Chapter 1523: Learning Quickly, Real Culprit

In the Essence Du World, aside from the dominant Liuzhang Sect in the West Sea Continent due to Yan Yu's influence, there were 10 other powerful Elysiums.

Although the Liuzhang Sect had a Sage at its helm, Yan Yu had yet to establish a Dao Field. The West Sea Continent only possessed an ordinary Elysium.

That also meant that there were actually 11 Elysiums in the Essence Du World!

Apart from the Liuzhang Sect, the ownership of the remaining 10 Elysiums did not belong exclusively to ten sects; at least 4 of them were jointly managed by multiple forces.

Not all sects with Elysiums necessarily had high-level True Immortals leading them, but generally, only those forces with at least a True Immortal had qualifications to have a stake in the ownership of an Elysium.

Qinglan Elysium, named after the continent, encompassed both of those aspects almost entirely.

The Qinglan Elysium was jointly owned by 3 sects within the Essence Du World who had already produced their True Immortals. Of course... None of them were high-level True Immortals.

Shang Xia’s target was the World Origin Source connected to the Qinglan Continent. Drawing world origin without alerting the experts of the Qinglan Continent wasn’t going to be easy, but he had a good idea. The method used by the Qiulong Mountain, Origin Returning Valley, and Yuwei Gate could be used.

Since the Qinglan Continent already nurtured True Immortals, deceiving them like how the 3 great Elysiums had hoodwinked the cultivators of the Qinghuang Continent wasn’t going to be easy.

Moreover, since the theft of Qinghuang Continent’s World Origin Source became known, although Yan Yu did not state it explicitly, it was pretty obvious when the Qiulong Mountain, Origin Returning Valley, and Yuwei Gate contributed half the world origin stored in their Elysiums.

Every single respectable faction in the Essence Du World strengthened their control over the World Origin Source connected to their continents, with some True Immortals frequently investigating the state of it with their souls. They were afraid there would be a repeat of what happened to the Qinghuang Continent.

Under those circumstances, it would not be easy for Shang Xia to covertly extract world origin from the Qinglan Continent.

Luckily for him, during his travels in the Qinglan Continent, he felt he might have found an excellent opportunity.

Of the 3 sects holding the rights to Qinglan’s Elysium, the Iron Flag Gate and Flourishing Creek Sect had 2 True Immortals each. The Mountain and Rivers Gang was a little more special. Like the rest, they only had 1 True Immortal at their helm, but their leader, Qin Changyi, was a third tier True Immortal and the most hopeful to break through to a high-level True Immortal in the Qinglan Continent.

On the surface, the Mountain and Rivers Gang seems to lack successors, but the moment Qin Changyi becomes a fourth tier True Immortal, the balance between the factions would be broken and the Mountain and Rivers Gang would dominate the continent.

That was also why Qin Changyi preferred to hand over matters regarding the operation of the gang to the others. He focused more on his personal cultivation than on nurturing the disciples of his gang.

In Old Leader Qin’s view, the moment he becomes a high-level True Immortal, he would step into the upper echelons of the Essence Du World. Not only will his own status be elevated, but their gang will also rise in prominence, attracting more talent. When the time comes, he would be able to allocate more time and energy to training the next generation and there would no longer be the issue of them lacking a successor.

Since Old Leader Qin began his seclusion, the Iron Flag Gate and Flourishing Creek Sect placed many spies in the gang. Both of them kept tabs on Old Leader Qin’s status.

Recently, there had been many heavenly phenomena appearing above the heavily guarded region of the Mountain and Rivers Gang. At first, those phenomena were faint and small in scale, appearing only briefly and scarcely drawing attention.

However, as time passed, it became more and more frequent. They also lasted longer while growing in scale. The heaven and earth qi nearly 1,000 miles around the forbidden region had been drawn over every time they appeared.

Whenever it happened, the higher the cultivation realm, the more one could reach a wondrous state where they could be connected to the world.

As soon as those heavenly phenomena appeared, many mid to high-level cultivators who heard the news would immerse themselves fully in the marvelous state in an attempt to comprehend it. In recent times, many among them had even seen smooth progress in their cultivation and even major breakthroughs.

Naturally, the experts of the Mountain and Rivers Gang benefited the most.

Because of what they experienced, the high-level experts of the Mountain and Rivers Gang who had been instructed not to disturb their old leader, became even less likely to bother him.

Indeed... the members of the Mountain and Rivers Gang hoped that their old leader’s advancement process could last even longer. That way, they would be able to gain even more benefits and potentially resolve the awkward situation where they lacked successors.

As news started to spread, cultivators coming to observe the heavenly phenomena became increasingly eager. Rumors of Qin Changyi’s imminent promotion to the level of Dao Union buzzed throughout the Qinglan Continent, leading many to believe it to be true.

The True Immortals of the Iron Flag Gate and Flourishing Creek Sect had, of course, already received the news. Although they initially had doubts, as more and more reports came in, and descriptions of the heavenly phenomena indeed matched the legends of the birth of high-level True Immortals, they began to lose their composure.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

As if they already had an agreement before, both factions sent a True Immortal to the vicinity of the Mountain and Rivers Gang to secretly observe what was going on. Both of them quickly reached the conclusion that the heavenly phenomena were too similar to that of the ascension of a high-level True Immortal. Qin Changyi was very likely attempting to reach the fourth tier, but the process was still going on.

There was no question about it. From what was happening, it might be difficult for Qin Changyi to reach the fourth tier, but the possibility was there.

If Qin Changyi did indeed advance to high grade, then...

After the True Immortals from the Iron Flag Gate and the Flourishing Creek Sect brought the news back, they quickly reached another agreement. Since the chances of Old Leader Qin advancing to a high-level True Immortal were not high, they would eliminate the possibility altogether. That way, he would be able to save a lot of resources for the Mountain and Rivers Gang to train their future generations...

Wouldn’t that be much better?

Meanwhile, the Qinghuang Continent which was separated from the Qinglan Continent by the Qinghe Continent, remained in turmoil.

Although their World Origin Source managed to maintain two-thirds of its capacity, the original territory of 18,000 miles was unstable. They were only able to keep their core region from experiencing any sort of catastrophe, and the various powers housed there were working their hardest to maintain any sort of order in the core region. The borders were crumbling without anything to stop it.

The earth never stopped shaking, with volcanic eruptions occurring frequently. Lava ravaged the land as volcanic ash blocked the skies. Even the climate in the Qinghuang Continent started to change and it felt as though the end of the world had arrived.

Of course... The effects also affected the surrounding continents to a certain extent.

That wasn’t all. Other than the disasters, the turbulence in the World Origin Source has also not subsided, affecting the World Origin Source of the surrounding continents.

Thankfully, the fluctuations in the World Origin Source of the other continents were quickly suppressed by the True Immortals there, preventing any damage.

The World Origin Source connected to the Qinghe Continent was the same, but in recent days, there seemed to be some problems. A high-level True Immortal from the Qinghe Continent apparently received a message to visit Sage Yan Yu, causing some oversights in the local control over the World Origin Source, allowing the turbulence that should have been dissipated in the Qinghe Continent to spread to the southern parts of the Qinglan Continent.

All 3 major factions in the Qinglan Continent didn’t anticipate such a turn of events. Because Qin Changyi had been cultivating in seclusion, he was unable to suppress it the moment it was discovered.

The fact that this turbulence from the Qinghuang Continent could remain so strong after passing through 2 continents was puzzling.

Not only was it strange to the native high-level experts of the Qinglan Continent, but also to the 4 True Immortals of the Iron Flag Gate and Flourishing Creek Sect who thought they were the ones causing trouble.

That was because they could tell that the fluctuations in the Qinglan Continent’s World Origin Souce felt extremely intense.

They were so powerful that many mid to high-level cultivators in the Qinglan Continent who were in a deep meditative state had their seclusions disrupted. They even suffered backlashes with some even dying from cultivation deviation!

The unfortunate ones naturally included Qin Changyi, who had been in deep seclusion!

However, as the Mountain and Rivers Gang’s only True Immortal, Qin Changyi had set up various preventative measures and carried numerous exotic treasures. Although the sudden turbulence in the World Origin Source interrupted his seclusion and he suffered some backlash, his injuries were not severe, but his mood was extremely foul.

It was especially when he easily detected that the turbulence in the World Origin Source was being stirred up intentionally by someone. With the discovery, his anger reached its peak.

The True Immortals of the Iron Flag Gate and the Flourishing Creek Sect were still thinking that the other faction was the one intensifying the fluctuations. They simply didn’t realize that there was a third party fanning the flames!

Shang Xia’s methods were just too covert. The True Immortals of the 2 major factions simply couldn’t detect him!

The instability in the World Origin Source significantly affected their control over it, providing Shang Xia with an opportunity to extract world origin. The more intense the turbulence, the more freely he could do so.

With his seclusion disrupted, Qin Changyi stormed to the 2 sects to demand an explanation.

Shang Xia understood that even though it was the best chance for him to absorb world origin, the window of opportunity he had gained was extremely brief.

That was because the True Immortals of the 3 factions weren’t fools. They would soon realize that someone else was stirring up trouble and they would soon join hands. Once they did, he would soon be discovered.

As such... There was only 1 question left to ask. What was the limit of the Crimson Soul Tablet when it came to extracting world origin in such a short period of time?