Immortal of the Nine Realms

At this moment, aside from the woman, there was no one else nearby.

As she fixed her gaze in his direction, countless thoughts flickered through Fang Chen’s mind. Yet he did not panic. Instead, he calmly shifted a few steps to the side. Sure enough, the woman’s gaze did not follow him.

”So, you really can’t be fooled,” came a voice.

Fang Chen turned toward the source of the sounds—it was a stone.

Its aura was rather strange.

In the next instant, the stone transformed into a young man. He patted the dust off his robes lightly, then smiled at the woman. ”Ah Man, long time no see.”

”Don’t call me by that nickname,” the woman snapped coldly.

”Alright, Ah Man,” the young man said with a grin.

”Speak. When did you arrive? You know there are many in the Upper Three Realms searching for you, yet you still dare to return?”

The woman’s voice was cool and steady.

The young man sighed softly. ”I had no choice. I need a Formation Heart.”

”Then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed,” the woman said with a snort. ”The Formation Hearts of the Enlightenment God Palace are not for outsiders.”

”Come on, Ah Man, don’t be like that,” said the man cheerfully. ”We’re friends, aren’t we? You should help me this once. This Formless Purgatory can yield at least dozens of Formation Hearts. Just give me one. No one will ever know. Think of it as the Enlightenment God Palace compensating me.”

”What do you need a Formation Heart for? You can’t even command the Earth Dragon series of Immortal Boats,” the woman replied, her tone softening slightly. ”Even if you obtain a Formation Heart, you can’t expose it to the world. Tell me, what use is it to you?”

The young man smiled bitterly. ”The Formation Heart’s power is... unique. There’s something it can be used for, but I can’t tell you yet. If I do, both of us will be in danger. Trust me, I’d never harm you.”

The woman’s tone turned cold. ”You’ve already harmed me quite enough. Because of you, the Grand Limitless Divine Mirror went missing. Had the Palace Master not protected me, the Elders’ Council would have stripped me of my senior disciple title.

”Wang Chongsong, people in the Upper Three Realms have almost forgotten your name. Why do you insist on coming back? You were always so secretive back then—what exactly were you busy with? Couldn’t you have just secluded yourself in peace? There’s an agreement among the Upper Three Realms that Immortal Boat Formations will never appear in the Lower Six Realms. As long as you don’t come back to the Upper Three Realms, what do Formation Hearts have to do with you?

She continued, ”With your talent, even starting over, you could still become a sixth transformation Immortal.”

Wang Chongsong wore a soft smile. ”And after that?”

”Well... you’ll never regain your spot in the Immortal Register, but isn’t being a sixth-transformation Immortal enough for you?”

He sighed softly. ”It’s not that it’s not enough. It’s just... I know too much. I want to be satisfied, I do, but my heart won’t allow it. It keeps telling me that if I don’t do it, there might not be anyone left in this world who will.”

Fang Chen looked at the young man in surprise. Was this yet another Bone Destiny of Wang Chongsong, or his true self?

”Ah Man,” Wang Chongsong said solemnly, ”help me this once, and in return, I’ll tell you where the Grand Limitless Divine Mirror is.”

Eagerness flashed on the woman’s face. ”Where is it?”

”It’s not in the Fangcun Realm,” Wang Chongsong said, shaking his head. ”I admit I share some blame for losing it, so I’ve been investigating ever since, and finally made some progress. But where it is now... is extremely dangerous for you. Only the Palace Master herself might retrieve it, and even then, it’s only a possibility.”

”How do you propose we trade? I don’t have any spare Formation Hearts right now,” the woman said.

”I’ll wait for you in the Langgui Constellation,” Wang Chongsong said with a grin. ”When you get a Formation Heart to spare, come find me there, we’ll make the exchange.”

As soon as he finished, he crumbled into dust and scattered into the air.

The woman, the one he’d called Ah Man, fell silent, deep in thought for several breaths before she, too, tore through the void and vanished.

Fang Chen stared at the pile of dust that was Wang Chongsong.

He said he ’knows too much.’ Could it be related to the clue about that key?

Fang Chen couldn’t make sense of what he’d just witnessed.

Had Wang Chongsong made preparations here in advance, leaving behind a fragment of his divine sense to converse with Ah Man? Or... could he, from across countless layers of space, use some kind of mystical art from the Langgui Constellation to project himself over?

Either way, it seemed nearly impossible, almost unreal.

Wait... if a core disciple of the Enlightenment God Palace was cooperating with Wang Chongsong in this...

Fang Chen’s expression shifted sharply. He suddenly recalled that several core disciples had been standing near that stone earlier. Could one of them be his accomplice?

Unfortunately, there was no one to confirm his suspicions, and he couldn’t exactly interrogate a core disciple himself. Not only did he lack the ability, but the circumstances didn’t allow it.

He withdrew his soul back into his body.

Fang Chen stored away his Immortal Boat and smiled toward Little Immortal Honglian. ”Fellow Daoist Honglian, let’s take a walk, see if fortune favors us this time.”

***

And as it turned out, fortune did favor them, though it wasn’t easy to claim it.

About half a year into their exploration of the Formless Purgatory, they ran into Yu Wuxia, Lin Yuan, and Meng Qingling again. However, the three were surrounded, under attack. Their assailants were all Tribulation Realm cultivators. Nearby, an Ascension Realm cultivator stood with his hands behind his back, watching the scene quietly.

The area they were in contained an almost fully exposed spirit stone vein, stretching across the ground. It held low, mid, and high-grade spirit stones, mixed but abundant.

Any cultivator with eyes could see that, if fully mined, the vein’s value would be immense, even enough to tempt a first-transformation immortal.

However, this was the Formless Purgatory, where treasures were plentiful. To a first-transformation immortal, there were far better things waiting elsewhere.

”Enough! Stop fighting, it’s yours!” Lin Yuan suddenly shouted, calling for the battle to end.

Among cultivators of the Enlightenment God Palace, surrendering meant the fight would stop. Killing was unnecessary.

They’d already had several such encounters over the past six months.

The group of Tribulation Realm attackers indeed looked ready to stop, but the Ascension Realm cultivator only smiled faintly. ”Continue. Just don’t kill them.”

”You’re going to break the rules?!” Lin Yuan shouted, furious.

Meng Qingling and Yu Wuxia turned to glare at the Ascension Realm cultivator as well.

Meng Qingling snapped, ”Whose team are you with? Be careful, or Core Disciple Li will hold you accountable!”

”Who are you talking about?” the man asked lazily.

”The one who just mastered Formation Immortal Arts, Li Shanzi, core disciple of the Enlightenment God Palace!”

”Oh, he won’t care about a petty squabble like this,” the Ascension Realm cultivator said with a chuckle. ”Besides, I’m not killing you, just roughing you up. You three were a bit too disrespectful earlier, weren’t you?”

He smiled again, then suddenly turned to glance at Fang Chen and Little Immortal Honglian, who were watching from a distance. ”You two, stop staring. This has nothing to do with you.”

Wait, that’s the Captain!

Lin Yuan’s eyes widened slightly, though he didn’t call out. Instead, he subtly gestured toward Fang Chen and Little Immortal Honglian without them noticing. Meng Qingling and Yu Wuxia did the same.

At worst, they’d be beaten and sent packing. But if the enemy discovered they were all together, Fang Chen and Immortal Honglian would be pulled into the mess, turning three victims into five.

An Ascension Realm cultivator far outstripped a Tribulation Realm cultivator in terms of power after all.