Splitting the Heavens

Chapter 568: Talisman Artifact

Shang Xia guessed their motives for infiltrating the Tongyou Island a long time ago.

However, there were only 2 reasons for them to do so. One of them was to interfere with the Tongyou Institution’s plan when they brought back the landmass to the Azure Origin World. The other was to infiltrate the Azure Origin World and spy for the Spirit Abundance World.

If the cultivator from the Spirit Abundance World was planning to interfere with the institution’s plan, Shang Xia felt that his chances of success were slim to none. With super experts like Yun

Jing and Shang Bo holding the fort, along with the assistance of Chu Jia’s grand formation, there wouldn’t be any chance of him affecting the Tongyou Institution’s plan. Moreover, the experts on the Tongyou Island were on extremely high alert at the moment and there was no way they would allow anyone to disrupt their plans.

Not to mention the fact that the cultivator from the Spirit Abundance World was a pretty unlucky soul. He hid himself in the region where Shang Xia was stationed, causing him to be exposed immediately. He failed to get past the first line of defense into the Tongyou Island!

If his plan was to infiltrate the Azure Origin World… There was a chance for him to succeed. All he had to do was to avoid being detected by any experts on the Tongyou Island. In that case, he wouldn’t have to fight with any of them and with the island measuring 2000 miles in diameter and a dozen or so Martial Extermination Realm experts guarding their posts, it was possible for him to remain hidden.

However, there was another key point he would have to take note of if he wanted to infiltrate the Azure Origin World. How was he going to avoid being discovered by Kou Chongxue and Ji Wenlong?! Those were Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors they were talking about!

Perhaps, he would have left some sort of mark on the Tongyou Island. Even if he was forced to flee because of the Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors, he might be able to locate the Tongyou Island and return after everyone let their guards down.

If Shang Xia’s guess was correct, the ray of light that was shot into the depths of the Tongyou Island wasn’t a simple distraction the man sent out.

Using the opportunity when there were no other threats to quickly recover his inner qi, Shang Xia landed on the island before heading to the location where he first discovered the intruder. He wanted to look for anything that might have been left behind like a secret mark or something.

He failed to locate anything, but it seemed reasonable considering they were at the border of the Tongyou Island. It was highly possible for the region they were located to be destroyed during their voyage back to the Azure Origin Island. The ray of light he sent out before their battle was probably what Shang Xia was looking for.

When he emerged from the cultivator from the Spirit Abundance World’s hiding spot, he saw a streak of light appearing before him.

The disturbance caused by the battle between them was massive. Even though the exchange happened for a very short period of time and the victor had already been decided, other experts on the Tongyou Island decided to take a look at what was going on.

As soon as she arrived, Liu Qinglan heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that Shang Xia was alright.

“What happened here?” She asked.

Describing what happened a moment ago and his conjecture that the opponent would leave behind some sort of mark on the Tongyou Island, Shang Xia didn’t hide anything from Liu Qinglan.

Her expression turned solemn after hearing what he said. She decided to follow him and track down the ray of light that was sent out.

“Are you sure you can find traces of it?” Liu Qinglan asked. According to what Shang Xia said, the ray of light would be extremely difficult to locate if it was meant to leave behind a secret mark on the Tongyou Island.

However, she quickly changed her mind after following Shang Xia. They took several winding routes and changed direction twice along the way. Watching how confident Shang Xia was, she knew he had a way of tracking it down.

Eventually, Shang Xia stopped and tapped the spot in front of him. Frosty mist emerged from his fingertips and frost filled the area they were in.

With enough mist in the air, Shang Xia flicked his finger to stop the process. He chuckled, “The cultivator from the Spirit Abundance World specializes in frosty qi and I secretly suppressed a portion of it in my body during our battle. Since his secret mark should be made from the same type of qi, they should resonate with each other, allowing us to find it easily.”

Shang Xia might have made it seem extremely easy, but Liu Qinglan knew that things weren’t as straightforward as he described.

Suppressing and retaining a portion of his enemy’s extermination qi would mean that Shang Xia’s enemy hand-delivered his greatest weakness to Shang Xia. After some research, Shang Xia would be able to learn all of the man’s weaknesses!

Under normal circumstances, extermination qi would slowly dissipate and transform back into heaven and earth qi that filled the lands after they left a cultivator’s dantian. Unless their opponent made preparations for it, it was almost impossible to retain a portion of the extermination qi.

However, Shang Xia managed to do exactly that and from what he was saying, it didn’t seem too difficult for him. His ability came as a great shock to Liu Qinglan.

“How did you do it?!” Liu Qinglan couldn’t help but ask.

Chuckling in response, Shang Xia explained, “My Four Constellation Qi has the ability of samsara as the four seasons cycle endlessly. My Freezing Soul Extermination Origin is considered my Winter Extermination Origin and it has the same properties as his four Frost Extermination Origins. Even though it’s not exactly similar, it’s close enough. It might not be able to replicate all his abilities, but it’s more than enough to track down his secret mark.”

“Four Constellations? Wasn’t it the Four Seasons Qi or something?” Liu Qinglan followed up with another question.

“It’s just a way I refer to my extermination origins. The four constellations don't only refer to the four seasons, but they also refer to the four directions. They also signify the four divisions of time. It’s also… Anyway, it's just some guesses I came up with.” ?It wasn’t that Shang Xia wasn’t willing to tell Liu Qinglan too much about his cultivation method. After all, he wasn’t exactly an expert on the matter and he didn’t understand everything he was doing. Moreover, he couldn’t possibly tell Liu Qinglan the origin of where he gained his knowledge from and he could only attribute it to luck.

Glancing at Shang Xia from the corner of her eye, she didn’t press deeper into the matter. Instead, she got back on point. “If what you said was true, wouldn’t that mean that you would be able to suppress and retain any type of qi as long as it is related to the elements contained in the four seasons?”

“Theoretically speaking, that is possible. However, there are many factors involved in retaining a portion of someone else’s extermination qi. I can’t be sure of anything at the moment as this occurrence might have something to do with luck. Also, the other party was too careless.” Shang Xia didn’t deny what Liu Qinglan had said, but he also provided a proper explanation of what he was capable of.

Liu Qinglan chuckled in response, “Relax, that’s your trump card and I won’t tell anyone about it. You don’t have to downplay it…”

Laughing to herself, she seemed to be thinking of what Shang Xia could do with his ability.

However, she got one thing wrong. Shang Xia wasn’t downplaying his abilities or he wasn’t being humble. He truly wasn’t confident of doing anything! It was his first time using his Four Seasons Samsara Art to do what he did anyway!

…

It didn’t take long for them to locate traces of the ray of light as Shang Xia brought Liu Qinglan into a small pool located in a valley not too far away.

“Here?” Liu Qinglan looked at the still pool incredulously. “From the amount of frosty qi you released earlier, if the ray of light he sent out landed in the pool, it should have frozen over completely!”

Shang Xia nodded his head in response, “Well, who would expect there to be a cluster of extremely yin and frost hidden in a pool like that?”

He stabbed his blade directly into the pool after he spoke.

Even though his Abyssal Blade sank into the water, not a ripple could be seen. Liu Qinglan gasped in shock as a strange expression appeared on her face. “This… What blade art is this?”

“Lesser Totality.” Shang Xia said as he retracted his blade.

Even though Liu Qinglan was still confused, she discovered the water in the pool rising before she could ask him another question. It didn’t take long before all the water was pushed upwards and drained off into the surroundings.

Eventually, the bottom of the pool was revealed and the cluster of yin and frost was revealed. The area around them dropped by several degrees and it felt as though they entered deep winter in an instant.

Shang Xia snorted once before slapping at the air before him. The palm cycled through the seasons in mid air before a giant burning fireball appeared in it. It burned off the frosty qi emerging from the cluster below, causing a thick white mist to fill the valley they were in.

Liu Qinglan waved her sleeves and a powerful gust ripped through the valley, scattering the mist. When she was done, she discovered a silk-cloth-like item that measured a foot long in Shang Xia’s hand.

“Is this…” Liu Qinglan asked.

“This is the item hidden in the cluster of yin and frost. I suspect that it’s something that can transform into a secret mark that allows the experts of the Spirit Abundance World to locate our Azure Origin World!” Shang Xia explained before handing the cloth over.

Looking at the rune lines on the cloth, Liu Qinglan raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Is this… Is this a type of talisman?”

Causally bringing out the pieces of the flying boat Shang Xia ripped apart with his Four Constellation Palm when his opponent was escaping earlier, he examined it along with the cloth. “I feel like these things are made from a combination of weapons and talismans… I guess we can call them Talisman Artifacts for now…”

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