Benton said. "One of you cultivate here while the other hunts, and you switch out every few hours?"

"Yes, Master," the two chorused.

They both accompanied him back to the gate where they met the six harvesters along with Ye Zan and a half dozen of his guards. Benton explained the plan of having just the twins accompany them today, and no one objected.

Relieved of his own babysitting duties, Benton planned his morning. He had four stops to make, one of which he was very much dreading. Unlike the previous night, he couldn't make himself do the unpleasant one first. Instead, he went to see Wan Ai. When he got there, Zou Tian was helping her cut herbs.

"Greetings, disciples," Benton said. "How goes it?"

Wan Ai glanced at Zou Tian, her eyes wide, and nodded her head in Benton's direction, clearly indicating for him to take the lead in reporting to the sect leader. She had no such luck as he instead deferred to her. The boy was a really good kid, understanding that Benton was trying to get her used to taking a leadership role and urging her to do just that.

"These—"

Zou Tian cleared his throat.

"This one has prepared three baths, Master," Wan Ai said.

"Three? That's extraordinary. Great job!"

The girl brightened slightly at the praise.

"Were there any issues?" Benton said.

"Nothing these ones couldn't handle," Wan Ai said. "Zou Tian found villagers who can heat the water and clean the tubs, and with his help, I was able to learn enough of the herb technique to both prepare the herbs and combine them with the energy of a spirit beast core. This one would never have been able to do any of that without Zou Tian's assistance."

The boy had kept trying to shush her during that whole explanation, but she actually talked right over him.

Good for them. The pairing worked out a lot better than he expected. Which was a very good thing. Both him and the sect needed those baths to be ready.

"Well, great job. I'll let Ye Zan know the first three of his guards can begin tonight."

The girl cupped her hands. "Gratitude, Master."

"Are you ready to have helpers sent over?" Benton said.

"This one has barely gotten the basics down, Master. This one wouldn't know how adding more people would help at this point."

On one hand, she made a good argument. Developing a procedure and scaling it up were both difficult tasks. Trying to do the two at once would be a nightmare. On the other hand, Benton knew she would try to avoid managing more people, and having other fully trained workers was crucial.

"Let's see," Benton said. "We've assigned four new sect members from the village to help you. They all have experience with herbs but only received their cultivation methods yesterday. It looks like you have all the menial tasks assigned to villagers Zou Tian hired, so they probably wouldn't be much help for now. Besides, it would be great if we could give them several weeks to cultivate before teaching them a technique."

"Yes, Master. This one agrees."

"You're also getting one of the former Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town orphans, but he hasn't quite hit the third minor realm yet. In two or three days with the assistance of a Qi Condensing Pill, he'll be at minor realm four and ready and raring to go to help you. I'll send him over then."

"Understood, Master."

"The final helper is one of the original eight from the village orphanage. I'll be giving her and the others their pills today, so she'll be ready to learn techniques starting tomorrow. Please be ready to help her learn."

"Yes, Master."

"Great," Benton said. "How are you looking for tomorrow as far as number of baths?"

The girl swelled with pride. "This one expects to have another five ready by then."

"Fantastic! You really are a treasure. There is one issue we should discuss, however."

"Yes, Master?"

"You are at the very peak of fifth minor realm about to break into the sixth. Do you want to do that now or wait? I'm planning on giving you a pill once you reach that milestone that will propel you to the seventh realm in a day."

She could then get to the eighth realm on her own, and he'd take her to the ninth with another pill. Honestly, that wasn't the best way to do things as it was better to spread out the pill-taking more. That was why his practice was to give a pill to his disciples at the third minor realm instead of waiting until later when advancing took more time.

He was trying to balance speed versus foundation, though, so the big question really was how much would the rapid advancement hurt her base? His judgment from Su's memories and from Pill Basics was that skipping through minor realms close together was suboptimal but not enough to impact her potential. Of course, he'd explain the positives and negatives before he gave her either pill.

Ultimately, it was her decision.

"Body Cultivation is too important for this one to take the time to advance right now, Master."

"Your cultivation is important, too."

"Maybe after this one's two helpers are competent enough, Master?"

Benton frowned. That solution really would be best for the sect, but he hated for her to sacrifice her own advancement. Then again, they were only talking about a week.

"It's your call," Benton said.

There wasn't anything left to discuss, so he said his goodbyes, and after leaving the makeshift alchemy lab, he visited Xun Wu, who was still sleeping as a part of his recovery from taking the Spirit Root Refinement Pill. Benton, allowed into the room by his wife in order to check up on him, scanned him.

Name: Xun Wu

Affiliation: Rising Tide Sect

Age: 41

Cultivation: None

Techniques: None

Spiritual Roots: A-

Qi Aspect: Fiery coal in the middle of the forge

Success! Not that he ever really doubted it, but it was still cool that his sect now had its third A rank member.

"He should be just fine," Benton said to the blacksmith's wife.

Xun Wu would obviously need a cultivation method and, as a top tier disciple, merited one specific to his qi aspect. Benton quickly whipped one up and presented both the jade slip and a rank one spirit beast core to her.

Leaving, he felt more than a little bit of trepidation. Neither of his next two stops were likely to be pleasant, especially the last one.

As expected, the next one didn't go well. Peng Hanying was still at the guards' house, having only taken the second of five pills. The poor kid had sweat literally dripping down his face. His forehead burned with fever, and he whimpered from the pain.

Benton hated that the kid was suffering even if it helped in the long run. Such was part and parcel of living in a cultivation world, though. One had to accept the good with the bad.

Yeah. Benton just had to keep telling himself that, and maybe, he'd eventually believe it.

If he didn't trust the System's quality and that the kid would come through just fine, he would have called a stop to the whole thing. He did ask if the kid wanted to stop and got a hard no in reply. Benton respected the kid's resolve too much to pull rank on him.

Leaving him and his father with encouraging words, Benton headed off to his last and least favorite stop of the morning—the orphanage. If there was any task worse than delivering bad news to a child, he didn't know what it was.

"Master, you came!" Mistress Zhong said upon opening the door. "I had expected you last night."

"Apologies, Mistress Zhong, the villagers were ready for induction into the sect sooner than expected, and I didn't want to come by too late and disturb the kids." Benton paused. "I'm assuming you haven't told her."

"No. I thought the news should come from you, Master."

"You're right. Good call." He paused, remembering another task, and pulled eight Qi Condensing Pills from his ring. "Before I forget, give these to the original set of kids."

"Yes, Master."

Benton glanced around, trying to think of anything to delay what was to come next, but he couldn't figure out anything. He sighed. "Well, best get to it, I guess."

Feeling like a kicked dog, Benton traipsed into the room being used for the convalescing Jin LiJuan. She was awake and immediately eyed him.

"Master! Do you know yet? Can you heal me?"

He kneeled beside her pallet. "Kind of. I found pills that can partially restore your cultivation. At best, you will be the lowest of the low in talent, an F-, and really not even that high as there are sure to be complications with your meridians and channels. Maybe even your dantian. You have to understand that what you did was very dangerous. You could have died."

"This lowly one knows, Master. I thought about what I did a lot while I've been in bed, and it was all my fault. You told me you would come back. Mistress Zhong said that you were journeying far and that you were probably delayed by things you couldn't control. But I was impatient. I was stupid!" Tears started streaming from her eyes.

His greatest weakness in two lives was a crying child.

Had he returned to the village as planned, she wouldn't be in all that pain. The situation wasn't his fault, per se, but he accepted some of the blame.

"Even if it's not good cultivation, I can still cultivate, though, right?" she said when she'd recovered enough to speak. "You can fix me that much, right, Master?"

"The thing is, Li'er, the cure is expensive. Very expensive. I can speed the cultivation of thirty of our fellow sect members for that much."

Her lip quivered, and she bit it. "I … see, Master. It makes no sense to spend so much on healing me when I have no way to repay the sect. It's okay, Master. It's okay."

Benton's heart broke seeing the girl so clearly trying to re-assure herself.

"You can still help the sect, Li'er, in whatever capacity you want. My sect is your sect. It's your home. Its members are your brothers and sisters, okay? You will always have a place with us. You will be valued. Your life will be much better than you ever imagined."

She gamely tried to smile, but it was as if her lips refused to move. "I'll be fine, Master. Gratitude. It's okay. It's going to be okay."

Benton felt like she grabbed his heart in her hands and tore it to tiny shreds.

The entire council agreed that not healing her was best for the sect. Spending so much for so little in return made no sense. They had a good reason for making that decision.

But none of the council had to stare that little girl in the eyes and tell her they wouldn't heal her.

Not couldn't. Wouldn't.

"Tell me why you ate the spirit beast meat," he said.

"Because I wanted to cultivate, Master."

"But why did you want to cultivate so badly?"

More tears welled in her eyes. "My parents, Master. The beasts got them. I wanted ... it's silly."

"It's anything but silly Li'er. It's heartbreaking."

"I just … I wanted to get back at the beasts, Master. I wanted to be strong and fast and powerful so that I could kill the beasts and so that no more little girls would have to lose their mommy and daddy like I did."

"That last part is really sweet. Protecting people is good. I like that. Vengeance, however, feels like it should be good, but it isn't."

He paused. "If I heal you, I want you to promise me that you won't pursue some kind of war against the beasts. No vengeance. Your mom and dad wouldn't have wanted you to live a life full of hate."

Benton couldn't even begin to imagine what the little girl's life had been like. Living in a village where starvation was a real danger, having her parents die to an animal attack, being put in a crowded orphanage that didn't have enough resources to take care of her.

She had suffered enough.

Between the upcoming quest completions, making one Shop Point per new member, and eventually another two when they reached Foundation Establishment, he would find a way to afford it.

"Master?"

"I mean it, Li'er. Swear to me."

"But … I don't understand, Master."

Benton looked in her little tear-filled eyes. "I have to hear it, Li'er. Swear."

"I won't kill the beasts, Master. I swear it. Only to protect, not because I'm mad."

Good enough.

"Get as much rest as you can tonight and eat as much as you can stomach. You're going to need your strength. Tomorrow, have Mistress Zhong take you to the guards' house. The pills will be waiting for you there with instructions."

"You can't, Master. This lowly one isn't worth it."

"You are worth it, Li'er, and if I can't do this for you, how could I consider myself worth anything? What even is an old man like me doing here?"

"Old man? Master is hardly older that Senior Brother Ru. You're nothing like Mistress Zhong. She's old."

"Looks can be deceiving, Li'er, especially for cultivators. Now, you remember what you're supposed to do tonight?"

"Eat and sleep a lot, Master."

"Exactly."

Chapter 98 – Wouldn't Change if He Could

Benton rushed from the house and to the gate. Not even willing to wait for the village guards to open it, he leapt over the fifteen-foot-tall structure. He needed to get away. He needed to think.

First, though, he needed to commit to his decision. His new decision, not the old one that he reneged on.

Ugh.

"System, purchase whatever is necessary to heal Jin LiJuan. I confirm whatever you need me to confirm. Don't even show me how many Shop Points are left."

The System was nothing if not compliant when it came to such requests. A set of seven pills appeared in his ring.

Had he done the right thing? If right were defined as the act that was in the best interests of the sect, then no, he hadn't. Only by defining right as the choice that felt the most emotionally satisfying would he be able to answer yes.

He kept doing things like that. No matter how many times he told himself he needed to be harder, to adapt to the fact that he was living in a harsh might-makes-right cultivation world where a tiny mistake may destroy him, he kept bending. Every. Single. Time.

Well, at least, he'd managed to kill that Foundation Establishment cultivator. What was his name? Feng Chun. No. Teng Chun. But that was only because Benton didn't have a choice. The guy almost killed Zou Tian and would almost definitely have killed all of them.

Besides, look where that got Benton. A Golden Core cultivator would be coming after his head in the not too far distant future. When Teng Chun's father arrived, everything Benton had built would be destroyed if he didn't grow strong enough by then.

If the beast tide didn't get him first.

And what was he doing? Using every single resource at his disposal to grow stronger? No. Choosing the path that made him feel good.

For the first time since transmigrating, he truly felt like a failure.

And the worst part? He wouldn't change his decision if he could. There was no way he could face that little girl and disappoint her like that.

He simply wasn't cut out for the cruelty of a cultivation world. What was he thinking? Who was he to found a sect, to have all those people depending on him?

Zhong Wen wiped tears from her eyes as Master left the building. She'd never heard anything so touching in her life.

Her two assistants, Xiao Rong and Chang Xioadan, saw her and immediately came over to console her.

"Did he tell Jin LiJuan the bad news?" Xiao Rong said.

"How did she take it?" Chang Xioadan said.

Zhong Wen was sobbing so hard that she could barely get any words out. "Master didn't."

"Oh no! He left you to do to deliver the bad news?" Xiao Rong said. "That's terrible!"

"You're not getting it," Zhong Wen said. "There is no bad news. Master is going to heal her."

"But, I thought you said…"

"I did," Mistress Zhong said. "We all decided. I agreed. It wasn't worth the expense."

"But he's going ahead with it anyway?" Chang Xioadan said. "Is that wise? Why ask for your advice if he's just going to ignore it?"

"You don't understand what I heard in that room. For so long it was just me who cared about you kids. The village barely helped. I had to beg, borrow, and yes, steal to feed all of you. I thought for sure I'd lose some, or even most, of the kids over the coming winter. So, when a cultivator showed up at my door offering to feed the children in exchange for making some of them into cultivators, I thought that surely he had something bad planned. But I had to take the deal. I had to!"

"Of course, Mistress Zhong," Xiao Rong said. "We all knew that. No one would have blamed you even if it all turned out terrible."

"But incredibly, it didn't! That's the point. When he returned like he said he would, I began to hope just a little bit that he had been truthful, that he really did have honorable intentions. And then he founded the sect and made us all members and the heavens heard his oath. I thought, 'Okay. He means it.'" Zhong Wen tapped her head. "But I thought it up here." She tapped her heart. "I didn't believe it in here."

"And now?" Xiao Rong said.

"I'll say it again. For so long, it was just me caring for all of you. Now, a great burden has been lifted off my heart. That was the act of a man who genuinely cares for that little girl. And if he cares so much for her, why couldn't the same thing be true for all the rest of you?"

By the time she finished speaking, the two girls had tears in their eyes as well.

Yang Xiu raced Yang Ru back to the village and, of course, won. He was unstoppable when he got going, but she was just plain fast.

"Good race, Brother."

He grunted.

"Don't be like that. You have your skills, and I have mine," she said. "Speaking of which, I am so very, very close to breaking through. Master was so right about cultivating in the woods. It feels like every cycle there is worth two or more anywhere else, just like those rooms at the Poison Claw Sect."

Yang Ru grunted again.

"Another race? This one to see who advances first? Sure. But you're going to lose. I'm closer. I can feel it."

As they were bantering back and forth, a villager, a man who looked only slightly older than Master, approached. He cupped his hands and bowed low.

"Apologies, Esteemed Master Cultivators. May this lowly one ask a question?"

Having someone approach them was quite unexpected, especially a mortal. But the guy seemed harmless, and Yang Xiu thought her master would answer the question if he were there.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Is it true that the Esteemed Sect Leader decided to use vast amounts of sect resources to heal a worthless little girl?"

"Worthless?" Yang Xiu's tone held an edge of warning.

"Pardon, Esteemed Master Cultivator. This lowly one just meant that the girl had nothing to offer the sect in return."

"Is one's worth, especially as a child, measured by what she can immediately return? Do you have children? If you did, would you measure their worth solely by what they can return to you?"

"Well, no. This lowly one guesses not, Esteemed Master Cultivator." The man paused. "So, it's true?"

"I haven't heard either way, but it sounds exactly like something Master would do. He did, after all, find two worthless pieces of gutter trash in the forest and saved them from enemies and starvation. But wait, that didn't turn out so bad for him, did it?"

The guy's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Where did you hear this story?" she said.

"It's on everyone's lips, Esteemed Master Cultivator, and this lowly one didn't know what to think."

"Well, I can't tell you what you should think, but I can tell you what I think. Master has a big heart. He cares about people, and he helps without thought of what he might get in return. In fact, when he knows he will be receiving something in return for his assistance, he feels guilty about it and tries to dissuade the recipient from acting in both their best interests.

"You're wondering if that makes him weak, aren't you?"

"This lowly one would never question the sect leader, Esteemed Master Cultivator."

Yeah. Right. Next the villager would be trying to sell her swamp land in the dessert.

"All I know," she said, "is that Master is the strongest cultivator I've ever seen. Elders of the prestigious Poison Claw Sect respect him. One of his enemies is a late-stage Golden Core Cultivator of the Chameleon Jade Sect, and Master is not scared of the man at all. So, if I were to give you advice, it would be to not think of Master as weak because he cares but rather think that he's so strong that he can care all he wants without fear."

By the end of her little speech, the man was nodding along. Good. She really didn't like people thinking of Master in an insulting way, and he would have gotten upset if she'd killed the man.

Benton spent the entire rest of the day hunting spirit beasts and trying out his new techniques. The extra level of Body Cultivation was nice, but since he'd already reached Foundation Establishment, the increase he perceived in his physical attributes wasn't nearly as big as when he'd been a mortal. Still, his reason for the advance was sound. Each extra realm would make him tougher, from his skin to his muscles to his bones to his internal organs. Some day, he'd take a blow from an opponent, and that extra little bit might just be what saved him.

The gravity burst was interesting. For an investment of five qi, he made the limb on a tree a hundred yards away snap off under its artificially enhanced weight. It required a hundred qi to hold a rank two badger in place for two seconds with an area effect, allowing him to calmly stab it in the eye. After several such trials, he felt comfortable knowing the limits of the attack.

The star of the show, however, was his new movement skill. He could stand arm's length from a tree, take one step, and stab the back of the trunk without crossing the intervening space. Against a rival cultivator, the attack would be devastating.

It would also help with bluffing his status as a higher realm cultivator. According to Su's memories, it was known that many cultivators typically developed teleport techniques in the higher realms of Golden Core. Below minor realm six, such a skill was almost unheard of.

Benton was most interested in why such a technique didn't seem to depend on qi aspect. How did fire lead to teleportation? Or earth? Or any of the others outside of types like dimension and space?

With the sun low in the sky, he decided he'd skirted his duties long enough. If nothing else, he'd promised to transport the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood back to the village so that the villagers could start work the next morning.

He'd been getting notifications all afternoon, but frankly, he hadn't paid too much attention to them, just enough to know that a lot of his sect members were advancing to the third and fourth minor realms. Best check his status to determine what had happened. Maybe it would cheer him up.

Sect Name:Rising TideSect Members:111Disciples:55Sect Points:85Shop Points:94Host Cultivation:Foundation Establishment - Minor Realm OneQi Available:1,110Host Body Cultivation:Bronze - Minor Realm ThreeHost Techniques (Qi Gathering):Analysis - Large SuccessBasic Archery - Large SuccessBasic Spear Combat - Large SuccessPill Basics - Large SuccessHost Techniques (Foundation Establishment):Folded Space Quickstep – Small Success

Layered Variable Shield Breaker with Void Finisher Weapon Augmentation – Large Success

Seeking Speeding Arrow – Small SuccessVariable AoE Gravity Burst – Small SuccessMenus:[Cultivation Method][Technique][Quest - Quest Reward Available][Perk][Advancement][Shop][Sect]The remaining Shop Points were as bad as he'd feared, down to ninety-four, which seemed like a lot but not in comparison to the previous total. Easy come, easy go, right? The Sect Points were at least rising again. He'd gained seventeen through the day to get him to seventy-six.

That gain also gave him two points for his personal allotment. It was tempting to take the time pausing technique immediately, but he decided it was more prudent to wait until he had another two in order to get the all-important shield.

Benton also made a mental note to find the kids from Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town who had hit minor realm three and get them their Qi Condensing Pills.

There was another change, though, one he wasn't expecting. The Quest menu showed a reward available. That was strange.

"System, what quest reward is available?"

Host has completed the Build a Proper Foundation Quest.

Congratulations. Host has one Perk Point Available.

What? He pulled up that quest.

Build a Proper Foundation QuestPrerequisites:Found a Sect Quest CompletedMinimum 100 Sect MembersAverage Loyalty Rating greater than 6Reward:1 Perk PointSpecial:Host may view current Average Loyalty Rating by querying System

"System, what is my current average loyalty?"

6.9What? How had his average loyalty risen by two whole points? What was going on in the village?

He had to get back to find out.

Chapter 99 – Perk Up. Again.

Benton quickly ran to the harvesting site and found a large pile of wood laying on a tarp, including multiple tree trunks exceeding forty feet in length. He stored all of it in his ring and ran to the village.

It was late, and most everyone was asleep. Not knowing where to deposit his load, he ran by Peng Zhen's house and discovered that the place was dark and silent. He needed to know where to leave the wood, but his tardiness didn't justify disturbing the family inside. There had to be another source for the necessary information.

Well, if any of his people knew, it would be Zou Tian.

Benton ran to the temporary alchemy lab. Luckily, the boy and Wan Ai hadn't retired for the evening. Both were still hard at work.

Finding them up was good for multiple reasons. Benton could find out what to do with the wood, get a status report on the baths, and determine what the heck happened to increase his sect members' loyalty toward him so much.

"Greetings, disciples," Benton said.

After the two returned his salutations, he got right to his questions. Zou Tian did indeed know where the wood was to be dropped off. Benton got directions and asked how the body cultivation was going.

"Preparations are going well, Master," Wan Ai said. "This one was able to cut enough herbs for five baths tomorrow as this one anticipated, and all three baths this morning took on the color and smell as described by the cultivation method. Ye Zan and two of his men each completed one session. We won't know until after they have their third baths if it actually worked, but this one believes the chances are good."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Keep up the great work!"

She turned away bashfully, but he suspected she was pleased with the praise.

"I did have another question," Benton said. "Has something happened today in the village? My … intuition is telling me that my sect members are feeling more loyal toward me?"

"The story is all over town, Master," Zou Tian said.

"What story?"

"How you decided to heal Jin LiJuan despite the cost and the fact that she will never be much of a cultivator."

"And that make my sect members more loyal? How? Why?"

Zou Tian shrugged. "Master is unfathomable, of course, but this one thought Master's actions to be a waste of resources. Others, though, seemed to think that, if Master valued such a worthless girl so highly, then surely, he would see value in them, too."

"I guess…"

Benton could kind of see that point of view. Given the general reputation of cultivators as selfish and as dangerous and uncaring as acts of nature where mortals were concerned, it made sense that any sign he actually cared about the fate of the village would be taken as a good thing.

He happened to glance at Wan Ai, who was clearly struggling with wanting to say something but was too shy to speak up.

"What do you think, Wan Ai?" he said.

"This one couldn't say, Master."

"Of course you can. By now, I've surely made it clear that I value the opinions of my sect members, especially those I've chosen for my council."

She looked very conflicted, but finally, she spoke. "During the ceremony, Master said that the sect is supposed to lift each other up. Then, Master decided that healing Jin LiJuan was a waste of resources and wouldn't heal her. This lowly one felt like the words and actions were at odds. When Master later changed his actions to meet his words, this lowly one felt … good about the choice and Master. This lowly one suspects others may feel the same."

Out of the mouths of babes…

Her point did raise an interesting question. Was he being hypocritical? Was refusing to spend an exorbitant amount of limited Shop Points on a sect member who probably wouldn't even be able to reach Foundation Establishment the opposite of lifting each other up? In a way. But that view lacked a lot of nuance.

He'd have to consider that issue more. A larger concern was that, if Wan Ai felt that way, why didn't she speak up during the council meeting?

Oh. Wait. Look who he was thinking about. There was no way the girl was confident enough to speak in that setting without being practically forced to.

"Thank you, Wan Ai. That perspective helps. A lot."

And it really did. Benton still didn't understand how to reconcile wanting his sect to be righteous and lift people up versus what he believed it took to survive in a cultivation world, but maybe it hadn't been completely fair to beat himself up so much over his actions.

He said his goodbyes to the duo and headed over to the guards' house where he dropped off Jin LiJuan's pills. Next, he found the woodyard exactly where Zou Tian had directed and dropped off the load.

Those missions accomplished, he ran back to the arena. He had a Perk Point to spend.

"System, please call up the Perk Menu."

Welcome, Host, to the Perk Menu.

Host has one Perk Point available. Selecting any perk from the list below uses one Perk Point. Using additional Perk Points on the same perk increases the potency of the perk.

Please choose from the following list:

Auspicious Encounter

Advantageous Starting Location

Enhanced Body Cultivation Power

Enhanced Cultivation Power

Enhanced Physical Senses

Enhanced Spiritual Senses (2)

Enhanced Technique Power

Five Equipment Points

Hide Cultivation (2)

Regeneration

The first two, Auspicious Encounter and Advantageous Starting Location were crossed out, not allowing him to select them. That made sense. Both perks involved starting conditions, and he'd already formed his sect.

Two, Enhanced Spiritual Senses and Hide Cultivation, showed that he'd already spent one Perk Point on them. It was interesting that Five Equipment Points didn't have that mark. That lack probably meant he'd simply get another five points instead of an enhanced version of the perk.

Benton was definitely leaning toward a certain one of the choices, but he'd learned to carefully review all his options before making a decision. He had no idea, after all, when he might get another chance to choose from the menu.

First, Enhanced Body Cultivation Power. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out a reason to take it. He simply wasn't focused on Body Cultivation, so improving it made no sense.

Next was Enhanced Cultivation Power. That one made everything about his Spiritual Cultivation better. He'd get a little bit stronger, faster, tougher, etc. in excess of what he already gained with each realm he advanced. The biggest impact, though, was to his qi pool. The System promised major gains in that area. It was definitely the frontrunner for him to pick.

Enhanced Physical Senses felt like a very inferior option to him. He hadn't even invested in a technique to enhance that aspect of himself. Why would he use a precious Perk Point on it?

In contrast, Enhanced Spiritual Senses Level Two was an attractive option. There was some information about opponents that his current version wouldn't reveal, and he worried about using it on higher realm cultivators. Spending another Perk Point on it would probably alleviate both those issues.

Enhanced Technique Power was also in the running. Imagine making all his techniques better. He was already developing a devastating combat style around his purchases and just about drooled over the thought of each and every one of them delivering more punch for the same cost.

There was no way he was going with Five Equipment Points again. He was in a way different situation than he had been when he first gained the System. If he needed equipment, he could just dash over to Sixth Flawless Flowing City and buy some.

At first blush, Hide Cultivation seemed like another one of those very poor choices. He'd already spent a Perk Point on the characteristic, and it worked quite well. The fact that an upgrade existed concerned him, however. The implication was that an upgrade was needed, meaning somebody out there somewhere would be able to see through the inferior version of the perk.

Finally came Regeneration. To be honest, it was hard to consider spending a critical resource on it. Benton hadn't even needed to consume a healing pill yet, and the only use for it was to keep him alive between the time he received a hit and when he could get to a pill.

That bit of reasoning narrowed his choices from eight down to four. He'd cut the list in half. Not bad.

Of the four remaining, Hide Cultivation Level Two was the easiest to eliminate. Sure, there might be someone out there who could see through his concealment, but what were the odds of running into that person? Even if he did meet a cultivator like that, it was hard to spend the point on such a limited use ability.

Likewise, he decided not to upgrade to Spiritual Senses yet. Benton desperately wanted it and hated to eliminate it. But in the end, he needed to focus on becoming the sect's primary protector. He needed more power, not more information.

There, he'd reduced his choices in half again.

More qi or more powerful techniques? Was it better to be able to hit more times or for each punch to land harder?

"System, is there a way to get another Perk Point?"

Host will likely unlock additional quests in the future. Additional quests may provide Perk Points as a reward.

Well, that was a total non-answer answer.

Honestly, he thought that his techniques were pretty darn powerful, and they were already scalable with the amount of qi he input. Not to mention the fact that his ability to obtain even more powerful techniques was limited only by his imagination. In the short term, at least, more qi was definitely better.

For the long term, he wasn't so sure. He'd naturally grow his qi pool as he increased his cultivation realm, but as far as he knew, the strength of the attack per qi point invested would never change. Increasing his technique power fundamentally altered that equation by permanently increasing the strength.

The fact was that he needed strength immediately, and he felt that a bigger qi pool provided that necessity better than increased technique power. He simply didn't have enough qi available to power the combat style he wanted.

"System, please spend the Perk Point on Enhanced Cultivation Power."

Instantly, he felt stronger, even more so than when he'd increased his Body Cultivation recently.

"System, please show me my available qi."

Qi Available:5,550Yikes. It had quintupled. The System wasn't kidding when it said it would be a major increase.

Nice. He could do a lot with that. If he got into a fight with another peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, he'd feel pretty darn confident about winning, especially once he got his shield.

A high ranked Golden Core cultivator on the other hand? Benton honestly wasn't sure. He didn't know enough about the realm.

Add another useful technique to the wish list—expert knowledge of the Golden Core realm. He would need that eventually when his disciples started reaching that rank, maybe even before as choices made in Foundation Establishment would probably affect the next realm.

Overall, the whole debacle with waffling on his decision about Jin LiJuan had turned out better than he had any right to expect. His sect members were more loyal to him. He'd inadvertently modeled the behavior he'd said he wanted his sect to emulate. And finally, he'd completed an important quest much sooner than he had expected.

Who knew how long it would have taken him to get the average loyalty to six otherwise? Getting that Perk Point was huge. With so much qi available, he could spam attacks that he could barely afford earlier.

Finally, he was starting to feel strong enough to defend his sect.

Chapter 100 – The Night Everything Changed

Benton developed a routine over the next several days, beginning his morning by joining the twins on a sweep of the wood harvesting area and doing check-ins with his sect members and the villagers working on the wall. The craftspeople were actually under-utilized, creating a twenty-feet long by twenty-feet tall section every other day. They informed Benton that they could easily do five times that much, but the harvesters were not producing enough.

The woods had sat fallow long enough that there was plenty of lumber available for cutting, so Benton wasn't sure what the holdup was. He asked Guang Yin about it. The answer was simple—age. All the harvesters were in their sixties, and having reached only the third and fourth minor realms of Qi Gathering, they weren't much more spry than a mortal of the same age. Cutting large, supernaturally tough trees was hard work.

Benton wanted to eventually wall off a huge area, but he thought he could live with starting with only five acres. That amount wasn't nearly large enough for all the buildings he had stored, but it was more than adequate to serve the needs of a sect consisting of only a little over a hundred members.

He did some math. To fence around the entire rectangular space he envisioned would require a bit under two thousand linear feet of wall. At twenty feet every other day, that meant it would be a minimum of two hundred days before he could move his people into their new digs.

That wasn't good enough.

The first step was to get more manpower. After talking with Mistress Zhong, they upped the number of orphans who would learn harvesting from two to six. Four of the ones from the village were easy to slot due to them having nature aspected qi, and Benton was lucky in that one from the town was wood aspected and another earth. Wood was actually a superior to nature for the particular harvesting involved, and earth was serviceable. Benton's intent was to switch that latter kid over to growing wood instead of cutting it after the current supply crisis was resolved.

He supplied each of the six new laborers, all at minor realm four, with his harvesting technique. Of course, it would take them a while to even reach Small Success, but just having six more young, willing, strong helpers was a big improvement.

Next, Benton couldn't help but notice that the tools the men were using weren't exactly new, and they only had a total of ten sets. And not every tool in every set was in good enough shape to even use. Wincing at the cost, Benton purchased a new set for every harvester for one shop point each.

Production increased dramatically. The new tools cut better and were much more ergonomic than the old ones. And the strong youngsters with outstanding stamina being there for the old men to order around relieved them of a lot of the most backbreaking work.

In the first two days of having the helpers on site, production went up by fifty percent, raising output to thirty linear feet of wall every other day. After two more days with the youngsters learning their jobs and assimilating more of what the technique was telling them to do, it went up to thirty-five.

That number would only improve as the kids gained more experience. Benton expected a big jump when they all hit Small Success.

Wan Ai and Zou Tian continued to be a great team. Five days after the first bath, Ye Zan and two of his guards hit the first minor realm of Bronze Body Cultivation, having immersed themselves three full times. That same day, Wan Ai, who achieved Small Success with the herb technique, and her new assistant, Bai Xinyi, produced enough herbs for twelve baths.

An even bigger event in those days was Yang Xiu advancing to Qi Gathering minor realm eight and after taking a day to consolidate her gains, used a Qi Condensing Pill to advance to minor realm nine. Yang Ru followed the first of those milestones a day later.

The recruits from Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town continued to advance over those days as well, with ten reaching minor realm three in that time period and all eighteen advancing to minor realm four with the help of a pill.

The three points Benton earned that were allocated to his personal use gave him enough to purchase his shield technique, Automatic Reaction Variable Shield, for four points and have a single one left over, which he used to purchase Bronze Body Cultivation to minor realm four.

The big event regarding his personal progress, however, was that big influx of Sect Points put his total over one hundred. As he promised himself, he allocated an additional ten percent for himself, a total of thirty-nine.

Obviously, that big bonanza allowed him to advance quite far toward his final Foundation Establishment Combat Readiness. First, he maxed out archery and spear combat to Mastery and Body Cultivation all the way to Silver minor realm one. Next, he added pausing time, appropriately called the Pause Time Technique by the System, to Small Success, giving him access to all his planned techniques.

Since he considered his void and variable qi attack and quickstep to be his two most important skills, he advanced both of those to Mastery. He didn't want to neglect his base cultivation, so he advanced that to the fourth minor realm. Finally, with only eight points remaining, he moved the rest of his Foundation Establishment techniques save Pause Time to Large Success.

Sect Name:Rising TideSect Members:111Disciples:55Sect Points:77Shop Points:82Host Cultivation:Foundation Establishment - Minor Realm FourQi Available:6,405Host Body Cultivation:Silver - Minor Realm OneHost Techniques (Qi Gathering):Analysis - Large SuccessBasic Archery - MasteryBasic Spear Combat - MasteryPill Basics - Large SuccessHost Techniques (Foundation Establishment):Automatic Reaction Variable Shield – Large SuccessFolded Space Quickstep – MasteryLayered Variable Shield Breaker with Void Finisher Weapon Augmentation – MasteryPause Time - Small SuccessSeeking Speeding Arrow – Large SuccessVariable AoE Gravity Burst – Large SuccessMenus:[Cultivation Method][Technique][Quest][Perk][Advancement][Shop][Sect]Not bad. Benton was starting to feel like a real cultivator. He'd finally matched Su in realm and well surpassed him in every other way.

As was his wont, he spent the night in the arena. Since reaching Foundation Establishment, his need for sleep was greatly diminished, but he found himself bored a lot of the time while almost everyone else still needed rest. Sleep helped pass the time.

A noise woke him, and he sat up quickly.

"Master!"

There it was again. Yang Xiu's voice. Coming from far away, probably from the village.

A scan quickly picked up on the reason for her shout. A rank four spirit beast was within a few yards of her.

Yang Xiu was woken by a shout and literally jumped up off her pallet. Having just been in the seventh minor realm two days ago and being now in the ninth, she wasn't quite used to her new strength. She literally hit her head on the ceiling.

"Oof."

She was really glad that she and her brother had separate bedrooms. He would have never let her live that down.

There was more shouting, though, which was much more important than worrying about bumping her head. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of the main gate.

Yes. The mortal guards there were shouting. Even enhancing her hearing, she couldn't tell exactly what they were saying.

Yang Ru had been awakened, too, and he popped his head in the door.

"Yes," she said. "Let's go."

They both sprinted, her reducing her speed to keep pace with her slowpoke brother, O' him of the lower realm than her. Until tomorrow at least.

The scene they arrived upon was chaos. Two guards on the main gate were shouting, basically at the top of their lungs, trying to warn everyone … away? Or to get them to come help? She couldn't tell.

The source of the guards' panic was a large, jade-green jaguar. It looked big and angry and, honestly, hungry.

A nearby house that was right next to the village wall had its roof destroyed, and the jaguar stood in a hole leading to what looked like a bedroom. And, oh no, a small, bloody figure lay on the floor behind the creature.

The damage and the position of the jaguar told a clear story. It must have jumped over the wall from the outside and landed on the roof of the house. Mortal materials were nothing against the might of a spirit beast, so it must have clawed through the structure and attacked whatever and whoever it found inside.

Since mortal flesh did not sate such creatures at all, it then began its hunt for its true prey—cultivators.

Well, it sure wasn't going to prey on her. Yang Xiu nocked an arrow and loosed. The shot flew straight and true, hitting the beast in the eye. And that was how it was done. One less spirit beast in the world.

Except that wasn't what happened. Her shot hit exactly where she intended. Instead of penetrating through to the creature's brain, though, it bounced off.

It. Bounced. Off.

She shot another and another, targeting other parts of the big cat's body. The same thing happened.

The only thing she accomplished was drawing its attention. It eyed her, ready to pounce.

Her brother hadn't been standing idle during that time, though. He charged, building up momentum as he quickly covered the ground between him and the beast.

Yang Xiu was speed and accuracy. Her brother was all power. She doubted the creature would stand up to a hit from him.

Her expectations were once again thwarted.

The beast didn't dodge. Didn't even move. Yang Ru had generated much momentum, and he focused all of it on the tip of his spear.

He struck. Hard.

And bounced back.

It was one thing to see an arrow bounce off something. It was startling to see the same thing happen to her brother.

Yang Xiu did the only thing she could think of to do in such an unusual situation. She channeled qi to her voice and shouted with all her might. "Master! Master!"

Benton had recently advanced his Quickstep technique to Mastery, but one of the detriments of his special type of improvement reared its ugly head. He simply didn't feel like he had practiced it enough to depend on it in a life and death situation.

Instead, he sprinted like he'd never sprinted before. That very evening, he'd experienced a major advancement. His Body Cultivation had reached Silver. His Spiritual Cultivation had reached Foundation Establishment minor realm four. Every bit of strength and speed and toughness for every minor realm was enhanced by his new perk.

All that to say that, when he wanted to, he could run fast.

He had no way to gauge his velocity, but he wouldn't have doubted if he would have beat a NASCAR Next Gen car in a flat-out race.

When he got to the gate, he didn't bother with trying to get the guards to let him in. He simply hopped over it.

Yang Ru was on the ground, using his spear in an attempt to keep a rank four jaguar from eating him. Yang Xiu was trying her hardest to distract the beast, but her arrows bounced off with no effect.

The creature clearly was protected by a layer of qi.

Well, that was why Benton had created his primary attack technique the way that he did.

The first thing he needed to do was to get the beast off Yang Ru. The two being in contact with each other limited Benton's options too much.

Up until that point, he'd only used his gravity area attack to increase the planet's natural pull, but there was no reason he had to adhere to those coordinates. He focused a burst at the cat's rear, increasing gravity a hundredfold in that direction.

The jaguar flew backward.

Nice.

When it was clear of anyone and anything underneath it, Benton canceled the first burst and triggered another one, this one increasing its weight a hundredfold.

The jaguar slammed to the ground, creating a small crater.

The beast whined softly, unable even to draw in enough breath to screech properly as it lie there, unmoving. Its limbs weighed so much that it didn't have the strength to do more than twitch.

Benton calmly walked over to it, intending to end its life with a strike to the eye. But he got an idea. He hadn't had a chance to test his shield, and having a captive rank four beast was an opportunity too good to pass up.

He stood right beside it and reached his arm next to the beast's. A targeted canceling of the area of effect allowed the creature to raise its claw and swipe.

The claw bounced off Benton's shield. He didn't even feel it.

Hmm. He wondered how his new body would hold up to a similar strike.

Benton immobilized the jaguar again while he pushed back his sleeve. The robe was a perfectly good one. No reason to get a hole in it.

When he released the cat's arm once more, the jaguar, not the sharpest tool in the shed, swiped at him again.

The claw bounced off Benton's arm, leaving no damage behind. Not only was he not scratched but the spot wasn't even red.

Nice. Silver Body Cultivation plus fourth realm Foundation Establishment toughness plus Enhanced Cultivation Power was pretty stout.

His test concluded, there was no reason to prolong the beast's suffering. He stabbed it in the eye, a small burst of ice qi popping the shield and allowing the tip to penetrate and a tiny sphere of void qi to destroy the jaguar's brain.

Killing the creature didn't finish Benton's job, though. A little boy, a mortal, had apparently been attacked in his bedroom. He was still alive, barely, and was missing an arm.

Benton pulled a Major Healing Pill from his ring along with a wineskin filled with water. He forced the boy to gulp down some water and the pill with it. Before his eyes, the limb regrew, and soon after, the boy regained consciousness, good as new.

There. Now the job was done.

When he turned around, he found that a large crowd was staring at him.

He didn't realize it at that point, but he eventually would look back at that moment as the night that everything changed.