The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 264: Life 75, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

Arriving back in my tiny house, I thought through my plans for the near future. Was there anything I had missed? Was there anything I hadn’t thought about?

After only a few decades, my fledgling clan was capable of dominating our small corner of the world. We were few in number, but within the Wastes, our strength was unrivaled. Part of me was proud of this accomplishment, but ultimately, it was meaningless.

Outside of the Wastes, there were far stronger forces that we couldn’t yet compete with. I, personally, had the skills necessary to fight against nearly anyone from these forces, but I alone wasn’t enough. I needed a powerful clan behind me. That was the only way to achieve my goal. That was the only way for me to become a Sovereign.

At the moment, I had over 400 people in my storage space, and most of them were members of the Su Clan. To become a Sovereign, I needed to be viewed as the head of a clan, and I needed to be connected to the members of said clan through body and soul.

These 400 people saw me as their Ancestor, and we were nearly all members of the Su Clan by blood, so I should be connected to them through ‘body.’ However, the second qualification was still a lingering question mark. I didn’t know what it meant to be connected to someone through ‘soul,’ and the fact that I was an outsider who had been reincarnated into the body of Su Fang worried me.

My soul wasn’t born into the Su Clan. Would that be an issue? I didn’t know, but the only way to find out was to keep pushing forward. With such monumental events at play, attempting to buy relevant information from the System was impossible.

So, my goal was to advance to Sovereign. What did I need to do? I needed to grow my clan, both in size and in power.

While the Wastes gave me access to recruits who could quickly grow my clan’s size, it severely limited how powerful anyone could become. I could attempt to continue simply recruiting as many Disciples as possible, but there was only so much room in my storage space to take them back in time with me, and I would rather use that limited space to carry around the most powerful cultivators possible. So, even though the Wastes had its advantages, I wanted my people to grow stronger, and that meant we needed to go elsewhere.

Another factor that limited how powerful my people could become was my lack of memory orbs. If I could provide orbs with knowledge of more powerful techniques, the people in my clan would be able to grow much faster with much firmer foundations. However, I was nearly out of orbs, so this was impossible.

I needed more memory orbs, and I needed to learn to make them myself. This was the only way to ensure that we would always have as many as we needed, but this would require time—time as a Martial Emperor.

I wanted to study Rank 6 alchemy, formations, and refining. I wanted Bao and SuYin to have a chance to study Rank 6 herbalism. I wanted to push the members of my clan to Peak Emperor. I wanted to ascend to Martial Sovereign. None of this could happen in the Wastes.

As far as I knew, there was only one place on the entire continent where it could happen. The Nine Rivers Sect. I needed to go back there, and I needed to take my entire clan with me.

However, the sect was a dangerous place. If I recklessly sent everyone in there without the proper preparations in place, many of them would die. Worse, a large number of them would likely become infected with soul gu and be turned into slaves.

If we were going to go back to the sect, we needed to be prepared, and I knew that I couldn’t do everything myself. I needed help.

“System, I want to purchase a permanent version of the Memory Implantation ability I used previously. I want to be able to transfer a person’s memories directly from a memory orb and into their soul so that it is like they had absorbed it normally. This ability only needs to work with a person’s own memories, and it only needs to work on Martial Disciples.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 100 billion credits. 439,755,430,809 credits remaining.

I took a deep breath as I mentally prepared myself for what I needed to do.

“Teleport me inside of JiaQi’s carriage.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 3,759 credits. 439,755,427,050 credits remaining.

I arrived, crossed-legged, sitting in the middle of the well-used wooden carriage.

“What the hell!”

Even though I had expected it, her scream startled me, but I didn’t react.

As JiaQi stared at me in fear, I quickly pulled out her original memory orb and tossed it to her.

“Catch.”

Reflexively, she moved her hands and grabbed it. The moment she did, I activated my new Memory Implantation ability.

A few seconds later, her eyes widened in shock.

“You’re an ass!”

I gave her a quick smile. “I’ll leave a message for you at the Blue Wind Pavilion after I secure a residence.”

While I was pretty sure that I would purchase the same manor as last time, I figured it would be better to play things safe.

After giving JiaQi a quick wave goodbye, I turned my head to give a subvocalized command.

“System, teleport me inside of LiTing’s carriage.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 13,835 credits. 439,755,413,215 credits remaining.

After returning her memories to her, I passed the same message to LiTing and then disappeared.

“System, teleport me inside of YuLong’s carriage.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 5,279 credits. 439,755,407,936 credits remaining.

Quick as I could, I tossed YuLong his orb and activated it. When his eyes regained clarity, we gave each other a short nod of understanding, but then I said something that I was sure he hadn’t expected.

“YuLong, do you think you can return home, grab your sister, and bring her to South Gate City safely?”

His eyes widened in shock. Then, he balled his hand into a fist and began tapping it on his leg.

“I don’t know... maybe.”

I thought for a moment, and then I subvocalized to ask about a purchase that I should have considered earlier.

“System, how much would it cost to teleport YuLong’s sister here?”

Forcing herself to look away from the jade box, Cao eyed me closely and examined me in qi vision. This caused her to take a step back, but she didn’t leave. Her eyes flicked to Bao, but he only dipped his head in my direction.

Cao looked back at me, and I could sense a mix of suspicion, worry, and a desire for the spirit fire in her.

“Why me?”

I closed my eyes and thought through how to answer this.

“Because... I owe a debt. The situation is complicated, but let’s just say that your ancestor assisted my ancestor. In return, I want to offer this opportunity to you.”

She kneaded her hands together. “There are others in the sect you should choose instead. A debt between ancestors... even if I believe that, there is no debt between us. You should choose one of the sect’s more talented alchemists. I know my limits. I...”

I rubbed my chin as I thought about what to say.

“Master Cao.” I fixed her with my most penetrating glare. “You may see me as little more than a new Disciple, but I can promise you this. Those talented alchemists are nothing in my eyes. With my help, in only a few years, you will be far more skilled than any of them.”

I spoke with conviction, and Cao’s cultivation technique compelled her to believe me. When she looked at Bao, and he nodded earnestly, her resistance collapsed.

“O... Okay.”

I smiled. “Excellent.”

Then, I waved my hand, and ShouLi appeared.

“An... Ancestor!?”

“ShouLi, I would like to introduce you to Cao MeiLan. She will be joining us. For now, please arrange a temporary home for her. We will discuss things further in a few days.”

ShouLi looked around with wild eyes for several moments before she could focus on Cao.

She gave a slight bow. “Of course, Miss Cao, if you will...”

I waved my fingers, and both Cao and ShouLi vanished.

Bao laughed. “Can you teach me to do that?”

“Sorry... it’s a bit of a trade secret.”

Bao pouted melodramatically and dropped his head.

As he did, I subvocalized. “System, teleport SuYin into this room.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 375,500 credits. 439,755,022,005 credits remaining.

Suddenly, SuYin appeared.

Her eyes widened in fright, but she didn’t scream out. For some reason, she was trying to force herself to remain calm and not overreact.

I quickly forced her memory orb into her hand and activated my Implantation ability.

Moments later, her eyes cleared, and she looked at me, confused.

“M... Master? What...” She looked around the room and saw Bao. “You... you are... Bao... right? Where... am I? What...”

My forehead creased in concern. “SuYin, what’s wrong?”

She did her best to focus on me. “Master it’s... I can’t remember... There’s so much... It’s like... My memories are only fragments. What’s happening?”

I looked at Bao. “I’m worried about spending too much time here. Can you talk with her? Help her understand.”

He quickly bowed his head. “Of course, master.”

“Alright, I’ll pull you back out in a few hours. Just... do your best in the meantime.”

I waved a hand, and both Bao and SuYin vanished.

Once they were gone, I considered the final person I wanted to recruit from the Twin Mountains Sect. At one time, Senior Sister Jiao had been a friend to me, and she had helped me out on several occasions. However, even before that life had ended, that friendship had faded.

I still wanted to pull her into the fold... but this wasn’t the time. Convincing Cao to join us had been difficult, but Jiao would already be in the outer sect, and I highly doubted that she would be beholden to her cultivation technique.

There were ways to get around this, but there was another, more important problem. Jiao was a social climber. She cared about her status and influence. Pulling her in right now would be far too dangerous. Next time, though, things would be different.

Another person who I would have liked to recruit was Murong NaYun. I had only seen him a single time, and I had never even talked to him. All I knew about the man was that during the Dragon Gate Festival, he had claimed to have an extremely powerful blessing and that he had displayed an extraordinary talent with talismans.

Unfortunately, he was far too old to join us in the Nine Rivers Sect, and the fact that I knew nothing about him meant that I couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t betray us. So, while he seemed like he might be exactly the kind of person I was looking for, I could only set him aside, for the moment at least.

Of course, there was one final person that I felt I needed to recruit, but she... She would have to wait as well. If Jiao XinYan and Murong NaYun were dangerous, then Pei LiMei was deadly.

“System, teleport me to a secluded spot in South Gate City.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 9,291 credits. 439,755,012,714 credits remaining.