“Before we get ahead of ourselves, remember that it’s still unknown if this disciple’s legacy is the real deal. After all, it’s also not uncommon for these inherited arts to be powerful at first, with ruinous negatives coming further down the line that completely stonewall progress,” cautioned the Sect Leader.

This, Elder Ma knew, was what the entire discussion was truly about: how high could Zeng Fei go.

If they’d been truly curious about the ancient cultivator, they would have forcibly scoured Zeng Fei’s memory; but they didn’t because even the safest memory scouring technique caused brain damage to the target, which could be what prevented their sect from gaining a powerhouse further down the line.

If they’d been truly curious, they would have done a thorough search of the ancient cultivator’s legacy room or personally investigated Zeng Fei’s body; but at the end of the day, none of this mattered much to them, who were powerhouses in their own regard.

The discussion had never been about ridding Zeng Fei - even the slimmest possibility Zeng Fei could become a future sect asset was enough for them to keep him around and see what he made of himself - but rather how much to invest in him and who to place him under to get the most bang for their buck.

If not for Elder Ma, they would have directly questioned Zeng Fei to get an idea of his potential, which would have been slightly more cumbersome but no more. Naturally, Elder Ma had good reason for proactively completing this step for them; there was much for him to gain here if he played his cards right.

Zeng Fei’s performance in the tournament had been beyond Elder Ma’s greatest expectations: the kid could clearly take down an ordinary eight or ninth layer disciple despite being almost half their cultivation.

As a result, Elder Ma was convinced the kid’s received legacy was the real deal, which was to say that the kid was a shooting star in the making. And there would be no better time for him to tie his destiny to the kid’s than before the star took off.

Moreover, if the legacy was the real deal, Elder Ma should also find goodies galore in that legacy room - the kid hadn’t seen any, but that was clearly because the inheritance spirit he spoke about had been hiding them somewhere. It should be simple for Elder Ma to beat up a spent spirit and interrogate it for the ancient cultivator’s treasures.

In fact, Elder Ma had been impatient to go check straightaway when he’d heard about the legacy room, and only hadn’t because the kid had taken so long to reawaken that after questioning him, Elder Ma had needed to immediately rush over to the Council Hall in time for the Grand Elders meeting.

Of course, Elder Ma wasn’t some stupid devilish cultivator who was thinking of abusing the kid for personal benefit or anything; rather, he was willing to invest much into the kid right now to ensure he got powerful as quick as possible, at which point Elder Ma would regain his original investment many times over.

To ensure they got off to a good start, Elder Ma had already been treating Zeng Fei like a personal disciple for a while now:

* he’d allowed the tournament match to continue even after Zeng Fei had been unquestionably downed, as there had seemed a slim chance Pingu would beat Dong Fu solo;

* he’d used his status as the tournament organiser to heavily favour Zeng Fei’s during the after-tournament moderation discussion - many there had voiced qualms about Zeng Fei’s overall performance and low cultivation, so to get around this, Elder Ma had given a concession to the Enforcement faction to vote Dong Fu through into the Inner Sect as long as they voted Zeng Fei through;

* he’d treated Zeng Fei with exceeding kindness while questioning him, something that Elder Ma would have never done to some random Outer Sect Disciple.

Even the way Elder Ma had described Zeng Fei to the Grand Elders, although none of it had been lies, everything had been said deliberately framed to give them the impression Zeng Fei was a worthwhile investment but not too worthwhile that they’d feel obliged to take him themselves to guide his talent.

Elder Ma kept reinforcing this impression in the many minutes that followed while the Grand Elders continued to question him and argued amongst themselves.

And then finally, a decision was made, his efforts coming to fruition.

The Sect Leader clapped, “In light of everything we’ve discussed, I agree with Ma that we cannot leave a potential talent in the Outer Sect. It seems only right that an Elder takes him in as a personal disciple.”

None of the Grand Elders disagreed, yet none of them looked eager to take up the job themselves either.

Elder Ma’s heart leapt in joy; he wanted to volunteer himself at once, but held off out of the knowledge there was a pecking order to this: first the Grand Elders, then the Elders (of which there was only one present - what a coincidence).

Several Grand Elders leaned back on their chairs, one whistling innocuously, another splaying fingers over their belly.

“It sounds like a pain,” said the Sixth Grand Elder, shaking his head. “How am I supposed to guide a cultivator in an art that is alien to me? I don’t know anything about summons or spirits.”

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“That same logic applies to all of us,” spoke the Third Grand Elder.

“How about Gu then?” the First Grand Elder suggested. “Even if the Disciple Zeng’s spirit beasts are unfamiliar to Gu, he’s still going to know more about them than anyone else in the sect.”

Half of the Grand Elders made assenting hums and nods, making Elder Ma want to yell at them; if he’d put in all this work just for the prize to end in Old Gu’s aloof and indifferent lap, he felt he would tear his hair out.

He was tempted to speak out of line to stop the consensus from shifting towards Old Gu, but thankfully the other half of Grand Elders didn’t look too fond of the idea anyway.

“Let’s be real, Gu…” The Sixth Grand Elder was about to say something, before smacking his hand over his lips, holding in laughter.

So the Fourth Grand Elder went. “I don’t think Gooey Bear will be too happy to have a disciple forced onto him.”

“But I don’t think he’ll be too sad either,” the First rebutted. “I don’t think he’ll feel much of anything to be honest - our words have as much impact on him as the wind.”

“Besides, he needs to pass down his knowledge to someone eventually,” the Fifth said, now awake and fully caught up on the discussion. “At least someone with spirit beasts will be able to make better use of his knowledge.”

“But who’s to say Gu’s would be a good teacher,” the Sixth hit back with. “I pity the fool who has to squeeze a single answer out of ‘Chatterbox Gu’, let alone the tortured soul who has to squeeze multiple teachings out of him. When the child runs away from our sect, unable to take it anymore, I just want you all to know that his blood will be on your hands.”

“Oh, can it,” the Fifth said, scoffing with laughter. “Gu’s not that bad. He’s just solemn and stoic, a true stone cold man, that’s all.”

The Sect Leader interrupted these two before they derailed the entire discussion. “Granted, perhaps Gu’s better to have as an occasional teacher than a full-on master. After all, a master has many responsibilities to cover in taking care of their disciples. Perhaps we should consider another Elder for that role and—”

The Seventh, who until now hadn’t said a word, suddenly spoke over him in a voice layered with angelic notes. “No ordinary Elder shall be able to manage that child. One of us, it must be, who takes that toll, who makes that sacrifice.”

Her electrifying voice pierced through the room and left in its wake shattered schemes and ruined ploys. Yet despite this, none of them doubted her prophetic comments as they knew the Seventh’s cultivation art randomly subjected her to insights.

“Did you have anyone in mind?” the Sect Leader asked - in truth, he could guess who it was from the snippet she’d said, but he was a team player at heart and as such refused to steal her limelight.

“I saw no exact person in my vision, let it be known. But the current that runs through me whispers in my ear now that one among us may be better suited than the rest…” She coughed and gave a sidelong glance at the Eighth Grand Elder; given that the Seventh’s eyes were blaring bright with heavenly light, this gesture was impossible to miss.

And so, further coughs were made amongst the eight; whistling was carried out innocuously; and fingernails were inspected in the manner of one waiting for something particular to happen.

And yet, the Eighth Grand Elder, who’d been quietly drinking tea all this time, did not appear to notice the odd atmosphere and continued sipping without a word (she was either an incredibly slow drinker or the cup had an inexhaustible supply of tea, take your pick).

After a while, the Sect Leader felt forced to speak, lest they all have to wait there for hours for the Eighth to pick up on their signs. He gave a small gasp and said, “Could it be you she’s talking about, Little Eighth?”

“Verily so,” the Seventh immediately added. “It is only Junior Sister who has the qualities required for the job.”

The Sixth jumped in. “Wow, that’s amazing insight, guys. Little Eighth is the resident master at dealing with freakshows after all… Ahem, I meant curious disciples, of course.”

The Eighth Grand Elder put down her cup. “But I too am unfamiliar with spirit beasts.”

“You were unfamiliar with the interests of your other deviants as well, but now look, you get on swimmingly with them,” the Fourth added diplomatically. “Ahem, I meant curious disciples, haha.”

“But my current disciples aren’t even independent yet like many of yours are.”

The Sixth couldn’t help but roll his eyes at this. “Well, they may as well be with the amount of control you exert over them.” When the others glared at him, he merely shrugged.

“Let us not forget, Little Eighth, that it was only you who could have taken on my disciple after my inability to guide her,” said the Seventh.

“Same thing with mine,” the Fourth said.

“And mine,” the Third said.

When the Eighth showed a contemplative expression, they knew they had her on the ropes. Just needed one more push.

It was their eldest who cracked through her final resistance with his words of wisdom: “Little Eighth, now that Seventh has spoken, it is clear to us all that no matter who we assign this disciple to, they will be nothing more than a transitionary master because in the eyes of profoundly eccentric disciples, all roads lead to you. Though none of us can claim to understand the phenomenon, nor can we ignore the undeniable legitimacy of it.”

The Eighth gave a chest-heaving sigh. “Well, alright. It’s not the best timing since my cultivation is at a critical phase, but I suppose I can take another disciple on.”

The Grand Elders huzzahed, but nonetheless continued to flatter her and assuage her concerns - mentioning that not much guidance was needed at the Qi Refining realm anyway - as they feared what would happen if she changed her mind.

The Seventh’s prophecy, although short of proving that the legacy was the real deal, had made it clear to them that whoever took on this disciple would suffer a living hell; in which case, who better to take him on other than the one with expertise in the Dao of Catastrophic Disciples?

Elder Ma, meanwhile, watched this all occur while internally crying tears of blood. The greed tugging at his heart made him unwilling to write off his investment in Zeng Fei… but then again, it’s not like he had a choice if it was the case that this child was destined to end up under the Eighth’s wing.

Out of all the factions and powerbases in the Treading Infinity Sect, hers was the single one where you had to tread very lightly indeed, lest you had a death wish.