Immortal of the Nine Realms

Half a month later.

The group had finally reached the borders of the empire.

Jiang Zhong let out a breath of relief. They had thankfully reached the Grand Qian Empire without any issues. They hadn’t seen any Blood Spirit Sect cultivators along their way too, so that shouldn’t be an issue, either.

"Where are you planning to go, Jiang Zhong?” Fang Chen smiled. “Do you need me to escort you?"

Jiang Zhong's eyes flickered slightly, and he smiled with his fist clasped. "You don’t have to trouble yourself. If there's nothing else, the young lady and I will take our leave."

Fang Chen nodded. "That's fine. Take care."

"Thank you, Sect Leader Fang,” mouthed Jiang Tianai.

Fang Chen patted her head, laughing. "No need. You've given me the Mirror of the Universe, so we’re even."

Before long, Jiang Zhong had already disappeared from their sight with Jiang Tianai.

Xia Ji turned to look at the princess, who had a serious expression on her face, seemingly lost in thought, then turned back to Fang Chen. “What about us, Fang Chen? Should we head directly to the capital?”

"You wait here for me. I'll exchange her for some spirit stones," said Fang Chen, smiling. He took the princess with him and transformed into a sword.

***

In one of the towns near the border, Fang Chen and the princess sat in a teahouse, each enjoying a cup of tea. This teahouse was within the territory of the Qinghu Empire and was only a few hundred miles away from the Grand Qian Empire

As Fang Chen drank his tea, he paged through the Mirror of the Universe. He finally had some free time after his journey, and could finally take a moment to carefully study it.

He couldn't see the first twenty pages, but the text of the page after those was very clear, although the content he saw each time was randomized.

"The Qinghu Family, born in human form, possesses superior intelligence. There are no males within the family, and only those who have reached the Foundation Building Realm earn the qualification to conceive offspring through essence qi. Innate Ability: Qinghu Illusionary Realm!"

Sitting across from Fang Chen, the princess watched Fang Chen thumb through the book curiously. He was just so focused that it intrigued her.

What’s he looking at?

However, her face soon darkened when she recalled her embarrassing moments during these past few days.

The princess clenched her fists tightly. "Damn it, it's so infuriating. They must have been mocking me for days."

Fang Chen put away Mirror of the Universe and looked at the princess with some curiosity. "There aren't any men in your family?"

The princess was taken aback for a moment, and she suddenly turned perplexed as she stared at Fang Chen. How does he know about that?!

This was a deeply hidden secret even within the empire! There were barely ten true-blood members of the Qinghu Clan in the entire empire!

Fang Chen chuckled. "Not talking? If you don't talk, I'll take you away from here, and your mother will never find you again."

The princess’s eyes flashed with fear. Gritting her teeth, she whispered, “Yes, we’ve never had any males in our family.”

"Interesting." Fang Chen smiled and continued, "Your family has this innate ability, it’s called the Qinghu Illusionary Realm, do you know about it?"

The princess’s shock intensified. How does he even know about the Qinghu Illusionary Realm?!

The people from outside the family only knew that they were skilled in illusions, but they didn’t know the details. There were many types of illusions, and the Qinghu Illusionary Realm was among the best!

The princess slowly began, "I can’t use it yet since my cultivation isn’t high enough. Only when I reach the twelfth stage of the Qi Refining Realm can I awaken the ability. When that happens, I wouldn’t necessarily even fear Foundation Building Realm experts.”

Fang Chen nodded slightly.

At that moment, a figure walked into the teahouse. The figure crossed toward their table, pulled a seat, and sat down next to the princess, casting a cold gaze toward Fang Chen.

Although Tu Qingqiu nodded slightly toward the princess, her eyes remained mostly fixed on Fang Chen.

“How many spirit stones do you want?" she asked coldly.

"Six thousand." Fang Chen smiled. "You tried to trick me with an illusion the last time, so you can say that this extra thousand is compensation for the mental distress I’ve experienced.”

Mental distress? Tu Qingqiu nearly swore aloud.

Fang Chen had clearly tricked her with an illusion too!

She wanted to lash out, but she reined it in. Not only because the ruler said not to make an enemy out of the swordsman, but because she herself didn’t want to bring this matter up again! What if anyone from her family found out about this, how will she preserve her last shred of dignity?

"Six thousand low-grade spirit stones! That’s blind robbery!" blurted the princess aloud, unable to help herself.

Six thousand low-grade spirit stones?!

Many people in the teahouse, including both human and demon cultivators, turned to look over curiously.

It was only now that the demons around noticed the two tails dangling behind the princess. After a moment of thought, they were shocked.

Royalty!

"What do you think I'm doing?" Fang Chen looked at the princess. "Am I negotiating with your aunt or with you?"

The princess's eyes spewed fire. She was about to speak up when Tu Qingqiu patted her shoulder and motioned for her to stay silent. "Don't interrupt. I'm negotiating with him," said Tu Qingqiu softly. She then looked at Fang Chen and handed him a storage ring.

"There are six thousand low-grade spirit stones inside, but there's a condition. As long as you agree to it, they're yours."

Fang Chen smiled. "What condition? Let's hear it."

"No one can know of this. What will spread to the people is that we’ve rescued the princess from your hands.”

"I agree,” said Fang Chen, picking up the ring and standing up to leave. “Farewell."

Tu Qingqiu was surprised. She had expected some resistance from him. The ruler had warned her that sword cultivators had quite the temper, so they shouldn’t try and force him to agree to the condition. She didn't expect him to agree so readily.

The princess sulked. "Aunt Qingqiu, are you really letting him go like this?"

"What else can we do?" Tu Qingqiu shot back. "Do you have a way to keep him here?"

The princess hung her head. "I don't….”

Tu Qingqiu sighed. "You've caused a lot of trouble for us. The ruler said not to meddle in the disputes between human cultivators in the future, or similar incidents will happen again."

"I just wanted to help Big Brother Jue..." the princess began, but she found herself being restrained by spiritual energy, unable to speak further, and could only watch Tu Qingqiu bring her away helplessly.

"Stay quiet. I'll take you back to see the ruler," said Tu Qingqiu. She used spiritual energy to fly out the window, the princess with her.

***

The trip back took Fang Chen only a few hours. When Xia Ji saw that the princess wasn’t with Fang Chen, he immediately smiled. "Did you get the spirit stones?"

"I got them." Fang Chen nodded slightly. He took out three thousand low-grade spirit stones and placed them into his own storage ring. He then gave the storage ring to Xia Ji, and the rest of the spirit stones inside.

Xia Ji was confused, and he stared at Fang Chen’s outstretched hand. "What are you doing, Fang Da?"

Fang Chen smiled. "We got a total of six thousand low-grade spirit stones, so let's split them evenly."

Xia Ji shook his head slightly. "You want to split them? Evenly too? I didn’t even contribute half the effort."

"I know you're not the kind of guy to fuss over the little things. You can rest assured. There are many ways to earn spirit stones, and I happen to know one of them. I won't lack such external possessions." Pausing for a moment, he continued, "With these three thousand low-grade spirit stones, you can speed up your cultivation. The stronger your cultivation, the more opportunities you'll have to accomplish what you want."

Xia Ji's expression became serious as he pondered for a while. Finally, he nodded slightly and accepted the storage ring.

"Fang Da, are we going back to the imperial capital now?"

Fang Chen smiled. "Take me to the Profound Void Temple."

Xia Ji's lips slightly curled upwards. "Alright." It felt good not being on the run anymore.

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