Chapter 2147: Starlight Yarn

Shang Xia’s Crimson Soul Tablet eventually struck at nothing as the Star Origin Lord moved to save his clone.

Taking a single step forward, Shang Xia appeared in the void outside the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field.

The experts from the Illusory Sea of Stars who had been suppressing Kou Chongxue and the Giant Ape Emperor had already sensed danger the instant the Star Origin Lord acted to rescue his clone. Spinning once, they vanished.

Even though Shang Xia gave chase, he failed to catch the faint trace of their dissipating aura.

Yet, after enduring the complete exposure of the Big Dipper Star Formation, Shang Xia had merely repelled the Star Origin Lord’s assault without gaining any real advantage. How could he possibly be satisfied with that?

With his current strength, he still could not barge into the Six Essence Heavenly Field for revenge. It was even possible that the Star Origin Lord’s retreat had been part of a deliberate trap, a ploy to lure him in. In that case, the Star Origin Lord was probably hoping Shang Xia would take the bait.

So, as Kou Chongxue and the Giant Ape Emperor finally recovered and stood guard in the void around the Heavenly Field, Shang Xia let out a cold snort and hurled the Crimson Soul Tablet into the void.

In the past, even though Shang Xia had wielded the tablet’s true body in the form of a mace several times, he had always gripped it tightly, never once had he thrown it out for a long-range battle.

The first reason was that the Crimson Soul Tablet had not yet been fully restored, he feared further damage to it during combat. The second was that the tablet was one of his deepest secrets. He would not easily cast it away, lest anyone catch a glimpse of its true nature.

But this time was different. The tablet was almost completely restored, and more importantly, Shang Xia had full confidence in his current strength. He was certain that even if the Star Origin Lord personally intervened, he would not be able to seize the Crimson Soul Tablet from his grasp.

With such confidence, what more did Shang Xia have to worry about?

The instant the tablet left his hand, it vanished, then, the next instant, it appeared in the void where the Dipper Star Formation resided.

With the Star Origin Lord’s energy returning to the Six Essence Heavenly Field, no one knew what Shang Xia could achieve with that.

Kou Chongxue, the Giant Ape Emperor, and the newly arrived Mei Jingya all sensed Shang Xia’s actions but could not understand what his plan was.

The next second, the Crimson Soul Tablet started to draw on Shang Xia’s inner qi along with the power of the Dipper Star Formation. Through their combined resonance, it extended deep into the same patch of void where the Star Origin Lord’s fake Fate Star had once been conjured.

That stretch of space peeled away beneath the tablet’s projection like brittle paint flaking from a wall, but was soon swallowed by swirling vortices of starlight. Until finally, a figure desperately fleeing through the void was fully revealed.

Dipper Vortex!

In truth, Shang Xia had long suspected that the Star Origin Lord’s fake Fate Star had been created with the help of those from the Illusory Sea of Stars.

However, during the battle, he had been dealing with the Star Origin Lord’s attack from across the void, while the Dipper Star Formation was on the verge of collapse. He simply had no spare strength to deal with any hidden cultivator from the Illusory Sea of Stars lurking nearby.

That very same Illusory Sea of Stars expert had, under the Star Origin Lord’s protection, concealed himself in the surrounding void, watching leisurely as Shang Xia and the Star Origin Lord dueled across space, while quietly laying some sort of formation or secret art of their own, clearly with ulterior motives.

No one, however, expected the tide of battle to turn so suddenly. Once Shang Xia summoned the Crimson Soul Tablet that the Star Origin Lord had called an Eternity Artifact, the Star Origin Lord had quickly retreated to the Six Essence Heavenly Field under Shang Xia’s suppression, leaving the Illusory Sea of Stars cultivator stranded, unable to seek protection any longer.

Worse still for that cultivator, he did not dare withdraw immediately. He knew that if he stayed perfectly still, he might yet be overlooked, or, by virtue of his innate talent, might evade detection entirely. But if he fled in haste, he would surely expose himself, or worse, be caught by the Stargazers of the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field, who were already monitoring the region of the void.

Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his side. Having failed to gain the upper hand over the Star Origin Lord, Shang Xia immediately realized that there might be an intruder from the Illusory Sea of Stars hidden nearby. He was more than ready to vent his pent-up fury on the unlucky target.

Knowing he had been abandoned by the Star Origin Lord, the Illusory Sea of Stars expert dared not sit and wait for death. The moment his figure was revealed, his aura changed drastically, his domain rapidly expanded, transforming quickly to mirror what was around him. He easily slipped out of the pull of the Dipper Vortex and even began attempting to reverse its flow, manipulating the stellar currents to wrest control of the vortex from Shang Xia.

Too bad for him, he was fighting a monster called Shang Xia. Shang Xia’s inner qi was not something an Illusory Sea of Stars cultivator could comprehend. The false imitation he conjured through illusions was crude and flawed, utterly incapable of contending with Shang Xia’s true path, much less seizing control of the vortex.

Worse still, after his attempt to reverse the vortex failed, all the inner qi he had released was devoured entirely, and even the inner qi contained in his domain began to be forcibly stripped away. His very movement started to slow as though the void itself was binding him.

Realizing how dire the situation was, the expert from the Illusory Sea of Stars no longer dared face Shang Xia head-on. His only remaining thought was to escape.

“This opponent... I can’t match him at all!”

“Star Origin Lord, save me!”

Even though he knew that he had been abandoned, at the brink of death, he still clung to that one desperate hope.

And the Six Essence Heavenly Field truly stirred in response, but the Star Origin Lord’s intervention was not aimed at the one who had called for help. Instead, he moved to rescue the other expert from the Illusory Sea of Stars, the one who had retreated from the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field.

“You...!” The cry of despair was cut short.

The vortex that had enveloped that portion of the void suddenly collapsed inward, and the space itself sank into pitch darkness. Even the faint light of the surrounding stars vanished entirely, as though swallowed by the abyss.

Dipper Annihilation!

The darkness lasted only a few heartbeats. When pinpricks of starlight once again glittered across that void, the Illusory Sea of Stars expert’s aura and figure were gone.

He had not escaped. Rather, he had been completely annihilated, erased by a mace technique powerful enough to destroy the stars themselves!

Only then did Shang Xia turn his attention back toward the Star Origin Lord’s earlier action. He realized that the reason for the Star Origin Lord’s intervention was to rescue the other Illusory Sea of Stars’ expert, the one who had fought Kou Chongxue and the Giant Ape Emperor. The reason he made his move was because Gu Yi appeared suddenly and ambushed the expert from the Illusory Sea of Stars during his retreat, inflicting grievous injury.