The Sect Leader System-Chapter 336: Huh?

Benton had escorted a small contingent of the Rising Tide Sect to watch Kang Lin’s first match in the low Foundation Establishment division, one she easily dominated. Which was to be expected. The first round pitted the top non-A talents, who all had byes, against the worst of the participants.

Since there was no reason for the Poison Claw Sect to re-test Kang Lin’s spiritual roots, she entered the tournament with them thinking she still was C+ ranked, which put her in the next tier down. That ranking was still plenty high enough, though, that she faced an extremely weak opponent.

After escorting the kiddos back to the compound, Benton Teleported to Kang Ya-Ting’s study for a pre-arranged meeting.

“Greetings, Friend Su. Elder Dai had other duties and couldn’t attend today.”

“No problem,” Benton said. “Anything I should know?”

“That depends. You haven’t expressed much interest in the tournament manipulations by our friends in the Jade Chameleon and Swift Blizzard Sects to this point, but I personally am disturbed by the lengths of their audacity.”

The elder clearly had something he wanted to reveal, and when your friend had a juicy piece of gossip he wanted to share, the polite thing to do was indulge him.

“Go ahead and let me hear it,” Benton said. “Worst-case scenario, I’ll simply ignore it.”

Kang Ya-Ting explained how the bracket was set up and, with how things were likely to work out, who the twins and Kang Lin would be facing in the third round. Honestly, the JCSB alliance apparently underestimated the girls, and Benton was positive they’d come through like champs. Yang Ru, on the other hand, would face an opponent he quite simply was not prepared for.

What to do?

On one hand, a loss in the tournament was inconsequential, especially for Yang Ru. The once boy was steadily transforming into a mature young man, one who knew his worth. Not advancing wouldn’t negatively impact him in the least. He’d simply learn what he could from the experience and move on.

Benton was proud as punch of the person Yang Ru was becoming.

On the other hand, the method of the probable loss could have ramifications above and beyond just the tournament, ones that could lead to true regret for Yang Ru. Of course, suffering led to character. Or something like that. Benton wasn’t sure that particular old saying was enough of a justification not to intercede, however.

What really made him angry was that the setup was intentional. Somewhere, grown adult elders had made a decision to put Yang Ru, a junior, in that position in order to strike at the Rising Tide Sect.

That simply wasn’t okay, especially since the situation was so easily resolved.

Due to anger as much as any other reason, Benton made his decision and Teleported back to his office in the compound. Once there, he immediately sent message dragons to Yang Ru and Yang Xiu.

Once they arrived and exchanged greetings, Benton said, “You both know my stance regarding influencing the tournament matches. I gave you every advantage you requested before we arrived. Now that we’re here, my job is to protect you, not to help you win.”

“Yes, Master,” they chorused.

“I have received concerning news about manipulation of the brackets by our enemies. My position remains that the tournament isn’t important, and I wouldn’t normally take any extraordinary steps to make it more likely for either of you to win. Unfortunately for them or us—I haven’t yet decided which—our enemies crossed a line, and it’s incumbent upon me as the sect leader to protect you from their machinations. To that end, I’ve decided to offer each of you a new technique.”

Benton turned to Yang Ru. “Without the new technique, I do not think you will win your match, though it’s always possible that you’ll surprise me. More concerning, however, is that others may react to a loss on your part in ways that you will find … unpleasant. I advise you to accept the technique.”

Without giving the young man a chance to respond, Benton turned to Yang Xiu. “Your situation is much less dire, and I honestly think you don’t need a new technique to win your first match. I didn’t want to offer your brother an advantage without extending the same to you, however. The technique is not one you need but rather one that will make winning even easier, the better to completely dominate our enemies.”

The twins shared a glance, one that said, “Master is offering us a technique and trying to convince us to take it. What, exactly, is the downside? Of course, we’ll take it!”

They cupped their hands. “Gratitude, Master.”

Benton should have predicted that exact response. Really, it was stupid of him to ask in the first place.

“Very well,” he said. “You’ve got three full days plus this afternoon to practice. Since that’s obviously not enough time to learn a new technique, I’ll Teleport you back to the sect, so you can use the Time dilation rooms.”

Kang Lin clenched her fists, internally railing against the fundamental unfairness of it all. Well, she couldn’t actually blame her current problem on the heavens. No, the fact that she’d be facing Fan Tao in only the third round stunk of sect politics. He was widely regarded as the third best combatant the Swift Blizzard Sect had participating in the low Foundation Establishment division of the tournament, someone with a real chance at reaching the top eight.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

In other words, he was an elite talent.

She’d known that becoming Sect Leader Chao Su’s disciple would come with downsides, but the pairing she saw posted on the bulletin board in front of her still took her by surprise. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Her first two rounds had been against easy opponents who had recently advanced to the realm and who had little mastery of either their new strength or their techniques. And those opponents had been exactly the level of competition she’d expected. She was firmly in the middle tier of participants from the Poison Claw Sect, meaning she drew easy competition in the early rounds.

Including in the third and fourth.

For those next two rounds, the A talents who’d had a bye for the first two would mop up against whatever dregs were left over. Her opponents, therefore, should have been solid combatants who were still lower in realm and/or talent than her. At worst, she should have matched against someone roughly equivalent in strength.

Instead, she would serve as one of those dregs facing Fan Tao.

“Wow, Senior Sister,” one of her sect mates said from behind her. “Tough luck.”

Kang Lin grunted and pushed her way back through the crowd. There wasn’t anything she could say in response, really.

As a little girl viewing the tournament matches, she’d dreamed of being on the stage and fighting. Even as a child, she’d been realistic, though, not even contemplating that she’d reach as high as the top eight. Those positions were for the true stars of the sects.

She just wanted a showing good enough to make her parents and grandfather proud, meaning the fifth round. An exit prior to that was a failure, pure and simple. Just reaching the sixth, on the other hand, would have been a massive success.

Instead, she’d be disgracefully eliminated in the third. It so wasn’t fair. But nothing good would come from complaining. She was sure her grandfather would have done something if he could have.

The only good path forward was to perform the best she could and, when she lost, to do so gracefully.

Even with that resolution made, the night was not an easy one for her as disappointment weighed heavily on her mind, making sleep difficult. The next morning, she trudged to the arena, not looking forward to what was about to happen.

As she stepped onto the sand floor, she heard rhythmic shouting, “Kang Lin! Kang Lin! Kang Lin!”

She glanced up. Yang Xiu and the Rising Tide Sect, of course. The weird chant must have been something that Master came up with. It was … embarrassing. Also a touch sweet. But, mostly, embarrassing, especially considering she was about to get trounced.

Not only was she about to lose, she was about to do so in front of all her friends after they’d called so much attention to her. She felt miserable.

Almost as a distraction, she examined her opponent with her spiritual sense. And found him … lacking? Considering his reputation, she’d expected to be immediately cowed by his strength. Instead, compared to Yang Xiu and Yang Ru, his qi pool was small, not any larger than Kang Lin’s.

That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t strong. He seemed both quick and capable. It was just that she was used to sparring against two future legends. The two were A ranked talents who had techniques so high in quality that any cultivator on the continent would weep at the thought of obtaining a similar one.

Ones like Kang Lin also had access to.

The match was about to begin, though. There was no more time for woolgathering, whatever that meant.

Kang Lin bowed to her opponent. Fan Tao smirked and gave her an entirely inappropriate head nod. She frowned. To beat her was one thing. Not to show her any face was another thing entirely.

He was not a Golden Core that she had to respect. In fact, he was only in the second minor realm of Foundation Establishment, meaning that he was her junior.

Still, he was a known force in the big three, a feted genius who seemed fated for martial greatness, and she was nobody. No one ever talked about her or her future. If anything, she was someone with the potential to become a minor elder, respected for her knowledge and experience once she gained more of both. No one anticipated her to add anything significant to her sect’s marital might.

Similarly, no one expected her to do well in the tournament.

Well, no one other than the Rising Tide Sect members, but it wasn’t like they truly knew anything about how major sects or such competitions worked.

The match began, and he charged forward. He was quicker than Yang Ru at first, but Fan Tao did not build Momentum or get any faster. Instead, he reached his maximum speed and maintained it, his sword held up and to his right.

Without having to worry about him suddenly converting his Momentum into a strike too fast for her to counter or utilizing a ranged attack, Kang Lin relaxed. Sure, Fan Tao was fast but not exceptionally so. He was barely as quick as her even when she wasn’t using a technique.

Just as he was about to swing that blade of his, she activated Path of Lightning. It was still a qi hog, though, so she only used it for a couple of steps. That was enough for her to blur past him.

Before he even knew what was happening, she spun, charged the tip of her spear with lightning, and thrust. The strike took him in the small of his back and was stopped by his qi shield.

It drained a lot of his energy, though. A lot. Just probably not as much as she’d used moving into position.

She was still happy, though. Fan Tao wasn’t likely to fall to her of all people, but at least she’d go down swinging.

He turned to face her, clearly unhappy that she’d landed the first blow. The phrase, “too bad, so sad” came to her mind, something she had heard Master say once.

Kang Lin grinned at him, which only seemed to make him angrier. She almost laughed. He was lucky he wasn’t facing Yang Xiu. That girl could make anyone irritated.

“Swift Blizzard Sword Art: Indomitable Thrust!” he yelled.

Was he … yelling out his moves?

Sure, Kang Lin guessed that some cultivators did that, but Master had such disdain for the practice that it had filtered down to his sect members. And, she supposed, to her as well.

Regardless, compared to her movement technique, it looked like he was moving in slow motion. Even better, it took only a fraction of a step to get out of the way. She activated Path of Lightning and nudged her body to the side, evading the blade. At the same time, she swept her spears haft at his legs.

Kang Lin expected the wood to clank off his leg, at most leaving a bruise. Fan Tao was accounted to be quite strong, after all, and he was an experienced fighter, not one to neglect his footwork.

Instead, her spear hit with a solid thunk and kept on going, her own strength somehow pushing past all resistance. She swept his feet out from underneath him, and he landed on his back in the sand with a meaty thud.

Kang Lin didn’t hesitate, reversing her spear and stabbing downward. It took two thrusts to break his shield, but both were accomplished before he recovered enough from the fall to block.

Before she knew it, the official called the match. For her. She had won. Against Fan Tao.

Huh?