Splitting the Heavens

"He was decisive." In the void several million miles from the edge of the great vortex, Shang Xia held the chain connecting the Jiao Continent to the rest of the Star Ships in one hand and the Seven Star Mace in the other. He slowly withdrew the weapon while gazing thoughtfully at the spot where the spatial passage that had been forced open earlier returned to chaos.

"This method of forcibly returning to his world does indeed make it extremely difficult to truly corner a Sage in a life-and-death battle. Even if there's a huge disparity in strength and cultivation, killing a Sage is nearly impossible, unless they're caught in a place like the Nebula Forbidden Region, where their escape is completely cut off."

"However, now that he exposed traces of his Heavenly Field in front of a rank six Grand Stargazer... He won't be able to hide the location of his Heavenly Field anymore!"

Shang Xia's gaze then shifted to the other second star Sage nearby.

The second star Sage had sensed the danger early on. Initially, his plan was to cooperate with the third star Sage to right back before retreating unscathed.

Although the third star Sage had suddenly used a secret art to return to his origin world, seemingly abandoning him, the reality was that when Shang Xia made his move, an opening had been created for him.

But unlike the panicked retreat of the third star Sage, the second star Sage fled with far more poise and control.

Still, since both individuals harbored ill intent, Shang Xia had no intention of letting them off easily. While he couldn't completely trap the second star Sage, he could certainly teach him a painful lesson.

As the thought flashed through his mind, Shang Xia remained suspended in the void without moving. As his movements blurred the next second, he hurled the Seven Star Mace at the enemy.

The mace sliced through the void like a hand parting a beaded curtain, clearing away all the starlight scattered in the sky.

No, that wasn't quite right!

It didn't erase the starlight. They were merely absorbed into the mace entirely!

In the next instant, the whip pierced the void in pursuit of the fleeing second star Sage. The starlight it had absorbed unfolded into a spatial passage, allowing the mace to immediately catch up with its target!

There was no dodging...

The second star Sage knew full well that if he wanted to survive, the only option was to face the strike head-on, exactly what the Sage of the Heaven Observation Star Region wanted.

With no other choice, he forcibly turned in mid-flight, and instead of pouring from the teapot he held, he flipped it upside down completely and slapped the cover away!

This teapot was indeed his weapon, but it was clearly not meant for direct clashes with the enemy's weapons.

Sure enough, when he went all out, the void river surging from the teapot was more than ten times stronger than what he'd used earlier against the Ji Continent.

Yet even a horrifying power like that which was capable of shifting entire worlds, did nothing to stop the Seven Star Mace.

Under the might of Shang Xia's inner qi, the raging torrent instantly calmed, almost as if it intentionally avoided the path of the Seven Star Mace. A spatial tunnel opened up straight toward the second star Sage in a truly unbelievable manner.

Instinctively, the second star Sage summoned his domain, only for it to be shattered instantly. He then flung a Divine Artifact-level shield from his sleeve, only to have it smashed apart!

In desperation, with nowhere to run, he pulled the teapot from above his head to be used as a last line of defense.

With a crisp shattering sound, the teapot exploded into fragments.

The resulting spatial collapse devoured the Seven Star Mace, but just as it seemed he survived the attack, the second star Sage turned deathly pale and spat out a mouthful of blood.

More than the physical injury, what truly hurt was the loss of two of his most treasured Divine Artifacts!

Shang Xia's strike had not only wounded him but destroyed both of his signature armaments.

Even if his wounds healed in the future, the absence of his weapons would reduce his combat strength by at least 30 percent.

It was a shame there was no time to mourn his losses. He had to use the brief window bought by the destruction of his Divine Artifacts to flee as quickly as possible!

At that point, the greatest threat wasn't the Sage from the Heaven Observation Star Region, who still had half his energy tied up dealing with the vortex, but the other Sages lurking near its edge.

Due to the injuries he suffered, he barely had 10 percent of his combat strength left. The appearance of any Sage could easily force him to use his secret art to return to his origin world. If he ran into any mid-level Sage like Shang Xia... Or any mid-level Sage for that matter, they could easily kill him before he had the chance to leave!

Back in the void, Shang Xia remained motionless. With his right hand, he recalled his Seven Star Mace. In his left hand, he still gripped the massive anchor chain connected to the Jiao Continent that was thicker than his waist.

Feeling the enormous pull tugging at him, Shang Xia sighed. If he didn't need to use nearly half his strength to hold the chain, he could have taken down at least one... If not both of them.

Just then, the large Star Ships converged on Shang Xia's position from different directions. Their chains pierced through the void, arriving ahead of the ships.

Casually, Shang Xia tossed the chain connected to the Jiao Continent forward. In the next moment, it entangled once again with the chains from the other vessels.

The original battle formation, with the Bing Continent on top and the others below to form a triangular layout, returned as they hauled on the chains to drag the trapped Jiao Continent out of the spatial vortex.

Thanks to Shang Xia's presence and his overwhelming display of strength, which had just devastated two Sages in quick succession, no one else dared to approach or even spy on the group's activities. Even though it was obvious the ships hailed from the Heaven Observation Star Region and carried at least a Grand Stargazer and Stargazers of varying ranks, no one dared to mess around.

With no further external interference, the joint effort to pull out the Jiao Continent became much smoother. And with Shang Xia assisting on the side, it didn't take long before the ship began inching free from the vortex.

By then, the Jiao Continent's hull was heavily scarred, evidence of the many perils it had endured inside. Fortunately, the structural damage wasn't catastrophic, proof that although the ship had encountered many threats, it had narrowly avoided disaster each time.