Splitting the Heave

Clearly, the Gale Thunderbolt Talisman wasn’t going to be easy to craft.

Shang Xia just completed 3 Formation Talismans and even though he didn’t exert himself too much, he didn’t plan on starting immediately.

What’s more, he already made a promise to his second uncle and seventh aunt to join one of the secret gatherings of Martial Intent Realm cultivators on the Observation Peak. It wasn’t easy to gain entry to the current gathering as everyone had to have completed their third divine sense transformation in order to get the qualifications to enter.

As such, Shang Xia’s expectations for the gathering were also pretty high.

After giving Shang Xia the case with the Spirit of Spring and Spirit of Winter, Shang Bo also took his leave. As the deputy patriarch of the Tongyou Institution, he had a lot of things to take care of now that Kou Chongxue was in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion and Ji Wenlong was consolidating his foundations. Right now, he had to oversee everything that happened in the battlefield between the two worlds and there were truly too many things he had to keep an eye on. He didn’t really have much free time.

Before he left, he didn’t forget to remind Shang Xia to head over to bring the Lightning Bird and the flock of Mutated Rain Swallows over to the Observations Peak when he was done with whatever he was doing.

Shang Xia promised to do just that and the moment Shang Bo left, he followed closely behind. He disappeared from the Talisman Hall and returned to the territory of the Shang Clan.

By the time he came back, Shang Xi and Shang Jian were already starting to make their preparations for the gathering. They didn’t really leave the clan’s territory while doing so.

The moment Shang Xia saw them, he asked, “Do we have any news of Uncle Yan Qi?” 

Shang Quan shook his head but looked at Shang Jian for an answer.

“After sending out all our transmission talismans, Third Uncle told us to not bother about Yan Qi.” Shang Jian muttered softly.

Shang Xia was slightly taken aback and he thought about the matter himself. Eventually, he nodded and changed the topic. “Second Uncle, Uncle Quan, how are our preparations for the gathering? Do we also know where and when it’s going to be held?”

The news of the gathering had already spread to most of the Martial Intent Realm cultivators in the battlefield between the two worlds. The only pieces of information that couldn’t be confirmed was the time and place.

“Yes. it will be held in exactly three days under the Yuxi Peak.” Shang Jian replied.

“Yuxi Peak?!” Shang Xia’s heart trembled slightly. “Didn’t that place turn into some sort of forbidden zone?” 

Shang Jian continued to explain, “The seal around the Yuxi Peak seems to be extremely solid, but the location the gathering will be held is quite far from the region. We won’t be disturbed by the chaotic qi coming from the Yuxi Peak no matter what happens.” 

Shang Xia could somewhat make the connection that Shang Jian was one of the organizers of the gathering. As such, the details he was revealing were pretty solid.

“Unfortunately, the Ji Clan managed to seize the initiative this time. Ji Min would be the one hosting the gathering when the time comes.” Shang Jian threw out another bomb all of a sudden.

Reading deeper into the meaning behind his words, Shang Xia seemed to have discovered something interesting as he asked, “Second Uncle, does this mean that this sort of gathering will be held in the future as well?” 

Shang Jian nodded in response. “We didn’t plan to hold the gathering because of a spur of the moment decision. Instead, all of us planned to do so in order to stabilize the situation. Our initial idea is to hold it regularly and for our four great clans to take turns being the host. The Ji Clan got to host this because Ji Wenlong entered the Martial Dipper Realm. We hope to use his reputation to suppress anyone who’s thinking of causing trouble. That is why Ji Min will be the one to host the gathering. In the future, we have to obtain the host position no matter what!” 

Seeing the resolute expression on Shang Jian’s face, Shang Xia couldn’t help but laugh, “Second Uncle, even though the Ji Clan is the one hosting the gathering, we’re still part of the powers backing them. Don’t we have some sort of sneak peek into what’s to come?” 

Raising both eyebrows slightly, Shang Jian snickered, “Of course we do. I’ll give you something juicy right now. Ge Qingzhu, who went into hiding recently, will definitely show up. Also, he’s going to bring a batch of the treasures he obtained to auction off.” 

…

As Shang Xia was talking to Shang Jian and the others, a different scene was playing out in the Formation Hall. Three rank three Formation Masters were gathered together in discussion. 

“Haiz, little lass, you’re too stubborn this time!” Ma Mingzheng couldn’t help but grumble after hearing what happened back at the Talisman Hall outside Shang Xia’s secret chamber. “You’re making things difficult for Young Master Shang on purpose! Moreover, you did it right under Deputy Patriarch Shang’s nose! What’s more, you left behind a spying formation to eavesdrop on their conversation! Do you really think that Deputy Patriarch Shang and Head Zhang won’t be able to discover what you did?” 

Chu Jia replied casually, “I didn’t think of hiding it from the two of them when I left the formation back there…” 

“But you still did it!” Ma Mingzheng snapped angrily. 

With a wide smile appearing on her face, Chu Jia turned to Ma Mingzheng and chuckled softly, “Alright, alright, I didn’t mean any disrespect in the first place. I was only planning to show them who’s boss…” 

Glaring at her, Ma Mingzheng growled, “That’s what you mean by not showing any disrespect?!” 

“Hehe, No matter what, our Formation Hall has been the one calling the shots regardless of who we work with. However we put it, we’re the ones doing the main bulk of the work. All of them are merely complementing our efforts. This time, because of a suggestion the Talisman Hall brought up, we’ll have to carry out large scale modifications to the formation core we already set up. If we go along and let them do as they wish now, everyone will follow in their footsteps in the future.” Chu Jia explained while giggling.

Grunting twice, Ma Mingzheng sneered, “You’re just afraid you won’t get to slack off in the future.” 

“Hehe! You’re such a genius!” Seeing as everyone present knew her intentions anyway, she didn’t bother hiding it.

Ma Mingzheng could only shake his head helplessly. 

Seeing his reaction, she couldn’t help but continue, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to take a nap, alright?” 

On the surface, it looked like she was asking for Ma Mingzheng’s permission to leave. However, she turned to leave after she spoke.

Ma Mingzheng snorted under his breath, “Aren’t you afraid that Talisman Master Shang will be able to complete the talismans in time? What if he actually makes 5 of them?” 

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Chu Jia yawned and muttered something under her breath that no one could hear before waving her hands casually. Without bothering with anyone’s reaction, she strolled away.

Looking at her leaving figure, Ma Mingzheng could only shake his head and sigh bitterly. 

Bai Luming, who had been silent all this while, finally broke the silence. “Brother Mingzheng, you don’t have to worry about her. Even though she shows a little… A larger than average attitude… She has never made a mistake. Neither will she fail to hit her deadlines.” Bai Luming observed Ma Mingzheng’s reaction carefully and saw that he wasn’t going to blow up in rage before he continued, “Ever since I joined the institution, I haven’t seen her drop the ball. She might get on your nerves and drag her feet whenever anything happens, she has always completed her task perfectly. She should know what she’s doing. Brother Mingzheng, you can rest assured.” 

“Hmm…” Ma Mingzheng thought for a second before realizing what he was trying to say. “Are you telling me that the little lass has already come up with a way to finish the task?” 

Bai Luming nodded. “If I’m not wrong, that should be the case. It doesn’t matter if Young Master Shang manages to complete the talismans, she should have a way to deal with the problem.”

Ma Mingzheng couldn’t help but stroke his already short beard while revealing a contented smile on his face after hearing what he said.

…

The Yuxi Peak could be seen in the distance as the Crimson Soul Tablet started to thump in his sea of consciousness. A huge swathe of crimson mist seemed to appear in front of him. From the aggressive thumping of the Crimson Soul Tablet, it seemed like it wanted to leap out from his mind.

“Little Xia!” The voice became louder in his mind and Shang Xia quickly snapped back to reality. 

Shang Xi’s face popped up beside him and she asked, “What’s the matter? Why did your gaze turn so aggressive when you look at the Yuxi Peak? You didn’t even hear me calling you earlier.” 

“It’s nothing too much. The Yuxi Peak really transformed since the last time we came. I lost focus for a moment after seeing what happened to it.” Shang Xia chuckled in response.

Rolling her eyes at him, Shang Xi continued, “I thought that you exhausted too much of your divine sense after crafting so many talismans.”

One had to say that the reason she came up with from out of nowhere was much better than the one he came up with. 

Shang Xia replied quickly, “It’s alright. It won’t affect us in any way.” 

It was Shang Jian at the side who spoke up before Shang Xi could say anything. “Little Xia, you can’t be careless about things like that. I heard that the talismans you made were comparable to those crafted by Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui. The two of them have been crafting talismans for a long time and they would be much more used to the consumption of divine sense. You’re young and cannot afford to injure your divine sense. You cannot affect your future prospects at all costs!” 

From the way they saw it, Shang Xia might be a genius in the way of talisman crafting, but there was no way he was better than Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui.

They felt that he was using some sort of secret method to maintain his consumption to keep up with the two of them. That was why they were afraid that he would affect his future potential. If that was truly the case, it wouldn’t be worth it in the slightest!

Shang Jian and Shang Xi couldn’t be blamed for the way they were thinking. No one would expect Shang Xia to be some perverted existence whose divine sense had exceeded their expectations.

Actually, Shang Xi and Shang Jian made up their minds to head over to drag Shang Xia out of his secret chamber if he failed to return by the time they had to head over to the Yuxi Peak. In their eyes, the Talisman Hall took advantage of the time when Shang Ke wasn’t present to exploit Shang Xia.

Luckily, or unluckily for them, Shang Bo had barely returned from his adventures and hadn't had the time to tell them about the Gale Thunderbolt Talisman. If they learned about it, who knew what ideas they would come up with to go knocking on the Talisman Hall’s door to help protect Shang Xia’s interests.