Immortal of the Nine Realms

Fang Chen smiled. ”That depends on your sincerity.”

Our sincerity?

Senior Brother Zhou fell into thought for a moment, then eyes slowly drifted toward his storage ring. Gritting his teeth, he took out a hundred low-grade spirit stones, which were his entire savings. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of this swordsman, and if it was sincerity the swordsman wanted, he would spare no expense!

”Fellow Cultivator Fang, I originally intended to use these spirit stones to purchase pills for my cultivation, but I’ll give them all to you so we can bury the hatchet. How about that?” said Senior Brother Zhou politely.

A sense of loss filled Lin Lu’s heart. Why did the situation turn out like this? Why did Senior Brother Zhou not even attempt to fight back? This wasn’t how he imagined cultivators to be!

Fang Chen shook his head slightly. ”While this makes you seem sincere, it’s still not enough.”

Senior Brother Zhou immediately understood and quickly looked at Junior Sister Wang. ”Junior Sister, take out your spirit stones too.”

Without hesitation, Junior Sister Wang took out a hundred low-grade spirit stones of her own. However, when the two looked at Fang Chen, they found him still shaking his head.

Cold sweat seeped out of Senior Brother Zhou’s forehead. What’s the meaning of this? Does he plan to not let them go? If that’s the case, they had no choice but to fight.

”I don’t just want spirit stones. I want treasures too.” Fang Chen smiled faintly. ”Don’t weigh these external possessions too heavily. They come and go; out with the old, in with the new, right?”

The two looked at each other, feeling both distressed and troubled.

Although the Blood Corpse Sect primarily focused on refining Undead Corpses, as cultivators, they had indeed acquired spiritual treasures for themselves over the years. The value of these treasures far exceeded a hundred low-grade spirit stones....

Losing a hundred spirit stones might be costly, but they would be able to recover that amount in half a year, and if their days to come weren’t fruitful, two years at most. However, if they lost their spiritual treasures, the loss would be too heavy, and it would take at least a dozen years to recover!

”You better not have any stupid thoughts,” said Fang Chen indifferently.

Upon hearing this, the two reluctantly brought out their Spiritual Treasures with gritted teeth, handing them over to Fang Chen along with the spirit stones.

The little sword, eager, almost flew ahead to devour the Spiritual Treasures, but it was stopped by Fang Chen. If its ability to consume Spiritual Treasures were to become known, it might attract the covetous eyes of some powerful individuals.

”You can leave now. I won’t see you off,” said Fang Chen with a smile, waving.

”Thank you.” Senior Brother Zhou clasped his fists, then swiftly left with Junior Sister Wang and Lin Li. He didn’t even bother to bid the emperor farewell.

In front of the hall, the Frost Water Emperor and the civil and military officials fell into silence. The royal family members and officials who had previously berated Fang Chen were now extremely fearful, their faces as white as paper.

Fang Chen looked at Ji Congyun and smiled. ”Elder Ji, I suppose you don’t need me for the upcoming matters?”

Ji Congyun clasped his fist. ”Lord Fang, please rest assured. I will handle the following matters by the book. I won’t let you down!”

Fang Chen nodded gently and turned to leave. As he departed, everyone’s eyes fell on Ji Congyun.

”All members of the Ji family, step out now,” said Ji Congyun calmly.

Dozens of people walked out from the assembly of officials present. All of them were from the Ji family, including some officials from other families affiliated with the Ji family. Unlike the rest, they seemed somewhat excited, probably having guessed what would happen next.

”Your Majesty, your position... should be taken by our Ji family now, right?” Ji Congyun looked at the emperor of the Frost Water Empire, smiling.

The emperor of the Frost Water Empire, pale, still tried to reverse the situation and persuade Ji Congyun. ”Ji Congyun... you’ve colluded with outsiders...? Aren’t you afraid that one day the Frost Water Empire will fall into the hands of Grand Xia? This is the land that our ancestors worked hard and shed blood to establish!”

”Naive and ridiculous!” barked Ji Congyun coldly. ”Even if the Frost Water Empire merges into the Grand Xia, so what? The Grand Xia has immortal masters, and for the Frost Water Empire to merge with it, there is no harm at all. Moreover...” he paused, his face rife with mockery, ”Lord Fang has never thought of merging the Frost Water Empire into the Grand Xia. The Frost Water Empire is not valuable to the Grand Xia. If there is any benefit to it, it’s little. Think about how the White Tiger Empire treats us, and you’ll understand.”

Everyone fell into contemplation, then a hint of embarrassment appeared on their faces. Ji Congyun’s words made sense; the Grand Xia, like the White Tiger Empire, simply did not value the Frost Water Empire.

Moreover, the Grand Xia might not even value the White Tiger Empire!

Fang Chen was an existence that even people from a sixth-tier empire had yielded to. Grand Xia would naturally ride on Fang Chen’s coattails, and it was difficult to imagine just how powerful it would become.

The emperor of the Frost Water Empire’s face had long since turned deathly pale. His frame swayed, and he suddenly popped down on the ground. No one dared to step forward and help him except for Old Eunuch Lin, who was beside him.

”Hehe...” The emperor of the Frost Water Empire betrayed a bitter smile. He struggled to stand up and said to Ji Congyun, ”I’ll hand over the throne to your Ji family. I only hope... that my Han family can have a good piece of land for us to settle down on.”

”Don’t worry. Our ancestors were like brothers. Go to the north, and I will grant that land to your Han family,” said Ji Congyun indifferently.

”Thank you...” murmured the Frost Water Emperor softly.

Seeing that, the royal family and the supporters of the emperor finally accepted that the situation was lost. However, either way, although their spirits were low, at least they managed to preserve their lives.

In the following days, the news of the Ji family taking control of the Frost Water Empire spread like the plague throughout the entire empire. Even the spies from Yincang, Hongri, and Tiankun brought back the news.

However, the common people were not exactly surprised by this piece of news. The Ji family already controlled half of the Frost Water Empire, and whether the nation was under the rule of the Han Family or the Ji Family, it mattered not to them; it made no difference.

With that, the members of the Han family migrated from the capital city, heading north. As they left, they took a group of old ministers who were unwilling to stay in the imperial capital.

Ji Congyun did not stop them. In his view, the Han family had completely lost any hope of a comeback, and those ministers were of no use to him. If they wanted to leave, they could leave.

As this happened, various martial sects and schools in the Frost Water Empire received imperial decrees from the palace, instructing them to surrender their martial arts legacies.

This piece of news came as an even bigger shock than the emperor stepping down from the throne, and it caused an uncontrollable upheaval in the martial scene of the Frost Water Empire.

Some sects, fearing the strength of the Ji family, obediently handed over their legacies. However, other sects were unwilling to give up the martial arts wisdom they had cultivated over many years, leading to resistance.

Although there weren’t many martial artists who were in the Longevity Qi Stage in the Frost Water Empire, there were still a considerable number of them. Among them, the strongest was the Sect Master of the Forgotten Sea Sword Sect, who was not inferior to Ji Congyun himself.

As the strongest sword sect in the Frost Water Empire, the Forgotten Sea Sword Sect had always held a lofty status. Its relationship with the Han and Ji families was not the same as that of ordinary sects; most of the time, they interacted on equal terms.

The Forgotten Sea Sword Sect chose to resist. Led by its sectmaster, they formed an alliance with several other top sects that possessed experts of the Longevity Qi Stage. Together, they broke through the encirclement, scattered, and concealed themselves in the martial world.

Over ten days later, Fang Chen met Ji Congyun, who looked fatigued.

”Bring them in,” said Ji Congyun as he gestured.

Immediately, people brought in ten boxes and placed them in front of Fang Chen.

”Lord Fang, these represent nearly seventy percent of the martial arts legacies of the Frost Water Empire. Techniques, martial skills... everything is here. As for the remaining thirty percent... it might be difficult to get a hold of them in the short term,” said Ji Congyun with a bitter smile.