Chapter 537: Improving Once Again

Shang Xia had a guess when he first started cultivating there. Under ideal circumstances, he would be able to raise his cultivation speed to 4 times its original. He was extremely excited about the possibility, but he clearly understood that there were too many criteria he needed to clear in order to cultivate so quickly. It was extremely difficult for him to even reach a 3 times efficiency in cultivation but that itself was a shocking feat.

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One had to know that ordinarily, anywhere that could increase cultivation speed by 10 to 20 percent was already considered a prime location that could incite great wars. An example of such was the battlefield between the two worlds.

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A location that could increase cultivation speed by 30 to 40 percent was where powers established themselves, like the region where the Tongyou Institution was built.

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If a faction found a secret region that could increase cultivation efficiency by 50 percent, they would definitely defend it with their lives. They would obtain a blessed land of cultivation and they could immediately call themselves a holy land.

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It was practically unimaginable for Shang Xia to be able to raise his cultivation speed by 3 times!

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With the help of his Four Seasons Extermination Origins and his powerful perception, Shang Xia merged himself into the mountain with his understanding of the Heaven and Man Synergy Chapter. Because of that, he could absorb a massive amount of heaven and earth qi and world origin. Whatever he lacked in quality he made up for in quantity.

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That might be the case, but he wasn’t able to reach a 3 times increase in cultivation speed as he had hoped. Instead, he forcefully maintained it at around 2 times his normal speed.

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2 times the speed of cultivation might shock ordinary people, but for Shang Xia who had extremely high hopes for himself, it was a little disappointing.

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There were many factors that caused the ‘weak’ increase in cultivation speed, but 2 main reasons stood out.

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The first was that the heaven and earth qi in the region was just too damn thin. One had to know that he went through a complicated process to refine 4 extermination origins at once. Because of that, his speed of cultivation had been limited since a long time ago.

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The second reason was that even though the mountain was massive and could absorb a lot more heaven and earth qi and world origin than a tiny Shang Xia, it was a problem for Shang Xia to properly control the flow of energy due to the huge area it covered.

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Actually, the second reason could be solved easily. He could just lay down a giant formation around the mountain to replicate what happened to the Yuxi Peak. That would stop the energy in the surroundings from leaking.

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Even though he couldn’t completely prevent heaven and earth qi and world origin from being wasted, it would be able to increase the speed of his cultivation regardless.

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However, a formation that could cover the entire mountain he was on was bound to be a grand formation. It wasn’t possible to lay one down willy-nilly, and it would require a huge amount of resources. Even without mentioning whether it was worth it or not, Shang Xia wouldn’t be able to lay down such a huge formation even with the aid of the institution.

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He also discovered another huge problem after he started cultivating. Moreover, that was something he was absolutely helpless about.

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He discovered that his way of cultivation would cause great damage to the mountain. His Four Seasons Samsara Art might be extremely special as it possessed extraordinary properties, it came at a price. He could cause the unending cycle of the four seasons in the various locations on the mountain, but that went against the natural laws of the world. Shang Xia might be able to replace the cycle of time in those regions and cause the various life forms to wither before regaining their vitality for various cycles, he wasn’t able to fully replicate the cycle of life and death. Since it wasn’t perfect, it greatly damaged the vitality of the area and it was almost impossible for it to ever return to its natural state.

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After prolonged cultivation, Shang Xia might experience a huge increase in strength. However, the entire mountain would have its vitality completely exhausted. It would turn into a massive piece of rock at best with no ability to support life. In the coming tens, even hundreds of years, it wouldn’t recover.

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Using the vitality of the mountain in exchange for personal strength seemed like a reasonable trade on the surface. After all, with Shang Xia’s current strength, he could level a mountain like that with a single thought. However, there was a tiny voice in the back of his mind telling him that it was best to avoid doing things like sucking the vitality from things.

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𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

That was also a reason Shang Xia was unable to unleash the full power of his extermination origins to refine his Four Seasons Extermination Origins.

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While holding back slightly, Shang Xia managed to raise his cultivation speed to twice its original level and the speed at which he refined his Four Seasons Extermination Origins increased to a great extent. His cultivation and combat abilities naturally followed.

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2 months passed just like that and throughout the period, Shang Xia would patrol the surrounding dozens of miles every 3 to 5 days or so. The rest of his time was spent cultivating in the huge mountain that was covered in a thick layer of clouds.

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Not everything was peaceful during his time there. During his first month there, he ran into an expert of the Manyu Continent on one of his patrols.

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The 2 sides moved extremely quickly and by the time Shang Xia discovered that the other side had entered his range of perception, he couldn’t react in time and the distance between both sides had closed to around 30 miles. At that distance, the other party also detected Shang Xia’s presence.

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The expert of the Manyu Continent slowed down immediately and Shang Xia tried changing his direction subtly. However, he didn’t deviate too much from his original path as he planned to mark out his territory.

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From the other party’s reaction, Shang Xia could tell that the other party was starting to retract their aura. However, they maintained a distance of 30 miles or so as they flew. Eventually, they flew in a semi circle around the region Shang Xia was protecting before the expert from the Manyu Continent left.

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Neither of them communicated with each other throughout the whole process. Instead, they merely probed each other with their divine perception. After the expert of the Manyu Continent left, Shang Xia finally realized what had happened. The other party might have been sent there to feel him out.

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The expert who came might possess the same aura as experts from the Manyu Continent, but no one could be sure that he wasn’t a part of the mysterious third party!

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If Youshang’s judgment was correct, Su Jinyuan was a member of the mysterious third faction that entered the Manyu Continent. With his cultivation at the large completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm, there was no way he would be a nameless expert. The moment anyone noticed his death, they would carry out a detailed investigation immediately! Every single Martial Extermination Realm expert on the Snowy Peaks Mountain Range was a suspect.

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Luckily, when they joined hands to kill Su Jinyuan back then, they crossed a huge portion of the mountain range to do so. Their battle took place extremely far away and Shang Xia’s ability to conceal his strength was no joke. He was sure the experts on the other side wouldn’t be able to discover his strength just by probing him the way they did earlier.

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They might not be able to determine if Shang Xia was involved in Su Jinyuan’s death, but if Shang Xia’s guess was right and they were really investigating the matter, one thing was certain. Youshang wouldn’t be able to impersonate Su Jinyuan any longer!

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Thinking of the possibilities, Shang Xia’s heart sank. Of course, with Shang Xia’s understanding of Youshang, even if his disguise was seen through, he would be able to escape unless they laid out an elaborate trap for him.

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The appearance of the strange ‘expert from the Manyu Continent’ caused Shang Xia to experience several days of unrest. After realizing that everything remained as peaceful as it was, Shang Xia tossed his worries to the back of his mind as he focused on his cultivation.

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During the second month of his cultivation, Shang Xia ran into 2 Martial Extermination Realm expats. One of them was scared away by Shang Xia before they could get close. The other exchanged a blow with Shang Xia before leaving in defeat.

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The person who came to blows with Shang Xia was a member of the Azure Origin World and Shang Xia had no idea where the other party came from. He also didn’t know if he managed to recognize Shang Xia.

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Other than those interesting encounters, Shang Xia received 2 transmissions from the Tongyou Stronghold during his time there.

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The first informed him about the chaotic situation on the Manyu Continent and the fact that the Tongyou Stronghold was about to expand their territory. They planned to increase the scope of their grand formation from the 1200 mile mark to the 1500 mile mark.

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If everything went well and the expansion continued smoothly, they would be able to expand their territory to cover an area of 2000 miles before the destruction of the Manyu Continent. When that happened, the Tongyou Institution would be able to obtain a massive island after the Manyu Continent crumbled.

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Shang Xia couldn’t help but look at the dense clouds around him and his gaze swept over the region he was defending.

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Without a holy land to guide the huge landmass after the destruction of the Manyu Continent, the Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors would have to take on the entire burden themselves. Shang Xia felt that Kou Chongxue and Ji Wenlong made their estimations a long time ago and after careful consideration, they chose to maintain the Tongyou Stronghold at 1200 miles.

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Now that they were expanding again, there were 2 possibilities. One of them was that the Tongyou Institution managed to gain the assistance of another Martial Dipper Realm expert, and the other was that the Tongyou Institution had upgraded themselves to the Tongyou Paradise.

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The possibility of the latter happening wasn’t too large, and that left the other explanation.

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Currently, Shang Bo was the only expert of the Tongyou Institution who had hopes of breaking through to the Martial Dipper Realm. Shang Xia thought that he had been protecting the region his grandfather was in seclusion all along but he hadn’t detected anything.

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That begged another question. How in the world would Kou Chongxue and Ji Wenlong know about Shang Bo’s current situation if Shang Xia failed to detect anything? Moreover, they were confident that they could expand the size of the Tongyou Stronghold’s territory.

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Clearly, Shang Bo had another way of contacting Kou Chongxue and the rest who were outside the Manyu Continent. Also, there was no way Shang Xia would fail to detect any large scale fluctuations if his grandfather experienced an increase in cultivation around the Snowy Peaks Mountain Range.

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Since Shang Xia brought the Abyssal Firmament Fate Dipper to the Manyu Continent under Ji Wenlong’s orders, Shang Bo had to be on the continent.

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Adding up every single factor and explanation, Shang Xia knew that there was only one possibility. Shang Bo wasn’t cultivating in the region he was protecting. It didn’t matter if it was Youshang or Shang Xia. Both of them were mere pawns tossed out by the institution to bait the enemy.

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Being the institution’s pawn again…

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A deep frown formed on Shang Xia’s face. If everything he thought about was true, that would mean one thing. It was pretty obvious at that point, but Shang Bo’s whereabouts were only known by 3 people! Kou Chongxue, Ji Wenlong, and Yun Jing!

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At the end of the day, those old fellows were still keeping their own secrets!

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Now that Shang Xia had reached his own conclusion, he suddenly lost the urge to cultivate. With a trace of irritation in his heart, he unleashed the fruits of his comprehension as he chopped downwards. Snow descended upon the layer of dense clouds and it grew heavier and heavier. Each snowflake was like a blade that fell mercilessly to the ground below.

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With the inspiration taken from the 21st solar term, Shang Xia developed another move, Greater Snow!

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