Chapter 1143: Deduction and Change

As the footsteps faded away, Shang Xia sent his divine soul out once more. However, the tunnel leading to the third floor had already been sealed. He could only retract it since it couldn’t go any further.

Earlier, Tian Moran and his fellow Star Origin Guards came, but they didn’t raise too many waves in the prison under the Star Observatory. Shang Xia sat quietly in his cell for an hour and only after not noticing anything strange did he reactivate the runes in his cell to absorb the power of starlight.

As he continued to absorb the power of starlight, he seemed to be prompted by a sudden impulse and he absorbed the power of starlight completely around his cell before reaching out with his divine soul before the power of starlight could be replenished.

After passing through 2 feet of earth, he felt as though it was no longer restricted as it appeared in an empty space.

It was also then that the power of starlight returned, interrupting his exploration with his divine soul.

In the split second his divine soul descended, he had a general idea of what was beneath him.

The conditions on the third floor were clearly a lot better than the second. Not only were the rooms larger, there were also several household items within. Those who were held in those cells seemed to be placed under house arrest rather than being thrown in prison. Shang Xia even noticed that the Star Origin Guard who was trapped within still had his Star Robes.

“It really is someone from the Star Origin Guards... It’s a pity it’s not Liu Jiuzhen!” Shang Xia thought to himself while he continued to absorb the power of starlight. At the same time, he couldn’t help but think back to what Tian Moran said to Liu Jiuzhen. He tried his best to analyze all the information he learned.

The first point that he could be sure of was that even though the Star Origin Guards were hovering on the borders of splitting apart, they hadn’t truly broken out in an all-out inner conflict. The 3 squads of the First Camp had been imprisoned, but from the looks of it, they gave themselves up and were willingly captured.

It wasn’t difficult to see that that was the case from how the Star Origin Guard still had his Star Robes.

Also... The cause of their conflict seemed to be the Star Origin Lord. The Star Origin Lord whose whereabouts were unknown... No, Zhuge Xiang and Liu Jiuzhen might know something, but they seemed to have formed their own faction. The other side seemed to think that Zhuge Xiang had intentionally hidden the Star Origin Lord’s location from everyone and might even have something to do with his disappearance. That was also why they caused trouble when Zhuge Xiang was deep in seclusion.

There also seemed to be a third faction in Star Origin City. it was probably the power that concentrated around the Second Camp Commander, He Yingrui. Moreover, they held considerable power and controlled the city for the time being. They were suppressing the inner conflict from breaking out while trying to settle the dispute on both sides.

However, from the looks of how Liu Jiuzhen had been imprisoned, He Yingrui’s ‘neutral’ faction seemed to be siding more with Xing Xingtian. Otherwise, with the strength of the Seventh Camp Commander alone, there was no way they could suppress Liu Jiuzhen! Even with Zhuge Xiang out of the picture, Liu Jiuzhen was still a considerable force!

It was no wonder Liu Jiuzhen had such a nasty tone when speaking to Tian Moran before.

Of course... Shang Xia knew that Tian Moran started to try to persuade Liu Jiuzhen at the moment because all of them were no longer as confident in their decision.

One could say that during their meeting when they imprisoned Liu Jiuzhen back then, Xing Xingtian tore down the paper-thin facade about the situation about the Star Origin Lord’s whereabouts. When that happened, the Star Origin Guards seemed to be split. Without their strongest backer, the Star Origin Guards were no longer able to maintain their calm.

The city hid itself in the void, and with how Tian Moran was trying to persuade Liu Jiuzhen to take their side, Shang Xia had no doubt about it. The current position of the Star Origin Guards no longer had the ability to suppress the various worlds!

As such, Shang Xia reached a single conclusion. Be it Zhuge Xiang or Xing Xingtian, neither of them was in the Land of Star Origin at the moment!

Otherwise, with things devolving to such a nasty state, Zhuge Xiang wouldn't have been able to continue cultivating in seclusion.

Also, with Xing Xingtian’s attitude, he was clearly hell-bent on stirring up trouble with Zhuge Xiang. If both of them were to come to blows, wouldn’t the city be torn to shreds?

Speaking of which... Shang Xia wondered what Xing Xingtian was relying on. How could he be so courageous to confront Zhuge Xiang the moment he stepped into the Martial Void Realm? One had to know that Zhuge Xiang was a monstrous existence who was planning to enter the fifth tier of the Martial Void Realm!

With light flickering his eyes, Shang Xia thought about everything that happened. A bold guess started to form...

The person who’s looking to mess with Zhuge Xiang probably isn’t Xing Xingtian! Xing Xingtian should be working with Tong Yutang of the Starry Pavilion!

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Tong Yutang was very likely the mysterious cultivator who broke through to the fourth tier of the Martial Void Realm after sucking the Ruined World dry!

At the same time, the powerful strike across space was also suspected to be a combined attack unleashed by Tong Yutang and several other experts. It might be related to the talismans Shang Xia crafted back then.

Back then, they thought that it was aimed at the continents that were returning. However, now that they carefully analyzed it, it seemed more like a targeted strike at Shang Xia. It felt like they wanted to silence him...

If that was truly the case, the secret Formation Talismans Shang Xia made for Tong Yutang might be truly incredible treasures. After all, the power contained in that strike across space was overwhelming!

Also... Throughout the entire process, the Essence Hong World likely had their hand in the matter.

Shang Xia wouldn’t forget how Wen Juxiang of the Essence Hong World had been waiting in the spot the strike originated from to ambush him when he went over to investigate.

If both sides weren’t colluding with each other, how could something so coincidental happen?

Shang Xia might have only started to suspect as much and didn’t have enough evidence to support his claims, he felt that his conjecture truly made sense.

“Maybe... I can make use of this opportunity to do something!” Shang Xia mumbled to himself.

Since Liu Jiuzhen might have already guessed that Xing Xingtian managed to learn of Zhuge Xiang’s cultivation grounds, he wouldn’t think that Xing Xingtian would be stupid enough to go alone if he wanted to stir up trouble. Liu Jiuzhen definitely knows that he found some helpers, but I wonder if he knows that Tong Yutang has a hand in this, and the Essence Hong World is also involved...

Shang Xia grunted to himself softly as many considerations ran through his mind, “Hmm... The spatial tunnel connecting Star Origin City and the 2 Essence Worlds seemed to be activated several times in recent years. Since Wen Juxiang of the Essence Hong World was involved... Is the Essence Ming World also a part of this?”

When Shang Xia was thinking about how he should make full use of the situation to benefit himself, the power of Starlight rushed into the Crimson Soul Tablet suddenly and caused it to tremble uncontrollably. He felt his mind shaking along with it and his thoughts were thrown into disarray.

It was then that Shang Xia realized that he was holding something in his right hand. Regaining his calm, he inspected himself with his divine soul and turned to look down at what he was holding. He failed to see anything and everything felt like an illusion.

It was also then that he felt that something wasn’t quite right.

Before he could put his finger on it, he heard a constant rumble that was growing in volume with each passing second. There were also loud curses that came along with it and the third floor which had always been quiet started to bustle with activities. It was as though the prison had been thrown into chaos.

Only then did Shang Xia discover what had happened. The suppression he was feeling disappeared!