The Undying Immortal System

Without actively cultivating it myself, understanding ShouLi's technique well enough to modify it was rather tricky. However, since I was nowhere near ready to give up on this life, I didn't want to cultivate a technique with severe potential side effects. I needed to find some way to improve it with only my notes and observations of others to guide me.

This was a nearly impossible task. The only thing that even made it somewhat feasible was that I could use my analysis ability to check the effects of each change I made as I made them.

Re-examining the technique, I made note of a few specifics.

Low-Yellow Rank 1 Body Cultivation Technique (Broken), Wu (Any Element)

'Broken.' Why was the technique broken? This was likely because it lacked any form of wu filter, and without such a filter, it could only be cultivated in a specially prepared environment.

If I could only change one thing about this technique, it would be adding in the proper filters. However, I had good reason to believe that there was currently no viable way to make such a change. In the past, when I had tried to purchase wu filters from the System, I was told the price was '1 shard.' This suggested that no such filters existed anywhere in this entire world.

A more promising direction of research was searching for a way to improve the technique beyond Low-Yellow. However, based on what I knew about rankings for qi cultivation techniques, I doubted that there would be much I could do to shift this categorization without including proper filters.

Finally, there was the information about what type of energy this technique used.

Wu (Any Element)

At first, this appeared to be nothing more than basic, obvious information. Most of the people in my clan had used this technique to cultivate earth wu since that was the only type of energy that they had been able to gather within my inner world. However, Liang had used it to cultivate lightning wu while in the sect, and younger cultivators, like TongBin, the ones who weren't trapped within my inner world, had used it to cultivate whatever elements they chose.

What was interesting, though, was that, from what my analysis ability was telling me, any element could be used with this technique without changing its mental effects.

I had come to believe that the mental effects of a technique were the result of a person's body attuning itself to specific Laws. If that were true, what did it tell me?

This technique didn't attune a person's body to elemental Laws. It attuned the body to Laws of Wu. In a way, this was similar to the Rank 4 and 5 techniques that I had been studying. Those were focused on Laws of Karma.

This idea seemed like it might lead me to a goldmine, since if this technique could be attuned to Laws of Wu, then others should be able to connect to Laws of Qi. Unfortunately, though, without more examples to draw from, I wouldn't even know what Laws those were or what they could do.

I could only note this bit of information down for future research and refocus on the task at hand.

While playing around with potential Laws of Wu might be nice, that wasn't my immediate goal. Instead, I wanted to replace the Laws in the technique with Laws of Metal. Specifically, I wanted to replace them with the Laws that I had used in my qi cultivation technique. While this might make the mental effects of both techniques more powerful, it felt like the right thing to do.

For my qi technique, the Laws that I had focused on were related to swiftness, sharpness, and integrity, forming the Writ of Quicksilver.

Writ of Quicksilver, Peak-Earth Rank 1 Cultivation Technique, Metal Qi, Effects: Increases one's integrity. Makes one more likely to react without thinking.

However, while being able to react without thinking was ideal in certain situations, it wasn't an effect that I would want to be subjected to continuously. Instead, I wanted to use the swiftness Laws to help me move faster. The inevitable mental effects could come from other Laws.

How exactly could I translate the Laws from the Writ of Quicksilver into a body cultivation technique, though? With ShouLi's technique, which flows of energy were related to Laws and which were just a natural result of cultivating one's body? Did that question even make logical sense?

Without more techniques to work from, this task seemed impossible.

So, I turned to the System for assistance.

"System, how much would it cost to modify the effects of ShouLi's body cultivation technique so that it only increases a person's integrity?"

Calculating… Cost 1 shard.

My cheek twitched at that answer, but it wasn't entirely unexpected.

"How much to change the primary mental effect to one that increases a person's integrity?"

Calculating… Cost 1,000,000 credits.

"Purchase."

Purchase confirmed. 149,566,548,524 credits remaining.

I focused on the new technique that appeared in my mental library and examined it.

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Drill of Probity, Low-Yellow Rank 1 Body Cultivation Technique (Broken), Metal Wu, Effects: Increases one's integrity. Makes one more obsessed with growing stronger.

This technique was still far from ideal, but it gave me a starting point.

Over the next year, I studied the Drill of Probity in extensive detail.

By comparing it to both ShouLi's Skin Refining technique and a variety of random Low-Yellow qi techniques that focused on integrity-based Laws, I was able to nail down the exact energy pathways that were causing these Laws to be manifested.

Once I had that, I took out several Low-Yellow qi techniques based around swiftness Laws and attempted to construct a brand-new technique based on them. This took a bit of trial and error, but, eventually, I was able to make it work.

Drill of Impulsivity, Low-Yellow Rank 1 Body Cultivation Technique (Broken), Metal Wu, Effects: Makes one more likely to react without thinking. Makes one more obsessed with growing stronger.

After that, constructing another technique around sharpness Laws wasn't too difficult.

This gave me three new Low-Yellow Rank 1 body cultivation techniques, but none of them were what I was looking for. The Drill of Probity wasn't terrible, and I could use it if necessary, but I was hoping to construct something better.

Turning my attention to Low-Profound qi techniques, I began trying to incorporate their Laws into my body cultivation techniques.

After another three years of hard work, I had little to show for my efforts. None of the 'techniques' I made would even register with my analysis ability, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I had to be making some kind of basic error, but what?

The only way that I could get to the bottom of this was by testing it. I wanted to test it on myself—I hated the idea of having someone else ruin their future just to protect me—but I knew that was a bad idea. I was aiming to reach Martial Sovereign in this life, and experimenting with failed techniques was a good way to cut my future short.

So, I had ShouLi post a mission targeted at a very select group of cultivators. If any of them were willing to help me with my experiments, they would be amply rewarded.

Almost immediately, two old men appeared in my study. I gave them a martial salute and bowed my head to them. "Grand Elder TaiZu, Ancestor HongYi, greetings."

HongYi clasped his hands together and bowed his head as if asking for forgiveness. "No, no, Ancestor Fang. Please, do not call me that. I am merely one of the clan's inner disciples. If not for your and Elder ShouLi's magnanimity in granting me karmic energy, I would be dead by now."

Abashed, TaiZu gave me a deep bow. "Ancestor Fang, I am but a lowly outer disciple. Thank you for providing me with karmic energy."

The immense shift in the behavior of these two took me by surprise. Gratitude was one thing, but this seemed a bit much. What had they experienced over the past few decades?

I waved away their thanks and took out a technique scroll for each of them. "This is why I brought you here. These are supposed to be Low-Profound Rank 1 body cultivation techniques. They are failures, but I don't know why. I need someone to cultivate them so that I can study them in more detail."

I looked both men dead in the eye. "I do not know what cultivating these techniques will do to you. It may cause you immense pain, it may cripple you, or… it may kill you. Are you certain that you are willing to test them for me?"

HongYi took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, Ancestor Fang. Without your assistance, I would be dead by now. I only hope…"

Knowing his meaning, I took out two memory orbs and placed one in front of each man. "Do not worry. As long as you assist me, I will treat you fairly."

Both men bowed excitedly, picked up their orbs, and injected their memories into them.

It took the old men several days to understand even the basics of the techniques that I had given them, and once they started trying to cultivate them, they ran into countless problems.

I switched them to the Low-Yellow technique that I had purchased from the System, but the result was the same. Their bodies just did not want to absorb any wu.

With this being the case, my plan for using these old guys as training dummies might have been doomed to failure, but I wasn't willing to give up quite yet. I was asking them to cultivate metal techniques, and neither of them had any affinity for metal. I could try sending them to a Metal Essence Gathering Formation for a bit to check if a decent affinity would help, but I didn't. I had an even better idea.

They didn't have an affinity for metal. So, with my extremely high affinity, shouldn't I be able to control metal wu even after it entered their bodies?

"Actually…" I began to get excited as I looked at my two test subjects. "Elder HongYi, please, return to the formation."

HongYi's head drooped, but he did as I requested. After spending over a week in the formation with nothing to show for it, he had begun to look depressed, but I didn't let that dampen my enthusiasm.

Once he was seated in the lotus position, I sat down next to him.

"I am going to guide the wu through your body. This will be just like how I helped you break through to Martial Lord. Relax your mind, and don't resist."

He ducked his head. "Yes, Ancestor."

I placed my right hand on the small of his back and used my left hand to cover his right wrist. Then, I pulled wu from the environment and shoved it into both parts of his body at the same time.

The wu in his lower back spread through his torso, and the wu in his wrist spread through his arm.

While keeping my right hand on his back, I moved my left hand to his left wrist and repeated this process. After infusing his arms with energy, I moved to his legs and, finally, to his head.

The wu that I had injected into HongYi's body was now his, but in a way, it was also still mine, so I retained an elevated level of control over it.

Once his entire body was filled with this initial portion of wu, I began circulating it through his skin in the manner dictated by the Profound-Rank technique that I had created.

As I did, I felt several areas of increased resistance. Focusing on them, I shifted the flow of wu and redirected it.

When everything looked good, I pulled in more wu from the environment and injected it into HongYi's body. Again, I felt areas of increased resistance, so I modified the technique to work around them.

After this third round, I stopped for the day and allowed his body to adjust.

From then on, I paid HongYi a visit each and every day. I would inject him with energy, and as it moved through his body, I would shift it to fix any problems. Then, I would leave him alone to acclimate.

After a full month of this routine, HongYi finally broke through, and I received the notification that I had been waiting for.

System Alert: A novel cultivation technique has been created. Please name your technique.

"Drill of Swift Probity."

The Drill of Swift Probity. Rating: Low-Profound Rank 1 Metal Body Cultivation Technique. Would you like to submit this technique to the Dao?

"Yes."

Submission successful. Contribution confirmed. Calculating… Reward: 50% discount for the next purchase below 5,000 credits.

Note: Profound Rank 1 body cultivation techniques will no longer qualify you for further discounts.

Then, I received the enlightenment that I had been hoping for. Once it was done, I examined my new technique.

Drill of Swift Probity, Low-Profound Rank 1 Body Cultivation Technique (Broken), Metal Wu, Effects: Increases one's integrity. Makes one more obsessed with growing stronger.

It was good, but I knew that I could do better.