Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 207
Chapter 207: Heaven Profound Realm, First Stage Slaying Ki
Four youths wandered around the imperial palace’s garden, with a huge entourage following them. Those in the entourage were all offspring of the imperial family, but they were reduced to mere accompaniment for the four youths.
These four youths were of exceptional standing.
One was Chillwater’s Fourth Princess Han Qin, who had been training in the White Tiger Empire’s Ten Directions Sect for many years.
One of them was the son of the White Tiger Empire’s great general, Lin Li.
The remaining two youths were even more formidable—they were likely to have been born in a grade-6 state, possessing unfathomable strength!
“Senior Brother Zhou, Senior Sister Wang, thank you for making this trip with us,” Lin Li said with a respectful attitude.
Han Qin also quickly relayed her gratitude with an equally respectful attitude.
Senior Brother Zhou tilted his chin upward as he impassively replied, “I don’t usually get involved in such trivialities, but since you’re my follower, I guess I can at least drop by Chillwater to subdue a rogue cultivator.”
Senior Sister Wang smiled at Han Qin and said, “Han Qin, you won’t be returning here for many years after this. Take this chance to tie up loose ends well; I don’t want to hear any complaints after this.”
“I will, Senior Sister Wang,” Han Qin replied respectfully.
She and Lin Li were lucky to be selected as Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Sister Wang’s followers, and they would be following them to a grade-6 state soon. She was glad to be able to resolve some of the problems in Chillwater before leaving.
“Why is my big brother not here?” Han Qin wondered as she looked at the imperial clansmen following them.
She had been away from home for too long that she wasn’t familiar with them. She only remembered her big brother, who doted a lot on her back when she was younger.
“You are… Lil’ Seven, right?” Han Qin pointed out one of the youths.
Startled, the youth rushed forward and politely answered, “Fourth Sister.”
“Where’s big brother? He rushed to meet me the last time I returned,” Han Qin replied.
The youth was taken aback, looking as if he wasn’t sure how he should answer the question.
Han Qin sensed that something was amiss and pressed on, “Get to the point. Don’t hide anything from me.”
“Fourth Sister, did our father not tell you?” the youth replied with a bitter smile. “Our big brother died at the hands of Great Xia’s Fang Chen not too long ago…”
“What?!” Han Qin was horrified. A second later, she snapped out of her daze and asked with a sharper edge to her tone, “Say that again!”
“Our big brother… has died at the hands of Great Xia’s Fang Chen…” The youth was terrified.
The others weren’t faring any better. They knew that their Fourth Sister was a monster who had been training at the Ten Directions Sect from a young age, and it was rumored that her strength had already surpassed Earth Profound realm.
Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Sister Wang traded looks, but they didn’t think much about it.
Lin Li frowned. He turned to the youth and asked, “Who is Great Xia’s Fang Chen?”
The youth hurriedly replied, “It’s Great Xia’s War God Fang. Great Xia fought with Greenpine at the Three Realms Mountain a few years back and suffered great casualties. He blamed our Chillwater for not lending a helping hand, so he killed our big brother to vent his anger.”
“Fang Chen!” Han Qin roared with murderous intent.
“Great Xia is…?” Lin Li was confused.
The youth quickly explained Great Xia’s background. Lin Li widened his eyes in realization.
“Senior Brother Zhou, Great Xia is one of the grade-9 states under our White Tiger Empire. They are Chillwater’s vassal state, but they dared collude with an unaffiliated cultivator to try to overthrow Chillwater,” Lin Li summarized the situation to Senior Brother Zhou.
“Leave the cultivator to me and your Senior Sister Wang. We won’t interfere with anything else,” Senior Brother Zhou replied.
“Understood.” Lin Li nodded. He turned to Han QIn and consoled her, “Don’t worry, Qin’er. We’ll tear that Fang Chen to shreds to avenge your big brother.”
Han Qin quietly nodded.
“You can’t expect anything from an unaffiliated cultivator. How ignorant he must be to wilfully interfere in secular affairs? Anyone with a proper heritage would know better than to incur too much karma, lest they succumb to the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations,” Senior Sister Wang sneered.
“Let’s hope he at least has some ki stones, so that we don’t make a wasted trip,” Senior Brother Zhou replied.
That was the main reason they had decided to make this trip. Cultivators with background were not to be trifled with, but unaffiliated cultivators were easy targets.
Just then, Chillwater’s emperor walked over with an exhausted look.
The crowd quickly bowed to him. “Your Majesty.”
Cultivators like Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Sister Wang naturally wouldn’t bow to a mortal emperor, and Lin Li also stood still as well.
“Father, why didn’t you tell me that my big brother got killed?” Han Qin rushed forward and questioned. Tears finally streamed down her eyes.
Chillwater’s emperor sighed. “I wanted to tell you in person because I knew you would be shaken up by the news.”
“Father, where’s Fang Chen? I’ll slaughter him right now to avenge my big brother!” Han Qin angrily roared.
Chillwater’s emperor hesitated for a few seconds before quietly replying, “Fang Chen… might have become an immortal.”
Hm? Lin Li was taken aback. The immortal mentioned in the letter… was born in Great Xia?
His face darkened. Even he, the son of the White Tiger Empire’s great general, hadn’t been qualified to step on the path of an immortal, yet an immortal emerged from a lowly grade-9 state?
Senior Brother Zhou was shocked. “You’re saying an immortal came from your vassal state?”
“Your Majesty, this is Senior Brother Zhou. He’s an immortal from a grade-6 state,” Han Qin introduced.
Chillwater’s imperial family revealed even more respectful looks. They really are immortals!
Chillwater’s emperor bowed deeply and greeted Senior Brother Zhou, “Lord Immortal.”
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony.” Senior Brother Zhou shook his hand.
“Lord Immortal, Fang Chen is indeed born from Great Xia, and based on what I have observed, there’s a good chance that he’s an immortal,” Chillwater’s emperor respectfully reported.
“He probably stumbled onto our path by sheer luck. There’s no need to worry about him,” Senior Sister Wang replied with a smile.
Senior Brother Zhou nodded in agreement. “It’s normal for Longevity Ki martial artists to not be a match for cultivators, since your inner ki is incapable of breaching spirit ki. However, things are different once you reach Heaven Profound realm.
“Han Qin and Lin Li have reached Heaven Profound Realm’s first stage Slaying Ki. Martial artists of their caliber are capable of dealing with spirit ki. The Fang Chen you spoke about is unlikely to be too strong, so the two of them should be enough to deal with him. Are there other unaffiliated cultivators with him?”
“Fourth Sister is really a Heaven Profound realm martial artist?”
The younger imperial clansmen looked at Han Qin with eyes of admiration. Not even their Chillwater’s Old Ancestor had been able to reach that level!
Two Heaven Profound realm martial artists and two grade-6 state’s immortals! The Ji Clan has made the worst choice to side with Fang Chen! The imperial clansmen revealed excited looks.
“There were a few more people, but they appeared to have left. Fang Chen is the only one left. He just returned to the capital with Ji Congyun. I have already issued an order for them to attend tonight’s banquet,” Chillwater’s emperor replied with a hushed tone.
“Very well. Let’s see what he’s capable of during the banquet.” Senior Brother Zhou, Hand Qin and Lin Li sneered.
—
Starve’s additional translation note:
To clarify, martial artists call cultivators ‘immortals’ out of a lack of understanding.
They don’t understand the limitations of cultivators well—they see cultivators as beings from another world, capable of pulling off the impossible, so they use the word ‘immortal’ loosely. Even Ki Refinement cultivators are like immortals to them.
(Needless to say, the cultivators wouldn’t explain their own limitations to martial artists either.)
Cultivators, on the other hand, have a more fixed definition of immortal. For them, it’s about reaching the very end of cultivation and enjoying a carefree life with an endless lifespan. For them, an immortal is someone who has transcended Ascendant realm.
