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Chapter 118 – Your View of Who You Are
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 20:41:24 +0000 UTCThe first time Benton had a woman tell him, “It’s time,” had been when Evelyn was about to give birth to their firstborn. Yang Xiu’s news wasn’t quite so urgent, but it was pretty darn important.
She was ready to breakthrough into Foundation Establishment.
That step was a major one for the Rising Tide Sect. Thus far, they had exactly one cultivator who could even touch a rank four spirit beast—Benton himself. The news that Yang Xiu would soon be ready to take a much more active role in that regard was fantastic news.
Knowing the moment was coming and not being idiots, they’d prepared for it. A temporary hut constructed of bamboo and cloth had been put up behind the temporary Alchemy Pavilion. The walls provided the person inside with privacy, and the main area was stocked with buckets of water and supplies for washing. There was also a separate area for changing into old disposable clothes at the start and back into sect robes after the process was over.
Best of all, the temporary nature of the whole thing meant that Benton could just void it all away, including a couple of inches of the dirt floor. No muss, no fuss. Bye, bye stinky purged materials.
Despite Yang Xiu being slightly dramatic when calling for him, there was no real hurry. It wasn’t like having a baby. The breakthrough wouldn’t happen on its own. She would have to slip into a meditative state and trigger it.
Still, there was no reason to delay the process. She’d need time to consolidate her gains, and the more time she had to learn her new techniques, the better.
Benton grabbed her hand, and they Quickstepped to behind the temporary Alchemy Pavilion.
“You’re good, right?” he said. “There’s no reason for me to stay?”
He really didn’t feel comfortable leaving the others alone for long in the Wood. The area attracted spirit beasts like flies to honey. A rank four or higher appeared pretty much daily.
“I’ve got it, Master. You go back and protect the others.”
“Great. After you finish, I’ll give you a while to clean up before I come retrieve you.”
By that point, she been with him long enough that she didn’t even question things like how he’d know when she was done.
“Gratitude, Master.”
“Good luck,” he said as he Quickstepped away.
About an hour later, he got the notification he was waiting for.
That was such a ridiculously high number of Sect Points. It hadn’t been that long ago when he was down to eight.
More importantly, go Yang Xiu! Foundation Establishment was huge.
He noted that there was no minor realm listed, which made sense. She’d broken through to the major realm but hadn’t started cultivating a technique yet. When she did, he’d get another two points.
Which was a good thing, because he was about to start spending out the wazoo on her. Just her cultivation method would be twenty points, and two techniques at six apiece were another twelve. She’d eventually need a Silver Body Cultivation method as well, another twenty points.
It was a good thing that even all those points were just a drop in the bucket compared to his total.
Right after that popup, another notification appeared.
Sweet. Benton had almost forgotten about that quest. It was always good to get more Shop Points.
He waited about an hour or so before Quickstepping back to the temporary Alchemy Pavilion’s backyard.
“Yang Xiu?” he called. “Are you clean?”
He assumed she was because there was no one in the bamboo hut. She emerged from the house wearing her nice new Rising Tide Sect robe.
“Yes, Master. Ready to go.”
He scanned her.
Very nice. Two thousand six hundred twenty qi. Exactly what he’d expected since it was ten times her peak Qi Gathering total, but it was good to see that nothing unexpected occurred.
“Congratulations! I am so proud of you right now. This advancement is a testament to your talent and hard work.”
For the first time since he’d met her, she actually blushed. She cupped her hands very formally. “Gratitude, Master.”
A putrid smell wafted from the temporary bamboo structure. She clamped her nose shut.
“Are we finished with the hut?”
She nodded vigorously.
A few weeks ago, he had swung by the forge and had Shi Long melt scrap metal and form it into small balls. Benton tossed one at the tent, triggering his attack power charged with void qi.
The tent and several inches of soil disappeared.
He’d been practicing with the technique and could trigger it with up to eleven balls at once. It was a good supplement to his lightning area of effect attack.
With that task accomplished, he and his disciple Quickstepped back to the Wood in an area far enough away from the others to give them privacy. “Once we’re finished here, your first order of business is to consolidate your gains. That may take an hour, or it may take a week. You’ll know it when you feel it, right?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Before you start on that, however, we need to do something much, much more fun. We need to choose your techniques.”
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Yang Xiu listened enraptured while Master told her about how it was very difficult to learn how to manipulate qi externally without a technique.
“For every sect member who reaches Foundation Establishment, I will gift two techniques. Others will be made available through the Contribution Point Store,” he said. “My advice is to at least advance each of the first two to Small Success before buying any more, but it is completely your call how to proceed. You are an adult and a cultivator. From this point onward, I will be available to give you advice whenever you need it, but I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to choose your own path.”
He had always emphasized that they should make their own choices, so she didn’t really feel that what he was telling her represented much of a change.
“Yes, Master.”
“If we were in a more established sect, you would have examples of probably dozens of cultivators ahead of you reaching this stage and would have some idea of what kind of options you have. Since you don’t have that, I’ll try to fill in the gaps by giving you some of my thoughts while at the same time trying not to influence your decisions too much.” He paused, frowning. “To start with, the trinity of foundational skills are attack, defense, and movement.”
All three of those sounded good to her.
“Starting with attack, your first decision is whether or not to stick with the bow,” he said. “You could choose a different weapon or no weapon at all. It is possible, after all, to form ice bolts that you can shoot directly.”
Yang Xiu had heard him espouse the benefits and qi efficiency of ranged weapons too many times to even consider going with ice bolts, but she still wanted to hear his input about sticking with the bow. She told him that.
“My observation is that you took to the weapon really well and have seemingly embraced the role of sniper. What you can do with an arrow is art. Neither of those factors matter at all, though. Your primary consideration should be whether or not archery fits your ideal of who you are as a cultivator. Only you can answer that.”
She liked the process of shooting arrows and perfecting her craft, but sniping resonated with her on an emotional level. After feeling so powerless during the whole situation with Fang Wei, there was just something about being the one who chose who lived and who died.
“I can’t imagine another path, Master.”
“Understood. Then any attack technique should be centered around your archery skill. Do you have any thoughts on what form that attack should take?”
“I like how you attach qi to the tip of your weapon, Master.”
He frowned, and she wasn’t sure why.
“That’s certainly doable, but it’s probably not the best for you,” he said. “For one thing, any qi aspect can be used in such a manner, so there’s nothing unique about it that applies to yours particularly. It’s also not a good idea for you to base your combat skills on mine because, frankly, I’m a cheating cheater who cheats. I have so many advantages that neither your nor any other cultivator has that it’s ridiculous.”
Yang Xiu had obviously noticed that Master was growing more and more powerful.
“You need to consider your own advantages and play to those strengths,” he said.
“Like what, Master?”
“Your qi aspect. The more your techniques match your aspect, the easier they will be to learn and the more powerful they will become when you reach Golden Core. It won’t give you a huge advantage now over your peers, but it will pay off in the long run.”
She didn’t like the sound of that.
He must have noticed her expression because he said, “Don’t give me that look. It’s very difficult for anyone to one shot someone who is in the same realm. Don’t expect your battles to be over instantly. Fights between equals are all about using qi efficiently and making your opponent expel theirs first while not allowing them to recharge. And that, by the way, is another major advantage you have—your qi pool.”
That mention was the first she was hearing about that plus.
“When I scanned Kang Lin at peak Qi Gathering, she had less than half the qi available that you do. Less than half. That’s a significant advantage.”
Yang Xiu and her brother had been talking a lot about that particular Poison Claw Sect member a lot lately, and one question was really bugging her. “Why did you choose her as a potential match for Yang Ru, Master?”
“Honestly, just a feeling, I guess. Yang Ru is so serious. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Duty and diligence are two very important concepts for a sect member to focus on, but you do great with both those things as well while having fun at the same time. I kind of got a vibe from Kang Lin that, while she’s definitely diligent—you don’t master the spear and hit peak qi gathering at sixteen without being diligent—she’s also a bit … whimsical? I can’t really tell you what made me feel that way, and I could be completely wrong. The two could be awful for each other. It was just something that seemed to make sense at the time.”
Uh huh. Yang Xiu didn’t believe that explanation for a moment. There were surely reasons within reasons within reasons that the two would be perfect for each other. Him saying he didn’t know why he chose those two as a match would be like him saying he didn’t know Zou Tian and Wan Ai would end up being perfect for each other.
It was probably his way of teaching humility, by modeling it himself.
“Anyway, back to the topic of actual importance,” he said, “I have a present for you.”
Master drew a necklace out from underneath his robe and untied it. The necklace was full of rings.
“Pick one,” he said.
There was a silverish one that matched her robe, so she picked that one. It turned out to be a storage ring, and it was his gift to her. She almost couldn’t believe it. Real cultivators had storage rings, and she had one now, too.
The gift made her advancement feel so much more real.
After he taught her how to use it, he said, “The first thing I want you to put in it is these.”
A thin, circular layer of what looked like red metal appeared in the palm of Master’s outstretched hand. As she watched over the course of a second or so, the metal built itself into what looked like a coin.
Yang Xiu was quite familiar with Master pulling things from his storage ring. Whatever he’d just done was not that. It looked like he’d somehow conjured the coin into being.
Soon, nine more joined the first.
“Each of these spirit coins contain one thousand ice aspected qi that you can use to replenish your pool. Practice using them by running your qi down to about half and then refilling. I’ll resupply you for the tide, but if you want more before then, I’ll also give a handful to Peng Zhen that you can buy at the Contribution Point Store.”
She seemed to remember Master telling her about spirit coins a long time ago, but she hadn’t known that he could just make them. Why was she even surprised?
“Okay, we got a little off track, there,” he said. “Let’s say your arrow, unmodified exactly like it is right now, hits a qi shield like rank four and higher beasts naturally employ. What happens?”
“Almost nothing, Master. It provides a distraction at best.”
“That’s because a qi shield is very, very good at protection against physical force. Hitting one with a sword barely diminishes it at all. In contrast, a qi shield rapidly deteriorates when hit by opposing qi,” Master said. “What can we do to your arrows with your qi to make them gain some attribute or effect that fits your aspect?”
Yang Xiu thought for a moment. “Well, my qi is smooth and slippery, right? So how about we make the arrows slip through the air? Would that make them travel faster and hit harder, Master?”
“Perfect!” he said. “That is definitely one option. Don’t forget, though, that you can physically manifest your qi as a material now. Is there anything you can do with that?”
“I guess I could make some kind of ice puddle form on the ground, Master?”
“That would work. Your ice has the potential to be almost frictionless, so such a thing would create a lot of havoc among your enemies. Those are exactly the types of things you should be considering.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “Now, what about your shield? How do we make that function in a way that reflects your aspect?”
“I guess we make it slippery, too, so that projectiles want to slide off of it? Does that work, Master?”
“Again, that sounds like a good idea. What about movement?”
Yang Xiu was really getting into the spirit of the challenge. It was fun coming up with things she could do with her newfound power.
“I can make my feet slippery, Master, so that I can kind of skate over the ground. Or… I could make all of me slippery like the arrow so that I slip through the air, too, making me even faster.”
“Good. You’ve got it. Is there anything else you want?”
“The perception technique you gave me has been invaluable, Master. I would like to continue developing along those lines.”
“Great idea. It might be better for you to use your new spiritual sense for a bit before trying to figure out the direction you want to take that ability, though.”
“You’re right, Master. I should start with the basics. For my two techniques, I want the slippery arrow and the shield.”
“I think those are great choices, and when you come up with what you want your next technique to be, just let Peng Zhen or me know.”
“Yes, Master.”
It wasn’t that long ago that all her knowledge of cultivators came from stories, but her time visiting the Poison Claw Sect had been enlightening. The sect members there couldn’t just think up any ability they wanted and have someone supply them with a perfectly suited top heaven grade technique that did just that.
Her master was so awesome!
Comments
RedFaux
Indeed, it is quite the tremendous advantage
Daoist_Matt
TFTC!!! 😋🥳
