The Sect Leader System-Chapter 316: The Most Important Sect Member

Many months ago, Yang Xiu volunteered to be in charge of the contingent that would represent the Rising Tide Sect at the Quinquennial Tournament, and her thoughts on one specific subject had done a complete turnaround in that time. Back then, if anyone had asked her who the most important sect members were, after Master of course, she would have listed herself and her brother, Zou Tian, and maybe the crafters Xun Wu and Wan Ai. If she thought deeply, maybe she would have included the guard captain, Huang Yimun, and a few others.

Today, if anyone asked Yang Xiu who the most essential person in the sect was, after Master of course, she would have, without reservation, shouted, “Sun Hua!”

Why?

Logistics.

The entire sect ran on a mythical and mysterious force called logistics.

Being the leader of the sect’s tournament contingent did not mean helping pavilion leaders choose which sect members to send or creating training schedules or convincing Master to supply new techniques—though there was some of all of that. No, it meant logistics. The job mostly entailed determining who needed what supplies and when they were needed and how those supplies were to be obtained and where from and, most of all, how all those necessities would get from one place to the next.

It. Was. Maddening.

Lists and paperwork and counting boxes and talking to men about horses and wagons and so much boring stuff. Ugh!

Honestly, all those months ago it hadn’t looked like many members would qualify for the tournament, anyway. A small number of people meant manageable logistics, even for Yang Xiu who definitely wasn’t skilled in the subject.

But then Master had introduced the manuals. At first, they’d been a curiosity. Another thing that Master came up with to help. But they were just some books, right?

She really should have known not to underestimate Master.

First, there were a lot of books. A lot. Every possible subject from Arrays to Zoological Study of Spirit Beasts had three volumes—beginning, intermediate, and advanced—for Qi Gathering cultivators and for those in the Foundation Establishment realm.

One or two members from each pavilion were instructed to read over the books and report back. Those reports were positive. Glowing. Ecstatic.

Word spread throughout the sect, and soon everyone had a new activity to add to cultivating, practicing techniques, and cultivating their secondary method, either Mind or Soul—reading. More like studying.

The initial confusion had come from the battered, eclectic mess of manuals that Master had purchased to start his library. Those were poorly written, hard to follow, incomplete, and unorganized. One could glean some knowledge from them, but it took much work for relatively little gain.

In contrast, the new manuals that Master had somehow produced from somewhere all had blue covers that featured the Rising Tide Sect’s logo, looking crisp and brand new and uniform and quite professional. And they were absolutely better in every way than the previous ones. They explained everything in detailed but simple to understand terms and were indexed in a way that made all the information easy to find.

Not only did the books make learning so much easier but anyone with a complementary technique found themselves advancing so, so much faster.

In short, the abilities of the sect’s members advanced at a rapid pace, meaning that a lot more people were suddenly qualified to participate in the tournament. Which meant that the logistics grew so, so much more complicated.

Without Sun Hua’s help, the Rising Tide Sect would have had to cancel their participation in the tournament. That statement was no exaggeration, either. Yang Xiu would have missed the application deadline if not for the older girl’s assistance. And that was on top of the girl doing most of the actual work involved in running the sect.

When Yang Xiu asked Master about why he left such important tasks to his assistant, he’d said that, at times in his life, he’d been in charge of logistics, but that was a long, long time ago. Even he was very glad for the presence of Sun Hua.

Everyone who was in the know as far as sect leadership went thought the same. Well, all except Sun Hua, of course. She still acted like any mistake she might make would get her fired from her position, and no amount of talking her up seemed to help. Poor thing.

Her value made Yang Xiu’s current mission quite problematic, though. As she stood outside the door to Master’s office, she took a deep, steadying breath before knocking. After being let in, she walked to a position an appropriate distance from Master, dropped to her knees and kowtowed.

“Master, this lowly disciple begs for a boon.”

Instead of keeping her forehead plastered to the floor as was proper, Yang Xiu peeked, trying to get a read on his expression. He appeared … amused.

Which, okay, honestly made sense.

“I see, my disciple. Please enlighten me as to the boon you require.”

Good. Amusement generally meant she was on the right path with him, and his answer definitely hadn’t been a no. She had a chance.

“This lowly one needs Sun Hua to attend the tournament, Master.”

There was a pause. A long pause.

“I need Sun Hua to remain behind to run the sect while we’re away.” His tone had become far less jovial.

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It was as Yang Xiu feared. All she could do was resort to begging.

“Please, Master. There is no one else capable of getting everything running smoothly. I've consulted with Yang Ru, Kang Lin, Xun Wu, and even the mayor. They all agree that we’ll be living in ramshackle tents without food or drink unless she is there. We’ll be lucky if any of us even find our contests, much less get there on time, much less win.”

“And what of the sect?”

“She has everything running so smoothly here that she won’t be missed for the short time we’re gone, Master. The mayor has the respect of the sect members and can fill in during her absence, and if he falters, Senior Brother Yuan Yaozu will be here to help.”

Silence stretched, which was unusual. Unless Master was doing the weird thing with his eyes, he usually made decisions pretty much instantaneously, one way or the other. And to be honest, he rarely said no.

Yang Xiu honestly believed that she might just be about to experience one of those rare times.

Master finally let out a sharp breath. “Fine. She can go. But I’m not happy about this. If anything happens here while she’s gone, I’m holding you responsible.”

Yang Xiu grinned. She’d succeeded. The tournament was saved!

Wan Ai stood with the rest of the sect in the amphitheater.

Well, with most of the rest of the sect. There was at least one person missing. One very important person.

She hadn’t heard from her boyfriend in literally more than three months. Three whole months! The only report about him had come in an oblique reference to a mutual friend in a message that Elder Kang Ya-Ting had sent Master, who had graciously shared it with her.

At least they were all leaving for the tournament tomorrow, and since Master was teleporting them all, she’d at least be in the same city as her beloved that day. Though who knew how long it would take for him to actually make contact.

Master had taken great pains to explain how important Zou Tian’s mission was and that he was protecting the entire sect. She felt horrible, but if she had a choice, she’d rather have had him safely beside her and everyone else in danger.

Well, maybe not that exactly, but if something happened to him… She’d not trade him for any person in the sect, including Master!

As the time for the gathering neared, the crowd, which had been full of murmurs, quieted, and shortly thereafter, Master teleported to the stage.

“Greetings, my sect,” he said enthusiastically. “The time of the Quinquennial Tournament is finally at hand. We leave right after breakfast tomorrow. Everyone who is going will meet outside the Administration Hall.”

There were lots of nods. Many people, including Wan Ai, Bai Xinyi, and three others from the Alchemy Pavilion, were making the journey.

“Are you all excited?” he said.

There was little, if any, response.

“I said, are you all excited?”

A few people here and there said, “Yes, Sect Leader.”

The next time, Master raised his voice. “I said, are you all excited?”

That time, everyone got the message and yelled, “Yes, Sect Leader.”

“That was good,” he said, “but I think you can do better. Are you all excited?”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

The stands shook.

He grinned. “Good. It’s good to be excited. There’s a lot to be eager about. Competing against other sects for the first time to find out where you stand against your peers. Supporting your fellow sect members. I want you to be thrilled. Enthusiastic. Happy. Especially that last one. Happy.

“This event is supposed to be fun. It’s a game. It’s exciting to compete and to cheer on those you want to win.” Master paused. “There are some, though, both in this sect and in those who will also be competing, who don’t see it as fun. They see it as important. As if world-shattering consequences are based on the performance of juniors in a game.”

The crowd had grown quiet as they always did when the sect leader spoke, seeking to hear every word, but there was absolute silence after he said that last part.

“This sect will not succeed or fail based on this tournament,” he said. “If you are competing, do not put that responsibility on yourself. If you are watching or staying back here anxiously awaiting word, do not put pressure on the people who are competing.

“I’ll say it again. This is a game. It should be fun. We will celebrate your victories and commiserate with you over your losses. Above anything else, though, we will have fun and remember that it is a game. Understood?”

There was a reflexive smattering of, “Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Understood?” he said again.

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Good. To be clear, I have high hopes for some of our competitors. Yang Xiu and Yang Ru should be well ahead of most of their peers. Xun Wu is an expert blacksmith. I have tremendous faith in the abilities of Wan Ai.”

Her eyes went wide. Surely, he hadn’t called her out in front of the entire sect! But he did. She desperately wished for a hole to open in the stands, so she could fall from everyone’s sight.

And, most of all…” Master laughed. “Jin LiJuan. I can’t wait to see her matches.”

That got a confused reaction from almost everyone. The expedition had returned quite some time ago, but the girl wasn’t with them. And all the members had been sworn to secrecy about where she was. And no one would talk about that giant talking turtle that had one day appeared with Master for a short time.

When Jin LiJuan had left, she was literally the weakest of the Foundation Establishment cultivators. What could have happened to make Master so excited about her?

“Whether our members win their entire bracket or get eliminated in the first round, I don’t care. The only person I want each of our participants to beat is the them from yesterday.”

Wan Ai had literally no idea what that was supposed to mean. Did he plan to create clones of their past selves for them to practice against? Given that it was the sect leader, no one would so much as blink an eye if he made that happen. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“Know that, win or lose, I am proud of you for competing. There is only one thing that you can do to make me not be proud to have you as a member of my sect.”

Everyone, literally everyone, was on the edge of their seats waiting to hear how he completed that statement.

“My expectation for each of you is that, if you win, you win graciously. If you lose, you lose graciously. A certain amount of trash talk is acceptable, even sometimes expected, before the bout. After a loss, you thank your opponent for giving you pointers. If you win, you thank your opponent for the bout. Period.

“No whining if you lose, not about the fairness or the officiating or anything else. No gloating if you win. Understood?”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Obviously, that attitude should be easy for all of you when facing our friends from the Poison Claw Sect. To a person, they’ve all proven to be staunch allies and simply good people. We are happy to have made their acquaintance,” Master said. “Two thirds of our opponents, however, are allied against us in an as yet undeclared war. Both the Jade Chameleon Sect and the Swift Blizzard Sect wish to see us fail. They will do all they can to defeat us in the ring and bully us outside.

“It will be more difficult to display good sportsmanship to members of those two sects. I expect that members of my sect can do difficult things. Understood?”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“You will show your opponents basic respect in the ring, even those who are enemies outside. No one will walk away from spectating that tournament and claim that the Rising Tide Sect is a bunch of bad sports. Understood?”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“Good. That being said, you are a member of the Rising Tide Sect. You kowtow to no one who does not absolutely deserve it. If someone is demanding that you kowtow and you believe that person to be undeserving, you break your contingency ring. I will have your back. Understood?”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

That time, the shouts were so loud that it actually hurt Wan Ai’s ears. The energy of the crowd was infectious. Even she had gotten into the spirit of things and raised her voice. Slightly. A little bit.

But nothing could make her excited about competing. To have all those eyes on her was one of her nightmares.

The chance to see Zou Tian again, though? That was worth shouting about.