The Undying Immortal System

To reach our destination, our group had to travel through the portal network to East Empire. From there, we entered Peach Blossom Kingdom and took the portal to Golden Water City. As mercenaries contracted by Golden Water, our task was to raid the neighboring West Brook City and destroy as many of its defensive formations as possible.

However, as both cities were under the control of the Peach Blossom Kingdom, we needed to cause as little collateral damage as possible. Also, we were not supposed to pilfer any ‘souvenirs’ during the mission as the rights of looting and pillaging West Brook rested solely in the hands of the city lord of Golden Water.

In truth, I was conflicted about this kind of mission. I didn’t like the idea of being a mercenary hired to destroy a city’s defenses only for it to be ransacked. While this attack might only represent the loss of a bit of karmic energy to the Rulers in charge, the results could be devastating for the mortals living there.

I looked to the philosophies I had been studying for guidance, but the books I had purchased from the System were impossible to reconcile with this world. The ideas of Mohism preached universal love and abhorred violence between states, but it also had a utilitarian side that might see these ‘games’ between cities as necessary and justifiable in the context of this world and the need for karmic energy.

Reinforcing that utilitarian view, none of the philosophies I had read and integrated from this world condemned this form of pragmatic warfare. Most of them agreed and supported the need for such actions since they would strengthen the Rulers and help them defend against outside threats.

My only source of comfort was the set of rules that everyone involved was expected to abide by. Masters could only fight other Masters, and Grandmasters could only fight other Grandmasters. Once a victor was decided between the Masters, they could move to assist the Grandmasters, but they were not allowed to swoop down on the Disciples.

The only exceptions to these rules were the Lords. If one Lord defeated the other, they could then begin neutralizing the lower-tier cultivators. However, they were not supposed to kill them during this process.

In this world, war was a game to train cultivators and generate karmic energy. People would die, but that wasn’t the objective. The goal was for the Lords to gain karmic energy and the low-level cultivators to gain combat experience.

None of that changed the fact that by taking down a city’s defenses, we would be a party to everything that would happen afterward. I didn’t like the position I was in, but I was willing to do what I needed to do. If I had to attack the city’s populace directly, it would be a different story, but I could destroy a few formations.