Splitting the Heave

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Even though he managed to make contact, Shang Xia still underestimated the other party’s strength! 

His Yin Yang Sword Formation made a breakthrough at the last moment, and he managed to defeat Dongfang Mingyu head-on. However, he was still unable to force Dongfang Mingyu to leave his life behind.

However, it might be a good thing that Dongfang Mingyu ran away as quickly as he could. Shang Xia had exhausted his entire reserve of inner qi.

Not too long after Dongfang Mingyu’s figure disappeared, Shang Xia staggered to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Damn! His Black and White Sword Boundary is really powerful!” Shang Xia even thought that he was going to die under Dongfang Mingyu’s sword earlier!

During the exchange, a small portion of black and white qi entered Shang Xia’s body. It was formless and nearly undetectable. Without the Yin Yang Diagram to neutralize it for the time being, Shang Xia might be ridden with hidden injuries!

It was something he couldn’t defend himself against! 

The strand of black and white qi followed his flow of inner qi back into his dantian now that the battle was over.

He only managed to detect it when he rotated his Yin Yang Diagram earlier. If it was anyone else, they wouldn’t be able to notice the anomaly! The strand of black and white qi would probably detonate in their bodies at an opportune moment for Dongfang Mingyu to strike. 

Dongfang Mingyu could only blame his bad luck for attacking Shang Xia.

That was the reason he turned tail to run. He noticed that his strand of qi wasn’t working like it normally would. 

To Shang Xia, this hidden attack was a massive treasure trove. The stand of black and white qi contained Dongfang Mingyu’s divine sense!

Once Shang Xia destroyed the divine sense contained in the strand of qi, he would be able to convert it into his Yin Yang Essence Qi!

Shang Xia’s injuries mainly came from the divine sense anyway, once he spent some time shattering it, he would recover too. Throughout the process of the conversion, Shang Xia would be able to inspect the source of black and white qi.

Like when he refined the Unstable Rock and comprehended the use of light and heavy qi, he might be able to do the same for the strand of black and white qi! If that happened, he could freely transform his qi into it when the time came!

Moreover, the strand of black and white qi would be a whole lot more effective than the Unsteady Rock when he tried to understand the meaning behind the pair of qi. 

Since he couldn’t really go after Dongfang Mingyu or enter seclusion that very second to study the strand of black and white qi, he could only treat his injuries the best he could. He picked up the items that fell from Dongfang Mingyu’s Embroidered Cloud Case and tossed them into his own. He barely glanced through them as though he was in a race against time. He quickly left the region. 

Shang Xia also had a feeling that he would run into Dongfang Mingyu again. When that happened, the exchange between the two would only grow more violent.

In the core region of the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World... The moment he appeared, a huge ruckus was kicked up. He didn’t mind it too much and decided to do his own thing. 

Healing his injuries was of the highest priority. Even though he saw a few familiar faces in the core region, he only made a quick report to Sun Haiwei and Ma Xiaofeng before entering a random cultivation cave to cultivate.

…

In a place that couldn’t be accessed by anyone under the Martial Extermination Realm, several experts were exchanging blows. Shang Bo sealed off the space with the Coral Command, and whatever happened there wouldn’t affect the Coral Forest at all.

Of course, he only managed to do that after controlling the Coral Command entirely. Other than several plots of land, everywhere else was turned into a pile of ruins.

…

Not too far away from the Tongyou Peak…

Two teams of cultivators from the Azure Spiritual World and Azure Origin World gathered together, and there were close to a hundred experts ready to strike.

One of the teams consisted of experts from the Four Spiritual Peak, led by Lang Jingyun and Lu Zhanyi. 

The other was led by She Zhihong, and he was the brother of She Zhiqing who lost his life in the battle on the Tongyou Peak.

The only thing that made him stand out from the rest was that his age was a lot higher than the rest. His experiences were rich and his cultivation was strong. Even Lang Jingyun and Lu Zhanyi could only address him as their elder.

“Uncle Hong, the Tongyou Peak is right up ahead!” Lang Jingyun bowed respectfully. 

She Zhihong’s appearance was pretty scary. His face was large, and his ears were like huge fans. He wore a strict expression all the time. 

“Can you ascertain the situation on the mountain right now?” She Zhihong continued, “I just arrived here and I’m not overly familiar with the situation. Everything I know comes from you guys. Look at the mess you caused! You even caused Zhiqing to die during the previous battle!”

Lang Jingyun’s expression froze and a dry cough escaped his lips. “Of course. We are sure that Ji Wenlong, Shang Bo, and Shang Lubing have entered the Coral Forest. The only Martial Extermination Realm expert from the institution left on the mountain is Liu Qinglan. No one else is strong enough for us to take note of them! The only thing we need to be careful of is the protection formation! If Uncle Hong makes a move, it will fall for sure!”

She Zhihong didn’t fully believe what he said earlier. Instead, he continued his line of questioning. “Is there really only Liu Qinglan left? Are you sure they didn’t send any experts over secretly?”

“Uncle Hong, you might not know this, but there are only so few Martial Extermination Realm experts in the Tongyou Institution! That’s how we managed to keep the balance up till now! Kou Chongxue only managed to step into the Martial Dipper Realm with his dogshit luck. However, he’s seriously injured right now and Yun Jing has to oversee matters in the institution. She can’t leave even if she wanted to. The Tongyou Institution cannot possibly bring out any more experts!” 

“Is that so…” She Zhihong looked at Lang Jingyun with a faint smile on his face. “Don’t forget, you guys were extremely confident when attacking the Tongyou Peak the last time. Three completely unexpected variables appeared during the war! If another one appears this time, this old man won’t be surprised at all…” 

Lang Jingyun’s face flushed red and Lu Zhanyi could only jump in to help mitigate the awkward situation. “Elder Hong, you're more experienced than all of us here. If you lead us into battle later, nothing unexpected can happen. Even if an additional expert at the Martial Extermination Realm appears, we’ll be able to deal with it.”

After he spoke, he didn’t forget to signal towards Lang Jingyun with his eyes.

Hesitating for a second, Lang Jingyun eventually nodded his head to pander to the old man’s ego. “Brother Lu is right! Uncle Hong, we’ll definitely achieve our goal today!” 

…

In one of the secret chambers, Shang Xia completed the transformation of the strand of black and white qi in his dantian. He managed to learn how to transform his Yin Yang Essence Qi into it and he couldn’t hide his smile.

The accumulation of different types of qi might not increase his cultivation level, but it strengthened his foundations quite a bit! He would grow stronger than before!

Moreover, he could feel that the more pairs of qi he comprehended, the stronger his Yin Yang Essence Qi would become. His inner qi became purer every time he comprehended a new type.

There was no doubt about it that he took another step closer to breaking through to the Martial Intent Realm. If he had an advancement formula, he was sure that the blood red tablet would be able to optimize it immediately.

In actuality, there was an advancement formula of the Zhu Family when he obtained Zhu Ying’s Embroidered Cloud Case. However, he was trying to avoid using it.

There was no need to think more about it. Shang Xia brought out another sword manual, and it was the Dual Interference Sword Manual Dongfang Mingyu dropped!