Immortal of the Nine Realms

Before Fang Chen stood nine figures, each identical to him in appearance. Yet, the aura of each one was subtly different. The only thing they shared in common was their cultivation level. All of them were at the grand completion stage of the Soul Splitting Realm.

It had been over twenty years since the Myriad Immortal Palace wiped out the Nine Immortals Mountain Holy Land and the Heavenly Sword Division.

Now, Fang Chen’s last two split souls had reached the peak of their realm. From within the Three Thousand Dao Realm, he retrieved the Combined Chapter of the Three Thousand Dao Art, a chapter he had already spent several years comprehending. He had a solid grasp of its key principles.

Unlike ordinary cultivation methods, the Three Thousand Dao Arts became markedly different starting from the Fusion Chapter. This difference would also make the current merging process particularly difficult. For most cultivators, the more split souls they had, the harder it was to reach the Fusion Realm.

But with the Three Thousand Dao Art, there was a twist. Each split soul, rather than simply being absorbed, would be transformed into a true external avatar with its own cultivation base. This essentially added an entire extra stage to the fusion process, significantly increasing its difficulty.

Now, with nine soul splits, there would be nine external avatars. Only Fang Chen could truly understand how daunting this process was. No one else could even begin to grasp its complexity.

”Thankfully, this is just a matter of time and refinement,” he murmured. ”Unlike advancing from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, it doesn’t require external force or tribulation.”

He had already selected a blessed land with excellent feng shui, abundant spiritual energy, beautiful surroundings, and no signs of human habitation. He had also made all necessary arrangements in both the Lesser Underworld and the Floating Pagoda Realm. With his absence planned in advance, each division could carry on with their duties unhindered.

Fang Chen’s gaze shifted slightly and gave the nine split souls a small nod. At once, all nine wore identical faint smiles, and one after another, they stepped forward and merged into his body.

***

The first fusion took three years to complete. This split soul had cultivated the Heavenly Supreme Pill Technique, and its Dao transformed into a cold, expressionless young man who now stood quietly to the side.

Though the youth looked nothing like Fang Chen, he was the external avatar of the Pill Dao. Pure and singular in essence. His aura contained nothing beyond the Heavenly Supreme Pill Technique.

As another three years went by, the second fusion succeeded. This split soul had cultivated the Eight Desolation Supreme Sword Scripture, and its Dao transformed into a middle-aged swordsman, who now stood silently beside the pill cultivator.

Another three years passed. The third split soul successfully fused. It had cultivated the Four Stage Profound Yang Body, and its Dao transformed into a towering, broad-shouldered man nearly three meters tall. He radiated vigorous qi and blood like a blazing sun suspended in the sky.

The fourth cultivated the Three Heads and Six Arms. Its avatar took the form of a child barely ten years old, yet with an uncanny, otherworldly presence.

The fifth cultivated the Shadow Buddha Technique. This avatar had dark skin etched with golden runes, robed in flowing garments. Standing off to the side, he was like a wisp of air, almost invisible, easily ignored, and emanating no presence at all.

The sixth soul cultivated Azure Lightning Art. Its avatar had white hair and the face of a child, yet bore a solemn, majestic aura. His eyes were forged from pure thunder, though they soon concealed this, appearing no different from ordinary pupils.

The seventh cultivated the Yin Soldier Technique. His avatar wore ancient battle armor, surrounded by faint wisps of yin qi and killing intent, like a general who had spent years on blood-soaked battlefields.

The eighth cultivated the Radiant Divine Eyes. His avatar resembled a scholarly youth, holding a brush about a foot long. At its tip, various threads of spiritual energy gathered and swirled, as though capable of scripting the very laws of the world.

The ninth cultivated the mysterious Primordial Immortal Eye and was the only female avatar among the nine.

Her appearance was hard to discern. Her features seemed composed of countless interwoven lines, her face indistinct and genderless, save for the unmistakable contours of a woman’s body. One could not tell her gender from her face alone.

At first, Fang Chen occasionally tracked the passage of time during the fusion. But as the difficulty increased, a single moment of distraction could cause a split soul to collapse. He had to devote himself completely to the process.

By the time it was done, he no longer knew how many years had passed. He only knew that he had completed every step without a single flaw.

Now, his internal spiritual energy surged like a boundless ocean, at least twenty times more robust than when he was at the peak of the Soul Splitting Realm.

The gap between the early-stage Fusion Realm and the grand completion stage of the Soul Splitting Realm was like a chasm. As one ascended higher, that gap only widened further. This was why, despite being a third transformation sword cultivator, Li Wuwang could not claim invincibility among his peers.

In that realm, differences between levels grew vast. But within a single level, disparity shrank. For example, Song Zhili, who wielded the dreaded Azure Lightning Art, could pose a serious threat to Li Wuwang purely by virtue of his technique.

Several days later, once Fang Chen had fully stabilized his cultivation, his attention turned to the nine external avatars.

He wasn’t sure what marvels other cultivation methods offered in their Fusion Realm, but surely none could rival having nine avatars of the same realm under one’s control?

Together with himself, he could now appear in battle as ten fully-fledged early-stage Fusion Realm cultivators. More terrifying still, each avatar likely had the power to fight across realms.

”To shape an avatar from a single Dao... No wonder the predecessor of the Three Thousand Dao Sect, the Three Qing Supreme Sect, was once able to guard the entire Nine Mortal Realms.”

Fang Chen mused, Could those empty drawers within the Three Thousand Dao Realms represent an avatar born from the Dao itself?

”If every disciple of the Three Thousand Dao Sect could possess one or two external avatars before advancing to the Dao Union Realm, it wouldn’t be impossible for all three thousand Dao techniques to become avatars... Master’s cultivation and powers are even more extraordinary. Perhaps when he advanced to the Dao Union Realm, he had far more incarnations than I do now...”

His thoughts spread far.

At last, his gaze rested on the avatars. Between him and them lay a unique connection. Unlike during the Soul Splitting Realm, this connection was like that between a puppeteer and their own puppets. The avatars had no consciousness but could carry out all the commands given by their master, acting with a certain degree of intelligent logic. However, a puppet’s true nature could be seen at a glance, but these nine avatars already possessed life.

If anyone else were here now, they wouldn’t be able to see the true connection between these avatars and Fang Chen.

Fang Chen muttered softly to himself, ”You all need names.”

After thinking for a few moments, his eyes lit up slightly. There was no need to come up with names arbitrarily. Why not name them according to their Dao?

At that moment, a shadowy figure appeared nearby. He called out, ”Lord.”

The only person who knew about this place was Du Yunxu. Fang Chen had specifically instructed that unless there was a major matter, there was no need to come here.

Fang Chen looked at Du Yunxu. ”How many years have passed since I went into seclusion?”

Du Yunxu’s eyes briefly scanned over them, then said softly, ”Forty-seven years have passed.”

That meant that sixty-seven years had passed since the destruction of the Nine Immortal Mountain Holy Land.

In just a few decades, to advance from the Soul Splitting Realm to the Fusion Realm, his speed was not slow at all. In the eyes of ordinary Soul Splitting Realm cultivators, it would be considered extremely fast, not to mention refining nine external avatars during that time.

”What is the current situation on all fronts?”

”Today’s visit is exactly because of this matter. Daoist Xu Changshi has been dismissed,” said Du Yunxu.