The Undying Immortal System

While the formation necklace I had given Bao wasn’t a long-term solution to his problem, it was enough to keep him stable. I wanted to spend more time with him, but before I could do that, I had to check in on SuYin.

When she had left the letter with Bao, SuYin hadn’t known which city she would be stationed in, so she hadn’t been able to include such information in her letter. Since then, it was possible that she had sent Bao other letters, and it was even possible that she had come to visit him in person, but having been trapped in a blessing-induced daze, Bao couldn’t remember too many details about what had happened over the past few months.

I poked around the sect a bit to see if I could find out any information about SuYin and where she had been sent, but as I was a servant disciple, no one was particularly interested in telling me much about a core disciple. Eventually, I ended up in the very place I should have started, the Blue Wind Pavilion in Green Leaf City. If she was going to leave a message for me anywhere, it would be there.

Upon arriving at the Pavilion, I simply asked the attendant if there were any letters for me. She returned after only a couple of minutes with a single letter. Thankfully, it was from SuYin.

After paying a small fee, I stepped into a private room to read the message.

Master,

I’m being sent to Golden Sap City. The sect has been paying close attention to me recently, and I know you value your privacy, so I didn’t want to risk letting anyone know that I’ve been contacting you. I don’t think that they would do anything to harm you, but I didn’t want to take the risk.

I’ve tried to talk to Bao and leave messages with him, but, Master, he’s not in good shape. Please, help him.

If you need to contact me, you should do so through the Pavilion. Lord Ling, the city lord training me, may not be happy if you contact me directly.

—SuYin

After reading the letter, I folded it up and placed it in my storage space.

Then, I left the Pavilion and rode my horse straight to Golden Sap City.

Upon my arrival, I activated the tracking formation that I had left with SuYin. Now that I was close enough, it could take me directly to her.

Unsurprisingly, the formation guided me straight to the city lord’s mansion. However, while there were protocols in place for requesting a meeting with the city lord, there was no such process for requesting a meeting with his deputy. Not wanting to wait around any longer than I had to, and not wanting to be targeted by Lord Ling, I consumed a Shadowed Soul Pill and vanished.

Making my way through the city lord’s mansion was a bit tricky. Not only did I have to avoid being seen by any Lords, but I also had to make sure that I didn’t trip any of the myriad detection and defensive formations that had been set up to guard the place.

If I had needed to journey into the depths of the mansion, this wouldn’t have been possible. The closer one got to the city lord’s personal residence, the more defenses there were, but thankfully, SuYin was being housed in a small outbuilding, not the main structure itself.

When I found her, she was locked away in a small study and was pouring through mounds of paperwork. A quick check told me that these were reports detailing the economic prosperity of Golden Sap City over the past few decades.

Seeing this, I only wanted to shake my head. I knew that such information was valuable, but I had always relied on other people to deal with it for me. For Lord Ling, it looked like SuYin was ‘other people.’

Standing near the doorway, I expelled the energy from my Shadowed Soul Pill and returned to visibility.

As I did, SuYin’s eye shot toward me, and she jumped to her feet in a defensive stance. Once she recognized me, though, a smile broke out on her face, and she ran over and gave me a hug.

“Master! How did you get here? Why did you sneak in?”

I patted her on the head. “I wanted to talk with you as soon as possible, and I didn’t want to have to jump through any official hoops. How have you been?”

SuYin let out a weary sigh. “I’m… fine. It’s been a busy few months. When Lord Ling found out about my blessing, he started sending me countless reports for me to review. He wants me to look for any inconsistencies and check if anyone has been skimming money from the city’s taxes. It’s tedious work, but he’s treated me fairly.”

I nodded. “SuYin, I need to talk to you about Bao.”

She widened her eyes. “You’ve seen him already? Can you help him? When I left, it seemed like he was getting worse every day. I’ve paid for a few healers from the sect to look at him, but they weren’t able to find anything wrong with him.”

“Yes… I can help him, but the situation is complicated. I need to take him back to the Wastes. If he stays in the sect, it will only cause problems. Aside from his mental problems, I’m afraid of what might happen if one of the sect’s higher-ups takes too close of a look at his garden. The herbs he’s growing… They shouldn’t be possible.”

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SuYin dropped her head, and tears began to form in the corner of her eyes.

“I understand, Master.”

“SuYin, I need to know. Do you want to stay here? I can take you back to the Wastes with us, and you don’t need to worry about the sect causing any trouble. The only thing is… it would mean giving up the chance to become a Lord or learn Rank 4 herbalism, at least for now.”

This left her conflicted, but eventually, she shook her head.

“No, I’ll stay. There’s more to learn here than back in the Wastes, right? If you need my help, I’ll go back, but if it’s just to keep me safe, then I’ll stay here and keep pushing forward. It’s just… my family…”

I gave her a soft smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them. I’ve already put a few protections in place, and my settlement should soon be stable enough to pull them in and give them a better place to live. I can even look at helping some of the younger ones become cultivators, if that’s what they want. It would be good if you were there for that, though. Maybe make a trip home before your ascension?”

She nodded and smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek. “Sure.”

“Oh… and you should keep in contact through the Pavilion in Rosehill. You don’t need to worry about anyone becoming suspicious. They can’t do anything to me, and I doubt they will care about any connections you have to people in the Wastes… at least not for now.”

As I thought about what might lie ahead of us, I pulled a blank memory orb from my storage space.

“There may be trouble in the future, either for you or for me. I want to go ahead and safeguard your memories, just in case anything goes wrong.”

I was running low on memory orbs, so I didn’t have any to waste, but there was a real danger that something might happen to SuYin after I left. Using an orb to safeguard her current memories was worth the peace of mind that it would bring me.

After she injected her memories into the orb and we said a few parting words, I took my leave, slipped away, and headed back to the Verdant Forest Sect.

Once I got there, I focused my mind on Bao’s garden and transferred the entire thing into my storage space. All that was left behind was the dirt-stained wooden platform on which it had rested.

Then, I gave Bao a sleeping pill to knock him out and stuffed him in my storage space. Unlike the recruits from the Su Clan, I wasn’t worried about Bao knowing about the space. I just thought that it would be better for his mental health if he were unconscious for the journey ahead. Not only were there no lights in the space, but I was sure that the lack of qi and wu in there meant that the plants in his garden were screaming in agony. Even if he had the formation necklace to protect him, I didn’t want him to have to deal with that kind of trauma.

Upon returning to Mount Jiang, I first took Bao to my house and settled him down in a guest room. Then, I went to my roof and swapped my garden for his.

Sadly, spending over a week in my storage space had caused significant damage to Bao’s garden. Because of the low-energy environment in there, some of the plants were missing leaves and flowers, and others had died off entirely. This was a bit unfortunate, but I hadn’t been willing to leave the garden sitting around for others to find, so I either needed to damage it by stuffing it into my storage space or simply destroy it completely.

After giving Bao a few hours to calm his mind, I called a meeting of the leadership council.

I had only been gone for less than a month, and nothing exciting had happened in that time, so the council didn’t have much to report. Once the routine matters were dealt with, I introduced everyone to Bao.

“This is Grandmaster Bao, an old friend of mine. I have offered him a position as a clan elder, and he has graciously accepted.”

There were a variety of reactions to this news, most notably from ShouLi and Liang. Neither of them seemed happy that an outsider they had never met before had been placed in a position of authority over them. However, wisely, neither of them said anything about it.

“Elder Bao will not be involved in the mundane affairs of the clan. He is a Grandmaster Herbalist, and his time is far too valuable for that. However,” I looked at GuiAi, “you should know that Elder Bao’s herbalism knowledge far surpasses what you will find in the memory orbs. While most of his time will be spent on his own projects, he will help around the clan where he sees fit. You should listen closely to whatever he tells you.”

GuiAi bowed her head. “Yes, Patriarch.”

These words seemed to mollify ShouLi and Liang, and for her part, GuiAi just seemed excited. Her knowledge of herbalism wasn’t yet deep enough for her to feel any sense of arrogance or superiority over it, and she was more than happy to learn from someone with a bit more experience.

Once the meeting broke up, I took Bao to another room for a private discussion.

“Bao, we need to talk about your blessing.”

He bowed his head. “Yes, Master.”

“From what I can tell, your blessing is allowing you to communicate directly with plants through your soul. The way they ‘talk’ to you is almost like a spiritual attack, and right now, you can barely withstand the attacks of Rank 2 and 3 herbs. I’m worried about what might happen if you even get near a Rank 4 plant.”

Bao’s head dropped, and he looked miserable. “What… what should I do?”

“The formation necklace I gave you will help, but if I’m right, it will interfere with your blessing. It isn’t a good solution. Instead, you need to strengthen your soul.”

I took a thin book from my storage space and placed it on the table between us.

“We talked about soul cultivation years ago, and I gave you a technique back then for strengthening your soul. Do you remember?”

Bao nodded. “Yes, Master. I’ve been doing my best to practice it, but…”

“No need to explain. I’ve explored the sects enough to know some of the problems you would have faced there.” I tapped a finger on the book. “The technique I gave you previously is considered one of the best soul cultivation techniques on the continent, but it is only a Yellow-Rank skill. This one is different. It’s called the Path through the Silent Night. It is a Profound-Rank technique.”

This statement didn’t cause any kind of greed or desire in Bao, just curiosity.

“Beyond strengthening your soul, this technique will build defenses around it, and it should help with the problems your blessing is causing. I can’t be certain about that though, and this technique has other effects that you may not like, such as making changes to your soul far more difficult than normal. I do not know if this technique will help you, but it is the best solution I have. I would like you to consider focusing on cultivating this technique for the next few years, but this is entirely your choice. You need to decide what is best for you.”

Bao accepted the book and gave me a seated bow. “Thank you, Master.”

I held up a hand to stop him. “Never tell anyone about this technique. From what I have been told, it is a technique that should not exist in this world, and I’m worried what might happen if word of it spreads.”

Bao dipped his head one last time. “Yes, Master.”