Chapter 266: Situation in the Shang Clan

In the Shang Clan Manor in the Tongyou City…

After the search for Shang Xia yielded no results in the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range, Shang Ke rushed back into the Shang Clan Manor. He flew straight through the city and went directly into his courtyard after returning.

The Tongyou City had a rule to forbid anyone from flying within. When Yin Jing was guarding the institution alone, she didn’t hesitate to reveal the divine weapon to protect the city. The might of the weapon alone scared the experts from the other regions into submission.

However, things happened too quickly and the sudden attack on Kou Chongxue caught everyone off guard.

When Ji Wenlong felt the fluctuations in the air earlier, he was the first to soar through the air. The Martial Extermination Realm experts he gathered followed suit, and several streaks of light appeared above the Tongyou City. Even a dumbass would realize that something big happened.

In the Shang Clan Manor, several core members of the clan had already been waiting for quite some time. When they saw Shang Ke rushing back to the manor, they knew that things were extremely serious.

Shang Jian, Shang Xi, Shang Yang, Shang Bei, Shang Dong, Xu Huizhu, and Yan Qi quickly headed over to look for him.

Shang Xi was extremely anxious. She was more familiar with the situation regarding the institution and she was the first to ask, “Fifth Uncle, what happened.”

Hesitating for a moment, he swept his gaze across those present and sighed, “We’ll talk in my courtyard.”

Glancing at each other, they quickly followed behind him.

Noticing the tense air in the manor, the attendants and everyone who wasn’t part of the clan’s core strength chose to avoid Shang Ke’s courtyard.

Yan Qi wanted to leave too, but Shang Ke stopped him. “Yan Qi, come here.”

Without a change in his facial expression, he could only enter the courtyard with the rest. However, he chose the seat closest to the exit.

Shang Jian, Shang Xi, and Shang Yang were members of the same generation as Yan Qi and they weren’t affected by his presence.

The same couldn’t be said for Xu Huizhu and her children. Naturally, Xu Huizhu had the demeanor of a Martial Intent Realm expert. She glanced at Yan Qi once before suppressing her suspicion. Shang Dong and Shang Bei were the only ones who were looking at Yan Qi in confusion.

There was no need to hide Kou Chongxue’s current situation. Everyone in front of Shang Ke was a core member of the Shang Clan, and he quickly broke down the situation for them. They learned that Kou Chongxue was attacked and was currently missing.

After talking about Kou Chongxue, Shang Ke started to mention what they discovered about Shang Xia. When he mentioned that Shang Xia was likely injured and none of the Martial Extermination Realm experts managed to locate him, Shang Xi was unable to sit still. “Fifth Uncle, is Little Xia in danger?!”

Xu Huizhu, who was sitting opposite Shang Xi, revealed a trace of shock before looking downwards. A pensive look appeared on her face.

Shang Ke’s voice sank. “Stay calm. No news is good news right now. Since no one found his corpse, he should still be alive!”

“I’m going to look for him!” Shang Xi yelled.

With his mood already in the dumpster from everything that happened, Shang Ke was trying his best to keep up his dignified appearance as the patriarch of the clan. However, he snapped after hearing Shang Xi. “Where are you going to start looking for him?! Even Martial Extermination Realm experts like us failed to locate him, do you think you can do better?!”

Shang Xi was stuck silly in that instant, and anxiety filled her heart.

Shang Jian’s lips twitched slightly. He wanted to say something, but when he saw Shang Xi’s eyes turning red, he chose to remain silent.

Unlike Shang Jian, Shang Yang quickly spoke up. “Seventh Sister, calm down. Since no one found anything, it’s likely that the kid’s still alive. No matter what, he’s a Martial Intent Realm expert. Moreover, he was attacked by three Martial Intent Realm experts from the Azure Spiritual World. Even so, he managed to kill one and escape. He’s definitely a lot stronger than we think; He might have found some random corner to treat his injuries. The Thousand Leaf Mountain Range is vast. Even a Martial Extermination Realm expert won’t be able to look through the entire place alone.”

Shang Yang’s reassurance was clearly more effective than Shang Ke’s scolding. Shang Xi managed to rein in her wild emotions, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Fifth Uncle, no matter what, I’m going to take a look at the place Little Xia went missing. He… He’s the only remaining bloodline of…”

Grunting softly, Shang Ke chose not to say anything more.

OInly then did Shang Jian speak up. “Seventh Sister, please hear me out. You should calm down a little.”

When Shang Xi finally turned to look at him, Shang Jian glanced at Shang Ke from the corner of his eye before starting his evaluation. “From what Fifth Uncle said, the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World seem to be interested in catching Little Xia alive. We might not know the reason behind their actions, but since he managed to run away, the members of the Azure Spiritual World and those who are working with them might set their sights on other core members of our Shang Clan…”

Even Shang Ke was caught off guard by his deduction. He couldn’t help but stare at Shang Jian, waiting for him to continue.

“If that is truly the case, god knows how many people have their eyes on us now. The moment anyone leaves to look for Little Xia, we’ll be walking right into their trap.” Shang Jian paused for a second and continued, “All of us here are family. I won’t beat about the bush. Even though Seventh Sister has already entered the large completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm, you shouldn’t be stronger than Little Xia, right?”

“Then what are we supposed to do? We can’t possibly do nothing!” Shang Xi yelled.

“I’ll go.” Yan Qi’s voice came from the back of the courtyard. “Patriarch Shang, those with their eyes on our Shang Clan Manor might not be interested in me anyway.”

However, Shang Ke shook his head immediately. “Your inner qi is a dead giveaway. The moment you leave the manor, you won’t even be able to go anywhere in the Tongyou City.”

Who would have thought that Shang Xi would speak up once again. “I’ll go with Seventh Brother! With me around, no one will dare to stop him. Moreover, the two of us will be comparable to a Martial Intent Realm expert at the grand completion stage.”

“Enough! We’ll wait for the dust to settle after the institution successfully moves the Mysterious Coral World to the Tongyou Peak. Before that, everyone is forbidden from leaving the city!” Shang Ke roared.

Even though it was hard to make the decision, Shang Ke knew that he had to do it. He spoke resolutely, and there was no challenging his decision.

Tears flowed down Shang Xi’s face and she cried in anger, “Why? Why can’t we do anything about this?!”

Shang Ke ignored her for the time being and turned to Shang Jian. “Tell your third brother to enter the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range secretly to look for the kid.”

Shang Xi and Shang Yang were shocked by the sudden revelation. However, Shang Jian’s face froze and an awkward expression quickly formed.

“This concerns the fate of our clan. Tell him to deal with this seriously.” Shang Ke continued.

His words caused the faces of everyone present to change once again.

Rising to his feet, Shang Jian muttered, “Alright.”

Shang Yang got to his feet too, and the usual smile on his face faltered. “Father, is it really so serious?”

“No shit!” Shang Ke was naturally more casual when speaking to his own son.

With his face twisting up slightly, he fell back into his chair.

However, Yan Qi brought up something that piqued the interest of the rest. “Patriarch, we can get Yan Ni’er to look for the Sixth Young Master!”

“Hmm?” Shang Ke raised an eyebrow in surprise.

A look of joy blossomed on Shang Xi’s face. “Yeah! Yeah! That’s right! I almost forgot! The Mutated Rain Swallow he brought back from the battlefield between the two worlds seems oddly fond of Little Xia. It’s extremely familiar with his aura too. It’s a good idea to send her out to look for him! Moreover, no one will take note of a little bird.”

A smile slowly formed on Shang Ke’s face too. “That is actually a brilliant idea!”

With the suggestion from Yan Qi, the originally sunken atmosphere in Shang Ke’s courtyard lifted significantly.

Shang Ke eventually arranged for some missions for those present. After all, the migration of the Mysterious Coral World to their Tongyou Peak could be said to be of monumental importance. It not only affected the fate of the Tongyou City, but it also influenced the fate of the You Continent!

That was the big picture the Shang Clan had to take note of. As one of the most prominent families in the city, they had to put in all the effort they could in order to reap the corresponding benefits after the dust settled.

All of a sudden, someone rushed to the entrance of Shang Ke’s courtyard and yelled, “Patriarch, Master Duan Hong has already completed his preparations. He wonders when he can start to refine the graded weapon!”

…

Shang Xia awakened from his nap and when he emerged from his cave, he saw that the world was covered in a layer of white.

Counting the time, Shang Xia recalled that it was close to the end of the eighth month when he returned from the battlefield between the two worlds.

He entered seclusion to attack his bottleneck to enter the Martial Intent Realm after, and he tried to comprehend his Triple Providence Chapter and Providence Spear. After that, he went back to sweep the geniuses of the other institutions away. Next, the incident with Patriarch Kou happened. All of that took less than two months.

Estimating the time, Shang Xia felt that it was probably somewhere in the tenth month. Due to the high altitude in the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range, it wasn’t impossible for it to snow in the tenth month.

Feeling the chilly breeze around him, Shang Xia looked at the mound of snow that was probably two feet thick in front of the cave and sighed. From the amount of snow, Shang Xia knew that he had been in there for some time.

Smacking his forehead, he sighed, “How long was I in there for?!”

Luckily for him, the frost couldn’t really affect him due to his high cultivation level.

Circulating his Origin True Qi, Shang Xia discovered that as long as he wanted to, he could easily heat up the entire cave and maintain it at a comfortable temperature.

By that time, his injuries had fully healed.

Due to the second transformation of his divine sense back at Kou Chongxue’s place and the huge battle that happened right after, Shang Xia gained a lot of inspiration. As such, he wasn’t willing to emerge from seclusion easily. Taking the chance when his ideas were still clear, he chose to return to seclusion.

With his current cultivation level, not eating anything for eight to ten days was nothing.

Moreover, Shang Xia’s Embroidered Cloud Case had a ton of supplies. Using the cave as his temporary cultivation abode, he returned to seclusion.

As he entered the space within his dantian, he discovered that the ball of formless chaos had increased yet again. It was more than twice as large.

What was more shocking was that only a trace of his Yin Yang Essence Qi remained.

Shang Xia once learned that cultivators in the Martial Intent Realm would only complete their transformation of their inner qi when their divine sense transformed for the third time. Even though that was a general guide, it was what most cultivators experienced! They would only be able to complete the conversion when they perfected their martial arts.

Now, Shang Xia had just completed his second divine sense transformation and achieved what others could only do after transforming their divine sense for the third time. His actual fighting strength could also be said to be more terrifying than them!

Regardless, Shang Xia felt that his cultivation in the Martial Intent Realm wasn’t as heaven-defying as his cultivation in the Martial Extremity Realm. Back in the Martial Extremity Realm, he seemed to have experienced a fundamental change that sent him on a different path than those in the Azure Origin World. When he entered the Martial Intent Realm, other than possessing a larger quantity of inner qi and having it be of higher quality than cultivators of the same realm, there was nothing else!

Shang Xia discovered that the Martial Intent Realm only affected one’s willpower and development of divine sense. Moreover, the development was affected by one’s abilities and strength they possessed in the Martial Extremity Realm. Outside factors didn’t really affect the development of one’s divine sense by much.

For example, Shang Xia’s Triple Providence Chapter and Providence Spear didn’t rely on external help. He had to develop the techniques through his own understanding.

Through his insights, Shang Xia even managed to create his fifth move of the Providence Spear Art. As previously mentioned, the Providence Spear Art only contained the dao of the spear. Everyone who cultivated it would have to create their own moves that suited themselves. Those who trained in the Providence Spear Art would probably come up with different techniques.

The only thing Shang Xia found pitiful was that he didn’t possess a spear to practice his fifth move.