Even though the Crimson Soul Tablet was no longer acting up and his inner qi had regained its calm, Shang Xia still felt his heart thumping against his chest.

The Crimson Soul Tablet and his dantian might not be the cause of his heart palpitations, but Shang Xia just had a feeling deep down in his heart that something was wrong. His divine perception couldn’t sense anything either but he felt off nonetheless.

As the feeling got stronger, the Crimson Soul Tablet started to react. It started to resonate with the surroundings and a desire to devour could be felt clearly. Shang Xia knew that there was only one thing that could cause the tablet to react that way, and it was the appearance of world origin. 

With his understanding of the Crimson Soul Tablet, Shang Xia also knew that a small amount of world origin would never be able to rouse its attention.

Even when the pillar of light appeared back in the Snowy Peaks Mountain Range, the tablet merely pointed him in the correct direction. It didn’t reveal its desire for world origin as heavily as it was currently!

With the strong desire of the Crimson Soul Tablet and the bad feeling in his heart, Shang Xia realized that something big was about to happen. There was definitely an appearance of a huge amount of world origin, but danger was also rapidly approaching.

A single thought flashed through Shang Xia’s mind when he reached a startling conclusion. The Manyu Continent was finally about to be destroyed!

There might have been no evidence for his deduction, but the feeling he got from the Crimson Soul Tablet and his instincts were enough for him to be sure he was correct.

He stopped cultivating immediately as he left the small mountain he was on. 

He didn’t bother to hide his aura or the extermination lights that surrounded him as he rose into the air above the mountain. A terrifying pressure descended on the Tongyou Stronghold as the samsara of the four seasons extended through the whole area. The effects and pressure were unstoppable as it smashed into the central hall where the higher-ups of the institution were.

Practically every single expert in the stronghold was alerted by the sudden disturbance. After noticing the progression of the four seasons around them, a name immediately popped into their minds. They could guess the cause of the disturbance, but that also fuelled their shock at Shang Xia’s speed of progress.

“For him to cause such a huge disturbance, even Deputy Patriarch Yun Jing might not be…” 

“Did the Shang Clan actually produce another Martial Dipper Realm expert candidate?!” 

“How old is he?!” 

Complicated emotions filled the hearts of the Martial Extermination Realm experts in the Tongyou Stronghold.

It didn’t take long for another question to appear in their minds. As their gazes went to the central hall, they wondered why Shang Xia would cause such a huge disturbance.

…

“Are you sure that the destruction of the Manyu Continent is imminent?” Yun Jing got to her feet and her expression turned solemn after Shang Xia barged in and relayed the news.

Deputy Patriarch Yun Jing was a seasoned expert in the Martial Extermination Realm and she served as the deputy patriarch of the institution for a long time. With her experience, she didn’t bother asking how Shang Xia received the news. Instead, she only asked him to confirm it again.

It took mere moments for him to fly over to the central hall from the small mountain he was on. During that short period of time, the sense of unrest in his heart grew stronger and he felt his heart thumping harder in his chest. Nodding solemnly, Shang Xia responded, “Disciple is sure! I hope you and Grandpa Bo can start your preparations soon!” 

Just as the words left his lips, Yun Jing tapped the air in front of her. A four colored extermination light emerged from the void before shooting into the skies above. As it exploded overhead, the wonderful lights lit up hundreds of miles around the central hall.

Yun Jing acted decisively and the other reason Shang Xia came up with to convince her were no longer needed.

“Right now, you possess the strongest combat abilities among all of us. Head over to the border region with our formations immediately!” Yun Jing nodded at Shang Xia after sending out the signal. “The moment the continent crumbles, we need to control the formations to keep the landmass in shape. Once we do, it will turn into an individual island floating in the sea of stars. You need to protect the island from any external danger!” 

Shang Xia knew how serious things were and he nodded his head before turning to leave. As he made his way out, he heard Yun Jing’s voice in his mind. “Remember, your safety is of the utmost priority. If the situation turns desperate, just give up a portion of our island. Ensure that you do not get too far away from the island and expose yourself out there…” 

Opening the doors of the central hall to carry out his mission, he saw Liu Qinglan and Chu Jia rushing over.

Their gazes met and Shang Xia nodded once before rushing past them.

“What’s going on?” Liu Qinglan asked the moment she entered the hall.

Extermination light covered Shang Xia’s body after he made his way past them and he turned into a streak of light that shot straight for the outer regions of the Tongyou Stronghold. As he left, he vaguely heard Yun Jing’s voice commanding Liu Qinglan and Chu Jia, “... Activate the formation!”

“What? Why are we… It’s too sudden…” 

Shang Xia seemed to hear snippets of the debate going on in the central hall as he rose thousands of feet into the air. Sweeping his gaze across his surroundings, he noticed that the clouds in the distance were rolling about unsteadily as a gray haze surrounded the lands. Flocks of birds flew into the skies in confusion as beasts rampaged about their respective regions.

Other than that, he also noticed several streaks of light shooting into the sky from different directions to their respective stations. It went without saying that all of them were experts of the institution. They received their missions a long time ago and with Yun Jing’s signal, all of them sprang into action. They understood that the time had come and even though they were a little confused, they chose to obey the orders they had been given.

All of them knew that the Manyu Continent was on its last legs some time ago. The only thing they didn’t know was when it would be destroyed. 

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Like the Tongyou Institution, the various powers that arrived were pretty much in the same situation. They could only make their preparations and wait for the inevitable to happen. None of them wanted to activate their grand formation in advance as it would cause their landmass to detach from the Manyu Continent and use up a huge amount of heaven and earth qi. In fact, it would even exhaust world origin which might render their grand formation useless when the Manyu Continent actually crumbled.

The world origin required to power the formation was also the reason Chu Jia shamelessly went to look for Shang Xia after hearing about the fate dipper fragment shards. Those shards that contained world origin were also the reason why Yun Jing didn’t hesitate to activate the formation the moment Shang Xia’s warning came in.

When the Manyu Continent started to crumble, the spatial barrier around the world would still be present. The world barrier might be thin, but it didn’t exactly disappear. It stopped the intervention of the Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors of the various factions. Even if they could, the consumption of energy would sap the Martial Dipper Realm Ancestor dry before long. That was how terrifying the energy consumption was to maintain their individual island after the destruction of the Manyu Continent.

As such, many factions had been prepared to suffer some losses when the Manyu Continent was destroyed. Unless they could accurately grasp when the Manyu Continent would crumble, they wouldn’t be able to activate their grand formation in time.

Unlike the others, Yun Jing chose to trust Shang Xia’s judgment the moment he brought it up. 

Yun Jing wasn’t the only one who seemed to have unconditional trust in Shang Xia. Every other Martial Extermination Realm expert didn’t think that Shang Xia was mistaken. They also obeyed Yun Jing’s orders and sprang into action immediately.

If everything happened as Shang Xia had expected, the Tongyou Stronghold would be able to reduce their losses to the lowest level. They would also gain an advantage in the final fight for world origin.

On the other hand, if Shang Xia was wrong…

Rumble… 

A deep blast came from the depths of the earth as the ground beneath their feet started to shake.

Lowering his head, Shang Xia could see the landmass that stretched 2000 miles in diameter controlled by the formations of the Tongyou Stronghold starting to shake. That wasn’t caused by the destruction of the Manyu Continent. Instead, it was because of the effects of their grand formation and multiple smaller assistive formations scattered all around. The landmass was separating from the Manyu Continent to become an island that hovered in the air above!

It was a majestic sight as a giant island 2000 miles in diameter separated from the earth below!

The moment they separated themselves from the Manyu Continent, cracks started to form across the mainland below. Those cracks started to extend and widen as giant rifts in the earth ripped through the lands. Not too long later, Shang Xia arrived at the edge of their floating island and felt the feeling of unease in his heart disappearing.

Looking into the distance, he was greeted with a horrifying sight. The earth shattered and the skies changed color. Armeggedon arrived as natural disasters triggered by the destruction of the continent ravaged the lands. The Manyu Continent finally reached the end of its lifespan!