Awakening the Divine Spark

There were still a few days left till the end of the survival training, but groups of exhausted disciples were already swarming towards the meeting point. They were coming from all directions, and Lee and Xiao Lian had to travel inland for tens of miles to find any dreadtalon packs.

Of course, they didn’t need the beasts and were only eyeing their tasty eggs. It was clear that after wasting two months on the cliff they would never make up for the difference in contribution points, but neither cared. And neither considered the time being wasted.

Obviously Lee still thought Xiao Lian was completely nuts, but at the same time had deep respect for the boy’s pure artistic soul. Besides, one had to be naive to his bones to create a confession of love of such scale.

***

When they returned to the meeting point a day before departure, Xiao Lian was as anxious and expectant as any young boy would be looking to see his sweetheart’s reaction. Unfortunately his dreams were shattered with crowds of male disciples flocking around Qin Yujian, who also recently arrived.

Basically everyone was trying to take credit for Xiao Lian’s work, although not directly saying they had carved Qin Yujian’s image on the distant cliff. But everyone was implying it.

I hope sister Qin likes it!

I was thinking about sister Qin all the time!

Do you think it managed to capture sister Qin’s inner beauty?

Have I not overdone it? Sister Qin, do you like it?

Tens of disciples pestered her, trying to sweet-talk and get on her good side. Meanwhile, hundreds of female disciples were green from jealousy, and thousands of male disciples angry, cursing the one who made the carving, because any attempts to court a girl at the sect in the future from now one became a laughable joke.

This was what an expression of true love from now on was going to be measured by.

Xiao Lian was panicked to say the least. Clearly sooner or later Qin Yujian was going to fall for someone more persuasive and it didn’t matter if in the future the truth came out. She would never look him in the eye afterwards.

"What have I done!" He whispered in despair.

"You’re kidding, right?" Lee grinned at his friend, guessing the reason for his reaction, "It couldn’t have gone better!"

"Brother Lee ... you ..." Xiao Lian’s first thought that Lee was either making fun of him or had set an eye or Qin Yujian himself.

"It’s cute how clueless you are." Lee grinned, remembering Junior Elder Liang and his sword, "First of all, the reaction the crowd has only amplifies the impression of your work. And secondly, I bet before dark your dear Yujian will already know who the real author was."

"How?" Xiao Lian asked, "Will you tell her?"

"No!" Lee laughed, and patted Xiao Lian’s shoulder. The girl was what, sixteen at most? He didn’t have to worry about her jumping into arms of someone else.

He said, "Trust your wingman! You’ll be fine. If you meet her, be polite and reserved. Don’t say anything, but smile. And don’t be too distant either. We’ll figure out the rest back at home."

***

They spent the last night camping on the beach, further away from the crowd. Lee calmly meditated till the morning, but Xiao Lian found it hard to close his eyes. And not because of the ruckus that happened earlier.

Before the nightfall, just as they settled down, Ling Xiaotao found them, and red as a beetroot, said, "Sister Qin asked me to say: Thank you!"

The she ran off, without giving an explanation, leaving the fool in love completely confused.

Xiao Lian had no clue how Lee managed to do that, and Lee also didn’t explain. He found a slight sadistic pleasure in his friend’s romantic suffering, especially since the things were going well.

Unfortunately, with how clumsy Xiao Lian was, he will need some actual help. And Lee spent the night pondering how to reach his own goals while making his friend happy at the same time.

Xiao Lian’s part was easy. All Lee had to do was to make sure the two lovebirds could do some activities together, and preferably alone.

His plans for revenge, though, required some revising.

The initial idea of killing Victoria in one blow was sound. The problem was – after witnessing Xiao Lian’s growth, Lee realized that trying to penetrate Victoria’s defenses as he currently was, was utopian illusion.

For two months, in the name of love, Xiao Lian kept hammering the cliff, inadvertently polishing his own skills. Now he effortlessly killed dreadtalons and, compared to Lee, he almost seemed to be on an elemental master’s level.

The beasts still died in a bloody explosion, except now it resonated in surroundings with a thundering sound, actually scaring the rest of the pack away. The attacks and directed elemental energies were so concentrated, they easily split rocks, and Lee guessed that without reaching similar level, getting the revenge was a fool’s dream.

Somehow he had to increase his own firepower, but this was as far as he could go when learning on his own. He needed someone’s help, but there was no way of asking anyone without revealing his secrets. Xiao Lian was the only option.

Unfortunately, Lee couldn’t be completely honest with his friend, thus he had to think of a harmless scheme to satisfy both their needs.

In the morning the plan was mostly ready. All Lee lacked was a ton of contribution points. They had gathered quite a bit of dreadtalon claws and roots, but it was far from what he needed.

But he never intended to earn points by honest day’s work anyway.

"Lian!" Lee asked, "How exactly will the sect pay out the points?"

"They probably will register all achievements, make long lists, and then each hall will give out rewards." Xiao Lian said.

"Ye, that part is clear. But how does it work technically? Where do the contribution points come from? And where are they stored?" He asked, "Or do the elders fart them out after drinking some wine in the evening?"

"From what I understand, there is a set amount of contribution points. Some halls, like the Hall of Knowledge and the Hall of Provisions acquire them from disciples, but others, like the Mission Hall, for example, pay them out." Xiao Lian said.

"You do realize you didn’t answer my question." Lee got slightly annoyed, but mostly at himself. In this case Xiao Lian wasn’t the best source of information.

"Oh! Right. Elder Leng is doing all the bookkeeping regarding the whole situation." Xiao Lian immediately proved Lee to be wrong, "Once a month the Mission Hall’s representative gathers all surplus contribution points and, after proper calculations, distributes them between the nine halls."

"But how it’s done technically?" Lee asked, "How do they gather points? They’re not apples."

"There’s an item for that." Xiao Lian said, "Uncle crafted it."

"Does that mean your uncle can craft as many items and make as many contribution points as he wants to?" Lee asked.

"He wouldn’t do that." Xiao Ling said, "He’s really trustworthy."

Lee knew there were no bounds for the naivety of his friend, but for now this was all the information he needed. Further details he had to investigate himself, but the start was promising.

The hard part now was to get Xiao Lian through the rift without him fainting or embarrassing himself in any other way.

As expected, not only Qin Yujian knew he was the author of her image sculpted on the cliff. Everyone knew.

People kept whispering, throwing glances at Xiao Lian and pointing fingers. Qin Yujian was experiencing similar treatment and the two, standing on separate spots in the crowd, became focus of everyone’s attention.

"Stay cool. Breathe." Lee instructed, "Starting from today, you’ll receive few challenges from random idiots, but feel free to kick their asses as you wish. No mercy. Afterwards, probably a couple days later, Qin Yujian, alone or with her friends, will come and ask how you are doing."

Lee sensed his friend almost fainted at the thought alone, elbowed him, and said, "That’ll be the most important day of your life, but you have a bit of time to prepare for it. You will ask for her advice on the technique you’re developing, and maybe even her help."

"I ... I can’t do that ..." Xiao Lian barely audibly whispered.

"You can, and you will, but I won’t be able to help you at the time." Lee said, "I need to get a premium attacking technique for you to combine with the one you currently have. Unfortunately that’ll cost over a hundred thousand points, but that’s my problem – you focus on your part! I’ll be busy for the next few days."