Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 136
Chapter 136: The Emperor’s Ancestor
“Fang Chen, can I hold you to your word?” Ji Lengyue asked.
“What a joke! My young master’s words are worth a thousand gold!” Huang Sihai scoffed.
Ji Lengyue glanced at Huang Sihai before turning back to Fang Chen. He slowly nodded. “I can tell you, but you have to get someone to escort me back to Chillwater.”
“Escort your corpse back? Sure.” Fang Chen nodded.
“You know what I mean!” Ji Lengyue roared. “I want you to release me in return for me telling you what you want to know!”
“I can capture any of the Ji Clan’s upper echelons and question them. Otherwise, I can also dispatch someone to investigate the area. Why should I strike such a meaningless deal with you?” Fang Chen shook his head. “You have no right to negotiate with me. If you tell me what I want to know now, I’ll arrange a courtyard and a couple of servants for you in the barracks.”
Ji Lengyue exclaimed indignantly, “You promised me my freedom earlier!”
“You haggled with me, so it’s only fair for me to do the same. Do you still want to continue?” Fang Chen asked.
“Damn it!”
Ji Lengyue was enraged, but there was nothing he could do. He had had enough of these dreary days where he couldn’t differentiate day from night. In truth, he was willing to pay any price as long as he could get out of here
“That is where our Ji Clan procured our Nightmare Steed,” Ji Lengyue replied.
Nightmare Steed?!
Xian Wuchang and the others pricked up their ears.
This was a huge secret! It was known that the overwhelming strength of Chillwater’s Nightmare Knights were mostly attributed to the Nightmare Steed.
“There’s something there that the immortal we worship wants, but it’s a dangerous place. Shouldn’t you take me out to talk lest such important information leak out?” Ji Lengyue said.
“Arrange an individual courtyard for him,” Fang Chen ordered.
An hour later, Ji Lengyue was freed from the gloomy underground prison and was moved to an individual courtyard. Looking at the vast, blue sky, he took a deep breath before turning to Fang Chen. “How did you obtain that map?”
“Am I doing the questioning or you?” Fang Chen smiled. “Do you want to return to the underground prison?”
Ji Lengyue’s face darkened. He harrumphed in his heart before replying, “Immortal Zuo calls that place a ‘dilapidated blessed land’. He claims that it was left behind by a powerful cultivator who might have reached immortality. There are many mystical flora and fauna in there, as well as Nightmare Steeds and the ki stones that Immortal Zuo adores.”
Powerful cultivator? Fang Chen fell into deep thought. It looks like Enlightenment Heaven Supreme has cultivated there for some time. It could have been his place of birth, or he simply resided there for some years while passing by the area.
“However, that place is fraught with danger, such that even Immortal Zuo hesitates to enter it. Our Ji Clan sends in a large group of experts each year to capture Nightmare Steeds and forage for mystical herbs and ki stones,” Ji Lengyue replied. “Around 300 to 500 of our people die there each year.”
A place where even a sixth stage Ki Refinement cultivator hesitates to enter?
“Mm.” Fang Chen calmly nodded. “You’ll be staying here from now on. The Valiant Defenders will be guarding the courtyard’s entrance, so don’t bother trying to escape. You have lost your martial cultivation, so you can’t escape from the capital even if you sneak out.”
“I’m useless to the Ji Clan now that you have crippled my cultivation. There’s no point keeping me in the capital,” Ji Lengyue said.
“Honestly, I don’t care whether you’re useful to me or not. I’m imprisoning you solely because I don’t like how you dealt with my Fang Clan back then.” Fang Chen patted Ji Lengyue’s shoulder before taking his leave.
A group of Valiant Defenders gathered around the courtyard and kept a close eye on it.
Ji Lengyue glared at Fang Chen with vicious eyes.
The Fang Manor’s maids and servants had been brought to the southern region, but there were new maids and servants to replace them. They looked unassuming, but they were all Great Xia Shadow Guards, elites of the elites.
They were equipped with Purple Lightning Talismans, Flitting Talismans, Strength Talismans, and Protection Talismans that Fang Chen had previously bestowed to them. All of them could exert might surpassing Ki Control martial artists if they went all out.
“Young master.”
As soon as Fang Chen entered the Fang Manor, the servants and maids quickly greeted him. They were so well trained that outsiders couldn’t tell that something was amiss even if they saw this sight.
“Mm. Do what you should,” Fang Chen said with a nod.
After the servants and maids backed off, Li Daoye rushed over and exclaimed, “You’re finally back! I was scared out of my mind staying here by myself. Who knows when the Blood Spirit Cult’s Foundation Establishment cultivator will come knocking?”
“Don’t worry, your luck can’t be that bad,” Fang Chen consoled with a chuckle. “Abbess Clearlotus should be returning from the Moon Monastery soon. If nothing goes wrong, her master should be on her way to Great Xia.”
“Abbess Moonchaser… isn’t that easy to talk to,” Li Daoye grimly replied.
“I offered them something they can’t turn down,” Fang Chen said.
“Something they can’t turn down?” Li Daoye was startled. “You gave them that artifact of yours?”
“The Purple Lightning Talisman’s heritage,” Fang Chen replied.
“What?!” Li Daoye gasped in shock. “You should have said so earlier! I would have rushed back to ask my father to make a move. With the Purple Lightning Talisman’s heritage on the line, we wouldn’t hesitate to fight even an immortal, let alone the Blood Spirit Cult!”
“You’re unreliable. You might disappear halfway,” Fang Chen pointed out.
“…” Li Daoye was frustrated, knowing that the Eight Trigrams Sect had missed a chance to strengthen its foundation.
“Is someone around?” a voice echoed.
The voice was tinged with spirit ki, so ordinary people couldn’t hear it at all. Only cultivators could perceive it.
“The Blood Spirit Cultists are here!” Li Daoye turned to Fang Chen with eyes filled with fear. Small beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he anxiously fumbled in his robe in search of his Purple Lightning Talismans to console himself.
“Calm down. It might not be the Blood Spirit Cult,” Fang Chen replied. “Do you think the Blood Spirit Cult would be so polite? Follow me to take a look.”
At the entrance of the Fang Manor was a dignified middle-aged man. He was dressed in a green robe, and he looked graceful like a scholar.
The doors to the Fang Manor opened, and the servant welcomed him, “Please enter.”
“Mm.” The middle-aged man nodded with a smile before following the servant into the manor.
At the guest room, he looked at Fang Chen, followed by Li Daoye, before remarking, “I might have left Great Xia for many years, but I’d have never thought that cultivators would be born on this barren land. I tried everything I could back then, venturing into many dangerous places and walking for a long distance before I finally grasped a hope at immortality…”
Li Daoye’s eyebrows shot up. The other party is from Great Xia? He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the other party wasn’t a Blood Spirit Cultist.
“May I know your name?” Fang Chen clasped his fist.
“It has been a really long time since I last used that name. Let me think… Ah right, I am Xia Yun, the ancestor of your Great Xia’s emperor,” Xia Yun said with a smile.
