The Sect Leader System-Chapter 297: A Really Big Unhatched Chicken

Benton had many tasks on his To Do List for the day, the biggest of which was crafting the Ice qi source. Which would take a lot more than the hour he had available. A lot more than that objective hour stretched to the maximum with his Time Aura as well. But he could get started at least, so that was what he did, completing several of the major steps before it was time for Zou Tian to finish his dilated session.

The boy had just emerged from the room when Benton Teleported to the corridor outside.

“How’d it go?” Benton said.

“Much like cultivating in the Wood, Master, only with the qi more concentrated and having a Shadow aspect. I feel good.” Knowing what was coming next, Zou Tian held out his hand.

Benton touched a finger and checked Zou Tian’s cultivation with Analysis. “I don’t detect any issues, which is a very good sign. One test does not an experiment make, however. We’ll stay cautious for a while, slowly increasing the amount of time you spend inside each day. For today, no more cultivating and do not use any of the dilation chambers set up for learning techniques, either.”

“Yes, Master.”

Benton gave his best wizened old master tinged with caring parental figure smile and Teleported away, wishing he’d had a mirror to see himself. He was positive he’d managed the exact right facial expression to convey his feelings, something only a grandfather as experienced as himself could pull off.

Overall, he was super happy with how the first session of using a Time dilation room with a qi source had gone. It was bit soon to count those unhatched chickens, but not detecting any immediate problems was a boon. Tomorrow, he’d let Zou Tian do two sessions, effectively cultivating for twenty hours with an efficiency more than twice normal. Four days worth of growth in one. After that, Benton would allow three sessions, which would be the equivalent of six days. By the time he capped it at ten, Zou Tian would be effectively cultivating more than twenty times faster than normal.

With the use of a Qi Condensing Pill to go from the eighth minor realm to the ninth almost instantly, the boy needed around three hundred normal days to break through to Foundation Establishment. If he instead cheated by using the Time dilation room, he’d finish in about fifteen.

Crazy.

That particular unhatched chicken was just too exciting, really emphasizing the advantages Benton could obtain by crafting and making him excited to get back to it. He quickly knocked out the Ice Source and set up another dilation room, essentially for Yang Xiu solely until they inducted another Ice aspected sect member.

Just as he prepared to send her a message, he had a thought—what were the chances she’d be waiting in the corridor outside?

Pretty darn high, it turned out.

“You understand the rules?” Benton said.

“Yes, Master. Only once today, a session that will last absolutely no longer than ten hours because I’ll use the clock inside to monitor it. As soon as I finish, I’ll have you check my cultivation. If things go well, we’ll expand the number of sessions tomorrow.”

“Perfect. Carry on.”

The scamp grinned as she practically ran into the room.

It struck Benton once again how different dealing with these teenagers was from ones back on Earth. Giving a cultivator access to a treasure like the Time dilation room was like giving a fifteen year old boy the keys to a Ferrari. No matter how much he’d trusted his kids, he’d never have considered tempting them with such a thing.

His sect members were a completely different story. They could and would make mistakes, of course. In fact, Benton was actually surprised that there hadn’t been more made. But to disobey a direct order from the Sect Leader was absolutely out of the question. He had absolute confidence that none of his core leaders would even think about going a single second over the allotted time.

He remembered one time when his oldest had snuck out while grounded, an uncharacteristic act of rebellion. The reason for the infraction? Belief that the original rule was stupid and the punishment was too harsh.

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Benton and Evelyn were ruining the boy’s life by being unfair. The horror!

In contrast, none of the sect members even thought to question Benton’s rules about using the Time dilation rooms. Which was good because he honestly felt he was being a bit overcautious. Theoretically, the process presented no danger. He probably would have been fine to let Zou Tian and Yang Xiu just go for it, cultivating ten objective hours a day.

They were cultivators, though, and that calling meant putting their lives on the line with startling frequency. That need to push themselves was unfortunate, and Benton hated that they had to do so. But not challenging themselves would likely bring worse consequences in the future.

In a world where danger was sometimes a necessity, it seemed to make sense to be extra careful when the opportunity presented itself.

Right?

Enough woolgathering, though. He still had things to do. Next on his list was to coordinate with Yang Ru about the Martial Pavilion’s tournament participants. Or more precisely, a certain several of the pavilion’s potential participants.

Naturally, Benton found the boy sparring with Kang Lin.

Benton shook his head as he watched the two. The girl had a serious, almost stern look on her face, and he suspected that her expression had nothing to do with concentrating on the fight. Yang Ru obviously noticed her mood but just as obviously had no idea what to do about it.

Trouble had descended in paradise.

For a moment, Benton considered interceding, but that impulse was stupid. You can lead a horse to water, but you’d have a much easier time getting that horse to drink than you would of having a teenager actually heed dating advice. Besides, he suspected that the situation might just work itself out given a bit more time.

He shook his head again when Yang Ru quite clearly threw the match, letting Kang Lin win.

Yikes. Speaking of stupid…

The girl stormed out of the room, barely pausing to cup her hands at Benton.

He sighed and turned to Yang Ru, waiting a moment to give the boy a chance to ask for help. No such plea was forthcoming, of course. Instead, the boy simply cupped his hands, gave a brief bow, and waited for whatever was to come.

Benton sighed again. “Let’s talk about getting the martial members ready for the tournament. What are your plans?”

“Sparring, mainly, Master, and the Trials Pagoda if permissible.”

“That’s fine for Ye—” Damn. Benton had been about to refer to Ye Zan. That was a bit of a gut punch out of the blue.

He cleared his throat. “That’s fine for Huang Yimun’s people who want to participate, but I’m worried about Zi Delan and his crew.”

Yang Ru grunted agreement.

“It would do them a world of good to participate, but they’re simply not ready,” Benton said. “I’m not sure that continuing to follow their current training methodology will get them where they need to be in time.”

“Agreed, Master. They need experience. The beast tide helped, but…” The boy shrugged.

“So what can we do?”

The boy grunted his version of, “I don’t know.”

“Well, hmm. You said the fighting beasts helped, right?”

“Yes, Master. But the tide is over.”

Benton was fairly sure that the thing with Kang Lin weighed heavily on the boy’s mind. Otherwise, he would have already figured out where the conversation was leading.

“If only we had another source of beasts to fight,” Benton said.

The light finally went on in Yang Ru’s eyes. “Of course, Master. Sorry. An expedition is a great idea. It might not work, of course, but it will give them an opportunity.”

“Exactly. The question, then, is—who goes and who doesn’t?”

“Jin LiJuan and Ganzou, obviously, Master, as she needs both the experience and the cores. Zi Delan and his team. A couple of guards for protection.”

Benton didn’t respond.

“No guards, Master?”

Benton seriously felt like grunting, but that would have ruined the air of mystique he was building. Instead, he simply remained silent and waited. It was best, after all, for students to figure things out on their own to the greatest extent possible.

“The guards will make it feel too safe, Master. They need to think their lives are at risk.”

“Exactly. They won’t really be in any danger, of course. Between Ganzou and supplying all of them with contingency rings, they’ll be fine.” Benton paused. “The mountain can be treacherous, though. Hmm.”

Upon reflection, it did seem a mite too dangerous to send so many low level cultivators without any protection other than a single rank four wolf. It wouldn’t be crazy for them to run across a higher tier beast. What he needed was protection that didn’t feel like protection.

“How about Pan Jiang and whichever of his Poison Claw Sect mates want to go?” Benton said. “They’d surely consider the opportunity a reward, and I’d feel better with having some more experienced members along.”

Yang Ru grunted.

Perfect. It was decided. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

“I’ll let you tell them the good news,” Benton said. That also means you’re in charge of making sure they’re ready for the journey. Take tomorrow to get them prepared.”

Yang Ru cupped his hands.

With any luck, at least Zi Delan and one or two of his crew would benefit from the trip enough to have a chance at qualifying for the tournament. If not, well, at least Benton had tried.

The coordination with Yang Ru didn’t take quite an hour, so Benton Teleported back to his office to take care of a few routine matters while waiting for Yang Xiu to finish cultivating.

As expected, she emerged right on time. Such a good kid. And just a good, her cultivation hadn’t suffered at all either from the use of the source or from the Time dilation.

So far, so good.

Man, it was getting harder and harder not to count that unhatched chicken.