The first thing Benton did upon teleporting back to his office was to send out ssages to his entire council calling for a eting in three hours. As it was shortly after lunch, that would give everyone enough ti to settle whatever they were working on, attend the eting, and finish up in ti for dinner.
His second action was to send an additional ssage to Yuan Yaozu, asking the Nascent Soul to co to the Administration Hall as quickly as possible. The man quickly complied, and the two of them settled into a conversation over a cup of tea. Benton started things off by explaining the situation with the tournant invitation and the context provided by the Poison Claw Sect elders.
“To be as forthright as possible, I need soone to run my thoughts past,” Benton said. “You’re not here as a disciple or a subordinate. You’re here because you’re the most knowledgeable person I have available that I can trust.”
“Understood. I’ll dispense with the formalities during this talk, then?”
In a deliberately ironic display, Benton cupped his hands in response, and the other Nascent Soul grinned.
“My imdiate inclination is to refuse the invitation,” Benton said. “Purely looking at it from a risk versus gain standpoint, there is definitely so risk, and honestly, I don’t see the gain. Give and my sect a hundred years, and the recognition from other sects will be aningless as we’ll be way too powerful for anyone to ignore.”
He sighed. “On the other hand, my recent experience might be coloring my decision making. I did, after all, almost get everyone killed because I let my pride overrule my judgnt.”
“Which I’m guessing is why I’m here,” Yuan Yaozu said. “To provide a check to make sure you’re not going too far in the opposite direction.”
“Got it in one.”
“I’ll start by evaluating the risk, then,” Yuan Yaozu said. “You told that you’re comfortable with your sect mbers performance during official fights, and I’ll agree that there should be minimal danger on that front, especially given your mastery of formations. It occurs to that the real threat cos from an ambush targeting you and/or your sect mbers.”
Benton was about to speak to those concerns, but the other man held up a finger.
“You almost lost the fight with Ye Zhengsheng and Yan Mingxia,” Yuan Yaozu said. “But you told you fought them as a Golden Core. Now, you’re a Nascent Soul, and your Aura technique is likely to give you an enormous advantage. Still, it’s hard for to evaluate how you’ll perform against as many Nascent Souls as your enemies might be able to field, especially since they’ll choose the battlefield and not let you prepare any formations nearby. So the question I need answered truthfully is—how strong are you?”
Benton was glad he’d leveled with his newest disciple. His need for soone to truly talk to outweighed his wariness. “I beat two Nascent Souls as a Golden Core. I beat more than a dozen Golden Cores as a Golden Core. You tell .”
“Both those accomplishnts bode well,” Yuan Yaozu said. “Typically, those very rare, exceptional cultivators who can fight above their realm don’t lose that ability as they advance. Do you feel that is the case with you?”
“My honest assessnt is that I should be able to, by myself, defeat ten or more Nascent Souls at the sa level of experience as the two Jade Chaleons. Not bragging. Just truth. I have advantages that others simply don’t have. I can hit harder and withstand more than anyone else at my realm should be able to, and I’m more versatile as well.”
“That puts to rest one concern, then, but you know as well as I do that you can’t be everywhere at once. Your sect mbers will be at risk of attack whenever they’re not with you or an allied Nascent Soul.”
Benton frowned. “The other Poison Claw Sect elders discounted that possibility.”
“They might be right, but my job is to protect your sect and its mbers. I take that responsibility seriously, and I see danger.” Yuan Yaozu paused. “Look, I get their point. There is enormous political pressure against anyone attacking juniors. There are strategic and tactical reasons not to do so. But the Jade Chaleons have been backed into a corner. Their sect is in decline with only two remaining Nascent Souls and half the Golden Cores that anyone else has. They have no way to turn around their circumstances absent making so drastic move that I can’t anticipate. I have no idea what that sothing will be, but it might involve going after your juniors.”
“Your analysis confirms my initial thoughts. We should refuse the invitation.”
“Depends,” Yuan Yaozu paused. “Are your sect mbers kids or are they cultivators?”
Benton frowned again.
“Seriously. I’ve heard you refer to them as kids multiple tis. If you view them in that manner and want to treat them as such, then you absolutely should refuse the invitation. It’s the safest, most conservative call.”
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“I don’t understand why in the world I’d make any other decision. What could possibly be more important than keeping them safe?”
Yuan Yaozu let out a chuckle. “For my entire career as a cultivator, I’ve heard that cultivation ans challenging the heavens. So, so many tis soone near has advised that a cultivator must seek challenge, that hiding in a cave sowhere will not lead to advancent. I echoed that sa advice nurous tis, too many to count.
“Until very recently, I didn’t truly understand the aning and pure truth behind that advice, though. I was always better than my peers. My cultivation journey was easy. Realm after realm after realm passed with, in hindsight, relatively little effort on my part. Sure, I had a few fights against foes that I viewed at the ti as challenging, but I can’t ever recall my life truly being in danger. If I had to co up with a root cause as to why I didn’t advance to Nascent Soul on my own, that lack of challenge, that lack of risking my life, was why.”
“So I should send them into danger?” Benton said. “They could die!”
“So of them might. In fact, if you commit to this philosophy, one or more of them almost certainly will die. That is the nature of cultivation.”
Benton saw what the man was getting at, but it was difficult for him to accept. Yelling at the man or refuting his personal opinion wasn’t useful, though.
“I understand,” Benton said. “Gratitude for explaining the gain to offset the risk. I have much to consider prior to the council eting.”
Yuan Yaozu cupped his hands and inclined his head before standing and leaving. Benton stared after the man, lost in thought.
The fight with the Nascent Souls, especially the parts where Benton had almost died, had changed everything. Prior to that mont, he wouldn’t have thought twice about attending the tournant. Of course, he’d handle anything that ca up with aplomb. He had the System. He could do anything.
Now, he wasn’t nearly as assured and honestly didn’t know what to do. He ditated on it until it was ti for the council eting, finally coming to a conclusion right as the mbers started to arrive. The decision wasn’t sothing he thought was absolutely the best course of action, but one thing he’d learned in his two lifetis was that, sotis, one simply had to make a choice and move forward.
Once everyone had gathered in the room he’d designated for council etings, Benton teleported to his place inside, bringing the total number of attendees to twenty. “Greetings, everyone. Gratitude for your attendance. We have three items to discuss this afternoon, and I’ll run through those from least important to most pressing.”
When he was sure he had everyone’s attention, he continued. “The first item of business is formalizing the process of transition from Qi Gathering to Foundation Establishnt. Four of our mbers or disciples have made that journey, and our next should be ready to advance in just over three months.” He smiled at Wan Ai, who blushed at the attention. “Eventually, though, hundreds will follow them.”
The topic was clearly of interest to everyone, especially because most of them hadn’t been through it yet. They clearly wanted to know what was in store for them.
“My first promise to everyone was a weapon. I recently decided that what I’ve provided so far doesn’t et my standards.” Benton removed two quivers holding twenty-five arrows each from his ring. “Yang Xiu, the shafts hold arrays to make them tougher and faster, and the arrowheads have an array that makes them sharper. Those tips will deliver an attack of a specific qi type. You’ve got five arrows for each of ten different types of qi, and you can recharge them with your own qi to re-use them. They’re durable enough to hold up to a lot of damage.”
Next, Benton pulled out two spears. “Kang Lin, Yang Ru, I forged these two weapons myself, and they are far superior to what I previously gave you. They hold formations for durability, sharpness, and self-repair. Each will also enable you to deliver an attack of the qi type that you respectively selected.”
Almost everyone in the room was impressed, but most of them didn’t understand the true value of what the three had been gifted. Kang Lin did.
She cupped her hands. “Master… I can’t adequately express my gratitude.”
“Nonsense. You’re my disciple. I’m just doing my duty as your master, and the rest of you can expect sothing similar when it’s your ti.” Benton turned to Wan Ai. “Let’s officially change the terms to anyone advancing to Foundation Establishnt will receive a piece of equipnt from the sect. I bet you would prefer a custom cauldron to a new dagger.”
She nodded shyly.
He grinned and then went on to formalize that each advancing disciple or mber would also receive a cultivation thod, two techniques, a glider, and pills to expand their qi pool. While Yuan Yaozu was shaking his head at the largess, the others were mostly grinning in anticipation of their anticipated windfall.
“The next item on the agenda is a short expedition to the mountain,” Benton said.
From their expressions, he’d definitely surprised them with that piece of information. Which made sense. He hadn’t told anyone about those plans.
“The auction is in a little over two weeks,” Benton said. “Before then, I want to explore the mountain to search for materials that I need to create the qi sources, and since I’m going, I figured it would be a good opportunity for so of you to gain a bit of experience. Yang Xiu, Yang Ru, and Kang Lin are obviously invited. Zou Tian, it’s a bit of a risk for you since you’re still in the Qi Gathering realm, but hiding from beasts might push your Shadow skills to advance. I’ll also let Jin LiJuan and Ganzou know after we finish up here.”
Looking around, there was obvious disappointnt displayed on Huang Yimun’s face as the guard captain clearly wanted to go as well. Zi Delan, the leader of the squad being trained as attackers, also looked ready to make a case for himself.
“Apologies to the rest of you,” Benton said. “I will be occupied a lot of the ti and won’t be able to protect the participants as well as I would like. That’s why I’m limiting the trip to the Foundation Establishnt cultivators and Zou Tian, who has superior stealth abilities. Yuan Yaozu, if I could trouble you to keep an eye on things while I’m away?”
The Nascent Soul cupped his hands. “Of course, Sect Leader.”
“I’ll also be gone so over the next week as well,” Benton said. “After I finish re-building the towers, I’ll travel to Vermillion Incomparable Rain Town for a day or so to work on the formations there.”
Yuan Yaozu nodded in acknowledgent of the plan.
“That brings us to our final piece of business,” Benton said. “The Rising Tide Sect has been invited to a tournant in Sixth Flawless Flowing City.”
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