Chapter 1127: Ruined World

As they continued on their journey, the Spirit Luxuriant World had been left a long way behind.

Shang Xia had been flying for so long that he couldn’t estimate the distance between himself and the Spirit Luxuriant World. He could only recall that he traveled through 8 spatial tunnels while following Kou Chongxue.

“Speaking of which... How did you find this place again?” Shang Xia asked when they finally took a break after passing through their ninth spatial tunnel.

Even with Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia’s deep reserves, traveling such long distances through the vast sea of stars wasn’t something they could do endlessly. They would take a break after every 3 spatial tunnels they created and passed through.

It wasn’t that they were completely exhausted after creating 3 spatial tunnels. It was just that danger was everywhere in the vast sea of stars. They had to keep their guards up and maintain their vigilance. As such, they needed to maintain some form of combat capabilities along their journey.

At that moment, they had arrived on a giant meteorite that had an odd shape and they placed a Five Element Spirit Gathering Formation Disk around themselves as they took their break.

That was a special formation artifact Chu Jia specially made for Shang Xia. Even someone like him who didn’t know how to lay down formation would be able to utilize a Five Element Spirit Gathering Formation once he activated the artifact with essence crystals. It was extremely convenient.

As Kou Chongxue felt himself recovering rapidly, he couldn’t help but praise even though it wasn’t his first time experiencing it. “Little Chu’s achievements in the dao of formations are getting more and more exquisite. However, she actually gave you the formation disk! Even as your patriarch, I’ll have to leech off you in order to recover my inner qi... Where has my prestige gone?”

Kou Chongxue’s original tone of praise transformed into a grumble when he got to the very end.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Come on... Damn old man, why don’t you mention how you’re using my essence crystals every time we activate the formation for you to recover?”

Kou Chongxue sneered decisively as though it was only fair for him to be doing it. “You’re just doing your part! This old man here is the patriarch for crying out loud! Aren’t you supposed to be doing all these things for me? Moreover, what about that Spatial Pouch you’re using? If I remember correctly, the Spatial Pouches made from Swallow Fur in the institution should only possess ten square feet of space... From the look of it, the space contained in your pouch should have far surpassed that, right?”

Shang Xia helplessly retrieved his Spatial Pouch that looked similar to the previous one he had been using and muttered, “This Spatial Pouch was created with the skin of the rank six Star Beast. Also... There was only 1 piece and I gave it to them to play around. Anyway, this is one of the only treasures our Weapons Hall can show to the world. If you really want it, feel free to take it. However, you’re going to provide the essence crystals required to activate the spirit gathering formation from now on.”

“No, no, no. Absolutely not.” Kou Chongxue snorted derisively in response. “As the mighty patriarch of the Tongyou Institution, I only use the best treasures. Keep this test product for yourself!”

With the rapid advancement of the Spirit Luxuriant World in recent years, the amount of resources they harvested grew. At the very least, Shang Xia and Kou Chongxue were no longer strapped for essence crystals.

After they fully restored their energy, they didn’t actually make more spatial tunnels. Instead, Kou Chongxue concealed his aura and Shang Xia quickly followed suit. They hid their presence and Kou Chongxue led the way into a chaotic stream of meteorites.

“Seriously... How did you discover this place in the past?” Shang Xia asked.

After dodging a region of space that collapsed without warning, Shang Xia felt a trace of lingering fear in his heart. He looked at Kou Chongxue who was skillfully dodging the incoming chunks of rocks while skirting past dangerous plots of space and couldn’t help but grumble.

“Shut up! We’re about to arrive!” Kou Chongxue was locked in and he looked a lot more serious than before. Influenced by him, Shang Xia also became solemn.

After passing a giant rock that was a third the size of an Earth Star, the space in front of them cleared up.

On the other side that was almost the limit of where Shang Xia and Kou Chongxue could see, an area of disorderly space could be seen. It seemed to contain a scattered mass of land that strangely made up a spherical shape.

They could also see that the strange region was detached from the meteorite belt they passed through earlier.

Shang Xia heard the soft sigh of relief that left Kou Chongxue’s lips and he couldn’t help but laugh, “Are you worried the Ruined World has already been used by them?”

Glaring at Shang Xia from the corner of his eye and growled, “If not for you dragging your feet, I would have been able to make better preparations here. We might even have been able to complete them all before they got here!”

Kou Chongxue might sound like he was blaming Shang Xia, but they knew that what he did was also to prepare for whatever might happen. Also, he brought it up because when they arrived, they could see large Star Ships passing through the area from time to time.

Shang Xia chuckled in response, “Haste makes waste... Also, I was making preparations for us in case anything went wrong! How can you of all people not know this?”

Kou Chongxue snorted softly twice. “Since they already started surveillance on this area, that would mean that the mysterious expert can enter the fourth tier any time... What do you think we should do?”

In the past, Kou Chongxue had already alerted the other side to his presence. They would definitely increase their forces in charge of security in the region. Kou Chongxue was afraid that they would be discovered before they could get close.

Then again, the other side hadn’t given up on the Ruined World even though they had been alerted to Kou Chongxue’s presence. That would mean that the mysterious cultivator is too lazy to look for somewhere else due to his advanced cultivation level, or that he was in a rush to break through. There was also a possibility that finding another Ruined World would prove to be difficult. Naturally, it was likely both reasons were true.

After a short moment of contemplation, Shang Xia knew that even though they had hidden trump cards, their opponents would also possess the same. As for hiding from experts of the same level... He wasn’t too confident since the other side seemed prepared for it.

“If nothing else works, just break in with brute force. You were alone back then, and you were a second tier True Immortal. Now, both of us are here, and we’re third tier True Immortals, we can both be of use!” Shang Xia threw out an idea that didn’t seem too much like a plan.

“Are you planning to shift their focus?” Kou Chongxue raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Scratching his head, Shang Xia mumbled, “Well... That works too?”

Since they decided on their course of action, they had to move separately. As for who would become bait... That would depend on who was discovered first.

After splitting off, Shang Xia decided to act before Kou Chongxue.

It wasn’t that he was ruining their plan on purpose, but with their cultivation levels being at the level of External Unity, Shang Xia’s combat strength had already surpassed Kou Chongxue.

Even though the depths of one’s foundations aren’t fully related to one’s strength, it was a very important factor.

As such, Shang Xia decided that even if he was the one discovered, he would be more likely to be able to escape unscathed than Kou Chongxue.

Moreover, he had the Man and Heaven Synergy Chapter that allowed him to conceal himself. A rank five Abyssal Emptiness Talisman could also allow him to travel through space without causing too much disturbance. As long as he wished, he would be able to quickly leave the region.

Passing 10,000 miles quickly, a Star Ship passed in the distance but because of the huge distance between them, they failed to discover Shang Xia’s presence.

Very quickly, he traveled 20,000 more miles. The Ruined World that looked like a blip in the distance started to grow larger. It seemed to become 10 times bigger than before and Shang Xia could even see the land masses drifting about chaotically around each other. At the same time, he managed to close a third of the distance between himself and the Ruined World.

...

Soon, another 30,000 miles passed and Shang Xia traveled two-thirds of the distance to the Ruined World. He could start to see the shape of the land masses floating about.

That was also how he discovered that the shape of the Ruined World was a little different from what Kou Chongxue described in the past.

Even though everything looked like it was drifting about chaotically, the Ruined World managed to maintain its shape with everything being in a very casual state of suspension. They would gather together slightly because of the presence of some external force, but it would push back once the external force disappeared.

More importantly, compared to what Kou Chongxue said before, the Ruined World was a lot smaller than he described!

Shang Xia was still racing towards the Ruined World, and he couldn’t help but glance in the direction Kou Chongxue should be in. He didn’t know if the patriarch had already discovered the strangeness with the Ruined World.

The first thing Shang Xia could think of was that the mysterious expert had already started the process of breaking through, and they might have even succeeded!

If that was truly the case, Kou Chongxue was a step too late!

Also... If the other party already broke through to become a fourth tier True Immortal, they might be in danger.

It wasn’t that Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia wouldn’t be able to fight a fourth tier True Immortal who just broke through, but the moment they fought, their identities would be revealed and they would bring unnecessary trouble to the Tongyou Institution.

Whatever it was, it was too late to turn back. The arrow was nocked and the bow was drawn. Shang Xia could only brace himself and go all in.

The distance between the world and himself had shortened to less than 20,000 miles by then. The Star Ships had made 4 to 5 passes but failed to detect his presence.

Shang Xia was surprised, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly more afraid. He didn’t wish to fall into a trap.

As his thoughts spun, Shang Xia arrived in a 10,000 mile range of the Ruined World. The next moment, a giant Star Ship started drifting towards him and rapid chimes started to ring.

Soon after, Shang Xia could see that the experts on the Star Ship started to rush to take up their posts. Dozens of high-level experts rushed about and a formless barrier appeared to cover the entire ship.

At the same time, the sail on the Star Ship started to move even without the presence of wind. It started to accelerate and it didn’t take long to reach its top speed. It quickly drew hundreds of miles away from Shang Xia as it attempted to flee to the Ruined World.

Shang Xia naturally understood that they had already discovered him, but because of how decisively they ran, he failed to react in time and didn’t know if he should stop them or not.

When he was still hesitating, the Star Ship traveled more than a thousand miles away. The formless barrier around it seemed to fuse into its surroundings before turning into a spatial gate.

Finally, Shang Xia discovered that even though the Star Ship had a certain level of concealment, it was most definitely a Star Ship that belonged to the Star Origin Guards.

That was something he learned after hearing detailed descriptions from Feng Ziying.

The only thing he was surprised by was the fact that the Star Ship could create its own spatial tunnel.

By then, Shang Xia could guess that there was no True Immortal on board with how decisively the Star Ship turned to run. As such, Shang Xia couldn’t allow them to leave easily.

Before Shang Xia could make a move, a powerful black line tore through the void. It sliced the fleeing Star Ship in half before it dissipated. It turned into a multitude of sword qi before stabbing countless holes into the halves of the Star Ship.

As for the dozens of experts stationed on it... None of them could survive the tyrannical sword qi!

With things progressing to that point, how could Shang Xia not understand that even though he had the idea of making the first move to become the bait so that Kou Chongxue would have an easier time looking for the answer, Kou Chongxue was thinking the same thing!

Scratching his head slowly, things turned a little awkward.

It was then that Kou Chongxue’s voice rang in his mind. “Go take a look at the remains of the ship before rushing over to the central region of the Ruined World. I found something new!”

Shang Xia was jolted to his senses. Even though he didn’t know why Kou Chongxue wanted him to rummage through the remains of the Star Ship. However, since there was a new discovery in the central region of the Ruined World, his interest was piqued.