Immortal of the Nine Realms-Chapter 1401: Are You Called Chen Mingxiong?

Lin Dong's expression shifted. He cautiously asked, "Core Disciple Li, the Sister Hong you mentioned is..."

"Oh? Almost forgot to tell you all." Li Shanzi smiled. "This time, someone from the Nine Realms Expedition Team found a Formation Heart in the Formless Purgatory."

Everyone gasped. "A Formation Heart?"

This immediately drew attention away from Fang Chen's finding of seven immortal herbs. After all, Formation Hearts and immortal herbs weren't in the same league at all. Many fifth and sixth transformation Immortals of major sects knew of its value.

"Someone... actually found a Formation Heart here? Such immense merits..." murmured Wang Xuan.

With such an achievement, the Enlightenment God Palace would likely cover all the immortal herbs needed from the first to the sixth transformation! From what he understood about the Formation Heart, its value was indeed that high!

Seeing that they had misunderstood, Li Shanzi smiled and explained, "Merits? There are no merits for that. Sister Hong used it and successfully formed a contract. Now she's considered a newly promoted core disciple of the Enlightenment God Palace."

Everyone was stunned.

Even Lin Dong, who had been an external cultivator of the Enlightenment God Palace for so many years, had never heard of such a thing before.

Finding the Formation Heart and directly advancing to core disciple status? That was unheard of. Normally, such an opportunity was something the Enlightenment God Palace would bestow after careful selection.

"Sister Hong? Could it be...?"

Lin Dong's eyes flickered.

Sure enough, Little Immortal Honglian wasn't nearby. Combined with Li Shanzi's words, a terrifying guess formed in Lin Dong's mind, one he hardly believed himself.

"Could it be the Nine Realms Expedition Team's external cultivator named Hong Zhi?" Lin Dong looked at Li Shanzi.

"That's impossible..."

"Does the Nine Realms Expedition Team get all the good things?"

Wang Xuan and Xu Qian instinctively refused to believe that.

Li Shanzi lightly nodded and confirmed, "Yes, it's her. Sister Hong's luck is truly extraordinary. If it were me when I first became an external cultivator, I wouldn't even dare to imagine such a thing."

Xu Qian began seriously reflecting on whether she had offended Little Immortal Honglian before. Her conclusion was... she might have slightly offended her, but it wasn't a real grudge. Still, her heart suddenly grew uneasy.

What if Sister Hong wanted to settle the score because of that little offense? If a core disciple wanted to cause her trouble, they wouldn't even need to act personally. Just a single word, and Xu Qian would have no reason to remain on the Expedition Star No. 432. She might even face mortal danger, though such cases were rare. Core disciples rarely bothered too much with people like them.

"Sister Hong is currently by the senior sister's side. Calculating the time, she should be returning soon," said Li Shanzi. He turned to Fang Chen with a smile and said, "Let's start with you. What immortal herbs did you find this time? Show us."

Seeing this, Fang Chen took out a fourth-transformation immortal herb from his robes. No one, not even Li Shanzi, recognised which immortal cultivation path this herb was for, but they were certain it was indeed an immortal herb.

Li Shanzi's expression changed slightly. "That's not right. Judging by how hot your jade token is, you should have more immortal herbs, right?"

Fang Chen said nothing and took out six more immortal herbs. Each time he revealed one, the eyes of the Black Dragon Boat's cultivators brightened a bit more. In total, there were seven immortal herbs. Li Shanzi only recognised the origins of one or two of them.

Li Shanzi was astonished. "You found all these by yourself?"

He looked at Fang Chen with a hint of suspicion and asked, "How did you find these immortal herbs? As far as I know, you only recently became an external cultivator. You probably haven't even exchanged merits for a jade token that can detect immortal herbs like the ones we have, right?"

Fang Chen took out a jade token and said, "This was given to me by a cultivator named Xiao Chenghe. It's thanks to this that I was able to find the seven immortal herbs here."

"Xiao Chenghe?"

Wang Xuan and Xu Qian were slightly startled. How did Xiao Chenghe's jade token end up with him?

Could it be...?

Their expressions shifted. They exchanged uneasy glances, but they quickly suppressed the fear growing in their hearts. They weren't afraid of Fang Chen, but rather of Little Immortal Honglian, who had already become a core disciple of the Enlightenment God Palace.

If Xiao Chenghe had said or done anything in her presence, wouldn't it reflect back on the Profound King Expedition Team?

"I see. Looks like you're simply very lucky. And indeed, with the merits from these immortal herbs, you're set to advance to the first transformation. If it doesn't work the first time, you can try a second, third, even fourth time," said Li Shanzi.

Then he took the herbs and put them away. "I'll take these back to assess their grade and issue you immortal crystals and merits accordingly. There are so many people here today. Don't worry, I won't hide anything from you. Besides, other core disciples are watching too."

Fang Chen cupped his hands respectfully. "In that case, thank you, Senior."

Li Shanzi smiled. "From now on, you're a member of Sister Hong's expedition team. Just call me senior brother."

Fang Chen saluted again. "Yes, Senior Brother Li."

Wang Xuan and the others were filled with envy. Senior Brother Li was a core disciple capable of performing the Immortal Formation Technique.

Fang Chen's status within the Enlightenment God Palace would rise infinitely. Having such a relationship meant that even if he never became a core disciple himself, he would still surpass ordinary external cultivators by far.

***

Several months later, the senior sister finally returned. She immediately summoned all core disciples, then announced, "Besides Chen Xinghe, two other core disciples, Li Tianyu and Zhang Zhao, have died."

Her announcement enraged the core disciples present.

No matter how fierce the conflicts between the sects, they always held back when it came to core disciples. If they captured them, they wouldn't kill them outright.

But now, in the occupied Ancient Forbidden Zone No. 157, someone was hunting down Enlightenment God Palace core disciples?

"The other side is dead set on this. They won't leave anytime soon, so I plan to stay here temporarily to see if we can find who the culprit is," said the senior sister calmly while glancing at Li Shanzi. "You've just comprehended the Immortal Formation Technique. Things are dangerous here. You'd better return for now, and bring Sister Hong and the others back with you."

"Yes," replied Li Shanzi respectfully.

He wouldn't dare object to the senior sister's orders.

After assigning some other tasks, she casually asked, "Is there a Chen Mingxiong from Expedition Star No. 431 here?"

"Chen Mingxiong from Expedition Star No. 431?"

A fifth-transformation immortal from that star looked puzzled. "I've never heard of any cultivator by that name on that star."

Another fourth-transformation immortal from Expedition Star No. 234 reacted and cupped his hands. "There is a cultivator named Chen Mingxiong from Expedition Star No. 234."

"Call him here," said the senior sister casually.

Soon, a confused Chen Mingxiong was brought before them. When he saw Fang Chen and the others, his heart turned cold.

Is he settling old scores?

"Are you Chen Mingxiong?" asked the senior sister, her expression strange.

Chen Mingxiong nodded repeatedly, extremely respectful.

The senior sister's face darkened. She waved her hand. "Forget it, you may leave."

Chen Mingxiong came in confused and left just as confused, though with a trace of relief lingering in his heart.