Benton spent the night as a guest of the Poison Claw Sect, though he didn't get much sleep. He had committed, after all, to create one thousand spirit coins to pay as a fine.
With his coin creation technique at Mastery, it cost him eleven thousand qi to create a ten thousand qi coin, so he spent the night converting batches of one hundred and eighty qi batteries before spending an hour using Meditation to restore his pool to nearly filled. So most of the night passed before he was finished with his task.
On the plus side, he was able to definitely cross that item off his To Do List, and he got some other good news the previous evening. Yang Ru must have done well with his trial because he advanced his Momentum Dissolution Shield to Large Success.
With the sun up and cultivators moving about the sect grounds, Benton ventured forth from his room. After a quick breakfast, he found Kang Ya-Ting and handed over the coins, the elder having been kind enough to offer to have one the sect minions run them down to the city administration building to pay the fine.
The two friends talked for a while about relatively meaningless topics. Benton caught the elder up on the doings of his granddaughter and the Rising Tide Sect members that he was familiar with. Kang Ya-Ting reciprocated by expressing his condolences about Ye Zan, sharing stories that research had turned up about the guard captain that had led to him being hired.
"If only he was less competent," Benton said. "You wouldn't have hired him. He'd probably still be alive."
"And you think he would have wanted that?"
"To still be alive? Who wouldn't?"
Kang Ya-Ting's expression mixed condemnation with compassion. "From what I knew of the boy, Ye Zan desired a life and a death that held meaning. Better he died protecting those he cared about than on a random battlefield fighting for a noble who had a grudge against another noble. That's how most mercenaries die, and that was the path he was on."
Benton knew all that information, but admitting it wasn't good for the wallowing that he wanted to do. So he decided a change of subject would be a good idea. "Overall, how did yesterday go? Did I display the correct level of power? The City Lord didn't seem pleased with me, but it sounded like he was letting the matter slide. The sect lady, though, really didn't like me."
"It is as you said. As long as you don't cause any more problems in the city, Luo Quan will bare you no further malice. He's as bureaucratic as they come. You broke the rules drawing his ire, but you paid your penalty. My best guess is that, as far as he is concerned, you are no longer a problem."
"Good," Benton said. "And the Swift Blizzard Sect?"
"The posture taken by Mao Biya is not a good sign."
"What exactly was the issue? Do you think she didn't like the bribe? That was a nice technique, right?"
"Frankly," Kang Ya-Ting said, "her attitude was uncalled for. At the very least, she should have been the picture of politeness upon addressing someone who had just laid waste to an entire sect branch. I have no idea why she took the tone she did."
"I guess I shouldn't expect any invitations to tea from them in the near future, then."
"Don't be so sure of that. The ultimate judgment will be made by their sect leader, and I doubt he has enough information about you and your sect yet to make any firm decisions. The fact that no one can sense you spiritually will, of course, give them pause. As will the fact that you easily defeated fifteen hostile Golden Core cultivators at once. As will your complete destruction of the Jade Chameleon branch."
"Did I go overboard?"
Kang Ya-Ting smiled. "Had you used an aura to suppress those cultivators, everyone would have understood your rank. That you limited yourself to Concepts and still won so handily will be cause for much consternation." He shrugged. "Confusion could be to your benefit or to your detriment. It's hard to say."
Back on Earth, Benton had mainly enjoyed his job. He had not, however, had any patience for office politics. Which was one of the reasons that he never rose higher than he did.
He was beginning to feel that dealing with sect politics would make the machinations at his office seem like a junior high rumor mill in comparison. Though it was certainly important, there was only so much of it he could take at once.
"Getting down to brass tacks," Benton said, "should I be prepared for an assault by the Jade Chameleons, and if so, will the Swift Blizzard Sect join them?"
"The latter part is easier to answer. No. Each of the big three sects are rivals as much as allies. We would only band together to fight an overwhelming external threat. The Swift Blizzard Sect will be seeking to figure out what moves will benefit them the most. If you show yourself to be weak, they may move against you out of sheer opportunism, but they won't directly support the Jade Chameleons."
"That's good news at least."
"As to the other part of your question," Kang Ya-Ting said, "I honestly don't know. You have attacked the Jade Chameleon Sect, and they cannot let that indignity stand. The loss of face would be too devastating. At the same time, you have literally inflicted great damages on them. They've lost eighteen Golden Core cultivators. Eighteen. And the amount of money they had tied up in the buildings and grounds you destroyed is tremendous. That is not a setback they can easily recover from. Suffering another loss like that risks the entire sect breaking apart. They'll have a hard time determining the correct response. An all out frontal attack is definitely an option, or they could try sending more subtle probes to determine the extent of your power."
Benton was very comfortable by that point in taking on any number of Golden Core cultivators, but facing more than one or two Nascent Souls at once would be problematic. His biggest concern, however, was one group attacking him while the others attacked his sect like Teng Jian had done. When Benton explained that worry to Kang Ya-Ting, however, the response was encouraging.
"Teng Jian was on a mission to punish the man who had killed his son. He was not a representative of his sect sent to battle a rival sect. It was personal. As a general rule, sects do not deliberately go after juniors because they wouldn't want a rival sect going after theirs. Now that the conflict has been elevated to a sect versus sect level, etiquette demands that they go directly after you and any elders you have first."
Benton let out a relieved breath.
"That being said," Kang Ya-Ting continued, "you have made that entire sect an enemy. There will be no mercy or suing for peace. If you are killed, they will destroy your entire sect and the village that supports it. Every member will be hunted and killed. They will salt the ground upon which it was built."
Benton didn't curse often, but he almost let an f-bomb slip upon that revelation. After a moment's reflection, however, he calmed down. That response was within his expectations. It was just startling to hear it voice aloud.
"The overall situation could have been better, but it's not horrible," Benton said. "I always expected the Jade Chameleons to retaliate, and as long as the Swift Blizzard Sect doesn't attack me outright, I'll consider it a win."
"That's a good way to look at it," Kang Ya-Ting said. "What are your plans now?"
Benton knew exactly what he would do next. The question was how much to reveal to the Poison Claw Sect.
In a cultivation world, it was not smart to be too trusting. On the other hand, allowing paranoia to rule his actions didn't seem like the best way to live his life, either. Kang Ya-Ting and his sect had stood behind Benton. The least he could do was extend a little trust.
"Honestly, I think my best bet is to actively expand my sect. We only have a little over two hundred members, and not counting your granddaughter of course, only two of those have even reached Foundation Establishment. I'm planning to extend an invitation to Fatty Ren and starting a branch in Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town."
"That's a bold move. I'm not sure, however, that the addition of one more Foundation Establishment level cultivator and even more at the Qi Gathering rank will help you against Nascent Souls, especially as it will only hinder your relations with the Swift Blizzard Sect."
"I understand your concerns," Benton said, "and I share them. Unfortunately, there are other factors involved that provide benefits to me that I believe to be in excess of the risks created."
Kang Ya-Ting cupped his hands. "I yield to my friend's judgement."
"Can I count on the Poison Claw Sect to back me up?"
"It's possible that something could be arranged."
"I do believe I could swing a few spots in the Trials Pagoda and maybe a technique or cultivation method or two for close allies."
Kang Ya-Ting smiled. "I misspoke. I'm positive that something can be arranged."
Benton didn't know whether to grimace or to laugh, but after a moment's thought, he settled on the latter. The statement had been made at least partly in jest, and honestly, he had no reason to expect the Poison Claw Sect to risk themselves for nothing in return. Their guaranteed backing in return for a few spots in his pagoda and maybe fifty or so Sect Points was a steal.
The only thing he regretted was giving away that cultivation method to the Swift Blizzard Sect, considering how the situation had turned out.
"Why don't you take a bit to think about what techniques or methods you might want and come out to the village for a visit?" Benton said.
"You make it sound like you can provide anything we want."
Benton shrugged. "Hmm. I guess I did make it sound like that."
Kang Ya-Ting waited for a moment, obviously expecting more, but Benton wasn't inclined to either confirm or deny that was what he actually meant.
"I see," Kang Ya-Ting said. "Elder Dai and I will give the matter some thought."
"Sound good. Maybe bring along a few of your members who are bottlenecked, and we can see if we can get them past it."
"That brings us to the crux of the matter. I doubt it will shock you to discover that I have an understanding of what you publicly shared with your sect members about the pavilion?"
Considering that Benton had made that speech in front of six members of the Poison Claw Sect, that fact did not surprise him at all. "It is of no particular concern to me."
"Perhaps it should be. Is it true that your Trials Pagoda can assist in breaking through a bottleneck?"
"I honestly don't know," Benton said. "We don't have much experience with the pagoda, yet, but one of the trials is for the specific purpose of advancing cultivation. Based purely on my assumptions, that trial may be able to propel cultivators past bottlenecks, granted they pass it."
"How much confidence do you have in your assumptions? Desperate men and women will cling to any hope, and I'd hate to see them disappointed. Such emotions might do much to damage the relations between our sects."
"Definitely don't over promise," Benton said. "None of my sect members are bottlenecked, so I have no way to test it."
"How difficult are the trials?"
"My disciples are two for two so far, but that's Yang Xiu and Yang Ru. Both are pretty extraordinary."
Kang Ya-Ting sighed. "Do you have any comprehension of what kind of waves it will make if a wave of our elders start having breakthroughs? We won't be able to hide the presence of the pagoda for long. Just the possibility of such a thing existing will alter the balance of power. If it actually works…"
Benton's first impulse was to tell his friend to send over a few Golden Core cultivators. If they could advance to Nascent Soul, that would make the Poison Claw Sect supreme on the continent.
Before he could voice that inclination, a small bit of paranoia crept into his head—if the Poison Claw Sect got too strong, couldn't they just take the Trials Pagoda away from him?
He needed to get stronger. Fast.
Zou Tian stood anxiously outside the Trials Pagoda. With a new day dawning, someone needed to make use of the facility, and Yang Xiu had decreed that, barring someone with a specific need, she would choose the order of entry based on cultivation strength. She and Yang Ru, obviously the strongest members of the sect, had already had a turn, so the next logical choice was Wan Ai.
Who had promptly refused.
It had been funny watching her, who never stood up for herself ever, squaring off against Yang Xiu and adamantly rejecting the choice. Wan Ai would work for each advance she received, "Thank you very much."
Zou Tian would seek to change her opinion about that stance, but he'd have to approach the subject carefully. The Trials Pagoda was too big of an advantage to pass up, and as she was the lead alchemist, the sect needed her to improve as quickly as she could.
He suspected, though, that her main problem was fear. She didn't want to be the first to fail and the attention that would come along with something like that happening to her.
Understandable. As he stood in front of the Pagoda, that fear was way, way too understandable.
Yang Xiu and Yang Ru had breezed through their trials. Of course. What were the chances of either of them failing at anything ever? They each had more talent in their pinky toes than Zou Tian had total, though.
Failure was definitely an option for him.
He'd tried to refuse the honor and had even had a good excuse. Both the expert blacksmith, Xun Wu, and his apprentice, Shi Long, were also in the seventh minor realm of Qi Gathering, and all three of them were anticipated to break through to the eight minor realm in a relatively close time frame. The thing was that both of the other two should advance before Zou Tian, a month for Xun Wu and a couple of weeks for Shi Long.
Therefore, Xun Wu deserved the honor.
The problem was that Yang Xiu believed they needed martially inclined members to advance much more than they needed blacksmiths, and no one, not even Yang Ru or Kang Lin, could convince her otherwise. Maybe, if Xun Wu or Shi Long had fought for the opportunity, one of them could have changed Yang Xiu's mind, but neither of them seemed to care one way or the other.
Which left Zou Tian stuck with accepting the honor.
With no small amount of trepidation, he entered the Pagoda and, as he'd been instructed, placed his hand on the white marble orb atop the pedestal there. Forewarned was forearmed, so he wasn't surprised at all with the blue screen that popped up in his vision asking him to choose one of three trials.
"Esteemed Trials Pagoda, this lowly one wishes to take a trial to secure the chance of improving Foundation Dagger Essentials to Mastery."
""Selection to Improve a Technique requires approval from Sect Leader Chao Su.
Contacting Sect Leader Chao Su.
Sect Leader Chao Su says, "Make Kang Lin the next trial taker.""
Zou Tian didn't know how to feel about that message. On one hand, he didn't have to risk being the first failure that day. On the other, he had the added shame of being refused entrance by Master.
Was Master angry? He had to be. Why else would he refuse Zou Tian admittance in favor of someone who wasn't even a member of their sect?
He must have done something to make Master mad, but what?
It was with a heavy heart that Zou Tian trudged toward the village to tell Yang Xiu and the others about the message. He could only hope that he wouldn't be ostracized too much.
Whatever it took, he swore he would climb any mountain, complete any task, overcome any obstacle required to regain Master's favor.
When Zou Tian was moving at top speed, the journey from the sect grounds to the village took a matter of minutes, no more than ten and probably less. On that day, he was barely a quarter of the way once that much time had passed.
He wished he had hurried when he spotted a blue reptilian creature heading directly toward him. It was about the length of his hand with an elongated body, fearsome wings, and four limbs, each with claws.
After pulling his daggers from their sheaths, he took a defensive position.
As the creature drew closer, however, something odd stood out about it, odder even than its color, size, and the fact that it flew. No, the feature that drew his attention was the material it was made of. He would have expected scales or feathers or even fur. That thing, though, appeared to be made of … paper?
It dove right at him but not very fast. He easily dodged out of the way, trying to figure out if he should stab it or not. Instead of pursuing him, though, the creature just hovered in the air an arm's length away at about the height of Zou Tian's chest.
It didn't seem too terribly hostile…
Zou Tian stepped back. The creature followed, keeping the same distance.
He reached out with his dagger and carefully, lightly, touched the weapon's tip against the creature's torso.
As soon as the metal made contact, the creature … unfolded. Literally. It turned from some sort of flying construct into a flat sheet of paper.
Zou Tian snagged it out of the air and discovered a message, one addressed to him.
Zou Tian,
Apologies for the brevity of my previous response. I wasn't in a position to fully explain my position at the time of the notification, so I hope this message finds you before you draw any incorrect conclusions.
Kang Lin is not a member of the Rising Tide Sect. However, she is a member of a sect that recently stood by my side in trying circumstances. She is also my disciple. Because of those two factors, I feel it is the right thing to do to include her in whatever rotation that you and the other council members have created for the Trials Pagoda, and as the sole remaining Foundation Establishment cultivator that hasn't had a chance to use the pagoda, that means it should be her turn next.
Were it not for those factors, I think you would have made a fine choice for next up. I will in all probability be back at the village (hopefully!) before tomorrow and will happily approve your participation in a trial at that time.
Please let the others know that I am well and that I will be returning as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Master
A rather large weight lifted off Zou Tian's shoulders as he read the note, and he felt greatly relieved. He hadn't angered Master.
Zou Tian sighed. Whew.
Then it hit him. Kang Lin was almost as talented as the twins, and anything she lacked in aptitude, she made up in both knowledge and experience. The chances of her not passing her trial were basically nil.
There was still a good shot that he'd be the first to fail.
Great. Just great.
*
Benton took one final sip of tea and put the cup down. "Well, Friend Kang, this conversation has been very informative, but I really need to get back to my disciples."
"Understood, Friend Su. Will you be heading directly back to your sect?"
Just as Benton was about to answer, a notification popped up asking for him to approve Zou Tian taking a trial to improve his dagger technique.
Not wanting to delay his response to Kang Ya-Ting, Benton almost reflexively agreed. At the last instant, it occurred to him that, politically speaking, it would be a good move to have Kang Lin use the pagoda, and since both his other two Foundation Establishment disciples had a turn, she really should go next.
Keeping the message as brief as possible, he passed along instructions to do just that.
"Actually," Benton said, "I have a couple of minor errands to run, which I plan to accomplish with all due haste and then I need to stop by Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town. With any luck, though, I'll be there by this evening."
Hopefully. Maybe. His tasks in the city shouldn't take long, but who knew how much time it would take to recruit Fatty Ren and start a branch of the Rising Tide Sect there. Not to mention that he'd need to go by the orphanage.
Still, he was going to push to be back in the village before the sun rose the next day.
The two finished saying their goodbyes, and Benton left the sect. No sooner had he stepped out of the gate, though, than he started reconsidering his all too brief note to Zou Tian via the notification. Benton had been in a hurry, and the brevity of his message had probably made his words sound too harsh. He hoped the boy didn't take it the wrong way.
Well, there was nothing Benton could do about it until he reached the village…
Wait. He'd seen a lot of people using those message things that apparently could move between cities pretty darn fast. The devices hadn't been for sale in any of the stores, but maybe he could borrow one from Kang Ya-Ting.
Benton would prefer not to, though. Not being able to take care of a task that was so trivial without help would eat into the mystique he was building.
A thought hit him, and he grinned. Why would he need help with something like that? After all, he was a cheating cheater who cheats.
"System," he said internally, mindful of the people around him on the street, "can I purchase a technique to create message devices?"
""Yes""
Awesome! Succinct, but awesome.
One he'd seen previously that had stood out in his memory had been in the form of a green origami butterfly. Which was cool. But he thought he might be able to do better than that.
"System, please create a technique to create blue origami dragons capable of delivering messages to specific recipients at far distances. Please also imbue the creations with my Concept of Space so that it can skip a large portion of the distance between the sender and the recipient. Please purchase that technique to Mastery."
""Technique creation confirmed.
Host has learned the technique, Space Dragon Origami Messenger - Mastery.
Host has 760 Sect Points available.""
Perfect. Benton Quickstepped to an alley, triggered his new technique, and penned a note to Zou Tian.
There. If the boy had his feelings hurt at all, that should assuage them.
With that bit of necessary business out of the way, Benton moved on to his errands, beginning with replenishing herbs for the baths. Since he no longer had to hide, he Quickstepped from store to store, buying all each location had. By the time he finished, he figured he had enough for at least one thousand new Bronze baths.
More important, though, was obtaining enough herbs for eighteen baths, nine each for Yang Xiu and Yang Ru. Now that they were Foundation Establishment cultivators, he wanted them to advance to the peak of Silver Body Cultivation as well.
The big challenge for that realm was finding a qi source that closely matched their aspects, but since they could manipulate their qi externally, that problem was solved. All they needed was for an alchemist to mix up the correct herbs. Though those ingredients would be much more expensive, the actual process should be only a little bit more difficult. Benton felt confident that Wan Ai could work it out.
He spent forty more Sect Points buying a Body Cultivation Method for each of his two exceptional disciples and used the knowledge he gained to make sure he bought the right herbs.
As he'd expected, the higher quality ingredients required a higher quality store, which was actually a good thing. He was able to spend spirit coins instead of dipping further into his limited supply of silver.
That task accomplished, he quickly visited every street cart and restaurant he could easily access and purchased whatever meals they had handy, most of the time overpaying to avoid the lengthy process of having the cashier find correct change for him.
Finally, just as Benton was preparing to leave town, he spotted a candy store, and that jogged his memory. On his first trip so long ago, he had intended to buy some candy to give to the children, but that goal had completely slipped his mind.
As he walked out of the store having bought just about the entire stock, he smiled, thinking of the reactions the kids were going to have. Next stop, the Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town orphanage.