The disciples felt their blood boil. Although Dyon made it clear that they would have to sign contracts to take part in these benefits, they didn’t care. After all, the only stipulation of the contract was to never share the techniques they learned with non-disciples. This was standard for every sect in existence.
Dyon didn’t even ask them to never betray the sect. He placed no restrictions on their loyalty at all, which intrigued many of them. But, Dyon had his own plans.
“Former elders.” After dealing with all of the disciples, Dyon finally made his way to the former elders.
Unlike the disciples, many of them were well on in age. Because of this, they didn’t have the ability to bank on their futures like the youth did…
Although Violet’s father chose the disciple path, he was a genius. Plus, he was only 3000 or so years old with more than 7000 years of life left as a celestial. He could be considered to be at the start of his life, unlike them as old fogies. Even the former core elders of Soul Rending Peak understood this and couldn’t help but lower their heads in shame.
Dyon sighed. “Unfortunately, none of you have the qualifications to be even working elders of Soul Rending Peak. And, you have long since left the proper time frame to be disciples.”
Many elders trembled and seemed to age even more, but they knew that Dyon was right.
“However, I won’t abandon you all. Your current state is due to the former Soul Rending Peak failing you all, collapsing and allowing a disgusting ideology to fester and spread.
“First, you remaining former core elders.” Dyon turned his gaze to the four wrinkled old men and women. “Elder Fiona, you’ll become the working disciple elder of Holy Peak. Elder Yadamere, you’ll be the working disciple elder of Gliding Peak. Elder Maranda, you’ll be the working disciple elder of Blooming Peak. Elder Gabriel, you’ll be the working disciple elder of Unseen Peak.”
The former core elders were pleasantly surprised. They were all 5th grade celestials who hadn’t even managed to fill a single meridian completely with celestial energy. They could vaguely feel that they didn’t even deserve to be working disciple elders of even the sub peaks, but it seemed Dyon took pity on them. They couldn’t help but be grateful.
Of course, Dyon understood people very well. If Dyon had started with this command, these elders would have likely been very angry. But, by starting with the mentally weaker disciples first, it set a clear precedent that they were helpless to argue against. It could be said that without the amiable Kernick, this process would have been far more difficult.
Giving these elders a higher position than they deserved was just another step in that plan.
“Family Head Caedes!” Dyon’s call startled Donari’s father. But, maybe the most scared individual hearing that name being called was Arthurian who had been keeping a very low profile since Dyon came back.
He was slightly bitter that Dyon hadn’t called his name, even to be a working disciple. After all, no matter what happened between them, he was still the former number one core disciple. That counted for something, no?
Even Violet gained a position as a working disciple of Soul Rending Peak.
However, he didn’t say anything. If he angered Dyon again, he might die without a corpse. Still, he couldn’t help but feel bitter because he was quickly approaching the age limit for the saint floors.
The middle-aged family head stepped forward, curious about why Dyon had called him.
“Do you understand the original role of the Jafari and Caedes family in this quadrant?” Dyon suddenly asked.
“This…” The family head had mixed feelings facing the killer of his eldest son. But, after learning what his son said, even he believed Olaf deserved death. It was clear he loved Donari’s mother much more than Olaf’s. “The original families were pillars of their respective sub peaks. The Caedes family supported Slaughter Peak while the Jafari family supported Unseen Peak.”
Dyon nodded. “So, you understand where your family’s Peak Heaven technique comes from, correct?”
Meeting Dyon’s pointed gaze, the family head couldn’t help but slightly tremble.
In the end, he sighed. “Our Peak Heaven technique was originally a portion of the core teachings of Slaughter Peak. If you would like us to return it, we will do our duty. However, we swear that we have no idea where the other portions of Slaughter Peak’s core teachings lie.”
Surprisingly, Dyon shook his head. “I don’t want you to return it. The technique is yours originally. I am not a thief. However, your family must once more take its position as a pillar family of Slaughter Peak. As a reward, I will fully awaken your son’s constitution and give you the remaining lost portions of Slaughter Peak’s core teachings, thus completing your family’s legacy.”
The family head trembled. Could it be he had heard wrongly? His family was instrumental in the destruction of the Jafari family… He had even backstabbed his long-time friend, Zabia’s father, for the sake of preserving his own family. Now… He was being rewarded for it? How could he have ever guessed that something like this would happen?
“I…” The family head didn’t know what to say. This was really too good to be true. He almost felt like it was a test.