Chapter 2200: Little Bitch

Shang Xia remembered clearly the first time Kou Chongxue had spoken to him about reaching a bottleneck in his cultivation, a state where he had touched the limits of his innate talent, where he could no longer progress.

He could still picture the shock on his face when he heard it.

In his memory, Kou Chongxue had always been the chosen son of the Essence Luxuriant World. Not only had his personal cultivation and combat power soared continuously, but the Tongyou Institution, founded by his hands, had risen from a struggling minor force on the brink of extinction to a colossal power dominating the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field.

More than once, Shang Xia firmly believed that even without his help or the Crimson Soul Tablet, Kou Chongxue alone would still have led Tongyou Institution to rise and dominate the Heavenly Field.

How could such a prodigy be trapped by talent limitations and stagnate in his cultivation level?

Yet those words came from Kou Chongxue himself, and he would not lie. Shang Xia had kept the matter in mind ever since.

A so-called talent ceiling was not unbreakable. The simplest, most direct method was to further perfect the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field and borrow the World’s Will to push Kou Chongxue’s cultivation through, allowing him to become a high-level Sage.

Of course, doing so would deepen the bond between Kou Chongxue’s soul and the Essence Luxuriant World’s Will, making it nearly impossible for him to stand independently as Shang Xia did, unbound by external forces.

But both understood the step was unavoidable.

"Then what are your plans next?" Seeing that Kou Chongxue was unsurprised by his suggestion and clearly had his own preparations, Shang Xia asked.

Kou Chongxue smiled. "Youshang has been spying on the Six Essence Heavenly Field for far too long. It’s time to bring him back."

Shang Xia nodded thoughtfully. Although he knew he could not take part in the operation, nor could even his External Avatar be sent out, he still asked, "Do you need me to do anything?"

Kou Chongxue chuckled. "Of course, you will remain here to restrain the Star Origin Lord and monitor the Illusory Sea of Stars."

Shang Xia nodded, but warned, "Be careful of any schemes they may be using..."

After returning to the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field, Shang Xia completely abandoned his former low-profile habit of burying himself in closed-door cultivation. Instead, he frequently met with various local factions, held public martial conferences and even gave talisman lectures outside his residence. He attracted high-level cultivators from across the Heavenly Field, and even from the surrounding Heavenly Fields of the Heaven Observation Star Region. It became one of the largest gatherings since news of foreign Star Fields invading the Chaotic Sea of Stars had spread.

Even after the event ended, Shang Xia did not rest. He toured the auxiliary Spirit Worlds, reorganized forces to strengthen the Heavenly Field’s structure, and summoned elites above the Martial Dipper Realm to voluntarily infuse their souls into the various worlds, promoting the merger of foreign origin qi into their World Origin Source.

Naturally, that further intensified conflicts with the conservative factions. The merging process caused unavoidable turbulence. Some cultivators suffered damage to their dantian or soul, some had their cultivation forever stagnating. Others were crippled or dead.

But under Shang Xia’s overwhelming suppression, the opposition never made meaningful waves. Even the outside forces backing some of them chose not to poke the tiger.

Shang Xia ignored them all. There was no need to uproot every infiltrator. New ones would always come. What mattered was ensuring that assimilating foreign origin qi became the dominant trend.

After consolidating the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field, Shang Xia turned his attention to the Heaven Observation Star Region.

He first visited Sage Ya’s Essence Mu World. They had recovered significantly, but they were still far from their former peak. Thankfully, they were nearly restored to the threshold of a proper Essence World.

He then visited experts such as Zhuo Gudao and Sage Jin of the Essence Hong Heavenly Field, Gu Yi of the Essence Ming Heavenly Field, Lord Kun of the Essence Yuan Heavenly Field, and Hong Jing of the Essence Xia Heavenly Field.

His continuous movements drew the attention of nearly every major faction across the Star Region. Nearly two years passed in this flurry of activity, bringing the time to the 43rd year of the Essence Luxuriant Calendar.

And still he did not stop.

This time, he headed straight to the former location of the Essence Jing Heavenly Field, the same place where the Illusory Sea of Stars had opened its second void passage into the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

When they fell, Shang Xia had personally crushed that void passage.

But in truth, only the half connecting to the Chaotic Sea of Stars had collapsed. The half anchored in the Illusory Sea of Stars was still maintained by the Star River Stowaways and Eternal Golden Boats.

After Shang Xia departed for the Star River, the Illusory Sea of Stars naturally rebuilt the collapsed half, shifting its location and guarding it with formations and experts. But because the surrounding void had been heavily damaged during the previous battle, the new passage was unstable and difficult to traverse.

Moreover, after Shang Xia left for the Star River, the remaining Sages of the Heaven Observation Star Region barely had enough strength to defend themselves, let alone prevent the infiltration of the Illusory Sea of Stars. The Star Origin Lord’s ambiguous attitude further emboldened the invaders.

Only because the original Illusory Sea of Stars passage, hidden beneath the Void Mirage, remained sealed and was later watched by Shang Xia’s External Avatar did their infiltration remain limited.

Thus, the Illusory Sea of Stars' penetration of the Heaven Observation Star Region progressed the slowest among the eight invading Star Fields.

When Shang Xia arrived, he hid nothing. The Illusory Sea of Stars' Sages lurking nearby detected him immediately, and, upon confirming his identity, sent the news back in panic.