Chapter 168 Distant Explosions
As soon as Benton left Jin LiJuan, he realized his mistake. He had told her to feed rank one cores to the wolf cub, but she didn't have any rank one cores. Further, she and her group were days away from the village. Either she'd have to wait to begin following the regime he desired, or he needed to deliver the cores.
Obviously, he chose the latter of the two options.
He'd given all his rank one, two, and three cores to the Alchemy Pavilion to use in Body Cultivation baths, so he needed to find ten more for Jin LiJuan. Luckily, there was a house set up in the village for the express purpose of processing beasts, and there were likely a thousand or more cores there.
One Quickstep took him to a spot outside the wall, and a second brought him to the house. A few words to the person in charge got him a bag filled with ten rank one cores he needed.
It was pretty late into the evening by the time he got back to Jin LiJuan, where he found her in a camp eating dinner. Needless to say, she was surprised to see him but understood instantly after he handed her the bag.
"Gratitude, Master."
When he'd talked to her earlier, he'd been focused on learning how the bonding had occurred and what needed to happen next. The situation had to be challenging for the little girl, considering how she felt about spirit beasts.
"How are you feeling about what happened?" he said.
"I don't know, Master. I didn't mean for this to happen." Her little fists clenched. "I hate it, Master. I'm trying not to, but I do hate it so much."
"You know that you're tied to it, right? If either of you perish, the backlash for the other will be severe. As you are now… Let's just say that I would not have advised you to bond a beast if you had asked."
"I wouldn't have done it if I would have known, Master."
"I know."
She sighed. "Could I have someone else take care of the beast, Master?"
"No. Absolutely, not. However unintentional your act, it is still your responsibility. If you need help, ask, and I will provide you with assistance. But, ultimately, care for the cub is on you."
Jin LiJuan nodded, appearing wholly unsurprised by his response to her request. "I will, Master. Somehow, I will."
"Take heart, little one. The situation isn't as dire as it seems, and there are advantages to offset the challenges."
"If you say so, Master."
He laughed. "Come see me when you get back to the village, Li'er."
Shaking his head, Benton Quickstepped back to the Formations Pavilion and resumed his work, continuing examining each and every inscription. The break caused by Jin LiJuan's bonding had done him good, though, as he found his concentration renewed. The entire night passed and well into the next morning before something happened to break him away from his task.
Leaning into the habits he formed during the beast tide, Benton continued his practice of scanning with his spiritual sense at least four times per hour. He'd stop whatever he was doing and scan to the extent of his range. Because he'd done it so often, he was able to quickly look up from his task, scan, and return to work in seconds without breaking his concentration. Only in the rare event of the scan revealing something interesting did he not return to work.
Benton definitely found the fact that three Golden Core cultivators were approaching the sect at a high rate of speed to be interesting.
###
Jin LiJuan did not sleep well that night. In fact, it was one of the worst nights of sleep she'd had since she had consumed the spirit beast meat that had so injured her.
For one thing, she had a lot on her mind. For another, there was a spirit beast sharing her tent.
Honestly, she felt that the heavens were conspiring against her to punish her for that act. First, she'd had her ability to attain her one true desire, to become a cultivator, destroyed. Then, when she'd regained some tiny aptitude in that regard, it had come at the cost of a promise not to use her power in anger against spirit beasts, which her pure hatred toward made very difficult to uphold.
Against all odds, she'd found herself in a situation where, even as weak as she was, she had the ability to kill one of the heavens-damned creatures. But remembering her promise to Master, she'd somehow, with much difficulty, convinced herself not to do so.
Only to end up bonded to the beast.
Jin LiJuan was not an expert on what such a bonding meant, but there was one thing that she knew for certain. If the beast died, either from natural causes or from her or any other cultivator killing it, there would be bad consequences for her. Her cultivation might be destroyed for good, beyond what even Master could repair. Or she might simply die. For all she knew, she might turn into a beast herself.
Which meant that her life was basically in the hands, or paws, of a creature she hated. If she let any harm come to it, she would suffer. Not only did she have to not harm it, she had to actively protect it. And as she had suspected would happen, Master had absolutely forbidden her from having someone else care for it.
She would have laughed if she didn't feel so much like crying.
Across the tent from her sleeping mat, the wolf cub had no trouble sleeping at all. In fact, it slept like a baby, which, she supposed, was what it was. She honestly had a hard time seeing it as anything other than a dangerous, evil creature that would grow up to eat other people's parents.
Maybe it was worth ending her own life to prevent it from ever becoming a threat. But she couldn't die, not with the huge debt she owed Master and the sect hanging over her head.
She should have called for Senior Brother as soon as she spotted movement inside the wolf corpse!
Again, she'd been faced with a major life-altering decision, and again, she'd chosen wrong. The heavens didn't often give second chances. And it sure didn't give thirds.
As if it sensed her glare, the wolf cub began to stir.
Senior Brother had been nice enough to use his formidable dexterity and skill to craft an enclosure made of wood so that the spirit beast could not escape the tent or harm her in her sleep. That kindness was the only reason she'd been able to get any rest at all through the long night.
Dawn had broken, though, and it was time to face her new responsibility. She took a rank one core from the pouch Master had given her and tossed it into the enclosure.
The cub stared at the core, hunger written on its face, before looking at her with the most pitiful expression imaginable.
"Go on, then," she said. "Eat it."
Jin LiJuan apparently didn't have to tell it twice because it immediately pounced. Even though the core was the size of a small pebble, the cub's mouth was barely large enough to fit it inside.
The beast managed somehow, though,
There was no crunch or explosion of light or any other external sign of qi being used. The cub didn't even really swallow. One instant, the core filled the beast's mouth, and the next, it was gone.
The result was instantaneous. The cub grew several inches in each direction, looking like it had aged months in seconds.
Jin LiJuan despaired at what her life had become. Instead of killing spirit beasts, she was actively helping one grow stronger.
She really, really wanted to break down and cry.
"Well," she said, "I guess it's time to figure out how dangerous you actually are."
Her instincts told her that hurting the beast was the same as hurting herself, so it was logical to assume that the cub's instincts gave it the same warning. So hopefully, she could handle it without it harming her.
There were way too many ifs and maybes around that idea for her to be comfortable. She needed to test it, and she needed to do so before it got powerful enough to truly hurt her.
"Realize, beast, that if you hurt me, you'll be hurting yourself," she said. "Not only that, but Senior Brother already had little patience for you. Do not get further on his bad side."
To her complete astonishment, the cub nodded. Like literally bobbed its head up and down just like a human would.
Surely it didn't understand her, and even if it did in some rudimentary fashion, there was no way it should be able to respond in such a manner.
The gesture was probably just an odd tic or something.
She moved cautiously to the enclosure, which consisted basically of a bunch of pieces of wood tied together with twine. Removing one of the sticks allowed her to also remove a small section of one of the walls.
Jin LiJuan did that and stepped back. The cub slowly walked to the enclosure's exit and emerged into the tent.
It kept its movements slow and displayed no aggression, so she calmly approached it and picked it up. Still, the beast made no attempt to bite or scratch her.
"Okay. Good job so far. As long as you behave yourself, I'll keep you with me and give you one core per day. Harm me or any other human, though, and you'll be sorry, no matter the cost to me. Understand?"
It nodded again.
She shivered. The thing's apparent intelligence was starting to scare her.
Before she could dwell too much on what it meant that the beast could both understand her and respond, she heard something loud and far away.
The noise sounded like explosions, and they came from the direction of the village.
Chapter 169 Hatched Chickens
Come Home to Roost
Benton knew of only one reason why Golden Core cultivators would be headed toward the sect—to make him answer for the death of that thuggish Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Jade Chameleon Sect.
Of course, it could be something much more innocuous, like Kang Ya-Ting coming for a visit, but he wouldn't bet money on that being the case. Better to hope for the best but prepare for the worst regardless. Benton had to treat the visit as a hostile incursion.
His first action had to be to meet the intruders, and the farther away from the sect and the village, the better. He Quickstepped in their direction, bringing him near enough that they'd be in sight in seconds.
Being so close, his sense gave him an estimation of their height, about a half mile above the ground. His next Quickstep brought him to that elevation, and an expert use of his Gravity technique kept him there.
It occurred to Benton that, not that long ago, the prospect of facing three cultivators at such a high level would have terrified him. With his completion of multiple iterations of his Ultimate Juggernaut Combat Build and all his recent experience fighting beasts, especially the rank ten, he had absolutely no doubt that he could handle them without any problems.
An instant later, three cultivators on flying swords flew into sight, all wearing the same gray-colored robes the slain Foundation Establishment cultivator wore.
Benton prepared himself for a fight as he doubted either bluffing or talking would get him out of the situation.
###
Teng Jian had been angry ever since being informed of his son's death at the hands of some nobody who was calling himself sect leader. Teng Chun had his flaws. His diligence at cultivation was lacking, and a sense of entitlement had led him to develop laziness unbecoming of his station.
All his flaws were trumped by a single factor—he was Teng Jian's only son.
To let his death go unanswered would be an unacceptable loss of face. Honor demanded that the charlatan sect leader and all his followers and the entire village be killed. Only measures that extreme would wipe the slate clean of the shame of Teng Chun's death.
Teng Jian grew even more angry when Chen Jingguo and Hu Huiqing weren't ready to go. They had to wait several extra days, Teng Jian stewing in his rage the entire time.
The flight had been fast, at least, taking only a couple of hours to follow the path from Sixth Flawless Flowing City to Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town and from there staying above the much more overgrown path to the southwest. They were encouraged that the were indeed on the right track by the clear signs of recent travel on the old cart path.
That encouragement turned to certainty when they spotted a cultivator waiting for them.
Teng Wuying had tried—not very hard, but he'd made some attempt—to warn Teng Jian about the sect leader. Teng Jian hadn't listened.
He'd assumed that the man was in the Golden Core realm, and he and Chen Jingguo acting in concert could defeat any cultivator at that level on the continent. Besides, why would a true monster establish a sect with mere peasants?
The likelihood was that the guy was a charlatan, either barely in the Golden Core realm or even just a trumped up Foundation Establishment cultivator. In truth, Teng Jian thought that bringing all three of them for this mission was serious overkill.
He thought that up until the moment he saw the cultivator waiting for them.
The sight gave him pause for two reasons. One, the man was hovering in the air. That wasn't something one could do without a Concept, meaning the guy was in fact at least a late stage Golden Core cultivator. Two, the guy was invisible to Teng Jian's spiritual sense. Literally invisible. As in might as well have been an illusion as far as his sense was concerned.
If the guy was not, in fact, an illusion, Teng Jian did not like what that said about his chances in a battle. He should be able to sense anyone in his realm and below. Period.
Which meant that the guy had to be an illusion.
"Hu Huiqing," Teng Jian said, "proceed to the village and kill everyone there while Chen Jingguo and I handle this fool."
###
When Benton heard the lead cultivator's instructions, his stomach dropped. He had complete confidence that he could defeat all three of these jerks in a head-to-head fight, but could he stop one of them from escaping to the village?
That task was an entirely different story. These cultivators were sect trained and had decades, if not centuries, to master many techniques. Anything was possible for them, especially since the only other person from their sect he had encountered had used illusions.
Speaking of which… He already had a Concept of Illusion at Mastery and a Perception technique, but there was one glaring hole in his build that he needed to fill before facing those guys.
"System," he said internally, "create a technique to detect and see through illusions to the greatest extent possible and buy it to Mastery.
""Technique creation confirmed.
Host has learned the technique, Illusion Detection and Mitigation - Mastery.
Host has 849 Sect Points available.""
Benton had been using the System for almost a year, and his expertise continued to grow. Purchasing a technique like that one was an almost instantaneous move for him.
Almost instantaneous, however, was not actually instantaneous. Fractions of a second count when fighting against Golden Core cultivators. In the time it took Benton to buy the technique, the three Jade Chameleon Sect cultivators had become hundreds of Jade Chameleon Sect Cultivators.
His new technique immediately went to work, and when he focused on a flying figure, it disappeared from his vision when the technique determined it was an illusion. There were hundreds of the illusions, however, and though the process was as quick as thought, it also was not instantaneous.
Maybe two or three seconds passed before all the illusions disappeared, leaving … none.
Crap. The cultivators had turned themselves invisible, and the only way to see them was to focus on the area where they hid long enough for his technique to suss them out. And that method assumed they weren't constantly moving.
A blade hit him in the middle of his back, but his shield flared to life, neutralizing the strike.
Needless to say, the fight was not going as well as he had anticipated. Not that he was in any danger as he doubted any of their qi attacks could make it through his shield, but if one of the invisible opponents escaped, he could destroy the entire village in an instant.
Benton debated for a moment Quickstepping there, but his presence would immediately bring all three of the attackers. And he still wouldn't be able to even see them. At that point, his presence would be more of a liability to the village than an asset.
There had to be something he could do.
An area attack. He needed to get all three of the cultivators out of the sky. Gravity was the only way to go.
He triggered his Gravity technique, channeling ten thousand qi, all of it supercharged by his Concept, into the surroundings. The trees and everything else in a half mile radius around him flattened to the ground.
Benton still didn't see his enemies, though.
"System," he said internally, "create a Light-based technique that reveals invisible people and objects cloaked in illusion when my qi hits the target and buy the technique to Mastery."
""Technique creation confirmed.
Host has learned the technique, Illusion
Illumination - Mastery.
Host has 841 Sect Points available.""
He shined his new technique all around the surroundings. Two of the cultivators, the leader and one other, were struggling against the effects of his Gravity technique. It was a bit worrisome that they weren't fully immobilized, but that concern was minor compared to his second thought—where was the third cultivator?
Probably on his way to the village.
Benton panicked and, for a moment, froze. He had to get back there. He had to kill the two he was fighting. He had to warn his sect members.
His three goals were all in conflict with one another, and he couldn't figure out what move to make until, suddenly, a thought struck him.
Lightning. It was both an attack and a warning. Two out of three wasn't perfect, but it was better than one and infinitely better than doing nothing.
He charged two consecutive bolts with a hundred thousand supercharged qi each, and struck both the struggling enemies.
###
Yang Xiu stood on the allure deep in thought. She wasn't really meditating. Instead, she was thinking about how her qi aspect could be altered to give her better perception. Which led her to several questions about the nature of her qi and what, exactly, Perception was.
She frowned. Some instinct, perhaps connected to Perception, was telling her that something was wrong, but she didn't know what.
"Is something the matter, Senior Sister?" Ye Zan said. "You look concerned."
"I'm not sure. Are my brother or Kang Lin back yet?"
"No, Senior Sister. We're not expecting either of them for another couple of days. Of course, we weren't expecting you until that time, either."
As if she would let the pace of the two weak sect members slow them down. She and the guard had carried the lower ranked members on their backs, and since their missing had been to process the rank nines, they had fewer corpses to deal with than the other two teams.
It had taken her group less than three days total to complete the job.
"Something is definitely wrong," she said, "but I don't have any idea what it is."
Several miles away to the northeast, two massive bolts of lightning struck in quick succession. The sky was clear and blue.
"Master," Yang Xiu said. "That wasn't practice. He's fighting something or someone. That was a warning."
She nocked an arrow and readied her bow.
Chapter 170 True Danger
Benton's first attack didn't kill either of the two Golden Core cultivators from the Jade Chameleon Sect, but that was to be expected. Even Nascent Soul cultivators rare one shot Golden Cores.
There was a reason cultivators of that realm were respected and feared. It took a lot of effort to reach that high in one's journey. The other thing it took was time. Lots of time. Decades.
Benton's spiritual sense told him that the three men were in the seventh, sixth, and fifth minor realms respectively. They'd each spent years and years learning techniques and acquiring treasures. He had absolutely no doubt he could kill all of them. The only question was how much damage they'd do first.
At the moment, he had a big choice in front of him—finish off the two struggling under the impact of a Lightning bolt and the effects of the Gravity technique or go after the one attacking the village. The obvious answer seemed to be to go after the one who was putting his sect members in danger.
There were multiple problems with that approach, however. One, the man was invisible and would take time to find, leaving the two here the opportunity to take pills and recover. Two, the men he left behind would be aware for the next encounter that he could immobilize them with gravity, something he actually couldn't do as easily if they were close to the village, and that he could reveal their invisibility. Three, he'd be demonstrating that he was desperate to protect the village, giving them a tool to use against him.
The counterpoint was that a Golden Core cultivator could destroy a bunch of mortals in an instant. And Benton's Foundation Establishment cultivators were all still in the first minor realm. With their shields and Body Cultivation, maybe they could withstand a single hit. Maybe.
But Yang Ru and Kang Lin weren't even back yet, leaving only Yang Xiu to protect the village. The girl was talented and powerful for her realm, but she was no match for a Golden Core Cultivator.
The most likely outcome of Benton waiting even a few seconds was for the entire village to be wiped out.
Which also happened to be the most likely outcome of him not taking that time to destroy the two intruders in front of him.
When in doubt, take the bird in the hand rather than counting the birds in the bush.
Benton drew his bow and began finding seeking arrows, charged with Light and Void for the father of the jerk Benton had killed, and with Fire and Void for the other one. As expected, the arrows were so fast that, combined with the homing feature, neither of the two were able to dodge. Also as expected, the two had some tricks up their sleeve, and even as roughed up as they were from dealing with the two previous techniques, they were each able to destroy the first volley of arrows.
And the second.
Benton was very frustrated. He needed to kill them and kill them fast. His people were in danger. True danger. Not even the beast tide had left them so vulnerable.
###
Ye Zan was tense. More than just the two bolts in the distance and the way Senior Sister was acting, there was just something in the air. Danger.
"What is it?" he said. "Is there something out there?"
"I don't know." Senior Sister scanned the forest and the sky, her bow held at the ready with an arrow nocked. "I can't sense anything, but I think there is."
Ye Zan looked at the areas she was scanning and saw nothing. That wasn't his area of expertise. There was someone, however, who had spotted danger when no one else was able to.
"Zou Tian," Ye Zan yelled. "Get up here. Alert! Alert! Danger is near."
The scout was still in the house that Wan Ai used for the temporary Alchemy Pavilion, but he had sharp senses and always kept an ear out. Seconds later, he came running and jumped up onto the allure with Ye Zan and Senior Sister.
Pan Jiang, who had been practicing his sword art in the plaza, and Huang Yimun, who had been sparring against one of the other guards, both jumped up as well.
"What do we know?" Zou Tian said.
"Master is fighting something," Ye Zan said. "Senior Sister thinks there is danger nearby."
Zou Tian immediately sank into a lotus position and closed his eyes, presumably using Shadow to sense anything concealed nearby.
Suddenly, a laugh came from the sky above the wall. "A baby Foundation Establishment cultivator will never sense me. Nor will you find me with Shadows."
All of them looked in the direction of the voice, but as far as Ye Zan could tell, there was no one there.
"Poison Claw Sect scion," the voice said, "the Jade Chameleon Sect has no quarrel with you. If you and your sect mates flee the village within the next five seconds, you will not be pursued, and no harm will come to you. Otherwise, you and them will be killed along with the others."
That was not good. Master was apparently tied up fighting others, and the man the voice belonged to was seemingly committed to killing everyone.
Yang Xiu loosed an arrow in the direction of the sound, but it sailed through the air, hitting nothing.
The voice laughed.
Ye Zan and the others looked to Pan Jiang.
"What? Do you think I'd leave? I stayed through the beast tide, and I'm staying now."
"Five," the voice said. "Four. Three. Two. One. So be it. The Foundation Establishment baby gets it first, and you're next, scion. You might want to rethink your choices."
Ten fast-moving blades appeared in the air, reminiscent of the attack the thug that had tried to rob them had sent at Zou Tian so long ago. Considering that these came from the air, though, Ye Zan believed them to be shot by a Golden Core cultivator, and all of them were headed toward Yang Xiu.
Instead of dodging, she loosed another arrow in the direction from which the blades came.
In one way, Ye Zan applauded her tactics. There was no way for them to kill an opponent they couldn't see. It only made sense to capitalize on any information their enemy revealed.
The problem was twofold. One, even if she somehow hit the Golden Core cultivator—which was extremely unlikely—her arrow would do negligible, if any, damage. Two, she probably thought that, with her peak Bronze Body Cultivation and Foundation Establishment realm toughness, she could take the hit and survive in time to be given a Major Healing Pill.
She'd never taken a hit from such a high realmed opponent. None of them had. But they'd all seen what Master could do. No one in the sect could stand up to even a single one of his strikes if he meant to kill them.
Yang Xiu was about to die, and Ye Zan could not allow that. He shoved her out of the way.
###
Only Benton's main attack would be able to kill a Golden Core cultivator. He'd designed it to have the first bit of qi overwhelm an opponent's shield so that the Void qi charged second strike hit unprotected skin. Not even two very old and tricky sect members could defend against Void that got past their shield.
His Gravity technique was helpful for holding people in place. His temperature technique penetrated shields but was too slow to kill his opponents in the timeframe he needed. His Lightning delivered a strong bolt of qi to his enemy quickly, but most of it was absorbed by their shield.
No, his main attack was the way to go. Just because they'd destroyed the first few volleys didn't mean they could keep it up.
So he kept firing arrows as quickly as he possible could, alternating between the two.
The sixth realm was the first to falter. He whiffed as he tried to knock the arrow out of the air, and it struck. The dual charge worked exactly as intended. The Fire qi overwhelmed his shield, and the void qi hit him.
The man had been able to twist his body to avoid a killing blow, so the void only took a chunk out of his shoulder. That was okay, though. Benton doubled up on targeting him, making the seventh realm play defender.
The third arrow got through, hitting the sixth realm in the head. Game over.
For that one, anyway. Two more to go.
With one down, the rate of fire at the seventh realm effectively doubled. He wasn't able to keep destroying every arrow, missing the sixth one.
Like with the first target, the arrow only hit his shoulder, but the Void qi really did a number on him. His arm was only hanging on by a thin thread, and Benton could tell that it was painful.
The guy barely managed to block the next arrow, and he didn't even manage that much for the next one.
His other shoulder was obliterated, leaving him with no way to defend himself. One more arrow. One more hit. Target destroyed.
Now, Benton just had to Quickstep to the village fast enough to prevent his sect members from being killed.
If he wasn't already too late.
Chapter 171 Eve of Destruction
1/2/25 A/N: Apologies for not being very responsive lately. I went on a two week road trip to visit family and friends, but I'm back now. Regarding this chapter, the next little mini-arc is a lot darker than the rest of the story. I'm not a big fan of dark, but I think this part of the story warranted it. My desire is to return to the normal tone as soon as I can. Would really welcome comments through this period letting me know if you like or hate what is happening.
Yang Xiu fell behind the rampart after being shoved, the blades missing her completely. Not that it mattered. Not that anything mattered.
Their opponent was simply too strong. He could fly, and given how the voice moved around, he was fast. Much faster than her or her arrows. And flying meant that he was probably Golden Core.
From her experience with Master, Golden Core meant power farther above her than she was above the Qi Gathering cultivators that surrounded her. As they stood no chance against her in the true fight, she surely had even worse odds against the man in the air terrorizing them.
And if being a realm higher than her wasn't enough, he was invisible. She couldn't see him with her eyes or even perceive him with her spiritual sense. There was literally no way for her to land an attack. All the strength she'd worked so hard to acquire was worthless.
The only saving grace was that the brother and Kang Lin were still on their mission away from the village. They should be safe from the enemy.
Even though fighting back was pointless, Yang Xiu would not give up. Even if all she did was distract the enemy for one more attack, that was one attack where the rest of the village wasn't being destroyed, one more moment that gave Master time to finish off whoever he was fighting and hopefully save everyone else.
She stood, nocking and loosing arrow after arrow with quick, smooth motions. Not that she had any real idea where the cultivator was. Honestly, it felt like she would have had the same chance to hit if she would have been able to see him. That was to say none.
"You've got spirit," the voice said. "I'll give you that. Too bad you're just so young and weak. Too bad for you, anyway."
At least the mocking gave her a direction to shoot her arrows.
If she somehow survived the day, she vowed to herself that she would become even more diligent in growing her power. No one should be so much more powerful than her other than Master.
"You will probably kill me," Yang Xiu said. "Maybe even everyone in the entire village. But you won't kill Master. Whatever sect or family or organization you hold dear, he will destroy. I will be avenged."
The voice laughed. "I'm the weakest of the three of us, child. The other two have surely already killed your so-called master."
It was Yang Xiu's turn to laugh. "Mister, you have no idea who you're messing with, do you? You think Master is a normal Golden Core cultivator, don't you? Someone barely worth your time, right? You couldn't be more wrong." She sighed. "I just wish I'd be alive to see you find out how wrong you are."
"Enough stalling," the voice said. "Time for you to die."
More blades appeared. They dotted the sky like rain. There had to be a hundred of them, if not two hundred or even more.
All shot with the power of a Golden Core cultivator.
Well, it had been a nice run. She was glad she'd met Master and got to become a cultivator. Her life had been short but satisfying. She had no regrets.
Yang Xiu stood tall, waiting for the blades to slice into her.
###
Benton Quickstepped onto the alure right next to Yang Xiu. He'd heard her bantering with the Jade Chameleon cultivator, and he was filled with such pride for her that his heart almost burst.
She was so brave and diligent, and she had so much confidence in him.
Since arriving in the cultivator world, there hadn't been a single instant where he felt undeserving of the way others looked up to him. Hadn't been. That moment was the first.
Benton had been a father. The trust that little kids have in their parents was on a whole different level. When he threw a child into the air, and they screamed with joy because there was no danger. Daddy would catch them.
Of course, it wasn't like the threw them all that high. Evelyn was watching, after all.
Still, he was used to trust, to absolute confidence. Until they became teenagers.
He shuddered.
The teenagers of the sect, in contrast, trusted him just like his children had. Up until that day, he hadn't realized just how deep their faith in him ran. He would do everything in his power to prove them right.
An application of his Gravity technique caused all the blades, those that weren't purely illusionary, to plummet straight to the ground.
"I'm hurt, Yang Xiu, that you thought it would take me longer than that to kill two measly Golden Core cultivators."
"Well, I assumed they were invisible, Master. Maybe that would take you a little longer?"
"No. I just did this."
Benton used his new Illusion Illumination technique like a flashlight and shone the beam into the sky, soon revealing the gray-robed man riding a flying sword.
The Jade Chameleon Sect cultivator looked terrified. "You're lying. You couldn't have killed them that quickly." He glanced back in the direction of the previous battle. "They'll be along in any second, I'm sure."
"Believe me, they will not be along. Ever. In fact, let me demonstrate my abilities for you. I started by doing this."
Luckily, the man wasn't directly over the wall and was, in fact, several scores of yards outside the village. With his position pinpointed and there being no friendly people or structures in range, it was an easy matter for Benton to apply his Gravity technique directly to his opponent.
The man's flying sword sank near the treetops before he was able to get it back under some semblance of control.
Benton nocked an arrow. "Then I—"
"Master!" Yang Xiu shouted.
He'd noticed that she hopped down off the allure to land inside the wall but hadn't thought much about it.
"It's Ye Zan!" she yelled. "Quick!"
The nice thing about mastering a technique was that the expertise granted by the System allowed him to do convenient things like keeping his Gravity technique active while doing other things, so the enemy Golden Core cultivator remained immobilized while Benton went to check on the problem.
Honestly, he wasn't expecting any issue that a Major Healing Pill couldn't resolve. Though maybe he should have been. Zou Tian and Yang Xiu both had the life saving measures. If that was all that was required, they would have already taken care of it.
Of course, maybe they were trying to save using the pill since Benton's Healing technique could do the same thing for less cost.
When he finally saw Ye Zan, though, he knew that wasn't the reason.
The boy's body was riddled with wounds. Five of the blades were still sticking out of him, and two more had obviously hit him. One in the neck. He was nearly decapitated.
One of the blades protruded from his forehead. Another from his chest.
Benton immediately tried pouring healing into the boy's body, but nothing happened. The qi refused to do anything.
He poured more but still nothing. No matter how much he sent into the body, nothing happened.
Why wasn't it working? Why?
Benton stood stooped over the body, his hand on its shoulder as he tried to force qi into it. He felt a hand touch his shoulder.
"He died saving me, Master," Yang Xiu said.
It was over. The boy was dead. There was nothing Benton could do to bring him back.
Ye Zan was a good kid and a very capable guard captain. His last act had been one of doing his duty, protecting the sect. He hadn't deserved to die.
"He will be remembered," Benton said. "He will be avenged."
A Quickstep brought Benton to the air in front of the enemy cultivator. "Your life is forfeit. Nothing can change that. Answer carefully, as your response might mean the lives of all the members of your sect are also forfeit."
The man had the audacity to sneer at him. "You think you can—"
The most powerful lightning bolt that Benton had ever conjured, charged with one million qi, struck the man.
The bolt quickly overwhelmed his qi shield and left him shaking for several seconds as gigawatts of electricity coursed through his body. Anyone not as tough as a Golden Core cultivator would have been killed instantly.
"Silence," Benton said. "Do not speak unless answering a question."
Not that the man could talk. He was barely conscious after the lightning strike.
Benton had to wait a few moments for the scum to regain his wits. "Were you warned not to attack the sect and the village?"
"What?"
"I sent word that I would be greatly angered if any of my sect members or the villagers came to harm. You harmed one of my people. Were. You. Warned?"
"Y-yes."
Benton frowned. They were warned and deliberately attacked innocents anyway. That was not okay. In a might makes right world, the only way for him to protect his people was to prove both that he was too powerful to mess with and that he would go nuclear if provoked.
Fine. The Jade Chameleon Sect wanted nuclear? He'd show them nuclear.
Benton had been spending qi like it was going out of style, but he still had nearly three million left. He channeled two and a half million of that into a single lightning bolt. The strike was blinding, and the clap was deafening.
He didn't care. All that mattered was that the man die in the most horrific way possible.
Benton grinned as the man did the electrocution dance. The smell of cooked meat emanated from his body.
It wasn't enough, though. There was no amount of pain that could ever possibly be enough. But torturing the lackey wouldn't bring Ye Zan back.
Nothing could do that.
Incredibly, the scum still breathed. Barely. But he was already healing.
Golden Core cultivators were notoriously hard to kill.
The electricity had done so much damage that all the man's qi was being used in an attempt to repair his body, meaning his qi shield was no longer active. Benton tossed a small metal sphere at the man's head, and when it hit, a small burst of qi made the entirety of his brain cavity disappear.
It left his face recognizable, though. Somewhat. If one used their imagination.
Benton stored the corpse in his spatial ring, not even bothering to loot it except for the flying sword. He quickly bought and mastered a technique for using the device and picked up the other two corpses on his way out from the village.
He had a sect to destroy.