Immortal of the Nine Realms

”But what’s their purpose? What benefits could the conflict between Qingsong and Grand Xia possibly provide them?” Goddess Xiao’s gaze turned serious. She had initially thought that Qingsong attacking Grand Xia was just the natural, expected culmination. She had believed it to be a fact, one akin to the cycle of life. It was all about the survival of the fittest. But now, it had turned out that an unknown hand was at play, meddling, controlling them behind the scenes, causing the once powerful Qingsong Empire to seem to have been reduced to a mere pawn in the hands of others.

Do the higher-ups in Qingsong know about any of this?

”Just lay low,” Fang Chen said calmly. ”You don’t need to get anymore involved in this.”

Goddess Xiao was about to speak, but Fang Chen had already turned away. Seeing that, she dashed behind him, but Xu Ge stopped her. “My lord has been quite patient with you up to this point. Better not provoke him any further. It won’t do you any good, believe me,” he said, grinning.

She frowned. ”Are you planning on keeping me locked up here?”

Xu Ge stepped to the side, then said, “My lord said you can leave anytime you wish. We won’t stop you.”

She fell silent but didn’t try to leave.

Xu Ge smiled sardonically, mockery in his eyes. ”Since you don’t intend on leaving, stay here, obediently.”

*

Night fell.

Fang Chen grounded a bit of cinnabar before imbuing his brush with spiritual energy and started crafting Purple Lightning Talismans. He used the new special yellow talismans he had bought.

”My spiritual energy is being depleted faster than before, but it’s a lot more stable.” A hint of a smile appeared in his eyes. ”Using tools containing spiritual energy really makes these talismans a whole lot better.”

When he had used ordinary items before and infused his spiritual energy into the brush, he would feel resistance with every stroke on the paper, as though the brush refused to move in accordance to his will. That was why he was much more prone to mistakes at the time—and even the slightest mistake could ruin a talisman. But now, that resistance was a lot weaker than it once was. The only difference was his expenditure of spiritual energy, and the fact that the Purple Lightning Talismans produced were a lot stronger than before.

Fang Chen continued to craft more and more talismans. Every two hours, his spiritual energy reserves would be completely depleted, and he would wait for a while before continuing. Each time he had exhausted his spiritual energy, the total amount he would recover would increase slightly.

As dawn broke, and as he finished crafting his eighth Purple Lightning Talisman, spiritual energy suddenly gathered around him before pouring into his body in an unstoppable tide.

And in no time, Fang Chen formed another Immortal Vein.

With a quick inspection, he found that the amount of spiritual energy he could store now was almost five times the amount he could before he broke through!

”Did I already enter the third stage of the Qi Refining Realm?” Feeling the changes brought about by the increase in his cultivation, a smile rose on his face. He had never made such rapid progress practicing martial arts. His powerful soul really aided in his path of cultivation. It was no wonder Daoist Yun He took notice of him.

I wonder if I’ll be able to meet that fairy again in the future... I wonder if she intentionally increased the power of my soul, or was it something else that did that...? he pondered.

Even though he had lost his eyesight, becoming blind, the benefits it brought were striking.

”My lord, the scholars of the Guhe, Longdu, and Yizhou Empires are yelling at the entrance...” Xu Ge’s voice emanated from outside, carrying clear anger.

”What’s the matter?” asked Fang Chen as he stepped out from inside. Outside, he saw Xu Ge, who seemed to be boiling with anger.

”They’re saying that you indiscriminately slaughtered the calvary of the Longdu Empire!”

”Oh, Zhou Xiu has arrived in the capital, hasn’t he? Looks like he isn’t willing to back down and accept what has happened. He’s trying to cause trouble for me,” Fang Chen said casually. He paused for a moment, then asked, ”What’s the situation like outside?”

”Well, the second master is arguing with them, but there are just too many of them. What’s even worse is that these scholars are way too damn articulate! I can’t even understand some of their insults,” Xu Ge said, repressed.

Fang Chen chuckled. ”Let’s go take a look.”

His second uncle was definitely not a match for those scholars. He was probably scolded thoroughly by now.

*

Outside the gates of the Fang Manor.

Glaring at the scholars, the guards were bunched up near Fang Cangyou, protecting him. But their strong physiques weren’t of much help today; the scholars directly assaulted one’s mind with their sharp words and snide remarks.

”The Grand Xia Empire was originally a country filled with cultured people. But your Fang Family really went overboard this time! You’re just a bunch of martial artists who run rampant, riding your high horses, recklessly endangering the people! You even casually slaughtered the soldiers and attendants of a Viscount of the Longdu Empire. Hurry up and bring out Fang Chen. He owes us an explanation!”

”Admit to what you’ve done! Don’t be a coward, Fang Chen.”

”If you don’t offer us an explanation, we’ll immediately go to the Imperial Palace and file a complaint. I want to see if you’ll still be able to act all high and mighty and above everyone else then!”

”The Grand Xia Empire is being harmed by you ignorant martial artists!”

Hearing their endless taunts and insults, the blood leached from Fang Cangyou’s face. The scholars spoke rapidly, and their words were occasionally interspersed with some local slang of theirs that he didn’t quite understand. Whenever he tried to open his mouth and rebuke them, he would immediately be shot down by their rabid mouths.

The surrounding citizens of the empire looked on strangely at this scene. While they had heard that Fang Chen indiscriminately slaughtered the soldiers and attendants of the Longdu Empire, none of them dared to speak up. This involved the relationship between two empires! Who would dare speak up!

The scholars of Grand Xia were also present in the crowd, and they were also chiding Fang Chen with the rest. However, they were a lot more polite than the others. At the very least, they didn’t insult him—at least openly.

”Dammit! Damn these scholars! Why are their words so fricken sharp?!” Fang Cangyou’s face was aflame with anger. He wished he could leap up from his wheelchair and give each of them a good beating.

”Shut your mouths,” suddenly, a cold shout rang through the air.

The once incessant noise finally died down as everyone shut their mouths.

Fang Chen walked to the gate with Xu Ge, looking around at the group of scholars from the four empires. ”It’s early in the morning, and you’re all making such a big ruckus in front of my Fang Manor. What’s the meaning of this?!”

Long Huixin spoke coldly, ”Fang Chen, you’ve killed soldiers from Longdu. You better offer us an explanation. If you can kill the soldiers from Longdu, what’s stopping you from killing members of the other empires?!”

”Exactly!”

”Young Lady Long is right!”

Many people yelled out in agreement.

A scholar from Grand Xia clasped his fist and spoke, ”Divine General Fang, this matter involves the diplomatic relations between two empires. Were it to be mishandled, it would surely bring forth a great deal of trouble to Grand Xia. That’s why, I hope you can give everyone here a proper explanation.”

”Explanation? What explanation do you want?” Fang Chen said with a faint smile.

The crowd was slightly stunned. Indeed, what kind of explanation did they want from Fang Chen?

Long Huixin beat them to it. ”We hope you can go to the embassy of the Longdu Empire and apologize in person. After that, you should be punished according to the law of Grand Xia!”

”Tie Ma, slap her,” Fang Chen said faintly.

”Yes!” As the word left his mouth, Tie Ma swiftly appeared next to Long Huixin like a ghost before slapping her ten times in succession.

Everyone was stunned.

Fang Cangyou was startled too. Although he had wanted to do that, doing so would make Fang Manor the target of public criticism.

”Fang Chen, you need to calm down,” Fang Cangyou whispered.

”Second Uncle, we are martial artists. What’s the point of us reasoning with these scholars? You should’ve just chased them away earlier,” Fang Chen said.

”Can we really do that?” Fang Cangyou was slightly surprised.

Fang Chen returned the question with another. ”Why not?”

Tie Ma had already finished slapping Long Huixin, leaving her in a sorry state, with her hair completely disheveled.

She hadn’t recovered from her shock when she felt a stinging pain on her face. Screaming in fright, she stared at Fang Chen in disbelief. ”How dare you hit me?!”

”Fang—” A scholar from the Guhe roared with rage.

“—Slap him.”

”Yes.”

The scholar’s anger was met with multiple heavy slaps.

”You guys...”

”Slap him.”

”Yes.”

”You...”

”Slap him.”

Before long, the scholars who stood out to yell at him had their faces beaten black and blue. The scholars from the Grand Xia weren’t spared either.

WIth angry glares landing on Fang Chen, those in the crowd wanted nothing more than to tear him apart.

Fang Chen smiled. ”I’m just a martial artist. You can’t reason with me. If there’s a next time, I won’t be just slapping you guys. You’ll have to leave a leg behind if you wish to leave alive.”

Chills passed down their spines. How was he able to just run roughshod over everyone whenever he wanted!

”Why aren’t you leaving?” Fang Chen chuckled under his breath.

Realizing that they wouldn’t be able to achieve anything by staying, the scholars no longer wasted their words and turned to leave.

Touching her cheeks, Long Huixin stared at Fang Chen venomously, her eyes flickering with resentment.