Chapter 91: Body and Soul
Benton looked at his eleven council members. Though they’d been talking for a while, none appeared fatigued by the marathon session. In fact, they were all engaged as far as he could tell. That, he supposed, was an advantage to founding a sect in a society in which it wasn’t a common experience to conduct a meeting to schedule a meeting to set an agenda for a meeting.
“The next topic on the agenda,” Benton said, “is Body Cultivation. By taking three baths over the course of six days, one every other day, a cultivator can advance from one minor realm to the next or from no cultivation to the first. Advancing will make the cultivator stronger and faster and toughen the cultivator’s skin, muscles, and organs.
“You’re probably thinking, ‘Doesn’t Spiritual Cultivation do the same thing?’ Yes, it does, but to a much lesser degree. In a contest between a Bronze level body cultivator and an equivalent Qi Gathering realm spiritual cultivator, the Bronze will win nine times out of ten based on sheer physical might alone.
“Obviously, advancing everyone to the peak of Bronze before the beast tide would be a tremendous advantage. Claws and jaws will have a harder time penetrating. Our forces won’t get tired as easily and can defeat beasts on pure strength, not dissipating any of the limited amounts of available qi into the body.
“Sounds great, huh?”
Most of the disciples nodded, Yang Xiu vigorously. Only Zou Tian, Ye Zan, and Wan Ai knew there had to be a catch. The latter had to at least suspect exactly what that catch was.
“We have five tubs, and it takes about an hour to soak up all the energy in a bath. There is necessary prep that has to be done between baths, though. The water cannot be reused, and the tub must be thoroughly cleaned. Assume an hour for a mortal servant hired from the village to perform that task.
“Then, an alchemist must prepare the new water, herb, and spirit beast core mixture to get the tub ready for the next cultivator. That’s another hour minimum.
“Still, that’s not bad. Five tubs, one hour per bath, and two hours of prep time means we can get forty sect members per day into tubs, and since cultivators have to rest a day in between, we can do a total of eighty sect members every cycle. The Rising Tide Sect only has fifty-five members currently. So, no problem right?”
Wan Ai tentatively raised her hand. “This lowly one doesn’t know yet what all is required to prepare for a bath, but up to forty a day everyday sounds like … a lot.”
“Exactly, Wan Ai. No one, least of all me, expects you to be able to accomplish such a feat. You’ll get more efficient as you gain experience and we get you helpers, but at first, I’ll be surprised if you can prepare two baths a day.”
She cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Master.”