Chapter 86 – Virtues of a Master (I)

Chapter 86

Virtues of a Master (I)

How’s that saying go?

To come up smelling roses?

’cause, boy, am I smelling some roses right now.

While my dear disciples were trapped in town, fighting for their lives, status windows were repeatedly blinking with rewards in my periphery. Most weren’t actually all that notable–10 or 20 points for the most part–but there were some that were rather… juicy, it could be said.

By the end, I’d earned 340 Creation Points altogether, a number that made my head spin a bit (and it spun even further when I saw my new total of 850), 3% progress towards Body Purification, bringing it up to 22%, and a new reward set to drain all my savings in one fell swoop.

[–your Disciples have fought and killed martial artists well above their realm, raising your recognition as their Master]

[Bonus Reward: the next Art or a Method that you create will have its limit increased from 100 points to 1000 points]

So, there it is. My next headache.

Because… what am I to create? Every other time I created an Art that ballooned past the 100 mark, it was something extraordinary–but it was always so specific it was kind of useless to everyone else. Dai Xiu’s cultivation method, Long Tao’s cloaking art… only the Heart-Stitching Art had some universal appeal, and Xi Zhao’s offensive art could theoretically be taught to other people with Sword Qi, but their limitations were rather evident.

Now… now I had yet another choice to make: save it for when I need something grand imminently (and knowing this world, it probably won’t be long before I do), or spend it immediately on creating something more universal. Something that would allow me to take in those less talented disciples and farm them for Creation Points–aiii, if these kids could see these occasional slip-ups in my thoughts, would my persona of a kind master be so wholly shattered that it would never recover?

Anyway, it was a conundrum indeed, but not one I could solve right now.

The haze and the mist surrounding the town suddenly dispersed as Elder Qin appeared by my side.

Cao Qiu was as silent as a mosquito, Light was eyeballing her as though saying, ‘See? You’re so dumb!’ That young boy seemed confused by the entire ordeal, and Elder Qin… well, he seemed normal, if oddly reserved.

“Let’s go.” I followed him as we descended, moving toward the town. Rather than going to the main road, we simply cut across the open plain and entered from the side.

The sight was… ghastly, to say the least. There were literally hundreds of people lying around, unmoving.

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They were dead.

I winced, feeling a churn deep within me. This is my first time seeing a dead person since… Yas.

And there were so, so, so many of them. Young, old, men, women, boys, girls… it didn’t matter. Their bodies were limp, eyes mostly closed, though a few were open. Though I always knew that this world was cruel, that it would eventually bare its cruelty front and center, seeing it…

I bit my lips and endured, walking between the fading lights of lives unfulfilled. It’s the nature. It’s the way of this world. It’s… meant to be.

I found the three kids sitting near a plaza at the center, chattering about something with excitement that I couldn’t muster. They were bloodied from head to toe, even Long Tao (though I’m assuming he faked it to fool Elder Qin), and yet the light in their eyes was one of brilliance.