Immortal of the Nine Realms

Qin Zhen gulped. He hated to admit it, but Fang Chen’s jade token, with Meng Qingling and the rest’s freshly plundered strands, was incredibly tempting.

A terrifying thought rose in his mind: could it be that their jade tokens had already gathered enough to advance?

If he could seize them, would he be able to enter the Enlightenment God Palace?

Thinking of this, he suppressed his fear toward Fang Chen’s methods and said to the people beside him, ”You all saw it too, their jade tokens’ aura has grown even denser. Even if we split it, we’ll still get a significant portion. Let’s act together.”

Someone cursed, ”Are you stupid, or do you think we are? We were just completely overpowered by Meng Qingling and the others. But these two beat them without the slightest ability to fight back. And now you want us to attack them? Are you trying to get us killed?”

He turned to leave without hesitation.

He wasn’t afraid that Fang Chen would attack him. After all, his jade token couldn’t be emptier. And he had no conflict with Fang Chen himself, so there was no reason for Fang Chen to target him.

In this assessment, wasting even a little bit of spiritual energy needed a solid reason.

”Daoist Qin, you’re not being honest.”

”Ah, we’ll be leaving now.”

In an instant, more than half of the several hundred cultivators present left. The remaining half glanced at one another, suppressed their greed, and turned to leave too.

In the end, only Qin Zhen and his group were left, exchanging glances.

Qin Zhen cupped his hands and sheepishly grinned. ”We were driven by greed earlier. I apologize for our actions.”

Fang Chen said lightly, ”If apologies can get us by in life, why would anyone bother to cultivate?”

Qin Zhen’s face fell. He quickly added, ”We hail from the same place. Please, do me a favor for my ancestor’s sake...”

”You didn’t show any mercy to Honglian Immortal Sect or Qingyu Immortal Sect earlier,” said Little Immortal Honglian icily. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

At that moment, a figure tore through the air and arrived near them. He glanced around in confusion. ”Eh? Wasn’t the auras here quite intense just a moment ago?”

Seeing the man, Qin Zhen’s eyes lit up at once. He quickly cupped his hands and said, ”Daoist Yu, it’s me, Qin Zhen.”

”Qin Zhen? And who is that?” Yu Wuxia frowned slightly. ”Do I know you?”

The cultivators around Qin Zhen exchanged strange looks.

Qin Zhen, noticing this, quickly explained, ”We met once in a teahouse. I was at the table next to yours, and we exchanged a few words...”

Yu Wuxia furrowed his brow even further. ”When was that?”

Qin Zhen quickly added, ”Please, Daoist Yu, could you do me a small favor? It’s about the jade token of these two...”

Only then did Yu Wuxia notice Fang Chen and Little Immortal Honglian. When he recognized Fang Chen, he immediately cupped his hands and smiled. ”Ah, it’s you, Daoist. I have something to attend to, so I’ll leave first...”

Suddenly, a terrifying hand descended, wrapping around Yu Wuxia.

Yu Wuxia’s face twisted with a mix of anger and shock. He roared loudly, unleashing spiritual energy far beyond the peak of the Dao Union Realm. However, even with such overwhelming power, he couldn’t break free from the hand’s firm grip.

Yu Wuxia froze, stunned and in disbelief.

He saw something in Fang Chen’s eyes that made him want to shout, but with his mouth sealed, he couldn’t utter a peep.

Fang Chen took Yu Wuxia’s jade token. Inside, he found more than three thousand stands of spiritual energy.

Fang Chen remarked casually, ”Daoist Yu, it’s been a month, and you only have over three thousand units. If you’re trying to upgrade your jade token to silver, it’ll be difficult. Even bronze might be a stretch,”

Yu Wuxia’s expression was a storm of shifting emotions. A tinge of embarrassment flashed in his eyes. The grand words he had spoken previously now felt hollow. Only when he began the actual process did he realize just how difficult it was to reach silver.

It was no wonder that those who obtained silver, gold, or even purple jade tokens had attained the third, fourth, and even fifth transformations later in life.

Little Immortal Honglian noticed Fang Chen splitting a portion of Yu Wuxia’s strands with her and looked at him strangely.

Could Meng Qingling’s earlier guess be right?

Before she could protest, the strands within her jade token surged by another thousand.

Fang Chen had finally surpassed ten thousand. He was only ten thousand away from the bronze level.

Fang Chen dispersed the spiritual energy hand, and Yu Wuxia regained control of his body. His expression was odd as he looked at Fang Chen. ”You also have the Radiant Divine Eyes?”

Fang Chen replied with a smile, ”I come from a Dao sect.”

Yu Wuxia immediately understood. ”No wonder...”

Given Fang Chen’s methods, he had to have reached the second level of the Radiant Divine Eye.

Unfortunately, he was only at the first level. Otherwise... the outcome wouldn’t have been so one-sided.

”If there is a chance, we can exchange insights. But I doubt we’ll meet again after this.”

Yu Wuxia cupped his hands, holding his now-empty jade token, and turned to leave.

”So it’s the Radiant Divine Eyes...”

The doubt in Little Immortal Honglian’s heart was instantly cleared. No wonder she always felt that Fang Chen had been holding back. He was clearly a top-tier cultivator with strength far surpassing that of Yu Wuxia. Even the Dao Union cultivators from the Enlightenment God Palace might not have reached such a caliber.

Fang Chen turned his attention back to Qin Zhen and said, ”Daoist Qin, you keep saying we come from the same place, but it was you who first repeatedly plotted against us.”

He sighed softly. ”Your character is rather flawed. Hand over everything you have.”

Qin Zhen instinctively asked, ”You’ll let me off if I hand my strands over?”

”Killing you would be a waste of spiritual energy. It’s really not worth it.”

A quarter of an hour later, Fang Chen and Little Immortal Honglian flew away.

Qin Zhen calmly watched them leave, an ocean of anger rising with his eyes. They had taken his robe to humiliate him deliberately. It was utterly despicable!

Qin Zhen looked toward the crowd. ”Does anyone have an extra robe?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Someone said, ”He just said that anyone who lends you a robe will be his enemy. Daoist Qin, I’ll be blunt with you, and I don’t mean any disrespect, but that guy is getting into the Enlightenment God Palace without a doubt. No one wants to make an enemy out of him. It’s best if you tell your ancestor about everything that’s happened here after the assessment ends.

”That way, you might still have a chance to mend relations with the Qingyu Immortal Sect. Otherwise, with Qingyu Immortal Sect in control, they’ll definitely target you and your sect first.”

The crowd began leaving one by one.

Qin Zhen watched them leave, anger and doubt rising within.

After a while, he gathered the power of the Five Elements and condensed a robe to cover his shame. He tucked the empty jade token away and left. His goal was no longer to pass the assessment. Having lost his treasures, spirit stones, pills, and even his robe, his main concern now was how to survive in the Demonic Fiend Mountain Range.

He needed to survive until the end of the trial.

***

A few months later.

Little Immortal Hongli could clearly feel that Fang Chen had lost much of his enthusiasm for plundering spiritual energy. She glanced at the jade token at his waist, which now glowed with a bronze-like sheen, and asked, ”Daoist Fang, aren’t you going to push for the silver rank?”

Fang Chen casually replied, ”No, next we’ll focus on getting yours to a safe range, and then we can stop.”

She stared at him for a few moments before suddenly letting out a soft sigh. She mumbled, ”Daoist Fang, maybe we’re not suited for each other....”

Hmm?

Fang Chen was taken aback, then immediately understood. A multitude of thoughts flashed through his mind.

To uncover the truth, would he resort to such a method?

The answer was a resounding ”yes.”

Fang Chen smiled and said, ”We haven’t even tried; how do you know we aren’t suitable? I think we could become Dao Companions and advance hand in hand.”