Benton snorted. He was growing overconfident. Just because the battle had started out going his way didn't mean it would finish that way, not against two Nascent Soul cultivators. If he wanted to win, it was up to him to make the victory happen.
His most important objective was to cut the number of his adversaries in half, meaning he needed to get one of them into the trap. The man, the Fire cultivator, was farther away from the hidden formation, so by simple expedience of the woman, the Water cultivator, being closer to the trap, Benton chose her.
The array would trigger as soon as anyone besides him who possessed a cultivation base entered a circle with a radius of about fifty yards from its center, an area that extended above the ground pretty much all the way to space. Once triggered, the trap would latch onto its target and hold them until either they gathered enough power to break free or the formation was broken. Since the schematic came from System, though, not even a cultivator in the Nascent Soul realm would be able to break it.
Unfortunately, Benton hadn't been able to afford the necessary materials from the Shop to make the formation indestructible. That failure meant that the formation itself was vulnerable. To counter that weakness, he'd camouflaged it both physically and with anti-detection formations. He'd also buried it deep and kept the channels thin and isolated from their surroundings, not to mention adding multiple redundancies. His final countermeasure was the creation of multiple fake trap arrays that were easier to detect.
Still, he was dealing with Nascent Souls. He was positive the target would be able to quickly either find the trap or send out enough destructive force in such a wide area that locating it precisely didn't matter.
Its destruction was inevitable, but that was okay. He only needed it to hold for the tiniest fraction of a second. The towers' real main weapons were linked to the trap triggering, and the qi from that System-designed beam traveled at the speed of light, faster even than a Nascent Soul.
Getting the cultivator into the trap was the same as killing the cultivator.
That summed up Benton's first goal in the fight. Or second goal. The first was to not die. Not dying was important.
The female cultivator was only about twenty-five yards from the trap's trigger point, but she was staying completely stationary, relying on ranged attacks as she searched for Benton.
He had two possible avenues to move her into range—trickery or brute force. Neither were slam dunk solutions, though. His best idea to trick her was to appear on the opposite side of the trigger area and try to taunt her into moving straight toward him. The instant she passed within the trap's range, she would be done for.
The issue there was that she seemed content to remain stationary. There was no guarantee that anything he could do would entice her to move. Worse, his actions might cause both Nascent Souls to suspect the trap's presence.
Brute force was equally problematic. He would need to produce enough raw power to physically push her back the necessary twenty-five yards. Against someone in his realm or lower, the exercise would be trivial, but he was dealing with someone almost an entire major realm higher than him. Not only was she stronger than him, but that aura of hers would make moving her an inch, much less more than a score of yards, a pure pain in the buttocks.
Of course, there was a third option. Since she was stationary, why not simply fire the main weapon at her where she was?
The problem with that approach was twofold. One, while the beam moved at the speed of light, the firing process was not instantaneous. Which was why he needed her to be stuck in the trap, motionless, for that tiny fraction of a second. Though the necessary qi buildup was quicker than almost anyone could detect, he would be an idiot to underestimate someone at her level.
Two, once the main weapon fired once and the cultivators were able to evaluate the threat, they would surely stop at nothing to destroy the towers. Basically, it was a one use solution. Once it fired and missed, he'd have to defeat two Nascent Souls on his own, and if he'd felt comfortable with his chances for doing that, he wouldn't have spent so much to purchase the main weapon schematic in the first place.
That left Benton right back with his original decision—trickery or brute force?
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Though the former had been somewhat successful for him since coming to this world, he couldn't think of anything he could either say or do that would make the woman enter into melee range against him. He had a lot of options to create massive force, though.
Thus, the latter gave him better odds given the particular situation. Brute force it was.
Step one, teleport to the appropriate clone. Step two, with the exception of just enough to teleport him to one of the bunkers, expend literally every bit of qi he possessed to create a Wind Slash weighted with his new projectile enhancement technique, increasing its Momentum, Poison, and Force. Step three, get the heck out of Dodge, retreating to replenish his reserves while hoping his attack had worked.
"Here goes nothing," he said internally.
The first step went fine. Benton transferred from his position on the ground to one in the air about fifty yards from the woman, with her between him and the trap. He hung in the air for an instant without using any qi to hold him up, giving her no qi signature to latch onto.
That instant went fast, of course, and when it was up, he started falling. But by that point in his career as a cultivator, triggering a technique he'd purchased to Mastery was a trivial and extremely quick exercise.
He sent the Wind Slash at her and, before she could respond, teleported to one of the bunkers. The first ten greater spirit coins were already dissolving in his mouth before his body had fully formed inside the dark, confined space, and he kept gobbling them down in sets of ten about every quarter second until he'd consumed the five hundred sixty-four he needed to fully refill his qi pool.
Unfortunately, consuming the coins was not instantaneous. Fifty-seven sets at a quarter second per still took a little over fourteen seconds. Luckily, he was a cheating cheater who cheats. His Time Manipulation technique consumed less qi than he naturally regenerated, so at a ten to one dilation, he only disappeared for less than two seconds all told.
That time period was barely a metaphorical blink of an eye for a mortal. For a Nascent Soul cultivator, though, two seconds was an eternity. When Benton took the place of one of the clones on the battlefield, he hoped to see the female cultivator dead and the outermost shield still holding off attacks from the man. Instead, the woman was just fine, and she was adding her power to the man's while they attempted to bring down the Grand Defensive Formation.
Benton switched with one clone to throw a small amount of Earth bullets at the man before switching again to send a trio of Wind Slashes at the woman. Both must have started to grow wary of the power of his attacks because they each took measures not to get hit, taking no damage.
His salvo accomplished what he wanted, though. While they were defending themselves, they weren't pounding the GDF, and unlike the simpler shields, that formation would regenerate itself given time. The short break did it a world of good.
Benton's main concern, however, was the woman. She was still in the same spot, and he had no idea how she'd dealt with the massive Wind Slash he'd sent at her. Probably either dodged it or deflected it.
The problem was that he'd been too far away from her, giving her enough time to react to his boosted projectile. His next logical step was to try again from much closer.
Benton switched with a clone less than a dozen yards from her and loosed another charged slash, putting everything he had into it save a small reserve. He wanted to see what happened, though. Which would probably have been fine if he'd chosen another clone to use as a vantage point.
Instead, he figured that the time the slash took to get to her was so short that it wouldn't be a big deal to remain stationary for an instant.
He was wrong. Very wrong.
The woman tanked the hit. It penetrated her shield, but she parried it aside with a metal band around her wrist that nullified all the Wind qi upon contact.
Of course she'd have defense against Wind qi. Why wouldn't she? It was her greatest weakness.
He'd underestimated his enemy.
Just as he triggered his teleport to a different bunker, pain flared in the area of his shoulder. A lot of pain.
Between Su's memories, the System cramming information into his head, and the fight against the cyclops, Benton had experienced more pure hurt on this planet than he had in all his years on Earth combined. Whatever the woman—assuming it was her instead of the man—had hit him with had exceeded his high tolerance.
Greatly exceeded.
Benton was in agony. He could barely breathe. Could barely think.
His mind scarcely recognized what was happening. All he knew was that the upper left part of his body was in excruciating pain, and the space he was in was pitch black.
He needed light to see. No, not light. He needed Light.
His thought triggered qi usage. An orb appeared.
Fearing what he'd see, he looked down at the place where the agony originated.
His left shoulder and arm weren't there. They were just gone. The only thing remaining was a gaping mass of torn tissue. Blood squirted out in great globs.
If he had been human, he would already have been dead. In fact, given the amount of damage, he was pretty sure the loss of so much tissue and blood would have killed a normal Golden Core cultivator.
If not for advancing his Body Cultivation to the peak of Gold, he might not have survived.
Black spots appeared in front of his eyes. He didn't know if he would make it out of the bunker alive.
The only thing that kept him fighting for each additional breath was the thought of what would happen to the kids if didn't survive.
Maybe Yuan Yaozu could save them.
Yes. That was a reasonable hope. If the man passed his trial soon, he might be able to prevent the worst from happening. He had to.
Benton grew more lightheaded by the moment. He'd died once already, and it looked like he was about to repeat the experience.
Yuan Yaozu entered the Trial Pagoda full of confidence. After all, if the juniors he met could all pass their trials, how could he, a Golden Core cultivator who'd experienced nearly a millennium of life, possibly fail? He even knew what to expect. From the juniors' stories, some form of apparently unblockable qi would be hurled at him, and he would experience death after death until he learned whatever lesson the trial was trying to teach him.
While challenging for a junior, someone possessing the knowledge wrung from his long years would have no trouble. Maybe he wouldn't finish on the first try, but surely he'd figure out the trick to it by the second or, at the very latest, the third attempt.
With that attitude firmly in place, he calmly observed how it felt as the orb transported him. He ended up, as expected, in a gray space that was exactly as the juniors had described. There was enough light to see, but the source was unknown. The light simply existed, as if a powerful cultivator had declared it to be so and thus reality obeyed. And the gray seemed to stretch to eternity. There was nothing in the room. Not even air. Yet he could breathe if he wished.
Even his highly trained spiritual sense detected nothing. There was no qi in the space. Curious, he tried to pull in a mote and … was successful. Yet none appeared to his senses. Interesting.
Yuan Yaozu had to admit that Chao Su's Trial Pagoda was unlike any of the ones he'd been in or even heard about.
"Face your fear and advance," a man's voice said.
Yuan Yaozu spun. There was a man, a being, behind him. The man or being or whatever it was had not been there an instant ago. Yuan Yaozu was sure he'd been alone. It concerned him that someone or something could appear at his back with him not detecting any movement.
Still, he wasn't paranoid enough to find danger lurking around every corner. He was here for a specific purpose. It was best to focus on his goal.
"Face my fear and advance?" Yuan Yaozu said, confirming what the entity had stated.
"Face your fear and advance."
Yuan Yaozu took exception to the implication that he was afraid of anything. He took greater exception to the implication that it was his fear that held him back from advancing to Nascent Soul. His many attempts at breaking through had led him to one inescapable conclusion—there was some issue with his cultivation or some trick he was missing. It was not possible that he'd struggled for multiple centuries and something as simple as fear was the problem.
Maybe, though, fear had nothing to do with it. Maybe the space was special in some way that would allow him to advance if he simply made the attempt.
Yes. That made sense. The part about fear was a misdirection. The trick to passing the trial was to ignore it.
He chuckled at the simplicity of the pagoda. Like he had thought, a junior might find the place complicated, but a Golden Core cultivator with centuries of experience would figure it out in an instant.
Yuan Yaozu sank into a lotus position and began yet another attempt at advancement. He was well used to the process by that point. After all, he'd tried at least a hundred times over the last five centuries.
Part of him still couldn't believe that his life had reached the end of its span without him advancing again. He hated that he'd been forced to beg on metaphorical bended knee for access to a Trial Pagoda.
After all, he'd been considered a prodigy for his entire existence as a cultivator. He'd reached Foundation Establishment in one year and seven months, though he'd had the help of a Qi Gathering Pill to advance one of his minor realms. Reaching Golden Core had taken only a bit over eight years instead of the ten most sect members took. And he'd practically flown through those ranks, reaching the peak of that realm in just over four and a half centuries, quicker than almost anyone on record.
Challenge the heavens? Not for him. There was no challenge at all. He simply advanced through the realms by leaps and bounds.
Talented. Possessing a bright future. That was how all the seniors had always referred to him. The entire sect expected him to break through from the peak of Golden Core to Nascent Soul in less than a century. Instead, he'd lingered and lingered and lingered.
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In theory, advancing to Nascent Soul was simple. First, one gathered as much qi as one could hold in one's core and filtered it through one's most powerful Concept, aligning qi and Concept with the Dao. Next, the cultivator must shatter their Golden Core. As long as there was enough qi present and the connection to the Dao was strong enough, the qi would combine with the shattered core and the cultivator's existing soul to form a brand new soul.
Obviously, it was important to get all the steps right. Shattering one's core and not advancing meant the end of one's cultivation journey and, more often than not, one's life.
Honestly though, only the first step was in the least bit tricky, and it was there that Yuan Yaozu always failed. Something was wrong with his cultivation. It had to be. He simply could not gather enough qi in his core to support the transformation.
Time after time he'd filled his core until he couldn't cram in any more and felt that there just wasn't enough contained within. Proceeding without enough would be foolish, resulting in instant failure.
The rest of the process he felt would be no issue. His Concept was strong, and he'd meditated for centuries on its alignment with the Dao. There was no problem, there. And any idiot could explode his own core, so there was no problem on that front. If he could just garner a little more qi into his core, he'd have enough for the transformation.
Fear didn't hold him back. A substandard cultivation method did.
Which left him where, exactly? Stuck. Just like he had been for the last over half a millennium.
But being stuck in this place on this day was not acceptable.
Yuan Yaozu felt intense pressure to succeed. If he didn't pass the trial, ascend, and join the fight, and do all that quickly, there would probably be no more Chao Su and, therefore, probably no more chances to use the Trial Pagoda.
Well, he wouldn't give up. That was for sure.
He expelled all the qi he'd gathered in his core and started over. There had to be a trick to it, and he was going to find it.
Ye Zhengsheng was more than a little impressed with the combat abilities of Chao Su. For a mere Golden Core cultivator even to survive against two Nascent Souls for as long as he had was an accomplishment.
And the man had done more than simply survive.
Whatever array he'd used to propel the purely mundane projectiles was extraordinary. The dense metal moved so fast that it packed a deceptively hard punch, and because it did not contain qi, it was harder to detect and was not affected by auras. The combination of those traits made it an adequate weapon against him and Yan Mingxia.
Not that either of them was in any danger from the weapon. But neither could they simply ignore it. The projectiles were bothersome, something akin to a bee sting back when they were mortals.
The formations he'd erected were likewise stronger than Ye Zhengsheng had anticipated. Most of the time when dealing with sect defenses, only a few qi bursts at minimal intensity were required to bring down the shield. The Rising Tide Sect's defenses required him to fully exert himself for multiple shots. His available qi actually noticeably dipped!
Even more interesting was the use of the Teng family's Myriad technique. How had Chao Su gotten ahold of that? And the version he used was clearly superior, producing more illusionary clones at cheaper cost and better fidelity than anything in use by any member of the Jade Chameleon Sect.
Chao Su also appeared to be able to switch places with any of the clones, a functionality that made him extremely difficult to pin down. Ye Zhengsheng almost shuddered. If the man ever advanced to Nascent Soul and gained the ability to have those clones act independently… Such an opponent would be someone even Ye Zhengsheng would hesitate to take on.
At the moment, though, he was much more formidable than had been anticipated, but he still was a Golden Core cultivator. The Earth aspected projectiles he fired off, possessing no less than four distinct Concepts somehow, hit hard, but the tyranny of an aura was not something easily overcome.
The Wind Slashes he'd sent against Yan Mingxia, on the other hand, would have been enough to actually injure her due to how much qi the man had charged into them. The amount was far more than a typical Golden Core would have access to. And the Concepts were all top tier. There was no deviation from the Dao weakening their power.
If Yang Mingxia hadn't had a bracelet that disrupted Wind attacks, her greatest weakness among common elements, the battle might have had a far different outcome.
As it was, though, Chao Su could stay in the fight only as long as he made no mistakes. The first time he did, Yan Mingxia punished him for it.
He's lingered just a tad too long after an attack, and he'd been left with insufficient qi to power his shield. Her Water Jet had hit him in the shoulder, obliterating it and his arm.
If he hadn't been in the process of teleporting right as she hit him, he would have been struck down and soon ended. Given his injuries, he probably died upon reaching his destination anyway.
Ye Zhengsheng's senses didn't detect him anywhere. Then again, that had been true throughout the fight.
Either way, it was time for him and Yan Mingxia to finish off the sect's Grand Defensive Formation before destroying the towers. If Chao Su hadn't re-appeared by the time they'd reduced the two defensive structures to rubble, they'd move on to annihilating his sect members.
Ye Zhengsheng sighed. He took no joy in killing innocent children, but his duty was clear. There were to be no survivors.
Well, perhaps the Poison Claw elder and his sect members could be allowed to surrender. It depended on what they could offer in the way of concessions.
Benton grew more lightheaded by the moment. Black crept into the edges of his sight. He felt himself sink into it. His wound was something no mortal could withstand. He was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Those thoughts triggered a rebellion in his mind. Not the dying part. He'd done that before, and as an old man, it was to be expected. There was no choice but to shuffle off this mortal coil.
No. Wait. Mortal? He wasn't a mortal.
Was he? He'd been one on Earth, but he was no longer on Earth?
Right. He was a cultivator now.
The other part of his thoughts that seemed wrong was that there was nothing he could do about dying. He wasn't just a cultivator; he was a cultivator with a Healing technique.
With a thought, he triggered it, and a wash of warmth swept over the mess of tangled flesh where his shoulder used to be, relieving some of the pain.
But he was low on qi. Very low. Not enough left to Heal him.
Spirit coins. His ring.
With another thought, he had a stack of them appear in his mouth, where they quickly dissolved. One hundred thousand qi. Good. He used all of it for Healing. Same for the next stack and the next and the next.
The healing jogged his memory. A pill. Yes. Also in his ring.
He withdrew a Major Healing Pill and consumed it. Its effects combined with his Healing technique to at least double the rate of recovery.
Vaguely, it occurred to him that he was in a hurry, though he couldn't quite remember why. The urgency was enough for him to trigger a technique—Time Manipulation.
Seconds or minutes or hours or days passed as he continued to consume stack after stack of greater spirit coins. Blood stopped spurting and regenerated inside his body. Torn muscles weaved themselves back together. Flesh and bone re-formed. First his shoulder and then his entire arm reappeared inch by inch.
The technique mostly blocked the pain. Mostly. The sensations caused were not pleasant, but they were better than the alternative. And soon, soonish, he was completely injury free.
Benton praised his prior self for purchasing the Healing Technique. He would have died without it. The kids would have, too.
Crap. The kids. He'd been down in the bunker for what seemed like an eternity. The Nascent Souls could be attacking his sect members. Might have already attacked his sect members. They might all be dead.
No. He couldn't let himself think like that.
Benton withdrew a new robe from his ring, threw it on, and teleported back to the surface.
The Nascent Souls were still outside the wall, attacking the towers. The Grand Defense Formation was down, but it must have put up one hell of a fight to have kept them out for so long.
The shields protecting the towers were down, though, and the turrets destroyed. The two Jade Chameleons were slowly whittling away the outer rock layer.
The man was floating quite near the towers, directing his shots from up close. The woman, though, was still using ranged attacks, but she, too, had drifted closer to the wall. And in doing so, she'd inadvertently moved closer to the trap. Instead of twenty-five yards away from it, she was closer to ten.
Still, that might as well have been a hundred or a thousand, considering the lack of effectiveness of every attack he'd tried against her.
Benton shook with rage. These two assholes had come to his home, almost killed him, and were trying to kill his kids. There had to be something he could do. Something. Anything.
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He just wanted to fly up to her and tackle her. Which would be pointless. But it would feel good. It would feel like he was accomplishing something even if he wasn't.
Wait. Was it pointless? If he literally launched himself at her, wouldn't he, in essence, become a projectile in that situation?
He'd have the element of surprise. If he used his spear, she'd think he was planning on engaging in a melee attack. She wouldn't expect him to literally tackle her, right? What cultivator at their level would resort to grappling?
Ten yards. All he needed was to move her ten yards.
He'd take damage, of course. But this time, he wouldn't deplete his shield. It would hold up to a few shots even from an enemy of her caliber.
Benton withdrew his spear from his ring. He chose a clone in the air about a dozen yards from her that was to her side slightly behind her.
Triggering his technique, he switched places with it. As soon as he finished the teleport, he applied his projectile enhancement technique on himself.
It worked.
He rocketed toward her. Force and Momentum propelled him faster than he'd ever traveled.
His movement must have caught her attention because her head whipped toward him. Her eyes widened in surprise.
If the situation hadn't been so dire, he might have laughed. He'd been hurt because he'd underestimated his opponents. They'd done the same thing.
Benton hoped their consequences were more dire than his had been.
He flew toward her so fast and with so much Momentum that he barely had time to think as the dozen yards evaporated in an instant. A feint with his spear caused her to use her bracelet to attempt to block it, but that had never been his aim.
Instead, he collided with her, his arm going around her waist.
It felt like hitting a tree. A very solid, old, heavy tree. One with a large circumference.
Without the backing of his projectile technique, he was pretty sure he would have simply bounced back. But between how fast he was traveling and the Momentum he'd built up, he kept going, pushing her before him.
It was working!
The thing that really played into his favor was that she didn't seem too concerned with the fact that she was being carried along with him. Instead, she attempted to do as much damage to him as she could, pounding his back with bursts of Water. And as a Nascent Soul, she could bring a lot of force to bear.
His shield flared to life. Once. Twice. Three times. Four.
Benton felt his qi pool rapidly being depleted. The quality and efficiency of his shield was in a contest against both her strength and her aura, and he was losing. Rapidly.
But that didn't matter. He didn't need to win. He just needed ten yards. Ten tiny miniscule lousy yards.
A powerful, concentrated blast of Fire hit his legs, finally burning through his shield. The experience was agonizing, almost as bad as when his shoulder had been obliterated. But neither the pain nor the loss of his lower legs mattered.
Because he'd reached his target.
Benton sensed the tower's main weapons trigger, but he was already teleporting to a bunker.
Ye Zhengsheng rued the day he ever thought that encountering a challenging opponent would be a good thing. The little Golden Core he was fighting was turning into a pure nuisance. As if his use of illusion and clones to hide his presence wasn't annoying enough, he also could use true teleportation.
All Nascent Souls had the ability to transform themselves into qi and use that as a form of quasi-teleportation. That method had limits such as being relatively slow and being restricted from penetrating anything that didn't allow qi through. Chao Su's, in contrast, allowed him to instantly transport himself anywhere within range. It was a rare and powerful and, as an opponent, aggravating skill, one requiring access to Spatial qi to use.
It made the man much tougher to kill than would normally have been the case. Yan Mingxia had destroyed half the man's torso, and yet, not even a minute later, he returned to the battlefield, fully healed.
Even the highest quality Major Healing Pills didn't work that fast. Chao Su must have used some trick to speed up the process.
As unexpected as his return to the battle was, his first act was even more puzzling. He literally launched himself at Yan Mingxia and tackled her like some common peasant wrestling in the mud.
Yan Mingxia, of course, kept calm and blasted his back with burst after burst of Water, triggering his shield. None got through.
Ye Zhengsheng charged his most powerful Fire attack and targeted the only part of the attacker he was certain of hitting without chancing a strike on his ally. And it worked. The Fire Blast hit Chao Su in the legs. His already weakened shield didn't stand a chance, and the intense flames burned off both limbs below the knee.
It wasn't enough to kill him, though, as he immediately triggered his teleportation ability.
Ye Zhengsheng sensed something else, though, something worrisome—an intense buildup of qi in each of the towers. By the time he spun around, it was too late. Both towers fired a beam of qi wider than his leg in the direction of Yan Mingxia.
He spun again, expecting his ally to move out of the range of the attacks from the towers. Instead, she appeared to be stuck.
She yelled, "Hel—"
There was no time to do anything. The beams met at a point less than a yard from her and combined, tripling in magnitude. The amalgamated ray flashed, and instantly, Yan Mingxia's top half vanished. Literally vanished. Disintegrated.
Nascent Souls were quite difficult to kill, but vaporizing one's head and chest was not something even a cultivator in their vaunted realm could survive.
Her lower torso and legs fell to the ground, where they hit with a wet smack.
Yan Mingxia, a cultivator with thousands of years of experience and victor of hundreds of battles, was dead.
Benton fell on his butt as soon as he materialized in one of his bunkers. At least he wasn't so zonked out by his injuries that he couldn't think. Better than last time anyway.
Reaching out with his spiritual senses, he discovered a Nascent Soul above the sect. One. His attack had been successful.
Finally, a part of his plan had gone correctly. Benton's relief was palpable. If the woman had somehow survived the towers' devastating attack, he didn't know what he would have done.
His senses also found three unknown Golden Cores at the edge of his detection range. More attackers? Observers? He didn't know, but he couldn't worry about them at the moment. There were more important issues needing his attention. Or rather, a more important issue.
He immediately initiated Time Manipulation followed by a Light orb and activating his Healing technique. A Major Healing Pill appeared in his mouth from his spatial ring, and as soon as he'd downed it, he followed it with ten greater spirit coins.
With his body repairing itself, he considered the previous fights, what had gone right and what had gone wrong. On the plus side, he wasn't dead, and one of his opponents was. But those were about the only good things.
Getting the woman into the trap had been much more difficult than he'd expected, and he'd nearly been killed twice. Neither his time as a cultivator nor a lifetime spent as a middle manager, father, and husband had prepared him for losing limbs in combat, and he found that he didn't enjoy the experience. At all.
In fact, he'd prefer to avoid it happening again no matter what achieving that outcome required. But the only way to do that was to not fight. Which he had to admit sounded more appealing than he would have thought.
Part of him really wanted to quit. To just hide out in the bunker until the bad man went away. But the adult part of Benton knew he couldn't and wouldn't do that. In fact, the sooner he exited the bunker, the better. As soon as the man finished destroying the towers, he'd start on the shields protecting the amphitheater.
With the twins, Kang Lin, and Kang Ya-Ting feeding their own qi into the formation, the Chameleon Jade cultivator would find it a tougher nut to crack than he probably expected, but he would penetrate it eventually. The tyranny of realm was real. There was nothing even Kang Ya-Ting could do against a Nascent Soul.
Benton would just have to grit his teeth and do what he needed to do whatever it took. Determined as he was, though, he still had a major problem. When he'd first contemplated the battle, he'd figured that killing one of the attacking cultivators with the towers would be easy, and defeating the second one on one wouldn't be any more difficult than the fight against the cyclops.
That idea was wrong. Very wrong. Both the cultivators were more powerful and much more intelligent that the beast had been. The comparison was night and day.
Benton truly didn't know if anything he did would let him defeat that man.
Maybe surrendering was the best option. If Benton gave himself up, maybe…
No. That was stupid. The Jade Chameleon Sect would never let his sect members live. He had to fight, and he had to win.
But how?
He did have two big advantages. One, as long as he didn't use any qi, his opponent had no way of sensing him. Two, Benton's teleportation worked like a dream, instantaneously transporting him wherever he wanted to go.
There were also techniques that he was underusing that could help him as well as one that he hadn't used at all that he'd meant to try.
As his legs finished forming, Benton sat and schemed.
When Benton was finally fully healed and had finished topping off his qi pool, his senses indicated that the male Nascent Soul was finished destroying the towers and the shields protecting the sect grounds. The only thing protecting his kids was the shield around the amphitheater.
No time to lose.
Benton readied a massive Earth bullet, charging it with three million qi, half Earth and half Void, and activated Dual Mind. After popping a stack of greater spirit coins into his mouth, he teleported himself and the bullet to within a yard of the Jade Chameleon's back.
Upon materializing, Benton hit the man with Mind Stun and let loose with the bullet.
The stun worked. The man faltered, clearly disoriented. And the bullet flew straight and true, crashing into its target and blowing through the man's shield. It penetrated deep into the flesh of the small of his back.
Void qi ate skin, muscles, and bone, leaving a huge crater in the high realmed cultivator's incredibly tough body.
Benton was actually quite impressed. His Earth bullet didn't have a System-bought schematic backing it up. It was made purely from his Golden Core qi. Between the weakening caused by the Aura and the natural enhancements the target's body had gained upon reaching the Nascent Soul realm, he'd half expected his attack to do little actual damage.
Nothing beat Void for destroying living tissue.
The man spun, Fire already forming in his hands, but Benton had already teleported to a bunker.
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He'd done it. He'd injured the man. And escaped unscathed.
Benton activated Time Manipulation and dissolved more greater spirit coins in his mouth. If he could keep pressure, he just might win.
The problem was that Nascent Souls regenerated like nobody's business. Benton truly didn't know if he could damage the man fast enough to overcome that regeneration rate. Another issue was that he'd be expecting a surprise attack next time, and Benton suspected that the Mind Stun would be less effective upon its second application.
Without any healing to take care of, Benton quickly replenished his pool, but he had a big decision to make. On one hand, he felt it was unlikely that the same ambush with a supercharged Earth bullet approach would work twice. On the other, he'd learned from watching many a football game that you have to keep running the same play until the other team showed you they could stop it.
Meaning he should charge as much qi as possible into his second attack.
It was hard to argue with advice that sounded so reasonable. Of course, basing his actions in a life and death situation on the expert wisdom of the television analysts for a sport that didn't even exist on his current planet didn't seem particularly smart.
He was also feeling a lot of pressure to get back up there. He needed to see if the man's injuries had healed yet. And every second not spent attacking was a second the man could be spending hurting the kids.
Benton decided on a halfway approach. He charged an Earth bullet but with only a million qi, again half Earth and half Void. Thus prepared, he teleported back to the surface.
Ye Zhengsheng couldn't believe that a mere Golden Core had killed Yan Mingxia and injured him. The former of those accomplishments was somewhat excusable as Chao Su had used formations to accomplish the task. Everyone knew that taking on a Formations Master on prepared ground was dangerous.
In fact, that part of the disaster was clearly not Ye Zhengsheng's fault. No one had warned him that Chao Su was Formations Master. Someone's head should roll for that lack of intelligence.
Chao Su's second achievement was an unforgivable failure on Ye Zhengsheng's part. The man had caused a grievous injury with nothing more than his own qi. Even weakened as it was by an Aura, the attack had been devastating. Not only that, but whatever stunning technique the man had used was something unknown to Ye Zhengsheng.
He was in shock, both because of the sudden injury and the knowledge of who had inflicted it.
Regardless of the unexpectedness of his opponent's successes, Ye Zhengsheng was no stranger to battle. He'd fought hundreds of times and been injured thousands. And he was a Nascent Soul.
Whatever discomfit he felt, he ignored, instead taking stock of himself. His lower spine had been destroyed, leaving his legs unresponsive. He felt the bone and tissue regrowing, though, and being airborne meant that his legs served no combat purpose. The wounds were not fatal.
It would be several minutes before he was adequately healed, however. During which time, he'd be vulnerable to another hit. If his bottom half were completely separated from the rest of his body, regeneration would be more problematic.
His qi level was fine. He still hadn't used more than he regenerated in a minute or two. Though that rate would be slowed while his body healed.
More concerning was the fact that he didn't know how to stop further attacks. His opponent moved around effortlessly and was apparently undetectable until he actually charged up an attack.
Ye Zhengsheng had a concerning thought—should he flee?
He was dead soon either way, but how embarrassing would it be to end up the victim of a cultivator an entire major realm lower than him? Then again, running away from a cultivator an entire major realm lower than him wouldn't be any less humiliating.
As he was still ruminating on how his life had come to such an inglorious end, he sensed Earth qi behind him. A stun technique hit his mind.
He was ready for the attempted mind shock, though. All parts of him, even his brain, were hardened by his advancement to Nascent Soul. Without the disadvantage of surprise, he was able to ignore the technique.
With a mere effort of will, he made himself move a dozen yards to the side.
An Earth bullet whizzed past the space he'd just vacated.
He spun to attack Chao Su, but the man had already teleported away.
Benton was really glad he hadn't wasted even more qi on the second bullet because, as he'd expected, his opponent had been more than up to the challenge. For Benton to win the fight, he would have to come up with a new trick.
As he activated Time Manipulation and began consuming greater spirit coins to replenish his qi supply, he had a thought. Something fresh. Something innovative. Something he was pretty sure he'd read in a comic book when he was a kid. Which as a source for inspiration for winning a life and death contest seemed just as stupid as the wisdom of television analysts back on Earth.
Then again…
He shrugged. Why not try it? At this point in the battle, it was more important to attempt new things and keep up the pressure on his opponent than it was to wait to find the perfect attack.
Benton waffled on how much of his pool he should put into the technique, though. The more he had to regenerate, the longer it took. Which gave his opponent more time to heal and to attack the amphitheater.
On the other hand, just like with the first Earth bullet attack that landed, his new idea was much more likely to work the first time than on any subsequent attempt. His opponent was too experienced not to learn from a single failure.
Fine. Might as well go all out. Benton shoved four million qi into the bullet, one million Earth—more than enough to break through the shield—and the rest Void.
Here goes nothing!
He teleported back to the surface, taking the place of a clone a hundred yards behind the enemy cultivator.
The Nascent Soul spun.
Benton used his projectile enhancement technique on the bullet and let it loose. Charged with Momentum, Force, and Poison, the bullet rocketed toward the enemy cultivator almost faster than even Benton's enhanced eyesight could follow. At the same time, the Nascent Soul unleased a powerful attack of his own at Benton.
Instead of immediately returning to a bunker, Benton teleported … the bullet. It blinked out of existence and immediately reappeared a foot behind its target.
The man, clearly able to track the projectile's trajectory with his superior physical senses, probably thought he had ages to dodge and was much more focused on delivering his strike perfectly.
Even the inhumanly fast Nascent Soul wasn't able to dodge an enhanced bullet suddenly coming at him from point blank range. It impacted.
Benton couldn't focus on how much damage was done as he had his own problems. Though he tried to teleport, he couldn't execute the technique fast enough to avoid the enemy's attack. The best he could do was try to dodge.
He wasn't entirely successful.
The Fire qi blast took him in the shoulder again, the right one. Benton had left himself around a million qi in reserve, and most of that was available to feed his qi shield.
It wasn't enough to deflect a full-powered attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator. Not nearly enough.
The right half of his body was torn to pieces. He lost an entire arm. Again.
Benton immediately focused on activating his Healing technique and tried to pull another Major Healing Pill from his ring.
He failed. The ring was on his right hand. The one that was falling toward the ground.
Oops.
Yuan Yaozu filled his core again and again, but it never felt full enough. Just like always. But with the juniors' words ringing in his ears, he stopped and tried anew. Persistence was the key. He would not give up.
After a while, though, he felt like he was pointlessly banging his head against a wall, not doing anything different than he'd done hundreds of times before. There had to be an advantage the Trial Pagoda gave him that his cultivation cave didn't.
"Being?" he said.
The entity appeared once more. "Face your fear and advance."
Yes. Yuan Yaozu knew that. The entity had conveyed that message already more than once.
"Being, what happens to me if I explode my core and can't advance?"
"If the trial taker fails, the trial taker will be reset and offered the chance to either leave the trial or try again."
Yuan Yaozu grimaced. Exploding his core without enough qi to propel him to the next step felt stupid. A risk. But failure should result in being reset to his prior state. The juniors had said the same thing. Most of them had died many times during their trials.
Time to take a leap of faith.
He filled his core again, but instead of expelling it even though the quantity felt inadequate, he pressed on.
As a peak Golden Core, Yuan Yaozu was well acquainted with his exact qi aspect—venom that decays the flesh and spirit. His biggest choice had been to center his Concept around Venom or Decay. He'd chosen the latter, concentrating on his opponents' bodies rotting and their very cultivation crumbling into chaos.
That focus had served him well. Bodies could be healed, but nothing scared an opponent more than having their cultivation disrupted. As his reputation had grown, his mere presence had served as a deterrent these last several centuries.
All that to say that he had no doubts about his Concept.
He filtered the qi held in his core through that Concept of Decay, bringing both the qi and Concept into harmony with his vision of the Dao.
That step he felt confident in. He was adamantly linked to his definition of his qi, and his knowledge of the Dao was as advanced as anyone's. All was synchronized.
Yuan Yaozu took a deep breath. The next step was the problem. The juniors could have been lying to him about actually dying during their trials and being reset, or the Trial Pagoda might not have the necessary power to restore the cultivation of someone at the peak of Golden Core.
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Death was easy, something he could accept. It was, in fact, inevitable within a brief span of years if he didn't advance soon. Compared to the prospect of living the rest of his days as a mortal, death was nothing.
His eyes went wide. For the first time, he realized that he was, in fact, afraid. Not of dying. Not of failure. Of being reduced to a mortal.
He chuckled. "Face my fears and advance indeed."
Yuan Yaozu shattered his Golden Core.
What happened next was astounding. Literally astounding. Instead of dying or losing his cultivation, the qi, the ruined pieces of core, and his soul all swirled together, creating a new soul.
A Nascent Soul.
An Aura of Decay surrounded him.
He'd done it! After all that time, Yuan Yaozu had advanced to the Nascent Soul realm.
The holdup had been himself. His unrealized fear. He made a vow right then and there that no one, absolutely no one, would be told about what happened inside the Trial Pagoda.
Having finally advanced, though, there was no time to waste. He'd been inside for hours. The battle was probably long over, but if it wasn't, he needed to get out there and see if he could help Chao Su—in the unlikely event that Chao Su was still living. Best case scenario, not all the Rising Tide Sect members had been killed yet.
Yuan Yaozu burst from the Trial Pagoda and ascended into the air with a mere effort of his will, no flying sword needed. And what he saw astounded him almost as much as his ascension had.
Yan Mingxia, an ancient and revered cultivator from the Jade Chameleon Sect was dead, her headless, torso-less, body was lying on the ground. Another legend from the Jade Chameleon Sect, Ye Zhengsheng, had the opposite problem. His head and upper part of his torso remained intact, and his legs were nearby. Of the middle part of his body, there was no sign.
He still lived but was not conscious.
Chao Su, on the other hand, looked to not be in nearly as rough shape, though he was still undoubtably injured. His right shoulder was missing, and he was lying on the ground with the lower part of his right arm several yards away. He appeared to be reaching for his hand.
Ah. His spatial ring.
Yuan Yaozu neared him, and Chao Su turned to him with a murderous glare.
"Easy, Sect Leader," Yuan Yaozu said. "I'm here to help. I passed my trial and am yours to command for a century. Remember?"
Chao Su grimaced before nodding.
"Should I retrieve your ring for you?" Yuan Yaozu said.
"No. I've got it."
There was a fluctuation in the local gravity, and the hand was pulled toward the sect leader. As soon as Chao Su touched the ring with his left hand, a pill appeared in his mouth.
"Ah. Better," he said. "My healing technique isn't nearly as fast as alchemy."
Yuan Yaozu nodded agreeably, wanting desperately to avoid doing anything to get on that man's bad side. "Ye Zhengsheng isn't quite dead. Should I finish him for you?"
"No!"
Yuan Yaozu was slightly taken aback by the vehemence, and he actually retreated several feet.
"Ah," Chao Su said. "Apologies. I didn't mean for that to come out quite so forcefully. That man gave me a lot of trouble, and I want the satisfaction of ending him myself."
Yuan Yaozu cupped his hands. "Understandable, Sect Leader."
"If you want to be helpful, though, there are still some hangers on, three Golden Cores, nearby. Get rid of them."
"Of course, Sect Leader." Yuan Yaozu sensed the interlopers as well, likely sent by the factions to report back on the outcome of the battle. As soon as he headed in their direction, they'd flee.
He wondered what story they'd take back to their masters and, more importantly, what impact those tales would have. Between his ascension and Chao Su's victory, today's events would reverberate throughout the land.
Sect Name:
Rising Tide
Sect Members:
612
Disciples:
56
Sect Points:
1,515
Shop Points:
184
Host Cultivation:
Golden Core - Minor Realm Nine
Qi Available:
5,647,745
Host Body Cultivation:
Gold - Minor Realm Nine
Host Mind Cultivation:
Myriad - Minor Realm Nine
Host Soul Cultivation:
Fulfillment - Minor Realm Nine
Host Techniques (Qi Gathering):
Basic Archery – Mastery
Basic Spear Combat – Mastery
Expert Golden Core Cultivation – Mastery
General Knowledge of Mind Cultivation – Mastery
General Knowledge of Soul Cultivation – Mastery
Knowledge of Beast Binding – Mastery
Knowledge of Glassmaking – Mastery
Knowledge of Lightning – Mastery
Knowledge of Origin Qi – Mastery
Knowledge of Origin Qi Manipulation – Mastery
Knowledge of Magnetism – Mastery
Knowledge of Qi Sources – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 1 Formations – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 2 Formations – Mastery
Knowledge of Rank 3 Formations – Mastery
Nascent Soul Cultivation Knowledge – Mastery
Pill Basics – Mastery
Host Techniques (Foundation Establishment):
Absolute Speed Enhancement – Mastery
Analysis – Mastery
Aura Defense - Mastery
Automatic Reaction Variable Shield – Mastery
Blacksmithing – Mastery
Chain Lightning – Mastery
Clone – Mastery
Earth Shot – Mastery
Explosive Growth – Mastery
Extreme Area Temperature Manipulation – Mastery
Folded Space Quickstep – Mastery
Foundation Excavation – Mastery
Glass Creation - Mastery
Healing – Mastery
Hydro Blast – Mastery
Illusion Detection and Mitigation – Mastery
Illusion Illumination – Mastery
Imbuing – Mastery
Invisibility – Mastery
Layered Variable Shield Breaker with Void Finisher Weapon Augmentation – Mastery
Meditation – Mastery
Origin Qi Manipulation – Mastery
Pause Time – Mastery
Perception – Mastery
Power of the Heavens – Mastery
Projectile Enhancement – Mastery
Rank 1 Formation Construction – Mastery
Rank 2 Formation Construction – Mastery
Rank 3 Formation Construction – Mastery
Rank 1 Formation Construction Acceleration – Mastery
Rank 2 Formation Construction Acceleration – Mastery
Rank 3 Formation Construction Acceleration – Mastery
Rank 1 Inscription – Mastery
Rank 2 Inscription – Mastery
Rank 3 Inscription – Mastery
Seeking Speeding Arrow – Mastery
Space Dragon Origami Messenger – Mastery
Stealth – Mastery
Stone Shaping and Construction – Mastery
Switch Places – Mastery
Teleportation – Mastery
Variable AoE Gravity Burst – Mastery
Variable AoE Shield – Mastery
Variable Spirit Coin Manifestation – Mastery
Voice Amplification – Mastery
Wind Slash – Mastery
Host Techniques (Golden Core Concepts):
Anti-Tribulation - Mastery
Earth - Mastery
Fire - Mastery
Force - Mastery
Gluttony - Mastery
Gravity - Mastery
Healing - Mastery
Ice - Mastery
Illusion - Mastery
Light - Mastery
Lightning - Mastery
Metal - Mastery
Magnetism - Mastery
Momentum - Mastery
Nature - Mastery
Origin Qi - Mastery
Poison - Mastery
Shadow - Mastery
Smell - Mastery
Sound - Mastery
Soul - Mastery
Space - Mastery
Temperature - Mastery
Time - Mastery
Tribulation Lightning - Mastery
Void - Mastery
Water - Mastery
Wood - Mastery
Host Mind Techniques (Myriad):
Dual Focus – Mastery
Inflict Fear – Mastery
Mind Crush – Mastery
Mind Stun – Mastery
Telekinetic Push – Mastery
Menus:
[Cultivation Method]
[Technique]
[Quest]
[Perk]
[Advancement]
[Shop]
[Sect]
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Teng Wuying read the message that had just been delivered to him. There had been three possible outcomes of the battle between Chao Su and the two Jade Chameleon Nascent Souls. Two of those results would have been excellent for Teng Wuying personally.
Had Ye Zhengsheng and Yan Mingxia beaten Chao Su and gained possession of the Trial Pagoda, Teng Wuying would have ended up in charge of it, greatly increasing his personal power. Had Chao Su easily defeated the two Nascent Souls, Teng Wuying would have used that show of power as a wedge to make the other factions fear the sect leader, eventually leading to his overthrow by overwhelming force.
Instead, the third outcome had taken place, the least desirable one. Chao Su had beaten the Nascent Souls, but he hadn't been particularly impressive in doing so. One of the deaths had been via formation, revealing him to be a hidden Formations Master.
That he created arrays was, of course, widely known, but prior to the battle, he had not shown the ability to create either the strong Grand Defensive Formation that was erected around his sect grounds or, more impressively, the one that had killed Yan Mingxia. The former exposed his status as at least a Formations Expert. The latter proved he was a true Master.
Those were scary to deal with when they had time to prepare the battlefield. On neutral ground or, better, in an ambush, they were nothing special, certainly nothing to fear. He had, of course, shown some competence in defeating Ye Zhengsheng one on one, but a Nascent Soul beating another Nascent Soul was nothing remarkable.
All in all, the results of the battle would be hard for Teng Wuying to spin. Those with the inclination to hate Chao Su would find an excuse to do so. It was unlikely, however, that those on the fence would be convinced to commit wholeheartedly to taking him down.
Instead, the factions would play it safe. The efficacy of the Trial Pagoda was demonstrated by Yuan Yaozu, but in doing so, the Poison Claw Sect rose in prominence with five Nascent Souls while strengthening their ties to the Rising Tide Sect. The two almost had to be considered close allies by that point, a strong force consisting of six Nascent Souls.
The coming months would be tricky to navigate. The Jade Chameleon Sect had taken two large hits, and both their rival sects were clearly ascending.
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As Teng Wuying considered his options, he received the summons he'd been dreading—Sect Leader Duan Dandan wanted to see him.
Nothing that happened next was likely to be pleasant for him.
When he got to her study, the first words out of her mouth were, "I can't believe I listened to you. This is a disaster."
She wasn't wrong. The Jade Chameleon Sect had lost two Nascent Souls to a well-prepared opponent and had gained nothing from the conflict. He honestly didn't see how the sect could recover and was glad that dilemma wasn't his to solve. His biggest problem was directing her to the most advantageous punishment for him that he could arrange.
He cupped his hands. "This lowly one apologizes that his suggestions did not work as you intended, Sect Leader."
Perfect. The response was obsequious enough to show her face while still reminding her that she was the one who signed off on his ideas, making the situation her ultimate responsibility.
She shook her head. "What am I going to do with you? I definitely don't want you here causing trouble for me, but I no longer have a branch sect to send you to. Maybe a mission to the far mountains?"
A posting far away had positives and negatives. If he were gone long enough, it would give everyone time to forget his role in the debacle with Chao Su. But that was an option for the weak. For a loser.
The factions would hold avarice for the Trial Pagoda in their eyes. Teng Wuying needed to be near to take advantage of that opportunity.
No. The far mountains weren't a viable option.
"The far mountains would be an excellent choice, Sect Leader," he said. "I will begin packing at once!"
She frowned at him. "I'm missing something. You see an opportunity for you there, don't you?"
"Not at all, Sect Leader. None that I can think of."
Her frown grew more pronounced. "Then why are you so accepting of it? Tell me. Now."
Teng Wuying cupped his hands. "Of course, Sect Leader. It's just that, if you don't want me here, the only other reasonable choice besides the mountains is being the sect's administrator for the upcoming tournament in Sixth Flawless Flowing City. With all that has happened, that particular posting would be … unpleasant for me."
"You know what?" she said. "I can see how that would be unpleasant. Most of the families of the victims you caused to be killed are still in the city. Yes. That's a fitting punishment. You shall go there and take charge of our participation. Leave immediately."
"But Sect Leader—"
"Leave. Immediately."
He cupped his hands again. "As you wish, Sect Leader."
Perfect. The tournament would take place in just shy of five months. He had that long to arrange for the Rising Tide Sect to be invited and to determine a way to bring about Chao Su's downfall during the event.
The path ahead was not straight and was fraught with perils, but Teng Wuying had no doubt that he'd find a way to end up in possession of the Trial Pagoda.
Benton laid in the dirt, suffering through the pain and ignominy of having his legs seared off. As he seethed, he waited for the Major Healing Pill he'd just consumed, his third in a short period, to finish working.
He was not happy with the fight against the Jade Chameleon Nascent Souls. He was well enough pleased that he stood victorious—or would stand victorious once his legs healed anyway—but he'd come way too close to dying. Multiple times.
One thought kept running through his mind—what would happen to the kids if he died?
The answer was nothing pleasant. If they were lucky, they'd suffer a quick death. And that just was not okay.
He was angry. Some of his ire was directed at the enemy cultivators who had attacked him and his sect. Most of it, however, was directed firmly at himself.
When he'd come to this world, the System had given him tremendous power. Cheats. He'd mostly breezed through obstacles. The only setback he'd suffered was Ye Zan's death. Which had caused him to increase his power even more, enough to conquer over a dozen opponents similar in realm to him at once. Additionally, he'd defeating the cyclops, a creature that was the equivalent of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Those experiences had made him believe that he was unbeatable. Not true. Not true at all.
The fact was that he'd gotten cocky. Overconfident.
Nascent Souls were much tougher than he'd expected. Their attacks weren't exactly easy to deal with, but it wasn't their offense that really stymied him. It was their Aura. Even with all his advantages, the penalty against his qi attacks was simply too high, making everything he shot at them underwhelming. The entire experience had left him chastened.
He absolutely would not risk another attack while he was still in the Golden Core realm. Advancement had just become his number one priority, and he was metaphorically kicking himself for not having done so before his enemies arrived.
Of course, he would have literally kicked himself, but he couldn't because he had no legs! Just another reminder of how stupid he'd been.
Luckily, between the pill and his Healing technique, it didn't take too long for him to be fully restored. He got up, brushed himself off, and took stock of the situation.
Yuan Yaozu had broken through to Nascent Soul, which was a very good thing. Though he had given Benton quite the scare. Lying injured and way too near death on the ground, he'd almost panicked when he sensed another Nascent Soul coming at him. He'd used up most of his resolve in defeating the first two, and the attack he expected from a third had required him to summon up vestiges of resistance from depths he hadn't realized he possessed.
The man adhered to his vow, however, despite Benton's vulnerability and was now off shooing some lookie-loos. Benton was quite grateful for the assistance.
The amphitheater shield had held, meaning that the kids shouldn't have been injured. He'd check on them as soon as he finished off the last item on his To Do List—killing the Fire-using Nascent Soul who had attacked.
What was left of the man was more than a little pathetic. Just the head and upper torso. A mortal or even a Golden Core would have already been long dead. Instead, the man was slowly regenerating.
Another advantage of that overpowered realm.
For an instant, Benton was tempted, oh so tempted, to wait until the man woke and look him in the eyes before sending the death blow. But that was not Benton's way. If nothing else, he'd be severely disappointed if any of the kids did something so irrational, and he strove to set a good example for them.
Hate was not the answer. Peace through superior firepower was a much better motivation, and next time such a confrontation occurred, he vowed to be so vastly overpowered compared to his enemies that he could send them away with a swat to the behinds.
If they wanted to act like prideful children, they should be treated like prideful children.
Instead of giving into his darkest impulses, Benton simply tossed a metal bead steeped in Void qi at what remained of the unconscious man. The sphere hit and exploded into blackness. When Benton could see the area again, the head and torso were gone, along with a good bit of the surrounding dirt and grass.
Perfect. One problem solved.
Next step, send Kang Ya-Ting away. Benton needed to advance quickly, and there was no reason for unnecessary high-realmed cultivators to be present for it.
Using his Gravity technique, Benton ascended into the air and traveled to the amphitheater, canceling its shield formation with a thought. As soon as he came into sight, cheers erupted from the just over one thousand people gathered within.
On any other occasion, he probably would have felt some kind of joy at being acknowledged by his people in such a way, but he only felt shame. It was his duty to protect them, and he'd come way too close to failing. Seeing them applauding him just brought home how irresponsible he'd behaved.
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Kang Ya-Ting, Pan Jiang, and the Rising Tide Sect council members were gathered on the stage, so Benton made that his target. He knew he looked a mess. Though his skin was unblemished, he hadn't changed out of his robe, and it was a torn, bloody, singed mess. The entire right shoulder and sleeve were missing along with the all the material below his knees.
"I know I said not to be too overpowering, Friend Su," Kang Ya-Ting said, "but wasn't that cutting it a little too close?"
"This one was a bit too prideful, Friend Kang, thinking to defeat two Nascent Souls without using an Aura. I hope my disciples and sect members learn from my mistakes. Never underestimate your enemy." Benton cupped his hands toward his council members. "Please take those words to heart. It would destroy me if any of you ever died because you repeated my idiocy."
The eyes of his sect members went wide, and it occurred to Benton that it might have been to first time he'd admitted a mistake or appeared less than the perfect master to them.
"To err is human," Benton said. "No matter how much power and wisdom a person possesses, it is impossible to go through life without making mistakes. That includes me. Very much so. If I appear strong and wise and capable, it is only because I have made so many, many mistakes in the course of my life and learned from them."
He affixed a resolute expression on his face. "The next time enemies approach this sect, I will destroy them utterly and completely before they have a chance to get close. No more pretense. No more games."
Benton turned to Kang Ya-Ting. "Please take that message back to the city. The next time I or my sect is attacked, I will completely destroy the faction or factions that initiated the attack. Understand?"
"Yes, Friend Su."
Benton waited a moment, but the man made no move to leave. "I meant now."
The elder was briefly taken aback, but he quickly cupped his hands. "Of course, Friend Su. And my sect members?"
"They can go with you or stay as they please. They have been good guests and deserve only praise for their behavior during the beast tide. They will always find welcome at my sect."
"Gratitude, Friend Su." Kang Ya-Ting looked to Pan Jiang.
"This one would prefer to stay, Esteemed Elder. I'll check with the others." The young man rushed off.
"Before I leave, there is one more order of business, Friend Su," Kang Ya-Ting said.
"Yes?"
Kang Ya-Ting glanced around, obviously wary of speaking of his business in public.
"If it's sensitive, I can whip up a couple of formations around my office to ward off eavesdroppers."
The elder cupped his hands again. "Gratitude, Sect Leader."
The two retired to Benton's office in the Administration Hall. Sun Hua followed and prepared tea while Benton quickly erected three separate arrays to stop the most common methods of spying. When he finished, she served the tea and made herself scarce.
"You have a very capable assistant, Friend Su."
"Yeah, she's a treasure. I'm very happy with the mayor for assigning her to the role." Benton sighed. "Honestly, though, it's been a trying day, and I'm about at the end of my patience. You're a friend and an ally, but to be blunt, I just don't have the bandwidth for social niceties at the moment."
"Completely understood, Friend Su. I won't take much more of your time. The issue is the Trial Pagoda. Surely you understand that spies from the other factions have witnessed that Yuan Yaozu has advanced using it?"
"Yes. That's going to make me a bigger target. Which means I need to get my defenses repaired ASAP." Not to mention that it added even more incentive for him to advance to Nascent Soul as soon as he could.
"The Poison Claw Sect is prepared to offer a full alliance to help with that."
"Let me guess, in return for more uses of the Trial Pagoda?"
Kang Ya-Ting cupped his hands yet again. "We have two more elders at the peak of Golden Core. Advancing them to Nascent Soul would greatly strengthen my sect which, in turn, would strengthen yours."
Benton hesitated for a moment, thinking. He had no major problem helping his allies, and he wasn't worried about them becoming too powerful. He fully believed that, once he advanced himself, dealing with enemy Nascent Souls wouldn't be much more difficult than defeating those Golden Cores had been.
"The Trial Pagoda charges me a cost for using it," he said finally. "I can afford two more uses, but it will tap into my reserves of an important resource. The problems are that I'm not sure how comfortable I am spending so much at the moment and I question how the other factions will react when they find out."
"Can my sect help with the costs, Friend Su?"
"Unfortunately not. The price is a resource that only I can produce."
Kang Ya-Ting nodded. "You seemed very concerned with obtaining those materials your disciples were seeking. What if I could get you another one in return for the use of the pagoda?"
Benton almost broke out in a grin. Some good old-fashioned horse trading was right up his alley. "Maybe if you offered five materials for a single use, I could do it?"
"Five, Friend Su? Be reasonable. We could offer one for each use at most."
While the materials Benton needed were highly prized, there was an order of magnitude difference between the benefit any of them offered versus what the Trial Pagoda could provide. He wouldn't have been outside the realms of reasonableness if he'd asked for ten or even more, and Kang Ya-Ting knew it. On the other hand, there was only so much that the Poison Claw Sect could afford to spend.
The two settled on three materials for a single use, and since Benton already had two of the three needed for Fire, he insisted that one be the plant-based material for that element. Overall, he was fairly satisfied with the deal. Giving up five hundred Sect Points wasn't easy, but gaining three of the materials he needed for his qi sources while making an ally stronger was worth it.
"What about the issue of the other factions finding out?" Benton said.
"Subterfuge, Friend Su. Subterfuge."
The twins and Kang Lin had told Kang Ya-Ting of Benton's desire to find a group of performers, so the elder came up with a simple plan. One of the peak Golden Cores would appear to go into secluded cultivation but instead would travel with the troupe, pretending to be a mortal member.
"That's … something," Benton said. "Your sect member, your elder sect member, is okay with that?"
"My elder sect member would do literally anything for a realistic chance to advance to Nascent Soul. Lowering herself to pretending to be a mortal for a monthlong journey is nothing, Friend Su."
"Well then, I approve of the plan. As soon as I get the three materials, I'll allow her to use the pagoda. Only once, though. If she fails, that's on her and you."
"Understood, Friend Su. She'll have guidance from Elder Yuan to help her."
"As long as we're clear," Benton said.
The elder, not wanting to overstay his welcome any more than he already had, departed shortly afterward, leaving Benton to the next step in his plan for immediate advancement.
Benton was well aware that sects guarded their secrets to an absurd degree, and he didn't want to become quite that paranoid. On the other hand, knowledge could be dangerous. The only thing keeping his sect from being destroyed was certain beliefs the opposing factions held about him. The less they knew for certain, the better.
Thus the reason he'd sent Kang Ya-Ting off.
Benton didn't know what kind of spectacle, if any, would be created when he advanced to Nascent Soul, but it was better to get rid of anyone who might sense and interpret any emanations that resulted from the process.
Obviously, all the Qi Gathering cultivators weren't a danger because they couldn't even sense qi yet. The Foundation Establishment cultivators, honestly, weren't all that much better with their lack of training so early in their journey. Besides, he trusted all three … oops, four … of them. And with Kang Ya-Ting gone there were no Golden Cores within range of Benton's spiritual senses.
There was one big unknown left, however.
Yuan Yaozu seemed like a nice enough guy, but he wasn't someone that Benton knew well yet. The only thing he could trust was the man's vow as witnessed by the heavens—to protect the sect for one hundred years. Did that include the sect's secrets? How much could he rely on the man to keep what he saw to himself? Shoot, Benton didn't even know how much he could trust the man to not take advantage of situations for his own gain.
The conclusion was simple. Benton's best bet was to get rid of the guy for a short time.
Sending a quick messenger dragon was all it took to summon the man to the Administration Hall, and less than two minutes passed between dispatching the flying origami and Sun Hua letting him into the office.
"Greetings, Sect Leader," Yuan Yaozu said. "The guests you asked me to greet were sent packing. The one from the Jade Chameleon Sect left well before my arrival, and I gently persuaded the representatives from the City Lord and the Swift Blizzard Sect to be on their way."
Benton frowned. While it was nice to get rid of the snoops, they'd seen everything that had happened, including his less than stellar performance against the enemy Nascent Souls. He was sure that, despite Kang Ya-Ting's advice to keep the fight close, showing weakness was more likely to lead to a future confrontation than if he's won an easy victory.
No use crying over spilt milk, though.
"Thank you," Benton said. "I'm not sure if taking care of that issue for me counted as part of your vow or not, but I appreciate you doing it."
"I won't say that I'm at your command to be a servant or anything, but I plan to earn my keep. Ask me anything reasonable, and you'll find me willing."
"That's good to hear because I do have another request."
"Name it," Yuan Yaozu said.
"Go back to your sect. Just for a few days. I can hold out here with no issues without you. It'll give you time to take care of any personal issues you need to resolve. Say goodbyes or what have you."
It was the newly minted Nascent Soul's turn to frown. "Look, Sect Leader. I get it. You have secrets, and I'm a huge unknown. There's definitely a lack of trust. Which makes sense. Trust is earned."
"I'm glad you understand. I look forward to our next conversation. In a few days."
Yuan Yaozu sighed. "If that is your choice, I won't object, Sect Leader, but have you even considered the alternative? Instead of pushing me away, draw me in closer."
Benton fixed the man with a skeptical look.
"The bond between a master and disciple is closer than that of elder to sect. There are advantages to having a Nascent Soul as a disciple. Having me publicly refer to you as Master will convey more respect to you in the minds of the elders of all the factions than killing any number of cultivators ever will."
"You'd be willing to become my disciple? Why?"
"Gratitude?"
Benton gave him a look of pure disdain.
Yuan Yaozu laughed. "Okay, how about pure avarice, then? Not that I'm not grateful. I truly am. My bottleneck was… Let's just say that I don't think I ever would have gotten past it on my own."
The new Nascent Soul did seem like he was being truthful, but when it came to old cultivators, Benton trusted far more in their self interest than in their self sacrifice. "What's in it for you?"
"You're kidding, right? You gave Pan Jiang, a kid who at the time was nothing but an arrogant pain in the ass, a top heaven grade sword technique. Everything you've given Kang Lin has been as high in quality. As far as I can tell, your gardeners use top heaven grade skills to grow hedges and have a top heaven grade scripture for the clippers they use to trim those hedges."
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Instead of responding immediately, Benton took a moment to ponder the situation. The techniques and methods the System provided were far superior to what other sects handed out to their regular members, producing a large benefit, but he found it difficult to believe just that boon alone was driving the man's offer.
"Becoming a disciple is a huge step," Benton said. "The loss of face and stature you'll experience is equal to or greater than what I'll gain. You're willing to take that big of a hit to your reputation just for a cultivation method and some techniques?"
"Sect Leader, not counting the ones I've seen you throw around, how many truly top grade scriptures do you think I've seen in my nearly thousand years as a cultivator?"
Benton shrugged.
"Three. I've seen three. Two of those I wasn't even allowed to touch, and none were I allowed to learn. You treat the things like they have less value that the treats I've seen you give to children. You're way underestimating their worth."
Benton huffed. "Sorry. I just don't buy it."
Yuan Yaozu sighed again. "Fine. You want to get real? Let's get real. I know your secret."
Benton tensed. He had a lot of secrets.
"I know that you're a Golden Core," Yuan Yaozu said. "And don't bother to deny it. I'm not an idiot."
Benton narrowed his eyes, suddenly imagining that he would be forced to again kill someone in a higher realm than him. No matter how fast he intended to move, it seemed like events had outpaced him still.
"If that were the case," Benton said in a clipped tone, "why would you, a Nascent Soul, be willing to declare a mere Golden Core as his master?"
"Simple. My vow. The best way for me to protect your sect is to convince everyone that you're too powerful to mess with. Me declaring you as my master will help with that. A lot." Yuan Yaozu paused. "You're a good man, Sect Leader. I believe you're being authentic when you intimate that your biggest desire is to protect your people, which is why I made you the deal that I did. I couldn't think of anything that would be more likely to convince you than offering my services to do just that. My current offer is another chance for you to do the same—protect them. You should take it."
Benton rubbed his glabella. To trust or not to trust? Both held deadly consequences if he chose wrong. A betrayal from someone who knew his secrets could be devastating, but failing to take advantage of help due to paranoia could be just as big a mistake.
"I need to think on this," Benton said. "Be ready for my decision soon. If the answer is no, be prepared to leave for a few days as I instructed. If yes, we'll talk further. Understood?"
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Very well. Dismissed."
After everything else that Benton had been through that day, he hadn't been prepared for that conversation. On the plus side, he felt like he'd gotten a better handle on Yuan Yaozu's character. He wasn't someone who planned to adhere only to the spirit of his vow. Instead, he appeared to fully embrace the responsibility.
That was what Benton's gut told him anyway, but it was hard to trust his instinct with so much on the line. If he was right, though, the man might just be a heavens-sent blessing. After the fight, the weight of responsibility was pressing hard on Benton's shoulders. It would be mighty nice to have another experienced adult around to take some of that burden.
The downside was having all his secrets exposed to the factions. Then again, the man had already sussed out Benton's biggest secret, though that one wouldn't remain relevant for much longer.
Of course, if the man was going to be hanging around for the next century anyway due to his vow, he was bound to pick up on other things because, honestly, Benton kind of sucked at long-term subterfuge. Making Yuan Yaozu into a disciple helped to ease concerns in that regard.
To betray a master's secrets was a transgression on the level of practicing demonic arts. It had to be. Otherwise, how could any old cultivator trust handing out the secrets they'd taken centuries to gather?
Leaning toward accepting the offer, Benton put thoughts of it out of his mind for a while to focus on the next step of his plan.
His sect currently had six hundred twelve members. One thousand was the milestone he needed to reach to qualify for advancement to Nascent Soul. He was three hundred eighty-eight people shy.
Old him, the him that existed prior to nearly dying to the two Jade Chameleon cultivators, would have increased recruitment to a hundred a week or something equally slow and stupid. Current him fired off two message dragons. The first directed Fatty Ren to induct one hundred new people into the sect before nightfall. The second directed Mayor Mo Jian to have the next three hundred people on the list of villagers to be inducted gather in the amphitheater after dinner.
Benton had a lot to accomplish before then, though. A lot. A lot. Much more than he could actually do in the time he had. Once again, he was super happy to be a cheating cheater who cheats as he enveloped himself in a Time Manipulation field.
The crux of the issue was that he was adding another three hundred people to his main sect branch, and he only had housing available for a fraction of that number. He'd prepared for that eventuality earlier by stocking up on houses and apartments from the Righteous Rain Sect, but setting the houses, hooking up utilities, building roads, etc. still needed to be done. None was super complicated as he'd already worked the kinks out of the process, but even for someone superhumanly fast like him, it all took time.
Hence the use of his technique.
As he Quickstepped to the area he'd mentally designated as neighborhood two, he idly wondered what he looked like to an outside observer. Was he just a blur? Did he look like some kind of ghost? Could they see him at all?
Benton laughed at the thought of the rumors of a house building spirit wagging on everyone's tongue the next day as he went about his chores. He spent hours and hours getting everything perfect like he had for the first neighborhood.
That accomplished, he moved on to the wall, repairing the problems caused by the forced penetration by the enemy cultivators. A subjective hour later, the Grand Defensive Formation was back in service.
Which left … the towers.
Ugh. The enemy cultivators had done a number on them, especially the man after the woman had been killed. There was nothing left of them above the ground. They'd have to be completely rebuilt from scratch, meaning it would take days for the base wood to be prepared.
Honestly, that was okay. Once he advanced to Nascent Soul, he and Yuan Yaozu were a much better deterrent than static defenses would ever be. The towers would eventually be completed, but Benton planned to enact the greater deterrent on a much quickly timetable.
Before the sun rose the next morning, he planned to advance to the Nascent Soul realm.