Without strength, others probably won’t even bother to spare you a glance. But once you possess formidable power, then those who are weak will either obediently grovel at your feet and cling to you, or be utterly wiped out by your absolute force.

William Clark understood this principle deeply, so no matter what he planned to do next, the very first thing he needed to do was to strengthen his own power, rather than rushing out to stir up trouble while he was still weak.

He hadn’t mentioned this to Emily Carter, but he believed his junior sister was no fool—she definitely understood what should and shouldn’t be done. Compared to this junior sister, the original Chris Clark seemed more like an ignorant fool.

With this decision made in his heart, William Clark and Emily Carter spent the next two days searching all around the lower part of Book Mountain, but they still couldn’t find a suitable place.

In the end, it was William Clark who found it odd and asked, “Is there really no suitable place higher up on Book Mountain?”

“There actually is, but the mountain is too steep. The higher you go, the harder it is to walk. If the sect is established up there, going up and down would be really inconvenient!” Emily Carter had grown up on Book Mountain, so she was quite familiar with its environment.

Hearing this, William Clark was overjoyed: “What’s there to fear about inconvenience? Once our skills are deep enough, not to mention going up and down the mountain—even climbing to the peak will be as easy as lifting a hand! As for now, we can just treat it as lightness skill training!” Before he even finished speaking, he took the lead and headed up the mountain, paying no mind to the fact that it was already getting late.

Because in his heart, he kept muttering: “These idiots, so lacking in ambition! Have you ever seen a great sect set up its base at the foot of a mountain? Which of the truly great sects isn’t established on a mountain? Only then does it look imposing and show status! As for the hassle of going up and down? Once my lightness skill is mastered or my internal strength is deep, would I care about such a minor inconvenience? Besides, for small errands in the future, I won’t need to run back and forth myself—just recruit a few disciples to do the legwork!”

With this plan in mind, he didn’t care how difficult the location of his sect’s base was to reach. On the contrary, what he cared about was whether the environment was beautiful enough, and whether building houses there would give off the grandeur of a great sect.

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Chapter 9: A New Starting Point

Thanks to Emily Carter, William Clark quickly found a place on Book Mountain that satisfied him. It was a spacious platform near the summit; any higher and it was all sheer cliffs, impossible to climb without top-notch lightness skill.

At the same time, there was only one decent path connecting this platform to the foot of the mountain—a main road leading straight up. The other paths couldn’t reach it, as most of the surroundings were steep cliffs. If this became the sect’s base, it would be hard for enemies to besiege them.

More importantly, the area was broad enough that even if William Clark had a small palace built here, there would be plenty of space. If his Shushan Sect truly wanted to grow, having enough room was essential.

So, once William Clark saw this place, he immediately decided to set the new sect base here.

“Isn’t this place a bit too high up?” Emily Carter didn’t think this was a good spot. Although the environment was beautiful and the terrain was strategic, there was only one path up the mountain, and it was blocked by those sects below. That meant people coming to become disciples would probably never make it up here, let alone join the Shushan Sect.

In Emily Carter’s mind, for a sect to grow, countless disciples were essential. She and her senior brother couldn’t possibly destroy Zhengquan Sect and reclaim what was stolen from their sect with just the two of them.

What she didn’t know was that William Clark intended to take an elite route: first, wholeheartedly cultivate a top expert (naturally, himself), then use this expert as the core of the sect to make a name, expand influence, and eliminate rivals. As for recruiting disciples? That could wait—there was no need for it right now.

Besides, even if someone did come to become a disciple, the two of them probably didn’t have any impressive martial arts to teach.

Basic fist, kick, and sword techniques? Any street performer in the martial world could do those. Anyone serious about martial arts would already know the basics—unless they were children who had to join a sect from a young age. But those children usually came from powerful families; why would they look twice at a declining little sect like theirs?

As for the Book Mountain Sword Technique, that was even less worth mentioning. In William Clark’s view, it was only a bit better than a beginner’s sword form. He was quite curious how the predecessors of Book Mountain Sect managed to make a name for themselves with such a lousy sword technique.

These days, he had skimmed through the sect’s inheritance book and learned that the second-generation sect leader was quite famous in the area around Book Mountain. Back then, Book Mountain Sect was a first-rate sect in the region, with some renown.

“Could it be that some ultimate techniques were lost?”

That was all William Clark could guess. But he didn’t feel any regret—after all, with that magical ring on his hand, he wasn’t worried about lacking martial arts manuals to practice.

What’s more, he planned to build a residence here first, then focus on secluded cultivation on the mountain for quite a long time, even intending not to interact with outsiders at all until he had spent all his silver.