Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 1096 - 950: The New Master

Chapter 1096: Chapter 950: The New Master

Within the Eight Gates Sword Array, each gate represents a supreme sword technique.

Regrettably, such sword techniques require manifestation via corresponding rules and the combination of a specific attribute flying sword to unleash their maximum power.

Although the five-generation Green Barley Sword is of the Immortal Weapon caliber, it is ultimately broken and incapable of bearing the complete might of the wood laws.

If Fang Xi wishes to cultivate the Eight Gates Sword Array, he still needs to find a wood-attribute flying sword of the Immortals to match.

’However, if the goal is only to arrange the array roughly, the requirement for law comprehension can be lowered, and at most, it will just reduce the sword array’s power.’

’The key still lies in the eight Immortal flying swords that serve as the foundation for the array.’

He silently contemplated and felt somewhat troubled.

’Flying swords of the Five Elements attributes aren’t too difficult to find, there should always be some...’

’But flying swords with attributes like Void, Light and Time, or even Life and Death... are indeed hard to come by.’

Fang Xi couldn’t help but smile wryly, as he had replaced the wind, thunder, and ice of the Three Queer Sword Array with his own three best-comprehended laws, which required even higher standards for the instruments of the array.

It was an unavoidable circumstance.

...

Several days later.

An Immortal with the appearance of a middle-aged scholar arrived in front of Qing Muzhai.

"Xuan Qing Sir!"

Fang Xi personally came out of his Dongfu to meet him.

After a hundred years of secluded cultivation, he finally made his first foray into social interaction.

"Mr. Fang..."

A slight smile appeared on Xuan Qing’s face as he entered the Dongfu and took a seat with Fang Xi.

Fang Xian, holding a tray, which bore spiritual tea and various fruits and snacks.

"Your disciple, Sir, is brimming with divine presence and born of intelligent spirit... truly remarkable."

Upon seeing Fang Xian, who stood respectfully on the side, Xuan Qing could not help but comment with a smile.

During these hundred years, Fang Xian’s continuous breakthroughs surely had not gone unnoticed by Abundant Karma House.

But Fang Xi was indifferent.

After all, with his current status and strength, he was certainly able to protect a disciple: "Sir, you flatter too much. Don’t let the child develop an arrogant heart..."

Immortal Xuan Qing gave a slight smile, then said, "This time I’ve come mainly to inform you, Sir, that the Master has been replaced..."

"So soon?" Fang Xi was somewhat surprised: "May I ask who the new Master is?"

"It is Miss Yu Xuan, the seventh Miss!"

Immortal Xuan Qing answered calmly: "The old Master was never keen on mundane matters. Your visit, Sir, brought a strong reinforcement to our sect, which ultimately influenced the old Master’s choice for the seventh Miss..."

As one of the old Master’s children with the potential to contend for leadership, the seventh Miss already had the support of an Immortal behind her, though only a Ghost Immortal...

Thus, she was at a complete disadvantage facing the pressuring sixth Miss.

Unexpectedly, Fang Xi’s sudden rise influenced her, and his attitude naturally held great sway over the old Master.

After all, this was a matter concerning an Earth Immortal!

Although Fang Xi had no desire to be pulled into the whirlpool, his joint return with the seventh Miss had already indicated his chosen side.

And indeed, Yu Xuan, with her good judgment, knew how to cooperate.

"I see..."

Fang Xi responded with a light smile.

Immortal Xuan Qing was only there to notify Fang Xi of the inauguration ceremony of the new Master and had no other intentions.

For these long-lived Immortals, the turnover of the Master position seemed more like a game.

Choosing individuals they fancy and offering support is akin to old farmers sowing seeds, patiently awaiting the flowering and fruiting—it’s quite amusing.

Even if unsuccessful, so be it...

After all, regardless of who succeeds, they certainly won’t dare to settle scores with these Immortals.

Immortal Xuan Qing seemed clearly more interested in Fang Xi, and the two chatted extensively.

About the general situation of the Beichen Immortal Domain, as well as some oddities and wonders, their conversation encompassed everything under the sun...

"Many Immortals will be invited to witness the new Master’s accession ceremony, including some renowned individuals like ’Immortal Nine Dragons’, ’Immortal Wanfang’, ’Immortal Peng Bo’..."

Xuan Qing took a sip of spiritual tea and said with a light smile.

"Immortal Peng Bo, is he the one who spanned the Beichen Immortal Domain for ten thousand years, measuring the land with his own body, that celebrated elder?"

Fang Xi was slightly surprised.

"Indeed, among the lower cultivators, Immortal Peng Bo is most famous for that deed. However, in reality, he is unattached and unencumbered, and is quite a headache for major forces..."

Immortal Xuan Qing hinted, "Once outside a Secret Realm, Immortal Peng Bo offended ’Sword Grinding Mountain’, and he was relentless, fixating on the disciples of the Immortals from Sword Grinding Mountain and causing a slaughter. With his astonishing escaping technique, ordinary Immortals simply couldn’t keep up. After thousands of years of turmoil, Sword Grinding Mountain eventually had to bow down and sent a Mountain Lord to apologize before it ceased..."

Fang Xi felt a chill in his heart.

Such Immortals without weaknesses are indeed formidable.

This reminded him of the initial opening of the Golden Bamboo Sea, where that particular Dragon-Fishing Monk also had power and patience surpassing ordinary Immortals, an existence that any force without a Prime Taoist Master would find problematic.

"I see, I truly must meet him then."

Fang Xi smiled.

As an elder of Abundant Karma House, he was actually very carefree and was not compelled to take on any missions.

He received his tribute every thousand years.

Only those Immortals who wished to exchange for other precious items would actively take on missions.

For Abundant Karma House, the benefits derived from the addition of Fang Xi, an Earth Immortal, were more than enough to offset the tributes offered every thousand years, and there was still a surplus left.

...

Within the secret chamber.

Fang Xi, in a cyan robe, sat cross-legged.

Opposite him was a heterodox incarnation, wearing a black robe with brows sharp like a knife.

"Go!"

He formed hand seals, and countless spell gestures flickered with an inexplicable radiance, filling the chamber with multicolored light, shimmering and dazzling.

Fang Xi executed the "Three Purities into One" secret skill, with one cyan and one yellow radiance shooting out from the primordial eyes of the principal self, entering the eyes of the heterodox incarnation.

The next moment, dense and intricate patterns appeared on the body of the heterodox incarnation.

These were prohibitions that the principal self had set in advance to safeguard against the incarnation’s rebellion.

A great number of prohibitions linked together, resembling ferocious chains that penetrated deeply into the body and Nascent Soul of the heterodox incarnation, locking down all traces of its vital energy.

"The Two Lives Flower blooms, blooms and withers, all ultimately impermanent..."

The heterodox incarnation, with a smile at the corner of its mouth, suddenly bowed its head, as its breath vanished completely.

Above its Heavenly Spirit, a flash of demon light revealed a three-foot-tall Nascent Soul.

This Nascent Soul had been cobbled together by Fang Xi with all kinds of messy methods, and even after later receiving the True Demon inheritance and refining the Nascent Soul, it was inherently inadequate. It underwent cultivation with the "Self-Transforming Heavenly Sovereign Commanding Ten Thousand Spirits True Demon Skill" but was trapped by the Life-bound Demon Calamity at the threshold of becoming an Immortal, unable to break through for a long time.

As for Fang Xi’s principal self? It had abandoned the "Triphasic Destroying Origin Skill" upon becoming an Immortal.

After all, this skill was only a modification made by the Fang Immortal Taoist Master during the stage of Transcendent God Returning to Emptiness. Even with many repairs by Fang Xi afterward, it had its limits and could no longer sustain the state of an Immortal.

Regarding such cultivation methods, Fang Xi always maintained a broad-minded attitude.

If they could not serve him, but instead became a hindrance, then there was no harm in giving them up.

Withdrawing the heterodox incarnation at this time, he also considered avoiding hostility with the Sky Demon corresponding to his Life-bound Demon Calamity.

Those Demon Cultivators who cultivated the "He is Free Tianzi Governing Wanling True Demon Work" differed from the other authentic Sky Demon Sect Cultivators; not a single one had passed through the Life-bound Demon Calamity, demonstrating that this particular Sky Demon was different from the others, and definitely a formidable character among them, possibly even a demon lord of an entire era!

Therefore, giving up the heterodox incarnation was not a significant loss.

At this moment, as the Demon Infant of the heterodox incarnation formed a magic spell, its Nascent Soul suddenly turned into a bundle of pure Demon Qi and gradually dissipated.

Within that mass of Demon Qi, a green orb of light was entangled and drawn in by the cyan and yellow radiance from Fang Xi’s eyes... finally settling into Fang Xi’s brow.

"Wu..."

At this instant, Fang Xi felt his Origin Soul’s exuberance, with the full moon halo emerging behind his head and the phantom image of the Ancestral Demon Tree expanding.

It seemed as if his Earth Immortal Taoist cultivation had slightly improved!

"Indeed, after becoming an Immortal, one must be singularly focused... The methods for creating Externalizations in the Lower Realm are still somewhat flawed."

"In the future, once I divide out an Illusionary True Spirit, I can refine a second Origin Soul and then explore that part of the Big Thousand World revealed by the Treasures of All Heavens."

Fang Xi had not forgotten that after his ascension, there is a Big Thousand World opened by the Treasures of All Heavens that he could explore.

For many Immortals in the True Immortal Realm, becoming an Immortal nearly exhausted all their natural gifts and foundations, and after becoming Immortals, they must truly rest and recuperate for ten thousand or even a million years or slowly accumulate in silence.

But for Fang Xi, he had an unknown Big Thousand World to explore, where he could make rapid progress!

"An Immortal’s second Origin Soul will be just like the principal self, with one mind in two bodies... It won’t delay anything."

"Even, if it perishes, it will not affect the principal self in the slightest."

"Of course, even though the injury will not spread to the principal self, the terrifying expenditure in refining the second Origin Soul, along with a massive amount of Primordial Energy and the time consumed, are all gone... Even for an Immortal, losing an Externalization is definitely a heavy loss..."

...

Time flows like water.

It was soon the day when Miss Yu Xuan took over as the Master of Abundant Karma House.

For this lady, Fang Xi had to show some respect and chose to leave his meditation.

"Xian’er, take good care of the Dongfu; your master will be back soon."

Fang Xi instructed Fang Xian before stepping out of Qing Muzhai.

Mount Fengxue was still covered with flying snow.

A snowflake blew by as Fang Xi passed a small pavilion and saw a figure standing inside like a javelin.

"Brother Dugu!"

He smiled and walked over.

The man was none other than Dugu Fang!

He was dressed in a black cloak, watching the snowscape as if deep in thought.

"Senior Fang..."

Upon seeing Fang Xi, Dugu Fang immediately greeted him with a bow, a bittersweet smile on his face: "My unworthy spouse’s prior rudeness, I hope you will forgive her, Senior..."

"Sir, you jest. Miss has been quite good to me before, how could she be rude?"

Fang Xi shook his head with a smile and then asked, "How come... Isn’t Miss with you?"

Today, Miss was a true loser, and Fang Xi didn’t know if she had the heart to attend her sister’s grand feast.

He held some disdain for her.

’Haven’t they seen that Immortal Xuan Qing remains as usual? Once you become an Immortal, whether or not you become the Master, what difference does it make?’

’But something seems off, without my talent, where would she get the resources for becoming an Immortal if she doesn’t become the Master?’

’It is said that once you become the Master of Abundant Karma House, you’ll receive support equivalent to several ’Primordial Soul Pills’, which provides a good chance of becoming a True Immortal of Origin Soul, and even a one or two percent hope for an Earth Immortal... no wonder it’s worth fighting for.’