The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 396 – Life 109, Age 24, Martial Grandmaster 7

Not everyone was sold on the idea of working with me to create new recipes, but this didn’t stop a couple of people from stepping forward—including the young woman who had placed second in the recent competition, who I finally learned was named Lau CoiHung. Once our group met with its first real success, however, things changed.

After only a few months of work, we were able to create the entirely unique Rank 5 Spear Vortex Pill, which combined spear-based herbs with chain-based herbs. When crushed, this pill created a powerful whirlwind of energy that sucked in anything nearby and shredded it with spear energy.

Considering that this pill used expensive Rank 5 herbs, its effects weren’t overly impressive—its spear energy was only truly deadly to Martial Grandmasters and below. Adding patterns to the pill increased the suction force of its vortex, but it didn’t do much to increase the violence of the spear energy. So, even as a three-patterned pill, it was barely capable of incapacitating Martial Lords.

To anyone solely concerned about the monetary value of our pill, this first success might have looked like an abject failure. However, the rewards for creating this pill went far beyond a few spirit stones.

As the person who took the lead in assembling the world’s very first Rank 5 Spear Vortex Pill, Lau CoiHung was awarded with an enlightenment from the Dao itself, boosting her alchemy abilities far beyond what was normal for someone of her age.

Upon seeing this, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret. If I had taken the lead in concocting that first pill, then I could have been the one to receive that enlightenment. This regret didn’t last long, however. I could only receive a single enlightenment for each Rank of pill, and spending my Rank 5 enlightenment on some random weapon pill would have been far too wasteful. I would much rather save it for a pill related to beast alchemy.

When others heard about this enlightenment, however, they weren’t quite so sanguine.o kidnap me and force me to pump out an endless stream of recipes. It simply wouldn’t do them any good.

Instead, the elders acted for the good of the Palace as a whole. They helped me get the herbs I needed, and I used them to create as many recipes as I could, granting enlightenments to as many of the Palace’s alchemists as possible.

With roughly a year to go before the exhibition match, Emperor Chan called me up to his workshop. After a few polite words of greeting, he got straight to the point.

“Su Fang, you’ve been a Peak Grandmaster for several months now, so you should start looking toward your next advancement. However...”

The look of worry in Chan’s eyes made me afraid that assisting the Palace in designing so many new pills might have been a mistake. Had someone decided that I shouldn’t be allowed to advance any further?

“Is someone trying to block my access to karmic energy?”

“No, nothing like that. You’ve likely helped the Palace more than anyone in history. No one will deny you your right to its stores of karmic energy.” Chan took a deep breath. “The problem is your affinity

for karmic energy. To help you raise it, we need to send you outside the Palace, to let you live among mortals as they struggle to improve their lot in life. Normally, this isn’t a problem. We would just send you to spend some time in the City of Selfless Courage. Now, though, if you leave the Palace, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to make it back alive.”

Chan let out a soft sigh. “Sovereign Enkhtuya has done her best to keep recent events quiet, but agents of both the Devil Saint and the Saint of Tooth and Claw almost certainly know of your existence. If you leave the Palace’s protections, they will assassinate you—no matter how many assets they have to burn through in the process.”

“But as long as I stay in the Palace, I’m safe?”

“Yes. This place is protected by both the Palace’s formations and Sovereign Enkhtuya. Nothing short of an Ancestor-level cultivator can threaten you within these walls, and if one of those appears, the Saint of Heroes will be forced to intervene and stop them. However, you are only safe here. The Saint of Heroes will help safeguard the Palace, but she won’t safeguard you. This means that you cannot leave the Palace until the final competition. You cannot attend the exhibition match, you cannot go out to experience a Return to Simplicity, and there is no way for you to enhance your affinity for karmic energy.”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. Even if I were only a low-level Lord, there still might have been members of the Palace who felt that I needed to compete in the exhibition match. However, if the Sovereign was actively preventing me from joining in for safety reasons, who could blame me for not participating?

“This won’t be a problem,” I told Chan. “I already have a decent karmic affinity. As long as the Palace can supply me with energy, I can break through at any time.”

Suddenly, my right hand shot up as I realized my mistake. “Of course, I will first need to take a look at the Palace’s Ruler tier cultivation techniques. Hopefully, I can find one that is a good fit for my Warrior tier techniques.”

Sadly, the Palace’s collection of Ruler tier cultivation techniques was rather disappointing. Sure, they had Peak-Yellow techniques, which was more than I could say about any faction on the Nine Rivers Continent, but that was it. Nothing was any better than the Core of Fellowship. They just had different effects.

If I wanted to use karmic energy that was generated by people loyal to the Palace, then I needed to use one of the approved techniques. These had effects ranging from increased loyalty to a greater work ethic. If I used a source of outside karmic energy, however, the Palace could provide me with techniques that had effects such as increased gullibility or increased aggression.

I didn’t find any of these techniques overly appealing, so I made copies of the manuals for each Rank of the Core of Fellowship and submitted them to the library for approval. Within the day, I was given authorization to begin using this ‘new’ technique, and within the week, my manuals were officially added to the Palace’s library.

By requesting authorization to use these techniques, I had, essentially, given them to the Palace for free. However, considering the mountain of novel pill recipes that I had given the Palace, handing over a few technique manuals was hardly worth mentioning.

Once everything was confirmed, Emperor Chan informed me that I had full access to as much Lord-level energy as I needed. So, I took enough to complete my initial ascension and locked myself away in my cultivation chamber.

As I sat there, slowly constructing my karmic core, a small part of me felt that foregoing the Return to Simplicity might have been a mistake.

Even without heading into the City of Selfless Courage, I could have still used a Rank 3 Moon Cicada Pill to reset my cultivation base while channeling the energy toward enhancing my Crescent Moon Spade. I hadn’t thought about this earlier, since I was in a hurry to grow stronger, and I didn’t really care too much about becoming a powerful warrior, but during my next life, I would need to make sure to enhance that spade as much as possible.

More importantly, though, was a Return to Simplicity only useful for enhancing one’s weapon? Was there such a thing as a Pill Cicada Pill? Could I use a Return to channel pill qi into a furnace, enhancing my ability to perform alchemy?

Even if this were possible, without a high-Rank furnace, it wouldn’t matter too much. But, once I got hold of a Rank 7+ pill furnace, I would need to look into this.