Over the next few days, Yang Kai explored and experienced the scenery and culture within Sea City. With the beautiful seashore in sight hand-in-hand with the natural clean air, this place was a haven for retirement.
Inside teahouses and wine shops, Yang Kai heard many fantastic stories about Sea City. Intrigued by those, he now wished to also find the rumoured mirage.
With such divine atmosphere, Yang Kai nearly forgot about the High Heaven Pavilion. Furthermore, there were also Sects here; not just one or two, too. If someone were to categorise all the Sects within the Great Han Dynasty and include the Eight Great Families, High Heaven Pavilion could only be considered at best a second tier Sect. Meanwhile, the Sects in Sea City varied between the first tier to third tier Sects. Even the first tier Sects here could faintly compare with the Eight Great Families.
However, these Sects were different when compared to those from inland. They occupied big islands off the coast and mostly received cultivation resources from the islands they inhabited. It was mentioned that the outstandingly talented disciples from the sects, the beautiful soil, and wonderful scenery were what attracted disciples.
Even in Sea City, with the exception of the few influential families here, some cultivation disciples would visit. They were probably influenced by the distribution of the Island Sects. Within the islands they inhabit, the Worldly Energy was more concentrated compared to that of the one inland. Thus, the cultivation speed was also faster. Generally, the more talented disciples from the Island Sects would remain on their respective islands except for certain rare occasions. They would send out the weaker or non-talented disciples to Sea City. There weren’t many of them.
Yang Kai saw the prosperity of Sea City when he strolled along its shores, watching the ebbing tides endearingly. He could feel a trace of sensibility that was similar to the whipping technique from the late Old Man Wu. With each mighty wave fluctuation and powerful strike, ebbing and flowing, Yang Kai lit up with a very subtle and gradual awareness. This was a natural force that could not be rushed, just like the waves. Whip strikes come in rapid waves, and when facing something hard, they ebb and flow, retreating only to come forth and strike once again.
After observing the crashing waves, he felt like a door in front of him was slowly opening up. Failing to even consider neglecting such an opportunity, he calmly stood still as a miraculous jolt ran through his mind. Yang Kai’s own personal awareness of martial arts was now slowly fusing with the newfound knowledge that was similar to Old Man Wu’s whipping technique.
Unaware of how much time has passed, Yang Kai seemed to have fallen asleep standing, with the whistling sound of the sea breeze and loud crashes of the water ringing in his ears. When Yang Kai finally opened his eyes again, he had the making of someone who just underwent an indescribable epiphany.
Activating his movement technique, Yang Kai’s whole being started glimmering like a speck of light in smoke. He effortlessly stepped atop the waves approaching the shore, launching himself from one wave to the other without allowing a single drop of water to stay on him. After doing this another fifteen times, he released his Yuan Qi and dropped into the waters. Even though he was now soaked, he was still radiantly smiling. Turning around to face the approaching wave, he clenched his fist.
[Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast]!
The air around Yang Kai’s fist exploded with three rapid thunder-like peals as his fist coated with three layers of Yuan Qi collided with the wave, creating a huge vacuum beneath the water.
Up to this point, the martial arts awareness that he had gained from observing Old Man Wu and the sea waves had completely assimilated into him. This change was further applied into Burning Sun’s Blast, which produced three layers of strong Yuan Qi on his fist. This caused his strike to become like the wave, increasing the difficulty of guarding against his attacks.
“Genius!” The Old Demon was too shocked for words. A few days ago, he was already stunned from Yang Kai’s capabilities to sense and create his own original martial skill. Within such a short period of time, he had also obtained a deeper understanding of it, improving on his foundations.
[Although it has been a long time since I was alive, just how much has this world changed?] The Old Demon thought as his heart became restless.
Crawling out onto the beach, Yang Kai saw a small little girl with wheat coloured skin and an impressively messy hair looking at him with a silly look. Judging from her appearance, this girl was probably 7 to 8 years old. She had a pair of big, bright eyes and wore homespun clothing with obvious patches sewn onto it. She stood on the sand with her bare feet as her small mouth opened and closed. Since the people who lived by the seaside tend to be exposed to the sun, their skin tone would not generally be white. As such, it was obvious that her skin was healthy.
Yang Kai smiled at the little girl, trying to play the role of a well-mannered and cultivated human being – portraying that he was a harmless being. As he walked towards her cautiously, he cursed himself for being too indulgent with sensing and failing to notice the presence of a little girl. Perhaps he had scared her.
Detecting that she was frightened, Yang Kai did not revolve his Yuan Qi to dry himself as he continued to walk.
He stopped in front of the little girl and squatted down. With a gentle voice accompanying his soft smile, he asked, “Little girl, what are you doing here?”
The small girl blinked a few times at him. Within those adorable eyelids was innocence without a shred of impurity. Yang Kai felt weighed down by his conscience. For a man who does evil deeds be it for good or bad, it was almost certain that such a pair of eyes would make a man be consumed by their own guilt.
Looking at Yang Kai for a moment, she slowly stretched her hand out to pass him something. When Yang Kai’s vision shifted towards her hand, he saw a grilled fish.
“Is that for me?” Yang Kai asked, his heart filled with warmth.
The little girl gently nodded and forced the grilled fish into Yang Kai’s hand and quickly scampered away, leaving only tracks of her lovely small footprints in the sand. When she was about to disappear in the distance, she turned around to get a final check on Yang Kai, but this time, she unexpectedly returned to his side and tugged on his clothes; pointing to the distance as though asking him, ‘follow me’.
Yang Kai did not resist the little girl. She pulled him forward and he followed along. Though he was unsure of her intentions, her pure and adorable eyes already ascertained her innocence to him.
After walking a short distance, they arrived in front of a crude room. The little girl lifted her arm to point at the room, indicating Yang Kai to get inside.
“Are we going in?” Yang Kai asked. The girl gave a nod. Chuckling, Yang Kai felt like he was walking through the doors of his very own home, though he was nothing more than a guest here.
Before he managed to take his first step into the room, an old man appeared out of the blue. This old man presented himself as ruthless, but his body was fragile as he waddled with an obvious limp.
The old man was taken aback by Yang Kai’s appearance. To prevent any misunderstanding, Yang Kai quickly opened his mouth to ask, “Elder, are you a family member of this little girl?”
The old man gave a smile and beckoned the little girl with his hand, “Xiao Yu, come here-“
The little girl shook her head and made an effort to pull on Yang Kai’s clothes, implying to him to move closer towards the old man.
The old man smiled sweetly while looking at the boy in front of him. “Little Brother, come in. Xiao Yu is afraid that if you stay outside any longer, you will freeze to death. Come in and dry yourself.”
Yang Kai shoulders dropped. [It’s weird that she only wanted me to come here for this reason alone. Since they’ve already invited me, it would be impolite to reject.]
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
Entering the house with Xiao Yu, Yang Kai scanned the room, only to have his heart filled with pain. This family was a stellar example of poverty. Aside from a bed and the broken cotton-wadded quilt, there was nothing else noteworthy.
Coming close to something like this dissipated the idea of the prosperity of Sea City in Yang Kai’s mind. While he was staying in the city, he knew of rich men who could indulge in life’s greatest pleasures freely. At the same time, the abyss of suffering for the two caused alarm bells to go off in his head.
In order to dry his clothes, Xiao Yu quickly went to prepare to light a fire and drew Yang Kai to stand close to the pit of charcoal. Xiao Yu managed to ignite the fire pit but even when indoors, the sea breeze outside seeped through. The wind was strong enough to blow up dust within the room and sparks from the fire. The old man would cough several times whenever the breeze struck.
Yang Kai and the old man sat on the ground, silent about their lack of chairs.
“Little Brother, are you a cultivator?” the old man placed Xiao Yu on his lap.
“What makes you think so?” Yang Kai was caught off guard with the question. After all, he was presently restraining his aura. No cultivator of the True Element Boundary and below should be able to notice it. This was of course with the exception of those who practiced Spiritual Awareness, cultivators in the Immortal Ascension Boundary. He would have never guessed that this old fisherman was capable of telling he was a cultivator.
The old man seemed to giggle under his breath as he smiled. “Little Brother, you’ve been standing still on the beach for several days now. How is it possible that an average person could endure something like that?”
“For several days now?” Yang Kai felt his heart constrict for a second. The last time, he was not able to feel time pass. Once again, it happened; he was unable to sense his surroundings. He realized that if he were to ever again engage in such deep comprehension, he would need to find a suitable hiding spot in case someone were to take the opportunity to attack him.
“Xiao Yu went over to check on you every day. If that wasn’t the case, do you think that this old man would dare to allow you to enter this room?”
“I’m not a bad guy…” Yang Kai awkwardly reassured with a smile on his face.
Whilst they spoke, Xiao Yu looked at the grilled fish in Yang Kai’s hand and points at it.
“Mhm! I eat! Xiao Yu is really clever!” Yang Kai took a bite out of the fish. Although it was already cold, it was still quite fresh and tender. Yang Kai nodded repeatedly while saying, “delicious.”
Xiao Yu grinned.
By the time he had finished sucking every last meat out of the fish bones, his clothes had dried. Yang Kai thought for a little and hesitantly asked, “Mister, why is Xiao Yu not speaking?”
The fisherman’s face immediately turned depressed as he gently stroked Xiao Yu’s head, “It is not that she is mute, but due to a certain incident that happened to the family, she is no longer willing to speak…”
Yang Kai sighed. He had guessed that Xiao Yu was mute due to an inborn illness. If that was the case, he could possibly find a way to treat her. However, he had not expected that she would be unwilling to speak. [If it is a knot within her heart, we would need to untie the knot to cure her. Elsewise, she would never open her mouth again…]
Seeing that the old man was not willing to further talk about the matter, Yang Kai refrained from probing to avoid bringing up unpleasant memories.
“It seems like it is getting late. Little Brother, if you don’t have a place to sleep, you can stay over for the night.” The old man stood up while trembling as Xiao Yu hastily supported him.
“Thank you for your hospitality.” Yang Kai stood up and bowed.
Since the room was small and there was only one bed that the old man and Xiao Yu shared, which Yang Kai slept on the floor. The howling gales of the sea breeze kept him awake.
[In my three years of living at High Heaven Pavilion, I had it hard enough. But compared to these people, could my experiences even considered to be suffering? Even if the old man is a fisherman, could he actually bring in fish every day to eat and support the two of them? ]
Midnight clocked in and Yang Kai heard footsteps approaching from the outside, abruptly waking him up. Before his visit, Yang Kai looked for traces of other people living close by, but there was only the pair sleeping right now. It was already a surprise to hear others walking about so late at night, but what’s more astonishing was the fact that the footsteps indicated that the people approaching were cultivators!
In the dimly lighted room, the sleeping old man suddenly sat up. When Yang Kai took a glance, he noticed a look of panic and despair on the old man’s face.
As for those worried about Qiandian, we will wait to see how things go first.
“Old man,” Yang Kai raised his hand to signal ‘stop’. “Keep quiet.”
Yang Kai’s brows creased. He did not know what the old man feared, but he knew that it must have had something to do with the Cultivators that are arriving soon.
After a wait that seemed to last an eternity, the footsteps came to a halt and what remained was the creaks and knocks from the worn-out door. The loud, sudden bang caused Xiao Yu to wake up. Trembling in fear, she immediately jumped to hug her grandfather. Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s face turned icy cold.
“Old Geezer! Open up the door!” A voice from behind the doors angrily shouted.
“Don’t you know that opening the door for guests is basic courtesy?” A second voice added on.
The Old Man supported his granddaughter in his embrace as an angry and indignant look flashed across his face. However, he knew very well that he was powerless. Opening his mouth to comfort the little girl in his arms, he muttered in a soft and low voice, “Xiao Yu, don’t be scared. Xiao Yu. Don’t fear. Your grandfather is here… your grandfather is here. Don’t be scared.”
The leading person on the other side of the door was obviously not a patient man. Realising that the Old Man had no desire to open the door, he directly kicked it down and allowed the sea breeze outside to engulf the room, replacing the heat inside.
“You Old Thing!” One of the crazed men came rushing in, “You’re courageous. To think that you actually dare lock us out! Let’s just see if I can resist stabbing you to death!”
“What are you here for?! LEAVE!” The Old Man protecting his granddaughter yelled in protest. “Her father and mother have both been taken by you! Isn’t it enough that you have left the two of us forsaken out here? Why can’t you just leave us alone?”
“Hey now, old man. Just what kind of crude rubbish are you spouting? We simply invited them to go to Red Cloud Island as guests to enjoy a lavish life. Now that they miss you, they specifically asked us to fetch you to them. Don’t you wish for your whole family to reunite once again?” The speaker came in through the door with a huge grin plastered onto his face. However, when he saw Yang Kai, he began to stare at the youngster with vigilance. When he could not manage to find any trace of Yang Kai being a Cultivator, he assumed that he was an average human being and left the boy alone while asking himself, [did this family have so many people in it?]
The Old Man began to cry out, “This type of fortune is something we ordinary families cannot enjoy. Could you two be so kind as to bring this child’s parents back? She misses them very, very much.”
“You Old Thing! You are being too unappreciative!” one of the men barked. “As long as you follow us back to Red Cloud Island, you will reunite with them! What are you shrieking and crying about?!”
Ever since these two Cultivators entered the room, Yang Kai had been listening and gathering information. Red Cloud Island was owned by the Red Cloud Sect. This Sect was not worth mentioning to High Heaven Pavilion since it was a Third Rate Sect.
Yang Kai was unaware of the reasoning behind their need to capture them. However, from the conversation, he could at least understand that this was not the first time here.
[The old man had said before that Xiao Yu stopped speaking after something happened to her family. He should be referring to this matter.]
Normally, Yang Kai would never pry into someone’s personal business. Even when he helped Cui Er, he just wanted to repay her for her caretaking. Yang Kai could not sit idly by as the kind girl and her grandfather get threatened, especially after the kindness they showed him. Their actions filled Yang Kai with gratitude, and Xiao Yu, the pure and honest kind girl touched his heart.
Although the two men were in the Qi Transformation Stage, they were lacking in skills to fight. Yang Kai was confident that he could beat them with relative ease. However, the area they were currently in was not suitable for a battle. Furthermore, with a Sect behind them, he did not wish to further implicate the old man and Xiao Yu. He decided that he needed to form out a well-thought out plan.
“I beg you two to free her parents. Please, let them reunite.” The old man choked up with emotions and began to sob, kneeling down and repeatedly kowtowing on top of the bed.
“Old Geezer, you have a gift for maddening people!” The Red Cloud Sect’s Cultivators opened their foul mouths to taunt, preparing to take their first step to start an assault. However, before anything could happen, Yang Kai interrupted them.
“Boy, who are you?!” The Red Cloud Sect’s Cultivator roared but this was a question he held back on asking since they were busy with the Old Man.
Yang Kai spoke with a smile on his face, “I am their distant relative.”
“Distant relative?” The speaker looked at Yang Kai with eyes filled with doubt and interrogated him. “So, what is the purpose of your visit?”
Yang Kai answered, “My business outside had just gone bankrupt so I sought shelter here. I could not have possibly imagined that my mother’s sister’s husband’s mother’s married sister and her husband had been taken by the Red Cloud Sect. I had admired the Red Cloud Sect for such a long time. I’ve always felt that the Sect was my calling but I did not have the means to join. Now, as though heaven had given me my wish, you two were delivered to me. Please, would you two be so kind as to accommodate and lead me to Red Cloud Island?”
Yang Kai’s tone was extremely and unusually humble. He also appeared to be a little nervous, leaving the two Red Cloud Sect Cultivators dumbstruck. [To think that there are people actually willing to go to the island! Is this boy an idiot or is he just insane?] The two men squinted their eyes as they stared at Yang Kai doubtfully and silently.
Yang Kai quickly made himself seem embarrassed, “Sirs, I have just arrived at Sea City today and I’m somewhat short on money. But rest assured, if I manage to get into Red Cloud Sect, I will definitely return the both of you the favour as my Fellow Brothers of the sect.”
[Is he actually trying to bribe us?] The two Red Cloud Sect Cultivators looked at each other in confusion. They have been going around trying to abduct innocent people. From their experience, they were certain that Yang Kai was simply an idiot, judging by how his response has been so different from their other abductees.
[But, if he is willing to come, why doesn’t he just use the normal means to join?]
[Why would you announce that you were from somewhere else so willingly? Strangers from foreign areas are people that those in Sea City love to push around.]
Yang Kai looked at them anxiously while his heart pounded vigorously. Although he had no idea what they do to normal people, this was the only way to save the old man and his granddaughter.
[If we are going to take away the old man and the little girl, why don’t we also take in this capable young man?]
After the two men stared at Yang Kai, they suddenly laughed and patted his shoulders, “Good, good. Your heart already has Red Cloud Sect in it. How could we possibly be cruel enough to deny you from joining? Besides, you seem rather young and sturdy, not to mention smart enough. If you decide to practise martial arts, you will certainly be a rare talent. In the future when you rapidly climb up the path within the Sect, make sure you never forget the favour the both of us have provided.
“I can’t forget. I definitely will not forget.”
The three of them looked at each other and laughed, while the two Red Cloud Sect Cultivators criticised Yang Kai as a fool. On the other hand, Yang Kai thought those two as idiots. Staring at them was the old man and the little girl, trembling on top of the bed.
Only after a long time did Yang Kai restrain his laughter and spoke, “Sirs, is it good enough to bring me over to the Red Cloud Sect? Bringing an old man and little girl to travel along will just hinder us.”
Naturally, this issue was the most pressing for Yang Kai. If they were not willing to let them off, Yang Kai would have no choice but to slaughter them here and now. After all that nonsense he spat at them, he had to ask this question. Of course, Yang Kai had thought of the situation before acting. He was well aware that the Red Cloud Sect was capable of sustaining itself due to human labour. Regardless of gender or age, so long as they were human, they could contribute. Now that they have Yang Kai as their new recruit, there was no need to take the old man and the little girl. If they were to lose their lives during the journey, it would just be unlucky.
Listening to Yang Kai’s logic, one of them nods, “Mhm. You make a point. That old thing keeps rejecting our kind intentions to reunite them with their family anyway.”
“He is old. I would ask that you two Fellow Brothers forgive him.” Yang Kai smiles.
“Since you have decided to join Red Cloud Sect, we cannot return too late. We shall depart now.” Since the two Red Cloud Sect Cultivators had completed their task, they impatiently wished to leave the small and depressing room.
“Can you two please leave first, I need to say goodbye to them.”
“Just hurry up.” The two Cultivators had bought into his story completely and proceeded waited outside. Once they left, Yang Kai slowly stepped to the side of the bed and looked at the shivering old man and little girl.
The old man was an astute person. Moments ago when Yang Kai was speaking to the Red Cloud Sect Cultivators, he dared not make a sound, fearing that he would give away some information. Even now, he was still quaking with fear as he spoke, “Little Brother, why?! Red Cloud Island is not a place for human beings.”
Yang Kai smiled faintly, “Old Sir, you don’t have to worry. I’ve already thought it through. Did you actually forget that I’m a Cultivator as well?”
The dull eyes of the old man had sparkled after he felt a slight sense of relief.
Yang Kai placed his hand into his chest pocket and took out a bag of money he had collected from the deceased martial artist the other day. He placed it in the old man’s palms and urged, “Early tomorrow morning, leave Sea City with Xiao Yu. Make sure to go as far away as possible.”
After speaking his piece, Yang Kai caressed the top of Xiao Yu’s head before turning around to leave.
When the sound of footsteps gradually disappeared, the old man in the room opened the bag in his hand and quivered. [One.. one hundred and twenty..!]
Uncontrollable tears began to flow out from the Old Man’s eyes. He pulled Xiao Yu to make a bow and deeply urged her, “Xiao Yu, being a human being means one must be grateful! Make sure you carve the appearance of that Elder Brother into your mind. If you ever meet him in the future, even if you have to work as his servant or die for him, you must repay this debt. Do you understand?”
Xiao Yu nodded enthusiastically. Her face was not flustered with fear or excitement. Instead, it was visibly tranquil.
Outside of the room, Yang Kai went off with the two Red Cloud Sect Cultivators. He was looking for an opportunity to kill off these two men, but the situation was more than what he could have anticipated. Apparently, the Red Cloud Sect Cultivators were supposed to set out tonight. Furthermore, the whole group totaled up to be twenty people with a True Element Boundary Cultivator acting as their leader.
Under such circumstances, Yang Kai could not possibly stand a chance. This True Element Boundary Cultivator was unlike Zhang Ding, who was injured and weak at the time Yang Kai fought him.
For matters to escalate like this, Yang Kai was not startled; since they only thought of him as a normal human being. So long as he is patient enough, he will find an opportunity to escape.
Once they gathered at the seashore in front of the three steamships, the two Cultivators gave Yang Kai no further attention. Like the flip of a coin, their attitude had completely changed. Now, they were condescending and cocky, frequently sneering as though they were taunting him. It seemed as though they were saying, ‘You fool! You have joined an evil Sect!’
Of course, Yang Kai no longer bothered himself with them.
Through the passage of time, more and more people gathered in front of the steamships. The flow seemed to never end. These were civilians; people were either shedding tears or cursing angrily. In front of such a spectacle, the Red Cloud Sect members ignored them as though this was a common sight.
The people gathered here were of both genders. Most of them were beggars, while the rest were fishermen. However, there was not one person present who seemed to have a wealthy background. Thus, it was painfully obvious that the Red Cloud Sect were only targeting poor people. Since they were powerless, it was easy to bully them without fear of them revolting.
When it reached dawn, the captives that were gathered totaled up to be thirty.
The Cultivators, under the order of the True Element Cultivator, rushed back onto the ship. Before the day ended, the steamships hoisted their sails and left the shore.
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On the ocean, waves lashed and the wind howled but the steamship kept moving steadily towards a distant island.
The more than thirty people who were weeping, wailing and throwing curses with all their strength gradually became silent. It was as if they had broken their throats. The Red Cloud Sect’s martial artists also completely ignored them, and let alone welcoming them, they weren’t even beating the captives, contrary to their expectations.
These martial artists were very discrete. They knew that the people who were crying for their fathers and mothers couldn’t even withstand pain let alone being injured by accident.
Yang Kai sat in a corner of the deck and watched what was happening with an indifferent expression. It was as if he was completely apart from the situation. He was silent unlike the rest of captives and drew no attention to himself.
Since they set sail it had almost been an hour, and they were almost fifty kilometres from Sea City.
Yang Kai was analyzing the situation of the True Element Boundary expert on the ship and was pondering, [If I abandon the ship now can I escape with my life?]
By his Qi Transforming Stage strength, Yang Kai didn’t worry about drowning to death, he had enough strength to prevent that. What Yang Kai feared most was the pursuit of the True Element Boundary expert.
While he was hesitating with an anxious look, a senior fisherman who was caught preempted Yang Kai and jumped overboard before he could make up his mind.
Splash! A light sound came from the sea. Hearing this, the more than thirty individuals who were caught also became excited because of a ray of hope and moved towards the side of the ship, wanting to abandon ship and escape with the senior fisherman.
But the shocking thing was these Red Cloud Sect martial artists didn’t try to stop them but just sneered while looking at them.
Yang Kai felt that something was off. They used a lot of energy to catch these common people. So they would not let them escape this easily.
Suddenly, a sad, shrill and pitiful yell came from the water. This was the voice of the senior fisherman who had just abandoned the ship. Hearing this sound, everyone who was trying to escape rushed towards the side of the ship in a hurry and then stared with big eyes into the sea.
“What? What happened?”
“There are Monster Beasts below us!”
“Below there are Monster Beasts who will eat people.”
These common people were struck by fear and their courage to abandon ship was blown apart.
On the ship, the Red Clouds Sect martial artists looked at everyone and said with a sneer, “Do you want to know what that thing was?”
Not waiting for them to reply, he took out a flare from the side and threw it into the sea.
With the help of the illumination, many people were frightened because of what they saw in the sea. The sea was covered with a layer of blood, the senior fisherman had been divided into many parts by this time. Under the sea, there were many fierce fish beasts hidden which was jumping and following the steamship and were eating the corpse of the senior fisherman with large gulps.
“This will be the fate of anyone who abandons the ship.” that Red Clouds Sect martial artist said with a sneer.
Many people vomited after seeing the scene. After all, they were common people who had never seen such disgusting bloodshed.
Yang Kai in heart suddenly understood that he had to give up the idea of abandoning the ship and escaping. The Monster Beasts who were following the ship in the sea were probably raised by Red Clouds Island.
In the water, these Monster Beasts were the Kings and he was just a Qi Transforming Stage martial artist. There was simply no way of escaping from them.
“Everyone listen to me.” the Red Clouds Sect martial artist said in a loud voice. He then swept the whole crowd with his sharp eyes and continued, “If you don’t want to die then be obedient and stay on the ship. After an hour or two we will arrive at Red Clouds Island. You should not think that we caught you to be free labour. This is my Red Clouds Island giving you an opportunity! On the island there are endless delicious delicacies and they can be yours if you have the skill to obtain it. As long as you passed the test of my Red Clouds Sect you can become a disciple from that time onwards. Then you can become the one to invite the other batch in the coming month to give them the opportunity to become martial artists.”
The people kept their mouths shut, obviously, they didn’t believe the words spoken by him.
They could not rebuke the Red Clouds Sect Martial Artist, so they could only remain silent.
However, once this matter settled down, the normal person who was caught didn’t dare to make noise again and didn’t even dare to have any thoughts of escaping. Under the ship there were Monster Beast who ate humans. So, how would they even have the courage to escape?
The steamship continued to navigate the sea.
After a long time passed, Yang Kai heard a person saying, “Finally returned home.”
“Yeah, I am dead exhausted. We must come out once every month… if things like this continue on, we would be like those people, young and not be breathing?!”
“We have gotten a good number of normal people. They should be able to support us for a while. We probably won’t need to go out and catch them anytime soon.”
Yang Kai opened his eyes to look towards the front and only saw the outline of a foggy island in front of his eyes. This island was not small, Yang Kai estimated that the area of the island was about four to five times that of Sea City. But the feeling that the island gave was very strange, his present eyes were out of the ordinary, and when he looked at the island the left half was not quite the same as right half. The right peninsula was covered with a layer of dim mist making it quite hard to see through; making it look mysterious.
According to the direction of the ship, it was going towards the left peninsula.
After a long time, the steamship speed gradually slowed down and finally it stopped when it approached the shore.
The Red Clouds Sect disciple lowered the rope ladder from the deck, then ordered the shaking common people, “Disembark!”
Although the more than thirty individuals were in a panic, they did as ordered and jumped down from the steamship and finally stood on land. Many people fell down because their legs had turned to jelly because of fear from the man-eating Monster Beasts under the ship.
There were many fishermen on board, fishing was their livelihood, but they had never bumped into this type of Monster Beast.
“You, take that quiet one,” the True Element Boundary expert said to his two disciples.
“Yes, Uncle Master!” The two disciples compiled respectfully, then the two caught Yang Kai on either side.
“Move, we will take you to a life filled with fulfillment.” The two Red Clouds Sect disciples had not embraced these common people. They caught Yang Kai and lead the common people with him.
Yang Kai showed a look of innocence and accompanied them with a smile and asked, “Senior apprentice brothers, when will we enter the Sect?”
One of them rebuked Yang Kai with a sneer, “Who is your apprentice brother?”
The other one also lost his patience but still gave a patient reply, “Do not be so anxious, didn’t you hear on the ship? As long as you are able to pass the test of my Red Clouds Sect, you will be able to enlist yourself as a disciple and then you will be given entry into the Sect and you will be able to cultivate martial arts.”
“So what is this test about?” Yang Kai asked again.
“Test, hey. It’s a very simple test, you only need to pick up something. Now don’t ask anymore, when the time comes you will know.” That person thought that Yang Kai was easy to deceive, so he said while patting his shoulder, “If you are good, then we always have an opportunity to become fellow apprentices little brother. You have just come to Red Clouds Island, so you don’t need to be worried about it just yet. You can have all the delicious delicacies every day, until the test, and when the time for the test comes, naturally someone will inform you.”
Yang Kai gave a nod as he was unable to inquire any further; he could only give up on any further inquiry.
However, Red Clouds Island was truly a good place for cultivation. Here the world energy was richer compared with the High Heaven Pavilion. It was no wonder the sects tried to establish their schools on islands, as islands were good places for cultivation. This point made them superior to the land-based sects.
Moreover, the island was filled with many rare treasures, the type of things that couldn’t be seen on the land.
Perhaps after seeing the beautiful scenery of Red Clouds Island, the mood of the common people who were captured also stabilized. They moved forward while looking at the surrounding scenery.
One of the two Red Clouds Sect disciples gives a reminder, “Do not run all over the place on the island. There are also man-eating Monster Beasts on the island. If you run all over the island, then no one will be able to save you.”
If the common people were told that there were Monster Beasts on the island then it would not have too much effect, but if they were told that there were man-eating Monster Beasts on the island, then even if this was just a bluff it would produce the desired result.
And it really was effective, after hearing him say that, many people became silent and they suddenly remembered the fate of the senior fisherman on the steamship which they just got off.
They followed a specific path which, after walking for about an hour, led them to their final destination.
At the destination, there were other Red Clouds Sect disciples to aid them. After seeing more the than thirty common people in the giant courtyard they said with a slight smile, “Two apprentice brothers worked hard, this time you had quite a good harvest.”
“This time we found more people compared to several months ago. I will hand them over to apprentice brother to manage.”
“Apprentice brother, feel at ease.”
After talking some more, the two Red Clouds Sect disciples then departed.
After they walked off, the Red Clouds Sects disciple who was responsible for aiding them waved his hands and said, “You all, come with me!”
After entering the courtyard, Yang Kai looked around and discovered that fence had surrounded an area of a few kilometers. Many small houses were built and designed for single occupancy.
The more than thirty people were all arranged in these small houses. Yang Kai also lived alone.
The things in the house could not be said to be luxurious, but at they at least met his basic needs. There was a bed which had a bed covering which could be folded easily.
“From now on you are going to live in this place. You don’t need to manage anything and even without doing anything you will be given three meals every day, which will be brought along by someone. Your only duty from now on is to eat your meal until you are full, have a good sleep, and improve your complexion until my Red Clouds Sect grants you the test,” the disciple of Red Clouds sect said to everyone.
Hearing this words Yang Kai suddenly remembered the saying raising pigs for slaughter.
He didn’t believe that the Red Clouds Sect caught this many common people to let them enjoy their life. It really looked like raising pigs; allowing them to eat to the full and having a good night sleep will only make anyone sluggish, and when meeting the enemy one can only be butchered under his blade.
What does Red Clouds Sect want to do? Yang Kai really felt at a loss.
However, Yang Kai didn’t have the means to escape now. Hereafter all was their sect, and it was situated on an isolated island. He could only escape if he can somehow get a steamship, but could that ship resist the Monster Beast attack?
[Let’s just cope with it when the time comes.] Yang Kai lay down the burden in his heart, sat cross-legged on the bed and started to cultivate.
On the next day, someone really came with delicious delicacies. This food could only be eaten by the rich. If examined carefully there was a slight medicinal fragrance coming from the food so some kind of medicine must be have been mixed into it.
Yang Kai didn’t start eating right away but waited for others to finish and after seeing that they were apparently ok he then picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.
After eating the food the common people felt refreshed, Yang Kai also felt better. Although the medicine contained in these meals was not significant, but this was good for recharging the body’s vitality. After eating this type of food not only cultivators even average people could also live a long life.
Several days passed by like that. The people who were caught, didn’t have any shred of complaint at the moment. They now believed completely that the Red Clouds Sect disciples said they were brought here to enjoy a happy life.
These were the people who were very poor and had never been treated this way their entire lives. After being made to enjoy so many delicacies they became too happy to think about their home and duty.
However, besides these foods with medicine mixed in, the people must drink a grass fluid every day. This drink was very bitter and was advantageous to the body similarly and did not harm them. Day after day passed by and these poor people’s physiques started to become more robust compared to before.
Their moods became joyful as they could eat without any worry, and they started to feel that they were in heaven.
And there wasn’t much limit on what they could do. Except for not leaving the courtyard, they could move around it however they liked.
Yang Kai eventually settled into a routine. He slipped out at night several times to investigate the situation on the island without being found out.
The martial artists guarding his courtyard were only at the Qi Transformation Stage and they were unable to discover his trail.
After scouting around several times, Yang Kai discovered that in the periphery there were similar courtyards like the one in which he lived, and they were also inhabited by commoners who were caught before his batch.
However the commoners in those courtyards were different. They looked thin and their complexions were pale, almost as if they were withering. Even though they ate similar delicious foods and drank the grass fluid to recuperate, it was not enough to restore their vitality.
Old Demon also felt an unusual aura coming from these people. Their bodies contained a small amount of Demon Qi. This Demon Qi wasn’t a result of cultivation, but it was like it had invaded their bodies because they were either careless or unaware.
This evil Demon Qi was nibbling away at their lives.
After acquiring all this information, Yang Kai faintly guessed what the Red Clouds Sect wanted them for, but wasn’t able to exactly pinpoint their true goal.
Half a month after they were captured by the Red Clouds Sect, one more routine was added to Yang Kai and the common people’s daily routine of eating and sleeping.
That was listening respectfully and studying about various medicinal herbs that was being taught by the Red Clouds Sect disciples.
Everyone was given a booklet, and it contained a complete description of various kinds of rare treasure and ways to harvest them.
The Red Clouds Sect disciples instructed them everyday for about an hour. Yang Kai studied earnestly everyday, after all this type of knowledge could be used anywhere.
These classes continued for half a month.
It had now been a month since Yang Kai arrived at the Red Clouds Sect. During this month he had been cultivating in secret and made a breakthrough, arriving successfully at the second boundary of the Qi Transforming Stage. He didn’t use any medicinal pills and broke through successfully by just absorbing World Qi. This type of achievement proved how rich the world energy was on the island.
If not for the situation not being wonderful, Yang Kai would have been very glad to practice here.
After one month, early one morning, the disciple responsible for guarding their courtyard called everyone.
Slaughtering start! Yang Kai thought in his heart.
Yang Kai could guess from the clues and beforehand inquires that the Red Clouds Sect wanted these commoners to go to a dangerous place to collect spirit medicines. The school disciples were unwilling to step in that dangerous place.
The unnaturally cheerful voice of Red Clouds Sect disciple was heard, “It has been a month since you arrived at the Red Clouds Sect and everyone seems much stronger, this is a gift from my sect to you. However in this world there is no free lunch, if you want to continue such comfortable days, then you need to work for my Red Clouds Sect and show your sincerity. This is also a test, as long as you can pass, you can return here and continue your unrestrained life.”
The group of people became confused and looked at each other.
“Now follow me.” He spoke no further and proceeded to lead this group of people.
They tread the same path which they walked to enter the Red Clouds Sect, and in the same way, they arrived at the seashore after walking for an hour and a steamship was waiting for them.
Yang Kai discovered that there were many people gathered on that ship. The people before him were the same ones he saw when he roamed around at night. These people were squatting on the ship, and many people were trembling with a pale complexion.
When the more than thirty people also boarded, there were almost a hundred commoners gathered on the ship. The commoners who had embarked first looked towards Yang Kai and others. There eyes held inexplicable expressions, these newcomers were reminiscent of themselves when they first embarked.
“Is everyone here?” A middle aged man who has achieved the True Element Boundary asked.
“Everyone has arrived.”
“Set sail!” That person waved his big hands and steamship started to move slowly.
At this moment a panicked voice sounded, “I do not want to go, I do not want to go to that damned place. Please let go of me, I don’t want to go there.”
While saying this with a miserable howl, he stood up and staggered towards the Red Clouds Sect’s martial artist. His complexion was scarlet and both eyes also turned scarlet red with a tinge of insanity. When he arrived in front of Red Clouds Sect martial artist, he opened his mouth wide and bit towards him while shouting, “You want me dead, I will make you die first!”
“This person’s mind has been swallowed by Demon Qi, he has become insane.” Old Demon’s voice was transmitted.
“Bold!” It looked like this wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened to the Red Clouds Sect martial artist. After looking at the scene, without delay he pulled out the saber from his waist and pierced it to through the chest of that person, then with a kick, threw him off the steamship.
From under the ship came the sound of Monster Beasts dismembering that person.
Hearing that sound everyone’s hearts went cold.
After killing that commoner the Red Cloud Sect martial artist gave an indifferent glance to the people present on the ship and he said with an indifferent tone, “Whoever behaves likewise will be thrown off the ship to become fish food.”
His body was overflowing with a murderous aura, as he swept his powerful gaze at everyone, no one dared to move or look at each other.
The ship became extremely peaceful immediately.
The final destination of the steamship was not a distant place, but was the right peninsular side of the island which was hidden in fog. After going around in a great circle, the steamship finally approached the shore.
While Yang Kai was on the ship, he understood what kind of duty they were going to be assigned.
They were needed to pick something called the Black Profound Fruit, and Yang Kai knew about this fruit. After arriving at the Red Clouds Island, in the second half of the month, he had listened to the explanation of Red Cloud Sect disciple.
On the first page of the booklet which they were provided, there was a picture of jet black fruit which generally grew like grapes on a bunch. This was a speciality of Red Clouds Island, and in the nearby sea area it was only provided by Red Clouds Island.
When the disciple was giving them the explanation about this Black Profound Fruit he was being very thorough with it. At that time Yang Kai didn’t understood why he was being so thorough about this fruit, but now he finally understood.
The Red Clouds Sect caught the common people and brought them here, there biggest goal was to collect this Mysterious Black Fruit.
This fruit wasn’t a high grade spirit medicine according to medical theory. It was only ordinary grade at most so he couldn’t understand why the Red Clouds Sect want them.
Everyone was given a medicinal basket and everyone needed to at least pick 1.5 kg of Black Profound Fruit to complete the task. Naturally if you could collect other precious materials then according to the value it could be counterbalanced.
This was the reason for the Red Clouds Sect to teach these commoners about herbal knowledge for fear that they bumped into a rare spirit medicine but failed to notice it.
More than hundred people rushed out of the steamship but the people from the Red Clouds Sect stood on the ship motionless. It appeared that the right peninsula was a forbidden area for them that nobody dared to visit.
Then, the True Element Boundary Expert said, “You have three days of time, after three days we will come to pick you up. If you are unable to complete the task then you don’t need to return and you can let life play its course on the island. Let’s go!”
The steamship departed, and more than hundred commoners looked at the ship leaving with low spirit.
Yang Kai and more than thirty people who were caught with him didn’t even get to clarify the situation as it was their first time in this place.
After a moment of standing in the same place, many people without saying a word started to move towards the interior while carrying their baskets.
Gradually their population started to thin out. Yang Kai stood on the shore and looked towards them then finally gave a sigh.
There were many Monster Beasts moving under the sea making it impossible to escape.
Turning around Yang Kai also entered the right peninsular region.
“Young Master, the Demon Qi of this place is very rich, so no wonder the Red Clouds Sect disciples do not dare to come.” Old Demon’s voice transmitted.
If this Demon Qi was inhaled a little, there was a possibility that it would do irreversible harm to the body. And if inhaled for a long time, there was a big possibility that the Demon Qi would invade the body and mind and the person would fall from the sky and become a devil.
So for this reason, the Red Clouds Sect needed to catch the commoners and make them enter the right peninsular region to collect the spirit medicine. But they spent a month of time to make their bodies recuperate in hope that they could support a few more days, because if they just let them enter right away they would just go crazy after only a short while.
“Isn’t the Demon Qi to your liking?” Yang Kai teased him, but hadn’t started to ponder about his situation.
“Hehe, it’s as Young Master says.” Old Demon said with a strange smile *Jie Jie*, “With old servant here, young master doesn’t need to be worried about being effected by this Demon Qi. But Qi is present here as well. Young master, we have time right now, we might as well explore this island, perhaps we can harvest something good.”
“I was also thinking the same thing.” Yang Kai nodded. After being caught, it had almost been a month since he was isolated, although they served many delicious things to Yang Kai, he had a lot of energy pent up.
He walked with the medicine basket on his back into the depths of the right peninsula.
It was impossible for anything to be present on the outside, even if the Mysterious Black Fruits grow fast after being picked again and again, they must have been used up. The only possibility was to find them in the interior of the island.
Many had the same idea as Yang Kai, but they always travelled in groups. It was rare for anyone to explore alone.
As the time passed, less people were gradually seen until no one was around him.
While Yang Kai was walking alone, he suddenly discovered that in front there was a person’s shadow, which was moving very fast towards the same direction as himself where he saw a vine hanging a common grape fruit.
Mysterious Black Fruit!
Yang Kai’s eyes became wide, he also hastened his footsteps, the other person was also running towards the direction of Black Profound Fruit, so who ever reached first would obtain it.
Thinking more about the string of fruit, it was around 250 grams, in other words, he only needed to find six more then the duty would be finished.
The other person was stunned by the sudden appearance of Yang Kai. He stared at him with raw hatred, and said in a low voice, “Boy give me that fruit!”
Yang Kai’s brows wrinkled slightly.
This person was also a good hearted poor commoner, but after coming and going out of this place, his body was affected by the Demon Qi and he lost his natural disposition gradually. Now he had become cutthroat and crazy. If Yang Kai didn’t give him that string of Mysterious Black Fruit then he would really kill for it.
“I can give you the fruit.” If not for the fact that Yang Kai wanted to inquire about some things, he would never snatch from a commoner.
“Give it to me quickly.” The person lowered his head and looked at Yang Kai with an evil look.
“I just want to ask one thing, what does the Red Clouds Sect do with the fruit?” Yang Kai asked that person, as it was not the first time that he entered, so he should understand something about it.
“Don’t talk rubbish, first give me the fruit then I will tell you.”
Yang Kai smiled and threw the string of Black Profound Fruit towards him.
That person received the fruit, then showed a smile, put it in the medicine basket on his back, looked Yang Kai up and down, and gradually the sharpness in his eyes vanished, after hesitating for a moment he said, “I don’t know all the details, but I only listened to someone say that they need this to feed the fish.”
“To feed the fishes?”
“Em, some special fish, I am not clear about the details.”
After telling him this, the person looked at Yang Kai with an unusual, hidden evil intention then said, “You, boy, are quite skinny, might as well travel with me, what do you think? After all, here is a dangerous place.”
[Why does he want me to join him?] Yang Kai shook his head with a smile, he knew that if he travelled with this person, then he would need to meet their need first; and that is by surrendering all his Mysterious Black Fruit to meet their need first.
“So unappreciative!” He didn’t force Yang Kai to join him. The human emotions which were present on his face gradually disappeared, and with a cold snort, he departed.
Yang Kai walked towards the right peninsula region. The more he walked the deeper he went.
A day had already passed after entering this right peninsula, and on the way, he discovered many Black Profound Fruit, but Yang Kai didn’t want to help the Red Clouds Sect by completing the task so he has just ignored them.
The three-day deadline that the Red Clouds Sect martial artist gave should be the limit the commoners could tolerate before going mad. But Yang Kai was different as he had the assistance of Old Demon and wasn’t worried about the Demon Qi entering his body.
And Old Demon was in need of this Demon Qi to restore himself, so he didn’t let off even a wisp of Demon Qi which entered his body.
Yang Kai decided to explore this right peninsula first. He wanted to discover the hidden mystery of this place and then wanted to find a way to leave Red Clouds Island.
The right peninsula was quite big. It contained many mountains which were not very tall but had very steep inclines and commoners were unable to climb them.
Yang Kai’s destination was these mountains. He believed that he could definitely find some rare treasure in them.
While Yang Kai was walking step by step, a fresh medicinal fragrance suddenly assaulted his senses. Upon inhaling this fragrance he immediately felt refreshed, calm, clear-headed and comfortable.
After carefully searching for the origin of this medicinal fragrance Yang Kai diverged towards the right. After a little while, a flower that was about half his height appeared in front of him.
This flower was pink at the top, and its pistil was blooming, and the fragrance emitted from the flower was pleasant. If one carefully examined this flower, they would see it appeared to have a face of a beautiful woman who was smiling at them.
Moreover, the stem of this flower was also a little strange, it was just like the waist of a woman which was exquisitely carved.
“A Beautiful Woman Pistil!” Yang Kai became excited after seeing it, he hadn’t thought that after only a day, he will be able to find such a good thing. According to the booklet which the Red Cloud Sect disciple had distributed, this Beautiful Woman Pistil was a High Earth Grade spirit medicine. When used with specific spirit medicines and refined into pills they would give certain benefits when consumed by women. Even if it was unable to turn an ugly woman into a beauty, it could at least make the skin look smoother and fresher.
Yang Kai was naturally impolite, he picked the Beautiful Woman Pistil and put into the medicine basket on his back.
He then continued to thoroughly explore.
Perhaps Yang Kai was the first to step in this region because he was repeatedly able to find the Beautiful Woman Pistil.
The right side of Red Cloud Island was a treasure trove.
The Red Clouds Sect martial artists did not dare to penetrate because of Demon Qi, and average people didn’t have means to thoroughly search the inner island so everything here was for Yang Kai’s taking.
While searching in the mountains, the medicine basket on Yang Kai’s back was gradually filling with spirit herbs and spiritual fruit.
What was even more pitiful for the Sect was that the right peninsula was not small, but nothing was able to hide from Yang Kai’s search. Yang Kai searched at least three to five times in each place while running through the region.
His basket was filled with the spirit herbs and the most inferior spirit herb was also a Low Earth Grade spirit herb, there were also Heaven Grade spirit herbs present. If these things were sold they could easily go for millions of silver.
Moreover, this place didn’t have as much danger as Black Wind Mountain, where Monster Beasts constantly roamed about and a weak person would only become food for these Monster Beasts.
Yang Kai wandered about in many places and only encountered two or three wolves.
On the third day, the Red Clouds Sect’s steamship returned. Yang Kai saw a person standing on the mountaintop. The people who were able to earn their living only amounted to around 60-70.
The minds of the others must have been swallowed by the demon Qi, making them fall into madness and finally die on this right peninsula.
On the fourth day, Yang Kai was standing at the foot of a mountain. This mountain was almost 3000 feet tall.
This was the last mountain remaining to be explored. Yang Kai had explored almost all of the right peninsula.
Old Demon, who has remained silent for all this time, suddenly said excitedly, “Young master this peak is probably responsible for the Demon Qi in this place!”
“Are you sure?” Yang Kai was also surprised, he also felt that the Demon Qi here was truly denser compared to other places.
“Naturally! The immortal soul of this old servant has been shivering.”
“Are you afraid?” Yang Kai asked doubtfully.
Hearing this Old Demon gives his creepy laugh, “It’s not fear but excitement! Young master. It’s like if you are hungry for a long time and delicious food is placed in front of you, what will you do?”
“Eat it of course!”
“Young master this old servant earnestly asks you to give him this opportunity!” Yang Kai even indistinctly heard Old Demon swallowing his saliva.
Yang Kai showed a faint smile and climbed upward on that steep mountain.
Yang Kai was also very curious about the reason that made the right half of Red Clouds Island to be so different.
While climbing upward, Yang Kai also looked around in hope of finding some rare treasure. But even after reaching the top he wasn’t able to find anything. He felt a little disappointed.
After reaching the summit, Yang Kai stood straight and looked all around carefully.
This mountaintop was very strange. If examined from a distance this place looked very smooth, like a barren land, but after standing and observing for a while it felt like it was much more than that.
There wasn’t even a bit of grass present and the land was blood-red with a pungent scent hanging in the air.
An evil aura seemed to caress his face!
Yang Kai took a deep breath, and his eyes locked onto a giant rock in the middle of the mountaintop.
That rock was a brilliant red color, and on it, the evaporation of blood could be clearly felt. It was like a mist which could infiltrate into anyone.
With some caution, he walked slowly towards the rock until he was near enough to touch it, but he still didn’t feel any danger from it.
Looking carefully, he could only see a giant stone which was as smooth as a mirror, which had several drops of bright red liquid which was thick and looked like fresh blood.
“Congealing blood bead!” Old Demon expressed his admiration but his expression didn’t have too big of a change. Obviously, he said it very lightly. But Yang Kai knew Old Demon. Although their time together was short he knew that Old Demon had very high standards; so anything that could make him gasp with admiration was definitely a very good thing.
“Young master, this old servant finally understands.” Old Demon continued, “A young devil died here, that’s why this place has so much Demon Qi.”
“A young devil?”
“In comparison to this old servant he truly is a young devil, but by the standards of the martial artists of this place, he should have been very powerful.” Old Demon said with a self-satisfied expression.
“How powerful?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“He must have been at a higher boundary than the Divine Movement boundary!” Old Demon explained in a way that Yang Kai could understand.
Yang Kai rubbed his forehead. He was currently at the Qi Transforming Stage, then there is the Separation and Reunion Boundary, after that there is the True Element Boundary, and then there is the Divine Movement Boundary.
This Young Devil….by grace, this Young Devil had surpassed the Divine Movement Boundary and had reached an even higher boundary so who could have been his rival in this world? He must have been the first Under Heaven powerhouse.
And he unexpectedly died in this place.
“Although the mortal body of this Young Devil perished, but his Demon Qi still remains in this place. And that made this right peninsula so strange, and if this old servant can absorb this Demon Qi, then I should be able to restore some of my immortal soul strength. But it’s a pity that this young devil died for such a long time and has wasted so much Qi. Couldn’t he wait for this Old Man to come and then die?” listening to Old Demon talking about the young devil made Yang Kai jump.
“That Congealing Blood Bead that you recognized, what does it do?” Yang Kai looked at the red liquid in front of him and asked.
“That is the young devil’s flesh and blood essence that congealed, it contains a huge amount of energy. This old servant doesn’t have a mortal body to absorb it. Young master if you absorbed this, it can give a significant promotion to your strength but this old servant doesn’t know if you can withstand it. The energy that it contains cannot be absorbed by an average person.”
After hearing this Yang Kai became a little hesitant and uncertain.
To promote his strength significantly was what Yang Kai desired. But can he withstand this Congealing Blood Bead?
After telling Yang Kai about this issue Old Demon said with a smile, “Young master you should become a devil! It’s not such a bad thing, if you don’t like someone just kill, if you like a beautiful woman, you can snatch her and play with her to your heart’s content, and if you become bored, you can just discard her, you don’t need to worry about too many things. You become free and unrestrained, and what is a human and what is a devil? An average man only knows that there are two divisions of a man, and that is Human and Devil but that is a big mistake. As long as a human is immoral can’t they become devil? Young master, you have seen the Red Clouds Sect’s procedure, it’s a heartless and shameless procedure but this Sect, in the common people’s eyes is filled with demons.”
“They are demons!” Old Demon finally concluded.
Yang Kai’s heart was moved but he was still unable to decide.
While Yang Kai was hesitating in his mind, a swift wind sound was transmitted, and Old Demon gave a warning, “Young master, careful!”
Yang Kai displayed his homemade movement technique by instinct and moved away from that place.
A bang transmitted from the position where he was standing.
Looking up Yang Kai got a big shock. A huge scarlet python had appeared out of nowhere. It was as thick as his body and was several feet long, and was sitting there while circling its body and its head was turned towards Yang Kai.
Its eyes were bloody and its giant mouth swallowed a spirit bead, its appearance became even more fearsome.
Old Demon cried out strangely, “That big snake has swallowed the Congealing Blood Bead unexpectedly.”
Old Demon doesn’t need to tell him, Yang Kai also saw. So no wonder that stone only contained three drops of Congealing Blood Bead, it was absorbed by this cheap snake.
“Come out!” Yang Kai flung his hand and Old Demon came out with the Soul Breaking Awl and appeared in front of Yang Kai.
Immediately Yang Kai threw both Old Demon and the Soul Breaking Awl towards the big snake.
“Young master…..” Old Demon called out pitifully, completely shocked by this action. He didn’t have a mortal body so what could he do to such a big snake? But at that moment he understood Yang Kai’s action, although he felt aggrieved he still admired Yang Kai. That big snake became confused for a split second and Yang Kai appeared in a twinkle in front of it. That he was able to think of such a plan in such a short time was really impressive.
The serpent was smart, the Soul Breaking Awl was inside its stomach (which it was unable to feel) but it was enraged by Yang Kai’s movement. It looked at Yang Kai with a horrifying expression while moving his tongue inside out after swallowing the bead and moved towards him like a thunderclap.
The big jaws opened up, capable of scaring anyone, stank and contained toxin.
Yang Kai held his breath, dodged the snake then moved behind it while directly concentrating his True Yang Yuan Qi on his fist and shouted.
“Burning Sun Three Layer Blast!”
His fist contained a fierce Yuan Qi, and after attacking, Yang Kai moved with a flicker avoiding the long, coiled tail of the big snake.
The big snake turned around wanting to attack, but the spot that was attacked by Yang Kai a moment ago transmitted a dull thumping sound, and the flesh tore open slowly and blood gushed out. The burning hot True Yang Yuan Qi erupted in its body, opening a wound on its skin, and from that spot, blood poured out in a torrent.
The big snake suppressed its pain and moved its several foot long body like a whip, stirring up dust clouds on the mountaintop. Yang Kai wrinkled his brow, he understood that he had overestimated the strength of this big snake.
When he suddenly saw such a big fellow a moment ago, he thought that it must at least be a fifth realm Monster Beast, and didn’t think that his attack would be able to injure it.
It was not a fifth or sixth realm, it could at most be regarded as a fourth realm Monster Beast which was equal to a Separation and Reunion Boundary martial artist.
It was so big and had such an intimidating appearance.
Yang Kai gained more confidence, stood where he was and gave an opening to the snake who was tumbling towards him. The big snake started rolling even more fiercely. It obviously didn’t want to sit waiting for its death. The snake uncoiled its long tail with a fierce lunge towards Yang Kai while howling.
If not for his movement technique to assist him, then perhaps this strike would have created a small problem for Yang Kai. But with it, avoiding such an attack was very simple.
Seeing that its attack failed, the big snake started hissing then it opened its mouth and spewed out a thick blood-coloured mist. If Yang Kai didn’t dodge it quickly he would had been covered in it from head to toe.
Yang Kai became serious, he didn’t fear this big snake but the poison mist that it spewed was a little troublesome. But it was only a small trouble, and if he was able to dodge this poison mist then this snake was simply unable to injure him.
While Yang Kai was battling the snake outside, the Soul Breaking Awl which was inside with Old Demon wasn’t in an ideal situation. Although Old Demon couldn’t currently display his full strength, but any living being was vulnerable inside. And even though the Soul Breaking Awl wasn’t a sharp weapon, it still was a weapon.
The big snake’s body became damaged and the pain made it unable to fight against Yang Kai. The long body of the big snake started to display a series of movements, sometimes twitching and jerking accompanied by rolling back and forth and even jumping.
Yang Kai watched it with rapt attention and didn’t try to attack it again.
The big snake was not strong but had an exuberant vitality. After half an hour, in which Old Demon was moving inside its body unrestrainedly, it finally stopped struggling and died quietly on the ground.
A creeping motion could be seen on the abdomen of the big snake, and Old Demon, who was bound to the Soul Breaking Awl, drilled his way through and floated in front of Yang Kai. They both looked at each other speechlessly.
“Young master if there will be a next time, please inform this old servant beforehand, this old servant needs to prepare his heart.” Old Demon said slightly accusingly. He was suddenly thrown into the Monster Beast’s mouth by Yang Kai, even if he was courageous it still made him frightened out of his wits.
“En.”
Yang Kai gave an earnest nod.
Old Demon didn’t dare to say anymore.
Yang Kai asked, “Don’t you think that this Monster Beast was quite unusual?”
“Why was it unusual?” Old Demon asked curiously.
“Its strength was very……. low! At least, lower than what I assumed.”
Old Demon gave a smile and said, “Young master, this big snake had swallowed the Congealing Blood Bead allowing it to transform so naturally it didn’t have any real skill. Moreover, when you were walking here, did you discover any Monster Beasts?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“Then it can only mean that this thing was perhaps only a small snake that had swallowed the Congealing Blood Bead and with some luck didn’t die but became a Monster Beast, and it can be said that it was the only Monster Beast in this place.”
“Can an ordinary snake turn into such a big fellow?” Yang Kai said with amazement, “Fierce.”
“Fierce.”
Then he suddenly thought of a possibility and said with a little excitement, “If a small snake can swallow it then I should not have any issues.”
“Well it can’t be said absolutely; after all, you are a human. If young master wants to confirm then as an experiment swallow the Monster Core first.”
“This proposal is good.” Yang Kai nodded.
He then went up to the snake’s body, cut it and before digging around inside and retrieving the Monster Core
The core was unexpectedly blood red in color as well. It was only the size of a pigeon’s egg and its inside contained some of the Congealing Blood Bead’s Energy.
Asking Old Demon to protect him, Yang Kai rubbed the Core on his clothes then directly placed it inside his pocket.
After revolving the True Yang Secret Art, Yang Kai then felt that there was some kind of energy entering his abdomen, which directly entered his body with a lot of evil Qi contaminating it. This must be the Qi of the young devil who died in this place.
In an instant Yang Kai’s body also became incomparably red and bright like blood and he seemed to be full of evil Qi.
Although he looked fearsome on the outside but on the inside there wasn’t much danger. Yang Kai felt his mind being affected briefly, but it became steady after some time. The True Yang Yuan Qi in his meridians was naturally opposed to the Yin nature of the evil Qi, so he naturally didn’t fear it.
The evil Qi was gradually burned under the revolution of True Yang Secret Art leaving behind only the essence.
The essence obtained was not of the Yang attribute, so it was unable to form Yang liquid and strangely enough it was not absorbed by the Unyielding Golden Body, but was absorbed by his flesh and blood making each cell to dance with joy from top to bottom, every muscle in his body kept moving with energy.
To consume the energy in the core, Yang Kai needed a day, and when he opened his eyes again his pupils flashed like lightning. Yang Kai felt that his whole body wasn’t the same as before.
It was not a promotion of his boundary nor was it an increase in his mental state but it was a change of his mortal body. His body was stronger than before absorbing the core. His vitality increased and his body had strengthened enough that he could do close combat without using much of his Yuan Qi.
“Young master, how do you feel?” Old Demon asked softly.
“I feel good, is the major function of the Congealing Blood Bead to improve a person’s body?”
“Naturally it is, the Young Devil’s essence is also able to help in the promotion of boundary but its major function is to strengthen the quality of the physique.”
“You said that it can also help in increasing boundary?”
Old Demon spoke with a haste, “Young master your understanding is quite shallow. The increase in boundary doesn’t only mean the promotion of boundary but it also means strengthening of the mortal body, deeper Yuan Qi, a deeper understanding of martial arts and martial skills, various types of growth can be also called the promotion of boundary. For example young master, if you compare yourself off now to you of a few days ago, your physique is better, which has resulted in an increase of your boundary.
Yang Kai stared at him, then after pondering for a little while, he said, “Yes, what you said is correct, my understanding is quite shallow.”
“Young master, after all, is young and had not pondered over these things.” Old Demon said, not daring to claim credit.
When Yang Kai looked at that giant stone, it still contained three Congealing Blood Beads. Yang Kai didn’t hesitate at all, and directly put his hand on the first drop.
This Congealing Blood Bead seemed as if it could think on its own, it moved instantly, and directly snuck inside Yang Kai’s body
A much more violent energy compared to before exploded inside Yang Kai. Yang Kai couldn’t bear giving a disgruntled snort then hurriedly closed his eyes to sit in meditation.
In the following half a month, Yang Kai not only absorbed the energy in the three drops of Congealing Blood Bead, but he also drained the energy stored in the giant stone.
The vitality of his body had doubled compared to half a month before. His speed and strength also had a remarkable promotion.
Moreover, he also broke through to the Qi Transforming Stage third layer.
Half a month later under Old Demon’s suggestion, Yang Kai used his hand to move the giant stone out of the way. He did it without using Yuan Qi and with only brute strength, but he was able to easily lift a 1500 kg stone.
Under the stone, there was a cold tunnel which was flooded with dense black Qi. This was obviously the root cause of the demon Qi on the right peninsula of Red Cloud Island.
After being released, this dense fog of Demon Qi unexpectedly directly moved towards Yang Kai.
Old Demon gave a strange smile, “Little thing, the trick that this Old Man tried to play, unexpectedly you also want to try. You really don’t know the immensity of Heaven and Earth!”
What Old Demon was referring to was obviously his and Yang Kai’s first awkward meeting in which Old Demon also tried to capture Yang Kai’s mortal body. At that time he used up all of his tricks but was still subdued by Yang Kai in the end.
While speaking he also changed into a black fog and moved forward to meet it.
Two groups of black fog melted together, and immediately a war started inside the tunnel. In all the ruckus Yang Kai was unable to see anything. He didn’t even understand who was winning and who was losing but then thought that Old Demon was, after all, an Old Devil and he also boasted a lot so he shouldn’t have any problem.
After waiting for a long time, Yang Kai asked, “The immortal soul of this devil is also same as yours but why can it be preserved in the world?”
Old Demon appeared to be in a somewhat difficult position, “Young…..master, his……immortal soul has already collapsed but only some residual…..intent remains!”
Yang Kai knitted his brows and asked, “Is there a problem?”
Old Demon became embarrassed in an instant and said, “This old servant ……asks young master to give him a helping hand. This old servant’s tricks….. are unable to win against him.”
Yang Kai became speechless immediately, then putting on a serious face trying to suppress his laughter he asked, “Isn’t that a young devil? How are you unable to win against him?”
Listening to Yang Kai ridiculing him Old Demon was about to cry, “Yes yes, this young devil is good, but this old servant died earlier than him and my immortal soul was about to break while being sealed in the Heaven’s Cave Inheritance. Young Master if you don’t help then I fear that this old servant will be swallowed by him.”
After hearing this, Yang Kai realized the gravity of the situation and asked, “How do I help?”
“This brat who doesn’t know good from bad, he just wants to occupy your body, you only need to leave him to his own devices and the same thing will happen as in the Heaven’s Cave Inheritance.
This was simple to do, Yang Kai just opened his hand towards the tunnel.
In an instant, a cold aura flowed into him through his hand and crashed directly into his body. Yang Kai smiled without worry.
And really under the revolution of the True Yang Secret Art, this cold aura was burnt away and absorbed, which was followed by a miserable howling cry. After this cold energy was built up there was only some essence left which was absorbed by the Unyielding Golden Body.
With the assistance from Yang Kai, Old Demon was finally able to draw level with the weakening devil and finally, after an hour he was able to get the winning side.
“Enough, it’s enough young master, now you can watch from the side, how this old servant swallows this little thing.” Old Demon hurriedly stopped him for fear that Yang Kai would rob him of even the Demon Qi
Then he whispered in his heart, [How is this young master able to absorb this energy? Doesn’t the young master practice a Yang attribute secret law? It really is strange.]
Hearing him say that Yang Kai also took back his hand from the tunnel and then ignored Old Demon. He started chewing the spirit medicine which he had found.
Yang Kai was knowledgeable about the spirit medicines that he had picked, and thus knew they didn’t contain any toxins. They were valuable and useful if refined into pills as they would be more effective.
However, at present, he was basically in captivity. There was obviously no opportunity to have them refined. Although they could be preserved he was presently unable to do so.
The war between Old Demon and that black fog continued all day long and finally stopped after the two groups of black fog had become one.
After this war, Old Demon strength increased greatly.
Old Demon said with a loud voice, “Many thanks, young master, this old servant was able to fulfill your expectations.”
Yang Kai coughed lightly.
While blushing Old Demon said, “I need to close up for a few days.”
Then, without waiting any longer he escaped into Yang Kai’s body.
Even till the next day, the Old Demon was still busy ‘closing up’. Meanwhile, Yang Kai was attempting to absorb the spirit medicine.
With his Unyielding Golden Body, the thing that was capable of absorbing a sea of energy, regardless of its type, he was not afraid in his attempt to absorb the medicine. After all, he knew it was not poisonous, and it was not going to cause any conflict with his Qi.
After a period of time, he had finally completely absorbed the medicine; promoting him from Qi Transformation Third Stage to the Fourth Stage.
Being able to promote a level after arriving on Red Cloud Island for two months means that the trip here was not a complete waste.
Since the immortal soul was absorbed by the Old Demon and the treasure here was all grasped by Yang Kai, he estimated that after a period of time, it would no longer be regarded as a restricted area for the Red Cloud Cultivators.
[Time to go!]Yang Kai scaled back down the mountain and returned to the seashore.
To leave Red Cloud Island, Yang Kai would need a boat. This issue made his head numb from all the contemplation as he knew building his own ship was an unreasonable task. The only possibility of obtaining one was to steal from the Red Cloud Sect so he had to arduously think of a method to obtain it.
[But, even if I manage to obtain an empty boat, how am I supposed to weigh anchor and steer the boat off to sea?]After pondering for some time, Yang Kai suddenly heard the sound of rustling from a distant place. He tilted his head to focus on the sound and could hear someone gasping for breath, mixed with a struggling woman’s cry for mercy.
Yang Kai’s complexion immediately sank as he rushed towards that area.
Yang Kai made it to the scene but was hiding behind the bushes to get a good analysis of the situation. [It’s as I had guessed. The Red Cloud Sect only sends in normal people to this island in order to collect that Black Profound Fruit.]
The scene in front of him was just meters away, of a sturdy guy sitting on top of a woman, tearing her clothes off. The man was panting like a cow, laughing hysterically and obscenely as he proceeded. Meanwhile, the woman under him was struggling to get free, but it was all in vain as she does not have sufficient strength; only leaving her capable of crying for mercy.
[That man has an evil aura!]Yang Kai flashed behind the man. With his foot placed neatly on that bastard’s back, he kicked. It was so strong, that the man flew. Meanwhile, the woman under the man got free, and hurriedly gathered her clothes. With her body still trembling from the event, she hid behind Yang Kai for protection.
Once the man noticed that the ground had disappeared from under his feet, he wailed out in misery. It was when he finally got back to the ground, that he hurriedly stood up and stared at Yang Kai with an ominous light.
Both of his eyes turned scarlet as his face wrapped itself in hostility. It was obvious, at this point, that his mind was about to be consumed by the Demonic Qi emitting from his body. Even his nostrils were giving off steam.
“Yes?” Yang Kai sighed. From the looks of this person’s clothing, it was obvious that he was poor. It was highly likely that he had been thrown in and out of the island numerous times already. With such experiences, it was even more probable that his mind was losing its natural state and turning him into some beast. With all of this taken into consideration, Yang Kai did not wish to kill that man. Instead, the boy merely gave him a kick.
“Brat! Get lost!” The man said while grimacing. Since he was about to go so far, how would he possibly be willing to care about Yang Kai’s presence and give up?
Yang Kai only returned an uninterested look and very soon, the man standing in front of him charged over like a mad bull. His face, now filled with rage, turned murderous.
“Then, I shall release you from your pain…” Yang Kai stood at the same place. When the man rushing towards him was close enough, he took his hand and pointed it towards the man’s chest. Yang Yuan Qi soon injected itself into the man’s heart; stopping it instantly. Without the slightest bit of pain, the man’s body turned limp as his life force disappeared.
Behind him, was the lady sobbing in mourning. Hearing those weak hiccups, Yang Kai felt uncomfortable as well. He turned around in an attempt to comfort. But once he turned around, and his eyes laid focus on her face, his whole mind shivered.
This woman seems as though she was in her 30s. By her white and tender skin, she should be gorgeous. However, right now, there was a horrendous scar tearing through her face. Each mark, about a nail thick, spanned across her entire face. Even the dried up blood around the wound did not seem to have been completely scrapped off; though even if it was, her beauty could never be restored.
The sight of the woman was terrifying to fathom but even as she covered herself with the ripped clothes, and hid her face, she was crying with a small expression of gratitude.
Knowing her own appearance, even as she felt grateful to her savior, she retreated. She did not wish to frighten Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s whole body seemed to turn cold as he extends his hand to grasp the woman’s wrist.
“No… Please stop…” The woman tried to struggle.
Yang Kai remained undisturbed and used his other hand to gently lift up her head.
“Please… I beg you to stop…” The woman continued to beg. As her tears continued to fall from her cheeks, she weakly looked at Yang Kai, causing the scar on her face to seem a little more terrifying.
In the meantime, Yang Kai’s eyes did not seem to hold any sense of lust and disgust. Instead, it held slight sadness and hesitation. After lifting her chin up, his shaking hand moved to clear away the black hair blocking his view, to reveal her entire face.
The woman closed her eyes. It was unclear if she was afraid of her own appearance or if Yang Kai’s actions had startled her. Regardless, tears were still continuously streaming down her face.
Yang Kai’s pupils contracted as he took a long and good look at the woman before sounding off. “Madame?”
Hearing him refer to her in such a familiar manner, the woman slowly opened her eyes. Even with tears clouding her pupils, she still looked at Yang Kai carefully with a flash of doubt hovering in her mind. Once she recognized him, her doubt gradually vanished and was replaced with a sense of surprise and joy.
“Madame, is that really you?” Yang Kai is unable to believe that his hunch was right after his eyes first lay on this woman. He thought that he had seen someone familiar. Moments ago, his impulsive and weird actions were simply because he wanted to confirm if his hunch was right.
After the woman heard Yang Kai’s voice, she thought back to the time, two months ago, of the beggar who was covered in dirt. Trembling, she spoke, “Little Beggar, is that you?”
Yang Kai took a deep breath. After he heard those two words from her, he knew that his hunch was right. [I would have never thought I would find the Madame of the Jiang Family here!]
There were only three people that referred to him as a Little Beggar. The first was Cui Er, the second was the Jiang Family’s Young Lady and the third was the Madame of the Jiang Family.
“Why are you here? What happened to your face?” Yang Kai asked, filled with doubts. [Cui Er and the two women from the Jiang Family should currently be in Sea City, under the protection of the Miao Family. So why is the Madame here? On the day we moved onto our different paths, Miao Hua Cheng had personally come to welcome them. After all, the Young Lady had an engagement to the Miao Family. As such, the Madame should be living her life, safe within the Miao Family. Just how did matters get so out of hand that she landed here?]
“Young Hero…” After recognizing Yang Kai, the Little Beggar who had previously rescued her, the Madame suddenly knelt down onto the ground. *Bang* With her head stuck to the ground, she cried out in grief, “Please, I beg of you, help me uphold justice for my Jiang Family!”
Yang Kai quickly tried to help her up. When he got a glimpse of her face again, she had blood flowing from her forehead – evident that she was extremely desperate.
“This is not a place for us to speak. Come, we must leave here first.” Yang Kai held her in the arm and supported her to hurriedly walk away.
[Why did her appearance change so much? Why would she be caught and be sent to the Red Cloud Sect? Where are Cui Er and the Young Lady? What happened to the Miao Family?] Yang Kai’s mind was flooded with questions.Although they were not close to him, they had, at the very least, lived with him for serval days. Furthermore, it was fun to talk to Cui Er. He could not forget her kindness in bringing him snacks to share and her smart-alecky charming personality. Likewise, for her good heart and kind nature.
After a long time of walking, Yang Kai led the Madame to the hill top – which was considered to be the deeper parts of the Red Cloud Island, somewhere no normal human should be able to reach.
The people found a place to sit down. The woman, who suddenly thought of the miracle of meeting Yang Kai, broke down in excitement.
Yang Kai did not comfort her. Instead, he allowed her to carry on crying. After all, there was no rush. He had many questions to ask and he knew that the Madame had many matters to inform him of.
Only after half an hour, did the Madame’s cries subside. With her hair covering her face, she held her trembling body.
Yang Kai took off his own coat to place it over her.
“Thank you…” Even if she was in a pitiful state, the Madame did not forgo her courtesy.
“Please, tell me. What happened?”
The Madame’s eyes reveal a slight disconnect as she reminisces of the past. With a low and deep voice, she narrated the entire story for Yang Kai.
“Cui Er, Huan Er (The Young Lady) and I all went to the Miao family with Miao Hua Cheng. For the first few days, Miao Hua Cheng treated us as honorable guests in his house. However, when I talked to him about Huan Er’s wedding, he pushed back the date from three months to four months. At first, I did not care too much about it. When I talked to him about a few days later, he agreed to it but held up some condition. He said that his son’s status was honorable and my family’s Huan Er did not match with him. If she wanted to marry him, she can at most be his concubine! I was furious but did not say anything else.
On the next day, I immediately told Huan Er and Cui Er to pack their things. I wished to leave the Miao Family. We had experienced so much hardship to come to Sea City and it was not to have my daughter become someone’s concubine! What’s more, this was a marriage that he and my husband had agreed upon! How could he just go against his words like this?!
But, without waiting for us to leave the Miao Family, Miao Hua Cheng got angry and detained all of us.” The Madame’s face held a frightened look as she spoke. It was evident that this whole situation was a nightmare to her.
Her expression turned even worse, appearing more depressed as she sobbed. “I did not understand why Miao Hua Cheng would do all of this. However, under inquiry of others, I finally got to know the truth. He was the one who pulled the strings behind our backs! The death of my poor husband was due to his bribery of those in the Tong Province. After my husband’s death, he reached out to me, reminding me of the marriage agreement my Huan Er had with his son. How laughable… to think that I was caught unaware and drove my daughter to a tiger’s den…”
“Why did he do something like this? Weren’t your husband and Miao Hua Cheng best friends?” Yang Kai thought that the matters spoken here were more than what meets the eyes. On the day that he had personally seen Miao Hua Cheng, with his sorrowful voice and saddened looks, it was clearly just an act!
Update: This chapter has now been proofread. Sorry for the wait everyone!
After listening to Yang Kai’s inquiry, the Madame could only give a pitiful smile as she explained. “When I wished to find out about the reasons why Miao Hua Cheng treated me, a poor widowed mother, in such a way, I tried every means that I could think of. In the end, it came down to the thing my husband and that man obtained years ago.”
“What thing?”
“A piece of a tortoise shell!” The Madame replied, “My husband and Miao Hua Cheng once, in the past, travelled around Sea City for leisure. They happened to stumble upon a strangle tortoise shell which displayed some kind of map. At that time, the two looked around the nearby islands in hopes to find a match with the map. Unfortunately, the place did not seem to tally with the map so they assumed that the shell must have been a fake. However, just to ensure that the other party remained discreet about their find, they split the shell into two and shared it.”
The Madame gently gasped for breath before continuing on. “After their adventures here, my husband went back to the Tong Province and started to build up his own school. Meanwhile, Miao Hua Cheng settled down in Sea City. He most likely continued to study and research the tortoise shell. It was only in recent years that he had managed to obtain some form of clue. Being unwilling to share with my husband, he chose to murder him; even going as far as to trick my whole family to migrate to Sea City. I personally had once seen the half of the tortoise shell owned by my husband. Since I knew it was a precious, I took it along with me.”
“Young Hero, do you remember the late guard Zhang Ding? The one who rebelled against me?”
“His actions were puppeteered by Miao Hua Cheng?” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed.
“Exactly!” The Madame’s head sank down. “I believe that since Miao Hua Cheng was considered to be my husband’s best friend, he did not wish to personally begin with us. Thus, he made use of Zhang Ding, inciting him to make the first move. Without you, Young Hero, I believe all of us, Huan Er Cui Er and I, would have been sent to accompany my husband in the afterlife.”
“Certainly a best friend!” Yang Kai gave a smile of ridicule. However, there was still some doubt in his mind that he wished to clarify. “Madame, all three of you are average human beings. After you entered the Miao Family, if Miao Hua Cheng truly wanted to obtain that shell from you, it would be such a simple task. How is it possible that it was only later that he revealed his true colours?”
The Madame bitterly grinned. “At the beginning, even I did not understand why that was the case. However, after a while, I managed to figure it out; and it was all thanks to you.”
“?!”
*En* the Madame nods and resumed her explanation. “When Miao Hua Cheng greeted us, I followed your instructions and told him that a powerful cultivator had assisted us to kill Zhang Ding; allowing us to survive his rebellion. Since Miao Hua Cheng is a careful person, he first waited to check and see if the person we had mentioned was hiding around us. Thus, he did not dare to begin. When he had finally realized that there was no one there to protect us, he then revealed his true colours.”
Yang Kai nodded in agreement, as he found her logic sound.
“So, what happened next?”
“The nightmare started.” The Madame’s voice mellowed down, as though she was about to break down into tears to cry but she persisted to speak. “To save our lives, I handed the other half of the tortoise shell. But, I would not have thought that Miao Hua Cheng would have been cruel enough to continue his torture.” While she spoke, the woman’s body shivered incessantly as she subconsciously tightened her fist. “On that very night, after I passed him the tortoise shell, Miao Hua Cheng brought a group of people to take Huan Er away… He said that she must be wed to his son. When Huan Er was unwilling to comply, Cui Er stood up to aid her. But… But… I never would have thought Miao Hua Cheng would be so heartless as to order his men to beat her to death.”
Hearing about such a vicious scene, Yang Kai’s whole body could not be controlled as he trembled in anguish and anger.
The Madame continued to sob as she spoke. “On the next day, Miao Hua Cheng told me that my precious daughter… My Huan Er, had been raped! Unable to bear it… She bit her tongue to commit suicide!”
Yang Kai felt his whole body turn cold as the rage within him welled up without any possible way to control it. He would have never expected for the cheeky but charming young housemaid to be so brutally killed while the shy and gentle young lady would commit suicide. In just two months after travelling with them, he would never be able to meet these beauties ever again.
“Miao Hua Cheng also wanted to humiliate me!” The Madame sobbed while stuttering. “But… learning from his mistake with Huan Er and Cui Er… He no longer dared to go too far. After detaining me for several days, without being able to bend my will, he got angry out of shame and sold me to a place called Thousand Gold Wine House.”
Yang Kai does not need to inquire about the building as he knew that it was a brothel.
“Forcing me to submit, I was beaten and tortured… Without any hope of rescue, I sliced my face using a pair of scissors! *He… Hee…* Having such an appearance, no man would ever dare touch me.” The Madame pitifully ridiculed herself. “Afterwards, I was sold to the Red Cloud Sect with a smile plastered on my face…”
“I should have died. With my husband gone, along with my daughter and Cui Er; what is the point of me being alive? However, I cannot allow myself to die. Not now. If I die, no one would know about the horrendous treatment they have unjustly suffered. I must live! Live till I can finally seek the revenge they deserve. Although I am just a weak woman, this is something that I must do.”
Yang Kai’s heart cramped up as he could feel a piercing sensation overwhelm every fiber of his being, causing his heart to bleed out. Taking a deep breath, he comforted the woman, “Madame, you are the world’s most beautiful wife and the world’s strongest mother!”
[It was easy to choose death but living in such a state would be unbearable, to say the least.]
“Young Hero, can I ask you to help me one last time?” The Madame lifted her head with tearful eyes, staring at Yang Kai with a look of hope.
Standing on the mountain top, with the howling of the wind, Yang Kai’s whole face remained solemn as he sighed. “It’s regrettable but my strength is too low!”
The Madame immediately turned gloomy.
“But, I will continue to grow stronger. I might take several years to finally be able to pay the Miao Family in Sea City a visit.”
Yang Kai’s decision was not only based on the Madame’s request but also the debt he felt towards Cui Er for the food that she had given him while they were travelling together.
The Madame’s facial expression changed to that of overwhelming joy as she kneeled to the ground and kowtowed. “Thank you… Thank you Young Hero!”
It was only after a long time, did she finally straighten up her body to speak. “Young Hero, although you already know that Miao Hua Cheng was the mastermind behind all of this, there is something else that you need to know. The ones that are backing Miao Hua Cheng is the Red Clouds Sect!”
*En?!* Yang Kai’s brows wrinkled.
“Miao Hua Cheng’s son, Miao Lin is a Red Clouds Sect Disciple. Due to his son’s low status, Miao Hua Cheng plans on giving away the tortoise shell to the Red Clouds Sect as a form of contribution; in hopes to make sure that his son has a higher standing within the Sect. It was all because of that rotten child, who had no hope of gaining recognition within the Red Clouds Sect. He pinned everything on the tortoise shell and instigated his father to be so treacherous to my Jiang Family!”
“Red Clouds Sect! I knew it!” Yang Kai nods.
“Young Hero!” Madame Cheng pursed her lips as he hung her head down. With a shivering voice, she spoke. “Although I know that you are just enough to seek retribution for my Jiang Family, and humane enough to not forget the benevolence Cui Er had showed you, there is nothing my family can do to thank you.”
“You don’t need to care about that.”
“Young Hero, please listen to me…” The Madame insisted, causing Yang Kai to nod.
“In actuality, after my husband had obtained the other half of the tortoise shell, he too had spent years studying and researching it. Similar to Miao Hua Cheng, he also obtained the other portion of the map. Inferring from what my husband had shared with me before, one of the tortoise shell is a map routing to the location of the island. Meanwhile, the other half of the map that he had obtained contained the interior route within the island.
“What?” Yang Kai was caught in surprise. “So, where is this map?”
“It’s on me.” The woman replied with an unnatural voice.
Yang Kai had his doubts immediately after the Madame spoke. [How was it possible for a normal woman to be able to defend against Miao Hua Cheng’s search for that crucial map piece?]
After staying silent for a long time, the Madame finally affirmed her resolve and opened her mouth to speak. “Young Hero, since I am unable to repay the debt of gratitude that my family has owed you, please accept this map as your reward!” Using her hands, the Madame grabbed her pants and ripped it open, to reveal a large section of her snow-white thighs.
“The map has been embroidered onto my skin by myself!” Hanging her head down, with her shivering body, the Madame roused up all her courage to do the deed.
Yang Kai’s complexion quickly dyed red as his eyes quickly avoided in the other direction, gulping down his saliva. After several days of promoting his cultivation level and overall strength, the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art had a stronger influence over him. It was a common occurrence for Su Yan’s face to flash in his mind. If not for the strength of meditation, he would definitely not be able to overcome his desires. Now, with the Madame’s display, Yang Kai could feel that he was about to lose himself.
“Madame…” Yang Kai frowned.
“Young Hero…” The Madame’s complexion was also red. “This is something my husband has died for. I do not want to bury it nor let it fall into the enemy’s hands. Please, consider this a reward that I deliver to you, Young Hero. Please accept it.”
Yang Kai sighed. [If I reject it, she will definitely be hurt…] “Ah! I’m sorry to offend you then Madame!”
Squatting down, Yang Kai took a good look at the Madame’s thigh. There was a place with high mountain ridges, which formed out the shape of the island. Many areas on the map were specially labelled in great detail. What’s more, there was an obvious winding pathway that was meant to be taken.
[This map… it was embroidered using a heated needle, inked with coloured pigment… To think that the Madame’s entire thigh, from the knee to her groin area has been painted with this. I can’t begin to imagine how formidable her will must be for her to endure such torture. She is just a normal woman yet, just how many times did she pierce herself to form out this map of rivers and mountains? Although the map is probably inaccurate and most likely different from the original map, I can’t say anything…]
Yang Kai tried to maintain his calm and composed self as he sized up the map carefully; not allowing the least bit of his shock and awe to be shown. Meanwhile, the Madame was still shaking. As both her eyes were kept shut, her tears keep flowing.
After the time to heat up a cup of tea, Yang Kai had memorised the entire map and took up the torn cloth to hide her thigh.
“Young Hero, thank you for all your hard work.” The Madame sat on the ground sideways while speaking with a soft voice.
After she said her piece, it was as if all the burdens in her heart had been relinquished. Yang Kai could tell from her facial expression that she currently only sought death. [Her heart has died. She lived for revenge and now that I am here, her desires have been passed on to me. So… she no longer has the will to live…]
After looking at her facial expression, Yang Kai no longer spoke.
After one day, Yang Kai descended the mountain, he took the basket that the Madame brought with her, with a Profound Black Fruit inside. He walked towards the seashore step by step and looked back to the mountain top.
At the mountain top, sat the Madame with a face drained of tears. She was looking out into the ocean, in a daze; motionless.
Yang Kai did not lead her to leave. Instead, he left her there, knowing that letting her live was far more torturous than allowing her to choose her death. [Now… all she wished for was to be extricated…]
After several hours, Yang Kai arrived at the seashore recovery point and patiently waited for the Red Clouds Sect steamship to pick him up.
Many people were gathered here, waiting for the steamship to arrive. When they first caught sight of the steamship, everyone cried out with cheers.
At the side of the ship, a Red Clouds Sect cultivator was blocking their paths into the ship. He was inspecting everyone’s harvest and was given the duty of taking away everyone’s baskets while tossing anyone with less than 1.5kg of Profound Black Fruit out of the ship. Those that were unfortunate enough to be thrown to sea would be food for the Monster Beasts living in the sea.
Among dozens of individuals, only 34 that had not completed the task were tossed out of the ship. As they fell into the treacherous sea, pitiful yells could be heard. Dreadfully, the end of their voices also signaled a meal for the Monster Beasts.
Yang Kai mingled among the crowd unnoticed as these people were all normal. With those forced to pick Profound Black Fruit being average people, none of the Red Clouds Sect disciples paid them any heed.
After half an hour, the steamship finally started and left the island; leaving behind those that did not gather, and those that acted as feed for the Monster Beasts.
Returning to the Red Clouds Sect’s made Yang Kai somewhat depressed. Originally, he had planned to do everything in his power to steal the ship and escape this place. But, after meeting the Madame, escape was something he did not wish to do.
Since the Red Cloud Sect had obtained the one piece of the Tortoise Shell, he needed to take action. It was only fortunate that the other half, the most important one, was in his grasp. Since the Madame had such courage to mark the map on her body, he could not allow her efforts to be in vain. At least, not when it was also her dying wish.
[If everything goes according to plan, the Red Cloud Sect will take action within 1-2 months.] Yang Kai speculated.
Originally, Miao Hua Cheng wished to obtain the completed Tortoise Shell to give it to the Red Cloud Sect for his son. However, there was another aspect to him delivering them this gift; the dangers of an unknown area. Miao Hua Cheng hoped to take advantage of the Red Cloud Sect, to help him explore the area, while at the same time allowing his son to gain status within the Sect; minimising the risk to himself while still receiving benefits. Regardless of Miao Hua Cheng’s plans, Yang Kai wished to go to the island. The unknown secrets the island held were risks worthy for Yang Kai.
[Now, the only issue is getting the opportunity be covert while travelling with the Red Cloud Sect… Since they already have the map in their hands, I would never be able to get a chance to obtain some chances if I were to stick next to them the whole time.]
During the several nights on the ship, Yang Kai frequently went around to chat with some disciples for information. He found out that once the higher-levels of the Sect received the map, they immediately started making preparations to go out to explore.
Unfortunately, ordinary disciples were not well versed regarding this matter. They only got to know hints from overhearing the higher-ups speak. Thus, they were not too clear with the specifics.
While enduring the hardships onboard the ship and trying to think of an opportunity to covertly explore the island on the map, the yelling of the Red Cloud Sect disciples could suddenly be heard in the morning. It was an order for those normal people to gather.
The shock from this strange order caused many of those people to have panicked looks on their faces. Meanwhile, soft murmurs were passed on from the people, “Why are we going back to pick the fruit again? We just came back several days ago… In the past, we would have at least a month before being forced to pick that fruit again.”
“Listen up. This time, you are not going out to pick the fruit that you usually do. Stop talking amongst each other and do not ask any questions. We will tell you when we reach the shore.” A Red Cloud Sect disciple reprimanded the crowd with a stern look on his face.
Once Yang Kai heard of this news, his heart immediately jumped in excitement as he suddenly opened his eyes.
[Good! If I’m not wrong, this is an opportunity!]
Arriving at the seashore as per usual, the first thing that they could see was a huge, not exaggerating to call it oversized, ship of 66.6 meters was docked. This ship had a total of five masts, each hung a huge sail flapping in the wind; and as the stern of the ship was held high with dragon head to show off its might and prestige, it made all around aware of its presence – taking the breaths away from the crowd of people who were inexperienced in being under such a big ship.
“My god, this is the Red Cloud Sect’s biggest ship! Where do they want to take us to?” A man who had the ability to judge that ship whispered in a soft voice.
Seeing such a ship, affirmed Yang Kai’s guess.
He had spent countless hours trying to think of a way to infiltrate Red Cloud Sect while they were exploring. However, never had he thought that his efforts would be in vain as they presented the opportunity to him on a platter.
[The Red Cloud Sect most likely is not bringing in so many normal to explore the place and find the treasure. It is extremely likely that what they need is manpower to operate the ship. Such a humongous ship will definitely need an unnerving amount of manpower to operate smoothly…] after Yang Kai thought of this point, he appeared to have calmed down. [Since this is a Red Cloud Sect Ship that is going to head out to explore an unknown area, there will definitely be a high level martial artist, no less than the level of True Element Boundary! He might even reach Immortal Ascension!]
Yang Kai could hide in front of a True Element Boundary martial artist but if an Immortal Ascension cultivator were to show up, he could easily uncover his cultivation level with Spiritual Sense. Thus, Yang Kai knew that he must be careful, not showing the slightest bit of his skill or else, he would end up a lifeless ragdoll.
After waiting for a long time, a group of Red Cloud Sect members came out, and leading the group to walk in a straight line were two oldies. The old birds, a man and a woman, were merrily chatting while they led. Their heads were both ravaged by silver hair but in contrast to their dignified spark that came from their eyes, they were lively and full of vigor. Without a doubt, these two could be easily considered as two of the top cultivators in the Red Cloud Sect.
Following behind them were a batch of Red Cloud Sect disciples, of either gender; about 50 heads in count. They held a presence that indicated they were the Elite Disciples within the Sect.
A middle-aged man from the large ship came out hastily, to pay his respects to the two elders. “Greetings Masters.”
The Red Cloud Sect disciples on the ship also followed suit.
Both the old man and old woman responded with a faint smile as they jumped gracefully and floated into the ship and asked, “Has everything been prepared?”
The middle-aged man respectfully responded, “Everything is ready. All I need is your orders, Master, before we can set sail!”
*En!* The old man nodded and beckoned with one hand while speaking, “You will continue to do the arrangement. Master Lan and I will be in the cabins, focused on cultivating. If there are no urgent matters that you need us to attend to, do not call for us.”
“Yes!”
When the two Immortal Ascension Cultivators entered their cabin, Yang Kai could not help but feel relieved.
[Being tasked to do all the arrangements for this, that middle-aged man must not have a low status within the Sect…]
After issuing orders for half an hour, the ship finally began to move. When it was slowly starting to move, Yang Kai was at the deck, working in disguise as he tried to remember the direction that the ship had been heading towards.
This ginormous ship was capable of running through the waters, and within just a mere 24 hours, it had travelled more than 500 kilometers, entering into the open seas without any land in view.
The sun set and the moon rose in cycles, and soon enough, Yang Kai had been on this ship for the past three days, living as cautiously as possible. In the meantime, he would sometimes take the opportunity to chat with the martial artists on board and gained more clarification regarding his situation.
It was now affirmed that this ship was meant to explore that mysterious island on the map. ‘Hidden Island’, was what the Red Cloud Sect members referred to that island whenever they spoke; which reminded Yang Kai of the many interesting stories he had heard from Sea City.
The Hidden Island held a wide variety of rumors since there were mirages of it caught by people’s eyes. Even in Sea City, numerous residents had experienced sightings of the mirage of this island! However, no one knew why it appeared in the form of a mirage, appearing at a remote place, millions of kilometers away from its original location. But, it was widely agreed upon that the Island did exist out at sea except no one had been able to find it.
In Sea City, it was said that no common technique could be used to find the island. The only possible way, was to have a direct guide towards the place. The people who tried to explore the area followed islands to get close to the place but even so, they were only able to get close. Being unable to see it, they could not get ashore. Thus, it was named the Hidden Island!
There were a large number of rumors that indicated the place contained never ending wealth, as well as Martial Skills and Cultivation Techniques that are sure to allow a human to promote by leaps and bounds.
Common men all wished to get into Hidden Island but because they were unable to, many had given up such thoughts. But now, the Red Cloud Sect had finally obtained the opportunity to set foot there! Sparing no resources, they sent out their Elite Disciples and two Immortal Ascension cultivators!
For Red Cloud Sect to use two of their four Immortal Ascension Cultivators had shown their obvious determination to explore and harvest the island.
For the past few days, most of the conversations that Yang Kai would encounter were the Red Cloud Sect disciples’ yearning desires for the island and their imaginations about the opportunities they could encounter there.
Yang Kai also had questions regarding the island and awoke the Old Demon who was closing up. He found out that Hidden Island is most likely not a place like the Heaven’s Cave Inheritance. Instead, it was more likely a place that a Senior Cultivator would use to cultivate. Wishing to avoid any form of disturbance, this Expert made some kind of formation that concealed the island from people’s eyes. In any case, it was extremely likely for the place to exist.
Through conversations he had with the disciples, Yang Kai had remembered all the strengths and names of the strong cultivators within the Sect. The middle-aged person was called Yu Xiu Ping, currently in the True Element Boundary, Ninth Stage, an Elder of the Red Cloud Sect.
Comparing the strength of those top Cultivators of the Red Cloud Sect to High Heaven Pavilion, Yang Kai noted that their Sect was unable to be place on par to his own. Firstly, no True Element Boundary Cultivator could be considered to be an Elder in High Heaven Pavilion. Secondly, if he were to compare the ages of the Two Masters from the Red Cloud Sect to his Elders from High Heaven Pavilion, it was clear that his Elders were much younger than those old farts; Ding Jia Zi and Huo Xiang Lan. The former was in the fifth stage of Immortal Ascension and the latter was in the Fourth Stage. Both held the positions of Antiquity Elders in the Sect and would typically stay inside the inner areas of the Sect; after all, they already had one foot in the grave. If this was not an important matter to the Sect, they would never have appeared outside of their Sect.
Today, Yang Kai was cleaning the deck in silence and suddenly heard two voices conversing.
“Yan, haven’t you been accompanying Miao Lin?”
Hearing the two words, ‘Miao Lin’ caused Yang Kai’s ears to twitch as he immediately recalled the son of Miao Huang Cheng, the one who had brought the Madame to ruins and brought disaster onto the Jiang Family!
[Could it be, that it’s him?] Yang Kai was now paying close attention to the scene. Not forgetting to continue his disguise, his hands did not stop moving. But, his vision was switching back and forth surreptitiously, to the side of the conversation, sizing up the situation.
On that side of the ship was a beautiful woman that seemed to be in her twenties. She wore a long blue dress and thanks to the magnificent sea breeze, the dress pasted onto her skin, showing her bombshell figure. She had a slender waist and accompanying the two tall and perky peaks, it highlighted her busty figure. She had fair, wheat-like skin, not common with those that live around the seashore. With the color of her skin and those long, slender and jade-like legs, she could steal the hearts of millions. Unfortunately, in the midst of all her beauty, lay an undeniable arrogance that could only be quenched with the best things.
Meanwhile, there was a middle-aged man standing beside her, the elder of the Red Cloud Sect, Yu Xiu Ping!
[So this must be his daughter, Yu Ao An!] Yang Kai now understood the situation very clearly; especially with Yu Ao An. Many of the disciples would discuss about her in secret; just like Su Yan in High Heaven Pavilion, Yu Ao An was woman that was admired by the disciples within the Red Cloud Sect.
Hearing Yu Xiu Ping ask, a touch of impatience emerged on Yu Ao Qing’s face. Grinding her teeth, she spoke, “He is not sticking with me”.
“Oh, you don’t like him?” Yu Xiu Ping teased.
“What do you think?” Yu Ao Qing snapped back.
“Hold your temper. For this matter, we can only rely on him. Although Miao Hua Cheng has given us a map, but he has spent much effort in his research and has not passed any of it on to us. He has passed everything on to Miao Lin so if we want to find the hidden island, he is essential.”, Yu Xiu Ping gently comforted Yu Ao Qing.
Yu Ao Qing bitterly shook her head and grabbed Yu Xiu Ping’s arms, “Dad, it isn’t like you don’t know what kind of person he is. This morning, he wanted to move his hands and feet for me. If you told me again, I would have buried him in the sea.”
Yu Xiu Ping quickly felt a chill running down his spine. “He moved his hands and feet for you?”
“Yes!” Yu Ao Qing felt very wronged. Before this matter, she had never heard of this guy Miao Lin. However, because of this matter, she had bitterly fulfilled his requests to ask for this favor. For the always arrogant girl, this was nothing short of torture.
“I’ve wronged you.” Yu Xiu Ping’s face turned unsightly. Yu Ao Qing was his daughter, he naturally treated her as his treasure and hoped she could wed a dragon among men for a lifetime of happiness. Miao Lin didn’t have any background firstly, any qualifications secondly, and strength thirdly. In the past, he couldn’t even carry his daughter’s shoes if given the opportunity. However, for the sake of Miao Lin’s information, he could only sacrifice his daughter.
“Be at ease, once I find the island, dad will personally seek justice for you!” Yu Xiu Ping promised.
“I really hope I arrive early.” Yu Ao Qing ground her teeth in hatred, “Once we arrive, I will bury him in the sea!”
“As long as you’re happy!” Yu Xiu Ping cracked a smile. He didn’t give the slightest hint of concern; it was as if his daughter was talking about disposing of livestock.
Unfortunately Sea City’s Miao Hua Cheng could not have expected the situation to develop in this direction. When he offered up the map, his only intention was to create a brighter future for his son. He wanted the Red Cloud Sect to pay attention to Miao Lin.
The Red Cloud Sect’s upper management had agreed to Miao Hua Cheng’s request, but they wanted Miao Lin to focus on cultivation. However, they didn’t want Miao Lin to not put in any effort, so they came up with the idea of putting everything on Yu Ao Qing.
This was completely a case of playing with fire and getting burned.
In middle of their conversation, Yu Xiu Ping suddenly mentioned, “When that brat comes over here, you …. if you just can’t take it anymore, just avoid him for a bit. You must remember that you can’t throw a tantrum.”
“I know…” Yu Ao Qing’s perky chest heaved up and down as she took a deep breath.
Yu Xiu Ping quickly left. After a moment, a 20-something year-old man came onto the deck. A glimmer of expectation appeared on his face as he surveyed the four directions. When he gazed at the ship’s side and saw Yu Ao Qing’s back, a flash of happiness that he could not hide appeared on his face.
[That was Miao Lin?]
Miao Lin’s appearance was engraved in his heart, but there was no indication on his face.
The lady of the Jiang family did not want to be humiliated, so she would rather commit suicide.
Miao Lin was an exemplary young man. Aside from some yellow in his complexion, and some swaying in his steps, everything else was above average. If you said he was a martial artist, you might as well call him foppish dandy.
After all, the Miao family in Sea City could be considered to have some strength, this was enough to support him in his revelries.
As he arrived beside Yu Ao Qing, his eyes were filled with obvious care, as he softly and affectionately told her, “Senior Sister Qing, the deck is very windy, be careful of catching a cold.”
Even though Yu Ao Qing was disgusted to death, she squeezed out a stiff smile and replied, “It’s no harm. The water’s breeze is nice and clear. It blows away people’s troubles.”
Yu Ao Qing’s words were very subtle, but it seemed like Miao Lin did not understand at all. With a gentle smile, he warmly spoke. “It appears Senior Sister Qing’s mood is not good. Is it because of some unhappy matter? You might as well tell apprentice brother. I am willing to share your worries with you.”
A trace of hidden anger flickered across Yu Ao Qing’s pretty face, but she still smilingly shook her head.
Yang Kai, who was cleaning on one side of the deck, overheard the pair’s conversation. Hearing the two, who were like a pair of venomous snakes having a spirited conversation, his heart quickly became anxious to bury Miao Lin in the sea as well.
Yu Ao Qing had hinted twice, but he still pretended to not understand. Either that or he didn’t even hear her. However, he had thickened his face to stalk her, so it was far too hard for people to have goodwill towards him.
The two had talked for a long time and just when Miao Lin became spirited, showing off the prestige of the Sea City’s Miao family, a loud “peng” sound suddenly came from the bottom of the ship and shook the whole ship.
The two standing on the side of the boat, Miao Lin and Yu Ao Qing, had an unstable foothold and almost fell into the sea. However, regardless of how you judged them, the two were still martial artists with naturally extraordinary reflexes and agility; easily, they righted their bodies back up.
It was unknown what Miao Lin was thinking. Maybe he wanted to play the role of the hero rescuing the princess, maybe he wanted to get a good bargain; as soon as he caught his balance, he quickly shouted, “Be careful Senior Sister!”.
While he was shouted, his hand quickly snaked around Yu Ao Qing’s waist for a hug.
Yu Ao Qing was a haughty woman who felt nauseated when Miao Lin was just speaking. How could she stand for Miao Lin hugging her body? As soon as she regained her balance, she immediately moved her body away from Miao Lin’s incoming hand.
In this short amount of time, the boat was suddenly disturbed again.
Yu Ao Qing, who was originally in middle of turning her body, suddenly could not find a foothold. She shot away like a thorn, mouth opened wide, and issuing a short exclamation of shock.
Yet the direction she flew in was actually towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was wearing a dirty piece of clothing, holding a stinky and dirty broom while watching the good show. All of a sudden, he was in such a shock that he couldn’t react.
He was standing there to eavesdrop on the two’s conversation for some news; so, how could he have expected that such a dramatic situation to rise up?
Seeing Yu Ao Qing was about to land on his body, in just this critical moment, Yang Kai pretended to slip and fall on his back while also opening a large distance. Almost at the same time he fell, Yu Ao Qing flew over him and heavily fell on the deck. Quite unluckily, the bucket of dirty water beside her spilled all over her head.
The object of many men’s desire and admiration became a drowned chicken in a single instant. All her clothes and hair became wet. As Yu Ao Qing smelled the dirty water that drenched her, she had to quickly suppress the urge to vomit.
Yang Kai was also wailing on the ground, acting out a normal person’s reaction.
If there was a beautiful woman flying over, if you were a normal man, you would naturally stably catch her. You definitely must not let her fall.
However, Yu Ao Qing was not a faithful girl and Miao Lin was not a faithful man. Yang Kai was sure that if he caught Yu Ao Qing just now, he would immediately face the anger of both the man and the woman.
Yu Ao Qing would become angry that her body was touched by a humble servant. Miao Lin would become jealous and filled with killing intent. He knew that it was more than likely he would not be able to see the sun tomorrow.
Hence, avoiding her was the correct choice.
The ship was still shaking. Miao Lin dashed over to Yu Ao Qing’s side, finally finding his chance to get close. He helped her up and worriedly inquired, “Senior Sister, are you ok?”
“Leave!” Yu Ao Qing just couldn’t take it anymore. If this nauseating man didn’t try to touch her, how could she have been thrown around or been doused by the dirty water to the point where her clothes were semi-transparent? She had lost all her face and now her body was emitting a fetid stench.
At this moment, Yu Ao Qing was completely and utterly filled with killing intent.
With her roar, Miao Lin was surprised and retreated two steps.
At this point, from below the cabin came a lot of martial artists. Yu Xiu Ping impressively rushed to the deck to look under the sea. His look quickly changed. “It’s a Monster Beast! All disciples get ready to fight!”
Raising his eyes, he suddenly saw the bedraggled Yu Ao Qing. He called out in a shock. “Qing Er, are you hurt?!”
Yu Ao Qing tightly clenched her teeth, gave Miao Lin a look of extreme resentment, and then slowly shook her head.
“Go back and rest, you don’t need to worry about this situation.” Yu Xiu Ping dully roared.
“En.”
“Senior Sister, I’ll escort you!” Miao Lin naturally wanted to follow.
“No need!” Yu Ao Qing roared out each word. Her beautiful yet dirty figure quickly disappeared from the deck.
On the boat, the miscellaneous ordinary individuals also rapidly evacuated. The Red Cloud Sect’s martial artists, who simply had no say in their life and death, had an abundance of fierceness and a lack of luck.
The sides of the ship were suddenly bombarded with a torrent of waves. The ship began to shake violently again.
Yang Kai quickly got up and followed the ordinary people to the ship’s cabin.
Everyone gathered together, shivering, muttering, praying that the ship would not sink. If the ship sank, outside of the two traveling masters, everyone else would probably become lost at sea.
Yang Kai carefully listened and then gradually relaxed.
He discovered that the Red Cloud Sect’s two masters were not dispatched. This meant that the incoming Monster Beasts weren’t high leveled and Yu Xiu Ping was enough to deal with them.
However, these Monster Beasts were high in quantity and sounds of impacts came from all sides.
The combat lasted for a solid hour before gradually stopping. The attacking Monster Beasts were either dead or repelled. The surroundings were finally peaceful again.
The Red Cloud Sect’s victory caused even the ordinary people to cheer; it was as if they were also victorious
Yang Kai opened his eyes and only felt a burst of sadness.
Not long later, the Red Cloud Sect’s disciples directed the ordinary people onto the deck to clean up the ship. Once these commoners came up and looked around, they quickly became agitated.
On the deck, there was blood everywhere. There were even strange looking fish that had mouths full of fangs. Luckily, they were thoroughly dead.
There were no casualties among the Red Cloud Sect’s disciples. Only a few of those with weaker cultivations were injured and those were no big deal.
Yang Kai cleaned the the decks with the crowd. The blood, dead Monster Beasts, and sweat combined to produce a very foul smell.
Maybe it was because they had already reached the deep parts of the sea, that after the first attack by the Monster Beasts, the Monster Beasts attacked every few days. As time went on, the Monster Beasts grew stronger and stronger.
In order to cope with these Monster Beasts, many of the disabled ordinary people were mercilessly dropped into the sea as bait to attract their attention.
Yu Xiu Ping’s face grew more and more serious as each day passed. Miao Lin also began to frequent the deck. The two faced a divination turtle shell as they attempted to research their route going forward.