The Undying Immortal System

With ShouLi having mastered Rank 3 body cultivation and me having mastered Rank 3 beast alchemy, we both turned our attention to Rank 4. Unfortunately, sourcing parts from Rank 4 beasts to practice with turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had hoped.

With Ranks 1 to 3, various forms of livestock were available for purchase from numerous farms that were spread out across the entire continent. Not only were these farm-raised beasts plentiful in number, but because they were all raised under the same living conditions, these beasts were also nearly identical. This made them ideal test subjects for my research.

However, there was not a single farm on the continent that was able to provide me with a steady supply of Rank 4 beasts. One or two would occasionally become available, but as I wasn’t the only person interested in purchasing them, the prices I needed to pay for each one were astronomical.

As I had never taken the time to understand the intricacies of beast taming, I turned to JiaQi for help in figuring out what was going on.

When she heard my question, JiaQi burst out into laughter, but she didn’t explain things directly. Instead, she wanted a visual aid to help her demonstrate why the idea of purchasing a large number of Rank 4 beasts was ‘absurd.’ So, she brought me to the stables outside Dragon Peak where several high-Rank wind horses were housed.

“Why are you having a hard time finding people willing to slaughter Rank 4 beasts and give you their carcasses? It’s simple. Beasts have a Ruler Tier, same as humans. The resources it takes to raise a Lord-level Beast are, quite frankly, insane, so raising them for slaughter doesn’t really happen.”

I rubbed my chin in thought. “You’re saying that demon beasts also need karmic energy to ascend?”

JiaQi rocked her head from side to side. “Kind of. That’s why I brought you here. I could just tell you, but it will help if you see it for yourself.”

She brought me over to where a horse was grazing in a small meadow.

I followed JiaQi’s instructions but didn’t see anything too surprising. This horse's muscles were filled with demonic energy, making them far stronger than a mortal beast’s, but the energy was loose and unstructured, making these muscles entirely unsuitable for beast alchemy.

Seeing my confusion, JiaQi nodded. “A normal Rank 3 wind horse. Nothing special. Now, let’s go see what happens when they ascend.”

She guided me to the other side of the stables where a group of horses had been penned up on a dirt field with multiple layers of formations preventing them from roaming about freely.

Using her identity jade, JiaQi was able to get us an up-close look at one of these horses, but we were not allowed to enter the field itself.

When I first glanced at this horse, it didn’t seem much different from the first one. It was Rank 4, but most of its energy flows, especially those in its hindquarters, didn’t look much different. There was more energy, but that was all.

However, as I looked closer and concentrated on what I was seeing, I began to notice something strange. The demonic energy in this horse was… diluted. In a way, it resembled what I would expect to see in the medicinal energy of high-wu herbs, but it lacked the structure necessary to be considered true medicinal energy. It would be more accurate to say that the horse's muscles were filled with a chaotic blend of qi and wu.

Once I had seen everything I needed to see, JiaQi pulled me away and led me to a rather luxurious-looking wooden structure that had been crafted of a rich, dark gray wood and painted in various shades of blacks and blues.

“That was a normal Rank 4 wind horse. The true Lords get to live in here.”

As we entered the building, I noticed that there were no doors anywhere. Even when we got to the stables themselves, there was not a single gate to keep the horses locked in place.

JiaQi walked me up to where a large wind horse was lying on the ground, half asleep. Its fur was pitch black, and as we approached, I noticed subtle eye movements as it tracked our progress.

“This is Lord HeiJun. He is the most impressive creature in the sect. He is what all the other horses here wish they could be. If you ever have to fight a war, you should pray that you do not need to go up against Lord HeiJun.”

I gave JiaQi a confused look, but when I glanced down at the horse, I could almost feel a sense of smug satisfaction rolling off of it.

JiaQi opened her eyes wide, pursed her lips, and used her head to gesture at HeiJun intently.

I cleared my throat. “Ye… Yes… I can see what you mean. He is… quite impressive.”

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Not wanting to linger any longer than necessary, I used energy vision to scan the horse’s muscles. The energy they contained was… odd. It looked almost like pure demonic energy, but it was a bit off. Most importantly, unlike the previous two horses, the energy in HeiJun felt… stagnant, like it was locked in place. It still didn’t have the structure I was looking for, but it seemed more… solid.

As soon as my inspection was complete, JiaQi shook her head sadly. “Unfortunately, you will almost certainly never be able to see the likes of Lord HeiJun take the field. We are far beneath his notice.”

After saying this, she quickly ushered me out of the building.

As we walked back to the portal to Black River, I thought about what JiaQi had shown me.

“What was the difference between the two Rank 4 horses? This first one didn’t seem too different from a normal horse, but HeiJun was more… aware.”

JiaQi nodded. “Like I said, HeiJun is a true Lord. The others are just Rank 4 beasts. They are more akin to false Lords. It’s not exactly the same, but it gives you the right idea. To ascend to the Lord realm, a beast needs karmic energy, same as a human cultivator. However, instead of creating a core, beasts infuse this karmic energy into their muscles, making them far more powerful than their peers.” ṛΑ₦Ọ𝐁Ě𝐬

I thought back to what ShouLi had told me about different beasts cultivating their bodies in different ways. “Lords always infuse karmic energy into their muscles?”@@novelbin@@

“Eh… usually. Some do it differently, but for most beasts, for most of the ones people take as companions, anyway, yes, they break through to Lord by infusing their muscles with karmic energy.”

I nodded. “And the other horses?”

“Well, karmic energy is hard to get, right? Most people have a hard enough time earning enough energy to advance to Peak Lord themselves, so the idea of earning enough energy to raise a companion is little more than a dream. The Water Peak has ways for us to purchase karmic energy at a discount, but only for our primary companions. What about all the other poor beasts?”

“They have to advance without it? False Lord?”

JiaQi nodded slowly, but a grimace appeared on her face. “Yes, but it isn’t exactly that simple. You saw them. To advance to Rank 4, those horses needed more than demonic energy.”

I thought back. “It was mixed with qi, right?”

JiaQi took a deep breath. “Yes. But demon beasts can’t cultivate qi.”

“So…”

“So, if they can’t gather it from the environment, they have to get it elsewhere. They have to get it from their… food supply.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion. “What… Wait… Are you saying they…”

JiaQi nodded. “There are two ways for a demon beast to advance. You either have to supply them with karmic energy, or they have to eat people. They have to eat cultivators.”

We continued walking for a bit, and JiaQi gave me a few moments to think before continuing.

“So, you wanted to know why it’s difficult to purchase Rank 4 beasts, right? That’s why. Raising a herd of Rank 3 beasts can be expensive, but it’s relatively straightforward. If you want to raise a Rank 4 beast, though, there are only two options. Either you supply it with karmic energy, or you feed it the bodies of a dozen Grandmasters.”

JiaQi gave a wry snort of amusement. “Some farms have large enough herds that they can produce natural Lords, but that’s pretty rare. Most of the farm-raised Rank 4 beasts you will see come from… other sources. Every kingdom has condemned criminals they need to get rid of, after all.”

JiaQi shook her head. “In any case, getting your hands on large numbers of Rank 4 beasts is going to be incredibly difficult. No one is going to sell you their companions, and farm-raised beasts are hard to come by. Your best option is probably to send people out to hunt wild beasts in the wilderness between the empires. They’re rare, but they’re out there.”

With high-Rank beasts being so rare, mastering Rank 4 beast alchemy would be somewhat difficult. Without a steady supply of nearly identical carcasses, performing repeated experiments would be impossible, so finding a combination of ingredients that formed a viable pill would be more luck than anything else.

That being the case, I decided to hold off on further research into beast alchemy until I could create a steady source of ingredients, possibly by constructing my own farms.

That said, while my conversation with JiaQi had led to a dead end on the alchemy front, it did open doors for other topics.

ShouLi had already started researching Rank 4 body cultivation, and the insights I gained from JiaQi shed new light on how that might be achieved. If body cultivation was a human equivalent for how demon beasts cultivated, then ShouLi would have to infuse her muscles with a combination of wu and either karmic energy or qi.

While the idea of needing additional karmic energy for body cultivation was a bit burdensome, I was a little worried about what one would need to do to infuse their muscles with the proper combination of qi and wu. We could cultivate qi, but was that qi usable in body cultivation? Would we need to… eat people? Hopefully not… but…

In any case, from what JiaQi had shown me, it seemed like using karmic energy would lead to a better result, so that was where we needed to focus our efforts. There was absolutely no reason to go down the path of experimenting with cannibalism.

In lighter news, JiaQi’s introduction to the two paths a demon beast could go down, using qi or using karmic energy, made me consider my ideas for the creation of a karmic core during the advancement to Martial Lord.

There was no reason that the progression paths for humans and beasts had to be balanced, but it seemed somewhat unfair that humans would be required to use karmic energy when demon beasts had a way to advance with qi. So… was it possible to use a combination of qi and wu to create a core?

The effects such a combination had on beasts suggested that even if it existed, this path might be objectively worse than just using karmic energy. In a way, it might simply be an alteration of the advancement to False Lord that would allow people to continue advancing. This wouldn’t be ideal, but it would allow far more people to advance than would otherwise be possible.

Was there a way to make this happen? If so, what was the secret?

I blinked.

There were several farms on this continent selling Rank 3 beasts. Almost… too many.

Many of these beasts were indeed being sold off as simple foodstuffs, but was that the extent of it? I was convinced that the various kingdoms, empires, and sects on this continent relied on karmic energy to advance. I had traveled around enough, and I had interacted with enough people, that I was convinced that this was true. However…

Were the Sovereign clans holding out on us? It didn’t seem likely… but… was it possible?

I had already wanted to visit the Zhuge and Li Clans to pick up the cultivation techniques for wind, light, and dark essence. I might need to see about expanding the scope of this heist.