Splitting the Heave

Shang Xia didn’t reach for the seal immediately. Instead, he frowned, “Is it really so coincidental that the secret region would appear so suddenly?” 

A soft sigh escaped Shang Pei’s lips as she tossed the seal before her. The space around the seal grew several times denser to hold the object in the air as Shang Pei started to explain, “Like you thought, the Abyssal Seal is closely related to the secret region. The fog around us interacted with the seal the moment I took it out, and it’s a sign that the secret region is about to appear…”

Pushing the seal in Shang Xia’s direction, Shang Pei continued, “Only the Abyssal Seal can detect the exact location the secret region is going to appear, take it.” 

Shang Xia was a little surprised when he first saw the seal, but he gasped softly after her introduction and took out a strange six-sided object Shang Pei had given him back in the underground cavern of the Changfeng City. “Didn’t you say that this was the key to entering the secret region?”

Shang Pei gestured slightly and the item flew at the Abyssal Seal before fusing tightly with it.

Only then did Shang Xia realize that the entire object had transformed. The Abyssal Seal’s cubic shape formed the base of the seal while Shang Xia’s hexagonal item turned into a handle of sorts.

Looking at Shang Xia’s shocked expression, Shang Pei explained, “It’s impossible to bring the Abyssal Seal out of the Cloud Water Gorge. The only thing I managed to bring out was the handle. Now that both items are together the complete Abyssal Seal has been reformed.”

Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask, “I thought you had the seal all along…” 

Shang Pei nodded and continued her explanation. “As long as no one obtains the other half of the seal, I would be able to find it quickly after returning to the Cloud Water Gorge. I gave you the other half as a precaution that I won’t be able to come back. The special properties of the seal were probably left behind by the creator of the secret region anyway…” 

Shang Xia finally understood the situation at hand, but he didn’t retrieve the Abyssal Seal immediately. He muttered in an incomparably serious tone, “This isn’t the time to look for the secret region.” 

“Why not?” Shang Pei frowned.

“The moment I enter the secret region, you won’t hold the Abyssal Seal anymore. How are you supposed to leave the Cloud Water Gorge?” Shang Xia chuckled.

Before Shang Pei could say anything, Shang Xia continued, “You might say that you can remain in the Cloud Water Gorge, but with your current strength, you can’t ensure your safety. Your fellow members of the Youyan Stronghold might also be in serious danger at the moment. Do you know how I managed to get my hands on the seal talisman to save you? I saved Ninth Brother Huang who had been seriously injured…” 

Shang Pei was silenced when she thought about Fifth Uncle Cen, Ninth Brother Huang, and the rest. If she was alone, she wouldn’t bother with Shang Xia’s rejection and would urge him to enter the secret region as soon as he could. However, the lives of her fellow companions were on the line right now. She couldn’t ditch them all and leave them for dead.

“Right now, the most important thing is to look for them!” Shang Xia made the decision for Shang Pei after seeing the conflicted look on her face.

Looking for them was a little easier than locating Shang Pei with the use of the seal talisman. With Shang Xia in tow, Shang Pei started to locate the remaining members of the Youyan Stronghold. Shang Xia decided to ask about matters regarding the secret region along the way.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

“I don’t know! Shang Pei sighed in response. 

“You don’t?” Shang Xia muttered, “Then…” 

A look of reminiscence appeared on Shang Pei’s face as she started to talk about what happened that year. “When I roamed the Taihang Mountains with my husband, we entered the Cloud Water Gorge by accident. We managed to obtain 2 Abyssal Seals during our adventures here, and we thought that we chanced upon some huge treasure. We kept the seals well, but we didn’t think that we would accidentally open the secret region…”

Shang Pei’s expression sank slightly and Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask, “2 Abyssal Seals? What happened after that?” 

“After we entered…” Shang Pei’s eyes grew a little mistier as she continued, “We appeared above a mountain that was covered in a dense layer of cloud. We saw several other mountain peaks poking out from the top of the clouds in the distance, but the heaven and earth qi in the secret region was so dense that it felt suffocating. We thought that we ran into a massive opportunity, but before we could start exploring the region, a disaster arrived.”

Shang Pei took a deep breath before she resumed her recount of the situation. “A blade light appeared from nowhere… We didn’t even know where it came from. From the intensity of the blade light and the power contained behind it, it wasn’t weaker than a Martial Extermination Realm expert’s divine perception. We thought that we were being attacked the moment we entered. After entering the Martial Extermination Realm myself, I can confirm that the attack contained the might of a Martial Extermination Realm expert. In a fit of desperation, my husband pushed me off the mountain. The blade light seemed to lose track of me, but he took on the full force of the blow. By the time I reacted, he was swallowed in a sea of blue-colored blade light. After that, I seemed to have caught a glimpse of a broken blade stuck in a giant rock on the mountain behind us. That might also be where the blade light came from…”

Shang Pei paused after talking so much.

Shang Xia thought for a second as he followed up with another question. “What happened next? How did you escape from the secret region and did the suspected divine weapon react after that?” 

“I have no clue.” Shang Pei muttered while shaking her head. “I merely glanced at the weapon before tumbling through the clouds. The next thing I knew, I found myself back in the Cloud Water Gorge. The only thing left was the Abyssal Seal…”

“Tumbling through the clouds…” Shang Xia muttered to himself. “Then…” 

From what he heard, Shang Pei barely managed to escape from the secret region. Most of her knowledge of it seemed to be conjectures that couldn’t be proven.

The only thing he knew for sure was that she was attacked the moment she arrived. That would most likely happen to him when he explored the secret region. 

That was an attack from a divine weapon they were talking about! Even after entering the Martial Extermination Realm, Shang Xia wasn’t confident he could resist it completely. The divine weapon might be damaged, but Shang Xia wasn’t going to risk his life and assume he could block the strike without suffering some injuries.

He sank into silence as he didn’t know what to say.

As they searched for members of the Youyan Stronghold, Shang Xia took over the strenuous task and he took the seal from Shang Pei’s hand. No matter what, Shang Pei suffered serious injuries from the battle that took place earlier. Shang Xia felt that it would be easier for him to be the one looking for them. 

As he sent his Four Constellation Qi into the seal, he felt a strange sensation filling his body. He felt as though the dense clouds in the Cloud Water Gorge were no longer as restrictive as they were as he became a part of them. At the same time, he felt a subtle shift in the fog around him as they seemed to become a layer of protection for him.

Even though his divine perception couldn’t extend freely like when he was outside the Cloud Water Gorge, he discovered that the suppression weakened. He was able to feel everything within a 2000 feet radius with the seal in hand.

Shang Pei wasn’t surprised when Shang Xia described the changes he felt. “I know what you mean when you say that you feel like a part of the dense clouds in the Cloud Water Gorge. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to hold out against the 3 of them for such a long time. If not for Feng Chenyi’s lantern, I might have defeated them without your assistance…”

“The vague sense of protection and the ability to feel the presence of the secret region are the other properties of the seal. Of course, a fixed area around the seal wouldn’t experience spatial shifts, and that’s the foundation of the Youyan Stronghold. Your range of perception within the area covered by the seal would also increase. Although… Did you say that you can feel 2000 feet around you?! Doesn’t that mean that you can extend your divine perception close to 1000 feet around yourself without the seal?” Shang Pei muttered out loud. However, she wasn’t done. “How far can you extend your divine perception outside the Cloud Water Gorge?!” 

Shang Xia smiled, but he didn’t reply. 

Locating the other members of the Youyan Stronghold became a lot smoother now that Shang Xia took over. It might be because of his larger divine perception range, but he quickly located the first person from the Youyan Stronghold.

Surprisingly, he found Ninth Brother Huang before the others. From the looks of it, he had been recovering from his injuries. Shang Xia also discovered that he had drunk the wine Shang Xia left him.

Even though space shifted frequently in the Cloud Water Gorge, it seemed as though Ninth Brother Huang lucked out and wasn’t transported too far away.

After some time, Shang Xia discovered someone else’s tracks. They located Sixth Sister Gu not long after and Shang Pei stopped him right after that.

“Do you have rank one talisman paper and ink on you?” She asked.

“Yes.” Shang Xia didn’t know what she needed them for, but he replied nonetheless. 

Even though Shang Xia might not have a lot of rank four talisman papers on him, at the very least, he was a rank four Talisman Master. Rank one and two talisman paper couldn’t be considered too rare for him at the moment and he carried some wherever he went.

Shang Pei pointed at the Abyssal Seal in his hand and continued, “We’ll just stay where we are and place the seal on the ground. Pour your inner qi into the seal before stamping it on some rank one talisman paper. The seal talisman will last for seven days and they can roam the Cloud Water Gorge without getting lost.” 

After speaking, Shang Pei didn’t care about Shang Xia’s reactions. She turned to Ninth Brother Huang and Sixth Sister Gu. “I injured my foundations during the last battle and I need to enter seclusion immediately. Otherwise, I might leave behind hidden injuries in my body. My nephew has an important mission that might cause him to risk his life and he can’t be disturbed either. I have to entrust the two of you to look for the remaining members of the Youyan Stronghold.” 

Sixth Sister Gu couldn’t help but ask, “Third Sister, are you really going to be okay?” 

Slapping his chest, Ninth Brother Huang said confidently, “Third Sister, rest assured… Cough, cough…” 

It seemed as though he slapped himself a little too hard and his injuries weren’t fully recovered as he couldn’t complete his sentence. Even so, Shang Pei understood what he meant.

Nodding slightly, she turned back to Shang Xia and said, “Alright, do it.” 

Taking out a little more than 10 pieces of rank one talisman paper, Shang Xia dipped the seal into some talisman ink before stamping it down on the first piece.