Benton kept a watchful eye on his disciples, worried both about them getting injured in a fight and about them growing fatigued from how hard he was pushing them.

A week passed, and the siblings were making progress in many ways. First, distance wise, as they were covering a lot of ground. Each day the siblings got better at targeting their leg and foot muscles with smaller and smaller bursts of qi, allowing them to travel faster and farther. Second, cultivation wise, as they fastidiously cultivated for five hours every day. They’d been traveling for a little over two weeks since reaching the fourth minor realm, and between the twins’ talent and the extra qi from the pill, Yang Xiu and Yang Ru were each more than halfway to the next breakthrough. And finally, third, combat wise, as they now each could solo a rank two spirit beast. Benton still stayed close by in case anything went wrong, but he hadn’t had to act in days.

Further proof of their advancement came in the evening of the seventeenth day since they’d first broken camp. Yang Ru achieved Large Success with the spear technique. Yang Xiu was again green with envy, and his accomplishment spurred her to work even harder. He was nothing but supportive, in his taciturn way, until she broke through the next day. After that, it was all subtle jibes and glances proclaiming that he was the superior martial artist.

That night, Benton sat them down after dinner. “Great job, you two. I seriously mean it when I say you both should be proud of yourselves. The average sect member of even a larger sect would have taken three or four times longer to reach Large Success with a technique.”

Of course, the average sect member didn’t fight life or death battles multiple times a day. The siblings’ talent surely helped, but all the fighting followed by meditating turbocharged their advancement.

“Now that both of you have achieved Large Success,” Benton said, “I have a task for you.”

Yang Ru grunted.

If Benton’s interpretation was correct—and he was getting better at understanding grunt—that one meant something like, “Senior Brother means now that you have finally achieved Large Success, lil sis.”

Yang Xiu shot her brother a glare.

“That task is to reach Small Success with your sibling’s weapon,” Benton said.

The two looked at each other. Yang Xiu actually moved her bow, so it rested farther away from her brother.

Benton had a reason for the request other than just the two relatively cheap Sect Points he’d earn, so he stood firm. “This is important. Each member of my sect must have the ability to strike opponents up close and at range, and right now, we only have access to the two weapons. I rarely put my foot down, but this time, I insist.

“Yang Xiu, what happens if you’re alone and get surprised by an ambush with your opponent starting out right in your face? The bow requires space. You need a secondary weapon, and the spear should actually suit you well.

“Yang Ru, what happens if we’re defending a walled position? An army is massed outside, and everyone else is contributing. You, however, will be about as useful as a knot on a log.”

Benton grimaced. “Learning archery is probably not going to be easy for you as it goes against your nature. I expect you to persevere. Yang Xiu, realize that you might be in a similar situation at some point where I ask you to learn a technique that goes against your nature. If I ever hear you teasing him about how long he takes to learn it, I will not be pleased. Do both of you understand?”

“Yes, Senior Brother Chao,” they chorused.

“Obviously, you will continue to use your primary weapons during fights and will only use the secondary weapons for practice at our campsite. Long term, how you proceed is up to you. Personally, I think reaching mastery with your primary weapon is the more important pursuit, but that will take a long time, much longer than reaching Small and Large Success combined.”

Benton practically salivated at the thought of his two disciples’ future. As siblings who obviously cared for and liked each other, they’d probably remain a team. Picturing them as Golden Core cultivators, one fire and one ice, one focused on the bow and the other a spear… They’d be deadly duo indeed.

“If you wish to take a break and try to get your secondary weapon to Large Success,” Benton said, “it wouldn’t be a wasted effort, especially for you, Yang Xiu.

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“Likewise, I do not require that you continue with that particular secondary weapon after reaching Small Success with it. Later, we may be able to find something that suits you better. Perhaps, Yang Xiu, a short sword may be preferable. It would be easier to carry along with the bow than a spear would. And Yang Ru, maybe something like javelins would suit your nature better for range. Once we reach a place where we can purchase proper weapons, we’ll go shopping.”

Yang Xiu’s eyes lit up at that, but he wasn’t sure her excitement was in regard to buying new weapons.

Ten days later, both had achieved the required Small Success. As expected, she had accomplished it in less than half the time it took her brother. But it was that tenth day when she achieved her biggest accomplishment yet. She broke through to the fifth minor realm, and for the next three days, she was super supportive to her brother, who had yet to achieve the same milestone. The day after that, he joined the same less than lofty heights as the rest of the group, and she began her teasing.

Benton checked their statuses.

Name: Yang Xiu Affiliation: Host's Disciple Age: 15 Cultivation: Qi Gathering - Minor Realm Five Qi Available: 71 Techniques: Foundational Archery Essentials - Large Success Foundational Spear Essentials - Small Success Spiritual Roots: A Qi Aspect: Perfectly smooth ice balanced on the razor edge of freezing and thawing

Name: Yang Ru Affiliation: Host's Disciple Age: 15 Cultivation: Qi Gathering - Minor Realm Five Qi Available: 71 Techniques: Foundational Spear Essentials - Large Success Foundational Archery Essentials - Small Success Spiritual Roots: A- Qi Aspect: Low viscosity lava flowing down Mount Burning Thunder

Their advancements had netted him another six Sect Points, bringing his total to sixty-five. That wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Once the siblings reached Foundation Establishment, he would start bleeding points. Their cultivation methods would run twenty points each, and ideally, he’d provide each of them with three techniques—weapon, defense, and movement—and since they’d be able to manipulate external qi by that point, each would have to be specially attuned to their respective qi. At six points per combined with the cultivation methods, he was looking at a total cost of seventy-six points to supply just his two core disciples.

He desperately needed to find some outer sect members.

With that thought in mind, he was devastated the next day as he peered out over a cliff.

His face must have reflected his dismay because Yang Xiu said, “Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”

“See that mountain in the distance on the other side of this valley below us?”

She nodded.

“Where we’re going is on the other side of it.”

“I don’t understand, Senior Brother. We’re on a mountain now. That one doesn’t look much harder to climb.”

“It’s not the physical features that I’m worried about. My spiritual senses are ringing alarm bells. As soon as we start descending into that valley, we’ll start encountering rank three spirit beasts. Working together, we might be able to handle ourselves through that region even with them having a higher cultivation than us. On the other side of the valley, rank four and five beasts roam. And the mountain itself is radiating qi. I can’t be sure because the qi level is overwhelming my senses in that area, but I can almost guarantee there will be rank seven or higher beasts there. That’s golden core level. None of us would survive. Heck, if you told me that there was a rank ten beast there, the equivalent to a nascent soul level cultivator, I’d believe you. It’s hard to even imagine how much more powerful than us such a creature would be.”

Her face showed that she understood the severity of the situation. “What do we do, Senior Brother?”

“The only thing we can do. We go around.”

Facing tremendous pressure to recruit new members and found his sect, the last thing he wanted was to add months of travel.

If wishes were fishes…