The moment Shang Xia saw the Phoenix Wing Halberd, he already decided to run.

Moreover, the moment the halberd smashed into his Four Constellation Palm, Shang Xia felt 3 other auras appearing behind him when he turned to run.

If he so much as hesitated, he would have been surrounded by 3 Martial Extermination Realm experts. It would be too late for him to escape then.

If he wasn’t wrong, the protection formation was made up of an extremely rarely seen dual formation!

Xue Cangling, who broke into the inner layer of the formation that was protected by the dual protection formation was probably in deep shit. It was extremely likely he was dead by now.

The only question Shang Xia still had was if ‘Huang Yu’ was able to maintain his disguise in their protection formation. He hoped that no one would be able to see past it.

What shocked Shang Xia was the amount of high-level combatants the mysterious third party on the Manyu Continent had.

From the time they dealt with Su Jinyuan to the time he fought Lou Yi, Shang Xia had already fought against 7 high-leveled experts on their side.

With the exception of the tanned brute who was chasing after Yan Ming, the rest were at the third layer Martial Extermination Realm or stronger!

Of the 3 auras that appeared earlier when Cen Yu’s Phoenix Wing Halberd shattered his Four Constellation Palm, Shang Xia could tell that the other 2 weren’t people he had fought before. That meant that there were 2 other strong experts present in the formation! 

Moreover, they weren’t weak by any means. From the aura they released earlier, one of them was in the third layer of the Martial Extermination Realm while the other was in the large completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm. 

There was no need to compare them to the You Continent. Even in the Azure Origin World, just the 3 of them alone would be enough to establish a massive faction. That was ignoring all the other experts Shang Xia had seen previously. Even if he gathered all the experts of a single faction that was dispatched into the Manyu Continent, they wouldn’t be enough to contend against the mysterious third faction.

“It’s a shame we allowed him to get away!” Cen Yu looked at the leaving figure and sighed.

The other cultivator beside him who had a leopard-like face and wide round eyes growled, “That person will definitely leak the news of our dual formation. It won’t be easy to kill him even if we run into him again.”

“It doesn’t matter. Because of the attraction of the pillar of light, 3 high-leveled Martial Extermination Realm experts have already fallen into our hands. Now, all we need is to gather the energy in the surroundings to power our dual formation. We can use the rest of the time to slowly harvest fate dipper fragments…” Cen Yu said. 

Everyone couldn’t help but turn to look at the pillar of light after mentioning the fate dipper fragments. The flames of desire appeared in their eyes.

…

Running dozens of miles in a single breath, Shang Xia finally slowed down when he realized no one was after him. With his unusually powerful divine perception, he could even feel that they were returning to the safety of their protection dual formation.

They might have left Shang Xia alone, but Shang Xia didn’t dare to return to the vicinity of their formation right away.

Staring in that direction, Shang Xia discovered that the light pillar was gone!

Is it concealed by their formation?

However, Shang Xia felt that it wasn’t too likely for that to be the case. After all, he came into contact with the pillar of light before. It was something that truly connected the heavens to the earth. If the formations were truly able to conceal the pillar, that would mean that it was also connected to the heavens and the earth!

Shang Xia was starting to regret leaving his Auspicious Cloud Cape with them. Otherwise, he could try to approach the location of the light pillar again. It might be a little dangerous, but he would still stand a chance with the concealment ability of the cape.

Looking back in the direction of the protection dual formation, Shang Xia flew around to inspect it while thinking of what to do. He couldn’t come up with anything, but the change that happened the next moment shocked him.

An intense earthquake swept through the whole region. From where he stood, he saw countless mountain peaks crumbling one after the other.

That wasn’t all. The approximate area where the pillar of light appeared earlier caved in and the destruction didn’t stop there. It continued to spread outwards.

Along with the destruction of countless mountain peaks and the widespread collapse of the ground below, the entire region became a giant crater. It didn’t stop there as the crater grew wider and deeper with every passing moment.

Due to the collapsed land, cracks started spreading out in all directions. Massive rifts started to extend away from the area where the pillar was and it formed a giant spiderweb-crack in the earth.

Every single vein of water under the area erupted as geysers filled the air. The vapors quickly turned into dense mist that filled the skies and the entire region looked like it just experienced an apocalypse.

Despite the widespread destruction, Shang Xia could feel the density of heaven and earth qi growing rapidly. It was like the final spurt before one’s death. 

The terrifying heaven and earth qi caused a huge vortex to appear in the air. Countless bolts of lightning fell from the skies as though some special treasure was about to be born.

Under the cover of the dense fog that already formed, Shang Xia could feel several foreign auras as extermination lights filled the air. They soared in the direction of the vortex that formed.

Along with a thunderous blast, Shang Xia understood that a massive battle had broken out in the distance.

The shockwaves that were produced easily spread thousands of miles and from the intensity of the battle he could feel, Shang Xia could tell that the protection dual formation wasn’t in play.

He might not know the reason why everything was happening, but even if he was a brainless fool, he would know that it had something to do with the mysterious third party that was on the Manyu Continent.

He also felt that the protection dual formation was something they used to protect themselves before their plan was complete. Now that they achieved what they wanted, Shang Xia thought that there was no point in maintaining the formation.

With such a big commotion, Shang Xia wasn’t willing to leave without checking out what was going on. Especially after seeing several experts rushing into the massive vortex, Shang Xia felt his heart itching.

Hovering in the air, Shang Xia tried to inspect the insides of the vortex with his divine perception. Unfortunately, the deeper it went, the stronger the obstruction it faced. 

Shang Xia felt a familiar feeling when his divine perception was stopped by the vortex of heaven and earth qi and quickly made the connection to the time he spent in the Cloud Water Gorge of the Taihang Mountains.

When Shang Xia got ready to charge into the massive vortex, a loud buzz resounded in the ears of everyone present. He felt his heart clenching and he took a step back involuntarily. Not stopping there, he started to retreat rapidly. He wanted to get as far away from the vortex as possible.

At the same time, a formless shockwave emerged from the vortex and spread outwards rapidly. The space around was twisted and the earth that was devastated before suffered yet another round of ravaging. The shockwave didn’t stop after reaching the edges of the Snowy Peaks Mountain Range. Instead, it continued to sweep outwards.

While rapidly retreating, Shang Xia grunted loudly as his blade came slashing down to stop the impact from hitting him directly.

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A resplendent blade light that was several feet in length appeared above him. As it fell, it grew longer and longer. It gained a terrifying momentum as it came crashing down on the formless shockwave and by the time they clashed, the blade light had already extended to the length of several miles.

The space that was twisted because of the shockwave split apart layer by layer, and the massive shockwave that spanned countless miles was split open as a gap for Shang Xia to pass was formed.

Shang Xia’s blade light didn’t just split apart the shockwave that was about to slam into him. The resplendent blade light cut deep into the ground below, creating a huge rift that was tens of miles long at the edges of the huge crater that was formed.

After releasing the huge shockwave, the vortex of heaven and earth qi seemed to have cleansed itself. Not only did all the dirt and rock fragments inside the vortex get pushed out, but even the slightly chaotic heaven and earth qi seemed to become a lot more pure.

Heaven and earth qi continued to gather into the vortex as it slowly increased in size. Without any sudden threats to stop him, Shang Xia no longer hesitated. Turning into a streak of light, he charged into the vortex.

After the shockwave, all the debris was swept away. The underground water veins didn’t suffer the same fate and the vapor that emerged turned into a thick mist that filled the skies. It clouded one’s vision and the heaven and earth qi vortex caused the distortion of one’s divine perception. 

The entire region was becoming more and more like the Cloud Water Gorge.

With his experience in Cloud Water Gorge, Shang Xia didn’t panic even though he couldn’t see too far away and his divine perception was limited. Instead, he felt a strange sense of calm.

Currently, his divine sense could cover close to 300 feet around him if he pushed himself all the way. Comparing the suppression of the heaven and earth qi vortex to the Cloud Water Gorge, the heaven and earth qi vortex was still slightly superior.

Maintaining his divine perception around him all the time placed a considerable burden on Shang Xia’s body. Luckily, an epiphany struck him at that moment and he quickly retrieved the Hexagonal Lantern.

After everything he had been through, Shang Xia also learned the name of the lantern. It was called the Misty Palace Lantern and it had the ability to repel mists and fog. It would clear out an area hundreds of feet away from the individual using it and it had some sort of properties that allowed it to stabilize the spatial knots around. It could even be used to defend against attacks and it possessed some sort of offensive property. All in all, the Misty Palace Lantern was an exceptional treasure.

The moment Shang Xia brought out the lantern which he had fully fueled with Divine Fire Wine, he sent some of his Four Constellation Qi into it. The flame flickered violently as a yellowish-blue glow emerged from the lantern. An area that spanned hundreds of feet around him cleared up instantly but that wasn’t all. A strange power suppressed the chaotic twisting space that affected one’s divine perception within the area it cleared out, and Shang Xia resembled a moving island. The area around him was free from the chaos and mist that existed around the heaven and earth qi vortex.

Holding the Abyssal Blade in one hand and the Misty Palace Lantern in the other, Shang Xia casually strolled through the obstruction caused by the heaven and earth qi vortex. 

He wasn’t afraid he would lose his way as he started walking straight for the heaven and earth qi vortex in the distance the moment it emerged, the Crimson Soul Tablet discovered traces of world origin within. It accurately pointed him in the correct direction.