Before leaving, I spent my time in the Pavilion preparing.

First, I spent time advancing my cultivation to Martial Disciple 5. This was calculated to draw the least amount of attention I could. Disciple 5 was neither too high nor too low for an alchemist looking to join the Twin Mountains Sect.

Second, my storage space was 1,000 cubic centimeters. That is a little bigger than the size of an adult fist. It wasn’t a ton of room, but it would allow me to carry a few essentials.

I packed several bottles of pills. These included the three qualities of Qi Gathering Pills, a few healing pills for different types of injuries, some energy recovery pills, and a few poison pills for safety. In the remaining space, I was able to slip in a dozen or so gold and silver coins just in case they were needed.

Finally, right before I left, Fan BingQing handed me a letter. She said that WuJing had written it for Elder Mu. If I decided to meet the elder, then I should give him this letter.

After everything was ready, it was time to head back to the Twin Mountains Sect. However, this time I paid for a private carriage.

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The entrance to the sect was just as I remembered it. White cobbles covered the ground, two paifang arches stood as the entrances to the two paths of the sect, and an old-looking sect elder sat upon a dais overseeing everything. Oh, and the place was absolutely packed with hopefuls looking to join the sect.

I looked at the elder. WuJing had indicated a high degree of factionalism inside the sect, and I needed to start trying to understand it. It was unlikely that displays of which faction one belonged to would be worn openly, but it was worth keeping an eye open.

The elder wore a dark gray-blue hanfu robe. It was the same color and had a similar cut to those worn by the sect deacons I had seen. However, it had delicate gold embroidery that was very uncommon. Unfortunately, I wasn’t close enough to make out the designs. I could only see light marks across the chest and thick bands at the wrists, collar, and hem.

The other thing that set his robe apart was the cut. It had thick cuffs and a peaked collar. The usual robe I had seen in the sect lay flat in these places. This cut gave a more militaristic vibe. I had only seen one other person wearing a robe like this. It was the same style that TianLei, or was it TianBing, was wearing when he attacked the Su Clan, though his robes were a paler blue.

My musings on the elder’s wardrobe were cut off by a shout to begin the testing. It was time for me to make a choice. I could do exactly what I did last time. Wait for the second round of exams. Be the seventh person to turn in my pills. And then, if everything worked out correctly, I would again be put in a room with Bao. I could have done that, but I didn’t. I did not want to reopen that friendship. Maybe in another life. In this one, I was going to try to swiftly enter the sect proper.

I moved to be one of the first participants to enter the alchemy gate. Last time, I was careful so as not to cause an incident, but I remembered that there was only a problem on the fighters’ side, so I should be fine to rush here.

I had begun moving with the front of the crowd to enter the gate when an explosion of fire suddenly shook the area near the fighters’ path. I had been ready for a commotion, so I took the opportunity to cross the boundary into my own archway.

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The setup for the exam was the same as last time. Everyone got 10 peonies. Points would be awarded for successful pills produced.

This was the place of my second big decision. Thinking of everything WuJing had told me, I could guess that one of the perks of being the overseer for this exam was the ability to find and pluck talents from the hopefuls. If I impressed the elder enough, I might swiftly be inducted into his faction. The problem was I didn’t know who the elder was or what faction he represented.

I decided to pass on this opportunity. I created two Mid-Purity pills and submitted them. That result would be good, but it wasn’t something that would catch the eye of anyone powerful. I would do as WuJing suggested and find Elder Mu, hopefully in a way that wouldn’t attract anyone else’s attention.

As I went to hand in my pills, I took a moment to look at the elder for this exam. His hanfu was the same dark gray-blue and also had the gold embroidery. The more delicate lines on the chest were too far away to make out, but I could see that the thick lines around the cuffs and hem were made up of artistically entwined snakes. This elder, though, was wearing a robe with the flat sleeves and collar I was used to.

Making a mental note of the differences, I turned in my pills and headed into the sect.

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After entering the sect, I was brought to my room and introduced to my new roommate, but I declined the tour and meal. I was not willing to form a connection here during this life.

I wasn’t sure how much attention would be paid to new recruits by the people in power, but I didn’t want to stand out too much. I needed to get Elder Mu’s attention while ideally avoiding that of the other elders. WuJing’s warning about the waters of the sect running deep rang true in my head.

To that end, I should have acted normally and had dinner with my new roommate. I just… couldn’t.

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Instead, I spent my first days exploring on my own. I had lived here for over a decade, but never really studied the place. I had just treated it as any regular city where people would be mostly strangers. I never even considered that factions might be secretly plotting against each other in the dark.

What hit me even more deeply was when I opened my eyes to all the places in the sect. I had treated the Provisions Hall I went to as the Provisions Hall, like there was only one. But this was a town of around a hundred thousand people, Of course there would be more than one. There were multiples of every type of building, each serving a different group of apartment buildings.

The city was set up in something close to a hex grid. In each section, there was a provisions hall, technique hall, and workshop. These core buildings were then surrounded by three or four blocks of apartments. When I was brought to my apartment for this life, it was in a different apartment block, but it was still in the same section of the grid.

To get a feel for the differences between the sections, I began exploring the public buildings in different ones. Inside each of them, everyone acted similarly. They were always friendly and happy to help. I couldn’t find anything about the way they acted that might suggest factional differences.

The public houses were mainly run by servant disciples with a couple of deacons acting as managers. The deacons wore robes of the same gray-blue the elders did but without the gold embellishments. The servant disciples wore only very simple pale blue robes.

I had hoped to see detailed embroidery announcing the factions each person was a member of, but unfortunately, I was not so lucky. Figuring out how people were divided would be a bit more challenging.

I worked under the assumption that if people worked together in a building, they would probably be members of the same faction. From there, I began to compile a complex chart of interrelations. I might not have been able to know who belonged to which faction, but I could at least begin to group people together.

Was mapping out the relationships between all these people in the sect a waste of time? Initially, yes. It would help me in the moment, but the long-term benefit was somewhat limited. That was, of course, until I had an idea.

“System, I want to purchase a mental journal. I want to be able to mentally summon a book, write in it or read from it, then mentally dismiss it. The information should persist through restarts. I don’t care if others can see the book or not, whichever is cheaper.”

This can be bought as an extension of your mental library. If you write in a normal book, that information can already be stored. To add the ability to directly write into a book in the library the cost will be 10 credits for mortal information, 100 for Rank 1 information, or 1,000 for Rank 2 information.

I only planned to use this to store mortal information, but it would be better to be prepared, right?

“Buy that for up to Rank 2.”

Confirmed. Cost 1,000 credits. 12,040 credits remaining.

With that, I had a way to record all the details about personal interactions, and I would retain it for whenever I needed it in the future. Also, I could begin recording other important notes on things to keep in mind during future restarts.

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I lived in the city for a year before finally making my move.

During that time, I raised my cultivation from Martial Disciple 5 to Martial Disciple Peak. This was a fast pace but within bounds for an alchemist with unlimited access to pills. If anyone noticed my growth, they would expect the rushed growth to result in a buildup of qi impurities or pill toxins. Of course, with Perfect pills and well-practiced Peak-Yellow cultivation technique, these weren’t an issue, but I would prefer no one take too much notice either way.

I also spent some time making pills, but I didn’t need the contribution points. I only made and sold pills to maintain the façade of a diligent disciple. I only made enough points to barely cover the cost of rent, but I made several more pills at lower qualities to show my struggles.

For any faction spies, the impression I tried to give was that of a mildly diligent, well-meaning disciple who was just starting to learn.

During this time, I constantly checked the competitions held around town. When notices for them were posted, they helpfully provided the name of the elder in charge. The elder may not be at the competition, but the deacon involved was likely their subordinate. This helped me add connections between various elders and deacons to my list.

Unfortunately, none of it brought me any closer to Elder Mu.

Finally, the outer sect preliminaries began.

There were many testing locations for the preliminaries scattered around the city. I couldn’t find out anything about the elders who were behind each location, but I could find out who the presiding deacons would be.

Thanks to my lists, I was able to quickly eliminate many of the deacons as belonging to one of the three factions I had identified. After having the list of proctors to work from, I was able to systematically work through them and learn who they had connections to, eliminating anyone who I could connect to a faction. In the end, I was left with only two names.

I was unable to identify anything about who might be supporting these two. Elder Mu could be behind both or neither of them. Either way, it didn’t matter too much to me at this point. Both were likely equally uninvolved in sect politics and might have similar outlooks.

Was all of this work a waste of time? Should I have just asked the system to magic me the answer to my question? Maybe. But there were two reasons I didn’t. First, the use of points for something I could do myself seemed frivolous. I wouldn’t get any more points until after I died, and to use them for something like this would have been a waste.

The second reason I did the research myself was because I had nothing better to do. My cultivation had reached Martial Disciple Peak, and I wasn’t keen on advancing without a better cultivation technique, which I would only get after meeting Elder Mu. Additionally, my alchemy skills made any concocting tasks in the city child’s work, so there was nothing to learn on that front either. This research was the only thing I had to fill my time.

When it was time for the outer sect preliminaries, I chose one of the two unaffiliated deacons and went to their testing site. For this preliminary, we were tasked with creating Qi Purifying Pills for people who cultivated earth qi.

I didn’t hold back. I swiftly created a Perfect pill and handed it in. It wouldn’t be appraised until later. I had a night before I found out the results of the competition, but I wasn’t nearly as worried about the results as I was my first time through this. There were two possible outcomes, and I had a pretty good idea of which one would occur.

The next morning, I woke up and found out the results of the preliminaries. I had failed. I would not be proceeding to the final competition.