Samuel was currently suffering from a two-pronged attack.

The first and less worrying of the two was that the number of random outer sect lower students that wanted to become his disciples had somehow skyrocketed, at its worst he had four female ones come to him back to back. There was even the odd male student that came up to him, even after seeing his insignia. Every master is given an insignia to point out their rank and sexual preferences and this was only for females, despite that some 'feminine' men still tried approaching him. At least, it was not all bad, some of the people had genuine talent even at a glance and he would be happy to take those in as disciples. But his focus was currently on Elizabeth and he did not need a distraction right now.

Especially if the second worry he had was the disciple in question. In terms of combat prowess, she was getting her confidence and fighting with better efficiency. She was still an absolute novice and still only relied on brute strength to carry her through. After eight fights, he had expected some minor measure of mastery, but she was still very green. But that was not what was bothering him. She was becoming more and more cagey as the days went by. The original jubilance with which she had started the tournament was all but gone, and this desperate drive remained.

He had cheated and broken his own promise to check her with soul sight, that was just how worried he was. What he found was not at all good. Something was pushing her forward in this challenge, he could not figure out what but he needed to and fast. She was pushing her mental sanity to complete some self-imposed objective and he needed to find out what. He had acute knowledge of this purely because in this specific category he was the same.

Even if he suffered for it, if he put his mind on an objective he was driven to see it to completion. It was a folly of youth and it took quite a bit of introspection for him to come out of that dangerous mindset. One must know when to stop and even with the wisdom of age he often dove in too deep.

He believed Elizabeth was suffering from a similar path. She had set her mind to this tournament and it was she who must figure out how to come out of the thought process. Forcefully pushing her away would only strengthen her resolve as it ought to do especially in youngsters. He had to figure out a way to nudge her into realizing it herself and he had no idea where to even begin. Thankfully he had one area which he could draw ideas from. A female friend who was very attuned to this sort of thing.

Elizabeth had been invited to a disciple-only gathering as she had handily won her first event, with only essence refiners participating as he had expected. This gave him just enough time to make a quick stop to gather advice from the social butterfly.

He 'world stepped' his way to the inner sect area of the colosseum, Lucia was not one for hiding her essence and he found her easily enough.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Unlike the outer sect, he was noticed immediately. His soul sight was immediately smothered into only seeing haze when it came close to his senior nascent soul college, his sense got considerably duller as her essence dominated this area.

Lucia was not facing him which was odd but she seemed busy with a book so he did not pry. He got right to the point.

"I need help."

A musical chuckle came from Lucia who was still facing away from him. Even from behind she was a beautiful creature, one Samuel learned to appreciate only recently.

"Oh. And what does the prodigy need this maiden's help for."

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Samuel nearly burst out laughing. Lucia was a lot of things but a maiden she was not. The word 'chaste' and anything related to them was by and large a myth in the cultivation world. Even Elizabeth was no different, she only lived on his semen these days and she was as chaste as they came.

"Ahem. I am having trouble with my disciple and wish for your help."

He heard a small *hic* coming from the woman which confused him.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing... hgggnh-hmm..."

Another weird sound came from her as she seemed to give out a calming breath.

Samuel's curiosity was peaked but to approach a master whose back was turned to you without warning was a peak of disrespect and he needed the particular master's help.

She continued unprompted.

"Let me guess... hgghmmm... She feels distant, way too focused and it is affecting her health in a bad way?"

"Yes?" Samuel was surprised, he had not even posed his question and Lucia had already figured it out. Maybe that was why she was at the top of the inner sect while he was still stuck in the outer one.

"I see... I see... I believe she is worried that you will take disciples who by virtue of not being a cauldron will be of a higher status than her. I think she is worried she will lose her place and is desperately trying to prove herself."

Samuel was now confused more than anything else. Elizabeth gave no indication beforehand and she was happy about getting more people in.

"How was that conclusion drawn?"

"You douuubt me. Very well, tell me. Did Elizabeth ask for more?"

Again with the weird inflections but his focus was now solely on the topic and he put everything else out of his mind.

"Yes."

"Did she mention what type of disciple she would want more of?"

"No?..." But even as Samuel was saying it, he realized she had mentioned something along the lines of 'more like herself' which meant she wanted more cauldron sisters who were her equal and not disciples who would always rank higher than her in the sect hierarchy. Such an obvious thing, how could he have missed it? And of course, she would not mention it to him because she did not want to influence his choice. Well, that ship had sailed, there was no way he going to take anyone that was not going to become a cauldron if it meant Elizabeth's dignity was kept intact.

"Figured out an answer?"

"Yes... Speaking of which... I need to make some adjustments. Thank you for your advice."

Samuel left blinking away with 'world step'.

Lucia fell forward on her book as she sighed in relief immediately following a moan.

She chucked off her garbs to reveal a flawlessly beautiful body that had two oddities. Where her full breast should have been was an odd wooden contraption and a similar one was attached to her crotch.

Out of the ether, another form popped into existence right next to her and he looked at her with a perplexed expression.

She looked back with a very lascivious grin as she said.

"Did I do well?"

"Yes." said the masculine voice as it radiated power, enough to make Lucia feel like a small child by comparison.

"Everything is moving by our design. Soon, the upstart will be dealt with and peace will return to the sect. I expected more resistance but they were as naive as the rumors led me to believe."

Lucia looked annoyed at that and she peered intently at the man.

"Do not worry, there will be no harm done to his person, only to his reputation."

"Good." Lucia relaxed, allowing herself to enjoy the moment and the wonderful and horrific things done to her breasts and crotch which were both elsewhere.

"Speaking of which, do you wish me to remove the displacers? Those devices are vile."

"No!" came the immediate reply.

The hidden master was now confused, her breasts and crotch were in the hands of disgusting men who used truly evil means to steal heaven's chosen precious bits and use them for their own ends. Why would she not allow him to remove the device? As a matter of fact, why did she not remove them herself, it only worked up to the golden core stage and she was a nascent soul, she could safely destroy the contraption with a thought.

The world was truly strange.