Splitting the Heavens

Song Zhen, who activated the Heavenly Liberation Talisman, received a massive boost from Shang Xia who provided assistance silently. He activated the World Establishing Art, a secret art created by Shang Xia.

Though it was a rank six secret art and couldn't truly cancel out the void river summoned by a Sage, it was sufficient to delay the opponent's offensive.

The rushing current quickly filled the space Song Zhen had created, and due to its instability, it rapidly burst apart, causing a more severe collapse of the surrounding void. However, by then, the Ji Continent had already pulled away, and Song Zhen had also retreated a safe distance.

Song Zhen himself understood that this tactic wouldn't rid him of the pursuing Sage. His real goal was never to escape, but to buy time for the three large Star Ships on his side to regroup.

Moreover, he had yet to tap into the deeper hidden power he received from the activation of the Heaven Liberation Talisman.

His response once again caught the other Sage off guard. That opponent could clearly sense that the techniques used did not exceed the sixth rank, yet they had successfully fended off his assault.

While it might seem impossible to others, that Sage understood, only those who had honed their skills to the peak, reaching a state where their technique approached the true dao, could truly challenge someone of a higher level.

Still, he saw through Song Zhen's tricks. The high-level True Immortal commanding the large Star Ship likely did not possess such prowess. The reason he was able to fight back was because of the talisman he activated.

The Sage couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Even without mentioning anything else, any Talisman Grandmaster capable of crafting such high-quality talismans was remarkable indeed.

It appeared that the forces from the Heaven Observation Star Region, after being isolated for over a millennium, had not seen a decline in their martial strength. On the contrary, they had developed some unique skills!

"But this ends today." The Sage temporarily ceased pouring from his teapot. Holding his pot in one hand with the other behind his back, he casually strolled in the direction the Ji Continent had fled. Yet with each step, he traversed dozens of miles. Even as the surrounding void continued to churn turbulently, growing ever more violent, none of it seemed to affect him in the slightest.

In the blink of an eye, the distance the Ji Continent had just managed to open was once again closed. However, this time, the Sage didn't strike immediately. Instead, he looked beyond the Ji Continent with a solemn expression, gazing at the third star Sage who had started the initial assault.

In order to deal with Kou Chongxue's sword qi, the third star Sage had relaxed his suppression of the Bing Continent where Shang Xia's External Avatar was stationed.

While that Sage was nullifying the sword qi, Shang Xia's External Avatar piloted the Star Ship away at a remarkably swift speed, veering in another direction.

Only then did both Sage, who had descended in succession, realize, though they had each battered the three large Star Ships into a sorry state individually, the ships had never severed the anchor chain linking them to their companion in the spatial vortex.

At that moment, the three Star Ships were using the interlinked anchor chains to shift their positions in coordination. Even Song Zhen's Ji Continent had used the pulling force of the chain to escape the second Sage's assault.

By then, everyone realized the three Star Ships no longer attempted to drag their comrade trapped in the spatial vortex. Instead, they used the entangled chain extending from it as a pivot point as they harnessed the momentum of the pull to reorient themselves in the void.

In doing so, they formed a new battle formation that was on a larger scale than before. And as the third star Sage who had just neutralized Kou Chongxue's sword qi came to his senses, he found himself trapped within it.

This new battle formation was no longer in a strange up-down triangular formation. All three of them were level, and they were positioned at strategic angles. They started to push inwards towards the trapped Sage.

The third star Sage had never expected to fall into a trap, and that the three Star Ships would be so audacious as to try and suppress him with their battle formation!

He was a third star Sage, a sovereign of a Heavenly Field! A lofty existence like him was boxed in by a few True Immortals piloting Star Ships...

Preposterous!

Even though he knew another Sage lurked nearby, he had no intention of asking for help. Instead, he chose to break through the battle formation alone to assert his power.

In the perilous, chaotic void, he could not show weakness, nor could he risk revealing his identity!

Especially since the intentions of the other observing Sage remained unclear.

The Star Ships continued to shift through the void, constantly adjusting their positions, yet their battle formation never changed.

As they moved, they ruptured layers of space, stirring up waves of void turbulence that converged upon the center of their battle formation, exactly where the third star Sage was trapped.

Waves of void crashed against him. The stacking pressure grew until he felt that even taking a step became difficult.

The Sage grew increasingly astonished. He had never imagined that three Star Ships, piloted by mere True Immortals, could actually push him, an exalted Sage, to such a desperate state.

Realizing he could not continue on, he began resisting the spatial compression while casting aside any concerns about exposing himself. He reached into the void and pulled out a short axe, then cleaved forward with all his might.

With a deafening crack, the oppressive void waves split apart, forming a wide path of relatively stable space.

The third star Sage roared with laughter before stepping into it, intending to break free.

On the other end of the passage was the Hai Continent that was slowly gliding through the void.

The three ships had only barely managed to restrain the Sage together. If he reached any one of them, the outcome would be disastrous.

In that critical moment, a metallic clanging echoed through the void. Before the Sage could react, a massive anchor burst from the void, chain in tow. It flew straight at him.

Startled, the Sage halted and hurled his short axe at the link between the anchor and the chain. But just then, a second anchor shot from the void, striking the flying axe precisely from the side.

With the situation going south, the third star Sage quickly retreated, recalling his short axe.

Yet in those few moments, the escape passage he had carved with his axe had already been churned into chaos by the anchors.

There was no time for regret. He didn't know why the Star Ships had abandoned their rescue of their trapped comrade, but with two anchors already appearing, a third was surely imminent.

Holding his axe tightly in his hand, he suddenly spun and hacked behind him, right where he expected the third anchor to emerge.

Clang!

A loud blast reverberated like a divine bell. A visible shockwave rippled out, even suppressing the waves stirred by the Star Ships.

The Sage retrieved his axe, hand numb from the impact. The massive recoil forced his arms to tremble uncontrollably.

Opposite him, a deformed anchor that had been deeply gouged by the axe, was yanked back into the void by its chain.

Only then did the third star Sage find a moment to look around. His eyes widened in shock at the scene before him.

He had thought the three Star Ships had withdrawn their chains to deal with him, giving up on rescuing their trapped ally.

But the chain extending from the great spatial vortex wasn't gone. Instead, it was being gripped by a cultivator who had appeared out of nowhere, one with a strikingly young and heroic appearance.

Even though that chain was as thick as a grown man's waist, it was held in one hand by that youthful-looking cultivator.

The visual mismatch should have been absurd. Yet looking at the figure suspended in the void, it somehow felt perfectly natural.

And just as he looked up, the figure tilted his head to the side, locking eyes with him. A warm smile spread across the figure's face.

In that instant, the third star Sage, trapped once more within the battle formation, felt a sense of foreboding.