G. Tolley

Chapter 222 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

When I left five young cultivators, three of whom had poor foundations and one of whom had an absolutely terrible foundation, alone on top of a mountain for five days, I had expected there to be problems. This was intentional. It was part of their training.

While this wasn’t the ideal way to train new Disciples, I wasn’t looking to turn these kids into future Emperor-level powerhouses...

Chapter 221 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

I looked around at my group of disoriented, disheveled Disciples.

“First, look at the jade tokens in your hands. Those are your new identity badges. They mark you as members of my new clan. Attach them to your robe and make sure you wear them at all times. If you lose them or forget them somewhere, you will no longer be protected from the effects of the defensive formation around this m...

Chapter 220 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

During my time in the Verdant Fields Sect, I did a bit of research on the Wastes. As I had learned long ago, there were only three major powers in this part of the world: The Su Clan, The Twin Mountains Sect, and the Verdant Fields Sect. However, what came as a surprise was that the Wastes appeared to possess five special locations where children were born with higher affinities than normal for...

Chapter 219 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

With the three-month training period complete, my next task was traveling to the Su Clan’s main compound to pay for my recruits.

After dropping Liang, Mo, and the new Disciples off at my guest house, I went to the main gate and met up with Su Heng, YuanFei, and the Second Elder. Then, the four of us got into a fancy carriage and were swiftly carried down the mountain, into Dragon City, ...

Chapter 218 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

By the end of the second month, both boys had seen significant improvements in their ability to cultivate.

After absorbing the knowledge I had stored in the memory orb, Mo gained a deeper understanding of the correct way to use the Earth Heart Mantra, and he was able to fix dozens of minor errors in his use of it without my guidance. This didn’t affect his rate of advancement much, so h...

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 r...

Chapter 216 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

After Liang decided to join me, I didn’t hang around the new Disciple’s housing area anymore. I grabbed the boy, jumped to the top of the wall, and quickly made my way back to my guest house.

I led Liang past the ornately decorated sitting room and into an empty secondary bedroom. After taking a few pillows out of my storage bag and throwing them on the ground for us to sit on, I guid...

Chapter 215 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

Once the affinity testing process was complete, YuanFei and the Second Elder came up to the second floor and sat down to join the other Grandmasters.

Not wanting to be entirely left out of the discussion, I stood, moved my chair, and joined the group around the table. This caused YuanFei and the others to narrow their eyes at me, but I just gave them a smile. I looked back to Su Heng to s...

Chapter 214 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

As I sat on the stage next to Su Heng, the servants finished their preparations on the ground below us. They would occasionally shoot wary glances in our direction, but since we didn’t say anything and didn’t interfere with them, they just went about their normal work.

Once everything was clean and the dirt was all swept back into its proper place, the servants departed and left Su He...

Chapter 213 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

The Second Elder led me past the large gates of the training complex and into the maze of red walls and narrow streets that I was familiar with.

I was prepared to restart my work on creating a map of the place, but our journey ended before it even began. The Second Elder guided me to a courtyard immediately to the left of the compound’s entrance.

The building in this courtyard was...

Chapter 212 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

After leaving the Su Clan, I found the nicest hotel in the immediate area and booked a room. 

There were two distinct centers of influence within Dragon Gate City. The first was the area surrounding the Su Clan’s compound. The second was the area around the Blue Wind Pavilion. I considered booking a room within the Pavilion's area of influence, but that would have signaled that I t...

Chapter 211 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

The elder did not immediately react to my pronouncement. As he was a Grandmaster 5, I couldn’t bully him as easily as I had the guards, and we were standing on a large marble platform, not in the middle of a forest, so as a wood cultivator, my combat potential was somewhat limited. However, they had built this palace out of wood, and I could use that to my advantage.

I held out a hand a...

Chapter 210 – Life 73, Age 32, Martial Grandmaster Peak

Dressed as an important prince of a powerful nation, I strode confidently through the streets of Lushan City, the capital of the Proud Mountain Kingdom. Whenever anyone looked in my direction, they quickly averted their eyes and hurried away, not wanting to offend someone too far above their station.

The attention this drew was a bit of a problem. A proud prince such as I should not ...

Chapter 209 – Life 73, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

While living in the Verdant Fields Sect, time seemed to pass me by far quicker than usual. Each day, I spent the morning tending to my field of flowers and the afternoon teaching Bao and SuYin to cultivate using the methods I had learned in the Yellow Orchid Academy.

While I did have them practice fighting against each other using basic combat techniques, our primary focus was on helping ...

Chapter 208 – Life 73, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

The place where we appeared could barely be considered ‘secluded.’ While we did arrive in an alley between two buildings, those buildings were two cottages spaced rather far apart. If anyone were looking in our general direction, it would have been easy to see the three of us suddenly popped into existence.

I wanted to complain to the System, but after a quick look at our surroundings...

Chapter 207 – Life 73, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

When Bao and I suddenly appeared in a secluded alleyway, he couldn’t help but scream out in shock.

I quickly placed an arm on his shoulder to calm him down.

“Quiet. We don’t want to draw any attention.”

“But… But…”

I should have warned the man… I would have to remember that next time.

Grabbing Bao’s shoulder, I quickly led him away and into one ...

Chapter 206 – Life 73, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

Upon awakening in my small house, I sat in thought.

The elders’ actions had brought the situation in the Su Clan into clear focus for me. 

The Eighth Elder had told us that “the Su Clan accepts only the best of the best as its elite.” He had also said that the elite disciples had been “specially chosen based on the combined knowledge and experience of the clan’s estee...

Chapter 205 – Life 72, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

After our first training session ended, I carefully watched everyone as they returned to their houses. Upon returning to mine, I took out my journal and started making a map.

I could only match names to the faces of a few of the forty-odd young men and women, so making a full map of who everyone was and where everyone lived would take a bit of time, but it would be invaluable if I ever wa...

Chapter 204 – Life 72, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

The servant led me out of the residential complex and back to the ornate building I had just left. When I entered, I approached the orb to test my affinities.

As I approached, the elderly man folded his arms across his chest. As he did, I noticed a ring inset with a small shard of white stone. 

Was that white gem a truth stone? Was that how they were verifying people’s answer...

Chapter 203 – Life 72, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

Author's Note: I generally do not update the version of the story that is released to Patreon. If you want the best reading experience, check out the versions on Amazon and Royal Road. Below is the story as it was originally written.

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When I first arrived on the Nine Rivers Continent, my soul ...

Volume 3 Afterword, Volume 4 Spoiler

Hello, everyone.

First, let me say thank you all for supporting me up to this point. Feels like we have come a long way since the beginning of the year.

So you know, there will be a few important edits to volume 3 as it goes up on Royal Road. Nothing that changes the course of the story, but I am trying to take all the feedback into account and smooth out the transition to Life 70 a...

Chapter 202 – Life 71, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

I opened my eyes and looked around at my small house in the Su Clan. There was a lot to do here, and it would take a long time for me to get it all done. I didn’t know when I would be able to see my friends again. I only knew that I would.

I took a few moments to breathe deeply, in and out, calming my mind. 

Then, I thought through the entire encounter on the Summit from star...

Chapter 201 – Life 70, Age 39, Martial Emperor Peak

The path out of Heaven City was steep and treacherous. Rocks wanted to slip from beneath my feet, and there were rarely handholds that I could use to steady myself. As an earth qi cultivator, this shouldn’t have been a problem, but for whatever reason, my techniques had no effect on the stone of this mountain.

As I climbed, I felt… lonely. In this life, this was the first time I was a...

Chapter 200 – Life 70, Age 37, Martial Emperor 7

Going through everything in my storage space was a pain, and I wanted to just dump it all out and start my collection from scratch. However, while most of my hoard had been trashed, there were still important items that needed to be saved.

I grabbed two storage bags and used them to help sort through what needed to be kept and what needed to be replaced.

My collection of herb seeds ...

Chapter 199 – Life 70, Age 35, Martial Emperor 1

Upon visiting Heaven City’s temple and learning the price of karmic energy, I felt like I was in a bit of a bind. I was only giving myself four years to cultivate before heading to the Summit, but just like in my last life, karmic energy was going to be a major problem.

I just hadn’t spent enough time on Rank 6 formation and alchemy skills. I could make some money from s...

Chapter 198 – Life 70, Age 34, Martial King Peak

Five years after arriving in Earth City, I made my first visit to the Lightning Peak since ascending to Martial King. I was a Peak King, and I was wearing a silver Rank 6 refined robe embroidered with formations of lapis lazuli.

By showing off LiTing’s equipment, I was giving the game away a bit early, but I was worried the Master of the Lightning Peak might have rigged the Trial, so I ...

Chapter 197 – Life 70, Age 29, Martial King 1

Not long after everyone reached Martial King, I relinquished my position as steward of NanLu City, and we all return to Dragon Peak.

Over the past four years, Jin ZiHan and Cai XiaoYu had cultivated diligently and had reached Peak Grandmaster. They would need time to catch up with us, but they had a large number of contribution points from serving as my ministers, so they would be able to...

Chapter 196 – Life 70, Age 26, Martial Lord 1

The temporary defenses I had created for NanLu City were suboptimal, and it would have been a bad idea to rely on them long term, but they were more than enough to give Tie Yang and his crew the time they needed to complete our true fortifications. 

These interim protections consisted of three layers of weak Rank 4 defensive formations. For the low-level ruffians that were trying to ...

Chapter 195 – Life 70, Age 25, Martial Lord 1

Over the next couple of months, almost all my time was consumed with alchemy. 

JiaQi was hiring warriors, Jin ZiHan was hiring builders, Cai XiaoYu was hiring law enforcement personnel, and Meng LuYao was hiring people to deal with the city’s expanding bureaucracy. LiTing needed supplies to rebuild the city’s buildings, and Jin ZiHan needed supplies to rebuild the city’s walls....

Chapter 194 – Life 70, Age 25, Martial Lord 1

My demotion to the inner sect was a slight problem, but it was one that would be easy to solve. After a couple of months, I would be able to take the sect’s Exam, and a quick purchase of Rank 4 talisman knowledge would be enough to ensure my return to core disciple status. For the moment, I just needed to continue on as normal.

After reaching Profound City, JiaQi and I immediately turne...