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Who had killed me?

Not the assassin. The person holding the knife made no difference to me. Who was the one giving him orders? I tried to think through who I had offended and who had the means to order my death.

More importantly, what could I do to prevent it from happening again?

The assassin’s words about my ‘next life’ immediately made me think that somehow the Earthly Dao arranged things behind the scenes, but I discounted it. If it had a problem with what I was doing, it could damn well tell me to my face as it had done in the past. If it was the Dao, it would do whatever it wanted anyway, and trying to avoid its punishments was futile, so it wasn’t worth considering.

The assassin had some type of illusion or stealth technique. It reminded me of the man from the Dragon Gate Festival, but with that man, I could see him in qi vision. I couldn’t rule out him improving in his technique, but it could have also been another person with a similar skill set.

I hadn’t been attacked inside the Wastes which made sense. I was already a Peak Grandmaster, and even if an assassin could easily overpower me, if his cultivation was the same level as mine it would be possible for me to escape. The killer was almost certainly a Lord, so he was someone who couldn’t enter the Wastes.

Someone had tracked me, knew when I entered Rising Sun, and used that opportunity to kill me.

My first suspect was the young master from Rising Sun. He was the one who recruited the illusionist at the festival. He didn’t have much of a reason to kill me, but people like him didn’t need it. I was with SuYin when he was ‘opposed,’ and if he couldn’t target SuYin or the Verdant Forests Sect, his ire might have shifted to me. It was even possible that SuYin had done more to antagonize him after we parted and made things worse.

He also had easy access to means to arrange my death. If he had a high place in Rising Sun, he could easily give minions at the border a list of people to watch out for, and when I was spotted, it automatically triggered my death warrant. He could have done it years in the past and not even known or cared about my death when it happened.

I still wanted to send SuYin to learn herbalism for me, but we could take a different path. If we don’t go to the festival, we won’t encounter the young master.

Another person with easy means but a suspect motive would be the branch manager for Rising Sun’s Blue Wind Pavilion. As an imperial-level branch manager, he would be a Martial King, and it wouldn’t be strange for him to have several Lord level underlings he could send to assassinate me.

He would have known I was in the capital city since WuJing went to retrieve the cultivation manual for me, but would he want to kill me? I was leaving his territory, and WuJing’s behavior made me feel like I was slipping away in the night, trying to hide my departure, but it felt like it would be too petty for a King to care so much about a Rank 3 alchemist. I didn’t know anything about the man’s personality, though, so I couldn’t completely rule it out.

Here, I could be less ostentatious. I didn’t need to appear on the higher-ups’ radar until later in life. I needed to find a place where I could study and learn Rank 4 alchemy, and it would be hard to stay out of the limelight after I reached that point, but staying lowkey until I reached a place I wanted to stay long-term would mean less people intent on stopping my movements.

The final possible masterminds behind my assassination were Gao, Master Zhong, and Deputy Manager Liu. Unfortunately, at this point, I had already started a feud with Gao and Zhong, and they had been kicked out of the Pavilion. They only seemed to be connected to Grandmaster-level figures, though, so I didn’t worry too much about them, but if I started fresh, I would need to find a way around starting a feud for no good reason.

Manager Liu wasn’t too powerful, but it seemed like he had the backing of someone higher up in the Pavilion, and that was the person I needed to avoid offending. Since I had driven away Zhong, I was already on bad terms with Liu, but we hadn’t broken off all pretenses of cordiality yet. It wasn’t until I made Rank 3 pills that we truly became irreconcilable last time. That was when I was brought into the fold of Manager Cai’s faction and became a powerful tool against his.

I would avoid making Rank 3 pills until I was a Grandmaster this life, and I would be more conspicuous when I did so, announcing what I was doing and that it was to study how to make Rank 3 pills. This could avoid the situation where I ended up slapping his face. Depending on circumstances, it may even be better to not make such pills until after leaving the Wastes.

So, my plan was set. Send SuYin to learn herbalism through other means and don’t sell any Perfect Rank 3 pills until after reaching Grandmaster. Doing these two things should avoid that assassin being sent against me, but it wasn’t a guarantee. Gao and Zhong were still a hidden danger, and I couldn’t be sure the assassin wasn’t directly connected to them, so my final decision was to level as fast as I could. That way, even if I died early, this life wasn’t a complete write-off.

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I also needed to look into what protections I could buy through the Pavilion. If my enemies could keep sending high-level opponents against me, I would be dead no matter what, but if I could buy enough protection to advance a single step further in my cultivation, it would be well worth the investment.

With a plan in mind, I set aside my concerns about assassinations for the time being.

I had a million credits to spend, and I needed to use them all at once to maximize my benefits from the discount I had received. What was the best way to approach this?

“System, how much to make all my current affinities permanent?”

Cost 1,892,500 credits. Discounted cost 946,250 credits.

“That should be the basic cost of the affinities. Don’t I get a discount since I already have them as temporary affinities?”

No discount is available.

Nothing I could do to change the situation, so I moved on.

I felt like I had been bitten too many times by not having a large enough storage space. I wanted to fix that with the spatial spirit flame, but that may be too many lives in the future. If I had a large enough space, I could have stored Rank 3 techniques in the sect, or I could have stored the Rank 4 technique I had just received. It didn’t need to be massive, but I wanted to at least be able to fit a few extra high-level manuals in it.

Technique manuals could be written on bamboo slips, on paper scrolls, or in books, so I would need a space capable of storing any of these possibilities.

“System, how much to add a section to my storage space that’s 50cm by 15cm by 10cm?”

Cost 225,000 credits. Discounted cost 112,500 credits.

That wasn’t a good idea for now, but it was something I needed to get next time for sure.

My biggest problem was that the discount was like a millstone around my neck. I needed to spend it on my affinities, so purchasing permanent affinities had to be my next purchase, but my affinities were already set, so there was no reason to make that purchase until my next life.

Since there was nothing I could purchase to assist me in this life, I decided to put my purchasing decisions on hold. It would be better to have a clearer picture of what I needed and wanted in my next life before committing to purchases unnecessarily.

Remembering where I was and why I was here, I cleared my mind and started cultivating. I had entered seclusion to break through to Martial Master. I had gained a lot of confidence in my Rank 2 cultivation technique, so I was ready to rush it as hard as I could. I had no reservations about mental deviations. If they happened, they happened, and then I would have a good excuse to start my life anew.

Last time, I spent a total of three months researching my cultivation technique and breaking through to Martial Master 1. This time, after those same three months, I left my cultivation chamber as a Martial Master 3. I wanted to go further, but I had run out of Meridian Builder Pills in my storage space, and I had to keep to my deadline with Mei.

Opening the door of my apartment, I saw her standing right outside. When she saw me, she briefly gave me a confused look, but quickly regained her composure and calmly walked inside to my cultivation chamber. She wasn’t the excited girl from my last life.

Working in tandem, I quickly raised her cultivation to Martial Master 1. We both knew what to do, and everything went smoothly.

Unlike last time, I did not suddenly go out and buy Rank 3 ingredients. Instead, I focused on making enough pills to support SuYin, Mei, and myself for a quick rise through the Martial Master realm. Their Rank 2 techniques were Yellow ranked, so it was easy for me to quickly help them construct their meridians. I continued to use the Peak-Profound technique I created in my last life, so my meridians took significantly more time.

Altogether, the three of us reached Martial Master Peak before two years had passed. We hadn’t allowed any time for our qi or cultivation to settle. We knew where the meridians were supposed to go and placed them accurately, regardless of the turbulence it caused.

During these years, I was careful not to do anything to cause public criticism of my actions. WuJing gave me suggestions on what I should or shouldn’t do, but frankly, I didn’t put too much faith in him anymore. I followed WuJing’s, and by extension Manager Cai’s, guidance last time. While I didn’t believe they meant for me to die, my death proved that their guidance was lacking. Instead, more than anyone else, I trusted Mei to guide me through the deep water of politics in the Pavilion.

I was leery of putting so much faith in a single person, especially since I wasn’t even trusting Mei, I was trusting her blessing that didn’t necessarily have my best interests in mind. However, ever since my rebirth, I had felt disconnected from this life. I was sent back to a time and place where too many things had already been decided and I only had limited options for how to proceed. It was like I was playing a video game, I made a save point, and then years later I started it up again and tried to pick up from where I left off.

My mind rejected the idea of picking up from the reset point I had made. It was a failed timeline, and the only reason not to simply start fresh was to save on the cost of my temporary boosts. Because of these feelings, I put my future into the hands of Mei’s blessing and let it decide how to handle things. In essence, this was a test to see how much it would work on my behalf.

Mei, SuYin, and I gathered in my apartment to make a crucial decision.

“SuYin,” I said, “you need to decide what you want to do. I can’t teach you herbalism, so if you want to learn you need to go to one of the sects. The Verdant Forests is the best option, but it will be harder. You’ll need to travel outside the Wastes alone, and even if I help you advance to Grandmaster, it isn’t certain you’ll be accepted. The Verdant Fields is in the Wastes, and we can have a bodyguard escort you. You are guaranteed entry, but it’s hard to say if you’ll be promoted to the Verdant Forests in the future.”

SuYin looked at the floor, fidgeting with her hands. “What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t know.” I looked at her, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “Both options have potential. The main difference is that if you go to Verdant Fields, you shouldn’t advance to Grandmaster until after you are a disciple for a time. It will be better to acclimate as a Master. You are too young to be a Grandmaster there.”

SuYin didn’t respond. I was putting her under pressure to decide, but I didn’t care. Mei and I had other goals to accomplish, and we couldn’t coddle her. She probably wanted to stay with us, but that couldn’t happen.

“Mei,” I said, looking to the other girl.

Mei stood up and took SuYin’s hand. They walked into my bedroom and talked privately for a long time before emerging.

“She’ll go to Verdant Fields,” said Mei.

Decision made, we arranged travel plans and guards to safely take SuYin to the sect during the regular annual recruitment. Then, Mei and I prepared for our own journey.

“Are you sure we should leave on our own without waiting for WuJing’s promotion?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she stated confidently.