Chapter 2183: The Completed Advancement Formula

The strangeness of the Flood Star Region remained vivid in Shang Xia’s memory. To that day, he still did not know how many people had already been secretly replaced by the bizarre existences from the Nightmare Sea of Stars.

He recalled that during his earlier expedition to the Lightning Prison, he had completely destroyed the spatial tunnel there once. It had surely been rebuilt, yet that act must have at least bought the Flood Star Region some precious time.

However, according to Kou Chongxue’s latest reports, the Flood Star Region was in utter chaos. The cleansing of infiltrators from the Nightmare Sea of Stars within the Heavenly Fields had not gone smoothly. In fact, it had nearly spiraled out of control. There were even incidents where Sages, the very rulers of their Heavenly Fields, were ambushed and gravely injured, some even slain.

Only beings of the same level could inflict such damage or death.

Thus, the fact that the Flood Star Region had not yet been fully infiltrated and overtaken by the Nightmare Sea of Stars could already be considered a blessing.

The Floating Star Region had been one of the first places Shang Xia ever visited. He had once helped the Heavenly Fields there repel a massive beast tide and later severed the control that the Taming Sea of Stars’ experts held over it from within the Desolate Forbidden Region.

According to the intelligence Kou Chongxue gathered through the trading hubs, the Floating Star Region’s situation was also grim, yet it somehow managed to remain stable. This was largely due to the comprehensive strengthening of the Desolate Forbidden Region’s formations, as well as a prolonged counteroffensive launched deep into the forbidden region that tied down the Taming Sea of Stars’ forces for quite some time.

It also seemed that internal problems had erupted within the Taming Sea of Stars itself. For a period, many of its experts who had entered the forbidden region through the spatial passage had abruptly withdrawn, drastically reducing the pressure on them.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but think of Wanggui, and he began to suspect that those developments were somehow connected to him.

He remembered that Wanggui had been the cultivator he rescued from the Star River, suppressing the strange mutations within him and restoring his sanity. After that, the man had entered the Desolate Forbidden Region.

Given Shang Xia’s present level of understanding, anyone capable of entering the Star River was at least a high-level Sage.

Yet to survive there, to resist the erosion of the power of space and time, one had to be at the grand completion stage, someone who had comprehended their martial intent.

Wanggui, however, had drifted through the Star River without an Eternal Golden Boat. Shang Xia did not know how long he had wandered there, nor what he had endured, but he was certain of one thing, Wanggui was no ordinary Sage-level existence.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

In Shang Xia’s impression, the Floating Star Region had never been among the strongest of the eight, but now, its circumstances seemed comparatively better than most.

Finally, there was news of the Aligned Star Region.

If the Flood Star Region was dangerous because of the Nightmare Sea of Stars’ terrifying method of possession and substitution, then the situation in the Aligned Star Region was even more unfathomable.

The Aligned Star Region was quiet. It was unnaturally quiet. Nothing had happened at all.

And that, Shang Xia thought, was the most disturbing thing of all.

Even now, he still felt a chill remembering his journey to the Pagoda Forest there.

Compared to that experience, even the Nightmare Sea of Stars’ method of possession seemed almost mundane.

At least he could understand the Nightmare Sea of Stars’ tricks. But what he had encountered in the Pagoda Forest, he could not begin to comprehend. Even then, he had no idea what the Aligned Star Region and the connected Shine Star World were truly plotting.

“Everyone has their schemes,” Shang Xia murmured to himself, “But in the end, none of the eight Star Regions’ Heavenly Fields genuinely wish to drive away the invasions. The best they hope for is to delay the inevitable.”

He paused, eyes narrowing. “Perhaps the Heavenly Fields with millennia of unbroken lineage have already reached an unspoken understanding. Perhaps they never truly resisted the Sea of Stars' intrusion at all.”

“Maybe, just as Sage Star Thief once said, the merging of the eight Star Fields with the Chaotic Sea of Stars is already irreversible. And those who know the truth, the ancient Heavenly Fields, the Star Origin Lord, the Star River Stowaways, are all making their final preparations for the great fusion.”

His gaze turned toward the direction of the Six Essence Heavenly Field. “That crafty old man is definitely doing something too.”

Just then, Shang Xia felt a sudden tremor in his mind. His divine soul sank inward, and he quickly realized that the final hairline crack on the Crimson Soul Tablet had completely vanished.

At last... That meant that the tablet was fully restored!

Shang Xia’s heart trembled. Although he had expected the moment to come, he didn’t expect the result to greatly surpass his expectations.

For now, he set aside his speculation and focused his attention on the inscriptions forming across the Monument’s surface:

Advancement Medicine: Eight Trigrams Immortal Golden Pill

Prerequisite: Grand Completion Stage of the Seven Star Realm

Main Medicine: Eternity Artifact

Secondary Medicine: 7 strands of Eternity Essence from the Star River

Auxiliary Medium: Starlight Curtain (9.9 x 3.3 feet)

Required Medium: Origin qi from different Star Fields

Remarks: Martial Intent suitable for current cultivation realm. Soul at the grand completion stage. Ascension together with a Star Field.

Compatibility: 90%

Success Rate: 90%

The newly revealed inscription had finally defined the once-incomplete Secondary Medicine.

He might not have any idea what it was, but the requirement of seven strands caught his attention. It hinted at something deeper, something that stirred faint understanding within him.

Aside from that change, there was now a new line in the notes as well. Not only did it complete the requirements for advancing into the next level, but it also confirmed a suspicion that had been forming in his mind.

“Ascension of the Star Field...” He whispered. “So that’s what this is all leading toward.”

“Is this what the Star River Stowaways, the ancient Heavenly Fields, and even the Star Origin Lord himself have been quietly working toward? To merge all eight Star Fields into the eight Star Regions of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, forming a Super Star Field to be used as the foundation for breaking through to the Eighth Order?”

A soft sigh filled with emotions left Shang Xia’s lips. “If there’s nothing wrong with the Crimson Soul Tablet’s deduction... Even I have to wait for all eight of them to be fully merged before seizing my own chance to ascend.”

He realized that the very thing that he had been preventing was the key to his own advancement.