Chapter 308: And Lightning
During the late morning hours, Benton’s spiritual sense finally detected a new presence in the sect—a Nascent Soul. Duan Lan had succeeded in her trial.
Considering the state of her pathways, Benton could only consider her advancement to be a miracle. System given treasures really were too good, giving a whole new definition to heavens defying.
Regardless of how much help she’d been given, congratulations were still in order, so he Teleported to her and cupped his hands. “Greetings, Elder Duan. Excuse me, I meant… Greetings, Revered Elder Duan. Kudos on your achievement!”
Startled for an instant at his sudden appearance outside the Trials Pagoda, she quickly regained her composure and bowed much lower than was necessary. “Sect Leader! This lowly one cannot adequately express my gratitude.”
“Nonsense. You did the work; you get the rewards.”
She laughed. “No amount of work would have given this lowly one the opportunity, though, Sect Leader.”
So far, Benton had found the old monsters from the Poison Claw Sect to be much nicer than he would have expected. The circumstances, of course, lent themselves to requiring grace, but both Yuan Yaozu and Duan Lan appeared genuinely grateful, a trait not always shared by cultivators in their position.
“I will graciously grant you permission to praise me, then,” Benton said with a smile.
She was taken aback momentarily by his tongue-in-cheek comment, but again, she quickly recovered, barking out a laugh. “Elder Kang Ya-Ting told me you were a character.”
“How was the trial? Any trouble?”
Duan Lan hesitated. “It was both easier and much, much more difficult than I imagined. The actual solution was simple and straightforward to implement. Getting past my own misconceptions to realize the solution wasn’t.”
That was a remarkably candid response. Even with his budding friendship with Yuan Yaozu, the man hadn’t been nearly so forthcoming. Instead, he remained quite cagey even to that day about his trial.