Splitting the Heave

When the grand formation was fully operational, the Lightning Bird flapped his wings and rose into the skies to lead his flock to the central region of the formation.

Shang Xia looked in the direction the birds were flying and noticed a giant wooden pillar hundreds of feet tall erected in the middle of the Observation Peak. He didn't know when it was placed there, but he could tell from the size that many people would need to link hands in order to wrap themselves around it.

There were long and rough branches that extended out from the main pillar that slowly tapered off and split into many smaller and thinner branches, but there were no leaves to be found on it.

From far, the wooden pillar was no different from a dead tree.

The Lightning Bird and the flock of Mutated Rain Swallows quickly found their way over before looking for a suitable place to build their nest.

The moment the Lightning Bird landed on the pillar, runes lit up on multiple spots and a gust of wind swept across the originally peaceful Observation Peak. 

With a loud cry coming from the Lightning Bird, the flock of Mutated Rain Swallows started chirping away.

When the cries reached their peak, a loud explosion rocked the space above the Observation Peak. Deep rumbling echoed through the lands and they slowly transformed into claps of thunder.

An eye-catching bolt of lightning tore across the skies before landing close to the edge of the grand formation that surrounded the peak. That wasn’t all. A gale that emitted strange howls started to rise. When the winds left the Observation Peak, it tore a huge path of destruction behind it. A tree was snapped in half and the surface that was revealed was as smooth as a mirror.

Coincidentally, the tree was blown back into the Observation Peak and when it crossed the boundary marked by the grand formation, a bolt of lightning fell from the void to turn it into a bunch of ash. By the time the ash scattered across the lands, the space around the Observation Peak seemed to undergo another transformation. The void was turned into a region of chaos and that was the moment everyone within realized how terrifying the new grand formation was.

Everyone was able to see what happened on the surface, but the inner workings of the grand formation weren’t that obvious. They didn’t know that the giant pillar of wood where the Lightning Bird decided to rest contained a separate space. It was where the core of the formation was located.

The instant the changes happened, Chu Jia, who was seated cross-legged beside the core of the formation, opened her eyes. The second they were open, the reflection of the formation core in her pupils turned blurry before disappearing.

The disturbance around the Observation Peak immediately stopped as everything returned to normal. The skies regained their color.

Beside her, Ma Mingzheng appeared and asked with concern, “How is it?” 

The look in Chu Jia’s eyes turned clearer by the second and a smile slowly appeared on her face. “I did it! I comprehended my third martial intent!” 

Ma Mingzheng nodded, but his expression remained neutral as he brought up the next question. “What else?” 

“The day I step into the Martial Extermination Realm is the day I become a rank four Formation Master!” Chu Jia grinned.

Only then did Ma Mingzheng clap his hands in excitement. “Great! That’s great!” 

…

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It was common for one to lose track of time in the battlefield between the two worlds. 

Ever since the Tongyou Institution established the Observation Peak, half a year had passed. The 845th year of the Azure Origin World had long since rolled around. 

With the successful deployment of the grand formation, the Observation Peak became a lot more secure than before. The formation would activate when the Observation Peak came under attack by external threats. 

Since the formation was active, the Observation Peak became a lot more bustling than before. Those temporary structures were torn down completely as large scale construction began.

The situation in the battlefield between the two worlds became a lot more peaceful and so did Shang Xia’s life. 

…

Ever since Shang Xia achieved the impossible and completed 8 Gale Thunderbolt Talismans in 2 months, the number of people who were willing to pay a huge price to get him to craft talismans increased at a tremendous rate. It was especially so after those talismans were incorporated into the grand formation.

Also, with Shang Xia’s cultivation at the peak of the Martial Intent Realm, ordinary cultivation resources were of no use to him. As such, he didn’t request too many of them from Shang Quan. Instead, the resources he wanted were all related to talisman crafting in one way or another.

Everything else that he passed to Shang Quan previously had been changed into gold coins or silver essence and other than a small portion of it being contributed to the clan, the rest were saved under Shang Xia’s name.

Trading his old resources or those he plundered for cash was only one of Shang Quan’s jobs. He was also trying to help Shang Xia look for rank four cultivation resources. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much luck while doing so.

“Someone came over to request for talismans again!” Shang Quan reminded while bringing over a batch of resources.

“Hahaha, Uncle Quan, you can do as you see fit. There’s only one rule that remains. I will only craft a single rank three talisman a month.” Shang Xia chuckled in response.

Shang Quan sniggered softly. “Relax, I didn’t forget that. Anyway, I’ll deal with the rest of the problems and make the arrangements. There’s nothing for you to worry about.” 

Because of the number of rank three talismans Shang Xia had experience crafting, the people who came knocking on the Shang Clan’s door never stopped. There was also a need to mention that those talismans Shang Xia could craft were either extremely useful or extremely powerful.

Since he didn’t wish to be bogged down by requests every day, Shang Xia simply threw the problem to Shang Quan. He waved his hand and slapped his butt before appointing Shang Quan as his representative. 

With the authority given by Shang Xia, Shang Quan quickly received a huge amount of benefits. That was also why Shang Quan had no complaints when helping out.

“Is there still no news of the Crimson Crystal Valley Brewer's Yeast or the Nine Leaf Lotus?” Shang Xia tossed out a casual question.

With a painful smile on his face, Shang Quan could only shake his head helplessly. “I can’t reach Third Uncle at all. He probably didn’t manage to find the Crimson Crystal Valley Brewer's Yeast in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion. Our Shang Clan looked through the entire battlefield between the two worlds and Tongyou City but failed to receive news on either of them.”

A trace of disappointment flashed across Shan Xia’s face, but the smile quickly returned. “Maybe I’m being too hasty. Haha, which expert who tried breaking through to the Martial Extermination Realm didn’t use several years to prepare their advancement medicine? It has been less than a year since I entered the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm!” 

At the start of the 845th year of the Azure Origin World, Shang Ke made a trip back to the battlefield between the two worlds in order to pass Shang Xia the Glass Daisy Chrysanthemum and the Dragon Headed Wintersweet. 

That truly surprised Shang Xia and he quickly requested for Shang Quan to keep a lookout for the Nine Leaf Lotus. 

With the addition of the herbs Shang Ke delivered, Shang Xia was only missing the brewer’s yeast and the lotus. 

Actually, Shang Xia had started inquiring about them a long time ago. After the gathering of Martial Intent Realm experts near the Yuxi Peak, Shang Xia released news that he was willing to purchase several treasures with graded weapons. Unfortunately, no one contacted him since then.

Shang Xia was initially still hopeful that he would get lucky and obtain it from the spatial cases he hadn’t opened. 

In the time that passed, he managed to craft another Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman with the 3 talisman jades in his possession and another 2 from 4 pieces of rank three talisman paper Shang Quan bought from elsewhere. 

From a certain standpoint, Gale Thunderbolt Talismans were a lot harder to craft than Bamboo Void Breaking Talismans. However, the talisman paper made from Stormy Lightning Leaves alleviated a huge portion of the difficulty. That was why Shang Xia’s success rate in crafting Gale Thunderbolt Talismans was much higher than Bamboo Void Breaking Talismans.

With the talismans, Shang Xia opened the spatial cases of the 3 disciples of the Changbai Holy Land. He managed to obtain a rank four treasure called the Scarlet Heart Cinnabar Wood and some rank three resources. The Scarlet Heart Cinnabar Wood could be considered pretty precious, but the rank three resources weren’t too useful to him.

The only thing that was a cause for celebration was 2 more strands of extermination qi from Chu Chen’s extermination qi gathering gourd.

With the one he obtained from Senior Brother Zhou in the past, he now possessed 4 strands of extermination qi! He would be able to make 4 attempts when crafting rank four talismans in the future!

After opening the spatial cases and not obtaining anything of use, Shang Xia decided to leave the battlefield between the two worlds and returned to the Tongyou City for a change of pace. At the same time, he wanted to see if he could repair his Scarlet Star Spear that was heavily damaged after his many battles in the battlefield between the two worlds.

He went to give Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui a quick heads up before he left the battlefield between the two worlds, but as he was walking out of the Talisman Hall, he was greeted with many reluctant looks by the rest of the members. 

In the months that passed, the Talisman Hall’s prestige made a huge leap forward due to Shang Xia’s presence! 

That wasn’t all as Shang Xia decided to give several lectures on talisman crafting during his time there. Every time he held a lecture, everyone would feel as though they learned something new. Because he didn’t expect anything in return for conducting those lectures, his reputation in the Talisman Hall shot up like a rocket.

Naturally, the support of Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui was indispensable. They were working behind the scenes to make Shang Xia the face of the Talisman Hall as they knew that the moment Shang Xia entered the Martial Extermination Realm, he would probably be the first rank four Talisman Master of the institution!

When Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui walked out of the Talisman Hall with Shang Xia to bid him a farewell, Shang Xia felt that the heaven and earth qi around the Observation Peak was starting to behave abnormally. 

As the fluctuations quickly became stronger and stronger, Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui also discovered something off. 

“This…” Fan Yuanhui stuttered. His cultivation was the lowest of the 3 and he was the most confused among them.

With Gong Hang’s wealth of experience, he seemed to understand what was happening. “That’s a sign of someone who’s about to break through!” 

Shang Xia followed up immediately. “Haha, our Tongyou Institution is about to welcome another Martial Extermination Realm expert.” 

“Who?!” Gong Hang and Fan Yuanhui yelled in unison.

“It’s coming…” Shang Xia didn’t reply as he concentrated his divine sense on the spot where the heaven and earth qi fluctuations were coming from.

As he spoke, a ray of light shot into the skies. The heaven and earth qi around the Observation Peak became a lot denser as a huge illusory lotus seemed to bloom in the air above.

“Oh? Could it be…” Shang Xia stared at the illusory lotus that was slowly fading as a name popped into his mind.