Splitting the Heave

… 

The Azure Spiritual World might have killed a Martial Extermination Realm expert from the Tongyou Institution and wounded many disciples, but they suffered a greater loss. They lost two Martial Extermination Realm experts on their side. Sima Zhanxing’s fall wasn’t anything noteworthy, but the same couldn’t be said for Inner Sect Elder Huang Yunxiang. His death wasn’t so much a mystery as it was an unfortunate event. Everyone knew he was killed by the Martial Dipper Realm sword qi, but no one knew the reason he died. Moreover, his death decided the outcome of the war directly. 

Now, Lang Qingyun has also fallen. His death was a mystery to all other than those who killed him, and the death toll of the Martial Extermination Realm experts on the side of the Azure Spiritual World increased to three! They could be said to have taken a huge loss. Lang Jingyun, a fellow clan member of the fallen Lang Qingyun, and even Ran Kongqing, were finding it difficult to accept the loss.

Ran Kongqing was currently the representative of the four great races of the Liao Continent and he was in possession of the Lingxuan Space Shattering Claw. When he learned about the death of Lang Qingyun, he wanted nothing more than to charge into battle once again and vent his frustrations on the Tongyou Institution.

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However, the indignant feeling that was filling his heart didn’t just come from the Tongyou Institution. Some grievances for the Changbai Holy Land were also smoldering in his mind.

The news of Lang Qingyun’s death started to spread when Qi Yunxiu managed to escape, but Shang Ke also sent a transmission to Shang Bo about the situation in the Redwood Forest. From what Shang Bo had said, Ran Kongqing could guess what had happened. If Qi Yunxiu had nothing to do with the battle, Shang Ke wouldn’t have been able to kill Lang Qingyun!

However, no matter how deep the hatred he felt, Ran Kongqing knew that he wouldn’t be able to take it out on Qi Yunxiu. After all, they needed the strength of the Changbai Holy Land to deal with the Tongyou Institution.

…

A second later, the space above the Redwood Forest was torn open. Shang Lubing from the Tongyou Institution arrived and Pang Yunbi from the Changbai Holy Land arrived one after the other.

In the space above the Redwood Forest, nine Martial Extermination Realm experts had gathered. There were five of them from the Azure Spiritual World and Ran Kongqing also had the Lingxuan Space Shattering Claw on him. However, they weren’t confident in defeating the four experts from the Azure Origin World. 

With the appearance of so many of them, both Ran Kongqing and Shang Bo knew that no matter how much they hated each other or how much indignation they were suffering, things would not end in a bloody battle. Since the Martial Dipper Realm experts on both sides had come to an agreement, all of them had to control themselves. 

After a round of mockery and quarrels, both sides seemed to understand what happened earlier even though both sides tried their best to hide what had happened.

Pan Yunbi glared at Qi Yunxiu before admitting ‘graciously’, “Junior Brother Qi made a huge mistake and caused Junior Qingyun to suffer some injuries. Patriarch Ran can decide on his punishment. However, the enemies are upon us and the situation in the battlefield between the two worlds isn’t really stable right now. I hope that Patriarch Ran can go easy on him and allow him to make up for his mistakes through battle.”

Pan Yunbi’s words seemed to solve the situation perfectly while denouncing Qi Yunxiu, but her words were basically a formality. Ren Kongqing wasn’t able to do anything to Qi Yunxiu anyway and he could only shoot a glance at Lang Jingyun while forcing a laugh, “No matter what, we can only blame the enemy for being too crafty. How can I possibly push all the blame onto Junior Yunxiu? We won’t bring this matter up after this.” 

Liu Qingan couldn’t help but sneer after hearing what he said.

Lang Jingyun and the others shot her death stares but she didn’t bother with any of them.

Shang Bo’s voice rang in Liu Qinglan’s mind as the members of the Azure Spiritual World were trying their best to intimidate her. “Nothing much will happen here now that Ran Kongqing and I are here. Go take a look at the essence jade cave that was reported. There seems to be a mine in there capable of producing essence jade.” 

Nodding slightly, Liu Qinglan shot another mocking smile over to the experts of the Azure Spiritual World before turning into a streak of light that flew away. It didn’t take long before she disappeared.

Turning to Shang Lubing, Shang Bo sent another voice transmission over. “Chief Shang, I hope you can stay here and deal with the aftermath with Shang Ke. We discovered the nest of the Mutated Rain Swallows once again and I should head over to take a look. At the same time, I’ll rush over to the newly discovered marsh to check it out.” 

Shang Lubing nodded but when he tried to look for Shang Bo, he discovered that the Deputy Patriarch had already disappeared.

With his departure, Ran Kongqing also vanished from his spot. Lang Jingyun who was emitting waves of killing intent was left behind with She Dajun the newly promoted Martial Extermination Realm expert.

Lang Jingyun was unwilling to say anything and She Dajun could only break the silence helplessly. Coughing once, he muttered, “How do you plan to split this place?” 

Chuckling softly, Shang Lubing suggested, “We’ll split it equally.” 

Shang Ke, who was standing right beside him, couldn’t help but interrupt. “Wait… Chief Shang, my Shang Clan should receive a portion too, right? After all, I was the person who discovered this place and reported it.” 

Shang Lubing did a double take and he didn’t seem to believe what he just heard. He turned to look at Shang Ke with a strange expression on his face but was met with an incomparably serious stare.

Even a fool could tell that someone had already raided the place. Moreover, the Martial Extermination Realm experts present weren’t able to detect the presence of the little shit several miles away, but they spotted his figure staring at them sneakily as though everyone there was blind.

Shang Lubing couldn’t help but think back to Shang Bo’s hasty departure. He wondered if the Deputy Patriarch left because he wanted to maintain his reputation and avoid being part of their shameless show. 

Regardless, Shang Lubing was eventually defeated by Shang Ke’s ‘earnest’ gaze. He sighed helplessly, “Yeah… Of course there’s a portion that will go to your Shang Clan…” 

With a wide grin appearing on his face, Shang Ke cupped his fists and thanked, “Many thanks, Chief!”

…

Originally, Shang Xia thought that a massive battle would break out the moment they arrived. That was why he chose to hide himself far away. However, he realized that the battle wouldn’t be taking place the moment his Grandpa Bo and Ran Kongqing appeared.

As such, he approached sneakily while keeping his eye on those experts hovering in the skies. 

Indeed. It didn’t take long for the experts to take their leave. Eventually, there were only four of them left and they were responsible for splitting up the Redwood Forest. With the decision made, Lang Jingyun turned to take his leave immediately. Shang Ke flew over to Shang Xia with a wide smile threatening to split his face in two.

“How much wine did you collect?” Shang Ke couldn’t wait to hear about his gains.

Even though they couldn’t use Monkey Wine to break through to the next level, it was an extremely valuable treasure to help with their cultivation.

After all, Monkey Wine could increase the speed at which inner qi is circulated in a cultivator’s body!

One could only imagine how quickly a cultivator would improve if they could drink some Monkey Wine every day, the accumulated effects would be frightening after several years of cultivation!

Shang Xia swept his gaze around his surroundings before whispering carefully, “I collected more than 100 catties of rank one Money Wine. There’s close to 60 catties of rank two Monkey Wine. As for rank three Monkey Wine, I only managed to gather around 30 catties…” 

Shang Ke’s face lit up after hearing what he said. 

Even though rank one to three Monkey Wine wasn’t really useful to someone at his level, it was great for those in the clan! He could even imagine how the Shang Clan’s power would make a sharp rise in the following years.

“Nice, nice! Everything was worth it!” Shang Ke celebrated, but he also suppressed his voice when he said it. However, he couldn’t hide his excitement. “Oh right, there are more Monkey Wine in the forest and from the way we’re splitting up the loot, our clan will receive an additional portion. Oi, brat, what’s with that stupid look you’re giving me?” 

“It’s nothing!” Shang Xia shook his head violently before he continued, “Grandpa Ke, you’re working so hard for our clan and I have nothing but respect for you…” 

“Ahem…” Shang Ke coughed lightly and he quickly followed up, “Brat, it’s good that you know. If you take on the role as the Shang Clan Patriarch in the future, you will know how difficult it is to manage the entire clan. You cannot give up any benefits that might help the clan!” 

Raising his thumb slowly, he commended his Grandpa Ke. However, he quickly took out another bottle and explained, “Grandpa Ke, this…” 

Shaking the bottle slightly, Shang Ke glanced at Shang Xia from the corner of his eye. “Why is there so little liquid in here?” 

He didn’t wait for Shang Xia to explain himself as he popped open the cork immediately. A faint-red mist emerged from the opening of the bottle and a dense fragrance filled the air.

“Rank four…”

Shang Ke’s expression changed immediately as he stuffed the cork back in. He inhaled deeply to remove any traces of the wine fragrance in the air but he couldn’t relax still. In the end, he waved his sleeves to create a violent gust of wind that ripped through the area.

Looking at him now, Shang Ke’s face was flushed red. No one knew if it was because of the alcohol or if he was too excited. He asked Shang Xia hurriedly, “Where did you get this?!” 

As soon as the question left his lips, Shang Ke realized that it was a stupid question. He quickly shifted the topic. “Did the rank four Mutated Monkey King actually leave some rank four Monkey Wine?!”

In essence, the question he asked was the same as the previous question. However, no one could blame him as obtaining rank four Monkey Wine was a great achievement! It was no wonder he was so excited.

Nodding slightly, Shang Xia explained, “Grandpa Ke, will three catties of this be enough for you to refine your second extermination origin?”

Shang Ke stared at him in stunned silence for a second and he laughed eventually, “You’re not too far away from breaking through yourself. You should keep it.” 

A bitter smile formed on Shang Xia’s face when he thought about how far away he was from completing his advancement medicine. “It’s not that easy to gather everything for my rank four advancement medicine. I’m afraid I’m going to be stuck at the peak of the Martial Intent Realm for quite some time! Rather than leaving this Monkey Wine with me, we might as well make full use of it now and help you increase your cultivation.” 

“I understand where you’re coming from and I appreciate your thoughts. However, I can’t raise my cultivation as I wish! Even if it can help me refine my second extermination origin, it’s really difficult to find one! Do you think extermination origins are cabbages that grow on the side of the road?” Shang Ke chuckled bitterly. 

Thinking about it for a moment, Shang Xia wondered out loud. “After the war for the Tongyou Mysterious World, didn’t our clan obtain the Lingkong Formless Extermination Origin?” 

Shang Ke waved his hand and snapped, “I can’t use that! It’s supposed to be left for you. When you gain the qualification to enter the Martial Extermination Realm, you can use the strand of extermination origin to break through immediately! Giving you the opportunity to break through is much better than me using it to slightly improve my strength!” 

“Oh?” Shang Xia gasped. “Grandpa Ke, doesn’t this mean that as long as our clan obtains another strand of extermination origin, you’ll use it to break through to the second layer of the Martial Extermination Realm?” 

Falling silent for a second, Shang Ke eventually sighed, “No… We can’t do that.” 

“Why not?” Shang Xia frowned.

Looking at Shang Xia, Shang Ke sighed. “I know my limits… I broke through to the Martial Extermination Realm in the Coral Forest because there was no other choice. With my potential, reaching my current level is the furthest I can go. Instead of wasting extermination origins, I would rather leave them for promising members of the later generations in our Shang Clan.” Pausing slightly, he continued, “Your Second Uncle put in a lot of effort during this war and if you don’t need the extermination origin immediately, I plan on giving it to him so that he can break through to the Martial Extermination Realm.” 

Shang Xia thought about it for a second but he still seemed a little confused. “Didn’t Second Uncle choose the Exquisite Muddled Liquid as his advancement medicine? Wouldn’t the Multi Illusion Wine be much more compatible with the Lingkong Formless Extermination Origin?” 

“That is indeed the case, but the Exquisite Muddled Liquid is just a little worse than it.” Shang Ke explained but he quickly added, “Actually, anyone who can break through to the Martial Extermination Realm would be thanking their lucky stars. Why would they go around being picky about their advancement medicine?” 

“What if… What if he can choose from other extermination origins?” Shang Xia threw out a bomb all of a sudden.