Chapter 210

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Chapter 210: Stalemate

Xu Fan gazed at the lake and said thoughtfully, "I won’t have much leisure time soon. I need to wait for Pang Fu to gather the materials."

"Another stretch of endless artifact crafting is on the horizon."

Although the Grape clone could manage the puppets to craft precious artifacts, it faltered when it came to refining artifact-level materials.

Therefore, the crafting of artifacts had to be handled either by Xu Fan or his first clone.

"First, I’ll refine the Celestial satellite weapon at the artifact level, then the Spiritual Sword required for the Qianling Sect to host the Battle Royale game, followed by upgrading the sect’s protective mountain formation and Spirit Gathering Formation."

"Lastly, I’ll work on Ning Dao’s Spiritual Sword. After that, I’ll tackle the Hidden Spirit Island mobile giant island project."

"These tasks should keep me occupied for about ten years."

Xu Fan casually outlined a ten-year plan for himself.

Half a month later, while cultivating on his mountain peak, Xiang Yun received a notice to go to the treasure vault to collect his Spiritual Sword.

"Is it finally ready?" Xiang Yun’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.

Since he learned he wouldn’t lack for Spiritual Swords in the future, he began to cultivate the Sword Formation Path.

Perhaps due to his passion, he managed to reach the same level in sword formation as in his Heart Sword Path in just a month.

With his premium attributes enhancing his skills, he felt that his current sword formation could surpass his former self.

Xiang Yun quickly tidied himself up and flew toward the treasure vault on his sword.

At the entrance of the vault, he said to the guarding puppet, "I’m here to collect the Spiritual Sword given by the Grand Elder."

"Received. Please wait a moment."

Without even verifying his identity, the guarding puppet summoned a tool puppet to fetch something for Xiang Yun.

After a short while, a tool puppet handed over a storage bag to Xiang Yun.

"The storage bag contains two hundred second-tier Water Cold Spiritual Swords, two hundred Fire Flame Spiritual Swords, two hundred Wood Spring Spiritual Swords, two hundred Gold Sharp Spiritual Swords, and two hundred Earth Rock Spiritual Swords."

"Please inspect," the tool puppet said.

After taking the storage bag and checking its contents, Xiang Yun asked the tool puppet, "Why are there so many Spiritual Swords?"

The tool puppet paused for a moment before responding, "This is the minimum output of a single run of the Spiritual Sword production line. If you feel that there are too many, you can keep some as reserves."

"When you advance to the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Stage, if you don’t use them all, you can return the rest."

"Thank you for the explanation." Xiang Yun understood that this puppet had been taken over by the spirit responsible for maintaining the daily operations of the sect.

"Become stronger quickly and protect the sect."

After saying this, the tool puppet returned to its original motionless state.

Once Xiang Yun got his Spiritual Swords, he thought about finding a place to test their power and soon encountered Xiong Li, who had just come out of the treasure vault.

Xiong Li wore a set of gauntlets, looking even more imposing and powerful.

"Xiang Yun, have you upgraded your gear? Want to train with me?" Xiong Li saw the storage bag with the vault’s insignia in Xiang Yun’s hand and knew he had acquired a new precious artifact.

Unlike before, when he would decline, Xiang Yun nodded this time.

"Brother Xiong, how about a life-and-death battle at the Illusion Arena?" Xiang Yun said with excitement.

Hearing Xiang Yun’s words, Xiong Li immediately got excited. There weren’t many disciples in the sect who could ignite his battle intent, and Xiang Yun used to be one of them.

"It looks like whatever you’ve gained has given you a lot of confidence," Xiong Li said with a grin.

Xiang Yun nodded and explained that Elder Xu had advised him to switch to the Sword Formation Path.

"I’ve told you before, the Grand Elder would never overlook the potential of any disciple in the sect."

"You were just too stubborn back then, not wanting to cause any trouble for the sect."

"But now, you’re finally walking the path you’ve always wanted."

"To celebrate your official shift to the sword formation path, I’ll bet you a thousand points. If we end up in a draw, those points are yours."

"And if you lose, you’re treating me to a big meal at the cafeteria’s special kitchen," Xiong Li said with a hearty laugh.

"What if I win?" Xiang Yun asked, smirking.

"Ten thousand points," Xiong Li replied confidently. "You’re not some rookie, after all."

"Deal."

At the trial tower of the Hidden Spirit Sect, word of the life-and-death battle between Xiong Li and Xiang Yun spread like wildfire. Soon, disciples began gathering in droves.

Almost everyone showed up, except for those in seclusion.

"Real men, with full pain sensitivity. They’ve got guts."

"Xiang Yun’s strong, but how does he have the confidence to challenge Xiong Li? Isn’t that just asking for trouble?"

"Senior Brother Xiang Yun isn’t stupid. He must have something up his sleeve. Has he started playing with high-stakes tactics recently?"

A crowd of onlookers gathered, including Xu Fan, who was watching the live broadcast.

"Let’s see how strong you’ve become with those premium attributes," Xu Fan muttered, watching Xiang Yun prepare through the light curtain.

Xiong Li and Xiang Yun stepped into their respective illusion formations.

In an instant, the world shifted, and the two found themselves on a mountaintop that had been sliced in half.

Xiong Li, wearing his newly acquired gauntlets, slammed his fists together, creating a thunderous boom.

"Xiang Yun, come on! Show me how much you’ve improved."

"Let’s see if you can break through my Violent Energy True Form."

As he spoke, flames of spiritual energy erupted around him, and a five-meter-tall Violent Energy True Form materialized, its crimson eyes blazing with battle intent.

"Then let me show you something today."

"Formation, activate!"

In an instant, Xiang Yun summoned 36 swords of each attribute, totaling 180 Five Elements Spiritual Swords that filled the sky, sealing off the entire mountaintop.

"Interesting! I’ve never fought a cultivator who specializes in sword formations before."

Xiong Li threw a massive punch toward Xiang Yun, sending a huge wave of violent energy hurtling toward him.

"Sword Formation: Shield!"

The sword formation in the sky shifted, transforming into a protective barrier made of earth and water attribute spiritual swords, shielding Xiang Yun completely.

Xiang Yun then pointed his finger like a sword, commanding the sword formation to attack Xiong Li.

"Sword formation: unite!"

In the sky, gold attribute Spiritual Swords and fire attribute Spiritual Swords began to gather and transform.

The gold attribute Spiritual Swords formed the sword tip and blade, while the fire attribute Spiritual Swords formed the sword body, transforming into a giant sword one hundred meters long that swung down toward Xiong Li.

"Bring it on!"

Xiong Li’s fists were immediately enveloped in a chill as he struck upward at the giant sword in the sky.

‘Boom~~’

The collision created shockwaves that swept across the mountaintop.

Xiong Li’s punch collided with Xiang Yun’s shield.

A layer of Water Shield and a layer of Earth Shield directly blocked the powerful punch.

Watching the live stream, Xu Fan gave a thumbs-up.

"Not bad, it’s got that flair," Xu Fan said.

However, soon after, Xiong Li’s next punch sent Xiang Yun flying.

‘Bang~~’

Xiang Yun was knocked off the mountaintop platform, but the sword formation rapidly operated to stabilize his body.

"Xiang Yun, not bad! You almost broke my Violent Energy True Form," Xiong Li said, looking at Xiang Yun, who regained his balance in mid-air.

"Brother Xiong, it’s not over yet; this is just the beginning," Xiang Yun spat out a mouthful of blood and replied.

"Then let’s keep fighting."

Xiang Yun activated the Mist Sword Formation, covering the entire battlefield.

Subsequently, various offensive formations began to unleash attacks on Xiong Li.

Seeing this scene, Xu Fan shut off the Live Stream Light Curtain. He intended to observe the power of the sword formation but wanted to see if Xiang Yun could explode with potential and comprehend a three-attribute attacking sword formation.

"I can’t always measure others by my standards; I shouldn’t have such high expectations."

The first batch of materials purchased by Pang Fu had already arrived.

So far, the materials needed to craft the Spiritual Sword precious artifact satellite had been gathered.

In the underground space, within a large artifact crafting room, Xu Fan began to calm his mind, an essential step when crafting important treasures.

Sha Diao waited nearby, his expression serious as he prepared for Xu Fan to complete the pre-crafting ritual.

Two hours later, Xu Fan slowly opened his eyes.

Five clusters of spirit fire ignited around Xu Fan, then merged into a single ball of five-colored spirit fire.

Next, various spirit ore materials appeared around Xu Fan.

"Brother Sha, this crafting session will take six months; are you ready?" Xu Fan said while controlling the five-colored spirit fire.

The other members of the sect had already been notified—Xu Fan would remain in artifact crafting mode for the next decade.

"Understood, I’m all set," Sha Diao replied excitedly. As an artifact master who had hit a bottleneck, watching a higher-level artifact master craft was the best way to break through his current realm.

Generally, in the cultivation world, aside from those closest to them, artifact masters do not allow others to be present during their crafting sessions.

Xu Fan picked up a piece of Sky Extreme Magnet and began to refine it.

The battle between Xiong Li and Xiang Yun continued for an entire day, eventually reaching a time limit, causing the trial tower to automatically eject them from the soul illusion realm.

Xiong Li and Xiang Yun supported each other as they exited the trial tower, where many disciples had been waiting for a long time.

"Brother Xiong, today I saw your true strength; impressive!"

"Senior Brother Xiang Yun, I didn’t expect you to be so powerful in the sword formation path, managing to reach a stalemate with Brother Xiong!"

"Senior Brother Xiang Yun, I have another idol now!"

As they emerged from the trial tower, they were met with enthusiastic praise from the crowd.

"Senior Brother Xiang Yun, it seems I won’t hold the title of the sect’s top fighting strength anymore," Xiong Li remarked, helping Xiang Yun.

"Haha, Brother Xiong, you joke! You didn’t even use your full strength."

"I could clearly see you wanted to unleash an ultimate move at the end, but you didn’t; were you saving it as a trump card?"

"So, in this life-and-death battle, I would have lost anyway," Xiang Yun laughed.

Looking at his fellow disciples around him, Xiang Yun shouted, "Brother Xiong said, if we reach a stalemate, he’ll treat us all to a meal at the cafeteria."

"Don’t you think you should thank Brother Xiong?"

The surrounding disciples immediately erupted with excitement; although the sect cafeteria offered free food, dishes purchased with points tasted even better and were beneficial for cultivation.

"Yay! Thank you, Brother Xiong!"

"Brother Xiong, you’re amazing!"

"Brother Xiong, you are my idol!"

As the crowd cheered, the disciples rushed toward the sect cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Xu Fan, who was engrossed in artifact crafting, commented, "Just as I expected."