Splitting the Heavens

With his clones returning, the situation over on their side was also quickly relayed to him.

The clone that had been in charge of staying in the Talisman Hall in his stead informed him about recent happenings within the Talisman Hall, allowing him to better grasp the situation.

As for the clone that went back to the Shang Clan, it also brought back the most recent news. Other than Kou Chongxue, most of the members of the first generation of the Tongyou Institution like Ji Wenlong and Yun Jing had already reached the limit of their martial path. In recent years, they had been fully focused on managing the institution and the You Continent.

Liu Zhiyuan, the youngest deputy patriarch, might be the youngest among them, but his thoughts were too complicated and he didn’t have the sophistication and sense of responsibility like the other deputy patriarchs, and he didn’t have too much prestige in the institution. His cultivation also stagnated after entering the Martial Dipper Realm.

Unlike the other deputy patriarchs who left the role of being their clan’s patriarch to other members so that they could pour all their energy into managing the institution, Liu Zhiyuan was the only one who still maintained his position as the Liu Clan Patriarch. He might be active in the institution and a lot more visible than the other deputy patriarchs, but his reputation wasn’t the best. Many disciples of the institution felt that he was overly biased toward members of the Liu Clan.

As for Shang Bo… He was probably the only person who was still thinking about progressing on the martial path.

He reached the third element of the Martial Dipper Realm several years ago, and even though he had referenced Shang Xia’s ideology about balancing his fate dippers based on the five elements, he hadn’t been able to refine his fourth fate dipper. Ge Qingzhu and Sun Haiwei had already surpassed him in terms of cultivation.

Actually… A great bottleneck existed between the third and fourth elements of the Martial Dipper Realm. Only those who successfully broke through the bottleneck had the qualifications to step into the gates of the Martial Void Realm.

Of course… They merely had a chance to do so. Nothing was certain.

The Patriarch of the Shang Clan was still Shang Xia’s Fifth Grandpa, Shang Ke, but he was getting on in age. His cultivation also stopped in the Marital Extermination Realm for a long time now.

Other than the 2 oldest and most experienced elders of the Shang Clan, there were several promising members of the clan in their second generation members. Shang Jian, Shang Xi, and Shang Pei who had been staying in the Five Mountains Alliance had already entered the Martial Dipper Realm. Of the 4 great clans of the You Continent, the Shang Clan was a unique existence with so many experts.

One could say that even without Shang Bo and Shang Xia, the Shang Clan would still stand tall as the strongest of the 4 great clans. No one else even came close!

Recalling the old times when Kou Chongxue was the only Martial Dipper Realm expert in the institution and basically held the fort down in the You Continent alone, things had changed.

Of course, for the You Continent to reach its current state, other than the efforts put in by Kou Chongxue and the members of the institution, the world ascension was also an important factor. The powerful World’s Will greatly lowered the barrier for stepping into the Martial Dipper Realm.

Shang Xia’s final clone brought back news from within the Tongyou Elysium.

Xin Lu, who had been brought back from Star Origin City, gave it her all when teaching Yan Ming and Yuan Qiuyuan. She didn’t hide anything and taught them to the best of her abilities.

She even reorganized and sorted the inheritance Shang Xia brought back, allowing her to progress further in the ways of a Stargazer. It wasn’t completely impossible for her to become a Grand Stargazer in the future.

Yuan Qiuyuan was also preparing to break through to the Martial Extermination Realm

Without a doubt, Yuan Qiuyuan was attempting to break through to the Marital Extermination Realm with the Heaven Observations Sect’s inheritance that combined the path of a Stargazer with their martial inheritance. The moment he succeeded, the institution would be able to gain another complete inheritance that could possibly lead to the Seventh Order.

Of course… Having an inheritance that could possibly lead to the Seventh Order didn’t mean that they would produce their own Seventh Order expert.

The path of cultivation had never been a smooth one and a complete inheritance could only guide one onto the right path. It would save a lot of effort, and whether or not one would be able to go all the way depended on their talent and hard work.

Before Shang Xia returned, the 3 of them were fully focused on assisting Kou Chongxue build the spatial tunnel to the Ruined Spirit Emptiness World. However, after learning that Yuan Qiuyuan was preparing to break through, Shang Xia’s clone instructed them to change their focus on that and to ensure Yuan Qiuyuan became a Stargazer before doing anything else. Even their task to assist Kou Chongxue could be put on hold if required.

The moment Yuan Qiuyuan succeeded, the Tongyou Institution would possess 2 Stargazers and if they worked together, helping Kou Chongxue to open the spatial tunnel would be a lot easier than before.

Shang Xia was the only person who had the authority and courage to override Kou Chongxue’s orders in the institution. No one else would dare to go against Kou Chongxue’s instructions.

Of course, the most important reason was that Shang Xia was a lot more confident of entering the fourth tier of the Marital Void Realm after returning from the Essence Ping World. It was a shame Kou Chongxue wasn’t present as he was still kept in the dark about Shang Xia’s progress.

Other than the Star Observatory, Shang Xia’s clone that went back to the Tongyou Elysium was to check on the progress of those Formation Masters of the Azure Oddity World who were restoring the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation.

Originally, Shang Xia didn’t fully trust them. However, after Chu Jia went over to take charge of matters, he no longer bothered with them.

He was still worried about Chu Jia not being able to cope with handling the restoration of the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation and the rank six grand formation at the same time, but Chu Jia quickly raised her point.

Since the foundation of the grand formation was completed, she could simply hand over the rest of the tasks to the 2 rank four Formation Grandmasters of the institution and the rest as all they had to do was some miscellaneous tasks. It would be a great way to develop the Formation Masters of the Tongyou Institution while they were at it. Other than checking on it from time to time, she could simply direct and delegate tasks to other Formation Grandmasters.

Seeing as she was confident she could handle the restoration of the Essence Refining Void Returning Formation and complete the rank six grand formation around the Tongyou Institution, Shang Xia didn’t worry about her any longer.

The deputy patriarchs were taking charge of other matters in the institution and would deal with anything else that would crop up, and Shang Xia didn’t doubt their abilities. As such, he could finally rest at ease and enter seclusion.

He didn’t choose to enter seclusion in the Tongyou Elysium. Instead, he decided to cultivate in the Talisman Pagoda.

The Tongyou Elysium might possess abundant energy produced by the Elysium, but the Crimson Soul Tablet absorbed too much energy from the Star Origin Lord’s clone back then. With the amount of energy still stored in it, Shang Xia didn’t need the power of the Elysium in case both types of energy clashed or contaminated each other.

Before entering seclusion, Shang Xia still left a clone outside the Talisman Pagoda in order to ensure he wasn’t completely clueless in case anything important happened in the outside world.

He also seemed to have thought of something and he turned around to hand a divine weapon over to his clone to be brought to Deputy Patriarch Yun Jing.

It was the hammer he obtained after killing Wen Juxiang and he originally wanted to give it to the Weapons Hall, but after some thoughts, he felt that it wouldn’t be worth it to give them such an amazing treasure.

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