But no matter how insane this coincidence was, I decided to hold myself from making any assumptions. Just like humans would tend to see the faces in any random three points, my mind could just be playing tricks on me, trying to find the connection in places it never existed.
"While it does not influence our greatest Goose sect, it's already obvious that as soon as people realise during the grand opening ceremony that their guardian is not there to protect them, the ensuing challenges will attempt to rip their entire mountain in pieces, with everyone else trying to claim their resources. And we can't allow that!"
With how serious Monica's face was, not to speak about the clear anxiety still visible on her disciples' faces even after the reason for their summons were cleared out, I could tell how important this matter was to them. Just by recalling the fact that my tests started with the elders asking me to consume as much of penguin bread as I could, it became obvious how close ties those two organisations had!
"Henceforth, while I know it will be hard, I need you all to challenge as many people as you can. As for you, Peter, I think you are owed some explanation first."
As Monica's eyes finally landed on me, I could tell that her next words would finally clarify the situation. Yet while she might hope that I could help her out in this sect affair, little did she know that I was only interested whether I could make use of this opportunity for my own benefit!
"I scouted you and did my very best to poach you into my ranks mostly because I had no other choice than to recognise your strength. I hope that with your lengthy cultivation, you managed to recover after our session?"
Instantly forced to ignore the jealous looks of the male disciples of the Monica, I simply smiled and nodded my head, still eager to hear more about the entire situation before making any form of judgement.
"That's great then. What I want you to do, is to challenge the peacock sect, leading disciple of the middle tier. To put it in short words, he is at the same level as the white uniforms of our sect, while being the strongest disciple in his class. Do you think you can handle him?"
Looking at me with her eyes only betraying how serious she was, I realised that it was my time to once again put my dao of bullshiting into use.
"Teacher, if his level is similar to that one last disciple I had to fight with during my trials, then you don't need to worry about it. Unless he is several times stronger than that poor guy, I don't think there is any need to even consider it a challenge for me!"
"Good then. As for what I want you to demand in the challenge, is the bootle of the peacock milk. While I know its name sounds stupid, you wouldn't believe how potent it is in revealing one's innate energy!"
Just when I thought that I would finally get any real information, Monica dropped a bomb like that! What the hell was this peacock milk? And what was even more important, how the heck did those degenerates even milk a peacock?!
"Am I safe to assume that we can demand anything that we want then? Otherwise, what should I do if he refuses the bet?"
Even though I attempted to sound like I just wanted to reassure myself that this organisational part of the challenge wouldn't pose a problem, for anyone without the entire picture of the situation it would be rather obvious what my real intentions were!
"Partic… I hope you are not planning to waste this opportunity on something shallow? I know your opponent will be a female, but trust me, you can profit more from sessions with me or even your fellow disciples than with her! People of different cultivation methods can't get as many benefits from shared cultivation! And just by looking at how Gevva is glueing herself to you, I don't think you would have any problems convincing her for some training!"
With a meaningful stare from Monica, the girl that moved so close to me without me realising that her side was already smashing against me with her hands 'unintentionally' landing on various parts of my body whenever she moved them around, suddenly tensed, before tactfully moving back to a safe position with a blush visible all over her face.
Even if just a few days ago, that alone would be enough to push my buttons and guarantee her a nice time after we would be freed from Monica's teachings, with Eve healing up my inner wounds, I didn't really feel any urge to use this advantageous situation. While the prospects of gaining some more points by consuming her essence was alluring, I wouldn't risk doing it if just a small slight of hips was enough to pose a great threat to my beloved one!
"Don't worry, teacher. I just want to be sure I will be left with nothing to bet on if my opponent refuse my request!
Nodding my head slightly in order to make Monica think I was bowing to her in order to ease her worries, I started thinking about the steps that I should take.
Just the disappearance of the Penguin sect guardian gave me quite a nice opportunity to mess around the things a bit, considering how I could sneak out once again, return to the cultivation city, try to find Pengu and do my best to increase its strength to put him on the pedestal of this entire city, yet just the challenges would be enough for me to upset the balance of this place!
And just like in any other chaotic times, those who were daring enough to put forward their five cents were the ones that would profit the most!