Benton truly loved flying. It was fast and practical and exhilarating. Even though he could do all manner of crazy superhuman things like manipulating gravity and slinging around lightning bolts, zipping through the air on a thin piece of metal made him feel more like he belonged on the pages of a comic book than any of those other abilities.

He had Quickstepped from the palace to several hundred feet in the air about a half mile from the old Righteous Rain Sect grounds, smoothly ejected his flying sword from his spatial ring, used his preternatural coordination and balance to land his feet on the blade, and flew the rest of the way in seconds.

Too cool.

The trip to pick up some more buildings wasn’t as exciting as last time, but it was necessary. He only had housing for a few hundred sect members at present, a number that was almost equaled by his current roster. Considering that his plans were to rapidly expand, he needed more places for his sect members to live.

Luckily, placing the pavilions and a bunch of other structures had freed up storage space, so he was able to quickly acquire two more apartment buildings, a score of single-family houses, and thirty more individual dwellings.

There. His new acquisition of structures would provide housing for another two hundred people or so, enough to last a few months. Since he planned on making more frequent trips back to Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town what with the new branch of his sect and all, he didn’t need to get everything he might ever want at once. Filling the immediate need was fine.

Besides, between Quickstep and flying, the trip from the village was super fast, less than an hour.

Of course, the limiting factor on how much he grabbed wasn’t storage space. It was time. He was eager to get back to his disciples. Leaving them so abruptly on the heels of them suffering such a tragedy didn’t sit right with him.

With the orphanage visited, Fatty Ren and the Qi Gathering cultivators officially recruited into the fold, and the buildings collected, Benton only had one more errand before leaving town, one he considered waiting until the next trip to deal with—dropping more taels off with the money manager supplying Mistress Gong. After all, they should still have plenty of funds.

The only reason he didn’t procrastinate was that he’d specifically told her that he’d take care if it before leaving town, and it wouldn’t do for the sect leader to start breaking his word. Trust was hard to gain and easy to lose.

So reluctantly, he Quickstepped to the house in question and dropped off another couple of thousand silver taels. Feeding and clothing over thirty kids cost a lot, especially when combined with paying Mistress Gong and her assistants, and Benton was starting to run low on cash. Luckily, spirit coins had value, and the money manager indicated he’d have no problems converting them into something easier to spend.

Benton handed him a fist full of coins containing a thousand qi each of a random aspect.

“Esteemed Master Cultivator,” the man said, “this is too much. I could fund the orphanage for years with this amount.”

Benton shrugged. “Perfect. I’ll assume that the finances are well in hand for the foreseeable future, then. Feel free to invest the surplus. Use your judgment but err on the conservative side.”

The man kowtowed, obviously terrified by the responsibility. Which made sense. He was in a very tricky position.

Cultivators represented almost ultimate authority in matters of such business arrangements because it wasn’t like the Emperor’s people would stick their necks out for a commoner. If Benton decided he was being cheated, no one would question him if he decided to execute the guy.

“It’s okay,” Benton said. “If something weird happens and you lose some of it, that’s fine. Just make sure there’s a paperwork trail for an audit, and as long as you can defend your thinking at the time, I’m not going to punish you for a business having a weird downturn. Just do your best, okay?”

The man cupped his hands, and Benton quickly departed, eager to get back to the village. It wasn’t like the errand had taken a horribly long time; it was just that those visits always seemed to take a lot longer than they should with the guy making sure he wrote all of Benton’s instructions down and then having the paperwork signed.

Of course, Benton could have dispensed with all that work by exercising his right as enforced by his might, but the guy was just protecting himself. As a former middle manager, Benton fully understood the necessity of getting everything in writing. It was just that the practice was so, so much easier when everyone had email.

Which reminded him—he really needed to think about Earthifying the sect some. Modern conveniences like emails would be great for making things run more efficiently, and he’d already planned on bringing things like movies to his new world. He’d just been so busy with everything else that he hadn’t had a chance to do any of that.

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Maybe he should create an Inventions Pavilion.

Oh. He liked that idea. He liked it very much.

Hmm.

Benton put a halt to that line of thinking. He had much more important issues on his mind, starting with getting back to the village to check on his people. Highest on his priority list after that was recruitment. He needed to get to Nascent Soul as soon as possible to provide adequate protection for the sect.

Then again… Number of members wasn’t the only criteria. He also needed at least half of his members living on the sect grounds, which he was working on. The last big factor, though, was a big one. He had to keep his average loyalty rating at six point five or above.

It was a given that a random person he recruited off the street wouldn’t be as loyal to him as his current members, meaning his value would likely decrease with each new inductee. Providing something as cool as movies might help win people over, right?

Okay. He’d maybe devote some time to the subject when he could.

Benton again Quickstepped into the open air hundreds of feet high at a distance well on his way toward the village and started flying. As he’d predicted, it took less than an hour for the familiar Orange Vigor Spirit Wood walls to come into view.

Finally.

Though he’d only been gone less than two days, it felt like forever, especially as they all must have been grieving over Ye Zan’s death. He should have been there for them.

The plaza was sparsely populated, but he sensed a bunch of people in the Wood. He assumed that the ones not actively engaged in harvesting were probably making use of the increased qi to cultivate. He Quickstepped to an empty area and discovered that his educated guess was correct.

Word of his arrival spread quickly, and soon, Yang Xiu and Kang Lin had quickly approached.

“Where’s Yang Ru?” Benton said.

“Escorting his team of beast processors back, Master.” Yang Xiu said. “They should be here tomorrow.”

Ah. Yang Ru must have rushed back to investigate the fight, stayed to participate in the Trials Pagoda, and then returned to his team to finish his duty. Since Huang Yimun had presumably remained with the others for protection, Yang Ru’s actions were acceptable given the expected threat level.

To an extent. Maybe he should have gone back immediately instead of attempting a trial at the pagoda?

Benton wasn’t going to second guess the boy to that degree, though. Micromanaging was not good.

“How are things?” Benton said. “Is everyone doing okay?”

The two looked at each other.

“We’re all angry, Master,” Yang Xiu said finally. “We want to punish the people who killed Ye Zan.”

Benton understood that sentiment. He really understood that sentiment.

“I take some things as my prerogative as sect leader. That is one of them.” Benton described his actions in Sixth Flawless Flowing City, killing fifteen more of the Jade Chameleon Golden Core cultivators and completely laying waste to their branch sect.

“Fifteen, Master? Fifteen?” Kang Lin said. “And you destroyed their entire grounds? Buildings and everything? There was nothing left?”

“Correct.”

Yang Xiu huffed. “Master should have destroyed even more. Ye Zan was worth a thousand of those Golden Core cultivators.”

Benton understood exactly what she meant, but Kang Lin went white as a sheet. Which he also understood. In her world, a single Golden Core cultivator was more valuable than literally any number of Qi Gathering cultivators. There was simply no comparison.

“I wanted to, Yang Xiu. Believe me. But my priority had to be your safety and your brother’s safety and the safety of everyone else in the sect and in the village. We’re basically at war right now with the Jade Chameleons. Going overboard would have risked the Emperor’s faction and the Swift Blizzard Sect joining them. In those circumstances, I’m not even sure that the Poison Claw Sect could have afforded to remain standing next to us. A measured approach was called for.”

From Kang Lin’s expression, she was having a hard time seeing what he’d described as a “measured approach.”

“Our sect is different, Kang Lin,” Benton said. “Ye Zan and all these kids, including you, are like my grandchildren. Family. If someone killed your family member, what would you do?”

Her tensed posture eased somewhat. “When put like that, Master, I understand. I mean, I liked Ye Zan, too. He was a good person and excellent at his job. It’s just…”

“That wholesale destruction of an entire sect branch and more than a dozen Golden Core cultivators isn’t the typical response to the loss of a single Qi Gathering cultivator?”

“Yes, Master.”

“If it helps, I discussed the matter with your grandfather and Elder Dai before following through with the attack, and they were both present when I did so.”

“That does make me feel better.” Kang Lin cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Master.”

“Now, why don’t you tell me why it’s so late in the day and you haven’t tried the Trials Pagoda yet?” Benton said.

“Uh…”

“Just spit it out,” Benton said.

“I’m not a member of your sect, Master.”

“What was that thing you called me at the end of your sentence there?”

Kang Lin gritted her teeth. “I called you Master.”

“Really? Did you mean it?”

If anything, she ground her teeth together even harder. “I did, Master.”

She spit out that last word, so Benton decided it was probably time to stop teasing her.

“You are my disciple. Period. I’ll say it again—our sect is different. You are no less our family than any of these other kids. Okay?”

“Okay, Master.”

“What are you waiting for, then?” Benton said.

Kang Lin sighed. “I guess I’ll go to the Trials Pagoda now, then.”

----------------------------------------

Kang Lin was seriously conflicted. On one hand, she had been taught since birth the ways of sects. One simply did not accept too many gifts from a sect if one wasn’t a member.

On the other hand, Master was difficult to refuse. Actually, Master was difficult period, but that was a whole different problem.

An ironclad rule of dealing with other sects was that one should comply with the requests of a sect leader unless those requests touched on face, honor, etc. Master was insisting she use the Trials Pagoda. She would not violate her own honor by complying, and since she was his official disciple, she was not impacting the Poison Claw Sect’s face by accepting. Thus, she should just shut up and take the trial.

Not to mention that she really, really wanted to do it. Such treasures were a thing of stories. Just seeing the structure from the outside had given her a thrill. To actually use it?

Besides, no one outside of her actual family had ever treated her like Master and the people in the Rising Tide Sect did.

Kang Lin let out a deep breath, letting go of her reservations about using the Trials Pagoda.

She immediately felt better. In fact, she felt good, like she could fly to the moon without the use of a sword or a technique.