Chapter 1853: Hollow Heaven Stone that Restored the Crimson Soul Tablet

The region of chaos that surrounded Shang Xia had begun to dissipate, and with the gradual return of his five senses and divine soul, he finally gained a clearer understanding of the fake mountain that was absorbed by the Crimson Soul Tablet.

At the very least, the so-called fake mountain wasn’t actually black in color. It was actually a deep, dark green.

Moreover, it wasn’t truly an actual structure at all, but something that had been forcibly condensed and compressed.

The surrounding chaos seemed to be directly related to its existence.

The unfamiliar yet superior world origin attached to it was likely something squeezed out during its forced compression. And because of the surrounding chaos, the essence had been unable to disperse.

Now that this layer of world origin was being absorbed by the Crimson Soul Tablet, the dense mass was shrinking, and its equilibrium with the chaos around it was disrupted. As a result, the region of chaos began to fade away.

Meanwhile, Shang Xia, whose depleted dantian was rapidly refilled, clearly realized that the Crimson Soul Tablet had found something truly extraordinary.

Once the energy in his dantian reached a stable threshold, Shang Xia halted the transmission of world origin from the Crimson Soul Tablet. After all, he was still in the Nebula Forbidden Region. The chaos might be fading, but the dangers nearby have not.

Furthermore, his divine soul had now extended far enough to realize that the spatial balance of the surrounding area was becoming unstable, and new dangers could erupt at any time. He had to leave immediately.

However, the Crimson Soul Tablet was unwilling to end its absorption of the remaining essence. Though it seemed to understand Shang Xia’s growing anxiety, the tablet was unwilling to stop. Shang Xia started to hesitate. He wondered if he should forcibly sever the connection between the Crimson Soul Tablet and the dense mass and return it to his sea of consciousness.

Before he could decide, the dense mass that was reduced to a third of its original size suddenly began moving toward him, guided by the Crimson Soul Tablet.

Though surprised, Shang Xia would never pass up a treasure if there was a chance he could get his hands on it.

When it drifted near, he attempted to store it using various spatial artifacts, only to fail. However, he expected as much.

A wave of mental fatigue washed over him suddenly, and his divine soul was strained from maintaining the Crimson Soul Tablet’s presence outside his sea of consciousness for too long.

He was already trying to leave the area, but the fatigue and the mass of the condensed world origin dragged him down, slowing his pace.

Signs of spatial collapse began to reappear around him. Cracks in the void opened abruptly, some lashing toward him, but he quickly released his inner qi to seal them off.

Unfortunately, that meant that after he passed, the space behind him collapsed even more violently, showing signs of brewing into a massive void torrent.

Shang Xia was fully aware of the danger behind him.

But he was caught in a dilemma. The unfamiliar world origin still hadn’t been completely absorbed, and the dense mass and the Crimson Soul Tablet were dragging him down. He didn’t want to let go of either one.

However, it was also then that the void torrent behind him formed. It rushed at him, threatening to sweep him away.

Suddenly, Shang Xia turned around mid-flight. At some point, the Seven Star Mace had appeared in his hand.

Swinging it violently through the void, he unleashed the third form of his Seven Star Mace Technique, Guided Dipper!

The wavefront of the void torrent shattered instantly. However, the power unleashed by Shang Xia didn’t stop there. It continued to surge as it broke apart each new wave that rose. It repeated several times until the energy contained in Guided Dipper was spent.

In the time taken to destroy the void torrent, the Crimson Soul Tablet also completed the absorption of the dense mass of world origin.

With the Crimson Soul Tablet returning to his mind, the treasure that made up the dense mass was revealed.

A massive yellowish lump of earthen stone remained in Shang Xia’s palm, its surface resembling a honeycomb. Embedded within it were four uneven, mottled crystal-like objects.

At first glance, it looked like four rough pieces of colored glass jammed into a cluster of dirt.

However... Shang Xia’s divine soul couldn’t inspect the ‘dirt’ in the slightest. As it swept across the mottled crystals, he felt his divine soul devoured.

"This... Are these Hollow Heaven Stones?!" Shang Xia stared at the rough crystals embedded in the clump of dirt in shock.

He hadn’t expected that the very goal of his perilous journey into the Nebula Forbidden Region would be achieved so suddenly.

Judging by the size and quality of the four Hollow Heaven Stones, even the smallest was sufficient to build a Spirit Ark. The other three were much larger and they looked to be of even higher quality.

For a moment, Shang Xia felt as if he were dreaming.

But thinking back to the perilous chaos, and the strange world origin that likely surpassed that produced by an Essence World, perhaps gaining four large Hollow Heaven Stones wasn’t such a surprise after all.

Without hesitation, he carefully pried the Hollow Heaven Stones free and stored them in specialized spirit sealing cases.

As for the honeycombed clump of dirt that remained... Even though Shang Xia couldn’t yet identify it, the fact that it could hold world origin, survive in the chaos for god knew how long, and the ability to block his divine soul indicated it was clearly an extraordinary treasure. He wouldn’t make the mistake of tossing a treasure while only keeping the auxiliary items that surrounded it. Or in this case, embedded in it.

Also... After removing the Hollow Heaven Stones, the clump of dirt could be kept in his spatial artifact.

However, when he tried to do so... He discovered it wouldn’t even budge when he tried. Baffled, Shang Xia increased his output of inner qi while storing it, but it only wobbled slightly.

Shang Xia found it too strange. When he was absorbing the world origin around the clump, he was able to drag the entire mass through the void. Now, it wouldn’t even move.

"Could it be due to the Crimson Soul Tablet or the Hollow Heaven Stones?"

Though he had suspicions, Shang Xia increased the amount of inner qi used to move it. This time, he went all out before finally storing the dirt clump into his spatial pouch.

With the effort needed to move it... Shang Xia once again reaffirmed its value.

With the treasure safe in his spatial pouch, the void torrent he destroyed with Guided Dipper earlier rose again. This time, with greater momentum. It rushed at Shang Xia with a terrifying might.

Shang Xia dared not linger. He no longer attempted to fight it head-on. Instead, he immediately activated the Ward Talisman Sword and fled in the direction it pointed.