Chapter 215
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Chapter 215: Demon Suppression Star
At this moment, Xu Fan waved his hand and brought up all the competition footage from the Nascent Soul Stage, glancing through it briefly.
“If Xu Gang uses all his skills, he might make it to the top three, but winning first place is unlikely,” Xu Fan said, scanning the numerous light curtains floating in the air.
Among the many light screens, Xu Fan zoomed in on one.
It showed a young man in green robes battling Chen Beihan from the Qianling Sect.
Despite using only basic supernatural powers and ordinary precious artifacts, the young man was steadily overpowering this genius-level disciple from Qianling Sect.
Every move the young man made, whether launching a supernatural attack or summoning a precious artifact, seemed to perfectly counter Chen Beihan, leaving him frustrated and unable to respond effectively.
It was as if Chen Beihan had been caught off guard at the worst possible moment, his energy and focus completely disrupted.
Chen Beihan, backed by a massive law form, grew increasingly red-faced, his hands trembling with fury and humiliation.
It felt like he had been outplayed at the last second.
‘Supernatural Power: Mysterious Ice Finger’
Chen Beihan channeled all his spiritual energy into his most powerful technique.
A beam of mysterious light shot through the young man’s forehead like a laser.
Xu Fan shook his head at the sight.
“When you’re panicking, you should either retreat or buy time. Charging in like this is just asking for trouble.”
Sure enough, the young man’s figure began to fade, only to reappear behind Chen Beihan like a ghost.
With a simple Mysterious Ice Sword technique, he cleanly pierced the back of Chen Beihan’s head.
The battle was over.
Nearby, Sha Diao frowned and said, “That young man is really something.”
“He’s impressive, no doubt. Xu Gang wouldn’t stand a chance against him,” Xu Fan said seriously. He noted that the young man’s mind seemed to work like a supercomputer, calculating every detail about his opponent and the environment.
This level of combat strategy required computing power equivalent to about 5% of Grape’s capacity, which was also the limit for Grape’s controlled puppets.
“Grape, if you used a Nascent Soul Stage puppet, could you defeat him?” Xu Fan asked.
“If this Nascent Soul Stage cultivator maintains his current level of combat strength, the puppet would sustain damage from prolonged fighting and be defeated within three days,” Grape replied.
“If I deploy a team of Nascent Soul Stage puppets, it would take a day to defeat him.”
There was a hint of surprise in Grape’s electronic voice.
“Unless something unexpected happens, he’s probably going to take first place in the Nascent Soul Stage,” Xu Fan said. He then pulled up another light curtain, this one showing Ye Xiaoyao’s battle.
A powerful sword formation swiftly defeated the Transformation Stage cultivator he was facing, but Xu Fan still shook his head.
“You’ve improved, but not by much,” Xu Fan remarked.
“What do you mean by ‘old grandpa’?” Sha Diao asked curiously.
“Just someone who helps him solve all his problems and guides him onto a bright path,” Xu Fan explained casually, referring to Old Silver Coin, who always had Ye Xiaoyao’s best interests at heart.
“Oh,” Sha Diao said, not pressing further.
Xu Fan then switched to another spirit ore to continue refining the next component.
“Watching fights and killings is fine for a bit, but I should get back to crafting artifacts.”
Having watched several matches, Xu Fan lost interest in the grand competition; in his eyes, anyone who couldn’t defeat him in an instant was just scraps.
As the grand competitions in the Heavenly Refining Fairy City continued day by day, aside from the eliminated Xiang Yun, the others faced no strong opponents and smoothly advanced.
This series of daily matches would last for more than two months.
One day, in the underground space of the Hidden Spirit Sect, Xu Fan began to carve the final runes on the already formed Spiritual Sword precious artifact satellite.
“Too bad I only know two celestial scripts, and I can only use one basic wind attribute rune.”
“If I had more, the power could be greater,” Xu Fan said as he carved the rune formations.
“Stop talking and focus; if the rune formation has even a slight mistake, the entire artifact will be destroyed,” Sha Diao said nervously from the side.
“Brother Sha, why are you so tense? It’s just crafting an artifact; how could there be mistakes?” Xu Fan replied casually, honestly finding it quite enjoyable to chat with someone knowledgeable while crafting.
“………” Sha Diao shot Xu Fan an exasperated look for his attitude.
His master had told him that when he advanced to master craftsman, he had destroyed three artifact materials before succeeding, which was already quite impressive.
At that moment, the rune carving reached a critical stage, and Xu Fan’s expression turned serious.
Now, Xu Fan entered a state of extreme focus, as he reached the moment to carve the most critical part of the formation; if there was even a slight slip, the formation could collapse and explode, destroying the entire underground space.
Although Xu Fan was confident, he remained cautious.
Beside him, Sha Diao activated a five-layer defensive precious artifact’s protective shield, watching Xu Fan carve the formation with a serious demeanor.
As time passed, when Xu Fan completed the final stroke of the wind attribute rune, he took a deep breath.
‘Voom~~’
The heavens resonated, and a Spiritual Light Pillar with a diameter of ten meters soared into the sky.
As the artifact emerged, the Spiritual Light appeared.
An ancient bronze cannon’s phantom appeared in the sky, descending slowly into the Precious Artifact Satellite.
‘Boom~~’
The wave emitted when the artifact formed swept across the entire underground space.
A strange, rule-based power began to feedback to Xu Fan.
Golden Core mid-stage, Golden Core late-stage, Golden Core perfect completion.
Just as this power was about to push Xu Fan’s cultivation to the Nascent Soul Stage, a problem arose.
The forces of rules surged into Xu Fan’s body, trying to force him into the Nascent Soul Stage.
‘Boom~’
Golden Core perfect completion, Golden Core perfect completion, Golden Core perfect completion~~~
As this power repeatedly surged into Xu Fan’s body, he remained stuck at the level of Golden Core perfect completion.
Then, as if the forces of rules became angry, it channeled dozens of times more strength forcefully into Xu Fan’s body.
At this moment, Xu Fan’s face turned red like someone who had overindulged, and he felt very uncomfortable.
“Is this a bug causing a glitch?” A dangerous thought flashed through Xu Fan’s mind.
The power kept pouring in relentlessly, and Xu Fan was feeling more and more uncomfortable.
“When is this going to end?”
If it were just ordinary spiritual energy, Xu Fan could have redirected it elsewhere, but this force, infused with the forces of rules, was impossible to divert. He had no choice but to passively accept it, as if this power was always meant to be his.
“If every time I craft an artifact, I have to endure this kind of torment, what am I supposed to do in the future?”
Just as Xu Fan was worrying, the rule power flowing into him shifted its course, starting to repair the flaws within his body.
This power changed direction, first aiming to fix Xu Fan’s internal imperfections before pushing him toward the Nascent Soul Stage.
As this happened, Xu Fan felt his previously weak understanding of the Dao gradually becoming clearer.
Even the time attribute, which had always seemed out of reach for Xu Fan, began to reveal its edges to him.
Suddenly, Xu Fan had a startling realization—he had transformed into the Ten Thousand Dao Celestial Body.
Then, the familiar sensation returned, and the immense power, indifferent to Xu Fan’s discomfort, surged into him once again.
“What the @#%$!”
An hour later, the relentless power finally faded away, unwilling to accept defeat. Xu Fan let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground, completely drained.
“I think I’ve stumbled upon a cheat,” Xu Fan muttered while lying on the ground.
Sha Diao approached him with a look of surprise.
“Grand Elder, with all that commotion, how are you still at the Golden Core Stage?” Sha Diao asked.
“How do I put this? There’s someone incredibly powerful who’s stopping me from advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage,” Xu Fan replied, still lying on the ground.
At that moment, he was basking in the sensation of the Ten Thousand Dao Celestial Body, feeling as though he had control over all the wide roads of the world.
But just as Xu Fan was still savoring this newfound power, a massive black light column appeared in the sky, piercing through the upper layer of the underground space and striking Xu Fan directly.
His Ten Thousand Dao Celestial Body was sealed, and he reverted to his original state.
“Ugh, you’re quick at fixing bugs, aren’t you?”
Xu Fan struggled to get up, and behind him, a tool puppet was already pushing the unused wheelchair of Xu Gang toward him.
“Grape.”
“I’m here~~”
“I authorize you to take control of the artifact…”
Xu Fan was about to mention the Precious Artifact Satellite when he paused.
“Since it’s an artifact, it deserves a grand name.”
“I hereby name this artifact the Demon Suppressing Star,” Xu Fan declared.
“Acknowledged. Grape will now begin to take control of the Demon Suppressing Star.”
At that moment, an irregularly shaped spherical Demon Suppressing Star, 50 meters in diameter, began to ascend into the sky.
“Initiating self-diagnosis.”
“Laser cannon module functioning normally.”
“Railgun module functioning normally.”
“The conventional strike module is normal.”
“The daily imaging exploration module is normal.”
“The life detection module is normal.”
“Spiritual energy exploration…”
As Grape reported, Xu Fan nodded in satisfaction.
“Not bad, all that hard work paid off. Now I just need to find an opportunity to test its power,” Xu Fan said with a smile.
At this moment, Sha Diao gazed at the slowly ascending Demon Suppressing Star, feeling a spark of understanding.
“Grand Elder, I have gained some insights. I’ll return to seclusion for further contemplation,” Sha Diao said, flying out through the opening above.
“Just from watching the artifact crafting, you gained insights?” Xu Fan remarked.
To be honest, in Xu Fan’s opinion, watching him craft artifacts was the most uninteresting thing because he used the most ordinary crafting techniques. The subtle inner controls were invisible to anyone watching him.
“I hope Brother Sha can advance to master craftsman.”
Meanwhile, in Su Rantian’s fairy city courtyard, she looked in the direction where the spiritual light had appeared, as well as at the slowly rising Demon Suppressing Star that posed a strong threat.
“The artifact crafted by Elder Xu is quite remarkable,” Su Rantian said, a glimmer of interest in her eyes.
As soon as Xu Fan returned to his courtyard, planning to sleep soundly, he was interrupted by Su Rantian.
“Congratulations, Elder Xu, on successfully crafting the artifact,” Su Rantian said with a smile.
“Ha ha, it was just luck this time. Thank you, Elder Su, for your congratulations,” Xu Fan replied, smiling from his wheelchair.
“Elder Xu, I’m interested in the artifact you just crafted. Name your price,” Su Rantian said.
“Elder Su doesn’t even know what I crafted, and you want to buy it? Isn’t that a bit hasty?”
Xu Fan hesitated to name a price, worried that if this wealthy lady agreed, he’d be in trouble.
“It’s fine. I took a glance at the artifact Elder Xu just crafted; it should be similar to the Celestial Watcher type.”
“I don’t have a similar artifact in my collection, so I wouldn’t mind having one,” Su Rantian replied casually.
Hearing Su Rantian’s generous words, Xu Fan tentatively said, “If I ask for ten trillion spirit stones, would Elder Su still buy it?”
“Isn’t that just one hundred million top-grade spirit stones? I’ll buy it if the Grand Elder sells it,” Su Rantian responded eagerly.
“This artifact is meant to protect our sect, so don’t say anything about buying or not buying.”
“As long as Elder Su is in the Lin Sen Fairy City area, this artifact is at your disposal,” Xu Fan said generously.
“If Elder Su really wants to buy it, then just wait another ten years, and I’ll craft one for you.”
Before Xu Fan could finish speaking, Su Rantian took out a space ring and handed it to Xu Fan.
“This is the deposit; Grand Elder must remember what you said.”
After saying this, Su Rantian transformed into a flash of fire and vanished from sight.
“Are the wealthy people in the cultivation world all this extravagant?” Xu Fan said, looking at the space ring in his hand.
Xu Fan used his mental strength to probe the space ring and found that the deposit was indeed half paid.
“Did I price it too low at ten trillion?” Xu Fan mumbled.
Just as Xu Fan commanded the tool puppets to push him back to his room, Ning Dao approached him again.
“What’s up, Brother Ning?”
You all aren’t out slaying demons? Why are you all so idle? Xu Fan silently complained.
“Grand Elder, now that the artifact is complete, isn’t it time to start crafting my Spiritual Sword?” Ning Dao said eagerly.
Hearing Ning Dao’s words, Xu Fan felt dizzy. Was he really that impatient?
“Brother Ning, don’t rush. Didn’t I say it would be five years until your Spiritual Sword?”
“There are still several artifacts ahead, which I promised to others beforehand,” Xu Fan explained awkwardly.
“Sigh, I used to have a Dual Swords Flow, but I sold one to heal my wife.”
“My fighting strength dropped significantly, and now I just want another Spiritual Sword to regain my former prowess.”
“With two Spiritual Swords, I could easily deal with that towering ape,” Ning Dao said, a hint of nostalgia crossing his face as he recalled the incident of selling his sword.
Hearing Ning Dao’s story, Xu Fan nodded and said, “Brother Ning, why didn’t you mention this sooner?”
“I just didn’t want to bring up the past of selling my sword,” Ning Dao said, his expression growing dim.
“Brother Ning, go back and wait patiently. Come back in four months to collect your Spiritual Sword.”
Xu Fan’s words instantly excited Ning Dao.
“Really?”
“Really,” Xu Fan confirmed, though he felt sorry for his first clone.
“Grand Elder, you are my lifelong good brother.”
After saying this, Ning Dao bid farewell to Xu Fan and returned to his courtyard to continue his cultivation.
Watching Ning Dao’s retreating form, Xu Fan smirked, “Isn’t this like telling your parents to study hard in the future?”
After all this was settled, Xu Fan finally had the chance to lie down in bed and fall into a deep sleep.
A small sign appeared at Xu Fan’s door.
“Master is asleep; if there’s anything, leave a dream message~~”