The crowd dared not to utter a word.
Ji Lengxing’s face turned ghastly pale. The Ji Clansmen around him were dumbstruck.
The nearby Nightmare Knights were anxious, but Zhao Yan was already holding Ji Junhua hostage and could kill the latter whenever he liked. They dared not to make a reckless move lest they endanger Ji Junhua’s safety.
“Fellow Longevity Ki master, please spare my son’s life. Allow me to apologize on his behalf if he has offended you,” a resounding voice suddenly echoed in the capital.
The crowd’s lower jaws slackened.
That is the voice of the Ji Clan’s patriarch, Ji Congyun! And he mentioned… Longevity Ki?!
The crowd stiffened up. They stiffly turned their heads to look at Zhao Yan with shocked eyes.
This young man is at pinnacle Earth Profound realm, a fourth stage Longevity Ki martial artist?! And for someone to have a Longevity Ki martial artist as a bodyguard…
The crowd looked at Fang Chen with furiously beating hearts. Who in the world is he?! What’s his background?!
Song Yi felt like his world had just been overturned. He felt utter regret right now. There was no way he would have continued provoking Fang Chen’s group if he had known that Zhao Yan was a fourth stage Longevity Ki martial artist—he had practically courted his own doom!
Song Yi’s maid was also flabbergasted. Her face was as pale as a sheet of paper. She looked at Fang Chen’s group with a mixture of fear and horror.
“Longevity Ki? How could he be a Longevity Ki martial artist? Is he from a grade-7 superior state?” Ji Lengxing stared at Fang Chen with dazed eyes.
The sense of superiority he had felt from his lofty birth disappeared without a trace. Even he was nowhere near qualified to have a Longevity Ki martial artist as his bodyguard.
He had once seen someone who had such privileged treatment, and the other party was from a grade-7 state!
Ji Lengxing felt envious. He quietly swore that he would eventually lift the Ji Clan to such heights as well, but that was a matter for the distant future. After all, the Ji Clan still didn’t have a single Heaven Profound realm martial artist to date.
The martial artists, crewmates, and passengers who had traveled on the same cargo boat as Fang Chen’s group trembled in fear. They thought that Fang Chen had messed with the wrong people, but it turned out that it was Song Yi who messed with the wrong people!
The Ji Clan’s encirclement of the capital harbor suddenly looked like a joke.
Now, the crowd was curious to see how the Ji Clan’s patriarch intended to wrap up this matter.
Zhao Yan continued holding Ji Junhua in his hand as he flitted back to Fang Chen’s side. “Young master, a Longevity Ki is rushing over with three Origin Kis.”
“I sense a familiar aura… Is that the assassin from Vastsea?” Fang Chen’s lips curled in a smile.
The crowd belatedly realized that Fang Chen’s eyes had remained closed all this while.
“Young master, how do you intend to deal with Vastsea’s assassin?” Xu Ge gritted his teeth, knowing that Fang Chen was referring to the hidden expert who assaulted him in the Three Realms Mountain, which led to Great Xia’s tragic defeat.
“He’s the appetizer,” Fang Chen replied. “We’ll properly settle the score with Vastsea soon.”
Xu Ge was excited to hear that. He couldn’t wait for that to happen.
Xia Yun and the others frowned.
They didn’t think it was wise for cultivators like them to get involved with secular affairs, as it would hinder their future cultivation. It might not be apparent while they were at Ki Refinement, but once they reached Foundation Establishment, they would have to conquer an inner ordeal to advance to the next stage.
The less karma they accrued, the easier it was for them to overcome their inner ordeal.
Conversely, those who were heavily involved with secular affairs had a higher tendency to suffer from a cultivation deviation. Should they fail their inner ordeal, their cultivation would stagnate at that level.
That was the reason Xia Yun turned a blind eye to secular affairs. Even if Great Xia was destroyed one day, he would simply attribute it to the natural flow of the world.
Just like how the Great Xia’s founding emperor stumbled upon immortals playing chess and transformed from an ordinary cowherd into the emperor, everything had already been ordained by fate!
The crowd didn’t have to wait long before Ji Congyun arrived at the capital harbor with a group of people.
These people were dressed in all kinds of clothes. In particular, one of the third stage Origin Ki martial artists carried two sabers on their waist, one long and one short.
Ji Lengxing and the others breathed a sigh of relief as they respectfully bowed to Ji Congyun. They felt that this matter could be resolved now that Ji Congyun was here.
Ji Congyun harrumphed. He glanced at Zhao Yan and said, “Friend, release my son. There might have been some misunderstanding. Let’s talk things out.”
Zhao Yan chuckled. “I’m not the one who calls the shots here. You should ask my young master instead.”
Young master? Ji Congyun and the others frowned. They turned their attention to Fang Chen and the others, and two of their faces swiftly warped in shock.
One was Ji Congyun. The other one was a first stage Aureate Ki martial artist, who stood behind the third stage Origin Ki martial artist with two sabers.
“It’s you…” Ji Congyun stared at Fang Chen in incredulity. He could hardly believe that he would meet the latter here.
“Father (Grandfather), you know that person?” Ji Junhua and Ji Lengxing were taken aback.
“Elder Ji, we meet again. Ji Lengyue is faring well on my side. You should visit him when you have time,” Fang Chen said.
The mention of Ji Lengyue once more baffled Ji Junhua and the others, but they quickly put the two and two together and gasped in shock.
“You’re Great Xia’s War God Fang Chen!” Ji Lengxing blurted out.
Great Xia’s… War God?
Many emotions flickered across the crowd’s faces. None of them could have imagined that the person before them would actually be Great Xia’s War God Fang Chen.
The tiny grade-9 state that used to serve as their Chillwater’s vassal had boldly declared their advancement to grade-8. That matter had caused great contention in Chillwater. The populace’s nationalistic emotions were evoked, and they wanted Chillwater to dispatch an army to suppress Great Xia.
“How dare that fellow step onto our soil?!”
“No wonder Great Xia has become brazen! It turns out they have a Longevity Ki martial artist too! But so what? Our Chillwater has more than one Longevity Ki martial artist. A measly Great Xia can’t hope to match us!”
“Let’s kill their Longevity Ki martial artist here and seal their fate!”
The crowd murmured. They weren’t just spectators anymore; all of them had chosen to stand with their country.
Ji Congyun narrowed his eyes.
The three Origin Ki martial artists and their subordinates assessed Fang Chen as they pondered their next move.
“Fang Chen, you might be strong, but you’re now in our Chillwater. There are two other Longevity Ki martial artists here in seclusion training. Aren’t you worried that I might work with them to keep you here?” Ji Congyun slowly spoke up with a seemingly joking tone.
He was trying to probe Fang Chen’s depth.
“Daoist Fang, it looks like a Longevity Ki martial artist isn’t enough to intimidate them.” Xia Yun suddenly laughed. He manifested a fireball in his hand and hurled it at the sea behind him.
A humongous inferno gushed into the sky.
The crowd watched as a huge swathe of the sea was instantaneously vaporized. For a moment there, they wondered if they were dreaming.
What if that fireball was targeted toward us? That thought sent shivers down the crowd’s spines.
Ji Congyun was horrified. He finally looked at Xia Yun and the others with grim eyes as he came to a conclusion that terrified even him. All of these people… are immortals!