Chapter 970 - Compete To Lose?
The peaceful time lasted slightly longer than they predicted. Alex also had no problem regarding that, but he knew that sooner or later, the peak master would visit them to check their progress and a.s.signed them a mission.
However, it took her another three months to come again. Alex almost reached Rank 8 G.o.d at this point. Although it was a bit late from his schedule, he was really close to it.
When the peak master Ilevis came, Alex immediately put on his mask and asked Silvia to hide herself before he came to greet her with Aria.
"Welcome, Peak Master. How can we help you?" Aria smiled.
"How are you doing? I can feel that both of you are stronger now, and I don"t need to worry about you anymore." Ilevis checked their cultivation and nodded satisfied.
"We are great. Thanks to you."
"That"s good. As much as I want to keep chatting with you, let"s cut to the chase, shall we?"
"Sure." Aria stretched her hand, pointing at the chair. "Please enter first. We can discuss it inside."
Ilevis nodded and sat before immediately explaining the situation. "In another month, there is a huge compet.i.tion that every single Inner Disciple and Core Disciple needs to partic.i.p.ate in. This is a special compet.i.tion for the seat of the sect master."
Alex and Aria opened their mouths in surprise as they never saw this coming. Still, what Ilevis said next completely baffled them.
"And in this compet.i.tion, I want you to lose."
"Eh?! Can you repeat it again, Peak Master?" Aria exclaimed in surprise. "You…Did you just say we need to partic.i.p.ate but only to lose?"
The peak master remained calm and nodded her head. "Yes. You didn"t hear it wrong."
"Why?! There is no point then."
"No. This is something important to me." She shook her head before explaining the whole situation. "I will tell you about the true reason for this compet.i.tion."
"Is that related to this condition?"
"Yes. This compet.i.tion"s real purpose is to search for the Sect Master candidate. Due to the sect master"s age, we can"t delay this any longer. That"s why the Inner Disciples and the Core Disciples will have a full brawl to see which disciple has the quality to become the sect master.
"Of course, the compet.i.tion is fair. Inner Disciple will only fight Inner Disciple. The same applies to the Core Disciple. No matter their cultivation, we will choose them if they have the quality and nurture them.
"However, it means no sect can approach this person because he/she will maintain their neutrality until becoming the sect master. This is my own selfishness, but I wish if you don"t become a sect master and continue becoming a disciple in my peak."
This might be the first time the peak master actually bowed her head. She must be feeling frustrated about this because only she could understand the talent that Aria and Alex had.
Rather than having one of these two becoming the sect master, it was better to tie them to the sect with this arrangement. After all, the sect master had to act just, not thinking about their former peak.
If either Alex or Aria became a sect master, their relations.h.i.+p would crumble. Eventually, one of them would leave the sect or, in the worst case, both of them, leaving the sect master seat open. When that time came, another turbulence would happen in this sect, resulting in a big loss of the sect.
Hence, it would be better to maintain the status quo. Not only would they stay in this sect willingly, but they would also support the sect master as long as it wasn"t ridiculous. The sect master could still be taught and understood this matter, so it shouldn"t be much of a problem.
Little did she know Alex and Aria already had their answer even though it came from a different reason. For Alex, becoming a sect master was a no-go. He didn"t want to be known in this world, much less becoming the leader of this sect. It would only affect his reputation.
As for Aria, her reason was similar to Alex"s. She had no ability to lead the sect and had no right to do it. After all, she had sworn herself to serve Alex in the future. It wasn"t for the family, but she believed it would be the best course to grow even stronger.
Alex was always an enigma in her eyes. He would always be someone who was more talented and stronger that even she had all this lifetime, she wouldn"t be able to surpa.s.s him. So, she thought chasing him would be more enjoyable than becoming a sect master who needed to act impartially.
There was no way she would enjoy it. She didn"t even want to lead her family, let alone this big sect.
Alex and Aria exchanged looks and nodded at each other.
"I don"t want something like this, but we still should ask for compensation, no?" Alex added his little trick.
"Indeed. It is a request after all. And I heard a request from an elder has a big reward every time their request appears on the marketplace." She agreed with him as both of them looked at Ilevis. She said, "We understand. Since we are forbidden to not partic.i.p.ate, we agree to this. It"s not like I would like to part from him."
"Fair enough. I don"t like the spotlight anyway. Even if one of us aims for that seat, it will be her, albeit it seems the better course will be this. We shall enter the tournament and deliberately lose." Alex nodded.
Their answer sounded very sweet on her ears as she smiled from ear to ear. "As expected, I can count on you guys."
"Before that, may I know the reason why you don"t want us to be the sect leader? You said it"s your own selfishness, right?" Aria asked with a serious expression.
"Yes." She nodded. "I don"t have something that I like about this sect master position. Although I personally enjoy such a person leading the sect since I know him, it"s a different case for both of you. I have no doubt that your talent is enough to become the sect master in this sect…
"After all, one of you has reached 6-Star Martial Saint under fifty years while the other one has the Sword G.o.d"s original skill. This is enough for the qualification. In fact, they might not hold this compet.i.tion anymore and just choose either of you to become the successor.
"However, if the situation turns that way, you two will part. For example, if Aria becomes the sect master and Nyx does something wrong, Aria needs to punish him according to the sect rule even if it means killing him. That"s why in this sect, the sect master is not allowed to have a family. If he/she comes from an outside family, they are to separate themselves.
"If you, the sect master, can"t maintain your neutrality, all the elders will need to remove you from the picture…As far as I know, it"s including killing you. That"s why I don"t wish for you to entangle yourself in this type of situation.
"I am sure that both of you have the same thought of me, right?" She smiled, trying to get their sympathy.
Alex and Aria had their eyes intertwined, thinking the same thing. They had predicted something like this as the reason, but it still felt weird to see that the sect master needed to do something like that.
For Alex, the sect master looked like a robot, not having the feeling to act like how a human should be. Of course, they might still allow him to get any women or men they want but are forbidden to have a child. However, Alex couldn"t condone such a thing as it was even crueler than having no love at all.
"Hey. Did the Sword G.o.d become the sect master in the past?" Alex asked with a thought transmission.
"Yes. He could get all the resources to practice and had nothing to lose at that moment. If I am not wrong, the Sword G.o.d once had a family but destroyed by another family. To avenge them, he decided to become the sect master.
"It was at that time the Sword G.o.d lost his motivation to have a family or any other things, thus allowing him to pursue the sword to the highest degree. Although that rule couldn"t be applied to him when he became a G.o.d King, he didn"t break the rule at all.
"I didn"t know whether he wished for a family or not, but I believed he didn"t. Anyway, I don"t feel great about this sect master thing. Your influence has more freedom than this, right?" She asked back after the explanation.
"Of course. I don"t like the concept as well. In fact, I believe you should fall in love with someone first before building a family. It"s true that one of my wives stemmed from a family that took advantage of my weakness, but I decided it would be the last time. And I learned how uncomfortable it was when I had strength." Alex let out a long sigh.
"Hmm…This is the first time I heard you talking about your wife, but I guess it means I have gotten closer to my boss?" She giggled inwardly. "Anyway, there is no reason to win and fight for the sect master position, right?"
"Yes. You can reject it."
Aria nodded and opened her mouth. "We understand. Thank you for the explanation and your care. However, won"t we become targeted if we become too strong to the point that the sect master can"t stop us himself?"
"You don"t need to mind. We can work our way out with that."
Alex felt a bit suspicious about her meaning, but he decided to stay quiet. If what he thought became a reality, he could simply kidnap her from this world. With that scenario, the sect wouldn"t do something to her family because it was beyond her control. It wasn"t like she betrayed this planet, so yeah, it was the best solution.
"Can you give us information on what we will get along with the compet.i.tion?"
Ilevis agreed and started explaining. "The first stage of the compet.i.tion is on another planet called Musha. The people there are nomadic, so you needed to work your way to have control over the situation, whether it was in their economy or politics. The economic system in that place is trading, so you can hunt animals and trade with them, your choice. As for their power level, most of them are Martial Emperor to Martial Saint, so I believe you shouldn"t fight them openly.
"As for what you can get, I have a map that will lead you to a cave. In that cave, there is a mouse called Gold Digger Mouse. This mouse has the ability to smell treasure and lead you to it if you manage to tame it. However, you will need to tame it yourself because I don"t know how to do it as well. If you have one, you can bring it around and find Divine Herbs, Metals, or even treasures."
Alex twitched his eyebrows when he heard about the term "Gold Digger" and commented inwardly. "Can you give it a better name? I mean, even I can like Five Color Treasure Mouse or whatever…Instead, you choose the name Gold Digger? I give up. There is always a sky above the sky."
"Anyway, that mouse is something that can"t be measured. This is what I want to give you." Ilevis smiled with confidence. This big help would surely make Alex and Aria feel grateful to her and the sect, decreasing the chance of them defecting from the sect in the future.
What she didn"t know was Alex"s Spirit Eyes. That technique could replace the mouse easily, so it didn"t pique his interest. However, what he heard regarding the treasures in that world incited his heart.
"I don"t care about the mouse, but I guess Aria can use it. And if it only becomes her bind, we can simply throw it away. I only want the Divine Herbs and other things…So, I guess we fail, but it doesn"t mean we can"t go for a treasure hunt. A nice proposal indeed." Alex smiled inwardly, already having a plan for this.
Aria confirmed to her again that both of them were interested in it, so she slammed the table with a serious expression. "Now, let"s discuss the details."