Splitting the Heave

Yu Hanglong was a famous figure in the Taihang Mountains and no one could deny that he was a strong fighter. 

Even though his Bestial Sword Art was a little flawed, he made up for it with his fourth move, the Dragon’s Sword. With the Taihang Mountains as his inspiration, he created an extremely powerful move.

With his Dragon’s Sword, he was able to challenge third later Martial Extermination Realm experts at the second layer Martial Extermination Realm. That was also how he managed to break through the Tongyou Institution’s encirclement back during the War of the Tongyou Mysterious World.

Shang Pei was extremely indignant because of how amazing the rank four inheritance was. 

Well, no matter how amazing it was, the inheritance Shang Pei received wasn’t bad either. It was a technique developed by Shang Bo, an expert much stronger than the Taihang Swordsman. 

Unfortunately, the Shang Clan Spear Art developed by Shang Bo wasn’t truly suited for Shang Pei. Along with the grudge she was holding in her heart, she wasn’t able to unleash the full strength of her spear art.

Before she adapted the spear art into something of her own, she would never be able to use it to its fullest potential.

Whatever the case, she couldn’t be bothered with her own techniques for the time being. After obtaining the Bestial Sword Art, she immediately realized it was extremely compatible with Shang Jian. He might not even have to modify a huge portion of it before being able to show its true strength.

Damn it! This grandaunt had to suffer betrayal, capture, threats, and a lot of pain before entering the Martial Extermination Realm. I even had to come all the way over to the Sixth Pass in the Taihang Mountains to make a foothold… Shang Jian, you lucky asshole! All the luck fell on you when you were lazing around back at home…

Shang Pei cursed inwardly, but she was merely venting her frustrations.

She was also slightly depressed that Yu Hanglong’s sword was ruined. The only valuable on him that could catch her eye was his Bestial Sword Art, but she couldn’t even use it. The other items that Yu Hanglong had might be precious, but she couldn’t be bothered as she handed them over to Fifth Uncle Cen and the others.

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Treasures left behind by a Martial Extermination Realm expert were a huge fortune to the rest of the members of the Youyan Stronghold.

After Shang Pei gave away the loot from Yu Hanglong, she focused on the Spatial Pouch Feng Chenyi left behind.

Her identity as a member of the Divine Capital Sect of the Si Continent caused no small amount of worry for Shang Xia and Shang Pei.

However, that also meant that as a Martial Extermination Realm expert of the Divine Capital Sect, she definitely had a lot of treasures on her.

Just the fact that she had a Spatial Pouch on her was enough for Shang Xia and Shang Pei to take the risk of killing her in the first place. Not to mention the fact that she had a special treasure like the Hexagonal Lantern.

With a flick of her wrist, a Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman was stuck onto the pouch.

It was the Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman she had used and if not for an amazing rank four Talisman Master like Shang Xia who had several Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman already made, she would never have been able to obtain so many of them. The value of a Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman was much higher than other rank three talismans, and so was the difficulty of crafting one. 

She estimated that after using the third Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman, she would finally be able to open the Spatial Pouch.

As a Spatial Pouch was of a much higher quality than an Embroidered Cloud Case, the restrictions on it were a lot more intricate. Shang Pei had to use her divine perception in tandem with the Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman in order to wear down the restrictions on the pouch.

After Shang Xia placed the Abyssal Seal down to create a stable region in the Cloud Water Gorge, Shang Pei had been focusing on recovery and opening the pouch.

While she poured her divine perception into the pouch, Shang Xia’s voice came from behind her. “Are you still trying to open the Spatial Pouch?” 

Gasping in shock, she refocused on the task at hand before turning her head slightly to look at Shang Xia. “You finally left seclusion. Did you give up on crafting your rank four talisman or something?” 

She seemed to be laughing at Shang Xia over his failed attempts. 

After interacting with Shang Pei for such a long time, Shang Xia basically understood what her personality was like. It might be because of her time as a bandit, but she would usually put on a tough front to hide her shrewd thoughts. 

Because of her recent role as the leader of the Youyan Stronghold, she developed a strange charm that allowed others to place their trust in her. Even though her words were curt, no one would take them to heart.

Shang Xia chuckled in response, “How do you know I failed?” 

Shang Pei widened her eyes in shock after she heard his response. She wasn’t the only one as the other members of the Youyan Stronghold who overheard the conversation turned to stare at him.

“But… That sound earlier…” Fifth Uncle Cen was the only other person in the Youyan Stronghold who was familiar with Shang Xia. After Shang Xia’s identity as a Martial Extermination Realm expert was revealed, only Fifth Uncle Cen could maintain his composure to speak to Shang Xia openly. The rest seemed a little afraid of him.

With a wide smile, Shang Xia opened his palm to reveal a gray talisman that was inscribed on some metallic sheet.

There was an outline of a shield in the middle of the talisman made from complicated runes and it was clear he succeeded.

“Is this the Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman you were talking about?” Shang Pei separated a tiny portion of her divine perception to probe the talisman. She felt the power contained in the talisman and gasped, “You actually succeeded!” 

“No shit! Third Aunt, were you hoping that I would fail?” Shang Xia mumbled helplessly.

“Of course not!” Shang Pei looked at the youngster standing in front of her as though it was the first time she discovered how much of a genius he was before she continued, “Rank four Talisman Master! You actually became a rank four Talisman Paster! Haha! You should be the only piece of shi… I mean, you should be the only rank four Talisman Master in the Tongyou Institution, right? Hehehe, who would believe them if they said that a youngster like you had become a rank four Talisman Master…” 

Shang Xia could only roll his eyes quietly before snapping at her, “Well, many thanks for the praise! I told you before that the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman I threw at Duan Liufeng previously was the first rank four talisman I made, no?” 

Sniggering softly, Shang Pei added, “Whatever. I was keeping count by the way. You failed four times before crafting this Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman, right?” 

Shang Xia’s slightly proud expression crumbled in an instant. He had used up all the resources he brought with him. He no longer had any rank four talisman paper and talisman ink as he wasted them all trying to craft the Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman.

One had to know that the Tongyou Institution had been saving up for some time in order to gather so many resources. There was also a portion of the Shang Clan’s savings in there too. If he wanted to craft rank four talismans in the future, he would have to look for ingredients himself. He couldn’t attempt crafting rank four talismans as he wished in the future!

Since he became a rank four Talisman Master, the Talisman Hall released all its inheritance to him. Other than the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture he obtained previously, he learned 2 other rank four talismans from the institution’s records.

The Golden Sun Inferno Talisman he made previously came from the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture while the Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman he had just made came from the Talisman Hall.

Chasing the other members of the Youyan Stronghold away, Shang Pei turned to Shang Xia and asked seriously, “Are you sure this talisman can stop the blade light from the divine weapon?” 

Shaking his head, Shang Xia chuckled bitterly, “Even if it can’t fully block the blade light, it should be able to weaken it slightly.” 

Shang Pei nodded slowly in response. “Even so, you cannot be careless. I might have felt a blade light that was comparable to a strike from a Martial Extermination Realm expert, but a divine weapon has sentience. Who knows if it sent out that strike because it detected our cultivation realm? It might not have revealed its full power yet.” 

Shang Xia agreed. It was true that he had to take precautions.

After Shang Pei had spoken, Shang Xia’s expression flickered slightly and he seemed curious about something. However, he didn’t say anything after a long time. Shang Pei couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have something else to ask me?” 

“Aunt, you said that you and your husband each had an Abyssal Seal when you entered the secret region in the past, right?” Shang Xia muttered.

Raising her eyebrows slightly, Shang Pei continued, “What are you trying to say?” 

There was no point concealing his doubts and Shang Xia finished his question, “How many Abyssal Seals are there in total? Also, will your husband’s seal reappear in the Cloud Water Gorge? After all, you said you obtained the seal after the fog condensed around you previously…” 

Shang Pei seemed a little confused, but she knew that Shang Xia wouldn’t ask a question like that for fun. “Did you discover something?” 

Opening his palm, Shang Xia revealed the Abyssal Seal. “I was playing with the seal in between my attempts to craft the Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman and I felt a strange resonance two days ago. It seemed to be pulling me in a certain direction, but the feeling was cut off abruptly. After that, I couldn’t feel it anymore.” 

Shang Pei was afraid that Shang Xia would be too engrossed when crafting his talisman to feel the changes of the Abyssal Seal but after hearing his description, she realized that not only did he detect the slight changes, he even discovered something suspicious.

“Do you think that a second Abyssal Seal appeared in the Cloud Water Gorge and someone managed to obtain it?” Shang Pei frowned.

Nodding slowly, Shang Xia continued, “You said that you entered the Cloud Water Gorge 20 years ago and you felt its reappearance 10 years ago. You determined that the secret region would open once every 10 years… Did you manage to feel the existence of the second seal 10 years ago?” 

Shang Pei shook her head and before Shang Xia could say anything else, She continued, “My inability to feel the second seal might have something to do with the fact that no one can enter the secret region twice.”

A look of realization appeared on Shang Xia’s face and he sighed, “I'm afraid that would mean that I’ll be facing some competition after entering the secret region…”

Shang Pei’s expression lit up suddenly and she muttered out loud, “Do you think… Do you think it’s possible for Duan Liufeng to have obtained the second seal?” 

“Wouldn’t that be for the best?” Shang Xia chuckled in amusement.

A strange look appeared on Shang Pei’s face after hearing what he said. “Are you confident that you can kill him alone?” 

Shang Pei could tell that Shang Xia’s cultivation was a little weird, but at the end of the day, he had barely broken through to the Martial Extermination Realm. No matter how she looked at it, Duan Liufeng was a second layer Martial Extermination Realm expert.

Before Shang Xia could reply, Shang Pei turned her attention back to the Spatial Pouch. She yelped happily as the sound of items clattering to the ground filled the skies. It seemed as though the restrictions on the Spatial Pouch had finally been broken.