Splitting the Heave

After he crossed the protection screen, Shang Xia noticed that there wasn’t any water around him. He even thought that he had entered the wrong place.

However, his gaze quickly landed on a simple restriction Chu Jia placed down. It pushed the water away from them, creating a small pocket of air.

Shang Xia was impressed by her efficiency. Even though it was most likely done using some sort of artifact, he couldn’t deny that it was impressive.

“What did he say?” Shang Xia stared at Bai Luming who was still trapped and asked.

“He agreed to help the lass. I placed the Triple Intent Lock on him and Lass Chu will keep an eye on him. No accidents will happen!” Shang Ke replied.

Initially, Gu Shou was supposed to be the leader of the group. Due to his injuries, the responsibility fell onto Shang Ke.

The Triple Intent Lock was a commonly used technique by Martial Intent Realm cultivators to restrain their prisoners.

It was made by imprinting one’s divine sense onto the other party. Since every individual’s divine sense was unique, the lock could only be undone by the person who created it!

The Triple Intent Lock was split into three different layers, and cultivators at the small completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm would only be able to create the first intent lock! Since Shang Ke was the one who used the technique, he could bring out the full restrictive abilities of the Triple Intent Lock!

“Oh really? Did he accept it obediently? He might be pulling some tricks again… Don’t forget. He’s a rank three formation master! If he creates trouble at some critical moment…”

Shang Xia refused to believe that Bai Luming would give up just like that! He was extremely wary of the other party.

However, Chu Jia declared confidently, “Don’t worry! He won’t be able to play any tricks when I’m watching him!” 

The corners of Shang Xia’s lips twitched slightly and he continued, “I mean… He’s been stuck here for some time now. How can we be sure that he hadn’t done anything to the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World?” 

Chu Jia was at a loss for words and she rolled her eyes at Shang Xia. 

Bai Luming, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. “The Rose Party is extremely exclusive! The five families make up the core of the organization, and no matter how hard I work, they refuse to trust me! Also, the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl can allow you to see what happened several minutes into the past. You can see that I didn’t do anything!” 

“Oh right! I forgot!” Shang Xia seemed to have recalled something and he retrieved the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram from his sleeves. When he opened the scroll, he discovered that the pearl was missing! 

Bai Luming’s voice rang through the air again. “You can bring the core diagram out, but the pearl can’t leave the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World! The moment you left, you dropped the pearl.”

Shang Xia turned to stare at him. “Do you know how to get it back?”

Bai Luming chuckled softly but refused to say anything.

All of a sudden, a slender white hand reached towards Shang Xia and gestured for him to hand the diagram over impatiently.

Shang Xia couldn’t be bothered with Chu Jia and continued to stare at Bai Luming.

Coughing dryly at the side, Shang Ke spoke up, “Xia’er, give it to her.” 

A look of delight could be seen on Chu Jia’s face and Shang Xia couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He rolled up the scroll before tossing it at her.

With her head bobbing up and down happily, she laughed at Shang Xia, “See, I told you I’ll get the core diagram! Although, I didn’t think that I'd get it so quickly…” 

After she spoke, she ignored the anger slowly appearing on Shang Xia’s face while opening the scroll. Her inner qi quickly entered the core diagram.

Shang Xia felt something in his body throbbing, and he turned to stare at Chu Jia. At the same moment, she turned to look at him. Anger flashed in her eyes.

“You tricked me! You left behind an imprint in the diagram!” Chu Jia snapped at him immediately.

“Huh? What imprint?” Shang Xia was actually confused this time.

Gu Shou, who had remained silent all this while, frowned and yelled at her impatiently, “He probably left it behind unintentionally. Just wipe it off with your own inner qi! Why are you screaming at the kid?” 

Her face flushed red after he spoke and she squeaked, “I… I can’t get rid of it…” 

“What?! You’re a Martial Intent Realm cultivator!” Gu Shou was stunned.

How could a Martial Intent Realm cultivator be unable to wipe away the imprint of a Martial Extremity Realm cultivator? That didn’t make sense!

Shang Ke was equally as surprised. However, a wide smile appeared on his face the next instant. “Kid, remove the imprint you left on the diagram.” 

With a grin threatening to break out on his face, Shang Xia casually reached his hand out to ask for the diagram like Chu Jia did previously.

In a fit of anger, she flung the scroll at his face.

Shang Xia wasn’t surprised at all, and he caught it before sending some of his inner qi into it.

Bai Luming spoke up all of a sudden. “Hey, you do know that you can retrieve the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl too, right? Other than the fact that you’re not a formation master, you’re actually the best person to control the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World!”

Shang Xia’s eyes narrowed and he stopped what he was doing. A cold light flashed through them and he turned to stare at Bai Luming, “Looks like you know quite a lot. Do you want me to give you one last chance to tell me everything you know?” 

Shang Xia hated people who deliberately hid the information they knew. Killing intent was rising in his heart, and if they were in an ordinary situation, he would have gotten rid of people like that.

Bai Luming quickly spilled everything he knew. “You could see the situation around the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World through the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl when I entered. Either you know the art of formations, or you have some sort of special technique of the Zhu Family on you! Since you’re not a formation master, you have to possess the Zhu Family’s inheritance technique!” 

“Huh?”

Shang Xia wasn’t the only one who was confused. Everyone turned to look at him with a raised eyebrows.

Sun Haiwei was the first to ask. “You managed to obtain the Zhu Family’s inheritance technique?” 

“No? We’ll talk about this later.” Shang Xia thought about the Unstable Rock and seemed to have thought of something. Regardless, he didn’t obtain the Zhu Family’s inheritance technique. He ignored the weird gazes on him and he growled at Bai Luming, “So what do I do now? Am I supposed to wait for the moon to rise again?” 

“Since you imprinted the core diagram with your inner qi, you definitely did the same to the pearl. The diagram and the pearl are connected. You should be able to retrieve it with a thought…” Bai Luming shot Shang Xia a strange stare as though he was looking at a fool.

Too lazy to care about Bai Luming, Shang Xia sent his inner qi into the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram to locate the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl.

A strange feeling came over him and when he raised his head again, he saw a fist-sized pearl floating towards him.

With a thought, the pearl turned blurry and reappeared above the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram.

Seven colored lights emerged from inside the pearl and the scene where Bai Luming just got stuck started to play out.

Indeed, he didn’t do anything.

Shang Xia nodded at the rest.

Chu Jia snorted softly before releasing Bai Luming. When he finally crawled to his feet, he cupped his fist towards Shang Xia. “I am willing to listen to the young master’s orders.” 

Staring deeply at Bai Luming, Shang Xia seemed to have seen through his thoughts. 

Only when Bai Luming became a little uncomfortable from Shang Xia’s gaze did the latter start to speak again. He handed the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram and the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl over to Chu Jia and said, “Alright, you can go ahead and be Instructor Chu’s assistant. That way, you can show off your strengths! You’ll be wasting your talent under me!” 

The smile on Bai Luming’s face froze, but he didn’t dare to reject.

Gu Shou and Shang Ke looked at each other and saw the look of satisfaction in each other’s eyes.

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

They could see that Bai Luming was brewing a scheme when he urged Shang Xia to retain control over the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World. However, Shang Xia was clearly able to resist the temptation to do so as he handed the diagram and pearl over to Chu Jia. Bai Luming’s scheme failed before it even started.

That wasn’t all. Shang Xia dispersed the imprint he placed on both items and handed over his authority to Chu Jia obediently.

Chu Jia revealed a shocked expression, but Shang Xia turned to Bai Luming and asked, “How long more do we have?”

Bai Luming naturally knew what Shang Xia referred to and he muttered, “Since the battle took place outside the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World, they probably don’t know that the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World has already been compromised. We still have some time. However…” 

Watching Shang Xia’s expression darkening, he continued, “... However, the Rose Party will definitely send more people over! This time, a Martial Extermination Realm expert might come over!” 

Gu Shou chuckled in response. “Great. I really hope that happens. There are only three Martial Extermination Realm cultivators of the Rose Party who entered the Coral Forest. Yuwen Shengjie was heavily injured by Deputy Patriarch Shang. If any one of them dares to come over, the stalemate in the Coral Forest will be instantly broken!”

Bai Luming continued, “Well… Three Martial Extermination Realm experts took the lead in bringing us to the battlefield between two worlds, but now, there are more than three of them! In fact, there may be five in total!” 

A frown formed on Shang Xia’s face. “What do you mean by that? Did the members of the Four Spiritual Peak come? All you shameless bastards colluding with outsiders against your own world!” 

Shang Ke interrupted him suddenly. “No… Your Grandpa Shang Bo is stationed there and there are too many injured experts on the Four Spiritual Peak. They might not be able to send anyone over.” 

“No… Sima Zhanxing crossed the barrier to become a Martial Extermination Realm cultivator in the Dual Season Land. Murong Gaofeng, who had been in seclusion all this while, might also have broken through!” Bai Luming explained.

Turning to Gu Shou, Shang Xia asked, “Instructor Gu, are we able to contact the outside world now?” 

They had to report critical intelligence like that! Otherwise, the Tongyou Institution would suffer huge losses if they entered the Coral Forest!

Gu Shou shook his head and his expression turned solemn. He pointed back at the protection screen they entered from. “Not unless we dig our way out of here.” 

Shang Xia shook his head and looked at Chu Jia who was looking at the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram as though it was her baby and yelled, “Is it possible for us to hold off a Martial Extermination Realm expert?!” 

“Only a portion of the formation recovered. We won’t be able to hold them off for too long!” Chu Jia rubbed her ears and grumbled, “What are you screaming at me for? I’m not deaf…” 

Shang Xia sighed helplessly and took out an item from his Embroidered Cloud Case. “Whatever. We don't have a choice. We can only make a Martial Extermination Realm expert appear…”