Chapter 487: Nursing Wounds and Counting Gains

Back on the Yuxi Peak in the battlefield between the two worlds, Shang Xia used a new method to enter the Martial Extermination Realm. Before his breakthrough attempt, Ge Qingzhi gave him the lotus root of the Nine Petaled Lotus that would allow him to avoid all internal injuries. Youshang also delivered the life saving treasure, the Scarlet Blood Cone some time ago.

When Shang Xia broke through to the Four Constellation Realm, he didn’t use any of them!

Now that he thought about it, it seemed as though he had misjudged the reason he was given those treasures. When he tried breaking through to the Martial Extermination Realm on the Yuxi Peak, Kou Chongxue and Ji Wenlong probably already had their eyes on him! With the two of them paying attention to the breakthrough, there was no way Shang Xia would run into any danger that they couldn’t just jump out and solve.

The deeper he dived into the matter, the more it seemed as though the institution had their sights on the Abyssal Secret Region a long time ago. That was probably why those exceptional treasures made their way into his hands.

Fleeing from the Cloud Water Gorge with the Scarlet Blood Cone, Shang Xia made his way to the border of the Sixth Pass before finally settling down.

Landing on a deserted mountain ridge, Shang Xia couldn’t be bothered with everything that happened back at the Cloud Water Gorge. He immediately found a hidden spot to conceal his presence.

When he was finally satisfied with his hiding spot, he opened the 2 Embroidered Cloud Cases in his sleeves. He poured every single treasure that could assist with his recovery out onto the ground below.

Before he could decide which medicine he should eat first, his face flushed red. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, weakness overwhelmed him. The aura around him became several times weaker than before.

The lotus root might have allowed him to avoid a huge amount of inner injuries, but the might of a Martial Dipper Realm expert wasn’t something it could completely nullify. Earlier, the lotus root took the brunt of the damage. However, Shang Xia still suffered significant injuries from the remaining power contained in Feng Yezi’s blow.

When he used the Scarlet Blood Cone earlier, Shang Xia was forcefully holding himself together. In the short time it took for him to escape, his injuries became even worse.

The reason he did that was because he wanted to use the fastest speed possible to reach a safe place.

After he spat out some blood, Shang Xia quickly tossed some rank three recovery powder into his mouth. Chasing that down with a gulp of Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine, he quickly circulated his inner qi. Now that he started to develop his rank four martial arts, his inner qi circulation was much smoother than before.

After half a day, the effects of the recovery powder were finally used up. However, it only managed to ensure that his injuries weren’t getting worse.

More than 10 hours had already passed since he left the Cloud Water Gorge. Looking up at the sky, Shang Xia was greeted by a sea of sparkling stars. Looking in the direction of the Cloud Water Gorge, he discovered that the phenomenon of the Abyssal Secret Region’s merger had already disappeared.

“I wonder how Third Aunt is doing…” The thought flashed across Shang Xia’s mind and he wondered to himself. It would only remain a thought as he wouldn’t be able to help much in his current condition.

Putting up a few simple warning devices in the area around the cave he was hiding in, Shang Xia eventually returned to swallow another portion of recovery medicine. Naturally, he drank some Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine along with it. He continued to circulate his inner qi like he did earlier. This time, he had enough energy to activate his Four Seasons Extermination Origins and they slowly aided in his recovery.

Eventually, he fell into a trance as he entered a deep state of cultivation. By the time he woke up, 3 days had passed.

Using his divine perception to inspect himself, Shang Xia found that his condition was indeed improving. However, he was far from his peak condition.

Estimating the speed of his recovery, Shang Xia felt that he would need 3 to 5 months before he would return to his peak state. Moreover, that was because of the unique properties of his extermination origins, strong physique, and soul. That allowed his life force to be much stronger than cultivators of the same level, resulting in his speedy recovery.

If anyone else at the same level was in his place, recovery would be the least of their concern. They might not even be able to survive the palm strike from Feng Yezi in the first place. Even if they managed to live, there was a 70 percent chance they would be crippled anyway. Of those that could actually recover, they would probably need 3 to 5 years of constant care in order to have a chance to return to their peak state.

The time Shang Xia required could be said to be extremely short, but he still felt as though it was taking too long.

Before recovering, Shang Xia knew that he would be completely useless. He didn’t understand the situation in the Taihang Mountains at the moment, and because of that uncertainty, he didn’t dare to try contacting Shang Pei. Neither did he dare to venture around wherever he was.

No matter how unwilling and annoyed he was at the situation, Shang Xia could only return to his cave to treat his injuries.

Because of the descent of the Abyssal Secret Region in the Cloud Water Gorge, the heaven and earth qi in the Sixth Pass became a lot denser than before. It greatly aided Shang Xia’s speed of recovery.

Without interference from the outside world, Shang Xia entered seclusion and tried to heal his horrendous wounds. Every time he circulated his inner qi, he would enter a strange state of cultivation.

Not only was the state he was in great for recovery, it also allowed him to think about his self-created rank four martial arts with extreme clarity. He could observe the flow of his inner qi through his body and make adjustments that allowed him to display greater might.

After 3 to 4 sessions like that, more than ten days had passed. His injuries were finally starting to take a turn for the better. At the same time, he managed to refine his rank four martial arts a little more. At the very least, he learned how to circulate his Four Constellation Qi more effectively in his body. He no longer needed 10 hours to complete one cycle. As a result, his training efficiency rose to a whole new level.

Back when Shang Xia started to create his own rank four martial arts, he referred to many rank four martial arts that had already been created.

Regardless of the Shang Clan or the Tongyou Institution, Shang Xia managed to gain insights from close to 10 rank four martial arts that had been recorded by the various powers.

That didn’t include the guidance he was given by Shang Bo, Shang Ke, Shang Pei, Zhang Haogu, Ge Qingzhu, and other Martial Extermination Realm experts he had some relationship with.

As such, Shang Xia had a pretty good grasp on how powerful each technique was and how suited they were to their cultivators.

With everything he learned, Shang Xia tried to come up with the most ordinary technique he could after entering the Martial Extermination Realm. That might be the case, but he quickly discovered that the martial arts he created possessed a huge potential for growth!

He even had a feeling that after consolidating his foundations and securely planting his feet in the Martial Extermination Realm, he would undergo another round of transformation to grow even stronger!

However, everything would only happen in the future. He had a long way to go before that happened.

In the blink of an eye, another half a month had passed. To his surprise, he was recovering slightly faster than he had expected.

His development of his rank four martial arts had nothing to do with the accelerating rate of recovery, and neither did the medicine he was eating. Instead, he was comprehending the true meaning of samara through the cycle of the four seasons.

The progression of the four seasons through the land was eternal and through the process, life would grow and decay.

With that understanding, Shang Xia seemed to have grown closer to the world around him. He seemed to grasp onto the logic of the four seasons and how day changed to night. Even though he hadn’t become one with the world, couldn’t meld with the changing of the four seasons, or reach the state where he could overturn day or night, his comprehension was enough to greatly aid his speed of recovery.

After learning what he did, Shang Xia could control his extermination origins a lot better than before. He could also accurately extract the power of Spring that contained the power of life to hasten the restoration of his body.

Everything was progressing smoothly and Shang Xia continued to strengthen his dantian. His Four Constellation Qi also continued to accumulate, and that signified the recovery of his fighting strength. At long last, he finally recovered enough to protect himself even if something unexpected were to happen.

In the following days, Shang Xia could finally relax a little.

Lighting a stick of incense in his humble cave dwelling, Shang Xia finally found a moment to rest now that he managed to gather some Four Constellation Qi in his dantian. He decided to start sorting out the loot he received from the Abyssal Secret Region.

But before that, he decided to check out the Crimson Soul Tablet in his sea of consciousness.

When he first entered the Abyssal Secret Region, he received pure world origin in liquid form. That was enough for a third of the cracks on the second face of the tablet to be sealed up.

After that, Shang Xia also received a clump of world origin after slicing apart one of the inheritance light balls that flew his way.

Due to the abilities of the Crimson Soul Tablet, the world origin wasn’t wasted. Shang Xia made use of a little bit while fighting, but it seemed as though the remaining amount was enough to restore the crack by the same amount as the first batch of world origin.

Obtaining both batches of world origin wasn’t the only gain he made. The Crimson Soul Tablet had been slowly refining the world origin that existed naturally in the Abyssal Secret Region. Since the effects weren’t as good as devouring both batches of world origin, Shang Xia didn’t really take notice of it.

Only after observing the Crimson Soul Tablet again did Shang Xia discover that the second face didn’t recover by a mere two-thirds. Almost four-fifths of the face had recovered and there was merely a tiny crack left.

It was something that really shocked Shang Xia.

Happy that the Crimson Soul Tablet was starting to restore itself, Shang Xia turned to look at the most precious treasure he managed to obtain from the Abyssal Secret Region, the Abyssal Blade.

A quarter of the blade might be broken, but the divine weapon still commanded a respectable level of power. Back during the chaotic battle in the Abyssal Secret Region, no one in the Martial Extermination Realm had the guts to fight Shang Xia when he wielded the divine weapon.

What was more important, Shang Xia managed to rely on the Abyssal Blade to create the first 3 moves of his rank four martial arts! Awakening Lightning, Grand Inferno, Pure Brightness… Every single move contained a frightening amount of power!

With the creation of his first 3 moves, Shang Xia already had the outline of his martial arts all laid out. He even thought of the name for it. His rank four martial arts would be called the Divine Blade of the Twenty Four Solar Terms.

Whether or not the Abyssal Blade could be fixed wasn’t part of Shang Xia’s consideration at the moment.

Other than the Abyssal Blade, Shang Xia also managed to obtain the rank four advancement formula, the Four Essence Abyssal Wine after saving Wei Qiongyi.

From the name itself, it was obvious the advancement formula was part of the core inheritance of the Abyssal Sect.

The next thing Shang Xia looked at was his Auspicious Cloud Cape. It could transform into the Auspicious Cloud Boat that could ferry 4 people through the air. During the chaotic battle that happened before, Shang Xia didn’t bother turning it into the boat form as it was much more convenient to use its properties as a cape.

When he was done, Shang Xia looked at the origin dipper he obtained from the jaws of death. Estimating the worth of everything he had, Shang Xia felt that the origin dipper should be the most valuable treasure right after the Abyssal Blade.