Chapter 2202: Don’t!

Shang Xia detected something wrong and immediately transformed into a streak of starlight that flew to the void passage.

Inside, the aura of an Eternal Golden Boat suddenly grew heavy. The first time he sensed it, he felt as though the vessel was directly in front of him.

Yet Shang Xia’s gaze seemed to have already seen through what lay deeper within the passage. He continued forward until a vessel, whose size was no greater than a medium Star Ship, yet radiated an aura of an Eternal Golden Boat, blocked his path.

A cold snort immediately left his lips. “Hmph, as expected!”

But instead of showing concern at being obstructed, Shang Xia actually appeared more curious.

He extended his hand and grasped at the air. The vessel twisted and crumpled. A massive sail was peeled out from the void and caught in his hand. Beyond it, the void passage lay open and unobstructed with no Eternal Golden Boat in sight.

“With their ability to create illusions, combined with a Starlight Curtain that can serve as an Eternal Golden Boat’s sail, it’s no wonder even I was almost fooled.”

Shang Xia stored the intact Starlight Curtain away. Gazing at the clear yet profound passage leading toward the Illusory Sea of Stars, his thoughts grew tangled. “That secret art of illusions must be the work of someone at the grand completion stage of the Martial Emptiness Realm of the Illusory Sea of Stars. And a complete Starlight Curtain is no easy treasure to obtain. They spent such effort and cost to create this deception. Naturally, it was to let the Star River Stowaway and the Eternal Golden Boat return quietly through this passage. But why?”

The more Shang Xia learned about the eight Star Fields merging into the Chaotic Sea of Stars, the more he understood how crucial this was to the Star River Stowaways.

Precisely because of that, he couldn’t understand why the Star River Stowaway from the Illusory Sea of Stars would choose to withdraw so quietly now.

Could anything be more important than waiting for the chance to ascend to the Martial Eternity Realm?

If anything, it could only be gaining the ability to control the ascension opportunity.

But... Could that person really pull it off?

He remembered that this Star River Stowaway from the Illusory Sea of Stars had suffered a huge setback at his hands before. The void passage had been half-destroyed, delaying the Illusory Sea of Stars’ progression in merging with the Chaotic Sea of Stars. Now they lagged behind the other seven Star Fields.

Shang Xia’s thoughts suddenly froze. If the fusion of the Illusory Sea of Stars was delayed, then it would become the final piece in the puzzle. Wouldn’t that mean the moment the Illusory Sea of Stars fully merged... The ascension opportunity would arrive?

That had been the chance Shang Xia was waiting for as well.

If someone could control the timing of the fusion, wouldn’t that also mean they knew when the time to ascend was?

Once he made the connection, Shang Xia moved without hesitation, following the void passage toward the Illusory Sea of Stars.

He intended to enter the Illusory Sea of Stars and investigate.

But soon after he delved deeper into the passage, he sensed dense origin qi flowing, and it flowed from the Illusory Sea of Stars toward the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

Not only that, but the void around him was beginning to twist.

Ordinarily, it would not be surprising. No void passage between two Star Fields could remain perfectly stable.

But what shocked him was that as he traveled deeper, he faintly felt as though he were still within the Star River.

The sensation was extremely weak, but he truly sensed traces of distortion of space and time within the passage.

He murmured to himself, “

Hmm...

This feels more like the power of the Illusory Sea of Stars transferring into the Chaotic Sea of Stars...”

In an instant, countless guesses rose in his mind, some even capable of explaining the Chaotic Sea of Stars’ recent changes.

But these discoveries, though important, were not the most urgent issue.

What mattered was that the deeper he went, the closer he grew to the Illusory Sea of Stars. As an expert of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, the suppression he suffered increased.

Also, the commotion caused by his journey through the passage was no small matter. There was no doubt about it. The experts of the Illusory Sea of Stars had sensed him long ago and were forming a trap. Once he emerged, he would certainly face a combined ambush from several Sages.

Well, the first problem didn’t trouble him much. As he traveled, his inner qi was undergoing a transformation. Capturing the essence of the origin qi from the Illusory Sea of Stars that had been integrated into the Crimson Soul Tablet, the sense of suppression quickly faded away.

The Illusory Sea of Stars could not fully reject or suppress his power.

Indeed, once Shang Xia transformed his inner qi to possess the properties of the origin qi from the Illusory Sea of Stars, he quickly regained more of his strength.

Meanwhile, in the void on the other side, the two mid-level Sages who had escaped earlier were still shaken. They described everything that had happened to several other companions while jointly preparing an ambush for Shang Xia’s expected arrival.

“That man was overwhelmingly strong. Brother Zuo is a high-level Sage but he was gravely injured in a single blow. Are the few of us enough to stop him?!”

But before he finished, another seventh star Sage cut him off. “Do not weaken your own morale. Brother Zuo is only a sixth star Sage. He just advanced to become a high-level Sage and was still somewhat suppressed in the Chaotic Sea of Stars. He could not exert his full strength. Meanwhile, Shang Xia from the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field is already at the grand completion stage. Being caught off guard and heavily injured is not surprising.”

The mid-level Sage was about to argue back, but the one who had fled earlier signaled him to stop.

Another high-level Sage saw the awkwardness and broke the silence with a laugh. “Sage Yao’s words are not without reason. We have already sent word out, but the Sages of other Heavenly Fields will need time to arrive. For now, however, we have seven Sages here with three high-level Sages and four mid-level Sages. To deal with a single Sage at the grand completion stage, even two, should be possible.”

“Even if Shang Xia is too strong for us to defeat, delaying him until the others arrive will not be hard, right?”

His reasoning calmed even the two who had fled earlier as they nodded unconsciously.

At this moment, the strange noises from the void passage grew louder. The origin qi and spatial turbulence caused by Shang Xia’s advance distorted the space near the entrance as wrinkles, folds, and the backflow of origin qi came bursting out from within.

The phenomenon even disrupted the traps set up by the Illusory Sea of Stars’ experts, forcing them to retreat slightly and widening the encirclement.

The next second, noises within the passage ceased. The distortions at the entrance slowly dissipated. Even the aura of a Sage who wasn’t from the Illusory Sea of Stars grew faint.

A deep frown formed on the face of the seventh star Sage. “What’s going on? Did he go back?”

The other high-level Sage who had spoken earlier replied, “No idea. But it’s possible he has a method to avoid the suppression of our Star Field...”

The third high-level Sage added, “No. He must have been intimidated. The closer he came, the more severely his strength would be suppressed. And he should know we are waiting here in ambush. No matter what, he must realize coming through the passage means walking straight into a trap.”

As he spoke, he prepared to push forward. “Anyway, the distortions at the entrance are clearing. Let’s tighten the encirclement and check what happened...”

“Don’t!”

“Do not act rashly!”

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Two voices interrupted him, one from the other high-level Sage beside him, and another from Sage Yao, who had just returned through the passage.

Their warning made the expert who was just about to move freeze.

In that same instant, without a sound or ripple, another figure drifted out of the void passage like a ghost, appearing directly behind the startled high-level Sage of the Illusory Sea of Stars expert and lunging toward him.