Chapter 636: Union of the

After everyone else had finally left, Shang Xia felt a strange feeling in his heart as he stood alone in the center of the courtyard.

In the Embroidered Cloud Case he received from Liu Qinglan, there were 1000 low-grade essence crystals and 5 mid-grade ones.

The 1000 low-grade essence crystals were provided by the institution, while the extra 5 mid-grade essence crystals had been given to him by Kou Chongxue personally.

From the attitudes of the institution and the 4 great clans, Shang Xia could tell that they only had a single objective at the moment. They were gathering all their efforts to help Shang Xia break through to the Martial Dipper Realm!

If he were to fail in his attempt to advance, everything they provided would go to waste

If he were to succeed, he would owe all of them a massive favor. In the future, he would have to take on the responsibility of supporting and protecting the institution and the various great clans from any trouble. It wouldn’t be an easy matter either.

Those things aside, Shang Xia could also feel the severity of the situation by how anxious they were to assist him in his breakthrough.

It didn’t matter if it was the Tongyou Institution or the four great clans. They might have already possessed 3 Martial Dipper Realm experts, but they were still pushing for the birth of a fourth.

Kou Chongxue, Ji Wenlong, Shang Bo, Yun Jing…

All of them seemed to feel a sense of urgency like never before and they were using all sorts of methods to increase their strength at the earliest opportunity even if it meant taking a risk…

In the past, Kou Chongxue nearly lost his life in his attempt to enter the Martial Dipper Realm.

To obtain Shang Bo’s Grand Silk Silver Sand Fate Dipper, he was plotted against by his enemies and was attacked by Martial Dipper Realm experts.

In order to enter the Martial Dipper Realm, Ji Wenlong and the upper echelons of the institution risked the destruction of the Tongyou City to draw over the power of the Origin Tide from the battlefield between the two worlds.

As for Shang Bo, the Tongyou Institution bet almost everything on their expedition to the Manyu Continent. They sent nearly all their Martial Extermination Realm experts over to achieve their goal.

In the past, Shang Xia felt that the Tongyou Institution was doing all it could as it was protecting the You Continent because of the collision of the worlds and the invasion from those of the Azure Spiritual World.

After reaching his current level, he discovered that Kou Chongxue was actually pushing for everyone to get stronger to get back on those who sacrificed the border continents for their sake of growing stronger…

Now, there was the imminent invasion of the Spirit Abundance World.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but shake his head slightly. It was too early for him to think of those things. The most important thing he had to do was to get ready to enter the Martial Dipper Realm. He could care about everything after advancing!

Tossing those random thoughts away, Shang Xia started to look at the treasures he already obtained so that he could make a list of what he required during the trade fair.

Currently, he had 3300 worth of essence crystals. Of those 2300 were low-grade essence crystals and he had 10 mid-grade ones.

Actually, he had no clue how much purchasing power they held. Even Liu Qinglan and the others weren’t too sure.

Essence crystals appeared half a year ago, and there would definitely be some ambitious people using them as a newfound currency to trade for goods. Even so, no one had an actual grasp of what they were worth. The trade fair was probably going to be the best chance they would get to ascertain the value of the crystals. That was also most likely one of the main goals of the three super factions.

With the exception of Chu Jia who was running around in excitement at the opening of the Tongyou Hall and Yun Yichen who was dragged along to help her, Liu Qinglan, Ji Yu, and Liu Zhidao chose to go around to gather some intelligence.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Not too long later, Liu Qinglan returned with a solemn expression.

She looked for Shang Xia and stated immediately, “We previously estimated that there might not be 800 Martial Extermination Realm experts in our worlds. You can head out there to take a look. Right now, this island has already gathered close to 100 of them. This is merely 1 of the 3 islands that make up the Three Unity Island and there will definitely be more people arriving. After the merger of the islands, there should be close to 400 of us.”

“That’s only counting the experts who arrived on the Three Unity Island. There are tons of experts who didn’t have the qualifications to come over and failed to locate the island! Our institution alone has close to 30 experts at that level. Only 6 of us came. If we use the same percentage to calculate the number of experts from the other factions, there will definitely be more than 1000 of them out there! In fact, the total number of Martial Extermination Realm experts in our worlds might be closer to 1500…” Liu Qinglan added.

Shang Xia was shocked at the news. He didn’t quite believe her and he gasped, “Are you sure?! What if the other factions chose to send more people with the invitation they received?”

Liu Qinglan growled. “What if it’s the other way around?”

Shang Xia fell silent instantly.

Liu Qinglan sighed softly, “Perhaps we have always been underestimating the various holy lands. Their foundations and hidden strength is far from what is revealed. A single holy land out there might be hiding too many things. Not to mention the fact that one’s lifespan would extend up to 100 years after reaching the third layer of the Martial Extermination Realm. In fact, there might be some who can live for 150 years or so! Those who reached the fourth layer would be able to live past 200 years easily if they weren’t killed along the way! The lifespans of Martial Dipper Realm experts are even more exaggerated!”

“The experts we normally see aren’t too old. We hardly see any past 100 years old… Where did they all go? They can’t possibly have all died along the way. One can imagine that they would be hiding in those holy lands out there… Every single one of those holy lands out here has a history that goes back 300 to 500 years… With how long they have existed for, how many hidden experts would they possess?” Liu Qinglan analyzed. She turned to look at Shang Xia as she continued, “Just one of the continents on our Azure Origin World stretches for more than ten thousand miles. There are millions upon millions of lives living on one single continent… Now you should understand why everyone is sparing no effort in supporting your breakthrough to the Martial Dipper Realm.”

Shang Xia remained silent but he nodded while maintaining a serious expression.

Ji Yu left the residence after Liu Qinglan returned. He went around the island to look around before summarizing whatever he learned to the others. “The street seems to be a little more lively than before. More stores are appearing and it’s not hard to see that everyone is acting extremely cautiously. Not many deals have taken place and there aren’t many using essence crystals. Most of them out there are trading treasures with each other.”

“Of course, many stores out there hope to receive essence crystals as payment. Unfortunately, they have no idea the worth of one and they would probably charge higher prices in order not to make a loss…” Ji Yu muttered. After thinking for a second, he added, “It’s not hard to see the attitude of the three super factions. They probably plan to push for the use of essence crystals…”

Shang Xia broke into laughter suddenly. “I wonder how the business of our Tongyou Hall is doing…”

Ji Yu wanted to roar with laughter, but he managed to control himself. Forcing down the wide grin on his face, he replied, “Well, we’re definitely asking for essence crystals. However, our prices are exceptionally high.”

Shang Xia widened his eyes slightly before chuckling mirthlessly.

After chatting with Ji Yu for a little more, Liu Zhidao also made his return. The moment he stepped foot into the courtyard, he yelled, “Another island is approaching! Looks like we’re about to merge with it!”

Shang Xia and Ji Yu ran over to him as quickly as they could. Liu Qinglan, Chu Jia, and Yun Yichen appeared from different parts of the residence and gathered in the courtyard after hearing what he said.

“Even if another island approaches, that just makes 2. The third island isn’t here yet…” Chu Jia snorted softly. She felt that Liu Zhidao was overreacting and felt a trace of irritation in her heart. However, she was just annoyed that the Tongyou Hall hadn’t made any money yet. Her enthusiasm took a huge hit and she felt as though someone poured a bucket of cold water over her head.

Of course, Liu Zhidao wouldn’t care about what she said at the moment. “Since 2 islands will be merging, wouldn’t that mean that the third is close by?”

Liu Qinglan laughed softly. “Alright, alright. Let’s head out to take a look. It’s definitely going to be a sight to see…”

Chu Jia snorted again at the side. “The merging of the island won’t be anything interesting! I’ll head back to the Tongyou Hall! Now that the other island is about to join the one we're on, there will definitely be more people on the island. Our business might start to boom!”

After she spoke, she turned to leave.

Yun Yichen smiled at the others before turning to follow her.

At the end of the day, the mighty Formation Grandmaster Chu Jia had no idea how to do business. Yun Yichen was the one doing everything and she even stood at the entrance of the store to pull in some customers.

With Chu Jia and Yun Yichen gone, Shang Xia and the others left the residence and stood on the street. From where they stood, they could see another island that was similar in size and shape to the island they were standing on approaching slowly and carefully. They eventually connected with each other.

The moment they did, everyone felt the ground beneath their feet shaking slightly. A low rumble also came from the earth.

In the next instant, more people appeared around the region where the islands were joined. They laid special stone boards covered in runes to prevent the islands from separating.

Throughout the entire process, Shang Xia could feel that the stone boards were completely useless. Instead, there was a massive object beneath the lands that truly connected both islands.

Protection barriers that enveloped both islands started to merge before turning into one giant screen.

Only then did both islands truly merge.

With one end of the street connected to the other side, experts from either side swarmed over to the other.

The experts of the Tongyou Institution nodded at each other before heading out to do their own thing.

Shang Xia strolled about alone and examined the people around him. It didn’t take long before he was distracted by a disturbance from the other side.

Raising his eyebrows, he extended his divine perception over. He quickly discovered a third island approaching them.