Chapter 1296: Chaotic Sea of Stars and Dark Star Pirates

Shang Xia never thought that his operation to infiltrate the Essence Xing World might end before he even entered their world.

When he ran into the ruins of the Azure Parasol World that contained the remnant energy of a Martial Emptiness Realm expert, he decided to enter the ruins on a whim to examine the Seventh Order energy left behind.

He didn’t think that with the help of the Crimson Soul Tablet, he would experience a sudden sense of enlightenment. After a period of seclusion, not only did he manage to refine the Seventh Order energy left behind, but it also caused the inner qi in his dantian to undergo a fundamental transformation.

Shang Xia hadn’t been in the fourth tier of the Six Direction Realm for long, but after using Three Lights Water and the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation, he closed in on the peak of the fourth tier.

However, breaking through to the fifth tier wasn’t going to be easy. Other than the fact that he hadn’t accumulated enough energy, he still needed his inner qi to undergo transformation. It was something that could only come about by chance when his cultivation had reached a certain level.

One of the reasons he planned to infiltrate the Essence Xing World was also to find an opportunity to break through.

He didn’t think that happiness would come so suddenly. Before he could locate the Essence Xing World, he already advanced into the fifth tier!

In the ruins of the Azure Parasol World, Shang Xia comprehended the powerful ability of the Seventh Order energy to seep into his domain, its everlasting properties, and its destructive might. He replicated those traits with his Six Direction Qi, eventually achieving the transformation!

With that, he found his way to enter the fifth tier...

The only thing he found strange was the situation he was in. If he wanted to step through the final bottleneck and get rid of the nagging feeling at the back of his mind, he would need to return to the You Continent.

That was also a reason he was hesitating. He used too much effort to travel into the depths of the region of space that contained the Essence Xing World and if he turned back, the entire operation would be considered a massive blunder.

When he was at a loss of what to do, True Immortal Kang and True Immortal Yu of the Essence Xing World barged their way into the ruins in search of the Piercing Cloud Bandit they were hunting down.

As soon as they entered, they were surrounded by Shang Xia’s domain.

Rather than escaping immediately, the 2 of them didn’t make any rash moves once they were in his domain. They didn’t try to call for help either. That was because they discovered that the Piercing Cloud Bandit was also located in the high-level True Immortal’s domain!

They felt such intense pressure when they barged into his domain as he had replicated the properties of the Seventh Order energy. Also... With their entry, it was as though a massive pie had fallen right in front of him!

A fragment of a Spirit World and the loot of a massive fleet... Shang Xia even gained the latest information of the Essence Xing World and he would basically learn of their location once the 2 True Immortals returned... It seemed as though his journey was just too damn worth it!

What Shang Xia didn’t expect was that he would gain even more information from Song Zhen after he took out the token.

Before Song Zhen reacted to the token, Shang Xia was actually more interested in the strength of the Cloud Piercing Bandits. After all, Song Zhen was in the second tier of the Martial Void Realm, but he was only the fourth chief. He learned that in the Piercing Cloud Bandits, they had 3 massive Star Ships, 7 ordinary ones, and other smaller ships which didn’t really matter. The important part was that they had 6 True Immortals leading them!

There were 3 other experts above Song Zhen, the first was Gao Takong, their leader, whose title was the Chaotic Piercing Cloud with cultivation at the fourth tier of the Martial Void Realm and the only high-level True Immortal of the Piercing Cloud Bandits. Second Chief Hu Ruoxu, Burning Cloud, was next, and finally came Third Chief Jiang Qiu, Thunder Cloud. The second and third chiefs were both in the third tier of the Martial Void Realm.

After Song Zhen came the Fifth and Sixth Chiefs. The Fifth Chief was on par with Song Zhen in terms of cultivation, and the other was a first tier True Immortal.

Even though Song Zhen gave him a casual rundown of the Piercing Cloud Bandits, Shang Xia was extremely shocked. He didn’t expect there to be 6 True Immortals in the Piercing Cloud bandits. They had close to a hundred Star Ships if they counted everything in their possession, and their strength was on par with an Azure World.

With their strength, annihilating an Azure World or two wouldn’t be difficult for them. It was no wonder they were able to obtain a fragment of a Spirit World. Also, it was no wonder they had the qualifications to make deals with the Dachen Emperor who was about to become an existence in the Martial Emptiness Realm.

Shang Xia might be shocked by the strength of the Piercing Cloud Bandits, but Song Zhen was extremely respectful when speaking to him. He carefully mumbled, “Lord... This... This... Actually, our Piercing Cloud Bandits can only be ranked among the middle ranks among all the Star Pirates in the Chaotic Sea of Stars...”

“Hmm?” Shang Xia grunted softly, but he realized his reaction might have revealed the fact that he wasn’t as knowledgeable as he was supposed to be. However, he didn’t seem embarrassed at all. After all, killing the Fourth Chief of the Piercing Cloud Bandits was a mere thought by him.

Song Zhen was extremely obedient and after realizing Shang Xia knew very little about the Star Pirates among the Chaotic Sea of Stars, he quickly introduced, “Star Pirate groups are usually split into 3 different categories. Those with ancestors in the Martial Emptiness Realm would be considered large-scale Star Pirate groups. Those with high-level True Immortals at the helm would be considered mid-scale Star Pirate groups. As for those without high-level True Immortals... They can only be considered small-scale Star Pirate groups. Well, those without True Immortals couldn’t even be considered Star Pirates.

Shang Xia chuckled mirthlessly before he asked, “So... I guess the Piercing Cloud Bandits would be considered a mid-scale Star Pirate group then?”

Song Zhen quickly replied, “We barely managed to squeeze into the ranks... We naturally can’t compare to a large-scale Star Pirate group like the Dark Star Pirates! That is a behemoth rumored to have a Martial Emptiness Realm ancestor!”

?!

Shang Xia thought of something and asked, “What do you mean rumored? Do you think the Dark Star Pirates are faking their strength?”

Song Zhen could only explain helplessly, “Lord... As you know, the Dark Star Pirates are very famous, but the Chaotic Sea of Stars is massive. There are countless groups out there and even we don’t know about many of them. The Dark Star Pirates proclaim to be a mid-scale Star Pirate group, but we know that they have at least 3 high-level True Immortals. What we can be sure of is that they once had an existence in the Martial Emptiness Realm among them. Moreover, existences at that level appeared more than once. Even though they would be able to tempt experts at that level into working for them with enough benefits, there are rumors going around that the Dark Star Pirates are backed by an Essence World...”