That Year, I Was Seventeen

Nameless Mountain. Tonight, Nameless Mountain was extraordinarily lively. Everyone had been settled on the open ground outside the caves. Several wooden cabins had been put together on the fly, with bedrolls laid out across the floors. For tonight, they would make do here; tomorrow they would make more detailed arrangements, taking count of their numbers and assigning suitable posts. They had purchased a great deal of goods this time, such as bolts of fabric and other supplies. Chen Fan stepped into Cave No. 1 and looked toward the Level 5 Living Workshop. Spending 2,000 ghost stones, he upgraded it to a Level 6 Living Workshop, then spent another 5,000 ghost stones to raise it to Level 7. With each upgrade, the Living Workshop no longer offered any upgrade branches to choose from. However, each upgrade unlocked new craftable items. Advancing two levels in one breath unlocked a total of four new special daily items. Moreover, with a Level 7 Living Workshop, he could now use a green-grade exotic treasure he had acquired recently—Cloud Fabric—to manufacture robes. The robes crafted from it possessed the defensive power of a Level 1 wall. Extremely formidable. Xiao Qiu was very busy tonight. She had to measure everyone's height and build, then craft a well-fitted Fan Domain uniform robe for each person. The people brought back tonight were primarily members of the Qiuhe Wang family, along with some from the Jiangbei Chen family. The Wild Wolf Gang was still in Jiangbei City and would only arrive tomorrow. "Talk." After upgrading the workshop, Chen Fan immediately invited Shao Qiu into Cave No. 1. He was the only outsider to set foot inside Cave No. 1 in recent days. The moment Shao Qiu entered the cave, his gaze almost instantly froze upon a structure deep inside: the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion. Through its wide-open doors, the black jade stone flooring within was plainly visible. Embedded in the ceiling were countless stalactites glowing with an eerie blue light, casting down a cold radiance that formed a mysterious formation across the floor. At a single glance, it looked like an immortal realm! "Th-this is a Spirit Accumulation Pavilion!" Stepping into the cave, Shao Qiu froze in his tracks. His eyes stayed glued to the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion, his voice trembling in disbelief. "This..." "How is this possible?!" "What about it?" Chen Fan, who had set up a small table for himself beside the farmland, sat in a chair, lifted a cup of tea, and followed Shao Qiu's gaze, asking casually, "Doesn't the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land have one?" "They do." Shao Qiu's mouth hung open unconsciously. For a long time, he could not formulate a complete sentence. Only after a while did he murmur, "I was a prisoner in the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land for seven years. "Five years ago. "The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land carried out a secret operation. It's said they expended a great deal of their foundation and lost many lives. Not long after, a Spirit Accumulation Pavilion appeared within the Holy Land. "It grants a full tenfold increase in cultivation speed and a tenfold increase in martial technique comprehension speed. "You have to realize, an ordinary Training Chamber only offers three times the speed. "It's just..." "The Holy Land's Spirit Accumulation Pavilion has never been upgraded. This structure is simply too rare. The Immortal Slaughter Holy Land doesn't know what materials are needed for the next level. They searched through ancient texts and found no record, and every material they tested over the years ended in failure." Truth be told, even though he had witnessed the Fan Domain's rise with his own eyes these past few days, he had never believed it possessed much potential. Jiangbei was simply too small, after all; factions that arose in places like this usually lacked staying power and soon fizzled out. He had only wanted to stay alive for the time being. Yet seeing this Spirit Accumulation Pavilion completely shattered his worldview. Although he bore a grudge against the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land, he had to admit that the Holy Land was indeed an immense power. And a structure that cost such a power an enormous price to obtain—the Fan Domain actually had one as well? Chen Fan held his teacup and chuckled softly, saying nothing. *None of you can see the interface, so of course you don't know what upgrade materials are needed.* The panel spelled it out in plain terms: "Upgrading to Level 5 requires 5,000 ghost stones and 1 Sea Embryo." —The required material was a "Sea Embryo." It was likely something similar to a Mountain Embryo. It was just that he had no idea how to obtain one yet. "I know how to upgrade it." Chen Fan did not conceal it either. He set down his cup, leaned back in his chair, looked at Shao Qiu, and said softly, "With this building here, can you help me quickly train a group of personnel skilled in assassination, infiltration, and intelligence gathering? "One day, perhaps you can personally lead a team to march upon the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. "Sounds pretty wonderful when you think about it, doesn't it?" The white-robed man before him did not look old—around twenty-five or twenty-six. He had a gaunt frame that looked malnourished, and his complexion was deathly pale. At first Chen Fan had thought he was just frightened, but later realized this fellow was always this pale, as if suffering from chronic deficiency. After a long silence... "Hooo..." Only then did Shao Qiu take a deep breath to collect himself. Dropping to his knees before Chen Fan, he rasped, "Before becoming a prisoner of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land, I founded a faction called the 'God Slaying Hall.' "It was an assassin organization. "One day, I took on a high-bounty mission to infiltrate the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land and assassinate their Third Elder. As long as I completed that mission, the God Slaying Hall would become renowned throughout the world! "I grew up an orphan with no father or mother, and was fortunate enough to become a special cultivator—a 'living dead.' "My sole dream was to build an assassin organization that would be famous across the land. "That year, I was seventeen. "Full of arrogance, my assassination failed, and I became a prisoner of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land. "However... "The reason I was willing to do tasks for the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land was, on one hand, because my life was under threat, and on the other, because I truly was born with a passion for assassination and stealth. "Over all these years, I've fantasized countless times about escaping the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land one day and building another assassin organization. But the greatest drawback of an assassin organization is that subordinates cultivate too slowly and comprehend martial techniques too slowly. Having this Spirit Accumulation Pavilion greatly remedies that flaw. "And now, I feel this is the closest I have ever been to my dream. "If the Domain Lord is willing to trust me, I will certainly forge a world-renowned assassin division for the Fan Domain." Chen Fan sat in his chair, looking at the emaciated, pale youth before him with a faintly peculiar expression. *Seventeen?* *Single-handedly founding the God Slaying Hall at seventeen, and heading off to assassinate an elder of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land?* *Are you holding the protagonist's script or something?* *What kind of normal person founds a faction at seventeen? Could he even command anyone's respect?* "What is your current cultivation?" "Level 7 living dead." "Your cultivation isn't even that high, yet you went to assassinate someone in the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land? Were their defenses really that flimsy?" At the very least, Chen Fan felt that a Level 7 cultivator shouldn't be able to breach his Fan Domain and assassinate him. "I was already a Level 7 living dead seven years ago." A hint of pride surfaced on Shao Qiu's face. "It's just that all these years, the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land extracted one of my mortal souls, preventing my cultivation from breaking through again. "My greatest achievement prior to that was successfully assassinating a Level 11 Martial King. "The Third Elder of the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land was an architect with little combat strength of his own. "Living dead are an exceptionally rare kind of special cultivator, even fewer in number than Nightwatchers and architects. To this day, I have never met another living dead. This kind of cultivator doesn't possess many peculiar tricks, but with each increase in cultivation, a martial technique related to assassination, stealth, and the like will manifest in our minds. Furthermore, the technique is instantly mastered to the Great Perfection realm, and the grade of the acquired techniques gradually increases. "One of those techniques is called 'Concealing the Heavens.' "At the cost of sacrificing lifespan, it renders one undetectable by any means of detection for a short time—including structures laid down by architects, as well as... the Shadow-Projecting Formation Domain Lord deployed outside the valley, and even that sand table beside you." Chen Fan glanced at the Heaven-Deriving Sand Table resting on the stone table beside him. "You certainly know quite a bit. Does that mean you could have sneaked into my Fan Domain without making a sound?" "Not quite." Shao Qiu shook his head. "Though activating Concealing the Heavens avoids these detection methods, naked eyes can still see me. Domain Lord, your cave is completely enclosed, and the sinkhole in front of the cave offers an unobstructed view. Infiltrating would be exceedingly difficult. "Furthermore, the stronger the detection methods, the more lifespan must be sacrificed. Back then, I sacrificed fifty years of my life. "I figured that after turning fifty, one is old anyway, and achieving fame by then would be meaningless. "So I took a gamble. "It was just that I was young and rash, and my intelligence on the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land was flawed. I was discovered the moment I infiltrated and never even caught sight of the Third Elder. I evaded all the detection methods from structures and exotic treasures, but an exotic beast in the Holy Land detected me through some method I couldn't comprehend." Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully. "The green-robed man who pinned you to the ground—do you know his cultivation?" "A Level 9 cultivator, one step away from breaking through to Martial King." "If you were tasked with killing him, could you?" "I couldn't match him in a direct fight, but in an assassination, I'd have an eighty percent certainty." "Then why were you pinned to the ground today?" "I..." Shao Qiu replied somewhat sheepishly, "In the past, I'd have had a ninety percent certainty. But with one of my souls extracted, my strength was heavily diminished, and my main techniques can only be brought to bear late at night. "Besides, he is stronger than an ordinary Level 9 cultivator; he must have had some fortunate encounters." "Can you destroy a Level 3 wall?" "Huh?" Shao Qiu was completely baffled. "Of course not! No one goes around destroying Level 3 walls during an assassination..." After pondering for a moment, Chen Fan drew the soul tablet from his robes and tossed it into Shao Qiu's lap. "This soul is returned to you. Tomorrow, once the Wild Wolf Gang arrives, pick ten people from among them. "Establish the 'Dark Pavilion.' "It will be responsible for the Fan Domain's assassinations, infiltration, and intelligence gathering. "In one month, the Fan Domain will invite various factions to attend an auction. I hope to see some results by then. During this period, the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion will be open to the Dark Pavilion without restriction. "You may raise any requests you have, and we will fulfill whatever we can." "This..." Shao Qiu looked down in disbelief at the soul tablet in his hands, then looked up at Chen Fan right in front of him, hardly daring to believe that the means binding his very life was now in his own possession. All these years, he had never even considered killing Yu Ning'er. That was because no matter how fast he killed, she only needed a single thought to end his life. Fast as his movements were, they could never outpace a thought. Yet right now, Chen Fan was right before him. An architect. A man with little combat strength of his own. If he wished, he could even kill Chen Fan in an instant, take the soul tablet, leave this place far behind, and be completely free. Instead, he took a deep breath and dropped to his knees once more. This time, he was truly moved. This was a trust he had never experienced before. Pressing his forehead tight against the ground, he rasped, "Domain Lord, rest assured, I will put forth my utmost efforts to make the Fan Domain's Dark Pavilion renowned across the world!" Freedom was important. Yet compared to freedom, fulfilling his dream was even more important. The Spirit Accumulation Pavilion here was the closest he had ever come to that dream. "Go and rest." Chen Fan held the emerald walking stick firmly in his arms, smiling with breezy calm. "I hope to see that day as well." "Yes!" Shao Qiu stood up and nodded heavily. Just as he was about to withdraw, he suddenly turned back, hesitating. "Domain Lord, weren't you worried that I might suddenly strike and kill you just now? At such close range..." "Many people want to kill me." Chen Fan stood up as well, leaning on his walking stick as he walked toward his room. Without looking back, he said casually, "Yet I'm still alive to this day, and they are all dead. Have Quehou show you around tonight to get an overview of the Fan Domain. "From now on, we're all family." Shao Qiu watched Chen Fan's receding back, silent for a long time. Chen Fan was a young man just like him. Yet the boldness and confidence Chen Fan displayed made him feel utterly inferior. When facing death, he had wept bitterly and begged for mercy; in contrast, Chen Fan could casually toss away the soul tablet that held his life in check. It was as if saying: *Run if you want. Without you, the Fan Domain will still have its Dark Pavilion.* *But without the Fan Domain, you will be nothing more than a rat scurrying across the street for the rest of your days.* He looked toward the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion nearby once more. The ambition that had lain dormant during his seven years in the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land surged forth once again. He was determined to build an assassin organization that would be famous across the realm—and only in the Fan Domain could he achieve this. He crushed the soul tablet in his hand. The next instant— His mortal soul returned. Shao Qiu slowly closed his eyes. The cultivation that had been suppressed for seven years began to surge rapidly, finally stopping at the peak of Level 9, just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to Martial King. A Level 10 cultivator was a Martial King. "What a freak." Back in his room, Chen Fan lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, murmuring to himself. He knew this world had many kinds of special cultivators, like Nightwatchers and architects. Such special cultivators typically could not become what they were through subsequent effort. It all depended on whether it manifested the very first time one absorbed a ghost stone. If one didn't have it then, there was never any chance later. Effort didn't matter. It was entirely up to fate. No matter how hard an ordinary person worked, they could never become an architect. This was the first time he had learned of a special cultivator known as a "living dead." With every rise in cultivation, they gained a martial technique related to assassination, and automatically comprehended that technique to the Great Perfection—the highest realm. Truly monstrous. It meant they had zero need to spend time comprehending martial techniques; as long as they kept raising their cultivation, their combat strength would be the absolute strongest among those of the same level. No wonder he could single-handedly found the God Slaying Hall at seventeen. Wait, that's not right— Something suddenly struck him. In this world, one could only absorb ghost stones and awaken at age sixteen. This guy awakened as a living dead at sixteen, founded the God Slaying Hall at seventeen, charged into the Immortal Slaughter Holy Land in the same year, and was then held prisoner for seven years? In the span of a single year, his cultivation rose from Level 1 to Level 7?!