Chapter 933: Kou Chongxue’s Gift

Despite being extremely careful, Shang Xia’s final sheet of rank five talisman paper exploded beneath his brush. He had 2 attempts to craft his rank five Five Element True Seal Formation for the first time, but he failed.

There was no doubt about it. Of the rank five talismans he knew or came up with, the rank five Five Element True Seal Formation was one of the most difficult ones to craft!

Even the Teleportation Talisman he came up with after studying the half-complete rank six talisman was a lot less complicated!

Using up all the rank five talisman papers he had and almost all the talisman ink. After restoring his inner qi, he chose to emerge from seclusion.

It had been 3 months since he entered seclusion and the first thing he did when he emerged was to look for Ren Bainian. He handed over the Purple Bamboo Brush and the White Bone Brush for repairs.

A high-grade brush was enough to craft rank five talismans, but that was in the hands of ordinary Talisman Grandmasters. No one could be like Shang Xia and attempt to craft rank five talismans dozens of times. Even when he rotated the use of the brush, they suffered micro-damage to varying degrees.

It was especially so for the Purple Bamboo Brush. It suffered the most and even if it was restored, Shang Xia wouldn’t be able to use it to craft rank five talismans in the future.

There was no question about it. What Shang Xia needed was a superior brush that surpassed even the pseudo-divine White Bone Brush. He needed one that reached the level of a divine artifact and was compatible with his crafting methods.

His emergence from seclusion quickly spread across the institution and it didn’t take long before the rank four Talisman Grandmasters requested an audience.

Shang Xia quickly learned the situation about the talisman exchange and informed everyone that he would be holding an internal gathering in 3 days. He would share the inheritance of his Evasion Talisman with the Talisman Hall and clear any doubts regarding the art of talisman crafting anyone in the Talisman Hall had.

Naturally, not everyone had the qualifications to attend the internal gathering. Those who could attend were rank two Talisman Masters or above.

After receiving the news, the rank four Talisman Grandmasters of the institution quickly relayed the news and made their preparations.

It wasn’t a problem for Shang Xia to hold an internal gathering for the Talisman Hall, but an event as large as the Talisman Exchange would take a lot more time.

Whether it was spreading the news to the rest of the Spirit Luxuriant World or gathering the various powers, even preparing the resources needed would be a massive undertaking. They would need a year or two of preparations before it could happen.

In order to give the Talisman Hall more time to prepare and to ensure that the Talisman Exchange would be held to its best standard, Shang Xia didn’t try to push for it to be held earlier. He made the decision for everyone and set it to be held 2 years later.

As the higher-ups of the institution heard about his emergence from seclusion and his plan to hold the internal talisman gathering in the Talisman Hall, Kou Chongxue didn’t waste any time and summoned him into the Tongyou Paradise.

As soon as he met Kou Chongxue, the questions came. “When do you plan to head over to the Land of Star Origin?”

Shang Xia hesitated slightly and he didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he raised an eyebrow to look at Kou Chongxue. “Patriarch, why isn’t your true body here?”

Kou Chongxue glanced at him from the corner of his eye but maintained his indifferent attitude. “You’re pretty sharp. You can actually tell that my true body isn’t here...”

“From the looks of it, this isn’t exactly a clone... It seems like a... hmm...” Shang Xia couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“It’s just a projection. Right now, I’m at some other place.” Kou Chongxue replied.

Shang Xia was slightly taken aback by his revelation. “Did you really leave our Spirit Luxuriant World?!”

They might have truly become a Spirit World, but because they had just ascended, they were harassed by other worlds all the time. They were walking on thin ice and none of their Martial Void Realm experts dared to head out. They were afraid they would be ambushed by other worlds, causing the Spirit Luxuriant World to weaken considerably, and they were afraid someone might backdoor them while they were handling other matters.

Shang Xia heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Kou Chongxue’s projection shake his head.

However, he didn’t let it go. He asked curiously, “So where are you right now...?”

“The spirituality of our world became stronger and many new treasures were born. They’re located in dangerous or unknown regions and only experts at my level have the ability to obtain them easily.” Kou Chongxue’s voice rang in his ears...

Shang Xia finally understood what was going on. Those treasures were born after the ascension of the world and experts at Kou Chongxue’s level wouldn’t give up a chance to collect those of use to themselves. Naturally, obtaining those treasures easily could only be said for those with Kou Chongxue’s abilities. If Shang Xia were to try getting his hands on them, it might prove to be an extremely difficult task. If anyone else were to try, they might just lose their lives during their adventures.

Since Kou Chongxue mentioned that those treasures were located in dangerous or unknown regions, they should be places even Shang Xia couldn’t enter easily.

The appearance of such places was also a sign that a Spirit World could truly house existences in the Martial Void Realm. In the past, the Martial Void Realm experts of the Spirit Luxuriant World could only wander about outside the heavenly screen or hide within their own Elysiums.

Also, it went without saying that even though those Martial Void Realm experts could venture out into the world, they wouldn’t be appearing in front of ordinary cultivators. Their exalted status was a part of the reason why, but as existences who stood at the peak of the Spirit Luxuriant World, the aura they emitted contained the profound mysteries of the world. There wasn’t a need to mention ordinary people. Weaker cultivators might lose control of their inner qi when they feel the powerful aura and experience cultivation deviation!

Kou Chongxue entered the Martial Void Realm nearly 4 years ago, and disciples of the institution under the Martial Extermination Realm basically lost all their qualifications to meet him.

Actually, Kou Chongxue wasn’t the only one who posed a threat to low-leveled disciples. Even someone like Shang Xia, who was at the peak of the Five Element Realm, might do more harm than good if he appeared in front of the weaker disciples of the institution. That was why he rarely returned to the Shang Clan when he was in the city. He didn’t even dare to stay in Hai Min’s courtyard for a long time.

That was even after considering his exceptional abilities to restrain and conceal his aura. Looking at Shang Bo, Ji Wenlong, and Yun Jing, one would easily notice that they rarely returned to their clans. They even passed on their position of patriarch to their siblings or juniors. Sun Haiwei left for the Jiao Continent to take over Shang Xia’s place while also indulging herself in cultivation. The weakest disciple who went with her was at the peak of the Martial Intent Realm!

As for Gong Xinlan, she was stationed in the Bing Continent to assist Yin Wanxiang. The Lightning Bird had already returned to the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range and wouldn’t appear in front of others unless Shang Xia summoned it. Even Shang Xia himself would rarely see disciples under the Martial Intent Realm for fear of affecting their path of cultivation.

To meet high-level experts, it seemed as though possessing divine sense was the minimum requirement.

... Since Shang Xia knew that Kou Chongxue was wandering the world to get his hands on precious resources by using his tyrannical strength, he quickly followed up with another question, “So... Patriarch Kou, what amazing treasures have you found?”

Obviously, the ‘amazing treasures’ Shang Xia was referring to were precious items that could catch the eye of Martial Void Realm experts like Kou Chongxue. With their difference in cultivation level, precious treasures to Kou Chongxue were on a different level to what he had in mind!

To that, Kou Chongxue chuckled softly. “Right, that’s another reason I called you over.”

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock.

He watched as Kou Chongxue’s projection stretched out his hand and felt a strange formless spatial tunnel appearing above it. A cloud-like object that seemed somewhat illusory emerged from it.

Shang Xia’s thoughts stirred and he seemed to realize what the treasure in Kou Chongxue’s projection’s hand was. However, he couldn’t help but mutter, “This...”

Kou Chongxue could see that Shang Xia probably recognized the treasure in his hand and he laughed, “Yeah, this is the rank six spiritual treasure, the Heavenly Screen Cloud. It can only form close to the heavenly screen of a Spirit World.”

Gasping softly, Shang Xia thought back to the advancement formula. According to the complete formula the Crimson Soul Tablet deduced, the Heavenly Screen Cloud was the main ingredient of his advancement medicine. It was also one of the most difficult treasures to obtain. Who would have thought that a ball of Heavenly Screen Cloud would be sitting in front of him before he even bothered looking for it?

Of course, the reason it appeared so quickly was probably because there were only 5 Martial Void Realm experts scouring the world to look for treasures. They would most likely split those precious treasures evenly without trying to fight over them...

In the future, after the Spirit Luxuriant World matures, finding rank six spiritual treasures like that wouldn’t be easy! Even if a portion of it appeared, powers would most likely fight tooth and nail over them.

Sucking in a long breath, Shang Xia reached out to touch the ball of cloud that was sitting in Kou Chognxue’s projection’s hand. Who would have thought that Kou Chognxue’s projection would pull his hand away before Shang Xia could try anything? “Hey, be careful. This might look like a small ball right now, but once the restriction around it is broken, it will return to its original size! It’s 10 miles wide!

“How is it so big?!” Shang Xia gasped.

Glancing at Shang Xia, Kou Chongxue muttered, “The larger area it covers, the thinner it gets. The perception of ordinary cultivators wouldn’t be able to detect it and with how fragile the cloud is, it might be damaged with a slight touch. Restoring itself would take a long time.”

Shang Xia quickly withdrew his arm. He found a larger spirit sealing case from his sleeve and opened it to catch the ball that Kou Chongxue’s projection gently threw over. When it was fully contained, Shang Xia kept it carefully. When he was done, he asked again, “Patriarch Kou, you’ve been adventuring for some time now... If you managed to find the Heavenly Screen Cloud, did you also manage to get your hands on some Earth Essence Milk?”

A smile appeared on Kou Chongxue’s projection face as he gestured for Shang Xia to come closer to receive another treasure.

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock and he hastily took out a spirit sealing bottle from his sleeves. He asked in disbelief, “Did you find it?! You actually managed to get your hands on the most important rank six treasures in your semi-complete rank six advancement formula?!”

Pointing a single finger, another formless spatial tunnel appeared. 3 extremely viscous crystalline drops emerged. Every drop was the size of a fat grape and Shang Xia stored them carefully in the bottle before carefully sealing it.

Finally, Kou Chongxue explained, “Hehe... If you break through to the Martial Void Realm along with the ascension of the world, and are also the person who made everything happen, you will come to learn a lot of secrets our world contains!”

With both treasures in hand, Shang Xia nodded slightly. “Alright, I understand now!”