Immortal of the Nine Realms

The spiritual energy contained within Fang Chen’s eyes surged out continuously. Right in front of everyone, he began refining the storage ring left behind by the Grand Elder of Profound Seeking Sect.

At this moment, the aura radiating from him had already far surpassed the Soul Splitting Realm, reaching the level of the Fusion Realm. The terrifying spiritual pressure made it difficult for Du Huiru and the others to breathe.

A few breaths later, the refining was complete, and Fang Chen gained access into the storage ring. Inside, aside from the Condensing Spirit Liquid, he found various miscellaneous items: a few mid-grade spirit stones, all kinds of spiritual materials, and several partially consumed Blood Spirit Pills.

It was clear that the Grand Elder had planned to save these pills for after his breakthrough, since continuing to consume them after reaching peak Nascent Soul Realm offered no further benefits.

The middle-aged man suddenly knelt down and started kowtowing repeatedly. ”Senior, earlier I was disrespectful to you! I was truly blind and ignorant. Please forgive me!”

The cultivators nearby looked confused at first, but they too knelt down one after the other. The cultivation of the man before them was simply too terrifying. He had killed their Grand Elder in a single move. Even if he wasn’t at the Fusion Realm, he was definitely a legendary Soul Splitting Realm cultivator!

Fang Chen turned to Du Huiru. ”This man is also a member of the Spirit Blood Sect. Your brother’s death is closely tied to him. Do you want to send him on his way?”

Du Huiru stared at the middle-aged man with deep resentment. ”From beginning to end, you and your father always knew where my brother was, yet you lied to me all along.”

”Dear, it was all decided by my father. My cultivation is inferior to his, and I could only obey. But my heart was never willing,” the middle-aged man hurriedly explained. ”You’re now carrying my child. If I die, won’t the child lose his father too?”

Du Huiru seemed a bit moved by his words, and she started to hesitate.

Seeing her hesitation, the middle-aged man was overjoyed. However, hardly had a smile formed on his face when an overwhelming force crashed into him, crushing him. With a loud blast, he burst into a mist of blood.

The wandering soul of the Grand Elder of Profound Seeking Sect stared blankly at the scene.

When the middle-aged man’s soul rose, he saw his father’s soul and was instantly enraged. His face twisted with anger, and he roared, ”Father, we must avenge this blood feud!”

Du Huiru stood frozen, and the remaining cultivators of Profound Seeking Sect were also horrified, gasping repeatedly in terror.

A peak Enlightenment Realm cultivator and a mid-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivator had perished within just a few breaths!

”As cultivators, since they had thrown themselves into the Spirit Blood Sect, how could they expect to continue clinging to life?” Fang Chen said indifferently.

He glanced at Du Huiru and said calmly, ”They were the main culprits behind Brother Du Fei’s death. That moment of hesitation you have shown is already a sign of disrespect toward your brother.”

Du Huiru’s expression turned somewhat dazed. ”I...”

Fang Chen lightly shook his head. With such a shaky state of mind, it was a wonder she had managed to cultivate to the Nascent Soul Realm. It could only be credited to sheer luck.

”This place is no longer safe for you. You should leave as soon as possible. After all, among these Profound Seeking Sect cultivators, who can say which ones might also be Blood Spirit Sect members?” Fang Chen’s gaze swept across the group of cultivators.

Hearing his words, they hurriedly spoke up to defend themselves, each declaring that they had no ties to the Spirit Blood Sect, terrified they might also be killed on the spot.

Du Huiru stayed silent for a few breaths, then gently nodded. After giving Fang Chen a respectful bow, she tore through the air and left.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man’s wandering soul kept trying to attack Fang Chen. However, now that he had died and become a wandering soul, he could not even touch a single hair on Fang Chen’s body.

The Grand Elder of Profound Seeking Sect said coldly, ”Stop wasting your energy. Our sect also has experts who can cross to the Underworld. For now, we’ve become wandering souls. Let’s first find the Yellow Springs Road and head to the Underworld. If we can meet with those experts, we still have a chance.”

”I need to remember this person’s face,” replied the middle-aged man, his rage-filled eyes fixed on Fang Chen.

He stared at Fang Chen fiercely, trying to imprint Fang Chen’s image into the depths of his mind.

That was until Fang Chen’s gaze met his.

”Can you remember my face now?” Fang Chen asked indifferently.

”You can see me!?” exclaimed the middle-aged man in disbelief.

He staggered back, his face filled with terror.

The Grand Elder of Profound Seeking Sect looked stunned and immediately flew to his side, glaring at Fang Chen.

Fang Chen lightly stomped, and Li Badao, impeccably dressed, appeared behind him, bowing respectfully.

”Greetings, my lord!”

Li Badao’s eyes flashed with excitement. For these past years, he hadn’t been summoned by Fang Chen and feared he had fallen out of favor. He had even tried to gather information from his superiors because of it. However, it seemed that his favor was still intact!

”Take these two back and interrogate them well,” Fang Chen ordered.

The two wandering souls stared at Li Badao in shock. They clearly sensed that he was also a soul, but unlike them, there was something about his aura that made them feel a chill down their spines!

Li Badao didn’t say another word. He immediately grabbed the two and retreated to the Yellow Springs Road.

***

With enough Condensing Spirit Liquid and the Blood of the Candle Dragon no longer being an issue, the remaining mid-grade spirit stones amounted to over twenty thousand.

That was enough to enter the Realm of the Three Thousand Daos, equating to 400 years of time.

Everything was ready.

In the Three Thousand Dao Realm, Fang Chen sat cross-legged in the center of the Dao Palace, beginning to operate the chapter on the Soul Splitting Realm of the Three Thousand Dao Art. In front of him, a bottle of Candle Dragon Blood and ten bottles of Condensing Spirit Liquid were placed.

Several days later, Fang Chen gently inhaled. A drop of Candle Dragon Blood and a small amount of Condensing Spirit Liquid immediately flew out of the jade bottles, entering his body.

Time passed day by day, and about half a year later, Fang Chen’s soul suddenly began to tremble at an accelerated rate. Then, a phantom image appeared above his soul, slowly separating from his main body and sitting cross-legged not far away.

This phantom looked exactly like Fang Chen.

The first split soul was a success.

Once he cultivated a physical body for it, Fang Chen would have firmly stepped into the Soul Splitting Realm.

A few years later, the second soul split succeeded.

Ten years later, the third soul split succeeded.

20 years later, the fourth soul split succeeded.

50 years.

80 years.

100 years.

By now, seven figures had appeared around Fang Chen, sitting cross-legged. They all looked identical to him, with no discernible difference from each other. The difference was that the first soul that split successfully had already formed a physical body and was sitting cross-legged, cultivating.

The seventh soul, just recently split, was still in the process of transitioning from virtual to solid.

The eighth soul took a full one hundred years to split successfully.

As time passed, when the mid-grade spirit stones were about to run out, the ninth soul finally split successfully.

Throughout the entire process, the mid-grade spirit stones had been primarily used to keep the Three Thousand Dao Realm operational. The Condensing Spirit Liquid was completely used up. The Candle Dragon Blood was nearly used up, with only a few drops remaining. During the process, a high-grade spirit stone was consumed.

The spiritual energy required for soul splitting was incredibly immense. Although Fang Chen’s recovery speed was astonishing, without the support of high-grade spirit stones to anchor the process, it could have taken an additional hundred years!

Fang Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air. ”Splitting nine souls with the aid of high-grade spirit stones took nearly four hundred years...”

No wonder most cultivators only choose to split six or fewer souls. Just the time spent on this process alone is enough to exhaust most cultivators. Breaking through from the Nascent Soul to the Soul Splitting Realm increased one’s lifespan by about 400 years. If the breakthrough takes so many years, it’s highly possible that the souls won’t even be successfully split before the main body aged and passed away.

He roughly estimated that from the past to the present, he had spent about six hundred to seven hundred years in the Three Thousand Dao Realm.

That was his true lifespan now.

Fang Chen quietly sensed his current state. Once his cultivation was stable, his improvement wouldn’t be too significant compared to the peak of the Enlightenment Realm.

His spiritual energy had probably only increased by three to four times. However, he still had 9 more split souls! If all of them were merged, both his spiritual power and soul would experience a tremendous boost.

Before reaching the Fusion Realm, a Soul Splitting Realm cultivator could briefly merge with their souls. This was the moment when their combat power would peak.