Chapter 1163: The Path of Immortality

"Taiyi Immortal..." muttered Fang Chen.

He remained calm on the surface, but he was slightly startled on the inside. The path Wang Chongsong had taken was indeed extraordinary.

Over the past ten years, his understanding of the Immortal Dao had grown far more detailed than when he first arrived.

There were many kinds of Immortal Dao. Different Immortal Dao had different names, and at the moment of ascending from the third to the fourth transformation, one faced the only chance to choose their Immortal Dao. After that, the path was fixed and couldn't be reversed.

Taiyi was one such path. Loose Immortal was another. Earth Immortal, Heaven Immortal, Great Luo Immortal, Corpse Immortal, and even True Immortal were all distinct paths.

There are even some Immortal Daos that Fang Chen himself did not know about, and even Chen Lingding before him knew little of them.

Among these Immortal Daos, the Loose Immortal Dao was undoubtedly the easiest to follow. The immortal medicines required for each subsequent ascension had traces and records. Though rare, they were not lost.

As for the immortal medicines needed to ascend to True Immortal, they were controlled by the Minor Immortal Realm. No outsider knew what kinds of medicines they were.

Most of the Nine Mortal Realms followed the Loose Immortal Dao.

Some, however, refused to follow convention, unwilling to walk the "ordinary" path. They set their sights on Earth Immortal, Heaven Immortal, Great Luo Immortal, Corpse Immortal, or even Taiyi Immortal Dao.

The immortal medicines required by these Daos were not only scarce, but some lineages had been cut off completely. No one knew the immortal herbs needed to advance.

For example, the world only knew of one type of immortal medicine that could promote a third-transformation Loose Immortal to a fourth-transformation Taiyi Immortal.

Because there was only one such medicine, those with top-tier talent usually avoid that Dao, fearing that their advancement will be blocked in the future.

Only those with no other options, who have no path left, would recklessly pursue it and would be willing to take any path as it allowed them to ascend from the third to the fourth transformation, no matter what Immortal Dao it was.

Chen Lingding marveled, "With Wang Chongsong's status and his age back then, he was a prodigy among prodigies. There was no reason for him to choose the Taiyi Immortal Dao. When he took this path, many people criticized him for it, but no one expected that he actually knew about several subsequent types of immortal medicines and broke through boundaries all the way.

"The combat power of a Taiyi Immortal is truly peerless. A major figure in the Upper Three Realms wanted him to hand over the inheritance of this Immortal Dao, but he refused. He even killed several peers and injured a seventh-transformation Ancient Immortal. Although the Ancient Immortal followed the Loose Immortal Dao, the gap between the seventh and sixth transformation is vast!

"Because of this, even the Spirit God Sect couldn't protect Wang Chongsong. Later, he was surrounded by four seventh-transformation Ancient Immortals in the Upper Three Realms. He was left seriously wounded. They captured him and forced him to hand over the Taiyi Immortal inheritance. After that, a major figure from the Spirit God Sect intervened to save him, but his cultivation fell sharply due to the injury, and then he disappeared without a trace, vanishing from the Nine Mortal Realms."

At that, Chen Lingding glanced at Fang Chen with a strange look. "Lord, do you know Wang Chongsong's whereabouts? Actually... this person is no longer important, and even the Heavenly Saint Sect behind him isn't that significant anymore. Everyone knows the inheritance of the Taiyi Immortal path by now. Even our Spirit God Sect possesses this inheritance."

Fang Chen smiled and nodded. "That's right, Wang Chongsong isn't important. This time, I mainly want to deal with Song Zhili. Have you thoroughly investigated his enemies?"

In the cultivation world, who didn't have a few enemies? Especially someone like Song Zhili, who was a third-transformation Loose Immortal.

Getting Wang Chongsong's detailed information this time also gave new progress, or rather confirmation, to Fang Chen's decade-long speculation about the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo.

The Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo... was also a Dao. Wang Chongsong was experimenting with a Dao that no ordinary person had tread before.

Before Fairy Yu, someone else had already been implanted with the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo by him. And he possessed thirty-six layers of bone destiny. Setting aside whether this was a divine ability of the Taiyi Immortal Dao, it could be determined that in many places, he was probably conducting this experiment simultaneously.

Chen Lingding said, "There are. Wang Chongsong once killed several peers, among whom were Spirit God Sect cultivators. They have been relentlessly targeting the Heavenly Saint Sect lineage and are desperately searching for Wang Chongsong's whereabouts. These sixth-transformation bloodline descendants are widespread and are not to be underestimated. The Heavenly Saint Sect's decline in the Ancient Desolate Realm was precisely due to their covert interference."

"No wonder Yuanhua is so eager to establish ties with the Minor Immortal Realm. It turns out that their branch is in a precarious situation." A faint smile flickered in Fang Chen's eyes. "Is there a suitable candidate? You're responsible for introducing them to me."

Chen Lingding smiled bitterly. "Lord, it's not that I fear being implicated. After all, I am now an Underworld True God, walking the Ghost God Dao. Matters of the mortal world don't affect me deeply. However, my Chen Family still holds some influence in the Five Elements Realm. If I introduce someone to you and something goes wrong, it will definitely impact my family..."

Fang Chen said calmly, "Do you have any other options?"

Chen Lingding's expression shifted slightly. Indeed, the other party never gave him a choice. Now... he could only bury his head and charge forward with no way back... unless he wasn't afraid to die.

But now that he saw hope that the Ghost God Dao was not inferior to the True Immortal Dao, and it even had no restrictions from immortal herbs. If he died now, he wouldn't be willing!

Chen Lingding cupped his fist. "Rest assured. I will arrange things properly as soon as possible."

Fang Chen nodded and rose to leave. "Let's go."

***

Central Continent, Void Immortal Sword Sect.

Fang Chen took out the World Gourd and released Fairy Yu.

Outside the gourd, Fairy Yu stretched lazily. She glanced at Fang Chen and smiled faintly. "Miss me again, lord?"

Fang Chen asked, "You still don't want to walk the Path of Yin?"

"Of course not. You can't force me to walk the Path of Yin unless you kill me. But you're not sure, after killing me... which Fairy Yu would truly die...."

Fairy Yu laughed. "That's a hard choice, isn't it? Why not just let me go? If someday I truly recall everything I had with you, I will come back to find you."

"Dream on." Fang Chen rejected her decisively and straightforwardly.

In the past ten years, he had asked Mirror of the Universe and many others, but none could do anything about the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo.

Mirror of the Universe bluntly stated that the matter of the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo was beyond its capabilities. If given a few thousand immortal crystals, maybe—just maybe—it could find some way to resolve it.

However, Fang Chen naturally knew it was only comforting him by saying this.

Fang Chen said calmly, "Wang Chongsong originally followed the Taiyi Immortal Dao. That Dao was given to him by your side, wasn't it?"

Yuxianzi looked confused. "What Taiyi Immortal Dao?"

"Don't pretend. A mere prodigy from the Heavenly Saint Sect is nothing more than a mayfly in the Nine Mortal Realms. How could he have obtained a lost immortal Dao from so long ago for no reason?" Fang Chen said calmly. "He ended up in his current miserable state because of that dao, yet he still implants the Inverse Immortal Demonic Embryo in others. What is he truly after?"

He paused. "Is the path you follow... the path of the Demonic Ancestor? What exactly are you all?"

The smile on Fairy Yuface gradually faded. She looked at Fang Chen with a hint of disdain and said with a smirk, "You tell me."

Fang Chen nodded, then once again stored Fairy Yu back into the World Gourd. He looked up into the vast void and whispered to himself, "I refuse to believe I can't cure you."