Chapter 304 – Well Equipped
Yuan Yaozu welcomed the message to meet with the sect leader. If nothing else, it relieved his boredom. After so many years of being stuck at the peak of Golden Core and being essentially unable to cultivate, he was still working his way back to spending the majority of his time engaged in the activity.
And since the message was noted to have been sent to both him and Zou Tian, Yuan Yaozu knew the exact topic—preparing the young man for his upcoming mission.
The new Nascent Soul sighed. In none of his planning for that mission had he envisioned the youngster reaching Foundation Establishment before leaving. Not that the advancement was bad for his chances of success. The exact opposite was actually true. No, the issue was that Chao Su somehow pulled off another miracle.
Qi sources? Time dilation rooms? Those were not features a small sect possessed, that any sect possessed. Maybe some all-powerful megasect somewhere with Nihility realm cultivators running things had access to such treasures, but locally, such things were unheard of even as myths and legends.
Yuan Yaozu had definitely tied himself to the right horse, but he couldn't help but wonder what ridiculous thing would be introduced next and when. He almost laughed as he flew to the Administration Hall. Who knew? Today might be the day that he saw a new wonder.
Zou Tian, the sect leader, and that efficient gem of an assistant were all present when he arrived, and Chao Su wasted no time getting started.
"I anticipate being very busy for the next little while, Zou Tian, and decided to get you set up now so that, in my haste, I don't forget anything later. Ready?"
The boy cupped his hands.
"First of all, I need guarantees from all three of you that everything I reveal today will be held in the strictest confidence."
Zou Tian and Sun Hua were quick to agree.
"Of course, Sect Leader," Yuan Yaozu said. "It's important that any secrets related to Zou Tian's mission not be discovered by other sects."
Chao Su, for some reason, appeared chagrined. "I, uh, actually was concerned more with not wanting to spoil the surprise before I can give some of this stuff to my other sect members, but sure, let's go with your reason. It sounds better."
At first, Yuan Yaozu believed the comment to be one of Chao Su's jokes. The sect leader was, after all, rather prone to such. But his expression seemed genuine.
He really was more concerned with the reaction of his disciples than other sects gaining an advantage? Was he truly so powerful that nothing anyone else did actually mattered? Chao Su truly was unfathomable.
"First, your new storage device." Chao Su pulled out a necklace instead of a ring, and an old one at that. "I made this personally. Do you like that it's the characters for Wan Ai's name?"
Zou Tian's face reddened as he cupped his hands.
"Since you'll already be wearing a contingency ring, I thought adding another one would be suspicious whereas a distressed necklace, especially one equipped with the finest concealment formations I could supply, wouldn't occasion much interest."
Chao Su really was a master with arrays. Yuan Yaozu never would have known the necklace was a storage device without being told.
"The thin silver veneer is worn in places to show cheap copper underneath, so no one should think it valuable enough to steal," Chao Su said. "Underneath that, of course, is the good stuff, metal from an actual meteorite that had picked up a spatial attunement. Cost me a pretty penny, but I've got enough of it to make at least a hundred more."
He handed the device to Zou Tian, who seemed inordinately pleased.
"How much storage space, Master?"
"About the size of this building? Plus or minus a room or two."
While the boy took the information in stride and the assistant didn't bat an eyelash, Yuan Yaozu couldn't keep his eyebrows from rising.
The volume of a full building? Most sect leaders didn't have the space in theirs larger than the equivalent of a decent sized room.
"I also didn't like how poor the preservation characteristics were on the devices I bought from the Poison Claw Sect," Chao Su said. "They probably only sell the good stuff to their elders."
Yuan Yaozu had seen the rings gifted to the young girl, Jin LiJuan. It wasn't as big or as good as his own, but neither was it severely lacking. Anything better was extremely rare and expensive.
"You'll find that this one can hold ice for months without it melting. Maybe years." Chao Su shrugged. "This is the first one I made myself, and it's not quite up to par with the one I have. Once you return from the mission, hopefully I can provide you with something better."
Zou Tian cupped his hands again. "Gratitude, Master. I'm sure it will be more than sufficient."
If Yuan Yaozu hadn't had centuries of practice schooling his expression, he was sure his absolute bemusement would have been revealed. It was like the sect leader said, "Sorry for giving you this trash storage device that is orders of magnitude better than even Nascent Souls on this continent have access to. I'll do my best to get you, a Qi Gathering brat with middling talent, something better later."
Absurd. It was simply absurd. Was there nothing that Chao Su couldn't do or provide?
"Speaking of rings, though, your contingency ring is very obviously identical to the rest of the sect members', which will surely give you away," Chao Su said. "So I made you a new one."
What he handed over looked to be made of inexpensive copper and something that possessed sentimental value to the wearer moreso than being actually expensive. Replacing the original with the one with a cheap appearance was prudent. Looking too well off would likely get the boy mugged, and while he could certainly defend himself, doing so had the possibility of exposing him.
"Next, outfits." Chao Su pulled three from his ring and placed them on a table. "The first, as you can see, is a simple but well made shirt and trousers combination that should place you as someone in the worker class, neither too rich nor too poor. It has a shield formation with a concealment array worked into the threading that will react to an attack, draining a qi capacitor that I built in. I had to keep the amount low so as to conceal it, so it won't withstand too many hits. Hopefully, the defense will be enough to hold off an attacker until you can get out of the jam, or you can recharge it with a spirit coin from your storage device.
"The next is one of the new standard sect battle robes." Chao Su proceeded to list off a series of features, each more outlandish than the next.
Protection from physical and/or qi attacks was the most common array used on clothing, but Yuan Yaozu bet the Rising Tide Sect's were far superior. He'd test it with the boy before he left for his mission.
The other features, though… Temperature and gravity control? How and why? And self cleaning, self reparining apparel for mostly Qi Gathering brats? Such things were usually reserved for sect elders.
The extravagance of the sect leader knew no bounds.
"The final outfit is the coup de grace," Chao Su said, using a strange language for the last part. "It's your ninja warrior suit, a shinobi shozoku. This one amplifies your Stealth. Its formations enhance your connection with Shadow and muffle every part of you that could lead to detection—sight, sound, smell, and even qi signature, though you don't need any help in that regard. It will even turn you invisible for a short time. Just be careful to only refill the capacitors when you're safely hidden because the qi signature while replenishing it can be much more easily detected."
"Yes, Master."
"The protection arrays are also more robust on this one as it's made for combat. Not only that, but it can also enhance your physical performance, allowing you to jump higher, hit harder, etc. Just remember that those activities will drain the batteries quickly. Which is why the suit has the option of running fully off stored qi or drawing on spirit coins directly. Understand, though, that, despite my efforts, there is really no way of completely concealing large qi sources."
Wow. There was something that the sect leader couldn't do. Yuan Yaozu didn't know whether to be shocked or relieved. He settled for a bit of both.
Chao Su placed a handful of greater spirit coins into an internal pouch on the suit and turned to Yuan Yaozu, who engaged his spiritual sense.
"I can detect a very faint trace, Sect Leader. Probably not enough to give him away if he's hidden in an area with a high qi concentration, but enough to make me give him a second glance if I've already spotted him. Of course, just seeing that outfit would make him stand out."
"Not if he's in camoflauge mode or invisible. You'll love those." Chao Su laughed. "Let's move on to the next item, though." He pulled out four jade slips and tossed those to the boy. "Your cultivation method and the three techniques you requested. The first uses external qi to enhance your perception. It's closely aligned to Shadow qi, so I believe using it will be difficult to detect, especially as your skill level improves. Test it with Yuan Yaozu before you leave."
Zou Tian cupped his hands.
"The shield is pretty much the sect standard, just Shadow aspected. I'm sure you're very familiar with the idea."
Zou Tian nodded, as did Yuan Yaozu. Formations could be readily made to respond automatically to stimulus. Techniques couldn't. He had no idea how the man, even as a Formations Master, had figured out how to merge that trait into a shield technique.
"The last one is the most fun—Backstab!" Chao Su said. "It was expensive, double the normal cost, but it literally does double damage as long as the target doesn't see you. That means you should be able to penetrate a beast's shield with a single strike even up to the peak of rank six. Only Yang Ru can do something similar."
The boy appeared profoundly grateful, as well he should. He was being gifted a technique that any sect would go to war to obtain.
More important, though, was the revelation the sect leader had just made. Just like with the Trials Pagoda, the techniques he provided cost him some unspecified currency or resource.
Yuan Yaozu filed away that bit of data for further thought.
"Just as crucial as the power," Chao Su said, "the technique's extreme affinity to Shadow qi will help minimize the chances of anyone sensing its use."
Zou Tian cupped his hands.
Next, Chao Su pulled three pills from his ring. "I'm sure you know what to do with these?"
"Yes, Master."
Yuan Yaozu hadn't seen those yet and couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
"When taken together after reaching Foundation Establishment but before cultivating, these will expand a cultivator's qi pool by ten percent or so. Though, given Zou Tian's extreme affinity, I'm personally hoping he hits fifteen percent."
Ah. Yuan Yaozu had heard rumors that the Poison Claw Sect alchemists were working on something similar, though they hadn't made much progress. It shouldn't have surprised him that Chao Su would be so far ahead as to be actually employing the pills.
He then pulled out a large stack of thick, rectangular pieces of paper, each sized to fit easily in someone's palm. On the side of the paper that Yuan Yaozu could see was the sect's logo with the characters, all in blue, for "Rising Tide Attacks!" underneath. He had no idea of the purpose of the paper.
"You three are the first to see our new sect talismans," Chao Su said. "They'll let you do all kinds of crazy stuff that should be out of reach for your level, and best of all, they're collectible!"
Collectible talismans? Yuan Yaozu didn't understand as the two terms didn't go together. Talismans were rare and expensive. Even a basic Foundation Establishment level attack took many hours to produce and cost hundreds of thousands of qi in spirit coins form to purchase. That whole stack couldn't be for one young sect member. There had to be hundreds there.
Further, they were items made to be used. Why would anyone collect them?
"How do they work, Master?" Zou Tian said.
"It's the easiest thing in the world. You simply follow the instructions on the card."
"Instructions, Master?"
"Let's demonstrate." Chao Su looked through the stack and pulled out two cards right next to each other. "These are identical Teleport Cards, both charged with a thousand qi use of the technique. That's enough to move you anywhere within about a fifty foot diameter. Which probably doesn't seem like much, but remember that limit is a straight line distance that doesn't take into account elevation and walls don't matter. It's meant to be a utility effect on the battlefield moreso than a way to get from place to place." He handed the two pieces of paper to Zou Tian. "Read the instructions."
"Form a picture in your mind of a place nearby that you've visited. Rip the card." The boy paused. "What does, 'Don't be where your enemy expects you to be' mean, Master?"
Chao Su laughed. "It's just flavor text, there to add a bit of interest."
Both the boy and the assistant appeared just as confused as Yuan Yaozu, but none of them made any comment about the oddity. It was to be expected when dealing with the sect leader.
"Now, for the test," Chao Su said. "Do what the card says and use the other one to return."
Yuan Yaozu thought that the Rising Tide Sect's junior members were coddled compared to any of the Big Three, but he couldn't say that those members weren't loyal or that they didn't follow directions well. The boy got a brief glazed look in his eyes before ripping the paper and disappearing.
A second later, the boy Teleported back to the exact spot where he had been standing.
Yep. Those really were talismans. Powerful ones, too, if the first one was any indication.
True Teleportation was a rare skill. Besides Chao Su, Yuan Yaozu had never met anyone who openly employed the ability. Apparently, that scarcity was about to change. Every junior member of the entire sect would soon have access to it.
He couldn't even imagine the impact of such a thing when news got out.
Currently, there was little reason for all but the most secure places to use formations to ward against Teleportation, and the presence of a single cultivator with a technique to do so only necessitated changes for certain locations. Hundreds or thousands of junior cultivators possessing that ability, though, was a completely different story.
Worse, the only man on the continent with the ability to guarantee protection from intrusion by the technique was the one giving it away like passing out candy to children.
"I have three versions of the Teleport—the thousand qi one you just used, a ten thousand qi one, and a one hundred thousand qi one." He pointed to a number at the top of the paper. "This shows the amount of qi used. Low Teleports you to another room, middle will take you across a major city with plenty of juice to spare, and high should bring you all the way back here from Sixth Flawless Flowing City. I'm giving you ten of the low, five of the mid, and one of the high."
As Chao Su continued to go through the list of talismans he was simply giving to the young man, Yuan Yaozu grew more and more incredulous. The boy would be carrying with him devices expensive enough to buy a good portion of the city. But did the sect leader advise him to treat them as treasures only to be used in the direst of circumstances?
No. He told the kid to use them whenever they were needed. To use his judgment. And that it was better to use a card than to take a risk.
Yuan Yaozu couldn't help but blow out a long breath at the sheer absurdity, especially since all the sect members going to the tournament were to be similarly outfitted with talismans, even if with not the absurd quantity given to Zou Tian.
Absurd. Truly, absolutely absurd. With the likely power of Chao Su's techniques, the lowliest of his Qi Gathering members could hold off against a Nascent Soul. If enough of them banded together, they'd probably could defeat one.
Absurd!
As excited as Chao Su seemed to be to give all the equipment he'd dispersed so far, his face visibly lit up when it came to the next category—spy tools. He referred to himself as Q for some reason.
"To be honest, I couldn't decide if I was going for a ninja or, as Jethro Bodine would say, a double naught spy, so I think I basically tried to split the difference. Check this out." Chao Su placed nearly a hundred identical throwing knives on the table along with two bands. "Your Backstab technique will also teach you the use of throwing knives, giving you a needed ranged attack. Go ahead and store these in your necklace."
Zou Tian did so.
"Now, put one band on each wrist."
Zou Tian naturally did that as well.
"Now, do this." Chao Su made a motion with his right arm, drawing it sharply up and back.
When the boy replicated the motion, a knife appeared in his hand.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Chao Su said. "I mean, you could have just practiced and learned how to do that just by manipulating the storage device, but the bands simplify the process. You don't even have to think about it. Besides, the bands have other functunalities as well."
Zou Tian brought the knife down and studied it for a moment.
"It's tough, will accept your Shadow qi easily, can be recalled to the armbands, and has a self destruct array that will make it explode. Great for distractions and to not leave evidence or weapons your enemy can use behind you."
"Gratitude, Master."
"This next one is cool, too." Chao Su brought from storage a … pair of boots? "Try them on."
Zou Tian did.
"Now, use your beast core to channel just a smidge of qi into them, the smallest amount you can manage."
Suddenly, the boy lifted several inches above the ground before falling back down.
"I'm really not sure why you'd ever need to use those." Chao Su shrugged. "Honestly, I just thought they were neat. On the other hand, please don't forget about them. According to the lore, you'll probably end up in a situation where the only way to salvage your mission is to use them."
Lore?
From the boy's reaction, he apparently found nothing strange about the remark, so Yuan Yaozu didn't say anything, either.
"Those actually lead to another purpose of the bands, by the way. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't achieve stable flight with just the boots as they were just too unbalanced. No unusable, mind you, but difficult. If you channel an equal amount of qi into the bands, though, you should find the whole system much more user friendly."
Chao Su went on for a long time, pulling item after item from his ring. He had listening devices, what he called a hidden camera—whatever a camera was—along with a method of viewing what the camera and "bugs" recorded, tracking devices that would stick to an enemy, a writing brush that turned into a knife—!?!—, candy that when chewed activated qi inside and could be placed as an explosive for whatever reason, and something he called a wristwatch that contained a beam of Light qi he termed a laser.
"Alright, this is the last thing." Chao Su pulled a glider from his ring.
Only that one looked nothing like the ones the other four Foundation Establishment cultivators got. For one thing, it was smaller. And sleeker. And black. With no embellishments like the feathers for the phoenix wings.
"This is equipped for both speed and stealth. You pilot it bent over in a three-point stance to reduce your wind resistance and profile. It's designed to cut down on wind noise, and at low speeds, it's basically silent. It's also faster and more maneuverable than ninety-nine percent of Golden Cores on a flying sword, and it enhances your ability to hide using Shadow. It can also go full invisible for quite some time. Remember, however, that there's no way for me to fully hide qi usage. You'll be hard to detect but not undetectable."
"Yes, Master."
"I also added some extra features that are too cool for words, starting with this." Chao Su pressed a button at the back of the craft, and thick white smoke began pouring from the back before he pressed it again, cutting the smoke off. "To obscure you from sight."
Yuan Yaozu seriously doubted any cultivator advanced enough to be flying in pursuit of the boy would be deterred in the slightest by the smoke. Then again, the kid could turn invisible. If he could completely cut off his qi usage…
"I'm a bit bummed that I couldn't figure out a legitimate use for an oil slick to dissaude aerial pursuit, but it is what it is. The glider does have this, though."
There was a handle at the front of the craft clearly designed for the pilot to hold on to, and it had another button prominently placed in the center. Chao Su pressed it. Three rods popped out, one from the front of each wing tip and one from the front of the craft.
"Rotate the handle like this to choose your qi type—Earth, Fire, Gravity, Ice, Lightning, Poison, Sound, Void, Wind, or Water. Then depress this other button, and the glider will shoot qi attacks of that type of qi from each of the three rods. If it suddenly stops shooting, that means you ran out of that type of spirit coin, so you'll need to either reload from your ring or switch to a different type."
The sect leader paused a moment before saying, his voice eager, "So what do you think?"
The sect leader reminded Yuan Yaozu of a child showing his parents a drawing he'd made in the dirt, seeking praise.
"Very impressive, Master," Zou Tian said with, to all appearances, complete sincerity.
Impressive was one word for it. Crazy was another. That being the case, Yuan Yaozu couldn't claim that the boy wouldn't be the most well equipped spy he'd ever seen.
Chapter 305 – New Arrivals
Benton was well pleased with the equipment he'd provided Zou Tian, though the boy's reaction had been muted at best. He was simply too used to being provided with impossible items to be truly impressed with anything. On the plus side, Yuan Yaozu's response, as much as he'd tried to hide it, had totally made up for Zou Tian's lack of enthusiasm.
Almost as good, a Golden Core cultivator from the Premiere Jade Treasures Auction House arrived on a flying sword to deliver the rest of the goods Benton had ordered, prominent among them everything he needed to craft the Time and Momentum qi sources, so he got right to work.
Between his experience in having made two of them already and liberal use of Time Manipulation, he created both of them and installed them in rooms by early the following morning, summoning Peng Hanying and Yang Ru soon after to get them started using Time dilation to accelerate their growth.
Even though none of the sect members so far had experienced any ill effects from using the dilation, Benton still forced the two to proceed cautiously, using the same stair stepped approach to increasing the number of sessions that the others had.
Yang Ru was given the extra warning to make sure to balance his cultivating Momentum with at least the occasional session in the Fire room when it became available. Though he didn't focus on the aspect, the amount he did use it plus the fact that it so prominently featured in the unique verbiage of his aspect meant it would be an enormous mistake to neglect it completely.
Later that day, the sect had another arrival—a small caravan from Sixth Flawless Flowing City. Besides a couple of merchants, drivers, and a few guards, the main people arriving were the expected eight person acting troupe Kang Ya-Ting had procured and the disguised peak Golden Core cultivator from the Poison Claw Sect who was to use the Trials Pagoda.
After sending everyone else to the cafeteria for refreshments and asking the troupe to wait there until summoned, Benton escorted the cultivator to his office where Yuan Yaozu, summoned via message dragon, waited.
As soon as they were inside the formation protected room, the woman shed her illusionary disguise. "Greetings, Sect Leader Chao Su. This one is Duan Lan."
Yikes. Everything about her from the tone of her voice to her posture radiated pure stress. The lady looked so taut that she was about to break.
After Benton returned her greeting, Yuan Yaozu said, "Elder Duan, you have not been deceived. The Trials Pagoda is real, and it's probably even more amazing than you were told."
Ah. Healthy skepticism warring with hope would explain how tense she appeared to be. Benton hadn't thought much about the woman's plight, but sympathy for her situation flooded him at the realization.
"Truly?" she said.
"Truly. I'm living proof."
The old lady let out a relieved breath. "There have been so many false hopes over the years, and my end approaches."
"No one understands how you feel better than me," Yuan Yaozu said.
She turned to Benton. "If this is true—and I can hardly countenance that Elder Kang and Elder Yuan would deliberately deceive me to such a degree—I owe you a great debt."
"Not at all. Your sect has already promised me compensation."
"Quite right," she said. "I have a Fire kernel from a Burning Orchid, a rock steeped in Ice from the Frozen Waste, and best of all, a Time aspected root from a rare tree."
Benton hid his disappointment. With the exception of the Fire material, the others were duplicates he no longer needed. Which made sense. She'd left Sixth Flawless Flowing City before the auction, and he'd acquired the Ice material there and the Time material from the auction manager.
Besides, it was silly for him to be displeased in the first place. He'd given the sect a list and them literally acquired every item on that list before they had a chance to deliver the goods to him. Obviously, they would provide duplicates. Duh.
Oh well, maybe he could find some other use for them.
"Additionally," she continued, "you saw the troupe that arrived. Hopefully, they meet your approval?"
He hadn't actually paid a lot of attention to them, but as long as they were a troupe that acted out plays or performances of some nature, they surely would be fine. It wasn't as if anyone on the planet had experience doing what he envisioned.
"Of course," Benton said. "Gratitude."
"And finally, as soon as my ascension is confirmed, the Poison Claw Sect will be poised to announce a full alliance with the Rising Tide Sect. Of course, they will coordinate the exact date and occasion of that proclamation with you." She handed him a scroll from her storage ring.
Benton was almost positive he'd negotiated an alliance for allowing her to make the attempt, not for her success, but he was willing to wait until after she had her try to determine if he'd need to fight that battle. He opened the scroll and found a promise to form an alliance as stated, signed by the Poison Claw Sect Leader.
Good enough.
"May I touch your hand?" he said to her.
She looked to Yuan Yaozu.
"Don't worry. He's not flirting with you. It's how he checks your cultivation."
The people on Benton's new planet were a lot more touch averse than anyone back on Earth. Unless you were married to a person or you were hitting them unarmed in combat, skin to skin contact just wasn't something that normally happened.
Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure why he'd asked. It wasn't like he was supposed to come up with a solution for her. The Trials Pagoda would do that on its own.
Still, more data was more data, and he'd look stupid if he canceled his request at that point.
She nodded, holding her arm out toward him. He gripped her finger and activated Analysis.
What he found wasn't promising. Her channels weren't Jin LiJuan levels of being snarled and damaged, but it was a wonder she'd reached the peak of Golden Core. Next he scanned her, ignoring her long list of techniques as a matter of course.
Name:Duan LanAffiliation:Poison Claw SectAge:959Cultivation:Golden Core - Minor Realm NineQi Available:955,489Spiritual Roots:D-Qi Aspect:That which can be revealed can be concealedHmm. She wasn't lying about having really reached the peak of Golden Core, but her journey to that realm couldn't have been easy, considering the state of her internal pathways.
"It's okay, Sect Leader. I know how bad it is. I'm quite proud that I made it as far as I did through sheer determination and stubbornness." She paused. "And pills, unfortunately. Lots of pills. I figured you couldn't actually help me."
"I didn't say that. Yes, your channels are horrid. I have no idea what happened to you or how you made it as far as you did. And yes, that may be a problem. We've never actually used that Trials Pagoda on someone as damaged as you are. Honestly, though, every person so far who has passed a trial has received the reward they sought. I really don't think your condition matters."
"Are you positive, Sect Leader? I've been informed that every attempt imposes a significant cost on you."
"I'm as confident as I can be. If nothing else, I will hold you and your sect blameless if you pass the trial and the pagoda cannot advance you." Benton shrugged. "If that happens, I'll allow them to apply the cost already paid to a different member."
Doing so would cost him an additional five hundred Sect Points, but it seemed like the right thing to do.
Duan Lan looked to Yuan Yaozu for advice.
"You know, the older I got, the more skeptical I became," he said. "My motto was to assume that someone was lying or mistaken until proven otherwise. Sect Leader Chao Su has flipped that motto. If he says something is so, I'll stand beside him until someone absolutely proves him wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt, and even then I'll scrutinize the proof closely."
Hearing that level of faith from the Nascent Soul really made Benton's day.
"Okay, then, Sect Leader," Duan Lan said. "When can I start?"
Since Benton had sensed her coming with the slow moving caravan the previous day, he'd preempted anyone using the Trials Pagoda that morning. "No time like the present."
Wen Duyi grew up in a troupe. His parents were actors. His grandparents were actors. His aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins were mostly actors.
Following family tradition, he broke away from their troupe when he came of age, knowing that, succeed or fail, he'd be welcomed back whenever he wanted. The time away was for the purpose of finding himself as an artist.
Unfortunately, no one got rich from acting, and sometimes even surviving was difficult. Best case scenario a noble or a rich merchant would become a patron, and that lucky troupe wouldn't have to worry about feeding themselves. Any further ambitions didn't go beyond making art and having it be appreciated. Still, everyone dreamed of making a better life for themselves, especially if it didn't mean giving up on their dreams.
When a member of the Poison Claw Sect approached him a little more than a month prior, his first impulse was to rack his brain, trying to determine if one of their shows could have inadvertently insulted the sect or cultivators in general. No one was stupid enough to do so overtly, of course, not after what happened to a troupe whose play contained a negative portrayal of an ill disguised member of the Swift Blizzard Sect.
No one knew exactly what happened to them. The entire troupe, eleven people, had simply disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Wen Duyi's concern had only grown when he'd been escorted back to the Poison Claw's branch sect and shown to an elder's private sanctum. An actual elder. He'd never been in the presence of anyone so powerful or important.
It turned out that there was a village looking for a troupe to provide entertainment. Wen Duyi's group would be paid ten silvers per person—fifteen for him as the leader—simply to journey via caravan to the village and hear their offer.
That was it, his big chance. The village had to be decent sized to support an acting troupe, and they wanted his to be exclusive.
Surely, pursuing that opportunity would be more lucrative and lead to greater renown than continuing to struggle to find an audience in the relatively crowded marketplace of Sixth Flawless Flowing City.
It didn't take much to convince the troupe members to accept the deal. After all, they could always back out after hearing the offer.
The journey was long but exciting, full of hope for new opportunities. Besides the money up front, their way had also been paid, including all meals. There were even guards to protect against bandits.
The only strange thing was the presence of an old woman who was unrelated to the caravanners. She would appear happy and optimistic one day and melancholy and pessimistic the next. The troupe spent much of their time speculating as to what her situation was.
The leading theory was that her grandchildren lived in the village, and she hoped they'd accept her moving in for them to support in her old age. None of their attempts to fish for information bore fruit, however, and they could only guess.
As the caravan neared its destination, the troupe members grew more and more excited, wondering what the village must be like. They mostly believed it to be only slightly smaller than the town they'd passed through. It would have to be considering they sought a troupe.
When they finally saw the walls, however, they were sorely disappointed. The village was small. Tiny. Barely a flyspeck.
Still, they were determined to make the best of it, so as the wagons approached the gate, the members put on their best faces, feigning excitement at being there.
But the caravan kept going past the gate, soon arriving at another walled area, that one even smaller than the village. The troupe had no idea what to think, especially when it became apparent that the new area was a small sect, and it was clear that it was their destination.
A young man in nice silver and blue robes met them, asking them to wait in the cafeteria to be summoned while he conducted business of some sort with the old woman. Not being idiots, the troupe members were exceedingly polite, as they would be to any cultivator, and did as requested.
Almost all the sect members were young and surprisingly friendly, and the novelty of new arrivals got their tongues wagging. The troupe soon discovered that the young man was actually the sect leader, but they figured he was simply a Foundation Establishment cultivator who'd created his own little sect, no one truly important.
The first crack in that theory came when they noticed several people in Poison Claw Sect robes interacting with the blue clad members of the new sect. And the Poison Claw members treated the blue sect members with great respect.
Then Wen Duyi reminded them how they'd been recruited, by a Poison Claw Sect elder. The blue sect wasn't so simple!
Actors were, by nature, usually quite extroverted, and the troupe was no exception. They soon, very politely, made overtures to some of the blue sect members. One thing led to another, and questions were asked and answered regarding the sect leader.
He was no Foundation Establishment level cultivator. No one was quite sure of his realm, but two cultivators from the Poison Claw Sect called him Master.
How powerful did one have to be to have two members of a big three sect as disciples?
And he'd apparently defeated two high realm cultivators from the Jade Chameleon Sect in battle. Him alone versus two strong enough to fly. That was a feat worthy of a tale!
Maybe they'd been summoned to create that very story in play form. The troupe grew quite excited by the prospect. A command performance!
Soon after that revelation, a blue dragon popped into the cafeteria and flew directly at Wen Duyi. He of course thought he was under attack. Had not a kind blue sect member told him the purpose of the origami construct, he might have tried to destroy the thing. Which might have led to his ruin considering who sent the message.
Thus, it was with more than some trepidation that Wen Duyi and the rest of his troupe went to the sect leader's office.
Their entire future rested on what happened in the next few minutes.
Chapter 306 – Lights, Camera, Action
Benton had never seen a more nervous group than the actors he'd summoned to meet with him. With all the bowing and "this lowly one" and kowtowing, they behaved like he might strike them down at any second.
He scanned the leader.
Name:Wen DuyiAffiliation:Golden Heavenly Third Core Acting TroupeAge:21Cultivation:NoneTechniques:NoneSpiritual Roots:F+Qi Aspect:Embrace of deception, willingness to bend
The kid's spiritual roots were nothing to get excited about, but wow, Deception was an interesting aspect. Benton would have been darn skeptical about the kid's scruples if he wasn't an actor. As it was, though, the aspect and the profession couldn't have been more closely aligned.
The other members of the troupe, three women and four more men all in their late teens to early twenties, were all exactly what Benton expected, possessing roots mostly in the F range. The highest was an E-.
Their aspects were more interesting. While four of them possessed simple variations of common elements, two had Illusion and one Disguise. So, out of eight people, half had aspects featuring uncommon sub-elements or ones that Benton hadn't previously seen.
If he'd happened on a random group the same size as the troupe, he would have expected, at most, one of them to have an unusual aspect, and he wouldn't have been at all surprised if none of them did. Two would have gone against the odds. Four was just crazy.
Back on Earth, certain types of people were drawn to acting as a profession, and Benton doubted tendencies in that regard were any different on his new planet. He took the result as more confirmation that aspects affected personality.
With all the kowtowing, the troupe barely had time to introduce themselves before Sun Hua came in to serve tea.
Once everyone was seated with a cup, Benton spoke. "Welcome to the Rising Tide Sect. I am Sect Leader Chao Su."
The actors kowtowed to him yet again, and he had to wait for them to rise before continuing.
He cupped his hands. "First of all, gratitude for coming all this way. The trip was long, and I'm sure it wasn't easy."
The troupe appeared stunned that the mighty cultivator would express either appreciation or sympathy for what they went through.
"As to why I requested that Elder Kang Ya-Ting approach your troupe, I have a project that requires cultivators with acting experience."
They all glanced at each other, their expressions confused.
"Apologies for any misunderstanding, Sect Leader," Wen Duyi said, "but we're not cultivators."
Benton smiled. "Tell me, is it easier to find a cultivator who is an actor or to find actors and make them into cultivators? You are experienced thespians, are you not?"
The light of realization dawned in their eyes, but they still appeared somewhat apprehensive. Which Benton understood. It wasn't every day that a sect leader summoned someone with such an offer.
"To be clear, none of you have much talent in terms of your spiritual roots, all Es and Fs, not even close to what is required to join most sects."
His announcement, obviously, did nothing to alleviate their trepidation, but he thought it was important to be transparent.
"Again, though, that's fine," Benton said. "All I need are Foundation Establishment realm cultivators, and I can get you to that level without an issue, even with your relatively poor roots."
"Esteemed Sect Leader," Wen Duyi said, cupping his hands, "this lowly one doesn't understand. No sect would expend the resources necessary to raise such untalented members to Foundation Establishment. What project could be so important to justify such an act? What are the risks? Will the lives of these lowly ones be in danger?"
Benton chuckled. The kid had a spine. Good.
"It's easier to show you than to tell you." Benton Teleported the entire group to an unused room on the top level of the Martial Pavilion.
After the troupe got over—for values of getting over—the surprise at suddenly being in a completely different room, Wen Duyi said, "Was that … Teleportation, Esteemed Sect Leader?"
"It was. You have knowledge of cultivators?"
If anything, the kid appeared even more cowed than before, his eyes wide and face pale. "This lowly one's plays sometimes feature cultivators, Esteemed Sect Leader. Teleportation is … unusual."
"True enough. If you accept my offer, you'll just have to get used to the unusual, though. We do that kind of thing a lot here. Even my disciple, Yuan Yaozu, a Nascent Soul from the Poison Claw Sect, finds my actions … unusual."
The kid's face somehow became even paler. "N-nascent Soul d-disciple, Esteemed Sect Leader?"
Wen Duyi was quickly becoming one of Benton's favorite people on the planet. Knowledge of what should be possible combined with unreserved expressions when norms were broken were a fantastic blend, and the kid possessed both in spades.
Benton employed his go-to method of dealing with reactions from such people—completely ignoring them. He walked to a panel next to the door and drew the troupe's attention to it. "This is why you're here."
He touched the pad and brought up a video of the last spar that took place in the room, Yang Xiu versus Kang Lin. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Y-yes, Esteemed Sect Leader," Wen Duyi said, clearly confused.
"Moving images in living color of two people fighting. Of two of my disciples fighting, actually. A spar. That actually took place in this room recently."
"Yes, Esteemed Sect Leader."
The confusion obviously hadn't cleared.
"Assuming a method to distribute the media, anyone who has a pad like this one could watch this spar, right?" Benton said.
"Yes, Esteemed Sect Leader."
The kid still didn't get it.
"What if, instead of a spar, this pad displayed one of your plays? What if thousands of people—tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions—had access to these pads?"
Finally, the light went on, and the kid's eyes widened. "We … these lowly ones would be…"
"Yes," Benton said, "you'd be famous. Each play would be seen by millions instead of by hundreds. What you're not considering yet, though, are the advantages given to you by being cultivators. Imagine Illusion making your plays seem real. No longer being limited to painted backdrops. What would that do for your storytelling?"
Obviously, Wen Duyi couldn't grasp what was to come. He simply didn't have the background or the knowledge of cinema that Benton did. But even the barest inklings of how game changing the technology was made the kid practically hyperventilate.
After that, it was a no-brainer that the troupe chose to join the sect, so Benton Teleported them all back to his office where he handed them over to Sun Hua for induction, instructing her to provide them with the standard sect cultivation method. Making movies was an interesting project, but it wasn't important enough—or the troupe talented enough—to justify specialized methods.
With his special project set in motion, Benton turned his attention to other matters. When Duan Lan had left Benton's office earlier, she'd followed Yuan Yaozu, who'd promised to give her advice on the trial she'd be attempting. The briefing must have been more involved than Benton had anticipated because it was well into the evening before Benton received the request from the pagoda for her to enter.
Crossing his fingers in hopes that he wasn't throwing away five hundred Sect Points, he granted his permission. It would likely be hours before he knew the result, so he pushed it out of his mind and concentrated on creating the Fire Qi Source. By the time finished that task, set up a Time dilation room to house it, and continued making greater spirit coins to feed the formations, there was still no notification about the Duan Lan's status.
With the sun peeking over the horizon, he checked his notifications, discovering that he'd received the expected eight Shop Points and Sect Points for adding that many new members.
Hmm. How long had it been since he'd actually paid attention to his totals? A quick bit of math revealed it had been almost four weeks since he'd last checked. It would probably be a good idea to do a full accounting, considering that he'd just spent five hundred on the Trials Pagoda.
Over the twenty-six days, twenty sect members had advanced their Body Cultivation in the Bronze realm a total of eight times to give him one hundred sixty points, and the twins and Jin LiJuan had all reached the peak of Silver to give him an additional twenty-four.
The category had definitely slowed in points gain since its halcyon days leading up to the beast tide. Of course, he could speed that back up if he needed to, but the current rate seemed good for the Alchemy Pavilion. It gave the junior members something easy to do that taught them practical skills and earned Contribution Points while still allowing time in everyone's days for cultivation and other training.
Benton could live with one hundred eighty-four points in less than a month.
In contrast to Body Cultivation, the amount he earned from Spiritual Cultivation was nothing short of astounding. Not from his core members, though. They were all so highly realmed that it took weeks and months simply to advance a single minor realm. Only Zhong Wen had gained him even a single point, hitting Qi Gathering minor realm seven.
The big gains had come, as usual, from the high quantities of sect members in the lower realms. Fatty Ren's first induction class had hit Qi Gathering minor realm four and been given pills to advance again. Since there were one hundred ninety-five of them, that gave Benton three hundred ninety Sect Points.
The sixth set of villagers, seventy-five of them, had all reached minor realms three and four, the latter with the aid of Qi Condensing Pills. The one hundred fifty points they earned would have been extraordinary at almost any other time.
The seventh set of villagers and second set of Fatty Ren's were the stars, though, simply due to sheer quantity. Three hundred villagers and one hundred townies made for a lot of cultivators, and they also all reached Qi Gathering minor realm three, took a pill, and made it to minor realm four.
Eight hundred Sect Points.
Eight hundred!
Since Benton had already made it to Nascent Soul and with Nihility so far away and more complicated to qualify for, he was in no hurry to add members for the sake of simply having more people. Thus, recruitment had slowed. The council had decided on a group of one hundred villagers once per month, and the first batch added under that edict reached minor realms one and two in the time period.
An additional two hundred points was nothing to sneeze at.
The final points from the category came from adding the troupe to the sect's roster, a measly eight points in comparison.
All told, Benton was quite happy to be the recipient of one thousand five hundred forty-nine Sect Points for the category.
Soul and Mind Cultivation weren't nearly as lucrative for two reasons. One, his sect members had so little time to devote to the practice. Two, adoption of the practice hadn't spread to the newer members yet, mainly because Benton hadn't quite decided on the best point in the process to start everyone. Of his over eleven hundred members, only two hundred sixty-two were working on one or the other.
That number was fine with Benton, though. There were only so many hours in the day, and so many productive uses of time. Cultivating one's Mind or Soul meant stealing hours from Spiritual Cultivation or techniques applicable to one's profession or weapon training.
Besides, he only recently had a big batch of newbies reach Qi Gathering minor realm four, the stage at which members were allowed to branch out with techniques. Once they got settled with their pavilions and other additions to their routine, he'd make a recommendation for them to work on Soul or Mind Cultivation, probably in the next month or so.
For the moment, he was quite happy with the two hundred sixty-two points the practitioners had gotten him for advancing to the third minor realm in their respective cultivation.
The final category, Techniques, still lagged all other methods of earning points. Which made sense. Each advancement took a lot of work. Still, it was better to have the one hundred four points than not to.
All told, Benton gained two thousand ninety-nine Sect Points over the twenty-six days, an amazing total.
He pulled up his full status.
Sect Name:Rising TideSect Members:1,117Disciples:57Sect Points:3,205Shop Points:696Host Cultivation:Nascent Soul - Minor Realm NineQi Available:289,164,544Host Body Cultivation:Platinum - Minor Realm NineHost Mind Cultivation:Expert - Minor Realm NineHost Soul Cultivation:Nirvana - Minor Realm NineHost Techniques (Qi Gathering):Basic Archery – MasteryBasic Spear Combat – MasteryExpert Golden Core Cultivation – MasteryGeneral Knowledge of Mind Cultivation – MasteryGeneral Knowledge of Soul Cultivation – MasteryIllusion - MasteryKnowledge of Beast Binding – MasteryKnowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 1 - MasteryKnowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 2 - MasteryKnowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 3 - MasteryKnowledge of Blacksmithing Rank 4 - MasteryKnowledge of Glassmaking – MasteryKnowledge of Herbs - MasteryKnowledge of Lightning – MasteryKnowledge of Magnetism – MasteryKnowledge of Nihility Realm - MasteryKnowledge of Origin Qi – MasteryKnowledge of Origin Qi Manipulation – MasteryKnowledge of Pills - MasteryKnowledge of Qi Sources – MasteryKnowledge of Rank 1 Alchemy - MasteryKnowledge of Rank 1 Formations – MasteryKnowledge of Rank 2 Alchemy - MasteryKnowledge of Rank 2 Formations – MasteryKnowledge of Rank 3 Alchemy - MasteryKnowledge of Rank 3 Formations – MasteryKnowledge of Rank 4 Alchemy - MasteryNascent Soul Cultivation Knowledge – MasteryPill Basics – MasteryHost Techniques (Foundation Establishment):Absolute Speed Enhancement – MasteryAnalysis – MasteryAura Defense - MasteryAutomatic Reaction Variable Shield – MasteryBlacksmithing – MasteryBlacksmithing Rank 2 – MasteryBlacksmithing Rank 3 – MasteryBlacksmithing Rank 4 – MasteryChain Lightning – MasteryClone – MasteryCopy Image - MasteryEarth Shot – MasteryExplosive Growth – MasteryExtreme Area Temperature Manipulation – MasteryFolded Space Quickstep – MasteryForging Rank 1 - MasteryForging Rank 2 - MasteryForging Rank 3 - MasteryForging Rank 4 - MasteryFormation Modification Rank 1 - MasteryFormation Modification Rank 2 - MasteryFormation Modification Rank 3 - MasteryFormation Modification Rank 4 - MasteryFortified Sewing Rank 1 - MasteryFortified Sewing Rank 2 - MasteryFortified Sewing Rank 3 - MasteryFortified Sewing Rank 4 - MasteryFoundation Excavation – MasteryGlass Creation - MasteryHealing – MasteryHydro Blast – MasteryIllusion Detection and Mitigation – MasteryIllusion Illumination – MasteryImbuing – MasteryInvisibility – MasteryLayered Variable Shield Breaker with Void Finisher Weapon Augmentation – MasteryMeditation – MasteryOrigin Qi Manipulation – MasteryPause Time – MasteryPerception – MasteryPill Creation Rank 1 - MasteryPill Creation Rank 2 - MasteryPill Creation Rank 3 - MasteryPill Creation Rank 4 - MasteryPower of the Heavens – MasteryProjectile Enhancement – MasteryRank 1 Formation Construction – MasteryRank 2 Formation Construction – MasteryRank 3 Formation Construction – MasteryRank 4 Formation Construction – MasteryRank 1 Formation Construction Acceleration – MasteryRank 2 Formation Construction Acceleration – MasteryRank 3 Formation Construction Acceleration – MasteryRank 4 Formation Construction Acceleration – MasteryRank 1 Herb Preparation - MasteryRank 2 Herb Preparation - MasteryRank 3 Herb Preparation - MasteryRank 4 Herb Preparation - MasteryRank 1 Inscription – MasteryRank 2 Inscription – MasteryRank 3 Inscription – MasteryRank 4 Inscription – MasterySeeking Speeding Arrow – MasterySpace Dragon Origami Messenger – MasteryStealth – MasteryStone Shaping and Construction – MasterySwitch Places – MasterySwordsmithing Rank 1 - MasterySwordsmithing Rank 2 - MasterySwordsmithing Rank 3 - MasterySwordsmithing Rank 4 - MasteryTalisman Crafting Rank 1 - MasteryTalisman Crafting Rank 2 - MasteryTalisman Crafting Rank 3 - MasteryTalisman Crafting Rank 4 - MasteryTeleportation – MasteryVariable AoE Gravity Burst – MasteryVariable AoE Shield – MasteryVariable Spirit Coin Manifestation – MasteryVoice Amplification – MasteryWind Slash – MasteryHost Techniques (Golden Core Concepts):Anti-Tribulation - MasteryEarth - MasteryFire - MasteryForce - MasteryGluttony - MasteryGravity - MasteryHealing - MasteryIce - MasteryIllusion - MasteryLight - MasteryLightning - MasteryMetal - MasteryMagnetism - MasteryMomentum - MasteryNature - MasteryOrigin Qi - MasteryPoison - MasteryShadow - MasterySharpness - MasterySmell - MasterySound - MasterySoul - MasterySpace - MasteryTemperature - MasteryThunder - MasteryTime - MasteryTribulation Lightning - MasteryVoid - MasteryWater - MasteryWood - MasteryHost Techniques (Nascent Soul Auras):Gravity - MasterySpace - MasteryTime - MasteryVoid - MasteryHost Mind Techniques (Myriad):Dual Focus – MasteryInflict Fear – MasteryMind Crush – MasteryMind Stun – MasteryTelekinetic Push – MasteryHost Mind Techniques (Expert):Mind Strike - MasteryObliterate Mind - MasterySplit Focus - MasteryTelekinesis - MasteryTerrify - MasteryHost Soul Techniques (Nirvana):Soul Material Manipulation – MasterySoul Sap - MasterySoul Stun - MasterySoul Transference - MasteryMenus:[Cultivation Method][Technique][Quest][Perk][Advancement][Shop][Sect]