Immortal of the Nine Realms

Fang Chen remained calm and led Jiang Zhong and Jiang Tianai off the ship. There were mortals, cultivators, and an abnormally high number of demons at the port.

It didn’t take much for Fang Chen to notice that the Qinghu Empire seemed to be dominated by demons.

Suddenly, a tall and imposing figure clad in black armor approached them. He towered over the three as his eyes were fixed on them, from above. “Where are you from?” he asked. “What’s your names, too? I’ll register them.”

Fang Chen scrutinized the demon before him. He’s an ape, just like Victorious Buddha, but he has a higher cultivation than him, probably around the seventh stage of the Qi Refining Realm. He can also talk, too.

There were many such like him around, all clad in black armor.

”Fang Xiaotu, from the Flame Empire,” said Fang Chen, deadpanned.

The demon scribbled away on the register and added a few ticks. He then turned to Jiang Zhong and Jiang Tianai.

The two naturally didn’t divulge their true names and used aliases instead.

After he was done registering them, the demon sternly began, ”Our ruler has declared that foreign cultivators cannot under any circumstances act against any demon of the empire, or else they’ll pay a steep price. Our empire is different from other empires, so if you see or experience anything that you don’t like, I hope you can tolerate it and not make things difficult for us.”

Fang Chen smiled. ”What is there for us to dislike?”

The figure smiled lightly but didn’t elaborate. He left, walking toward another group.

Jiang Zhong sent a voice transmission. ‘Sect Leader Fang, there must be lackeys of the Spirit Blood Sect here. We shouldn’t stay here for long.’

Fang Chen nodded. He grabbed them and transformed into a streak of sword light, shooting into the sky and heading toward the direction of the Grand Qian Empire.

The ape-like demon who had just registered them frowned slightly upon seeing that. ”Was that the Rainbow Transformation Technique? Or the Sword Manipulation Technique?”

Even though the Qinghu Empire was a sixth-tier empire that was on par with the Flame Empire, its territory was vast. Fang Chen flew for five days and six nights, resting only three times for an hour each, yet he still couldn’t fly out of a single state!

If this was the Flame Empire, he would’ve already flown from Qingzhou to Xuzhou, and made a roundtrip, too. The Qinghu Empire was easily two times bigger, or even four times bigger, than the Flame Empire. However, unlike the Flame Empire, it didn’t have many cities. There were endless mountain ranges and ancient forests, instead. The environment here was excellent for wild beasts, and there was occasional demonic qi surging in various places.

”It seems there’s a market down ahead,” said Fang Chen as he began to slow down and descend.

He could see a huge, bustling market in the distance a few miles away. It was filled with cultivators and demons, mingling together.

Fang Chen had around 14000 low-grade spirit stones on him, as well as quite a few high-grade Purple Lightning Talismans.

Little Sword had been hungry for a while now, and that market seemed big enough. He could buy some food for Little Sword as well as buy talisman materials for himself, so, with a flicker of sword light, Fang Chen landed at the entrance of the market with the other two.

The passing cultivators couldn’t help but cast them glances.

”I need to buy some stuff. Half a day should be enough time.” Fang Chen smiled. “Take a look around and see if there’s anything you need, I’ll buy it for you.”

Jiang Zhong nodded heavily and walked behind Fang Chen. He was really anxious; the demons of the Qinghue Empire weren’t particularly fond of humans. But anxious as he was, he didn’t dare rush Fang Chen. Because of their low cultivation, he could only pull Jiang Tianai a little closer and stick to Fang Chen.

The market was packed with stalls, and many people were stopping to browse and haggle with the owners. But these stalls couldn’t supply him with large quantities of spiritual materials, so these weren’t Fang Chen targets.

After the time it took to brew a cup of tea passed, Fang Chen stopped in front of a building with three large words engraved on a plaque.

Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

Fang Chen smiled. Looks like I have a bit of fate with the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

Upon entering the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, a human store clerk came forward to welcome them, but his face was quite cold. Giving the three a cursory look, he casually asked, “What’re you looking for?”

”Spiritual materials and treasures,” replied Fang Chen.

”What kind of spiritual materials and treasures do you want? We have forty-seven types of yellow rank, low-grade spiritual materials. Tell me which one you need, and I’ll see if we have it in stock,” said the store clerk impatiently.

Fang Chen furrowed his brow slightly. ”I don’t want yellow ranked low-grade spiritual materials. I want yellow rank, middle-grade or high-grade spiritual materials. Do you have any here?” mouthed Fang Chen. “If not, I’ll look somewhere else.”

Fang Chen had noticed that customers around were mostly demons, and the store clerks that tended to them spoke to them very warmly. This store clerk didn’t treat him similarly, however.

”Yellow rank, mid-grade or higher?” The store clerk was taken aback, and his eyes narrowed. ”Yellow rank, mid-grade spiritual materials are not cheap. Which specific types are you looking for?”

”I’ll take whatever you have, regardless of the type. And if you’re short on spiritual materials, I’ll also take treasures.”

Jiang Zhong was quite confused with Fang Chen’s behavior and couldn’t help but wonder if he was an Artifact Master, perhaps? Only an Artifact Master would purchase spiritual materials in bulk. For ordinary cultivators, it was more practical to buy treasures directly.

The store clerk’s eyes grew even more mocking, and he said, ”You sound quite confident in your skills, customer. Follow me.” He then led Fang Chen and the others to the warehouse in the backyard.

Various spiritual materials were arranged in the warehouse, and Fang Chen even saw refined Moon Sinking Gold among them. These spiritual materials filled almost half of the warehouse.

”There are a dozen or so yellow rank mid-grade spiritual materials. Judging by the quantity here, I estimate they are worth at least six thousand low-grade spiritual stones. Can you afford them all?” asked the store clerk with jest.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man walked over, seemingly confused. ”Qin Wei, what’s going on here? Why did you bring a customer to the warehouse?”

Qin Wei gave a smirk. ”Shopkeeper Lin, this customer here said he wanted to purchase yellow rank mid grade spiritual materials, and he wanted as many as possible, so I brought him to our warehouse to have a look.”

Shopkeeper Lin was startled. ”As many as possible?” he repeated, sizing up Fang Chen.

Fang Chen pointed at the yellow rank, mid grade spiritual materials up ahead. ”Pack all these spiritual materials up for me and give me the price.”

Qin Wei’s smile stiffened a little, and taken aback, he said, “Dear customer, we don’t joke around when it comes to transactions here. If you make an order and fail to pay, you’ll be thrown outside the store, which can be very embarrassing, I must say.”

”Who do you think you are?” Fang Chen frowned. “Do I even know you? You think I came here just to joke around with you?”

Qin Wei was taken aback, and the people around couldn’t help but look over, their eyes filled with curiosity. Many customers had lost their temper at the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, but none had a good ending. In the end, they all ended up embarrassing themselves.

Qin Wei’s blood surged, his face turning red as he stared at Fang Chen. ”What did you just say?”

Fang Chen turned to Shopkeeper Lin. “You’re the shopkeeper, right?” he said. “Is this how the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion conducts its business? Is this how you treat your customers? I’ve noticed that you are very polite when dealing with demons, but rather neglectful toward human cultivators. What’s the meaning of this?”