Chapter 588: Quantity Before Quality

Chapter 588: Chapter 588: Quantity Before Quality

"A mere ant like you dares to ambush me?"

Xu Yunfan snorted coldly. His figure, which had been rushing forward at high speed, instantly vanished from sight.

It was a display of physical power pushed to its absolute limit, a speed that surpassed the eye’s ability to track.

The next moment, he appeared like a phantom behind the massive, broken pillar where the ambusher was hiding.

A small, thin figure in a dusty gray robe, their aura obscure and difficult to read, was clutching their arm. Their face was deathly pale, and their eyes were filled with terror.

When Xu Yunfan got a clear look at the attacker, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow slightly.

It was Daoist Master Zi Mo of the Primordial Sect, an Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. He cultivated a pure Demon Dao True Skill, and his Demon Path Magical Power specialized in shadows, having condensed an Earth Evil Shadow Dao Foundation.

However, this Dao Foundation had set him on a narrow path.

The Myriad Transformation Nether Yin Dao Fruit it aimed for was a type of Dao Fruit associated with Dirt Qi—unimpressive and unable to stand on its own. He had been in seclusion for many years; this was as far as he would ever get in this life.

"So, it was you, Zi Mo, you little ant."

Xu Yunfan’s expression was icy. As a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, the gap of a single minor Realm was already a world of difference, let alone the two minor Realms that separated them.

To him, the man was naturally an ant.

His opponent’s reaction was undeniably fast. Seeing that the situation was dire, he twisted his body abruptly, about to transform into a gray shadow and escape into the shadows of the ruins.

But Xu Yunfan was faster.

He pointed a finger. It was a silent, soundless motion, yet at its tip danced a speck of violet-gold lightning, condensed to its absolute limit.

The fingertip aimed for the back of the gray-robed assassin’s head.

In an instant, that point of violet-gold lightning condensed to its peak at his fingertip resembled the core of a collapsed star. Though it had not yet made physical contact, the Thunder True Intent of the Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture—an intent that could shatter the Ten Thousand Laws—had already penetrated the man’s body, locking firmly onto Daoist Master Zi Mo’s Divine Soul Core.

"Spare—"

The terror in Daoist Master Zi Mo’s eyes was almost tangible. The word "me" had not yet left his lips when he felt an irresistible, immense suction force and a tyrannical thunderous intent strike his very soul’s Origin simultaneously.

Xu Yunfan couldn’t be bothered to listen to his pleas.

This guy deserved to die for ambushing him.

The All Heaven Star Spirit Banner slipped silently from his sleeve. Its profound, dark surface, like ink splashed across the night sky, instantly unfurled to a size of ten feet, enveloping Daoist Master Zi Mo and the hasty demonic shadow he had conjured around himself.

HUMMM...

The Star Banner’s ghostly light flashed once. The struggling, twisting, horrified gray shadow vanished without a trace, completely devoured. All that remained was a wisp of green smoke and the faint residual Demon Qi in the air, which was promptly torn apart by the chaotic currents of the World Heaven.

"A mere Early-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator... your Demon Soul will do nicely to fill out the number of Stars."

With a wave of his hand, Xu Yunfan recalled the Star Spirit Banner, which rolled up into a streak of light and disappeared back into his sleeve.

He couldn’t help but snort softly.

’Damn it. I was minding my own business, and you had to come looking for trouble with me.’

He used his Divine Thought for Introspection, peering into the space within the banner. He saw the newly added star soul of Zi Mo floating amidst countless stars. The consciousness that had once belonged to Daoist Master Zi Mo trembled and contorted violently under the Star Banner’s immense power, letting out silent wails as its imprinted soul Origin was assimilated and eroded by the banner’s might.

The individual will of Daoist Master Zi Mo began to melt away like ice and snow. Under the Star Spirit Banner’s "re-education," all that remained was the silhouette of a Star Monarch containing the pure Power of Earth Evil Shadows. It respectfully bowed to Xu Yunfan before merging into the orbital paths of the Stars of the Celestial Sphere.

’Quantity will eventually lead to a qualitative change. I’ll focus on filling the Stars for now.’

Xu Yunfan’s heart was unstirred by this outcome. An Early-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was simply not enough to capture his interest.

Given the circumstances, pursuing quality Banner Spirits was important, but on this battlefield—a ruin left by the collapse of the Celestial Court where heroes and villains ran rampant—the accumulation of quantity was just as indispensable.

The All Heaven Star Spirit Banner he was Refining had been specifically integrated with the All Heaven Star Formation. It required a full contingent of 365 Star Monarchs to unleash its true divine might, which might even allow it to ascend to the Spirit Treasure Realm.

Although Early-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were weak, when gathered into a formation, they represented a considerable force.

In the days that followed, Xu Yunfan relied on his profoundly studied Triple Cause and Effect Secret Technique. He wove an intangible, formless, secret net around himself that confounded the Celestial Secret, doing his utmost to distort and conceal his aura, his tracks, and even some of his future Cause and Effect Lines.

At the same time, the Celestial Secret Treasure Bracelet he had personally refined hummed softly on his wrist. It emitted rings of an even more profound halo, further shielding his personal Celestial Secret. This allowed him to move like a ghost through the cracks between light and shadow on a chaotic battlefield where even True Monarch Level experts had no time to spare for him.

Truly, no one could discover him.

Using shattered palace ruins, collapsed mountain chasms, and surging torrents of energy as cover, Xu Yunfan’s gaze was like a hawk’s. His Divine Thought continuously spread out for tens of thousands of miles like waves of an imperceptible breeze, searching for suitable targets.

His targets were clear: the surviving Immortal Gods of the Celestial Realm who called themselves True Immortals but were, in reality, on par with Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, as well as any stragglers from the Wansheng Sword Sect.

He also targeted notorious Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters from the Primordial Sect who lacked powerful backing or belonged to the Demon Branches, and the occasional Pure Land Arhat Golden Body that stumbled into this war zone.

But Xu Yunfan had his limits.

As for his fellow Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters from the Primordial Sect—those with pure, vast auras who were clearly part of the Sect’s Direct Lineage and had not provoked him—he suppressed the thoughts that crossed his mind and chose to quietly go around them.

This wasn’t misguided compassion, but purely rational discernment.

After all, if these Direct Lineage disciples of a True Monarch died, there was no telling if said True Monarch would personally investigate.

Once he had to face a True Monarch, the consequences were not hard to imagine.

Most importantly, even if he managed to capture these Direct Lineage Daoist Masters in his Star Spirit Banner by taking advantage of the confounded causality in this realm, what would happen when he left? If he used the All Heaven Star Spirit Banner in a fight and it turned out to be filled with well-known core disciples of the Primordial Sect, all reduced to Banner Spirits and working their tails off...

Those high-and-mighty Golden Core True Monarchs, especially the titans from the Yuqing and Shangqing lineages within the Sect, would recognize them in a single glance.

At that point, what awaited him would not be a reward. Being slapped into oblivion, body and soul, would be a light punishment.

A classic traitor.

It wasn’t as if this hadn’t happened before in the Primordial Sect. Using fellow sect members for refining was a common occurrence, but if you refined too many, you could expect a True Monarch to make you pay the price.

Naturally, Xu Yunfan became even more cautious.

This was no longer a problem that could be solved by lying low. If he stirred up a hornet’s nest among his sect-mates, it would be a true death wish.

Thus, his hunting targets shifted more toward the True Immortals of the Celestial Realm, who were barely surviving in the ruins and desperately trying to hide.

These beings, who once enjoyed the offerings of the Celestial Court and possessed long lifespans, had long since lost their former majesty in the great calamity of the World Heaven’s collapse. They were now as terrified and lost as stray dogs.

In the system of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, their Magical Cultivation was mostly at the level of Early-Stage or Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment. To Xu Yunfan, who had just advanced to Late-Stage Foundation Establishment, they were practically fat lambs served up on a platter.

Xu Yunfan was naturally delighted.

Although from his perspective as a Primordial Sect Disciple in the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, these beings were utterly worthless—no different from ants, and some were even weaker than the Loose Cultivators of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm—Xu Yunfan still had to hold his nose and take them in for now.