Matt felt that the gazes of his sect sisters and brothers were somehow different. Ever since the day he had received Feng Liena and her sister everyone was acting strangely. He had also received messages on his communication jade, people were congratulating him for something.

Whenever he passed by the female cultivators he could hear them whisper and when he left their eyesight they would start squealing like little kids. The male ones looked at him with some kind of devotion that wasn’t there before like he had accomplished something great. This felt different from the usual Patriarchal loyalty that he grew accustomed too, it felt a lot more crazed.

He just shrugged it off while thinking that they were just being goofy and that he just wasn’t accustomed to some of their hijinks.

There was also the problem with Feng Liena, she felt a lot more bashful than before. Then just one day after she came to the construction site one of her retainers stood in his way. She had informed him that going by tradition he wasn’t allowed to see her until the big day. What was this big day, or this tradition he had no idea? He just backed away thinking that it just might have been that day of the month and that it would be rude to ask about a detailed explanation.

He was a bit saddened by the lack of company so he had to take out his frustration in the best way possible. He would do this by beating up his disciples and their friends that had come begging for some pointers. There was nothing better than putting some snotty kids in place with a good whack.

“Your right side is wide open!”

‘THWACK’

Zhang Liu flew into the distance after he got tapped on the cheek by his master. Zhang Dong had lowered his cultivation base to fit his disciple’s but he was still someone at the nascent soul level. Just the fact that he had an evolved spiritual sense let him predict every attack that was thrown at him. He also had absorbed all the knowledge from that sacred ground. He was a master of hand to hand combat with both a high level of Qi and body refining.

“Don’t swing so wide!”

‘WHAP’

Zhang Xue tried attacking her master after he brother took a swan dive into some trees. Her master just leaned back while evading a lightning charged kick. The girl then got smacked on the back and tumbled into some bushes. The two were already at the foundation level so the impacts of their hardened bodies made small craters.

“Take this!”

Zhang Dong peeked to the side after defending himself against the two youths. A fist engulfed in fire was heading his way. He just lowered himself while redirecting his Qi into his forehead. The one punching was Huo Kong and the moment he delivered his punch was also the moment that he realised that he made a big mistake.

The youth flinched back while grasping his hand; it felt like he hit some kind of anvil made from precious metals.

“I took it, now what? Don’t only depend on the strength of your attacks, you’re leaving yourself wide open for a counter.”

He flicked the muscular youth’s forehead with his finger which caused him to fly away into the direction that Zhang Liu went. Both of them ended up on top of each other. More junior members were looking on from the sides, their eyes straining not to blink as they were worried that they would miss something in this lecture.

The only person left was Feng Liena’s little sister. The busty shrimp just went into a frenzy and started attacking Zhang Dong with all she had. She wasn’t weak for her age but he had realised that these youths weren’t that great at strategizing.

They mostly tried to overwhelm their opponents with superior techniques that quickly drained them of their Qi and stamina. You just needed to be good at evading and reading their movement patterns. After they tired themselves a bit you could move in for the kill.

Just like the rest she was sent flying into the distance. She landed with her posterior on Zhang Xue and the fight was over. Zhang Dong moved his hands behind his back and looked at the defeated youths, his head moving side to side as if he was disappointed.

“You all need to work on your basics.”

“What is the most important part of combat?”

“The power of your techniques? The sheer amount of Qi you can store in your body? Or maybe is it your cultivation realm?”

The defeated youths gathered up. His two disciples were a bit surprised that their Master was so chatty today. Most of the time he just implemented some knowledge into their brain and then went on his way. Somehow he felt more genuine today and more carrying.

The group of young cultivators looked at each other and started to think. They were mostly inclined to believe that power in general was the most important part. Having to battle someone of a higher realm was considered suicide by almost everyone. They all looked to the sect leader, ready to receive his wisdom, no one was even willing to make a prediction.

“Hah, I guess I’ll tell you then.”

“It’s your footwork.”

The youths were a bit surprised by the answer. There wasn’t even any footwork involved when nascent soul or core formation experts fought with each other in the air. So how could this answer be true?

“Footwork isn’t limited to the ground.”

“You can defeat your opponent just by feeling out how they move.”

He explained further. The place they were training in was on sand where their footprints were left behind.

“Look at the area I’m standing in and then take a look outside it”

The youths started examining it. The stretch of space that the sect leader was standing in wasn’t large but they could tell that he wasn’t moving in it all that much. Compared to that his opponents were flying all over the place, making big jumps and dangerous techniques that made them move around a lot.

“Make your opponents work against themselves, you can control the flow of the battle like so.”

Zhang Dong made it even more obvious by making his footprints glow in gold while the other ones had a blue hue. The youths could instantly see that his feet stayed in one general area while all the others were random and erratic without a sense to them.

“This does translate into aerial battle later, but it gets more difficult.”

“But we will take that step after you create your core. This shouldn’t be that hard for such promising youths.”

These juniors here were all the crème de la crème, they would be the future powerhouses of the sect. Reaching the core formation-level would probably be achievable in the coming years.

The group really perked up at the mention of a core being created. They were all from clans where a core formation expert was the pinnacle. So they felt quite good about themselves when the sect leader made a statement that it should be easy for them.

Matt laughed a bit after he saw their eyes go wide. These kids were still cultivators, the most important thing for them was to reach the next realm.

“Kong, Nuana, Liu, Xue and Tai, You five, in particular, show the most promise. The sect is expecting a lot from you but I also would like you not to rush with your cultivation. Building a good foundation is paramount, take your time and don’t rush it.”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Yes, Master!”

“Little Nuana will make sure to make my elder brother proud!”

Everyone shifted their gaze to the short girl with the pink hair. She had continued calling the sect leader with ‘elder brother’ since the day she got here. They all knew that her older sister was getting married to Zhang Dong so she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Still, she was going a bit overboard and not really giving him face which caused his disciples to be a bit apprehensive about it.

“Ah yes… you don’t get discouraged. Everyone progresses at their own pace, when we are finished with building the sect ground you might have your opportunity.”

Zhang Dong turned away from his new ‘little sister’ and looked at the other junior members that were standing there. He gave them a little pep talk while hoping that they wouldn’t feel discouraged. He was clearly favoring his own disciples and the relatives of his friends that also were probably only stronger due to their wealthy upbringing.

He already knew that talent and potential could be measured by his system. This didn’t mean that someone’s progress was set in stone. This was only a number that would indicate natural progress. It didn’t really take into account how passionate and hard working the person was.

For instance, if you took a person with A grade potential and one with B grade potential. The one with the B could very well outperform the A grade if they were diligent in their work while the A grade was being lazy.

The rest of the kids just did the usual clasped fist bow while he nodded. If he was wearing one of those flowy robes he would probably turn around while swishing his sleeves. Alas, he was someone that was practical and he wore more form-fitting clothes.

“Well then, all of you line up and show me your punching form!”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

“Yes, Master!”

“Little Nuana will do her best~”

He cringed a bit at the reply he got from his new little sis. She was acting similarly to how Feng Liena did the first time he met her. He knew the cause of it but at this point, he didn’t really want to argue about it. He still hadn’t seen those so-called ‘secret texts’ and he didn't really want to see them. He would have to somehow explain everything again which could make things worse.

The day continued while he tried giving the youths some pointers about fighting. He wasn’t sure if he was the greatest teacher but the kids seemed to like him. He even managed to drop his stone face and show a bit of a smile as he got more comfortable with being around people.

The day passed quickly, Matt had a lot of fun working on the kids and had to rethink his whole disciple situation. Maybe he could even give some lessons in the future martial hall when it got built.

‘Maybe I’m just that bored though…’

He shrugged and returned to his temporary quarters. He went back to sitting in the lotus position while scanning the area. He remembered reading about people in his position. They were rarely mentioned in the books. Always in the back and only appearing when the main protagonist needed saving. It was probably not very fun or interesting to read about some old man sitting in the room and scanning everything with his spiritual sense. Now he was this kind of expert, just sitting there and keeping watch.

His spiritual sense swept the whole area, no further spies had appeared since he took out the core formation ones. The other sects had probably given up after they got reports of him being here. He wasn’t worried about the secrets leaking out as even after months of being here there was no retaliation.

The calm days continued, Feng Liena finally flew away with the ship without telling her farewells. His disciples remained here along with their friends as he had started giving them pointers from time to time. The sect continued to grow and his workforce became more diligent with each day. This all culminated in one faithful day when his grandfather arrived.

He was awfully chipper as he arrived on a flying sword that he had previously made for him. The truth finally came out, the amounts of sweat forming on his forehead made it look as if he had just taken a bath after he got the ‘good news’

“Huh? I’m getting married?”