Immortal of the Nine Realms

”Senior Sister, even if we rush to the Profound Blade Sect, it will be deep into the night by the time we arrive. How about resting here for the night and continuing on in our journey tomorrow?” someone suggested.

Many nodded in agreement.

Since even the Golden Eyed Demon Ape feared them, they didn’t want to leave such a refreshing place so soon. Considering that they had been on the road without much rest, resting for a night was a good idea.

As their senior sister was hesitating whether to spend the night or not, Fang Chen approached, a smile on his face. ”You can stay here and rest for the night. We have several campsites available.”

Fang Zhixue quickly scampered to her brother and gestured all around with her hand. ”Brother, Brother, there was a huge monkey just now!” she chirped, trying to show how big the monkey was with her hands, but no matter how far or wide she went, she wasn’t able to depict its size at all.

It was Xu Ge who made the introductions. ”That’s my lord,” he said to the lady.

”Greetings, everyone. My name is Li Chen,” Fang Chen introduced himself, clasping his hand in greeting.

Xu Ge and Fang Zhixue were momentarily caught off guard, but they quickly followed suit, clasping their hands.

It was then that many of the young members of the Fang Family crowded around and started introducing themselves one by one.

”My name is Li Ge. Greetings, everyone.”

”And I am Li Zhixue. Greetings, everyone.”

”Li Dongmei....”

So they are all one family, and they are surnamed ‘Li,’ thought the woman to herself.

She clasped her hands in return and introduced herself, ”Zhang Ying of the Azure Point Sword Sect. Greetings, everyone.”

”It was you who had helped us ward danger away from my Li Family by announcing your identity, scaring away the giant ape. If you don’t mind, stay here for the night.” said Fang Chen.

”Why are you talking with your eyes closed?” someone chimed in suddenly.

Fang Chen opened his eyes, revealing his gray-white pupils.

Everyone fell silent upon the sight.

Blind at such a young age? What a pity.

Zhong Ying glared at the junior brother who had asked.

Just as she was about to refuse Fang Chen, she smelled the fragrant smell that had suddenly wafted over. It turned out that the people from the Fang Manor had already started a fire to cook.

Hearing the gulps of her junior brothers and sisters, she let out a sigh and finally agreed. “Well, excuse us then.”

At night, many young members of the Fang family gathered around the campfire and occasionally cheered as they listened to the disciples of Azure Point Sword Sect recounting stories from the martial scene in the southern region.

Fang Zhixue found the stories quite fascinating. It wasn’t until she came to the southern region did she realize that the martial scene in the capital city wasn’t the real deal. The stories there couldn’t hold a candle to the exciting stories from here— stories that got your heart all jumpy and pumping with blood!

Stories of lone heroes wiping out corrupt officials in a single night and taking back the stolen wealth to the impoverished locals. And tales of sect disciples facing the tragedy of their sect’s extermination, cultivating bitterly for decades, and eventually avenging their family by wiping out their enemies.

As the youngsters conversed, Fang Chen had already ventured deep into the mountains, following the aura left by the Golden Eyed Demon Ape.

Arriving at the entrance of a cave, he stared into the pitch-black cavern. ”Come out,” he called.

Seconds later, a massive figure skulked out of the cave. Astonishingly, it was the Golden Eyed Demon Ape.

It cowered and bent in front of Fang Chen. “I didn’t know of your arrival, Immortal Master,” it mouthed, its tone awkward. “Please don’t hold what happened today against me.”

Fang Chen was surprised. ”You can talk?”

Despite the ape’s low cultivation, it had already developed spiritual awareness?

”I’ve been cultivating for many years and have drunk a good amount of spiritual spring water, which helped me gain enlightenment,” explained the Golden Eyed Demon Ape. The ape’s accent was rather heavy, but that was understandable.

”Your spiritual energy is quite chaotic, and it seems like you’ve only barely managed to condense your immortal veins....” Fang Chen carefully observed the Golden Eyed Demon Ape. “Do you not have an inheritance?” he asked. “Have you blindly cultivated up to where you are now?”

The expression of the Golden Eyed Demon Ape changed, and he immediately knelt on the ground and started kowtowing repeatedly. ”Please have mercy, Immortal Master!” he begged. “Please take me in as your servant and bestow me a cultivation technique. I’m willing to serve you as my master.”

Suddenly, the sound of rustling leaves filled the vicinity, and a few seconds later, a giant python slithered forward, while a large tiger poked its head out from another direction. Without waiting for Fang Chen to speak, they began kneeling and kowtowing alongside the Golden Eyed Demon Ape repeatedly. It was clear that they had gained enlightenment as well and were intelligent, they just couldn’t speak yet.

Fang Chen’s curiosity was piqued. ”They are?”

The python was about seven or eight meters long, with the thickest part of its body the size of a water bucket. It was covered in black jade-like scales that shimmered where the moonlight caught it.

The large tiger was also larger than normal and had silver-white fur around its neck like a ring of sacred fire.

”Immortal Master, that’s my sworn brother and sworn sister. I am the eldest. Big Cat is my second brother, and Little Green is my third sister.”

The Golden Eyed Demon Ape continued, ”When I came back after I’ve seen you down the mountain, I was quick to mention you to them. Rest assured that we are all kind-hearted beings.

“Since gaining enlightenment, we have refrained from harming humans. Please take us as your servants and impart your cultivation techniques to us. We sincerely seek your guidance from the bottom of our hearts!”

Having said that, the three of them continued to kowtow, showing devout expressions.

“In other words, before gaining enlightenment, you used to eat humans?” Fang Chen smiled faintly.

The Golden Eyed Demon Ape was slightly startled, then nodded frankly. ”At that time, we were no different from wild beasts. Humans were nothing more than food for survival in our eyes.”

The tiger and the python nodded slightly.

”Honest enough.” Fang Chen nodded slightly. He could tell that these three demons were not lying.

”Other than the three of you, are there any other beasts that have gained enlightenment?”

”There’ve been many wild beasts who have been drinking from the spring for many years, accumulating spiritual energy inside them, but none of them were able to gain enlightenment before dying of old age. There were around a hundred of such beasts. Besides being slightly stronger than ordinary wild beasts, they are entirely different from us.”

”You seemed to have been planning to kill people when you came down the mountain today,” said Fang Chen.

”I just wanted to scare them away, Immortal Master. After all, it was getting late, and if they were to stay here, the wild beasts would’ve went after them,” explained The Golden Eyed Demon Ape.

”Interesting.” Fang Chen nodded with a smile. ”You don’t have a proper inheritance, yet you were able to attain enlightenment with the help of the spiritual spring. That means that, among the beasts, your aptitudes are commendable. In the future, when I establish my cave dwelling here, I’ll need you to act as protectors.” His eyes looked over at the three. “Are you willing to accept me as your master and honor me as a father?”

The three demons were stunned, their faces wreathed in astonishment; he really intended to accept them as disciples?!

The Golden Eyed Demon Ape let out an odd cry, seemingly out of excitement—one which had been heard by the chatty youngsters at the foot of the mountain, who quivered from head to toe at the sound and whipped their heads up the mountain.

”That demon won’t come down the mountain again, right, Senior Sister?” asked one of them with a tremble in his voice.

Some of the disciples from the Azure Point Sword Sect were not very confident.

”It probably won’t...” Zhong Ying’s expression was strange. If it wanted to come down again, wouldn’t it have done so already? Looks like it had indeed been frightened away by us, she thought.

*

”We pay our respects to you, Master.”

The three demons knelt before Fang Chen.

They had already changed the way they addressed him from ‘Immortal Master’ to ‘Master.’

They had originally thought that it would be good enough if they were taken in as just mere servants by the immortal master. But, unexpectedly, they had a stroke of good fortune and were able to become his disciples directly—status far superior to that of mere demon servants. In the future, they would be orthodox cultivators!

Rare opportunities like that were equally precious for both humans and demons!

”I’ll bestow each of you a Daoist name,” said Fang Chen with a faint smile.

The three demons grew even more excited. ”Go ahead, Master!” they squeaked.

They were going to have Daoist names of their own!

Fang Chen pointed to the Golden Eyed Demon Ape, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes. ”From now on, you will be called ’Victorious Buddha.’ Were you to become an immortal one day, remember to add the two words ’Battle Conqueror’ in front of your Daoist name.”

”Victorious Buddha? Battle Conqueror Victorious Buddha?” The Golden Eyed Demon Ape muttered to himself with excitement. Even Big Cat and Little Green could tell that his Daoist name was quite impressive, and they couldn’t help but look forward to their own Daoist names.