Chapter 2173: Retreat

The power of space and time that had invaded the Eternal Golden Boat was soon expelled by Sage Star Thief. However, the damage left behind by Shang Xia’s Four Constellation Samsara Blade could not be erased so easily.

Though from both the surface and the core it seemed as though the Eternal Golden Boat had suffered little harm, the strike had nonetheless left Sage Star Thief utterly shaken.

Shang Xia had truly refined and mastered the power of space and time.

This was something Sage Star Thief himself had failed to accomplish after more than 200 years of drifting through the Star River on his boat. Yet now, a young cultivator who appeared barely 100 years old had done what he could not.

How could Sage Star Thief bear the humiliation?

And what of those other starry vagabonds, wandering the lonely currents of the Star River, clinging to their Eternal Golden Boats as they sought the faintest chance of ascending to the Eighth Order... How could they bear it?

Shock gave way to disappointment and melancholy, and soon enough, that too was replaced by raging envy and greed.

Why him?

If before, Sage Star Thief had still planned to use his centuries of experience and the strength of his Eternal Golden Boat to capture Shang Xia alive, perhaps to interrogate him about the location of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, and maybe even spare his life should he cooperate. All those plans were gone.

Now, he intended only to force Shang Xia to reveal his method of refining and controlling the power of space and time, even if it meant devouring him alive to claim it for himself.

In that state of mind, he ignored the damage to his Eternal Golden Boat and whatever hidden dangers it might hold. Drawing once more upon the vessel’s power to suppress Shang Xia, a long staff appeared in his hand. He pointed it sharply in Shang Xia’s direction.

It was the martial intent Sage Star Thief had comprehended to reach the grand completion stage of the Martial Emptiness Realm, the Soul Suppression Spirit Staff. It was the secret art that had once let him run rampant across the Star Sea Worlds before entering the Star River, and the same art that had protected him through two centuries of drifting without mishap.

The moment the staff appeared, Shang Xia felt his soul sink into a quagmire. It was as though a heavy gloom had draped over him.

His inner qi began to circulate sluggishly and his domain shrank.

The essence of the Star River, which had barely been merging with his inner qi, immediately tore away. His life force began to fade, and fatigue washed over him as if even his lifespan was being shaved away.

His vitality drained, and his appearance grew older.

The inner qi within him reacted instinctively, and his soul never stopped resisting. In his mind, his soul condensed into an invisible spear!

At that moment, the full power of his perfected soul will burst forth. Even while suppressed by the opponent’s martial intent, he could still manifest his martial intent, the Killing Divine Spear!

The gloom clouding Shang Xia’s eyes was suddenly pierced by radiant light. The invisible spear shot forth, piercing straight through the haze that suppressed his consciousness.

Clang!

A metallic resonance rang through the void, audible only in the minds of those present. Both Shang Xia and Sage Star Thief on the Eternal Golden Boat jerked their heads backward at the same time, each staggering a few steps back.

However, compared to Sage Star Thief, a trace of blood seeped from Shang Xia’s nose, making it appear as though he had suffered the worst of the exchange.

Even so, considering Sage Star Thief had held the advantage and struck first, it was already an impressive feat that Shang Xia could shatter his most powerful martial intent.

In truth, Sage Star Thief himself found it unbelievable. But his shock only fueled a deeper, fiercer killing intent.

“This person cannot be allowed to live! He will be the deadliest threat...”

He stepped forward again, slapping his palm heavily against the rail of his vessel. The Eternal Golden Boat seemed to awaken like an ancient imperial beast from its slumber. Amid the groaning of its body and the thunder of its sails, Sage Star Thief, just as Shang Xia had done earlier, successfully merged with and commanded the essence of the Star River. He burst forth with even greater power.

When Shang Xia finally shook off the last vestiges of the martial intent’s suppression, a roaring torrent came crashing down toward him like a tidal wave.

He could no longer dodge. Bracing himself, he prepared to withstand the impact.

But earlier, during the clash, he had already lost part of his vitality. The youthful appearance of his early twenties faded rapidly, replaced by a more mature countenance that looked to be around his thirties. In that short span, 50 or 60 years of life had been cut away.

If the next strike hit him, he might lose another 100 or 80 years...

At the critical moment, his eyes caught the blazing star hovering deep within the river.

Without a thought to spare, he reached out and grasped a mace condensed entirely from his inner qi. He pointed it at the surging tide.

At that instant, Shang Xia unleashed his Seven Star Realm’s martial intent, the Star Shifting Constellation Transformation.

For the briefest moment, he felt the cosmos shifting around him. The star nearest to him in the Star River seemed to move ever so slightly.

Yet he had no time to dwell on it. The rushing torrent demanded his full attention.

As the Seven Star Mace he condensed disintegrated in his grasp, the roaring tides suddenly recoiled, reversing as if the scene were playing backward, until all was calm again.

Yet the attack Sage Star Thief had unleashed while one with the Eternal Golden Boat had commanded a scale of power far beyond what Shang Xia could normally withstand.

He only managed to neutralize it because his martial intent had reversed the flow of Sage Star Thief’s strike, at the cost of more of his own lifespan.

Silver strands of hair appeared silently at Shang Xia’s temples, and his face grew more mature still, resembling that of a man just entering his middle ages.

But this sacrifice was not merely to dispel the attack, it was to seize the initiative.

As the tide of the Star River subsided, Sage Star Thief, momentarily stunned by the broken rhythm of his assault, had no time to react. Shang Xia’s inner qi gathered once more, forming a blade of starlight that crashed down upon the hull of the Eternal Golden Boat.

The light shattered upon contact, but the sword qi of his Seven Laceration Sword slipped through the cracks that his Four Constellation Samsara Blade had opened earlier, deepening their damage.

Earlier, though Sage Star Thief had expelled the power of space and time that infiltrated the Eternal Golden Boat, he had not yet repaired the structural breaches, giving Shang Xia the opportunity to strike again.

If the Four Constellation Samsara Blade had weakened the structure through temporal erosion, then his Seven Laceration Sword dealt tangible, physical destruction.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The former could be cleansed, but the latter proved stubbornly resistant. Sage Star Thief found that purging it would only worsen the damage to the ship itself.

“What kind of twisted martial intents has this man cultivated?!”

Sage Star Thief’s heart bled even as he cursed inwardly.

The direct consequence of such damage was clear. The Eternal Golden Boat’s ability to slow time within the Star River had diminished.

Where once the Eternal Golden Boat could slow the flow of time tenfold, it was reduced to ninefold, or perhaps even less.

Just as he grew flustered and prepared to strike back, a sudden anomaly from deep within the Star River drew his attention away completely, so much so that he forgot about his enemy.

Nor was he the only one. Shang Xia himself stood frozen, equally stunned by what he saw.

Yet in Shang Xia’s rapidly shifting gaze, there was not only shock. Something far more complex flickered behind his eyes.

Deep in the Star River, the nearest star, the same one that had responded when he unleashed Star Shifting Constellation Transformation, was erupting in a brilliant arc of light, a blazing flare that crashed directly into the river’s depths.

It was like watching a volcano erupt beneath the sea, its turbulence rippling outward through the cosmic current. The disturbance had not yet reached Shang Xia or the Eternal Golden Boat, but it was clear what devastation was soon to follow.

In such a situation, the only sensible course for both combatants was to flee, not continue fighting.

The fastest escape was to retreat into the Chaotic Sea of Stars. Sage Star Thief even hoped that Shang Xia would crumble under the pressure and retreat first, then he could follow right behind.

But Shang Xia had already seen through his ploy.

Even as the star-born tsunami of flames approached, he stood calmly, retreating only far enough to maintain a safe distance between them.

Now it became a contest of patience and nerve, to see who would endure longer as the cosmic wave bore down on both of them.

Yet such a contest was never fair.

Shang Xia could withdraw to the Chaotic Sea of Stars at any moment. Sage Star Thief and his massive Eternal Golden Boat could not.

He needed to follow Shang Xia to enter safely, but the ship’s vast size would slow it down, and if Shang Xia returned first, he could ambush him mid-crossing.

Understanding their situation, Sage Star Thief knew he had lost this round. With the cosmic eruption drawing ever closer, he could delay no longer. He cast one final look at Shang Xia, then drove his Eternal Golden Boat forward, speeding away in the opposite direction of the coming disaster.

When the Eternal Golden Boat finally vanished from sight, Shang Xia turned toward the oncoming wave.

Calmly, he took a single step backward. A dark gate opened behind him, and in the next instant, it swallowed him whole.