Chapter 2047: The Ambush From Within The Star River

In that strange region where countless stars had gathered, their blazing, dense light converged into a flowing river of light. It clearly seemed not far from where Yuan Qiuyuan and Shang Xia were, yet it felt as if it lay in another time and space.

Blocked by that twisted void, Yuan Qiuyuan, without employing his arts of stargazing, could not see anything beyond the distortion.

His earlier brush with danger had also taught him that if he dared to use his techniques to peer beyond that twisted void, it would not be just his eyes that would be burned. He would turn into ash entirely.

Thus, when he saw Shang Xia step up to that twisted void to tear it open, Yuan Qiuyuan yelled, “Sage Shang, it’s dangerous!”

Shang Xia only turned back with a smile, but his hands did not pause. The heavy, warped barrier, tougher even than the heavenly screen of an Essence World, was torn open by him in the next instant.

Immeasurable light and heat burst out at once from that narrow slit, carrying the aura of a supernova. The person who bore the brunt of it was Shang Xia as he stood right before the rift.

At the same time, even though Yuan Qiuyuan had shut his eyes in time, he still felt an unparalleled heat descend, as if he would melt away in the next moment.

Fortunately, that did not happen. Moments later, he no longer felt any threat at all. Even the once-dazzling radiance seemed much gentler.

Yuan Qiuyuan slowly opened his eyes and saw that light still flared from the slit before Shang Xia. However, everything that spilled out became harmless the moment it passed the space where Shang Xia stood.

Clearly, Shang Xia stopped the vast and chaotic energy from passing.

While Yuan Qiuyuan marveled at Shang Xia’s strength, he also worried about how long he would be able to hold on. He hurriedly said, “Sage Shang, should I leave?”

“It’s fine.” Shang Xia’s voice was mild and calm. Evidently, although the Star River beyond the twisted void posed an immense threat to Yuan Qiuyuan, it was not much to Shang Xia.

“Next, I will widen this opening, but I will lay down a layer of my inner qi here to form a barrier. You can try to work your techniques from behind the barrier to see what you can discover.”

Hearing his instructions, Yuan Qiuyuan was about to agree when he suddenly looked up in shock and asked, “What about you?”

Without turning to face him, Shang Xia said, “Naturally, I will go in and take a look. I need you to stay here and guide me, to keep me from losing my way in the Star River.”

“But...” An inexplicable panic rose in Yuan Qiuyuan’s heart. He felt that the moment Shang Xia left, he would be left alone in the region of space.

Sensing his unease, Shang Xia laughed. “Don’t worry. You still have a rank seven Myriad Tinted Cloud Talisman. It’s enough to handle most attacks from Sages. I will also leave you an Emberkindled Legacy Talisman. If you run into any danger, you can activate it to borrow a portion of my strength. Through it I can also sense your situation, and it will serve as a beacon for my return.”

With that, Shang Xia started to pry the crack in the void open. Powerful spatial waves rippled into the surrounding void.

This time, Yuan Qiuyuan saw exactly how Shang Xia did it. He could tell Shang Xia was most probably using his World Establishing Art, though his exquisite control over the secret art still felt unbelievable.

Just as the opening was about to become a spatial gate, Yuan Qiuyuan sensed the flood of searing light from the other side flicker suddenly, as if a shadow had flashed past the edge of the gate.

Shang Xia’s previously steady aura surged suddenly. He shouted, “Who is it?”

Yuan Qiuyuan was startled and he looked around, only to find that Shang Xia was no longer there.

He took a reflexive step forward, then hastily stopped. He realized that nothing dangerous seemed to be happening. The blazing light from the other side felt as though it had been filtered by an unseen screen and would no longer harm him.

Remembering Shang Xia’s instructions, Yuan Qiuyuan quickly employed his stargazing techniques to carefully observe the area around the spatial gate. He discovered a barrier, perfectly merged with the blinding radiance beyond, spanning the gateway and blocking every from the other side.

Recalling what Shang Xia said earlier, Yuan Qiuyuan understood it was the opportunity Shang Xia was giving him.

After only a brief hesitation, Yuan Qiuyuan gripped a rank seven Myriad Tinted Cloud Talisman in his left hand and an Emberkindled Legacy Talisman in his right. He was prepared to activate them at any moment as he started to utilize his stargazing techniques.

He turned to the spatial gate Shang Xia left behind.

...

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Within the nebula, the Giant Ape King’s battle with the rank seven bird emperor had also reached its end.

Once bound by the anchor chains of dozens of ships, the rank seven bird emperor had become a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Soon after, hundreds of elite cultivators from the Blizzard Pirates and the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field, along with their True Immortals, jointly witnessed a brutal bloodline-plundering.

The rank seven bird emperor’s blood essence was almost completely devoured by the Giant Ape King.

Yet the completion of the plunder did not mean the Giant Ape King could immediately charge into the seventh rank and become the Giant Ape Emperor.

The fusion and assimilation of bloodlines required an extremely long process. Because the two were not originally of the same species, this process would likely be fraught with the danger of losing control and dying at any moment.

Thus, even after devouring the bird emperor’s blood essence, the Giant Ape King did not dare to be careless. It immediately returned to the Spirit Ark to await Shang Xia’s return.

Only with Shang Xia’s protection would the Giant Ape King dare to truly begin the fusion and elevation of its bloodline and commence a breakthrough to the seventh rank!

It knew that only with Shang Xia present could the mighty high-level Sage suppress any danger when it showed any signs of losing control.

After the Giant Ape King left, the Blizzard Pirates still had much to handle.

For a rank seven bird emperor, the most precious part was, of course, its blood essence. After that came its body!

First came the two talons. Though one had been severed and the other had its tendons and bones broken, they remained the finest spiritual materials for forging divine artifacts.

One had to know that in the early days before the Tongyou Institution’s rise, their enemies had relied on a claw-shaped divine weapon to suppress them in the Battlefield Between Two Worlds for many years.

Now, with those talons, even the one with broken tendons and bones could easily be made into a divine weapon that surpassed the quality of the old weapon that suppressed them.

Next was the harvest of several sword-like feathers from the rank seven bird emperor.

Those feathers had earlier pierced through the Giant Ape King’s shoulders. Their sharpness needed no further proof.

Aside from those, the rank seven bird emperor’s body was treasure from head to toe. Though inferior to the blood essence, talons, and feathers, that was only from the perspective of the Cai siblings, Chu Jia, Tian Mengzi, and the others.

For the vast majority of cultivators who weren’t True Immortals... In fact, even for lower-leveled True Immortals, be it a piece of meat or a single bone, it was a rare treasure.

...

Leaving aside breaking down the corpse of a rank seven bird emperor in the nebula, at the very instant Shang Xia stepped through the spatial gate he created, he was surrounded by boundless light and heat.

Even with his preparations, he could not see for a moment. Just as he spread his divine soul outwards, he felt a searing heat. Extending it farther became daunting, as his consumption soared.

Shang Xia understood it was no illusion, the moment he extended his divine soul, it was truly burning.

But that was not what most concerned him. He split his focus into two.

First, he tracked the location of the spatial gate he had just opened. He could feel that even though he just stepped through it, it was not behind him.

Fortunately, he had anticipated such a possibility. The starlight formed from his inner qi that sealed the spatial gate, and the talisman he left with Yuan Qiuyuan, could both clearly indicate the coordinates of his exit.

Second, he guarded against the figure that had flashed outside the spatial gate and launched a sneak attack earlier.

Although it had seemed nothing had happened and Yuan Qiuyuan had only noticed the incoming radiance flicker, only Shang Xia knew what had truly taken place in that brief instant.

An existence that was at least a high-level Sage had struck at the instant he opened the spatial gate, attempting to burst out through the gateway Shang Xia had created.

Unfortunately, even while maintaining his World Establishing Art, Shang Xia had more than enough strength to resist the sudden strike.

Missing with the first blow and sensing Shang Xia’s strength, the assailant immediately withdrew.

Shang Xia had already intended to step into the Star River to investigate, so he followed in pursuit. It was a shame he was unfamiliar with the Star River and the shifting space impeded his progress. He failed to catch any trace of the mysterious expert.

Even so, he knew the enemy would appear again. Earlier, he had already judged that the other party was eager to escape the Star River through the spatial gate he had left behind.