Splitting the Heave

“So that’s what it shows…” Shang Xia thought in his heart and heaved a sigh of relief. 

Just a moment ago, he didn’t dare to breathe loudly in the hidden chamber for fear of being found. Of course, he didn’t dare to move recklessly now, but he felt much more at ease.

The three members of the Rose Party continued to discuss their next actions outside the hidden room, not knowing that everything they said had been heard by Shang Xia, a disciple of the Tongyou Institution.

Through their conversation, he heard a lot of secrets regarding the Coral Forest and the mysteries behind the Zhu Family.

For example, the Zhu Family really deserved its reputation as the strongest cultivation family in the You Continent! It had the power to hold the fate of the continent in its hands. None of the other clans or powers even came close! 

Also, he learned of one of the most important goals of the Rose Party. They wanted to gain control of the forbidden region owned by the Zhu Family, currently known as the Coral Forest!

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Even though a forbidden region was called a mysterious world, it wasn’t a naturally formed cosmos. It was a space that had been enlarged several times and contained its own grand formation!

That was one of the reasons behind the Coral Forest's appearance in the battlefield between the two worlds. 

Even so, the Coral Forest contained many dangerous regions. There were many undead corpses roaming the lands. Even though twenty years had passed since the formation of the battlefield between the two worlds, the Four Spiritual Peak and the Tongyou Peak didn’t understand much about it. They only managed to cover the outer regions of the Coral Forest all that while.

Twenty years ago when the worlds collided, every single great family or power banded together to deal with their enemies. However, they also left a route of retreat for themselves. The only difference was the Zhu Family. They felt that they had the protection of their forbidden region, along with their deep accumulations. As such, they chose to remain where they were. They had the confidence to survive. 

Most of the members of the Zhu Family chose not to leave, staying in their territory to face the threat. Only several cultivators left because of their reasons. 

Who would have thought that the two worlds would collide, leading to the current state of things?

The chaos that ensued along with the various origin tides tore through the battlefield between the two worlds, trapping and killing every single member of the Zhu Family in the Coral Forest.

That wasn’t all. Shang Xia learned that there were three other special regions in the Coral Forest. They were the Willow Forest, Dual Season Land, and the Unstable Floating Region.

Every single one of them contained their respective protection formation. With the addition of the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World, they formed semi-independent spaces around the Zhu Family Manor.

Due to the destruction, the core to control the Zhu Family Manor landed in the Willow Forest.

Out of the four regions in the Coral Forest, the Dual Season Land and the Unstable Floating Region had already fallen under the Rose Party’s control.

As for Liu Jitang, he rushed straight for the Zhu Family Manor and the Willow Forest. 

“As long as we obtain the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World, we’ll control three of the four special regions of the Zhu Family! Even if Liu Jitang manages to locate and control the core of the Willow Forest, we’ll still be able to suppress him! He won’t be able to do anything against us!” 

Murong Danran seemed to have explained their entire plan. 

Sima Like frowned slightly and continued, “The Tongyou Peak won’t sit by and abandon Liu Jitang. Didn’t Shang Bo heavily injure Elder Yuwen earlier? The Tongyou Institution’s strength is growing too quickly these days!” 

“If the Tongyou Peak won’t remain quietly in their territory, what about the Four Spiritual Peak?” Murong Danran sneered and he continued, “The Tongyou Institution’s increase in strength is exactly the reason behind our elders making the decision to forcefully enter the battlefield between two worlds!”

Yuwen Changtian nodded, “That’s right, their rapid increase in strength probably has to do with their gains in the battlefield between the two worlds… We can’t allow them to keep everything for themselves!” 

“I… I get it!” Sima Like’s eyes widened in shock.

Yuwen Changtian seemed to also have reached a whole new level of understanding after listening to what Murong Danran said. “So that’s the real reason… I thought that the elders were only interested in the advancement formula to the Martial Dipper Realm that might be hidden in the Zhu Family!” 

Murong Danran chuckled, “Don’t forget, the Coral Forest itself might be a mysterious world that contains spatial formations…” 

What the fuck does that even mean? Shang Xia thought to himself as he played with the items on the stone shelf in the hidden room. He had been paying attention to their conversation the whole time, but he had no idea what some of what they said meant.

It was obvious that they had much more information than Shang Xia.

“Alright. Tell us how to find the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl!” Sima Like asked all of a sudden.

“This is easy. The pearl is suppressed by moonlight, and we just have to wait for the moon to be overhead and it will appear by itself.” 

“Please… This is the battlefield between two worlds we’re talking about. Who knows when the moon will appear? Even if it does, what happens if the moon belongs to the Azure Spiritual World? Will it work too?” Sima Like interrupted him all of a sudden.

Slightly taken aback, Murong Danran muttered, “This… Well, we’ll never know till we try. Anyway, it’s like you said. We won’t know when the moon will appear. It might take a long time, but it might also appear the next second.”

“Will the pearl really appear when the moon rises?” Sima Like continued.

“That’s right! As long as we obtain the pearl, we’ll be able to locate the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram! Then, we’ll gain control over the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World!”

Yuwen Changtian sighed at the side, “I think… I think we should deal with the disappearance of our fellow brothers before looking for the pearl…”

“What happened?!” Sima Like frowned.

Yuwen Changtian and Murong Danran told her what happened earlier when they ran into the disciples of the Tongyou Institution.

“The two of them might have already met their end… I agree with Brother Changtian’s evaluation. There’s no way the rank three undead corpse did it. Either the last disciple hid his cultivation and dealt with the two of them after you left, or other people arrived. Since they managed to kill Dongfang Mingrui and Ouyang Fengxuan in an instant, there are two possibilities… One. More than one expert arrived. Two… The person who came has pretty impressive cultivation. At the very least, he’s as strong as Brother Changtian!” 

Yuwen Changtian couldn’t help but frown.

“Brother Changtian is at the grand completion stage! His cultivation has touched on the Martial Intent Realm! Don’t tell me that the Tongyou Institution allowed their stronger disciples to roam about outside the Zhu Family Manor…” Murong Danran gasped.

“There’s definitely a possibility of that happening…” Sima Like tutted.

However, Yuwen Changtian brought a new suggestion to the table. “What if… What if someone entered from the outside?” 

“That’s not possible. The outer regions of the Coral Forest are filled with our men. No one can possibly enter the Coral Forest without alerting us.” Murong Danran stopped him immediately.

Sima Like analyzed, “The three of us are more than capable of dealing with a Martial Intent Realm cultivator. Even if someone managed to get in without our sentries noticing, they shouldn’t be stronger than the Martial Intent Realm if they chose to remain hidden for so long. Even so, we should still act more cautiously from now on.”

Yuwen Changtian continued, “Their goal might also be the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl. The moment the moon rises, they’ll definitely appear to fight us for it!” 

“Relax. I’ll think of a way to call over a Martial Intent Realm expert to assist us.” Murong Danran reassured them.

After Yuwen Changtian grunted, he continued with another question, “Sister Sima obtained a rank three spiritual treasure in the Dual Season Land, and Brother Dongfang Mingrui managed to get an advancement formula in the Unstable Floating Region. However, we don’t know if it's for the second or third order of the Primary Realm. Wonder which bastard managed to benefit from that after killing Brother Dongfang Mingrui…” 

Once again, their words made no sense to Shang Xia. 

Initially, he wanted to fight with them for the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl. However, thoughts of retreating formed in his mind after he heard their plan.

Shang Xia might be confident in himself, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could fight a Martial Intent Realm expert. In fact, there wasn’t even a need for a Martial Intent Realm expert to arrive. The three of them outside were more than enough to kill him. 

No matter how big the urge he had to retreat, he knew that it wasn’t really possible. He had the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram, and unless he threw it away right there and then, they would be able to find him the moment they obtained the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl! 

The only problem was that the three of them were still standing outside the damn hidden chamber! Shang Xia couldn’t leave even if he wanted to!

If they remained there to wait for the appearance of the pearl, he would be trapped like a turtle in a jar!

Now, all he wanted was for the three of them to leave!

Suppressing the uneasy feeling in his heart, Shang Xia turned his attention to the two other objects on the stone shelf. After all, he couldn’t possibly go out and scream for them to leave.

He turned to a giant egg-sized pearl in his hand. Thinking that he lucked out by finding the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl along with the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram, he was about to jump in joy. However, he soon discovered that it was nothing more than an ordinary Water Repulsion Pearl.

Well, at the very least, his clothes wouldn’t get wet when he dove back down into the tunnel… 

The second item was a little more refined.

From the looks of it, it was an ordinary stone! Other than a few tiny holes on its surface, there was nothing special about it!

However, Shang Xia discovered something special about it as soon as he held it in his hand. It could speed up the circulation of his inner qi!

He tried injecting some yang qi into the rock in his hand, but the moment he did, the stone became as light as a feather. In fact, it seemed to float in the air before him.

Removing his hand, he was shocked to see that the rock remained in mid air.

Putting some yin qi into the stone after grabbing it for the second time, it became denser than before! It became so heavy that Shang Xia’s hand sank downwards.

“Oh! Hey! It’s actually an Unstable Rock!” Shang Xia heard about it from his grandfather, Shang Bo, when asking for pointers in the past.

Shang Bo felt that Shang Xia only had two medicines to choose from when he advanced into the Martial Extremity Realm. He could use either the Powder of Purification or the Unstable Powder!

He could remember the expression on his grandfather’s face in the past. 

“Ever since the Zhu Family was exterminated, Unstable Rocks hardly appeared in our You Continent. The recipe for the Unstable Powder is available in the Tongyou Institution, but it’s not as optimal as the one in the Zhu Family’s collection. Don’t bother thinking about the Unstable Powder anymore. Focus on getting your hands on the Powder of Purification.” 

That was what Shang Bo told him!

Who would have thought that he would obtain a piece of Unstable Rock?

Even though he had no use for it now, he could easily sell it away in the outside world! With how rare it was, it would easily reach a price of five hundred silver essence!

One had to know that a complete set of medicine to advance into the Martial Extremity Realm was worth close to eight hundred silver essence! That was how precious a piece of Unstable Rock was!

Shang Xia suddenly thought about what Yuwen Changtian said! Wasn’t Dongfang Mingrui one of the disciples he killed? There was an advancement formula on him!