Zi Mo already had a deep impression of Wu Cheng Yi’s strength. He was indeed worthy of being called a rising star in this Nine Star Sword Sect. Just the fact that her Senior Brother Chi Xue, while riding his Sixth-Order Monster Beast, had spent more than a month trying kill him yet had never succeeded, proved that Zi Mo was clearly not his opponent.
Trembling as she tightly gripped her fists, Zi Mo whispered, “If I give you the beast slave technique, will you let me leave?”
“I only promise you’ll die without pain!” Wu Cheng Yi’s face remained cold.
Hearing this, Zi Mo’s face paled, as she desperately tried to hold back her anger and fear, “I give you what you want yet you still insist on acting so ruthless? Do you not even have a shred of humanity?”
Wu Cheng Yi only showed a gloating smile, “It is human nature to only respect the strong, why do I need to discuss what is humane with you?”
In the middle of his speech, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression suddenly became cold, and a glint flashed across his eyes as he released a few Sword Qi waves from his fingertips to attack the ground a few steps in front of his feat.
As soon as the Sword Qi waves had struck, a few bloody spurts of liquid flew up from the ground. They were the Soul Controlling Insects which Zi Mo had secretly released towards Wu Cheng Yi.
“Little bitch!” Wu Cheng Yi cursed, though he had been wary of this Tian Lang Dynasty slut up until now, he had not thought that she would have this kind of hidden hand. If he had not been wary enough and one of the those strange insects had made it into his body, he would definitely have suffered.
“You’ve brought this fate onto yourself, when I catch you I’ll start by slicing off your hands and feet, while keeping your alive so you I can listen to you scream and beg for death!” Wu Cheng Yi’s face filled with murderous intent, and he swung the sword in his hand as it released a glowing Sword Qi, which flew out like lightning towards Zi Mo.
“Bastard!”
Zi Mo cursed under her breath. Encountering this cold blooded Wu Cheng Yi had made her became quite helpless.
Making every attempt to dodge the incoming Sword Qi, Zi Mo flicked her hand in Wu Cheng Yi’s direction and sent a few strangely shaped flying blades towards him.
Wu Cheng Yi’s sword flickered, which caused small sparks to appear all around him as he accurately deflected all of her flying blades.
Zi Mo’s expression was bitter as she bit her lip. Though she managed to avoid having her vitals hit, she could not completely dodge the Sword Qi and wound up having her shoulder pierced.
Letting out a cry of pain, her shoulder soon spurt a touch of red.
Even though she had fallen into an absolute disadvantage, Zi Mo did not just sit back and wait to die. While she made efforts to distract Wu Cheng Yi, she quickly released all her remaining Soul Controlling Insects into the ground, with the hope that she would get lucky enough to have one of them make it into Wu Cheng Yi’s body, after which she could teach him an unforgettable lesson.
But after nearly suffering such a huge loss, how could Wu Cheng Yi possibly let his guard down?
Sending out waves of Sword Qi all around himself, he instantly crushed everything within a radius of a few tens of meters and killed all of Zi Mo’s Soul Controlling Insect in the process.
If one of these Soul Controlling Insects managed to make it into a human’s body, it was really powerful, and in the absence of heat it was completely fearless, but outside of a host, they were just simple insects. The Sword Qi Wu Cheng Yi had casually released was more than enough to destroy them.
Zi Mo was at her wits end. After her plot to use her Soul Controlling Insects had failed, she really had no other way to deal with Wu Cheng Yi. Just as she was about to despair, her eyes suddenly flashed a trace of surprise as she quickly looked behind Wu Cheng Yi. Her tired yet beautiful face instantly filled with a touch of joy and excitement.
This not so subtle change did not go unnoticed by Wu Cheng Yi.
With a faint unease welling up inside him, Wu Cheng Yi’s face suddenly became ruthless, so not ready to waste any more time, he swung his sword decisively to end things once and for all.
However, before his sword could fall, an ominous wind rapidly approached him from behind, which caused Wu Cheng Yi to deftly pivot and unleash a wide range slash to intercept the oncoming attack.
Sword Qi flashed, a fiery fist appeared, and the attacks from both sides collided and repelled one another with a loud explosion.
The new silhouette fell to the ground.
Wu Cheng Yi was also knocked back a dozen meters, but no trace of panic appeared on his face as he leisurely turned to look towards this newcomer, and upon seeing the other side’s face, he could not help sneering arrogantly, “So it’s you!”
“Hey hey, surprised to see me?” Yang Kai said sarcastically as he stared towards Wu Cheng Yi with great interest.
Earlier, when they were still inside the isolate world, Yang Kai had been trying to find Wu Cheng Yi in order to settle their grudge, but had instead ran into Chi Xue and ended up chasing him into the white mist and accidentally lost his opportunity.
But by some twist of fate he had managed to encounter him here. This was really a case of wearing out iron shoes to while searching only to find it inside ones house!
Calming the surprise in his heart, Yang Kai glanced over towards Zi Mo and showed a frivolous smile before teasing, “My Fair Beauty, you seem to be in a bad situation here!”
To which Zi Mo glared back at him and angrily replied “Hmph, if you had come just a bit later you’d have never seen me again!”
Meeting Yang Kai again after a few months, Zi Mo also didn’t quite know what to think. She had thought that in this life she would never face him again, and that she no longer had to worry about some other person torturing her Soul.
But now, it seems the Heavens had other plans and caused them to once again reunite. However, at this moment, Zi Mo was not concerned over her Soul being tormented, but was instead somewhat happy because, in any case, her life was now safe, andas for other things, they could be dealt with later.
Yang Kai tilted his head slightly as he examined her up and down and curiously inquired, “Aren’t you an elite disciples from the Sen Luo Temple, how did you end up so embarrassed like this?”
“You know shit!” Zi Mo viciously cursed, “Be careful of this guy, he is very strong, his True Qi is also much more potent and pure than my own.”
“He wouldn’t be Wu Cheng Yi if he wasn’t strong!” Yang Kai sneered.
As for how his True Qi was more rich and pure than Zi Mo’s, it was fairly easy to explain. Wu Cheng Yi had obtained a few drops of Brilliant Flame Liquid, a Yuan Qi quenching Precious Treasure. If his True Qi was not pure, it would be strange.
“I really did not expect you to be able to survive; your luck something to sneer at!” Wu Cheng Yi looked contemptuously at Yang Kai, the same way he had when they first met, his gaze was filled with cold disdain.
“Indeed, at least I am luckier than your Junior Brother who died so long ago.” Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly became cold as he stared daggers at Wu Cheng Yi.
“Hmph, since you know that I want your life, you should not have taken to initiative to appear in front of me! A person can’t always rely on luck to survive.” Wu Cheng Yi’s expression remained indifferent. The talk of Qi Jian Xing’s death did not bother him in the slightest.
“If you two boys are going to fight then why bother with all this nonsense!” Having just suffered so much at Wu Cheng Yi’s hands, Zi Mo hated him greatly, and now that Yang Kai had appeared, she suddenly became emboldened and was anxious for two of them to start battling to the death.
She was well aware of just how strong Yang Kai was. If they fought together, the two of them would definitely be able to suppress Wu Cheng Yi.
“She has a point!” Yang Kai nodded.
“I agree!” Wu Cheng Yi coldly snorted as he slowly raised his sword.
“I’ll attack from the front, Yang Kai you support me!” Zi Mo cried out.
“No, you support me!” Yang Kai said decisively. Done talking, he immediately rushed towards Wu Cheng Yi and launched a flurry of strikes. His originally calm aura suddenly radiated violent fluctuations.
“You …” Zi Mo’s eyes went wide with surprise, stunned by the overbearing oppression she felt coming from Yang Kai.
[He’s already broken through the True Element Boundary? Four months ago he was only a Separation and Reunion Eighth Stage, and even that realm was something he had recently promoted to. After only four months he actually managed to cultivate to the True Element Boundary? This kind of cultivation speed… isn’t it more than a little unreasonable?”]
But then thinking back, Zi Mo suddenly relaxed. She knew that this young man was nothing short of a monster. Him being able to break through this watershed shouldn’t be that surprising to her.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai and Wu Cheng Yi clashed countless times. Wu Cheng Yi’s sword images raged about while Yang Kai fists flew like lightning strikes. Their images flickered back and forth as one body covered in Sword Qi and one exuding Yang Qi fought to destroy one another.
As the World Energy swirled about, Zi Mo couldn’t help but squint. She was determined to help, but there was simply no way for her to intervene!
The two people before her were going all out without holding anything back. Their raging murderous auras clashed and blended together. Even if Zi Mo could find an opening to exploit, any aggressive action she took was bound to cause these two to instinctually launch simultaneous counterattacks.
How could she even think of interfering?
Yang Kai asking her to assist him was probably just him giving her some superficial face. Zi Mo’s only real option was to sit on the sidelines and watch as she didn’t even have the qualifications to intervene.
“Smelly man!” Zi Mo smiled wryly and then decisively floated away, deliberately opening up a thousand meter distance between her and the fight so as not get caught up in it.
Over the course of their exchange, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression underwent a dramatic change. His face showed shock and alarm. He had never dreamed that this little brat he had considered a total waste would have enough strength to fight on even terms with him. Flashing sword images struck violent fist pressures and blew each other apart. One side used ethereal sword technique, while the other exuded domineering might, and each one showed their own unique style. Yet, after many clashes neither could come out on top!
In less time than it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the two sides had already exchanged hundreds of blows, and their True Qi burst out in all directions. As the fight went on, Wu Cheng Yi’s mood became more and more solemn while Yang Kai’s grew increasingly violent, and his face filled with extreme excitement, like some kind of demon that had encountered a stripped naked stunning beauty.
*Peng…* With a loud bang, the two flew apart.
Wu Cheng Yi grunted as he flew back, and his mouth leaked a trace of blood.
Yang Kai had also been hit and suffered a bloody gash on his chest from Wu Cheng Yi’s sword.
Separating more than three hundred meters, the two stood steadily.
“Hahaha! Wonderful!” Although he had been injured and was bleeding, Yang Kai still let out a hearty laugh.
This was a real battle, a fight which made his blood boil, an epic struggle between two men trying to destroy one another. Although he hated Wu Cheng Yi and held a deep resentment towards him, Yang Kai was forced to admit that this young man was truly strong.
After all, this True Element Boundary Eighth Stage cultivator before him even had True Qi as pure and rich as his own!
“You are indeed strong!” Wu Cheng Yi stared deeply at Yang Kai, a touch of dismay in his eyes, seemingly reluctant to believe that this shitty little brat from a second-class Sect was able to compete with himself.
“Thank you!” Yang Kai grinned maliciously.
“I admit, before I had greatly underestimated you! It seems that my Junior Brother did not die because of some accident but instead died by your hand.” Wu Cheng Yi slowly spun his sword, and raise it once again.
“You sent him to kill me in secret; you should have considered that possibility.”
“So you admit it!” Wu Cheng Yi continued to spin his sword.
“Want to avenge him?” Yang Kai sneered.
“His death was his own fault, it means nothing to me! But since today you dare to fight with me, you will not leave here alive!” Wu Cheng Yi’s aura suddenly became violent as he coldly shouted, “The dignity of my Nine Star Sword Sect cannot be stained, the dignity of I, Wu Cheng Yi, cannot be trampled upon! Even the sons of the Eight Great Families are only allowed to look up at me, much less a no-name waste like you!”
“Sword Body!” Roaring, Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Qi suddenly burst out and formed into thousands of tiny sword blades, which endlessly circled around him.
This Martial Skill was exceptional at both offence and defence. Yang Kai had previously seen it when he had fought Qi Jian Xing, but when Wu Cheng Yi cast it, the aura it gave off was far stronger.
This dazzling Sword Body skill was an extremely lethal technique.
“Come accept your death, I’ll make sure it’s as painful as possible!” Wu Cheng Yi, like he had just taken some strange medicine, shouted excitedly. His sword was pointing straight at Yang Kai, and it emitted a cold domineering glow.
Having displayed his Sword Body, Wu Cheng Yi suddenly gave off a feeling of invincibility!
He stood there like an unsheathed sword, swirling flashes of light enveloped a radius of a dozen meters around him. His Sword Qi screeched as it tore through the air like it was trying to slice apart the world itself, and the ground around him was slowly ripped apart.
Yang Kai grinned fearlessly and also pushed his True Qi to its limit. A violent power gushed from his body as a strong feeling of oppression spread out around him.
His momentum continued to rise, like an explosion bursting forth, and rapidly rose towards some unknown peak.
Wu Cheng Yi displayed an aura of invincibility while Yang Kai’s aura displayed an all consuming madness. Even before they fought, they were already competing with their momentum, shaking the ground and whipping the winds around them. The two of them stood in the eye of this storm and stared down one another.
“Come!” Wu Cheng Yi roared. His face showed a ferocious expression that also held a trace of madness, as he slashed with his sword, sending out two razor sharp sword waves.
A cross shaped space in front of him seemed to be split apart as Wu Cheng Yi roared viciously. The cross shaped Sword Qi wave suddenly flew towards Yang Kai like an unstoppable meteor.
Yang Kai acted simultaneously and stomped down so hard the world around him trembled.
A terrifying force burst from the soles of his feet as the ground beneath him was split open. A series of cracks, like a giant spider web, spread out tens of meters with Yang Kai at its centre.
Like a bolt of lightning, he charged toward Wu Cheng Yi.
Instantly closing half the distance between them, Yang Kai sent out a devastating punch straight into the centre of the cross shaped Sword Qi.
In a flash, the cross shaped Sword Qi was crushed as Yang Kai continued forward unimpeded; his momentum was not diminished in the slightest.
Upon seeing this, Wu Cheng Yi’s pupils immediately shrank, and he was no longer willing or able to hold back the full extent of his sword techniques. He fiercely slashed out with his sword in rapid succession in an attempt to hack Yang Kai apart.
But Yang Kai agilely dodged most of these sword waves, while those he could not avoid, he directly broke with his fists.
Within three breaths of time, Yang Kai made his way in front of Wu Cheng Yi.
With his breath growing ragged from the overwhelming pressure bearing down on him, Wu Cheng Yi soon found himself completely suppressed. Unable to display the full extent of his strength, he swiftly made the decision to fall back!
“Where are you trying to run!?” Yang Kai grinned viciously and quickly chased after him. Wrapping his iron like fists in his True Qi, Yang Kai kept raining down punches onto his opponent’s body as Wu Cheng Yi responded with his ethereal swordsmanship to nimbly parry away all but a few of his blows.
Dazzling flashes of light appeared as sword skills clashed against heavy punches as waves of destruction spread outwards from their conflict towards the surroundings.
From the beginning, neither Yang Kai nor Wu Cheng Yi were moving slowly, but as time progressed the figures of the two became increasingly blurry and soon after completely blending together.
Loud bursts of noise constantly erupted wherever this blur appeared.
In just half a cup of tea worth of time, the pair had already exchanged an astronomical number of blows!
*Boom!*
With a loud explosion, the two entangled figures at last separated. Both of them flew back tens of meters before crashing to the ground, and each one of them opened up a huge pit upon impact.
*Xiu Xiu ..*.
Simultaneously jumping back up, both Yang Kai and Wu Cheng Yi who had just been knocked apart instantly raced forward and continued their battle.
A short distance away, Zi Mo continued to watch, not blinking an eye. Her beautiful face clearly showed an expression of shock.
She had never doubted whether Yang Kai would be able to preserve his life. She was simply marvelling at just how much his combat strength had grown.
“This smelly brat has already become this strong!” Zi Mo cursed under her breath. Her heart filled with complex emotions and a strange smile adorned her face.
When they had last separated, Yang Kai had been facing off against her Senior Brother Chi Xue and was clearly not his opponent. It was only after he finally managed to use his strange Martial Skill to gain control of the Sixth-Order Monstrous Beast that he was able to turn the tables.
However, upon meeting again, he could now fight on even terms with this Wu Cheng Yi.
If she were to compare their individual combat strength, Zi Mo believed that Wu Cheng Yi Chi was probably a bit stronger than Chi Xue.
The speed at which Yang Kai’s strength grew was something that caused deep feelings of admiration and jealousy within her.
Lost in thought for a moment, Zi Mo quickly noticed that Yang Kai and Wu Cheng Yi had already moved a few thousand meters away. Kicking off the ground, Zi Mo also hurried to keep up, as she extremely reluctant to miss a single moment of this intense battle.
Especially considering that these two were nearly the same age as her and were cultivators who were members of the same generation.
Finding some blood along the way, Zi Mo did not know whether it belonged to Yang Kai or Wu Cheng Yi. In any case, the two of them were both going all out, and it was clear that this battle would only end when one of them fell.
When Zi Mo finally caught up with them again, she saw the two standing some thirty meters apart glaring at each other.
Wu Cheng Yi’s face was livid. His original calm arrogance had long since been replaced by endless rage as his eyes trembled lightly, and he stared at Yang Kai in disbelief.
His face was slightly pale as a line of blood leaked from the side of his mouth. Apparently, he had received some minor injuries.
On the other side, Yang Kai’s body also had a number of sword wounds. His clothes were stained here and there with blood. Especially tragic were his two fists, which were full of small sword scars!
Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Body provided both offence and defence. If Yang Kai wanted to hurt him, he had to first hurt himself.
But regardless, he was still laughing like some kind of blood crazed demon.
Seeing him facing the sunset bathed in blood, black hair blowing in the wind, with his handsome face showing a fearless gin, Zi Mo couldn’t help blushing a deep shade of red.
“I started cultivating from the age of eight …” Wu Cheng Yi suddenly spoke. His voice was slightly hoarse and unsteady, “It has been fourteen years since then and from small to large, among my peers I have always been invincible. No one has been my opponent; no one has ever defeated me! Even those Heaven favoured sons from the Eight Great Families could not stand against me. With my sword in hand, none dare challenge me.”
Taking a deep breath, Wu Cheng Yi’s face suddenly became serious, “You are very powerful! To think a True Element Boundary First Stage cultivator could actually fight on par with me, I, Wu Cheng Yi today have been awakened, it is not that this world did not have other geniuses, it was simply that I was too ignorant!”
“Realizing the truth before you die, you should take comfort in that.” Yang Kai grinned.
Wu Cheng Yi only shook his head before coldly stating, “You really think you can defeat me? I’ve still not shown you my full strength!”
“Neither have I!” Yang Kai’s eyes stared coldly, and he immediately shot back. An inexplicable smile surfaced on his face.
Hearing this, Wu Cheng Yi’s eyes narrowed once more.
“Good! Then show me, let us see if it you who dies, or if it is I!” Wu Cheng Yi yelled, completely unhinged.
From small to large, Wu Cheng Yi had only ever been looked up to by his peers, only ever received praise from his elders. He was the Nine Star Sword Sect’s most treasured disciple. The one they had placed all their hopes upon. They had asserted that if Wu Cheng Yi could really grow up, the Nine Star Sword Sect would finally have the qualifications to enter the ranks of the worlds Ruling Sects.
Such a proud person had today suffered injuries from an opponent many realms lower than him, so how could Wu Cheng Yi accept such a fact?
It was Yang Kai who had first come here aiming at his life.
But now, even if Yang Kai wanted to stop, Wu Cheng Yi would never agree.
Between the two of them, a decisive outcome was the only option. One of would live, and the other must die! If Wu Cheng Yi did not fall, then Yang Kai would! Only the one who survived would be the real genius!
There could be no first or second place! In Wu Cheng Yi’s mind, only he was qualified to be the ultimate leader of the younger generation! Anyone who tried to encroach on his position would be his life and death enemy.
Finished his speech, Wu Cheng Yi’s crazed expression calmed down as an oppressive sword aura suddenly spread around him.
Zi Mo’s pretty face suddenly went stiff, and she hastily retreated. Only after moving back several hundreds of meters did she finally come to a halt.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s expression also took on a new seriousness.
“I only have one move left, if you can resist it then it is your win, but if you cannot… then you will die!” Wu Cheng Yi roared, his True Qi suddenly condensed into sharp blades and leaked out from all over his body, and even the Sword Qi which composed his Sword Body also suddenly collapsed.
He had given up on any form of defense and transformed all of his True Qi into a single attack.
In an instant, Wu Cheng Yi was surrounded by hundreds of Sword Qi blades.
All of these Sword Qi blades were composed of his True Qi. Each one on their own possessed a great hidden lethality and destructive power. With hundreds of such blades, regardless of who it was, their only option would be to desperately avoid them.
But Wu Cheng Yi was not finished; waving his sword once again, another hundred Sword Qi blades appeared…
Then another hundred appeared more…
Soon, the entire sky was covered with Sword Qi floating around Wu Cheng Yi, like the entire world had been transformed into swords.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and no longer dared to hold back. Reaching out, the Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure, the Asura Sword appeared in the hands.
The True Qi in his meridians retreated into his dantian and was instantly replaced by the energy from the Unyielding Golden Skeleton.
A Black gas filled with a thick murderous aura, that caused anyone who saw it to tremble involuntarily, gushed out from Yang Kai’s body.
The energy inside the Unyielding Golden Skeleton was a kind of evil energy. The exact opposite of Yang Kai’s usual True Yang Yuan Qi.
This energy was filled with an atmosphere of murder and destruction. It was very similar to the aura contained with the Asura Sword. Yang Kai had only intended to use these similar energies to maximize the power of his artifact, but to his surprise, when he held the Asura Sword and began drawing energy from his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, the Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure actually began madly devouring all the energy his Unyielding Golden Skeleton poured into it.
In an instant, the Asura Sword began radiating a mixture of red and black light!
This light was like a black hole as it burst forth, and it seemed to swallow up all the surrounding light and quickly drained the whole world of all its colour.
In the distance, Zi Mo actually felt like she had fallen into a dark abyss.
Even the radiance emitting from Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Qi also suddenly became faint.
*Zheng…*
The Asura Sword suddenly let out a piercing cry and sent ripples of sound and energy towards Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Qi, which caused those countless ethereal blades to resonate in response.
Trembling violently, these Sword Qi blades seemed like they were desperately trying to free themselves of Wu Cheng Yi’s control.
Wu Cheng Yi complexion changed, and he hastily stabilized his mind, as he tried to maintain control of his Sword Qi blades and not let the Asura Sword disrupt them.
Yang Kai on the other hand was equally stunned by all of this, but soon his eyes began flashing an excited light, as he continued to pour energy into Asura Sword. At this moment, he had gained an insight into this Heaven Grade Artifact and formed a vague connection between himself and the sword.
Now, the Asura Sword no longer felt like a weapon but more like a part of the body, an extension of his own flesh and blood.
The two opposing geniuses struggled to accumulate power for this final clash. Separated by dozens of meters, each of them stared towards the other; their faces filled with merciless determination.
On his side, Wu Cheng Yi summoned more than two thousand Sword Qi blades before finally stopping.
When the last few Sword Qi blades emerged from his body, all the blood from this Nine Star Sword Sect’s Heaven favoured son drained, and his face instantly became pale, as his aura drained rapidly. It was like in that moment he had become an ordinary person, one that lacked strength to even kill a chicken.
“This is my Nine Star Sword Sect’s Ultimate Martial Skill, Strike of Ten Thousand Swords!” Wu Cheng Yi coldly shouted. His face suddenly showed a touch of regret, “Unfortunately, with my current strength, I am only able to summon a little over two thousand Sword Qi blades! This attack contains every last drop of my remaining True Qi!”
As if responding to his words, Yang Kai tightly gripped his blood red sword and wore a fearless smile, “I do not know what this Martial Skill’s name, but I am certain its strength is not weak, prepare yourself!”
Watching all this from the side, Zi Mo couldn’t help spitting disdainfully.
These two were clearly anxious to slaughter each other as soon as possible, crush their enemy’s bones to dust and rip his corpse into ten thousand pieces. They had just been engaged in a life or death struggle, fighting all out, mercilessly trying to kill one another, but in the final moments of their battle, both of them had actually taken a moment to praise the other and remind each other to be careful.
[Men… they really are strange creatures.]
As a woman, a scheming manipulative one at that, Zi Mo understood that men were often even more arrogant than women. There were times that even in the face of death, they would refuse to discard their own pride!
It was Wu Cheng Yi’s pride that made him confident that his attack would crush Yang Kai, so he was not worried that what he said and explained to him would have any impact on the battle’s outcome.
Yang Kai’s pride was what stopped him from taking advantage of Wu Cheng Yi while he was preparing his attack, instead choosing to face him head on.
This was the way men fought!
As a woman… it just did not make sense.
Amidst his more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, Wu Cheng Yi suddenly moved.
At that moment, his appearance became very different; his image suddenly became dignified and solemn; it was not just a simple Sword Martial Skill, but an attack that he seemed to have practiced his entire existence for.
Assuming a stance with his sword, its tip began radiating light.
At the same time, the surrounding Sword Qi blades began trembling, emitting a humming sound as their sword aura seemed to pierce the Heavens.
All of a sudden, from the more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, half instantly disappeared, condensing down into only a thousand, and soon after, the number of blades halved again, leaving only five hundred … …
Three hundred Sword Qi blades… two hundred… one hundred… ninety…
As the Sword Qi blades stabilized, a faint sigh leaked from Wu Cheng Yi’s mouth, one that seemed full of regret and helplessness.
However, fter releasing this sigh, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression brightened, his face displaying a look of overwhelming confidence.
As his sword flickered, the ninety remaining Sword Qi blades shot towards Yang Kai!
Strike of Ten Thousand Swords!
Nine Star Sword Sect’s Ultimate Martial Skill. It had only ever been taught to those who made outstanding contributions to the Sect, and with Wu Cheng Yi being the only member of the younger generation who had learned it, it was quite clear how highly the elders of the Sect valued him.
This sword skill, if practiced to the Grand Accomplishment Stage, could create ten thousand Sword Qi blades and condense them into a single one. The resulting blade would have the strength to cut through the world, destroying mountains and rivers with a single slash. Unfortunately, with Wu Cheng Yi’s current strength, even though he had exhausted all of his True Qi, he was only able to condensed slightly more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, and ultimately could only condense that number down to ninety.
But despite only being able to display it to such an extent, this sword skill was still extremely powerful.
Zi Mo shivered. Even though she was more than two thousand meters away, she could still clearly feel the radiant sword aura piercing her to her core. The air around her felt like it had been transformed into a razor edge, cutting into her skin; it was like a million tiny mosquito were all biting her at once, causing her to wince in pain.
This sword skill… it was far beyond what she was capable of understanding.
If Wu Cheng Yi had used this Sword Skill to deal with her, Zi Mo was certain she would have been powerless to resist.
Shifting her gaze towards Yang Kai, she wondered if he had the strength to counter.
However, what she saw was Yang Kai’s figure completely obscured by black gas, almost all of his original features impossible to make out. The only thing that remained clear was his pair of scarlet eyes, which exuded a piercing light; these eyes were filled with madness while still remaining eerily calm.
This contradictory combination brought about a strange feeling of incongruity.
In the face of the ninety attacking Sword Qi blades, Yang Kai did not attempt to dodge, instead clenching his hand around the Asura Sword, exerting all of his strength into a single forward slash, causing all the Demonic Qi the Asura Sword had just swallowed to burst forth.
A wave of heart stopping explosions erupted with Yang Kai as the center. The Earth around him seemed to rend and tear, sending sand and stone flying about.
However, from the Asura Sword itself, no Sword Qi, no Sword Wave, nothing at all seemed to appear.
The profoundness of this sword strike had also exceeded the limits of Zi Mo’s imagination.
After unleashing this sword slash, Yang Kai straightened himself up. His mouth still showing a strange smile, he raised the red sword in his hand onto his shoulder.
His casual smile fully displayed his unbridled confidence.
Wu Cheng Yi’s pupils rapidly contracted. Although he had not seen any attack, his heart still filled with a strong throbbing, like he had just heard the call of death.
In the blink of an eye, the ninety Sword Qi blades released by Wu Cheng Yi had flown up to Yang Kai, but suddenly, a bowl sized dark void appeared mid-air.
This scene was incredibly strange; it was as if someone had accidentally spilled a drop of ink onto a picture of the sky.
The instant this dark void appeared it suddenly began to madly spread around, like it was trying to consume everything around it. With the strange black light covering everything in front of her, Zi Mo suddenly founder herself in the dark, unable to see anything around her.
Inside this endless darkness, she suddenly heard the sound of something bursting, like someone had just been struck by a blade of Sword Qi.
Zi Mo heart trembled, because the location she had heard the sound originate from was where Yang Kai had been standing, but before she could react, another burst of noise rang out from Wu Cheng Yi’s side.
After the sounds rang out, the Heavens and Earth once again became calm.
A long moment later, Zi Mo suddenly saw traces of light, everything in front of her gradually reappearing.
Looking ahead, the world was bright once more, the sun setting in the distance, dying everything from the horizon to earth beneath her a blood red shade of crimson.
From within her chest came a violent heartbeat, Zi Mo quickly looked around for Yang Kai, seeing him still standing in the same place, all the clothes on his upper body torn to shreds, revealing his indomitable figure.
It was not a particularly muscular image, but instead one that seemed full of explosive potential; she also saw more than a few bright red scars, which after a breath of time began gushing with blood.
These were wounds he had just received from the Sword Qi blades.
[Did he lose?] Zi Mo involuntarily covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes staring in disbelief. [How could such a strong, Heaven-defying man like him suddenly lose, just like that?]
Looking towards Wu Cheng Yi, Zi Mo saw him also standing exactly in the same position as before, as if everything that had just transpired never even happened, his body standing straight like a javelin, eyes filled with a free and uninhibited look.
His sword still held straight in front of him, his clothes gently swaying in the light blowing breeze.
A red spot on his chest slowly appeared, gradually expanding.
His lips trembled a few times, like he was desperately trying to say something, but ultimately he remained silent, his expression gradually becoming stiff.
The uninhibited and dauntless light in his eyes slowly faded, eventually become hollow and empty.
[He died!]
Zi Mo screamed to herself, suddenly feeling extremely complicated.
In the end, did they both perish?
*Cough cough…” Suddenly, from Yang Kai’s direction, a light cough rang out, causing Zi Mo to jump up in surprise; turning her gaze towards him, she saw Yang Kai supporting himself with the Asura Sword, his body trembling as he slowly collapsed.
“My Fair Beauty…” Yang Kai turned to look at her, his mouth still showing a light smile, “Can you come help me?”
[This smelly brat really didn’t die!] Zi Mo heart skipped a beat; her eyes darted about as she hesitated about what to do, eventually beginning to walk over towards him.
Crossing the thousand or so meters between them only took Zi Mo about twenty breaths or so.
As she directed a look towards Yang Kai filled with complex emotions, Zi Mo’s heart pounded.
If she were to strike now and kill him here…
The days of her needing to worry about the brand placed on her Soul would truly be over.
But once, when they were inside that isolated world, this young man had stood up in front of her and faced down that despicable Bi Xiu Ming and his Junior Brother. He had also risked his life to save her’s during the time they had been besieged by Monster Beasts. The memory of these events made Zi Mo hesitate to attack, not to mention this time, if not for his swift arrival, she would never have been able to escape Wu Cheng Yi’s grasp.
If she counted all of these instances up, this young man before her had already saved her life three times.
[Ai… what a headache…]
“Grab that thing on the ground for me!” Yang Kai said between his gasps for breath.
Yang Kai’s words suddenly interrupted Zi Mo’s thoughts. Looking down, she saw a small bag lying on the ground nearby and bent over to pick it up. Handing it to Yang Kai, she asked curiously, “What is this?”
“Nothing, just a little artifact.” Yang Kai chuckled, placing the Universe Bag into one of his pants pockets, beckoning Zi Mo over, placing his arm onto her delicate shoulder, and then resting more than half of his weight onto her.
“Bring me over to Wu Cheng Yi!” Yang Kai ordered.
Zi Mo angrily glanced at him, but still obediently brought him towards Wu Cheng Yi.
Arriving at Wu Cheng Yi’s side, Yang Kai reached out and began searching his clothes, a moment later finding and pulling out a small bottle that was half filled with liquid.
“Ha ha ha!” Yang Kai burst into laughter, his previous guess really not wrong. Wu Cheng Yi also possessed a bottle of Brilliant Flame Liquid, and it even contained more than the one he had acquired before.
“What is that?” Zi Mo asked as she watched somewhat helplessly, although she knew that this bottle certainly contained something good, she also knew that it was not likely she would be able to obtain any of it.
“I’ll tell you later!” Yang Kai said as he grinned happily. “First take me some place secluded, I need to heal!”
…
In the depths of the wilderness, in a cave dug into the side of a slope, the bare chested Yang Kai sat cross-legged barely on the ground.
During his battle with Wu Cheng Yi, the injuries he had sustained were actually not that heavy, neither the physical trauma nor the lingering Sword Qi were significant impediments to him.
What caused Yang Kai to enter retreat was instead the Sword Dao!
Wu Cheng Yi’s Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One Sword Skill had penetrated into Yang Kai’s body!
When he was holding the Asura Sword at that time, Yang Kai had suddenly understood the will of this sword.
After acquiring the Asura Sect’s artifact, Yang Kai had only used it once, the time when he had confronted Bai Yun Feng in the High Heaven Pavilion.
At that time, he had just finished refining the Asura Sword and was still not too familiar with it, so his awareness of it was only at the level of him knowing it was a heavenly slaughtering weapon.
But over the past year, the Asura Sword had been tempered by his Yuan Qi while residing within his dantian, slowly blending with him.
Until now, the two had finally become one.
This time, when Yang Kai used the Asura Sword, he discovered that it was not just a slaughtering artifact; it had also possessed a unique ability.
It could absorb and steal an enemy’s Sword Skills, allowing him to use them for himself!
However this effect only applied to Sword Skills!
During his last clash with Wu Cheng Yi, the Asura Sword used a lot of Demonic Qi from within Yang Kai’s Golden Skeleton in order to form a void which engulfed all the lethality from Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Skill, leaving behind only the Sword Dao.
So Yang Kai did not dodge, instead allowing his body to bear the full brunt of this Sword Dao.
But even if it was just Sword Dao, it still ended up piercing through Yang Kai’s body, so from an outside perspective he appeared to be heavily quite injured.
Sword Dao, it was like the spiritual embodiment of the sword, similar to a cultivator’s Divine Sense. Without a sword or Sword Qi behind it, Sword Dao alone was only an ethereal concept, unable to fully display a Sword Skill’s power.
At that moment, Yang Kai was absorbed in the feeling of Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Dao, trying to glean the mysteries of the Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One Sword Skill from it.
Once he succeeded, Yang Kai would be able to assimilate and use this Sword Skill. In addition to that, this Sword Skill’s rank was by no means low.
The Nine Star Sword Sect’s Ultimate Sword Skill, it was definitely a Mysterious Grade Sword Skill.
With the Asura Sword’s strange ability, it was no wonder it had become Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure; however, using the Asura Sword to steal a Sword Skill was also extremely dangerous. If any mistake was made during the process, rather than seizing the enemy’s ability, one would likely be struck by it instead.
Yang Kai did not act anxiously, slowly absorbing the insights he obtained into his mind, continuously reviewing all of Wu Cheng Yi’s actions and True Qi fluctuations when he cast his Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One. While he was in this state, the Asura Sword also seemed to release a joyous hum, the two of them, man and sword, forming a kind of resonance.
Meanwhile, Zi Mo stood at the entrance to the cave, bored, looking over towards Yang Kai every now and then with complex eyes.
Fiddling with her hair as she bit her lips, constantly considering whether to attack Yang Kai and kill this hateful smelly brat. Nevertheless, as she continued thinking about it, her determination would waver back and forth, causing her heart to feel like it was being tangled in knots.
After spending a long time in conflict, Zi Mo could only faintly sigh and turn away.
Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes, staring in the direction she disappeared as a light smile surfaced on his face.
“Young Master, just now that little girl directed some killing intent towards you, but for some reason she hesitated and finally gave up!” Old Demon took the initiative to remind him as he had constantly been vigilant of Zi Mo’s movements and had clearly been aware of her hidden thoughts.
“I know. She has made a wise choice.” Yang Kai nodded slightly and then re-closed his eyes.
Half a day later, Zi Mo returned with a lot of dry wood as well as some freshly hunted game.
Lighting a fire and roasting her catch, Zi Mo sat quietly next to the bonfire and warmed herself while she waited for Yang Kai to wake up.
Three days later.
Just as Zi Mo was cursing Yang Kai under her breath, a faint Sword Dao suddenly began floating around him, causing Zi Mo’s pretty face to instantly pale; jumping to her feet as she raised her vigilance, she quickly looked in the direction the Sword Dao was originating from.
In the next instant, her face showed an expression of shock.
The Sword Dao she had felt was actually coming from the place where Yang Kai was healing himself.
This Sword Dao was very familiar to Zi Mo, it gave off exactly the same impression as the one Wu Cheng Yi emitted when he had activated his ultimate sword skill, but now it was actually being reproduced from Yang Kai’s body.
Zi Mo gazed towards Yang Kai’s direction suspiciously, her brow thoroughly creased.
Gradually, the Sword Dao became stronger and stronger, the speed at which it was growing fast enough to be clearly felt, and after just a cup of tea worth of time, it was already powerful enough to make Zi Mo’s beautiful face pale slightly.
It was like the dead Wu Cheng Yi had suddenly resurrected and once again cast his earth-shattering sword skill!
*Boom …*
The cave in which Yang Kai had been meditating suddenly burst open; dust flew about as a silhouette emitting a tinge of red light leapt out from inside the explosion.
Zi Mo cried out in shock as she hurriedly retreated, landing a short distance away, she looked over and saw Yang Kai standing there motionless, his eyes still closed while in his hands was a blood-red sword type artifact.
His True Qi fluctuated rapidly as he radiated an aura of invincibility. The sword in his hands seemingly like an extension of his body.
*Zheng…*
The crimson sword suddenly gave off a piercing cry, and as the sound rang out, Yang Kai’s True Qi aura seemed to further intensify as a hundred Sword Qi blades began appearing around him.
Then another hundred blades appeared…
A moment later, Yang Kai’s surroundings had become a world of swords.
It was exactly the same scene as a few days ago, one that shocked anyone who saw it to their core.
Zi Mo gasped as she covered her mouth involuntarily, astonished beyond belief.
[On that day, Wu Cheng Yi had said that this Sword Skill was the Nine Star Sword Sect’s ultimate martial skill. How is he suddenly able to cast it?]
On top of that, the number of Sword Qi blades he was able to condense was significantly more compared to when Wu Cheng Yi had cast this sword skill. Even though that day Wu Cheng Yi had used every last drop of True Qi he had, he was still only able to condense slightly more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, but right now, Yang Kai had summoned around three thousand blades.
These three thousand or so blades were Yang Kai’s current limit, and doing so had already caused him great pressure.
With a wave of his hand, these three thousand Sword Qi blades instantly gathered together and merged, leaving behind only a hundred blades.
These hundred sword blades, each containing a huge amount of devastating Sword Qi, suddenly flew forward.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
The region in front of Yang Kai was instantly riddled with explosions, causing the Heavens and Earth to shatter!
His eyes still closed, Yang Kai carefully sensed all of this, his expression incomparably serious.
Nine Star Sword Sect’s ultimate martial skill, a Mysterious Grade sword skill, was truly powerful!
This attack’s instantaneous burst of power was no weaker than Yang Kai’s Star Mark, but at the same time, the amount of True Qi required to display it was also extraordinary. It was no wonder Wu Cheng Yi looked completely exhausted after only casting it once.
However, this Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One had many advantages over Star Mark.
This Martial Skill was composed of two parts, the first part being the use of True Qi to create Sword Qi blades, which themselves could be used as a powerful attack, but then a second step was taken to merge and condense these Sword Qi blades into a more potent destructive force. If one cultivated this Martial Skill to the grand accomplishment stage, they would be able to form a single world destroying blade!
Wu Cheng Yi had obviously not reached this step, while Yang Kai was also quite far off from it.
However, being able to learn this profound sword skill, Yang Kai was also very satisfied. At least, when he later used the Asura Sword, he would no longer have to be resigned to blindly hacking away at his enemies. Instead, he could also bring out this powerful sword skill.
Throughout this process, the True Qi within his body had also undergone some kind of change, giving Yang Kai some kind of new sentiment. Rapidly flowing within his meridians, Yang Kai’s True Qi felt like it had become as sharp as a sword, emitting a faint whining sound. Immersing himself in this feeling, Yang Kai’s face became solemn as he stood motionless.
Half an hour later, an invisible bubble suddenly burst out around him, causing Yang Kai to shiver, his eyes instantly shooting open.
True Element Boundary Second Stage!
With the benefits he gained from comprehending this Mysterious Grade martial skill, Yang Kai had managed to further increase his cultivation by a minor realm.
Smiling brightly, Yang Kai quickly put away the Asura Sword.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Yang Kai turned around to find Zi Mo staring at him, her gaze filled with confusion and curiosity.
Stopping a few tens of meters away, although her pretty face still flashed a calm, seductive smile, in the depths of her eyes there was also an unmistakable trace of vigilance and dread; just now, right in front of her, Yang Kai had achieved a miraculous breakthrough.
But this breakthrough was too strange; up until it happened, he had not shown any of the usual signs. Regardless, witnessing the blistering pace he cultivated at once again filled Zi Mo with admiration and envy.
After a long silence, Zi Mo only said, “Since you’ve woken up, I’ll take my leave.”
She did not ask Yang Kai why he had suddenly comprehended Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Skill, as doing so would only bring her more harm than good. Zi Mo was a smart woman, naturally she understood how to open one eye and close the other.
“Where will you go?” Yang Kai tilted his head and asked with a smile.
Surprised for a moment, Zi Mo paused, smiled gently, and then said in a soft charming voice, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to return to the Tian Lang Dynasty.”
After speaking these words, she covered her mouth and spoke flirtatiously, “Why? Can’t I go home?”
“Of course you can’t leave.” Yang Kai grinned, saying in a manner that allowed no refusal, “After this you will follow me.”
Zi Mo was stunned, but somehow managed to keep up her smile, “How can I follow you? Don’t you know that I’m a Tian Lang Dynasty person; if I return with you to your Sect, everywhere I go, people will stare at me with unfriendly eyes. I’d rather not have to deal with that.”
“As long as you wear more conservative clothes you’ll look no different from an ordinary Great Han Dynasty woman. I insist. I could use a little maid to wait on me, things like pouring my tea and warming my bed.” Yang Kai said with a completely serious face.
The colour slightly draining from her face, Zi Mo forced herself to keep smiling, “Do you really mean that?”
“What do you think?”
Hearing something inside her snap, Zi Mo finally could not take it anymore, her smile gradually fading from her face as her eyes went cold and filled with endless hatred, grimacing as she cursed, “Are you also going to be so unreasonable? I kindly waited here for three days, took care of you in every way, but now that you’ve woken up, you still want to force me to be your maid? If I had known things would turn out like this I should have killed you while you were still recovering…”
Suddenly realizing that her real thoughts had leaked from her lips, Zi Mo quickly covered her mouth as she timidly observed Yang Kai reaction, letting out an awkward laugh, “I… I was just thinking about it, I wouldn’t really have tried to attack you… please don’t be upset…”
“Hahaha!” Yang Kai burst into laughter.
Hearing his wanton laughter, Zi Mo face became more and more dignified, biting her red lips as her eyebrows knit, she simply could not see through what was in Yang Kai’s heart.
“Well, I was just joking with you,” Yang Kai grinned mischievously. “Why are you taking things so seriously?”
“Joking with me?” Zi Mo’s pretty face became increasingly cold, grinding her teeth as she asked bitterly.
“En,” he replied, “I won’t take you back.”
“Do you have a woman waiting for you?” Zi Mo’s eyes suddenly flashed.
To her pointed question, Yang Kai only let out a silly laugh.
Seeing this, Zi Mo couldn’t help coldly snorting. Thinking back to when Yang Kai had acted so presumptuously towards her back inside the isolated world, a sudden bitterness rose up in her heart. Her courage suddenly being stimulated by these unpleasant memories, she gracefully stepped forward, tilted her head to the side slightly, walked up to Yang Kai and tightly pressed herself onto him, grabbing his arm and squeezing it between her proud peaks.
“I’ve changed my mind; I want to go back with you.” Zi Mo turned her eyes up and glared at Yang Kai defiantly. “I’d like to see what kind of woman can make you, this shameless man, so obedient.”
Looking down towards her, Yang Kai grinned with interest.
“You don’t dare?” Zi Mo smiled disdainfully.
“Girl, you should be careful when playing with fire!” Yang Kai said as an evil smile appeared on his face.
Zi Mo’s beautiful face twitched. Suddenly remembering everything she had experienced in that isolated world, she hurriedly separated herself from Yang Kai, like she was trying to avoid a poisonous snake or scorpion, grinding her teeth as her breathing became slightly ragged.
[I really don’t have the ability to compete with him. With this damn brand on my Soul, if I really provoke this big shameless wolf, then right here in this wilderness…]
“Hmph, I’m leaving. I pray that in this life I will never see you again. I pray that your woman dumps you so that you’ll be lonely for the rest of your life!” Zi Mo viciously spat.
“Wait!” Yang Kai said with a frown.
“You still want something?” Zi Mo’s heart jumped, she was extremely unwilling to stay with Yang Kai a moment longer.
But as she was watching him warily, Zi Mo saw Yang Kai take out a few bottles from his pants pocket, then from two of the bottles pour a drop from each into two new bottles before throwing them to her.
Catching these bottles, Zi Mo suspiciously asked, “What are these?”
“A drop of Brilliant Flame Liquid and a drop of Soul Cleansing Dew!”
Zi Mo was startled, glancing towards Yang Kai as a look of shock spread across her face.
Somewhat unable to believe the words he had just said, she quickly opened up the bottles and took a sniff.
“You’re giving these to me?” Determining that these two bottles really did contain drops of Brilliant Flame Liquid and Soul Cleansing Dew, Zi Mo held these Precious Treasures close to her chest, her hands grasping them very tightly.
Yang Kai simply nodded, “Compensation for all the times I bullied you.”
Zi Mo’s pretty face suddenly blushed slightly as she stared at Yang Kai, after a long time only managing to softly say, “You… it seems that I was mistaken… You’re not such a bad man after all…”
“What? Have you been charmed by me? It’s not too late to change your mind you know.” Yang Kai grinned.
“No!” Zi Mo shouted, her face suddenly becoming very serious, “Rest assured, I will only use these in secret and will not expose you. In the future, if you ever visit the Tian Lang Dynasty, make sure to come to the Sen Luo Temple to find me, I will be sure to entertain you well… heh heh heh…”
As she spoke this last sentence, Zi Mo gnashed her teeth in anger.
“Well then, you useless playboy, take care!” Zi Mo giggled, lightly turned her back to Yang Kai, activated her movement skill, and soon disappeared.
At last, she could finally escape Yang Kai’s control! Thinking so, Zi Mo felt like she had shed a great weight from her heart.
Although her Soul still bore his brand, with Yang Kai in the Great Han Dynasty, and her in Tian Lang Dynasty, what was there to fear? On top of that, once she returned to her Sect, she could simply ask her master to see if there was any way to lift this mark from her.
Staring towards the direction Zi Mo had disappeared, Yang Kai smiled for a while before he turned around and shot out like a meteor.
Quickly traveling to the place he had battled Wu Cheng Yi a few days prior, Yang Kai discovered that Wu Cheng Yi’s body had disappeared while nearby a newly excavated mound had appeared, it should be the results of Zi Mo dealing with things.
[This woman, she’s quite meticulous.]
A day later, Yang Kai arrived at a nearby town, spent some money to hire a carriage and informed the driver of his destination before entering a state of retreat inside the cabin in order to consolidate his new True Element Boundary Second Stage cultivation.
Medicine King’s Valley was a special Sect, with a heritage that stretched back thousands of years. It was a Sect full of Master Alchemists, and most of its disciples were also outstanding Alchemists.
Its combat strength was not strong, only slightly better than some second-class Sects, but far less than any first-class Sect.
However, its influence was far greater than any other force in existence.
As long as one was a cultivator, during their cultivation journey, they would always need to take some form of pill, and these pills could only come from the hands of an Alchemist.
For the Alchemist of this world, the Medicine King’s Valley held the status of being their holy land.
Any Alchemist, when it came to Medicine King’s Valley, would speak with great respect and admiration. Many who strove to be Alchemists would even set being able to study in Medicine King’s Valley, and gaze upon the Pill Saint’s legacy, as a lifetime goal.
The Pill Saint, the Medicine King’s Valley’s first patriarch, had long ago passed away, but the passage of time had not diminished his sacred position in the hearts of this world’s Alchemists. Rumor had it that the Alchemic Method had been created by the Pill Saint, who, using Medicine King’s Valley as a center, distributed it to every corner of the world, so that when cultivators became injured, they would be able to take pills in order to resume their practice.
Before the Pill Saint created the Alchemic Method, the world’s cultivators only knew how to find herbs and directly ingest them, which was simply a waste of resources!
Of course, this was just a legend, and any legend would always have points that were exaggerated, so one could not simply take it at face value.
But this legend did have some truth to it. The Pill Saint really had existed! His portrait hung in Medicine King’s Valley Forbidden Area. Even after thousands of years, it had never fallen, nor did it reveal any signs of weathering. This in itself was quite miraculous.
Although Medicine King’s Valley was called so, its foundation was not actually built in a valley.
Instead, it spanned a dozen mountain peaks, each one more than a thousand meters tall. These mountains were arranged in a circular pattern and covered a radius of hundreds of kilometres.
These few hundred kilometres all belonged to the Medicine King’s Valley.
Each of the peaks was home to many high-rank Alchemists, some of whom widely received disciples in order to pass down their inheritance. Others preferred to live in solitary penance and spent their time in the pursuit of greater alchemic knowledge. Their mountain residences contained several acres of herb gardens, which were planted with all kinds of spirit grasses.
Throughout the entire Medicine King’s Valley, there were countless alchemy materials.
In the centre of all the peaks lay a valley-like existence, which was quite different from the tranquil surrounding mountains. This valley was open all year round, and every day it was bustling and crowded. Cultivators came and went like an endless, stream-like carp swimming through a river.
The reason was simple: This valley was where a small town was built in order to allow the outside world to communicate with Medicine King’s Valley’s Alchemists.
If one wanted someone to concoct a pill for them, they would first gather enough materials, then come to this small town to find a disciple of Medicine King’s Valley. Medicine King’s Valley’s disciple didn’t accept gold or silver as payment, they would only accept one-third of the successfully refined pills.
It didn’t matter what rank of pill one came to Medicine King’s Valley to have refined, whether it was Common Grade or Heaven Grade, if the refining failed, there was nothing one could say, and in the cases where the pills were refined successfully, if ten pills were produced, three would be given to the Alchemist as his or her reward.
This method of compensation was nothing short of blatant robbery. Even a single Heaven Grade pill was extremely valuable. After one worked extremely hard to collect the required materials, not only would they have to bear the risk of failure, possibly ending up with nothing in the end, they would also have to surrender thirty percent of the profits.
But even so, this did not diminish the enthusiasm and determination of cultivators who came to seek Medicine King’s Valley’s Alchemy services.
The main reason for this was because here, the chance that an Alchemist would fail to refine a pill was quite low, and once the pill was successfully refined, the quality was also normally higher than if one had used an outside Alchemist.
So even if there were such harsh conditions, cultivators were still very willing to come here to request an Alchemist to refine pills for them. After all, it was still better than asking some outside Alchemist, and having them accidentally destroy all of one’s precious materials.
Medicine King’s Valley was so well known, it not only to attracted cultivators from the Great Han Dynasty, even masters from the surrounding countries would often come here to request the Medicine King’s Valley Elders to refine pills for them.
Medicine King’s Valley Elders did not often accept requests. Any time someone asked them to refine a pill, it would at least have to be Heaven Grade, or even Mysterious Grade, and the compensation to be given would also be greater than normal.
Medicine King’s Valley had ten Great Elders, each one occupying one of the ten highest peaks. Each of them was extremely skilled and possessed supreme achievements in alchemy.
Even most Medicine King’s Valley disciples would rarely see these old monsters, these Elder were all over sixty years old and were often in perennial retreat to research alchemy. Only if some particularly rare and expensive materials were offered as a reward would they come out and accept alchemy requests.
In the small valley town, there were shops everywhere, but most of these shops did not belong to Medicine King’s Valley, as over 90% of the world’s great Sects and Forces would set up a branch here.
Here, after all, was the center of this world’s Alchemist, so these forces would set up shops here in order to sell herbs, collect materials, inquire about foreign intelligence, so on and so forth.
However, Medicine King’s Valley itself remained neutral and never sided with any particular force, deliberately showing no favour to any Sect or country, for thousands of years maintaining an aloof and transcendent position.
In the valley town, fighting was strictly prohibited, and even though an endless stream of cultivators came here, inside this city no one dared disobey this rule.
Once anyone started fighting in the city, the people of Medicine King’s Valley wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. Others would be more than happy to slaughter both guilty parties.
But once they left this valley, no matter what kind of grudge it was, Medicine King’s Valley would not intervene.
So the inside thousand-kilometer radius and the outside were two different worlds.
In the mountains and the centre valley, it was lively and peaceful, but for a stretch of tens of kilometers outside the valley, one could see countless battles and deaths. These people had all had some kind of dispute inside the valley, but did not dare start a fight there and then, so instead came outside in order to settle their grudges.
On this day, a carriage from afar came to a stop about fifty kilometers away from Medicine King’s Valley.
The coachman caught his whip and shouted into the carriage, “Little brother, we’ve arrived at Medicine King’s Valley!”
“What?” Yang Kai immediately woke from his meditation, smiled happily, opened the curtain, and looked around but was suddenly stunned, “Where is this place?”
Surrounding him was an empty space; what Medicine King’s Valley? This was clearly the wilderness.
The coachman simply smiled at Yang Kai and said, “Little brother might not know, but the area outside Medicine King’s Valley is extremely dangerous, so we ordinary people dare not approach too close. Whenever there is a customer who wants to travel to Medicine King’s Valley, I can only bring them to this point. If I go any further, it would mean certain death.
Seeing Yang Kai frown, the driver noticed that he was unhappy, and so he carefully explained to him about Medicine King’s Valley’s situation.
After listening, Yang Kai gradually relaxed his brow, understanding that this coachman was really telling the truth and not deliberately ditching him here.
In the end, he stopped worrying about it. In any case, it was only several tens of kilometers further. Readily taking out a silver coin and tossing it to the coachman, Yang Kai activated his Movement Skill and calmly moved towards the distant mountains.
Although the driver had told him that the outside of Medical King’s Valley was very dangerous, it took seeing it for himself for Yang Kai to realize that it was actually far more serious than he had imagined.
As he approached the valley, after passing no more than thirty kilometers, he had already witness four or five battles. These people all had some kind of conflict inside the valley and had then come outside to resolve it.
Walking along the path, Yang Kai even saw a number of corpses still warm.
Seeing all this, Yang Kai was secretly speechless, but as an outsider he did not attempt to interfere in any way, and instead just quietly proceeded onwards.
All of a sudden, from somewhere behind him, a burst of angry shouting and fighting rang out, and the sound of fluttering clothes suddenly drew near.
Wrinkling his brow, Yang Kai turned back to see what was happening.
Just as he did so, he saw a girl wearing a long blue dress dash towards him. The girl was about sixteen years old and looked quite pretty, but at the moment her big round eyes were watery and full of panic, as she dashed forward as fast as she could.
Behind her there were six or seven figures in hot pursuit. Their faces were filled with murderous intent, and all of them had drawn their swords as they spat out various curses.
“Little bitch, stop right there!” An angry voice called out.
However, in response, the girl only ran faster.
“Quick, don’t let her enter the valley; once she’s inside, we’ll never be able to catch her!” Those who saw that the direction the girl was running lead to Medicine King’s Valley couldn’t help but exclaim.
Medicine King’s Valley strictly prohibited fighting. If this girl managed to escape inside, everything would be over!
In the blink of an eye, the girl rushed up to Yang Kai.
Seeing Yang Kai warily observing her, the girl grinned, revealing her pearl white teeth, then with all the strength she could muster, shouted, “Cousin, run away, what are you standing there stunned for?”
Yang Kai brow wrinkled as his expression became cold, but before he had time to react the girl had swiftly rushed past him, leaving behind only a faint fragrance.
“Shit, that little slut has a companion! Quickly, don’t let either of them escape! Kill the man, seize the woman!” One of the people chasing the girl shouted out in rage.
Like a pack of starving wolves, their pace quicken beyond belief.
“Fuck!” Yang Kai’s face filled with resentment as he viciously cursed. Not wasting any time trying to explain the situation to the people behind him, he instead turned and chased after the girl.
Whether it was the girl wearing a long, light blue dress, or the group of big men chasing behind her, their strength was not high. The strongest only had a True Element Third or Fourth Stage cultivation.
This level of strength wasn’t enough for Yang Kai to bat an eyelid. However, being drawn into such a troublesome matter through no fault of his own angered him greatly.
Pushing his Movement Skill, he rapidly shot forward, and in just a few breaths of time arrived beside the escaping girl’s figure.
The girl’s face showed a surprised expression as she glanced towards Yang Kai, only to see him grinning towards her with a grim evil smile.
“Cousin …” Yang Kai smirked as he cried out affectionately.
“Hehe…” The girl’s pretty face looked like she had bit into a bitter gourd. Her skin was instantly covered in goosebumps. She never imagined that this young looking Yang Kai’s speed would be so fast.
Before her awkward giggle ended, Yang Kai’s face became cold as he reached out his big hand to capture the girl.
The girl’s expression suddenly sank as she raised her slender palm to counter.
Yang Kai pushed his True Qi and met her palm head on.
The girl was knocked back and her speed reduced significantly. Before she could react, Yang Kai wrapped one hand around her waist while his other latched onto her wrist, immediately bringing the two of them to a halt.
“You… what are you doing, quickly run!” The girl shouted in panic as she saw the group of people chasing behind her rapidly approach.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, twisted his waist, and tossed her towards the group behind them as she let out a scream.”
“You…” The girl’s eyes flashed with shock, never imagining that Yang Kai would actually use such a trick.
Everything happened too fast. When she was thrown back, the girl didn’t even have time to react before falling flat on the ground.
When the group of people chasing behind her saw this scene, all of them became excited and rushed up to where their prey had fallen, instantly surrounding her.
“Little slut! Let’s see where you run now!” The group’s leader shouted in anger. His body exuded an Evil Qi.
The rest of his men were also smiling deviously, and several of them looked up and down the girl’s plump, feminine body. Their eyes flashed an unhidden obscene light.
Yang Kai saw everything, and upon seeing the look in these men’s eyes, his expression suddenly became cold.
[These guys… they’re definitely not a good bunch!]
The girl looked around resentfully as she bit her lip and shivered in fear while observing the burly men, desperately looking for a way to escape. Her strength wasn’t great, only Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary, and now that she was surrounded by these people, there was nowhere she could run.
With her big teary eyes she glared over towards Yang Kai and screamed, “You shameless bastard, I hope you die a horrible death, your soul destroyed, and suffer Heaven’s wrath…”
If it had not been for Yang Kai’s actions, she would have already escaped into Medicine King’s Valley and been safe. Thinking about this, the girl naturally felt wronged and angry.
Hearing this, Yang Kai lightly snorted then turned away!
Although he knew that this group of thugs were not a good sort, the girl’s actions had also made him furious, so he decided to give her a good scare.
Seeing him act so ruthlessly, the girl’s blood went cold.
A few of the thugs surrounding the girl also saw Yang Kai attempting to leave and signaled to each other with their eyes. Two of them quietly leapt out while thrusting their drawn swords towards Yang Kai’s backs.
These people felt that, regardless of whether the two kids were cousins or not, since he had already seen them here, there was no reason to let him live.
When the girl tried to call out to warn Yang Kai, a sword blade tip was pressed against her neck, which sent a shiver down her back and caused her to immediately swallow her words.
Both of the pouncing thugs were Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivators, almost the same state as the girl herself. Moving as fast as the wind, they soon came right up behind Yang Kai, and a cold light flashed as their swords slashed towards Yang Kai.
The girl couldn’t help but shriek as her pair of big round eyes squinted up causing her long eyelashes to tremble. At this moment she couldn’t help feeling regret.
She felt she really shouldn’t have dragged this unknown young man into her troubles. Just now, she had simply been too anxious about being chased. The thought had flashed across her mind and she had cried out, but she was only looking to ease the pressure she felt, not sentence him to death.
But as Yang Kai was walking forward, when the swords approached his back, his body suddenly drifted forward and magically avoided the two attacks, like he had eyes in the back of his head.
Turning around, Yang Kai lightly glanced at his two assailants as an evil grin slowly spread across his face, and an eerie laugh soon escaped from his lips.
This sudden change startled the two thugs, and a cold sweat emerged on their necks as they realized that the youth in front of them definitely was not weak. Roaring, they pushed their Yuan Qi and launched another attack towards Yang Kai.
Two fist shadows flew through the air, and before the two big thugs had time to react, they felt a strong force smash into their bodies and send them flying back.
As they flew, the pair coughed up blood before falling to the ground and died on impact.
“Jie Jie Jie Jie…” Old Demon cackled as he attacked, in that isolate world he could not play much of a role, so now that they had finally come out, naturally he wanted to show off his skills.
A black gas dashed out into the air and made its way into the two dead men before once more emerging.
When the group of thugs’ leader saw his two henchmen instantly killed, his expression also changed greatly. He tightly gripped the long sword he held against the girl’s neck and coldly shouted, “Kill him!”
The rest of the thugs couldn’t help gulping, but they still let out a vicious roar and ferociously charged towards Yang Kai.
“Jie Jie…” Old Demon struck again, which caused the group of thugs to cry out in surprise as this strange artifact darted to and fro. One of them engaged Old Demon’s Soul Breaker Awl, attempting to knock him down, while the rest of the group flew towards Yang Kai.
*Peng Peng Peng…*
Three muffled thuds rang out as the thugs who had just rushed Yang Kai involuntarily flew out, each of their chests were crushed and caved in.
Since the beginning of this year, Yang Kai had been fighting against numerous Elite Disciples from various Great Forces. These Elite Disciples each had the ability to fight and even kill ordinary cultivators who were two or three more Minor Realms above themselves.
However, these so called elites had all been thoroughly thrashed by Yang. Even the strongest of them all, Wu Cheng Yi, could not escape death at his hands.
After all that, how could these pieces of trash be Yang Kai’s opponents?
One person, one strike, none of them even had the opportunity to resist. Those who were weaker died instantly, while a few stronger ones simply collapsed on the ground after completely losing the ability to fight.
As the three bodies fell to the ground, Old Demon did not bother restraining himself, and immediately dashed over and consumed their Souls.
Old Demon’s previous opponent had not even had time to flee before he was caught by Yang Kai, a hand gripping his head before he felt a violent twist.
With a crisp cracking sound, the man’s neck was snapped and his body limply fell down.
Ignoring the body of this dead man, Yang Kai glared coldly at the burly man holding his sword against the girl’s neck and slowly stepped towards him. His True Qi rampaged outside his body, his clothes billowed even without any wind, and he looked just like a majestic Slaughtering God.
The girl’s mouth was now as round as a circle, utterly shocked as she gazed towards Yang Kai. She had never thought that this young man she had tried to drag into the muddy water with her would be so tyrannical!
He didn’t look much older than her, so how could he be so powerful?
As she watched, a deep sense of terror flickered across her big round eyes. Compared to this group of thugs who had been chasing her for these past few days, Yang Kai was far more frightening, like a blood-stained executioner.
He killed people as simply and easily as killing ants, and even his casual expression, from beginning to end, never changed in the slightest. His eyes didn’t even blink once.
Human lives were like dust to him, something he could casually brush aside.
With the girl being so frightened, how could the burly man restraining her not be?
Although he was a True Element Boundary Fourth Stage cultivator, at the moment his blood ran cold and his Soul had been petrified. He was very clear on his own henchmen’s strength. He could easily deal with any of them one on one, but it would be impossible for him to casually slaughter them all like this youth had just done.
“This friend, everything that happened here was just a misunderstanding!” This burly thug leader’s forehead dripped with cold sweat as he fearfully watched Yang Kai approach, letting out a stiff laugh, “There’s no previous grudges between us, so how about we end things here?”
Yang Kai simply remained indifferent, not saying a word.
“It’s true that I had eyes but did not see and was the first to wrong you, but you’ve already killed so many of us, is there really a need to be so ruthless?” The burly man pleaded again and again, never once moving his sword from the girl’s neck.
Seeing Yang Kai still unmoved, the burly leader knew that that negotiation was impossible so instead he resolved to be ruthless. His expression turned grim as he grit his teeth, “If you come any closer, I’ll run my sword through her neck!”
“Go ahead and kill her! You’ll follow right after!” Yang Kai’s pace didn’t slow in the slightest.
The burly leader was soaked in sweat. As the young man stepped closer, he felt like a giant mountain was slowly pressing down on him, stifling his breath. Pushing his True Qi nervously, the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly, which caused the girl to cry out involuntarily as she felt the cold blade slightly pierce into her neck and a warm wisp of liquid slowly drip from the wound.
“You think I won’t kill her?” The burly leader tried to threaten.
However, before he had finished speaking, Yang Kai eyes squinted and an invisible force burst forth from his mind straight into the burly leader’s Soul.
This was the power of his Divine Sense!
One’s Divine Sense was not only used to perceive the surrounding situation, but could also be used as a means of attack. Yang Kai had never attempted this before, but he took this slightly risky opportunity to give it a try.
As Yang Kai’s Divine Sense lashed out, the burly leader was momentarily stunned, and by the time he recovered all he could see was the youth opposite him rapidly approaching him and stretching out a big hand to seize his sword.
The burly leader let out a roar and rapidly pushed his True Qi, and ruthlessly tried to cut through the girl’s neck, determined to drag her down with him.
Yang Kai eyes flashed quickly as he launched a palm strike towards the burly man’s face while sweeping his foot towards the young girl, forcing her away from the path of the blade.
As the blade light flashed, the girl fell to the side with a few less strands of hair while the burly leader hurriedly dodged backwards, avoided Yang Kai’s palm and simultaneously dragged his sword out of his grip, leaving behind a long sound on Yang Kai’s other palm.
Yang Kai face remained serious and calm. Taking advantage of this opening, he clenched his bloody fist and sent a punch into the burly man’s chest.
[Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast!]
The thug leader was still a True Element Fourth Stage cultivator, so even though he had taken Yang Kai hit unprepared, he didn’t instantly lose all ability to resist. His sword slashed out, as he desperately tried to kill the enemy before him.
As the two fought, the Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast’s True Qi exploded inside his body with three loud thuds, which caused the burly leader’s face to suddenly become pale.
Old Demon did not miss this opportunity and immediately rushed in to assist Yang Kai.
After a dozen or so exchanges, the burly leader’s chest was smashed in by Yang Kai.
The light gradually faded from his eyes, and the burly leader’s face filled with bitterness as he muttered, “Monster…”
Old Demon laughed and sunk his Soul Breaker Awl into the man’s body, and then devoured his Soul. Then he immediately turned into black gas after and darted into Yang Kai’s body.
“Young Master, did you feel that?” Old Demon whispered.
“Yeah…” Yang Kai nodded as he used his True Qi to clean the blood from himself, “The Yuan Qi of these guys was very violent, like it was cultivated by some kind of evil Secret Art, or they had fallen onto the Devil’s Path.”
Cultivators at the Separation and Reunion Boundary would have two paths appear before them in their minds, so this state was named Separation and Reunion.
If they drowned themselves in the thrill seeking power, unable to suppress their raging emotions and desires, this was the so-called Devil’s Path! These people were generally more brutal, bloodthirsty, and violent.
There are many cultivators like this. The higher their strength, the more prominent their performance, and ultimately these people would step onto a different cultivation path than others. The people Yang Kai had just killed were an example of this case.
Compared with the orthodox cultivation path, no one could really make clear which method was better, but overall, the Devil’s Path was still normally frowned upon.
In this world, the largest gathering place for these Devil Path practitioners was the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land!
Within its range of thousands of kilometers, several Devil Lords gathered and everywhere you went there were Devil Path cultivators.
Originally, the High Heaven Pavilion Great Elder had given a promotion order to Yang Kai, which instructed him to go to the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land and behead a Devil Path cultivator whose cultivation realm was no lower than his own, but that was ultimately rejected by Yang Kai.
However, the question was… how did this young girl wind up provoking these people?
Brimming with suspicion, Yang Kai turned to look at the girl.
Just now, he had knocked her off her feet and caused her to fall to the ground, and until now she still had not stood up. Her face was filled with panic and fear, like she had received a terrifying shock, and her tender body still trembled lightly.
If things had gone even a little bit differently, she wouldn’t have gotten away with such a light injury. The sharp sword strike had cut off a lock of her hair and left a fresh red mark on her pale white neck, which she was still clutching till this moment as a fragrant sweat covered her body.
Noticing Yang Kai looking towards her, the girl’s heart could not help jumping as a look of terror spread across her face.
It wasn’t until now that she truly understood what kind of terrifying existence she had provoked. Seven or eight lives had been snuffed out by this young man in less than thirty breaths of time like he was simply cutting grass.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, frowned, walked over, and squatted down in front of her.
The girl’s eyes darted back and forth repeatedly as her long eyelashes quivered. Clearly, she was overwhelmed with fear.
Letting out a chuckle, Yang Kai poked her forehead with his finger and then inspected the fresh scar on her neck before saying, “It’s just a flesh wound, if you treat it well there won’t even be a scar.”
While talking, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a healing pill, then gently handed it to her.
Seeing this, a small smile emerged on the girl’s face, “I have my own pills…”
Since her vigilance was so high, Yang Kai did not insist and re-stowed his healing pill. Meanwhile, the girl timidly watched him to see if he had any hidden malicious intent, and only after a short time did she work up the courage to take out a bottle and remove her own healing pill.
“Just now, why didn’t you try to fight back?” Yang Kai frowned.
“I … I’ve never actually fought anyone for real before…” The girl replied with a light blush. Although she had definitely sparred before during her cultivation practice, at most, it was a match between friends, which never escalated anywhere close to a life and death struggle. Thus, when a long sword was held to her neck, she instantly froze up and didn’t know what to do.
Yang Kai looked at her carefully and found that she was really just a young tender maiden. Her dress was also quite luxurious, even though it looked somewhat strange, but that could not disguise the unique temperament she radiated. This kind of temperament wasn’t something someone from an ordinary, small force could possess.
She was certainly a young lady from some great family! No wonder a young girl only slightly younger than him had a Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivation, but no actual combat experience.
It was the result of her being pampered.
“How did you provoke these people?”
“I don’t know.” The girls suddenly said indignantly. “I had just run away from home… *cough* … I mean, I was playing outside, when this group suddenly came out of nowhere, chased after me, and tried to capture me. All of them were so hideous, it was really frightening.”
Yang Kai could not help but smile.
Seeing that he was so easy to talk to, the girl’s courage couldn’t help but grow. Staring at him with her big almond eyes, she smiled at Yang Kai and said, “And you, why did you throw me back like that, don’t you know how dangerous that was? If I had died there I’d definitely come back to haunt you, following you around every day to annoy you!”
Yang Kai looked up into distance. His eyes revealed a deep thoughtfulness before moving back to the girl’s face, and he bluntly stated, “Perhaps when you shouted just now you didn’t really have any malicious intent, but what would have happened if I had been some weak powerless person? If my luck was bad, I may have ended up as a corpse after getting caught up in the chaos.”
The girl shivered as a light flashed across her eyes, lowering her head she softly said, “I was wrong…”
But soon after she looked up with a wronged expression on her face, “However, aren’t you a bit too cruel? People say that you should help fellow travelers on the road, so with your great strength, what does it matter if I borrow it?”
Yang Kai chuckled but didn’t bother explaining.
Just now, when those few thugs had surrounded this girl, their eyes had flashed an obscene light which Yang Kai had natural seen, so his intention was to pretend to leave and secretly observe the situation before intervening, but he had not thought these people would immediately try to attack him. Since they didn’t let him go, he simply took away their lives, which resolved everything.
Standing up and ignoring the girl’s complaints and questions, Yang Kai casually activated his Movement Skill and dashed towards Medicine King’s Valley.
The girl stared blankly for a moment before she too stood up and quickly began traveling the last few kilometers to Medicine King’s Valley. She was afraid that if she lingered any longer, another group of wicked people might come out and try to stop her from reaching Medicine King’s Valley.
Chasing after Yang Kai’s figure, she soon reached the valley town, but the young man was nowhere to be found.
“He’s clearly not much older than me, yet his strength is so amazing. Which great family is he from?” The Girl muttered, and thought about it for a long time, but ultimately failed to come up with an appropriate candidate, which caused her much chagrin.
When he finally entered the town, a variety of medicinal smells wafted about, which caused him to feel relaxed and refreshed. Yang Kai casually strolled around town and soon discovered that, in addition to the inns and restaurants, every other shop was somehow related to either herbs or pills.
Ordinary and rare spirit grass, exotic fruits, and wondrous flowers were everywhere he went. There was a variety of herbs for sale. There were even many different types and species he had never heard of before that were scattered about in a dazzling array.
[Truly worth of Medicine King’s Valley!] Yang Kai praised in his heart.
Seeing such a scene, as long as one was an Alchemist, they would no longer be willing to leave. Alchemists had a special love and respect for herbs, so encountering a place with so many different and exotic medicines on display made it strange to be willing to leave.
In every shop, there were many who came in to browse around or bargain with the shopkeepers to purchase herbs.
There were also many Alchemists doing business, offering to help cultivators refine pills.
But the Alchemists in the valley town were actually all disciples of Medicine King’s Valley! Of the cultivators who came here to seek help from an Alchemist, most of them had been attracted by the Medicine King’s Valley name in the first place, so naturally they would not go looking for Alchemists from other forces.
Yang Kai strolled around for a long time and enjoyed all the new sights and scenes along the way, before eventually discovering that these Alchemists had their own hierarchy as well.
Their respective grades corresponded to the grades assigned to Precious Treasures, respectively, Common Grade, Earth Grade, Heaven Grade, and Mysterious Grade, each grade was further divided into Low, Mid, and High ranks.
Most of the Alchemists here were around Earth Grade, such as the one in the shop just in front of him who had a two-leaf silver flower on his chest that indicated that he was an Earth Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, which also meant that he had the necessary skill to refine Earth Grade Mid-Rank pills.
The flower petals corresponded to one’s Grade, while the gold, silver, and white colours corresponded to a High, Mid, and Low Rank respectively. Through the embroidery on an Alchemist’s clothes, one could easily tell what level he was.
Heaven Grade Alchemists were a very rare sight, and as for those of Mysterious Grade, there were none to be seen.
Only the Elders of Medicine King’s Valley were Mysterious Grade Alchemists.
In many shops, there were finished pills for sale. However, ordinary pills were of no interest to Yang Kai. Only Soul nourishing pills would cause him to stop and take notice.
These pills would not only allow him to cultivate his Soul, but would also nourish his Soul Warming Lotus, so that the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus could progress towards its ultimate Seven Coloured form.
Once the Soul Warming Lotus had evolved into its Seven Coloured form, the benefits he would receive would also greatly increase.
But the number of Soul nourishing pills was quite small, and their price was also many times more expensive than average pills.
A bottle of ten Earth Grade High-Rank pills was around five thousand silvers.
But a bottle of Earth Grade High-Rank Soul nourishing pills was at least thirty thousand silvers; a full six times as expensive!
Checking inside his bag, Yang Kai could only sigh and look away.
After strolling around for a long time and seeing the sky gradually grow dark, Yang Kai decided to find an inn to stay at.
At night, the Medicine King’s Valley’s town became even more bustling, so after having something light to eat at the inn, Yang Kai went out again to inquire about the latest news.
His original purpose in coming to Medicine King’s Valley was to see the Myriad Drug Pond, but the Myriad Drug Pond was a forbidden area within Medicine King’s Valley, so obviously it was not going to be easy to visit it.
After a few days, Yang Kai had toured around most of Medicine King’s Valley’s town to inquire about information, but in the end he had been left with a bitter taste in his mouth and a feeling of anxiety in his heart.
Medicine King’s Valley’s Myriad Drug Pond was located at the top of the Pill Saint’s Peak; however, not only was the Myriad Drug Pond situated there, the unchanging Pill Saint’s portrait was also hung inside. It was not an exaggeration to say that the Pill Saint’s Peak was the Holy Land of Alchemists in this world, and even the ordinary Medicine King’s Valley disciples could not approach it. Only the Valley Lord and Elders were eligible to gaze upon the Pill Saint’s portrait and study the profound alchemic mysteries he had left behind.
About the Pill Saint’s portrait, Yang Kai had heard many rumors, all of them in general were related to the inheritance of alchemic knowledge and skills. It was said that many Alchemists who gazed upon the Pill Saint’s portrait had gained solutions to the problems that had long confounded them, some even gained some form of alchemic inheritance, which lead many of them to reap great benefits.
For this reason, the Medicine King’s Valley was very strict in its protection of the Myriad Drug Pond.
With such a heavy guard in place, how could Yang Kai hope to get close?
The Myriad Drug Pond was not the same as High Heaven Pavilion’s Coiling Dragon Stream. Although the Coiling Dragon Stream was also a forbidden area, despite being incredibly vast it was also extremely dangerous, so usually nobody would approach it.
On this day, Yang Kai was wandering aimlessly around the town when he all of a sudden spotted a familiar figure.
Staring at the back of this person, Yang Kai let out a light chuckle.
Quietly following behind this person, a short while later, Yang Kai saw him enter into one of the town’s many shops.
Arriving before the shop, Yang Kai looked up at the plaque on the shop which read, “Dong Family Pill Shop”.
Upon walking into the shop, a shop hand immediately came up and warmly greeted Yang Kai, “Good sir, how may I help you today? Our Dong Family Medicine Shop has a wide selection of items for sale, whether it is alchemy materials or finished pills, we carry everything, all for sale at very fair prices. If good sir is searching for anything in particular, please feel free to have a look around.”
“I’m not here buy anything.” Yang Kai said as he shook his head.
“Uh…”
“I’m looking for the young man who just came in!” Yang Kai declared.
Hearing this, the shop hand’s expression immediately became vigilant, and he carefully examined Yang Kai again while maintaining his calm before asking, “May I ask how I should address this little brother?
Yang Kai smiled back at the shop hand and said, “Just tell him, a guest from High Heaven Pavilion is here to visit.”
The shop hand’s brow wrinkled slightly, but he still eventually nodded.
Turning around and disappearing into the back halls, it was not long before the shop hand re-emerged with a giant flattering smile on his face, “Little brother please come with me, my Young Master will see you right away!”
Yang Kai simply nodded.
Walking into the inner hall then up the stairs to the third floor, Yang Kai follow all the way until they reached a certain door. The shop hand then bowed and said, “My Young Master is inside!”
Finished guiding this esteemed guest, the shop hand then respectfully receded.
After all of this, Yang Kai proceeded to open the door and step inside.
Immediately seeing a slightly rounded face smiling towards him.
Dong Family, Dong Qing Han!
Right behind him were the Dong Family’s Wind and Cloud Dual Guards. The two old men stood there in silence. When their eyes met, they simply produced a simple bow and remained in position, as though they had gone senile and could only do so much.
By Dong Qing Han’s side sat a pretty young girl with a dignified temperament, daintily sipping a cup of tea. But as Yang Kai glanced towards her, their four eyes suddenly meeting, he was instantly stunned.
The girl was also shocked. Her face contorted wildly as her eyes stared towards Yang Kai, involuntarily spitting out the tea she had just drank, spraying it all over Dong Qing Han’s face.
‘What the hell are you doing?” Dong Qing Han said, his image as a refined older cousin in front of Yang Kai suddenly being destroyed by this young girl spraying his face with tea.
“It … it’s … it’s him!” The girl shouted as she pointed her jade like finger towards Yang Kai, her voice filled with shock.
Hearing this as he tried to wipe off the tea leaves from his face, Dong Qing Han frowned and asked, “What do you mean ‘it’s him’? Speak clearly.”
“He’s the man I ran into outside the valley, the one who grabbed me and threw me to the bad guys!” The girl quickly explained.
Dong Qing Han glanced towards Yang Kai then back towards the young girl, his slightly fat face flashing a look of amazement.
[Such a coincidence…]
Yang Kai was also puzzled. He did not expect this cheeky little girl would appear here, in this Dong Family shop, but seeing how she could sit beside Dong Qing Han at the same table, her status was certainly not low, could she be…
His brow twitching, Yang Kai faintly guessed this little girl’s identity.
“You dare appear in front of me!” The girl said as she remembered the feelings of frustration and helplessness she felt during their first encounter; now with Dong Qing Han and the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards as her support, she immediately felt emboldened, her row of silvery teeth gnashing as she glowered towards Yang Kai, thrusting out her smooth pretty chin proudly, without the slightest lady like demeanor, letting out a mischievous laughter, “Hee hee, how does the saying go, no path to the Heavens, no door into Hell, you coming here means you’re death!”
Although she said these words, but her face did not contain the slightest wrath or murderous intent, instead she was simply impishly staring at Yang Kai.
Grinning back at her, Yang Kai asked, “Is this how you treat your savior?”
As he spoke, he lightly knocked her on her head.
The girl’s big eyes squinted as she body shrunk up; quickly hiding behind Dong Qing Han’s back like a frightened rabbit, grinding her teeth as she glared towards Yang Kai, like a fox pretending to be a tiger.
“Enough with your impudence!” Dong Qing Han fat face shook as he loudly shouted.
The girl immediately followed up, shouting towards Yang Kai, “That’s right, don’t be so presumptuous!”
“I’m talking to you!” Dong Qing Han glared towards the little girl.
“Ah?” The girl stammered in shock.
“Towards the man who saved your life, you don’t even say thank you? Such an important guest has come yet you don’t offer any greetings, do you not have any decency!?” Dong Qing Han solemnly reprimanded her.
“I do not want to! If he hadn’t tossed me back that day, I would have escaped into Medicine King’s Valley!” The girl stamped her foot and pouted towards Dong Qing Han.
“Such disrespect. You get out!” Dong Qing Han angrily pounded the table.
The girl’s lips pursed and her eyes watered as she dashed out of the room angrily.
But before she left, she didn’t forget to glare angrily at Yang Kai one last time.
After the girl left, Dong Qing Han smiled wryly while shaking his head, sending a wink towards the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards. The two of them immediately released their Divine Sense, and a moment later nodded towards Dong Qing Han.
“Sit down.” Dong Qing Han waved.
As Yang Kai sat down and poured himself a cup of tea, he frowned and asked, “Just now…”
“Yan’er, you’ve met her before.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but smile, didn’t that mean the relationship between them really was older and younger cousins?
He had never imagined that what she had casually shouted that day would actually be true.
About Dong Qing Yan, Yang Kai had some faint impressions. However, the only time they had met was almost a decade ago, when she was still just a little girl tottering behind Dong Qing Han; after ten years, how could Yang Kai have recognized her?
“A girl experiences eighteen changes between childhood and womanhood…” Yang Kai shook his head wryly, not only did he not recognize her, she probably also couldn’t recognize him. Who could still recall all the memories of their childhood?
“Yan’er said a few days ago a youth only slightly older than her rescued her. I never imagined that person would turn out to be you.” Dong Qing Han also let out a long sigh, everything was just too much of a coincidence.
“It just happened!” Yang Kai shrugged, not trying to explain or take any credit. In the first place, the whole incident didn’t really cost him any effort and seeing how the person he ended up saving was his own cousin, naturally there was nothing else that needed to be discussed.
As the two young men spoke, Dong Qing Yan quietly snuck back holding a piece of ancient jade in her hand; this piece of jade exuded a wave of weak energy that spread out around her, creating a shield that hid all traces of her aura.
This shield was impeccable, not even an Immortal Ascension Boundary master’s Divine Sense could penetrate it.
In but a moment, like a stealthy cat, Dong Qing Yan had crept up to the door and began eavesdropping on her brother and that hateful man’s conversation.
Yang Kai’s attitude towards Dong Qing Han was quite relaxed and familiar, which naturally aroused her curiosity; on top of that, her brother had rarely reprimanded her so strictly, even directly telling her to leave.
Dong Qing Yan figured that the two must have something they needed to discuss in private, so her brother had deliberately scolded to send her away. Her interest having been peaked, she decided to listen in on them to figure out what secrets they were trying to hide.
As the sound of the conversation drifted into her ears, Dong Qing Yan lightly bit her lips as her pretty face flushed with nervousness.
Although she was tense, she also felt excited. Since long ago, inside the Dong Family home, she had relied on this ancient jade to eavesdrop of an untold number of secrets, so she had long ago become familiar with such activity.
“What are you doing here?” Dong Qing Han asked Yang Kai.
“I came here to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“I want to visit one of Medicine King’s Valley’s Peaks.” Yang Kai replied, going straight to the point, sipping his cup of tea as he looked towards Dong Qing Han, “Can you help me?”
“Which peak?” Dong Qing Han asked.
“The Pill Saint’s Peak!”
Hearing this, not just Dong Qing Han’s eyes narrowed, even the two aloof old men standing behind him also glanced towards Yang Kai.
Dong Qing Han smiled wryly, “There are twelve peaks in Medicine King’s Valley, ten of which are the residences of Great Elders, another one the Valley Lord’s retreat, and the final and primary one is the Pill Saint’s Peak. It is Medicine King’s Valley most forbidden area; if you wanted to enter any of the other peaks, I would have a way, but the Pill Saint’s Peak… I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.”
“Is there no way at all?” Yang Kai refused to give up, he also knew that the Pill Saint’s Peak was a special existence; if not so he wouldn’t have come to see Dong Qing Han.
He could not use the power of the Yang Family right now, but Dong Qing Han was different, as the eldest son of the Dong Family, its future successor, naturally he could make use of the Dong Family’s influence and connections.
Dong Qing Han frowned as he tapped his fingers on the table, a good while later only saying, “It’s not completely hopeless.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, “Let’s hear it!”
“In a little more than two months, there will be an Alchemist Summit. At that time all of the alchemists from all the world’s forces from small to large will come here, at that time, they will compete with each other in various alchemy competitions, and the top fifty alchemists will be given the chance to visit the Pill Saint’s Peak, study the Pill Saint’s portrait, and ponder upon the mysteries of alchemy; if you can become one these top fifty Alchemists, you can justifiably enter the Pill Saint’s Peak!
To this statement, Yang Kai rolled his eyes, “Do I look like an alchemist?”
Dong Qing Han shook his head, “Of course not… but this is the only way to enter the Pill Saint’s Peak unless… unless, you become an Elder of Medicine King’s Valley.”
Yang Kai could only wryly smile.
Neither of these two methods could be used by him, becoming a Medicine King’s Valley Elder was obviously impossible, and wanting to become one of the top fifty alchemists at the upcoming summit was even more ridiculous.
Yang Kai had never even been exposed to the Alchemic Path, seeking for the Dao of Alchemy. How could he suddenly stand above this world’s Alchemists? Only those with profound knowledge and achievements would dare to attend this Alchemist Summit.
Thinking over it, Yang Kai couldn’t help but frown.
“In addition to the Pill Saint’s Peak, if you want to visit any of the other peaks I can think of a way; in fact it’s not actually that difficult either.” Dong Qing Han also felt like he had lost face in front of this cousin of his; it was the first time he had asked a favour of him but the result was him ending up having no way to help so he couldn’t help being somewhat embarrassment.
“Not difficult?”
Dong Qing Han smiled, “In fact it’s quite simple, just find some valuable Precious Treasure, and then to ask a Medicine King’s Valley Elder to perform some alchemy for you, this way you can freely enter their peak; however, at most you’d only be able to stay for half a day, if you stuck around any longer, those Medicine King’s Valley people would boot you out. To say nothing of the Elders, even Medicine King’s Valley’s disciples have eyes way higher than the top of their heads, all of them are even more domineering and arrogant than you Eight Great Families’ sons.”
Yang Kai shook his head.
Only being able to enter for half a day would certainly not be long enough.
“If it’s not an urgent matter, then you should first go back and give me some time to think about if there are any other ways I can help you.” Dong Qing Han face suddenly became dignified as he wore a very serious expression, “I won’t ask what it is you want to do in the Pill Saint’s Peak, but I will say this, if you get yourself caught up in any trouble, don’t get my Dong Family involved in it.”
Listening to him say this so seriously, Yang Kai grinned, “What is it you think I’m going to do?”
“What the hell is there that you don’t dare do you little brat?” Dong Qing Han sighed deeply, “I can only help you think of a way. Even so, my ideas aren’t exactly foolproof.”
“Well, I know.” Yang Kai nodded.
Saying farewell to Dong Qing Hang, Yang Kai went back to his inn and began meditating, trying to think of a way to enter the Pill Saint’s Peak.
The meaning of Dong Qing Han’s last words to him had been quite clear, he also had no good way of allowing Yang Kai to enter the Pill Saint’s Peak, so he shouldn’t place his hopes on him.
As he was deep in thought, a knock suddenly came from his door, causing Yang Kai to wrinkle his brow, stand up and see who it was.
Looking outside, the one he found standing there was Dong Qing Yan with a shy smile on her face, “Hehe!”
She had no traces of hatred or hostility any more, just a hint of friendly curiosity.
“What are you doing here?” Yang Kai asked as he looked at her curiously.
“You really are here.” Dong Qing Yan took a deep breath and scanned the inside of his room before lightly coughing, “My brother let me come here to tell you he thought of a way to help you.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s mouth slowly revealed a strange smile, quietly stepping aside and saying, “Come inside first and we can talk.”
Completely unafraid, Dong Qing Yan casually strode into his room.
Looked around the house with great interest, Dong Qing Yan pursed his lips and said, “You live in this place you? It’s so small and dirty, it really isn’t fit for a … *keke*…”
Dong Qing Yan also knew that a Yang Family son’s identity couldn’t casually be discussed so she quickly swallowed back the words she was about to say.
“So your brother said he thought up a way?” Yang Kai looked at her with a big grin.
“En!” Dong Qing Yan nodded quickly.
“Did he tell you that himself?”
“Of course.” Dong Qing Yan’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly.
“Then why didn’t he come here to tell me personally?”
“Am I not doing just that?” Dong Qing Yan sat down on the bed, putting on her best innocent serious face, “My brother said that responsibility for this matter will solely be given to me because he has other important things to attend to outside Medicine King’s Valley, so there’s no need for you to go looking for him.”
Although Dong Qing Yan had said all this with a look of absolute confidence, how could Yang Kai believe her just like that?
“Really?” Yang Kai grinned strangely.
“Do you think I’d lie to you?” Dong Qing Yan straightened herself up and patted her chest, “Rest assured, I promise you that I can get you where you want to go!”
“Heh heh…” Yang Kai smile only became grimmer, his eyes staring at Dong Qing Yan.
Seeing this smile filled with evil and obscenity, Dong Qing Yan couldn’t help but feel a chill run up her back, quietly swallowed her breath before timidly saying, “Your laughter is scaring me.”
Yang Kai finally straightened up his face and no longer danced around the issue with her, “Tell me, how do you know about this?”
“What?” Dong Qing Yan stuttered, her expression looking quite unnatural.
“Know where I want to go.” Yang Kai squinted at her and shook her finger, “Don’t tell me that your brother told you, Dong Qing Han, would ever be so careless!”
In the Dong Family Medicine Shop, Dong Qing Han had told Dong Qing Yan to leave the room before he spoke with Yang Kai, clearly not wanting her to know Yang Kai’s true identity, so how could he decide to involve her all of a sudden?
On top of that, the two of them had spoken less than an hour ago; one hour earlier Dong Qing Han had been helpless to assist him, but now after such a short time he had suddenly come up with a way?
Then there was his little female cousin’s rapidly shifting eyes; what would be strange is if Yang Kai couldn’t see that something else going on here.
“My brother really did tell me.” Dong Qing Yan continued to insist.
Yang Kai simply laughed, reached out, grabbed Dong Qing Yan by the arm, and dragged her out.
“Wait… what are you trying to do!?” Dong Qing Yan stubbornly tried to resist, crying out in fright.
Yang Kai frowned, “You keep shouting and I’ll knock you out first!”
Dong Qing Yan quickly shut her mouth but her desperate resistance did not stop; however, with her strength being so much lower than Yang Kai’s, how could she hope to escape? In the blink of an eye she had already been dragged to the door.
“What are you going to do with me?” Dong Qing Yan whimpered towards Yang Kai.
“Take you back to Dong Qing Han, I’m certain he’s still around!”
“Don’t! I finally managed to sneak out; if you send me back I’ll be finished for sure!” Dong Qing Yan frantically begged.
Yang Kai grinned, “Then tell me, how do you know about my plans?”
“Okay, okay, okay! I’ll tell you!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai finally released her.
Dong Qing Yan glared angrily at Yang Kai as she rubbed her sore wrist and slowly fixed her disordered clothes before sitting herself back down on the bed.
“Remember, if you dare lie to me, I’ll immediately send you back to your brother.” Yang Kai declared.
“I eavesdropped on your conversation.” Dong Qing Yan admitted as she shyly glanced at Yang Kai, but upon seeing his expression darken, she quickly added, “I’m not lying to you, I really did overhear you while I was eavesdropping.”
Yang Kai smirked, “How did you manage that? You’re only a Peak Separation and Reunion cultivator, how could you avoid the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards’ Divine Senses?”
When he was talking to Dong Qing Han, the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards had constantly been monitoring the nearby surroundings, so if Dong Qing Yan was really eavesdropping, she would certainly have been caught by those two old men.
“Naturally I have my ways.” Dong Qing Yan said with a triumphant look on her face as she sat on the edge of the bed, her two legs dangling back and forth.
Seeing the look of distrust on Yang Kai’s face, Dong Qing Yan was quite unhappy, “I am the Dong Family’s Young Lady; how could I not have one or two self-defense artifacts … ugh…”
“Artifact?” Yang Kai’s brow slightly lifted, his face showing a look of surprise, what kind of artifact could allow someone to hide from and Immortal Ascension master’s Divine Sense? Not to mention the cultivation of the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards was no doubt around the top of the Immortal Ascension Boundary, probably around the seventh or eighth stage; being able to deceive them, the power of this artifact was really not small.
Noticing that she had leaked something she shouldn’t, Dong Qing Yan looked cautiously towards Yang Kai and whispered, “I’ll show it to you if you promise not to take it from me.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai was suddenly dumbstruck, but still silently nodded; after all, he was indeed quite curious about this so-called artifact.
Seeing him promise, Dong Qing Yan carefully removed the piece of ancient jade from her sleeve.
Yang Kai carefully examined this dark yellow piece of ancient jade color. At first it seemed to be a natural piece of jade, but there were some jagged lines on its surface which had clearly been engraved by someone.
When Dong Qi Yan channeled her Yuan Qi into it, Yang Kai was stunned to discover that all traces of her aura had instantly disappeared.
Dong Qing Yan quickly said, “Since you haven’t yet reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary and gained the use of your Divine Sense, you wouldn’t understand just how amazing this artifact is, but I really did not lie to you. I used this to hide myself from those two old men.”
As she was speaking, Yang Kai had used his Divine Sense to examine the area where she was sitting and found that, just as she had said, his Divine Sense passed right through her, finding nothing unusual, if had closed his eyes, it wouldn’t been like no one was ever there.
This artifact was definitely not ordinary!
“Put it away, and don’t ever expose it to strangers,” Yang Kai said seriously.
Dong Qing Yan giggled happily, “Of course I won’t do that, I’m not a fool!”
As she spoke she carefully stored the ancient jade.
“So, how much did you hear?” Yang Kai asked with a grin.
“Probably… almost all of it.” Dong Qing Yan stuck out her tongue.
“How much did you understand?”
“I know you want to go to the Pill Saint’s Peak; I also know… you really are my cousin…” Dong Qing Yan was also shocked; something she had shouted out randomly had turned out to be true.
“Earlier you said there was a way for me to get close to my goal, was that true?”
“Of course it’s true.” Dong Qing Yan nodded, her eyes suddenly flashing a mischievous light, “But now I don’t feel like telling you.”
Yang Kai suddenly understood, “You have conditions? Fine, name it!”
“Don’t let my brother catch me!” Dong Qing Yan quickly said.
Yang Kai frowned, he had long ago seen that this girl had snuck out of her home; Dong Qing Han appearing in Medicine King’s Valley was also probably because he had been chasing after her. Although he was technically related to her, in the end, this was a Dong Family internal matter, was it really a good idea for him to make a decision on his own?
A few days ago she was being chased by a group of evil thugs, if anything were to actually happen to her, would the Dong Family simply let it go?
“Cousin…” Seeing him pondering over things, Dong Qing Yan quickly put on a pitiful expression, lightly gripping Yang Kai’s arm as she pleaded, “It’s so suffocating and boring at home, I just wanted to go out for a walk. After a few days of playing outside I’ll go back, so don’t tell them, please?”
Yang Kai remained silent.
Seeing that pleading alone wasn’t enough, Dong Qing Yan decided to use her last straw, “If you don’t help me, I… I’ll tell everyone that you’re a son of Yang Family, and then we’ll see what happens to you!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help rubbing his forehead as he felt a headache coming on.
If someone else had threatened him like this, he would have immediately killed them, but obviously he couldn’t do that to his little cousin in front of him.
After thinking for a while, Yang Kai finally said, “I’m going to tell Dong Qing Han that you’re here.”
The Dong Family’s Young Lady immediately jumped up and started cursing, “You heartless meanie! Smelly cousin, I hate you!”
“Let me finish!” Yang Kai stared at her, “Even though I’m going to tell your brother, I’ll also let you stay here if you don’t make trouble for me.”
“Deal!” Dong Qing Yan head bobbed up and down like a chick pecking rice. “I promise you I’ll be good!”
Shaking his head helplessly, Yang Kai began preparing a letter.
Meanwhile, at the Dong Family Medicine Shop, Dong Qing Han was furious, “She escaped? How could that be? Did all of you grow up eating nothing but shit!? Even with so many 0f you on guard, in the blink of an eye she just vanished?”
In front of him were several Dong Family disciples with their heads bowed down like whipped dogs; all of them silent, wanting to cry but unable to shed tears.
[There’s no helping it, with only our strength, in the ultra crowded Medicine King’s Valley town, and with the Young Lady’s mysterious methods, as soon as she slips into the crowd she can basically disappear. What else could we do?]
Although all of them were thinking so, none of them dared to say anything.
“What are you all still standing around stunned for, each and every one of you is worthless, get out there quickly and start looking, if you can’t find the Young Lady then don’t come back, just find some back alley and chop yourselves up to feed the dogs, useless idiots!” Dong Qing Han roared angrily.
The group of disciples, having suddenly been granted amnesty, hurriedly scattered like frightened birds and animals, silently muttering in their hearts, [You damn little girl, come back quickly or we’ll all end up dead].
“Young Master, inside the Medicine King’s Valley, fighting is strictly prohibited. The Young Lady won’t be in any danger so you shouldn’t worry too much. Maybe after a little while she’ll come back on her own.” One of the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards said.
“I’m afraid she might leave the valley.” Dong Qing Han said helplessly, “That little girl is simply too ignorant of the ways of the world, she just experienced a major crisis but she’s already forgotten about it and run off again!”
A look of anguish and regret filled his face.
The two old men glanced at each other, but in the end said nothing more.
As he was stewing in annoyance, a servant arrived at the doors, bowed, and asked, “Who is the Dong Family’s son?”
Dong Qing Han quickly replied, “I am!”
“Greetings Young Master Dong,” the servant said in a flattering tone, “A young gentleman instructed me to deliver a letter to you.”
Dong Qing Han’s face filled with surprise, “Where is it?”
The servant swiftly handed over a letter.
Quickly opening and reading through it, Dong Qing Han finally put down the boulder weighing on his heart.
Signaling towards the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards, one of them came up and gave the servant a few silvers before sending him on his way. Looking back and seeing his Young Master’s brow unwrinkled, he couldn’t help but ask, “Have we found the Young Lady’s whereabouts?”
Rubbing his sore forehead, Dong Qing Han let out a deep sigh and whispered, “Indeed, she went to Yang Kai’s place.”
“He just wrote me to say there’s no need to worry.”
Back at the inn, Yang Kai opened up a room for Dong Qing Yan next door to him. This thoughtful arrangement greatly increased the Dong Family Young Lady’s impression of him, “Cousin is the best!”
On the second day, when Dong Qing Han came over to visit, Yang Kai briefly explained his situation again as she smiled back at him impishly; with Dong Qing Yan threatening him so, he didn’t dare try to force things, if his identity as a direct descendant of the Yang Family was exposed it would be no joke.
Stuck in this situation he could only go along with his little cousin’s whims.
Time flew by, and soon seven or eight days had passed.
During these days, Yang Kai spent most of his time cultivating. Although Medicine King’s Valley town had many cultivators, the Heaven and Earth aura was quite abundant, so it was still considered a good place to cultivate.
From time to time, Dong Qing Yan would drag him out play, and after a few days Yang Kai surprisingly found that this little cousin of his was actually an Alchemist, even if her grade was not high, just a novice Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.
She was the Dong Family’s first Young Lady, from small to large the family had spent a huge amount of effort and resources to cultivate her, whatever pill she wanted she could directly acquire it, so why would she need to learn Alchemy? Therefore, even if she showed a strong interest in Alchemy, she still had very little practical experience.
Now that she had come to Medicine King’s Valley, it was like directly ascending to Heaven, where everything around fascinated and amazed her.
Early one morning, Yang Kai’s door was knocked on and Dong Qing Yan excitedly rushed in, coming right up to him, “Cou…”
“What Cou?” Yang Kai stared at her and flicked her forehead.
Dong Qing Yan spat out her tongue, hastily straightened herself up like a noble lady, and commanded, “Escort Yang, accompany this Young Lady out for a trip!”
In the end, she was still the Dong Family’s first Young Lady. The Dong Family and Yang Family were in-laws, so if someone heard Dong Qing Yan call out Yang Kai’s name, they would certainly be able to guess Yang Kai identity.
So after some discussion, the two decided that Yang Kai would play the role of Dong Qing Yan’s guard.
Great Young Ladies who went out traveling would always have a few guards and servants around, so this identity was reasonable.
Looking outside for a moment, Yang Kai lightly refused, “You can go play, I won’t be accompanying you today!”
But Dong Qing Yan was not deterred and instead just le out a giggle, “Escort Yang, do you not want to enter that place anymore?”
Yang Kai’s expression instantly changed.
“Is today the day?”
These past few days, Yang Kai had constantly been asking her just how she planned to let him approach the Pill Saint’s Peak, but Dong Qing Yan had always refused to elaborate, saying that the time had not yet come, until today, which allowed Yang Kai to finally see a ray of hope.
“Do you want to go out with this Young Lady now?” Dong Qing Yan said with a haughty look of triumph on her face.
Yang Kai quickly stopped cultivating and got down from his bed.
In the town, Dong Qing Yan darted back and forth inside the crowds like a fish agilely swimming through a stream as Yang Kai, dressed up as a guard, carried various items in his hands. His expression was completely blank, as he quietly followed closely behind her.
Anyone who saw him would naturally assume he was Dong Qing Yan’s attendant.
Arriving at the eastern part of town, Dong Kai Yan’s cute little face flushed with excitement. Yang Kai could even hear the sound of her heartbeat coming from within her chest as she took a deep breath and clutched her hands in front of her, only managing to calm herself after a long time.
Looking around, Yang Kai discovered that there was a big crowd gathered here, and many of these people’s chests were embroidered with a kind of unique flower badge. Each of them had one, two or, three petals and were gold, silver, or white in colour.
These people, all of them were Alchemists.
Earth Grade Mid to Top-Rank Alchemists were the majority, but there were also many at the Common Grade. All together at least two hundred of them had gathered, creating an extremely bustling atmosphere.
At some point Dong Qing Yan had also taken out a rusty ornament, a single petal silver flower, and proudly pinned it onto her chest, as if she wanted to let everyone here know she was also a Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai whispered, faintly feeling something was not quite right.
“Just wait! Whether you can go to the place you want to will depend on what happens next.” Dong Qing Yan responded softly. Her cute face for once was filled with seriousness.
Yang Kai frowned. Closing his eyes he released his Divine Sense and began listening to the nearby Alchemists talk.
After a moment, his expression became awkward.
The reason these people had come from all corners of the world and gathered here was actually in order to worship Medicine King’s Valley’s Hidden Cloud Peak Elder Xiao Fu Sheng as disciples and study the secrets of his Alchemy techniques.
Yang Kai opened his eyes and looked towards Dong Qing Yan, asking, “Did you come here to become a disciple?”
Dong Qing Yan smiled, “Of course, Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple recruitment is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The reason I escaped from home at this time was precisely for this reason!”
As she said this, Dong Qing Yan looked piteously towards Yang Kai, “Escort Yang, you’re not going to go tell my brother are you?”
“I just want to know what relationship this has with my goal.”
“Hidden Cloud Peak is not far from your objective, if you can enter there…” Dong Qing Yan quietly implied.
Listening to this, Yang Kai’s brow twitched. Indeed, if he could enter Hidden Cloud Peak, then maybe he could find an to enter the Pill Saint’s peak, after all, the two peaks were only separated by two small hills.
“But I don’t understand Alchemy.”
Dong Qing Yan chuckled, “Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple recruitment notice clearly stated that even if you do not understand Alchemy, you would still have a chance. The only thing that matter is if you have the appropriate aptitude.”
“Mr. Yang…” Dong Qing Yan lightly clutched Yang Kai’s arm, “Since I’ve thought so much about you your situation, please don’t go tell my brother about this. Besides, if I can successfully worship Grandmaster Xiao as my master, it will be a great honor for the family, and even if father learns about it after, he will only praise me, so don’t do any thankless things.”
Yang Kai lightly said, “If you can succeed I’ll have nothing to say.”
“I’m sure I can.” Dong Qing Yan said, full of confidence. “For this day, I have done a lot of preparation. The only thing I’m uncertain about is if you can come too.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai could only shake his head secretly.
He had not thought the method Dong Qing Yan spoke about was actually this. And although this method was good, Yang Kai was not at all confident. After all, he had never even touched the subject Alchemy, so how could he pass a test created by this Grandmaster Xiao?”
But now that it had come to this, he could only grit his teeth and try. In any case, it was not like he had anything to lose.
As time passed, more and more Alchemists gathered. Each and every one of them were filled with anticipation, and similarly to Dong Qing Yan, their faces were filled with tension and expectation. Some of them even had expressions of reverence and worship.
It could easily be seen just how highly these people regarded the chance to worship Hidden Cloud Peak’s Xiao Fu Sheng as their master.
As Yang Kai listened to the surrounding conversations, he learned a great deal of things.
Xiao Fu Sheng was actually the most prestigious figure in all of Medicine King’s Valley. His achievements in the field of Alchemy were even greater than the current Valley Lord of Medicine King’s Valley. He was also one of the only Mysterious Grade High-Rank Alchemists in the entire world.
Above Mysterious Grade was Spirit Grade, a height which had never once before been reached.
Xiao Fu Sheng was a man obsessed with Alchemy, and although he occupied a Medicine King’s Valley peak, he had never accepted any disciples nor did he have a wife or children. His entire life had been dedicated to the pursuit of the Alchemic Path.
Within the Alchemist community, Xiao Fu Sheng held a position of unparalleled respect.
A few months ago, when word came out from Medicine King’s Valley that Grandmaster Xiao was going to recruit disciples, the entire world shook. Countless Alchemists began frantically rushing over. Each of them wanted to worship him as their master and inherit his mantle.
Both the Eight Great Families and the First-Class Sects also wanted to send their own prized Alchemists to attend, but they were all rejected by Master Xiao.
Finally today, in Medicine King’s Valley town, a unique test designed by Master Xiao himself would be held, and anyone who managed to pass would be granted the right to become a disciple of the Hidden Cloud Peak.
Grandmaster Xiao was not concerned with the background of his would-be disciples. No matter where you come from or from what kind of force, as long as you possessed the required aptitude, you would be allowed learn his Alchemic knowledge.
The only condition was that you could not be more than twenty years old.
So the Alchemist who had gathered here were all from the younger generation. Some of those who came, in order to apprentice in Hidden Cloud Peak, were even prepared to forego attending the upcoming Alchemy Conference.
Time continued to pass by.
While standing behind Dong Qing Yan, Yang Kai also continued monitoring the surroundings and secretly observed if anything was happening.
After a very long wait, a commotion suddenly arose from the crowd. The Medicine King’s Valley disciples had finally appeared.
These Medicine King’s Valley disciples were not direct disciples of Grandmaster Xiao, but were instead Alchemists from other Peaks who had been commissioned to handle the administration of today’s test.
Not far away, a platform had been set up in advance. It was around this more than ten meter long stage that all the Alchemists who had come to attend today’s test gathered.
Four Medicine King’s Valley disciples slowly made their way towards this high platform, headed by a middle-aged man walking forward in a proud and aloof manner. His chest was embroidered with a three petal golden flower, and his face was adorned with a serious expression, not disturbed in the slightest by the surrounding crowd, and his hands held a large pot of pills. A burst of noise suddenly erupted within the crowd.
“It’s Medicine King’s Valley’s Qin Ze, he’s only thirty five years old but has already become a Heaven Grade Top-Rank Alchemist!”
“He is the genius of this generation’s Medicine King’s Valley disciples; I heard he was even likely to become the next Valley Lord.”
“Shh, be quiet…”
Qin Ze soon boarded the high platform and placed the large pot of pills onto a table. The three other Medical King’s Valley disciples also came to a stop behind him.
Sweeping his eyes over the crowd, Qin Ze cupped his fists said, “Gentlemen, for Uncle Xiao’s disciple recruitment test, this Qin Ze will be your invigilator!”
The great importance placed upon Alchemists wherever they went caused all of them to have eyes on top of their head’s, coupled with them perennially being in retreat to study and perform alchemy resulted in many of them not understanding the subtleties of social etiquettes, such as bothering to greet other people.
As an Alchemist genius, this Qin Ze’s arrogant and detached demeanor was even more pronounced
After saying a few words, he simply turned around and removed the lid of the giant pot, allowing a strange medicinal fragrance to immediately spread out. As everyone present took a sniff of this aroma, each of them felt their spirits lurch.
“The test is very simple! These pills here are something my Uncle Xiao personally refined for today. Anyone who wants to become a disciple of Hidden Cloud Peak must swallow one of these pills and completely refine its medicinal effects. If you can do so, you will have passed the test. You may begin!”
Apparently finished, Qin Ze moved aside and allowed the three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples to step forward. Each of them watched the crowd with arrogant and indifferent eyes.
Of the hundreds of people gathered, no one dared to step forward and become the first to try.
Although what Qin Ze had said was indeed quite straightforward, everyone here understood that the test to become Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple would by no means be simple. Everyone now wanted someone else to go up first so they could observe. Who here wanted to become someone else’s stepping stone?
The Medicine King’s Valley disciples weren’t anxious, each of them just stood idly on the platform quietly waiting.
After a long period of time, someone finally gathered their courage and asked, “May I ask, what kind of pill is this?”
One of the Medicine King’s Valley disciples immediately sneered, “A poison pill!”
The crowd immediately went into an uproar.
Although they all expected Grandmaster Xiao’s test would not be easy to pass, this test was simply too different from the crowd’s expectations, wanting each of them to come up and willingly swallow a poison pill, how could this be considered a test? Everyone only had one life, and if they were to fail this test, this would be their burial place. How could such a thing be worth their while?
However, Qin Ze lightly said, “Although it is a poison pill, swallowing it is not fatal! But if your aptitude is not high enough to resolve its effects, you’ll be sick for three to five months at least.
Hearing that this pill was not fatal, many people’s nerves suddenly calmed. In the end, Grandmaster Xiao was still a renowned master; naturally he wouldn’t maliciously target their lives.
In front of this big pot of poison pills, the only ones who were likely to quit were those who had casually come here to fish in troubled waters.
But of those gathered, which one was not completely confidant in his or her own abilities? After a short while, someone finally jumped up onto the high platform and shouted, “I’ll go first!”
“Me too!”
With someone taking the lead, a lot of people were suddenly also willing to come up and try.
*Shua Shua Shua* Shortly after, more than a dozen people had come forward.
“Go ahead!” The Medicine King’s Valley disciples nodded.
Each of the dozen or so people who had come up walked over the pot, took out a pill, and placed it into their mouth.
“Please refine it completely!”
These dozen or so people who had swallowed the poison pill quickly sat cross-legged and began circulating their various Secret Arts.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of people in the audience stared towards them and carefully observed. Each of them hoped to gain even the slightest of insights that may help them pass this test.