G. Tolley

Chapter 193 – Life 70, Age 25, Martial Grandmaster Peak

In the end, Ning ChenKun decided against joining us, and I couldn’t blame him. We weren’t willing to tell him anything about what was really going on, and even if we did, I knew it would be hard to accept. However, before he left, he shared some valuable information.

According to ChenKun, the advice I had gotten about ascending as a Lord was on point. As long as all the karmic energy I used in the Lord realm was purchased using points earned through managing a city, I would be allow...

Chapter 192 – Life 70, Age 25, Martial Grandmaster Peak

There was a lot to fix in NanLu City, but before anything else, I had to work on its defenses. If I tried to improve my citizens’ quality of life first, hungry Lords from the surrounding lands would swoop down and destroy all my hard work.

My first impulse was to find a way to construct viable fortifications out of the area’s abundant sandstone deposits. However, after a week of experimentation, I had to accept that it just wasn’t going to work. No matter what I tried, I couldn’...

Chapter 191 – Life 70, Age 25, Martial Grandmaster Peak

As it turned out, I was being a bit rash. Lord Hao was not, in point of fact, Lord Hao. Grandmaster Hao had yet to reach such a lofty position.

This was unfortunate, but I wasn’t going to allow it to delay us. After conferring with Yan, I chose to purchase the title to NanLu City, located on the south bank of the YaLu River. The north side of the river was Lord Hao’s domain in the previous timeline and was owned by a separate kingdom, though it was still within the sam...

Chapter 190 – Life 70, Age 25, Martial Grandmaster Peak

Choosing the path we would walk on our way to Yellow City was more complicated than I had originally imagined. 

For LiTing, Yan, and Meng LuYao, the path that made the most sense was the Path of Soul. They had sufficient knowledge of high-level martial and profession skills, so the other two paths would be easy as long as their cultivation levels were sufficient. However, while they knew how to cultivate their souls, rapidly raising them to a level suitable for a King or Emperor wa...

Chapter 189 – Life 70, Age 24, Martial Grandmaster 4

Upon leaving the Metal Peak, I found JiaQi standing near the Gateway Plaza and waving at me. After a quick greeting, she led me to an apartment complex where everyone else had already settled in. 

Upon entering, I said nothing to my friends and immediately set to laying out a formation that would protect us from eavesdroppers. I also wanted to lay down a powerful defensive formation, but we were supposed to be safe in Mortal City, and going overboard on our defenses would only draw...

Chapter 188 – Life 70, Age 24, Martial Grandmaster 4

Author's Note: Change Kang LuYao to Meng LuYao. Sorry for the confusion.

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In the brief time I had before the sect’s Entrance Exam, I quickly raised my cultivation level as much as I reasonably could, reaching Martial Grandmaster 4. I wasn’t able to catch up with my friends, but I closed the gap.

Knowing the sect held potential dangers, we discussed waiting until Peak Grandmaster before entering, but we also needed access...

Chapter 187 – Life 70, Age 17, Martial Disciple 1

Author's Note: Change Kang LuYao to Meng LuYao. Former was too close to the name of a real person, and thought it would be best to create more separation as the character's role has expanded.

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System Alert: A novel cultivation technique has been created. Please name your technique.

I collapsed to the ground in joy. It had taken me over a year, and my friends had all advanced to Martial Master, but I...

Chapter 186 – Life 70, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

If I wanted my ambitious ideas for this life to come to fruition, I had a lot of work to do. Designing the cultivation technique I had in mind was far beyond anything I had done before, and it would require all the time and effort I could give it.

Still, one of my main reasons for returning to the sect was to spend more time with my friends. I had work to do to achieve my goals, but I couldn’t let that consume me entirely. 

So, after talking with the girls for a while, we a...

Chapter 185 – Life 70, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

After appearing in an alley in South Gate City, I headed directly for the area of town with the Blue Wind Pavilion. When I found an inn that looked nice but not too fancy, I went inside and booked a room.

Before anything else, I needed to get cleaned up and make myself presentable. After all, it wouldn’t do to enter the Pavilion in the ratty robes of a Su Clan orphan. 

Once inside my room, I sat down to decide on a proper wardrobe for this life.

I had a general idea o...

Chapter 184 – Life 69, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

I woke up in a carriage, and my first thoughts were of being savaged by a wild dog, but I quickly squashed them. I had work to do, and I needed to get it done.

My 100-year plan was basically at an end. I was using a technicality in the rules I had created for myself to allow me one last go, but once I started, that would be that. If I messed up and died, the run would be over. I would need to return to the Wastes and forget about finishing things in the sect for now.

I wouldn’t ...

Chapter 183 – Life 68, Age 64, Martial Emperor 1

I only had four years before I needed to die and reset.

After laying everything out to my friends and allies, I dedicated myself wholeheartedly to reaching Peak Emperor before this deadline, but it didn’t take long for me to understand the difficulty of raising my cultivation base so high in such a short timeframe while ascending properly. Simply gathering enough qi to advance was difficult. 

Earning enough contribution points to buy sufficient karmic energy with my limited...

Chapter 182 – Life 68, Age 64, Martial Emperor 1

After passing through the final opening, we were teleported somewhere new. While we were still standing in the middle of a cloud bank, our visibility had improved, and we could now see up to a dozen meters away.

In the middle of the clearing, Ning ChenKun stood rigidly with his hands clasped behind his back. To his left, Yan’s group smiled and waited for us to join them.

We walked over, but just as I was about to ask how things had gone for his group, Yan shook his head to silen...

Chapter 181 – Life 68, Age 59, Martial Emperor 1

Our meeting with ChenKun was brief and to the point.

He had five spots for subordinates. Two would go to others, one would go to Yan, and one would go to me. He offered the last spot to LiTing, but having thought about it over the past several years, she declined and allowed it to be given to someone else.

Yan would take JiaQi and Cai XiaoYu as his two attendants, and I would take LiTing and YuLong. We would stay in Earth City for five more years to prepare, and then we would head...

Chapter 180 – Life 68, Age 51, Martial King Peak

Even though I now had a better understanding of what I needed to do to make my dreams for my storage space a reality, I had to set that task aside for the moment. 

The scroll given to me by Emperor Shen included instructions for both carving a formation into one’s soul and removing such a formation. Upgrading a soul formation would necessitate cutting out chunks of my soul and waiting for it to heal. That was a long, painful process. As the Emperor had advised, it would be better...

Chapter 179 – Life 68, Age 51, Martial King Peak

A day after we arrived, Ning ChenKun’s deathsworn and two of the students who had been traveling with him joined us in Earth City. The other two who had left Profound City with us had fallen on the Path of Soul. Adding in the one we lost on the Path of Mind, half of our students had failed in their attempt to ascend the mountain.

According to the survivors, this Path of Soul was far deadlier than the two I had walked previously. The way they told it, this path wasn’t simply a matter...

Chapter 178 – Life 68, Age 46, Martial King 1

I had two options for which set of tests I could take, formation specialist or alchemist. As a member of the Earth Peak, I should take the formation specialist route as it had been made clear in my last life that walking a path other than the one connected to my peak would negatively impact my position within the sect.

However, I wasn’t overly concerned with my position any longer. I only desired to reach Earth City safely. If doing so meant losing my position as a core ...

Chapter 177 – Life 68, Age 46, Martial King 1

Before rejoining the School of the Great Teacher, my martial and formation skills were already reaching the limit of what I could accomplish with my current cultivation level, so beginning my star there, I shifted my focus more toward alchemy. When I did, my sizable boost in comprehension showed its effects, and I was able to rapidly absorb the information in Emperor Li’s books.

It wasn’t long before I reached the point where I felt all of my personal skills were being held back by ...

Chapter 176 – Life 68, Age 44, Martial King 1

What should I do to assist the School of the Great Teacher? That question had been running through my mind constantly over the past year. 

If they were only facing an internal crisis of confidence, I would have considered not intervening. Such crises can lead to a strengthening of resolve and are a potent way to nourish the souls of everyone involved. Interfering in such a development would have only harmed the students I wished to help.

However, this was not an internal cris...

Chapter 175 – Life 68, Age 43, Martial King 1

Out in the wilderness with students who knew nothing about soul cultivation, maintaining the appearance of the ‘Great Teacher’ hadn’t been too difficult. I had several libraries worth of books at my fingertips, and I could use them to address any questions or concerns my students raised. This allowed me to maintain a pretense of knowledge and understanding that I didn’t truly possess.

With everyone having come to Profound City, they now had access to nearly all of the same books...

Chapter 174 – Life 68, Age 39, Martial Lord 4

I was about to lose my largest backing in this world, and if Ning ChenKun had any ulterior motives, this would be the perfect time to put them into action. He had said he wanted me to join the Ning Clan, but how sincere had he been?

More importantly, by the way I was acting, he would be able to guess a few important pieces of information. He might not know about the Earth-Rank fire seed, but once he learned such a valuable item went missing, he wouldn’t have too much difficulty connec...

Chapter 173 – Life 68, Age 39, Martial Lord 4

As I was sitting alone in a cultivation cave working on breaking through to Martial Lord 5, I received a visitor who I had hoped to not meet again until I had more power to defend myself.

An old, emaciated man walked into my cave. He wore robes of a stunning light blue, and a small gold circlet around his head. His ill-fitting clothing hung limply about his decaying frame. 

The last time I had seen Emperor Li, presence had been imposing, and the mere sight of him commanded re...

Chapter 172 – Life 68, Age 38, Martial Lord 1

I stared at the message I had left for myself.

Torture. Were they torturing everyone during the Exam Trials? Was that the true reason we weren’t allowed to remember anything that happened inside? What was the point of it all?

I had to trust that if I had learned the reason for it during the Exam, then I would have at least written something about it. If I didn’t know why it was happening while inside the Trial, what chance did I have of understanding anything after fo...

Chapter 171 – Life 68, Age 38, Martial Lord 1

Stepping through the stone arch caused my surroundings to flash, but it appeared as if I hadn’t moved. The only changes of note were that the stone arch had vanished and there was now a large desk in the middle of the road with an elderly man sitting behind it. A quick check with energy vision confirmed that this was all an illusion, similar to when I was leaving the Path of Mind in my last life.

The old man’s voice was rough and gravely.

“Su Fang, you have dem...

Patreon iOS Pricing Changes

Hello everyone,

Not sure how many this might impact, but just want to put it out there to make sure everyone is aware and warned. Patreon is doing something with iOS pricing, so if you subscribe through the iOS app, you will be charged an extra 30%.

Not too sure on how this differs from the past, and most of you have probably gotten an e-mail about it, but I figure an extra post here doesn't hurt anything.

To see the full announcement about this you can go here:

2024-08-14 01:28:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 170 – Life 68, Age 36, Martial Lord 1

For several days after meeting those young men, my life with LiTing alone in the forest continued as normal as we cultivated our souls while discussing philosophy. Unfortunately, the peace and tranquility of our seclusion was broken when an alarm formation alerted me that a large group was approaching our location. 

I went outside to investigate and saw seven people, four men and three women, standing a couple of meters outside the palisade surrounding our cottages.

While rem...

Chapter 169 – Life 68, Age 36, Martial Grandmaster Peak

After entering the Path of Soul, I didn’t feel even a twinge from the soul pressure that I was supposed to be under. With the defenses provided by my soul cultivation technique, this level of pressure was entirely meaningless. 

LiTing, on the other hand, wasn’t doing quite so well. Even though she could withstand the pressure of this first section well enough, I knew her current level of soul cultivation wouldn’t be sufficient to complete the entire path.

I put that to ...

Chapter 168 – Life 68, Age 36, Martial Grandmaster Peak

The Path of Body that led to Yellow City looked very different from the one on the way to Earth City. Instead of being a dense jungle, this one was more like a rocky wasteland.

The entrance to the path was a stone arch that made my space affinity tingle, so I couldn’t be sure the path was truly located on the mountain. When we passed through the arch, our surroundings didn’t change, but I felt that we had been teleported.

I carefully surveyed the area for any possible threats....

Chapter 167 – Life 68, Age 36, Martial Grandmaster Peak

With 100 stages to complete, I needed to be extremely efficient. I had reason to believe I could complete 50 in one day, but I didn’t believe for a moment that the second 50 would be as easy as the first 50.

My quickest and most stamina-efficient way to take down the Trial’s constructs was by piercing them with a thread of my wood-based spirit fire. My most qi-efficient and least mentally taxing way of taking them down was bashing them apart with the ball end of my staff.

Beca...

Chapter 166 – Life 68, Age 34, Martial Grandmaster 7

I was Grandmaster 7 and LiTing was Grandmaster 4, but before leaving Mortal City, we both needed to reach Peak Grandmaster. 

We could have tried to rush through Yellow City as quickly as possible in an attempt to evade Lord Hao, but doing so would have been reckless. If we did that and found ourselves in a dangerous position, it would be hard to survive.

Instead, I wanted us to advance as quickly as we could while still retaining firm foundations. We were safe in Mortal City,...

Chapter 165 – Life 68, Age 34, Martial Grandmaster 7

After escaping through the forest and returning safely to Golden River City, our group quickly made its way back to the sect.

As we had killed our ambushers, we wouldn’t be getting any contribution points for the mission, but I still needed to report the details of what happened to the Hall. We could have tried to hide the deaths and just reported a clean completion of the mission, but we would have been punished if we got caught doing so. In any event, there was very little reason to...