Chapter 447: Chapter 445: Return (Supplement to Missing Update 23) _1
"Zhang!"
Fang Xi walked into a training room, nodded to a few familiar classmates in greeting, and was surprised to find Jing Yi there too.
Upon seeing Fang Xi, the lad even greeted him with a cheery smile.
"How’s the Foundation Establishment preparation going?"
Fang Xi asked casually.
"Everything’s ready. Just waiting for the holiday approval... After all, Foundation Establishment requires a hundred days. Sigh, I don’t even know what to do with the classes I’ll miss..."
Jing Yi answered, holding a helmet in his hands, eager to try it out: "I just took a command course, want to have a go?"
He was a student of the ’Series of Ship-Controllers’, and would be groomed to become a ship captain in the future, requiring him to learn many subjects, including the art of command.
"Sure!"
Fang Xi smiled and put on the virtual helmet.
[’Jing Yi’ has sent you a battle invitation! Star Map No.285, command series combat... Do you accept?]
A stream of fluorescent light appeared, and Fang Xi naturally chose to accept the invite with a thought.
Boom!
In an instant, he found himself in a galaxy, and his cultivation level seemed to have risen to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Moreover, Fang Xi discovered that he was standing on a hundreds of meters long sci-fi warship.
Compared to a Patrol Sky Warship, this one seemed like child’s play, but it still gave him a very peculiar feeling.
"Enemy forces detected, distance..."
A mechanical voice, devoid of any emotion, rang in Fang Xi’s ears.
This was the ship’s artificial intelligence, which could only assist cultivators in operating with Divine Consciousness. The real judgment and decision-making still needed to be done by Fang Xi himself.
Fang Xi’s Divine Consciousness connected with the AI, and in just a moment, he had grasped the specifics of this ordinary warship.
’In the warehouse, there are 98,000 ’Nether Cosmos Cold Light Flying Swords’, forged from several types of extremely cold cosmic rays, capable of forming the ’Ice Soul Divine Light Sword Array’...’
’In the gun chamber, there are 200,000 ’Origin Magnetism Divine Thunders’ ready to be unleashed...’
’On the defensive side, there is the ship’s ’Binary Rotation Array’, which is quite decent...’
In the blink of an eye, Fang Xi saw a vessel in the nearby cosmos zooming toward them like a fiery red sword, suddenly exploding into a stream of crimson fire.
"Origin Magnetism Divine Thunder, go... set up the ’Flying Tiger Array’!"
Bang!
The hatch opened, and orbs of thunder flew out. With the assistance of the AI, they formed a tiger-shaped array and then banged and exploded.
The terrifying power of Origin Magnetism thunder light surged wildly, forming the shape of a tiger, sweeping across the crimson fire.
The mighty light disrupted everything, causing all traces of fire to freeze in mid-air and turn into sharp blades.
"You’ve been tricked."
Jing Yi laughed heartily as more crimson lights suddenly appeared on both sides of Fang Xi’s ship, faintly forming two sword arrays.
"Heaven and Earth Myriad Fire Sword Array, Yin and Yang united! This was the classic tactic of Lord Jian Nan!"
Within the sword-shaped ship, Jing Yi looked at this scene with a slight smile on his face.
He had dreamed of becoming a Ship-Controller in the Sky Palace since he was a child, reading many related books; he was undoubtedly much more professional than Zhang Huohua, the senior in the Talisman forging series!
But the next moment, his smile faded.
In the starry cosmos, the two crimson sword arrays closed in and suddenly became an intense flame.
Under such a grand array, even the fleet’s defensive arrays would be destroyed, ensuring an undoubtedly triumphant victory.
Yet, the system prompt was delayed.
Whoosh!
The next instant.
Within the Heaven and Earth Myriad Fire Sword Array, a blade of light suddenly rose!
This blade light contained the force of Origin Magnetism and was accompanied by an endless chill, breaking through the Heaven and Earth Myriad Fire Sword Array in a single slash!
The blade’s light was multicolored, as beautiful as cosmic currents, dreamy and illusory...
And then it swept across the sword-shaped ship.
Boom!
A burst of sparks exploded in the universe, like a spectacular fireworks show.
...
"I actually lost..."
Jing Yi removed his helmet and looked at Fang Xi: "The formation you just used... I’ve never seen it before. How about that?"
"Formations are static, people are dynamic; you can’t just memorize the knowledge from the books, you have to apply it flexibly... When I saw your Heaven and Earth Myriad Fire formation, the counteract formation naturally came to mind... I’ve named it the ’Nether Ancient Cosmic Cold Origin Magnetism Surgical Blade’... What do you think?"
Fang Xi’s lips quirked slightly.
Even the best talismans needed to be manipulated by a cultivator.
The foundation he had built before was not in vain.
As a fourth-tier Array Master, even if he were to command a Patrol Sky Warship, he might not lose to those Yuan Ying True Monarchs!
"Sigh... I think you should switch to the ’Ship-Controlling Sect’; you would make a great captain... I can introduce you to a few seniors from the ’Ship-Controlling Sect’ if you like..."
Jing Yi said sincerely.
Within Fang Immortal University, there were indeed different sects.
His father had gone to great lengths to get him into a ship-controlling sect; with the sect’s help, whether it was pursuing further studies or interning on a ship, it would be much easier.
Similarly, for Origin Soul artifacts and Primordial Energy Particle Research, there were sects as well, which Zhang Huohua had previously wanted to join but could not.
"No thanks, I’m more inclined towards the ’Institute of Primordial Energy’..."
Fang Xi declined politely.
"The Institute of Primordial Energy, senior brother Fang Xi, changing your direction? Didn’t you say before that you wanted to join the Origin Soul Artifact Engineering project?"
Jing Yi was somewhat surprised.
"With only forty years in university, I’ve already wasted ten years..." Fang Xi sighed, "I couldn’t find any good jobs, so I had to change direction and choose to pursue postgraduate studies. I feel that I have quite a talent in the field of Primordial Energy particles..."
In fact, if Fang Xi really had to choose one, he would prefer Primordial Energy Particle Research.
After all, even the best Origin Soul Artifacts are merely external objects, and they’re not much use for the fundamental improvement of one’s Taoist cultivation and realm.
Primordial Energy particles, on the other hand, are completely different. They represent a true ’Taoist cultivation subject’. Once one’s research is thorough, the benefits are endless...
...
In the following months, Fang Xi stopped reading a wide range of books and instead focused on specialized subjects like Primordial Energy Research, studying day and night.
As for the big project of Origin Soul Artifacts?
He planned to leave that to artificial intelligence in the future...
After focusing on a particular subject, his powerful divine consciousness gave him an advantage, and he made rapid progress in his studies.
One day, Fang Xi was sitting cross-legged in his Dongfu, preparing to perform ’self-Foundation Establishment’.
After all, the strength at the Qi Refining Stage was still too weak, and many privileges had not been unlocked, which made many things inconvenient.
Just then, the smart bracelet he was wearing beeped.
[Respected customer, your purchased flowers have arrived at the nursery. Please don’t forget to give a five-star rating, dear!]
A line of notification appeared.
"Finally...has it arrived?"
Fang Xi left Fang Immortal University, took out a flying sword from his Subspace Pocket, and started flying with it discreetly.
After flying a certain distance, he stopped flying and recited a few incantations, casting the ’Light Body Technique’, turning into a streak of light moving through many neighborhoods.
Eventually, after changing his appearance, he arrived at a rental house.
This was a safe house that he had rented under a false identity.
At this time, there was a parcel quietly lying outside the mailbox of the safe house.
Fang Xi took the parcel, scanned it for smart verification, and entered the safe house.
After opening the parcel, there was a four-square iron box inside, which required a password and a series of verifications.
Fang Xi followed the procedure...
Click.
The silver-white metal box opened like a blooming flower, revealing two vials inside, each only as long as a finger.
"It’s here, the Spirit Root Optimizing Liquid!"
Fang Xi carefully inspected it and found no issues. Then he turned off all electronic devices on him, took the two vials, and decided to return!
...
Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm.
Jade Island.
The Ancestral Demon Tree was growing extremely rapidly. By now, it was so large that ten people couldn’t wrap their arms around it. Its branches and leaves were dense, almost blocking out the sky.
In Fang Xi’s perception, its roots were slowly spreading out in all directions, almost covering the entire Jade Island, becoming his best eyes and hands...
Evergreen Hall.
In the Refining Chamber.
Fang Xi was biting on a talisman pen, his brows furrowed as he focused on a Five Elements Qilin Tribe wooden puppet in front of him.
"The Heterodox Nascent soul went away last time and broke the puppet; seems like I have to fix it myself..."
He recollected the contents of the Thousand-Machine Secret Scroll, slowly forming a plan in his mind.
"Luckily, the damage isn’t too great, just an arm... I can take one from a fourth-tier Silver Armor humanoid puppet and attach it..."
The principle behind this was of course not as simple as it sounded, involving various arrays and fine-tuning of the wooden puppet.
But for Fang Xi, this was already the method with the highest success rate.
The next moment, a flash of silver light appeared in the secret chamber, and the figure of Zhang Huohua emerged.
"Oh?"
Fang Xi frowned, "The one who performed soul possession is really ugly..."
Zhang Huohua was expressionless, his hands forming a gesture as a Heterodox Nascent Soul appeared above his head.
Similarly, a flash of blue light shone from Fang Xi’s heavenly spirit, and his main Nascent Soul holding the Treasure Mirror flew out, giggling as it began to assimilate...
In an instant, a vast amount of memory flooded his mind, accompanied by countless pieces of knowledge.
The Door of Sky Demon, Origin Soul Artifacts, Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy...
"Good, very good..."
"I never imagined that The Nine States would help me so much, plus the Spirit Root Optimizing Liquid!"
Fang Xi took out Zhang Huohua’s Subspace Pocket and took out two vials from it, looking at the purple liquid inside with a trace of excitement.
The problem of the Spirit Root had troubled him for a long time.
"What a pity, it can only be optimized slightly, at most raising my main Spirit Root to the level of a lowest top-grade Spirit Root..."
The purple radiance reflected on Fang Xi’s face, making him sigh again.
The Nine States was after all a world where individuals pursued transcendental cultivation, where the will of the higher-ups could determine everything!
Producing some Spirit Root Optimizing Liquid, at best, could foster some medium to high-grade Spirit Roots. Cultivation up to Core Formation would be difficult, with virtually no benefit to the battle situation, and the consumption was huge, not worth the expense!
In times of war, such an approach would be a huge waste and irresponsible!
But for Fang Xi, even if the resources spent were enough to nurture a Nascent Soul, as long as his own Spirit Root could be raised, then everything was worth it!