The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 484 – Life 120, Age 58, Martial Lord Peak

By surrendering to the Nine Rivers Domain, I had placed our status as a First-Class Sect in jeopardy. If we abandoned the lands we had taken and retreated to the Heroes Domain, we would be a Five-Star Sect without a single city under our control. If we couldn’t find an empire willing to grant us a kingdom, our First-Class standing would be null and void.

This would be challenging, but we weren’t helpless. Given what we had demonstrated in body cultivation, several Emperors should be more than eager to talk with us. And even if there weren’t, I could use my fallback plan and contact the Chan Clan, whom I had become familiar with during my life in the Palace of the Herb Sovereign.

The moment I sent Kan and JiuLi to study under teachers from the Nine Rivers Domain, things became more complicated. Members of First-Class Sects were only allowed to take lessons from Bureau-Approved tutors, a policy designed to prevent sects from acquiring undue advantages.

Since Mei and Kan were both Martial Kings, an exchange of knowledge wasn’t strictly against the rules. Kan would just need to register what he learned from it. However, if someone decided Mei was functioning as his and JiuLi’s mentor, the Bureau could treat this as a case of improper instruction and punish our sect severely.

Of course, now that I’d entered an unsanctioned trade with the Church of Liberation, these concerns were moot. I had accepted the loan of five fire seeds from a Peak Spirit. If that didn’t violate the Bureau’s rules, nothing did. The instant we set foot back in the Heroes Domain, our First-Class status would be forfeit.

Assuming the Bureau chose to follow the rules, at least.

There was always the possibility that, having seen our knowledge of body cultivation, the Bureau would decide to make certain exceptions for our sect, doing everything possible to keep us bound to the Heroes Domain. This would come with chains, like it always had, but we would retain the Bureau’s protection and access to its resources.

Such an arrangement had its merits, but the Bureau’s resources no longer held the allure they once had.

I had already acquired a guandao-based fire seed and a Heaven-Rank cultivation technique. The Peak-Heaven technique that I had seen in the Heroes Treasury was tempting, but I didn’t need it. I could just use the System to upgrade the technique I already had.

I did still want to grab all of the Treasury’s fire seeds and martial techniques, but why limit ourselves to the resources of the Heroes Domain when we were being given the chance to access those of the Nine Rivers Domain, the Church of Liberation, and others?

So, should we return to the Heroes Domain and struggle through the Bureau’s First-Class Sect system, or should we stay in the Nine Rivers Domain and act as a semi-independent entity, not beholden to any one domain?

Eventually, I would claim what I needed from each and every domain on the continent. The choice before us was really one of priorities. What was the best option for us right now, at this moment? What course would most effectively help our sect grow and develop?

As soon as I acknowledged this, I knew what I had to do. I handed the decision over to Kan, JiuLi, and the Council of Elders. They were the ones who had to shape the sect’s future, not me. I would support whatever path they chose, but the decision needed to be theirs.

Once this was done, I dispatched half a dozen soul avatars to maintain watch over our territories, while my true body entered seclusion to infuse my inner world with the Laws of Light.

Kan and JiuLi began taking lessons with Mei only a few days after I first floated the idea. The intent was unmistakable: neither Mei nor the Nine Rivers Domain had any intention of letting an opportunity to strengthen ties with our sect slip away.

Mei wasn’t the only one guiding them, though. Yan, LiTing, Bao, and JiaQi also stepped in, each offering what insights they could.

Since I hadn’t returned any of their memories of previous timelines, the sum total of their knowledge and skills wasn’t that much different from Kan’s or JiuLi’s. What set them apart were the insights they had received from their blessings and the lessons the Li Clan had chosen to prioritize.

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Still, this was more than enough to create a massive gap in leadership ability.

At first, Mei and Yan focused on theory, such as how best to integrate the population of a newly conquered city. They laid out approaches both for winning over the existing cultivators and for fostering entirely new clans that would owe everything to their new Ruler.

From there, they shifted into practice. Yan took them on a tour of the North Kingdom and helped them redesign its road network. We had aimed for efficiency: direct routes to Black Eagle City, the center of our territory. Yan adopted a different framework. He limited each city’s direct connections to its kingdom’s capital and its nearest neighbors, deliberately creating mild inefficiencies that compelled merchants to follow circuitous routes within our borders.

Yan’s goal was to force merchants to pass through more cities, encouraging trade and strengthening local economies. To help with this, market days were staggered so a caravan could move from city to city, arriving just in time to set up a stall at each stop.

Of course, just having markets wasn’t enough. People needed something to sell. Therefore, Bao and SuYin worked with Bao Ming and Ye Sheng to implement a comprehensive overhaul of our agricultural system.

Having been taught everything I learned about herbalism from the Palace of the Herb Sovereign, Bao Ming and Ye Sheng possessed abilities that far exceeded those of their ancestors. However, the framework introduced by Bao and SuYin proved far more effective at improving the standard of living for ordinary mortals.

Where the Palace focused on using complex, high-level techniques to grow the best herbs possible, Bao and SuYin focused on engineering environments that allowed ordinary mortals to cultivate herbs with no techniques whatsoever. In one city, they created a vast, windswept plain. In another, they raised a volcanic mountain.

Each of these environments was only suited for growing a small number of herbs, but after paying a small fee to rent a plot of land, mortals could grow even Rank 2 herbs there without worry.

More importantly, because each city was only growing a narrow selection of herbs, they each gained signature exports, and wealth followed as merchants and alchemists came looking for what only that city could produce.

LiTing and JiuLi had a similar dynamic when it came to refining. Both women had spent years mastering their craft, but they had approached it from different directions. LiTing focused on forging weapons using the methods taught in the Nine Rivers Domain, while JiuLi focused on weaving armor using techniques from the Heroes Domain.

Side by side, JiuLi was clearly the better refiner. The Nine Rivers simply couldn’t compete with the depth of mastery that existed in the Heroes Domain. However, LiTing’s blessing allowed her to approach problems from unexpected directions, and as they traded notes, those insights helped both of them improve.

After putting the North Kingdom in order, Kan and JiuLi turned their attention to the West Kingdom. The Ruler there had caused issues during the war, and they had to reaffirm his loyalty.

Following Mei’s lead, Kan did not try to undermine the man’s authority. Instead, he worked with him to implement the same reforms that had already proved successful in the North Kingdom. At each step, he asked for feedback and adjusted his plans accordingly.

At the same time, Kan also installed a new garrison “to support the ruler,” created a new ledger system “to reduce corruption,” and introduced a new set of seals required for city-to-city travel. It was enough structure that, if the Ruler wavered again, he would find himself without the tools to act.

After implementing similar reforms in the Central and South Kingdoms, Kan set his sights on Suba HaoRong’s East Kingdom.

Having long since turned the East Kingdom into his private fiefdom, HaoRong was reluctant to grant Kan any authority to implement changes. However, every other kingdom had already accepted the reforms, leaving the East as the lone holdout. Moreover, Kan’s status as Sect Master made open refusal politically untenable.

So HaoRong agreed, and Kan implemented his reforms. Then, as the East Kingdom’s prosperity slowly increased, control quietly slipped from HaoRong’s grasp.

During the three years Kan and JiuLi spent reshaping our kingdoms, I remained in seclusion, communicating only through my soul avatars.

By the time they were finished, my inner world had reached an inflection point. I could already feel the initial stirrings of a tribulation, so I restrained my progress to avoid provoking it prematurely.

With everything finally under control, I sent Kan and JiuLi a message, asking them to recall the entire sect to Black Eagle City. I didn’t want them to rush it. They could wait until they were confident the withdrawal wouldn’t create problems, but sooner was better than later.

Four months later, it was finally time.

As the members of our sect filed into Black Eagle City, I pulled them into my inner world, dividing them into four forces. I sent one to Chang’an, one to Hei’lin, one to the Plane of Woody Earth, and one to the Plane of Wood. The other planes, those inhabited only by beasts, would be left to fend for themselves. After the tribulation was over, we would sweep through and eliminate any surviving invaders.

As the final cultivator vanished from Black Eagle City, I shattered ten mid-grade spirit stones and poured their released energy into the fire seed burning in my soul.

The seed flared, and the Laws of my inner world shuddered, then snapped into a new alignment. In the next breath, a dense layer of clouds emerged from nothingness and encircled the world completely, cutting off my view of whatever was happening inside.