Chapter 327: Spirit Cave!

The spear tore through the air and broke past the protection barrier causing a huge weakness to form. Several members took the chance to break through the southern city gates after a huge portion of the guards were disabled by the explosion.

.

When Qin Yuyuan and the others rushed over to the southern gate, Youshang entered the city without anyone noticing as he made his way over to the City Lord Manor.

…

In the underground cavern that contained the river, Shang Xia was advancing, albeit a little slowly.

Even though he was expending a lot of inner qi, he refused to stop.

Luckily for him, he already completed his third divine sense transformation and received a huge boost to the amount of Origin True Qi he could contain in his dantian. That was the reason he could sustain for so long.

Then again, using his inner qi to resist the current was a good way to temper it. It was a rare chance to train himself.

Due to his rapid increase in strength, the amount of Origin True Qi in his body increased at a frightening pace. Sometimes, he wouldn’t be able to fully consolidate his foundations before improving again, causing some hidden risks in his cultivation. Under the constant erosion and recovery of his inner qi, it got rid of many hidden problems Shang Xia had with his rapid increase in strength. If not for the fact that Shang Xia was in a rush to locate the spirit cave, he would have gotten rid of the Water Repulsion Pearl and resisted the current with his own abilities.

The water level was slowly rising in the cavern, and the amount of heaven and earth qi in the air was also getting much denser.

From the looks of it, the cavern was probably going to become some sort of heavenly cultivation land when the event ended. After all, the heaven and earth qi in the surrounding was too dense! It seeped into the walls and slowly transformed the entire area.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

As the current became stronger and the water level grew higher, Shang Xia could basically confirm that he was closing in on the spirit cave.

Who would have thought that a deep whistle would ring in his ears at that moment? The deafening ringing echoed through the underground cavern, drowning out the roaring river.

A strange feeling overwhelmed Shang Xia and his instincts told him that he had arrived under the Changfeng City. After he continued onwards a little more, he saw a strange sight.

The river seemed to stop abruptly, and all that was left was a deep hole that extended into the ground. A huge pool of water could be seen at the bottom of the deep hole. Eighteen strange streams of water seemed to form a huge cage over the pool of water, trapping it within.

As he approached the strange hole, he was stopped by an invisible barrier!

Even though Shang Xia hadn’t seen a spiritual vein or a spirit cave before, his gut feeling told him that he was looking at one!

The only problem was finding a way to break the formless barrier and enter…

Could he do it by force?

When he thought of ways to enter the spirit cave, a loud blast came from above. From the intensity of the blasts and the faint fluctuations of heaven and earth qi, Shang Xia discerned that there was no way those fighting were in the Martial Intent Realm or below. They had to be Martial Extermination Realm experts!

There were only two people who could unleash such frightening strength. It was Gao Yun who was stationed in the Changfeng City by the White Deer Paradise and Youshang of the Azure Spiritual World!

Shang Xia heard loud voices coming from above, but he couldn’t hear them clearly.

According to his agreement with Youshang, he would have to barge into the spirit cave while Youshang held Gao Yun back. He would destroy the formation eye Gao Yun laid down preciously, shattering any routes of retreat for the Martial Dipper Realm ancestor of the White Deer Paradise!

Naturally, the only prerequisite to their plan was for someone to hold the Martial Dipper Realm ancestor of the White Deer Paradise down. If he was allowed to run around unchecked, he could probably return to the Changfeng City in the blink of an eye and kill everyone messing up their plans.

That might have been a requirement for his plan to succeed, but Shang Xia had no way of confirming if anyone could do it. With the spirit cave in front of him, there was no time for him to think about the various risks involved anyway.

Holding his Scarlet Star Spear firmly in his hand, Shang Xia circulated his Origin True Qi to the limit. He released his strongest strike immediately! His spear stabbed forward as he unleashed Celestial Disruption!

When he started cultivating the Triple Providence Chapter and the Providence Spear Art, Shang Xia’s ability to use heaven and earth qi reached a terrifying level. Now that the region around him was brimming with heaven and earth qi, the power contained in his strike increased by close to 30 percent of what it was capable of!

As the tip of the spear closed in on the formless barrier, a ripple appeared on the surface of the barrier, weakening the blow. After the Scarlet Star Spear stabbed two inches into the barrier, it stopped.

That wasn’t all. A terrifying backlash came from the barrier, causing Shang Xia’s expression to change drastically.

Shang Xia was flung backwards, and he barely managed to keep his grip on his spear. Only after retreating tens of feet did he stabilize his footing.

“Buzz…”

The formless barrier started to tremble violently as the streams of water that surrounded the pool fell into disarray. Shang Xia’s attack earlier might not be as useless as he had thought. It seemed as though he disrupted the flow of energy in the spirit cave.

Feeling the energy fluctuations coming from within, they seemed somewhat familiar to him. Something clicked in his mind after some time and he realized that those eighteen streams of water contained a familiar energy he felt in the battlefield between the two worlds! They were probably the world origin the White Deer Paradise was stealing from the Tongyou Institution!

Shang Xia’s glare landed on those streams of water that hovered above the pool and his expression darkened slightly.

Examining the spirit cave closely, Shang discovered something interesting. The streams of water that ‘trapped’ the pool of water seemed to be avoiding its middle region.

Wanting to get a proper look at the pool below, Shang Xia discovered that there was a blurry region above the pool that prevented him from seeing what was contained in it.

Everything became clear at that moment. The spirit cave contained the spiritual vein, and an extermination origin was being nurtured in the deep pool in the spirit cave! The extermination origin was probably also the key that allowed the Martial Dipper Realm ancestor of the White Deer Paradise to descend!

If Shang Xia wanted to enter the spirit cave, he would have to destroy the protection barrier produced by the protection formation Gao Yun laid down!

That was probably the only chance the Tongyou Institution had to turn the situation around now that a Martial Dipper Realm ancestor had arrived to stand against them.

How was he supposed to destroy the barrier in a short amount of time?!

With anxiety eating at his heart, Shang Xia thought back to his previous attack. There was no way Gao Yun wasn’t alerted by the disturbance he created. It was even possible that the Martial Dipper Realm ancestor had discovered the abnormal situation in the Changfeng City.

Those weren’t just baseless guesses. When he was sent flying earlier, he could hear the ringing sound coming from above increasing in intensity. Clearly, Gao Yun was fighting with all his might in order to get rid of Youshang.

Shang Xia decided that there was no time left. He had to do something immediately!

The longer it dragged out for, the lower the chance of turning the situation around! Moreover, the City Lord Manor probably didn’t just house Gao Yun. There were probably other experts who might be sent over to stop him!

The faster he moved, the greater the probability of turning the situation in the Tongyou City around. That wasn’t all. It also ensured that he and Youshang would have a greater chance of leaving alive!

If the Martial Dipper Realm ancestor were to return, their fates would be sealed!

The Scarlet Star Spear danced in his hand as he unleashed a series of seven moves. With one stronger than the other, the formless barrier trembled violently and it seemed to be on the verge of destruction.

At the very last second, the streams that ‘trapped’ the pool below finally experienced some changes. Some of them poured into the deep pool and a portion of the energy flowed into the barrier to stabilize it.

It seemed as though Gao Yun’s formation could borrow the energy from the world origins that were flowing towards the Ji Continent to strengthen his formation!

With the power of the world origins to strengthen the protection formation, the barrier would be able to hold off anyone under the Martial Extermination Realm! Even if Gao Yun was distracted, the barrier couldn’t be broken easily!

The might of a formation master from the White Deer Paradise was impressive indeed!

When Shang Xia discovered that his attacks were no longer able to affect the barrier, he nearly sank into despair. Only after forcing himself to calm down did he manage to catch his breath. Ideas flew through his mind as he thought of his next course of action. He even wondered if he should escape from the way he entered the underground cavern.

With his thoughts disarray, Shang Xia looked through everything in his Embroidered Cloud Case hoping he would chance upon something to help him overcome the hopeless situation. He eventually brought out the Spirit Extermination Gourd that had the image of a spiritual deer imprinted on its surface.

Unfortunately, he was unable to absorb the energy from the spiritual vein directly. Otherwise, he would be able to cut off the energy supplied to the barrier, solving his problem immediately.

As for the spiritual deer contained in the gourd…

Shang Xia thought back to when the spiritual deer tried to sneak attack him in the mist and frowned. Estimating its abilities before Shang Xia mercilessly released his seventh move on it, it was probably as strong as a Martial Intent Realm expert at the grand completion stage!

However, he didn’t know if the spiritual deer would still possess its strength now that it had been beaten to such a state.

Shang Xia sighed bitterly. Even with the strength of a cultivator at the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm, it wouldn’t be enough to shatter the formless barrier!

With no other choice, Shang Xia chose to go all out. Even if the spiritual deer wasn’t as strong as it used to be and it wouldn’t make a difference, he decided to do a final hail mary. He even brought out all the rank two talismans he had and tossed them at the barrier.

Under the multi-colored explosions of the various different types of qi, Shang Xia discovered that something seemed odd about the barrier.

Retracting his spear, he took a closer look at the barrier. What he saw nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets.

A tiny spiritual deer that was one-third its original size was on the other side of the barrier! It pranced about for a little while before moving towards the center of the deep pool contained in the spirit cave!