The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 476 – Life 120, Age 57, Martial Lord Peak

Not long after Kan broke through to Martial King, I made my annual trip to Pale Mist Mountain, delivering a batch of newly awakened recruits for their initial training while bringing a few older disciples back with me to join the invasion. The roads between the two domains had long since become familiar, and the journey itself was unremarkable. However, right as I was about to enter the sect through its gates, an unfamiliar woman stepped out to greet me.

“Supreme Elder Su Fang,” she said, giving me a deep bow. “An elder of the Sect Affairs Bureau wishes to speak with you. Please follow me.”

Her tone was respectful, but there was a stiffness to it that made it clear that this was not a request.

Without a word, I followed her down the mountain and into the nearest city, where she led me straight to the top floor of the Bureau. It was only then that I understood how serious the situation was.

Once again, I found myself standing in a courtroom, facing down one of the Bureau’s Tribunals.

The room was spacious and cold, its polished stone floor unmarred by even the faintest trace of dust. At the center of the room stood a faintly glowing truth stone, and behind it sat the chief judge, severe and motionless.

“Su Fang, Supreme Elder of the Amorphous Blade Sect, you have been called here to provide testimony regarding your sect’s activities. We have observed that your forces possess an unusually large supply of high-level Ascension Pills. We must determine how these pills were obtained.”

My eyes flicked once to the truth stone before returning to the judge. “I concocted them myself.”

The judge’s expression did not change. “We are aware that you are the one who refined them. We have also confirmed that the supplementary herbs were either grown by your sect or purchased through authorized channels. However, we have not been able to account for the source of the demon beasts that were used in these pills.”

I gave a slight nod. “My blessing—”

The judge raised a hand, cutting me off. “Under normal circumstances, the Bureau does not pry into the details of a cultivator’s blessing, but this matter goes beyond the interests of your sect. It involves a treaty agreed to by the Saint of Heroes herself. We therefore require a clear explanation for the source of these materials, so that we may confirm they were not illegally provided by an unknown faction.”

His eyes narrowed. “If your blessing conjured these beasts from nothingness, then you must state so clearly the under scrutiny of a truth stone. If your blessing allowed you to steal them from some third party, then we must know who that party is and how your blessing assisted you. Explain as much as you deem necessary. But if you do not reveal enough for us to verify compliance, I will be forced to question you further.”

I remained silent for a moment, organizing my words.

“As I am sure the Bureau already knows, my blessing allows me to connect to an alternate space, somewhat similar to a storage bag. The beasts in question were raised within that space from specimens I personally collected. I took them in and provided them with food and a place to grow. Then, once they were strong enough, I sent my people to kill them and retrieve their carcasses. No outside force was involved in any part of this process.”

While true, this explanation omitted certain key details, such as the “food” that had allowed these beasts to reach the Peak of Rank 4. I was somewhat worried about the Bureau pressing me on this matter, but the chief judge showed no interest in the topic. He just stared off into space for a few seconds, then nodded.

“Very well. We will accept this explanation and consider the matter closed. Should further discrepancies arise, you may be summoned for further questioning.”

Before I could respond, the judge rose from his seat and, somewhat to my surprise, personally escorted me from the courtroom. Only once we were beyond the hearing of the others did he speak again.

“As your sect has invaded the Nine Rivers Domain, I cannot disclose the details of the Bureau’s intelligence concerning the movements of its armies.” He paused and gave me a pointed look before reaching into his storage bag to pull out three ancient scrolls. “This is your reward for completing the mission the Bureau previously assigned you.”

The elder offered no further explanation. Once the scrolls were in my hands, he simply turned and walked away.

I lowered my gaze and examined the scrolls more carefully.

They were a set of Warrior Tier Low-Heaven cultivation techniques for guandao qi—the first Heaven-Rank techniques that I had ever acquired. Under normal circumstances, I would have immediately gone into seclusion to study them. However, as the judge’s words sank in, I realized exactly which “mission” he was talking about.

The Bureau had tasked us with forcing Jon out of the Heroes Domain, and if they were handing over our reward, then we must have been successful. But if Jon had left the Heroes Domain, then there was only one place he could be headed.

Without wasting another second, I shot out of the Bureau and raced back toward Pale Mist Mountain.

The war against Emperor Li’s disciple was entering its final stage, and although the Bureau’s actions implied he had gone back to the Nine Rivers Domain, I could not rule out the possibility that Jon might move against those we had left behind. Pale Mist Mountain’s defenses were strong, but fortifications alone could only do so much. Most of our strongest fighters had already joined the invasion, leaving the mountain far more vulnerable than it might have looked.

Therefore, as soon as I returned, I began gathering up everyone and everything I could—disciples, elders, craftsmen, herbalists, alchemists, servants, storehouses, treasury reserves, and every resource worth preserving. All of it was sent directly into my inner world.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Once that was done, I activated Pale Mist Mountain’s defenses.

Illusion formations merged with detection formations, and killing formations layered themselves over barrier formations. The entire mountain became a trap that would continue operating even without anyone present to guide it.

The only prize I left behind was the Dragon Vein buried deep beneath the mountain, but claiming it would cost Jon a great deal of blood and manpower.

Once everything had been secured, I set out for the Nine Rivers Domain to prepare for the final confrontation.

The fifty-three cities we had conquered were divided into five kingdoms, simply named the Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, and Central Kingdoms.

Kan’s Sect Master faction controlled the Northern Kingdom, while the other four were each placed under the command of different Hall Masters. The various Halls were free to compete for these positions, with the winners gaining both prestige and access to karmic energy.

This helped maintain a sense of fairness in the sect, with everyone able to see a route for advancement. However, it also meant that the Rulers of our kingdoms weren’t necessarily our most capable fighters. Because of this, by the time I returned to Black Eagle City, YuLong had already gone to reinforce the Southern Kingdom, leaving only a messenger behind to bring me up to speed.

The moment I entered the City Lord’s Manor, this messenger hurried over and gave me a deep bow. “Supreme Elder, armies have been detected approaching each of our four outer kingdoms. Our scouts report that all four enemy forces are similar in size and composition. We believe they intend to attack on all four fronts simultaneously.”

I narrowed my eyes.

Our scouts were good at estimating numbers and cultivation bases, but that didn’t mean that all four armies were truly equal. Three of the armies could be feints, with all of Jon’s elites concentrated in the fourth. Therefore, instead of rushing to one of the battlefields, I chose to remain in Black Eagle City, where I could monitor the various fronts and move as needed.

Each of the commanders leading our armies chose much the same approach.

Rather than spreading their forces thin, they concentrated the bulk of their power in central positions within each kingdom, leaving most of the cities defended only by their formations and their resident City Lord. Once Jon’s real target became clear, these forces could then move to intercept.

Over the next several days, probing attacks were launched against all of our border cities. These attacks were easily repelled, but they made our people even more cautious about where to deploy their troops.

On the 5th day after my return, our scouts reported movements near one city in each kingdom, including two that were relatively close together. One was in the eastern section of the Northern Kingdom, which was under Kan’s authority. The other was in the northern section of the Eastern Kingdom, which was ruled by Suba HaoRong.

At first, these movements seemed to be the prelude to an attack, but it wasn’t long before reports came in of larger assaults amassing near cities on the opposite side of each kingdom.

All four commanders reacted at once, shifting their forces to meet the strongest group of attackers.

At first, the results seemed favorable.

Having clearly drawn in support from local Rulers, Jon’s armies were far larger than ours, but our people were better trained, better equipped, and possessed higher levels of body cultivation. In direct battle, we had the advantage.

However, as Kan and YuLong had noted more than once, Jon’s forces were infuriatingly difficult to pin down. The moment they began to lose ground, they scattered, retreated, and vanished into the countryside. Our armies won each clash, but neither side suffered any losses that couldn’t be fixed with a Healing Pill.

As the last of Jon’s troops withdrew, it seemed like we had successfully weathered Jon’s first attack. Then, I received reports of what had happened at those first four cities.

One of the “feints” had not been a feint at all. The force that had appeared near the Northern Kingdom’s eastern city had somehow breached the city’s defensive formation and slaughtered the City Lord. Then, that same strike force had moved south, linked up with the army attacking the Eastern Kingdom, and breached one of its cities as well.

Our enemies wouldn’t be able to hold these two cities, but that didn’t change the fact that we had lost two Peak Lords. Within the Elder Council, blame for this fiasco soon began to gather around one specific person: the Ruler of the Northern Kingdom and the commander of its armies—Kan.

Once it became clear that Jon’s forces had truly withdrawn, the commanders of all five battlefields returned to Black Eagle City to discuss our next move. The atmosphere in the meeting hall was tense from the very beginning.

“You didn’t just get your own people killed,” said Suba HaoRong coldly, glaring across the table at Kan. “You got mine killed as well. If you can’t tell the difference between a feint and a true attack, then perhaps you should step aside and let someone more capable take command.”

It was no secret that HaoRong had been coveting the position of Sect Master since the very beginning. I had even encouraged him, hoping that the pressure would temper Kan’s growth and force him to mature. However, this wasn’t the time for internal disputes. If we were going to defeat Jon, we needed to work together.

I lifted a hand to stop HaoRong from continuing. “This is not the time to tear each other apart over our failures. What matters is figuring out how to prevent them from happening again.”

To my right, YuLong immediately stepped in to get us back on track.

“As far as our scouts could determine, each group of enemies was roughly equal in both size and cultivation base. The main difference was that the force on the northern battlefield had attack formations capable of penetrating our defenses. These formations weren’t powerful enough to open a breach wide enough to let an army through, but they were sufficient to create an opening large enough for a small strike team.”

He paused, thoughtful. “The fact that this only happened on a single battlefield suggests that they don’t possess many such formations. But we cannot rely on this. They may have done it this way precisely to make us believe that their supply is limited.”

This was a problem.

How were we supposed to defend against an enemy that could pass straight through our defenses? We could counter small strike teams by stationing multiple Lords in every city, but if we spread our forces too thinly, we wouldn’t be able to resist a concentrated assault.

“I need to inspect the cities that were attacked myself,” I said. “If I see the damage firsthand, I may be able to determine how the barriers were broken and devise a countermeasure. But even if I succeed, I’ll need time to modify the defenses of every city. How are we going to stop this from happening again in the meantime?”

The discussion stretched on for several more hours.

Possibilities were raised and discarded. Counterattacks were proposed and rejected. A few elders argued for drawing our forces inward and sacrificing our border cities, while others insisted that this would only embolden our enemies.

In the end, one fact became impossible to ignore: the assassins had only targeted our Lords and their direct subordinates. They hadn’t tried to seize our cities. This left us with a simple, if painful, countermeasure.

If a city was breached, its Lord was to withdraw at once rather than risk death. After escaping, they could then work with nearby allies to eliminate the infiltrators.

This wasn’t an ideal solution, but it would keep our people alive and preserve our strength. More importantly, it would deny Jon the easy assassinations he was clearly aiming for.

For now, that would have to be enough.