Immortal of the Nine Realms

Fang Chen smiled. "Senior, this is also a puppet. The real me is outside,” he said. “It seems that you can't leave this place."

Still a puppet?

Supreme Immortal Pudu frowned slightly, scrutinizing Fang Chen. Unfortunately, his current cultivation was too low, and he wasn’t able to tell if Fang Chen was lying or not.

"Do you have the sword embryo on you? Giving you the Blood Ginseng and Vermilion Fruits is fine, but you must return the sword embryo to me. Otherwise, I will come and take it personally, but at that time, it won’t just be you who suffers, but your entire empire as well. All because of you."

"If you were able to do so, senior, wouldn’t you have already done it? After all, don’t you already suspect that there might be saint-grade spiritual herbs on me?” asked Fang Chen with a smile. “Also, I'm quite curious, what is this Heavenly Spiritual Herb Ranking?"

A glint of cold light flashed in Supreme Immortal Pudu's eyes. Fang Chen had guessed correctly. It would be indeed difficult for him to return here with his real body, at least that held true in the short term.

"Various major first-tier empires, together with numerous sect masters, established several lists in the world, among which were the Emperor Ranking, Spiritual Herb Ranking, and Spiritual Treasure Ranking. Those are the most famous rankings," explained Supreme Immortal Pudu slowly.

As he spoke, he tried to figure out whether Fang Chen was truly a puppet or not. Fang Chen would not deliberately come here to die, so it probably wasn’t his true body. But why would he even return?

Fang Chen clasped his hands. "I'd like to hear the details."

Supreme Immortal Pudu showed a smile. "It's not convenient for us to talk here. Follow me."

"Sure," replied Fang Chen, nodding. He then began following Supreme Immortal Pudu.

Hmm?

Supreme Immortal Pudu felt some doubt in his heart. From Fang Chen’s actions, it did seem that he was indeed a puppet, but he still wasn’t so sure. However, would Fang Chen dare act so recklessly if it were his true body?

"I only have this one puppet left. Please don't ruin it, senior,” said Fang Chen casually. “Not to mention that if you do, you won't be able to find out the whereabouts of the saint-grade spiritual herbs."

Supreme Immortal Pudu immediately suppressed his inner impulse to probe Fang Chen further, and he emotionlessly said, "No need for all this nonsense. Just follow me."

Before long, the two arrived at a courtyard. Fang Chen found a stone bench and sat down leisurely, while Supreme Immortal Pudu sat opposite him, silently watching Fang Chen.

"Speak, why did you come back?"

Fang Chen smiled. "I want to strike a deal with you. But before I talk about the details, I hope you can tell me some things about the cultivation world."

A deal?

Supreme Immortal Pudu's eyes lit up slightly. The other party had to have realized that he had extremely high cultivation and wasn’t willing to pass up on the opportunity to trade for some benefits.

Supreme Immortal Pudu became much calmer at that, and his tone softened a bit as he nodded slowly. "Alright, let's start with the Emperor Ranking. The Emperor Ranking was established by many Ancestors. The cultivation levels of these Ancestors are unfathomable, and as for why they established the Emperor Ranking, that I do not know,” he said. “Those who can enter the Emperor Ranking are all powerful figures. Those within the top twenty in the rankings are all Ancestors, as for the next eighty, they are all cultivators who are at least in the Ascension Realm.”

"In other words, there are a hundred strong experts in the Emperor Ranking?" Fang Chen was curious. "What is the Ascension Realm? And what realm are those Ancestors in?"

"You don't even know about the realms?” Supreme Immortal Pudu's eyes flickered. “How did you become a cultivator? Are you even in a sect?"

Fang Chen smiled. "Don't bother testing me, senior. I am just a wandering cultivator. The only reason I was able to become a cultivator was because I consumed one of those spiritual herbs."

"Why would I need to test you? Since you don't know anything, I will be your guide and teach you about the realms of cultivation. The cultivator's realms are divided into the lower four realms, the middle three realms, and the upper three realms. The lower four realms are Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul. The majority of cultivators you can see fall into the lower four realms. If you reach the Nascent Soul Realm, you can live for eight hundred years. At this stage, in the eyes of ordinary people, you are already a real immortal.”

"What about the middle three realms?" asked Fang Chen.

“The middle three realms?” Supreme Immortal Pudu smiled ambiguously. "I'm afraid you won't have the chance to set foot into these realms in your entire life. At this level, one is already among the top in the world. They are respectively the Enlightenment, Soul Splitting, and Soul Fusion Realms!”

"You must be a strong expert at that level, senior," uttered Fang Chen in feigned admiration. He silently noted everything Supreme Immortal Pudu said.

"Are you probing me?" Supreme Immortal Pudu lightly chuckled. "If you ever have the opportunity to meet me in the future, I’ll tell you how deep my cultivation actually is. How about that?"

Fang Chen smiled. "I don't really want to meet you."

Supreme Immortal Pudu didn’t harp on that and only snorted lightly. "As for the upper three realms... they are the Dao Union Realm, Tribulation Realm, and Ascension Realm. Even if you go through endless cycles of reincarnation, it’ll be difficult for you to reach such a level."

Fang Chen did not take his mockery to heart and instead asked, "Is Ascension Realm the ultimate goal for cultivators? What about the level of those Ancestors?"

"The Ancestors?" Supreme Immortal Pudu pondered for a moment, a subtle yearning flashing in his eyes. "The Ascension Realm is indeed the limit. After that, one ascends to the Immortal Realm, becoming a truly carefree and unfettered immortal. Unfortunately, in the last hundred thousand years, no one has been able to ascend to the Immortal Realm. It seems that the door to the Immortal Realm has been completely sealed and is no longer open to cultivators. Some cultivators in the Ascension Realm, when their lifespan is about to run out, choose to break the shackles. If they succeed, they become Loose Immortals. Otherwise, they go through reincarnation again."

"The Ancestors you mentioned are those who successfully became wandering immortals. Such beings can be called Loose Immortals. Even though they lack the means of true immortals, they are infinitely close to them in terms of power. Therefore, they are honored as Ancestors, controlling a sect’s fortune."

"Loose Immortals, Ancestors, controlling the fortune of a sect..." Fang Chen secretly wondered if Senior Yun He was an Ancestor. But it seemed unlikely that such an existence would take an interest in him....

Then Fang Chen thought of the fairy in the scorching sun. Could she be an Ancestor, too?

If so... that would be troublesome.

Fang Chen sighed inwardly. If, after his many years here, the only woman who had been able to stir his heart a little turned out to be an Ancestor, then that would truly be something.

"As for the Spiritual Herb Ranking, it records various spiritual herbs, with the top hundred all being saint-grade spiritual herbs."

"The Soul Treasure Ranking is the same, recording three hundred soul treasures in the world."

"Soul Treasures are still Spiritual Treasures, right?" pondered Fang Chen.

Supreme Immortal Pudu chuckled disdainfully. "Spiritual Treasures are divided into heaven, earth, profound, and yellow grades. In fact, spiritual herbs are the same,” he said. “But Soul Treasures are different. Those surpass the heaven grade, just like saint-grade spiritual herbs."

"So, heaven, earth, profound, and yellow are not all; there are stronger ones above them..." Fang Chen's thoughts stirred slightly. "What grade do the Hundred-Year Vermilion Fruit and Hundred-Year Blood Ginseng fall into?"

Supreme Immortal Pudu said with a faint smile. "These two are considered top grade, yellow rank spiritual herbs. How about it, if you are willing to give me the sword embryo, not only will I give them to you, but I will also bestow upon you a genuine inheritance."

Fang Chen’s next response came as a surprise, however, as it wasn’t in words, but in Purple Lightning Talismans! And they were in dozens!

By the time lightning cracked, Fang Chen had already taken out the dragon truncheon, fiercely smashing it down at Supreme Immortal Pudu!

Supreme Immortal Pudu erupted in anger. "How dare you!"

How dare he attack him?!

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