The Undying Immortal System

During my last life in the Nine Rivers Sect, I had chosen to become the steward of NanLu City, a poor border town that had been ravaged by a series of wars. The reason for this choice was that I had wanted a place in dire need of help so that I could quickly generate karmic energy and contribution points.

For this life, my goals were a bit different. I didn't care too much about contribution points. Instead, I wanted a stable base of operations that I could use to further grow and strengthen my clan, and with Yan's help, I was able to create a list of cities that were ideal for this.

When I arrived in Yellow City, I headed straight to the temple at its center to see which ones were available.

Once there, I was greeted by an elder in an orange hanfu.

"Hello, disciple. How may I assist you today?"

I saluted and gave him a short bow. "Greetings, elder. I wish to purchase a position as a city steward."

The elder dipped his head toward me, but his face remained impassive. "I see. Please allow me to review your status."

I pulled my jade token from my waist and handed it to him.

After accepting it, the elder disappeared into a side room.

Five minutes later, he returned and smiled at me.

"Disciple Su, I have confirmed your position. You have enough contribution points to lease any city you wish. Do you have any preferences?"

I nodded. "TongBei, ZhaoGuang, or ErJing. If none of those are available, then a different city within the Black River Kingdom will do."

The elder raised a hand to his chin and tapped his lips in thought. "Black River? A valid choice, considering your age. Very well. TongBei City has a vacancy. An inner sect Lord in Profound City was scheduled to fill it, but as a core disciple, your preferences take precedence."

I cupped my fists to him. "Thank you, elder."

The decision to pursue a position in the Black River Kingdom had come from Yan. Based on the notes in his book, the steward of Black River would be replaced in two years, and the person who was set to replace her was said to be a rather companionable fellow who shouldn't cause us any trouble. In fact, as the Steward of TongBei, I would be in a position to help him claim the kingdom, creating a strong alliance between us.

The meaning behind the elder's comment about this being a valid choice 'considering my age' was that I was unlikely to be ready to compete for the position as the kingdom's steward in only two years. This meant that if I wanted to do so, then I would need to wait out the new king's full 15-year term before I would have the opportunity. However, given my relative youth, a near-guaranteed delay of 17 years wouldn't affect me much.

In actuality, I had little desire to be responsible for an entire kingdom. Others could deal with such things. I just wanted to sit back and concentrate on my private projects while everyone else went about having fun and learning on their own. I was only becoming a steward to ensure that my clan had a safe place to grow, and I was only positioning myself in TongBei so that I could provide my support if and when it was needed.

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As soon as my stewardship was confirmed, I went to the Fire Peak, met up with XuJian, and gave him a note to take back to Yan and the leadership council. Then, I returned to Yellow City and used the sect's teleportation network to make my way to TongBei, located in the Black River Kingdom of the North Empire.

When I arrived, I first took some time to look around and appraise my new domain.

Leaving the portal room behind, I stepped out onto a wide, cobbled street. As I did, I noticed something slightly peculiar. Each of the street's stones had been expertly placed and properly positioned to provide a perfectly even surface. A quick inspection proved that an earth cultivator had even gone to the trouble of melding these stones together to ensure that they wouldn't move. That cultivator had also gone to the trouble of leaving countless small holes between each stone so that rainwater would be able to seep through the gaps and into a drainage ditch that was hidden beneath the road's surface.

Such an extensive use of earth qi for a mundane task like road construction showed that the city's previous stewards had done everything they could to wring as many points as possible from this city. So, if I wanted to generate anything more than the city's baseline karmic energy, I would need to find novel ways to improve the place.

When I did a quick check of the city's walls and defensive formations, I found that everything was of high quality and well-maintained. When I checked the city's harbor, I found multiple formations to help both with the city's defenses and with the loading and unloading of cargo ships. Everything I saw indicated that either the previous steward had been a skilled formation specialist, or he had paid a substantial price to employ someone who knew what they were doing.

Not seeing much that needed my help inside the walls, I turned my gaze outward.

The fields surrounding TongBei were fertile and full of growing plants. Most of these were mortal foodstuffs, but as there were several herbalists living in the city, there were also a number of fields growing Rank 1 herbs, some growing Rank 2 herbs, and even a few growing Rank 3 herbs. While Bao and SuYin might have ideas for how we could improve these fields, any such improvements would likely only be marginal.

The only places I saw where we could really make a difference were the outlying villages. TongBei's villages weren't as bad as some I had seen, but they didn't show any of the signs of prosperity that the city proper did. No one was starving, and there were no signs of disease, but the houses were all rather run down, and the streets between them were simple dirt roads.

The reason that the previous steward hadn't done anything to change this situation was likely because improving these villages wouldn't generate any karmic energy. Better housing and infrastructure might make the residents more comfortable, but that was all. It wouldn't change anyone's destiny. In fact, it might even be detrimental.

The higher quality of life in the city would cause immigration, and once in the city, people would gain new opportunities. Having a steady stream of people rising up from relative poverty might be a consistent way to generate low levels of karmic energy.

All in all, my evaluation of TongBei was that it would be difficult for a normal Lord to earn much karmic energy here.

In this situation, the usual answer was war. Using TongBei's superior position and resources, I could begin pillaging other cities. Then, when the cities I attacked retaliated and destroyed my crops and villages, I would be able to generate energy by rebuilding them.

I could go down this path, but it wasn't necessary. I would be able to earn more than enough contribution points through alchemy. I didn't need to go to extreme lengths to earn a few extra points here or there.
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However, this didn't mean that I would allow the city to stagnate. There were ideas that I wanted to experiment with, and I had a large team of skilled individuals to help me out.

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When I finally made it to the city lord's manor, the leadership council, the Revered Elders, and the city's mortal representatives were already waiting for me. The only person who was missing was YuLong, who was still back in South Gate training Disciples.

With such a large gathering, sitting everyone down at a table together wasn't going to happen. So, instead, I sat on a small throne in the manor's audience hall. The leadership council stood in front of me and to my left, and the city's mortal representative stood in front and to my right. The Revered Elders, meanwhile, stood behind me.

"For now, I will make this simple. As the head of my leadership council, ShouLi is in charge of the city. The existing mortal leadership will report to her, and she will report to me. Except for Elder Zhuge, the elders will serve in advisory roles only. Elder Zhuge will serve as my Grand Chancellor. His words are the same as my own. Understood?"

Everyone cupped their fists and bowed. "Yes, Lord."

"Good. I have inspected the city and have my own thoughts on how we should proceed from here, but first, I will let Chancellor Zhuge give us his appraisal of things."

Yan walked forward and stood by my side.

"TongBei sits on the southern bank of the Black Dragon River and is only a few dozen kilometers upstream of the kingdom's capital. This has allowed TongBei to become an important hub within the kingdom's trade network. It is a powerful, well-established city."

Yan gave everyone a meaningful look. "While this may be good for the city's residents, it makes generating karmic energy rather challenging. To make matters worse, any Lords looking for a quick boost in their energy production will see us as a tempting target. The city's defenses are solid, but if too many forces unite against us, they will not hold."

Yan's blunt assessment of how cultivators would view the city unsettled the mortal representatives, and their leader stepped forward to refute it.

"Chancellor Zhuge, while this might be true of other cities, TongBei is of vital importance to the kingdom's economy. Attacking it would only hurt the kingdom as a whole and incense its Steward-King."

Yan nodded. "This is true. For now. But in two years, a competition will be held to choose a new steward for the kingdom. At that time, many of the competitors will want to destroy this place, both because it would prevent us from supporting their opponents and because rebuilding the city would provide them with a quick boost to their karmic energy once they take control of the kingdom."

The mortal representative looked shaken by this statement. He had to have known what to expect, but he had likely been in denial about it.

Yan returned his gaze to the rest of the assembled audience.

"No one should feel disheartened. We are in a strong position, and that will not change. We just need to be prepared. My suggestion is that we have sufficient defenses in place to defend against a joint army from at least three Lord-level powers. The sect's rules protect us from direct attacks by any true King-level opponents, but we need to be prepared to face multiple false Kings.

Both the leadership council and the mortals gaped at this, but I just waved it off. Once I ascended to Martial Lord, creating a few Rank 5 formations wouldn't be much of an issue.

"What is your assessment of the economic and karmic situation?"

Yan shook his head. "It's difficult. The 'factories' mentioned in my notes might help a bit, but nothing they are able to produce will have much of an impact here. At most, they might allow our farmers to earn a bit of extra coin. Additionally, raising more cultivators will, of course, be beneficial, but not as much as it would be in a less developed region. Overall, TongBei is what you asked me for. It is stable, and that will be difficult to change."

Again, Yan's appraisal worried the mortal representatives. To them, a well-run, stable city was a good thing, but to the average cultivators, it was anything but.

I nodded to Yan and then looked at ShouLi.

"Right now, our priority is to get everyone settled. Originally, I had planned to construct a new village where everyone could live together, but after inspecting the place, I changed my mind. I want to divide everyone up amongst the existing villages so that the influx of new residents will be less noticeable. Once that's done, I want to implement some type of system to get the various villages competing against each other. The council can decide what type of competitions might be best."

After ShouLi signaled her acceptance, I turned to the leader of the mortal representatives.

"I have no desire to throw the city into turmoil. For now, our goal is simply to ensure TongBei's continued prosperity. In the future, we will work to improve it further, but that will only happen once I am convinced that we are ready for it."

The mortal representatives didn't seem entirely mollified by my words, but they bowed in acceptance.

With the direction for the city set, there was nothing else for me to say. I stepped back and allowed my council to figure out how to make it happen.