The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 249: Life 73, Age 47, Martial Grandmaster Peak

Allowing Grandmasters from the Su Clan to join us on Mount Jiang held countless hidden dangers, but these dangers were what I hoped would allow my clan to improve and develop further. However, letting them in unchecked would simply be reckless.

Would the Su Clan’s Grand Elder be able to convince people to betray me? For most people, I felt that this was unlikely, but in any large group of people, there would always be those looking to gain benefits by switching sides.

I needed to keep an eye on these newcomers, and I needed to keep an eye on the members of my clan to see how they reacted to their presence. Thankfully, as a wood cultivator, I had the tools needed to do that.

Under my house, I created a small, secret chamber. Then, I started the process of spreading roots from this chamber and connecting them to various important locations throughout the mountain. Using these roots, I would be able to actively observe everything that happened and ensure that these Grandmasters didn’t do anything too inappropriate.

One week later, I met Su TaiZu and his entourage outside the gates of my Rosehill compound. This time, he didn’t try to sneak around or hide his presence. His disappearance from the Su Clan would be obvious soon enough, so instead, he chose to openly display his change of allegiance for all to see.

Of those who came with him, the ones I paid the most attention to were the four Grandmasters. Su Heng, who was following behind his father, displayed his standard nervous expression, but the other three were far more stoic and gave me an impression reminiscent of Ning ChenKun’s deathsworn. I doubted the former Grand Elder of the Su Clan possessed the means of creating true deathsworn, but through the use of carefully tailored cultivation techniques, he might have been able to craft a close facsimile.

When I led this group inside the formation, the Grandmasters sent out their qi to probe their surroundings, but no one seemed overly surprised when they discovered that the complex was entirely empty.

I looked at TaiZu with a raised eyebrow. “You already knew the Disciples wouldn’t be here?”

He chuckled slightly. “Prince Fang, you have recruited hundreds of children over the years. Housing them all in this one estate would be... challenging. We knew that you were taking most of them elsewhere. We just didn’t know if you took them all away or if you left the newest ones here for basic training.”

I nodded in acceptance, but considering the number of spies I had recruited, I wasn’t quite willing to attribute everything to TaiZu’s brilliant deductive capabilities.

I reached into my storage bag, pulled out several jade bottles, and passed them out to the group.

“Since you were able to work out that the Disciples aren’t here, then you must have been able to figure out that we aren’t staying here either. Each of you needs to take one of these pills. They will put you to sleep, and when you wake up, you will be in your new home.”

This made the three unknown Grandmasters narrow their eyes at me, but the TaiZu waved his fingers to flick away their concerns.

“Take the pill. We have no reason to distrust Prince Fang.”

Su Heng gave his father a wary look, but the others immediately followed the elder’s command. Only a moment after consuming their pills, the three Grandmasters dropped to the floor unconscious. Following this, TaiZu took his pill along with the various Masters and Disciples.

The last man standing was Su Heng. He squeezed his eyes shut, gave a quick prayer to the Heavenly Dao, and swallowed the pill.

The moment he fell unconscious, I stowed everyone in my storage space and took off.

I chose to revive everyone in ShouLi’s old house within the residential area on the eastern side of the Plateau. It was the most impressive-looking building around, and it was more than large enough to hold TaiZu’s entire retinue.

Once everyone was awake, I gathered them all in the primary sitting room.

“I’ve temporarily adjusted the sect-protecting formation to prevent anyone from entering or exiting this building without my permission. I would ask that none of you try to break it. I need to take Grandmaster TaiZu for a meeting with my leadership council. While you wait, you should read through the booklets in your rooms. They contain the information we typically provide to any Disciples who join our ranks. They should allow you to begin familiarizing yourself with the situation here.”

No one seemed thrilled at the prospect of being trapped here, but TaiZu just walked forward and nodded.

“Please lead the way.”

I gestured to the door, and we stepped outside. The moment we did so, the elder’s genial countenance shattered, and a look of genuine shock appeared on his face.

“Mount Jiang? You hid your entire retinue on Mount Jiang? How?”

I gave him a slight smile.

“I mentioned a sect-protecting formation, didn’t I? It is... quite good.”

TaiZu looked around with wide eyes. “Yes... It seems that it is.”

As we walked, I introduced him to the surroundings.

I couldn’t help but feel that ShouLi refused to consider this because she didn’t want to give TaiZu a position that rivaled her own. For the same reason, any talk of allowing the elder to remain in a building on the plateau was quickly quashed since that would have put him on equal standing with me and Bao.

Finally, GuiMing made the only suggestion that seemed acceptable to everyone involved.

“Let’s build a Fourth Ring. The mountain is tall enough for a dozen more, so there’s no reason not to continue expanding downward. The Third Ring isn’t full yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go ahead and get started on the Fourth.”

ShouLi wrinkled her brow at this. On one hand, it would make TaiZu a de facto elder of the clan from the moment he entered, but on the other, it would solve the sticky situation that they were dealing with. By placing him in the Fourth Ring, below even the outer elders, they were signaling that while he was an elder, he was the lowest of them.

Considering his cultivation base, this could be seen as an insult, but considering his lack of seniority within the clan, it was the best option available.

Eventually, ShouLi nodded. “We’ll do that then.”

TaiZu just smiled in acceptance.

They spent a while longer working out various details, but eventually, Taizu left to arrange everything with his retinue.

With the Grand Elder having departed, ShouLi slumped in her chair and covered her face with her hands.

“What is the Patriarch thinking? Why did he do this?”

Most of the group had worried expressions on their faces, but Mo just looked contemplative.

Liang reached over and put a hand on ShouLi’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay. The Patriarch is a bit of a bastard, but he isn’t crazy. If he brought that guy here, then he’s confident he can control him. From where I was sitting, it looked like the elder knew this as well, so I don’t think he’ll stir up any trouble.”

To the side, Mo nodded.

NiangBa just shook his head. “The Patriarch might be able to control him, but not us. My boys and I are strong enough to take down a Low-Rank 3 demon beast without too much trouble these days, but I felt a strong sense of suppression from that old man. He has to be at least a Grandmaster 5.”

ShouLi let out a wry chuckle. “He’s a Peak Grandmaster. That was Elder TaiZu, the Grand Elder of the Su Clan. Aside from the old ancestor, he’s probably the strongest person in the entire clan. The Patriarch might be able to handle him, but he could crush the rest of us with nothing more than a thought.”

This caused Mo to furrow his brow in concentration.

GuiAi was starting to get worried. “Is the Patriarch thinking about replacing us? Is he going to start letting elders from the Su Clan take everything over?”

This question caused everyone to tense up, and silence descended on the room. The one who broke it was Mo.

“No. Something else is going on... This...”

Mo closed his eyes and thought through the situation.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open, and he quickly looked from one person to the next.

“We all have people with questionable loyalty among our subordinates. Talk to them. Tell them that it’s time for them to decide whose side they’re truly on.”

After saying this, Mo stood and hurried out of the room.

Once he was gone, the others just glanced around at each other.

Finally, GuiMing stood up and patted some dust off his robe.

“I have work to do. If the ‘Grand Elder’ is so powerful, he can build his own damn rooms, but there’s no way I’m letting him take control of designing the Fourth Ring’s layout. I need to get my crew on that before he gets any ideas.”

With GuiMing’s departure, the rest of the meeting broke up as well, and everyone headed back to their factions to tell them about the clan’s newest elder.

Enhance your reading experience by removing ads:

Remove Ads Now