Chapter 1774: Accelerate!

The battle to relocate the Azure Qing World had truly served as a comprehensive test of the Essence Luxuriant World’s overall strength.

Yet the final outcome had surprised not only the many powers watching from inside and outside the Heaven Observation Field, but even Shang Xia and the others from the Essence Luxuriant World themselves. None of them had expected the result to be so amazing... Or rather, that the mid to high-level experts of the Essence Luxuriant World and Azure Qing World could erupt with such formidable power in the face of a joint siege from so many hostile forces.

After the battle, the infiltrators within the Heaven Observation Field suffered devastating losses, and even the forces inside the Heaven Observation Field that had joined the attack received a huge setback. In total, over 15 True Immortals fell in battle. The decisive strike unleashed by the Talisman Seed alone got rid of 7 True Immortals alone. It wounded many others and claimed the lives of an even greater number of Martial Extermination Realm and Martial Dipper Realm experts.

As for the number of small-scale and mid-scale Star Ships destroyed... It exceeded 20.

In comparison, the Essence Luxuriant World made far smaller losses.

But from the Essence Luxuriant World and Azure Qing World’s perspective, the cost was still heartbreaking.

Kou Chongxue had lost an External Avatar at the third tier of the Martial Void Realm, along with a mid-scale Star Ship he had been commanding. Chai Song, a newly advanced True Immortal from the Azure Qing World, had fallen and over 20 elite cultivators from both worlds on board that ship.

Later, Huang Jinghan led the remaining 6 ships against the 3 heavily damaged enemy fleets, including that of the Spirit Mammoth World. Though he lacked Kou Chongxue’s commanding finesse, he led everyone in the frontlines, resulting in serious injuries to himself. His deputy, a first tier True Immortal, also fell in battle. Over half the elite experts on their ship perished.

The True Immortals on board the other 5 ships might not have died, but nearly everyone was wounded. Dozens of elite cultivators beneath the Martial Void Realm were lost.

The main fleet also suffered greatly. The most painful loss for the Tongyou Institution was the death of Dou Zhong, and alongside him, second tier True Immortal Jiang Mingzhong of the Spirit Lyric World.

Their deaths, to some extent, were due to bad luck.

Jiang Mingzhong had been targeted from the beginning by 5 ships from the Spirit Mammoth World and the Essence Hong World. There were many True Immortals who targeted him as well. He barely survived the initial assault with the help of the main fleet’s battle formation. But once the Spirit Abundance World and Star Origin Dao Field broke the formation, he was again focused by the 3 ragtag fleets that entered their range before the Talisman Seed could be activated.

Dou Zhong’s death, however, was especially difficult for the Tongyou Institution to accept. He died on the return journey, having shattered his own heart meridian.

Prior to that, he had already been wounded when the main fleet’s battle formation was first broken. Though he endured it, he was later once again targeted by one of the fleets that attempted to break the chains that connected the Azure Qing World.

To protect the ship and maintain formation, and to prevent the chain from being severed, which would have jeopardized the integrity of the Azure Qing World, Dou Zhong unhesitatingly activated several high-level defensive talismans and leapt out of the ship to intercept the incoming attacks.

In the end, though his ship remained intact and the chain unbroken, his dantian was shattered by the repeated high-intensity attacks.

Though Shang Xia’s clone arrived in time to save him, and the Talisman Seed wiped out the attacking fleets, Dou Zhong’s cultivation plummeted from the second tier to the first tier, with his dantian constantly leaking inner qi and at risk of further collapse.

During the return journey, the experts of the Tongyou Institution exhausted every possible method to save him. Other sects in the Essence Luxuriant World also offered assistance, but none could repair his dantian or halt his declining cultivation.

In the end, it was Shang Xia’s clone who forcibly sealed his dantian, barely preserving his cultivation at the first tier of the Martial Void Realm.

But the price of doing so was severe. His dantian was like a broken porcelain vessel glued together. As long as it remained untouched, it might hold, but the slightest disturbance would cause it to shatter even more.

Though Dou Zhong outwardly retained the appearance of a True Immortal, he could no longer draw on even a trace of source energy. He was incapable of battle, unable to make further progress in cultivation. In truth, he was now no different from a mortal who had never trained in martial arts.

To someone as proud as Dou Zhong, there was no real difference between that and having his cultivation crippled.

Though Shang Xia and others repeatedly told him on the return journey that there was still hope, that he remained important to the institution, to the Essence Luxuriant World, and the future Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field, Dou Zhong knew better than anyone that he was ruined. No treasure could repair his dantian. Unless someone could perform a miracle and forge a new dantian, his cultivation would never recover.

And from his perspective, it was better to end his life than to live on as a cripple, helpless and pitied by others.

Thus, once the Azure Qing World was successfully tethered near the Essence Luxuriant World and the fleet returned, Dou Zhong, harboring thoughts of death, was sent to a secret realm for recovery. There, he severed his heart meridian and ended his life.

The reason he did it after entering the secret realm was that he didn’t want his lifetime of cultivation and accumulated essence to dissipate into the void. It was his final gift to the land that nurtured him.

The Azure Qing World’s subordination did not bring any immediate transformation to the Essence Luxuriant World. Likewise, the losses sustained in the battle could not be used as an excuse for the Essence Luxuriant World to lick its wounds and enter a period of recovery.

The situation was quite the opposite. It was time for them to move even faster and press their advantage.

While they had suffered heavily, the infiltrating powers had suffered far worse. Now, the hidden strongholds of those foreign powers, whether floating continents, Earth Stars, or Barbaric World... They had all been exposed.

Their goal was to destroy those strongholds and retrieve all those land. They would fuse them with the Azure Qing World and push it to ascension like the Azure Origin World and Azure Spiritual World of the past. By doing so, the Azure Qing World would be able to quickly advance to a proper Spirit World!

In doing so, the Essence Luxuriant World would be able to truly establish their foundation of a Heavenly Field with the support of a Spirit World.