Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Be Careful of His Majesty

Days later, Abbess Clearlotus fully grasped the Purple Lightning Talisman’s heritage, and Abbess Moonchaser took her back to the Moon Monastery.

Fang Qingyao made sure to remind Fang Chen to take care of the orphans and the vulnerable living in the Compassion Halls before leaving with Abbess Moonchaser. She already saw them as her family after spending some time with them.

Only a few unaffiliated cultivators continued to linger in Great Xia.

“Young master Fang, now that we have resolved the threat of the Blood Spirit Cult, I’m allowed to leave now, right?” Li Daoye looked incredibly relieved.

“Where do you intend to head next?” Fang Chen asked.

“The world is huge. I’ll head wherever my heart leads me. I don’t plan on returning to the Eight Trigrams Sect any time soon lest my father force me to marry into some clan,” Li Daoye replied.

“Feel free to return to Great Xia to take a look.” Fang Chen nodded. “I’ll escort you.”

While the two of them were making their way out of the Fang Manor, they bumped into Xia Yun, Liu Suifeng, and Tantai Qingxuan.

“Do the three of you need something from me?” Fang Chen smiled.

The three of them clasped their fists and greeted Fang Chen.

Xia Yun first glanced at Li Daoye before speaking with a suppressed voice, “Daoist Fang, to be honest with you, the three of us traveled here for a dilapidated blessed land. By any chance, are the two of you interested in it?”

“Dilapidated blessed land?!” Li Daoye’s eyes lit up as he vehemently nodded. “Yes, yes! I am very interested in it.”

It was a pity that he was not the one whom the three of them wanted to invite, so they pretended not to hear him and instead looked at Fang Chen.

“Dilapidated blessed land?” Fang Chen’s eyebrows shot up. “What kind of blessed land is it, and what’s in it?”

Xia Yun pondered about it before replying, “We bought a tattered map from a market a while back. The cultivator who sold us the map said that it indicates a blessed land left behind by a cultivator, just that the map is too tattered for them to decipher, so they decided to sell it instead. The map was only worth a couple of low-grade ki stones, so the three of us bought it.”

It was at this point that Xia Yun couldn’t suppress his smile anymore. “I took a look at the map and knew right away that it’s in Chillwater. The terrains indicated on it are close to Great Xia.”

“It’s thanks to Senior Xia that we were able to decipher the map. There’s a chance that the map is a fake, and our efforts are in vain, but as the terrains depicted on the map are accurate, we thought that it might be worth further looking into it,” Liu Suifeng added. “You’re free to join us if you’re interested in it.”

Fang Chen wasn’t too interested in it at the start, but his interest was piqued when he learned that the blessed land was in Chillwater. The place where Enlightenment Heaven Supreme had imprinted in his mind back then was located in Chillwater too.

Could it be the same place?

Fang Chen spent seconds in thought before replying, “Could you wait a few days for me? There are matters in Great Xia that I have yet to settle.”

“Of course. We’ll be waiting in the imperial palace. Just send us the word once you’re done with your business.” Xia Yun’s eyes lit up, and he agreed right away.

Blessed lands were usually protected by formidable restriction arts. Even if they had become dilapidated, these restriction arts were still enough to threaten Ki Refinement cultivators. They would be in a much safer position if Fang Chen joined their party.

It was still fresh in their mind how Fang Chen had unleashed a devastating attack on the Foundation Establishment Blood Spirit Cultist a few days back.

The three of them left after coming to an agreement.

Li Daoye also chose to stay behind for the time being. He wanted to first explore this blessed land before deciding on his next move.

“Hehe, I wonder what I can get out of this.” Li Daoye was excited.

“Imperial Duke Fang,” a person standing at the Fang Manor’s entrance called out upon spotting Fang Chen.

“What is that fellow doing here?” Li Daoye frowned.

It was Tao Yu.

“Weren’t you accepted by an unaffiliated cultivator? Why are you still here?” Fang Chen asked with a smile.

“I had to stay behind for a while as I still had matters to deal with, but I’ll be leaving with my master later today,” Tao Yu replied.

“What brought you here?” Fang Chen asked.

“Imperial Duke Fang, can we talk in your manor?” Tao Yu asked.

Fang Chen nodded.

Upon arriving at the Fang Manor’s guest room, Tao Yu suddenly sighed. “The Third Prince won’t be returning any time soon, right?”

“You know that the Third Prince is still alive?” Fang Chen was surprised. I intentionally spread news about Xia Ji’s death. How can Tao Yu be certain that Xia Ji isn’t dead yet?

“The Third Prince wouldn’t die that easily.” Tao Yu chuckled. “I have seen the Third Prince performing mystical feats since a long time ago. Now that I think about it, he might have already joined a cultivator sect then. I was the one who tipped off the Third Prince that Xia Yu intended to move his hidden piece in Greenpine to assassinate him.”

“Oh…” Fang Chen stared at Tao Yu for a few seconds before suddenly laughing at the absurdity of it all. Shaking his head, he asked, “In other words, you have been serving the Third Prince all along?”

“That’s right.” Tao Yu nodded. A mysterious smile emerged on his lips. “The Third Prince said that you will never figure out that I’m his man no matter how smart you are. Not only so, but the Third Prince also has many other eyes in the capital. I wonder if Imperial Duke Fang has noticed them.”

“I’m guessing that fellow intentionally told you to keep it to yourself until now, so that I’d make a fool out of myself?” Fang Chen burst into laughter. “All right, get straight to it. You wouldn’t come here just to tell me this. What else do I not know?”

Li Daoye was perplexed listening to this conversation. It made him wonder about what kind of person the Third Prince was.

“The Third Prince told me to warn you about His Majesty.” Tao Yu’s face suddenly turned grim.

Warn me about His Majesty? Doubt flickered across Fang Chen’s eyes.

Before he could think deeper into it, Tao Yu continued, “The Third Prince seemed to have noticed something back then. You were part of the reason he chose to become a hostage in Greenpine, but it was also an excuse for him to temporarily leave Great Xia.”

At this point, Tao Yu heaved a sigh. “We always thought that, other than Xia Yu, the only one who could threaten the Third Prince in the capital is you. We picked on you because we were afraid that you would accumulate too much power and claim the throne. It looks like we were overthinking things. Your ambition is not constrained to Great Xia.”

Fang Chen wasn’t bothered by that. Instead, he asked with a frown, “Xia Ji told you to warn me against the emperor. What did he discover?”

“I don’t know. The Third Prince didn’t tell me.” Tao Yu shook his head. He clasped his fist and said, “It’s about time. I should get going now. Imperial Duke Fang, may we meet again if fate permits.”

“Go ahead.” Fang Chen nodded.

Shortly after Tao Yu left, Fang Chen settled into his chair and fell into deep thought. He ran through everything that had happened in recent days, hoping to catch even the slightest clue as to what could have been amiss.

Li Daoye patiently waited by the side without making a noise.

Around an hour later, Fang Chen suddenly looked toward the imperial palace and sneered, “That vicious thing! He pushed his son forward as a scapegoat. That foolish Xia Yu didn’t know that he was being played like a fiddle even in his final moments.”