The Undying Immortal System

Not long after the conclusion of the tournament for Arena Master, the start of the new year came and passed, and it was soon time for me to return to the Su Clan to pick up my next batch of Disciples.

As this was the first training session after I had poached the clan’s Grand Elder, I expected to face some form of retaliation. Even if TaiZu and the Patriarch weren’t on the best of terms, as the leader of the Su Clan, the Patriarch couldn’t be happy about me stealing away five of his Grandmasters.

So, I wasn’t at all surprised when I detected a contingent of several dozen Martial Masters hiding out in the forests surrounding the Su Clan’s training compound. The idea that anyone would send Masters into a wooded area to ambush a Grandmaster wood cultivator was a bit baffling, but I had never given anyone in the Su Clan much credit for their strategic foresight.

However, to my surprise, I was able to enter the training compound without any of these Masters moving to stop me or running off to inform their superiors of my arrival.

With Heng now living on Mount Jiang, no one from the Su Clan was present to greet me, but my normal guest house had already been prepared as normal, and it was waiting for me empty and in good order. No one had even attempted to so much as plant an eavesdropping formation inside.

Frankly, I was becoming somewhat disappointed in the Su Clan’s lacking thirst for revenge. It almost felt like no one even knew their Grand Elder had gone missing.

Aside from the absence of Heng, there was little difference between this year’s training session and what I had become accustomed to. There was a slight uptick in the number of Disciples this year, with over 100 children present during the blessing ceremony, but that was easily explained.

This was the sixteenth year since I had recruited my first batch of Disciples, and the Su Clan’s plan to encourage increased birth rates was beginning to materialize. This place would no doubt be packed with Disciples in a few years as this policy came into full effect.

Of course, that was assuming that the clan’s training regime continued as normal. At this point, it was hard to predict what might unfold over the next few years.

During the three-month training camp, YuanFei had seemed on edge the entire time, but he never spoke to me about what was bothering him, so I did my best to ignore it.

Finally, on the last day, just as I was preparing to head to the final competition between the elite and normal Disciples, YuanFei came to visit me. After giving a martial salute and a slight bow of his head, he got to business.

“Prince Fang, my father, the Patriarch, has requested your presence at a banquet. It is to be held tonight at the pavilion on Swan Goose Lake.”

I smiled faintly and nodded in acknowledgment. “I see. Did he explain the purpose of this banquet?”

YuanFei’s eye twitched almost imperceptibly. “He wishes it to be a secret, but I have learned that it is to welcome a delegation from the Red Sun Kingdom.”

I nodded in thought. Were they planning to lay a trap for me? Had those Martial Masters been waiting in the forest all this time just to make sure I didn’t disappear before this feast?

If so, then the Patriarch’s plan had been a complete failure.

I had barely spent any time in the training compound this year. After making my presence known, I had discreetly returned to Mount Jiang to keep an eye on Elder TaiZu to make sure that he didn’t find some way to take advantage of my absence.

Deciding on a course of action, I smiled at YuanFei. “Tell your father that I’ll be there.”

Later that day, after packing 76 new Disciples away in my storage space, I made my way to Swan Goose Lake. I did not, however, approach the lake too closely. There were too many unknowns in this situation for my liking.

This wasn’t because I was afraid of losing my life.

Even if the Patriarch had the assistance of a Sovereign-level clan, it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to threaten my life as long as I remained within the Wastes. I had enough tricks from my time in the Nine Rivers Sect that if someone attacked me, even if I couldn’t win, I wouldn’t have much of a problem escaping.

Instead, I refrained from entering this obvious trap because I saw little value in doing so and because escaping from it might have required me to show more of my trump cards than I was comfortable with.

Also, by not attending the banquet, I displayed a lack of courage. While I had done my best to not show any weaknesses in front of the Su Clan in the past, appearing weak now would lead to the exact results I was hoping for. After all, if I appeared unbeatable, how would I ever be able to convince anyone to send an attack against Mount Jiang, and if they didn’t attack, how were our traitors supposed to come to their aid?

At any rate, while I had no intention of joining in the night’s feast, I did want to watch and see what happened.

I doubted that the entire banquet had been prepared only for my benefit. As dense as he was sometimes, the Su Clan’s Patriarch had to know that it was unlikely I would participate.

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Swan Goose Lake was a large body of water to the east of Dragon Gate City. In the center of this lake, a team of earth cultivators had constructed a massive marble pavilion large enough to hold over a hundred people.

Dozens of dining tables had been set up around the pavilion in preparation for the night’s festivities, and even though I arrived over an hour before the banquet was set to begin, nearly all the chairs were already occupied by richly dressed nobles. The only seats that were still available were those that surrounded a small square table that sat on a raised platform at the center of the pavilion.

As I surveyed the place, I couldn’t help but notice that all the tables and chairs had been constructed from stone, and all the utensils were made of metal. Not a scrap of wood was anywhere in sight.

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but feel that whoever had set this banquet up had no desire for me to attend. If they had truly wished to entrap me, they wouldn’t have been so blatant about ensuring there was nothing I could use to defend myself.

The nobles in the pavilion, however, didn’t seem to notice anything amiss. They sat and talked happily with each other while they waited for their host to arrive.

At the appointed time, a carriage arrived, and four men stepped out. While I didn’t recognize two of these men, I was plenty familiar with the other two. Su TaiZong, Patriarch of the Su Clan, and his second son, Su YuanFeng.

Shortly thereafter, two more carriages arrived, and a small contingent of guards poured out of them. After quickly surveying their surroundings, the guards moved to form a protective wall around the four nobles.

Once everyone was assembled, the group walked down to the shoreline where they got onto a barge and were rowed out to the pavilion in the middle of the lake.

Upon stepping onto the pavilion, no one in this group spared any of the assembled nobles even the slightest glance. They simply strode forward and took their places on the central platform while their guards surrounded it to prevent any of the nobles from approaching.

Su TaiZong took the south-facing seat, the seat of the host, and YuanFeng took the north-facing seat. The two strangers took the east- and west-facing seats.

My eyes were drawn to the man facing east, as he sat in the position of the honored guest. From my distant position at the edge of the lake, it was hard to see anything clearly in normal vision, but with energy vision, I was able to see everything with crystal clarity.

This man was a Martial Grandmaster with an impeccable foundation. If he hadn’t been trained by the Yellow Orchid Academy, then he had to have been taught by one of its former students.

However, it wasn’t just his personal strength that was impressive. It was his wardrobe.

He was wearing a Rank 2 refined robe, and he had on three different pieces of jewelry that contained Rank 4 formations, two defensive and one offensive. Whoever this man was, someone had done everything possible to ensure his safety.

From so far away, the discussion between these four individuals was completely inaudible. I would have liked to extend a root to eavesdrop, but even if the pavilion hadn’t been a block of stone sitting in the middle of a lake, I doubted I would have been able to sneak a qi-controlled root near these strangers as easily as I had with the members of the Su Clan.

So, I could only watch.

When they first sat down, everyone in this group was wearing a serious expression on their faces, but as time passed and they started eating and drinking, the solemn atmosphere faded.

Eventually, the young man in the seat of honor called one of his guards over.

After saying a few words, this guard gave a deep bow and started walking around the platform with a rhythmic gait. With each step, he swung an arm out toward the crowd and let loose a burst of fire that swirled around the pavilion.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

After circling the entire platform once, he sped up.

By the end of the second circuit, he was dancing and waving his arms so fast that it would be difficult for a mortal to track his movements.

Near the end of the third circuit, just as he walked behind the Patriarch, he flung his arm out, but this time, it wasn’t toward the crowd.

A burst of flame shot from the guard and struck Su TaiZong in the back.

Before he could even register what had happened, Su TaiZong was engulfed in flames.

Only a moment later, he was dead.

Su TaiZong, Patriarch of the Su Clan had been murdered in plain view of all the gathered nobles.

As soon as his body turned to ash, Su YuanFeng stood up, walked around the table, swept the ash from the south-facing chair, and sat down. Then, he continued talking to his two guests as if nothing had happened.

Having sensed the trap, YuanFei had chosen not to attend the banquet. Instead, he had used his time to rally his supporters from within the Su Clan.

However, it didn’t take long before word spread that the unknown man who had accompanied YuanFeng to the Swan Goose Lake Banquet had been the Third Prince of the Rising Sun Empire. Once YuanFei’s allies learned of this, they began discreetly slipping away one after another. Everyone knew that YuanFei and anyone who supported him would have targets on their backs.

Ultimately, YuanFei could not stand against the might of the Rising Sun Empire. His only choices were to capitulate and swear allegiance to YuanFeng, leave the Wastes entirely, or find a strong backer who could protect him.

So, less than a week after the Swan Goose Lake Banquet, a group of a dozen Grandmasters, two dozen Masters, and nearly a hundred Disciples arrived in front of my Rosehill compound. As I had been keeping a close watch on everything happening around the Wastes during this time, I was there to step out and greet this group the moment it arrived.

Upon seeing me, YuanFei and two of his companions walked forward and gave me a deep bow.

“Prince Fang, I request asylum within your ranks. Please, help me protect those who have been loyal to me. In return, we shall serve you faithfully.”

I looked at him with an impassive expression and then studied the people he had brought with him. I waved to the two people by his side.

“Who are they?”

A smile crept onto YuanFei’s face as he pointed to the man on his left. “This is Su JianPei. He is one of the best warriors in the Su Clan.”

I wanted to laugh. The Su Clan had sent all their best warriors to the Rising Sun Empire. If JianPei remained in the Su Clan, it meant that he wasn’t skilled enough to join the empire.

Holding back my laughter, I turned to the man on YuanFei’s right. Something about him seemed oddly familiar.

YuanFei’s smile widened. “This is the most talented alchemy prodigy the Su Clan has produced in decades. He has spent years training under a Grandmaster Alchemist from the Twin Mountains Sect, and I am confident that he will be of great service to you.”

The man stepped forward and bowed deeply. “Greetings, Prince Fang. My name is Su RuDi.”

I nodded and smiled in satisfaction.

“Su YuanFei, if you pledge your loyalty to me, I can protect you. I can even give you a chance to become more powerful.”

A sense of relief began to well up within the man, but it quickly turned into apprehension with my next sentence.

“There is only one thing you need to do for me first.”

YuanFei bowed his head. “What do you need of me, Prince Fang?”

I pointed at Rudy.

“Send him away, and make sure YuanFeng knows of his plan to defect.”

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