Splitting the Heave

Ever since the stunt he pulled with the Great Observation Sect back in the region of sealed space, which resulted in him coming to blows with several high-level Martial Extermination Realm experts and the Martial Extermination Realm expert in the grand completion stage from the Great Observation Sect, Guan Yun, Shang Xia hadn’t fully recovered.

Even though his injuries weren’t serious, he still hasn't fully replenished his exhausted inner qi. His combat strength had actually been affected but due to the urgency of the situation, he had no choice but to carry on with his duties without fully recovering.

That was also why Yun Jing didn’t arrange for him to power the grand formation. She hoped that he could take the time to recover his lost inner qi.

What none of them knew was that Shang Xia was feeling a super intense throbbing in the space between his eyebrows as he directed the Tongyou Island towards the Great Sun that was the source of the World’s Will.

After absorbing world origin so many times in the past, Shang Xia’s understanding towards the Crimson Soul Tablet had reached a much deeper level. He could restrain it to a certain extent even though the source of the World’s Will was right here.

And of course, no one could tell the peculiar situation Shang Xia was in except for himself. He was able to suppress the feeling back then, but he could tell that if he didn’t find an excuse to run away from Ren Bainian, he wouldn’t be able to hold back the Crimson Soul Tablet’s desire for world origin for long.

Rather than thinking of a reason to explain what was happening when the Crimson Soul Tablet started to absorb world origin at a crazy rate, he would rather use an excuse and hide the commotion it caused with the help of the grand formation.

He didn’t think that the moment he sank his consciousness into the grand formation, the Crimson Soul Tablet would pull a strand of world origin over and devour it.

When he fused his consciousness with the grand formation earlier, it was hard for Chu Jia to detect him unless she was paying attention to everyone who was connected to it.

However, he was quickly discovered the moment the strand of world origin was extracted. Chu Jia wasn’t the only person he needed to care about. Yun Jing, Shang Bo, and Liu Qinglan managed to feel the disturbance and they immediately sent several voice transmissions over to ask him what the hell he was up to.

“What are you doing?!” Yun Jing’s voice rang in his mind. She sounded slightly angry and she continued to yell at him, “Don’t you know that the world origin we absorb concerns your grandfather’s advancement to the Martial Dipper Realm? It will also determine if our Tongyou Mysterious World manages to upgrade to the Tongyou Paradise!” 

“Sorry, it was a mistake, an honest mistake!” Shang Xia apologized immediately and continued, “I was trying to help. I’ll fix it, don’t worry!” 

“Don’t mess around! It’s not the time for you to act recklessly. Our grand formation isn’t good enough to absorb a huge amount of world origin and we can’t waste a single bit of it!” Yun Jing’s voice came again, and she was exceptionally serious this time. There was even a trace of warning in them.

“Alright, alright…” Shang Xia might have said that, but he remained motionless on his formation node. It was obvious he wasn’t going to listen to her.

He was trying his best to communicate with the Crimson Soul Tablet in his sea of consciousness after speaking to Yun Jing as he suddenly discovered that there was something else contained in the strand of World’s Will he absorbed.

“Why were you thinking?! Also, what do you plan to do?” Shang Bo’s voice arrived just in time to calm Yun Jing who was about to burst with rage.

Splitting off a bit of his consciousness, Shang Xia replied, “The sixth island has arrived. There will be even more islands coming and our speed of absorption puts us at too much of a disadvantage!” 

Shang Bo continued while still remaining relatively calm. “You think you have the ability to hasten the speed we absorb world origin?” 

“Most likely.” Shang Xia answered.

“Did you feel your divine perception clashing against the World’s Will earlier?” Shang Bo changed the topic suddenly.

“Huh?” Raising his head, Shang Xia seemed to have noticed something.

Unfortunately for Shang Bo and Yun Jing, they were unable to see his expressions as they were merely sending voice transmissions to each other.

Sighing softly, Shang Bo felt that his guess was correct and he hurriedly explained, “You were too rash! The world origin we’re absorbing is of the highest purity left behind after the destruction of the Manyu Continent. It also contains the final condensed will of the world. There’s no need to mention it if you try to refine it directly… Even coming into contact with it will cause you to suffer a backlash from the World’s Will! Why else do you think everyone is absorbing it with their grand formation? Wouldn’t it be more convenient for cultivators to directly absorb it?” 

Shang Xia finally understood what he felt earlier. He didn’t suffer any backlash from the World’s Will in the slightest! Instead, it was all directed at the Crimson Soul Tablet.

He could also vaguely feel that even though the tablet was slightly affected after it devoured the strand of world origin, he merely felt dizzy for a moment before the tablet returned to normal. He even felt a trace of joy that was transmitted over by the tablet.

Without a doubt, the World’s Will contained in the strand of world origin had also been completely refined by the Crimson Soul Tablet.

Seeing as Shang Xia had remained silent for a while now, Shang Bo continued, “Do you know how powerful the world origin here is now? Why are you still here? Hurry up and leave!” 

“Is that why you have to remain in seclusion to prepare yourself? Do you also have to resist the impact of the World’s Will on your soul?” Shang Xia asked suddenly.

“It’s different. After our grand formation absorbs the world origin here, there will be a process of refinement before its being filtered to our core region. When that happens, I can absorb world origin that barely contains any World’s Will.” Shang Bo explained.

With his sharp senses, Shang Xia felt that he learned something and he continued to ask, “As for World’s Will that is refined away and filtered…”

“That’s the key to our Tongyou Mysterious World’s ascension to the Tongyou Paradise. Do you understand now?” Shang Bo muttered.

Shang Bo seemed to have cleared the fog in front of Shang Xia. Many things he didn’t understand back then no longer troubled him.

…

It seemed as though the formation of a holy land like the Tongyou Paradise would need something similar to the World’s Will at its core. There was nothing more similar than World’s Will itself. Also, it was the reason why the various powers had been suppressing the institution. They didn’t wish for the Tongyou Institution to forcefully plunder the Azure Origin World’s Will.

Back during the war of the Tongyou Mysterious World, the institution obtained a huge amount of world origin from the Origin Tide. Shang Xia thought that they had a chance to ascend into the Tongyou Paradise in one go, but they forcefully cut off the connection at the last second. 

As it turned out, no matter how much world origin they obtained, they were unable to take the final step as they couldn’t get World’s Will from either the Azure Origin World or Azure Spiritual World. 

In a last-ditch effort, the Tongyou Institution turned their sights to the World’s Will on the nearly destroyed Manyu Continent.

The various other powers also needed the Manyu Continent’s World’s Will to strengthen their holy lands, which led to everything that was happening.

Back when Shang Xia drew over the strand of world origin, it hadn’t passed through the stages of refinement and hadn’t been filtered yet. As such, the impact of the World’s Will should be the greatest! 

One had to understand that that was the World’s Will of a Barbaric World they were talking about. Even though it hadn’t gained sentience yet and could be considered really weak, that was only in comparison to other worlds. It wasn’t something one person could withstand.

That was also why Yun Jing was so angry with Shang Xia’s reckless actions after discovering what he had done.

She wouldn’t give half a shit about the strand of world origin. She was worried that he would experience cultivation deviation and lose his life because of the impact of the World’s Will! If that were to happen, the institution would lose a massive source of strength.

…

“Since you know what is going on now, why are you still here?” Yun Jing couldn’t help but snap at Shang Xia once again.

Who would have thought that not only did Shang Xia not leave, he planted his feet firmly into the ground and started to fuse with the workings of the grand formation.

An even greater strand of world origin escaped from the light pillar and went towards Shang Xia, but this time, it didn’t stop there. It entered his body in an unending stream.

“What the hell are you doing?! Are you tired of living?!” Yun Jing screamed before barking an order at Chu Jia. “Chu Jia, hurry up and destroy the pathway of world origin through our grand formation!” 

“Deputy Patriarch Yun, there’s no need to panic. I have a way to nullify the impact of the World’s Will.” Shang Xia’s voice rang in her mind all of a sudden.

“What do you…” Yun Jing was initially shocked that he could still respond, but she quickly flew into another fit of rage. “Can’t you see the bigger picture here?! Even if you can resolve the impact of the World’s Will on you, you’re taking so much world origin! Have you thought about the foundations of the institution and your grandfather’s breakthrough to the Martial Dipper Realm?!” 

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Facing Yun Jing’s scoldings, Shang Xia released a soft chuckle. “Hehe, what I mean to say is that I have a way to hasten the absorption speed of world origin!” 

A horrifying attractive force fused with the grand formation the very instant the words left his lips. The vortex above the Tongyou Island started to speed up as world origin poured into the island at an even higher rate than before.

“What…” 

Yun Jing couldn’t even finish her sentence when the light pillar that connected the island to the Great Sun as the bridge by which they were absorbing world origin suddenly expanded by one quarter of its original size.