Immortal of the Nine Realms

Chapter 1762: Ants

A fleet of immortal boats sailed through the Qingming Void at extreme speed. To avoid detection by the Demonized Alliance, all the boats had been disguised under the banner of a merchant guild.

As they gradually moved away from the range of the Corpse Mountain Forbidden Zone and returned to the correct star route, the mission had already been halfway completed. After several more transfers, it would take at most thirty years or as little as twenty to reach the Feiyu Constellation.

Fang Chen stood at the bow of the boat, casually chatting with Gu Yueling while examining the miniature immortal boat in his palm. He observed for a moment and said with a light smile, "The forging technique of your boat is somewhat different from what we have in the Nine Realms."

Gu Yueling replied expressionlessly, "Of course. Everything in the Nine Realms is ancient and decaying."

"I can't open the star map inside. There seems to be a very special sealing restriction," Fang Chen remarked. "The restriction isn't strong, but it is extremely refined. If you forcefully break it, it will destroy the entire ship."

Gu Yueling explained calmly, "This is called a 'restriction password.' It's a creation of the Heavenly Craft Clan. They possess an innate talent in this field. If you don't know the password, you cannot access my star map. And don't even think about making me tell you, you already tried that before."

"Restriction password..." Fang Chen mused for a moment and then smiled. "Let's set the star map aside for now. I want to ask something else. After the eighth transformation, what path do you all cultivate?"

Gu Yueling said after a brief pause, "I can tell you this. After the eighth transformation, we uniformly cultivate the Saint Canon. Once mastered, one can step into the ninth transformation. After that comes what I mentioned before—the Three Limit Breaking Steps, then Half Saint, and ultimately Saint."

Fang Chen nodded. "Everyone cultivates the same Saint Canon?"

"Of course. Only when everyone cultivates the same technique can generations of accumulation continuously refine and improve it. This path exists because foresighted predecessors pushed its development across all major star realms. This is unlike the Nine Demonic Beast Realms, where your techniques are fragmented and diverse. Each sect has its own essence, and although they eventually converge in a loose way, they cannot be truly perfected. That leaves flaws."

"Do you have a Saint Canon? Give me a copy. I'd like to see if I can also walk this path in the future."

A faint trace of mockery appeared in Gu Yueling's eyes. "I am only a seventh transformation Ancient Immortal, not even an eighth transformation. Where would I possibly obtain the Saint Canon? If you want to walk this path in the future, first make sure you have a free body."

"Free body?"

Gu Yueling nodded indifferently. "Yes. Because your world has no Saint, it will not be acknowledged by the Qingming Supreme Alliance. Without the legal canon of the Supreme Alliance protecting you, you will eventually become slave soldiers under various powers, branded and controlled. Even you will one day become someone else's slave. Once you become a slave, even if you reach the eighth transformation, without your master's permission, you will never obtain the Saint Canon."

She fell silent for a moment and then said, "If you agree to my previous proposal of cooperation, I can act as your guarantor. You can become my retainer. Then your identity will be recognized by the Qingming Supreme Alliance. Once you reach the eighth transformation, you will be qualified to obtain the Saint Canon. And if among you there appears a peerless genius who becomes a Saint, your entire lineage will immediately shed its slave status and be recognized by the Supreme Alliance."

Fang Chen frowned. "What is this Qingming Supreme Alliance?"

Gu Yueling frowned in turn. "I advise you to maintain some reverence. The Qingming Supreme Alliance is an unfathomable existence. Everything within the Qingming is under its rule, and the Saint Canon itself originates from it. To put it bluntly, the Nine Demonic Beast Realms have been under its control since the beginning of their existence. It's just that this place is too remote, so the Supreme Alliance has never bothered to interfere. It's like standing under a mountain and suddenly noticing an ant nest beneath a tree. If you are interested, you can stop and watch for a while. If not, you walk away and never remember it again for the rest of your life."

Wang Ye walked over slowly, his gaze cold. "Are you comparing the Nine Mortal Realms to an ant nest?"

Fang Chen said with a faint smile, "Second Senior Brother, don't take her words to heart. Whether we are an ant nest or not makes no difference to us."

Wang Ye paused slightly, then his expression eased a little, though he still felt displeased.

Gu Yueling looked at Fang Chen in surprise. "You are strange. When I said this place was an ant nest, you didn't show even the slightest reaction."

She had said those words intentionally, hoping to see him lose composure, but he remained completely unmoved.

Fang Chen smiled lightly. "I've always known since I was born how vast this world is. Just because I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your words merely confirm my guess. By the same logic, if the Nine Mortal Realms are an ant nest, then your so-called Seeking Dao Faction's homeland is also an ant nest, albeit just a little larger."

Gu Yueling's expression shifted slightly.

Wang Ye immediately laughed. "Old Nine is right. There is no difference between us. We both come from ant nests, then. You can put that arrogance aside."

Fang Chen returned to the main topic. "So you're saying the Qingming Supreme Alliance has always known about the Nine Mortal Realms?"

Wang Ye also became serious, stepping forward.

"Of course."

"Any proof?"

"No."

"No proof, yet you are so certain?"

Gu Yueling replied calmly, "Does it even require proof? If you are the strongest in a region, even if you haven't walked every corner of it, does that change the fact that it belongs to you?"

Her words caused both Fang Chen and Wang Ye to fall silent for a moment. It actually made sense.

"Back when your Seeking Dao Faction left this ant nest, the strongest among you was only at the ninth transformation, correct?"

"At that time, there was no such thing as Half-Step Heavenly Dao yet?"

Fang Chen asked, "How did you manage to establish yourselves in the outside world?"

Their conversation remained open and unhidden, so everyone on the surrounding immortal boats could clearly hear it.

Gu Yueling's expression strained with pain as the decree's flame flared within her soul.

"This is knowledge our Seeking Dao Faction accumulated through countless sacrifices. You have no idea how many times we faced extinction... but fine. We were able to establish ourselves... because among us, there was once a peerless existence who stepped into the Saint Realm. With his own power, he reversed our fate and completely changed our destiny in the outside world."

After speaking, Gu Yueling finally felt a slight relief, though her face remained pale.