Chapter 1895: First Interaction With Existences Outside The Star Field

By then, Shang Xia had already approached within 50,000 miles of the great spatial vortex. The intense gravitational pull emanating from the spatial vortex forced him to fully activate his Guided Dipper, drawing upon the power of the seven suns, allowing him to maintain a stable footing in the region of chaos.

Even so, Shang Xia could clearly sense his inner qi surging outward like a breached dam. Despite his deep and solid foundation, he feared he would not last long.

"I must retreat before two-thirds of my inner qi is depleted!" Shang Xia quickly reached a conclusion in his heart to ensure his safety.

By then, he could observe more distinctly and clearly the incomparably pure pillar of energy rising from the center of the spatial vortex, within which a faint and incomplete spatial gate flickered in and out of view.

"Can I destroy this not-yet-fully-formed spatial gate?" The thought had already flashed through Shang Xia’s mind dozens of times.

It was one of the reasons he had been taking such risks to get closer to the spatial vortex anyway. He really wanted to see if he could destroy it.

The reason was simple. Such a perfectly structured spatial gate clearly could not be naturally formed.

Since no one in the Chaotic Sea of Stars dared to approach the void spatial vortex at present, it was certain that the person who created it was on the other side.

Shang Xia instantly associated it with the increasingly realistic mirages that had been happening in the spot where the Star Origin Dao Field used to be and the other celestial phenomena.

"The other side of this spatial gate likely belongs to another Star Field that plans on invading the Chaotic Sea of Stars!" Shang Xia gasped. In such a case, only by destroying the spatial gate as soon as possible could the threat of invasion be delayed, or possibly prevented altogether.

Of course, a spatial gate could always be rebuilt. Shang Xia never thought that simply destroying it would permanently stop the invasion.

Unless he could destroy the entire spatial vortex! But the truth was, the spatial vortex had existed in the Chaotic Sea of Stars for over a thousand years, perhaps even longer. To destroy it was clearly beyond his capability.

Even just damaging the spatial gate within the pillar of energy protecting it would prove to be an extremely difficult task.

One couldn’t forget... He was still nearly 50,000 miles away from the center of the vortex. It was already a tremendous feat just to remain still, let alone approach the center of the spatial vortex.

"I still need to rely on the power of the Crimson Soul Tablet!" Shang Xia knew very well that the last time he used it to remotely touch the pillar of energy, he had managed to extract a trace of it. Now that he couldn’t absorb it any longer made him wonder if the pillar had reached a quality comparable to the Crimson Soul Tablet itself.

However, it might also have been because the distance was too far, weakening the effect of the tablet’s ability to absorb energy.

Now that he had closed the gap to 50,000 miles, Shang Xia, still unwilling to give up, decided to try again!

Violent void fragments battered the divine soul he tried to extend to touch the pillar, and the distortion of the space around him continued to test his senses.

Yet, by relying on the Crimson Soul Tablet, Shang Xia stubbornly extended his reach toward the pillar of energy at the center of the spatial vortex. When he once again touched it, he discovered the energy that made it up was far purer and more solid than before, even surpassing the energy he had extracted from the suspected world that surpasses Essence Worlds in the Nebula Forbidden Region.

And the moment his divine soul touched the pillar, the previously motionless pillar suddenly trembled!

There is hope!

Shang Xia was overjoyed and hurriedly used the Crimson Soul Tablet to remotely draw upon the pillar’s energy, even going so far as to risk being pulled into the spatial vortex by diverting a portion of inner qi that had been supporting Guided Dipper to strengthen the tablet.

A dense mass of energy, so thick it seemed tangible, was forcibly torn from the pillar and swallowed cleanly by the Crimson Soul Tablet.

With that, a small gap appeared in the pillar. The energy in its surroundings couldn’t replenish it fast enough, showing just how dense the energy had become!

However, possibly due to the loss of that portion, the energy that was converging at the center of the spatial vortex shifted to fill the breach. Even the energy that was supporting the spatial gate was diverted, delaying its already slow formation.

Shang Xia was delighted, his guess was right. The Crimson Soul Tablet was able to showcase its ability again, and the energy was of even higher quality than what he had obtained before. More importantly, it had drawn away some of the energy meant to form the spatial gate.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

With such success, Shang Xia naturally pressed forward, continuing to rely on the Crimson Soul Tablet to extract more.

But just as he prepared to activate the tablet again, he unexpectedly received a vague message from it.

Full... Too full...

The tablet needed some time to digest the energy!

It was something Shang Xia had never encountered before from the Crimson Soul Tablet. With no other choice, he had to wait.

Yet the longer he stayed in the danger zone, the scarier it became. His inner qi continued to drain, and even refining energy provided by the Crimson Soul Tablet couldn't sustain him.

After about half an hour, the Crimson Soul Tablet finally indicated it could draw more.

Without hesitation, Shang Xia extended his divine soul again. Another near-solid piece of energy cracked off the pillar and was devoured.

Once again, surrounding energy rushed to fill the breach, and the spatial gate had some of its energy drawn away again.

This time, the already-flickering gate dimmed even further. Shang Xia’s inner qi burned faster than ever, but the changes in the spatial gate left him feeling exhilarated.

Half an hour later, as soon as the tablet sent another signal, Shang Xia immediately extended his soul again.

But this time, an unexpected change nearly cost him big time. Just as he was about to extract another piece of the pillar, the spatial gate suddenly destabilized. A tremendous force erupted from it, surging straight for the breach Shang Xia had just created!

It happened too suddenly. Before the energy could even be consumed, the overwhelming power had already found its way to him!

The next instant, both forces clashed head-on inside the pillar of energy! The force from the spatial gate was not only fierce but had the element of surprise, though it was slightly weakened after crossing the void.

As for Shang Xia, although caught off guard, he had been using the Crimson Soul Tablet from tens of thousands of miles away. The worst outcome was a failed absorption attempt and the destruction of a thread of his divine soul. He wouldn’t be affected too badly.

Still, if the fluctuations caused disrupted his balance in the void, it would become a serious problem.

Shang Xia, however, had no time to dwell on that. As soon as the energy from inside the gate emerged and crashed into him, his perception was expelled from the pillar. The solidified portion of energy scattered back into the spatial vortex.

Fortunately for him, thanks to the Crimson Soul Tablet’s protection, the strand of divine soul he extended over was not entirely destroyed.

His opponent’s strength was clearly far above his own. The clash just now told him that the other side at least had the strength of a high-level Sage.

That was even after they had been weakened after transferring their power into another Star Field. Shang Xia could not even begin to imagine the true level of his opponent.

Although Shang Xia had only slightly lost the exchange and his divine soul survived, the violent impact triggered even greater instability in the surrounding void, directly affecting the space around him.

His inner qi had already dropped below the 40 percent mark, far beneath his initial threshold to leave. Even his Guided Dipper was beginning to falter against the spatial vortex’s pull.

He decided to leave at that moment, even at the cost of his reserves depleting further. He channeled the power of the seven suns to accelerate his escape.

Shang Xia was well aware that the Star Origin Lord had already vaguely grasped the location of the Big Dipper stars and had long sought out his Fate Star.

That was why, in recent years, unless absolutely necessary, Shang Xia rarely summoned the full power of the seven suns.

Even when he did, he used only a small portion, or ended the battle quickly.

The goal was to avoid helping the Star Origin Lord locate and destroy the seven suns. Though the stars were not actually his Fate Stars, their destruction would still prove troublesome.

At the very least, finding and connecting with seven suitable suns again would cost him a great deal of time.

Regardless... Shang Xia had no time to worry about exposing the seven suns any longer. In order to get far enough away from the spatial vortex, he drew on their power to its limit.

In his perception, the seven great suns shone like solar flares in the starry sky.

His reckless retreat worked. Before a greater danger could erupt from the depths of the spatial vortex, he reached a relatively safe region.

But by then, he had less than 20 percent of inner qi left. It was the least amount of energy he had since advancing to the Seven Star Realm.

If anyone attacked him now, or if he fell into another siege, he might not even have the strength to escape.

Luckily, his previous display of strength near the spatial vortex had been so overwhelming that, even now, when he retreated to a safer area over a million miles away, the other Sages that had been lingering nearby only watched cautiously, not daring to approach.

Shang Xia pretended not to notice and even began meditating right in the void under their watchful eyes.

Thanks to the spatial vortex, the entire region was rich in origin qi. However, for Sages, using the energy in their surroundings to recover was laughably inefficient.

As such, everyone thought that he was merely cultivating after emerging from the spatial vortex and wasn’t willing to engage with them directly.

What they didn’t know was that Shang Xia truly had entered a deep meditation, working to refine the energy he had drawn from the Crimson Soul Tablet to replenish his nearly empty dantian.

The batch of energy he devoured from the center of the spatial vortex was indeed extraordinary. The Crimson Soul Tablet itself conveyed a sense of joy, and Shang Xia’s inner qi was recovering at an unprecedented rate.

Had he been somewhere truly safe, he would have preferred to go into seclusion and restore his energy completely, maybe even use this chance to push his cultivation further.

Although the Crimson Soul Tablet radiated joy, and the energy it provided clearly surpassed what he had drawn from the Nebula Forbidden Region, Shang Xia could still confirm it hadn’t truly undergone a fundamental transformation to something that existed beyond that of an Essence World.

The Crimson Soul Tablet, while pleased, showed no sign of evolving from the higher quality energy, a stark contrast to when it first absorbed energy from the Azure, Spirit, or Essence Worlds.

The pillar also reminded Shang Xia of the time the Star Origin Dao Field drew on the Power of the Stars to simulate Seventh Order energy, or when he and others had used formations to gather something similar.

Though the power they produced had many characteristics of that in the Seventh Order, they weren’t refined by real cultivators and were not fully controlled. Hence, they were given the name Pseudo-Seventh Order energy.

Perhaps the energy in the forbidden regions were merely higher-tier imitations... They might just be Pseudo-Eighth Order energy.

No one knew how long had passed, but once he restored 50 percent of his inner qi, Shang Xia finally awakened.

And just then, the lingering divine souls around the area could no longer resist and they cautiously drew near.