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Chapter 189 – Three Notifications and a Message
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 03:34:05 +0000 UTCAs Benton had been hard at work installing the infrastructure for the sect grounds, he’d ignored his notifications other than granting permission for Zou Tian to start his trial. By mid-morning, Benton’s tasks were finally complete, and he took a few moments to review the popups.
Nice. Great job, Kang Lin.
On another positive note, he was now firmly above seven hundred points, mainly due to sect members advancing in Body Cultivation. The increase wasn’t quite high enough to afford much of anything, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.
That notification was followed by a similar one.
Awesome, Zou Tian. That kid was a real go-getter. He’d mastered both his Qi Gathering techniques, so he’d need a new one.
Benton reached out with his spiritual sense and discovered an extra person, one at the sixth minor realm of Qi Gathering, in Peng Zhen’s Contribution Points Shop. That had to be Zou Tian, probably asking about the new technique at that moment.
Definitely a real go-getter.
Benton would need to create the technique, of course, so once he was finished reviewing his notifications, he’d Quickstep on over there.
First, though, he pulled up the next one.
Wow. Go Jin LiJuan.
Benton didn’t know if he should be proud, happy, or concerned that Li’er had jumped from the first minor realm all the way to the fourth in one step.
The amount of benefit a cultivator got from a bond depended on a lot of factors, and one of those was compatibility of qi aspect. If he had to guess, he’d have to say that Li’er’s lack of an aspect counted basically as one hundred percent compatibility.
That was lucky for her. At best, Benton had anticipated that the beast advancing to rank two would propel her to the second minor realm. Instead, she was keeping pace with it.
If that trend continued…
On one hand, such a leap could not possibly be good for her foundation. On the other, her channels were so messed up that normal cultivation was never going to be a good path for her. Bonding the wolf cub might just turn out to be one of those auspicious encounters around which legends were formed.
He reached out his spiritual sense again, focusing on the returning processing party. They weren’t far from the village and should reach it before nightfall. Benton wanted to see how she was doing and definitely needed to check her cultivation. But there was no emergency. It could wait until she returned.
Just as he was about to Quickstep to the Contribution Points Shop, he sensed something else—one of his message dragons.
Yikes. That thing moved fast, kind of skimming through space by skipping over about half the distance it should have traveled.
A few moments later, the origami creature landed in his hand and unfurled.
Friend Su,
This lowly Town Lord has been busy. My sect brothers, sect sister, and I have identified one hundred ninety-five additional recruits, and by the time you receive this message, they should all be gathered at the palace.
If I don’t hear from the sect leader by tomorrow, I will conduct the ceremony myself before leaving to find you at the village. Since I don’t have any cultivation methods or other resources for them, however, I’m not sure what to have them do in the meantime.
Your Loyal Sect Member,
Fatty Ren
Benton had given the Town Lord a month to find the required number of recruits. Instead, he’d done it in a day.
The plan had been to discuss logistics, including discussing how to provision the new inductees with cultivation methods and the like, the next time Benton flew to Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town, but that idea was out the window. Not that the early completion was a bad thing. Sooner was better.
Amazing. Benton hadn’t known that Fatty Ren was so proactive.
Hmm.
Benton needed to get the new inductees cultivating as soon as possible, which necessitated a trip to town. That day.
He reviewed what was on his plate. First came supplying the new technique for Zou Tian. After that, Benton had wanted to continue his work on the sect building arrays that the Jade Chameleon Sect attack had interrupted as he would prefer that project to be complete before letting his sect members use the facilities.
Other than that, he just needed to touch base with Jin LiJuan.
Well, the first and last of those tasks could be accomplished even with a quick trip to town. The arrays would just have to wait. He shrugged. That was what night was for, right? It was a good thing he didn’t need to sleep much anymore.
###
Zou Tian had exchanged pleasantries for a good half hour with Peng Zhen. The former merchant and current proprietor of the Contribution Points Shop was a really nice guy, but wow, he liked to talk. Then again, he and his family were the only ones actually living on the sect grounds. Maybe he was a bit starved for company that wasn’t his wife or kids.
That situation would probably change soon. Considering all the work that Master was doing to the grounds and how quickly things were changing, Zou Tian suspected that it wouldn’t be long until the entire sect was living in the new buildings.
Which was both good and … concerning. All the houses were well made and luxurious. Master had even apparently installed running water in all of them. Such a thing was reserved for cultivators and the extremely wealthy back in Sixth Flawless Flowing City. As a former street rat, Zou Tian would never have believed that he’d live somewhere so nice.
Everything had happened so fast and been so extraordinary that he sometimes didn’t feel like a real cultivator. Moving into a place that befit his presumed new status would be a good thing. Hopefully, it would help to make him feel like he belonged.
On the other hand, he didn’t know how to navigate the new living arrangements and his budding relationship with Wan Ai. Currently, they were both living in the same house. In separate bedrooms, of course. But that house was the temporary Alchemy Pavilion. Others belonging to that pavilion lived there, too.
As far as Zou Tian could figure from the layout that Master had created, the pavilions were for work. There were more than enough room in apartments and residences for all current sect members to live.
If Zou Tian suggested that he and Wan Ai live together in one house, she might take that as being too forward, which would create problems for them. If he suggested that he take a single person dwelling and that she choose her own living situation, she might think he was rejecting her, which would create problems for them.
He knew that he should just talk to her about the situation, but the conversation would be awkward. She would hate it. He would hate that she hated it.
Ugh.
“So, Senior Brother,” Peng Zhen said. “You’ve already accessed the pagoda, so what other service can the Contribution Points Shop provide you today?”
Zou Tian still felt more than a little weird when a married father more than twice his age referred to him as Senior Brother. Sect protocols took some getting used to. At least he didn’t have to refer to him as Junior Brother. Since the man was the head of a pavilion, master was an entirely appropriate form of address.
“This one needs a new technique, Master Peng Zhen.”
“A specialized one, I presume, Senior Brother?”
That was a good question. As Zou Tian understood it, Master’s philosophy was that, for the most part, using techniques attuned to one’s qi element in the Qi Gathering realm was not all that advantageous. It was the for the most part that caused the issue. Master seemed to want his most talented disciples to all use only attuned techniques.
Of course, Zou Tian did not fit that category. At all. As someone with D-, now D after the recent improvement, roots, he was barely a step up from common trash on the street. The difference between him and gutter trash, however, was his weirdly strong affinity with his qi aspect.
Master had been fine with Zou Tian learning the same dagger technique that literally anyone else in the sect could have learned regardless of their qi aspect. Master had also insisted on Zou Tian learning Hide Presence, which was specifically attuned not just to Shadow but to him personally.
He had no idea what Master would choose for a perception technique.
Just as Zou Tian was about to relay that to the shopkeeper, Master appeared behind the counter right next to him.
###
Benton hid a frown. He’d just appeared out of thin air, and neither Peng Zhen nor Zou Tian had so much as jumped a little.
They weren’t even the slightest bit surprised! Bummer.
Benton sighed. Everyone was way too used to his Quicksteps. He needed to find a new, even flashier entrance.
Both his disciples cupped their hands.
“Zou Tian, congratulations on passing the trial and getting your weapon technique to Mastery,” Benton said. “You’re ready for your next technique, correct?”
“Yes, Master.”
“And you want something to enhance your perception to improve your scouting abilities, right?”
The boy nodded.
“Is there any particular sense that you want to improve?” Benton said.
“No, Master. Something like Senior Sister uses would be perfect.”
Benton could see the wisdom in that choice. If Zou Tian improved his eyesight, it wouldn’t help with invisible enemies. A better ability to sniff out scents might be great for tracking, but it wouldn’t assist him in seeing details of an enemy force from a long distance.
Not that the opposite choice would be exactly bad. A team of scouts where each member was an expert at detection using one sense would be very effective.
Zou Tian’s decision very much met the needs of the moment, however. The sect would mainly be using him on solo scouting missions. There was no ready team to send with him, and that state of affairs might continue for quite some time.
“Very well,” Benton said. “I seem to recall that you’ve had some success using Shadow to assist in your detection abilities recently?”
“Yes, Master, but only because my opponent used Shadow to hide. It would not have helped had another element been in play. I don’t wish to limit myself.”
Good point. Actually, that was a great point.
Benton nodded sagely. “Understood. I still advise, however, that we go with a specifically attuned technique. I’ll make sure that the one I give you has enhanced capabilities against Shadow but that will still work as well as Yang Xiu’s against foes using other aspects.”
The boy cupped his hands. “Gratitude, Master.”
Benton turned to Peng Zhen. “Remind me, what are we charging for Qi Gathering techniques?”
“One hundred for general techniques, two hundred fifty for ones attuned to a qi element, and five hundred for ones specifically attuned to the cultivators qi aspect, Master.”
“Zou Tian, do you think those are fair prices in contribution points?” Benton said.
“Of course, Master.”
None of the sect members had any real idea of the value of contribution points, so the question had not been a fair one. So far, members like Zou Tian had run up points like scores on a pinball machine and had little to spend them on. That situation would change, hopefully soon.
“Well, I don’t,” Benton said.
Both Peng Zhen and Zou Tian looked at him with surprised expressions.
“Those definitely work as the standard prices, but you, Zou Tian, have earned a discount for reaching Mastery with both your previous techniques. Well done, my disciple. Truly well done!”
The boy actually looked like he got a little emotional as he cupped his hands.
“Peng Zhen, do you concur that one hundred points is a sufficient price given Zou Tian’s accomplishment?”
The merchant smiled. “Of course, Master!”
“Good. Give me a moment,” Benton said.
He pulled up the technique creation menu and obviously selected Qi Gathering for the realm and attunement to Zou Tian exact qi aspect. He used Yang Xiu’s perception technique for a template for what he wanted it to do, only adding the enhancement to work with the boy’s superior connection to the Shadow element.
The distribution of attributes proved tricky, as always. Foundation was probably the least important of the three, but it wasn’t a throw away stat. Zou Tian would be using enhanced senses a lot as it was foundational to his job. At the same time, most of his true techniques would come later when he gained the ability to manipulate qi externally. Benton set it to fifteen.
Ease held greater importance for the technique than usual because of the situation. Zou Tian was closing in on minor realm seven, and it would be advantageous if he reached Mastery in the new technique before reaching Foundation Establishment. Ease controlled how quickly he would learn it.
Power was, of course, the most important of the three, as that attribute determined how much Zou Tian’s senses would be enhanced. The higher, the better.
Fifty for Power left thirty-five for Ease.
Benton didn’t feel like he got the distribution perfect, but then again, he almost never did. It would have to do.
He named it Shadow Perception, agreed to the purchase, and tossed the slip to Zou Tian.
Next task, fly to Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town and induct almost two hundred new sect members, not quite doubling the membership.
Things were looking up. That would put him near the halfway mark to qualifying for Nascent Soul. In terms of sheer quantity of people, at least. It was going to be interesting to see what the large induction did to his average loyalty rating.
Comments
Monus
Getting a reward for getting a reward is certainly not going to be a potential source of discontent... Not at all. And it's not like Zou Tian probably has more than enough contribution points in the first place. And if Benton keeps acting like that he might very well create a devaluation of the contribution points as well devaluing other people's labour...
RedFaux
Tank it massively. Or go up because being inducted into a Sect is a massive life changing opportunity to virtually any lowborn person. No to mention the Improved spirit roots
