Splitting the Heavens

Chapter 661: Surprise and Request from the Talisman Hall

As the third chime of the bell faded, the Cloud Sea started to dissipate. The trade fair that managed to gather hundreds of Martial Extermination Realm experts came to an end.

Before leaving the Three Unity Pagoda, Liu Qinglan handed Shang Xia another sealed spiritual case. Indicating for him to open it, he was shocked by the item within.𝒇𝓻𝒆𝒆𝔀𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝒆𝒍.𝓬𝓸𝓶

A fate dipper essence that emitted a slight azure hue was trapped in a piece of amber.

There was also another strand of golden fate dipper essence sealed in a piece of frosted jade.

Those weren’t all. There was even a treasure that resembled a night pearl that was a rank five spiritual treasure.

Seeing the expression of shock on Shang Xia’s face, Liu Qinglan smiled, “You can take a look at it and see if it’s something you can use.”

Shang Xia sucked in a cold breath before asking, “Instructor Liu, I don’t understand. They can definitely keep all of these. Why did they trade it for other treasures? Fate dipper essence and rank five spiritual treasures are extremely hard to come by.”

Already expecting the question, Liu Qinglan retorted, “Think about it. A fate dipper essence can only turn into an Origin Dipper after an extremely long time of nurturing. Do you think they would be waiting to craft a divine weapon with it? Moreover, rank five spiritual treasures are useless if they wish to establish their own faction. They don’t even have a rank five advancement formula. They might as well obtain essence crystals or complete inheritances.”

Shang Xia hesitated slightly before nodding. High-level treasures might be precious, but they wouldn’t be useful for low-leveled cultivators.

Shang Xia no longer thought too much about it. Holding the piece of amber in his hand, the Crimson Soul Tablet quickly gave an evaluation. Unfortunately, he was disappointed by the result. “Azure Light Essence Fate Dipper Essence. Rank Five Light Attribute.”

He was clearly down on his luck as the first fate dipper essence was useless for him.

Picking up the frost jade, Shang Xia felt a trace of coldness seeping into his bones. Even his divine perception froze for a second.

Circulating his inner qi, he got rid of the feeling instantly.

This time, he wasn’t disappointed. “Incandescence Golden Fire Fate Dipper Essence. Bing Fire Fate Dipper Essence.”

A look of joy could be seen on his face as he finally collected his eighth fate dipper essence.

He needed 10 fate dipper essences to advance to the Five Elements Realm, and the Yi Wood Fate Dipper Essence and Gui Water Fate Dipper Essence were the only two left.

When Liu Qinglan saw how happy he was, a smile also broke out on her face. “Just keep it for now. Take a look at the pearl and see what it is.”

Shang Xia quickly held it and with a single thought, the Crimson Soul Tablet did its thing. “Essence Clam Spiritual Pear. Rank Five Illusory Treasure.”

Shang Xia shook his head slightly to indicate that he couldn’t use it before sealing the pearl and the other fate dipper essence in the case before returning it to Liu Qinglan.

“There’s no need to be disappointed. You’ll be able to get what you need eventually…” Liu Qinglan tried to comfort him.

A wide smile appeared on Shang Xia’s face and he laughed, “I’m already fortunate to be able to receive the assistance of the institution. I’m not disappointed at all!”

“That’s great.” Liu Qinglan chuckled softly.

As the six members of the Tongyou Institution left the pagoda and returned to their residence, they heard a low rumble. The earth started to shake beneath their feet and by the time they turned, they saw the Three Unity Pagoda rising into the air before disappearing into the void.

Liu Qinglan muttered, “Now that the pagoda is gone, we can consider the trade fair concluded. However, the Three Unity Island will still continue to drift in space above the worlds and remain a common trading group between us. After returning to the institution, we have to send some experts over to maintain the institution’s business.”

Yun Yichen smiled in response. “Why don’t all of you head back first while I maintain the Tongyou Hall? I can also be here to greet the members we send over and brief them on everything that has happened.”

Shang Xia thought about it for a second and brought up a problem. “I’m afraid bringing experts up here will be a problem. Martial Extermination Realm experts wouldn’t be able to cultivate effectively up here, but we’re not the 3 super factions and we don’t have a way to bring Martial Intent Realm disciples over. We might have to trouble our Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors to make a move…”

Since the trade fair had come to a close, several powers started to leave the Three Unity Island for the Origin Azure World and Azure Spiritual World. The various factions might be leaving, but the low-leveled cultivators didn’t seem to be in a rush to go.

The Divine Capital Sect, the Eternal Sect, and the Northern Sea Mystic Sect might only be able to use their methods of transport once every 3 months, but they seemed to have reached an agreement. One of them would be in charge of transport every month so that there would be a constant flow of cultivators on and off the island.

Since Yun Yichen chose to stay behind, the matter was concluded. However, Liu Qinglan and the others weren’t in a rush to return to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion. They decided to avoid the huge rush of people leaving before getting off the Three Unity Island.

…

As the various factions started to make their way back, many instances of experts running away desperately in space played out.

News quickly reached the others on the island that after several people left the safety of the island, they were hunted down by their old enemies.

There were even rumors about how many people accidentally revealed their tracks after leaving the island and were attacked because of the treasures they might have gained during the trade fair.

Overall, the killings mainly happened to wandering cultivators or those who hailed from smaller factions.

Experts who had the backing of a holy land or existences like the Tongyou Institution who had the protection of Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors naturally wouldn’t be worried about that happening.

…

Once again, Shang Xia brought out the Auspicious Cloud Cape and brought the others back to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion with Liu Qinglan’s help. This time, they were much faster than before.

When they returned, they discovered that Kou Chongxue and Shang Bo weren’t present in the pavilion beside the Void Abyss. Instead, Ji Wenlong was there waiting for them.

Liu Qinglan reported everything that happened on the Three Unity Island while the others returned to the institution through the Tongyou Mysterious World.

Because Shang Xia told everyone about what he heard from Zheng Chang about how the Spirit Abundance World might have already discovered the position of their worlds, there was no need for any of them to remain in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion.

Shang Xia returned to the Shang Clan as soon as he was back and handed a batch of cultivation resources he obtained from the fair to Shang Quan. He stored a bunch of them in the clan before returning to the Talisman Hall. He stored another batch of talisman papers he traded before informing the rest to start mass producing rank two and three talismans.

Finally, he went to the Weapons Hall. It didn’t take long for him to find Ren Bainian.

“Young Master Shang, we have already completed the purification process for the Celestial Gold you brought back then. Please come with me!” Ren Bainian hadn’t joined the Weapons Hall for long, but because of his cultivation level and astounding skills at repairing weapons, he was able to find his footing in the Weapons Hall quickly. His relationship with the other masters there wasn't too bad.

In the past, Shang Xia obtained a piece of impure Celestial Gold from his grandfather. He quickly sent it over to them to be purified. As the quality of the material was extremely high, they required a lot of effort in order to do so.

Fortunately, Ren Bainian had been there to oversee the process for him. In the short half a year they were gone, they managed to obtain several pieces of pure Celestial Gold.

Shang Xia thanked Ren Bainian and 2 other Blacksmiths that he brought along with him and handed over 50 essence crystals as thanks before retrieving his items. He then took out the impure Celestial Metal he obtained in the fair that was coated in Star Essence and the unknown piece of wood. “I have several items here I need help with. Firstly, I would like to know what this piece of wood is. Secondly, this piece of Celestial Metal has been coated with a layer of sand and Star Essence. I would like Seniors in the Weapons Hall to help to separate them.”

With Shang Xia’s current status, no one in the Weapons Hall would reject his request. Moreover, he even gave them some essence crystals as thanks! Even though separating the treasures would be troublesome, they would happily do it!

The piece of wood proved to be a little troublesome. Ren Bainian and one of the Blacksmiths stared at it with puzzled expressions as they couldn’t identify it no matter how hard they tried. The other older Blacksmith fell deep into thought while staring at it. He seemed to have thought of something, but he didn’t seem too sure.

Ren Bainian was naturally observant enough to notice what was going on. He bought a pot of tea over and asked, “Brother Dong, have you thought of something?”

Elder Dong thought for a second before grunting softly, “Actually, I’m not too sure. I have seen the records of a Spirit Nourishing Wood when looking through the Wood Artifact Records but it’s said that the tree has long since been extinct. I wouldn’t dare to carelessly determine its origin…”

Ren Bainian glanced at Shang Xia and laughed, “Brother Dong has always been extremely careful. He wouldn’t dare to say something unless he is 100 percent sure of it. However, it should be very possible for this to be a piece of Spirit Nourishing Wood. The only question should be the rank of it and its properties. Of course, we might not know what it can be used for.”

Stroking his beard, Elder Dong muttered, “The wood should be a rank three spiritual treasure, but even though it’s not of an exceptional level, it can be used in a lot of places. It doesn’t need to be tempered nor refined. You can simply make it into a wooden hairpin or bracelet and wear it on yourself. It helps in calming one down and nourishing one’s soul. You can even use it when making medicine. It would be useful in making many different types of rank three advancement medicine as it’s extremely useful in strengthening one’s soul. It can also prevent one from experiencing cultivation deviation and it’s also one of the key ingredients in crafting incense.”

“Many thanks! I learned a lot from Elder Dong.” Shang Xia cupped his fists and thanked.

The other Blacksmith added, “As for the piece of Celestial Metal, it won’t be too difficult for us to separate it from the Star Essence. It’s the sand and Star Essence that’s the problem. However, it’s just a matter of labor. We can call over several disciples to separate them when the time comes.”

“No matter what, I would have to thank fellow seniors for the assistance!” Shang Xia thanked.

After leaving the Weapons Hall, Shang Xia took a trip over to the Formations Hall. He learned that Chu Jia had entered seclusion the moment she returned. She took the Formation Core Liu Qinglan handed to her for research.

Since he didn’t manage to see her, Shang Xia didn’t feel as excited as before when he shared the rank four talisman formation crafting method with them. After sharing the knowledge with several Formation Masters, he returned to the Talisman Hall to prepare to craft rank four talismans.

When he returned this time, Fan Yuanhui and Lou Zizhang came knocking. They hoped that he would organize a public talisman crafting session.