Chapter 124: It’s What?

Yang Ru stood across the clearing from his nemesis, a wide tree that had not a mark on it. Two dozen times, he’d slammed into it, trying to transfer the momentum built up from his run onto the tip of his spear. Two dozen times, he’d failed. Two dozen times, he’d ended up on his butt.

Undeterred, he sprinted full speed toward the orange wood with its garish foliage. Each step created momentum as he channeled qi outside his body.

It was hard to describe exactly what the qi did. It made him feel heavier? Unstoppable? Inevitable?

All those and none.

The very air around him radiated force and power.

The strength of his body added to the energy produced by the qi, and the two sources of impetus fed off each other.

He knew he could hit with devastating force, but he needed to channel that might to the tip of his spear for it to be effective against a beast’s qi shield.

The tree approached fast. He had to get the timing perfect. Three strides. Two.

He triggered his weapon technique. One. His momentum drained, transferring to the—

Thunk.

The next thing he knew, he was on his butt, sitting on the ground.

Again.



Yang Ru rose, undiscouraged. If it were easy, anyone could do it, and he’d only been at it for several hours.

Perhaps, though, he was going about it all wrong. He felt good about the process of building momentum. That part had been easy even before he’d gained the technique. All he’d added was using qi to supplement what he created naturally.

The problem was in transferring that momentum, both the process itself and the timing.

He moved to one step away from the tree, and not bothering with his technique to add to his momentum, just tried to convert what he built naturally to his spear. The tip hit the trunk a fraction of a second before the transfer.

The next time, he was again too late. And again.

The try after that, he started the process earlier and peaked too soon.

Again and again and again, he tried.

Sometime later, maybe minutes or maybe hours, he glanced around the clearing. Shouldn’t Master and the girls had been there by that point?

Yang Xiu finished a cycle and looked at her new friend, Kang Lin, who was not doing nearly as well with her cultivation.

“Still can’t get it?” Yang Xiu said.

The other girl sighed. “About once out of every five tries. Comparatively, the technique is going great.”

“I still say we should tell Master.”

“You know I can’t do that, Yang Xiu. Things get complicated between sects, and I can’t accept a favor without obligating my grandfather and the entire Poison Claw Sect to return it.”

“Is it really that important?”

“Hugely so. If your sect leader performs a service for me, my sect not responding in kind would be a huge loss of face.” Kang Lin shuddered. “If I committed the sect to a favor like that, something so far beyond my authority, I’d get into so, so much trouble. You don’t even know.”

“I don’t pretend to understand sect politics, and I’m sure you’re right.”

Kang Lin sighed again. “But?”

Yang Xiu grinned. “But we’re just asking for advice, not a favor.”

“Advice from an expert is a favor. A big one. I know your situation is way different than mine, but I can’t just walk up to my sect leader and ask him to tell me how to cultivate. That’s the kind of guidance he only gives to his personal disciples or for a load of contribution points.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Yang Xiu said. “I have a ton of contribution points, like tens of thousands, and I’m earning more all the time. Why don’t I use some to ask the question for you?”

“Then I’ll owe you a favor!”

“So? It will just be a favor between friends, right? That doesn’t involve our sects, right?”


“I guess…”

Benton Quickstepped to the two girls. He scanned each of them.

Name:Yang XiuAffiliation:Rising Tide SectAge:15Cultivation:Foundation Establishment - Minor Realm OneQi Available:2,968Body Cultivation:Bronze - Minor Realm SixTechniques (Qi Gathering):Foundational Archery Essentials: MasteryFoundational Spear Essentials: Small SuccessPeerless Peering and Perception: Mastery Techniques (Foundation Establishment):Slippery Arrow: Small Success Spiritual Roots:AQi Aspect:Perfectly smooth ice balanced on the razor edge of freezing and thawing

.

Name:Kang LinAffiliation:Poison Claw SectAge:16Cultivation:Foundation Establishment - Minor Realm OneQi Available:1,150Techniques:Lightning Dash: Mastery; Shocking Spear: MasterySpiritual Roots:C+Qi Aspect: Forked lightning ripping the sky asunder

It almost pained him to see the comparison between the two girls as he was growing to like Kang Lin a lot. The facts that she hadn’t even gotten one Foundation Establishment technique to Small Success yet and that her qi pool was so low, just a little more than a third of Yang Xiu’s, made her status hurt to look at.

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He put that unpleasantness out of his mind, though, to focus on the task at hand. “Ready for a hunt? There’s a rank four approaching.”

They glanced at each other and nodded.

He used to think that communication via glance was a twin thing, but it seemed more like a Yang Xiu thing, as she had Zou Tian and now Kang Lin doing it, too.

“Alright,” he said, holding out his hands. “Let’s go!”

They grabbed on, and he Quickstepped to a spot in the forest about a mile away. After dropping them off, he Quickstepped again, this time to the upper limbs of a tree with a good vantage point overlooking a clearing.

After catching up to him, the girls quickly readied themselves and got into position, Kang Lin on the ground and Yang Xiu in a tree.

Soon, the beast approached. It turned out to be an armadillo, one as big as a small car.

Yang Xiu immediately began peppering it with arrows, about one per second, and each hit flashed against its qi shield, leaving a spot of ice behind.

Nice. She’d really come a long way in just a few days.

Benton couldn’t say the same thing about Kang Lin. The girl still took way too long to charge up her spear with lightning. If she were alone or, really, with anyone who was a lot less competent than her current partner, she would have been in trouble.

But Yang Xiu was incredibly competent. She kept the armadillo pinned and blinded with arrows, so all that Kang Lin had to do was deliver the final blow.

Her nose flared as she stood over the corpse.

“You’re taking this one, Yang Xiu,” she said. “None of this, but you killed it stuff.”

“Fine.” Yang Xiu turned to Benton. “I have no use for it, Master. Give it to the store for me?”

“Sure.”

“You did great, Yang Xiu. In just a few days, you cut the time it takes to enhance your arrows by a third, and unless I my eyes deceived me, it looked like you’ve coated close to half the arrow instead of just the tip.”

His disciple beamed, clearly pleased with the praise. Just as suddenly, though, her expression fell.

“Master, Sister Kang Lin is having a hard time with both her cultivation method and her technique. Could I use some of my contribution points to have you look at them and give her some advice?”

He was a bit taken aback as Yang Xiu had never mentioned anything about contribution points, but after a moment’s thought, he understood. That solution was actually quite a clever one.

“Sure. A thousand points work?”

“Yes, Master.”

The request was obviously not a surprise for Kang Lin because she had two jade slips ready to hand over. Benton took them from her and dove his consciousness into the cultivation method first.



What he found dismayed him. He knew intellectually that heaven grade scriptures were rare, but as a granddaughter of an elder of a prestigious sect, he’d expected her to be using something of at least earth grade. What he was looking at was profound at best, and it was aspected to the lightning’s speed more so than its power.

Next, he looked at her weapon technique. It was also profound, but it, at least, was closer to her aspect. Still, it was nothing impressive. Very inefficient and unstable. No wonder she was having so many problems with it.

“Kang Lin, I’ll be completely straight with you. If you keep cultivating using this method, you will only reach Golden Core if heaven’s fortune shines on you. It’s … it’s … crap. There’s no other way to describe it. Not only does it not align closely enough with your qi aspect, but it’s just not a good method.

“The technique…” He shrugged. “It’s … meh. It won’t hurt you, but you’ll not become a powerhouse with it, either.”

To his horror, she looked for a moment like she was going to start crying, but she pulled herself together and cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It’s better to know that now.”

“Couldn’t your grandfather get you something better?” Benton said.

“Unfortunately, Esteemed Grandfather has to spend his contribution points on himself and his disciples and his children and his other grandchildren. There wasn’t much left for this lowly one, though Esteemed Grandfather did the best he could.”

The whole thing left him in something of a bind. He’d hoped she’d be able to contribute greatly to the defense of the village, but she’d never pick up that poor technique well enough before the tide. As she was, she was almost more of a liability than an asset.

Worse, though, she was a good kid and one of Yang Xiu’s friends. He’d always had a hard time not growing attached to his kid’s buddies. The thought of Kang Lin plateauing in the late Foundation Establishment realm and settling into life as a mediocre cultivator sickened him.

How could he let her suffer through using that horrible cultivation method? If he had his way, he’d destroy the thing, so no one else ever had the misfortune of encountering it again.

But there he was again, though, contemplating spending points that he had no hope of ever getting back.

Unless…

Kang Lin would obviously never abandon her sect, but Su’s memories pointed to a different way. It was something of a rare event, but sect members did sometimes take a master from a different sect, especially if that master was a friend of their sect and a friend of their family.

That solution might work.

“System,” he said internally, “if I take Kang Lin as a personal disciple but not as a sect member, will I still get points for her?”

The Concept behind the Sect Leader System is mentoring cultivators. As long as Host is committed to strengthening the disciple, sect membership is not a requirement.

Yes. He just had to see if she would go for it.

“Kang Lin, are you anyone’s personal disciple?”

“No, Esteemed Master Cultivator. There is no one else who could provide me with a better cultivation method or technique.”

“Understood, but that wasn’t exactly why I was asking. Would you consider becoming a disciple of someone from a different sect?”

She looked confused for a moment before the light of understanding dawned in her eyes. “I would … consider that, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

Yang Xiu clapped her hands together and grinned.

“Okay, I’ll make the offer official, then. Kang Lin, would you become one of my personal disciples?”

“Uh… What about my sect, Esteemed Master Cultivator? How would that work?”

“You’d stay a member of the Poison Claw Sect, and I would never ask you to do anything to betray them.”

She smiled happily.

“By the same token, you’ll be learning a lot about me, so I’d ask you not to share any of my secrets with anyone outside my inner circle unless you feel that, by keeping the secret, you’re betraying the interests of your sect.” He frowned for a moment. “Within reason, on that last point. If you think that literally not telling your grandfather everything you know about me is a betrayal, that’s not what I mean. If you overhear Yang Xiu and I talking about staging an invasion of the Poison Claw Sect, that would be something you could share without breaching my trust.”

Kang Lin looked pensive, obviously still thinking it over.

“To be clear, you’ll never hear Yang Xiu and I talking about invading your sect.”

She chuckled. “Well thank you for that, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

Perfect set up for the punchline.

“She and I will only talk about invading your sect when you’re safely out of earshot.”

Kang Lin barked out a laugh before quickly clamping her hands over her mouth. “Apologies, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

While Yang Xiu figuratively rolled her eyes, he said, “Nonsense. If I wouldn’t have wanted you to laugh, I wouldn’t have said it.”

“The offer is serious, Esteemed Master Cultivator?”

“It is.”

“And is it contingent on anything, Esteemed Master Cultivator?”

“I already told you my condition.” He paused for a moment as the real meaning of her question sunk in. “To be clear, though, the thing with you and Yang Ru is totally up to the two of you. There is absolutely no pressure, overt or implied, for either one of you to do anything at all. So, no, the offer is not contingent on anything.”

“Then, I think I … accept, Esteemed Master Cultivator.”

“Well, I guess we have to do the thing, then.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“Ah. There’s a tea ceremony I do with all my disciples.” Benton pulled a table, a pot of hot water, two cups, and tea bags from his ring.

When he’d inducted that first group of villagers at the arena, he’d honestly thought he was done with the whole bai-si ceremony, but there he was doing it for the second time since.

At least, he had it all down pat by that point, and soon enough, a notification popped up.

The Quest, Recruit Additional Disciple, has been completed. This Quest may be repeated. Host is awarded one Shop Point.

Host currently has 149 Shop Points.

As soon as he dismissed that one, another blue box appeared.

The Quest, Recruit First Foundation Establishment Disciple, has been completed. Host is awarded ten Shop Points.

Host currently has 159 Shop Points.

Kang Lin was so newly advanced that Benton hadn’t even thought about the fact that she was a Foundation Establishment cultivation. He’d been positive that Fatty Ren would be his ticket to completing that particular quest.

“Give me just a second,” Benton said.

He quickly pulled up the menu to create a Foundation Establishment Cultivation Method.



“Let’s see,” he said to his newest disciple, “if you had to choose to prioritize your chances of making it to Nascent Soul, the speed at which you can advance through Foundation Establishment, or the amount of qi your cultivation method would provide you each minor realm, which would it be?”

“The first, definitely, Master.”

“And second?”

“Amount of qi, Master.”

“Good choices.”

She was neither as talented nor had used as good a Qi Gathering Cultivation Method as Yang Xiu, making him really concerned about her future. To offset potential trouble, he set Foundation to seventy-five.

For Ease, he wanted to put some value there but not much, so he allocated five points. That left twenty for Power. Given her small qi pool, he really wished he could have set it higher.

And just like that, the More Than a Flash in the Pan cultivation method was born.

He handed her the jade slip and waited until after she’d had a chance to examine it.

“Master, this… It’s… This lowly one cannot accept this. It’s too valuable.”

“Actually, it’s kind of worthless to anyone but you, seeing as how it’s tuned to your unique qi aspect, so...”

“It’s what?”