The Undying Immortal System Chapter 369: Life 93, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

Halfway through my second month as a mber of the Hall of the Herb King, I visited the secluded courtyard behind the Hall’s main building for my second lesson on the use of the crescent moon spade. Before I could join the other Disciples, however, our teacher pulled off to the side and placed an affinity testing orb in front of .

Not needing any explanation, I placed my hand on the orb and channeled my qi into it.

The mont I did so, a dull, black crescent moon spade appeared in the center of the orb. After a short second, it brightened a single ti before vanishing.

This caused a wry smile to appear on my teacher’s face. “It appears that you were correct. Your blessing has indeed provided you with a latent talent for the moon spade. A mid nine-star affinity isn’t much, not yet, but only ti will tell if you have the talent needed to beco a true expert.”

After one last long look at the now-empty affinity testing orb, the teacher placed it into her storage bag and led back outside to the training yard.

Two hours later, when our lesson was over and our teacher dismissed the class, she asked and one other student to stay behind.

“Su Fang, Leung SauLaan. It is ti for the two of you to learn the basics of cultivation. Follow .”

Without any further explanation, our teacher led us out of the training yard and away from the Hall of the Herb King. She didn’t guide us down the city’s wide, open boulevards, however. Instead, she took us through a series of narrow back alleys that kept us hidden away from the majority of the city’s inhabitants.

Under normal circumstances, this might have been enough for to suspect that our teacher was up to sothing nefarious, but this situation was far from normal.

The alleys that we were walking down were cramped and narrow, but they were lined with formations that kept them brightly lit throughout all hours of the day. Also, where the city’s main boulevards were covered in cracked cobblestones and surrounded by crumbling buildings, these alleys were in perfect repair. The stones under our feet fit together seamlessly, and the walls to either side of us had carvings of impressive scenes featuring n fighting demon beasts.

Most important of all, however, was the fact that we were not alone in these alleys. We didn’t encounter many people, but those we did see were all Martial Grandmasters.

After over half an hour of walking, our teacher stopped outside the arched entrance to a hidden pavilion that was emblazoned with the words The Sharp Crescent Sect.

“Su Fang, Leung SauLaan, you are now subject to the laws and regulations of the Saint of Heroes. As mbers of the Hall of the Herb King, most of these laws will have little impact on your daily lives, but the one that you must keep in mind at all tis is this: Cultivators below the Bloodline Tier are not allowed to walk around freely in any of the domain’s major cities. From now on, you are only allowed to visit the Hall, your apartnts, and this sect. And when you travel between these locations, you must do so via the back alleys. You are not allowed to set foot on the city’s streets.”

I furrowed my brow at this but didn’t comnt.

The young woman next to , however, wasn’t quite so sanguine. “What!? After I beco a cultivator, I’m going to be trapped in that tiny apartnt? Why?”

Our teacher placed a hand on her shoulder. “Do not worry, SauLaan. You wish to beco an herbalist, so most of your ti will be spent outside the city, in the Hall’s herb fields. There, you will have much more freedom to move around as you wish. You need only be mindful of your safety. These laws will only affect you when you enter the city proper.”

She looked from SauLaan to . “As for the purpose of these laws… In the east, demon beasts roam the lands and devour anyone they co across. In the west, sects wage constant wars upon each other, leaving naught but destroyed fields and burned villages in their wake. The cities are here to shelter mortals from this chaos.”

She looked back at SauLaan. “Cultivators can sotis have trouble controlling their impulses. If young cultivators were allowed to roam a city’s streets, then most of its mortals would end up dead by the end of the month. Therefore, the Saint has ordered that, aside from those who have reached the Bloodline Tier, the only cultivators who are allowed freedom within a city are its Ruler and its guards. Everyone else is encouraged to spend most of their ti elsewhere.”

I cocked my head to the side, confused. If the cities in this domain had such strict rules, why was the Hall of the Herb King here? All of its employees—and nearly all of its custors—were cultivators. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to build the Hall elsewhere?

Also, while our teacher’s explanation sowhat matched up with what I had seen, most of the better-dressed ‘mortals’ in this city walked around with powerful, refined weapons at their hips. They were anything but defenseless lambs.

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A few pieces of the puzzle were still missing. “After a person first starts cultivating, they’re permanently banned from openly walking the city’s streets?”

Our teacher gave a slight smile. “Not quite… If you abolish your cultivation base, you will be allowed to roam the streets like any other mortal. As for why one might do such a thing, we’ll discuss this after you have reached Peak Disciple. For now, let us enter.”

After passing under the arch of the Sharp Crescent Sect, we soon found ourselves in front of a gate protected by two Grandmaster-level guards. Without saying a word, our teacher showed the one on the right a palm-sized jade plate, and we were allowed to enter unhindered.

She then took us through a short series of corridors, past another pair of guards, and down into the building’s basent.

We found ourselves inside a spacious room with slabs of marble surrounding us in every direction. The only light ca from a soft-white spirit fire in the center of the room, which sat within a brazier ford from the crossed staffs of five crescent moon spades. A Rank 3 Qi Gathering Formation had been etched into the room’s floor to provide this fire with a continuous source of energy and keep it from dissipating.

As SauLaan and I looked around in appreciation, our teacher walked to the side of the room and picked up two of the ornate crescent moon spades that were waiting in a long weapon rack.

The staffs of both weapons had been made from pure white marble and were wrapped in silvery threads of flerovium. The spades and crescent heads were monocrystalline blocks of quartzite that had thin channels running from the edges of the blades to where the quartzite t the flerovium threads. These weapons looked impressive, but if my guess was correct, a single attack would be enough to shatter them.

Our teacher gave one staff to SauLaan and the other to . Then, she returned and grabbed a third for herself. With everyone all now ‘ard,’ she guided us to sit around the fire at the center of the room.

“The essence of cultivation is simple. Pull energy from your core, use it to form a qi vortex in the palm of your right fist. Then, as qi flows into your body, direct it to the muscles in your right forearm.”

After giving us a few pointers, our teacher motioned for us to try for ourselves. The fact that she hadn’t ntioned anything about qi filters had worried, but I was willing to play along. So, following her advice, I created a vortex in the palm of my hand and began drawing in energy.

Surprisingly, when I did so, qi did not flow into directly. Instead, it was pulled into the edges of my weapon, flowed down its flerovium threads, and entered the palm of my right hand through my grip.

While this exact form of qi was new to , it matched the energy that I had seen in both our teacher’s dantian and the dantians of the sect’s guards, so I had to assu that it was moon spade qi. And, surprisingly, it was absolutely pure.

Surrounded by the abundant qi that was radiating off the spirit fire in the center of the room, the muscles of my right hand quickly filled with energy. This caused our teacher to look at askance, especially since Leung SauLaan had yet to even form a proper qi vortex. She didn’t question about this, however. She just guided through the process of opening the acupoint in my right palm and breaking through to Martial Disciple 2.

The result of this breakthrough was a bit different from what I was used to.

Usually, breaking through as a Disciple would cause both an acupoint’s qi filter and vortex to beco locked in place, allowing the acupoint to continue gathering qi passively at a reduced rate. With this technique, neither of these happened. So, any qi I expended would need to be recovered through active cultivation. This was far from ideal, but since I wouldn’t have any qi filters protecting whenever I wasn’t holding a crescent moon spade, I could see how automatic, passive cultivation could be bad.

Seeing my successful advancent, our teacher passed three technique scrolls. “The first contains detailed information on the cultivation technique that you just used. The other two are basic Yellow-Rank combat techniques intended for low-level Martial Disciples. We’re allowed to stay here for another half hour. Take this ti to study these techniques. Do not try to make any further breakthroughs.”

When our ti in the Sharp Crescent Sect’s cultivation chamber was almost up, our teacher called Leung SauLaan and over to the spirit fire’s brazier.

“Leung SauLaan, you have not yet been able to advance to Martial Disciple 2, but you have made solid progress. Do not worry. It is unusual for anyone to make a breakthrough during their first visit to this chamber. Just be patient and study your cultivation technique. Do not try to rush, and do not cultivate outside this room.

“Su Fang, I must assu that you have previous cultivation experience, but again, I must remind you not to cultivate this technique in the outside world.”

She held up one of the marble moon spades that was wrapped in threads of flerovium. “To cleanse moon spade qi, you must channel it through an appropriate weapon. If you leave here and try to cultivate using nothing but a shoddy, mortal weapon, your body will quickly fill up with impurities. These artifacts, on the other hand, are constructed of specialized Rank 3 materials, and they can perfectly purify all qi drawn through them by anyone up to the level of Peak Master. Grandmasters have to be more careful, but as long as they do not rush, their qi will remain immaculate.”

She gestured toward the brazier. “Also, this spirit fire was a gift to the Sect by the Saint of Heroes herself. It generates pure moon spade qi, and it is the only reason today’s practice was as fruitful as it was. Even if you can find an appropriate weapon to filter your qi, cultivating outside this room will take hundreds of tis longer than cultivating inside it—unless, of course, you use Attunent Pills. However, I do not recomnd taking pills unless absolutely necessary.”

I nodded and studied the room’s spirit fire using my analysis ability.

Soft Moon Fire, Yellow-Rank, Elents: Moon Spade, Consus: Energy, Produces: Moon Spade Qi

It wasn’t exactly impressive, especially if it ca from a Saint. She could have at least given the sect a Yellow-Rank seed. Still, if this spirit fire was as valuable to the sect as our teacher implied, why were we even allowed down here?

Thankfully, our teacher answered this question without us even needing to ask. “The Sharp Crescent Sect has an arrangent with the Hall of the Herb King. We provide them with Moon Spade Attunent Pills, and they allow our mbers access to this chamber. This first visit was free, a benefit given to new mbers. If you want to return in the future, however, you must work hard and contribute to the Hall.”