CH 265

In the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range, several Martial Extermination Realm experts were soaring through the skies. Ji Wenlong, Shang Ke, and Kang Ci were in the lead as the others followed them casually. 

At the same time, Kang Ci’s voice rang in the minds of Ji Wenlong, Shang Ke, and Liu Zhiyuan. “Instructor Liu is back. With her back in the institution, I came over here to take a look.” 

Before Ji Wenlong could say anything, Shang Ke asked hastily, “What did Instructor Liu say when she returned?” 

“This… Deputy Patriarch Yun is still suppressing the four great races with the Hidden Frost Sword. Deputy Patriarch Shang managed to shift the Mysterious Coral World (Coral Forest) over to our Tongyou Peak with the help of all the formation masters. It won’t be easy for the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World to mess with it anymore. After receiving news that Patriarch Kou suffered a sneak attack, Deputy Patriarch Shang sent Instructor Liu back to the institution to prevent anything from going wrong.” 

Shang Ke was disappointed by the news. “Is there really no news about Patriarch Kou?!” 

Kang Ci stared blankly at Shang Ke. “Patriarch Kou was sneak attacked in the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range. Why the hell would there be news of him in the battlefield between the two worlds?” After speaking, he turned to look at Ji Wenlong. 

Sighing softly, Ji Wenlong repeated everything they discovered earlier.

“That’s not possible. If a Martial Dipper Realm expert forcefully tears through the spatial barrier and enters the battlefield between the two worlds, it will cause a greater commotion than the arrival of the divine weapon! The disturbance he will cause will definitely affect the entire battlefield between the two worlds.”  Kang Ci shook his head and sighed.

Ji Wenlong and the rest fell silent. They expected as much. Many of them were flustered by the disappearance of Kou Chongxue and failed to recall that point.

Shang Ke was the next to ask the question. “How did you discover the traces of the battle then? Why didn’t we notice it when we came?” 

A look of embarrassment appeared on Kang Ci’s face and he muttered, “I lost my way earlier and discovered it accidentally…” 

Without an exception, those beside him were struck speechless. However, his mistake was understandable. 

The moment Kou Chongxue’s cultivation ground was destroyed, those in the city could feel the destructive spatial fluctuations. Rallying all the Martial Extermination Realm experts immediately, Ji Wenlong led them towards the disturbance.

Leaving Kang Ci behind in the institution, Ji Wenlong didn’t bother telling him where Kou Chongxue’s cultivation ground was. 

Only when Liu Qinglan returned from the institution did Kang Ci leave. He could only travel in the direction he remembered. However, the spatial fluctuations had already died down and there wasn’t a clear direction to follow. 

As he traveled in the direction he recalled, he got lost several times on the way there. That was how he chanced upon the destruction caused by Shang Xia and the others.

It didn’t take long for the various experts to arrive. By the time their conversation had concluded, they closed in on the scene of destruction.

Descending into the forest below, all of them noticed the traces of the battle. All of them basically released their divine sense at the same time to look for any clues in the surroundings.

Pointing at the ground down below, Kang Ci released his extermination origin and they transformed into tiny little images of snakes that slithered across the ground below. 

A moment later, those little snakes started to gather before fusing to form a huge one. Raising the upper half of its body towards the skies, it spat out several broken shards. Looking at them, the experts present quickly made them out to be remnants of a spear tip.

“It’s Shang Xia’s Waning Moon Spear.” Shang Ke gasped.

“His spear was about to shatter from the battle before. That can’t tell us anything decisive.” Ji Wenlong muttered.

“There’s this too.” Kang Ci brought everyone to a mount that had obviously been made recently. Sending in a stream of his inner qi to sweep away the soil, the corpse of a female cultivator of the Azure Spiritual World was revealed.

“The fatal wound on her chest is clearly made by a spear…” Kang Ci’s addition was clearly unnecessary. After all, everyone present was seasoned experts.

“It’s the Providence Spear!” 

“Shang Xia didn’t just face a single opponent. There seem to be two more of them. From the battle marks, one of them looks like they use an axe or some sort of heavy weapon. The other seems to use a blade…” 

“The person who used the blade definitely comprehended his martial intent. From the looks of it, the other looks to have completed his third divine sense transformation. This lady is the weakest of them all. Even so, she’s at the large completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm.” 

“She’s a bow user. Look at her waist. Her quiver still holds several black iron arrows.” 

“Hmm, her right hand is missing two fingers though. Looks like they were torn off when someone grabbed her weapon. Her companions won’t do this to her. Unless… That little kid, Shang Xia, managed to kill her and grab her weapon?” 

“Since he chose to grab her weapon, it means he’s still alive!” 

“Moreover, they had the time to bury their teammate. That can only mean that the kid ran away after realizing he wasn’t their match.”

“Yeah. He would only be able to escape after killing this archer. However, he might have suffered some injuries in order to do so.” 

“Haven’t you thought about it? One of them here is at the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm. The other two are at the large completion stage. Even so, the brat managed to kill one of them and run away. How strong is he exactly?!” 

The conversation between the various Martial Extermination Realm experts was cut short after they realized how terrifying Shang Xia actually was.

“He’s even stronger than before. Unless he was hiding his strength from us intentionally during the battle against the other Martial Intent Realm disciples of the other institutions, he definitely grew stronger since then.” Yu Changjin added.

Evidently, it wasn’t quite believable for Shang Xia to be able to hide his strength from so many Martial Extermination Realm experts present.

As such, that could only mean that he grew a whole lot since then. 

“Hmm… This kid met with Patriarch Kou and grew stronger. Did his divine sense transform a second time?” Chang Huaiwu deduced, and he looked to the rest for support.

An Baimei coughed dryly and added, “Don’t you find it strange? The experts of the Azure Spiritual World should be here for Patriarch Kou. However, it looks like they’re targeting Shang Xia on purpose.” 

“Hey, that’s true. It is understandable if they sent a party after Patriarch Kou. Moreover, everyone in that squad should be in the Martial Extermination Realm. If Patriarch Kou and Shang Lubing were both present and were hell-bent on escaping, their enemies would have no choice but to pursue them relentlessly. That’s probably the reason they chose to send another squad to deal with Shang Xia. The kid might be talented, but sending a group of experts into our world won’t be easy even if they have someone to receive them here. Is it really worth it for a mere kid?” 

Everyone had differing thoughts on the matter, but without a doubt, the mystery surrounding the Tongyou City became more and more interesting.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Regardless if it was to get to the bottom of the matter regarding the Azure Spiritual World’s hunt against Shang Xia, or the Azure Spiritual World’s plot, or even Kou Chongxue, the experts of the other institutions decided they would get involved with it all.

Kang Ci and the others had been joining in the conversation initially, but he became silent towards the end. Ji Wenlong, Shang Ke, and Liu Zhiyuan also remained silent during their discussion. 

Seeing as things were starting to get out of hand, Ji Wenlong decided to step in. “Alright. This isn’t the time for wild speculation. The kid managed to run away from his attackers and we need to locate him as soon as possible. We can learn what happened by asking the kid. Furthermore, we’re able to determine the direction where the two Martial Intent Realm cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World went. They might be chasing the kid, or they might have left on their own accord. Regardless, we should be able to catch up to them considering the fact that the attack happened not too long ago. Now that my Tongyou Institution is facing both an internal and external threat, I hope everyone here can assist us!” 

“Alright!”

“Naturally!”

“...” 

The various Martial Extermination Realm cultivators agreed quickly and split themselves up into two groups. One went in search of Shang Xia while the other looked for the two Martial Intent Realm cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World.

As several hours passed, the Martial Extermination Realm experts who went in every direction in search of their targets eventually returned. None of them achieved their goals.

That was weird…

In such a short amount of time, three Martial Intent Realm cultivators shouldn’t have left the range searchable by the few Martial Extermination Realm experts.

One had to know that the Martial Extermination Realm experts were able to soar through the skies! They were much faster than those running on foot!

Eventually, Ji Wenlong and Shang Ke had a secret discussion before ending the search. They brought the group of Martial Extermination Realm experts back to the city.

At the same time, the news of Kou Chongxue’s secret hiding spot and the incursion of the experts of the Azure Spiritual World ripped through the Azure Origin World. Kou Chongxue’s fate was unknown, and the experts of the Azure Spiritual World were possibly still hiding in the Azure Origin World. 

…

After Shang Xia ran ten miles out, his internal injuries started to act up. He had no choice but to stop to take a break.

However, he only took a short break for the time it took a stick of incense to burn before running through the forest again.

Shang Xia’s thought process was clear. Earlier, the three of them were hell-bent on catching him alive. Now that they failed, the next person who came looking for him might just be a Martial Extermination Realm expert.

Of course, he knew that the experts in the Tongyou City weren’t there for show. They would definitely arrive in the depths of the Thousand Leaf Mountain Range quickly after realizing that Kou Chongxue was under attack.

Well, that might be the case, but Shang Xia wasn’t planning on risking his life to find out if the Azure Spiritual World had a Martial Extermination Realm expert lying around in wait just to capture him. Betting his life was never a smart thing to do. 

Even if a Martial Extermination Realm expert did show up, assuming they were from the Tongyou City… That didn’t mean that they were on the Tongyou Institution’s side! 

Since neither option was feasible, Shang Xia had to take matters into his own hands. Keeping himself alive was the priority, and everything else came after.

After traveling another ten miles out, Shang Xia discovered that he was still in an endless jungle. He also realized that even if he ran at full speed, he wouldn’t be able to outrun a Martial Extermination Realm expert if they came looking for him!

Going into hiding was his next course of action. He would restore himself to his peak state before making any more decisions.

Running into a random cave he found, he killed the bear living within with a single slap before sealing off the entrance. He tried connecting his divine sense to the world around him, and it was something he had experienced after his breakthrough at Kou Chongxue’s place. When he merged with the world, even Martial Extermination Realm experts wouldn’t easily detect his presence.