Chapter 143: Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 3

Words : 1370 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

When I entered the administration building, I thought I might see a line of cultivators slowly getting introduced to the sect. The line at the Entrance Exam had been moving slowly, and only a fraction of the people who passed would be assigned to Earth Peak, but I still expected to have to wait. Introducing new cultivators to the sect takes time, right? There was only one person inside the building when I entered. It was someone I had seen several times over my last five years at the Academy. The lazy outer sect disciple that I was assured would be the next person promoted to the inner sect. He had his feet up on the counter, was reclined back in his chair, and was staring at the ceiling. I walked up to the desk and stood in front of him, but he didn’t even look at me. “Hello.” I tapped on the desk to get his attention. Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, he looked at me. “What? I’m busy preparing to take the Exam to advance to the inner sect. Don’t disturb me.” “I’m a new disciple. I need to be introduced to the sect.” He rolled his eyes. “Badge.” I held up the jade token I’d been given. He grabbed it and threw it onto a small formation plate to the side of the counter. When he saw the result, he snorted. Then, he reached under the counter, pulled out a book, and threw it at me along with my token. “There you go. Introduction to the sect. You can leave.” I picked up the book and quickly looked at it. It had a lot of information about the sect, but I didn’t even know where I could sit down and read through it, let alone where I would find a room to sleep for the night. I tried to remain patient. “Sorry, but could you please introduce the sect to me? Tell me about a few things. At least tell me where my room is?” He let out another long, exaggerated sigh and touched a formation plate on the counter. “Wait here.” Then, he went back to ignoring me. I stood awkwardly in the room, waiting for something to happen. Several minutes later, the door was pushed open by an older man in his late seventies. “Senior brother, how can I be of assistance?” The guy behind the counter waved at me. “Introduce him to the sect.” The older man bowed. “Of course, senior brother.” Then, he looked at me, noticed my jade token, and bowed. “Please, follow me.” After leading me outside, he turned to me with a smile. “What would you like to see?” “Right, first, what should I call you? My name is Su Fang.” He gave another slight bow. “I am Mao SongQiao, an ungraded servant disciple. You can call me Junior Brother Mao.” As he talked, he tried to point to cities hidden on Dragon Peak. “Further King-level energy, and energy to break through to Emperor, can only be bought in Earth City. If you want to break through with karmic energy as an Emperor, you need to reach Heaven City.” “So, climb the peak and I can buy as much as I need?” “Yes, but the number of contribution points needed is incredible. Even if you reach Yellow City, it will be hard to afford Lord-level energy as an outer sect disciple. As a servant disciple, it’s impossible.” “What do you mean? Why does that matter?” “Your position and grade determine the types of missions you can sign up for. As an ungraded servant, I can only do basic missions that barely pay enough points to let me afford a few lessons a month. As an outer sect disciple, you will have more options, but they are still somewhat limited.” “I see... but I can rent a store and sell things to earn points, right?” He nodded. “Yes, but how much do you have that people will buy? You can try to sell formations to people, but there are a lot of formation specialists in the sect, and all of them are trying to do the same. If you were an inner sect disciple, you might be able to make something of high enough quality that people would buy it, but as an outer sect, most people don’t have the skills needed to compete.” “It doesn’t matter that I’m an outer sect disciple, though, right? It just matters how good my wares are.” “True. But if you could produce something of high quality, you wouldn’t be in the outer sect.” I smiled. “Don’t worry about that. Just find me a storefront I can rent and sell pills from. Preferably, one close to an herbalist. If I can rent it with gold, that would be best, but spirit stones would also be acceptable.” “Pills? You’re an alchemist?” “Don’t worry about that for now. Go find a storefront. Meet me back here when you’re done.” Mao was turning to leave when I caught him. “Also, where can I buy Rank 3 cultivation techniques from the sect?” The Scripture Pavilion that Mao sent me to was a disappointment. Instead of getting to browse their books, I could only tell the attendant which one I needed. They retrieved it for me from a back room. I would need to look at getting a job in one of these libraries if I wanted to plunder them. Fortunately, they did have a copy of the Rank 3 Writ of Steady Earth. It cost me all 500 of the contribution points I started with, but I considered it a fair trade. I didn’t plan to be very short of points in the near future. Once back in my apartment, I began to slowly and carefully disperse my Grandmaster cultivation so that I could restart with the proper technique. An hour into the process, I was interrupted by Brother Mao who had found a building I could rent in Mortal City. It wasn’t near the Gateway Plaza, but it was affordable and was located near a few independent herb sellers from the Wood Peak. I gave him five spirit stones to settle the rental agreement and purchase a variety of herbs for me. When I did, his eyes went wide at the sight of them. I sensed greed from him when he saw the stones, but that was natural. It didn’t mean he planned anything untoward. There was a risk he would take the stones and run off with them, but handing him that much money at once was a good test of whether or not I could trust him further in the future. Better to know now than after I had him running a shop for me. Before opening my new storefront, I wanted to fix my cultivation. It took me nearly a week to completely disperse my Grandmaster cultivation. Then, I spent another three weeks rising back up to Grandmaster 1 with the Steady Earth technique. With my cultivation base restored, I went to the store to look it over with Brother Mao. It was a small, cramped affair with only a wooden counter and stool inside. Mao assured me this was the normal setup for a store in the sect. Only the large merchant organizations were willing to openly display things of great value. Everyone else kept the valuable items in a storage ring and only left a book out describing the items available. I went to the shop’s backroom, took my fancy cauldron out of my storage space, and began making every Rank 3 pill I could think of. While I did this, Mao was busy going to the nearby herb shops and funneling me a constant supply of all the necessary ingredients. In a sect focused on completing assigned missions, where almost every other outer sect disciple was engaged in constant combat, I had become a merchant. It was an unusual choice, but it was the one that I thought would work best for me.

Chapter 143: Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 3

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