Splitting the Heave

“You should worry about your problems instead of the Jingxiu Peak.” A voice rang in Lin Zhixuan’s mind and Lin Zhixuan’s mind only, waking him up from a daze.

“Brother, what should we do next?”  

By the time Lin Zhixuan turned around, he saw Lin Zhishi stumbling towards him unsteadily. There was a look of fear in his younger brother’s eyes.

Lin Zhishi continued, “You can’t be thinking of returning to the Jingxiu Peak now that that person is headed there, right? He’s a Martial Extermination Realm expert for god’s sake! Since you’re not on the Jingxiu Peak at the moment…” 

Lin Zhishi seemed afraid that his brother would want to return to the Jingxiu Peak and he tried to hold his shoulder to prevent him from making any stupid decisions. 

Lin Zhixuan’s body seemed to turn powerless as he stumbled slightly towards Lin Zhishi. 

The concern in Lin Zhishi’s eyes disappeared as a vicious look replaced it. A weird blue dagger appeared in his other hand before stabbing violently towards Lin Zhixuan’s chest.

“Ai…” 

A long sigh filled the air as Lin Zhishi discovered that there was an iron-like grip on his wrist.

“You… Brother…” By the time Lin Zhishi raised his head in panic, he was greeted with a look of disappointment and sadness in his brother's eyes.

Instinctively, he tried to struggle free as his other hand grabbed at Lin Zhixuan’s neck with his claw-like fingers.

With a loud crack and snap, Lin Zhishi felt the poison-coated dagger clattering to the ground as his wrist was dislocated. Two of his fingers on the hand that was trying to reach for Lin Zhixuan’s neck were twisted at a weird angle.

“Ah!” Searing pain tore through Lin Zhishi’s body as beads of cold sweat dripped down his forehead. Fear filled his heart as he knew what was about to come.

“Second Brother, most of the things you know came from me. You even followed in my footsteps when cultivating. Why are you even dreaming of killing me with the same methods I taught you?” The look of sadness and pain in Lin Zhixuan’s eyes disappeared and all that was left was a ferocious gaze.

“Big… Big brother, please don’t kill me!” Lin Zhishi tried his best to stumble away from Liu Zhixuan while crying out miserably.

A chilly light flashed through Lin Zhixuan’s eyes and he growled softly, “My wife’s pregnant? Hmph, is she pregnant with your child?!”

“How do you… No! Of course not! It’s your child!” Lin Zhishi stammered in fright.

Shaking his head, Lin Zhixuan sighed, “Do you know what happened ten years ago? I suffered a series of heavy internal injuries while fighting against my enemies. Ever since then, there was no chance for me to leave behind an heir.” 

Lin Zhishi’s jaws dropped in fright as he stared at his older brother as though that was the first time he had learned about his brother’s condition.

A sense of detachment was the only emotion left on Lin Zhixuan’s face when he addressed Lin Zhishi again. “No matter what, the baby will be of our Lin Family’s bloodline. It’s no different for your son to be my son. Second Brother, you can rest assured that I’ll send my wife over to the underworld to meet you after I return to the Linfeng Stronghold. You won’t be lonely down there.” 

“You… You… You intentionally…” Before he could finish his sentence, Lin Zhishi turned around to run.

Unfortunately, a huge hand appeared on his neck the next second. With a loud snap, his body turned limp and he fell to the ground.

“This place is about to turn messy soon… Looks like I have to think of another way to survive this…” Lin Zhixuan glanced at the Jingxiu Peak for the last time before taking his leave.

…

Not too far away from Lin Zhixuan and Lin Zhishi, Shang Xia extended his divine perception to look at the inevitable battle that would take place after he left. After all, he pretty much expected it after leaving behind his warning. After the fight concluded, Shang Xia turned his attention back to the Jingxiu Peak.

Looking at the picturesque scene before him, Shang Xia felt that the Jingxiu Peak deserved its reputation. The sights that greeted him were out of that world. Clouds were drifting around the mountain peak as colorful flowers bloomed across the land. Butterflies and bees flittered from flower to flower, enhancing their beauty.

It was no wonder Shang Ke and Shang Pei went to the Jingxiu Peak to look for the Glass Daisy Chrysanthemum back then. It only made sense that a place like that would contain high grade herbs.

Also, Shang Xia’s actions seemed a little unorthodox. Since he learned the whereabouts of the Youyan Stronghold, his first instinct should be to head over there to look for Shang Pei.

Going against all conventional approaches, Shang Xia seemed to want to attack the Jingxiu Peak alone. His actions might seem like he was backdooring his enemies when they were away, but he was putting Shang Pei’s life at risk to do so.

Whatever the case, Shang Xia had plans of his own. He didn’t know what was happening down at the Cloud Water Gorge at the moment and he felt that the situation wouldn’t be too different for those trying to hunt her down. Otherwise, Shang Pei would have been defeated a long time ago.

Even if he rushed over to the Cloud Water Gorge immediately, he might not be able to locate Shang Pei before others did. Moreover, he would be running around like a headless fly. The longer he ran around the Sixth Pass, the more danger he would be in anyway.

Making the calculation in his mind, Shang Xia decided to raise hell in the Jingxiu Peak as that would bring about an immediate reaction. Since Duan Liufeng had been commanding the Jingxiu Peak for so long, Shang Xia refused to believe that he wouldn’t react now that his home was under attack.

It wasn’t hard to see that Duan Liufeng was concerned about the fate of the Jingxiu Peak. Since he had been in command for so many years, he didn’t seem like the type to abandon his subordinates. There was also the matter of getting Martial Intent Realm cultivators to defend the mountain during his absence. The importance he placed on the Jingxiu Peak was commendable, to say the least.

If Shang Xia turned his territory upside down, he might be able to affect the situation down at the Cloud Water Gorge.

That wasn’t all. Duan Liufeng called several friends at the Martial Extermination Realm to attack Shang Pei in the Cloud Water Gorge and with the Jingfeng Peak in ruins, they would have to worry about their own territories. 

Shang Xia might have broken through to the Four Constellation Realm some time ago, but he hadn’t been able to go all out. The exchange he had with the Martial Extermination Realm experts of the Ji Continent didn’t count as he wasn’t the slightest bit exhausted from the small skirmish they had.

The protection formation around the Jingxiu Peak seemed like a good candidate for him to test out his strength.

He might have entered the perimeter of the Jingxiu Peak for some time now, but none of the experts responsible for securing the Jingxiu Peak detected his presence.

Since no one had been alerted to his presence, Shang Xia acted before they had the chance to react. A vicious palm landed on the protection barrier around the mountain.

A giant palm condensed from a four colored light appeared close to the body of the mountain and it crashed mercilessly against the protection barrier. Cracking sounds filled the skies as several rays of light emerged from the location of impact.

“Pop, pop, pop…” 

Unexpectedly, there wasn’t a massive explosion when Shang Xia struck the barrier. Space fluctuated violently, but that was it.

A giant palm was imprinted into the light barrier and it wasn’t because the barrier was bent from the force. Instead, the giant palm seemed to carve itself directly through the protection screen.

Unfortunately, that was the extent of the damage. Shang Xia was unable to break the protection formation with a single move.

The experts stationed on the Jingxiu Peak weren’t there for decoration. The moment the protection barrier was struck, they reacted. Streams of inner qi rushed into the skies as it started to repair the barrier. 

Shang Xia didn’t unleash a second attack on the barrier after failing to break it with the first. Instead, he fell into deep contemplation.

The attack he released earlier allowed him to reflect and understand his Four Seasons Extermination Origins a little better. He discovered that his attacks possessed some properties of corrosion and fusion, which allowed him to greatly damage the protection formation earlier.

With his experimental attack earlier, he also learned that the corrosive properties imbued in his attacks had something to do with a terrifying aspect of the world. It didn’t just corrode the protection barrier by eating into its energy. The way it corroded the barrier seemed to have something to do with the flow of time!

As the four seasons cycled endlessly, they brought about life as much as they took it away. 

When his palm struck the protection barrier earlier, Shang Xia realized that his extermination origins didn’t exactly fully fuse with each other. The palm might seem impressive as it was made up of a four colored extermination light, but it was much weaker than it was supposed to be.

The formidable might contained in his Four Constellation Qi and Four Seasons Extermination Origins wasn’t raw power! Instead, it was the endless progression of time!

Like his discovery of how to use his extermination origins efficiently while flying, they seem to possess the same principles.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Shang Xia quickly came up with another idea. Instead of releasing all four extermination origins at once, he would use them one by one, cycling one after the other. Circulating them endlessly, Shang Xia wondered how strong his attack would be.

Deciding to test it out immediately, Four Constellation Qi filled his body as his extermination origins trembled. Another giant palm appeared in the air before slamming heavily into the protection formation.

This time, the palm wasn’t made up of a four colored light. Instead, It flashed a different color from time to time.

As the different colored lights flickered faster and faster, the palm became a shade of fleshy beige. 

“Crack… Pop!” 

The area smacked by Shang Xia’s palm popped like a bubble. A huge hole appeared in the protection barrier. That wasn’t all. Shang Xia’s attack didn’t stop there as it struck the body of the mountain. An imprint that spanned a quarter of the Jingxiu Peak’s height was stamped into it. 

With the power contained in the palm, destruction was the only thing it caused. Fallen trees and shattered boulders lay in its wake. 

The pretty flowers and flourishing greenery that existed on the Jingxiu Peak were replaced with a scene that came out of a nightmare. Shang Xia’s palm was like a giant scar that was carved deep into the mountain to scare anyone who laid eyes on it.

The effects of his palm continued to affect the Jingxiu Peak. The mountain quaked violently and structures fell constantly. Rockslides appeared in every direction and there were even cultivators whose cries were silenced forever as they were swallowed by the merciless sea of rock and mud.

Cultivators on the Jingxiu Peak who survived the destruction weren’t the only ones who were taken aback by the sudden assault. Shang Xia was equally dumbstruck. He didn’t expect to do so much damage with a single strike!

Naturally, such a powerful palm strike came at a price. Shang Xia exhausted two-thirds of his current reserve of Four Constellation Qi. He wouldn’t be able to use another attack like that in a short period of time.