Chapter 603: Ultimate Scam Job

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The Tongyou Island was in a pretty strange spot at the moment. Those on the island could tell that they were in their original position, but because of the thin spatial film that covered them, they seemed to exist in a separate space.

After the attack from the Northern Sea Island missed, they lost all tracks of the Tongyou Island.

Despite not being struck by the green beam earlier, Shang Xia’s back was drenched in cold sweat.

The attack from the Northern Sea Island was just too terrifying. The sight where it pierced through the Tongyou Island was also too realistic.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

After losing the Tongyou Institution’s tracks, the Northern Sea Island seemed to have entered a state of chaos. However, they continued to travel in the direction where the Tongyou Island was last seen.

Even though they knew that the experts on the Northern Sea Island wouldn’t be able to detect their existence and would be unable to harm the Tongyou Island, everyone on the Tongyou Island couldn’t help but feel their hearts in their throats as the giant island approached. Even Shang Xia was no exception.

The reason he was feeling as anxious as the rest wasn’t just because he had lost more than 90 percent of his strength at the moment. It was because he could see the Northern Sea Island’s foundations as they drew closer and closer. The strength of the number 1 power in the Azure Spiritual World was displayed in front of them at the moment.

The number of experts they had in the Martial Extermination Realm was at least twice that of the Tongyou Institution. Of them, not a single one was in the first layer of the Martial Extermination Realm. Those in the second layer numbered less than half of those on the Northern Sea Island and almost all of them looked to be young experts who were sent out to gain experience. The others were all in the third layer of the Martial Extermination Realm and above.

Disregarding the sheer size of the Northern Sea Island for the time being, there was a huge number of core structures that had been preserved on the Northern Sea Island. They accepted a number of aboriginal experts and clans, and the range of their protection formation extended up to 1000 miles or so.

Every single earth vein that ran through the Northern Sea Island and key formation node was protected by an expert at the fourth layer Martial Extermination Realm and they maintained a strong control over the island.

Looking at the island, it was clear the Northern Sea Mystic Sect had already transformed it into a flying fortress.

If the islands actually smashed into each other, there was no question about it. Facing a monstrous existence like the Northern Sea Island, the Tongyou Island would be crushed. There was no doubt about it.

As the Northern Sea Island continued to close in on them, the experts on the Tongyou Island could see everything clearly on the other side. Despair filled their hearts.

All of a sudden, soft laughter rang through the Tongyou Island. Yun Jing chuckled, “Not bad, it’s not bad at all! Today, we’re witnessing the strength of the strongest faction of the Azure Spiritual World. If the 5 of us back then witnessed this, we might lose all motivation and not establish the Tongyou Institution at all!”

Her words caused smiles to appear on the faces of the experts on the Tongyou Island. The air of depression disappeared.

The Tongyou Institution had only been established for 20 years or so. How deep were the foundations of the Northern Sea Mystic Island? Did their history go back 800 years? 1000 Years?

Even with their history and strength, the Tongyou Institution which had only been around for 20 years or so had the guts to snatch the benefits that should belong to the Northern Sea Mystic Sect!

What would happen if another 20 years passed?! How strong would the Tongyou Institution be then?!

When everyone was still thinking of how far the Tongyou Institution had come, Chu Jia’s divine perception reached out and linked with Yun Jing, Shang Xia, and Liu Qinglan.

“Little Chu, what’s the matter?” Yun Jing knew that Chu Jia wouldn’t contact all of them for no reason.

Currently, the 3 of them were the strongest individuals on the island. With Chu Jia who had control of the grand formation, the 4 of them could make all the decisions on the island when Shang Bo was in seclusion.

Well, there was also Ren Bainian whose cultivation level was at the fourth layer of the Martial Extermination Realm, but because of his identity, he couldn’t take part in core decision-making.

Chu Jia’s voice came from inside the core region. “Teacher, the Northern Sea Island seems to be hovering around the area…”

“What?!” Liu Qinglan became serious. “Have they already discovered what we’re doing?”

“I don’t think they saw through what we did, but they probably have some guesses of their own.” Chu Jia replied.

Worry clouded Liu Qinglan’s heart and she wondered, “We can’t maintain our state for long. We’ll have to return back to the region of space soon…”

“Relax. They won’t stay for long. Don’t forget, the fragments of land are gathering towards the central region.” Yun Jing spoke up suddenly.

Liu Qinglan signed, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to hold on until that happens…”

“Little Chu, how long can we maintain Empty Mountain for?” Yun Jing asked.

Another sigh came from Chu Jia. “I don’t think we can last for another hour.”

The few of them sank into silence after hearing what she said.

If the grand formation couldn’t maintain Empty Mountain, the Tongyou Island would immediately return to the region of space they were once in. When that happened, they would expose themselves to the nearby Northern Sea Island immediately.

A moment later, Yun Jing continued, “Little Chu, do you have any idea what we can do?”

“We could use the world origin contained in our grand formation.” Chu Jia responded.

“We cannot touch the world origin!” Yun Jing vetoed the decision immediately. “The world origin there determines the outcome of Shang Bo’s breakthrough. Any fluctuation will affect the process.”

The Tongyou Island definitely had excess world origin because of what Shang Xia pulled. However, they didn’t expect there to be so much of it and they didn’t store it separately.

All the world origin they stored was in the jade formation disc. They were meant to supply Shang Bo for his breakthrough to the Martial Dipper Realm. Before he was done, no one would know how much excess world origin they possessed. As such, Yun Jing wouldn’t allow them to use any of it.

Seeing as the time they could maintain Empty Mountain was growing shorter and shorter, and the Northern Sea Island was still hovering around the area, no one knew what to do.

Only after some time did Shang Xia speak up to break the silence. “This… Can we use fate dipper fragments to prolong the time we have left?”

“You have more fate dipper fragment shards?!” Chu Jia asked, and it seemed like she had been waiting for that moment.

“Are you planning to use the fate dipper fragment?” Yun Jing knew that Shang Xia had a piece of complete fate dipper fragment on him. At the same time, she also knew that he could use it to nurture a complete Origin Dipper. Moreover, the fate dipper fragment belonged to Shang Xia and he only managed to obtain it after risking his life back on the Manyu Continent.

“Um…” Shang Xia pretty much realized that those 2 of them were acting out a show for him but he couldn’t be bothered at the moment. He searched around his sleeves for quite some time before taking out the jade fragment shards he just obtained from the golden masked cultivator. “Even though these didn’t come from a fate dipper fragment, it’s pretty similar to one. It contains a huge amount of world origin and you can see if it’s suitable to maintain the formation…”

Shang Xia tossed them into the air and they were quickly intercepted by the grand formation as they made their way to the core region where Chu Jia was.

It didn’t take long before a joyful scream came from the core region. “We can use these! Even though it’s not as pure as the shards from a fate dipper fragment, these shards are massive. We can replace quality with quantity. After all, the operation of the grand formation doesn’t require such pure world origin.”

However, Chu Jia continued her explanation before Yun Jing and the others could rejoice. “However, we can only maintain Empty Mountain for 2 hours or so. This has nothing to do with the amount of world origin we have. It’s a limitation of the secret art itself. When we exit our current state, we’ll still be left with a lot of these shards.”

Shang Xia felt his heart leaping back into his throat after hearing that they wouldn’t be able to keep their ultimate move up for long. However, Liu Qinglan smiled and replied in everybody’s stead, “That should be enough. According to our initial estimates, the land fragments will start to gather here in an hour. Even if the Northern Sea Island refuses to leave, we’ll be able to use the cover of the other land fragments to escape!”

A smile also appeared on Yun Jing’s face as she nodded slowly.

Finally, Shang Xia could heave a sigh of relief.

With all the explanations done, Chu Jia’s voice rang in their minds again. “It’s a pity the rest of the shards won’t allow us to unleash Empty Mountain another time. Even though we might be able to get away from the Northern Sea Island, we won’t know if we’ll run into other dangers in the future. We can only hope that Deputy Patriarch Shang is successful in his breakthrough.”

“We can’t hope for too much. Our luck has been great up till this point and we can only pray it continues…” Yun Jing responded with a chuckle.

“That might be the case, but it’s never bad to have an extra layer of protection. We’re at the final stage of our operation right now and we can only hope that no accidents will happen on our way back.” Chu Jia reminded everyone again.

Hearing what she said, Shang Xia pinched the space between his eyebrows and muttered, “Actually, I still have another piece of jade like that. It’s even bigger than everything I passed you, however…”

“Where?!” Chu Jia snapped impatiently. “Wow, I didn’t think that you sneaky fellow would still be hiding treasures from us!”

“This…” Shang Xia brought out the jade fragment that contained a strand of fate dipper essence before explaining, “It’s currently used to store a strand of fate dipper essence…”

“Are you dumb? The jade fragment isn’t pure enough and will probably shatter after some time! You might as well place your fate dipper essence into the formation disc for safekeeping and give me the jade fragment to power the grand formation!” Chu Jia yelled at him the very next instant.

“Um…” Hesitating slightly, Shang Xia asked, “Didn’t we say that we can’t disturb the world origin in the formation disc?”

“How much of a disturbance can a single strand of fate dipper essence cause?” Chu Jia replied.

It made sense after Shang Xia thought about it for a moment. After all, the world origin in the formation disc was much purer than that in the jade fragment. It would do a much better job at containing the strand of fate dipper essence.

Letting go of the jade that was at least twice as big as the shards Shang Xia gave her, it flew towards the core region.

A moment later, Chu Jia yelled excitedly, “Great! With the energy in this piece of jade, we can use Empty Mountain again!”

Hearing how enthusiastic she sounded, Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask, “Even though I willingly gave you all those shards and fragments, why do I feel like this is a scam job?”

“Heh, if I were you, I wouldn't sweat the small stuff. Why bother yourself with these messy matters? You should take the time and restore your combat strength!” A sinister chuckle came from Chu Jia once again.