Master of the System

Rachel nodded, quite satisfied with the end result. The war had been won, and the Sun Cactus Sect had been turned into a vassal. The days of slaughtering sects down to every last chicken and dog were long over. As recently as a thousand years ago, the practice had been deemed barbaric by society. Rachel thought it was bullshit, but she still spared the disciples of the defeated sect because righteousness changed with the times. As the leading sect of the righteous path, they weren’t allowed to be declared barbaric. Sometimes, Rachel felt like she was born in the wrong era. It wasn’t too long ago that she could kill people in a fight for a treasure, but now, with the new fancy video recorders, common people could witness every action. Even then, it wasn’t too bad because the witnesses could be silenced, but when livestreaming became a thing…, whew, good luck getting away with murder. Rachel was glad she had condensed her nascent soul and planted her soul seed before video recording became popular. If anyone had witnessed the way she had gotten to where she was, they’d have deemed her evil. Imagine that.

[I can imagine it.]

The only problem with the war was the attacker hadn’t disappeared. Even when Lila was crippled, her dantian shattered into dozens of pieces, the illusionary attacks continued. Perhaps it wasn’t the doing of the Sun Cactus Sect. Rachel rubbed her chin, her eyes flashing as she went through the previous list of faces she had remembered. Another person came to mind: Derrick. He was the son of Derrick, the leader of the Ten Faces Sect. Rachel didn’t know why Derrick didn’t append a junior suffix to his son, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was the son of the leader of the strongest evil sect had attacked her.

[That’s not the case. How many sects are you going to eliminate before believing my words?]

Rachel rolled her eyes. She didn’t eliminate sects—that was barbaric. She turned them into vassals instead. Also, she was still waiting for her reward, and until the attacker lived up to its words, she would continue to ignore whatever arguments it had instore.

[Wait. Reward? Reward for what?]

Wasn’t it obvious? By turning the Sun Cactus Sect into a vassal, the Moon Lotus Sect had become inclusive. Males were now allowed to enter the sect. Rachel extended her hand, palm up. The seedless moon lotus wasn’t a very large plant. It could fit perfectly in her palm. If the attacker wanted her to pick it up from a remote location, then she could use that information to pinpoint where exactly these illusionary attacks were coming from. However, if the attacker suddenly created the plant in her palm, then maybe, just maybe, she would be willing to hear him out. Instead of a moon lotus, a piece of chalk appeared in Rachel’s hand.

[Draw a circle on the ground, and the moon lotus will be sent over.]

Rachel brought the chalk up to her nose and gave it a sniff. It didn’t smell like anything, which, to her, was unusual. As someone on the verge of becoming a false immortal, she could identify an item’s components by smell alone. Since she couldn’t identify anything by smelling it, she tentatively gave the piece of chalk a lick. It didn’t taste like anything either. As for being poisoned, Rachel wasn’t worried about it. Long ago, she had cultivated the thousand-poison immortal body. A furrow appeared on Rachel’s brow. She gripped the chalk, hard. All she accomplished was hurting her hand. What was this thing made out of? She put the tip of her finger against the chalk and attempted to draw a line on her skin, but nothing happened. It was as if she was a mortal rubbing a rock against finger. Since that was the case, how was she going to draw a circle on the ground? Wouldn’t the chalk pierce the floor tiles instead?

[Do you have to be so skeptical about everything?]

Rachel snorted upon reading the message. Those who weren’t skeptical died. Only meticulous people could reach high levels of cultivation. Rachel bent down and scraped the chalk against the floor. Surprisingly, a portion of the chalk was removed, leaving a faint residue on the tile. Rachel’s eyes narrowed, and she wiped at the chalk mark. It was brushed away. She wiped at the piece of chalk. It remained solid. The piece of chalk seemed to possess an interesting principle that only earth-grade treasures and above had. Didn’t that make this piece of chalk a useful ingredient? Instead of drawing a circle, Rachel drew lines on the floor, scraping away at the edge of the chalk until she created a neat point in the material, turning its shape similar to a pencil. She tapped the pointy bit and didn’t react when it pierced her skin, drawing blood. Even when she used her qi to block the piece of chalk, it still managed to pierce her skin. With this, she could use the sharpened chalk as a hidden weapon and assassinate anyone at her cultivation level.

[How the hell does your mind work? Can’t you think like a normal person for once?]

Normal people didn’t become soul seed experts. Rachel used the other end of the chalk and drew a circle on the floor, finally completing the illusionary attacker’s request. A small sphere of light appeared in the middle of the circle for a brief moment. When it disappeared, a moon lotus appeared. Rachel walked around the lotus before picking it up, nodding to herself. It really was a seedless moon lotus, and she couldn’t find anything wrong with it. If a disciple used it to cultivate, they could easily breakthrough from the golden-core stage and develop a nascent soul. There was no way the evil sect would deliver a treasure like this to her. However, what if it was a ploy to have her drop her guard? It wasn’t like the Ten Faces Sect could make use of a moon lotus anyway.

[Stop questioning everything! What more do I have to do to get you to believe me!?]

Rachel stroked the moon lotus’ leaves before storing it away in a jade box. “How can I believe someone when I don’t know what their goal is?”

[I’m just trying to achieve social justice. Speaking of which, here’s a new mission for you.]

[New Mission: Confronting Poverty]

[It isn’t fair that the Moon Lotus Sect only recruits people who were lucky enough to be born in the central region. The people born in the less fortunate outer regions are capable as well, but due to an unlucky birth, they’re incapable of joining the strongest sect. Don’t you think that’s unfair? Everyone should be given an equal opportunity to join the Moon Lotus Sect! To be an advocate of social justice, the Moon Lotus Sect has to recruit disciples from the outer regions of the continent as well!]

[Reward: Perfected Moon Lotus Cultivation Technique]

Rachel read the text, her face unchanging whilst doing so. Only when she got to the reward did she show a change in expression. The perfected Moon Lotus Cultivation Technique? It was true that the current Moon Lotus Cultivation Technique had a flaw, a critical flaw that prevented anyone in the past from taking the last step in becoming a false immortal. “Who exactly are you?”

[Like I’ve said before, you can think of me as a god of sorts.]

“And all you want is for my sect to become the beacon of social justice?” Rachel frowned. “Why are you making such a losing deal?”

[Establishing justice is never a losing deal! Don’t underestimate the value of justice!]

Rachel scratched her head. What exactly was justice good for? It wasn’t like the Moon Lotus Sect needed any justice to become the strongest sect on the continent in the first place. Strength, however…, yes, strength was the real justice.

[Justice is way more important than strength!]