Chapter 723

Chapter 723: Tribulation of Spiritual Energy

“You’ve got some perfect timing. We just woke up, and here you are.”

Xu Fan could tell from the tone that it was First Clone speaking.

“Yeah, can’t you give us a little peace for once?” This was Second Clone.

“Don’t think of me as the bad guy here. I just came to check on you,” Xu Fan said with a smile, which only made First Clone and Second Clone roll their eyes.

Seeing the two of them stark naked, Xu Fan pulled out two Fabric Transformation Balls from his space ring and tossed them over.

Some things are better not stared at for too long.

First Clone and Second Clone sat up, glaring at Xu Fan.

“You’ve already reached the Overcoming Tribulations stage. Looks like you’ve been raking in treasures from the Elder Council.”

“It was worth risking our lives to save that Ten Thousand Star Ship,” Second Clone said with a grin.

“I don’t remember much from that time, but I’m pretty sure I sent you a message before I died,” First Clone added.

“I got the message, but it didn’t help much. Elder Ming Kong was generous, though. He gave enough Contribution Points to exchange for Time Treasures, and there was still some left over. Enough to get us through the cultivation world,” Xu Fan said, pulling out his little notebook.

He frowned at the true dragon on the cover before flipping to the first page.

That page was all about the Purple Jade Flood Dragon.

First Clone and Second Clone noticed the little notebook in Xu Fan’s hand.

“Seems like you’ve got a thing against dragons. First and second pages are both about them,” First Clone teased.

“Once I become a Great Ascension Master, I’ll barbecue that Little Loach first.”

“As for the one on the cover, we’ll deal with it after ascending to the Thousand Worlds,” Xu Fan said. He was, after all, a man who held grudges.

“Let’s focus on getting through this first. After that, we’ll plunder the spirit ores from the beast race, finish refining Hidden Spirit Island, and then ascend to the Immortal Realm together,” Second Clone said.

Xu Fan nodded in approval at Second Clone’s determination.

“Body, did you come here to assign us some work?” First Clone asked.

“I just came to check on you. You’re still recovering, and assigning work to you now would be heartless, don’t you think?” Xu Fan replied with a smirk.

He then took out a jade bottle and let two drops of deep green spiritual liquid fall onto First Clone and Second Clone.

This was something Xu Fan had concocted during his seclusion. He figured First Clone and Second Clone needed to recover faster; otherwise, things would get complicated.

As the spiritual liquid seeped into their bodies, Xu Fan was met with a pair of disdainful glares.

“Body, you’ve got such a ‘conscience,’” First Clone said sarcastically.

“Yeah, a conscience that’s practically on fire,” Second Clone added mockingly.

Originally, they were supposed to have a ten-year recovery period.

Ten years of peace, doing nothing, living a leisurely life.

But thanks to Xu Fan’s two drops of spiritual liquid, their recovery time was cut down to just one year.

And if their ‘conscientious’ body got any more ruthless, it might not even take that long.

“Hehe, seeing you all suffer makes my conscience uneasy, so I want you to recover quickly and help establish our Hidden Spirit Sect,” Xu Fan said with a smile.

“Just go away, hurry up and leave so we can rest a bit during this limited time,” First Clone said with a sigh.

Xu Fan left the small world where First Clone and Second Clone were recovering and headed to the underground space Production Line for crafting spiritual boats.

Xu Fan watched as the massive celestial tool furnace refined batch after batch of artifact-level spirit ore, then poured it into specific molds, while special rune puppets engraved the basic runes.

When they were about to cool, they would be handed to the beast clan master craftsmen, who would engrave the most crucial runes, then form and awaken them, placing them in specific environments to nurture them.

Thus, a simple and unadorned artifact was completed.

“Grape, let’s set up a few more Production Lines for defensive-type artifacts.”

“We need to improve the status of our Hidden Spirit Sect Disciples.”

Currently, any Hidden Spirit Sect Disciple who reached the Core Formation stage could possess an offensive magical treasure.

However, if they wanted defensive-type artifacts or those with other powers, they would need to spend a hefty price to exchange for them.

That was because crafting such artifacts was quite difficult, requiring the master craftsmen several months, or even years, to produce.

This was an issue Xu Fan had recently discovered.

If the disciples of the Hidden Spirit Sect were to take a high-end route, they couldn’t do without a decent set of gear.

“Understood, Master. However, with the current resources in the sect’s treasury, we cannot equip all the disciples,” Grape replied.

“It’s fine; take your time. Once I navigate through this, what do I want from this world that I can’t get?” Xu Fan said, feeling the power contained within him.

At this point, Xu Fan had set his sights on the Thousand Worlds; for him, after advancing to the Great Ascension stage, he would deal with the enemies recorded in his little notebook, killing those who needed to be killed and burying those who needed to be buried.

At that time, destroying the beast race with his strength would be a simple task.

Just then, Grape’s voice came again.

“Master, the Hidden Spirit Island has returned to the Human Realm. How should we arrange it?” Grape inquired.

“First, go to Xiangzhou to guard against the beast race; Lin Sen Fairy City has a Great Ascension puppet guarding it, so there shouldn’t be any problems,” Xu Fan thought for a moment and said.

“Understood, Master,” Grape replied.

Xu Fan returned to his little courtyard, comfortably lying back in a recliner, watching the white clouds in the sky, when he suddenly thought of Bear Two, who had already ascended to the Thousand Worlds.

“Those clouds don’t remind me of Bear Two; it feels quite unfamiliar.”

Xu Yuexian appeared in the courtyard.

“Master, I found two complete entrances to small thousand worlds in the Small Sword Fairy City area, but they are sealed.”

“Looking at the seal’s celestial script and style, it should be an ancient method of sealing used by the beast race,” Xu Yuexian said excitedly.

“After hundreds of thousands of years without being discovered, how did you find it so easily?” Xu Fan looked at his silly disciple.

“I found it with a treasure-hunting beast in my Beast Cage; its location is quite hidden, thousands of meters below a massive mountain range.

Also, the two complete middle worlds are very close to each other; the other one is also beneath the mountain.”

“Now this is interesting,” Xu Fan said, stroking his chin.

If it were a normal Overcoming Tribulations stage, one would usually stay put, fully preparing for the upcoming great catastrophe.

But for Xu Fan, the great catastrophe during the Overcoming Tribulations stage was merely a way to stretch his limbs.

“I’ll accompany you to take a look, so you won’t be caught off guard by others,” Xu Fan said, getting up.

A spiritual boat carried the two of them toward a mountain range tens of thousands of miles away.

At the end of a deep tunnel, several thousand meters below the mountain, lay a massive palace of the beast race.

Inside the palace was the entrance to the small thousand worlds, sealed.

“Now I understand why a seal hidden for hundreds of thousands of years would be exposed,” Xu Fan said, observing the sealing array while stroking his chin.

“Not long ago, when I was overcoming tribulations, the calamity clouds covered this area, and the spiritual energy in the surrounding region was completely drained; that’s what caused the aura of this sealing array to leak.”

As Xu Fan finished explaining, his expression suddenly changed.

The second calamity of the Overcoming Tribulations stage had arrived.