I had two options for which set of tests I could take on the Path of Mind, formation specialist or alchemist. As a member of the Earth Peak, I should have taken 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 disciple, that would be fine.


    While I believed my formation and alchemy skills were at about the same level, I didn’t have a solid way to quantify my level of expertise with Rank 5 formations. The ability that let me evaluate formations only worked on those Rank 3 or below. So, while I was confident in my abilities, without hard evidence of my skill level, I was still slightly concerned.


    With alchemy, while I didn’t have an evaluation skill from the System, I had gotten good enough at appraising pills without one that I had a decent understanding of how my pills compared with other Pill Kings. While I wasn’t completely happy with the efficacy levels of my Rank 5 pills, they were still far better than what others at my cultivation level were producing. So, if it were possible for a Martial King 1 to complete the Path of Mind as an alchemist, I was confident I would be able to do it.


    Additionally, while this path may have some differences from the one to Profound City, I still had a decent idea of what to expect in the test for alchemists. So yes, while I would probably be able to pass the formation specialist tests, I didn’t want to risk the unknown when I was so close to my ultimate goal.


    With these considerations in mind, I walked through the arch for alchemists.


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


    Instead of the musty cave from the previous version of the Path of Mind, this tunnel led out onto a clifftop high up on Dragon Peak that overlooked the surrounding landscape.


    When I exited the cave to this sight, all I could do was stare in wonder.


    While I had been living in Profound City for years, I had never really registered that I was high up on a mountain. Everyone there was trapped behind the city walls, so there were no grand vistas like this to look out on.


    Standing on this plateau, I looked out at the world around me. Far below, I saw the distinct outlines of both Mortal and Yellow City. They were tightly contained enclaves with no buildings outside their city walls. All the land around them had been claimed by the wilderness.


    This ignited a new drive inside of me. I had contained myself within the walls of various cities for centuries, but I had never spent any time exploring the world or looking into its mysteries. I had become little more than a homebody while this wonderful world awaited me.


    As I looked out on the surrounding landscape and these thoughts flashed through my mind, I struggled to pull myself back to the present.


    Not now, now wasn’t the time to run off on some crazy quest of exploration. I had responsibilities to my friends to take care of and debts to repay. I could think about exploration in the future.


    I worked to rein in my thoughts, but my feet had already started moving. I stepped up to the very edge of the cliff and looked down at the world below me.


    A sudden question popped into my mind and escaped my lips before I could stop it.


    “Can I use a will-lock to fly?”


    Well, not fly, but will-locks lock down space in a given area, right? What if I will-locked my feet in mid-air? Would I be able to hover above the ground? Could I use it as a way to walk on air?


    I wanted to pick up a foot and try stepping out off the cliff and into the void. What was the worst that could happen? Death? I probably wouldn’t die. I had never tried it before, but even from such a height, I might still be able to reinforce my body with enough qi to survive the fall.


    And even if I couldn’t, death wasn’t such a big deal. I would just come back. I wouldn’t have lost anything important.


    No.


    My mind rebelled at that thought. I couldn’t die until I had preserved my friends’ memories. What was I doing?


    My eyes narrowed, and I stepped back from the cliff with a growl.


    This ‘Path of Mind’ had hidden daggers that the previous one didn’t. I knew the sect played mental tricks in the Exam, so I should have been expecting this, but my previous experiences had made me far too complacent.


    While I didn’t like my mind being toyed with, it at least confirmed something I had speculated about previously. Soul strength was not sufficient to protect me from mental attacks. I didn’t yet fully understand what the ‘mind’ was, but I knew my thoughts could be affected by both changes to my soul and changes to my ‘energy body’ through the mental effects of cultivation techniques.


    As far as I could tell, my ‘mind’ was an amalgamation of the impulses of my soul and those of my body. Even though my soul was becoming extremely overpowered for my level, my body was still a weakness that could be targeted.


    I quickly flipped on energy vision and surveyed my surroundings once more.


    I couldn’t help but smirk. While the sights around me were impressive, everything I was seeing was an illusion, including the alchemy workbench perched precariously on the edge of the cliff.


    Knowing that none of what I was seeing was real, I felt a faint sense of regret, but I was able to return to the job at hand.


    Further examining my surroundings, I found the passage to the ‘holding area.’ It was an arch set back into the mountain and led to what looked like the same dense jungle as last time.


    Reaching into my storage bag, I took out a formation plate and placed it in front of this arch. This plate would not only stop anyone who might try to pass through, but it would also stop any noises or disturbances from reaching me. This was one of the formations I had prepared for everyone just in case it was needed.


    After it was in place, I turned to the alchemy workbench and got to work.


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


    The alchemy tests on this Path of Mind could be considered difficult, but they were no match against the preparations I had made.


    During the ninth test, I did meet one stumbling block where I was required to make a pill that I was unfamiliar with, but a quick check of Emperor Li’s book told me everything I needed to know, and I completed it without issue.


    Whether because no one else had any problems or because my formation stones simply weren’t working, I never got a signal that anyone needed assistance, so I rapidly completed each task set before me.


    After completing the required pill for the tenth test, I sat down and waited an entire day before submitting it. This was our group’s plan. We would all stay on the path for at least three days in case anyone needed assistance.


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    As I waited, I couldn’t completely resist the mental pull from the exam, and I spent a long time admiring the view the sect had created for me, but I no longer felt the urge to try and fly.


    By the end of the third day, no one had signaled a need for help in the holding area, so I turned in my final pill and walked through a stone arch that brought me before one of the sect’s elders.


    He gave me an impassive look. I got the feeling that he didn’t want to waste any time on me.


    “Disciple Su Fang, you have proven your skills as a King by completing missions for the sect, fighting in your Peak’s Trial, and teaching others about soul cultivation. However, you have failed to complete the necessary requirements for remaining a core disciple. As such, you will be demoted to a grade 3 inner sect disciple.”


    Before I could respond, the token at my waist flashed and was replaced with one marking me as a member of the inner sect. Then, the elder vanished and a new stone arch appeared in front of me.


    “He didn’t even tell me what ‘requirements’ I didn’t meet.”


    I grumbled to myself, but I didn’t mind overmuch. I might have been demoted for not taking the formation tests on the path, but I doubted it.


    My bet was that I was demoted because I didn’t become a city lord. That was supposedly a key feature of Lord-level core disciples, and I had skipped over it and stayed within the sect’s walls. I could investigate this more in the future, but the only real loss I suffered was not being allowed to enter the Earth Peak Trial as often.


    Shrugging indifferently, I walked through the arch and exited the Path of Mind.


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


    I found myself in a small clearing in the lee of a giant brown wall.


    LiTing was already waiting for me, but instead of addressing her directly, I looked around, trying to get a view of the surrounding landscape.


    Earth City was high up on the mountain, and the clouds were nearly close enough to touch. After my time in the illusions of the Path of Mind, I wanted to see what the land below us would look like from such a vantage point.


    I knew that this desire was an echo from the mental effects of the path, but that didn’t change my desires. I just wanted to get a look at what the world around me really looked like.


    To my dismay, all sightlines off the mountain were completely blocked by either the wall or the surrounding trees. I couldn’t help but feel that this was a deliberate move by the sect to make us feel trapped once more.


    Hanging my head, I turned to LiTing who had been patiently waiting to the side.


    “Sorry about that.”


    She let out a soft laugh. “It’s okay. Trust me, I understand.”


    After waiting there for another hour, one of our students exited the path and joined us. We then waited another full day, but our final companion never arrived. None of our formation stones had alerted us to any problems, but that didn’t mean much when illusions and teleportations were involved.


    We wanted to wait longer, but staying out in the open like this was too dangerous. I had become a skilled fighter, and with LiTing’s weapons, I could take on anyone we might face outside of the walls of Earth City, but doing so would still be a risk.


    Our final companion might be trapped or dead. In either case, there was little we could do to help him. If he survived the path, he would be able to make his way to the city and find us, but we couldn’t wait around for him any longer.


    I looked at the two with me.


    “Let’s go.”


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


    Following a small dirt trail out of the clearing, we circled around the towering brown wall until we came to the entrance to Earth City. There, we found two high-level Martial Emperors waiting for us.


    They both gave me a deep bow.


    “Su Fang, the master has requested your presence. The others will be escorted to their new dwellings.”


    He flashed me a jade as evidence that he was one of Ning ChenKun’s men, so I nodded in agreement.


    “Lead the way.”


    He turned silently and headed off into the city as I followed closely behind.


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


    We passed through the city quickly, so I didn’t have much time to look around, but I got the sense that the size of Earth City was far beyond the scale of Profound City.


    The atmosphere felt far more relaxed than the other cities I had been in. Martial Kings were just relaxing on the street talking with mortals about trivial things. There were few signs of the hard work and training that was a staple of other places in the sect.


    The building my guide led me to was far from the ornate monstrosity of the other Ning Clan buildings I had visited. This one was a sleek skyscraper with terraced balconies. Looking at it, an echo in my mind made me want to climb to its top floor to see what the view was like, but I restrained that impulse.


    I was brought into a large office where Ning ChenKun was already waiting for me.


    After he dismissed my guide, we sat down across from each other for a little chat.


    “Su Fang, how much do you know about the path to Heaven City?”


    I furrowed my brow. That wasn’t what I had expected this conversation to be about.


    “Nothing. I haven’t heard anything about what the paths further up the mountain involve. I’ve only guessed that it has to be something new since we’ve already walked a version of each of the original three.”


    Ning ChenKun leaned toward me as he explained.


    “The sect has more than three hundred cities and over thirty kingdoms. That means that it has an abundant supply of Lord-level karmic energy and a sufficient amount of King-level energy to allow its disciples rather free access to it. However, it only controls three empires. This makes Emperor-level energy far scarcer.”


    He pointed at my new identity jade that marked me as an inner sect disciple.


    “With that, you will not be allowed to purchase any. Only core disciples and their inner circles are allowed to advance to Emperor, and only a small fraction of that group is allowed to ascend to Heaven City to purchase more and advance further.”


    I drummed my fingers on an armrest while I considered. I didn’t plan to advance to Heaven City in this life, but learning about what it involved was important. I also needed access to Emperor-level energy so that I would be able to break through and learn to craft memory orbs.


    “Alright. You have my attention.”


    He grinned at me. “Only core disciples are allowed to ascend to Heaven City. They must walk the Path of Leadership. Each person must take five subordinates with them. These subordinates are then allowed to take two attendants each. So, a full group would be a total of sixteen people. I have recognized your skills over the years. I want you to be one of my subordinates.”


    My response was instantaneous. “What about my friends?”


    ChenKun nodded at me. “I will make the same offer to Yan. I have planned for him to join me from the very beginning. You have been quite the surprise, but your wide skillset makes you an ideal choice. At the moment, I would suggest the other three become yours and Yan’s attendants. Chai JiaQi and Shi YuLong are talented fighters, but they bring little else of value. I am still considering giving Lin LiTing a spot as a subordinate since a blessed refiner could prove valuable, but I cannot make that decision yet. As for my remaining two slots, they will go to others that you don’t yet know.”


    This was a problem. I only had about 24 years left in my 100-year plan, and I still wanted to live another life in the sect where I could advance together with my friends. I had wanted to rush up to Emperor and then use false breakthroughs to push myself to the peak of that realm while remaining in Earth City. That would give me the power needed to craft memory orbs in the shortest time possible. Then, I would gather everyone’s memories, and we could return to the start of our time in the sect without having to worry about the Zhuge Clan or any problems associated with Emperor Li’s spirit fire.


    By following Ning ChenKun, I would be stuck at Emperor 1 until Yan, YuLong, JiaQi, and possibly others could reach that level as well. It would mean a huge delay… could I afford to wait that long?


    I had allowed myself to revise my 100-year plan several times, but I would not allow myself to break it entirely. I needed to return to the Wastes. Still, I had already told myself that I wouldn’t return immediately after 100 years. I would allow myself to finish the life I was living without regrets. I just couldn’t start a new one. Intentionally starting a new life too close to the end of the timer was questionable, but it seemed to be the only path open to me.


    I needed the Emperor-level energy Ning ChenKun was offering me. More importantly, He had helped me several times now. Not only had he protected us from Lord Hao, but he was also providing us a safe haven within the sect from those who would seek me out for the Earth-Rank fire seed. I needed to repay him for this. I couldn’t allow myself to throw away the 100-year plan for him, but I could bend it even further for him.


    “How long do you think it will take? Yan has only now advanced to Profound City. He will be walking the Path of Soul to get here. That will take time.”


    ChenKun narrowed his eyes at my desire for haste but didn’t comment on it directly.


    “While his group’s qi cultivation has been delayed, they have not slacked on their soul cultivation. It will take them a few years to prepare, but it shouldn’t be overly long. They will certainly be here before we can possibly be ready to leave. From there, it will be up to them. I can’t say how long it will take Yan to advance to Emperor, but I don’t need him for his illusion or martial abilities. I need his mind. He won’t need to improve anything but his cultivation level after he gets here.”


    Closing my eyes, I thought about everything agreeing to this meant.


    It was a delay, and it would mean pushing the limits of my self-imposed deadline, but it was also the smartest path forward. I didn’t know anything about the requirements to forge a memory orb. Locking myself into a path that prevented me from making them would have been nothing but folly.


    I looked at ChenKun and nodded.


    “Alright. I’m in.”