Immortal of the Nine Realms

“So if any divine ability cultivator from the Fang Clan appears, they will be taken beyond the Great Zhou no matter what, correct?” Fang Chen asked with a faint smile.

Ancestor Wang nodded, confirming Fang Chen’s speculation.

Shock appeared on the faces of the Fang Clan members. They had understood now. The Fang Clan ancestor outside the Divine Realm had offended some great existence and could no longer return home. As a result, every Fang Clan branch within the homeland suffered suppression.

No wonder not only the Hechuan Fang Clan, but Fang Clans throughout other regions had also grown weaker and weaker.

Occasionally, a divine ability cultivator would emerge, and although the Great Zhou would reward them somewhat, once the Envoy took them away, the clan would immediately decline back to its original state.

“How strong is the Great Zhou’s Envoy?” Fang Chen asked calmly.

“Lord Envoy’s strength is unfathomable. I suspect he is above the Foundation Establishment Realm,” Ancestor Wang revealed. “The disturbance here has likely already attracted Lord Envoy’s attention. Before long, he will arrive and take away the Fang Clan divine ability cultivators.”

As he spoke, his heart secretly turned cold. The Fang Clan’s Blazing Fist truly was terrifying. The two newly awakened divine ability cultivators both possessed control over lightning. Even within the Divine Realm, such divine abilities were extremely rare.

“Above the Foundation Establishment Realm?” A flicker appeared in Fang Chen’s eyes before he suddenly chuckled. “What realm are you in?”

Ancestor Wang was taken aback. “Me?”

He couldn’t understand how Fang Chen couldn’t discern his realm. But he suppressed his doubts and answered, “I am in the first stage of the three Foundation Establishment Realms, the Awakening Realm.”

These three realms should correspond to the Lower Four Realms, Middle Three Realms, and Upper Three Realms. So above Foundation Establishment would mean that they have become a first-transformation Immortal. It’s just that in this era, the terminology may differ.

Fang Chen’s thoughts stirred. He believed that power was fundamentally similar. Even if the cultivation paths differed, every stage should still correspond to an equivalent point. Perhaps the current Human Race completely followed the cultivation system granted by the Supreme Qingming Alliance. However, above the Foundation Establishment Realm, it should still correspond to the first to ninth transformation of the Nine Mortal Realms. Only after that came the Three Limit Breaking Steps, Half-Saint, and Saint.

“What are the names of the second and third Foundation Establishment realms?” Fang Chen asked calmly.

Ancestor Wang was genuinely stunned. “This...”

Why is he asking such basic questions?

Only Fang Longshan, who had heard Fang Chen’s explanation before, knew Fang Chen was “recovering” his memories.

Before Ancestor Wang could answer, a vast and mighty voice rang out above everyone’s heads. “You are clearly a Fang Clan divine ability cultivator who secretly returned from the outside world. How could you not know the names of the three Foundation Establishment realms?”

The crowd looked upward. An old man dressed in scholarly robes with the bearing of an immortal overlooked them from the sky.

A Fang Clan divine ability cultivator who secretly returned from the outside world?!

At this moment, all the doubts in everyone’s hearts were finally resolved.

Elder Huofeng stared blankly at Fang Chen. He had never imagined that this man before him might actually be a Fang Clan ancestor!

“So he’s probably my ancestor...” Fang Yue stared blankly at Fang Chen, deeply shaken.

Ancestor Wang was overjoyed and immediately kowtowed in salute.

“I, Wang He, pay my respects to you, Lord Envoy!”

Lord Envoy?!

The Fang Clan members’ faces turned pale.

Only the Huofeng branch wore deeply conflicted expressions. They understood that the Envoy’s arrival would certainly take Fang Hai and Fang Ling away, perhaps even the blind man as well. The Fang Clan’s situation would return to how it once was, and the Huofeng Branch might escape reckoning.

But if that happened... would it truly be a good thing? If the Fang Clan ancestors outside the Great Zhou eventually resolved their troubles and returned home, what would they think upon discovering what the Huofeng Branch had done?

The Envoy ignored the Wang Clan cultivator and merely looked at Fang Chen with a faint smile. “I truly did not expect that even under such strict supervision, a Fang Clan divine ability cultivator could still secretly return from outside. Will you come with me willingly, or shall I personally take you away?”

Hearing this, Fang Hai and Fang Ling were terrified. They instinctively mobilized the power of Azure Lightning within themselves. Lightning once more enveloped the two children, and faint thunder rumbled through the skies above.

The Envoy glanced at the scene and shook his head with a smile. “That trick may work on those in the first Foundation Establishment realm, but to me, it is nothing more than child’s play.”

Child’s play?

Everyone was frightened by his words. They had thought the Envoy would be powerful, but not to this degree.

In the very next moment, lightning descended. The Envoy let out a miserable scream and crashed directly beside the Wang Clan cultivator. He had been struck even more severely. More than half the flesh on his body had been vaporized, exposing horrifying white bones.

The Wang Clan cultivator stared blankly at the Envoy. “Lord Envoy... are you alright?”

The crowd was horrified and instinctively looked toward Fang Hai and Fang Ling.

The two children panicked helplessly.

“N-not us...”

Only now did everyone truly react. They looked toward Fang Chen with incomparably terrified gazes.

It’s him!

The Fang Clan ancestor was the one who had returned from beyond Great Zhou!

Fang Qiurou stared at Fang Chen in disbelief. “Even the Envoy... couldn’t withstand a single move from Uncle Fang...”

Everything before her had completely surpassed her imagination, shattering all the convictions she once held.

“Nine Tansformations... impossible... who exactly are you?

The Envoy slowly regained his senses while still lying on the ground, his eyes fixed firmly on Fang Chen. “The outside world would never allow a ninth-transformation cultivator to secretly return. That is absolutely impossible...”

A flicker appeared in Fang Chen’s eyes. Another important piece of information had appeared. “Ninth transformation? So it’s the same as the Nine Mortal Realms.”

However, he did not answer the Envoy’s question. The moment he acted earlier, that sensation of being watched had appeared once again.

Fang Chen looked up at the heavens. Faintly, he seemed able to see a pair of emotionless eyes. Yet after waiting for a long time, that existence still showed no intention of appearing or intervening.

“I see... this person’s cultivation should be roughly equal to mine. But the reason they aren’t acting is not because of that. It is because the Supreme Qingming Alliance does not interfere in the internal conflicts of the Human Race.”

At this thought, Fang Chen became even more certain. Once he confirmed this point, the following matters would become much easier. Through the balance of power, the safety of the Great Zhou’s Fang Clan was no longer an issue. As long as that Half-Saint remained alive, nobody would dare treat the Fang Clan here too excessively. And Fang Chen’s own existence had merely become a variable within that balance. It was far from enough to shatter it entirely. Even if others learned of his existence, they would only target him alone.

Fang Chen looked toward Ancestor Wang. “Same question as before, what are the second and third Foundation Establishment Realms called?”

Nearly trembling in terror, the man hurriedly replied, “Reporting to Senior, the second Foundation Establishment realm is called Spirit Division, while the third realm is called Dao Fusion.”

Spirit Division? Dao Fusion?

“What are the characteristics of Spirit Division?”

“One can split the primordial spirit. Its greatest characteristic is that it is extremely difficult to kill!”

“And Dao Fusion?”

“One selects a Dao among the myriad Great Daos and fuses it into oneself, borrowing the power of the Dao!”

“So the key to the second Foundation Establishment realm is Soul Splitting, while the key to the third realm is Dao Fusion.

Fang Chen fell into thoughtful contemplation.

In that regard, cultivators of the Nine Mortal Realms experience the same process. Thus, the three Foundation Establishment realms are not very different from the Lower Four Realms, Middle Three Realms, and Upper Three Realms. At most, there are some differences in combat strength.