Chapter 138 – Life 66, Age 21, Martial Master 3
During my debriefing, the quick boost to my fire affinity seemed to only anger Instructor Yuan, and she once more called for me to change my cultivation technique. I again demurred. I wanted to see if I was right about it raising my affinity permanently.
After she gave up on trying to convince me to change my technique, she wanted me to talk through what I experienced inside the Trial. I knew this was her main job as our instructor, but I wanted to avoid talking about my alchemy ability, so I glossed over almost everything. Frustrated by my lack of cooperation, she angrily sent me away.
Once the meeting was over, I met with my classmates once more to discuss our experiences.
YuLong was sitting with a hangdog expression on his face. "The Fire Peak is hell. I was able to get through the first levels easily with Fang's formations, but after that, there were things made out of pure fire. How am I supposed to smash something made out of fire!? I used the trap formations to get by the first few, but after that, I couldn't do anything."
I patted him on the shoulder to console him. "I'll think about what I can do for you. I might be able to make something that will let you deal with those creatures better next time."
Zhuge Yan shook his head. "Don't bother. The Trial changes each time you go in. At least, the Dark Peak Trial changes. Use what you learned to think of new strategies, but don't focus too much on creating solutions for only what you saw this time."
I nodded in agreement and then turned to LiTing and JiaQi. "You two went to grab some treasures, right? Get anything good?"
JiaQi's face broke out into a grin, and she placed a large egg on the table.
"Not sure what she is, but she was my reward for clearing ten stages. Hopefully she grows up fast enough to help me with the Trials, but even if not, she'll still be a strong beast in the future."
YuLong cocked his head to the side. "How do you know it's a she?"
JiaQi blinked. "Because I'm a girl."
I had nothing to say to that, so I turned to LiTing.
"Get anything good?"
Her face was anxious, but she took out her trophy.
It was a hammer.
It wasn't a war hammer. It was a smith's hammer.
YuLong grinned approvingly. "That will help you in the Earth Trial."
"Just make sure no one sees it," said Yan. "You should use it to your advantage but try to hide it from everyone other than the Trial's elder. I don't think you could sneak it past him."
I looked at LiTing's worried face and decided to come clean about my spoils as well. I place the alchemy cauldron on the table.
"LiTing, can you take a look at this? I got it from the Fire Peak Trial."
They were all surprised, but JiaQi spoke first. "Your fire affinity was already five-star? Why are you cultivating earth?"
"No… I… I passed the thirtieth stage. This was my reward."
YuLong slapped me on the back of the head.
"Why didn't you say anything when I was moaning about how hard it was? Now I look like an idiot."
I started to worry, but I could see that he was just having fun.
After studying the cauldron, LiTing spoke in a calm, measured voice. "This is a Rank 3 refined cauldron. I don't know how good the formations are, you would know more about them than me, but they could be up to Rank 4. You should hide it. Pill Lords will kill for a cauldron like this. Even Kings might get jealous."
"Thank you, I understand."
If the sect was giving out treasures like this to Masters, they couldn't be too rare there, but I well knew that Rulers in the outside world didn't have access to such things. I pretended to place the cauldron into my storage bag, but I instead moved a large volume of gold and pill bottles into my bag from my storage space and placed the cauldron securely into the space in my soul.
After meeting with my classmates, I went to my room for a bit of privacy. There was something I was hoping to find out.
"System, how much would it cost to make my current fire affinity permanent?"
Processing… The cost of knowing this cost is 10 million credits.
That seemed strange… I had been told the cost of knowledge was based on the effect it would have on the flow of karma, or something like that.
I was already relatively certain I would be making this affinity permanent. I would need to buy it at some point anyway, and there was no reason to waste a discount if one was available. The only reason I might not do so was if there was no discount at all.
Was the System telling me there was no discount? That didn't seem right. Was the cost only there because of my uncertainty? This also seemed questionable.
10 million was little enough that I was willing to splurge to see what the System was up to.
"Purchase the knowledge of the cost."
Purchase confirmed. 1,896,831,805 credits remaining.
Cost of permanent mid five-star affinity is 325,056,129 credits.
The cost should have been 350 million, and the value of a temporary affinity would have been 35 million. So, it wasn't a perfect conversion of the temporary affinity into a discount. A 25 million credit discount wasn't much, especially when I just squandered 10 million of it, but I would take it.
The only slightly confusing thing was that it wasn't an even 25 million. Why was there an extra 50 thousand tacked onto the price?
I shook my head and dismissed questions I couldn't answer. Well, questions I didn't want to pay to answer.
"System, make my fire affinity permanent."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 325,056,147 credits. 1,571,775,658 credits remaining.
I felt a shift in my body, but I didn't pay much attention to it because I was distracted by the message about my purchase. Why did the cost increase?
"System, why did the cost increase?"
Unable to calculate the cost of the answer at this time.
This made me curse a bit, but there was nothing I could do about it. Likely, the answer was tied up in the secret of how essence affected the body to raise affinities.
I was potentially raising my earth affinity permanently, so it seemed like essence and affinities could somehow affect the soul. That was the only way I could think of to make affinities permanent. I could only guess that this purchase was discounted because it was taking free essence from my body and shoving it into my soul.
For some reason, when my cultivation technique was developed, it was made in such a way that it pulled the essence from the environment and pushed it into my soul instead of my body. For me, this resulted in its effects remaining after a reset, but for regular people, it seemed to only increase the amount of essence they needed to improve their affinities.
Possibly, this technique was designed like this because it was the only way to draw in environmental essence without it being purified first. It was also possible that drawing essence into the soul to raise affinities had some additional effect that I didn't know about, making this method more desirable. It was even possible that the Earthly Dao had specifically seeded these techniques for me, or someone like me, to take advantage of.
I just didn't have enough knowledge about how it all worked, and since the System refused to answer any questions on the topic, I would have to leave it for the future.
Putting the matter of essence and affinities to the side, I took out my new cauldron and studied it.
In energy vision, I could see that the thing was brimming with power, but I could only guess what it was all for. While I understood a few snippets of the formations, and even more looked somewhat familiar, they were so compressed and distorted that I couldn't be sure. I would need to experiment to get a better understanding of what I was looking at.
After placing it back into my storage space, I tried to center myself. I had a lot of work to do, and that list seemed to only keep growing.
As our group focused on gaining the strength and knowledge to progress further in the Nine Rivers Sect's Trials, time passed quickly.
During our third expedition, I chose to go back to the Earth Peak Trial but failed out on stage sixteen. The formations I was creating helped, but if I wanted to have any chance at locking in a permanent increase to my earth affinity through the Trial, I would have to do better.
The Earth Peak Trial should have been easier since I was able to cultivate to restore my energy inside, but that didn't help too much in the end. The problem was the time limit. Cultivating to restore my energy was fine and all, but it ate up way too much time. Since I had to defeat enemies in this Trial, every level chewed through a good portion of my energy.
In my debriefing, Instructor Yuan didn't even bring up my cultivation technique. She just talked me through the problems I had and tried to point me toward potential solutions. As she pointed out, and I already knew, my biggest problem was the rate at which I was burning through my energy. I could either try to use less of it or try to regenerate it faster.
I had kept my alchemy secret from my group, and I believed it was for good reason. But if I wanted to give myself, and them, the best chance of moving forward that I could, I needed to be more open about what I could do. We needed Qi Restoration Pills.
When signing up for this term's classes, I had overpaid by quite a bit, and it was time to put the money that had been 'credited to my account' to use. A week after our third Trial attempt, I put the I went into the city and used that credit to purchase a large quantity of herbs. After bringing them back to my room, I concocted a multitude of useful pills with my new cauldron.
I tried to use this time to figure out what the purpose of having a refined cauldron was and what the formations all did, but I wasn't too impressed. The cauldron seemed to improve my ability to control energy and make it more efficient, but such things were completely unnecessary for me at this level. I would have to wait until higher ranks to see if the cauldron gave me any real benefits or not.
Considering Instructor Yuan's previous words about it being good that we didn't have pills to cultivate, I didn't provide the group with any Meridian Builder Pills. Instead, I focused on making pills that would help us train at a higher intensity for longer, mainly those focused on healing and recovery. I also created a bevy of pills and formations that might be useful during our next Trial.
When I presented everything to the group, everyone, except Yan, was in shock.
"I guess that explains why you got a cauldron," grumbled JiaQi.
"I did the best I could to think through several scenarios. Helping you all 'cut' better in the Metal Peak Trial was a little beyond me, but these should be sufficient for the other four central peaks."
I held up a fist-sized stone with an alchemical glue on one side. Developing a glue that would stick to damn near any surface had taken far more time than creating the formation had. I didn't know how to concoct a liquid or if it was even possible with this world's alchemy, so I ended up grinding up a pill and mixing it with a natural resin.
"This is a shaped charge. I have them for all five basic elements. They are preloaded with qi, so you just have to push in a little more and they will go off. Use a wood charge on a rock monster. It should be an instant kill."
"You know," said YuLong, looking at the table full of items. "This feels like cheating. Isn't the Trial supposed to be testing our abilities? Not sure that's going to happen if we take all this stuff with us."
Zhuge Yan smirked. "No. This is what they want. It isn't a test of our ability to cultivate or fight. It is a test of our ability to progress and grow as cultivators. Do you think being friends with someone who is both an Alchemy Master and a Formation Master will give you a better chance to grow as a cultivator?"
He gave me a look of chagrin. "Just being in a class with Fang gives us an advantage both now and in the future. This is the outcome they expect. We are just using our classmate's abilities to advance as far as we can."
JiaQi looked at him. "So… it's just about luck? Anyone placed in a class with the most talented student gets a free ride. And they want this outcome?"
Yan nodded. "Luck is a valuable commodity for a cultivator, but it's more than just that. We aren't here randomly. Both Grandmasters Ning and Yuan selected us to be in this class. This is also a test of their foresight in assembling such a group. Admittedly, I doubt they expected a single person to provide both pills and formations, but I am confident we are not the only class that has unique advantages in the Trials."
The others were stunned at these words, so Yan continued. "I'm sure there is a ceiling to the amount of help we can get from Fang. Maybe they will only allow this in the Master Trials, but for now at least, this is what they are looking for."
Those words resolved everyone's doubts. Allowing us to move forward together with confidence.
Chapter 139 – Life 66, Age 22, Martial Master 5
Before my fourth Trial attempt, Yan made a suggestion. Unlike Instructor Yuan, he didn't encourage me to give up cultivating essence, but he wanted me to get a safety net so that I didn't have to worry if I failed to raise my earth affinity to mid five-star. His solution was for me to challenge the Wood Peak Trial.
None of us knew what the Wood Peak Trial would entail, so I had to prepare carefully.
Using both my Rank 2 token and one I borrowed from JiaQi, I entered the wood libraries and grabbed all of their techniques. I also took tokens donated by LiTing and Yan to enter the metal libraries.
To round things out, YuLong gave me two tokens to use on the water libraries. I didn't need anything from there myself, but I wanted to try to use a water-based formation to help him with the Fire Peak Trial. Because of the qi situation in the Trials, the formations would have to be charged before entering. This meant he would only be able to use them a limited number of times, but some help was better than none.
At this point, I was feeling the limits of my ability to learn and develop new formations quickly enough. Master Qin was my 'formations teacher,' but all he did was show up once a month, give me a few suggestions, and then leave me to figure everything out on my own. To deal with this situation, I purchased an enhancement to my formation comprehension to give me the boost I needed.
Purchase confirmed. Cost 49.5 million credits. Credits remaining 1,522,275,658.
Over the course of five months, I created everything I thought I might need in a wood-based environment.
Wood qi would be available in abundance, so I had a lot of freedom to work on any formations that used it. Since wood was weak to metal, I also wanted to use metal-based formations, but because those would have to be ones that I could precharge, my options there were a bit more limited.
Ultimately, what stopped me from preparing too many formations was their size. We couldn't bring storage bags with us, so everything would have to be carried in a regular backpack. As a cultivator, I could haul around a heavy load, but if my backpack was too large for the Trail's entrance, I would have to leave it behind.
While I was limited in the number of formation stones I could take with me, I had far more freedom to carry around a large number of pills. I stocked up on plenty of incendiary fire pills and metal-based herbicides.
Inside the Trial, I was faced with various plant monsters to slay, trees to climb, and bramble patches to force my way through. I was able to use the pills I prepared to brute force my way through most situations, and when I faced tough opponents, I used metal qi shaped charge formations to destroy them.
There were a few places where this 'salt the earth' strategy failed, such as an area where the intended solution seemed to be controlling a tree limb to create a bridge, but I was able to use a combination of the formation stones I had prepared to force my way through the early obstacles.
My first trip through the Wood Peak Trial saw me reach stage 16. I took notes on what additional formations would be needed to go further more smoothly, and when I returned six months later, I completed stage 20. That gave me enough essence to reach mid five-star in my wood affinity. However, unlike in the Fire Peak Trial, I wasn't given any extra reward for my performance.
As soon as my affinity broke through, I went ahead and made it permanent. I didn't want the discount from raising my affinity to fade away.
Purchase confirmed. Cost 335,210,414 credits. Credits remaining 1,187,065,244.
Unfortunately, it seemed like I had lost a great deal of the potential discount because of the six-month delay after my aborted first run.
During the time I was preparing for the Wood Peak Trial, the date of Lin LiTing's death in the previous timeline passed without fanfare. We had a competition against another class close to the date it was supposed to happen, but I didn't see the boy who had killed her with them. My presence and how I had altered events must have been enough to avoid that tragedy.
I knew that her death hadn't simply been an accident during sparring. She had been assassinated, and the reason had to be related to her profession. In the last loop, I had not been there to provide pills or formations, so the group must have broken down and decided to use her weaponry.
It was a little odd that Zhuge Yan allowed that, but in truth, I didn't even know if this group had stuck together after I left. A few of them might have had too much trouble paying for the elite classes and dropped down to the regular ones. Either way, it did tell me that the source of LiTing's problem was that she revealed her profession to the wrong person in the Academy. It wasn't something that had followed her from home.
I planned to leave again at the end of this term, and new problems would likely emerge after I did so. I would be extremely focused on rushing my cultivation after I left, so it would be hard to keep an eye on things here, but I needed to find a way to do so.
Using all the resources available to me, I was able to push through to the thirtieth stage on my third trip to the Earth Peak Trial. On my fourth attempt, I was able to reach the thirty-fifth stage. This allowed me to gain enough essence to break through to low five-star. The process of breaking through felt slightly… deeper than it had when I broke through with fire, but the difference didn't seem important. I registered on the testing orb as a normal person with a low five-star earth affinity.
I took this opportunity to see if my supposition about my affinities was correct. I doubted I would be charged for the information this time since if the System did want to charge me, it wouldn't matter. I would be told for free the next time I died anyway. Knowing early might change the importance I placed on cultivating essence for the rest of this life. However, if cultivating it was doing something other than giving me permanent affinities, I would only be more interested in doing so, not less.
"System, how much to permanently increase my earth affinity to low five-star?"
Cost 0 credits.
I might have put myself through hell in the Earth Peak Trials to get there, but I had saved myself 100 million credits. Even if it was a small amount for me these days, saving anything was nice. It also pointed me in the direction I would need to walk if I wanted to push my affinities to the very limits of this world.
With my speculation confirmed, I could have switched to absorbing the essence normally at this point, but I decided to try my best to grab another free permanent affinity boost since I had to participate in these Trials several more times anyway.
In the following three attempts, I reached the thirty-fifth stage, then the fortieth stage, and on my final Trial as a first-term Master, I was able to reach the fiftieth stage. Even pushing so far, I was unable to accumulate the essence needed to break through to mid five-star.
After reaching the end of the fiftieth stage, I was exhausted. I had run out of formations and pills, and I didn't have any time left on the clock. As the final seconds were ticking down, a voice echoed from the walls of the Trial, much like it had at the end of the Fire Peak Trial.
"Why haven't you switched to just absorbing it? You've consumed enough essence to take a normal person to the peak of five-star. You're just wasting it at this point."
This comment made me laugh. I couldn't tell it the truth, but I could tell it a truth. "I don't know. I should have given up on this long ago. I just couldn't let go of the feeling that this was what I needed to do."
There was a long pause after my words. Likely, this was from the person I was talking to cursing at me.
"When you join the sect, are you going to choose the Earth Peak?"
This was something I'd been thinking about, so I had my answer ready.
"Yes, I want to study more about formations. I want to learn more about spatial bags and… areas like this." I waved my hand around at the Trial.
"Fine. I will accept that you have passed the Master-level version of the Earth Peak Trial. Just remember what you said."
As I was about to respond, a tide of essence entered the cavern and tried to drown me. I cultivated it as quickly as I could, not wanting to let any of it go to waste.
When the last drop of essence was gone, I felt a deep snap and knew my earth affinity had advanced to mid five-star.
I bowed to the empty air before departing the Trial.
Outside, I saw LiTing waiting for me.
"How did it go?"
I gave a weak smile and responded laconically. "My affinity broke through."
She wanted to congratulate me, but I wasn't in the mood. Yes, I had achieved my goal, but it wasn't entirely through my own efforts. It was hard to feel too excited about just being given the affinity.
"Don't worry," LiTing said, sensing my mood. "This is only the beginning. There's still a long way to go from here. We'll get plenty of more chances against these things in the future."
When we returned to school, Instructor Yuan gathered us together.
"With the final Trial over, we only have a few weeks left until the end of the term. You should disperse your meridians and begin cultivating the Rank 2 technique that you wish to use moving forward."
She looked around at us, giving me a bit of a side-eye. "Even though some of you have tried to fail, you have all been able to accomplish your requirements for staying in this class next term. You may do so if you wish, but you first need to understand what it will involve. There will be no more Trials. If you are assigned to teach a class, you won't participate in any more martial contests either. The second term is focused on training you to teach Disciples. Other than that, there will only be lessons on soul cultivation."
She paused for us to consider this before continuing.
"As far as the Nine Rivers Sect is concerned, these are lessons that are only required for those who wish to walk the path of a Sovereign. Having a good understanding of how to guide others is valuable for Rulers, but the sect has paths all the way through to Emperor that you can walk without this knowledge. It is only if you wish to challenge for a position as a Sovereign that it is essential."
"What if we don't continue?" asked JiaQi. "What would we do instead? And how will it hurt the others?"
The instructors smiled at the last question. "This is your choice alone. It won't negatively impact anyone else. If you choose not to continue in these lessons, you have a few options. You could take the regular classes for Martial Grandmasters, you could leave the school for a time, or you could try to enter the sect directly. Right now, you should all be capable of passing the Exam as outer sect disciples."
I knew what I was going to do, but I was worried about what would happen to my classmates when I left.
"Take the night to think about it. This is an important decision, so you shouldn't rush it. You might want to talk it over together."
With that, she left the room to give us time to think.
Chapter 140 – Life 66, Age 25, Martial Master Peak
After Instructor Yuan left, my classmates looked like they were getting ready to settle down for a long group conversation about what we would all be doing next. I wasn't prepared for that, so I had to stop it before it began.
"Let's all take a couple of hours to think about what the instructor said. It might be best to think about our plans and goals on our own first."
This caught most of them off guard, but Yan was there to quickly agree.
"Yes, we should all take some time alone first. Think about if you really want to walk the path to become a Sovereign. You should all already know that it is impossible to become one on this continent. If you want to become a Sovereign, you will have to leave, and after you do, you will almost certainly never be allowed to return."
He looked at us gravely to make sure his words sunk in.
"This isn't the choice you have to make now. Right now, you are just deciding if you want to continue down that path. But make no mistake, becoming a Sovereign through the Nine Rivers Sect means abandoning your home, your clan, and your family forever. If that's not what you want, think about what you do want and how you want to achieve it."
Before anyone responded, Yan stood and left. Then, we all separated to think about our decisions.
I hurried back to my room to make a quick purchase.
"System, change my secondary reset point to this moment."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 26,266,240. 1,160,799,004 credits remaining.
With a new reset point locked down, I had significantly more freedom to act. So, I left my room to visit Zhuge Yan.
When Yan opened his door, he didn't seem overly surprised to see me.
"What are you planning?"
Instead of letting him take the lead, I gestured to the small sitting area inside his room, silently asking for permission to enter.
He opened the door wider, welcoming me inside. Once we were seated across from each other, I took out several pill bottles from my storage space and put them on the small table beside us.
"I'm leaving the Academy." I looked him in the eye to show that this was a fact beyond question. "I need to start advancing my cultivation as quickly as I can. To do that I'm going to need karmic energy. I'm hoping to use these pills to trade for it."
He picked one up and carefully examined the pill inside. He might not be able to accurately appraise the various pills, but at a minimum, he would be able to tell that they were all Rank 4.
"And you're offering this trade to me?"
I chuckled slightly, knowing his likely answer. "I'm hoping to contact Grandmaster Ning for the bulk of this transaction. I believe I can get enough energy from him for the ascensions to Lord and King. I would like to make true ascensions at each level of the Lord realm, though, so I'll need more energy than I can easily get from him. I was hoping to make a deal with you for this extra Lord-level energy."
He looked intently at the pills, considering my offer.
"I haven't talked with any of you about the situation with my family, but you need to know that my position isn't very good. They were entirely against me joining the sect, and they are absolutely furious that I would even consider attempting to walk the Sovereign path. They've cut off nearly all my resources. If Ning ChenKun hadn't offered me a place in his retinue, I wouldn't have even been able to enter the Academy."
He tried to mask it, but I heard a deep sadness in his voice.
"I'm only telling you this so that you can understand the position I'm in." He paused for several seconds before continuing. "I can get you a lordship, but it won't be anything great. Building up enough energy to ascend to Peak Lord would take at least a decade. From your urgency, I'm guessing this won't meet your needs."
I sighed. It was an option. I didn't have to rush that much.
Seeing my expression, Yan decided to give me other options.
"You should consider talking to YuLong. His father is only a King, but if you can provide him with enough resources, he can get you a decent lordship. The only problem with this is the Ning Clan. You can't get the extra energy from them because they want something from you, right? If YuLong's father helped you avoid that pressure, it could be seen as slapping the face of the Ning Clan. It's an option if you're desperate, but I wouldn't recommend it."
I laughed wryly. "So, if they help me, even unknowingly, they could be targeted by a Sovereign force. I can't do that to YuLong."
Yan nodded.
"If you want to advance as a true Lord as quickly as you possibly can, you only have one option. I can't say what it will do to your deal with the Ning Clan, but if you are successful, that deal won't be so important."
For a second, I was confused, but I quickly caught on.
"The sect?"
"Yes. Without the next ten years of classes, joining as an inner or core disciple will be difficult, but with your skills, you should be at least a top outer sect disciple. If you have access to a large volume of quality Rank 4 pills, earning enough karmic energy for Peak Lord will be simple. Unless you can get your hands on Rank 5 pills, buying King-level energy in the sect might be difficult, but it should be possible."
"So, join the sect to reach peak lord, then make a deal with the Nings?"
He shook his head. "No. Once you join the sect, you are usually a member for the rest of your life, and members are not allowed to cultivate karmic energy from outside. You can live outside the sect, but you will always be a member and will have to follow their rules. The only way to leave is by taking a position in one of the Sovereign forces. You would have to join the Ning Clan, not just make a deal with them."
"That's… an option."
"Think it over carefully. You will always be limited in how far you can go as a member of another clan. Even if you join them, you are not of their blood. Even if you marry into the clan, your descendants will still be looked down upon by the main family."
That… wasn't a concern.
"Thanks, Yan. I'll think about what you said."
I reached into my storage bag and pulled out an empty notebook. I placed it on the side table and rested my hand on it.
"I have another favor to ask of you. Over the next several years, can you take some notes for me? Anything you think is important, please, write it down. If there's anything you learn that you wished you had known ahead of time, or something that would have been valuable to know ahead of time, write it down for me."
He cocked his head to the side, trying to understand my purpose. "How long?"
I thought about it. How long did I want to spend before I did a reset? My goal had been ten years, but I blew through that last time in an effort to reach Martial King. I was already five years into this life, and I didn't know how much longer I would need to spend to get the most out of it, but I doubted it would be overly quick.
Keeping to the original deadline wouldn't be possible, but spending a total of fifteen years on this life wouldn't be so bad.
I clenched a fist.
"Ten years. If you can get the notebook back to me in ten years, it should be okay."
He nodded cautiously. "Alright. In return, can you give me some pills? I'm not worried about advancing while in the Academy, but once I enter the sect…"
I smiled and passed him a storage bag.
"This should have everything you need. Use some of it to pay for everyone's education here. I'm sure the Grandmaster courses are going to be expensive. Anything else you can keep or hand out to the others as you see fit."
I considered just vanishing like I had last time, but instead, I met with my classmates one last time.
We all returned to the table and sat down together. The only difference from a few hours earlier was that JiaQi was holding a small, young deer in her arms.
She seemed a bit sad as she looked at us. "I've decided to leave the Academy. I want to give LuLu a chance to live outside as she grows up. I'll come back for the first term as a Grandmaster, but I'll skip next term. I know I'm not going to be a Sovereign anyway."
LuLu was the young deer she was holding. After years of looking after the egg she had gotten in the Water Peak Trial, she was finally rewarded with LuLu. A deer hatching from an egg made zero sense to me, but I was apparently the only one confused by it. According to JiaQi, all demon beasts hatched from eggs.
YuLong was the next to announce his decision. "I'm going home too. I know my limits. I've tried to learn to make talismans, but I have no talent for it. I only know how to fight. The best I can do is join someone else's retinue. I need to talk with my father about my future before making any further decisions."
LiTing looked nervous as she spoke. "I am going to take the regular Grandmaster courses. I wasn't given enough funds for anything else."
Yan put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about that. I've been provided with enough to cover everyone's costs. You should take the second term of the elite Master course with me."
I raised an eyebrow at his wording but didn't interject to tell her I was the one paying. If Yan wanted to take credit here, well, I would just consider it part of the cost of getting his help.
LiTing looked conflicted, but she eventually agreed to his offer.
With everyone else's plans out in the open, I was the only one left.
"I'm leaving the Academy. I plan to quickly cultivate to Grandmaster and enter the sect. I plan to advance as fast as I can once I'm there and scout the place out."
Everyone except Yan was confused by my choice.
"But… why?" JiaQi had a baffled look on her face. "Of all of us, you have the best chance to be successful here. Isn't rushing to join now… wasteful?"
"There are reasons… I need to hurry. There's a lot to learn here, but I can probably get everything I need in the sect. It's just a different kind of challenge."
YuLong gave me a thumbs up. "Good luck. Takes courage to make the jump like this."
JiaQi hit him on the arm.
"Don't encourage him." Then, she turned back to me. "You need to think about this. If you rush now, you might get stuck at low Lord. You need a solid foundation in the Warrior Tier before you become a Ruler if you want to keep advancing."
"Thank you, JiaQi. I know there will be problems, but this is what I need to do. When you join the sect, let me know. I might already be a King by then. I'll have to look out for my juniors."
She seemed to want to argue with me, but Yan stepped in to stop it.
"Everyone has to walk their own path, JiaQi. Fang has his reasons, even if he can't share them. All we can do is support each other whenever possible."
She smiled resignedly and gave up on trying to convince me to change my mind.
Her concern made me decide to add something extra to my plans.
"We're all going our separate ways, but we'll always be classmates. Let's try to keep in touch. We should send each other letters about anything important or troubling that happens in our lives. Even if we can't help, it's good to share your worries with others."
While the others gave me a faint smile, Yan narrowed his eyes. I doubted he suspected the truth, but there was no doubt in my mind that he suspected something.
Chapter 141 – Life 66, Age 25, Martial Master Peak
Before taking the test to join the sect, I wanted to set myself up for as much success as possible in a short timeframe. So, after leaving the Academy, I did not rush to take the Exam. I rented an apartment and began preparing my cultivation base.
For the past few years, I had been switching between the Profound-Rank techniques that Instructor Yuan had provided me. This let me test out a few different ideas for meridian construction, and I got a better sense of how they helped qi flow through the energy body.
In the Academy libraries, I had gotten a few Earth-Rank techniques that took these ideas to another level, and I wanted to try them out. I hadn't done so before because I felt they would need the proper Rank 1 techniques to work at full efficiency, and I didn't want to undo my Rank 1 cultivation until I finished permanently improving my earth affinity.
Outside the walls of the Academy and in a disposable timeline, I had a new limitation to worry about. I could not allow myself to cultivate essence. If my earth affinity suddenly jumped up several stages when I reverted to my reset point, people would begin to ask questions that I didn't want to answer.
So, as soon as I was alone in my apartment, I began working toward building a brand-new foundation.
The first thing I did was create both a Rank 1 and a Rank 2 Qi Gathering Formation with filters for earth qi embedded into them. Unfortunately, this wouldn't create a completely pure cultivation environment like in the Trials. Without completely purging the area of energy first and establishing a qi barrier that could completely prevent other energies from entering, there would always be some amount of impurities in the air that I would need to be careful of. However, since the earth qi inside such a formation dominated everything else, it would be much faster and easier to cultivate in it than in the more general formations.
Once my preparations were complete, I began dispersing my meridians. Once that was accomplished, I took a Qi Expulsion pill to finish off destroying my cultivation base and return to Martial Disciple 1.
At age 25, qi stagnation would begin to set in if I remained as a Martial Disciple for too long. The general estimate was that I would have a grace period of one year before natural aging would begin to take effect on both my physical and energy bodies. This didn't give me too much time to waste, but it was more than enough.
I decided to cultivate the Writ of Steady Stone. It was a Peak-Earth technique with the mental effect of making one more deliberate in their actions and less prone to acting rashly. Taken to an extreme, this seemed like something that would lead to indecisiveness and a cultivator who was unwilling to do anything at all. It wasn't my favorite effect, but I chose it because I saw a connection between the mental effect and the meridian design.
The Rank 2 manual for the technique focused heavily on variable meridian sizes to adjust flow rates. As an example, the meridians entering the arms were like thick tree trunks. Their diameter was constant throughout the arms and created wide channels for a large volume of qi to circulate through the arms at a steady pace.
What made the technique special, though, was that it had branch meridians at key points, such as the fingers and elbow. These branches were small tubes that created secondary pathways for qi to flow down and later rejoin the main trunk.
Under normal circumstances, qi would only flow through the trunk at a slow pace. But when one decided to act, they could divert all of their energy through the small branches instead. This constriction of the meridian size, as well as the pressure built up by the large volume of qi behind it, allowed for explosive releases of energy.
This was exactly the kind of technique I needed to shatter some rock monsters.
I entered the Rank 1 formation and began cultivating the first stage of the technique. Unlike other techniques I had used, this one recommended cultivating the feet first and then slowly moving upwards. This would give the body a firm foundation and connection to the earth below.
Since I would be rushing through the Disciple and Master levels, I didn't think this would make too much of a difference, but I still followed its advice.
The Writ of Steady Earth used just as many acupoints as the Writ of True Earth had, but they were placed differently and only focused on cultivating qi. I thought that this would mean I would gather energy at a much quicker rate, but that wasn't completely true. It started at a faster rate, but after I reached about 50% of my maximum capacity, the qi from various different acupoints started fighting each other. This caused my cultivation speed to slow, but the advantage was that it greatly improved the density and power of the energy in my body.
Using a formation and over a dozen pills, I reached Peak Disciple in four months. Then, I spent another two years carefully cultivating through the Master levels. I didn't have the Rank 3 technique for Steady Earth, so I had to use the one for True Earth. I wasn't happy about this, since I could foresee the denser qi from the Rank 1 technique needing a special dantian to handle it, but I had to work with what was available. After I joined the sect, I could look for a copy of Rank 3 Steady Earth.
With six more months until the next sect Entrance Exam, I raised my cultivation to Grandmaster 3. I could have gone faster, but I didn't want to have to deal with clogged meridians this time.
The day before the exam, I carefully examined myself. Three years had been more than I wanted to spend before entering the sect. I could only hope it would all be worth it.
The Nine Rivers Sect Entrance Exam was held once a year, and it drew people from all around the continent to South Gate City.
Previously, whenever the Exam approached, I did my best to stay indoors. I was not a fan of large crowds, especially not large crowds of cultivators. However, even though I didn't go out much, it was still clear to me that cultivators who came here for the Nine Rivers Sect were much better behaved than the young Disciples who competed to join the Twin Mountains Sect had been since I had never heard any loud arguments or fights at any point while I was in the city.
This was no doubt partly due to the sect's robust law enforcement arm that could and would keep people in check, but it was also because the people who could aspire to join the Nine Rivers Sect were higher-quality cultivators. Not only were they generally more mature, but they also tended to have a firm hold on the mental influences of their techniques.
The Entrance Exam was open for two weeks, and one could get in line to take the test at any point during that time. The line on the first day was long, so I decided to wait until later in the week, but as the days passed and the line only grew, I knew waiting had been the wrong choice.
On the fourth day, I hurried up and joined the queue.
Standing in line, moving forward only a few steps an hour, was annoying. I considered cultivating to pass the time, but that would risk drawing in impurities that would need to be expelled later, causing me to lose more than I gained.
After a full day of standing in line, I didn't care much about the impurities anymore and needed to cultivate to give myself something to do and not go insane. However, I didn't grow my cultivation base. I sent all of the energy to my spatial fire seed to grow my storage space. If I were lucky, this would burn away any impurities that accidentally slipped through.
As I stood in line, slowly cultivating away and thinking about ideas for the future, time crept by. I saw looks of impatience and annoyance on many faces, but no one was willing to cause a scene. Even if they were unhappy, they were all willing to show respect to the sect.
That was, of course, until the fifth day. I was near the very front of the line when one of the sharpest, most ear-piercing voices I had ever heard sounded out from the building where the Exam was taking place.
"You dare!? Do you know who my father is!? I am the crown prince of the Empire of the Eternal Sun! My uncle is an elder of this sect! You daresay I've been rejected. I'll have your head!"
A moment passed where nothing could be heard, then the voice cried out again.
"You dare!? Wait till my uncle hears about this he'll—"
I heard the sounds of scuffling coming from inside.
"What do you think you are doing!? Get your hands off me you brute!"
An elegant young man wearing a peacock robe appeared in the building's entrance. He was floating nearly half a meter in the air.
A second later, a burly, simple-looking man in a plain brown robe became visible behind him. He was holding the peacock up by the scruff of his neck.
"If you don't put me down this instant, I'll kill you! How dare you!"
The burly man kept a hold of him and hauled him off somewhere out of sight. The peacock's fate was unknown, but everyone in the crowd just shook their heads.
I didn't see any traces of ridicule on their faces. Everyone seemed to share the same sentiments. Fear and sorrow. They had all seen this kind of scene before.
I began to understand the people around me a little better. These weren't young men looking to prove themselves. Nearly every one of them was between 40 and 60 years old. They knew. They knew the risks of cultivating. All of them had likely seen its effects on their friends and family, and they knew that even if they took every precaution, they might only be a single step away from such a fate themselves.
While watching the scene had been a little depressing, I was glad that everyone was prepared and ready to properly handle mad cultivators, both sect and new recruits alike.
A few more hours passed, and I was finally able to enter the exam building.
While the outside had been grand and imposing, with a red colonnade, a jade peaked roof, and gold ornamentations, the interior of the building was extremely subdued, with a simple wooden floor and tan plaster walls. There were no decorations or ostentations in the room.
Several scribes sat at a long table to my left, and a door leading deeper into the building was to my right. Across from me was a dark oval portal that looked like it led into the deepest abyss. It was the entrance to another Trial. Two smartly dressed guards in blue combat gear stood on either side of it.
One of the scribes addressed me while looking down at his papers.
"Name?"
"Su Fang."
"Age?"
"28."
"Blessing?"
I had thought about this and decided to simply repeat what I had told the Academy. "It has a few nuances, but it enhances my general cultivation comprehension."
The scribe noted this down and then looked up at me, waiting for me to continue, but I held my silence. When he was certain I would say no more, he finished marking down a few extra notes and then pointed to an affinity testing orb.
I proceeded as normal, and he tapped it to resolve the images of my current affinities. I noticed that the three symbols representing fire, earth, and wood had changed colors and dimmed, but otherwise, it was the same picture as last time.
The scribe squinted when he saw the static caused by my additional affinities, but he didn't ask any questions about it. After writing down a few notes, he put down his brush and gestured to the Trial portal. "Enter."
I approached the portal and tried to look inside, but all I saw was blackness.
I took a deep breath, mustering my courage.
I picked up a foot and stepped through into an unknown Trial.
I stepped into a room with a wooden floor and tan plaster walls.
To my right, a group of scribes was doing paperwork.
"You have qualified as either a Grade 1 inner sect disciple of the Fire Peak or a Grade 2 outer sect disciple of the Earth Peak. Which do you choose?"
I looked around, confused. Why was I here? What happened?
I was just about to—
The scribe cleared his throat loudly. "Fire Peak or Earth Peak, which one?"
Chapter 142 – Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 3
Everything was happening too suddenly. I stepped into the Trial, but I immediately appeared back outside the Trial. What was going on? Was this the Trial? Was it some strange recreation of the world outside?
"Fire. Or. Earth." The scribe enunciated each word, bringing my focus onto the topic at hand.
Whether I was still inside the Trial or not, I had to move forward and make a decision.
Fire or earth. I had thought about this decision a few times over the years. Which would be best? What did I want to accomplish in this life?
I needed a way to advance quickly as a Martial King. That meant having access to both Rank 5 formations and pills, so both peaks could help me progress in that regard. Pills had the advantage of speed, but formations required fewer resources. Overall, I considered both options somewhat balanced for helping me advance.
There was also the promise I had made to the person in charge of the Earth Peak Trial to consider. I told him I would be joining the Earth Peak. It was a consideration, but not one I put too much emphasis on. This was a disposable timeline, so if he smashed me to pieces for breaking my promise, it would only give me more information about the sect and its people.
More important was the reason I had given him for wanting to join the peak. I wanted to learn more about how spatial bags and the Trials were constructed. Learning to turn my storage space into something greater was far more important than the extra credits I might earn from joining the Fire Peak.
The scribe was getting impatient, so I needed to give him my answer.
"Earth Peak…"
The scribe snorted, seeming unhappy at my choice. He took out a small jade from under the counter and placed it on a formation plate. After channeling some energy into the formation, it lit up and the character for 'outer' appeared on the token. Then, he slid it toward me.
"Place a drop of blood on it."
When I didn't move fast enough for his liking, he sent out a quick burst of qi that sliced open the back of my hand. He then used his water affinity to move a drop of my blood onto the token and shoved it into my hand.
Without wasting another moment, the scribe touched something on his desk which created a loud buzzer sound. A young man in plain brown robes quickly entered.
"Earth Peak, Grade 2 outer."
"Yes, deacon." The young man bowed and then looked at me while gesturing toward the far wall. "This way."
I was hesitant about following him. I couldn't be sure if I was still in the Trial or not. Was following him the right move? Was I supposed to do something else? Uncertain, I took halting steps in his direction.
As I walked, he gave me a look of compassion. "The effect will fade. You've heard that no one knows what the exam to become a sect disciple is, right? Now you know why. The memories of it are wiped from your mind. You aren't allowed to mention that part to people who haven't been through the Trial yet, by the way."
I rubbed my temples, trying to clear the fog from my mind. The reality of the situation was starting to set in. This was the real world, not a Trial. Could I be certain? No. But it felt real, for all that was worth.
I considered spending credits on something that would help me confirm this but decided against it. This was real enough, and I would treat it as such. If I was wrong, I could act differently during the next loop.
My guide chuckled as he watched my facial expressions shift. "Looks like you're good now. Though, that might change again soon."
He opened a large double door and showed me the room beyond. It was a simple antechamber with an open doorway leading outside.
I raised my eyebrow at the buildup for such a simple room, but when I stepped outside, I understood.
A mountain larger than any other I had ever seen appeared before me, its peak hidden by a layer of clouds. At the base of the mountain was a large city surrounded by a thick stone wall. A path led from where I was standing into the city, and another left from the city to spiral up the mountain. Other sizable cities seemed to have been built into the sides of the mountain, but they were too far away for me to make out any details.
My guide walked a bit in front of me, caught my attention, and waved his hands at the enormous mountain in a wide gesture of welcome. "Welcome to Dragon Peak, the heart of the Nine Rivers Sect."
I blinked. "Oh…"
That doorway was one of the other stone arches on the hill we had always used to visit the sect for the Trials. A quick glance around confirmed this when I saw the Academy's portal nearby.
The young man's eyes dropped at this.
"That's not the normal reaction. Most people's jaws drop in amazement."
His antics made me chuckle a bit. "Sorry, I was a student at the Yellow Orchid Academy. I've visited a few times already."
"Really? An Academy student? But you're only a Grade 2 outer disciple. Were you in one of the weak classes? How did you get to come here then?"
The excitement returned to the boy as he bombarded me with questions. I tried to ignore most of them as we continued walking forward. Once we got to the city gates, he stopped me and tried to talk in an officious tone.
"This is the City of Mortals. It is where all new disciples begin. Mortal City has very strict rules. No fighting, no stealing, no abusing people in any way. It is a safe zone for new disciples to adjust to the sect."
He looked around a bit before continuing in a more relaxed manner. "It's where I live. Most of us here are mortals who do basic jobs around the sect that cultivators don't want to do. Just so you know, most of the people here are related to high-ranking members of the sect, so even if they're just mortals, don't try to push your weight around with them too much, okay?"
I nodded in agreement, having no wish to do such things anyway.
As we walked through the city, I looked at the mountain looming over us.
"What can you tell me about Dragon Peak? I've heard that to become a Sovereign, I need to climb to the top of it."
He smiled a wide grin. "Well, this city is a safe zone, right? Once you step outside the northern gate, Dragon Peak itself has only one rule. You must advance. You are not allowed to walk down the peak. Once you leave Mortal City, you must keep walking up the path until you reach Yellow City."
His voice began to show a hint of fear.
"Even if you get stuck on the path for years, you are not allowed to return here. If you need something, like food or water, you have to find it on the mountain or take it from others. You are trapped on the path until you complete it. Once you reach the next city, you are not allowed to descend to Mortal City, you can only continue upwards."
His face now openly showed a fear of the place. "After you leave Mortal City, that is the only rule. If you create an enemy in the sect, they can't do anything to you while you're here, but once you begin ascending the mountain, they can do whatever they want."
"Won't that lead to a lot of death?" I was confused about why the sect would want this.
"Yes. Do not go up the mountain until you are ready. For many people, that means never. This place is designed for the Chosen, to push the best of the best to their limit. If they reach the peak, they will gain an opportunity to advance to Sovereign. If they die, they are discarded. As for the normal disciples? They're just stepping stones on the Chosen's path. Only a lucky few will be taken in as true parts of a future Sovereign's retinue and ascend behind them."
He let me think about his words for a few moments before continuing. "As an outer sect disciple, if you truly want to advance, your best chance is to become a subordinate of a core disciple who is a member of a Chosen's retinue, though you'll probably have to advance to inner disciple before that happens. However, I don't recommend this. It is better to live a safe life here than throw your life away climbing the mountain."
Leaving the topic of the peak behind, he returned to introducing me to the city.
"Dragon Peak is the center of the sect and is the gathering point for all its members. If you visit a designated economic zone, you'll find stores for anything a cultivator requires. A few are run by the sect, but most are managed by other disciples. You can purchase a permit to set up a shop and sell anything you wish. If you don't wish to manage the store yourself, there are countless people in the city you can hire to run it for you. You'll be surprised by the variety of items and services available here, but the quality is limited. For better quality, you must ascend the mountain."
He continued walking down the main boulevard of the city without stopping. He pointed to a few shops along the way, talking about what they sold. A lot of them were restaurants, but there was a good mix of stores selling wares with carpenters, smiths, and other trades all mixed together.
"These are all mortal goods, right? Where are the stores for cultivators?"
"Oh, yeah. Like I said, they are limited to special zones. Most of this city is for mortals to live and work, so it's better if there's one place you can go for all your needs instead of searching through all the normal clothing stores to find one aimed at cultivators."
I could agree with him, but that didn't tell me where to find them. "And they are located…"
"Well, you've been here before, right? Biggest zone is right next to the Plaza. You can get everything you need there. I hear it's a bit more expensive than the smaller ones around the city, but they have everything you could want there."
"Are they just normal stores? I can use gold in them?"
"No, no. Not at all. Gold is generally worthless to cultivators here. It can only be used in the mortal stores. You might find someone who wants to send money back to their family that'll accept gold as payment, but it's rare. Spirit stones are accepted almost everywhere since they can be used for cultivation, but that's only for expensive things. Mostly, people use contribution points."
I had to deal with contribution points in the Twin Mountains Sect and considered them little better than a company scrip used to avoid paying people real money for their work. It was a currency that could only be used within the sect and was worthless anywhere else.
"The sect stores only accept points, so it's the only type of money that has real value to the disciples here."
We eventually arrived at the Gateway Plaza where there were portals to each of the different peaks. My guide gave me a brief introduction, covering details that I was already familiar with, and then led me through the arch near the southeastern corner of the inner pentagon.
I stepped through and returned once more to the ever-familiar Earth Peak. A place of rocky, barren soil at the base of a large stone mountain.
"This is the Earth Peak. It's accessible from the Plazas in every city, and only Earth Peak disciples are allowed to come here. Each peak has slightly different rules, but the one constant is that no outsiders are allowed. If you want to meet with someone from another mountain, it must be done on Dragon Peak or outside the sect. Mortal servants from the cities are allowed limited access for sect business, such as right now, but that does not extend to your personal business matters."
He took me to the administration building in the small town near the portal.
"This is where you register as a new disciple of the peak. They will get you set up and let you know what you need to do from here. I'm not allowed inside and must return to guide others. Good luck. Welcome to the Nine Rivers Sect."
Chapter 143 – Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 3
When I entered the administration building, I thought I might see a line of cultivators slowly getting introduced to the sect. The line at the Entrance Exam had been moving slowly, and only a fraction of the people who passed would be assigned to Earth Peak, but I still expected to have to wait. Introducing new cultivators to the sect takes time, right?
There was only one person inside the building when I entered. It was someone I had seen several times over my last five years at the Academy. The lazy outer sect disciple that I was assured would be the next person promoted to the inner sect. He had his feet up on the counter, was reclined back in his chair, and was staring at the ceiling.
I walked up to the desk and stood in front of him, but he didn't even look at me.
"Hello." I tapped on the desk to get his attention.
Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, he looked at me. "What? I'm busy preparing to take the Exam to advance to the inner sect. Don't disturb me."
"I'm a new disciple. I need to be introduced to the sect."
He rolled his eyes. "Badge."
I held up the jade token I'd been given. He grabbed it and threw it onto a small formation plate to the side of the counter.
When he saw the result, he snorted. Then, he reached under the counter, pulled out a book, and threw it at me along with my token.
"There you go. Introduction to the sect. You can leave."
I picked up the book and quickly looked at it. It had a lot of information about the sect, but I didn't even know where I could sit down and read through it, let alone where I would find a room to sleep for the night.
I tried to remain patient. "Sorry, but could you please introduce the sect to me? Tell me about a few things. At least tell me where my room is?"
He let out another long, exaggerated sigh and touched a formation plate on the counter. "Wait here."
Then, he went back to ignoring me.
I stood awkwardly in the room, waiting for something to happen. Several minutes later, the door was pushed open by an older man in his late seventies.
"Senior brother, how can I be of assistance?"
The guy behind the counter waved at me. "Introduce him to the sect."
The older man bowed. "Of course, senior brother."
Then, he looked at me, noticed my jade token, and bowed. "Please, follow me."
After leading me outside, he turned to me with a smile. "What would you like to see?"
"Right, first, what should I call you? My name is Su Fang."
He gave another slight bow. "I am Mao SongQiao, an ungraded servant disciple. You can call me Junior Brother Mao."
"Okay, Junior Brother Mao, I need a place to live."
"Certainly." He led me to one of the other buildings in the small village. "This is where you can lease a cultivation cave. The cheapest, those in the foothills, cost 5 contribution points a day. The closer to the mountain, or the higher up the mountain, the more expensive it gets. This is because the qi is denser so it's a much better cultivation environment."
Mao SongQiao showed me around the little village and explained the general outline to me. Overall, it reminded me a lot of the Twin Mountains Sect. There was a store to buy certain items from the peak directly, a place to rent a cultivation cave, and a library for techniques.
Everything had to be paid for in contribution points. He showed me the Assignment Hall, where I could register for missions that would reward points, but I could also buy them at 500 points per spirit stone. Considering that the sect sold spirit stones for 1000 points each, this wasn't a great deal.
From Mao, I learned that while there were traders on Dragon Peak who would exchange points for spirit stones at a better rate, this tended to upset the elders if one relied on it too much. The reasoning was explained away as not contributing to the sect, but it seemed more likely that the elders were sour about not getting their cut.
As a Grade 2 outer disciple, I started with 500 points, but instead of renting a cave at the expense of these precious points, Brother Mao led me to a place on Dragon Peak where I could rent a room for gold. The environment wasn't the best, but it let me hold onto my more valuable resources.
I had ideas for how I might be able to exploit the sect, but they would take time, and I needed someone to help me understand things while I was getting started.
"Junior Brother Mao. How much do you get paid for your services as a guide?"
His shoulders drooped slightly. "It's one point a day. Better than most work I could be doing, but it only lasts for these two weeks. After that, I'll probably have to go back to mining stones for the formation masters."
"Mining stones? They don't have mortals do that kind of work?"
"They can, but it takes them a long time, and what they produce isn't very high quality. Rank 3 and above formations need sturdy stones, and cultivators are better at cutting them cleanly into shape."
"I see. And how much does that pay?"
"Two points a day, but it's hard labor."
"Okay then, would you like to work for me? I need someone who knows the sect, and you've been here a good while. I can't pay you points, but I can give you one spirit stone a month. Will that work?"
Mao's demeanor instantly changed. "Of course, boss. I'm glad to be working for you. Just tell me what you need me to do."
I wasn't a fan of the instant flattery, but I let it slide. He would do as a subordinate for now. I had no idea how trustworthy he was, but at least he knew about the sect. That was all I needed for the moment.
My goal was simply to climb as high as I could as quickly as I could. That meant I needed a steady source of karmic energy.
"Brother Mao, how do sect disciples earn karmic energy to ascend through the Ruler tier?"
"You buy it from the sect with contribution points."
"Wait… what? You can just buy it? Why isn't everyone a Lord then? Why aren't you?"
A look of chagrin crossed his face. "No, let me explain. You can only buy karmic energy starting in Yellow City, higher up the mountain. There, you can only buy enough to break through to Martial Lord. If you want to use it to break through the stages of the Lord Realm, you have to reach Profound City. In Profound City you can buy as much Lord-level energy as you want and energy to break through to King."
As he talked, he tried to point to cities hidden on Dragon Peak. "Further King-level energy, and energy to break through to Emperor, can only be bought in Earth City. If you want to break through with karmic energy as an Emperor, you need to reach Heaven City."
"So, climb the peak and I can buy as much as I need?"
"Yes, but the number of contribution points needed is incredible. Even if you reach Yellow City, it will be hard to afford Lord-level energy as an outer sect disciple. As a servant disciple, it's impossible."
"What do you mean? Why does that matter?"
"Your position and grade determine the types of missions you can sign up for. As an ungraded servant, I can only do basic missions that barely pay enough points to let me afford a few lessons a month. As an outer sect disciple, you will have more options, but they are still somewhat limited."
"I see… but I can rent a store and sell things to earn points, right?"
He nodded. "Yes, but how much do you have that people will buy? You can try to sell formations to people, but there are a lot of formation specialists in the sect, and all of them are trying to do the same. If you were an inner sect disciple, you might be able to make something of high enough quality that people would buy it, but as an outer sect, most people don't have the skills needed to compete."
"It doesn't matter that I'm an outer sect disciple, though, right? It just matters how good my wares are."
"True. But if you could produce something of high quality, you wouldn't be in the outer sect."
I smiled. "Don't worry about that. Just find me a storefront I can rent and sell pills from. Preferably, one close to an herbalist. If I can rent it with gold, that would be best, but spirit stones would also be acceptable."
"Pills? You're an alchemist?"
"Don't worry about that for now. Go find a storefront. Meet me back here when you're done." Mao was turning to leave when I caught him. "Also, where can I buy Rank 3 cultivation techniques from the sect?"
The Scripture Pavilion that Mao sent me to was a disappointment. Instead of getting to browse their books, I could only tell the attendant which one I needed. They retrieved it for me from a back room. I would need to look at getting a job in one of these libraries if I wanted to plunder them.
Fortunately, they did have a copy of the Rank 3 Writ of Steady Earth. It cost me all 500 of the contribution points I started with, but I considered it a fair trade. I didn't plan to be very short of points in the near future.
Once back in my apartment, I began to slowly and carefully disperse my Grandmaster cultivation so that I could restart with the proper technique.
An hour into the process, I was interrupted by Brother Mao who had found a building I could rent in Mortal City. It wasn't near the Gateway Plaza, but it was affordable and was located near a few independent herb sellers from the Wood Peak.
I gave him five spirit stones to settle the rental agreement and purchase a variety of herbs for me. When I did, his eyes went wide at the sight of them. I sensed greed from him when he saw the stones, but that was natural. It didn't mean he planned anything untoward. There was a risk he would take the stones and run off with them, but handing him that much money at once was a good test of whether or not I could trust him further in the future. Better to know now than after I had him running a shop for me.
Before opening my new storefront, I wanted to fix my cultivation. It took me nearly a week to completely disperse my Grandmaster cultivation. Then, I spent another three weeks rising back up to Grandmaster 1 with the Steady Earth technique.
With my cultivation base restored, I went to the store to look it over with Brother Mao.
It was a small, cramped affair with only a wooden counter and stool inside. Mao assured me this was the normal setup for a store in the sect. Only the large merchant organizations were willing to openly display things of great value. Everyone else kept the valuable items in a storage ring and only left a book out describing the items available.
I went to the shop's backroom, took my fancy cauldron out of my storage space, and began making every Rank 3 pill I could think of. While I did this, Mao was busy going to the nearby herb shops and funneling me a constant supply of all the necessary ingredients.
In a sect focused on completing assigned missions, where almost every other outer sect disciple was engaged in constant combat, I had become a merchant. It was an unusual choice, but it was the one that I thought would work best for me.
Chapter 144 – Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 1
Setting up shop in a remote corner of Mortal City had been nice and simple. The only downside was the severe lack of customers.
I had rented a location in an area that was known for herbalists. While the location was to my benefit in procuring ingredients, few people who came to this area were in search of pills. Instead, most were alchemists looking to make their own pills.
However, the lack of sales didn't bother me. With the help of the high-quality herbs available, I was able to make Rank 3 pills with efficacies of around 125%. Once I figured out how one of the formations on my cauldron worked, letting me draw in environmental energy and infuse it into a pill before it solidified, I was able to increase that to over 130% standard efficacy.
Once word of the quality of my pills was known, I was confident that many cultivators would seek me out. Until then, I wasn't worried about the slow pace of things. Both Brother Mao and I needed time to improve.
For Mao, that meant taking the generous stipend I was providing him and paying for lessons in several subjects. Servant disciples weren't allowed to purchase karmic energy, so his goal was to improve his combat and formation abilities high enough that he would qualify as an outer sect disciple. As an ungraded servant disciple, he had a long way to go, but that was a problem that money could easily solve.
For me, there were a few short-term goals I wanted to accomplish. First was quickly reaching Peak Grandmaster. While I was exploring and learning about the sect, I had to keep in mind that I was ultimately trying to rush for credits.
My second goal was to gain additional formation skills and knowledge. While I wouldn't mind having a tutor share their insights on the topic, my primary concern was finding books I could store in my mental library and keep with me. In the end, my main limitation as a formation specialist was a lack of knowledge of inscriptions. An instructor could help me understand how to use inscriptions more fluidly and effectively, but paying for instruction without having a solid grasp of inscriptions first would be a waste of time and money.
The final short-term goal I set for myself was to find more ways to make contribution points. I didn't want to have to set up a pill stall every life going forward just to earn karmic energy.
With these goals in mind, I gave Brother Mao a storage bag bulging with various Rank 3 pills, left him to manage the shop, and headed back to the Earth Peak.
My first stop was the Mission Hall. Unlike the Twin Mountains Sect where missions were posted on a simple bulletin board, the Nine Rivers Sect's Mission Hall was far more advanced.
When I entered the Hall, I noticed a dozen or so wall partitions running from the entryway up to the counter at the far end of the building. Each partition had an illusion formation that projected the various missions available to sect members of all different ranks and cultivation levels.
Different partitions served different ranks, so I first had to move to an area near the left wall where the Grandmaster-level outer sect disciple missions were posted. Once I found the right spot, I studied all of the available missions closely.
I was surprised to find that nearly all of them were battle missions. Each post had a city and the name of its Lord. The requests were to fight against an invading army or to invade another city. The only other missions available were menial tasks like the stone carving one Mao had mentioned earlier.
I looked at the missions available to inner sect disciples and found that while battle missions were still available, they had more options related to constructing formations. Some of these were to create Qi Gathering Formations for disciples on other peaks, but most of them were for building formations in one random city or another.
I had no interest in fighting anyone's battles, and the menial tasks paid extremely poorly, so I left the Mission Hall with nothing but disappointment.
The lack of missions I could accomplish via alchemy was troublesome, and my formation skills weren't going to be high enough to complete any missions unless I improved dramatically. While I wanted to improve, I would have to rely on my store to generate contribution points for me for the foreseeable future.
Instead of worrying about this, I moved on to the peak's Scripture Hall. While Dragon Peak housed the cultivation techniques, Earth Peak housed most of the formation-related techniques and knowledge. Earth Peak also had a wider array of martial techniques available, but those could wait for later.
An older deacon in the King realm was in charge of the Pavilion and was responsible for retrieving and copying purchased manuals. I winced when I saw this since it meant that I would have a hard time rummaging through their books, but it was still something worth looking into at a later date.
I quickly scanned through a reference book that listed everything available to outer sect disciples. It was disappointing, but I found a few books on basic and intermediate Rank 3 formations. I had to trade in 3 spirit stones for enough contribution points to buy both of them, but I considered that a more than fair price.
Besides simple information books, there were also manuals for techniques to help when creating formations. I considered purchasing a few of them, but I didn't know which would be worth the cost. I had learned that in alchemy, there were a few techniques that were nearly mandatory to be a decent alchemist, such as ones to improve pill efficacy, but there were many that were only useful to low-skilled practitioners.
I needed a teacher to guide me in such purchasing decisions.
With this in mind, I returned to the Mission Hall and submitted my own mission. I needed a formations teacher. After reviewing the costs associated with the different levels and ranks of teachers, I decided on requesting a Lord-level inner sect teacher. This wasn't too much more than hiring a Grandmaster-level core disciple would have been, and I hoped they would be able to share additional knowledge.
Two dozen spirit stones poorer, I left the peak and returned to my store.
Considering that my position in the sect was at least partially determined by my aptitude as a formation specialist, I needed to improve quickly if I wanted to advance. My level of formation comprehension was already good for a Grandmaster, but since my skill with formations was the main thing holding me back, I wanted to push my comprehension even further.
"System, increase my formation comprehension to a total of 500 million credits."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 450 million credits. 710,799,004 credits remaining.
I spent the next several days studying the formation books I had purchased. The knowledge flowed into me like a steady stream and previously obtuse ideas were easy to understand. Where before I was simply copying down a set inscription, I was now beginning to understand its underlying meaning.
During my tutoring session, I asked my teacher to focus on discussing important techniques I needed to learn, when to use them, and why to use them. After he covered everything he could think of on the topic, I then demonstrated creating a Rank 3 Qi Gathering Formation, and he offered ideas on how it could be improved.
Lastly, since he was a Formation Lord, I asked him to teach me what he could about a Rank 4 Qi Gathering Formations since I wanted to construct one for myself in the future. He acceded to my request but added some important advice.
"When you make such a formation for people in the future, always turn up the qi flow to slightly above what the materials can handle. This will cause the stone to slowly wear away over time. If you don't, your formations will last for years, and you'll lose all your customers. It's better to advertise your formations as 'more powerful' and just say that the limited lifespan is an unfortunate side effect."
This was simple planned obsolescence at its finest. Never make something that will last when you can charge more for something that needs to be frequently replaced.
Taking the tutor's advice to heart, I went and traded a good portion of my remaining spirit stones for the techniques he had told me about.
With all of the purchases I had been making recently, my number of spirit stones was quickly depleting. While I had only used up about 10% of my reserves, I didn't want to rely so heavily on my stored wealth. I needed my shop to start making a solid profit so that I could rely on that instead.
Two years passed quickly as I carefully cultivated the Steady Earth technique to the peak of the Grandmaster Realm.
My main focus was on raising my cultivation level, but I spent the downtime after compressing my qi to study formations. With my boosted comprehension, I was confident I knew everything in the manuals for outer sect disciples. If I wanted to learn more, I would need to advance to either the inner sect or Martial Lord.
I knew that combat skills were highly valued in the sect. Nothing made that clearer than the multitude of missions focused on fighting battles from random towns, so I needed to improve my combat ability, but I just didn't have time. Raising my formation skills to an acceptable level took all the free time I had.
I could only hope it was enough.
Two weeks before the year's Entrance Exam for outsiders, sect disciples were allowed to enter the Exam's Trial to try and raise their position within the sect. This opportunity came at a steep cost in contribution points, but if one was successfully promoted, those points were refunded.
My shop's business had steadily increased over the years, and I was not short of points for Grandmaster-level purchases. So, knowing that being an inner sect disciple could open a few more doors, I decided to attempt the sect's Exam once more.
But before I did so, I needed to make an important purchase.
"System, how much to prevent the Trial from affecting my mind or wiping my memories?"
Protection from Trial Formation. Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.
That wasn't good. If I couldn't even get a cost, that meant the mind-wiping formation was at a very high level. I was pretty sure that it was only affecting my short-term memory, which wasn't too much of a problem, but I needed to try and take precautions.
"System, when I leave the Trial, I want my mental state to revert to exactly how it was before I entered, removing any changes that occur while inside."
Mental Reversion. Cost 1 million credits.
That wasn't bad. It was unfortunate that I would have no idea what mental effects I would be under, if any, but the cost of that knowledge was beyond what I could afford.
I could try one thing though…
"System, how much to restore my memories from my first time in the Trial?"
Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.
I figured as much, but it was worth asking. Setting up a situation where the System would instantly restore my memories was likewise impossible.
"Purchase the scheduled mental reversion so that when I leave the Trial, I am restored to my previous state."
Purchase confirmed. Cost 1 million credits. 709,799,004 credits remaining.
With protections in place, I left Mortal City and headed to the Exam. With the prohibitive cost of entry, there was no need to wait for a slot, and I got to enter the Trial immediately.
I stepped into the dark portal, and seemingly an instant later, I stepped out of it.
The scribe at the counter gave me a bored look and spoke in a monotone voice.
"Promotion to ungraded inner sect disciple confirmed. Congratulations. Hand me your jade."
I did so, and it was replaced with a new token made for an inner sect disciple.
With a smile on my face, I returned to my shop.
When I entered, I was greeted with a wide, flattering smile from Brother Mao. He was standing next to a somewhat obese man in richly embroidered robes.
"Senior Brother Su, welcome back. May I introduce you to Senior Brother Pang? He is from the PangBo Merchant Association. He is here with an excellent offer for us."