Benton pulled up the relevant portion of his status.
His biggest takeaway from the information presented was the massive increase in available qi. He’d gone from a bit over five million to more than two hundred eighty-nine million. That was an increase of over fifty times.
Nice. Very nice.
The only question remaining was what he’d have to do to qualify for advancement to the next majo...
2025-05-04 03:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostBenton felt more than a little disconcerted at the transformation he’d just finished. For one thing, he still lacked a body. For another, his Golden Core was now gone, having been incorporated into his new soul.
New. Soul.
Weird.
A box popped up.
That question was not unanticipated as he’d just gone through the same thing with Soul Cultivation.
“Yes, please.”
5/1/25 A/N: Fell a little behind on chapters. It's been one of those weeks. No really big deal, just heavier than normal load at work combined with allergy season. I expect to be caught up before the end of the weekend.
To go from being a mere mortal to a first minor realm Qi Gathering cultivator had cost Benton a single Sect Point. And the effect had been … meh. There just wasn’t much of a difference. Advancing from the peak of Qi Gathering to Foundation Establishment had given him...
2025-05-01 04:21:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe three hundred soon to be new Rising Tide Sect members were already gathering in the amphitheater when Benton summoned Yuan Yaozu, the twins, Zou Tian, Sun Hua, and Kang Lin to his office.
“Thank all of you for coming so quickly,” Benton said once all five of them had gathered. “I have a few announcements. First, Yuan Yaozu has requested that I take him as a disciple, and after giving the matter its due consideration, I accept his request.”
The man cupped his hands. “...
2025-04-26 17:34:20 +0000 UTC View PostBenton was well aware that sects guarded their secrets to an absurd degree, and he didn’t want to become quite that paranoid. On the other hand, knowledge could be dangerous. The only thing keeping his sect from being destroyed was certain beliefs the opposing factions held about him. The less they knew for certain, the better.
Thus the reason he’d sent Kang Ya-Ting off.
Benton didn’t know what kind of spectacle, if any, would be created when he advanced to Nascent Soul, but...
2025-04-25 01:37:00 +0000 UTC View PostBenton laid in the dirt, suffering through the pain and ignominy of having his legs seared off. As he seethed, he waited for the Major Healing Pill he’d just consumed, his third in a short period, to finish working.
He was not happy with the fight against the Jade Chameleon Nascent Souls. He was well enough pleased that he stood victorious—or would stand victorious once his legs healed anyway—but he’d come way too close to dying. Multiple times.
One thought kept running th...
2025-04-23 13:13:17 +0000 UTC View PostPost 3/3
Teng Wuying read the message that had just been delivered to him. There had been three possible outcomes of the battle between Chao Su and the two Jade Chameleon Nascent Souls. Two of those results would have been excellent for Teng Wuying personally.
Had Ye Zhengsheng and Yan Mingxia beaten Chao Su and gained possession of the Trial Pagoda, Teng Wuying would have ended up in charge of it, greatly increasing his personal power. Had Chao Su easily defeated the two Nascent ...
2025-04-21 01:37:29 +0000 UTC View Post4/20/25 A/N: After I eventually finish this story (not even close yet), I plan to publish it on Amazon. I've decided that, instead of massive 160 or so chapter books that encompass an entire arc, I'm going to break each arc into two books. Thus, today I'm posting 3 short chapters instead of one long one as the transition from the end of Book 3 to the start of Book 4.
Yuan Yaozu filled his core again and again, but it never felt full enough. Just like always. So he stopped and tried anew...
2025-04-21 01:32:01 +0000 UTC View PostBenton fell on his butt as soon as he materialized in one of his bunkers. At least he wasn’t so zonked out by his injuries that he couldn’t think. Better than last time anyway.
Reaching out with his spiritual senses, he discovered a Nascent Soul above the sect. One. His attack had been successful.
Finally, a part of his plan had gone correctly. Benton’s relief was palpable. If the woman had somehow survived the towers’ devastating attack, he didn’t know what he would hav...
2025-04-20 03:53:10 +0000 UTC View PostBenton grew more lightheaded by the moment. Black crept into the edges of his sight. He felt himself sink into it. His wound was something no mortal could withstand. He was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Those thoughts triggered a rebellion in his mind. Not the dying part. He’d done that before, and as an old man, it was to be expected.
No. Mortal. He wasn’t a mortal.
Was he? He’d been one on Earth, but he was no longer on Earth?
Right. He was...
2025-04-19 02:28:25 +0000 UTC View PostYuan Yaozu entered the Trial Pagoda full of confidence. After all, if the juniors he met could all pass their trials, how could he, a Golden Core cultivator who’d experienced nearly a millennium of life, possibly fail? He even knew what to expect. From the juniors’ stories, some form of apparently unblockable qi would be hurled at him, and he would experience death after death until he learned whatever lesson the trial was trying to teach him.
While challenging for a junior, someone...
2025-04-18 02:57:09 +0000 UTC View PostBenton snorted. He was growing overconfident. Just because the battle had started out going his way didn’t mean it would finish that way, not against two Nascent Soul cultivators. If he wanted to win, it was up to him to make the victory happen.
His most important objective was to cut the number of his adversaries in half, meaning he needed to get one of them into the trap. The man, the Fire cultivator, was farther away from the hidden formation, so by simple expedience of the woman, ...
2025-04-16 03:04:20 +0000 UTC View PostOn the morning that possibly would lead to the end of thousands of years spent challenging the heavens, Ye Zhengsheng rose after sunrise and had a quiet, leisurely breakfast. He and Yan Mingxia were in no hurry to depart for the small village holding the upstart Rising Tide Sect. The final end came for all those who failed to reach immortality, but there was no reason to rush toward it after so many millennia of desperately fighting to stave it off, after all.
Contrasting with his gener...
2025-04-14 02:08:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe arrival of the Jade Chameleon Sect Nascent Souls might be days away, but Benton had to prepare as if it would come first thing the next morning, meaning he only had the rest of the evening and the whole of the night to get ready. Which was exactly what he planned to do. First and most importantly came his upgrades.
Since he’d found out about the expected imminent attack from Kang Ya-Ting, Benton’s mind had gone into overdrive, thinking about what he could do to power up.
H...
2025-04-13 01:26:08 +0000 UTC View PostYuan Yaozu could practically smell the coming battle in the air. It would be today. Early.
While not possessing any technique for divination—if such a thing existed—he’d always been sensitive to tidings, and his every instinct told him that the Jade Chameleon cultivators would arrive soon.
Still, Yuan Yaozu strolled toward the Rising Tide Sect’s Contribution Points Shop in no hurry though the sun was well past the horizon. Until mere days ago, he’d been preparing to ente...
2025-04-12 03:10:37 +0000 UTC View Post4/10/25 A/N: As an author of a webserial, there is no greater feeling than going to bed knowing that all the chapters you owe your readers are written, edited, and posted.
Benton hadn’t expected his visit to the two girls to be such a bummer. Wan Ai was a smart kid who had done so well with alchemy and cultivation that he’d gained a lot of confidence in her abilities. He hated that he had to put such a heavy burden on her, but he didn’t have time to take on every task himself.
... 2025-04-11 01:52:23 +0000 UTC View PostWan Ai was as happy as she’d ever been. While she’d expected being the leader of the Alchemy Pavilion to be problematic, she was mostly left alone either to cultivate or practice her craft. Only Zou Tian and Bai Xinyi ever disturbed her.
The first, of course, was never a bother, and the second… Well, Bai Xinyi was heavens sent. The girl actually enjoyed all the administrative stuff, even managing the other members and teaching lessons. All Wan Ai had to do was meet with the girl o...
2025-04-09 03:06:00 +0000 UTC View PostBenton waited on the road between the two towers just behind the newly installed gate for the visitors he sensed to arrive, and when he caught sight of them, he grinned. It was Kang Ya-Ting and an old man, also dressed in the green robes of the Poison Claw Sect, both on flying swords. Benton quickly scanned the stranger, discovering that he was a peak Golden Core cultivator.
The two descended, landing in front of the open gate.
“Friend Kang, greetings!” Benton said, cupping hi...
2025-04-07 02:17:10 +0000 UTC View PostYe Zhengsheng slowly opened his eyes. The fact that he awakened meant one of two things. Either the formation had somehow failed, which portended dire times indeed if his sect had failed in their efforts to maintain the array of a revered elder, or the sect needed him. One of three things, really, but that last was so improbable as to not even be a consideration.
A Qi Gathering junior in a gray robe marking her as a member of the inner sect stood respectfully off to the side of his cult...
2025-04-06 01:36:30 +0000 UTC View PostAfter finishing the Rising Tide Sect’s Grand Defensive Formation, Benton took a break. In the sixteen days since the twins and Kang Lin had returned from Sixth Flawless Flowing City, he’d been working nonstop, first to complete the towers, then to construct the wall, and finally on the massive qi shield. When he had a moment to spare, he activated Time Manipulation and created spirit coins.
Even before the period before starting the defensive measures had been busy for Benton as he...
2025-04-05 15:16:04 +0000 UTC View PostSun Hua had settled into her role as the sect leaders lead administrative assistant, relishing the purpose the position had brought to her life. The whole situation was quite unbelievable, really. Before the founding of the sect, she’d given up hope of ever being more than a spinster who performed odd jobs around the village.
Since the founding, not only was she quite gainfully employed and using all the skills Mother had taught her, but her work mattered. She helped keep the sect run...
2025-04-04 03:44:57 +0000 UTC View PostBenton was just about ready to install the turrets on his two towers, but there was a problem. His plan was to have four separate weapon arrays located in four groups dispersed equally around the circumference, the idea being that when one set was damaged or destroyed, the turret would rotate the next set to engage the target.
Three of the four weapon arrays were simple affairs, each blasting an enemy with a burst of pure elemental qi. Honestly, they weren’t all that impressive unless...
2025-04-02 12:51:25 +0000 UTC View PostBenton was pleased with the kids’ progress in obtaining the materials he needed for the qi sources, but of the six he wanted to make, he was only somewhat close with Fire. Once he traded five Orange Vigor Spirit Wood kernels for five fire stones from the Poison Claw Sect elder, he’d have the mineral requirement taken care of, and he already owned a Fire-aspected core from the rank ten Cyclops he’d killed at the end of the beast tide. Combined with the metals his disciples brought back, ...
2025-04-01 01:53:22 +0000 UTC View PostKang Lin and the others visited Ma An at the Heavenly Transit Mercantile Association the afternoon after the fight with the Jade Chameleons. The trader, obviously desirous of keeping good relations with the supplier of the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood, was quite polite and promised to keep a look out for any of the materials they desired, but he didn’t have any immediate leads.
With the danger of a second attack being non-trivial, the trio had headed back to the sect for the evening and s...
2025-03-31 02:37:40 +0000 UTC View PostYang Xiu didn’t even have time to flinch. After burying an arrow in the chest of one of the two Jade Chameleon Foundation Establishment cultivators charging her, the other swung a sword at her neck.
The blade glowed with white light, signifying that it was imbued with Wind qi. That element was strong against her Ice element, meaning it would hit with up to twice the force of a neutral qi aspect.
As the radiant metal sliced through the air toward her, she was at peace. Unworried....
2025-03-30 04:27:25 +0000 UTC View PostYang Ru watched as Kang Lin fingered her contingency ring, ready to call Master at the slightest sign of his and Yang Xiu’s lives being put in danger. Good. There was nothing the three of them could do against a Golden Core cultivator. If the man moved to intervene, Master would be the only one who could help.
It occurred to Yang Ru that several months ago it would have bothered him to need such assistance. He would have seen it as his duty to protect his sister and his maybe future f...
2025-03-29 02:32:22 +0000 UTC View PostKang Lin’s eyes darted all around, looking for any avenue of escape. The Golden Core cultivator from the Jade Chameleon Sect hovered above them, and he and his five juniors were clearly out from blood.
There was no way to outrun them. Even if the trio had all been able to use movement techniques, it wouldn’t have mattered against someone an entire major realm above them.
They were trapped. The only way out was after a confrontation. If then.
The only good thing about the...
2025-03-26 12:33:14 +0000 UTC View PostKang Lin genuinely liked Yang Xiu. Even if the two of them did not end up as sisters-in-law, Kang Lin thought they would at least remain friends. Considering that sect life didn’t tend to lead to making many friends, it was prudent to cherish one when one came along.
But the girl had gotten on Kang Lin’s nerves over the last two days. Unlike Yang Ru, who was calm and reserved, Yang Xiu was way too eager to face combat. Her head was filled with visions of glory and honor, all from bo...
2025-03-25 01:29:25 +0000 UTC View PostA/N 3/23/25: If you read the last chapter soon after I published it, you read an incorrect version. I managed to forget to have him request the trio buy a cauldron, remember that some of the materials would require bartering in lieu of spirit coins, and set up a future project by requesting them to recruit some actors. Doh!
Yang Xiu had rarely, if ever, been so excited in her life. For one thing, she was flying. Actually flying. The ground below passed in a blur as she soared past on he...
2025-03-23 04:28:21 +0000 UTC View Post
