Immortal of the Nine Realms

”Cough, cough...” The Grand Xia Emperor cleared his throat, then said, ”Fang Chen, compared to the Nightmare Knights, Grand Xia’s military strength is far too inferior. We don’t have enough troops to engage them in a military exercise. Why don’t we—”

Before he could say any more, Fang Chen cut him off with a chuckle. “The Fang Family’s guards haven’t been on the battlefield for many years. This is a good opportunity for them to get some practice.”

Fang Family... guards?

He’s planning to use the guards of the Fang Family to spar with the elite Nightmare Knights of the Frost Water Empire?

A look of astonishment flashed through the eyes of the crowd.

When the Nightmare Knights heard that Fang Chen planned to have them train with a bunch of manor guards, they flew off the handle! They had already been enduring long enough! If it weren’t for Daoist Li Daoye’s special status, they would have exploded in anger long ago.

Ji Lengyue felt anger surging through his heart, but his sense of reason prevailed, and he repressed his unhappiness. He muttered calmly, “ The Nightmare Knights have never exchanged pointers with the guards of the Fang Mansion before. They will surely learn from the experience.”

Fang Chen nodded with a smile. ”Very well.”

”I’ll have someone inform Guhe, Yizhou, and Longdu, too. They can also participate,” Fang Chen added.

Ji Lengyue’s face fell. He had thought that the training would be over in a day or two at most, and then he’d be able to leave the Grand Xia Empire quickly, but Fang Chen’s arrangements meant that he’d be forced to stay in Grand Xia for quite some time.

Fang Chen looked at the Grand Xia Emperor. ”Your Majesty, what do you think?”

The emperor didn’t respond immediately, seemingly lost in thought. After a brief moment of silence passed, he nodded. ”Alright.”

Fang Chen smiled. ”It’s settled, then.” He then saluted the emperor. ”We will take our leave now, Your Majesty.”

With that, the people of the Fang Manor left the hall in waves. No one dared to stop them. Even Ji Lengyue didn’t say a single word. Only, his gaze was fixed on Li Daoye, his eyes uncertain.

*

When Niu Jue saw that Fang Chen and the rest had returned, joy immediately appeared on his face as he hurriedly ran forward to greet them.

Behind him, his subordinates were stunned; it wasn’t all that strange for the people of the Fang Family to come back safely, but Fang Chen shouldn’t have been able to return with them.

Did Commander Niu actually win his bet...?

Fang Chen patted Niu Jue’s shoulder, exchanged a few words with him, and then sent him and his men away.

After that, he led the group back into the main hall.

Fang Zhentian sat at the host seat. ”Are you really confident, Kid?” he asked, staring at Fang Chen. He glanced over at Li Daoye. ”Your friend might indeed possess some interesting skills, but that’ll barely be enough to deal with a few Nightmare Knights....”

Li Daoye was somewhat unwilling to accept Fang Zhentian’s evaluation, and he was about to open his mouth and refute his words, but Fang Chen cut him short before he even began. ”Old Patriarch, I can assure you: Ji Lengyue and his Nightmare Knights won’t be leaving the empire after this ‘military exercise.’”

Fang Canghai and Fang Cangyou’s expressions changed instantly. Grand Xia hadn’t yet settled its affairs with the Qingsong Empire, and here was Fang Chen, talking about pissing off a higher empire. If things escalated and push came to shove, Grand Xia might not be able to withstand the rage of the Frost Water Empire.

”If you’re confident enough to propose it, then you probably have the confidence to achieve it, but what’s even the point?” Fang Zhentian shook his head. “If we just lay low for a while we might be able to rise quietly to become an eighth-tier empire.

“And when that happens, we wouldn’t need to fear the Frost Water Empire any more, much less be controlled by them. But if we’re hasty and alert them to our ambitions, they definitely won’t sit quietly and watch.”

Suddenly, seemingly remembering something, Fang Zhentian’s eyes narrowed. “I had thought about this many times before,” he said. “I think that my encounter with Ji Congyun wasn’t a coincidence, as I had originally thought back then. I believe they were aware that I had the potential to enter the Qi Core Stage, even the Earth Profound Stage, that’s why they decided to sever my martial path and be done with it.”

When Fang Canghai and Fang Cangyou heard that, waves of rage suddenly filled their hearts.

Fang Zhixue, in disbelief, turned to her father and, through gritted teeth, asked, ”Could that really be the case, Father?” She was so angry, her fists clenched tightly.

Fang Zhentian was the one to answer. ”It’s just a guess, alright? But I do believe it’s close enough.” He showed a faint smile. “Just think about it; Here I was, wandering around our empire, slaying a bunch of martial artists from Guhe and Qingsong who had disguised themselves as mountain bandits. In what world do I ever run into Ji Congyun there?”

The more they heard, and the more they thought about it, the more it all made sense.

Everyone’s clenched fists tightened even more. They’d have never thought that the Frost Water Empire would act so shamelessly; in order to prevent the Grand Xia Empire from growing strong enough to escape their control, they resorted to such lowly means.

”Old Patriarch, the threat we face in Grand Xia now is not from Qingsong, nor is it from the Frost Water Empire. But before we can get to dealing with the real threat, we have to sweep away all these little, trivial obstacles.” Fang Chen sighed before turning to Li Daoye. ”Tell them about the Spirit Blood Sect,” he said.

Daoist Li Daoye was slightly surprised. ”Really?” he whispered. ”Do ordinary people need to know about this?”

Fang Chen smiled. ”Sooner or later they will.”

Li Daoye pondered over it for a moment, then nodded. ”Alright, then.”

He started, ”The Spirit Blood Sect is a terrifying sect that spans across various empires. The cultivators within the sect are really strong. They specialize in using empires as furnaces to refine pills called Blood Spirit Pills.”

He went on to explain the origin of the Spirit Blood Sect, how they operated, and some events that had occurred in Grand Xia during this time. Tie Ma and the rest had already known a little, but it was only now that they truly understood how strong their enemy really was.

After a while, Li Daoye concluded, “That’s about all of it, really.” He took a sip of his tea.

The Fang Manor had fallen into an eerie silence for a while.

Fang Cangai was the one to break the silence, his voice unsettled. ”Chen’er... Does your friend mean to say that...that someone is using the citizens of the Grand Xia Empire to refine pills?”

Fang Chen nodded. ”Yes.” He then added, ”They were actually the ones who had controlled everything during the battle at Three World Mountain.”

”Damn it! These are human lives we’re talking about! They’re just using something as precious as that to refine some pills?! How can there be such evil people in this world!” Fang Canghai’s turned grim as he growled.

Fang Cangyou frowned. ”According to what he said, our Fang Family is nothing but ants before the massive Spirit Blood Sect. Wouldn’t what we’re doing be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot?”

”Cultivators...” Fang Zhentian murmured to himself. After a moment, he said, ”I have known about the existence of ‘cultivators’ ever since I was young, and I’ve even had the privilege of seeing one myself. Their methods are indeed extraordinary. However, such existences are almost extinct in ninth, eighth, and even seventh-tier empires. Even in the Frost Water Empire, there isn’t a single cultivator. That path is too rare, too precious...”

It was then that he looked at Fang Chen. ”Kid, are you also a cultivator?”

Everyone was shocked.

Could it be...

Fang Chen smiled and nodded. ”Old Patriarch, my martial cultivation has never really recovered. My qi sea has long been shattered beyond repair. It’s just that I’ve switched over to a different path.”

Everyone gasped. They didn’t expect that Fang Chen would also be a cultivator!

They finally understood why Li Daoye chose to remain in their Fang Manor.

”Do you have the confidence to deal with the Spirit Blood Sect?” asked Fang Zhentian in a deep voice.

No one cared about the Frost Water and Qingsong Empires anymore now that they had learned about the Spirit Blood Sect, which was an even bigger threat. That was the problem at hand now, and it needed to be dealt with!

Fang Chen shook his head lightly. ”I am not that confident, but I have to give it a shot.”

Fang Zhentian nodded at those words. ”Indeed, even if we don’t have any confidence at all, we still have to try.”

The others also thought the same; even if they weren’t confident, all of them felt the need to confront the Spirit Blood Sect.

Li Daoye was astonished. These ordinary people knew about the strength of the Spirit Blood Sect, yet they still wanted to actively confront them...

”I just have to say this first,” interjected Li Daoye, “actually, with Divine General Fang here, your clan can become a cultivation clan. That way, you’ll be able to leave Grand Xia directly and head over to a sixth-tier empire. You will be accepted there immediately and there would be no need for you to go against the Spirit Blood Sect anymore,” he said, suggesting.

Hearing that, everyone in the manor exchanged glances briefly, then burst into laughter.

Even Abbess Qing He smiled.

Li Daoye fell into deep confusion.

What are they laughing about?