Setting up shop in a remote corner of Mortal City had been nice and simple. The only downside was the severe lack of customers.


    I had rented a location in an area that was known for herbalists. While the location was to my benefit in procuring ingredients, few people who came to this area were in search of pills. Instead, most were alchemists looking to make their own pills.


    However, the lack of sales didn’t bother me. With the help of the high-quality herbs available, I was able to make Rank 3 pills with efficacies of around 125%. Once I figured out how one of the formations on my cauldron worked, letting me draw in environmental energy and infuse it into a pill before it solidified, I was able to increase that to over 130% standard efficacy.


    Once word of the quality of my pills was known, I was confident that many cultivators would seek me out. Until then, I wasn’t worried about the slow pace of things. Both Brother Mao and I needed time to improve.


    For Mao, that meant taking the generous stipend I was providing him and paying for lessons in several subjects. Servant disciples weren’t allowed to purchase karmic energy, so his goal was to improve his combat and formation abilities high enough that he would qualify as an outer sect disciple. As an ungraded servant disciple, he had a long way to go, but that was a problem that money could easily solve.


    For me, there were a few short-term goals I wanted to accomplish. First was quickly reaching Peak Grandmaster. While I was exploring and learning about the sect, I had to keep in mind that I was ultimately trying to rush for credits.


    My second goal was to gain additional formation skills and knowledge. While I wouldn’t mind having a tutor share their insights on the topic, my primary concern was finding books I could store in my mental library and keep with me. In the end, my main limitation as a formation specialist was a lack of knowledge of inscriptions. An instructor could help me understand how to use inscriptions more fluidly and effectively, but paying for instruction without having a solid grasp of inscriptions first would be a waste of time and money.


    The final short-term goal I set for myself was to find more ways to make contribution points. I didn’t want to have to set up a pill stall every life going forward just to earn karmic energy.


    With these goals in mind, I gave Brother Mao a storage bag bulging with various Rank 3 pills, left him to manage the shop, and headed back to the Earth Peak.


    <hr>


    My first stop was the Mission Hall. Unlike the Twin Mountains Sect where missions were posted on a simple bulletin board, the Nine Rivers Sect’s Mission Hall was far more advanced.


    When I entered the Hall, I noticed a dozen or so wall partitions running from the entryway up to the counter at the far end of the building. Each partition had an illusion formation that projected the various missions available to sect members of all different ranks and cultivation levels.


    Different partitions served different ranks, so I first had to move to an area near the left wall where the Grandmaster-level outer sect disciple missions were posted. Once I found the right spot, I studied all of the available missions closely.


    I was surprised to find that nearly all of them were battle missions. Each post had a city and the name of its Lord. The requests were to fight against an invading army or to invade another city. The only other missions available were menial tasks like the stone carving one Mao had mentioned earlier.


    I looked at the missions available to inner sect disciples and found that while battle missions were still available, they had more options related to constructing formations. Some of these were to create Qi Gathering Formations for disciples on other peaks, but most of them were for building formations in one random city or another.


    I had no interest in fighting anyone’s battles, and the menial tasks paid extremely poorly, so I left the Mission Hall with nothing but disappointment.


    The lack of missions I could accomplish via alchemy was troublesome, and my formation skills weren’t going to be high enough to complete any missions unless I improved dramatically. While I wanted to improve, I would have to rely on my store to generate contribution points for me for the foreseeable future.


    Instead of worrying about this, I moved on to the peak’s Scripture Hall. While Dragon Peak housed the cultivation techniques, Earth Peak housed most of the formation-related techniques and knowledge. Earth Peak also had a wider array of martial techniques available, but those could wait for later.


    An older deacon in the King realm was in charge of the Pavilion and was responsible for retrieving and copying purchased manuals. I winced when I saw this since it meant that I would have a hard time rummaging through their books, but it was still something worth looking into at a later date.


    I quickly scanned through a reference book that listed everything available to outer sect disciples. It was disappointing, but I found a few books on basic and intermediate Rank 3 formations. I had to trade in 3 spirit stones for enough contribution points to buy both of them, but I considered that a more than fair price.


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    Besides simple information books, there were also manuals for techniques to help when creating formations. I considered purchasing a few of them, but I didn’t know which would be worth the cost. I had learned that in alchemy, there were a few techniques that were nearly mandatory to be a decent alchemist, such as ones to improve pill efficacy, but there were many that were only useful to low-skilled practitioners.


    I needed a teacher to guide me in such purchasing decisions.


    With this in mind, I returned to the Mission Hall and submitted my own mission. I needed a formations teacher. After reviewing the costs associated with the different levels and ranks of teachers, I decided on requesting a Lord-level inner sect teacher. This wasn’t too much more than hiring a Grandmaster-level core disciple would have been, and I hoped they would be able to share additional knowledge.


    Two dozen spirit stones poorer, I left the peak and returned to my store.


    <hr>


    Considering that my position in the sect was at least partially determined by my aptitude as a formation specialist, I needed to improve quickly if I wanted to advance. My level of formation comprehension was already good for a Grandmaster, but since my skill with formations was the main thing holding me back, I wanted to push my comprehension even further.


    “System, increase my formation comprehension to a total of 500 million credits.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 450 million credits. 710,799,004 credits remaining.


    I spent the next several days studying the formation books I had purchased. The knowledge flowed into me like a steady stream and previously obtuse ideas were easy to understand. Where before I was simply copying down a set inscription, I was now beginning to understand its underlying meaning.


    During my tutoring session, I asked my teacher to focus on discussing important techniques I needed to learn, when to use them, and why to use them. After he covered everything he could think of on the topic, I then demonstrated creating a Rank 3 Qi Gathering Formation, and he offered ideas on how it could be improved.


    Lastly, since he was a Formation Lord, I asked him to teach me what he could about a Rank 4 Qi Gathering Formations since I wanted to construct one for myself in the future. He acceded to my request but added some important advice.


    “When you make such a formation for people in the future, always turn up the qi flow to slightly above what the materials can handle. This will cause the stone to slowly wear away over time. If you don’t, your formations will last for years, and you’ll lose all your customers. It’s better to advertise your formations as ‘more powerful’ and just say that the limited lifespan is an unfortunate side effect.”


    This was simple planned obsolescence at its finest. Never make something that will last when you can charge more for something that needs to be frequently replaced.


    Taking the tutor’s advice to heart, I went and traded a good portion of my remaining spirit stones for the techniques he had told me about.


    With all of the purchases I had been making recently, my number of spirit stones was quickly depleting. While I had only used up about 10% of my reserves, I didn’t want to rely so heavily on my stored wealth. I needed my shop to start making a solid profit so that I could rely on that instead.


    <hr>


    Two years passed quickly as I carefully cultivated the Steady Earth technique to the peak of the Grandmaster Realm.


    My main focus was on raising my cultivation level, but I spent the downtime after compressing my qi to study formations. With my boosted comprehension, I was confident I knew everything in the manuals for outer sect disciples. If I wanted to learn more, I would need to advance to either the inner sect or Martial Lord.


    I knew that combat skills were highly valued in the sect. Nothing made that clearer than the multitude of missions focused on fighting battles from random towns, so I needed to improve my combat ability, but I just didn’t have time. Raising my formation skills to an acceptable level took all the free time I had.


    I could only hope it was enough.


    Two weeks before the year’s Entrance Exam for outsiders, sect disciples were allowed to enter the Exam’s Trial to try and raise their position within the sect. This opportunity came at a steep cost in contribution points, but if one was successfully promoted, those points were refunded.


    My shop’s business had steadily increased over the years, and I was not short of points for Grandmaster-level purchases. So, knowing that being an inner sect disciple could open a few more doors, I decided to attempt the sect’s Exam once more.


    But before I did so, I needed to make an important purchase.


    “System, how much to prevent the Trial from affecting my mind or wiping my memories?”


    Protection from Trial Formation. Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.


    That wasn’t good. If I couldn’t even get a cost, that meant the mind-wiping formation was at a very high level. I was pretty sure that it was only affecting my short-term memory, which wasn’t too much of a problem, but I needed to try and take precautions.


    “System, when I leave the Trial, I want my mental state to revert to exactly how it was before I entered, removing any changes that occur while inside.”


    Mental Reversion. Cost 1 million credits.


    That wasn’t bad. It was unfortunate that I would have no idea what mental effects I would be under, if any, but the cost of that knowledge was beyond what I could afford.


    I could try one thing though…


    “System, how much to restore my memories from my first time in the Trial?”


    Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.


    I figured as much, but it was worth asking. Setting up a situation where the System would instantly restore my memories was likewise impossible.


    “Purchase the scheduled mental reversion so that when I leave the Trial, I am restored to my previous state.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 1 million credits. 709,799,004 credits remaining.


    With protections in place, I left Mortal City and headed to the Exam. With the prohibitive cost of entry, there was no need to wait for a slot, and I got to enter the Trial immediately.


    I stepped into the dark portal, and seemingly an instant later, I stepped out of it.


    The scribe at the counter gave me a bored look and spoke in a monotone voice.


    “Promotion to ungraded inner sect disciple confirmed. Congratulations. Hand me your jade.”


    I did so, and it was replaced with a new token made for an inner sect disciple.


    With a smile on my face, I returned to my shop.


    When I entered, I was greeted with a wide, flattering smile from Brother Mao. He was standing next to a somewhat obese man in richly embroidered robes.


    “Senior Brother Su, welcome back. May I introduce you to Senior Brother Pang? He is from the PangBo Merchant Association. He is here with an excellent offer for us.”