“So this origin dipper is actually called the Abyssal Firmament Fate Dipper… Hehehe!” Shang Xia handed over the sealed origin dipper and Kou Chongxue retrieved it with a simple gesture.

He examined the Abyssal Firmament Fate Dipper in his hand and discovered that it was in perfect condition.

Ji Wenlong was still sulking at the side as he couldn’t get the Dao Comprehension Incense out of his mind. “Damn it! If we still had the Dao Comprehension Incense, we’d be able to further perfect the rank five advancement formula Patriarch Kou has. With that, your grandpa would be able to enter seclusion to break through immediately…” 

Realizing that he spoke his thoughts out loud, Ji Wenlong quickly turned silent and turned to look at Kou Chongxue.

A satisfied smile appeared on Kou Chongxue’s face after he examined the origin dipper. He raised his head and looked at Ji Wenlong while sighing, “Don’t worry about it. This kid knew that my advancement formula wasn’t complete a long time ago… ”

Seeing the awkward look that had appeared on Shang Xia’s face, Ji Wenlong raised an eyebrow in surprise.

All of a sudden, Shang Xia recalled the first time he met Kou Chongxue and the time difference between that and when Ji Wenlong entered the Martial Dipper Realm. Since he made the connection about how his grandfather had entered the foreign continent in order to break through, he couldn’t help but yell, “World origin! Patriarch Kou wants to use world origin to replicate how you entered the Martial Dipper Realm in the past! If I didn’t guess wrong, Deputy Patriarch Ji, you also used that method to break through because you didn’t have the Dao Comprehension Incense!” 

Bursting into laughter, Kou Chongxue sighed, “Damn, you actually guessed it. However, the risks of that method are pretty huge. It would be much better to perfect the advancement formula…”

“Is there actually world origin on the foreign continent?” Shang Xia took the chance to push for an answer.

“No matter which world it is, even if it’s on the brink of destruction and the world origin it contains has already withered to the point of no return, will possess enough world origin for someone to break through to the Martial Dipper Realm. The only question is if they would be able to find the world origin. As for the method they use to break through, that’s another story altogether. Moreover…” 

Kou Chongxue paused for a moment before shooting a glance at the Void Abyss nearby. A strange smile formed on his face as he continued, “Even if he can’t find world origin in the foreign continent, the world origins of both worlds are contained here…” 

Ji Wenlong gasped while looking at Kou Chongxue, “Isn’t it a bit too early for him to learn all these things?” 

The corners of Kou Chongxue’s lips twitched awkwardly and he muttered, “That’s why I called him over here… No one will be able to spy on us here…” 

Shang Xia couldn’t help but feel a chill running down his spine after hearing what Kou Chongxue said. The patriarch might have said that to make things a little less awkward, but there was definitely some logic behind his words. From what Kou Chongxue unintentionally revealed, Shang Xia knew that some people had their sights set on him at the moment.

“This little brat might seem young and has low seniority in his clan, but his cultivation level has undeniably reached the requirements. He definitely has the qualifications to learn about the high-level secrets of the institution.”

Shaking his head helplessly, Ji Wenlong turned to Shang Xia and sighed, “Kid, you’re on your own…” 

Ji Wenlong’s figure started to dissipate after he was done speaking.

Shang Xia wanted to ask about the people who were eyeing him, but after thinking about how Kou Chongxue had called him over to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion where his true body was, it was clear that anyone who had the ability to plot against him was at the Martial Dipper Realm.

Since that was the case, there was no point asking since he wouldn’t be able to do a thing about them other than worry unnecessarily. 

Choosing to change the topic, Shang Xia chuckled, “Patriarch Kou, I remember when you and Deputy Patriarch Ji arrived in the Taihang Mountains back then. It was such a majestic entrance and you suppressed all your enemies…”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. There’s no need to kiss my ass here. What do you want to ask?” Kou Chongxue interrupted him.

“Alright!” Shang Xia immediately got to the point. “When you two grabbed the inheritance light balls back in the Abyssal Secret Region, did you not manage to find any origin dippers among them?” 

Shang Xia immediately ratted his intentions out. 

Seeing through Shang Xia’s question, Kou Chongxue muttered, “Do you really think that the Abyssal Sect has a shit ton of origin dippers or something?” 

“They wouldn’t just possess one Abyssal Firmament Fate Dipper, right?” Shang Xia pouted.

“Oh? Damn brat, do you think that Old Man Ji and I hid an origin dipper and aren't giving it to Shang Bo?” 

“No…? I wouldn’t dare…” Shang Xia muttered.

“Are you probing me right now? Are you trying to get me to give you an origin dipper?” Kou Chongxue raised an eyebrow and pouted.

“Patriarch Kou, you’re a genius! Actually…” 

“Fuck you! Go away!” Kou Chongxue snapped at Shang Xia before he could finish his sentence.

“Alrighty then!” Turning around, Shang Xia pretended to walk away. After taking two steps, he turned around again. “Patriarch Kou, can’t you give some clues as to what you obtained from those inheritance light balls?” 

Looking at the shameless expression on Shang Xia’s face, Kou Chongxue burst out laughing. He tossed a jade pendant over and waved his hand with practiced annoyance, “Find a safe place before taking a look at it. Anyway, don’t stray too far away. Always remain within a ten mile radius from my true body.” 

With the jade pendant in hand, Shang Xia knew that he should make himself scarce. He bowed once before taking his leave.

After leaving the platform Kou Chongxue was on, Shang Xia started to make his way towards the Void Abyss. As he approached, he noticed fluffy clouds appearing in the distance and straw huts popping out from their surface.

Shang Xia could basically guess that those huts were where Martial Extermination Realm experts who were brought to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion used to enter seclusion.

There were simple restrictions around those huts, but it seemed as though none of them were active at the moment. 

Randomly choosing one of them, he entered only to see an empty but clean space. Clearly, the hut had been unpopulated for some time. 

Walking towards the deepest pillar that held the grass hut up, Shang Xia pressed his hand against its surface and poured his inner qi into the structure. The restrictions around the hut activated immediately and separated the hut from the outside world.

The restrictions weren’t of much use and were more of a formality when he thought about it. Anyone who could enter the Beyond Heavens Pavilion was a Martial Extermination Realm expert. They could tear a restriction like that apart easily. 

Locating a mat somewhere in the hut, Shang Xia chose to sit down on it before inspecting the pendant Kou Chongxue handed to him.

As his divine perception entered the pendant, information quickly streamed into his mind.

Shang Xia gasped in fright before turning serious as he read through the content.

Originally, Shang Xia thought that Kou Chongxue would record his gains from the Abyssal Secret Region in the pendant. At the very least, he thought that Kou Chongxue would give him a little bit of whatever he gained. After all, that was why he shamelessly pestered Kou Chongxue.

Who would have thought that the patriarch would actually give him something like that?! After reading the contents, Shang Xia felt a complicated feeling filling his heart.

The jade pendant didn’t contain any special formula or recipes. Instead, it contained a conjecture. It was the experience of a Grandmaster Blacksmith from the Abyssal Sect. It contained his theory on how the Abyssal Blade should be repaired!

The way of crafting a divine weapon was extremely strange. Even Kou Chongxue didn’t know how his Hidden Frost Sword became a divine weapon. After all, it managed to advance with him when he entered the Martial Dipper Realm.

The Abyssal Blade became a divine weapon in the past because of a coincidence. Throughout the entire process, too many indescribable things happened. As such, even the blacksmiths who were in charge of crafting the sword didn’t know what happened.

Because of the Abyssal Sect’s long history, the records the blacksmith had were starting to degrade. The Abyssal Blade was damaged because of an accident and they had been looking for a way to fix it ever since. 

After suffering countless setbacks, one of the Grandmaster Blacksmiths leveraged the experience of his predecessors to come up with an idea they could use to fix the Abyssal Blade.

Unfortunately, the Abyssal Sect had already started to decline. The experts of the sect fell and they couldn’t carry out the plan even if they used the full power of the sect. In the end, the idea of fixing the Abyssal Blade was sealed in the treasury.

“Star Essence!” Shang Xia couldn’t help but repeat the name again and again after reading through the contents of the pendant.

According to the records, the Abyssal Blade required a lot more material to be repaired. However, Star Essence seemed to be the key ingredient.

If what was recorded was real, one had to travel beyond the heavens. At the very least, they would have to be in the Martial Dipper Realm. Also, Shang Xia wasn’t a fool. He knew that extracting Star Essence wasn’t going to be an easy task.

One would need an exceptionally long time in order to extract some Star Essence. The time period required could be several years or even dozens of years! That was assuming the entire process went smoothly.

The fact of the matter was that even Martial Dipper Realm ancestors couldn’t be exposed for a long time under the sea of stars. Unless there were multiple Martial Dipper Realm ancestors who took turns to extract Star Essence, they wouldn’t be able to gather so much in a short period of time.

It was no wonder the Abyssal Sect felt that the difficulty of restoring the Abyssal Blade was so damn high. Even if they were in their peak state back then, the Martial Dipper Realm ancestors would probably be cursing and swearing if all they had to do was to extract Star Essence.

After staying in his straw hut for several days and not being able to think of anything he could do with the information he learned from the jade pendant, Shang Xia decided to take things slow and started to cultivate.

The heaven and earth qi in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion was basically non-existent at that point. Instead, world origin was extremely concentrated and it was countless times denser than anywhere he had seen.

The Crimson Soul Tablet in his sea of consciousness wanted to leap out a few times, and it seemed to be hurrying him up to cultivate. It wanted to use the world origin in the surroundings to restore itself as soon as possible.

Normally when a Martial Extermination Realm expert went into seclusion, they would be able to absorb both world origin and heaven and earth qi. A Martial Extermination Realm cultivator, or a Four Constellation Realm cultivator in Shang Xia’s case, was supposed to start transitioning from heaven and earth qi to world origin. 

Because of the dense world origin in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion, it greatly benefited cultivators of the Martial Extermination Realm. 

As Shang Xia went about his day to day life, he didn’t just focus on circulating his inner qi. He placed most of his attention on perfecting his secret art.

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

…

One fine day, Kou Chongxue’s voice tore through the restriction and rang in Shang Xia’s mind. “Come meet me in the pavilion right now!”