Chapter 29: All In

With the arrival of the Origin Tide, she turned to run.

In the blink of an eye, she appeared tens of feet away as she approached the forest they came from.

Turning to look behind her, she didn’t see Shang Xia and she snapped angrily, “What an idiot…”

Disappointment filled her heart when she thought about the Mutated Rain Swallow. “Our race  lost a chance to improve our bloodline… However, no one in the battlefield between two worlds caught a live Mutated Rain Swallow before. How did he do it?” 

“If there really is a way for him to get his hands on one, he’s definitely hiding a lot of secrets… Our race might have to start reevaluating our relationship with the Tongyou Peak…”

The more she thought about it, the more serious she became.

Shang Xia, who was thought to be dead, was slowly trudging forward towards the Origin Tide.

Tian Mengzi told him that the inner qi in his body would go out of control, but all he could feel was his inner qi disappearing from his body.

However, Shang Xia wasn’t afraid. When Tian Mengzi told him about the Origin Tide, a guess appeared in his head. He felt that it had to be the Crossroad of Purification the blood red tablet was talking about! He had to find it before his inner qi ran dry!

According to his memories in his past life, he felt that the Crossroad of Purification had something to do with the crossing of Yin and Yang!

Even the naming of cultivation realms didn’t make sense to Shang Xia. What they called the Martial Extremity Realm in the Azure Origin World and the Second Limit Realm in the Azure Spiritual World were both supposed to be called the Yin Yang Realm!

However, cultivators in the two worlds would only specialize in one type of qi when they just entered the Second Order Primary Realm. As such, they couldn’t call it the Yin Yang Realm.

With the appearance of the sun and moon, there was nothing more Shang Xia could think of that embodied both yin and yang.

Without a doubt, it had to be what he was looking for! The Origin Tide was what he needed to break through!

Of course, a trace of doubt still remained in his mind. He might have memories of his past life, but when facing a tribulation at the level of the Origin Tide, anyone would hesitate!

No one could march straight towards their death even if they knew a huge fortune was hiding behind it!

As such, his first reaction was to test the waters instead of throwing himself in completely. However, the female cultivator from the Azure Spiritual World blocked his way right before he could escape, forcing him into the path of no return.

Taking a step forward, he felt his body breaking down slowly. If he were to keep it up, he might disappear completely into the Origin Tide.

Too bad there was no way to retreat now. He could only throw caution to the wind and go all in.

Walking towards the tiny separation between the lava and ice, it was the place that was most likely to be the Crossroad of Purification!

At the very least, that was the only place that looked like a crossroad of anything!

As his thoughts ran wild, Shang Xia felt his body turning lighter as he stepped into a whole new world.

“Shang Xia, it’s time to go home!” A voice boomed in his mind.

“Home? What home?” A complicated expression appeared on his face. What home were they talking about?

“Did you forget where you came from?” The voice seemed to echo in the distance, but it slowly warped into countless different voices. It was trying to hurry him home.

With a headache that wrecked his brain, he felt countless spikes stabbing into them.

Two different sets of memories started to surface. Even though he was in both sets, everyone else was different. The memories of the original Shang Xia and himself filled his mind. 

“Who am I?”

“Which Shang Xia am I?!” 

Shang Xia felt his soul tearing into two separate pieces as he argued with himself. 

With his brain on the verge of exploding, the two sets of memories continued to play out with no end.

In the Origin Tide, Shang Xia had long since stopped his movements. His expression would shift from time to time, and he grabbed his head and released a blood-curdling scream.  

His clothes were drenched in cold sweat as the inner qi from his body nearly dried up.

He was close to losing control of himself, but a bolt of lightning sundered both sets of memories in his mind.

As a tablet fell from the skies, it suppressed all the fragments of his memories before fusing them together.

The scene where he opened his eyes in the Tongyou Institution for the first time flashed through his mind. 

Opening his eyes, the cloudy light in them was replaced by a terrifyingly sharp gaze.

He understood the reason behind the Origin Tide’s power to make one lose themselves. However, it was far from enough!

Despite his body being extremely frail from the lack of inner qi, his mind was clear. Nothing could stand in his way!

I, Shang Xia, will walk my own path! No one can stop me!

No matter how strong the waves of energy coming from the Origin Tide, they failed to obstruct Shang Xia’s will to grow stronger!

Reddish gold lightning surrounded his body and he took another step. It sliced a path through the chaotic qi that remained in the air and the thin layer between the lava and ice was revealed.

Stepping onto the frozen water, layers of ice formed around his shoes.

The sun and moon hung high in the sky, but at that moment, their luster was focused on a single person.

Finally stepping into the band between the lava and ice, Shang Xia sucked in a cold breath. He retrieved a jade bottle before pouring out its contents. That was the Powder of Purification made with his unique recipe!

Even though the institution gave him a set to assist in his breakthrough, Shang Xia wouldn’t bother with it. There was no way they possessed the optimal formula used to create the Powder of Purification! 

He didn’t even provide the complete recipe to the chemist of the Shang Clan!

He made the entire set of medicine himself after gathering all the herbs he needed discreetly. The Powder of Purification didn’t leave his side the moment he entered the battlefield between two worlds. His decision proved to be right as he ran into the perfect opportunity to break through!

There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his actions as he emptied the Powder of Purification into his mouth.

He didn’t have time to savor its taste as two different sensations welled up in his body. A trace of fire and a trace of frost shot through him.

The two types of qi were just a guide. They served to draw in the surrounding heaven and earth qi as he charged into the Martial Extremity Realm.

Along with the appearance of both types of qi, his body started to swell as the differing elements clashed against each other.

Hold up…

Shang Xia realized that he made a miscalculation! The Powder of Purification served as a guide, but it didn’t mean that he would break through the moment he took it! There had to be some sort of intermediate step!

As the different types of qi clashed in his body, his already withering inner qi became even weaker.

No matter how prepared he was, he wasn’t prepared for the effect of standing in the Crossroad of Purification!

Exhausting the inner qi in his body would allow the clash between the qis to weaken, but standing in the Crossroad of Purification allowed him to rapidly replenish his inner qi! As his body sucked in both types of qi greedily, he felt as though his body had turned into a ticking time bomb!

Blip's Thoughts

Pro tip, Shang Xia's thoughts about cultivation level this chapter is stuff that goes on in his mind. Don't read too much into it relevance on a scale of 1-10 for future chapters (2.25/10) :D not a spoiler but just putting it out here in case you waste brain cells


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