Chapter 37 - To the Future and Beyond
Benton smiled as all the kids enjoyed the dinner. He had plenty of boar meat to leave for them to eat while he was gone, but he’d need to figure out some variety for long term. Ah well, the upcoming shopping trip would take care of that. Best of all, he should be able to buy them some candies. They’d love that.
Some of them looked like a stiff wind would blow them over, and it was a joy to see them eat until they were full.
The other thing that made him happy was how well Yang Xiu was getting along with Wan Ai. Given his star pupil’s initial reaction to the presence of a new valued sect member, he’d been slightly worried that the two would be hostile toward each other. Instead, his lecture to Yang Xiu had worked like a charm. All it took was a few words from him to set her on the right path.
He didn’t remember parenting being so easy back on Earth. There were definitely a few advantages to the culture of a cultivation world, and the high level of respect given to elders sure was one of them.
After everyone had finished eating, he had all who were not yet disciples leave the room.
Once a technique or method was created, the System didn’t charge him anything extra to create a duplicate jade slip, simply making one appear in his spatial ring upon request. As he had done with Zhong Wen, Wan Ai, and Xiao Rong the previous night, he handed a copy of the Supreme Growth of Heaven Method and a rank one spirit beast core to each of the eight children.
Excited chatter filled the air, but Benton didn’t mind. The kids surely knew the value of such a core and had probably read about jade slips in stories.
“Both of those are yours to keep,” he said.
The children were nothing if not resilient. Much must have gone wrong in their little lives to end up in such a situation, but a good meal and a couple of trinkets had them all smiling and laughing. Benton had to surreptitiously wipe away a bit of moisture forming in his eyes.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “Quiet down. That is … if you want to become real cultivators.”
That proclamation did the trick. One young guy physically clamped his hand over his mouth.
Benton led them through the necessary steps to sense qi, but it obviously didn’t go that easy. He circled through the room spending a few minutes with each child, guiding them. It was actually that little guy who’d silenced himself so comically who was the first to trigger a notification.