The Undying Immortal System

After completing the initial phase of my deal with the Ning Clan, I no longer had to worry about meeting any hard deadlines. I only had two more years before my self-imposed ten-year limit, but I wouldn’t let an arbitrary goal dictate my actions overly much. I would reap the harvest I had sown.

But before pushing myself further, I needed a short break. I had spent four years deep in cultivation and the last month scrambling to complete a near-impossible mission. I was running on fumes at this point and needed a short downtime, so I decided to go shopping.

While South Gate City was a major city connected to the Nine Rivers Sect, it wasn’t a major economic center. South Gate was an important destination for wealthier scions from all over the continent since it was the primary training center for youths wishing to enter the sect, but it was also located only a few days' ride from Blue Wind City, where the Pavilion’s headquarters were located. This drew most of the potential business opportunities away from South Gate.

I considered visiting Blue Wind City myself but decided I should put it off until a future life. I had already gotten into a mess because I had leaned on Emperor Li’s token, and going to Blue Wind City right now wouldn’t help matters.

In any case, while South Gate might not have the variety of goods Blue Wind would, it did have things that appealed to me. Since the city was focused around training students, several stores specialized in selling things that students aiming to enter the Nine Rivers Sect would need.

This brought to mind an important question: Where were they getting their spirit fires? These were students who were being trained in at least Master-level professions. Rank 2 professions, Rank 2 alchemy at least, required the use of a spirit fire.

Where did the students get their spirit fires? Sure, they could’ve all been given to them by their families before they came here, but this city was focused on selling goods to students. Was there a place students could go to purchase them?

I found it in an upscale part of the city, a store called ‘The Crimson Flame.’

When I first saw the place, I thought it was more of a temple than a storefront. The ground floor was large and rectangular, with the walls made of bright marble. Atop this base, was a massive dome made from a silvery metal that shone in the afternoon sun. To either side of the entrance were two-meter-tall phoenix statues made of pure bronze.