Chapter 2243: Freedom?

From the very moment Shang Xia had stepped into the Seven Essence Heavenly Field, the clash between him and the Star Origin Lord had already begun.

Even though the two had continued to exchange words during that time, occasionally even sharing hidden secrets, their domains were colliding the entire while. Their souls clashed unseen, as their essence fought to assimilate one another. Their martial ideologies constantly opposed each other in ways both subtle and profound.

As their probing escalated, each side gradually reached their limits, forcing them to reveal their hidden trump cards. By then, both Shang Xia and the Star Origin Lord clearly understood. The moment that would decide victory and defeat had arrived.

It was then that the Star Origin Lord’s Essence World Clones, and Starlight Clones he had sent to hinder Shang Xia’s ascension earlier, returned.

Compared to Shang Xia, who, after reaching the Eight Trigram Realm, could move freely through the void, both types of clones, whose cultivation remained at the Martial Emptiness Realm, returned far later. In fact, they arrived only at the critical moment when victory or defeat between the two was about to be decided.

Even so, their return should have been a source of strength for the Star Origin Lord. The return of the Essence World Clones would have allowed him to channel even more of the power of the Essence Worlds, while his Starlight Clones would have bolstered his divine soul.

At the very least, the Star Origin Lord believed as much.

Yet before he could even draw upon their strength, Shang Xia, who seemed to have anticipated their return, acted first. The instant they appeared, the power of creation that was contained in his Eight Trigram Eternity Qi surged, spilling across the battlefield and directly touching the souls of those Essence World Clones and Starlight Clones.

A long-dormant force within them awakened. A fragment of divine soul that had been suppressed for centuries suddenly came alive.

The clones, empowered by the power of the Heavenly Field and closing in from all directions to encircle Shang Xia, abruptly froze in place. They hung motionless in the void, like soulless corpses.

The next second, of the Essence World Clones, two immediately self-destructed, their bodies collapsing into nothingness. The others, however, seemed to undergo a complete transformation.

No, more precisely, they had regained their true selves.

Long ago, when the Star Origin Lord sought to take over the Essence Ping World’s Will and replace it with his soul, he had spent centuries doing so. By the time Shang Xia and others uncovered his scheme, a remnant of the Essence Ping World’s Will still lingered. Only through the combined efforts of the Spirit Abundance World’s experts did the remaining portion merge into the foundation of their Spirit World, allowing the Star Origin Lord to finally complete the replacement.

That event had also served as the catalyst for the Spirit Abundance World’s ascension into the Essence Abundance World.

Next, the Star Origin Lord began to annex one world after another, expanding what would later become his Seven Essence Heavenly Field.

However, it had taken him hundreds of years just to replace the Essence Ping World’s Will. To do the same for the remaining six worlds, even with greater power and experience, should still have required at least 1,000 to 2,000 years.

Yet the merging of the nine Star Fields was already imminent. The Star Origin Lord no longer had such time to spare.

In the end, he had to cut corners. He forcibly suppressed and replaced the souls of the native Sages from each Essence World with his own, turning them into Essence World Clones that could gradually assume control over their World’s Will.

Since his Essence World Clones had originally been natives of their respective worlds, their command over the World’s Will would arouse far less resistance. That, in turn, laid the groundwork for the Star Origin Lord to fully assimilate the Worlds’ Will later.

Moreover, in order to minimize the resistance, the Star Origin Lord had to retain part of their original consciousness. He couldn’t fully erase their minds. Instead, he kept a sliver of their self-awareness intact.

Of course, that condition applied only to his Essence World Clones. His Starlight Clones didn’t need individuality and were exempt from such restraint.

His method left potential dangers behind, but the Star Origin Lord believed that once he advanced to the Martial Eternity Realm, his divine soul would transform entirely, rendering those risks meaningless. Even without the help of the Essence World Clones, he could complete the assimilation of all remaining worlds with unprecedented speed.

The Star Origin Lord was fully aware of the flaws in this method and had even prepared contingencies. He was ready, if necessary, to destroy those Essence World Clones.

What he had never accounted for was that the power of creation contained within Shang Xia’s Eight Trigram Golden Core to awaken the sleeping souls within his Essence World Clones, reviving their true consciousness completely.

Under ordinary circumstances, the Star Origin Lord could have easily suppressed them again with his vastly superior soul. However, most of his attention was locked in combat with Shang Xia.

Meanwhile, the awakened souls, protected by the power of creation of another existence at the Eighth Order, were immune to the contingencies the Star Origin Lord left in their bodies. They even began to reverse the suppression.

As a result, several powerful high-level Sage Starlight Clones stopped moving entirely without the Star Origin Lord’s soul controlling them.

As for the remaining Essence World Clones that regained control of their bodies, turned as one and struck back at the Star Origin Lord.

Although they were only low-level Sages, some barely at the first star, their sudden revolt still sent shockwaves through the Heavenly Field. The Star Origin Lord had deliberately suppressed their strength to prevent their souls from ever regaining independence, so their attacks could not truly harm him. It was especially so since he entered the Martial Eternity Realm.

But that did not matter. Those Essence World Clones were native Sages of their respective worlds, each capable of commanding a portion of their World’s Will.

Their combat ability was greatly magnified beyond what their cultivation alone suggested, especially in the Seven Essence Heavenly Field.

Even so, their strength was not enough to decide the outcome of the battle between Shang Xia and the Star Origin Lord.

Fortunately, what truly mattered was where the Star Origin Lord’s existence was rooted. His foundation as a Martial Eternity Realm powerhouse rested entirely upon the Seven Essence Heavenly Field, on the Essence Worlds that made up the Heavenly Field!

Of the seven, five of them were disrupted and the control over their Worlds’ Will was affected, and that proved to be most dangerous for the Star Origin Lord!