Samuel had come out of his meditation feeling powerful. The two minor stages between every major stage were never a hurdle to cultivators, especially to those who imbibed breakthrough pills and other heavenly treasures but he preferred not to. One was not weaker for using them, however, future breakthroughs became harder without their help, and at the stage, he wanted to reach, they were precious few. A big reason why he needed to go into the inner sect was to gain access to the inner sanctum, a holy place of cultivation. It was another of the sect's miraculous artifacts that made breaking through much easier. Its efficacy dropped the more you used it, however, and the highest it allowed you to reach was the soul formation stage. Both drawbacks were irrelevant to him as he was neither in the inner sect nor was he at the soul formation. That was the whole reason he even wanted to join the inner sect in the first place.

Yet, both of the previous steps were taken care of by his disciple, or more accurately, the revelation he had experienced by taking care of someone else. He wondered if he had glimpsed at a heavenly law, but he could not be sure. Those who would wield the heavenly law were monsters of a different league and he did not feel like he could take on a soul formation or even Lucia for that matter, even though he had ascended his power twice since that conversation all those months ago. Speaking of women who were far beyond his understanding he looked down at his resting disciple who had a happy smile, even while asleep she was nuzzling into the arm resting in her head. His fly had popped out at some point but he let it rest near her mouth. Who knows when she needed a snack?

He wanted to test his new strength but that could wait, he could always make time for himself. Right now, his disciple needed his attention.

He nearly snorted thinking of the ridiculousness of a master-disciple relationship. The master took care of them, fed them, and gave them a safe place to grow into themselves. He was not a teacher but a parent with a very lewd twist. After all, since coming under his wing she ate tiny outside of his own bodily fluids. He understood that his life essence was very beneficial to most life, but the practice took some getting used to. Not to say that is not enjoyable, but he found the stimulation quite pleasant on a very base level. That was his reward for nourishing someone else.

Elizabeth's mouth opened with a small pop, a telltale sign that she wanted her feeder back in her and he obliged pushing the half-flaccid appendage back into her mouth. Once he had to actively regulate how much essence was being fed into her but now it had become more of an instinct to provide just the amount needed. The reward was worth it as her cultivation base lit up at nourishment and he found delight in the sensations.

A part of his mind splintered off.

Why did disciples change masters? More to the point, why did masters not do everything in their power to make sure their disciples stayed?

It was probably a cauldron thing his uneducated mind had not pieced together yet but he would get there. Especially if he ever reached the soul formation stage, he would have an eternity to figure it out.

His hand started stroking her hair as he thought of what Lucia had said. First, he would need to change his master emblem to the true cauldron variant, meaning the only disciples he would accept were potential cauldrons. Sure it would diminish his future prospects greatly but that mattered very little, as long as he achieved the minimum required to enter the inner sect, he would have access to the inner sanctum and his soul formation goal would be all but achieved. If it took a century or two while he prepped some disciples from the mortal stage to the essence condensation stage, who needed to care? Certainly not him.

In the process, if he learned to serve Elizabeth to a greater degree all the better.

If an outsider heard Samuel's words at that moment, they would be vomiting blood. A master serving their disciple was wrong and for many valid reasons. For one, a heaven's chosen was outnumbered 100 to 1 so by raw statistics it would be nigh impossible to serve everyone. Also, it was the disciples who needed the masters not the other way around so the balance of power should be on the provider, not the receiver. Samuel was simply lucky that his first disciple happened to be a good egg.

This was a dog-eat-dog world with a very sexy twist and everybody is out for themselves, only mortals were truly selfless. Even Samuel would choose his cultivation over Elizabeth if those were his only options. That was not an expression but a statement of fact. Was Elizabeth an extremely close second? That would be a definite yes, and if in the future Samuel was given the option to break through in exchange for Elizabeth, the answer would be a definite no. But if one said that they would cripple his cultivation if he did not sacrifice Elizabeth, the tune would change. He would agonize and hate himself after the fact but the answer was set in stone.

But Samuel was new when it came to such dynamics and his first pick had worked out despite his lack of experience. He did not know it yet but he was treading a very unique path, one very few traversed because of the selfish nature ingrained in the cultivation world. He would understand one day that these were the first steps in becoming the absolute powerhouse he would one day become. But that was still centuries off and he still had only one disciple. Baby steps.