The Sect Leader System-Chapter 183: Soul Man

More than a little frustrated, Benton was just about to open his mouth and admit that he could not diagnose the issue with the four Qi Gathering cultivators when a thought struck him.

What the heck was he doing? He wasn’t a normal cultivator who had to figure things out on his own. He was a cheating cheater who cheats.

“System,” he said internally, “is there a technique that I can purchase that will help me figure out what is wrong with these cultivators and, even better, tell me how to fix it?”

Host could upgrade the Analyze technique to use externally manipulated qi to examine a subject’s soul. For maximum effect, it is recommended that Host also form a Concept of Soul qi as well.

That response was interesting as it implied that the source of the damage was the soul instead of the body, the mind, or any part of the qi circulatory system. No wonder Benton hadn’t been able to sense anything wrong.

“System, what kind of Concept should I form to help me with this endeavor?”

Any Concept centered around Soul as a qi aspect will be sufficient as the purpose is to make use of the technique more effective with supercharged qi.

From the wording of the original response, he should have guessed that answer. Heck, he probably would have figured it out on his own had he stopped to think about it.

“System, please add to the functionality of Analyze to give it the ability to examine a subject’s soul. Please also purchase the Concept of Soul as a qi aspect that is the element that forms the immaterial essence of a person. Please purchase both at Mastery.”

Concept creation purchase confirmed.

Upgrade of technique, Analyze: Mastery, confirmed.

Host has 700 Sect Points available.

Seven hundred? Wow. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d had over eight hundred and fifty. He’d been spending points like they were going out of style.

Hmm. His purchases had been useful if not completely necessary, but he might have to put himself back on a budget if his total kept trending downward.

After a moment of internal debate, he decided to endeavor to keep his total at seven hundred or above unless an actual emergency arose. Considering he was expecting to gain at least two hundred and fifty points in the next month just from new inductees, that goal seemed readily attainable and not too restrictive.

Perfect.

Fatty Ren and the four Qi Gathering cultivators had been watching Benton closely, and he grew a bit embarrassed. They must have thought he had a screw loose by that point.

“Sorry about the delay,” Benton said. “I was just processing all the information my examination technique returned. The bad news is that I didn’t determine the exact problem. The good news is that I narrowed down exactly what to do next. I’ll need to examine each of you one more time, though.”

Each of the four looked hesitant.

“Don’t worry,” Benton said. “It will be the same as last time. Just a quick touch so I can send a small pulse of qi into you. There’s no pain and no danger.”

Song Yongliang, either the denoted or de facto leader of the four by virtue of having reached the seventh minor realm, stepped forward and held out his hand.

“Good man,” Benton said, taking hold of the proffered finger.

Much the same as last time, he sent a burst of qi into the young man’s body, the difference being that Benton commanded the qi to examine the soul instead of any other part of his being. The directive must have worked because, when the qi burst returned, his mind was flooded with information about the young man’s soul.

There was damage. Extensive damage. Benton lacked the words to describe exactly what was damaged or how it was damaged or really anything related to the soul or its damage, but there was definitely a problem, one that would not be easy to resolve.

He frowned.

“Did you find the issue, Friend Su?” Fatty Ren said.

“I’m afraid I did. I still want to examine the others to make sure, though.”

Benton carried through on the actions called for by his words, examining Sun Jiao, Su Cai, and Dai Weimin each in turn. They all had the same type of damage as Song Yongliang.

“System,” Benton said internally, “can I buy a soul healing technique?”

No technique exists to heal the soul.

That answer was unfortunate, but Benton had learned not to give up that easily.

“System, is there any way to repair soul damage, or is it permanent?”

Soul damage can be repaired through Soul Cultivation.

Further questioning revealed that, though any Soul Cultivation would work eventually, the process would be greatly aided by Benton creating a specific Soul Cultivation method tailored to repair damage caused by demonic cultivators. He also found out that cultivation of a Manifestation realm cultivation method to peak should be sufficient to heal Qi Gathering cultivators completely.

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Just to cover all his bases, he also made sure there were no pills or other alchemical solutions to the issue. There weren’t.

Benton sighed. He had not fifteen minutes prior resolved not to spend any more Sect Points unless there was a true emergency, but there he was about to spend twenty-five more.

“Time for the official diagnosis,” Benton said. “The first bit of good news is that there is no damage to your bodies or cultivation. In fact, all four of you have a solid foundation, and once the issue is finally resolved, you should be able to continue on to Foundation Establishment without more problems.”

The three men stared at him stoically, but he detected a bit of hope in Sun Jiao’s eyes.

“The bad news is that the attacks from the demonic cultivators damaged your souls,” Benton said.

The eyes of each of the five people in the room with him widened at that news. Though soul damage was not a completely unfamiliar circumstance, Soul Cultivation and any techniques dealing with the soul were not widely known or practiced. If one suffered such damage, one usually just dealt with the ramifications of it. Permanently. There was no cure.

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After the initial shock, Song Yongliang looked resigned to his fate. The others nodded in sad acceptance as well.

“The final bit is more good news,” Benton said. “I can provide each of you with a Soul Cultivation method that will mend the damage. Cultivating the method will not be a quick fix as the Manifestation realm takes about the same amount of time as Qi Gathering, between one to two years for such talented individuals as yourself. I am confident, however, that by the time you reach peak, your souls will be healed. In fact, you should see gradual improvement, hopefully allowing you to improve your Spiritual Cultivation before reaching peak.”

Fatty Ren clapped enthusiastically. “That’s wonderful news, Friend Su! Thank you!”

The others’ reactions were more muted. Benton met Sun Jiao’s eyes. The surety of disappointment warred with hope on her face.

“What is the price of this cure, Esteemed Sect Leader?” Song Yongliang said.

He kept his tone and words respectful, but scorn and doubt wormed their way in. Benton thought for a moment about punishing the young man but couldn’t. He had suffered two decades of disappointment. How many times must he have thought to have found a cure only to suffer anguish when it didn’t work? Lacking the discipline to keep his true feelings from his voice wasn’t worthy of reprimand.

“For one outside my sect, the method is literally priceless. It is not something any of you can afford,” Benton said. “For one who is a member of my sect, it is free.”

He could practically see the wheels spinning in the four Qi Gathering cultivators’ heads, and without Su’s memories in his head, he probably would have thought, “What’s the big deal?” They could just join the sect, get the cultivation method, and then quit.

But things didn’t work like that in real life. Leaving a sect happened, but it wasn’t an easy process. And ex-sect members typically had a heck of a time getting accepted anywhere else. Besides that, joining a sect under false pretenses wasn’t something a cultivator with any honor did.

Well, except when directed to do so by sect elders of a sect you’re already a member of, meaning spying. That practice, somehow, was considered to be perfectly honorable and acceptable. Go figure.

Unless someone in the big three was playing a two-decade long game on the off chance that a super powerful cultivator showed up and established a fledgling sect in the area, though, Benton figured he didn’t have to worry about that particular motivation for any of those four to join up.

“Can we examine the promised cultivation method before making our decision, Esteemed Sect Leader?” Song Yongliang said.

That was a reasonable request, and the young man had done an admirable job that time of keeping his skepticism out of his voice.

Benton silently brought up the Soul Cultivation menu and started off by selecting the first realm, Manifestation. The next screen was the one where he had to make real decisions.

Please allocate 100 Soul Cultivation Method Creation Points in the following categories:

Inviolability

Attribute Enhancement:

- Size

- Strength

- Tempering

From memory from the first and only other method he’d created, Soul Inviolability involved protection against demonic attacks, so higher was obviously better. He wasn’t sure, however, if having a method high in that facet was akin to locking the barn door after the cows got out. Would that help the four heal faster or not?

There were three attributes that could be enhanced. Increased size typically led to the person leading a more fulfilled life—finding more enjoyment, being more empathetic, making it easier to love. That kind of thing. Those were all really good quality of life things that he wanted for his sect members, but he wasn’t sure how it helped with healing damage.

The second attribute, Strength, seemed more on point to Benton’s purposes. A stronger soul was more resistant to attacks, had the potential to ease Spiritual Cultivation, and might even lead to development of abilities like astral projection. All of that was really cool. Preventing damage was really good. But again, did increasing the attribute help with correcting damage that was already present?

The third attribute, Tempering, was just as practical. Tempering a soul increased one’s capacity to hold and use qi, which was obviously crucial for a cultivator. It also made one’s body healthier and more vigorous, which was of more limited usefulness for people with access to Body Cultivation. Did making the body healthier include healing soul damage, though?

Even with his basic knowledge of the soul cultivation at Mastery, he didn’t feel like an expert on the subject. Any or all of the four categories might be absolutely necessary for healing, but he just didn’t know. Luckily, he had access to a source that surely did.

Being the cheating cheater who cheats that he was, he followed his normal procedure and asked the System.

When concerned primarily with attacks by demonic cultivators, Inviolability is the best for preventing damage. Size has almost zero impact. Strength is critical for a soul repairing itself after being damaged. And Tempering aids the soul adjusting to changes, which is important for individuals whose souls have been damaged and then repaired.

Awesome.

For the particular application regarding the four soul-damaged Qi Gathering cultivators, Size was obviously the least important of the categories. He mentally set that value to five.

The other three were all important but not equally so. Inviolability was needed because he didn’t want those four healed only to be helpless if they again encountered demonic cultivators. On the other hand, the category was not imperative to address their immediate concerns. He chose fifteen for the value.

The System’s description made it sound like Tempering would aid in the recovery process in a way that, frankly, wasn’t clear to Benton. Since it seemed to be important, he allocated twenty-five points to the category.

That left fifty-five for the most important attribute, Strength.

He felt pretty darn good with that distribution, so he locked it in, leaving only the name. Building on the convention he used for his last method, he settled on the first thing that popped into his head and confirmed the purchase.

Name accepted.

Congratulations, Host, on the purchase of the Restoration from Effects of Dark Incarnation Soul Cultivation Method.

Host has 675 Sect Points available.

He chuckled. The four cultivators would be REDI for anything once they began cultivating that method.

On the other hand, yikes! One purchase and he was already so far below the seven-hundred-point bottom line he’d set for himself. Now all he had to do was hope the four Qi Gathering cultivators were impressed enough with the method to actually join his sect so he could begin to recoup some of those points.