Chapter 1354: Assassination

Shang Xia didn’t plan on deepening his relationship with the Phoenix Cry Sect too much and the deal he had with Feng Nanze seemed superficial at best. As such, he wanted to get his hands on the most benefits possible.

Also, according to Feng Nanze’s plan, Shang Xia could tell that the Phoenix Cry Sect was scheming something big. He wasn’t afraid of pissing them off either and he was sure the Phoenix Cry Sect wouldn’t dare to fall out with him because he asked for more benefits. The more he asked for, the more he would receive.

Feng Nanze might not be satisfied with Shang Xia’s reaction, but the truth was exactly as Shang Xia had thought. He wasn’t willing to continue wasting time negotiating with Shang Xia and he simply paid the price.

Without even mentioning other spiritual treasures, Feng Nanze handed over 20 top-grade essence crystals. Those alone would be comparable to 20 Martial Dipper Realm experts in the Tongyou Institution.

Of course, that was if they thought about it in the best case scenario.

Other than those top-grade essence crystals, three were many types of spiritual treasures and even some that were useful for True Immortals.

They also provided a complete rank six talisman inheritance called the Golden Phoenix Leaving Flame Talisman. It was a powerful offensive type talisman and the number of talismans Shang Xia knew increased yet again.

The Qi Dynasty controlled 9 continents and for them to station a high-level True Immortal in every one of them would mean that they had at least 9 high-level True Immortals. Their strength and foundations were clearly terrifying.

Other than those True Immortals, there was still the Qi Dynasty Emperor who was most likely at the level of Returning to the Origin.

No one knew how many True Immortals they actually had other than that. Whatever it was, Feng Nanze still felt that they had several True Immortals hidden among their ranks.

Among the 9 continents the Qi Dynasty controlled, the Tong Continent was ranked among the weaker ones. Even so, it was at least 20,000 miles wide. Among the various continents of the Essence Xing World, it would rank slightly above average. At the very least, those border continents or desolate powers wouldn’t be able to match up to them. For example, the Huang Continent they bordered.

“The World Origin Source connected to the Tong Continent would be suppressed when the time comes and True Immortal Qi Hua’s ability to wield its power would also be limited. Once he becomes unable to fully control the power of the continent, True Immortal Shang, you can make your move.”

Shang Xia understood the general plan they were going to use to assassinate the fourth tier True Immortal of the Qi Dynasty after his explanation and he became even more sure of his conjecture.

Shang Xia learned that the envoys sent out by the Qi Dynasty to the various continents had access to Seventh order energy, and he was actually fully against the idea of assassinating Qi Hua.

However, Feng Nanze reassured him time and time again and was even willing to share the entire plan they would use to kill Qi Hua, and Shang Xia finally agreed reluctantly.

He might have agreed, but he made it clear that the moment he discovered Qi Hua using Seventh Order energy or if the suppression of the World Origin Source weakened, not only would he not make his move, he would escape from the Essence Xing World immediately.

He also brought up another request. It was to complete the entire operation within a month. Otherwise, he would also leave and that there was no room for negotiation in terms of timeline.

The Phoenix Cry Sect had no issues with that. Since they found someone to do the dirty work for them, they could put the plan they had been preparing for a long time into motion.

...

Shang Xia’s clone remained in constant contact with Feng Nanze in order to iron out all the details of their assassination process and his true body was nowhere to be seen. No one knew where he ran off too and even though Feng Nanze knew that he had already infiltrated the Tong Continent he didn’t know anything more than that.

At the same time, in the Qi Dynasty Envoy Manor in the Tong Continent, True Immortal Qi Hua was extremely vexed about the constant activities of the Ancient Gorge Sect.

As a direct descendant of the Qi Dynasty, he might be from a distant branch, but he was still a high-level True Immortal and a mighty expert. The support he received from the dynasty was massive.

He was full of mettle when he took on the role of the Qi Dynasty’s envoy in the Tong Continent. He wanted to prove himself and he unleashed constant attacks on the desolate Huang Continent in order to strengthen their influence in the region. The Ancient Gorge Sect was hit the hardest under his orders and they retreated again and again in order to try to keep the peace. However, the Qi Dynasty continued to press further into the Huang Continent and True Immortal Qi Hua’s prestige rose along with it. His position among the envoys of the Qi Dynasty ranked in the top 3, and he was only second to those who had reached the fifth tier of the Martial Void Realm.

Everything turned on its head in recent years. True Immortal Qi Hua realized that it was getting more and more difficult to arrange for assistance from within the dynasty and everyone became a lot less serious when dealing with him.

That wasn’t all. The Huang Continent was no longer backing off and they were even starting to fight back. They were comparable in strength compared to True Immortal Qi Hua’s forces.

As time continued to pass, Qi Hua felt his control over the Tong Continent gradually weakening. His subordinates who used to follow his every order started to show signs of disobedience.

He became extremely demoralized as time passed and he started to change his approach. From his usual proactive attitude when it came to expanding the Qi Dynasty’s territory, he changed to defending the Tong Continent, and the expanded territory was completely lost.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t think about reporting the situation of the Tong Continent back to the higher-ups of the Qi Dynasty. However, be it the emperor or his superior in the dynasty, everyone told him to protect the Tong Continent and not care about anything else. They even instructed him to no longer attack others without proper orders.

Everything seemed to point towards the rumor that Sage Qi Jing had reached the end of his lifespan!

Sitting in his cultivation chamber, Qi Hua frowned.

The grand formation deployed in the Tong Continent by the dynasty could allow him to control Seventh Order energy and as the envoy of the dynasty, he even had the authority to use it to cultivate.

If he cultivated using the energy, not only could he grow stronger. He could even gain better control over the Tong Continent.

As a descendant of the Qi Dynasty, Qi Hua managed to control a continent once he became a high-level True Immortal.

Since he had control of the continent, he could draw on their World Origin Source to cultivate and his cultivation rose sharply in the 20 to 30 years he was stationed there. He felt that it wouldn’t be long before he could enter the fifth tier.

However... Earlier, his cultivation was interrupted as he felt an outside power stealing world origin from the World Origin Source connected to the Tong Continent.

He had long since gotten used to the disturbance and felt that it was most likely because the Huang Continent unleashed yet another attack.

He wasn’t wrong. It didn’t take long before someone yelled from outside his cultivation chamber, “Lord envoy, the border sent news that the members of the Ancient Gorge Sect launched another attack!”

Qi Hua’s voice boomed through the air. “Send news to True Immortals Zhao, Yuan, Gong, and Xue who are defending the border. Tell them to use their battle formation to ensure the border remains safe. Do not care about their provocation. Those bastards will leave after realizing they can’t gain anything.”

“Lord... Something seems different this time. The Ancient Gorge Sect seems to be playing for real. True Immortal Yuan sent news that he felt the aura of a high-level True Immortal appearing on the other side and True Immortal Xue sent a report saying that Fan Changchuan might have left the Ancient Gorge Elysium.”

“WHAT?!” Qi Hua yelled as he emerged from his cultivation chamber. He growled in a low voice, “Those pieces of shit. I didn’t go looking for trouble and they came to mess with me. Do they really think I won’t kill anyone just because I’ve been laying low in recent years?!”

“Lord, are you...”

“Activate the formation!” Qi Hua grunted. “This time, we’re going to hit them for real. Do they really think I’m a joke? The old ancestor of our Qi Dynasty is still around!”

The subordinate who came to make the report gasped and lowered his head before leaving.

Qi Hua also left the courtyard as the formations around the manor started to activate. The World Origin Source connected to the Tong Continent started to boil as waves after waves of power started to superimpose on each other. Qi Hua’s aura started to rise with it as dense heaven and earth qi gathered and formed a powerful heavenly phenomenon above the Guanxing City of the Tong Continent.

In the city, a banner wielding wandering doctor stared at the heavenly phenomenon rushing in the northwestern direction.

“Oh? The Qi Dynasty Envoy Manor is definitely the key to his control over the World Origin Source...” Shang Xia, who was using his usual disguise, didn’t follow Qi Hua as he rushed out of the city. Instead, he stared at the manor that was heavily defended even without the presence of their high-level True Immortal.

“Assassinating a fourth tier True Immortal Envoy of the Qi Dynasty who can control Seventh Order energy...” Shang Xia chuckled to himself suddenly. “All of us know what the consequences will be... Heh, why shouldn’t I let this play out and mess the situation up all the way?”

Holding the banner in his hand, Shang Xia gently pressed his glabella as he felt the Crimson Soul Tablet thumping in his sea of consciousness. It seemed to be expressing its excitement as Shang Xia felt that the assassination attempt was getting more and more interesting.