Splitting the Heavens

Chapter 1610: Hurrying Up Pt.2

After Shang Xia sent Hai Yuanyuan back to the Spirit Luxuriant World's starship fleet, he went to check on the Star Devouring Silkworms incubated in the cabin. He then injected more and denser world origin into the isolated space and instructed Sun Haiwei to pay close attention to them before leaving.

Outside the Spirit Observation World, Shang Xia met up with several True Immortals from the 3 World Alliance and learned from them about the outcome of the recent major battle between Zhuo Gudao and the Star Origin Lord’s clone.

"True Immortal Yuan Chan from the Spirit Mammoth World was severely injured and basically won't be able to participate in affairs regarding the Essence Ping World for a long time. 2 of their 7 high-level True Immortals were also injured, but they were quickly replaced by 2 fourth tier True Immortals," Zuo Li repeated the newly received information to Shang Xia.

Shang Xia nodded in acknowledgment.

He had been directly involved in the battle concerning the Spirit Mammoth World. Without his assistance, they would have suffered even more severe losses.

Kou Chongxue added, "Well... From how easily they received assistance, the Spirit Mammoth World’s ties with the Essence Hong World are clearly deepening.”

Shang Xia shook his head and sighed. "Not just the Spirit Mammoth World. The Spirit Abundance World might seem like they are not affected by outsiders, but I have a feeling the influence stretches even deeper. They might not possess autonomy over their world...”

He shared his experience in the Essence Ping World and he quickly noticed many strange expressions on their faces.

He didn’t stop there. "What is the situation with the Star Origin Dao Field... Or rather, the Spirit Observation World?”

Kou Chongxue seemed to be waiting for Shang Xia to ask and he quickly replied, "Zhuo Gudao seemed to have a slight upper hand but appeared cautious and ultimately retreated to end that battle. However, it seemed that the Star Origin Lord Manor had lost another True Immortal and the Star Origin Guards lost dozens of men. There were many who were injured.”

Shang Xia raised his eyes in surprise. "What happened?"

Zuo Li said gravely, "Those puppets... Zhuo Gudao referred to them as Star Puppets, and even though there were only slightly more than 10, they possessed the strength of True Immortals. More critically, they formed a battle formation centered around a third star Martial Emptiness Realm clone. The clone was able to retain its strength for a much longer time while also significantly enhancing its combat power. They caused the losses to the Star Origin Guards’ battle formation. The reason Zhuo Gudao chose to leave was because he discovered the Star Origin Lord’s clone wasn’t losing its strength even after being in existence for such a long time.”

"So... Those Star Puppets are able to extend the lifespan of the fused Star Origin Lord’s clone?” Shang Xia couldn’t help but repeat.

Normally, a clone only had the strength of a Martial Emptiness Realm expert who had just entered the cultivation realm.

Though the power of those clones could be enhanced when they merged with each other, the fused clones weren’t stable existences, and it was something they had already concluded.

Now... The existence of the Star Puppets apparently allowed the Star Origin Lord to maintain his clones for a long time, fundamentally altering the current situation.

"More crucially, there are probably more Star Puppets!" Zuo Li added some unsettling news. "According to Zhuo Gudao himself, the number of cultivators that the Star Origin Guards sent to the Essence Ping World far surpasses what we have seen. Although the success rate of converting them into Star Puppets isn’t high, both the first and second generation of Star Origin Guard Commanders chose to follow the Star Origin Lord into the Essence Ping World and the possibility of them turning into Star Puppets is very high. However... Neither of them appeared.”

Shang Xia picked up on something and couldn’t help asking, "Why is the success rate of converting former Star Origin Guard Commanders into Star Puppets high? Could it only be the guard commanders? Or are Star Origin Guards easier to convert than others?”

Zuo Li sighed, "True Immortal Shang, you are indeed astute. You guessed right, Star Origin Guards are more easily converted into Star Puppets. Of course, those below the Martial Void Realm hardly qualify for conversion..."

...

After parting with Zuo Li, Qu Guan, and the rest, Shang Xia and Kou Chongxue flew over to a secluded location.

Shang Xia immediately asked, "Patriarch, is it very difficult to find the World Origin Source of a foreign world?"

Kou Chongxue looked at Shang Xia with some puzzlement and asked, "What are you referring to?"

Shang Xia detailed Hai Yuanyuan’s accidental discovery of the World Origin Source to Kou Chongxue, a topic he had not mentioned in his discussions with the other True Immortals of the 3 World Alliance.

Kou Chongxue listened without expression and then looked at Shang Xia silently.

Eventually, Shang Xia grunted and mumbled, "Is it really that difficult? But every cultivator will be able to access the World Origin Source when advancing to the Martial Void Realm...”

"That’s in their own world!" Kou Chongxue interrupted Shang Xia bluntly, his tone somewhat harsh, "The World’s Will acknowledges experts of their world. Since the Martial Extermination Realm, one will be able to feel the presence of the World’s Will. Those in the Martial Dipper Realm can feel the existence of the World Origin Source. Only when entering the Martial Void Realm will they actually come into contact with the World Origin Source. During the process of branding your soul into the world, you will only interact with the World Origin Source for a short time. Also... Only True Immortals will be able to easily determine the location of the World Origin Source of their world, especially the part connected to the continent they relied on to advance.”

"That doesn’t apply in foreign worlds. Let’s first talk about the suppression of the World’s Will... How can only find the World Origin Source if they’re rejected by the World’s Will? Moreover, foreign experts probably don’t have dozens of years to locate the World Origin Source.”

Shang Xia coughed lightly in response, "Then, when invading foreign worlds..."

Kou Chongxue continued, "The best approach is naturally to first confirm the location of the World Origin Source to prevent the leakage of world origin as much as possible during the invasion. Methods include using formations to confine world origin on a large scale, deploying True Immortals to suppress the world fragments, placing the world fragments into an ark for preservation, or transporting them back as quickly as possible to minimize the dispersal of world origin."

Shang Xia recalled the invasions he had personally participated in or witnessed. Indeed... What Kou Chongxue described had been done.

Thinking back to when he first started to infiltrate other worlds, Shang Xia discovered that on his journey to repair the Crimson Soul Tablet, he had been absorbing world origin from Azure Worlds to Essence Worlds. He managed to find the World Origin Source easily with the guidance of the Crimson Soul Tablet and he assumed others could do it as easily as him. Only when Xiong Xin revealed the importance did he realize it wasn’t the case.

Shang Xia cleared his throat and mumbled, "So it seems..."

Kou Chongxue interrupted him again, "Whatever secret art you have that allows you to quickly locate the World Origin Source... You better not let too many people know about it even if you’re a step away from breaking through to the Seventh Order...”

Shang Xia was taken aback for a moment, but he eventually reacted, “Right...”

The next moment, he grunted once before he continued, “Patriarch Kou, actually there’s another matter about the Seventh Order that I came to discuss with you.”

Seeing Kou Chongxue’s expectant gaze, Shang Xia chuckled, "I plan to leave for a while in order to break through to the Seventh Order!”