Chapter 1793: Changes to the Spirit Tip World

Kou Chongxue’s warning caused Shang Xia to postpone his plans and enter the Talisman Pagoda for another period of seclusion to stabilize his somewhat disturbed mental state.

Naturally, his time wasn’t spent in vain. By refining the Three Lights Spiritual Liquid prepared by Yuan Qiuyuan, Shang Xia’s cultivation advanced rapidly once again.

The rank seven Three Lights Spiritual Liquid contained an even more intense energy. Refining the first drop provided Shang Xia with as much inner qi as 24 months of normal cultivation. The second drop boosted his cultivation by 23 months, and the effect diminished with each subsequent refinement. By the time he finished the last drop, it was worth only a month of regular training. At that point, the treasure's value as a cultivation aid was fully exhausted for him.

Even so, he could still use it to replenish depleted inner qi, and it retained its healing properties.

After refining all 24 drops, half a year had passed. The effect was equivalent to gaining 25 years of cultivation. Yet, the actual tangible benefit was that the third star in his dantian, which had already been lit up by a quarter, brightened by another third, pushing his progress in the third star past the halfway mark.

At his current rate of progress, advancing from the early to the peak stage of the third layer would take Shang Xia at least 75 years, possibly more, if done through normal cultivation.

And as his cultivation rose, reaching the fourth or fifth star would take even longer.

Still, with Sages enjoying lifespans of a thousand years or more, such timelines weren’t impossible to bear.

Whatever it was, it was important to remember that every major and minor stage of cultivation often had bottlenecks. Not everyone could leap past realms as easily as Shang Xia had done with the first and second stars of the Seven Star Realm.

In truth, it was common for cultivators to be stuck at bottlenecks for years, even for life, with no progress. Even the most devoted cultivator couldn’t afford to cultivate in isolation endlessly. Decades of training usually require even more years to fully digest.

Of course, his progress also had something to do with his incomplete rank seven arts. Once they were perfected, the speed of his cultivation would only increase.

Compared to Shang Xia’s gains, Kou Chongxue, who also refined 24 drops, achieved even better results.

Having just broken through to the Martial Emptiness Realm, the Three Lights Spiritual Liquid helped Kou Chongxue complete nearly three-quarters of cultivation at the first star. With his accumulated foundation, he actually closed in on the second star.

After refining the spiritual liquid, Shang Xia did not immediately leave the Essence Luxuriant World. Just as he left the Talisman Pagoda, he received word from Ren Huan that the first batch of Star Devouring Silkworms raised by Sun Haiwei had successfully matured, and the first batch of Star Devouring Silk was ready to be woven. Ren Huan was also preparing to use the silk to make rank seven talisman paper.

Although Shang Xia was a rank seven Talisman Grandmaster, he currently only possessed a single rank seven talisman inheritance, the Origin Star Talisman, which came from the Star Origin Lord’s inheritance.

Aware that too much of his strength and tactics had been revealed since becoming a Sage that others had most likely already started to break down, he had to prepare more trump cards. Another rank seven talisman was a solution, and one of the most important aces he could hold.

This time, his goal was to improve the Myriad Tinted Cloud Talisman.

Originally a failed rank seven creation, it had been downgraded to a peak rank six talisman. However, the cloud fortress it summoned provided outstanding defense, even partially resisting attacks from Seventh Order energy.

Shang Xia had long begun deducing the path ahead.

His first breakthrough was in replicating the special paper needed to craft the talisman.

When he first obtained the inheritance, it could only be made using special paper from the Wanyun Association of the Essence Xing World.

But when communication with Star Beast Nest No.2 was cut off by the Essence Xing World, the supply of talisman paper stopped. However, the talisman was still used by the cultivators of the Tongyou Institution. It was thanks to Shang Xia’s advanced mastery in the dao of talismans that he could craft it even without the special talisman paper.

He then delved into analyzing the combinations of different runes it contained, deriving and validating adjustments. But ultimately, the revised form would need to be imprinted on stable rank seven talisman paper.

Now, he had everything ready for the improved version, except the talisman paper.

While following up on Ren Huan’s paper-making progress, a sudden emergency transmission came from the Star Observatory, this time, it was related to the Spirit Tip World.

Returning to the Essence Luxuriant Palace, Shang Xia found Kou Chongxue already there, along with Yuan Qiuyuan and Yan Ming, who looked anxious, clearly having already reported the matter.

"What happened?" Shang Xia asked, his gaze landing on Yuan Qiuyuan.

"It’s the Spirit Tip World," Yuan Qiuyuan said. "From our observation, its position in the void has shifted significantly in a short time, and the direction it’s moving in points toward the Essence Du World."

"It seems Yan Yu can’t wait any longer to pull the Spirit Tip World into his Heavenly Field," Shang Xia remarked, unsurprised.

He turned to Yuan Qiuyuan again. "Can you contact Xin Lu?"

"After reaching the Martial Void Realm, I managed to restore the Starlight Transmission Secret Art from the remnants of the Heaven Observation Sect’s inheritance. I can use it to send some simple messages past Heavenly Fields, and it’s the secret art the Heaven Observation Sect used to communicate in the past. However, it’s not complete, and we can’t send complicated messages. We also need Xin Lu to prepare to receive the transmission...”

Kou Chongxue added, "After the Star Curtain collapsed, we sent Zhu Nang to the space around the Spirit Tip World. If there are no accidents, he should have already received a report from Xin Lu. It might take a few more days for him to return...”

Shang Xia rose from his seat. "There’s no time to lose. I’ll go to the Spirit Tip World first. Zhu Nang has a special Star Compass anyway and we’ll link up along the way."