Chapter 1699: Origin Star Talisman

To verify Shang Xia's conjecture about the combination of the Variant Formation Talismans, Shang Xia and Chu Jia located another giant meteorite that was nearly 5 miles across. After a thorough survey, they decided it would be sufficient. Meticulously carving the 7 runes according to a specific layout they had deduced, they prepared to start the final confirmation. Now, the arrangement was finally nearing completion. All they had to do was complete the verification of Shang Xia’s theory.

"I think you're still being too cautious. Didn't you already integrate 5 of the 7 Variant Formation Talismans when you were at the peak of the Six Direction Realm?" Chu Jia remarked as she rechecked the runes carved on the massive meteorite. Finding no errors, she quickly teased Shang Xia a little.

Shang Xia smiled wryly. "Fusing 5 of them doesn’t mean that I’m close to completing a rank seven Talisman... I thought the same as you, but after advancing to the Seven Star Realm, I realized just how wrong I was. It’s like the difference between the heavens and the earth.”

Chu Jia chided, "Do you even need to say that? Such issues are also common in formation setups, I just had a bit of faith in you, that's all."

Shang Xia smiled and turned to look at her, only for Chu Jia to quickly turn her head away.

Shang Xia sighed lightly, "Rank seven spiritual treasures aren’t easy to find. We need to be extremely careful.”

...

On an autumn night in the 38th year of the Spirit Luxuriant Calendar.

The night sky of the Spirit Luxuriant World which was still undergoing its transformation, was suddenly illuminated by a massive light source. Even the waning moon paled in comparison to the bright disc hanging in the void.

Every cultivator in the Martial Dipper Realm and above felt something and stepped out of wherever they were as they were drawn to the huge orb of light that appeared in the skies above.

Simultaneously, they could sense that the heaven and earth qi became a lot more lively and even a few of them whose fate dippers were related to the essence of the stars could feel that cultivating would be a lot easier.

Several True Immortals appeared above the heavenly screen despite their injuries not fully healed. They stared into the void tens of thousands of miles away with a solemn expression.

"Is he trying to recreate another moon?" Liu Jingsheng looked at the source of light in the starry sky, feeling the rising power of starlight around him.

Outside the heavenly screen, those True Immortals could sense the changes more clearly.

"I think what he's doing is more akin to creating another sun!" Li Jidao couldn't help but comment before turning to Ge Qingzhu, who came from the direction of the You Continent. “True Immortal Ge... Do you know what Sage Shang is doing?”

With a calm expression, Ge Qingzhu shook his head. “How can I comment on the actions of a Sage? However... Sage Shang did invite Formation Grandmaster Chu to accompany him some time ago. This should be their doing...”

"Speculating is useless. Who dares to go with me and have a look?" Fei Xuzi of the Northern Sea Mystic Sect spoke suddenly.

However, he was immediately interrupted by Huang Jinghan. "Let’s not go there just yet. That orb of light is getting brighter but also smaller. Sage Shang and Grandmaster Chu are probably attempting some secret technique. It might be inappropriate for us to inspect whatever they’re doing.”

Hearing this, Fei Xuzi opened his mouth, but he didn’t say anything eventually. He suppressed his desire to head over.

He suddenly remembered that ever since Shang Xia became a sage, Zhang Xuansheng started to gradually delegate most of the affairs related to the Northern Sea Mystic Sect to him. He faded from view and retreated into seclusion. At the same time, he repeatedly instructed Fei Xuzi to act cautiously and not oppose the Tongyou Institution. Also, he was told by the old True Immortal to not delve too deeply into anything related to the institution.

Seeing how Fei Xuzi’s curiosity was suppressed by Huang Jinghan, everyone became increasingly curious about the light source. They turned to look at Ge Qingzhu and Sun Haiwei, the True Immortals of the Tongyou Institution who arrived.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Before they could respond, a transmission talisman flew through the void to Ge Qingzhu.

Grabbing it, Ge Qingzhu inspected its contents before raising it slowly. With a smile on his face, he explained, “Grandmaster Chu sends word that she’s attempting a new type of formation arrangement with Sage Shang in the depths of the void. They succeeded, but the power it contained was too great. Only Sage Shang is able to control it, and it’s best not to head over for the moment. The light source will extinguish itself in about 10 days."

Understanding that Chu Jia's transmission had to reflect Shang Xia's intentions, they exchanged brief pleasantries above the heavenly screen before dispersing.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of miles away in the void, Chu Jia, under Shang Xia’s protection, observed the meteorite enveloped by their rank seven formation. Although the meteorite which was rich with the Power of the Stars, emitted an increasingly brilliant light, it started to crumble bit by bit.

However, Shang Xia and Chu Jia had anticipated as much. When they were engraving the runes into the meteorite, they infused the power of space to the best of their abilities. The formation was able to maintain itself even as the meteorite crumbled under the excessive energy it contained, ensuring the formation could last for a long time.

"Your method really is the best!" Chu Jia exclaimed, able to observe the specific changes in the rank seven formation up close. It was naturally a rare opportunity for her.

Shang Xia laughed, "I initially just wanted to try it out. I wasn’t confident in the first place. Looks like we got lucky!”

Chu Jia, long immune to Shang Xia’s typical modesty about his luck, wrinkled her nose and snorted, "This meteorite is quite valuable... It contains a lot of spiritual materials and since it’s refined by the Power of the Stars, everything that remains will be extremely high grade.”

"This attempt not only validates the feasibility of the rank seven talisman, it also confirms the viability of the rank seven formation. Plus, we get a spiritual material of great quality and value, truly killing several birds with one stone." Chu Jia finished with a grin.

Shang Xia added with a smile, "Actually, there's another point. We can even try to retain this formation within the spiritual materials itself, perhaps obtaining a superior artifact embryo."

Chu Jia was astonished and she couldn’t help but gasp, "Is that even possible? If so, can we not only extract superior spiritual materials but also directly forge superior artifacts? That would mean that we’re stealing the jobs of those in the Artifact Hall!”

"How could that be?" Shang Xia laughed, pointing first at Chu Jia and then at himself, "A rank six Talisman Grandmaster and a rank six Formation Grandmaster... Do you think our titles are for fun? Are we really going to use so much effort and time to obtain a superior artifact?!”

Chu Jia rolled her eyes at Shang Xia's lengthy explanation. She pointed at the continuously shrinking meteorite and muttered, "Yeah, yeah, why don’t you start thinking of what type of artifact to craft with the leftover materials?”