Elders

"What did I tell you? The Myriad-Arm Sect is a safe place! The sect the grandson of my friend built did not turn too badly, in fact, it seems like it stands in the upper echelon of sects now!" the old ghost inspected the room Xiao had been given with interest, it was rather small and the other living areas had to be shared with some other outer disciples, but it wasn't so bad.

'That woman is scary and unreadable, I never knew what the hell she was going to do…' the youth would definitely prefer if he could just never ever have to cross her path, but considering that she was an elder in this sect, it was unfortunately likely that he would at one point or another.

'I need to meet up with Elder Gang in some sort of a way…' Xiao spent some time racking his brain for all of the information he could possibly have, and after a while, he believed that he gotten everything he could from his own brain, what he remembered the best were naturally plot events and things he had personally liked, such as the amorous scene with this arc's love interest in the hot springs…

Shaking his head to to get it out of the gutter, Xiao had managed to remember all of the elders and their names, as it was, they were the ones leading the sect and controlling it as the actual sect leader was in seclusion and would remain in it for a long while, in fact, Xiao hadn't read of this guy on any other occasion than to say that he was in seclusion, poor dude hadn't even been given a name in the book.

As it was, there were five elders, it might seem low like this, but that was actually on the high end for sects in this world, as most accomplished cultivators would rather keep going on adventures and explore to get even stronger rather than sit around teaching the next generation, cultivators weren't big fans of cushy positions it seemed.

In any case, there was Elder Gang, naturally, an old man with no facial hair at all, who was specialised in barehanded fighting or with using a staff, he was a pure close-quarters warriors without anything fancy to go along with it, but he definitely packed a punch and was very knowledgeable when it came to martial arts, also, he was very friendly with disciples and willing to answer questions at pretty much any time.

Then, there was Elder Ku Xing, who definitely did not look her age at all, as the presence of a family name indicated, despite looking very haggard, she was from a noble clan, and thus, had extra authority compared to Gang.

The Xing family weren't the kindest of folks around and were very much into torture, and not just as a hobby, but as a way of life, to them, someone who didn't torture and got tortured was simply weird.

There was also Elder Wei, who was a pugilist known to always stand his ground, being incredibly focused on a single style of combat, despite appearing bland, he was a true master of his craft, but was a relatively absent figure of the narrative, he only agreed to training the strongest and bulkiest of disciples, which Xiao wasn't a part of just yet, and he would never be bulky in any fashion.

Elder Xun was a bit more memorable, the dual-wielding senior, he too would be rather important to the development of the protagonist, favouring swiftness above the rest, Xiao was set to catch his attention and be taught in a technique crafted by the elder's very hands.

'And then… There is the last one…' Xiao could not help but shudder, he had truly read far into this novel to have forgotten that woman at first, considering that this was this arc's antagonist, and a rather nasty one at that, he was supposed to first encounter her during the small tournament that would take place in some time.

Elder Ting Zhenniao, another member of a noble family, a family that was closely tied to the book's main plot as they were partly responsible for the destruction of the protagonist's own clan, although that fact wasn't going to be revealed until much later, Xiao already knew it all, and so he knew that he should better lay low and not attract her attention too much.

Although he had followed the plot nicely until now, he wasn't going to repeat the main character's mistakes as well, she would only go after him if he gave her enough reason to believe that he indeed linked to that destroyed clan, and was thus, an evidence required erasure.

Otherwise, she should be fairly cool with his existence… Although, just like Ku Xing, he would rather not have to meet her at all, the Zhenniao family was on a similar wavelength to the Xing's.

'Master Chengzhe, do you know anything about the Xing and Zhenniao clans?' he asked the ghost, who was currently staring out the small window in the room and enjoying the view.

"Mmh? I sure do know them, producers of most fine ladies! I wasn't very close to their ancestors when it came to actual friendship, but I did frequent some of their women, and let me tell you-"

'Please don't…'

"Fine… I see that you still hold cowardice within your heart, Xiao… You'll understand when you get older, non-humans and crazy women are simply superior to the rest! The experience you get when you're with them is simply life-changing! Though, I'll admit that as you are now, mingling with a Xing or Zhenniao would get you six feet underground" the old master stroked his beard with a grin.

"But anyways… What is there to say? These two families probably still enjoy a good relationship with one another, last I remember, they were marrying with one another, but both keep their most precious secrets hidden… Even with the affection of some of their young ladies, I was never allowed to learn anything of their respective sutras… By the way, sutras, in this context, refers to some sort of big book containing a lot of cultivation techniques, martial arts, and many other stuff, families with sutras are very proud of them, everyone in the lineage must give it their all to learn it, even if it is a fool's affair for most to attempt it"

'Master… What about… The Elt family?'

"Elt? Don't even think about it, Xiao, if the Xing and Zhenniao are insane, then the Elt define madness itself, they have no sutra or clear preferences in what they do, but they have close, very close ties with the cults… Perhaps it has changed in this age, but I wouldn't recommend… Their women are not for the faint-hearted"

'Why do you always bring everything back to women?'

"Because I like women, that's why" before Chengzhe's immovable logic, Xiao could only retreat and head to the library to learn.