Immortal of the Nine Realms

Before long, Lang Daochun arrived outside the courtyard where Fang Chen was in seclusion. Seeing the dense, overlapping restrictive formation completely blanketing the space, a bitter smile involuntarily mapped his chubby features.

Wang Chongsong sighed helplessly. ”Brother Lang, I wasn’t spinning tales, was I? Old Fang is indeed in seclusion, and it looks like he’s reached a critical threshold. We can’t exactly drag him out by force to help you solve your headaches, can we?”

Fang Han stood silently by his side, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Lang Daochun stared at the shimmering barriers for a long quiet moment before shrugging and letting out a heavy sigh. ”It seems the only person left who could have spoken on my behalf is out of reach.”

Both Wang Chongsong and Fang Han could sense an air of ”the fallen tiger bullied by common hounds” radiating from Lang Daochun.

How unimaginably majestic had the God Race been just a few short decades ago?

The vast borders of their immortal empire and the absolute authority they wielded were so immense that the human cultivators could hardly imagine them. Yet, in a mere matter of decades, the God Race had completely splintered into dust.

The remaining Half Saints of the God Race, whose numbers were still relatively respectable, had no choice but to lead their surviving descendants far away from the eye of the storm. Because they no longer possessed active true Saints to steady their foundations, they had completely lost the technical right to maintain sovereign independence within the Divine Realm. Their only structural alternative was to systematically pledge allegiance and attach themselves to various powerful external races.

However, because the God Race still retained their native Supreme Bones, their individual combat prowess at the same cultivation tier remained entirely peerless. Consequently, the moment they were relegated to the status of potential slave-conscripts, they were immediately targeted by various predatory factions.

Who wouldn’t desire a contingent of combat-adept slave-soldiers whose raw utility far exceeded the baseline performance of their own clansmen?

When the God Race suddenly faced this hyper-predatory market demand, massive cascading crises naturally erupted. Some diplomatic races would politely invite the Half Saints God Race to join their banners, offering them structural terms and compensation vastly superior to standard slave-conscripts. But other, more brutal factions chose to actively hunt down the scattered God Race survivors like common beasts. Knowing there was no longer a true Saint protecting them, these predators could suppress, capture, and shackle them with absolute, unbridled malice.

Most of these predatory groups were factions that had harbored blood feuds with the God Race during their golden eras, and some even operated under the silent backing of the Eleven Top Races.

As a result, the structural dilemma currently crushing the God Race was so incredibly toxic. Even the races that wanted to lend a helping hand dared not openly intervene.

”Brother Lang... in truth, even if Old Fang breaks his seclusion, it won’t be easy for him to step forward,” Wang Chongsong remarked quietly. ”He represents the Human Race after all. If he actively intervenes to resolve the crisis surrounding your faction, it will inevitably draw the targeted resentment of other powerful races onto human shoulders.”

”I am well aware that your race cannot easily act, and even if your collective leadership spoke out, our oppressors wouldn’t buy the narrative. But Fang Chen is a completely separate variable,” countered Lang Daochun, his tone ringing with deep gravity.

”He is the absolute number-one rank of his entire tier in the Saint Tower Battle. As long as he is willing to personally step forward, I am seventy to eighty percent certain that the opposing side will willingly yield face to that title. Furthermore, since he is not yet an official Saint of your race, his intervention won’t be interpreted as the official stance of the humans. It won’t negatively impact your people.”

Wang Chongsong muttered under his breath, ”That sounds reasonable in theory, but who can truly guarantee how external forces will interpret it...”

A cold, mocking sneer flashed across Lang Daochun’s round face. ”You underestimate what it means to rank first among one’s peers. Every five hundred years, across the entire vast worlds, only ten individuals can ever claim that rank for each major boundary. I can tell you with absolute certainty that the moment Fang Chen indicates even a shred of willingness, the supreme Saints of the Eleven Top Races will instantly compete to absorb him into their personal lineages for elite cultivation. Other factions will naturally harbor deep dread regarding that potential backing.”

Having delivered his piece, he glanced at Fang Han, inquiring with a trace of hesitation. ”What is the official stance of your Fang Clan regarding this matter?”

”The ancient ancestors have already delivered their judgment. Our clan will not actively intervene, but we will not interfere with Ancestor Chen’s personal choice either. If he wishes to assist you upon breaking seclusion, we will let him follow his own path,” answered Fang Han smoothly.

”That is excellent... truly excellent...” Lang Daochun let out a long, visible sigh of relief. ”In that case, I shall temporarily take up residence within here for a stretch of years while Brother Fang shatters his bottleneck.”

”That poses absolutely no issue.” Fang Han nodded with a warm smile. ”I will personally arrange a premium courtyard for your stay.”

Lang Daochun replied, ”Just pick an empty spot near this vicinity.”

”Uh... Brother Lang, I actually harbor a slightly presumptuous request...” said Wang Chongsong, his tone suddenly awkward. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Lang Daochun laughed. ”What manner of presumptuous request? No need to be so polite. Tell me what you need. The current God Race is no longer the titan of yesterday.”

Wang Chongsong gave a slightly embarrassed chuckle. ”When I participated in the Saint Tower Battles, I was surrounded and attacked by others early on, leaving me with zero opportunity to trade blows with the elite geniuses of the Twelve Top Races. So...”

”Very well. Find a suitable plot of ground, and I shall engage in a formal sparring session with you,” Lang Daochun agreed without a single shred of hesitation.

Had this occurred in the past, an elite of the God Race wouldn’t have deigned to trade a single glance with a member of a lower-tier race, let alone entertain such an informal request. Pausing briefly, he turned his gaze toward Fang Han. ”I have no intention of freeloading in your ancestral domain. Any ninth-transformation practitioner of your Fang Clan is fully welcome to step forward and spar with me as well. The type where we strictly preserve life and limb, of course.”

Fang Han’s eyes instantly lit up with genuine delight. ”My deepest thanks!”

To have a reigning ninth-transformation champion of the God Race act as a sparring partner was an unquantifiable fortune! The ninth-transformation elders of the Fang Clan would undoubtedly be able to hone their divine abilities to an entirely new tier through that grueling pressure.

They immediately put that idea into action.

Half an hour later, the group had already arrived at the grand martial arena of the Xie Zhi faction.

A massive wave of human practitioners streamed toward the grounds upon hearing the explosive news, and even several Limit Breaking ancestors personally showed up to observe. Fang Cangyou sat quietly in his mechanical wheelchair, flanked and escorted by several ancient core ancestors of the clan.

”That’s the young lad from the Wang Family. What on earth is he doing down there?” Fang Cangyou pointed a finger toward Wang Chongsong, who was currently facing off against Lang Daochun from opposite ends of the arena.

Fang Ding quickly stepped forward, whispering respectfully, ”Ancestor, the Wang Family youth claimed that since our Fang Clan managed to produce a champion, our ancestral luck must be hitting an absolute peak. He wished to remain here for a stretch of decades to pursue deep cultivation, and given our long-standing warm relations with the Wang Family, we permitted him.”

”He certainly knows how to pick an ideal nest.” Fang Cangyou chuckled, nodding his approval. His gaze then locked directly onto Lang Daochun, and a trace of deep academic awe colored his tone. ”The reigning ninth-transformation champion of Longsheng City truly lives up to his legendary reputation. I can clearly perceive that his raw baseline strength exceeds the common ninth-transformation cultivators of our Fang Clan by greater than tenfold.”

A dozen or so ninth-transformation elders of the Fang Clan standing in the immediate vicinity went entirely rigid upon hearing that assessment.

Greater than tenfold?

Their expressions became complicated. They didn’t want to believe it, yet they had no choice but to. This was their Limit Breaking ancestor speaking.

Fang Cangyou’s eyes narrowed into sharp slits. ”However, this young lad of the Wang Family isn’t a simple character either... His true combat capacity is likely among the absolute top tier of the entire Human Race’s ninth transformation boundary. Perhaps he will be able to withstand a few moves.”

The attention of the massive crowd instantly consolidated onto Wang Chongsong. Receiving such an evaluation from Fang Cangyou was rather unexpected.

Down within the sealed boundaries of the arena, Wang Chongsong took a long, steady breath, clasping his hands toward Lang Daochun with absolute solemnity. ”Brother Lang, I request that you do not hold back a single shred of your strength. Let me truly experience the unbridgeable gulf that separates us.”

Lang Daochun nodded calmly. ”As you wish.”

A few heartbeats later, a brilliant barrier of defensive array-light erupted, completely sealing the martial arena from the outside world.

Wang Chongsong launched the opening assault with explosive speed! In a fraction of a microsecond, a vast, torrential sea of immortal essence erupted from him like an uncontainable volcano. The audience watched in absolute awe as layer after layer of terrifying anomalies and apocalyptic manifestations systematically materialized around his physical frame.

Several veteran ninth transformation elders of the Fang Clan gasped, their expressions freezing in pure shock.

”He truly is vastly stronger than us!?”

They had completely failed to anticipate that Wang Chongsong, an individual who hadn’t even managed to breach the top 100,000 ranks during the formal battles, would possess a baseline strength that left them completely in the dust.

”Moving forward, the individual within the Wang Family who commands the absolute highest probability of successfully shattering the Saint Realm... will undoubtedly be him,” murmured Fang Cangyou with a slow, approving nod.

The expressions of the onlookers became complicated.

In the next second, that cataclysmic wave of divine ability power completely submerged Lang Daochun’s position, swallowing the space whole. Yet, right before the eyes of the stunned crowd, those terrifying, world-ending powers suddenly dissolved into nothingness, vanishing as smoothly and silently as a wisp of common green smoke. Lang Daochun stood quietly at the absolute epicenter of the blast zone, completely untouched. Not a single thread of his garments was wrinkled, and not a single hair on his head was disturbed.

His counter-strike was terrifyingly simple. Executing a burst of absolute speed, he vanished, instantly remanifesting directly behind Wang Chongsong’s blind spot. He reached out a single hand and delivered a light, casual tap to the back of his neck.

BANG!

Wang Chongsong’s eyes rolled back into his head instantly, and he went completely limp, crashing straight onto the stone floor in absolute unconsciousness.

At that same time, before Fang Chen, a decree formed from surging golden radiance suddenly emitted a thunderous rumble. In the end, it was continuously drawn into his body.