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Chapter 220 – A Dangerous Secret and a Ruinous Cost
🕑 Added 2025-03-18 02:36:39 +0000 UTCA/N 3/17/25: Bonus chapter time. I'm actually way behind on these, so this is the first of two upcoming.
Benton braced from the massive infusion of knowledge he’d just purchased, and the System soon crammed it into his brain. Despite the onslaught of information, he didn’t feel overwhelmed. Nor underwhelmed; the download was one of his biggest yet, and he definitely felt it fill his mind.
But he suffered no headache. No real ill effects at all, actually.
If anything, he was whelmed.
He chuckled at his own joke, amazed that he was in any condition to make light of the situation. The experience hadn’t been nearly as bad as he had expected.
Mind Cultivation for the win. He should have maxed out his realm in that regard long ago.
With his mental faculties unimpacted, Benton examined the data he’d received, piecing together the process for creating qi sources. Ugh. It was going to expensive and require obtaining many resources that he had no idea where to find.
Each source required three separate materials that produced or emitted qi of a particular element. And not just any three materials would do. One had to come from a plant, one had to come from a person or beast, and one had to come from a mineral. Not only that but the quality of the materials was one of the determining factors for the quality of the qi source.
And obtaining those materials was only the first step out of many.
The second step required a master alchemist of at least the Golden Core realm to use a high-grade cauldron to extract the essence from each of the materials. Next, he had to find a supply of origin qi and infuse it and the three essences into a single mixture.
The next to last step required an expert blacksmith to use a high-grade inert metal to forge a holder for the mixture. Finally, a complex formation was required to activate the mixture inside the holder, turning it into a qi source.
Of the five steps, only the third and the last were something he could currently accomplish. Since he’d bought a Concept for origin qi, he could create spirit coins using that as the element, and creating an array was not a challenge for him.
The fourth step was the easiest for him to learn how to do. He simply needed to buy the necessary techniques and knowledge to become a master blacksmith. Since the pavilion provided facilities good enough to forge the metal he needed, all he’d have to do was practice enough to turn the knowledge the System would give him into actual ability.
Acquisition of the necessary ingots would be expensive, but there was flexibility as to the type as any high-grade qi-inert metal would work fine. He should be able to purchase them for spirit coins in Sixth Flawless Flowing City.
The second step was slightly more problematic. Purchasing the necessary knowledge and techniques and practicing the craft until he became proficient was easy enough, but the required cauldron might be difficult to acquire. All the ones he’d bought for his sect so far were great for Foundation Establishment cultivators to use, but he’d need one suitable for a peak Golden Core cultivator. Those weren’t nearly as easy to come by.
The most difficult of all the steps, though, was the first one. High-quality, qi-infused materials were coveted by all sects. Finding a single one would be difficult—certainly not something he could simply buy with spirit coins—and he needed three for each element.
And the elements he needed!
Ideally, he’d definitely have Ice and Momentum for the twins, Shadow for Zou Tian, Fire for Xun Wu and Shi Long, Time for Peng Hanying, and Nature for Wan Ai and the vast majority of the other villagers. And he was sure there were other elements that would be useful. Like Gluttony.
Ugh. Finding three materials for six different elements was going to take a lot of spirit coins. He resolved to start making them every spare moment going forward. Even then, he was sure he’d have to be creative to entice sects to part with the materials he needed.
Like cultivation itself, creating qi sources was definitely a marathon, not a sprint.
Benton was not sure the best way to proceed and decided to call for a council meeting the next morning. He’d set up an area on the third floor of the Administration Hall with a large conference table and chairs, so he sent out message dragons to all the relevant people asking them to show up after breakfast.
That task accomplished, he sighed and got ready to spend a long, boring night creating spirit coins.
Benton was rarely so glad to see a sunrise as he was that day. The preceding eight hours had been productive, however. He’d made over fourteen hundred ten-thousand-qi spirit coins. Not bad.
That should be enough for him to get started with his purchases at least.
Needing a break from the tedium, he Quickstepped to the cafeteria for breakfast, surprising the rank and file who weren’t nearly as used to seeing him or having him appear out of thin air as the select few disciples who interacted with him on a regular basis.
After a nice meal—spirit beast boars made excellent spirit bacon!—he headed back to the Administration Hall for the council meeting. Soon, all his guests arrived—Yang Xiu and Yang Ru, the co-leaders of the Martial Pavilion; Kang Lin, who, though not a member, was more experienced in the ways of sects than most of the actual council members; Zhong Wen, head of the Outer Sect; Wan Ai, head of the Alchemy Pavilion; Zou Tian, the sect’s lead scout; Xun Wu and his apprentice, Shi Long, both of the Blacksmith Pavilion; Huang Yimun, Ye Zan’s replacement as guard captain; Hou Yazhu, leader of the guard squad not personally headed by the captain; Peng Zhen, master of the Contribution Points Shop; Zi Delan, head of the sect’s future attack squad; Mo Jian, the village mayor; Guang Yin, the former Righteous Rain Sect associate member and current Woodworking Pavilion head; Xiang Da, the head of the Formations Pavilion who’d yet to construct an actual working array; and Pan Xiaolian, the talented and knowledgeable head of the Healing Pavilion.
It was a group that featured a diversity of viewpoints and experience, and Benton had come to rely on the advice they gave him, even if he rarely seemed to follow it. Still, they were an awesome sounding board.
“I’ve gathered you here today to help me plot the course forward for the sect,” Benton said. “We face interesting and troublesome times. One sect is surely plotting our imminent demise. Another is, so far neutral, as is the Emperor’s faction. One sect has allied with us. The question on the table is—how should we best prepare to navigate the way ahead?
“I’ve come up with two options, both of which will require many resources and much of my personal effort and time. I would like your input on which to concentrate on first.”
“Yes, Sect Leader,” the group chorused.
“Great. The first option is design and construction of attack towers. My main concern is what happens if high realm cultivators strike the sect while I’m otherwise occupied.”
“What about the village, Sect Leader?” the mayor said.
“My belief is that, since the sect has now moved out of the village, any attacking cultivators will focus on the grounds first,” Benton said.
The mayor looked skeptical.
“It’s true, Mayor,” Guang Yin said. “It would result in a loss of face for them to attack the village.”
“But attacking the village is exactly what they did last time,” the mayor said.
“The circumstances were different,” Kang Lin said. “For one thing, there were no sect grounds, and the junior cultivators were in the village, making it a valid target. More importantly, though, the attackers were pursuing a personal vendetta. Destroying civilians before killing their target was part of their plan. Now, though, the conflict is sect against sect. Attacking an associated village of mortals before killing all the cultivators would result in a huge loss of face.”
The mayor still didn’t look happy. “Could you at least modify the shield to prevent qi attacks, Sect Leader?”
Before Benton could reply, Guang Yin said, “That would make the village a valid target. It would be like challenging the cultivator’s abilities.”
Kang Lin nodded.
The mayor huffed. “You’re honestly saying that it’s better to depend on some cultivator’s sense of honor than on a shield?”
“Not on their honor,” Kang Lin said, “on their desire not to lose face. Cultivators seek primarily two things in their lives in this order, power and face.”
“Exactly,” Guang Yin said.
When the mayor didn’t immediately respond, Benton moved the conversation onward. “Until the wall is completed in a little over a week, the best defense I can provide is a set of towers positioned on either side of where the gate will be.”
The mayor frowned again. “What good will that do? They’ll just bypass far around the towers and attack the sect from another direction.”
“As long as the way into the sect is clearly indicated as going between the towers,” Guang Yin said, “face will demand they come in the entrance.”
The mayor rolled his eyes like a teenage girl. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That makes no sense!”
“It does to a sect cultivator,” Kang Lin said. “My grandfather would have my hide if I dishonored our sect by evading such obvious defenses.”
It appeared that the mayor was having a hard time adjusting. Which made sense. He’d recently gone from dealing with the affairs of a small village to preparing for an attack by Nascent Souls. Benton probably would have been feeling out of sorts, too, if he were in the mayor’s situation.
“How powerful will the towers be, Master?” Zou Tian said.
Benton considered the answer to that question. He knew exactly how strong they would be because, while bored the previous night, he’d queried the System for schematics for a formation of that power level.
The cost was going to be ruinous, but the end result was worth it to provide a measure of protection for his sect members.
Of course, telling the truth would be revealing quite a bit to the members of the council. He felt he needed to give a warning before doing so. “I’ll answer that question, but everyone here, and especially Kang Lin, needs to understand that the response is a major sect secret, a dangerous secret. If it gets out, there is a possibility that the result would be the destruction of the sect.”
And he wasn’t exaggerating either. If a Nascent Soul attacker knew about the power level of the formations, they would avoid direct confrontation with them, face be darned.
“If you are uncomfortable knowing the sect’s secrets,” Benton said, “now would be a good time to leave.”
###
Kang Lin had no idea how to react to the sect leader’s warning. That wasn’t how things worked. Sects didn’t simply reveal secrets to outsiders based solely on faith that the person’s honor would bind them not to tell anyone.
She doubted that even her grandfather would place so much trust in her. That her Master expressed so much confidence toward her made her feel warm inside. There was no way in the world anyone would pry whatever the secret was from her even upon penalty of her death.
“No one wants to leave?” Master said. “Okay, here goes.”
Comments
Monus
"Ugh. Finding three materials for six different elements was going to take a lot of spirit coins." What about his shop system. You know the one he wastes on Buying pills he could just create by becoming a capable alchemist?
Pagemaster
What about building a Null qi (Jin LiJuan's qi aspect) gathering array? Wouldnt it technically work for everyone? It maybe wouldn't be as effective as your specific qi aspect but it wouldnt oppose their qi aspect either which it would still be far more effective than a normal gathering array.
BelligerentGnu
At least Nature could plausibly come from all three types. Heavens know where you'd find a Gluttony mineral.
RedFaux
Loyality 101, lesson open to all cultivators
Christian Basso
One thing that I thought Benton could add to his build is a summoner/golem style since he's the only strong person there,so using golems or "units" he has would enhance the number of good(aka high cultivation) fighters.
