The Undying Immortal System

My life continued on as normal for the next month, and it felt as if the attack on the Su Clan had never happened. However, when I was doing alchemy in my workshop one day, a voice boomed across the entire sect and crushed the hopes of everyone who thought that we had escaped the investigation unscathed.

"Twin Mountains Sect, you have been found guilty of training and harboring the criminals TianHou, Wang SuPing, Wang SuFei, and Du RanJing. For this crime, the sect shall be abolished, and all members shall be put to death as proof that justice has been carried out."

What happened next could not be described as killing a chicken to scare a monkey. It was more akin to slaughtering a herd to eradicate a disease.

From my position in the faction enclave, I could see tens of thousands of warriors encircling both mountains of the sect. As I watched, their formation slowly closed in around the base of each mountain simultaneously.

It was difficult for me to see what was happening around the Martial Peak, but I could see those around the Alchemy Peak clearly enough. The first target of our attackers was the city of the nominal disciples. As the circle of warriors closed in upon it, a line of cultivators broke off to wrap around the city and form a barrier to stop anyone from escaping.

However, the attackers didn't bother entering the city to fight people man to man. Instead, they sent out massive waves of energy that rippled out of their formation and tore apart the buildings one by one. Large apartment buildings collapsed like they were built out of mud and rotten sticks.

These attacks didn't consist of just a single element. There were bursts of all five basic elements. Gouts of fire, blasts of ice, giant slashes from invisible swords, huge swaths of earth overturned, and creeping vines attacked both structures and humans alike, but these attacks formed only a portion of the onslaught. Buildings were also struck by thick columns of lightning, hurricane-force winds, and other attacks I couldn't even see.

I had never seen the warriors from the sect's Martial Peak fight, and I didn't know if they were able to cause this level of devastation, but this was far beyond what I had imagined a Grandmaster was capable of. If a Grandmaster could easily destroy a building single-handedly, what might a Lord, King, or Emperor be able to do?

The encroaching army had paused their march toward the mountain as the city of the nominal disciples was attacked. They wanted us to watch, to bear witness to their vengeance.

It was hard to see too many details from my vantage point high atop the mountain, but even as far away as I was, I could still hear the screaming as a hundred thousand souls met their end. They knew they were doomed. They had no way to defend themselves, no way to fight back. All they could do was wait to be slaughtered.

As building after building was demolished, slowly, trickles of blood that turned into small rivers began flowing down the streets.

While I hadn't known that this attack was coming, I was prepared. I had long ago placed everything I needed in my storage space, read all the sect's technique manuals that I could, and pushed my alchemy skills to their limits. I was ready, but I didn't want to die immediately. The longer I survived, the more I would learn. At this point, anything I learned might be of dubious value, but I still wanted to learn what I could.

Staying in my workshop gained me nothing, and going down the mountain was just another form of suicide. Part of me wanted to attempt to steal another copy of the Cold Mountain Fire, but the ring of warriors had already blocked off the entrance to its cave. So, with no better options, I decided to go up the mountain and visit Grand Hall. If anyone in the sect knew anything, that was where they would be.

The paths up the mountain were crowded with frantic people scrambling to get to its peak. Everyone seemed to have the same idea, get to the hall and ask the Sect Master what to do. Even if they knew he couldn't do anything about this calamity, it was the only thing people could think to do.

Just outside the Grand Hall, I saw someone who had faded from my life over the past couple of decades, Elder Jiao. She was in a frantic state. I had become used to seeing her as a proper, composed elder. She had become the epitome of a well-groomed and well-dressed lady. Now, though, her hair was in a tangled mess and her robes were dirty and disordered.

"Jiao, what's going on? Do you know why they're attacking us?"

"What… who are… Fang… Deacon Su…" Her eyes were wild, and she was shaking. "The Sect Master is gone, and all of the top elders have vanished. No one knows what happened. We've been abandoned."

"Where did they go?"

I was shocked that the leaders would disappear. What did that mean? If the entire sect was to be held liable for TianLei's actions, shouldn't they be the first on the chopping block? Perhaps they were… They might have been taken away weeks ago.

"We don't know. They may have been taken, or they may have escaped. Those bastards had to know this was coming. They knew, and they abandoned us to save themselves!"

Panic had set in, and Jiao wasn't the only one feeling it. High atop the mountain, as everyone came to realize that the leaders of the sect were gone, people were going crazy. If this had been my only life, I might have joined them.

"Elder Jiao." I tried to speak in a calm, soothing voice. "What do we do now? We just need a plan. What are we going to do?"

"There's nothing we can do!" As she screamed, her façade of being a lofty sect elder vanished entirely.

I gripped her shoulders to try and steady her. "We can fight. We can defend ourselves."

She laughed mirthlessly in my face. "No one here knows anything about fighting. We wouldn't stand a chance."

"What about the illusion formation? There are illusions guarding the sect from outsiders. That should slow them down, right?"

"Those were built by the Flowing Mountain Sect. They were disabled before this attack even began."

Jiao collapsed on the ground and started crying, but she wasn't alone. Left with no other option, others also began falling to their knees in defeat.

As Jiao sat there, sobbing, her demeanor slowly shifted from grief and terror to utter desperation.

"I know what comes next. I won't let that happen."

She stood up and looked around. Spotting a small outcropping that stuck out over the mountain, Jiao began to run and didn't stop. With all the speed she could manage, she threw herself off the cliff.

I only stood there and watched.

I could have stopped her. I could have saved her life.

I had martial techniques that would have allowed me to move far quicker than she was running, but I just watched.

I knew what she was afraid of. While I didn't know what it was like to be a woman in this world, I knew what happened to women in most wars, and so did Jiao.

This was her choice to make. I couldn't stop the oncoming army, so I wouldn't stop her.

Would such a fall kill a Martial Grandmaster? Normally, maybe not. But as she was falling, Jiao severed her meridians and dispersed her qi. When she hit the ground, she was no different than an average mortal.

I stepped up to the edge of the cliff and looked down. I didn't focus on the broken body below. I looked only at the army making their slow march toward the peak. The sect village had already been overrun, and all that was left before the oncoming tide was the mountain itself.

I expected the advance to slow significantly at this point. The mountain paths were narrow, and there was no way to march an entire army up them. I thought that if people made a concerted effort, they might be able to form last stands at the various chokepoints.

I was wrong.

As the army approached, the earth moved. New paths and stairways appeared out of nowhere as if welcoming the invaders in. In qi vision, I saw thick streamers of earth qi carving up the entire mountain at a frantic pace. This wasn't the effort of just a few individuals. Platoons of earth cultivators rotated one after the next to quickly construct a path forward.

The army's advance was not quick, but it was relentless. Enclave after enclave was wiped out until only the peak remained.

Should I have used my last moments to turn around, run into the Grand Hall, and look for things to steal? Maybe, but my storage space was already full, and I didn't want to make any mistakes by swapping out items at random. There might have been valuable technique manuals that I could have found and copied into my mental library, but I lacked the concentration necessary to read them with enough care to ensure that any copies I made were free of errors.

So, with no way to carry any potential loot into a future loop, I just stood there and waited for the advancing soldiers.

I couldn't fight an army, but I wanted to see how I fared against an experienced soldier. I had only trained my martial arts in private, and I had only sparred with significantly weaker opponents. How did my skills compare to someone who had actively trained in the Martial Dao?

When the first enemy crested the cliff face, I charged. My goal was to knock him back. I would use a technique to send a burst of qi which should have a strong enough force to blow him away.

I channeled my qi and sent it out.

The soldier's face showed no reaction. He just swiped his arm and let loose his qi. It wasn't a type I recognized, but it instantly dispersed the energy I had sent at him and created a gust of wind that threw me to the ground.

As I struggled to get to my feet, another soldier walked forward and stabbed me in the gut. His attack destroyed my dantian, crippling my cultivation, and severed my spine so that I couldn't move. He didn't kill me instantly, though. He left me there so that I could watch as the army moved forward and dispatched the remaining sect members one by one.

As I lay dying, I looked out over the cliff and down at the ruins where the Twin Mountains Sect had once stood.

A member of the sect had destroyed the Su Clan. In retaliation, the entire sect was laid to waste.

I could understand the actions of TianLei. He wanted more power for his family. For his clan to rise, the Su Clan had to fall. I didn't agree with what he did, but I could understand it. There was just no way that he could have understood the magnitude of the firestorm his actions would unleash. After the sect was destroyed, I did not doubt that the families of those who had participated in the attack would meet a similar end.

I could also understand the response of the powers that destroyed the sect. Someone in the sect broke a pact that all powers involved abided by. As a result, the sect had to face swift punishment. If they didn't, then no such agreements would have any teeth. Again, I didn't necessarily agree with their actions, but I could understand them.

There was one thing that troubled me, though. There was one aspect of all this destruction that I couldn't quite understand. There was only one place I could turn to for an answer. Did I need the answer? No. But I wanted to understand.

"System, the blessing TianLei receives has changed multiple times. It looks like it is being adjusted to be as destructive as possible. This is the work of the Earthly Dao, right? Why is the Earthly Dao working so hard to destroy everything?"

Calculating… the cost of the information is… discount applied… cost 0 credits. Purchase confirmed.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my head. It was one that I hadn't heard in a long time. It was the voice of the incarnation of the Earthly Dao.

Stagnation. This entire place has stagnated. To better this world, all beings must strive to advance. The accords protecting this area made everything far too peaceful. Will this war change things? I do not know. You have yet to live long enough for me to see the effects of my efforts here. Until then, I can only work on making this conflict itself as momentous as possible.

It made sense. It was ruthless, and cruel, but I could understand it. Years ago, Elder Mu had told me: "Nothing matters unless it helps me reach my goal. If you get in the way, I will kill you." This was the exact same logic. The Earthly Dao wanted the world to advance, and the people here got in its way.

Could I stop it? Could I prevent this tragedy from happening? Possibly. I could try to stop TianLei early on, before he gained any strength. If someone else rose to take his place, I could gain enough strength to stop them too. But that would be putting myself directly at odds with the Dao. It wanted this to happen. If I tried to stop this attack, I would be the one standing in the way.

I owed the people of the sect a debt. For all that I had been used to further the goals and schemes of others, they had taught me earnestly and had provided me with a vast amount of knowledge and guidance. That was something I would need to repay.

I was not willing to oppose the Earthly Dao, but I would find a way to repay all my debts.

I just needed to gather the strength and knowledge necessary to do so first.

With a final gasp, I slipped away into unconsciousness.

You have died. Calculating…

You died as a Martial Grandmaster Peak. 1,000,000 credits awarded.

Total Credits: 1,000,790

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End of Volume 1.