Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 117

Chapter 117: A Mishap in the Southern Region

Faced with the emperor’s questions, Fang Chen replied with a composed smile, “Your Majesty, please calm down. I am doing this for Great Xia’s sake.”

“You’re telling me to calm down?” The emperor began laughing out of sheer rage. “Why don’t you look at it from my perspective? I am Great Xia’s emperor, and yet you put me in a spot time and time again before my officials! Am I the emperor, or are you the emperor? Why don’t I give the throne to you instead? I’ll retire with your aunt and quietly live our lives in the countryside!”

Fang Chen smiled. “I’m not interested in becoming the emperor. There is too much hassle that comes with it, and it might even shorten my lifespan.”

The emperor was speechless.

There was a moment of silence before he asked, “Fang Chen, why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? I offered to give you a court robe, but you refused it. Do you think that it’s… beneath you to be a Great Xia’s official?”

“Your Majesty, I’d have been happy to share your burden with you five years ago. I did enjoy squabbling with others in the imperial court. However, things are different now. I can do my part for Great Xia without going through the imperial court, so I don’t want to go through the hassle. Otherwise, your officials will be busy thinking of ways to impeach me out of fear. I’d rather they focus their efforts on helping the people,” Fang Chen replied.

“Is that really what you think?” The emperor frowned.

“Your Majesty, you can believe what you want, but that’s what I’ll be doing.” Fang Chen smiled. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Fine. You may leave.” The emperor nodded.

Shortly after Fang Chen left, an old eunuch slowly approached the Imperial Library with a few younger eunuchs supporting him. When Eunuch You saw the old eunuch, he hurriedly ran over and exclaimed, “Old ancestor, what brings you here today?”

“I’m here to meet His Majesty. The rest of you aren’t needed here. Excuse yourselves.” The old eunuch pulled his arms back from the younger eunuch and tidied himself up before entering the Imperial Library.

Eunuch You was perplexed.

This old eunuch was an old veteran in the imperial palace, having served three generations of emperors. However, he went into retirement shortly after the incumbent emperor ascended to the throne. Counting back, he had to be at least a hundred years of age by now.

“Perhaps even the old ancestor was alarmed upon learning that Great Xia has been promoted to grade-8. Imperial Duke Fang is truly a monster to have achieved what others failed to do over centuries in just a single day. Even now, I still wonder if it’s a dream,” Eunuch You murmured.

In the Imperial Library, the old eunuch bowed with his trembling body, “Long live your Majesty.”

The emperor looked at the old eunuch and said, “You may rise. I just question Fang Chen, and he doesn’t seem to be planning on staging a rebellion. Rather, he appears to view this throne of mine as a burden.”

“Your Majesty, it’s best not to let your guard down. Imperial Duke Fang is young and reckless. He’s more likely to step out of place than Fang Zhentian,” the old eunuch said.

“That’s why I wanted to meet you today,” the emperor replied. “You have been serving our Xia Clan’s old ancestor since you were six years old. My old ancestor wasn’t fond of dealing with secular matters; he was more interested in pursuing immortality. When he was in his thirties, he suddenly left and hasn’t returned since. Answer me—did our old ancestor become a cultivator?”

“My master is indeed a cultivator.” The old eunuch slowly nodded.

“What a pity!” the emperor sneered. “A cultivator was born from our Xia Clan, but he didn’t leave behind any heritage, and he turned a blind eye to our Great Xia’s plight too. What do you think is on his mind? If my old ancestor was willing to lend a helping hand to Great Xia, we could have reached grade-8 or even grade-7 before Fang Chen was born!”

“My master once said that the world of cultivation is fraught with dangers. If he lent a helping hand to Great Xia, it might draw his enemies’ attention over. That could have spelled a calamity for Great Xia. Other than that, he said that cultivation requires one to be free of secular affairs. Only by stepping out from the secular world can one advance as a cultivator.

“Great Xia has its fate ordained. He doesn’t intend to interfere, and he can’t afford to interfere either,” the old eunuch replied.

“Is that the reason our ancestor only met you whenever he returned over the years?” the emperor coldly asked.

The old eunuch lowered his head.

“The circumstances are different from before. The Fang Clan has a cultivator backing them… and Fang Chen is likely a cultivator too. Even a powerful martial artist can tower above a ruler’s authority, let alone a cultivator?”

The emperor looked intently at the old eunuch. “I know you have a way to contact my old ancestor. Tell him that our Xia Clan is losing its grip on power, and we need him to return and hold the fort.”

“…Understood.” The old eunuch nodded before shakily backing out of the Imperial Library.

…

In the following days, the news that Great Xia was going to be promoted to grade-8 spread from the capital to the other provinces. The civilians were so excited to hear the news that even the Third Prince’s funeral wasn’t as sorrowful anymore.

Rather than the death of an imperial prince, they were much more interested about Great Xia’s promotion to grade-8 state.

Fang Chen had depleted most of the spirit materials Li Daoye had brought back from Dragonback Lane, which meant another huge stack of talismans in his inventory.

He kept a portion of it for himself and handed the remaining ones to Xu Ge, so that he could distribute it to the Great Xia Shadow Guards.

“Young master Fang, you should have kept those Purple Lightning Talismans with you. You can better draw out their prowess,” Li Daoye remarked.

“I’m but one person. If something happens, there’s only so much I can handle at once. I have to make preparations in advance. If Abbess Clearlotus fails to bring her master over, we’ll have no choice but to deal with the Blood Spirit Cult’s Foundation Establishment cultivator by ourselves,” Fang Chen replied.

Li Daoye clasped his hand over his mouth. “Young master Fang, you don’t think Little Abbess will be able to convince her master?”

“I can’t guarantee that,” Fang Chen replied.

“Shit!” Li Daoye cursed. He thought that Fang Chen had revealed the existence of the Purple Lightning Talismans because he was confident of pulling this off.

Who could have thought that Fang Chen wasn’t confident at all!

“It’s a Foundation Establishment cultivator we’re talking about here… Their means are unfathomable. A couple of Ki Refinement cultivators like us won’t be a match!” Li Daoye said.

A second later, his eyes suddenly lit up. “But again, it’s doubtful whether the Foundation Establishment cultivator will come here or not. I reckon they probably see Great Xia as nothing but an insignificant country.”

“They have already concocted six Blood Spirit Divine Pills here. The chances are that they have Great Xia in their sight.” Fang Chen shook his head.

“Why don’t we run then? Young master Fang, it’s not wise to stand beneath a collapsing wall. Why don’t we return after you reach Foundation Establishment? Great Xia is currently a burden to you. It doesn’t produce ki stones, and there are no spirit havens here… Why don’t we escape to Infernoblaze with your clan?” Li Daoye proposed.

“Shouldn’t the goal of pursuing martial arts or cultivation be to protect one’s homeland rather than to shake free of it?” Fang Chen smiled.

Li Daoye was rendered speechless. How is it that there is a cultivator in the world with such a strong secular heart? This is a wonder in itself!

“Young master, Yuan Zhuang requests an audience!” Xu Ge suddenly rushed over and reported.

“Yuan Zhuang? They are back from the southern region?” Fang Chen was surprised.

“Something bad happened,” Xu Ge replied with a suppressed voice.

Fang Chen nodded. “Bring him in.”

Yuan Zhuang was covered in blood. His body was covered with large and small wounds alike. Some of them had scabbed, whereas some appeared to be more recent. Clearly, he had rushed to the Fang Manor as soon as he arrived at the capital.

“Bad news, young master! The southern region’s sects have encircled the Profound Saber Sect! Chiliarch Jue and the others are trapped in there too,” Yuan Zhuang anxiously reported.