Chapter 758: Hidden Dangers
Actually, Shang Xia had long noticed their presence before they discovered him. He wasn’t too worried about it as his grandfather was a part of their group.
However, he wasn’t able to head over to greet them when they discovered his presence. The 5 of them were well coordinated as they surrounded him immediately. They also immediately unleashed their 5 man battle formation.
“Wait! We’re on the same side!” Shang Xia yelled and no longer concealed his presence.
“Huh? Why the hell are you here? What are you doing?” Shang Bo recognized him immediately and gestured for the others to not make a move. He quickly asked.
An awkward smile appeared on his face as he bowed to those present. “Grandpa. Greetings to various seniors.”
One of the elders who had a strict look on his yellowish face chuckled, “Brother Shang, is this your grandson? I heard from my martial niece Jingzi stories about Little Shang. She seems to admire him a lot. Now that I see him for myself, it looks like he lives up to his reputation!”
“Haha, there’s no need for such praise. The little brat just got lucky and received some pointers from Patriarch Kou. he’s not that impressive...” Shang Bo chuckled.
He turned to Shang Xia and made the introduction, “This is Elder Ha Deqing from the Heavenly Star Palace. Beside him is Elder Kuai Jinglin from the Yuanchen Sect and Elder Xuan Chang from the Zhongxuan Sect. Senior Kuai was the one who discovered you earlier. Well, you know Elder Luo Baixu from the Changbai Holy Land.”
Shang Xia had no choice but to greet them once again.
Kuai Jinglin couldn’t help but laugh, “Little Shang’s concealment art is really amazing. If not for the fact that I had a special artifact from the sect that amplified the senses of my divine will, it would have been much more difficult for me to discover your tracks!”
Shang Xia replied humbly the next moment, “Junior merely managed to develop some slight skills. I’m not that amazing...”
Seeing as Shang Xia wasn’t willing to speak more, Kuai Jinglin felt a trace of resentment in his heart. However, he didn’t continue to probe into the matter.
Slightly uncomfortable that everyone’s attention was on him, Shang Xia tried to divert the topic. “Grandpa, did you and the various elders here continue to pursue the experts of the Spirit Abundance World who escaped back then? Did you manage to gain anything?”
Shang Bo sighed in response, “We managed to heavily injure one and destroy one of his Fate Dipper Clones. However, he still managed to get away in the end.”
After a slight pause, Shang Bo continued in his helpless tone, “3 years ago, around 20 of us from the Azure Ascension World banded together and split up into groups to look for traces of those who escaped. We only killed 1 and heavily injured 2. Many of them returned empty-handed.”
Ha Deqing spoke loudly and took over what Shang Bo was saying. “The vast sea of stars is too large. Even though we know that they won’t venture too far away from the Beyond Heavens Pavilion, they care about nothing but hiding. Locating any of them is like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s great that we managed to locate a true body or two. The more important task we have is to patrol the space surrounding our world to prevent any experts from other worlds from entering secretly.”
“Entering our world secretly?” Shang Xia’s notice was immediately drawn to those worlds.
The others didn’t realize his unusual feeling towards those words and Luo Baixu explained, “The Spirit Abundance World might have backed away, but the position of our Azure Ascension World has definitely been revealed to them. Even though we have 4 supreme experts at the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm and it wouldn’t be possible for the Spirit Abundance World to send their experts close to the heavenly screen, they might have done so further out. They might try to infiltrate our Azure Ascension World in secret...”
Subconsciously nodding his head, Shang Xia replied, “So that’s what you were looking out for...”
Luo Baixu turned to Shang Bo and chuckled, “Now that we are heading back to the Azure Ascension World to take a break, our factions will still have to send out some experts a year later to patrol the vast sea of stars. My Changbai Sect will probably send Shen Baisong and I wonder if you will let little friend Shang Xia join him?”
Luo Baixu barely completed his sentence when Ha Deqing from the Heavenly Star Palace continued, “That’s a great idea. I heard that 3 years ago, Little Friend Shang Xia joined hands with my martial niece to fight against the enemies of the Spirit Abundance World. From what I’ve heard, they work together pretty well. Since the Changbai Sect is sending Shen Baisong, my Heavenly Star Palace will send my martial niece over. All of them are from the younger generation and they should be able to work better together.”
Shang Xia broke out into laughter, “Junior is most willing to take up the task of patrolling the region around the heavenly screen. However, I will have to get Patriarch Kou’s approval before making a decision.”
Luo Baixu and Ha Deqing responded immediately. “Of course, of course you have to!”
As the 6 Martial Dipper Realm experts eventually parted ways, they returned to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion above their respective territories.
In the pavilion, Shang Xia and Shang Bo’s appearance was felt by Ji Wenlong and he quickly arrived.
“Is Patriarch Kou still in seclusion?” Shang Bo asked the moment he stepped into the pavilion.
Ji Wenlong glanced at Shang Xia for a short second before they shook their heads in unison. After seeing their response, Shang Bo also revealed a look of worry. All of them could see the unease in each other’s eyes.
After the battle 3 years ago, Kou Chongxue had been in seclusion. It was something unheard of in the 30 years history of the Tongyou Institution!
Back then, Kou Chongxue would also enter seclusion frequently. However, he would never cut off all connection to the outside world when doing so. This time, he didn’t respond to anyone in the past 3 years.
“What do you think happened? Is there a need for him to do something like this/” Shang Bo asked. Shang Xia was completely shocked by the sudden question, but Shang Bo was clearly directing his question to Ji Wenlong.
Glancing at Shang Bo with a deep gaze, Ji Wenlong didn’t reply to his question directly. Instead, he asked one of his own,” What did you run into these years that you have to find him so urgently?”
Shang Bo shook his head in response. “There have been many people who have been flattering Patriarch Kou. However, they can’t hide their true goal. They are trying to ask if he managed to comprehend his martial intent and the way to enter the grand completion stage...”
After thinking for a moment, Ji Wenlong muttered, “That’s pretty much expected... After all, our Azure Worlds never had a single expert at the grand completion stage of the Martial Dipper Realm. It has been rumored that even the 4 supreme experts at the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm didn’t comprehend their martial intent in the Martial Dipper Realm...”
“Patriarch Kou hasn’t emerged from seclusion in such a long time... Could that have added to why everything thought that he comprehended his martial intent? After all, his sword light that crossed 30000 miles in the battle 3 years ago should have shocked them all...” Shang Xia interrupted.
Shang Bo met Ji Wenlong’s gaze and he eventually replied, “We won’t have to worry about suspicions coming from the other factions. We’re afraid that those 4 have their eyes on him...”
After he spoke, Shang Bo gestured to 4 different directions outside the pavilion. It was exactly where the 4 Elysiums were located.
Shang Xia was greatly taken aback. “Does that mean that the 4 Elysiums will plot against Patriarch Kou?!”
“It’s something we guessed... However, do you think that the Azure Ascension World can hold another Elysium?” Ji Wenlong whispered.
Shang Bo corrected him the next second, “Our Tongyou Paradise might not be able to ascend into an Elysium, but it’s possible for him to step into the Sixth Order...” Pausing for a little, Shang Bo whispered, “... It’s possible for him to become a Sixth Order expert who isn’t restrained by an Elysium...”
Shang Xia gasped, “The invasion from the Spirit Abundance World is imminent! Will they really risk internal conflict at this time?”
Ji Wenlong and Shang Bo shook their heads in unison, but Shang Xia wasn’t concerned with any of them at the moment. He was thinking about the Starry Marsh Elysium and wondered if it had anything to do with Kou Chongxue’s disappearance.
...
Shang Bo required some time to recover after returning from the vast sea of stars. Shang Xia was thinking of pestering his grandpa to learn what he gained from hunting down the experts of the Spirit Abundance World. He was especially interested to learn if there were fate dipper essences or rank five talisman papers among the loot, but he was bound to be disappointed.
Shang Xia was in the midst of collecting the fourth set of fate dipper essences and even though he collected a good half of it, he was lacking his final Bing Fire, Xin Metal, and Ji Earth Fate Dipper Essences.
There was another way for Shang Xia to improve and it was for him to shorten the time required for a complete cycle of his inner qi to less than 4 hours. When that happened, he would be able to change the alignment of yin and yang however he wished and he would only need to gather fate dipper essences of the 5 Elements without caring about their yin yang alignment.
After leaving the Tongyou Paradise, Shang Xia went straight to the Formations Hall to look for Chu Jia.
Seeing as Shang Xia had come to find her, a trace of delight filled her heart. However, she tried to remain as indifferent as possible. “The great Talisman Grandmaster Shang visiting our humble Formations Hall... What a rare event! Is there something we can help you with?”
Seeing the mischievous look on Chu Jia’s face, Shang Xia muttered helplessly, “There is something I need to ask you today. Please enlighten me on something.”
Noticing how serious Shang Xia was, Chu Jia realized she couldn’t keep up her act any longer and she waved her hand casually to ask, “What do you need?”
“I went to test out the talisman I made earlier...” Shang Xia chuckled.
Chu Jia’s gaze trembled violently. “You... You succeeded?!”
Shang Xia nodded with a wide grin. “Yeah. The effects were pretty good. It shifted me 10000 miles away from my original position.”
“10000 miles?” Chu Jia gasped. A complicated look appeared on her face as she mumbled, “Congratulations... Looks like your Talisman Hall will have another rank five talisman inheritance from now on...”
“What are you talking about? Our institution gained another rank five talisman inheritance!” Shang Xia laughed. However, his tone changed suddenly. “However, there seems to be a problem with the talisman.”
“What is it?” Chu Jia raised her eyebrows in shock. Thinking about how Shang Xia came to look for her, she wondered out loud, “Is there something I can help with?”
Shang Xia nodded in response before giving an explanation, “Teacher Chu, do you think that I am able to fuse a formation with it and create a fixed teleportation formation?”
“It’s not going to be easy... How did you come up with an idea like that?” Chu Jia was slightly taken aback by his idea.
After thinking for a second, Shang Xia recounted what happened earlier. “When I used the talisman, I traveled 10000 miles into space. I passed the Beyond Heavens Pavilion without facing any obstructions.”
“Huh?! Are you planning to construct a way for us to travel to the Three Unity Island directly?” Chu Jia yelped. However, she thought carefully about what he said earlier and her voice became even higher as she exclaimed in fright, “No, wait. Don’t tell me you didn’t pass through the heavenly screen on your way out!”
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