Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 202
Chapter 202: Ego Nurturing
“Of course, of course!” Li Daoye’s eyes lit up.
He was overjoyed to make away with a 100-year-old Scarlet Fruit and 500 low-grade ki stones. Were it not for Fang Chen, he wouldn’t have gotten a single ki stone at all!
The two of them split their spoils in front of JI Congyun and the others.
With that, Fang Chen now had 800 low-grade ki stones in his storage ring. That was a fortune that even Foundation Establishment cultivators would struggle to raise at a whim.
“I’ve made a killing.” Li Daoye’s heart felt sweet like honey.
Fang Chen sighed. He took out the shattered fragments of his Moonsunk Gold Truncheon to show Li Daoye. “You might have made a killing, but I made a huge loss.”
“This…” Li Daoye gasped.
The twelve daosoul imprint Moonsunk Gold Truncheon has been destroyed?! That’s an artifact forged out of Moonsunk Gold! It’s worth at least 300 to 500 low-grade ki stones in Infernoblaze’s black market!
“What a pity…” Li Daoye sighed. “Such a wonderful artifact was destroyed…”
“Losses and gains come hand in hand.” Fang Chen sighed once more as he stowed away the Moonsunk Gold Truncheon’s fragments.
He turned to Ji Congyun and said, “I haven’t dealt with the two faes in there yet, so you won’t be able to send people in yet. Let’s return to the capital for now. I’ll subdue those two faes once my preparations are in place. Meanwhile, you should station more people here.”
“All right.” Ji Congyun nodded.
The group returned to the capital.
Fang Chen and the others moved into the Ji Manor, where they received the highest privileges. Ji Congyun relinquished the courtyard he was staying in to Fang Chen and ordered Ji Lengxing and the other servants to be on standby to address Fang Chen’s needs.
“Young master Fang, I shan’t get involved in whatever happens next. Now that I have the Scarlet Fruit and ample ki stones on hand, I wish to find a quiet place where I can spend a few years in seclusion training. I want to first raise my cultivation before returning to Infernoblaze.”
Li Daoye bade Fang Chen farewell.
“There might still be good stuff in that place. You aren’t interested?” Fang Chen asked with an enigmatic smile.
Li Daoye rolled his eyes before earnestly replying, “It’s thanks to your thick thighs that I received such handsome rewards, Otherwise, I would have died many times over by now. A 100-year-old Scarlet Fruit and 500 low-grade ki stones; that’s enough to fuel my cultivation needs for years, so I shan’t be too greedy. Feel free to visit me at the Eight Trigrams Sect if you need me. I won’t turn down your request as long as it’s within my means.”
Zhao Yan and Xu Ge nodded in approval.
Fang Chen reined in his smile and stood up. With a serious look, he patted Li Daoye’s shoulder and said, “Cultivate hard. I hope to venture into the world of cultivation with you one day.”
“I’ll be looking forward to that day.” Li Daoye nodded with a smile before leaving.
Fang Chen didn’t see him off, but he drew out his soul and followed Li Daoye for an entire day. Only when the latter safely made his way out of Chillwater did he finally retract his soul.
Fang Chen spent the next few days drawing Purple Lightning Talismans. He didn’t have any spirit materials left, so he could only make the weaker low-grade Purple Lightning Talismans. However, this was his way of cultivation.
The Purple Lightning Talismans that he drew were just bonuses.
The spirit ki in his body had bulked up significantly after the tribulations he had faced over the last few days, such that he successfully manifested his eighth immortal vein a few days later.
In a few short months, he advanced from a newbie to eighth stage Ki Refinement. The immortal veins he had forged were also firm and pure.
“Let me try the ego nurturing method.”
After reinforcing his cultivation, Fang Chen took out the sword embryo that Enlightenment Heaven Supreme spoke so highly about.
The silver sword embryo was like sentient mercury; it flowed smoothly on Fang Chen’s palm. Occasionally, a bubble would pop out.
“The Empyrean Immortal Sword Sect should be decently strong, or else Enlightenment Heaven Supreme should have assimilated the sword embryo right away. He probably stored it here as a precaution lest the Empyrean Immortal Sword Sect realizes that he stole it.”
Nurturing a sword embryo was a long process. Those who were luckier could take three to five years, whereas those who were down on their luck might require decades. But once the sword embryo takes form, the resulting artifact was bound to be much stronger than ordinary artifacts.
“Chaoxianggong Nisheng’s ego nurturing method isn’t too strong. I wonder if it’s enough to nurture this sword embryo…” Fang Chen wondered.
He placed the sword embryo in front of him before slowly closing his eyes. He began circulating his spirit ki in a unique pathway. With each circulation, the middle of his forehead would redden a little.
His spirit ki was being swiftly depleted. With just six circulations, he had already depleted 80% of his spirit ki. This was even more taxing than drawing Purple Lightning Talismans.
Unknowingly, he forced out a droplet of blood essence from the center of his forehead.
All beings in the world possessed blood essence, be it cultivators or mortals. For mortals, their blood essence was hidden in their body to sustain their body’s daily depletion.
Sickness signaled an ailing blood essence. Death meant the withering of one’s blood essence.
The stronger an individual was, the richer their blood essence. Martial artists had richer blood essence than ordinary mortals, whereas the blood essence of cultivators was superior to that of martial artists.
The art of ego nurturing involved forcing out one’s blood essence and using it alongside spirit ki to assimilate an unformed artifact. Over time, the artifact would be nurtured into an ego artifact.
The more blood essence used, the faster the speed of assimilation. However, a cultivator would be weakened whenever they lost their blood essence, so they needed time to recover.
Fang Chen wrapped his blood essence with his spirit ki before delivering it to the silver sword embryo. A red tinge flowed into its silver body and slowly fused with it.
Boom!
Fang Chen heard a loud bang. All of a sudden, he was transported into the middle of space, where he saw countless stars twinkling around him.
“Where am I?!” Fang Chen was taken aback.
I was in the midst of nurturing my sword embryo, right? Why was I suddenly transported here? Is this an illusion?
Just then, a loud explosion echoed. Fang Chen looked over and trembled in shock.
A massive planet reflecting a cold gleam was collapsing. The fragments of its collapsed body ricocheted all around as meteorites. Some of the stars were bombarded by the meteorites and ended up being crushed into bits.
Just like that, the massive planet peeled off bit by bit until its spherical silver inner core was revealed.
“This… It’s the same aura as the silver sword embryo! Was the sword embryo made out of a planet’s core?” Fang Chen was mesmerized.
An even more shocking image appeared next. A massive palm emerged from the sky and slowly grabbed the silver core. It took the silver core away with it before vanishing into thin air.
Silence returned to the world. It was as if the earlier commotion was just an illusion.
Before Fang Chen could think deeper into what it meant, he was dragged back to the real world. He opened his eyes and saw the sword embryo flying before him, looking much more energetic.
It felt like an inexplicable connection had been forged between him and the sword embryo.
“I’m starving… No, that isn’t right. I am a cultivator. I might not have reached the level of grain avoidance, but I won’t feel hungry even if I don’t eat for a month or two. This feeling of hunger isn’t from me but… the sword?”
Fang Chen looked at the sword embryo and asked probingly, “Are you the one relaying your hunger to me?”
The flying sword embryo paused for a brief moment before moving up and down, as if nodding its head.
Hungry, hungry, hungry!
The sword embryo’s thoughts gushed over like a furious tsunami.
“This… I’ve already expended a droplet of blood essence. You should at least give me some time to recover, right?” Fang Chen sighed.
