Yang Kai scratched his head awkwardly. He had thought he had obtained a considerable amount of wealth when he received 150 Crystal Stones, but now it seemed that this amount was still not much.
“Don’t look at me, I don’t have any Crystal Stones,” Shui Ling also said helplessly, she had lived in the Central Capital for more than two years and had long ago exhausted the Crystal Stones she had on her.
Yun Xuan heard their conversation and after hesitating for a moment, clenched her teeth and said, “I have a piece of Sky Cicada Jade here.”
Yang Kai stared at her blankly.
“I don’t have much use for it anyway, so I’ll give it to you,” Saying so, Yun Xuan reached out and took a piece of jade from the Universe Bag on her waist.
Yang Kai’s brow tightened as he accepted the piece of jade, “Then I’ll consider this a loan from you.”
“No need,” Yun Xuan smiled lightly.
Grandmaster Ma wasn’t sure who Yang Kai was or what his relationship with Yun Xuan was, but seeing her act so warmly towards him, even trying to gift him a valuable material like Sky Cicada Jade, he couldn’t help wondering.
Just what value did this boy from some remote land have that was worth investing in? Grandmaster Ma pondered to himself.
When Sky Cicada Jade and Ice Flame Star Sand were handed over to Grandmaster Ma, he reigned in his wandering thoughts and coughed lightly, “You are not a disciple of my Bold Independent Union, so in truth, the cost of repairing this artifact should be 20% higher…”
As he said so, he glanced over at Yun Xuan and smiled slightly, “But out of consideration for Yun girl’s face, this old master will only charge you 100 pieces of Crystal Stone. You at least have that much, right?”
Thinking that this country boy would be dirt poor, Grandmaster Ma didn’t dare ask for too much, lest he embarrass Yun Xuan.
Thankfully, Yang Kai nodded and freely took out a hundred pieces of Crystal Stone and handed them over.
Grandmaster Ma showed a satisfied expression and declared, “Good! Come back in ten days and I’ll give you your new artifact, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!”
“Then we’ll take our leave first,” Yun Xuan nodded lightly before leading Yang Kai and Shui Ling out.
After leaving the Artifact Hall, Yang Kai asked, “How many Crystal Stones is that Sky Cicada Jade worth?”
However, Yun Xuan just laughed and said nothing while Shui Ling casually pointed up towards the sky.
Yang Kai’s face immediately became awkward.
There was nothing on him of much value he could give Yun Xuan as compensation. He was not prepared to expose the Myriad Drug Liquid yet, and the Ice Flame Star Sand had all been given to Grandmaster Ma. He had originally planned on splitting the grains with Shui Ling but now even that wasn’t possible.
Fortunately, with Shui Ling being the Little Princess of Water Spirit Temple, she probably wouldn’t care about such minor gains and losses.
“I’ll definitely pay you back,” Yang Kai reiterated. He did not like owing people favours, especially unfamiliar people, not to mention Yun Xuan showing such a warm attitude towards him was because of Shui Ling’s status.
Yang Kai knew that with his current identity and strength, there was no reason Yun Xuan would gift him such a valuable material just to establish a connection.
“I told you there’s no need, you…” Yun Xuan pursed her lips and smiled before shaking her head, “Fine, fine, do as you like, let’s go back for now.”
“There’s still something I’d like to buy first.” Yang Kai said.
“Oh? What do you want to buy? Just tell me and I’ll lead you to an appropriate shop,” Yun Xuan stared at him with interest.
“Some spirit herbs.”
“What do you want to buy herbs for?” Yun Xuan asked, her beautiful eyes suddenly flashing a brilliant light, “Are you an Alchemist?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I have some interest in Alchemy, so I thought I’d try my hand at it.”
“You do?” Shui Ling was also dumbfounded. The time she had spent with Yang Kai wasn’t short, but she had never once seen him show any interest in pill refining. She knew that Yang Kai had a very close relationship with his ‘Little Senior Sister’ Xia Ning Chang, and that the latter had astonishing talent in the Alchemic Dao, but she never thought Yang Kai would have an interest in Alchemy as well. Shui Ling couldn’t help feeling somewhat confused.
“I just want to try it casually,” Yang Kai replied.
In any case he currently was idle, Grandmaster Ma had said it would be ten days before he could retrieve his Bone Shield so Yang Kai was just looking for something to pass the time.
On top of that, he was sincere when he said he was interested in Alchemy, it was just that he had never had an opportunity to practice it.
Before reaching the Immortal Ascension Boundary, one should not practice Alchemy, that was the teaching of Medicine King’s Valley’s Hidden Cloud Peak’s Xiao Fu Sheng! Yang Kai has already broke through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary some time ago so he had obviously met this condition.
Yang Kai previously had never needed to worry about pills for his cultivation as Little Senior Sister had constantly provided them to him. But now, he was alone in the Tong Xuan Realm and had no idea where Treasurer Meng, Su Yan, or Xia Ning Chang was, so he had to make plans for his future.
Besides, having such a skill would be better than nothing.
“I don’t understand you,” Shui Ling shook her head.
“Then come with me, I’ll take you to a medicine herb shop. What kind do you want?”
“The lower the grade, the better!” Yang Kai replied.
Yun Xuan was stunned, “The lower the better? Have you never performed Alchemy before?”
Only some apprentices who had yet to enter the Alchemic Way would choose the lower grade of herbs to practice.
“He’s never even tried before!” Shui Ling smiled.
“Seems you really are just trying casually,” Yun Xuan smiled, showing no intention of trying to stop him, leading Yang Kai and Shui Ling to another part of the city.
The further they walked from downtown, the lower the grade of resources were being sold, even the realms of the surrounding cultivators was lower than before.
Yang Kai knew that this region of Bold Independent City’s was where the lowest level cultivators came to shop.
Not long after, the group of three came to a medicine shop that was filled with a variety of low-grade materials. There were many Alchemy and Artifact Refiner apprentices looking about for materials to practice with here.
Although the material grades were low, the prices were also cheap. However, because many novices would purchase large quantities of these practice materials, business was actually good.
Under the guidance of Yun Xuan, Yang Kai purchased a large number of low-grade herbs with his remaining 50 Crystal Stones and left with satisfied look on his face.
Back at Yun Xuan’s team’s house, Yang Kai entered his room, closed the door, set up a simple barrier, and began his journey into the Alchemic Way.
About the mysteries and theory of the Alchemic Way, Yang Kai already had a deep understanding.
Over the years he had constantly been studying the True Alchemic Way which gave him a very broad range of knowledge about Alchemy, even more so than Xia Ning Chang.
With regards to the construction of various Spirit Arrays, the selection of herbs, the mastery of fire, and the experiences of various Alchemy Grandmasters, no one could match him.
What Yang Kai lacked now was only practical experience.
Moreover, the attributes of his True Qi and Spiritual Energy were also quite suitable for Alchemy.
His extremely pure True Yang Yuan Qi was perfectly suited for smelting and refining herbs.
It could be said that when it came to performing Alchemy, Yang Kai’s basic attributes were superb. Although he wouldn’t be able to compare with Xia Ning Chang’s Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, his starting point was at least much better than other Alchemists.
Pouring out the pile of low-grade herbs he had purchased, Yang Kai next summoned the little Incense Burner from the Black Book space.
This Incense Burner was the treasure that had appeared when he had unlocked the third page of the Black Book, and after he began studying the True Alchemic Way, Yang Kai realized that it was not just a simple incense burner.
It was also a pill stove that could be used to perform Alchemy!
The Incense Burner and the True Alchemic Way were meant to complement each other, but without the accident that occurred in Medicine King’s Valley where the True Alchemic Way contained inside the Pill Saint’s portrait was forcibly transfer to his Soul, Yang Kai might have missed the opportunity to enter the Alchemic Way.
The original owner of the Black Book seemed to have no intention of letting his successor study Alchemic Way, or at least had not meant to give him the True Alchemic Way.
However, it seems the Heavens had other plans.
Placing the small Incense Burner in front of himself, Yang Kai began injecting his True Qi into it following a pre-set path.
Soon, luminescent lines began appearing on the Incense Burner’s surface and it expanded to the size of a small water basin.
Yang Kai took his hands back and nodded with satisfaction.
The size of a pill furnace, to a certain extent, was a visual representation of the skill of an Alchemist.
Generally, the larger the pill furnace they required, the worse the Alchemist’s skill was, because while performing Alchemy, an Alchemist would need to use their own True Qi to portray different Spirit Arrays inside the furnace and use these Spirit Arrays to enhance the refinement and purification of medicine herbs and fuse the resulting medicinal liquid into a solid pill.
If an Alchemist possessed enough skill, no matter how small the pill furnace they used was, they could accurately portray and utilize these Spirit Arrays.
The current water basin sized pill furnace was suitable for Yang Kai to practice with. With such a large pill furnace, the tolerance for inaccuracy in his portrayal of the various Spirit Arrays would be slightly higher while the additional True Qi he would need to consume in order to do so was not an issue.
Recalling the recipe for one of the simplest pills, Yang Kai found the corresponding herbs from his pile of ingredients and placed them by his side; turning to the furnace again, he formed a series of hand seals and then began pouring his True Qi into it.
Soon, a simple Spirit Array was formed inside the pill furnace.
Because he was practicing, Yang Kai chose a Spirit Array that would increase the chance of successfully refining a pill. This Spirit Array was amongst the most basic he knew and was not too difficult to compose.
With his current True Qi manipulation abilities, Yang Kai could relatively easily control the shape and stability of this Spirit Array.
Inspected the Spirit Array inside the pill furnace, Yang Kai was extremely satisfied.
Orderly placing the spirit herbs into the pill furnace, Yang Kai then began pouring his True Qi into it, using his True Yang Yuan Qi to refine these herbs and extract their medicinal essence.
While he completed this process, the myriad of valuable experiences of various Alchemy Grandmasters he had read in the True Alchemic Way appeared in Yang Kai’s mind, allowing him to compare them to his current process.
These Alchemy Grandmasters also were one ignorant of the Alchemic Way and its profound mysteries.
But through their own efforts, they step by step rose to the peak of world and gained the respect of their peers.
Yang Kai proceeded cautiously, because the amount of True Qi he injected into the furnace would have a direct impact on the refinement of the spirit herbs’ medicinal properties. If he poured in too much True Qi, he would burn the herbs but if he put in too little, he would fail to completely refine them and would be unable to form a pill.
Alchemy was a profession that required one to have strict control over their own True Qi.
As the spirit herbs were refined into medicinal essence under the influence of Yang Kai’s True Qi, they began merging together and undergoing miraculous changes.
However, just as Yang Kai was about to succeed in this refinement, a puff of black smoke suddenly appeared from the pill furnace and a burnt smell quickly filled the room.
Yang Kai immediately stopped injecting his True Qi and wrinkled his brow.
He knew that this time’s Alchemy was a complete failure. It seemed like he had injected too much of his True Qi into the furnace and had burnt down all the herbs inside.
Taking out the burst waste material from the pill furnace, Yang Kai didn’t rush to start again but instead sat there calmly began mentally reviewing everything about the process he had just experienced, trying to confirm what he did correctly and what he did wrong.
It was quite some time before Yang Kai began his second attempt.
Due to his previous failure, the Spirit Array Yang Kai had drawn on the inside of the pill furnace had also been destroyed, so he first had to re-draw it.
Meticulously using his True Qi he once again engraved the pill furnace with his desired Spirit Array.
However, this time he did not succeed so easily. Due to a slight bit of carelessness, one of the True Qi lines Yang Kai drew when portraying the Spirit Array was distorted, causing the half-completed Spirit Array to burst.
Inside the pill furnace, a burst of chaotic energy quickly erupted and blasted out like a wild bucking horse.
Yang Kai suddenly felt a throbbing headache, quickly realize that understanding the theory behind Alchemy and actually using it were completely different matters.
Having understood this point, Yang Kai also realized just how envious Little Senior Sister’s aptitude was. With her Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, she was naturally talented in all things related to Alchemy. Any amount of herbs she touched could be perfectly refined and combined just by waving her hands.
After three consecutive failures, Yang Kai finally managed to engrave a stable Spirit Array inside the pill furnace.
Because of the nature of these Spirit Arrays, one needed to dedicate all their attention while portraying it as it had to be done in one complete motion. If there were any mistakes or deficiencies during this process, the Spirit Array would instantly collapse.
This task was quite draining on one’s True Qi and nerves.
Only a complete Spirit Array with no flaws would be of any use during Alchemy.
It was easy to say, but when one tried to do it, they would quickly come across a number of difficulties, and becoming impatient or impulse would only compound these problems. Fortunately, Yang Kai’s will was firm and demeanor resolute; he would not be discouraged by one or two failures.
To him, every failure only added to his experience.
When the Spirit Array stabilized, Yang Kai once again placed the herbs into the pill furnace in order and then began pouring his True Qi into it. The herbs were quickly refined into medicinal liquids and began blending together.
Various medicinal essences emerged and began amalgamating, each one having its own unique properties that when combined led to new effects.
This time, Yang Kai controlled his True Qi even more carefully, but he still ultimately failed.
While he was attempting to remove the impurities from the herbs and condense them into pure medicinal liquids, there was a sudden explosion inside his pill furnace and a familiar burnt smell once again permeated the room.
Sitting in the same spot, unmoving, Yang Kai quietly reflected on this latest failure for a while before returning to his senses.
Adjusting his mood and returning himself to his peak condition, he started again.
Failure, failure…
Failing over and over again would normally cause one to feel a sense of helplessness, but Yang Kai maintained his calm, repeatedly dumping the refuse materials from his pill furnace, pondering over where he went wrong, and then trying again.
He knew that every time he failed, he would make some progress.
Practice makes perfect, this saying was not just empty talk! Alchemy was not something one could learn or perfect in a single night; Yang Kai was just getting started.
The amount of destroyed materials in the room continued to pile up and the smell of burnt ash grew stronger by the hour, yet Yang Kai’s determination never wavered
Time passed slowly.
By now, eighty percent of the low-grade herbs Yang Kai had purchased for fifty Crystal Stones had been consumed, but Yang Kai still hadn’t produced a single finished pill.
He was now in an almost obsessed state, so meticulously focused on the task in front of him he ignored everything else.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai had long ago lost track of how many attempts he had made.
However, this time was different from the past, a kind of innate confidence welled up inside him, and his instincts were telling him that this time he would surely succeed.
He already couldn’t be more familiar with engraving the Spirit Array into his pill furnace so it only took Yang Kai ten breaths to do so.
Placing the herbs into the furnace one at a time, he once again began injecting his True Qi and refined them up. Pushing his True Qi through this raw medicinal liquid, he quickly burned away the impurities and purified the medicinal essences.
There were no mistakes made during this entire process. Yang Kai gave off the appearance of a skilled veteran and the pill gradually began taking shape.
Soon, a faint scent began leaking from the pill furnace.
Yang Kai’s spirit shook, and he became even more careful about controlling the output of his True Qi during these last crucial moments.
A short time later, when all the medicinal liquids had been purified and refined to their limits, Yang Kai suddenly took back all of his True Qi.
The Spirit Array inside the pill furnace immediately contracted like a great net, binding all of the medicinal liquids together and condensing them into a round pill.
*Ding dong…*
A crisp sound emerged out of the pill furnace.
Yang Kai was exhausted and sweating all over, but that did not dampen the joy in his heart, quickly opening his furnace and removing the finished pill.
An attractive, delicate fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose as he stared at the small pill in his hands. After painstakingly refining all of those herbs, all of their medicinal essences had been condensed into this thumbnail sized pill.
Carefully inspecting his word, Yang Kai quickly discovered that the first pill he had ever successfully refined was actually just a Low Quality Common Grade Pill.
The materials he had used were all Earth Grade materials because no one sold Common Grade herbs in the Tong Xuan Realm. If one wanted those they could just pick them like wild flowers by the roadside.
Only Earth Grade materials and above had any value.
Using Earth Grade herbs to refine a Common Grade pill was a complete and total waste of materials, but Yang Kai was still extremely satisfied, because this was the first pill he had ever personally refined.
Holding this pill, Yang Kai carefully recalled everything he did and felt during the refining process.
Yang Kai thought to himself that if he could further extract the medicinal essences from the herbs, remove more of the impurities, and control the heat distribution better, the grade and quality of the pill would rise again.
After this first success, Yang Kai deeply realized the profoundness of the Alchemic Way and gained a much greater appreciation of the mysteries Alchemy hid.
In order to become a qualified Alchemist, having vast knowledge was not enough, Yang Kai also had to accumulate massive amount of practical experience through repeated trial and error.
The road leading to this first success had given Yang Kai his first taste of this experience.
After a short break, he continued working hard.
Time passed by quickly and soon, ten days had elapsed.
The fifty Crystal Stones worth of herbs Yang Kai had purchased had now been completely consumed.
Just as he was about to exit, Yang Kai heard some light footstep outside his room. From the sound of these footfalls, Yang Kai immediately identified his visitor.
Smiling lightly, Yang Kai waved his hand to dispel the barrier surrounding his room and opened the door.
In the hallway outside stood Shui Ling, a slightly complex look upon her face.
After sniffing the smell wafting from Yang Kai’s room, she quickly waved her hand in front of her nose and frowned, “What is that?”
In response, Yang Kai could only scratch the back of his head awkwardly.
Not far away, Yun Xuan and the big bearded man also appeared and walked over.
Seemingly knowing that Yang Kai had been practicing Alchemy these past few days, the bearded man rushed forward towards Yang Kai and grinned, “Brother Yang, how’d it go? Did you manage to refine any good pills? Quickly show us.”
“Ji Hong!” Yun Xuan gave him a harsh glare.
Yang Kai had admitted to her that he had never performed Alchemy before and had only bought those herbs in order to casually experiment. Without anyone to guide or teach him, it would be strange if he had managed to refine anything.
If Alchemy was really so easy to learn, the title ‘Alchemist’ wouldn’t be so honorable.
From the smell that drifted from his room, and the big pile of burnt waste piled up inside, Yun Xuan already knew just what kind of setbacks Yang Kai must have suffered.
“Haha, I was just asking,” The bearded man laughed casually, apparently not having any malicious intent.
Yun Xuan shot Yang Kai an apologetic glance and hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you really want to study Alchemy, I can get you an apprenticeship with one of the Union’s masters. If you have someone teaching you, your chances of becoming a qualified Alchemist will be much better than if you just experiment on your own.”
“Thanks, but there’s no need, I really just wanted to give it a try,” Yang Kai smiled and shook his head.
Yun Xuan gently nodded, not pressing the issue any further, simply thinking that Yang Kai was a bit odd. Obviously he was interested in studying Alchemy, but he was not willing to be taught, preferring to seclude himself in his room and fumble through things on his own.
Yun Xuan sighed secretly. If he continued on like this, he would likely never successfully refine a single pill for the rest of his life; however, this was his own private matters so it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to continue inserting herself.
“Yang Kai, the people from the Temple are here to pick me up,” Shui Ling said.
“Oh? Congratulations,” Yang Kai smiled warmly.
“En, I wanted to tell you in person before heading out,” Shui Ling continued.
A group from Water Spirit Temple had arrived in Bold Independent City a couple days ago, but since Yang Kai was in secluded retreat practicing Alchemy, Shui Ling felt it was inappropriate to leave without saying goodbye.
After all, it was Yang Kai who had brought her back.
Now that the time of their parting was at hand, Shui Ling didn’t feel too sad and instead was quite relaxed, chatting happily with Yang Kai and the others as they walked outside.
Outside Yun Xuan’s team’s house there was a luxurious carriage drawn by several Monster Beasts waiting. Beneath the feet of these beasts one could see a small swirling stream of wind.
Seeing this, Yang Kai couldn’t help showing some admiration.
“Young Lady!” Outside the carriage, a Transcendent Realm master stood waiting, calling out respectfully upon seeing Shui Ling come out, his expression remaining solemn.
Shui Ling nodded lightly to this master before turning to look at Yang Kai once more, “No matter what, I still must thank you. Here, take this Blue Water Jade Pendant, if there ever comes a day when you need help, bring this with you to Water Spirit Temple and look for me. Also, I’ll do my best to find the whereabouts of your friends. If I obtain any news about them, I’ll find a way to inform you.”
“Thank you,” Yang Kai reached out and took blue jade pendant and gave his sincere thanks.
Watching this scene, the Transcendent Realm master couldn’t help taking a quick look at Yang Kai, seemingly wondering just what it was about him that caused his Sect’s Young Lady to pay so much attention to him, even to the point where she had given him her Blue Water Jade Pendant.
Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes also flashed as she glanced suspiciously towards Yang Kai.
Although Shui Ling had lived together with them for several days and the two of them had built up some small friendship, Yun Xuan has still not yet figured out what the true nature of the relationship between Yang Kai and Shui Ling was.
“Well then, I’m off,” Shui Ling smiled, turned, and walked over to the carriage.
From beginning to end, the Transcendent Realm master remained calm and composed, not sparing Yang Kai or any of the others a second look before taking a seat in the driver’s position and injecting his True Qi into the carriage. The Monster Beasts also responded at the same time and bursts of wind erupted from around their hooves, the entire carriage lifting off the ground in the next moment and ascending into the sky.
“Worthy of Water Spirit Temple’s Little Princess, her private carriage is really impressive,” The bearded man said, an envious light flashing across his eyes.
This elegant carriage was actually a special kind of flying artifact and its grade was definitely not low. Refining such an artifact was neither cheap nor easy so only forces as powerful as Water Spirit Temple possessed them.
After watching Shui Ling leave, Yun Xuan smiled and said, “Good, I’ll take you to the Artifact Hall to retrieve your Bone Shield. Grandmaster Ma should have fixed it by now.”
Yang Kai smiled happily, greatly looking forward to it.
Besides the small sword in his Knowledge Sea, the Bone Shield was the only artifact Yang Kai currently had.
And in the Tong Xuan Realm, where masters appeared one after another and crisis loomed around every corner, Yang Kai felt that his Bone Shield would be able to play an important role, so he had not hesitated to use the precious Ice Flame Star Sand and borrow Yun Xuan’s Sky Cicada Jade in order to let Grandmaster Ma repair it.
With the Bone Shield, he would gain another layer of protection.
Now that ten days had passed, it was naturally time to retrieve his Bone Shield.
Upon hearing this, the big bearded man and the others all expressed interest in coming along to see just what kind of artifact Yang Kai was having fixed, so Yun Xuan could only helplessly let them follow.
Arriving at the Artifact Hall, Yun Xuan led Yang Kai back to the innermost room where they found Grandmaster Ma waiting.
Upon seeing Yang Kai, Grandmaster Ma didn’t say much and simply handed over the Bone Shield.
The patterns and designs on the Bone Shield had returned to their original appearance and nothing about it seemed particularly out of the ordinary, but when Yang Kai held it in his hands he immediately felt that the Bone Shield was a little different.
All of the scars marring the shield’s face had been completely repaired and the bone spurs around its edge had also been reconnected but it also had a kind of icy chill circulating around it, clearly having taken on some of the characteristics of the Ice Flame Star Sand.
The Bone Shield’s grade was now also much higher than before!
Yang Kai was incredibly happy.
“Mysterious Grade Top-Rank, unfortunately it couldn’t be promoted directly to Spirit Grade, but it should be enough for you for now. With it, anyone below the Transcendent Realm won’t be able to break through your defense and even if you have to face a Transcendent, you’ll be able to put up some resistance,” Grandmaster Ma said lightly.
“Many thanks, Grandmaster Ma,” Yang Kai nodded in appreciation.
“No need for that, this is just business. This time, this old master especially helped you out of consideration for Yun girl’s face, but, next time, you need this old master to fix an artifact; you won’t get off so lightly.”
Yang Kai gently nodded and Yun Xuan smiled and said, “Then we’ll be taking our leave.”
Hearing this, Grandmaster Ma suddenly let out a sigh, “Yun girl, take care of yourself, there’s no need to act so rash.”
“I know, thank you for your concern, Grandmaster.”
Upon leaving the Artifact Hall, the bearded man and the others rushed over to see Yang Kai’s artifacts, and Yang Kai didn’t refuse, taking the Bone Shield out to let them observe it, secretly anticipating seeing the envy in their eyes.
Although all of them also had Mysterious Grade artifacts, most of them were just Mysterious Grade Low-Rank so there was still a noticeable gap with his Mysterious Grade Top-Rank Bone Shield.
Also, the Bone Shield was an artifact that specialized in defense. Having such a treasure was almost equal to having an extra life, so all the others were quite jealous of Yang Kai.
“Yang Kai, I’m afraid we won’t be able to continue accompanying you,” Yun Xuan looked at him slightly apologetically, “The Union has assigned us another mission so we’ll have to leave here soon. If you’d like, you’re welcome to continue staying in our house for now, but I can’t say for certain when we’ll be back.”
Yang Kai’s expression became serious, hesitating for a moment before saying, “I’d like to accompany you.”
“You want to come with us?” Yun Xuan was confused for a second before suddenly smiling, “Do you want to join our Bold Independent Union?”
However, Yang Kai shook his head, “I owe you a favour for that piece of Sky Cicada Jade, if I accompany you out and bump into some kind of opportunity I’ll be able to pay you back. Don’t worry, I won’t ask for anything regarding your mission’s reward.”
Yun Xuan’s brow suddenly furrowed slightly, apparently somewhat unease; after all, she was not very familiar with Yang Kai and had been treating him in such a warm manner mainly out of consideration for Shui Ling’s face.
Now that Shui Ling was gone though, she didn’t need to concern herself with Yang Kai so much anymore.
Gifting him that piece of Sky Cicada Jade in order to build a connection with Water Spirit Temple was a price she could afford.
But now Yang Kai suddenly saying he wanted to act together with them for their mission put Yun Xuan in a difficult position.
An Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation wasn’t low, but Yang Kai seemed quite young so she had questions about his real combat power, if her team suddenly found themselves in a dangerous situation and he panicked, it would very likely bring trouble to her team and cause unnecessary losses.
As a team leader, Yun Xuan had to consider such issues.
“If you let me come with you, maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Yang Kai said when he saw her hesitant expression, “In any case, while we’re together, I will follow your commands.”
“Surprised?” Yun Xuan smiled thinly, hesitating for a moment longer before suddenly nodding, “Good, since you want to return my favour in this manner, I won’t refuse you, but you must remember, during this mission, you must faithfully obey my orders, if because of you any of my team members encounter life-threatening danger, I’ll make you pay an appropriate price.”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders casually and agreed.
He really didn’t like the feeling of owing others and had constantly been looking for an opportunity to pay Yun Xuna back for the piece of Sky Cicada Jade she had given him. Only after he did so could he depart from here and begin looking for Su Yan.
“Then let’s move out,” Yun Xuan waved her hand.
There is no need to prepare anything, the members of the Yun Xuan’s team were all long-time veterans so before they had left the house they had already gathered their equipment and supplies.
After Yun Xuan’s team exited Bold Independent City, the bearded man quickly ran up to Yang Kai and pulled his arm, asking curiously, “Brother Yang, what do you mean pleasantly surprised? What kind of surprise will we get to see if you come with us?”
Yang Kai already had a profound understanding of this bearded man’s persistent shamelessness, so he chose to observe the philosophy that silence was gold.
The entire journey, Yang Kai used his abnormally powerful Divine Sense to investigate their surroundings, hoping to find something of value.
Unfortunately, he gained nothing for his efforts.
However, from the chatter between Yun Xuan’s team members, Yang Kai gradually figured out what their mission was.
Apparently a number of unknown Monster Beasts had appeared in a place called Thousand Leaf Forest which was roughly seven or eight days travel from Bold Independent City. Many passing cultivators and even disciples of Bold Independent Union had lost their lives to these beasts.
Thousand Leaf Forest was incredibly valuable to Bold Independent Union, not only because of the rare herbs that grew in this forest, but also because of the Sun Tin ore vein that lay in the middle of the forest.
This Sun Tin ore wasn’t a particularly high grade material, but if Artifact Refiners smelted and refined it, it had many uses.
This accentuated the value of Thousand Leaf Forest to Bold Independent Union.
According to those who managed to escape with their lives, the strength of these Monster Beasts wasn’t great, all of them barely Sixth-Order, but their number were quite large.
Another team had been sent ahead to investigate the situation and now Yun Xuan’s team was being deployed as reinforcements to annihilate the Monster Beasts.
The Monster cores from these Monster Beasts as well as their various body parts and blood were all useful Alchemy and Artifact Refining materials. With such a juicy piece of meat being served up to them, how could Bold Independent Union not try to swallow it?
The entire trip was quite relaxed and after eight days, a vast and boundless forest appeared in front of Yang Kai’s eyes.
On the outskirts of the forest, a young man stood waiting and when Yun Xuan’s team, or rather Yun Xuan appeared, his face lit up and he warmly greeted her, “Yun Xuan, you’ve finally arrived?”
His smile was sincere and there were clear signs of love on his face. He seemingly was quite concerned with Yun Xuan and when he spoke, his gaze never left her for an instant.
Yun Xuan stared back at this young man in amazement, “Zhuo Luo, why are you here? Weren’t you out completing a different assignment?”
The young man named Zhuo Luo smiled and replied without disguise, “I heard that you would be coming here, so I decided to come offer my assistance.”
Yun Xuan couldn’t help but frown, her expression immediately becoming a few degrees colder, “What is the current situation?”
“Xin Yu’s team has already been here for more than a dozen days and have investigated everything regarding this pack of Monster Beast. They’ve concluded that they really aren’t that strong so we’ve only been waiting for your team’s arrival before beginning the cleanup,” Zhuo Luo politely explained.
“Good. Lead the way.” Yun Xuan nodded lightly.
Zhuo Luo smiled happily and led Yun Xuan’s team towards a nearby area.
“Fuck, it’s this bastard again,” The bearded man and many of the others suddenly began grumbling in dissatisfaction, all of their eyes glaring towards the young man named Zhuo Luo, their teeth grinding so hard it was audible to Yang Kai who was standing nearby.
“You guys have some kind of grudge?” Yang Kai asked offhandedly.
“There’s no grudge between us, it’s just uncomfortable having to see him,” Ji Hong muttered, “This little brat mouth only spouts crap and his attitude is terrible. Every day, all he’s thinking about is women. Many of the female disciples in the Union have already been harmed by him and six months ago, he began targeting our team’s captain. Of course, Captain never paid any attention to him, but even so… Don’t judge him by his clean appearance, it’s all a facade. He’s just a sinister brat who many times has used the excuse of doing missions to try to get close to Captain.”
“Oh…” Yang Kai faintly felt he shouldn’t delve into the subject any further.
To him, the internal struggles of Bold Independent Union had nothing to do with him, so he naturally wouldn’t go sticking his nose into other people’s business.
Ji Hong didn’t bother lowering his voice much so Zhuo Luo obviously heard him, the latter turning around a shoot at glance over at Ji Hong and grinned disdainfully.
After about a half a day or so following Zhuo Luo through the forest, Yang Kai suddenly felt the auras of several people waiting up ahead.
From a quick estimate, there were at least a dozen or so.
Bold Independent Union disciples functioned in small teams whenever they went on missions, each team consisting of about five to eight members. For example, Yun Xuan’s team had a total of eight.
Zhuo Luo had brought his team to help, and this Xin Yu, who had apparently been the first sent here to gather intelligence, was also the captain of her own team.
However, Yang Kai was keenly aware that amongst the cultivators waiting for them, there was also a Transcendent.
Obviously, Bold Independent Union was concerned there might be some unforeseen accidents here, so they had deployed a Transcendent in order to oversee the operation. With such a master assuming overall command, everyone would feel much more secure.
When they finally emerged from the forest and into a clearing, Zhuo Luo waved to the people in front and called out, “Yun Xuan’s team is here.”
The Transcendent Realm master, a middle-aged man, gave a light nod in response.
Beside this master stood a petite woman with a somewhat arrogant expression on her face. This woman had a full chest, shapely hips, causing Ji Hong and the men in Yun Xuan’s team to unconsciously sweep their gazes over her, their eyes becoming somewhat bloodshot as their temperatures rose.
Noticing this rude reaction, the young woman just coldly snorted. Her expression grew dark as she stared daggers towards Yun Xuan.
As for the manga, I spoke to Ninjascans and they have committed to posting one chapter a week starting from 1st of April.
Yun Xuan quickly came forward politely greeted the Transcendent Realm master, “Uncle Sun, I’ve kept you waiting.”
Sun Ying smiled and shook his head, “I just came. Have you been well, Little Yun?”
“Everything is fine with me, thank you in advance for your assistance here, Uncle Sun.”
“En,” Sun Ying nodded lightly, hesitantly following up, “If you have time, you should go see your father. He…”
“Uncle Sun!” Yun Xuan frowned, directly cutting him off.
“Alright, alright, alight. I won’t say any more,” Sun Ying sighed helplessly.
Seeing this scene play out, Yang Kai realized that this group had various different issues, but he smartly kept his silence and stayed out of it.
Yun Xuan turned to the other young woman next and nodded, “Junior Sister Ruan, I trust you’ve been well since we last met.”
Ruan Xin Yu coldly snorted, grumbling back unhappily, “If you had come earlier it would have been better. We’ve already been waiting here for you for several days. If not for the Union’s orders, I’d have insisted that my team complete this mission ourselves and claim all the credit.”
Yun Xuan smiled back faintly, “Junior Sister must be joking. Since the Union issued such orders, they must have a good reason.”
Ruan Xin Yu’s pretty face become gloomier, seemingly wanting to rebut Yun Xuan’s argument when Sun Ying suddenly clapped his hands and interrupted, “Good, that’s enough of that. You two girls are both disciples of the Union yet you always quarrel every time you meet. Do you really have such deep enmity that you can’t resolve it peacefully?”
Even with Sun Ying stepping in to mediate, Ruan Xin Yu maintained her cold expression while Yun Xuan wore her pale smile, causing this Transcendent Realm master no small headache.
“Oh…” Suddenly, Sun Ying discovered Yang Kai, a trace of suspicion flashing across his face, “Yun girl, how come your team has one more person today. Is he a new Union disciple?”
Saying so, Sun Yin quickly gave Yang Kai a once over with his Divine Sense, and after seeing his cultivation, he couldn’t help nodding lightly, thinking that possessing such strength at such a young age wasn’t bad. The only thing that confused him was that Yang Kai wasn’t wearing a Bold Independent Union’s disciple’s robes.
“He’s not a disciple of the Union,” Yun Xuan said.
This time, even Ruan Xin Yu and Zhuo Luo’s interest was piqued.
When Bold Independent Union disciples went out to execute missions, it was simply common sense not to bring outsiders along, so Yun Xuan’s behaviour was quite puzzling to them.
“He wants to join Bold Independent Union, so this time I brought him out to evaluate his performance in the field,” Yun Xuan calmly explained, secretly giving Yang Kai a wink.
Seeing this, Yang Kai remained silent and played along.
“So that’s it,” Sun Ying nodded, “Very good, then this old master will also take a look at his potential during this mission. However, if he passes, which team should he be assigned to? Your team is already full, Yun Xuan.”
“If you don’t mind, how about joining my team?” Zhuo Luo sent out an invitation.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled ever so slightly, somewhat uncertain about how he should answer. Thankfully Yun Xuan quickly stepped in, “There’s no need to consider such things right now, he might not even meet the Union’s requirements, let’s focus on completing our task first.”
“Good,” Zhuo Luo smiled and nodded, “Little Brother, work hard. I believe that Yun Xuan’s judgement isn’t bad, don’t bring shame to her this time.”
Ruan Xin Yu on the other hand just looked Yang Kai over and sneered, “Just a dull brat!”
Yang Kai hadn’t said one word the whole time, giving her the mistaken impression that he was a bit slow. Coupled with her grievances with Yun Xuan, naturally she found him not pleasing to the eye.
“Xin Yu, your team arrived here earlier and was responsible for investigating the situation, give us a brief explanation.” Sun Ying had also used his Divine Sense to explore the surrounding area, but he didn’t want to interfere as much as possible so he pushed Ruan Xin Yu to take the lead.
Getting down to business, Ruan Xin Yu’s expression became serious as she began explaining, “The situation here is similar to the information obtained from the Union’s survivors’ testimony. The Monster Beast that suddenly appeared here are Metal Devouring Beasts that mainly consume ores and minerals. Our Bold Independent Union’s Sun Tin Ore mine has essentially been taken over by them and they’ve built a nest inside. There are around forty to fifty of them in total, the majority of which are Sixth-Order with a few only at the Fifth-Order. So far no signs of a Seventh-Order have been found.”
“Metal Devouring Beasts?” Hearing this, Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes lit up.
“En, Metal Devouring Beasts, everyone here should have heard of this Monster Beast before and know what they’re worth.”
Zhuo Luo suddenly got excited, “Of course we know. This is stroke of good luck. If we can grab all of these Metal Devouring Beasts, it’ll be a huge boost to our Union’s Artifact Refiners. As long as we properly rear these Monster Beast, we won’t have to worry about smelting Sun Tin Ore anymore. This will be a huge merit for us.”
Even Sun Ying showed a faint smile, “Your three teams’ respective strength isn’t weak so you should have no difficulty handling some Sixth-Order Monster Beasts as long as you don’t let them besiege you. Good, our goal then is to capture alive these Monster Beasts, not to kill them. Each of you must take that to heart, if any of them die it will be a big loss to the Union, understand?”
Everyone nodded and suddenly looked motivated, as if these Metal Devouring Beasts had some kind of great value to them.
Only Yang Kai remained confused.
“Yun Xuan, Zhuo Luo, Xin Yu, each of you send half of your members out to help this old master arrange a barrier to prevent those Metal Devouring Beasts from running away. It’s already getting dark, so once the barrier is up, everyone can rest for the night before we take action tomorrow,” Sun Ying directed.
A moment later, half of the Bold Independent Union disciples went out with Sun Ying to set up a barrier around the mine.
Yang Kai sat down cross-legged and began restoring himself.
The bearded man soon walked over with a sullen expression and sat down opposite Yang Kai, seemingly a bit bored.
Yun Xuan hadn’t brought him along so he was feeling somewhat disgruntled.
“Brother Ji, what kind of Monster Beasts are these Metal Devouring Beasts? Why did everyone suddenly become excitement when you heard their name?” Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before asking.
On the journey here, Yang Kai had gotten the impression that this groups mission was to exterminate these invasive Monster Beasts in order to obtain materials and monster cores. Yet after arriving here, their objectives had suddenly changed to capturing these Monster Beasts alive. This made Yang Kai wonder why these Metal Devouring Beast were more valuable alive than death.
Hearing Yang Kai’s question, Ji Hong’s jaw dropped slightly as he stared back at him blankly, “Have you never heard of Metal Devouring Beasts?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“Just what hole did you crawl out of?” Ji Hong was thoroughly speechless, staring at Yang Kai as if he was a complete country hick.
“Haha…” Yang Kai laughed somewhat embarrassedly.
“I really can’t understand you,” Ji Hong shook his head and patiently explained, “From the name Metal Devouring Beast you should be able to figure out their distinguishing trait. These Monster Beasts don’t eat plants or flesh, only minerals. As a result, their physiques are quite special and after eating a sufficient amount of ore, they’ll automatically process it within their bodies, discharging a fully refined product later.”
“You mean they shit metal?” Yang Kai’s face went black.
“In the bluntest sense, yes, but that shit has many valuable uses to us. Compared to ores processed by ordinary Artifact Refiners, the ones refined by Metal Devouring Beasts have far fewer impurities. As a result, they can be used to refine stronger and higher quality artifacts. You should be able to understand why we are so interested in capturing them instead of killing them, right?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, “You want to bring them back to the Union and use them to refine your raw ores and minerals.”
“Exactly, with these Metal Devouring Beasts, the Union will be able to save a great deal of manpower, allowing the Artifact Refiners who are freed up to attend to other, more valuable tasks,” Ji Hong said enthusiastically, his face filled with excitement, “Forty or fifty Metal Devouring Beasts is quite a large number. The more our team catches, the better our rewards will be. Maybe this time, if we can snatch all of them up, we’ll all be able to become captains and interact with Yun Xuan on equal footing, hehe.”
Ji Hong was incredibly eager to get started, practically overflowing with energy.
“What is Yun Xuan’s situation exactly?” Yang Kai suddenly asked. Over the time they had been together, Yang Kai had noticed a great deal; he faintly felt that Yun Xuan’s identity was somewhat different than just Common Disciple of Bold Independent Union, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Ji Hong’s enthusiasm immediately gave way to awkwardness, hesitating for a while before saying, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to discuss Captain’s circumstances. If you want to know, you should ask her yourself, but I can’t guarantee she’ll tell you.”
Yang Kai gently nodded and let the subject drop.
Later in the evening, Sun Ying and the others came back having completed the perimeter barrier. Now everyone was just waiting for the dawn.
That night, everyone sat quietly in meditation adjusting their condition as they looked forward to tomorrow.
A fragrant scent suddenly brushed past the tip of Yang Kai’s nose, causing him to blink and open his eyes where he saw Yun Xuan’s graceful figure standing in front of him. The sky was still dark, and from the surrounding blackness it seemed to be the darkest time before dawn.
“What’s the matter?” Yang Kai asked.
“We’re about to begin. When we do, make sure you act carefully and follow my instructions. Don’t make any mistakes. If you die, I don’t know how I’ll explain myself to Miss Shui.”
“Understood.”
“Good, yesterday I said you wanted to join Bold Independent Union, but that was just a way to smooth the situation over, whether you want to join or not after we’re done here will be up to you,” Yun Xuan brushed her hair back gently, revealing a delicate earlobe and cheeks that seemed as ripe as a peaches.
Staring off towards the horizon where the first rays of dawn were rising, Yun Xuan suddenly asked, “How old are you this year?”
“Twenty,” Yang Kai replied casually.
“A twenty year old Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage, heh, time really does fly,” Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes suddenly blurred as she stared towards Yang Kai, seemingly recalling some past memories, only returning to normal a while later and smiling, “You’re still so young, so you definitely can’t die, if you die, everything ends.”
Yang Kai brow furrowed slightly, feeling like Yun Xuan’s words carried some deeper hidden meaning, but just as he was about to ask, Sun Ying’s voice rang out, “Get ready to move out.”
Everyone who wasn’t already awake opened their eyes, a look of excitement appearing on their faces.
Yun Xuan’s expression also became serious as she quickly assembled the members of her team.
A short time later, everyone was ready to go, and under Sun Ying’s leadership, they made their way towards the Sun Tin Ore mine.
Halfway up a small mountain, there was a dark cave. This was the entrance to Bold Independent Union’s mineral lode inside Thousand Leaf Forest. Yang Kai perceived some kind of energy fluctuation around this cave entrance and figured it was related to the barrier the members of Bold Independent Union had set up yesterday.
Sending out his huge Divine Sense, Yang Kai quickly began probing the depths of the mountain and soon found the aura of a number of Monster Beast. If the information was correct, these were the Metal Devouring Beasts they were after; most of them were indeed Sixth-Order’s Monster Beast.
“Open!” Sun Ying shouted, holding up his hand and pouring his True Qi into the energy barrier, causing a visible gap to open.
After probing the mountain with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai faintly realized that there was more than one barrier erected here.
He knew that Sun Ying had only opened a single barrier last night to prevent their prey from escaping though.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, faintly feeling that something was off.
“Enter!” Sun Ying waved his hand and walked into the cave, the others following close behind.
The mine was quite deep and the path down was a long twisting passage.
Along the way, there were traces left behind of something gnawing on the walls and there were no traces of Sun Tin ore anywhere to be seen; the Metal Devouring Beasts had obviously cleaned this section out completely.
These Monster Beasts took minerals as food, so once they had finished eating what was available in the surrounding areas, they had apparently moved inwards and were now several kilometers from the entrance, scattered about scavenging for food. This situation was quite convenient for Bold Independent Union as it would allow them to capture them one by one.
After walking a short while, a fork in the path appeared.
Sun Ying paused for a moment to inspect the area in front of them before saying, “Yun girl, your team has the most people, and with your strength you should be able to handle yourselves on your own. Xin Yu’s team has the least members so I will follow them. If you encounter any unforeseen accidents, notify me immediately and I’ll quickly come to your aid.”
Yun Xuan nodded firmly before leading the members of her team and Yang Kai into the channel on the left.
“Yun Xuan, be carefully,” Zhuo Luo said in a concerned, affectionate tone…
Of course, he received no response, Yun Xuan acting as if she hadn’t heard him at all. Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help but laugh at this as she stared at Zhuo Luo scornfully, “Stop wasting your effort.”
“Alright, let’s get going,” Sun Ying knew that this particular group had a lot of emotional baggage and did not want to give them any more time to bicker, immediately signaling for everyone to continue with their mission.
After Yun Xuan’s team had walked a fair distance, Yang Kai quickly caught up to Yun Xuan and whispered, “With Senior Sun leaving the barrier in that place; will there be any problems?”
“What kind of problems?” Yun Xuan stared at him blankly.
“This way, without him opening the barrier, although the Metal Devouring Beasts can’t escape, doesn’t that mean we can’t exit either?”
“We’re here to capture those Metal Devouring Beasts, why are you worried about being able to exit?” Yun Xuan frowned and suddenly understood, “Are you afraid there’ll be some kind of danger?”
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Yun Xuan laughed in spite of trying not to, “You’re worried too much. Ruan Xin Yu’s team have already been investigating this place for more than a dozen days, and Uncle Sun also personally checked the situation here. Naturally they determined there wasn’t any danger here so they decided to erect that barrier. But don’t worry, if we really run into trouble we can’t solve, Uncle Sun will quickly help us.”
Listening to these words, Yang Kai knew it wasn’t a good idea to press the issue so he simply closed his mouth and nodded.
Yun Xuan looked at him for a moment before whispering, “Being cautions is a good thing, but if you want to be a real man, you have to be bolder, or you’ll never accomplish anything significant.”
Because she was worried that if she spoke to loudly she would disturb the nearby Metal Devouring Beast, Yun Xuan not only lowered her voice but also brought her lips close to Yang Kai’s ear.
As her intoxicating fragrance quietly drifted into Yang Kai’s nose, his face couldn’t help going slightly stiff.
Noticing her gaff, Yun Xuan’s face blushed faintly, quickly pulling away and letting out a cough, “Follow behind me, as long as I don’t give the order, don’t move about arbitrarily.”
Yang Kai secretly smiled, thinking to himself that this young woman really regarded him as a kid. Although it was true he wasn’t very old, the amount of worldly experience he had was immense.
“Captain!” At that moment, the bearded man suddenly called out; the entire team went silent and stared towards a bend up ahead.
From around the corner, a clear sound of chewing could be heard and a quick sweep with their Divine Senses clearly told them that they had come across their target.
“Only one,” Yun Xuan smiled, “Our luck is good.”
“Heh heh!” Ji Hong smirked as he rolled up his sleeves, the others also showing looks of excitement.
Gathering everyone’s attention, Yun Xuan quickly made a few gestures and the rest of the team soon nodded and spread out.
Sensing some subtle energy fluctuations, Yang Kai realized that two people were setting up something nearby, probably a trap. Everyone else stood guard to avoid having their movements startle the nearby Metal Devouring Beast.
A short time later, everything had been prepared.
Ji Hong glanced over at Yun Xuan.
Yun Xuan nodded.
Ji Hong smiled fiercely as he licked his lips and in the next instant summoned a giant axe into his hand. When this axe appeared, a cold murderous intent and bloody aura leaked out.
Ji Hong tightly gripped his axe and leapt out, rushing forward what raising a loud war cry.
The gnawing sound suddenly stopped and Yang Kai clearly felt that the nearby Monster Beast’s aura quickly become dangerous.
Ji Hong’s provocation had obviously angered the Metal Devouring Beast.
*Dong dong dong…* The earth trembled, lightly at first but growing heavier every moment until from around the corner big silver coloured head appeared. This head had two golden horns and its eyes emitted a faint metallic lustre. Its physical strength, accompanied by its strong murderous intent was nothing to scoff at.
Metal Devouring Beast!
This was also the first time Yang Kai had ever seen this Monster Beast. From a quick glance, Yang Kai determined it was about six meters in length, and one and a half meters tall. It was slightly fat and chubby, its belly jiggling as it ran but despite that, its speed wasn’t slow.
What most caught Yang Kai’s attention was the armoured plating that wrapped its body; this thick plating looked quite sturdy and obviously wouldn’t be easy to break open.
These pieces of armor resembled a turtle’s shell and covered everything with the exception of its tail and underbelly, leaving few weaknesses to target.
As soon as Ji Hong got within ten meters of the Metal Devouring Beast, he suddenly turned around and ran back.
He never intended to confront this Sixth-Order Monster Beast head on.
“Come on!” Ji Hong yelled as he ran, his and everyone else in the team’s faces filled with excitement.
Just as he reached the location of the trap, Ji Hong leapt forward across it but the Sixth-Order Metal Devouring Beast, with its fat body, obviously wasn’t capable of such movement and crashed directly into it.
The two cultivators who were standing by didn’t need to wait for Yun Xuan’s order before activating the trap.
A flash of light burst from the ground and a series of energy ropes sprung up, wrapping tightly around the Metal Devouring Beast.
Its four clumsy limbs quickly entangled, the massive body of the Metal Devouring Beast continued forward a few dozen meters under the influence of its own inertia before coming to a stop, leaving behind a deep gully-like trail on the ground behind it.
“Break both of its horns!” Yun Xuan shouted, taking the lead, a powerful force erupting from her tender body as she charged towards the Metal Devouring Beast.
The other members of her team also hurriedly kept up.
The Metal Devouring Beast struggled violently and wreaked havoc in the mine tunnel while releasing golden beams of energy from its two horns which puncture many holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling, but as a Sixth-Order Monster Beast, it was only equivalent to an Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator and with its mobility severely limited it couldn’t deal any effective damage to Yun Xuan’s team.
After only a few breaths of time, the Metal Devouring Beast’s hard horns were cut off by Ji Hong’s big axe.
Seemingly enduring excruciating pain, the Metal Devouring Beast wailed loudly.
Yun Xuan leapt forward and quickly bound its mouth, silencing it.
“Captain!” Ji Hong smiled sheepishly, handing over the two horns he had just cut down to Yun Xuan, the latter nodding with satisfaction as she stowed them in her Universe Bag.
Because of its diet, a Metal Devouring Beast’s horns were excellent Artifact Refining materials, so they couldn’t be wasted. “Too easy,” Ji Hong shook his head and said proudly.
“A Sixth-Order Monster Beast’s intelligence isn’t very high and with our pre-arranged trap, it only makes sense we were able to easily capture it. If we had to fight it head on, we would have had a significantly harder time. Its armour is thick and difficult to penetrate while the energy attacks it releases from its horns can’t be ignored, an ordinary Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator wouldn’t be its opponent and inside this mine, our mobility is quite limited making it harder for us to display our full strength. Don’t underestimate the enemy just because things went well this time,” Yun Xuan sternly said so that Ji Hong and the others wouldn’t suffer unnecessary losses due to carelessness.
“Yes ma’am,” Ji Hong nodded repeatedly.
Yun Xuan smiled, “Good, let’s keep moving. For now we’ll leave this fellow here; we’ll find a way to ship him back to Bold Independent City when this is all over.”
Encouraged by this first victory, everyone’s spirits rose to a new height as they enthusiastically walked forward.
Using this method, after half a day, Yun Xuan’s team easily captured three Metal Devouring Beasts.
All this time, Yang Kai had not acted.
This wasn’t because of Yun Xuan’s previous instructions to him to not act on his own, but because Yun Xuan’s team had no need of his help as they so far encountered minimal difficulty capturing these Metal Devouring Beasts.
The reason Yang Kai came this time was mainly because he wanted to return Yun Xuan’s favour. If he ended up not having any opportunity to act here then he wouldn’t impose himself and would instead think of another way to pay her back.
However, after observing for half a day, Yang Kai knew that it was impossible for them to capture all the Metal Devouring Beasts this way.
First of all, the number of trap artifacts they brought wasn’t enough, and second, not every Metal Devouring Beast acted alone.
As if to prove his analysis right, in front of their team, the auras of two Metal Devouring Beasts close to each other soon appeared, if they attacked one, the other would surely be alerted as well.
Sure enough, after Ji Hong came back from scouting ahead and described the situation to Yun Xuan, the latter’s brow couldn’t help furrowing.
“How many beast traps do we have left?” Yun Xuan asked.
“Three.”
“Set all of them up,” Yun Xuan thought for a while and said.
“En.” With a nod, the members of her team set about arranging these three beast traps.
After everything was ready, Ji Hong once again ran forward and shouted to provoke the two Metal Devouring Beasts and a moment later led both of them back.
However, when the two beasts hit the first trap, it didn’t have nearly the same effect as before.
The charge of the two Metal Devouring Beasts was so strong that any of the trap’s bindings were instantly shattered, only leaving behind light particles as remnants to highlight its failure.
The second trap also only managed to slightly slow down the pairs speed while the last trap finally bound one of them.
The remaining Metal Devouring Beast continued its charge towards Yun Xuan.
“Attack!” Yun Xuan didn’t panic, seemingly having expected such a result, and calmly issued the order to attack, the cultivators hidden to the left and right of the tunnel immediately using their Martial skills and artifacts to bombard the charging beast.
Yang Kai watched all of this and secretly nodded. The Bold Independent Union’s disciples weren’t weak either in strength or means, at first glance it was clear to him that each member of Yun Xuan’s team was a veteran of many battles and under her leadership, they formed a cohesive force that could not be ignored. Even with an absolute advantage in terms of raw strength and defence, a Sixth-Order Monster Beast was still instantly suppressed by these eight Immortal Ascension cultivators.
Ji Hong’s two-handed axe slashed at the back of the still rampaging Metal Devouring Beast, causing a loud bang and many sparks to fly, but only leaving behind a shallow mark on its armour.
“So hard?” Ji Hong was taken aback; the rebound from his strike caused his hands to go a little numb and a sour taste to well up in his heart. Quickly composing himself, he continued to use his axe artifact to attack.
*Dang dang dang dang…*
“Ji Hong, fall back!” Yun Xuan quickly ordered. Ji Hong’s actions had clearly completely enraged the Metal Devouring Beast and it was now staring red eyed towards him as a golden beam shot out from its forehead. This fierce and blinding energy blast barreled towards Ji Hong at frightening speed.
Seeing this incoming attack, Ji Hong’s face sank as he hastily placed his axe in front of him, just barely managing to defend himself.
Yun Xuan had already rushed over, the spear which she had Grandmaster Ma repair tightly gripped in her hands. Her tender body suddenly gave off a heroic image as her tiny sparks of lightning began emerging from her spear.
A phantom image of a great snake suddenly appeared on her spear, and the spear’s body itself seemed to transform into a real snake, causing a fierce aura to ripple through the air. Thrusting forward, Yun Xuan’s spear gave off a brilliant radiance as it slammed into the Metal Devouring Beast.
Disregarding Ji Hong’s attacks, the Metal Devouring Beast seemed to feel a sense of uneasiness as it let out a frightening roar, its aura becoming more dangerous as its eyes filled with violent madness.
Energy collected between its two horns once again and it quickly sent out an attack to intercept Yun Xuan’s spear.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The two attacks collided and a disordered burst of energy erupted, sending stone debris from the mine tunnel flying. A great rumbling sound echoed throughout the mine tunnel and there were even some signs of it beginning to crack.
Yun Xuan’s expression remained indifferent and fearless, waving her spear about skillfully, blocking or parrying the attacks of the Metal Devouring Beast.
The other cultivators had also taken the opportunity to attack and had begun pummeling the Metal Devouring Beast.
A strange energy suddenly spread from the ground.
*Pu pu pu…* A bunch of sharp spurs shot out from the earth just below the Metal Devouring Beast, causing it’s strength to deflate like a punctuated balloon.
Blood flowed from Metal Devouring Beast as it tried to escape, only managing to make it several dozen meters before letting out a sorrowful roar and collapsing to the ground.
From the side, one could clearly see a few bloody holes on its soft belly where it had been pierced by the earth spikes.
Yun Xuan’s team rushed in and swiftly cut off the two horns on the Metal Devouring Beast and then bound its legs, only then taking out some healing medicine and applying it to the beast’s wounds.
Everyone went about their work in an orderly fashion, not in any way flustered.
After everything was done, Ji Hong walked over and happily patted Yang Kai’s shoulder, “Brother Yang, enjoying yourself?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Until now, he had not taken action and had only been watching.
“This is just a simple mission, when you really join Bold Independent Union, your brother here will show you what a real fight is like.”
Yun Xuan took back her spear and shook out her hands, glancing over at Yang Kai and secretly nodding.
She found that throughout the day, this taciturn boy had always remained calm, and even when something unexpected happened, he didn’t show the slightest panic.
This discovery made Yun Xuan wonder about whether this was just his natural disposition or if he already had a great deal of worldly experience.
Clapping her hands lightly, Yun Xuan said, “Our traps have been used up so from now on, whenever we encounter Metal Devouring Beasts, everyone should be extra cautions and prioritize protecting yourselves.”
The team nodded firmly, their zeal and enthusiasm still at a fever pitch.
“Let’s go!” Yun Xuan waved her hand and walked forward.
The Metal Devouring Beast in the mine were all busy eating so they were all scattered about, most of them choosing to act alone while occasionally they would move about in groups of two or three. With the strength of the Yun Xuan’s team, catching them was quite easy.
As they advanced deeper into the mine, there were countless twists and turns, ramps and slopes, so the team made sure to record which path they had taken to avoid getting lost on the way back.
Yang Kai also began participating and in accordance with Yun Xuan’s orders, provided some small support, calmly attacking and defending in a stable fashion, causing everyone’s opinion of him to rise.
Even Yun Xuan couldn’t help re-evaluating Yang Kai.
She had originally thought he had come out from some remote countryside and was afraid that his combat strength wouldn’t be sufficient. Because of this concern, Yun Xuan had initially kept Yang Kai behind her and didn’t let him join the team’s battles, but after giving him a chance, he turned out to be surprisingly useful. At the very least, after he summoned his Bone Shield, he was able to block the charge of a Metal Devouring Beast head on.
This kind of frontal collision was something that even Ji Hong, who had the most brute strength of all her team members, couldn’t accomplish, yet Yang Kai did so with ease.
This ability was very important as it allowed everyone else on the team to focus on attacking.
After observing him block two such charges, Yun Xuan directly let Yang Kai with his Bone Shield act as the team’s blocker while everyone else launched attacks from the side or behind him.
Using this battle formation, Yun Xuan’s team’s efficiency shot up, bringing a smile to everyone’s face.
After half a day, the team stopped to take a break.
During this break, Yang Kai came over to Yun Xuan and said, “Ms. Yun, there’s something I don’t quite understand.”
“Oh?” Yun Xuan smiled back at him. Yang Kai’s performance today had earned her respect and she now really was thinking about how to get Yang Kai to join Bold Independent Union.
Any team that could have such a strong defensive specialist would be much safer when performing tasks.
“These Metal Devouring Beasts are all here to feed, right?”
“That’s right, why?”
“Brother Ji said that after they consumed enough minerals, they would process the raw ores in their bodies and then excrete the refined metals. This group of Metal Devouring Beasts have already been here for two or three months now but even after we traveled this far into the mine, why haven’t we seen any of their droppings?”
Yun Xuan was startled and after thinking about it for a moment, realized that what Yang Kai said was right.
The whole time they had been fighting she had never seen any refined metals anywhere.
Yun Xuan knit her brows as she didn’t know how to explain this, some doubts welling up in her heart.
The other members of her team heard this conversation and also wore confused expressions. All this time they had only been focused on capturing the Metal Devouring Beast so they had unconsciously overlooked this strange phenomenon.
“Maybe they have a specific place where they take care of their business, like a toilet!” Ji Hong suggested.
Yun Xuan’s face went slightly red but she nonetheless nodded, “It’s possible!”
“Then, if we were to find that place, couldn’t we harvest a large amount of refined metals?” Ji Hong thoughtfully stroked his beard.
Yun Xuan’s eyes flashed brilliantly. Capturing so many Metal Devouring Beasts this time would count as a great achievement and if on top of that they could find this mineral ‘storehouse’, the rewards they would receive would be incredibly rich.
Thinking about this bright future, everyone’s mental and physical fatigue was blow away and each of them once again became filled with enthusiasm.
“Then our secondary objective will be to search for such a place,” Yun Xuan, looking at their expressions, knew that they didn’t want to rest anymore and immediately issued this directive.
The rest of her team was obviously overjoyed and quickly got back on their feet.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, couldn’t help frowning slightly, thinking that there was something off about this situation, but with the little information he had he couldn’t form any reasonable hypotheses much less prove them so he chose to remain quite for now.
For now, whatever Yun Xuan decided, he would go along with.
As they continued into the mine, the number of Metal Devouring Beasts seemed to decrease so Yun Xuan’s team began spending more time scouting around for the refined mineral dump rather than fighting and capturing, unfortunately, they found nothing for their efforts.
As they continued their search, Yang Kai suddenly felt a trace of unease.
Suddenly thinking of a possibility, Yang Kai’s expression sank as he shouted, “Yun Xuan, there’s something wrong here!”
The team members, who were all excitedly searching for the metal dump, heard his voice and couldn’t help stopping, all of them turning puzzled looks towards him.
Yun Xuan frowned, “What do you mean?”
Yang Kai suddenly shouting gave her a fright and she quickly expanded the range of her Divine Sense, but after not finding anything out of the ordinary, she immediately became disgruntled.
When on a mission, one of the most taboo acts was to cause alarm for no reason. If one were to do this, their team members would begin to doubt their trustworthiness, and if trust was lost and a real emergency came up, it would put the team in danger.
Yang Kai didn’t answer; his warning just now was completely instinctual. Through a more in depth investigation of the surrounding area with his Divine Sense, he had noticed a powerful aura hidden deep within the mine.
From his experience, Yang Kai concluded that such a strong energy fluctuation could only be produced by a Transcendent Realm master!
A Transcendent Realm enemy was hiding nearby yet no one had discovered them yet, the fearfulness of this was obvious.
Sun Ying had previously checked the situation in the mine yet even he was unaware that there was another Transcendent here. That could only mean that Sun Ying wasn’t this master’s opponent!
Even Yang Kai himself hadn’t discovered anything up till now and could only conclude that the enemy had some frightening means of concealment.
“Well, what is it?” Yun Xuan’s asked again, a tinge of anger creeping into her voice.
“There’s some kind of danger in this place,” Yang Kai calmly said.
“Speak clearly.” Yun Xuan’s expression dimmed.
“There’s a very powerful master hidden below us, if you don’t want everyone here to die, we should leave now!”
“How do you know that?” Yun Xuan’s brow tightly wrinkled.
Ji Hong also came forward and sighed, “Brother Yang, you can’t joke about these kinds of things. How could there be such a hidden danger here?”
“I’m not making a joke,” Yang Kai shook his head seriously, but glancing around he noticed that everyone was giving him a distrustful look.
Yang Kai suddenly realized that his words really didn’t have any convincing weight behind them.
To an outside observer, he was just a young Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator. The strongest member of this team was Yun Xuan, who was a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary master yet she didn’t sense abnormalities nearby; naturally she wouldn’t readily believe his words.
Gently sighing, Yang Kai looked at Yun Xuan and said, “I only came here in order to return the favour I owe you. Right now, if you believe me, you’ll take everyone out of here. If you don’t believe me though, there’s nothing I can say to convince you.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?” Yun Xuan looked at Yang Kai coldly with a hint of disappointment flashing across her eyes, “I wanted you to join Bold Independent Union, but now it seems that’s not necessary. The actions of this team are for me to decide and are not dictated by others’ feelings, especially those of an alarmist.”
“I’m not trying to be an alarmist…”
“Then provide evidence. If you can’t, then don’t spout nonsense,” Yun Xuan spat coldly.
Yang Kai shook his head helplessly and indifferently stared back at Yun Xuan, “Then I’ll take my leave here.”
Saying so, Yang Kai turned around and quickly rushed out, not paying any attention to what anyone else thought.
“Hey, Brother Yang!” Ji Hong was shocked and called out to stop him.
“Let him go!” Yun Xuan shouted, staring at the disappearing back of Yang Kai as she shook her head.
Yang Kai’s performance just now was quite dissatisfying to her and didn’t reflect any of his previous calm. Yun Xuan felt that if such a person really joined Bold Independent Union, he would bring more harm than good, so her interest in recruiting him faded.
“Ha…” Ji Hong sighed as he looked at Yun Xuan, “Young Lady, him speaking with such confidence, do you think he really discovered something?”
Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes flashed before her expression dropped again, “Uncle Sun said that there was nothing to be wary of here, and I also didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, that kid is probably just making a fuss over nothing.”
“That is true!” Ji Hong nodded; he naturally had more faith in Sun Ying’s words.
Yang Kai’s figure quickly ran towards the mine’s exit, every step he took leaving a deep imprint on the ground and a long afterimage dragged out behind him. At this moment he had raised his speed to the limit.
He had clearly memorized the path they had taken to reach this point so even in this underground labyrinth he didn’t once get lost.
The hidden aura he had discovered with his Divine Sense was growing more powerful by the breath and was clearly preparing to take action.
Yang Kai had a clear understanding of his own strength.
With an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation, coupled with his Devil Transformation, he was invincible in the Immortal Ascension Boundary.
Facing a Transcendent, Yang Kai wouldn’t be afraid, but he also had no confidence in being able to beat one.
Before, when he had killed the Spider Mother, he had relied on trickery and the mysterious power of the Solitary Golden Eye in his Knowledge Sea while killing the Sect Master of Sen Luo Temple was only possible because his Bone Shield had absorbed a massive amount of void energy; neither scenario was due to his own strength.
There was a massive gap between the Transcendent and Immortal Ascension realms.
Additionally, the terrain here was not suitable for an explosive battle, once the mine collapsed, everyone here would be buried alive.
So when he noticed the hidden enemy, Yang Kai’s first thought was to leave here and make plans after.
Unfortunately, Yun Xuan didn’t trust him, which made Yang Kai feel very helpless.
Staying to argue would only be a waste of time, so Yang Kai decisively chose to leave.
[I hope I’m just worrying too much,] Yang Kai secretly thought. Bold Independent Union also had a Transcendent Realm master with them. Sun Ying wasn’t weak and in a fight he may not lose to the hidden enemy here.
At that moment, another strong energy fluctuation erupted; naturally it came from Sun Ying.
From the booming sounds and the shaking of the ground, Sun Ying had likely encountered the hidden enemy and began fighting.
Yang Kai’s face sank and he pushed his speed even more.
At the same time, the fierce vibrations of this battle were also noticed by Yun Xuan and her team.
Everyone’s face changed greatly.
“What happened?” Yun Xuan was startled.
Sun Ying had actually taken action!
He was a Transcendent Realm master of Bold Independent Union, him being here was simply to act as a supervisor. If there were no accidents, he wouldn’t take the initiative to fight and would only be responsible for monitoring the situation and arranging the barrier to prevent the Metal Devouring Beasts from escaping.
But such vibrations were obvious signs that he had been engaged in battle, which meant that either Ruan Xin Yu or Zhou Luo’s team had encountered an enemy they couldn’t handle.
[What danger could there be that Uncle Sun had to take action personally?] Yun Xuan didn’t understand what was happening, but she knew it definitely wasn’t anything good.
Thinking so, she suddenly remembered that Yang Kai had just warned them there was a hidden enemy here. Yun Xuan’s expression suddenly became complicated as she only now realized that he wasn’t being an alarmist but had really noticed that something was wrong.
The ground trembled fiercely and the sound of explosions echoed throughout the tunnels. The entire mine seemed to be becoming unstable and fissures were beginning to open up.
The fallout from a battle between masters at the Transcendent Realm was quite devastating.
“Young Lady!” Ji Hong shouted.
“Evacuate!” Yun Xuan didn’t dare stand around waiting, deeply regretting in her heart at this moment. If only she had known this would happen, she would have listened to Yang Kai’s warning and brought everyone out of the mine. If they had left with him, they would be in far less danger.
Issuing the order to withdraw, Yun Xuan’s body flickered and transformed into a streak of blue like that flew towards the direction Yang Kai disappeared.
Ji Hong and the others followed.
However, after only going a hundred meters or so, a terrifying bang erupted from the depths of the mine and immediately after, the mountain began to collapse. Numerous huge chunks of falling rock crashed down and sealed off all the tunnels.
Yun Xuan’s face turned ashen. Not hesitating in the slightest, she gathered all of her True Qi and began striking towards the ceiling, desperately trying to open up an escape route.
With the echoes of the original bang and the crumbling walls around him, Yang Kai’s expression sank as he knew that his worst fears had come true.
Sun Ying was not the opponent of the hidden enemy. In the previous collision, Yang Kai clearly felt the former’s aura sharply weaken and the destructive wave of energy that burst forth from the two Transcendents’ final clash had caused the entire mine to collapse. Silently cursing to himself, Yang Kai quickly summoned his Bone Shield and held it atop his head, the next moment feeling like the sky was raining down on top of him.
The number of impacts he suffered was endless and the weight that pressed down on his arms was getting heavier by the breath.
The collapse of the mine continued for the time it would take to drink a cup of tea and when everything stabilized, Yang Kai was barely able to support his Bone Shield. His teeth were clenched hard and his face was blood red, his muscles bulged as if they were about to explode under the strain.
He didn’t know just how much stone and dirt he was supporting at that moment but the weight was almost impossible for him to bear.
The only good news was that thanks to the Bone Shield’s defence, Yang Kai was basically uninjured.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai concentrated his physical strength and True Qi and pushed upwards.
A passage above his head was quickly being excavated.
After a short while, the pressure suddenly disappeared and Yang Kai sprang from the rubble and landed on the ground, the sun shining down on him and the crisp mountain air brushing past his nose feeling particular refreshing.
The sound of a great many birds fleeing into the distance soon reached his ear, apparently the mine’s collapse had disturbed all of the local wildlife.
Looking around, all that remained of the once tall hill was cracked earth and rubble that spread out for almost a hundred kilometers.
As Yang Kai quietly observed his surroundings, he saw some unstable places continuing to cave, causing some low rumbling.
There was no one else around, Sun Ying’s aura had yet to disappear but it was fading fast while Yun Xuan, Ruan Xin Yu, and Zhou Luo’s teams were all missing.
Yang Kai spread out his Divine Sense to investigate and soon, he discovered signs of life at a position about a kilometer away.
Quickly rushing over, just as he arrived, a burst of True Qi erupted from the ground, sending a few bits of rock flying about.
A moment later, from this small newly opened hole, Yang Kai saw a faint flash of electricity.
“Yun Xuan?” Yang Kai shouted, immediately hearing a faint voice respond, “En!”
Grinning, Yang Kai clenched his fist and slammed it down onto the place where the lightning arc had flashed, completely opening the passage, allowing a dirt covered Yun Xuan to emerge.
Right behind her, Ji Hong and a few others also appeared.
All of them had many black and blue bruises and some even had broken bones.
Even though all of them were Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, such a large-scale mine collapse was not something they could escape from unscathed. In fact, it was only thanks to Yun Xuan’s quickly opening up a path for them that all of them weren’t buried alive.
Once seriously injured and buried deep underground, even Immortal Ascension Boundary masters would certain die.
After coming out, everyone wore an expression filled with lingering fear, having just survived a life threatening disaster, each of them couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief and reflecting on how fragile life truly was.
“Pang Qi?” Yun Xuan turned around and scanned the faces of her team members, her pretty face suddenly paling.
Ji Hong and the others all lowered their heads, none of them daring to answer.
“What about others?” Yun Xuan muttered hoarsely.
Ji Hong opened his mouth to speak, but failed to form any words, his eyes slowly tearing up.
Yun Xuan’s tender body shuddered and she no longer asked, knowing that the members of her team she didn’t see here now would never appear again.
“Now isn’t the time to grieve, we need to leave!” Yang Kai said with a serious face, “Can you open the barrier set up by Sun Ying?”
Yun Xuan was still absent-minded at the moment, but after a moment she nodded gently.
“That’s good,” Yang Kai also breathed a sigh of relief.
The barrier set up by a Transcendent would require a lot of time to break open if they didn’t understand how to. Yun Xuan knowing how to open it meant they didn’t need to break it by force.
“But…” Yun Xuan hesitated.
“No buts, Sun Ying is dead!” Yang Kai shook his head, a moment ago he could still faintly sense Sun Ying’s aura, but now he wasn’t aware of anything.
Yun Xuan’s face tightened as she stared blankly towards Yang Kai, seemingly unable to accept what he had just said.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from below.
Everyone expression changed as they stared towards a spot a short distance away.
A moment later, two or three kilometers away from them, several people emerged from the ground lead by Zhou Luo and Ruan Xin Yu.
Yun Xuan was overjoyed and quickly shouted out to them.
When Zhou Luo and Ruan Xin Yu heard her voice, they quickly rushed over to them. When they arrived though, Yun Xuan noticed that all of their faces were ghastly pale, as if they had all witnessed something terrifying.
“Uncle Sun?” Yun Xuan asked.
“Dead!” Ruan Xin Yu replied.
“What happened?” Yun Xuan’s tender body shuddered again. Just a moment ago she was leading her team to capture Metal Devouring Beasts and was reaping a huge harvest, everyone was rejoicing, then all of a sudden this happened and Sun Ying had actually died. Such a massive change in fortune in such a short period of time was quite difficult for her to accept.
“We don’t know,” Ruan Xin Yu said despondently, “All of sudden something leapt from the shadows. Uncle Sun fought back, and then… and then this!”
It was obvious to everyone that she was still quite frightened. Sun Ying had died right before her eyes and many of the members of her and Zhou Luo’s teams had perished under the fallout from the two Transcendents’ battle. Only a few of them managed to escape
This unknown enemy had shaken her greatly.
“We have to leave, quickly,” Zhou Luo’s face was pale, none of his previous calm elegance remaining. Their Transcendent Realm Elder had already died, so if they continued to remain here, the only result would be death. Right now, all he wanted to do was escape.
The three teams originally had more than twenty members in total, but now less than half that number was still alive.
All of the Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators realized at this moment just how fragile they were.
Although everyone felt sorrowful about the loss of their friends, there was no time for them to mourn as the priority right now was to escape.
Yang Kai followed behind the survivors, not daring to release his Divine Sense too strongly because although the enemy that killed Sun Ying had yet to make an appearance, his instincts told him that a pair of eyes was still watching them closely.
This hidden gaze was seemingly calm and composed and even contained a hint of mockery, like a predator that was enjoying the scene of its prey desperately trying to escape.
Yang Kai’s heart sank when he realized this because it meant the trouble they were facing right now was bigger than he had initial anticipated.
But unable to judge the true strength of his enemy and unable to even locate their position, Yang Kai could only take one step at a time.
The survivors from Bold Independent Union were also incredibly uneasy.
*Xiu…*
A sharp whooshing sound flew past them, causing everyone’s face to tighten. Freezing up for an instant, everyone quickly and silently assumed a defensive posture as they stared around their surroundings.
No one say anything.
But a moment later, Ji Hong screamed, “Young Lady, Zheng Wu, he… he…”
Hearing this, the crowd all turned towards the young man named Zheng Wu and saw that his eyes had glazed over and his body had gone limp as he stood there absentmindedly, the vitality quickly draining from his body.
“Zheng Wu…” One of the others who had a good relationship with him called out, but he received no response.
After Zheng Wu’s shoulder was tapped by this youth, the former fell straight to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
“Ahh…” Ruan Xin Yu screamed, her hand reaching up and covering her lips as all the colour drained from her face.
“He’s dead!” Ji Hong’s eyes widened as he stared at this scene in disbelief.
Yun Xuan was also greatly frightened, her pretty face drained to a pale white as her eyes darted around, desperately seek for the enemy’s whereabouts yet getting nothing for her effort.
Zhou Luo also couldn’t help trembling in fear.
The man named Zheng Wu was a member of his team and was a strong Immortal Ascension Boundary Sixth Stage cultivator, yet right in front of the eyes of so many others he was silently killed and bore no sign of any injuries or wounds on his body.
This unexpected development cause a cold chill to shoot up everyone’s back.
Their hidden enemy being able to silently kill Zheng Wu meant that any of them could also easily be killed.
After realizing this fact, everyone suddenly began to panic.
“Keep moving!” Yang Kai’s expression darkened as he shouted.
A moment ago, he noticed a strange and sinister Spiritual Energy attack pass by.
That Spiritual Energy attack was so powerful that even he felt uneasy. Such a powerful Divine Sense attack from the hidden enemy was definitely capable of silently killing anyone below the Transcendent Realm.
If the enemy wanted to, they could take the lives of everyone here in an instant.
But they hadn’t done this.
Yang Kai could only think of one possibility for this and that was that their enemy had a twisted personality that revelled in watching their victims struggle and panic.
Such an enemy was very difficult to deal with! Yang Kai had to find some kind of flaw in the enemies plans; he didn’t expect to be able to kill him, simply escaping would be enough.
While he was pushing his brain for an answer, Yun Xuan finally regained her composure, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before waving her hand, “Let’s go!”
The small group continued forward and soon reached Sun Ying’s barrier. Originally, Sun Ying had arranged this barrier to completely encircle the mine in order to prevent any of the Metal Devouring Beasts from escaping, but now it had ironically become the barrier to their escape instead.
If they wanted to get out, they first had to bring down Sun Ying’s barrier.
Yun Xuan, Ruan Xin Yu, and Zhou Luo quickly joined forces to open the barrier.
But just after they began, another wisp of wind passed by.
*Peng…*
Just like Zheng Wu before him, another Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator fell lifelessly to ground.
With their Knowledge Sea completely destroyed, there was no way this person could survive.
Yun Xuan and everyone else shivered and didn’t dare make any movements for fear that the hidden enemy would target them next. In this environment, none of them could find any sense of security.
After waiting for a long time, nothing happened.
Everyone gasped for breath, glanced at each other, and then began opening the barrier again.
*Xiu…*
A third person fell.
Ruan Xin Yu suddenly began crying, her tears falling down like raindrop, her shoulders trembling as she whimpered, “What is happening, just who is it that’s secretly picking us off?”
Yun Xuan took a deep breath and despite her fear, still tried to maintain her calm, calling out the void, “Which respected Master is here? Please show yourself. We are disciples of Bold Independent Union and have only come here to execute a mission assigned to us by our Sect. If we have somehow offended you, we deeply apologize and ask you to please be broadminded.”
“Hehehe….* A string of silver bell-like laughter that seemed to contain an endless sense of charm suddenly reached everyone’s ears. Anyone who heard this sound, regardless of who it was, couldn’t help feeling a heat well up inside their body.
“Since you dared try to catch my Monster Beasts, you’ll have to pay an appropriate price,” The voice seemed to drift from place to place so none of them could determine where it was actually coming from , sometimes it seemed to be right next to their ear yet in the next instant it was far away.
Yun Xuan’s face sank even more as she desperately tried to put on a forced smile, “We weren’t aware that these Monster Beasts already had a master, if we had known…”
“There’s no need to explain, now I just want to have a little fun killing you. All of you, do struggle hard and give me some fun. hehehe…” The voice was soft and silky, stirring up the deepest most base instincts of any man who heard them, causing them to want nothing more in life than to find the voice’s owner and wantonly ravage them.
Yang Kai quietly circulated his Joyous Unification Art and quickly dispelled the fire in his body with a small sneer forming on his face.
He discovered that this hidden enemy really was as he thought a twisted person who enjoyed toying with her food. This kind of enemy was very dangerous, but also very arrogant, as long as he held out; she would definitely show some flaws.
What Yang Kai was most worried about right now though was if she would target him.
Once she tried to use her Divine Sense to attack him, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to conceal his real combat power and would instantly become her primary target.
Hearing this mysterious woman’s voice, Yun Xuan was dumbfounded and hurriedly shouted a few more words, but she no longer got any response; instead, a fourth Bold Independent Union disciple was killed right in front of her eyes.
A huge sense of panic spread throughout the survivors and Yun Xuan and everyone else sped up their efforts to open the barrier.
One after another, the cultivators fell down, and as time passed the hidden enemy no longer seemed content to kill one person at a time, sometimes taking two or even three at once.
The number of Bold Independent Union disciples plummeted, and the members of Yun Xuan’s team fell one after another.
Seeing the companions she had been together with for so many years slowly die one by one, yet never once being able to lay eyes on their killer, Yun Xuan couldn’t stop her tears from flowing out as unbearable pain filled her heart.
Ji Hong finally couldn’t handle it anymore, hefting his great axe in both hands over his head and roaring in anger, “Damn slut, show yourself! Or what, are you so ashamed of your ugly face you don’t dare let others see you!?”
The moment he spoke these words though, Ji Hong’s body shivered violently before freezing in place. Although he remained standing in front of the remaining survivors, his giant axe still lifted high, appearing akin to a great fortress that could shelter them from wind and rain. However, in a matter of seconds, his vitality had disappeared and Ji Hong had died.
“Ji Hong!” Yun Xuan cried out in agony.
Yang Kai shook his head as his expression became bitter, annoyed in his heart.
This big bearded man was simple and honest. Although somewhat lewd, but he treated others fairly and Yang Kai had a fairly good impression of him…
Sweeping his eyes over the crowd, Yang Kai discovered that only three members of Bold Independent Union remained.
He didn’t know if it was the enemy’s intention or not but the remaining three people were the three team captains.
With the addition of Yang Kai, that made four.
Having remained safe and sound until now was a pleasant surprise to Yang Kai and made him feel slightly lucky, but now that only these four people remained, if their hidden enemy attacked again, her target would likely be him.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai shouted, “Miss, don’t you think it’s about time you come out? Even if I die, I’d at least like to see who it was that killed me.”
“Are you insane?” Zhou Luo roared as he glared at Yang Kai.
This hidden enemy’s methods were cruel and merciless; she killed people like killing flies. Now that the barrier was on the verge of opening and they could flee from here, the last thing Zhou Luo had expected was for Yang Kai to say something so stupid.
Wasn’t this just adding fuel to the fire?
If she were to really appear… Just thinking about it caused Zhou Luo to tremble.
A few meters away, the air suddenly began to distort and a blurry figure strangely appeared, gradually solidifying.
Upon seeing this figure though, all the anger on Zhou Luo’s face suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a of pure infatuation, as if he couldn’t wait to throw himself to the ground and worship this woman.
Not only Zhou Luo, but even Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a hot light, his heart suddenly giving birth to a strange desire.
This young woman was incredibly beautiful, a shapely face with long supple black hair, a tight waist and rounded hips along with thin red lips, she was slender and graceful beyond words, and she gave off a somewhat soft and weak image, causing one to unconsciously want to care for and protect her.
Especially charming was her pair of clear, innocent eyes that seemed to draw in the soul of any man who saw them, shackling his heart to her.
Her skin was a soft white and gave off a delicate feeling. Her thin waist seemed tender while her hips were the perfect shape. Her twin peaks were neither too big nor too small, just the perfect size to accentuate her figure. She wore a one piece leather outfit that exposed her lower abdomen and lovely navel. She wore no shoes, allowing one to see her exquisite feet that seemed to be cared from the finest jade.
Zhou Luo’s eyes burned with desire and hot steam leaked from his nose as he stared at this woman, his breathing quickly becoming ragged.
Yang Kai on the other hand wore a cold expression as he became even more vigilant.
He had seen many beautiful women before, but even the bewitching Shan Qing Luo couldn’t suddenly eliminate all the anger and hostility in his heart simply by appearing before him.
But this woman could, the instant she showed her face, Yang Kai suddenly discovered that all negative emotions he had in his heart had vanished and all that remained was a desire to protect her.
His first instinct was that if such a weak yet beautiful woman had no one protecting her, she would soon fall into danger.
“A Charm Monster!” Yun Xuan cried out in alarm, her face instantly going pale.
Ruan Xin Yu also seemed to understand the true identity of this woman and her tender body couldn’t help trembling, a strange feeling of inferiority and self-deprecation suddenly welling up in her heart.
Charm Monster!
When Yun Xuan called out this name, Yang Kai was startled and realized that this woman’s identity wasn’t ordinary.
“What is a Charm Monster?” Yang Kai lowered his voice and asked suspiciously.
Although he had whispered this question, he couldn’t conceal his actions from this seemingly delicate woman, the latter turning a beautiful and enchanting gaze lacking any kind of impurity towards Yang Kai and softly smiling, “You haven’t heard of us Charm Monsters?”
Yang Kai grinned slightly and nodded, “Nope, I came from a small remote place and don’t know much about the outside world.”
“Hehe…” The Charm Monster giggled, “Interesting, I never expected there were still some people who hadn’t heard of us, en, let me see…”
Saying so, she placed one of her jade fingers onto her red lips, showing a face filled with a contradictory mix of innocence and enticement, capable of seducing any man who saw it, “Young man, your courage isn’t small, since you want to know, before you die, I’ll satisfy your curiosity. That little sister over there seems to know a lot about us Charm Monsters, she can explain.”
“Young man?” Yang Kai was amazed, “Just how old are you, miss?”
“A woman’s age is her greatest secret,” The Charm Monster smiled happily, her expression filled with a perfect balance of seduction and embarrassment; cause Yang Kai’s pulse to race.
This woman’s lethality towards men was even stronger than Shan Qing Luo’s.
Zhou Luo had already lost all control of his rational mind and could only stare towards the Charm Monster with a look of pure admiration.
When the Charm Monster glanced at him and saw this, she simply snorted, a thick meaning of disdain apparent on her face.
“Yun Xuan, what is a Charm Monster?” Yang Kai turned and looked at Yun Xuan.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Yun Xuan brow twitched as she shouted out in annoyance. Now, in this life or death crisis, this brat still wanted to learn more about this Charm Monster, this kind of sexual obsession was really awe inspiring.
“Since we’re going to die anyways, I’d like to at least know what it was that killed me,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
Yun Xuan looked at the Charm Monster in front of them and smiled bitterly, “Fine, since we’re dead either way, I’ll explain. Charm Monsters… they belong to the Monster Race and are a very high-ranking existence, each of them is born beautiful and has their own unique markings, whether it be an icy temperament, a bewitching smile, or a pure innocence. In short, Charm Monsters are the ultimate nemesis of all men, whether they belong to the Monster Race, Demon Race, or Human Race, no male can resist the enchantment of a Charm Monster.”
“Charm Monster’s physiques are different from other members of the Monster Race. Their bodies are relatively weak and they are quite few in number, so their rate of survival is actually quite low, but once they fully mature, they become terrifying enemies because their true strength lies not in their bodies but in their Souls! Compared to other cultivators in the same realm, a Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy is significantly stronger; Uncle Sun and all the others should have been killed by her Divine Sense attacks!”
As she explained, Yun Xuan glared towards the willowy girl in front of them and clenched her fists, a look of hatred blazing in the depths of her eyes.
The Charm Monster smiled and made no attempt to stop Yun Xuan from revealing her secrets, a gloating expression that was already declaring victory never leaving her face.
But hearing Yun Xuan’s explanation, Yang Kai’s heart jumped as he suddenly saw a chance to turn things around.
This Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy was definitely stronger than his own, so if he couldn’t somehow lure her into his Knowledge Sea, he could only count on his superior physical strength.
Yun Xuan just said that Charm Monster’s bodies were very delicate, and just from looking at the one in front of him, Yang Kai could tell it was true.
Concealing these thoughts as best he could, Yang Kai continued to listen to Yun Xuan’s introduction.
“I heard that Charm Monsters like to drink the blood essence of people,” Yun Xuan said, a blush suddenly appearing on her face.
Even Ruan Xin Yu’s expression became a little unnatural, a hint of pink appearing on her neck while crimson filled her cheeks, pupils flitting about randomly.
“Interesting taste,” Yang Kai smiled but suddenly became confused, “So why did she just kill everyone from Bold Independent Union?”
If she wanted to drink their blood essence, it would naturally be better for her to capture them one by one, so Yang Kai didn’t understand why she had instead slaughtered almost all of them.
“I don’t want just any blood essence,” The Charm Monster smiled and said with great meaning.
Yun Xuan’s face became redder and exuded a mature charm mixed with shyness that made her seem incredibly attractive.
“What she wants to drink is… the blood essence of men and women who are emotionally intoxicated…” Yun Xuan voice became as quiet as a mosquito.
Yang Kai was dumbfounded and hesitated to ask, “What do you mean?”
Yun Xuan stamped her foot and bitterly cried out, “Can’t you already understand what I mean?”
Saying so, she glared at him hatefully.
“No way…” Yang Kai’s face twitched as he turned to stare at the Charm Monster, “You’re tastes area really is too interesting.”
However, the Charm Monster simply giggled and ignored the bitterness in his voice.
Yang Kai’s expression became pensive for a moment before playfully grinning, “So what you mean to say is that before we die you need all of us to reach a point of ecstasy?”
“En,” The Charm Monster gently nodded, staring at Yang Kai with great interest, “What’s wrong, aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course I’m afraid!” Yang Kai readily admitted, but quickly continued, “But we humans have a saying, ‘Dying in the arms of a woman will let any man die without regret!’”
No wonder she had left the four of the them alive, specifically choosing two men and women, it turns out she had this idea all along, at this moment, Yang Kai finally understood.
He wasn’t a little kid, so although Yun Xuan hadn’t been explicit, he knew what this Charm Monster wanted.
The Charm Monster on the other hand was amazed, not having expected this little brat to have such an open-mind, lightly nodding her head in appreciation, “Good. Seeing how obedient you are I’ll reward you with a choice.”
“What kind of choice?” Yang Kai stared at the Charm Monster and smiled.
“Of these two women, you can choose which one you want to spend your last moments with!”
As soon as the Charm Monster said these words, Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu’s faces paled, both of them unconsciously turning vigilant eyes towards Yang Kai. Ruan Xin Yu even clutching her robes tightly while Yun Xuan’s tender body trembled in fear.
Although she had just explained the special interests of this Charm Monster to Yang Kai, when the time came for the act to be carried out she still couldn’t bring herself to accept it.
“Can I choose both of them?” Yang Kai asked with a smile.
“Hehe…” The Charm Monster let out a lovably giggle, she had never encountered such an interesting man before. At the point of death, he was still thinking about grabbing as many beauties as possible, “Your appetite isn’t small young man, but you can only eat one. Now choose, the other one will be given to that guy.”
Saying so, she pointed her finger towards the glossy eyed Zhou Luo.
Yang Kai put on a disappointed expression as he turned his eyes towards Ruan Xin Yu, a smug look appearing on his face.
Being stared at by him like this, Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help feeling like she had been stripped naked, unable to hide anything in front of Yang Kai’s eyes, immediately shouting at him angrily, “If you dare choose me I’ll kill you.”
“I’m going to die anyways, what do I care?” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and snorted, “But don’t worry, I’m not familiar with you nor am I interested in you, I prefer women who are more mature.”
Saying so, he turned his eyes decisively towards Yun Xuan.
Yun Xuan beautiful face changed paled, hurriedly cursing, “You bastard! At this time you dare have such despicable intentions; you still owe me a favour yet this is how you choose to repay me?”
“There’s no other way,” Yang Kai shook his head helplessly, “People must bow beneath the eaves. Even if I try to fight back or rebel, would that change anything?”
“A wise choice,” Charm Monster gently nodded, “Your Human Race has always been despicable like this. When your lives are threatened, all the wicked and evil thoughts you keep buried inside burst out, I’ve seen this too many times already.”
“You say that as if your Monster Race is above such worldly affairs,” Yang Kai sneered.
“We’re at least better than you degenerates,” The Charm Monster smiled slyly.
As the two bantered back and forth, Yun Xuan’s well rounded the chest heaved up and down as a look of struggle appeared on her face only to suddenly become calm and determined as she coldly shouted, “Even if I die, I won’t let you cheap animals feel any better.”
Saying so, she rapidly pushed her True Qi and her aura becoming dangerous, apparently intending on blowing herself up.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed but before he had an opportunity to move, the Charm Monster had already shot her unique Spiritual Energy into Yun Xuna’s Knowledge Sea.
In an instant, the cold and ruthless look on Yun Xuan’s face disappeared and was replaced by a fascinated expression that was staring straight at Yang Kai, an intoxicated light flashing across her blurry eyes that was mixed with traces of fear and resistance.
“In front of me, none of you should even think about committing suicide!” The Charm Monster coldly snorted, in the next instant looking at Yang Kai tenderly, “Good, she’s already been poisoned with my Spiritual Energy toxin, no female can resist it. Being able to enjoy such a good woman, young man, you’ve really won big. Don’t let me wait too long, start moving already.”
Yang Kai smiled lowly as he wore a lewd expression, “Can young miss help me with a little something first?”
The Charm Monster was obviously getting impatient and coldly asked, “What do you want?”
“Having a pair of spectators makes me a bit nervous, can you make them faint?” Yang Kai pointed his fingers towards Zhou Luo, who had basically been ignored by everyone up to this point, and Ruan Xin Yu, who was now completely frozen with fear.
The Charm Monster wrinkled her brow cutely and hesitated for a moment before agreeing, “Fine.”
Saying so, with a wave of her hand, a barrier that separated Yang Kai from Yun Xuan from everything else around them appeared, leaving behind only the two of them and the Charm Monster herself.
“There, now you don’t have to worry about being seen.”
“Good, and can you…”
“Enough!” The Charm Monster snapped, another pulse of Spiritual Energy shooting out from between her brows and submerging into Yang Kai’s mind.
In the next moment, Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea tumbled and a strange foreign energy began stimulated his Soul, causing his blood to boil and his heart to race, hot air leaked from his nose as his breathing became rough, his thoughts becoming blurred as his primal instincts became stimulated.
“Get started, let me see what kind of skills you possess!” The Charm Monster laughed happily, her big beautiful eyes staring at the play before her, her long scarlet tongue licking her delicate lips as she whispered to herself, “The blood essence of a man and woman at the point of climax is too delicious.”
Her base and low smile was filled with a cruel madness, her previous soft and gentle temperament instantly disappearing.
Yun Xuan’s breathing had also become heavy by now and her face was flushed bright red, an intense heat flowing through her lower abdomen as her slender legs clamped awkwardly, her balance crumbling causing her to fall to the ground.
Yang Kai also felt an unstoppable fire rampage through his body, the mature, seductive aura Yun Xuan currently emanated becoming an irresistible temptation to him, causing all his self control to crumble as he pounced upon her, locked his lips with hers, and began wantonly pressing himself onto her tender body.
As this erotic scene began heating up, even the Charm Monster’s breathing became slightly ragged as she spectated the battle taking place in front of her.
On the ground, Yang Kai and Yun Xuan tumbled and rolled, tangling together with one another, their clothes quickly becoming disordered.
Both of them had been poisoned by the Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy toxin. This Spiritual Energy toxin was incredibly potent and was so strong that even Yang Kai couldn’t totally resist it, let alone Yun Xuan.
As the two entangled, Yun Xuan’s consciousness gradually became clearer, the heat and desire within her body slowly being sated, the manly aura Yang Kai gave off tasting like the sweetest water her parched body desperately desired. Consciously or unconsciously she sought him out while her rational mind still struggled to resist, but when she wanted to make an effort to push him away, she found that her body refused to listen to her and her eyes couldn’t help glancing towards the Charm Monster who was excitedly staring at this amorous scene, causing Yun Xuan to cry tears filled with unwillingness.
Yun Xuan had never dreamed that such an absurd and ridiculous scenario, where she would be deprived of her purity by an unfamiliar young man, would ever occur.
Although she styled herself quite boldly and always had an aggressive and open attitude, she had never actually been with a man before.
The resistance in her heart grew stronger and stronger as every shred of sense she had left told Yun Xuan to fight back, that even if she were to die she mustn’t be defiled and used so.
Seeing her now scattered clothes and feeling the cold forest air against her bare skin, Yun Xuan stretched out her hand and tried to exert the last of her strength to slap Yang Kai away, but her arm lost power half way through and instead wound itself around his neck, holding him tightly and drawing him further into her embrace.
Her long slender legs also refused to listen to the pleas from her rational mind and slowly wrapped themselves around Yang Kai’s study waist.
Her rich, tender body closely pressing itself against Yang Kai’s caused a surge of joy that seemed to come straight from her soul to erupt inside her, causing Yun Xuan to cry out in a voice she never knew she could make.
Realizing what she had just done, Yun Xuan’s became even more embarrassed.
“Yang Kai…” Yun Xuan involuntarily sweetly whispered in a soft and intoxicated voice, causing her to want to find a hole to crawl into and hide.
Between her legs, a warm nectar began leaking out and staining the grass beneath her as a deep sense of emptiness that desperately sought to be filled overwhelmed her…
In the next instant, a hot, solid piece of iron suddenly intruded into her most intimate place and Yun Xuan couldn’t help but scream. Her tender body shivered and her jade white skin was dyed a faint red hue as she quickly realized just what had happened.
Now fully aware that trying to resist the Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy toxin was nothing but a dream, a tear rolled down Yun Xuan’s face as she slowly closed her eyes and gave up the last strand of resistance in her heart, fully surrendering her body to this new and unknown sensation.
A tearing pain came from the lower body causing Yun Xuan’s eyes to shoot open and a grunt to leak from her lips, tightly clutching onto Yang Kai’s back in the next instant with her hands, her nails leaving deep traces on his strong muscles.
Her flower had finally been completely plucked.
The initial sharp pain in her nether region quickly disappeared and was instead replaced with an endless surge and retreat of pleasure, the fierce, beast-like male above her not showing the slightest tender affection as he rampantly tried to occupy every inch of her body. Yun Xuan felt her consciousness fly away into the sky and her body and soul experienced a freedom and intoxication she had never imagined possible.
Biting down hard on her luscious lips, Yun Xuan now constantly leaked moans of pleasure and pain from her mouth as she gave all of herself over to the man in front of her.
Teardrops unconsciously leaked from the corners of her eyes and streamed helplessly down her cheeks onto the ground below.
Weakly opening her eyes, Yun Xuan stared up towards the slightly young face above her that was currently pressing down upon her and suddenly thought something was wrong.
This youth, whose eyes were bloodshot, had veins pulsing from his neck and forehead and who seemed no better than a wild animal that wanted nothing more than to devour the prey in front of him gave her a strange feeling. Although he seemed completely intoxicated and immersed in the deed, Yun Xuan still somehow noticed that in the deepest depths of his eyes there was still a cold, rational calm.
But before she had a chance to ponder over this uncoordinated feeling, a new wave of pleasure overwhelmed her body and she was once again submerged in the throes of passions.
“Good good, so delicious!” The Charm Monster’s face blushed as she slowly became intoxicated by the atmosphere. Gently stepping forward, it only took her a few breaths to arrive at Yang Kai and Yun Xuan’s side. Standing there, she stretched out a smooth, jade white hand and caressed Yang Kai’s strong back as if she was encouraging him, whispering into his ear, “Harder, just a little more!”
With this devilish voice floating into his brain, Yang Kai really began moving more aggressively, causing the Charm Monster to smile wickedly.
Time passed rapidly as the pair vented their desires and gradually climbed to a peak. Meanwhile, the Charm Monster’s demeanor became more focused, seemingly waiting for some critical moment.
As Yang Kai and Yun Xuan both reached a climactic apex, the Charm Monster suddenly made her move.
Her seemingly soft and boneless hand plunged into Yang Kai’s back like a hot knife through butter, piercing a hole straight through him and then continuing down into Yun Xuan and tearing open her lower abdomen.
Yun Xuan screamed miserably, tears streaming down her eyes as a flash of extrication washed over her.
The blood essence that mixed together and flowed from gave off a particular aroma that was absolutely intoxicating to the Charm Monster.
“It’s this… this taste… this flavour…” The Charm Monster’s tender body kept shivering as if she was experiencing a sense of euphoria, her legs tightly clenching up as some faint clear liquid dripped down her thighs. Closing her eyes she completely immersed herself in this feeling of bliss.
The bloodshot redness in Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly disappeared at that moment and was replaced with a eerie calmness.
Pushing himself off of Yun Xuan’s limp body like a spring, both his hands swiftly gripped the Charm Monster’s delicate arm that was still piercing his body and ripped with all his strength.
*Kacha…*…
The indescribably soft jade white arm was snapped in two, exposing flesh and bone to the as green blood sprayed from the Charm Monster’s freshly broken limb.
A different kind of scream pierced the air as the Charm Monster’s beautiful eyes shot open and her enchanting face twisted in agony, seemingly falling from Heaven to Hell in an instant, incredulously staring at Yang Kai in front of her as she staggered backwards, pulling her arm out from his back as she did.
Before the Charm Demon had time to stabilize herself though, a flash appeared before her eyes and the youth who she was just watching partake of a young woman’s innocence appeared in front of her, stretched out his hand, and mercilessly grasped her throat.
“Finally, you’ve let your guard down!” Yang Kai’s expression was cold, his eyes were cold, his entire aura was ice cold, so much so that the Charm Monster felt like as if her blood had frozen over.
Staring at the youth in front of her in horror, the Charm Monster found that his body had indeed been run through by her and that his blood was flowing out even now, but his movements were extremely steady and he wasn’t the least bit flustered. In his eyes, the Charm Monster saw a thick ridicule and contempt and suddenly realized that from the beginning this boy had never fallen under her control.
“Impossible!” The Charm Monster roared hysterically like a crazed woman, “There’s no way you could have resisted my Spiritual Energy Toxin!”
“Why is it impossible?” Yang Kai sneered, increasing the strength in his hands as he slammed the Charm Monster onto the ground.
*Peng…*
A sharp pain ran through the Charm Monster’s delicate body making it difficult for her to breathe.
However, even though her body was currently at Yang Kai’s mercy, the Charm Monster didn’t show any fear, only endless hatred.
A huge burst of Spiritual Energy shot out from her forehead and instantly tore through Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea’s defence, flooding it with violent toxin.
She wanted erase Yang Kai’s Soul with this blow in order to sooth the anger she felt from having her arm destroyed.
Receiving this blow, Yang Kai’s forehead wrinkled and his body trembled a few times, but he soon returned to normal.
“Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?” Feeling the feedback from when her Spiritual Energy pulse entered Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the Charm Monster finally showed a look of fear. Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, there was a blazing heat that was so intense it burnt through her Spiritual Energy toxin almost instantaneously.
“So it’s called a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea. Many thanks for your kind guidance!” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
Ever since he absorbed the Jade True Spirit back in the Central Capital, Yang Kai discovered that his Spiritual Energy had taken on a flame type attribute, similar to his True Yang Yuan Qi.
Moreover, his Knowledge Sea had changed. Some patches of the sea now had flames burning.
This change was completely unexpected and caught Yang Kai by surprise; there was no one around he could consult about it either, so until now he didn’t even know what this change was.
Listening to the Charm Monster’s panicked voice, Yang Kai suddenly felt that this mutation was probably a good thing for him.
The Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy contained a potent toxin, but his own Spiritual Energy was now comprised of burning flames which were far stronger than before.
“Don’t kill me, I can work as your slave!” The Charm Monster shouted.
Her physical body wasn’t as strong as Yang Kai’s, and her powerful Divine Sense and Spiritual Energy toxin had no way of harming Yang Kai, so she quickly understood there was no way for her to kill him in this situation, and if she didn’t beg for mercy, she would die.
“Recognize me?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Yes, we Monster Race members can offer our loyalty to members of the Human Race. As long as you nod, I can offer you my Soul brand and become your servant,” The Charm Monster quickly explained.
“No need, I’m not interested in having such a dangerous servant!” Yang Kai said ruthlessly, concentrating all of his True Qi into his fists and to the horror of the Charm Monster, viciously punching her beautiful face.
Perceived this life-threatening crisis, the Charm Monster screamed and unleashed all of her Spiritual Energy, shooting it into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea in a desperate last-ditch attempt to kill him.
However, Yang Kai remained un-phased!
*Hong…*
As if he had punched a watermelon, the Charm Monster’s head suddenly exploded, yet Yang Kai still felt uneasy and continued to relentlessly strike her until all the vitality had disappeared from her body.
Her physical strength was really too weak, otherwise, there would have been no way Yang Kai could so easily kill her with her Transcendent Realm cultivation.
A suction force emerged from Yang Kai’s head at this time and a massive Spiritual Energy remnant from the Charm Monster’s collapsed Knowledge Sea was pulled into his own.
Although the Charm Monster’s last offer had tempted Yang Kai, he knew that with his current strength there was no way he could completely enslave such a master, especially one that specialized in Soul cultivation.
The Charm Monster wasn’t the same as the severely weakened Old Demon, she was too dangerous to keep around, so Yang Kai decisively decided to end all troubles.
Coughing a few times, fresh blood flowed out of Yang Kai’s mouth.
Wiping away this blood, Yang Kai quickly took out some Myriad Drug Milk from the Black Book space.
His body had been pierced through and was quite heavily injured; fortunately, Yang Kai had managed to shift himself so his vital organs hadn’t been destroyed, or this blow would have been fatal.
With the help of the Myriad Drug Milk though, his injury should be completely restored within a few days.
Turning his attention to Yun Xuan, Yang Kai’s expression became a bit complicated. After hesitating for a moment, he walked over to her side where she was lying in a pool of blood.