The next day, at dawn, Yang Kai, who was meditating, felt some movements from the room next door. Releasing his Divine Sense, he found that Cang Yan, Li Wan, and Fei Jian had quietly left, obviously heading towards Ascending Heaven Cliff to investigate the situation over there.
Fei Yu, on the other hand, after a night of excessive drinking, didn’t wake up at all and was currently lying on her bed in a slovenly manner, her robes only half covering her pure white thighs, causing Yang Kai’s vision to spin when he glanced over at her.
Shaking his head helplessly, Yang Kai silently crept over and covered her with the beddings in an attempt to maintain some semblance of modesty for his Martial Aunt.
It was not until noon that Fei Yu lazily got up, stretched, and walked over to the window, standing there quietly for a while.
“Hey, little Martial Nephew, let’s go out and have a look at the city,” Fei Yu suddenly suggested.
“But Cang Yan Martial Uncle said for us to wait here until they came back to the inn,” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow.
“Relax, in Floating Clouds City, there generally won’t be any danger, and even if a fight does break out, the City Lord’s Mansion’s people will handle it,” Fei Yu walked over and sat her enchanting bottom down next to Yang Kai leisurely, exhaling a fragrant breath as she continued to persuade him, “Come on, let’s go. It’s so rare we get a chance to come here, there’s no point if we just stay here in this stuffy room. Cang Yan and them may not be back for a few days, are we supposed to just sit here and wait the whole time?”
As she said so, Fei Yu unscrupulously wrapped her arms around Yang Kai’s, pressing her amazingly soft and elastic capital against his shoulder.
Yang Kai’s face went black, “Fine fine, let’s go, better than staying here and letting you take advantage of me.”
“Little bastard!” Fei Yu grit her teeth angrily.
The two took a moment to clean up before quickly leaving the inn and walking out onto the busy street.
Even if Fei Yu didn’t propose so, Yang Kai had planned to go out.
Old Man Du had said that because the Thousand Year Demon Flower was about to bloom, there would be a lot of excellent Alchemists and powerful cultivators from around the world gathering here. Where there were many people, there were many resources.
A variety of rare herbs, spirit grasses, and spirit medicines which were usually difficult to find would appear here.
Yang Kai needed to collect some of these herbs!
Although he was currently being provided herbs by Soaring Heaven Sect in order to practice Alchemy, he still needed to search for others, firstly for his own cultivation, and secondly for the Ancient Demon Clan.
When he left Demon God Citadel, Li Rong gave him a list of materials needed in order to refine the Saint Pill they required. After such a long time, Yang Kai had almost completely collected these herbs, but there were still some he had yet to find.
This time’s trip to Floating Clouds City was a rare opportunity.
Inside Floating Clouds City, there were many shops and cultivators, people flowed through the streets like a great river.
Fei Yu held Yang Kai’s arm intimately as they strolled through the streets, their handsome man and beautiful woman combination drawing many people’s attention.
“Martial Aunt, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?” Yang Kai felt more than a little uncomfortable. As they walked, he would occasional have some excessive physical contact, causing him some discomfort.
“How is it inappropriate? I’m responsible for protecting you; little bastard, you’re not going to tell me you’re reacting to your Martial Aunt, are you?” Fei Yu glanced at him and smiles sweetly.
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, “I’m a young man, and this is just a normal phenomenon.”
“Well, don’t stress yourself out over minor matters,” Fei Yu chuckled, seemingly enjoying herself greatly as she walked along and whispered quietly to Yang Kai.
Along the way, under her guidance, Yang Kai was able to accurately distinguish who belonged to the Demon Race and who was from the Monster Race.
In Tong Xuan Realm, the Human, Demon, and Monster Races dominated over all other races, with Humans being the most numerous, followed by the Demon Race, while the Monster Race had the least members.
The root cause of the scarcity of the Monster Race was the Beast Transformation Pond.
The Beast Transformation Pond was the core foundation of the Monster Race, when a Monster Beast reached a certain level of strength, they could assume human form with the assistance of the Beast Transformation Pond and obtain wisdom and sentience not inferior to a Human Race powerhouse.
It can be said that every Monster Race with a human form was a true master, this was very different from the other two races.
However, this was not the whole story. There were some formidable members of the Monster Races that innately possessed the ability to assume human form from birth, and some among the Monster Races with outstanding aptitude that could achieve human form without the assistance of the Beast Transformation Pond.
These were the true elites of the Monster Race, the apex powerhouses.
Yang Kai gained a great deal of understanding and insight through Fei Yu’s explanations.
Inside a shop owned and operated by Floating Clouds City’s Alchemist Guild, Yang Kai walked a few laps before wearing a helpless look.
He hadn’t found any of the herbs he was looking for.
“Little brother, I’ve seen you come around several times but never buy anything, could it be that the things in my shop aren’t to your liking?” The shopkeeper couldn’t help but ask.
Yang Kai shook his head, “These are all good things, but they’re not what I’m currently looking for.”
“Is little brother an Alchemist?”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and showed his Alchemist token. The shopkeeper took the token and investigated it for a moment before his expression became even friendlier, “I don’t know what this little brother is searching for, so if it is convenient, can you tell me? I can help keep an eye out for little brother that way.”
Nodding, Yang Kai casually reported the names of the herbs he was looking for.
The shopkeeper’s face became awkward and nodded, “The medicinal herbs little brother is searching for only grow in very specific environments and are as such, precious and scarce. Such things aren’t likely to appear in this store. If you want to obtain them, it won’t be easy. Little brother may wish to go to the Trading District to have a look, if you’re lucky, you might have some gains.”
“Trading District?” Yang Kai’s expression changed.
“Good, for this grand occasion, the City Lord and two Vice City Lords specially designated an area of the city where Alchemists from all over the world can exchange goods. There are many excellent Alchemists here who have collected rare and precious herbs they don’t have a use for and are willing to exchange for things they do need, little brother can go there and try your luck.”
“Where is the Trading District?”
The shopkeeper warm heartedly pointed Yang Kai in the right direction. Yang Kai nodded slightly and offered his thanks before he and Fei Yu left for the indicated district.
After half an hour, Yang Kai looked at an open square where a lively scene was taking place and couldn’t help showing a light smile.
“Does this place remind you of something?” Fei Yu couldn’t help asking, seeing Yang Kai laugh so strangely.
“En, some past events in my Sect,” Yang Kai replied casually.
The scene in front of him, with countless people setting up stalls and bargaining back and forth, reminded him of when he was just young, weak boy visiting the Black Wind Trade Market set up by High Heaven Pavilion, Storm House, and Blood Battle Gang.
This kind of buying and selling scene gave him the illusion he had gone back to those simpler times.
Of course, this Trading District was not surrounded by a forest or manned by Elite Disciples of the Three Sects.
After sweeping his eyes around, Yang Kai was shocked to discover that many of the stall owners here were actually Alchemist. They had hung their Alchemist tokens on their chests to reveal their identities.
There were also some ordinary cultivators who had obviously obtained good herbs when they were out adventuring who were waiting behind their booths for prospective buyers.
There were things to buy and things to sell, the whole scene was incredibly lively.
There were even people who hung signs asking for Alchemists to help them refine pills.
Everything here was basically related to herbs and pill, and a thick medicinal fragrance lingered in the air.
Yang Kai picked up his feet and began walking around, wandering back and forth between the various stalls.
It was a rewarding experience.
Many herbs that were all but impossible to find actually appeared here.
Most sellers also didn’t have any special requests for payment and most things could be bought with sufficient Crystal Stones.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had many Crystal Stones on him. Although the vast majority of his Crystal Stones had been left to the Ancient Demon Clan, what he kept on him was still enough for him to be considered wealthy.
Bargaining back and forth with these sellers, Yang Kai had soon acquired a few herbs.
During this process, Fei Yu played a big role. Yang Kai had never expected that this Martial Aunt of his would possess such phenomenal skill in this area, using her sharp wits and tongue, along with her own great beauty to mercilessly butcher these sellers, often allowing her to acquire these precious herbs at much lower prices than they were initially being sold for.
After half a day, Yang Kai had harvested quite a few precious herbs, and even some he required for the Ancient Demon Clan’s Saint Pill.
He was very satisfied.
“I helped you save a lot of Crystal Stones today, so how do you plan on thanking me?” Fei Yu held Yang Kai’s arm a little tighter as she asked with a sweet smile.
“Buy whatever drink you want.”
Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes flashed as she joyfully shouted, “Little Martial Nephew, you really know how to make your Martial Aunt happy!”
“But! You’re not allowed to get drunk! Otherwise, when Cang Yan and them return, they’ll complain.”
“I know,” Fei Yu curled her lips faintly.
As they were speaking thought, there was a sudden burst of excited voices not far from them, as if they crowd had discovered something incredible.
In the next moment, Yang Kai clearly smelt a faint fragrance fill the air. As soon as this fragrance entered his nose, he felt a cool, refreshing sensation all the way to his core!
Yang Kai and Fei Yu’s eyes simultaneously lit up as they exchange a quick glance. They knew that a real treasure had appeared.
Turning their eyes towards the place where the ruckus originated from, Yang Kai found that a noisy three layer crowd had already formed. Fortunately, through the gaps in the crowd, Yang Kai could still see a faint multi-coloured light bloom.
“Let’s go see,” Fei Yu said, pulling Yang Kai’s arm as she walked over to the crowd.
However, even after quite some effort, the two of them couldn’t squeeze their way through the crowd and instead could only listen to the other buyers calling out, “Brother, what are you selling this thing for?”
“Ten Saint Pills!” A slightly aged voice answered.
Immediately after these words were said, the crowd of people fell silent.
“Brother, isn’t that a too expensive? Saint Pills can’t be refined casually. In this world, there are only a handful of Alchemists capable of refining Saint Pills. You all of a sudden asking for ten, don’t you think that’s a bit outrageous?”
“That’s right, can’t you trade this thing for other herbs or Crystal Stones?”
“How about exchanging it for an artifact? I have a few Spirit Grade Top-Rank artifacts here you can choose from!”
“Ten Saint Pills, I only need ten Saint Pills. If you don’t have any Saint Pills, please leave.”
“Brother, can’t you stretch the rules a bit, don’t be so unreasonable.”
“This guy is simply too arrogant! Can this thing possibly be worth ten Saint Pills? Bullshit! I think this guy must have gone crazy from poverty.”
“Big brother, if you give this thing to me, I can be yours from now on, how about it?” A pretty voice called out.
“You immoral woman, don’t you have any sense of shame?” Someone immediately called out in disdain.
“Depending on your looks, you dare try to pull off such a scheme? You really don’t have any self-awareness.”
“It’s none of your damn business!”
The voices grew louder and the scene quickly became messier and messier.
“Scram!” A shockingly loud voice rang out, causing everyone’s eardrums to rattle, instantly silencing the crowd. Some of the weaker cultivators even had blood flowing out of their ears. Obviously, everyone being so noisy in front of his booth had cause the seller to become a little angry.
“I don’t want to repeat myself again, if you can’t meet my requirements, leave,” The seller said in a low but firm tone.
“Third Order Transcendent!” Some among the crowd shouted.
The faint aura emanating from the seller allowed everyone to realize just how high his strength was, causing many people who were hoping to take advantage of this situation to sigh and slowly receded.
At first glance it was obvious this seller was a fierce and decisive person who had seen more than his fair share of blood. Anyone trying to take advantage of him would surely end up with only more trouble for themselves.
However, there were still many people who stayed behind and continued to try to bargain with the seller.
Unfortunately, the seller always shook his head and insisted on his original price of ten Saint Pills.
Gradually, the number of people in front of the booth decreased until it became a nearly deserted spot.
Yang Kai and Fei Yu finally made their way to the front of the booth and upon seeing what was being sold, they eyes couldn’t help flashing.
In front of the seller was a palm sized pure white lotus that seemed to have been carved from the purest ice, but it was actually exuding a strong vitality from its blossom, while a faint fragrance wafted from it that gave both Yang Kai and Fei Yu a comfortable, pleasant sensation that affected even their Souls, allowing their thoughts to become clearer and sharper than normal.
[A rare treasure!] Yang Kai immediately concluded.
“Ice Heart Snow Lotus?” Fei Yu immediately called out in alarm, quickly squatting down and examining the ice lotus with her beautiful eyes before drawing a sharp breath, “Could this be over 10,000 years old?”
As soon as this statement came out, Yang Ka’s expression changed greatly.
[10,000 years!] No matter what herb it was, even the lowest most ordinary herb, if it could grow to 10,000 years of age, it would become a valuable treasure, not to mention this ice lotus which, from the start of its inception, was clearly not ordinary.
The face of the seller which had always been tranquil ancient well also moved slightly, turning his eyes to Fei Yu and nodding slightly, “Finally someone with some vision.”
Fei Yu smiled lightly, “It’s not that I am the only one who can judge the quality of your goods, it’s just those who have the knowledge don’t want to reveal the truth.”
Those who wanted this ice lotus would obviously not emphasize its value in the hopes that the seller’s eyes weren’t so keen so they could pick up a bargain.
“Are you really only willing to accept ten Saint Pills in exchange for this?” Fei Yu asked softly.
To which the seller nodded firmly.
Fei Yu shook her head and sighed, ten Saint Pills was a price she couldn’t pay. Saint Grade pills weren’t something that just anyone could refine; even Saint Grade Alchemists would also have a great chance of failure when refining one.
As such, Saint Grade pills were always expensive; with ten of them one would even be able to afford a small city!
For any ordinary cultivator, it would basically be impossible to see ten Saint Pills throughout their entire lifetime.
“Martial Aunt, can this thing nourish one’s Soul?” Yang Kai also had a sharp eye for treasures but after all, he was somewhat lacking in experience so he did not immediately recognize this ice lotus.
Fei Yu, on the contrary, was different. Although she was not Alchemist, she had lived many years so she had considerably broader vision and knowledge than Yang Kai. It wasn’t surprising she was able to recognize this Ice Heart Snow Lotus and its true age at a glance.
“En, it’s a rare treasure which can nourish one’s Soul,” Fei Yu nodded lightly, “You don’t even need to refine it into a pill, you can simply swallow it directly. Anyone who consumes such an Ice Heart Snow Lotus would experience a vast increase in the strength of their Spiritual Energy. But it’s strange, this thing is extremely hard to come by, why don’t you simply take it yourself and instead want to exchange it for ten Saint Pills?”
“I naturally have my own reasons,” The seller said bluntly, obviously not willing to explain any further, “Do you have enough Saint Pills? If you have them then we can make a deal now, if you don’t, don’t waste my time.”
Fei Yu pursed her lips slightly, her opinion of this seller dropping considerably.
Yang Kai pondered for a while then asked, “Can you give me a few days to gather that many Saint Pills?”
“How long do you want?” The seller turned his eyes to Yang Kai.
“Three days!”
“I can give you the time, but I can’t guarantee I won’t sell it by then,” The seller bluntly replied.
Yang Kai frowned, “But I only have one Saint Pill on me right now!”
“That’s your problem.”
Seeing the sellers inflexible attitude, Yang Kai didn’t bother saying anymore. A treasure which could nourish one’s Soul was something he really wanted, but in order to refine ten Saint Pills, even with his current proficiency in Alchemy, it would still take him some time to prepare.
At the very least, he would need to collect some herbs that were not lower than Spirit Grade Top-Rank grade, preferably Saint Grade.
With the assistance of a supplementary Spirit Array and the Myriad Drug Milk, Yang Kai was confident he could refine ten Saint Pills in three days.
Of course, the price he would need to pay would be massive as he would definitely waste countless materials along the way.
Just as he was considering whether it would still be worth it to do this, someone suddenly appeared beside him. Yang Kai turned to look at this newcomer and discovered it was actually a young man around his age with a handsome appearance.
The young man also glanced towards Yang Kai and as their eyes met, both of them couldn’t help feeling astonished.
Both of them felt that the other party’s strength was outstanding.
Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes also flashed as she stared at this young man curiously.
The young man suddenly showed a temperate yet enchanting smile, causing the world around him to seem a bit sunnier than before.
“This Ice Heart Snow Lotus is quite good,” The young man took back his gaze from Yang Kai and shifted his attention to treasure in front of him.
“Ten Saint Pills!” The seller still said indifferently.
“Good, I want it,” The young man nodded lightly.
Yang Kai and Fei Yu both wore stunned expressions, and even the seller seemed to be in a state of shock, frowning as he said, “Give me the ten Saint Pill first, then it’s yours.”
He obviously didn’t believe such a young man could suddenly come up with ten Saint Pills.
The young man’s sunny smile didn’t fade though as he casually tossed a Universe Bag to the seller, “Check it yourself, exactly ten. If you want more, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
The seller released his Divine Sense to investigate, smiling happily a moment later. Standing up, he quickly packed up his stall and strode away, his figure soon disappearing without even saying a word.
Yang Kai and Fei Yu were both dumbfounded.
The young man on the other hand smiled lightly, reached out his hand which looked as fair as a young maiden’s and carefully picked up the Ice Heart Snow Lotus, placing it in another Universe Bag before nodding to Yang Kai in a friendly manner, “I would seem I’ve been rude to this friend, seizing something you were after. I hope you can forgive me, after all, everyone wants good things.”
“Not a problem,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, not showing any intention of haggling with the youth over this.
He couldn’t afford to purchase the ice lotus while the other side could, there was really nothing more to say.
“En, goodbye then,” After the young man said it, he quickly disappeared into the crowd.
“That kid… What kind of background does he have?” Fei Yu said after a long period of absentmindedness, still somewhat stunned, “Ten Saint Pills, he didn’t even blink.”
“He should have an incredible background,” Yang Kai stared at the direction in which the youth disappeared, “On top of that… he’s a very high level Alchemist himself.”
“How do you know?” Fei Yu asked curiously.
“His fingertips had a fragrance of pills, and that fragrance was from Spirit Grade pills, probably from immersing himself in Alchemy all year round.”
Fei Yu couldn’t help covering her mouth in shock, “Doesn’t that mean he’s on the same level as you?”
So young, but able to refine Spirit Grade pills, that was not something an ordinary person could accomplish. Mi Na was also a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, but she was older than Yang Kai.
But the youth from a moment ago looked to be about the same age as Yang Kai.
“No,” Yang Kai shook his head with a solemn expression, “He might even be better than me.”
This time, Fei Yu was so shocked she couldn’t speak.
Originally, she had thought a monster like Yang Kai would only appear in this world once every hundred years, but now, just after arriving in Floating Clouds City, she had actually met another one.
“However… he looks like a genuine gigolo, while I’m not!” Yang Kai suddenly grinned proudly, obviously taking pleasure in others’ misfortune.
Fei Yu shook her head in amazement, “You… he’s just a bit more handsome than you.”
“If he grew out his hair, I’m sure he would definitely be mistaken for a beautiful young woman, hahahaha!” Yang Kai laughed heartily, a man growing into such an appearance was in itself a kind of sadness.
“Let’s go see if there’s anything else good before heading back,” Yang Kai said, beckoning to Fei Yu, the latter hurriedly following after him with a somewhat dissatisfied look upon her face, “Hold on, you said you’d treat me to anything I want to drink, were you lying to me?”
“We can buy what you want and take it back to the inn to drink.”
After that, it was as if the pair had used up all their luck, so even after wandering around the Trading District for two hours they didn’t encounter anything good.
Just as they were preparing to head back to the inn, Yang Kai and Fei Yu saw a new stall go up and the person behind it take one precious herb after another from his Universe Bag.
Yang Kai couldn’t help having some expectations seeing this. This person seemed to be an Alchemist as he had an Alchemist Guild Token on his chest, and although he couldn’t tell this person’s grade just from that, the herbs the latter was taking out were all rare treasures.
“Let’s go take a look,” Yang Kai said to Fei Yu, walking over and standing in front of the booth, waiting quietly for the seller to take out all his wares.
The people around the area also seemed to have discovered something going on here and soon many people had gathered around. As a result, the Alchemist’s business was red hot and his herbs were quickly snatched up.
When the audience saw that this seller’s Universe Bag was finally empty, they couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
“Wait a moment please, my companion is on his way and he too has a lot of good things on him,” The seller hurriedly said.
Hearing this, everyone’s enthusiasm picked up once again and no one left, all of them crowding in even closer as they looked forward to what else would be for sale.
“Friend, where did you and your companion obtain all these treasures. They all seem to be quite well aged,” Someone asked curiously.
“Heh heh, I might as well tell you, we actually accidentally found a Mysterious Small World. There was nothing in there except for some herbs though, all of which we harvested and brought here to sell.”
“Your luck is really good,” Many envious people looked on and muttered.
Mysterious Small Worlds came in all shapes and sizes; for instance, the Mysterious Small World where the Ancient Demon Clan resides is relatively large. As for some of the smaller ones, their entrances were normally well hidden, but if one could find one, it was quite possible they would be able to find treasures left over by ancient cultivators. On top of that, some Precious Treasures and rare herbs may naturally grow in these Mysterious Small Worlds and reach a very old age as no one was there to disturb them. Of course, there was also a chance there would be nothing inside such a small world. Everything depended on the luck of the finder.
Despite the many years Tong Xuan Realm had existed and the countless cultivators who sought out these hidden Mysterious Small Worlds, there were still many places that had yet to be discovered. These Mysterious Small Worlds were uncultivated virgin land and any one of them may contain incredible wealth.
The Alchemist behind this stall and his companion were obviously very lucky to have found such a space.
This alone was enough to make the crowd envious.
After a while, another middle-aged man came over and, just as the Alchemist before him, he began taking one rare herb after another from his Universe Bag.
Every time he took something out, it would lead to a flurry of people trying to snatch it up.
Those who had come to the Trading District to find herbs generally had higher vision than average buyers, so they naturally would not miss such a great opportunity.
The scene was so lively that the Alchemist and his companion had to split the work, one of them handling the sales while the other received Crystal Stones, keeping the both of them quite busy.
The two men were also quite honest and upright and didn’t take this opportunity to sell their wares at an inflated price, instead only selling them for slightly more than the market value. This increased all of the buyers’ enthusiasm and willingness to participate.
Yang Kai had been paying attention the whole time but was in no hurry to purchase anything.
Although these herbs were all rather precious, he had yet to see something he really needed.
Suddenly, the Alchemist’s companion took a fiery red orb that resembled a small burning fireball. As soon as this thing appeared, the surrounding air took on a scalding heat. Everyone felt this change and realized the potency of the medicinal properties contained within this thing, quickly noticing that there were even a lot of dense lines atop its surface which resembled a cultivator’s meridians.
Yang Kai eyes light up the moment he saw this and quickly reached out his hand!
At the same time, many people who were able to judge the quality of this item also stuck out their hands. In an instant, more than a dozen big hands grabbed towards this red herbs.
Fei Yu silently stamped her foot on the ground and an invisible wave of air centered around her suddenly spread out.
This stealthy eruption of a Third Order Transcendent power forced all of the rivals Yang Kai was competing against to stumble backwards.
In that instant, Yang Kai and Fei Yu exchanged a glance, both of them smiling lightly in understanding.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s hand caught the round fiery herb, but what he had not anticipated was that there was another hand that caught hold of it from the opposite side as well.
Of everyone present, only Yang Kai and this challenger had not been affected by Fei Yu’s little trick.
Looking up at the owner of this hand, Yang Kai’s face couldn’t help showing an astonished look while Fei Yu was also quite surprised.
This person was actually the young man who had bought the Ice Heart Snow Lotus with ten Saint Pills earlier. The opposite party also grinned back at Yang Kai when he noticed who his competitor was.
After everyone else regained their balance, they all shot bad looks towards Fei Yu, but upon seeing the opposite party was actually such a beautiful woman, all of the anger in their hearts failed to materialize.
“Heh heh, looks like there’s going to be a good show,” Someone who saw the dispute between Yang Kai and the young man couldn’t help laughing.
Everyone else’s attention was also drawn towards this standoff, each of them guessing who would be the one to win this precious herb in the end.
“Friend, we meet again,” The young man smiled at Yang Kai and showed a dazzling white smile.
“Indeed,” Yang Kai also laughed, his brow rising slightly, “Do you also want this thing?”
“I believe I said earlier that everyone wants good things.”
“There are so many good things around, you shouldn’t need to keep grabbing the same things as me, right?” Yang Kai said in an easy-going manner, seemingly wanting to persuade this youth to give up.
The youth however just shook his head, “There are certainly many good things here, but nothing I want, I only want this Earth Fire Core.”
“What a coincidence, so do I.”
“Then what should we do?” The young man frowned, he also hadn’t anticipated encountering such a situation so he turned to the seller and asked, “Shopkeep, do you have another Earth Fire Core?”
The seller slowly shook his head, “There’s only this one, the two of us exhausted all our strength searching that small world and only found this after digging several thousand meters down.”
Earth Fire Cores would only appear underground in places with significant amounts of flame energy, and even in such environments they would still be a rarity. It was called a fire core because it was formed by gathering a great deal of subterranean flame essence and had many wondrous uses.
It also happened to be one of the herbs Yang Kai needed to refine the Saint Pill for the Ancient Demon Clan, but although he didn’t know what this young man needed the Earth Fire Core, it was obvious he wasn’t willing to give up on it.
“Hey, friend, you should lighten your grip, if you use any more force, this Earth Fire Core just might break,” The young man’s expression changed as he noticed that unlike last time, Yang Kai’s attitude was quite determined, feeling things had become somewhat difficult.
“You as well!” Yang Kai smiled lightly, hesitating for a moment before saying, “You bought that Ice Heart Snow Lotus a moment ago so you’ve already made a big gain today, why compete with me of this Earth Fire Core still?”
“This and that are two different things,” The other party kept shaking his head, “How about this, if friend is willing to take a step back, I can compensate you for your loss. How about I offer you a price equivalent to this Earth Fire Core?”
Yang Kai shook his head firmly and said, “If you are willing to take a step back, I can compensate you instead.”
“Heh heh!” The young man laughed somewhat hollowly, a look of helplessness appearing on his face.
“You two, arguing like this is bad for my business, can you please decide who is going to buy it already?” The seller was also a bit embarrassed and tried to move the situation along.
“Wait a moment, I’ll try again to convince this friend to give way,” The young man said lightly.
But before he could open his mouth to continue persuading Yang Kai, someone suddenly pushed his way through the crowd and after shooting everyone a disdainful glance, stuck out his hand and grabbed towards the Earth Fire Core, arrogantly saying, “You two don’t have to fight anymore, this Earth Fire Core now belongs to this Young Lord.”
Yang Kai and the young man’s faces both changed simultaneously. In order to compete for this Earth Fire Core, both of them had use the largest amount of strength it could withstand, if anyone were to add any more strength to their grasp, the Earth Fire Core would be immediately ruined.
As such, before this newcomers hand had even reached the Earth Fire Core, both Yang Kai and the young man took action at the same time, both of them using their free hand to send out a punch.
The newcomer was also a young man, but from the expensive robes he was wearing it was clear he had a superior identity and strong background.
After being knocked backwards, the new young man became angry and grinned fiendishly, “You two dare attack me? Your courage isn’t small! Don’t you know who I am? No one dares fight with me in this Floating Clouds City!”
“I don’t give a damn who you are, if you dare stick your hand out again, I swear I’ll chop it off.” The young man who was competing for the Earth Fire Core with Yang Kai suddenly said savagely. Regarding his contest with Yang Kai, he could still remain calm as both of them relied on their own strength and methods, but this person suddenly showing up and butting in made him somewhat unhappy.
Yang Kai’s eyes also flashed; he didn’t speak any words but his aura became dangerous.
The gathered crowd of people suddenly became agitated upon seeing this.
“Two little brothers,” The seller’s face changed greatly after he glanced over at the newcomer and whispered, “This is Young Master Nie Cong, you can’t afford to offend him.”
“Does he have some kind of strong backer?” Yang Kai asked offhandedly, he had already noticed that many people around him were giving him looks of pity when they saw Nie Cong arrive. Many had also started to distance themselves.
The cultivation of this Nie Cong wasn’t high having only reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Sixth Stage, nothing to fear, so it must be that the power behind him was worth caring about.
The seller’s face became somewhat flustered as he quietly looked over at Nie Cong and saw the other side wearing a smug look, apparently not having any intention of stopping him. Seeing this, the seller immediately realized that Nie Cong wanted him to report his identity to these two little brats who didn’t know the immensity of Heaven and Earth so they would take the initiative to withdraw and apologize.
The seller let out a long breath and began explaining, “Two little brothers should have recently arrived in Floating Clouds City so it is not surprising you are unaware. Floating Clouds City has one City Lord and two Vice City Lords, all of them Saint Realm masters; one of the Vice City Lords is called Zhou Liang, a master from the Human Race and he had a favoured woman named Nie Chu Feng, who is also a First Order Transcendent. This Young Master Nie Cong is the nephew of Nie Chu Feng.”
“I see,” Yang Kai nodded at the same time as his competitor. Behind this Nie Cong was a Saint Realm master who was also an overlord of Floating Clouds City, no wonder he was able to act so arrogantly in front of all these people without any fear.
Now that his identity had been revealed, Nie Cong sneered dismissively and said, “Do you now know who this Young Lord is? Since you know, hand over the Earth Fire Core, if you put it down now, I’ll be generous and allow you to leave safely.”
Yang Kai asked back blankly, “Isn’t fighting forbidden within Floating Clouds City?”
The seller wore a bitter expression as he stuttered, “Little brother must be joking, this place not allowing fights is true, but such rules only apply to most people, there are still a small number of people who are outside this rule.”
As he spoke, he glanced over at Nie Rong intentionally or unintentionally.
This Nie Cong obviously belonged to the latter category.
“Do you know how grave your situation is now?” The young man Yang Kai was competing with suddenly said, “If you know, you should let go of this Earth Fire Core, otherwise, if you stir up this Nie Cong’s anger, I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave here safely.”
“Then why don’t you let go first?” Yang Kai turned his eyes back to the pretty youth and smiled.
The young man just grinned back at him, “Why you… I really don’t know if you know how to write the word dead?”
“I don’t know if I’ll be the one to die first, or if it’ll be you?” Yang Kai didn’t back down.
Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes shimmered as she kept a close watch on the quickly evolving situation, secretly condensing her True Qi in case she needed to take action.
As the two youths argued, Nie Cong’s expression became quite ugly. He found that these two kids didn’t fear him at all even after learning about his identity and background and were instead still fighting over ownership of the Earth Fire Core while ignoring him.
This made him very sullen.
Stepping forward, Nie Cong firmly declared, “I don’t care where you brats come from or what kind of background you have, but in this Floating Clouds City, only I have the last say.”
Saying so, he once again reached out for the Earth Fire Core, his True Qi gathering in his hand, apparently holding the mentality that it would either belong to him or be destroyed.
Yang Kai immediately became angry and did not hesitate to punch towards the outstretched hand.
At the same time, the youth opposite Yang Kai also sent out his own attack.
Nie Cong suddenly froze in place, his face filled with disbelief.
In the next instant, with a great splash of blood, Nie Cong’s hand was severed from his wrist and before it could even fall to the ground had burst into a bloody fog.
With a pitiful scream, Nie Cong stumbled back, blood bursting from his new wound, creating a spectacular red fountain.
The onlookers also called out in shock, none of them having anticipated seeing such a scene.
Although Yang Kai’s punch contained a substantial amount of force, it had still only been meant to push Nie Cong back, the one responsible for cutting off the latter wrist was the young man Yang Kai had been competing with. Without the protection of Nie Cong’s True Qi, his severed hand then directly exploded under the influence of Yang Kai’s attack.
The seller’s jaw dropped as he wore an expression of utter disbelief.
“You… you dare hurt me? You bastards, I’ll kill you!” Nie Cong didn’t come to his sense for a while but the moment he did, seeing his stump hand, his eyes instantly went bloodshot as he rushed towards Yang Kai and the young man in a hysterical rage.
Yang Kai remained indifferent and simply stared back at him coldly.
The youth opposite him went one step further and coldly said, “I told you, if you dare reach out for it again, I’d cut off your hand.”
Nie Cong once again froze up as he felt a chill run up his spin and penetrate his heart, his eyes wavering.
“If you dare take one more step, I’ll kill you!” The young man threw out this threat.
Nie Cong’s expression twisted as he did his best to endure the humiliation he felt in his heart before yelling, “Just you wait!”
Having left this threat behind, Nie Cong flew off, leaving a trail of fresh blood behind him.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed dangerously but quickly suppressed his idea of cutting weeds and pulling out roots before glancing over at his competitor.
The scene was so quiet one could hear a needle drop. Everyone’s eyes were focused on Yang Kai and the young man. Some of them had expressions of pity while others were taking pleasure in their misfortune, while still others had thoughtful looks, wondering what kind of strong backing these two had that allowed them to not fear a Saint Realm master.
“Two little brothers, you…haa!” The seller was speechless, all he wanted to do was sell some herbs but now it had actually turned into such a mess.
“Sorry about that, I got a little too excited,” The young man smiled before turning to look at Yang Kai, “Stirring up such trouble, aren’t you afraid?”
“You’re clearly not afraid, so why should I be?” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully.
“Interesting, I suddenly found that I quite like you.”
Yang Kai’s face went black, “I’m not interested in men.”
The young man quickly realized the ambiguity in his words and waved his hands in a flurry, “You misunderstand me, I just think that your temperament is quite to my taste, how about we become friends?”
“Good, give me this Earth Fire Core first.”
The youth couldn’t help gritting his teeth and going silent for a while before finally saying, “If we continue like this, neither of us will ever give in.”
Yang Kai nodded gently. Strictly speaking, he also noticed that he and his opponent’s personalities were somewhat similar. When people of similar dispositions have a dispute, it is often difficult for them to resolve things due to their similar methods of handling affairs. Of course, this also led to them being able cooperate quite smoothly with one another like how they had just dealt with Nie Cong. In truth, Yang Kai was not the only one just now who had wanted to cut weeds and pull out roots, the youth also had such thoughts flash across his mind.
“Is friend an Alchemist?” The young man asked with a smile.
“En, just like you.”
“Since we’re both Alchemist, and this dispute is over an herb, how about we settle things with an exchange of pointers?” The young man narrowed his eyes and proposed.
“Good!” Yang Kai nodded slightly, his expression overflowing with confidence.
“Great!” The other party nodded repeatedly as he laughed, “Then we have a deal, whoever wins this contest gets to keep the Earth Fire Core. Before then, we’ll let this beautiful girl hold on to it.”
Saying so, he glanced over at Fei Yu.
Fei Yu smiled and let out a light giggle, “Young man, you really know how to talk.”
“Just stating the facts!”
Fei Yu smiled even wider.
After asking the seller about the price of the Earth Fire Core, Yang Kai and the young man both handed over half the required Crystal Stones and bought the Earth Fire Core before turning it over to Fei Yu, who smiled and said, “Little Martial Nephew, although Martial Aunt wants to help you, since you’ve already agreed to settle this with a contest of skill, Martial Aunt will act fairly and present this to the winner. If you lose, don’t blame Martial Aunt, a real man must keep his word.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, “Let’s first find some place quiet, there seems to be a few too many people here.”
The young man happily agreed.
Seeing their nonchalant attitude, the seller couldn’t help calling out, “Two little brothers, you should hurry up and leave Floating Clouds City, after injuring Young Master Nie Cong, if you don’t leave now, I’m afraid you’ll never be able to, him withdrawing just now was definitely to find reinforcements.”
“It’s not a problem,” The young man shook his head lightly before turning to Yang Kai, “Let’s go to your place, it’s not convenient for others to come to where I’m staying.”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and nodded before he and Fei Yu led the way back to their inn.
Only after the three of them had left did the seller shake his head and sigh, “Two lunatics.”
“What are you so worried about? Them acting so fearless must mean they have an incredible background. Perhaps this time, Nie Cong has gotten in over his head, heh heh,” The Alchemist companion of the seller whispered softly. Apparently, he didn’t have a very good impression of Nie Cong and hoped these two young strangers would teach him a harsh lesson.
His words also resonated quite well with the surrounding crowd, many of them who were idle at the moment choosing to follow after the three ‘lunatics’ in hopes of seeing this good show continue.
Back at the inn, inside Yang Kai and Fei Yu’s room.
After stepping inside, the young man took a quick glance around before giving a slight nod and extending his hand to Yang Kai while introducing himself, “Di Yao, how should I call this friend?”
“Yang Kai,” Yang Kai didn’t hesitate to give his real name as he shook the outstretched hand before turning to Fei Yu, “This is my Martial Aunt, Fei Yu.”
“Did you come here for the Thousand Year Demon Flower?”
“En, you as well?”
“Indeed, but my purpose is different from yours, so you don’t have to worry about me trying to snatch the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s medicinal essence from you, it may even be possible for us to cooperate.”
“Cooperate?” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly, “Cooperate how?”
“Let’s not mention this for now, we can always talk about it when the time comes. Just, perhaps you won’t be able to reach Ascending Heaven Cliff as easily as you think,” Di Yao smiled lightly, “Let’s first deal with the matter at hand.”
“How should we do this?” Yang Kai sat down cross legged and took out his Incense Burner.
This Incense Burner was the reward he obtained from the third page of the Black Book; whenever Yang Kai performed Alchemy he would generally use this pill furnace.
When he saw the Incense Burner, Di Yao’s eyes couldn’t help shining, “Friend is a real master, being able to use such a small pill furnace is quite rare.”
Alchemists, when refining pills, needed to portray various kinds of Spirit Arrays inside their pill furnaces to assist them in the Alchemy process. The larger the pill furnace, the easier it is to portray a Spirit Array, and the less precise the Spirit Array would have to be.
Conversely, a skilled Alchemist didn’t need to use a large pill furnace to portray the required Spirit Arrays. To some extent, the smaller the pill furnace used by an Alchemist, the superior that Alchemist’s skill was.
As he made this comment, Di Yao also took out his own pill furnace.
His pill furnace was exquisite, with carvings of dragons and phoenixes all over its surface. It was a high quality item that obviously stemmed from the hands of an Artifact Refining Grandmaster. Its size was also just about the same as the one Yang Kai used.
In comparison, Yang Kai’s pill furnace seemed a bit quaint compared to this one, but anyone with any kind of vision could tell that his Incense Burner was a higher grade item.
Di Yao stared at Yang Kai’s Incense Burner with a look of envy.
His pill furnace was given to him by his master and it was actually a world famous pill furnace. It had been used by Di Yao’s Alchemy Master when the latter was young. Di Yao had thought that there was no pill furnace in the world better than his own, but now he had actually discovered one.
“Let’s have a single round Alchemy Technique contest. No matter what pill you refine, we only look at the grade and quality of the pill as well as the time used to refine it.” Di Yao composed himself and laid out the contest’s rules.
“Agreed,” Yang Kai nodded succinctly.
“Then let’s get started,” Di Yao cracked his neck and in the next instant became focused, quickly taking out a number of herbs from his Universe Bag.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s hands also started moving, pulling one kind of rare herb after another from the Black Book space, each of their ages and efficacies reaching the highest standard.
An invisible aura condensed inside the room as the two young men both reached the height of concentration as they arranged their ingredients and began circulating their True Qi, warming up their pill furnaces as they portrayed their chosen Spirit Arrays.
Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes couldn’t help flashing as she stared at their movements, covering her mouth in shock as clear signs of admiration appeared on her face.
She quickly found that the actions of the two young men in front of her were surprisingly consistent and the speed at which they engraved their Spirit Arrays was essentially equal.
In this world, there was someone of the same age who was actually able to compete evenly with her little Martial Nephew in Alchemy? Who exactly was this Di Yao?
Fei Yu was shocked and soon became immersed in watching their performance, even going so far as to silence her breath so she wouldn’t disturb their concentration.
After just ten breaths of time, the Spirit Arrays inside both pill furnaces had been perfectly drawn and the two young Alchemists simultaneously picked up one of their chosen herbs while pushing their True Qi.
Yang Kai’s True Qi carried a strong and pure Yang Attribute which was scorching hot like the sun while Di Yao’s True Qi, similar to Cang Yan’s, was of a burning hot Flame Attribute. Both of them were perfectly suited for Alchemy.
The herbs quickly dissolved under the effects of the pair’s True Qi and medicinal liquids were rapidly produced, the various impurities being burned away and evaporated as a visible rate.
Medicinal liquid, like spring raindrops, danced through the air inside the two young men’s swirling True Qis and with every rotation increased in purity and density.
The two young men’s hands both waved and the condensed medicinal liquid fell directly into their respective pill furnaces.
A second herb was taken by each of them at that moment and the process began repeating itself.
Fei Yu’s eyes flashed with a brilliant light as she stared fixedly at these two.
She found that the hearts of these two young men in front of her were now completely immersed in Alchemy, neither of them responding to or even aware of the world around them, such dedicated focus was truly remarkable.
Men who were completely serious always had a unique and distinctive air about them.
Seeing this, Fei Yu’s brow furrowed slightly as she suddenly came to the understanding that these two youths would definitely become grand figures in the future and reach a height others could only look up to in awe.
Time passed slowly, and the room gradually filled with an enchanting pill fragrance.
The two young men’s True Qi wrapped their respective pill furnaces tightly at that moment in preparation for the final stage of refinement.
Suddenly, Di Yao wore a happy expression and a smile appeared on his lips. Reaching out, he opened his pill furnace and a round golden pill flew out and was immediately caught.
Inspecting the quality and grade of the pill, Di Yao nodded with satisfaction, although he had been rushing himself and was quite nervous, he had still managed to perfectly display all of his Alchemy skills.
Nearby, Yang Kai also seemed to have reached his final step.
Fei Yu couldn’t help becoming nervous. Yang Kai had fallen behind in terms of refinement speed, so if he couldn’t surpass this Di Yao in terms of quality, he would lose.
The Alchemy contest between these two young Alchemists was coming to a head, causing Fei Yu to feel almost breathless.
Just after Di Yao successfully refined his pill, Yang Kai also patted his pill furnace with his hand and a brownish pill flew out which Yang Kai quickly caught.
“Impressive!” Di Yao sincerely complimented, from the aroma wafting from Yang Kai’s pill furnace, he could tell that the pill Yang Kai refined was without a doubt Spirit Grade, as for the specific rank it was, he would have to see it in order to make a proper judgement.
What was most incredible though was that Yang Kai’s speed was not inferior to his own.
Regarding the speed Di Yao could perform Alchemy, he had put in a great deal of effort to reach his Master’s high requirements.
From the moment he gained awareness of the world around him, Di Yao had followed his Master and studied the Alchemic Way as they crossed mountains and plains. Every day, he would listen attentively to his Master’s teachings and receive hands-on guidance, taking nearly two decades before finally reaching his current level of achievement. So the question was who was the master of this youth he had just met? Who was capable of raising such a talented disciple?
Di Yao was now really interested in Yang Kai, his eyes filled with curiosity, but also a strong determination not to lose.
“When it comes to refining speed, you’ve won. I’m impressed.” Yang Kai’s expression was light, not showing the slightest emotional fluctuation because of this little loss, “Let’s compare the quality and grade of our pills then.”
Di Yao smiled and opened his hand, presenting the pill he had just refined to Yang Kai, confidently declaring, “Spirit Grade Top-Rank!”
“What a coincidence, I also refined a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill!” Yang Kai opened his hand and said.
Hearing this, Fei Yu let out a light sigh.
The two of them had refined the same quality and grade of pill, but Di Yao had used slightly less time to do so, the result of this competition was clear.
“Hahaha, I won!” Di Yao laughed happily.
“Not necessarily,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head.
“Do you want to renege on our deal?” Di Yao’s expression abruptly became gloomy as he stared at Yang Kai with cold eyes, his True Qi showing some signs of welling up.
“Of course not, take a look yourself,” Yang Kai also shook his head lightly before tossing over the pill he had just refined. Di Yao grabbed and turned his eyes suspiciously towards it, but in the next instant, his eyes bulged as he called out in shock, “Pill Veins?”
The pill refined by Yang Kai just now had a myriad of tiny lines atop its round surface. These lines closely resembled the meridians within a human’s body and inside them a powerful medicinal efficacy flowed. Listening carefully, it was almost as if Di Yao could hear the medicinal power coursing through these Pill Veins.
The medicinal efficacies of this pill had undoubtedly been refinined to the extreme by Yang Kai.
“How can this be?” Di Yao couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared fixedly at this pill.
Yang Kai on the other hand wasn’t in any hurry and simply waited quietly. Fei Yu’s face also lifted as she swept away her prior nervousness and replaced it with a bright smile.
After a short while, Di Yao took a deep breath and straightened his half collapsed self-up before turning a complex look towards Yang Kai, “You’re really fierce!”
Regardless of whether this pill giving birth to Pill Veins was due to Yang Kai’s luck, they very fact that it had meant the latter’s Alchemy technique was unquestionably profound. If Yang Kai didn’t refine the pill’s medicinal efficacies to their fullest extent, even with great luck, forming Pill Veins would have been impossible.
Once a pill formed Pill Veins, its value would be multiplied several times.
It was for this reason that highly skilled Alchemists would pursue the birth of Pill Veins when they refined pills, because if they succeeded, the efficacies of the ingredients used would be magnified several times.
Even Di Yao’s Master couldn’t refine pills that gave birth to Pill Veins as he pleased; only when he was in a perfect state was it sometimes possible to do this.
Pills with Pill Veins had always been considered treasures by cultivators, and were often capable of saving their lives in the most critical of situations, placing them on the same level of trump cards.
“I lost,” Di Yao took a deep breath, calmed the unwillingness in his heart, and once more wore his usual sunny smile, calmly admitting his defeat without the slightest bit of grievance.
Yang Kai simply smiled back at him.
Fei Yu made the final announcement, “Since this little brother admits defeat, this Earth Fire Core now belongs to little Martial Nephew and myself.”
“Good, since I am willing to gamble I am prepared to lose, it’s yours,” Di Yao nodded lightly.
Fei Yu handed the Earth Fire Core to Yang Kai and the latter quickly stuffed it into his Black Book space.
“Friend, may I take the liberty to ask, who is your teacher?” Di Yao asked with a hopeful grin.
“I can’t say,” Yang Kai shook his head; it was actually the truth he couldn’t say anything about this subject.
“I understand.” Unexpectedly, Di Yao didn’t continue to inquire, instead just nodding easily and saying, “These powerful masters aren’t normally willing to expose their identities.”
Yang Kai stared at Di Yao thoughtfully as he suddenly realized that this youth must have been taught by a powerful master. It was highly probable that the Master behind him was an Alchemy Grandmaster who was famous throughout the realm.
“I have a presumptuous request, would friend be willing to agree?” Di Yao looked at Yang Kai sincerely.
“What request?”
“Can I take this pill away with me?”
“Feel free,” Yang Kai smiled faintly.
A Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill with Pill Veins was quite expensive, but it was still slightly inferior to the Earth Fire Core. Moreover, this Di Yao fit quite well with Yang Kai’s personality and after openly competing against him he naturally didn’t care about such minor gains and losses.
“Many thanks!” Di Yao was overjoyed and quickly stored the pill away.
“Martial Aunt, can you help me pour some tea? I want to talk a little bit with Brother Di a little more,” Yang Kai asked Fei Yu. It was rare for two such people to meet like this so Yang Kai also had the intention to make friends with Di Yao.
Yang Kai had very few male friends he could speak openly with while he actually had a considerable number of ‘close’ female friends. When he thought of this, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit ashamed.
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to calmly drink tea right now,” Fei Yu didn’t move, her pretty face suddenly wearing a chilly expression.
Yang Kai blinked once and quickly realized that the trouble he had been expecting had come. Outside the inn where he was currently staying there was a group of people rapidly approaching, they had yet to arrive but their murderous intent could already be felt.
“He really went and found reinforcements?” Di Yao just shook his head.
“Kid, I don’t know what you are relying on, but since this mess was something you provoked on your own, don’t expect others to help you. One of Floating Clouds City’s Vice City Lords, even I can’t afford to offend such a character,” Fei Yu said with a smile.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t plan to bring you into this matter,” Di Yao said, walking to the window and glancing out; but after seeing the situation, he simply whistled in admiration, “There sure are a lot of people.”
Turning around, he called out to Yang Kai, “Brother Yang, I hope we have a chance to chat again another day. En, you must go to Ascending Heaven Cliff and condense the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, it will have great benefits for you. I’m looking forward to working with you!”
Yang Kai expression changed and was about to ask what Di Yao meant, but before he could open his mouth the opposite party had already leapt from the window.
“This little kid…” Fei Yu lazily leaned against the window and looked at the situation down below while helplessly shaking her head.
“He seems to know some secrets that others don’t,” Yang Kai frowned, Di Yao’s last words before he left had piqued his attention.
This trip to Floating Clouds City was mainly for the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower which could greatly assist Transcendent Realm masters break through to the Saint Realm, but listening to the meaning of Di Yao, simply condensing the medicinal liquid would also have benefits for Yang Kai.
But it was just condensing medicinal liquid, how could that bring any benefits to him? Yang Kai simply couldn’t understand.
Standing at the window and looking out, Yang Kai saw the street below the inn was now completely crowded with people.
Most of these people had come from the Trading District. Knowing there would be a good show here, they had come early to stake out good seats in preparation to watch the fun.
Still others had gotten word of this event and had hurriedly made their way over.
The rest of the people were cultivators brought by a beautiful middle-aged woman. This beauty was emitting a fierce aura, her pretty face twisted in anger as she ground her teeth menacingly.
Beside this beautiful woman was the one handed Nie Cong. He was silently rubbing his stump arm while staring at Di Yao with extreme hatred.
“Hey, this guy has some guts, not only did he not run away, but he even showed up on his own initiative,” Seeing Di Yao jump out all on his own surprised many in the crowd.
“Like I said, this little brother must have a very strong background so he doesn’t fear that bitch Nie Chu Feng!”
“Who cares how strong his background is? Strong dragons don’t oppose local snakes, this is Floating Clouds City, and I still think this brat is more unlucky than lucky.”
“This little brat really doesn’t have a sense of discretion, actually provoking Nie Cong. Everyone in Floating Clouds City knows that Nie Cong is doted upon by that bitch, only a foreign genius would dare act so unscrupulously. With her nephew losing a hand, how could Nie Chu Feng possibly just let things go?”
There was a constant buzz amongst the crowd as everyone talked about the relationship between Nie Cong and Nie Chu Feng. These voices did not escape the ears of the middle-aged beauty though and only caused her murderous intent to rise as she swept her eyes coldly around the onlookers.
Everyone hurriedly shut up, for fear of getting into trouble.
“Was it you who took the hand of my nephew?” Nie Chu Feng stared at Di Yao and asked in a cold voice.
“En,” Di Yao nodded casually.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Nie Chu Feng asked as she grit her teeth hard.
“I warned him. He didn’t listen, so I acted,” Di Yao shrugged his shoulders and snorted, “Anyone who dares to destroy my herbs is my enemy, I show no mercy to my enemies!”
“Your courage isn’t small!” Nie Chu Feng sneered, “A trivial herb, can it compare to my nephew’s hand?”
Di Yao expression became cold, “What thing is your nephew? Can his life compare to the herb I want?”
“Aunty, don’t talk nonsense with him, let me kill him!” Nie Cong snarled.
Nie Chu Feng stared deeply at Di Yao and asked in a cold voice, “There were two of you who dared attack my nephew right? Call that other brat out, I’ll send both of you off on the road together.”
“A real man takes responsibility for his own actions, this matter is mine and mine alone,” Di Yao slowly shook his head.
“Good,” Nie Chu Feng took a deep breath, her full rich peaks heaving up and down as she spoke icily, “How do you want to die? Tell me and I can grant it as your last request.”
“I don’t want to die!” Di Yao smiled, not showing the slightest signs of nervousness.
“That’s not something you can decide anymore,” Nie Chu Feng slowly raised her jade hand and gathered a green True Qi into her palm. In an instant, a putrid scent filled the air, causing anyone who smelt it to have the urge to vomit.
Nie Chu Feng was a First Order Transcendent, and although this level of cultivation was not very strong considering the whole of Tong Xuan Realm, she could still be counted amongst the ranks of the Transcendents.
Di Yao, like Yang Kai, was still just a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, so the gap between their strengths was still quite large. The moment Nie Chu Feng began condensing her True Qi, Di Yao’s face became dignified.
Not waiting for this woman to attack, Di Yao quickly raised his hand and threw something over to Nie Chu Feng.
Nie Chu Feng’s eyes flashed as she reached out and easily caught this object, her beautiful face changing abruptly upon seeing what it was.
“Golden Dragon Token?” Nie Cong also called out in surprise.
“No wonder he dares act so crazy, it turns out this little brat has the Golden Dragon Token of Floating Clouds City,” Fei Yu suddenly understood, her beautiful eyes fixedly staring at the token in Nie Chu Feng’s hand, her red lips pursing lightly.
“His background really isn’t small,” Yang Kai smiled.
Anyone who held the Golden Dragon Token of Floating Clouds City was considered a VIP of the City Lord’s Mansion. Although Yang Kai didn’t know Di Yao and Floating Clouds City’s City Lord were related, he had still heard about the tyrannical methods of this Demon Race’s Saint Realm master, Ao Gu.
After recognizing the Golden Dragon Token, Nie Chu Feng’s murderous intent and momentum deflated like a popped balloon, her beautiful eyes staring in shock towards Di Yao as she asked, “Where did you get the Golden Dragon Token?”
She was somewhat dubious about how such a young man could have any relationship with Ao Gu.
However, Di Yao just shrugged his shoulders, “Senior Ao Gu gave it to me, if you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself.”
“I will indeed ask,” Nie Chu Feng’s expression became somewhat uncertain, beckoning to a nearby cultivator before ordering him, “Go and ask Zhou Liang Vice City Lord about this.”
“Yes!” The man replied firmly before flying off quickly.
The scene suddenly stagnated and the audience began whispering amongst themselves again, many of them finding it difficult to hide their surprise.
Nie Chu Feng looked Di Yao over, her eyes flashing a complex light; this boy suddenly taking out the Golden Dragon Token had really made things somewhat difficult for her.
“Aunty, you have to help me kill him!” Nie Cong lowered his voice and glared hatefully towards Di Yao.
“Stop. He has the Golden Dragon Token!” Nie Chu Feng slowly shook her head and frowned.
“What of it?” Nie Cong bit his lip so hard it bled as he muttered under his breath, “Since he has the Golden Dragon Token, I have to swallow the insult of losing my hand? No matter what, I want him to die today!”
Nie Chu Feng opened her mouth and was about to try persuading her nephew once more, but when she saw Nie Cong’s pain and aggrieved face, her heart couldn’t help filling with anger.
From infancy to maturity, Nie Cong had grown up under her care and had never suffered the slightest grievance. In this Floating Clouds City, as soon as the name Young Master Nie Cong was reported, anyone and everyone would bow politely and flatter him, he had not once encountered a situation where he could not obtain what he wanted.
But today, one of his hands had been cut off and destroyed.
“Do you really want him to die?” Nie Chu Feng’s beautiful eyes gradually revealed a dangerous light.
“He must die or my hatred will never be soothed!”
“Good, then aunty will help you!” Nie Chu Feng’s expression became cold as she immediately made up her mind. In order to kill this brat, she had to end everything before Zhou Liang arrives, otherwise, it would be impossible for her to act.
As for what this brat’s true identity was and what kind of relationship he had with Ao Gu, once he was dead, none of that would matter.
As long as Zhou Liang said a few words to sooth Ao Gu’s anger, he could calm the situation down sufficiently; after all, this young man was just a guest of Ao Gu.
For such a person, especially after he died, would Ao Gu risk having a conflict with Zhou Liang?
Thinking so in her heart, Nie Chu Feng no longer hesitated, the green True Qi once again emerging from her tender body and before anyone could respond, transforming into a viper and shooting towards Di Yao.
Di Yao’s face changed abruptly, hot True Qi pouring out of his body rapidly, setting the air around him ablaze and forming a three-layered barrier.
The green serpent opened its teeth and broke through this blockade of flames easily before continuing to press towards Di Yao. From the mouth of this snake, a putrid aura sprayed out, instantly corroding Di Yao’s Flame Attribute True Qi.
In the blink of an eye, all of Di Yao’s True Qi defences were broken, and the snake arriving in front of him. Di Yao’s pupils shrank and his body flickered, barely avoiding this fatal blow.
Before he could catch his breath though, from the ground below his feet, a number of green snakes burst forth and tightly encircled him, attacking from all directions.
Di Yao’s flustered look suddenly became calm and he activated an extremely profound movement skill, allowing him to disappear like a ghost, leaving behind multiple after-images as he once again dodged this assault.
The audience uttered a string of exclamations, none of them having anticipated that this young man could still remain safe under Nie Chu Feng’s attack.
Before everyone could recover from their shock though, from the third story of the inn, an earth-shaking eruption of True Qi burst forth, sending out a series of ripples visible to the naked eye. These ripples seemed to contain some kind of extremely mysterious power and the moment they contacted the deep green snake, the latter stagnated and was gradually being suppressed.
In the next instant, a dazzling light, like the blade of the sharpest knife, split into ten strikes and slashed down from the sky above.
As if the sun and the moon had exploded, a brilliant flash of light that blinded everyone in the vicinity shot out and the putrid green True Qi snake was eviscerated without leaving behind a single trace.
After everyone recovered their sight, they found that there was another young man now standing in front of Di Yao, the very one who had previously been competing for the Earth Fire Core in the Trading District.
“Brother Yang…” Di Yao stared at Yang Kai’s back, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, a slightly unwilling look appearing on his face.
The eruption of power a moment ago made him realize just how absurd Yang Kai’s combat power was. Di Yao had originally thought that as an Alchemist like him, it was impossible for Yang Kai to possess impressive fighting strength, but now it was clear that the other side’s combat prowess was actually far greater than his own.
Inferior in terms of Alchemy and weaker in terms of strength, it was unavoidable that Di Yao felt somewhat aggrieved.
Yang Kai also frowned, feeling a bit of helplessness himself.
If possible, he had wanted to avoid getting involved with this trouble, but from the way Nie Chu Feng and Nie Cong were acting, even if he didn’t show up, he knew they would come looking for him sooner or later.
It could be said that the moment he had competed with Nie Cong for the Earth Fire Core, this grudge could only be resolved by force.
Knowing Soaring Heaven Sect’s four Protectors couldn’t compete with a Saint Realm master from Floating Clouds City, Yang Kai could only place his hopes on Di Yao.
This kid was always acting mysterious, so he definitely had some kind of background to rely on, hopefully, it would be enough to solve this problem.
Realizing this, Yang Kai decisively took action.
Fei Yu also fluttered down from the window and stood in front of the two kids with a begrudging smile on her face, muttering through her clenched teeth, “Little brat, you really know how to stir up trouble.”
Di Yao just curled his lips in response, “She can’t kill me.”
“Oh? So young yet already possessing such a bold tongue, your temper is really just like my bastard Martial Nephew’s here,” Fei Yu smiled.
“Aunty, those two are his companions,” After seeing Yang Kai, Nie Cong stared at and quickly pointed to Yang Kai and Fei Yu.
Yang Kai’s expression was indifferent. In truth, back at the Trading District, he had only forced Nie Cong to take a few steps and had never actually wounded him. However, the other party seeking vengeance for even this made him feel quite helpless.
“Rest assure, aunty will help you seek revenge,” Nie Chu Feng pretty face became chilly as she waved her hand and shouted, “Kill them all!”
With this one command, the cultivators she brought with her all pushed their True Qi and rushed towards Fei Yu and the others.
Fei Yu’s smile didn’t fade in the slightest even when the dozen or so cultivators crashed towards her, not showing the least bit of alarm. A gentle strength pulsed from her body in the next instant and in the blink of an eye the entire area was filled with a dense mist.
This mist rapidly condensed into thousands of water droplets and under Fei Yu’s exquisite control short out in all directions, intercepting all of her would-be attackers.
“Third Order Transcendent?” Nie Chu Feng pretty face changed once more.
When Fei Yu attacked just now, Nie Chu Feng realized the huge gap in strength between them and immediately understood that today, it would not be possible for her to help Nie Cong get his revenge.
Among the people she brought, the most powerful was a single Second Order Transcendent while two others were First Order Transcendents, the rest were just Immortal Ascension cultivators.
Such a force was certainly not enough to challenge a Third Order master.
Her expression growing increasingly hazy, Nie Chu Feng’s fury nearly drove her mad!
For so many years, no one in Floating Clouds City had ever dared to disobey her. Because she received Zhou Liang’s asylum, even Third Order Transcendent masters would treat her courteously.
But now, the situation had grown completely beyond her control.
This hateful group of outsiders had enough guts to ‘act like a fool in front of their lord’, they must really be impatient to die.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The water droplets surged forth with uncommon momentum and knocked back all the cultivators who had attacked just now, sending most of them to the ground, crying in pain. Only the three Transcendents managed to emerge relatively unscathed.
This was all because Fei Yu had no intent to kill them; after all, this was someone else’s territory, giving these people a lesson so they would back down was enough for now.
After witnessing Fei Yu’s methods, the three Transcendents who had just escaped all wore ugly expressions as they stared towards this beautiful woman with fear and dread.
“Still want to play?” Fei Yu smiled lightly as she teased, “Big sister here may not be so gentle next time.”
“Aunty!” Nie Cong called out in an aggrieved voice.
Nie Chu Feng’s expression fluctuated and was uncertain about how she should proceed from here when suddenly an angry shout rang out, “All of you stop this instant!”
At the same time, this voice reached everyone’s ears, an incredible pressure descended like a great mountain falling from the sky, causing everyone’s breath to stagnate.
Immediately after, a figure appeared in the distance and rapidly approached, soon landing right in the middle of the square.
Nie Chu Feng’s beautiful eyes lit up as she quickly squeezed out a smile as if she had just seen her saviour, calling out hurriedly, “Zhou Liang!”
Zhou Liang glanced at her faintly before immediately turning his eyes away and focusing on Di Yao who was standing behind Fei Yu and Yang Kai and quickly walking toward him, his expression quite gloomy.
The eyes of Fei Yu and Yang Kai narrowed, feeling like they were being stared at by a vicious snake, finding it difficult to even swallow.
Nie Chu Feng was incomparably excited as she thought Zhou Liang was going to personally vent her grievances for her. Gently patting Nie Cong’s head, she silently signalled him that everything was all right now.
Nie Cong wore a sinister smile as he opened his eyes wide and stared. He wanted to see just how these fools who provoked him would die.
Zhou Liang doted upon Nie Chu Feng greatly. Any time this beauty made a request to him, he would always carry it out, so naturally, this time would not be any different.
Nie Cong was full of confidence as he smiled grimly while taking pleasure in these bastards’ misfortune.
Under the stern look and quick approach of Zhou Liang, Yang Kai felt as if he had been suppressed by the other party’s momentum, a cold chill running up his spine, unable to move at all.
A Saint Realm master, two Great Realms above his current cultivation. If Zhou Liang really wanted to kill him, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to resist, and even Fei Yu wouldn’t be able to escape this catastrophe.
Di Yao, who was still standing behind Yang Kai, whispered softly at that moment, causing both Yang Kai and Fei Yu to be shocked.
Zhou Liang ignored Yang Kai and Fei Yu completely, went straight up to Di Yao, and hastily asked, “Has Young Master Die been injured?”
His tone of voice was filled with concern and urgency, and even some faint nervousness and fear, it seemed like to Zhou Liang, what he was most worried about was whether Di Yao had suffered any harm in the previous battle.
The audience was stunned, Nie Chu Feng’s smile went stiff on her face, and Nie Cong could do nothing but stare dumbfounded with his jaw dropped.
“Nope, I’m fine,” Di Yao casually shook his head.
“That’s good,” Zhou Liang let out a sigh of relief, his face finally relaxing as the wrinkles on his brow smoothed, in the next instant gently comforting, “Young Master Die must have been frightened. This Zhou Liang was negligent and hopes Young Master Di won’t take offence.”
Di Yao just smiled lightly and waved, “It’s fine.”
Zhou Liang next turned to Yang Kai and Fei Yu, gently nodding as he asked, “Are they friends of Young Master Di?”
“En,” Di Yao smiled and replied, “New friends.”
Zhou Liang’s look instantly became friendly as he nodded towards Yang Kai. “En, good, very good. Since you are a friend of Young Master Die, that makes you an honoured guest of my Floating Clouds City. You can rest assured that I will give you an explanation for this mess!”
After saying so, Zhou Liang’s face became cold and his aura became chilly as he turned around the walked towards Nie Chu Feng.
Nie Chu Feng was still recovering from her initial shock; her eyes were somewhat dull as the scene in front of her really went beyond her ability to accept.
Although Di Yao had previously shown her Ao Gu’s Golden Dragon Token, that should only have meant he was a guest of Ao Gu. Why was Zhou Liang so polite to him then, even going so far as to flatter him?
Was the force behind this young man something that made even Zhou Liang fearful?
When she finally managed to compose herself, Zhou Liang was already standing in front of her.
“Uncle Zhou…” Feeling Zhou Liang’s anger, Nie Cong went pale and his knees began to tremble as he called out.
*Pa…*
A loud slap rang out and Nie Cong was sent flying, spinning a few times through the air before he hit the ground and instantly fainting.
“Zhou Liang, what are you doing?” Nie Chu Feng’s beautiful eyes gradually restored their clarity and upon seeing Nie Cong being slapped across his face, she cried out.
*Pa…*
Another crisp slap rang out and a clear handprint appeared on Nie Chu Feng’s pretty face as a trickle of blood left her lips.
Covering her cheek with her hand in shock, Nie Chu Feng trembled fearfully as she stared at the man who had always doted upon and favoured her, suddenly feeling like this person had become a complete stranger.
The coldness on Zhou Liang’s face made her feel like she had been dropped into an icehouse as the blood in her heart froze up.
“Lowly slut, do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Zhou Liang asked coldly.
Nie Chu Feng was dazed and could only shake her head.
“Ignorant woman!” Zhou Liang eyes became sharp and he coldly shouted, “All these years, you and your bastard nephew have used my name to commit all kinds of evil in Floating Clouds City and I have always opened one eye and closed the other while sheltering you, but today, I cannot stand idly by!”
“Why?” Nie Chu Feng screamed.
“You have offended someone who absolutely should not be offended!” Zhou Liang replied coldly and indifferently, “Leave, take your bastard nephew with you and go. From now on, you are forever banned from entering Floating Clouds City, if I see you here again, you know the consequences.”
Nie Chu Feng’s beautiful face lost all colour upon hearing these words, utterly shocked that Zhou Liang would speak such heartless words to her.
“Why have you not left my sight?!” Seeing that she was not moving, Zhou Liang roared angrily once more.
Feeling Zhou Liang’s rising murderous intent, Nie Chu Feng tender body trembled as she realized he was not joking; only now understanding how profound the power behind Di Yao must be.
Nie Chu Feng was certain that Zhou Liang would not treat her so cruelly even if she had offended someone from Ao Gu’s family, him acting so callously now made Nie Chu Feng see just how horrifying Di Yao’s background was.
Naturally, it must be some behemoth that even Zhou Liang had to show deference and respect towards.
Upon understanding this, Nie Chu Feng suddenly burst into tears and pleaded, “Zhou Liang, please don’t be so cold-hearted, I know I was wrong, I will sincerely apologize to this young man and swear to never provoke him again.”
Nie Chu Feng was just a First Order Transcendent. In other words, her strength was insignificant, and all she had to take advantage of was her beauty. Being able to receive Zhou Liang’s love and protection allowed her to live freely in Floating Clouds City, but once she lost that, with her weak cultivation, she would not be able to support herself.
She had offended too many people in Floating Clouds City over the years.
Once she lost Zhou Liang’s asylum, she was very clear about what would be waiting for her.
Therefore, in full view of the public, Nie Chu Feng fell to the ground, held on to Zhou Liang’s thigh and begged.
However, not only did the audience not feel that this beautiful woman was pitiful, most of them showed happy looks.
This woman’s evil deeds were well known throughout Floating Clouds City and her unpopularity was as high as could be.
Zhou Liang’s face remained indifferent throughout everything and simply looked down at her coldly.
Nie Chu Feng gradually despaired, knowing that her former lover would not change his mind, regaining her calm after a moment, brushing her messy hair back behind her ear as she slowly rose up and said, “Zhou Liang, you driving me away, I won’t complain any further about, but out of considerations for the many years of love we shared, I wish to ask one last thing of you/ I hope you can promise it to me, if you do, I will leave right now!”
Staring at the beautiful face of this woman, Zhou Liang expression changed slightly, seemingly reminiscing about the time he had spent with her before letting out a light sigh, “Say it, if I can, I will fulfil your last wish.”
Nie Chu Feng smiled helplessly and asked in a quiet voice, “Last night, I heard you say that a very powerful Alchemist had arrived in the City Lord’s Mansion. Can you ask him to help refine a pill to restore my nephew’s severed arm? Since even you say he is so powerful, surely he had the ability to refine such a pill, right?”
“En, he can,” Zhou Liang nodded.
“Then…” Nie Chu Feng smiled happily.
“But I cannot satisfy your request.”
“Why?” Nie Chu Feng became slightly hysterical, “One day as husband and wife, a hundred days of graciousness, are you really so unfeeling as to deny me even this small favour?”
“It is not that I am too unfeeling, it is that you are too stupid,” Zhou Liang leaned over and whispered into Nie Chu Feng’s ear, “The young man you offended is the only disciple of that Alchemy Grandmaster. That Alchemy Grandmaster is the existence which Ao Gu, Jin Jiao, and I dare not provoke.”
Nie Chu Feng’s eyes went round with shock.
“Leave,” Zhou Liang waved his hand. “I hope that from now on you won’t be so blind.”
Grief and indignation filled Nie Chu Feng’s face as she bit her lips so hard blood oozed from them. Immediately bending over and picking up Nie Cong, who was still unconscious off the ground, she shot a hate-filled glance towards Zhou Liang and Di Yao before quickly using her movement skill to disappear into the crowd.
Among the crowds, there were many who wore cold and sinister expression on their faces. After Nie Chu Feng made her move, many of these plotting individuals followed.
Every grudge was owed its due vengeance, and it was time for these people to settle their accounts with this poisons woman.
Zhou Liang witnessed all this but did not stop it.
“That woman is dead,” Yang Kai whispered softly.
“She’s just getting what she deserved,” Fei Yu spat disdainfully. She despised this kind of woman who only knew how to flatter those with power yet lacked any kind of self-awareness.
Zhou Liang came over and looked at Yang Kai and Fei Yu kindly, “Since the two of you are friends of Young Master Die, why not come to the City Lord’s Mansion for a few days? There should still be some time before the Thousand Year Demon Flower blooms.”
Di Yao also showed Yang Kai a somewhat expectant look, seemingly hoping he could come to the City Lord’s Mansion as well.
But Yang Kai simply shook his head, “I have a few Martial Uncles who are currently running some errands outside, we have to wait for them to come back so I’m afraid I must decline your gracious offer.”
“Since that’s the case, this old master won’t insist. If you have time, do come to the City Lord’s Mansion to visit,” Zhou Liang smiled before turning to Di Yao. “Young Master Di, let us return first.”
Di Yao responded with a sigh, nodded to Yang Kai, and left with Zhou Liang.
All around the gathered crowd was silent, many of the people who had come to watch the show still unable to recover from what they had just witnessed, looks of shock and disbelief still plastered all over their faces.
For an unknown young man, Zhou Liang not only beat his beloved mistress but also drove her out of Floating Clouds City, this was the epitome of ruthlessness.
Moreover, simply because they had some relationship to that young man, Yang Kai and Fei Yu received a warm and courteous invitation from Zhou Liang.
What exactly was the background of this young man to warrant such treatment?
After some time, the crowd gradually dispersed. Some bold people wanted to inquire about Di Yao’s background from Yang Kai but Yang Kai and Fei Yu didn’t give them a chance, quickly hiding themselves inside the inn.
In truth, they too were a bit shocked.
Despite knowing that Di Yao must have some kind of strong background, Yang Kai still found that he had greatly underestimated the other’s origins.
After he and Fei Yu pondered over it for a while, they couldn’t think of anything reasonable, so they simply let the matter drop.
After returning to the City Lord’s Mansion, Di Yao immediately went to see his Master.
In a quiet room, Di Yao’s Master was silently meditating so when the former walked in, he simply stood quietly and waited. After waiting for a long time, the old man slowly opened his eyes.
“Master, I lost again,” Di Yao sighed lightly.
“Lost again?” Hearing this, the old man was quite surprised.
“En, Master, take a look at this pill,” Di Yao reverently handed over the pill that Yang Kai had refined in their contest a short time ago.
The old man took it and his eyes immediately brightened, “Pill Veins?”
Releasing his Divine Sense to inspect it, the old man’s look gradually change and only after quite a while did he hand the pill back to Di Yao and asked, “Was this pill refined by your opponent?”
“En.”
“What kind of person was it?”
“He’s about the same age as me,” Di Yao quickly described Yang Kai’s appearance.
The old man listened quietly as he stroked his beard and after a moment said, “This young man is a serious monster.”
“Why does Master say so?”
“His Alchemy technique is a bit sloppy, it seems like he had never been strictly taught. That is to say, unlike you, he has never had formal instruction from a Master.”
“What?” Di Yao cried out in shock.
Not having a master yet already possessing such outstanding Alchemy technique, then if Yang Kai was the same as him and had received more than ten years of careful guidance, just what kind of level would he have reached?
“If my guess is correct, he should be self-taught through some ancient books and handwritten notes left behind by a highly skilled predecessor,” The old man speculated, his guess infinitely close to the truth.
“Teacher, I suddenly feel quite depressed!” Di Yao sighed dispiritedly.
“Hoh hoh, there’s no need for that,” The old man smiled softly, “There are always one or two people in this world that have Heaven defying aptitude, he belongs to this category. Although he has never had formal training, his control of Spirit Arrays and True Qi and even his ability to select and process herbs all bare the mark of his own unique insights, a very good seed indeed.”
“Haa…” Di Yao sighed heavily, “Master, it’s been just slightly more than a year since we emerged from the wilderness yet I’ve already lost to two different people. The last failure can be taken for granted, her physique was special after all, but today’s defeated really left me somewhat muddleheaded.”
He had great confidence in his ability to win this contest, but at the last moment, Yang Kai had actually successfully refined a pill with Pill Veins, causing him to lose.
“Then you should understand well now what it means to always strive to improve yourself, there are always heavens beyond heavens, and people beyond people,” The old man said solemnly.
Di Yao nodded repeatedly, “Master can rest assure that disciple will redouble his efforts in the study of the Alchemic Way and will certainly not disappoint Master’s expectations.”
The old man caressed his beard, smiled, and nodded lightly.
There was a glimmer of light in the depths of his eyes though as he thought of something but decided not to say to his apprentice.
From the pill brought back by Di Yao this time, the old man had discovered some familiar traces, specifically from the Spirit Array technique that this young Alchemist utilized while refining this pill.
These traces seemed to be somewhat similar to the ones used by a little girl who defeated Di Yao a year ago.
[Is there some kind of relationship between the two?] The old man became pensive, in his heart feeling quite curious about this Yang Kai and very much looking forward to meeting him.
Two days later, Cang Yan and the others finally returned. When Yang Kai saw them again, he found that the expression of his Martial Uncles was not very good.
After taking a short break and drinking some tea, Li Wan sighed heavily and said, “It seems that we underestimated the attraction of the Thousand Year Demon Flower has to Transcendent Realm masters. This time’s matter will probably be a bit difficult.”
“How so?” Yang Kai asked.
“There are too many people here, there are already at least a hundred Transcendent Realms gathered around the mountain, waiting for the Thousand Year Demon Flower to blossom. On the actual day, that number will likely triple,” Cang Yan replied, letting out a slightly helpless sigh.
Yang Kai’s face also changed greatly.
More than three hundred Transcendents; even if only ten percent of them were Third Order, that still meant there would be at least thirty.
Although the four Protectors from Soaring Heaven Sect were all incredibly strong, able to dominate over opponents in the same realm with ease, in such a chaotic environment among so many masters, it would still be very difficult to escort Yang Kai to Ascending Heaven Cliff and monopolize the Thousand Year Demon Flower.
If things went badly, there was even a chance they would be completely annihilation.
Talents like Yang Kai were incredibly rare, so now Cang Yan and the other three had to consider whether taking this risk was worth it, if they couldn’t afford the consequences, it would be best for them to leave Floating Clouds City now.
“What if we find someone to work with?” Yang Kai’s expression changed once more as he made this proposal.
“Who could we find to work with?” Cang Yan slowly shook his head, “Everyone is aiming for the Thousand Year Demon Flower so it’s not realistic to find someone to cooperate with. Cooperating means dividing up the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower. There are already four of us here who need a share and no one knows just how much medicinal liquid can be condensed from the Thousand Year Demon Flower can condense, if there isn’t enough in the end, it would only lead to another dispute.”
“What if there was someone who had no interest in the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s medicinal liquid, could we work with them?” Yang Kai asked with a smile.
“Where would we find such a person?”
“Close by.”
“You mean that little boy?” Fei Yu spoke thoughtfully, quickly understanding who Yang Kai was talking about.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Boy, what little boy?” Li Wan chimed in, “Didn’t we say you should stay in the inn these days before we came back?”
“Never mind that, it was just a small outing,” Fei Yu quickly transferred the topic, “Actually, we met a very interesting little fellow.”
“Let’s hear about it,” Cang Yan asked curiously.
Yang Kai quickly summarized the events that led up to him meeting Di Yao, greatly surprising his three Martial Uncles, especially when he mentioned how Zhou Liang, a genuine Saint Realm master, treated this strange boy, not even hesitating to banish his mistress in order to appease the latter. All this considered, the identity of this Di Yao was definitely extraordinary.
Moreover, he was not a guest of Zhou Liang’s, but of the Demon Race master Ao Gu! Zhou Liang, who was from the Human Race, had actually stepped forward to protect him, further increasing Yang Kai’s Martial Uncles’ interest.
Although they had never met this boy, after listening to Yang Kai’s description, all three of them were vaguely able to see a giant shadow hiding behind Di Yao, silently protecting him.
“Is he trustworthy?” Cang Yan asked solemnly.
“I believe so,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Objectively, I also believe him, that little boy isn’t half bad,” Fei Yu added with a smile.
“Since the two of you say so, it should be credible,” Cang Yan nodded, “The other party indicated he wanted to work with you, right?”
“That’s what he said.”
“It seems that he has some other objective on Ascending Heaven Cliff that the public is unaware of. If that’s the case, then you should try talking to him about it, if everyone can work according to their own needs, it would be for the best,” Cang Yan’s eyes flashed brilliantly, “However, if he doesn’t want the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, what is he after? We need to investigate this clearly so as not to fall into a trap.”
“Then how about I go to the City Lord’s Mansion to talk to him?” Yang Kai asked, he too was quite concerned about what Di Yao said before. It seems this guy knew some secret that others didn’t. Yang Kai was interested in knowing where he learned this hidden information.
Moreover, Yang Kai wanted to know what force was behind Di Yao.
It was impossible for Zhou Liang to treat a young man so courteously if there wasn’t someone extremely powerful behind Di Yao the former wanted to curry favour with.
If Yang Kai’s guess was correct, this person should be Di Yao’s Master and they should also currently be a guest in the City Lord’s Mansion!
This person was no doubt a top-level Alchemy Grandmaster, being able to speak with such a master would be greatly beneficial to Yang Kai.
Obtaining the consent of his several Martial Uncles, Yang Kai left with Fei Yu and headed for the City Lord’s Mansion.
However, before they could go far, the two of them ran into a familiar pair, one old, one young, it was old man Du Wan and the young Mi Na. Upon catching sight of them, Mi Na ran over happily and said a few words to Fei Yu before her beautiful eyes glanced over at Yang Kai and asked, “Who is this toy boy?”
Yang Kai’s face immediately went black, “What did you say?”
Mi Na couldn’t help covering her mouth as she stared at Yang Kai in shock, pointing to him as she stuttered, “You… but… how are you…”
Suddenly remembering something, she clapped her hands and nodded, “Right, Old Man Du gave you that thing, I almost forgot.”
As she said so, she reached out and started pinching and pulling Yang Kai’s face, muttering in amazement.
Old Man Du and Fei Yu just stood to the side and smiled wryly, not making any attempt to interfere.
“You little bastard, stirring up so much trouble the moment you arrive in Floating Clouds City, you really can’t sit still can you?” Mi Na smiled happily, playing with Yang Kai’s new handsome face excitedly.
“You’ve already heard about that?” Fei Yu smiled towards Mi Na elegantly.
“En, the whole of Floating Clouds City knows about it,” Mi Na nodded while continuing to knead Yang Kai’s face like she had found a new toy and was happily playing with it.
Yang Kai gradually became frustrated with this but instead of getting angry he instead wore a nasty smile and retorted, “If you keep pinching me, I’ll have to fight back, little girl, don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch !”
Saying so, he directed his gaze at her full rounded chest, his eyes filling with a sinister light.
Mi Na suddenly stepped back as she crossed her arms defensively across her chest and ground her teeth, “Rogue.”
“Old Man Du, where are you headed?” Yang Kai paid no more mind to this crazy girl and turned his attention to Du Wan.
“There’s going to be an Alchemy contest in the main square hosted by the Alchemist Guild. This old man was bringing Mi Na to the competition. It’s not often she comes out so it will be a good experience for her,” Du Wan explained, suddenly wearing an expectant expression as he asked, “Little friend Yang, do you want to participate? Although it is already passed the registration time, with this old man’s recommendation, there won’t be any problem joining the competition.”
“Good, you have to go, everyone competing is from the younger generation, if you go, you can definitely earn our Grand Boulder City Alchemist Guild branch some fame!” Mi Na said eagerly.
Yang Kai scratched his nose and smiled, “Old Man Du, did you perhaps make a special detour?”
Du Wan smiled without the slightest hint of shame, “Have I been seen through by little friend Yang?”
If Du Wan really was headed to the main square, it made no sense of him to appear here. When Yang Kai and Fei Yu were visiting the Trading District a few days ago, Yang Kai had also heard about this Alchemy contest and knew that it wasn’t being held anywhere around here.
Because of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, countless Alchemists had no gathered in Floating Clouds City, which was a truly rare occurrence. The Alchemist Guild would naturally try to take advantage of this situation to examine the standard of the younger generation of Alchemists by giving them a platform for exchanges and competition.
“Actually, this old man made a bet with a few old friends regarding which of our Alchemist Guild branches had the best junior. En, the bet was any one item in our Universe Bags. The heritage of these old fellows is quite rich after all,” Du Wan’s made his sales pitch.
Mi Na also chimed in, “If you can win the final victory, the Alchemist Guild will also provide a generous reward of rare herbs and even a high-quality pill furnace.”
Saying so, she shamelessly grabbed on to Yang Kai’s arm and begged, “Big Brother Yang Kai, you have to go, Junior Sister really wants that pill furnace, it’s a Saint Grade item!”
Seeing Mi Na act this way gave Yang Kai goosebumps but he still managed to put on a wry grin, “Since Old Man Du has asked, how can I refuse? Don’t shake me anymore, you’re making me dizzy.”
“You’ll really come? Great!” Mi Na shouted excitedly.
Yang Kai only hesitated for a moment before giving in and nodding, “Good, if I can win the final victory, I hope that I can choose the herbs I need from the bet and rewards, as for the pill furnace, I don’t need it.”
“En en, no problem!” Mi Na nodded her head furiously like a chicken pecking rice.
“Don’t get so excited, there are many strong Alchemists in this world, I won’t necessarily be the last one to laugh.”
“Nope, this is a competition amongst the younger generation of Alchemists, so no one can beat you,” Mi Na replied, full of confidence in Yang Kai.
The trip to the City Lord’s Mansion to negotiate with Di Yao about the Thousand Year Demon Flower had been temporarily set aside, in any case, Yang Kai wasn’t in that much of a hurry.
Yang Kai agreed to Old Man Du’s request because Old Man Du had been very good to him. Back in Grand Boulder City, if it wasn’t for Old Man Du’s conscientious care, Yang Kai wouldn’t have been able to settle in so easily and ultimately it was because of Old Man Du that Cang Yan had found him.
On top of that, Yang Kai was indeed tempted by the potential profits.
He had now collected a lot of the required herbs for refining the Saint Pill the Demon God Citadel needed, even the extremely rare Earth Fire Core from a few days ago, but there were still a few precious materials he had yet to obtain.
These old friends of Old Man Du may not necessarily have what Yang Kai needed, but they may have a way of acquiring them, so establishing a good relationship with them was by no means a misdemeanour.
As long as the remaining herbs could be collected and he continued promoting his Alchemy skills, Yang Kai could return to the Snow Mountain Range and bring the Ancient Demon Clan out.
In this unfamiliar realm, he urgently needed to have his own strength and support.
In the northwest corner of Floating Clouds City, a large crowd of people had gathered around a three hundred meter open square were roughly a few hundred tables had been set up.
These tables had been prepared for the Alchemist who would soon be participating in the competition.
Outside the square, countless cultivators and Alchemist were quietly waiting while a number of white-haired old men were busy making final preparations.
Yang Kai’s mental state was calm, without much tension, while on the other hand, Mi Na, after seeing such a magnificent scene, was constantly chattering, like a village girl who had never seen the world suddenly entering the magnificent city. Everything here was fresh and amazing to her.
“Brother Yang!” Someone suddenly called out from the side.
Yang Kai looked over and realized that Di Yao was also here and behind him were two powerful Transcendents wearing black armour.
It seemed like after the incident a few days ago, the City Lord’s Mansion had specially prepared these two bodyguards for him, the care they showed towards this youth was indeed unordinary.
“You came too?” Yang Kai smiled. This was a pleasant coincidence, if Yang Kai had just gone directly to the City Lord’s Mansion, he might have missed Di Yao as the latter had actually come here.
“I came to watch the fun,” Di Yao smiled, “Did you also come to enjoy the excitement?”
“I came to enter the competition,” Yang Kai said lightly.
“Seriously?” Di Yao was obviously taken aback, “If you attend, what’s the point in even holding a competition?”
Amongst the younger generation of Alchemists, those who had reached Spirit Grade were already considered extremely good seedlings and they were quite scarce in number, forget about there being freaks like Yang Kai who had already reached the Spirit Grade Top-Rank.
Him participating under these circumstances was really not much more than bullying the weak.
“I’m just playing casually,” Yang Kai smiled.
Di Yao’s gaze flashed and a mischievous grin formed on his face, “If you’re going to participate… I want to as well.”
“Yang Kai, who is this?” Mi Na blinked as she stared at Di Yao.
“This is the person who competed with me for the Earth Fire Core a few days ago, Di Yao,” Yang Kai introduced, next pointing to Du Wan and Mi Na, “These two are Old Man Du, Du Wan, manager of Grand Boulder City’s Alchemist Guild branch and Mi Na, a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist.”
Di Yao fixed his expression and respectfully cupped his fists, “So it is Grand Boulder City Alchemist Guild’s manager, Junior Di greets Old Man Du!”
“Do you know me?” Du Wan smiled lightly.
“My Master has told me of you. Master said that you are one of the few Alchemists in the world that is likely to become a Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist!”
“Your respected Master…” Du Wan expression changed.
“Sorry, my Master does not allow me to freely expose his name,” Di Yao explained.
Du Wan couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed but he quickly composed himself and nodded, “It’s fine since your Master has said so much, he must be my Du Wan’s Senior. In that case, please convey to him that this Du Wan will definitely live up to his expectations and in his lifetime absolutely arrive at the Saint Grade Mid-Rank! “
“Junior will definitely convey Old Man Du’s sentiment to my Master,” Di Yao nodded politely.
“My respects to the young,” Du Wan sighed, “I had thought little friend Yang was the absolute best amongst the younger generation of this world’s Alchemists, but upon seeing little friend Di, I now realize that this old master’s eyes are still too inexperienced, little friend Di is in no way inferior to little friend Yang.”
“Old Man Du, how do you know that his Alchemy technique is comparable to Yang Kai’s?” Mi Na asked curiously.
“Hoho, Alchemists are not the same as ordinary cultivators, when you become as old as I, you naturally will be able to see through such things,” Du Wan smiled.
Mi Na glanced over at Di Yao and found that the latter actually wore an indifferent expression as if accepting Old Man Du’s evaluation was only natural. Mi Na snorted with dissatisfaction at this and immediately said, “It seems you’re quite the arrogant one.”
“Huh, I am?” Di Yao was dumbfounded.
Mi Na nodded and said, “I want to see if your Alchemy technique is really on par with Yang Kai’s. Old Man Du, let him sign up, who knows, maybe he’s just an embroidered pillow, pleasant to look at but ultimately useless.”
“Mi Na, don’t be rude!” Old Man Du quickly reproved.
“Good, since Brother Yang is participating, of course, I have to participate,” Di Yao cut in happily, “Senior Du, how about I enter under the name of your Alchemist Guild branch?”
Hearing this, Du Wan couldn’t help smiling bitterly and shaking his head, “It seems my old friends will be suffering some massive haemorrhaging today.”
Originally, with just Yang Kai participating, first place was already his, and now that Di Yao was also joining in the fun, clearly no one else stood any chance of winning.
[I hope they aren’t hit too hard,] Old Man Du secretly thought.
Now that Di Yao was joining in, Yang Kai could only keep him company while trying not to stir up too much trouble.
Du Wan went over to the high platform at the head of the square and completed the registration process, soon returning with two numbered plates for Yang Kai and Di Yao.
These two youths were different from all the other Alchemists present, both of them wearing casually expression without the slightest tension or excitement. It seemed that they really were just here to play casually.
While they were waiting, a group of people, a number of old folks at their head followed by some young Alchemists.
Yang Kai suddenly understood that these should be the old friends Old Man Du mentioned.
When this group arrived in front of them, each of them smiled and exchanged greetings with each other, the scene was quite harmonious.
These old guys had been friends for many years so naturally, their friendship was quite deep. On the other hand, the younger generation Alchemists were all glaring at each other with some faint hostility, making for a somewhat awkward atmosphere.
The older generation members also detected this but made no attempt to stop it, on the contrary, they instead were constantly stimulating these young people with their words as if they feared the world would not be chaotic enough.
As a result, the calmness of Yang Kai and Di Yao caught their attention. All of Old Man Du’s old friends tried to inquire about these two youths’ details but Old Man Du would always just laugh them off and change the subject.
Suddenly, a gong sounded and wind instruments sang out, causing the extremely lively scene to quickly calm down.
Atop the high stage, a majestic voice soon called out, “Greetings everyone, this one is Floating Clouds City’s Alchemist Guild branch’s manager, Liu Fu. To all of the Alchemists visiting from afar, this Liu extends his warmest welcomes. No matter what everyone’s purpose for visiting Floating Clouds City is, so many friends from so far away gathering together is a rare occurrence so my Alchemist Guild has taken this opportunity to host this Alchemy competition. I hope all of you will put forward all your skills today so we may decide the number one Alchemist among the younger generation.”
After saying a few words of greeting, Liu Fu quickly went over the contest’s rules as well as the final reward.
The announcement of a Saint Grade pill furnace being awarded to first place instantly turned the eyes of countless Alchemists red.
Mi Na was also incredibly excited, her expression burning with passion as if she would not relent until that Saint Grade pill furnace was hers.
After speaking for a while and rallying everyone’s spirits, Liu Fu paused and swept his eyes over the crowd, smiling as he announced, “Now, let the contest begin! Please find your position according to the number plate you received!”
As soon as he shouted so, hundreds of people poured into the square. All of these people were Alchemist from the younger generations, having a maximum age of no more than forty. All of these Alchemists had at least reached the Mysterious Grade while only around ten percent were Spirit Grade Alchemists.
Yang Kai and Di Yao exchanged a glance before they too slowly walked towards the square.
The two of them were the last to sign up, so their location was naturally at the back corner and it was quite clear their tables had just been added.
If it weren’t for Old Man Du pulling strings, the two of them would definitely not be eligible to participate.
However, this also lined up well with Yang Kai’s intentions, he could take this opportunity to discuss cooperating with Di Yao.
On the tables in front of them, there was a Universe Bag, Yang Kai picks it up and examined it with his Divine Sense, quickly discovering it contained a large number of herbs as well as a pill furnace.
The pill furnace was Mysterious Grade Mid-Rank and the grades of the herbs were also not high, only a few reaching Spirit Grade. With these imposed limitations, most of the Alchemists here would be able to easily display their skills while making it easier for the judges’ final review and comparison.
The Alchemy competition was divided into several events, the first one being the refinement of medicinal liquid. The higher the amount of medicinal liquid one could condense within a specified time, and the purer that medicinal liquid was, the higher their score would be.
It could be said that everyone’s starting point was exactly the same so the end result would be up to each individual’s own skill.
Liu Fu gave the word, and the contest officially began.
Yang Kai took out all the herbs in the Universe Bag, picked up a few of them, and rested them atop the palms of his hands before refining them with his True Qi, a relaxed expression upon his face the whole time.
Sweeping his eyes over to Di Yao, Yang Kai found the former had done the same.
An outstanding Alchemist would be able to refine several herbs into a medicinal liquid at once.
Mi Na, who was located in the centre of the square, also displayed an impressive speed.
Although she had no confidence in competing with Yang Kai, compared to all the other Alchemists gathered here, she was undoubtedly excellent.
Flames of True Qi danced and herbs were quickly condensed into medicinal liquid and their impurities removed, these movements were all smooth and orderly.
“Brother Di!” Yang Kai called out as his hands continued moving, “About the cooperation you mentioned before.”
“Have you considered my offer?” Di Yao called back, his speed also not dropping in the slightest.
“We can cooperate, but I want to know if your goal is not the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, why are you participating at all?”
“I’m afraid I can’t say right now. All I can tell you is that condensing the medicinal liquid has great benefits for you and me alike. Naturally, the medicinal liquid I condense can all be turned over to you, your several Martial Uncles and Martial aunt need it, right?”
“Good,” Yang Kai nodded, his brow furrowing slightly in the next instant, “If it is convenient, can you tell me what these benefits are?”
“It’s not that it is inconvenient, it’s simply that I don’t know,” Di Yao smiled and shook his head, “My Master only told me so much, I am simply complying with his instructions.”
Di Yao once again mentioned his mysterious Master, only increasing Yang Kai’s curiosity, he didn’t know just how powerful and influential this Master was, but he knew that if he asked anything directly, most of his questions would simply receive no answer.
“There are four Third Order Transcendents on my side that can escort me to Ascending Heaven Cliff, what about you, Brother Di?” Yang Kai decided to focus on things he could get an answer to for now.
“Senior Ao Gu will probably give me a few Transcendent Realm masters as escorts, but I don’t know exactly how many; however, as long as we work together, our chances will be much higher than most. At the start it will be a battle between Transcendent Realm masters, but once we reach the peak of Ascending Heaven Cliff, it will be a battle between Alchemists, and the strength of most Alchemists can be a discounted direction, so you and I should easily be able to snatch up the Thousand Year Demon Flower,” Di Yao smirked.
“Good, then we’ll go with that. We’ll act together on the day the flower blossoms,” Yang Kai nodded, putting down the medicinal liquid he had just condensed before raising his hand.
Di Yao was dumbfounded, “So fast?”
In the short time they were speaking, Yang Kai had actually condensed all the herbs into medicinal liquid.
The old men on top of the head platform who was in charge of supervising the competition all stared blankly, seemingly unable to believe one of the competitors had already completed the first event.
However, before they could return to their senses, in the next moment, Di Yao also hurriedly raised his hand, only lagging behind Yang Kai by a few breaths.
Immediately, one of the Saint Grade Alchemists flew down from the high platform and came over to Yang Kai and Di Yao; after checking their medicinal liquids, he announced in a somewhat strained voice their successful clearance.
Sitting atop the high platform, Du Wan smiled as he stroked his beard, seemingly having expected this scene from the start, his expression the very picture of calm as if he was simply enjoying the mid-day sunshine.
On the other hand, Old Man Du’s old friends couldn’t sit still, one of the yellow-faced old people asking, “Brother Du, where did you find these two little monsters? The speed they condensed their medicinal liquid was basically on par with our own.”
“Hoho, that’s a secret,” Du Wan smiled and shook his head, “I hope all of you are prepared to shave off a few pounds of meat.”
The faces of a few old fogies atop the platform turned bitter at these words, all of them clear that Du Wan had been assured of victory in their little game and that they had all stupidly walked right into his trap.
But all of them had been old friends for many years, so naturally, they wouldn’t renege on their debts for something like this and transfer things out of their Universe Bags.
On the contrary, they all became quite interested in these two outstanding young Alchemists, and they were all quite pleased to see the younger generation filled with such hopeful talents.
In the first test, out of the original several hundred contestants, more than half were eliminated. These people were unable to condense all of their herbs into medicinal liquid within the prescribed time or had failed too many times in the process.
Mi Na managed to enter the second round so she was quite happy.
After the first round, the second began immediately – portraying Spirit Arrays.
Using the Mysterious Grade Mid-Rank pill furnace inside the Universe Bag, the competing Alchemists were to portray Spirit Arrays. There was no time limit for this round, the more Spirit Arrays one could portray and the more complex their structure, the better.
Yang Kai and Di Yao once again easily won first place.
Third round, control of fire.
Fourth round, arranging medicinal herbs.
Fifth round, sixth round…
Finally, the last round was a competition of refining pills.
There was no time given to the competitors to rest and in just over a day, the Alchemy contest was completed; in the end, only Yang Kai and Di Yao remained.
Mi Na had been eliminated during the fourth round and although she was a bit frustrated with this result, it was still quite a good showing for her. After a few compliments from Old Man Du, she was immediately happy again.
In front of the whole crowd, when the last round of the competition came around, Di Yao took the initiative to forfeit.
For one, from their previous contest, he already knew he wasn’t Yang Kai’s opponent. Although their accomplishments in the Alchemic Way were quite close, there was still a small but obvious difference.
Di Yao also didn’t want to expose the full extent of his and Yang Kai’s abilities in front of so many people. The previous rounds were just side by side, single technique comparisons, so there wasn’t much of a problem showing off a little bit, but if the two of them were to go through the entire process of refining a pill, some things which were best kept secret would definitely be exposed.
Their Alchemy speed and methods were simply too unusual.
The Alchemist Guild experts were somewhat astonished, never having expected Di Yao to give up such a great opportunity, but after noticing his indifferent expression and mentality, they relaxed.
“Brother Yang, I’ll say goodbye here for today, let us meet again soon. I’ll be heading back first, or Master will yell at me again,” Di Yao said, and under the escort of the two Transcendent Realm guards, strolled back towards the City Lord’s Mansion.
Liu Fu stood atop the high platform and announced that the winner of the competition was Yang Kai and then delivered the prizes promised by the Alchemist Guild to the latter on the spot.
A Universe Bag filled with rare herbs and a Saint Grade pill furnace.
Countless people stared with envious eyes.
Yang Kai immediately threw the Saint Grade pill furnace to Mi Na, causing the little girl to become so excited she ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek.
“Little friend Yang, come here,” Du Wan smiled and beckoned him over to a corner of the high platform.
Yang Kai nodded and walked over.
“Kid, who is your teacher?”
“How about coming to my Three River City’s Alchemist Guild branch? We’re much richer than Grand Boulder City’s branch and there are many more beautiful women there as well.”
“If you keep following Du Wan, your future prospects will be limited. This old fart already has half a foot in the grave, you should come with us instead.”
As soon as Yang Kai arrived, all the old fogies beside Du Wan began bombarding him with such comments as they stared at Yang Kai feverishly.
Yang Kai was shocked, the enthusiasm of these old fogies was way too high and he immediately felt smothered.
“Do all of you old farts, have you no shame?” Du Wan cut in, “Since when did I become a half-dead old man? Actually trying to snatch a treasure right in front of me? If any of you dares say anything more, this old Du will go all out with you!”
“Du Wan, save your energy, what’s the point in becoming so excited at your age? Be careful not to strain your back,” Someone laughed.
“Your age is not small either,” Du Wan snorted back.
“This Junior is grateful for various Seniors’ care,” Yang Kai took this chance to get in a few words, “But Junior does not intend on pursuing the Alchemic way for his entire lifetime, I wish to spy on the peak of the Martial Dao. Studying Alchemy is just a way for me to compliment my pursuit of the Martial Dao, so Junior is sorry but he must reject your good will.”
The crowd of old fogies were all dumbstruck, their jaws dropped as they stared at Yang Kai, even Du Wan was no exception.
“You want to immerse yourself in the Martial Dao? With such astounding aptitude in Alchemy, why would you insist on pursuing the Martial Dao? Young man, don’t you understand what kind of potential you have?”
“Indeed, this is simply a waste of the gifts the Heavens have bestowed you. If your objective is to protect someone, you can do so easily by enhancing your Alchemy skills. As long as your Alchemist grade rises to a certain point, there is nothing in this world you cannot obtain, whether it is wealth, privilege, reputation, status, or beauties. On top of that, you won’t need to struggle to obtain them yourself, as long as you put out the word, someone will naturally deliver it to you.”
“After becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster, you will receive all kinds of advantages, no matter where you go, even if you visit the Demon Land or Monster Domain, those Demon Race and Monster Race powerhouses will treat you as a respected guest.”
The group of old folks continued their attempts to persuade Yang Kai, painstakingly describing the wondrous prospects of becoming a top tier Alchemist in an attempt to change his mind.
“My only hope is to reach the peak of the Martial Dao!” Yang Kai declared firmly, without the slightest hint of uncertainty in his eyes.
Everyone was struck speechless.
The Martial Peak was not something one could achieve simply by pursuing Alchemy.
Feeling the steadfast determination of Yang Kai, everyone sighed as they all thought he was ruining himself.
“Du Wan, you must spend some time talking to this little boy, he’s too young and impetuous, I’m afraid he cannot see far enough into his future to understand,” The old man who invited Yang Kai to Three River City before whispered into Du Wan’s ear.
Du Wan nodded lightly, “When I have a chance to, I will speak with him.”
Du Wan obviously also felt like pursing the peak of the Martial Dao would be too much of a waste given Yang Kai’s aptitude for Alchemy.
Coughing lightly, Du Wan said, “This matter can be set aside, for now, little friend Yang having his own goals is a good thing, young people must naturally have their own thoughts and pursuits.”
He was afraid that the zealous teachings of these old guys would have the opposite effect which would do no good in the end so he quickly changed the subject, “Since you all are willing to gamble, you must be prepared to lose, are you all ready?”
Hearing this, the crowd of old fogies all suddenly wore bitter expressions as they clenched their teeth and scowled towards Du Wan, “You old fox!”
Although they all said as much, none of them was about to renege on their bet so they all took out their own Universe Bag and tossed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and in an instant; there were five new Universe Bags in his hand.
“Heh heh, who made you all so overconfident?” Du Wan laughed happily while saying to Yang Kai, “Little friend Yang, no need to act polite, if you have a liking for anything you see, just take it, the good things in their Universe Bag were all gifted to them anyways.”
“Then… Junior will be impolite,” Yang Kai also smiled and in front of these old folk’s nervous stares, released his Divine Sense and carefully examined the Universe Bags.
After simply seeing the content of the first Universe Bag, Yang Kai’s face changes greatly.
It was worthy of being the Universe Bag of a Saint Grade Alchemist, everything contained inside was extraordinary, there was nothing below Spirit Grade Low-Rank, and whether it was pills, herbs, Secret Arts, or artifacts, there was no shortage of items which had reached Saint Grade.
There were also a number of strange items Yang Kai couldn’t identify.
But regardless of what it was, the aura and energy fluctuations given off by them made it obvious they weren’t ordinary.
Yang Kai was dazzled but after confirming that there were no herbs he needed in this Universe Bag, he then began the difficult process of choosing something else.
“Young man, do hurry up, this old master can’t help feeling a little anxious if you act so slowly,” The owner of this Universe Bag couldn’t help but comment.
“Old Man Du, can I only take one thing?” Yang Kai turned an awkward look to Du Wan.
“En, my bet with these old friends was for one item each,” Du Wan nodded gently before suddenly wearing a mischievous grin, “But my old friends are all generous characters who are especially fond of promising young talents, therefore, I think it won’t bother them if you were to take something more as a sign of their appreciation, isn’t that right, Brother Chang?”
Saying so, Old Man Du smiled crookedly at the owner of this Universe Bag.