Through a twist of luck and a dash of hubris, John was now an Inner Elder. It was basically unheard of for someone with such low cultivation to be an Elder, but the Song faction had made the wager and John had won. He thought that the Sect Leader's lax attitude probably helped, he could have struck down John's new position with relative ease, but it hadn't happened. The aftermath of the duel felt like a whirlwind of activity that had only just begun to slow down enough for John to take stock of what happened.
There was a lot of celebrating. John's friends and allies were all ecstatic that he had won. The other Weird cultivators and John's more carefree friends were simply happy to see their leader achieve victory; Kai and his Father had the gleeful look of men who just earned a political ally. Speaking of which, John was formally introduced to Kai's father, Gaius, along with the extended friends and family that rallied around him forming his faction, the Operationalists. Gaius apparently came to relative power only recently when the Sect Leader made him his right hand and started expanding operations of the sect, especially with the experimentation and formation of Weird cultivators, or as they initially called it, the Esoteric.
This reflected the principles held by the Operators who embodied a kind of noble obligation mindset. Gaius had long wanted to expand the operations of the sect to induct more disciples, growing the base of power and creating more cultivators. Gaius and the Operators also wanted to get deeply involved in running the surrounding mortal lands as well, but that goal had yet to be achieved. They had grand expectations for John now that he was an Elder, especially considering he had reign over punishment and missions.
Kai was expected to become an elder as soon as he ascended to Golden Core as well as Wang, Jim, Vic, and Saul. The whole group were friends largely as an extension of their parent's network. John did have to wonder how much of his struggles the past two years was orchestrated long ago by the formation of these alliances. Gaius and the Operators broke their alignment with the Songs after the relationship between Kai and Lady Song deteriorated. In turn, the soured political relationship between the families fueled more conflict between the younger generation, Ye got involved, and everything went to hell.
John really did like Kai and his friends, but it was a coincidence that they were able to become friends, and John had priorities slightly different to that of the Operators, he was only interested in developing the Weird faction and didn't care about the intra-sect power that it would bring him. Demons haunted him, literally, and he could see a future where that caused a rift between him and Kai. John tried not to think about it too deeply, any ramifications like that were a long ways away and nearly everything in life looked coincidental if you were cynical enough.
Speaking of Ye, John looked into the Sect records about him with his newfound power, and discovered he was born with the Minor Yin Attracting Physique. It was a kind of minor charm effect that could induce love in emotionally vulnerable Yin beings. Women were the obvious target by Ye but it would also have made very strong bonds with spirit beasts had he taken a beast-taming path.
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After a long night of celebration and political shmoozing, John collapsed in his private pavilion, exhausted. This was only his temporary abode now that he was an Elder. Tomorrow he would be asigned a new place to live, matching his new station. John couldn't help but be a little exhausted by the rapid changes--he was set for a whole new species of problems going forward. Much of what was familiar would become strange again. It felt a little like getting settled in the sect again, everything John saw he saw through new eyes. He tried to remind himself of the benefits brought on by these changes. He was the one who accepted the duel, in the end.
There was a kind of corruption in the sect and the world at large. The sect was full of a callous disregard for life that John could no longer abide, not when he had the potential to change it. Everyone knew cultivators treated mortal lives like grass, John had not expected that disregard to extend to lower cultivators, but it did. The human experimentation and sacrifice by the Sect Leader in the creation of the Weird realm of cultivation was evidence of it. The offhand disrespect for the victims of Lambert was evidence of it. John could see hints of it even in his new allies, how they talked about bringing in new disciples, or controling mortal kingdoms, simply to put themselves into ever higher power, it sickened him.
Worse was the corruption of the world. John shuddered to remember that horrifying Eye that stared back at him from the center of twisting hell that is the Wheel. It spoke of a malevolent intelligence that was peering in at their reality. Hungry and cruel, beyond the casual savagery that the Wheel itself inflicted. It must be stopped.
John struggled internally, it was tempting to say that it must be stopped at all costs, but John had been part of those costs at the start of his cultivation. Even now, the Sect leader could put him down with hardly a thought and install a new batch of Weird cultivators, with a new leader that was more in line with his goals. How frustrating it was to be bound by politics the moment he stepped onto the stage. No matter what his thoughts, it couldn't be avoided by burying his head in the sand. John had determined himself for more than that now. He would do his damndest to stop the world from being destroyed, or worse, but not at the cost of sacrificing innocent and unwilling lives. If that meant ascending the political game to the peak, he would just need to become a politician.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
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The next day, a message arrived for John early. The Sect Leader had requested his presence.
A moment of panic overcame him as he remembered his worst fears from last night, the Sect Leader could be bringing him in to kill him! But no, he wouldn't need to be so polite about it. John dressed in one of his nicer robes and followed the messenger dutifully. John knew the Sect Leader must live in the deepest, most core part of the sect, but it still surprised him when he realized they were approaching the gate to the Core sect.
John had somehow expected to be knocked unconscious and brought there, it had happened enough in his life already. He was not anticiapting taking a long walk there on his own two feet, especially since passing through gates was so strictly forbidden for those who had not advanced. It all had to do with resource allocation, he knew. It didn't make sense to give such expensive treatment to new disciples who had barely mastered introductory cultivation methods.
Almost none of the new cultivators would ultimately make it higher up, only by filtering through the incredibly vast population of mortals were you likely to find any cultivators worth investing in. John was lucky in that regard, his spiritual roots were among the absolute worst. Trash of the trash. That just so happened to make them incredibly suited for Weird cultivation. Heaven left a way for all things, he supposed.
Walking through the gate to the Core Sect was just like any of the other boundaries he had passed before. It was the shocking density of qi on the other side that really threw him. If the Inner Sect was several times denser than the Outer sect, the Core sect was hundreds of times denser. Water qi was so thick John felt like he was swimming, each breath he was surprised to find he drew in air instead of drowning. With a surreptitious look at his unnamed Elder escort, the man didn't seem to care what John did given his slow pace, John unfurled a massive web into the air, feeing greedily on the ripe energy.
Qi poured into John so fast it began to suck even more qi out of the air, vortexing into his dantian with incredible speed. Still, John could sense other even stronger vortexes around him from Golden Core elders striving to enter Nascent Soul. It was humbling and curious. John knew there was something like 50 Core cultivators in the sect, almost all of them had some administrative authority and were involved in the management of the sect. He expected more of them to be cultivating. Either way, he wasn't going to turn down the free meal.
Observing the Core sect was interesting in itself. The Outer sect housed and created the resources for Outer disciples. The Inner Sect managed more complex gardens and workshops, creating artifacts for use by the larger and weaker population as well as almost all the Alchemy products used by the Inner and Outer disciples. The Core sect was like a small village, if every building was an enormous and elegant mansion. Basically no communal buildings outside of a few multi-purpose Halls were built. John spotted several complicated gardens and a few other familiar sites, but almost everything was contained to an individual's pagoda. With less population, infrastructure and organizational control was less important. Traffic was nearly non-existant too. John saw two other people walking, both with purpose, neither paid John or his escort any attention.
It was really a short hike to the next Gate, this one leading to the Sect Leader's section he was sure. Only him and Gaius were in the Nascent Soul stage as far as John was aware, there was no reason to build a community for two indivuals. Even with the short distance, John was completely gorged on qi. For the first time in a long time he was completely full, bottlenecked on his ability to convert wild qi into his own for the first time. Other cultivators could do it by cycling, John's process was a lot closer to digesting. He could consume more at once but less continuously.
Passing through the gate, John found himself teleported directly into a quiet tea room, already seated at a low table with a cup of steaming tea in front of him. This is more like what he expected. If there was some kind of political message to letting him waltz through the Core sect, he wasn't picking it up but he wasn't annoyed either.
The Sect Leader sat across from him. The man had a quiet intensity that John didn't remember from the few previous interactions they'd had. He guessed that the induction ceremony was just a chore then, churning out a new batch of Esoteric bodies to throw at the breach. Now John sat before him, a promising tool that could be sharpened into a weapon.
"Hello John."
"Disciple John greets the Sect Master." John gave a customary salute, deeply uncomfortable. The Sect Leader had a glint of madness in his eyes that reminded him uncomfortably of the Demon that had taken his form in his initial vision.
"Please, try the tea." He waved his hand and picked up his own cup to take a sip.
John tried it, if only to help offset the uncomfortable air, it was delicious. He still couldn't relax. It took him a few moments to realize what was off, there was no qi in the room! It became more obvious as the tea dissolved into qi within his stomach. He didn't have the balls to cultivate in front of the Leader, but the total absence of qi really disurbed him. It wasn't just weak as it was in the mortal world, it was a total vacuum.
"I'm so proud of you John. You've really been the best result of my work. I was pleased when you became the Leader. I was hoping you would take over for me... other work has started calling to me recently." The Sect Leader spoke in very slow, even sentences, like he was afraid John would spook and run away. To be fair, John was terrified.
"You want me to take over the Weird part of the sect?"
"Is that what you call it? Yes. You are now responsible for all matters regarding 'Weird' cultivation in the Sect." Again he spoke in a completely emotionless, flat tone. Again he waved his hand and a carved jade Medallion appeared in John's hand. It read 'Left Hand'.
John had dozens of questions, like 'Why did you give me political power equal to the only other Nascent Soul cultivator in the sect?!' but he didn't get a chance to voice any of them as the Sect Leader stood up and John was teleported out of the room and back into his pavilion at the Weird compound.