Splitting the Heavens-Chapter 2193: OH HO?

The Star River Stowaway ultimately failed to keep his life.

Although he revealed some information of interest during their exchange, he continued to withhold several critical matters, such as where he truly came from, which Star Field he belonged to, and what insights they had uncovered regarding advancement into the Martial Eternity Realm.

When he sensed Shang Xia growing impatient, he struck first. He forcibly broke free of Shang Xia’s restraints and even attempted to sacrifice his Eternal Golden Boat to create an opportunity to escape.

Yet even though he had done everything possible to overestimate Shang Xia’s strength, he still only realized after making his move that he had far underestimated him. He had no concept of how terrifying Shang Xia’s combat power became after completing the Dipper Star Formation inside the Star River.

The moment he slipped off the Eternal Golden Boat, he discovered that in the next instant, he was back on the bow of the same boat. The vessel, which should have exploded to buy him time, had returned to its intact, pristine state.

His heart immediately sank, though instinct still compelled him to attempt another escape. But the same sequence unfolded again... and again...

By the third failure, when everything reset once more, the stowaway finally surrendered.

“A temporal loop...?” The murmur escaped his lips as he fell into total bewilderment.

He, too, had been capable of manipulating the power of space and time within the Star River, but before Shang Xia, his techniques were nothing more than an amateur’s antics.

...

After Shang Xia left that region filled with dense stars, he took the Eternal Golden Boat along with him. As for the Star River Stowaway, his soul and body had already been completely annihilated.

But after the man’s death, more than half of the Eternal Golden Boat’s components were damaged or heavily degraded.

For example, the golden lacquer coating the boat, made from rare spiritual materials, began peeling from the hull. The sail made from the Starlight Curtain had grown dim and lifeless.

Fortunately, Shang Xia seized control quickly, and the Star River Stowaway had not had enough time to destroy the vessel before dying. After Shang Xia familiarized himself with its method of operation, he poured his inner qi into it endlessly and soon gained full control.

Although he could not prevent the special golden lacquer from peeling off the hull, he did manage to restore a faint glow to the sail.

“It is a pity. More than half of this Eternal Golden Boat is already ruined. I cannot even use the power of space and time to restore its original state, because the boat itself is imbued with a ton of it, otherwise how could it have sailed the Star River for centuries and protected its master from erosion?”

“Right now, it is only here because I am using the newly constructed Dipper Star Formation’s energy to patch over its decayed portions. But this is not a long-term solution. After returning to the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field, I will need to repair it.”

“However, this Eternal Golden Boat is fundamentally different from other vessels. Fully restoring it will not be easy.”

Once he repaired the Eternal Golden Boat as much as his current abilities allowed, he turned his focus back to the Dipper Star Formation.

Now that all seven stars were in place, he had only completed the most basic threshold of reconstruction.

However, even the foundational system had already unleashed a staggering increase in his combat power. Yet that only meant he had even more reason to further perfect it.

He was willing to delay his return to the Chaotic Sea of Stars for this very purpose.

Fortunately, he soon discovered that because the Dipper Star Formation had taken shape, he could use its power to suppress any turbulence caused by shifting additional stars, a highly effective advantage when traversing the Star River.

In fact, Shang Xia had already anticipated that while killing the stowaway.

After all, his opponent had been extremely powerful, stronger even than Sage Star Thief in Shang Xia’s eyes.

And yet, despite his strength, he fell to Shang Xia. Even his Eternal Golden Boat was captured, and every fluctuation of their battle had been perfectly contained within the ladle of the Dipper Star Formation.

Thus, afterward, when Shang Xia shifted and set three additional auxiliary stars, not only did he avoid causing major disturbances, but the pace of perfecting the system also increased significantly.

Once the system expanded to ten stars, he noticed that the boost to his combat strength from drawing upon the essence of the Dipper Star Formation increased by another noticeable margin.

“The only remaining question is... Once the Dipper Star Origin, positioned within the Star River, is blocked by the barrier separating the Star River from the rest of the void, will I still be able to receive its aid while inside the Chaotic Sea of Stars? And how much of that enhancement will remain?” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Guiding the damaged Eternal Golden Boat with the Dipper Star Formation as his anchor, Shang Xia prowled the dense region of stars several times to confirm no other stowaways lingered nearby. Only after confirming absolute safety did he begin his return journey.

Although the Star River’s power of space and time made it extraordinarily easy to lose one’s way, the innate resonance between Shang Xia and the Chaotic Sea of Stars allowed him to sense the correct direction at all times.

However, along the route back, the stars he encountered differed from those on his previous journey, meaning he was not following the same path.

Fortunately, it was well within his expectations.

He could also predict that the three fools led by Sage Star Thief were almost certainly lying in ambush near the region closest to the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

But unlike the previous encounter, where he had been surrounded by three Eternal Golden Boats at once, Shang Xia now found himself looking forward to meeting them again.

As the damaged Eternal Golden Boat drifted through the Star River, Shang Xia suddenly felt a tug in his heart. He raised his eyes and saw a star floating and sinking along the currents.

The wisp of Eternal Essence stored within the Crimson Soul Tablet resonated with the star, letting him know he was close to the region where he had first descended into the Star River from the Chaotic Sea of Stars.

Unexpectedly, the star from which he had once subconsciously collected a wisp of Eternal Essence had become a landmark guiding his return.

That also reminded him that though the Star River made it easy to lose his way, the many stars could perhaps serve as coordinate anchors, though such anchors would not last long, since stars drifted within the star currents.

He simply wondered... If it was possible for the star to be the Star Origin Lord’s Fate Star.