Immortal of the Nine Realms

Little Immortal Honglain arrived and saw Fang Chen gazing thoughtfully behind them. She asked, ”Daoist Fang, what are you looking at?”

Fang Chen smiled and replied, ”I’m looking at the sun of the Nine Mortal Realms. Do you think there might be anyone on it?”

”The sun?”

She thought for a moment and then slowly shook her head. ”I don’t know, but a place that hot... I doubt even a ninth-transformation immortal could stand there.”

”Yes, and I wonder if this vast Qingming has only one sun,” Fang Chen murmured softly.

He subtly observed her response.

She instinctively replied, ”Of course, there must be more. The Qingming is so vast; it’s impossible for only the Nine Mortal Realms to have a sun. Some other places might have one too, or even more than one.”

Fang Chen asked, ”Where did you read that from?”

Little Immortal Honglian noticed her words might have sounded a bit off. She quickly nodded and said, ”Well, I read it in an ancient text. The person who wrote that book speculated that there are countless suns in the world, but they’re too far away for us to reach. In our lifetimes, we might only ever see one.”

She then shifted the topic. ”I just went to Senior Sister to pay my respects, and I heard you’re planning to leave the group temporarily to head to Drunken Fate Star?”

Fang Chen nodded. ”Yes, there are some spiritual materials I need there. It shouldn’t take too long.”

She suggested, ”Well, since we’ll all be waiting for you anyway, why don’t I join you to Drunken Fate Star? Staying in Qingming all the time can get a little boring.”

Fang Chen initially wanted to politely refuse, but then he thought of something and nodded in agreement.

Perhaps she has her own business to attend to on Drunken Fate Star?

Just then, a tiny figure came running on short legs, darted forward, and dove into Fang Chen’s collar, poking only a little head outside. The figure yawned sleepily, glanced at Little Immortal Honglian, then yawned again before going back to sleep.

Meng Qingling, who had been watching this unfold, suddenly sent a transmission to Yu Wuxia and Lin Yuan, ”Looks like we’re going to have a good show.”

Before anyone could understand what she meant, they saw Little Immortal Honglian freeze at the sugar glider’s actions. She expressionlessly scooped it up and said, ”Daoist Mi Yu, how can you sleep on a core disciple’s body? That violates protocol.”

The sugar glider, still half-asleep, took a moment to realize what was happening. It blinked sleepily and mumbled, ”Daoist Hong... hello...”

”...”

Little Immortal Honglian sighed deeply, her patience clearly wearing thin. ”Don’t you need to infuse immortal essence into the Black Dragon Boat?”

”But I just went to Bug Valley... I’m so tired...” complained Mi Yu pitifully.

She struggled out of her grasp, then shifted into her human form, reluctantly starting to infuse the Black Dragon Boat with immortal essence.

Watching the scene unfold, Ji Gang couldn’t help but chuckle.

Little Immortal Honglian nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Fang Chen with a reproachful look. ”Daoist Fang, if you keep giving Daoist Mi Yu special treatment, what will the other members of the team think? You need to be fair and balance things out.”

Little Immortal Honglian spoke with a weighty tone, emphasizing the need for fairness. She then spent a few more days with Fang Chen before returning to her own boat.

As she left, she saw Mi Yu pull out a centipede and pop it into her mouth, chewing loudly. The sight made Little Immortal Honglian’s face pale slightly.

Once Little Immortal Honglian left, Mi Yu flickered back into a little sugar glider and scurried into Fang Chen’s garments.

Meng Qingling, watching from a distance, couldn’t help but comment, ”If only I could hang around like that too.”

”Daoist Hong would tear you apart,” Lin Yuan said with a smirk, obviously enjoying the situation. ”You don’t stand a chance.”

”Mind your own business.”

Meng Qingling rolled her eyes, the playful smile still on her face. But regret silently crept into her heart.

She didn’t have much of a chance anymore. Back when they were all from the Langgui Constellation, the gap between them wasn’t so wide. But now, the disparity has grown too large. She didn’t even want to think about that matter anymore.

Better to first break through to the Ascension Realm, then search for an immortal herb. If she couldn’t find any, she’d just become a Loose Immortal. Once she reached the third transformation, searching for an immortal herb would be much easier.

***

Time slipped by, and before long, it had been ten years since the fleet started traveling in the Qingming.

Over the past ten years, Lin Yuan and the other two had all broken through to the Ascension Realm. The rapidity of their progress was largely due to the abundant merit they had accumulated. They exchanged their merits for a large quantity of spiritual herbs and materials. The merit gained from the immortal herbs had been evenly distributed. As a result, they were far wealthier than many second- and third-transformation immortals. However, they didn’t dare splurge, as they still needed some of their merit to exchange for first-transformation immortal herbs.

Meanwhile, Yu Tiange and Nanming Shaoze were even more remarkable. They had brought immortal herbs with them when boarding the ship. As a result, they had already applied for cultivation rooms in the cabin, intending to break through to the first transformation during the voyage.

In these ten years, Fang Chen had also made considerable progress in his cultivation. His immortal essence had more than doubled. This rapid advancement was due to the continuous consumption of immortal essence, as well as the feedback he received from his various avatars’ cultivation.

He could sense that Fang Tianzun had not successfully refined a single peak-grade spirit stone. Based on past experience, it would likely take him over a hundred years to fully refine one. By the time Fang Chen returned from this journey, Fang Tianzun would likely have refined two or three spirit stones, and if his cultivation could break through, the feedback would be even greater.

As the years passed, Fang Chen kept a close watch on the star maps. They were growing closer to Drunken Fate Star.

”We deviated from the route slightly....” muttered Fang Chen.

Indeed, the fleet’s route had deviated slightly from the original plan, but this deviation actually brought them closer to Drunken Fate Star. It was clear that Senior Sister had made this adjustment upon learning of his intention to visit Drunken Fate Star.

Before he knew it, nearly twenty years had passed since their departure.

One day, the massive fleet finally reached a point where Drunken Fate Star was visible in the distance. The fleet’s speed gradually slowed, eventually coming to a halt.

Some of the core disciples, unaware of the situation, rushed to ask Senior Sister. After learning that someone was planning to go to Drunken Fate Star, they understood what was happening, though they didn’t know who it was. It wasn’t until they saw Fang Chen and Little Immortal Honglian, along with several accompanying Loose Immortals, flying toward Drunken Fate Star that everything clicked into place.

***

On a nearby Immortal Boat Formation.

Third Senior Sister glanced over, then sneered. ”Using the public resource for personal purposes, huh? We were supposed to be heading for Ancient Forbidden Zone No. 97, and now we’re here waiting for two juniors to finish their business.”

The nearby disciples all exchanged wry smiles. They sneaked glances toward the senior sister, as if afraid she would hear Third Senior Sister’s words.

Several hours later, Fang Chen and the others safely entered Drunken Fate Star. Looking up, it was as if a massive heavenly curtain enveloped the star. From here, the view of the Qingming was completely obscured. If it weren’t for the tens of thousands of Immortal Boats, it would have been a truly magnificent sight.