Chapter 89: A Promise
Nightfall.
In one of the rooms in Heavenly Sword Villa, Fang Chen and Abbess Qing He sat together and conversed.
After today’s events, Fang Chen couldn’t help but grow curious regarding the abbess’s cultivation after he had seen her condense her third immortal vein right after helping the wandering souls ascend.
"Your cultivation technique seems quite unique, Abbess Qing He," he said.
Abbess Qing He nodded slightly. "This technique of mine is called Inner World Heart Refinement; only by saving others can one save oneself."
"Only by saving others can one save oneself..." Fang Chen muttered softly.
Abbess Qing He thought for a moment, then added, "But...my master said that the Inner World Heart Refinement Technique is too difficult, so she ended up cultivating other techniques later down the line." She paused, then said, “Perhaps I will do the same in the future."
"Why?"
Abbess Qing He spoke softly. "Back when my master first ‘entered’ her inner world, she condensed five immortal veins in the span of one night. But from that day forth, she became cold and indifferent. She was also unable to make any further progress on Inner World Heart Refinement. The same went for my senior masters and senior uncles. Even our ancestors were the same. Maybe not long from now, I'll also become like her; indifferent to the world, and scenes like today’s won't be able to stir my emotions anymore."
Fang Chen fell silent for a moment, then said, "It is inevitable for one to turn indifferent after seeing the miseries of the mortal world.” He paused, then continued, “But even if a cold and indifferent person by nature were to save hundreds of thousands of souls, helping them ascend, but they themselves don't feel for those souls and aren't doing it purely out of heart, then I don’t think that they’d be able to benefit from Inner World Heart Refinement. After all, they'd only be pretending to care. Seems to me that the first stage of the Inner World Heart Refinement is about not deceiving yourself."
Fang Chen then mumbled to himself, "No wonder I haven’t seen anyone from the Buddhist Sect on the battlefield for many years. Saving others to save yourself.... But how many saviors are truly out there in this world?”
He looked at Abbess Qing He. “Have you seen an immortal before?”
“An immortal?” Abbess Qing He was slightly stunned and a peculiar look crossed her face. "No. But my master said that only a select few cultivators will become immortals. When they ascend to immortality, they’d lose their humanity; their hearts would grow as cold as frost, and they’d see all the living beings as but little mayflies, frail and short-lived. Perhaps you and I are no different from the cultivators of the Spirit Blood Sect in their eyes."
The memory of the immortal figure who stood under the scorching sun at Three World Mountain resurfaced repeatedly in Fang Chen's mind.
What her master said was plausible. Perhaps to immortals, all living beings were one and the same.
Fang Chen suddenly smiled. "Little nun," he called out.
Abbess Qing He was surprised; he seldom called her that. She was instantly reminded of Li Daoye and blushed furiously.
"Let's make a promise," said Fang Chen.
A hint of curiosity blossomed in Abbess Qing He’s eyes. "What kind?" she asked.
"If either of us ever become immortals, we shall be humane immortals. What do you say?” said Fang Chen, smiling.
"Humane immortals...." Abbess Qing He was briefly puzzled, then she couldn’t help but ask, "Do such ‘humane’ immortals exist, my lord?"
"Why couldn’t there be? Even if they don’t exist, shan't we become ones ourselves when we become immortals?” He chuckled. “It is so that when you witness the numerous joys and sorrows of life, its partings, the life and death of it, you’ll never forget or stray from your genuine, kind-hearted nature and never become indifferent toward the lives of others.”
Abbess Qing He fell silent for a long time, then she firmly nodded.
Seeing that it had gotten late, Fang Chen stood up and said, "It's late now. You should go back and rest." He then saw her off.
After she left, Fang Chen’s divine soul left his body and took to the skies.
Standing in the void-like night sky, Fang Chen fell into thought. If the Spirit Blood Sect intended to extract the blood essence of the martial artists in the southern region to enhance their cultivation, why hadn’t they done that from the start? Why bother plot and scheme to incite wars just to acquire the blood essence for the Blood Spirit Elixirs?
"Xu Hui mentioned that Senior Brother Bei had brought the remaining Spirit Blood Sect cultivators out of Grand Xia, but that’s strange; their main objective was to stay in Grand Xia and monitor the progress of the Blood Spirit Pills,” murmured Fang Chen to himself.
The sudden departure of Senior Brother Bei; him taking the rest of his team out of Grand Xia with him but leaving Xu Hui, Granny Jinhua and Daoist Xue back at the capital city.... Was he planning to seek revenge? It might be that he’s injured; that’s why he’s anxious to extract the blood essence of martial artists. He could use the Spirit Blood Codex to recover quickly. His urgency might even stem from the fact that he might be being pursued by an enemy. A series of unfounded speculations were restructured by Fang Chen into one possibility.
If he had hit the nail on the head, then to Fang Chen, this was a rare opportunity.
Senior Bei had to be far stronger than Xu Hui. If it weren’t for the fact that Xu Hui wasn’t at his peak condition when Fang Chen struck, it might’ve been difficult for Fang Chen to kill him. And at that time, he’d have alerted the Spirit Blood Sect to his existence, attracting even more trouble.
But what if Senior Bei was injured? As long as he killed him in one fatal blow, the Spirit Blood Sect wouldn’t be able to react in time. By the time they sent their experts after him, he’d have already improved his cultivation even further.
With that, Fang Chen’s divine soul swiftly traversed the Southern Immortal Prefecture.
*
In a secluded mountain valley in Southern Immortal Prefecture.
A white-robed young man was sitting cross-legged under the moonlight. Surges of spiritual energy entwined around him and flowed into his body continuously.
After a while, he opened his eyelids, revealing two beautiful eyes that complemented his exceptionally handsome appearance.
"The blood essence of a martial artist is indeed purer than that of a normal person. I just need one or two hundred more martial artists and my injuries will be completely healed. Hehe. Those bastards would’ve never expected that the Spirit Blood Codex would work so well for recovery.
“What a pity that everyone I brought this time has died. Fortunately, there's still Xu Hui and the others back in Grand Xia, so there shouldn’t be much of an impact on the mission’s progress. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain this to the deacons. As soon as I finish refining the last four Blood Spirit Pills, I can be promoted to a deacon, and then I won’t have to endure staying in this backwater ninth-tier empire anymore,” murmured the young man softly to himself as his eyes gleamed with anticipation and greed. An eighth-tier empire martial artist’s blood essence would definitely be purer than those in a ninth-tier empire!
There were hardly anyone who had reached the peak of the Human Profound Stage in Grand Xia, but Earth Profound experts were not hard to find in eighth-tier empires.
“Once I advance to the ninth stage of the Qi Refining Realm, I’ll be able to go back! At that time, let's see who dares to look down on me anymore! Hahahaha.”
It was then that a cynical laughter echoed in the background, overlapping with his own.
Several figures appeared, surrounding the mountain valley.
“Dreaming of advancing to the ninth stage of the Qi Refining Realm, huh, Zhou Yiseng?” The owner of the voice snickered. “Well, let's see where you can escape to this time."
The white-robed young man was stunned, then he coldly replied, “You guys from Heavenly Southern Sect sure are persistent...”
“If you think we’re such a pain in the arse, why offend my senior brother in the first place? You’re just a wandering cultivator with no background to speak of. The best you can do is to escape to such a remote land,” mocked the cultivator from Heavenly Southern Sect.
The white-robed young man smiled ambiguously. “One in the seventh stage of Qi Refining, two in the sixth stage of Qi Refining, and four in the fifth stage of Qi Refining. You think that’s enough to face me?”
“You’ve been heavily injured by my senior brother, Zhou Yiseng. Even someone in the sixth stage of Qi Refining can kill you easily now.” The leader, the one in the seventh stage of Qi Refining, sneered.
"Oh, is that so? What if I’ve almost recovered from my injuries?" said the young man, standing up slowly. With a thought, the long sword on his back sprung out. It levitated in mid-air as it shone brightly.
"He has recovered from his injuries?"
The cultivators exclaimed in shock. They had no choice but to believe his words, as they were sure that he was unable to use his treasure previously!
At the same time, a divine soul appeared in the void, silently observing the commotion in the mountain valley.
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