The Undying Immortal System

I followed Jiao's advice and began making Rank 1 pills in significant quantities. I started with Basic Qi Gathering Pill which required only a single peony to concoct. At this point, I could turn such a flower into a Perfect pill as easily as turning over my hand, but I didn't.

I didn't rely on my various affinities, and I did my best to dampen the effects of my strengthened soul. I wanted to simulate being an average Disciple Alchemist working on his first pills.

I had copied dozens of Rank 1 alchemy techniques, and I had studied them enough to know what they did. I just hadn't used them much, and I had certainly never relied on them to make pills before. Now, I was intentionally suppressing my abilities so that I would have nothing to depend on other than the techniques I was attempting to master.

I continued this for several weeks and produced hundreds of pills, and I didn't just focus on Basic Qi Gathering Pills. After I was confident in my ability to handle the simplest pill recipes, I branched out and practiced over a dozen different types of Rank 1 pills. Nothing I made during this time was Perfect since I still didn't know how to make Perfect pills without relying on my affinities, but I was eventually able to consistently make High-Purity pills with an efficacy of 99%.

During this time, Jiao helped take care of ingredient deliveries and pill pick-ups, so I never had to step away from the workbench except to take care of the basic necessities like sleeping and eating.

It didn't take me long to understand what Jiao was. She was my handler, much like Deacon Liu had been when I worked under Elder Mu. I wasn't sure when that started. Perhaps she was scouting me out as a possible recruit from the very beginning, but after I arrived in the enclave, her role became far more obvious.

I wasn't entirely happy that someone I had considered a friend turned out to be nothing more than a recruiter, but I did my best to not let it bother me. This new knowledge simply allowed me to clearly define what our relationship was and would be.

After picking up my pills one day, Jiao broached an important topic.

"Brother Su, how are you feeling about your progress with the Rank 1 techniques? Think you'll be ready to move up to Rank 2 soon?"

I considered her question from a few angles. The faction leaders probably wanted me to hurry up and start making more valuable pills for them. They bought a workhorse, and they wanted it to work. I could sympathize, but their concerns didn't faze me.

My only concern was if I knew everything I needed to know and was ready to begin working on more difficult pills.

On the face of it, a few weeks to practice dozens of techniques was wholly inadequate, but I was simply learning to use different tools to accomplish tasks that I was already intimately familiar with. Once I understood the hows and whys of these new tools, it wasn't difficult to slot them into the process I had already mastered.

After careful consideration, I was able to give a firm answer. "Give me one more week. There are still a few more tests I want to run at this level. After that, I will start working on Rank 2 pills."

Jiao clapped her hands together. "Alright, I'll plan future deliveries using that schedule then. By the way, the Flowing Mountain Sect will be scouting for new disciples during the next few months. If you're interested in getting recruited by them, you might want to try out this year. Next time they come you'll be close to the age limit, so it'll be a lot harder."

I thought back to my conversation with Elder Tao. If I left to join the Flowing Mountain Sect, someone would no doubt tell them about my fire seed, and that would certainly end with my swift death as soon as I left the Wastes. I was supposed to stay here obediently.

If I wanted any chance to leave the Wastes in this life, I needed to first build a base of personal and political power. Even hinting that I wanted to leave before then would be a terrible idea.

I looked at Jiao and tried to project a firm resolve. "No. I'm not looking to join them. If there's an open competition for the selection, I'd be interested in watching it, but I have no interest in participating."

She shook her head sadly. "It's all done behind closed doors, unfortunately. Really, it's a good thing you didn't set your heart on joining them because it almost certainly wasn't going to happen."

I didn't want to join, but I still had at least a little pride, so I bristled a bit at that comment.

"Why do you say that?"

Jiao laughed, "They only accept true standouts like Wen Hao. He's practically guaranteed a slot this time."

"Is he that good?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'good.' From what I hear, his technical skills aren't the best, but his blessing is more powerful than you would believe. It lets him fortify the medicinal energy in the herbs so that they take much less damage from any small slips he makes while concocting. That lets him make Rank 3 pills with outstanding efficacy far earlier than almost any other alchemist I've ever heard of."

Was Wen Hao's blessing really that powerful? I wouldn't be willing to trade the System and reincarnation for it, of course, but I wished I could do something like that myself.

Jiao patted me on the back before heading to the door. "If you have any problem, let me know. If not, I'll go ahead and schedule the delivery of Rank 2 herbs for you starting next week."

After Jiao left, I sat down to have a discussion with the System. I didn't have much in the way of credits, but I wanted to check some prices for the future.

"System, how much would it cost to buy an ability that mimics Wen Hao's blessing?"

Cost of such an ability is not possible to calculate at this time.

I had assumed as much, but it was worth a quick check.

"What about a similar ability that is only able to affect herbs up to Rank 3?"

Rank 3 Complete Herbal Enhancement. Cost 1 billion credits.

"How much if it only affected Rank 1 or 2?"

Rank 1 Complete Herbal Enhancement. Cost 100,000 credits.

Rank 2 Complete Herbal Enhancement. Cost 10 million credits.

So, even buying an ability that could only affect Rank 1 herbs was out of the question. I would need more credits than the total of everything I had earned to date. Then, even if I bought it, it would be impossible to maintain it as a relevant ability as I climbed through the realms of cultivation. Even now, Rank 1 enhancements would do me little good when I could just make Perfect Rank 1 pills instead.

Instead of going down the rabbit hole of trying to get this kind of blessing, what I needed to do was learn herbalism so that I could simply create far superior herbs to start with. That would require both a source of knowledge on the topic and the space to grow said herbs. I didn't have either of these yet, but this path offered far more possibilities for the future.

This made me wonder about a few other prices.

"System, how much to learn Rank 1 Herbalism?"

The complete skills and knowledge of a Disciple Herbalist. Cost 10 million credits.

It was the same as when I asked about alchemy long ago. Thinking about it…

"System, how much to master Rank 1 Alchemy?"

The complete skills and knowledge of a Disciple Alchemist. Cost 9.9 million credits.

There was definitely something suspicious about those valuations.

"Why are those prices so high?"

Relevant information. Cost 8 million credits.

Definitely suspicious.

"How much to learn Rank 1 herbalism to a level similar to that of my ability in Rank 1 alchemy?"

Cost 100,000 credits.

The cost of purchasing new skills from the System was just too high. If I had that many credits, there were other things that I would want to purchase first. Instead, I would need to start trying to learn herbalism on my own. As long as I was still producing pills, my taskmasters shouldn't mind if I engaged in a few other pursuits.

Aside from herbalism, I also wanted to start learning to create formations, but that had its own problems. Formation specialists used earth qi. I had a dual-element fire and wood qi cultivation technique which would allow me to practice both alchemy and herbalism, but adding earth qi to the mix would, I assumed, require an Earth-Rank cultivation technique. I had never even heard of anyone mention one of those.

Retreating from thoughts of System purchases and plans for the future, I returned my mind to the present.

I had told Jiao that I would finish my work with Rank 1 within one week and that I would then begin a focused study of Rank 2 techniques. In truth, I already felt that my grasp of Rank 1 techniques was sufficient. Instead of using my time to study alchemy, I took the herbs that I was meant to use during this week and transformed them into pills as quickly as possible.

I was able to finish everything in less than a single day, giving me six days of free time before the elders would expect me to delve back into my studies.

While I had been told that I could leave the sect whenever I wished now that I was an inner sect disciple, I knew that the situation was a bit more complicated than that. There would likely be a subtle but fierce resistance if I showed any desire to do so. Therefore, I needed to find other ways to accomplish my goals.

Instead of leaving the sect, I went to visit a place I hadn't been in a long time, the city of the nominal disciples. Working with outer sect disciples could get complicated, but given the mental state of the nominal disciples, things would proceed far more smoothly.

It took me a bit more searching than I had expected, but after a few hours, I finally found my target.

I walked up to my oldest friend in this world and gave him a martial salute.

"Disciple Bao, please follow me. There is something I wish to discuss with you."

Bao was someone I trusted. I didn't know him at all in this life, and I didn't know where his experiences this time around would have taken him, but I knew that he would not be involved in the deep politics of the sect. After all, he was only a simple low-level nominal disciple.

Bao gave me a deep bow.

"Senior Brother, how may this one serve you?"

"Let's talk in private."

Bao didn't protest, but that could have been because I didn't give him an opportunity to. I firmly guided him to a private dining room in one of the larger restaurants around the city.

After ordering some dishes, I got to business.

"Junior Brother Bao, how is your life in the sect? Are you well?"

He answered without hesitation. "Senior Brother, thank you for your concern. I am very well."

"Junior Bao, let's drop the formalities. My name is Su Fang, just call me Fang." It was nice having a higher position. It let me set the rules of decorum. "Bao, I have a project that I'm working on, and I would like your help with it if you're willing."

"Senior… Fang. I… I don't think… I mean, I'm just a nominal disciple." He gestured at his disciple robes as he stammered his response.

I kept my voice calm to try and soothe him. "Please listen. I'm only making an offer, and you should feel free to decline it, but I know that you can do what I need."

"Al… Alright."

"Great. I need knowledge and information that isn't available to me in the sect. Books, techniques, anything of value. If someone finds an old tomb that holds a valuable relic, I want to know about it. Mostly, though, I want information on herbalism, formations, refining, and beast taming."

"But the sect—"

"What I want isn't available in the sect, and I can't do this myself, so I need someone to help me. I chose you."

"But I don't know you… and… I can't leave the sect…"

I folded my hands in front of me and gave him my best winning smile.

"You will have to quit the sect, yes, but if you work with me, you and your family can live happily for years to come. I will provide you with as many pills as you need. Right now, I can provide you with countless Rank 1 and 2 pills of extremely high quality. You just need to sell them and use that money to buy information. Gather as much as you can. Especially books on low-level herbalism and formations. I don't care how much money you keep for yourself. As long as I get the information I need, I will be satisfied."

I could see the struggle that was happening inside Bao's mind. His dream was to prosper in the sect, and in a single sitting, I, a completely unknown person, was asking him to throw it all away. How many people would be willing to do such a thing, especially for a stranger?

There was only one thing that weighed heavily in my favor. Bao had been cultivating a technique that encouraged trust and naivete.

Finally, after several minutes, he nodded his head. "Alright. Bring me the pills. I'll do it."