“I do not wish to kill you.” Shang Xia raised his hand and pushed it in the gloomy Zheng Chang’s direction. “I’ll lay down a restriction in your dantian and I won’t let you do as you wish from now on. If you leak any news of Ma Sheng’s death to the members of the Zhengyang Sect of the Xu Continent, you can’t blame me for being ruthless.”  0

After playing bad cop, Shang Xia’s tone changed for the better. “Naturally, you can try to undo the restriction on your dantian yourself. You can also look for experts of other factions. As long as you manage to get rid of it, you can go ahead. I won’t try to stop you.”

When he was done, the extermination light under Shang Xia’s feet flashed and he disappeared from Zheng Chang’s sight instantly. 

Only then did Zheng Chang heave a sigh of relief.

Turning his attention to his dantian, he noticed a ball of strange extermination qi hovering in the center of it. Even though he was extremely annoyed by it, he couldn’t do anything. He even thought that Shang Xia was merely scaring him by telling him he could look for anyone to try destroying the restriction, but his doubts didn’t last long. When Shang Xia turned around to leave without the slightest hesitation, Zheng Chang felt that the youngster wasn’t messing with him.

However… Zheng Chang didn’t understand where Shang Xia got his confidence from. His cultivation was at the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm, but the Lushan Sect had hundreds of years of foundation. They had knowledge of countless martial intents and there was even a Martial Dipper Realm Ancestor present. Zheng Chang refused to believe that they would be unable to get rid of the restriction in his dantian eventually.

Using his divine perception to probe the restriction, Zheng Chang’s expression eventually changed when he noticed the intricacies behind it.

His cultivation might not be comparable to Shang Xia, but he was a disciple of the Lushang Sect. The knowledge he had was vast, and that was precisely why he understood that the restriction in his dantian was absolutely terrifying.

Unless he was willing to destroy half his foundations to get rid of the restriction Shang Xia placed, there was no chance he could free himself from it! If he really had to do that, there was no need to talk about advancing in the future. He would have to thank the gods if his cultivation didn’t regress to the Martial Intent Realm.

…

Shang Xia didn’t know Zheng Chang’s inner thoughts, and even if he did, he wouldn’t give a shit.

Since they joined forces to kill him, they should be prepared to put their lives on the line. There was no heavenly law stating that they were the only ones allowed to do the killing. Others could easily do the same to him.

In the end, Zheng Chang might have kept his life, but he became one of Shang Xia’s chest pieces. Shang Xia wasn’t even afraid that he would return to the Lushan Sect to look for help.

Returning to the Tongyou Stronghold, Shang Xia had a peaceful journey. 

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The only thing out of the ordinary he discovered was the dwindling traces of life around the Manyu Continent.

Shang Xia wasn’t too surprised by that. Because of the huge disturbance caused by the experts of the Spirit Abundance World, the heaven and earth qi in the surrounding thousands of miles were sapped up. The huge mountain range that used to exist nearly disappeared and the giant crater in the ground was also extremely obvious.

Their actions caused earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and floods for thousands upon thousands of miles. Countless aboriginals were killed because of that and the others quickly brought their families to escape the region. 

When Shang Xia finally returned to the Tongyou Stronghold, everyone had already heard about the actions of the Spirit Abundance World. Of course, all they heard was the outline of what happened. Only experts like Shang Xia and Huang Yu, who personally took part in the battle within the heaven and earth qi vortex, and the battles that happened before that, would be able to give real details of what happened.

Because Huang Yu’s identity couldn’t be publicly revealed to the other members of the institution, Shang Xia sent everyone away before recounting his experiences. Only Yun Jing, Shang Bo, and Liu Qinglan were left.0

Liu Qinglan’s aura showed signs of fluctuation and it seemed as though she hadn’t fully consolidated her foundations. One could say that she had finally entered the gateway to become a high-level Martial Extermination Realm expert but hadn’t planted her feet firmly in her cultivation realm.

After telling the 3 about Huang Yu’s plan to infiltrate the Spirit Abundance World, Shang Xia waited for their reactions. However, the 3 of them were clearly experienced cultivators who had seen many things during their time. They didn’t seem too shocked with his approach.

“Oh right. Did you manage to obtain a fate dipper fragment?” Shang Bo asked.

His question immediately drew the attention of the others. 

The disturbance the experts of the Spirit Abundance World created was too large. The pillar of light that was created in the Snowy Peaks Mountain Range wasn’t the only one that appeared. News of the fate dipper fragments were flying all around and no one knew what was true and what was false. 

However, there was one thing in common with all the rumors going around. The fragments were extremely precious. Otherwise, the experts from the Spirit Abundance World wouldn’t cause such a huge ruckus to obtain them. They basically pushed the Manyu Continent to the brink of destruction with their actions. 

Shang Xia naturally wouldn’t hide anything from his grandfather. He brought out the crystal-like cube from his sleeves and handed it over.

Shang Bo didn’t say much after receiving the cube. Closing his eyes, he used his divine perception, extermination origins, and inner qi to explore the uses of the cube.

Looking at Yun Jing and Liu Qinglan whose gazes never left the cube, Shang Xia brought out 2 different cases from his sleeves and handed it to them.

Those cases contained the dozens of shards he obtained from Zheng Chang and Ma Sheng. After Yun Jing and Liu Qinglan examined them, their expressions changed drastically. It was especially so for Liu Qinglan. The moment she touched a fragment, she felt world origin pouring into her body. Her foundations which had not yet stabilized started to make some progress.0

Liu Qinglan didn’t absorb all the world origin in the shard. Instead, she placed it back into the case.

Shang Xia chucked when he saw her actions. “Instructor Liu, you're at a crucial point of cultivation. Feel free to take a few. I believe you noticed their effects earlier. I have quite a few of these…” 0

Tossing the case back to him, Liu Qinglan muttered, “I’m about to fully refine my extermination origin and all that’s left is for me to work a little harder. It’s too wasteful if I use up these precious treasures.” 

When she returned the case to Shang Xia earlier, she felt that the world origin contained in those shards was starting to grow unstable. That was why she tossed them back into the case and closed it immediately. She didn’t wish to be wasteful.0

Yun Jing returned the case to Shang Xia after hearing what Liu Qinglan said. “Qinglan isn’t wrong. The world origin contained in these shards is extremely pure. You should save them in case they prove to be the difference in a crucial moment. Moreover, you obtained them after fighting with others. You should keep them for yourself.” 

Shang Xia kept the cases helplessly. Shang Bo, who had been examining the fate dipper fragment, opened his eyes suddenly. A ray of light shot out from his eyes and he gasped, “That’s it!” 

The other 3 turned to stare at him in shock, but they didn’t say a word. They eagerly awaited his explanation.

He didn’t address their concerns immediately. Instead, he turned to Shang Xia and asked, “Didn’t you obtain a broken fate dipper in the past?” 

Widening his eyes slightly, Shang Xia replied, “Yeah. I gave it to the institution after.” 

The broken fate dipper Shang Bo was talking about was from Zhu Tong of the Zhu Family back in the battlefield between the two worlds.

Shang Xia was sure that Ji Wenlong’s breakthrough to the Martial Dipper Realm had something to do with that broken fate dipper he obtained.

Even though the broken fate dipper was damaged, it was still a supremely important factor in Ji Wenlong’s breakthrough. Of course, a rank five advancement formula was also important, but that wasn’t the point.

Shang Bo weighed the cube in his hand and sighed, “This fragment isn’t just used for cultivation. Martial Extermination Realm experts can make use of it when cultivating, but so can experts in the Martial Dipper realm. This cube is extremely useful when it comes to refining a divine weapon too. However, none of those are the main points. Most importantly, this can be used to gather fate dipper essence!” 

“Fate dipper essence?!” Yun Jing gasped as a look of excitement appeared on her face. She clearly knew what fate dipper essence was.

Shang Xia and Liu Qinglan might have been hearing it for the first time, but they revealed looks of contemplation as though they had already guessed something.

Shang Bo quickly followed up, “That’s right. It’s fate dipper essence. The purer the fate dipper fragment, the higher the quality of fate dipper essence it can collect. That will also affect the quality of the fate dipper produced eventually.”

Thinking about it for a moment, Shang Xia asked, “Wouldn’t that mean that a fate dipper fragment has the same function as a spirit extermination gourd? The only difference being the type of energy it collects…” 

Shang Bo didn’t need to explain anything at that point. Instead, Yun Jing shook her head and laughed, “Nope! Without talking about the huge difference between a fate dipper and an extermination origin, there are a lot of treasures like the Spirit Extermination Gourd that has the ability to collect extermination qi to form a complete extermination origin. A fate dipper fragment is really different. Not only has the fragment itself already reached the level of a rank five treasure, it only requires a single strand of fate dipper essence to transform into a complete fate dipper.” 

Liu Qinglan was shocked after hearing her explanation.

“It transforms automatically?” Shang Xia gasped.

“I’m afraid fate dipper essence is a lot harder to find than these fragments…” Liu Qinglan wasn’t delusional. At least she understood how precious those things were.

Snapping back to reality, Shang Xia asked, “Fate dipper essence should be a hundred times more difficult to obtain than fate dipper fragments, right?” However, he failed to hide the look of excitement on his face as he continued, “Well, at the very least, obtaining a fate dipper fragment means that we already obtained half a fate dipper! Oh yeah! How long will the transformation take after it successfully receives fate dipper essence?”

Shang Bo shook his head and smiled while listening to Shang Xia’s rant of excitement.

Yun Jing laughed too, but she soon spoke, “It’s the first time we’re seeing this too. How are we supposed to know how long it will take or how rare a fate dipper essence is? From what I can see, the more fate dipper essence you manage to gather in one fate dipper fragment, the faster it will complete its transformation.” 

Nodding slowly, Shang Xia started to think of ways to obtain fate dipper essence. Seemingly having thought of something, Shang Xia muttered, “Oh yeah! Grandpa, this item might help you when you refine your fate dipper in the future!” 

Shang Bo’s attempt to break through to the Martial Dipper Realm on the Manyu Continent was no secret to the higher ups of the institution. 

However, Shang Xia’s offer was met with roaring laughter from Shang Bo. “Brat, keep the fragment! I have no use for it! Hahaha!” 

With a trace of delight filling his heart, Shang Xia understood that his grandfather didn’t need the fragment because he already had an origin dipper with him. From the looks of it, his grandfather was extremely confident in breaking through too. As such, the delight didn’t stem from receiving his fate dipper fragment back from Shang Bo. Instead, he was happier that his grandfather was ready to break through!

The smile on Shang Bo’s face eventually subsided and he turned serious. “Even though I’m pretty sure how the fate dipper fragment works, we have a problem. This brat obtained a piece of complete fate dipper fragment from the experts from the Spirit Abundance World. Does that mean that they have a way to produce fate dippers?! Why else would they hasten the destruction of the Manyu Continent for these fragments otherwise?”