Chapter 91 – Intent to Refine a Clone

Returning to Ten Thousand Immortals Island via the teleportation array, Li Fan discovered that news of the Cloud-Water Celestial Palace’s emergence had already spread far and wide.

“Breaking News! A Bizarre Sect Sealed for a Thousand Years Resurfaces!” “Gentle Senior Brother Actually Attempted Misconduct in the Dead of Night…” “Top-Secret Intelligence, 10 Contribution Points Per Copy, Fair and Square”

…

Initially, it was the intelligence that Jiao Xiuyuan had been selling. It only contained information related to the first trial of Qin Tang’s test.

However, since it was firsthand intelligence, it still sold at the high price of 30 contribution points per copy.

Jiao Xiuyuan made quite a profit from this.

But later, as survivors continued returning from the Cloud-Water Celestial Palace, intelligence about this bizarre sect’s ruins gradually grew richer.

Prices plummeted accordingly.

Of course, since the first batch of explorers was limited in number, the intelligence currently circulating on the market was still confined to the Qin Tang stone statue and the few bizarre phenomena in its vicinity.

Intelligence about the deeper reaches of the Cloud-Water Celestial Palace—areas like the Demon-Refining Tower and Taiyi Hall—remained a complete blank.

Li Fan shook his head, returned to the interior of the Celestial Mystery Mirror, and began taking stock of his gains from this expedition.

The 《Cloud-Water Phantom Dream Art》 taught by Qin Tang, the Insect Daoist’s Insect Binding divine ability, and 《The Cloud-Water Chart》.

As well as the 《Sea-Calming Divine Sword》, 《Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Scripture》, and the Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Token obtained from Si Kongyi.

Currently, he had already cultivated 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》, the Nether Spirit Illusion Art, and 《Shadow-Following Art》.

As the saying goes, biting off more than you can chew leads to poor digestion. Among the several new techniques acquired this time, he naturally had to be selective about which ones to actually cultivate.

Among them, Insect Binding was an innate divine ability and required no cultivation.

The 《Cloud-Water Phantom Dream Art》 had boundless applications. For Li Fan’s upcoming plans, it would be of great use. So he had no choice but to cultivate it.

The 《Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Scripture》 could be cultivated, only…

Li Fan’s spiritual sense swept briefly over the Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Token inside his storage ring.

The method for refining a clone was worth attempting.

As for the technique that Si Kongyue later created—the art of converting one’s life essence into a Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Token—there was no need to cultivate that at all.

In Li Fan’s view, Si Kongyue’s life-preserving method was far from perfect.

At the very least, as long as someone did as Li Fan had done—trapping both the original body and the clone, then killing them one after another—

The so-called resurrection was nothing but a joke.

In this world, when it came to preserving one’s life, what could possibly be stronger than his “Return to Truth”?

Why abandon the root to chase after branches?

Moreover…

Looking at the slightly eerie token that seemed almost alive, a faint premonition flickered through Li Fan’s mind.

“Steal the heavens, swap the sun. As for who exactly gets swapped with whom—that’s truly hard to say.”

“No need to take that risk. I’ll set it aside for now and verify it when the opportunity arises later.”

“The 《Sea-Calming Divine Sword》 can be cultivated all the way to the Golden Core realm. When mastered to completion, it allows one to condense one hundred and eight Sea-Calming Swords within the dantian.”

“Against a single opponent, a hundred swords can be launched simultaneously. Against a group, they can form the Sea-Calming Sword Formation. It’s a first-rate killing technique.”

“Its power is impressive, but there’s no rush to cultivate it.”

“It’s currently anchor year 12. In my previous life, the Crimson Flame Sea-Burning occurred in anchor year 31. Before, I was still hesitant about whether to participate in that major event. But now, with all these fortuitous encounters, if I use a clone combined with the Cloud-Water Phantasm Technique—even if my original body flees to a distant continent, I may still be able to stir up quite a storm here in the Layered Cloud Sea.”

…

In an instant, various schemes flashed through Li Fan’s mind. Only after a long while did he set them aside for the time being.

He took out the small, multicolored model from his storage ring and examined it carefully.

“If this thing hadn’t been obtained personally from Taiyi’s hands, I probably wouldn’t believe that this is the legendary 《The Cloud-Water Chart》.” After studying it for a while and still unable to discern any secrets, Li Fan couldn’t help but sigh.

“Perhaps there truly are secrets hidden within it. But if I can’t crack them, keeping it in my hands is no different from holding garbage. Converting it for one hundred thousand contribution points would be the most sensible choice.”

“However, if my original body turns it in, it would attract too much attention. I need to refine the clone first before anything else.”

Li Fan checked his current contribution point balance.

Previously, in order to deal with Si Kongyi, he had spent nearly all of his contribution points.

Only a little over five hundred remained.

Fortunately, most of the materials for refining a clone weren’t particularly expensive.

Supreme Bone, Celestial Spirit Milk, Bone-Shattering Precious Sinew…

Li Fan purchased them one by one.

Finally, when his contribution points had dwindled to just 135, Li (67.5 km) Fan had acquired all materials except the last one—Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand.

As for this Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand, according to Si Kongyi’s memories, it could be gathered at a certain location in the Layered Cloud Sea.

Li Fan then activated the assisted cultivation mode and began cultivating the 《Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Scripture》.

This 《Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Scripture》 bore some similarities to Li Fan’s primary cultivation technique, 《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》.

《 The Jade Realm Thousand-Arts Golden Canon 》 cultivated qi flow, while 《Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Scripture》 stole fate.

Whether qi flow or fate, both were profoundly mysterious and difficult to perceive, yet both truly existed.

With the enhancement of Spirit Awakening, Li Fan spent three days cultivating it to the mid Qi Refining stage.

And his contribution points had dwindled to a pitiful 35.

Since the 《Steal-the-Heavens, Swap-the-Sun Scripture》 only needed to reach mid Qi Refining to refine a clone, he simply stopped cultivating.

Taking the materials with him, Li Fan left Ten Thousand Immortals Island via the teleportation array and arrived at Spirit Rhythm Island in the western waters of the Layered Cloud Sea.

The location of the Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand was not far from Spirit Rhythm Island.

After greeting the island’s garrison, Li Fan casually activated a Form-Concealing Talisman and flew toward the location in his memories.

Several days passed before he stopped above a stretch of sea covered with whirlpools of varying sizes, then dove beneath the surface.

The water here was relatively shallow—only three to four hundred meters before he reached the bottom.

Collapsed building ruins were scattered everywhere. This appeared to be some kind of ancient site.

The ruins were quite large in scale, and one could vaguely imagine how prosperous it must have been in its heyday.

As for why it had sunk to the ocean floor, that remained unknown.

Such ruins were found throughout the Layered Cloud Sea, and Li Fan didn’t find it particularly remarkable.

After all, when Li Fan first arrived in the Layered Cloud Sea, he had already heard about devastating wind disasters that had submerged hundreds of islands.

Arriving beside a massive rectangular stone pillar that had toppled at an angle, Li Fan squeezed through the gaps between the stone blocks and entered.

Inside was like a pitch-black cavern, except that over a hundred luminescent jellyfish drifted about within.

They looked like drifting stars.

The cavern floor was covered with a layer of fine, glittering sand that sparkled with light.

At the center of the cavern, a large boulder had been hollowed out, becoming a home for the jellyfish.

The glowing sand on the ground was, naturally, the Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand.

Li Fan collected the Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand from the ground, then glanced at the boulder once more, marveling at the wonders of nature.

This was also a location that Si Kongyi had discovered by chance.

The boulder in the center was nothing more than an ordinary piece of Celestial Spirit Ore.

Yet after being consumed and digested by these unidentified jellyfish, it had somehow transformed into the rare material known as Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand.

Truly incredible.

After all, even a Foundation Establishment artifact refiner would need to expend considerable effort to produce Celestial Crystal Spirit Sand.