Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 212

Chapter 212: Scrape All Of the Martial Arts Legacies

“That depends on your sincerity,” Fang Chen replied.

Sincerity? Senior Brother Zhou glanced at his storage ring. He gritted his teeth and brought out 100 low-grade ki stones. This was all his saving.

He was showing the full extent of his sincerity to shake this sword cultivator off his tail!

“Daoist Fang, I was planning to use these ki stones to purchase pills, but I’ll give them all to you to clear up our misunderstanding. How does it sound?” Senior Brother Zhou politely asked.

Lin Li felt light-headed looking at this sight. How did things end up like this? Why is Senior Brother Zhou admitting defeat without even trying to fight back? Immortals shouldn’t be this weak!

“I do feel your sincerity, but it isn’t enough.” Fang Chen shook his head.

Senior Brother Zhou immediately turned to Senior Sister Wang and said, “Junior sister, take out your ki stones too.”

Senior Sister Wang didn’t hesitate to take out 100 low-grade ki stones too.

However, Fang Chen shook his head.

Senior Brother Zhou was starting to get anxious. Is he not planning to let us off at all? If that’s the case, we have no choice but to put our lives on the line.

“Not just your ki stones. Your artifacts too,” Fang Chen said. “These are worldly possessions. Don’t get too attached to them. The old ones need to go for new ones to come in.”

“This…” The two of them were put in a spot.

While the Blood Corpse Sect’s legacy was centered on nurturing combat zombies, they had managed to acquire some artifacts for themselves over the years, and their value far exceeded the 100 low-grade ki stones they had offered.

Losing 100 low-grade ki stones was a blow, but they could recoup their losses in a year or two. It would be too much if they lost their artifacts on top of that—they would be set back for at least a decade!

“You don’t have much of a choice here,” Fang Chen pointed out.

The two of them clenched their jaws, but in the end, they could only reluctantly hand their artifacts and ki stones to Fang Chen.

The little sword was excited to see the artifacts. It wanted to dig in right away, but Fang Chen stopped it. He feared that others might covet his sword if they learned that it could devour other artifacts.

“Farewell. I shan’t be sending you off.” Fang Chen cheerily waved his hand.

“You’re too courteous.” Senior Brother Zhou clasped his fist before he quickly left together with Senior Sister Wang and Lin Li. He didn’t even bother bidding farewell to Chillwater’s emperor.

Chillwater’s emperor and the officials plunged into silence. The imperial offspring and officials who previously insulted Fang Chen trembled in fear, as their faces turned as white as a sheet of paper.

“Elder Ji, I presume you can settle the rest by yourself?” Fang Chen asked with a smile.

“Rest assured, young master Fang. I’ll handle the rest. You won’t be disappointed.” Ji Congyun clasped his fist and said.

Fang Chen nodded before taking his leave. Ji Congyun naturally became the center of attention after his departure.

“Come out, Ji Clansmen,” Ji Congyun calmly ordered.

Around fifty people stepped out. Some of them were born in the Ji Clan, whereas the others were a part of the Ji Faction. All of them had excited looks on their faces, as they already knew what was going to happen next.

“Your Majesty… isn’t it about time for you to relinquish that seat to us?” Ji Congyun smiled at Chillwater’s emperor.

“Ji Congyun… how could you collude with outsiders? Aren’t you afraid of Chillwater falling into Great Xia’s hands? This is the empire painstakingly built by the predecessors of our two clans. Flowing in this land is our ancestors’ blood and sweat!” Chillwater’s emperor attempted to turn the situation around by convincing Ji Congyun.

“How hilariously naive!” Ji Congyun sneered. “So what if Chillwater is annexed by Great Xia? Great Xia is backed by an immortal. Having such a strong backing is nothing but beneficial to us! Besides…”

He looked at the crowd in disdain before continuing on, “Young master Fang has no intention of annexing our Chillwater. Our country doesn’t have much to offer Great Xia. Just think about the White Tiger Empire’s attitude toward us.”

It wasn’t hard for the officials to understand what Ji Congyun was getting at. Great Xia, like the White Tiger Empire, didn’t have much interest in Chillwater. In fact, Great Xia might not even be interested in the White Tiger Empire at all.

Even immortals from a grade-6 state had admitted defeat to Fang Chen. They could hardly imagine how strong Great Xia would become under Fang Chen’s protection.

Chillwater’s emperor turned ghastly pale. He shook weakly before collapsing to the ground. However, there was not a person who stepped forward to help him other than Eunuch Lin.

“Haa…” Chillwater’s emperor shook his head bitterly. He struggled to his feet and looked at Ji Congyun. “Very well. I’ll abdicate and hand the throne over to your Ji Clan. I only hope that our Han Clan will have a place in Chillwater.”

“Rest assured, our ancestors used to be brothers in arms. Head northward. I’ll confer the land there to your Han Clan,” Ji Congyun said.

“Thank you,” Chillwater’s emperor quietly replied.

The imperial clansmen and the imperial faction knew that they had lost this battle. Their mood was lower than ever, though they did feel a sliver of relief at having survived this transition.

In the following days, the news of the Ji Clan taking over the throne spread like wildfire. Spies from Vastsea, Redsky, and Heavenroc relayed the news back to their respective countries too.

However, the locals weren’t surprised to hear that, since the Ji Clan had ruled over half of Chillwater all this while. It didn’t matter to them whether it was the Ji Clan or the Han Clan who was in power.

The Han Clansmen swiftly left the empire to head northward. They took a couple of old officials who were reluctant to remain in the capital with them.

Ji Congyun made no attempt to stop them, as he didn’t think that the Han Clan had any chance of making a comeback anymore. Since he wouldn’t be able to use those old officials anyway, he felt no pity at their departure.

At the same time, all of Chillwater’s sects, be it weak or strong, received imperial edicts to hand over their respective martial arts legacy.

This news came as an even greater shock than the change in crown. It stirred a huge uproar in Chillwater’s pugilistic world.

Some of the sects obediently handed over their legacies out of fear of the Ji Clan’s influence, but there were also sects who refused to hand over their long-time legacies and fought back.

The Ji Clan might be the dominant power in Chillwater, but there were other major powers too.

The Forgotten Sea Sword Sect, Chillwater’s strongest sword sect, enjoyed high prestige in Chillwater, such that the Ji Clan and the Han Clan often treated them as equals. Its sect master was also a powerful martial artist of the same caliber as Ji Congyun.

The Forgotten Sea Sword Sect had chosen to fight back. It rallied other top sects with Longevity Ki martial artists to break out of the Ji Clan’s encirclement before scattering all over the pugilistic world, making it hard for the Ji Clan to deal with them.

Ten days later, Fang Chen saw an exhausted Ji Congyun.

“Carry them in.” Ji Congyun beckoned with his hand.

Someone carried in ten crates and placed them in front of Fang Chen.

“Young master Fang, here is seven-tenths of Chillwater’s martial arts legacies. As for the remaining three-tenths… I don’t think I’ll be able to acquire them any time soon,” Ji Congyun replied with a bitter smile.