Chapter 1870: Escaping2

After realizing that his connection with the remnant Essence Wilderness World’s Will had been severed, Sage Jin immediately concluded that Qin Ming intended to make a move on him.

Combined with the fact that Zhuo Gudao had been captured and the two had learned numerous secrets about the Star Fields beyond the Chaotic Sea of Stars and the Martial Eternity Realm from the foreign consciousness that had possessed Zhuo Gudao’s body, it further convinced them that Qin Ming intended to kill them both to silence them.

Thus, Sage Jin did not hesitate to strike first. He took the opportunity to save Zhuo Gudao, whose consciousness had reawakened after the foreign consciousness possessing him was worn down. They quickly joined hands to fight Qin Ming.

Although Zhuo Gudao had previously been possessed by the foreign consciousness, his soul had not been destroyed. He retained awareness of the outside world, and after being rescued, rationally chose to ally with Sage Jin against their stronger foe.

However, even while working together, both of them, who were only third star Sages, were no match for the fifth star Qin Ming.

Fortunately, Qin Ming soon received a message through a special secret art, notifying him that the base established in the ruins of the Essence Wilderness World by the cultivators of the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field was under siege by a foreign Sage. The defensive formation was failing, and the Spirit Ark carrying fragments of the Essence Wilderness World, its World Origin Source, and the remnants of Sage Jin’s soul was attempting to escape.

Qin Ming immediately backed off and explained the situation to Sage Jin and Zhuo Gudao.

It was at that moment that both Sage Jin and Zhuo Gudao noticed the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field’s power Qin Ming was drawing on was fading. Earlier, when Sage Jin’s connection with the Essence Wilderness World’s Will was severed, he hadn’t had the time to redirect it to cut off the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field’s power supporting Qin Ming.

Although Sage Jin realized it may have been a misunderstanding, it was already too late. The rupture in trust left no room for reconciliation.

Moreover, the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field was situated just outside the Nebula Forbidden Region. Once Qin Ming returned to the ruins of the Essence Wilderness World, he would immediately regain the support of his Heavenly Field.

In contrast, Sage Jin had suffered a dramatic loss in strength after his connection was severed from the remnant of the Essence Wilderness World’s Will. The resulting imbalance of power left no foundation for renewed cooperation.

Even so, in such a perilous place as the Nebula Forbidden Region, none of them had any intention of fighting to the death.

The priority now was to return to the relatively safer region of the Essence Wilderness World ruins while the remaining influence of the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field and the fading afterglow of the Essence Wilderness World’s Will still lingered, and figure out exactly what had happened.

Neither Qin Ming nor Sage Jin realized that the remnant Essence Wilderness World’s Will had been suppressed and their outpost destroyed because Shang Xia had found a way to escape the depths of the Nebula Forbidden Region.

At the edge of the Essence Wilderness World ruins, after successfully seizing the Spirit Ark, Shang Xia pushed the ship’s speed to the limit by creating two clones despite the strain it placed on himself.

At the same time, Su Chi, who had temporarily rebuilt his body through Shang Xia’s help using the Essence Wilderness World’s origin, suddenly realized that the ark bore a distinct design in the style of the Heart Lamp Sect.

Initially, Shang Xia had worried that the ark would be too slow and that Qin Ming and the others would catch up before he escaped. But upon hearing Su Chi’s declaration, he couldn’t help but exclaim in excitement.

Even the heavens are on my side!

With Su Chi personally taking charge of the Heart Lamp Sect’s Spirit Ark, the formations were fully activated. The Spirit Ark’s full potential was instantly unleashed.

And because the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field’s stronghold within the Nebula Forbidden Region had been destroyed, and the forces stationed there had been decimated, Shang Xia and Su Chi encountered no resistance as they navigated the retreat routes marked and maintained by the Essence Frontier World.

Naturally, once it became known that the person on the ark was a formidable Sage, and with multiple True Immortals who went to stop him already slain, no one dared stop the Spirit Ark.

Once the Spirit Ark safely left the Essence Wilderness World ruins, it was already close to escaping the Nebula Forbidden Region altogether.

However, Shang Xia had previously heard from Sage Jin that when Qin Ming invaded the Essence Wilderness World, he went so far as to shift the Essence Frontier Heavenly Field closer to the Nebula Forbidden Region in order to secure the best entry point.

In other words, even if Shang Xia left the Nebula Forbidden Region, he would not be safe. He would face the pursuit of the entire Essence Frontier Heavenly Field!

At that very moment, Shang Xia, standing at the bow of the Spirit Ark, suddenly sensed something. He sharply turned his head to glance behind, toward the Essence Wilderness World ruins.

Although the Nebula Forbidden Region severely restricted his senses, a surge of spatial turbulence from the direction of the ruins was strong enough to reach where he was. Shang Xia instantly realized that Qin Ming and Sage Jin had likely returned.

His expression turned grim. In a flash, he vanished from where he stood and entered the internal space of the Spirit Ark.

Inside, the Spirit Ark carried a fragment of the Essence Wilderness World, over 20,000 miles in size. Within that fragment’s preserved World Origin Source lay the scattered remnants of Sage Jin’s soul.

"Destroying Sage Jin’s remnant soul isn’t difficult," Shang Xia recalled Su Chi’s earlier impassive explanation of the Heart Lamp Sect’s core secrets. "The simplest and most direct method would be to filter the world origin source. That would completely erase any traces of the scattered soul."

"The second method is to use a drop of your essence blood as bait. Once it’s dropped into the World Origin Source, it’ll lure the scattered soul to reconvene."

"The third method is to insert your own soul into the World Origin Source and personally exterminate all soul fragments you find within."

The first method would take too long. The second was clearly unwise. And the third would divert some of Shang Xia’s attention, which was dangerous given he had not yet fully escaped danger.

Fortunately, the Spirit Ark possessed its own sealing and interference capabilities. It could mask Sage Jin’s ability to sense his soul fragments. As long as Shang Xia maintained a certain distance, he could evade pursuit.

Originally, Shang Xia had planned to deal with the World Origin Source after escaping danger, perhaps even try to control Sage Jin as Qin Ming had done.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

However, it didn’t take long for him to realize he might have thought too simply. It was too dangerous to consider controlling Sage Jin. What he had to do was to erase Sage Jin’s soul fragments to prevent him from ever tracking down the Spirit Ark!

Aside from the three methods Su Chi had provided, Shang Xia had thought of another option. He could temporarily extract all the world origin with the Crimson Soul Tablet.

Once the world origin was gone, all that would be left would be Sage Jin’s soul fragments. When it happened, he would be able to wipe it out easily!

The only problem was that the Crimson Soul Tablet, after drawing in world origin from a world that surpassed Essence Worlds twice, seemed to have lost interest in absorbing world origin from Essence Worlds.

Fortunately, Shang Xia’s connection with it had grown increasingly deep. His ability to control it was also improving. After a brief period of negotiation and appeasement, the Crimson Soul Table finally accepted his request.