Splitting the Heave

Since the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram controlled the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World, there was no way it was as simple as it seemed!

Shang Xia’s thoughts returned to the time when it glowed when Yuwen Changtian struck the wall protected by the formation. He poured his inner qi into it quickly.

It wasn’t long before he discovered that there was something stopping him from pushing his qi into the scroll.

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Shang Xia transformed his qi into lightness and heaviness qi before trying again. 

Even though the dao of lightness and heaviness didn’t belong to the Zhu Family, it was the key to creating one of the most perfect advancement formulas produced by them! Moreover, the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram was placed beside the Unstable Rock. Shang Xia believed that there was some sort of connection between the two.

The only thing he didn’t know was if the Water Repulsion Pearl had anything to do with it.

As his inner qi entered the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram, different colored lights started to emerge.

The Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram started to pulsate, and it started to come to life.

Shang Xia reached towards the surface of the scroll, and he discovered that the scroll could show him different regions of the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World as long as he willed it. It could even enlarge or shrink the image of the region he was looking at as he pleased! With it, he could observe many small details others might have missed.

As he played with the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram in his hand, he quickly noticed several flashing dots on the diagram. There was one bright yellow dot and four other smaller red dots. One of the red specks was right beside the bright yellow one, and Shang Xia wasn’t too surprised. 

He guessed that the yellow dot represented the location of the hidden chamber he was in. The red dot that coincided with the yellow one might represent his current location, or it might be more accurate to say that it showed the location of the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram he was holding.

What could the other three dots mean?! 

Looking at the diagram closely, it seemed as though the other three dots represented three other rock formations in the Coral Forest. There were countless rock formations in the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram, and Shang Xia didn’t understand why the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram would mark out several specific ones!

Were those where the formations were active?

However, Shang Xia quickly rejected the idea. After all, Murong Danran said that the formation covered quite a large area. There was no way it only covered four rock formations.

Soon, he noticed something strange about the location marked by the four dots. 

One of them represented the location of the hidden chamber he entered when he first appeared in the Coral Forest. 

Could it be?!

The red dots on the diagram represented hidden chambers in the Coral Forest!

A burning idea came to his mind, but Shang Xia managed to remain calm. He didn’t rush out of the hidden chamber because of a moment’s greed to locate the other hidden chambers.

He started to analyze the situation.

They were currently in the Coral Forest, and his presence hadn’t been discovered. The Rose Party was the one who had sent out their disciples to comb the area, and he was merely a weakling at the Martial Extremity Realm.

“It’s a pity I’m no formation master. I have no idea what this diagram actually holds. It might have other uses, but I have no idea how to figure them out!” Shang Xia couldn’t help but think of other ideas.

Perhaps, the best thing he could do was to leave the Coral Forest as soon as possible and report back to the higher-ups of the Tongyou Institution. They could bring several experts into the Coral Forest through the underground tunnel, and they would definitely be able to gain the upper hand. After all, the moment he brought in one of the Martial Extermination Realm experts through the tunnel, the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World would definitely fall into their hands. 

The only problem was that he had no idea how many people he could bring with a single Vermillion Plaque.

He knew that if he continued to move around alone, he would be able to gain a lot more treasures. However, the risk he was taking would increase by several folds.

After all, he was a mere disciple at the Martial Extremity Realm!

When he was still thinking of what he should do next, a massive blast brought him back to reality. No one knew where the giant explosion came from, but the hidden chamber started to shake. Even with the protection of the stone wall, he could feel the violent waves of heaven and earth qi.

There were people fighting out there! With the commotion going on, it had to be experts at the Martial Extermination Realm!

Shang Xia’s heart trembled slightly. He pressed his hand against the mechanism to open the hidden room before leaving his position. The entrance closed up quickly, as if it never existed in the first place.

The huge disturbance was bound to draw a lot of attention. Shang Xia’s actions wouldn’t be too eye-catching with everything that was going on.

The Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World might be a giant maze, but with the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram in his hand, Shang Xia wasn’t afraid that he would lose his way.

Luckily for him, he didn’t meet anyone after he left. However, he could feel that the battle in the distance was getting more and more intense.

Clearly, there were more than two experts at the Martial Examination Realm fighting!

Shang Xia also discovered something weird. He could tell that the battle was happening quite a distance away. But when he tried to determine the direction of the battle, he couldn’t!

Well, he didn’t have the luxury to think about all that now. When he arrived back at the hidden chamber he was once at, he grabbed the Water Repulsion Pearl and dove instantly. 

Even though he could have entered the water from anywhere, he chose to return to his original location as he didn’t wish to get lost.

As he went down the submerged stairs, he moved a lot quicker than before due to the effects of the pearl.

After diving for quite some time, he discovered the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram glowing in his sleeves. The light was growing ever more brilliant, and the area around him lit up like a giant lightbulb.

Opening the scroll, he discovered a dot of light moving quickly across the diagram.

“This…” From the looks of it, the dot of light just shot past him.

Looking all around, he noticed a streak of light moving quickly across the water. It was so quick that Shang Xia couldn’t react in time.

“Don’t tell me… Is that the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl?!”

Shang Xia looked at the position of the flashing dot again and he seemed to realize a pattern. The dot would only move about within the confines of the four red specks of light, and a bold guess emerged in Shang Xia’s mind. “Are the four rock structures really used to trap the pearl?!” 

Sweeping his gaze around, he continued to descend. He looked around him before slashing the protection screen with the Vermillion Plaque.

Unlike before when it tore easily, this time, the protection screen didn’t show signs of budging!

Shang Xia couldn’t believe his eyes and he continued to strike the barrier a few times. No matter how hard he tried, he failed to open the barrier.

Shit! Can I enter but not leave?!

Well, that was one of the uses of a protection formation… If cultivators ran into trouble outside, they would be able to enter the protection formation easily. However, leaving was a whole other matter. They would have to wait for the protection formation to lift naturally.

It was the same for the protection formation around the Tongyou Peak. 

Wait… How was he supposed to explain the appearance of the water in the essence qi stone mine then?! Was he supposed to wait for the barrier to open up by itself before he could leave?! 

When he was thinking of what to do, another change occurred. The light that came from the surface of the water seemed to intensify by quite a bit! Raising his head to take a look, he saw a giant moon rising slowly into the air! 

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