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 forgetting everything that happened?


    Did it matter? I didn’t like the idea of having been tortured, but I had completely forgotten about it. It was like it had never happened. As long as I wasn’t revealing anything important about the nature of my blessing during the process, which again, I think I would have mentioned in my journal, did it matter?


    My body was only a shell that was destined to be discarded. I had a hard time caring too much about what happened to it. I was more curious about their reasoning behind these actions. Why would they torture me? If the process were the same for everyone, why were they torturing everyone who went through the Exam? I couldn’t make too much sense of the situation without more information, and the only way I knew to get that was to advance further in the sect.


    However, there was one potential hiccup that worried me. I didn’t know that I could do anything about it, and I would almost certainly have to continue down the same path no matter what, but it would be nice to know the dangers I was subjecting myself to.


    But how was I supposed to phrase my question?


    “System, beyond the normal effects that I should expect, has my soul been altered or marked in any way by the events inside the Exam? I know that the torture described in my journal would have an effect on me, but has my soul been specifically altered or marked in some way beyond what I should reasonably expect from being tortured?”


    Cost 1,000 credits.


    That was amazingly cheap. It must be the benefits of asking a question that would have no real impact on my future decisions.


    “Purchase.”


    Purchase confirmed. 6,632,814,588 credits remaining.


    No.


    Good. I could move forward with confidence. If they wanted to mutilate my shell and heal it afterward, I would let them, but I would work to figure out what they learned by doing so.


    --------------------------------


    After having spent several months in Profound City, it was finally time to meet back up with JiaQi, YuLong, and Yan.


    We could have sent messages through Lord Ning’s faction to arrange something at an earlier date, but we had already arranged these check-ins ahead of time, and there was no pressing reason to change them. Our groups were moving down two different paths, and while we did have some valuable information to exchange, nothing was time-sensitive.


    The morning before our meeting, LiTing knocked on my door. When I opened it, she seemed a bit annoyed.


    “What’s wrong?”


    She raised an eyebrow. “Have you forgotten something?”


    I froze as I tried to remember what she could be talking about. We had been training recently, and I had been doing my best to help her improve her martial skills to regain a position as an inner sect disciple, but I didn’t think there was anything important I was supposed to remember.


    Was there something else I had forgotten? Did she think I had forgotten about our meeting with the others?


    “I don’t think so? What’s going on?”


    She raised a hand and dramatically flourished it while gesturing at her body.


    “Notice anything wrong?”


    “What… No?”


    She ground her teeth and wrinkled her nose in annoyance.


    “Look, this disguise was fine for the wilderness, and I understand that it helped us deal with the cultivators on the path more easily, but now we are back in a city. Ning ChenKun is protecting us, so we’re safe. We don’t have to hide our identities anymore. And now, we are about to see our friends for the first time in nearly two years. Change. Me. Back.”


    “Oh…”


    I hadn’t thought about our appearances much over the last two years. Our new forms were serving us well. I could change us back to our original appearances, but what if we needed to meet with our students again in the future?


    “What if our students come to the city looking for us? I know we kind of abandoned them, but they will come to the city sooner or later. If I change us back, they won’t recognize us. Do you really want that?”


    Her upper lip twitched, but I could see that my words had a deeper impact on her than she wanted to show.


    “If it comes to that… Can you return me to this appearance? Maybe make it so that I can swap between the two myself? That way, I can be myself with our friends, but I can be the First Disciple with our students.”


    If she wanted to constantly switch between the two forms, and I had to pay for each transformation, the cost of these disguises would quickly balloon out of control.


    Thinking about this, I turned away from LiTing and began subvocalizing.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    “System, how much to give LiTing the ability to change between her current appearance and her original appearance anytime she wishes.”


    The cost of such an ability is not possible to calculate at this time.


    I assumed as much, but it was worth checking. What about the second-best option?


    “System, how much for a mask that would make LiTing look like her original self whenever it’s worn?”


    The cost of such an item is not possible to calculate at this time.


    At first, that didn’t seem fair, but then I realized a possible problem with my request.


    “How much if it were only guaranteed to work on people up to the level of a Grandmaster?”


    Cost 400,000 credits.


    That made me realize what I was asking for. A Grandmaster-level illusion mask.


    A mask that only worked on Grandmasters wasn’t good enough for LiTing. She would need one that would be good against Kings and Emperors, and that wouldn’t be cheap. With enough credits, I could buy such a thing, but why buy one when I could make one? I would need Yan’s help, but it should be possible to combine formations and illusions to create such a thing without the System’s help.


    Trying to make a mask now would have limited benefits, and even if we were successful, I doubted it would do us much good with our current skill levels. It would be better to wait until we were both Emperors. Then, we could look at making a variety of masks that would be able to fool nearly anyone on the continent.


    With a suitable mask being too expensive, I didn’t have any way to give LiTing control over her appearance, so I would need to purchase the change every time. If I promised to change her back and forth upon request, how often would she ask for me to do so? I couldn’t risk letting anyone know about the System and how I accrued credits, but if I didn’t tell her something, she wouldn’t understand the importance of the costs involved.


    I looked back at LiTing and considered my words carefully.


    “I can turn you back to your original appearance for now, and if you wish to be the First Disciple again, I can change you back to this form, but you need to understand, this isn’t something I’m able to do freely. The cost isn’t too great, but it’s one that is… difficult to recoup. I can make the change when you need me to, but please carefully consider if it is truly important.”


    She closed her eyes. “I understand. Please, change me back. I won’t make a habit of asking for this.”


    I placed a hand on her shoulder. I felt sorry that I had placed her in this position.


    “Go back to your room. Once you’re inside, I’ll make it happen.”


    She nodded at me and left.


    “System, change LiTing back to her normal appearance.”


    Purchase confirmed. Cost 150,000 credits. 6,632,664,588 credits remaining.


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


    When we arrived at the meeting point, the other three were already there waiting for us.


    The moment JiaQi saw LiTing, she ran over and gave her a big hug.


    YuLong also seemed happy to see us, but Yan looked apprehensive.


    “LiTing.” He spoke slowly to get her attention. “Who is this?”


    LiTing gave me an amused frown, snorted at me, and then turned to Yan.


    “That’s Fang. He was willing to return me to my original appearance, but he didn’t do the same for himself. Just ignore him.”


    Yan looked at me cautiously.


    “That’s no illusion.”


    “No, it’s not. It’s a physical change. It’s much safer this way. No one is able to detect that this isn’t my true appearance.”


    I could tell he didn’t fully trust me, but with LiTing’s assurances, he was willing to move forward with our meeting.


    After recapping everything that happened to everyone over recent years, I pulled Yan off to the side for a private discussion.


    “Have you had any luck finding any information on the orbs or anything else that would work?”


    He was worried about talking to someone who looked like a stranger. I could tell he instinctively wanted to lie, but since I was the one who brought it up first, he was willing to talk.


    “No. There are other ways to… record information, and I’ve looked into using them to assist us, but none are as… useful as the orbs.”


    He may have been talking around the main point because he didn’t fully trust me in my current form, but that was for the best anyway. If someone were listening in, we didn’t need to be too overt about what we were trying to accomplish.


    “Alright. Once LiTing and I reach Emperor, we can look into the orbs further. You all just need to remain safe until then.”


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


    After our meeting, LiTing and I returned to Profound City and settled in to train. Our goals were ambitious, but with the backing of Lord Ning, we had the resources necessary to make them a reality.


    Reach Martial King. Advance our profession skills as far as possible into Rank 5. Improve our combat abilities until we were a match against low-level Martial Kings. Advance our affinities to mid four-star. After we advanced to King, we would be able to raise our affinities all the way to peak four-star, but that could wait until after we arrived in Earth City.


    We weren’t in too much of a rush, and once I reached Martial King, I would need to learn a lot about both Rank 5 alchemy and formations, so I could allow LiTing to learn and cultivate at her own pace. I didn’t need to rush her to keep up with me.


    As for my cultivation base, while I could have looked into purchasing a large amount of karmic energy directly and rushed to Martial King, I wanted to take things a little slower. Among other things, I wanted to take the time to develop a good sense for Lord-level combat at each stage of cultivation.


    As a core disciple, I could enter the Trial more frequently, but I decided against doing so since the high contribution point cost of entering could only be paid with points earned from completing missions. Visiting the Trial more than twice a year would have meant I was spending too much time gathering points and too little time training.


    I established a six-month regimen. Every six months, I would advance my cultivation base by one stage, attempt the Earth Peak Trial to gather essence, and spend the rest of my time working on my combat and formation skills.


    To help me in these pursuits, I went on a shopping trip to find a new wood-based spirit fire. While I was able to purchase a nice Profound-Ranked one, no Earth-Rank flames were available within the sect.


    Since a higher-end four-star affinity would likely be the minimum needed to control one, this wasn’t too much of a loss, but I still wished I could have gotten my hands on one. As they would no doubt be energy hogs, I wasn’t too broken up about not having access to them, but it still would have been nice to have the option.


    While looking at spirit fires, I also considered buying another fire seed. The ones available in Profound City were only Yellow-Rank, so they weren’t too useful to me anymore, but it was better to have them than not. However, the rule of only being allowed to purchase a single seed stopped me. I wanted to save that opportunity for a more powerful one higher up the mountain.


    After a year and a half, I had advanced to Lord 4. My affinity had not yet broken through to low four-star, but it was getting close. One more trip into the Trial should be all that it would take. I considered asking the System about how much it would cost to upgrade the affinity directly as a way of trying to judge my progress, but I refrained from doing so, better to let it be a surprise.


    With everything taken care of, I settled into my cultivation cave and began working to raise my level once more.


    Time was ticking away, but I didn’t feel the need to rush. I still had another 30 years left in my hundred-year plan, and as long as I reset in 20, I would have plenty of time to feel comfortable living a final life in the sect. I could take as long as needed to achieve the best results possible from this life. Running up the levels and grabbing credits would be nice, but slowly taking my time to learn everything I was supposed to learn was more fulfilling.


    And, with LiTing as my constant companion in recent years, the process wasn’t nearly as lonesome as it had been in the past. It wasn’t like we spent much time together. We were both busy doing our own things, but it was nice to have someone who I could talk to and who understood a little of what I was going through.


    For me, time had lost a bit of its importance, but others weren’t so fortunate.