Chapter 2162: WHO DIS?

“This... This is actually a Beast Warrior?” Gazing through the spatial rift into the turbulent chaos beyond, Shang Xia murmured in mild astonishment.

He had originally thought that his opponent was a rank seven beast emperor. Yet when he pursued the creature to the edge of the rift and sensed its aura during its desperate attempt to escape by severing its claw, he realized with surprise that the essence of its life force was identical to that of Beast Warriors he had encountered before.

“I just don’t know how much sanity it still retains...” Shang Xia muttered to himself. “Was that attack based on its instinct, or did it do it on purpose?”

Shang Xia did not linger before the torn rift. Retrieving the Seven Star Mace that had stabilized the rift, he turned and continued deeper along his original path.

Moments after his departure, the rift collapsed in upon itself. Torrents of spatial turbulence erupted, consuming the entire region in violent chaos.

Aside from the Star River, Shang Xia hadn’t found a rank seven Beast Warrior.

From his conversation with Wanggui, the rank seven Beast Warrior he had once rescued from the Star River, he had learned that the creation of Beast Warriors had served two purposes. Prolonging life and achieving ascension to the Eighth Order.

The beings behind this endeavor, without question, were powerful Sages.

However, those cultivators would never use such bestial modifications upon themselves, unless forced into absolute desperation.

Even in cases like Wanggui’s, where he was compelled to undergo the transformation, the transformed cultivator would typically enter the Star River immediately afterward, striving to reach the Eighth Order before their mind and soul were completely corrupted or annihilated.

Thus, according to Wanggui, there should have been no rank seven Beast Warriors within the Chaotic Sea of Stars, or deeper still, in the starry expanse beyond it that wasn’t the Star River.

And yet, what Shang Xia had just witnessed had completely overturned that assumption.

He could not say what it truly meant, but the encounter had left him with a profoundly uneasy feeling.

Shaking his head, he forced the thought aside. His immediate goal was still to locate the Star River as quickly as possible.

However, the number of things he could rely on was dwindling rapidly.

Holding the Seven Star Mace in his hand, he wondered whether it was still worth repairing.

That weapon, which had followed him since his ascension to the Seven Star Realm, had already been greatly weathered during his great battle with the Star Origin Lord. Later, with the help of high-level blacksmiths in the institution’s Artifact Hall, he had barely managed to mend it, but it had never returned to its peak state.

During his confrontations in the Essence World Ruins against the experts of the Crowned Star Region and the Simple Sea of Stars, Shang Xia had realized that his mace could no longer withstand his full power.

His recent clash with the suspected Beast Warrior had confirmed it completely. Though he unleashed his Six Harmony Supporting the Heavens, the strain had nearly torn it apart when he pinned the claw within the rift. He had been forced to expend vast amounts of inner qi just to keep it stable.

“Forget it. Better put it away for now.” He sighed softly and stored the Seven Star Mace within his sleeve.

It wasn’t that it could no longer be repaired, only that repairing it held little meaning for his current self.

The weapon simply could no longer keep up with his growing strength.

After that brief interruption with the Beast Warrior, dangers continued to lurk along his journey, erupting without warning in the chaotic void. Yet Shang Xia’s cultivation had reached such heights that, even caught off guard, he could still avoid serious injuries.

Pressing further through the swirling, distorted emptiness, eventually, time and direction both seemed to blur into obscurity.

He did not know how long had passed when, after forcing his way through a nebular belt that suppressed his divine soul, he suddenly perceived an immense, invisible wall ahead. It was dark and twisted to the extreme, and deeper than the abyss.

He knew at once that he had reached the very edge of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, beyond which lay the Star River itself.

Though it was likely not the same location as before, he could sense what lay beyond. It was a vast torrent of blazing light, countless suns forming an endless celestial river whose radiance could bend both space and time.

Even before seeing it, the inner qi within his dantian began to boil, and his Big Dipper Star Origin pulsed as though drawn by a kindred force.

He understood why. It was because his seventh martial intent, the Star Shifting Constellation Transformation, had been comprehended and perfected within the Star River itself.

In fact, during that process, he had absorbed a trace of the Star River’s essence into the ability’s foundation, granting it faint powers over space and time, and aligning his inner qi with the Star River’s nature.

Though that was the case, the void currently surrounding him contained no trace of origin qi. It would be impossible to restore his inner qi unless he entered the Star River for real.

Drawing on the essence of his Dipper Star Formation was also out of the question.

He had ventured far beyond the Chaotic Sea of Stars. It was too far for the essence of the Dipper Star Formation to reach him.

Still, Shang Xia did not seem particularly concerned. Once he opened the passage to the Star River, he could harness the boundless origin qi within to restore his reserves, though that would not be without risk.

After a brief moment to steady his breathing, he raised both hands and pressed gently against the invisible wall before him.

This time, however, he did not use brute force to tear through the barrier. Instead, starlight began to seep softly from his palms.

Strangely enough, the light did not gather or flare, it melded into the surrounding void and vanished.

Unlike his previous, forceful attempt, the gentler approach gradually eroded the abyssal wall before him. Yet what emerged beyond was not the blinding radiance of countless suns of the Star River, but rather a barrier woven from his own inner qi.

Through the luminous filter, the fierce brilliance, heat, and temporal distortions of the Star River were disrupted by more than half, ensuring that his side of the void would not be torn apart by the might of the Star River.

More importantly, the barrier also concealed his presence.

With it in place, the opening would not draw the attention of any mysterious entities dwelling within the Star River, nor repeat the catastrophic complications of his last visit.