Chapter 261: Incredible Generosity

Kang Lin reminisced as she flew on her glider, as Master called it. She still enjoyed the experience of flying, but with her Foundation Establishment level body control and reflexes, simply staying over the trees as she made her way to Sixth Flawless Flowing City didn’t require much of her attention. The easy flight was nothing like playing what Yang Xiu called sky tag.

Now that game made Kang Lin concentrate solely on flying.

As it was, though, her mind wandered. First, she considered the gliders themselves. The construction and arrays weren’t anything all that special, and the only part that would make it difficult to replicate was the inclusion of Gravity qi, not an element that many cultivators used. Still, she’d never heard of a sect that produced anything like the device.

She couldn’t help but wonder why.

The device allowed Foundation Establishment cultivators to get from place to place much faster than any movement technique available at their level. Considering that the majority of the hard labor performed in a sect was done by cultivators of that level, it seemed like improving their efficiency would be something worth doing.

On the negative side, the devices were only good for a couple of years at most for the most talented of sect members, and sects weren’t known for giving expensive gifts to untalented members. Maybe they just didn’t think it was worth the effort to produce.

The Rising Tide Sect was different in that they had very, very few high realmed members, only Master and Town Lord Ren. They had a growing number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators, though. The twins and, as of recently, Jin LiJuan were just the start. Master had promised that every Qi Gathering cultivator in the sect, even those with only F talent, would reach the second major realm if they were diligent enough, and Kang Lin believed him.

The benefit provided by his top heaven grade cultivation methods could not be overstated. Combine those with that crazy Trial Pagoda, and there was no reason the entire sect wouldn’t eventually reach even Golden Core. Or higher.

She had personally witnessed one man use the pagoda to go from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core and another from Golden Core to Nascent Soul. Nascent Soul! And both men had been stuck for a long time at the peaks of their respective realms. The Trial Pagoda was solely responsible for their advancement.

Kang Lin trembled, and she didn’t know if the reaction was from fear or excitement. Probably both but more the former.

Within two to three years, it would not be surprising if the Rising Tide Sect had a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators. Which wasn’t a big thing. The Poison Claw Sect had treble that number. But even selecting only highly talented recruits, more than half the inductees never even reached that high.

To ensure that no recruit, no matter how untalented, failed was unfathomable. What would the Rising Tide Sect be in a century? A millennium?



Even if the Poison Claw Sect had a dozen Nascent Souls by then, it would probably end up a subsidiary of Master’s sect. The future of the Rising Tide Sect was bright indeed.

If.

A big if.

If no one came along and destroyed what Master was trying to build.

Kang Lin wasn’t stupid, and she’d been educated in the ways of sects. The Rising Tide Sect was about to go through a tribulation, one originating from its fellow sects instead of from the heavens. And there were only two outcomes. Either Master would reign supreme or he and all his disciples would be dead.

Trying to shake off her morose thoughts, she stared ahead. The city walls were just coming into view.

Her grandfather had gotten her permission to fly over the gate directly to the Poison Claw Sect, so the guards should have been expecting her. She lowered her speed and altitude to just above the height of the wall and waved at one of them. He waved back.

As she crossed the threshold into the city, she was well aware that, at that moment, she was almost definitely the only Foundation Establishment cultivator flying solo above the city. Being the only cultivator of her realm performing such a highly visible activity wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Spotting several figures on flying swords in the sky, she realized how vulnerable she was and that she had nearly seven thousand of Master’s greater spirit coins in her storage ring. Keeping her speed high, she lowered her height to the minimum needed to clear the surrounding buildings and headed straight for her sect’s branch grounds.

The closer she got to her grandfather’s study, the more anxious she became. She barely even knew why, but a deep feeling of unease came over her.

“Grandfather!” she said as soon as she was invited in.

“Kang Lin? Are you okay?”

“How bad is it, Grandfather? Will my friends be killed? Will Master?”

His shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. With Yuan Yaozu’s advancement, our sect is strongly allied with him now, more strongly than we’ve been with any other sect ever. We are also now the strongest faction with five, soon to be six, Nascent Souls.” He chuckled, clearly trying to lighten the mood. “The way it’s going, this old man will soon join those lofty ranks.”

Kang Lin plastered a grin on her face even though she didn’t feel at all amused. “The world will be a better place with you watching over it at such a high realm.”

Her belief in that sentiment, at least, she didn’t have to fake.

“Trust in your master, Granddaughter. He is a wise and powerful cultivator.”

She frowned. “Those two Nascent Souls nearly killed him. How will he stand against what is sure to come next?”

Her grandfather did something that she had never seen nor could even fathom. He shrugged. “What I don’t know about that man is far more extensive than what I do know. All I can say is that I have the utmost confidence that anyone who comes against him will die. Period. Just like all the others before them. Your master may have looked like he was on the verge of losing, but who is standing and who doesn’t have enough of their bodies remaining for a decent burial?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I’ve never seen him act like he did afterward. He was angry, which I have seen, but more than that, he appeared defeated.”

“That wasn’t a man who admitted defeat, my granddaughter. That was a man who admitted making a mistake. He clearly underestimated his foes and almost paid for it.” He shrugged again. “It happens to the best of us.”

“You really think that is all it was, Grandfather?”

“I do.”

“And you think he has the power to defend his sect?” Kang Lin said. “That Trial Pagoda? I’m right about what’s coming, aren’t I?”

“You are, and I do. There is much more to this world than you or I have seen. I heard of a man once who could advance his cultivation by restricting his realm while in combat. The trick of it was that, once limited, it couldn’t be changed until the fight was over. So if he made a miscalculation, he’d die, but when he got it right, his cultivation shot forward at ridiculous speed.”

“Is that what’s going on with Master?”

Her grandfather chuckled. “I doubt it, but there is something very unusual about your master. This old man hasn’t lived long enough to understand what he’s using for a source of power, but I guarantee you that he is not so simple. I would bet you all the spirit coins you have on you at ten to one odds that, if he were to come up against those two Nascent Souls today, he’d obliterate them without expending any effort at all. If I didn’t believe in his ability, there is no way I’d let you go back to that sect with what will be coming his way.”

Kang Lin cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Grandfather.”



Once they’d done their business, exchanging Master’s coins for the metal ingots, Kang Lin took her leave, feeling much lighter of heart than when she’d arrived. Her flight back out of the city was more enjoyable, too, as she noted all the people who pointed to the girl flying on the strange device.

She waved and had fun with the attention until she spotted a man wearing the gray robes of the Jade Chameleon Sect. From his age and the fact that she couldn’t sense him, he was surely a Golden Core but not one that she recognized. Not that she knew many on sight.

Instead of him being angry, he smiled and waved back at her, and at first, she thought he meant it as a peace offering to her and her sect. Then, she met his eyes. They were cold and calculating, standing in bright contrast to his expression and body language.

That man was a snake, and she’d best avoid him at all costs. She pretended to wave at someone else as she increased her speed away from him. When she finally passed over the wall and didn’t spot anyone behind her, she breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

Still, she kept her glider at maximum velocity all the way back to the Rising Tide Sect, swearing to herself that she would plead with Master to make her device faster.

Obviously, then, when she landed, she went straight to the Administration Hall and climbed the stairs to Master’s office.

“Ah, Kang Lin,” he said. “Welcome back. I’m so glad to see you made it safely. Any problems?”

She almost mentioned the Jade Chameleon that she saw, but as nothing had actually happened with the man, there wasn’t anything to tell. “No, Master. I went straight there and back, only taking a brief time to visit with my grandfather.”

“So diligent. You are a credit to your sect.”

She cupped her hands, holding her storage ring in her palm. “Your ingots, Master.”

“Perfect!” He took the ring, extracted the ingots into the air and had them hover there for a moment as he examined them before, presumably, storing them in his ring. “Exactly what I requested. This will do nicely.” Master floated her ring back to her.

Since she thought that their business was concluded, she was about to ask about making the gliders faster when he spoke again.

“I’ve got something for you. A small gift.”

A gift? For her? Another one? He’d already given her the glider. She couldn’t help but get a bit excited.

“It’s nothing big or all that impressive.” He paused. “Here, let me just show you.”

A sword, a jian, appeared floating in the air in front of her, confusing her to no end. Why would he give her a sword? She was a spear user.

“The metal you retrieved for me will be made into swords for the upcoming auction,” Master said, “and the ones that I sell there will need to be perfect. Even a master like me sometimes needs to rough out a project before starting on the real thing. This is my proof of concept.”

Okay. That explained why he had that sword but not why he was giving it to her.

“My problem was twofold,” he said. “One, I knew that sword was neither going to be good enough for the auction or for any of my disciples, few of which could get any use of a blade anyway. Two, I knew that sword was good enough to be of use to someone somewhere, and I hate being wasteful. If someone can use it, I want it to be used, you know?”

“Yes, Master.” She did understand. Resources for cultivators were precious. Even if the resource wasn’t perfect, it would be valuable to someone.

“I was thinking that my excellent disciple, Kang Lin, who was off doing me a favor, was spending an awful lot of time at my sect, which is not hers. Then, I got to thinking, if she’s here, how’s she earning any contribution points at home? So I made this sword Poison aspected. I figure you can sell it for points. If you want to. You can give it to a friend or whatever you might prefer. I just thought it might be helpful.”

She cupped her hands again, wondering again at the fact that Master was so thoughtful. Of all the adjectives that she would have used to describe sect leaders before meeting him, that one would not have appeared on the list. “Gratitude, Master.”

“I honestly don’t know what you can get for it,” he said. “It’s not that great, not even top or heaven grade.”

“What grade is it, Master?”

“High Earth.”

Kang Lin resisted shaking her head. Of course her Master would create a trash practice sword better than ninety percent of all the weapons used by her entire sect. “Gratitude again, Master. I’m sure I can get something for it in trade.”

“Good! The arrays turned out okay, at least, so that should help the value.”


“Arrays, Master?”

“Yeah. The sword will self-repair when damaged. You can feed it qi to speed that process or let it absorb slowly from the atmosphere.”



She nodded. That array was very popular, and he was right about it increasing the value. Maybe not doubling it exactly but close to it.

“The edge has an array to increase sharpness as well. I’m not quite happy with my inscribing on that one, though. It’ll only increase the cutting power by about five times.”

“Only five times!” Kang Lin couldn’t help herself. Swords were made for cutting. Any array that helped make it sharper would greatly increase its worth, and she’d never heard of an array giving a multiple higher than three.

“Yeah. I know. Not up to my normal standards, but I did tell you this one was for practice. With what I learned, though, the ones for the auction should reach at least ten times.”

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unintentionally doing her best imitation of a fish. “A high Earth sword, Poison aspected, with those two arrays will be quite valuable, Master. Are you sure you want to give it to me?”

“I have no use for it,” he said. “It makes me happy that you’ll find it a good home. But don’t forget about the third array, the final one.”

Pavilions tended to have healthy rivalries in most sects, meaning they didn’t often work together unless commanded by the council of elders or by the sect leader, meaning that swords with any arrays at all were unusual. The more arrays a blade had, the more unusual and, thus, the more valuable it became, especially when the arrays were well thought of.

She waited a moment for him to tell her what the array did, but he said nothing. Clearly he wanted her to ask. So she did.

“Oh,” he said, “it converts and amplifies raw poison qi into an attack that penetrates the enemy’s body upon any cut.”

“Amplifies, Master? By how much?”

“Again, about five times. I’m hoping to double that for the real thing.”

As far as Kang Lin could figure, the trash sword he’d given her was worth more than all the greater spirit coins she’d just transferred to her grandfather. Stunned by her master’s incredible generosity, she stumbled out of his office after saying her goodbyes and thanking Master once again. It wasn’t until later that she realized she’d completely forgotten to ask him about the glider.