Chapter 916: Bye Bye, Dugu Yuanshan!

As expected, after Dugu Yuanshan was forced into the Spirit Luxuriant World, the aura he emitted fell drastically. Even though his cultivation seemed to be maintained at the third tier of the Martial Void Realm, his actual strength was anything but. He couldn’t even gain the advantage when fighting against the combined forces of Kou Chongxue, Liu Jingsheng, and Shang Xia.

Well... At the moment, Shang Xia didn’t seem too impressive. Instead, his presence was a little redundant. When he stopped Zhao Wuhen from saving Dugu Yuanshan earlier, he suffered serious injuries from the backlash after his Five Element Ring was damaged.

As they were currently fighting over the Jiao Continent... Liu Jingsheng was able to draw a large amount of world origin as the Xiangyang Elysium ascended by drawing on the spirituality of the Jiao Continent...

The advantages Liu Jingsheng had were clear!

On the other hand, Kou Chongxue might not be able to draw on the power of an Elysium, but since he wasn’t restricted to one, he was able to draw on the world origin of the Spirit Luxuriant World no matter where he was.

As they joined hands, they were able to suppress Dugu Yuanshan as they forced him deeper and deeper into the Spirit Luxuriant World. The closer they got to the surface, the stronger the suppression on Dugu Yuanshan. However, the damage they would cause to the world grew proportionately.

As they fought, mountains collapsed and the earth split open. Massive patches of land crumbled and sank into the ocean while other chunks turned into islands that drifted about. A third of the Jiao Continent had been completely destroyed by then, and before the Spirit Luxuriant World could restore the Jiao Continent, the battle between the 3 Martial Void Realm experts tore the Jiao Continent into shreds.

“If this keeps us, even if we win, the Jiao Continent will cease to exist!” Liu Jingsheng roared. Unlike Kou Chongxue who wasn’t restrained by an Elysium and which continents it was connected to, Liu Jingsheng was a lot more concerned.

If the Jiao Continent was destroyed, the Xiangyang Elysium’s foundations would be greatly affected and so would Liu Jinsheng’s strength.

A frown formed on Kou Chongxue’s face. Clearly, Liu Jingsheng was starting to develop selfish thoughts now that the battle had tilted in their favor and his performance would decline greatly.

The next second, a beam of light tore through the skies above them and entered the battlefield where the 3 Martial Void Realm experts were. A light flashed in Kou Chongxue’s eyes as it flew straight at him before appearing above him.

The next moment, he grew stronger once again. A part of the reason was because they were fighting above the Jiao Continent, but the main reason was because his Stellar Cauldron had returned!

Shang Xia flew over to the borders of the Jiao Continent earlier, but due to his injuries, he wouldn’t be of much help at the moment. As such, he sent the Stellar Cauldron back to its original owner!

The Stellar Cauldron was the Origin Holy Artifact that was born from the Jiao Continent in the first place, and it remained in the Celestial Remains above the Jiao Continent for a long time. It proved to be of great help when world origin was drawn from the Jiao Continent, and sending it back to Kou Chongxue at the moment was like adding wings to a tiger!

With the Stellar Cauldron hovering above them all, Kou Chongxue remained above Dugu Yuanshan as he continued to suppress the other party.

Liu Jingsheng might be having second thoughts, but he didn’t give up on the offensive completely. As they worked together to suppress Dugu Yuanshan, they couldn’t be bothered about anything else.

Just like that, a mighty third tier Martial Void Realm expert from the Spirit Abundance World was forced into a disadvantage by 2 newly ascended Martial Void Realm experts and a Holy Artifact!

During the entire process, Zhao Wuhen and Xiong Chunyang didn’t stop trying to save him. Unfortunately for them, Yang Taihe and Li Jidao were determined to stop them. They went all out against the 2 Martial Void Realm experts of the Spirit Abundance World, and since Xiong Chunyang and Zhao Wuhen weren’t going to step through the heavenly screen due to the powerful suppression, their rescue attempts were useless!

As the Spirit Luxuriant World had completely taken shape and provided massive support when it came to suppressing Dugu Yuanshan, Kou Chongxue and Liu Jingsheng had one thought left and that was how they would get rid of him!

... Their battle might destroy a good portion of the Jiao Continent and might end tens of millions of lives, but they had to take him down!

Shang Xia left the Jiao Continent after returning the Stellar Cauldron to Kou Chongxue, and from the looks of things, the invasion had basically failed.

Near the border of the Jiao Continent, Shang Xia watched the intense battle between the Martial Void Realm experts and realized they were getting closer and closer. He also saw the destruction they were causing and the number of lives they eradicated.

Staring at the skies above the Jiao Continent, Shang Xia seemed a little unsure of his decision, but he eventually released a long sigh. Turning into a streak of five colored light, he flew back up into the skies above the Jiao Continent.

He quickly arrived close to Kou Chongxue, and even though they had been forcing Dugu Yuanshan closer to the surface of the world, they were still pretty high up in the skies. Shang Xia could feel the fragile space around him and after looking around, he noticed the opening of the Stellar Cauldron.

Because of how much world origin was drawing from the Jiao Continent, there was a massive barrier stopping Dugu Yuanshan from escaping. That barrier was also the reason Shang Xia could get close to them.

After several short conversations with Kou Chongxue, Shang Xia turned into a streak of five colored light and flew into the cauldron.

Earlier, Kou Chongxue needed to split off a portion of his consciousness to control the cauldron. With Shang Xia entering the cauldron, a drastic change happened. World origin that was gathered and used in whatever form seemed to come alive. It started to ripple as the barrier that was stopping Dugu Yuanshan from escaping became several times stronger. The suppression on Dugu Yuanshan even showed signs of strengthening!

Beneath the Stellar Cauldron, Kou Chongxue and Liu Jingsheng were slowly gaining the upper hand.

“Your disciple is truly impressive... He is able to control the power befitting of the Martial Void Realm even though he is only using dipper qi. I believe it’s not something he is able to do just because he had the Origin Holy Artifact, right?” Liu Jingsheng muttered. Shang Xia’s entry to the Stellar Cauldron naturally couldn’t escape Liu Jingsheng’s observations.

Shaking his head, Kou Chongxue chuckled, “I’m afraid you won’t believe me if I tell you that he came up with his path of cultivation on his own... Even I have no idea how special his inner qi is!”

“He actually opened up his own path!” Liu Jingsheng was clearly taken aback. However, he didn’t continue asking about it.

After all, borrowing the power contained within the Origin Holy Artifact to launch attacks that possess the power of a Martial Void Realm expert was a different concept to what he was doing at the moment! With his dipper qi, he was controlling world origin at a level that could hold back a Martial Void Realm expert!

Comparing them, borrowing the power of the Stellar Cauldron was him acting like a dam that stored up all the power needed before creating an opening to unleash it. Now, he was controlling the flow of water itself!

Strictly speaking, Shang Xia himself might not know the difference at his current level. His act of stopping Zhao Wuhen from rescuing Dugu Yuanshan earlier was him borrowing the power of the Stellar Cauldron. Restraining Lu Pingyuan and Dugu Yuanshan actually belonged to the second category!

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

As Shang Xia continued to control world origin from inside the Stellar Cauldron, a barrier was slowly formed around the Martial Void Realm experts that isolated them from the rest of the Jiao Continent. Not only did the suppression of Dugu Yuanshan increase, but the shockwaves of their fight were greatly weakened when it propagated around.

Shang Xia’s main goal was to protect the Jiao Continent to the best of his abilities. By doing so, he would have saved the lives of countless living creatures!

His actions were quickly noticed by Kou Chongxue and Liu Jingsheng, and without the threat of the Jiao Continent being destroyed, nothing held Liu Jingsheng back anymore. He started to increase the intensity of his attacks and so did Kou Chongxue.

Rumble...

Naturally, Shang Xia could only do so much. Even with his protection, he could only stop the shockwaves from destroying the rest of the Jiao Continent. The central region, where the battle was taking place, suffered irreversible damage. Swathes of land crumbled and sank into the ocean below. The disturbance could be noticed by those outside the Jiao Continent and earthquakes could be felt on the continents that surrounded it.

With the massive impact to the central region of the Jiao Continent, many other regions started to experience some sort of natural disaster despite Shang Xia’s best attempts at reducing the impact of the battle. The intense battle also caused every living creature in the Jiao Continent to feel a sense of lingering fear.

Because of everything that happened, living creatures were fleeing the Jiao Continent as long as they had the ability to move.

When Shang Xia entered the Stellar Cauldron, his initial plan was to end the battle as quickly as possible and to protect as much of the Jiao Continent as he could. However, now that he entered, there was no need for him to hold back. With the sheer amount of world origin, he would be doing a disservice to himself if he didn’t absorb any. He started to suck in world origin to recover from the injuries he sustained earlier when stopping Zhao Wuhen.

What he didn’t realize was that after entering the Stellar Cauldron, he would remain inside for 3 whole years!

His main task during his time in the cauldron was to draw on world origin to suppress Dugu Yuanshan and to prevent him from escaping. However, he only learned that they had defeated him some time ago and were actually using the world origin to slowly wear down his life force before eventually sealing him away!

He learned from Kou Chongxue that after an expert cleaved out their Void Origin, they were extremely hard to kill!

Naturally, controlling world origin to support Kou Chongxue wasn’t the only thing Shang Xia had been doing. He not only managed to fully recover, he also managed to stabilize his foundations and refine his last set of fate dipper essences. At long last, he entered the large completion stage of the Five Element Realm!

It was then that the Crimson Soul Tablet which seemed to be sleeping the whole time finally showed signs of reacting!