Splitting the Heave

“Do you really need it urgently?” Liu Zhifang finally broke the silence after glancing at Ge Wangchuan. 

As Alchemists of the institution, they rarely took on a role as teachers. However, Shang Xia would still address them respectfully as teachers when he met them.

Regardless of how Shang Xia addressed them, Both Liu Zhifang and Ge Wangchun knew that they couldn’t easily offend the person before them.

Ge Wangchun couldn’t be considered too related to Shang Xia as he didn’t interact much with each other. However, Liu Zhifang was an expert of the Liu Clan of the Tongyou City. With the relationship between the Shang Clan and Liu Clan, Shang Xia should actually call him ‘Martial Uncle’. As such, neither party would want to offend the other if they could help it.

After hearing what Liu Zhifang said, Shang Xia knew that the two of them were facing some difficulties and might not be able to fulfill his request. He chuckled softly in response, “What’s the matter? Teacher Ge and Teacher Liu, are you busy right now?” 

Liu Zhifang laughed helplessly, “We just received an order to craft a rank four advancement medicine. The order came from Grandmaster Muchen himself and he appointed the two of us to work on it. Brother Ge and I can’t possibly reject him.” 

“Grandmaster Muchen? Since he gave the order, I won’t put you in a spot. However, can I have the privilege of knowing who is able to get Grandmaster Muchen to give the order personally for the preparation of their rank four advancement medicine? Also, didn’t Grandmaster Muchen stop crafting advancement medicines for others in the recent years?” Shang Xia asked.

Ge Wangchun finally spoke. “Uncle Muchen really hasn’t personally refined any medicine in a long time. Patriarch Kou allowed him to rest easy due to his old age, but Uncle Muchen promised this medicine to the person a long time ago. Actually, Uncle Muchen wanted to personally head up to craft the medicine but the person wasn’t willing to let Uncle Muchen tire himself out and thus handed the advancement formula over to us. The two of us naturally won’t turn the request down.” 

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Before Shang Xia could ask, Liu Zhifang added at the side, “You definitely know that person. It’s Formation Master Chu Jia from the Formation Hall.” 

“It’s her!” Shang Xia immediately understood the ugly expressions of the two when he approached them earlier.

Back when Shang Xia crafted 8 Gale Thunderbolt Talismans, he caught the Formation Hall off-guard. They even lost their cool and collected demeanor as they had to carry out mass modifications to the grand formation.

They worked tirelessly to finally complete the modification of the grand formation right before the stipulated deadline by the institution. 

The hell they were put through caused the rage of the Formation Masters to direct all their rage and frustration towards Shang Xia. 

Rumors came from the Formation Hall soon after, indicating the Chu Jia would likely become a rank four Formation Master in the near future. Moreover, she was extremely displeased with Talisman Master Shang Xia.

No one knew if the news was real, but the further the rumors spread, the worse it became

Due to how some people put it, the rumors quickly developed into a battle between the Formation Hall and the Talisman Hall. According to those shit-stirrers, Chu Jia was competing with Shang Xia on who would be able to enter the Martial Extermination Realm first. After all, that would mean that a rank four Talisman Master or Formation Master would be produced first in the institution.

Clearly, Ge Wangchun and Liu Zhifang were affected by the rumors. What was even more coincidental was that they had just promised to refine Chu Jia’s advancement medicine when Shang Xia came knocking on their doorsteps. That caused the two of them to feel extremely torn apart. 

It didn’t matter if it was Chu Jia or Shang Xia. The two of them possessed extreme potential. Moreover, both sides had impressive backgrounds. They were also looked upon highly by the higher-ups of the institution. Ge Wangchun and Liu Zhifang didn’t wish to offend either one of them!

However, they quickly heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that Shang Xia didn’t react much when they mentioned Chu Jia’s advancement medicine.

The two fo them might not exactly be nameless figures in the institution, but offending someone like Shang Xia and Chu Jia was enough to make them think twice.

Shang Xia thought for a moment before he continued. “Teacher Ge and Teacher Liu, when will you be able to complete her advancement medicine?” 

Liu Zhifang sank into silence for a moment. Eventually, he coughed lightly, “If you are really in a rush, you can try going back to the Tongyou City to look for Teacher Lei and Teacher Feng. You can definitely raise your request to them. How about i?” 

As previously mentioned, there were 4 rank three Alchemists in the Tongyou Institution. Lei Xiang and Feng Yongchu remained in the instituion while Ge Wangchun and Liu Zhifang were stationed in the battlefield between the two worlds. 

Of course, the Tongyou Institution might have reopened a spatial tunnel to the battlefield between the two worlds, but it wasn’t something Shang Xia could cross whenever he wanted to.

After all, usage of the tunnel required a huge amount of resources. Other than times of emergency, the spatial tunnel would be opened during specific periods in the year.

If Shang Xia wanted to return to the city before returning to the battlefield between the two worlds, iut would take him more than a month.

If he failed to return by then, he would need an even longer time.

After thinking about it, Shang Xia shook his head and muttered, “Actually, I was only planning to let Teacher Ge and Teacher Liu know that I need my advancement medicine made. After all, I still have another herb I have yet to obtain.” 

The two of them immediately agreed to help Shang Xia the moment he gathered everything he needed. After all, that would be the best case scenario for the two of them.

Shang Xia followed up once again, “I should be able to obtain the herb in 40 days or so. I wonder if Teacher Ge and Teacher Liu will be available then?” 

“Of course!” Liu Zhifang answered for the two of them while heaving a sigh of relief.

Ge Wangchun added, “If nothing goes wrong, we should be done with her advancement medicine in a month. After that, Talisman Master Shang, you can bring your recipe over for us to take a look and make our preparations.” 

Receiving the answer he wanted, Shang Xia thanked them before taking his leave. However, the smile on his face revealed a hint of mystery when he turned to look at the Medicine Hall while walking away.

After sending Shang Xia off, Ge Wangchun and Liu Zhifang felt a weight lifted off their shoulders. Of course, their expression remained as casual as could be.

 Returning to the hall, they saw a lady who was emitting an air of laziness waiting for them.

“Is he gone?” She giggled softly and asked for fun. “Aren’t you two going to thank me for not jumping out earlier and starting a play with Talisman Master Shang?” 

It wasn’t hard to guess who she was. Of course it had to be Chu Jia, the rank three Formation Master of the Tongyou Institution.

Previously, she had also been in the hall. However, she hid at the side using some sort of concealment formation. The conversation between Shang Xia and the two couldn’t be hidden from her.

Ge Wangchun stared at her blankly for a second before sighing, “Little Grandaunt, don’t make things difficult for the two of us…” 

Liu Zhifang chuckled bitterly at the side while shaking his head.

From the way they spoke for each other, it wasn’t difficult to tell that Ge Wangchun and Liu Zhifang were pretty good friends.

Chu Jia was obviously not bothered in the slightest as she snorted indifferently. “Do you really think that Young Master Shang didn’t know about my presence?”

Ge Wangchun’s eyes widened in shock. “What?! You were discovered? How is that even possible?” 

Chu Jia muttered casually, “That fellow’s divine sense is a little perverted. I was planning to listen in on your conversation earlier and allowed my divine sense to leak out a little. He discovered me the moment I did that. If I didn’t adjust my concealment formation in time, he would have discovered where I was.” 

A look of confusion appeared on Liu Zhifang’s face when he heard about her concealment formation, but he quickly became in awe of her mastery in the way of formations.

Ge Wangchun gasped. “He actually managed to discover your presence! Didn’t you say that anyone under the Martial Extermination Realm experts wouldn’t be able to discover your presence?” 

The Medicine Hall might be crudely built at the moment, but there was naturally more than a single entrance.

Due to the rumors going around, Ge Wangchun and Liu Zhifang didn’t really wish for the two of them to meet. Unfortunately, Chu Jia adamantly chose to stay and she mentioned something about not being discovered by Shang Xia no matter what. Who would have thought that her presence would be leaked despite her confidence?

Noting Ge Wangchun’s displeasure, Chu Jia started to pout and use her most effective coy voice to respond. “Who would expect that fellow’s divine sense to be so powerful? Hmph hmph! His senses and divine sense is in no way inferior to an expert in the Martial Extermination Realm.”

Seeing as things had already progressed to that point, Ge Wangchun could only sigh in defeat. There was no use berating Chu Jia any further.

She quickly continued, “By the way, what did you say that his advancement medicine was?” 

Liu Zhifang saw that Ge Wangchun wasn’t in the best of mood right now and he decided to take over the conversation. “We’ll only know when he hands us the formula. As for the extermination origin and the way he’s using to break into the Martial Extermination Realm, we won’t be able to get an exact explanation through the refinement of his medicine. We can probe around, but that’s about it.” 

Chu Jia huffed lightly in response. “Hmph, a disciple of a great clan is truly blessed. Preparations to break through have been made for them unlike myself. In order to enter the Martial Extermination Realm, I had to collect resources for countless years while making my preparations…”

Hearing what she said, Liu Zhifang suddenly felt the urge to no longer talk to her.

However, she said something else after that which confused the two rank three alchemists present the next second. “I wonder if he can actually make it…” 

…

Shang Xia stood at a certain distance away from the Yuxi Peak as he stared at the mountain that was surrounded by a multicolored mist. He didn’t remember how many times he had gone over ever since the incident the other time.

Back when the gathering took place, Shang Xia left early to approach the Yuxi Peak only to case a giant ruckus. Even so, he didn’t stop his attempts to investigate the Yuxi Peak as he would approach it from time to time. He would get closer from time to time in an attempt to agitate the multicolored mist. He wanted to learn more about the connection between the Crimson Soul Tablet, his inner qi, and the Yuxi Peak.

With his multiple attempts at uncovering the truth, he discovered that the energy that was contained on the Yuxi Peak was undergoing some sort of transformation. He wasn’t too sure about what was going on exactly, but at the very least, he could tell that the world origin, extermination qi, and heaven and earth qi that was contained on the mountain was starting to separate slowly. At the same time, the space surrounding the Yuxi Peak was slowly calming down.

At the same time, he felt that the extent to which he could affect the multicolored mist was decreasing every time he approached. Even though the feeling of attraction was still present, Shang Xia could close the distance between himself and the Yuxi Peak without causing any adverse reaction from the Crimson Soul Tablet.

Currently, Shang Xia was standing at the foot of the Yuxi Peak. He just needed to take another step before he would start ascending the mountain. It was where the screen of multicolored mist once was.

Not too far away, he could feel the presence of world orign tickling his senses.

Reaching out slowly, he tried to come into contact with the trace of world origin. 

It seemed to react to Shang Xia as it was slowly drawn over to his finger. The moment they came into contact, it was sucked dry by his Crimson Soul Tablet. 

A smile formed on his face, but his actions seemed to have angered the mountain as the multicolored mist started to fluctuate wildly at his intrusion. Chuckling softly, Shang Xia retreated quickly.

When he was finally a distance away from the Yuxi Peak, a voice rang behind him. “Looks like you’ve already made up your mind to enter the Yuxi Peak…” 

Shang Xia wasn’t surprised by the voice at all. He laughed in response, “Grandpa Ke, none of us weaker cultivators dared to approach the Yuxi Peak after the initial accidents. However, experts of your level should know a thing or two on what is contained on the Yuxi Peak, right?” 

Falling silent for a moment, Shang Ke arranged his thoughts before speaking, “It’s a chaotic mess of different qis up there. Martial Extermination Realm experts might have been able to force their way into the Yuxi Peak previously, but they wouldn’t dare to remain for long. The chaotic qi on the Yuxi Peak has the ability to make Martial Extermination Realm experts lose control over their cultivation!”

Shang Xia seemed to have heard the meaning behind his words and he continued to ask, “What about now?” 

“Now?” Shang Ke glanced at the Yuxi Peak and muttered, “It’s a mess up there. The situation at the top of the Yuxi Peak is really weird. It seems to experience all four seasons in the span of a day.”