Benton wasn’t too worried about leaving the kids behind at the mouth of the valley. If it were just Yang Xiu or Jin LiJuan, he’d have been a bit concerned, but Yang Ru and Kang Lin had good heads on their shoulders. Besides, the four Foundation Establishment cultivators plus Ganzou represented a nice little fighting force, definitely head and shoulders above anything his spiritual sense had detected short of the mountain.

Speaking of that particular detection ability, however, he frowned as he turned his attention to the rapidly approaching peak. Normally, he was well pleased with his ability in that regard as it allowed him to determine more information at greater range than most cultivators. In his current circumstances, however, there was a problem.

The entire mountain lit up like a Christmas tree, showing qi everywhere. Just about everything from trees to rocks to water to the very air was saturated, so much so that it was difficult to determine details. That issue was going to make separating the wheat from the chaff nearly impossible.

Though he’d somewhat expected that result from his previous times being in the area, he had hoped that advancing to Nascent Soul might have given him an extra level of discernment.

No such luck.

There was one thing that stood out as he drew close—a cave near the highest peak. He sensed Thunder qi inside and a lot of it, coming from a living source. If he had to guess, he would have to say that the cavity housed a beast higher in cultivation than him.

Benton sighed. Confronting such a creature wasn’t ideal. He really had no desire to fight, and he had no moral authority to barge in making demands. After all, he was the interloper on the mountain, intruding on the beast’s area.

Not only did he not want to face the beast due to ethical concerns, but his recent experience had taught him to be wary of entities at a higher realm than him. He found it quite tempting to simply turn back. The auction hadn’t even taken place yet. Maybe he’d find everything he needed there.

No need to disturb a beast at the equivalent of the Nihility realm.

The problem was that every instinct Benton had told him that such a creature wasn’t just a threat to him but to his sect and to the entire region. As a sect leader, it wasn’t something he could ignore.

He sighed. Sometimes, it really sucked to be an adult.

Not wanting to spook whatever was inside, Benton descended slowly toward the cave. The entrance was large, over fifteen feet high and half again as wide. He waited for a moment after he touched down, giving whatever was inside plenty of time to get used to his presence, and when he started forward, he moved at a slow, consistent pace.

A corridor led off the opening, and it remained the same large size, running at least fifty yards straight back before hitting a bend. As Benton approached that curve, the feeling of the beast’s presence grew stronger and stronger, and when as soon as he rounded it, he saw the creature.

The cave opened into a large cavern, easily a hundred yards long and at least half that wide with a height matching the width. At the very end perched on a rock outcrop was a bird. It wasn’t just a bird, though. The thing was massive, easily fifteen feet tall. And its feathers were iridescent. As Benton approached, its color shifted from blue to silver to gold.

His sense placed its cultivation at the equivalent of the mid realm of Nihility, so a rank fourteen beast. He was tempted for a moment to use Analyze on it, but most high realmed cultivators could detect such techniques being used on them. And some of them would take exception to such an act, thinking it rude.

There was no reason to risk upsetting the beast for a little addition information. If things went south, he could always manipulate time to give him a moment to Analyze it before the fight truly got started.

Benton prepared himself for anything to happen.

Well, really he prepared himself for an attack because, in his experience thus far in dealing with spirit beasts, that was the most likely outcome of an encounter.

What actually happened when he reached about a dozen yards away took him completely by surprise. The beast spoke.

“Greetings, Cultivator. Do you abide by the agreement?”

Waves of Thunder qi rolled off the creature, and even if Benton hadn’t been able to sense that element so clearly, the deep rumble of its voice gave ample evidence of its aspect. It was actually quite nice, though. Kind of like James Earl Jones but more rumbly. If Benton ever got his planned movie studio off the ground and he established a good relationship with the bird, he’d have to ask it about doing voiceover work.

The surprise wasn’t the niceness of its voice or the fact that it spoke at all—the cyclops had possessed the ability, however rudimentary its vocabulary and intelligence might have been. No, the surprise was the overall politeness and relative eloquence contained in the words and, moreover, the reference to an agreement.

“To be honest with you, Honored Beast.” Benton floundered a bit after saying that as he wasn’t sure if referring to a beast as a beast was offensive or not. “While I have no aversion to abiding by agreements in general, I must confess that I have no knowledge of the specific one you seem to be referring to.”

Benton decided that he might want to consider buying a technique to help him with interspecies diplomacy because that was … yikes.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Are you not a member of the Righteous Rain Sect, Cultivator? It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen one of your kind, but the hue of your robes seems similar.”

Ah. That old sect did wear blue robes as well.

“No, Honored Beast. This one is the sect leader for the Rising Tide Sect, a recently formed organization. Unfortunately, the Righteous Rain Sect is no more, having been destroyed by demonic cultivators some twenty years ago.”

“Gratitude for this knowledge, Sect Leader. It explains much. Part of the agreement was that the sect would perform a culling of lesser beasts in intervals no greater than five years. Several were missed, leading to the formation of a tide recently.”

Benton had guessed that the destruction of the sect had led to the tide, but it was interesting to have that supposition confirmed. Having now been to the mountain and seeing firsthand the infusion of qi, he easily understood how such a place would produce spirit beasts in excess of what the land could support.

“What else was contained within the agreement, Honored Beast?”

“The Righteous Rain Sect agreed not to overhunt and to honor myself with gifts, Sect Leader. In return, they were allowed to take a reasonable amount of resources from the mountain.”

Translation—give the creature a bribe, and Benton would have permission to take away any materials that he needed should he find them. Even better, his sect members would have hunting grounds for the future.

“My sect is but a small one, Honored Beast, but if you would agree, we would like to take up the mantle abandoned with the destruction of the Righteous Rain Sect.”

The creature’s beak moved, and Benton wondered if that was its version of a smile.

“This offer is worthy of consideration. What does the sect leader have in mind for a gift?”

“May this one Analyze you, Honored Beast?”

“You may, Sect Leader.”

Benton used his technique, and a status popped up.

Type:Greater ThunderbirdRank:14Title:Lord and Protector of the Eternal Celestial PeakQi Element:Thunder

Yeesh. Benton had been hoping that Analyze would provide him some hint as to what to gift the bird, but if such a clue were contained within the results, it eluded him. There were a couple of bits of interesting information contained in it, though

First of all, it was nice to know what type of bird it was, a mythical thunderbird. Other than that there was a car of that name on Earth as well as an Air Force squadron that did air shows, the name didn’t tell Benton a lot about the creature.

Another interesting factoid was that the bird was both the Lord and Protector of the mountain, but those positions were made somewhat evident given the nature of the agreement it was willing to enter into with nearby sects.

The final interesting tidbit was the name of the mountain, Eternal Celestial Peak. Though somewhat pretentious, it was better than calling it “the mountain.”

The long and the short of the situation was, though, that Benton was on his own to come up with a gift for the creature. Whatever he gave it, he definitely didn’t want to skimp. Considering the treasures abounding all over the peak and the experience fighting beasts of the appropriate level could give his members, the agreement could be a very good thing for the future of his sect.

On the other hand, he didn’t want to provide it with a powerful offensive or defensive treasure just in case the thing turned hostile toward humans.

Hmm.

Then the thought hit him—hands. It looked like the beast spent a lot of its time in the cave, and its wings weren’t exactly equivalent to human arms. The only thing it could use for grasping things were its talons, which also served as its feet. Obviously, as a Nihility equivalent realm beast, it could use its will to manipulate its environment, but that wasn’t the same as being able to, say, scratch its back. How freaking convenient would it be if it could manipulate items like a human could?

“I have an idea for a token of the esteem our sect will hold for the Honored Beast. As a Master craftsman, it will take me but a short time to create it. May I be excused for a moment?”

“Of course, Sect Leader.”

Benton cupped his hands. “Gratitude, Honored Beast.”

He immediately activated his Time Aura and teleported back to the main sect branch directly to his favorite forge. His idea was to create bracers that would go around the base of the bird’s legs. Each would accept Thunder qi as an input. The output was the complicated part. Benton wanted to form a tangible arm, complete with a hand and opposable thumbs.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to accomplish such a thing without his new Soul Material Manipulation technique. That skill’s entire purpose was to allow him to mold organic matter into a new body for himself.

That purpose wasn’t exactly what Benton was trying to do, but the knowledge the technique granted him was invaluable as he inscribed arrays that used Gravity, Force, and Earth to meld rocks and dirt into an arm and hand, one for each bracer.

Using the thing well would take some practice, but he was positive that a Nihility level existence could do so with ease. Benton just hoped the creation was as useful as he thought it might be.

He finished the bracers off by adding self-repair and durability arrays before teleporting back to the cave.

“You’re back already, Sect Leader? No more than several blinks have passed.”

“This one can manipulate Time, Honored Beast, and as I said, I am a master craftsman, able to forge, inscribe formations, and create pills at the highest level known to humanity. At such levels, experience translates to both speed and creativity.”

“I see. The sect leader is truly formidable. Let’s see what you came up with.”

From the tone, Benton would have imagined that, if it were human, it would have been rubbing its hands together gleefully in anticipation.

“Of course, Honored Beast.” Benton held up his arms and wiggled his fingers. “I’ve always thought that these were one of humanity’s greatest conveniences. We take being able to easily grab things or scratch our backs or use weapons for granted. I hope my reasoning isn’t too human centric, but I thought that maybe you’d like the experience of being able to use them as well.”

He removed the bracers from his spatial ring and floated them with his will toward the thunderbird. When they reached about the halfway point, they were taken over by the bird’s will.

A thin stream of qi entered one of the bracers from the bird, and nearby rocks and debris were drawn to the device and molded into an arm about eight feet long. Jerkily at first but becoming smoother by the second, the arm and fingers moved and flexed.

“Interesting, Sect Leader. The former sect who participated in the agreement brought me only trinkets and treats. None formed something as magnificent as this gift. You have truly showed your respect today, Sect Leader. I will gladly enter into an agreement with you.”

Yes. How awesome was it when a person—or being—actually appreciates your thoughtfulness in choosing a gift? Benton thought that the occasion just might be the start of a beautiful friendship. Now if only he could find at least a few of the materials he needed.