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Chapter 94 – That’s Not a Problem; This Is a Problem
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 10:02:01 +0000 UTCProsperous Gray Forest Village was a quiet place, especially for the last ten years or so. They rarely received visitors, and other than the occasional spirit beast attacking the walls, nothing much happened.
The death of the village that Mo Jian presided over was a slow one, one characterized by starvation, lack of resources, and boredom.
When the mysterious cultivator, Chao Su, actually returned with food as he’d promised, it was both a happy, if concerning, surprise and a blessing. The village would be able to survive the winter with the stores he’d brought.
It didn’t take long for things to get out of control. The cultivator offered a deal with the village that was, honestly, too good to be true. Skeptical as Mo Jian might have been, it wasn’t like he could refuse anything from such a powerful cultivator. Just questioning the man had risked death.
And the cultivator had founded a sect, pulling an entire arena from his ring. The heavens themselves had witnessed his oath.
And another cultivator had shown up briefly at the walls before heading to the site of the new sect.
Mo Jian had no idea what that was about. Was Chao Su being attacked? Did the three sects object to a new one being formed? There was no way to know.
There was a knock on his door, and not even waiting for his servant, Mo Jian rushed to it, sincerely hoping it was the cultivator. He was the only one who knew what was happening.
It was just Guang Yin.
“I just heard that we had another cultivator show up, a female,” the wood harvester said. “What happened, Honorable Mayor?”
“I’d love to know. The last I heard she ran toward the arena.”
“Do you think the sects detected the heavenly lightning and came to investigate, Honorable Mayor? Or did they somehow find out about Chao Su founding a new sect and came to threaten him? The village could be in danger. The sects might hold all of us responsible.”
“Wait. I thought you said Chao Su had the blessing of the three sects, and now you’re saying he doesn’t and we’re in danger because of it?”
“This old man doesn’t know, Honorable Mayor. I was an associate member stationed remotely from the sect grounds, a peon, less important than a janitor serving the outer sect. It’s not like I know what’s going on in Sixth Flawless Flowing City!”
“Then why did I listen to you?”
“I don’t know!”
Before the two could come to blows, there was another knock at the door that the servant answered. Mo Jian gathered himself and tried to look dignified as he waited for the new arrival to be shown in.
Chao Su appeared before him.
“Honorable Mayor,” Chao Su said, grinning. “How are you this fine day?”
“Worried, actually,” the mayor said, deciding that trying to play word games with the unfathomable cultivator was a losing proposition.
Chao Su nodded sagely. “It’s good that you are. We have trouble.”
“The female cultivator brought bad news? Is it the sects? Are we to be punished?”
“What? Where did you get a silly idea like that?” Chao Su said. “She’s the granddaughter of my friend, Elder Kang of the Poison Claw Sect. He just sent her to exchange letters with me.”
Mo Jian let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good at least. She brought good tidings then?”
“Well, no, not really. It turns out that the father of this guy I killed on my way here is in seclusion trying to break through to Golden Core seventh minor realm. When he finds out his son is dead, he’s likely to come after me.”
“That’s terrible news! What are we going to do about it?”
“That’s not the bad news. That guy is nothing for you to worry about. I strongly implied in my letter that I’d destroy the entire Jade Chameleon Sect if anything happens to the village or my disciples. I’m sure Friend Kang will let them know to have him attack me only.”
The mayor sputtered, unable to form a coherent thought.
“The Esteemed Master Cultivator is so sure of defeating a high realmed Golden Core cultivator from the Jade Chameleon Sect?” Guang Yin said.
“Oh yeah. No worries. I’ll deal with that issue when the time comes. We have a much, much more pressing problem.”
The mayor was beyond perplexed. If a Golden Core cultivator from one of the big three sects wasn’t a problem, what could possibly be considered one?
“So ... So … What is the problem then?” Mo Jian said.
“A beast tide is coming.”
###
Benton had to admit that he was rather enjoyed playing his unfathomable old cultivation monster role with the mayor. Mo Jian was so much easier to fluster than Kang Ya-Ting.
Putting aside his silliness, he explained everything he knew about the coming beast tide, which wasn’t a whole heck of a lot. About the only real information that he could give them was that it was one hundred percent definite that one would strike the sect and the village and what his best guess of the timeline was.
“The best thing we can do is to make both the sect and the village as strong as possible,” Benton said. “I have my list of roles that I want filled by villagers to satisfy your end of the deal, and I’m ready to proceed with inducting your choices whenever you want.”
He handed the mayor the list he’d written up during the meeting.
“This doesn’t look too difficult to fill,” Mo Jian said. “Once the rumors of a beast tide get out, everyone is going to be clamoring for protection. The sect will look like a great option.”
It was all Benton could do not to steeple his fingertips together like a melodramatic villain. He loved it when a plan came together. Or you know, when random elements worked together for his benefit. Tomato, tomahto.
“How quickly can you get all fifty people together for the induction?” Benton said.
He was already counting those unhatched points, both of the Sect and of the suddenly important Shop varieties.
“As early as tonight,” the mayor said. “If not, tomorrow morning at the latest.”
Perfect. The mayor seemed reasonably competent at his job at least.
“Great,” Benton said. “And I’m glad you’re here, Guang Yin. When can we start harvesting wood for the wall? Tonight?”
“Best to start fresh in the morning, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It’s a long walk there and back. By the time we gathered everyone and began any actual work, it would be time to return.”
Ugh. Fine. He made a good point. Besides, it would be best not to press too hard, considering the newness of their working relationship.
“What would you think about me having some of my sect members help with the harvesting?” Benton said.
Guang Yin grimaced. “The process is really quite delicate, Esteemed Master Cultivator. We not only have a technique specifically for harvesting spiritual wood, but we’ve refined our skills over decades. Getting young people involved as apprentices is a fine idea, but they’ll be hindrances at the start rather than a help.”
The man brought up another good point, but if Benton’s sect members happened to have access to a top heaven grade technique for wood harvesting, he couldn’t help but think they’d aid in ramping up production faster than anyone would think.
Benton didn’t spend much effort thinking about whether or not to create such a technique as the sect would need it at some point, so he internally navigated to the correct menu.
He obviously chose Qi Gathering.
There was no reason to mess around with anything other than Any Qi Aspect.
Benton thought for a moment about specifically targeting the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood, but the benefit of doing so versus the lack of future convinced him otherwise. He willed it to select the ability to harvest spiritual wood.
On one hand, he loved the flexibility that particular allocation offered him. On the other, he hated having to make the choice. All the categories were good.
Okay. Foundation was probably the least important for wood harvesting. It wasn’t like he planned on giving them Foundation Establishment versions of the technique later. If they could master the Qi Gathering version, that was good enough, better than the harvesters from the village. Set that one to … ten?
In contrast, Ease was crucial. The technique would be used by very low talent sect members, and the quicker they were able to pick it up, the better. He’d rate that category as the most important.
Power, generally speaking, was a measure of the effectiveness of the technique, but applying that metric to one that almost solely provided knowledge wasn’t straightforward. It wasn’t like there was much internal qi manipulation to boost. The main point of the technique was to tell the cutter where to cut, not to help strengthen a particular muscle when making swinging the ax.
He threw ten in the last category, leaving eighty for the former.
Ugh. His second least favorite choice. He went with Spiritual Wood Harvesting Essentials.
Hey, it wasn’t flashy or interesting or anything else, but it was descriptive.
Yes, please.
Yikes. From a high of one hundred thirteen, he was back down to sixty-eight. That was okay, though. He expected points to start rolling in over the next few days and weeks.
Benton tossed a jade slip and a rank one spirit beast core from his ring to Guang Yin. “Do you think something like this would help?”
The man immediately dove his consciousness into the ring. “This is … This is amazing, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It’s so much simpler but, at the same time, comprehensive than the one I learned. What grade is this?”
“I believe it to be top heavenly grade.”
“Is it really?” Mo Jian said.
“I’m not nearly experienced enough to answer such a question, Honorable Mayor, but considering the quality I’m sensing, I wouldn’t doubt it one bit.”
“Friend Kang was very complimentary of the sword technique I gifted his sect. He judged that one to be heavenly grade as well.” Benton paused. “Speaking of quality, I hope this doesn’t offend, but I can’t help but notice that the quality of your cultivation method is quite poor, Guang Yin.”
“This one does not take offense, Esteemed Master Cultivator. The Righteous Rain Sect did not believe me or my men to be important at all and openly admitted providing us with a trash tier method.”
“Hmm. It would benefit both the village and the sect if you had a higher quality method,” Benton said. “Mayor, how about this? I’ll throw in sect membership for the six harvesters as a freebie, added to the twenty-five already under your command.”
“That is quite generous of you,” the mayor said hesitantly.
“You’re wondering what the catch is, right? There isn’t one. I don’t know if you’ve experienced a beast tide, but I have. It doesn’t matter how powerful I am. I can’t be everywhere at once. The better you and the village can defend yourselves, the happier I’ll be.”
It was hard to say no to an argument like that one.
Benton wasn’t one hundred percent sure how to proceed with cultivators who already were using a technique, but he figured he could wrangle some points out of the deal somehow.
