Chapter 1287: Space Magic

Venerable Qianjiao complained plaintively to Great Venerable Xingyuan, "You old rascal! Always away from home! Just leaving a paper cutout at home—aren't you afraid I'll run off with someone?"

Great Venerable Xingyuan said sheepishly, "My dear, don't worry. I'm handling some urgent matters in Wanyao Great Continent. I'll be back in half a day at most."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Great Venerable Xingyuan standing before them burst into flames with a puff, turning into ashes that scattered across the floor.

Venerable Qianjiao angrily flicked her sleeve, sweeping all the ashes away. She huffed, "He's so carefree, leaving both the child and the academy to me alone!"

Jiang Fan touched his nose. No wonder their son had become such a brat. It turned out Venerable Qianjiao was raising him alone; Great Venerable Xingyuan was just a paper cutout.

Suddenly, Jiang Fan remembered someone! The Master of Jiangshan Yipin Tower! That day in the East Sea, Jiang Fan had personally seen him get cut apart, yet there was no blood, just like a paper cutout. Furthermore, the Jiangshan Yipin Tower Master clearly had the ability to create clones. His traces could be found almost everywhere in Taicang Great Continent.

He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Senior Qianjiao, may I ask if your academy's paper figure technique allows for controlling several paper figures simultaneously?"

Venerable Qianjiao asked with a hint of caution, "Why do you ask?"

Jiang Fan replied, "I know someone who possesses a similar technique and can simultaneously control multiple paper figure clones. Each paper figure clone has a cultivation level of a Five-Aperture Nascent Soul."

Venerable Qianjiao raised an eyebrow and stated definitively, "Impossible! The Paper Figure Clone technique is a unique skill of our academy and has never been taught outside. Furthermore, controlling multiple paper figures simultaneously and maintaining their cultivation at the Five-Aperture Nascent Soul level would require an unimaginably vast amount of Grand Righteous Qi. Even my husband wouldn't dare to waste Grand Righteous Qi like that. The paper figure he leaves at home merely maintains his appearance; it has no cultivation whatsoever. The friend you mentioned must be using some kind of puppet art, right? It should have no relation to our Confucian path."

Puppet? Jiang Fan recalled the Jiangshan Yipin Tower Master's severed body, which was pitch black inside, showing no signs of a living creature. It didn't look like puppet art at all. Puppets were refined from living beings and should have flesh and blood. However, Venerable Qianjiao's certainty left Jiang Fan perplexed. The Jiangshan Yipin Tower Master couldn't have learned the paper figure clone technique, nor could he have used it in such a way. Unless, he was also a great Confucian cultivator who had reached the Five Declines of Heavenly Beings. But was that even possible? If the Jiangshan Yipin Tower Master was such a person, why would he engage in trade? All sects would worship him as an earthly supreme being! Why bother arduously searching for treasures all over the world?

"Then I don't understand either," Jiang Fan said uncertainly.

Venerable Qianjiao said, "Then you two rest here. I'll go arrange the personnel for this trip to the Heavenly Realm. Once my husband returns, you can depart immediately. Farewell. Lin'er, let's go."

The naughty child twisted his body and said, "I'm not going, I want to play with Uncle!" He had his heart set on the formation-breaking hammer in Jiang Fan's hand.

"Be good. After Uncle finishes his business, Mommy will ask him to play with you for a few days." Venerable Qianjiao coaxed the naughty child and led him away.

Finally, only Jiang Fan and Venerable Lianjing remained in the hall.

Jiang Fan closed his eyes and began to ponder. The death of Great Venerable Hongmo was quite suspicious, and retrieving her remains would likely be dangerous. He needed to have a contingency plan. After much thought, he took out the Origin Star of the Space Giant King. If he could grasp a trace of space origin, he could use spatial power to teleport away in extreme danger, or use spatial power to harm enemies, and so on.

Venerable Lianjing hadn't yet seen the image, so she didn't know that the spatial origin was in Jiang Fan's hands. Therefore, he didn't need to worry about exposing his identity in front of her.

"The Giant King's Origin Star? And the rare spatial origin at that?" Venerable Lianjing immediately sensed it, her face revealing surprise. "How do you possess such an item?"

Jiang Fan casually replied, "I acquired it from the Tianshan battlefield in Taicang Great Continent."

Venerable Lianjing realized, "Only there can one find the Giant King's Origin Star. What are you taking it out for?"

Jiang Fan said, "To try and cultivate a bit of origin power."

Venerable Lianjing suspected she had misheard. "Cultivate origin power? You? Origin power could only be comprehended by Spirit Transformation Venerables! A Nascent Soul realm cultivator, wanting to comprehend origin power? And within a mere half day?" She was somewhat dumbfounded, as if Jiang Fan had a profound misunderstanding of what origin power was. She had originally intended to patiently explain to him what origin power entailed. But seeing his serious demeanor as he began to comprehend, she abandoned the words on the tip of her tongue and thought to herself, "Never mind. Bumping into a wall once is better than me trying to persuade him a hundred times."

She herself also closed her eyes and began to regulate her breathing, striving to elevate her state to its peak.

Half a day later, she suddenly felt a faint spatial fluctuation and opened her eyes in surprise. Following the source of the spatial fluctuation, her beautiful eyes widened! She saw a sesame-seed-sized black speck suspended in front of Jiang Fan's chest! From within it emanated wisps of spatial fluctuations! It was indeed spatial origin!

Jiang Fan's face showed delight, and he eagerly whispered, "Spatial Teleportation!" The next moment, to Venerable Lianjing's ghost-like expression, he vanished from the spot!

She stared blankly for a while before suddenly sitting up, gasping, "A Nascent Soul realm cultivator comprehended origin power? This... what kind of heaven-defying comprehension is this? Who on earth is this Wang Chongxiao?"

She had originally thought he was just an ordinary Nascent Soul martial artist, but now it seemed he was extremely unusual!

After being astonished for a long time, she gradually calmed down. Thinking of Wang Chongxiao's middle-aged face, she couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. "What a pity he's too old. If he were a young man, I would definitely bring him back to Shaodi Mountain and personally nurture him!" It was hard for her not to like an excellent young talent with heaven-defying comprehension and noble character. However, Wang Chongxiao was already quite old. It was too late to nurture him further.

"But where did he teleport to now? Many places in Wenhai Academy are forbidden to outsiders; he shouldn't accidentally enter somewhere he shouldn't. It would be bad if that caused a misunderstanding." Venerable Lianjing was somewhat worried.

Wenhai Academy. A sealed secret chamber.

Venerable Zhenyan raised her palm and chopped a Seven-Aperture Nascent Soul disciple on the neck, knocking him unconscious to the ground. Clapping her hands, she then surveyed her surroundings. "A mere treasury key, trying to stop me? You old geezer, you forced me to come back, so I'll give you what you want and make you suffer a deep loss!"

This place was Wenhai Academy's treasury. Using her True Word Domain, she forced the access key out of the guard's mouth and successfully slipped in.

Gazing at various Confucian secrets, magic treasures, spirit elixirs, and more, she tsked. "Haven't seen it in a few years, and the treasury has quite a few new treasures. It seems with the ancient giants' arrival, the Grand Libation of Hunyuan Continent also opened up some secret realms. Alright, I'll take them all!"

She raised her hand in a summoning gesture, and various seemingly valuable spiritual items flew into her palm. "Hundred-year spirit herb, not bad! Heavenly Spider Poison Gauntlets, taken. Divine Travel Talisman, also decent."

Suddenly, she saw an irregularly shaped, charred black stone. It looked like something that had endured countless thunderous bombardments and finally condensed. "Heavenly Thunder Stone? This is a natural spatial magic treasure, often the residual product of heaven-defying items enduring divine wrath and thunderous strikes. With some luck, I might find something good inside."