Chapter 692: Working Together

A thin stream of starlight snaked its way down from the highest point in the depths of the Ruined Observatory.

Shang Xia was dumbfounded the moment he noticed it. He let out an involuntary gasp, “Is that Star Essence?!”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone was equally as shocked. However, he seemed to have thought of something as the look in his eyes became a little more solemn.

Shang Xia noticed it and asked, “Patriarch Kou, did you think of something?”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone shook his head and mumbled, “I can’t be sure of anything. Let’s talk about it after you gather the Star Essence there.”

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Shang Xia nodded as he went over to collect the Star Essence that was falling. As he made his way over, Kou Chongxue’s Clone reminded, “Hey, don’t take all of it.”

“Why not? Am I supposed to let some of it remain so more can be produced in the future?” Shang Xia wondered softly.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone chuckled in response, “Don’t you think that the stream that’s coming down from it can show us a safe path through the Ruined Observatory?”

A light lit up in Shang Xia’s eyes.

There were countless restrictions that remained in the Ruined Observatory and regions where there was shattered space. It might be ranked among the least dangerous of regions in the Celestial Remains, but it wouldn’t be easy for Kou Chongxue’s Clone to run around however he wished.

Now that they had the stream of starlight to light up their path, all they had to do was follow where it went to ensure that the path in front of them was safe. They could save a huge deal of effort.

Bringing out a spiritual case, Shang Xia collected a portion of the Star Essence while following behind Kou Chongxue’s Clone. They entered the depths of the Ruined Observatory and Shang Xia didn’t forget to collect the world origin along the way.

A moment later, he managed to fill a third of the spiritual case with Star Essence.

One had to know that Shang Xia tried collecting Star Essence before and the process was a lot harder than what he was currently experiencing.

Traveling along the ‘stream’ of starlight, they shattered a few weak restrictions that were along their way before entering deeper into the Ruined Observatory.

Seeing how Shang Xia had caught up, Kou Chongxue’s Clone asked, “How much Star Essence have you collected? You need a Grandmaster Blacksmith to make a move to fix your weapon… Have you found one?”

Shang Xia looked at the spiritual case that was half filled at that point and replied, “Disciple came into contact with the Hundred Weapons Mill back during the trade fair on the Three Unity Island. From the way they spoke, they seem to have a Grandmaster Blacksmith. I plan on collecting enough Star Essence before heading over to try my luck.”

“I collected a little less than 2 spirit cases so far, and it should be far from enough to fix my weapon…”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone nodded slowly. Seeing as they had pretty much gathered all the Star Essence in the area and decided to lead him to the next.

Shang Xia took the chance to absorb all the world origin he could with his Crimson Soul Tablet along the way.

The more world origin he absorbed, the more he discovered that it was starting to pick and choose the type of world origin Shang Xia was absorbing as it became increasingly close to restoring itself.

World origin might be dense in the Ruined Observatory, but the Crimson Soul Tablet would only absorb the purest of the lot.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone could naturally notice what was happening with Shang Xia, but he didn’t say a word. Luckily for Shang Xia, he wouldn’t have to think of an excuse to explain his current situation.

Perhaps there was something to do with them getting deeper, but the restrictions around them were starting to grow a little more complicated. Kou Chongxue’s Clone ran into slight problems when he tried to follow the stream of starlight and destroy the restrictions around him.

When Shang Xia observed how the clone did it, he noticed a strand of sword qi emerging from his fingertips. It turned into something resembling a stream of water before entering the starlight ‘river’ and wormed its way into the restrictions in their path. IT then separated into many different strands of sword qi that seeped deeper into the restrictions.

That was how Kou Chongxue’s Clone got rid of the restrictions around them as they made their way deeper into the Ruined Observatory.

Unlike the past, the restriction didn’t crumble under the sword qi. It exploded the next second and activated the restriction in the surrounding area. Layers of spiritual light lit up the area and an unknown change was about to happen.

“Oh no! Retreat!” Kou Chongxue’s Clone yelled and he turned around to leave with Shang Xia.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia wasn’t content with leaving like that. The moment the restrictions were activated and when Kou Chongxue’s Clone was trying to suppress them with his strength, Shang Xia released his extermination origins. They immediately started to erode the restrictions in their way.

The second Kou Chongxue’s Clone retracted his sword qi, Shang Xia increased the power behind his extermination origins and managed to carve out a path before the restrictions were fully activated.

“I got it!”

Not only did Shang Xia not retreat, he even managed to force a small gap out for himself.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone was slightly taken aback as he stared at the spatial fluctuations that were caused by the remnant restrictions all around. He snorted helplessly once before following behind Shang Xia.

The second he entered the hole created by Shang Xia, everything crumbled. Only several cracks remained on the surface they stood on earlier.

Shang Xia stood on a mottled platform dozens of feet away from where they once were and felt his heart pounding in his chest as he looked at what happened a second ago.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone appeared beside him and napped at him immediately. “Are you tired of living?! How lucky do you think you are? Do you think that this will happen all the time?”

Shang Xia knew that he had been acting a little too rashly earlier and he quickly explained, “Patriarch Kou, I was wrong. I was a little too impatient earlier and got carried away.”

Finally nodding, Kou Chongxue’s Clone was no longer as angry as before. He eventually muttered, “Your extermination origins are something extraordinary alright. It seems to possess an ability to destroy restrictions. However, we managed to escape from that relying a little more on luck…”

Shang Xia understood that the reason it worked earlier was because his extermination origins managed to work together with Kou Chongxue’s Clone’s sword qi and deal with the restriction from both the inside and outside. That was why he could cut out a path eventually.

A chuckle left Kou Chongxue’s Clone’s lips suddenly. He pointed at the space behind Shang Xia and spoke, “Well, looks like it was really worth it to take the risk anyway.”

Shang Xia turned around abruptly and noticed that the platform he was standing on was pretty large. There was an unusually large amount of starlight gathered on it.

Joy filled Shang Xia’s heart as he brought out the spiritual case again. This time, he managed to nearly fill it up.

As he was doing that, Kou Chongxue’s Clone found an extermination origin. Laughing at how fortunate he was, he retrieved it for himself.

After collecting the Star Essence, Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask, “Patriarch Kou, since the Ruined Observatory collects Star Essence, do you think it has other functions?”

“Most probably…” Kou Chongxue’s Clone replied.

Shang Xia raised his head to look at the highest point of the Ruined Observatory and continued, “Is there something in the core of the Ruined Observatory? Why else can it gather so much Star Essence? If there actually is something else here, can we obtain it for ourselves? After all, it would be great if we learned how to make something like this… It would be great if we managed to build it after we upgrade from a Mysterious World to a Holy Land…”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone broke out in laughter. “Of course. But that will have to wait until we actually manage to find a way to build something like this.”

“Patriarch Kou, don’t you feel that it will be easier for us to destroy the restrictions if we work together? From what we did earlier…” Shang Xia muttered.

However, Kou Chongxue’s Clone seemed to have expected Shang Xia to say something like that and he quickly agreed. “Let’s give it a shot. However, you need to listen to me from now on. You cannot act recklessly!”

Shang Xia promised and started to work together with Kou Chongxue’s Clone. With their combined strength, destroying restrictions became a lot easier than before.

Getting rid of restrictions in their way one after another, they ventured deeper and deeper into the Ruined Observatory. Shang Xia gathered 2 sealed spiritual cases full of Star Essence and with whatever he obtained in the past, he had 4 cases of them in tidal.

The Crimson Soul Tablet didn’t remain idle either. Several cracks that plagued its core were eventually sealed up.

When Shang Xia retrieved the third spiritual case, he couldn’t help but ask, “Patriarch Kou, why do you think the Observatory was built in the first place? There’s no way it was built just so they could gather Star Essence, right? Huh? Patriarch Kou…”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone seemed to be a little out of it. After Shang Xia called out to him, he snapped back to reality and muttered, “This is really strange… It’s not because of the purpose it was built. It’s just that the accumulation of Star Essence seems a little too absurd…”

“Patriarch Kou, do you mean…” Shang Xia gasped softly.

Kou Chongxue’s Clone replied calmly, “Even though this place gathered enough Star Essence to form the tiny stream of starlight, less than 10 years had passed since the Celestial Remains was last opened…”

Shang Xia turned a lot more serious. “Patriarch Kou, do you mean to say that something changed in here, causing Star Essence to be gathered at a much quicker rate?”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone wasn’t in a hurry to continue advancing forward. Instead, he raised his head to look through the spatial barrier and the starry sea of stars outside. “No… The change probably happened to our Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World… An unknown transformation probably happened there…”

Shang Xia was slightly moved by his response. “Is it possible it had something to do with the invasion of the Spirit Abundance World?”

Kou Chongxue’s Clone shook his head slowly before turning to stare at the depths of the Ruined Observatory. “I have no clue. Looks like we have no choice but to locate the source of the starlight stream in order to learn what’s going on.”