Chapter 960: The Dog Eat Dog World

The person Shang Xia wanted to meet was someone he could trust completely. There was only 1 person like that in the Star Origin City, and it was none other than Huang Yu.

Moreover, Huang Yu once mentioned to Luo Qi about taking up residence in the Star Origin City and he made Shang Xia introduce them. He even had a verbal promise with Luo Qi.

When Shang Xia brought Luo Qi over when looking for him, Huang Yu was slightly surprised, but he truly deserved his reputation as a man with plenty of experience. He quickly started to talk to the 2 and after some time, he managed to come up with some bullshit excuse to ‘borrow’ Luo Qi from Shang Xia for 2 days.

...

When Shang Xia finally met them again after 2 days, Huang Yu and Luo Qi seemed to be the best of buddies. It was as though they had been friends for most of their lives and they could already speak about everything under the sun.

After emphasizing how they would meet again for Luo Qi to help him with matters regarding settling down in the city, Huang Yu finally bid farewell to his new friend.

With Luo Qi finally disappearing into the distance, Shang Xia stared at Huang Yu with an extremely suspicious look and growled, “How the hell did you do that? Did you already hint at a way to assist him to restore his cultivation?”

Huang Yu looked at Shang Xia who was trying to maintain the serious look on his face and he sneered. In fact, he seemed to be lecturing Shang Xia, “Hey, don’t you know how to make friends? We need to open our hearts to each other! Luo Qi isn’t a sly person at all. If I treat him sincerely, he will obviously reciprocate!”

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Shang Xia nodded slightly and mumbled, “So... you haven’t told him about how I would be able to restore his cultivation?”

“Of course we can’t rush into things like these!” Huang Yu snapped. Pressing his lips together, he reached his hand out towards Shang Xia.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Shang Xia growled, “What do you want now?”

“Essence crystals! Are you dumb? Brother Luo Qi is a guide and he’s doing this for essence crystals! He brought me to the black markets here and got me a way in! I gave him a bunch of essence crystals earlier, including your share!”

Shang Xia opened his arms and snorted, “If I still have any essence crystals, why the hell would I look for you 2 days ago?!”

“Hah?! Are you out of essence crystals?!” Huang Yu gasped in shock. “Why is Kou Chongxue being so stingy? Doesn’t he know the saying that one should spend freely when traveling outside?”

Obviously, Shang Xia didn’t use up all the essence crystals he had. He was only out of high-grade essence crystals.

However, he wouldn’t give up a chance to save as much as he could, especially when he was ripping off Huang Yu! Moreover, he would definitely need to utilize the spatial tunnel in the future. There was no harm in freeloading off someone else.

“Oh... Actually, I brought a batch of high-grade essence crystals with me...” Shang Xia started to talk about how he bought rank six treasures from the Starry Pavilion after that. He also mentioned the relationship between the Starry Pavilion and the Star Origin Guards, and everything in-between to Huang Yu.

A frown appeared on Huang Yu’s face after hearing what he said. “Starry Pavilion... Or perhaps, even the Star Origin Guards are involved in this. They are trying to establish goodwill with Kou Chongxue, but why?! The Star Origin Guards have been controlling the Star Origin City for hundreds of years. Their position in the Star Origin City remains at the very top and it’s not something they can maintain with the prestige of the Star Origin Lord who hasn’t shown their face for hundreds of years...”

Shang Xia replied, “I thought of it too. It might have something to do with how Patriarch Kou destroyed Meng Yuanxiu’s battle formation with the Five Element Ring. Well... I shouldn’t bother with these things for the time being. All I need to do is to report this to Patriarch Kou and the other True Immortals. They can rack their brains to try to solve this.”

Huang Yu also shook his head. He couldn’t confirm Shang Xia’s guesses either, but he added, “No matter what, the Starry Pavilion definitely knows something. By extension, the Star Origin Guards also know something about us. Hmm... I’m really looking forward to joining them now!”

Shang Xia nearly jumped in fright. “Wait, you weren’t kidding?! Are you really planning to join the Star Origin Guards?! They would only accept cultivators native to Star Origin City! Didn’t I tell you that every single Star Origin Guard started training from a young age? You... You’re not planning to kill someone to take their identity, right? Is Luo Qi your next target?!”

Huang Yu glanced at Shang Xia from the corner of his eye and mumbled, “That’s the only way... I know it’s not quite possible for me to join them with my identities. Moreover, they might have some way of seeing through my disguises. It’s not going to be easy to take over someone else’s identity...”

Seeing the flustered look that was starting to appear on Shang Xia’s face, Huang Yu chuckled, “Relax. Even if I wish to join them, I can’t take over Luo Qi’s identity. He did too much in order to get back into the Star Origin Guard and his goal is too damn obvious. Restoring his cultivation base alone would raise too many suspicions and he has to be the one to overcome them all. I can only think of something else...”

Huang Yu paused and turned to stare at Shang Xia. “Right. In the few days I’ve been hanging out with him, I pretty much understood the situation he’s in. When the time comes, we’ll need to set something up and you will need to cooperate with me...”

It wasn’t the first time Huang Yu brought something like that up, but he seemed a lot more confident this time. Shang Xia even guessed that Huang Yu had already developed a comprehensive plan.

Receiving Shang Xia’s affirmative reply, they started to make their way towards the Star Relay.

As they had to pass through Starry Avenue, Shang Xia discovered that the various shops seemed a lot more bustling than before. He seemed to recall something and he quickly spoke, “The goods in the city have been marked up by the various merchants. There are rumors going around that they plan to scam the experts of the Spirit Luxuriant World when they arrive.”

Huang Yu snorted with disdain. “Can you even believe what they’re saying? Do you think Kou Chongxue is dumb, or do you think there’s a hole in the heads of the other True Immortals of the Spirit Luxuriant World? If you even managed to get the news, those old foxes back in the Spirit Luxuriant World would have noticed a long time ago!”

Shang Xia couldn’t help but scratch his head in confusion. “But... It’s true! The prices of everything have been going up in the past 3 days!”

Huang Yu didn’t even bother looking straight at Shang Xia when he replied. “That’s because the Azure Oddity World is fucked. Anyone with enough qualifications to take part in the great battle that would happen when the Azure Oddity World is sieged is starting to make their preparations. As the central hub between the various worlds, Star Origin City is naturally going to be the go-to place for all trades that will happen. I’ll be surprised if prices don't go up...”

“So that’s why... Why didn’t I think of it?” Shang Xia muttered to himself.

Huang Yu continued, “Actually, this is an opportunity for us! The Azure Oddity World has been invaded in the past, and its location in the sea of stars isn’t exactly a mystery. Many worlds, including the Spirit Abundance World, will definitely be attracted to the Azure Oddity World. Our mission to infiltrate the Spirit Abundance World should go even smoother...”

Shang Xia couldn’t help but quicken his pace slightly. However, he couldn’t help but continue to ask, “The Solitary Peak Heavenly Lake lost their only Martial Void Realm True Immortal! Is the Spirit Abundance World still able to spare extra strength to care about the Azure Oddity World?”

Huang Yu raised an eyebrow casually. “Those 2 things have nothing to do with each other... The Spirit Abundance World has extremely strong foundations. They naturally have the ability to care about the Azure Oddity World. Moreover, in the eyes of the true peak-tier experts of the Spirit Abundance World, everything that happened to the Solitary Peak Heavenly Lake is something they could settle internally. The matter with the Azure Oddity World is of utmost priority at the moment. If you snooze, you lose. They have to grab all the benefits before other worlds join the fight. As such, there is no way they would care about the Solitary Peak Heavenly Lake more than the Azure Oddity World!”

Shang Xia seemed enlightened and he nodded happily. “So... That’s how we’re going to get our ticket in, right?”

Huang Yu roared with laughter and attracted the gazes of experts from both sides of the street with his sudden outburst. However, he quickly shifted the topic. “Right. You’re ready to enter the Martial Void Realm. Do you have any idea how to create your advancement medicine yet?”

As they conversed, they approached the Star Relay.

Huang Yu was someone Shang Xia trusted wholeheartedly and he didn’t bother hiding anything. “I have already obtained a portion of the rank six spiritual ingredients I need. However, the others are pretty hard to find. At least I managed to learn more about the spirit of the moon from the Starry Pavilion...”

There was no doubt about it. From what Shang Xia said, it was clear he already had a complete rank six advancement formula.

Huang Yu’s expression didn’t change despite the shocking fact. Instead, he continued to ask, “What else do you need other than the spirit of the moon?”

“I need the Four Extremity Spirituality from the same world. Actually, the part about it being from the same world isn’t really the problem. Finding them would be the biggest challenge.” Shang Xia mumbled.

Huang Yu started to ask about specific properties of the spirit of the moon and the Four Extremity Spirituality next. After hearing them in detail, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.

The Four Extremity Spirituality made sense, and Kou Chongxue once made a guess that it would probably be where the seasons intersected in the world to produce a special rank six spiritual treasure. He had been looking for it in various locations in the Spirit Luxuriant World. After all, how many rank six treasures would be produced in regions like that?

As long as he located one, he would just bring it to Shang Xia.

The problem was the spirit of the moon. It seemed to be something that could only be obtained through pure luck. Moreover, Shang Xia assumed that his advancement formula didn’t require them to be found in the same year.

After a short moment of silence, Huang Yu turned serious. “Actually, from news I heard in the Spirit Abundance World, there haven't been too many experts who broke through with complete rank six advancement formulas!”

“Right... By that, I mean relative to every single True Immortal in the Spirit Abundance World.” Huang Yu added.

Shang Xia was shocked by the sudden revelation. “Other than using rank six advancement formulas, is there another way to enter the Martial Void Realm?!”

“Did you forget how Kou Chongxue advanced?” Huang Yu reminded.

Slightly taken aback, Shang Xia muttered, “So... You’re saying that they have to wait for the world ascension and rely on the blessing of the world... No. That doesn’t make sense. World ascension isn’t something that happens often. Could it be that they used the benefits when working to strengthen their world bit by bit to build up to its next ascension?”

With a satisfied expression, Huang Yu nodded. “Exactly! From what I heard, there is a group of True Immortals who used that method along with some sort of semi-complete advancement medicine to step into their current realm!”

A light bulb lit up in Shang Xia’s mind. “That is why the Spirit Abundance World tried to invade twice. The Azure Ascension World of the past might not be able to allow the Spirit Abundance World to ascend, but after devouring the world origin of the Azure Ascension World, everyone who made it happen would receive the blessing of the world. They might have made preparations to break through when the time comes!”

Shang Xia continued to mutter to himself, “It’s no wonder the Spirit Abundance World is so serious about their invasions. As it turns out, it’s a method for them to progress on their martial path!”

“They’re not the only ones who launch strong invasions and go out on expeditions. Every single world will have to do the same in order to grow stronger. Our Spirit Luxuriant World won’t be an exception!” Huang Yu corrected.