Chapter 2234: It’s YOU?!

Shang Xia’s External Avatar did not possess the same powerful divine soul as his true body, nor the same precise control over his inner qi. Thus, when facing the Star Origin Lord’s Starlight Clone, forged from a Sage of the Illusory Sea of Stars who had retained fragments of his former abilities, he inevitably found himself at a disadvantage.

To make matters worse, his Starlight Clone was aided by two others, making Shang Xia’s External Avatar’s situation increasingly perilous.

In past encounters with experts of the Illusory Sea of Stars, Shang Xia had never once fallen victim to their illusory arts. On the contrary, those experts had repeatedly suffered defeats at his hands.

The situation was completely different now. If Shang Xia’s true body had been present, he might feel the eerie sense of karma turning full circle on himself.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Still, even though his External Avatar’s divine soul was weaker, his vast combat experience across countless battles remained intact.

Once he realized that the enemy had exploited his weakness, he swiftly adjusted his tactics, adopting a defensive stance, ignoring every lure and feint. He didn’t bother trying to kill or defeat his enemies. Instead, he only ensured he wouldn’t be defeated.

His calm restraint left his foes frustrated.

Of course, under such conditions, it was equally impossible for him to ever gain the upper hand.

The real question was... How many Starlight Clones did the Star Origin Lord possess?!

Now that he started the advancement process himself, how many of them could he still control with pure perfection?

No one knew his limit, yet everyone understood one thing, the Star Origin Lord’s Starlight Clone had one plan. It was to stop Shang Xia, who was also undergoing the same ascension process.

At that point, Shang Xia’s External Avatar seemed to be his final line of defense.

With him fully entangled in combat and unable to do anything else, the real Shang Xia, deep in the midst of ascension, appeared completely unprotected.

Then, without warning, something happened that no one could have anticipated.

From the depths of the void, an Eternal Golden Boat suddenly burst forth. Behind the rift it left in its wake, a brilliant solar radiance shone across the heavens. Waves of blazing light flooded the region, and beneath that brilliance came the faint, rhythmic sound of tides surging, like the echo of time itself reverberating through the void.

No one could have imagined that at such a crucial moment, a once-in-a-millennium convergence, a Star River Stowaway would appear with an Eternal Golden Boat. Judging from the way the ship emerged, it seemed to have come straight from the Star River itself, forcing its way directly into their Star Region!

That was something utterly impossible in the past. Even before the Ninefold Star Field’s ascension, in any of the former nine Star Fields, no one could have pierced the void from the Star River directly into a Star Field.

Unless, he had first obtained the exact spatial coordinates of a Heavenly Field there, and a powerful being had personally guided him across!

What was even more astonishing was that the Star River Stowaway did not come to seize the opportunity of ascension like the others.

After briefly surveying the surrounding void from his Eternal Golden Boat, he immediately turned his attention toward the region where Shang Xia was advancing, steering it directly toward that point.

It was obvious, his target was Shang Xia himself.

Within the space where Shang Xia was ascending, the void was saturated with vast, condensed origin qi from the Grand Star Field. Around him, layers of starlight and restrictions had formed on their own.

As soon as the Star River Stowaway entered the region, he realized that his Eternal Golden Boat had fallen into something like a quagmire. Its forward motion slowed and the very hull seemed restrained by unseen pressure.

But that did not deter him. After all, he was someone who managed to tear through the barrier around the Star River .

Standing at the bow, the Star River Stowaway raised a conch-shaped horn that had appeared in his hand at some unknown moment. Placing it to his lips, he exhaled and a stream of inner qi was sent into it.

A deep, resonant bellow echoed across the void. Invisible sound waves spread outward from the bow, shattering and scattering the dense origin qi that had nearly solidified around him. The speed of his Eternal Golden Boat immediately increased.

Yet the bellow was not merely to clear the way. Those invisible sound waves also penetrated deeper into the core where the origin qi gathered. The Star River Stowaway’s true aim was to disturb Shang Xia’s soul, to make him fail his ascension, or even fall into cultivation deviation and death.

Shame... He soon realized something was wrong. The origin energy he had just dispersed began to reform on its own, as though imbued with intelligence. It not only restored the restriction and pressure, but also produced counter-waves, rippling back against the sound waves, weakening and even nullifying the interference.

"Origin qi... With sentience?" The Star River Stowaway was taken aback.

He could tell that although the energy had gathered because of Shang Xia’s ascension, it was not being controlled by him. What was happening was the energy acting of its own accord, as though with purpose, protecting Shang Xia at the center of it all.

"Could this be a natural phenomenon tied to the breakthrough to the next level? Or perhaps it’s connected to the ascension of the Grand Star Field itself?"

His thoughts raced, but retreat was no longer possible.

As he blew his horn as many times as he could, he could feel its effectiveness waning. Grimly, he extended his hand and tossed out a golden chalice. The cup tilted in midair, and from it poured a thin stream of water. It was a thread so fine it seemed harmless. Yet wherever it passed, the origin qi and even the void itself parted, creating a clear passage.

That was the water he gathered from the Star River, and for a cup to contain it, it had to be an Eternal Artifact! At the very least, it had to be a treasure capable of forging an Eternal Golden Boat.

But just as the water flowed freely, dissolving everything in its way, a pair of distorted hands suddenly emerged from the emptiness. It grabbed the flowing thread as though gently between his palms.

The Star River Stowaway froze, shock written across his face as he stared into the void before him. "You... It’s you! You’re still alive?!"

The next second, the person who caught the stream in his hands appeared. If Shang Xia was present, he would have recognized Wanggui immediately. He was precisely the man who was rescued from the Star River and later he helped enter the Desolate Forbidden Region.