Chapter 857: Reapparance of the Bronze Book

When Kou Chongxue brought everyone into the Yanlin Holy Land, Shang Xia didn’t follow. Instead, he brought Yanlin Ju around the city to get everyone to surrender.

With Yanlin Ju, a Martial Sage, personally making an appearance, along with the aura of the powerful Martial Dipper Realm experts of the Azure Ascension World, with the addition of their control over the grand formation, the cultivators of the Yanlin Clan could only give up. Moreover, they knew that if they continued to resist, the ordinary non-cultivator clansmen would not be able to live.

As such, the process of getting the city to surrender went a lot smoother than Shang Xia expected.

When he was making his rounds around the city, he ran into Huang Jinghan and Jiu Du who seemed to be in a hurry to return to the city.

Seeing the serious look on their faces, Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask, “Seniors, did it not go as planned?”

Jiu Du didn’t seem interested in wasting his breath on a junior, but Huang Jinghan spoke from the side, “We ran into a peak-tier Martial Sage and fought several rounds. Obviously, I couldn’t defeat him. Elder Jiu Du arrived soon after, and we managed to retreat thanks to that.”

“Fifth element of the Martial Dipper Realm?” Shang Xia turned serious as well. “I heard that the strongest experts in the Azure Flame World are the 3 clan leaders. During the battle above the heavenly screen, Clan Leader Chen Baixing of the Western Wenchen Continent was killed by Patriarch Kou. In the air above the Yanlin City, Clan Leader Yanlin Zongheng was killed under the attack of many experts on our side. Now... It looks like you guys ran into Clan Leader Yuancang Ming of the Eastern Nuanyuan Continent...”

Huang Jinghan nodded slightly. “That should be him. I feel like he’s no simple character. He chose to retreat because we had the numbers advantage...”

Shang Xia agreed. “The moment Patriarch Kou starts to retrieve world origin, the Martial Sages of this world will definitely be able to feel the chance. When that happens, the various factions will probably form an alliance to deal with us. Yuancang Ming will definitely be the leader of their operation.”

“When that happens, a nasty battle will break out...” Huang Jinghan nodded.

Shang Xia turned to look at Jiu Du who was standing silently at the side. He didn’t care about the old man’s feelings and he laughed, “I wonder how things are going with Elder Jiu Du?”

He received a forced reply. “They’re just several clowns who were spying around. It was easy to get rid of them. As for the 4 Martial Sages of the Yanlin Clan who went south of the city... We engaged in a bitter battle and one of them was killed while another was seriously injured. The others chose to escape as they knew they were no match for us.”

Jiu Du seemed to have thought of something and he continued, “If the experts of the Azure Flame World join hands, those 2 survivors will definitely be rushing at us first.”

Shang Xia nodded. “It’s something we expected.”

At that moment, Jiu Du noticed the clansmen of the Yanlin Clan gathering and he couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t we afraid that they will be a hidden threat to our plans?”

Shang Xia chuckled lightly in response, “When the time comes, they will all have to enter the Yanlin Holy Land.”

“Heh?” Huang Jinghan scoffed at the side before praising, “I wonder whose plan this is? How can they even think of something like that?”

“Even so, we can’t be sure that there isn’t a hidden weakness in the grand formation that only they know...” Jiu Du mumbled.

To that, Shang Xia could only sigh helplessly, “We can only believe in our Formation Grandmasters when the time comes.”

The next moment, they noticed a commotion affecting the city.

“This...” Shang Xia seemed to realize that the disturbance was coming from the Holy Land, and that it was actually a tremor that was caused by the world itself.

“Did Brother Kou already begin?”

Shang Xia wasn’t the only one who felt it. Huang Jinghan and Jiu Du could clearly feel the change and they guessed what happened.

They exchanged a glance and started to rush towards the entrance of the Yanlin Holy Land after being directed by Shang Xia.

Shang Xia then discovered the strange feeling of Yanlin Ju who was following behind him.

“Are you... Regretting your actions?” Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask.

Yanlin Ju sighed, and there was a trade of doubt in his voice as he replied, “That’s not it. However, I just felt a strange sense of sorrow overwhelming me. I failed to control my emotions...”

Shang Xia didn’t say anymore after grunting once, but he had a guess in his heart.

Yanlin Ju’s emotions were probably stirred by the World’s Will. Was it actually able to affect him?

...

Above the heavenly screen, Yuancang Ming frowned as he thought back to the battle with the outsiders he just fought. At the same time, he thought about everything that happened to the Yanlin Clan. The city was destroyed, and the clan was heavily damaged. He even thought about the impact on the Azure Flame World and how he should deal with everything that would come next.

All of a sudden, he felt the world trembling once. Sorrow filled his mind the next moment and it seemed as though he was losing something very important to the world.

As the peak-tier Martial Sage of the world, he knew that his sudden change in emotions wasn’t meaningless. It seemed more like a hint he received from the World’s Will, and it was also a sigh.

The sign he received seemed to originate from his path of cultivation, and it was closely linked with the world.

It was a feeling that told him that the Azure Flame World was under threat!

Realizing what the feeling meant, Yuancang Ming had a strong premonition that the outsiders were the cause of it!

Even though he didn’t know what methods they were using to threaten the world, ever since they tore through the heavenly screen and rushed to attack the Yanlin Clan, he felt that their main goal was most likely the Holy Land.

He had to stop the outsiders from damaging their world!

Seeing his mind to it, he had a strange feeling that he wasn’t the only one who felt it earlier. He felt that he should be able to gather more experts to support his cause.

...

In the Yanlin City, the Formation Grandmasters of the Azure Ascension World arrived. They immediately started to modify the grand formation.

With the supervision of Shang Xia and several Martial Dipper Realm experts, Yanlin Ju completed his persuasion of the Yanlin Clan’s experts to provide assistance.

There were definitely some of them who were stubborn at first, but they became extremely great tools used to warn the others. As such, the problem was quickly solved.

Throughout the process, there were Martial Extermination Realm experts of the Azure Ascension World who were returning to the city.

Sun Haiwei and the others traveled over by ship, and when Shang Xia rushed over to meet them, he discovered that they were actually on a flying ship!

“It’s only able to maintain flight for a short while, and it can’t fly too high. We gave up a bunch of treasures because of it! Actually... We might have lost out big time!” Sun Haiwei laughed.

Shang Xia yelled, “No, no, no! This flying ship is extremely important to us! It’s more important than you imagine!”

Tian Mengzi asked, “How should we deal with this? It’s a lot larger than the Ten Thousand Needle Pine and we can’t possibly bring it with us back to the Azure Ascension World, right?”

Shang Xia was slightly taken aback. As Chu Jia was involved with the grand formation modification, she obviously didn’t have extra time to study the ship. Moreover, even if she did, she might not have enough time to uncover its mysteries.

Sun Haiwei stared at Shang Xia and muttered, “Should we... Should we ask for help from the members of the Heavenly Star Palace?”

Tian Mengzi and the others looked at Shang Xia in unison.

After a short sigh, Shang Xia’s gaze landed on a nearby figure and he gasped, “How could I have forgotten about him?!”

After he spoke, he started to approach the figure under the confused gazes of those present. “Rather than confusing ourselves, why don’t we ask the creator of the flying ship?”

Light flashed through their eyes and they forgot that there were a lot of members of the Yanlin Clan present in the city. There were also many of them who were high-level experts who had a good grasp of crafting arts.

Shang Xia spoke about the matter to Yanlin Ju. Without even thinking, Yanlin Ju promised to hand over the method to craft the flying ship.

Since he surrendered on behalf of the Yanlin Clan, there was no point in offending the experts of the Azure Ascension World over small matters like that.

Yanlin Ju’s cooperative attitude seemed to let Shang Xia think of a lot of things. He felt that he should probably use a portion of his energy to obtain the various inheritances left behind. It didn’t matter if it was inheritance related to cultivation or those related to formations, talismans, medicine, or crafting weapons.

They might have crushed the Yanlin Clan easily, but that didn’t mean that the inheritances were useless!

The Yanlin Clan had many Marital Sages, and they were able to continuously expand in the Southern Yanlin Continent. They even managed to become one of the 3 strongest powers in the Azure Flame World! That proved that they were no ordinary faction.

Of course, Shang Xia wouldn’t be the only one to think of that. There might already be Martial Dipper Realm experts going around to gather the inheritances left behind.

After thinking about it, Shang Xia’s gaze turned back to the core region.

The next second, he saw Shen Baisong rushing at him.

“Brother Shen, this...” Shang Xia saw the look of haste in his eyes and he couldn’t help but ask.

Shen Baisong chuckled, “I’m not exactly the strongest expert here and my abilities are limited. All I can do is to become a messenger for Kou Chongxue and the others... About this... Our fellow cultivator Yanlin...”

Yanlin Ju didn’t dare to accept the greeting and he quickly asked, “What would you guys need?”

“We managed to tidy up the Holy Land and you can bring your clansmen to hide in there. After all, another massive battle is about to break out and we don’t wish for your casualties to increase.”

After Yanlin Ju received the order, he arranged for the members of the Yanlin Clan to enter the Holy Land to avoid getting caught up in the crossfire.

Shen Baisong turned to Shang Xia next. “Brother Shang, Patriarch Kou has summoned you.”

“Me?” Shang Xia raised an eyebrow in shock.

“I don’t know what’s going on exactly. After all, I’m just a messenger.”

Shang Xia naturally wouldn’t take him as a mere messenger and he mumbled, “Many thanks to Brother Shen for relaying the information! I will head over immediately!”

Bidding farewell to Sun Haiwei and the others, Shang Xia entered the Yanlin Holy Land. He quickly arrived at the sacrificial platform at the core of the Holy Land.

After seeing him, Kou Chongxue indicated for him to enter the cauldron.

...

Liu Qinglan was still in a coma, but the fluctuating energy around her body had already calmed down. The other person in the cauldron also woke up.

“Lady Xinlan, we meet again!” Shang Xia could see that even though Gong Xinlan looked weak at the moment, her state of mind was stable. As such, he gave her a greeting.

Gong Xinlan nodded once to acknowledge his presence before turning away.

Kou Chongxue also appeared in the Stellar Cauldron, and a thick copper book could be seen in his hand. He passed it to Shang Xia and asked, “Take a look at this. Do you have a way to open it?”

“Huh?”

...