The Sect Leader System-Chapter 319: Security Briefing

Benton felt no qualms about leaving Sun Hua… uh, Yang Xiu in charge of getting the kids settled in their new temporary digs for a while. He had, after all, already installed two multistory apartment buildings from his ring, built a wall from pre-assembled Orange Vigor Spirit Wood panels, and inscribed a Lesser Defensive Formation.

Were the wall and arrays a bit of overkill? Probably. But better safe than sorry. Literally.

Only his members could pass through the gate without it alerting him, which made him feel a lot better about things. At least, the kids would be relatively danger free while in their home base away from home.

The next step in making sure they were as protected as they could possibly be was a security briefing with Kang Ya-Ting. Since Benton was expected and running on time, he Teleported directly into the elder’s chambers.

“You know, Friend Su,” Kang Ya-Ting said, “Now that I’m a spymaster, I need to find a Formations Master to protect my study from Spatial intrusions.”

“Sorry, accepting such a commission would be a conflict of interest. Mine,” Benton said without skipping a beat.

They both laughed.

“Will it be just the two of us?” Benton said.

“Elder Dai will join us in a moment. Tea?”

The aforementioned elder arrived before they’d finished the first cup and so joined them, and the three spoke of inconsequential things until she finished her tea, signaling the start of the real meeting.

A previous message had already informed Benton about the likely alliance between the Jade Chameleon Sect and the Swift Blizzard Sect, and that was the first topic of conversation for the three.

“The result is that the Poison Claw Sect need no longer try to appear neutral,” Elder Dai said. “With those two clearly alllied and after what you did for Yuan Yaozu and Duan Lan, our alliance is official. We haven’t made it public yet, but we’re only waiting for a poltically or strategically advantageous time to do so. The sect leader and the council of elders are one hundred percent behind you and your sect.”

That condition had been the main gain for the points Benton had spent on Duan Lan’s trial, but it was still good to hear Elder Dai state it so plainly.

“From this point forward,” she said, “it would be good to have regular strategy meetings between the three of us.”

“I take no exception to working more closely with both of you. Honestly, sect politics are not my strong suit, so your guidance takes a weight off my shoulders. As long as no one steps on my bottom line, I put myself in your hands.”

“What exactly is that bottom line, Sect Leader?” Elder Dai said.

“No one from my sect is endangered. Period. If they are, I will step in.”

Elder Dai and Kang Ya-Ting shared a significant glance. “That’s not the easiest of conditions, but it is understandable. The Poison Claw Sect will keep that objective paramount in our considerations.”

Benton cupped his hands.

The next two revelations weren’t nearly as important. He was more curious about the abilities of a rival Formations Master than he was scared, and he promised to surreptiously check out the infamous ambush square.

“The most recent situation is more concerning, especially in light of your bottom line, Friend Su,” Kang Ya-Ting said. “Our enemy sects had the City Lord’s represenative propose the admittance of a small clan to the tournament. It is my belief that this clan’s purpose is to soundly defeat your Qi Gathering realm participants in the Martial contest.”

Benton frowned. “The Emporer’s faction is against us as well?”

“We don’t think so,” Elder Dai said. “They were clearly bribed with a greater share of admissions and concessions.”

Bribery was just how things worked in Benton’s new world, so the actions of the City Lord’s representative was understandable. And really, admitting a new clan wasn’t exactly an egregious act of sabotage.

“I can live with that.”

Both the Poison Claw Sect elders appeared relieved that he didn’t push for reprisals.

“What do we know about the clan?” Benton said.

“Apparently, they’re Body Cultivators, Friend Su.” Kang Ya-Ting smiled.

Benton grew a bit contemplative. “That should be interesting, then.”

Every single one of his sect members participating in the tournament had reached the peak of the realm of Body Cultivation that corresponded with where they were in Spiritual Cultivation. And all his members used System provided top heaven ranked cultivation methods. He couldn’t wait to see how the clan matched up.

“Do any of the other factions know that we use Body Cultivation?” Benton said.

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“Not the the best of my knowledge, Friend Su.”

Benton actually chuckled. “I should send the City Lord’s representative a gift, publically so. A very valuable gift.”

Elder Dai caught on immediately. “That would be a bold move. You’re that confident that your sect members will defeat the clan?”

“I’m not saying we’ll dominate or anything, but the clan is likely expecting to use their physical might to beat up on opponents who rely totally on Spiritual Cultivation. Instead, they’ll find opponents who match them, maybe even surpass them. And who have better techniques and weapon proficiency.” He shrugged. “Maybe the clan is more experienced with fighting or something similar that will close the gap. Regardless, I seriously doubt the clan will win as easily as our enemies think, if at all.”

“In that case, a gift is entirely appropriate,” Elder Dai said. “Let our enemies think that the City Lord is working for both sides or, even better, has already chosen us.”

Kang Ya-Ting nodded. “It’s a smart move with no drawbacks, and it might just end up giving us a tremendous advantage. Mao Biya will definitely feel betrayed by Qiu ZhenKang and treat him like a traitor.”

“Which will push the City Lord’s faction toward us,” Elder Dai said. “If you don’t mind the expense of a gift, it would be helpful.”

“It’s no trouble. I’ll craft something. What weapon does he use and what’s his aspect?”

Like most cultivators, Qiu ZhenKang was a swordsman, and he is heavily Metal aspected.

“Easy enough,” Benton said. “Speaking of Body Cultivation, though, your granddaughter can be incredibly stubborn. I offered to get her to the peak of Silver so many times, but she won’t accept.”

“I can order her if you wish,” Elder Dai said.

“No, it’s not worth that. I can see her point. Wanting to earn her own way isn’t a bad thing. I would just absolutely hate it if she were hurt when accepting my offer could have saved her, though.”

The conversation quickly moved onto other topics.

“When do you think the ambush will occur?” Benton said.

“They will absolutely want to embarrass your sect in the tournament as much as possible first, Friend Su. Waiting until the end, though, would be too risky as you might get away before they can trigger it. I’d say soon after all your members are removed from contention.”

Elder Dai nodded her agreement.

“Uh… What if one of my sect members makes it to the very end?”

“Ah,” Kang Ya-Ting started. “I noticed that you’d entered a … Jin LiJuan … in the peak Foundation Establishment division, but honestly, I didn’t know what to think. Last I heard, the young lady had very damaged cultivation and was only advancing due to a beast she’d bonded?”

“That’s an accurate summation,” Benton said, barely holding his laughter.

“You think this girl might reach the finals?” Elder Dai said.

Benton shrugged. “You never know. As I always say, anything can happen in a cultivation environment. Maybe she’s the main character.”

Both looked at him funny, but he kept a straight face and didn’t elaborate.

Kang Ya-Ting cleared his throat. “Well, in that case, Friend Su, I’m not sure what they’d do. Mao Biya will obviously be enraged if their plans falter and your sect members outperform expectations by a great degree.”

As their conversation about the tournament wound down, Benton brought up the favor he needed. “Regarding the ambush, I will obviously not hold back this time and actually use my Aura.”

“We concur,” Elder Dai said with no hesitation. “This battle should be the deciding factor in this undeclared war. If we defeat all their Nascent Souls, there will be no reason to worry about any future threats from them.”

“Great. I just need a little help with that. A bit of an experiment to see how easily I can handle multiple Nascent Souls at once.”

Kang Ya-Ting raised his eyebrows.

“I can Teleport back to the sect and bring Yuan Yaozu back, but I was hoping you could supply Duan Lan and one or two others for brief test?”

“Elder Duan is available, and I’m sure she’d have no issue with assisting,” Elder Dai said. “The others are harder to arrange. They’ll be on call once the tournament starts, but at the moment, they’re all engaged. Can we do this is, say, a week?”

Benton cupped his hands. “A week would be perfect. Gratitude, Branch Sect Leader.”

After the meeting with the two Poison Claw Sect elders, Benton felt he had a much better understanding of the security situation. While he wasn’t concerned about his enemies attempting to bully his sect members in the ring, he worried about how things would play out if they were caught outside their compound.

After all, the undeclared war was, at that point, only barely undeclared. He was positive that both the Jade Chameleons and the Swift Blizzards would take any opportunity to harass the Rising Tide Sect members.

Benton had no choice but to call a meeting and lay out rules. A moment later, nine message dragons departed, one for each of his council members who were participating in the tournament—Yang Xiu, Yang Ru, Sun Hua, Huang Yimun, Hou Yazhu, Zi Delan, Xun Wu, Wan Ai, and Shi Long.

It was actually kind of sad not to have Kang Lin’s name on that list as she and her other Poison Claw Sect members had returned to their own branch sect.

Soon, the nine had gathered in a conference room on the floor he’d designated for himself, and he started the meeting by pulling a mass of objects from his rings and scattering them about the table.

“Do you know what those are?” he said.

“They appear to be rings, Master,” Yang Xui said.

“Exactly. More specifically, contingency rings. Hundreds of them. Does anyone know why I have so many?”

“You’re going to recruit more members, Master?” Yang Xiu ventured.

“Good guess but no. They’re to replace the ones that all of you will use.”

Everyone looked confused.

“To this point, you’ve all treated the rings like a precious treasure only to be triggered in the most dire of situations,” Benton said. “And I get that, and to be clear, I am not upset about how they’ve been used thus far. For the duration of the tournament, however, the following directive will be obeyed—each member of my sect will break their ring at the first sign of danger. The first sign. You will not wait until the situation gets out of hand. Understood?”

“Yes, Master.”

“The factions allied against us will try to beat you up during your matches, and that’s fine. I expect you to use your training and fight to the best of your ability, win or lose. Those fights will be fairly fought in adherence to the rules of the tournament. There will be protections in place. And they’ll be against opponents of similar realms.

“If the tournament in not conducted in accordance with its own rules, I will personally correct that oversight. You all will be safe on that arena floor, or I will make someone greatly regret it. Understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Outside the arena floor is more problematic. I fully expect our enemies to try to bully you, so along with my primary directive, pass these orders on to your fellow sect members. One, travel in groups. Always. Two, if you face a fair fight and wish to handle it on your own, you have my permission to do so. Three, if you face a fair fight and wish to avoid it, pop your contingency ring. I am fine with that outcome. No one should be allowed to force you into a fight you do not want. And finally, four, as soon as you are accosted by a higher realm cultivator, pop your ring. Period. Understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Great. Yang Xiu and Yang Ru, please hold back. Everyone else is dismissed.”