Chapter 1286: Cleaning Up Loose Ends

“How do you think Tong Yutang of the Star Origin Dao Field managed to step into the fourth tier of the Martial Void Realm?” The spy snorted derisively.

“You... It was you guys?!” Shang Xia turned serious and growled.

With a smirk on his face, the spy didn’t bother to reply.

Reaching forward, Shang Xia tried to grab the spy again but his figure popped like a bubble.

Shang Xia snorted coldly, turned his wrist, and clenched his fist, causing a miserable scream to come from the void nearby.

Casually flying over to the spot the scream originated from, Shang Xia saw the sorry figure of the spy tumbling out from the void. A talisman fell from his sleeves.

“Is this what you were relying on to escape?” Shang Xia frowned and glanced at the talisman. From the strange runes on it, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to recreate it with a simple glance.

With his plan foiled, the spy was no longer as collected as he was. His face was twisted from the sharp pain he felt as though his dantian was being ripped apart. He growled, “You better not be so full of yourself now. Since the experts of my world can send me here, they’ll definitely investigate my death. They’ll quickly send even more experts over and your old friend, True Immortal Gao Qin, will definitely be here. Hehe... If you let me go now, the relationship between our worlds might not sour as much. However, if you dare to kill me here, you better be prepared to withstand the wrath of my Essence Ming World... Hah, you’re just a cultivator from a mere Spirit World...”

Shang Xia didn’t even wait for him to finish as he snorted, “You came up with so much bullshit just because you are afraid that I’ll kill you, right?”

The twisted smile on the spy’s face grew even wider. “That's right! Do you really dare to kill me? I bet you guys used a lot of resources to lay down the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation. With the resources your Spirit World has at its disposal... If we destroy the formation now, you will definitely suffer huge losses, right?”

Shang Xia raised an eyebrow and asked, “Wait. What was that you were asking me again?”

“What?” The spy was slightly confused by Shang Xia's sudden question, but he raged when he got Shang Xia’s meaning, “I said... Do you really dare to kill me?!”

“Of course.” Shang Xia spoke slowly and waved once, separating the spy’s head from his body. He could still see the look of shock as the head flew.

Shang Xia shook his head slowly and waved his sleeves to collect the treasures of the dead spy. With a flick of a finger, a heaven-shaking blast came from the body of the True Immortal and it disappeared in a sea of lightning that was summoned.

When Shang Xia returned to the Ruined World, Chu Jia quickly appeared before him. She felt the strange fluctuations when he left earlier.

Shang Xia gestured slightly with his chin and told her what she had already guessed would happen. “Quickly gather everyone. We’ll prepare to leave.”

“Were we discovered by the members of the Spirit Faith World?” Chu Jia couldn’t help but ask.

Actually, the members of the Spirit Faith World or the other worlds they used to be connected to weren’t scary. She was afraid they would call over the experts from the Essence Ming World.

Shang Xia explained what he learned about the origin of the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation before sighing, “Our luck isn’t great. The person spying on us was a second tier True Immortal from the Essence Ming World. He was also planning to make use of this Ruined World.”

Chu Jia understood that the Essence Ming World would definitely learn of the second tier True Immortal’s death and quickly head over to investigate what happened. After all, a True Immortal wouldn’t just die randomly...

Quickly sending out the order to stop the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation, she also split the members of the Formation Hall out to destroy certain formation nodes before gathering the Star Ships to prepare to leave.

Shang Xia was greatly reassured when he saw that she was in command of the entire situation and he joked, “Anyway, how many essence crystals did you manage to refine/”

“We got a batch of low, mid, and high-grade essence crystals, but we failed to make a single top-grade essence crystal...” Chu Jia replied.

She couldn’t help but look at Shang Xia. For them to only obtain so few essence crystals meant that Shang Xia used up most of the energy they drew from the Ruined World.

Chuckling under his breath, Shang Xia asked, “Did you guys manage to make back the cost of the formation?”

Rolling her eyes, Chu Jia snapped, “What do you think? Whatever it is, these essence crystals will be able to make up for a bit of the resources we used up. If we leave in such a hurry, we won’t be able to retrieve a lot of equipment... Right, when do you think the experts from the Essence Ming World will come?”

“From what Patriarch Kou discovered, they would require 10 hours if they wished to fly over without using any special arts. However, they would definitely open spatial tunnels or use other skills to hurry over... Whatever it is, the death of a second tier True Immortal should scare them a little and we should have around 6 or so hours before they arrive...”

Chu Jia nodded in response. “Alright, we will have to get everything done in 4 hours to be safe. The moment time is up, we will leave immediately. Equipment that cannot be retrieved will be left behind. Anyway, the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation belongs to the Essence MIng World and there’s no point trying to hide the formation from them since they figured it out already.”

With her urging the members of the Formation Hall around, they quickly deconstructed the key nodes of the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation and Chu Jia took charge of the core of the formation herself.

As she completed the modification of the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation, she couldn’t risk the members of the Essence Ming World finding out anything about it.

Around 5 or so hours later, the void was still as calm as could be, but be it Shang Xia or Chu Jia, they didn’t hesitate to give the order to leave.

The moment the Star Ships started to move, Shang Xia left a clone to bring them back while he stayed to stop anyone who might try to hunt them down.

However, Shang Xia didn’t stay where the Ruined World was. Instead, he stationed it close to where the second tier True Immortal was slain.

Unless he had no other choice, Shang Xia wasn’t willing to let them see the Ruined World. After all, there were lots of clues left behind by their deployment of the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation. As for whether or not he would be able to escape the suspicion of the Essence Ming World... He didn’t even bother dreaming of it.

The Spirit Faith World and their once affiliated worlds were the only ones in the region along with the Spirit Luxuriant World. With the Spirit Faith World and the other worlds having submitted to the Essence Ming World, the only culprits would be those from the Spirit Luxuriant World.

Glancing in the direction of Star Beast Nest No.1, Shang Xia knew that even if they could run, the Star Beast Nest couldn’t disappear. The True Immortals of the Essence Ming World would either head to where their comrade fell or to the Star Beast Nest directly.

Even though the Star Beast Nest already had a Five Element Teleportation Formation, Shang Xia still hoped that Lu Wuzi would be a little more careful and not be caught off guard in case they tried anything.

Close to 7 hours after they prepared to leave, a ray of light appeared from the void and arrived in the void hundreds of miles away from where Shang Xia was.

Looking at the person who came, Shang Xia frowned. True Immortal Gao Qin actually came alone.

“It’s really you...” Gao Qin’s expression sank the moment she saw Shang Xia. “Why did you kill True Immortal Sun?”

Shang Xia didn’t give her an answer. Instead, he asked one of his own, “True Immortal Gao, you seem to have overestimated yourself by coming alone... Do you really think you will be able to deal with me all by yourself?”

A cold smirk appeared on Gao Qin’s face. “Obviously, I won’t be the only one t o come. Why don’t you try to guess where the other True Immortals went?”

Shang Xia’s frown became even deeper and his aura that closed in on the peak of the fourth tier of the Six Direction Realm burst forth. A powerful fluctuation rushed towards the Star Beast Nest.

“Hah, it’s too late to inform them now!” Gao Qin yelled as she rushed at Shang Xia. Along the way, she sent a heavy punch at him, shattering the void while she was at it.