Chapter 207

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Chapter 207: The Demon Jade of the Dark Snake

After fiddling around for a while, Xu Fan finally figured out that this demon jade was similar to the human race’s jade butterfly—both were used to store higher-level information.

Using his mental strength to delve into the demon jade, Xu Fan was hit with a scene that completely blew his mind.

“Is this some kind of seed video the dark snake was secretly watching?” Xu Fan muttered, utterly shocked.

Inside the jade, he also stumbled upon the dark snake’s growth diary, which chronicled its journey starting from its Nascent Soul stage, detailing all the struggles it had faced.

After finishing the diary, Xu Fan couldn’t help but sigh.

“If you ignore the whole ‘being a snake’ thing, this is actually pretty damn inspiring.”

“Too bad it had to cross paths with me.”

Xu Fan also found passages in the jade where the dark snake had written about him, and the tone was dripping with ambition.

Turns out, once the dark snake learned that Xu Fan was a master craftsman, it had hatched a plan to bring him to the demon realm. If everything had gone according to plan, Xu Fan would’ve had his own artifact crafting room there by now.

Not only that, but the dark snake had even ordered its clan to prepare a few Nascent Soul stage beauties from the Dark Snake Clan for Xu Fan.

“Gotta give credit where it’s due—you really went all out to impress me.”

“As a thank you, I’ll make sure to bring back your dream girl, the Mother of Desire Serpents, and turn her into a nice little specimen to keep you company.”

“Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll make sure your spirit companion gets to meet her too,” Xu Fan said with a sly grin.

After the dark snake’s spirit companion fled, Xu Fan did a quick divination and saw that the sneaky snake would likely come back for round two.

Xu Fan kept digging through the demon jade, which was packed with all sorts of information, like a messy database.

“Finally, a decent technique—the ‘Dragon Transformation Technique.’”

“Didn’t realize the demon race had such elaborate plans against the human race.”

“And what’s with this gossip about the beast emperor, the Golden Winged Roc, and the Blood Phoenix? Are they seriously imagining what their mating scenes would look like?”

“The Golden Winged Roc is something else—talk about a privileged second-gen in the demon race.”

“The top fighter of the demon race, a peak Great Ascension stage powerhouse, has been hanging around for three thousand years without ascending. And with the way things are going, it won’t be long before they can just call their dad for backup.”

“This is bad news. If I were in charge of the human-demon conflict, I’d pull some sneaky moves to send this guy straight to his dad.”

As Xu Fan sifted through all the random demon race info, he felt like he’d gained a whole new perspective.

For the first time, he felt like he was seeing the cultivation world on a global scale.

“This is fascinating. I should definitely collect more of these things in the future.”

“I wonder if other demon races have something like this,” Xu Fan mused, stroking his chin.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Xu Fan carried a food box to the small courtyard where Ning Dao was recuperating.

“What brings the Grand Elder here today?” Ning Dao asked with a smile, lounging on his chair.

“What, can’t I miss you, Brother Ning?”

Xu Fan casually set the food down on the table next to the lounge chair.

“How’s your recovery going, Brother Ning?” Xu Fan asked. Ten days ago, a member of the Elder Council had delivered some healing pills to him.

“How are you doing? I can barely move now, but after two more months of rest, I should fully recover,” Ning Dao said as he sat up.

“I wish you a speedy recovery, Brother Ning,” Xu Fan responded with a smile.

“Haha, after spending time here, I don’t even want to go back to the Elder Council.”

Ning Dao now felt a sense of joy so profound that he was reluctant to leave, often having tool puppets push him around in the garden in front of the main peak, or going fishing on the Ten Thousand-Mile Giant Lake.

If it weren’t for the lack of safety in the Elder Council headquarters area, he would have loved to bring his family over.

“Then you can stay here indefinitely,” Xu Fan said.

Staying here means you are mine.

“Impossible, there are still tasks at the Elder Council. Right now, I’m still the guardian of Lin Sen Fairy City, but I can only move my mouth.”

“By the way, Su Rantian came to visit me a few days ago, and she brought along your fourth disciple.”

“I sensed that your four disciples seem to be accepting Su Rantian’s feelings.”

“Maybe before long, I’ll be attending a wedding,” Ning Dao laughed.

“It all depends on their wishes.”

Xu Fan chuckled, feeling a sense of watching his children grow up.

“If Su Rantian really marries into your Hidden Spirit Sect, the Elder Council will send a lavish dowry.”

“So lavish that your entire sect won’t need to work hard from now on,” Ning Dao said with a deep meaning.

“Our entire Hidden Spirit Sect won’t need to work hard?”

“What do you mean?”

At that moment, Xu Fan suddenly realized that poverty had limited his imagination, much like an ordinary person suddenly discovering that winning the lottery every day until age 80 wouldn’t allow them to catch up to a billionaire.

“Literally, if that day comes, you will understand.”

“That day, when Su Rantian came to rescue you, she had already slain eight giant beasts in the Core Formation stage in an instant before coming to help.”

“If it hadn’t been for her quick travel speed, her injuries would have healed by now.”

“On Su Rantian, she possesses six protective Taoist artifacts just for survival.”

“At least four offensive Taoist artifacts.”

“Surely there’s more, but there’s probably no opportunity to use them,” Ning Dao said enviously.

“Why is Elder Su telling me all this?” Xu Fan wondered.

“That day, when I saw your Golden Core battling in the Core Formation stage, I feared you would see your disciple being bullied and get into a fight with Su Rantian.”

“So I wanted to give you a heads up.”

“……”

Am I really that foolish?

As the two enjoyed a drink against the backdrop of the setting sun, Xu Fan began to broach serious business.

Xu Fan took out the demon jade of the dark snake and handed it to Ning Dao.

Upon receiving the demon jade, Ning Dao examined it, then returned it to Xu Fan with a smile, saying, “Interesting. What does Brother Xu want to know about?”

"I want to know, with the beast race having creatures like the Golden Winged Roc, do we in the human race have a chance?" Xu Fan asked.

"Of course we do! Although our overall strength is currently not as strong as the beast race, when it comes to high-end fighting strength and invincible respected elders, we in the human race are not inferior to them."

"The Elder Council has strategies to deal with the Golden Winged Roc."

"To let you know, the Elder Council’s strategy is to divide the battlefield."

"They will keep most of the beast kings in the Extreme Void Domain and allow creatures at and below the Core Formation stage to enter."

"The human race has reached a verbal agreement with the beast race: any demon creature that comes to the human territory will not face attacks from Core Formation stage cultivators as long as they do not attack the fairy city or sects."

"The same applies to the beast race; as long as you don’t attack their holy city, no great beasts will chase after you," Ning Dao said slowly.

"This way, the human race is at a disadvantage. Generally, in a match of equal levels, the beast race is stronger," Xu Fan frowned.

"Consider it practice, otherwise, all the pressure will fall on the Elder Council. If they can’t handle it, the entire human race is finished."

"This is also the straightforward message the Elder Council wants to convey to the sects," Ning Dao added.

"Why didn’t I know any of this?" Xu Fan questioned, puzzled.

"The reason I didn’t tell you is to not worry; just focus on protecting yourself," Ning Dao looked at Xu Fan and said.

As Xu Fan rolled his eyes, he thought, just a pawn, why the flowery words?

"By the way, does the towering ape you killed have a similar demon jade? I’d like to see it and expand my knowledge," Xu Fan said, actually wanting to know how far the towering ape’s territory was from the Wan Chong Mountain Range.

According to Xu Fan’s speculation, there should be Chen Iron in the territory of the towering ape.

‘Splash’

Ning Dao arranged five demon jades on the table in a row.

"Towering ape, Flame Fire wolf beast, Six-Eyed Jade Spider, Blue-Horned Strength Bull, Earth Flame Flood Dragon—these are the demon jades I collected."

"While the contents inside are not as chaotic as this dark snake demon jade, they are still quite interesting."

"Since you like them, you can take them," Ning Dao said casually.

Seeing Ning Dao’s generosity, Xu Fan threw out another topic that interested Ning Dao.

"Brother Ning, would you like more Spiritual Swords?" Xu Fan said with a grin.

In an instant, Ning Dao perked up.

"I dream of having more!"

Seeing Ning Dao nearly jump up, Xu Fan hurriedly pressed him back down to sit.

"In the territory of the towering ape, there are sub-star cold iron veins. It should be an enormous mine; otherwise, Chen Iron wouldn’t be there."

"That gigantic stick the towering ape wields—any master craftsman unfamiliar with this area will mistake that stick for sub-star cold iron."

"If other fairy cities on the central continent are invaded by the towering ape…"

"Then maybe you can try to recover the giant stick from the giant ape—that might lead to some unexpected surprises," Xu Fan suggested.

Ning Dao’s eyes lit up, looking at Xu Fan and asking, "With the same Chen Iron, can we forge Spiritual Swords with different attributes?"

"Chen Iron has an attribute outside the five elements; to forge…" Xu Fan hesitated. "Never mind; it’s possible."

"Wait for my good news."