Splitting the Heave

Now that Shang Xia had entered the Tongyou Mysterious World again, he discovered that he had missed the bigger picture the last time he was there.

Back then, he entered the Tongyou Mysterious World with a single purpose and it was to craft talismans. 

In the months that passed, he didn’t venture too far from his secret chamber even though he was already in the Tongyou Mysterious World. There were countless spatial restrictions around the area he was in and he only managed to observe a small portion of the Tongyou Mysterious World. 

The rules the institution had for the Tongyou Mysterious World were too numerous to count and Shang Xia didn’t wish to accidentally break some of them in the past. That was why he didn’t mess around any way he liked back then.

Looking at Shang Xia, Zhang Haogu introduced in excitement, “Grandmaster Shang, this part of the Tongyou Mysterious World is where your secret chamber is located. However, the Tongyou Mysterious World is a little messy at the moment and this area seems a little affected. Luckily, this place won’t pose any danger to any disciple who accidentally wanders in. At the very most, they’ll lose their way and walk around for a bit before they are found.” 

Chuckling softly, Zhang Haogu continued, “Also, no one would randomly roam around the Tongyou Mysterious World for nothing. Only those who aren’t dedicated to their cultivation would lose their way here. They would waste their precious cultivation time if they venture off and get trapped in the illusions…” 

Shang Xia nodded his head and laughed softly. Zhang Haogu placed it nicely, but there was one reason and one reason only people were ‘getting lost’ in the Tongyou Mysterious World. There weren’t enough members of the Formation Hall maintaining the place!

No matter which part of the organization of the Tongyou Mysterious World they were talking about, the Formation Hall had a hand to play in it. 

Since the Tongyou Mysterious World was founded, the Tongyou Institution has carried out massive expeditions to regain their footing in the battlefield between the two worlds. A huge portion of the manpower from the Formation Hall was sent to the Observation Peak causing them to be unable to keep up with the arrangements to the Tongyou Mysterious World.

Since the grand formation had been completed around the Observation Peak, the newly ascended Chu Jia of the Formation Hall was immediately deployed away. The main pillar of strength of the Formation Hall was gone just like that, and the other members could only delay the arrangement of the Tongyou Mysterious World as they dealt with bigger problems.

With Zhang Haogu and Liu Zhiyuan leading the way, Shang Xia finally arrived before a patch of cloudy space. 

The feeling he was getting from it was strange as he felt a faint sense of danger from within. However, he found it a little familiar at the same time.

Liu Zhiyuan and Zhang Haogu stopped in unison the moment they arrived before the cloudy space. Shang Xia, who was following closely behind them, broke out into laughter, “Let this disciple make a guess. Will going past this screen bring me to the upper part of the Tongyou Mysterious World?” 

Liu Zhiyuan nodded without trying to build the suspense. He quickly explained, “That’s right. This leads to the upper region of the Tongyou Mysterious World. Actually, you can say that it’s the deepest layer of the mysterious world. When they split the regions initially, this place was meant for cultivators who had reached the third layer Martial Extermination Realm or above. You can even say that it was specially prepared for experts who had reached the Martial Dipper Realm.” 

Hearing the words ‘Martial Dipper Realm’ come out of Liu Zhiyuan’s lips, Shang Xia suddenly realized why he was finding the cloudy space so familiar. He found it extremely similar to the region that existed outside the strange windy cave Shang Xia discovered back in the battlefield between the two worlds. When he first saw it, Shang Xia felt an extreme sense of danger coming from it.

Now, Shang Xia was staring at something similar and was still getting a bad feeling. However, he felt that it wasn’t actually as threatening as before. It seemed somewhat manageable.

Looking at how Zhang Haogu and Liu Zhiyuan didn’t intend to continue, Shang Xia couldn’t help but laugh, “Aren’t you two planning to head in to take a look?” 

Staring at each other, Zhang Haogu eventually broke the awkward silence. “Brat, are you messing with us? There’s no need to try to watch us embarrass ourselves. We can’t pass through this screen!” 

Initially, Shang Xia thought that experts who hadn’t reached the respective cultivation level were merely prohibited from entering the region because of a rule from the institution. Now, it seemed as though they were physically unable to pass.

He started to hesitate. “This…” 

Glancing at Shang Xia, Liu Zhiyuan explained, “The Patriarch said to enter if you are strong enough. If you’re not, wait here for him to pick you up.” 

Shang Xia didn’t seem to care about the test by Kou Chongxue. Instead, he changed the topic and asked, “Is there a path connecting our Tongyou Mysterious World to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion?” 

Zhang Haogu shook his head slowly and sighed, “The two of us have not been to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion. We don’t know much about the details. However, Patriarch Kou never seemed to use the Tongyou Mysterious World when he went to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion in the past.” 

Actually, Zhang Haogu was equally as curious and wanted to know how to get to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

Shang Xia nodded slowly in response and walked past the two of them. Staring at the screen of gray before him, he muttered, “Should I give it a try?” 

Zhang Haogu and Liu Zhifei retreated immediately as Shang Xia continued to approach the screen.

Stepping through the chaotic space, Shang Xia couldn’t see a path beneath his feet. Everything around him was a strange gray color. His extermination origin appeared under his feet the moment he stepped down and it seemed to form a steady platform to support his weight. At the same time, a frightening pressure pressed against Shang Xia from the unassuming gray space.

Shang Xia’s extermination origins seemed provoked by the pressure coming from the chaotic space and a four colored extermination light started to expand around him, resisting the pressure coming from all directions. 

Eventually getting used to the surrounding pressure, Shang Xia continued to take several steps out. With every step he took, the four colored extermination light supported him as it opened a path before him.

When Shang Xia got far out into the blurry space, the four color extermination light that came from his extermination origins started to form an image of a door which he finally stepped through…

Zhang Haogu and Liu Zhiyuan stared at Shang Xia’s leaving figure as he went deeper and deeper into the chaotic space.

“How does he do it!” Liu Zhiyuan muttered. There was a trace of jealousy in his voice as he stared at the blurry figure getting further and further away.

To be really honest, he tried entering the chaotic space in the past. However… Well, everyone knew what happened.

Because of his advanced age, Zhang Haogu’s blood didn’t boil as hot as Liu Zhiyuan. Rather than jealousy, he seemed to admire Shang Xia’s strength even more. He glanced at Liu Zhiyuan after hearing his question and he muttered, “His strength might have something to do with the way he advanced to the Martial Extermination Realm…” 

“Is it about how he refined all four extermination origins simultaneously?” Liu Zhiyuan asked after hesitating slightly. 

Looking at Liu Zhiyuan, Zhang Haogu muttered placidly, “Is there any other explanation you can think of?” 

Liu Zhiyuan shook his head and sighed, “This is too… Even if he managed to develop four seeds of extermination origins before entering the Martial Extermination Realm, everyone’s dantian is just so big! Even if he entered the Martial Extermination Realm with a different method, that wouldn’t affect his improvement speed, right?!” 

Zhang Haogu extended both his arms and shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows? It might be a special trait only those who refined 4 extermination origins together obtain. It might also be because of other factors. The only way to understand what’s going on is to replicate the way he entered the Martial Extermination Realm…” 

Staring at Zhang Haogu in fright, Liu Zhiyuan revealed a bitter smile and shook his head.

Refining 4 extermination origins at once was something only a madman would do! No one knew why Kou Chongxue even agreed to let the kid do something like that. 

Shang Bo was another one they had to talk about after bringing up Shang Xia’s breakthrough. He watched as his grandson tried such a dangerous method of breakthrough! Anyone who didn’t know the full situation would think that Shang Xia wasn’t related to Shang Bo at all!

Liu Zhiyuan balked silently as negative thoughts continued to fly through his mind.

…

Shang Xia didn’t know how long he had been walking for, but throughout the process, he could feel the exhaustion of his extermination origins.

Just as he was about to use up all his strength and thoughts of how he wasn’t qualified to pass through the chaotic space were forming in his mind, a burst of light caught him by surprise. He stepped out from the chaotic space and entered a sea of white.

There was a massive structure that looked like a building that had just been built standing in front of him. It seemed completely bare as Shang Xia scanned it from top to bottom.

The heaven and earth qi in his surroundings was also surprisingly thin. In contrast, the world origin seemed a little thicker than other regions in the Tongyou Mysterious World.

Heaven and earth qi which was 2 to 3 times thicker in the middle segment of the Tongyou Mysterious World than the outside world was evidently unable to fill the top segment. That might explain why Shang Xia was feeling a little suffocated when he made his way over earlier.

That wasn’t all. Shang Xia felt his inner qi leaking out bit by bit as he stood there in the empty space. Even his extermination origins were showing signs of going berserk.

Those might be what he experienced, but Shang Xia couldn’t help but admire the Tongyou Mysterious World. 

Turning his attention inwards, he started to calm his inner qi down. He used the chance to familiarize himself with his surroundings.

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Throughout the process, Shang Xia discovered that his inner qi was starting to circulate faster. He also clearly felt a deeper understanding of his Four Seasons Samsara Art. 

Everything he felt only meant one thing. His cultivation was already rising as he stood there.

His cultivation was one thing, but the Crimson Soul Tablet also started to tremble in his sea of consciousness.

Splitting apart a little bit of his consciousness, Shang Xia went to observe the tablet. 

One had to understand that since his time in the Abyssal Secret Region, Shang Xia had been able to absorb world origin bit by bit. He tried refining it back then, but the Crimson Soul Tablet never reacted as strongly.

From what Shang Xia knew, the Crimson Soul Tablet wouldn’t feel the urge to devour world origin unless it was exceptionally pure. He felt that the tablet was some sort of foodie who would only act up when the food was delicious enough.

It also showed that the Crimson Soul Tablet seemed to possess some sort of consciousness.

Because of those reasons, Shang Xia felt that he managed to form a deeper connection with the tablet. Back when he first transmigrated, he had already formed a link with the tablet. However, the connection was a little one sided as the tablet seemed to have no other choice. Now that Shang Xia had refined so much world origin, the feeling of familiarity he felt with the tablet became stronger and stronger. 

Having discovered what had happened, a look of realization appeared on his face. Didn’t it seem as though he was further refining the Crimson Soul Tablet as he fed it with world origin?