Proofreader&Editor: Howard Wong
"Third Senior Brother, thank you." After leaving the eldest senior brother's room, the junior sister wiped away the tears on her face and sincerely bowed to Du Ge.
"Why thank me? I fought for the Sect Leader position." Du Ge glanced at her and toyed with the Sect Leader's medallion in his hand, "Also, from now on, call me Sect Leader Senior Brother."
"Yes, Sect Leader Senior Brother." The third senior brother had willingly taken on the burden of leadership, and the junior sister's face lit up with a teasing smile, but remembering their dilapidated sect was down to just the two of them, and the looming threat of Tianlan Valley potentially overtaking them, her smile faded, "Sect Leader Senior Brother, what should we do next?"
"Call me Sect Leader Senior Brother." Du Ge corrected her again.
"Alright, alright, Sect Leader Senior Brother." Guan Xuan's somber mood was interrupted once more, and she couldn't help but give Du Ge a look, "Sect Leader Senior Brother, what should we do next? There's only the two of us left in the sect."
"Is the eldest senior brother dead?" Du Ge looked at her curiously, "Or did you expel him from the sect?"
"…" Guan Xuan was stunned, frantically trying to explain, "Third Senior Brother, I didn't mean that…"
"Call me Sect Leader Senior Brother." Du Ge insisted.
"Sect Leader Senior Brother." Guan Xuan choked, her emotions disrupted again, and she looked at Du Ge, who had suddenly become enigmatic, at a loss for words.
"Guan Xuan, by taking the position of Sect Leader from the eldest senior brother, I've lifted a weight off his heart. He had already lost the will to live. You keep saying there are only two of us left in the sect, do you really not want him to live?" Du Ge looked at her seriously.
"I… I didn't mean that…" Tears welled up in Guan Xuan's eyes again.
"Junior Sister, the dead are gone, and we can't bring them back, but we cannot afford to lose a single living person." Du Ge glanced at the tightly closed door of the eldest senior brother, his voice resounding with conviction, "I think, as a responsible person, the eldest senior brother wouldn't want to be a deserter."
Inside the room.
The eldest senior brother listened to Du Ge's righteous words and clenched his fists quietly.
Indeed, his third junior brother hadn't given up on him.
Since the third junior brother hadn't given up, he shouldn't give up on himself either.
The third junior brother was right; in times of crisis, he had taken on the responsibility, and as the eldest senior brother, he couldn't be a deserter.
Streams converge into the sea.
At the beginning, one mustn't miss any opportunity for improvement. Feeling the enhancement of his attributes, Du Ge continued to elevate the nobility of the immobile person in the room: "Guan Xuan, let me ask you again, how many people are left in the sect?"
"Three." Guan Xuan said.
"Did you expel the seventh junior brother, the second senior brother, and the fifth junior brother too?" Du Ge asked.
"They… they ran away, didn't they?" Guan Xuan's eyes widened.
"Who allowed them to run? Did I, as the Sect Leader, agree to it?" Du Ge said, "Don't say the seventh junior brother is still outside the sect gate, even if he really ran away, we have to bring him back. What does it mean to not lose a single person? This is what it means. Junior Sister, I don't care how the eldest senior brother ran the sect, but now that I'm the Sect Leader, the future Seven Stars Sect will only have expulsions, no desertions…"
"…" Guan Xuan was stunned.
"Also, Junior Sister, do you know why I insist you call me Sect Leader Senior Brother?" Du Ge asked again.
"Why?" Guan Xuan inquired.
"Without rules, there's no square. After all, we are a formal sect. If the Sect Leader isn't acting like one, and the senior brother isn't acting like one, what will outsiders think of us?" Du Ge sighed, "So, even if there are only a few of us left in the sect, we must establish rules."
It's a tough lesson indeed!
Third Junior Brother, you've had it hard!
Inside the sect, the eldest senior brother silently sighed, contributing another wave of attributes to Du Ge.
Guan Xuan pondered thoughtfully.
"Let's go!" Du Ge looked at Guan Xuan and called out.
"Where to?" Guan Xuan asked.
"To persuade the seventh junior brother to come back." Du Ge didn't look back, knowing that one tree does not make a forest, and a single thread does not make a fabric; just the junior sister alone was not enough.
"Oh."
Guan Xuan responded and took the initiative to follow behind Du Ge.
Blinking her eyes, she curiously watched the third senior brother who seemed to have become a different person since taking the Sect Leader's medallion from the eldest senior brother. He was proactive, responsible, and seemed even more suited for the position of Sect Leader than the eldest senior brother…
But she had to admit, she liked this third senior brother, someone she felt she could rely on.
Perhaps, this was what growing up was all about!
Du Ge, walking ahead, was also contemplating the future path.
Just now, acting nobly indeed brought him some benefits, but nobility clearly couldn't be the main keyword to focus on.
Nobility requires a good nature, magnanimity, bravery, sincerity, righteousness… high moral and quality standards, even more demanding than the previous kindness, and actually, these kinds of keywords are contrary to his character;
Forcing nobility in this world would probably make it difficult to move forward.
And the requirements for noble plundering are even harder.
Compared to that, the requirements for plundering are much simpler, with no moral expectations.
Of course.
To say it's simple is actually quite difficult.
Plundering requires not only strength but also discernment. His current strength is enough to bully ordinary people and some riff-raff, but if he's not careful and plunders from someone more formidable than himself, he wouldn't even know how he died.
But merely plundering items like the Yellow Dragon Pill or the Sect Leader's medallion can only be considered ordinary plundering, with minimal attribute enhancement and not even activating advanced skills.
To truly profit from plundering, one must plunder something different or engage in more significant plundering.
However, significant plundering attracts more powerful enemies, and the risks are quite high. It might even quickly expose himself, and with over a thousand candidates on the Alien Star Battlefield, who knows if someone has possessed a formidable character and is coming to kill him.
This is also why those with negative keywords often don't survive until the end…
If he could awaken an advanced skill like 'Set Price Tag', then he could define the items he plunders, and perhaps he could snatch keywords and advanced skills again.
Even if the last time he traded, the Pan-Universal Entertainment patched the loophole, preventing him from stealing keywords and skills, if he could steal their cultivation energy, that would work too!
Speaking of stealing energy, the Divine Skill and the Star Absorption Method are about forcibly taking others' internal energy, right?
Then, does the Seven Stars Sect's "Big Dipper" qualify as plundering starlight?
It should!
This is seizing the creation of heaven and earth for oneself!
Unfortunately, this broken technique lacks the general outline and the Body Refinement method, otherwise, trying to snatch some starlight might actually activate an awesome advanced skill!
It's all about the advanced skills…
"Third Senior… Sect Leader Senior Brother, what are you thinking about?" Seeing Du Ge silent for a while, Guan Xuan couldn't help but ask.
"Thinking about which path to take in the future." Du Ge stopped, looked back at her, thought for a moment, and took off the burden he was carrying, tossing it to the junior sister.
"…" Guan Xuan held the bundle, puzzled.
"Carry it. The Sect Leader is the honor of a sect; there's no Sect Leader who carries a bundle while the sect disciples follow empty-handed." Du Ge said.
"The Sect Leader's medallion hasn't even gotten warm yet, and you're already putting on airs." Guan Xuan pursed her lips and muttered.
"What did you say?" Du Ge asked.
"I said Senior Brother is right." Guan Xuan smiled and swiftly slung the bundle over her shoulder, "Order and hierarchy start with the small things."
"Not bad, you're learning fast." Du Ge smiled and nodded at her.
"Sect Leader Senior Brother, have you figured out which path to take in the future?" Junior Sister Guan Xuan quickened her pace to catch up with Du Ge and asked.
"Almost." Du Ge nodded, saying pensively, "I've been considering why our sect has fallen to this state, and it's because our master took the wrong path."
Hearing Du Ge speak this way about her father, Guan Xuan instinctively wanted to argue, but opening her mouth, she found no words to say. Her father was dead, and the senior brothers were either dead or had fled. If that path was considered right, then there were no wrong paths in the world.
"Cultivators defy the heavens and compete with others. Even our sect's 'Big Dipper' is about seizing the starlight of the Big Dipper for ourselves. Therefore, the path of cultivation should be one of plundering. We must seize, snatch, and compete."
Du Ge glanced at her and continued, "Why did Tianlan Valley grow so strong in just a few decades? It's because they've always been cunningly seizing and plundering by various means. Whereas our master was charitable and non-confrontational. Even when facing enemies, he thought of seeking help from the supervisory institution rather than finding a way to solve it himself. That's why Tianlan Valley found an opportunity and in the end, our sect was scattered and destroyed…"
"But Third Senior Brother, you know we don't have the strength to contend with Tianlan Valley." Guan Xuan was touched, her spirit shaken, and she forgot her place, "If we confront Tianlan Valley head-on, we'll die even faster."
"How do you know without trying?" Du Ge smiled, "First establish the principle of cultivation. The moment I seized the Sect Leader's medallion, I decided that from now on, our Seven Stars Sect's fundamental principle is to plunder. Plunder the sky, the earth, the air, and eventually, seize the starlight above for our use. Plundering is the most suitable path for our Seven Stars Sect…"