Chapter 371: Paying Any Price
Benton’s first Teleport was to the arena. Though the conclusion of the last match had seemed like it finished hours ago considering how much had happened, a very short time had actually passed. Some of the Jade Chameleon and Swift Blizzard sects’ Golden Cores were still present there.
They weren’t when he left.
That was to say that they weren’t still alive there when he left. Their corpses remained.
His anger over Kang Lin being killed had largely faded—she was, after all, still alive—so the executions were carried out with dispassionate efficiency as he made each death as quick as possible. In some cases, the target barely knew Benton was nearby before their head was separated from their body.
The task was … unpleasant.
He normally avoided or put off such objectionable chores when he could, but there were multiple reasons to get that one done in a hurry. For one thing, the targets knew he’d be coming for them and would scatter to the winds with all due haste, making tracking them down a tedious endeavor. Days, if not weeks, of his life would already be consumed in finding them all. If he didn’t get to most of them fast, he’d be spending months or years instead.
The second reason was that, until he reached Nihility—which was years off with no way he saw to rush it—his sect was still in danger. Safety lay in making it known that he’d absolutely destroy anyone who came after him, and obliterating every single high ranked cultivator from two former top sects was needed to convey that message. If that task drug on for years, though, his prowess would be questioned and his power doubted.
Between rapidly carrying out the promised destruction of the JCSB alliance and letting those three influential Nascent Souls return to the Da Qing continent to spread the news of his power, it was possible that his sect would finally be left in peace to grow into what he wanted it to become. And if the threats didn’t work, he hoped that greed would.
He was, after all, at the pinnacle of craftsmanship in four of the most important fields cultivators valued—Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Formations, and Talismans. Letting it be known that factions could profit from him might just keep his people safer than any amount of personal power.
Thus, Benton’s next chore was to find the so-called Formations Master, Lei Bohai, as letting the man return home without setting down some ground rules would be a mistake. Besides, Benton had to give the man a little credit. His formations had been good enough to conceal his identity as a Nascent Soul and to hide the other Nascent Souls he’d smuggled to the ambush site. So he obviously wasn’t a complete idiot, just more suited to be called an Expert instead of a Master.
Benton had long since prepared for his current task. One thing he’d done in preparation was to explore all the important landmarks on the continent—such as the main branches of the big three sects—so he could Teleport there at a moment's notice. He’d also memorized the qi signature of every high realmed cultivator in Sixth Flawless Flowing City, so he knew exactly what Lei Bohai felt like, both unrestricted as a Nascent Soul and disguised as a Golden Core.
If Lei Bohai had flown straight home and was currently over the ocean on his way to the Da Qing continent, it would be a long time before Benton had the opportunity to find him. He hoped, however, that the man had run for the protection of either the Swift Blizzard or the Jade Chameleon sects.