Chapter 47
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Chapter 47: Sha Yan’s Brother
Xu Fan slowly turned his head, stiff with tension. Anyone who could evade his detection had to be at least a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.
The ship was packed with big shots; there was no way he could keep his actions hidden from them.
"Greetings, senior," Xu Fan said respectfully, always making sure to acknowledge the powerful figures first.
A sturdy old man was eyeing Xu Fan up and down.
"Not bad, not bad. Plenty of spiritual energy and a tough soul—you’ve got the makings of a fine artifact crafter."
"Young man, you’re a disciple on this ship, right? Which peak do you belong to?" the old man asked.
"I haven’t joined any peak yet; I’m just a wandering cultivator for now," Xu Fan replied honestly. There were plenty like him in the Outer Sect of Que Tian—most were unwanted, while others simply wanted to explore different peaks.
"How about joining the Artifact Crafting Peak?" The old man’s eyes gleamed; he wasn’t about to let such a promising candidate slip away.
At that, Xu Fan gave the old man a deep, respectful bow.
"I’m currently a first-tier alchemist, but my focus is on studying runes."
Hearing this, the old man’s interest immediately waned.
"Alchemy? What’s the point? Artifact crafting is where the real excitement lies for a man."
With that, the old man turned and walked away, clearly losing interest in Xu Fan.
Watching the old man’s retreating figure—someone who was undoubtedly at the Nascent Soul Stage—Xu Fan exhaled in relief. Joining the Artifact Crafting Peak would have meant sacrificing his freedom. He’d have to practice alchemy in secret, and if he didn’t reach Foundation Establishment for decades, he’d likely face ridicule.
Putting those thoughts aside, Xu Fan continued examining the runes on the inner walls of the Floating Sky Ship using his specially crafted glasses.
Over the course of three days, Xu Fan tirelessly explored every accessible corner of the ship.
"This Floating Sky Ship has over 5,000 runes, not even counting the power room," he muttered to himself.
"Looks like it’ll be a long time before I can craft something like this," Xu Fan sighed as he ate.
For years now, Xu Fan had been diligently collecting runes. He’d mastered over 600 types, but he’d noticed that finding new ones was becoming increasingly difficult as time went on.
Just then, Xu Fan sensed two people approaching.
He turned and immediately recognized Senior Sister Sha Yan, dressed in a stunning white Qian Die dress that accentuated her figure perfectly. His heart skipped a beat.
But then he noticed the slightly taller young man standing beside her, and his excitement dimmed a little.
"Xu junior brother, I can’t believe it’s really you!" Sha Yan exclaimed with delight.
"Hello, Senior Sister," Xu Fan replied politely.
"Xu junior brother, I heard you’re into artifact crafting. Let me introduce you to someone."
Sha Yan patted the shoulder of the tall young man next to her. "This is my brother—he’s a first-tier artifact master at the Artifact Crafting Peak."
"And this junior brother of mine is incredibly talented in both alchemy and artifact crafting," she added, introducing Xu Fan to her brother.
"Hello, Senior Brother Sha. My name is Xu Fan," Xu Fan said with a bow, feeling a wave of relief that the man wasn’t her boyfriend.
"Hello, Xu junior brother. I’m Sha Diao," Sha Diao replied with a smile.
As soon as he finished speaking, Sha Diao noticed that Xu Fan’s expression had turned odd, and his shoulders were trembling slightly.
At this moment, Xu Fan was struggling to hold back his laughter. Just as he was about to burst out, he quickly left the cafeteria and returned to his room.
“Hahahahahaha…”
“I can’t believe there’s really a Sha Diao, ahahaha…”
Xu Fan hadn’t encountered something so amusing in a long time; he laughed for several minutes before finally calming down.
“I feel a bit rude.”
“Never mind, I’ll explain next time we meet.”
At that moment, Xu Fan already had a perfect excuse ready.
Just then, he felt the entire Floating Sky Ship tremble, followed by an announcement.
“Entering the Endless Sea. All hands, prepare for battle.”
When Xu Fan reached the deck, he could smell the ocean.
In the distance, a vast expanse of blue endless sea stretched out, deep and profound, resembling a universe without stars.
Xu Fan also saw nine massive escort warships protecting the Floating Sky Ship, each equivalent to one-fifth of its size, bristling with various calibers of spiritual energy cannons.
“Battlecruisers, now this is a man’s romance,” Xu Fan marveled at the escort ships, observing the main cannon with a diameter of three meters, wondering about its power.
“So Junior Brother Xu shares my view; this is what a man should master in crafting.”
Sha Diao appeared beside Xu Fan without him noticing, looking at him with admiration.
“Senior Brother Sha, I was feeling a bit embarrassed earlier; inspiration struck suddenly while I was speaking, and I needed to record it, so…” Xu Fan explained his perfect excuse.
“Understood, understood. If you don’t seize the moment when inspiration strikes, it can be quite frustrating.”
Sha Diao patted Xu Fan on the shoulder, sharing a bond of mutual respect as both were practitioners of artifact crafting over alchemy.
With nothing else to do, Xu Fan began chatting with Sha Diao. For some reason, every time Xu Fan looked at Sha Diao’s face, he felt a wave of happiness.
“Junior Brother Xu, can you share the inspiration you just had?”
“Maybe discussing it will make your idea even more complete,” Sha Diao said eagerly.
“Actually, it’s nothing much.” Xu Fan replied, using his finger to sketch a complete rune formation in the air.
What Xu Fan had in abundance was inspiration and creative ideas; this was a wireless communication rune formation.
“Resonance runes, communication runes, light and shadow runes, secrecy runes…”
Sha Diao stroked his chin, pondering the purpose of this rune formation.
“Junior Brother Xu, if I’m not mistaken, you want to create a piece of equipment that allows remote communication.”
“However, due to limitations, the two devices can communicate only within a distance of a little over 100 kilometers, unless using the external grand formation, which could cover the entire Outer Sect.”
“The runes are all quite common, and ordinary spirit iron can carry them, making the cost a significant highlight.”
Listening to Sha Diao’s evaluation, Xu Fan’s eyes sparkled; this senior brother truly had skills.
At that moment, Sha Diao felt a bit disappointed. The reaction from this Junior Brother Xu was so strong, but the inspiration turned out to be just this; aside from cost and sequence of runes, everything else was quite ordinary.
“Senior Brother Sha, it’s not over yet.” Xu Fan said as he added a miniature base station function to the outer layer of the rune formation.
“What is this…”
As he looked at the additional runes Xu Fan added to the outer circle, Sha Diao started to take it seriously, realizing he found this arrangement of outer runes difficult to understand.
Xu Fan didn’t pay attention to Sha Diao, instead walking to the bow of the ship to admire the Endless Sea.
He had dreamt of this place for a long time; it teemed with endless resources, all sorts of rare exotic treasures hard to find in the outside world, and primarily, there were materials derived from beasts at the Core Formation stage and above.
Such things were hard to come by outside.
