The Sect Leader System-Chapter 347: She Won?

Kang Ya-Ting was conflicted. As he watched his granddaughter compete against a feted genius of the Poison Claw Sect, he definitely wanted to see her win. Obviously. It would be good for her confidence.

But…

Tan Long had earned his reputation. There was little chance of him losing. It was the expected result, and sometimes, events following a predictable pattern was exactly what everyone needed.

If Kang Lin did somehow pull out a victory, more resources would be devoted to her, and her influence would increase. Doors that had previously been locked would open. In a sect, success led to being given the opportunity for even more success.

Not all would be positive, however. The scrutiny on her would become intense. Finishing in the top eight had already put her in view of the sect higher ups. If she made the top four, every elder would have her investigated. They’d learn about her refusal to marry one of the heirs of the Rising Tide Sect.

Questions would be asked. Every move she made would be evaluated. Her freedom would be curtailed.

A year ago, Kang Ya-Ting wouldn’t have thought his granddaughter worth that kind of effort. She was a middling talent with a good head on her shoulders destined for, at best, a role as one of the administrative elders.

Six months ago, he thought she had changed her destiny. Greatness lay in front of her. The Rising Tide Sect would ascend, and she would ride the wave of that success as the wife of one of its primary members. Her name would be mentioned in the history books.

That day, watching her enter the arena to face Tan Long, Kang Ya-Ting despaired for what was to come of her. A failed disciple didn’t have much of a future, even one who reached the final eight. Especially when she’d reached that high solely due to a dubious forfeit.

As the match started, Kang Ya-Ting found himself surprised by his granddaughter’s tactics and skill. Her decision to rely on qi efficiency was smart and not one a lot of the more hotheaded young cultivators would have made.

She executed her plan well. The speed of her Qi Gathering realm movement technique combined with the superiority of her spear skill and shield gave the favored Tan Long fits. He surely hadn’t expected such a battle.

As the fight went on, Kang Ya-Ting kept expecting the young man’s talent to pull through, for him to find some way to turn the fight around, but Kang Lin wouldn’t let him rest. She kept the pressure up.

Kang Ya-Ting had never seen her be so unrelenting, completely undaunted by everything the supposedly superior martial artist threw at her. He’d known that she’d sparred a lot with the talented twins and that the techniques gifted to her were superior to anything the Poison Claw Sect could have given her.

Still, she exceeded his expectations at every turn. In fact, she clearly dominated the entire fight from start to finish. The first time a blocked strike resulted in Tan Long being jolted by Lightning clearly surprised him and completely threw him off his stride. If he’d been allowed a moment to reset his strategy, he might have turned the tide. Instead, she’d kept him off balance since, not allowing him to retreat. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Then, suddenly, it was over. He surrendered.

She won? She won.

Pride welled in Kang Ya-Ting’s chest. Whatever else happened, Kang Lin had made the final four. And not just eked out a victory, either. She’d shown she deserved to be there.

Good for her.

Benton was heartbroken. Not only was Kang Lin in excruciating pain, but she didn’t even know why.

No, it was worse than that. She didn’t even realize that she was hurting. It had to be a cultivator thing because he was positive no one back on Earth could possibly be so stupid about their own feelings.

Uh… In retrospect, he was pretty sure that last thought was wrong. Never mind.

Anyway, when he considered a punishment for her, he was thinking along the lines of making her write apology messages to the people she’d hurt. Evelyn had loved that one. Their kids had loathed having to write letters to their teachers when they’d misbehaved in class. Made them think twice about it the next time, though.

Kang Lin, in contrast, had gone straight for the metaphorical death penalty when he’d asked her input—another one of Evelyn’s go to moves.

Of course, Kang Lin’s suggestion was ridiculous. She’d clearly only done what she had because whatever she was dealing with had overwhelmed her. If she just would have gone to an adult and asked for advice…

Just like a typical teenager. He supposed that thought had never even crossed her mind.

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Ugh.

For the first time, Benton started to doubt his intelligence in that he was bestowing superpowers on children without increasing their wisdom at all. Should he institute a new rule that the sect not accept any new members under the age of twenty-five?

Okay, so he wasn’t really serious about that. Teenagers weren’t always the wisest and most logical of people, but they had such great passion. They certainly made life interesting.

The older one got, the more one realized how much they didn’t know. Teenagers still believed fervently that they had the world all figured out and would vigorously dispute anyone who would tell them otherwise.

Back on Earth in America, anyway.

He still saw some of that reflected in the culture of his new world, but some things were different. For one thing, elders were held in much higher regard. A teenager here was much more likely to listen to direction from someone older.

That willingness didn’t necessarily mean they’d learn from the directions they took or that it made them more likely to ask for advice, but it was something.

Kang Lin certainly had never brought her problems either to him or to her grandfather, so it was difficult for Benton to determine the exact issue. His best guess was that she had some sort of confidence issue. Which made sense. In his experience, most teenagers either didn’t give themselves enough credit or thought too highly of themselves or, more often, experienced both issues, somehow, at the same time.

As he watched her beat her supposedly superior sect mate like a rented mule, he was filled with pride, though. The boy was shocked from their first exchange.

Benton grinned. Literally shocked!

And the boy never recovered. Kang Lin did great.

Hmm. Maybe making the top four would make her realize how awesome she actually was?

Probably not, given that she was still a teenager, but a man could hope.

Mao Biya was incensed. The tournament was not proceeding in the manner she expected or liked. Not at all.

First had been the lowly Qi Gathering realm stage. Her and Teng Wuying’s ploy to bring in a clan of Body Cultivators to handily defeat the Rising Tide Sect had failed miserably. Not only had every single one of the clansmen been defeated, but they’d proven to be working with the Rising Tide Sect. They’d betrayed the Jade Chameleon Sect. Worse, they’d betrayed the Swift Blizzard Sect and her in particular.

The rotten City Lord’s faction had accepted a bribe to work against her as well. Everyone was against her.

She vowed that everyone would pay.

When she’d planned her vengeance against the clan, arranging for them to have to make their way back to their home on foot with no supplies where they’d be easy to kill out of sight of the city walls, that damned Chao Su had stepped in and had them transported back, out of her reach.

Or so he thought. Once he was finally dealt with, not a single member of that clan would be left alive. She didn’t like biding her time, but as that jackal, Teng Wuying, advised, she would when it was necessary.

Then came the current round of the tournament. Somehow, all three of Chao Su’s disciples had made it past the opponents Mao Biya had hand selected for them in the third round. And, of course since her allies were supposed to have been in those positions, they’d had clear sailing from that point until the upper rounds.

Finally, one of them, the boy, had been eliminated. But it had been by his choice and while going against another of the disciples. The victory was a hollow one for her side at best.

When she’d woken that morning, she’d felt optimistic, though. Surely her enemy’s disciples would have their winning streak ended. The first match had annihilated that hope. Despite being matched against the second best opponent the Jade Chameleon Sect could field, the girl, Yang Xiu, had defeated him and made it look like she wasn’t even trying, not showing a bit of emotion upon winning. Mao Biya wouldn’t have been surprised if the girl had yawned.

Next up was the untalented Poison Claw Sect girl who didn’t even deserve to be in the top eight. That match, fortunately, would be unwinnable for Chao Su’s disciple. The girl’s sect mate was much too talented to lose.

But it was not to be. The longer the match went on, the more dominate the girl appeared.

Mao Biya clutched the armrests of her chair. When the boy surrendered, she yelled, “She won? How? How?”

Crack.

Both armrests splintered.

Mao Biya had liked that chair, too.

The next match didn’t go any better as the top Poison Claw Sect participant eliminated the second best remaining contestant from Mao Biya’s sect. Even worse, the fourth and final match was the top Jade Chameleon versus the top from the Swift Blizzard Sect. One of the two allied sects would be completely eliminated from that division of the tournament.

It was a tough fought round, but her sect mate came out on top.

Mao Biya turned to the master of the young man who had just won. “He faces the girl, Yang Xiu, next. Whatever it takes, he must win. Understand?”

The woman nodded, her expression determined.

Kang Lin was confused.

She won? Against Tan Long? How?

Everyone, literally everyone, respected his martial ability, and it wasn’t like he’d made some boneheaded mistake during the fight. He’d done exactly what he would have done against any other opponent.

And lost. To her.

It was almost as if she … was better than him? But that couldn’t be. Until recently, she’d been a C+, which was nothing compared to him. She was still only a lowly B-. Which put her in a higher stratus in the sect compared to her old self, but that rank didn’t hold a candle to him.

But she’d beaten him. And the match had seemed … relatively easy. She hadn’t struggled nearly as much against him as she would have against either of the twins.

Between her improved spiritual roots, her top heaven grade scriptures, and training against truly talented opponents, was it possible she’d simply gotten so much better that she could now beat one of her sect’s geniuses?

The answer to that question seemed like it should be a firm no.

Another thought occurred to her. If a low ranked member of the Rising Tide Sect had pulled off a similar upset, she wouldn’t have really been that surprised. Honestly, though, she shared most of the benefits of those sect members. Why, then, was she so surprised that she’d pulled off a similar feat?

Was she possibly, maybe, not viewing herself in the correct light? With the exception of her grandfather, her family had always been hard on her, favoring her cousins instead. Had she let their opinions influence her?

That was … possible. Maybe.

But if so, did that mean she was wrong about her being so inferior to Yang Ru? Probably not, right? After all, she was relying on the wisdom of cultivators about such matters, not on her own shortcomings. In that analysis, she could be sure she was being objective.

Right?

Because if not, it was possible that she’d made a horrible, horrible mistake.