"Huiyue, are you sure?" Peilan asked when he heard her request. Those about to reach the Foundation Building stage shouldn’t be distracted, especially not with such worldly matters as managing a clan. But since she said it would help her cultivation, he didn’t directly reject it.
"Ancestor, I became a cultivator under the Lightning-struck Scholar Tree and entered the clan grounds with the ideal of becoming a lightning-struck wood. A tree that can survive lightning will have the preservance to overcome any obstacle, and a clan that survives every obstacle is meant for greatness.
Becoming the Clan Head will aid my comprehension of the principles and allow me to reach a greater height!" Huiyue’s words were sincere, her choice wasn’t arbitrary and every elder in the room couldn’t help but admire her.
Knowing the path ahead and taking your chances at walking it is truly difficult. For them, becoming a clan head would be about getting more benefits to achieve their path. Clearly, if they took it, it wouldn’t benefit the clan as much as someone truly dedicated to the act of leading the clan.
Peilan considered it for a moment before he shook his head, "Although your path does lay with this, you don’t need to become the head to learn the principles. Becoming the clan head is very time consuming, and for your cultivation, it’s better not to waste too much time.
But since you say it aids your cultivation, then I’ll give you a different way: become the next clan head’s assistant and learn from him. The next clan head will be elected according to normal procedures, and they will have to go through the motions of changing clan heads, taking control, and daily management of the clan. By being their assistant, you can learn from them and comprehend the principles.
Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the chopping. If it truly is your path, then you may become the clan head after you’ve completed the Foundation Building. After all, if your path lies with that, then leading the clan won’t be an obstruction but a great assistance for you."
Huiyue thought about the proposal for a moment—what she wanted was to learn what it meant to be a clan head. Being the clan head would be the best situation, but if she truly committed to it now, she would reduce her cultivation time by at least half. The delay might be worse than the benefit of comprehension.
On the other hand, assisting should be easier. She quickly calculated and came to the conclusion that by assisting, she could learn major matters while observing minor matters, and after learning most things at the start, she doesn’t need to spend too much time, only observing and participating a set amount of time daily.
That way, her cultivation shouldn’t be delayed too much, and after three to five years, she might already start her breakthrough!
"Ancestor, this plan is truly to my benefit, I have to thank you deeply for this!" she cupped her fists and thanked Peilan for his advice.
"Everything we’re doing is for the sake of the clan. As we grow, having a Foundation Building clan head will be necessary, and having Qi Refining clan heads is just a temporary measure caused by the lack of cultivators. Having one directly taking the path of Leaders... even the sect might be jealous." he chuckled and waved his hand, telling her to sit back down.
Indeed—the cultivation world was vast, and various professions bound to the creation or battle dao have long emerged.
In fact, Creation stands for ’Comprehending and Transforming the World’, while Battle stands for ’Comprehending and Transforming the People’.
Transforming the world through various ways, even planting a seed is a transformation. After all, this seed was something you took away and placed in front of you, which isn’t the natural cycle. Arts like talismans, alchemy, etc. are even more direct in their transformation.
On the other hand, transforming people seems to be too poetic for the term ’battle arts’. But in fact, fighting is transforming people, whether it’s about transforming your body, power and soul, or whether you transform someone else from alive to dead, it’s all transformation. Going with this, there are naturally arts about positively transforming people, commonly Guides, Teachers or Leaders.
The Leader Battle Art is about connecting your Qi, Fortune and Power with that of others, leading and transforming them. Just as creation arts and battle arts all have variations, most famously the five elements variations of the five crafts, the Leader Battle Art also has three variations.
They are the two side paths: Commander and Minister, and the main path: Emperor. Of course they have various names, but the principle is the same. Commanders lead people in battles, Ministers lead people in daily life, and Emperors lead people in all paths.
In this aspect of course, the emperor isn’t always the strongest and the most controlling; emperors are also called the ’children of heaven’, meaning there are people above them, and they are the ones that manage the worldly affairs for those above them.
Huiyue had also thought about this for a long time, and she had long decided that she would be the Emperor of the Fu Clan, the Fu Matriarch, and the ancestors will be the Heaven Above. She even had a secret wish: one day, maybe even her son could become an ancestor. She could manage the worldly affairs of the clan, gathering immense resources for him to focus solely on cultivation and become an immortal above heaven.
"It’s good we got these matters over," Peilan said, then turned serious, even solemn as he waited for everyone’s thoughts to settle before he started discussing the true reason for the emergency meeting.
The previous points could’ve waited until the next meeting—this couldn’t.
Everyone looked at the ancestor, remaining quiet. They were curious but no one asked, waiting for him.
"The Grand Ancestor has sent a message," he started.
Several members stood straight, while others were confused. Who... who was the Grand Ancestor?
Chunfeng gestured for Huiyue and Muyu to come closer. Seeing the ancestor wait, he quickly explained who she was. Most present already had such supicions or knew of the background, they just didn’t know that the ancestor talked about in the clan school was still alive and a person that was still connected to them.
"Grand Ancestor..." Muyu muttered, "so she’s a third stage cultivator?" he asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. His clan—it wasn’t a normal second-stage clan, they had a hidden third stage cultivator!