Glancing behind him, amidst the blue water, the giant sword that exudes a shocking aura and unparalleled murderous intent caused even Yang Kai’s soul to shiver.
Behind the giant sword, Yang Kai also vaguely saw traces of the previous generation Saintess.
She was actually chasing after them, apparently intent on putting Yang Kai and An Ling’er to death.
As they continued to dive, Yang Kai hurriedly shouted to An Ling’er, “If you want to live, focus, this is no time to wallow in sadness!”
Hearing this, An Ling’er nodded quickly and immediately began pouring her True Qi into Yang Kai’s body.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt the flow of his True Qi become both faster and stronger.
The Secret Art the Nine Heavens Holy Land Saintess cultivated could allow Yang Kai to improve his combat power for a short time, which was why he brought An Ling’er along when he fled.
True Qi bursting out, the same Nine Heavens Divine Skills, the Profound Heavenly Sword, appeared in Yang Kai’s hand.
However, even with the support of An Ling’er, Yang Kai could only create a Profound Heavenly Sword with a length of several tens of meters, a far cry from the one Saintess Nan sent towards them.
The two Nine Heavens Divine Skills shot towards each other from opposite directions and soon collided.
A huge muffled sound rang out as Yang Kai’s Profound Heavenly Sword was instantly ground into dust, the surrounding seawater exploding outwards from the force of the collision, the shockwave propelling Yang Kai and An Ling’er downwards at an even faster pace.
The figure of Saintess Nan was also momentarily pushed back, but she soon overcame this resistance and began chasing them again.
“What weaknesses do the Saintesses of your Nine Heavens have?” Yang Kai asked urgently.
“There’s no such thing, she can only be stopped by someone with strength exceeding her’s; however, I can try stalling her for a while!” An Ling’er clenched her teeth and entrusted herself completely to Yang Kai, focusing all her attention on her mind and releasing a Spiritual Energy wave towards Saintess Nan.
Yang Kai vaguely felt as if he heard a song resonating with his Soul, seemingly touching the very depths of the human heart. Anyone who heard this song couldn’t help relaxing and becoming tranquil.
His eyes narrowing, Yang Kai quickly concentrating as he realized that this Soul Skill should be similar to the one An Ling’er previously used back in the Soul Battle Hall which had a calming effect.
Saintess Nan was already dead, and only her instincts and strong obsession were supporting her actions, so using this kind of Soul Skill on her was an ideal solution.
From what Yang Kai could perceive, the movements of Saintess Nan indeed became slower and the True Qi fluctuations coming from her body also grew somewhat unstable, as if she was suffering a kind of mental torment.
“Good!” Yang Kai’s spirit lifted, as long as An Ling’er could delay this Saint Realm woman, he was fully confident they could escape.
“I can’t keep this up for very long,” An Ling’er pretty face paled as she hoarsely said.
Yang Kai turned his gaze towards her and saw she was also suffering greatly. This was obvious though, given the massive difference in their cultivations, An Ling’er using a Soul Skill to deal with Saintess Nan was bound to cause no small amount of backlash.
Yang Kai’s expression became dignified once again as he continuing cutting through the water, wracking his brain to find other ways to delay their pursuer.
Many ideas came to mind, but he rejected all of them immediately as the gap in their strength was simply too great, any conventional method he tried to use would at best be a waste of time and at worse, distract him causing them to fall into even greater danger.
The Soul Battle Hall would probably be useful; after all, it was a genuine Saint Grade artifact. Once he activated it, Yang Kai’s own Soul would be dragged into that white space, but even if it was a contest of Souls with Saintess Nan, he had no confidence in defeating her.
His Demon Eye of Annihilation was also incredibly powerful, but if Saintess Nan’s Soul didn’t rush into his Knowledge Sea, the Demon Eye of Annihilation couldn’t play any role.
Besides purifying any Soul Avatar that broke into Yang Kai Knowledge Sea, it could only absorb the Soul remnants of recently deceased cultivators nearby Yang Kai.
Currently, Saintess Nan couldn’t strictly be described as dead, otherwise the Demon Eye of Annihilation would already have activated.
Thinking it over, Yang Kai concluded he had no options here and inevitably grew somewhat anxious.
At that moment, the song that had been ringing in his ears suddenly stopped and An Ling’er coughed out a bloody mist, her tender body going completely limp in Yang Kai’s arms, panting heavily as extreme weakness overcame her.
Without the restraint of An Ling’er’s Soul Skill, Saintess Nan once again restored her previous speed and began closing the distance between her and Yang Kai.
Fortunately, the huge Profound Heavenly Sword had apparently exhausted its True Qi and dissipated and Yang Kai had put some distance between them.
Diving further and further, numerous sea beasts and giant fish which had been attracted by all the noise began gathering around, all of which Yang Kai simply ignored as he raced ever downwards.
On the other hand, Saintess Nan, as An Ling’er had said, actually bothered killing everything around her, reaping the lives of a great many of these sea beasts.
Although slaughtering these beasts was as simple as waving her hands, the sheer number of them slightly hindered Saintess Nan’s speed, buying Yang Kai and An Ling’er a precious few moments.
Yang Kai never felt time pass so slowly. Being relentlessly chased by a Saint Realm master, certain death approaching ever closer, each breath seemed like an eternity.
Noticing a faint luminescence up ahead, Yang Kai couldn’t help crying out happily, “We’re almost there!”
Hearing this, An Ling’er managed to open her eyes and asked weakly, “At the end, can you tell me your name? Your real name. If we fall here, can’t I at least know whose arms I died in?”
Yang Kai’s expression ramped, totally unable to understand how this young woman’s head worked or why she would bother asking such a dumb question now.
But this time, he didn’t bother concealing it anymore and told her what she wanted to know.
An Ling’er grinned back at him, “If we survive this, will you follow me back to the Holy Land?”
“Never!” Yang Kai refused unceremoniously, “If you keep spouting nonsense I’ll throw you away right here, right now!”
“Ruthless bastard!”
As the two bantered back and forth, they arrived outside the barrier of the Ancient Ruins. Yang Kai didn’t even pause and rushed straight inside, the barrier not hindering him in any way.
Upon entering the barrier, without the seawater to hinder him, Yang Kai’s speed rose to its maximum again, his Wind and Thunder Wings appearing behind him as he and An Ling’er shot forward like an arrow from a bow. Racing towards the location of the Void Corridor, Yang Kai and An Ling’er moved so quickly they left behind a trail of afterimages.
Moments after the two of them rushed inside the barrier, Saintess Nan also rushed in, her figure flickering as she chased after Yang Kai, her speed in no way inferior.
Feeling the terrifying pressure approaching him from behind, Yang Kai’s only thought was to escape, having not the slightest intention of fighting this Saint Realm master.
As he flew forward, the Yang Attribute energy from the Void Corridor grew stronger and stronger, letting the two of them know they were getting closer to where the Void Corridor existed.
Yang Kai clenched his teeth and continued pushing his speed to its limit.
Suddenly, from behind, Yang Kai felt a burst of True Qi. Yang Kai’s expression changed dramatically as he realized Saintess Nan had begun attacking again, raising his degree of wariness to its maximum as he monitored his surroundings.
In front of him, a giant net strangely appeared and rapidly moved towards him.
“Capturing Heaven Net!” An Ling’er exclaimed, “Quickly avoid it! Once one is caught in it, even their Soul won’t be able to escape!”
There was no need to remind Yang Kai of this. Although he didn’t understand the specifics of this Divine Skill, as someone with a wealth of experience, he naturally wouldn’t allow this Capturing Heaven Net to ensnare him.
The instant he dodged the Capturing Heaven Net though, another burst of True Qi erupted behind him.
A jade-like hand that seemed to fill the entire sky appeared and reached out towards them. Seeing this, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling like the Heavens themselves were trying to grab hold of him.
There was no way to outrun this hand, or to evade it, their capture seemed inevitable.
“Covering Heaven Hand!” An Ling’er murmured, her face completely ashen, a bleak smile slowly forming on her lips as she closed her beautiful eyes, as if she thought that all hope was lost and death would soon take her.
“Devil Transformation!” Yang Kai called out and the next moment, the world seemed to tremble as an extremely potent Demonic Qi suddenly spread out of from his body, Demon Crests appearing all over his physique before sinking into his skin and disappearing in the next instant.
Immediately, Yang Kai’s Blood Force and the momentum surrounding his body soared to an incredible level.
An Ling’er’s eyes shot open, her tender body shuddering as she stared dumbfounded at the man holding her, her beautiful face filled with astonishment.
At this moment, she felt like Yang Kai had transformed into a completely different person, his body emitting a bloody and cruel aura yet somehow simultaneously feeling more reliable than before.
His body was like a great mountain which would remain unmoved even in the face of torrential wind and rain.
The incredible surge in moment broke free of the Covering Heaven Hand’s imposing pressure and when the devastating attack arrived, all it managed to grasp was airs.
*Hong…*
Throughout the Ancient Ruins, countless houses collapsed as waves of pressure visible to the naked eye pulsed from Yang Kai’s body and spread to the surrounding area, travelling as far as the outer barrier and even disturbing the outside sea.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai lurched forward, his face completely pale.
An Ling’er simultaneously felt a hot liquid splash onto her face. Rubbing her cheek, she quickly discovered that this liquid was actually blood that was overflowing from Yang Kai’s mouth.
Obviously, he had not completely been able to avoid the impact of the Covering Heaven Hand just now and had his stance disrupted.
“Shit!” Yang Kai cursed under his breath as he quickly steadied himself and continued to escape, directing his eyes towards his abdomen as he did so.
Suspicious, An Ling’er followed his gaze and immediately covered her mouth in shock as she screamed, “Punishing Heaven Spear!”
At some unknown point, a thick, shimmering spear had inserted itself into Yang Kai’s stomach. This spear was also one of the Nine Heavens Divine Skills. Amidst all the shock and chaos, not only had An Ling’er failed to notice, even Yang Kai hadn’t realized until now that he had been pierced by this spear.
As fresh blood stained Yang Kai’s clothes, if one were to look carefully, they would notice some faint traces of golden.
An Ling’er suddenly burst into tears as she truly thought all hope was lost now.
The power of the Nine Heavens Divine Skills was something she knew better than almost anyone, not to mention that this Punishing Heaven Spear had stemmed from her Saintess Nan’s hand without the slightest trace of mercy. Even if Yang Kai was an extraordinary genius, his five viscera and six organs had likely already become pulp and were not far from death.
The only reason he had yet to fall and was still struggling forward was probably due to sheer willpower. Considering all this, An Ling’er was filled with sorrow and guilt.
An Ling’er couldn’t help thinking that if back in the Soul Battle Hall, she hadn’t used her Soul Skill on Yang Kai, he never would have learned the Nine Heavens Divine Skills and wouldn’t now be facing her Saintess Nan’s pursuit.
Her head filling with such thoughts, she naturally felt she had harmed Yang Kai, causing him to suffer an untimely death far before his time.
“Fuck, you better teach me all of your damn Divine Skills or else this time I’ll have suffered a huge loss!” Yang Kai’s face was pale white but he still endured the pain assaulting his body and managed to angrily complain.
He hadn’t expected this Punishing Heaven Spear could even penetrate his body after using his Devil Transformation. Yang Kai’s current physique was so intrepid that he could even resist the destructive force of a Starry Sky Storm but this Saintess Nan had still managed to pierce him like paper.
It was obvious just from this how powerful this Divine Skill was.
If it had been any other Transcendent, having suffered this blow from Saintess Nan, they would likely have already been vaporised.
“You, how can you be thinking about such things even now…” An Ling’er stretched out her hand as she stared at the deep wound on Yang Kai’s body. Feeling the fresh blood flowing down her fingers, her heart clenched tightly as tears rolled down her face, soaking her clothes.
“Can you stop crying already? All your blubbering is distracting me!” Yang Kai shouted, “You silly woman, how can you be so weak under pressure?”
Hearing his harsh words, An Ling’er quickly stifled her voice but she was unable to stop her tears from leaking out.
Suddenly, in an open space up ahead, a large black hole which seemed like it led to an unknown abyss appeared, causing Yang Kai’s face to light up, “We’re here!”
Gathering the remainder of his strength, Yang Kai crashed towards the Void Corridor with An Ling’er.
Just as he reached the Void Corridor, Yang Kai felt Saintess Nan’s murderous intent converge on him.
Arriving at the final moment of their escape, how could Yang Kai possibly let his guard down? Tossing An Ling’er into the Void Corridor, Yang Kai abruptly turned around and summoned a giant Black Dragon above his head. Opening its mouth and letting out a great roar, this Black Dragon charged towards the approaching Saintess Nan.
*Hong long long…*
A massive explosion occurred as the two collided.
The Black Dragon only lasted for an instant before collapsing and Saintess Nan shot towards Yang Kai, her momentum not decreasing in the slightest as the latter dove into the Void Corridor.
Yang Kai grinned as blood trickled from his mouth and his Demonic Qi fiercely burst out, wreaking havoc all around.
At the bottom of the sea, the Void Corridor which had existed for countless years was simply unable to bear this kind of violent explosion and quickly shattered, sending out a violent shockwave of void energy, swallowing up Saintess Nan and Yang Kai.
In the next moment, Yang Kai felt a strong sense of vertigo and nearly passed out.
Through pure force of will, Yang Kai forced himself to remain awake and after a few breaths, the darkness around him was swept away and a sea of white clouds appeared high up in the sky above his head. There was no sun, moon, or stars to be seen and only a faint scent of heat lingered in the air.
This hot aura made Yang Kai feel somewhat comfortable.
Falling through the air, Yang Kai figured he had successfully been sent to a distant place by the Void Corridor because the aura of Saintess Nan was nowhere to be found.
Just before he crossed the Void Corridor’s threshold, Yang Kai deliberately destroyed it so he estimated that Saintess Nan would not be able to find them for quite some time.
Thinking so, Yang Kai breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Being chased by a Saint Realm master was not a pleasant experience.
That Saintess Nan should have at least been a Second Order Saint because she was much more powerful than Ice Sect’s Qian Yue. In front of her, Yang Kai had no power to fight back and was even hard pressed to escape.
His falling body was suddenly hugged by a pair of jade arms. Yang Kai turned to look and sure enough, the one who caught him was An Ling’er who he had sent through the Void Corridor ahead of him, a big smile plastered all over her still crying face.
Yang Kai struggled for a moment and managed to free himself from her embrace and stand on his own atop a giant tree, gasping heavily as he began examining his surroundings.
He and An Ling’er were currently standing on a towering tree at least three hundred meters off the ground and were surrounded by a dense and vibrant forest.
Yang Kai also quickly noticed a strange phenomenon. The trees here seemed to be somewhat different from others he had seen, not just in shape, but in nature, as they had a faint Yang Attribute Energy flowing through them.
Simply put, these trees seemed to possess a Yang Attribute aura.
Yang Kai was incredibly puzzled, these trees seemed to be just ordinary trees and not any kind of Precious Treasure or spirit grass, so how could they have a Yang Attribute aura?
Looking up at the hazy sky, Yang Kai frowned and muttered, “Mysterious Small World?”
Only Mysterious Small Worlds would have no sun, moon, or stars, the one where the Ancient Demon Clan lived was also like this.
“Ah? A Mysterious Small World?” An Ling’er was obviously taken aback but that didn’t stop her beautiful eyes from filling with curiosity. She had never seen or entered a Mysterious Small World and had only heard about them in rumours. Coming to this kind of place for the first time was obviously novel to her.
“En, this should be a Mysterious Small World!” Yang Kai nodded lightly, but after speaking just a few words he began violently coughing and all the wounds on his body once again began leaking blood.
“You need to rest and recover!” An Ling’er held him nervously. The wounds Yang Kai had suffered this time were all quite serious. Not only was he run through by Saintess Nan’s Punishing Heaven Spear, but also the last moment, when he destroyed the Void Corridor, the resulting explosion and the rampant power of void had also left their mark on him. His clothes were tattered and scars marred his entire body while parts of his flesh had been ripped apart entirely, it was an incredibly miserable picture.
An average person would have died several times over having received these kinds of injuries but Yang Kai still had the strength to speak and even the energy to observe the surrounding environment, causing An Ling’er to not know whether to laugh or cry.
As she spoke, An Ling’er took out a bottle of pills from the Universe Bag on her belt and pushed it into Yang Kai’s hands, “This is my Holy Land’s Saint Grade healing pill, quickly take it”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, already feeling unsteady on his feet, accepting the pill bottle, pouring a few out, and directly swallowing them.
Before he had time to begin refining them though, Yang Kai felt a burning heat rapidly shoot towards him from all directions and in the next instant, he found himself and An Ling’er bound by energy ropes.
The two of them were caught completely off guard, quickly incapacitated, and fell to the ground.
After landing, Yang Kai found he was unable to move.
Having already exhausted all of his strength, suffering from a sudden surprise attack, Yang Kai had no way to resist and soon fainted.
[Goddamn it! Captured again?] That was the last thought to go through his mind as Yang Kai’s eyes went dark.
He had twice entered Mysterious Small Worlds since arriving in Tong Xuan Realm, both times as a captive. The first time he had been abducted by the Coffin Carrying Man and this time, before he could even get his bearings, he had been captured. It was really terrible luck.
“Hateful Demon Race!” Yang Kai faintly heard someone curse and saw a number of indistinct figures approaching him before his consciousness completely faded.
…..
Amidst the pitch black darkness or night, Yang Kai slowly woke up, every single inch of his body ached. Even with his strong physique, he could not simply ignore such intense trauma.
Not sitting up or even opening his eyes immediately, Yang Kai quickly probed his current situation.
A moment later, Yang Kai’s expression became gloomy.
Just as he imagined, his True Qi and Spiritual Energy had a number of seals placed on them. In order to unseal his True Qi, it would take him some time but it shouldn’t be impossible, it was likely someone with only slightly higher strength than his own had applied his bindings. As for the seal on his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai was confident he could easily crack it, but to not attract any unwanted attention, he didn’t dare act rashly.
He didn’t know where he was or what kind of masters were lurking around, if he were to free himself haphazardly, it would likely end very badly for him.
However, something that was of particular interest to him was the seal on his True Qi actually had a faint Yang Attribute aura to it and the ambient Yang Qi in the air was far richer than the outside world.
The Yang Attribute aura he had felt in the Ancient Ruins should have originated from this place.
The injuries on his body had already mostly healed, allowing him to infer that he had been in a coma for at least three days.
There were some other auras nearby but none of them belonged to An Ling’er.
Where had that woman gone?
An Ling’er was a rare beauty with a noble and innocent demeanour, if she had fallen into the hands of unscrupulous people, it wouldn’t end well for her. Yang Kai couldn’t help but slightly worrying about her.
Right now he seemed to be in some kind of prison cell which was constructed of sturdy wood, not something he could break easily with his True Qi sealed.
After opening his eyes and taking a moment to adjust to the ambient light, Yang Kai slowly sat up.
This movement did not go unnoticed by the others around him and soon someone came over and muttered in surprise, “Hm? Brat, you’re actually alive? How is that possible?”
“Where is this place, who are you?” Yang Kai asked as he looked around.
“Shut up! You’ll speak only when spoken to, I’ll pull out your tongue if you keep blabbing,” The man coldly snorted, his attitude extremely unfriendly, opening the cell door as he ordered, “Get out, my clan’s leader wants to see you.”
“Leader?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Stop asking questions and do as your told, otherwise I’ll chop you up and feed you to the Divine Tree right now!” The man threatened as he glared towards Yang Kai, turning around and walking out, “Follow me.”
Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent as he followed the man outside, quietly inspecting his surroundings as he walked forward.
Currently, he was in a dark and damp corridor that was lined with cells similar to the one Yang Kai was in before, each one separated from the others. There were also a number of people in these cells who, after hearing movement, turned their eyes towards him curiously.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled when he saw these inmates, feeling like something was off with them.
The auras these people emitted were different from those of average people. Strictly speaking, there were traces of Demonic Qi lingering around each and every one of them!
Among these people, Yang Kai didn’t see any trace of An Ling’er, nor were there any signs of where she might have been taken.
Soon, Yang Kai followed the man out of prison. After coming outside into the light, the man looked back at Yang Kai and seemed to want to say something but after seeing his prisoner’s state, he couldn’t help showing a shocked expression as he pointed at him and stuttered, “You… your body…”
“Is there something wrong?” Yang Kai asked indifferently.
“You were on death’s door, how are you…”
When Yang Kai was first brought here, there wasn’t one place on his body that wasn’t wounded, his stomach had even been pierced clean through, leaving behind a gaping hole. Everyone had thought he be dead before night fell.
But now, seeing him essentially unharmed, the man couldn’t help feeling somewhat stunned and uncomfortable.
“My restorative abilities are better than most!”
“‘Better than most’ doesn’t even begin to describe it,” The man stared at Yang Kai distrustfully, suddenly asking coldly, “Brat, you must have used some miraculous healing pill. If you still have any, hand them over, if I find them on you later you’ll only suffer more.”
“I don’t have anything like that,” Yang Kai shook his head.
The man swept his eyes up and down Yang Kai, seemingly looking for traces of a hidden pocket or Universe Bag; unfortunately for him, he didn’t discover anything and was somewhat disappointed. Grinding his teeth unhappily, he grabbed Yang Kai and pushed him forward.
Inside a large hall, many people were gathered, each of them having an almost glowing complexion, a thick and somewhat scalding aura pulsing from each of their bodies.
Everyone here, whether they were male or female, young or old, actually cultivated a Yang Attribute Secret Art, similar to Yang Kai. On top of that, each of their cultivations wasn’t low, the weakest of them still having reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage while a fair number of them were Transcendents.
There were more than a dozen people gathered here and at the head of the hall sat an old man with a particularly strong aura. This old man’s hair was red and wore an indifferent expression, giving off an imposing air.
Next to the old man was a square-faced youth wearing a grey shirt who made no attempt to conceal his surging True Qi.
This youth was actually a Third Order Transcendent!
This group of people was apparently in the middle of some kind of discussion but when Yang Kai arrived, all of them couldn’t help stopping and casting looks of surprise and amazement towards him, a strong sense of curiosity flashing across their eyes.
“Leader, I’ve brought him!” The man who led Yang Kai here cupped his fists and said. The old man sitting at the head of the room nodded lightly before waving his hand, dismissing the man. Before he left though, he didn’t forget to warn Yang Kai about showing proper respect again.
“Yi Feng, is this the Human you brought back?” The old man stroked his beard and temperately asked as he stared deeply towards Yang Kai.
As the old man spoke these words, Yang Kai could clearly feel a burning aura probing his body, seemingly inspecting him inside and out.
“En,” The young man standing next to the old man quickly responded, also staring at Yang Kai somewhat strangely.
“Didn’t you say he was on the verge of death? How can he be standing here now like nothing happened?” The old man asked again.
Yi Feng scratched his head and frowned, “I don’t know. When we brought him back here, he looked like he would die at any moment, I thought he wouldn’t last more than a day… Hey kid, what happened, how did you heal yourself?”
Yang Kai looked at the youth, then at the old man, wrinkling his brow as he asked, “From what you’ve said just now, you don’t seem to be Human.”
Only someone from a different race would refer to him as ‘Human’.
“Impudence!” Yi Feng’s expression immediately became cold, “When I ask you something you answer, otherwise keep your mouth shut.”
Saying so, he waved his hand a stream of energy, like a whip, struck Yang Kai’s body.
With a snapping sound, a new bloody mark appeared on Yang Kai’s chest, with his True Qi sealed, there was no way he could have resisted such an attack.
Yang Kai didn’t move and simply grit his teeth, turning his eyes towards the young man and staring fiercely.
“You’ve got guts at least!” Yi Feng sneered, raising his hand again and condensing his True Qi, seemingly planning on teaching this rude brat a harsh lesson.
“Enough, Yi Feng!” The old man suddenly raised his hand and stopped the youth from whipping Yang Kai, staring at the latter with a tinge of curiosity as he grinned, “Human Race kid, you have some skill. If I am not mistaken, the strength of your physique isn’t inferior to an average Saint’s, is it?”
“What?” Yi Feng’s expression changed to one of shock, “But his cultivation is only at the First Order Transcendent Realm.”
“He must have continuously tempered his body in order to achieve his current strength. Having such a strong physique at such a young age, truly impressive!” The old man smiled and asked, “How did you do it?”
“Every day I had someone whip me ten thousand times. Anyone who does the same can achieve what I have,” Yang Kai grinned back.
“A stupid way of doing things, but indeed possible.” Whether the old man didn’t know Yang Kai was spouting nonsense or just didn’t care, he simply the issue drop and moved on, “Because you are a Human, we’ve let you live for now. If you were a member of the Demon Race, your luck wouldn’t have been so good.”
Saying so, the old man’s expression suddenly became solemn as he asked, “Boy, I’ll ask you some questions, if I am satisfied with your answers, I can allow you to live a few more days. If I am not… you know the consequences.”
People under the eaves have to bow, so Yang Kai simply nodded.
“Do you any relationship with the Demon Race?”
“No.”
“You don’t? Then why did you appear here? Where did you come in from?”
“I came here from the seabed! There was a Void Corridor in an Ancient Ruin I recently explored. My companion and I were being chased by a powerful master and used that Void Corridor to escape. After coming to my senses, I found myself here.”
As Yang Kai spoke, the old man continued staring fixedly at him, seemingly wanting to determine if the former was lying. After a moment of silence, the old man continued, “Tell me about what happened, in detail.”
Under the gaze of the other party, Yang Kai began narrating his story, neither lying nor trying to conceal anything. The strength of this old man was unfathomable and Yang Kai didn’t know whether the former had some kind of special skills regarding interrogation so right now, lying would likely be counterproductive.
“You managed to escape from the pursuit of a Saint Realm master?” The old man was astonished, “You’re skill isn’t small!”
“Ha! It was mostly luck, I almost died…”
The old man nodded lightly, accepting Yang Kai’s explanation.
“Why did you think I had some sort of connection with the Demon Race? Also, where is my companion now? What’s her situation?” Yang Kai asked.
“Brat, you certainly have a lot of question,” Yi Feng coldly snorted.
The old man also frowned, apparently displease with Yang Kai asking so many questions, but he still responded, “Because only those from the Demon Race have ever entered this place, you are the first Human to come here. As for your companion, you don’t have to worry, she is fine, only her freedom of movement has been restricted.”
Saying so, he then turned to Yi Feng, “Go back to the place you found them see if there is another entrance. If you find one, destroy it!”
Yi Feng was just about to nod when Yang Kai cut in, “There’s no need for that, I destroyed the Void Corridor before coming here.”
“And we’re supposed to just take your word for that?” Yi Feng snorted as he glared over at Yang Kai, quickly cupping his fists to the old man before leading a group of people back to the forest Yang Kai had appeared in.
After Yi Feng left, the old man continued, “You cultivate a Yang Attribute Secret Art?”
Yang Kai nodded.
The old man grinned, “Not many Humans cultivate Yang Attribute Secret Art, and looking from your appearance, your cultivation technique isn’t bad, is it?”
Yang Kai’s expression tightened slightly, thinking this old man was interested in his True Yang Secret Art, but before he could say anything, the old man simply waved his hand dismissively and said, “But even the best Human Yang Attribute Secret Art is nothing compared to ours.”
When the old man said this, everyone else in the room wore a proud expression and nodded, directing contemptuous looks towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai expression relaxed as he asked, “You all seem to cultivate Yang Attribute Secret Arts, what race are you, and where is this place?”
“Us?” The old man stroked his beard and said, “We are Human yet also not Human!”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed as he listened to this non-answer.
“Our ancestors belonged to the Human Race, but we are a little different from Humans now,” The old man continued, not explaining much. “This place is our home, you outsiders refer to it as a Mysterious Small World.”
“I saw a lot of people back in your dungeon, are they all from the Demon Race? What hatred do you have with the Demon Race?”
“Boy, you really have a lot of questions! It seems your one of those fools who don’t know their places!” The old man starred him coldly, but still grit his teeth and muttered, “The hatred between us and the Demon Race is absolutely irreconcilable. One day, we will wipe all of the Demon Race from existence. As for you, we won’t kill you for the time being. Your strange physique should have some uses for us!”
Saying so, he narrowed his eyes towards Yang Kai once more before waving his hand, “Take him away!”
Immediately, one of the guards came up to Yang Kai and pushed him towards the door.
After Yang Kai had left, everyone in the hall began chattering.
“Leader, the physique of that brat is really quite unique, what’s more, he actually cultivates a Yang Attribute Secret Art, if we turn him into nutrients for the Divine Tree, perhaps the Divine Tree will be stable for a while.”
“En, the Divine Tree has become more and more unstable recently, if this continues, we may end up losing our place of shelter.”
“Grabbing these Demon Race dregs isn’t a long term solution, we need to figure out how to resolve the issue with the Divine Tree. If the Divine Tree were to have an accident… our clan would be devastated.”
“All of you shut up!” The old man shouted, “Do you think this old master doesn’t want to solve this problem? We still don’t even know what the cause of all this is, so how do we go about solving it?”
Hearing this, everyone’s expression sank.
After a brief silence, the old man issued a new commanded, “Xu Qiu, go inform our clansmen to take special care of that boy, give him the best food available and lift the seals on his body. Also, send him one of the Divine Tree’s fruits, I want him restored to his peak condition as soon as possible!”
“Yes,” The man named Xu Qiu quickly got up and walked outside to carry out his orders.
Everyone in the room secretly gripped their fists with a sense of anticipation, knowing what their leader was planning.
Yang Kai was brought back to the same damp and dark prison and shoved into a new cell.
Inside this cell there was another figure with a bleak expression on their face, sitting curled up in the corner, weeping softly.
After hearing movement from the front of their cell, this person looked up, and in an instant, her beautiful face lit as she shouted tenderly, “Yang Kai?”
As she spoke, she quickly jumped to her feet and rushed over towards him while inspecting him carefully, soon discovering that he had essentially recovered from his injuries, greatly astonishing her.
An Ling’er was separated from Yang Kai and brought here several days ago. She, like everyone else, had thought that after suffering such intense wounds, Yang Kai would either be permanently crippled or worse, dead. Never had she expected him to appear before her so quickly and in good condition.
Yang Kai glanced at her and signaled with his eyes for her to remain quiet. Only after the two guards outside had left did he bring her to the corner of the cell.
“Are you alright?” Yang Kai glanced at her and found that aside from her eyes being swollen from crying, her clothes and face were still in order.
An Ling’er shook her head, “I’m fine, they haven’t done anything to me. What about you?”
“I’m fine,” Yang Kai grinned.
“Where is this place, do you know who those people are? Why are they holding us prisoner?”
“I’m not entirely clear, all I know is that they don’t seem to be human and that they have some kind of deep hatred with the Demon Race!” Yang Kai glanced around at the adjacent cells where a number of curious pairs of eyes were staring at him and An Ling’er, each of the people behind these eyes giving off a faint demonic aura.
These people should be members of the Demon Race who were caught and brought here.
“Out of the wolf’s mouth and into the tiger’s den,” An Ling’er sighed, her expression quite ugly.
“At the very least, your Aunt Nan won’t be able to find us for a while,” Yang Kai sat down and said. Compared to being pursued by the previous generation’s Nine Heavens’ Saintess, this place seemed safer, at least for now.
Listening to Yang Kai’s words, An Ling’er’s mood became a bit better, also sitting down next to Yang Kai and snuggling up beside him.
Yang Kai didn’t pay her actions any mind and instead focused his attention on the surrounding Demon Race people. These people should have had their Demonic Qi and Divine Senses sealed as well, but even if they weren’t, in this place, where the air was rich in Yang Attribute Energy, their Demonic Qi would receive a great degree of suppression.
The number of demons held here numbered at least a dozen or so, and their cultivations varied quite a bit. As for their exact strength, Yang Kai couldn’t tell. With a seal still on his Knowledge Sea, he didn’t dare use his Divine Sense forcefully to spy on others.
As Yang Kai was observing his neighbours, a man suddenly came over to his cell.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he inspected this man.
Yang Kai had seen this man in the hall just now, he had been sitting in a relatively high position and could probably be counted as one of this place’s masters.
The man stood outside the cell and stared at Yang Kai indifferently. A moment later, a number of others appeared as well.
“Open the cell!” The lead man told one of the guards who immediately opened the cell’s door.
The people who had just arrived walked in and an enticing aroma filled the cell. Yang Kai was amazed because he found that these people had actually brought trays of beautifully arranged delicacies as well as several jugs of wine.
“Brat, consider yourself lucky. Our leader has told us to take good care of you,” The lead man coldly snorted, waving his hand and sending a burst of True Qi into Yang Kai.
The next moment, Yang Kai felt all the seals in his body disappear and his True Qi once again began flowing through his meridians, his strength quickly recovering.
However, Yang Kai didn’t make any hasty movements. The other party so casually unsealing his True Qi was obviously because he wasn’t worried about Yang Kai being able to escape or even hurt him.
The trays of food and drink were placed down in front of Yang Kai while the lead man stood by and watched indifferently.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Yang Kai frowned. These people had suddenly brought him tasty food and fine wine and had then proceeded to un-seal his True Qi and Spiritual Energy, such inexplicable behaviour of course made Yang Kai feel vigilant.
There was no such thing as a free lunch!
“No meaning!” The man sneered, slowly walking over and opening his hand, revealing a pale yellow fruit the size of a small fist. The moment this fruit appeared, Yang Kai felt the surrounding Yang Attribute Energy become stronger and a fragrant scent brush past his nose.
His brow rising, Yang Kai stared fixedly at this fruit.
“Hmph, even after offering this to you, the way you act is still filled with suspicion. Hurry up and eat it!” The man tossed the fruit over and Yang Kai caught it, staring back and forth between the fruit and the man’s face suspiciously.
The lead man no longer said anything and simply turned around and left with his clansmen.
A moment later, the group had disappeared.
Yang Kai sat deep in thought, not eating the fruit in his hand or touching the food in front of him, unable to hide his confusion. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand what was going on.
Suddenly, from the cell to his left, a strange laughter rang out, “Human brat, your luck isn’t bad, you actually get a nice meal before you die, it seems like those bastards value you quite a bit.”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he glanced over at the source of the voice but the light was too dim for him to tell what this man looked like.
His eyes narrowing slightly before relaxing, Yang Kai let out a friendly laugh and asked, “Friend, everyone here is in the same predicament, is there any need to taunt one another? Do you want some of this?”
“Nope, best of luck to you!” The man flatly rejected Yang Kai’s offer and then stopped talking.
“Is it poisoned?” An Ling’er asked nervously.
“You think too much,” Yang Kai shook his head. If these people really wanted to kill him, they didn’t need to use such petty tricks, from the strength they had shown, they definitely had the ability to put Yang Kai and An Ling’er to death instantly, why waste good food simply to poison them?
On top of that, although Yang Kai didn’t recognize what it was, the fruit he was given last was definitely something extraordinary. At the very least, this fruit was a Spirit Grade Top-Rank ingredient which contained a very rich Yang Qi.
One such fruit would be enough for someone with Yang Kai’s cultivation to completely restore themself.
“Eat up, there’s nothing wrong with it,” Yang Kai smiled and stuffed one of the plates into An Ling’er’s hand.
After having her True Qi and Spiritual Energy both sealed and spending a number of days living in fear, An Ling’er really did need to replenish her strength, so she immediately accepted and began eating.
Yang Kai also began stuffing his face, quickly sweeping away everything in front of him, not even letting the pit of the fruit go, swallowing it directly, adding a few drops of Yang Liquid to his dantian in the process
Over the next few days, people would come and deliver food to Yang Kai’s cell, which were all heavenly delicacies.
Yang Kai had already adjusted to this new environment and after these past few days, not only had his injuries completely healed, his strength had also improved slightly. This place was simply a cultivation paradise for the True Yang Secret Art.
Whenever Yang Kai and An Ling’er received these meals, the Demon Race people on either side of them became particularly unhappy.
They were all prisoners in the same prison, but the difference in treatment was as different as Heaven and Earth, causing all of them to wonder just what kind of connection Yang Kai had with the clan that occupied this Mysterious Small World.
In the cell on the left, the Demon Race person who had first spoken to Yang Kai had thought the latter would soon be killed, but after so many days, not only had the people here not found any trouble with him but instead continued to offer him various benefits, leaving him practically speechless.
Roughly five days later, Yang Kai, who was meditating in his cell, suddenly felt an unstable Yang Attribute energy fluctuation in the air, seemingly emanating from somewhere in the distance.
Wrinkling his brow, Yang Kai tried to examine what was going on, but was unable to discover anything useful.
On the other hand, the Demon Race people in the all the cells all wore dignified expressions as soon as they felt this strange energy fluctuation, all of them going silent as uneasiness filled the air, as if this energy fluctuation marked the coming of some kind of disaster.
“What happened to them?” An Ling’er huddled closer to Yang Kai and whispered.
Yang Kai shook his head, his expression also becoming solemn.
The clatter of footsteps could soon be heard as a number of people rushed into the prison from the outside and immediately grabbed a number of Demon Race people, dragging them kicking and screaming from their cells.
But with their strength completely sealed, there was no way these Demon Race people could fight back effectively and soon they were all knocked down and brought out.
After dragging these prisoners out, the doors to the cells were locked again.
Those who still remained began to clamor and curse but obviously no one responded to them.
“Enough! All of you shut up, you think shouting is of any use here?” In the cell to the left of Yang Kai’s, the Demon Race man who had spoken to Yang Kai before called out.
Soon after, everyone fell silent.
Seeing this, Yang Kai glanced over at this man curiously. Apparently this guy had some fame and prestige amongst the Demon Race or else the others here wouldn’t have so easily obeyed him.
After roughly the time it would take to burn a stick of incense, the unsteady energy fluctuations gradually subsided and eventually faded away.
A somber mood fell over the prison as all of the Demon Race people inside became noticeably low-spirited.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed as he thought to himself that these captives should know more about what was going on. Perhaps he could acquire some useful information from them if he could just get them to talk.
A day later, someone once again brought food and wine, but this time Yang Kai didn’t stuff his meal down immediately but instead took a jug of wine over to the Demon Race man on his left and said in as friendly a tone as possible, “Do you want to share a drink? This wine isn’t half bad.”
Amidst the darkness, a pair of eyes slowly opened and glanced over at Yang Kai, a moment later a snort ringing out, revealing a sense of disdain and ridicule.
“Although I’m human and you’re a demon, and the relationship between our two races has never been friendly, but where I come from we have a saying, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ What do you think?” Yang Kai continued his attempt to persuade this man.
In response, the man slowly took back his sneer and contemplated for a while before saying, “Hmph, you Humans are infamous for your treachery, but at least you don’t seem too hateful!”
Saying so, he stood up, walked over to where the two cells met, sat down and took the jug of wine from Yang Kai’s hand and drank it down.
A few breaths later, after watching him swallowing down the jug of wine, Yang Kai handed this man another.
Seeing him act so subservient, the Demon Race man couldn’t help nodding while disdainfully snickering, “I despise you, humans, the most. You all act servile to those stronger than you yet boast arrogantly in front of those weaker than you. A sinister and deceitful bunch!”
“Heh heh,” Yang Kai didn’t get angry and simply handed over the jug of wine, “Drink first, we can talk later.”
The food and drink disappeared quickly after that.
The Demon Race man stopped constantly making insults but the way he looked down on Yang Kai with utter scorn didn’t change from beginning to end.
“Is there something you want to ask?” The man grumbled, obviously having seen through Yang Kai’s intentions from the start.
Yang Kai simply smiled and first gave his name to his neighbour before saying, “I haven’t asked friend’s name yet.”
The man frowned, seemingly reluctant to report his name, but after considering for a moment he bluntly said, “Gou Che!”
Hearing this name, Yang Kai showed no reaction, but the nearby An Ling’er couldn’t help crying out in shock as she covered her mouth in surprise.
“Hm?” Yang Kai turned to look at her.
“Are you really Gou Che?” An Ling’er stared at the Demon Race man in disbelief.
“Good!”
“My god, you’re actually Gou Che, how come you’re stuck in this prison then?”
“Is he someone famous?” Yang Kai asked An Ling’er curiously.
Gou Che snorted as he curled his lips, “Human brat, originally I thought you were somewhat clever, how come you suddenly look so ignorant?”
“Sorry, I’ve never heard of you,” Yang Kai smiled faintly.
An Ling’er licked her red lips and whispered, “Although I have heard the name Gou Che, he is not actually that famous, the famous one is his father! One of the four Demon Generals, Gou Qiong!”
“Your old man is a Demon General?” Yang Kai was also shocked.
The title ‘Demon General’ was one Yang Kai was unfortunately quite familiar with. Back in the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land’s Evil Cavern Yang Kai had killed a Demon General’s Soul Clone! It was only after coming to Tong Xuan Realm though that Yang Kai learned of the terrifying strength each Demon General possessed from Shui Ling.
“My old man is my old man, I am me!” Gou Che seemed unwilling to borrow his father’s name and reputation.
“If you have such a powerful father, how could you have been caught and imprisoned here?” Yang Kai asked, somewhat dumbfounded.
Gou Che squinted as he glared at Yang Kai for a moment before sighing heavily, “A series of unlucky coincidences. In any case, let’s not talk about that. When I get out of here, I’ll rally together enough soldiers to raze this place to the ground.”
“May your wishes come true,” Yang Kai casually said before finally getting to the main point, “How much do you know about this place?”
“Not much,” Gou Che shook his head and no longer rejected Yang Kai outright as he had previously, perhaps agreeing with the sentiment that his enemy’s enemy was his friend, or perhaps thinking he could somehow use Yang Kai to help him escape from this predicament. “We only know that the people here call themselves the Sun Clan. They seem to have once belonged to the Human Race, but because of the Secret Arts they cultivate and that damn Divine Tree of theirs, their physique is now somewhat different from ordinary humans, so they gave themselves a new name.”
“Divine Tree?” Yang Kai frowned and vaguely remembered hearing that name when he first woke up. If he wasn’t mistaken, the Sun Clan clansmen who brought him to the hall said he would turn him into nutrients for the Divine Tree if he didn’t cooperate.
“En, it’s the root of their Sun Clan! Didn’t you see a giant tree when you first came here? The Yang Attribute energy being so rich in this place is all because of that Divine Tree! If not for it, how could our Demon Qi be so strongly suppressed?”
The energy flowing through Demon Race cultivators was called Demonic Qi, which was equivalent to the True Qi which flowed through Human cultivators.
After listening to Gou Che’s story, Yang Kai shook his head slowly, he really hadn’t seen this Divine Tree before, probably because he and An Ling’er had entered this Mysterious Small World from a different entrance.
“The Divine Tree is a strange entity that can generate Yang Attribute energy all on its own; however, recently, for some unknown reason, it seems to have become somewhat unstable. In order to keep the Divine Tree healthy and stable, the Sun Clan people here began catching people from the outside, and the only entrance to this Mysterious Small World is in my Demon Land, so those they have caught all come from my race. Strange, how did the two of you get here?”
“There’s more than one entrance to this place, we accidentally came in through one of them,” Yang Kai explained casually.
“No wonder,” Gou Che nodded lightly before continuing, “You must have felt the unusual energy fluctuations just now; they occur when the Divine Tree becomes unstable. Whenever that happens, they take some of the people they’ve captured here and use their blood and flesh to nurture and comfort the Divine Tree.”
“So those few who were taken just now…”
“They’re dead!” Gou Che sneered, “And it won’t be long before it’s our turn! I’m sure you can see, there aren’t many people left in here.”
Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. There were only one or two people left in the cells adjacent to his and it was likely there weren’t many in the other cells as well. Every time the Divine Tree’s instability appeared, they had to take several of them to act as blood sacrifices, so it was obviously it wouldn’t be long before everyone in here was dead.
The Sun Clan always abducting Demon Race cultivators from the Demon Land was bound to attract attention after so long so it was likely the Demon Land was now on guard against them so as not to let them succeed so easily anymore, meaning a fresh supply of bodies couldn’t be expected.
“The fruit you ate a few days ago came from their Divine Tree,” Gou Che frowned and explained, “Seeing how you ate that thing so happily, and considering the annoying feeling that comes from your aura, you should cultivate a Yang Attribute Secret Art, right?”
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
“Then you can relax for a while. Before everyone else here is killed off, they probably won’t touch you. Their Divine Tree is especially fond of people like you so I’m sure they’re saving you for last,” Gou Che said, obviously taking some pleasure in Yang Kai’s misfortune, his menacing smiling giving An Ling’er the chills.
“Many thanks for your consideration,” Yang Kai cupped his fists and replied.
Gou Che just snickered before turning his attention to An Ling’er, sweeping his eyes over her body wantonly before saying meaningfully, “Brat, if I were you, I would enjoy myself while I can. You have such a beauty nearby yet you haven’t even touched her, could it be you have problems down there? That’s not good, you can’t disappoint her like that.”
As soon as Gou Che said this, the other Demon Race captives burst out into a fit of laughter.
Yang Kai’s face went black and suddenly felt like this guy was somewhat off putting. An Ling’er on the other hand did her best to cover herself while shooting a hateful glare towards Gou Che and hiding herself behind Yang Kai.
…..
Since talking to Gou Che that day, Yang Kai gained a slight understanding of his current situation and began making some psychological preparations.
After getting a taste of wine after who knows how long, Gou Che became somewhat shameless; whenever the Sun Clan came to deliver food, he would always take two jugs of wine from Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t mind though and simply shared without any complaints.
After getting along for a dozen days or so, Gou Che’s attitude had become more temperate and although it wasn’t as if he was treating Yang Kai like a sworn brother, he at least mellowed his insufferable arrogance.
The only thing that continued to frustrate Yang Kai was how Gou Che always egged him on regarding An Ling’er, each time causing the naive young woman to turn beat red and cling to Yang Kai to hide her embarrassment.
Being imprisoned here, while constantly on edge, not knowing when they would be dragged off and executed had caused the already unruly Demon Race cultivators to completely let loose and seek for some kind of entertainment anywhere they could.
In the past ten days, Yang Kai felt the unstable Yang Attribute energy fluctuations coming from the Divine Tree twice.
Both times, several of the Demon Race prisoners were taken out, never to return.
As the days went by, the number of Demon Race cultivators in the cells continued to dwindle and the moods of those who were left behind grew even heavier.
Their time of death was not far away, and everyone was aware of it.
The atmosphere was incredible gloomy, with only Yang Kai and Gou Che capable of looking forward. Neither of them seeming to be worried, as if they didn’t care whether they lived or died.
Yang Kai spent most of his time cultivating, not missing any opportunity to improve his strength.
He knew that the day he was taken out from this place, he’d have to fight a difficult battle. In this Mysterious Small World, to survive, he knew he would have to kill. If that is the case, then sharpening his blade at any opportunity he can was the best thing he could do right now.
Below the Saint Realm, he didn’t put anyone in his eyes, if anyone provoked him, he could directly release his Soul Devouring Insects and turn this Mysterious Small World into a mass graveyard. Presumably, the leaders of the Sun Clan wouldn’t be able to accept such an outcome which would give Yang Kai an opportunity to sit down and bargain with them.
Therefore he didn’t have any reason to panic.
But this was his biggest trump card and he wasn’t prepared to expose it until the last possible moment.
Two months passed by and basically every five days, a group of people would be brought out from the prison, but as more time went by, Yang Kai felt that the frequency of the Divine Tree’s episodes was increasing.
There were already very few people left in the dungeon.
With the exception of Yang Kai and An Ling’er, only Gou Che and his cellmates were left.
The next time the Divine Tree acted up, it would be their turn. This feeling of impending death unnerved even the normally calm Gou Che.
One day, while drinking with Yang Kai, Gou Che suddenly said, “Friend, you look like a real man. If death is really imminent, would you not resist?”
“Do you think I have the ability to resist?” Yang Kai chuckled.
“They didn’t seal your True Qi, your chances are at least better than mine.”
“Well, if it comes down to it, it certainly won’t just sit still and wait for death.”
“Good, when the time comes, I’ll help you. If you really can escape from this forsaken place, please bring a message to my father; tell him about this place and what happened here so he can take revenge for me!” As he spoke, Gou Che’s expression became fierce, “I have to let these bastards know my Demon Race is not to be trifled with.”
Yang Kai glanced over at him thoughtfully, faintly thinking that this hoodlum should still be hiding some methods, or at least was still capable of putting up some resistance.
However, it seemed like whatever methods he had were very limited; from how he spoke, it didn’t seem like he had any hope of escaping.
[With his help, maybe there really would be a chance to escape!] Yang Kai thought to himself.
As they were talking though, a familiar energy fluctuation filled the air.
Yang Kai, Gou Che, and An Ling’er’s eyes flashed, each of them falling into a temporary daze.
“It’s time!” Gou Che took a deep breath and said.
The Divine Tree had become unstable again, and now, besides them, there was only one other Demon Race cultivator left in this prison. They would certainly be chosen this time.
*Deng deng deng deng…*
The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside and with a loud bang, several Sun Clan clansmen burst into the prison.
It’s mainly to see how the other sites are stealing the content. I doubt they are literally copying and pasting so, let’s see how it goes. TBH, I don’t actually hate them for stealing, just wish that they would have the Patreon link there for us to hit the higher goals. Do you hear me guys?
The leader of this group was the man who had previously lifted the seal on Yang Kai’s True Qi and Spiritual Energy, his expression this time could only be described as gloomy. After arriving, he waved his hand and several of his clansmen immediately opened the two cells.
“Boy, your time of death has arrived,” The man said coldly, “Wasting so many of our resources and living so comfortably for so long, I want to see just how much return you’ll pay!”
As he spoke, he once again sealed Yang Kai’s True Qi before turning to his clansmen and ordering, “Take them all!”
Gou Che and his fellow Demon Race cultivator both suddenly let out muffled grunts as they received several punches and kicks and were dragged out of their cell. On the other hand, Yang Kai and An Ling’er didn’t resist and were spared such unpleasantries.
Walking along the prison’s dark corridor, Gou Che seemed to be somewhat unwilling to cooperate, so it was stop and go for a while, resulting in several whippings. As a result, when the group finally made it out of the prison, Gou Che was a bloody mess, but he was still stubbornly resisting, spewing curses from his mouth as he struggled against his captors.
The master from the Sun Clan simply sneered in response, “Go on, curse, curse like there’s no tomorrow, cause there isn’t! Son of a Demon General? Hmph, you’re nothing but a dead man walking. No one will come to rescue you.”
“If you have the guts, let me go. As soon as I return I’ll rally soldiers and lead my father’s army back here to annihilate you all!” Gou Che yelled.
“Idiot!” The man spat disdainfully.
As Gou Che spoke, he continuously shot glances towards Yang Kai, seemingly urging him to act, but Yang Kai just kept indicating that now was not the time.
Right now was when the surrounding masters were wariest. Even if he was at full strength, Yang Kai couldn’t guarantee he could escape successfully, so how was he supposed to do so when his True Qi and Spiritual Energy were sealed?
He had to wait for an opportunity to release his Soul Devouring Insects and take a large number of Sun Clan clansmen hostage first.
After seeing Yang Kai respond this way several times, Gou Che stopped signalling to him and instead began staring suspiciously, wondering what this strange Human brat was thinking.
As the group walked forward, the Yang Attribute energy fluctuation also grew stronger and more unstable.
The Sun Clan clansmen seemed to be in a hurry and were constantly urging Yang Kai and the others to walk faster.
A short time later, Yang Kai came to an open space where there was nothing within a thousand-meter radius beside a giant golden coloured tree that’s canopy seemed to stretch into the clouds.
Yang Kai could sense that all the Yang Attribute energy in this place was being generated from this giant tree.
It was almost like a giant umbrella, its huge canopy stretching out in all directions, radiating so much Yang Qi that it formed a thin, film-like barrier that subsequently covered the region where the Sun Clan people lived.
As soon as he arrived, the True Qi in Yang Kai’s body showed some signs of movement and soon after, the seal which had been placed on him was silently destroyed.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed with shock.
He had never thought such a strange tree could exist in this world. This giant tree was obviously the Sun Clan’s Divine Tree, the foundation of their race.
Because of the Secret Arts the Sun Clan cultivated, as long as they remained near this Divine Tree, their strength will rapidly increase, unlike Yang Kai who needed to constantly search for Yang Attribute Precious Treasures and auras just to cultivate.
This was simply a paradise Yang Kai could only dream of.
Staring up at the huge Divine Tree, Yang Kai spotted a number of fruits hanging from its branches. These fruits were the same as the one Yang Kai had eaten soon after waking up in this strange Mysterious Small World, some of them were mature while others seemed to still need more time before ripening.
Not far from the roots of the Divine Tree, the Sun Clan’s Elders were waiting, and upon noticing Yang Kai and the other prisoners’ arrival, they turned around and stared with expectant eyes.
Soon after, the Divine Tree seemed to give off some unusual fluctuations, as if trying to convey a message of desire, releasing a wave of pure Yang Attribute aura that transformed into several visibly ropes which wrapped around Yang Kai.
Seeing this scene, all of the Sun Clan Elders’ spirits roused.
The old leader smiled and nodded as he muttered, “It looks like the Divine Tree likes this human.”
“Thank the Heavens, with this human, the Divine Tree should be able to stabilize for a while, giving us enough time to find some new nutrients!”
“Being able to become the Divine Tree’s nutrients is your life’s greatest honour!” The master who escorted Yang Kai and the others here sneered.
“Doesn’t seem like it to me,” Yang Kai replied flatly but made no attempt to free himself from the energy ropes the Divine Tree had wrapped around him.
These Yang Qi ropes not only didn’t restrict Yang Kai’s movements, they actually gave him a feeling of comfort.
Glancing around, Yang Kai saw that not far in front of himself was a pile of bones and earth that had been dyed red by blood. Obviously, these were the remains of the Demon Race cultivators who had previously been brought here.
This sea of bones and blood was quite shocking at first sight.
An Ling’er pretty face went pale, thinking that she would soon join this mass grave, her heart couldn’t help filling with panic.
*Kacha Kacha…*
As they were pushed forward and stepped, the bones beneath their feet cracked and crumbled, releasing a somewhat gruesome sound.
Gou Che roared as his eyes gradually turned red and filled with anger, the aura around his body become violent and dangerous.
The blood and bones here were all left behind by his clansmen, naturally, Gou Che felt enraged.
As he approached the Divine Tree, Yang Kai’s expression gradually became strange, he felt as if the Divine Tree was trying to convey something to him but was unable to decipher it, causing him to sink into contemplation.
Soon, the group of prisoners was brought before the Divine Tree.
The Sun Clan didn’t seem to want to waste any time, all of them eager to start the blood sacrifice to appease the Divine Tree.
The old leader stared at Gou Che and bluntly commanded, “Start with him.”
Immediately, someone came over and knocked Gou Che to the ground.
“Kid, if you don’t act now when will you?” Gou Che suddenly yelled at Yang Kai, his body swelling up as he spoke, his physique filling with a kind of explosive power that easily smashed through the seals with just his Demonic Qi.
Without hesitation, Gou Che thrust his hand towards the nearest Sun Clan clansman’s heart, trying to strike him to death.
None of the Sun Clan present even batted an eye though, instead staring at Gou Che as if he were some kind of idiot. The old leader simply waved his hand and Gou Che’s movements froze, no matter how the latter tried he simply couldn’t move. Sweat dripping down his forehead, unwillingness filled Gou Che’s red eyes but in the face of absolute power, there was nothing more he could do.
“You think by risking your life you can put up some kind of last-ditch struggle?” The leader chuckled, “Foolishness, do you think I would give you any such chance?”
“You old bastard!” Gou Che gnashed his teeth and cursed, the veins on his forehead nearly popping out, not losing hope as he continued to push his Demonic Qi but still unable to free himself from this predicament.
Gou Che’s strength wasn’t low, already arriving at the Third Order Transcendent Realm, but in front of a Saint Realm master, he still couldn’t put up any kind of resistance. On top of that, this place was right below the Sun Clan’s Divine Tree, the ambient Yang Qi was incredibly rich, harshly suppressing Gou Che’s Demonic Qi, even the weakest Sun Clan clansmen in the same realm could easily beat him here.
“Kill him!” The leader shouted somewhat impatiently.
The two Sun Clan guards who had dragged Gou Che here sneered as they raised their hands, their True Qi surging as they prepared to cut off their prisoner’s head.
“Wait!” Seeing Gou Che’s head about to roll, Yang Kai suddenly shouted.
“Boy, what do you want?” The old leader turned to look at Yang Kai sullenly, “Don’t tell me you want to take his place and die first?”
As soon as this statement came out, Gou Che’s expression also became somewhat confused.
Yang Kai simply grinned, “Sorry, my relationship with him isn’t nearly that good, whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with me.”
“Then why did you open your mouth just now?”
“I just thought I might have a way to resolve your problem and appease your Divine Tree,” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
All the Sun Clan clansmen present wore unpleasant expression upon hearing this, the old leader coldly glaring towards Yang Kai as he said, “Boy, you know to talk big I’ll give you that, but if you dare try to stir up trouble here, I’ll make you suffer a fate worse than death.”
“Whether I’m boasting or not, you can determine after letting me try; in any case, you have nothing to lose,” Yang Kai said, shrugging lightly.
In the next moment, True Qi surged out from Yang Kai’s body.
“You…” The master who had escorted him here stared in disbelief, unable to understand how this boy had so easily broken through the seals on his strength.
“Don’t look so surprised, it’s not that I have the ability to break through your seals, it was the Divine Tree that helped me!” Yang Kai smiled as he pointed at the energy ropes still tied around him.
“Strange!” The man shook his head in confusion.
“Now then, do you want me to try? To be honest, if you want to kill us all now, I have no opinion. At worst I’ll die a quick death, but if you let me try, you might receive an unexpected surprise. En, well, even if it doesn’t work, it won’t be too late to kill us then. It’s your decision.”
Seeing him look so calm, seemingly indifferent to whether he lived or died, the Sun Clan’s Elders became somewhat hesitant.
The most important point here was the Divine Tree’s behaviour. They had never seen the Divine Tree entangle someone like this before. Not even the strongest members of their Sun Clan had experienced such a thing.
As such, Yang Kai’s words had some credibility to them.
Perhaps it was as he said and he could give them some unexpected surprises.
The crowd whispered amongst themselves for a moment before all of them turned their attention to their leader.
The old man sunk into contemplation for a moment, his eyes staring at Yang Kai with some distrust but eventually nodding as he said, “This old master will allow you to try, but you must first tell us what you plan to do.”
“There’s no way to describe it, you’ll just have to watch and see!” Yang Kai smiled, ignoring the unfriendly stares of the surrounding Sun Clan clansmen as he walked forward.
“If you dare damage the Divine Tree, I will pull out your Soul and torture you for all eternity!” The old leader threatened coldly.
Yang Kai secretly snorted, not caring at all about the old man’s threat.
In front of everyone’s eyes, Yang Kai walked over and stood before the giant Divine Tree.
Both Gou Che and An Ling’er secretly clenched their fists, neither of them knowing what Yang Kai was thinking.
Standing beside the Divine Tree’s roots, Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled slightly as he slowly extended his hand and pressed it against the tree.
The instant he touched it, his body shook.
The Divine Tree in front of him was simply a gigantic treasure! The Divine Tree had so much Yang Attribute energy stored within it, it was difficult for Yang Kai to even fathom. It was as if Yang Qi flowed through the tree’s trunk like a raging river. It was to the point where it he listened carefully, Yang Kai could actually hear sound of the flowing Yang Qi.
Yang Kai’s expression changed greatly, wondering just what kind of height his strength would grow to if he could absorb this massive amount of energy.
However, he quickly shook his head. This was the Sun Clan’s Divine Tree; in front of so many masters, it was simply impossible for Yang Kai to absorb any energy from it. If he even tried, he would become a corpse in the next moment.
As Yang Kai stood there, all of the Sun Clan’s masters had their Divine Senses locked onto him, if he made any kind of suspicious movement, they would ruthlessly kill him.
However, Yang Kai’s performance was quite tactful as he simply investigated the Divine Tree, nothing more.
After some time passed, many of the Sun Clan began to show impatient expressions because the fluctuations coming from the Divine Tree had not decreased in the slightest.
Yang Kai also no longer wasted any time, instantly smashing the seal on his Spiritual Energy and then sending his Soul Avatar into the trunk of the Divine Tree.
Inside the Divine Tree, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar found a golden world filled with Yang Qi so rich it turned into a liquid and flowed like a mighty river. Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar swam through this river, tracing it back to its source.
After a little hard work, Yang Kai arrived at a mysterious space.
This space was somewhere inside the Divine Tree and, strictly speaking, should be its core.
In front of Yang Kai’s Avatar, he discovered an unusual energy formation that seemed to be quietly floating within the golden river. This energy formation exuded an astonishingly hot aura that was subtly different from its surroundings.
As he watched, Yang Kai saw this energy formation pulse slowly, giving it the appearance of a great, beating heart.
Seeing this, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling shocked.
There is always a reason when there is change.
When he had first arrived before the Divine Tree and the latter had taken the initiative to reach out and contact him, Yang Kai had a faint idea what was going on, and now that he had seen this mass of energy, he became certain about his speculations.
At the same time, Yang Kai thoroughly understood what the bouts of restlessness the Divine Tree had were about.
The Sun Clan were unclear about the actual situation and could only provide the Divine Tree with nutrients in the form of blood sacrifices.
Letting out a long sigh, Yang Kai continued to stare at the energy mass in front of him for a while.
This energy formation continued to pulse as it revealed a sense of eagerness and intimacy towards Yang Kai.
This energy formation was still in a state of chaos, but Yang Kai believed that if it was given enough time and enough nourishment, it would form a complete consciousness.
The world was truly vast, even giving birth to such a strange life form.
Yang Kai had encountered the Jade True Spirit and the Bone Race skeleton before which were similarly strange existences, and now he had come across this Divine Tree which, from the looks of it, was in the process of evolving into a completely new life form.
Transforming from a mere plant to a sentient being!
This energy formation at the heart of the tree was actually a gathering of Spiritual Energy and once it completed its evolution, it would become something akin to the Divine Tree’s Soul.
Yang Kai was deeply surprised, never having thought a tree could actually reach such a step.
The occasional riots of the Divine Tree weren’t because it had contracted some kind of illness or because it was on the verge of death, but because its evolution required a massive amount of energy.
It was rooted here so there weren’t many nutrients it could absorb from its surroundings, so whenever it needed more, it would unconsciously cry out. That was also why, when the Sun Clan offered it blood sacrifices, the Divine Tree would settle down for a while.
After eating and drinking enough, it naturally became stable.
However, such a method wasn’t a cure for the problem so it would inevitably start complaining again after a period of time, causing the Sun Clan no small amount of worry.
The amount of energy the Divine Tree needed for its evolution was too large, but judging from the increasing frequency of its riots, Yang Kai felt that it wouldn’t be long before it succeeded.
Yang Kai quickly figured out what was going on, but what he didn’t know was how much the Sun Clan knew.
It was reasonable to say that they could understand the situation by simply sending one of the Soul Avatars into this place, but from their uneasiness and urgency when it came to the Divine Tree’s riots, it seemed as though they were clueless about what was really happening.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling confused about this.
The only way to solve this mystery would be to ask!
Thinking so, Yang Kai quickly took back his Soul Avatar.
Just as he opened his eyes, Yang Kai heard many angry voices coming from the Sun Clan’s masters, all of them seemingly growing impatient, anxious to sacrifice Gou Che and his companion to calm the Divine Tree.
“What are you all so worried about?” Yang Kai squinted at them and said faintly, “I just finished my investigation and came up with a plan, wait a moment longer!”
The leader of the Sun Clan stared at Yang Kai coldly as he declared, “I’ll give you the time it takes to boil a cup of tea, if you can’t calm the Divine Tree by then, all of you will die here today! “
“A cup of tea…” Yang Kai chuckled, “Should be enough.”
Saying so, Yang Kai soared up into the sky and hid himself in the Divine Tree’s dense canopy, disappearing from everyone’s line of sight. The Sun Clan masters weren’t worried though. Even if they couldn’t see Yang Kai, their Divine Senses were still watching every move he made.
Atop the Divine Tree’s huge trunk, Yang Kai arrived at a spot he estimated was the location he had encountered the energy formation.
Stretching out a finger, Yang Kai opened a small crack in the trunk.
Immediately after, Yang Kai condensed a drop of Yang Liquid at his fingertip and dropped it into the crack.
The drop of Yang Liquid directly penetrated into the tree and disappeared.
Although he appeared calm on the surface, Yang Kai’s heart was pounding as he wasn’t certain his plan would work.
What he was doing right now was something he had just come up with on the spot, so there was no guarantee it would have any effect at all.
Yang Kai still remembered back when he was first beginning to cultivate that he had grown several Yang Attribute fruit trees by using his Yang Liquid, so he knew his Yang Liquid had such a growth-promoting effect and that the effect was quite significant.
A spirit fruit tree which should have taken several years to grow and produce fruit had fully matured within a month after absorbing a single drop of Yang Liquid.
Right now, this Divine Tree’s evolution required a massive amount of energy and a drop of Yang Liquid was undoubtedly the best choice for this. On top of that, Yang Kai’s Yang Liquid was very different from the past, the energy contained within a single drop was dozens of times greater than before.
Perhaps this could satisfy the Divine Tree’s requirements!
If it couldn’t though, Yang Kai would have no choice but to give up.
Waiting silently, Yang Kai felt a great sense of tension, not because he was afraid to confront the Sun Clan in a fight, but because he was full of expectations. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of role his Yang Liquid could play here and just what the Divine Tree’s evolved, sentient form would be like!
Suddenly, the fluctuations coming from the Divine Tree became much more intense, as if the drop of Yang Liquid had greatly stimulated it and it was now going on a rampage, throwing the surrounding area into a state of chaos.
“Boy! What have you done!?” Among the Sun Clan masters who were waiting down below, one of them immediately roared angrily upon seeing this and flew up towards Yang Kai, intending to execute him.
“Wait!” This time, it was the Sun Clan’s leader who called out, his brow wrinkling deeply as he examined the situation.
“Leader, that brat definitely tried to harm the Divine Tree, please let me immediately kill him!”
“I told you to wait!” The leader glanced at this man and declared in a domineering tone, shutting the latter up instantly.
Up in the canopy, Yang Kai heard the noise down below, but paid it no mind, instead wearing a happy expression.
The Divine Tree was rioting now not because it was upset but because it desperately wanted more of his Yang Liquid, its rioting was its way of begging for more.
The crack Yang Kai had previously opened actually split apart even further all on its own.
The Divine Tree seemed to think that by doing so it would be able to obtain more benefits.
Its consciousness was currently in a state of ignorance, just like an unborn child. It could vaguely sense what was going on in its surroundings, but couldn’t distinguish what much of it meant. This crack opening on its own was a subconscious reaction it took.
Yang Kai grinned and fed the Divine Tree another drop of Yang Liquid into the trunk from his fingertips.
A moment later, the rampaging aura of the Divine Tree became much more stable.
This time, everyone from the Sun Clan couldn’t help showing strange expressions, the old leader’s eyes flashing a cold yet expectant light.
As time passed, the aura of the Divine Tree gradually became calm, as if an invisible hand had gently been lulling it to sleep.
Everyone waited with anticipation and soon enough, Yang Kai jumped down from the Divine Tree, his face pale and sweat dripping from his forehead.
After landing, Yang Kai sat down without a word and began circulating his Secret Art.
No one dared to disturb him and even the Sun Clan clansmen held their breaths as they waited quietly, wondering just what kind of method he had used to successfully comfort the Divine Tree.
Gou Che and An Ling’er were both stunned but soon let out sighs of relief. They knew that this time they had managed to escape from the jaws of death.
After some time, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes, his complexion somewhat better but obviously still quite weak, the True Qi in his body seemingly severely depleted.
His expression was also quite gloomy and it was apparent he wasn’t in a good mood.
This was no act, Yang Kai really was in a foul mood. This time, in order to provide the Divine Tree with enough energy, he had actually fed it twenty drops of Yang Liquid.
This was a big loss.
“Boy, what did you just do?” The Sun Clan leader quickly asked, “How were you able to comfort the Divine Tree?”
“Do you think I’ll tell you?” Yang Kai sneered.
“Brat, you’d best start talking, if you don’t, we’ll let you taste the world’s finest torture!” Someone immediately threatened.
Yang Kai slowly shook his head and replied back in a defiant tone, “Do whatever you want, this time’s comforting was just a temporary fix. If you don’t want to completely solve your Divine Tree’s problem, you can beat me all you’d like, I promise you if one hair on my head is harmed, the next time your precious Divine Tree goes on a rampage I’ll definitely stand by and watch!”
Yang Kai’s fearless and defiant attitude caused the Sun Clan to hesitate.
The old leader smiled strangely and maintained a neutral attitude while cynically saying, “Boy, your courage isn’t small. Do you think we’ll be so easily intimidated? You only have one life, you should cherish it more, obeying us is your only option here!”
Yang Kai just glanced over at the old leader indifferent and said nothing, stubbornly refusing to cooperate.
Now that he had finally seized the initiative, Yang Kai’s best option was to remain silent, once the Sun Clan learned what he had done, they would likely treat him as a long-term nutrient supply for the Divine Tree and force him to continuously manufacture Yang Liquid to water it.
That was not an outcome Yang Kai wanted to see.
However, listening to their tone, Yang Kai faintly felt that they really didn’t know the Divine Tree was evolving, causing him to frown, it wasn’t until after a moment of reflection that Yang Kai suddenly understood.
He was able to learn the truth because his Soul Avatar had broken into the Divine Tree’s interior to examine it.
But the Sun Clan’s Soul Avatars obviously couldn’t replicate this. Within the Divine Tree’s trunk was an intense flow of Yang Qi, once any of their Soul Avatars entered, they would likely be burned to death!
They didn’t have Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea which could ignore that scorching heat.
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s last worries disappeared as his courage inflated again.
As long as the Sun Clan didn’t know the truth of the matter, Yang Kai could firmly grasp the initiative in their negotiations.
The Sun Clan leader stared deeply at Yang Kai, his brow furrowed as his expression became somewhat gloomy, only after a while smiling and nodding, “If you don’t want to explain then so be it, I’ll have plenty of chances to figure it out.”
This place was their home turf, and his cultivation was much higher than Yang Kai’s, so naturally the old leader felt Yang Kai couldn’t be able to conceal his methods for long.
Yang Kai simply shrugged his shoulders and remained indifferent.
“Because you have the ability to comfort the Divine Tree, you still have some value, so we won’t be killing you today, but I warn you, don’t try to play any tricks. You won’t be able to afford the consequences!”
Yang Kai chuckled and finally spoke, “You can feel relieved, I understand my own worth, as long as you don’t harm me or my companions, I’ll cooperate with you.”
“You’re an interesting one, boy!” The leader smirked, Yang Kai’s adaptability had gained the old man’s approval.
“But before that, I have a few requests I hope you can fulfil.”
“Don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch, you don’t have the qualifications to discuss any conditions with us, it seems you really don’t understand your own position!” The old leader coldly snorted, his expression becoming gloomy again.
“I’m not asking for myself but for your Divine Tree. If you want your Divine Tree to be restored as quickly as possible, it’s best if you hear me out, if you don’t want to thought, that’s also fine.”
The Sun Clan cultivators all frowned as they stared at Yang Kai distrustfully.
“Speak!” The old leader said calmly.
“First, starting today, I want all of your Sun Clan clansmen to stop absorbing Yang Qi from the Divine Tree, if you want to cultivate, do it far away from this place!”
“Why?”
“I can only say that this has something to do with the riots of the Divine Tree,” Yang Kai replied perfunctorily.
The Divine Tree’s evolution required a massive amount of energy which Yang Kai was no supplying in the form of Yang Liquid, the last thing he wanted was for a portion of that to be absorbed by the Sun Clan, further increasing his consumption.
“What kind of joke is that? With just one sentence you want our entire clan to stop cultivating?!” A Sun Clan master shouted.
“It’s up to you to decide, I don’t care either way, I’m just making the suggestions.”
“How long do you want us to stop?” The Sun Clan’s leader asked.
Yang Kai frowned and asked, “How long ago did your Divine Tree start acting up?”
The old leader calmly replied, “It has been about three years, though it was not very obvious in the beginning, but as time passed the episodes became more and more frequent.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly. If what the old man said was true, then the evolution of the Divine Tree had started roughly three years ago which was similar to Yang Kai’s own estimates. Since that was the case, as long as he could at least maintain the current conditions, it shouldn’t be long before the Divine Tree finishes its evolution and obtains sentience.
“If my guess is correct, then you’ll only have to endure this situation for at most a year, half a year or even less is possible though.”
“Acceptable!” The old leader nodded and agreed to Yang Kai’s request, with him agreeing, none of the other Sun Clan masters raised any objections.
Enduring for a year wasn’t a big deal for them!
“Second, I need something to supplement my True Qi, preferably those fruits from the Divine Tree, the more the better!” Yang Kai said lightly.
Hearing this second condition, all the Sun Clan present wore sour expressions.
The old leader even laughed, “The more the better? Do you think that the fruit of the Divine Tree is easy to come by? Every fruit here has been grown for several hundred years, even I don’t have the opportunity to take one so easily. Do you think you have the right to obtain such valuable treasures?”
“Aren’t there a lot right here?” Yang Kai’s expression dimmed, these people were really too stingy, there were obviously a few dozen fully matured fruits hanging from the Divine Tree, their aroma stimulating Yang Kai’s appetite even now.
“These are the accumulated wealth of my clan’s thousands of years worth of effort, how could we let some outsiders take them?” The leader old said bluntly.
“Fine, it doesn’t have to be these fruits, Yang Attribute spirit grasses, herbs, fruits, or pills are also fine! You shouldn’t be lacking those too, right?” Yang Kai said impatiently.
Yang Kai wasn’t about to be a shorn sheep. Since he was providing Yang Liquid for the Divine Tree’s evolution, naturally the Sun Clan should supplement his consumption.
“You all saw, just now, in order to sooth your Divine Tree, I had to expend all of my True Qi, if I don’t have something to help me supplement my consumption, how am I supposed to restore myself?”
To this argument the old leader could only nod reluctantly, “Good, what you say makes some sense. We’ll give you something to supplement your True Qi, you don’t need to worry about this point!”
“Third……”
“Stop while you’re ahead, our patience is limited, we won’t allow you to keep naming conditions so wantonly,” The old leader said unhappily, directly interrupting Yang Kai’s words.
Yang Kai sneered back in response, “I just wanted to say that since you have a need for me, shouldn’t you give me a better living environment? I can’t escape from this place anyways, is there a need to keep me in your dungeon still?”
“Fine!”
“My female companion, en, and these two Demon Race friends of mine, if it’s convenient, let them live with me as well.”
Gou Che couldn’t help but glance over at Yang Kai in surprise, his expression showing some signs of gratitude.
“Very well!” The old leader was obviously becoming impatient and didn’t wait for Yang Kai to continue before saying, “The conditions you proposed, I can satisfy, but if you can’t meet my clan’s expectations… you should understand.”
“I’m very clear about that,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, his face filled with a bright carefree smile.
“Take them away and have someone fulfil his requests!” The old leader waved his hand and quickly said.
The master who had previously escorted Yang Kai and the others here came over and immediately took them away.
After they had left, one of the Elders from the Sun Clan wore a gloomy expression as he muttered, “This little brat is so rude, daring to make so many demands, why did you agree to his conditions?”
“Me promising him is my own decision, besides, he only asked for some trivial things. This is just until we figure out what means he used. The next time he comforts the Divine Tree, I’ll be watching him closely! Send someone to monitor them, especially that young human boy. I want to know everything he does from now on.”
“Yes!”
…..
Inside a small palace, Yang Kai’s group of four people settled in.
After arranging accommodations for these four, the Sun Clan man who had led them here promptly left.
However, both Yang Kai and Gou Che knew that there were many powerful masters lurking about just outside, their Divine Senses unscrupulously monitoring them, obviously there was no chance of them escaping right now.
Having moved into a comfortable environment after just escaping death, everyone in the group felt some lingering fear, especially Gou Che and the unknown Demon Race cultivator, they didn’t understand why Yang Kai had even bothered to save them.
Inside one of the rooms, the four people gathered together and Gou Che stared at Yang Kai with a complicated expression, hesitating several times before finally asking the questions on his mind.
In response, Yang Kai simply smiled and said, “There’s no particular reason, all of us are in the same situation, and saving you two didn’t take any extra effort, so I just decided to do so. Does Brother Gou Che need any other explanation?”
Gou Che wore a stunned expression as he scratched his cheek, suddenly saying in a firm tone, “No matter what, this time, I, Gou Che, owe you my life. I will not forget this kindness, in the future, if the opportunity arises, I will certainly repay this grace!”
This time, if it weren’t for Yang Kai interfering, he would most certainly have been turned into a sacrifice by the Sun Clan.
“Brother Gou Che is too serious,” Yang Kai faintly waved his hand. “Us being able to leave here is another matter altogether, if things don’t go well we may still die here.”
“If such a time comes we’ll just have to fight it out with them.”
“We’ll deal with that when the time comes. Good, this palace is big enough, you two find a place to stay for now. There won’t be any danger in the short time, I need to hurry and restore myself!”
“Then I won’t disturb brother any longer. Rest well!” Gou Che said before quickly leaving together with his fellow clansmen.
An Ling’er on the other hand didn’t leave and just stared at Yang Kai with her beautiful pair of eyes, a thoughtful expression upon her face.
“Need something else?” asked Yang Kai.
“You lied,” An Ling’er said bluntly, “I know you’re not kind enough to save Gou Che for no reason. You must be plotting something!”
“Beauty, haven’t you ever heard of silencing others for knowing too much?” Yang Kai grinned evilly.
“Stop it, I know you won’t do anything to me,” An Ling’er spat disdainfully, rolling her eyes at Yang Kai’s act she had seen too many times already, lowering her voice as she continued to ask, “What scheme do you have? What are you trying to get from him?”
“Nothing,” Yang Kai smiled, “What I want is his gratitude.”
“What good is that to you? Here, his gratitude can’t save you.”
“In here it really can’t save me, but what about outside?” Yang Kai gave her a meaningful look.
“Outside…” An Ling’er’s brows wrinkled, obviously not comprehending what Yang Kai was implying.
“Idiot!” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “It’s said that women with big chests don’t have any brains, it seems to be true!”
“I…” An Ling’er turned bright red and quietly looked down at her towering peaks, gritting her teeth as she mumbled, “How are they big?”
“They certainly don’t look small, en, you’ve developed quite nicely,” Yang Kai said with an obscene look upon his face.
“Rogue! Shameless!” An Ling’er shouted angrily, her skin flushing crimson.
Inside the palace, after Yang Kai painstakingly explained, An Ling’er finally understood what he was after.
If his guess was right, after escaping from this Mysterious Small World, the place they would appear would be the Demon Land!
The Demon Land was naturally ruled over by the Demon Race, and since ancient times, humans and demons had been enemies. In Tong Xuan Realm, with the exception of the central neutral zone, once members of the two races met, there would inevitably be a battle.
If two humans like Yang Kai and An Ling’er suddenly appeared in the middle of the Demon Land, they would surely encounter the chase down of the Demon Race, and even if they possessed Heaven defying abilities, they wouldn’t be able to safely escape.
However, with Gou Che’s help, it would be a different story.
This guy’s father was Demon General Gou Qiong, a man whose hand could cover the sky in the Demon Land. As long as they could obtain the latter’s shelter, Yang Kai and An Ling’er wouldn’t have to worry about losing their lives at least.
Therefore, Yang Kai was trying his best to earn Gou Che’s gratitude right now.
Hearing this, An Ling’er stared at Yang Kai with a scornful look, “You want to depend on something as flimsy as gratitude? Is your brain filled with flowers?”
Yang Kai snorted back, “I’m just thinking farther ahead than you. Of course, all of this first depends on us being able to leave this place. If we can’t escape from this Mysterious Small World, even if that delinquent Gou Che becomes my sworn brother, it wouldn’t do us any good.”
“Do you think we can leave?” An Ling’er narrowed her eyes and bit her lip anxiously.
“I don’t know, it’ll depend on our efforts from now on,” Yang Kai shook his head helplessly. Right now, he didn’t dare make any guarantees; he could only say he would do his best.
“I wonder what state the Holy Land is in,” An Ling’er sighed faintly.
Saintess Aunt Nan suddenly becoming like that meant that the old Holy Master must have fallen, which meant that the entire Holy Land had probably become a mess.
“I don’t know about your Holy Land, but I fear your three Saintess sisters are more unfortunate than fortunate!”
“Ah…” An Ling’er’s beautiful face paled as she called out in alarm. Thinking about it now, she felt that what Yang Kai said was very possible.
Because they cultivated the same Secret Art, Saintess Aunt Nan could easily find the other Saintesses’ positions. An Ling’er had just barely escaped thanks to Yang Kai and the Void Corridor, but her three sisters would likely not have such luck. There were no Saint Realm masters in the teams escorting the Saintesses so none of them could possibly resist the attack of a Second Order Saint.
In all likelihood, Saintess Aunt Nan had killed one or more of the other three before coming for An Ling’er.
Yang Kai’s words had instantly wiped away all the joy An Ling’er felt from surviving their most recent disaster, causing her mood to sink to its lowest point yet.
“Well, uh, just pretend I didn’t say anything. The situation might not be that bad!” Yang Kai fumbled for his words as he secretly regretted opening his mouth just now; to him, it was just something obvious which didn’t make any difference to him, but to An Ling’er, it was obviously nothing short of a tragedy.
“This is all your fault… just as I was starting to feel better…” An Ling’er glared at Yang Kai before turning around and running out.
Yang Kai shook his head helplessly while reminding himself to not be so talkative in the future.
The Sun Clan kept their word and soon after moving Yang Kai and the others into their new housing, delivered a number of Yang Attribute pills.
In this place, the ambient Yang Attribute energy was incredibly rich so it was naturally suitable to the growth of spirit herbs of the same attribute. The Sun Clan apparently also had their own Alchemists who could refine these herbs into pills.
There was a total of ten bottles, each with ten Spirit Grade Low-Rank pills inside.
Although these pills weren’t too high-end, they also weren’t too bad.
Ten bottles of Spirit Grade Low-Rank pills took less than half an hour for Yang Kai to consume, essentially compensating for the Yang Liquid he had just used.
However, Yang Kai obviously wasn’t satisfied just making up for his loss, he wanted to use this opportunity to extract as many benefits as he could from the Sun Clan.
After all, he would likely have to comfort the Divine Tree many times in the future with his Yang Liquid. How could a trivial ten bottles of pills satisfy him?
Waiting three days so as not to cause too much suspicion, Yang Kai once again asked the Sun Clan for more pills, causing the eyes of the Sun Clan guards who were monitoring him to nearly pop out of their sockets.
Ten bottles of ten pills each was enough for any one of them to use for several months, but this Human Race brat had actually spent just three days to consume them all.
However, as he was under their constant supervision, they also understood that Yang Kai had not secretly hidden or destroyed these pills. He hadn’t taken a half step outside the palace nor did he have any kind of storage artifact on him, so naturally it was impossible for him to have misappropriated these pills.
After cursing him out for a while, the guards finally brought ten more bottles of pills to Yang Kai, repeatedly emphasizing that he had to use them sparingly. Even for their Sun Clan it wasn’t easy to refine so many cultivation pills.
Yang Kai nodded solemnly while secretly sneering, swallowing these pills like beans the moment the guards left.
He could refine Spirit Grade Low-Rank pills at will now, so even just eating them casually as snacks they wouldn’t last more than two days.
It could only be said that the level of the Sun Clan’s Alchemists was too low.
Time passed day by day and the Sun Clan thought that after this most recent unusual comforting, the Divine Tree would remain stable for quite a while, but after only five days, the Divine Tree once again began releasing unstable energy fluctuations.
When he noticed this, Yang Kai quickly prepared himself.
Sure enough, only a few breaths later, someone came and escorted him to the Divine Tree.
This time, An Ling’er and the others didn’t follow and instead remained in the palace.
Beneath the Divine Tree, the Sun Clan masters gathered around their leader, all of them waiting anxiously. After seeing Yang Kai arrive, all of their Divine Senses locked onto him, apparently wanting to take this opportunity to figure out what method Yang Kai was using to sooth the Divine Tree’s rioting.
In response, Yang Kai wore a casual expression, not displaying a single hint of nervousness.
Yang Kai didn’t care about them spying on them, because in this world, besides him, no one else could do what he was about to do.
As such, he really wasn’t worried about anything.
When he arrived, Yang Kai didn’t bother speaking any nonsense and simply leapt up into the Divine Tree’s canopy, found the crack in the great trunk he had split open last time, and began feeding it drops of Yang Liquid.
Each drop of Yang Liquid represented the entire amount of True Qi Yang Kai’s physique, with the exception of his dantian, could contain, which meant that each drop of Yang Liquid, given the current size and toughness of his meridians, contained an incredible amount of pure Yang Qi.
Even so, each time a drop of Yang Liquid was fed to the Divine Tree, it would easily be absorbed, dispersing and disappearing almost instantaneously.
The energy fluctuations from the Divine Tree became even more violent as it tried to convey its desire for more.
However, Yang Kai wasn’t in any rush and continued to steadily feed the Divine Tree one drop of Yang Liquid after another, gently soothing it.
All the Sun Clan’s masters stood close by and observed but were ultimately unable to understand what was happening, causing each of them to frown. Although they could sense a massive amount of energy suddenly appearing every now and then, it would disappear just as quickly in the next moment, denying them an opportunity to investigate.
Watching this process repeat itself, all of their brows wrinkled deeply.
Many of them wanted to move closer to get a better look, but hesitated out of concern that they would annoy Yang Kai, causing him to stop cooperating with them.
After about half an hour, the Divine Tree’s aura settled down once more.
Yang Kai’s then sent his Soul Avatar into the Divine Tree to inspect its condition and quickly discovered that the energy formation which formed the latter’s core had become more solid and slightly less chaotic in nature.
Nodding with satisfaction, Yang Kai figured that it wouldn’t be long not before this energy formation finished evolving and gained sentience.
When Yang Kai leapt down, the Sun Clan immediately noticed that his condition was the same as last time, his face pale and all the True Qi drained from his body.
Glancing around at each other, they nodded approvingly.
Regardless of how Yang Kai was comforting the Divine Tree, from his performance, it was obvious to them he was at least giving it his all and not cutting any corners, something the Sun Clan wanted very much to see.
After allowing him to recover for a moment, they walked over to him.
The Sun Clan’s old leader called out, “Boy, I heard that you consume pills very quickly, do you take my Sun Clan for fools?”
Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and panted lightly, struggling to argue back, “I indeed consumed many pills, but although I had some small gains, the one that ultimately benefits is your Divine Tree. I’ll tell you this right now, ninety-nine percent of the energy I absorbed from those pills was returned to your Divine Tree. Having just seen what I did, I think all of you are clear about this point. Are you really going to care about some insignificant benefits I gain in the process?”
The old leaders of the Sun Clan narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. Although he felt that there was something wrong with Yang Kai’s explanation just now, he also couldn’t definitively refute them.
“I might as well take the opportunity to mention this to you then, and you had best take what I say seriously. I need more pills, many more, otherwise the next time your precious Divine Tree acts up, I can’t guarantee that I’ll have enough True Qi to comfort it!”
Hearing his rude request, the Sun Clan masters all wore gloomy expressions. Yang Kai’s attitude was so brazen and arrogant that they couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable and annoyed.
“If it really is for the Divine Tree, I can provide you with what you need, but your rate of consumption is too high, if this last too long, I’m afraid our Alchemists won’t be able to keep up!” The Sun Clan leader calmly said.
“If there aren’t enough pills just give me herbs instead, I’ll refine them myself!” Yang Kai compromised.
“Do you understand Alchemy?” The Sun Clan’s leader looked at him with some shock.
“That’s none of your business!” Yang Kai bluntly stated.
“Fine, after having them prepared, I’ll have the appropriate materials delivered to you,” The Sun Clan’s leader nodded before asking, “Right, why did the Divine Tree’s riot come so quickly, shouldn’t you explain this to us?”
“What’s there to explain? You couldn’t have thought that after I comforted it last time your Divine Tree would no longer riot, did you?”
“Of course not, I just felt that the cycle should have been longer.”
“Idiot,” Yang Kai sneered, “The faster these bouts come the better, only after reaching a certain frequency will it stop altogether. In fact, if possible, I hope to come here every day to appease instead of waiting for its riots to appear on their own.”
“Come here once a day?” The gathered masters all showed puzzled expressions.
“En.”
“Very well, I agree to your request. Rest assured, as long as you single-mindedly assist the Divine Tree, my Sun Clan will not treat you poorly, we will even give you some benefits. Since you cultivate a Yang Attribute Secret Art, perhaps my Sun Clan will have some Martial Skills and auxiliary techniques which will be useful to you!” As if appreciating Yang Kai’s ‘sincerity’, the Sun Clan’s old leader’s expression became more temperate and started throwing out some casual words of praise.
Yang Kai smiled happily on the surface while spat disdainfully in his heart. From what he had seen of these people so far, he knew they only considered him a slave labourer. Even if they delivered him any Martial Skills or Secret Arts, they would only be low-grade things.
Regarding such things, Yang Kai wouldn’t spare a glance.
In the Mysterious Small World, time passed by uneventfully.
Gou Che and the other Demon Race cultivator had nothing to do all day. With their Demonic Qi and Divine Sense’s both sealed, they couldn’t even cultivate, so they had both grown incredibly bored out of their mind.
It was the same for An Ling’er, as a young woman, she had a more tranquil temperament, and was less troubled by the current circumstances. Instead, she listlessly spent most of her time in a daze.
Compared to them, Yang Kai was very busy.
The Sun Clan sent him a large quantity of spirit grasses and spirit herbs which Yang Kai then refined into pills before promptly swallowing them down to cultivate. On top of that, every day he would go to the Divine Tree to feed it a few drops of Yang Liquid, causing his schedule to be quite full.
The quality and grade of the Sun Clan’s herbs were very good, allowing Yang Kai to put the many sentiments and insights into Alchemy he had been piling up into practice, subsequently improving his overall skill, delivering gratifying results.
The Sun Clan’s masters were constantly monitoring Yang Kai’s movements as well, but no matter how much they observed, they couldn’t completely understand what bizarre method he was using to appease the Divine Tree.
Also, since Yang Kai began visiting the Divine Tree daily, it had never had another bout of erratic energy fluctuations.
All the Sun Clan clansmen were extremely happy about this, thinking that this human boy was really somewhat useful and secretly rejoicing they hadn’t just lopped off his head.
The only thing that made them unhappy was that Yang Kai consumed too many of their precious spirit herbs. He was like a bottomless pit that no amount of cultivator resources could fill.
If Yang Kai’s movements weren’t under constant surveillance, they would surely have interrogated him about this point several times already.
In the blink of an eye, four months had passed by.
On this day, after Yang Kai fed several drops of Yang Liquid to the Divine Tree and sent his Soul Avatar into its trunk for his customary inspection, he couldn’t help smiling happily.
The once chaotic energy formation inside the trunk was now pulsating regularly, like a butterfly that was just about to break through its cocoon, a sense of vitality literally radiating from it. Moreover, after sensing the arrival of Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar, it subtly tried to reach out to him.
It seemed as though it was trying to communicate with Yang Kai but didn’t know how to express itself clearly.
Yang Kai’s spirit rose as he knew this was a sign the Divine Tree’s evolution had reached its most critical juncture. At this speed, it would be only another month or two before its consciousness fully formed, at that time, it would become a true sentient lifeform.
After quietly comforting it for a while, Yang Kai took back his Soul Avatar and jumped down ‘weakly’ from the trunk. After a short break to restore himself, he spoke to the nearby Sun Clan Elder, “From tomorrow onward, I want to live here!”
“Live here?” The Sun Clan Elder asked with a clear look of surprise.
“En, there are some things I’m concerned about, I’d like to be as close as possible to continuously observe your Divine Tree, so instead of running back and forth all day long, it will be more convenient to just live here. Also, that way, if something does happen, I can respond right away.”
“It’s no problem to live here, but boy, why do I feel like you’re plotting something.”
The Sun Clan Elder stared at Yang Kai with distrust.
“I’m aware of my situation, impose whatever kind of supervision you deem necessary. You’re just thinking too much anyways,” Yang Kai chuckled.
“As long as you understand your place, boy. However, I have to check with Leader first,” The Elder spat.
“I’ll await the good news then,” Yang Kai casually said before getting up and walking towards his temporary residence.
When Yang Kai arrived back at the palace and told An Ling’er about his plan to move to the Divine Tree, they young woman suddenly became somewhat nervous.
“If you leave, what should I do? Gou Che and his friend are still living here.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning as he remember this point.
Although Gou Che had behaved well so far, there was no guarantee that without Yang Kai’s asylum, he wouldn’t take an interest in An Ling’er. Even if Gou Che didn’t act rashly, there was still another Demon Race cultivator living here.
The Demon Race was originally a violent and cruel people who tended to act as they pleased, not a group who would simply obey if told to do, or not to do something.
“You’ll just have to come with me, I’ll tell them I need someone to take care of my personal needs, they won’t make a fuss over something so trivial,” Yang Kai thought for a moment and said.
“En,” An Ling’er nodded quickly, her expression relaxing.
The next day, the same Sun Clan Elder came to the palace and told Yang Kai that the old leader had agreed to his request. Yang Kai also took the opportunity to mention An Ling’er.
The Elder only thought about it for a moment before nodding. There was no need to consult the clan leader about such a minor matter.
After briefly informing Gou Che about what was happening, Yang Kai left the palace together with An Ling’er.
Beneath the Divine Tree’s towering figure, An Ling’er settled in. The Sun Clan did not allow her to fly up into the Divine Tree’s canopy like Yang Kai, only allowing her stand nearby and observe.
However, this made no difference to An Ling’er. As long as she didn’t stray too far from Yang Kai, she felt relieved. She knew that she was safe right now only because Yang Kai was sheltering her. Without him, she would either have become a blood sacrifice or a plaything for the Sun Clan, two endings she simply couldn’t accept.
High up atop the Divine Tree, Yang Kai dripped a few drops of Yang Liquid from his finger into the crack before he began to observe the reaction of the energy formation. Like yesterday, the Divine Tree tried to communicate with him, but was still unable to express itself clearly.
Yang Kai’s sent out Spiritual Energy pulses meant to comfort the Divine Tree’s core from his Soul Avatar, trying to calm it down while also teaching it to better express itself.
As an unexpected side effect, after supplying Yang Liquid to the Divine Tree for so long, it now seemed to be quite dependent on Yang Kai, so when the latter comforted it, not only did it immediately settle down, it also unconsciously expressed a sense of happiness.
As time passed, everything remained calm and peaceful.
When he wasn’t trying to sooth and communicating with the Divine Tree, Yang Kai spent his time accompanying An Ling’er.
In order to ensure that the Divine Tree could evolve as soon as possible, Yang Kai didn’t dare to circulate his True Yang Secret Art, lest he absorb energy from it and delay the process.
The changes the Divine Tree was undergoing went unnoticed by everyone except Yang Kai who was communicating with it regularly.
The chaotic energy formation now seemed to have reached a saturation point and was obviously on the verge of some unimaginable transformation.
One day roughly a month after Yang Kai and An Ling’er began living beneath the Divine Tree, when Yang Kai once again sent his Soul Avatar into the trunk, a Soul fluctuation burst out from the Divine Tree’s core, conveying a profound sense of happiness, as if it had been waiting for a long time for him to come and was overjoyed with his arrival.
At that moment, Yang Kai clearly felt that a tiny consciousness had been born in the energy formation in front of him.
With a look of shock on his face, Yang Kai carefully released his Divine Sense and slowly inspected the heart of the Divine Tree.
The moment his Divine Sense touched the Divine Tree’s heart, the latter released a burst of hot aura that instantly wrapped up Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar.
From the depths of the Divine Tree’s heart a faint sound seemed to resound, almost like the babbling of a baby that was happily squirming in its parents arms.
Yang Kai immediately felt slightly uncomfortable.
Thankfully he possessed a powerful Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, otherwise his Soul Avatar would have been reduced to ash after being wrapped in the hot aura the Divine Tree had released.
Quickly passing his thoughts to the Divine Tree, the aura wrapping him silently withdrew, although it was clearly somewhat unwilling to do so.
Yang Kai couldn’t help laughing at this development. He felt that the Divine Tree was completely indistinguishable from an ignorant baby and was instinctively approaching someone it thought was close to it.
At this moment it shouldn’t have fully evolved but was essentially only a step away from gaining sentience.
Recognizing its sense of loss, Yang Kai quickly appeased it, causing the Divine Tree’s core to once again become lively.
After spending two hours comforting and playing with it, the Divine Tree’s heart gradually stabilized and seemed to fall into a deep sleep, no longer giving off any Soul fluctuations.
Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief and took back his Soul Avatar, an incredible sense of exhaustion soon overcoming him.
Yang Kai felt that dealing with this life form which had yet to fully evolve was more difficult than fighting against a Saint Realm master. It was completely ignorant of everything and could only express itself to Yang Kai by wildly throwing about its emotions.
In order to avoid the Sun Clan becoming aware of what had transpired here, Yang Kai had to continuously coax this wild child, causing him to expend a great deal of Spiritual Energy.
However, this situation was somewhat outside of Yang Kai’s expectations.
The reason why he had begun feeding his Yang Liquid to the Divine Tree was simply to buy time, lest he, Ling’er, and the others be used as blood sacrifices by Sun Clan. As a secondary concern, he had wanted to take a look at what the Divine Tree’s evolved form would look like.
Never had he thought that by providing his Yang Liquid and using his Divine Sense to sooth it, the Divine Tree would develop a sense of dependence and trust towards him.
Perhaps it mistakenly believed Yang Kai was its family.
This was similar to how some creatures, when just being born, would treat the first face it saw as its parent.
The Divine Tree’s current state could only be described as thus.
Although Yang Kai wasn’t certain about any of this, whatever the case was, it probably wasn’t a bad thing.
After resting for a while, Yang Kai gradually recovered.
After playing together for so long, the Divine Tree also seemed to have become exhausted; as a result, over the next few days, whenever Yang Kai sent his Soul Avatar into its trunk, its core would remain silent.
It took more than five days for it to once again wake up.
This time, its consciousness was a bit clearer, and not only could it play together with Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar, it also managed to convey some vague information to him.
These bits of information, or rather thoughts, were still quite garbled, and Yang Kai wasn’t able to figure out most of what it meant, but it was almost as if he was listening to someone talk to themselves, expressing a sense of curiosity about everything around themselves.
Yang Kai could only smile helplessly and accompany it, trying to help whenever he could.
Spending time like this was both physically and mentally exhausting.
Time continued to pass by; the Sun Clan masters came every day to observe the situation and would inevitably confirm that Yang Kai wasn’t playing any tricks and that there were no significant changes occurring to the Divine Tree, or so they thought.
The Divine Tree would wake up every few days, and each time it did its Soul would become more and more complete. Then, after playing with Yang Kai to its heart’s content, it would fall back asleep, living a truly carefree life.
Soon though, the periods of time the Divine Tree would fall asleep grew shorter. In the beginning, it would sleep for five days straight before waking up, but this gradually became four days, then three, then two…
The messages it conveyed from is Soul also gradually became clear and Yang Kai knew that the consciousness of the Divine Tree’s evolution was about to be completed, filling his heart with a great sense of expectation.