Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 164: Sects

’Hardens hands to enable them to rip flesh, bones, and steel,’ Liam kept reading as he entered the carriage. ’Qi consumption: Low. Training: Extreme.’

Despite the name, the Metal Hand had nothing to do with metal cores. Anyone could learn to perform it as long as they underwent a torturous conditioning routine.

Nevertheless, as Liam delved deeper into the tome’s descriptions, his smile brightened. He had undergone that training regimen in the Divine Cult. He could deepen it, but his fingers seemed to have already cleared the basic requirements and beyond.

Aside from additional training, Liam only had to check whether his Qi would suffice to perform the superior martial art. Of course, he also had to learn to execute it, but that part sounded easy compared to the rest.

"Master, thank you!" Liam couldn’t help but exclaim as he settled inside, storing the tome to whip out the pipe. "You were amazing!"

Liam lowered his head to retrieve the poisonous powder, only for a light slap to land there.

"Horace Rauret is always amazing," The Alchemy Elder snorted. "Foolish disciple. When I was in the Inner Circles, I would even make these experts thank me after I was done blackmailing them."

Liam’s trust in the Alchemy Elder had long since become unwavering. Still, he had to admit that it was often hard to listen to him brag.

It wasn’t that Liam didn’t believe his Master. Some of his stories were simply impossible to picture for someone with such a limited life experience.

However, that had changed now. Despite injuries and a lower cultivation level, Liam had witnessed the Elder hold an entire Sect hostage through the power of alchemy, no matter what superior force had stood on his path.

The event had been beyond inspiring. Yet, as some of the initial blinding excitement waned, Liam started to see what all that had required and, most importantly, cost.

"Master," Liam called, lowering his hood. "Was it really worth using a rank 4 concoction for this little? You can’t make them anymore, right?"

Wasting a rank 4 item for some ingredients and a rank 2 martial art sounded overkill, especially in the Elder’s situation. Higher-ranking concoctions demanded stronger alchemical flame, meaning superior Qi, which the Elder had lost access to after his injury.

Liam’s genuine concern dealt a heavy blow to the Elder’s heartstrings, at which he responded in his usual grumpy manner.

"How is upholding the respect my name demands unworthy of a mere rank 4 concoction?!" The Elder cried, hitting Liam’s head again. "What I got you was just a bonus. Ensuring no one messed with me was the goal."

Liam understood the reasoning but tilted his head in confusion, voicing it. "Master, do you have many rank 4 concoctions left from your time in the Inner Circles?"

"No," The Elder directly admitted, his tone growing chilling, "But no one knows about that, and no Sect will be willing to test my stashes after tonight."

Everything made sense now. It wasn’t about whether the Elder could actually take down five Sects on his own. Showing what he could do to one would stop the others from attempting anything against him and, probably, his disciple.

Such was the power of reputation, something that Liam understood better with each passing day, but was finally getting examples on how to employ it.

"But, Master," Liam called, putting the pipe in his mouth. "Are Sects really important to Sect Leaders?"

"Yes," The Elder confirmed. "Experts at that level require an unfathomable amount of resources to continue cultivating, even more if they want to attempt breakthroughs. Using a Sect to amass them helps greatly."

Liam’s reasoning even went beyond the mere additional workforce. He could now connect the Sect’s missions to its Leaders’ needs, but there was more to it.

No single expert could do everything on their own. Even in Liam’s case, alchemy wasn’t self-fulfilling. Someone still had to grow the ingredients, while others had to build the cauldrons.

Those problems were bound to grow bigger than Liam could consider at higher cultivation stages. Chances were they were insurmountable at the Sect Leaders’ level, but that raised another issue.

Stealing was an option. The Alchemy Elder had done just that, so it would make sense for even stronger cultivators to resort to similar approaches.

"Master," Liam uttered, "Why don’t they just rob other Sects?"

Truth be told, Liam believed that to be the easiest solution. Even the greatest ploys paled in front of superior strength, and a Sect could be a weakness only as long as its Leader allowed it to be.

If Liam possessed that kind of strength, that would be his default approach.

The Elder knew he didn’t need to repeat himself. Liam had accepted a Sect’s value. His new question tackled a different topic.

"Disciple, how much do you think would be destroyed if two Sect Leaders were to clash?" The Elder questioned.

Understanding began to dawn on Liam’s face, even if his imagination failed him, but the Elder wasn’t done.

"Many experts at that level have lived for over a hundred years," The Elder continued. "With what they have accumulated over the decades and through their Sects, do you think they’d die easily?"

Liam immediately shook his head. His mind couldn’t fathom something as long as a century, but he could make comparisons. He had gotten a lot in less than a year himself, so the Sect Leaders’ accumulation had to be fearsome.

"Besides, battles always carry the risk of injuries," The Elder added. "An injury at that level would require equally valuable items to fix, often turning victories into financial losses."

The world suddenly became a bit bigger in Liam’s mind. Even in his case, he had to resort to two rank 1 pills to heal completely after a tough battle, other than deploying his entire arsenal.

Battles were indeed expensive. If Liam’s opponents hadn’t been a cultivation stage higher than him, he would have actually incurred heavy losses.

Liam also had the Sect’s support, but such a mighty force would fail to recoup the financial losses incurred by someone at the Sect Leaders’ level, and things only worsened when injuries joined the equation.

Following that reasoning, the Mutated Battlefield’s mission gained a new meaning. The bets around it were probably ways to avoid confrontations among the Sect Leaders while still involving resources at that level.

And there had to be more instances of that, which Liam still hadn’t seen for himself. However, his thoughts went elsewhere, pondering an issue he believed he would have to face at some point.

’Lone cultivators truly have it hard,’ Liam considered, unable to find a viable solution. He actually had one, but that was quite crazy and reckless.

’If I keep taking from those a cultivation stage higher than me,’ Liam calculated, ’I’d ensure steady gains. As long as I don’t die, that is.’

"It’s good that you are showing broader curiosity," The Elder commented at Liam’s expressive face, "But don’t let the world’s size blind you to what’s in front of you."

Liam nodded, approaching the carriage’s edge to smoke. Realistically, he could only prepare as much as possible to be ready for everything, and his latest gains promised to do just that.

"Becoming a rooting expert will greatly expand your youthful view of the world," The Alchemy Elder stated, suddenly recalling something. "Disciple, how old are you even?"

"Sixteen-," Liam began to say, only for the hot night outside to remind him that summer had arrived. "Seventeen."

The Alchemy Elder read what Liam’s hesitation meant and snapped ahead, whipping his head with his long sleeve.

"You should have told me about your birthday!" The Elder scolded. "Fool! I could have used that to rip off the Crimson Warrior Sect even more!"