Splitting the Heave

…

Wait a minute. I was just in the Unstable Region… Where am I now?!

Shang Xia looked all around him and noticed a sea of green as far as his eyes could see. A powerful gust of wind brushed against him, and it seemed to contain the gift of life. 

Regardless of how experienced Shang Xia was at adventuring, he was stunned for a good second. He didn’t know where to go!

In the next instant, the warm breeze disappeared. A chilly wind took its place.

Even though it wasn’t bone-biting cold, it still made Shang Xia pretty uncomfortable. 

The grass that was swaying happily in the breeze earlier started to wither at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The flourishing greenery turned a sad yellow, and Shang Xia stomped on them as he traversed the land.

That wasn’t all. As he walked across the endless plains, he felt his life force draining from his body. He became a lot more lethargic than before.

Could this weird region steal other people’s life force?!

Shang Xia felt a chill running down his spine. Examining himself, he heaved a sigh of relief when he noticed that nothing was wrong. “This is clearly not the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World. It’s not the Unstable Region either. That left only the Willow Forest or the Dual Season Land. Well, there are no willows around… This has to be the Dual Season Land!” 

Shang Xia could only make the deduction based on the knowledge he had of the Coral Forest so far.

If he was really in the Dual Season Land, that would be great! It was where the Zhu Family grew their herbs, and precious herbs should be lying all about.

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“This…” Staring at the endless grasslands, Shang Xia muttered to himself, “I can’t see anything of value here… It’s all ordinary grass!” 

Even after walking for the time it took an incense to burn out, he was still stuck in the endless grassland. At least there was a change. The ground was no longer flat and he seemed to be climbing uphill.

The chilly wind blew directly against him, but the sound of metal scraping against metal rang in his ears.

Shang Xia’s expression brightened up suddenly and he started to move towards the source of the sound.

After climbing over a tiny hill, the sound became even clearer.

Lying belly to the ground, Shang Xia carefully hid in the grass before observing the commotion. When he saw what happened, he was promptly taken aback! There were two groups of experts exchanging blows in the naturally formed pit in front of him. There were hills surrounding the pit, and it formed an isolated region.

The pit was different from everything he experienced earlier. Not a single blade of grass grew on it, and Shang Xia started to make his deductions in his mind.

Could the region be a dried-up lake? Hmm…

As he continued to observe the surrounding, he noticed that the weaker group was starting to gather to form a fighting formation while being surrounded.

Shang Xia could recognize their formation from afar. It was the Tongyou Peak’s five man protection squad formation! He didn’t hesitate to run downhill as soon as he recognized it. The moment he revealed himself, two experts from the opposing side broke off to stop him.

“Shang Xia?! Be careful!” A voice rang through the air and the owner of the voice was clearly worried for him.

Shang Xia didn’t have the luxury of thinking about who it was, and his sword slashed out the moment the two enemy cultivators arrived. Sword light rained down on the two as he leaped into the air.

The two of them were shocked by his sudden assault, and they stopped dead in their tracks. They waved their weapons in the air in an attempt to shatter the sword lights.

However, Shang Xia’s body shot out the moment he touched the ground again. He charged towards them and disregarded the rain of sword light.

The two of them didn’t expect Shang Xia to rush towards them when they were still in the midst of defending themselves.

Before they could react, Shang Xia’s sword stabbed into one of their chests. Even though his sword didn’t poke too deep, the strand of strength and softness fusion qi caused every single organ in his body to rupture.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood that also contained pieces of his innards, he was as good as dead.

The other cultivator clearly didn’t expect his companion to die so quickly and in such a gruesome fashion. He quickly retreated.

Shang Xia obviously wouldn’t make the rookie mistake of letting his opponents retreat unscathed. He took out another sword from his Embroidered Cloud Case and stabbed it towards the other cultivator.

As the other cultivator retreated, he smashed his weapon downwards in a desperate attempt to defend himself.

A loud clang rang through the air as Shang Xia’s sword was deflected. However, a chilly qi invaded the cultivator’s body and he shivered involuntarily.

“What pure ice qi…” As the thought flashed through the cultivator’s mind, Shang Xia’s Delicate Jade River Sword arrived. 

With only one weapon in his hand, the cultivator tried to stab it between both blades to stop himself from getting skewered.

Shang Xia perfectly predicted his actions and his blades started to glow as fire and ice qi entered them. He unleashed the Twisting Twin Blades perfectly.

Even though the cultivator’s weapon contained a lot of precious materials, it was still an ungraded weapon. Shang Xia’s technique allowed him to slice through the cultivator’s weapon like a hot knife through butter.

After cutting through his weapon, Shang Xia’s blades continued towards the cultivator’s body.

Staring death in the eye, the cultivator managed to overcome his limit and he retreated at a speed faster than he had ever moved before. Even so, he failed to dodge the strike. As Shang Xia’s sword sliced through his belly, his intestines threatened to fall out.

Screaming in pain and fright, the cultivator retreated desperately. He even tried to push his innards back to where they were supposed to be while circulating his inner qi to close the wound.

Well, his reaction was correct. However, he forgot one very important point. The person who injured him was still hot on his trail!

Shang Xia’s figure flashed, and he closed in once again. His Delicate Jade River Sword shot through the air, and the cultivator clutched his neck with his eyes wide open. Blood sprayed out from the wound on his neck as his guts leaked onto the ground.

From the time he appeared to the time he slayed both cultivators, he only used four moves. Even though his opponents were cultivators in the same realm, they were unable to put up the slightest bit of resistance!

Shang Xia was taken aback too! He was shocked that he could suppress them so easily!

However, that wasn’t the time to celebrate. He didn’t stop as he continued to run towards the two groups of cultivators.

“How dare you kill our friends?! Have a taste of my blade!” One of the cultivators left the battle and brandished his short knife while charging towards Shang Xia. He greeted Shang Xia with a slash of his blade.

“Be careful! He’s at the grand completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm! He already comprehended blade intent!” 

Another yell came from the cultivators of the Tongyou Peak.

This time, Shang Xia caught sight of the person who spoke. He was Ma Xiaofeng, a custodian of one of the outer divisions!

He wasn’t the only one Shang Xia recognized. There was also Ye Mingyuan, another custodian of the outer divisions!

The three others looked slightly older than Shang Xia but younger than the two. Even though Shang Xia didn’t know who they were, he could guess that they were inner disciples or disciples of the upper division.

Watching the blade fall towards him, Shang Xia could tell that the person was at the grand completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm. Compared to the two he killed earlier, it was going to be a tougher battle! Shang Xia circulated his inner qi and stabbed out three times.

They landed accurately on the incoming blade.

The cultivator who attacked felt all his qi being sucked out of the blade every time Shang Xia’s sword tapped on it.

Shang Xia counterattacked swiftly after stopping the blade. His opponent didn’t expect Shang Xia to react so quickly, but he wasn’t flustered.

He raised his blade again and when Shang Xia’s sword light arrived, he twisted his body and drew a crescent in the space before him. Three arcs appeared to block off Shang Xia’s movements.

That was his martial intent, the Triple Blade. Every strike he made would possess triple the strength, and it was considered one of the most elementary martial extremity intents.

Even though it wasn’t that strong, Shang Xia revealed a solemn expression when facing his attack. With a calm heart, his options flashed through his mind.

He didn’t choose to unleash his Chaos Essence Lightning Palm. Instead, he chopped out with his second sword.

Softness and strength qi covered the Delicate Jade River Sword and it shattered the first blade light that was above the other two.

Void and reality qi filled the other sword, and it released countless rays of sword light that eroded the bottommost blade light. By the time Shang Xia’s sword light disappeared, he managed to destroy his target.

As for the third blade light… He transformed his qi once again and severed it right before it could touch him!

With the Twisting Twin Blade, he managed to slice away the final threat!

Looking at his weapons, the Delicate Jade River Sword was undamaged. However, the same couldn’t be said for the other sword. Not only was its tip shaved off, but there was also a giant dent in the middle of the blade. It was basically ruined.

“You… How did you shatter my martial intent?!” The expert standing opposite Shang Xia cried. Ever since he had stepped into the Martial Extremity Realm, his willpower was extremely solid! Now, it started to tremble at the thought of Shang Xia’s feat of destroying his martial intent!