Chapter 56 - If You’re Not Cheating, You’re Not Trying
Benton thought he was doing pretty well for being on a cultivation world for less than six months. Between Su’s memories of his experiences as a cultivator and his own life lessons from sixty years on Earth, he had plenty of mental resources to draw upon in any given situation to guide him down the right path.
That opinion lasted until Yang Xiu told him about what happened with Kang Ya-Ting.
His experience had failed him. Su had never played in the big leagues of sect politics. The most he had to worry about as far as intrigue went was trying to hide a new technique from his fellow sect members so he could unveil it during the next tournament.
Benton’s lapse was more inexcusable. He had dealt with interoffice politics for decades. The only defense he had was that he’d never had much to hide from his bosses, so he’d never sweated it when his protégés had been forced to spend time with one of them.
He had never even considered the possibility that the Poison Claw Sect Elder would pump his disciples for information. Granted, he should have, but the thought simply didn’t enter his mind.
Well, done was done. No use fretting over it.
After he assured Yang Xiu that her performance was well within his expectations, good even, he sent her away and played a mental game of “How Screwed Was Benton?”.
Based on what she had shared with Kang Ya-Ting, The Poison Claw Sect elders had to suspect one of three things about Benton.
One, he had the ability to supply cultivation methods that were so good and easy to use that it made the talent level of the disciple nearly meaningless. Honestly, that one didn’t represent a change from what they already probably thought. In their heads, his ring surely was full of heaven-shattering jade slips, considering the technique he’d suppled to Pan Jiang.
Two, Benton had the ability to easily and without the subject’s knowledge determine the rank of a subject’s spiritual roots. That one, by far, was the one he most wanted to hide. As with his ring and his ability to produce heaven grade cultivation methods and techniques on demand, such a skill would make him stand out too much. That ability just wasn’t something that a normal cultivator could do, no matter how high the realm.
Once they discovered he had one unique secret ability, they’d be far more inclined to try to find out if he had any others. That result had to be avoided at all costs.
Three, he was an expert at using pills to advance cultivation. That suspicion might be the most problematic one but not because he didn’t want the elders to believe he had such an ability. It actually fit the persona of the ancient expert high level cultivator he was creating.