Volume 1 Volume 7 Chapter 18

Volume 7 Chapter 18: Wang Li (Part 2)

The Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands is Xu Qingfan’s main base. Xu Qingfan is very concerned about its defense. When he heard Old Beggar wanted to create a new "Disaster Cloud" to place around the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands, Xu Qingfan agreed wholeheartedly. However, he hesitated if it meant completely dismantling the "Disaster Cloud" that Xu Qingfan had stolen from Zhang Xusheng for research.

According to Old Beggar, as long as he can understand the specific structure of the "Disaster Cloud" created by Zhang Xusheng, he can create a new type of "Disaster Cloud." Considering the precious materials inside Rainbow Spirit Island, this new "Disaster Cloud" would have even greater attack power. Placing it around Rainbow Spirit Island, combined with the protective light and surrounding illusions, plus the improvements Old Beggar and the others had made to the light formations over the past few months, along with the array drums and cores, would be such a combination that even a collective attack from the Shura Clan would not succeed in breaching the island in a short time.

However, Zhang Xusheng’s "Disaster Cloud" was mixed with a type of blood-red soil that could hide one’s presence, making it silent in movement. It was hard for cultivators to detect when entering it. To Xu Qingfan, this special characteristic was the true power of the "Disaster Cloud," even more than its fierce attack.

Considering the current situation on the Shenzhou Continent, Xu Qingfan still needed the "Disaster Cloud" for cover. He hesitated for a while and after countless negotiations with Old Beggar, he finally, with great reluctance, gave half of his "Disaster Cloud" to Old Beggar for research. Although Old Beggar promised that he would return the "Disaster Cloud" to Xu Qingfan after his studies, Xu Qingfan lost hope after witnessing a large portion of the "Disaster Cloud" instantly vanish during Old Beggar’s research. He only warned Wang Zegang to keep Old Beggar and the others away from the other half of the "Disaster Cloud."

It’s worth mentioning that the huge jade stone Xu Qingfan had used to suppress the spiritual veins of the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands and control its Spirit Qi was discovered by Old Beggar, who scolded Xu Qingfan, saying he had "dog eyes" and was wasting a precious material. Old Beggar claimed that this jade stone was valuable even in ancient times, and having been nourished by rich Spirit Qi in Tianji Island for hundreds of thousands of years, it was the most precious item in the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands. If refined properly, it could become a top-ten treasure in the cultivation world. Yet Xu Qingfan had roughly refined it and used it to suppress the spiritual veins, drawing the wrath of Heaven.

However, even though Old Beggar was never polite and had a very high self-esteem, he did not have the confidence to refine this jade stone into a supreme treasure right away. So the stone was still used to suppress the spiritual veins, combined with the defense of the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands, enhancing its power for the time being. This made Xu Qingfan feel like he was being scolded for no reason.

Meanwhile, Old Beggar and the other six Alchemy Masters frequently circled around the array core, gazing at the jade stone with burning eyes, before biting their teeth and leaving firmly, looking as if someone madly in love was striving to win over their beloved but feeling inferior and thus spent years preparing for it.

Old Beggar once told Xu Qingfan that if in his lifetime he could perfectly transform this jade stone into a supreme treasure, not only would he make a name for himself in the history of the cultivation world, but he would also die without regrets.

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And so, after Wang Zegang brought a group of ordinary cultivators to the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands, unknowingly, three years had passed.

During these three years, besides the completely new defense system of the Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands, there were loud explosions and strange Spirit Qi fluctuations coming from Tianquan Island, and several other things caught Xu Qingfan’s attention.

The first thing was that seven master weapon refiners, including Old Beggar, and five Medicine Pill Masters, including Scholar Beihai, after three years, had successively refined over twenty top-quality spiritual pills and more than thirty magical artifacts. Many of those spiritual pills were as effective as the "Immortal Ascending Pill" from "Medicine King Valley," and all the magical artifacts were of heavenly level or higher.

The second important thing was the growth in strength and cultivation of the people on Rainbow Spirit Island over the years.

The most noteworthy was Wang Yuxian and the other twelve Jiuhua disciples. They had been practicing diligently to the point of neglecting food and sleep. Tianji Island was where these twelve individuals were the most ordinary, yet they listened to Xu Qingfan’s teachings for years. With the help of the top-quality spiritual pills made by Scholar Beihai, they all broke through to the Fake Golden Core Stage, with Wang Yuxian reaching the late stage of the Fake Golden Core Stage. Combined with the heavenly level magical artifacts given to them by Xu Qingfan, their strength was now completely different.

Meanwhile, the five rogue cultivators, including Dongfang Quan, had not visibly improved as much as Wang Yuxian, but under the rich Spirit Qi, top-quality spiritual pills, Xu Qingfan’s teachings, and their own efforts, their cultivation had also progressed significantly, closing in on the Golden Core Stage.

In contrast, those who had followed Xu Qingfan to the Rainbow Spirit Island to live in seclusion from the beginning had encountered bottlenecks. Besides Bai Qingfu, who reached the Golden Core Stage after taking a large number of spiritual pills, the others showed little progress. Bai Yu, Zhang Ningmei, Tian Zhenxian, and Tian Zhenling all lingered at the early stage of the Real Golden Core Stage after breaking through, although they were only a step away from the Real Golden Core Stage, they still couldn’t make the breakthrough. Their situations were very different from Bai Qingfu’s. Bai Qingfu had devoted himself to solitude for over a hundred years, solidifying his realm, while Xu Qingfan’s disciples had relied on Xu Qingfan’s spiritual pills to improve in the past. If they relied on pills again at this critical moment of breakthrough, it could jeopardize their foundations.

Even though they understood all these reasons, seeing the rapid progress of Wang Yuxian, Dongfang Quan, and others over these three years made the four of them feel a bit anxious.

Especially Zhang Ningmei, because of her strong natural intuition, found it increasingly difficult to make progress as time went on. Compared to her rapid advancements when she first arrived at Rainbow Spirit Island, she had made no progress for the last ten years. Recently, Xu Qingfan had not allowed Zhang Ningmei to do anything but focus on her training.

Although the disciples were progressing slowly, Xu Qingfan believed that once they broke through their current bottleneck, the next ten years would bring another period of rapid growth in their abilities.

As for Wang Zegang and Dongfang Qingling, there was no need to say much. Wang Zegang had already reached the peak of the Golden Core Stage, and to advance further, he needed to reach the Mahayana Stage. Although Rainbow Spirit Island provided excellent conditions, any delays were normal. On the other hand, Dongfang Qingling had been focusing on taking care of Xu Qingfan and Ting’er, showing little desire for her own cultivation. Recently, she seemed to act like the chief steward of Rainbow Spirit Island and rarely focused on her own training.

It’s worth mentioning that Liu Ziqing and Zhang Yi’s cultivation had not improved at all since they arrived at Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands. After abandoning his physical body, Liu Ziqing could no longer grow in power; changes in strength relied solely on the effectiveness of his magical tools. If the tools were weak, it was very difficult to deal with a golden core cultivator, but if the tools were strong, they could pose significant challenges to top cultivators like Zhang Xusheng and Immortal Zizhen. Zhang Yi, having practiced the "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods," held great power, but historically, no one had ever reached the Mahayana Stage using this method. Nevertheless, Zhang Yi had already reached the peak of the Golden Core Stage. Each time Xu Qingfan saw her, he regretted allowing Zhang Ningmei to study the "Great Method of Extinguishing Gods" too hastily.

The third thing that caught Xu Qingfan’s attention was the situation of the more than one hundred mortals who had just arrived at Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands. The focus was mainly on the seventeen mortals who had the potential for cultivation. Although the Spirit Qi on Rainbow Spirit Island was abundant and there were many elixirs to aid their training, due to their limited abilities, the highest they could reach was the Inedia Stage, except for a person named Shen Gang.

Shen Gang, however, did not disappoint Xu Qingfan’s expectations. In just three years, he reached the Lingji Stage and showed early signs of being a great leader. The group of mortals did not trouble Xu Qingfan and the other cultivators; instead, he managed them very well. The mortals respected him greatly, and under his guidance, they did not cause any problems for Xu Qingfan and the others during those three years. In fact, they helped the cultivators a lot in their daily lives.

Wang Zegang had been teaching Shen Gang and the other sixteen about the cultivation path for the past three years. During a casual chat with Xu Qingfan, Wang Zegang remarked that Shen Gang "would achieve as much as Li Yuhan in the future."

After three years of observation, Xu Qingfan finally made a decision regarding Shen Gang.

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One day, everyone was practicing as usual. Suddenly, a beautiful ringing sound came from the "Clear Heart Hall" in the center of Tianshu Island. In moments, it spread across all the seas of Rainbow Spirit Seven Islands. However, despite the loud ringing, no one could feel it. Only Shen Gang, who was meditating on Tianji Island, was slightly surprised and suddenly woke up from his deep thoughts.

Noticing that it seemed to be a calling sound, Shen Gang was momentarily stunned. Without hesitation, he used a flying magic tool that Wang Zegang had given him a year ago and quickly flew towards the Clear Heart Hall of Tianshu Island.

However, when Shen Gang entered the Clear Heart Hall, he was shocked to find that there were only five people: Xu Qingfan and his disciples Bai Yu, Zhang Ningmei, Tian Zhenxian, and Tian Zhenling.