Splitting the Heavens

The Starry Tree looked like it withered compared to the time Shang Xia first saw it back in the Celestial Remains.

After inspecting the Starry Tree closely, Shang Xia realized that other than the damage it suffered due to the shockwaves of the battle there was a strand of energy hidden inside, preventing it from recovering. It was precisely the Mysterious Yin Jade Sophora Qi that was of the Yin Wood Element.

After sensing that Sun Haiwei needed a Yin Wood Element Fate Dipper as her second fate dipper, Shang Xia was afraid that it would be a little difficult for her to absorb the qi contained within due to how closely it had fused together with the tree. However, after Sun Haiwei came into contact with the tree, she managed to absorb the qi faster than the Starry Tree could nullify it. The situation was perfect. Not only could Sun Haiwei make use of the Starry Tree to refine her second fate dipper, but she could also extract the Mysterious Yin Jade Sophora Qi and to greatly assist its recovery.

With Sun Haiwei’s problem solved, Chu Jia, who had been standing at the side quickly yelled, “It’s my turn, it’s my turn!”

Shang Xia couldn’t help but break into laughter, “Are you also facing problems with your cultivation?! You’re at the large completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm and the only step you can take is to comprehend your martial intent to reach the grand completion stage. You can only rely on yourself to comprehend your martial intent. I’m afraid I won’t be of much help…”

Chu Jia’s expression sank instantly and she pouted, “I haven’t even said anything and you’re already shrinking responsibility… What do you mean by this?!”

Shang Xia’s brain turned numb and he quickly explained himself, “I know that your cultivation in the Martial Extermination Realm is related to formations… If you wish to comprehend your martial intent, you will have to work on it from the perspective of formations. You know that I don’t know much about formations…”

Sun Haiwei covered her lips and giggled to herself. Eventually, she burst out laughing. “You don’t know much about formations?! Our Formation Grandmaster’s progress with the Teleportation Formation, the Five Element Spirit Gathering Formation that allows our institution to gather heaven and earth qi for cultivation… Even the Five Element Spirit Controlling Formation on our flying ships… Everything is related to you!”

“Do you mean…” Shang Xia turned to Chu Jia and gasped in shock.

“Help me design a long-range Teleportation Formation. Or… We could design a formation that allows one to be transported out of the heavenly screen. It can be situated on the Three Unity Island so that our disciples can be sent over from inside the institution. I have a feeling that the opportunity to comprehend my martial intent is right in front of me. However, I can’t seem to break past the final screen…”

Shang Xia might not know too much about formation, but he knew Chu Jia well. A little too well… He continued to ask, “Are you planning to comprehend your martial intent or are you thinking about becoming a rank five Formation Grandmaster?”

“Both!” Chu Jia didn’t bother hiding her intentions. “I was planning to borrow the opportunity when I break through to a rank five Formation Grandmaster to comprehend my martial intent and also step into the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm. Also…”

Chu Jia’s eyes burned brightly while staring straight at Shang Xia. “I also plan on consolidating my foundations the second I step into the Martial Dipper Realm. Something like what your Lightning Bird did!”

Sun Haiwei wasn’t the only one taken aback at her ambition. Even Shang Xia was too shocked for words.

Sun Haiwei stared at her and muttered, “Are you planning to advance the same way Junior Brother Shang and refine all your fate dippers at the same time?”

Shang Xia pressed his lips together and snorted, “No… She’s planning to carve out her own path of advancement into the Martial Dipper Realm…”

Sun Haiwei’s eyes widened in shock and she turned to look at Chu Jia in fright. In contrast, Chu Jia didn’t seem too worked out about it and muttered, “It can’t be considered a completely new path. After all, my dao of formations came from the institution and the Five Element Teleportation Art is something he came up with. My advancement medicine is the improved version of what Patriarch Kou used and the inspiration for my advancement came from the Lightning Bird. I’m just adding everything together…”

For her to be able to break down every aspect of her breakthrough showed that she had already run through it in her head and had some certainty of success. It was truly fitting of a Formation Grandmaster like herself.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Sun Haiwei before muttering, “You need to think about this carefully. Your way of breaking through will be extremely dangerous. If anything goes wrong, you might not even be able to maintain a complete corpse.”

“That’s exactly why I need your help!” Chu Jia muttered with a look on her face as though she had already thought things through.

“How am I supposed to help?! Am I supposed to grab a bunch of resources from the institution to help you deploy your formation?!” Shang Xia was slightly taken aback at how confident she was. If Shang Xia openly showed his support for Chu Jia’s research into long-range Teleportation Formations, he would definitely be able to get a good chunk of resources in his name. However, they weren’t the only ones making decisions in the Tongyou Institution.

With the continuous improvement and refinement of the Teleportation Formations, the Tongyou Institution would definitely benefit in the long run. However, decisions in the institution had to be made after countless considerations. They had to think about the problem from many angles and even though Shang Xia’s help might be of some use, it wouldn’t be too effective.

Surprisingly, Chu Jia wasn’t thinking about the institution at all. She stretched her hand out and grinned, “You can lend me your Five Element Ring!”

Raising his eyebrow slightly, Shang Xia was slightly surprised by her request. Sun Haiwei frowned and mumbled, “A divine weapon is a very important aspect of a cultivator’s strength. I’m afraid taking it away now will greatly affect what he needs to do…”

Obviously, Sun Haiwei wasn’t as clueless about what Kou Chongxue wanted to tell Shang Xia as she had let on.

In response, Shang Xia chuckled while waving his hands casually. A ray of five colored light appeared and gathered on his palm. When the light eventually dissipated, a five colored ring that resembled a bangle could be seen resting in his open hand. “I might still have uses for this, but it won’t affect me much even if I don’t have it. Since you need it, you can have it.”

After he spoke, he handed the Five Element Ring to Chu Jia.

Glancing at him once, she immediately wore the Five Element Ring on her wrist. Her cheeks were flushed slightly as she raised her hand to shake it around. “I won’t take long with it!”

Waving nonchalantly, Shang Xia mumbled, “There’s no need to be in a rush to give it back to me.”

Sun Haiwei looked at the Five Element Ring on Chu Jia’s wrist before turning to look at Shang Xia. “Oh yeah… I’m really curious about your current cultivation level. How far have you actually gotten? Even with my divine will, all I can sense is a ball of fog when I try to sense your strength…”

Chu Jia didn’t remain quiet at the side and she immediately added, “For you to not care much about a divine weapon at the level of the Five Element Ring… Could you have already entered the Martial Void Realm?”

“No, no, of course not!” Shang Xia denied it immediately.

After several difficult rounds of explanation such that Chu Jia and Sun Haiwei understood his current situation, he finally managed to leave to head over to Hai Yuanyuan and Mu Songfang who were cultivating in the cauldron.

One of them was someone Shang Xia had already planned to make his heir, and the other was his greatest fan in the institution.

Even though Mu Songfang was a little older than Hai Yuanyuan, the latter had an extreme talent for cultivation. Both of them reached the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm and were about to break through once they refined their extermination origin.

“So… The reason you guys came this time…” Shang Xia carefully inspected their cultivation realms and when he was satisfied with their foundations, a wide smile appeared on his face.

Hai Yuanyuan looked at her senior sister who was at the side before muttering softly, “Uncle, Senior Sister Mu and I came to obtain the rank four advancement medicine from you…”

“When I entered the Four Constellation Realm and the Five Element Realm… Oh, I mean the Martial Extermination Realm and the Martial Dipper Realm, my seniors in the institution and the Shang Clan gathered the herbs and items required for my advancement medicine… They should be pretty clear about them… Why did you guys run all the way here to look for me?” Shang Xia couldn’t help but laugh.

“Uncle, we want to follow in your footsteps and refine all 4 extermination origins at once to enter the Martial Extermination Realm!” Hai Yuanyuan continued.

Looking at the girls before him, Shang Xia chuckled mirthlessly. “Actually, I would rather you guys train properly and advance using the usual method… After all, that will be a lot safer than if you try to do what I did.”

Mu Songfang, who had been quiet the entire time, finally said, “Teacher, is that because the extermination origins we use are different from yours?”

“That’s one of the reasons, but that isn’t really why.” Shang Xia explained.

“Teacher, please enlighten us.” Mu Songfang asked sincerely.

Seeing the look in their eyes, Shang Xia thought for a second before he replied. “Well, alright. But I have to give you girls a heads-up. Refining extermination origins simultaneously isn’t just purely refining 4 of them and calling it a day. You need to care about the way they interact with each other and their properties. More importantly, the 4 extermination origins must possess a certain meaning. It should correspond to 4 important features that are tied in with each other. For example, the 4 seasons, the 4 general directions, or even the properties of Yin and Yang mixed with life and death. The elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind can also be one of them, and so can the 4 major constellations. I don’t know everything about it…”

“As such, you can see my successful refinement of 4 extermination origins simultaneously as a massive lucky break. I was able to cultivate rapidly after I succeeded, but that was because the requirements were too harsh. If you’re really stubborn and plan to take this road, you need to be extremely well prepared, and I mean you have to be absolutely certain. With your current cultivation and with how high the requirements are, your fellow companions might enter the Martial Extermination Realm ahead of you long before you find suitable extermination origins. When that happens, they might even keep their advantage all the way and step into the Martial Dipper Realm before you. It’s not an easy path to take… Are you really sure you wish to embark on this journey?”

Mu Songfang and Hai Yuanyuan exchanged a glance and saw the determination in each other’s eyes. They turned to Shang Xia in unison and nodded.

Seeing as they made up their mind, Shang Xia no longer persuaded them. He took out a jade book from his sleeve and handed it to them. “This is my experience after entering the Four Constellation Realm. Go ahead and study them. It might give you some inspiration and be of help on your journey.”

Seeing how serious they were when they received the book, Shang Xia couldn’t help but point out, “Both of you need to remember this. There is no need to force yourself to follow in my footsteps exactly. It doesn’t matter if you refine a single extermination origin and take things step by step, or if you refine all of them at the same time. The most important thing is to find a way that is suitable for you.”

After doing everything he can to pave the way for the girls, Shang Xia accepted Sun Haiwei and Chu Jia’s request to give everyone in the Stellar Cauldron a lecture about cultivation.

Currently, his cultivation realm was sufficiently high to give others inspiration and he had abundant experience. He was able to give suggestions to lower-leveled cultivators of the institution and could remind and motivate experts who were of slightly higher level.