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Chapter 192 – Lifeline
🕑 Added 2025-02-08 15:54:14 +0000 UTCJin LiJuan clung to the wolf pup in her arms like she was drowning and it was a lifeline. Which, in a way, it was. All her dreams of being a powerful cultivator were in her reach as long as she kept her bond with the beast.
Golden Core. She had no real idea what that meant, but the way Master said it made it sound powerful. And he expected her to reach that level before any of the other sect members.
She looked around her. Senior Brother was staring at her, as was Senior Sister. They were the two strongest cultivators in the sect, save for Master of course. And Sister Kang Lin, a fellow disciple though she was from a different sect. All three were in the Foundation Establishment realm and could do things that seemed absolutely extraordinary to Jin LiJuan, running almost faster than she could follow with her eyes, jumping over walls, hitting each other with blows that would have torn her body to pieces and laughing about it.
Even Zou Tian, who was only at a late stage of Qi Gathering, was amazing. He could practically turn invisible if a shadow was nearby.
She was so much weaker than any of them. According to Master, though, she’d soon be stronger than them, stronger than all of them.
Jin LiJuan could hardly believe it.
But her future wasn’t assured yet. There was a very major condition involved. The bond she’d formed accidentally with the wolf pup had to become a bond in truth.
She honestly didn’t know if she could partner with a beast. Sure, she’d managed to keep from killing it, but it was just a baby. Even for her, it was difficult to kill a baby. After the initial temptation had passed, anyway.
Even if beasts hadn’t killed her family, she didn’t think she would have been a person that particularly liked animals. Growing up poor hadn’t left much room in her heart for anything but the essentials.
She and her parents had worked hard. If they were lucky, they were able to eat enough to avoid hunger pains most of the time. There had been nothing left over for anything that served no purpose such as toys or … pets.
There had been animals around the farm, of course, but Father had made it clear that they were tools, a source of food, not pets. Never a pet.
Then, she’d gone to the orphanage. Mistress Zhong had barely been able to feed herself and the children. There certainly had been no resources left over for pets.
Some of the other children whined about having left behind a dog or a cat, but Jin LiJuan had never understood the point of such creatures. She’d envied those kids but only because their parents had been wealthy enough to waste money on feeding such useless animals.
The wolf pup, though… It had a purpose. An important one. It could give her strength. It could make it so that no one could ever take anything away from her ever again.
For such a worthy goal, it might be worth trying to keep the bond with the creature.
If only she knew how.
“Speaking of which,” Master said, continuing his conversation, “have you decided which weapon technique you want?”
All the stuff that Master had just told her about the importance of the bond was more than a little overwhelming. She didn’t know what to think or what to feel. Wrapping her mind around the crucialness of the bond with the wolf pup was hard enough. Deciding on what weapon she’d be using for the rest of her life on top of that made her mind feel flooded. It was too much.
She couldn’t admit that to Master, though.
“Uh,” she said, trying to stall for time.
Okay. There were three choices. She could choose one of the three. The decision couldn’t be that hard.
Did she want to use a spear like Senior Brother, a bow like Senior Sister, or daggers like Zou Tian?
What she really wanted was a sword. When she pictured being a cultivator in her head, she was holding a sword, the proper weapon for killing beasts and enemies. But that wasn’t one of the options.
A spear gave her reach. Which was good because she was on the small side. A bow … didn’t speak to her at all. She wanted to be close to her enemy, to feel a blade sink into their bodies. Daggers would work for getting her close, but Master had implied that she should only pick that option if she wanted to pursue stealth. Which she didn’t. For her enemies to fear her, they needed to see her coming.
“I guess the spear, Master,” she said finally.
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Benton frowned when Jin LiJuan finally announced her decision, but it wasn’t because of her choice. Any of the three options were fine with him. It was how resigned she sounded, like his youngest choosing between asparagus or Brussels sprouts with dinner.
“You don’t sound entirely enthused about the spear, Li’er,” Benton said.
“The spear is a fine weapon, Master. Its length will help make up for my small size.”
“But?”
She hunched her shoulders. “It’s silly, Master, but I always pictured myself using a sword.”
Benton almost reflexively refused the request, but he hesitated a moment as he considered. There were two really good reasons to limit his sect members to three weapons. One, the older, more experienced sect members could help the younger ones learn their techniques. By Jin LiJuan taking up the spear, there were countless sect members who could help her out by sparring with her and correcting her technique. The only person in the area who had any experience with a sword besides him in his memories of being Su was Pan Jiang, who would surely be happy enough to help teach the girl but who would be returning to his own sect at some point.
Two, Benton had techniques already created for all three weapons, meaning anyone who learned them represented pure profit for him. Given how many points he was bringing in, he wasn’t nearly as pressed for them as he had been, but spending frivolously was still a bad idea.
The first reason was still extremely valid. If Jin LiJuan learned the sword, she’d mostly be on her own. The second reason, however, was actually invalid, though, for her only.
Whether her not having a qi aspect would turn out to be mainly an advantage or a disadvantage to her in the long run remained to be seen, but for the moment, one upside was that she could use any technique he’d created, even if it was specifically attuned to another cultivator’s aspect. Obviously, she’d get no benefit from the attunement, but there would be no detriment, either. It would be essentially the same as giving her a technique that was specced for any qi aspect.
Supplying her with the Strong Oak Sword technique he’d created for Pan Jiang would cost no Sect Points. It would, in fact, provide Benton with a way to recoup some of what he’d expended. He'd even picked up a few stray swords along the way from slain enemies. One of those would work fine as a starter weapon for the girl.
Why not?
Cultivating was the act of walking one’s own path in defiance of the heavens. Just because choosing a weapon that no one else in the sect used didn’t seem like the wisest course to him didn’t mean that it wasn’t the best choice for her. Maybe she had fate with the weapon.
Benton shook his head. Fate with the weapon? Where the heck had that thought come from? He’d literally just unironically considered that the girl might have fate with a weapon as a serious justification for giving it to her. He hadn’t even been living on a cultivation planet for an entire year yet, and he was spouting such nonsense in his head like it made sense.
Alrighty, then.
“If you want to use a sword, you can,” Benton said. “Know that the path will be more difficult for you because you won’t have as easy access to trainers as you would with any of the other weapons, but I’ll give you the same technique that Pan Jiang uses. I bet he can give you some pointers.”
“He definitely can, Master,” Kang Lin said.
Jin LiJuan cupped her hands. “I’d really like that, Master.”
Benton produced the appropriate jade slip and pulled it and a sword from his spatial ring. “Good luck to you, Li’er.”
A genuine smile lit up her face when he handed the items to her. “Gratitude, Master!”
“I’ll let Peng Zhen know that you’re authorized to draw beast cores from the Contribution Store for a while. Eventually, we’ll have to talk about you earning Contribution Points to pay for them, but the sect will handle the expenses at least until you hit Foundation Establishment, okay?”
With the addition of Fatty Ren, the sect had three members in that realm, though hopefully the Town Lord would be ascending soon. It was worth a few beast cores to speed another member along, considering the circumstances. Benton would have to think long and hard about how to handle Jin LiJuan moving further than that, though.
On one hand, it would be great to have two Golden Core cultivators for what was coming. On the other, she was a child. Reaching such a high realm carried responsibilities, especially during a sect war. He was not willing to use her for such purposes.
The wolf pup, though… A rank seven or higher beast fighting for the Rising Tide Sect might be able to protect sect members when Benton was otherwise occupied.
There was much to be considered.
She cupped her hands. “Gratitude again, Master.”
It was time to dismiss the four disciples and get back to work on the arrays, but there was one thing he had to do first. The thing he didn’t want to do.
“We need to have a memorial for Ye Zan,” Benton said.
The older disciples all looked at one another.
Ah. They’d noticed that he’d been avoiding the subject and were concerned. Benton hated that he’d made them worry.
“We do, Master,” Yang Xiu finally said.
“I want the whole sect there and anyone from the village who wants to come.”
“Should we hold it in the arena, Master?” Zou Tian said.
“No. The amphitheater. And…” Benton hesitated. He wanted to announce some decisions about the sect at the same time but wasn’t sure it was appropriate for a funeral.
“Yes, Master?” Yang Xiu said.
Benton explained his problem.
“I think Ye Zan would have been fine with conducting sect business at his service, Master,” Yang Xiu said. “He was very dedicated. Anything he could do to make us more successful, he would have. He would be happy to know that he was assisting even in death.”
Benton didn’t know if Yang Xiu was right or not, but her words made him feel a lot better. “Fine.” It was already getting late in the day, and he had a lot of work left to do to get the buildings move-in ready. “Lets set it for the day after tomorrow in the mid-morning. I’ll supply food afterward. We’ll have a celebration of Ye Zan’s life after mourning his passing.” All those street meals from Sixth Flawless Flowing City would be perfect for the occasion.
“Yes, Master,” Yang Xiu said. “We’ll make sure that everyone knows.”
“Gratitude, disciples.” Benton cupped his hands.
After a few seconds of silence, Yang Xiu spoke again. “Should we find someone to attempt a trial today, Master?”
“No. That slot is spoken for. He should be arriving soon.”
The older disciples all looked at one another, not sure who Benton was talking about.
“I’ll introduce your new sect brother to you after the trial. I’ll also take over scheduling people for the Trials Pagoda.” Or rather, he’d use one of the administrators assigned to him for the purpose. “I like the order you established, going by cultivation level. Tell Wan Ai that she will be taking her trial tomorrow. Make sure she understands that it is not a request.”
From the look on Zou Tian’s face, Benton had been right in thinking that the quiet girl had demurred in taking a turn. He’d make sure Xun Wu took one as well.
“It’s smart to make good use of the resource by having someone use it daily,” Benton said. “Good job making that happen while I was away. I also like having an easily definable order implemented. We’ll keep that in place for the time being but understand that we’ll break that sequence when anyone with a legitimate need makes a request.”
“Yes, Master,” they chorused.
“Good,” Benton said. “Go back to whatever you were doing. I’ve got a lot to accomplish still.”
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Johan Timmers
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