Chapter 199
A/N 2/18/25: This is Monday's post. Now, assuming that I get Wednesday's post up sometime tomorrow, I should be able to get back on track for posting on time starting Friday. Thanks for bearing with me.
The moment of silence was the end of Ye Zan's memorial service, but with the entire sect present, Benton needed to take a few moments to conduct business. Which wasn't exactly an ideal scenario, definitely something he wouldn't have even considered back on Earth.
That understanding made the transition from the ceremony to other matters more than a little awkward. How was he supposed to begin, "Since I have you here…"?
Ugh.
"The creation of the Hall of Heroes was the last step in making the sect main grounds move-in ready," Benton said finally.
That segue wasn't exactly a good one, but at least it somewhat tied what he'd been talking about to what he wanted to bring up in a halfway coherent manner.
"Obviously, the area is by no means finished," Benton continued. "A huge priority is to get a wall built around the entire central sect grounds."
The lack of beasts made danger of that sort of attack minimal, but the threat from rival cultivators loomed large. A permanent structure such as the wall made from a qi rich material such as the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood made it the perfect conduit for formations. Benton was desperate to get that finished and tie multiple defenses into a grand array that would hold off, at least for a time, even a Nascent Soul cultivator.
"The minimum crucial installations are complete, however." Benton said. "All the pavilions have a building dedicated to that specific purpose, and there is enough residential capacity for over three hundred people. My expectation for you is that most sect members move into one of the residences starting within the next several days. Mayor Mo Jian may choose to remain in the village at his discretion, and Lord Fatty Ren, the leader of the new Rising Tide Sect branch in Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town, will continue to remain in residence there along with his recruits. Otherwise, unless you receive direct dispensation from me, you are expected to relocate.
"Council members should find housing today and explore their pavilion tomorrow. The arrays in the buildings are complex. You will need guidance to understand all the functionality. Please schedule time with me tomorrow so I can provide that guidance.
"Regarding housing, the largest apartment building is reserved for Mistress Zhong, the kids currently living in her orphanage, and any other resident she sees fit to allow to live there. All other housing will be assigned upon request based on a priority list. The order of that list goes by membership in the council, highest cultivation realm, longest time in the sect, and highest age. Thus, if two sect members who are not part of the council and who were inducted at the same time and are in the same minor realm want the same dwelling, the oldest one will be given priority. If the two happen to be twins, figure it out.
"The morning of the day after tomorrow, the housing not assigned to council members will become available for assignment. Tour the residential neighborhood and create a list of dwellings that interest you ranked in order of preference. Before noon, you need to submit that list to sect administration.
"My two assistants, Sun Hua and Xu Gang, can be found on the second floor of the Administration Pavilion. They will handle assigning housing based on the priority list and the submitted requests," Benton eyed each of the two young ladies. "I apologize for not consulting with you first. I'll provide you a list of dwellings and a list of sect members sorted numerically in the order I mentioned. I trust the two of you will be able to handle the rest?"
Truthfully, he'd horribly underutilized the two assistants the mayor had long ago assigned to him. Basically, beyond introducing himself and telling them to cultivate, he hadn't given them much to do at all. Now that everyone was moving onto the main sect grounds, he expected their role to become much more important.
Sun Hua immediately cupped her hands, seemingly happy to be addressed. Xu Gang only followed along after noting what Sun Hua had done.
"Finally," Benton said, "I just want to say that I've been very pleased by everyone's diligence and progress so far. Great job everyone. There are, however, two resources that are currently being underutilized—Soul Cultivation and Mind Cultivation."
Most people in the crowd stared at him blankly.
"Every sect has access to Spiritual Cultivation. Most practice Body Cultivation to some degree. Almost no one cultivates the mind, though, and even less have access to Soul Cultivation methods. These two types of cultivation give the Rising Tide Sect an advantage that no one else can match, and we're not utilizing them enough.
"While neither provides the pure physical benefits and power as Spiritual and Body Cultivation, both provide plenty of advantages. Cultivating the soul can make your life more satisfying, increase your ability to use qi, and protect you from demonic cultivators. Mind cultivation can give you access to mental attacks and let you split your thoughts, which is very beneficial to crafters. Scriptures will be available in the Contribution Points Shop. I highly suggest that everyone choose at least one or the other and begin working it into their schedules. Note that, for beginning cultivators, time spent on Soul and Mind Cultivation does not count against your ten-hour maximum per day."
Given his experience in the past, making one of his desires so blatantly known should cause everyone to rush to comply. Which meant he had to follow through with his promise to have cultivation methods waiting for them in the Contribution Points Shop.
As soon as he dismissed them, he Quickstepped to his office in the Administration Pavilion, dropped into a lotus position, and pulled up his Cultivation Creation Menu.
He already made two Soul Cultivation methods—the one he'd already given to Peng Zhen that focused on defense against demonic cultivators and the one for the former Righteous Rain cultivators to help them heal. The first question was whether or not more methods were needed.
Benton mentally reviewed the purpose each of the four soul characteristics served. Inviolability made the soul resistant to outside influence, such as attacks by demonic cultivators and control by gu worms. Size made it easier for a person to lead a more fulfilling life. Strength helped both resist and heal damage as well as leading to special abilities. Finally, Tempering enhanced one's qi pool and physical prowess.
He didn't want to spend a lot of points creating a bunch of methods, but picking one or two more to give his members options was probably a good idea. He'd only invested fifty Sect Points so far. Two more methods would devote another fifty. One hundred sect members reaching the first minor realm would return that many quickly, and everything after that would be pure profit.
Yeah. He could definitely afford to invest a few more points to give his sect members more choices.
One of the methods was heavily weighted to Inviolability for defense and the other to Strength for healing. An option for the new methods was to make one that was heavily weighted for each of the other two characteristics. The one devoted to Size would make people happier, but he didn't anticipate a lot of his sect members making that choice, considering how power mad the entire cultivation world was. The one focused on Tempering, on the other hand, would be a good choice for anyone set on a martial path.
That last one sounded like a perfect option for some of his sect members, so he created the Martial Soul method for Soul Cultivation, allocating fifteen points to Inviolability to protect against demonic cultivators, ten to Size since he wanted his sect members to be happy, ten to Strength since preventing and recovering from injuries were both important, and sixty-five to Tempering.
Instead of creating the second one to be focused on the remaining characteristic, Size, he decided a balanced option would be better, so he allocated twenty-five in each category and called it Balanced.
He quickly wrote up a detailed description of what each characteristic did and how the characteristics were distributed in each of the four cultivation methods. Luckily, Peng Zhen was a reliable fellow who could be counted on to describe the contents of the note in detail before letting any of the sect members make a selection.
Next, Benton needed to create one or more methods for Mind Cultivation.
Of the four types of cultivation, Mind was probably the weakest, especially in when at the beginning. Like Soul, it had five major realms—Higher, Inner, Myriad, Expert, and Grandmaster—and a practitioner reaching the peak of the first realm couldn't process information much more quickly or in higher quantities than a mortal. The second level provided some benefits, such as weak mind attacks and the ability to achieve greater focus, but considering that the level of effort was equivalent to that needed to reach Foundation Establishment, it required a lot of work for a relatively small gain.
Myriad and above was where the cultivation type shined. A practitioner's mind attacks became much more powerful, and one gained the ability to split one's focus, a huge benefit for nearly anyone but something especially valued by alchemists and formation masters.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of reaching Myriad was about the same as the likelihood of reaching Golden Core—small. Which was one reason Benton hadn't pushed for his sect members to learn that type of cultivation.
Even taking into account the level of effort required, however, reaching at least Inner could give his people a decent advantage. In a fight between two people of a similar realm, being able to distract one's opponent with a presumably unblockable mind stun could become a decisive advantage, even if the distraction caused was quite brief.
The real advantage was that, with the extremely high-grade cultivation methods provided by the System, almost all his sect members would be able to advance to Inner.
When he'd started recruiting every person he could find into his sect regardless of talent level, Benton hadn't had any plans other than, "Hey, I need sect member. These people can become sect members."
A Foundation Establishment cultivator in the mid minor realms held value. With access to techniques that allowed them to externally manipulate qi, they could learn to create low-level but necessary pills and arrays and weapons, etc. They'd become the worker bees of his sect and, hopefully, experience a nice life featuring good health and a standard of living much higher than most mortals. Considering that most of them started as peasants, the fact that they'd be expected to live around a hundred and fifty years as a cultivator was much better than the average peasant's expectation of death somewhere in the early fifties.
So it was a genuine win-win. They got a genuinely better and longer life. He got lots of Sect Points. Yay.
Now, though, he was considering how to improve that life as cultivators even more. Power equaled success in a cultivation world, and the plan forming in his mind had the potential to maximize the strength of every single member of his sect.
The fact that he would also be on the receiving end of a lot more points was something that didn't really even factor into his decision making, but it was a nice bit of lagniappe.
Normally, rank made a lot of difference in battles between sect members. An A from one sect would beat a similarly realmed C rank from a rival sect nine times out of ten. In contrast, Benton expected his sect members to be able to compete versus similarly realmed cultivators from other sects based solely on the quality of his System-provide cultivation methods and techniques.
What happened when he added Body Cultivation to that equation, though? Maybe they couldn't jump major realms, but the pure physicality of his sect members would allow them to punch upward several minor realms at least.
Add to that Soul Cultivation that advanced his sect members' qi pools and physical might. And on top of that, add in an ability to launch a mind stun at a critical moment.
Benton liked the thought of that. No one in the same major realm would be able to beat one of his members in a fight. And there was no reason that the same shouldn't apply to abilities in crafting.
Not only that, but some people had a talent for cultivation. For example, Wan Ai just took to Spiritual Cultivation like a fish to water, advancing much faster than her spiritual roots would normally suggest she would. By exposing sect members to the two additional cultivation types, it was possible that some of them would discover an unrealized talent and advance farther than projected.
He couldn't help envisioning a sect where his members advanced realms much slower than other sects, but they advanced Spirit, Body, Soul, and Mind simultaneously. It was a vision of the future that he liked.
In fact, he liked it so much that he decided he needed to advance his own cultivation in those areas, and with a total of seven hundred seventy-two Sect Points, he was seventy-two points above the floor he'd decided on of seven hundred points.
"System, what's the maximum level of mind cultivation that I can advance to presently?"
"Host has met the requirements to advance to the peak of Myriad"
As Benton had expected, Myriad corresponded to Golden Core, the peak level he had currently qualified to reach. He quickly also confirmed that he was allowed to advance to the third level of Soul as well, the Fulfillment realm.
If his calculations were correct, it would take him eight points to reach the peak of Higher, eighteen to reach the peak of Inner, and thirty-six to get all the way to the peak of Myriad. That was a total of sixty-two points. And he'd need the same amount to reach the peak he could climb in Soul. Which was more than he had available to spend unless it was an emergency.
Benton had a choice to make. Should he max out one or advance both equally? And if he went with one over the other, which should he choose?
If he knew he was going to fighting demonic cultivators soon, Soul would be the best choice. But that threat wasn't looming on the horizon. Being able to use mind stun and split his consciousness into multiple threads seemed like a better use of points, so he chose to advance his Mind Cultivation fully.
That selection left him with fifty-four Sect Points. Which was close to being enough to get him all the way to the peak he could go in Soul Cultivation but not quite. It was oh so tempting for him to just dip a bit into his nest egg, but he decided that, lacking a real need to do so, he'd only spend down to the seven hundred mark, meaning he advanced to seventh minor realm of Fulfillment.
As soon as he triggered the upgrades, he braced himself. And rightfully so. The huge increase of his Mind and the lesser one of his Soul was intense.
When he recovered, his greater processing speed made him remember that he'd completely forgotten to create methods for Mind Cultivation for his sect members.
Doh!
The proper thing to do was to dig deep into that area of cultivation just like he'd done with Soul Cultivation earlier and create a selection of methods for his sect members, floor be damned. Practically speaking, though, he was wiped emotionally from the memorial service and physically from the huge upgrades he'd just experienced. He just didn't have it in him to give the matter the attention it deserved.
Instead, Benton went twenty-five Sect Points under his floor to create a basic Mind Cultivation method that balanced all the characteristics. He'd have Peng Zhen let the crafters know that more options would be coming in a few days.
Good enough.
He was confident that the steps he took today would lead to great things for his sect in the future. To reach that future, though, he needed time for his sect members to cultivate three different methods as far as they could, a process of many years even for the least talented of them.
To give them that time, Benton had to hold off all the threats facing the sect.
Not an easy task. Not an easy task at all.
Chapter 200
Emperor Han Shu was not sure if the information contained in the report he just read represented a good thing or a bad thing to his faction. Peace had existed between his empire and the sects for more than a century, but a single cultivator seeking advantage could change that status at any time.
For as long as anyone could remember, three sects had ruled the portion of the continent he currently controlled, but they cared not for mortal affairs. His family dynasty had started humbly, his ancestor being the simple mayor of a small village. Over the next several centuries, they slowly and cautiously spread their influence, taking over managing more villages and then towns and then cities.
They had, of course, given the sects much face, kowtowing to them while gathering resources in secret. The cultivators had appreciated not having to govern lowly mortals while having their wants and needs met.
Favors were bought, and the most talented members of the family were sent to the sects to learn. Slowly, political power had turned into actual power. Over even more centuries, the family had acquired enough cultivation methods and techniques that they no longer had to rely on outside help.
Now, they stood on equal footing with any of the other sects.
But only equal. Which rankled him more than he liked to admit. If he grew too strong, they would band against him. If he showed weakness, one or more would strike.
Cultivators were predatory and merciless.
Two decades ago, the Righteous Rain Sect, one of the Big Four, had been destroyed overnight. Han Shu's faction and each of the Big Three tried to take advantage, but the prospect of any two enemies combining strength tempered growth.
The four factions lapsed into stasis.
Days ago, that stasis had been upended. A lone cultivator of unknown realm had effected twelve verified kills of Jade Chameleon Sect Golden Core cultivators. Further, rumors on every tongue indicated that the inciting event of that massacre also resulted in deaths of three more Golden Core cultivators, including Teng Jian.
Even more unbelievably, there were credible reports that three additional Golden Core cultivators had their dantians destroyed. By tribulation lightning.
Obviously, no one, regardless of realm, could control tribulation lightning, but the one known as Chao Su had been able to mimic it to a degree such that Han Shu wasn't sure the distinction mattered.
Prior to the massacre, the Jade Chameleon Sect had forty-one Golden Core cultivators. If the reports were to be believed, they only had twenty-three left. And their sect branch in Sixth Flawless Flowing City had been utterly annihilated.
They continued to wield the influence of a major sect simply due to the fact that they still had all four of their Nascent Soul cultivators, but two of those were ancient and clearly in decline, each surely having only a century of life left. Two at the most.
And how did a sect replace Nascent Souls? By having Golden Cores advance. And the Jade Chameleons had lost nearly half of those, including rising star Teng Jian who everyone assumed was more likely than not to ascend.
Barring a miracle, the Jade Chameleon Sect would face a precipitous decline over the next half millennium. The Big Three had become, for all intents and purposes, the Big Two.
The balance of power was still preserved to an extent, however. The Jade Chameleons still held enough power to be a worthy acquisition target. If Han Shu or either of the two sects tried to assimilate them, though, the other two factions would be forced to band together to stop it.
Gaining an advantage out of the situation was the work of centuries, not years and certainly not months. Offer one of their Golden Core cultivators a good deal to switch. Marry another into the family.
The other factions would do the same, but that was okay as long as Han Shu's faction gained slightly more promising members or slightly more or, even better, both.
That scenario was what would have happened if all of them did not have to consider the existence of Chao Su.
The appearance of a potential new power created a completely different situation. The sect leader of, apparently, a bunch of peasant villagers was quite an enigma. Han Shu would have thought the man a joke if not for the numerous casual demonstrations of absurd power—handing out heaven grade scriptures as gifts, using a ridiculous number of qi elements in battle, a qi shield that protected him from fifteen Golden Core cultivators at once. And the list continued. His abilities went far beyond the ken of any cultivator in memory. Even legends didn't whisper of some of the things he could do.
Was he beatable if enough Nascent Souls were gathered against him or would he dominate them as easily as he had the Golden Cores? Reports stated that he hadn't even bothered to use an aura.
Two factions had already established clear positions. The Poison Claw Sect sniffed an opportunity in befriending him, and they were clinging to it like a mortal forced onto the back of a bucking bull. In contrast, the Jade Chameleons could only regain some semblance of face by utterly destroying the man.
That left Han Shu's faction and the Swift Blizzard Sect to either choose sides or remain neutral. The Swift Blizzards had signaled clear displeasure with the man, but Han Shu had no idea what was driving that display or if it revealed true intent or was some elaborate misdirection.
The smart play was for his faction to remain patient. One did not usurp the sects by blasting them away like rock pounding against rock in a cavalcade of dirt and dust. One wore them down over time with the steady beat of wind and wave.
Given the scriptures the man pulled from that storage ring of his, though… If either of the sects gained access to those, they would accelerate quickly in power. Han Shu could not allow that to happen.
The easiest way to prevent someone else obtaining the treasure was to make sure he gained access to it instead.
Was the proper course continued patience or was it time to finally make an aggressive play?
He didn't yet know. For now, he'd wait and observe.
###
Dong Qiao shook his head in disbelief. He'd read the reports, of course, but hearing a firsthand account made the fact much clearer. "You're sure this Chao Su wasn't using a device to hide his cultivation?"
"I'm positive, Sect Leader," Mao Biya, the leader of the Swift Blizzard Sect in Sixth Flawless Flowing City, said. "My detection device picked out a storage ring, a friendship pin from the Poison Claw Sect, and a flying sword. Interestingly enough, the sword was the one previously used by Teng Jian."
That fact was interesting. Chao Su was sending quite the message by using that particular piece of battle loot in his attack on the Jade Chameleon branch.
"What do you make of him not using an aura during the fight?" Dong Qiao said.
"Kang Ya-Ting is spreading rumors that Chao Su deliberately restrained himself, Sect Leader."
Doing such a thing made no sense to Dong Qiao. From an impossible shield to wielding some type of lightning that destroyed cultivation, the man displayed unimaginable power. Why hold back an aura? The only explanation was that he either didn't feel like he needed it or he didn't have one.
But if the latter were true, how come Mao Biya couldn't sense him.
"If the device he used was powerful enough to hide his cultivation from your senses, it would have been powerful enough to hide itself from your detection device," Dong Qiao said.
"This lowly one is not as experienced with the use of the device as the Sect Leader, but wouldn't such a disruption have distorted my ability to detect the other three qi sources? Each of them was revealed to me clearly."
That point was a good one.
"I can easily believe the man to be Nascent Soul," Dong Qiao said, "but Nihility? It is speculated that only about one in a thousand Nascent Souls advance that high."
Mao Biya shrugged. "I can't say one way or the other, Sect Leader. Kang Ya-Ting is convinced, but that is hardly definitive proof."
A Nascent Soul, especially an ascendent, ancient one, being able to defeat fifteen Golden Cores at once was a mighty feat, but not one that was outside of the possibility. The man was probably simply a very experienced and powerful cultivator of that realm.
And if so, a force consisting of several Nascent Souls would be able to defeat him.
If Dong Qiao was wrong, though, those Nascent Souls would go to their deaths, and losing even one would constitute a disaster even greater than the one experienced by the Jade Chameleons.
At the moment, the risk of attacking Chao Su was great, but the risk of not attacking was just as bad. He didn't have enough information.
"How did he react to your provocation?" Dong Qiao said.
"There was no visible sign of him becoming angry, Sect Leader."
It had been a risky move on Mao Biya's part to test the man in such a way, but so little was known about the mysterious cultivator that every piece of information was crucial. Still, the move was aggressive. Perhaps too aggressive.
If Chao Su decided that the loss of face due to the Mao Biya's insubordinate behavior was too much, he might destroy the Swift Blizzard branch sect as well. Dong Qiao didn't believe the data gained about his behavior was worth the risk.
Unless, of course, the maneuver ultimately resulted in no negative consequences.
He frowned. "And the rumor worked?"
"My spies tell me that Kang Ya-Ting believed that I was angry over losing a lover, Sect Leader. If my actions cause problems, you can blame me acting against the sect's wishes."
When Dong Qiao didn't respond, she continued. "By Chao Su sending the gift that he did, he indicated a willingness to be reasonable. He didn't attack the Jade Chameleons due to a minor insult. My move was the right one. I have provided our Mind Cultivators access to my memories, so that their arts can guild our future interactions."
Dong Qiao sighed. His junior was not known to be reckless. She had considered the risks and the gains, and the sect appeared to have benefited from it.
"Very well," he said. "No sanction is forthcoming, but I want you to stay far away from that man in the future."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
Chapter 201
Teng Wuying was equally parts pleased and anxious. By benefit of his brother's not so untimely death, he was now the sole inheritor of his family's resources. And he was still alive, which would have been a much more difficult feat to pull off had he remained in Sixth Flawless Flowing City.
On the other hand, he was standing in front of his sect leader, Duan Dandan, who did not look pleased to see him in the least.
Not daring to meet her eyes, he cupped his hands. "Greetings, Sect Leader."
"The reports I'm getting indicate our branch in Sixth Flawless Flowing City, the one which you are the appointed leader of, was completely destroyed," the icy-eyed, white-haired woman said. "Why are you here?"
"To inform you of a likely incoming attack, Sect Leader," he said meekly, keeping his face pointed toward the ground.
"You're a little bit late, aren't you?" Her tone was biting.
"Apologies, Sect Leader. Your…" Flunky. "…assistant kept me waiting for days. If not for him, you would have received the warning in plenty of time."
She pursed her lips. "Explain."
"My dear nephew, Teng Chun, got himself killed while accosting a higher realmed cultivator—"
"Why would he do such a thing? He was a brute, but he wasn't an idiot."
"The higher realmed cultivator did not behave like a higher realmed cultivator, Sect Leader, at least in the eyes of my dear nephew. Or that's what we believe was going through his head at the time. He disobeyed my direct orders to observe only and approached the cultivator."
"I see. Continue your report. You will provide a written version with the detail explaining how that conclusion was derived."
"Of course, Sect Leader."
Teng Wuying triggered a non-qi based technique he'd developed, causing sweat to appear on his forehead. The Sect Leader was considered the most intimidating person most people had ever met, and he took great pains to make it appear like he was just as cowed by her.
"Teng Jian, who was of course my brother and Teng Chun's father, eventually emerged from seclusion for a successful advancement to Golden Core minor realm seven, Sect Leader. It fell on this lowly one to inform him of his son's death.
"As branch sect leader, I had received a missive from the Poison Claw Sect concerning the events leading to Teng Chun's death, explaining that the higher realmed cultivator was a friend of the Poison Claw Sect named Chao Su. This Chao Su was willing to face Teng Jian personally in combat if necessary but, upon pain of major reprisals, urged that no attempt be made to harm his juniors.
"The Poison Claw Sect further espoused a lukewarm belief that Chao Su was capable of carrying out such a threat.
"I, of course, likewise conveyed that information to Teng Jian. He did not take it well."
If anything, the sect leader's face grew stormier. She was not convinced by his explanation. His task would have been easier had she not know Teng Jian so well.
"Of course he didn't take it well, you idiot!" she yelled. "You telling him that would have been like waving a flag in front of a bull."
"I was required to tell him, Sect Leader. He was my older brother. It was his right to be told any information regarding the family that wasn't protected by sect confidentiality. Failing to do so would have made me subject to censure and likely to having been kicked out of the family. I could not take that risk."
Duan Dandan still frowned, but her expression lightened some. "What happened next?"
Whew. That was the hard part of the conversation. If she bought that, he might actually escape her chambers with his position as a sect elder intact, which would have made his life a bit more troublesome.
"Against my advice, he summoned two of his allies and departed for the village Chao Su was thought to have chosen as his base. As soon as the three left, I came straight here, Sect Leader. For what happened after that point, I have heard rumors, but you are surely more well informed than I am."
"Your dear brother apparently got both himself and his two idiot sycophantic friends killed, and because the unmitigated disaster of losing three of the sect's Golden Core cultivators at once wasn't enough for them, they also incited this Chao Su's wrath by killing one of his sect members."
"Sect members, Sect Leader?"
"Yes. He's apparently given top heaven grade cultivation methods to a bunch of talentless peasants, ostensibly to fight against a beast tide, and called them a sect. It's ridiculous that I'm even aware of the existence of an organization consisting of a couple hundred farmers, but that's what the fate of the Jade Chameleon Sect has come to due to the Teng family."
Teng Wuying held back a grimace. That wasn't good. While becoming the inheritor of his family was good and still having his life was even better, it was suboptimal to have that very same family name be tarnished.
"Any cultivator would have acted the same, Sect Leader," he said. "Just like you surely cannot leave this Chao Su alone now due to the loss of face our sect has suffered, Teng Jian could not let the murder of his son go unpunished."
There. A subtle message that he was more than prepared to use his connections to question her every decision if she chose to besmirch his name should quell her ardor on that subject.
"Whatever the cause, the end results are devastating," she said, her voice much calmer. "We have lost nearly half our Golden Core cultivators, including your … brother who was the farthest along of any of the current crop. Nearly as bad, we have lost countless spirit coins worth of materials with the complete destruction of the branch sect."
"It can't possibly be as bad as the rumors say, Sect Leader."
He'd heard ridiculous stories saying the literally nothing is left. The man would have had to bring a hundred spatial rings to fit everything inside.
"I sent eyes I could trust to verify. It is as bad or worse. There is simply nothing left of the buildings or any other part of the grounds. Even the first foot of dirt was removed."
"Then we must get it back, Sect Leader!"
"There is no getting it back. It was destroyed, not stolen. Chao Su apparently uses Lightning, Earth, Water, and Void in his attacks, among other elements."
For the first time in a along time, Teng Wuying was struck dumb. He'd stashed pills and spirit coins in hiding places throughout the sect. If what the sect leader said was true, all those resources were gone. As was his residence in Sixth Flawless Flowing City with all the wealth he'd accumulated there.
All he had left was his family's resources and a few emergency reserves.
She was right when she'd referred to the attack as an unmitigated disaster.
"Wait, Sect Leader. You said Lightning, Earth, Water, and Void?"
That combination of elements was extremely unlikely for any cultivator. Two separate primary elements combined with two rare and powerful secondary elements was almost unheard of.
"And did you say among other elements?" he said.
"If not for the evidence of him using so many elements in battle, I would have discounted the next piece of intelligence. Apparently, this peasant sect that he has created has a Trials Pagoda."
Teng Wuying smiled, relieved beyond measure. "We must acquire this pagoda, Sect Leader. It is ours by right, given the destruction he has caused. And I shall petition the elders to be given leadership over it. After all, my family has been harmed the most."
The look on her face told him that his suggestion had not been received well, but that was okay. The elders had plenty of power to overrule her when it came to such matters as distributing dominion over sect resources. As long as she okayed the initial attack, he would gain control over it.
And she absolutely had no choice but to authorize the attack. The pressure to resolve the huge loss of face was too severe for her to ignore.
"You will order the attack, won't you, Sect Leader? After all, it is reported that he didn't employ an aura. Perhaps, he hasn't developed one yet."
"Seven elements," she said. "Seven. And he might have used more. It was difficult for the observers to detect all the elements used by his shield."
He didn't see her point. She was acting like the number of elements made him an unbeatable foe, or at least one that was unfathomable. But he was neither. Sure, such versatility would give Chao Su an advantage, but it was nothing that could not be overcome. And the existence of the Trials Pagoda explained how he'd managed such a feat.
"The observers are absolutely positive that he employed a Concept with five of those elements," she said. "Some believed that all seven were powered by a Concept, but that assertion could not be confirmed."
Teng Wuying had to do the math. Golden Core cultivators took an average of twenty-five years to form a Concept. Prodigies accomplished the feat in ten to fifteen years. The absolute record from a woman who achieved enlightenment during her meditation was five years.
But that time period was just to form a Concept with one qi element.
A person not knowledgeable with high realmed cultivation might think that forming a Concept for a second element was easier and thus took less time. That person would be wrong.
In fact, forming a Concept for a second element didn't take twice as long as the first; it took four times as long. Even assuming Chao Su was the most talented cultivator in existence, five years for the first plus twenty years for the second was the absolute minimum time period to form two Concepts.
The third took even longer, nine times as long as the first. The fourth took sixteen times as long and the fifth twenty-five.
At a minimum, it had to have taken Chao Su at least two hundred seventy-five years to create five Concepts. But that time period was based on a crazy assumption of it only taking him five years for the first. Ten years was still ridiculously short but was a much safer bet for a minimum, equating to five hundred fifty years.
A Golden Core cultivator's lifetime was only five hundred years.
The facts confirmed that not only was Chao Su definitely at least in the Nascent Soul realm—not that there had been any real doubt—but that he assuredly had developed his aura.
"I can see from the look on your face that you understand," Duan Dandan said. "There are too many oddities about this Chao Su for him to be a simple Nascent Soul. He is something outside our experience. Whether that means he's reached Nihility or he simply has access to resources greater than all found on this entire continent combined, I do not know. I am, however, almost sure that all four of our Nascent Souls combined could not defeat him."
"If he is indeed that powerful, all factions save for the Poison Claws will back us, Sect Leader. He's surely not a match for twelve Nascent Souls." Teng Wuying grinned suddenly. "Or ten."
She frowned. "Ten?"
"Ren Ning and Guo Mingzhu both already have one foot in the grave, Sect Leader. Let them die heroes, sacrificing themselves for the good of the sect."
"You want me to throw away half our Nascent Souls on an attack they cannot win? For what purpose?"
He could almost see her thoughts churning as she paused.
"If this Chao Su defeats both of them in straight up combat, the other factions will see his true strength," she said. "Between that and their greed for his treasures, they will band together with us. We just have to be ready to seize the spoils."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
She frowned again. "There is a problem. The elders will never approve this plan."
Teng Wuying met her eyes for the first time for that meeting. "They will if I tell them to."
Chapter 202
Sun Hua's heart rose to her throat as she stood outside the door leading to what the sect leader called his "office." The mayor's house was large enough to hold a similar room, but he called it a "study." She was fairly sure that the sect would use the former term going forward based on the sect leader's preference, so she made a point to call it that in her mind.
Though she'd been assigned to be his assistant nearly a month ago, she'd never actually spent any time alone with him. Besides being introduced and being handed a few minor assignments, she'd barely even seen him.
But now she'd been summoned via a blue dragon made of paper. She'd have been terrified if the sect's rumor mill hadn't abounded with tales of the origin of the wondrous devices.
As she was stood there gathering her wits, though, she was aware that the sect leader was inside expecting her. Hesitating was stupid. Her mother would have called her a fool for making such an important man, her direct employer, wait.
Besides, her fear was stupid. The sect leader had a great reputation for being kind, so there was no justification for her fear.
She sighed. No rationalization, no matter how factual, could calm her nerves.
Summoning all her courage, she halted her wondering thoughts and knocked on the door.
"Come," the sect leader said.
Sun Hua entered the room as she had been taught to do when approaching one of a much higher station. She took small steps so that her feet neither dragged the floor nor made a loud sound when contacting the floor. Moving quickly but quietly was the key. Don't delay. Don't disturb.
There was no furniture in the room, only a small cultivation mat on which he sat in the lotus position. As her mother had trained her to do in such situation, Sun Hua knelt before him and cupped her hands.
"Assistant greets Sect Leader."
To the best of her knowledge, few people if anyone in the village used that particular formality of referring to oneself by one's position. It was much more common here to use "this one" or "this lowly one." Esteemed Mother, however, had been raised outside the village and taught Sun Hua that the other form of address was more proper.
She wanted badly to please the sect leader while honoring her mother.
A scroll appeared from thin air, but Sun Hua did not gasp. Though she'd not previously been so close to the sect leader when he used his spatial treasure, it was known to all the villagers, and she'd at least seen items being removed from it from a distance, including an entire building.
Rumors in the village speculated that all who reached Foundation Establishment would be gifted one of the rings. Since all sect members who were diligent were promised all resources within the sect leader's ability to help them reach Foundation Establishment, all sect member, including her, should eventually own a ring of their own.
Sun Hua thought the reasoning logical but couldn't bring herself to believe such a thing could possibly be true.
The sect leader smiled. "This is the priority list that I promised you."
"Assistant expresses gratitude to Sect Leader," she said, accepting the scroll.
Why was he giving it to her, though? Just her, she meant. Why had she been summoned and not her fellow assistant, Xu Gang?
She didn't dare voice her questions, though.
"What's bothering you?" he said. "Tell me."
Her expression must have betrayed her. Mother would be so disappointed if she ever found out that Sun Hua hadn't kept her face impassive before the sect leader. An assistant's personal thoughts should never intrude upon their employer.
Having been called out, however, Sun Hua had no option but to respond truthfully. "Assistant answers Sect Leader. Assistant does not understand why just the sect leader's other assistant was not summoned as well."
To her surprise and consternation, the sect leader chuckled. "You are, without a doubt, the most formal person I've met in the village. I wonder if that's why the mayor chose you?"
Sun Hua was positive she was chosen for the position due to her qualifications. In addition to being taught proper manners, her mother had instructed Sun Hua in writing, mathematics, bookkeeping, and a myriad of organizational practices from the time she was weaned. There was no one in the village more highly trained to be an assistant for the sect leader.
For so many years, she had doubted her mother's instruction. Why learn these things when they have no value in the village? The mayor certainly didn't require her services, and no others could spare the funds to pay for any employees beyond the ones absolutely necessary for the business' survival.
And it wasn't like she could leave the village to seek her fortune elsewhere. The beasts prevented that. She had been trapped.
The village had not been a good place for her overall. Little food. No resources. No suitable employment opportunities.
Worse, there were even limited opportunities for marriage. As the danger from the beasts had grown, more and more men had died to them, leaving many more women seeking husbands than there were men to fill the need.
Since she was neither particularly pretty nor outgoing and funny, she was passed over for the girls who were either or both of those things.
She tried not to have regrets, but she'd always hoped to have children. Every time her mother, who she loved deeply, criticized her or pushed her to perfection, Suh Hua thought about how her home would be filled with love and hugs and no expectations to excel at everything her children tried.
But that was not to be.
With the formation of the sect and the massacre of the beasts, the village was starting to see new blood arrive. Opportunities grew. She was a cultivator and had been appointed to be one of the sect leader's assistants.
After the mayor had informed her of her new position, she had gone straight to her mother, kowtowed before her, and thanked her for her instruction.
Things were looking up for Sun Hua, but she still wished things had turned out differently. If the sect leader had found the village just a few short years earlier, she might have had a chance at finding a husband and having children. As it was, twenty-two was well past the age for marriage.
"Sun Hua?" the sect leader said. "Did I lose you?"
Her eyes went wide. Somehow, she'd allowed her concentration to drift. In front of the sect leader.
Oh no. No. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid.
Sun Hua kowtowed, touching her forehead to the wood floor. "Assistant apologizes to Sect Leader. Assistant begs for forgiveness."
"Whoa," he said. "Relax. Get up. It's not a big deal."
She had never been more mortified in her life. If Mother found out, Sun Hua would never hear the end of it. Mother could never find out.
Her face burned as she rose back to a kneeling position, and she kept her face pointing to the ground, unable to bear the thought of the sect leader seeing her blush.
"Assistant answers Sect Leader. Assistant is more highly qualified for the position than anyone in the village. Assistant's recent performance notwithstanding, Assistant will not let Sect Leader down."
She said that as fervently as she could. If the sect leader dismissed her from the position, she'd never, ever get over the shame.
He cleared his throat. "Well, this is a bit awkward. I didn't mean to stress you out. And the reason that I called only you into the office alone is that you seemed to be a bit more on top of things than the other girl did. Do you think she is as qualified as you are?"
Oh no. She had not meant to imply anything negative about the other girl. If Xu Gang were dismissed, it would be a bad thing indeed.
Sun Hua had to answer the sect leader's question, though, and she couldn't lie. She also had no idea what she could say to prevent him from dismissing Xu Gang. "Assistant answers Sect Leader. Sect Leader's other assistant is pleasant and tries hard. This assistant will make sure that Sect Leader is pleased with the performance of the entire staff."
"So they saddled you with a dud, huh? Why?"
Sun Hua's eyes went wide. Her answer had the opposite effect of what she had intended. And again, she was forced to answer the question without lying. "Assistant answers Sect Leader. Other assistant is the mayor's niece."
"Ah. Okay. That makes sense."
Mayor Mo Jian was extremely popular in the village. The sect leader was gaining influence, but the villagers had known the mayor literally their entire lives. If she got his niece dismissed, Sun Hua would be ostracized. And that fate paled in comparison to what her mother would do.
"Assistant requests to question Sect Leader."
"Go ahead. Shoot."
Her heart was pounding. "Assistant expresses gratitude to Sect Leader. Will Sect Leader dismiss other assistant?"
"I don't think there's a need for that unless she is a complete liability. Honestly, I wasn't sure that I really required two assistants in the first place. I'll relay my instructions to you, and you can delegate as you feel appropriate. Works?"
As covertly as possible, she let out a relieved breath. "Assistant answers Sect Leader. Assistant will of course proceed as Sect Leader directed."
"Great! You have the list. Any questions?"
"Assistant answers Sect Leader. Assistant has no further questions."
"Perfect. One more thing, I get that you're nervous and that you've been trained to be formal, but I really need you to work on being a bit more casual. I don't want you to be uncomfortable, and I won't dismiss you or anything like that. But I'd much prefer you to relax a bit, okay?"
Sun Hua started her response before she even thought about what he had said. "Assistant answers… Uh. Assistant… Uh…"
"Oops. I think I broke you. Think on what I said for next time, okay? It's not a big deal. I'm not displeased with you at all. I'll go now so you don't have to figure out how to tell me you're leaving."
And with that, he disappeared.
###
Benton chuckled as he appeared in the Formations Pavilion. Had he really just let his assistant drive him out of his own office?
The situation was too absurd.
It was okay, though. He'd dealt with people like her a lot in his past life—smart, capable, but timid. She'd been trembling like a leaf in a thunderstorm for most of the meeting.
It made him feel bad even though he'd been as gentle as he possibly could be.
Once she got used to dealing with him, he was positive that she would be a true gem. She just needed more time and more interactions with him. He made a mental note to have her accompany him when he was teaching the pavilion heads about the arrays in their buildings. The experience would give her necessary knowledge about the sect and get her more familiar with him and the other important people.
Perfect.
Of course, she would soon be dealing with all those important council members on her own as she approved their housing choices. Hopefully, those encounters would turn out fine.
Benton grimaced as he envisioned Yang Xiu meeting with the timid Sun Hua.
Surely, it would turn out fine.
Chapter 203
Zou Tian had no desire to look at houses. He really had no desire to go with Wan Ai to look at houses. All such an activity would do was bring up very uncomfortable subjects.
If she wanted a place with a single bedroom, did that mean she wanted to live by herself or that they should escalate their relationship? Did she want marriage? Were they ready for marriage? Was he?
He felt like he was too young for such a decision, and that opinion was supported by people generally waiting until they were older in Sixth Flawless Flowing City. In contrast, marriage at his age was common in the village.
On the other hand, what did it say if she didn't want to continue to live in the same house as him? Was their relationship not as secure as he assumed?
If she wanted a house with two bedrooms, it would perhaps signal that they should continue building on the relationship they had until maybe one day progressing it to another form. The problem was that an unrelated man and woman living together and not being married would invite rumors.
At the moment, men and women were thrown together wherever a spare house could be found in the village, so it wasn't much remarked upon. With the plethora of choices available at the sect grounds, however, every choice would be scrutinized.
Older villagers especially would look at the two of them in a very unfavorable manner. It would represent a loss of face both for themselves and, because of their high rank, for the Rising Tide Sect.
There seemed to be no choice that could be made regarding housing that didn't lead to difficult outcomes. He wished he could delay the decision. Actually, he wished he and Wan Ai could simply remain in the village until they might be ready to advance their relationship.
But Master had ordered that they each had to choose a house that day. So he and Wan Ai walked through what Master called a "neighborhood" and looked at the possibilities.
There were three basic types of dwelling available—small structures clearly designed for a single person, houses with one to five bedrooms, and what Master referred to as "apartments" in tall buildings.
He and Wan Ai pretty much had their pick. After all, there were so many places available that it was unlikely they'd just happen to choose one selected by another council member.
Feeling like an absolute coward, he let her take the lead as they looked over the options.
She led him inside one of the houses. It had a central hall, kitchen with attached dining area, an office, a cultivation room, and three bedrooms. Like all of the dwellings, there was no furniture.
"This one looks nice," she said.
"It does," he said in his most noncommittal tone.
She turned away from him. "I could move into one of the bedrooms, and I'm sure Bai Xinyi would like to take another."
The choice surprised Zou Tian. Wan Ai wasn't one to enjoy the company of others, not even her primary assistant in the Alchemy Pavilion. He really thought she'd either want to live completely alone or for it to just be the two of them.
"Bai Xinyi is a fine choice," he said. "She'd definitely welcome the opportunity to continue living in the same house as you."
His statement was absolutely the truth. Bai Xinyi had been personally assigned to be Wan Ai's assistant by the sect leader himself. The girl dedicated herself to that task as fervently as any of Master's disciples did to their own.
The statement also contained not a hint about what he thought about the subject. Until he understood more about Wan Ai's desires in choosing the house, he strove for absolute neutrality in both tone and subject.
"I think," Wan Ai said, "that, if three single people were to choose to continue living together in a house just as they had while in the village, it would occasion little comment, even if one of those people were a man and the other two women."
Oh. Oh!
That solution wasn't perfect. Some older villagers would still look at them askance. But overall, their decision to move in together was much more defensible. It wouldn't result in a severe loss of face.
There would be no hurry to rush any decision on marriage. Their relationship would have the time and space necessary to grow and prosper.
Zou Tian took her hand. "This house is amazing. You did well in picking it out."
Master had created a method of giving "streets" unique designations and having each building be denoted by a separate designation not shared by any other on that street. When asked about the method he used, he went on a mini rant about how it would have been better to use numbers for the houses, but due to some numbers being considered more auspicious than others, he'd had to come up with a different idea, using words no one had ever heard.
Either way, the practice of giving each building a distinctive identifier was sure to be useful in a number of ways, starting with the claiming process. Zou Tian took note of the street name and the other word that referred to his preferred house's location, and they left for the Administrative Pavilion to submit their choice.
###
All the sect's most important people were tasked with choosing a dwelling that day, and once they did, they had to come to Sun Hua for assignment. If she could just make it to nightfall, the next day would be much easier as her status as the sect leader's assistant put her above, or at least level with, all the other sect members.
Until then, though, she had to talk face to face with each of the most important members of the sect. Senior Sister. Senior Brother. Expert Blacksmith Xun Wu. The new guard captain.
All were intimidating in their own right, but the real thing that worried her was a conflict arising. What if she had to tell one of them that their choice of house was already taken by someone higher on the priority list? What if they grew angry at her, seeing the refusal as her fault?
She was tempted to assign Xu Gang the task, but as awful as the prospect of facing the ire of the sect's most powerful members was, the thought of having their housing selection mishandled was even worse. And Sun Hua absolutely could not trust Xu Gang with such an important undertaking.
The other assistant was sent off to do important paperwork, paperwork that Sun Hua was sure would have to be redone.
So it was with much trepidation that Sun Hua waited. Her shared office was on the second floor of the four-story building, but she decided to set up on the first floor's Central Hall in order for it to be more convenient for her sect brothers and sisters. It wasn't like there was any furniture in the building yet anyway, so one space was as good as any other.
The first ones to arrive were Wan Ai and Zou Tian, and Sun Hua quickly rose from her cultivation mat as soon as they entered.
She cupped her hands. "Senior Sister. Senior Brother. How may assistant help you?"
Wan Ai was third on the priority list, behind only the twins, and Zou Tian was sixth. Considering their rank, the two would likely get their first choice of dwelling, but that outcome wasn't assured. Sun Hua hoped that uncertainty would not cause an issue.
Zou Tian stepped forward confidently, holding Wan Ai's hand. "We would like house gamma on Crooked Mountain Stream Lane. Bai Xinyi will be residing with us."
Sun Hua froze. Two unmarried women were requesting to live with an unmarried man. Mother would be scandalized when she found out, and she would find out. She would also be very displeased that Sun Hua did nothing to prevent the situation from occurring.
For her part, she didn't care about the issue one way or the other. If anything, she was happy that Wan Ai had found someone who cared about her. Their eventual children should be talented, which was good for the sect.
There was no way Sun Hua could speak against them, anyway. Both were senior to her in the sect.
In an attempt to cover her awkward pause, she looked over the scroll the sect leader had provided as she mentally reviewed her instructions from him. He'd just said to assign houses based on the priority list. No restrictions had been given to prevent people from living together, and considering that the two were already housing together in the village, the sect leader likely approved of the situation.
With no prohibition from him and dealing with two sect members who outranked her, she felt justified in telling her mother that there was nothing she could have done.
"Of course, Senior Sister and Senior Brother. With the two of you making a request for the same dwelling, the rank of the higher of you on the priority list prevails. Wan Ai is ranked third. Since the two ranked higher than her have not yet submitted a choice, I cannot assign that house to you yet."
Zou Tian mulled her words for a moment before turning to Wan Ai. "Do we have to have that particular house or would any with the same general arrangement work?"
Wan Ai whispered something to him, but it was said so lightly that Sun Hua's ears couldn't pick out the words.
"Any similar house would be fine," Zou Tian said.
Luckily, the scroll the sect leader provided also had drawings showing the location of each dwelling along with listing its relevant characteristics. He was nothing if not organized.
"Very well, Senior Sister and Senior Brother," Sun Hua said. "Assistant will display the map, and you can choose two more houses. You will be guaranteed to get one of the three."
When they left, she let out a relieved sigh. Despite her initial reservations, they had been no trouble at all.
The next people to walk in were Senior Sister Yang Xiu and Senior Brother Yang Ru, followed by Kang Lin.
If there was anyone in the sect that Sun Hua looked up to as a hero, it was Senior Sister. She was so strong and assertive. No one other than the sect leader told her what to do! And she was also powerful and brave. If not for Ye Zan, she would have died attempting to prevent the Golden Core cultivator who attacked the village from hurting anyone else.
Sun Hua cupped her hands. "Senior Sister. Senior Brother. How may Assistant help you?"
"I want house epsilon on Peaceful Sea Boulevard," Yang Xiu said.
"Of course, Senior Sister. And you, Senior Brother?"
He grunted.
Yang Xiu rolled her eyes. "He means that he also wants house epsilon on Peaceful Sea Boulevard."
Sun Hua froze again. The siblings were both listed as number one on the list, and as they were at the same cultivation realm, age was the determining factor in deciding who got priority. But they were twins, the same age!
For a situation such as that one, the sect leader had simply said to "figure it out."
That advice was absolutely no help for her when dealing with two of the literal strongest people in the sect. It was a disaster. A complete disaster.
"Senior Sister, Senior Brother, assistant apologizes profusely. I cannot decide which of you gets the house."
The two looked at each other and started laughing. Kang Lin joined in. Sun Hua didn't understand what was so funny.
"Junior Sister," Yang Xiu said, "the look of panic on your face! We're not fighting over who gets the house. We've decided to live together."
Oh. Even as Sun Hua let out a relieved breath, she felt her face burn. To have embarrassed herself so in front of her hero!
She recovered the best she could. Since they were at the top of the list, she immediately assigned the house to them, and crossing them off allowed her to assign Wan Ai and Zou Tian their first choice as well.
By the time the trio left, two dwellings were allotted, and five sect members' living situation was resolved. And it had only almost caused Sun Hua's heart to explode twice in getting there.
She could only hope that the process got easier from there.
Chapter 204
Huang Yimun was pretty far down the priority list. He had E- spirit roots even after the upgrade and was only at the fifth minor realm of Qi Gathering. Up until very recently he would never have even believed that him becoming a member of the council was remotely possible.
He still couldn't fathom the fact that he'd been appointed guard captain. When Senior Sister chose him, he'd thought he'd be replaced as soon as the sect leader returned. Instead, he'd confirmed her decision.
Huang Yimun was grateful to have the trust of people he respected so much, but if he had his choice, he wouldn't have ever had to accept the position because that would have meant that Ye Zan would still be alive.
His friend would have liked picking out a house just from the sheer weirdness of going from an orphan on the city streets to being given such a nice place to live as a sect member.
The whole experience was surreal.
Maybe Ye Zan would have ended up picking a two-bedroom house so that the two of them could room together. Or if he would have chosen an even bigger house to cram even more of the guards in. Or maybe he would have taken over one of the smaller apartment buildings for the whole squad.
Huang Yimun had no energy or desire to arrange something like that. With the death of his friend so recent, he desired only solitude.
Most people so far had picked places near the front of the neighborhood closest to the main sect buildings. In contrast, he walked all the way to the back and found a small place meant for a lone cultivator.
There wasn't much to the place—a single room included space for preparing food, dining, cultivating, and sleeping. The only other room in the building was a small restroom that had a bathtub. There was also an attached courtyard with room for a small garden.
It met his needs.
Actually, it exceeded them. Running water. Some sort of qi-using device that took away waste so one didn't have to bother with a chamber pot. A device for storing food. All in all, the house was much nicer than anything he would have ever dreamed of back in Sixth Flawless Flowing City.
He registered his choice with the sect leader's assistant and returned to the Administration Hall later in the day. The assignments were posted on a board outside. It did not surprise him that he'd gotten his first choice.
When Huang Yimun had left the city, he hadn't known when, if ever, he'd return, so he'd carried everything he owned, which wasn't a lot, with him. He'd picked up a few more items since, but all he really had were a few changes of clothes, a handmade cultivation mat of woven straw, a bedroll, his spears, and a few personal effects such as toiletries and various small items he'd picked up. Having so few possessions made moving easy, and by nightfall, he was living in his new house, wondering if the new start was somehow a betrayal to his absent friend.
###
It had quickly become apparent to Sun Hua that the method she used in letting the council choose their houses would not work for the rest of the sect members. There was no reason, after all, that a process put in place for sixteen people should be efficient for close to two hundred and fifty.
Instead, she had gone to the mayor and, with his help, arranged for the remaining sect members to come choose their housing in shifts in the order they were listed on the priority list. That method simplified things greatly.
Starting early in the morning, a batch of fifty people were allowed to tour the neighborhood. Then, as a group, they went to the Administration Pavilion and lined up in the order they were listed. The first person chose from the available housing, and the assignment was made immediately, allowing them to begin moving their personal effects to their new home at their leisure. Meanwhile, the next person in line chose their home. And so forth.
By the end of the day, all the people on the list had picked out places to live and most had already moved in.
Sun Hua let out a relieved sigh when the last one left the pavilion. Her first true test as the sect leader's assistant was complete. She felt she'd performed … adequately. Hopefully, he agreed.
If he didn't, she just hoped he wouldn't remove her from her position because there would be no way to keep that shame from her mother.
###
Wan Ai was quite proud of herself. She'd noticed that Zou Tian had tensed up every time anyone brought up the subject of moving to the new sect grounds, and she quickly deduced the reason. Not only had she figured out the problem, but she'd come up with a solution that they both liked.
Of course, that meant she had to continue sharing a house with Bai Xinyi. Not that the other girl was a problem or anything. She was overall very quiet and respectful and was a hard worker.
It was just that Wan Ai preferred being alone. Or she had preferred being alone. If she were honest with herself, she now preferred being with Zou Tian, and if continuing to live with him meant extending an invite to Bai Xinyi, having the extra person around was completely worth it.
Honestly, Wan Ai couldn't believe how much she'd changed in such a short time. A matter of months prior, she would have jumped at the chance to move into a house all by herself. Such a thing would have been a dream come true.
Instead, she now considered having Zou Tian constantly nearby a much better outcome.
It wasn't even that they ever did anything inappropriate—well, nothing really, really inappropriate, anyway. She simply felt more at ease when he was with her than when he wasn't.
Considering how every other person she'd met in her life made her feel the exact opposite, she thought herself truly fortunate to have found him.
After their first night in their new home—in separate bedrooms, of course—the three housemates went to the visit the Alchemy Pavilion for the first time, arriving at the time instructed by the sect leader.
The place was amazing. The buildings near it were a bit taller with it only being three stories, but it was still impressive with its stained wood with blue accents and blue roof tiles. And its location was perfect, right in the middle of the row of pavilions, between the Martial Pavilion and the Formations Pavilion, across from the Amphitheater. And the bathhouse was conveniently located right behind.
Wan Ai couldn't believe that she was basically in charge of the entire building. It was weird enough to be given such a nice house. But a whole building?
She thought she might have fallen just a little bit in love with the place at first glance.
As he was wont to do, the sect leader appeared out of nowhere. "Ready for the fifty-cent tour?"
She had no idea what cents were or why a tour required fifty of them, but she was well used to ignoring the sect leader's odd phrases by that point. "Yes, Sect Leader."
He led the three of them inside into a large foyer. "When the sect is large enough, you'll probably want to set up some kind of desk down here manned by a junior pavilion member who can instruct people where to go and keep out those who walked into the wrong building. For now, we'll just have to be really careful about setting the arrays correctly whenever you're dealing with anything dangerous."
The front hall ran the width of the building, but it wasn't very deep. On each side was a door and a stairway. The sect leader led them through one of the doors first. It opened into a large space.
"The function of this area is as a classroom. We'll put a lectern at the front and fill it with benches, and you, Wan Ai, can give lessons to all your pavilion members."
She shuddered at the thought. There was no way she would ever get up in front of that many people to speak unless she was directly ordered to do so by the sect leader. On second thought, probably not even then. Running far away would be a better option.
When they returned to the foyer, the sect leader told them that both the doors opened into the large space, so there was no need to go to the other side. Instead, he led them up the stairs.
"The third floor contains twenty rooms with individual alchemy workstations while this second floor consists of group labs," the sect leader said, leading them into one.
The room held ten stone slabs, each three feet off the ground on solid stone legs, spaced about the room.
"There are three rooms just like this one on this floor. A junior alchemist can easily work at each station while a more senior sect member supervises an entire group." The sect leader led them to one of the workstations. "These are standard throughout the building. You'll note that there is plenty of room to cut and prepare herbs and that the stone should be tough enough to hold up as a cutting surface."
He pointed at depression in the middle of the station that had a strange tube arching from the tabletop to open above it. "The array on the tube provides water. Interestingly enough, it is not tied to the sect's central water supply like most other sources. Instead, it literally creates water. Obviously, that consumes a lot more qi than simply pumping it in, but the water coming out should be absolutely pure."
Having access to water without impurities would surely be a huge help in progressing their alchemy. It didn't matter a lot for the Body Cultivation baths, but the manuals that Wan Ai read all noted the importance of avoiding introducing any foreign materials into mixtures when they started creating advanced pills.
"The array at the bottom of the sink originally used Fire qi to incinerate any wastes disposed down it, but I modified them to use Void instead. That way, you can dump anything you want down there and not have to worry about smoke or fumes or any materials like ash remaining afterward."
Wan Ai cupped her hands. "Gratitude, Sect Leader."
Like with the pure water, having an absolutely sure way to rid themselves of leftovers from processes was tremendously important for alchemists.
On the left side of the large stone slab was a smaller square one.
The sect leader pointed at the square. "This is a type of heating plate. The ones on this floor only have five settings for the amount of fire qi to be generated. In contrast the ones on the floor above range from ten settings all the way to twenty-five. Five of the rooms have square slabs with no fire qi array at all. Those are for Foundation Establishment realm and above alchemists who have a technique to provide their own heat."
Interesting. Wai Ai's reading had led her to understand that mortal pills didn't typically require fine control of the heat, meaning that the entire second floor were for Qi Gathering cultivators to practice. As the alchemist reached Foundation Establishment and started creating pills that required finer control, they'd move to rooms on the third floor, using the Fire arrays until they mastered their techniques for providing heat without it.
The entire building was meant for alchemists who were learning the profession.
Her conclusion must have shone on her face because he said, "It's going to take a while before you outgrow this building. Once you do, we'll either acquire or build another one."
She cupped her hands again. "Gratitude, Master."
"Okay," he said, leading them to a panel beside the door. "There are several more very important arrays controlled from here. The first is one intended for fume removal. When you activate it, all air will be pulled from the room and subjected to Void qi. That's really handy if you have a fire producing a lot of smoke, or a student has screwed up a mixture and fumes are pouring out. It's not so handy if you want to breathe."
She understood that not breathing meant dangerous, even for cultivators.
"This array provides fresh air quickly back into the room. Understand the significance?"
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Most of these arrays were already present in the building. I just tweaked them a little. This last one I added." He activated it.
A loud wailing sound erupted from the formation. Another touch deactivated it, and the sound ceased.
"If there's an emergency and you need help."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"The final array for the room is this one. When the door is closed and this array is activated, the door cannot be opened from the outside absent a force a powerful as Yang Ru's main attack. If anyone is doing anything even remotely dangerous to an untrained person, please activate this array."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
He continued the tour by taking her to the third floor, so she could get a sense of the layout and then by taking her to a room that was only accessible from the outside. That was where spirit coins were fed to keep the arrays for the entire building operational.
"At first, you can just draw coins from the Contribution Points Shop," the sect leader said. "Eventually, we'll establish a budget once we see what your normal usage is, and anything over that budget will need to be paid for. You'll probably want to charge your pavilion members for workstation time over a certain amount, but we can figure all that stuff out later."
She cupped her hands. "Gratitude, Sect Leader."
There was a lot she needed to learn about how all the arrays worked, but her new building was so cool. It was definitely going to work a lot better for them than the random house they were currently using.
She couldn't wait to get started!