Shen An De smiled when he saw his dazed expression. That Yue Lin would likely need to catch up on sleep for at least a few weeks before he would slowly return to normal. Well, he’d make sure that that could happen.

To be honest, he seldom got involved in the matters of the sect. Back in the day, he had been offered to compete for the position of Sect Master but he hadn’t even entertained the idea, telling his Master to just give it to one of his martial brothers. The reason for that had been that he cared too much about his cultivation.

As a half-demon, he didn’t fit in among either demons or humans. But among demonic cultivators, he could find a place of his own. The Hei Dian Sect had been perfect for him with two of their founders having demon blood themselves. For the first time in his life, he had felt like he belonged somewhere when he arrived at the black gates that had still graced the entrance to the sect back then.

But in the world of cultivation, strength ruled supreme. So even though he felt welcome at this place, he also knew that he needed to get stronger. Not to mention that he also worried about the demonic side of his family coming to trouble him in the future. Thus, he had madly pursued the peak.

It was because of this that he hated seeing a disciple like Yue Lin in this current situation. Sure, he might only be human but who knew why he had pursued cultivation and alchemy? Since he had come to their Hei Dian Sect as a disciple, he should be allowed to learn like everybody else. The Elders — and even his own Master — had taken that from him. In Shen An De’s eyes, that was simply unforgivable.

He couldn’t make up for the past, not in full anyways, but he could try to slightly even out what Yue Lin had lost and keep an eye on the situation in the future. Of course, he wouldn’t shortchange him when it came to his compensation.

While Shen An De was rather satisfied with the outcome of the ‘discussion’, the Elders were much less so. Every task done for the sect gave disciples merit points similarly to how it was done in the Yun Zou Sect. In fact, most sects dealt with it this way. These points were added up over time and the disciples could go to exchange them for resources. The better the resource, the more points were necessary to exchange them for.

Yue Lin had dealt with the books of the alchemy division for over a millennium and he hadn’t dealt with only the main book but with all of them for the majority of the time. It could be imagined just how many points he would suddenly receive when all those hours he had spent on that task were converted.

Ordinarily, this might not be a problem but in the alchemy division, resources were scarcer than in others. After all, most spiritual herbs needed a lot of time to grow and only did so in exactly the right conditions. When it came to high-level herbs, the ones who painstakingly cultivated them in the Hei Dian Sect were the Elders themselves, and more often than not, they were also the ones who would use these herbs later on because they had an easier time gathering enough points compared to the disciples.

Naturally, they didn’t like to see somebody amass a number of points like the one Yue Lin was about to be handed. They could already see him strolling through their herb fields and taking all the best materials away, leaving them with nothing after all of the hard work they had put in.

Even though that was the case, none of them dared to argue with Grandmaster Shen. Even though he usually looked amicable, nobody dared to forget just how high his cultivation level was. Even the highest-ranked Elder among them wouldn’t dare to stand up to him. Still, they weren’t happy.

Sect Master Mi who had nothing better to do anyway watched their expressions with interest before turning to Shen An De. “We should likely come up with a more specific plan in regard to the compensation. First, there is the need to figure out the exact amount of points disciple Yue is owed, then what kind of guides are suitable, and also how to ensure the supply of resources he requests without making trouble for the other disciples of the division. We can’t let more people suffer from this, after all.”

Shen An De inclined his head. “I fully agree. How about this? Let’s give the Elders some time to think it through while they start going through their books. Disciple Yue has been working hard and deserves a break first. I’ll be taking him and disciple Niu out of the sect for a bit. After we return, we can hear the Elders’ thoughts on the matter and then finalize the plan. A look at the sect’s storage might also be in order.”

Sect Master Mi nodded. “That’s an excellent idea. We’ll do it that way then. Disciple Yue, you should pay close attention to what Grandmaster Shen tells you in the upcoming days. He has never taken in a disciple so being advised by him is a special honor not just anyone can receive.”

Yue Lin nodded, still very much in a daze.

Shen An De chuckled, turned around, and then waved at the two of them to follow him. Of course, he didn’t really intend to teach them anything. Especially not Yue Lin. He wasn’t an alchemist after all. What was he going to teach him? Thus, as soon as they were outside, he motioned toward the east. “I believe the two of you were invited to a gathering. Where’s that boy from the dragon race? I think he was also supposed to come along.”

Only at this point did Yue Lin realize just how all of this seemed to have come about and his expression changed from the dazed one before to one full of surprise.

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