Splitting the Heave

“This… This is world origin in liquid form!” Shang Xia pinched his glabella to prevent the Crimson Soul Tablet from jumping out from his sea of consciousness. He muttered in equal parts disbelief and equal parts joy. 

Being extremely careful, he didn’t harvest the world origin in front of him immediately. Instead, he stared at the six sided handle of the seal that was floating in the pool of liquefied world origin and pondered to himself.

Stretching out his hand a little hesitantly, he reached out cautiously to grab the six sided handle. The liquefied world origin rose into the air with it.

Examining the six sided handle, it seemed to possess the ability to restrain world origin. Shang Xia wondered if that was what it was made for in the first place.

With the ball of liquid world origin in the air in front of him, an idea popped into Shang Xia’s mind and he sent a trace of inner qi into the six sided handle. Its ability to restrain world origin was affected and the ball of liquid started to fall to the ground.

A strong pulse came from the space between Shang Xia’s eyebrow and a formless force turned the liquefied world origin into a thin stream that burrowed into his glabella.

Looking into his sea of consciousness, Shang Xia discovered the Crimson Soul Tablet trembling gently as world origin poured into it. 

The last bit of crack on the third face of the Crimson Soul Tablet quickly closed up and with the stream of liquefied world origin pouring into the tablet, the second face started to recover at an exceedingly rapid pace. The crack on the second face started to seal up and by the time he absorbed the entire ball of world origin, only two-thirds of the crack on the second face was left. 

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock. He knew how much world origin it devoured earlier. The ball of liquefied world origin didn’t seem like much, but it was a lot more than Shang Xia had expected. 

The ball of world origin he absorbed earlier seemed tiny, but it was extremely concentrated and was easily refined. He didn’t know how such a concentrated ball of world origin was produced, but his gaze started to heat up as he stared at the altar. 

It seemed as though the Abyssal Seal itself was created from world origin and the handle was used to restrain and contain it. Placing the seal into the slot in the altar allowed it to revert back to its original form.

Shang Xia wondered if he could dig the altar out from the ground and bring it with him, but he was afraid that he would ruin the mountain he was standing on. Thinking back to the many peaks poking out from the sea of clouds, he wondered if there was an altar like that on the rest.

The thought barely flashed through his mind when he felt a slight disturbance in the air above him. Raising his head, he saw a blade light soaring through the air.

Luckily, it wasn’t aimed at him. Instead, it flew straight for another mountain peak. Looking closer at the blade light that was shooting through the skies, Shang Xia saw that it was much smaller and weaker than the one that he had to deal with when he entered the secret region.

Realizing the reason, Shang Xia quickly returned to the top of the mountain he was on to observe the falling blade light. A figure that just appeared finally noticed the danger and a yell filled the skies. “Not good!” 

From the voice, Shang Xia could tell that the newcomer was a female cultivator and the next thing he saw was her tossing out a strange handkerchief in the air. The next moment, it turned into a massive sheet that tried to stop the incoming blade light.

It was a shame the sheet of cloth was sliced in two the moment it came into contact with the blade light. Just like that, her first attempt at protecting herself failed.

Seeing as the blade light wasn’t slowing down, the ornate hairpin she was using shot upwards to meet the blade light. Extermination qi emerged from the hairpin as it started to grind away at the power contained in the blade light. It was a shame it was quickly destroyed by the tyrannical blade light.

The hairpin she used was clearly no ordinary treasure. From the extermination qi it produced earlier, a Martial Extermination Realm expert definitely had a hand in its creation.

Even though it failed to stop the blade light, the hairpin managed to weaken it to a certain extent.

Wasting 2 life-saving treasures, the female cultivator finally started to panic. She threw out an object in her hand in a desperate attempt to stop the blade light.

Shang Xia might be observing everything from a different mountain peak, but he could tell that the item she tossed out was an Abyssal Seal!

Now that he knew what an Abyssal Seal could do, Shang Xia couldn’t possibly allow it to be destroyed by the divine weapon’s blade light. He instinctively reached for the six sided handle and pointed it at the Abyssal Seal flying through the air.

Shang Xia could only stare at what happened next in a state of disbelief. The Abyssal Seal that the female cultivator had thrown out moved slightly in his direction. The subtle shift allowed the seal to avoid its fate of being sliced in two by the blade light, but that also caused the last bit of hope in the female cultivator’s eyes to die out. She closed her eyes as she accepted her fate.

At the very last second, Shang Xia waved his sleeves and a frosty light shot towards the blade light at a terrifying speed. It seemed to travel through the void as it smashed heavily into the blade light that was about to slice the female cultivator in two.

The sound of shattering could be heard as the blade light was destroyed by Shang Xia.

“Thud…” The thumping of an object falling to the ground caused the female cultivator to slowly awaken. As she slowly opened her eyes, the terrifying blade light that was threatening to take her life a moment ago was nowhere to be seen. Only a small throwing knife that was in shambles lay at her feet. 

The Fleeing Wind Dagger, one of the earliest graded weapons Shang Xia obtained, lay at her feet. After he got his hands on the weapon in the past, Shang Xia considered learning a set of techniques to use hidden weapons. However, there was only one Fleeing Wind Dagger and the moment he tossed it out, his technique would be rendered useless. His cultivation skyrocketed soon after, and he couldn’t really care less about a low-grade hidden weapon like that.

At the very least, he managed to make use of it eventually. He used the Fleeing Wind Dagger to block the blade light, destroying it in the process. 

“It’s true! The divine weapon sends out an attack based on the cultivation level of the person who enters. She’s a mere Martial Intent Realm cultivator and the blade light sent towards her was much weaker than the one I stopped when I first entered. Of course, it’s not something she can stop on her own… It’s no wonder Third Aunt’s husband was killed without the slightest bit of resistance when they entered in the past.” Shang Xia muttered softly. After stopping the blade light with his Fleeing Wind Dagger, Shang Xia gained a better understanding of the properties it contained. He could accurately determine that there was a trace of annihilation contained in it and would affect anyone struck by it.

Like Duan Liufeng, who was clearly struck by the blade light when he entered, had an entire arm sliced off. He might have been able to recover the arm he lost, but he was definitely suppressing the power of annihilation with his inner qi to prevent it from rampaging about in his body.

Speaking of Duan Liufeng, Shang Xia lost track of him in the sea of clouds…

“Junior Wei Qiongyi from the Liang Continent thanks Senior for the life saving grace…” Shang Xia’s thoughts were interrupted by the feminine cry. 

“Huh?” Shang Xia was a little awkward whenever someone called him ‘senior’. Looking at her from the mountain peak he was on, he could see that the female cultivator before him was in no way younger than him. Regardless, he didn’t harp on the topic. Instead, he asked in a slightly surprised tone, “Young Lady, are you from the Liang Continent? How did you enter the Taihang Mountains?” 

“Taihang Mountains?” She cried out in fright. It didn’t matter if Shang Xia didn’t bring it up, but she seemed extremely confused now that he did. “Isn’t that on the eastern side of the Bing Continent? What has it got to do with the Liang Continent? Senior, are you playing a prank on me?” 

Discover the complete story on pawread dot com.

“Young Lady Wei, do you mean to say that you were in the Liang Continent before this?” Shang Xia was genuinely confused as he yelled back at her. Since the two of them were standing on different peaks, they could only speak loudly when addressing each other.

Wei Qiongyi seemed to understand that someone with Shang Xia’s cultivation wouldn’t mess around with her for fun. Even though she was still frightened by her previous encounter with the blade light, she forced herself to regain her composure before explaining, “Senior, I was patrolling the spatial barrier that separates the Liang Continent from the battlefield between the two worlds but the barrier cracked suddenly and a strange white mist filled the region I was in. In an attempt to investigate what had happened, I went towards the crack in the barrier, and the next thing I knew, I appeared in this place. Senior, is this place really situated in the Taihang Mountains? How is it possible…” 

Shang Xia was starting to feel uncomfortable from the way she was addressing him and he quickly interrupted, “Alright, there’s no need to call me your senior. I’m Shang Xia from the You Continent. Anyway, did you say that you were transported here after being swept up by the white mist contained in the spatial barrier separating your continent from the battlefield between the two worlds?” 

Shang Xia could guess that she was hiding a whole bunch of details from the fact that she had an Abyssal Seal on her. However, he didn’t doubt for a second that she was lying about how she appeared in the secret region.

If what she was saying was true, could the secret region have something to do with the spatial barrier?

Thinking back to how similar the Cloud Water Gorge and the battlefield between the two worlds were, along with the dense fog that covered the region, Shang Xia wondered if the secret region was located in the void somewhere outside the Azure Origin World. Otherwise, why would the spatial barrier separating the Liang Continent from the battlefield between the two worlds have anything to do with her appearance in the secret region? 

Shang Xia’s train of thought was interrupted by the lady once again. She seemed extremely agitated about something as she cried, “You’re Shang Xia?! Are you ‘Young Master Shang Xia’ from the Shang Clan of the Tongyou City and the chief disciple of the Tongyou Institution?! How… How did you already enter the Martial Extermination Realm?!” 

“Young Master Shang Xia?! Who the hell calls me that other than those in the Shang Clan?” Shang Xia muttered to himself. However, he quickly snapped out of his thoughts and replied, “I didn’t expect you to know who I am. However, I have already graduated from the institution and cannot be considered their chief disciple.”

A complicated look flashed through Wei Qiongyi’s face but a trace of dejection soon took over. She sighed, “I am a deacon for the Weiwu Institution’s Outer Division and I greet Young Master Shang. Young Master Shang, your reputation is like the sun in the midday sky among the five border institutions right now. There’s no one who hasn’t heard of you. Once again, I would like to thank Senior for the life saving grace…

Shang Xia wasn’t surprised by her identity. With her cultivation level, she had to be someone important. However, that wasn’t the point at the moment. Waving his hands in front of him, he spoke, “Don’t worry about it. Deacon Wei, there’s no need to be so formal.” 

Shang Xia eventually gave her a little recount of what happened after he entered. He didn’t actually describe much. After all, he had barely entered the secret region himself.

She seemed to heave a sigh of relief after hearing his experience. She couldn’t help but ask, “Young Master Shang, so is it true that one will be able to leave the secret region after descending past the sea of clouds?”

Shang Xia nodded slightly but before he could say anything, he turned to stare in the direction of the mountain peak where the divine weapon was located.

Wei Qiongyi was surprised by his reaction but she quickly followed his gaze. She saw another yellowish-orange blade light rising into the air before chopping down at one of the other mountain peaks.

There was no doubt about it, someone else managed to enter the secret region!