Chapter 2156: The Truth

The Essence World Ruins within the Crowned Star Region were, in some ways, remarkably similar to the Nebula Forbidden Region of the Distant Star Region.

However, there were also many fundamental differences between the two. The Essence World Ruins had come into existence only after an entire Essence World collapsed, gradually turning into a forbidden region due to the infiltration of the Simple Sea of Stars. The Nebula Forbidden Region, on the other hand, was formed when a foreign Star Field attempted to forcibly open a tunnel into the Chaotic Sea of Stars, and the Distant Star Region collectively pushed the Essence Wilderness Heavenly Field to seal it off.

The former, the fallen Essence World, had no surviving inhabitants. The latter, however, still had many remnants of the Essence Wilderness Heavenly Field scattered across the other parts of the Distant Star Region, and Sage Jin, the former Sage of the Essence Wilderness World, was still alive.

Another major difference was that the former’s World's Will had long since perished, while the latter still retained remnants of it.

Yet, for reasons unknown, the Crowned Star Region and the Simple Sea of Stars had chosen to reconstruct the World's Will within the Essence World Ruins.

From the few small World Origin Sources Shang Xia had encountered, he could already tell that this reconstruction process had achieved slight success. The newly formed World’s Will seemed to be growing in the direction they intended.

Of course, once Shang Xia extracted the Simple Sea of Stars’ origin qi from those World Origin Sources, the growth immediately halted.

Perhaps encouraged by their progress with smaller floating islands, the two collaborating factions had decided to expand their experiment on a much larger floating landmass, nearly the size of an entire continent and clearly pieced together from different fragments. There, they even created a bigger World Origin Source to nurture a stronger World's Will.

To ensure the stability of the World Origin Source, they even built a Dao Field on it to guard and guide the reconstruction of the World's Will.

They continuously infused the World Origin Source with immense streams of origin qi, both from the Crowned Star Region’s various Heavenly Fields and from the Simple Sea of Stars, to maintain its fusion and transformation.

Too bad for them, chaos erupted within the Dao Field that had long operated in steady order. The cause was the sudden violent upheaval of the World Origin Source below.

The Dao Field, which had served both to stabilize the fusion of origin qi and to suppress the World Origin Source, abruptly lost most of its ability to do so. The rioting World Origin Source burst forth like a volcanic eruption within, killing and injuring numerous True Immortals. As for those below the Martial Void Realm, hardly any survived at all.

Yet the disaster did not end there. The rampaging origin qi inside the Dao Field continued to tear apart the very structure of its internal space, collapsing vast sections of it and forcing the remaining experts stationed within to flee for their lives.

The turmoil of the World Origin Source soon spread outward, reaching the defensive formations surrounding the Dao Field. Having lost the stabilizing flow of origin qi, those formations rapidly weakened.

That was the exact moment Shang Xia slipped through the formations and infiltrated the Dao Field.

He could already hear panicked yells around him. “Who... Who still has a way to contact the Sages? Hurry! Report that the World Origin Source beneath the Essence Chang Floating Continent has gone berserk! The Interworld Dao Field can’t hold it much longer!”

Another voice cried out, “There has always been a Sage stationed here! Where is Sage Zhao Lan?”

Someone quickly responded, “Sage Zhao Lan just received a message not long ago, he went to join the others in surrounding a Sage who had intruded from another Star Region!”

Another person cried out in frustration, “We’ve already sent out emergency transmission talismans! But with the spatial disorder and constant rifts in the Essence World Ruins, who knows if the messages will even reach the Sages in time?”

“...”

Outside the Dao Field, those who had survived completely lost their composure, shouting over one another in confusion, exchanging fragmented information, unaware that every word had been heard by Shang Xia.

At that moment, he overheard a secret voice transmission. “Brother Lin, something’s not right.”

“What is it, Brother Zeng? What did you find out?”

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“Not long after Sage Zhao Lan left, Sage Yuan Ling arrived in great haste. Without alerting many people, he entered the Dao Field.”

“How is that possible? Sage Yuan Ling is a high-level Sage! If he were inside, the World Origin Source couldn’t possibly go out of control. Brother Zeng, don’t say things like that carelessly!”

“It’s true. He really came. Though he avoided everyone, he didn’t hide his presence completely. I wasn’t the only one who saw him enter, the others must have seen it too.”

“

Hiss...

If a high-level Sage entered the Dao Field and the World Origin Source still went wild, there’s only one explanation...”

“It was caused by Sage Yuan Ling himself!”

“Brother Zeng, you had best pretend you never said that, and you better not know anything about it.”

“Brother Lin, you’re right. But either way, we shouldn’t stay here any longer.”

“Yes... The Essence World Ruins may be full of dangers, but right now, nowhere is more dangerous than this place!”

At the entry to the Dao Field, Shang Xia froze mid-step, halting just as he was about to slip inside. Turning his gaze, he caught sight of two streaks of light flashing across the sky, both carrying the aura of True Immortals as they tore the outer formations and fled rapidly from the floating continent below.

“Sage Yuan Ling... What a coincidence.”

Retracting his foot from the entrance, Shang Xia extended his divine soul around the sanctuary, piercing into the void to locate the World Origin Source beneath the floating continent.

There, the vast ocean of world origin churned violently, and the condensed world origin seemed to boil as it roared like a storm-tossed sea.

The Dao Field built upon it swayed like a fragile leaf at the crest of a tsunami, trembling erratically within Shang Xia’s perception, as though it might be flung away and smashed to pieces at any moment.

But Shang Xia’s attention was not on the sea or the Dao Field. It was fixed immediately upon a familiar figure suspended above the turbulent waves.

Sage Yuan Ling. He had really come!

What shocked Shang Xia even more was that the aura surrounding Yuan Ling was surging with extraordinary intensity. His cultivation was no longer that of a sixth star Sage that Shang Xia had seen before. It had already reached the seventh star, and was nearly at its peak.

Yuan Ling was using the fluctuations of the World Origin Source and the reconstructed World’s Will to force open the final path, to comprehend and awaken his martial intent!