Chapter 828: Stuck in a Difficult Situaiton

It wasn’t Shang Xia’s first time in the forbidden region.

Back then, Shang Xia hadn’t entered the Martial Dipper Realm and was already able to travel deep into the region. Now that he had his Five Element Movement Art, entering the depths of the forbidden region couldn’t be easier.

As he made his way deeper into the region, the chain reaction that happened at the border where Pang Jingyun and Huang Jinghan were gradually died down.

Pang Jingyun was in a sorry state as he followed behind Huang Jinghan into the forbidden region. He looked at the remnant restrictions that were a little different from what they were earlier due to the region of shattered space and the chain reaction he caused and he muttered worriedly, “Martial Uncle, he managed to force his way into the forbidden region. Earlier, the violent spatial fluctuations didn’t seem to be able to affect him. What should we do?”

Huang Jinghan’s originally solemn expression remained on his face, and from the frown on his face, anyone could tell that he was pretty pissed off. However, he maintained his calm and growled, “There’s no need to rush. Xinlan entered the forbidden region quite some time ago and she should have traveled pretty far. Moreover, our sect prepared a lot of things for her and we should hold the advantage.”

Even though Pang Jingyun still felt a slight sense of worry after watching Shang Xia’s special movement art earlier, he couldn’t quite understand what happened. After all, he never heard of any movement art that could break through restrictions and pass through regions of shattered space.

Finally calming himself down, Pang Jingyun muttered, “Martial Uncle, there’s something I don’t quite understand...”

Huang Jinghan, who was staring into the forbidden region, felt his thoughts trembling slightly as he turned to look at Pang Jingyun before retracting his gaze. He muttered softly, “What do you not understand? Go ahead and ask...”

“Why did you choose Junior Sister Xinlan? Why her?” Pang Jingyun asked.

Without even turning his head, Huang Jinghan continued, “Is that it? What else do you wish to know?”

“Truth be told, if we’re purely considering cultivation realm, Junior Sister Xinlan barely entered the Martial Dipper Realm. Her combat abilities are far from mine, and if we’re talking about her understanding of restrictions, she only started looking into them after reaching her current cultivation realm. She can’t compare to Martial Uncle Kuai who has already dabbled in the arts of restrictions for more than a hundred years. Even if we only care about her ability to break restrictions, you have the Yuanchen Sword and you have a great chance to enter the depths of the forbidden region. No matter what aspect we’re looking at, Junior Sister Xinlan isn’t the most suitable...” Pang Jingyun quickly listed out several factors he was confused with.

Without a change in expression, Huang Jinghan continued in an even tone, “Is there anything else?”

“Isn’t she someone our sect abandoned...” Gritting his teeth, Pang Jingyun continued.

“Anything else?”

Pang Jingyun was slightly taken aback, but he shook his head and sighed, “That’s it.”

Only then did Huang Jinghan turn to face him. He stared at Pang Jingyun and mumbled, “I thought you would say that you were in love with her and would start fighting for the indignations she had to suffer...”

Pang Jingyun’s expression crumbled instantly and an awkward expression formed on his face. He felt extremely uncomfortable under Huang Jinghan’s gaze.

Finally shifting his piercing gaze away, he stared back into the depths of the forbidden region and muttered, “When do you think she entered our sect?”

“Wasn’t it after she entered the Martial Dipper Realm?” Pang Jingyun was slightly taken aback by the question.

“You’re wrong. Back when her family was killed, we took her in. It was then that she became a direct disciple of our sect. It was just that nobody knew... Even she wasn’t very sure of what happened.”

With his jaws dropping at the frightening revelation, Pang Jingyun gasped, “W-What?! What do you even mean?”

Huang Jinghan didn’t reply directly. Instead, he asked another question that seemed completely unrelated. “Do you know how Kou Chongxue experienced an explosive rise back then?”

...

In a certain safe spot in the forbidden region, Shang Xia stopped to take a short break. When he discovered Pang Jingyun and Huang Jinghan weren’t chasing him, he heaved a sigh of relief. However, he couldn’t hide his confusion.

Could they have given up? Or were they planning something in secret?

There was no way Shang Xia would believe that they had given up.

The attraction of the Origin Holy Artifact was godly, and it was evident from how many experts had entered the Celestial Remains.

For the Yuanchen Sect to bring so many experts and cause such a huge ruckus, there was no way they would give up so easily and give others a chance to obtain the treasure!

That was an Origin Holy Artifact they were talking about!

Moreover, even if they gave up chasing him into the forbidden region, they should be trying to disturb the space within to cause him as much trouble as possible! They should only be satisfied after he was dead!

However, neither Huang Jinghan nor Pang Jingyun seemed to be doing anything!

This is a little strange... Unless...

Shang Xia thought back to what happened outside the Celestial Remains and recalled how he felt Gong Xinlan’s aura back then. However, when the Yuanchen Sect entered the Celestial Remains, he didn’t notice her. In fact, it seemed as though the Yuanchen Sect only brought 2 Martial Dipper Realm experts into the Celestial Remains.

Even though they had several Martial Extermination Realm experts, since the matter concerned the Origin Holy Artifact, it didn’t make sense for them to send Martial Extermination Realm experts into the forbidden region while using the Martial Dipper Realm powerhouses like Huang Jinghan as a mere guard...

There was only 1 possibility left! There was probably another Martial Dipper Realm expert from the Yuanchen Sect in the forbidden region, and it was most likely Gong Xinlan! Even though Shang Xia was curious how she managed to get together with the Yuanchen Sect. From the looks of it, the Yuanchen sect trusted her quite a lot for them to leave the matter of the Origin Holy Artifact to her...

From how Shang Xia didn’t run into anyone from the time he entered, he reached a simple conclusion. He stared at the depths of the forbidden region.

She’s definitely much further in!

Clearly, Gong Xinlan’s ability to break restrictions was impressive as she made it pretty far into the forbidden region.

A sense of urgency started to overwhelm Shang Xia.

She couldn’t have broken all the restrictions and reached the Stellar Cauldron already, right?!

He couldn’t sit still any longer. He turned into a streak of light as he flew through the forbidden region. He charged deeper with a speed that would leave experts of the same level tongue-tied.

It didn’t take long before he reappeared in another tiny safe spot. He stared in a certain direction with a solemn gaze.

There seemed to be a twisted figure progressing carefully. The figure might be extremely blurry, and Shang Xia knew that what he was seeing probably wasn’t where she actually was, but he was sure the person was Gong Xinlan.

He couldn’t help but feel a dilemma. He didn’t know if he should move against her and deal with her right there and then, or if he should fly past her and locate the Origin Holy Artifact.

If he chose to make a move, he wasn’t 100 percent sure he would be able to subdue her even with a sneak attack. From the looks of it, she was stacked with protection from the Yuanchen Sect. She definitely had a lot of ways to protect herself.

The moment he failed to ambush her, the forbidden region would definitely experience large-scale spatial collapse from the battle that would happen. When that happens, they might not just be injuring each other. They might both lose their lives there.

If he passed her... he was actually pretty confident he would be able to find the Stellar Cauldron.

However, that didn’t mean that all would be well. According to Kou Chongxue’s calculations, he needed to spend a lot of time around the cauldron. If Gong Xinlan also manages to locate the cauldron, a massive battle would break out and Kou Chongxue’s plan might fall through...

Because of the many considerations, Shang Xia understood that he was stuck in a difficult situation