G. Tolley

Chapter 164 – Life 68, Age 34, Martial Grandmaster 7

Our group was to travel through the portal network to East Empire. From there, we would enter Peach Blossom Kingdom and then take a portal to Golden Water City. As mercenaries contracted by Golden Water, we were to raid the neighboring West Brook City and destroy as many of its defensive formatio...

Chapter 163 – Life 68, Age 33, Martial Grandmaster 7

When I appeared in the Trial, I looked across the cavern at my opponent, a large stone golem. As was common for the first five levels of this Trial, the construct didn’t move to attack me. 

Normally at this point, I would begin setting up a few quick Qi Gathering Formations to drain ...

Chapter 162 – Life 68, Age 33, Martial Grandmaster 7

“System, upgrade my martial comprehension to a total of one billion credits.”

Purchase confirmed. Cost 990 million credits. 6,733,086,524 credits remaining.

This might not be enough to compete with the likes of YuLong and JiaQi, but with a King-level amou...

Chapter 161 – Life 68, Age 31, Martial Grandmaster 3

After I met up with Yan and the others, we spent some time looking for apartments in Mortal City. We wanted a good setup near the Gateway Plaza where everyone could live close to each other and provide support if there was ever any trouble. Because of the sect rules, there wasn’t much to worry ...

Chapter 160 – Life 68, Age 31, Martial Grandmaster 3

Fire or Earth. I had considered this choice several times over the past year. 

There were strong reasons to go with the Fire Peak. It would give me an easier way to sell pills, it would provide me with access to the sect’s alchemy knowledge, and it would allow me to learn more about ...

Chapter 159 – Life 68, Age 30, Martial Master Peak

While Yan and I were busy teaching entire classes the basics of cultivation, LiTing, JiaQi, and YuLong were hard at work in one one-on-one training sessions. They were teaching students refining, beast taming, and talismans just as Master Tan had taught me formations.

This meant that LiTing...

Reminder: End of Weekend Chapter

Hello everyone,

First, thanks for subscribing to my Patreon as I worked to expand the Grandmaster tier to a full 25 chapters ahead of Royal Road. Unfortunately, today we finally reached that mark. From now on, we will be returning to the regular 5 chapters a week.

Thanks for your supp...

Chapter 158 – Life 68, Age 27, Martial Master 7

In their first martial competition, my students were pitted against Yan’s students.

Yan’s class was somewhat unique among those that I had seen. Usually, a Master would choose students with matching blessings and complementary affinities when possible. For example, Grandmaster Ning and ...

Chapter 157 – Life 68, Age 26, Martial Master 5

The day before I was to begin teaching my class of Disciples, I went to Instructor Yuan’s office to get a list of the students who would be in my class. Typically, I would’ve had such a list several days earlier to assist me in making preparations, but because I was not the one in charge of s...

Chapter 156 – Life 68, Age 25, Martial Master 1

Over the following weeks, while I spent my mornings in classes learning how to teach Disciples, most of my time was spent in the soul cultivation library.

The Academy’s technique library contained several small rooms, and its contents were carefully partitioned so that someone who was gra...

Chapter 155 – Life 68, Age 25, Martial Master 1

While the morning class on about teaching was helpful, it was the afternoon class that I had been looking forward to with both anticipation and dread: Soul Cultivation.

I needed a stronger soul. I needed a way to defend my soul. The strength of my soul was the only strength I could bring ba...

Chapter 154 – Life 68, Age 25, Martial Master Peak

Yan and I arrived together at the meeting with the rest of our classmates. We were both agitated as we sat, and seeing this, JiaQi decided to break the ice.

“I’ve decided to leave the Academy,” she said while holding her small deer. “I want to give LuLu a chance to live outside as s...

Chapter 153 – Life 67, Age 25, Martial Master Peak

When I awoke in my apartment in the Academy, I instantly started scanning my soul for any possible signs that it had somehow been infected. After my first thorough search, I didn’t find anything, but I didn’t let that stop me and proceeded to check twice more. Still not satisfied, I had to as...

Chapter 152 – Life 66, Age 47, Martial King Peak

As I was reviewing the things that I needed to get done before the end of my life, I realized something. Tie Yang must be furious with me. I might have ruined the mission he spent so much time and effort on.

When I became a Martial Lord, I had been demoted to the outer sect because my skill...

Chapter 151 – Life 66, Age 36, Martial King 1

I sat on the ground in my cultivation cave. Emperor Li stood above me.

My first instinct was to quickly pull out a poison pill and swallow it as quickly as possible. I was uncertain how he felt about me in this life, but his anger at the end of the last one had been palpable. If his feeling...

Chapter 150 – Life 66, Age 30, Martial Lord 1

The time I spent with Tie Yang’s group was all about learning to be a participant in the creation of grand formations. He didn’t teach me their underlying principles since that was beyond the scope of his mission. His goal wasn’t to teach me how and why grand formations worked. It was to te...

Chapter 149 – Life 66, Age 30, Martial Lord 1

The final few caves in the Test of Mind increased in difficulty slightly, but there was nothing too challenging. As long as one knew the recipe and could correctly identify the necessary herbs among those that had been provided, most trained alchemists wouldn’t have any problems. 

Wh...

Chapter 148 – Life 66, Age 30, Martial Lord 1

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 thought that there might be rampant theft and murder everywhere. However, reality did not meet these expectations.

...

Chapter 147 – Life 66, Age 30, Martial Grandmaster Peak

Once I was a good distance away from the site of the battle, I hid in the woods as well as I could manage. I needed a moment to catch my breath and figure out what to do next.

Wen’s talk about gu had me worried. I had zero understanding of what such insects might be capable of, and if ina...

Chapter 146 – Life 66, Age 30, Martial Grandmaster Peak

As we walked out of Mortal City, the feeling that I got from Brother Wen was one of indifference. He didn’t feel like a guard that was sent to safeguard my life. He felt like someone who wouldn’t care if I lived or died.

On the other hand, Mao just seemed excited, like the day he had be...

Chapter 145 – Life 66, Age 30, Martial Grandmaster Peak

I looked at the two men in my shop warily. Something felt wrong about the situation.

“Senior Brother Pang.” I bowed my head slightly. “How may I help you today?”

He smiled ingratiatingly. 

“Please, we are entering into a business relationship. Sect matters can be ...

Chapter 144 – Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 1

Setting up shop in a remote corner of Mortal City had been nice and simple. The only downside was the severe lack of customers.

I had rented a location in an area that was known for herbalists. While the location was to my benefit in procuring ingredients, few people that came to this area ...

Chapter 143 – Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 3

When I entered the administration building, I thought I might see a line of cultivators slowly getting introduced to the sect. The line at the Entrance Exam had been moving slowly, and only a fraction of the people who passed would be assigned to Earth Peak, but I still expected to have to wait. ...

Chapter 142 – Life 66, Age 28, Martial Grandmaster 3

Everything was happening too suddenly. I stepped into the Trial, but I immediately appeared back outside the Trial. What was going on? Was this the Trial? Was it some strange recreation of the world outside?

“Fire. Or. Earth.” The scribe enunciated each word, bringing my focus onto the ...

Chapter 141 – Life 66, Age 25, Martial Master Peak

Before taking the test to join the sect, I wanted to set myself up for as much success as possible in a short timeframe. After leaving the Academy, I did not rush to take the exam. I rented an apartment and began preparing my cultivation base.

For the past few years, I had been switching be...

Chapter 140 – Life 66, Age 25, Martial Master Peak

After Instructor Yuan left, my classmates looked like they were getting ready to settle down for a long group conversation about what we would all be doing next. I wasn’t prepared for that, so I had to stop it before it began.

“Let’s all take a couple of hours to think about what the ...

Chapter 139 – Life 66, Age 22, Martial Master 5

Before my fourth Trial attempt, Yan made a suggestion. Unlike Instructor Yuan, he didn’t encourage me to give up cultivating essence, but he wanted me to get a safety net so that I didn’t have to worry if I failed to raise my earth affinity to mid five-star. His solution was for me to challen...

Chapter 138 – Life 66, Age 21, Martial Master 3

During my debriefing, the quick boost to my fire affinity seemed to only anger Instructor Yuan, and she once more called for me to change my cultivation technique. I again demurred. I wanted to see if I was right about it raising my affinity permanently.

After she gave up on trying to convi...

Chapter 137 – Life 66, Age 21, Martial Master 3

Over the next few months, I dispersed the meridian I had formed during the Earth Peak Trial and followed the Profound-Rank technique focused on variable meridian diameter to form two new ones. I wanted to experiment with the benefits and drawbacks such a design would have.

During this time,...

Chapter 136 – Life 66, Age 20, Martial Master 2

Upon returning to the Academy, Instructor Yuan took us each into a room individually for private discussions.

After I sat down across from her, she took out an affinity testing orb and placed it on the table between us. Without needing any guidance, I placed my hand on it and inserted my qi...