Chapter 2098: True Goal

“These words have been bottled up in your heart for a long time, haven’t they?” Shang Xia had been listening carefully to Chu Jia, and only when she finally finished did the smile appear on his face.

Chu Jia shot him a glance and frowned. “Besides me, who else would dare to say these things to you?”

Shang Xia pondered briefly before he explained, “Actually, I haven’t been delaying my cultivation much because of this...”

Chu Jia sighed lightly, “When you say that, it makes everyone feel like their efforts don’t matter. They think they owe you too much, yet can’t repay it. That guilt makes them uncomfortable, and in time, some may not even want to be close to you.”

The smile faded from Shang Xia’s face, and a thoughtful look soon replaced it. But soon, his gaze shifted, and he grunted softly. His eyes lit up as he turned toward the direction of the Azure Ark. A gleam of spiritual light flickered faintly in his pupils.

Seeing this, Chu Jia immediately sensed something was wrong. “What happened?”

“These experts from the Illusory Sea of Stars are indeed formidable. They’ve managed to evade my divine soul and sneak this close!” With that, Shang Xia stepped forward. Starlight seemed to spread beneath his feet, and then he vanished, leaving only his voice echoing in Chu Jia’s ears. “Be careful!”

“Hey...!” Chu Jia stretched out her hand, but before she could say more, a sharp explosion boomed from outside the grand formation that formed the seal of the Void Mirage. Fragments scattered everywhere.

“The Ark!”

Chu Jia’s expression changed, and she was about to rush over when her body froze. In that instant, countless piercing gazes fell on her from the cracks in the sealing formation, stabbing like needles into her body, even disrupting the flow of her inner qi.

“No... Their real target might be me!” Her thoughts raced. With no time to draw on the formation beneath her, she immediately activated a talisman from her sleeve. In a flash, radiant clouds surged, forming a fortress to shield her.

But before it could take shape, an invisible strike smashed into it, nearly scattering the cloud fortress entirely.

Still, the Myriad Tinted Cloud Talisman barely protected her. The talisman was almost destroyed, but it bought Chu Jia precious time.

She drew on part of the grand formation’s power, creating an invisible barrier around her.

At the same time, using the formation’s influence over the void, she locked onto the approximate location of her attacker.

The assailant, realizing she had tracked him down, turned to flee beyond the formation’s reach after his failed strike.

Chu Jia could still have used the formation to block his escape. But as she was about to, she suddenly thought of something and quickly withdrew most of the power she had summoned. Instead, she hurled out another rank seven talisman. Golden light burst forth like a solar prominence sweeping across the void.

That was a rank seven Golden Sun Talisman, crafted by Shang Xia himself!

After activating it, Chu Jia no longer cared about the result. She focused entirely on the grand formation beneath her.

For after the attack, not only had the hidden gazes returned to the cracks, but the leaking origin qi had accelerated, even stirring some subtle change in the formation itself.

That was why she abandoned chasing the enemy, sacrificing another rank seven talisman to drive the enemy back while devoting herself to the formation’s potential mutation.

As for the chance that the attacker might return after escaping from the effects of the talisman, Chu Jia didn’t worry.

If Shang Xia couldn’t repel the enemy and come back in time, then what kind of Sage at the grand completion stage was he?

Sure enough, her Golden Sun Talisman struck the assailant.

Yet his cultivation and strength shocked her. Despite his injuries, he charged back through the blazing stellar fire, intent on killing her.

At the critical moment, his strike was suddenly deflected by an unknown force.

The next second, the dim void plunged into absolute darkness. The stars themselves seemed to snuff out.

When the gloom lifted, Chu Jia still stood where she was, examining the grand formation. Not far behind her, a corpse drifted silently in the void. It looked like it was merely asleep, but it would never wake up again.

That was the sixth form of his Seven Star Mace Technique, Dipper Annihilation!

At the same time, Chu Jia realized the gazes from the cracks had vanished. Her inner qi, once sluggish, now flowed freely again.

Footsteps echoed in the void.

She looked up at Shang Xia approaching and mocked without mercy, “You were lured away, weren’t you?”

Shang Xia chuckled helplessly, “The experts of the Illusory Sea of Stars hide their auras so well that they managed to prevent me from detecting them even at such close range. This is the first time I’ve seen it.”

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Chu Jia frowned. “What about the Ark? If our supplies are badly damaged, we may have to return early.”

Shang Xia waved his hand. “No need. The hull is damaged, but the supplies are intact.”

“Did you catch the invader?” Chu Jia asked again.

Shang Xia shook his head. “The man was cunning... He’s also a mid-level Sage. Though I wounded him, he escaped.”

Chu Jia gasped in shock. “The person who ambushed me earlier was also a mid-level Sage. So... There are already two of them here?”

Shang Xia’s expression turned grave. “If only two mid-level Sages have shown themselves, that means more infiltrators from the Illusory Sea of Stars are hiding. They are definitely stronger ones, too.”

“Should we notify the Sages of the other Heavenly Fields?” Chu Jia couldn’t help but ask.

“Of course!” Shang Xia grunted. “Two mid-level Sages... And a few more hidden ones... If they launch a surprise attack, they can easily destroy a Heavenly Field!”