Splitting the Heave

When the protection formation shattered, more than half the Four Spiritual Peak was already in ruins. When Shang Xia and Shang Ke entered the radius of the protection formation, they could barely find another living soul under all the destruction.

A Martial Extremity Realm disciple managed to crawl his way out from the ground, but he was killed with a wave of Shang Xia’s hand. A sigh left Shang Xia’s lips along with it. “Are they all dead? Oh right, that makes sense. That’s a rank five undead corpse we’re talking about. It won’t show mercy to those stained with Zhu Ying’s blood.”

His conjecture was met with a shake of the head from Shang Ke. “You’re wrong there. Actually, a huge portion of those from the Four Spiritual Peak had already left. They’re no fools. The moment Zhu Tong entered the protection barrier, they had already started to prepare for the worst. They knew that they wouldn’t be able to stop Zhu Tong.” 

“How…” Shang Xia gasped in shock.

“Hah. They probably expected as much the moment your Grandpa Bo and Ji Wenlong arrived. The Four Spiritual Peak looked peaceful earlier, but that is because they used their Martial Extermination Realm experts to stall for time. That was probably why She Zhihong sacrificed himself too.” Shang Ke explained.

Shang Xia couldn’t understand it fully and he continued to ask, “Then… Grandpa Bo and Grandpa Ji should have discovered that the disciples of the Four Spiritual Peak are making their escape. Why didn’t they stop them?” 

“How were they supposed to do that? Were they going to massacre all the lower leveled disciples on their own? Or do you think that they should have sent you to stop hundreds of disciples from escaping?” Shang Ke growled in annoyance.

Shang Xia seemed to have recalled something and he frowned slightly. “If Instructor Liu came earlier, the disciples of our Tongyou Peak would be able to stop them!” 

“Haha. Liu Qinglan is already looking highly upon you by leading an army of disciples based on your haphazard report. Naturally, the disciples of the Four Spiritual Peak wouldn’t be able to leave unscathed. Hundreds of them should be buried under the collapsed peak. Don’t forget, they lost a huge number of cultivators during the war on our Tongyou Peak. I strongly suspect that the number of cultivators of the Four Spiritual Peak who managed to escape wouldn’t number more than two hundred! After this battle, the strength of the four races in the Azure Spiritual World would drop by more than a third! That’s including the loss of Martial Extermination Realm cultivators!” 

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Shang Xia’s heart trembled slightly as he stared at Shang Ke. It seemed as though the four great clans’ intelligence on the four races that populated the Four Spiritual Peak wasn’t as bad as he thought!

Could they already have planted spies in the enemy’s rank?

Seeing the look on Shang Xia’s face, Shang Ke smiled. “Alright. You don’t have to think too much about it. This is the best chance for you to sweep up all the benefits here. If you wait around and let the members of the Tongyou Peak arrive, you won’t be able to grab all the good stuff in time!” 

They didn’t remain idle as they continued to walk deeper into the Four Spiritual Peak. It didn’t take long for them to arrive before a half-destroyed building.

“This is the Music Pavilion on the Tide Peak. This is where Ran Biluo and several important figures of her race would enter seclusion. The building is extremely sturdy and there might be several restrictions around it. That’s how it managed to survive the destruction.”

Even though neither the Tongyou Peak nor the Four Spiritual Peak managed to destroy each other in the past twenty years, they managed to gain a thorough understanding of each other.

Shang Xia’s earlier guess seemed to be confirmed at the moment. Even if he was beaten to death, he wouldn’t believe that the Tongyou Institution didn’t plant spies among the four races!

Whatever the case, grabbing the leftover treasures was more important to him. With a single slash, Shang Xia’s Jade River Sword sliced the roof of the pavilion in half.

“Oi! Don’t act recklessly! If the restrictions were activated…” Shang Ke yelled at him. Before he could complete his sentence, he saw a myriad of lights emerging from the opening Shang Xia created. However, they were quickly shattered with another swing of Shang Xia’s sword.

“Grandpa, I’ll head in first. Please deal with the rest.” Shang Xia jumped through the gap before Shang Ke could say anything.

A trace of contemplation flashed through Shang Ke’s mind and he muttered to himself, “This… This is weird. How many different types of martial intent did the brat just use?! Even if he cultivated the Triple Polarity Mystery Art, he should only be able to transform his qi among the three different types. He can only use one pair at a time… How the hell did this brat use so many martial intents in one strike?! Did this old man go blind or something?!” 

At his level, he obviously noticed the abnormality when Shang Xia unleashed his previous attack to shatter the restriction that emerged from the opening he created! Even Martial Intent Realm experts would find it hard to replicate what he just did, much less disciples at the Martial Extremity Realm! 

When Shang Ke was still suspecting if the restriction around the Music Pavilion had degenerated due to the destruction, several popping sounds came from within. In a flash, Shang Xia emerged with a wooden case that was half a feet long and a conch that was the size of a fist.

“Is that it?” Shang Ke frowned.

Nodding his head, he handed both items over to his grandfather. “Looks like everything inside has already been swept clean. They definitely took whatever they could before running away. These are the only things left inside. They were hidden in a secret chamber and I only managed to get to them after unleashing seven slashes! Take a look and tell me what you think of them!” 

“The secret chamber should be where Ran Biluo entered seclusion. For items to be kept in there… Haha, this should be some pretty good stuff!” Shang Ke chuckled while examining the conch in his hand.

“Ran Biluo’s Seven Conch Sword can be considered a high-grade weapon. The soundwaves it emits can mess with her opponent in battle. It causes one’s inner qi to flow chaotically, and it can even affect their thoughts. It’s extremely difficult to defend against it. I heard that she only managed to refine the Seven Conch Sword after extracting all the essence spirit of various conches in the sea…” Halfway through his explanation, Shang Ke flicked his finger on the surface of the shell, causing a clear ringing sound. He clicked his tongue and sighed, “This conch is studier than some metal out there! It’s definitely a rank three treasure or higher! If we refine it into some sort of musical instrument, the weakest it can turn out to be will be a low-grade weapon!” 

Shang Xia was elated to hear the evaluation, but there was still a trace of confusion in his mind. “No matter what, she’s a Martial Extermination Realm expert. Rank three treasures might be rare, but it’s a little lacking for her to keep it so close to her! There has to be some other use for this conch!” 

“Ran Biluo’s cultivation method is related to how tides form in the ocean… If you place your ears at the opening of the conch, you’ll be able to hear the sloshing of waves! Could that be the key to her cultivation?!” Shang Ke widened his eyes in shock.

“Maybe?” Shang Xia chuckled in amusement before keeping the conch into his Embroidered Cloud Case. “You should take a look at the wooden case too.” 

Looking at the restriction around the wooden case, a trace of extermination origin appeared on Shang Ke’s palm and he forcefully destroyed whatever protection remained around the case.

He sucked in a cold breath the moment he examined its contents. “Damn kid, you lucked out! How the hell did you manage to find something like this? Well, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to congeal your divine sense after all!”