Chapter 858: Substitute

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After entering the Yanlin Holy Land, he could feel the dense world origin, but there was a strange feeling hidden within.

Originally, the denser the world origin in the area, the more the experts of the Azure Ascension World would feel a sense of rejection.

The strange feeling Shang Xia was getting was because the sense of rejection felt a lot weaker than he expected. In fact, there was also a trace of familiarity mixed within.

The contrasting feeling hit him directly, and it even caused his inner qi circulation to become quite affected.

Surprised, Shang Xia quickly restrained his aura and stopped the circulation of inner qi in his body for the time being.

In the short time he felt the strange feeling, he could already feel his inner qi starting to go out of control.

Fortunately, it wasn’t anything too serious. After stopping the chaos in his body, he thought about the problem a majority of the Martial Dipper Realm experts could think of and stopped absorbing the world origin around him.

Of course, it wasn’t as though everyone would be able to think of it. If anyone’s dipper qi was too weak and they got careless, they might face some troubles.

A bold guess quickly formed in Shang Xia’s mind. He felt as though Kou Chongxue had already started to transform the world origin of the Azure Flame World with the Origin Holy Artifact.

His guesses were soon verified. As he got closer to the core of the Holy Land, the sense of rejection he felt decreased greatly and the sense of familiarity increased.

By the time he noticed the altar the Origin Holy Artifact was on, he could already absorb the world origin around him to replenish his energy without messing with his inner qi circulation.

It was then when he noticed that there were around 10 or so Martial Dipper Realm experts within 1000 feet of the Origin Holy Artifact appearing to be deep in cultivation.

Currently, there were less than 30 Martial Dipper Realm experts of the Azure Ascension World left and more than half of them were injured. A good portion of them had exhausted their inner qi during the successive battles that took place.

Among those cultivating in the area, almost all of them were those who had lost Fate Dipper Clones during the great battle or had suffered heavy injuries. They needed to cultivate in order to stabilize their condition.

Shang Xia could also tell that all of them were refining the fate dipper essences they had lost during their process of cultivation.

He could tell that they managed to save a good portion of their fate dipper essence when they were injured back then. It was either that or those fate dipper essences came from the members of the Azure Flame World.

One had to know that from the time they started to fight at the heavenly screen, to the time they took over the Yanlin City, there might have been 10 or so experts from the Azure Ascension World who died. Naturally, there were even more experts from the Azure Flame World who were killed.

After their deaths, a portion of their fate dipper essences would become the spoils of war for those still alive. With the addition of those they obtained from the Yanlin Holy Land, the experts of the Azure Ascension World who were still alive would discover that they didn’t even lose much. Instead, they might have gained quite a bit!

Of course, the loss in their immediate combat power was real and they needed to restore it as quickly as possible.

Shang Xia didn’t know how much the mastermind of the entire operation, Kou Chongxue, obtained. Of course, he also obtained a fortune from the core region of the Yanlin City. He just hadn’t sorted them out yet.

Shang Xia’s arrival didn’t draw too much attention and he made his way onto the platform. Kou Chongxue noticed him a long time ago as he was hovering around the entrance of the cauldron, and he made a single gesture to create a world origin vortex that pulled Shang Xia into the Origin Holy Artifact. Shang Xia didn't resist and he felt the world spinning around him. The next moment, he arrived inside the cauldron.

Liu Qinglan was still unconscious, but her injuries had pretty much stabilized.

When Kou Chongxue brought Shang Xia into the cauldron, the disturbance alerted Gong Xinlan who slowly opened her eyes. Her complexion wasn’t the best as she turned to look at Shang Xia.

“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. When their eyes met earlier, Shang Xia could see the look of despair on her face.

“The young lady was abandoned by the Yuanchen Sect!” Kou Chongxue’s voice came from behind him, and Shang Xia noticed that Kou Chongxue had left a clone in the cauldron while his true body remained outside.

Grunting once, a light flashed in Shang Xia’s eyes as he seemed to understand what happened.

When he entered the forbidden region in the Celestial Remains, he ran into Gong Xinlan while getting to the Stellar Cauldron.

Back then, she was probably sent by the Yuanchen Sect to look for the Origin Holy Artifact.

Shang Xia got to it first, and he caused a massive phenomenon to ripple through the Celestial Remains with his actions. Huang Jinghan and Jiu Du were afraid that he would obtain the treasure and chose to force their way into the forbidden region. It was probably then when Huang Jinghan chose to abandon her. She was thrown into chaotic space next...

Kou Chongxue’s clone brought out a thick bronze book the next moment and handed it to Shang Xia. “Take a look at this. Do you have a way to open it?”

“Huh?”

Shang Xia was shocked when he looked at the bronze book and he stared at the clone with a look of confusion.

Kou Chongxue’s clone nodded once. “You’re right. This is the book Han Mo wanted to snatch from Dou Zhong and the rest. It fell into chaotic space by accident and it was obtained by Young Lady Gong who was stranded there...”

Shang Xia held the book that seemed like a massive bronze carving and he mumbled, “This is truly...”

“Brat, don’t get too happy. Young Lady Gong gave the book to me after I spoke about why Qinglan was in a coma. I didn’t have a way to open it and that’s why I’m passing it to you.” Kou Chongxue’s clone muttered.

Surprised, Shang Xia examined the book in his hand and noticed that there were really thick pages made of bronze within. The problem came when he tried to open the book. It was like a giant block of bronze that didn’t allow him to flop the pages open.

Gong Xinlan’s hoarse voice came from behind. “When I obtained it in the streams of chaotic space, I thought that it would become my saving grace. However, I failed to open it no matter how hard I tried. Even after using my dipper qi, it didn’t budge. I even tried to destroy it in a state of desperation, but nothing worked.”

Shang Xia turned to look at Kou Chongxue’s clone again.

Helpless, the clone sighed, “I tried everything I could. However, I still failed to open it. There seems to be some sort of special restriction on the book that would only allow it to be opened with the proper method. Your fate dippers are special and I thought of letting you try.”

Shang Xia’s heart trembled once. From what he was hearing, there seemed to be another method to open the book that wasn’t correct. He chuckled, “Patriarch Kou, dare I ask... What’s an improper way to open the book?”

Kou Chongxue’s clone seemed to expect Shang Xia to ask the question and he replied casually. “It’s nothing too elaborate. My true body could shove the Hidden Frost Sword in the book and force it open, but the chance of destroying the contents within is too high.”

“... Take it as I never asked...” Shang Xia mumbled.

Examining the book in his hand that was pretty heavy, he discovered that there wasn’t a single marking on its surface. There were several lines carved into it and from the looks of it, it was something like a pyramid that looked similar to a Star Observatory.

Could the book be related to the Stargazer inheritance? Was it the complete inheritance?

When he thought about it, Shang Xia felt a wave of excitement washing over him and understood why Kou Chongxue called him over.

Pressing the spine of the book on the ground below, Shang Xia tried to force it open. He found that it was indeed useless. However, from the separation of pages within it, he could tell that the pages had many inscriptions like that of the front cover.

Things were getting interesting. He wondered why the creator of the book didn’t use words.

He no longer tried to force the book open. Instead, after a short moment of contemplation, he tried to push his dipper qi into it.

The next moment, he felt a sense of obstruction that seemed pretty familiar to him. He had once come into contact with something like it, but the sense of obstruction coming from the book seemed a lot stronger and a lot more powerful.

It was as though a higher power was contained in the book and it was no wonder even Kou Chongxue couldn’t open it normally. If he wanted to, he would have to force it open like he said.

Fortunately, it wasn’t as though Shang Xia couldn’t deal with the obstruction he was feeling. Even though it was powerful, he would still be able to wear it down in the end. His Five Element Dipper Qi would be able to get rid of the restrictions preventing it from opening and it was a matter of time.

When he tried to push his dipper qi into the book, Kou Chongxue’s clone and Gong Xinlan didn’t say anymore as they quietly awaited the conclusion.

All of a sudden, Shang Xia retrieved his energy and he looked at Kou Chongxue’s clone. “I’m afraid I will need a lot of time before I can open it. However...”

He hadn’t completed his sentence when Kou Chongxue’s clone chuckled in amusement. “Nice! Lad, I knew you could do it! Not to worry. From now on, all you need to do is to focus on opening the book.”

Gong Xinlan revealed a look of surprise when she heard that Shang Xia was confident in opening the book.

Raising his eyebrows in shock, Shang Xia wondered out loud, “Am I going to stay in here to do it?”

Kou Chongxue’s clone laughed. “Of course! You will need to take over my job and absorb world origin from the Azure Flame World for the time being and successfully transform it into something we can use. You should also attempt to make this place somewhere we can cultivate successfully. Of course, it would be best if you can send the transformed world origin into the Yanlin City...”

“That’s not going to be easy. I might not be able to do everything in time.” Shang Xia frowned.

Slapping Shang Xia’s shoulders, Kou Chongxue’s clone smiled, “It’s alright! Do your best. I should be able to free myself up and deal with the encirclement from the Azure Flame World with you in charge of things here.”