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Chapter 198 – Guilt and Regret
🕑 Added 2025-02-18 02:05:51 +0000 UTCA/N 2/27/25: This is Sunday's chapter. I'll post Monday's chapter tomorrow, getting us caught up. Again, apologies for the delay.
With the preparations for move-in complete, Benton moved on to a much less pleasant task—getting ready for Ye Zan’s memorial service. The first order of business was to determine where the guard captain would be laid to rest.
He’d died a hero, and he deserved a resting place befitting his deeds. To create an appropriate place, Benton would need a new technique. Luckly, the recruits in Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town having taken their first step along their cultivation journey had given him more than enough points to propel his total Sect Points to well over eight hundred even given the recent outlays.
The random thought about point totals focused his attention on his determination. Frankly, that decision process was wrong. While the present circumstances couldn’t be called an emergency, providing a proper entombment for the sect’s first hero justified any expenditure needed regardless of point total. It was that important.
“System,” Benton said, “I want a technique to use my Earth qi to shape stone. The technique needs to give me the knowledge and skill necessary to create stone buildings and other structures and to sculpt statues. Please purchase to Mastery.”
The technique would have been a bit more efficient if he bought a Concept for Stone qi, but with his pool size, using Earth instead would be fine.
A flood of knowledge entered Benton’s mind, and he momentarily reflected on the fact that he’d normally take great joy in being able to perform magical feats that he’d never envisioned having the capability to do. His task for the night was too grim to draw any happiness from his new abilities.
He threw himself into his work. First, the tomb. In the culture of his current world, the size of the tomb depended on the importance of the person to be entombed. As far as he was concerned, no one was more worthy of a grand palace than Ye Zan, the sect’s first hero.
Benton sighed. Realistically, though, he was building a sect that would hopefully last for centuries. Maybe millennia. The sect would unfortunately have many, many heroes eventually. It wasn’t reasonable, or maybe even possible, to build a huge tomb for each of them. Something like a Hall of Heroes would be much more practical.
Yeah. That would work. And Benton really thought that Ye Zan would have approved. Rather than a single structure devoted only to him, it would be something that served the entire sect, a distinction that honored his memory and sacrifice.
What Benton envisioned was a nice garden with flowers and hedges and a reflection pool, which suited his western taste more than the aesthetics of the eastern world he lived in.
He almost jettisoned the idea in favor of something more traditional according to the local culture, but he hesitated. The thought of having something unique appealed to him. The rest of the sect grounds were just like what he’d find anywhere else on the continent. Wouldn’t it be neat to have something completely different to draw attention to the resting place of their heroes?
Yes. He’d lean into Earth for his design choices to make the area really stand out. The tomb would resemble something that would fit in well at Arlington National Cemetery instead of something he’d see on a tour of an allied sect. And it and the statue would be created from white marble flaked with gold. And he’d create an array for both the statue and the tomb to prevent it from getting dirty and another one inside the tomb to preserve the … contents.
With a firm idea in his head, he got to work. The mountains nearby provided plenty of base material, and his new technique gave him the knowledge to get the shapes just right and to adjust the color and composition to achieve just the look he wanted.
By morning, the tomb, statue, benches, paths, and basin for the pool were complete.
For another twenty-four Sect Points, he bought a Concept of Nature to Mastery and created a new technique for himself that allowed him to instagrow and shape plants from either seeds or a remnant of a mature plant. Though the surroundings were all dormant due to the it being winter, Benton was able to find enough plant material of the types he wanted to create a beautiful flowering garden bordered by hedges.
Arrays added temperature control, which should make the garden a popular spot for contemplation in all seasons, and for plant preservation to keep it beautiful with minimal maintenance. When it was complete, including water being added to the pool from Benton’s spatial ring, he sat on one of the benches and took in the garden he had created. He felt that Ye Zan would have liked the area.
It definitely wasn’t traditional. No considerations were given to feng shui at all. The western sensibilities and the colors clashed with the rest of the sect. But the garden and tomb were still beautiful, and Benton didn’t think that one needed to have experience from Earth to appreciate it.
Other than the aesthetics of the main buildings, most things about the Rising Tide Sect were different than other sects. The life of a Qi Gathering cultivator was valued as highly as most sects considered their Nascent Soul members. E and F ranks were gladly accepted and treated as respected members.
It was good to be different, and honoring their heroes in the way that appealed to him celebrated that belief. Benton felt good about his decision.
Unfortunately, having completed the task several hours before the scheduled start of the service left Benton with too much time on his hands, and sitting in the garden staring at the tomb he’d built focused his attention on a subject he’d been trying to avoid thinking about. He couldn’t help but consider about what he could have done differently.
If he’d chased after the cultivator heading toward the village, the man would have been killed long before he had a chance to strike down Ye Zan. Of course, that action would have given the other Jade Chameleon cultivators the chance to separate and do great damage to the village, killing even more people.
Maybe they would have chosen to flee instead or decided that Benton, being the true threat, should be their sole target. He didn’t think so, though. The father was dead set on vengeance, and Benton proving the importance he placed on his people might have mad the lunatic destroy the entire village before he could be stopped.
If the village’s shield had been constructed to repel qi attacks, Ye Zan would be alive. But that wasn’t reasonable. An array that protected against everything was too unfocused to be strong enough to really protect against anything. It would never have held up to the beast tide. To fully protect the sect, Benton would have had to construct three different formations—one for beasts, one for qi attacks, and one for cultivators.
There had been no time to do that.
Had he known that three Golden Core cultivators were going to attack, he would have made the time. But he didn’t.
Of course, if he hadn’t killed that Foundation Establishment cultivator in the first place, none of the following events would have occurred. But that thought wasn’t reasonable, either. The man had been intent on his purpose, and Benton wasn’t strong enough at that point. He was honestly lucky to have been able to kill him with that spear thrust.
There were always things he could have done better, especially considering points management. If he would have known. If he could see the future.
“System, I’d like to create a technique to know when bad things are going to happen so that I can prepare for them.”
Benton spent a good amount of time trying to work around the proscription like he had others in the past, but the System was adamant. And no mysterious entity came to his aid. Neither was he able to create a technique to bring back the dead once the soul had departed.
Frustrated, he was left to ponder his own failures and inadequacies. And really, mismanagement of Sect Points and not having the foresight to build enough protection into the village’s wall weren’t even the things that made him feel the guiltiest. No, that was something else entirely. It was a single thought—how much worse would he have felt if it had been Yang Xiu’ body lying in the dirt instead of Ye Zan?
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The older one gets, the more opportunities one has to deliver eulogies.
Benton was a firm believer in the fact that experience makes things easier. Eulogies stood in opposition to that principle. No matter how many he gave, he never found himself more comfortable delivering them. At least the fact that he’d done it before meant that he knew how to structure the speech.
The morning stretched, and all too soon, it was time for the memorial service to begin. As ordered by Benton, all of the sect attended. Most of the villagers did, too.
He mostly let the other sect members lead the ceremony. The mayor officiated. Huang Yimun, who was apparently Ye Zan’s best friend, told stories of their time together, making the crowd alternately laugh and cry. A few of the other guards spoke, too, but none were as impactful as Huang Yimun.
Yang Xiu was the final one slated to give testimonials. As she ascended the stage—an actual one that woodcrafters have built instead of just a wagon—and stood behind the podium, she showed more nervousness than Benton had ever seen her display.
“I would not be here today except for Ye Zan,” she said, her eyes glistening. “I know he gave himself willingly, and I do not want to diminish his sacrifice. But I can’t help but feel that he paid the price that was my burden without me asking him to. Without me wanting him to.
“I was prepared to make that sacrifice myself.
“Am I glad that he did it? I don’t know. My brother appreciates it. He wishes that Ye Zan had family that we could reward, but he didn’t. So there’s not much either of us can do.”
Benton was almost positive that the girl hadn’t actually prepared a speech and was instead simply speaking from the heart. Such an act was brave of her. Her emotions were obviously very raw, her confusion and sadness coming through in every word.
“Should I have acted differently that day?” Yang Xiu continued. “If I would have ducked behind the palisade, we might both still be alive. I thought I was doing right, protecting the sect, but while I was willing to sacrifice myself for that end, I don’t know if I would have chosen to sacrifice Ye Zan.
“My thoughts have been jumbled since Ye Zan died, and I don’t know how to feel about his passing and my surviving. My intention is to move forward and become as powerful as possible in order to protect as many people as possible. Every person I save becomes someone who Ye Zan saved. I think he would have liked that. It’s all that I can think of to do.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the place when she stepped down off the stage, turning it over to Benton.
He took a few necessary moments to gather himself before ascending the stairs, and he began the eulogy with the easy stuff. Kang Ya-Ting had done a lot of investigating before hiring Ye Zan for the escort job, so Benton was able to relate tales of the guard captain’s childhood and adolescence growing up in Sixth Flawless Flowing City. To that background, Benton added anecdotes about the boy’s early adventures and misadventures as a mercenary and his ambition to be a soldier. His capability and diligence as a guard captain were praised vociferously, bringing Benton near the conclusion of his speech.
“Ye Zan was a good man. His greatest ambition was to protect those he cared about and respected. Prior to becoming a member of the Rising Tide Sect, the number of people he placed in those categories were few, limited to his fellow guards.
“His time with us was short. Way too short. But I’d like to think that the number of people in those categories grew by enormous bounds during that time. I know that he fit in both those categories for me and for many of you here today.
“There is nothing that we can do to bring him back, but we can honor his memory. One way we can do that is, as Yang Xiu stated, to grow stronger, so we can protect each other. Another is to visit his resting place, the newly built Hall of Heroes.”
Benton paused for a moment to let that name sink in. “Yes. The Hall of Heroes. As the leader of the Rising Tide Sect, I officially declare Ye Zan to be our first official hero.”
Somber cheers sounded at the announcement.
“Outside the Hall is the Garden of Reflection,” Benton said, “a perfect place to sit in quiet contemplation. It is a place for solitude. For consideration. For meditation. All are welcome to visit, mortal and cultivator, sect member and not, but please remember its purpose.”
Benton was positive that no one in attendance would ever disrespect the garden and that they would actively enforce the rules if necessary.
Good. He wasn’t normally one for somberness, but Ye Zan deserved that measure of respect.
“Let’s now observe a moment of silence to honor and remember our departed hero,” Benton said. “Our departed friend.”
Comments
Monus
The obvious flaw here is asking for divination not fate. Determining the likelihood of an event is possible even by mundane means thus should be possible. Determining the absolute certainly is way too strong.
TwistedToaster
Lovely chapter!
RedFaux
Not allowed. Not impossible, not allowed. Resurrection well yeah I understand. But divination being forbidden? Damn heavens.
