Dragon Phoenix Palace became extraordinarily lively and busy.
Frozen Nether Cave Heaven had invaded in force only to have one of its Saint Realm masters killed by the newly reborn Dragon Emperor, while the other lost his arm to Palace Master Chen Zhou.
When Chen Zhou and the other Elders returned in triumph, everyone burst into joy.
Never before had the Sect had so many reasons to celebrate.
Despite all the accumulated grievances, they had with Frozen Nether Cave Heaven, every time an incident came up, the cultivators of Dragon Phoenix Palace would be forced to swallow their anger and give way. Over the years, this had caused the disciples of Dragon Phoenix Palace to be unable to raise their heads in front of those from Frozen Nether Cave Heaven.
Every disciple of Dragon Phoenix Palace was quite hostile towards Frozen Nether Cave Heaven.
But this time, the enemy had suddenly launched a full scale invasion, sending out all of its masters, causing everyone to think today would be Dragon Phoenix Palace’s last day.
However, the end result was even more shocking.
From those who had returned from the battlefield, the disciples who had taken shelter inside the Sect learned that the reason for their unexpected victory was because of the sudden appearance of the Dragon Emperor.
And that Dragon Emperor was none other than Sun Yu, the youth who had become the most talked about disciple for the past two years!
The Golden Dragon that had soared into the air and displayed unmatched majesty had been witnessed by everyone who took part in the battle.
“The Sect’s chance to rise has come! Sir Dragon Emperor managed to kill that First Order Saint Yan Zhi with just an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation, after a few years, I’m afraid he’ll be able to compete with even Third Order Saints!”
“En, en, when Sir Dragon Emperor was fighting that Yan Zhi, I saw him standing back, not taking action personally. The entire time, his face remained calm and relaxed, as if he never doubted he would emerge victorious.”
“Are you saying he didn’t even go all out?”
“Of course he didn’t, if he did, I’m afraid even that Bai Jing Chu wouldn’t have been able to escape.”
“Fierce! The Dragon Emperor’s inheritance is truly awe-inspiring! I also heard that when Sir Dragon Emperor entered the Dragon Valley two years ago, he was only a True Element Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator, yet after only two short years he had managed to reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage, such cultivation speed is simply astonishing.”
“I grew up with Sir Dragon Emperor… when we were children, I knew he was no ordinary person, now it seems I was right, hahahaha!”
“Really? Is there any inside news you can tell us?”
“Inside news… there is one thing, heh, but it’s useless to you.”
“Useless to us? Then who is it useful to?”
“To the girls of the Sect who haven’t yet selected a partner of course… I can tell you now; Sir Dragon Emperor doesn’t yet have a dual cultivation partner!”
“This… If any girl is able to catch his eye, wouldn’t she be able to soar from the branches and become a phoenix?”
“En en… Haven’t any of you noticed these days that many of our Senior Sisters and Junior Sisters have been frequenting the place Sir Dragon Emperor lives? Fortunately Palace Master placed him in a different palace, otherwise I’m afraid he wouldn’t be able to get a moment’s rest!”
“……”
Inside Dragon Phoenix Palace, discussion and gossip ran rampant. The young disciples would gather together in groups big and small and talk at length about Sun Yu.
The world-famous Dragon Emperor was a supreme powerhouse that emerged from Dragon Phoenix Palace many centuries ago. It was because of the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress that the Dragon Phoenix Palace had become a force which was second to none in its prime.
It was a pity that after many years the inheritance was broken and the Sect had gradually declined.
But today, the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance had reappeared and everyone believed that the Phoenix Empress’ inheritance would not be far behind.
Of course, this all depended on the meaning of Sir Dragon Emperor; after all, it was up to him to choose a lifelong companion.
Palace Master Chen Zhou was busy for several days dealing with the aftermath of the war while Elder Ling Jian, for his great meritorious service of training such an outstanding disciple, was directly promoted to the post of Great Elder of Dragon Phoenix Palace, becoming second in authority only to Chen Zhou.
A giant luxurious palace in the heart of Dragon Phoenix Palace that was constructed of the finest stone and decorated with the most exquisite of carpets and carvings.
This palace was equipped with some kind of Spirit Array which made the World Energy aura within its halls extremely rich.
This palace was the residence which Palace Master Chen Zhou usually lived in, but it had been given to Sun Yu as his new home a few days ago.
Outside, numerous masters from Dragon Phoenix Palace were hidden in the dark, their auras carefully concealed as they served as guards, monitoring everyone who approached within a certain distance of the palace.
Although Sir Dragon Emperor had already displayed incredible might, he was still just a sixteen year old boy, so Chen Zhou couldn’t help worrying about his safety. For fear of him encountering some kind of accident, Chen Zhou had naturally deployed some defenses around Sun Yu’s residence.
A few dozen meters outside the palace, a large crowd of young girls was making noise.
Each of these girls was born beautiful and had been cultivated diligently by Dragon Phoenix Palace specifically for the male disciples to choose as dual cultivate partners.
Several dozen girls were scattered about outside, each of them showing different styles of beauty, making for a dazzling and eye catching display.
Sun Yu stood near one of the palace windows and stared out at this sight, glancing around at several of his pretty Senior Sisters who were wearing thin, highly exposing robes while casting coquettish looks towards him.
This display of ten thousand charms stimulated Sun Yu’s heart like a gentle and enticing caress, causing his pulse to race and his face to blush bright red. He wanted to look away but simultaneously felt incredibly reluctant to do so, only increasing the helplessness he felt.
After staring for a while, Sun Yu somehow forced himself to close his eyes, took a deep breath, and circulate his Secret Art to calm his mood.
“Who isn’t a bit loose when they’re young? If you want one of them, as long as you say a few words to that Palace Master of yours, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to arrange things for you,” Yang Kai suddenly called out.
Sun Yu was startled and immediately became embarrassed, blushing again as he said, “Senior must be joking, I don’t have any such ideas.”
“Then what are you thinking about?” Yang Kai smiled teasingly from his perch atop a nearby jade bed.
Sun Yu thought about it carefully before replying, “Everything this Sun Yu has today is all thanks to Senior Yang’s blessing, I simply don’t have such skill. If it were not for Senior insisting on concealing himself, I would immediately report everything to Palace Master. The Senior Sisters and Junior Sisters have all come here with high expectations of me, so if I was to really choose one of them under false pretenses, they would definitely be disappointed in the future. Right now, what I must do is become stronger, strong enough so that none of them will be disappointed becoming my partner, only then can I seriously consider such matters…”
Reaching this point, Sun Yu began scratching his head awkwardly and saying, “Moreover, I’m still young… Master said that I’m still maturing, constantly thinking about such things isn’t good for me.”
“Ha ha ha ha!” Yang Kai laughed heartily, nodding slightly, “Fair enough. Then you should focus on becoming strong so when you do find a partner, you have the strength to protect her.”
“Good, it is just as Senior has said,” Sun Yu nodded and earnestly before asking, “Have Senior’s injuries been restored?”
“Almost,” Yang Kai casually responded. He has been healing here for a few days now. Regardless of anything else, Yan Zhi was still a genuine Saint Realm master, so the damage Yang Kai received in battle with him would not be restored in a short amount of time; especially the giant wound on his abdomen which contained an amazing destructive power. It took Yang Kai quite some time to disperse the residual Cold Qi from the wound before he could focus on healing it.
Sun Yu still didn’t understand why Yang Kai had been hurt because from his perspective, Yang Kai had never shown up during that fight.
The truth though was the Golden Dragon fighting Yan Zhi was none other than Yang Kai himself.
After obtaining the true Dragon Emperor’s inheritance, Yang Kai was able to use the enormous energy contained within his Golden Dragon tattoo to assume the form of a dragon.
This was still a type of True Qi transformation, but it was simply too real, essentially no different from a flesh and blood Monster Beast.
Since it was Yang Kai’s first time using such a method, he had initially made himself too large and could not immediately adapt, causing him to suffer a lot during the opening moments of his battle with Yan Zhi.
If Yang Kai were to use this method again, he would be able to perform much better than before.
After transforming into the giant Golden Dragon, both his strength and defence grew substantially.
If this hadn’t been so, Yang Kai estimated that if he wanted to defeat or kill a Saint, he would have to use his Devil Transformation.
Third Order Transcendent was just a stone’s throw away from First Order Saint, but ultimately it was not the Saint Realm.
Yang Kai had gained greatly from his battle with Yan Zhi; at the very least, he confirmed that it was not a problem for him to kill a First Order Saint with his current cultivation.
As for Second-Order Saints, such experts were quite rare, and Yang Kai couldn’t make any judgements without actually fighting one first.
While he was recovering, Yang Kai was also reminiscing about the bloody battle, examining his mistakes and silently learning from them.
“Senior…” Sun Yu suddenly stammered, “From now on, what should I do? Palace Master and everyone else really believe I’m the Dragon Emperor!”
“Let them think so… This way you can obtain the best resources. I believe that with your current aptitude, it won’t be difficult for you to become formidable.”
“This… Deceiving Palace Master and Master makes me feel quite ashamed.”
“Don’t think too much about it,” Yang Kai knit his brow, “When the time comes, I’ll personally explain everything. For now, all you need to do is cultivate diligently.”
“Good,” Having obtained Yang Kai’s promise, Sun Yu relaxed. If the real Dragon Emperor came forward to explain, presumably Palace Master and his Master wouldn’t blame him, right?
“En, if I haven’t guessed wrong, it won’t be long before your Palace Master begins pushing you to pick a Phoenix Empress.”
The Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress re-emerging was the greatest wish of not just Chen Zhou, but all of Dragon Phoenix Palace’s ancestors. Now that the Dragon Emperor had appeared, Chen Zhou would naturally expect the Phoenix Empress to quickly appear.
Only when both of them appeared would Dragon Phoenix Palace truly be complete.
Chen Zhou had not stopped the young girls from coming here, probably thinking it would be best if one of them could win Sun Yu’s favour.
Listening to Yang Kai, Sun Yu became nervous again, “What should I do?”
Yang Kai laughed dumbly and simply said, “Just reject them all. You’re now the Dragon Emperor, Chen Zhou wouldn’t dare ignore your opinions. Just tell him you want to focus on cultivating for now!”
“Good idea!” Sun Yu nodded. As long as he entered secluded retreat and did not emerge for a few years, he could really become powerful enough to no longer feel embarrassed.
“I need to take a look at your Phoenix Nest, lead me there,” Yang Kai then said.
“Good… but Palace Master will definitely not let me go alone.”
“That’s fine, they won’t be able to find me,” Yang Kai smiled.
Sun Yu no longer said anymore and quickly went out to arrange it.
The Phoenix Nest was located not far from Dragon Valley, and Yang Kai was very curious what it was like, but he soon learned that it was actually just a jungle.
From above, the jungle itself though appeared to be shaped in the form of a great flying phoenix.
The jungle was comprized completely of a single species of ancient trees, all of which had grown to an enormous height after untold centuries of time.
Phoenix Nest was very different from Dragon Valley in that the latter was only approachable by the Dragon Emperor, no one else could even enter. Once an outsider tried to approach, they would be pushed away by an invisible force.
Phoenix Nest, on the other hand, hadn’t shown any kind of abnormal reaction for many years. It was as if it was just another ordinary jungle. There were even many disciples of Dragon Phoenix Palace who would come here to have romantic trysts.
However, after the Dragon Emperor had reappeared, Chen Zhou had listed Phoenix Nest as a restricted area and banned anyone from getting close.
When Sun Yu told Chen Zhou about wanting to visit Phoenix Nest, the latter was more than happy to comply as he thought Sun Yu was making preparations for the return of the Phoenix Empress. As such, Chen Zhou immediately sent a number of masters to escort Sun Yu to Phoenix Nest.
Arriving at the edge of the jungle, Sun Yu made up an excuse to have his Transcendent Realm escorts wait outside before he alone entered Phoenix Nest.
Sun Yu’s status was completely different now, so these Transcendent Realm masters didn’t dare disobey him. All of them had been among the people who witnessed Yan Zhi’s death, so they were well aware of what kind of power the Dragon Emperor possessed and were naturally not worried about Sun Yu’s safety.
Not long after walking into the jungle, a figure flashed and Yang Kai appeared beside Sun Yu.
“This is Phoenix Nest?” Yang Kai glanced around and asked curiously.
“En,” Sun Yu nodded, quickly explaining the details of Phoenix Nest.
Yang Kai listened attentively while not saying anything, simply walking forward in a certain direction.
Yang Kai felt that there was something in this Phoenix Nest that was calling out to him, causing the Golden Dragon tattoo on his back to become more active and give him a strange tingling sensation.
After explaining what he knew, Sun Yu cleverly and silently followed behind Yang Kai.
After walking for quite some time, the two suddenly emerged from the jungle and saw a small lakefront of them.
This lake was filled with clear, sparkling water but it was impossible to see very deep into it, much less find its bottom. The lake seemed to be covered by a strange and mysterious power. Standing on the shore and looking down, Yang Kai couldn’t help raising his brow slightly.
He found that there was a kind of hazy reflection in this lake, one of a majestic phoenix. It seemed real yet illusory all at once.
“This is Phoenix Lake. It is named so because of the inexplicable reflection that appears to be a phoenix; however, many people have dove down and investigated its depths over the years yet none of them found anything special,” Sun Yu explained casually.
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Yang Kai knew that some mysterious places would only respond when a specific person appeared. Except for that particular person, no one would be able to discover anything, even if they possessed incredible strength.
Standing on the shore of the lake, the Golden Dragon tattoo on Yang Kai’s back began swimming even more quickly, and there was even a feeling like it would rush out at any moment.
Gently taking a breath, Yang Kai did not suppress it any longer.
A moment later, along with a great dragon roar, the Golden Dragon tattoo leapt from Yang Kai’s back and manifested itself.
However, the current Golden Dragon was quite different from the one which had appeared that day in front of Yan Zhi. The current Golden Dragon was only five meters in length.
After rushing out of Yang Kai’s body, it swam a few circles through the air before plunging towards Phoenix Lake.
The lake surface rippled for an instant and then the Golden Dragon disappeared.
Sun Yu was excited as he carefully observed this scene.
Throughout Dragon Phoenix Palace, only he was aware of Yang Kai, the Dragon Emperor’s, secret. Furthermore, only he had been training by none other than the Dragon Emperor himself. This was something he naturally took pride in. Now he was about to witness the appearance of the Phoenix Empress’ inheritance. How could Sun Yu, as a disciple of Dragon Phoenix Palace, not be excited?
Sometime after the Golden Dragon disappeared into Phoenix Lake, the water’s surface became unsettled, as if there was some great energy rising up from its depths.
As the ripples spread, the phoenix image in Phoenix Lake began to twist and distort. If one were to stand back and observe from a distance, it would look like this illusory phoenix image was actually flapping its wings as it soared upwards from the bottom of the lake.
A tiny wisp of light suddenly fluttered over and sunk into Phoenix Lake.
After the first, a second came, then a third. Soon hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of these wisps began flying over, each one containing a mysterious yet profound power!
Yang Kai and Sun Yu were stunned by this sight, both of them quickly looking around, trying to determine where these wisps had come from.
The pair soon discovered that these wisps of light were actually flying over from the trees which Phoenix Nest was comprised of. When they had come here though, Yang Kai had not found anything unusual about these trees, so this development was quite shocking even to him.
Throughout Phoenix Nest, innumerable wisps of light were being released, just like a swarm of fireflies. These wisps rushed out of the jungle and quickly gathered towards Phoenix Lake.
The Transcendent Realm masters who were waiting outside Phoenix Nest also stared at this scene with wide eyes, unable to control their shock and excitement.
Even Chen Zhou, who was busy handling various affairs in Dragon Phoenix Palace, also quickly stared in the direction of Phoenix Nest upon noticing this development.
The Dragon Emperor had reappeared, and now Phoenix Nest had also begun showing remarkable changes. Clearly, the Phoenix Empress would soon also present herself.
The matters he was handling weren’t of vital importance so Chen Zhou immediately dropped them and soared off in the direction of Phoenix Nest. In Dragon Phoenix Palace, none of the other masters had any mood to continue working on their own matters with such an important event suddenly taking place, all of them quickly chasing after Palace Master Chen, heading towards Phoenix Next so they could witness the reappearance of the Phoenix Empress’ inheritance.
On the shores of Phoenix Lake, Yang Kai waited quietly while Sun Yu stared fixedly at the glowing wisps as they fell into the lake. It was as if he found himself in some fairyland, unable to extricate himself.
Sitting on the shore of the lake, Sun Yu clearly felt that the energy in the surrounding region had undergone a tremendous change.
There was a strong sense of majesty pulsing from the bottom of the lake, and it was growing stronger by the breath.
After what seemed like both a long yet short time, all the wandering wisps sank into Phoenix Lake. At that moment, the hazy phoenix reflection in the lake seemed to come alive and its wings began to flutter more and more quickly.
Suddenly, the lake seemed to explode and water shot up into the sky.
Amidst the great splash of water, a Golden Dragon and a blue Ice Phoenix appeared together.
A thunderous dragon roar and piercing phoenix cry resounded through the Heavens, the former resonant, the latter piercing, the two sounds mixing together and spreading out seemingly endlessly.
Yang Kai grinned as he stared up at the magnificent scene before him.
Similar to the True Dragon in legend, the Phoenix was another sovereign of the Monster Race, a supreme existence capable of reaching the Ninth-Order.
At this moment, the dazzling scene of a dragon and phoenix was on display. The Golden Dragon swam happily through the sky while the Ice Phoenix quietly floated atop the lake, its pair of bright eyes revealing an intelligent light, seeming to observe Yang Kai, carefully scrutinizing him.
A moment later, Ice Phoenix cried out lightly in a satisfied tone.
After letting out this cry, the Ice Phoenix suddenly trembled and its body transformed into a million wisps of light that scattered about and quickly disappeared.
Phoenix Lake became calm once more and the Golden Dragon flew back and returned to Yang Kai’s body.
Yang Kai closed his eyes at that moment and sunk into a state of contemplation and reflection.
The inheritance here was Su Yan’s, but she was currently in Ice Sect. He would have to go meet with her first before bringing her here to obtain what belonged to her.
Seeing Yang Kai not moving, Sun Yu also waited quietly, not daring to disturb him.
A while later, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and said, “Sun Yu, I need you to do me a favour.”
Sun Yu immediately wore a serious look and replied, “Please speak freely Senior Yang.”
“Make sure your Dragon Phoenix Palace carefully looks after this Phoenix Nest.”
“Please feel relieved Senior Yang, Sun Yu will certainly not let any harm come to this place.”
“En.”
Sun Yu suddenly grinned and asked, “Does Senior already have someone in mind for this inheritance?”
Yang Kai gave him a stunned look and asked, “How did you know?”
“Senior’s aura just became very gentle, as if you were thinking about someone dear to you… If I am not mistaken, that person should be Senior’s companion.”
“Little brat, you’ve got good eyes,” Yang Kai laughed for a moment before nodding, “Good, things here have been settled, so I should make a move.”
“Ah, Senior, you’re leaving?” Sun Yu couldn’t help showing a hint of reluctance.
The achievements he had today were entirely thanks to Yang Kai. If it weren’t for him obtaining this opportunity two years ago, Sun Yu figured he would at best be an Immortal Ascension Boundary First Stage cultivator, possibly even weaker, and his aptitude would be nowhere near as good as it was now.
With Sun Yu’s original aptitude, even if he cultivated diligently for his entire life, his limit would probably be the Transcendent Realm.
But now, he could clearly feel that it was only a matter of time before he broke through to the Saint Realm.
Such great fortune was bestowed to him by Yang Kai, causing Sun Yu to be eternally grateful.
“En, it’s about time I left. There are many things I need to attend to. Don’t worry, we’ll meet again in the future,” Yang Kai replied.
“En, then Senior must take care. Next time we meet, Sun Yu will not disappoint your expectations!” Sun Yu said sincerely as he cupped his fists, “Disciple will redouble his efforts to not bring shame upon Senior’s care and training!”
Yang Kai smiled faintly, no longer said anything, and simply flickered, disappearing in the next instant.
Staring off in the direction of Yang Kai’s departure, Sun Yu let out a low-spirited sigh before also turning around and departing.
After exiting Phoenix Nest, Sun Yu couldn’t help being shocked by the scene in front of him.
All the masters of the Sect had assembled here and were standing together with Palace Master Chen Zhou, waiting for Sun Yu.
After seeing Sun Yu come out from inside, all of them revealed looks of curiosity and expectation.
“Palace Master, Master…” Sun Yu cupped his fists.
Chen Zhou quickly returned the courtesy before hesitantly asking, “Lord Dragon Emperor, has the Phoenix Empress’ inheritance begun to materialize?”
The movements inside the Phoenix Nest had been witnessed by all of them so naturally the masters here had begun to speculate.
Sun Yu braced himself and replied, “En, somewhat.”
“You mean?” Chen Zhou was overjoyed.
“Er…” Sun Yu stammered for a moment before a thought flashed across his mind and he quickly stated, “There is no disciple in the Sect suitable to obtain the Phoenix Empress’ inheritance. Moreover, the time for it to be accepted by someone has not yet arrived.”
“Ah?” Chen Zhou suddenly became disappointed, anxiously inquiring in the next moment, “How long will we need to wait?”
Sun Yu shook his head, “This is a matter of fate, only the Heavens know. Even I cannot say.”
The ambiguity of his answer made Sun Yu feel somewhat uneasy, but upon glancing around, he saw that all of the Elders from the Sect actually wearing thoughtful expression, nodding lightly as if they seemed to think his casually made up statement made sense.
Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Sun Yu relaxed and declared, “I must enter retreat. You don’t have to concern yourself about the Phoenix Empress’ matters, she will appear when the time is right.”
“En,” Chen Zhou quickly nodded, “Right, Lord Dragon Emperor, how should we handle Frozen Nether Cave Heaven? Please give us your decision.”
“Palace Master should so as you see fit,” Sun Yu replied with a bitter smile, how was he supposed to make a decision about such important matters?
Hearing this, Chen Zhou no longer asked anything and simply returned to Dragon Phoenix Palace alongside Sun Yu and the other Elders before preparing the best cultivation materials and resources and arranging a secluded area for the ‘Dragon Emperor’ to enter retreat.
Yang Kai flew forward, swift as the wind and quick as lightning.
He crossed famous mountains and rivers with a joyful smile.
He had thought about going directly to Ice Sect to find Su Yan and bring her back to Dragon Phoenix Palace to obtain the Phoenix Empress’ inheritance, but he reconsidered soon after. If Su Yan was still in a state of frozen cultivation, going to see her now would only be a waste of time.
Also, he hadn’t returned to Soaring Heaven Sect for several years now. In fact, it had already been close to five or six years since he parted ways with his Marital Uncles and Martial Aunt back in Floating Clouds City.
Yang Kai felt that he should return to Soaring Heaven Sect, so he could at least inform his Martial Seniors and Ancestral Founder Chu Ling Xiao that he was alright.
Although he had been in Tong Xuan Realm for a number of years now, Yang Kai still didn’t have a place he felt a strong sense of belonging to; to him, even Soaring Heaven Sect was just the Sect the Ancestral Founder of the High Heaven Pavilion created.
His Martial Uncles and Martial Aunt were no doubt very good to him, but Yang Kai still found it difficult to feel a sense of intimacy towards Soaring Heaven Sect as he did with High Heaven Pavilion.
Regarding this world, he was simply a visitor.
The Central Capital and High Heaven Pavilion were his roots.
As such thoughts flashed across his mind, Yang Kai couldn’t help wondering how all of his friends and family back there were doing, many of their faces flashing before his eyes as he continued on his way.
When he left the Central Capital, Yang Kai had told everyone that when the time was right, he would return and bring them over to this new world. Thinking about it now though, his words had been a bit irresponsible; currently, he didn’t even know how to get back to that world.
Although he was now able to tear space, the most Yang Kai was capable of accomplishing was to move a few hundred kilometres in a random direction, and after displaying this method two or three times, his Spiritual Energy would be completely drained.
This method could only be used in the most urgent of situations or when there was some danger he could otherwise not escape from.
After thinking over the issue for some time, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly lit up, remembering that both Chu Ling Xiao and Shui Ling of Water Spirit Temple had both found their way over to that side. Perhaps if he consulted with them, he too could find a way to return home.
However, before then, Yang Kai still felt he first needed to improve his personal strength, and second, establish a force he could control.
Otherwise, even if he brought his friends and family here, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee their safety.
The Ancient Demon Clan was a good choice!
Nine Heavens Holy Land was also an alright option. As for Dragon Phoenix Palace… Yang Kai wasn’t considering them for now. He would have to meet with Su Yan again before coming to any kind of decision about them.
Most importantly though was finding a site that could accommodate so many people.
Time unknowingly passed by and Yang Kai crossed a few tens of thousands of kilometres. Now, when he unfurled his Wind and Thunder Wings and used the Nine Heavens Divine Skill Flickering Heavenly Shadow, his speed could only be described as lightning quick.
Along the way, Yang Kai would stop at some towns in order to ask for directions until half a month later, he finally saw the endless Snow Mountain Range on the horizon and felt a faint yet familiar chill in the air.
He was almost there!
Soaring Heaven Sect was located just a thousand kilometres or so away from the Snow Mountain Range.
Two days later, Yang Kai finally returned to Soaring Heaven Sect.
Amidst the mountain valley surrounded by the Hundred Peaks Spirit Array, Yang Kai could see traces of cultivator activity. Smiling lightly, Yang Kai flew straight towards one of the peaks.
Arriving halfway up the mountain where a clear stream flowed, Yang Kai landed lightly next to a small cave.
Serene Resplendent Peaks!
This was the mountain peak which belonged to his Fei Yu Martial Aunt and was also the place where Yang Kai lived.
Walking into the cave, Yang Kai descended into the belly of the mountain. After several twists and turns, before he had even reached the living space, Yang Kai smelled a strong fragrance of alcohol.
Yang Kai’s face went black as he sighed, thinking that Fei Yu Martial Aunt was the same as always, completely addicted to wine; however, with such a thick fragrance in the air, Yang Kai really wondered just how much she had drunk.
A moment later, Yang Kai walked into the living space when suddenly a loud bang rang out nearby and a water curtain wrapped around him. This water curtain such a potent alcoholic fragrance that when Yang Kai unconsciously inhaled, he became slightly dizzy.
Hastily circulating his True Qi, Yang Kai quickly recovered from his drunken state.
From behind the water curtain, a jade hand shot out and accurately grabbed Yang Kai’s shoulder.
Yang Kai didn’t put up any resistance and simply let the jade hade catch him, waving his hand to cut open the water curtain in front of him and smiling as he glanced over, “Martial Aunt!”
Hearing this voice, the person behind the water curtain seemed startled and loosened their grip significantly.
Four eyes suddenly met. The beautiful pair of eyes flashed a deep sense of surprise as her drunken face exuded a different kind of brilliance.
On the other hand, Yang Kai’s smile suddenly stiffened and he quickly shifted his gaze.
He had immediately found that his Fei Yu Martial Aunt had apparently just been bathing and, alarmed by his unannounced arrival, had only wrapped a thin bathrobe around her rich, enchanting figure. Even now, she was using one hand to hold this bathrobe so it would not slide off her wet body while her other hand was grabbing Yang Kai’s shoulder.
Her two long, slender, legs were completely exposed to the air while the deep valley between her full peaks glistened lightly and her long, wet hair cascaded down her fragrant shoulders, painting a captivating picture.
Yang Kai also thought he had briefly seen two delicate cherry coloured petals through the sheer bathrobe.
It seems he had picked the worst time to appear! Yang Kai thought to himself awkwardly.
Normally, no one would visit Serene Resplendent Peak. Even Cang Yan and the others would let Fei Yu know ahead of time before showing up, very much unlike Yang Kai who had just casually walked inside.
“I was wondering who would be so bold as to enter my home uninvited, it turns out it was you, you little brat!” Fei Yu grinned meaningfully, not only not releasing Yang Kai but instead dragging him towards her and putting him in a headlock, saying in a teasing tone, “Little Martial Nephew, after not showing up for so many years, this is the first thing you do when you get back? Don’t you think you’re acting a bit improper?”
Feeling an amazing elasticity on his back along with a pair of slightly more prominent bumps on his shoulder blades, Yang Kai hurriedly tapped Fei Yu’s arm and whimpered, “Martial Aunt, can you first let go of me?”
“Martial Aunt doesn’t mind, so what are you worried about? Are you afraid your Martial Aunt is going to eat you?” Fei Yu continued to tease, tightening her hold on Yang Kai, pressing her incredible capital even more onto his back as she breathed hot breathe across his ear.
“Martial Aunt must be joking…” Yang Kai pitifully cried out, feeling a sense of numbness spread from the base of his ear while unable to help his body from having certain other ‘reactions’.
Seemingly aware of this, Fei Yu let out a snort and finally released Yang Kai, directing a piercing stare at him with her pair of beautiful eyes, gritting her teeth as she complained, “Little bastard, have you had enough fun outside and finally remembered to return home?”
Yang Kai quickly sat down on a nearby stone bench and poured himself a glass of water, pretending to drink it calmly as he directed his eyes elsewhere, “Martial Aunt, can you wear proper clothes first before we talk? With you appearing like this, I feel somewhat uncomfortable!”
“Little hoodlum! You even have such a reaction to your Martial Aunt?” Fei Yu’s face blushed as she shot him a warning, “You sit right there and wait for me to tidy you up. If you dare move a single step from that spot, I swear I’ll chase you to the ends of the world and punch you black and blue!”
Saying so, her tender body flickered and disappeared.
Yang Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief, a look of helplessness filling his face.
His Fei Yu Martial Aunt really didn’t have the dignity a Marital Aunt should.
After a short wait, Fei Yu walked out again, this time fully, if not neatly dressed, a brilliant light flashing across her beautiful pupils as she smiled widely and sat down opposite Yang Kai, staring at him attentively.
“Heh heh, Martial Aunt, after not seeing you for several years, it seems you’ve become even more beautiful. A moment ago I didn’t have a chance to look closely but now that I do, it’s clear that you look even younger and radiant than before, just like a young woman in her prime!”
“Smelly brat, don’t think that by tossing out a few glib comments you’ll be able to appease your Martial Aunt!” Fei Yu quipped, the anger and frustration she had been suppressing for several years melting away.
Over the past few years, she had frequently inquired about and investigated into Yang Kai’s whereabouts but had never been able to discover anything. Naturally, this caused her a great deal of worry; after all, Yang Kai was from a remote backwater countryside and his strength wasn’t very high. When she last saw him in Floating Clouds City, he only had a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivation.
How could Fei Yu not be worried?
Not only was she concerned about his safety, his three Martial Uncles were also worried about him.
Each of them had vowed that if Yang Kai managed to return safely they would teach him a good lesson!
However, after seeing Yang Kai again, Fei Yu somehow couldn’t get angry and only felt like a big stone had finally been lifted from her chest.
After staring at her wayward Martial Nephew for a moment, Fei Yu’s expression suddenly became solemn and quickly released her Divine Sense. Carefully probing Yang Kai, a look of shock appeared on her face as she couldn’t help covering her mouth and exclaiming, “Little Martial Nephew, what is your current cultivation?”
Although she could already tell, she simply couldn’t believe it.
“Third Order Transcendent!”
“You’re really a Third Order Transcendent?” Fei Yu leapt up and immediately arrived beside Yang Kai, grabbing his wrist and sending a thread of her own True Qi and Divine Sense into Yang Kai’s body to examine him in finer detail.
While she probed him, she asked nervously, “You haven’t cultivated some kind of forbidden Secret Art, right?”
Yang Kai laughed dumbly and shook his head, “No. Also, such Secret Arts are only effective at rapidly increasing one’s realm during the early stages, how could they continue helping someone in the Transcendent Realm?”
Listening to him, Fei Yu nodded slightly in agreement.
Forbidden Secret Arts were ones that defied the natural order and went against the Heavenly Way. There were actually many such Secret Arts in this world, and cultivators who were blinded by power often chose to cultivate them, allowing them to grow rapidly early on. However, the higher the realm they reached, the weaker they became and the harder it was for them to advance due to the many hidden dangers in their foundations.
Before reaching the Transcendent Realm, so long as one had high enough aptitude, given the quality of Secret Arts and resources available in Tong Xuan Realm, it was not difficult to rapidly grow. For example, Shui Ling had already reached the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary before she was even twenty years old.
Such cultivation at such an age back in the Central Capital was simply extraordinary. At the time, even Yang Kai had no choice but to admit his inferiority.
Such young geniuses were common in Tong Xuan Realm.
Nevertheless, after reaching the Transcendent Realm, breaking through each minor realm was accompanied by great difficulties. Some people spent several dozen years just to break through a single minor realm, many not ever being able to advance for the rest of their life.
Fei Yu’s aptitude was also quite good, but even she took six or seven decades to cultivate from the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary to the Third Order Transcendent Realm, and she had remained in the Third Order Transcendent for another thirty or forty years after that before breaking through to the Saint Realm.
Counting strictly, Fei Yu was now over a hundred years old!
However, with such a formidable cultivation base and by using certain youth retaining techniques, she still had the appearance, and temperament, of a young woman.
When Yang Kai went to Floating Clouds City with her in the past, he was only a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, but today, after only five or six years, he had actually become a Third Order Transcendent.
This kind of cultivation speed was simply too terrifying.
Fei Yu was understandably worried he had taken advantage of some dubious method to achieve this.
After inspecting him for a while, Fei Yu’s furrowed brow slowly relaxed as she shook her head lightly, “There doesn’t seem to be any problems. Your True Qi is both pure and vigorous, not any worse than your Martial Aunt’s; however, just to be safe, we should get Cang Yan and them to check you out as well.”
Saying so, she sat herself back down and stared at Yang Kai curiously, “What exactly have you been up to these past few years? Since we parted back at Floating Clouds City, there’s been no news from you at all!”
“I…”
Yang Kai had just opened his mouth when Fei Yu suddenly interrupted, “Hold on a moment, Cang Yan and them will definitely want to hear this as well. I’ve already sent them a message so they should be here soon. You’d best be prepared though, those three smelly men all said they were going to teach you a lesson for the trouble you’ve caused.”
“Ah… en,” Yang Kai scratched his head, closing his lips, sitting up somewhat straighter on the stone bench.
Seeing his awkward appearance, Fei Yu didn’t feel like pressing the issue again and instead just lazily rested her cheek on her palm while grabbing a piece of spirit fruit to chew on as they waited.
After less than the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the sound of footsteps echoed from outside.
“They’re here,” Fei Yu smiled faintly, sitting back comfortably as if she was preparing to watch a good show, her beautiful pupils flashing an interested light.
It seemed she was quite looking forward to how Cang Yan and the others would tidy up Yang Kai.
Yang Kai expression became somewhat dignified as he sat up straight, staring towards the entrance.
After a moment, three figures rushed in simultaneously; obviously, it was Cang Yan, Li Wan, and Fei Jian.
As soon as they entered, Li Wan shouted, “I heard that little bastard is back?”
Cang Yan also wore an austere expression, as if anticipating a coming storm while Fei Jian’s fingers were lightly rubbing, a dangerous aura pulsing from their tips.
Three pairs of eyes immediately locked onto Yang Kai.
In response, Yang Kai jumped to his feet and let out a hearty laugh, “Several Martial Uncles, congratulations on breaking through to the Saint Realm! It is really the great fortune of my Soaring Heaven Sect. With several Martial Uncles’ great strength, you will surely soon become famous throughout the world! Congratulations indeed!”
Fei Yu was startled by this sudden outburst, but soon wore a wry grin as she muttered under her breath, “Sly little bastard!”
The three men couldn’t help glancing around at each other as cramped smiles appeared on their faces. Although they had said they would teach Yang Kai a good lesson, that was only because of all of the worries he had caused them. Now seeing Yang Kai safe and sound, how could they really get angry with him?
Hearing Yang Kai suddenly say these lines as well caused them to laugh dumbly despite themselves and shake their heads despite trying not to.
Moreover, all of them being able to break through to the Saint Realm was in large part due to Yang Kai’s efforts. If it weren’t for him condensing the medicinal liquid of the Thousand-Year Demon Flower, even if Cang Yan and the others could still make this breakthrough, it would have taken them many more years, possibly even decades.
“Little brat!” Cang Yan’s serious expression melted away like a snowflake under the sun, a big grin soon replacing it as he heavily patted Yang Kai’s shoulder and looked him up and down, nodding as he said, “Good good good, two arms, two legs, and your head, seems everything is in place!”
“En, he actually looks more solid than before,” Li Wan also laughed.
Fei Jian narrowed his eyes slightly, “Your aura is also much denser.”
“It seems that you’ve grown up a lot outside these past few years. En, very good!”
His Martial Uncle had only offered some simple praise but Yang Kai could feel their deep sense of care towards him, warming his heart.
Fei Yu, on the other hand, waited for the three of them to finish their greetings before snorting lightly, “You three are also Saints now, yet you didn’t even bother to probe little Martial Nephew’s current cultivation?”
“What’s wrong with his cultivation?” Cang Yan frowned, releasing his Divine Sense and sweeping Yang Kai with it casually.
The next instant though, his eyes bulged as if he had just seen something impossible.
Li Wan and Fei Jian noticed this and also quickly checked Yang Kai, both of them soon showing similar expressions to Cang Yan.
Third Order Transcendent Realm!
This little Martial Nephew who had come from a remote backwater was now actually a Third Order Transcendent. His True Qi fluctuations clearly illustrated this.
“I remember when we left the Sect for Floating Clouds City, little Martial Nephew was only at the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary. Although after condensing the medicinal liquid of the Thousand-Year Demon Flower he broke through to the Transcendent Realm, it has only been five or six years since then, yet he has already grown to such a height. Cang Yan, you take a look to see if there are any problems with little Martial Nephew’s foundation,” Fei Yu quickly said.
Cang Yan expression quickly became serious as he began examining Yang Kai.
A moment later, he shook his head slowly, “Strange, very strange!”
“What’s strange?” Li Wan and Fei Jian asked somewhat anxiously.
“There’s no issue with little Martial Nephew’s cultivation. His foundation is very solid and the purity and density of his True Qi are almost no different from even our own.”
“Wha… how is that possible?” Li Wan exclaimed. Before going to Floating Clouds City, the three of them had only been Third Order Transcendents, yet now, Yang Kai had actually caught up with their cultivation at that time.
“If he didn’t obtain some incredible fortuitous encounter, it can only mean that little Martial Nephew… is an incredible Heaven defying genius!” Cang Yan’s eyes flashed as he stared at Yang Kai with great interest, “Little Martial Nephew, what exactly did you experience outside these past few years? “
“Oh, nothing much, I just casually walked here and there. As for fortuitous encounters, there were indeed a few things,” Yang Kai laughed wryly.
“Let’s hear it,” All four of the others in the room suddenly said curiously.
Yang Kai took a breath and, feeling slightly helpless, began to simply narrate what had happened to him these past few years. He didn’t dare mention the matters regarding Nine Heavens Holy Land and Dragon Phoenix Palace and instead emphasized his experiences in Ice Sect, the Mysterious Small World where he met the Sun Clan, and his time in the Demon Land. Listening to his story, his Martial Uncles and Martial Aunt couldn’t help revealing shocked expressions.
After Yang Kai finished his story, his four Seniors went silent for a long time.
Li Wan was the first to break the silence, sighing as he said, “You’ve certainly had many fantastical experiences. The Demon Land… Even we don’t dare venture into that place, it’s rumoured that there are powerful Demon Race masters everywhere, making it extremely dangerous for us Humans.”
“Oh right, little Martial Nephew, were you able to find the locations of those two Senior Sisters you were looking for?” Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes flashed, seemingly quite interested in both Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang.
“En, I already found one of them, she is currently cultivating in Ice Sect. As for the other, I am still uncertain of her exact whereabouts, but I believe I will be able to reunite with her soon,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Good, you must bring them to the Sect at some point after you find them. I must see what kind of charm your two Senior Sisters possess to let you never forget about them.”
“There will be a chance.”
“En, enough about these matters, little Martial Nephew returning to the Sect after so long is a great good fortune, we must celebrate!” Cang Yan suddenly shouted, shooting a sly glance over towards Li Wan and Fei Jian.
Li Wan and Fei Jian immediately understood his intentions and fervently expressed their agreement.
Fei Yu smiled bitterly and said, “You stinky men are just after your Great Aunt’s Thousand Safflower Wine! I knew it from the moment you all said you’d rush to my Serene Resplendent Peak. I’ll say this now, this is the last time! Out of consideration for little Martial Nephew’s face, I’ll let you each drink one bottle today, but if you dare try this again, Great Aunt here will go all out with you!”
The three of them laughed slyly and quickly began to prepare.
After drinking to their hearts’ content, Cang Yan and the others were dead drunk and stumbled out of Serene Resplendent Peak. Before leaving though, they told Yang Kai to pay a visit to the Ancestral Founder. Chu Ling Xiao was apparently also quite worried about him.
Yang Kai readily agreed.
Fei Yu was also incredibly drunk; her cheeks flushed a deep shade of red as her eyes so moist it seemed like they would squeeze out drops of water at any moment. Holding tightly to a big wine bottle, not caring the slightest for her sloppy appearance, she lay sprawled out across the stone table and was lightly snoring.
Seeing this all too familiar scene, Yang Kai shook his head helplessly and began cleaning up.
The next day, Yang Kai went to meet with Chu Ling Xiao.
Inside the same secluded room, Chu Ling Xiao sat atop his cushion quietly, as if he had not moved at all these past few years.
After seeing Yang Kai, Chu Ling Xiao smiled happily and lightly commented, “I heard from Cang Yan and those kids that you had reached the Third Order Transcendent Realm. Originally, this old master still had some doubts, but seeing you now, it appears to be true.”
“Disciple was just fortunate enough to encounter some opportunities; otherwise I would not have my current achievements.”
“You don’t need to be so modest, opportunities and adventures are another part of one’s strength; since you were able to meet them, the strength you gained also belongs to you.,” Chu Ling Xiao nodded lightly before narrowing his eyes ever so slightly as he stared at Yang Kai, “However, your aura is somewhat odd… Different from how it was previously. You now have an air of majesty around you that did not exist before! Curious, you are quite young and should not be able to exude such a lofty air. Just where did you acquire it?”
Yang Kai was stunned, not having expected Chu Ling Xiao to be aware of this.
The majestic and dignified aura belonged to the Dragon Emperor and was not strictly possessed by Yang Kai himself.
Before Yang Kai could answer though, Chu Ling Xiao waved his hand calmly, “This old master was just thinking out loud, you need not explain to me, everyone has some secrets that they don’t want others to know.”
Yang Kai laughed awkwardly before suddenly wearing a serious expression, “Right, Ancestral Founder, I have something I’d like to consult with you about.”
“En, go ahead,” Chu Ling Xiao nodded lightly.
“Ancestral Founder, have you constructed a Void Corridor before?”
“Oh?” Chu Ling Xiao smiled faintly, “How did you know?”
Yang Kai scratched his head and replied, “Ancestral Founder may have forgotten, but over on that side, inside High Heaven Pavilion, there is a Void Corridor which leads to a place about ten thousand kilometres away…”
“En, there indeed was such a thing,” Chu Ling Xiao thought about it for a moment before nodding, “En, I was the one who created that Void Corridor…. but that was not a result of my own skill, I only managed to create it by borrowing the power of an artifact.”
“Could Ancestral Founder speak about it in more detail?” Yang Kai asked solemnly.
Although Yang Kai could now tear space, he wasn’t able to determine where he reappeared, when he emerged from the void, he would simply appear somewhere in the surrounding several hundred-kilometre region.
If he ever found himself in a dangerous situation, this uncertainty would become a major issue.
However, if Yang Kai could determine where he would reappear, this tearing space method would become of great use to him.
It was for this reason, among others, that he wanted to consult with Chu Ling Xiao about these things.
“That artifact was something I had inadvertently obtained many years ago. Although I knew it contained a trace of the power of void, I had never been able to use it nor understand the mysteries it contained. When I fought with that Demon General, the two of us inadvertently stumbled upon a hidden Void Corridor entrance and travelled to your world. After killing that Demon General, I founded High Heaven Pavilion over there, but was unable to find my way back here!” Chu Ling Xiao revealed a reminiscent look, “I stayed in that land for a number of years before, out of desperation, pinning my hopes on that artifact. Unfortunately, after I managed to activate the artifact, although I successfully created a Void Corridor, it was one that could only convey an individual ten thousand kilometres away rather than one that could cross worlds.”
Saying so, Chu Ling Xiao showed a slightly exasperated expression.
“Since that’s the case Ancestral Founder, how did you get back here?” Yang Kai couldn’t help but wonder.
Chu Ling Xiao chuckled wryly, “A chance coincidence. Over there, there’s a place called Nether Mountain, yes?”
Yang Kai nodded. Nether Mountain was the greatest forbidden zone in the Great Han Dynasty. Yang Kai had even gone there once for life experience in a Mysterious Small World. It was also the place he first met cultivators from Tian Lang Dynasty.
Naturally he remembered that experience clearly.
“It was there that I found a Void Corridor and after I entered it I found myself back in Tong Xuan Realm.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up immediately.
Was there also a Void Corridor leading to this side hidden in Nether Mountain? Yang Kai knew nothing about it; he had only been able to arrive in Tong Xuan Realm thanks to Meng Wu Ya telling him about the Void Corridor in the forbidden land of Tian Lang Dynasty.
There was also the Void Corridor hidden in the Earth Vein beneath the Central Capital.
When he thought about it, Yang Aki realized that there were actually a lot of hidden connections between his old world and Tong Xuan Realm; it was just that most people knew nothing about them.
Conversely, there should also be a number of ways to get from Tong Xuan Realm back to that world.
After a long conversation with Chu Ling Xiao, Yang Kai unfortunately did not obtain any solid clues about returning home, but there was one thing he did learn. As long as he continued searching patiently, he would one day be able to find his way back to that world.
Yang Kai wasn’t in a rush though. In any case, he had neither the ability to protect nor a place to house his friends and relatives now.
For now, he decided to continue studying the tearing space Divine Ability he had obtained.
Leaving Chu Ling Xiao’s residence, Yang Kai flew back to Serene Resplendent Peak and casually informed his Fei Yu Martial Aunt he wanted to enter secluded retreat.
He had just broken through to the Third Order Transcendent Realm and had not yet had a chance to consolidate his cultivation, so he planned to do so now while studying the mysteries of tearing space.
In the depths of Serene Resplendent Peak there was an extremely expensive secret room entirely comprised of Crystal Stone. Before going to Floating Clouds City, Yang Kai had often spent time in this room studying Alchemy. When he asked, Fei Yu readily agreed to lend it to him.
After closing the chamber, Yang Kai reached out and waved his hand. In front of him, a dark crack split open and from it a chaotic and terrifying energy pulsed.
Yang Kai was already quite familiar with tearing space and could do so rather easily.
After Yang Kai dove into The Void, the dark tear in space quickly closed and vanished without a trace.
As always, a sense of weightlessness overcame Yang Kai the moment he entered The Void. Sitting cross-legged, Yang Kai circulated his Secret Art to consolidate his cultivation while releasing his Divine Sense into his surroundings to study the path of the void turbulent around him.
Yang Kai had always felt that there was some mystery hidden in these void turbulences but the reason no one had unravelled it so far was because these turbulences were simply too dangerous.
Even if a Saint Realm master managed to arrive here, they would not be able to withstand this turbulence and it would only be a short time before their physical body and Soul were torn to shreds.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, wasn’t worried about such things; his physical strength and Divine Sense were both out of the ordinary which gave him a great advantage in this plane.
Transforming his Divine Sense into thousands of individual threads, Yang Kai attached them to the void turbulences around him as he followed and studied them, trying to unravel the laws which governed them.
Yang Kai didn’t become anxious and focused on maintaining a state of mental tranquility.
As time passed, he gradually began to comprehend some simple rules of The Void, but he was still unable to grasp the key, leading him to further immerse himself in his studies.
Suddenly, the turbulences throughout The Void became unstable. Yang Kai quickly awoke from his meditative state and took back his Divine Sense threads. Looking around himself, he was shocked to discover that this entire region of the Void seemed to have become chaotic, with a powerful destructive energy and aura seemingly flooding in from all directions.
Yang Kai had frequently encountered this situation while experimenting with this tearing space method. It was quite similar to what he had experienced back in the Starry Sky; when the Starry Sky energy reached a certain concentration, a storm would form.
Inside The Void, there were Void Storms formed when the strength of the void reached a certain concentration.
This was a natural phenomenon.
Every time this happened, Yang Kai had swiftly avoided it. This time too, when he noticed the Void Storm approaching, Yang Kai’s first thought was to escape, but after thinking about it for a moment, his brow wrinkled and he slowly sat back down.
When he had explored the Starry Sky, he had been forced to endure a Starry Sky storm and as a result, benefited greatly from it, even breaking through to the Transcendent Realm. So, Yang Kai thought, if he now stayed here and felt the mysteries hidden inside this Void Storm with his own flesh and blood, perhaps he could unlock the secrets of tearing space which had thus far eluded him!
Thinking so, Yang Kai no longer rushed to leave and instead quietly sat amongst the turbulent flow of The Void while condensing all his strength in preparation for the arrival of the destructive storm front.
A moment later, the violent Void Storm swallowed engulfed him.
In an instant, all of Yang Kai’s clothes were turned into dust and his body was covered in wounds, leaving almost no place on his skin unharmed.
Yang Kai couldn’t help paling slightly.
Although Yang Kai knew that the energy which flowed here was even more mysterious and dangerous than the power which permeated the Starry Sky, it appeared he had still underestimated it.
Yang Kai hastily used all his strength to resist the ravages of the storm.
With his skin cut open, blood flowed out freely, covering Yang Kai in a layer of red and gold, while a profound and mysterious strength seeped into his physique.
A look of shock filling his face, as Yang Kai had to endure an aching pain all over his body and quickly investigated.
The strength which had seeped into his pores was obviously Void Energy, the basis of the method he used to tear space.
More and more Void Energy poured into his body and gradually reached a concentration that even Yang Kai felt was unbearable. It felt as if he was being sliced open from both inside and outside by a million tiny blades.
Moreover, because it was Void Energy that was tearing into him, Yang Kai’s entire figure had become somewhat intangible.
Yang Kai clearly knew that his hands and feet were right in front of his eyes, but because of the constantly twisting space around him, Yang Kai mistakenly felt like his limbs had actually spread out over a vast distance.
Not daring neglect, Yang Kai immediately shouted in a low voice, “Devil Transformation!”
Rich and pure Demonic Qi gushed out from his Unyielding Golden Skeleton and transformed into exquisite Demon Crests that covered Yang Kai’s skin before they sank into his physique and disappeared.
In an instant, Yang Kai’s vitality and physical strength rose madly along with his momentum and aura.
The pain which had just been unbearable suddenly became much lighter.
Gently breathing a sigh of relief, Yang Kai spread out his Divine Sense once more and began exploring this explosion of Void Energy while simultaneously allowing his body to bathe in and forcibly remember it.
Time had never passed so slowly, but gradually, Yang Kai noticed some subtle yet extremely gratifying changes in his perception.
The seemingly random movements of the void turbulences around him now, in Yang Kai’s perception, showed some faint semblance of order, allowing him to vaguely grasp their ebb and flow.
Yang Kai grinned happily and continued to maintain his current state, constantly trying to comprehend the mysteries of The Void through the Void Energy which flowed in and around him.
After what seemed like an eternity, yet for all Yang Kai could tell might have only been a fleeting moment, the Void Storm finally passed and everything became calm once more.
Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to find the originally chaotic yet empty Void before him was now filled with a near infinite number of faint points of light, almost like a beautiful starry sky.
Sweeping these points of light with his senses allowed him to read some subtle information from each.
Yang Kai brow wrinkled slightly as he continued to carefully examine these points, and as he gradually comprehended what each of them was trying to convey to him, his heart filled with excitement.
Focusing all his attention on one particular point of light, Yang Kai saw a palatial mountain peak appear in his mind. The mountain peak soared several thousand meters into the sky and was surrounded by many others. Its most distinguishing feature though was a great waterfall which fell into a river that ran beside a cave which led into its inner depths.
Immersing himself in this image, Yang Kai felt almost as if he was floating mid-air, overlooking this familiar mountain.
Serene Resplendent Peak!
It was his Fei Yu Martial Aunt’s private residence and the place he was currently cultivating.
Stretching out his hand, Yang Kai tore space at that point of light and stepped through.
Looking back, Yang Kai found himself standing inside a great forest bathed in beautiful and refreshing spring like sunlight with the sounds of a great waterfall pouring roaring in his ears.
Yang Kai immediately flew up into the sky and scanned his surroundings, barely able to contain his excitement.
Taking in everything around him, Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a loud, hearty laugh!
The scene before his eyes, when seen from high above, was almost exactly the same as the one he had perceived from the point of light inside The Void.
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai nodded repeatedly, so excited he wanted to throw his head back and let out a roar.
Today, he had finally, truly grasped the mystery of tearing space and no longer had to worry about losing his way and randomly appearing somewhere within a few hundred kilometers when leaving The Void.
Now, as long as he wanted to, he could roughly determine the direction and position he wanted to go.
Using his body to directly feel the mysteries of The Void had really paid off.
If he had known this method was feasible, Yang Kai would have long ago tried it instead of wasting so much time trying to slowly puzzle through this mystery.
Half-way up the mountain, a pretty figure swiftly flew over, seemingly alarmed because of all the noise Yang Kai had been making, wanting to investigate what was happening.
As she drew near Yang Kai who was still floating mid-air and laughing happily to himself, Fei Yu couldn’t wearing a strange look, placing her jade white hand onto her forehead to block the sun’s rays as she looked up and shouted, “Little Martial Nephew, weren’t you in retreat? What did you come out here to do?”
Upon hearing her voice, Yang Kai quickly looked over and smiled, “I thought I’d come out and take a walk today.”
“You came out?” Fei Yu frowned, “How come I didn’t notice?”
She too had been inside the mountain cave but had not noticed Yang Kai come out of the secret room, so naturally she was somewhat confused.
“Martial Aunt probably just missed me,” Yang Kai said casually.
Fei Yu didn’t ask anything more and instead just swept her eyes up and down Yang Kai a few times, seeming examining him with great interest, pursing her lips as she lightly said, “Little Martial Nephew, don’t you think there’s something a bit ‘off’ with you right now?”
“Something off?” Yang Kai frowned, not knowing what she was talking about.
“Little boy, your stature is quite good…” Fei Yu expressed her admiration, her fair white neck gradually blushing slightly, her pair of beautiful eyes staring at him appreciatively, “I never noticed underneath your clothes held such a treasure…”
Yang Kai’s stupidly grinning face immediately went black as he suddenly realized what she was talking about, his figure flickering in the next instant as he dove into the pond beneath the nearby waterfall.
Outside, Fei Yu nearly doubled over as her giggling voice resounded like a silver bell.
Yang Kai felt like dying. He had just been so immersed in his comprehension of tearing space that he had even forgotten that all his clothes were shredded to dust in the Void Storm.
It was no wonder his Martial Aunt had been staring at him oddly.
From the pond down below, Yang Kai stuck just his head up above the surface, wiped off the dripping water from his face and shouted, “Martial Aunt, couldn’t you have said something a bit sooner?”
Fei Yu floated down and gently poked the top of his head, still having trouble controlling her laughter as she mischievously grinner, “What’s the matter, your Martial Aunt here is so much older than you. What point is there in acting so bashful?”
Yang Kai retracted his head back into the water somewhat, revealing just his helpless eyes.
In front of Fei Yu, Yang Kai really couldn’t fight back; if it had been any other woman so blatantly sexually harassing him, Yang Kai would have already taught her that there were some men she couldn’t provoke.
But Fei Yu was his Senior and Martial Aunt…
“But seriously, what were you doing here. How did you get all those scars?” Fei Yu’s gaze immediately became serious as she asked with concern.
It wasn’t just Yang Kai’s unusual choice of attire that had caught Fei Yu’s attention just now, she had also clearly seen his bare skin had traces of dried up blood all over it, apparently he had just suffered numerous serious wounds.
“Just a bit of an accident…” Yang Kai replied faintly.
Determining that Yang Kai truly didn’t have any issues, Fei Yu relaxed and let the issue drop, bursting into giggles again before shaking her head and flying back down.
Yang Kai scrubbed himself inside the pool for a while before donning a new set of clothes.
Upon returning to the cave, Yang Kai saw Fei Yu smiling towards him.
“That’s right,” Fei Yu suddenly said, “Have you gone to see Old Man Du yet? After you didn’t return for over a year, he began sending Mi Na over every now and then to inquire about you. Both of them seemed quite concerned about you.”
“Oh, then I should go have a look then,” Yang Kai nodded, “I’m free at the moment so I might as well go now.”
“Good, the earlier you go, the earlier you can return!” Fei Yu waved her hand, knowing that Yang Kai was still somewhat embarrassed to be here right now.
“I might stay there for a while. There’s some Alchemy problems I’d like to discuss with Old Man Du.”
Fei Yu shot him a glance before snickering, “Do as you’d like. After all, the last time you ‘went out for a while,’ you didn’t come back for six years!”
She thought that Yang Kai was just looking for an excuse to avoid her for a bit but in fact, Yang Kai real did want to get Old Man Du’s advice regarding some issues regarding Alchemy.
As for today, Yang Kai’s Alchemy abilities were quite high, almost on par with Du Wan’s, and with the help of the many profound Spirit Arrays he knew, Yang Kai even felt he wouldn’t lose to Old Man Du when it came to purely refining pills.
However, Du Wan had been immersed in this field for a very long time, so he would naturally have his own unique experiences and insights.
Such things could only be accumulated over time and were exactly what Yang Kai was currently lacking, making them extremely precious to him.
In order to free the Ancient Demon Clan from that Mysterious Small World, Yang Kai’s Alchemy technique still needed to improve. Thus, he was quite eager to find ways to promote his Alchemy technique.
If he could acquire the Ancient Demon Clan’s strength, there were many more things Yang Kai could accomplish.
Bidding farewell to Fei Yu, Yang Kai left Soaring Heaven Sect and flew off towards Grand Boulder City.
Two hours later, he touched down outside the city gates.
Upon arriving here, Yang Kai was surprised to find that the city seemed to be much livelier than before. There were many foreign cultivators coming and going, all seemingly in a rush.
Yang Kai shook his head and no longer paid any attention to such things as he walked straight towards the Alchemist Guild.
Just after Yang Kai walked into the Alchemist Guild, a young girl who couldn’t be older than fifteen with her hair done up in a pair of swaying twin-tails rushed over and intercepted him.
Although she was young and her figure had yet to fully mature, it was clear she would soon become a beautiful young woman, a fresh and pleasant sight to behold.
The little girl rushed straight up to Yang Kai and stopped him in his tracks, placing arms akimbo as she questioned, “Who are you? How can you just casually stroll inside this place?”
Yang Kai swept his eyes over her quickly and discovered that this little girl’s cultivation was respectable enough; actually having already reached the True Element Ninth Stage, slightly better than Sun Yu from Dragon Phoenix Palace when Yang Kai first met him.
“Who are you?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
Grand Boulder City’s Alchemist Guild branch should only have three occupants, Du Wan, Mi Na, and Mi Na’s master Ye Xiong.
Since when did such a small girl take up residence here?
“What business is that of yours?” The opposite party huffed as she stared back at Yang Kai, dissatisfied, “This is the Alchemist Guild, don’t you know? It’s not a place just any random person can enter.”
“Random person…” Yang Kai nearly choked. This little girl was neither very old nor very tall, but her attitude was by no means small.
“Hmph, you must be someone looking for Alchemy services from Old Man Du or Master Ye, right? If you want to request them to perform Alchemy, come back in a month. The schedules of the two masters are currently full,” The little girl said, clearing thinking herself quite clever for figuring this out.
“It’s so busy here?” Yang Kai was amazed.
“Naturally, many people come here to request Alchemy from the two Grandmasters,” the girl replied proudly, as if she was the one being requested for Alchemy services by these people, her eyes flashing in the next moment as she suddenly said, “If the grade of pill you need refined isn’t that high, I can help you.”
“You also study Alchemy?” Yang Kai looked down at her, suddenly becoming somewhat interested.
“En, naturally, you shouldn’t underestimate me just because of my appearance, I’m actually a Mysterious Grade Low-Rank Alchemist!”
“Oh? That’s quite impressive,” Yang Kai praised sincerely. So young yet already a Mysterious Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, it was a rare right indeed. On top of that, Yang Kai had never met this little girl before, so she must have only arrived within the last three to five years. She was probably a seedling Du Wan or Ye Xiong had come across and was now instructing in the Alchemic Dao.
Using only three to five years to become a Mysterious Grade Low-Rank Alchemist proved how high this little girl’s aptitude was.
Hearing Yang Kai’s praise, the girl suddenly smiled and no longer felt that this young man in front of her looked so bad, “How about it? I can help you perform Alchemy. At or below Mysterious Grade Low-Rank my success rate is eighty percent!”
“Eighty percent, very good, how much do you charge for your services?” Yang Kai asked, rubbing his chin.
“There’s no charge!” The girl replied quickly, “Old Man Du and Master Ye said that I should take every opportunity I get to refine more pills so there’s no need to offer me any compensation. En, well, of course, if you feel like paying me… I’m not going to refuse. En, actually, Alchemy is quite laborious, each time Wu’er performs Alchemy, she drips with sweat and becomes quite tired!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help chuckling as he nodded, “So your name is Wu’er?”
“En!”
Yang Kai thought about it for a moment before taking out a batch of Heaven Grade and Mysterious Grade herbs from the Black Book space and handing them over to the little girl.
These herbs weren’t very high grade so they had almost no use to Yang Kai anymore, but they happened to be perfect for Wu’er to practice with in order to improve her Alchemy skills.
Yang Kai remembered when he first started practising Alchemy and all the struggles he went through to collect herbs and couldn’t help lending her a hand.
Wu’er’s eyes lit up as she quickly accepted the herbs and placed them into her Universe Bag.
“Help me refine a hundred pills with those,” After handing over the herbs, Yang Kai made a broad request.
“Good, with so many herbs, it should be enough,” Wu’er happily promised, “But a hundred pills will take some time, en, come back to me after one month and I should be able to hand them over to you!”
“Good,” Yang Kai nodded before taking out some Crystal Stones, “This is your reward!”
“You’re also really giving me…” Wu’er looked up at Yang Kai timidly, her hands gripping her floral print skirt, looking somewhat hesitant and embarrassed.
“Performing Alchemy is laborious and time-consuming, naturally I should compensate you.”
“Then… Wu’er won’t be polite,” Wu’er said, accepting the Crystal Stones as a giant smile blossomed on her face, suddenly feeling like the young man in front of her was much more cordial than Old Man Du or Master Ye, nodding happily as she declared, “En, very good, after one month, you can come here to accept your pills, I’m going to go start refining them now. You won’t be disappointed!”
Yang Kai gently nodded, smiling as he watched her run off.
Rushing forward to happily, Wu’er turned a corner and accidentally bumped into Mi Na, the latter quickly catching Wu’er just as she was about to fall before lightly scolding, “Little girl, how can you be so energetic every day?”
“Senior Sister, look, look!” Wu’er handed over the Crystal Stones she was holding, causing Mi Na eyes to flash as she asked, “Where did you get so many Crystal Stones?”
“There’s still more in my Universe Bag, that person gave me more than twenty pieces!”
“Who gave these to you?” Mi Na couldn’t help but frown.
“A young man… He said he wanted me to help him refine a hundred pills and that these Crystal Stones were my reward!”
“A hundred pills?” Mi Na was stunned, “What does he want so many pills for? On top of that, he actually asked for specifically you to refine them?”
“En! The herbs are in my Universe Bag.”
Mi Na’s expression became sour as she snorted, “Must be some degenerate! That person is either blind or has some evil ulterior motive! Is he still in the guild?”
“I don’t know… he was here a moment ago,” Wu’er stared back at Mi Na in confusion, not understanding why her Senior Sister suddenly seemed unhappy.
“I’ll go take a look,” Mi Na said before running off.
Her Junior Sister was too young and was still in the process of learning Alchemy, if that person really wanted to find someone to perform Alchemy, he definitely wouldn’t have looked for Wu’er, she simply didn’t look reliable enough.
Mi Na instinctively thought that whoever this man was, he was trying to get close to Wu’er for some nefarious purpose.
A look of anger and righteous indignation upon her face, Mi Na was determined to confront this low-life and teach him that the Alchemist Guild was not to be trifled with.
But just as she reached the guild’s entrance hall, she saw a familiar figure standing around leisurely. Four eyes suddenly met and the slightly roguish looking young man grinned and called out, “Beauty, long time no see.”
Mi Na froze up as she stared at him foolishly for a moment before coming to her senses and exclaiming, “Yang Kai!”
As she called out, she rushed forward once more, this time with an excited smile upon her face though as she hurriedly asked, “Why you, did you finally come back?”
“En, I got back just a month ago.”
“Hmph, I thought you’d died out in the wood somewhere,” Mi Na grumbled, “Over the past few years, I’ve been sent by Old Man Du to Soaring Heaven Sect to inquire about your news many times, but there never was any.”
Inside the Alchemist Guild, seeing Yang Kai for the first time in years, Mi Na was quite happy.
However, when she remembered all the worry he had caused Old Man Du, Mi Na couldn’t help feeling somewhat resentful too. For this guy, she felt she had run back and forth to Soaring Heaven Sect so many times the hills in-between had gotten flatter.
“That’s why I came over to see you all,” Yang Kai smiled.
“Hmph, seems you still have some conscience left!” Mi Na snorted as she swept her eyes over him, suddenly thinking of something as she did, “Wait, the one who just asked Wu’er for Alchemy… wouldn’t be you, right?”
“En, it was me,” Yang Kai nodded.
Mi Na patted the chest and breathed a sigh of relief, “So it was you, good, I thought that it was some no good pervert eyeing Wu’er and planned on teaching him a lesson.”
Yang Kai just laughed, “It seemed like she needed some materials to practice with so I gave her some… Since when was there such a little girl here, I’ve never seen her before.”
Hearing this, Mi Na’s expression became somewhat gloomy as she quickly checked to make sure Wu’er had left before whispering, “Old Man Du and I picked her up on our way back… such a poor girl.”
“Picked up on your way back?” Yang Kai is stunned.
“En, on our way back here from Floating Clouds City, we passed by a village that had been attacked by a pack of Monster Beasts. Everyone in the village was dead except her. We found her alone and crying amongst the ruins and didn’t have the heart to just leave her so we brought her back with us to Grand Boulder City. When we found her, she was less than ten years old. She was incredibly thin and had lost the ability to speak, seemingly quite traumatized… It was only after caring for her for a few years that she turned into her current appearance, running around all day long with energy to spare. Haa… such a handful.”
Yang Kai smiled warmly and commented, “You really picked up a good seedling.”
“En!” Mi Na’s beautiful eyes shimmered, “Old Man Du was also quite surprised at Wu’er’s aptitude for Alchemy. When we brought her back, she hadn’t even begun cultivating, yet now she’s already reached the True Element Boundary Ninth Stage and her Alchemy level has recently broken through to the Mysterious Grade Low-Rank. Honestly, as her Senior Sister, I feel quite pressured. If I don’t work hard, that little girl will overtake me in a flash.”
Yang Kai chuckled at this, “It’ll be years before that happens.”
“I’m afraid it won’t take very long though…” Mi Na smiled bitterly, “I’m only a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, only one grade higher than Wu’er, with how fast that little girl is growing, she’ll probably surpass me within ten years.”
Saying so, Mi Na suddenly looked at Yang Kai curiously and asked, “What about you? Have you been able to progress beyond the Spirit Grade Top-Rank?”
“Well, a little,” Yang Kai scratched his cheek, not daring to tell Mi Na the truth for fear of discouraging her.
“Fine fine, seeing you like this, it’s obvious you’re already able to refine Saint Pills. This girl is just a common mortal, I shouldn’t be trying to compare myself with you two freaks!” Mi Na grumbled in frustration, but in the next instant smiled, “Enough about that. Come with me, if Old Man Du knew you came back, he’d no doubt be very happy.”
Yang Kai gently nodded before following Mi Na into the Alchemist Guild.
Before they had gone far though, Yang Kai expression changed as he asked, “Is Old Man Du entertaining guests?”
Yang Kai could sense the auras of several individuals inside Old Man Du’s room as well as hear some light laughter. One of these auras belong to Du Wan while the others all possessed Transcendent Realm cultivations.
“En,” Mi Na responded, “They just arrived today actually.”
“Then I can wait.”
“No…” Mi Na smiled meaningfully, “I think those few guests will also want to see you.”
Yang Kai was momentarily stunned but quickly realized, “They couldn’t be the few I met back in Floating Clouds City?”
“Not bad!” Mi Na grinned as the two arrived in front of Du Wan’s room, calling out in the next moment, “Old Man Du, another guest has come to see you.”
The laughter and the conversation inside came to an abrupt halt as Du Wan immediately said, “Let him come back another time, today this old master won’t be seeing other guests.”
“Are you sure about that, Old Man Du? If that’s the case, then I’ll show him out,” Mi Na asked as she winked mischievously towards Yang Kai.
“Why you little…” Du Wan’s helplessly sighed before asking, “Who is it? From the sounds of it he must be a very important guest.”
Not waiting for Mi Na to answer, Yang Kai called out, “Old Man Du, it’s me, Yang Kai!”
“Yang Kai?” Du Wan’s called out in surprise, a series of footsteps ringing out in the next instant and the door soon flying open, revealing Du Wan’s expectant face. After seeing Yang Kai, a look of pleasant surprise filled Old Man Du’s expression as he shouted “It’s you!”
Yang Kai smiled and nodded.
“Come in, come in!” Du Wan enthusiastically greeted Yang Kai, “It’s good that you’re back.”
“Haha, after wandering around outside for a while I just recently returned to the Sect where I heard that Old Man Du had asked Mi Na to travel to Soaring Heaven Sect several times to inquire about this Junior’s wellbeing. For all Old Man Du’s concern, Junior is very grateful,” Yang Kai said seriously.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, you are a member of my Alchemist Guild Branch. I am its Manager, naturally I should pay attention to your wellbeing,” Du Wan shamelessly smiled and said, “You came at just the right time actually, this old man was just talking about you with several old friends.”
As the two talked, they entered the guild’s back hall.
Inside a spacious room sat several figures with ages and temperaments similar to Du Wan’s, each of them stretching their necks as they looked over towards the door expectantly.
After the appearance of Yang Kai though, all of them couldn’t help showing confused looks.
“Hey, Du Wan,” An old man with a rather uncouth attitude called out, “Something’s not quite right, he doesn’t look anything like the little boy from last time. Did you think my eyes had gone dim and memory had gone bad and thus brought some random kid here to deceive me?”
This old guy was quite rotund and sat directly on the floor like a giant lump, resting his whole body on a nearby wall. Just speaking a few words causing him to pant slightly.
“En… although his age seems about right and the voice is quite similar, his looks are completely different!” Another old man said as he caressed his long beard, sweeping his eyes up and down Yang Kai.
“Heh heh, you two dullards, don’t you remember Du Wan received a special artifact as payment for Alchemy several years ago that could explain all this?” A third person seemingly saw through everything at once and said smugly, “If I recall, that artifact is able to change the look and aura of a person.”
“Then… this is that little brat’s true appearance and what we saw back then was just a disguise?” A fourth old man proposed.
“Junior Yang Kai greets several Grandmasters,” Yang Kai smiled and cupped his fists.
“Come come, have a seat first,” Du Wan warmly motioned, “All of us are used to acting freely, there’s no need for you to act polite.”
Yang Kai glanced around and found that these Grandmasters were indeed casually relaxing. Instead of sitting on chairs around a table they were all sitting on the ground, probably because out of consideration for their overly obese member.
Not standing on ceremony, Yang Kai sat down next to Du Wan.
Four pairs of eyes gathered onto Yang Kai with great interest, causing the latter to laugh somewhat wryly.
Yang Kai still remembered how back in Floating Clouds City he had ‘received’ some treasures from these four people’s Universe Bags for winning first place in an Alchemy competition.
“Du Wan, you were certainly cautious enough, having this little boy wear that disguising artifact, no wonder no one has found him despite having his portrait and searching for many years,” One of the old men smiled, “So it was like this.”
“If I didn’t take precautions he would have been in trouble,” Du Wan smiled, “Although some clues pointed to Soaring Heaven Sect, with Chu Ling Xiao sitting over there, no one dares make any trouble.”
Yang Kai had condensed the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, so naturally there were many inquiring about his whereabouts in order to snatch this precious treasure from him.
“Were you so confident he would be the one to obtain the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s medicinal liquid?”
“I just thought it best for him to not reveal his identity in front of so many people,” Du Wan smiled, “Still, even I was quite surprised he was able to obtain the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, it was really quite amazing.”
Saying so, Du Wan suddenly said, “Right, Yang Kai, let me formally introduce them to you, this is the Manager of Shattered Star City Alchemist Guild branch, Hong Fang, a Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemist!”
“Greetings Grandmaster Hong!” Yang Kai respectfully bowed.
“No need, no need!” Hong Fang caressed his beard and smiled, “It won’t take long before you reach the same level as me, being called Grandmaster by such a talent is troubling.”
Du Wan smiled and did not refute, next pointing to the fat old man, “This is the Manager of Lightning Flash City Alchemist Guild, Chang Bao, also a Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemist! En, Brother Chang indulges too much in food and drink, so his body has become like this. You should take heed not to indulge in such excess.”
Chang Bao immediately shot back, “Sampling the world’s delicacies is one of life’s greatest pursuits, Du Wan, you just don’t understand it.”
Du Wan ignored this comment and proceeded to point to another person, “This is the Manager of Three River City’s Alchemist Guild, Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemist He Feng!”
Just after the introduction, He Feng smiled broadly and said, “Little boy, remember when I invited you to Three River City a few years ago yet you turned me down. Have you given the matter anymore thought?”
Saying so, he quickly tempted, “This old man has several beautiful granddaughters he can introduce you to. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you want them all as long as you agree to come to my Three River City’s Alchemist Guild.”
“Junior is grateful for all Grandmaster He’s concern, but this young one owes Old Man Du much grace so I must unfortunately refuse Grandmaster He’s kindness.”
He Feng narrowed his eyes and said, “Your courage is not small, no one has dared refuse this old master’s kindness before yet you’ve actually done so twice. Smelly brat, you’ve simply made this old master lose face!”
“Who told you to make a fool of yourself?” Du Wan laughed heartily, Yang Kai saying such words had obviously made him quite happy as he grinned from ear to ear, ignoring He Feng’s protest as he turned to the last person in the room, “Last but not least, this is Moon City Alchemist Guild’s manger, Kong Ruo Yu, also a Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemist!”
Yang Kai respectfully bowed once more.
Top Alchemists and Artifact Refiners were normally male because most women’s natural physiques were milder and more temperate, unsuited to handling the high temperatures and flames required to perform Alchemy and Artifact Refining, but this Kong Ruo Yu had actually become a Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, which showed that she had clearly worked harder and possessed greater aptitude than others. If she had been born a male, her achievements would probably be even higher.
Inside Du Wan’s room, excluding Yang Kai, there were currently five Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemists, this was an incredibly luxurious lineup.
Throughout all of Tong Xuan Realm, the number of Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemists was probably no higher than twenty, each of them a world famous figure, yet in this place there were actually five.
Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemists were even rarer, numbering three to five at most.
As for Saint Grade Top-Rank Alchemists, there was essentially only the hidden dragon who showed his tail but never his face: The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, Great Grandmaster Li Rui alone.
As Du Wan carefully introduced Yang Kai, the other four Alchemy Grandmasters also looked at Yang Kai with gratified expressions.
Yang Kai’s outstanding performance back in Floating Clouds City’s Alchemy contest had left a deep impression on them. Each of these old masters believed that in time, this young boy’s achievements would eclipse their own and usher in a new golden age for Alchemy.
Mi Na had left and returned with a tray of spirit fruits and fresh tea, offering them to these guests before drawing back once more.
She was not yet qualified to sit amongst these Grandmasters. Not just her, even her master Ye Xiong didn’t have the qualifications to participate in this conversation.
Du Wan inviting Yang Kai to sit among this group showed just how much value he placed on the young man.
These several Alchemy Grandmasters were all old friends so they didn’t maintain much decorum between them, freely speaking to one another while not minding Yang Kai’s presence in the slightest.
Yang Kai didn’t make a sound, only listening intently from the side, not showing the slightest impatience or boredom, instead quite interested in a number of the topics these five were discussing.
After talking for quite some time, Du Wan suddenly smiled and said, “Each of you live several tens of thousands of kilometers away yet you’ve all come here today to my Grand Boulder City. You probably didn’t do this just to chat about old times, yes?”
As soon as this was said, the four other Alchemy Grandmasters nodded seriously.
The old woman Kong Ruo Yu was the first to speak up, “There is truly something we wished to discuss with you. Chang Bao, you explain, you were the one who found it in the first place.”
Du Wan turned his attention to Lightning Flash City’s Alchemist Guild Manger.
Chang Bao expression also became solemn as he searched around in his Universe Bag for a moment before bringing out an incomplete animal skin. This skin was quite ancient and released a mysterious aura. Handing it to Du Wan, he simply said, “See for yourself.”
Du Wan accepted the animal skin and spread it out. After staring for a moment, he couldn’t help becoming absorbed in it.
The more he examined it, the more excited Du Wan’s expression became, as if he had just obtained some precious treasure.
Only after a moment did Chang Bao begin to explain, “This Spirit Array was something one of my disciples obtained and handed over to me. I have spent over a year studying it but was unable to decipher its mysteries, so I brought it to Brother He Feng…”
He Feng smiled bitterly and continued, “I was also helpless though, so the two of us sought out Brother Hong and Senior Sister Kong…”
“Even all together we couldn’t decipher it, but we knew that Brother Du was on the verge of becoming a Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, thus we all decided to come to Grand Boulder City to let you try,” Kong Ruo Yu followed up.
“En,” Du Wan nodded lightly, indicating that he understood, but after carefully studying the animal skin for quite some time, he slowly shook my head, “I’m afraid I must disappoint all of your expectations. This Spirit Array is very complex and complicated. It doesn’t look like the Spirit Arrays we currently use and appears to be more ancient; on top of that, it’s incomplete, this Du is also helpless to explain it.”
Listening to him, the other four did not show much of a disappointed look.
They had come here simply to try their luck and hadn’t really expected Du Wan to be able to easily unlock the secrets of this Spirit Array.
Du Wan mysteriously grinned at that moment though, “Although this old man can’t decipher it, there is someone in this world who can certainly explain this Spirit Array’s mysteries.”
“Who?” Asked the four in unison.
“The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep!”
Chang Bao couldn’t help rolling his eyes, “Grandmaster’s whereabouts are unknown. He is the hidden dragon who shows his tail but never his face, how do you propose we even begin to search for him? When I first began studying Alchemy, Grandmaster was already world famous. Even now that I am a Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, I have never actually seen his true appearance, a fact I still deeply regret.”
Of the five Alchemy Grandmasters present, it was likely that only Du Wan had the honour of meeting The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep.
However, Du Wan didn’t say anything; after all, he had long passed the age where he needed to show off.
Intentionally or unintentionally glancing over towards Yang Kai, Du Wan said, “Perhaps in addition to The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, there is someone else who can decipher this…”
“Du Wan, enough with the suspense, if you have an idea just say it!” He Feng urged him impatiently.
“Heh heh…” Du Wan chuckled.
Yang Kai did not miss Du Wan’s glance and understood that the latter was still convinced that there was a powerful Alchemy Grandmaster behind him, one who was likely on par with The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep; it was because of this that Du Wan had gave him a subtle look.
Helpless, Yang Kai sighed and said, “Old Man Du, can you let me take a look?”
Du Wan smiled happily and quickly handed the animal skin over.
Chang Bao suddenly became nervous, “Yang boy, treat that skin carefully. If you break it, I’ll drag you back to Lightning Flash City to compensate for it.”
“Don’t worry,” Du Wan chuckled calmly.
Of the five Alchemy Grandmasters here, only Du Wan paid close attention to Yang Kai, the others instead continuing with their discussion about the Spirit Array portrayed on the animal skin.
Each of them had spent a significant amount of time studying this mysterious Spirit Array and naturally had their own insights and opinions about it. Now that they were gathered together, they thought that by combining what they knew they might find a way to explain the Spirit Array diagram and complete it.
Yang Kai looked at the Spirit Array diagram and after some time his brow wrinkled slightly.
The Spirit Array portrayed on the animal skin was truly quite complex and actually seemed to be a compound array comprised of a number of simpler ones, causing it to become somewhat bloated.
After the Spirit Array diagrams were broken up and separated though, Yang Kai realized that their individual components resembled those recorded in the True Alchemic Way with only minor differences.
Alchemy was constantly evolving and the Spirit Arrays used to perform it were independently researched and developed by many different Alchemy Grandmasters all over the world. It was common for Spirit Arrays to change and develop over time, sometimes completely transforming from one age to the next.
With Yang Kai’s current vision, it was quite easy for him to spot the flaws and drawbacks in this Spirit Array diagram.
However, compared to the Spirit Arrays currently in use, the wealth contained in this Spirit Array diagram was massive, and once it was cracked it could bring about great development to the field of Alchemy.
Du Wan obviously expected him to speak up, and Yang Kai had no reason to refuse.
Comprehending the nature of this broken Spirit Array, Yang Kai began comparing it to the ones he inherited from the True Alchemic Way while extrapolating the missing segments.
After a long time, Yang Kai had completed a rough patch of the Spirit Array.
The other Alchemy Grandmasters were currently silent, apparently having reached a dead end in their attempts.
Du Wan, who had always been paying attention to the changes in Yang Kai’s expression, was still quite upbeat, but the other four were somewhat dejected because even with all of them together they failed to complete the Spirit Array, causing them all no small frustration.
“Did you understand it?” Du Wan asked suddenly.
Yang Kai nodded lightly, “En.”
The other four Grandmasters suddenly looked up in surprise and Hong Fang called out, “You’ve deciphered it?”
He Feng shouted, “Young man, you mustn’t speak irresponsibly, even us old fogies were helpless to understand this thing, how could you have cracked it so simply?”
“Whether he is boasting shamelessly or not, we’ll soon see,” Du Wan grinned.
Yang Kai also maintained his composure, taking out a few good pieces of jade from the Black Book space before holding them in his palm one at a time and using his Divine Sense to inscribe some markings onto them.
A few moments later, he handed the jades to Du Wan and explained, “After dismantling it, this Spirit Array can be broken down into these individual arrays, but as to what each one of them is used for, you’ll have to verify by actually using them for Alchemy. I hope this will be helpful to several Grandmasters.”
Du Wan’s nodded solemnly before accepting the jade pieces, keeping one for himself before distributing the remaining pieces to the other four.
Seeing this old and young pair both wearing such serious expressions, the other Grandmasters no longer commented and instead focused on the diagrams inscribed in the jade pieces.
After a while, the expressions of everyone changed and became somewhat complicated.
The pieces of jade rotated amongst the five Grandmasters as they examined the Spirit Array diagrams in each of them as they muttered, “It really was solved?”
When the several scattered Spirit Array diagrams in the jade pieces were put together, they indeed formed the large array portrayed on the animal skin. Not only that, the array was actually complete and even had some ingenious enhancements.
A problem that had baffled several Saint Grade Alchemists for over a year being solved so simply was somewhat difficult for all of them to accept.
“Young man, how do you understand this? These should all be long-lost ancient Spirit Array diagrams, you shouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn these at your age,” He Feng asked Yang Kai.
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before saying, “I’ll be honest with you, I obtained guidance from Old Man Li and even studied under him for a time.”
“Old Man Li? The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep?” Kong Ruo Yu exclaimed.
“Seriously?”
“You’ve met Grandmaster Li?”
“Where did you see him? What does he look like?”
At the mention of Old Man Li, these aloof and powerful Grandmasters transformed into eager young children, each of them calling out excitedly.
Yang Kai shot a glance over at Du Wan, the latter quickly coughing and muttering, “Actually… I too met him.”
“Du Wan, don’t try to shamelessly boast!” He Feng obviously didn’t believe him, grinning at him teasingly.
“It’s true,” Du Wan persisted, “It was back in Floating Clouds City. Old Man Li was there but he didn’t reveal his identity.”
“Do several Grandmasters remember that other young Alchemist at the Alchemy competition conference, the one who competed with me until the end?” Yang Kai asked.
“Naturally we remember!” Hong Fang nodded, “If I recall correctly, he was being escorted around by several masters from the City Lord’s Mansion… What does that have to do with Old Man Li though?”
“He is Old Man Li’s Legacy Disciple!”
“What? Legacy Disciple?”
“No wonder… no wonder that at such a young age he had such attainments in Alchemy, this old man had always been wondering which powerful master cultivated such a genius.”
“That little boy’s luck is truly enviable; actually receiving the favour of Old Man Li, his future prospects will certainly be limitless.”
The few of them couldn’t help feeling envious of Di Yao’s luck.
“After those events, I studied under Old Man Li for a time. En, these Spirit Array diagrams were learned from Old Man Li, that’s why I was able to comprehend them,” Yang Kai explained.
“So that’s it…” He Feng stroked his chin, seemingly believing what Yang Kai had said. Even Du Wan was nodding lightly, no trace of doubt apparent on his face.
However, when the four of them thought that they had actually been so close to Old Man Li yet didn’t even get to greet him, they all suddenly felt annoyed and jealous of Du Wan’s good fortune.
These ancient Spirit Arrays contained an enormous wealth of knowledge and although none of them currently understood what their true purpose was, that could be solved by simply investing enough time studying them.
Having unlocked the hidden secrets of these Spirit Arrays, the gathered Grandmasters were quite pleased.
Du Wan’s eyes flashed as a mischievous grin appeared on his face, “Old friends, being able to decipher the mysteries of this Spirit Array diagram was all thanks to little friend Yang Kai’s strength. If not for him, I’m afraid we would all die of old age before discovering their true purpose. Now that all of us have obtained such positive results, don’t you think showing some expression of sincerity is necessary?”
“Old Du, what are you trying to say?” He Feng’s brow furrowed.
Chang Bao even hurriedly covered his Universe Bag as he stared at Du Wan with great vigilance.
The last time these four had met back in Floating Clouds City, they engaged in a gambling match with Du Wan, resulting in their loss and the pilfering of their Universe Bags by Yang Kai. Now listening to Du Wan’s thinly veiled suggestion, all of them immediately became alert.
Du Wan pretended like he didn’t see this and instead turned to Yang Kai and smiled, “My old friends have always been generous, and you’ve just helped them solve a problem that had been troubling them for quite some time, I think they should offer you some thanks… En, don’t you agree? No need to hold back, feel free to rob- accept their charity.”
Listening to him, the four others in the room wore pained expressions, each of them wishing they could run up and slap the ungrateful wolf surnamed Du.
Kong Ruo Yu soon let out a sigh though and chuckled, “En, what Senior Brother Du said makes some sense, we certain have profited greatly from this trip, it’s fine if we offer a little something to Yang boy. All of us have our own face to consider. After having picked up such a bargain from a Junior, we should really thank him.”
With Kong Ruo Yu having expressed such an opinion, the other three had nothing more they could say.
He Feng grit his teeth and turned to look at Yang Kai, as if preparing himself for a great sacrifice as he boldly stated, “What would you like? Say it, and we will certainly satisfy you!”
Despite He Feng’s bold claim, when Yang Kai’s eyes wandered over to his Universe Bag, he couldn’t help flinching.
Chang Bao and Hong Fang also felt their hearts jump up into their throats, clearly fearing that Yang Kai would once again ransack their Universe Bags.
However, to their surprise, Yang Kai smiled and said, “Since several Grandmasters are willing, this Junior won’t be polite. En… this time though, I don’t want any of the treasures in your Universe Bags.”
The three old male Alchemy Grandmasters heard this and breathed a sigh of relief, each of them turning friendlier looks towards Yang Kai, silently praising him for knowing some discretion.
“Then what do you want?” Du Wan was surprised, “Wealth is the one thing my old friends do not lack. If you pass up this opportunity, it may not appear again anytime soon.”
“Du Wan, you shut up! Let the young lad speak for himself,” Chang Bao shot Du Wan a bitter glance.
“Good good, I won’t say anymore!” Du Wan said helplessly, immediately falling silent.
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before asking, “Several Grandmasters are all Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemists, as a reward for unlocking this Spirit Array, how about refining a Saint Pill for me?”
“Refining a Saint Pill?” Chang Bao mouth twitched slightly.
“En, refining a Saint Pill!” Yang Kai nodded sincerely.
“Saint Pills aren’t something that can be casually refined,” He Feng stroked his chin. Although they were indeed all Saint Grade Alchemists, refining Saint Pills was still no easy task for them and was accompanied by great risks of failure.
On top of that, refining a Saint Pill was quite laborious.
It was because of this that every Saint Pill in this world was worth a fortune.
“Why not,” Du Wan suddenly chimed in, sweeping his eyes around at his old friends, “How many years has it been since we had a little competition? Why not take this opportunity to compare notes with one another? We can let Yang Kai and Ye Xiong act as judges to see who among us is better at refining Saint Pills.”
“Du Wan, do you think just because you’re about to promote to Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, you no longer need to put us in your eyes?” He Feng snorted.
“No no… it’s just that this is such a rare opportunity and now that it’s been brought up, this Du’s hands are feeling a bit itchy.”
“Good, I agree with Senior Brother Du’s proposal, it truly has been a long time since we’ve competed with one another,” Kong Ruo Yu also expressed interest.
“I have no objections,” Hong Fang shrugged his shoulders.
“Haa… very well, I guess these old bones will have to accompany you then…” Chang Bao huffed, his bloated body trembling as he grumbled.
“En, everyone, come with me,” Du Wan laughed, looking quite happy, before standing up and walking out while signaling for the others to accompany him.
Yang Kai asking these five to refine Saint Pills was by no means for the pills themselves.
Currently, if he wanted a Saint Grade pill, he could refine it himself. Although it was not easy to refine one, and the herbs were difficult to acquire, Yang Kai’s Black Book space was currently filled with vast amounts of wealth, so several Saint Pills weren’t really that valuable in his eyes.
What Yang Kai was interested in was the insights of these Alchemy Grandmasters and their Alchemy process, hoping he could observe and learn from them.
The Grandmasters were also aware of this but had not refused, not only agreeing but also secretly deciding to showcase their most exquisite Alchemy techniques for the young Alchemist.
Inside the pill room of the Alchemist Guild, the Grandmasters each found a comfortable spot, sat down, and took out their own pill furnaces and the corresponding herbs they would be using.
Each of these herbs was bursting with spiritual energy and were all clearly Saint Grade materials.
Also inside the pill room, Yang Kai, Ye Xiong, and Mi Na were also present.
This was a wonderful and rare opportunity, so Du Wan had naturally called over Ye Xiong and Mi Na too.
As for the little girl Wu’er, she was still too young and inexperienced, so even if she was allowed to watch, she wouldn’t learn anything.
Mi Na was so excited her cheeks were flushed as she sat beside Yang Kai and anxiously asked, “How come the Grandmasters suddenly decided to have an Alchemy competition? And refining Saint Pills, no less?”
“En, I haven’t witnessed Old Man Du perform Alchemy for quite some time, much less the other four Grandmasters. This is really a big event one doesn’t see every decade!” Ye Xiong was also very excited, staring at the scene in front of him with glowing eyes as he seriously said, “Mi Na, you must pay very close attention without even blinking! This will be incredibly beneficial to your future growth.”
“En, I know that, Master,” Mi Na nodded repeatedly, her expression quite serious.
“Is everyone ready?” Du Wan looked around with a smile and asked.
Everyone nodded lightly, indicating that they were finished with their preparations.
“En, why don’t we first introduce what kind of pill we will be refining,” Du Wan smiled and suggested, “This old man will be refining the Thick Ice Good Fortune Pill… it is an auxiliary cultivation pill for those who practice Ice Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skill. After taking it, it allows one to create Cold Qi pressure inside one’s body, which helps purify and refine True Qi. En, the required materials are Profound Ice Jade Crystal Flower, Colourless Mineral Essence, Blue Blood Grass, The Monster Core of the Seventh- Order Ice Jade Python…”
Du Wan spoke in a clear voice, explaining the ingredients he would be using to the trio of onlookers, allowing each of them to wear a thoughtful look.
Each Alchemist would have his own unique habits and methods when performing Alchemy. Even their selection of herbs and the order in which they were utilized were of great importance and worth studying, not to mention how these materials would be combined and integrated with one another.
Du Wan clearly wanted Yang Kai and the others to learn these things, thus why he bothered explaining in such detail.
After he finished, Kong Ruo Yu smiled and spoke, “This old lady will be refining the Evading Death Pill, which has the effect of protecting ones Soul. If one receives a heavy or even deadly injury to their Soul, as long as they take this pill, it will provide a certain healing effect. The required materials are Asura Bone, Soulless Ghost Face Flower, Solid Spirit Rock Bamboo, Hundred Tribulation Congealed Jade Nectar…”
The several Grandmasters reported the names, uses, and precious ingredients of the Saint Pills they would be refining one after another.
Mi Na and Ye Xiong were both stunned as they listened to these explanations. Simply being able to gather together so many rare and precious herbs was a sight to behold.
Their expectations were only lifted higher by this as they felt their hearts beating slightly faster.
After they all finished, the five Grandmasters glanced around at each other and Du Wan announced, “Good, let’s begin!”
The other four nodded.
In the next moment, pure True Qi burst out from the five Grandmasters and the temperature in the pill room shot up.
Yang Kai stared intently at the five Grandmasters, observing how they manipulated their True Qi as well as which Spirit Arrays they chose to engrave on their pill furnaces.
As each of the Grandmasters engraved their respective Spirit Arrays, they purposefully slowed down and emphasized certain movements to allow Yang Kai and the others to observe clearly, making sure the marks they left with their True Qi were clearly visible. Yang Kai, Ye Xiong, and Mi Na were all able to glean much information about each of the Spirit Arrays before them during this demonstration.
Picking up one spirit herb after another and feeding them into their pill furnaces, the five Grandmasters moved their hands smoothly and quickly, swiftly extracting the medicinal liquid from each of them before separating them and moving on with the next.
As Mi Na stared at this process, she gasped in appreciation, only to quickly cover her mouth in the next instant, fearing she would disturb the Grandmasters.
Yang Kai was also dazzled by this display. Although his current Alchemy level was comparable to the Grandmasters in front of him, there were still much he could learn from them, especially with regard to their finer Alchemy techniques such as the detail they put into processing their medicinal liquids.
Comprehending these details would lead to great improvements in Yang Kai’s own Alchemy skill.
Each Grandmaster’s hands flew about both rapidly yet fluidly, appearing like an artistic display which contained the crystallization of their Alchemy insights.
Yang Kai became more and more engrossed as his whole consciousness gradually became immersed in this scene, simultaneously observing while pondering to himself what he would do differently at certain junctions compared to these Grandmasters, silently taking note of any place he found his own understanding or technique lacking by comparison.
Soon, Yang Kai forgot everything else around him, as his whole being submerged itself into the world of Alchemy, unable to extricate himself.
The same was true of Mi Na and Ye Xiong, both of them even forgetting the passage of time as they watched.
Amidst the sweltering heat of the pill room, blazing hot True Qi swirled as the Spirit Arrays engraved on each pill furnace was erased and re-drawn again and again. An excellent Alchemist would not use only one Spirit Array during Alchemy, and would instead carefully observe the intensity and temperature of their flames to replace their Spirit Arrays in order to achieve the best results possible.
From this point in particular, Yang Kai gained great inspiration. When he performed Alchemy, he normally used only a single Spirit Array, but now he felt that by using multiple Spirit Arrays at different times, the effects he could obtain would be much better.
The bursts of medicinal fragrance that would leak from each pill furnace now and again filled the pill room with a dream-like mist.
The expressions of the Grandmasters also became extremely solemn as the final moments of the Alchemy process approached, none of them daring to show the slightest carelessness as that may cause all their previous efforts to go to waste.
After four hours, the pill furnace in front of Du Wan suddenly hissed and shook, as if something inside had come to life and was desperately trying to escape.
Du Wan’s expression became dignified as he patted his furnace several times, pouring his True Qi into it to complete the final stages of the refinement.
A moment later, he gently tapped his pill furnace once and a snow-white nail-sized pill flew out.
Du Wan eyes flashed as he swiftly pulled out a high quality jade bottle, caught the pill, and sealed it inside the bottle.
Even as he did so, a thick pill fragrance wafted about the pill room.
Having just successfully refined a Saint Pill, Du Wan nodded to himself, seeming quite satisfied.
Mi Na and Ye Xiong also couldn’t help feeling excited seeing this scene.
The five Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemists had all begun refining their respective pills at the same time, but Old Man Du was the first to finish, it could be seen from this alone that his accomplishments in Alchemy were higher than the other four.
However, no one made a sound, only silently watching, waiting for the other four Grandmasters to complete their refinements.
Immediately after Du Wan was Kong Ruo Yu, only taking a stick of incense longer before she too extracted a Saint Grade Low-Rank pill from her furnace and stored it in her own jade bottle.
Half an hour later, Chang Bao, He Feng and Hong Fang also finished their pills.
Five Saint Pills being refined at once filled the entire pill room with a rich pill fragrance that was both refreshing and pleasant to the nose and spirit.
The five Grandmasters looked somewhat tired, especially Chang Bao whose large body was now dripping with sweat, his excess fat trembling as he breathed heavily and wiped his forehead constantly with his sleeve.
Glancing around, the five Grandmasters smiled at one another but none of them rushed to compare their finished Saint Pills, instead each of them pulling out a True Qi restoring pill and sitting cross-legged to recover.
Each of them needed some time to adjust themselves after this laborious process.
Refining Saint Pills had expended a great amount of their True Qi and Spiritual Energy.
It was only now that Mi Na and Ye Xiong dared to gasp as they reflected on everything that had transpired before them, both of them feeling like they had reaped a huge harvest, somewhat anxious to immediately refine some pills to verify the new insights they had just obtained.
“Yang Kai, which of the five Grandmasters so you think is the fiercest?” Mi Na stared in front of her intently and asked.
However, she received no response to her query.
Surprised by this silence, she quickly turned her head towards Yang Kai only to discover that he was wearing a contemplative expression, as if he was so lost in thought and had not heard her question at all.
“It looks like his gains were not small,” Ye Xiong smiled, “Don’t disturb him, he should have learned even more than us.”
Yang Kai had obviously sunk into a deep state of enlightenment. If he had not gained a massive harvest, reaching such a state would have been impossible.
Ye Xiong was somewhat envious.
“En,” Mi Na nodded quickly as she once against quieted her breathing, while waiting for the five Grandmasters to restore themselves.
A moment later though, Mi Na saw movement out of the corner of her eye and once again turned to face Yang Kai.
Looking curiously, Mi Na let out a surprised gasp.
She found that Yang Kai had at some point taken out his pill furnace as well as a number of Saint Grade spirit herbs, placed them in front of himself, and was now focused on portraying a Spirit Array into his furnace.
It was at this moment that the five Grandmasters finally finished restoring themselves and awoke from their meditation, Hong Fang letting out a loud laugh, “Our Saint Pills have been refined, now let’s let our judges see who the best among us is.”
“Good,” Chang Bao grinned meaningfully, “I hope that all of your Alchemy techniques haven’t regressed.”
“You should worry about yourself,” Du Wan shook his head and laughed, “For these past few years you’ve been patronizing a few too many restraints for your own good.”
Chang Bao grinned back at Du Wan, “But my Alchemy technique has not fallen.”
The Grandmasters all stood up as they bantered back and forth before walking over to where Yang Kai and the others were waiting.
However, they hadn’t taken more than a few steps before noticing what Yang Kai was doing and calling out in surprise.
“Oh, kid… Are you trying to show off meager skills before an expert?” He Feng said with a big smile, speaking teasingly but with no malicious intent.
On the other hand, Du Wan’s brow wrinkled as he suddenly realized something out of the ordinary. The only female Alchemist, Kong Ruo Yu, also wore a dignified expression as she raised her hand to stop her colleagues from stepping forward.
Mi Na and Ye Xiong also stepped away from Yang Kai and quickly approached the five Grandmasters.
“Old Man Du, Yang Kai suddenly started performing Alchemy, it seems like he harvested a lot of things and couldn’t wait to verify them,” Mi Na whispered.
“En,” Old Man Du nodded with a smile on his face, his eyes filled with appreciation, “Don’t bother him, he should have obtained an epiphany.”
“An epiphany?” Mi Na couldn’t help but frown, “Do such things happen in Alchemy?”
“Of course! Did you believe that one could only obtain an epiphany in the Martial Dao?” Du Wan whispered, “Such things are also possible in the Alchemic Dao. Once one enters such a state, everything around them fades away and only the sentiments and insights they suddenly obtained appear before their eyes. Right now, nothing exists in this world except his pill furnace and the herbs beside him… Fascinating, I wonder just what kind of breakthrough he’ll achieve.”
“En, speaking of epiphanies, I too once had the good fortune to obtain one many years ago,” Kong Ruo Yu recalled, “It was just as Senior Brother Du said, I couldn’t see anything else at the time, only my pill furnace and herbs. The only thing I could think of was refining that pill… Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I was never able to reach such a state again. Haa… just like the epiphanies in the Martial Dao, it is something that cannot be sought, only met by chance.”
“What happened then? Did Grandmaster Kong successfully refine that pill?” Mi Na asked curiously.
Kong Ruo Yu smiled and nodded, “Naturally I succeeded. Moreover, the quality of that pill was extremely good with almost none of the medicinal essence going to waste; it is a work I am still proud of to this day that is stored in my collection.”
“Amazing,” Mi Na said, her eyes’ filled with respect.
“Wait, haven’t you all noticed something odd about the materials this little boy selected…” He Feng frowned, “Why are there so many Saint Grade materials? It couldn’t be that he wants to refine…”
Hearing these words, everyone’s attention was immediately drawn back to the pile of materials in front of Yang Kai and upon careful examination they discovered that all of the herbs he had laid out were indeed Saint Grade.
“Is he trying to refine a Saint Pill?” Chang Bao exclaimed.
Du Wan’s eyes lit up as he chuckled, “If everything turns out well, he could refine a Saint Pill with these materials!”
“Du Wan, stop joking around!” He Feng rolled his eyes, “How hard it is to refine Saint Pills, all of us know well. It’s true his aptitude is astonishing and his skills profound, enough so that I can declare without doubt he will one day become a Saint Grade Alchemist whose achievements will far outstrip our own, but that’s a matter for the future. Refining a Saint Pill at his present age, isn’t that expected a bit too much?”
“Young people are always headstrong and fearless, thinking there is nothing they cannot accomplish by recklessly charging ahead, facing some setbacks along the way is by no means a misdemeanor. It’s just unfortunate that in his epiphany he did not chose Spirit Grade materials instead; if he had, he would likely have reaped more benefits,” Hong Fang said with a look of regret.
Chang Bao and Kong Ruo Yu also sighed in agreement, all of them feeling that Yang Kai trying to refine a Saint Pill now was him overestimating his skills.
Du Wan, on the other hand, just smiled lightly and said nothing more.
Although he hoped that Yang Kai would succeed, even he felt that Yang Kai was overreaching.
Being able to successfully refine a Saint Pill meant Yang Kai would already be qualified to call himself a Saint Grade Alchemist. One had to know that throughout all of Tong Xuan Realm there weren’t many such Alchemists, and each of them was an old monster who had been immersed in Alchemy for countless years.
Yang Kai was simply too young.
“We should observe what he does carefully so later we can give him pointers on any shortcomings he shows. That will be what’s best for his future growth,” Kong Ruo Yu suggest.
Everyone else nodded before silently focusing their attention on the pill refinement in front of them.
Yang Kai’s movements weren’t as fluid as their own but they were nonetheless meticulous and steady, each one executed with impeccable precision and timing.
Seeing this, the several Grandmasters were all secretly amazed.
Yang Kai’s foundational skills were incredibly solid and even to their highly critical eyes, the way he condensed his medicinal liquids was without the slightest flaw.
Moreover, the True Qi that he revealed from his body was both pure and vigorous. None of them knew what Spirit Array he had drawn inside his pill furnace in advance, but each herb he placed inside it was purified into the highest quality medicinal liquid without the slightest bit of waste.
The medicinal liquids that had already been condensed were then wrapped in his True Qi and suspended beside the pill furnace, waiting to be used later.
Witnessing these motions, each of the Grandmasters couldn’t help nodding lightly, showing their approval.
After roughly half an hour, all the herbs had been condensed into medicinal liquids, causing the five Grandmasters to be somewhat stunned.
Even if they were to trade places, they would not have been able to accomplish this step faster or better than Yang Kai; in fact, most of them would likely take even longer.
This could only mean that the purity and potency of Yang Kai’s True Qi was higher than their own and the Spirit Array he was using was superior.
After all the medicinal liquids were condensed, Yang Kai waved his hand quickly and a burst of light suddenly appeared inside his pill furnace. It seemed like he had instantly destroyed the Spirit Array which he had portrayed earlier.
Seeing this scene, Chang Bao couldn’t help muttering, “This little boy is too careless. Destroying his Spirit Array so haphazardly, how will he re-draw a new one in time?”
The medicinal liquids had already been condensed, and even tightly wrapped in True Qi. The longer they were left as is, the more their medicinal efficacies would diminish, so returning them to the pill furnace as soon as possible was of paramount importance.
They too would replace the Spirit Arrays they used during refinement, but only after fully preparing them beforehand. Also, they would not completely destroy their previous Spirit Arrays and instead use it to build up a new one, saving both time and effort, which increased their efficiency.
On the other hand, Yang Kai had directly destroyed his original Spirit Array.
Each of the Grandmasters couldn’t help showing a worried look, almost as if they could see Yang Kai refining an inferior quality pill, wasting a large number of precious Saint Grade materials.
However, Chang Bao had barely finished his words when another flash of light appeared inside Yang Kai’s pill furnace and it began twinkling faintly once again. Each of the Grandmasters had excellent vision so it only took them a moment to discover that a new set of markings was rapidly appearing inside the pill furnace.
“So fast?” He Feng was so stunned, somewhat unable to believe what he was witnessing, “That’s impossible…”
The shimmering rays of light were a clear sign that a new Spirit Array had taken shape.
It was only a moment ago that Yang Kai had destroyed his previous Spirit Array, yet he had already finished portraying the next. Such speed far exceeded the understanding of all five Grandmasters!