Benton was more than a little bemused at how quickly the twins had jumped to his defense from mere words when they’d been perfectly fine with him facing a Foundation Establishment cultivator alone.
“Everyone calm down!” he yelled. “Yang Xiu, Yang Ru, sit down. Put away your weapons. Zou Tian did nothing wrong.”
They both complied, but neither looked happy.
“Master, he spoke without using any honorific,” Yang Xiu said. “He disrespected Master with a horrible accusation.”
“Okay, point taken,” Benton said. “Zou Tian was a little rude in his speech, but I’m the last person who can throw stones at someone for that particular sin.”
The twins and Shi Long looked shocked, Zou Tian wary.
“For the record, I am not now nor have I ever been a demonic cultivator.” Benton turned to Zou Tian. “Normally, I would have you explain the reason for your question to the others, but they’re a little tense right now. I think it’s best if I do it. You can correct me if I misstate your views.”
The boy nodded.
“To the best of everyone’s knowledge, including me up until just over five months ago, there are only two types of cultivators in this world,” Benton said. “Righteous cultivators are the type you all are learning to be. You learn a cultivation method, draw in and cycle qi using that method much of the day, slowly accumulate qi, and breakthrough realms minor and major. Do not ever mistake righteous cultivators for being good, though. Much evil has been committed by those claiming to be righteous cultivators. You’ll find some to behave a lot better than others, but generally speaking, righteous cultivators do have some ethics. Mostly, though, the term is used in comparison to the techniques or methods associated with the other type of cultivators.”
Benton made sure that each of the four was following his explanation and most importantly that Zou Tian didn’t appear to have any objections before continuing.
“Demonic cultivators are the other type. I honestly know relatively little about them, but what I do know does not paint a pretty picture. These people do not cultivate in the same manner you do, advancing through realms by their own efforts. These people—I hesitate to call them cultivators—can only grow more powerful by absorbing the cultivation base of another cultivator, be it a righteous one or a demonic one. Due to this fact, righteous sects consider demonic cultivators to be evil and will kill any they find.”
“Why did he think you might be one of those, Master?” Yang Xiu said.
“Two reasons. One, he’s never seen me actually cultivate, which is a trait that a demonic cultivator would have. Of course, if I were a demonic cultivator impersonating a righteous one, I personally feel that I would be smart enough to pretend to cultivate normally, so his suspicion was a little bit of a dig at my intelligence.”
Zou Tian had the decency to look a little sheepish.
“Two, and this is the reason he came to that conclusion at the time he did, I basically admitted it.”
As Benton had anticipated, that statement stunned all four of them.
He laughed. “Oh man, you should totally see your faces right now. Hilarious. But let me restate, from Zou Tian’s perspective, he felt justified in thinking that I admitted to being one. Hear the difference?”
Benton had to wait a moment, but each of the four eventually nodded.
“Now the answer to why he made that conclusion,” Benton said, “I’ll leave as an exercise to the student. Can anyone besides Zou Tian tell me?”
After a long pause, it was Shi Long who finally spoke up. “If there are only two types of cultivators and you’re not a normal one as you said, meaning a righteous one, you have to be demonic.”
Benton had thought Yang Xiu would be the first to get it. She must have been too shocked by the entire conversation.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Exactly! Great job, Shi Long,” Benton said. “But I’m definitely not demonic, and you all saw the proof of that earlier tonight. Can anyone tell me what proof that was? Zou Tian, you can answer this time if you want.”
The boy thought for a moment before literally slapping his head. “This lowly one is an idiot, Master. Master clearly advanced during the battle just before killing the rival cultivator. My understanding of demonic cultivators is that the draining technique they use takes some amount of time, probably only seconds, but it is reportedly not instantaneous. It is also known that the technique’s use is felt by the target. Master obviously had no time to use a drain technique before he died, and employing the technique would have alerted the Jade Chameleon cultivator. A demonic cultivator cannot advance without first draining an enemy. Thus, Master cannot be a demonic cultivator.”
“Excellent work, Zou Tian, though the obvious flaw in your logic is the assumption that your knowledge of demonic cultivators is accurate. However, all the particulars you stated were just as the sects teach them to be.” Benton paused to let everyone consider his and Zou Tian’s words. “Now, onto the next exercise for the student. Since I’m not lying about not being a demonic cultivator, what does that imply?”
“It implies that Master either lied about not being a righteous cultivator or Master is a third type of cultivator.” Zou Tian kowtowed, bending his face all the way down to the dirt. “This lowly one apologizes, Master. This lowly one did not consider all the evidence or that another option existed. This lowly one has shamed Master with an unjust accusation and was rude. This lowly one understands if Master no longer wants him as a disciple.”
“Rise, Zou Tian. Please. I’m not mad, and I definitely still want you to be my disciple. That trait of yours to analyze everything is one of the things I value most about you. And coming to me with your concerns was absolutely the right thing to do.” Benton paused, rethinking what he’d just said. “Well, actually it was monumentally stupid. If I were a demonic cultivator, I probably would have killed all four of you right here and now. I’d prefer that you try not to risk anyone’s lives, including your own, if you can help it.”
“Understood Master. This lowly one apologizes again, Master.”
“It’s a good learning experience. Besides, hopefully it teaches you that you can tell me anything at all without me getting mad. If you’re acting as a spy slash scout for me in the future, there will probably come a time when you need to bring me bad news. I want to make sure you know that I will never shoot the messenger, so you don’t have to fear telling me the truth.”
“Gratitude, Master.”
Benton turned to the twins. “You two are both smart and capable and powerful. At some point, you may be in charge of the sect while I am handling something elsewhere. If that ever occurs, I advise you to ask for and consider Zou Tian’s counsel. I know that he upset you just now, but please realize that his skill is a valuable tool.”
Both looked conflicted by their anger on one hand versus their desire to follow their Master absolutely on the other.
“Look,” Benton said. “You two grew up with a family before losing them. I suspect that Zou Tian had no one. He had to fend for himself. If he made the wrong move or stole from the wrong person, he didn’t get to eat and risked having his hand or head chopped off by the City Watch, so he adapted by learning to read people and situations. He’s not always right—case in point tonight—but he will absolutely consider angles that the two of you will never think of. Understood?”
“Yes, Master,” the two chorused.
“We have adequately covered the topic of whether I’m a demonic cultivator to everyone’s satisfaction, I think.”
“Yes, Master,” all four answered.
“Good, but before I consider that particular dead horse well and truly beaten, there are a couple more points about demonic cultivators that you all should think about. Demonic cultivators certainly sound powerful. All they need to do to advance is drain other cultivators with a simple attack, even punching above their weight multiple major realms, right? My understanding is that their spiritual roots don’t even matter. An F is just as likely to rise as an S. Why, then, don’t demonic cultivators rule the world?”
“There must be a limitation on their attack, Master,” Zou Tian said.
“That’s one reason. The draining attack is presumably just like any other one that uses qi. Attacks can be blocked or dodged. It is still an extremely powerful offense, however. If it penetrates, the defender is irrevocably damaged. It is also my belief that the amount of qi required to project it is quite high, but I have no evidence to support that theory,” Benton said. “Why else might they not be as prevalent as we would think given their power?”
“Because the righteous cultivators outnumber them and kill them on sight, Master?” Zou Tian said.
“Yeah, I’ll kind of give you that one, but why haven’t they slowly taken over an area and just kept expanding, setting up a domain where no righteous cultivator can survive?”
It was Shi Long who had the ah-ha moment and answered. “They gain power by killing each other, Master.”
“Ding ding. We have a winner. Great job Shi Long. Yes, how can you, as a demonic cultivator, ever trust your companions? How can you go to sleep next to them knowing they might kill you to advance themselves? The answer is that such trust is difficult to build,” Benton said. “That’s why the one threat in this world that scares me more than any other is the thought of enough demonic cultivators banding together to be able to destroy righteous sects in ambush attacks.”
Hopefully, it would be a long time before his yet to be founded sect had to face such a threat because it was definitely out there and they were nowhere near ready for it.