The Undying Immortal System

When I awoke in my tiny house, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. The pain of burning alive had vanished. In a couple of hours, once the memories of my past life faded into the background, the agony I had experienced would be nothing more than a distant dream.

To speed this process up, I focused on my newly acquired fire seed.

Hot Springs Fire, Yellow-Rank, Elements: Water/Fire, Consumes: Energy, Produces: Water/Heat

Seeing that the fire was only Yellow-Rank, I almost wanted to laugh. Supercharged by an abundance of metal essence, this fire had seemed closer to Earth-Rank. Still, I wouldn’t complain. Yellow-Rank was fine. I just needed it to be able to supply my storage space with an endless stream of water.

Speaking of my storage space, since I had a moment of downtime, I decided to check how things were going in there.

ShouLi stood on a small rock outcropping, surrounded by the other members of the leadership council. The elder who had replaced GuiMing had not been allowed to join us, so GuiMing had resumed his original position until a replacement could be appointed.

While everyone appeared somber, Liang showed signs of irritation.

“When is the Ancestor going to contact us? I am extremely grateful to him for saving my father, but he didn’t give us a chance to tell him about the problems with this place. If things don’t change soon, people are going to start rioting.”

ShouLi dropped her head. “I’m sure he has his reasons. We just have to endure. We have enough food for a few more days, and we can survive without housing. Just… Do your best. I’m sure he will contact us when he has time.”

I stood up and moved to the corner of my tiny house. This place was barely large enough for one person, so bringing a second one in would be a bit of a squeeze, but we could manage.

With an effort of will, I pulled ShouLi out of my storage space.

When she first appeared, her eyes widened in shock, but only an instant later, she sat down and began cultivating as fast as she could.

It wasn’t until nearly half an hour later that she finally opened her eyes and looked at me.

“Ancestor!?”

ShouLi’s face was a mask of horror and confusion. My cultivation base having disappeared was one thing, she had a frame of reference to understand that. However, the fact that I had somehow become decades younger, and the fact I now looked like nothing more than a malnourished street urchin, likely didn’t comport with her understanding of reality.

I just smiled wryly at her. “Yes, it’s me. Don’t worry about my current appearance. Things are a bit more complicated than I let on earlier, and I would prefer keeping a few things hidden for the moment.”

ShouLi bit her lower lip and nodded at me.

“I heard a bit of what the council was talking about. What’s the problem with the… world orb?”

This question brought her back to reality, and she focused on me with a serious expression.

“Aside from the place just feeling… wrong… The biggest problem is that we can’t use our qi in there.”

I nodded. “I know. I’m working on it. Once I regain a bit of power, I can look at setting up small areas of enhanced qi where people can cultivate.”

It would cost me a few spirit stones, but I could construct something like a Qi Gathering Formation that was fueled by spirit stones instead of ambient energy. I had done something similar in the past with the Rank 3 Cultivation Hall on Mount Jiang. It was expensive, but it would let me solve the immediate problem until I could implement a longer-term solution.

ShouLi shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. It’s not just a lack of qi. It’s that our qi, even the qi that’s inside our bodies, it doesn’t… it doesn't work right. It doesn’t do what we want it to do. It acts erratically. Mo tried using his qi to build a stone house and it just… didn’t work. After placing a few blocks, he lost control of his energy, and everything… exploded.”

My forehead creased when I heard this. All my formations had always worked properly, so I didn’t know what the issue would be. I couldn’t exactly go in and check it out myself, after all.

“I’ll look into it. For now, what do you need to make the place more habitable?”

ShouLi dropped her head. “If you can just supply us with a few crates of fresh food, that would go a long way to showing everyone that you haven’t forgotten about us. Other than that, if we can’t use our qi… then we need tools. We will need to build and farm like mortals. Some people might not be happy, but a few of the outsiders we brought with us know what to do. They just need the tools to do it.”

I nodded. “Anything else?”

She closed her eyes. “Do we have to keep living in there?”

“If possible. If it’s possible, then yes. In a few days, a month at most, I will start letting people out, but, if possible, I want a large group to stay in there and work on making it a decent place to live. I can’t explain everything yet, but just know, that world… It’s the clan’s future.”

ShouLi nodded. “I understand. I’ll do my best.”

With a wave of my hand, ShouLi disappeared.

I had done my best to ensure the loyalty of the people I had brought with me, and recent events should have been enough to convince them of the need to keep the clan’s secrets, but loyalties fail and memories fade. Besides, even if everyone remained stalwart, there were still ways of extracting information from people without their consent, such as slave techniques and soul gu.

I needed a final line of protection.

“System, how much would it cost to purchase an oath stone and formation capable of allowing the members of my clan to swear Oaths to the Heavenly Dao? I would want it so that a person had some kind of warning if they were in danger of breaking their Oath, and if they did so, I want them to be struck by lightning and killed, no matter where on this continent the infraction occurs.”

Cost 2 quadrillion credits.

I nodded grimly. “How much for just the oath stone?”

Cost 500 billion credits.

While I could buy the stone, it would burn through all my credits, and I wouldn’t have much to show for it.

In the Eight Flower Kingdom, everyone was forced to swear an Oath upon becoming a Lord, but one would only be punished for breaking that Oath if they were within range of the kingdom’s Bagua Formation. I might be able to buy something like that, or even just steal Eight Flower’s, but it wouldn’t help me much. If someone ran away and started spreading news of our clan, any Oath they swore wouldn’t have much of an effect.

I needed a way to administer Oaths like the one Zhuge Yan had sworn, one that would be effective anywhere.

If purchasing such a formation from the System wasn’t possible, I only had one idea of who I could turn to for help. It was dangerous, but at this point, everything was dangerous.

“System, send me to a secluded spot near the Pavilion in Blue Wind City.”

Purchase Confirmed. Cost 10,098 credits. 539,755,430,799 credits remaining.

I appeared in an alleyway surrounded by two towering skyscrapers. Stepping out onto the street, I was greeted by the sight of a massive, 80-story tall pagoda that sat upon an impressive 30-meter-thick foundation of pure ziethanite.

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Without pausing to take in the sights around me, I walked confidently up to the base of the pagoda and began climbing the stairs.

Halfway up, my lungs started burning from the exertion. I hadn’t taken a Nutrition Pill in this life, so I was still suffering from malnutrition, and my body was little more than skin and bones. Seeing this, the numerous patrons entering and exiting the Pavilion gave me strange looks, but no one spoke up to cause a scene. Even the most arrogant young master would hesitate before speaking out of turn at the headquarters of the Blue Wind Pavilion.

Ignoring my surroundings, I pushed on, and after a herculean effort, I made it to the top of the stairs.

The two men standing guard there narrowed their eyes at me, but they did nothing to stop me from passing through the large, open double doors and entering the Pavilion.

Like every other Pavilion I had visited, the first floor of the Blue Wind Pavilion’s headquarters was a giant, open atrium with dozens of counters that sold everything a person might need. The only thing that set the headquarters apart was the sheer size of the place. It was several times larger than normal, and the ceiling was at least five full floors up, giving the place a cavernous feel to it.

Because of the sheer number of shoppers, instead of having attendants approach everyone as they entered, a desk had been set up near the entrance where one could go to request assistance.

As I approached, the young woman behind this counter gave me a cold, imperious look. With her stiff, upright posture and a slight sneer on her lips, she made the Pavilion’s blue and silver qipao look like the robes of a monarch. Her golden hair ornaments seemed almost to be a crown.

When I stood before her, she didn’t ask if I needed help, she simply raised a questioning eyebrow.

I gave her a soft smile. “Hello, I need to speak with Li GuiYang.”

I reached out and placed a small coin on the counter between us.

The moment this coin touched the counter, a bright purple light burst forth from the image of a plum blossom that had been engraved into it.

Seeing this, the attendant’s eyes widened in horror, and she bowed deeply. “Of course, emissary, at once.”

She turned to leave, but before she could take even a single step, a black portal appeared, and an elderly man in a dark blue robe stepped out of it.

Emperor Li gave me a considering look and then motioned me toward the portal.

I gave him a slight bow of my head and stepped through. Coming here had already put me in his clutches. Walking into an unknown portal wouldn’t make things any more dangerous than they already were.

On the other side, I stepped out into a tidy, spartan office. Emperor Li took his seat behind the desk and gestured for me to sit across from him.

Once seated, he gave me a stony look. “There are only a few possible ways that you could possibly possess my token, and I am not exactly thrilled with any of them. Explain.”

Wordlessly, I pulled out his memory orb, placed it on the desk, and rolled it over to him.

Emperor Li narrowed his eyes this, and a faint snarl crossed his lips, but he held himself in check.

After staring at the orb for several seconds, he picked it up and absorbed the memories.

When the transfer was complete, a flash of emotion overtook him, but he quickly composed himself and looked at me with his regular, granite expression.

“Alright, why have you come here? I assume you want something from me.”

I nodded. “I need a way to apply Oaths. I know that Zhuge Yan has sworn an Oath to keep certain information private. When he broke that Oath, he was immediately struck down by lightning. I need a way to make that happen. I need to be able to make people swear Oaths of secrecy so that they cannot reveal certain information even if they are forced to do so.”

Emperor Li looked at me silently for nearly an entire minute before speaking.

“Each of the Sovereign clans has a formation that can do what you want. They were made by a Formation Spirit on the Central Continent hundreds of years ago. They are irreplaceable, and while they are only effective on this continent, they are vital for our operations here.”

I smirked faintly. “So, your Li clan has one. Do you care that it cannot be replaced?”

Emperor Li narrowed his eyes. “Not entirely. As you already know, I only have 20 years left before I wither away to dust, and I don’t mind punishing the Li Clan a bit before I leave. However, how many resources have I provided you? How many of them have you repaid? Ultimately, yes, I hope that you will assist me in ascending to immortality, and that would be a gift far beyond anything I could ever give you, but I have my pride. I do not enjoy being treated as a money jar. How many lives have you lived since I gave you that orb? How many times have you allowed me to regain my memories?”

I ducked my head apologetically. “Three or four lives, and this is the first time you have reabsorbed them. I had assumed that if you wanted the memories, then you would come and get them. That’s what your blessing is for, is it not? I did not seek you out, no, but you did not seek me out either. As for repayment, let's put this issue to the side. I consider the help that you have given me to be beyond measure. Once I am capable of helping you ascend, I am sure that you will feel the same way. Instead, let us talk about how we will work together.”

The mention of his blessing caused a spike of rage to well up in Emperor Li, but he calmed himself and nodded.

“I need the Oath formation. I hope you can get that for me. Also… I wonder if you know where I might find a technique for cultivating wind, dark, or light essence. In return, I will give you the notes of a Master Alchemist.”

When I took a small book containing RuLan’s notes on beast alchemy out of my storage space, Emperor Li stared at it, and his brow furrowed in confusion.

“That... What... Ye…” He bit his tongue to keep from saying more. Then he looked at me with sharp eyes. “What is that? Why is it so valuable?”

I smiled as I thought of something. “Also, you might be aware that I have not been a particularly good disciple to you over the years. I was wondering if you would be interested in taking a true disciple?”

Inside my storage space, one moment, RuLan was having a private conversation with Mo. The next, she was gone.

RuLan suddenly appeared in Emperor Li’s office and looked around in panic.

When she spotted me, her eyes widened in horror at the state of my body. “Patri… An… Ancestor?”

I waved her to silence. “RuLan, would you be interested in taking a Martial Sovereign as your master?”

She turned and stared wide-eyed at Emperor Li.

In the end, I left the Pavilion with an oath stone and a formation plate. While this formation had unexpected limitations, it would still let me accomplish my goals.

RuLan left the Pavilion with an agreement to meet her new master in the next loop and a memory orb for Emperor Li that contained the details of this agreement.

The only shame was that I no longer had Emperor Li’s token, it had been handed over to RuLan.

As for the wind essence cultivation technique, that was a secret of the Li Clan. It was locked away in the Li Clan’s vaults and only blood members of the clan were allowed to access it. Emperor Li was unable to give it to me. Likewise, the light and dark techniques were secrets of the Zhuge Clan.

Zhuge YeDu had tried to entrap and enslave me when I went to the Nine River’s Summit. Zhuge HanYu had just led an army to eradicate my clan. While both of these gestures had ultimately been futile, they had built up a debt that needed to be repaid, and handing over these techniques would be a good way for them to do that.

However, this was something for the future. Neither I nor my clan was ready for that yet. For the moment, we needed to focus on growing stronger.

With that in mind, I took a few hours to wander around Blue Wind City and purchase a variety of mundane supplies for the people living in my storage space, including hammers, hoes, and watering cans.

Then, I found a secluded spot in one of the city’s gardens and sat down in the shade of a tall cypress tree.

My status as Emperor Li’s disciple would quickly be known by the various powers of this world, and that would cause nothing but trouble. So, before I could move forward, I needed to return to the beginning.

I pulled out a poison pill and swallowed it.

You have died. Calculating…

You died as a Martial Disciple 1 – 10 credits awarded.

Total Credits: 539,755,430,809

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Affinities

Peak Four-Star – Earth, Metal, Lightning

Peak Five-Star – Wood, Fire, Water, Wind, Light, Dark

Peak Seven-Star – Karmic Energy

Low Six-Star – Space

Resistances

Mental Effects (Cultivation Techniques) – 25,000,000 credits

Mental Library

Capacity – Rank 6

Journal (with Mental Input) – Rank 6

Perfect Transcription – Rank 6

Touch Reading – Rank 6

Scribe – Rank 3

Comprehension Boosts

Cultivation:

Cultivation Techniques – 100 billion credits

Soul Techniques – 100 billion credits

Qi Control – 100 million credits

Teaching – 100 million credits

Professions:

Alchemy – 1 billion credits

Formations – 100 billion credits

Herbalism – 10 billion credits

Refining – 10 billion credits

Martial – 1 billion credits

Social:

Reading Emotions (True) – 25,000,000 credits

Skills

Mastery of Cold Mountain Fire, Expanding Realms Fire

Talisman Artistry – Rank 4 (Continent-Wide Expert)

Soul Formation Concealment – Rank 6

Enhanced Soul Growth – 20,000 credits

Pill, Formation, Herb, Talisman, Demon Beast, Refined Item, Illusion, and Gu Appraisal – Rank 3 (Comprehensive, Detailed)

Technique Appraisal – Rank 3 (Earth)

Fire Seed Appraisal – Profound

Language (Western Han)

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End of Volume 1.

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