The Sect Leader System-Chapter 338: A Sweet, Fibrous Oval Fruit Or a Day Specified Numerically Or...

Teng Wuying sighed. Judging from Mao Biya’s bright red face, she was about to say something unwise.

Not that seeing signs of her anger was necessary to determine that she prepared to make an exuberant proclamation based solely on emotion. She needed no reason to do so, and even those with only a passing acquaintanceship with her could ascertain as much.

At least their current steering committee meeting was closed to the public, so her outburst would be somewhat contained with just Kang Ya-Ting and Qiu ZhenKang present to witness it.

Not that either of them seeing it was ideal, but they should be used to it by that point.

Teng Wuying watched as she grew more and more agitated the longer the meeting lasted until, finally, she apparently couldn’t contain herself any longer.

“The Rising Tide Sect cheated!” she yelled.

It was all Teng Wuying could do not to bury his face in his hands as he wondered if it was too late to change sides.

Well, obviously, he couldn’t do that. The whole point of his entire plot was to gain control of the Trials Pagoda, which would have to be taken by force. Still, his ally made the switch so very, very tempting.

“Please state the manner in which the official tournament rules were breached and present your evidence,” Qiu ZhenKang said, appearing completely unperturbed.

“The boy obviously was prepared to defend against mind attacks.”

“Apologies, Branch Sect Leader,” Qiu ZhenKang said, “but what rule would that violate?”

Kang Ya-Ting chuckled as he paged through the rule manual. “I’m having a hard time finding the particular passage that states, ‘Swift Blizzard Sect schemes should be allowed to proceed with no sect being allowed to enact countermeasures.’ But she doesn’t even have proof of any countermeasures being enacted. The boy could have simply learned a mind defense technique well before reaching the tournament. After all, techniques are private with no requirement for disclosure.”

Qiu ZhenKang ignored the interruption. “Branch Sect Leader, can you identify the specific rule that you allege was violated?”

Mao Biya fixed Kang Ya-Ting with a glare. “I move for a vote.”

“Very well,” Qiu ZhenKang said.

He went around the table. Mao Biya was obviously in favor of declaring a violation. Teng Wuying had no choice but to back his ally, and Kang Ya-Ting voiced his opposition.

“As no rule was specified and no evidence provided, the Chair votes in the negative,” Qiu ZhenKang said. “With no plurality, the motion fails. The next order of business is…”

Benton sensed a message dragon inbound and snagged it from the air as soon as it appeared in his office.

Master,

With the Rising Tide Sect’s surprising finish in the Qi Gathering division and early victories in the low Foundation Establishment division, sentiment among the Jade Chameleons and Swift Blizzards grows ever more against us. At the same time, our Poison Claw allies cheer for us even harder.

Tensions are approaching a climax. If the heads of our rival sects are not decapitated, this one fears that a full out sect war will erupt with the neutral Emperor’s faction coming out the victor.

In preparation for the worst case, this one requests several boons. Gratitude for the shield array pylons. They could prove to be a lifesaver. But this one was curious if Master could also provide a formation that disrupts our enemies’ anti-Teleportation efforts? It would be a tremendous relief to have a counter for such.

Additionally, it occurs to this one that having a beacon that could pull Teleportation talismans to a certain location could be a benefit in organizing logistics such as those required for a rapid retreat. Granted, new talismans might be required, but putting those in the hands of the guards, Senior Sister, and Senior Brother might save lives.

If these boons are not possible or if Master believes them to be ill advised, this one understands.

Your Loyal Disciple,

Zou Tian

Well, that first request was a no brainer. Benton had already created and distributed talismans that included a Quickstep with a Teleport, but that method for getting out of the range of jamming was not absolute by any means. An array that canceled whatever the enemies were using was actually an inspired idea, and anything that increased Zou Tian’s ability to escape for adverse conditions was a Good Thing as far as Benton was concerned.

The second was a bit more problematic. Though Zou Tian had framed the need for a Teleportation beacon as a logistical aid, Benton wasn’t stupid. Such a thing could also be used to muster troops for an attack. Did he want to give his sect members that ability?

Not really.

Benton sighed. But that was one thing he didn’t dare order them not to do since he wasn’t sure they would obey. No matter what he said, they would want to take part in fighting, and it would be better that they were prepared. Their enthusiasm might even be a good if there were any realm appropriate attacks for them to handle.

They were cultivators who were considered adults in their society, not children. Keeping them one hundred percent safe was not appropriate.

All of which would be cold comfort if one of them got killed.

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Fine. He’d make the beacon and provide a limited number of special Teleport talismans that would home in on that beacon to the appropriate people.

Oh, and he’d need another new talisman that checked if the beacon was active. Otherwise, the new Teleport would do nothing.

And while he was crafting, he might as well create a sword for the upcoming auction since he’d promised Jia Xueqin that he would. And while he was okay with popping back to the sect for a quick job like creating the karma orb, the current projects on his plate would take a decent amount of time. Which meant switching places with Yuan Yaozu again.

Oh well, that wasn’t exactly hard to arrange, just a little annoying what with the messages and multiple Teleports. What Benton needed was a Dimensional space that he could use for crafting, one that he could create and then open portals to it from wherever he happened to be.

“System,” he said internally, “does this world have access to extra dimensional spaces?”

Yes.

Sweet.

He purchased a knowledge technique to Mastery that gave him the understanding that he needed and followed that purchase up with both a technique and a Concept.

Upon further reflection, it turned out that creating a dimension just for crafting wouldn’t help him much with his current problem. He’d still have to be careful not to get so engrossed in his work that he stopped monitoring for contingency ring beacons, meaning a new space was functionally no different than simply Teleporting back to the Administration Hall.

Some of the unique characteristics of Dimensions could help solve future problems, though. For example, transit. Setting up a network of Teleport Stations to get between the sect, the clan, the town, and the city was doable, but anyone using it to get from one place to the next would have to pay a bunch of greater spirit coins. In contrast, he could set up a Dimensional portal from each of the locations to a new space that he created. Anyone wanting to travel from, say, the village to the city would simply step through the portal to the ancillary space and choose to portal from there to the city.

They’d still have to pay a price in qi, but it would be an order of magnitude smaller than Teleportation. Of course, the drawback was that it would cost Benton a lot, lot more to set up, but that was okay. He’d prefer to spend big at the beginning to save everyone money in the long run.

That project would take time and experimentation and would likely run his qi pool way too close to dry considering that he needed to be on alert for an ambush at all times. No, Dimensional travel was something for future Benton to figure out. Current Benton already had enough on his plate.

Soon, he’d coordinated with all his council members who were present at that tournament and with Yuan Yaozu, allowing Benton to get to crafting.

The pylons went quickly. He just had to create an array that would counter Teleportation jamming, easy work for a Formations Master. He whipped up a half dozen sets of four in objective minutes.

The talismans and the beacon took a bit longer as his standard formation used intent control. Modifying it to search for input from a beacon and take the user there turned out to be more difficult than he would have imagined, consuming subjective hours.

Finally came the fun part—the sword. Anything Time aspected seemed to have gone for a premium, so his first thought was to use that element. But he didn’t want to just replicate the same thing he’d done last time. That would be boring.

Hmm.

The answer came to him—The Recursive Blade. Yes.

Upon activation when striking a target, the blade would wind back time in a small area and inflict two additional hits on the target. Three wounds for the price of one. Or, more accurately, the sword would cause one wound that was three times as bad for a quite modest qi cost.

Excellent. That was sure to sell for a good amount and further build on both his relationship with the auction house and his reputation as a crafter.

Yang Ru was practicing his forms when Yang Xiu approached.

“Brother, do you trust me?” she said.

That was a dangerous question.

“Depends on the context,” he said.

“For something serious.”

“Well, then, yes. I trust you with my life.”

She smiled. “Good answer. Get cleaned up and come with me.”

A short while later, he met her at the compound’s exit where she waited with Sun Hua. He tilted his head at the surprise inclusion.

“She and I need to discuss something of importance while you’re otherwise occupied,” Yang Xiu said. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Yang Ru grunted.

Sun Hua cupped her hands, and he responded the same way.

The three walked with Yang Ru trailing, only slightly curious as to where they were going. When they clearly approached a tea house, though, he couldn’t help but wonder why.

“You’re going on a date,” Yang Xiu said.

His heart immediately sped. “Kang Lin is here?”

“No.”

“But…”

“There is a very nice and quite cute young lady from the Poison Claw Sect inside waiting for you. Her name is Liao Fan.”

“Xiu’er, you know that I’m not interested in dating anyone besides Kang Lin.”

“I do know that, which is why you’re going to sit down with the nice, cute young lady and have a cup of tea. While doing so, you’ll be engag… uh, charm… uh, you’ll talk to her. No grunting!”

“But—”

“Do you trust me?” she said.

“Yes, but—”

“It’s a yes or no question, no buts allowed.”

“Fine,” he said, “but can you please explain what’s going on? I don’t understand.”

Yang Xiu sighed. “Do you remember when I was five or six, and I really wanted that toy, the carved horse?”

“Of course. You went on and on and on about that thing for months, dragging me to the market daily so you could look at it. No one was more relieved than I was when our parents finally gave in and bought it for you.”

“It was so cute.” She grinned. “Anyway, how much did I actually play with that horse after I got it?”

“A lot for like the first couple of days. After that, not much.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“I know, and that’s the problem.”

“Xiu’er…”

“People want what they can’t have, Ru’er, including girls. Especially girls. Even Kang Lin. What you did with that floozy in the tournament was perfect. It made half the girls in the audience swoon for you. All but Kang Lin, who knows now more than ever that, if she wants you, she has you.”

Yang Ru opened and closed his mouth a few times. “You want me to pretend to like this girl, Liao Fan?”

“No. I want you to have a nice cup of tea with her and engage in conversation. Tell her about yourself. Ask her about herself. It’s not difficult.”

“This doesn’t seem right, Xiu’er. I’m essentially using her to make myself more attractive to another girl. That kind of behavior is not okay.”

Yang Xiu sighed and shook her head. “Didn’t we talk about trust? Do you think I’d let you use a poor girl and get her hopes up?”

He relaxed. “You’re right. Sorry for the accusation.”

“You are, honestly, way out of her league. Besides being nice and cute, she doesn't have much going for her. From the standpoint of cultivators, anyway. Just having tea with you will raise her status. She’s getting as much or more out of the date than you are, and she had no expectations of anything beyond tea.”

Yang Xiu paused. “Don’t get me wrong. If you developed feelings for her, she’d be ecstatic. But she knows exactly where you stand.”

Yang Ru thought about the situation for a moment. On one hand, it felt like playing games, which he didn’t like. On the other, his sister was a lot better than him at social stuff, and he trusted her to have his best interests in mind.

Honestly, all he was doing was having a cup of tea with a girl. There was nothing wrong with that.

He, his sister, and Sun Hua walked inside, and after having Liao Fan pointed out to him, he marched directly to her table.

“Greetings,” he said, cupping his hands. “This one is Yang Ru. May I sit?”