The Undying Immortal System Chapter 104: Life 62, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

I appeared in a dirty alley. After taking a quick look around, I headed in the direction that sounded the noisiest. The alley opened onto a street that felt oddly familiar. Old won were selling vegetables from blankets lying on the ground, and busy n and won could be seen everywhere, hauling boxes and guiding wagons. It looked a lot like where I always appeared in Dragon Gate City.

The architecture of this city didn’t feel too dissimilar from the Wastes. The common blue brick and yellow tiled construction was evident everywhere. However, the buildings here were much taller. Most reached at least four stories, with so over six.

The clothes were of a slightly different cut. The collars, hem, and trims were all a bit off from what I was used to, but it was all subtle. My clothes might have marked as a foreigner, but their tattered state put in the sa economic class as the people here, so no one gave a second glance.

As I looked around, I began to wander aimlessly through the streets. I had teleported here without any real idea of what I wanted. I wanted a normal life, but I didn’t even know what that ant. I had no idea how normal people lived. All my ti had been spent with cultivators. The only true mortals I had ever really talked to were the Pavilion attendants.

What was a mortal anyway? The general answer seed to be anyone weaker than yourself. For low-level disciples, a Martial Disciple 1 was a mortal. For high-level Disciples, anyone up to Martial Disciple 3 or 4 might be a mortal. For a Martial Master, any Martial Disciple could be seen as a mortal.

As I looked around at people who had never cultivated in their lives, I had to wonder if it was even correct to call them Martial Disciple 1. That’s how the system had referred to when I died without having cultivated. If everybody was a Disciple, then were Disciples mortals?

The nature of mortality filled my mind, and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I was just walking. As the day began to fade, my stomach began to growl. I needed to find a place to sleep for the night. I needed to find a al. Where could I go?

After a bit more wandering, I found a street full of vendors selling various foods to the passersby, so I approached to buy sothing to eat.

There were people selling so type of bun, people selling skewers of unidentified at, and a lot of people selling stir-fried vegetables they were making over an open fla.

I decided to approach a man who was standing behind a tandoor oven. I watched him take a piece of dough, make a pocket in it with his thumbs, place so at inside the pocket, seal it up, wet his hands, and stretch the dough ball into a flatbread. Once it was about the length of his forearm, he picked it up and slapped it to the inside wall of the oven. After attaching several more, he scraped the first one out. It was a crispy golden bread that he then placed in a basket in front of him.

I walked up to him. “What are you selling?”

“New to the city?” he smiled. “The na is on the sign. It’s guokui!”

I nodded, accepting the na. “How much?”

“What kind do you want?” he asked, pointing to his sign. “Pork is five copper, lamb is eight, beef is ten.”

I was amazed at the low prices. Everything I bought for centuries had been valued in gold. I looked into my storage space and realized I didn’t have any copper. I had never needed it before. My face flushed with a tinge of embarrassnt. I put my hand inside my robe to hide removing money from storage.

“Beef,” I said, placing a small silver coin on his counter.

The old man looked at the coin then at and hesitated. “It’s a little early for to break a silver. Why don’t you just have this one on the house?”

He slid the coin back to .

Was it true or was he just trying to be kind? “Please… take it.”

He breathed out a heavy sigh, but slid the coin into his money box and pulled out nine large 10-copper coins.

“Do you want hot oil on it?” He gestured to a small pot of red liquid sitting on his counter.

Unsure, I shook my head.

“Alright, then.” He picked up one of the crispy breads with tongs, folded it in half, and passed it to . “Here you go, enjoy.”

I was about to leave, but I didn’t know where to go. I looked back at the man.

“Do you know where I can find a place to stay? I’m new here. I’m not sure where to go.”

“Hmm, looking for a place long-term, or just for the night?” he asked as he started working on another batch of bread.

“Long term,” I decided. I needed a place to stay. If his recomndation didn’t work out, I could just leave.

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“How much you looking to spend?”

“I… don’t know.” I didn’t have too much money in my storage space. I would need a job to pay for any place I wanted to stay. How much did jobs pay? I had no idea. “How… how much do people get paid here?”

I couldn’t help but wince. A forr Martial Lord, Lord of North Lake City, had no idea how to get a job or how much to expect to get paid.

Realization crossed the bread seller’s face, and he gave a compassionate look. “It’s the ti of year for awakening ceremonies, isn’t it? You were awakened and decided to co to the city to make sothing of yourself?” He shook his head. “Kid, life is tough here. It’s going to be a hard life. You might want to go back ho.”

“I can’t…” I didn’t know how to explain things.

The old man breathed out heavily. “Alright, look. I need to work here another few hours. Help out and you can stay at my place for the night. In the morning, we can talk about your future. Deal?”

I looked at the man. I wasn’t sure if I should trust him, but he seed to have a sad look in his eyes, not a malicious one, so I decided to accept his offer.

“Alright.”

The man gave a long look that gave a feeling of remorse. “What’s your na?”

“Su Fang.”

“Fang, you can call Old Pei. Head on over to the well down the street and wash up a bit. I need you to help knead so dough. It might not look it now, but this place is about to get crowded, and we need to be prepared.”

After another half hour, the sun finally set below the horizon. That’s when the people arrived. They descended upon the street vendors eating everything in sight. Old Pei and I were constantly busy kneading, filling, stretching, and cooking guokui. We sold hundreds that night, but when I looked at what we had earned, I couldn’t help but feel depressed. All that work had amounted to only a few silver. Was this all a mortal could expect from such hard labor?

After the crowds dispersed, Old Pei guided through the process of storing his oven and workbench. Then, he led to his ho.

The area where we had been selling food was simple. All the buildings were made from crude bricks, and there were no decorations to make the area more beautiful. At the sa ti, it was well maintained. All the buildings had been in good repair which showed a modicum of wealth for the people who lived there. They weren’t wealthy people, but neither were they poor.

The location of the old man’s ho was different. Instead of brick, all the buildings were made out of rough-hewn timber. Most of the buildings had missing or broken boards, and rotten wood was a common sight. It wasn’t that the people who lived here didn’t want to maintain their hos, they just couldn’t afford to.

The buildings reminded of my shack in the Su Clan. I had a hard ti believing that a strong wind wouldn’t blow them over and make the entire place collapse.

It was getting late at night, and both of us were tired from several hours of hard work, so the old man led into his house. It was a one-room affair made out of solid wood. The only thing inside was a ragged sleeping mat.

He took the blankets from his mat and laid them on the floor. “You can sleep here for the night. Tomorrow we’ll figure things out.”

I looked him in the eyes. This simple gesture nearly made cry. “Thank you.”

“Get so sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Not wanting to keep him from his rest, I lay down on the blankets he prepared for . Sleep didn’t co easy to . mories of a past life played through my head and prevented from drifting off, but the exhaustion of my body finally won out, and I faded into unconsciousness.

I woke up to Old Pei entering the house carrying two cups and a couple of sticks of fried dough. He sat down and handed one of each.

“Doujiang and youtiao. Perfect for waking up after a long day.”

I looked at the warm cup of white liquid he gave and took a sip. It was simple but had a nice tangy, savory taste. As we ate, Old Pei began discussing my future.

“Last night you saw what it takes to survive in the city. We worked hard for several hours and only earned 33 silver. Now, before I can go back to work today, I have to go buy flour, at, and wood to keep the stand supplied tonight. After costs, we made a total of 1 silver 30 copper yesterday.”

He took out a small silver coin and three large copper ones and placed them in from of .

“The two of us working together for several hours only made a little over one silver, and that was on one of the busiest nights of the week. That’s all we have to pay for food, housing, and everything else we need. Living in the city is a hard life. Are you sure you won’t go back ho?”

“I can’t…”

The old man nodded, and his face turned solemn. “In that case, you need to decide what you want to do. Don’t spend your life like . You still have a chance to be sothing more than a poor street vendor. What do you want to do? What are you good at?”

I thought about what to tell him. There were several things I could say. I was so good at alchemy that I could use it to prosper beyond his wildest dreams. That’s not what I wanted, though. I wanted sothing simple. I wanted sothing normal, but I didn’t even know what that ant.

The big question I had to decide was if I wanted to cultivate.

I wanted to see the fire seed. I wanted to see the Formation Emperor, if only from a distance. To live long enough for that to happen, I had to be a Martial Master, so I had to cultivate.

“I want to cultivate.” I was unsure of exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I had to do that.

Old Pei dropped his head in defeat. “Yeah… I know. All young n dream of cultivating and becoming warriors of legend. Listen to . It’s not going to happen. Becoming a cultivator ans resigning yourself to a life of torture that will be far, far shorter than you can possibly imagine. Please, don’t.”

I leaned back against the wall of the house and stared at its broken roof.

“I have to. There’s sothing… soone I want to et. I have to cultivate to live long enough. I don’t want to be a soldier. I don’t want to be a legend. I just want to live.” I looked at the man. “If you know a way to cultivate and live, please tell . I don’t want to die.”

It looked like the life had left the old man. “The only ways to survive are to have power beyond anyone else or to be beneath everyone’s notice. With the awakening ceremonies happening, the palace will begin its yearly recruitnt soon. They can teach you cultivation. If you want to cultivate and live, beco a servant. That’s the only way.”

After finishing his piece, the old man stood up and walked out the door. As he did, I checked him in qi vision. He was a basic mortal with no cultivation at all. I could only wonder what happened to him in the past. A brother, son, or lover who was a cultivator and had an end similar to the ones I had? I didn’t know, and I couldn’t ask.

I accepted Old Pei’s advice. If I could beco a servant in the palace, that would place exactly where I needed to be. I just didn’t know how difficult it would be to be hired for such a position.