Chapter 724

Chapter 724: Benevolent Xu Fan

Xu Fan immediately teleported back to Hidden Spirit Island with Xu Yuexian and went alone to the place where he faced his first thunder calamity.

“Grape, what’s the shortest recorded interval between tribulations in your database?” Xu Fan asked, gazing at the calamity clouds gathering in the sky.

He had always known that the Overcoming Tribulations stage was relatively short, usually lasting around a hundred years.

“The shortest record belongs to the Upper Zun of the Elder Council,” Grape replied. “He faced three tribulations in a row without a break, jumping straight from the Core Formation stage to the Great Ascension Master. After that, he became unmatched in the human race’s cultivation world.”

Xu Fan studied the calamity clouds forming above. The second calamity’s clouds looked different from those of the Tribulation of the Physical Body.

The clouds were a deep, dark blue, as if they were made of densely compressed spiritual energy.

Sensing the immense spiritual energy within the clouds, Xu Fan chuckled.

“I was wondering why I didn’t feel the timing for the next calamity after finishing the first one. Turns out, you started gathering energy right after the first one ended—it just took this long to accumulate enough.”

Xu Fan laughed.

“If you needed more spiritual energy, you could’ve just told me. It’s not like there’s a shortage here.”

As if the calamity clouds had heard Xu Fan’s bold words, a bolt of lightning, composed of pure spiritual energy, struck down.

During the Overcoming Tribulations stage, the second calamity required the cultivator to absorb the spiritual energy directly into their body to refine and purify their internal energy.

“Boom!!!”

A thunder calamity as thick as a barrel crashed down, piercing through Xu Fan’s entire body.

Xu Fan shuddered, feeling as though he had taken a potent elixir. The spiritual energy inside him swelled uncomfortably.

At that moment, Xu Fan remembered something crucial: he had already purified and compressed his spiritual energy to its limit during his Overcoming Tribulations stage. Even if he advanced further, the boost from the thunder calamity wouldn’t be significant.

Since quality couldn’t improve, he had to focus on quantity.

As Xu Fan reflected, another thunder calamity struck.

It felt like pouring more water into an already full bottle.

Xu Fan’s body swelled further, and his face twisted in discomfort. He wanted to release the energy but found it sealed inside him. He’d have to wait until the calamity ended.

Normally calm and composed, Xu Fan now felt like cursing.

It was like desperately needing to relieve himself while being forced to keep drinking water.

“You could at least let me fight the thunder calamities,” Xu Fan shouted at the sky. “This is unbearable!”

Just as Xu Fan was struggling, a third thunder calamity struck.

Whether it was a qualitative change or just his imagination, Xu Fan felt his spiritual energy compress slightly, and its quality improved a tiny bit.

It was like holding it in for too long but no longer feeling the urgency.

As Xu Fan began to relax, a fourth thunder calamity struck.

Xu Fan felt a sense of relief, as if his bladder had been reinforced, and the urge to urinate was no longer a problem.

The fifth thunder calamity struck.

With his bladder full, Xu Fan started to feel uncomfortable again.

The sixth strike came, and even though the quality of his spiritual energy improved, Xu Fan still felt uneasy.

The seventh strike made his bladder even stronger.

The eighth thunder calamity filled his bladder completely.

The ninth strike enhanced the quality of his spiritual energy.

Finally, the thunder calamity ended.

Xu Fan looked up at the sky, feeling a mix of emotions.

He felt as if he had been stripped naked and mocked.

“I feel like, aside from enduring one thunder calamity, I haven’t gained much else,” Xu Fan said, frowning at the sky.

He wasn’t too concerned about the amount of spiritual energy left behind.

After all, every time his realm improved, he had already perfected the purification and compression process.

So now, he simply had a bit more spiritual energy that his Nascent Soul true spirit could hold.

Xu Fan raised both hands, slowly lifting a Spiritual Energy Sphere with a diameter of several dozen feet that had been compressed to its limit, sending it soaring into the sky.

Eventually, the energy sphere began to transform and condense into a cloud, absorbing moisture from the sky and gradually turning into dark clouds.

Before long, the area within a hundred miles was covered in dark clouds.

As the moisture condensed to its peak, spirit rain began to fall, nourishing the land below.

“Finally, this feels good.”

It was like holding in the urge for hours and finally letting go.

“Since the calamity of spiritual energy is over, the calamity of the soul should be coming soon,” Xu Fan remarked.

Just then, he felt his soul being pulled into a strange space.

Inside this strange space, Xu Fan saw another version of himself—the evil part he had sealed deep within his soul.

“The worst-case scenario has happened,” Xu Fan sighed.

He had encountered the nightmare that all cultivators face during the Overcoming Tribulations stage: the Soul True Self Tribulation.

To overcome this tribulation, he had to defeat the self on the opposite side—a self that knew him completely and was purer, possibly the darkest and most brutal part of him, or perhaps the most benevolent.

Before him, the Soul True Self incarnation of Xu Fan wore white robes and exuded grace, looking like a refined gentleman, with eyes full of compassion for the world.

However, the way he looked at Xu Fan was filled with disdain.

As if Xu Fan was the embodiment of darkness.

The two Xu Fans stared at each other for a long time before both sighed.

“You could have been a savior for the cultivation world, but you chose the easiest path for yourself.”

“The heavens brought you into this world for a reason, and yet you have let them down,” the dark incarnation of Xu Fan said, as if scolding someone unwilling to contribute to the world.

Xu Fan sighed again.

“Others seal away their darkest, most brutal, most greedy selves.

But I, who embody Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, seal away my most benevolent self, making me seem like the villain.”

“With my benevolent self, the fate of the world is set. How many can you truly save by meddling?” Xu Fan countered, looking at the benevolent Xu Fan.

“Not to mention the Beast Race Invasion; at the very least, you could have saved the entire Lin Sen Fairy City, built a Giant City, and gathered the common people to protect them from the beast race’s harm.”

“But your inaction has led to the slaughter of billions of commoners by the beast race, all because of a little hesitation in your heart.”

“Holding the world’s greatest talent yet not caring for the human race; you do not deserve such talent,” the benevolent Xu Fan said, standing on a moral high ground, looking down at the lazy Xu Fan.

Xu Fan looked at his benevolent self, feeling helpless.

“I will only do what I can. When I have the ability, I will save this cultivation world.”

“Oh, and I should add, this will all end in a fight, so let’s skip the rest of the chatter.”

As Xu Fan spoke, he conjured a thousand-hand illusion.

In an instant, various powers rushed toward the benevolent Xu Fan.

After entering the Overcoming Tribulations stage, Xu Fan had thought about all the situations he might face during the Soul Tribulation.

Among all the scenarios, he least wanted to confront the benevolent True Self sealed deep within his soul.

He felt that this being was a hundred times stronger than the evil within him, and facing it was particularly stifling, as if he were the villain.