Chapter 1130: The Strange Situation in Star Origin City  

When they returned, they sneaked Gu Qing into the Tongyou Elysium. They also quickly looked for their clones.

“We received news from Star Origin City 2 days ago.” Kou Chongxue’s clone reported the moment he arrived. After handing a secret transmission over, he left with Shang Xia’s clone.

The secret transmission needed to be opened by a special method in order for its contents to be read. Otherwise, even if one’s cultivation was terrifyingly strong, they wouldn’t be able to see what was written.

“20 days ago, one of the Star Ships sent out by the Star Origin Guards was destroyed. Even though there were no traces left behind, they can be sure that tens of experts had been killed.” Kou Chongxue described while passing the transmission to Shang Xia.

He continued, “That’s what’s strange… The Star Ship they said was destroyed belonged to the Seventh Camp and it was sent out on patrols regularly. There shouldn't be anything strange about it. However, all 49 members of the Seventh Camp should have been in Star Origin City when that happened. Here comes the problem… How can the Star Ship appear so far away from the city while carrying experts of mysterious origins? Who are those people? The Star Ships of the Star Origin Guards can’t be used by any random person out there. Without a Star Origin Guard to release the seal, no one would be able to use it. Also… How would a Star Ship belonging to the Star Origin Guards leave the city unnoticed? What is the true reason they were sent out and does the Seventh Camp know anything about it?”

Shang Xia finished the contents and slowly lowered it while mumbling, “Looks like we managed to knock our way into some trouble without us knowing…”

Nodding Kou Chongxue continued, “Feng Ziying pointed the arrowhead at the Seventh Camp in his report and the other Camp Commanders seem to be waiting for Xing Xingtian to give them an explanation. From the looks of it, they wish to settle the problem internally…”

Shang Xia shook his head and sighed, “It’s going to be difficult. If this is an ordinary matter, nothing will happen. Even if it’s related to some smuggling, or illegal immigration practices, it could be suppressed. Even if someone tried to use the Star Ship for themselves, things wouldn’t turn out so complicated. The only problem is that the Star Origin Guards managed to detect the presence of mysterious experts on board. That’s where the problem lies. The death of several high-level experts didn’t cause too many waves in the city either. It’s even said after investigation, they didn’t discover traces of many missing experts in the city. That’s how interesting things are!”

“A power that is completely out of the Star Origin Guards’ control. They are even able to use Star Ships that belong to the Star Origin Guards to travel out into the sea of stars… Hehe… Anyone with a little sense of awareness will be able to detect how great the implications are!” Kou Chongxue chuckled.

Shang Xia laughed along with him. “Looks like we managed to do the Star Origin Guards a great favor and open up something they missed. We’re in for a treat now.”

“No, no, no.” Kou Chongxue waved his hands suddenly and stopped Shang Xia. “Do you remember the previous reports Feng Ziying sent? Zhuge Xiang is still in seclusion and rumors have it that he’s trying to enter the level of Returning to the Origin! He can’t pay attention to matters like this!”

Shang Xia frowned in response. “Do you mean to say that the Star Origin Guards are a bunch of wolves without a leader right now? Will this end without a proper conclusion? Or are you saying that this matter will distract Zhuge Xiang and force him to emerge from seclusion?”

“If our guess is right and Tong Yutang is the person behind this, he will definitely be plotting something. From how he has been avoiding the Star Origin Guards the whole time, his goals might not be aligned with theirs at all. Now that such a huge problem has surfaced, how do you think he will deal with it?”

Even without Kou Chongxue saying more, Shang Xia seemed to have understood. “He’s going to have to risk it all and take action before Zhuge Xiang emerges from seclusion…”

Kou Chongxue nodded slowly. “Don’t forget… The mysterious expert who used the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation in the Ruined World most likely succeeded!”

“What about us…” Shang Xia hesitated slightly. He couldn’t visualize all the implications immediately and how the Tongyou Institution would benefit from the matter.

“Let Little Chu analyze the formation and try to restore whatever we brought back. If we are able to produce essence crystals with it, we can slowly start to reverse engineer the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation.” Kou Chongxue explained.

Actually, he hadn’t come up with a complete plan either. However, they knew that there was a Ruined World not too far away from their Star Beast Nest and the Spirit Faith World.

Shang Xia knew that even though everything seemed to be on fire, that didn’t mean that they had to react immediately. Since there would be changes in the Star Origin City, that would mean that the effects would eventually cascade down to the worlds connected to them. If they were even a little careless, they would be attacked on all sides! They had to consider every angle before trying anything.

Fortunately, with the situation in Star Origin City going out of control and the other worlds being thrown into a state of panic, the Spirit Luxuriant World… No. The Tongyou Institution would be able to start coming up with a plan of action before shit went down.

Shang Xia eventually broke out laughing after thinking everything through. “I’m afraid Grandmaster Chu is placing all her attention on the rank six grand formation around the institution… If we ask her to shift her focus to the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation, she’s going to go crazy!”

Kou Chongxue also snickered, “Even if she’s mad, what does that have to do with me? Both of you can deal with your problems… Don’t bring me into this.”

After he spoke, he ran away without so much as a goodbye.

“What does this have to do with us?” Shang Xia mumbled to himself. Helpless, he could only look for Chu Jia alone. He couldn’t let too many people know about the matter either. Gu Qing’s presence also had to remain hidden.

With Kou Chongxue back to take charge of the institution, they seemed to be making some sort of preparation without much knowledge about what they were preparing for. At the same time, Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia paid attention to what was happening in Star Origin City.

With many of them kept in the dark, members of the Tongyou Institution were deployed into Star Origin City. Information started to flow back to the Spirit Luxuriant World and with Feng Ziying, their super spy, as an insider in the Star Origin Guards, the Tongyou Institution received many secret transmissions that were personally analyzed by the deputy patriarchs.

As for Shang Xia… he had been restoring the platform with Chu Jia within the Tongyou Elysium when everything was going down.

Surprisingly, Chu Jia didn’t rage when he brought the task over. When she learned that they brought back a portion of a rank six formation on their journey and a rank four Talisman Master who was responsible for laying down a part of it, she became unnaturally excited. She immediately requested Shang Xia to study the formation with them.

“I am barely able to lay down a rank six formation, but that is because I had the help of the Five Element Ring. If I complete the formation with the Formation Artifact, it will be difficult for me to take it away without affecting the formation…” Chu Jia explained the situation with the institution’s rank six grand formation she was responsible for.

Naturally, laying down a formation on such a grand scale wasn’t something that could be done in a short period of time. Not to mention the fact that Chu Jia wasn’t considered a true rank six Formation Grandmaster due to her reliance on the Formation Artifact and that there were no high-level Formation Grandmasters to assist her in the institution…

If they wanted to understand why Chu Jia was stretched so thin, the weak foundations of the Tongyou Institution would eventually surface as the number 1 reason again.

Actually, the rank six formations that covered the other Elysiums weren’t things that appeared out of nowhere either. All of them were only created after hundreds of years of hard work…

“Hmm…” Shang Xia mumbled softly. There was something he wasn’t quite sure of. “Are you planning to use the Five Element Ring as the foundation of our grand formation?”

“I have no choice. It’s the quickest way I can think of. However, along with my advancement in cultivation, my abilities will also rise and I will eventually be able to improve it such that the Five Element Ring no longer has to serve as the foundation.” Chu Jia explained.

Shang Xia caught her drift and he muttered, “Is that why you are so interested in restoring this formation? If you manage to restore it, you will be able to take another step in the dao of formations and be able to free the Five Element Ring from being the foundations of our grand formation…”

“It’s just a possibility. What if I fail to gain enlightenment from restoring the platform?” Chu Jia asked with a strange smile on her face.

“How is that possible?” Shang Xia grunted with a weird expression. “You’re the Formation Hall Master of our Tongyou Institution! You have the highest level of mastery and the greatest talent… How can you fail to obtain anything after restoring the formation platform?”

He seemed to recall something and quickly added, “Oh right, I also brought back a small portion of the tools and resources required to lay down the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation. I looked at them and felt like they were of pretty good quality. Can you use them?”

Chu Jia immediately revealed an expression of joy. However, she couldn’t help but fall deep into thought for a moment. “We’ll use them to restore the platform first. I’ll keep the rest. After all, restoring the platform is of the highest priority. It will be extremely beneficial for me too.”

Shang Xia grunted twice in response. “Yeah, you’re the boss here. Also, Gu Qing, the rank four Formation Grandmaster we brought back took part in laying down a portion of the formation. He might only be at the fourth rank, but he definitely has some knowledge about it. It’s a shame Patriarch Kou and I don’t know too much about formations and failed to gain anything from his explanations. You can only rely on yourself to see how much you learn…”

Chu Jia nearly jumped in joy. “In that case, our institution would have our third rank four Formation Grandmaster, right?!”

Shang Xia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after seeing how she was focused on something completely unrelated.