Splitting the Heavens

Chapter 1156: First Discovery of the Star Observatory

In the blink of an eye, it had been more than a month since Shang Xia left the Star Observatory. The 14th year of the Spirit Luxuriant Calendar had already rolled around.

In the month or so, the first thing Shang Xia did was to tell Ren Huan to send over all the rank six talisman paper he had gathered. He wanted to craft as many Six Harmony Teleportation Talismans as quickly as he could.

After going through so much, Shang Xia knew that the talisman provided him with an absolute advantage when it came to escaping or infiltration.

Also… He might have escaped from Star Origin City, but Kou Chongxue was still squatting in a corner there somewhere. Even though he had another Six Harmony Teleportation Talisman, Shang Xia still needed to prepare for the worst.

Because of the existence of a rank six Talisman Grandmaster like Shang Xia, the Tongyou Institution had been gathering high-level talisman paper, and methods of crafting them.

It was a shame even though more than half a year had passed, Ren Huan failed to find anything no matter how hard he tried. After all, the Star Origin Dao Field was still hidden in the void and its connection to the various worlds was closed. The various worlds didn’t have a way to interact with each other, and Ren Huan only managed to get his hands on 2 sheets of rank six talisman paper.

In the end, Shang Xia only managed to craft a single Six Harmony Teleportation Talisman.

Of course, even though he only had 1 Six Harmony Teleportation Talisman, he felt a lot more secure than before.

When he had extra time, he would look for Xin Lu to learn more about the Star Observatory and other matters.

Even though she was only in the Martial Extermination Realm, she was a Stargazer at the end of the day. She also had close ties with Xing Xingtian, and she probably knew a lot of secrets after all the time they spent together.

Perhaps it was because of Shang Xia’s great trust in her, which he showed by placing her in a position of great responsibility the moment she was brought to the Tongyou Elysium, but she didn’t hide anything during their conversations. She told him everything truthfully, without leaving out a shred of detail.

He might be trying to probe out the secrets of Star Origin City, but Shang Xia still focused fully on his cultivation.

It wasn’t that he was in a rush to raise his cultivation level… Instead, he was trying to stabilize his foundation. Back in the prison under the Star Observatory, Shang Xia’s cultivation rose due to the energy provided by the Crimson Soul Tablet after it absorbed the power of the stars. He seemed to be in a state of disequilibrium due to the sharp increase.

One had to know that there was a huge bottleneck for one to reach the fourth tier of the Martial Void Realm. Once someone entered that level, they would be considered a high-level True Immortal.

Shang Xia once made an estimate. He would still need 20 to 25 years in order to reach the peak of the third tier, to reach a level where he would be able to attempt a breakthrough to become a high-level True Immortal.

Moreover, that was if he wasn’t interrupted by anything along his journey.

Anticipating the various changes that would happen in a realistic scenario… It would only take longer than that.

Due to his stint in the prison under the Star Observatory, the rapid progression was something completely unexpected, and it would save him at least 3 years…

If he took into account his cultivation after becoming a third tier True Immortal, he would have barely completed a third of the journey.

Also… The Crimson Soul Tablet seemed to no longer be interested in absorbing the power of the stars. He couldn’t use the same way any longer.

Even though he could control the tablet to a greater extent and could urge it to absorb a portion of the power of the stars for him to cultivate, he wouldn’t do it in his current situation.

If he continued to raise his cultivation level, he would only cause his foundations to become unsteady and make it more difficult for him to grow stronger in the future.

Of course, Shang Xia still hoped that the Star Observatory would be able to draw over and refine the power of the stars as soon as possible.

His main motive was to produce the same power of suppression that was felt in the prison. After all, he wanted to try to recreate the feeling when the strange mysterious object appeared in his hand.

He had a very strong suspicion that it was the Crimson Soul Tablet itself!

It was a shame everything happened too quickly back then and he didn’t pay attention to himself. The feeling disappeared the very next second, and whatever happened next happened.

No matter how he tried to think about it, the Crimson Soul Tablet existed in his sea of consciousness… How could it appear in his hands?

The strange contradiction caused him to be extremely curious.

It wasn’t something great for Shang Xia who was trying to strengthen his foundations at the moment to keep thinking about something like that.

As such, he wanted to use the power of the stars to recreate the feeling.

It was a pity… The Tongyou Elysium’s Star Observatory might be exquisite, but it was just far too small compared to the majestic observatory the Star Origin City possessed. Also, Xin Lu was merely a rank four Stargazer. She couldn’t compare to Xiao Shengyi, a Grand Stargazer. At the same time, the number of Astronomers and Stargazers in Star Origin City far surpassed the Tongyou Institution.

Without affecting their surveillance of the Spirit Abundance World, Xin Lu also had to give Yuan Qiuyuan pointers to advance in the ways of a Stargazer. As such, they could only obtain a small portion of the refined power of the stars every day. The amount couldn’t even be compared to Shang Xia absorbing energy himself.

One had to know that Shang Xia had already been absorbing 30 to 40 percent of the power of the stars used to power the grand formation around the prison back in Star Origin City.

…

Speaking of the inheritance, Yan Ming and Yuan Qiuyuan were both rank three Stargazers, but Xin Lu said that even though they looked talented, their foundations were really weak. They didn’t have too much basic knowledge about being a Stargazer, and there were even times they knew what something was without understanding the principles behind it.

After noticing it, she started to pour her efforts into helping them patch up their weaknesses. That was also a reason they weren’t absorbing as much power of the stars as they could have.

Fortunately, that didn’t become a huge problem as she was able to fix the problem without it taking too much time. With the completed inheritance the Tongyou Institution possessed along with Xin Lu’s existence, everything slowly returned on the right track.

When Shang Xia heard her evaluation of Yan Ming and Yuan Qiuyuan, he didn’t doubt for a second that the Heavenly Star Palace was the one messing about and not passing down a proper inheritance.

He was initially annoyed, but after he thought about it, he realized that he would have done the same if he were in their shoes.

Of course… That might be the case, but Shang Xia still made a mental note of it. In the future, he will return the favor when he gets the chance.

Shang Xia wanted to slowly gather the power of the stars so that he would have enough to recreate the feeling. Throughout the process, he didn’t stop communicating with the Crimson Soul Tablet. He had a vague feeling he wouldn’t need to use as much power of the stars as what was contained in the prison beneath the Star Observatory of Star Origin City to recreate the feeling. Instead, he felt that he would be able to do so if he consumed his inner qi.

Of course… That didn’t mean that it was going to be easy. Even if he used his inner qi to recreate that feeling, the consumption might place an extreme burden on him.

Despite knowing the strain it would put on him, Shang Xia had a pressing urge to try it out. Other than several pieces of high-grade essence crystals, he also brought away a few peak-grade essence crystals that the Tongyou Institution was using to gather Origin Dippers.

Before he could leave the institution, a transmission came from the Tongyou Elysium and stopped him. Its contents caused his expression to sink and he had to change his plans immediately as he raced to the Star Observatory.

“What happened?!” Shang Xia asked the moment he arrived.

Xin Lu didn’t seem to be in good shape, and she looked extremely worn out and weak. After hearing Shang Xia’s voice, she tried her best to focus again.

With Yan Ming and Yuan Qiuyuan’s help, she activated the Star Observatory again and the vast sea of stars in the skies above started to shift.

“This… This is the place you told me to keep a watch on. It’s nearly 1 million miles north of the Spirit Abundance World, and there seems to be a massive battle going on!” Xin Lu pointed to a spot that was barely larger than her fingertips in the vast sea of stars and mumbled.

Shang Xia tried his best to focus on what she was pointing at and eventually managed to make out a blurry region of space that seemed to be filled with spatial fluctuations.

If not for Xin Lu pointing it out, he wouldn’t have discovered anything strange there.

That wasn’t because of his lack of cultivation, as cultivation level had nothing to do with it. It was only possible to notice something like that if one properly learned the ways of a Stargazer.

One couldn’t see that the spot was barely larger than Xin Lu’s fingertips. She magnified it as much as she could, and in reality, the space that was affected by the disturbance might be tens of thousands of miles large.

Shang Xia’s gaze locked onto the region of space, and lights flashed through his eyes rapidly. No one knew what he was thinking about.

“Can you determine anything else from what we’re seeing? For example… The scale of the conflict and the cultivation of those who are fighting?” Shang Xia asked.

Xin Lu seemed to have expected the question and she replied almost instantly, “For a battle of such a massive scale, it would either involve hundreds or even thousands of mid to high-level cultivators, or a high-level True Immortal. From the twisting of space and the powerful lights that appear from time to time, the latter is more likely!”

Shang Xia nodded slowly. “I understand. I plan to secretly head over to take a closer look. You guys continue to observe the situation.”

Once he spoke, he nodded once at all of them before turning to take his leave.

However, Yan Ming stopped him before he could move.

Turning around with a look of confusion, Shang Xia wanted to say something, but Yan Ming quickly explained, “If we’re able to notice the change, the Heavenly Star Palace might also be able to discover what happened.”

Shang Xia was slightly taken aback, but he eventually nodded slowly. He might understand the implications, but he still left the Elysium. Rather… He wasn’t in a rush to head over anymore.

As soon as he emerged, he saw Kou Chongxue’s clone waiting for him.

“Yin Jingxu just sent news. They seem to have discovered something and they’re gathering the True Immortals of our world to discuss what we should do.” Kou Chongxue’s clone frowned the moment he saw Shang Xia.

With a good idea of what was going on, Shang Xia nodded slowly before he spoke to the clone again, “I’ll probably need to leave for some time after this. I will have to trouble you to take care of things here.”