Immortal of the Nine Realms

Fang Chen poured out some of the spirit spring water in his storage ring for Fang Canghai and the others to drink. All of them felt revitalized, so much so that their bodies felt a little lighter.

As he had stored this spirit spring water into his storage ring straight from the source, there was no loss in its spirit ki at all.

Then, Fang Chen handed the Purple Aura Formula’s manual to Fang Zhentian, so that the latter could examine and try to practice it.

Fang Zhentian spent a few moments studying the manual before calling Fang Canghai and the others over so that they could try practicing it together.

The sharp-eyed Li Daoye saw the words ‘Purple Aura Formula’ on the manual cover and exclaimed in astonishment, “Is that the Purple Aura Formula from Infernoblaze Country’s South Heaven Sect?”

“You know about them?” Fang Chen asked.

“Of course! South Heaven Sect is famous in Infernoblaze! Even my Eight Trigrams Sect pales in comparison to them.” Li Daoye looked at Fang Chen in conflict. “You do know that they’ll come after you for distributing their Purple Formula Aura without permission?”

“I can’t care that much given Great Xia’s current plight,” Fang Chen replied. “As long as you keep mum, and I don’t say a word, no one will know a thing.”

“It’s not that I want to criticize you, young master Fang, but we cultivators only have one goal, and that’s to further our cultivation. For that, we wouldn’t hesitate to monopolize resources or fleece others out of their wealth. To put it bluntly, we are selfish people.

“Yet, you seek to oppose the Blood Spirit Cult for a bunch of mortals. The slightest misstep might spell the end of your immortal path. Is it worth it? It was a great stroke of fate for you to have become a cultivator despite being born in a grade-9 state; you shouldn’t let it go to waste,” Li Daoye earnestly advised.

“Young master seeks to be a secular immortal,” Abbess Clearlotus said. “You won’t understand.”

“Secular immortal? Immortals are beings who transcend the secularity of the mortal world. There’s no such thing as a secular immortal,” Li Daoye replied with a frown.

“Who do you think the first immortal is?” Fang Chen suddenly asked.

“First immortal?” Li Daoye racked his brain, only to eventually reply with a frustrated shrug, “How am I to know who the first immortal is?!”

“Indeed. There were no immortals when the world was first created. It was the first person who achieved immortality that defined an immortal, and their values have been passed down since. Since immortals are a defined concept, why can’t I define it my way?” Fang Chen replied with a smile.

“Y-you…” Li Daoye was horrified. “How can you be so brazen to define immortals by your own terms! You’re going against the natural way of the world!”

“Am I? I haven’t been struck by lightning yet,” Fang Chen replied with a chuckle.

“It’s just a matter of time!” Li Daoye harrumphed.

“Regardless, you’re stuck on the same boat as me. The first thing that elder of yours will do upon returning to the Eight Trigrams Sect is to expel you, though that might be for the best since I don’t think you’d want to drag down your sect,” Fang Chen said with an enigmatic smile. “Keep an eye on the Old Master and the others. Help them if they stumble in their cultivation.”

With that, Fang Chen stood up and left.

He was planning to make more Purple Lightning Talismans with the spirit materials Li Daoye had bought from Dragonback Lane to raise his cultivation. Hopefully, he could manifest his fifth immortal vein soon.

“I must be out of mind…” Li Daoye shook his head as he made his way toward Fang Zhentian. “A mere Ki Refinement cultivator dares to oppose the Blood Spirit Cult and redefine the concept of immortality. Lunatic! He’s an utter lunatic! I might lose my mind if I continue staying with him. This won’t do… I have to draw a line between us. I want to be a carefree daoist!”

…

In his room, Fang Chen infused his spirit ki into the talisman paper through smooth and stable brush strokes. Through the intricate patterns he drew, the spirit ki harmonized to form a Purple Lightning Talisman.

Abbess Clearlotus was in the room too. With her chin resting on her hands, she stared fixedly at Fang Chen in awe.

Having drawn Strength Talismans and Flitting Talismans, she knew that more potent talismans were demanding on one’s capacity and control of spirit ki. It was common for cultivators to suffer from trembling hands, ki instability, and all kinds of side effects that resulted in the failure of their talisman drawing.

Yet, Fang Chen’s spirit ki and brush strokes were more stable than her master’s and elders’.

Despite the extreme difficulty in drawing the Purple Lightning Talisman, he was able to complete it in a single breath. On top of that, his spirit ki flowed nonstop as if he had a boundless spring of energy in him.

He can draw Purple Lightning Talismans with ease despite being blind. Using my master’s words, he is born to be an immortal cultivator…

“Abbess Clearlotus, I heard both your sect and Li Daoye’s sect are located in Infernoblaze Country?” Fang Chen asked as he prepared to draw the next Purple Lightning Talisman.

“That’s right. My Moon Monastery is just a mountain away from Li Daoye’s Eight Trigrams Sect,” Abbess Clearlotus replied with a nod. “The elders of our sects often fight with one another. My master told me to be wary of the Eight Trigrams Sect’s cultivators as they are cunning people.”

“I can’t deny that.” Fang Chen chuckled in agreement. “Is the South Heaven Sect close to your Moon Monastery? How are the cultivator sects in Infernoblaze like?”

“The South Heaven Sect is a powerful sect in Infernoblaze’s southern region. Together with the northern region’s Beast Spirit Valley, they are Infernoblaze’s Two Behemoths. The two sects are known to be backed by pinnacle Foundation Establishment elders.

“My Moon Monastery and Li Daoye’s Eight Trigrams Sect can only be considered as mid-tier in Infernoblaze. Most cultivator sects only have Ki Refinement cultivators,” Abbess Clearlotus said.

“Pinnacle Foundation Establishment…” Fang Chen murmured.

There really is a huge gap between grade-6 states and grade-7 states. Grade-7 states only have Heaven Profound martial artists.

Daoist Cloudcrane once said that the Heaven Profound martial artists are only comparable to pinnacle Ki Refinement, with the latter being stronger in a practical fight.

“Young master, the requirement to become a grade-6 state is to have four Foundation Establishment cultivators. Infernoblaze Country is considered strong among grade-6 states,” Abbess Clearlotus added.

“Four Foundation Establishment cultivators? I’m curious to know how these requirements came about,” Fang Chen remarked with a smile.

Abbess Clearlotus was stumped by that question. She racked her head, but she was unable to figure out an answer. “Well… Maybe it’s… Or that it could be…”

“Someone must have come up with it, and it slowly became recognized as an official standard over time,” Fang Chen suggested.

“Right, right! That must be it!” Abbess Clearlotus frantically nodded like a little chick.

“Does your Infernoblaze Country worship any deity?” Fang Chen suddenly asked.

Great Xia worshiped the Enlightenment Heaven Supreme, a three-armed, monkey-faced, human-bodied deity. Most temples in the country contained its golden statue.

What perplexed Fang Chen was that Guhe, Longdu, Yizhou, Greenpine, and even Chillwater worshiped a common god, but it wasn’t the same as Great Xia’s Enlightenment Heaven Supreme. He had always wondered how this came to be.

“We do. Our Infernoblaze worships the Flamethief Immortal.” Abbess Clearlotus nodded.