The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 470 – Life 120, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 5

Creating a complete, autonomous Mountain-Protecting Formation—one that was capable of recognizing identity jades, controlling defensive barriers, trapping outsiders in illusions, and tracking contribution points—would take several years, even for me. If I wanted to add the ability to create restricted areas that were only open to elders or core disciples, this time would double.

I could have gotten around this by modifying one of the formations in my treasury, but with the Bureau tracking our every action, this wasn’t possible.

Under normal circumstances, the power of proper Mountain-Protecting Formations was well worth the time it took to construct them. Here, however, I was planning for our sect to quickly climb through the Ranks, and an over-complex formation would be outdated before it was even finished.

Therefore, I chose to adopt a more modular design.

First, I pulled out a variety of materials and laid down a complex Rank 4 defensive formation around the entire mountain. Then, I added a basic Rank 2 detection formation to our sect’s gate. And finally, I inscribed a block of jade and limestone with a Rank 3 information storage formation.

The defensive barrier would ensure that no one below Martial King could enter our sect. The detection formation would search for nearby identity jades. And the information storage formation would compare the energy signatures on nearby identity jades to those of our sect members.

Whenever a member of our sect neared the gate, these three formations would exchange a series of signals, and a gap would open in our defenses, allowing them to pass through. Connecting three independent formations like this was nowhere near as secure as a true, unified Mountain-Protecting Formation, but it would allow me to upgrade our defensive barrier without touching the formations related to our identity jade.

Once our defenses were in place, I next set up a Rank 1 illusion around the mountain’s summit. At the moment, this illusion was rather pointless, but if the mountain’s mists were to suddenly disappear, this formation would take their place, keeping the peak shrouded behind a pale, white fog.

Such a low-level illusion wouldn’t fool a Martial Master, let alone a Saint or Ancestor. But since nothing I could do would hide us from the continent’s true powerhouses, I didn’t see any reason to waste too much time on this. My only goal was to maintain an aura of mystery in front of our new Servant Disciples.

Combined, inscribing and installing all of these formations took less than a week. I still needed to add information modules for tracking and spending contribution points, but those could come later. First, I needed to deal with the energy from our newly-improved Dragon Vein.

My goals for the Dragon Vein were twofold: to capture all of the excess energy it was producing and to put that energy to use for our sect.

The first of these was simple. I went down to the Dragon Vein and used a formation to encase it in an energy barrier. The only problem was that, with nowhere to go, the Vein’s excess energy rapidly filled this barrier, and I was forced to vent it to prevent an explosion.

I had been hoping that compressing the excess energy might allow it to crystallize into additional spirit stones, but as far as I could tell, the excess energy was more like a waste product. The Dragon Vein pulled in energy from the Sea of Primordial Chaos, transformed what it could into spirit stones, and expelled what it couldn’t into the surrounding environment.

With energy vision, I could see that the excess energy was actually made up of a seemingly endless variety of qi and wu. Filtering it to extract pure fire or guandao qi might have been possible, but with so many forms of energy tangled together, the speed and efficiency of this would have been abysmal.

Thankfully, I had other options.

I reworked the original energy barrier that I had set up so that it would send all of the excess energy into a guandao spirit fire, transforming it into pure guandao qi. Then, I carved a series of inscriptions directly into the mountain to pump this guandao qi up to the mountain’s summit. There, I created a new barrier to trap the qi and create a blessed land for guandao cultivators.

Finally, I created a few weak spots in this barrier. When everyone was cultivating normally, the barrier would still keep the guandao qi contained. However, if we all marched out to face the Li Clan and the energy was left to accumulate, these weaknesses would allow it to bleed out, first into the area occupied by our Servant Disciples, then into the surrounding environment.

Of course, while this was perfect for our guandao cultivators, flooding the summit with pure guandao qi was slightly problematic for us two- and three-element cultivators. So, I constructed a series of cultivation chambers along the upper slope, where we could pull guandao qi from the energy bubble and elemental qi from the surrounding environment.

After finishing this, I began looking for my next project, but Kan called for a meeting in my inner world, where I learned that formations wouldn’t be able to solve all our problems.

“We activated our tokens for the Howling Gorge Realm,” said Kan, “and this time, the elder gave us some information about what we’re up against. We have five tokens, each one allowing us to bring in one Grandmaster, five Masters, and twenty-five Disciples. However, each group will be sent to an entirely different Realm. We won’t have to worry about other challengers this time, but we also won’t be able to team up and work together.”

JiuLi nodded, confirming this. “These different ‘Realms’ are almost certainly just different illusion formations. According to the elder, we also don’t have to worry about dying this time. Each group will be sent to a narrow canyon, where we’ll have to fight against an endless horde of beasts. The longer we survive and the more beasts we kill, the more points we’ll receive. Once we die, we’ll be sent to the entrance of the Treasury to await our companions.”

I liked that we wouldn’t have to worry about losing any of our new Disciples, but with the way this trial was designed, I might not have a chance to set up a defensive barrier like I did in the Shattered Blades Realm. I could carve each team a set of formation stones in advance, but unfortunately…

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“Also,” said Kan, grimacing, “we aren’t allowed to bring any items with us. No storage bags, no pills, no weapons. The Bureau will provide everyone with a basic guandao made from metals matching their Rank, but these weapons won’t have been refined. If we enter with any banned items—such as enhanced clothing—we will be ejected from the Realm, and our sect will face harsh penalties.”

This worried me. We had done well in the Shattered Blades Realm, but that was mostly because of my formations and our overly powerful weapons. Now, both of these advantages were being stripped away from us. Would our people be able to handle this?

Off to my side, YuLong just laughed. “Good. No one on the Nine Rivers Continent needs weapons to hunt beasts. We shouldn’t either. Fang, those weapons you made for us are nice, but they’ve made the children soft. This Realm sounds like a good challenge for them.”

I gave him a light smile and lowered my head. “I know what you mean, but survival is important. Even if we won’t die in this Realm, we still need to earn enough points to buy a fire seed that can create guandao wu. I would also like a seed that can make guandao qi, along with a few of those Heaven-Rank cultivation techniques. That will probably have to wait until we’re Lords, though. For now, you all should just focus on earning enough points for tokens to the Bureau’s next trial Realm, and I’ll do my best to purchase that fire seed. If you have any left over, purchase whatever you think might be helpful.”

After six months of focused training and cultivation, we stepped through the portal to the Howling Gorge Realm.

Each of our teams had five Masters, and unlike when we entered the Shattered Blades Realm, each of these groups was nearly identical—one Master Refiner, one Formation Master, and three blessed warriors.

Upon exiting the portal, we appeared at the bottom of a desolate, narrow canyon, and within seconds, we were surrounded by the echoes of a howling beast tide.

Not wasting a single moment, the Master Refiner and I began grabbing weapons from the hands of our Disciples and infusing them with guandao qi. Creating a high-quality, refined weapon would have taken time we didn’t have, but we could still boost the quality of our weapons by a level or two.

Meanwhile, our Formation Master quickly scanned the nearby terrain for any usable minerals.

“There!” she shouted, pointing to an outcropping nearly three-quarters of the way to the mouth of the canyon. “The gray stone. It’s chert. We can use it for low-level Rank 2 formations.”

I had been hoping to set up a Rank 3 or 4 formation, but the Bureau had chosen not to provide any of the necessary resources.

Two of our Master-level warriors, along with ten of our Disciples, dashed forward to gather the chert. The Masters used concentrated blades of guandao qi to carve it from the canyon wall, while the Disciples acted as couriers, delivering the cut stones to our Formation Master.

Formations and refined weapons. That was my plan. I understood YuLong’s desire to have our people struggle forward with nothing but the most basic of weaponry, but my goal wasn’t to give our people a bit of extra training. It was to secure the resources we needed.

When the first beasts—a herd of antelope—appeared at the mouth of the canyon, we had ten Disciples with refined weaponry. Thankfully, these were all weak Rank 1 beasts that had barely even started refining their bodies.

Before the antelopes were even halfway to us, a pack of oversized foxes dashed into the canyon. Then, a group of large pangolins. The Disciples used qi techniques to cut down the antelopes before they could reach us, but by the time they were all dead, another two packs of animals had already entered the canyon.

“Those with refined weapons, step forward and fight them head-on!” I shouted. “Try to kill your targets in one blow. We need to save our energy. Those without refined weapons, use your qi to kill targets at range. Once your qi drops below 90%, step back and cultivate to recover.”

After issuing these quick commands, I returned my focus to the weapon in front of me. The more powerful weapons we had, the longer we would be able to last.

Next to me, the Formation Master put the finishing touches on her first formation. Instead of starting with an attack or defense formation, she had carved a Rank 2 Qi Gathering Formation. After all, our warriors were more than capable of defending us from simple, low-level beasts. They just needed a little extra energy.

As the first hour of attack bled into the second, I was grateful that whoever had designed this Realm had chosen to make the beast carcasses dissolve a few minutes after their deaths. I could have kept the place clean by storing these bodies in my inner world, but that would have taken time and attention that I could better use upgrading my guandao.

After refining the weapon’s wood and steel to the limit, I carved an offensive formation into its blade and a defensive formation into its shaft. While I hadn’t been able to bring any focus items into the Realm with me, the beast carcasses hung around long enough after death that I was able to swipe a Rank 2 tiger claw and a Rank 2 turtle shell to enhance these formations.

Using parts from a Rank 3 beast might have been better, but when Rank 3 beasts started appearing, I wouldn’t have any more time to play around with my guandao.

After two full hours of attacks, the member of our group who looked the worst was our Formation Master. She hadn’t stepped forward to fight the beasts directly, but she was constantly pouring her energy into attack formations. Each of her formations was able to kill dozens of beasts, but within minutes, the fragile chert would break apart, and she would need to craft a new one.

By the three-hour mark, we had already lost twelve of our twenty-five Disciples.

This didn’t have too much of an effect on the battle, though. The beasts were now all either Rank 2 or 3, and our Martial Disciples were finding it increasingly difficult to damage them.

Instead of having these young men and women sacrifice themselves on the frontlines, I sent one group to scout the canyon behind us, while another group attempted to carve alcoves high in the canyon’s walls, beyond the beasts’ reach.

Sadly, the group that had gone to scout the canyon reported that it only led to an open plain that was swarming with maddened beasts. The group that tried to carve alcoves into the walls, meanwhile, was attacked by a flock of Rank 3 birds. The only things we received for these efforts were more dead Disciples and a pile of Rank 3 pebbles.

During a lull in the fighting, I inscribed a quick formation into these pebbles to turn them into bombs. This gave our remaining Disciples a means of attack, but with their small size, these explosives had trouble taking out anything more powerful than a mid-level Rank 2 beast.

One after another, the people around me succumbed to the beast tide. I did my best to hold on, but exhausted from hours of fighting, I had no chance when attacked by multiple Rank 3 beasts.

As my time drew to a close, I leapt up to the alcove that my Disciples had carved, then used a burst of earth qi to seal myself inside. Such efforts were futile, of course, but my only goal was to survive a few seconds longer and earn as many points as possible.

I was expecting to be attacked by a Rank 3 bird that drilled its way through the canyon wall. What I wasn’t expecting was the giant earthworm that appeared out of nowhere and instantly turned my body into a fine paste.

My end was far from glorious, but after appearing with the rest of my team in front of the Heroes Treasury, I was smiling.

I turned down the offer of another trial token, entered the Treasury, and selected my prize: the seed of the Profound-Rank Sky Cleaving Fire.