Chapter 126 – Life 65, Age 20, Martial Disciple Peak
Two weeks before the end of our Disciple training program, our class had its final martial competition. In the class we were facing, everyone had a martial blessing that formed some type of external incarnation, a beast made out of pure elemental energy that would fight alongside them.
Neither Zhuge Yan nor Lin LiTing had blessings to help them, nor did their professions grant them any advantages that they were willing to display openly. This might have been offset if I had been allowed to give them a few formations, but a competitor was only allowed to use items they created themself.
Yan and LiTing did their best, but even though they had trained relentlessly, they weren't able to match up against blessed fighters.
Shi YuLong and Chai JiaQi were a different story. Their blessings had let them develop martial skills far beyond what normal Disciples would possess. The external incarnations of our opponents were tricky to deal with, but the martial skills of the fighters themselves were underwhelming, so there was no question of YuLong's and JiaQi's victory.
That left my fight to determine our team's victory or defeat.
My opponent was a tall thin boy with short raven-black hair. His robes were bright reds and oranges, and his blessing was a bird formed of fire that he could either control directly or allow to act of its own volition.
I didn't expect much from the fighter himself, but the bird was going to be difficult to deal with. As a fire incarnation, it didn't have a physical body. If I threw a stone at it, the stone would simply pass right through without dealing any damage.
To start the fight, I used a simple plan. I threw a handful of small exploding formations at the bird, disrupting its energy and blocking its path. Then, I rushed toward my opponent as quickly as I could, trying to end the fight before he could respond.
This strategy was going all too smoothly. When I was within only a few meters, the boy reached into his robes, pulled out a small object, and threw it at me.
Looking in energy vision, I noticed the tell-tale signs of medicinal fire energy wrapped in metal energy that told me it was a Rank 1 Explosive Pill.
I halted my forward rush, planted my feet, and activated my Earth Wall technique. The floor of the arena was solid stone, not the packed dirt I was used to. Moving stone took more energy, but it was still responsive to earth qi.
I pulled with all my might and a wall of stone rose up in front of me, blocking me from the pill's blast.
I was protected, but defending myself caused me to delay for just long enough that the fire bird was able to free itself from the minor energy storm I had created and began approaching me. I needed to retreat so that I didn't have to defend against both bird and cultivator simultaneously, but before I did, I connected my qi to the stone wall and began drawing a formation inside of it.
Keeping the raised stone between me and my opponent, I jumped backward several times, opening the distance between us before he could surprise attack me. As I did, I maintained a connection with the qi I left in the stone and continued carving the formation from a distance.
A small pill arched over the wall and exploded in a downward blast where I had previously been standing. My opponent must have thought that since I was still working on the formation, I hadn't moved.
I stopped carving during the blast, waited a few seconds, then resumed, hoping to trick him into thinking that I had dodged and then returned to the previous spot.
He must have sensed my ruse, though, because he didn't try attacking again. What surprised me was that he didn't even try to destroy the formation I was creating. He must have thought it was nothing more than a deception. That was fine with me.
Unwilling to give me too much time to fortify my position, the boy circled around the earth wall from the left side while he sent his fire bird to circle around the right, aiming to pincer me.
I placed my hand on the ground and quickly inscribed a very basic formation, an unfiltered Rank 1 Qi Gathering Formation. I made it as strong as I could in the limited time I had. It would pull in energy at several times the rate of a normal Rank 1 formation, but it would burn itself out in less than a minute.
When my two opponents were nearly upon me, I activated the formation and rushed toward the boy.
The Qi Gathering Formation flared to life, sucking in as much energy as it could, including the pesky fire bird. Even after overcharging the formation, it wasn't enough to keep the bird trapped for long, but it would have to do.
As I approached my opponent, he threw another Explosive Pill at me.
I countered with an exploding formation.
My formation didn't have the strength to stop the explosion from the pill, but I was able to push the energy away, letting me advance further.
When I was right in front of him, I locked my right foot to the ground with a variant of the Mountain's Repose and swung my left leg at him with a variant of the Mountain Crushing Fist.
He channeled all the energy of his arms into a blocking technique and prevented my blow from doing any damage, but the force of the impact had to go somewhere, and I was locked to the earth.
The boy went flying backward and hit the stone wall I had raised earlier. He was prepared for this, so the impact didn't cause him any damage, but the moment he hit, I activated the formation I had created previously.
The stone wall burst apart.
It was a weak blast. The stone was heavy, and I hadn't been able to infuse it with much energy, but it was enough to send several small rocks flying in every direction.
My opponent was pelted by stone fragments from behind, knocking him forward with great force and sending him to the ground prone.
I didn't hesitate. The moment I had activated the formation, I had begun running forward. Before he could even begin struggling to raise himself off the ground, I was standing over him and punching toward his chest.
The moment my blow landed, the match was called in my favor to prevent me from doing any more harm, and our team won our final competition as Martial Disciples.
When we came to class the next day, Instructor Sun greeted us with his usual stoic expression.
"You won. That will make things easier for you going forward, but don't think you can use it as an opportunity to slack off."
After reaching into his storage bag, he handed everyone a token.
"Those will get you access to a Rank 2 skill. If you don't already have a proper cultivation technique, this is your chance to get one. Just remember, you only have two weeks left before our classes end. If you do not continue your studies here, you will need to have anything you take from the library memorized before you leave."
After we were dismissed, my classmates decided to head to the library as a group, but I begged off. I needed some time to think about my future. I returned to my dormitory to consider my options.
This life had shown me everything I was lacking in the Disciple realm, and I could only expect my deficits to grow as I ascended through Master and Grandmaster. I needed the education that this school could provide me with if I wanted to become the best I could be.
At the same time, I considered my plan to have no life last longer than ten years. It wasn't a hard rule, and I was willing to bend it, but staying here for courses as a Martial Master would take ten years on its own, not to mention the time I would need to spend as a Grandmaster.
It would be time well spent, and I knew I needed to do it, but walking that path would mean that this life would be at least thirty years long, and once I finished the Grandmaster classes, I would likely want to follow the path the school and sect provided through to Lord and beyond.
It was one thing to bend the ten-year plan, but that would be breaking it entirely, and I wasn't willing to do that. I had to return to the Wastes to begin settling debts, and if I didn't follow through in this instance, I was worried that I wouldn't follow through in the future either.
I couldn't allow myself to follow the path of the Master-level courses in this life, but that didn't mean there wasn't an even better solution available to me.
"System, how much to move my temporary reset point to this moment?"
Cost 2,240 credits.
"Okay, now how much would it cost to add a temporary reset point that would bring me back to this point in time while also maintaining the previous reset point so that after one death I return here and after two deaths I go to that one?"
Secondary Temporary Reset Point. Cost 17,920 credits.
This price hike for the secondary point was a bit more than I was hoping for. It didn't mean much right now, but it would become a real problem at higher cultivation levels.
"Purchase the secondary reset point."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 17,920 credits. 83,467,645 credits remaining.
Now, I could rush my cultivation up over the next six years, come back to this point in time, and have ten fresh years to work with.
That solved one of my problems, but a more important question still needed to be dealt with. How was I going to make the most out of my remaining years?
I could easily rush to False Lord again, but doing so held little allure. In the past, I would have considered the credits I received from such a cultivation level to be a huge windfall, but now they were a bare fraction of what I had in reserve. My goal had to be higher. I needed to find a way to ascend to Peak Lord, False King, or possibly even true Martial King.
One way to get the karmic energy necessary to ascend to these levels would have been by going through the Blue Wind Pavilion, but I felt that path didn't hold much promise. When I had tried to become a nominal city lord there through WuJing in the past, it took many years before it was approved. This could be different if I went to the main branch, but that would introduce many new complications.
If I didn't have any other choice, I would have still gone down this route, but fortunately, I had other options available.
Shi YuLong was a scion of some imperial family. Even if it was only a branch family, he should still have connections that could get me a position as nominal city lord. The girls also had connections to various Kingdoms and Empires I could try to get a city from, but the person I felt I needed to talk to first was Zhuge Yan.
His blessing had given him a sharp strategic mind, and he seemed to know more about Rulers than most. If there was anyone who could help me plan how to reach the higher levels of cultivation, it was him.
Also, while he had never spoken about his family, and no one was willing to tell me anything about it in his place, the way he was treated by others told me a lot. When we first met, all he said was that he was from the Zhuge Clan, and everyone expected I would know what that meant. I didn't, of course, but the expectation itself was telling.
If Zhuge Yan's family was as powerful as I expected, it should be more than possible to make a deal for a nominal lordship with them. I just didn't know what political concerns this would present.
Chapter 127 – Life 65, Age 20, Martial Disciple Peak
Zhuge Yan and the others had gone to the library, so I waited in my dormitory for a few hours thinking through plans for the remainder of this life. When I was confident that he had returned, I left to visit him.
Shortly after I knocked on his door, he opened it up and invited me inside.
He looked concerned when he saw me. "Fang, what's going on? Is there a problem?"
"I… need your help. I've decided to leave the Academy. I need to ascend quickly. I don't have time to take the classes here."
He nodded and gestured for me to continue.
"I'm confident that I can get through the Master and Grandmaster realms quickly, but becoming a Martial Lord is going to be a problem. I need access to karmic energy. I know you and the others have connections. I was hoping your family, or possibly one of the others' families, would be willing to sell a nominal lordship."
I reached into my storage space and pulled out several bottles of Rank 4 pills.
"If you think they would be willing, I can trade several of these pills in exchange."
Yan picked up each of the pill bottles and closely examined them before putting them back down.
"This would be enough to get their attention. That's for sure." He folded his hands and sat in silent contemplation for several moments. "I don't think I can help you with this. My relationship with my family is complicated. I should be able to get you a lordship with this in trade, but that's not all you want, is it?"
I looked at him, and after a slight pause, slightly shook my head.
"If possible, I want to reach Martial King."
"That will be difficult. Few would easily grant a nominal kingship to an outsider. Even with dozens of pills in trade, few Emperors are in a position where they can afford to lose much King-level energy. Pills are beneficial, true, but Rank 4 pills cannot create a King. Most Emperors need every King they can get to secure their domain. You could try to join an Emperor's court, but they typically require some type of guarantee of loyalty."
I understood this, but I felt there had to be a solution. There had to be a way I could make it to Martial King. If not, ending this life as a False King again would have to be acceptable, but I hoped I could go further. Rank 4 pills might not be able to make a King, but enough Rank 4 pills should have equivalent value.
"Gaining King-level energy from an Empire will be difficult. It would be better to approach a Sovereign power. The Zhuge Clan could help you, but I don't have enough pull with them." He looked at me meaningfully. "Instead of going through me, you'd be better off talking with Grandmaster Ning. His family might not be quite as powerful as mine, but it's close, and he is highly positioned within his clan. If you can provide him enough benefits, he should be able to get you what you need."
I hadn't considered the Grandmaster as an option before. The distance between us seemed too great, and even if it wasn't, I knew nothing about the Ning Clan.
I had only met Grandmaster Ning a couple of times. I didn't know if he would be willing to go this far for me, but he was a core member of the Nine Rivers Sect and highly placed within a Sovereign clan. It might be possible… as long as I provided him with enough benefits.
Yan looked at me carefully. "Fang, you know this is going to ruin your future, right? If you do this, there's not going to be any coming back from it. I don't know why you need to become a King so quickly, but you should consider other possibilities. "
I smiled at him in gratitude. "Thank you, Yan, but I know what I need to do."
A touch of sorrow crossed his face. "Everyone has their own dreams."
I stood up to leave, but he caught me before I did.
"Before you talk to the Grandmaster, you should go to the library. It might be more difficult to do so after your talk with the Grandmaster, depending on how that goes."
I dipped my head in thanks for his advice.
I still had three tokens that I had saved up over the past few months. One was the Rank 2 token I got from the most recent competition, but I also had two more Rank 1 tokens I hadn't used yet. That meant there was a lot I could gain from a library visit, but first I had to make a quick purchase.
"System, upgrade my ability to absorb techniques by touch to Rank 2."
Confirmed. Cost 1 million credits. 82,467,645 credits remaining.
When I arrived at the library, I placed all three tokens on the counter.
"Yes?" The librarian looked at me expressionlessly.
I had thought a lot about what I should use these tokens to get. When I returned here in the future, I would have to use them on earth qi techniques, but this temporary life gave me more freedom. This was an opportunity to take something slightly more unusual. I'd been wanting techniques for the secondary affinities, and now I had an opportunity to get them.
I didn't have too much of a preference between them, so I picked one without much thought.
"Rank 1 and 2 wind cultivation techniques and Rank 1 martial techniques for wind qi."
The librarian narrowed his eyes. "You understand that if you do not continue your studies at the Academy, these must be returned before you leave, correct?"
I nodded.
"Very well. If you insist, follow me."
The librarian led me down the usual corridor. Our first stop was the door for the Rank 1 wind cultivation techniques.
He gestured me forward. "You have 10 minutes."
The cultivation technique room wasn't very large. It only possessed nine different books. I picked up each one and read their descriptions quickly. They varied from Peak-Yellow to Peak-Earth, and each had potential benefits and downsides. I didn't worry too much about which technique would be optimal. I simply picked up one of the Peak-Yellow techniques and left the room.
Next, I was escorted to the Rank 1 martial wind technique room where I was also given 10 minutes. I repeated the same process I had used when I first entered the martial earth technique room and picked up random scrolls while brushing my hands against everything in sight.
The manuals I looked at had the basic attacks that had come to mind when I first heard of wind qi, such as wind blades, but they also contained a few more interesting techniques. For attacking, there were techniques focused on depriving people of air to breathe and ones for using gusts of wind to push and pull opponents. On the utility side, there were a variety of communication and listening techniques.
After spending 10 minutes copying everything inside, I picked up a basic Yellow-Rank martial technique that would send out wind blades when kicking.
I exited the room and noticed that the librarian seemed disappointed in my choice, but he didn't say anything. He only led me to a staircase that took us up to the second floor. There, he guided me to the room for the Rank 2 wind cultivation techniques.
Unsurprisingly there were exactly 9 techniques available. Looking through each of them, I found that they were each the second volume of a technique in the Rank 1 room. After browsing through all of them, I picked up the technique that was a continuation of the one I had chosen in the previous room.
Selections made, the librarian took me to make copies of my scrolls.
As he handed them to me, he gave me a stern look. "You will return these before you leave."
"Yes, librarian." I bowed.
I waited until the next morning before going to find Grandmaster Ning. If there was a process to request a meeting, I hadn't been told, so I simply went to his office and knocked on the door.
"Enter."
I walked in and saw the Grandmaster seated behind a desk doing paperwork.
"Take a seat. I'll be with you shortly."
I sat down in a chair in front of his desk. As I did, I glanced at the papers he was reading. They were dossiers for the new Disciples who would be entering the Academy next term.
Once the Grandmaster was finished with the paper he had been examining, he put it down, made a few marks on it, and set it to the side. Then, he looked at me.
"If this is about joining my Master cohort next term, then I will have to disappoint you. I only have a few years left before returning to the sect, so I am not in a position to accept any new Masters. Instead, I have sent your class's information to one of my former disciples. She is a skilled Grandmaster who has already become an inner disciple of the Nine Rivers Sect, and she should soon be promoted to core disciple. If she has the openings, I expect her to accept most of your class."
"This…" I wasn't sure what to say. I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be able to take Master-level courses under Grandmaster Ning, but that wasn't why I had come here.
I paused for a moment to recover.
"Grandmaster Ning, I need to talk with you about something. I have an offer for you, and I hope you will hear me out."
He raised an eyebrow and gestured for me to continue.
"Due to personal circumstances," I started, hoping he wouldn't make me elaborate, "I need to ascend far more rapidly than courses at the Academy will allow. I plan to reach Peak Grandmaster in five years at most, shorter if I am able."
The Grandmaster cocked his head slightly but didn't speak. I could see he was trying to figure out my reasons for doing this based on what he knew of me. But even if he uncovered everything possible about my past, my reasoning would still be a mystery to him.
"At that time, I will need Lord-level karmic energy to continue advancing. After I do, I will ascend through the Lord realm as quickly as I am able. Then, I will need a source of King-level karmic energy. Such energy is precious, though, and I do not currently have the means of obtaining any."
Ning tapped his desk in thought, ignoring my implicit request. When he spoke, his voice was slow and deliberate.
"This will ruin your future. If I'm right about you, as long as you cultivate diligently, you won't have much difficulty joining the sect and rising to Martial Lord. I would say there is a greater than 50% chance you will be allowed to rise to at least Martial King."
I nodded, accepting the truth of his statement. "That will take too long."
Ning rubbed his chin. "What is your offer?"
I placed several pill bottles on the desk.
"Perfect Rank 4 pills. They are all lower-level ones, but they will be useful for a new Lord." I picked up one of the bottles. "Rank 4 Basic Earth Skin Pill. It will let low-level Lords easily absorb most blows from their peers. While it doesn't have the strength of the more powerful True Earth Skin Pill, it is still worth several spirit stones."
Ning's face remained impassive, but I noticed a subtle glint in his eye. He wanted these pills, but he wasn't willing to say so.
"These will be useful for low-level Lords, yes, but you wanted a kingship? That is a bit out of the question."
I placed the pill bottle back on the desk. "Let's deal with the lordship first. 100 spirit stones worth of low-level Perfect Rank 4 pills for a nominal lordship."
It was more than a fair price, it was downright extortionate, but the cost was meaningless to me. I just needed the karmic energy.
"One year," the Grandmaster quickly responded. "I can arrange for you to have a nominal lordship for one year, but any more than that will be difficult. While these pills may have value to me, they fall short of my family's needs."
I smiled. "I am not a fan of a one-year deal. I need it for as long as necessary to build up enough karmic energy to advance to Martial Lord. If that takes two years, I need the city for two years. If it only takes a month, you can have the city back after that month."
"Done." He didn't hesitate. Likely, he had access to a city that could generate more than enough karmic energy in a short timeframe. Adding that last condition might have only resulted in a loss, but I was still happy with the result.
I took out several more pill bottles and pushed them to Grandmaster Ning's side of the desk.
"I like to work on trust, not oaths. I trust you to follow through, so I will leave these in your care."
The Grandmaster smiled and nodded.
"Now," I said, rubbing my hands, "as for a kingship… Once I reach Martial Lord, I can provide you, or your family, as many Perfect Rank 4 pills as you desire. This is for pills that only require herbs of the basic five elements. If they require herbs of the secondary elements, I will likely only be able to provide you with High-Purity pills."
Ning's eyes widened in surprise. "You have a good enough relationship with a Pill King – a Pill Emperor? – a good enough relationship that you can promise such a thing, but you can't get a lordship from them?"
I ignored his question. "I can provide you with as many Rank 4 pills as you desire. In return, I need three things. First, you will provide the necessary herbs, and you will only receive 80% of the pills that are made from them."
He nodded, happy with the high return.
"Second, you will provide me with a Profound-Rank spirit fire. The element doesn't matter as long as it is from the basic five."
Again, I could see confusion at this request, but I didn't give him too much time to think.
"Finally, I will want a nominal kingship for as long as necessary to build the karmic energy needed to advance to Martial King."
Ning scrutinized me carefully for long moments, trying to understand my motivations, but he couldn't. He lacked vital information.
"Making such an agreement is beyond my power. I will need to discuss this with my father."
He reached into his storage bag, pulled out a jade box, and placed it on the desk in front of me.
"You have shown me trust in providing me with these pills, so I will return it. This contains the Profound-Rank Implacable Earthflame spirit fire. It is a dual earth-fire element flame. Since it is worth somewhat less than these pills, you may keep it even if my father does not agree to your terms."
I smiled and gave a short bow. Grandmaster Ning knew how to form connections with people. He didn't know if I would be making the pills I had promised him myself, but if I made them or if I could have someone else make them for me, either way, he wanted such a connection.
Chapter 128 – Life 65, Age 20, Martial Disciple Peak
With my deal in place with Grandmaster Ning, I said a quick goodbye to my classmates, returned the scrolls to the library, and skipped out on my last two weeks of classes. This behavior might have raised some red flags for someone in the Academy, but when I returned, I was going to have to live these two weeks over again, and I didn't want this life to taint what would happen next time.
After I left, my first objective was to reach Peak Grandmaster as quickly as possible.
Instead of booking a room at an inn, I used some of my cash reserves to purchase an apartment near the Blue Wind Pavilion. Inside, I set up a small alchemy workshop and a cultivation room with the best Qi Gathering Formation I was capable of creating.
In this manner, I spent the next four years in quiet cultivation. As I did, I was constantly asking myself if this was the balance I had been looking for. Several years of slow cultivation with classmates followed by long years of isolation. For some reason, it was more difficult to concentrate on pure cultivation than it had been in the past.
To simplify things, I didn't use my Earth-Rank technique. Instead, I went with a Peak-Yellow one. It wasn't nearly as powerful, but it let me cultivate quickly. For the Master realm, I only needed to create twelve basic meridians, which was far faster than the complex network the Peak-Earth technique required.
As for the Grandmaster realm, while I wanted to use a Peak-Yellow technique here also, I knew I needed to do better. Peak-Yellow dantians had problems that might come back to haunt me later. Instead, I took a hybrid approach, using the dantian construction from my Rank 3 Peak-Earth technique but connecting it to my meridians using the Peak-Yellow technique's method out of necessity.
None of my classmates or teachers would have been at all pleased with my final result, but it was quick. Since I didn't have any capillary meridians, I didn't have to worry about them getting clogged as I cultivated at the Grandmaster level. Because of this, while the techniques I used were at a lower level than my last life, I felt more powerful since my qi moved freely.
Now, all I needed was for Grandmaster Ning to fulfill his side of our bargain.
Not knowing how to contact the Grandmaster, I sent a message via the Blue Wind Pavilion. I gave them the details of how he was my teacher at the Academy and that he may still be there or he may have returned to the sect. With the information network of the Pavilion, and the fact that Ning was a prominent family, this was all they needed to deliver my message.
The next day, a servant arrived at my door with an invitation to join the Grandmaster at his estate in the city.
As I found out, it was a stretch to say that this particular estate was 'in the city.' The carriage that was sent to take me there rolled out of the city gates opposite the direction of the Yellow Orchid Academy. While the western hills held the Academy, the hills east of the city held several sprawling mansions.
The one I was delivered to was a three-story courtyard-style complex surrounded by a large stone wall. Every inch of the wall had been carved with delicate reliefs in a grand display of the owner's wealth and opulence.
The sitting room I was brought to looked simple by comparison. It contained only basic wooden furniture and a small stone tea set sitting on one of the tables. When I looked at the room in energy vision though, I saw that everything was brimming with power. The grain of the wood the chairs were made from looked like it might obliterate me if I touched it.
Only at the servant's gentle urging was I willing to tentatively take a seat.
After sitting for 15 minutes, I was wondering how long it would take for Grandmaster Ning to arrive. After the wait stretched to 30 minutes, I began to get slightly annoyed. At the one-hour mark, I knew that the delay had to be deliberate, but the splendor of this mansion told me that it wasn't my place to question my host.
Instead of worrying further, I needed to do something to keep my mind occupied. After a quick look around the room, my gaze landed on the stone tea set. The wood was interesting, but I didn't know anything about plants. Stone, however, was something that I had been studying under Master Tan.
Looking at the small teacup, I couldn't help but be enamored by the energy it contained. I instinctively reached out with my hand to pick it up but quickly caught myself. I turned to the servant who had been waiting patiently near the door.
"May I?"
After a brief pause, he nodded without saying anything.
I picked up the cup and began examining it closely. The energy inside of it was strange. It wasn't qi, it wasn't medicinal energy, and it wasn't demonic energy. I wasn't sure what it was, but I felt like I had seen something like it before. It felt familiar.
I had the urge to pull the energy from the cup and try to absorb it, but even if that didn't get me killed, I was certain it would ruin this potential business relationship.
Instead of absorbing the energy, I simply studied this stone. I had spent years learning to analyze simple rocks made from granite and sandstone, but this one truly baffled me. I had no idea what type of stone it was.
It was pale gray with a tinge of green hue. No striations or lines marred its surface. At this point, my ability to analyze a stone's crystalline structure was only rudimentary, but I could find no flaws in it. If I carved a formation into this cup, I felt that I wouldn't need to worry at all about the stone's integrity.
I don't know how long I spent fixated on that small teacup, but my inspection was eventually interrupted by the opening of the sitting room's door.
Grandmaster Ning walked in and took the only remaining chair. A maid followed shortly behind him to make tea.
After sitting, the Grandmaster gave me a short bow of his head.
"Apologies. That was my father's way of testing new potential partners. He wants to know how people will react when kept waiting like that. People driven to madness by a mere wait make poor business associates."
I smiled and dipped my head, showing that no insult was taken.
As I did, I quickly examined Grandmaster Ning in energy vision and realized that I was wrong to still refer to him as such. He had ascended to Martial Lord, though I couldn't tell how far he had advanced in this new realm. I would have congratulated him, but making note of such an examination could have been taken the wrong way.
As was his place, Lord Ning started the negotiation.
"My father has provisionally agreed to your offer. He will give you enough karmic energy to ascend to Lord along with 100 portions of herbs for Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills. If you return 80 pills to us before the end of the month, he will grant you the energy needed to ascend to King."
I was sure that a look of surprise showed on my face at this point. Even if they had someone track me, handing me 100 sets of Rank 4 herbs felt like a large gamble.
Lord Ning simply smirked at my reaction. "Don't worry. We don't have much reason to fear that you would take the herbs and run away."
That statement definitely made me worry.
Lord Ning ignored my reaction and continued. "This energy will be given on the proviso that you continue supplying us with a modicum of pills for the foreseeable future. My father indicated that you are allowed to use this energy however you see fit. If you find that the energy allocated to raise yourself to King would be best spent establishing a firm foundation as Lord, a new agreement can be reached regarding Rank 5 pills and further energy allotments."
He looked me in the eyes with deep intent. "My father made it very clear that he would be extremely interested in developing a better relationship with Elder Li."
I froze. I didn't expect that lie to catch up to me at this moment.
Ning smiled. He took my reaction as confirmation of his suspicions. "My father has informed me of the Elder's condition, and it is well known he has been looking for a disciple. While his choice seems… odd, it does help explain a few things."
I refused to speak in response to this probing. If I did, they might have a way of detecting any falsehoods. Instead, I changed the topic.
"One month might be difficult. The concoction process won't start until after I have ascended to Lord."
Lord Ning gestured to the servant with one hand. A moment later, a tidal wave of energy slammed into me.
The surge lasted only a few moments, but when it was done, my dantian was filled with far more karmic energy than I needed to reach Martial Lord. I could feel that I had enough energy, but looking at it, the space it took up was much less than I expected.
Probing it, I came to a simple conclusion: This wasn't Lord-level energy.
"Use that sparingly," said Lord Ning, looking at me with a bit of envy. "You should only need about two-thirds of it to form your core. The walls will be much thinner than your cultivation technique calls for. The rest can be used on your breakthrough."
Still in a bit of shock at the quality of the energy I was given, I looked back at him. "Do you have a cultivation technique I should use?"
"Do you need one?" he probed.
I shook my head. "No, but as I understand it, most Rulers would wish me to use one of their choosing so that the domain's karma isn't tainted."
He just found this funny. "Use whatever technique you like. A Lord-level cultivation technique will have little effect."
Not wanting to overstay my welcome, I made my plea to leave. "I look forward to our future cooperation. In one month, I should have everything ready for pick up."
Lord Ning nodded and waved me off.
Ascending to Martial Lord was more difficult than I had expected.
The karmic energy I had been provided with was far more difficult to shape than the Lord-level energy I had used before. I still maintained my belief that since it was unlikely many people had karmic affinities, cultivation techniques reflected this reality and were usable without it.
However, this belief was being challenged by the reality in front of me.
I knew what I needed to try, but first I had to make sure I could handle the obligations I had already agreed to.
"System, raise my water, fire, and metal affinities to peak six-star."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 48 million credits. 34,467,645 credits remaining.
Now to see what was possible.
"How much to raise my affinity for karmic energy to low nine-star?"
Cost 100,000 credits.
A thousand times more than the basic affinities. If it helped, it might be worth the price, but how much of an advantage would a low-level affinity give me?
I sighed. At this point, I didn't have any choice other than to try it out.
"System, permanently raise my affinity for karmic energy to peak eight-star."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 17.6 million credits. 16,867,645 credits remaining.
I hadn't felt much when I raised my basic affinities to peak six-star. I had become used to the sensations of boosting affinities, but raising this affinity to only peak eight-star gave me a tingly… ineffable feeling.
Refocusing, I decided that while I was boosting affinities, I might as well take care of another one that I should have looked into earlier.
"System, how much for a permanent low nine-star space affinity?"
Cost 10 million credits.
I felt my mind go blank for a second.
One hundred thousand times the cost of a basic element. A low nine-star affinity required all the credits I would get from dying as a Martial Lord 1. If the pricing was consistent with others, gaining enough credits to boost a spatial affinity beyond six- or seven-star might be completely impossible.
Having a new thought, I asked another question.
"System, how much for a permanent low nine-star time affinity?"
Cost 10 million credits.
The same, as I expected.
I grimaced. It might be a waste… But I did have the credits to get one of them…
"System, permanently upgrade my space affinity to low nine-star."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 10 million credits. 6,867,645 credits remaining.
I felt my insides twist. I felt a sharp pain in my soul. I fell to the ground unconscious.
Chapter 129 – Life 65, Age 24, Martial Grandmaster Peak
I woke up in my apartment and groggily shook my head.
What had happened to me?
I thought back to the last moment I could remember. I had been improving my affinities, and there was a sudden pain in my soul…
Doing a quick examination of my soul, I didn't notice anything different. It was healed slightly more than the last time I had looked at it closely, but that was the only difference I could find.
Then, I noticed my storage space.
There was a lot of empty space inside. Too much. From what I could tell, its radius had increased by nearly 10%. That might not sound like much, but it meant the volume had increased by 33%. The space inside had increased by well over 100,000 cubic centimeters, and it was still growing at a noticeable pace.
Putting everything together, I realized that gaining a spatial affinity had interacted with the spatial fire seed and my storage space in a strange way that had knocked me unconscious. The result of this wasn't that bad. After all, I got a free expansion to my storage space, but if I enhanced my space affinity in the future, it might cause more severe problems.
To try and play it safe, I asked the System for guidance on the topic, but as expected, every request came back with prices far outside of my budget.
There wasn't much I could do about this. I couldn't exactly tell anyone about the situation, and bringing it up as a hypothetical in front of anyone knowledgeable on the topic would throw up way too many red flags. Hell, I didn't even know who I could possibly ask other than Du XiongMing, and I doubted I would be able to gain an audience with him anytime soon.
I would just have to play it safe. If and when I decided to raise my space affinity, I could look at transferring the fire seed out of my soul to prevent such a situation from happening again. But I wanted to be at least Lord, preferably King, before I started playing around with fire seeds.
Breathing in and out, I refocused my mind. I needed to get to work.
While it felt like I had been unconscious for only a moment, it could've been hours or days. I could have gone to ask somebody what day it was to find out, but the answer wasn't important. No matter how long I was out, it was too long.
I had only been given one month to make 80 Perfect Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills. I didn't have time to lie around.
I looked into my dantian and saw the karmic energy that was waiting for me. I reached out with my mind and started to shape it.
I had hoped that gaining a karmic affinity would make this task simple. All it seemed to have accomplished was reducing the difficulty back to where it was when I used standard Lord-level energy.
That did put creating a core within the realm of possibility though, so following the manual I had used as the Water Groom to the best of my recollection, I began assembling it.
I didn't make any changes or embellishments. I simply made a replica of what I've done in the past. The only difference was that I limited the amount of energy I invested in it based on Lord Ning's instructions.
Once it was complete, I needed to begin filling it with qi.
To accomplish this as quickly as possible, I would ideally use Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills, the same pill I was attempting to ascend to be able to create. I had inquired about purchasing some through the Blue Wind Pavilion, but they were not readily available. I would have to contract a Pill Lord to create them, and that would require a long lead time.
The other way I could cultivate more quickly was to use a Rank 4 Qi Gathering Formation. I had looked into having a formation specialist construct one in my apartment, but the response I got back indicated that it would be impossible.
Formation specialists in the city were not in the habit of building QI Gathering Formations for others. They seemed to have an unwritten agreement between themselves to do no such thing. If I had stronger connections, it might've been possible, but it wasn't something that simple spirit stones could buy.
The reason for this was simple. They had formed a cabal focused on forcing people to rent cultivation rooms. Instead of purchasing permanent formations for 10 or even 100 spirit stones, cultivators were forced to rent a room at a cost of two spirit stones per day.
This was annoying, but it was something I could work with. I asked around about the date and found out that I only had 24 days remaining before the pills were due. I hurried to the closest cultivation pavilion and paid 48 spirit stones to book a room for the rest of the month.
Once seated in the middle of the room's formation, I reached into my storage space and pulled out a Rank 3 Qi Gathering Pill. Its help would be extremely limited considering that I was working on ascending to Lord and that I was already in a Rank 4 formation, but I would take any assistance I could get to make the process faster.
It took me two days to gather the energy needed to break through. When I did, I sent a combination of qi, spirit stone energy, and karmic energy to destroy the chain barring me from Martial Lord 1. The moment the karmic energy touched it, it vaporized like it had never been there.
I felt the world shift as the laws of Heaven and Earth loosened their grip on my body.
As a Lord 1, the first thing I did was to make a Perfect Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pill as efficiently as I could. Previously, I hadn't been able to make such a pill until higher stages, but with my experience, a full suite of peak six-star affinities, and the Profound-Rank Earthflame spirit fire, I was able to pull it off.
Unfortunately, it took me 12 hours to make a single pill.
If I was only making this one pill, I could have reduced this time to somewhere between six and eight hours by burning through my qi at a faster rate. That, however, would have left my dantian empty, and it would have taken a significant amount of time to replenish it. To complete the entire eighty-pill order in as little time as possible, I needed to match the rate I burned through qi with my regeneration rate.
I only knew of two options that could speed up the process.
The first was to use the Profound-Rank spatial fire seed. As I had learned, it was much less energy intensive, and much quicker, to use a fire seed instead of a spirit fire when concocting pills. However, I knew I wouldn't be able to control it anywhere near well enough for high-level alchemy. Aside from that, I had an instinctive fear of the seed being detected by others, so I wanted to keep it as hidden as possible.
My only other option, then, was to advance. As a Lord 2, my qi would be slightly more powerful and would regenerate at a slightly faster rate. Also, my will-lock would improve, giving it more control and strength.
I used the pill I had made and cultivated as quickly as I could for the next 12 hours. With the combination of the Qi Gathering Formation and Pill, my cultivation base increased at a rapid pace, but trying to break through to Lord 2 in only a matter of days would be impossible. I could do it in a month, but not in only a couple of days.
This experiment had given me a new idea, though.
The limitations on my speed were the strength of my will and the rate at which I could recover qi. I couldn't do anything about the first, and being in the gathering formation already helped with the second. However, the formation only increased the amount of ambient energy available. The pill increased the speed at which that ambient energy entered my body.
I made another gathering pill as quickly as I could and consumed it. With its effects boosting me, I was able to concoct a pill in only six hours while still matching my burn rate to my regeneration rate. This was good news, but the effect of a single pill only lasted for 12 hours.
If I went with this strategy, a third of the pills I made would be used up in the concoction process. The Ning Clan might be willing to consider the lost third as the cost of doing business and only require me to hand over 80% of the remaining pills, but I very much doubted it.
This setback didn't make me despair. I still found a potential avenue to meet my deadline. I had 20 days. If I could make a pill every six hours I would be able to make 80 pills. That meant no sleep, but I could manage that through other pills. I just needed something that would help me gather qi more quickly.
Without a better idea in mind, I opened Emperor Li's book in my mental library and began searching through it for recipes.
After advancing to Lord once more, I found that some of the passages that had once been inscrutable had revealed themselves to me. After a few hours of careful searching, I found what I needed, a Rank 4 Qi Replenishing Pill.
The gathering pill was useful for advancing one's cultivation, but the replenishing pill was useful for daily activities. Its effects lasted for an entire 48 hours, meaning I would save money by not having to take as many of them, but its power was significantly worse. It was most effective at low energy levels, but even then, the boost it provided was only about half what a gathering pill could do. Using one would help, but it wouldn't allow me to meet my deadline.
The Emperor's book, though, contained a special recipe for a variant of the replenishing pill. Its effects were only good for 36 hours, but as long as my body contained less than 10% of its maximum qi capacity, the effects of this pill would be increased to be roughly 50% stronger than a gathering pill.
This was of course good news. I just had to be able to get the ingredients for said pill.
At the Pavilion, I found out the price for each set would be eight spirit stones. This made me wince, but I still handed over a large number of the pills that I had made in my previous life for several sets of herbs.
Living on Fasting Pills so I wouldn't have to eat, Restoration Pills so I wouldn't have to sleep, and Replenishing Pills so I wouldn't run out of energy, I slaved away in the pill room for sixteen days. The additional boost from the Replenishing Pills was helpful, but I was still only able to average five pills per day.
Lord Ning hadn't told me any specifics for which element the pills should target, so I decided to make sixteen for each of the basic elements. This might not have been what he wanted, but it met the brief I was given.
I spent my final days in the chamber converting the remaining herbs into earth-based pills for my own future use.
When an attendant knocked on the door to inform me that my allotted time had expired, I breathed out a sigh of relief. My time there had been way too stressful.
Thirty days after my visit to the Ning mansion, the same servant as before knocked on my door once more. I welcomed him inside to conduct our exchange.
I handed him a small storage bag I had purchased to make the transaction smoother.
"80 Perfect Rank 4 Qi Gathering Pills. As the element wasn't specified, there are 16 of each."
He took the bag and nodded in slight acknowledgment. After pausing strangely for several seconds, he tapped a small stone on his wrist.
I was bombarded by a flood of energy. My mind went blank at the onslaught. When I recovered, I found that I was sprawled on the floor.
"Please, allow me to assist you, Lord Su."
The servant reached down and carefully helped me stand.
Blinking in confusion, I looked inside my dantian and saw a storm of karmic energy inside. There was nearly no room left for qi. I wanted to complain that this would cause problems with my daily activities, but I suddenly realized that with so much of my dantian blocked off, the Qi Replenishing Pills would always be operating at their highest efficiency.
I decided to accept this situation as a win.
"Thank you." I gave the servant a slight bow.
"I was instructed to tell you that the energy you have been provided is sufficient to either advance from Martial Lord 1 to Martial Lord 9 or to advance from Martial Lord Peak to Martial King. The choice is yours. If you require more energy in the future, another deal can be arranged. If you decide to use this energy to advance to Martial King, you should use 50% on your core and 50% on your breakthrough."
He reached into his storage bag and took out a small book.
"This contains the list of pills we would like you to concoct for us as per the ongoing portion of our arrangement. We, unfortunately, do not have a list of every ingredient needed. If you can provide us with such a list, we will procure them for you as our arrangement specifies."
I flipped through the book and found that it was asking for dozens of different types of pills.
"This…" Had I really agreed to do so much? We hadn't specified how many pills I would be making for them after the first batch. If this was what they were expecting…
"We understand that an alchemist's time is valuable. We would request you choose one pill every other month. We will provide ten portions of herbs. At the end of the second month, I will arrive to take our portion and deliver herbs for the next pill you choose. Our only request is that you choose a different pill each time."
I narrowed my eyes. These terms were incredibly suspicious. They were clearly still testing me. It worked in my favor, though.
I flipped open the book and quickly chose one of the simpler pills that I could concoct without spending too much time and energy on it. I needed to save as much of that for myself as I could.
The servant handed me a piece of paper, and I wrote out the necessary herbs.
"Very well, Lord Su. Do you require anything else before I depart?"
"N—" I was about to dismiss him, but I caught myself in time. There was indeed something I needed, but I was a little afraid to ask for it.
"I… need a Rank 5 cultivation technique."
The servant smiled, reached into his bag, and pulled out a small black book.
"This was anticipated. I have been permitted to sell this manual to you."
I wanted to rub my temples. I felt a headache coming on. "How much?"
"The price is simple. Every additional pill you were able to make with the ingredients previously provided."
I couldn't help it. A laugh bubbled up from deep inside of me. I reached into my storage bag to hide that I was taking several pill bottles out of my storage space.
I passed him the remaining 18 pills.
"Is that all of them?"
"Y—" I caught myself again. "No. I have already consumed two."
The servant paused. "Very well. Those pills will be considered irrecoverable."
He passed me the cultivation technique.
"Good day, Lord Su."
Chapter 130 – Life 65, Age 24, Martial Lord 1
After completing the initial phase of my deal with the Ning Clan, I no longer had to worry about meeting any hard deadlines. I only had two more years before my self-imposed ten-year limit, but I wouldn't let an arbitrary goal dictate my actions overly much. I would reap the harvest I had sown.
But before pushing myself further, I needed a short break. I had spent four years deep in cultivation and the last month scrambling to complete a near-impossible mission. I was running on fumes at this point and needed a short downtime, so I decided to go shopping.
While South Gate City was a major city connected to the Nine Rivers Sect, it wasn't a major economic center. South Gate was an important destination for wealthier scions from all over the continent since it was the primary training center for youths wishing to enter the sect, but it was also located only a few days' ride from Blue Wind City, where the Pavilion's headquarters were located. This drew most of the potential business opportunities away from South Gate.
I considered visiting Blue Wind City myself but decided I should put it off until a future life. I had already gotten into a mess because I had leaned on Emperor Li's token, and going to Blue Wind City right now wouldn't help matters.
In any case, while South Gate might not have the variety of goods Blue Wind would, it did have things that appealed to me. Since the city was focused around training students, several stores specialized in selling things that students aiming to enter the Nine Rivers Sect would need.
This brought to mind an important question: Where were they getting their spirit fires? These were students who were being trained in at least Master-level professions. Rank 2 professions, Rank 2 alchemy at least, required the use of a spirit fire.
Where did the students get their spirit fires? Sure, they could've all been given to them by their families before they came here, but this city was focused on selling goods to students. Was there a place students could go to purchase them?
I found it in an upscale part of the city, a store called 'The Crimson Flame.'
When I first saw the place, I thought it was more of a temple than a storefront. The ground floor was large and rectangular, with the walls made of bright marble. Atop this base, was a massive dome made from a silvery metal that shone in the afternoon sun. To either side of the entrance were two-meter-tall phoenix statues made of pure bronze.
When I walked inside, I was greeted by an elegant woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She wore a bright red qipao dress with gold embroidery. Her fingernails were long and lacquered, and at least a couple of pounds of gold jewelry weighed her down.
The store sold a wide variety of spirit flames for all nine elements as well as space. The cheapest fires were those composed of multiple elements, with the least expensive of them being a five-element spirit flame. While a multi-element flame had benefits for people with the right affinities, the number of potential users was significantly smaller since one needed affinities for every element in the flame to control it properly, so they were in less demand.
Yellow-Rank spirit fires ranged from 1,000 to 100,000 gold, depending on the specifics of the flame. Profound-Rank fires ranged from 10 to 10,000 spirit stones, with the most expensive being the four pure fires connected to the secondary elements.
While most of the Yellow-Rank flames were freely available to be purchased, the Profound-Rank flames were not kept in stock. After a purchase was made, the store would contact the seller, likely the holder of a fire seed, and arrange delivery. If a particular spirit fire was too popular, there might be a waitlist, but the store seemed to be doing its best to manage this through price controls.
The attendant only laughed when I asked about the possibility of purchasing a fire seed. Even if a clan were in dire straits, they would rarely consider selling one and never on the open market. Selling a seed's fires was an economic lifeline that kept several clans afloat, and they wouldn't want to lose that for a one-time benefit.
I wanted to buy every spirit fire in the shop, but I didn't have enough room in my storage space to hold everything, and even if I did, I didn't have the cash reserves to do so. I wasn't in a place to make any big purchases just yet, but I noted the store down as a place to visit once more before I died.
Putting my brief downtime behind me, I rented a new formation-enchanted cultivation chamber and restarted my ascent.
Since I was no longer in a rush to make pills, I no longer needed to use Qi Replenishing Pills in my alchemy, but with nearly my entire dantian occupied by karmic energy, I found that they had a surprisingly good effect on cultivation.
To advance as a Lord, a cultivator needed to inject qi into their core, slowly building up the accumulated energy within. This was much easier with a full dantian because there would be more pressure to assist with the process.
In my condition, over 90% of my dantian was filled with karmic energy, so when it was full, I only had about 7 or 8% of my maximum potential qi reserves. This meant that I benefited both from the effects of a full dantian and the increased duration and efficacy Emperor Li's variant Qi Replenishing Pills had on depleted dantians.
With the multi-element technique I had practiced in the past, this wouldn't have been the case. That technique used a set of three dantians with one dedicated solely to karmic energy. But with this single-element technique, I only had one. Karmic energy and qi were stored side by side with the core in the center.
I had to sell a few pills to pay for cultivation resources, but working through the Pavilion, I contracted an herbalist to provide me with a steady stream of ingredients to make pills both for myself and for use as trade goods.
Under the constant effects of both the formation and the pills, I was able to break through to Lord 2 in only a month and a half. My breakthrough felt very different from those of the past. After the energy in my core shattered the world and opened a hole to what lay beyond, I threw only qi and spirit stone energy at the chains binding me.
The energy was able to slice through them, freeing me, but the chain didn't shatter. It almost felt as if the weight of the severed chains settled onto my energy body, encumbering it. The difference wasn't very noticeable, but my qi became slightly more sluggish.
I had already known I would have to pay a penalty for breaking through without using karmic energy, though, so I didn't let myself focus on the negatives.
After that, each subsequent breakthrough took longer, and the weight my energy body was forced to bear only increased. I was advancing and getting stronger, but because of this metaphysical weight, the speed at which I could concoct pills was slowing down.
My will-lock was stronger, so I could do things that had previously been impossible, but my slowed qi made it more difficult to do the work quickly and efficiently. It was a tradeoff that I would have to consider carefully in the future, but while the sluggish qi was annoying, it didn't prevent me from working and advancing. It only slowed me.
Five years later, I finally reached Peak Lord once more. That was longer than I had hoped, but it was acceptable.
According to the manual provided by the Ning Clan, a normal advancement to Martial King involved infusing the core with King-level karmic energy, slowly reinforcing the existing Lord-level energy.
A piece of paper that had been stuffed into the book noted that such a process would not be necessary for me. I just needed to build out my existing core.
With nothing more reliable to work from, I followed the instructions and got to cultivating. Strengthening my core went relatively quickly since I already had the necessary karmic energy, and I was done in only a few days.
Then, I had to fill the core with qi.
This took much longer than I had hoped. Enhancing my core had been a process of compressing and molding the karmic energy I had been storing. While my core had increased to several times its original size, it was still relatively small compared to my dantian. This freed up a significant amount of extra room to store more qi. That might be considered a good thing, but it meant I no longer received the same benefits from the Qi Replenishing Pills. Instead, I had to switch back to regular Gathering Pills.
It took six more months of constant cultivation, but the world finally cracked once more.
I braided my qi, karmic energy, and spirit stone energy together and threw the combination at the chain holding me back from becoming a King.
Where this spear of energy should have stuck out with great force and power, it only slowly slid forward. The remnants of my Lord-level chains weighed it down.
If this had been a normal breakthrough, I was certain that the sluggishness of the spear would have led to my failure and I would have only ascended to False King, but this breakthrough wasn't exactly normal.
The karmic energy that I had been given wasn't from a kingdom. It slammed into the chain and instantly made it crack. As I poured in more and more energy, the cracks expanded rapidly.
When I was nearly spent, the chain finally shattered.
I felt a strange shift in the world as its laws fell away.
For the first time, I was a true Martial King.
Relaxing slightly after my breakthrough, I realized that I wasn't too interested in exploring my new capabilities. I was ready to get back to school and put this period of ceaseless cultivation behind me.
Still, even though I felt that way, I didn't rush to bring this life to a close just yet. I needed to push as far as I could.
Breaking through further as a Martial King was a painfully slow pursuit. There were no Rank 5 formations available in the city, and I had no information at all about Rank 5 alchemy, so I could only use Rank 4 pills and formations. Reaching the Limit of King 1 took me four more years, and when I did break through, I barely managed it. The chain seemed to have been made from solid steel, and I only barely managed to pry it apart.
Going any further was impossible. I had to accept that my path of cultivation had come to an end.
After that, with my cultivation level higher than it had ever been before, I spent another month dedicated to expanding my storage space as much as possible. I was assisted by Rank 4 formations and pills as well as my new spatial affinity, but the weight of all the broken chains slowed me tremendously.
After a month, the space grew to a sphere with a radius close to 85 centimeters with a volume of over two and a half cubic meters. I filled it with copious amounts of gold and spirit stones as well as a wide variety of Rank 1 to 4 pills.
I had returned to the spirit fire store a few years earlier to place orders for the highest quality Profound-Rank flames available in each of the nine elements. It took a significant amount of extra effort to make all the necessary pills to afford them, but I considered it time well spent.
I still had a bit of extra room, and I would have liked to have stored a few Rank 5 manuals in that space, but the only one I had was from the Ning Clan and I didn't know how to get more. Instead, since I was playing the role of a formation specialist at school, I filled it up with a variety of simple items needed for Rank 1 and 2 formations so that I would always have them on hand.
The final task that I gave myself was to learn a bit about what happened to my classmates over the past several years. My presence would affect their outcomes, but it would be good to know the path they would otherwise have gone down.
I paid an intelligence service to look into them and tell me anything they could. For Zhuge Yan, that was nothing at all. They refused to take the case. For the others, I got at least a few pieces of important information.
Five years after the end of our classes, Shi YuLong and Chai JiaQi had left the academy and returned to their hometowns. It was unclear if they didn't qualify for further courses, ran out of resources to pay for them, or something else had happened.
I would see if I could help them out next time, but it was Lin LiTing's fate that bothered me. She died two years after I left. She was participating in a regular spar between classes and her opponent 'accidentally' struck her a fatal blow. There could have been several reasons for this, but my bet was that it was related to her profession. The school had punished the offending student, but I found it hard to believe he had acted on his own initiative.
If I wanted to prevent this from happening again, I would need to be on guard at all times. I knew roughly when she died, and I knew the name of the boy who killed her, but I didn't know when the events that led to her death would have occurred. Preventing that one boy from acting would be meaningless. I needed to try and prevent her from being targeted in the first place.
I returned to my apartment and sat down in the middle of the main room. I breathed in and out, preparing myself to return to the Academy.
That was the moment that my front door burst apart, and a very angry-looking man appeared.
"So, you are this disciple I've been told I have. I should thank Elder Ning for letting me know about you."
I looked at Emperor Li in shock. In my mind, he was a kindly old man, but at this moment, he gave off the impression of a true Emperor. He stood tall and proud with flowing white robes draped over his form. His long white hair fell behind him in a braid, and a small golden diadem adorned his brow.
"You will be coming with me to explain yourself. I am interested to know more about this copy of my token you seem to possess. I am very, veryinterested to know how you came to learn all my personal recipes."
How would that conversation go? I had no idea, and at that moment, I didn't want to find out.
I reached into my storage space and quickly made a poison pill appear in my mouth.
The Emperor's eyes narrowed immediately, and he flicked a finger.
The pill didn't dissolve like it should have. It was locked in place by the Emperor's will.
My eyes widened in panic.
"None of that now. Come along peacefully."
I pushed on his will-lock, but as a weakened King, I had no chance of overpowering an Emperor.
Then, I reached deeper. My spatial affinity activated. It wasn't much, but when my weak King-level will combined with my spatial affinity, it gave me just enough strength to create a tiny crack in a small piece of the Emperor's lock. That was enough.
Poison trickled into my body, and the Emperor could only look on in shock.
Because of the slow release of the poison, I didn't die quickly, but the poison's strength meant that I was already beyond saving.
As I started to fade, I saw Li's eyes unfocus. He shook his head sadly, turned around, and looked off into the distance.
"Is this all part of your game? What are you playing at? Why would you put this child in a position where he would kill himself?"
You have died. Calculating…
You died as a Martial King 2. 2 billion credits awarded.
Total Credits: 2,006,867,645
Affinities
Peak Six-Star – Earth, Wood, Water, Fire, Metal
Peak Seven-Star – Wind, Lightning, Light, Dark
Peak Eight-Star – Karmic Energy
Low Nine-Star – Space
Mental Library (Updates)
Touch Reading – Rank 2
Comprehension Boosts (Updates)
Professions:
Martial – 10,000,000 credits
Complete Status
Chapter 131 – Life 66, Age 20, Martial Disciple Peak
I reappeared in my dormitory. The moments leading up to my death had been hectic, so I sat down and took some time to process them.
The Ning Clan had contacted Emperor Li and told him about our arrangement. Whether that contact had been made out of suspicion or gratitude, it had resulted in the Emperor showing up in front of me in a rather foul mood. His appearance was something I should've planned for, and I could do better next time, but what had me worried was his timing.
He appeared right as I was getting ready to trigger a reset on my own.
This precise timing could be explained by his blessing. I wasn't aware of its specifics, but I knew it had something to do with timing. If the Emperor's blessing dictated when he appeared, that might mean that I didn't need to worry too much about him appearing unexpectedly to cause me problems, but it also meant he may have known about my existence for a long time.
For all I knew, even though he credited 'Elder Ning,' he might have already been informed about my use of his token years earlier. In that case, I wouldn't be able to avoid his scrutiny even if I didn't work with the Ning Clan.
Should I try walking the same path again? It would be dangerous, but it would also be rewarding. As long as events played out in a similar way, I would be safe.
Still, the only reason that was the case was because of my space affinity. That thought made me want to upgrade it further, but I was also afraid of the side effects. If it just knocked me out, I could work with that. Even if it was for more than a couple of days, I could manage the situation. But if increasing my space affinity to higher levels led to more serious issues, I could be in real trouble.
Before increasing it, I wanted to first remove the spatial fire seed from my soul to try and avoid any negative effects. That should wait until I returned to at least Martial Lord, though, since I would want to have a Ruler's will-lock ability before experimenting with spirit fire seeds.
After noting this down as a future task, I allowed myself to focus on moving forward.
There were two weeks until the end of my Disciple-level classes, and I had a few library tokens to spend in the meantime. I could save them, but I didn't see any real reason to wait. I would need to get into the Rank 2 martial earth technique room to prepare for classes anyway.
But before that…
"System, establish a new secondary reset point for me."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 35,840 credits. 2,006,831,805 credits remaining.
It was late in the day when I arrived at the library. The librarian gave me a bit of a sour look, but he didn't say anything and allowed me to enter.
I didn't spend much time looking around. I went directly to the Rank 2 martial earth technique room and copied everything inside as I had done previously. I noticed a few more Earth-Rank techniques than there had been in the lower-level room, but I settled on taking away the Mountain Destroying Fist.
At a glance, I could see that it was simply an alteration to the Rank 1 technique I already had which would allow it to work better with a Master's meridians. I could've chosen an entirely new technique to use, but relying on what I already knew seemed like the sensible path to take.
Of course, since I copied all the scrolls into my mental library, I didn't have to completely limit myself to this one technique. This choice was just about which one I would be allowed to openly display.
Making an allowance for future contingencies, I decided not to use my remaining two Rank 1 tokens and quickly left after retrieving the Rank 2 scroll.
I considered going to Yan's room at this point, but my mental state was still a bit off. I might not be able to play the role of the boy he had talked to earlier that day convincingly, so I decided to just see what would happen in class the next day.
In the morning, Instructor Sun greeted us with his usual stoic demeanor.
"The techniques you all picked up yesterday should benefit you over your next few years of study. However, they are not what you will be using for the remainder of your time in this class."
He reached into the storage and pulled out several small books. "These are basic Low-Yellow Rank 2s. Use them as references and cultivate as quickly as you are able. To qualify for the Master-level courses, you must be a Martial Master. These techniques will allow you to accomplish that. The higher the stage you reach before admissions, the more resources you will be granted to help you advance further."
He looked around at all of us but gave me a particularly poignant look. "You may help each other through this process. This is not training. This is a test to see how well you are able to cultivate. If you spend time helping your classmates, they will receive more benefits. If you spend that time on yourself instead, you will receive more."
He turned to leave us alone in the classroom, but I spoke up to stop him.
"Instructor Sun, can you please clarify? Is there anything this is testing other than the speed at which we advance through the Master realm? As long as we reach as high as possible, it will be considered a success, correct? There are no other hidden conditions?"
He narrowed his eyes at me. "There are no hidden conditions. This test is only about your ability to understand a new Master-level technique and cultivate it quickly. You must use the technique you were given, and you are not allowed to use outside resources. If you want to use formations, you have to make them yourselves. If you want pills, make them yourselves."
I nodded. "Thank you, instructor."
After Sun left, I turned to look at Zhuge Yan.
"Should I do everything possible?"
His face turned contemplative. "The instructor indicated that you could. It's not clear if you should though. If helping us hurts your own advancement, those losses might outweigh any gains the rest of us get from it."
"Don't worry about that." I smiled at him and turned to the others. "Has everyone begun practicing forming meridians?"
We hadn't had any classes on the topic yet, but we all knew what was coming. I expected everyone would have at least attempted it.
"No," said JiaQi. "I didn't have a Rank 2 manual."
YuLong shrugged. "Me neither. Didn't see the point of jumping ahead of what they were teaching us. Wasn't that supposed to corrupt our foundation or something?"
That would make things difficult, but fortunately, LiTing and Yan at least had the basic skills down.
"Alright, you all start studying your techniques. I'll get things prepared."
Turning away, I pretended to reach into my storage bag while taking out several small limestone squares from my storage space. Since I had the extra room, I had stored a few formation supplies just in case, but I hadn't expected to need them so soon.
Limestone was more resistant to qi than granite or sandstone, so it made for a solid base for Rank 2 formations.
My grasp of Rank 2 formation knowledge was somewhat lacking when compared to where my Rank 1 knowledge now was, but during my time spent with the Hu Clan, we had covered the basics. Rank 2 Qi Gathering Formations were pretty basic.
Using the Cold Mountain Fire, I began carving the complex lines necessary for the formation. This wasn't too much different from the Rank 1 version. What mainly set it apart were additional qi vortices to increase energy flow and a stronger barrier to contain all the extra energy. To accomplish this, limestone was needed because the increased energy flow would cause something like granite to just break apart.
Without meridians to transfer energy around my body easily, supplying enough qi to the Cold Mountain Fire to carve out the entire formation was difficult. Instead of guiding everything through my right hand, I had to constantly switch between different body parts to access further qi reserves.
Once it was complete, I activated the formation and stepped inside.
My qi was quickly replenished, and I started studying the technique I had been given. The meridians it formed wouldn't align with my natural qi flows, which bothered me, but that was probably part of the lesson. Even though we were told this was only a test, I didn't doubt there would still be some lesson involved.
Sitting there, I did a bit of mental math. Last life, I was able to hit Martial Master Peak in a year and a half using a Peak-Yellow technique. How much would using a Low-Yellow technique shorten that gap? Could I reach the peak in four months? Five?
In any case, reaching Peak Master in only two weeks was out of the question if I strictly followed the cultivation technique's guidance.
I held out my hand and started crafting practice meridians.
Meridians were made of several strands of qi braided together to form tubes. The braid pattern and the structure of the strands were what separated a Low-Yellow technique from a Peak-Yellow. We were supposed to follow the technique given to us, but how closely did we have to 'follow' it?
I began stretching out the weave pattern and thinning the strands of qi. When the strands were nearly as fine as gossamer, they snapped. Working again, I stretched the strands back out and wove them as loosely as I possibly could.
Looking at my work, I knew it wouldn't be able to hold even the slightest bit of energy. If I tried to channel qi through meridians like this, they would leak like a sieve, and if I kept pushing, they would quickly shred to pieces. That was fine. I would still technically be a Martial Master. I wasn't sure if even my System would recognize such an advancement, but this would meet the basic definition of having formed two meridians.
I began cultivating for advancement, and in only an hour, both of my torso meridians were complete, and I advanced to what could charitably be called Martial Master 1.
I spent another eight hours cultivating and reached Martial Master Peak. At least, I called it Peak Master. I had all twelve meridians in my body. They were unusable, but they did exist.
With my advancement complete, I returned to the others. They were still working diligently at practicing this new technique so that they wouldn't mess it up.
"Alright," I said, looking at them. "I've advanced to Peak Master. Now, we just need to get you all there too."
They looked at me in shock as I explained the plan.
"You do realize that Instructor Sun didn't promise us pills to purge this cultivation, right?" asked Shi YuLong warily. "What if he doesn't give us one after this test is over?"
I grinned. "That's the best part. Because of how little qi is bound up in these meridians, and how loose the weave is, you will be able to disperse them easily. Don't expect purging pills in the future. They are mostly for removing impurities. For removing meridians, you will have to slowly pick apart the weave yourself. Using such flimsy meridians will only make the process easier."
While I wasn't able to directly create meridians for the others, these pseudo-meridians didn't take much time or practice to master. YuLong took the longest, but we were all able to create a full set of twelve meridians days before our two weeks were over.