The Sect Leader System-Chapter 296: A New Goal

No sooner had Zou Tian opened his eyes than a blue paper dragon appeared in his room. He quickly grabbed it and, after it unfurled itself, read the words on the page.

Council meeting in the new building, 3rd Floor off right stairwell, in two hours.

Neither the fact that he’d received the message nor its contents surprised him. After all, Master had been busy the entire previous day, having been observed in both his forge and his room in the Alchemy Pavilion. And late in the afternoon, a new building had appeared, an uncommon occurrence even for the Rising Tide Sect.

Obviously, something big was going on, so naturally Zou Tian expected the summons to hear the explanation. The only moderately unusual part was that the meeting time had been pushed out long enough to give everyone time to wake and get breakfast, a considerate gesture on Master’s part.

So Zou Tian did just that, escorting Wan Ai and Bai Xinyi to the cafeteria. Most of the other council members ended up joining them there, and they all walked together to the new building when the meeting start approached. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

There was nothing special about it from the outside—a simple five story structure of the same color and architectural style as the other sect buildings. From slight variations in the outer design, Zou Tian’s guess was that it had served as a part of the Righteous Rain Sect’s Martial Pavilion, a hypothesis that was confirmed when he observed sparring rooms on the second floor as he rounded the steps to go up to the next level.

Master and the council members who hadn’t joined the rest for breakfast were already waiting, and the sect leader’s eyes lit up when the group arrived. He seemed excited, meaning whatever announcement he had was sure to be interesting.

“Last night, I completed the first of the qi sources.” Master pointed to a room behind him. “Behold the Shadow room.”

For the first time that day, Zou Tian was a bit shocked. Shadow? The first qi source had been made for him?

Master went on to explain about the effectiveness of the source, but Zou Tian could barely concentrate, suddenly eager to try it for himself.

“The real innovation, however,” Master said, “is the Time dilation.”

That detail got Zou Tian’s attention. The Rising Tide Sect was a trifling concern for the most part compared to rival sects. Master was extraordinary, of course, but the rest of the sect consisted of one Golden Core, a handful of Foundation Establishments, and a comparatively small number of Qi Gathering members, most of whom possessed quite inferior talent.

It would be many decades, maybe even centuries, before the sect could advance enough members to compete with the other factions.

Or it should have taken that long.

Zou Tian knew that Master often sped Time in a bubble to complete tasks faster, a feat that was well beyond the abilities of even the Nascent Souls of other sects. And the power obviously conferred huge benefits in both combat and in being able to complete projects much faster than any other master craftsman could.

If he could convey that advantage to his sect members, the gains would be huge. Techniques could be mastered much quicker in objective time. Cultivation materials could be produced faster. Advancements could be pushed forward.

The Rising Tide Sect might just catch up to their contemporaries in a much shorter time span than anticipated.

“While one hour passes outside the room,” Master said, “ten hours pass inside.”

Zou Tian’s eyes went wide. Combined with the effectiveness of the qi source, one hour of cultivation would be the equivalent of more than twenty hours. Of course, the person inside would still experience ten of those, but the important part was that, compared to other sects, the Rising Tide Sect members should be able to advance at a phenomenal rate.

He looked around. Of the others, only Yuan Yaozu and Kang Lin appeared suitably impressed. The others mostly seemed to take Master’s miraculous revelation as a matter of course, seeming happy but otherwise unflustered. Only Yang Xiu was frowning.

“When will the Ice qi source be ready, Master?” she said.

“Later today.”

That answer meant that Master had everything he needed to create the source for Yang Xiu but had chosen to create the Shadow one first. Zou Tian suddenly felt very warm inside. He knew logically that the decision had probably been made due to the importance of his mission, but it still gave him a sense of being valued that he was having trouble internalizing.

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“We will need to establish procedures, obviously,” Master said. “We’ll start with a single objective hour with me monitoring cultivation status after literally every session. No one is to proceed to another session without seeing me first and obtaining my explicit permission. Understand?”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

Master went on to explain the importance of the spirit coins supplying qi to the formations inside the room. While Water running out would result only in a potential minor inconvenience, the others had more serious implications. The Time coins powered the dilation, so it running out would make the room revert back to normal, which negated most of the benefit of the room. Wind and, to a lesser extent, Void were even more crucial. Apparently, the air inside the room could grow bad without fresh air being added, possibly leading to loss of consciousness or even death. Hopefully, the user’s cultivation level would protect them somewhat from those negative effects, but it was best not to take any chances.

Fortunately, there was an easy fix. The room’s user simply needed to check the status of the spirit coins in the supply device prior to each session. The feeder for each type contained five coins that would advance when one was used up, so it was a simple matter to confirm that each slot was full and, if not, fill it.

Master went on to explain that there were currently ten more rooms up and running on the second floor but that these did not have a qi source. Instead, they were designed for practicing techniques.

That garnered some excitement as everyone realized the connection to the need to get as many techniques to Mastery as possible prior to the tournament.

Master turned to Peng Zhen. “Use of the Time dilation rooms will eventually cost Contribution Points, so I think it’s best if you, or rather your family, took control of administration of the building. Maybe Peng Lirong?”

“Of course, Sect Leader. This one is sure that his lovely wife would be happy to take on the responsibility.”

“Good. For now, there is no cost, but priority for use goes to sect members preparing for the tournament. Please instruct Peng Lirong to work with the pavilion leaders and Yang Xiu to determine who uses what room when.”

The Contribution Points Shop leader cupped his hands. “Yes, Sect Leader.”

After that exchange, Master led them all into the room and showed them everything he’d just told them about, emphasizing again the importance of both checking the spirit coins prior to each session as he wasn’t sure how fast they’d be used up and of the Emergency Stop Button, which would instantly collapse the Time bubble and allow the person inside to get out. That last was made particularly important because, short of running out of spirit coins, it was the only way for the person inside the room to stop the Time formation from running, making it essentially an Exit button.

With the tour complete, Master dismissed everyone except Zou Tian.

“Excited to try it?”

“Yes, Master.” And Zou Tian wasn’t lying at all. If anything, he was way understating his enthusiasm. The wonders contained within the new building offered a way for him to advance both his cultivation and his techniques to a level high enough to make it much more likely that his mission would be a success.

“I’m limiting you to one session of a single objective hour. Set the alarm on the subjective clock for ten hours and exit immediately when it goes off. Understood?”

“Yes, Master.”

One key to successfully challenging the heavens was knowing when to take risks and when to proceed with caution. Cultivation deviations were a real thing, and they were dangerous. The quality of methods that Master gave reduced the likelihood of catastrophic consequences, but it made no sense to risk going too far down a wrong path when a bit of caution could prevent problems entirely.

“If all goes well,” Master said, “tomorrow I’ll allow you to do one session of cultivation followed by resting followed by a second session.”

“Yes, Master.”

With his final instructions given, Master soon left, leaving Zou Tian alone in the room. He took stock of the situation. As commanded, his first step was to check the spirit coin box even though no qi had been used since Master had shown him the full slots several minutes prior.

He opened it, and to his immense surprise, there were no coins in it. But how? All the slots had been full!

Master appeared before him and sighed. “You ruined my fun, Zou Tian.”

Huh?

“You were supposed to try to start the formations and have them fail,” Master said. “Then, I was going to pop in and show you that the coins were missing. And you would say that we just checked them as a group and they were full. And then I’d reply, all smugly, that you are supposed to always check to box first. Which was why I surreptitiously took all the coins.”

Zou Tian cupped his hands. “Apologies, Master.”

“No, don’t apologize. That was a fantastic job of following instructions. Even though, from your standpoint, it must have seemed pointless to check, you did it anyway. Great job.” Master handed over a stack of coins.

Zou Tian got that warm feeling inside again, and he failed to come up with a response before Master teleported away again.

Refilling the coin box only took Zou Tian a moment, and he moved on to examining the rest of the room. The food stasis box was empty, but that was okay. The plan was to only be inside for ten hours, and he’d just had breakfast. He made a mental note to stock that box prior to starting his sessions tomorrow, though. While ten hours without food was no problem, thirty hours would be a bit of an inconvenience.

All in all, the room wasn’t very big, but it was comfortable. Which was good because Zou Tian would be spending a lot of subjective time in it over the coming months. More important than the comfort, though, was the quality of the qi, and that was absolutely superb. Thick and rich, it called to him.

He’d never cultivated in a room full of only Shadow qi before, and his aspect was practically demanding that he start. Immediately.

Zou Tian flipped on each of the formations in the order prescribed by Master before sinking into a lotus position on the cultivation mat. His new goal was to achieve Foundation Establishment before he had to depart for his mission.