Chapter 482: Blades Drawn

Along with the appearance of the Beyond Heavens Pavilion, a Martial Dipper Realm ancestor finally made his move.

The giant palm that appeared not only ignored the spatial cracks that filled the skies. Those balls of light that were doing a good job at evading those Martial Extermination Realm experts were captured without much fanfare. Close to 30 of them were captured in one fell swoop.

Having grabbed his share of the loot, the giant palm was about to disappear when the clouds in the skies started to roll about violently. They turned into a giant heavenly river that twisted the space around it before smashing ruthlessly onto the giant palm.

Despite the shockingly powerful collision, not a single sound could be heard. There was no energy fluctuation that spread through the air either.

The huge palm in the air trembled slightly and close to a dozen balls of light fell out from it.

A long laugh tore through the skies at that moment. “Brother Xuan Shou, can’t you keep your cool like everyone else? The juniors can fight all they like. Why are you in a rush to seal their fortune?”

Another deep laughter boomed through the skies, but it eventually turned a little serious before responding, “My Zhongxuan Gate is just a tiny little faction that cannot compete with your mighty power. We don’t have much accumulations either. I was forced to show myself because those juniors in my Zhongxuan Gate couldn't take care of themselves and failed to obtain even the slightest benefit. I am ashamed on their behalf…”

The Martial Dipper Realm ancestor who spoke first clearly didn’t expect Xuan Shou to act so shamelessly and he didn’t know how to respond.

Xuan Shou didn’t remain idle. After he spoke, his palm solidified in the air once again to make another grab for the balls of light.

Even though his palm seemed to cover the skies, he acted in moderation. He didn’t reach for areas with Martial Extermination Realm experts.

A soft sigh filled the skies once again as yet another Martial Dipper Realm ancestor spoke, “Brother Xuan Shou, you’re making things difficult for us if you keep behaving so shamelessly!”

As soon as the sentence was completed, the giant palm in the air trembled slightly. The fingers that were attached to the palm were sliced cleanly off without any warning and they dissipated quickly.

That didn’t seem to stop Xuan Shou as the fingerless palm started to shrink. It turned into a smaller palm with fingers intact before grabbing the balls of light that were scattered around.

A stream of energy emerged from the void and pierced a hole through the palm, destroying several inheritance light balls in the process. Despite their efforts, Xuan Shou’s smaller palm withdrew into the void with whatever balls of light it still held.

“Sigh… Brother Xuan Shou, what’s the point?” The third Martial Dipper Realm expert spoke again and a stream of light appeared to lock down the space Xuan Shou’s palm disappeared.

The moment the space was sealed, the heavens seemed to tremble lightly.

There seemed to be another formless exchange among the Martial Dipper Realm ancestors as the sealed space was quickly shattered.

The voice of an older lady rumbled through the air like thunder, seemingly dissatisfied with the exchange that was going on. “If you want to fight, just fight! What’s with this elaborate show you’re putting up? Jiu Ming, Jiu Sha, which one of you plans on fighting first? Come at me. This old lady will take any of you on!”

Silence filled the skies for a short moment. Eventually, the first Martial Dipper Realm ancestor who spoke forced a chuckle, “Looks like old friend Xuan Chang has arrived…”

After Ancestor Xuan Chang spoke earlier, the 2 Martial Dipper Realm ancestors from the Divine Capital Sect no longer acted however they wished. Both sides seemed to have reached an arrangement and they didn’t continue their quarrel. Ancestor Xuan Shou didn’t make another move to grab the inheritance light balls in the Abyssal Secret Region.

Of the 4 Martial Dipper Realm experts who appeared, Jiu Ming and Jiu Sha were from the Divine Capital Sect. However, they weren’t the only Martial Dipper Realm experts there. Xuan Chang and Xuan Shou were from the Zhongxuan Gate which was basically the only superpower in their Yan Continent. Unlike the Divine Capital Sect, Xuan Chang and Xuan Shou were the only Martial Dipper Realm experts in the Zhongxuan Gate.

The exchange between the Martial Dipper Realm ancestors in the skies above not only caught Shang Xia’s attention. The Martial Extermination Realm experts who were hunting down inheritance light balls earlier were terrified by the ancestors’ sudden appearance. All of them seemed to forget what they had been doing just seconds ago.

This wasn’t Shang Xia’s first time watching an exchange between Martial Dipper Realm experts. That was why he managed to gather his thoughts before the others. He quickly made up his mind to run as far away from the Abyssal Secret Region as he could.

If even Martial Dipper Realm ancestors couldn’t help but show themselves, Shang Xia refused to believe that they would allow the Martial Extermination Realm experts on the scene to continue fighting for those inheritance light balls.

It didn’t matter if those Martial Dipper Realm experts came to a conclusion later to let the Martial Extermination Realm experts of their respective factions split the treasures how they saw fit. After all, those Martial Dipper Realm experts had nothing to do with his Tongyou Institution! They wouldn’t allow someone like him to take part in the splitting of profits from the Abyssal Secret Region!

If he chose to stay, he would truly be tired of living. He didn’t forget that he was holding on to the Abyssal Blade at the moment. Even though the divine weapon was damaged and a quarter of the blade was missing, it was still a divine weapon!

The Martial Extermination Realm experts could remain in the air, but the rocks that were falling from the skies would stop. Shang Xia used the cover of the dust and debris to make his way down to the Cloud Water Gorge.

Who would have thought that he would sense a strange fluctuation with his divine perception the moment he landed on the ground below? A ball of light flickered unsteadily amidst the dust cloud and it was so bright that nothing could hide its brilliance.

Treasure…

Shang Xia’s body twitched slightly and a trace of hesitation appeared on his face.

A weird breeze shot past him when he was still thinking about what he should do and his body froze up when he felt what caused the unwanted wind.

“Huh?” A surprised cry came from deep in the dust cloud. “Holy shit! You’re a smart kid for running away before those people up there arrived. However, you have to be pretty unlucky to run into this old man…”

Martial Dipper Realm ancestor! There was a Martial Dipper Realm expert hiding in the Cloud Water Gorge the whole time and Shang Xia managed to bump into the man the moment he escaped from the Abyssal Secret Region!

Shang Xia felt a sense of extreme panic but he forced himself to maintain his unflustered expression. “This junior was a little too rude and bumped into you by accident. I hope Senior can be generous and forget about the matter. I’ll take my leave right now.”

As soon as he spoke, Shang Xia turned to leave.

“Hold it!” A neutral voice rang through the air. “Brat, hand it over.”

A bitter smile appeared on Shang Xia’s face and he tried playing dumb. “This… Senior, I don’t understand what you’re talking about… Forgive me but I have no idea what you mean. Do I have something special you want?”

“Enough. Hand the divine weapon over. Have I made myself clear?” The owner of the voice seemed to be getting a little impatient now. “Leave the blade behind and I’ll be kind enough to let you leave with your life intact!”

Shang Xia was obviously unwilling to hand the divine weapon over like that. Thoughts spun in his mind and he pushed his divine perception to the limit in an attempt to look for ways to get out of his current predicament. Finally, he noticed a faint aura close to 1000 feet away.

The moment he discovered the presence, he quickly retracted his divine perception. He didn’t dare to examine the strange presence even further in case he revealed himself to the other party.

During their conversation, Shang Xia noticed what the ball of light that caught his attention earlier was. Compared to his fear of the Martial Dipper Realm ancestor, the feeling of shock that came with his discovery felt a little stronger. The item trapped in the ball of light was an origin dipper! It was what alerted the Beyond Heavens Pavilion in the first place!

Due to the chaos that broke out not too long after, the origin dipper was nowhere to be seen. Shang Xia thought that someone had already obtained the treasure, but he didn’t expect it to have fallen into the Cloud Water Gorge.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Another serious question formed in his mind. Why wasn’t the Martial Dipper Realm expert making use of the chance to collect the origin dipper?

Thinking back to how the Martial Dipper Realm expert he ran into didn’t appear during the exchange between Xuan Chang, Xuan Shou, and the ancestors of the Divine Capital Sect, Shang Xia determined that the man was probably trying to hide his presence from them.

It seemed as though the Abyssal Secret Region was truly an attractive slice of pie. Even Martial Dipper Realm experts from other regions made their way over.

Shang Xia thought even further and discovered something weird. Even though the Martial Dipper Realm ancestors of the Zhongxuan Gate and the Divine Capital Sect exchanged several blows in the air above the Abyssal Secret Region, none of them actually showed themselves.

He realized that it was possible the Martial Dipper Realm expert who was eyeing his divine weapon didn’t dare to collect the origin dipper for fear of alarming the 4 in the skies above.

That was probably also why he was hiding his presence to the best of his abilities. If not for Shang Xia’s stronger than normal divine perception, he wouldn’t have been able to notice the presence of the Martial Dipper Realm expert threatening him at the moment.

None of them were stupid. The presence of any Martial Dipper Realm expert in a situation like this would definitely destroy the balance of power. He would definitely offend the ancestors of the Divine Capital Sect and the Zhongxuan Gate if he was discovered.

Is this why he doesn’t dare to straight up attack me and snatch my treasure?

If he attacked the moment he detected Shang Xia, the Abyssal Blade would have fallen into his hands several moments ago. He wouldn’t have to waste his time conversing with Shang Xia either.

No matter what, Shang Xia was unwilling to give the divine weapon away. There was still a streak of greed in his heart and he decided to take the gamble. Waving his hand in his air, he changed his approach. “I wonder how I should address Senior?”

A sinister laughter rang in his ears the next moment and there was a trace of mockery in the Martial Dipper Realm expert’s words. “What’s the matter? Are you planning to look for me in the future after your cultivation catches up with mine to retrieve your divine weapon?”

Shang Xia honestly didn’t care what the other party was saying. His lack of action told Shang Xia everything he needed to know.

Carefully storing the boulder that was wrapped in his cape into an Embroidered Cloud Case, Shang Xia carefully draped the cape over his shoulders before drawing his blade. Tilting it upwards, he pointed in the direction of the Martial Dipper Realm expert he had detected some time ago.

Shang Xia’s attitude said everything!

“You’re asking to die!” The Martial Dipper Realm expert growled, but Shang Xia seemed to hear the exasperation he was feeling.

Pouring all the inner qi he recovered a moment ago into his Abyssal Blade, he swung it ruthlessly in the direction of the Martial Dipper Realm expert!