Chapter 627: Unexpected Surprise

Shang Xia wasn’t there to ask Chu Jia about the Five Elements Jade because of a moment of impulse.

Back in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion, he tried his luck and sought guidance from Kou Chongxue, Shang Bo, and the others regarding the matter of the Five Elements Jade only to learn that they had no idea either.

Regardless if it was Kou Chongxue or Shang Bo, neither of them had ever seen a spiritual treasure that contained the elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Without the Five Elements Jade, Shang Xia understood that he couldn’t balance the 5 elements in his advancement medicine. That would also mean that he wouldn’t be able to enter the Five Elements Realm without it.

In the institution, there were several great sources of knowledge. The Scripture Depository would definitely take the number 1 spot due to their massive collection of books and scrolls. The Outreach Division came next, and the Formations Hall would be ranked right after that.

Laying down formations would involve countless types of treasures. As such, every single Formation Master could be considered an experienced expert when it came to treasures of different properties.

As the only Formations Grandmaster in the Tongyou Institution, Chu Jia definitely knew a lot more than the other Formation Masters.

When she heard about the properties of the item Shang Xia was looking for, she chuckled in amusement. “There actually is something like that.”

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock and he didn’t believe his ears. In all honesty, he was trying his luck when he came to seek guidance from Chu Jia. He didn’t wish to let off any possibility of learning about the Five Elements Jade. He didn’t expect to find his answer in the Formations Hall. When he was making his way over earlier, he only planned to ask them to help him keep a lookout before leaving for the Scripture Depository to look for Zhang Haogu.

That was how his plan would go. He wanted to ask Zhang Haogu for records that might have something to do with the Five Elements Jade.

The last part would involve him heading to the Outreach Division to request for them to take note of any treasure like that in the Azure Origin World.

Never in his wildest imagination would he have thought that Chu Jia would be able to give him a confirmation!

Not knowing how to react, Shang Xia only managed to respond after some time. He didn’t seem too convinced and he asked again, “Sorry, can you repeat yourself?”

The smile on Chu Jia’s face grew even wider after noticing how anxious Shang Xia seemed. “I said, there’s actually something like that.”

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock but he still looked unconvinced.

Seeing through his thoughts, Chu Jia’s voice sank and she growled, “What’s the matter?! Do you not believe me?”

“Please enlighten me…” Shang Xia snapped back to reality and said respectfully.

“Hehe! There’s hope for this kid…” It was clear Chu Jia enjoyed his respectful act. Eventually, the playful look on her face disappeared and she started to turn serious. “If you’re looking for a treasure that’s born naturally while containing the 5 elements, there might be something like that out there. However, I have never seen it before…” Chu Jia paused for a second to watch Shang Xia’s expression sinking. “... Well, that’s referring to naturally born treasures. If you don’t mind a man-made treasure, I should be able to create one!”

Shang Xia was completely dumbfounded after hearing her response. It was also then that Shang Xia realized he had been mistaken the entire time. The Crimson Soul Tablet indicated that he had to find the Five Elements Jade, but it never said anything about it being a naturally formed treasure.

At the end of the day, all the Five Elements Jade had to do was regulate the elements and maintain them in an equilibrium when he broke through. It didn’t matter if it was naturally formed or man-made!

To prevent him from making another mistake, Shang Xia once again sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness to study the recipe for his Five Elements Paradoxical Yin Yang Paste. Indeed… The tablet didn’t say anything else about the Five Elements Jade other than its name. The only time it gave any indication of what the treasure should be was when it mentioned ‘spiritual treasure’ for the fourth and fifth rank!

“Hey! What are you thinking about?! Did you hear what I said?!” Chu Jia’s voice boomed in his mind, shocking him awake.

“Oh, oh! Yeah, sorry! I was still shocked by what you said earlier. I didn’t think that your knowledge of formations had already reached such an amazing level!” Shang Xia reacted quickly and shifted her attention away by giving her some slight praise.

“Hmph! It’s good that you know now…” Chu Jia pouted, but a look of delight appeared on her face. She then continued, “Well, looks like you’re pretty lucky. If this was before I saw and made use of the Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc, I wouldn’t be confident that I would be able to create whatever you said.

“Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc?” Shang Xia raised his eyebrows curiously. He didn’t know what that had to do with the Five Elements Jade.

Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, Chu Jia explained, “The Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc is the key to our Tongyou Mysterious World’s ascension to the Tongyou Paradise. It even has the ability to store a massive amount of world origin. The Five Elements Jade you’re talking about can barely be compared to it. You should know that world origin is the source of everything. It created Origin Dippers and various spiritual treasures. No matter how impressive your Five Elements Jade is, it can’t be ranked higher than a complete Origin Dipper…”

Shang Xia understood what she meant. Even though the Five Elements Jade sounded impressive as it contained the properties of all 5 primary elements, it was truly nothing when compared to the Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc.

“It’s just that…” Shang Xia spoke after a short moment of contemplation. “The Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc is still considered pretty big… The Five Elements Jade I require should be really small in size as it needs to be used with my advancement medicine…”

Shang Xia decided to reveal the fact that he was already starting to prepare to enter the Martial Dipper Realm to Chu Jia. Also, he directly indicated the size of the jade. His advancement medicine was called the Five Elements Paradoxical Yin Yang Paste, and he had to ingest a portion of it while applying the other portion to his body. If Chu Jia really created something the size of the Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc, he wouldn’t be able to eat it no matter how hard he tried.

Also, Chu Jia could tell that Shang Xia truly trusted her now that he had revealed the fact that the Five Elements Jade was a key to his advancement to the Martial Dipper Realm.

She had been partly teasing Shang Xia while maintaining a mere shred of seriousness. She was also trying to rile Shang Xia up for fun the whole time. Now that she heard how important the Five Elements Jade was, she turned serious. Even the way she spoke changed.

“You don’t have to worry so much about this. I gained some inspiration from the Nine Blossom Jade Formation Disc and I’m fairly certain I can craft the treasure you require. However, I won’t be able to succeed in a single try. I’ll probably fail a few times and the byproducts would be useless. Throughout the process, I will be extremely careful in my use of resources to prevent wastage, but that would also mean that the end product would be really tiny…”

Shang Xia heaved a sigh of relief after hearing her explanation. Not a trace of playfulness could be heard in his voice as he continued, “That would be great. If you really go all out and craft it through the wanton use of resources, I’ll probably go broke…”

“Don’t give me that! There’s no use acting pitiful in front of me… If we’re talking about personal wealth, you’re probably the richest person in our Tongyou Institution if we don’t count the Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors! In fact, even if we look through the entire You Continent, that will still hold true!”

Shang Xia felt that he most definitely couldn’t admit to that in front of Chu Jia and he responded quickly, “How can that be true? Teacher Chu, you’re exaggerating!”

“Hmph! Shameless fellow…” Chu Jia glared at Shang Xia before returning back on track. “Whatever it is, you should get me several pieces of high-grade spirit jade. You probably don’t need me to tell you why I need them but… Those spirit jade can’t be of inferior quality since we’re fusing rank four or five spiritual treasures into them!”

Shang Xia didn’t expect that the massive headache he was getting from finding the Five Elements Jade would be solved just like that! Naturally, he wouldn’t reject Chu Jia’s request for high-quality spirit jade.

Feeling a massive weight lifted off his heart now that the matter of the Five Elements Jade was settled, Shang Xia decided to bid farewell and take his leave.

Who would have thought that he would be interrupted by Chu Jia the moment he stood up?

“Are you leaving just like that?! Aren’t you planning to show your sincerity after I promised to craft your Five Elements Jade?!” Chu Jia grumbled softly.

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock. He was so relieved that he finally found a way to obtain the Five Elements Jade that he forgot that he was asking Chu Jia for a favor. Now that he had sent himself over for a slaughterfest, Chu Jia definitely wouldn’t give up a chance to milk him for his treasures.

“Teacher Chu, is there anything I can help you with? I’ll promise to do it as long as it’s within the scope of my capabilities.” Shang Xia replied. He knew that he couldn’t show the slightest bit of hesitation at moments like that. In order to get his hands on the Five Elements Jade, he would agree to any demands she had.

“Alright! I want you to help me create a Formation Diagram!” Chu Jia smiled. Seeing the confused look on Shang Xia’s face, she continued, “If you manage to step into the Martial Dipper Realm in the future, you need to help me craft a rank five Formation Diagram!”

“Talisman Masters and Formation Masters have always been working hand in hand… There’s no point in me rejecting your request, but a rank five Formation Diagram…” Shang Xia muttered.

Chu Jia seemed to be able to see through his thoughts. Her tone changed and she spoke with utmost sincerity, “Shang Xia, I don’t know how you plan on entering the Martial Dipper Realm, but from your requirement of the Five Elements Jade, I can tell that it has something to do with the interaction of elements… Don’t you think the principles behind that can be used to create an amazing formation?”

He was taken aback by her explanation. He might have been agreeing blindly earlier, but he could somewhat understand that the interaction of the 5 elements could also be used as a base of formation creation.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Chu Jia definitely deserved her reputation as the most talented Formation Grandmaster in the history of the Tongyou Institution. She had extremely sharp senses and her knowledge of formations was vast. She managed to connect the dots the moment he spoke about the Five Elements Jade and he couldn’t help but admire her for it.

She continued, “I have no idea how you’re planning to use the jade that contains the properties of all 5 primary elements, and I’m not sure if you’re clear about it either. However, I’m sure of one thing. After you enter the Martial Dipper Realm, you will definitely have experienced it for yourself. With what you learned from it, my request won’t pose a problem!”

After thinking about it, Shang Xia nodded solemnly. “It’s a deal.”

A look of joy bloomed on Chu Jia’s face. “That’s great! My instincts tell me that the Formation Diagram would most likely be the key for me to become a rank five Formations Grandmaster!”

“Actually, it might even…” She paused for a second and her voice wavered slightly. She might be a little concerned that her excitement would cause her to speak a little too loudly and she suppressed her voice before she continued, “... It might even be the key to my breakthrough to the Martial Dipper Realm in the future…”

Carefully examining Chu Jia again, Shang Xia discovered that her cultivation had already reached the second layer of the Martial Extermination Realm!

They had merely returned for a few days, but Chu Jia had already refined her second extermination origin!