Immortal of the Nine Realms

“You’re going to keep me here? Haha! What big words!” the white-robed man scoffed in disdain. “I wouldn’t have been able to get here at all if you had the means to stop me. Do you think you and your Wolf Army are a match for me? You haven’t seen my true skills yet!”

“You’re stalling for time. Fang Chen must have received the news and is heading here,” Wolf Marshall Xiao suddenly said.

“Aren’t you going to escape since you know Fang Chen is on his way here? I heard he has regained his cultivation. You won’t be a match for us once we join forces,” the white-robed man replied with a chuckle.

“I shattered his ki sea. There’s no way for him to regain his martial cultivation. I don’t know what your emperor was thinking by killing our Greenpine martial artists and my daughter. Is he trying to provoke me to invade Great Xia? But for what reason?” Wolf Marshall Xiao asked.

“Ey, I also don’t know why Big Fang did that. He should have at least considered my plight before doing as he pleased!” The white-robed man sighed. “Why don’t I head back and get to the bottom of this matter, then I’ll answer your doubts via letter?”

“Hah!” Wolf Marshall Xiao sneered. “You’re taking me for a fool.”

“I wouldn’t dare. You’re Greenpine’s First Wolf Marshall!” The white-robed man laughed. “I would never dare to take you for a fool. You know that I am stalling for time, but you’re still playing along with me. What’s your intention?”

Just then, resounding laughter echoed from afar. A few figures could be spotted heading toward the Tiger Gate Pass.

“He never intended to keep you in Greenpine.”

“Big Fang!” The white-robed man rushed toward the approaching figures with hearty laughter.

The Wolf Army wanted to stop him, but Wolf Marshall Xiao stopped them with a raised hand. Wolf Marshall Xiao quietly looked at the familiar yet foreign figure.

Fang Chen shared a hug with the white-robed man, while Xu Ge smiled doltishly by the side. Celestial Xiao looked at Wolf Marshall Xiao with a conflicted expression.

The Wolf Army was surprised and confused to see that Celestial Xiao was still alive and was traveling with Fang Chen.

“How has Greenpine been?” Fang Chen assessed Xia Ji with a peculiar gleam in his eyes.

“I’ve been well. Good food, good drinks, beautiful women; I didn’t lack anything at all.” Xia Ji reminisced with a wistful look, oblivious to Fang Chen’s anomaly. “It’s just that I realized Wolf Marshall Xiao wanted to take my life a while back, so I had no choice but to escape.”

“May we have a private chat?” Fang Chen looked at Wolf Marshall Xiao.

The latter looked at Fang Chen’s grayish-white eyes and nodded.

“Wolf Marshall!” one of the Wolf Army’s commanders exclaimed. “Be careful, they might have laid an ambush!”

“It’s fine.” Wolf Marshall Xiao shook his head before accompanying Fang Chen and the others into the distance.

“What’s going on?” Fang Chen asked, as he first looked at the hundreds of Wolf Army elites, followed by Wolf Marshall Xiao.

“Someone tried to assassinate him in the capital to frame us, so I chased him out of Greenpine. My guess is that it’s someone from Great Xia. You owe me a favor,” Wolf Marshall Xiao placidly replied.

“What do you mean? I saved your daughter’s life. Shouldn’t we call it even?” Fang Chen gestured at Celestial Xiao.

“You are obliged to save her. I spared you back then,” Wolf Marshall Xiao replied.

“The two of you… Big Fang, are you colluding with Wolf Marshall Xiao? Did he intentionally chase me out of Greenpine?” Xia Ji was astounded.

Celestial Xiao was baffled too. What’s going on?

“The message you sent me earlier—is it true?” Wolf Marshall Xiao grimly asked.

Fang Chen gestured to Celestial Xiao and said, “She has the answer. The two of you can slowly talk it out at home. The intel I provided you is a favor too, so we don’t owe each other anymore.”

“What about me freeing him from Greenpine? How do you count this?” Wolf Marshall Xia pointed to Xia Ji.

“He’ll be able to escape even if you don’t free him. All you did was to send someone to inform me,” Fang Chen replied. “And that doesn’t count as a favor. Because he did the same too.”

“What the hell are the two of you getting at?!” Xia Ji was losing his patience.

“We’ll talk about it when we get back,” Fang Chen replied.

“Get back?” Xia Ji frowned. He hesitantly looked at Fang Chen and said, “Big Fang, I don’t plan on returning to Great Xia…”

“You aren’t returning? You’re going to let your big brother continue occupying the crown prince’s position?” Fang Chen asked with a frown.

“He’s the eldest son. He’s entitled to the seat. As for me…” Xia Ji lowered his head to conceal the reluctance in his eyes. “I have my plans. Someone will be fetching very soon. I don’t know how long I’ll be away, so I came here to bid you farewell.”

Fang Chen fell silent.

Wolf Marshall Xiao frowned. The Third Prince shouldn’t have been able to get here if I didn’t make a move, and Fang Chen only arrived in time because I sent a message over. Yet, why is the Third Prince speaking as if he planned this?

“Isn’t it about time, Junior Xia? Our master has waited five years for you. You should be done tying up loose knots in your secular affairs by now,” a voice echoed from a nearby tree.

Both Wolf Marshall Xiao and Fang Chen were startled. The nearby Wolf Army tensed up too, and they began making moves to encircle the tree, only to be stopped by Wolf Marshall Xiao.

The other party had been hiding on this tree all this while, but Wolf Marshall Xiao didn’t notice a thing despite being a Ki Manifestation martial artist. This hinted that the other party was strong.

On top of that, the other party addressed Xia Ji as junior, which meant that he or his master might have been the reason Xia Ji possessed strength comparable to a Ki Manifestation martial artist even though he was thought to be a normal person.

“Is it you, Senior Liu? Master didn’t send Senior Wu to fetch me?” Xia Ji was disappointed.

“You should be happy I’m here to fetch you!”

The man hiding in the tree harrumphed in dissatisfaction. He leaped off the tree, and with just a few steps, he was already standing before the crowd. The way his leisurely steps covered a huge distance created an illusion as if space had contracted just for him to move faster.

He uncorked the gourd he was holding with his right hand and downed its content. A fragrant alcoholic scent wafted in the air. After drinking his fill, he let out a satisfied burp.

Without bothering to look at the others, he turned to Xia Ji and impatiently said, “Hurry up and say what you want to say. We won’t make it for the boat if you continue dawdling here.”

“All right, all right.” Xia Ji helplessly nodded. He gave Fang Chen another tight hug before saying, “Big Fang, my brother! I’ll be going to a faraway place, so I need you to shoulder the burden while I’m gone. I’ll be entrusting Great Xia to you. Don’t worry, I’ll return to dominate the world once I become a master!”

“Where are you going?” Fang Chen frowned.

“You don’t need to care about that. The two of you aren’t from the same world anymore. If not for you, he wouldn’t have kept stalling for time,” Senior Liu sneered at Fang Chen. He stepped forward and grabbed Xia ji, and the two of them vanished from sight with just a few leaps.

“What an incredible movement skill.” Wolf Marshall Xiao has a tight frown on his face. He had never seen such terrifying movement skill before, even from experts in grade-8 states.

“That fellow stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter five years ago, but he waited for five whole years for me to ‘regain my martial cultivation’ before leaving…” Fang Chen shook his head and sighed.

He couldn’t see through Senior Liu’s background, but he did sense a pulsation of spirit ki when he embraced Xia Ji. The latter must have joined a cultivator sect.