The Sect Leader System-Chapter 292: Mutually Beneficial

After the sale of the Time Blade, Benton really didn’t have to worry about having enough money, not that he’d been all that concerned previously. The sword had gone for over ten million greater spirit coins. Ten million! Crazy!

Even after the auction house took its generous twenty percent, he’d still clear over eight million on the deal.

That sum was quite ridiculous. His spirit coin creation technique, since it was supplied by the System, was likely head and shoulders better than anything other cultivators had access to, and it would take him over thirty-six days working nonstop to make that many greater spirit coins. And it wasn’t just one person who’d valued his creation that highly. It had taken multiple bidders to get the total that high.

It was quite gratifying to have one’s work appreciated at that level.

For the rest of the auction, he barely paid any attention to how much he either bid or won. Much more important was what he won.

There were a total of twelve more lots of qi-rich materials. Of those, five were duplicates of categories he already had, some that he’d purchased that night. Three more were elements that he wasn’t nearly as interested in, a piece of Metal ore, a rank fourteen Illusion beast core, and a rank ten Wind aspected beast core. He bought them anyway just because he had the money and couldn’t think of a reason not to.

Benton still hadn’t one hundred percent decided to pursue creating a Lightning qi source, but when a rank eleven core of that element came up, he bought it, giving him two out of the three materials he needed.

The highlight of the end of the auction, in his mind, were the three materials he purchased that were on his initial list—a very weird looking ivy that was steeped in Shadow qi, a petrified rock filled with the Nature element, and a sparkly piece of quartz loaded with Momentum qi of all things.

He was almost positive that the auction manager had found that last one and included it just for Benton. It was good to be a Big Deal.

The acquisitions left him in really good shape, much better than he had figured on. Once he received the delivery of the Fire kernel from the Poison Claw Sect elder, he’d have everything he needed for four of the six qi sources with Ice, Nature, and Shadow being the other completed elements. All he had left to find was a Momentum aspected beast core and a plant packed with a bunch of Time qi.

And if he so chose, a rock that contained Lightning.

He couldn’t wait to get back to the sect and start crafting. The only thing stopping him from instantly teleporting back as soon as the auction ended was that he hadn’t actually received any of the merchandise he’d purchased. Or the surplus coins, but those were a much smaller consideration.

Before he even had a chance to request an attendant so that he could ask about the process of getting his stuff, one knocked on the door.

“Greetings, Esteemed Sect Leader,” the young lady said with a smile, “the Esteemed Auction Manager wishes to know if you would be willing to meet with him before you leave. If you are unavailable now, this Attendant can set up an appointment for a future time instead?”

Benton thought about it for a moment. The auction had been both fruitful in attaining the materials he needed and profitable for selling his swords, and the manager had done him at least two favors during the course of the event. There was certainly no harm in hearing what the man had to say. Besides, maybe he’d have an idea about how to acquire the two items he needed.

“I can stick around for a while,” Benton said.

“Excellent.” The young lady cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Esteemed Sect Leader.” She pulled a ring out of a pocket of her robe and held it out to him. “The Esteemed Sect Leader’s winnings and spirit coins are stored within.”

“Gratitude.” He returned the gesture, cupping his hands, before taking the ring.

As she’d stated, he discovered all the materials he’d purchased plus a little over fifteen million greater spirit coins inside the ring. He was about to transfer the contents to his own storage device, but the attendant speaking stopped him. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“The ring is, of course, a gift to the Esteemed Sect Leader.”

He cupped his hands again. “Gratitude.”

Spatial rings, even small ones, weren’t cheap, so giving him one was a nice gesture. With a dozen cubic yards of volume, it was far from the low end of what was available for purchase, instead being firmly in the middle.

Hmm. As a Formations Master with a Concept for Spatial qi, making similar devices would be trivial for him. In fact, there had to be things he could do to improve the standard design. For example, what if he created a ring that preserved Momentum?

He could just picture it. An opponent shot an arrow at one of his members. Instead of hitting his sect member or even bouncing off their shield, the arrow instead disappeared into their ring. But only for an instant. Soon, it was on its way again but with a new target—the archer.

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The image in his head made him want to laugh, but he hid his mirth, not wanting the attendant to think him too eccentric.

Wait. Eccentric was an Earth thing. If one was poor, one was simply crazy. If one was crazy and rich, one was called eccentric. On the cultivation planet, neither applied. If powerful enough, one was simply unfathomable, which was a good thing.

He shouldn’t have stifled his laughter.

After she made her exit, he again checked out his purchases, examining each of the items before focusing on the huge pile of money inside. It occurred to him that he’d no longer have to perform the boring task of making the stupid things any longer.

But he soon realized that wasn’t the case. Almost all the coins were common elements or some of the most frequently encountered sub-elements. There were certainly no Time aspected ones inside, and considering that he was about to be creating multiple Time chambers for his sect members, he would need a lot of those. A lot. A lot a lot.

Ugh. More greater spirit coin creation for him. He resolved to get Peng Hanying to Golden Core as soon as possible to hand off some of that chore to him.

Making Time aspected coins probably wasn’t his best use of time at that moment, though. Or Time. He chuckled.

Instead, he sat back to think about what he should be doing.

“Ah. I know.” He created a message and sent it to Kang Ya-Ting, grinning the entire time he was writing.

It turned out that Benton didn’t actually have to wait all that long as Jia Xueqin knocked on his door a few minutes later.

After the two of them exchanged pleasantries, the auction manager said, “This lowly one has never seen a product sell like your swords did tonight. Over ten million for a single item is a record for a non-pill item, and very few alchemical products have reached anywhere close to that high. Is there anything this lowly one can do to have the Esteemed Sect Leader contribute items to the auction on a regular basis?”

Instead of immediately refusing, Benton considered the matter. He honestly enjoyed crafting, and the auction house seemed like a fairly powerful entity. It was nice to make friends instead of enemies.

“What exactly are we talking about?” Benton said. “I’m a busy man. Making those swords was an enormous effort that took a lot of time.”

“No, no, no,” Jia Xueqin said. “This lowly one would never presume to ask for so much effort. We have major auctions twice a year. One sword per auction would be more than satisfactory.”

Two swords a year. That was certainly doable. But he feared he might run out of interesting ideas.

“Must it be a sword?” Benton said.

“As long as the quality and originality displayed is similar to what this lowly one saw today, anything the Esteemed Sect Leader wishes to create would be appreciated.”

“What can you do for me in return?”

The man would not only be earning quite a few coins with his twenty percent fee but would also draw more interest in his auctions in general, inflating the prices of all his sales.

“The Premiere Jade Treasures Auction House has a simply enormous network. If there are any special materials or resources the Esteemed Sect Leader seeks, this lowly one can find them if anyone can. This lowly one would, of course, waive the fee for that service.”

“Let’s do a trial run,” Benton said. “I’ll send you a list of merchandise that I need, some quite mundane and some much more exotic. If you successfully acquire all the items for me at cost, I’ll provide at least one item for the next auction when I return to the city for the tournament.”

“Of course, Esteemed Sect Leader. This lowly one looks forward to a profitable and mutually beneficial relationship.”

After the auction manager exited, Benton immediately teleported back to his office. It had been a good day. Fun. Exciting. Profitable.

Who could ask for anything more?

Kang Ya-Ting was about to leave his sect’s private viewing room at the auction house when an origami dragon appeared in front of him.

“What is that?” Elder Dai said.

“One of Choa Su’s messages.”

“How did it get in here?” she said.

“It’s a Spatial technique.”

“His message technique has the ability to teleport?”

“Over short distances, yes.”

She shook her head. Kang Ya-Ting knew how she felt. The man kept doing one impossible thing after another. Defeating two Nascent Souls at once. Displaying skill as a Master of both Formations and Blacksmithing. All those heavens-defying abilities that those swords of his could accomplish.

Kang Ya-Ting was frankly growing numb to it all. He opened the message.

Friend Kang,

It was probably simply an amazing coincidence that there were not one, but two Lightning aspected materials up for sale in the auction. I bought them with the intention of eventually using them for Kang Lin’s benefit.

There is a problem, though. I need one more element to complete the necessary crafting—some form of mineral that contains the equivalent amount of qi as a rank 10 beast core.

Perhaps my good friend, Kang, would be interested in contributing to the benefit of his granddaughter?

Once I receive the final Lightning aspected material that I need, crafting the tool that will so benefit her will be one of my top priorities.

Your friend and Master of your granddaughter,

Chao Su

Kang Ya-Ting had little doubt that, since whatever Chao Su was making was sure to be of great help to his other disciples and sect members, he would surely do the same for Kang Lin. On the other hand, the man had paid for two out of the three items he needed, and all those spirit coins went into the Poison Claw Sect’s coffers. The request for Kang Ya-Ting to provide a portion of the resources needed was not out of line.

Lightning aspected materials were typically quite expensive as the element was popular and somewhat rare. As shown in the auction that night, such things could easily go for seventy thousand greater spirit coins and up. Even with calling in favors, Kang Ya-Ting was likely to need to spend at least sixty.

That amount was quite high for him. His becoming an elder in the sect had greatly elevated the entire family with no one else having reached nearly as high as him. Though well-regarded, they were neither powerful nor rich.

Before becoming attached to Chao Su, his granddaughter was on track to be another elder, but she wasn’t the star of her generation, not even as far as the family was concerned. The amount of resources available to be given to her was limited.

Now, though?

If she married one of the heirs to a sect that was likely to become as important as the Rising Tide, there was no limit to how far she could go. Providing the material that Chao Su requested meant other promising scions would have their resources reduced, but Kang Lin’s success was the priority.

“Looks like I’ll have to access my private vault when we return to the sect branch,” Kang Ya-Ting said.