The Sect Leader System

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.

Sect Points Remaining – 80

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.