Analyzing the avatar shop intently, Aotian began to ponder.
'Outer elders are cheap, costing only 1 EP. They share my cultivation and aren't that strong, but their skills are very useful, and since they're cheap, they're excellent for buying in bulk, which would help manage the large number of disciples.'
He reflected, looking at the cheaper avatars, and then lowered his gaze to the second purchase option on the panel.
'Inner elders, on the other hand, cost 10 points. They have a higher realm than , and their skills, needless to say, are incredibly useful. Hmm… let confirm sothing.'
'System, are the avatars bought from the shop tied to random pavilions, or do I decide?'
Ding!
[All avatars purchased from the avatar shop, with the exception of the sect leader, have no set affiliation, leaving it to the host to decide which pavilion they will belong to. Reminder: avatars can only be assigned to pavilions already available. To unlock new pavilions, the sect rank must be upgraded.]
The system responded in his mind, with its chanical and emotionless voice.
'Humm… as expected. But that's already very good. At least I can recover my avatars once they're lost. System, can the appearances of avatars be specified to match those who died?' he thought of sothing and asked.
Although his dead avatars were lost, he could replace them with new ones. In the end, it wouldn't make a difference, since they weren't real and were rely personalities created by himself.
Thus, if one of them died, he could recreate it without issue, as long as he had enough EP, thereby avoiding the problem of discarding a carefully cultivated personality. And while he could change the new avatars' appearance to that of the old ones with his abilities, it was still better to have an appearance directly set by the system.
Ding!
[Affirmative. The forms of new avatars purchased from the avatar shop can be customized or randomized. This includes gender, voice, aura, and appearance.]
Aotian felt relieved at the news, but froze upon hearing the part about gender.
'I can set the gender too?!' he mulled, feeling internally conflicted.
Ding!
[Affirmative.]
[Reminder 1: Only avatars purchased from the system shop via EP can be customized.]
[Reminder 2: All avatars obtained through sect missions are male and have fixed appearances.]
The system replied, making things clear.
Aotian took a deep breath, feeling his heart race.
He had been reflecting on the problem of the enormous disparity between n and won in the sect's leadership. That was why he even created so techniques, like the Sunflower Manual, but even having done that, he really didn't think he would have the courage to use it.
Call him a coward, but Aotian simply couldn't overco that psychological barrier.
'Haah… it's insane to even consider cutting off my junior brother and becoming a woman, even if it was only done in an avatar. After all, the avatar is still , and I can't get past that psychological barrier. And if I don't cut and only let the avatar pretend to be a woman with a junior brother, forget the psychological barrier, it would be easy for soone powerful to notice the avatar's Yang tendency and realize it has sothing extra between the legs.'
He reasoned, feeling deeply conflicted.
'The sect really needs more won in leadership. Right now, there are seventy male elders against only one female elder. On top of that, both the ancestor and the sect leader are n as well. With the sect's advancent so close, the discrepancy will only increase further. Among the disciples, however, the number of n and won is quite balanced.'
Feeling a headache thinking about it, he imdiately shifted these thoughts to an avatar, since Rihai, in his arms, was beginning to feel confused upon noticing his mood turning strange all of a sudden.
'This cultivation world doesn't have the sexist tendencies of the mortal world, since here n don't have superiority in strength or influence over won.'
'The lack of won in leadership is a problem that needs to be resolved, either through recruitnt or by buying female avatars directly. The first is difficult, since the won recruited would need to be very talented to at least keep up sowhat with the cultivation of the other avatars.'
'As for the second, buying female avatars directly, the psychological impact would be much smaller than manipulating a male avatar to beco a woman. Still, I hesitate to have female avatars, after all, I'd basically be becoming a woman in another body.'
The whole idea left Aotian very uncomfortable. As much as he had already imagined himself as a woman—after all, everyone has thought about it at so point—when faced with the actual ability to do so, he couldn't accept it well. Latest content published on NoveI-Fire.ɴet
'Haah… I'll leave this for later. When the sect upgrades and I have more EPs, I'll decide.'
He decided to set it aside and quickly headed, with his main body, toward the Beast Pavilion, taking Rihai along.
'Back to the initial matter, inner and outer elders aren't expensive, but the sect leader and ancestor are extrely costly. The ancestor, costing 1000 points—that is, enough EPs to buy 100 inner elders—actually isn't that absurd.'
'An ancestor has 3 cultivation levels above , while an inner elder only has 1. Even 100 inner elders aren't enough to challenge an ancestor, so the price is quite fair.'
'But the sect leader is simply a rip-off. 5000 EPs is terrifying. That's 500 inner elders, or 5 ancestors! No, Tian Zhu must not die under any circumstances, I can't be without his ability, but I don't even dare to imagine spending so much to revive him.'
He thought, determined, sweating slightly just from imagining such a thing.
Fortunately, the Beast Pavilion was now in sight, and he could shift his attention elsewhere.
When they arrived, Aotian and Rihai descended from the flying sword they shared.
Although he could fly alone with his current cultivation, it was better to disguise it for now, since no one in the sect had yet accumulated enough contribution points to buy a Golden Core cultivation technique.
Not that he cared about being discovered, but it was best to avoid making disciples jealous and confused about his apparent "preferential treatnt."
As soon as they landed, they heard loud voices and saw the scene of a dragon in reduced size flying in front of a huge red tiger, whose ears were drooping, tail tucked between its legs, and body trembling fiercely.
"Hahaha! Stinky tiger, did you miss ?" the dragon shouted, freezing the tiger in place.
The big red cat looked in shock at the powerful dragon before him and imdiately recognized the voice.
"Leopard?!" the tiger cried out, his eyes wide in astonishnt.
"Haha! Yes, it's . But now call Snake, I've changed my codena," Elder Snake spoke proudly, twirling his serpentine body in the air in a circle, showing off.
"How did you beco a beast of such a powerful bloodline?!" The tiger looked at him in disbelief, tail still tucked.
The bloodline suppression he felt was too strong, and even though ntally he was no longer afraid of the great snake before him, since he knew who it was and that he wouldn't be hard, his body still couldn't stop screaming to submit before the king of beasts.
"That's no big deal, I'll explain later. This adventure brought many gains, and among them are the final ingredients for your bloodline advancent pill," the elder revealed, making the tiger tremble even more, this ti with excitent.
"Really?!" he asked, extrely thrilled. If his tail wasn't tucked between his legs, he would probably be wagging it like a happy puppy.
"But of course! I wouldn't lie to you. Now we're beast companions, aren't you happy? Just don't you dare try to sniff my butt, or I'll smack you."
"You bastard, I'm a tiger, not a dog! You wanna die?!"
"Bah! Talk about killing when you manage to raise your ears and get your tail out from between your legs."
"I-I-I just couldn't stand your annoying voice, that's why my ears are down. As for my tail, it's there b-because… I was cold in the balls, that's it!"
Hearing the quarrel between the two, the other elders began arriving and joining the ruckus.
"Hahaha! Tiger, you're so shaless."
"Tiger, are you tired of standing? Why are your legs shaking?"
The elders started teasing, and the tiger grew furious, his fur bristling like an angry cat's.
"You bastards, you're annoying papa tiger here. My bloodline is about to advance, and I'll beat you all up when that happens!" The tiger roared angrily, but his cowering posture didn't change at all.
Everyone laughed at the contrast between his words and his appearance, including Rihai and Aotian by the side.
It had been over a year since the tiger joined the sect, and as a powerful spiritual beast, his brain was highly developed. Over ti, he ended up learning a great deal of human language through interaction with people.
Now, he basically communicated in human speech instead of spiritual intent, unless he needed a word he hadn't learned yet.
Elder Snake, floating in the air, after having had his fun, slowly shrank and assud human form.
He had already recovered his outer elder red robes and put them on, so when leaving his dragon form he wasn't naked.
There weren't many changes in his appearance compared to when he was a normal human, except for his slit golden eyes. Perhaps more traits would beco evident once he was no longer just a hornless dragon and his bloodline improved.
Aotian then controlled him to conceal his dragon aura and presence, and the Red Tiger finally let out a sigh of relief and was able to move again.
At that mont, another person entered the cave.
It was none other than Dan Hong, the inner elder of the Alchemy Pavilion.
The tiger, as soon as he saw him, imdiately rushed over with shining eyes.
"Elder Dan, Snake said he now has the ingredients. Can you make the pill for ?" the tiger asked eagerly, even lowering his head in a fawning manner.
He had been craving his evolution for a long ti, ever since he saw the sect's cranes evolve twice in a row and beco so powerful compared to the weak bloodline they had before.
For a long ti, he wanted to see what he would beco when the sa happened to him, who was already strong. Unfortunately, he couldn't do the sa when he reached the limit of his bloodline, as he was still missing so ingredients for the advancent pill.
But now, it seed his mont had finally arrived.
Dan Hong waved his hand indifferently, shooing away the shaless tiger.
"I know, I know. I ca for that. Finally, you big cat, you'll stop pestering ." Elder Hong rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with the tiger.
It wasn't the first, nor the 50th ti they had t, and for months the tiger had been almost daily harassing him, begging for pills.
If it had been before, the tiger wouldn't have been so impatient, since advancent took a long ti and waiting a bit didn't matter. But since he joined the sect and tasted the sweetness of cultivating at the speed of light, he could no longer endure waiting.
Dan Hong, seeing the anxious and fawning tiger, curled his lips and ordered impatiently and grumpily, as he always did.
"Co on, Leopard, or Snake, or Cricket—whatever your codena is now. Bring the ingredients. I want to get rid of this annoying cat already."
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