Chapter 825: Before the Forbidden Region

Back when Shang Xia fought with Yiyun and Yishen of the Eternal Palace, he discovered someone spying on him.

Originally, he thought that it was a helper Yishen and Yiyun had called, and he noticed Jiu Qi appearing after he left. He thought that it was the end of the matter, but even after running far away, he still felt like someone was staring at him. Using his divine will to sweep the region around him, he concluded that the person was spying on him with some special method and not their divine will.

The secret art that could do something like that was too frightening. Shang Xia knew that if it could track him through the void, it would be extremely difficult for him to shake them off with ordinary methods.

As such, he didn’t try anything else after scanning the region with his divine will. He didn’t wish to alert the enemy that he was onto them, and he wanted to get them to lower their guards as much as possible.

He might have been acting like he didn’t detect them, but he maintained his vigilance while thinking of ways to prevent them from spying on him.

For them to be able to track him even though he passed through a spatial tunnel, Shang Xia knew that he wouldn’t be able to get rid of them just by flying. It should be ineffective for him to use his Five Element Dipper Qi to conceal his presence too.

It was a pity he couldn’t create a true separate secret region with his Five Element Ring. He could only use it to seal off a region of space at the moment. If he was truly able to achieve the next level, he might actually be able to avoid their detection by using the Five Element Ring.

Oh... Actually, he would also be able to avoid their detection by using a formation. Unfortunately, Chu Jia wasn’t present at the moment. He didn’t know much about formations, and even if he managed to lay one down, it wouldn’t be able to move along with him. His enemy would know exactly where he was anyway.

As ideas ran through his mind, he felt his heart trembling slightly as though something terrifying was about to happen.

Shang Xia had been storing up his energy for some time now and a trace of inspiration flashed through his mind.

Formation? Or should I use my movement art?

He thought back to his time in the Tongyou Paradise. His movement art was able to easily bypass the restrictions Kou Chongxue and Chu Jia made.

If he used his Five Element Movement Art, he wondered if he would be able to avoid their strange spying methods.

With that thought in mind, Shang Xia decided to give it a shot. He had a feeling their spying art had a way of tracking different types of movement based on the movement and evasion arts of those in the Azure Ascension World. However, his Five Element Movement Art was something he created recently, and the other party might not know the principles behind it and how to track him.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt as though his idea would work. At the same time, the sense of unease he felt grew ever stronger and Shang Xia decisively unleashed his Five Element Earth Movement Art with the help of the dust storm blown over by the wind.

A rank three Earth Movement Art required the user to use earth as a medium in order to unleash it. A rank four Earth Movement Art would require one to use Earth Element Qi. For someone at Shang Xia’s level, his rank five Earth Movement Art could be activated with ease. The moment it was used, he seemed to have transformed into dust that was blown along with the wind.

It could be said that there were traces left behind if one unleashed a rank three or rank four Earth Movement Art, but the moment Shang Xia used his rank five Earth Movement Art, he disappeared completely.

One could basically ignore the fact that the person currently tracking him was far away. Even if they were nearby, they might not be able to discover the intricacies behind his movement art.

That was how terrifying the Five Element Movement Art was.

As Shang Xia was carefully inspecting the effects of his rank five Earth Movement Art, he tried to examine every single dust particle in the air. The vast expanse of the earth could be clearly felt by him. It felt like only by encompassing everything would he be able to feel the true marvel of the Earth Movement Art.

When he was enjoying the feeling rushing through his body, he suddenly felt a chill running down his spine. Alarm bells rang in his mind and his sense of reasoning told him that he had to snap out of that state. He couldn’t allow himself to be fully immersed in that feeling. Otherwise, he might truly ‘become one with the earth’ and disappear forever.

When his powerful consciousness forced himself to snap out of that state of mind, He immediately stopped unleashing his Earth Movement Art. He stumbled through the air and arrived at a completely foreign location.

Spreading his powerful divine will again, Shang Xia observed his surroundings. He felt that the strange sensation of being spied on had disappeared and heaved a sigh of relief. Without the threat looming over his head, he continued to restore his energy by using mid-grade essence crystals. At the same time, he tried to locate himself in the Celestial Remains.

It was then when he had a faint feeling that he turned into the greatest clue of Kou Chongxue’s whereabouts. No one would leave him alone as long as they discovered him.

Feeling a sense of apprehension, he realized that he had to pay attention to his surroundings as he traveled through the Celestial Remains. He shouldn’t expose himself easily.

Fortunately, he was pretty familiar with where he was. He seemed as though he wasn’t far from the forbidden region that contained the Stellar Cauldron.

Once again ensuring that there were no dangers around him, he tossed out several essence crystals and created a crude Five Element Qi Gathering Formation that was much better than what he came up with in the past before trying to restore his energy.

He understood clearly that there wasn’t just a single forbidden region in the Celestial Remains. However, the Stellar Cauldron was in one of them and the 3 Elysiums definitely had their suspicions on where it was. They would definitely gather their strength and focus on exploring the area they thought the cauldron was.

Thinking about how he should venture deeper into the forbidden region, Shang Xia was afraid that he would first have to face the attacks of those aiming for the same thing.

...

The Lightning Bird stood motionless on Kou Chongxue’s clone’s shoulder. With its keen senses, it could tell that the moment it moved, it would probably be torn to shreds by the countless restrictions in the area.

What it found strange was the fact that the sense of danger wasn’t coming from the flashing runes around it. Instead, it came from the tiny path the clone carved out!

How could the danger be because of this path?!

Why is he able to travel through it while remaining completely alright?

The Lightning Bird would turn its head slightly from side to side as it focused its attention on Kou Chongxue’s clone. It was as though the bird was trying to uncover the secrets the man was hiding.

As they traveled closer and closer to the top of the observatory, the Lightning Bird saw tiny specks appearing in the distance.

Oh?! Is that the sea of stars?

...

After Lu Wuzi lost track of Shang Xia in the Halo Mirror, he stood quietly in his place as he fell into deep contemplation.

The experts of the Northern Sea Mystic Sect and the other factions who followed him stood silently behind him. However, most of their gazes weren’t as droopy as before. Instead, many thoughts seemed to be spouting in their minds.

Chen Pingzi took several steps back and hid behind other experts after seeing his Martial Ancestor, Lu Wuzi, falling into thought.

Finally, another Martial Dipper Realm expert from the Northern Sea Mystic Sect couldn’t hold it in any longer. He took a step forward and spoke, “Martial Uncle, what should we do next? Please advise us...”

Grunting once, Lu Wuzi seemed to finally snap out of it. “I heard that there’s a Star Observatory here. Let’s head over there for a look!”

“Star Observatory?” The person who spoke earlier mumbled to himself. He seemed to have thought of something and he asked, “Martial Uncle, I heard that the region has been sealed by many Martial Dipper Realm experts of the Azure Origin World. I’m afraid we’ll need a lot of time to break through those restrictions and we might also alert the other experts in the Celestial Remains?”

With his pupils trembling slightly, Lu Wuzi stared at the person who spoke with disdain. “Yun Ling, since you’ve thought of everything, why don’t you make the decisions in my stead?”

Yun Ling felt his heart pounding rapidly as he took a step back. “I wouldn’t dare! Martial Uncle, I’ll listen to what you say!”

Qing Pingzi, who was standing behind the both of them, glanced at Yun Ling. A trace of mockery flashed through his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

It was then that Lu Wuzi glanced at the members of the Desert Gate, Hengling Sect, Great Winter Palace, and the Triple Frost Palace and muttered, “What do you guys plan to do?”

The Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors replied in unison, “We will follow the Northern Sea Mystic Sect to the Star Observatory!”

Roaring with laughter, Lu Wuzi replied, “My Northern Sea Mystic Sect appreciates your goodwill. However, there are many opportunities here and we can’t possibly stop all of you from obtaining the benefits strewn all around...”

The Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors glanced at each other before responding in unison again. “All of us are more than willing to follow...”

“Haha, there’s no need!” They were interrupted before they could finish their sentence. “The Star Observatory has been sealed off by the various factions of the Azure Origin World. However, it’s nothing much for my Northern Sea Mystic Sect to destroy them all. We won’t need your help for this. All of you should go ahead and look for your own opportunities!”

He wasn’t hiding his intentions any longer by putting it so obviously. He was basically telling them to fuck off as the Northern Sea Mystic Sect had their own plans for the Star Observatory and didn’t want them to get in his way.

The experts of the other factions were no fools. Since they already expressed their loyalty earlier but were rejected by the other party, there was no need for them to insist any longer. Since the Northern Sea Mystic Sect wasn’t willing to bring them along to have fun, they would run away as possible so as to avoid being annoying.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The Martial Dipper Realm experts of the 4 factions remained silent for a moment before responding in unison once again. “Many thanks! We shall take our leave now!”

Watching the experts of the 4 factions disappearing into the distance, A frosty light flashed in his eyes and it was accompanied by a sneer. “The 4 of them actually reached a point where they are moving together while singing the same tune... Indeed... They’re filthy backstabbers who can’t be content with what they have...”

Yun Ling already learned how to shut his mouth and he did the same thing as Qing Pingzi by keeping silent.

Who would have thought that a female cultivator of the Northern Sea Mystic Sect in the Martial Dipper Realm would step up the next moment to ask, “Martial Uncle, why don’t you use them to break the restrictions? Wouldn’t that speed up the process?”

Perhaps it has something to do with her status, but Lu Wuzi was a little gentler when speaking to her. However, he still wasn’t willing to reveal too much and he simply spat out a few words. “The Star Observatory is extremely important to us!”

...

A sudden region of spatial collapse disrupted Shang Xia’s recovery and even though he wasn’t affected, the essence crystals he used were lost.

This time, the spatial collapse happened so suddenly that there weren’t any prior warnings. It wasn’t caused by any external factors either. Instead, it was because the Celestial Remains was actually crumbling.

Shang Xia felt another trace of impatience, but fortunately, he wasn’t too far away from the forbidden region.

“This region belongs to my Yuanchen Sect! Everyone else, hurry up and leave!” A voice rang through the air, causing Shang Xia to freeze.

A formless sword intent descended all of a sudden and covered the space he was in. Shang Xia’s expression turned unsightly the next moment.

“Huang Jinghan of the Yuanchen Sect...!”