The Sect Leader System-Chapter 299: Being a Grandfather Wasn’t Easy

Kang Lin fumed as Master instructed her to message her grandfather about the qi sources and the Time dilation rooms.

“It’s not top secret,” he said, “but the information is sensitive. After debating with myself back and forth a few times, I decided it was better that he hear the straight scoop from you instead of relying on rumors. Use one of my dragons to send it, though. They’re faster and more secure than what you normally use.”

It wasn’t that she thought the task was too menial for her or anything. There was almost no price he could ask of her that was too much to repay all he had done for her. The problem was that the subject was a bit of a sore one for her.

Yang Ru would already surpass her in every way simply due to the massive gulf in their talent levels, but she’d had a hope, albeit a slim one, that she could find some way to keep up. The use of the qi sources and Time dilation rooms rendered even that tiny prospect impossible.

Master forcing her to inform Grandfather about it felt too much like fate rubbing her face in her failure.

But such a reasonable request from Master simply wasn’t something she could refuse. If Grandfather—or anyone from the Poison Claw Sect really—found out she balked at such a thing, they’d send her to the Punishment Hall. Truly. Many disciples had performed far more unpleasant tasks for their masters. She knew of one boy who’d been forced to spend ten straight days from before sunup to after sundown scrubbing alchemy cauldrons with hardly a break for meals, and he’d done it with a smile on his face.

Maybe she was spoiled. She’d never thought of herself as spoiled.

“Of course, Master. Right away, Master.”

She pulled a brush and ink from her ring and got to work.

Grandfather,

Master asked me to inform you that he has successfully created two Dilation Rooms that accelerate Time by a factor of ten. A qi source in each room provides aspected qi matched to the disciple.

So far, Zou Tian and Yang Xiu have both begun the process. Master is being careful by slowly increasing their number of sessions, but if they continue to show no ill effects, he expects them to peak at a rate of an effective two hundred hours of cultivation per day.

On an unrelated note, this one plans on remaining with the Rising Tide Sect until the tournament and returning home after the event.

Your Granddaughter,

Kang Lin

She handed the message to Master, who quickly read it.

“That’s perfect.” He cupped her hands toward her. “It’s exactly what I wanted.”

Her eyes started to water. He was the Sect Leader. She had no right to expect him to care one way or the other if she stayed with them or returned home, but some part of her obviously had hoped he would have asked her to stay.

But he didn’t. Obviously, it didn’t matter to him.

It wouldn’t likely matter to Yang Ru, either.

“May I go now, Master?”

“Of course. Gratitude.”

Sun Hua didn’t understand the why of Master’s instructions, but the what was completely clear. Which was a great relief. All too often, she was left with making decisions she felt were way above her station.

The current task he’d set her on was actually one that was wholely appropriate for her position as his assistant, which was a refreshing change. First, she was to determine who made the current robes that all the sect members wore, whether they’d been inducted into the sect, and if so, their status.

Easy. The mayor supplied the names of the three seamstresses, and Sun Hua kept detailed records on every sect member. She found that the leader of the three, Xiang Peizhi, had been in the first set of villagers inducted as part of the mayor’s selection of village leads. As such, she was in the fifth minor realm of Qi Gathering. The other two were more recent inductees, having only a short time ago advanced to Qi Gathering minor realm four.

The second part of Master’s orders had been potentially more problematic, at least as it related to Xiang Peizhi. Sun Hua was to have all seamstresses become part of the Formations Pavilion.

For the latter two, such a switch was easy enough. One had joined the Alchemy Pavilion and another was still in the Martial Pavilion as she tried to decide if another one would be a better fit. Once they found out that Master wished for them to change, they were of course all for it, and Wan Ai had no issues with letting one of her recently joined juniors migrate elsewhere. The pavilion leaders had been instructed to allow sect members to try different professions after all.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Xiang Peizhi, on the other hand, had been specifically assigned to the mayor, and his agreement with the Sect Leader made the individuals selected in that manner fall outside the normal sect procedures. Luckily, the mayor realized that particular status was a byproduct of a time when the sect and the village had not been so well integrated. He expressed only happiness that Xiang Peizhi would not only be allowed to pursue her chosen profession but also backed by sect resources in doing so.

The most problematic portion of Sun Hua’s assignment turned out to be the meeting with the pavilion head, Xiang Da. She’d approached him like she would have any of the other heads when discussing a transfer, expecting a routine conversation to follow.

Not confusion.

“They wish to join the Formations Pavilion?” he said. “Are you sure, Honorable Assistant?”

“Yes, Honorable Pavilion Head.”

“Are they good at math, Honorable Assistant?”

“Apologies, Honorable Pavilion Head, the sect leader requested this transfer. He wishes for a sub-pavilion for seamstresses to be formed as part of the Formations Pavilion.”

“Seamstresses?”

“Yes, Honorable Pavilion Head. This Assistant only knows what Master instructed, that the ladies are to be taught only the basic structure of formations and are not to be used for repairing buildings. Master will supply a technique once they acquire basic competence in what you teach them.”

“I don’t understand. No one has joined my pavilion.” Xiang Da paused. “That being the case, I guess it makes sense that the Sect Leader would assign people to us. But seamstresses?” He sighed. “Well, I guess the reason doesn’t really matter. This old man will happily do whatever the sect leader commands to the best of my ability.” He cupped his hands. “Gratitude, Honorable Assistant.”

Wan Ai preferred to be left on her own to cultivate and practice alchemy. Well, and spend time with Zou Tian, of course.

On several occasions, Master had appeared at a time of great need and placed the weight of the sect on her shoulders. The responsibility had been quite hard on her, and she’d grown to dread such assignments. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Then, she’d felt guilty about her reaction. Which made things even more difficult for her. Which she resented. Which made her feel even more guilty. Which...

It was a vicious circle.

Her current task was to use the Nature aspected Time dilation room, and there was no weight and no guilt. She felt the exact opposite. Excitement. Exhilaration.

When she’d successfully made her first pill, a vitamin for mortals that almost all novice alchemists learned at the very beginning of their journey since it was so easy, she’d been so proud of herself. She’d thought herself a true alchemist.

As she continued to study, however, she realized she’d achieved nothing yet. The journey to becoming an alchemist began at Foundation Establishment. She needed to advance and learn real techniques involving external qi maniuplation before she could produce anything of actual use to the sect.

That wasn’t to say that the vitamin pills were worthless. There were malnourished villagers scattered throughout the world who were too poor or who lived in an area that didn’t allow the growth of proper vegetables. To ones such as them, the pills would be a literal lifesaver.

Wan Ai hoped that, when the sect grew larger, it would start a program of distributing those pills to the needy. She even envisioned creating a healing pill for mortals that was cheaper to make than the ones used by cultivators. If anyone could advise her on how to do such a thing, it was Master.

Before any of those dreams could be actualized, though, she had to become a true alchemist. And the Time dilation room would speed that process. She was excited to begin.

But Master had informed her of a problem. Of the three disciples allowed to use the rooms, she was the only one who expected to use two aspects for her cultivation and techniques.

Zou Tian was obviously highly invested in Shadow and Shadow only. Similarly, though Yang Xiu incorporated other aspects in small ways, Ice was her focus.

Wan Ai was different. Most alchemists possessed either an aspect that allowed them to add energy to a mixture, the most common of which was Fire, or one that allowed them to sense the characteristics of ingredients, such as Plant, Wood, or … Nature. The best alchemists had access to both.

Her specific aspect was Dry leaves ignited by a wildfire, which incorporated both Fire and Nature. Which was fantastic for her chosen profession.

A problem arose, however, with the current circumstances. Of the two aspects, the Rising Tide Sect only currently had a qi source for one. Master believed that cultivating too much with a Nature source and ignoring Fire would result in potential issues with qi deviation down the line.

Luckily, Master anticipated acquiring a Fire source in about two weeks. At that point, he’d guide her in keeping the two aspects balanced. In the meantime, she had to be more careful than her single aspected sect mates and definitely wouldn’t be allowed to use the room as much as they would.

Those conditions were fine, though. In fact, it warmed her heart that Master cared so much about her to take a personal interest in making sure her cultivation went perfectly. And not just for her, either. He took such good care of all of them.

She sighed. It really would be better for her to embrace the assignments he gave her. If only they weren’t typically so stressful!

Benton was doing a terrible job of taking care of his disciples. One disciple, anyway.

He felt like a failure of a—well, not a sect leader really. He actually felt pretty good about that role.—grandfather. Yeah. He couldn’t help but feel that all the kids really were his, and he hated it when one of them was in pain.

Kang Lin was hurting. That was all there was to it. She felt like everyone and everything was against her. Moreso, that no one cared what she was going through. And he’d let her down.

Having the experience of a full life of work and parenting didn’t mean he always knew what to do or made the right choices. And he honestly didn’t know if he’d completely flubbed it with her earlier.

It felt like it, sure, but feelings weren’t always accurate. He was well aware that he let his emotions rule his actions more than was probably appropriate.

If he would have asked Kang Lin what the issue was, she would have said something about not being able to keep up with Yang Ru and about how the qi source would exacerbate that issue. Which Benton could have solved just by revealing that he planned to make a Lightning source for her.

That would have been great—if he believed that what she would state the problem was and the actual problem were the same thing.

In actuality, Kang Lin was convinced that she wasn’t worthy of Yang Ru, and giving her access to a Lightning source wouldn’t solve that insecurity. It was something she had to overcome on her own.

Still, Benton worried that he’d handled things badly, that a kind word or two would have helped her not feel so bad.

Being a grandfather wasn’t easy.