Splitting the Heave

Receiving the box from Ma Xiaofeng, he kept it in his sleeves. That was where his Embroidered Cloud Case was hidden and he dumped it directly within.  

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It was something he had done out of habit.

Since they were all fellow disciples of the Tongyou Institution, he found no need to hide it from them. When he made the knife disappear earlier, they should already have expected him to possess some sort of spatial artifact.

“Junior Brother Shang, what other plans do you have? If you’re willing, we can travel together. That way, we can look out for each other.” Ma Xiaofeng smiled.

Shang Xia chuckled in response, “That would be great. Since the Coral Forest is going crazy at the moment, we have no idea what will happen in the future.” 

Ye Mingyuan and the others were happy to hear that he would be joining them. After all, the strength he displayed earlier showed the rest that he was the strongest one present. Ye Mingyuan chuckled, “Since we’re all going to stick together, the dangers we will face will be much less. Even if we’re transported again, we can gather together quickly. That's how we found each other in the first place.” 

Due to the sudden changes happening in the Coral Forest, no one could be sure what would happen next. Since there was strength in numbers, it would be in everyone’s best interest for them to stick together. Shang Xia had no reason to refuse.

“Then… Senior brothers and sisters, what do you plan to do next?” Shang Xia asked.

“This… Haha, what other plan can we have? We need to travel as far away from the core area of the Dual Season Land as possible!” Ma Xiaofeng laughed bitterly.

The Dual Season Land and Unstable Region were controlled by experts of the Rose Party. No matter what happened to the Coral Forest, the core region would remain unaffected! The experts of the Rose Party definitely set up camp there, and even with the strength of Shang Xia’s newfound party, rushing towards the core region meant certain death!

Shang Xia nodded slowly, but questions started to form in his mind. “In that case, which direction should we head towards? Senior Brother Ma, do you know where the core region is?” 

“Junior Brother Shang, did you forget where those people ran towards when they made their retreat?” Ye Mingyuan laughed.

Realizing his mistake, Shang Xia was about to snort in amusement when he suddenly recalled another pressing problem. “Wait… If that’s the case, wouldn’t they bring Martial Intent Realm experts back here to look for us?” 

The Silver Thread Grass was more than enough to attract Martial Intent Realm experts over. Since the two parties came to blows, it was clear that the opponents had already seen the treasures Ma Xiaofeng and the others were protecting! They definitely noticed the even more precious Gold Thread Grass, and there was no way they would give up on it. That was a rank four herb they were talking about! Even if they flipped the Dual Season Land upside down, how many rank four herbs would they be able to find?

“Yeah! That is why we have to leave right now!” 

Smiling at each other, they came to a common understanding. They started to run in the opposite direction of where their opponents left!

In order to retrieve the herbs, the group wasted no small amount of time.

As they ran in the opposite direction, it didn’t take long before they felt a trace of divine sense stretching slowly towards them. 

“It’s a Martial Intent Realm expert! Feeling this level of divine sense, he should have reached the large completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm!” Ma Xiaofeng and the rest stopped dead in their tracks while looking over their shoulders.

“Since they locked on to us, we won’t be able to escape!” Ye Mingyuan muttered.

“We have no choice. We have to fight!” Ma Xiaofeng growled.

The moment the words left his lips, Lu Lijing, Hao Yuanfang, and Yu Yifeng got into position behind the two of them.

Shang Xia had to admit that the five of them worked pretty well together. Forming the five man patrol squad formation was like second nature to them!

However, they quickly realized that they had a problem. There were six of them, and Shang Xia would be left alone outside the formation. In their eyes, he was as good as dead.

The situation turned awkward instantly.

Once he was left out of the formation, he would be attacked by the enemy mercilessly! The cultivators who followed the Martial Intent Realm expert of the Rose Party were definitely in the Martial Extremity Realm, and Shang Xia would have to face a few of them alone!

Ma Xiaofeng quickly left the formation. “Junior Brother Shang, take my place!” 

Before Shang Xia could say anything, Ye Mingyuan also left the formation with a smile. “It’s alright. He can take my place. My movement art is a lot better than yours… Even without the formation, I have the highest chance of staying alive.”

Ma Xiaofeng shook his head in response. “Even though you have good movement arts, your cultivation isn’t as good as mine. Junior Brother Shang can take my place!” 

“Are you joking?! What do you mean my cultivation isn’t as good as yours? I’m the custodian of the second outer division! Which division are you in charge of? You’re in charge of the fourth! Don’t you know that four comes after two?! You’re ranked behind me…” Ye Mingyuan snapped.

“Senior brothers…” Lu Lijing’s voice came from behind them.

“Be quiet!” The two of them yelled in unison. “Can’t you see that we’re having a conversation here?” 

Shang Xia was extremely touched that both of them were fighting to give up their position in the formation so that he had a higher chance of survival! There was no way he could allow that to happen. After all, they would be giving up their lives for him and he couldn’t accept that!

“Senior brothers…” Shang Xia interrupted them all of a sudden. “I am thankful that you’re giving me the chance to stay in the formation, but… You didn’t ask if I knew how to work with the rest in the formation!” 

Ma Xiaofeng and Ye Mingyuan’s expressions changed. They finally recalled that Shang Xia was still a student in the outer division and had no idea how the patrol squad formation worked!

After all, the Tongyou Institution had a rule that stated that disciples could only learn the formation after stepping into the inner division and after their completion of training with the Protection Division. 

Naturally, Ma Xiaofeng and Ye Mingyuan had no idea that Shang Xia already learned how to fight in formation during the war on Tongyou Peak.

Shang Xia took the chance to distance himself from the formation to force Ma Xiaofeng and Ye Mingyuan back into formation. Standing several dozen feet away, his voice rang through the air. “Senior Brother Ma, you might be a little stronger than Senior Brother Ye, but you’re not stronger than me. Senior Brother Ye, your movement art might be good, but is it better than my Shang Clan’s Irregular Steps?” 

Shang Xia’s figure disappeared in the distance, but his voice rang clearly in their minds. There was even a trace of smugness contained in it. “Haiz… Senior brothers, neither of you are qualified to leave the formation… I’ll take my leave!” 

Lu Lijing whispered behind the two of them, “Did… Did he just look down on the both of you?” 

Ye Mingyuan quietly walked back to his original position and so did Ma Xiaofeng. Both of them snapped at the same time, “Let’s just focus on fighting the enemy…” 

Yu Yifeng frowned suddenly. “Wait, he’s not running in the right direction… He should be heading in our original direction! From the way he’s moving now, their Martial Intent Realm expert might detect him!” 

Ye Mingyuan sighed softly. “He’s not running away… He plans to intercept the rest of the Martial Extremity Realm disciples after our battle with the Martial Intent Realm cultivator begins…”

Yu Yifeng widened his eyes in surprise.

Shang Xia’s idea was correct. The five of them were enough to stop a Martial Intent Realm cultivator, but if they added a few more Martial Extremity Realm disciples to the mix, their formation would be overwhelmed. As such, he chose to stop all the Martial Extremity Realm disciples by himself!

His actions were extremely dangerous. The moment the Martial Intent Realm expert turned around to focus on Shang Xia, he would be in terrible danger.

However, now that they were in such a desperate situation, he could only risk it all. He was relying on the fact that his actions wouldn’t be discovered by the Martial Intent Realm expert, and that Ma Xiaofeng and the rest would be able to hold him off for a long time!

Moreover, from the looks of it, the random changes in the Coral Forest would continue for the foreseeable future. As long as the battle lasted till their locations shifted again, it would be extremely likely for them to be able to escape the precarious situation they were in!

Shang Xia transformed his inner qi into light and heavy qi as he moved. When he unleashed his Irregular Steps, his speed increased by quite a bit. From afar, he looked like he was zooming across the lands.

After traveling out several miles, he felt a massive eruption of heaven and earth qi behind him. The battle between the Martial Intent Realm expert and those of the Tongyou Institution began.

Changing his direction immediately, he ran towards where the Martial Intent Realm expert came from.

…

Out of the eleven cultivators of the Rose Party who surrounded Ma Xiaofeng and the rest, three of them died in Shang Xia’s hands when he appeared. The remaining eight were traveling slowly towards their Martial Intent Realm expert. They seemed to be in no hurry at all.

“Those bastards of the Tongyou Institution are really tough! Not even Brother Sima Lixin will be able to take them down in a short amount of time! In the end, he has to call us to back him up!” 

The person leading them this time was the one who called for them to retreat last time. He took over the position of team leader after their original boss was killed by Shang Xia previously. 

“Shouldn’t we be heading there as quickly as possible?” Someone asked.

“Nope!” Their leader explained, “Not only should we not hurry, we need to head over as slow as possible. It would be great if we arrived right after both sides severely injure each other. We’ll head over there and wrap the battle up, securing the victory!” 

“Why would we do that?” Another person in the group asked.

The person in the lead snapped, “Are you stupid? If we head over and help Sima Lixin end the battle quickly, we can’t obtain any benefits… Do you think you’re stronger than him or something? Don’t forget, those bastards of the Tongyou Institution obtained one Gold Thread Grass and two Silver Thread Grass. Even though all we ask for are the lower-ranked Silver Thread Grass, do you think Sima Lixin would share the treasures with us? He’s a Martial Intent Realm expert! We’re nothing but cannon fodder to him!” 

Everyone in the group slowed down as the battle became more intense. The fluctuations of heaven and earth qi grew wilder and wilder.

“Right. You’re absolute geniuses! In fact, why don’t you slow down even more?” All of a sudden, a voice disrupted their beautiful daydream of swooping in at the last minute to ‘save’ the exhausted Sima Lixin from the members of the Tongyou Institution.

“You?!” The person leading the group of eight gasped after recognizing Shang Xia’s voice. Those standing around him stopped dead in their tracks. They couldn’t forget the scene where Shang Xia killed three of their companions in the blink of an eye.

“Wait! He’s the only one here! There’s nothing for us to be afraid of! You must be crazy to think that you can stop all eight of us alone…” The leader among them quickly discovered Shang Xia’s lone presence.

On the hill where Shang Xia stood, he drew his Delicate Jade River Sword. After thinking about it, he pulled out another ordinary-looking sword from his Embroidered Cloud Case. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to test out my limits for a long time now. Come! I hope you won’t disappoint me!” 

After he spoke, Shang Xia leaped towards the eight of them.