Chapter 217 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

With the competition between the Disciples over, I returned to my courtyard with Liang and Mo, my newest recruit. I gave Mo the same rundown about severing ties with the Su Clan that I had given Liang, and he readily agreed to accept me as his new patriarch. After that, I took both boys on a tour of the house and showed them the new rooms I had prepared for them.

First, I took them to a room that contained nothing but six granite discs. Three of the discs were lined up against the left wall, and three were lined up against the right wall. These discs were roughly five centimeters thick and had a diameter of one meter. Each disc had a single word carved into the center of the face.

I looked at the boys and gestured to the discs.

“These are formation plates that will allow you to raise your affinities.” I pointed to the one with the character for lightning engraved into it. “All you need to do is sit down on that disc, and your lightning affinity will slowly increase over time.”

I had decided not to recheck their affinities. Instead, I wanted them to choose whichever element they felt suited them best without worrying about what element they should cultivate based on their initial affinities.

However, I also didn’t want them to raise their affinities too quickly. I wanted to try and force them to improve their talent for cultivation by making them struggle at every step. So, these Essence Gathering Formations were only Rank 1, and they would only be actively gathering essence while one of the boys was sitting on them. This would allow them to steadily improve a nine-star affinity, but it wouldn’t let them immediately jump to an eight-star affinity.

Still, any formation that would allow them to raise their affinities was like magic to the boys. They were both more than eager to sit on their respective plates, but I had up a hand to stop them.

“You are not allowed to use this place freely. You must earn the right to come here.” I gave the boys a slightly evil grin. “Once both of you have reached Martial Disciple 2, you may both come here for one hour. After you both reach Martial Disciple 3, you will be allowed another hour. The same will be true for Martial Disciple 4 and so on.”

I looked at Mo who was making steady progress to Martial Disciple 2.

“If you wish to raise your affinities as soon as possible, you will need to assist Liang in learning to cultivate. He has fallen a bit behind.”

Liang had pretty much completely given up on learning to cultivate, and I could only hope that the prospect of raising his affinities would be the incentive he needed to take it seriously once more. If not, I might have to step in personally, and that would make what I was trying to accomplish here much more difficult.

After introducing them to the ‘Affinity Hall,’ I took them to the room I had dubbed my ‘Technique Hall’ which contained only a single bookcase that held 36 different scrolls.

“This bookcase contains Rank 1 cultivation techniques for each of the nine elements. There is a Low-, Mid-, High-, and Peak-Yellow technique for each element.” I gestured to Mo. “You have started cultivating, but you haven’t yet broken through to Martial Disciple 2. You can still expel all the energy you have gathered and switch techniques if you wish to do so. You may then select a new Low-Yellow technique in any element you desire.”

Again, he was shocked by the offer and stared at the scrolls with his mouth agape.

“But… my affinity…”

I waved that away. 

“As you have seen, your starting affinities are unimportant. As long as both you and Liang can reach Martial Disciple 2, you will be able to improve any affinity you wish.” I gestured to the different levels of techniques available. “You must both start with a Low-Yellow cultivation technique. After you reach Peak Disciple, I will give you a pill to abolish your cultivation base. Then, you may choose the Mid-Yellow technique of that same element or the Low-Yellow technique of a different element. With each technique you master, you will gain more time in the Affinity Room.”

Realizing a slight error in what I said, I motioned to the techniques on the bottom rows of the bookcase.

“These are for dark, light, and wind qi. I do not currently possess a formation to help you with these affinities, but you may still find practicing them worthwhile. I would encourage you to experiment with them, but you will likely find your future with these elements quite limited.”

I wanted them to experience a range of different cultivation techniques, and this setup was intended to incentivize them to do that without me having to guide them at each step along the way. There were still a few features I wanted to add, such as making the system fully automated and assigning them variable time in the Affinity Hall based on the quality of their breakthroughs, but the current setup was good enough for a trial run.

Next, I took the boys to the last of the new rooms I had prepared for them.

“This is a basic workout room. Do not use qi to reinforce your muscles while you are in here.” I pointed to a small bookshelf. “Those are guides to basic physical conditioning. Use them to improve your body as much as you can without qi.”

I gestured to a formation plate that I had attached to a wall. “Punch that plate, and it will register the power of your strike. As your strength improves, you will earn various rewards that will allow you to grow even stronger.”

While it had become clear to me that some kind of physical blessing or body cultivation was important to the Nine Rivers Sect, I knew little about the topic. The only books I had been able to find related to physical conditioning contained nothing more than mortal-level information, and the System refused to sell me any relevant information. 

Aside from the Master of the Nine Rivers Sect, the only person I thought might know something was Emperor Li. However, he would be limited in what he could tell me by both Oaths and by his blessing. In any case, if his blessing had wanted him to tell me what he knew, it likely would have already had him send me a letter with the information. Since it hadn’t, I had to assume I was on my own.

So, again, I was using Liang and Mo as test subjects. I would encourage them to do regular physical training and observe their results.

Finally, I led the boys to the room where Liang had been sleeping which now contained an extra bed.

“Mo, Liang, I want the two of you to work together and help each other succeed. Liang, you have been studying physical training. I want you to teach Mo the basics. Mo, your cultivation is more advanced than Liang's. Pull him up with you. Understood?”

They both bowed. “Yes, Patriarch.”

---------------------------------------------------

Over the next couple of weeks, the boys’ physical conditioning steadily improved, but it didn’t show any signs of abnormal, cultivation-enhanced growth. It was nothing more than what should be expected from children who were now receiving steady meals and had started to exercise regularly. When they hit new milestones on my punching machine, I rewarded them with stamina pills that allowed them to work longer and harder without tiring, but this didn’t have much of an effect on their progress.

As for their cultivation bases, while Mo had been able to reach Martial Disciple 3, Liang still hadn’t made even the slightest of improvements. Even with Mo guiding and pushing him constantly, Liang still hadn’t been able to take even the first step on the path of cultivation.

I considered letting this situation continue indefinitely and seeing if Liang would ever be able to figure something out on his own, but that wouldn’t have been fair to either of the boys. I needed to step in and help, but I needed to do so in a way that would be viable as my fledgling clan grew.

One option was for me to personally train Liang and Mo. Then, when the next group of Disciples joined, the boys would train them, and then that group would train the group after them. This would be like how the Yellow Orchid Academy worked. The best students of one class would become the trainers for the next.

A system like this would no doubt be needed at some point, but it had a few flaws. For example, if some talented, blessed cultivator appeared, they might be able to easily learn everything their seniors had to teach them. After that, they would likely be ignored by their teachers like I had been at the Academy.

I wanted such students to be able to learn everything that I had to teach them without me needing to step in. After considering this problem from a few different angles, I arrived at a solution that I thought might work.

At the end of my time in the Nine Rivers Sect, Jin had given me eight dozen memory orbs. I had already used a few of them, but I still had nearly 90 blank orbs sitting in my storage space. While I could use them to carry someone’s memories back in time with me, there might be an even more valuable way to put them to use.

In the past, Meng LuYao had told me that she had absolutely no talent for either cultivation or refining. However, after absorbing the memories from LiTing’s memory orb, she had been able to cultivate to the level of Martial Emperor and gained the skills of an Artifact King. She still wasn’t able to learn any new skills, but she was able to use those that had been contained within the memory orb.

Could I train Liang to cultivate in a similar way? 

While I had never used a memory orb myself, the basic idea had been explained to me. By focusing my thoughts, I could limit exactly which memory got recorded. 

I took out a blank orb and focused on the Earth Heart Mantra. This was a Low-Yellow cultivation technique, and I had recently used it during my short stint in the Su Clan in my last life, so it was relatively fresh in my mind.

With my mind focused on this technique, I sent my qi to initiate the memory transfer. Energy flowed out of me and into the orb, and I kept my thoughts on nothing but the Earth Heart Mantra. 

I maintained this focus for a full minute, but I couldn’t sense any memories being copied by the orb. Since I wasn’t sure what the process was supposed to feel like, this wasn’t too surprising, but I still felt that something wasn’t right.

I cut my qi flow and watched as the final dregs of my energy were used to recrystallize the orb’s jade matrix and fix my memories into place. It looked like the orb had recorded something, but I had no idea what.

Knowing that I had to test it, I reached out with my qi once more to absorb the memories.

A stream of information traveled from the orb and entered my soul, forming a small ball of knowledge much like when I had purchased information on talisman artistry from the System. However, when I tapped into this new ball of knowledge, all I got was a jumbled mess of random emotions.

I used a soul technique to destroy this bundle of knowledge and tried absorbing the memories again, thinking that I might have done something wrong, but the result was the same. Then, after sitting down and thinking for a bit, I realized the problem.

Memory orbs couldn’t store information obtained from other memory orbs. While my memories of past lives weren’t exactly the same as memory orbs, they were more alike than they were different. I couldn’t store my knowledge of the Earth Heart Mantra in a memory orb because that knowledge was all from a past life.

Following that train of thought, what I needed to do was abolish my cultivation base and start over from scratch using whatever technique I wanted to record. After cultivating from Disciple 1 to Peak Disciple with the best foundation I could manage, I would then be able to create a memory orb containing everything a cultivator needed to know about the technique I was using.

This might be what I needed to do, but there was no way I was going to do that while I was living under the Su Clan’s roof. It would leave me far too vulnerable.

Instead, I took out the copy of the Earth Heart Mantra from my mental library and carefully read through it. While I couldn’t actually cultivate it, create qi filters in my body, or open acupoints, I could simulate such things. 

As I read, I practiced each step of cultivating the technique. Then, I repeated this process two more times, actively thinking about all the nuances such as filter positioning and vortex angles at every step.

The moment I completed my third read-through of the technique, I pulled out a memory orb and focused on recording my thoughts about the technique.

I felt a gentle tug on my mind as memories were pulled from my head and entered the orb. As soon as that tug ended, I cut the connection.

When I absorbed the memories from this orb, I received knowledge about how to cultivate the Earth Heart Mantra. However, it was… blurry. As Yan had once told me, memories from an orb lacked the sharpness of written words. Even having practiced the technique three times and recording my thoughts immediately afterward, some of the information was still lost in the process.

This orb should work. Liang and Mo should be able to use it to improve their cultivation skills, but that didn’t mean it was ideal. I wanted to try one more time to achieve the sharpness that my System-purchased memories of talisman artistry possessed.

I abolished the memories from my soul and then took out the technique manual once more.

However, this time, I took out a memory orb and connected to it before I started reading the manual. As I studied the technique and went through the motions of practicing it, I sent my thoughts directly to the orb as I had them. After reading through the manual only a single time, I cut my connection to the orb.

When I absorbed the memories this time, I found that they were incredibly sharp and clear. There were a few random distracting thoughts added into the mix, and I would need to work on eliminating them, but that could wait for the future.

Orb in hand, I went and found Liang and Mo.

Mo had no problem using his qi to absorb the memories, and since the Earth Heart Mantra was the technique he had already been using, he was grateful for the assistance.

Liang was a different story.

First, he had no qi to absorb the memories with. I had to push my own qi into his energy body like YuanFei had done during the blessing ceremony. Then, I had to manually control it, pull it out through an acupoint on Liang’s hand, and push it into the orb.

This took a bit of trial and error, but I was eventually able to get the orb to transmit the memories to Liang’s soul.

The second problem was that Liang had no desire to cultivate earth qi. He had become fixated on the idea of learning to control lightning and wanted me to make an orb with a lightning technique.

I was able to convince him to start with this earth technique and use it to learn basic cultivation, but I sensed that a seed of resentment had been planted.

To be fair, I could understand where he was coming from. I had dangled the idea of lightning cultivation in front of him, done nothing to teach him, blocked him from increasing his lightning affinity, and then forced him to learn earth cultivation. From his perspective, I could see how he might start thinking that I was toying with him. I could understand why he would be upset, but that didn’t mean I appreciated it.

Having the first member of my new clan resent me after less than two months was less than ideal, but it was fine. This was all a learning experience after all.