Chapter 93
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 93: Lowering the Price of Time-Space Sand
Li Xingci’s eyes lit up as he gazed at the jade slips. He understood that the spells he chose now would shape the secret techniques his master would teach him later. Each jade slip bore the name of a spell, and Li Xingci could easily scan through the more than a hundred slips.
Xu Fan watched Li Xingci select spells with calm patience, a glimmer of approval in his eyes. This tranquility alone would help him avoid many detours on his future cultivation path. True peace was hard to come by.
After about an hour, Li Xingci had chosen the secret techniques he wanted to learn.
“Phantom Eye Technique, Soul Manipulation Technique, Spirit Point Technique, Soul Capture Technique, Five Elements Shaping Technique, Five Elements Trap Technique, Heavenly Shadow Technique…”
Xu Fan nodded at Li Xingci’s choices. He was clearly leaning toward a darker path, which oddly suited his bright and clean appearance. Xu Fan had always believed that unexpected results came from methods that didn’t match one’s appearance.
“Take these spells back and study them at your own pace. If you have questions while I’m here, ask me. If I’m not around, ask your senior brother or sister,” Xu Fan said slowly. He was still dealing with the aftereffects of severing his soul and needed rest.
“Understood.”
“Take your time learning; I need to rest for a while,” Xu Fan said, wincing as a sharp pain shot through him.
“Disciple takes his leave.”
As Li Xingci left, Xu Fan grimaced.
“Damn, this hurts.”
He gritted his teeth and took out a First-Second Stage Falling Star Pill, a potent remedy for the soul.
Half a month later, Xu Fan arrived in the underground production chamber with spirit ore and exotic treasures Xu Yuexian had gathered. In the mountain chamber, he observed the production line running like a well-oiled machine, nodding in satisfaction. He noticed that the puppet engraved with runes, which carried his soul, seemed to be working faster.
“Not bad. I expect the production speed will keep improving.”
After setting down enough spirit ore and exotic treasures to last a year, Xu Fan returned to the surface. With the Heart of the Puppet in control below, major issues were unlikely.
On the mountain, Xu Fan watched with interest as Wang Xiangchi sparred with the Swordsman Puppet. Compared to before, Wang Xiangchi’s swordsmanship seemed more refined, blending seamlessly into each move. Yet, he still couldn’t match the Swordsman Puppet.
Xu Gang and Xu Yuexian watched from the sidelines, their expressions sympathetic. They were grateful their master hadn’t used this thing to train them back then.
“Xu Gang, Yuexian, come here,” Xu Fan called with a smile, summoning two Foundation Establishment Stage puppets with a wave of his hand.
“One is a Spell Five Elements Puppet for Xu Gang, with early-stage Foundation Establishment strength.”
“The other is a Hidden Stab Puppet for Yuexian, with mid-stage Foundation Establishment strength.”
“From now on, there’s no time limit for your advancement. Defeat the puppets, and you’ll advance.”
Over the past half month, Xu Fan had focused on recovering from his soul injuries and refining these two puppets for his disciples to challenge. While sturdy, the puppets were average in most aspects, but they were directly controlled by the Heart of the Puppet.
Xu Fan pointed at a large rock in the distance. It came to life, transforming into a 5-meter-tall rock giant, which he had conjured to serve as a site repairer.
“Master, defeating this puppet will let me advance?” Xu Gang asked excitedly. He had recently reached the peak of early-stage Foundation Establishment and was struggling to suppress his cultivation.
Xu Fan didn’t say a word and immediately sent the Spell Five Elements Puppet to another area.
“Master, don’t be mad when I break your puppet,” Xu Gang said as he followed the puppet to challenge it.
With a loud boom, the fight started but ended just as quickly.
In the distance, the Spell Puppet, protected by a tri-colored Five Elements shield, held an ice spear to Xu Gang’s neck.
“You just tanked all my spell attacks,” Xu Gang glared at the puppet, thinking his master was cheating.
Seeing Xu Gang’s expression, Xu Fan said, “Your big spells were all dodged. I didn’t cheat.”
“I’m not convinced.”
Xu Gang kept challenging.
Three minutes later, Xu Gang returned to Xu Fan, looking defeated.
By then, the original Spell Puppet had been replaced by the Thorn Puppet.
Xu Fan glanced at Xu Yuexian, signaling it was her turn.
“I don’t believe a Foundation Establishment Stage puppet can be that strong.”
Xu Yuexian said as she grabbed a two-meter-long sniper rifle and walked over.
Three minutes later, just like Xu Gang, she returned to Xu Fan.
“From now on, this is the standard for my disciples. Once you reach the third level of Qi Refinement, you can start challenging. You have to win to advance,” Xu Fan said, nodding at his two miserable disciples. Advancing so fast seemed pointless if they were just going to get crushed in the end.
“Got it, Master.”
At that moment, Wang Xiangchi appeared beside them.
Xu Fan pulled out a reflective mirror that had recordings of the three challenges, which could be sped up or slowed down.
“This is the Reflective Mirror. Every time you fail a battle, you should watch it to see where you went wrong,” Xu Fan explained the mirror’s function to his three disciples.
And so, Xu Fan’s disciples lived a life of pain and joy, getting beaten badly but improving quickly.
A year later.
In the cultivation room, Xu Fan held the time-space sand in his hands, a hint of frustration in his eyes. He had sold 200 palm-sized farms to gather enough spirit stones to buy the time-space sand for 30 million spirit stones.
Over the past year, Xu Fan had started using the Time House, where he could study and research the path of cultivation whenever he had time.
During that year, Pang Fu visited once. After talking with Xu Fan, he returned to the Forbidden Ground Defense Line, leaving behind 20 million spirit stones. He mentioned that the advertising business for the 60 fairy cities in the Forbidden Ground Defense Line wasn’t as profitable as before.
It turned out that when profits got too big, even cultivators started losing their morals. In the Forbidden Ground Defense Line area, Que Tian Gate wasn’t the top dog anymore.
Xu Fan then asked about the time-space sand, but Pang Fu said he couldn’t help. Even with his connections to the central continent, he couldn’t get his hands on such high-level Extreme Void treasures.
So, Xu Fan felt a bit frustrated, but he soon relaxed when he found out that even Que Tian Gate had to pay 18 million spirit stones per pound for time-space sand.
“Damn it, once I can build a spaceship for the Extreme Void Domain, I’m going to crash the price of this thing!” Xu Fan said fiercely. He then took the time-space sand and disappeared into the Time House.
Meanwhile, the three disciples who couldn’t advance were busy analyzing their recent battles using the Reflective Mirror.
They discovered a weakness Xu Fan had left for them: if they lasted an hour against the puppet, it would reveal a flaw.
This secret was found by Wang Xiangchi, the challenge addict, after holding out for an hour.
If Xu Fan had been there, he would’ve said, “You think I’d let you advance without giving you a chance? Not a chance!”
