Immortal of the Nine Realms

”Y-you, all of you... we’ve already told you everything we know. There was no shred of falsehood in our words. Now that you’ve found the guy, could you let us go on our way?” said the captain with a bitter smile. After they parted ways with Fang Chen, they were captured by the disciples of the Sea Dragon Sect not long after. Now, they neither wish to antagonize the Sea Dragon Sect nor Fang Chen; they just wanted to stay out of it.

”Yes, that guy is on that ship. You should be able to easily take care of him. There is no reason for you to keep us here anymore,” said another cultivator.

”I-I still have to visit a friend at the Spirit Beast Valley. I hope you can let us go....”

The rest of the cultivators chimed in one after another.

Only a middle-aged man and a little girl remained silent. They seemed relatively quiet in the pleading group, hardly any of the cultivators noticed them.

”Visiting a friend at the Spirit Beast Valley, you say?” The cultivator with one eye, who was at the twelfth stage of the Qi Refining Realm, smiled faintly and looked toward the cultivator who said that. ”What, you think that just by mentioning the Spirit Beast Valley, we’ll be scared? What does the Spirit Beast Valley amount to in front of our Sea Dragon Sect? It’s just the top sect of the Flame Empire. It’s nothing in the eyes of our Sea Dragon Sect!”

”Yes, yes, yes, the Spirit Beast Valley is nowhere near comparable to the Sea Dragon Sect. I misspoke,” the cultivator admitted decisively without any intention of arguing.

The expression of the cultivator with one eye eased slightly. ”As long as you had nothing to do with the death of the Younger Master, we won’t make things difficult for you. But words alone are not enough. We need to wait until we catch the culprit before we can prove your innocence.”

A hint of fear flashed in the eyes of the captives. They were too deep into this now. Some of them already harbored deep hatred toward Fang Chen. If it weren’t for him, they could have safely reached the Flame Empire instead of being captured by these Sea Dragon Sect cultivators, like some prisoners, for two damn months!

Meanwhile, many cultivators ashore had already noticed the anomaly from a distance. Some recognized the serpent-grade ship piloted by Fang Chen and the three giant ships behind it, which all belonged to the Sea Dragon Sect.

The word spread around, and soon, a female cultivator arrived at the port with more than ten cultivators behind, gazing into the distance.

”Young Lady, those are indeed ships of the Sea Dragon Sect,” whispered an old man.

”The Sea Dragon Sect rarely comes to our Bai Family’s port. There must be a reason for their sudden arrival. Look at that ship; it’s obviously the Sea Dragon Sect’s serpent-grade ship. Could it be that a Foundation Building Realm cultivator has come?” said a younger cultivator with a solemn expression.

The port belonged to the Bai Family, a prominent cultivation clan. The female cultivator mentioned earlier was none other than the current heiress of the Bai Family, Bai Qianqian. Apart from the clan leader and the Foundation Building Realm ancestor, who was in seclusion, Bai Qianqian had begun to take over the management of many affairs of the Bai Family, and this port was the largest and most important asset of the Bai Family.

Regardless of the type of ship docking here, they had to pay a certain amount of spirit stones to the Bai Family. In addition to this, there were many treasures and rare items in the sea, including some demonic cores from sea beasts. After obtaining these treasures, cultivators could choose to sell them at the Bai Family’s port, which was where the Bai Family’s profits came from.

However, there were many similar ports out there. The Bai Family was nothing more than another insignificant ant in front of the Sea Dragon Sect. The two never had any dealings together, mainly because the Sea Dragon Sect looked down on them.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the Sea Dragon Sect’s ships today naturally made everyone in the Bai Family apprehensive.

”Young Lady, should we ask the ancestor to intervene?” whispered the old man.

Bai Qianqian thought for a moment, then shook her head slightly. ”There’s no need for that. The ancestor is currently in seclusion. Coming out prematurely will only affect his cultivation.” After a pause, Bai Qianqian solemnly said, ”Let them dock. When they do, we’ll naturally find out why they are here. We’ll try to accommodate them as much as possible.”

Upon hearing this, everyone, including the other cultivators at the port, looked ahead at the incoming ship in silence. It was as if time had stopped in the port. Whoever had anything they had been doing, they put it aside and watched in wait.

Fang Chen pondered quietly for a few moments before reaching his decision.

Little Sword transformed into a silver lightning bolt, carrying a terrifying and sharp sword intent before flying towards one of the giant ships behind him.

”He actually dares to strike first!” The one-eyed cultivator was slightly surprised, then sternaly shouted, ”Stop that sword!”

Countless spiritual treasures flew up, attempting to intercept Little Sword.

Trash!

Fang Chen seemed to have heard Little Sword utter this word, its voice rife with blatant mockery. Then, in an instant, it shattered all the spiritual treasures sent its way one after the other before it pierced through the one-eyed cultivator’s skull with unstoppable force.

The cultivators at the other two giant ships reacted with both shock and anger.

The one-eyed cultivator had erected a spiritual energy shield to protect himself, but he still died in the blink of an eye.

After Little Sword killed him, it immediately returned to Fang Chen’s side.

This one strike shattered seven or eight spiritual treasures, broke through the spiritual energy shield of the one-eyed cultivator, and killed him. The spiritual energy Fang Chen spent to make this move started recovering rapidly.

As he had expected, the opponents did not retaliate immediately. No matter how you looked at it, Fang Chen’s previous strike was perfectly in line with the identity of a sword cultivator.

These two words were enough to intimidate the cultivators present and were also the ’momentum’ that Fang Chen intended to use! As long as the other side dared not act rashly, Fang Chen would have enough time to fully replenish his spiritual energy.

”Deacon Li Tianluo is dead!”

The Sea Dragon Sect cultivators looked at each other in disbelief. The cultivators at the 12th stage felt their scalps tingling. If it weren’t for Li Tianluo being in front earlier, they might be the ones who had died instead.

It could have been them who died! Decades of cultivation, all down the drain, lost in an instant!

When the captain and the other captives saw this scene, their faces turned ashen. They never expected Fang Chen to be so powerful. He even killed a cultivator at the 12th stage with such thunderous force!

”Sword cultivators are all lunatics. They are all monsters... He’s clearly at the Qi Refining Realm, but he possesses such powerful strength!” someone muttered under their breath.

At the Bai Family’s port, Bai Qianqian’s face was blank. ”What just happened?”

The old man’s expression shifted erratically. Suppressing his shock, he said, ”Young Lady, something’s not right. Someone on the serpent-grade ship used a single sword strike to kill someone at the 12th stage of the Qi Refining Realm....”

The other Bai Family cultivators were already in shock. It was the first time they had seen a 12th stage cultivator die so carelessly, so hastily....

The entire Bai Family port fell into silence.

Bai Qianqian spoke slowly. ”The Sea Dragon Sect wouldn’t engage in infighting out in public. One of those ships must have been hijacked.”

The old man nodded. He had also guessed as much. But the Bai Family couldn’t get involved in this; they could only watch from the sidelines.

The cultivators who dared to make a move against the Sea Dragon Sect had to be powerful people. At least, they were not entities that the Bai Family could afford to offend. And just now, that one sword reminded him of a certain legend!

By the time everyone’s shock reached a new height, Fang Chen’s spiritual energy had already recovered, and he swung his sword once again.

This strike didn’t kill anyone, but rather directly destroyed one of the ships, sending its wrecks out into the sea, with hoards of cultivators escaping quickly, swimming off to the other two ships.

An expert at the twelfth stage of the Qi Refining Realm screamed at Fang Chen. ”Are you hell bent on making us your enemy?!”

This statement immediately made Bai Qianqian and the others understand what had happened. The ship that was seized was the serpent-grade ship, and the person who wielded that sword really wasn’t a Sea Dragon Sect cultivator....