Chapter 618: Everlasting Palace, Divine Capital Pagoda, Mysterious Tortoise Hall

“Quick, look there! What is that?” Chu Jia’s yell caused everyone to turn and look at something else. At that moment, they saw an amazing sight they had never seen before in their lives.

They might be amazed by the fusion of the Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World, but they might also be awestruck by the scene where the various islands made their return. Those islands were starting to gather around both worlds.

At the same time, the experts on the Tongyou Island also saw the strange pillars of light following behind the other islands in their respective spatial tunnels. They also started to approach both worlds.

Back then, Shang Bo had already mentioned that the main goal of the Spirit Abundance World was most likely to locate the position of the Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World in the vast sea of stars.

If those pillars of light were allowed to do as they wish, the locations of both worlds would definitely be exposed!

One had to know that even with all 3 Martial Dipper Realm ancestors of the Tongyou Institution working together, they were only able to stall the pillar of light. In the end, Kou Chongxue had to sever the spatial tunnel behind the island in order to send it away. The key point here was that they didn’t truly destroy the pillar of light.

The next moment, a massive curtain appeared in the void around both worlds.

After the screen appeared, it started to expand outward. It severed the spatial tunnels leading to both worlds and hid the position of the Azure Origin World and Azure Spiritual World in the vast sea of stars.

Those broken spatial tunnels started to crumble and the space around them distorted.

When those strange pillars of light forcefully broke through the distorted space, they continued to advance. However, they were eventually stopped by the formless screen and couldn’t advance another inch.

Since the Tongyou Island and the other islands were inside the range of the heavenly screen, everything that was outside was especially clear to them. They saw how those strange light pillars slammed against the screen in an attempt to shatter it.

Every time a pillar crashed into the screen, the impact would cause the void outside to tremble. At the same time, ripples would appear on the heavenly screen as it scattered the force of the impact.

When every pillar of light slammed into the heavenly screen without achieving anything, they started to turn blurry. It seemed as though their assault on the heavenly screen greatly exhausted the energy they contained.

Shang Xia raised his head to stare at the marvel in the distance and reached a conclusion. Indeed… Only experts at the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm could deal with a cultivator of the same level.

It seemed like the guesses that Kou Chongxue and the others had were finally verified. There were actually experts in the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm on the Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World!

Shang Xia subconsciously turned to look at Shang Bo after understanding what had happened.

Staring at his grandfather, Shang Xia discovered that Shang Bo’s attention wasn’t on the exchange between experts at the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm. Instead, he had a solemn expression as he looked in the direction of the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

Feeling a little curious, he adjusted his angle slightly to see what his grandfather was looking at. The scene before his eyes shocked him. He noticed a majestic palace floating above the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

“That should be the Eternal Palace…” Shang Bo whistled softly and introduced.

“Eternal Palace?” A thought flashed through Shang Xia’s mind and he asked, “Is that where the Sixth Order expert of the Eternal Sect resides?”

Shang Bo didn’t answer his question, but his silence gave Shang Xia the confirmation he needed.

“Then… What about the Divine Capital Sect and the Northern Sea Mystic Sect?” Shang Xia asked while looking around.

“They’re over there.” Shang Bo knew what he was looking for and he brought Shang Xia to another location on the Tongyou Island where he could look into the vast space.

Staring in the direction Shang Bo pointed out, Shang Xia saw the top half of a pagoda poking out above the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

“That’s the Divine Capital Pagoda!” Shang Bo explained. “According to Patriarch Kou’s guess, neither our Azure Origin World nor the Azure Spiritual World has the capability to sustain the existence of an expert at the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm. In order to break past the shackles, they had to create a separate space that goes past the limits of a holy land. They can only advance when they create their own Elysium!”

“Elysium…” Shang Xia muttered. A multitude of thoughts ran through his mind. The first time he heard about an ‘Elysium’ was when he was asking Zhang Haogu for advice when he was entering the Yin Yang Realm.

The next moment, Shang Xia heard a cold chuckle coming from his grandfather. “Alas, our Azure Origin World is still an Azure World at the end of the day. Since we can’t support an expert to break through the Martial Dipper Realm into the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm, it’s not possible for a holy land to upgrade themselves into their own Elysium.”

Even more questions appeared in Shang Xia’s mind.

Snorting twice, Shang Bo continued. “Since our world is unable to support their ascension, they have to steal the energy from elsewhere to strengthen themselves. The Qing, You, Bing, Liang, and Shu Border Continents were naturally given up and turned into barren land. At the same time, they can use us as sacrifices for the fusion of our worlds!”

Shang Xia’s heart trembled violently after hearing Shang Bo’s explanation. According to what he said, the reason the border continents failed to produce a holy land was because of those people! With how things were, it was clear the main culprits were the Divine Capital Sect and the Eternal Sect.”

“The reason they managed to support the formation of both Elysiums was because they sucked away the world origin essence of the border continents. Only then were they able to produce their experts in the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm.” Shang Bo explained. “That is also why our continents are impoverished.”

Shang Bo didn’t have to explain more for Shang Xia to understand what was going on. At the same time, he also understood the reason behind Kou Chongxue’s enmity with the 2 super factions of the Azure Origin World. A ton of things he didn’t understand in the past finally started to make sense.

“Grandpa, if the Eternal Sect’s Elysium is called the Eternal Palace, and the Divine Capital Sect’s Elysium is called the Divine Capital Pagoda, what about the Northern Sea Mystic Sect?” Shang Xia asked the next second.

Once again, Shang Bo brought him along as they rose into the skies above the island. They flew for some time and they eventually saw the Void Abyss in the distance.

“Right, this is the Void Abyss between our worlds.” Shang Bo pointed at the giant rift and continued, “Everything seems calm above the Void Abyss, but there is actually a giant space vortex hidden from sight. It’s not easy for anyone to pass through it and we can only stop at its edge.”

Shang Xia’s gaze landed on the Void Abyss and he muttered softly, “It looks a lot shallower than before…”

Shang Bo nodded in response. “That’s an indication that the fusion of our worlds has started. In fact, it’s a sign that the speed of fusion has sped up. By the time the rift disappears, our Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World will have fully merged. When that happens, the formless space vortex will cease to exist.”

Shang Xia’s head bobbed up and down as he expressed his understanding of the situation. At the same time, a question flashed in his mind. He wondered how long it had been since he left for the Manyu Continent.

“Oh right, look over there. That’s the Black Tortoise Hall!”

Shang Xia gathered his attention and turned to stare in the direction his grandfather was pointing at.

Perhaps it was extremely far off, and the distortion of space by the space vortex might have something to do with it as well, but Shang Xia could only see a blurry figure in the distance. It resembled a giant Black Tortoise but that was about all Shang Xia could make out. He couldn’t see it as clearly as the Eternal Palace or the Divine Capital Pagoda.

The only thing he noticed was that the Black Tortoise Hall looked a lot larger than the other 2 Elyiums.

When Shang Bo brought Shang Xia back to the island, the strange pillar of light outside the heavenly screen seemed to understand that it met its match. It wouldn’t be possible to locate the Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World with an existence of that level protecting them and it could only retreat back to the depths of space.

After some time, the heavenly screen that protected and hidden the worlds started to fade.

No one knew if it really disappeared or if it was concealed.

Even though the experts in the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm of the Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World made a move to stop the expert from the Spirit Abundance World’s attempt to dig out their location, which was supposed to be a cause of celebration, Shang Xia wasn’t too excited at the moment.

He gasped in shock, “Is the Sixth Order expert from the Spirit Abundance World going to retreat just like that?! It’s unbelievable…”

Even though he didn’t know how many experts there were in the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm in the Spirit Abundance World, and neither did he know how strong they really were, he was certain about one thing. There was no doubt the number of experts in the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm in the Spirit Abundance World was far greater than those in the Azure Origin World and Azure Spiritual World.

That was why Shang Xia was feeling a little suspicious that they could actually repel the other party. He even suspected that it was a ruse the Spirit Abundance World was using to get them to lower their guard. He was worried they would act to reveal the location of the worlds once the experts of the 3 superpowers became a little careless.

“The expert of the Spirit Abundance World had to project his energy too deep into space. The experts of the 3 superpowers have the home-ground advantage here. That is how they managed to repel the probing of the Spirit Abundance World…” Shang Bo explained.

Only then did Shang Xia heave a sigh of relief. “At least we weren’t exposed in the end.”

“You’re thinking too simply. Even though the Spirit Abundance World failed to find our exact location, they probably learned our approximate position in the sea of stars. All they have to do next is to send out their experts in the Martial Dipper Realm and above to do a careful search of the area. Eventually, they’ll find out where we are. It’s just a matter of time.” Shang Bo glanced at Shang Xia and sighed.

Widening his eyes in shock, Shang Xia gasped, “What…”

Shang Bo’s deep voice came from the side once again. “It’s impossible for us to prevent the invasion of the Spirit Abundance World. The thing we have to do next is to hasten the fusion of our worlds. Once we combine, the level of our world will increase. Only by ascending to a Spirit World will we be able to break the shackle that is preventing us from entering the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm. We won’t have to rely on the power of an Elysium to produce an expert of that level. Only then will we have hopes of fighting against the Spirit Abundance World.”

Shang Bo couldn’t help but turn to look at Shang Xia after speaking up to that point. “Kid, no matter what method you use, you need to increase your strength as soon as possible. Remember, growing stronger is always the correct answer!”

When Shang Xia’s heart was blazing after hearing the explanation and rousing speech from his grandfather, Yun Jing’s voice arrived to interrupt them. “Patriarch Kou instructed us to return to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion for the time being.”

Shang Bo raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What about the island? Aren’t we fusing it into the Azure Origin World?”

“The situation has changed. Before the fusion of our worlds is complete, the Tongyou Island will remain in space around the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.” Yun Jing shook her head and spoke solemnly.

Glancing at the other islands that were hovering around the Beyond Heavens Pavilion, Shang Bo muttered, “Looks like we’re not the only ones planning to do that. Every island is planning to wait for that chance. Hiss… Could it be that everyone plans to use the opportunity when our worlds upgrade into a Spirit World to…”

…

As everyone made their way over to the Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc, they prepared to be transported directly to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

When Shang Xia stepped into the formation to be sent back, his body froze and he stood there in a daze.

The Crimson Soul Tablet in his sea of consciousness was finally reacting. Rows upon rows of words appeared on its surface.

After a lengthy deduction process, the Crimson Soul Tablet finally managed to refine and optimize the rank five advancement formula Shang Xia provided.