Chapter 1310: Slow Cooking The Nine Realms

Seeing Fang Chen deep in thought, Pitu glanced at the notes he had just written. As he read, he nodded slowly. "So I was a disciple of the Reincarnation Immortal Sect, though I've no memory left of it."

He then turned to the notes about the True Immortal Path. The required immortal medicines all looked unfamiliar to him now.

"Senior Brother Pitu, you also said that people are important. The old master and the others said the same. What exactly does that mean?" asked Fang Chen, his thoughts churning.

He kept piecing together scattered clues, but no matter what, a clear picture never formed.

A thought suddenly struck Fang Chen. He quickly asked, "Senior Brother, tell me... could cultivators like me, who never lived through the ancient eras, also have memories sealed away by the Great Enigma Art?"

The clues from the old master and Pitu shouldn't have been so cryptic. If they were so critical, why couldn't he make sense of them after so many years?

No matter how difficult a puzzle, as long as all the pieces existed, there should always be a way to complete it—unless the most vital piece was missing.

"The Great Enigma Art shouldn't affect you. The reason your memories are blank at birth is the Underworld's Reincarnation Division. Over there, all karmic ties are wiped clean so you can reincarnate safely," Pitu explained.

Fang Chen thought for a moment, then said, "But the Reincarnation Division dissolved long ago. Reincarnation is no longer possible after death, for immortal souls and people alike."

"Yes."

When the two touched on this subject, a strange force suddenly pressed upon them both. Their gazes went vacant for a heartbeat, then the conversation slipped past, as though forgotten.

"Senior Brother, something felt off just now," Fang Chen said.

Pitu gave him a look. "Off? I didn't feel anything. Did you note all this down?"

He pointed to the characters floating in the void.

Fang Chen nodded. "I did."

Pitu waved and wiped them away. "I've noted them down too. If one day you forget, ask me again."

"When the chance comes, I'll find a way to obtain a true method of breaking the Great Enigma Art and restore your memory," Fang Chen promised.

Pitu smiled and waved it off. "That'll be difficult. This was an art personally created by many Immortal Monarchs to prevent mistakes in reincarnation and stop others from seizing our past lives' memories. Undoing it completely is no easy feat. Only after I reincarnate into a physical body could I cultivate a proper method to unravel it and reclaim my memories."

The two dropped the subject.

After that, Fang Chen, for the first time, tried writing a decree of the Judgment lineage. It took about a hundred years of Yin Lifespan, and Pitu's immortal soul was fully transformed into an Underworld True God.

"The Yin Soldier lineage costs half as much as the Day Walker and Night Walker lineages. But the judgment lineage seems to cost double that of the walkers."

Fang Chen reflected on the differences.

Pitu quietly felt the changes within him, muttering, "It truly feels different. I'm no longer just an immortal soul, but an Underworld True God. I can never reincarnate back into the Immortal Realm again."

It was like roots settling deep into the soil. He now sensed a subtle connection with the Floating Pagoda Realm, where before he had drifted like rootless duckweed, out of place everywhere.

Now, that connection became the foundation for his cultivation here.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Fang Chen glanced at the miniature structure. "Senior Brother, there are still hundreds of immortal souls inside. Try to persuade them. See if anyone is willing to follow you to the Lesser Underworld. The order there is far better than here in the Floating Pagoda Realm, and random plundering of lifespan rarely happens."

"Alright, I'll try. With my past status as an Immortal Monarch, some may listen. But they're stubborn, so many likely won't stay. Toss them somewhere reasonably safe, and after that, it won't be our concern."

Pitu turned into a wisp of smoke and entered the miniature structure.

Fang Chen returned to the unsettling feeling earlier, quietly probing it. It felt like a flaw in his cognition. But where exactly, he could not say. Yet the fact that he even had that sort of feeling proved something had gone awry somewhere. He couldn't put a finger on it, but that didn't mean he could ignore it.

Fang Chen fell into thought.

I got this feeling suddenly when we started talking about the Reincarnation Division. So it's connected to reincarnation?

My past life's memory... I came here with it, though perhaps not through ordinary reincarnation. After all, the Reincarnation Division has long since dissolved...

Again, Fang Chen's eyes suddenly glazed over.

"What was I just thinking about?"

Moments later, his face darkened. He was certain something was wrong, and it was already quietly influencing him.

Fang Chen sneered coldly. "An uncontrollable variable—just what I hate the most."

He started tracing back the threads.

From then on, he'd occasionally drift into spells of confusion while thinking, only they'd grow shorter each time.

He became oblivious to his surroundings, unaware even when Pitu emerged from the miniature structure.

"

Hmm

, what's gotten you so absorbed, Junior Brother

?

" muttered Pitu thoughtfully, looking at Fang Chen's state.

Though curiosity flickered in his, he didn't interrupt Fang Chen. He simply sat quietly at the side.

Days slipped by, and a month soon passed.

Pitu hadn't left the room in that month, keeping vigil by Fang Chen. In that short time, passively as an Underworld True God, he had absorbed considerable karmic power.

He hadn't yet started formally cultivating, but his aura had already grown much stronger. His progress would surely skyrocket once he started cultivating properly.

"Underworld True Gods... are like the natural-born Immortal Seedlings of the Immortal Realm, favored by heaven itself," Pitu chuckled softly, feeling his choice of path had not been a bad one.

"No doubt my willingness came so quickly. I must have made this decision even before death. This wasn't the choice of me after death, but the choice of me before death."

At that moment, he looked up at Fang Chen, but what he saw froze him.

Fang Chen was drenched in sweat, pale-faced, and trembling as if in unbearable pain.

Pitu shot to his feet in shock. "What's happening?"

Just then, a wave of dizziness struck him.

At the same instant, the same dizziness struck Yu Tingzhai, Huang Wuji, the old flood dragon, Stone Dragon, the Taiyin Dragon King—every Underworld True God was affected!

In unison, they turned toward Fang Chen's direction, faces grim.

Is Monarch Yan... going to fall?!

At that moment, Fang Chen's back arched like a boiled shrimp, hands clutching the table edge, veins bulging as he endured tremendous agony. Sweat poured down his forehead, dripping to the floor, where it turned into wisps of karmic aura before vanishing.

Monarch Yan's Armor materialized around him, while inside, the Candle Dragon peeked out its baby-faced dragon head.

"Ha... ha ha..."

As everyone rushed to the doorway, the dizziness abruptly subsided, and Fang Chen's laughter rang out.

It was one of relief and triumph.

Everyone found it strange. The man rarely let his emotions show so plainly.

Pitu stared at Fang Chen oddly and asked, "Junior Brother, what happened?"

Fang Chen looked exhausted. "My head hurt terribly just now. But it made me figure something out."

"What is it?" Pitu asked reflexively.

Fang Chen shook his head. He knew speaking it was useless. Even if he told Pitu, it would only fly over his head, literally.

"What is it? Even if I said it, who would believe such a thing? If the Reincarnation Division was dissolved long ago, and wandering souls can no longer reincarnate, then who are these people being born every year? Ha... the Great Enigma Art. Now I understand why people are so important. Today, how many

true

humans remain in the world?"

"The Old Master and Senior Brother Pitu forgot this truth. Whoever the enemy is, they are boiling the frog slowly in warm water. No, boiling the Nine Mortal Realms!"

"What they mean to plunder is the Nine Mortal Realms, the Immortal Realm, the Underworld... everything!"

Fang Chen was laughing, but the smile on his face was uglier than ever before.