Chapter 1133: Fourth-Tier True Immortal, Wen Juxiang
After the Astronomers of the Tongyou Institution verified the coordinates they were given, they were fully certain it was located not too far away from the Spirit Abundance World.
When Shang Xia went to check the place out, he discovered that what they meant by the spot being not too far away from the Spirit Abundance World was that it was tens of millions of miles away.
As they were investigating the matter secretly, Shang Xia didn’t pass through Star Origin City. Even though he would need to travel across a larger distance, which would take him longer and make his journey a little more risky, no one would be able to catch his tracks.
Even so… When Shang Xia was several tens of thousands of miles away from the coordinates they provided, he still concealed his presence to the best of his abilities. He suppressed his aura and even transformed his appearance a little.
He was in the midst of a large asteroid belt at the moment and he carefully avoided the large chunks that would crash into each other. Eventually, he arrived at the spot that was completely empty.
Shang Xia didn’t rush into the region of empty space. That was because he noticed several huge space dust mounds in the distance. It was as though multiple asteroids were turned to dust from a powerful strike.
Everything he was seeing was proof of the spot where the strike originated from.
Shang Xia could also think of reasons why the entire region was empty. He was afraid that even if he wanted to learn the reason, he would have to head over to the dust mounds after traveling through the region of empty space.
However… Without the cover of the asteroid belt, the empty region of space seemed like a massive trap!
It was different from the Ruined World he had Kou Chongxue had been to earlier. That space was vast, but there were at least giant chunks for cover.
In order to get some clues of what happened the other day, Shang Xia knew that he had to take the risk!
Because he was afraid that he would disturb the region of empty space and alarm anyone if they were watching, he didn’t dare to create any spatial tunnels. He obediently flew through the sea of stars towards the center of the empty region.
It was a shame he didn’t have any sort of secret art that enabled him to seek out the remnant qi in the region. Otherwise, he might have been able to look for traces of the culprit.
Shang Xia couldn’t help but think back to the Tracking Compass the Spirit Faith World provided. It was a shame the treasure was rare even in the Spirit Faith World and their production method was kept secret. He couldn’t learn anything!
He didn’t fly extremely quickly, and he would stop from time to time. He looked like he was slowly scouting the region to see if there were any abnormalities.
Only when he arrived at the central region did he feel slight fluctuations in the void around him!
Not only did the fluctuations appear without warning, they were also extremely strange. Shang Xia could clearly feel that his inner qi was slightly scattered when the fluctuations blasted against him.
“I thought of trying my luck here after completing the task… Haha, who would have thought that someone would really fall for it?” Along with a soft chuckle, a familiar figure appeared in the void before Shang Xia.
“It’s you!” Shang Xia gasped. He was so surprised he even forgot to circulate his qi for a moment. He gasped, “Were you the culprit who carried out the sneak attack the other day?”
The person who appeared was the fourth tier True Immortal of the Essence Hong World who infiltrated the Spirit Luxuriant World back then, Wen Juxiang!
Wen Juxiang chuckled in response. He didn’t answer, but asked a question of his own, “You’ve been stopping so often… Didn’t you discover anything?”
“Fellow cultivator, you are a fourth tier True Immortal. I don’t believe you have the ability to send out that strike. However, you come from the Essence Hong World and you will definitely possess some special technique we never heard of. Actually… Even that doesn’t make sense. Whatever. What I don’t understand is that if you had such powerful methods and wanted to deal with our Spirit Luxuriant World, why do it from so far away? Also, for you to do so in such a secluded region and create such a massive empty patch of space…”
Wen Juxiang looked at Shang Xia who was gathering his energy and chose not to care about his actions. The mocking smile on his face grew wider and he sneered with disdain, “Oh? Looks like you know quite a bit. What do you think?”
Shang Xia didn’t mind the disrespectful attitude Wen Juxiang was showing. He started to mutter to himself, “You might be able to unleash that level of strength, but it’s highly unlikely you were the one who did it. However, you should know who the culprit was.”
Wen Juxiang laughed softly without saying a word.
Shang Xia didn’t seem to count on the fact that Wen Juxiang would speak the truth even if he did, and he continued to guess, “To release such a powerful strike and turn this entire region into empty space, I’ll make a bold guess and say that it wasn’t done by a single expert. There might be many experts involved in this. Moreover, to be able to release an attack of that level, they would have to practice working together. They probably destroyed this entire region because they messed up.”
Wen Juxiang started to clap at Shang Xia’s analysis. “What an accurate guess! You’re really close to the truth. It’s just that… Do you really think you will be able to leave this place and tell this to the other True Immortals back in your Spirit Luxuriant World?”
Shang Xia also revealed a wide grin. He seemed to know that it would be difficult for him to leave, but he even gave up on storing more energy. His body started trembling slightly under the suppression of Wen Juxiang’s domain, but he continued, “I’m not begging you to give me an answer anyway. There’s just one more thing I’m interested in. Why did you infiltrate the Tongyou Elysium back then?”
A look of ridicule appeared on Wen Juxiang’s face again. “Do you really think I’ll tell you? Do you think you’re qualified to learn any of this?”
“Why not? It’s not like I can run away from you now that we’re standing face to face…” Shang Xia asked.
Shang Xia, who had been suppressed by Wen Juxiang’s domain, discovered that the space around him was also sealed. From the looks of it, it would be difficult for him to escape.
However, Wen Juxiang’s expression started to flicker unsteadily the next moment.
Seeing his reaction, Shang Xia pressed, “Is it because of the Heaven Observation Sect?! What are you really after? You…”
Before Shang Xia could complete his sentence, Wen Juxiang roared, “No! You’re just a clone! However, your cultivation level is at the second tier of the Martial Void Realm… How…”
Realizing that he couldn’t keep his act up any longer, a strange smile formed on Shang Xia’s face.
Wen Juxiang’s expression was also ugly. He waved his sleeves and caused a massive void storm to rip through the area.
Shang Xia’s clone was battered by the void storm, and his figure started to turn blurry.
“A clone that can deceive my senses… How did you do it?” Wen Juxiang looked like he could destroy the clone any time he wished, but he wanted to get more information before doing anything.
Naturally, Shang Xia wouldn’t give him a chance to do so. Along with his clone slowly turning to bits, a strand of his divine soul remained. At the same time, an Illusion Talisman was burned to ash.
The Illusion Talisman was able to allow one to hide their cultivation level, and the talismans Shang Xia made could even allow one to pretend to be a True Immortal!
If lower-leveled cultivators were to use it, they would be able to pretend to be a first tier True Immortal at most. However, if he was the person using it, he was able to freely alter his cultivation realm as long as it was below the third tier of the Martial Void Realm.
If Wen Juxiang had attacked the moment he appeared, he would have discovered that the person standing before him was a mere clone!
Fortunately, the fourth tier True Immortal seemed to like gloating over his victory and toying with a weaker cultivator and failed to notice the strange situation.
“Hmph… Do you think you can escape?” Wen Juxiang growled. He also knew that there was no way a mere clone like that would be able to travel such a huge distance through the vast sea of stars.
That would mean that Shang Xia’s true body was close, and it was likely to be in the vicinity!
The fourth tier True Immortal quickly turned to stare at where Shang Xia’s clone first appeared and he reached out to capture the rapidly dissipating aura of the clone. He formed several hand seals before pressing them into the void, releasing a wisp of smoke that quickly pointed in a certain direction.
The direction in which the smoke pointed was clearly different from where Shang Xia’s clone came from.
“Hmph, trivial tricks. Do you really think you can run away?” Wen Juxiang disappeared from his spot as he transformed into a powerful rush of wind that charged at Shang Xia.
The void was turned into a sieve wherever he passed through. Thousands of miles away, at the boundary between the asteroid belt and the region of empty space, a powerful gust shoved everything away. Wen Juxiang appeared in the cleared-out region after.
Wen Juxiang’s movement ability was exceptionally powerful, and it seemed to possess the ability to ignore spatial turbulence to some extent. It not only forced the space around him apart, but it also had the special property of being able to smoothen the void around him.
As soon as his figure reappeared, the asteroids around him started to rush at him.
Those large chunks in front of him weren’t the only ones that started to move. Even those deep within the asteroid belt seemed to be pushed by some fitness energy. They accelerated before rushing at Wen Juxiang.
“Do you think you can stop me with this?! How naive.” Wen Juxiang roared before slapping a hand seal into the space before him. Everything froze, and when he separated his palm, a massive passage opened up for him to pass through.
With a loud sneer, he rushed through the channel.
The distance of hundreds of miles was nothing to him!
Just as the powerful rush of wind he transformed into passed through the walls of asteroids, a massive pillar appeared on the other end and flew right at him!
The pillar seemed to be able to expand at will, and it filled the channel the moment it appeared. It smashed into the powerful wind that was generated.
In an instant, the asteroids surrounding them blew up into countless fragments. The shockwaves annihilated everything within a 100 mile radius from the collision, and it continued to push the chunks of rocks away and emptied a 1000 mile radius.
In the center of the blank space, Wen Juxiang, who had been charging forward fearlessly, was forced to stop. His face was flushed but he turned pale the next moment. He clearly didn’t gain the upper hand in the exchange!
“Holy… Holy Artifact! You… You reached the level of External Unity!” Wen Juxiang gritted his teeth while glaring in the direction of the Stone Rod.
He lost Shang Xia’s track because of the sudden strike, and he knew that Shang Xia had already run away…
More importantly, he realized he had underestimated Shang Xia’s cultivation level, actual combat strength, and how smart he was when it came to fighting!
The factors combined were like a loud slap to the fourth tier True Immortal of the Essence Hong World!