Chapter 2229: Begin

With the dissolution of the Gathered Sea of Stars’s spatial barrier, the remaining three Star Fields seemed to have been pressed by an unseen acceleration. Within less than half a year, all three completed their fusion into the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

By then, the Chaotic Sea of Stars and the eight Star Fields united into a single entity.

The process of ascension for the Chaotic Sea of Stars advanced yet another step, but it was still far from completion.

The reason was simple. Though their space had merged, the origin qi of the Star Fields had not yet fully fused, and each Star Field still retained its distinct qualities.

To begin with, the newly formed fusion origin qi had first appeared within the Chaotic Sea of Stars itself. It was only natural, as the other Star Fields were all channeling their origin qi into the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

However, those other Star Fields failed to interact with the origin qi of the rest. Now that the spatial barriers had fallen, the new origin qi, which had gathered only within the Chaotic Sea of Stars, was beginning to flow into the newly merged Star Fields. As a result, over the past two years, the concentration of the new, unified origin qi had not only failed to rise. It occasionally even dropped sharply whenever a new Star Field completed its fusion.

Another factor was the will of each Heavenly Field and Essence World. They would take a long time to adapt and harmonize with the new origin qi.

That was true not only for the eight newly merged Star Fields, but even for the Heavenly Fields that had originally belonged to the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

Fortunately, the latter had faced the transformation earlier and were better prepared for the long-term fluctuations to come.

Among them, the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field was regarded as the most adept at adaptation and adjustment.

By the 48th year of the Essence Luxuriant Calendar, after a period of upheaval, the origin qi in the void finally began to stabilize. The concentration of the newly fused essence surpassed 70 percent, and its rate of growth continued to climb rapidly.

That indicated that the Chaotic Sea of Stars’ ascension was accelerating, and its full metamorphosis was drawing near.

However... Shang Xia still felt that it was too slow.

In recent days, perhaps because the Star Origin Lord had to focus his attention on hastening the completion of his Seven Essence Heavenly Field, his control over the internal state of his Heavenly Field had weakened considerably.

As a result, Youshang, who had long been hiding in his Heavenly Field, was able to send secret transmissions more frequently. Through him, Shang Xia learned much about the situation inside, particularly regarding the progress of the Seven Essence Heavenly Field’s construction.

From the latest intelligence, it appeared that the Star Origin Lord, even at the cost of draining other Essence Worlds, had not only repaired the damaged Essence Mammoth World, but was also gradually assimilating the World’s Will of the newly added Essence World from the Illusory Sea of Stars. The transformation from of the Six Essence Heavenly Field to the Seven Essence Heavenly Field should be completed at any moment.

Shang Xia understood that compared to the Star Origin Lord, his only real advantage lay in the fact that he had already completed all preparations for his ascension to the Eight Trigram Realm. The Star Origin Lord, on the other hand, could not make his attempt until his Seven Essence Heavenly Field was fully assimilated by his soul.

But since all eight Star Fields had merged into the Chaotic Sea of Stars... What method remained to further accelerate its evolution?

Returning to the stretch of void where he had once pierced the barriers between the eight Star Fields, Shang Xia felt the thick yet still impure essence swirling around him. After a brief hesitation, he slowly drew his Crimson Soul Tablet again.

The eight channels he had opened long ago had closed again, but due to the recent merging of the Star Fields, the surrounding space remained extremely fragile.

At that point, if Shang Xia wished, he could easily reopen all eight void passages.

Lifting his gaze toward the depths of the void, his sight pierced through layers of distortion and starlight until he glimpsed the faint radiance of the Dipper Star Formation.

"Still... I’ll need to rely on the power of the Dipper Star Formation once again."

With a quiet sigh, he hurled the tablet forward.

As it flew, the mace transformed back into its original form, expanding until it resembled the colossal tablet that existed in his sea of consciousness.

At that very instant, the radiance of the Dipper Star Formation converged into a massive beam of light that pierced the void and descended, enveloping the tablet so completely that nothing within could be seen.

Freed from his restraint and guided by his will, the Crimson Soul Tablet began to absorb the surrounding origin qi.

Its inherent power to draw in essence was immense. Now that it was fully repaired and deliberately empowered by Shang Xia, that ability reached its peak.

As the origin qi within a few miles was rapidly drained, the energy from further regions rushed in to fill the void.

But the tablet was like a bottomless abyss. No matter how much flowed in, it devoured everything.

Soon, the energy within a 100 mile radius was depleted faster than it could replenish, forcing origin qi from even greater distances to stream toward the center, forming a faint yet growing vortex of origin qi.

Still, under Shang Xia’s control, the Crimson Soul Tablet’s suction had not reached its limit.

The vortex expanded again. 1,000 miles... 3,000 miles, 5,000 miles... 9,000 miles... 10,000 miles...

By then, the colossal whirlpool surrounding the tablet could already be seen with the naked eye.

But it was still not enough.

The vortex grew larger still.

20,000, 50,000, 80,000... Eventually, it spanned 100,000 miles, twisting the very fabric of space around it.

The phenomenon was so vast that it drew the attention of countless Sages within the Heaven Observation Star Region.

Many sent their clones to investigate what was happening.

The moment they arrived, Shang Xia sensed their presence. However, it wasn’t yet time to care about them. As he focused on the Crimson Soul Tablet, the absorption soon reached its limit.

Knowing the moment had come, he rose into the air and stepped onto the giant Crimson Soul Table.

Far across the void, the Sages who were watching quickly recognized his aura. When they realized the person responsible for the disturbance was Shang Xia, none dared to approach. A few even withdrew slightly to show they bore no hostility, but none left. They simply watched from afar.

By then, Shang Xia’s reputation had spread not only across the Heaven Observation Star Region, but throughout the entire Chaotic Sea of Stars. Even those of other Star Fields knew of him!

More accurately, it was not fame, but infamy.

When he had traveled through the eight Star Regions, opening passages to each Star Field, things had not gone smoothly.

The Sages of those Star Regions, as well as experts from other Star Fields, had attempted to stop him, and every one of them got their asses beat.

His fearsome name had been forged through those very battles.

Thus, upon recognizing him, every observer wisely chose to keep their distance.

Then, they saw Shang Xia, standing atop the radiant stele bathed in starlight, extend his hand.

He struck the void eight times in succession, each blow tearing open a passage above the massive vortex, reconnecting once more to the eight Star Fields that had merged into the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

As they wondered what he planned to do, they saw the starlit vortex surge anew. From the stele’s towering beam of light, eight purified streams of origin qi burst forth, flowing into the eight void passages, each directed toward the now-unified remnants of the former eight Star Fields.