Chapter 265 – Life 75, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

When I appeared in South Gate City, the first things I did was go to a bathhouse, get cleaned up, and put on the fanciest set of non-refined robes I possessed. Then, I made my way to the Blue Wind Pavilion.

As soon as I entered, a young woman walked up to me and gave me a deep bow.

“Hello, sir. How may I help you today?”

I looked at the unfamiliar young woman for a brief moment and then raised my chin in acknowledgment.

“Is Meng LuYao in today? I’ve had some business with her in the past, and I would prefer to work with her directly.”

The attendant grimaced. “Sir, Miss Meng is indisposed. Would it be possible for me to handle your request instead?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you mean by ‘indisposed?’”

The attendant looked like she didn’t want to say anything more. I considered bribing her, but since that would involve either handing her a spirit stone or a stack of gold coins, I held back. 

“Sir, Miss Meng has taken the day off. She…” The attendant hesitated about whether she should say more, but at my insistent gaze, she continued. “Earlier today, she ran out of here claiming that she wanted to learn how to cultivate. Sir, don’t worry. She is far too old for any of the respectable schools to accept her, and she is smart enough to avoid the more unscrupulous ones. She should be back by tomorrow.”

I nodded and then handed her a few gold coins. “Thank you.”

While I hadn’t been willing to bribe the girl, giving her a generous tip was only fair.

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After leaving the Pavilion, I ducked into a side alley and reached out for some help.

“System, how much would it cost to teleport me to a secluded area near Meng LuYao?”

Cost 2,490 credits.

As expected, I had to pay a bit of a markup because the price included information about her location, but it wasn’t bad. The low price of this information suggested that I could wait and meet her later, but I saw no reason to do so.

“Teleport me.”

Purchase confirmed. 445,875,939,313 credits remaining.

I appeared in the nook of a building created by two outstretched extensions. After taking a moment to orient myself, I realized that I was outside the main building of the Yellow Orchid Academy.

As my location was far from ‘secluded’ and I would look incredibly suspicious if anyone were to stumble upon me, I hurriedly made my way to a more public location where I could blend in as just another new applicant.

However, as I began moving toward the building’s entrance, I heard the sound of crying.

After a bit of looking around, I found a young woman huddled in a nearby corner.

I approached and sat down next to her without saying a word.

When I did so, she flinched, showing that she had noticed my arrival, but she didn’t look up.

After several minutes, her crying slowed as she ran out of energy.

Meng LuYao glanced at me from behind the cover of her arms and hands.

“I just… want to become a cultivator. I want…”

I leaned against the wall of the building. “Why?”

This caused LuYao to burst into tears again. “I want… control. Control over my life.”

I leaned forward and rested my chin on my hand. “The school wouldn’t accept you?”

“N… No. They said… They didn’t even check to see if I could cultivate. They just said that I’m too old.”

“There are plenty of other schools in the city. I’m sure at least one of them would accept you.”

LuYao convulsed. “No. They’re right. I’m already 19. It’s… too late.”

I nodded. She had less than 2 years before stagnation set in. Under normal circumstances, training someone to Martial Master in such a short time would be difficult. However, Meng LuYao had a five-star light affinity and an incredibly high level of comprehension. She wouldn’t have any problems.

“If you are willing, I can give you a chance. I can teach you to cultivate, and you will become far stronger than you’ve ever dreamed of.”

For the first time, LuYao looked me full in the face. The look she gave me… It wasn’t one of joy or excitement. It was filled with suspicion and hostility.

“What’s the catch? There’s always a catch.”

I nodded. 

“There is. You…” Thinking about what I was about to say made me wince. “You will need to allow me to use my blessing to change your appearance. I will transform you into someone completely new, and no one you know will be able to recognize you. You won’t be able to tell anyone about this, and you may never see your friends and family again.”

LuYao’s eyes narrowed. “Is that all?”

“Yes. If you accept these terms, I will teach you to cultivate. I will need you to take an Oath of secrecy, but that is all. You will not be beholden to me, and you will be free to leave and go your own way whenever you wish.”

LuYao closed her eyes, but only for a moment. After that one brief moment, she opened them and glared at me fiercely.

“I agree.”

I smiled at her and then turned away.

“System, change Meng LuYao’s physical appearance. Choose random features from women on the Central Continent and mix them into something new. She should retain the same apparent age, and she should be considered attractive, but keep it within limits. The most attractive woman in the city is fine. Most attractive on the continent is not.”

Processing… Purchase confirmed. Cost 1 million credits. 445,874,939,313 credits remaining.

Meng LuYao’s eyes snapped open, and she looked like she wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

Then, her skin started to shimmer and morph.

Her hair burst out of the Pavilion’s golden clip and fell to the small of her back. Then, it began extending to below her waist. As it did, it shifted hues from the pitch black of everyone else I had ever seen in this world to a softer mahogany.

Next, her eyes enlarged a tad and took on a slightly steeper cant. Above them, the color of her eyebrows faded to match her new hair color and thinned out.

Her lips and cheeks reddened, her nose shrunk, her cheekbones lifted, her chin narrowed, and small pockets of fat disappeared.

When everything was done, I gaped as I stared at a brand-new woman.

LuYao’s breathing quickened. “What… What did you do to me?”

Wordlessly, I reached into my storage space, pulled out a large sheet of silvery metal, and held it up for her.

When she saw her reflection, LuYao started touching her face at random.

“What…”

I smiled. “I told you. I used my blessing to change your appearance. Please, do not mention this to anyone.”

I waved a hand, and GuiAi suddenly appeared next to us.

“Ancestor!?”

I let out a slight chuckle. “GuiAi, this is Meng LuYao. Please help her get settled in.”

GuiAi bowed deeply. “Ye…Yes, Ancestor.”

With a flick of my fingers, LuYao, GuiAi, and the metal sheet vanished.

GuiAi was a good kid. She should be able to take care of LuYao for a bit.

As for LuYao herself… I didn’t exactly like the idea of requiring her to change her appearance, but it had been the easiest solution to deal with the ‘LiTing Problem.’ As long as LiTing didn’t see LuYao’s natural appearance, the two of them shouldn’t develop as unhealthy of a relationship as they had the last time they met. Later, when they got their memories back, this might cause other problems, but for the moment, it was the best idea I had.

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After handing LuYao off to GuiAi, I was stuck at the Yellow Orchid Academy with no easy way to get back to the city proper. In my current condition, there was no way I would make it back if I tried to walk, and as I hadn’t used a carriage to come out here, there wasn’t one waiting to take me back. I could have tried to find the carriage that brought LuYao, but I decided to simplify things and just pay the small fee to hop back.

“System, send me back to a secluded spot in South Gate, near the Pavilion.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 24 credits. 445,874,939,289 credits remaining.

Then, I headed inside and took care of business.

I paid an exorbitant price for the same house as our group had used the last time we were in the city, I left letters for LiTing, JiaQi, and YuLong, and I ordered a large number of basic mortal and Rank 1 goods to be delivered to the house the next day. Finally, I sent a letter to Zhuge Yan.

The last time we had done this, Yan had written a letter to himself, and all I had needed to do was send it to him to get his attention. This time, I didn’t have any such letter. However, since it had only contained mortal information, the letter had been copied into my library the moment I had touched it.

When I looked at said letter, I found that the whole thing was written in a cipher that I couldn’t understand and would have a hard time replicating, but that wasn’t a problem. I simply took out a similar sheet of paper and used my new scribe ability to copy the letter exactly.

This worked as expected, and the next day, Yan appeared in the Pavilion. 

We didn’t say much. I just gave him his orb and the location of our house. We needed to wait until we were in a more secure location before we discussed things in detail.

Then, I returned home to get everything set up.

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It would take everyone a few weeks to assemble in South Gate City, so I gave both my clan and my new recruits a bit of time outside of the storage space. No one was allowed to leave the house yet, and I set up defensive formations to enforce this rule, but as South Gate had significantly higher qi density than the Wastes, I was able to set up multiple locations for people of all Ranks to cultivate and restore their qi.

For my clan, ShouLi set up a rotating schedule so that everyone, including the mortal outsiders, would be allowed a bit of time out in the real world.

As for my recruits, I sent Cao to study fire cultivation with RuLan, LuYao to study light cultivation under GuiAi, and SuYin to study wood cultivation with Bao.

This process could have been sped up by teaching basic cultivation techniques through memory orbs, but SuYin was already showing me the dangers of doing this. Nothing that had been stored in her blessing’s ’perfect memory’ had been copied to the memory orb. It had only recorded the fragmentary knowledge that had existed in her brain.

Most of her basic knowledge had been retained. She knew who Bao and I were, she knew about the Verdant Forest Sect, and she knew what I had told her about time loops. However, nearly all of the details were gone. For instance, she knew the basic idea of how cultivation techniques worked, but she had relied almost entirely on her blessing when learning the specifics. 

This loss of SuYin’s memories was a bit of a blow as it meant that we had lost any secrets she might have known about the Verdant Forests Sect, but I didn’t consider it too important. I had to believe that if any of these secrets had been worth knowing, then SuYin would have at least mentioned them earlier.

All we had lost was a bit of time, and that wasn’t too important. Cao and LuYao would need to relearn cultivation from scratch anyway, and I was confident that SuYin would outpace either of them. However, this time, she was doing a bit of extra work to try to retain more knowledge in the future.

There was another problem that needed to be addressed, though. SuYin and Bao’s affinities had vanished. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a big deal since I could just set up a Wood Essence Gathering Formation, but in South Gate City, there was no environmental essence available. 

Once we entered the sect, I had no doubt that both of them would be able to get plenty of essence from the Wood Peak Trial, but for the moment, I had to take care of it personally.

“System, raise Bao and SuYin’s wood affinity to peak seven-star.”

Purchase confirmed. 35,520 credits. 445,874,903,769 credits remaining.

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A few days after we arrived, YuLong appeared, and I immediately led him to my private room at the back of the house.

Once we were both seated, I bowed my head to him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t explain earlier, but without the formations I have set up around this manor, doing so would have been too dangerous.”

YuLong fixed me with a steely gaze and dipped his head in acknowledgment.

“I will explain things in more detail after everyone else arrives, but here is the short version.” I closed my eyes for a moment to focus. “This is not the first cycle since the memories you absorbed were recorded. You have already lived a life where you chose not to rejoin the sect and instead returned to spend time with your family.”

I took out the memory orb to show him. “I’m worried about you absorbing too many memories too early. I think it would be best if you waited until you spent time cultivating your soul, but I will give them to you if you wish.”

YuLong’s gaze was fixed on the orb, but he made no move to grab it.

“What happened?”

“All I know is that, at some point, your sister was forced to marry one of the princes of the Empire of Eternal Winter, and you led a rebellion to stop it. I don’t know what happened to your sister, but you were eventually locked up in a dungeon beneath the palace. This orb comes from moments after we rescued you.”

YuLong nodded. “Okay. I can believe that. What now?”

“Now, you need to decide what you want to do. You can take these memories, run back to the empire, and try to change things. It might not work, but it’s worth a shot. However, what I hope you will do, is join us in the Nine Rivers Sect and spend decades, possibly centuries, in training.”

YuLong tensed, but I held up a hand to stop him from answering.

“I know you want to see your family, but if you want to be able to fight against the empire, you need to be better prepared. I can offer you this, though. I will bring your sister here, and the two of you can train together. Also, once you get your memories back, I would suggest you spend time with Yan to plan things out so that you will be more successful in the future.”

This last comment made YuLong let out a wry chuckle. “Alright. I’ll trust you. Please, bring my sister here.”

I nodded and then turned my head to the side.

“System, teleport YuLong’s sister into this room.”

A young girl, far younger than I had expected, only 8 or 9 years old, suddenly appeared. The moment she did, she started screaming.

Wide-eyed, YuLong ran over to try and comfort her.

After a moment of thought, I flicked a finger and GuiMing appeared.

“Ming… can you… can you get the two of them settled?”

He bowed to me. “Of course, ancestor.”

Then, all three vanished.