Chapter 1848: Origin Sea Heart Lamp

"Will you come out yourself, or must I drag you out?" Shang Xia suddenly chuckled as he spoke, though his gaze remained fixed on the crystal jar behind the corpse.

After he spoke, the hut fell into silence.

Shang Xia wasn’t in a hurry. He stood calmly at the doorway, a hint of amusement on his face.

Moments later, the dark red sediment at the bottom of the crystal jar began to stir, then rose to the surface of the liquid and formed a thin, wick-like strand. A faint flame ignited at its tip, and with it came a low sigh accompanied by the flickering light.

"Why have you entered my Cloud Rune Stone Mysterious World uninvited, sir?"

Shang Xia stared at the flickering flame inside the jar, visibly surprised. "A strand of soul preserved in the World Origin Source? I didn’t expect there would be such a secret technique. Even after the death of your physical body, your soul is still able to live till now...”

He looked knowingly at the liquid in the jar and continued, "But the energy in this jar seems nearly exhausted. I doubt it can sustain you much longer, can it?"

The flame dimmed further as the voice inside responded, "Had you not intruded, I might have lasted longer."

Shang Xia ignored the grievance in the voice and said casually, "I didn’t expect anyone from the Essence Wilderness World would survive after being thrown into the Nebula Forbidden Region. Although... Hehe..."

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The once-dim flame suddenly flared, and the voice grew more agitated despite its best effort to suppress its emotions. "You know of the Essence Wilderness World? Who are you? How many years have passed in the outside world?"

Shang Xia smiled. "I know not only about the Essence Wilderness World, but also about Sage Jin. What interests me more is your technique, it allows a soul to survive long after the body perishes."

"Sage Jin? You mean that unreliable fellow Jin Quan? Is he actually still alive?!” The voice rang in Shang Xia’s mind.

The moment Shang Xia mentioned Sage Jin, the flame inside the jar grew excited, flickering rapidly as the voice continued, "Oh, that’s right, he also learned our sect’s Origin Sea Heart Lamp technique. Even if his soul was scattered, it would still drastically slow his decline. With his cultivation at the peak of the fifth star of the Martial Emptiness Realm, as long as he doesn’t die, living for several centuries isn’t surprising.”

Shang Xia’s eyes narrowed slightly, though his tone remained calm. "Oh? You seem to know quite a bit about Sage Jin."

The flame danced again. "Looks like Jin Quan has entered the Nebula Forbidden Region as well. Makes sense, though that secret art delays his decline, his cultivation should be deteriorating rapidly. He must come in to try and recover his scattered soul, or ideally find undissipated world origin from the Essence Wilderness World Origin Source."

Suddenly, the flame quivered with anxiety. "You... Are you working with him?"

Shang Xia glanced at the jar and grinned. "Relax. Even if Sage Jin wants to reassemble the Essence Wilderness World Origin Source, what you have here wouldn’t even be a drop in the ocean."

But before the flame could calm down, Shang Xia’s tone suddenly shifted. "However, I am quite interested in your background. Don’t you have anything you'd like to share?"

The flame faltered, and the voice quickly suppressed the emotions hidden in it. "What do you want?"

Shang Xia raised his hand, and the jar rose from the table and entered his grasp. "Nothing much. I’m just very curious about the history surrounding the Essence Wilderness World’s fate of being tossed into the Nebula Forbidden Region."

The flame answered, "Did Jin Quan not mention that to you? Seems your alliance isn’t very strong after all..."

With a tap of his finger on the jar, the flame flickered wildly. Shang Xia said coolly, "The people who killed each other outside... Those were your disciples, weren’t they? It was instigated by you, just to condense this blood wick and sustain your soul?"

The flame froze, saying nothing.

Cradling the jar, Shang Xia strolled outside the hut. "Speak before my patience wears thin."

After he spoke, the liquid in the jar was dropped rapidly.

The flame at the tip of the blood wick leapt violently. The voice within now had urgency and flattery as he spoke again. "I am Su Chi, a True Immortal from the Heart Lamp Sect in the Essence Wilderness World. Years ago, when the Nebula Forbidden Region appeared near our Heavenly Field, Sage Jin insisted on exploring it despite warnings. As expected, he was trapped inside, unable to return even with his soul anchored in our world."

"Somehow, news of this leaked. Jin Quan’s sect brought in his old friend, Sage Qin Ming of the Essence Frontier World, to help. But Qin Ming betrayed them, destroyed the sect, shattered Jin Quan’s soul, looted the Essence Wilderness World, and then shoved the entire world into the Nebula Forbidden Region to stall its expansion."

"I didn’t escape in time and was dragged along. Fortunately, I was quick-thinking. I sealed my soul and a bit of world origin into this jar, and used this Cloud Rune Stone Mysterious World to survive."

Shang Xia had already recognized the jar, it was one of the three Holy Artifacts used to create Elysiums. But what surprised him was Su Chi’s background.

"Su Chi of the Heart Lamp Sect? I thought Sage Jin’s rise to the Martial Emptiness Realm was an anomaly, and he wasn’t even close to his sect. Isn’t your Heart Lamp Sect supposed to be the strongest faction of the Essence Wilderness World?"

The flame flared again, and Su Chi’s voice quickly came again. "Surely you jest! Though we had some foundation, how could we compare to a sect backed by a Sage?"

Shang Xia chuckled. "You’re not being very honest. You’ve talked so much, yet you keep skirting the key questions. You’re making things quite difficult for me.”

Cautiously, Su Chi asked, "Senior, what questions are you referring to?”

Casually, Shang Xia said, "For example, why did Sage Jin insist on exploring the newly formed Nebula Forbidden Region? If he had such a close friend, why not invite him to go together? And why did your people try to stop him from going?"

His gaze returned to the jar and he revealed a smile that wasn’t really a smile. The tiny flame shuddered again before the voice emerged. "This... How can we guess the intentions of a Sage? Perhaps, Sage Jin Quan felt that...”

But Shang Xia cut him off. "Choose your words carefully. Don’t forget, I only came here because Sage Jin invited me to enter the Nebula Forbidden Region with him."

The flame froze solid for a moment, then sighed, "According to notes left by our sect’s last Sage, over 1,000 years ago, the Chaotic Sea of Stars was invaded by many Sages from beyond the Star Field. They allied with many local Sages and destroyed the Heaven Observation Sect. After the battle, those outsiders left, taking with them many high-level experts from our Star Field."

"It’s said that when those outsiders first arrived, mysterious phenomena like this Nebula Forbidden Region appeared. The Heaven Observation Sect even tried to warn the other Heavenly Fields, but for unknown reasons, the local Sages ended up siding with the outsiders and turned on them."

"Our sect’s last Sage participated in that battle. Though he was wounded, he still followed those outsiders. Fortunately, one of his disciples broke through to the Martial Emptiness Realm with the support of our Dao Field and inherited the legacy, allowing our sect and the Essence Wilderness World to survive."

"Sadly, that Sage had little lifespan left ,even after advancing, and only managed to live another five centuries before passing."

"Jin Quan rose to prominence about 200 years before that ancestor passed. Within 20 years after the ancestor's death, he broke through the bottleneck, gained control of the Essence Wilderness World’s Will, and suppressed all other potential Sage-level successors."

As Su Chi finished, his voice was filled with regret, clearly resentful that the Heart Lamp Sect had failed to maintain its rank seven legacy.

Shang Xia asked curiously, "So your sect even had its own Dao Field? Was Sage Jin’s real goal in entering the Nebula Forbidden Region to recover it?"

Unexpectedly, Su Chi immediately denied his suggestion. "Absolutely not! Our Dao Field was stolen by Qin Ming when he betrayed us. If we still had it, how could I, and our surviving disciples, have fallen to this state?"