Chapter 2225: The Strange Aligned Star Region

In the Chaotic Sea of Stars, within the Towering Star Region, when Shang Xia withdrew the Crimson Soul Tablet that had pierced through the void, a torrent of origin qi from the Simple Sea of Stars surged through the channel he had opened.

At the same time, the act of piercing the barrier between Star Fields and the subsequent surge of origin qi was bound to draw the attention of the major Heavenly Fields in the Towering Star Region.

Their interconnected defense formations would surely detect the spatial disturbance, perhaps even faster than the Star Origin Lord’s response back in the Heaven Observation Star Region.

Thus, this time Shang Xia had to open the void passages connecting to other Star Fields even faster than before.

Fortunately, having already gained experience during his previous operation in the Heaven Observation Star Region, the process was far smoother.

Quickly locking onto the resonance of another strand of origin qi within his dantian, he located the Gathered Sea of Stars, and once again drove the Crimson Soul Tablet through the spatial wall dividing the two seas. A second stream of outer-world essence began to pour in.

However, compared to the turbulent influx from the Gathered Sea of Stars, the origin flow from the Gathered Sea of Stars entered at a far steadier pace.

Shang Xia struck several times again in succession, piercing through the spatial barriers of the remaining six Star Fields in different directions throughout the void.

Soon, the origin qi from eight foreign Star Fields, along with the essence of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, began to converge. Guided by Shang Xia’s inner qi, the origin qi rapidly accelerated their fusion.

He then diverted part of his attention to perform his Six Harmony Supporting the Heavens, establishing a temporary space around himself to contain the newly merging origin qi.

Once again, signs of ascension began to appear. Inside his dantian, the materials and spiritual ingredients for the advancement to the Eight Trigram Realm stirred restlessly.

Yet, unlike before, Shang Xia handled everything with calm precision.

Although this new operation resembled his earlier attempt in the Heaven Observation Star Region, it was not a mere repetition. This time, he sought to refine the process, addressing the flaws and irregularities he had observed during the first simulation of his breakthrough.

Even so, the temporary space he had opened expanded rapidly with the fusion of origin qi soon exceeded 100,000 miles in diameter.

By then, the disturbance had already alerted the Sages of the Towering Star Region.

The first two to arrive were high-level Sages and both realized at once what was happening within that rapidly growing pocket of space.

Without hesitation, they struck together to destroy it.

The resulting eruption of fully fused origin qi sent them both reeling through the void. Unlike Dong Jin, they had no Eternal Golden Boats to shield themselves.

By the time they regained their footing and regrouped with several more Sages to investigate the area where Shang Xia had opened the eight void passages, he was long gone. The spatial channels had already collapsed, leaving behind only faint ripples in the surrounding void.

Nevertheless, every expert present could feel it. The fusion of different origin qi across the Towering Star Region had suddenly accelerated. That meant the outer Star Fields’ integration into the Chaotic Sea of Stars had advanced another step.

After departing from the Towering Star Region, Shang Xia traveled to the Original Stars Corner, the Distant Star Region, the Crowned Star Region, the Flood Star Region, the Floating Star Region, and the Aligned Star Region, repeating the same process in each.

His experiences varied from place to place, but in most cases, he managed to pierce the spatial barriers, trigger the fusion of the nine different origin qi, and simulate the ascension to the Eight Trigram Realm before the local Sages could react.

However, as word spread of his movements between Star Regions, the sages of the other Star Regions grew wary. They began tightening surveillance and deploying defenses around their respective regions.

Even with Shang Xia masking his aura and concealing the spatial fluctuations caused by his actions, he soon began to attract attention.

On two occasions, his temporary ascension space barely expanded to 10,000 miles before it was disrupted by local Sages, forcing him to withdraw.

Of course... No one managed to detain him.

During his final operation in the Aligned Star Region, he was detected even earlier, this time not by a local Sage, but by a Star River Stowaway piloting an Eternal Golden Boat, accompanied by two high-level Sages from foreign Star Fields.

To his surprise, none of them attempted to stop him. They simply watched, allowing him to act freely.

Even so, wary of potential traps, Shang Xia evaded them before proceeding to open the void channels and initiate the fusion process. The three never followed.

Throughout the entire episode, not a single local Sage of the Aligned Star Region appeared.

The silence was eerie. Even with his courage and experience, Shang Xia quickly ended his work and chose not to linger to investigate what strange situation might have unfolded there.

By the time he had traversed all eight major Star Regions of the Chaotic Sea of Stars and completed the fusion ritual in each, Shang Xia could tangibly sense the change. The transformation of the Chaotic Sea of Stars was accelerating.

The pace of integration between the eight foreign Star Fields and the Chaotic Sea of Stars had clearly increased. Moreover, the newly fused origin qi, born of all nine Star Fields, was becoming more dominant, its proportion steadily rising among the mixed energies of the void.

After his stroll through the eight Star Regions, Shang Xia confirmed something else as well. The progress of fusion among the eight Star Fields had equalized.

In the past, the process had been uneven, each Star Field merging at its own rate.

Particularly, the Illusory Sea of Stars, which had suffered repeated setbacks at the hands of Shang Xia and the Heaven Observation Star Region’s Sages, even with the Star Origin Lord’s tacit indulgence, had lagged far behind the others.

Now, however, it seemed as though unseen forces were working to balance the pace of integration across all eight Star Fields, while Shang Xia’s efforts merely accelerated what had already been set in motion.

Standing in the void beyond the Heaven Observation Star Region, Shang Xia gazed through the distance and saw a Star Field more distinct and real than ever before. It was being battered and washed forward by a river of blinding light and heat, flowing with the power of space and time itself.

It was slowly pushing into the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

Until, at last, the final, barely perceptible barrier vanished completely.