Chapter 106: Testing the Volunteers

"What do we need to talk about?" Father asked. Paike got the sense that he didn't like the old man. What the deputy sect leader had done to earn his Father's ire, Paike had no idea.

It wasn't like Father was someone who typically made enemies, but he did occasionally mention to Mother that something was going on in the book of grudges when they were arguing. That always led to her rolling her eyes and the disagreement coming to a close.

Even then, they were always small things, like what they would have for dinner or what to name their next child. Father made a point of suggesting ridiculous names. Paike remembered this for the youngest of his siblings. For the week before they were born, Father was striding through the halls proclaiming that baby Thorinia was about to join the family.

Mother had final say on names.

When Father did have a real issue with someone outside of the family, it was always dealt with swiftly. Most of the time there wasn't even any violence involved. Few dared push him that far. There was usually just a payment and forgiveness.

"Well, we need to talk about the expedition that you are leading." The old man said with a resigned air; it was as if he knew how the conversation would go, but had to have it anyway.

"I don't remember agreeing to lead an expedition," Father said.

"We contracted you to gather information on the barbarian threat and to take care of it if it was something that our disciples couldn't handle." The old man sighed.

"What about that means that I need to lead an expedition of your brats?" Father challenged.

"You have one of our disciples already with you." The old man pointed out.

"I'm just taking my son for a bit of a field trip. I'll have him back in school soon."

"Far be it from me to remind you, but disciples are under the sect's jurisdiction. For the duration of their stay, their families have no rights over them."

"Yes, yes, I helped come up with the rules." Father waved his hand.

"So you should know that if you are planning on bringing disciples from the sect, this is a sect expedition, and it has to fulfill some standards. Note that I'm not trying to prevent you from bringing your son with you, just making sure that our disciple is under a sufficient level of care."

The room grew cold, and Paike had to suppress a shiver. Father's voice dipped into a tone that he had never heard before. "Are you suggesting that I can not or will not care for my family?"

The old man maintained his composure despite the power flooding the room. "Not at all, I just want to enforce our policy for supervision and standards. I know you have a penchant for pushing your family, but we also have a duty to ensure that our disciples have a minimum level of amenities."

Paike didn't think that was it at all. The words were just to placate Father; some other game was afoot.

"What do you want from me?" Father asked in an icy voice.

"If you would take a support team with you, at least five from the inner sect led by a core disciple. They can maintain your lodgings, supplies, and logistics. This will ease your burden and ensure your son is protected even if you are pulled away for pressing duties."

So what he really wanted was the ability to monitor what happened, and perhaps get more disciples' experience. Paike could have told him there would have been better ways to get Father to agree. Ways that would have had him instructing them instead of anyone, with anyone he was forced to bring along. But that also might have been the point. The deputy sect leader probably didn't want them getting too close to Father when he had no official relationship with the sect.

"I get to select who I'm bringing, if I'm bringing anyone." Father countered. Paike was surprised that he caved so easily. Perhaps he already knew this would be happening, and the whole thing was just negotiation? That seemed exhausting to Paike; that time could have been spent cultivating instead.

"You can reject candidates if you have a valid concern about them." The old man countered.

"Not good enough," Father said. "Are you afraid that I will pick arbitrarily? If I did, then I wouldn't care who you sent. At least try to make sense."

"I'm afraid you will pick those you find the least annoying instead of those who are actually qualified." The old man said. Paike had to admit that it was a fair point. It sounded exactly like something Father would do. Not that he would ever admit that to someone outside the family.

"How about you decide on your minimum qualifications, and then you ask for volunteers to gather? I can then test them and pick from those." Father offered.

"It depends. How are you going to test them?" The old man asked.

"A quick spar and a conversation," Father said.

"I get to pick the core disciples," the old man countered.

"You can nominate five. I'll just talk to them." Father said.

"Done. They will be gathered in the main arena in an hour." The old man said with a smile.

Father gave a nod, stood up, and left without saying anything. They walked out of the pagoda, and Father smiled. "Well, this should be fun."

"I thought you wanted just us to go?" Paike said. It wasn't until he said it that he realized it came out differently than he intended.

"I wish we could," Father said, "but that isn't very realistic. That old coot was right about the rules. And besides, I won't be able to watch you the whole time, and there is safety in numbers."

"Why don't you like the deputy sect leader?" Paike asked.

"It's a long story." Father refused to elaborate after Paike pressed him a little bit. Instead, he deflected. "Is there anything you want to do to prepare for your matches in an hour?"

"What?" Paike didn't understand.

"When we are testing potential group members, you didn't think I would be the one doing the sparring with them, did you?" Father asked with a sly smile.

Paike realized that yes, he had assumed that. He was also pretty sure that was what the deputy sect leader had thought. But looking back at the conversation, he found that Father had only implied that. He had said he would be testing them, and it would be a quick spar and conversation.

"How am I going to show you anything about them? Aren't most of them Emerald?" Paike asked.

"Actually no. Pretty much none of them join at Emerald. I don't know of one who did in the last thousand years in any of the grand sects, and we are still close to the last batch joining. Besides, I think you are overestimating the rate of advancement for those outside the family.

"That being said, some will be in Emerald, but I imagine many of those qualified will still be in Late or Peak Topaz," Father said. Paike already knew that, but those wouldn't be the ones Father would be choosing from, right?

That's when Paike realized that Father didn't need to watch them spar at all. He could likely tell as much about their combat power from watching them walk and examining their spirit. No, this whole thing was a ruse to get Paike some sparring partners.

He felt oddly touched.