Chapter 2228: Who’s First?

Within Shang Xia’s dantian, the restlessness of the few spiritual treasures and materials meant for his breakthrough to the Eight Trigram Realm was hardly an issue. With the guidance of his inner qi born from the Big Dipper Star Origin, he easily suppressed them.

However, it also made him realize that as the remaining six Star Fields continued to merge with the Chaotic Sea of Stars, the resonance between his source energy, the advancing materials, and his instinctive pull toward the Eighth Heaven would grow increasingly volatile, perhaps to the point that even he might find it difficult to contain.

It seemed he had to make preparations in advance.

While thinking about that, Shang Xia simultaneously instructed his External Avatar and the Giant Ape Emperor to operate the Yuanfeng Heavenly Field’s grand formation. Together, they adjusted it in real time to adapt to the ever-changing origin energies of the outer cosmos, ensuring that the domain’s world-will would not weaken under the influence of merging Star-Seas, and might even grow stronger alongside the Chaotic Sea of Stars’s ascension.

Though it appeared as though everything was happening in rapid succession, a long time had actually passed.

For instance, Shang Xia’s tour around the eight major Star Regions, piercing through each Star-Sea barrier, had taken nearly two full years, even with the surrounding worlds compressing the Chaotic Sea of Stars’ void.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

After that, he spent nearly another month cutting the Mirage Expanse from the Viewing Heaven Zone and pushing it away.

Then came the Illusory Star Sea’s complete merger, a process marked by three spatial tremors spaced three to five days apart.

By the time the Mo Star Sea became the second world to merge into the Chaotic Sea of Stars, more than another month had gone by.

Now, as Shang Xia and his companions controlled the Yuanfeng Heavenly Field’s array, waiting for the Giant Ape Emperor to familiarize himself with the system, half a year had already passed.

It need not have taken so long, but the Ape Emperor was learning not merely how to command the formation, but how to respond dynamically to fluctuations in origin energy, a task far more complex than simply managing the array’s structure.

During this period, the Feeding Star Sea, adjacent to the Flying Star Region, also shed its spatial barrier and merged fully into the Chaotic Sea of Stars, further propelling its rise.

Meanwhile, Shang Xia deepened his control over the Northern Dipper’s source energy within his dantian, as well as over the various spiritual materials prepared for his ascension.

To quell the agitation inside his dantian was easy enough. He could simply remove one or two spiritual materials for his advancement, or temporarily seal a martial intent, or suppress a strand of Eternity Essence... Any of these methods would suffice.

But that was not what he wanted. He sought instead to observe and learn from the natural surge to assist his breakthrough, arising from the ongoing fusions, to use it to refine his understanding of the true process of ascending to the Eighth Trigram Realm.

Indeed, though his earlier simulations, piercing the spatial barrier around the other Star Fields had offered some insight, they were still only simulations of the real thing. Nothing compared to the living example unfolding, as the Chaotic Sea of Stars itself advanced toward ascension.

Thus, not only could he not seal or suppress his instinct to ascend, he instead had to ride and master it, guiding the process deliberately while ensuring that, should any imbalance occur, he could immediately interrupt the progression without harming his body or destroying the materials required.

It was a test of his discipline, one that would only grow harder as more Star Fields merged and as the Chaotic Sea of Stars climbed higher toward transcendence.

The fourth Star Field to dissolve its barrier and merge completely into the Chaotic Sea of Stars was the Simple Sea of Stars.

By then, it was the 46th year of the Essence Luxuriant Calendar, and Shang Xia unexpectedly received a secret transmission from Huang Yu.

The Star Origin Lord is taking apart continents from other Essence Worlds and siphoning their world origin to repair the damaged Essence Mammoth World, and the Illusory Sea of Stars’ Essence World is about to complete its integration.

When Shang Xia received the message, his first reaction was one of relief. Huang Yu was alive and free enough to send a transmission, meaning he had escaped danger.

But more importantly, the content of the message made one thing instantly clear. The Star Origin Lord was panicking.

That confirmed that Shang Xia’s interference, where he prematurely breached the spatial barrier between the eight Star Fields and accelerated the Chaotic Sea of Stars’ evolution, had completely disrupted the Star Origin Lord’s plans, as well as those of any possible allies.

It also reaffirmed Shang Xia’s earlier suspicion. The Star Origin Lord was scheming to control the process for the fusion, attempting his breakthrough to the Martial Eternity Realm, the second it was done so as to catch everyone by surprise. Otherwise, he would not be so desperate to remodel his Six Essence Heavenly Field to the Seven Essence Heavenly Field at the current moment due to Shang Xia’s interference. It was clear he was racing against time.

Though Shang Xia still could not fully grasp why the Star Origin Lord sought to ascend first, he was certain there had to be some unknown opportunity involved.

Now that they were rivals, whatever the Star Origin Lord urgently desired, Shang Xia’s task was simple, either ruin it or claim it first.

Barging into the Six Essence Heavenly Field again was no longer feasible. After the last encounter, the Star Origin Lord would undoubtedly have fortified every defense.

That meant Shang Xia had only one path left, to start his breakthrough to the Eight Trigram Realm before him.

Since that was the case, then the remaining Star Fields needed to be fused faster!

Leaving his External Avatar to assist the Giant Ape Emperor in guarding the Heavenly Field, Shang Xia once more set out alone. However, this time, he didn’t leave the Heaven Observation Star Region.

Their Star Region had already expanded enormously. The number of Heavenly Fields had exceeded 12, with three to four independent Essence Worlds as well. Even more were reportedly migrating from other Star Regions.

Finding a relatively open stretch of void, Shang Xia raised his Crimson Soul Tablet, transforming it into a mace once again. With practiced ease, he pierced through the void, creating a narrow passage to the Gathered Star Sea, and then proceeded to open channels to three more Star Fields whose spatial barriers had not yet been breached.

As the special spatial ripples spread, surging torrents of origin qi poured through the four channels. Yet compared to the first time Shang Xia had done it, the influx now struck with far less impact, a sign that the Chaotic Sea of Stars and the remaining Star Fields were, in essence, reaching balance in both the scale of fusion and the origin qi that had seeped in.

He also noticed how fragile the spatial barriers had become, it took him little effort to construct all four passages.

So, he decided to widen them further, letting more origin qi flow through. That would naturally hasten the fusion of the last four Star Fields.

Almost as if confirming his calculation, as soon as Shang Xia expanded each of the four channels to two or three times their original size, the void around him quaked in a familiar rhythm.

He immediately understood that the Gathered Sea of Stars’ spatial barrier had dissolved and had fused with the Chaotic Sea of Stars.