Chapter 171: Life 68, Age 38, Martial Lord 1

Words : 1603 Updated : Oct 13th, 2025

Stepping through the stone arch caused my surroundings to flash, but it appeared as if I hadn’t moved. The only changes of note were that the stone arch had vanished and there was now a large desk in the middle of the road with an elderly man sitting behind it. A quick check with energy vision confirmed that this was all an illusion, similar to when I was leaving the Path of Mind in my last life. The old man’s voice was rough and gravelly. “Su Fang, you have demonstrated an acceptable level of soul cultivation while on the path. Your efforts to showcase your talents by training and managing others have also been noted. However, in the future, please refrain from doing such a thing on the path as it upsets the balance of these assessments.” I opened my mouth to respond, but he didn’t give me a chance to speak. “While you have also demonstrated an acceptable level of knowledge in formations, you have not shown any level of martial skills in your current realm. As such, your position in the sect will be reduced to ungraded inner sect disciple. Participate in an Exam at your earliest convenience to have your skills properly assessed.” Without waiting for my reply, both the man and the desk vanished. They were replaced with a solitary stone arch. --------------------------------------------------- After exiting the arch, I found myself at the edge of a forest on a hill overlooking Profound City. LiTing didn’t arrive until several minutes later. “How did it go?” She held up a jade token with the symbol for ‘outer’ on it in reply. She seemed disappointed, but not dispirited. “Oh... sorry about that.” “It’s fine. The elder said I hadn’t demonstrated any refining or combat ability as a Lord, so ungraded outer sect disciple was the best he could give me. I just need to spend some time improving in those areas. Then, I can take the Exam and move back up to the inner sect when I’m ready. With my talent in martial arts, core disciple might be a stretch, but we’ll see.” I appreciated her attitude. “Don’t worry. We’ll be holed up in the city for a while, so you’ll have plenty of time to improve. We just need to make sure we stay safe while doing so.” She smiled, and we headed down the path to Profound City. --------------------------------------------------- As soon as we entered the city gate, a large, muscular man stopped us. His body was covered in scars, and his face held a perpetual scowl. When I switched on energy vision, I became worried. I had a hard time differentiating between the various minor stages within the Ruler realm, so I couldn’t always tell someone’s exact cultivation level, but the man before me was definitely a high-level King. He could even be a Peak King. “Su Fang?” I could have tried to deny it, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I nodded. He gave a light snort. “An elder instructed me to retrieve you. You are to come with me to meet with the young master. He has been waiting for you for quite some time.” What kind of pull did Lord Hao have if he could send a Peak King after me? And an elder told him I was arriving? Wasn’t that ‘interfering in the affairs of the younger generation?’ If my cultivation base were higher, if LiTing hadn’t been standing next to me, I might have tried to resist, but under these circumstances, there was nothing I could do. I took a deep breath. “Lead the way.” --------------------------------------------------- The man brought us to a spacious compound on the northern edge of the city. The entire place was dripping with a sense of superiority. Gaudy decorations made of gold and spirit stones were everywhere, and large statues of essence-infused stone lined the path from the compound’s entrance to the doors of the main hall. Inside, the hall was empty except for a lone man perched atop a high throne. It was Ning ChenKun. I exhaled in relief and did a quick check of his cultivation level. He was near the limits of the Lord realm and would soon be ascending to King. LiTing and I gave slight bows. “Greetings, Lord Ning.” To test myself and to train further, I entered the Earth Peak Trial and faced off against the first stage’s golem. As it was only a construct, it couldn’t use will-locks on me, but in every other aspect, its capabilities were a large step up from what I had been fighting as a Grandmaster. While I had only entered the Trial to scope it out and spend some time training my combat abilities, I still should have taken more time to prepare. My biggest mistake was not replacing my wood-based spirit fire. The Yellow-Rank fire seed in my soul was completely ineffective against this creature, and the fire-based spirit fire I had in my body only seemed to make the situation worse. I could have tried to switch the spirit fire out for something more useful, but I doubted even a metal fire would provide the one-hit kills I had grown accustomed to when using the wood fire on Grandmaster-level golems. My lack of preparation meant that I wouldn’t be able to end fights quickly, but fortunately, a long-drawn-out training session was exactly the kind of practice I needed. Using LiTing’s Rank 3 staff, I was able to bash the golem’s formations enough that it finally stopped moving. After it was down, I didn’t even consider advancing to the second stage. Without a way to quickly incapacitate one of my opponents, I would be stuck fighting two of those monsters at the same time, and I didn’t yet have the skill level needed to do that. Before moving deeper into the Trial, I needed to prepare, so I took the gains I had made and left. --------------------------------------------------- My alchemy and formation abilities were far above anything that could be expected from a new Lord, and my soul was stronger than some Kings. After a couple of months of training with Ning ChunKun’s deathsworn, my combat ability also reached an acceptable level, I was nearly ready to attempt the Exam Trial once more. Before I did so, I first needed to figure out how I would handle the memory-loss issue. I could just let it go and not worry about it any longer. After all, it didn’t matter too much what happened inside the Exam, and at this point, I had a decent understanding of how to improve my standing in the sect without relying on any illicit knowledge. Also, after what had happened last time, was it worth poking a sleeping dragon? I would be watched closely, and the result of trying to smuggle out any kind of information could be catastrophic. I just couldn’t break the feeling that this was an interesting puzzle I needed to solve. I wanted to give finding out more about the Exam one more chance, but I needed to be smart about it. “System, I want to upgrade my mental journal so that I can write simple messages in it with only a thought. When I do this, I want the process to be completely undetectable by anyone in this world.” Cost is not possible to calculate at this time. That confused me for a second, but when I understood, I ground my teeth. “System, same request except I want the process to be undetectable by anyone in the world except for the incarnation of the Earthly Dao.” Cost 10,000 credits. “Purchase.” I spat the words out in annoyance. Purchase confirmed6,732,815,588 credits remaining. The ability I gained allowed me to write simple messages in my journal with just a thought, but when I first tried doing this, I found that my body language was problematic. If I stood still and gazed in the distance while thinking of what to write, it would be an obvious tell that I was up to something. So, I spent several days practicing to make sure I could write a message without any outward signs. To ensure nothing went wrong, I decided to keep things basic. One message upon entering the Trial to confirm that the journal is working. After that, only essential information would be written down. If nothing important happened and there were just the kinds of tests I had seen in the last set of messages, I wouldn’t write anything at all. Finally, I made what had become a ritual purchase. I still didn’t know if it did anything, but I wasn’t willing to take the risk of not buying it. “System, I want a mental reversion point at the time I enter the Exam that automatically activates after I leave it." Purchase confirmed. Cost 100 million credits. 6,632,815,588 credits remaining. Prepared as I could be, I went to the Exam site and entered the portal. An instant later, I stepped out and turned to look at the scribe. “Core disciple 1. Congratulations.” He spoke with the same disinterested voice as always and quickly exchanged my identity jade before shooing me away. --------------------------------------------------- I would have plenty of time to investigate the benefits of my new position later. As soon as I returned to Profound City, I secluded myself in my apartment and opened my journal to see what I had written. I’m in. ENDLESS TORTURE! DON’T REMEMBER! FORGET!

Chapter 171: Life 68, Age 38, Martial Lord 1

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