I enter into secluded cultivation again for the first week back to both advance and to induce a heat now that I can regulate it slightly, I advance again early into the heat making the rest of it all about building the foundation of the current level.

Leaving enclosed cultivation, I see the looks of shock when my once more increase in my current stage is announced for all to learn, I go to the training grounds where I told the twenty people to come to for training purposes and anyone that doesn't show up will be swapped for someone else.

Looking at them all swinging sword in the exact same style despite each having a different body type truly proved how little the sect tried to actually teach the lower talent students, of the people here most are in the middle section of the mind bridge stage between the 5th and 7th stage specifically making it so they are look to be around early to late 30s though one of the older men look to be nearing their 50s with small bits of white in his hair.

I can see that some are fine with a sword they just need different fighting styles, but the older man needs a different weapon all together as the sword is clearly not his strong suit even after years of training with it, I will see how he does with the other weapons soon.

I have the ones that are okay with a sword also try different types of weapons just in case they are better talent in it then a sword, of the twenty people the old man proved talented in a war scythe.

I change the weapon type for 7 of the men, one gets a pair of daggers another a bow staff like me.

Two of the men prove talented with a spear and one in razor wire making him a perfect fit for this team as such weapon will be good for our sneak attacks, one of them took to a shoge chain weapon like a fish to water and seemed to love it even without a proper martial art for it.

Last one however didn't seem to fit with any of the close combat weapons and while talented long-range combat is simply out of my expertise, I may need to look into though as although shaky he seems good with a long bow.

I begin to look into how those weapons are used while altering the sword style for those without a talent in anything but the sword or none good enough to swap to after spending so long using a sword, though some may gain secondary weapons for hidden use or incase a sword broke they can be safe.

I tell the bow man that it is his call as I lack the knowledge for it but can try to find a means for him if he is willing to risk it and he seems to think for a while, he is one of the older ones looking almost 38 years old with a 8th connection stage changing weapons for him may not be as advantageous as with the others who are all slightly younger and at a lower cultivation level but he ends up agreeing to test for this but if by the time of deployment it fails then I will focus purely on training him in the break times to make up for the loss.

An agreement is struck, and I spend the nights in the library figuring many things out for all the new people, the one with the staff will be an offense person so my style won't fit, and the spearmen are fortunately similar enough that small tweaks is all it will take to match them to the fighting style.

The man with the shoge is very decisive so a one-shot killing style is for the best otherwise he will be major support, as for the others well each has something they seem good with.

The two with the spears are a set of fraternal twins who are at the 4th connector grade and look around 34 years old, they are more defensive in nature though the slightly slimmer one has some attack capability so he can be the attacker of the two, but both will be more defense than offense.

The daggers one is 6th connector stage looking only 32 and is good at striking weak points and slowly whittling away at the opponent making them unable to fight anymore, one of our members had to be healed after fighting him due to a cut Achilles. The bow staff person looks 37 and has a more offensive nature, looking 37 years old with a leaner build then most the others.

The razor wire one is a trapper in the making clearly like a spider waiting for the prey to come and get tangled, he is an opportune hunter in its most prime state at the looking age of 30 and a 2nd connector stage person he will do well with decent training and some hands-on teaching with his cultivation.

Last is the oldest looking of the changed weapons people, looking 52 years old and a 9th stage connector he is changed to a war scythe because even with years using a sword, he still seemed slightly clumsy with it.

Of course, the others aren't neglected as I design sword styles for them with two being talented in speed though only with one sword which is a rapier and a small sword respectfully.

Of course, three prove talent with attack power meaning doing large damage with little input due to their larger builds and better stamina they end up choosing weapons suiting them with two taking a broadsword and one a Sabre, the Sabre one is slightly more agile so swapped to one that wasn't as heavy as the others.

One is talented in defense and is given dual Khanda swords wider swords better at taking hits then giving though able to attack if backed into a corner, he is very stable person with a calm personality.

Of course, not everyone has a specialty as the last five seems most suited for their current style but simply lack understanding and proper teaching in their more average and middle grounds sword style, I intend to push them to their breaking points to help them fully understand this style and how and when to use the different parts of the martial arts.

The first week is spent determining this and the rest of the month is spent familiarizing them to the weapons if they changed while I pushed those remaining the same to learn more information in arrays and energy flows in order to help them handle their current fighting style properly, training them against myself, the young master, Tai, and even Haoyu when he comes as he uses a offensive sword style with a Sabre like one of the men who when seeing this and learning I taught the boy is immediately enthused.

Some seemed shocked as despite everything the boy showed great talent with a blade despite his average cultivation, soon true training for the weapons changes people come as they go through their stances, and I have the long bow man stand in perfect posture for hours as he may need to for a single true good shot.

Teaching them how to hide, where to set things up for traps, some of the basic arrays though it will take longer for them to do those themselves it helped them in their understanding of their current stances and fighting styles.

The fourth month is spent with two of the weeks spent in my home one for Haoyu and another for me, no one asks why we both had a one-week cultivation indoors practice as they simply assume it is normal with Tai also doing a weeklong enclosed cultivation as well and the young master and I cultivating together most afternoons.

Speaking of cultivation Tai finally advanced to the 9th stage and Haoyu advanced to the 5th stage after this heat, while the winter passed, and we all aged.

I also notice with the training and people familiarizing themselves to each other scents begin to spill and some people show they are either beta or alphas, like the twins are both betas while the razor wire is a alpha it is soon clear who holds their second gender in high regards as some begin to act above those with the beta gender but I quickly put them in their places by knocking them down a few pegs as one of the so called betas.

Though whispers came and went that I may not be as I never gave a scent, but it came out I had defective glands which shut them up, a defective person was better than them spoke volumes of their so-called genders mean everything beliefs.

As the fifth month comes to an end we begin to practice fully as a team in different scenarios such as the one in the valley and they all set the traps and arrays while I stand in position, or for the cave they each have a darkness array so one can't be destroyed while having the talisman linked to each of those array's to ignore it, they join into teams of a defense while attackers and a medium person.

Of course, they vary depending on the scenarios as if they are in the caves the trapper ones often stay next to a defender, while speed ones go off on their own to hunt down and run back to alert of locations and attacker kill them with a single harsh attack.

Bit by bit the scenarios are gone through from high mountains where we use the changing elevations to sneak and hide while jumping around or the near water where we will light up in the water to bring them then use darkness talismans like the cave, the plains are the worst as they require us to work in perfect tandem of the blockers dealing with the weaker ones and I will come when the tougher ones are there and the people will play peak-a-boo with the barrier to kill them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

We are still having some timing problems even as the sixth month comes to an end with the plains one but overall most our plans are perfectly set up and ready for use.

We arrive in the front hall for our next mission since our one in the valley sect and we are being sent to a mountain sect so our practice of that is perfect as it is one of the ones we liked the most due to its elevation changes, we look at the site of the sect which is a month's travel from our current location on horses and we are to deliver supplies and act as helpers there which just means do what you did last time again.

We set off the next morning with me taking the suppressants as my heat is coming up in the next few days, I ask Haoyu to wait for my return to see if he can last through the heat without me an if so, he may start to do it at my home while I am gone to advance his cultivation.

Soon we head for fowl peak the sect for beast raising a slightly lower sect then ours but not by much making it, so they do have a body forging expert in the peak stage.

We encounter 3 attacks two with long range that the bowman got one of but the other escaped from us however we killed nearly 20 on our way there solely on the three groups that attacked us on the way, entering the sect we immediately pan the area and search for all hidden nooks or hiding spots as well any good spots we could collapse on top of them or explode if someone to powerful comes after us.

We spend an entire 2 months without attacks allowing us to simply set up several hidden things and traps all over the mountain while finding good spots for the sect members to use, we even have a few offers to act as baits to lead into traps before hiding away which we agree with.

Soon the first attacks come, and we are in the sect when they come at night making us need to use our plains style attacks until we can all scatter and get into positions.

The first down is a peak core formation person followed by a mid-connector person and soon one after another falls as unlike last time they are not sending in people to test us but all out assaulting, we spend all of that night and nearly the next day simply dealing with the people rushing while a fight happens off in the distance probably the peak body forger who had us set up traps to help him in advance.

I finally can't go on and the first rest comes but unlike last time the two trained defenders take over making a barrier by combining energy that although not quite as strong as mine can withstand a few hits from a low-grade body forger if needed.

I wake to a pounding sound and see a peak connector attacking the barrier but soon get chopped into pieces by wires brining a small smile to me as my choice to change weapons for some of them is proving it's worth, a loud boom signals one of the traps meant for a body forger is used and the twins along with bowman entering the barrier lets me know who did it.

I take back over barrier duty letting the other two rest while I protect, in an emergency we can all three work to hold a single barrier which thanks to peak master testing can withhold five hits from a peak body forger.

We last two weeks as the people come at varying times and levels clearly showing the disorganization of these demonic cultivators as they have yet to piece together how so many of their owns are dying in a fight they should be guaranteed to win, I am sure there are some in charge but only the truly strong demonic cultivator could make them willingly bow otherwise they will simply not talk back but not obey either.

Meaning they only have super higher ups and no more, meaning many messages and pieces of information are lost or ignored by the men.

The attacks stop with some of their people still scattered but we set the safety bell off to let the fowl sect know they may exit their hiding spots, nearly 40,000 people in the sect but only around 30,000 shows as half of the 20,000 who chose to fight survived even with the traps and aide we gave them.

Demonic cultivators are stronger and grow more quickly for exchange of doing horrific deeds each ones sin depends on the type chosen, like the Gu worm one where many kids are aught from childhood a technique then made to fight each other and consume each other's cultivation but the winner is often ate by the ones who took them unless they showed potential then they may be taken as a student.

Some of them are simply sleeping with people of high cultivation to advance their own and those ones are often ignored though many visit them behind closed doors, still they claim it is an immoral way and condemn them while doing nothing to stop it even when young women are sold and forced into that type of cultivation.

The worst is the slaughter type that kill anyone to absorb their energy to advance but since they don't use the same style or aren't even cultivators at all the energy taken is only a pitiful amount compared to the other methods but once they get powerful, they often advance more quickly. Each has setbacks and upsides but the slaughter one is often the most condemned and hunted as many of those using it kill indiscriminately or kill people of high standing even if they are rapist and murders it is still viewed as inexcusable ironic as the people they killed did so as well but since they are born in the right family and aren't cultivators it is fine.

We leave the sect three days after the battle ends as we help patch people and ourselves up as one of us had been stabbed in the side while another two had broken bones and most of the others besides us barriers have at least a broken bone, we barriers are tired from pushing our bodies so need the rest as well.

We hit only a single attack on the way back from the battle and return to the sect told we have a week to rest then back to another sect for supply drops and helping around the sect.

We go to another and kill around 300 demonic cultivators there as it is one of the smallest sects so not many attackers where even sent in the first place, we go to another two weeks later with more supplies and add 700 bodies to our confirmed kills while a few more to the unconfirmed ones due to not being able to bring back so many bodies or them being to damage to count what went where.

We spend that year killing and traveling in-between sects while giving a report every now and then, the young master also advances thanks to the continuous fighting and hands on experience.

I also advanced during our last break which I spent in heat.

Tai is till a bit off of being a connector but should advance in the next year while Haoyu spent his first heat alone and advanced twice thanks to being able to make full use of his two heats had while I was gone after the heat spent with him following my return.

A lull in the war comes at the spring time and we get time to train and dedicate to our cultivation and putting into use our experience, many of those following me have advanced following this battle but the most impressive one is the old man who became a body forger a month after the lull took place brining a celebration of another high grade cultivator joining the ranks and rumors of my suppose ability to make anyone excel with even a small amount of effort.

Many came to ask for me to train them during this lull, but I refuse as I am too busy training the others which three of our current member are about to enter the body forging realm, Tai will replace the old man but Haoyu is still too far away so we may need to add two new people to our roster even if I dislike it.

The shoge user and the long bowmen are both at the ninth stage and with a lot of experience and time fighting this past year they may advance without needing to return to the battlefield.

We wait nearly 9 months in the sect with no signs of anymore attacks from the demon sect but we are all still on guard and the team is undergoing daily training with Tai replacing the old man as he advanced last week, Haoyu also advanced during his recent heat bringing him to the 8th stage but he is still too far off to replace the spot the shoge person has left with his recent cultivation increase.

I look through some people, but none fit into what I want in the team but soon a person in the ninth stage of formation and soon to enter the connector faze catches my eyes, he looks to be around late 20s so decent talent, but his sword style is a mess.

I take him aside one day and speak if he will be okay with some training with me to see the actual weapon that fits him, a yes comes immediately and he turns out to be quiet capable with a shoge as well like the one he is replacing all he needs to do is advance and his position is guaranteed, and he does the last month before everything goes to hell as we are attacked by the enemies.

We are a almost mid grade sect with good positioning with the other sects so support can come quickly and our supplies are large so no war of attrition is possible, attacking us is like throwing away their only current advantage as we also have high numbers nearly 100,000 strong a good population even by middle sect standards though we are a lower grade one due to no one in the jindan stage despite our many body forging people. We are simply not the type one would think to be attacked but I am paranoid so forced many members to plant traps and hold arrays with them.

I hear a bang of a trap and know my paranoia will be seen in a much more positive light after this event blows over, we all use the pavilion as I have so many defenses and traps around here it is a fortress of its own even ignoring our much better knowledge of the terrain here is a upside.

Soon we stack bodies around us as they rush around the sect and see our lights running all over the area near them, but just as a flow is set, I feel a familiar sensation of complete dominance and know what it is without even needing to see them.

I tell them to go all out on defense and no matter what comes set off the mass destruction array around me the second the shield is hit without worrying if we have a barrier up or not, and soon the man comes with a rush of wind slamming into our barrier shattering it with a single attack and sending all but me flying as I spit blood from the attack.

I set off the destruction array built here due to my extreme paranoia after the man who came after the young master all those years ago, even if he didn't want to hurt him then the same can't always be true for the others.

I have a flames protection talisman but the sheer force sent out and hits with debris have my bones nearly crushed and part of my side torn off of me, I struggle up and see the man partly burnt and cuts all over him but still alive and advancing to me when a sword comes through his chest and the sect master is on the other end of it.

I collapse in relief and feel the energy wash over me as the man heals me of the fatal wounds but to prevent over reliance on other energy to heal that is all he does before giving me a pill and telling me to rest as we had done more then our duty to protect the sect could ever demand, I awake to Tai and Haoyu sitting next to me and the sounds of rowdy people outside the door.

I feel slightly upset to not see the young master but know our relationship is master and servant, a master would never visit a servant only ever the other way around.