Chapter 2121: Guesses About The Starlight Curtain

After Shang Xia’s External Avatar had been elevated to its current state, it had become increasingly difficult for him to improve any further.

It was not only that the spiritual materials required to enhance a Seven Star Realm External Avatar were unimaginably rare, even if he was lucky enough to find one or two suitable ones, they would have little effect. He would need to experiment and test dozens of different high-grade materials before possibly discovering a viable method of enhancement.

Even with the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field’s current scale and its vast network of channels, finding and gathering so many rare items was nearly impossible.

Under such circumstances, when Shang Xia accidentally discovered that the Talisman Seed he had been nurturing could be used to restore and strengthen his External Avatar, thus increasing his combat strength, he did not hesitate to sacrifice the chance to obtain a second martial intent. Instead, he gave it to his External Avatar.

Apart from wanting to maintain the absolute purity of the Big Dipper Star Origin in his dantian, there was another important reason. The situation in the Chaotic Sea of Stars was growing ever more turbulent, with too many things demanding his attention. Shang Xia increasingly felt stretched too thin.

By improving the power of his incarnation, he could respond far more flexibly to the increasingly complex state of affairs.

After the two of them had discussed the matter of the Six Essence Heavenly Field and the Star Origin Lord for a while, Kou Chongxue asked about Shang Xia’s preparations to enter the next level.

When they had met earlier, Shang Xia had already told him most of what he had experienced, especially Mei Jingya’s guess concerning the Star Core and the other mysterious treasure known as the Starlight Curtain.

The Starlight Curtain, which he was hearing for the first time, was exactly what he wished to ask about.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"I suspect..." Shang Xia mumbled, "That the Starlight Curtain Shan Lao and the Star Origin Lord had spoken about should be what he used previously to hide the Heaven Observation Field back then, the Star Curtain. From Mei Jingya’s account of their exchange, it seems that the Starlight Curtain had never been completed. Back then, the Star Curtain that protected our Heaven Observation Field was full of flaws, which we exploited to communicate with the outside world. I even believe that the barrier was not only incomplete but imperfect, still inferior to what the true Starlight Curtain should be."

He expressed his thoughts, hoping to hear Kou Chongxue’s opinion.

The reason Shang Xia reached the conclusion was that there was no response from the Crimson Soul Tablet when the Starlight Curtain was first mentioned.

According to his understanding, for it to reveal explicit information, it either had to go through a series of deductions, or Shang Xia had to come into contact with the treasure some time before.

If his suspicion was correct and the Starlight Curtain was actually the Star Curtain, he should have already interacted with it several times when he was passing through back then.

Unless, of course, the so-called Star Curtain wasn’t the true Starlight Curtain.

Hearing Shang Xia’s explanation, Kou Chongxue nodded slightly. "Then how different do you think the Starlight Curtain is from the Star Curtain? I recall something about ‘weaving’ the Starlight Curtain... Have you found any clues on that?”

Shang Xia thought for a moment before he replied, "Perhaps I’ll need to start from the Star Origin Talisman...”

"Star-Source Talisman?" Kou Chongxue murmured as he thought out loud, "You mean the Star Origin Lord’s old Star Origin Robe?"

Shang Xia nodded. "I suspect the Star Origin Lord himself never succeeded in recreating the Starlight Curtain. The Star Curtain, the Star Origin robe, and even the Star Origin Talisman may have been his experiments, his attempts to reproduce it."

Kou Chongxue continued, "From the information you brought back from the Flood Star Region, the Star Origin Lord believed that Shan Lao, or rather, the Essence Shen Heavenly Field, either possessed or once possessed part of the Starlight Curtain. Though Shan Lao denied it, perhaps it truly still exists. Moreover, one of the experts from the Gathered Sea of Stars interrupted to mention weaving the Starlight Curtain... If that’s true, perhaps that person knows the secret technique for making it. You might need to investigate both leads."

"Hmm..." Shang Xia mused. "There may be another way. We can ask him directly."

Kou Chongxue hesitated and a frown appeared on his face. "You mean..."

"Cooperation." Shang Xia spoke simply.

The arrival of the world fragment of the Essence Mu World in our Heaven Observation Star Region caused enormous ripples, not only in the Flood Star Region and our Heaven Observation Star Region, but throughout the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

However, for the Sages Heaven Observation Star Region’s various Heavenly Fields, once the matter was settled and the Essence Mu World’s establishment became a fact, they no longer paid it open attention, at least, not on the surface.

Behind the scenes, though, their Heavenly Fields moved. Reserves of resources and materials had their distribution thresholds lowered, and the number of high-level experts was surging explosively.

At the same time, cultivators infiltrating from the Illusory Sea of Stars were appearing with increasing frequency and in ever-greater numbers.

Even with their increased rate of incursion, the grand formation at the Void Mirage that had been improved by Chu Jia, showed no signs of damage. Together with the periodic inspections by other Sages, nothing seemed amiss. That led many to suspect that the Illusory Sea of Stars might possess another route of entry into the Heaven Observation Star Region.

Where that passage lay, however, remained a complete mystery.

In truth, both Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia, as well as the other Sages, were already privately certain that some experts had begun secret dealings with the Illusory Sea of Stars, possibly even constructing a hidden channel to it within their Heavenly Field. Too bad for them, no one had proof.

And of all suspects, none seemed more suspicious than the Star Origin Lord and his Six Essence Heavenly Field.

Not a single Sage dared to enter the Six Essence Heavenly Field. The spies planted there by other Heavenly Fields reported no evidence of any passage to Foreign Star Fields, and Youshang’s reports were the same.

It was under those circumstances that Shang Xia met the Star Origin Lord, outside his Six Essence Heavenly Field.

More precisely, he met one of the Star Origin Lord’s clones

.

"Starlight Curtain?"

The clone raised a brow in faint surprise, then smiled. "I hadn’t expected you to ask me so directly. If I’m not mistaken, you must have heard that name in the Flood Star Region?"

"That’s right." Shang Xia admitted instantly. "The Star Core and the Starlight Curtain... Your conversation back then with Shan Lao and the expert from the Gathered Sea of Stars wasn’t exactly private. Someone overheard pieces of it."

The Star Origin Lord’s clone chuckled. "I suppose it wasn’t mere fragments. The Void Spiritual Tree that makes up the Essence Mu World makes it a unique existence. The Sage of the Essence Mu World has the ability to share some of that plant’s peculiar abilities. I should have guessed."

While marveling at how well-informed the Star Origin Lord was about the secrets of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, Shang Xia pressed on and got straight to the point. "Alright... So what is the Starlight Curtain? And how does one weave starlight?”