The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 267: Life 75, Age 16, Martial Grandmaster 1

Over the next year, I raised my cultivation base as quickly as possible. With the resources available to me, and with the amount of experience I had with low-level cultivation, this was nothing overly difficult, but since I was using a new technique, I wanted to take my time.

The reason I was in such a rush was that I didn’t want to keep everyone trapped inside my storage space for any longer than necessary. Ideally, people would want to stay inside and build a real community in there, but I knew that the space wasn’t ready for that yet.

Most importantly, while within my storage space, no one was able to cultivate. As an experiment, I used a combination of spirit stones, spirit fires, and formations to create areas with extremely dense qi, but this hadn’t done any good. As ShouLi had told me, the problem wasn’t a lack of qi. The problem was that qi didn’t behave properly. It was nearly impossible to control. My spirit fire-powered formations worked, but after the qi left them, it became unusable, even though it remained trapped within the formation’s barrier.

Figuring out the cause of this would take time, and keeping everyone locked away while I tried to do so felt wrong. Until my storage space was more habitable, I couldn’t expect people to stay inside indefinitely. I needed to let them out.

I considered taking everyone somewhere new. I could settle them down in some remote city and set up a few formations to protect them from as much danger as possible. However, after only a moment of thought, I felt that this was likely the worst option possible. The clan’s most powerful cultivators would be joining the sect, so any group left outside wouldn’t have any leaders or protectors. We needed to stick together.

In the short term, cycling people in and out of our manor in South Gate City would work, but what we really needed was a city to call our own. We needed a place where I could set up all the defenses I wanted and where the younger and less powerful members of our clan could live in relative obscurity.

Thankfully, the Nine Rivers Sect had a way to make this happen. I just needed to become a Lord first.

So, I advanced to Martial Grandmaster as quickly as I felt was prudent. However, I didn’t try to rashly push past Grandmaster 1. With my understanding of acupoint control, and with the quality of my cultivation base, I didn’t expect to have any problems with mental influences, but I still wanted to give my energy body time to acclimate. Also, since I hadn’t reached Grandmaster with the Wood-Burned Earth technique, I wanted to fully understand the dantian that I had created before continuing forward.

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As the end of the year approached, I made a few final arrangements with my Revered Elders. They would be staying in the manor along with Cao, Meng LuYao, and a few dozen members of my clan so that they could continue cultivating in peace. Once they reached Grandmaster, they would be able to join us in the sect, but there was no rush. No one was at risk of stagnation, so everyone could take their time and do things right.

After giving everyone a chance to say goodbye, I led the leadership council and a small group of 22 other Grandmasters to participate in the Nine Rivers Sect’s Entrance Exam.

The Grandmasters who had joined me were from a mix of every element except for wind, and I was a bit worried about what would happen when we all split up upon entering the sect. The elemental peaks we would be sent to each had their own rules, and while most of them were safe, some were exceptionally dangerous.

This was the main reason I had chosen to join the Fire Peak.

From past lives, I knew that the PangBo Merchant Association had some mechanism in place for implanting promising new alchemists with soul gu. While the other peaks no doubt held dangers of their own, I considered the Fire Peak to be the most dangerous, so I wanted to go there personally to ensure everyone’s safety.

Aside from myself, there were only two other people joining the Fire Peak, RuLan and XuJian, a young man I wasn’t familiar with. As RuLan was Emperor Li’s personal disciple, even if he didn’t know it yet, targeting her would be about the dumbest thing the PangBo Association could do, so I didn’t need to worry about her.

XuJian, on the other hand, was neither an exceptional cultivator nor an exceptional alchemist. He was decent at both, though, so he was exactly the type of person a group of slave traders would want to target. However, as long as I entered the sect before him, I would be able to ensure that nothing went wrong. In the worst-case scenario, I would just need to throw him into my soul space and rush back to Mortal City where the sect’s rules would protect us.

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As usual, it took us several days of waiting in line before it was our turn to be tested.

When we reached the front of the queue, I looked around at the people who had joined me.

“Remember, stay safe. After you are brought into the sect, your most important objective is to get back to Mortal City. Try not to offend anyone, but if you do, don’t worry about it too much. None of the real big shots will try to recruit you immediately.”

After everyone signaled their understanding, I turned and entered the building.

The place was just as I remembered it. To my left, scribes sat at a long desk and recorded everyone's information. To my right, a hallway led off to the sect’s teleportation portal, and in front of me, there was the large black hole that served as the entrance to the Exam’s Trial.

I walked up to the table on my left. When the head scribe addressed me, he seemed bored. It must have been a rather slow day.

“Name?”

“Su Fang.”

“Age?”

“16.”

He paused his writing and looked up at me. “You were blessed at the start of this year?”

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He narrowed his eyes and examined me in qi vision. “You... are a Martial Grandmaster... How...”

Suddenly, he shook himself and returned to the standard questions.

“Blessing?”

“It has a few nuances, but it has helped me gain a comprehensive understanding of both cultivation and several related professions.”

“Gr... Grade 3. Core.”

The door to the hall opened and a middle-aged man stepped inside. He had a rather somber look about him, and his eyes never left the floor. He turned to where the deacon had just pushed himself up from his chair and gave a deep bow.

“Deacon, I am here to guide the new disciple.”

Deacon Leng’s eyes shot to the man. “Not now! Leave!”

The middle-aged man looked confused, but he turned around and did as ordered.

Before he left, I scanned him using energy vision. He was a Peak Grandmaster, but his cultivation base was... It was awful. I had a hard time believing that anyone could have joined the sect in such a condition.

The deacon stepped out from behind his desk, approached me, and gave a martial salute.

“Junior Brother Su, it is an honor that you have chosen to join our Fire Peak. Please, allow me to show you around.”

I smiled at him and dipped my head. “Thank you, Deacon Leng, but I need to return to Mortal City and reunite with my subordinates. Perhaps later.”

“Of course, Junior Brother. Of course. If you have any questions, please come and find me.”

I dipped my head to him one last time and exited the building.

Once outside, I separated from my guide and found a nearby teahouse where I could wait for RuLan and XuJian.

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As I had expected, about an hour later, RuLan left the administration hall on her own with the token of a core disciple hanging from her waist. Since that token should be enough to keep her safe, I didn’t step out to meet her and simply watched as she headed back to the portal to Mortal City.

About half an hour after that, XuJian entered the building, but he didn’t exit so quickly. When he finally did come back out, he was being led by the same somber man that I had seen earlier.

This older Grandmaster led XuJian through the twisting streets of the village and pointed out various important places along the way. Finally, they came to a secluded garden tucked behind a couple of alchemy workshops, and the two of them sat down across from each other on a pair of stone benches.

“Disciple XuJian, you must understand that surviving in the sect is extremely difficult. There are many factions that are constantly battling each other, and if you don’t have a sturdy tree trunk to cling to, the storms will blow you away.”

XuJian nodded slowly. “I can see that. But–”

“Listen, my... boss appreciates talents like you.” The man pulled a pill bottle out of his robes and presented it to XuJian. “As a sign of his appreciation, he offers you these pills. They were made by a powerful Pill Lord and will assist you in breaking through to Peak Grandmaster as soon as possible. You don’t have to accept this offer now. All I ask is that you think about it. After you do, come and find me.”

XuJian nodded. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”

The man smiled, patted XuJian on the shoulder, and then turned to leave.

Before he could, I stepped out from the shadows and slammed a talisman into his chest.

His whole body arced with lightning.

When it was over, the man collapsed to the ground.

XuJian shot to his feet and looked at me, horrified. “What... What did you do?”

“Soul Cleansing Talisman.”

I walked over and took the bottle from XuJian’s unresisting hands.

Then, I poured out one of the pills and analyzed it.

Low-Purity Rank 3 Qi Gathering Pill (tainted), 23% Medicinal Efficacy. Value: 340,000 gold.

Part of me wanted to crush the pill instantly, but instead, I placed it back in the bottle, sealed the lid, and hid it away deep in my storage space.

Yan had been right. Gu were useful for more than just controlling a person’s soul, and I would eventually need to begin to understand them better.

Finally, I placed a stack of talismans next to the somber man’s unconscious form and wrote a quick note about how to use them.