Chapter 2196: Stfu.

Shang Xia had fought one against four, and because he struck first, the outcome was decisive. One stowaway died, one was heavily injured, and among the four Eternal Golden Boats, one had been destroyed, and two were damaged.

But matters were not finished. Although Sage Star Thief had burned through his lifespan to unleash a forbidden technique and escape Shang Xia temporarily, Zhong Heng had never gotten very far. His Eternal Golden Boat had been the first to have its Star-Curtain sail torn apart.

Like Sage Star Thief, Zhong Heng also possessed a forbidden technique that could consume his own lifespan to accelerate his Golden Boat’s escape.

But first, Zhong Heng’s initial situation had been much better than Fang Suo’s or Sage Star Thief’s. He actually had a chance to flee without sacrificing himself. More importantly, stowaways wandered the Star River precisely to escape death and prolong life. How could he willingly shorten his own lifespan unless absolutely necessary?

In that brief hesitation, Sage Star Thief escaped Shang Xia’s control first.

By the time Zhong Heng recognized the danger and tried to use his forbidden technique, it was already too late.

Seeing Sage Star Thief slip through his fingers, Shang Xia’s gaze immediately fell upon Zhong Heng’s Eternal Golden Boat.

Boundless starlight surged from above and within the Star River, spiraling around the long mace in his hand and forming a brilliant pillar of radiance that plunged downward toward Zhong Heng’s vessel.

Zhong Heng roared. His boat suddenly sank three feet, and then a wave of dark-golden light burst upward from the vessel, crashing against the descending star pillar.

The instant the two forces collided, the previously roaring Star River fell silent. Within a radius of a thousand miles centered on the Eternal Golden Boat, the Star River seemed to dip in the void. However, no sound echoed from the impact.

The pillar of starlight vanished instantly, and the dark-golden radiance was extinguished.

Then the sunken Star River rose again, and as it did, Zhong Heng’s Eternal Golden Boat began cracking apart. The splintering sounds grew sharper and denser. No matter how he attempted to stabilize it, the vessel was beyond salvation.

When the situation became irreversible, Zhong Heng spat blood and abandoned the collapsing vessel, transforming into a streak of light that fled in the direction where Sage Star Thief had escaped.

But having let Sage Star Thief slip away moments ago, how could Shang Xia possibly allow Zhong Heng to escape now?

He reached out and made a grabbing motion in the air. Zhong Heng, who had already fled some distance, felt the world twist around him, and in the blink of an eye he was back on his collapsing Eternal Golden Boat, which was now nearly destroyed.

“You...” As a Sage at the grand completion stage, Zhong Heng instantly recognized what he had just experienced and what Shang Xia’s technique implied.

But Shang Xia had no intention of letting him speak.

His extended palm flipped downward and pressed into the void.

Zhong Heng and the remnants of his Eternal Golden Boat were shoved deep into the Star River, never to surface again.

As Shang Xia dispersed the Dipper Star Formation’s enhancement around him, the Star River, which should have remained turbulent after such massive battles, calmed with remarkable speed. No other stowaways remained nearby. Not a single Eternal Golden Boat could be sensed in the area except the one beneath his feet.

Shang Xia nodded with satisfaction.

The next moment, a spatial gate opened above the Star River. Once it expanded to a size wide enough for the Eternal Golden Boat, Shang Xia steered the vessel into it. One man and one boat vanished, leaving only faint ripples that faded with the closing of the spatial gate.

Turning back toward the pitch-black barrier that was dark enough to swallow anything, Shang Xia could now faintly sense the Star River through it.

That meant the barrier was weakening. Or rather, the Star River and the Chaotic Sea of Stars were drawing closer and closer. One day, the Chaotic Sea of Stars might become like those many Star Fields Shang Xia had seen, connected directly to a tributary of the Star River.

He did not linger in the chaotic border region.

His inner qi could now replenish itself continuously, and he had not spent much despite fighting one against four in the Star River.

Even after leaving the Star River, he could still clearly sense the existence of the Dipper Star Formation. He felt every star within it distinctly and could even perceive portions of the surrounding Star River through it.

The feeling reassured him greatly.

If even the barrier around the Star River blocked his connection, then the chaotic borderlands of the Chaotic Sea of Stars would surely not weaken it much either.

At the same time, he made another discovery. Once outside the Star River, the Eternal Golden Boat created a special temporal field within its interior.

Its function was to slow the passage of time.

However, unlike within the Star River, where an Eternal Golden Boat could slow time to a tenth the rate of a Star Field, the damaged vessel only slowed the loss of vitality by a third.

In practical terms, three days passed in the Chaotic Sea of Stars while only one day passed in Shang Xia’s Eternal Golden Boat.

And that was with the vessel heavily damaged.

If Shang Xia returned to the Essence Luxuriant World and repaired it, the difference in time might reach a fourth. Perhaps even one-fifth!

It was no wonder Star River Stowaways always traveled between worlds on Eternal Golden Boats.

He soon discovered the root of the temporal slowdown. The Eternal Artifact at the core of the boat determined the degree of temporal influence.

And the Eternal Artifact of the boat he was on was not a Star Core, but a pool of warm, shimmering golden liquid.

The moment he saw it, Shang Xia recognized it as the essence of the stars within the Star River, something he had personally invoked many times while using his martial intent.

But those eruptions, under his influence, had already blended with the Star River, making the extracted essence impure and low in quality.

The pool of golden liquid, however, seemed to have been gathered directly from the surface, or even the interior, of a star.

It looked small, but its internal space clearly stored much more, likely enough to fill a small lake if fully released.

The Eternal Golden Boat sped rapidly through the chaotic region. The whole time, Shang Xia maintained a constant connection to his Dipper Star Formation. Even after reentering the Chaotic Sea of Stars, his connection to the system remained clear. When he attempted to draw upon its power, the reduction in strength was noticeable, but it was still far stronger than the completely shattered Dipper Star Formation he once used.

There was no doubt about it. His journey into the Star River had once again greatly increased his combat strength.

Only then did he shift his attention fully back to the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

And the moment he returned, two sensations struck him immediately.

First, he experienced no temporal confusion.

Within the Star River, the strange power of space and time made him unable to discern how much time had passed. During his previous visits, he could never gauge time correctly.

But this time was different, he could clearly tell more than eight months had passed since he entered the Star River. It was the 41st year of the Essence Luxuriant Calendar.

Second, although the Chaotic Sea of Stars’ origin qi had grown even denser, it felt a little too suffocating.

The strange feeling was because the origin qi of the nine Star Fields merging and though subtle for the time being, its appearance meant that their fusion was inevitable. The other eight Star Fields were progressing further toward integration into the Chaotic Sea of Stars.