Immortal of the Nine Realms

Little Immortal Honglian and the others were stunned. They hadn’t expected Fang Chen to begin advancing to the Tribulation Realm so soon after succeeding in the assessment.

This meant that during the assessment, Fang Chen had already reached the grand completion stage of the Dao Union Realm.

How had he managed to perform so well in the assessment, obtaining a bronze jade token, all while suppressing his cultivation level?

”Not bad, I almost didn’t notice,” said Lin Dong with a smile.

He quickly let go of his previous displeasure.

Suppressing one’s cultivation during the assessment was a common tactic in the selection process for external disciples of the Enlightenment God Palace. However, some cultivators couldn’t suppress their advancement completely and would advance to the Tribulation Realm during the assessment. Others managed to suppress it but achieved poor results.

To suppress one’s cultivation, perform well in the assessment, and then immediately advance to the Tribulation Realm after becoming an external disciple was incredibly rare.

Whenever anyone like that appeared, they were essentially a treasure. After all, a team with a Tribulation Realm cultivator would crush other teams easily.

Fang Chen’s cultivation transformed as spiritual energy rushed wildly into his body.

He had already completed the Nine Tribulations of the Dao Union Realm, so reaching the Tribulation Realm was a matter of fact. There was no difficulty involved at all.

Fang Chen’s breakthrough caused an abnormality to appear on the Immortal Boat, drawing people’s attention. Soon, similar auras began emanating from some of the other boats.

Lin Dong smiled faintly. ”One, two, three... there are forty-three cultivators advancing to the Tribulation Realm right now. It’s likely that this includes those who obtained the bronze jade token, or even the silver jade token.”

Fortunately, the disciple he had just accepted was also advancing. Otherwise, once the assessment was finished, Fang Chen would have been overshadowed by the others.

”So many geniuses in this world...” muttered Yu Wuxia.

With his Radiant Divine Eyes and his peak Dao Union Realm cultivation, he had once thought that there were few cultivators of his caliber in the world. Yet today, he realized that at the level of the Enlightenment God Palace, those like him were numerous. And he wasn’t even considered top-tier among them.

”There are many geniuses in the world, but they can be divided into categories,” said Lin Dong.

He explained, ”Although you’re not the direct disciples of the Enlightenment God Palace and are merely external cultivators, people from outside the sect would already consider you exceptional geniuses. You’ve seen it yourselves. Very few people managed to obtain the bronze jade token, and no silver jade tokens had appeared in Langgui Constellation at all.

”The gap between you and them is clear. Not to mention that the direct disciples of the Enlightenment God Palace can at least obtain a bronze jade token in this assessment. Silver, golden, and even purple jade tokens are within reach as well.”

The group sucked in a breath of cold air.

This is the Dao Union Realm? That’s too strong, isn’t it?

”This already shakes you?” Lin Dong took out a silver jade token from his waist with a faint smile and elaborated, ”When I participated in the assessment back then, I also obtained a silver jade token. Only with that could I reach the level of a third-transformation Immortal today and head toward the Immortal Sovereign Realm.”

The others were stunned. They did not expect that Lin Dong had received a silver jade token when he was younger. Having participated in the assessment themselves, they now realized just how difficult it was to obtain a silver jade token. This jade token, compared to Lin Dong’s current third-transformation Immortal cultivation, shocked and awed them even more.

Lin Dong put the jade token away and casually set up a restriction to prevent anyone from disturbing Fang Chen’s ascension.

He then smiled and continued, ”Back then, the Langgui Constellation also produced a true genius. If placed in any top-tier forces in Upper Three Realms, he wouldn’t fall short of any of his peers.”

Yu Wuxia and the others listened in excitement. They asked in anticipation, ”Could it be...? Is it Senior Wang Chongsong?”

Little Immortal Honglian glanced at Yu Wuxia, then looked toward Lin Dong.

Lin Dong nodded in response. ”It seems you remember him. You should indeed remember, after all, he was the only one in the Langgui Constellation over the past ten thousand years to receive a purple jade token during the assessment. His talent and methods made peers of the same level seem like ants gazing at a towering snow mountain.”

The others felt a shudder in their hearts as they listened to Lin Dong’s words. A purple jade token? That was something beyond their imagination.

Lin Dong paused for a moment before continuing, ”The truth also proves that later, Senior Wang walked further on the path of immortality than any of us. Before him, the most advanced immortal cultivators promoted in Langgui Constellation only reached the sixth-transformation Immortal level. But Senior Wang was different. He reached the Half-Step Ancient Immortal Realm. He simply lacked an Immortal Register, or else, he would have ascended to the seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal Realm by now!”

The others could only imagine how distant that realm was from them. As geniuses from the major sects of Langgui Constellation, they had always held themselves in high regard and never thought they could reach such a realm.

Their target was to become first-transformation immortals.

”Currently, the Enlightenment God Palace controls twenty-three ancient forbidden zones, five of which were personally seized by Senior Wang,” Lin Dong stated. ”He is the true genius. As for you all, including Fang Chen and even myself, we are not true geniuses. We can only say we are a little stronger than ordinary cultivators.”

The group fell silent as they dared not rebut Lin Dong’s words. In fact, they found themselves agreeing with him.

Little Immortal Honglian sighed. ”It’s a pity that Senior Wang still couldn’t ascend to seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal. Even a genius like him, in front of top-tier forces like the Enlightenment God Palace, is still not enough.”

Everyone was still lost in the terrifying talent of Wang Chongsong when Little Immortal Honglian suddenly dragged them back to reality.

Indeed, Wang Chongsong’s fate was not good. He had overwhelming strength, but because he lacked an Immortal Register, he couldn’t ascend to an Ancient Immortal. In the end, he disappeared without a trace.

Lin Dong smiled and said, ”You seem to know a bit about Senior Wang, but his situation was rather special. It seems he stole a precious treasure from the Enlightenment God Palace and used it to glimpse the Taiyi Immortal Path. For that, all major powers hunted him down. That teaches you that we cultivators should not covet what is not ours. Crossing the line will only invite backlash.”

A precious treasure.

This was the key.

The precious treasure Lin Dong mentioned might be related to the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo. When he thought of Wang Chongsong’s methods, they seemed somewhat similar to those of the Crimson Fiend Demonic Sovereign. This led Fang Chen to conclude that Wang Chongsong might have already planted an Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo in him.

Since that’s the case, why did he still go into seclusion in some small place to conduct small-scale experiments on the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo? What kind of flaws does the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo have that made him so cautious?

Questions surged in his mind, but Fang Chen no longer had time to think deeply about them. His breakthrough was nearly complete.

His spiritual energy increased tenfold, and it became much purer. A carefree aura surrounded his body.

Fang Chen sensed the changes within him and murmured, ”Early stage of the Tribulation Realm.”

The Tribulation Realm...

Back in the Central Continent Empire, Tribulation Realm cultivators were honored as Profound Immortals. Only those who have reached this point in their cultivation could be considered to have taken that step to join the upper echelons of the Central Continent.