Chapter 2238: How The Turn Tables

The Ninefold Star Field, formed through the fusion and transformation of nine individual Star Fields, was not only capable of sustaining nine experts of the Eighth Order, but had also directly shattered the barrier of the Ninth Order.

That singular qualification, unsurprisingly, would most favor the Star Region that once remained as the core of the Chaotic Sea of Stars, those who existed in the Heaven Observation Star Region.

The Star Origin Lord, through unknown means, had clearly learned the secret long before anyone else and had spent 1,000 years preparing for that opportunity.

However, the sudden emergence of Shang Xia, an unforeseen variable possessing advantages not inferior to his own, inevitably provoked the Star Origin Lord’s fear and hatred. That was why the Star Origin Lord had always tried to suppress him through every possible means.

Unfortunately for him, despite all his schemes, Shang Xia ultimately stepped into the Eighth Order first, and from the blessing of the Grand Star Field, unearthed this hidden truth.

Yet the moment the truth revealed itself to Shang Xia, the Crimson Soul Tablet, which had quietly returned to his sea of consciousness, suddenly began to stir again, a disturbance so subtle that he barely noticed it initially.

Once Shang Xia’s new realm stabilized and his dantian’s absorption of origin qi slowed, the tablet’s absorption began to increase instead.

He thought little of it at first. During his breakthrough, the reserves of origin qi in his Crimson Soul Tablet had been nearly exhausted. Naturally, it needed to replenish itself.

But as the tablet drew in energy faster and faster, its hunger seeming without end, Shang Xia finally began to sense something unusual.

Still, he assumed that since the tablet had nearly run dry, and the energy it drew came from the fully transformed Ninefold Star Field, it might simply be using this to reforge or strengthen itself further.

Thus, instead of restraining it, Shang Xia allowed the tablet to continue devouring origin qi freely.

He did not expect that, in a shockingly short span, the Crimson Soul Tablet would drain the surrounding void completely, leaving a vast vacuum spanning thousands of miles before origin qi from other regions could even begin to replenish it.

Yet Shang Xia had no time to worry about the void around him, for at that very moment, the tablet’s surface began to change once more. After absorbing enough origin qi, ancient script-like markings started surfacing on one of its faces, though only one of them. The other sides remained blank, as though they required prolonged deduction and gestation before they could reveal more.

Naturally, the process demanded that the tablet continue absorbing enormous amounts of the Ninefold Star Field’s origin qi.

When Shang Xia focused his divine soul on the newly revealed inscriptions, expecting to see a rank eight martial intent, what he found instead stunned him, it was a rank nine advancement formula!

Throughout his life, the Crimson Soul Tablet had always evolved in step with his cultivation realm.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

After advancing into the Eight Trigram Realm, it should not have shown the secrets of the next level until he reached the grand completion stage, at which point it would first reveal his martial intent, and only after mastering that would it proceed to show his advancement formula.

But this time, the pattern was broken.

The Crimson Soul Tablet had skipped his martial intent entirely, beginning its deduction immediately upon his entry into the Eight Trigram Realm, and directly revealing the formula for the ninth!

Advancement Medicine: Nine Palace Undying True Spirit Dao Fruit

Prerequisite: Great Completion Stage of the Eight Trigram Realm, Transformation of the Nine Palaces In The Ninefold Grand Star Field

Main Medicine: -

Secondary Medicine: Eternity Spirit Of Each Palace

...

As always, the words inscribed on the tablet were terse yet profound.

Though it contained only a few lines, the implications were enormous, and what they revealed about the path to the Nine Palace Realm was daunting beyond measure.

First, the name of the advancement medicine itself confirmed that the Ninth Order would be known as the Nine Palace Realm. Just as the advancement to the Eight Trigram Realm had been the Immortal Golden Pill creating a golden core within his dantian, so too would the Nine Palace Realm’s hallmark be the formation of the Undying True Spirit Dao Fruit within one’s body.

However, it was the second prerequisite that shocked Shang Xia.

Transformation of the Nine Palaces in the Ninefold Grand Star Field.

As he probed the tablet with his soul, the meaning was quickly revealed.

It required him to reshape the Ninefold Star Field into nine interlinked Star Palaces, with each corresponding to the location of a Star Field.

Next came the main medicine, and the tablet offered no deduction. That was unsurprising, the main medicine of such an advancement formula would naturally be the most vital and the hardest to deduce.

As for the secondary medicine... The Eternity Spirit of each Palace was clearly connected to the prerequisite of the transformation of the Grand Star Field.

Shang Xia could only speculate vaguely that those Eternity Spirits might relate to the sentient origin qi he had encountered during his advancement. The exact nature, however, would remain unknown until the Ninefold Star Field had completed its transformation once again into the Nine Palaces.

The content displayed on the tablet was still far from a complete formula. It might take a very long time before the full advancement formula could be derived.

As for why the tablet had begun its deduction so early, Shang Xia boldly suspected that it was due to the Ninefold Star Field’s blessing upon his ascension.

Whatever the cause, one thing was now certain, it was time to end everything.

Having grasped the secret that there could be only one expert at the Ninth Order, Shang Xia resolved to eliminate his potential rivals, just as the Star Origin Lord had once tried to do to him.

Besides, he had long been the thorn in the Star Origin Lord’s side. It was just that now... The tables have turned! The moment Shang Xia stepped into the Eight Trigram Realm, the roles of the hunter and the prey had reversed.