Chapter 261 – Life 73, Age 50, Martial Master Peak

To construct the primary control node of the illusory sky formation, I used a combination of marble, kyanrolite, and rhyolite. The inscriptions for creating and controlling illusions were carved into marble, and I used kyanrolite for the inscriptions related to regulating and controlling the grand formation’s ancillary nodes. To keep all the various, complex inscriptions from interacting with each other in unexpected ways, I used rhyolite as an insulator to prevent energy from bleeding from one inscription to another.

If all I had needed to do was carve inscriptions into stone, I would have been able to do that with wood qi or a spirit fire. However, because I was using a mix of stones in a complex lattice, I needed to use earth qi to bind everything together and ensure that energy could flow smoothly from one area of the formation to the next.

The primary control node alone took me over a month to complete. While I could have instead used some of that time to advance to Grandmaster, making the process of melding stones together both easier and faster, the dantian created by the third rank of the Wood-Burned Earth technique was rather unique, and I would need time to fully understand it. So, while crafting this formation as a Martial Master might have been a bit inefficient, I pushed forward and did it anyway. My time was limited, and by taking this path, I at least guaranteed that I would be able to finish before the world collapsed around me.

After completing the primary control node, I spent the next two months crafting eight ancillary nodes. These nodes were mostly marble and only contained small pockets of kyanrolite, so crafting them took much less time than the control node. The main time sink here was ensuring that all eight nodes were identical and balanced.

Once everything was finished, I placed the control node in the bubble at the center of my storage space’s ceiling. Then, the ancillary nodes were placed in a square-shaped pattern around it.

Each of these nodes would need a copious amount of both light and dark qi to function properly, and my storage space didn’t have either. So, I placed a horde of spirit stones in each bubble and then added copies of the Gloomy Shadow Fire and the Halcyon Illumination Fire to convert these stones into dark and light qi, respectively.

Relying on spirit stones indefinitely wasn’t a good idea, but it was good enough for the moment. I could look for better ways to fuel the formation in the future.

Finally, I took a deep breath and manipulated a thread of light qi to kickstart the inscriptions in each of the nodes.

Puddles of blue spread from nine locations in the sky of my storage space, casting an azure hue over everything below. Then, slowly, nine small suns appeared.

This was the solution that the illusionists and I had come up with, blue light for most of the sky, and small white suns at regular intervals to produce wide-spectrum light and give the space the appearance of a somewhat normal sunny day. At ‘night,’ the blue sky would vanish, dark qi would take its place, and the suns would dim and turn into small stars.

To try and make things feel more authentic, we added illusory clouds to the mix, but in truth, nothing about this sky looked ‘real.’ It was good enough, though. People should hopefully be able to live and work in the space without feeling like they we trapped in a small, confined cave. 

There were things to improve, but it was good enough. Even if it wasn’t, it didn’t matter anymore. I was out of time.

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Roughly three months after the start of the new year, YuanFei’s Grandmasters returned from the Su Clan’s annual training camp with dozens of new recruits.

Upon seeing this, the corners of my mouth dropped, and my expression hardened.

Our time in the Wastes had come to an end.

I immediately sent a message to the leadership council and summoned them for an emergency meeting. Less than ten minutes later I stood in the middle of the council chamber, and five of the six inner elders sat in front of me, waiting to hear what I had to say.

ShouLi had looked like she wanted to start the meeting as soon as I had arrived, but I held up a hand to stop her. We would wait until the new Master of Residential Affairs joined us.

While I stood there, silent and motionless, I cycled my qi, connected to my root network, and used it to check in on what was happening elsewhere in the clan. On the surface, everything looked normal, but one old man understood the situation well enough to at least suspect the danger we were in.

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Elder TaiZu burst into the YuanFei’s audience chamber, interrupting a report on how the trip to the Su Clan’s training camp had gone.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this!? Why wasn’t I informed that you were sending people to that damned training compound!?”

For an instant, YuanFei’s face froze. Then, his cheeks turned red, and a murderous glint appeared in his eyes.

“How dare you speak to your Patriarch in such a manner! Why did I not tell you? You!? Who are you? I am the Patriarch. I do not need to report my decisions to anyone.”

“Child, do you think—”

“Enough!” YuanFei's roar was enough to shake the entire building. “I hereby strip you of your position as Grand Elder. You are demoted to the position of outer clan disciple. Leave. Now.”

TaiZu gritted his teeth. “You cannot do this. The leadership council—”

YuanFei snorted. “I’m done with letting those kids play their silly games. Next week, ShouLi will be sent to the Rising Sun Empire, and the rest of those commoners will learn their proper place in my clan.”

YuanFei gestured at the Grandmasters around him. “From now on, the only council is the elder council, and they have already agreed to strip you of your position, old man.”

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Letting my connection to the audience hall fade, I had to wonder what the Rising Sun Empire had promised YuanFei to make him act recklessly. He had been arrogant before, sure, but thinking that he could sit on my mountain and dictate terms to everyone around him? That stunk of him believing that he had a powerful backer capable of protecting him from anyone who would stand against him.

However, I had to wonder if YuanFei had informed this backer about his plan to send people to the training camp. The delay in sending ShouLi to the empire was likely an indication of his backer’s timeline for assaulting us. However, with travel to and from the training complex having exposed our position, people would likely start showing up in mere hours. YuanFei’s arrogance had completely ruined his backer’s plans.

This thought made me smile, but this smile faded as the doors of the council chamber opened, and the clan’s final inner elder strutted inside.

The pompous look he gave me made me want to smack him, but I held off. The scorn that had been directed toward me over the past couple of months had worn away at my restraint, but the time for restraint was almost over.

After sitting in his chair, this council member flicked his fingers at me dismissively.

“Prince Fang, you do not have the standing required to summon a meeting of the council. Elder Liang, I demand you arrest him at once.”

I smirked at the man and then turned to Mo. “Is that true?”

Ever since I had entered the chamber, Mo had been staring at the token on my waist, lost in thought. Roused by my question, he quickly nodded.

“Yes, Yes… I mean no. It is not true. You are allowed to summon the council.”

GuiMing’s replacement narrowed his eyes at Mo. “Do you know what you are saying? How dare—”

ShouLi slammed a fist on the table to interrupt him. “We will listen to what Ancestor Fang has to say.”

The newest elder tried to speak up in outrage, but smiling, GuiAi sent out a thread of qi to silence him. Then she looked at me with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry for the interruption, Ancestor.”

Nodding, I looked around at the group, including the rude man wrapped up in GuiAi’s qi.

“The mountain will soon be attacked by several powerful armies. I do not know exactly when this will occur, and I cannot tell you how many enemies there will be, but their numbers will be overwhelming.”

Everyone became serious as they looked at me.

I couldn’t help but think back to when the Twin Mountains Sect had been attacked. At that time, it was only the three nearest empires that had decided to attack the sect as a form of punishment. This time, it would be worse. Powers from across the continent might participate in this assault, and they would be far more ruthless.

“Our defenses will hold for a time, but not indefinitely. Tell your people that as long as the barrier around the island holds, they can go down and do battle with the invaders. However, the moment it starts to collapse, they need to rush back to the mountain. The illusion formation on the island should give them the time they need to retreat.”

ShouLi looked down at her hands for a moment. Then, she looked up at me with a determined expression.

“Will the barrier around the mountain be able to hold?”

I shook my head. 

“No. Not against our real enemies. They will have the means to destroy it.” I paused briefly, letting them fully absorb this information, and then continued. “Talk to everyone on the mountain who you believe is loyal to our clan. Not to YuanFei’s Su Clan. Not to the leadership council. Not even to me. Talk to the people who are loyal to the clan we have built on this mountain together.”

I looked at Liang. “Your enforcers all follow the rules, but that isn’t enough. Many of them have been looking for loopholes in the rules to benefit themselves at the expense of the clan. I understand that you have guided them in Legalist philosophies, so looking to benefit themselves is natural, but they must never do so at the expense of the clan.”

To my surprise, Liang dipped his head and accepted my rebuke without complaint.

“The moment the barrier around the island fails, those who are loyal to our clan should gather in the open area on the second ring. I will be demolishing the buildings there to make room for everyone. This includes the mortals who have joined us. Everyone who is loyal to the clan needs to be there. At that point, I will tell you about what comes next.”

ShouLi wanted to ask a question, but I held up a hand and looked blankly at the wall to my right.

“Our time is up. They’re here.” I looked back at her. “YuanFei will likely be here soon. By the authority of the clan Ancestor, I revoke his status as Patriarch. You may follow his orders if you wish, but you are not duty-bound to do so.”

With that, I hurried away to make my final preparations.

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The first group to arrive at the mountain was the alliance of YuanFeng and the Third Prince. They looked to have brought every cultivator they could with them, and they used this horde to completely encircle the mountain. The young Disciples in this group wouldn’t stand a chance against even the weakest member of my clan, but they would make it significantly more difficult for anyone to escape without being noticed.

As soon as this group arrived, their Grandmasters began pummeling the defensive formation around the island with a rapid series of attacks. When I had purchased the sect-protecting formation from the System, I had paid for something capable of withstanding this kind of assault, so these attacks did no real damage, but I knew that this was only the opening salvo.

Once it was clear that these attacks weren’t having any effect, and after he learned that the barrier was only effective against Grandmasters, the Third Prince ordered his Masters and Disciples to invade the island. In response, YuanFei ordered our Masters and Grandmasters to repel them.

As the clash between these two forces began, I was standing next to Bao at the edge of the roof of the Soul Cultivation Library, overlooking the battles below.

“A couple of months ago, I told you to pay attention to how everyone acted around you. Have you been doing that?”

Bao dipped his head. “Yes, Master.”

“Good. Right now, I’m only a Martial Master. I don’t have enough energy to affect the battles down there. I need your help. Pay attention to the fighting. If any of our people get in trouble, I want you to save those who you believe should be saved.”

Bao’s forehead wrinkled, and his eyes narrowed in a wince. “Master, I’m not sure… I don’t know if I can make that kind of decision.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “I will trust your judgment. If you want to save everyone, then save everyone. But at the very least, if anyone uses this chaos as an opportunity to betray their comrades, cut them down without mercy.”

Bao lowered his head. “Yes, Master.”

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Leaving Bao to manage the battle, I slipped into my secret chamber and connected to my root network.

In the house above me, YuanFei was celebrating with his Grandmasters. To him, YuanFeng was courting death. Because of this, I ended up having to listen to several minutes of noxious preening before I heard anything of actual substance.

“When the Crown Prince’s forces arrive, they will turn these fools attacking us into nothing more than a mountain of corpses. With the jade tokens I sent him, the Crown Prince’s Grandmasters will be able to enter and exit our defensive barrier at will. Standing within the protection of our formation, they will be able to send out attacks to slaughter these idiots with impunity.”

As soon as I heard this, I used the token of the ‘Ancestor’ to connect to the sect-protecting formation. 

Deactivating specific tokens without knowing the name of the person they were assigned to was a bit tricky, so I just sent a signal to deactivate any tokens not currently inside the formation. This meant that if there were any members of my clan out there, then they wouldn’t be able to get back inside, but with one army already surrounding us, and several more on the way, that was unlikely anyway.

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The stalemate around the island continued for two full days. The Grandmasters hadn’t been able to breach the defensive barrier, and any Disciples and Master they sent inside were swiftly defeated.

This started making the members of my clan somewhat complacent, but an hour after noon on the third day, things changed.

Four more armies arrived and surrounded us. One was from the Flowing Mountain Sect, one was from the Verdant Forest Sect, one was from the Rising Sun Empire, and the last appeared to be an amalgamation of cultivators from various other forces. While this last group looked the least organized, by using energy vision, I could see that they were the most dangerous by far.

As soon as these four forces arrived, the fighting on the island ceased. The Third Prince's forces pulled back, and all five groups set up separate encampments around the perimeter of the island.

Three hours later, a delegation from these forces approached the edge of the barrier, and the man in the lead held a formation plate up in front of him to amplify his voice.

“Fang Su, you are suspected of impersonating a member of a royal family, breaching the peace of the Western Wastes, and harboring the fugitive Su RuLan. Drop the defensive barrier around the mountain and hand yourself and Su RuLan over for judgment. Any coconspirators will be taken into custody, but anyone who has not violated the laws of the Imperial Alliance will not be harmed.”

This made me smile. With RuLan’s name included in this pronouncement, the fault lines within the clan would become even clearer.

I wanted to see what nonsense YuanFei was getting up to, but I didn’t have time. Instead, I rushed to the only place on the mountain that was truly important, the Technique Hall. Everything else could be replaced. The books in the Soul Cultivation Library were easy enough to copy, and the formations in the Affinity Hall needed to be updated anyway, but there was no way I was losing the memory orbs in the Technique Hall.

When I arrived, I gave the hall a good, long look. It was a large three-story structure, but that wouldn’t pose too much of a problem.

First, I used my wood and earth qi to detach the hall from the mountain below it.

Then, using my space affinity, I concentrated my mind to surround the hall with my intent and pulled.

In one instant, my face was mere centimeters away from a three-story wooden building. In the next, there was nothing in front of me but empty air. The Technique Hall and all its contents were safely locked away in my storage space.

With this task complete, I headed down to the large, open area in the second ring to get it ready for my guests.

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“Fang Su, your time is up. By order of the Imperial Alliance, I, Zhuge HanYe, hereby find you guilty as charged. All residents of Mount Jiang are hereby sentenced to death.”

Hearing this, I began to contemplate the meaning behind a member of the Zhuge Clan being involved in this assault, but my thoughts were immediately cut off by a powerful explosion that rocked the entire mountain.

The power of this blast was far above anything a mere Grandmaster could produce. Even a Lord would have a hard time matching it. As I had expected, the attackers had deployed a high-Rank formation to breach our defenses. The sparse qi in the Wastes limited how powerful of a formation they could use, but I placed that explosion on the low end of Rank 5. Our defensive barrier didn’t stand a chance.

Not long after this explosion, people started streaming into the cave to join me.

The first ones to appear were in a state of near frenzy. The moment they saw me, they started screaming for me to do something to help them, but I just calmly stood on a platform in the center of the room while waiting for everyone to join.

The last to arrive were Liang and NiangBa, who were leading a large group of mortals up from the lower levels. When I saw this, I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.

Using my root network, I verified that no one else was on the way, so I activated a defensive formation to block out everything in the surroundings. Then, I walked to the edge of my platform and looked down to address everyone.

“Does anyone know why we were attacked?”

Everyone looked like they wanted to say something, but most of them were afraid of speaking. One of NiangBa’s warriors, however, wasn’t so reticent.

“Because you and that bitch RuLan—”

Before he could say anything else, NiangBa struck him hard enough to send him flying.

Then, with an exertion of qi, I moved his limp form outside the defensive barrier.

NiangBa gave a deep bow. “Apologies, Ancestor. I should not have allowed BieWang to join us.”

With the trash removed, I returned my attention to the crowd.

“Does anyone know why we were actually attacked?”

Everyone glanced around at each other worriedly.

“It is because of the pill that Elder RuLan made in the alchemy competition last year. All of these people, people from powerful forces from around the entire continent, they are all here to steal the knowledge of how to make that pill. Seeing that one, single pill was enough to create this firestorm. Leaking the knowledge that we are capable of crafting such a pill was enough to sentence everyone here to imprisonment or death. That is the danger of the knowledge that I have given you.”

Everyone fell silent as they processed my words, and I took the moment to hold up a large glass orb inscribed with countless golden lines.

“This is another secret that I will share with you. This is a world orb. It is a storage device that contains an entire small world inside. This is how we will escape our pursuers. I will place all of you inside and take you… elsewhere. Once there, you will all have the chance to ascend to Grandmaster, Lord, King, and even Emperor. However, that place we are going is far more dangerous than here. If any one of you tells anyone even one of the clan’s secrets, it could mean the death of everyone. The events of today should be burned into your memory. If you leak information about the knowledge and items our clan possesses, then this will all happen again.”

I closed my eyes and stood there silently, allowing the moment to linger. Then, I looked around the room and picked out a few familiar faces.

“Elders Bao, ShouLi, Liang, Mo, GuiAi, GuiMing, and NiangBa. You are the seven people here who I will put my faith in. I have told you of the dangers ahead of us. Our clan has grown, and I do not know where everyone’s loyalties lie. I ask the seven of you to decide who will be allowed to join us in the world orb. The actions of those you accept will be your responsibility to bear. If someone you choose betrays us, then it will be the same as you betraying us.”

Over the next three hours, my seven elders went through everyone who had joined us one by one. This slow process made some people anxious, but we were in no real danger. The inner barrier around the mountain still held, and as long as it did, we had as much time as needed.

Finally, there were only a handful of people left in the cave. Everyone else had either been sent into my storage space or expelled from the formation.

Those that remained were GuiMing, GuiAi, their parents, and the handful of mortals they had come to the mountain with.

When I saw this group, I couldn’t help but close my eyes in sorrow.

I looked at the sibling’s parents. “There is an issue with the world orb. You all… You’re too old. I will take you all somewhere safe, but where we are going next… you cannot follow. I can promise you that you will be able to meet each other again in the future, but I do not know when that will be. Time is… complicated. GuiAi and GuiMing will be safe, and they will have a chance to grow powerful, but it will be a long time before you can see them again.”

Hearing this, Su LianFu and Ma XinYi burst into tears and ran to hug their children. I gave them what time I could, but eventually, I had to separate them and send GuiMing and GuiAi into my storage space.

When the children were gone, Su LianFu looked at me.

“We aren’t going to see them again, are we.”

I dropped my head in shame. “That is… complicated. I honestly do not know how to answer your question, but… no. The you who stands before me will never see them again.”

Reaching into my storage space, I pulled out two memory orbs and handed one to each of them.

“These will allow you to store your memories. This way, a… different you will be able to meet them once more.”

Once the memories were safely packed away, I gave the mortals in front of me a sleeping pill and stashed them in an underground bunker in my storage space. Then, I deactivated the formation around me.

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With everyone I planned to take with me safely locked away in my storage space, I was nearly ready to leave Mount Jiang. However, there were still two items of business I needed to take care of.

The first was standing on the roof of the Soul Cultivation Library, staring around at Bao’s garden in a haze of confusion.

“Hello, Elder TaiZu.”

The man didn’t even look at me. He just continued stumbling around, lost.

“Did you know this would happen?”

“Yes. The moment news of RuLan’s pill was leaked, this fate became unavoidable. Body cultivation pills, pills made from the energy of demon beasts, these are not things that exist in this world. The true powers on this continent would do anything to control such knowledge.”

TaiZu continued stumbling around, lost in thought.

I pulled out a memory orb and tossed it to him.

“I still have a use for you. With what you have learned, with what you have seen, it is possible that you might be of assistance to me in the future. You are concerned about the fate of the Su Clan. You are honestly concerned about the children in my care. I see potential value in this, and I see potential value in you, but potential is all it is. Store your memories in the orb, and that potential may one day be fulfilled.”

Closing his eyes, TaiZu did as I directed. I wouldn’t be restoring his memories anytime soon, but having them opened possibilities for the future.

After storing TaiZu’s orb safely away, I walked through Bao’s garden and pulled everything into a jade-lined cell in my storage space. I doubted any of these plants would be able to survive, but we would at least retain any important seeds to replant them in the future.

Then, I moved around the plateau and collected all the nodes of the sect-protecting formation. There were additional nodes at the base of the mountain, but those were beyond my reach at this point. Finally, I entered my house, bypassed a nearly catatonic YuanFei, and pulled the main node of the formation into my storage space.

The moment I did so, the barrier protecting the mountain vanished, and a horde of angry cultivators charged forward. I immediately popped a Shadowed Soul Pill in my mouth and disappeared.