The Undying Immortal System

As soon as I completed my breakthrough to Martial Lord, I took out a memory orb and used it to record every detail that I could remember about what I had done. While this orb wouldn’t be a match for what I could buy from the System, filling a memory orb with Rank 4 information was a bit too expensive, and while this orb might not be ideal, it should still be enough to allow everyone to advance.

Once this task was complete, I stood and exited my cultivation chamber.

Having advanced to Lord, I now had access to a Ruler’s will-lock, and the potency of my qi had noticeably increased. I needed to use this power to begin shoring up TongBei’s defenses.

For the city proper, there wasn’t much to do. It already had high walls and Rank 4 defensive formations in place, and while upgrading them was possible, as a Lord 1, doing so wasn’t worth the investment. Instead, I only worried about improving the formations in key areas, such as the city lord’s manor.

Then, I turned my attention to the outlying villages.

These villages had no formations to speak of, and while there were several that I could add to improve people’s quality of life, like formations to keep pests away, I wanted to leave most of these for the lower-level members of my clan to take care of. My only aim was to ensure that everyone was protected.

Single-handedly building basic Rank 4 walls and formations for all of TongBei’s villages took me months of work, but once I was done, I was confident that no one below Lord 7 would be able to breach our defenses. Of course, this work could have been sped up by me selling pills to earn points to hire people to do everything for us, but I wanted to do it myself to get in a bit of practice with large-scale formations.

Once all the villages were as protected as I could reasonably make them, I retreated back to my cultivation room in the city lord’s manor. While having an excuse to experiment with grand formations had been nice, if I wanted to learn how to make memory orbs, I needed to focus on mastering the art of refining.

Like me, my Revered Elders also stepped back from any active involvement in the clan and only offered guidance where necessary, even Yan. While I had appointed him my Grand Chancellor, ShouLi was the one who was really running everything. This was a bit tough on her since it meant that she needed to split her attention between energy cultivation, body cultivation, soul cultivation, learning beast taming, martial training, and running my city, but if my guess about how the sect would treat her after she retook the Exam was correct, she needed to be as prepared as possible before that happened.

One year after we arrived in TongBei, one year before the competition to select a new steward of the Black River Kingdom, I was broken from my meditations. It was extremely unusual for anyone to interrupt me during my time in seclusion, so when someone started frantically pounding on my door, I stood and opened it immediately.

On the other side, I found a harried young man with rivulets of sweat running down his face.

“Yes? How may I help you?”

As soon as he realized that I had opened the door, the young man dropped into a deep bow. “Lord Su, a message for you.”

Using both hands, he lifted up a single sheet of paper that had been sealed with Yan’s stamp.

With a single flick of the wrist, I picked up the paper and opened it.

Fang,

Lord Kang is on his way. Main gate. Immediately.

I nodded to myself, flipped the boy a random Rank 1 pill, and then disappeared.

When I arrived at the main gate, I only found ShouLi, NiangBa, and a luxurious carriage waiting for me. ShouLi and I had discussed this situation with Yan several times over the past years, and he had created a series of contingencies based on Lord Kang’s behavior, but only ShouLi and NiangBa being here meant that he had decided to move forward with the simplest one.

I looked at ShouLi. “What’s the situation?”

She dipped her head to me. “Ancestor, our scouts—”

Before she could say any more, three men riding large white horses came into view.

Watching these horses move was surreal. Each step took the beasts farther than it should have. Instead of walking on the ground, it looked like they were skating above it.

I glanced at ShouLi. “Rank 5 wind horses?”

She nodded silently.

Without another word, I stepped forward, and ShouLi and NiangBa took up positions on either side of me.

Only moments later, the three horses stopped mere paces in front of us.

I cupped my fists and gave a deep bow to the richly dressed man in the center.

“Lord Kang, I have long heard your great name. I am Su Fang, steward of TongBei. Welcome to my city.”

Still sitting high atop his horse, Lord Kang nodded his head to me. “Lord Su, it is nice to finally meet you. We have much to discuss.”

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I gave him another deep bow and gestured to the fancy carriage that Yan had prepared for us. “Of course, Lord. Please allow me to escort you to the city lord’s manor where we may do so in comfort.”

Smiling, Lord Kang and his two companions jumped from their horses and climbed aboard the carriage. Once we were all seated, I bowed my head to him.

“Lord Kang, shall I order some grooms to take care of your horses?”

Lord Kang waved a dismissive hand. “No need. Rank 5 beasts are intelligent enough to take care of themselves.”

“Of course, Lord. However, I must warn you that there have been reports of extremely vicious demon beasts in the area, and I cannot guarantee their safety.”

Lord Kang just smiled at this, clearly thinking there was nothing to worry about.

As the ‘vicious demon beasts’ I was referring to was LuLu, a Rank 6 demon deer, there indeed wasn’t too much to worry about. As long as these horses didn’t cause any trouble, she would allow them to graze in her territory freely. However, if Lord Kang sent these horses out to cause mischief, then things might get a little messy.

In any case, I didn’t think these horses would cause us any trouble unless my negotiations with Lord Kang broke down completely, so I didn’t worry about it. Instead, I focused on my new companions and evaluated them in energy vision.

Lord Kang was a Peak Lord with an impeccable foundation. The badge of a grade 3 core disciple hanging from his waist, as well as the intense water qi that I could sense from him, indicated that he was a highly skilled beast tamer, and I had to wonder if he had tamed those horses himself. However, as both of his companions were elderly False Kings who had also cultivated water qi, it seemed far more likely that the horses belonged to one of them.

As we rode, Lord Kang examined the city as it passed us by.

“Lord Su, I must say, TongBei is a rather impressive sight. Both the roads and the buildings are immaculate. It must have taken powerful cultivators quite some time to ensure everything here was of such high quality. If the place were only slightly larger, I could imagine it serving as a proper imperial capital.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Certainly. This city is the product of generations of effort.” I gave a wry chuckle. “Sadly, there wasn’t much I could do to improve the place after taking control of it.”

Lord Kang smirked. “Yes, I must thank you for that. One of my men had been scheduled to become the steward here. As a grade 1 inner sect disciple, this was about the best he could have hoped for. However, when you claimed it instead, he was given the chance to take over a city with a bit more potential for growth.”

I gave a seated half-bow. “I am glad that I could be of service, Lord.”

Lord Kang’s expression chilled slightly. “Unfortunately, this also means that I have lost control of one of the kingdom’s most important cities. With the competition to select a new steward for the kingdom approaching, this has put me in a rather difficult position.”

I maintained my pleasant façade and dipped my head once more. “I understand, Lord. However… may I suggest that this is not the appropriate place for such discussions? Please, we have almost arrived. Let us continue this inside.”

Our carriage arrived at the manor in silence, and I led everyone to a conference room off to the side of the main hall.

When I gestured for everyone to enter, Lord Kang just stared at the door warily, so I hurried to explain.

“A simple anti-eavesdropping formation, Lord. This was why I wished to wait to continue our discussion until after we arrived. To ensure its privacy.”

Lord Kang narrowed his eyes at me, but after a quick look at his companions, he strode into the room confidently.

This room contained only a single long table with three chairs on either side. Lord Kang took the center seat on the left side, and his two False Kings took the seats next to him. ShouLi took the seat in the middle of the right side, I took the seat to her left, and NiangBa took the seat to her right.

Lord Kang gave me an icy look. “Lord Su, what is the meaning of this?”

My only response was to turn my head to look at ShouLi.

She smiled at the young Lord opposite her.

“Lord Kang, I believe you may be under a bit of a misconception. When you entered the sect, your family provided you with protectors.” She gestured to the False Kings. “Lord Su Fang and Grandmaster Su NiangBa are mine.”

Lord Kang pursed his lips in annoyance. “I see. Your family sent someone capable of becoming a grade 3 core disciple to protect a mere inner sect disciple. How… extravagant.”

ShouLi chuckled lightly. “You can view it that way if you wish, but my clan’s elders have a wider outlook. While Su Fang is indeed a grade 3 core disciple, that is only because of certain advantages provided to him by his blessing. His future potential is… limited. Our elders believe that I will be the one who achieves true greatness in this sect.”

Lord Kang steepled his fingers and took several long moments to come to a decision on how to proceed.

“Very well, Miss…”

“Su ShouLi.”

“Miss Su, right. It makes no difference to me who you say is in charge here. You understand why I have come, do you not?”

ShouLi dipped her head a mere fraction of a centimeter. “Because my protector claimed a city that was meant for one of you men, potentially weakening your position in the upcoming contest for the stewardship of the Black River Kingdom.”

“And how do you plan on rectifying this situation?”

ShouLi gave Lord Kang a vicious smile. “We will support you, of course. I will be in no position to fight for the kingdom, so I will support your bid. If you desire, in the future, I will even assist you in fighting for the stewardship of the North Empire. However, there are a few things I need in return.”

ShouLi pulled out a map of the Black River Kingdom and started marking cities. “Once the fight for the kingdom is over, these cities will likely need new stewards. I want your help in ensuring that they go to my people.”

By assuming the subservient, submissive role of ShouLi’s protector, I had successfully accomplished my goal of not needing to take an active part in the negotiations with Lord Kang. However, I still needed to stay in the room with everyone to keep an eye on things.

As ShouLi and Kang started discussing the finer details of their cooperation, I closed my eyes and leaned back in the seat.

Then, I stretched out my awareness to the room around us.

While the room’s anti-eavesdropping formation was only Rank 5, even an Emperor would need to be exceptionally skilled to breach it without my knowledge.

As my attention wandered, I caught the faintest hint of wind qi emanating from the ceiling.

The moment I noticed it, the wind qi disappeared, but I focused on the spot where I had initially sensed it.

As I did, I began to sense something from my space affinity.

I focused on this feeling, but as I did, it started to fade.

However, it didn’t disappear, so I focused harder.

The feeling faded further.

I put the strength of my entire soul behind my probing, and I located a pinpoint where the twinge from my space affinity originated. However, in this heightened state of awareness, I found another three such locations spread throughout the room.

Something, it seemed, had gotten the attention of the Sovereigns. Whether it was my performance or ShouLi’s, I wasn’t entirely sure. However, as I had hoped, this light touch seemed to indicate that they were willing to let things play out naturally and wait for us to reach the Summit. Sadly for them, that wasn’t going to happen.

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