Chapter 7 - Murderhobo?
Benton rushed in the direction of the scream, his mind conjuring up all kinds of dangers that could be assailing the young lady. Su's memories, in turn, introduced knowledge of multiple spirit beasts that could mimic such a cry, but Benton dismissed the concern. His enhanced spiritual sense didn't indicate any large sources of qi in the direction he was headed. In fact, it picked up only the vaguest wisp of any.
Since the shriek had sounded desperate, Benton threw caution to the wind and began using his qi to speed his running. Su's memories guided him in directing brief surges to isolated portions of muscles, multiplying the force he applied with each step and propelling him forward. It took a bit of trial and error for him put the skills that Su had mastered into practice, but soon, Benton was speeding along fast enough to leave Usain Bolt in the dust.
The best thing was that he achieved such a fast pace without using all that much qi. A typical cultivator that had only achieved the fourth minor realm of Qi Gathering would likely still be supercharging an entire muscle or even a whole limb and applying the qi for too long, meaning they'd burn through their meager qi pools fast. In contrast, Benton had the benefit of Su's many years of experience, and his usage was incredibly efficient, applying just the tiniest bit of qi to the smallest possible area to achieve the result he wanted.
He dodged trees and hurdled bushes with a nimbleness like nothing he'd ever experienced. There wasn't even a worry about making too much noise. The further and faster he ran, the more he grew to trust Su's hunter instincts as they guided Benton to avoid leaves and branches.
It was the most exhilarating experience of his life. Rushing toward danger. The wind blasting his face. Adventure. Excitement.
Nothing he'd ever done on Earth compared in terms of a pure adrenaline rush.
In what he judged to be less than ten seconds, he crossed the distance of more than two football fields through a densely packed forest. Such a feat was, in a word, superhuman. And he'd only just began his journey as a cultivator.
Maybe living in a cultivation world wouldn't be as bad as he'd feared.
He emerged from thickly packed foliage to find two groups of people opposite each other on a moderately wide dirt trail. Facing him were seven men who all held spears. One stood in front of the others with his weapon held inches away from a young lady whose back was to Benton. Behind the girl was a young man desperately trying to get up off the ground while holding his hand over his side.
The boy was bleeding. The hand was applying pressure to the wound.
"System," Benton said in a low voice, "can you make my spiritual sense read out a status like some sort of Identify skill?"
Yes. When Host applies Host's spiritual senses toward a person, information will be converted to a table."Thanks, System. You're the best."
He directed his spiritual senses at each of the men accosting the boy and the girl. None were cultivators, though the youngest of them—and the one whose clothes appeared more expensive than the others and whose faces seemed frozen into a perpetual scowl—did have something that contained qi in a pouch tied to his waist. All of them, including the young one, had spiritual roots of either F- or F rank, definitely not good enough to join even the weakest sect. Benton quickly dismissed each box as uninteresting.
But when he scanned the boy and the girl, his eyes just about popped out of his head. For the boy, he got:
Affiliation:NoneAge:15Cultivation:NoneTechniques:NoneSpiritual Roots:B+Qi Aspect:Low viscosity lava flowing down Mount Burning ThunderThe girl was even more impressive.
Affiliation:NoneAge:15Cultivation:NoneTechniques:NoneSpiritual Roots:A-Qi Aspect:Perfectly smooth ice balanced on the razor edge of freezing and thawingAccording to Su's memories, approximately eighty percent of people on this planet would be ranked F-, F, or F+. Another seventeen percent would be ranked across the same spectrum of E. Somewhere in the D rank was where the smallest of sects started to take an interest, about two percent of the population. Of the remaining one percent of people, the C rank, which qualified for at least outer sect membership in all but the most exclusive of sects, took up over nine tenths. B was where it started to get interesting. Occurring in under point one percent of the population, few sects would turn down someone with that kind of potential. And an A rank, even more rare by several orders of magnitude, was usually accounted to be the feted find of a generation.
The chances against randomly encountering a B+ and an A- out in the middle of a forest somewhere, especially when neither had any cultivation and thus likely no prior sect affiliation, was astronomical.
That was when it hit Benton. His Auspicious Encounter. It had to be.
Sweet.
If the presence of the sneering teen who was going out of his way to fulfill every stereotype of an arrogant young master hadn't already convinced Benton which side of the conflict to take, the high potential of the kids being bullied certainly would have.
"You might as well kill me, Fang Wei," the girl yelled. "I will never marry you. Never!"
The young master scoffed. "It's too late for that. After my men kill your brother, I'll take you right here. You'll never be anything better than my concubine if I let you live at all. It all depends on how well you please me."
Yeah, no. That was not going to happen.
The brother somehow finished staggering to his feet, his movements revealing that he'd been stabbed in his side. Su's expertise said that the injury didn't look too bad, though, even for a mortal.
"Get away from her!" the brother shouted.
Fang Wei snarled. "Knock her down and kill him."
No one from either of the parties seemed to have noticed Benton's arrival. It was time to change that.
He cleared his throat. "I'm afraid I cannot allow that to happen."
Nine sets of eyes turned to him. Most were confused. The girl's held a glimmer of hope.
"Jin Fengg, kill Yang Ru," the young master said, followed by the guy standing closest to the girl nodding. "The rest of you, kill the interloper!"
Before anyone else literally could move a muscle, Benton had his spear at the ready and was halfway to Jin Fengg. He made it a single step toward Yang Ru before Benton arrived.
Not at all used to violence, he did just what Su had done in so many memories. He manipulated qi in microbursts to his legs and feet and arms, thrusting the spear at his opponent's chest. There was no possibility of the strike being blocked. It was too fast. Too powerful.
Before Benton even realized what was happening, the black tip connected with Fengg's chest over the direct center of his heart. And kept going. Bone shattered.
The spear pierced the heart and didn't stop until the tip protruded from Fengg's back.
Benton pulled. The shaft slid out just as easily as it went in.
Fengg collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from his wounds. He gasped, unaware that he was already dead.
Horrified, Benton felt ill. He'd just killed someone.
Everyone else gawked at him.
Despite descriptions of corporate life as being dog eat dog, nothing had prepared him for something like what had just happened. He literally almost dropped his spear and ran.
Only Su's memories saved him.
Killing a man was nothing. A man insulted you? Kill him. A woman disrespected the sect? Kill her and her entire family. A child laughed at you? Kill him, too.
To do anything else was to show weakness, and in the cultivation world, to show weakness was death.
Strong. He had to project strength. That was the way.
"Fang Wei, take your men and leave," Benton said. "Swear never to pursue these two again, and I'll let you live."
Su's memories brought up a half a dozen instances where someone in his sect had been merciful and lived to regret it. Or as was more likely the case, died regretting it.
In a cultivation world, showing compassion was the same as showing weakness. Benton understood that thinking, but he couldn't just kill someone for no good reason. He wouldn't.
Intellectually, it was all well and good to do whatever you wanted in a world where might made right, but he'd lived his entire life in a world where one got arrested for punching someone else in a bar. The police handled punishment. Anything else resulted in chaos. Emotionally, Benton simply wasn't ready to embrace cultivation world ethics.
Fang Wei laughed. After seeing a man slice a hole clean through the middle of someone in a matter of seconds, he laughed.
Was the guy insane?
He held a piece of paper in his hand, the source of qi from the pouch. A talisman. A low leveled talisman.
Benton didn't even need Su's memories to guess the effectiveness of the charm. Its miniscule amount of qi was enough to draw the appropriate conclusion. He had to steel himself not to roll his eyes. An arrogant young master indeed. Probably never been told no in his life.
Slowly, Benton walked toward Fang Wei. When he drew close enough for his spear to reach, he feinted, quickly darting the tip toward Fang Wei a few inches before drawing it right back.
The kid tore the talisman. A qi filled haze filled the space between the two of them for a moment before dissipating into nothingness.
Talismans like the one Fang Wei used were meant to block a single blow, giving the cultivator a chance to escape—preferably by using a movement technique. What the heck was the kid's plan? He just stood there like the charm was some kind of ultimate artifact that would destroy all enemies.
"Have any more heaven defying treasures you want to deploy against me?" Benton said.
The young master scowled. "Men, kill him. Kill him now!"
Benton couldn't believe what was happening. Was the arrogant fool really going to force him to kill every one of them?
Conflicted by his Earthborn ethics warring against the reality of his new world, Benton froze.
Seeing him distracted, Fang Wei acted.
The young master thrust his spear straight at Benton's heart, and once again, whether from the spear technique or from the memory of Su's hours of practicing and combat, Benton didn't think. He moved.
Faster than a snake, the tip of his spear knocked Fang Wei's aside and, before Benton thought to pull back, struck the young master right through the eye, killing him instantly.
How much time had passed since discovering the confrontation? A minute? Two? And Benton had killed two men in that time, men who, though obviously on the wrong side of the current conflict, would never see their parents again. Even if he couldn't grieve much for the lives of the young people who died in the act of afflicting violence on others, he couldn't help but regret the mourning he'd caused their mothers and fathers and siblings and other loved ones.
The other five men stopped, tension draining from their shoulders as if puppets with their strings cut as they looked at one another for direction.
"Leave this girl and her brother alone," Benton said firmly. "Go back to whatever flyspeck village you came from and don't ever let me catch you near her again."
Su's memories once again brought up all those memories of his sect members unfortunate ends after suffering just such a crisis of conscience, but killing wantonly just wasn't something Benton was prepared to do. He just wanted the situation over and done with, preferably with the remaining five young men walking away alive.
None of the men reacted, either to attack or to retreat.
"You five," Benton said. "I'll put it to you another way. Do you want to die here today or are you going to peacefully retreat?"
They each looked at each other before standing silently for another moment. Eventually, one of them stepped forward, laid down his spear, and cupped his hands. "Esteemed Master Cultivator, these lowly ones are but employees of Fang Wei's family."
Benton almost sighed in relief. That start surely would lead to them asking for his forgiveness, followed by them retreating never to be heard from again.
"If these lowly ones return alive and tell the master that his son is dead, not only will these lowly ones be executed in the most painful manner possible, but he will have our entire families killed." The man shivered. "My mom, my wife, my children. I cannot put them through that."
"Can't you just disappear or something?" Benton said. "Just never return."
"If these lowly ones deserted, that would go even worse for our families. The master will find out. He always does. There is only one solution."
Ridiculous. So, unless Benton wanted to go out of his way to track down Fang Wei's family and kill them, too, along with whatever retainers got in his way, he would be forced to execute these five men for the high crime of choosing the wrong boss.
In the last several minutes, he'd been forced into actions he didn't want to make. No more. He refused to become a brutal killer.
None of the mess the men found themselves in was of his making. They had chosen to accept the pay from the family of that vicious, evil young master. They had chosen to follow orders to accost the siblings. If Benton hadn't shown up, he was positive they would have chosen to do exactly what the wretched bastard had ordered them to do.
He was no judge to find them guilty of the crime and carry out an execution, but neither was he under any obligation to absolve them.
"You should have thought about that before choosing to follow that asshole. Your families' fate is on your heads, not mine. Drop your weapons and backpacks and go. Now. Or you will be making whatever decisions you have to make without hands."
The men complied. Immediately. They dropped everything they owned save the clothes on their backs and took off running.
Like a zombie, Benton picked up everything the men had left, including what was with the bodies. Backpacks with supplies and bed rolls, tents, pots and pans, weapons, silver coins, everything disappeared into his spatial ring.
Which was just really a weird thing to do. Back on Earth, he'd never even would have considered robbing the dead or telling his defeated foes to leave their valuables behind. Those were the actions of a thug, not a law-abiding citizen.
In cultivation world, even the resources of mortals could be sold or traded for resources that could aid cultivation. Advancing cultivation was the ultimate goal. The only goal.
The act came as natural as breathing.
Everything he'd just done felt really weird. On one hand, the Earthborn part of him wanted to throw up. In contrast, the part that had been a Foundation Establishment Cultivator had absolutely no reaction at all. Killing those men was no different than pruning weeds from a garden.
He looked at the two kids who he hoped would become his disciples, the ones who'd watched him perform those acts. Both stared at him with wide eyes and indiscernible expressions.
At that moment, Benton simply did not care what they thought about him as they just weren't something he was ready to deal with yet. He needed time to come to terms with executing those two men and robbing, perhaps condemning five others. It wasn't like the kids would be able to outrun him. He'd catch up with them later.
His best recourse was to nope the heck out of there in order to regroup, and that was just what he did.
Chapter 8 - The Path Forward
Equal parts amazed and afraid, Yang Xiu watched as the cultivator disappeared from view. "Did you see that, Ru'er? Fang Wei is dead. He killed Fang Wei. Our nightmare is over. Finally."
Her brother tried to hide his dismay from her, but as his twin, she knew him way too well.
"What?" she said. "He's dead. It's over."
"We can't go back, Xiu'er."
"Why not? We can live with uncle."
He clenched his hands. "Uncle Hai fled. When I told him we were leaving, he started packing almost before the words were out of my mouth."
"We can still go back. We have friends—"
"How do you think the Lord Mayor will react when the two peasants his son chased return without him, when his son never returns?"
Oh.
"It's all my fault. Our parents. Us having to flee."
"Not that again, Xiu'er! I can't. Please. All blame goes to that obsessive idiot, Fang Wei. Why couldn't he have just taken no for an answer?"
"I should have used a knife to scar my face."
"No, Xiu'er. Just no." He paused. "I'm going to check the bodies. See if the cultivator left anything we can use."
Ru'er sounded defeated, more so than ever, and she could understand that. Their most immediate threat had been miraculously removed and still their situation had not improved in the slightest. They were still lost, on the run, unable to return home, penniless, hungry.
Her stomach growled, and she coughed to try to cover up the noise. She didn't want to put any more stress on her brother. As soon as she'd noticed their rations running low, she'd tried to slip some of her food from her plate to her larger, stronger brother's, but he'd always noticed and given it back.
It had been over a day since either of them had had anything to eat.
"Any luck?" she said when he'd finished going to each of the corpses, trying to keep the hope from her voice.
"The cultivator took everything." He winced.
For the first time, Xiu noticed the red stain at his side. "Ru'er! You're hurt!"
"I'll be fine. It's just a light scratch."
"Let me look at it. I can—"
"I said I'll be fine!"
She recoiled back, not even able to recall the last time he'd shouted at her.
"I'm sure something will turn up. Our fortunes must be improving, right? Fang Wei's men had just caught us when that man appeared out of nowhere."
Things had to get better. They couldn't get any worse.
Ru'er grunted noncommittally, clearly discouraged.
He'd been her rock throughout all that had happened, never blaming her, always trying to keep her spirits up. If he faltered, she didn't know if she could keep putting one foot in front of the other.
No. She would keep going. For him. If she had to drag him after her, she would. She owed him that much and more.
It would be better for both of them, though, if she could find some way to cheer him up. "You remember what Mom always said. Good fortune comes in threes. We're owed two more miracles. I bet we'll round the next bend and find a boar dead, a fresh kill somehow left behind by whatever killed it. It will be just lying there waiting for you to carve up and me to cook."
"Sure, Xiu'er. Sure."
"I can see it now. Apples will have fallen from the nearby trees, one landing in its mouth. And rice having slipped from someone's pockets into the depression of a piece of bark that looks just like a bowl."
"That would be pretty miraculous." He was clearly trying to keep his voice monotone, but the ends of his lips were turning upward.
The ridiculous scenario she came up with was working. All she could do was continue effusing. "And did you see that cultivator? How he moved! It was like… Boom!" She moved her hand rapidly to the right. "And then… Boom!" She moved her hand rapidly to the left. "Do you think he was an immortal? He had to be an immortal, right? To be that fast?"
"Sure, Xiu'er. Sure."
Even running fast away for the site of the fight, Benton couldn't help but hear the sibling's conversation. They were clearly hungry, which gave him another opportunity to save them, and didn't seem to have as bad an opinion of him as he suspected.
Su would have laughed derisively at the girl's naivete in thinking that he, not even halfway through the very first major realm, was an immortal. Clearly, they were not used to dealing with cultivators.
That inexperience brought both positives and negatives.
Mortals treated cultivators with both respect and fear. They walked the planet like demi-gods, powerful, capricious, walking talking forces of nature. A simple farmer had as much control over a cultivator as he did against a storm or a tornado.
The only laws that held any sway were those laws that had strong enough backers. If a kingdom had no support from a sect, even its king would be forced to bow to the weakest wandering cultivator who passed through.
According to Su's memories, if he walked up to the mayor of any town who wasn't under a sect's protection, Benton could order him to turn over his daughter, and he would have to. The alternative was for him and his entire family to be slaughtered.
The two siblings would be no different. If Benton offered to make them his disciples, they would take it as an order. Join or die.
Even worse than people who had some idea of the cultivation world, they wouldn't even know what they were signing up for—a sect leader with no sect, no power, barely further along the path of challenging the heavens than they would soon be upon accepting.
Approaching them under such circumstances felt dishonest. They would have no basis to evaluate Benton's offer and yet would feel obligated to accept.
Of course, if he didn't make them his disciples, they probably wouldn't be alive in another week. Between their lack of food and the fact that his senses indicated that the path would soon start entering spirit beast territory, they stood no chance.
Su would not have understood why any of those concerns was an issue. Benton was stronger than them. They were mere mortals. He could do anything he wanted with them. They had no rights. Not to liberty. Not even to life.
Benton had to adapt to his new world. Behaving the way that he had back on Earth would get him killed. Again. There were some things about the cultivation world, even some things he found distasteful, that he would have to embrace.
For instance, killing. He'd killed two people and perhaps condemned five others to the same fate. He should be aghast. Yet he could rationalize his actions.
Benton didn't think he'd ever come to enjoy killing, but he thought he'd be able to accept the necessity. He didn't want to compromise on all his morals, though.
On the other hand, the siblings were absolutely the exact recruits he needed to start his sect. Who knew how long it would take him to find any other people at all in the middle of a forest, much less two with such amazing spiritual roots. He'd be a complete idiot to let the opportunity pass him by.
He had a lot of thinking to do.
Chapter 9 - Two Roads Diverged into a Wood
A heavenly scent wafted to Yang Xiu's nose. Her stomach rumbled. "Am I hallucinating or is someone cooking a pig?"
Ru'er sniffed the air and immediately stopped walking. "You're not imagining things."
She started forward and made it several steps before she noted that her brother hadn't moved. "What are you waiting for? Maybe they have enough to share."
"It's a trap. It must be."
"Or… it's the second miracle." Yang Xiu grinned back at him. "Come on, silly. Let's go."
They exchanged glances. Ru'er's said that she was being foolhardy, rushing into danger. Xiu's told him she'd prefer to die in ambush than to slowly waste away due to starvation. Besides, she refused to give up on her belief that there were still good people in the world.
He sighed. "Fine."
With the smell of a campfire and cooking propelling her onward, the trees and bushes on either side of the trail seemed to fly by, and when she finally rounded the last bend hiding the food from her, it exceeded her expectations by far. A full boar was roasting over a fire with, of all things, an apple in its mouth. A pot of rice cooked to the side.
Yang Xiu froze. Either her second miracle truly was being delivered by the heavens or someone had heard her earlier comments. In the quiet of her mind, she admitted she sometimes indulged in flights of fancy, but the current circumstances went way beyond the bounds of her credulity.
Her eyes darted about, landing on a figure standing still and quiet beside a tree. The cultivator.
She immediately cupped her hands and bowed low. Beside her, Ru'er did the same thing. To do anything else, risked death.
For a moment, no one spoke until, finally, she said, "This lowly one greets Esteemed Master Cultivator."
A second later, her brother repeated the greeting.
"Rise, please. Make yourselves comfortable. Lunch will be ready shortly."
She again exchanged glances with her twin, hers saying, "Does this situation feel as weird to you as it does to me?" and his agreeing with hers completely.
Two small logs set up in front of the fire were obviously meant to be used as seats, and Yang Xiu led the way to them and sat. Her brother followed.
Hunger gnawed at her stomach, and having food so close to her, meat sizzling and absolutely amazing smells inundating her, was torture. She didn't move a muscle though. Neither did Ru'er. They kept their posture stiffer than when their grandmother had taught them the etiquette of tea ceremonies. Of course, a misstep with a cultivator would carry a far greater consequence than a hand stung with a switch.
While she otherwise didn't move, her eyes followed the man around the campsite. His every movement was personification of gracefulness. Each step he took had purpose. Each flick of his knife carved out a perfectly cooked piece of pork. And soon, a plate of food was set on a stone in front of her.
"What are you waiting for? Eat."
Even without his command, she would have had a difficult time holding back. With it, she abandoned all pretense of reserve, tearing into the meal.
When she looked up, her plate empty, the cultivator grinned. "There's plenty for seconds, but it might be better to let that rest for a bit. Besides, we have much to discuss."
She let out a breath. The man had saved their lives, killed their enemies, and staved off their starvation. It was time to find out the cost for his largess.
"First, let me introduce myself." He briefly dipped his head slightly, showing much more respect than she felt was warranted given the difference in their stations. "I am … Chao Su, a wandering cultivator of sorts."
She wondered at the brief hesitation but not for more than an instant. If he were giving her a false name, that was his business.
It was the siblings' custom to have her take the lead in social situations and Ru'er when there was danger, so again she bowed low—a gesture made more difficult by being seated on a log—and cupping her hands. "This lowly one is Yang Xiu, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
Her brother introduced himself right after in the same manner.
"Obviously," the man said after Ru'er had finished, "I want something from the two of you."
Her chest tightened at his words. Beside her, her brother tensed.
"I suspect I can guess what might be going through your minds at this moment given your experience with that arrogant young master. I can assure you my intentions are wholly different than that cretin's. What I will request of you is, above all, honorable." The cultivator hesitated for an instant. "I wish I could tell you that my request will be less onerous, but I cannot truthfully make that claim. I can say that, should you accept my offer, there will be many benefits to offset the bad."
The siblings looked at each other. "What is he talking about?" Yang Xiu's look said. Her brother had no idea either.
"Let me make one thing crystal clear. I am making an offer to you. You may accept my offer or refuse my offer. I know that you saw me kill two mortals in cold blood." The man frowned. "Honestly, I do not like killing. I especially do not like killing those who are so much weaker than me that they pose no threat whatsoever. I swear to you on my honor as a cultivator that, should you refuse my offer, I will not harm you in any way.
"I realize, however, that I still hold much of the advantage in making my request. I saved your life. I fed you. You are thinking that each of these actions on my part carries debt."
Yang Xiu nodded almost unconsciously. She and her brother owed the cultivator.
"Do you, mortals, control the actions of me, a cultivator?"
"Of course not, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
To him, they were no more than worms.
"I did what I did for my own reasons. There is no debt. For you to claim debt is to claim that you control my actions. Do you make that claim?"
"No, Esteemed Master Cultivator," the two said in unison.
"Good."
Yang Xiu had read many stories of mortals encountering cultivators. Those were mostly fiction and involved the characters being elevated to heights untold. Most real stories involved either the mortals being ignored or coming to a quick and very bad end.
None of the stories involved the cultivator carrying on such an unusual conversation.
"The obvious question that must be on your minds is," the cultivator said, "what could I possibly want from two lost, penniless, powerless mortals?"
Yang Xiu found herself nodding again without having made a conscious decision to do so.
He gave them a brief overview of the ranks G through S and how common, or uncommon, each were.
"You, Yang Ru, are a B+. Yang Xiu, you are an A-," the man said. "To make this as clear as possible, you two have extraordinary potential as cultivators. Any sect, barring ones that focus only on specific qi aspects, would take you. Many would immediately elevate you to inner sect members."
The siblings looked at each other, shocked.
"Most sects are made up primarily of Qi Gathering and Foundation Establishment cultivators as just about anyone can achieve the former and it doesn't take much talent or resources to break through to the latter. Core formation is where things get difficult. Most D-rank cultivators and a lot of C-ranks hit a bottleneck and never break through. Even A and B ranks aren't guaranteed, but your chances are so high that it's worth it to a sect to invest resources into you."
He paused. "Do you understand your value?"
Though both were stunned, they each bowed in assent.
"Good," the man said. "Now, you're probably wondering how powerful I am."
Yang Xiu had the good sense not to react to that prompt even though she was dying to know.
"I am definitely not an immortal."
Yang Xiu's face heated. She was mortified he'd heard her silliness.
"Simply put," he said, "I'm barely further along on my cultivation journey than the two of you are, only four minor realms higher, and you haven't started yet."
Despite her best efforts to hold her face expressionless, her jaw dropped.
"Go ahead," he said. "Make your comment."
"But your speed, Esteemed Master Cultivator. How could you be only slightly more powerful than us who were weaker than the men you killed?"
"That's because I have years of experience in using qi. Up until very recently, I was much farther along on my cultivation journey and had clear skies ahead of me. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, my cultivation was reset all the way back to zero after an encounter with a demonic cultivator.
"I nearly died, but I later happened upon an opportunity that left me with advantages that, to the best of my knowledge, no one else has."
Yang Xiu's eyes went wide. It was just like something from a story.
The man shrugged. "Such things happen occasionally. In a cultivation world, anything can, and does, occur. It is the job of a cultivator to make the best of what they are given, and honestly, what I was given makes the loss of my previous cultivation a small sacrifice indeed. In the short term however, it is possible, even likely, that the two of you could surpass me in cultivation realm."
He took a deep breath. "My request to the two of you is for you to join me as my personal disciples. I want to create my own sect, which will both make the most of the new advantages I have received but also convey some of those advantages to my sect members."
Yang Xiu bowed low. "If you will have me, this lowly one will join you, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
"This lowly one will also join you, Esteemed Master Cultivator," Ru'er said.
The man sighed. "Hmm. Your reaction concerns me. Are you both too rash? Neither of you considered my offer for a literal second. This is a huge life decision."
With an effort, Yang Xiu held her tongue. If there was one thing she'd learned from all those stories, it was that one did not speak back to a cultivator.
"Speak, child," the man said to her. "I can tell you've got something on your mind."
"This lowly one has nothing to say, Esteemed Master Cultivator."
"You're saying I'm wrong?"
Fear gripped Yang Xiu's heart. Her tongue, her cursed loose tongue. She'd insulted him.
She inched away from her brother. Perhaps whatever energy the cultivator used to scour her from existence would spare her brother.
The man sighed again. "I swore to you that I would not hurt you. Please believe me that my honor would not allow me to go back on that vow. Just speak what's on your mind."
How was it possible that he really wasn't going to kill her even after she'd insulted him? In the stories…
But she wasn't living a story. She had to face what was actually happening to her.
"This lowly one apologizes, Esteemed Master Cultivator. It's just that these two lowly ones are likely to die on their own. These lowly ones do not know where they are or where they're going, and they don't have the food or resources to continue. What choice do these lowly ones have? Esteemed Master Cultivator is throwing a rope to two who are drowning."
"If I were to offer to give you rations and set you on a path that wouldn't lead you to sure death from spirit beasts like the one you're currently on, how would that affect your decision?"
"If these two lowly ones joined you," Ru'er said, "what would be expected?"
"Good. An actual question. Finally." The cultivator smiled. "In answer to you, young man. I expect you to cultivate. To learn. To grow strong. You two will become my sect's protectors. I fear I cannot offer you peace. Your lives will revolve around combat."
The siblings exchanged a look. "I couldn't even protect myself from a single spearman," Ru'er's said. "How am I supposed to become the protector of an entire sect?"
"You're not," Yang Xiu's said. "We are. Together." Her eyes flashed with excitement.
"Look," the man said, "you really have three choices—join me, join a sect, or stay as far away from the cultivation world as you possibly can. If you join me, I will do everything in my power to get you to the Nascent Soul realm and even higher if possible. I completely lack in some resources that even the most minor of sects could provide you, but I have other resources I will spend on you that other sects would consider heavenly treasures only suitable for the most esteemed of recruits. If you join some other sect, you'll be given as many pills and cultivation aids as you can use, but the competition will be fierce. You honestly may not survive the experience. But you may not survive protecting my sect, either. Your best bet may be to simply find a farm somewhere and try to avoid cultivators until your dying day.
"Right now, it's like two roads are diverging into a wood, and you must choose which to take. And no matter what choice you do make, your lives are forever changed."
Chapter 10 - Induction
Benton walked far enough from the campsite to give the kids a chance to talk without him listening in. He could have gone only out of sight to give them the appearance of privacy, but he knew both how much he really wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation and how much of a breach of trust that would be. He'd instructed them to yell loudly when they were ready for him to return.
That shout occurred way too soon.
At first, he feared that something in the forest had approached them, and they needed help. His spiritual senses weren't picking up anything like that, though, and after he'd ran back, the kids weren't in active distress.
They both got on their knees and kowtowed to him.
"Esteemed Master Cultivator," Yang Xiu said, "please take these lowly ones as your disciples."
"First of all," Benton said, "if I'm to accept you, you have to drop all this third person lowly ones nonsense. Second, I was barely gone a minute. How could you have possibly come to a meaningful decision that quickly?"
"Esteemed Master Cultivator, these … I mean, we know you are trying to make sure that this choice is a considered one, but these … we truly believe it to be the best for us. A sect where we have high potential but no backer is likely to turn into a bad situation. Jealous nobles would make our lives miserable if nothing else."
That point was a valid one.
"And knowing that it's possible for us to achieve power for ourselves so that no one like Fang Wei can try to control us or … do what he did ever again… We want that power." Yang Xiu looked at Benton, her eyes pleading. "I know you value us, and you've already shown us more goodwill than all but our closest family ever has. No matter what you need us to do, we will do to the best of our ability. Our place is with you."
Benton nodded. He could accept that decision.
In expectation of a blue screen popping up, he stood there silently for a moment. When nothing appeared, he checked his menu but found no change to the Recruit First Disciple Quest.
"Yang Xiu, Yang Ru." He met each of their sets of eyes. "Congratulations on becoming my first disciples."
As relief washed over the kid's faces, he checked the menu again. Still no change. There had to be something he was missing.
Su's memories provided the answer—the bai-sitea ceremony.
"Follow me," Benton said.
He led his two new disciples over to the fire where he removed from his spatial ring a tea set that he'd taken from Fang's party. "Which of you is to be first?"
The siblings looked at each other and, with nary a word being spoken, seemed to come to a swift decision.
"I will, Esteemed Master Cultivator," Yang Xiu said.
"Now that you are to become my disciples, that title is no longer proper." Benton paused. "Later, when I have founded my sect, Sect Leader, Sect Master, or some combination of that with either Chao or Su would be appropriate, depending on the situation and our relationship at the time."
He drew heavily on Su's memories.
"In the meantime, I do not want to draw undue attention to ourselves once we reach civilization. Given the closeness of our age and cultivation levels, the best form of address for you to use will be Senior Brother Su or, if you must, Senior Brother Chao."
"Yes, Senior Brother Chao," the two chorused.
He had Yang Xiu prepare two cups of tea, patiently waiting seated on a log as she heated the water and steeped it. The society of the world he'd transmigrated to took tea very seriously.
When the cups were ready, he had Yang Ru take the position to serve the tea.
"Yang Xiu, kneel before me."
She did so without hesitation.
"Tell me, in your own words, why you want to be my disciple."
She hesitated only briefly before speaking. "Senior Brother Chao, you are the strongest person I have ever seen and also one of the most honorable. You could have forced the two of us to do whatever you wanted. Instead, you treated us with compassion and understanding. If I am to become a cultivator and serve under someone, I wish for that someone to be like you."
"Yang Ru, please hand Yang Xiu one of the cups of tea." Benton waited as the boy, using movements that Su's memory found to be mostly acceptable, presented his sister with the cup. "Yang Xiu, if you wish to be my disciple, please signify so by drinking the tea and then acknowledge me as your master by kowtowing, bowing three times with your head touching the dirt at my feet each time."
To Benton's Western sensibilities, what he was asking the girl to do sounded absolutely insane, but Su's memories made it seem like the ceremony was perfectly natural. And Yang Xiu didn't seem to take issue with anything, immediately complying.
When in Rome…
Once she'd risen back to a kneeling position, Benton said, "Yang Ru, please hand your sister the second cup."
Following the same long, drawn-out process, he did so.
"Yang Xiu, please present the tea to me."
Even though Benton had already verbally told her that he would accept her as a disciple, her hand still trembled as she held the cup out to him. It occurred to him that it would take someone who was a serious jackass to reject the supplicant at that late stage of the ceremony by not accepting it or by not drinking it. Su's memories told him, however, that he had done each of those things at different times. The point in the ceremony at which the rejection occurred sent a message.
Of course, every little detail about the entire situation, from how the cup was held to how quickly the tea was drank to every other possible movement, sent some kind of message or another, according to Su's memories.
Benton simply accepted it from her and sipped it calmly until the cup was empty.
And that was it. As soon as he finished the tea, a box popped up.
The Quest, Recruit First Disciple, has been completed. Host is awarded five Shop Points.
Host currently has five Shop Points.
Benton had to admit that reading that message, completing his first actual System-issued quests, was one of the most satisfying things that had happened to him in either of his lives.
As he was reading the system message, Yang Xiu stood. Her excitement and happiness were written all over her face.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Chao."
"No. Thank you, Junior Sister Xiu. You are officially my first disciple. Now let's double that amount."
The siblings reversed positions, with Yang Ru preparing the tea and kneeling and Yang Xiu serving it to Benton.
When it got to the part where Yang Ru had to describe in his own words why he wanted to be a disciple, he said, "Senior Brother Chao is strong enough to protect my sister and has promised to make me as strong as he is. I believe that the senior brother will do as he promised."
Yang Xiu had done almost all the talking up to that point, so it was good to hear Yang Ru's thoughts. It was a simple yet powerful message.
Soon after, the ceremony was complete.
The Quest, Recruit Additional Disciple, has been completed. This Quest may be repeated. Host is awarded one Shop Point.
Host currently has six Shop Points.
Benton didn't have a sect yet, and he only had two disciples. But it was a start. Two allies against the whole of the cultivation world.
It would have to be enough.
Chapter 11 - A Hitch in the Plan
Many parts of the tea ceremony had seemed slow and somewhat boring to Benton. He understood how important such events were in his new culture and thus to his new disciples, but Su's memories didn't influence him strongly enough to make it as momentous to him. It was an appreciation that could only be achieved as he gained experience.
On the plus side, the length of the ceremony had given him plenty of time to consider his next steps. By the time the System notified him that Yang Ru was officially an additional disciple, Benton had a game plan ready.
He pulled two pills from his spatial ring and showed them to the kids. "These are part of the advantage I gained when I sacrificed my cultivation." He felt a little dishonest in explaining his situation in that manner, but since he was nowhere near ready to fully lay out his transmigration and everything else to two people he'd just met, it was best to keep things simple. "I now present them to you as an opportunity."
The siblings looked at each other, and a silence built.
Finally, Yang Xiu said, "Senior Brother Chao, what do the pills do?"
Benton drew heavily on Su's knowledge to offer his explanation. "Ah. I'm glad you asked. Methods to improve your innate spiritual roots are extremely limited in both quantity and quality, but this is one of those ways, one that happens to be the most effective known for your cultivation stage. It is quite rare and precious, and it comes with two unique conditions for use. First, you may only take one of these pills in your lifetime. Any subsequent consumption will damage your spiritual roots, perhaps catastrophically. Second, this pill is only effective if it is taken prior to the start of your cultivation journey.
"To be very clear, this is an immense opportunity for you, but you do not have to accept it. This pill is so rare that I had never seen one until I acquired these two. I certainly have not witnessed their impact on anyone using one of them. Typically, though, such pills tend to be … painful. Agonizing would probably be a more apt description. The pill will not harm you, will not kill you, but it will likely make you desire such an end just to stop the hurt."
Benton wanted both of his new disciples to take one of the pills, and he knew that his description of the likely suffering involved didn't exactly further that goal. He was honest with them for three reasons. One, it further built trust between them. Were he to just stuff the pills in their respective mouths, they'd have improved spiritual roots but would blame him for their suffering. Two, it tested their resolve. If they weren't willing to suffer pain to advance, he'd have to temper his expectations for their ceiling as cultivators. Third, it just felt like the right thing to do. He'd certainly want to know if it were him.
The siblings again shared a glance, their expressions concerned.
"Senior Brother Chao," Yang Xiu said, "this low… I apologize, but I do not fully understand the benefit of the opportunity you are so generously offering us."
Benton almost laughed. In a similar situation back on Earth, one of his protégés would have said something like, "Are you freaking crazy, bro? Why the freak would I take something that's going to hurt? Unless it makes hundred-dollar bills rain down from heaven into my pockets, you can take your pill and stuff it."
Yang Xiu's version was much more polite.
"The better your spiritual roots, the easier literally every part of cultivation is. Each cycle will be just a little smoother and faster. You'll gain just a little more from each advancement." Benton held his thumb and index finger to where they were almost touching. "Gaining the next major realm will be just that much more likely."
The two didn't look convinced.
"Your journey to Foundation Establishment will take thousands of cycles. To get the core formation will take tens of thousands. Even the tiniest of improvement to each cycle will give you a tremendous advantage over the course of your lifetime." Benton paused. "I cannot think of a single Golden Core cultivator that I knew who wouldn't have given just about anything to have the chance to have taken one of these pills.
"Again, this is your decision. I will understand if you refuse it. You are my disciples either way."
Yang Xiu said, "Senior Brother Chao, I want to take—"
Yang Ru grabbed her arm, cutting her off. They looked at each other. He glared at her. She glared at him.
"Why don't you two take a few minutes to talk amongst yourselves," Benton said.
He had something he needed to do, anyway. While he understood the process of creating a cultivation method, he'd never actually done it. While the kids were distracted, he wanted to go through the process.
A few thoughts brought up the correct menu.
Welcome, Host, to the Cultivation Method Creation Menu.
Select Cultivation Realm:
Qi Gathering
Foundation Establishment
Golden Core
Nascent Soul
Nihility
Ascension
Half Immortal
True Immortal
Immortal King
Immortal Emperor
Heavenly Saint
Celestial Being
He quickly selected Qi Gathering.
Cultivation Realm set to Qi Gathering.
Sect Point Factor set to one.
Select Applicability:
Targeted to Specific Qi Aspect
Sliding Scale (Specify)
Any Qi Aspect
He selected "Targeted to Specific Qi Aspect," and when prompted, pulled up Yang Xiu's and set it exactly to that.
Targeted to Specific Qi Aspect selection accepted.
Specific Qi set to Perfectly smooth ice balanced on the razor edge of freezing and thawing.
Please allocate 100 Cultivation Method Creation Points in the following three categories:
Ease
Power
Foundation
The allocation decision required much more thought. According to Su's memory, the advancement from Qi Gathering to Foundation Establishment was greatly impacted by the foundational qualities of the Qi Gathering method. Not only that, but building a better foundation in the beginning realms made it easier to advance in future realms. Thus, it was tempting to discount any other considerations and simply put all the points into Foundation. After all, the ultimate goal of any cultivator was to become an immortal, and the better the foundation, the easier that realm was to reach.
On the other hand, the twins both had amazing potential already. With their talent, they'd likely reach Foundation Establishment even with the worst cultivation method imaginable, and the System promised extraordinary methods even before any of the Creation Points were allocated.
Su had obviously not reached high enough in his journey to know everything about the higher realms, but Benton thought it likely that having an absolutely maxed out Foundation versus simply a very good one at the Qi Gathering stage was unlikely to provide nearly as much benefit as it would for the methods he'd give them in the higher realms. In their current circumstances, he felt strongly that a huge immediate boost was much more important than what he suspected would be a miniscule gain later on. He decided to use only five Cultivation Method Creation Points for Foundation.
His disciples' immense talent should also allow them to speed through the Qi Gathering realm regardless of what how many points he devoted to Ease, so he was tempted to minimize that category as well. On the other hand, Benton needed points fast, and he wasn't comfortable escorting his disciples through the spirit beast infected forest ahead of them until they'd reached at least the fourth minor realm, meaning he really valued speed of advancement.
After deliberating for a couple of minutes, he decided to devote thirty points to that category.
That left sixty-five points for Power, which felt like a good number.
Cultivation Method Creation Point allocation selection accepted.
Please provide a name for your cultivation method.
Ugh. He hated naming things, and he couldn't just blow it off, either. Yang Xiu would naturally see the name of the method she used.
Taking inspiration from the description of her qi aspect, he finally came up with the Divine Flowing Ice method.
Was that too overblown or not impressive enough? He had no idea. It looked like the kids' argument was winding down, so he didn't have time to obsess of it.
Moving on.
Name accepted.
Congratulations, Host, on the creation of the Divine Flowing Ice Method!
Would you like to create this method for ten Sect Points?
Yes. Yes, he did.
Cultivation method created.
Host has 80 Sect Points Remaining.
The method was created? Where was it?
Oh. His ring. Obviously.
With a thought, he pulled out the newest addition to his storage, a jade slip.
He'd been expecting a manual, a nice pen—or quill or brush or whatever—on paper manual. In some aspects, the jade slip was much more impressive and convenient. The knowledge contained within it would be directly transferred into someone's mind, a quick, efficient, and thorough process. There was one huge drawback, though—the usage of a jade slip required external qi.
That wouldn't be a problem for a normal sect as the elder distributing the slips would have been in the Foundation Establishment realm at the very least. Benton, though, was barely in the mid-range of Qi Gathering. He definitely could not manipulate qi external to his body.
Well, heck.
Chapter 12 - The Great Hunt
Two solutions to the problem of using jade slips occurred to Benton. The first, easiest answer was to simply use Sect Points to increase his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment realm. Of course, that meant either hiding that act from the kids or coming up with an explanation. It also meant that he'd have to help both of them use the slips every time they wanted to refer back to something.
Worse, it meant using up a precious resource. It was becoming obvious to him that the System was best utilized by running an actual sect with lots of outer sect members who were cultivating methods produced with wide applicability. Waiting on two disciples, no matter how talented, to advance was too slow and didn't return enough profit to even cover for the method they'd need when reaching the next realm.
Maybe his idea to create a uniquely attuned method for each of them was a bad idea. He'd already committed to Yang Xiu's though, and it wouldn't do him much good to change course for Yang Ru.
Besides, those two were the hope and future of the sect. Benton needed to make each of them as powerful as possible, and the way to do that was providing them with an advantage no other sect could possibly give them, a perfectly attuned cultivation method.
No, his plan was valid. He just needed to conserve Sect Points wherever possible until he found the dozens of less talented disciples that he needed. That resolution meant that spending the points needed to increase his cultivation was a subpar idea.
His second solution was better, but it had the downside of putting him personally in danger. Spirit beast cores could be used to power treasures, formations, and all kinds of other items, including jade slips. He just needed to find a beast and kill it.
According to Su's memories, he should have no problem doing just that, but Benton both was and very much was not the man who had taken down scores of such creatures during his lifetime. Unlike the seven men he'd just faced who had no superpowers, a spirit beast represented a true death threat.
But it also represented an opportunity.
A sect would require resources. Money. Benton had none. Spirit beast cores were valuable. At some point, utilizing Su's memories to hunt for some made sense. Given the present need, he might as well get started.
By the time he'd finished his internal deliberation, the two kids had finished their discussion and were clearly waiting for him to turn his attention to them. He did so.
Yang Xiu didn't look happy.
"Senior Brother Chao," Yang Ru said, "I will take one of the pills."
"And your sister?"
"After me."
Ah. She wanted to take it first, but big brother was being protective of her.
"I see," Benton said. "I am proud of both of you. You have each demonstrated extreme bravery in embracing an opportunity that will probably result in much personal hardship."
Both siblings looked pleased with the compliment.
"Yang Ru, I respect your courage in facing a complete unknown. It is not easy to take a pill not knowing what the result will be."
The boy's chest practically swelled with pride.
"And Yang Xiu, I find your courage in going second to be perhaps even greater."
"I don't understand, Senior Brother Chao," Yang Ru said. "Why would going second require greater bravery?"
Benton peered at him in a way that hopefully made him seem wiser than his current body's years. "Is it braver to step first knowing that you might experience pain or to step second after witnessing the agony of another? I think the latter."
Yang Xiu grinned, her initial anger at going second obviously mollified by the explanation.
"I must be off on a hunting trip, and I don't know how long it will be until I return. Hopefully prior to nightfall but definitely before morning." Benton handed one of the Spiritual Root Refinement Pills to each of the kids before pulling one of the mortal spears he'd taken from Fang's party from his spiritual ring and handing it to Yang Xiu.
"My spiritual sense shows that the area is clear, so you should encounter no difficulties while I am gone. There exist, however, spirit beasts who may be able to evade my senses," he told Yang Xiu. "Your brother will probably be vulnerable for a time. It is your duty to stay vigilant and to guard him. Understood?"
She cupped her hands and bowed.
"Good," Benton said. "Do not, under any circumstances, consume your pill until after either I return or your brother has fully recovered from his."
"Yes, Senior Brother Chao. I understand."
Both of them seemed like really good kids. Benton was beginning to feel true affection for each of them and felt bad that he was leaving them to fend for themselves. Even the two of them fighting together would stand no chance against a spirit beast.
He hesitated for a moment. If he waited until they were both cultivators, they'd be much safer.
No. That wouldn't work. He needed the cores in order for them to learn a method.
Ugh. It was a whole chicken and the egg type of situation.
He was probably being too much of a worrywart. The kids had survived on their own up until meeting him, and the forest seemed safe. Their camp was far from where he sensed any danger, and Su's memories doubted that any beasts powerful enough to evade his perception would have ranged so far.
Best to just get it over with and return as quickly as he could.
Manipulating qi in microbursts to his leg muscles, he sped off. Miles passed like he was driving a car down the interstate as he weaved in between trees and bushes. After a half hour, he'd used about a quarter of his qi pool and still wasn't even breathing hard. Benton thanked his body's previous owner from keeping it in such good shape.
He needed to be careful to keep a large qi reserve, though. If it ran out in the middle of a battle, he'd be dead.
Luckily, he sensed a spirit beast nearby less than five minutes later. A rank one. Perfect.
The way Benton understood beast rankings from Su's memory was that rank one's corresponded roughly to the low realm of Qi Gathering, so minor realms one, two, and three. Rank two encompassed the mid realm, four through six, and rank three the high realm, seven through nine. Ranks four, five, and six followed a similar pattern for the Foundation Establishment realm and so on.
Su's instincts told him that, with his experience using qi, rank one beasts should present no challenge and rank two beasts would be doable. For rank three, it depended on the beast in question. Any higher than that was almost guaranteed to result in Benton's defeat. He also needed to watch out for beasts that fought in packs, like wolves.
The target near him was exactly what he needed. Its signature was about as weak as a rank one could possibly get. Time to act.
Trees and bushes crowded close to him. Unless the beast happened to be in the middle of a clearing when he found it, he'd likely end up being quite close to it before laying eyes on it, so his bow was unlikely to be the best weapon for the task. He pulled his System-bought spear from his spatial ring.
After ensuring that his own qi signature was completely concealed, Benton circled around the location where he'd sensed the rank one spirit beast's qi so that he could approach it from downwind. Using Su's memories of moving stealthily, Benton crept forward without making a sound.
His heart thudded hard against his chest.
He stopped for a moment to calm himself. By approaching through dense foliage, it was unlikely that the beast would see him before he got close enough to it to strike fast, and his other countermeasures had eliminated the creature sensing him by qi, smell, or sound.
According to Su's memories, Benton was powerful enough to take on even a peak rank one beast straight on. Considering that he was doing his utmost to give himself the advantage of surprise, the battle should be easy-peasy.
No matter how much he tried to assure himself of his supremacy, he couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. Fighting animals with just a pointy stick was no joke. Fighting superpowered animals with just a pointy stick seemed like a monumentally bad idea.
Benton had superpowers, too, though. He remembered the speed and accuracy of each of his strikes against the two men he'd killed. His spear penetrated bone like a hot knife through butter.
He was powerful and competent. He could do it. He had to do it.
Quickly and silently, he advanced. Per his senses, the beast was close. Ten yards. He advanced further. Five.
Benton heard leaves rustle on the other side of a tree. He peeked his head around.
There on the ground was … a squirrel. A rank one spirit beast squirrel but still a squirrel.
Before he even had a chance to think about it, he charged full speed around the tree. The squirrel barely had a chance to see him before he was upon it.
His spear darted forward. The squirrel tried to dodge. It failed.
And just like that, the great hunt was complete.
Benton burst out laughing. "I am the mighty killer of squirrels. Fear me!"
Between his enhanced spiritual senses and Su's memories, finding the beast's core was trivial, and he deftly cut into the tiny body and removed the pea-sized sphere.
"One down. It would be nice if I could give each of the kids their own, though. And maybe one for myself just in case."
He hadn't been gone for long. Surely, the kids were okay. They could wait long enough for him to continue his hunt.