… 

In the northeastern direction of the Cloud Water Gorge, Shang Pei brought the members of the Youyan Stronghold and charged out of the thick fog.

The moment she emerged, she ran into a ground of Martial Extermination Realm experts who had their sights on the Cloud Water Gorge.

“You!” Shang Pei’s expression turned frosty all of a sudden and her spear appeared in her hand as she prepared for battle.

“Youyan Chief, there’s no need to get all worked up now. We didn’t come here with ill intentions.” Yin Wanxiang took a step forward and observed the group. No matter how he looked at it, Shang Xia wasn’t part of their group.

Shang Pei wasn’t a fool. She wouldn't let down her guard because of what he said. She muttered cautiously, “Why are you standing in our way?” 

Gesturing to the side, Yin Wanxiang spoke casually, “We have no enmity with each other. Youyan Chief, feel free to take your leave.” 

Shang Pei stared at the group of Martial Extermination Realm experts warily but realized that they didn’t seem to be lying. With her gaze on them, she gestured to Fifth Uncle Cen and the others to take their leave. 

As they were distancing themselves from the group of Martial Extermination Realm experts, Yin Wanxiang asked, “Chief Hai, I hope you can answer some of my questions before you leave.”

With taut nerves, Shang Pei forced herself to remain calm as she replied casually, “Cave Master Yin, feel free to ask me anything you like. I’ll answer to the best of my abilities.” 

Clearing his throat, Yin Wanxiang asked, “Chief Hai, did you just emerge from the secret region?” 

“Nope.” Shang Pei didn’t hesitate at all as she gave her answer. It seemed to catch Yin Wanxiang by surprise as he stared at her in shock.

“Bullshit!” Zhonggu, who was standing behind Yin Wanxiang, stepped out from the group and yelled, “Everyone knows that you have a special item that can lead you into the secret region. Now that the secret region is crumbling and the Cloud Water Gorge is losing its protection, you guys coincidentally chose to emerge. Doesn’t this seem a little suspicious? Are you guys trying to run away?” 

The moment Zhonggu spoke, the look in the eyes of the Martial Extermination Realm experts standing behind Yin Wanxiang changed.

Stepping towards Yin Wanxiang to place herself between the Martial Extermination Realm experts and the members of the Youyan Stronghold, Shang Pei growled, “Heh, you guys will get mad if I refuse to say anything. Now that I’m telling you the truth, you refuse to believe me…” 

Zhonggu wanted to continue, but Yin Wanxiang stopped him with a single gesture. He was the only one who didn’t seem suspicious of Shang Pei’s answer and a smile slowly appeared on his face. “I believe you. You might not have entered the secret region, but you probably gave that young man your key to enter the secret region, right?” 

Shang Pei heard of what happened before Shang Xia found her in the Cloud Water Gorge and she wasn’t surprised by Yin Wanxiang’s knowledge of his presence. She replied candidly, “Yup. Didn’t you guys already meet?” 

“Indeed… He’s a genius alright…” Yin Wanxiang muttered softly to himself, but those behind him heard him loud and clear. Before anyone else could speak up, he continued, “I guess this means that the 3 Martial Extermination Realm experts who were hunting you down won’t be showing their faces around here anymore, right?” 

Shang Pei’s expression remained cold but she didn’t respond to his question. 

Seemingly having expected the outcome, Yin Wanxiang nodded slowly and sighed, “I have asked everything I wish to know. Youyan Chief, feel free to leave.” 

Shang Pei glanced at the group of experts behind Yin Wanxiang before turning around to return to the members of the Youyan Stronghold.

As they prepared to leave, Yin Wanxiang’s voice rang in Shang Pei’s mind. “Youyan Chief, you’ve been stationed in the Cloud Water Gorge and you might not know about this, but the Abyssal Secret Region has descended on the Cloud Water Gorge and attracted the attention of experts from the Si, Yan. Ji, and Bing Continents. Experts from the 4 continents have gathered around the region in order to compete for the inheritance left behind by the Abyssal Sect.” 

“Abyssal Sect?” Shang Pei stopped walking altogether and she muttered to herself.

Fifth Uncle Cen discovered that she wasn’t walking anymore and he turned around to ask, “What’s wrong?” 

“Fifth Brother, leave with the rest. I’ll stay behind to check things out.” Shang Pei said seriously.

“You…” Fifth Uncle Cen obviously didn’t wish for Shang Pei to place herself in danger, but when he thought about how Shang Xia was still within the Cloud Water Gorge, he could only sigh softly, “Be careful and take care of yourself.” 

Noodling slightly, Shang Pei started to make her way back to Yin Wanxiang and the others.

She barely took a few steps when a resounding explosion tore through the air. 

Raising her head, she saw spatial cracks filling the skies. They were like massive spider webs that stretched across the Cloud Water Gorge and huge landslides appeared from the void. A multitude of lights filled the skies through the cracks.

Shang Pei didn’t hesitate to fly into the skies, but a strange object that emitted a strange glow emerged from the spatial cracks and flew straight at her.

Pulling out her spear, she shattered the ball of light and reached for the object within.

The moment she laid her hands on the item, a streak of light appeared in the distance and rushed at her. 

“Put it down right now!” The person who came didn’t seem to care who he was up against as he formed a strange seal with his hands and pressed it down on Shang Pei’s head.

…

A deafening buzz filled the Abyssal Secret Region and it seemed to expand beyond the confines of the secret region itself to rip through the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

The Abyssal Blade in Shang Xia’s hand was no longer the tyrannical and defiant existence that it was moments earlier. Instead, it seemed to be emitting endless joy as it announced its return to the entire world.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia didn’t have the luxury to carefully inspect the blade. “Shit! I can’t stay here for much longer!” 

Shang Xia could see that the other 3 Martial Extermination Realm experts seemed to have reached some sort of secret agreement with each other.

Tao Mosheng’s silver hammer, a gray sword qi, and a fist intent stretched through the void as they rushed at Shang Xia in unison.

Every single one of the 3 had cultivation bases higher than Shang Xia. At the very least, they were experts in the third layer Martial Extermination Realm. 

Any one of them would be a formidable opponent if Shang Xia ran into them in the outside world. He would need to be extremely careful if he fought any of the 3. Now that they had joined hands, he was in deep shit!

Clearly, the 3 of them didn’t hold back.  They wanted to eliminate the anomaly that was Shang Xia immediately now that he had obtained the divine weapon. 

If that happened earlier in their exchange in the Abyssal Secret Region, Shang Xia would have been heavily injured, if not dead, when faced with their combined attack. If he was even the slightest bit careless, he would be blown to bits the moment the attacks connected.

Unfortunately for them, the situation wasn’t what it was when they entered the Abyssal Secret Region. The entire place was crumbling and Shang Xia got his hands on the divine weapon. Facing their attacks, Shang Xia seemed a little indifferent.

As he circulated his extermination origins through the Abyssal Blade, the weapon spirit didn’t suffer a fate of destruction like before. The true power of his Four Seasons Extermination Origins wasn’t purely for destruction. It also had the ability to nourish and strengthen the spirit. Every time Shang Xia cycled his extermination origins through the Abyssal Blade, the weapon spirit recovered slightly and Shang Xia’s connection to the blade improved.

Destruction or nourishment was decided by Shang Xia with a single thought.

Swinging the Abyssal Blade vertically in front of him, a four colored extermination light emerged and took over the orange glow that the weapon usually emits and tore the void apart.

Through the spatial tear, Shang Xia could see the clouds around the Cloud Water Gorge receding rapidly. He also managed to make out a few human figures flying about. 

Before he could try anything, Tao Mosheng’s hammer crashed heavily into the spatial tear Shang Xia created. 

The moment it did, Tao Mosheng quickly retrieved his weapon. His silver hammer was a high-grade weapon and by the time he retrieved it, there were 2 deep marks on the face of the weapon. The majestic silver glow that surrounded the hammer earlier dimmed to the point where it could barely be seen.

The strand of gray sword qi also failed to sunder the spatial tear that Shang Xia created. As it closed in on the tear in space, the sword qi started to distort violently. When more than half of the sword qi was torn apart by the strange fluctuations in space, the sword qi could no longer sustain itself. It eventually dissipated into its surroundings. 

It seemed as though only the fist intent would cause Shang Xia some trouble. It seemed pretty extraordinary as it forced its way towards Shang Xia. Unfortunately, when it passed through the spatial tear, all its energy seemed to be sapped away.

Shang Xia merely used a single slash to deal with the 3 attacks thrown his way! 

Of course, Shang Xia used the destruction of the Abyssal Secret Region to his advantage while doing so as the space contained in the secret region was extremely unstable in its current state, but he couldn’t deny that his personal strength and the power of the Abyssal Blade also had a huge part to play.

Perhaps they realized that they couldn’t do anything to Shang Xia, but they quickly flew in another direction. They planned to regroup somewhere else in the Abyssal Secret Region as they understood that Shang Xia received a considerable power boost now that he had the Abyssal Blade. If they didn’t wish to be picked off one by one, they had to work together to survive.

That wasn’t all. In order to fight with Shang Xia for the inheritance of the Abyssal Sect, they had to work together so as to obtain the largest benefits possible.

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Of course, Shang Xia wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t take a beating without returning the favor. Once he defended himself against the combined attacks of the trio, he released a slash through the air directed at Tao Mosheng who was flying through the air.

Because the 3 of them weren’t weaklings, their speed was nothing to scoff at. They reacted quickly after he blocked their combined attack and Shang Xia had to ensure his blade light would arrive before they gathered together. With his Four Seasons Extermination Origins as the foundation of the attack he released, he combined some properties of the techniques he learned and developed before. It contained the element of lightning, along with the properties of the earlier moves of his Nine Providence Spear. The blade light he released could be said to be powerful, accurate, and extremely ferocious.

As soon as the blade light emerged from the Abyssal Blade, everyone in the secret region felt their hearts skipping a beat. Like a streak of lightning shooting through the skies, the blade light shot straight for Tao Mosheng.

“Fellow cultivators, please save me…” Tao Mosheng poured his inner qi into his silver hammer without holding back and swung it with all his might in front of him.

“Clang!” 

With a loud scrape, a third of the hammer was shaven away.

The other two flew in his direction as they tried their best to weaken the blade light that had arrived before Tao Mosheng. When they tried to help, they discovered that Tao Mosheng’s arms were trembling violently. The stench of burning flesh assaulted their noses before long.

Tao Mosheng’s arms were fried from the power of lightning contained in the blade light!

Luckily, a Martial Extermination Realm expert had a terrifying amount of life force. As long as their arms were still attached to their bodies, they would be able to do battle even if all that was left were their bones.

Of course, their combat capabilities would suffer to a certain extent.

“Heh…” After releasing the blade light, Shang Xia pondered over the feeling he had earlier. When he unleashed his attack earlier, it seemed as though he managed to tap into his hidden potential. 

“The blade contains the power of lightning and the rumbling it emits has the ability to affect divine perception… I’ll call this move ‘Lightning Awakening’!”

With the experience he had previously, he finally completed the first of his rank four martial arts! Even though the entire martial art only had one move so far…

“Run!” 

Tao Mosheng and the others were clearly seasoned cultivators. They could tell that Shang Xia became much stronger than before and their only course of action was to retreat.

One couldn’t forget that Shang Xia obtained the Auspicious Cloud Cape from before. Without the 3 of them to stop him, he flew straight for the central peak that was spewing out treasures non-stop.

Now that the 3 of them had gathered together, Shang Xia knew that there wasn’t really a chance of him killing any one of them. Even with the divine weapon in hand, he wouldn’t be able to break through the defenses of 3 third layer Martial Extermination Realm experts.

Since that was the case, he might as well grab all the treasures he could before the Abyssal Secret Region crumbles.