Chapter 220
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Chapter 220: Star Ship Operation Graduation Game
“It wasn’t easy, but I finally got my revenge for that cannon blast,” Master Qianling sighed.
He had thought he’d be stuck surviving in the cultivation world as a clone, but out of nowhere, this puppet came to his rescue.
“How could I, a Great Ascension Master, just die like that? Luck is on my side—what a coincidence,” Master Qianling thought proudly.
Just then, the puppet stood up from the control room and said, “If there’s nothing else, shouldn’t we send an artifact master to temporarily repair the main beam of the Star Ship?”
“Otherwise, we might never make it back,” the puppet added lightly.
“Ha! Little puppet, I almost forgot about that,” Master Qianling said, ignoring the annoyed looks from the Qianling Sect elders. He called for the master craftsman on board to fix the main beam while they headed back to the sect for the Heavenly Refining Sect to handle the full repairs.
One elder looked at the damaged Qianling Star Ship and sighed, “This trip was a total waste.”
“Let’s hope the master craftsmen from the Heavenly Refining Sect don’t charge an arm and a leg. Otherwise, we’ll never hear the end of it from the Grand Elder.”
“If we clean up the wreckage of the Demon Sect Star Ship and sell it to the Heavenly Refining Sect, it should cover the repair costs.”
“But we’ll need to fix it first. Otherwise, those Heavenly Refining Sect folks will jack up the price based on the damage.”
“Right, let’s stash the Demon Sect Star Ship wreckage for now.”
The Qianling Sect elders didn’t hold back their complaints about the Heavenly Refining Sect, even in front of the puppet. Meanwhile, the Grape’s clone inside the puppet began processing the conversation at high speed, analyzing every detail.
The master craftsman traveling with the Star Ship made some quick repairs to the main beam, and soon the Qianling Star Ship was back to its normal speed, heading toward the Demon Sect Star Ship.
“That old guy’s body must be destroyed. I wonder if his true spirit escaped,” one of the elders muttered.
On the deck, the Qianling Sect elders gazed in the direction where the Demon Sect Star Ship had been destroyed.
“Little puppet, do you think the Demon Sect elder’s true spirit got away?” Master Qianling asked the puppet, who was busy collecting data nearby.
“The escape probability is eighty-nine percent. In the Extreme Void Domain, true spirits can teleport, and their speed triples,” the puppet replied.
“True. It looks like we’ll have to wait for a chance to finish him off on land,” Master Qianling said.
Before long, the Qianling Star Ship arrived at the site of the Demon Sect Star Ship’s destruction.
Master Qianling immediately sent out a hundred small mining Star Ships to collect resources from the wreckage.
Not long after, Master Qianling suddenly looked a bit sheepish and said, “Little puppet, it seems we ran into a Demon Sect Star Ship that was mostly empty. There’s not much spirit ore or exotic treasures here.”
“Without counting the wreckage, those things are only worth about three million top-grade spirit stones.”
“It’s fine as long as there are Star Ship wrecks,” the puppet said calmly.
“That seems unfair to you. Besides the wreckage, I’ll make it up to ten million top-grade spirit stones,” Master Qianling said.
“Okay.”
That single word reminded Master Qianling that this was just a puppet.
Five hours later, they finished salvaging the wreckage of the Demon Sect Star Ship and began their return journey.
At Qianling Sect, a group of artifact masters waited in the designated docking area for the Star Ship.
“Let’s hope nothing goes wrong this time; otherwise, we’ll have to deal with those elders acting all high and mighty again,” one artifact master muttered.
At that moment, the chief master craftsman of the sect received a message.
After reading it, he sighed deeply.
“Can’t someone make things easier for us?” he said, then contacted the logistics supervisor of the Heavenly Refining Sect.
Meanwhile, far away on Hidden Spirit Island, Xu Fan also received the message and sent a video clip.
Looking at the encrypted message, Xu Fan said, “Grape, play the video in immersive mode.”
“Understood.”
The space around Xu Fan shifted rapidly, and in an instant, he found himself aboard the Qianling Star Ship.
“Oh, so this is the Extreme Void Domain. It doesn’t seem much different from the universe of my old world,” Xu Fan remarked, watching the mining Star Ships collecting asteroids in the distance.
Though they called it a Star Ship, to Xu Fan, it looked more like a mining spaceship.
“Heavenly Star Iron, barely good enough for crafting artifacts.”
“There’s so much of it!” Xu Fan exclaimed, watching the Star Ship in the distance.
The asteroid being collected was at least 400 meters in diameter, and it could yield tens of thousands of pounds of Heavenly Star Iron spirit ore.
Xu Fan then observed several other collection scenes on the Qianling Star Ship and even caught sight of an asteroid filled with mid-grade spirit stones.
Gazing at the sparkling spirit stone asteroid, Xu Fan sighed, “If this were in my past life, it would be like stumbling upon a golden asteroid.”
“Grape, how much is that spirit stone asteroid worth?” Xu Fan asked.
“Approximately twelve billion spirit stones.”
“Wow, once we have our own Star Ship, we might come across something like that too,” Xu Fan said, his voice tinged with envy.
“Huh, is something unexpected happening over there?” Xu Fan muttered, watching through the puppet’s perspective in the distance.
Suddenly, the entire Qianling Star Ship shook, and Xu Fan witnessed the puppet stepping in to save the day.
The video ended as the Qianling Star Ship began its return journey, leaving Xu Fan unsure of how he felt.
“Alright, get ready. Master Qianling will probably be here soon,” Xu Fan said, feeling a bit uneasy.
Truth be told, the thought of facing a Great Ascension Master made Xu Fan a little nervous.
What if Master Qianling insisted on buying Grape’s clone?
As Xu Fan pondered this, a streak of fire suddenly tore through space and landed right in front of him.
At this moment, Su Rantian looked a bit disheveled, with a new scratch on her face.
“Elder Su, you’re injured,” Xu Fan asked with concern.
“It’s just a small injury; I’m fine.”
“I also wanted to tell you, I need another one of those artifact-level Celestial Watchers,” Su Rantian said as she paid half of the deposit.
Xu Fan silently calculated; if he included this order, along with his future tasks, he would be busy for at least ten years.
“Then Elder Su is likely to receive two Celestial Watchers in about ten years,” Xu Fan said.
“That works,” Su Rantian nodded lightly.
“Elder Su, with your unmatched fighting strength, how did you end up in such a predicament against a Core Formation stage beast?” Xu Fan asked.
“Just one, a bear demon with an artifact,” Su Rantian replied.
“I accidentally got scratched by its claw,” she said nonchalantly, then took out a huge piece of armor and asked, “Can this beast race artifact be refined into a treasure usable by the human race?”
This was her main purpose for coming, to see if this beast race artifact could be refined again.
Xu Fan looked at the armor and stroked his chin, thinking for a moment.
“This artifact armor can only be refined into a few treasures if melted down; to create an artifact-level treasure, it must be crafted as a whole.”
“However, such heavy armor is only suitable for certain body refinement cultivators of the human race, and it’s quite complicated to refine,” Xu Fan continued.
“Alright.”
Su Rantian understood Xu Fan’s meaning.
Before Xu Fan could respond, both of them turned their attention to the direction where Master Qianling was approaching.
“That aura must be the Second Grand Elder of the Qianling Sect; I wonder what brings him here,” Su Rantian said.
“Would you assist me in meeting this Great Ascension Master?” Xu Fan said without hesitation; having someone to back him up would be great.
The Second Grand Elder from Qianling Sect was definitely here to buy Grape’s clone.
“Second Grand Elder of the Qianling Sect, Xiao Yunhe, comes to visit the Grand Elder of the Hidden Spirit Sect,” a loud voice echoed throughout the Hidden Spirit Sect.
“Damn, that was fast,” Xu Fan cursed softly; he arrived sooner than Xu Fan expected.
Outside the Hidden Spirit Sect, Master Qianling waited in a cloud carriage with a puppet.
“Little puppet, I certainly gave you enough face,” Master Qianling chuckled.
At his level, he only announced his name when visiting similarly ranked sects.
“Thank you.”
Hearing this pleasant Electronic Voice, Master Qianling nodded in satisfaction.
At that moment, the gates of the protective mountain formation opened wide, and Xu Fan and Su Rantian appeared in the air.
“Welcome, Master Qianling, to our sect,” Xu Fan said, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect as a junior.
“Good. Su girl, when did you join the Hidden Spirit Sect?”
“Not long ago, I heard about your emotional tribulation. Is that person here in the Hidden Spirit Sect? Bring them over for me to see,” Master Qianling said boldly.
“Today, I’m just accompanying you. Senior, you should focus on your business,” Su Rantian replied lightly.
“Alright.”
Master Qianling didn’t mind Su Rantian’s attitude.
In the main peak’s guest room, the three took their seats, and tool puppets served tea to everyone.
“I’m not one for pleasantries, so I’ll get straight to the point,” Master Qianling said, taking out a space ring.
“Your puppet saved the life of one of our Star Ship crew members in the Qianling Sect. This is our haul from this trip; please accept it, Grand Elder.”
“Inside is also the reward for your puppet steering the Star Ship,” Master Qianling added.
“And I’d like to buy this little puppet. Name your price, Grand Elder.”
“This puppet carries the essence of my Hidden Spirit Sect’s main artifact, so I cannot sell it,” Xu Fan replied politely.
“Then can you craft a new one for me? Name your price,” Master Qianling said.
Xu Fan had expected this but felt helpless; he wouldn’t sell a puppet fused with his soul.
“Senior, this artifact was crafted by chance. I can’t guarantee I can create a second one,” Xu Fan explained.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Xu Fan added.
“You won’t sell it, and you can’t craft another, but now our Qianling Sect’s Star Ship has already left that puppet behind.”
“What do you suggest we do, Grand Elder?” Master Qianling said with a smile.
“Handle it as no big deal,” Xu Fan thought to himself, but kept a smile on his face.
“If it’s just about steering the Star Ship, your sect could consider a rental arrangement,” Xu Fan suggested.
“You can take the puppet whenever your sect’s Star Ship goes out.”
“What would that cost?” Master Qianling asked.
“500 million spirit stones per trip,” Xu Fan stated. His initial price was 200 million spirit stones, considering this trip involved at least several thousand small targets; he needed to take a portion.
“200 million spirit stones per trip,” Master Qianling said, glancing at Su Rantian.
With her present, he didn’t want to assert his authority as the Grand Elder of Qianling Sect; if it upset her and she reported him to her master, it would be too costly.
“Deal,” Xu Fan said, though he felt reluctant. There was little he could do given his situation.
After reaching an agreement with Master Qianling, they began to chat casually.
As they talked, the conversation somehow turned to the precision of powerful techniques, and Xu Fan casually mentioned the theory of three guaranteed hits with a single-target spell.
Master Qianling immediately perked up, excitedly asking, “Can three single-target spells really achieve a 100% hit rate?”
“That’s within a certain range, and the prerequisite is that the strength shouldn’t differ too much,” Xu Fan replied.
At this moment, Master Qianling took out an array disk and said to Xu Fan, “Can you join me in a game?”
“What game?” Xu Fan asked.
Master Qianling activated the array disk, and suddenly, the world around them began to shift.
The three people appeared on an ordinary Star Ship.
“Are we in the Extreme Void Domain?” Xu Fan asked.
“Yes, this is the Heavenly Refining Sect’s Star Ship combat simulation game, also known as the graduation game,” Master Qianling replied.
Master Qianling’s expression was a bit off; this game was his lifelong shame. He had spent a hundred years trying to pass it but never succeeded.
Its difficulty was even greater than destroying that Demon Sect Star Ship.
“Grand Elder, could you let your main artifact puppet try this game and see if it can clear it?” Master Qianling said with a smile.
The Heavenly Refining Sect had a rule: if a sect could pass the graduation game, they would get back ten percent of the spirit stones spent on purchasing the Star Ship.
Seeking outside help was allowed, but only one helper could assist per Star Ship.
Looking at the image projected by the stargazing technique, Xu Fan suddenly felt intrigued.
“Senior, can I give it a try?” Xu Fan asked.
“Sure, but do you know how to control a Star Ship?”
“When the puppet returned to the central continent, it sent me the data from your sect’s Star Ship, so I know the basics,” Xu Fan replied modestly.
“………..”
Is it really that simple?
“Go ahead and try. Maybe you’re the once-in-a-millennium genius for Star Ship control,” Master Qianling said.
In truth, all the top sects had been searching for talents capable of steering Star Ships, but with little success. The immense computing power required to operate a Star Ship was beyond the reach of most cultivators.
Some sects had even tried using computing-focused magic artifacts and puppets to control Star Ships, but the results were lackluster. The puppets could barely get the Star Ship moving, and in combat situations, they often became logically confused.
If it hadn’t been for Master Qianling’s insistence on using the puppet to control the Star Ship, things might have turned out differently.
In the control room of the Star Ship, Xu Fan took the main control seat.
Looking at the intricate rune control panel, Xu Fan sighed, “This thing really isn’t for the average person to handle.”
“Of course not. Just the rune compass for controlling the Star Ship has 30 runes, and there are another 1,864 rune buttons,” Master Qianling explained.
“Each button has a different function and combination.”
“Memorizing all these buttons only gets the Star Ship moving.”
“Then there’s the control of the spiritual energy core’s power output, which is the most critical part.”
Though Master Qianling wasn’t skilled at the game, his theoretical knowledge was extensive.
