Chapter 689: Falling Jade Spring

“Huh? That… That’s a spirit river!” Kou Chongxue’s Clone seemed to have felt something and his expression changed.

“Patriarch Kou, what’s a spirit river?” Shang Xia asked. He had no idea what a spirit river meant but from the look on Kou Chongxue’s Clone’s face, he knew that it had to be something pretty amazing.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone was in too much of a rush to explain anything to Shang Xia and he transformed into a streak of light that disappeared into the distance. “Follow me!”

Looking at how Kou Chongxue was moving, Shang Xia felt that the patriarch resembled a spirit river more than anything else.

“Oh…”

Thinking about how the clone was created with Kou Chongxue’s Water Origin Fate Dipper, Shang Xia no longer found it weird. After all, it was of the water element. It wasn’t anything strange for him to be able to turn into a stream of light that resembled a river.

Surrounding himself with his extermination origins, Shang Xia raced after Kou Chongxue’s Clone by following the aura he left behind intentionally.

At his current cultivation level, he wasn’t able to bend space like Kou Chongxue’s Martial Dipper Realm Clone. He also had to avoid dangers in his way like spatial cracks and he wasn’t able to travel too quickly.

The only thing he could hope for was that the ‘spirit river’ Kou Chongxue’s Clone noticed wouldn’t escape from the clone’s pursuit.

After some time, Shang Xia felt the aura of Kou Chongxue’s Clone growing stronger. When he approached, he discovered a spirit spring sitting in the middle of the void as it emitted a dense stream of world origin.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone’s voice rang in his mind. “Seal off the space around us. We cannot allow the spirit river to escape!”

Shang Xia didn’t have too much time to think as he circulated his Four Constellation Qi instinctively. He immediately released his inner qi in the direction of the spirit spring.

He might have acted on instinct, but the moment he released his inner qi, he realized that something was wrong. It poured out from his dantian rapidly and showed no signs of slowing down. Even with his deep accumulations, he felt a sense of powerlessness like never before.

Shang Xia wasn’t using any sort of secret art. As his Four Constellation Qi entered the void, it immediately started to seal off the space around them.

The second Shang Xia’s inner qi sank into the void, the spirit spring seemed to sense danger. It tried to shift through the void to escape, but it was quickly restrained by Kou Chongxue’s Clone. No matter how it tried to turn illusory, it failed to merge and disappear into the void.

It didn’t take long for Shang Xia’s Four Constellation Qi to seal off the region of space. When he was done, a sudden force tore it open as Kou Chongxue’s Clone’s figure was restored from the stream he turned into previously. He stared at the somewhat illusory spirit spring and chuckled, “Falling Jade Spring. Damn! Your luck is really good. I didn’t think that a spiritual treasure of this quality would still be left in the Celestial Remains!”

Shang Xia’s eyes lit up when he heard the words ‘spiritual treasure’. Anything that Kou Chongxue’s Clone would refer to as a spiritual treasure had to be of the fifth rank!

From its name, it wasn’t hard to discern that it was a Water Element spiritual treasure.

After Kou Chongxue’s Clone descended, he stared at the spirit spring happily. It was still tossing and turning, but he didn’t seem to want to do anything. Shang Xia eventually roared, “Patriarch Kou, I can’t hold it any longer!”

Even though everything happened really quickly, Shang Xia exhausted a good half of his inner qi trying to seal the space off.

“Oh.” Kou Chongxue’s Clone finally seemed to notice the problem and he reached his hand into the void and pressed down. The spirit spring ceased all movements and was dragged over immediately.

The spirit river it produced that had been wriggling through space was quickly sucked back into the spirit spring.

Shang Xia turned to look at Kou Chongxue’s Clone who had grabbed the spirit spring firmly in his hand. Now that it returned to its true form, it looked like a crudely made stone flask. When Kou Chongxue’s Clone shook it slightly, Shang Xia heard sloshing sounds coming from within.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone casually tossed the flask that was barely the size of a palm over to Shang Xia the next moment.

Grabbing it hastily, Shang Xia gasped in pleasant surprise, “Is the Falling Jade Spring a rank five spiritual treasure?”

He seemed to have forgotten all about his cheating device. The Crimson Soul Tablet could easily evaluate the treasure, and it would probably be more accurate than what Kou Chongxue’s Clone knew.

Whatever the case, Kou Chongxue’s Clone had already pressed his lips together before replying, “The Falling Jade Spring is the real rank five spiritual treasure. The spring water it contains is only at the fourth rank.

As a weird expression appeared on Shang Xia’s face, Kou Chongxue’s Clone sighed, “Alas, it hasn’t been long since everyone last entered the Celestial Remains. If you had another 20 years, the spirit spring can probably produce several drops of rank five Falling Jade Crystal Dew. That’s also a rank five spiritual treasure. If you had even more time, it might even be able to produce several strands of Falling Jade Fate Dipper Essence. It might be what you need…”

Shang Xia was shocked as he looked at the flask in his hand. He circulated his extermination origins and the Crimson Soul Tablet quickly gave him an explanation.

“Falling Jade Spirit Spring, rank five Water Element spiritual treasure.”

“Falling Jade Liquid, rank four Water Element spiritual treasure.”

The Crimson Soul Jade was as concise as ever when it evaluated those treasures.

A tinge of regret flashed across his eyes when he heard that it would be able to produce a Water Element fate dipper essence after some time, but it didn’t last for long. The smile quickly returned to his face as he chuckled, “Looks like my luck isn’t bad! At the very least, I managed to obtain a rank five Water Element spiritual treasure. The only thing I’m lacking now are fate dipper essences of the Water and Wood Elements…”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone looked at Shang Xia deeply before mumbling, “It’s great you think this way. It’s a pity my old friend who knows how to craft advancement medicines isn't here. Otherwise, he can probably complete the semi-finished medicine with what you already have. All you need will be to obtain those fate dipper essences…”

Perhaps it was because of the Water Origin Fate Dipper that made up the clone, but it seemed to resonate well with the Falling Jade Spring. He had a deep understanding of the treasure.

Shang Xia chuckled once and ended the conversation. There was already a strange feeling in him that he hadn’t been as lucky as he could be after entering the Celestial Remains.

Back when he found the Ten Thousand Needle Pine, it was a damaged rank five spiritual treasure. It was supposed to be able to nurture a strand of fate dipper essence, but not enough time had passed for it to be condensed.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The Falling Jade Spring was something he obtained through sheer luck, but the water it contained was merely rank four spiritual water.

Even Kou Chongxue’s Clone was starting to feel a little sorry for Shang Xia. He was so close, yet so far.

…

Shang Xia had to cultivate for some time to restore his inner qi after exhausting a huge part of it to trap the Falling Jade Spring earlier.

He hadn’t restored too much of it when a loud blast rang through the Celestial Remains. Violent spatial fluctuations spread extremely quickly across the regions of space.

Raising his head in shock, Shang Xia stared at the source of those fluctuations and gasped, “Did someone else enter?!”

“Hmm… That took close to 2 hours. Looks like the experts of the Yuanchen Sect aren’t decisive enough. They came a little later than I expected!” Kou Chongxue’s Clone muttered before looking in the same direction. There was a trace of ridicule in his voice.

After mumbling intelligibly to himself, Shang Xia looked at Kou Chongxue’s Clone and asked, “Patriarch Kou, what’s the situation with your true body and the other clone right now?”

“I have no idea, but I didn’t receive any warning or alerts from them. That would mean that neither of them ran into any trouble…” Kou Chongxue’s Clone shook his head and laughed.

“So… Now that other people have entered the Celestial Remains, are we going to meet up with your true body? “Shang Xia wondered.

His clone didn’t stop laughing as he continued, “The Celestial Remains is massive. It’s not easy for us to run into them anyway. Even if we do, those losers might not be able to do anything to me!”

Since Kou Chongxue’s Clone had spoken, Shang Xia had no reason to go against it. They continued to travel around the Celestial Remains to look for opportunities and treasures.

During that time…

In the depths of the Celestial Remains, spatial cracks were all around. Regions of crumbled space and remnants of various formations were fused together and the entire area looked like a dormant volcano that had the ability to erupt at any time.

Kou Chongxue’s true body was deep within the region and was maneuvering through the countless spatial cracks and dangers all around.

His gaze landed on a region of twisted space and it somewhat reflected a damaged, but multicolored three legged bronze cauldron.

“The Elysium Boundary Marker, a Jade Pillar to support the heavens. Origin Holy Artifact. Rumor has it that these are the 3 most important treasures after the creation of an Elysium.”

“Now that most of the space here has crumbled, the Heaven Supporting Jade Pillar has definitely been destroyed. I’m afraid even the Boundary Marker might not have made it. Otherwise, it’s not possible for this Celestial Remains to remain as an unknown existence. None of us even knows its name…”

“Even with so many factors, the Celestial Remains could maintain a powerful presence with dense heaven and earth qi filling every inch of space. It managed to produce treasures again and again without showing any signs of weakening. That would mean that the Holy Artifact that is connected to the source of the world origin is still present. Moreover, it should be very well preserved…”

Kou Chongxue stared at the bronze cauldron and muttered to himself. He couldn't be sure if he was looking at the Origin Holy Artifact. All he was staring at was its twisted reflection, and that wasn’t the real thing. Moreover, he could barely make out its appearance due to the strange twisting of space.

Even so, Kou Chongxue could tell that even if the cauldron wasn’t the Origin Holy Artifact, it was definitely a rare treasure. At the very least, it would be on par with the Hidden Frost Sword he was using!

There was also no need to mention how difficult it would be to retrieve the cauldron. From the regions of shattered space and formation remnants, not a single Martial Dipper Realm Ancestor would dare to step foot in there without enough preparations. That was probably why the cauldron could still remain untouched.