The Undying Immortal System

My time in Yellow City proceeded smoothly, and I didn’t encounter any of the problems that I had expected. Based on the description of there being no rules on Dragon Peak, I had thought that there might be rampant theft and murder everywhere. However, reality did not comport with these expectations.

From what little I saw of it, Yellow City seemed like it was just a smaller version of Mortal City. In retrospect, this shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise. If there were unbridled chaos, people wouldn’t have any opportunity to learn or grow. The reality was that the lack of sect rules simply led to local powers establishing their own authority over territories within the city.

This information could be useful for any future lives that I would be spending within the Nine Rivers Sect, but it didn’t change my plans for the rest of this one. Even if the city was safer than I had imagined, I wasn’t willing to stick around for any surprises from the PangBo Merchants. Besides, I would have to reach Profound City before I could continue advancing anyway.

Walking the path to the next city might be dangerous for the unprepared, but I much preferred the uncertain dangers of the path to being within the reach of people who could infect my soul with demonic insects. So, the day after I advanced to Martial Lord, I left Yellow City through the eastern gate and began heading further up the mountain.

This path was similar to the one that I had used to leave Mortal City. The main difference was that I was climbing the mountain instead of merely heading toward its base.

After several minutes of walking, I reached a fork in the road that led to three different tests, just like last time. The Path of Soul continued around the mountain, remaining at the same elevation. The Path of Body was a steep climb up the mountain. The Path of Mind led to a cave opening a few dozen meters away.

I was told to take the Path of Mind, but I wanted to check something before I did.

I followed the Path of Soul and found the marker stones that signified its entrance. I approached the stones and tried to pass an arm through the opening. A barrier appeared and blocked my hand before it could cross the test’s threshold.

The Nine Rivers Sect had shown multiple times that they valued diversity in a cultivator’s abilities. This barrier demonstrated that sentiment yet again. While one was able to advance to Yellow City with only a single area of expertise, if they wanted to reach Profound City, they would need to be proficient in at least two different disciplines. To proceed to Earth City, they would almost certainly need to be masters of all three. The only lingering question was what tests existed after that point.