On the outskirts of the ice mountains, the several Ice Sect Transcendent Realm masters teamed up against Yang Kai were constantly complaining in their hearts.
They had initially thought that their opponent was just a young ignorant brat, someone any one of them could easily send packing, but never had Ni Ren and his fellow brothers thought that Yang Kai’s strength would be so monstrous, completely surpassing all three of them put together, forcing them into a miserable situation.
Such a huge contrast in expectation and reality dumbfounded them.
Although the two side’s True Qi attributes mutually repelled one another, this youth’s True Qi was far more dense and pure, so every time they fought, the Ice Sect disciples Martial Skill would melt like snow under the spring sun. Even just their basic True Qi defence around their bodies was severely strained by the blazing hot aura Yang Kai was giving off.
“Anyone who dares to stop me today will die!”
All of a sudden, Yang Kai showed an impatient expression and angrily roared, his gaze becoming cold and ruthless.
Ni Ren’s heart clenched as his instincts cried out to him to retreat, immediately forcing him to put all of his strength into defending himself. Under the threat of Yang Kai murderous intent, he finally felt the situation had become untenable.
Yang Kai’s performance was completely unexpected; Ni Ren couldn’t understand how a boy so much younger than himself could completely suppress him and his fellow brothers.
“This is my Ice Sect’s domain, not somewhere you can act dissolute!” Ni Ren somehow choked down his fear, grit his teeth, and tried to act strong.
“You’ve said that once before,” Yang Kai stared at him coldly, “Not somewhere I can act dissolute? Is Ice Sect really so great? I’ll show you the meaning of dissolute!”
As he said so, a burst of wind was thunder erupted, engulfing Ni Ren and his two fellow disciples in a dense storm filled with sharp wind blades and lethal lightning bolts. A slaughtering field instantly appeared and the three Ice Sect disciples’ defensive artifacts all began to flicker rapidly under the intense bombardment, dimming quickly and soon losing their effect all together.
After that, the Ice Attribute True Qi the three Ice Sect disciples used to guard their bodies was swiftly eroded by the wind and thunder field, their clothes shredding, and dense wounds soon appearing on their bodies.
The aura of death breathed down their necks, causing Ni Ren and the others to pale with fright.
Trapped inside this strange killing field, they were unable to escape no matter what they tried.
Yang Kai slowly lifted his hand and patted towards their direction. A giant palm print appeared in the sky as he did so, shining a blinding golden light like the midday sun, falling towards the three Ice Sect disciples in the next instant, bringing with it a terrifying heat and destructive force, as if a volcano was pressing down on them.
Containing a fierce momentum, before the palm print had even hit its target, the surrounding glacier began to melt, sending a thick cloud of steam soaring up into the sky.
Ni Ren and his fellow brothers’ knees all went soft and each of them nearly collapsed to the ground, their bodies trembling violently as they stared at the huge palm print descending upon them.
“Stop!” A loud voice resounded in all of their ears as a white figure shot out from one of the ice mountains. In the blink of an eye, this figure arrived in the sky above Ni Ren and raised a jade-like palm towards Yang Kai’s attack.
*Pa…*
The golden palm print directly collapsed and Yang Kai was forced back several steps, his face paling and a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his lips.
However, no signs of surprise appeared on his face; instead, he cracked a light smile as he stared towards the woman who had suddenly appeared.
This woman was a mature beauty clothed in a pure white dress with an enchanting figure and a cold expression. At this moment, she too was staring towards Yang Kai, an incredulous look upon her face, seemingly unable to believe that this young man could easily defeat Ni Ren’s team.
Ni Ren and his fellow brothers were all First Order Transcendent masters and their strength within Ice Sect was not low. They should have been more than enough to take care of this minor incident but had actually almost died just now, this result was something she found difficult to accept.
Since when did such an astonishing young talent appear in Tong Xuan Realm?
“You finally decided to show yourself,” Yang Kai snorted.
“Elder Qian Yue!” Ni Ren and others shouted happily, as if they had just seen their saviour, their eyes filled with pleasant surprise.
“Draw back,” Qian Yue waved her hand and easily dispersed the field of wind and thunder around Ni Ren and the other.
Yang Kai’s expression was dignified. This woman was a Saint Realm master, so her having such ability was no surprise to him. The whole reason he had made a show of killing Ni Ren was to lead this woman out.
This woman was the one who had been spying on this place from the nearby ice mountain.
Ni Ren and the others didn’t have any real authority in Ice Sect, but this person probably did.
“What force are you from? Why are you proficient in three different attributes?” Qian Yue frowned as she stared at Yang Kai solemnly, wanting to find some kind of clue from his clothes or manner, but eventually coming up empty.
“Where I’m from isn’t important, I’m only here to see someone!” Yang Kai took a deep breath, “I hope you can open your Ice Sect’s doors and allow me to see her. If she is well, I’ll lead her away from here and consider this time’s matters settled. If she is not, I’ll make your Ice Sect pay an appropriate price.”
“Foolishness,” Qian Yue slowly shook her head, a look of ridicule flashing across her beautiful face, “My Ice Sect has been in seclusion for many years and its reputation no longer resounds throughout the world, but it still not so easily bullied. The person you are looking for is not here, go back to wherever you came from, other don’t blame me for taking action against a Junior.”
“You don’t need to feign ignorance with me, you and I are both well aware that Su Yan is in your Ice Sect,” Yang Kai replied indifferently, completely undeterred by Qian Yue’s words.
“I said the person you’re looking for is not in my Ice Sect,” Qian Yue repeated, a tinge of anger welling up in her heart.
“Oh really?” Yang Kai smiled mockingly, “Would you like me to point out exactly where she is right now?”
Saying so, Yang Kai pointed his finger in a particular direction and confidently stated, “The person I’m looking for is inside a tall ice mountain fifteen kilometers in that direction and is currently in some kind of deep sleep state.”
Qian Yue beautiful face twitched as she stared at Yang Kai in amazement.
This boy was correct, and the precision with which he described Su Yan’s current state and location were extremely high. Qian Yue couldn’t figure out how he could possible know all of this.
“Anything you’d like to say?” Yang Kai glared back at the mature beauty silently for a moment before firmly declaring, “All I want is to see her and determine whether she is alright.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Qian Yue quickly adjusted her expression and doubled down on her previous statement.
“If you insist on not letting me see her, then I can only force my way in,” Yang Kai’s aura suddenly became callus as he exclaimed, “I hope your Ice Sect can afford the price.”
“If you dare act unruly here, I cannot guarantee your life!” Qian Yue grit her teeth and issued an ultimatum.
Yang Kai nodded gently and no longer spoke, immediately pushing his True Qi to its limits.
*Hua…*
Yang Kai opened his Wind and Thunder Wings directly and immediately grabbed everyone’s attention, all of them wondering what kind of profound Martial Skill or artifact composed these beautiful wings.
In that brief moment of absent-mindedness, Yang Kai disappeared from all of their sights.
Qian Yu’s face changed dramatically, her tender body flickering in the next instant as she hurriedly pursued him.
*Hong…*
A loud bang erupted from a nearby thousand meter tall ice mountain, and under a terrifying force, its upper half exploded, sending chunks of ice and snow scattering in all directions.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
A series of loud explosions continued to spread across the ice mountain range as Ni Ren and his fellow disciples looked on in a daze. None of them could grasp Yang Kai’s movements, after opening that strange pair wings, the latter’s speed had increased to an incredible degree.
They couldn’t even lock onto Yang Kai’s position after fully releasing their Divine Senses.
As a blurry figure flickered about, one ice mountain after another was struck. This intruder was like a raging fireball, smashing directly into the ice mountains, using his own body and True Qi to destroy everything in his path.
Within a few breaths of time, six thousand-meter ice mountains had been obliterated, the Ice Sect disciples who were cultivate inside them scrambling out of the debris, many of them either confused or cursing but without exception, falling unconscious moments later.
The same happened to Ni Ren and his two fellow disciples. After watching Yang Kai’s performance for a brief moment, they had all suddenly fallen to the ground unconscious.
Qian Yue didn’t notice this strange anomaly because at the moment all her attention was focused on Yang Kai, a thick look of shock plastered all over her face. Even though she was a First Order Saint and wasn’t holding back, her wanting to catch up to Yang Kai who had opened his Wind and Thunder Wings was somewhat unrealistic.
The wind was swift and the thunder was agile; the enhancement the Wind and Thunder Wings provided to Yang Kai’s speed could no longer be described in words.
Amidst the ice mountains, two figures flashed rapidly, one fleeing, the other chasing, running around and around in circles, the surrounding ice mountains breaking open and crumbling one after another.
From the very beginning, Yang Kai never intended to confront this Saint Realm master head on.
His current strength was indeed quite astonishing, allowing him to fight and defeat enemies above his own realm with ease, so dealing with Ni Ren and the other two Ice Sect Transcendents wasn’t difficult, but Yang Kai still had some self-knowledge, a Saint Realm master was not an opponent he could fight right now.
The energy flowing through Saint Realm masters was very different from that of Transcendents, so every Martial Skill and move a Saint made was incomparably stronger that one’s displayed by Transcendents.
The Saint Realm dominated above the Transcendent Realm!
If he wanted to fight against a Saint Realm master and not immediately be defeated, Yang Kai figured he had to at least become a Third Order Transcendent.
If he tried to stand and fight this beautiful woman, Yang Kai had no chance of winning, so he could only try another method to get the other party to give way.
He had to make the biggest ruckus he could!
“Little brat, stop!” Qian Yue was infuriated, she couldn’t catch up to Yang Kai so she could only shout angrily at him from behind.
“I already said, if I can’t see Su Yan, I’ll flatten all of your Ice Sect’s mountains!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, not slowing down but instead increasing his speed even further.
Wrapping his intrepid physique in blazing hot True Qi, Yang Kai hit straight towards the ice mountains in front of him. None of these mountains could withstand the force of his collision. Everywhere he went, he smashed open the landscape as easily as one would smash a plank of rotten wood.
Qian Yue’s eyes went red as she saw her beloved Ice Sect’s thousand-year-old foundation crumbling around her, a deep sense of distress and anger filling her heart.
Bumping into such a reckless and unreasonable young man really made her feel like her luck was too bad.
In the middle of their chase, Qian Yue stopped suddenly, her beautiful eyes flashing an icy cold light as she glared towards Yang Kai’s figure, shouting loudly, “Suppress!”
The surrounding World Energy suddenly twisted unnaturally, causing Yang Kai’s expression to change dramatically, hurriedly coming to a halt and turning in a different direction, but no matter what way he faced, a wall of icy energy was closing in on him, leaving him no way out.
The astonishing methods of a Saint Realm master were beyond his ability to comprehend or resist.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
The wall of frigid energy smashed into Yang Kai and sent him tumbling through the air. Fresh blood spurt from his mouth and the golden light which had been surrounding his body vanished as he fell uncontrollably towards the ground below.
Seeing that Yang Kai hit the ground, Qian Yue’s face could help relaxing somewhat.
This time she knew she was in the wrong. Denying the existence of Su Yan and refusing to let Yang Kai see her all stemmed from her own selfishness, so even if Yang Kai had ruined more than a dozen of Ice Sect’s ice peaks, she had never had any murderous intent towards him.
All she wanted was to cause enough difficulty for Yang Kai so that he would willingly retreat.
She could not hand over Su Yan so easily; after all, it was too rare to meet such an outstanding seedling. Qian Yue still had not given up on recruiting Su Yan as her disciple.
Moreover, Su Yan’s state at the moment was not good and she truly could not meet with anyone.
After injuring Yang Kai just enough, she could easily drive him away, or so Qian Yue thought, but before she could even fly over to investigate his situation, her expression changed dramatically.
Down below, Yang Kai, who should have hit the ground and been knocked unconscious, once again rushed out, his golden True Qi aura completely restored.
“Impossible!” Qian Yue’s beautiful eyes quivered fiercely. She was perfectly clear how much strength she had just used; it should have been more than enough to knock out a mere First Order Transcendent.
But at this moment, not only did the other side not seem to have taken any damage, his momentum had instead increased and his demeanor had become more violent, as if silently declaring he would not rest until he had flattened all of Ice Sect.
Just how strong was his body that he could withstand such a blow without falling unconscious?
*Hong Hong Hong…*
One ice mountain after another collapsed, causing Qian Yue to become somewhat hysterical as she cried out, “Boy, you’re seek death! If you don’t stop this instant don’t blame me for not showing any mercy!”
Yang Kai just laughed wildly in response, “If you want to kill me, you’re free to try! Let’s see what comes first, my death or your Ice Sect’s destruction! Since you refuse to let me see Su Yan, I will let all of us be buried alive here!”
“Impudence!” Qian Yue shouted, watching almost one tenth of Ice Sect’s foundation be destroyed, a sliver of killing intent finally crept into her aura.
If she couldn’t subdue this little brat, within less than an hour, Ice Sect really would have to find a place to relocate to.
Such wanton destruction had naturally alerted everyone else in Ice Sect.
One by one, masters emerged from different ice mountains and gathered together.
“Qian Yue, what happened? Where did this barbaric boy come from?” A middle-aged with a dim expression coldly shouted out.
“Big Brother, capture this little brat for me first. I’ll explain what happened later!” Qian Yue who was still pursing Yang Kai hurriedly called out.
Hearing this, the middle-aged man wrinkled his brow; although he was somewhat unwilling to personally deal with a Junior, seeing the violent destruction of Ice Sect, he also felt a deep sense of indignation and immediately complied, “Good!”
As he spoke, his figure flickered and appeared in front of Yang Kai, snorting loudly, “Boy, stop this instant or…”
Before he could finish what he was going to say though, Yang Kai shot past him wrapped in a great gust of wind.
A loud rumbling noise rang out and the ice mountain behind the middle-aged man shattered.
“Such insolence!” The middle-aged man coldly snorted, and in the blink of an eye, somehow appeared right beside Yang Kai, his palm pushing forward and landing on the opposite party’s chest.
Yang Kai’s face went white and his speed his speed and momentum noticeably dropped. At the same time, a frigid energy spread from the place he had been struck, impeding the flow of his True Qi. From an outsider’s perspective, it was like he had been caught in a mire and was having difficulty moving.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, a thin layer of frost spread across the surface of Yang Kai’s body and threatened to completely freeze him in the next instant.
A Second Order Saint!
Yang Kai’s heart clenched up as he desperately twisted his body and quickly withdrew from the middle-aged man’s reach.
At the same time, Yang Kai pushed his burning hot True Qi as hard as he could and with some effort managed to dispel the chill in his body, restoring his freedom after a brief moment.
Seeing this, a look of surprise filled the middle-aged man’s face as he couldn’t help muttering, “Such a fierce brat!”
With his Second Order Saint cultivation, even after directly injecting his own freezing energy into this boy, not only had he failed to incapacitate the latter, he had barely even slowed him down.
Given his strength and status, taking action against Yang Kai was already a great stain upon the middle-aged man’s honour, if he were to act again, he really wouldn’t have any face left.
A master like him had his own pride, and generally disdained to perform actions that could be interpreted as bullying the weak.
“Big brother, why did you stop?” Seeing the middle-aged man standing mid-air, his arms crossed behind his back, exhibiting the style of a powerful aloof master, Qian Yue couldn’t help complaining.
The middle-aged man frowned and said solemnly, “Things have already become like this. Boy, enough, as long as you stop I will not act against you again, but don’t push your luck. If you have something to discuss we can all sit down and talk about it.”
As the middle-aged man spoke, two more Saint Realm masters from Ice Sect appeared and blocked Yang Kai’s retreat. The two did not move against Yang Kai immediately but instead just stared towards him with great interest, their eyes filled with curiosity.
Four Saints!
The immensity of Ice Sect’s heritage was obvious at a glance.
Yang Kai was caught in the middle of this encirclement and he knew that against such a lineup, he could no longer act recklessly, and since he perceived that the middle-aged man was being sincere, he also came to a halt and stood calmly mid-air.
“Why should I listen to anything you have to say?” Yang Kai stared back at the middle-aged man and asked indifferently.
The middle-aged man showed a faint smile and nodded, “I am Ice Sect’s Elder, Qian Hao!”
Yang Kai turned his eyes to the middle-aged beauty and sneered, “She is also an Ice Sect Elder, how do I know you two aren’t wearing the same pair of pants?”
Qian Yue pretty face became cold and she wanted to retort, but Qian Hao cut her off and said, “The two of us are real blood brother and sister, how can we not be on the same side?”
“Big Brother!” Qian Yue glared at him bitterly.
“However, you have no choice,” Qian Hao’s expression became cold, “You’ve ruined so much of my Ice Sect’s foundation, if you don’t give me a proper explanation, do you think I will just let you go? You best have a reason I can accept for your reckless behaviour otherwise I will let you taste the world’s most painful torture from now until the day you die.”
Yang Kai sneered and took back his Wind and Thunder Wings before glancing over at Qian Yue, “I came here to find someone, but she insisted on stopping me from seeing her.”
“Find someone? Who are you looking for?” Qian Hao frowned.
“Su Yan.”
Hearing this, Qian Hao and the other two Saint Realm masters brows furrowed.
“Big Brother, this person should be the one that the old fogy mentioned before he left,” Qian Yue whispered into Qian Hao’s ear, the latter nodding slightly before wearing a disgruntled look, “Since that’s the case, why didn’t you just let him see her? Was it necessary to make such a big fuss over something so small?”
“Su Yan… had an accident,” Qian Yue replied somewhat awkwardly.
“An accident?” Qian Hao was genuinely surprised, “What happened?”
Although Qian Hao was also an Elder of Ice Sect, he had been in secluded retreat for the past few years and was thus not too familiar with the everyday occurrences in the Sect. If it weren’t for the ruckus Yang Kai had stirred up today being so earth-shaking, he wouldn’t have even appeared here.
“Haa… let’s not talk about this now, I’ll explain everything to you later. Right now, Su Yan really can’t see anyone; moreover, just look at this little brat, at first glance it’s obvious he’s cruel and vicious. How could I allow such a bad influence to get close to Su Yan?”
“The two of them already know each other,” Qian Hao sighed heavily.
“All I see is a toad lusting after swan meat,” Qian Yue coldly snorted, glaring hatefully at Yang Kai, the latter appearing more and more unpleasant with each passing moment.
Seeing his little sister’s bad impression of this kid being so entrenched, Qian Hao knew well enough not to say any more, no matter what, this time, although it was his originally his sister who was in the wrong, it was true that this little brat didn’t put Ice Sect in his eyes. Having destroyed so many ice mountains, if Qian Hao really tried to make big things small, and small things nothing, it would be difficult for him to explain to the Sect’s disciples.
Considering all this, Qian Hao coldly said, “Just because of that, you dared act so aggressively and wantonly destroyed my Ice Sect’s foundations?”
“Since I’m not happy, no one else will be either!”
“Boy, you’re certainly crazy enough, I just don’t know if you can afford the consequences! I won’t kill you, but you only have two choices, either enter my Ice Sect as a slave and work until you repay the damage you have caused this time, or cut off both of your hands, choose yourself.”
Finished speaking, he stared at Yang Kai coldly, wondering what choice this kid would make.
“I choose neither.”
Qian Hao smiled and shook his head, “That’s not something you can control. Good, since your aptitude is good, we’ll just go with the first option. Although your Secret Art is at odds with my Ice Sect, you are still a rare talent, it would be a pity to destroy you just like that.”
Saying so, an invisible energy suddenly burst forth and directly imprisoned Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t make any attempt to dodge and simply allowed himself to be bound; however, he didn’t show any signs of panic either, instead a look of victory appeared on his face accompanied by a dismissive sneer.
“What are you laughing at?” Qian Hao frowned, “From now on, you will follow beside me and serve me. Don’t worry, I won’t treat you badly. Since you’ll be entering Ice Sect as a slave, there will always be an opportunity for you to see the one you want to see, of course, that is so long as you behave honestly, if not, you’ll have to suffer some pain.”
“You want me to serve you?” Yang Kai laughed loudly, “I’m afraid you won’t have the opportunity to receive such a blessing!”
Qian Hao coldly snorted, “Allowing you to serve me is because I favour your talent, but you best not test my patience.”
Another of the Saint Realm masters also shouted, “En, little brat, Qian Hao accepting you is already showing you great honour, don’t fail to appreciate his kindness.”
The last person Saint followed up, “Kid, angering Qian Hao now won’t do you any good.”
A slightly smug look crept onto Qian Hao’s face as he looked at Yang Kai with great interest, “No matter what reason you had for coming to Ice Sect, no matter what kind of grievances you have suffered, it is still a fact that you cannot act unruly here. Me not killing you immediately is already a great benevolence, as for the nonsense you spouted a moment ago, what capital do you believe you have to bargain with? Do you think that with your paltry strength, you can escape from me?”
“Take a look around you!” Yang Kai snickered as he gestured towards the ground below, a mocking smile appearing on his face.
Hearing this, the four Saint Realm masters all wore confused expression before quickly examining the situation around them.
The next moment, the calm expressions on all four of the Saints changed drastically.
From a while ago, all of them had felt that something about this situation was off, but with all of their attention focused on Yang Kai, they had failed to carefully monitor their surroundings.
But after Yang Kai’s reminder, the four of them noticed that it was far too quiet. Almost all of Ice Sect’s disciples had been forced out of the ice mountains by Yang Kai’s rampage yet none of them were making the slightest sound.
Moreover, when the four Saints looked around, they discovered that their disciples were all passed out on the ground with looks of pain and anguish upon their faces.
With just a quick glance, the four Saints discovered that more than two hundred Ice Sect disciples were in this comatose state. Regardless of their cultivation or age, each of these unconscious individuals auras was slightly unstable, even the Transcendents among them were no different.
It was impossible for so many Ice Sect disciples to be incapacitated for no apparent reason, the only explanation was that this little brat had done something to them.
However, just what kind of method did he possess that allowed him to pull this off under the noses of four Saint Realm masters? Qian Hao and the others were deeply puzzled.
“What did you do?” Qian Hao glanced over at two of the other Saint Realm masters before focusing his attention back onto Yang Kai.
“Take a guess!”
“What did you do to them? Why do they all seem to be in great pain?” Qian Hao asked again, this time with much more force.
However, in response, Yang Kai simply grinned back at him mockingly.
Simultaneously, the two masters who had received the silent instructions of Qian Hao inspected the unconscious disciples, but no matter how they examined them, they couldn’t find any external wounds or signs of poisoning.
Exchanging dismayed glances, the two Saints were completely lost.
How did all of these disciples become like this without being poisoned or injured?
Not giving up, the two Saints quickly released their Divine Senses to more closely inspect their unconscious disciples but not long after they had done so, both of their expressions paled and they cried out in shock, “What are these?”
As they shouted, the hurriedly retreated, as if something terrifying was chasing after them.
Looking at this scene, whether it was Qian Yue or Qian Hao, they felt a chill shoot up their back, causing them to shiver unconsciously.
“What happened?” Qian Yue called out worriedly.
“Stay back, whatever you do, don’t release your Divine Senses!” One of the two Saints paled and shouted as he fled, “There’s something targeting our Divine Senses, if you release your Divine Sense you’ll be targeted as well!”
At the same time, the other Saint Realm master cried out in pain, his expression twisting in agony.
Two First Order Saints had suddenly fallen into a difficult situation and even looked somewhat fearful. Qian Yue wanted to help, but had no idea where to even start.
Qian Hao stared at Yang Kai coldly as he sunk deep into through, his eyes containing a trace of unease as he quietly condensed his True Qi to defend himself.
This kid’s methods were too strange, even able to damage two First Order Saints, naturally, Qian Hao didn’t dare lower his guard.
After a brief struggle, the two Saint Realm masters gradually stabilized themselves, but the pained look upon their faces did not completely disappear and their brows remained deeply furrowed, a tinge of fear apparent in their eyes.
“Boy, what did you infect them with?” One of them turned his gaze towards Yang Kai and solemnly asked, his eyes containing none of their previous contempt as he desperately endured the pain in his Soul.
“Worthy of a Saint Realm master, you’re still able to maintain your consciousness,” Yang Kai said lightly, offering some genuine praise.
Not only could these two Saints remain awake, their combat effectiveness had essentially not decreased. In other words, the present them weren’t much different how they were a few moments ago, they simply had some additional minor concerns.
“What exactly happened?” Qian Yue asked slightly worriedly. She was naturally aware of just how strong these two Elders were, if it had been her in their place, she likely wouldn’t have been able to escape either.
“Some kind of imperceptible insects have infected the Knowledge Seas of the disciples, when we tried to inspect them with our Divine Senses we were also attacked,” One of them said, directly a hate filled glare towards Yang Kai as he explained, “Although we can temporarily suppress these strange insects, it will take us some time to completely get rid of them, but I’m afraid that none of the disciples have enough strength to do the same.”
“Strange insects?” Qian Yue beautiful face paled, “What kind of insects?”
“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him!”
Qian Hao sighed, a look of hesitation appearing on his face for a moment before he released Yang Kai’s shackles and said, “Boy, you win, releasing you first is a show of my Ice Sect’s sincerity, now answer our questions!”
“A wise man knows when to submit to the circumstance!” Yang Kai sneered.
The faces of the four Saints all became ugly.
Four Saint Realm masters had come out to deal with a single First Order Transcendent Junior but not only did they fail to thoroughly subdue him, two of them had actually fallen into the latter’s trap and been injured, a large part of Ice Sect’s foundation had been destroyed, and several hundred of their disciples had been put into a life-threatening situation.
Although Yang Kai’s taunting angered them greatly, none of them dared show any aggression.
“What kind of insects are these?” Qian Hao asked, “As the one who released them, you should know that at least, right?”
Yang Kai gently nodded, responding in a neither rude nor polite tone, “Soul Devouring Insects, surely you’ve all heard of them, right?”
Hearing this, all four of the Saints expressions became grim.
Naturally they had heard of Soul Devouring Insects before, these Exotic Ancient Insects were so small they were practically invisible and they exclusively fed on Spiritual Energy. Once they infected a victim’s Knowledge Sea, they would multiply rapidly and were incredibly difficult to get rid of.
However, these Ancient Insects were something the four Saints had only heard of in legend, who among them could have thought they still existed?
“Boy,” One of the masters who had been infected by the Soul Devouring Insects coldly snorted, “My Ice Sect may be isolated, but we are not ignorant. Soul Devouring Insects are indeed formidable, but wanting to infect a Saint Realm cultivator’s Knowledge Sea with them is nothing but a fantasy, it’s impossible that these things are Soul Devouring Insects!”
According to what they knew, Saints should easily be able to deal with Soul Devouring Insects, not only should it be impossible for them to become infected, even if they were, with their powerful Spiritual Energy they should have easily been able to kill these Exotic Ancient Insects.
So when Yang Kai reported the name of these insects, this master’s first reaction was that the former was lying.
Yang Kai simply grinned mockingly, “I apologize, my Soul Devouring Insects are probably not the same as the ones in the legends, at the very least, they’re a bit more powerful.”
Since the time Yang Kai had explored the ancient cave mansion with Cang Yan and Fei Yu and obtained these Exotic Ancient Insects, almost two years had passed. Over the past two years, the Soul Devouring Insects had remained inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea atop the five coloured island where they had received many benefits. Yang Kai could clearly feel that these Soul Devouring Insects had become much stronger than they originally were as a result.
When Yang Kai was playing cat and mouse with Qian Yue, every time he destroyed one of the ice mountains, he had release numerous Soul Devouring Insects, so when the Ice Sect disciples had emerged from the ruins, all of them, without exception, had been infected.
“You’re saying that these things are Soul Devouring Insects? Why are you safe and sound then? How did you release them?” The man asked coldly.
“You ask too many questions and I have no obligation to answer them,” Yang Kai glanced at him contemptuously, “I’ll only tell you that within the next half an hour your Ice Sect disciples won’t be in any life threatening danger, but after that, I can’t make any guarantees, these little guys aren’t all that obedient!”
“You… you court death! If my Ice Sect disciples encounter any accident, you’ll die a miserable death!”
Yang Kai laughed riotously at this threat and sneered, “Having several hundred people buried along with me doesn’t sound bad! As long as you are willing, I can make them die right now!”
The four saints suddenly became silent, each of them feeling a great headache.
There weren’t many Ice Sect disciples to begin with, about five hundred in total, if two or three hundred of them were to suddenly die, the loss would be too great. This little brat was simply a demon who would use whatever means at his disposal no matter how underhanded and dastardly to achieve his goals.
The four Saints all felt a deep hatred towards Yang Kai, but they didn’t dare act rashly here even though they had absolute confidence they could instantly kill him.
After all, once they killed him, what would they do about the Soul Devouring Insects he had released?
However, admitting defeat here was so humiliating that none of them could bring themselves to utter the words. As they all grit their teeth and dark and gloomy thoughts swirled about their heads thought, a woman’s voice suddenly lightly called out, “Little boy, is your surname Yang?”
Yang Kai’s face changed dramatically upon hearing this voice because he had failed to notice anyone approaching him, yet when he turned around and saw the source of this voice, he discovered an incredibly beautiful figure only a few steps away from him.
This woman looked quite young, at most that same age as him Yang Kai and Su Yan, but her body radiated an unfathomable aura that greatly pressured Yang Kai even though she was not actively trying to suppress him.
This kind of pressure was not something he felt from any of the other four Elders of Ice Sect.
As she stood there, this woman seemed to be integrated into this frozen world, as if within this domain she was omnipotent and omnipresent.
Third Order Saint!
Yang Kai took a deep breath, and immediately became vigilant.
Although he knew he was facing a terrifying enemy, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling slightly strange; after listening to this woman’s words, the raging anger he felt in his heart actually weakened a lot.
Besides being incredibly pleasant to the ear, there also seemed to be some kind of magical power in this woman’s voice that gently soothed the grievances and injustices Yang Kai felt.
“Greetings, Sect Master!” Qian Hao and the other Saints also quickly adjusted their expression and respectfully bowed.
The woman smiled faintly and waved her hand, “There’s no need to be so polite. Aren’t things here a little bit too noisy?”
Although there was no meaning of blame in her tone, Qian Hao and the others couldn’t help blushing with embarrassment, all of them wishing they could find a hole to crawl into and hide.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed and hesitantly asked, “Are you the Sect Master of Ice Sect?”
“En, I am Ice Sect’s Sect Master, Qing Ya,” The woman nodded lightly and smiled, the aura she radiated as pure as the surrounding glaciers, without the slightest impurities, giving anyone who saw her and heard her gentle voice a refreshed feeling, “Are you surnamed Yang?”
The hostility on Yang Kai’s face decreased significantly and his expression became relaxed as he nodded slightly.
“Are you the one Meng Wu Ya spoke of?”
“Yes.”
“You’re even more impressive than he described, I didn’t expect you would be able to find this place so quickly,” Qing Ya curled her lips slightly.
“I also did not expect that Ice Sect’s Sect Master would be so young and beautiful, I thought that Treasurer Meng’s friend would be a white-haired old woman, today has been an eye opening experience,” Yang Kai looked Qing Ya up and down, a look of amazement on his face, his vision limpid, only offering sincere praise without the slightest obscene or offensive light.
“Do you think so?” Qing Ya seemed to be very happy, the smile on her face showing some faint traces of enjoyment.
“Glib tongued brat!” Qian Yue pursed her lips and muttered to herself, “Really isn’t a good thing!”
“Treasurer Meng actually knows someone like you, it seems I’ve greatly underestimated him,” Yang Kai nodded seriously.
Qing Ya giggled lightly, even if it was obvious Yang Kai’s praise had traces of intentional flattery, she was still delighted to receive it.
Qian Hao and the other Ice Sect Elders couldn’t help feeling awkward in their hearts as they watched this exchange. They hadn’t seen their Sect Master laugh so care freely in a long time. None of them had expected this little brat from who knows where would actually be able to elicit such a response from their Sect Master.
[This little bastard must be an incorrigible womanizer, otherwise how could he have such a clear understanding of a woman’s heart?] The male Saints all cursed in their hearts as they wore contemptuous expression upon their faces.
Outside the ice mountains, Qing Ya, Ice Sect’s Sect Master had silently appeared but not only did she not show any dissatisfaction or hostility towards Yang Kai, she behaved in an amicable manner which made it difficult for Yang Kai to continue to make trouble.
He had originally decided to thoroughly cut off relations with Ice Sect, run amok to vent his dissatisfaction, and then take Su Yan away.
However, the attitude of the Sect Master Qing Ya made him feel somewhat incapable of following through with his plans. If he were to continue to act standoffishly when the other side had greeted him with a warm smile, it really would be a bit unreasonable.
“You came looking for Su Yan? Meng Wu Ya mentioned you would,” Qing Ya continued in the same gentle tone.
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
“I’ll be honest with you, Su Yan has had an accident.”
Yang Kai’s expression immediately became cold upon hearing this, prompting Qing Ya to hurriedly say, “But you can rest assured that her life is not in any danger, she has just entered a frozen state.”
“A frozen state?” Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled.
“Her present condition is the result of her own decisions; of course, my Ice Sect also bears some responsibility. In any case, you will understand when you see her, it’s not something a few words can explain clearly,” Qing Ya beckoned to Yang Kai.
“Sect Master…” Qian Yue shouted hastily, obviously still wanting to prevent Yang Kai from meeting Su Yan, but she immediately shut her mouth after Qing Ya shot her a single glance.
“Right, before that, can you take back the little insects from my Ice Sect disciples’ Knowledge Seas? Since they were released by you, you should have a way to remove them, yes?” Qing Ya looked at Yang Kai with a smile.
“Please excuse me, before confirming my Senior Sister’s condition, I am not prepared to take back those insects,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head. Right now, the Soul Devouring Insects which allowed him to control the fate of more than two hundred Ice Sect disciples was the only bargaining chip he had. Although he felt Qing Ya was a trustworthy person, one could never truly know what was in the heart of another person. If he were to take back his Soul Devouring Insects and the other party suddenly attacked him, facing a Third Order Saint, Yang Kai would have no ability to resist.
“You’re certainly cautious enough,” Qing Ya shook her head, “In that case, are you certain my Ice Sect’s disciples won’t have any issue?”
“I already said that within half an hour, they won’t be in any danger,” Yang Kai replied flatly.
“Very well, you come with me first. Qian Yue, you come too. Qian Hao, you look after these disciples.”
“Yes,” The elders all respectfully replied, Qian Hao then turning to Yang Kai and coldly threatening, “Little brat, don’t play any tricks, or else I’ll tidy you up.”
Yang Kai was too lazy to pay attention to him.
Qing Ya flew forward and eventually brought Yang Kai in front of the ice mountain he felt Su Yan’s aura coming from. With a wave of her jade-like hand, Qing Ya revealed a hidden door in the side of the mountain.
This door was carved from fine ice crystals and a mysterious energy flowed through it. If one looked closely, they could see faint traces of Spirit Array lines running across its surface which obviously isolated whatever was inside any Divine Sense trying to probe it.
Once inside the ice mountain, a profound chill flooded towards Yang Kai from all directions, causing him to shiver slightly before he quickly circulated his True Qi, expelling the Cold Qi from his body.
Feeling the heat radiating from Yang Kai’s body, Qian Yue showed an unhappy expression, her pretty face filling with a look of disgust.
Everyone in Ice Sect cultivated Ice Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skill, so they were greatly averse to the type of energy Yang Kai possessed.
The interior of the ice mountain was crystal-clear and the path the trio walked along was lined with softly glowing crystals, creating an astonishingly beautiful sight and ambience.
As they proceeded deeper into the mountain, Yang Kai’s breathing gradually became heavy as he felt Su Yan’s presence getting closer and closer.
After walking for about half the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the trio arrived at in front of a large ice door and Qing Ya looked back at Yang Kai and said, “Su Yan is here, but you must promise me, after seeing her don’t get agitated.”
“I know,” Yang Kai nodded faintly.
Qing Ya nodded in return and gently pushed open the door, revealing a large ice room, allowing Yang Kai to enter first before she followed behind with Qian Yue.
There was nothing in this ice room besides a large crystal bed carved of profound ice. Atop this ice bed lay Su Yan, her eyes closed and her body wrapped in a layer of ice, seemingly in a very deep sleep.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed and flames of anger erupted in his heart but he quickly suppressed these negative feelings and slowly walked toward the ice bed.
Qing Ya and Qian Yue were both staring at him, the two of them quite surprised to find that this young man who only moments ago was acting so violently and treacherously, upon seeing Su Yan’s face, actually wore such a gentle expression, the look in his eyes showing a deep care and affection.
The expression on Yang Kai’s face fluctuated rapidly between excitement, anxiety, anticipation, and concern as he slowly stepped forward.
As he approached Su Yan’s side, his expression gradually became calm.
Arriving before the ice bed, staring down at the sleeping beauty in front of him, Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a light smile.
Lying atop the ice bed, Su Yan’s vitality was strong and there was no sign her life was in any danger, it was just that her whole body was wrapped in a strange layer of ice, seemingly frozen in place and unable to respond to the arrival of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai extended his hand but was unable to touch her.
Staring at her for a moment, Yang Kai noticed that Su Yan’s look was calm, her hands resting lightly atop her flat belly; obviously she had been fully aware of what she was doing before she had been frozen in this ice and had not experienced any pain in the process.
What was odd though was at the moment, Su Yan’s True Qi was still circulating, obviously her Secret Art was still operating, and at a significantly faster rate than normal.
Knowing that Yang Kai’s mental and emotional state were currently fluctuating, Qing Ya and Qian Yue both remained silent and did not bother him.
Time passed by quickly and while Qing Ya’s expression did not change, Qian Yue’s was beginning to show some signs of impatience.
More than two hundred Ice Sect disciples were still in a precarious state outside. If Yang Kai didn’t take back his Soul Devouring Insects after the stated half an hour, these disciples would die, so Qian Yue couldn’t help urging him, “Boy, haven’t you stared at her long enough? No matter how long you stand there you can’t wake her up, not only is her body frozen, her consciousness is as well.”
Yang Kai simply glanced back at her coldly in response.
Qian Yue unconsciously shifted her eyes, seemingly feeling somewhat guilty.
“Is this some kind of Martial Skill?” Yang Kai shifted his attention to Qing Ya and asked.
Qing Ya nodded lightly, “En, it is my Ice Sect’s core inheritance Martial Skill, Frozen Body Sealed Heart! After displaying it, the body’s True Qi is condensed into a layer of ice that freezes the body and mind, causing all sensation of the outside world to be lost.”
“If that’s so, why is my Senior Sister’s Secret Art still circulating?” Yang Kai frowned.
Qing Ya smiled, “Frozen Body Sealed Heart is an auxiliary cultivation technique. When one of my Ice Sect disciples uses this Martial Skill, they can force themselves into a deep meditative state which allows them to cultivate faster. Many disciples will use the Frozen Body Sealed Heart when they enter secluded retreat. Depending on how much True Qi one uses when activating this Martial Skill, the longer they will remain in a frozen state of enlightenment.”
“How long will my Senior Sister remain in this state?” Yang Kai asked dimly.
Qing Ya complexion became somewhat gloomy as she shook her head, “I don’t know, possibly several years, possible dozens of years, possibly forever… Su Yan’s True Qi has formed a kind of cycle that is constantly maintaining the technique.”
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he inquired, “Why did she freeze herself? What grievance or maltreatment did she receive in Ice Sect that forced her into this state?”
Saying so, he glared angrily towards Qian Yue.
“Brat, what are you staring at me for, I want nothing but the best for her, how could I possibly mistreat her?” Qian Yue was a little annoyed.
“You shouldn’t be too anxious little boy, Elder Qian Yue never mistreated Su Yan, in fact she wholeheartedly wanted to accept your Senior Sister as her disciple,” Qing Ya quickly consoled.
“I’m afraid she does not have such good fortune!” Yang Kai genuinely loathed Qian Yue.
“This matter truly has something to do with Elder Qian Yue though,” Qing Ya sighed softly, “Su Yan becoming like this is partly her responsibility.”
Qian Yue’s expression became pained as she said in a dispirited tone, “I didn’t anticipate this, I don’t even know when she learned the Frozen Body Sealed Heart. If I had only known earlier… I wouldn’t have been so insistent, haa…”
Saying so, she turned her eyes to Yang Kai and coldly said, “Little brat, I do not deny my role in all of this, but everything I did, I did to benefit her, I never had any intention to harm her!”
“What exactly happened?” Yang Kai’s hostility did not decrease in the slightest. Although Qian Yue had said as much, that was, after all, only her side of the story, ultimately, he had to understand what had transpired before making a judgement.
“Qian Yue, you explain,” Qing Ya rubbed her forehead lightly.
Qian Yue nodded slightly and began narrating the matters that had occurred after Su Yan entered Ice Sect.
Two years ago, Meng Wu Ya had suddenly brought Xia Ning Chang and Su Yan to Ice Sect to see Sect Master Qing Ya and entrusted the latter with Su Yan temporarily.
Ice Sect secluded itself in this glacial world and generally did not allow outsiders into its territory, but Meng Wu Ya had some friendship with Qing Ya, so after shamelessly using some soft and hard forms of persuasion, Qing Ya eventually agreed to his request.
After settling Su Yan here, Meng Wu Ya and Xia Ning Chang left.
“That old fogey said he was going handle some kind of dangerous matter with his apprentice but didn’t want to expose Su Yan to that danger so he decided to secretly leave the latter here. It was only after he left that Su Yan learned the truth, but at that point she had no choice but to stay in Ice Sect,” Qian Yue explained.
Yang Kai nodded lightly, there was truly nothing wrong with Treasurer Meng’s decisions. Him not telling Su Yan in advance he was leaving Ice Sect was because he knew Su Yan’s personality; the latter would definitely try to follow him in order to help rather than stay behind in Ice Sect.
“And then?” Yang Kai pressed.
“Sect Master handed Su Yan over to me to take care of. At first I thought nothing about her. When she first arrived here, her strength was not low but nothing remarkable; however, I soon discovered that she possessed an unparalleled aptitude, her cultivation speed was nothing short of astonishing and most importantly, her cultivation techniques lines up perfectly with my Ice Sect’s Secret Arts and Martial Skills! Thinking back about it, that old fogey probably planned all of this out before bringing Su Yan to Ice Sect.”
Yang Kai’s mouth twitched slightly as he mused that Meng Wu Ya had definitely plotted for things to turn out this way. That old fart knew many powerful masters in Tong Xuan Realm, even Chu Ling Xiao and him were old friends, but despite that, he had specifically brought Su Yan here. Obviously, he did so because he knew that Ice Sect’s heritage was the best for Su Yan.
Meng Wu Ya acting so was his way of getting Ice Sect to cultivate Su Yan for free.
If Yang Kai was in his place, he would have done the same!
After seeing Su Yan’s aptitude, Qian Yue gradually became more concerned about her and began testing her in various aspects of cultivation, but every Martial Skill and Secret Art of Ice Sect she gave her, Su Yan was immediately capable of comprehending.
Qian Yue was greatly surprised and felt like she had picked up a rare treasure. Since then, she had been carefully teaching Su Yan, even opening up Ice Sect’s Restricted Area, the Ice Cave, to allow her to cultivate at will.
After some time, Qian Yue proposed to accept Su Yan as her direct disciple, but what surprised her was that Su Yan refused, disappointing her somewhat.
However, because she so highly cherished Su Yan’s aptitude, Qian Yue did not blame her and instead maintained her attentive attitude. For this, Su Yan was very grateful, so although the two were not officially master and disciple, they were as close as any Junior and Senior pair could be.
“That child’s aptitude is incredible, and her physique is also quite special. I don’t know what kind of opportunity she encountered but her current constitution is very close to the legendary Ice Crystal Jade Body special constitution,” Qian Yue said slowly, a trace of doubt soon appearing on her face, “However, after consulting some ancient books, I found that her physique is not the Ice Crystal Jade Body.”
Yang Kai lightly snorted at this.
He had left Su Yan so much Myriad Drug Liquid and Myriad Drug Milk which the latter had taken religiously for many years; it would odd if her physique wasn’t outstanding by now.
“Moreover, when she was alone, I often noticed she would be lost in thought, a happy smile that was normally difficult to see appearing on her face,” Qian Yue glared at Yang Kai coldly, “It was as if she was reminiscing about someone or something.”
Yang Kai wore a smug grin hearing this.
Qing Ya pursed her lips and smiled as she quietly sized up Yang Kai, a few doubts crossing her mind, wondering just what kind of special place this little boy had that could so captivate Su Yan’s heart.
“My Ice Sect disciples all cultivate Ice Attribute Secret Arts that require one’s heart to be pure and free of desire in order to reach the Grand Accomplishment Stage. This child often revealing a lovesick expression is the nothing less than a scourge you’ve forced upon her!” Qian Yue said angrily, a look of hatred filling her eyes as she glared at Yang Kai, apparently she thought that he was a hindrance to Su Yan’s future achievements.
In response, Yang Kai spat disdainfully and ruthlessly countered, “You old woman, what would you know of the wonders of female love?”
“Why you…” Qian Yue’s tender body trembling fiercely as she grit her teeth and her pretty face paled, her True Qi surging up as if she couldn’t want to slap Yang Kai to death in order to sooth the hatred in her heart.
“Silly child, haven’t you said a bit too much?” Qing Ya gently rebuked Yang Kai.
Yang Kai just impatiently waved, “Fine fine, go on.”
Qian Yue bit her lip hard, her chest heaving up and down, seemingly quite enraged, her beautiful pupils flashing a hostile light that only calmed down after much comforting from Qing Ya, eventually muttering under her breath, “I’m not in the mood to say anything more.”
Yang Kai laughed victoriously before turning his attention to Qing Ya.
Ice Sect’s Sect Master let out a light sigh before slowly continuing, “I’ll explain. Su Yan’s aptitude was excellent, and the progress she showed was outstanding, causing Elder Qian Yue to want to accept her as a disciple. After being rejected though, nothing much changed, Qian Yue thought that over time, if she displayed enough sincerity, one day Su Yan would be willing to officially join my Ice Sect as a disciple.”
“Unfortunately, things did not progress smoothly,” Qing Ya frowned slightly, “A year later, Elder Qian Yue and I both discovered an issue with Su Yan.”
“What issue?” Yang Kai asked urgently.
“She seems to have cultivate more than one Secret Art. In her body, there is another Secret Art that coexists with her original Ice Attribute one,” Qing Ya slowly shook her head, “If there was no such additional Secret Art and Su Yan only cultivated a pure Ice Attribute Secret Art, there would be no hidden danger, but that unknown Secret Art seemed to be hindering the progress of her core Secret Art, impeding her progress.”
“Impeding?”
“En, although there is no problem for the time being, if the situation is allowed to continue without being resolved, Su Yan’s growth will not only stagnate, he strength could actually regress,” Qing Ya looked fixedly at Yang Kai, “You and this child are Senior Sister and Junior Brother and she obviously is quite enamoured with you, do you know what other Secret Art she is cultivating?”
“I know,” Yang Kai nodded.
“What Secret Art is it?” Qing Ya and Qian Yue both asked.
“A Dual Cultivation Secret Art,” Yang Kai said without reservation.
The two women suddenly blushed and Qian Yue loudly cursed, “You bastard, you really are the culprit who harmed Su Yan! If not for you stealing her innocence, destroying her body’s purity, how could she only have such achievements now?”
“What the hell do you know?!” Yang Kai snapped back.
Yang Kai was greatly dissatisfied with the fact that this woman was trying to push all the fault for this situation onto him.
Since he began cultivating the Joyous Unification Art together with Su Yan, not only had she not received any harm, instead she had benefitted greatly. It was not an exaggeration to say that the Joyous Unification Art was an indispensable factor in Yang Kai and Su Yan’s rapid progress.
“A Dual Cultivation Secret Art?” Qing Ya frowned, “How could you cultivate that kind of obscene Secret Art? Although Dual Cultivation Secret Arts can allow one’s strength grow rapidly, in general, their foundations will become unstable as a result and sooner or later the hidden dangers left behind will hinder one’s development.”
“Nonsense, how is the love between a man and a woman something obscene? Isn’t it just that you’re thinking is too conservative?” Yang Kai glanced over at her, “Moreover, whether Su Yan or I have unsteady foundations, you should be perfectly clear about.”
Qing Ya’s expression suddenly became pensive.
Indeed, if they had really been practicing some kind of shoddy Dual Cultivation Secret Art, it would be impossible for Su Yan to have her current foundation and cultivation. With her current strength, the hidden dangers associated with such a technique should have long ago emerged.
However, Su Yan was still near perfection in almost every aspect.
As for the little boy in front of her, him being able to use his First Order Transcendent cultivation to face off against a master like Qian Yue and not instantly lose was not something an ordinary talent could achieve.
The only explanation then was that the Dual Cultivation Technique the two of them had practiced was incredibly profound and not only didn’t cause any harm, but instead brought them mutual benefits.
There were indeed such Secret Arts in this world, but when one heard the words ‘dual cultivation’, their first thought would be of the detriments normally associated with using such a method. This was a preconceived notion, a type of bias that had come about due to the vast majority of such cultivation techniques really having these kinds of drawbacks.
“Let’s set this matter aside for now, we have never studied any Dual Cultivation Techniques after all so we aren’t in a position to debate their merits or detractors,” Qing Ya’s face was still slightly red as she quickly changed the subject, “In any case, when Elder Qian Yue discovered this issue, she hoped that Su Yan could abolish that unknown Secret Art and devote herself fully to her Ice Attribute Secret Arts. If she were to discard that Secret Art and instead cultivated my Ice Sect’s highest grade Secret Art, it would only have benefits to her without any harm.”
“My Senior Sister refused, right?” Yang Kai stared at her coldly.
“En.”
“Qian Yue and I didn’t understand why she refused so stubbornly at the time, but now it seems that this Secret Art should be something that connects the two of you, making her unwilling to discard it,” Qing Ya sighed faintly, “This child’s passion is really unreasonable.”
“It’s a pity the object of her affection is so unworthy of her!” Qian Yue took the chance to interject, her face filled with disdain.
“If you dare spout any more crap I’ll immediately kill all of your Ice Sect’s two hundred disciples!” Yang Kai coldly glared at Qian Yue, the latter gnashing her teeth as she glared back, obviously unwilling to back downs.
Ignoring them, Qing Ya simply continued, “Elder Qian Yue advised her several times regarding this matter but she never once agreed, so finally Elder Qian Yue wanted to force her to discard that Secret Art, but Su Yan seemed to be aware of this and before Qian Yue could act, she preemptively used the Ice Body Sealed Heart technique to freeze herself!”
Yang Kai grinned menacingly, “So what you mean to say is, my Senior Sister becoming like this, is all because of this woman?”
As Yang Kai spoke, his True Qi surged violently and a thick murderous intent began overflowing from him.
Qing Ya expression changed and she hastily said, “Please try to remain calm, although I also think that Qian Yue’s approach was not correct, wanting to force Su Yan without her consent, but her intentions were good. My Ice Sect’s Secret Arts are not something just anyone can cultivate, what she thought was best for Su Yan just inadvertently harmed her.”
“Such good intentions are really praiseworthy, on behalf of my Senior Sister I thank you greatly,” Yang Kai ground his teeth and coldly snorted, his voice filled with icy malice like the cries of a demon from the lowest depths of purgatory.
Unexpectedly, Qian Yue did not offer any rebuttal to Yang Kai’s sarcasm, instead just wearing a look filled with shame, her eyes flashing a pained light.
If she had continued to be unrepentant even now, Yang Kai probably would have lost it and immediately attacked her, but upon seeing her regretful appearance, Yang Kai’s murderous intent dissipated significantly.
Although he found this woman abhorrent, it seemed like she really did care deeply about Su Yan.
This along was enough for Yang Kai to not pester her any further.
Taking a deep breath and depressing his rampaging emotions, Yang Kai slowly said, “How this situation came about, I now understand.”
Qing Ya knit her brow and said softly, “In fact, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The Ice Body Sealed Heart technique is not harmful to Su Yan, and as long as she maintains this state her cultivation will improve rapidly, when she next awakens, her strength will have noticeably increased.”
“When she next awakens?” Yang Kai sneered, “When will she wake up? Ten years, twenty years, even longer?”
Qing Ya and Qian Yue both stayed silent.
Yang Kai’s question was the crux of the matter and they had no answer to give him.
No Ice Sect disciple has ever used the Ice Body Sealed Heart so thoroughly, whether Su Yan would ever wake up was questionable. If they couldn’t find a way to solve this issue, it was possible she would sleep forever.
“We have explained things to you as promised, now about my Ice Sect’s two hundred disciples…” Qing Ya asked, “As the Sect Master of Ice Sect, I guarantee you that as long as the danger to my disciples is relieved, no one will embarrassed you again.”
Yang Kai stared at her deeply for a moment before nodding lightly.
After walking outside with Qing Ya and Qian Yue, Yang Kai spread out his Divine Sense and summoned back all the Soul Devouring Insects he had previously released, taking them back into his Knowledge Sea.
The only exceptions were the two Ice Sect’s Saint Realm Elders, who refused Yang Kai’s assistance and instead returned to their own private residences to enter secluded retreat.
The two of them were confident that using their own powerful cultivations and Spiritual Energy they could purge these Exotic Ancient Insects from their Knowledge Sea which would allow them to avoid owing Yang Kai a favour.
Qian Yue and the others then carefully examined the disciples and confirmed they were no longer in any danger before finally relaxing.
For the past half a month, Yang Kai remained in Ice Sect, spending the entire time beside Su Yan’s bedside.
Meanwhile, in another ice room, Ice Sect’s Sect Master and the four Saint Realm Elders gathered together and were in the midst of a fierce argument. The four Elders each had their own opinions and were vigorously debating their point while the Sect Master, Qing Ya, sat silently upon her crystal ice chair.
One of the Saint Realm masters who had previously had his Knowledge Sea invaded by Yang Kai’s Soul Devouring Insects loudly shouted, “That boy is detrimental to us! We have no idea what kind of underhanded method he used to control those Exotic Ancient Insects and ruthlessly attack our Ice Sect’s disciples. We should expel such a vicious and cruel person as quickly as possible.”
The other Saint Realm master who had suffered a loss at Yang Kai’s hand nodded in agreement, “That is my opinion as well.”
Saying so, they turned to look at Qian Hao and asked, “What do Brother and Sister Qian think?”
“He must leave!” Qian Hao hesitated for a moment before declaring, “Our Ice Sect is a pure land, yet he wantonly intruded and stirred up such a mess. Such a scourge cannot be allowed to remain.”
Qian Yue didn’t say a word, but from the look on her face, it was obviously she wanted Yang Kai out of Ice Sect as soon as possible.
“Sect Master!” Qian Hao turned to look at Qing Ya, “Isn’t it time we asked him to leave? Him remaining in Ice Sect is highly improper.”
Qing Ya smiled faintly, “Why are all of you so anxious to force him out? Although his previous methods were indeed a bit too aggressive, from his perspective, he had no other choice, and even though he did threaten us by taking advantage of our disciples, in the end, none of their Souls were damaged and they only needed a few day of meditation to recover. We cannot simply dismantle the bridge after crossing it.”
Her beautiful eyes then flashes before she continued, “Moreover, he came here to find his Senior Sister, but now Su Yan is in a deep sleep that we have no idea when or even if she will wake up. If we now insist on driving him away, I am afraid it will only provoke a violent response from him, possibly even leading to him releasing those Exotic Ancient Insects again.”
“Then what are we to do? Are we supposed to just allow him to stay in our Ice Sect indefinitely?”
“We should just allow him to take Su Yan away!” Qian Hao suggested, “When that old fogey came here, he said that if someone came to find Su Yan, we should not block or embarrass him. Why not just drop this matter and let him leave with Su Yan?”
To this proposal though, Qian Yue couldn’t help frowning, “Big Brother, with Su Yan in that state, I don’t feel comfortable letting that little brat take her away.”
Although she hated Yang Kai, Qian Yue was still very fond of Su Yan; naturally she didn’t want to do anything to endanger the latter further and decisively shook her head, “I can’t agree to that.”
“Good,” Qing Ya waved her hand, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. From what I’ve seen, that boy is someone who deeply treasures his personal relationships; as evidence, this entire time he has not left Su Yan’s ice room. I’ll go speak with him first to determine what he plans to do next; perhaps he already plans to leave Ice Sect of his own accord.”
Hearing this, the four Elder could only nod.
The three male Elders quickly left while Qian Yue stayed behind, quickly saying, “Sect Master, I’ll accompany you.”
Qing Ya gently nodded as the two of them got up and headed towards the ice mountain where Su Yan was.
A short time later, the pair came to the ice room and knocked on the door gently. Although they received no response, Qing Ya could feel some unusual energy fluctuations inside and couldn’t help wrinkling her brow, pushing the door open in the next instant.
At this moment, inside the ice room, not only was there a bone chilling cold, but also a burning hot energy flowing about. Looking around for a moment, Qing Ya couldn’t help covering her mouth in shock.
Both of Yang Kai’s hands were actually placed on Su Yan’s ice covered body as his True Qi madly surged.
“You fool, what are you doing!?” Qian Yue shouted, immediately rushing forward, raising her hand as if to slap Yang Kai away.
Yang Kai made no attempt to resist and instead simply turned his head to stare at her coldly.
Qian Yue’s heart jumped when she saw this, her hand stopping only millimeters away from Yang Kai’s body, grinding her teeth as she asked once more, “What are you doing?”
“None of your damn business!” Yang Kai snorted.
Qing Ya also hurried over and worriedly said, “Don’t do this, you’ll only injure Su Yan.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Yang Kai said faintly.
He was the one who least wanted to hurt Su Yan. Every time he tried something he did so with the utmost caution so there would be no unexpected accidents.
“Are you trying to communicate with Su Yan?” Qing Ya asked pensively.
Yang Kai nodded.
He and Su Yan both cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art and the Joyous Unification Art had a total of three stages. At the first stage, the two of them needed physical intimacy in order to dual cultivate, but once they reached the second stage, there was no longer any need for physical contact, they only had to be within a certain proximity to each other in order to form a cycle with their two True Qis, allowing them to purify and sublimate once another. Whether they were cultivating or fighting, this connected state was of great benefit to both Yang Kai and Su Yan.
Currently, Su Yan’s body was encased in a thick layer of ice, so obviously using the methods associated with the Joyous Unification Art’s first stage was impossible; this ice was condensed from the sum total of Su Yan’s True Qi, Yang Kai didn’t want to break it lest it cause unwanted backlash to her.
His only hope then was that by initiating the second stage’s dual cultivation method he could somehow communicate directly with Su Yan’s unconscious mind.
However, after trying for so long, he had not made any progress, Su Yan’s True Qi never responded to his own and so the two were unable to blend together.
“You don’t need to plow the air, I don’t know what kind of cultivation technique your Dual Cultivation Secret Art is, but the Ice Body Sealed Heart is one of my Ice Sect’s most profound core inheritance Martial Skills, once one displays it, they lose all sensation of the outside world. I doubt your Dual Cultivation Technique is comparable to the Ice Body Sealed Heart!” Qian Yue calmly declared, as if to throw cold water onto Yang Kai’s efforts.
Yang Kai of course turned a deaf ear to her and simply wrinkled his brow.
His efforts over the past half a month had yielded no results so now it seems his only hope was to try to initiate the Joyous Unification Art’s third stage method. If even that didn’t work, Yang Kai would have no choice but to give up and simply wait for Su Yan to wake up on her own.
He did not feel it was worth the risk to forcibly wake Su Yan up now. The Ice Body Sealed Heart’s frozen state wasn’t harmful to Su Yan and was instead actually benefiting her, so there was no need to act recklessly at this stage.
Yang Kai just wanted to be able to communicate with her and understand what she was thinking and feeling right now.
After experiencing all of this, if Su Yan didn’t want to stay in Ice Sect, Yang Kai would immediately take her away. On the other hand, if she told him she wished to remain, Yang Kai would respect her wishes. Ice Sect was a cultivation paradise for Su Yan and despite Tong Xuan Realm being so vast, it was still difficult to find an environment so perfectly suited to her Secret Art.
Seeing him sink into contemplation, Qian Yue just coldly snorted and no longer tried to irritate him.
Qing Ya sighed softly and said, “Yang Kai, there is a saying that the haste makes waste, you should not be too anxious.”
Yang Kai smiled, looked up at her and asked, “Since this is your Ice Sect’s Martial Skill, do you really have no way to lift it?”
Qing Ya shook her head helplessly, “Unless the one who used the technique voluntarily lifts it, there is no way for an outsider to interfere. It is precisely because the Ice Body Sealed Heart seals all consciousness it can provide such assistance to my Ice Sect disciple’s cultivation.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
“Yang Kai, I have something to ask you,” Qing Ya expression became somewhat awkward as she hesitantly spoke.
“You want to ask when I’ll be leaving?” Yang Kai revealed a playful smile, cutting directly to the point.
Qing Ya was slightly startled, not having expected this youth’s mind to be so sharp, quickly saying, “I don’t want to drive you away, but my Ice Sect usually does not accept outsiders. Su Yan is one thing, but your presence here really infringes on my Ice Sect’s customs.”
“Don’t worry, I have no intention of remaining here much longer, this frozen environment suppresses my Secret Art quite severely after all,” Yang Kai curled his lips, “But for the time being I don’t plan on going anywhere. I wish to retreat here for just a few more days and I hope that no one will disturb me.”
“Retreat here?” Qing Ya quickly picked up on his meaning and asked, “Do you want to try reaching out to Su Yan’s consciousness still?”
“Brat, I advise you to give up and leave,” Qian Yue said, making no attempt to hide her dislike of Yang Kai, “No one can get in touch with someone who has displayed the Ice Body Sealed Heart. Stop wasting your time, just leave Su Yan here, whether she chooses to enter my Ice Sect or not I’ll still take care of her, there’s no need for you to interfere!”
“There’s no need for you to take care of her,” Yang Kai glanced over coldly at Qian Yue before turning to Qing Ya again, “Sect Master, please accept this Junior’s request!”
“Very well,” Qing Ya nodded helplessly, “I will allow you to retreat for some time in my Ice Sect, but only this once. When you exit your seclusion, regardless of what Su Yan’s condition is at that time, you will have to leave. Whether you take Su Yan with you when you go or leave her here, my Ice Sect won’t interfere.”
“Many thanks, Sect Master Qian!” Yang Kai nodded slightly. Qing Ya was much easier to speak with than Qian Yue, on top of that, she was young and beautiful with a voice that was both warm and gentle, Yang Kai simply couldn’t imagine her being one of Treasurer Meng’s old friends.
Just imagining her and that perverted old man Meng Wu Ya standing together, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a sense of pity, like watching a fresh flower being planted in cow dung.
Thinking so, his expression became somewhat weird.
Seeing Yang Kai’s strange look, Qing Ya wrinkled her brow but didn’t ask anything, quickly taking Qian Yue and leaving.
After they left, Yang Kai took a deep breath and returned his gaze to the icy beauty sleeping in front of him, his eyes slowly softening.
After watching her for a moment, Yang Kai closed his eyes and laid his hands on the ice covering Su Yan’s body before fully releasing his Divine Sense.
The Joyous Unification Art’s third stage, the Union of Heart and Soul’s ultimate method was the blending of the two’s Souls.
In the past, Yang Kai and Su Yan had actually reached the Union of Heart and Soul stage, but they had never actually tried to blend their Souls in order to dual cultivate.
But now, Yang Kai could only use this method to try and relate to Su Yan.
While sitting directly in front of Su Yan, Yang Kai continuously called out to her with his Divine Sense, pouring his True Qi into the thick layer of ice surrounding her body, quickly penetrating it and reaching her meridians.
However, Su Yan remained completely unresponsive. Not only was there no physical response from her, even her consciousness showed no reaction at all.
At this moment, she seemed like a sleeping ice doll.
Yang Kai wasn’t discouraged though and continued again and again to try to contact Su Yan using this method.
He believed that the deep bond between Su Yan and himself had a high chance of overcoming the impediment of the Ice Body Sealed Heart and allowing their consciousness to resonate with one another.
Time flew by and Ice Sect was restored to its original tranquil state. Although the Saint Realm Elders could clearly feel a hint of blazing hot aura emanating from a certain ice mountain, under the strict orders of Qing Ya, no one went to disturb that place.
Ten days, one month, two months… The burning aura never once subsided, only flaring up from time to time before returning to a steady state.
Although the various Saints did not have a good impression of Yang Kai, the perseverance he showed still impressed them somewhat.
From time to time, Qing Ya and Qian Yue would stare in the direction of the ice mountain Su Yan slept within and sigh.
Inside the ice room of the ice mountain, Yang Kai acted as if he was possessed, repeating the same movements and motions over and over again, sending his True Qi and Divine Sense unceasingly towards Su Yan.
At first he didn’t receive any response, but over time, he gradually felt some unusual fluctuations which seemed to be weak threads of Divine Sense that seemingly wanted to respond to him but were unable to form a coherent message.
When he realized this, Yang Kai was ecstatic and immediately redoubled his efforts.
He lost all track of time and only felt a deep sense of exhaustion.
Suddenly, Divine Sense felt as if it had sunk into a dark, bottomless abyss and become lost.
A bone chilling cold seeped into his Soul, and Yang Kai couldn’t help opening his eyes and gazing around, but everywhere he looked, there was nothing but darkness. The only clear sensation he had was the profound cold that seemed to grip his heart.
This strange empty place exuded a feeling of solitude and loneliness but amidst that, Yang Kai faintly heard someone calling out to him.
His heart trembling, Yang Kai suddenly realized that this was Su Yan’s spiritual world.
Having displayed the Ice Body Sealed Heart, Su Yan was sealed, so her spiritual world being a void was understandable; however, there was still a tiny part of her subconscious that was trying to respond to Yang Kai, but like it had fallen into a nightmare, it couldn’t break free from this dark prison.
Yang Kai frantically searched for the source of the voice calling out to him, his feet never stopping, but the path he traveled seemed to be without end.
Releasing his Divine Sense as far as he could, Yang Kai explored this dark space while spreading his presence all around.
Eventually, from a certain place, Yang Kai received some unusual feedback and paused in place, closing his eyes and carefully examining it.
A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes and a light blossomed in the darkness in front of him.
Yang Kai smiled happily and his Soul Avatar quickly sprinting towards the light. As he approached it, he felt a familiar aura radiating from it; it was Su Yan’s Spiritual Energy.
The light grew brighter and brighter until eventually Yang Kai passed through it and the endless darkness that had surrounded him gave way a bright landscape.
Looking around, Yang Kai couldn’t help gawking slightly.
Because the place he found himself in was very familiar.
High Heaven Pavilion!
Sweeping the area with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai quickly found the small house he used to live in, the room Su Yan had stayed in, the Contribution Hall Treasurer Meng used to tend to, and many other familiar buildings, even the various paths and plants were exactly as he remembered them.
The only difference from the High Heaven Pavilion Yang Kai knew was that this one was devoid of people. It was incredibly peaceful, with ice and snow everywhere.
This was Su Yan’s true spiritual world, everything here appeared in accordance with her will, similar to how inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus had transformed into a five coloured island.
Su Yan’s spiritual world taking on the appearance of High Heaven Pavilion most likely meant that she missed the time she had spent back in the Sect and had subconsciously arranged her spiritual world to reflect it.
This scene wasn’t something Su Yan had deliberately created, Yang Kai clearly understood this.
Unfortunately, even after arriving here, Yang Kai still didn’t notice any trace of Su Yan.
Standing in place and thinking about it, Yang Kai soon realised where Su Yan was and smiled.
His Soul Avatar quickly set off along a path he had not traveled in a long time, passing through various places in the Sect until he reached the Coiling Dragon Stream.
At the edge of the Coiling Dragon Stream, there were still a few fruit trees that swayed in the wind, a number of red fruits handing from their branches. These fruit trees had been planted by Yang Kai many years ago and had actually been destroyed when the Demon Lord escaped from his prison, but now they had actually reappeared in Su Yan’s spiritual world.
Standing beneath the fruit trees, Yang Kai reminisced silently for a moment before leaping down into the chasm.
Falling a short distance, Yang Kai quickly came to a stop before shooting into a small cave in the side of the Coiling Dragon Stream.
This was Yang Kai’s secluded home. When he had been young and weak, it had taken him a lot of work to carve out this secluded cave with his miniscule True Qi.
The secluded cave was not big and only had two rooms. The outside one was where Yang Kai had usually meditated, while the inner one had a stone bed where he had slept.
His Little Senior Sister, Xia Ning Chang, had often slept atop this stone bed too.
Passing through the outer room and arriving at the inner one, Yang Kai saw a familiar figure lying down atop the stone bed.
Even inside her spiritual world, Su Yan was sleeping. Apparently after displaying Ice Sect’s Ice Body Sealed Heart, even her Soul had been put into a deep sleep. If it had not been she would have long ago responded to Yang Kai’s presence.
Slowly walking over, Yang Kai stopped at the stone bed’s side and squatted down, gazing at the sleeping beauty in front of him, his face filled with tender affection.
Seeming sensing the arrival of an outsider, Su Yan’s eyelashes fluttered lightly and her brow furrowed gently; finally, a moment later, her mouth curled into a faint smile.
Su Yan’s eyes suddenly opened and she gazed towards Yang Kai who was kneeling down next to her bedside.
Yang Kai froze in place.
When their four eyes suddenly met, all of Yang Kai’s thoughts came to a halt.
Su Yan pursed her lips and giggled lightly at this sight. As she smiled, the chill in the air quickly began to dissipate.
“Su Yan, you…” Yang Kai stared dumbfounded.
“Without permission, forcefully breaking into another’s Knowledge Sea, Junior Brother, your courage is not small,” Su Yan gently rebuked Yang Kai, a slight teasing meaning in her tone.
“How… how did you wake up?” Yang Kai asked excitedly, “Didn’t you display the Ice Body Sealed Heart?”
Su Yan sat up slowly and smiled, “En, but when I did so, I also put in place a special seal.”
“What kind of seal?” Yang Kai asked.
“A seal to alert me. If your Divine Sense entered my Knowledge Sea, it would automatically awaken my consciousness.”
“Awaken your consciousness?” Yang Kai frowned.
“En,” Su Yan gently nodded, “Only my Soul and consciousness is awake; my body is still in the Ice Body Sealed Heart’s frozen state. I believe this is something even Elder Qian Yue didn’t know.”
Su Yan had thoroughly comprehended the Ice Body Sealed Heart technique while Qian Yue only thought Su Yan had a superficial understanding of it and was unaware that the latter could manipulate it to such an extent.
“Why did you do this?” Yang Kai asked in confusion.
“I can cultivate faster in this state,” Su Yan looked over Yang Kai gently, “You become stronger so quickly, if I don’t cultivate diligently, wouldn’t I end up being a burden to you?”
Yang Kai laughed in spite of trying not to after understanding Su Yan’s motivations for taken such extreme measures.
“What if someone else had broken into your Knowledge Sea?” Yang Kai suddenly thought of a terrible possibility. Su Yan was in a deep sleep in the material world and knew nothing of the outside, if someone had harboured ill intentions towards her, there would be nothing she could do to resist.
“No one else could achieve this, only you could. Although, perhaps some extremely powerful master would be capable of breaking my Knowledge Sea’s defences, but if that were to happen, I could only go all out with them so as not to let them take advantage of me,” Su Yan declared firmly.
“You’re deliberately making trouble!” Yang Kai grumbled, unable to stop himself from chiding her.
Su Yan ignored his protest and instead extended her hand to stroke his cheek, softly comforting, “It seems you’ve endured a lot of hardship.”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head in response, “I haven’t endured any hardship, in fact, many have taken good care of me all this time.”
“If so then that’s good; how much time has passed on the outside?”
“Since you fell asleep, it’s only been about a year.”
“A year… you arrived here quite quickly…” Su Yan’s face was filled with a sweet and happy smile.
“En, so Senior Sister should reward me for my efforts,” Yang Kai smiled meaningfully.
“What kind of reward do you want?”
“What do you think?”
Su Yan blushed bright red from her neck to her face, and her pair of beautiful eyes began to spin slightly.
“We’ve never tried the Joyous Unification Art’s third stage cultivation method,” Yang Kai stared at Su Yan, a burning aggression filling his eyes.
“Junior Brother…” Su Yan couldn’t help feeling shy.
The third stage’s cultivation method was the blending of their Souls. Su Yan naturally understood this; and although she had already come to accept her husband and wife relationship with Yang Kai, she still felt somewhat nervous about blending their Souls.
Blended Souls meant that all of their secrets would be known to one another, there would be nothing left to conceal.
“Su Yan…” Yang Kai unceremoniously grabbed Su Yan’s jade-like hand and caressed it, his eyes gleaming like a starved wolf that had at last found its prey.
Su Yan put up some symbolic resistance but she never once tried to break away, biting her thin red lips as she sat atop the stone bed silently, her face a deep shade of crimson.
Seeing her appearance, Yang Kai no longer had any scruples, pouncing upon her and pushing her down onto the stone bed, his hands wandering all over Su Yan’s heavenly body, the victorious grin of a conqueror plastered all over his face.
The blending of Souls was something Yang Kai had only heard rumors and never attempted, but it was said that the pleasure one felt from such a union was far greater than a purely physical one, and once you tried it, it was impossible to not become addicted.
“Let’s start!” Yang Kai declared seriously.
Su Yan nodded lightly.
At the same time, the two of them began to circulate the Joyous Unification Art, and in the next instant, their two Soul Avatars transformed into dazzling burst of light that flooded the stone room with a brilliant radiance. The two glowing lights began entangling with one another, chasing and blending with one another as they slowly merged into a single entity, a glorious sound resounding between the Heavens and Earth as they did so.
Yang Kai felt as if he was drunk, drowning in the sweetest nectar one could imagine, almost unable to extricate himself. The comfort and joy he felt from the very core of his being blew away all his thoughts and all he wanted to do was indulge in this indescribable sensation.
Although there was no intimate contact between their flesh, the please the two of them received was every bit as overwhelming as the legends described.
Yang Kai could feel Su Yan’s Soul wrapping around his own, and every time they blended together, a new surge of joy would overcome them, leaving both of them somewhat incapable of controlling themselves.
The two of them had completely opened their Souls to each other but neither of them bothered to spy on the other’s secrets, simply allowing their emotions and consciousnesses to freely flow between them.
Anyone who experienced this blending of Souls would be completely taken in by this overwhelming sensation that was completely detached from the pleasures of the flesh.
As their two Souls blended, both Su Yan and Yang Kai’s Soul were slowly undergoing some subtle changes.
The Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art’s dual cultivation methods not only allowed a man and woman’s True Qis to blend together, thus purifying and enhancing one another, it even allowed their Divine Senses to do so as well.
Su Yan felt a rush of Spiritual Energy and profound enlightenment flood her Soul as she entangled with Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s thoughts and insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao were being shared with her.
Su Yan didn’t dare to resist, open her heart and mind to accept all of it, imprinting these valuable treasures onto her very Soul.
Yang Kai’s Soul also benefited greatly in this process. Although Su Yan’s sentiments and insights weren’t of much use to him, as the two of them continued to dual cultivate, he could clearly feel his Soul becoming stronger and his purity of his Spiritual Energy increase.
Inside the ice room, the pair’s Souls blended as the True Qi inside their bodies burst out involuntarily, harmonizing with one another, flowing together as they circulated their Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art.
With each cycle the pair completed, their True Qi would become all the more pure.
The benefits Su Yang and Yang Kai gained from this time’s dual cultivation were simply unimaginable.
Suddenly, behind Yang Kai, the phantom image of a dragon appeared while simultaneously a phoenix phantom similarly emerged from Su Yan’s body.
The two phantoms absorbed the True Qi the pair were releasing and rapidly grew in size, a moment later filling the entire ice room.
A resounding dragon’s roar rang out along with a piercing phoenix cry. The two sounds echoed throughout the ice mountains, causing the entire glacial region to tremble as snow and ice were blasted out.
With a great bang, two completely opposite energies shot out of one of the ice mountains and rushed into the sky.
Everyone in Ice Sect, from Sect Master Qing Ya down to the Common Disciples, were greatly alarmed by this sudden development, all of them rushing out of their secluded rooms to see just what had happened.
Qian Yue was also shocked. She had been quietly meditating in her own private ice cave when she all of a sudden felt the two unusual energy fluctuations. Naturally, she rushed outside to investigate the situation.
Glancing around, she quickly discovered the other three Elders of Ice Sect standing mid-air, staring up into the sky with dignified expressions.
Even Sect Master Qing Ya’s pretty face wore a solemn look.
“Sect Master!” Qian Yue hurriedly approached them and shouted but did not receive any response. Turning her gaze in the direction they were looking for, Qian Yue’s beautiful eyes shot open.
Floating high up in the sky was a dragon more than a hundred meters in length, a flaming aura pulsing from its body as it swayed back and forth, a magnificent and bizarre scene to behold. In addition to the dragon, there was a similarly enormous Ice Phoenix, seemingly cared from the most beautiful crystal, flapping its wings gently as if flew out.
The dragon and phoenix chased after one another playfully, both of them releasing a colossal momentum that weighed heavy on all who saw them.
From the dragon and the phoenix, everyone felt a blistering heat and a profound chill respectively; these two extreme auras couldn’t be ignored by anyone present.
What shocked Qing Ya and the others the most though was that the two auras pulsing from the Golden Dragon and Ice Phoenix were familiar to them.
Naturally they were the auras of Yang Kai and Su Yan!
As all of them stood there in shock, the dragon and phoenix who were chasing one another around suddenly came to a halt, turned around, and flew straight towards Qing Ya and the Ice Sect Elders.
The several Saint Realm Elders all trembled slightly and silently began condensing their True Qi.
The Golden Dragon and Ice Phoenix flew to within a few meters of these five Saints before coming to a stop, the dragon in front with the phoenix one step behind, the two of them leaning towards one another intimately, just like a couple.
The Golden Dragon’s two giant eyes then turned to stare at Qing Ya and the other Saints fixedly, a distinctly human light flashing across them. Being stared at like this made each of the Ice Sect Elders somewhat nervous; for some inexplicable reason, this gaze made them feel small and weak, as if they were at the opposite party’s mercy.
Especially Qian Yue, she felt that the Golden Dragon’s gaze contained a thick meaning of warning when it landed on her.
Qing Ya frowned and quickly circulated her True Qi to resist the oppression emanating from the dragon and phoenix before hesitantly asking, “Yang Kai?”
The eyes of the Golden Dragon flickered slightly before turning away, soaring off into the distance together with the Ice Phoenix.
With another great dragon roar and phoenix cry, the Golden Dragon and Ice Phoenix flew away and quickly disappeared across the horizon.
It wasn’t until after they confirmed the two giant phantoms had left that the members of Ice Sect finally breathed a sigh of relief, each of them only then aware of the cold sweat drenching their backs.
Staring off in the direction the dragon and phoenix disappeared, Qing Ya pondered thoughtfully.
She indistinctly felt that they weren’t really leaving but instead were simply going out to play amongst the glacial world.
Sure enough, a moment later, she heard a gentle rumbling off in the distance; apparently that dragon and the phoenix pair were frolicking somewhere nearby.
Shaking her head somewhat helplessly, Qing Ya turned to the other Ice Sect Elders, waved and smiled gently, “Everything is alright, go back.”
“Sect Master, was… was the Golden Dragon that little brat?” Qian Hao frowned and asked indefinitely. The dragon and phoenix had originally appeared in the sky above the ice mountain where Yang Kai and Su Yan were located, but how could two Juniors create such a huge momentum?
“Most likely,” Qing Ya smiled, “They’ll come back soon.”
“They’re coming back?” Qian Hao’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Didn’t you notice? The Souls and consciousness of those two children were blended together with that dragon and phoenix while their True Qi was what comprised those giant bodies, which means their true bodies are still here in Ice Sect. How can they not come back?”
“Does that mean, he managed to awaken Su Yan?” Qian Yue asked hurriedly, a hint of joy in her voice.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to wait until they come back to ask,” Qing Ya smiled gently.
“That rotten brat, he’s too much! Making such a fuss, was he trying to warn me and Ice Sect to not mistreat Su Yan?” Qian Yue ground her teeth as she thought back on the meaningful glare the Golden Dragon had directed specifically towards her.
“But Sect Master, with the cultivation of those two, how could they possess enough True Qi to create such grand and dense phantoms?” Qian Hao ask with a puzzled expression. If what Qing Ya said was true, then the giant dragon and phoenix avatars had been forged from Yang Kai and Su Yan’s True Qi. But how could two First Order Transcendents possibly store enough True Qi in their bodies to create phantom forms that could even cause Saint Realm masters like them to feel pressure?
Su Yan cultivated a profound Ice Attribute Secret Art, so if there wasn’t enough True Qi in her body, she could probably use the ambient Ice Attribute energy to supplement her consumption.
But how did Yang Kai do it?
Unable to understand, Qian Hao could only shake his head.
Off in the distance, the dragon and phoenix phantoms continued their game of tag while Yang Kai and Su Yan’s consciousnesses constantly communicated.
Before now, when they dual cultivated, there would often be times when the dragon and phoenix tattoos on their bodies would come alive and swim across their skin, but Yang Kai and Su Yan had never imagined that their Souls could actually assume the form of a dragon and phoenix.
But this time, because the two of them advanced to the point where their Souls blended together, they managed to achieve this feat.
Also, because of this phenomenon, the two of them made an unintentional discovery. At the moment their Souls assumed this form, Yang Kai and Su Yan realized that the dragon and phoenix tattoos on their backs weren’t just tattoos, but were separate entities that contained a massive amount of energy, far more than they themselves actually possessed and could even allow them to transform into their current, extremely powerful Soul Skill form.
Yang Kai deliberately making a display in front of Ice Sect’s Elders was indeed for the reason Qian Yue had guessed, he wanted to warn Ice Sect not to meddle in Su Yan’s affairs in the future, lest they bring about consequences they couldn’t afford.
Regarding this, Su Yan seemed to be somewhat unwilling, and even softly rebuked Yang Kai, saying he shouldn’t act like that.
While the two flew across the snowy landscape, they continued communicating with one another.
In their current dragon and the phoenix incarnations, the entire world appeared quite different. It was as if they were two sovereigns reigning over this world, a mysterious feeling that allowed their states of mind to undergo a kind of profound sublimation.
Some time later, Yang Kai suddenly came to a stop above one of the many icebergs. He felt that there was something inside this iceberg that contained a great amount of energy.
Under normal circumstances, even with his greatly strengthened Divine Sense, it would have been impossible for Yang Kai to have discovered this, but right now, with his Soul blended together with the Golden Dragon, his senses had become particularly sharp.
Su Yan had apparently also noticed this anomaly and had stopped next to Yang Kai, communicating to him with her Soul, “I heard that these ancient icebergs can sometimes produce Ice Attribute Precious Treasures. Sect Master and Elders Qian Hao and Qian Yue have found some such treasures in the past. Perhaps this iceberg contains one such Precious Treasure?”
“What do you think it is?” Yang Kai asked.
“Frozen Ice Jade Crystal, a Saint Grade material, it is of great use to anyone who cultivates an Ice Attribute Secret Art.”
Yang Kai’s spirit was roused hearing this, “We’ll find out once we obtain it.”
As he spoke, a golden light shot out from his Golden Dragon avatar towards the iceberg, emitting a scorching heat that seemed capable of melting anything in its path.
*Hong…*
The iceberg shook violently and the incredibly ancient ice which it was comprised of cracked, soon appearing like a great spider web which spread across the entire surface.
Although the iceberg was damaged, the ice it was comprised of had withstood thousands of years of time and was much stronger than Yang Kai had imagined, not collapsing.
Su Yan said nothing and simply stood beside Yang Kai, their four eyes meeting briefly, the two of them immediately understanding the intentions of the other.
In the next moment, the two of them took action together, the Golden Dragon and Ice Phoenix both shooting forward like bolts of lightning.
The two of them acting as one unleashed a destructive force several times greater than what Yang Kai alone had just produced.
Without so much as a single sound, Yang Kai and Su Yan passed through the iceberg and emerged on the other side.
After a brief moment of silence, a great rumbling rang out and the giant iceberg collapsed.
At the same time the iceberg was broken, the energy fluctuations that Yang Kai felt before became much clearer.
However, before he could look for it, he felt the scene before his eyes sway and a deep sense of exhaustion overcame his Soul.
Not only did Yang Kai experience this sense of fatigue, Su Yan did too, their Golden Dragon and Ice Phoenix forms fading significantly, as if they were on the verge of collapse.
“Junior Brother, I’m quite tired!”
“Let’s go back first,” Yang Kai said hurriedly. This was the first time the two of them had merged their Souls into these dragon and phoenix bodies, so it was inevitable they could not remain in this form for long. At this time, they had to hurry to return to their real bodies and recuperate so as to avoid damaging their Souls.
Hearing this, Su Yan nodded gently and together with Yang Kai quickly returned the way they came.
After only a brief moment of peace, Ice Sect once again welcomed a great commotion as the two huge energy fluctuations which had just left approached once more. Soon after, the giant Golden Dragon Ice Phoenix appeared in the sky above Ice Sect briefly before disappearing into one of the ice mountains.
Looking at where the pair disappeared, Qing Ya shook her head and smiled bitterly, “It really was those two children… Qian Yue, come with me, let’s go see them.”
“En,” Qian Yue quickly nodded.
Back inside the ice room, Yang Kai and Su Yan’s Souls returned to their respective bodies and Su Yan once again entered into a deep sleep.
Having spoken at length with Su Yan, Yang Kai finally put down the burden weighing on his heart. Apparently she would remain in the Ice Body Sealed Heart’s frozen state until she broke through the next minor realm, that is, until she became a Second Order Transcendent, after which she would automatically wake up.
This was something she had set up in advance before she entered her deep sleep.
After knowing the truth, Yang Kai was no longer worried and also didn’t intend to take Su Yan away from Ice Sect. The environment here truly was very suitable for her cultivation, so leaving her here would benefit her more.
Moreover, Ice Sect’s Sect Master Qing Ya and Elder Qian Yue really were quite good to her; although Yang Kai held a small grudge against Qian Yue. Also, after Su Yan put in many good words for Qian Yue, Yang Kai decided to no longer hold it against that woman.
After carefully cultivating for a short time, the exhaustion Yang Kai felt from his Soul gradually faded.
Sensing two familiar auras outside the ice room, Yang Kai got up and opened the door.
Sure enough, Qing Ya and Qian Yue were standing outside. After seeing Yang Kai, the two women’s beautiful eyes flashed a slightly complex light.
“Did Su Yan wake up?” Qian Yue took a look around and asked somewhat hurriedly.
“She did wake up for a while but she’s fallen asleep again,” Yang Kai explained lightly.
Qian Yue turned her eyes towards Yang Kai and her brow wrinkled slightly; she found that this little brat no longer displayed much hostility towards her and couldn’t help wondering what had happened.
“Did you have a good talk with her?” Qing Ya asked softly.
Yang Kai gently nodded, “I did.”
“So what did the two of you decide?”
“Su Yan wants to say here, so I must ask several Seniors to take care of her.”
Qing Ya smiled gently and nodded, “Don’t worry, although Ice Sect does not accept outsiders, but even just considering Meng Wu Ya’s face, I wouldn’t treat her poorly.”
“Many thanks, Sect Maser Qing!” Yang Kai said.
“Good, I never thought someone could actually awaken another who had performed the Ice Body Sealed Heart, you’ve really surprised me. I suppose that also proves that the relationship between you and Su Yan is not ordinary,” Qing Ya’s pretty face showed a hint of admiration.
Yang Kai smiled and didn’t explain any further. Although part of the reason he had succeeded was his own efforts, the most fundamental reason was that Su Yan had made early preparations!
If it weren’t for her setting it up so, Yang Kai figured he would never have been able to contact her Soul, much less break into her spiritual world.
“I have something to ask you now,” Qing Ya suddenly said with a serious face.
“Hm?” Seeing her solemn expression, Yang Kai couldn’t help nodding, “What does Sect Master Qing want to know?”
“What kind of Dual Cultivation Secret Art do you and Su Yan cultivate?”
“Why do you ask?” Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit strange. Ice Sect’s disciples cultivated Ice Attribute Secret Arts which stressed maintaining one’s purity, almost the exact opposite of dual cultivation, so Yang Kai didn’t understand why Qing Ya suddenly became interested in this.
Even if she knew what Secret Art Su Yan and Yang Kai were cultivating, and Yang Kai taught it to her, she didn’t have a partner with which to practice it so there would be no point.
“No need to be so vigilant, I’m not trying to inquire about your Secret Art, but there is something about it that bothers me,” Qing Ya frowned slightly, sinking into contemplation for a moment before slowly continuing, “A long time ago, Tong Xuan Realm had a number of famous forces.”
“Oh? What was so famous about them?”
“They were forces powerful enough to shake the realm!” Qing Ya quickly said, “These forces were the strongest in Tong Xuan Realm. When they reigned, the Demon Race and Monster Race didn’t dare act arrogantly. During that era, most of the Demon Land and Monster Domain actually belonged to our Human Territory.”
“There were such forces?” Yang Kai was extremely surprised.
“En,” Qing Ya nodded lightly, “It’s just that at some point, something happened, and all of these powerful forces suffered grave losses, some of them even losing their core inheritances. With their foundations crippled, these great forces inevitably declined and gradually became weak. Of course, such powerful forces, even after suffering sharp declines in strength, did not necessarily disappear, most of them still surviving until today just in a weakened state!”
Yang Kai expression changed, “Is Ice Sect one of those forces?”
Qing Ya was slightly surprised by his sharp insight but quickly smiled and nodded, “En, my Ice Sect is indeed one of those forces. At the height of its power, my Ice Sect had tens of thousands of disciple and occupied a vast territory, but after experiencing that disaster, my Ice Sect’s surviving Ancestors moved the Sect to this place to live a life of seclusion, isolated from the outside world.”
Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked, “What kind of cataclysm happened to cause so many great forces to suddenly collapse?”
Qing Ya shook her head, “I don’t know, it happened so long ago that no clear records remain of that event.”
“Why is Sect Master Qing telling me all this?” Yang Kai wondered, this kind of ancient history didn’t seem to have anything to do with him.
“Because I remember one of those ancient great forces seemed to practice a very profound kind of Dual Cultivation Secret Art and the top masters of that force were known as the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress! These two masters cultivated their force’s most core inheritance and it was said that when they joined forces to fight, they were nearly invincible. Also, when they fought… they could assume the form of a great dragon and phoenix!” Saying so, Qing Ya stared fixedly at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s look changed greatly, “Sect Master Qing’s meaning is…”
Qing Ya smiled softly, “I am just speculating and am not certain, but ordinary Dual Cultivation Secret Arts are detrimental. Those who cultivate them in general have impure True Qi and very rarely possess noteworthy accomplishments, but you and Su Yan are different. The Dual Cultivation technique the two of you cultivate is obviously extraordinary, and after witnessing the grand vision you showed earlier today, I could not help wondering if that legendary force has something to do with you!”
“I don’t know,” Yang Kai’s expression became awkward.
Qing Ya looked at him with a smile and didn’t ask any more. Regarding such matters, she only intended to inform Yang Kai of her thoughts; if she were to continue asking him questions, it would be akin to prying into his secrets, a taboo amongst cultivators.
“Sect Master Qing, do you remember what that force is called?”
“If I recall correctly, it seems to have been called Dragon Phoenix Heaven! It should still exist even now, if you search for it, it should not be difficult to find them.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, pondering for a moment before suddenly remembering something, asking curiously, “Wait, Sect Master Qing, I heard that long ago, the first master under Heaven was the Demon Race’s Great Demon God? How could there be so many Human Race Sects dominating Tong Xuan Realm then?”
Qing Ya giggled lightly as his question, “The Great Demon God is also a character out of legend, but his time was actually further into the past, the era I spoke to you about came after the Great Demon God disappeared.”
“So it’s like that,” Yang Kai nodded, a few speculations arising in his heart.
With the disappearance of the Great Demon God and the Ancient Demon Clan being sealed away, the Demon Race would have been severely weakened and would obviously not be the Human Race’s opponent.
Tong Xuan Realm’s history was long and rich in legends, obviously a few different eras and rulers had come and gone.
“Sect Master Qing, I’ll be going out for a bit to run a small errand, I’ll leave Ice Sect shortly after I get back from it,” Yang Kai informed Qing Ya before leaving the ice room.
Looking at his disappearing back, Qing Ya slowly shook her head, “I wasn’t trying to chase you away just now.”
“The sooner he’s gone the better!” Qian Yue grumbled under her breath before turning around and rushing into the ice room to check up on Su Yan’s condition, only feeling relieved after she confirmed that the latter was in a stable state.
Inside the ice, Su Yan wore a happy smile.
Yang Kai rushed forward, following the route he had taken together with Su Yan just before, heading towards the location of the destroyed iceberg.
Half a day later, the collapsed iceberg finally came into view.
Without even having to release his Divine Sense, Yang Kai could clearly feel a powerful energy fluctuation coming from beneath the rubble.
Smiling happily, Yang Kai rushed over to it.
A short time later, after breaking through some layers of ice, Yang Kai found a longan sized crystal clear gem.
The energy fluctuations were being emitted from this ice crystal.
[Was this the Frozen Ice Jade Crystal that Su Yan had mentioned?] Yang Kai pinched it between his fingers as he examined it, soon discovering that the energy contained within this small crystal was actually extraordinarily pure and rich.
What made his feel strange though was that at this things core, there seemed to be a thick, transparent liquid.
This liquid exuded a chill so profound that Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was nearly frozen by it when he tried to probe it.
Yang Kai felt somewhat amazed at this, his Divine Sense was by no means ordinary, having evolved into a Conflagrated Divine Sense, but even so he couldn’t withstand the cold energy contained within this tiny ice crystal.
Giving up on trying to probing it further, Yang Kai stored the ice crystal into his Black Book space. When he was preparing to return to Ice Sect though, something nearby caught his attention and upon investigating, he couldn’t help feeling shocked.
Buried in the ice, there was actually a jet black skeleton.
On this skeleton’s bones there were many vein patterns that resembled meridians but there was not a trace of flesh, it was a truly ominous image.
[Could it be some disciple of Ice Sect encountered an accident here?] Yang Kai wondered in his heart. This iceberg had produced a suspected piece of Frozen Ice Jade Crystal, so perhaps someone had been here before treasure hunting only to end up being frozen here after suffering some kind of disaster.
However, what made Yang Kai somewhat uncertain was that this person’s meridians had remained, yet their flesh had not.
Yang Kai very much wanted to ignore this situation, but after thinking about it for a moment, he reached out and extracted the black skeleton from the ice before hefting it over his shoulder and flying back to Ice Sect.
Regardless of anything else, Su Yan would be in the care of Qing Ya and Ice Sect for the foreseeable future. If this person really was an Ice Sect disciple, the least Yang Kai could do was take him back to Ice Sect so he could be properly buried.
One day after he left, Yang Kai returned to Ice Sect.
Upon arriving at the ice mountain range, Yang Kai was met by Ice Sect’s Elder Qian Hao.
The middle aged man frowned slightly as he stared coldly at Yang Kai, inquiring in a somewhat dissatisfied tone, “Boy, why are you still in my Ice Sect?”
“I’ll be leaving shortly,” Yang Kai didn’t have a good impression on Qian Hao either, so he simply tossed over the skeleton from his shoulder and bluntly stated, “By the way, I found someone who might have been your Ice Sect’s disciple out there, it looks like they suffered some kind of accident.”
Qian Hao frowned hearing this and took a look, in the next instant his expression changing dramatically, his eyes quivering fiercely, seemingly having seen something terrifying, immediately dropping the frozen skeleton from his hands towards the icy ground below.
*Hong…*
The frozen skeleton hit the ice with a loud bang causing Yang Kai, who was still standing mid-air, to frown towards Qian Hao, wondering why this Second Order Saint was showing such a frightened expression.
Floating over Ice Sect, Qian Hao’s look changed and became especially complicated. Yang Kai stood by and watched, frowning deeply as he did.
“Boy, where did you find this thing?” Suddenly, Qian Hao looked up and solemnly asked Yang Kai.
“About half a day away from this place, inside an iceberg,” Yang Kai replied casually, “Why, what’s wrong?”
Qian Hao didn’t answer, his expression instead becoming even more dignified. Suddenly, he turned around and let out a loud shout, a clear meaning of warning apparent in his tone.
Yang Kai’s gaze flickered as he realized he had probably made some kind of mistake in judgement and had inadvertently struck upon one of Ice Sect’s secrets.
[Whose frozen bones were these? Why did Qian Hao look like he had seen a fierce enemy the moment he laid eyes upon it?] Yang Kai wondered as he locked his Divine Sense onto the black skeleton but was unable to notice anything unusual.
Hearing Qian Hao’s shout, Ice Sect immediately became active, the Transcendent Realm and above masters quickly appearing, following the lead of Sect Master Qing Ya.
“What happened?” Qing Ya hurriedly asked.
If it wasn’t an extremely important matter, Qian Hao would never have issued such an alarm, so Qing Ya immediately realized a serious problem had occurred.
“Come with me!” Qian Hao said, quickly flying down as he quietly circulated his True Qi, ready to act at a moment’s notice.
Yang Kai’s expression dimmed as he quickly followed after the masters of Ice Sect.
Down on the ground, the Ice Sect masters tightly surrounded the frozen black skeleton, many of them frowning suspiciously, obviously many here also just as lost about it as Yang Kai was, but when Qing Ya and the other Saint Realm Elders saw these jet black bones, all of them went pale.
“All of you fall back!” Qing Ya quickly ordered.
The Transcendent Realm masters all look around at each other in confusion, but didn’t ask anything in the end and obediently followed Qing Ya’s orders to withdraw.
Soon, only Qing Ya, the four Saint Realm Elders, and Yang Kai remained.
“Where did you obtain it?” Qing Ya asked, her pretty face filled with a stern solemnity.
“This boy brought it here,” Qian Hao pointed to Yang Kai.
“Yang Kai, where did you find this? How did you find it?” Qing Ya quickly asked.
Seeing a seriousness he had never witnessed before on Qing Ya’s face, Yang Kai fully realized the gravity of the situation and quickly explained what had happened. As the five Saints listened to his tale, their expressions became even heavier.
“What’s wrong? Is he not a disciple of Ice Sect?” Yang Kai frowned and asked, he had brought this skeleton back out of good intentions but now it seems he had actually caused trouble for Ice Sect, naturally he felt a bit embarrassed.
“How could such an ominous creature be one of my Ice Sect’s disciple?” Qian Hao coldly snorted, a look of anger and even hatred flashing across his face.
“Ominous creature?” Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked this time, “I had no idea there was some kind of grievance between him and your Ice Sect, I only thought he was one of your disciples who had gone missing. Since that’s the case, I’ll just return him to where I found him.”
“Don’t touch him!” Qing Ya quickly stopped Yang Kai, shaking her head slowly.
Seeing her violent reaction, Yang Kai couldn’t help smiling dumbly, “Aren’t you all making too much of a fuss over nothing? No matter what kind of evil this guy committed in life, he’s dead now, what reason is there to be so wary of him?”
“Who said he’s dead?” Qian Hao coldly snorted.
The smile on Yang Kai’s face suddenly converged as a deep wrinkle appeared on his brow, “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like, he’s not dead, he’s still alive!” Qian Yue muttered, her pretty face still somewhat pale.
Yang Kai was dumbfounded, sweeping his eyes over the other Saints in doubt but finding that none of them showed any meaning of refuting, obviously they all agreed with Qian Yue’s assessment.
“He’s not dead? But this person doesn’t have any flesh, he’s just a skeleton with meridians, how could…”
Qing Ya softly sighed, interrupting Yang Kai’s words to explain, “There are many strange life forms in this world which you have never heard of. No one knows how they were born, but these strange life forms normally possess strong vitality and odd physiques that grant them more powerful strength than mere flesh and blood.”
Hearing her explanation, Yang Kai couldn’t help remembering the Jade True Spirit!
That Jade True Spirit was also a sentient creature that lacked flesh, blood, and even bones; however, if it had been allowed to fully mature, its destructive power would have reached an earth shattering height.
Therefore, although what Qing Ya said was somewhat difficult for him to comprehend, he still quickly accepted it.
“But you don’t need to be nervous, this one doesn’t appear to be too strong,” Qing Ya smiled slightly. Hearing her words, Qian Hao and the other Saints also relaxed.
“Yang Kai, since you brought this thing here, you’ll have to help us deal with it,” Qing Ya turned to Yang Kai again.
“Good, please grant this Junior instructions!”
“Incinerate him,” Qing Ya pointed to frozen skeleton in front of them.
Yang Kai said nothing and pushed his True Qi directly, wrapping up the frozen skeleton in a ball of scorching flames.
The ice melted at a rate visible to the naked eye, soon revealing the jet black skeleton within.
Just as Yang Kai wanted to increase his True Qi output to burn it down in one fell swoop, a violent aura pulsed outwards from the black skeleton.
Yang Kai was stunned, his expression hanging greatly as he saw the two empty eye sockets suddenly fill with two green flames, akin to human eyes, revealing a dangerous light as the skeleton began to move.
It seemed to be struggling.
Qing Ya pretty face darkened as she quickly waved her hand, sending a few energy spikes into the skeleton, nailing it to the ground.
Seeing this, Yang Kai immediately pushed his True Qi to its limit.
Suddenly, a screeching howl filled the air, penetrating the ears of everyone present. This howl was filled with cruel and violent impulses that seemed to be trying to warp the minds of any who heard it.
Ice Sect’s Saint Realm masters were obviously able to ignore this, but surprisingly, even Yang Kai wore an indifferent expression.
This fact was not lost on Qing Ya, who had secretly been paying attention to him. She had originally thought Yang Kai would be at least somewhat affected by this Soul attack, so she was quite surprised when she saw him could completely disregard it.
The piercing wails ringing in all of their ears grew even shriller and soon took on a desperate feeling.
Gradually, the tragic howls weakened and eventually disappeared.
*Hu…*
The black skeleton finally succumbed to the flames and was quickly reduced to ashes, completely disappearing into the wind.
Seeing this bizarre scene, Yang Kai was having trouble associating it with reality.
He had never imagined before that a skeleton without any flesh or blood could actually remain alive and retain its consciousness.
“Sect Master Qing, can you explain now? What was that?” Yang Kai frowned towards Qing Ya, not knowing anything made him feel particularly uncomfortable.
“What point is there in asking so many questions?” Qian Hao coldly snapped.
However, Qing Ya waved her hand and softly replied, “There’s not much I can tell you, in truth, even we don’t know much about these beings. I simply heard from my Ice Sect Seniors that he is a member of the Bone Race.”
“Bone Race?” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed.
“En, they don’t innately possess flesh and blood, only a skeleton and meridians, but among them there are masters of exceedingly high strength. The reason my Ice Sect became so weak is directly related with them.”
“No one can say clearly where this race came from. In addition to the Bone Race, it seems that long ago many strange life forms suddenly appeared on Tong Xuan Realm. Remember how I told you before that because of a certain event, many of the world’s greatest forces were nearly destroyed? That event is related with these strange races. One of the reasons my Ice Sect has taken up residence here is because of those races. My Seniors said that apparently, in the past, some of the Bone Race’s masters escaped; we are here to seek them out and guard against them. Over the millennia, we have discovered a number of frozen Bone Race members and killed them, but since I assumed the position of Sect Master, this is the first time one has been discovered. Apparently we have still let some fish slip through our net.”
“That’s an interesting story,” Yang Kai said, a strange expression upon his face.
“How is it interesting? What you found this time is only a very weak Bone Race clansman, if it had been one of the stronger existences, our Ice Sect would probably have suffered greatly!” Qian Hao said coldly.
“Then why do you insist on remaining here?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“The Bone Race indeed has powerful masters, but not all of them are so strong, also… we are not weak, us guarding this place is to ensure they don’t have a chance to resurface and wreak havoc,” Qing Ya smiled lightly.
Yang Kai trembled slightly hearing this, “So what you mean to say is, you live in this secluded place in order to protect the world in secret?”
“Hehe, it’s nothing so grand, we are just following the wishes of our Ancestors. Besides, the outside world is a bit too noisy for us, after staying here for so long we simply don’t want to leave,” Qing Ya replied casually.
Yang Kai suddenly felt a profound sense of respect for these silent guardians.
“Elders, I must trouble you to take a careful inspect the area to see if there are any other Bone Race survivors,” Qing Ya turned to four Saint Realm Elders and ordered.
“Yes!” The four Elders answered in unison before turning around to organize the Transcendents behind them and setting off to survey the region.
Yang Kai stood in place, pondering for a long time before finally asking hesitantly, “Will Su Yan be in any danger here?”
“Don’t worry,” Qing Ya turned her eyes towards the sky, “As long as I am here, she won’t encounter any harm. Even if there are any Bone Race survivors lurking about, they can’t stir up any trouble here!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai felt a lot more at ease, quickly took out the ice crystal from the Black Book space, and handed it to Qing Ya, “This is something I found in that same iceberg, Su Yan said that it was useful for those who cultivate Ice Attribute Secret Arts.”
“Frozen Ice Jade Crystal?” Qing Ya was mildly surprised, but after staring at it for a moment she called out in shock, “No, this is… Frozen Ice Jade Marrow?”
“What’s that?”
“This crystal’s outer layer is comprised of Frozen Ice Jade Crystal while the liquid inside it is an even purer substance known as Frozen Ice Jade Marrow. You’re luck is really good, even being able to find such a treasure,” Qing Ya looked at him with amazement, “With this to assist her, Su Yan’s strength will increase even faster, it’s nothing less than an ultimate treasure for those who cultivate Ice Attribute Secret Arts.”
Saying so, she directed a smile towards Yang Kai and asked, “Giving this to me, aren’t you worried I might take it for myself? It also has great use for me!”
Yang Kai smiled and said, “Even if Sect Master Qing uses it, it doesn’t matter, you can think of it as a gift from me for taking care of Su Yan from now on.”
“Hmph, your tongue really is glib!” Qing Ya teased lightly, “Don’t worry, when Su Yan wakes up, I will help her refine this. I’m not so desperate as to steal something from a Junior!”
“In any case, I’ll thank Sect Master Qing in advance for looking after Su Yan,” Yang Kai smiled brightly and cupped his fists.
Seemingly realizing something, Qing Ya asked, “Are you not going to see her again before you leave?”
“There’s no need, I know she’s fine now,” Yang Kai shook his head, “Junior will take his leave now.”
Saying so, Yang Kai turned around decisively and left.
“If you see Meng Wu Ya, give him a message from me, tell him the favour he owes me, I’ll collect sooner or later!” Qing Ya’s voice came from behind.
Without turning around, Yang Kai waved his hand and soared off into the distance.