Immortal of the Nine Realms

Daoist Zhou saw that his grandson seemed to be daydreaming, so he berated him, "Don't just stand there. We’re doing something for the ruler here, don’t embarrass us.”

Zhou Huayu immediately focused on controlling the Walking Corpses under his command.

The Walking Corpses continued to sniff the blood for a while, causing Tu Qingqiu to grow impatient. Frowning slightly, she asked, "How much longer?"

The Daoist Zhou smiled. "We’re almost done. We just need to let them remember the scent, so they’ll be able to track him down more easily."

"Daoist Zhou, wouldn't your Copper-Armored Corpses track him down faster?" asked Tu Qingqiu.

The Daoist Zhou shook his head slightly. "Walking Corpses are more adept at tracking. They have a more sensitive perception of blood essence, like the innate gifts of wild beasts. Copper-Armored Corpses are different; we integrate many spiritual materials during their refinement. This weakens their innate gifts, but enhances their combat power.

Tu Qingqiu glanced at the sniffing Walking Corpses. There was a sliver of disgust in her eyes. "So you’re saying that Copper-Armored Corpses aren't as pure as Walking Corpses?"

"You could say that.” Daoist Zhou chuckled. “When Walking Corpses reach a high level of cultivation, they can even become immortals. At that time, who would still consider them just Walking Corpses?"

Tu Qingqiu didn’t say anything to that.

After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Daoist Zhou put away the porcelain bottle. The Walking Corpses had turned restless suddenly, and they all stared southward.

"The princess is to the south," said Daoist Zhou.

Tu Qingqiu nodded. "Let's go."

She immediately dashed toward the south.

Sighing, Daoist Zhou turned to his disciples. "Follow the Corpses, but don’t embarrass me this time,” he said. “Remember this, we’re only responsible for tracking the sword cultivator down for them, so don’t get in any conflicts with him.”

"Yes!" replied the disciples in unison before following the Corpses.

After they left, Shopkeeper Lin emerged from the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. He clearly hadn’t wanted to show himself with them lest Fang Chen bunched him up with them later.

"Zhou Wuji from the Blood Corpse Sect is here too. It seems that the ruler isn't planning to let things slide and is determined to find that sword cultivator," muttered Shopkeeper Lin.

Qin Wei, who was beside him, whispered, "The Qinghu Empire might bring itself a whole lot of trouble because of this.”

"Sure, sword cultivators are indeed not to be trifled with, but…” Shopkeeper Lin smiled, “do you think the Qinghu Empire is easy to mess with either?"

Qin Wei was taken aback. Wasn't the Qinghu Empire just a sixth-tier empire? Its ruler was only at the grand completion stage of the Foundation Building Realm, too.

"Nothing is more complex than relations in this world. Sometimes, people you look down upon might have a Golden Core Realm cultivator backing them up," said Shopkeeper Lin calmly. "For an empire to be ruled by demons and to thrive for thousands of years, then there must be someone backing it up. The demon race isn’t weak.”

Qin Wei understood what Shopkeeper Lin meant. So a powerful demon race was supporting the Qinghu Empire! No wonder they had been acting so domineering!

***

Guided by the Walking Corpses, the group changed directions several times.

Tu Qingqiu was starting to lose patience. "Daoist Zhou, can you really find the princess?"

"Please, don't worry, Daoist Tu,” said Zhou Wuji. “Searching for someone with Walking Corpses is a slow process. We can't pinpoint someone’s location directly, but we can slowly chip at it by following their trail.” He paused and continued, "This sword cultivator seems pretty cautious. He has changed directions several times along the way, probably trying to evade pursuers."

"Let's hope that you don't disappoint the ruler." Tu Qingqiu coldly snorted and fell silent.

Zhou Huayu transmitted his voice, "Grandfather, do you remember the sword cultivator that I told you about? The one I saw in the Frost Water Empire?"

Zhou Wuji's eyes flickered. "Are you suggesting... that the sword cultivator you encountered is the one we’re after right now? “

"Perhaps he is associated with him. That sword cultivator’s strength should have only been at the Qi Refining Realm. He is unlikely to be able to slay the Demon King Tianfeng with a single sword strike.”

"Alright.Don’t let the imperial family know about this. They might grow suspicious of our sect,” replied Zhou Wuji through transmission.

Zhou Huayu’s eyes turned vigilant. He nodded slightly and stopped indulging these random thoughts, focusing on the search.

***

Heavenly Wind Mountain Range.

The area was rich in demonic qi, with many demon cultivators inhabiting the mountains. However, when these demon cultivators saw Fang Chen's sword light, they knew better than to provoke him and pretended not to see him.

Diving deeper into the mountains, the sword light landed in front of a cave.

At the entrance of the cave dwelling stood two demonic cultivators who resembled frogs, each wielding steel spears. They were covered in bumps, with what seemed like venom flowing about them.

When one of the frog demons noticed Fang Chen, he immediately approached, his steel spear pointed forward. "You are…?”

Suddenly, however, the frog noticed the princess, and it hastily bowed respectfully. “I pay my respects to you, Princess!”

The other frog demon also hurried forward to bow.

"Is Uncle Tianfeng here?" asked the princess offhandedly, her eyes signaling subtly. However, the two demons didn’t even dare meet her eyes.

"The demon king has gone out,” said one of them.

"In that case, we'll wait for him inside," said Fang Chen with a faint smile.

"Princess, who are these human cultivators?"

"They are Uncle Tianfeng’s friends. They’re here to visit him. Can you two open the door to the cave? We'll wait inside," said the princess.

Normally, the two demons would not allow outsiders inside so easily. However, the person before them was the princess, the most beloved daughter of the empire’s ruler. The two little demons exchanged glances and immediately opened the door to the cave, leading the group inside.

Jiang Tianai looked around with curiosity as they walked. He noticed that the cave was patrolled both inside and out by demon cultivators, it was like a fortress of sorts. The cultivation levels of the demons ranged from the fourth to the eighth stage of the Qi Refining Realm.

One of the frog demons was left confused by the fact that Fang Chen was carrying someone with his spiritual energy, but he didn’t dare ask about it.

Soon, they were led to the guest hall.

As the two frog demons prepared to leave, Fang Chen spoke up, "Where is Demon King Tianfeng’s room? Take me there to have a look."

A frog demon turned furious. "How can you be so rude! No one is allowed entry to Demon King Tianfeng’s room. Anyone who shall trespass inside will die!"

The princess intervened here. "Take us there to have a look. Uncle Tianfeng won't blame us.”

The two frog demons were perplexed. "Princess, what are you…?"

"What's wrong?” The princess frowned. “Don't tell me you don't believe me?"

"We wouldn’t dare doubt you, Princess, but this is a rule set by the demon king. We are only low-level Qi Refining Realm cultivators, we dare not disobey his orders," explained a frog demon.

"You can beat it, then," said Fang Chen with a faint smile. With a flash of silver light, the heads of the two frog demons rolled to the ground.

Seeing her kind slaughtered, the princess felt extremely angry.

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