As he spoke with the young man named Shen Tu, Yang Kai managed to inquire about many things he wanted to know.
Gradually, he came to understand some common sense of the Starry Sky.
The Star Field he was in right now was called the Heng Luo Star Field, and although it was extremely large and contained countless stars, it was actually only one of many Star Fields in the vast Starry Sky.
Heng Luo Star Field had several massive forces which dominated over all the others.
Sword Union and Purple Star were both such forces; in addition to them, there was Heng Luo Chamber Of Commerce, Galaxy Ridge, and Abandoned Lair which acted as the rulers of the Star Field.
Beneath these top-level forces, there were countless other forces of varying sizes.
The strength of a force greatly depended on whether or not it could build and deploy Starships.
Forces that were able to operate Starships, which were essentially extremely large artifacts, were considered to be strong, because construction and maintenance of a Starship was a massive expenditure.
From how many giant pieces of Saint Crystal were arranged inside this power room, Yang Kai could easily tell how energy intensive it was to operate this ultra-large artifact.
An average small force wouldn’t be able to afford such consumption.
“These big forces all occupy a number of Cultivation Stars, two or three on the low end, seven or eight at the high end, each one is different,” Shen Tu was clearly more informed about the Star Field than Yang Kai, and seeing how the latter seemed to be ignorant of even these basic facts, he patiently explained.
“Cultivation Stars?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Stars that are suitable for cultivators to inhabit,” Shen Tu explained, “The Star Field is indeed vast and contains a countless number of stars, but for various reasons, most of them aren’t suitable for long term living. Stars that can support life are called Cultivation Stars.”
“Got it,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, indicating he understood.
“However, those stars that aren’t suitable to permanently occupy aren’t worthless. Some of those stars are rich in rare ores while some of them have environments suitable for raising precious spirit grasses and medicines, such stars are respectively called Ore Stars and Medicine Stars. The big forces occupy many Ore Stars and Medicine Stars, allowing them to obtain massive amounts of resources to help develop themselves. Of course, there are many Death Stars out there too, stars covered in Death Qi without ores, herbs, or even World Energy.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling shocked.
In Tong Xuan Realm, major influences would fight over even small pieces of land, but in this vast Star Field, there were actually some forces who could rule over multiple stars.
Before now, this was something Yang Kai couldn’t even conceive of.
Tong Xuan Realm simply had no way to compare to the massive Star Field.
“Each Cultivation Star has its own Star Master. The Star Master is the highest authority on his or her Cultivation Star. If you or I can one day reach such a height, we’ll have made it in life,” Shen Tu smiled widely towards Yang Kai, a glimmer of yearning in his eyes.
“What is the cultivation of a Star Master like?”
“Unfathomable. For example, a Saint King High-Rank Starship like this one could be destroyed by any Star Master with a wave of their hand!” Shen Tu replied solemnly.
Yang Kai was speechless for a while.
Although Shen Tu didn’t tell him clearly what kind of cultivation realm these Star Masters had reached, Yang Kai could tell that it was definitely beyond the Saint King Realm.
Above the Saint King Realm, there was a higher realm!
“Take a look outside,” Shen Tu suddenly whispered.
Yang Kai followed his vision and saw the beautiful stars outside the Starship.
The power room was located at the bottom of the Starship and was directly responsible for adjusting the Starship direction and speed, so it was necessary to be able to see outside from here.
All around there were transparent windows manufactured from some unknown material that allowed one to see out in all directions.
“What do you think of these stars?” Shen Tu asked.
“The World Energy they contain is beyond imagination!” Yang Kai replied sincerely. While he was wandering about the Chaotic Abyss, he had often marvelled at the energy contained in these stars.
“Indeed, throughout the entire Heng Luo Star Field, no Cultivation Star can match this place. All the forces in the Star Field are very keen to develop the stars within the Chaotic Abyss. Whether it’s the blazing hot or frigid cold stars, both are extremely suitable for certain cultivators with the appropriate attribute strength. Cultivating on or even nearby these stars will yield unimaginable benefits to these cultivators.”
“But I heard that it is very dangerous here, even being labelled as one of the Star Field’s most famous Restricted Areas. The overlapping energy fields emitted by these stars create a kind of chaotic domain that causes one to lose their sense of direction.”
“En, because these stars contain too much energy, they produce that chaotic domain, causing anyone who enters here to easily become lost. For this reason, the Chaotic Abyss has always been one of the Star Field’s Restricted Areas and no one has successfully developed it, let alone laid claim to these stars.”
“Then this Starship…”
“You don’t have to worry about that, the Star Chart carried aboard any Starship is of the highest grade. There is also a Chart Master on board who is well versed in drawing Star Charts, so the Starship won’t lose its direction here. It’s only because of this reason that they dared to enter this region. Star Shuttles are different, once affected by the chaotic energy flow here, the Star Chart inside a Star Shuttle can easily be destroyed, which is why no one dares enter this place with only a Star Shuttle.”
“If that’s all though, can this place really be considered one of the Star Field’s Restricted Areas? Is there some other danger here too?” Yang Kai immediately noticed something odd.
“There are indeed some more,” Shen Tu nodded heavily, his expression becoming dignified, “But as to what these dangers are, no one can say clearly, because anyone who falls prey to those dangers never returns alive.”
Yang Kai’s look changed greatly, his thoughts turning sharply, suddenly letting out a sigh, “If things are as you say, then whatever it is those sisters have on them is something Purple Star desperately wants, otherwise they wouldn’t take such a big risk.”
Shen Tu narrowed his eyes and thought about it for a moment, soon nodding in agreement, “I hadn’t really thought about it before, but you’re right, what kind of treasure could possibly cause Purple Star to send a Saint King High-Rank Starship into the Chaotic Abyss?”
Even after wracking his brain for some time, Shen Tu couldn’t come up with an answer.
Just then, from a corner of the power room, a voice suddenly called out in alarm, “Senior Bi Ya and her team are back!”
Yang Kai and Shen Tu looked at each other before turning their gazes outside the ship’s hull.
Sure enough, they soon saw two blue lights speeding towards the ship.
“Seems your good days are at an end,” Shen Tu looked at Yang Kai with some sympathy, “What do you want to do? Now that that slut is back, she definitely won’t let you off. Let me say first, what she wants is you. I can’t do anything about that or help you in any way.”
“Not necessarily!” Yang Kai’s eyes brightened as he stared towards the two approaching blue lights, seemingly having discovered something interesting.
“What do you mean?” Shen Tu asked in confusion, not understanding why Yang Kai didn’t seem worried at all.
“When they left, there were three of them, but now that they’re back there’s only two… It seems they ran into something unexpected,” Yang Kai whispered.
Shen Tu took another look and sure enough, there were only two blue lights approaching.
A moment later, two figures appeared beside the Starship.
“Only Senior Bi Ya and Senior Liu Shan returned, Senior Liu Sha isn’t with them!” The voice of a concerned cultivator exclaimed, “And it seems Senior Bi Ya and Senior Liu Shan have been injured.”
“What’s happened?” Ke Meng walked out from the shadows and asked with a stern face.
“I don’t know, my subordinates are asking,” The first man said, pouring his Divine Sense into the compass-like artifact in his hand, seemingly communicating with someone.
Outside of Starship, Liu Shan also took out a similar artifact.
Yang Kai suddenly understood that this artifact should be used for long-distance communication. The last time he was brought back by Liu Shan and the others, he had seen Liu Shan do the same.
Looking out the window of the power room, Yang Kai saw that Liu Shan and Bi Ya had many scars on their bodies and their clothes were stained in blood. It appeared they had barely managed to escape with their lives. Bi Ya’s beauty was completely ruined as she now appeared haggard and dishevelled, her once pretty face filled with fear and alarm, from time to time glancing over her shoulder, as if someone was chasing after them.
“Ha! It’s really as you guessed,” Shen Tu wore a smug smile, taking great pleasure in this pair’s misfortune, “They got what they deserved, daring to rush into the Chaotic Abyss only to suffer a big loss.”
“They seem to have been injured in a fight with other cultivators, the situation doesn’t seem to be as simple as you think,” Yang Kai said thoughtfully.
“Eh…”
“Those sisters I met only had a Second Order and Third Order Saint Realm cultivation, they certainly wouldn’t be Liu Shan’s group’s opponent, but now this side is the one that was forced to escape with dead and wounded…”
“There are others inside the Chaotic Abyss?” Shen Tu immediately understood, “Moreover there’s definitely at least one master at the Saint King Realm!”
“The Sword Union’s people!” Yang Kai stated.
“Haha, then we’re in for a good show. Since the Sword Union has also sent forces to the Chaotic Abyss, there will definitely be a big fight. When that happens, we’ll have a chance to escape,” Shen Tu’s eyes flashed brilliantly.
“We’ll soon find out,” Yang Kai was also secretly looking forward to this. If something big didn’t happen soon to disrupt the situation, he would have to once again deal with Bi Ya.
Yang Kai really didn’t want to die beneath such a woman.
As such, he couldn’t wait for the situation to become as chaotic as possible.
“It’s Sword Union, Sword Union’s Starship is here too!” The cultivator that had been communicating with Liu Shan shouted, confirming Yang Kai and Shen Tu’s suspicions.
“What?” Ke Meng’s expression changed, “Their courage is big!”
As soon as he spoke, he realized that another Starship had been detected nearby, causing his look to sink.
During this time, the cultivator that had been speaking with Liu Shan opened the door to the Starship and let him and Bi Ya inside.
“Where are the Sword Union forces?” Shen Tu stretched out his neck and scanned their surroundings, but upon finding nothing at all, he was inevitably disappointed.
“If I were Sword Union, I would immediately leave the Chaotic Abyss after picking up those two sisters instead of chasing after this Purple Star Starship!” Yang Kai said calmly.
Shen Tu glanced over at Yang Kai and thought for a moment before nodding, “What you say makes sense. Whatever it is those two sisters obtained must be extraordinary, as long as the retrieve it, Sword Union wouldn’t have any reason to stay here and fight with Purple Star… Your way of thinking is really somewhat different from ordinary people.”
Just from Liu Shan and Bi Ya’s return, and the state they were in, Yang Kai was able to infer what had transpired and what was likely to happen next, Shen Tu had to admit that such insight and analytical skill were beyond him.
At this moment, he sincerely admired Yang Kai.
“Shen Tu, the people placed in this power room are here mainly to provide an auxiliary boost to the Starship when it executes intense actions, right?” Yang Kai suddenly asked.
“En, that’s right, why do you ask?”
“I suddenly had a bad premonition,” Yang Kai stared at him deeply.
Shen Tu’s face changed and his mouth twitched, “Don’t frighten me like that. What kind of bad premonition did you have?”
Yang Kai shook his head and didn’t answer.
The two of them suddenly fell silent and began quietly observing their surroundings, raising their vigilance as they closely watched Ke Meng’s movements.
After the time it would take to burn a stick of incense, Ke Meng’s communication artifact suddenly flickered and he quickly poured his Divine Sense into it to receive whatever message was sent.
A moment later, Ke Meng put away this artifact and in a loud, commanding voice, shouted, “Increase speed, we’re going after Sword Union’s Starship. We cannot let them escape!”
When this order came out, both Yang Kai and Shen Tu went pale.
“Congratulations, you were right again, I’m also having a bad promotion now,” Shen Tu said sarcastically before indignantly shouting, “You and your damn mouth!”
In the next instant, alarms began sounding throughout the huge Saint King Grade Starship and its speed suddenly shot up, flying forward towards a certain direction in the Starry Sky.
At the same time, the suction force from the shackles binding Yang Kai and Shen Tu increased greatly, madly draining them of their strength.
This suction force was now twice as strong as before, doubling the burden on their bodies.
Shen Tu couldn’t help letting out a groan as his body shivered unconsciously. Even Yang Kai felt a sharp ache throughout his body. No matter how he circulated his Secret Art, he was unable to stop the outflow of his strength.
The cultivators who were imprisoned in the power room usually only provided a temporary boost to the Starship’s operations while most of the energy was supplied by the giant pieces of Saint Crystal; however, once this massive artifact began making rapid manoeuvres, it’s energy requirements would drastically increase. This was nothing short of a disaster for the people like Shen Tu and Yang Kai.
The power in their bodies was being drawn out more and more intensely.
Ke Meng shuttled through the power room as he issued one command after another, his expression fierce.
Because of the indiscriminate extraction of power by the shackles, the cultivators who were bound in the power room began to rapidly expire.
Only moments after the Starship began accelerating, in all directions, tragic screams rang out. All at once, imprisoned cultivators at the end of their ropes began collapsing to the ground, dead.
They really couldn’t bear this kind of torture anymore as the last vestiges of their strength were sucked clean from their bodies.
Shen Tu became frightened as a deep look of bitterness spread across his face. He knew that in his current state he wouldn’t last long. If the strength in his body really continued to be drained like this, even if he didn’t die, his cultivation realm would inevitably fall.
Although he was cursing violently in his heart, that long wouldn’t change his destiny.
Sneaking a glance over at Yang Kai, Shen Tu couldn’t help showing a confused expression for a moment.
He found that although Yang Kai’s expression was painful, and the strength in his body really was flowing out, the intensity of the energy fluctuations coming from him didn’t show any sign of weakening, almost as if his body was constantly maintaining his level of Saint Qi.
This greatly puzzled Shen Tu, wondering just what was going on with Yang Kai.
“Sir, five people have already died,” A cultivator suddenly came up to Ke Meng and reported.
Ke Meng gawked, like he had only just remembered about this, shooting the chained up cultivators on the ground a cold glance before snorting, “Useless wastes, give them some Saint Crystals!”
“Yes!” The cultivator saluted and quickly walked over to still-living prisoners and dropped three pieces of Saint Crystal in front of each of them.
All the pairs of gloomy eyes suddenly lit up as everyone reached out hastily to pick up the Saint Crystals in front of them and began extracting the energy within them to supplement their rapid consumption.
Shen Tu also did the same. His Secret Art was clearly quite high grade as it took him less than half a cup of tea’s worth of time to absorb all the energy in the three Saint Crystals.
Having finally obtained some extra energy, his complexion became much better.
The Saint King High-Rank Starship continued advancing through the Starry Sky at a speed far beyond what a Star Shuttle was capable of.
Sitting in the power room, Yang Kai only managed to catch a glimpse of an asteroid shoot past the windows and disappear into the distance. The Starship’s hull was incredibly strong and could easily shrug off minor obstacles in the Starry Sky. Small asteroids it ran into were smashed into oblivion while the Starship itself remained unaffected.
After about half a day, Ke Meng’s expression suddenly brightened as he shouted, “Sword Union dogs, we’ve finally caught up to you! Let’s see where you can run now!”
Hearing this, Shen Tu and Yang Kai simultaneously turned their eyes towards the front window.
Up ahead, a huge ship that was basically the same shape as the Starship they were riding was sailing through the Starry Sky, a giant sword-shaped emblem emblazoned on its hull.
This symbol was exactly the same as the one Yang Kai had seen on He Zao and He Miao’s clothes.
It was a Sword Union Starship!
“Hahahaha, have a taste of my Purple Star Starship’s power!” Ke Meng’s entire personality seemed to have transformed, a bloodthirsty aura pulsing from his body as he quickly issued a series of orders.
With a loud bang, the entire Starship shook violently and a number of dazzling beams of light suddenly shot out from its hull.
These beams of light were thick and fast, seemingly able to break through the shackles of space, soaring through the Starry Sky and closing in on the Sword Union Starship.
All the asteroids blocking these light beams’ path were instantly vaporized.
As Yang Kai observed these beams of light, his complexion turned ashen.
Even sitting inside the power room, he could feel the destructive power each of these beams of light possessed.
He had no doubt that each one of these beams of light could level a mountain or evaporate a lake.
This was a true Heaven shaking, Earth destroying power.
If he were to be hit by one of those beams, Yang Kai estimated that even if he used all his strength, he would still be reduced to dust.
At that moment, he couldn’t help sympathizing with Sword Union’s Starship.
However, what happened next greatly stemmed from his expectations. Just as the light beams were about to hit the Sword Union Starship, a seemingly thin barrier suddenly appeared and surrounded its hull in five coloured light.
This barrier of light trembled under the impact of the light beams, sending out many ripples that spread towards the depths of the Starry Sky.
A moment later, aside from shaking a bit, Sword Union’s Starship emerged from this bombardment unscathed.
The look of excitement on Ke Meng’s face turned gloomy, he hadn’t thought that the sneak attack he had just made would be so easily blocked by the other side.
Shouting once more, the ship trembled again and a second volley of light beams short forth.
“Fuck!” Shen Tu cursed as his face turned pale. All the energy he had just absorbed had been sucked away again, so he quickly turned to Yang Kai and shouted, “Yang Kai, save me!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai turned a blank look towards him and finally came back to his senses.
Just now he had all of his attention attracted by the powerful beams of light so he hadn’t taken any notice of the changes inside himself or his surroundings.
When Shen Tu shouted, he suddenly realized that the neatly arranged Saint Crystals inside the power room had dimmed noticeably after those two shots were fired. On top of that, many of the cultivators around him had also fallen.
At the same time, all the Saint Qi in his meridians and flesh had been sucked clean by the shackles on his hands and feet.
[Those two rounds of divine light must require a massive amount of energy to produce,] Yang Kai quickly understood what had happened.
The two light beam volleys not only drained a lot of energy from the Saint Crystals in the power room but also put an unimaginable load on the cultivators who were bound here.
After the two shots, of the fifty or sixty cultivators imprisoned in the power room, more than half had died, their vitality drained and their souls scattered in the wind.
Those that were still alive were gasping for breath, barely managing to maintain their feeble existences. As long as those beams of light were fired once more, they would all certainly die.
Only Shen Tu, who was nearby Yang Kai, was barely better off.
Yang Kai quickly burst a drop of Yang Liquid in his dantian, filling his body and meridians again before throwing a few of the Saint Crystals he had previous hidden away over to Shen Tu.
Shen Tu’s eyes brightened and immediately reached out to catch these Saint Crystals and madly began refining them, his complexion gradually becoming rosy again.
“Those bastards dare fight back?” Ke Meng shouted again.
It seemed like because of Purple Star’s had aggressively opened fire, Sword Union responded in kind.
Beams of light shot out from the other side as a defensive energy shield was raised around Purple Star’s Starship.
With a loud bang, the Starship shook violently.
Shen Tu’s face went pale again as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
He didn’t even have the spare energy to curse, as whether the Starship sent out that light beam attack or activated its defensive shield, both siphoned a massive amount of energy from him. Every action the two Starships took placed an unbearable burden on Shen Tu and the other prisoners.
“Fire again, I want them blow to smithereens!” Ke Meng shouted hysterically like a madman.
“Sir, the crystal cannons cannot be used again! If we do, the Saint Crystals won’t be able to provide sufficient energy to operate the ship!” A nearby cultivator warned.
Ke Meng’s brow furrowed deeply, his hot-tempered mood finally calming down.
He finally remembered this problem.
At this moment, the communication artifact in his hand flashed again and Ke Meng quickly poured his Divine Sense into it. After a brief exchange, a fierce grin appeared on his face as he waved his hand, “Open the hatch! Today we’ll let these Sword Union dogs experience our true strength!”
“Yes!”
The next moment, the Starship’s hatch was opened, and one after another, Purple Star’s cultivators flew out, summoning various artifacts and quickly charging towards Sword Union’s Starship.
The artifacts the Purple Star cultivators summoned were all different kinds of Star Shuttles, shaped like chariots, flying swords, and various other dazzling designs, showcasing how unique the Starry Sky was.
From Sword Union Starship, a large number of people also suddenly emerged and met the Purple Star attackers head-on without fear, instantly setting off a great battle.
Amidst the Starry Sky, streaks of light flew about as the cultivators from both sides traded Martial Skills and artifact attacks.
Both the Purple Star and Sword Union forces pulsed with thick murderous intent, their eyes dyed red as they engaged in a desperate struggle.
In the tangled melee, low grade artifacts and Star Shuttles were struck and shattered directly.
Fragments of these burning artifacts shot out like the most luminous of fireworks, filling the sky with a thrilling beauty, then fading just as fast, becoming pieces of trash that were lost forever in the Chaotic Abyss.
In this chaotic battlefield, there were many Saint Realm masters while Transcendents were as common and weak as ants.
There were even a few figures that gave off shockingly powerful auras that could only belong to Saint King Realm powerhouses. Each of these masters displayed earth-shattering abilities and could easily slaughter the weak cultivators around them. Everywhere they flew, many enemy cultivators would fall, their bodies shattered and their souls erased.
Both sides suffered huge losses over the course of this short battle.
Neither side wanted to show weakness or easily admit defeat, so a continuous stream of reinforcements from their respective Starships poured out to join the battlefield.
For a moment, the fight entered a fragile stalemate.
In the Star Field, both Sword Union and Purple Star were first-class forces, each of them managing at least five Cultivation Stars along with countless Ore and Medicine Stars. The number of resources they controlled was simply unimaginable, allowing their many cultivators to grow and develop rapidly.
Their leaders could not care less about such losses.
Yang Kai was stunned speechless for a long time.
He was thoroughly shocked.
He was still astounded by the power of light beams the Starships had shot out a moment ago; he had never dreamed such incredible things existed in this vast Star Field.
Since coming to the Star Field, everything he had seen and heard about far exceeded his imagination.
He suddenly realized that the Star Field was a far more exciting place than he had anticipated, his eyes filling with light as his blood began to boil.
He neither panicked nor had any intention to withdraw because of these fantastical sights, but instead was more and more looking forward to this adventure.
Because only in such a wondrous place, could he live a more exciting life.
“Yang Kai, Yang Kai!” Shen Tu’s voice called out again.
Yang Kai turned his head back to look at him.
With an extremely bitter look upon his face, Shen Tu bit his cracked lips and asked, “Can you give me some more Saint Crystal? I can’t hold on much longer.”
At this moment, his strength was almost completely depleted, a true lamp without oil.
Yang Kai said nothing and directly threw him five or six pieces of Saint Crystal.
“Thanks!” Shen Tu’s face filled with gratitude as he sincerely thanked Yang Kai before quickly refining these crystals.
Yang Kai also calmed down finally and began scanning his surroundings with cold eyes, listening to the footsteps coming and going throughout the ship as well as observing the various energy fluctuations around him, his eyes slowly flashing a dangerous light.
A short time later, Shen Tu let out a heavy sigh of relief and said, “The suction finally slowed down. Fuck, if they had fired the crystal cannons even once more I would have died on the spot. That was far too dangerous.”
Saying so, he shot a grateful look towards Yang Kai, “Thanks are not enough for this kindness, I will remember this gratitude.”
“Shen Tu, what’s your real cultivation?” Yang Kai shot him a look and whispered.
Shen Tu raised his brow slightly, seemingly wanting to ask him what he was talking about, but soon grinned instead and asked, “You noticed?”
“I’d have to be blind not to have seen that much!” Yang Kai face became serious.
The fluctuations coming from Shen Tu’s body made him appear to be a First-Order Saint, the same as Yang Kai.
But in the crisis just now, when Shen Tu was frantically absorbing the pieces of Saint Crystal, unusual energy fluctuation had appeared in his aura.
From this, Yang Kai judged that he was hiding his true cultivation.
Being able to hide his true strength in the middle of this Purple Star Starship was not something just anyone could do, this Shen Tu was clearly not simple!
“Third-Order Saint Realm!” Shen Tu suddenly looked serious and whispered back.
Yang Kai nodded, knowing he shouldn’t be lying.
“Why do you ask?” Shen Tu looked at Yang Kai curiously.
“Nothing much, but if you have this kind of strength, we can probably do something. Right now there aren’t many aboard this Starship, and almost all the masters have gone outside to fight. Even this power room’s defences are far lighter than before,” Yang Kai said meaningfully.
Originally, there had been a Saint King Realm master guarding the power room from the dark, but after the battle outside broke out, the aura of that Saint King Realm master had disappeared. Yang Kai figured that he should have been gone out to fight and that right now, the number of Purple Star cultivators guarding the power room had been reduced by more than half. On top of that, now, besides Ke Meng, who was a Third Order Saint, the rest were just First or Second Order Saints numbering less than ten in total, all of whom were seated at various nodes of the giant Spirit Array that was keeping the Starship running.
“What do you want to do? Don’t act rashly, these shackles are forged from Qi Scattering Stone. Anyone chained by them won’t be able to use their full strength,” Shen Tu’s face changed greatly, suddenly understanding what Yang Kai was planning.
“Then we just need someone to unlock them for us,” Yang Kai grinned, his face suddenly became pale and his life aura becoming faint.
He then shot a meaningful glance towards Shen Tu.
Shen Tu wore a bitter and hesitant look on his face, but after a moment, he grit his teeth and muttered, “Forget it, in any case, my life was saved by you, I’ll play along with your insane idea.”
Saying so, he began shouting loudly.
Ke Meng, who was monitoring the various functions inside the power room, heard his cries and his expression turned cold, shooting a sharp glance over towards Shen Tu and Yang Kai and letting out a slightly surprised grunt, “You two haven’t died yet?”
This was really somewhat unexpected.
During the battle between the two Starships a moment ago, nearly all of the cultivators imprisoned in the power room had used up all their strength and perished.
Shen Tu and Yang Kai still clinging to life was no small surprise to Ke Meng.
“My vitality has always been strong, but he’s on the verge of dying!” Shen Tu continued to yell, “Isn’t this guy the one Bi Ya wants? If you just let him die like this, won’t it cause you trouble?”
Ke Meng frowned as he stared deeply at Yang Kai. After sweeping him with his Divine Sense, Ke Meng noticed Yang Kai’s vanishing vitality and impatiently grumbled, “So troublesome, why did he have to have one last breath instead of just dying directly?”
Saying so, he quickly came over to Yang Kai.
When he was commanding the Starship’s actions just now, he didn’t consider the side effects at all, and had naturally not paid any attention to Yang Kai’s situation.
But now that he had calmed down and thought carefully, if Yang Kai really happened to die, Bi Ya would likely vent her anger on him.
That wasn’t a responsibility he could afford.
So went up to Yang Kai and took out the key for his shackles before unlocking them, releasing him from their effects.
At this moment, he had completely let his guard down.
After all, Yang Kai’s current appearance couldn’t have been weaker; what’s more, Ke Meng was a Third Order Saint so he didn’t have much wariness towards the First Order Saint Yang Kai in the first place.
This self-confidence backfired against him severely.
The moment the shackles were unlocked, Yang Kai suddenly bit his own finger and drew some blood.
He then rapidly wiped his cut finger across his left eye.
The golden blood dripped into his left eye, causing it to change from its original black and white to pure gold in colour.
Yang Kai swiftly raised his head towards Ke Meng.
Four eyes suddenly met, and Ke Meng’s look became absent-minded as he stared into the golden eye filled with overwhelming majesty. At that moment, Ke Meng felt a soul gripping terror as well as a crushing sense of inferiority, as if before this eye he was the lowliest of beings.
An invisible vortex formed from the golden eye that produced an astonishing suction force that tore at Ke Meng’s Soul, nearly frightening him out of his wits.
His face draining of all colour, Ke Meng cried out strangely and went all out to resist this suction force.
Yang Kai instantly displayed his Demon God Transformation, filling his body with rich evil energy, drastically changing his temperament, and causing the temperature inside the power room to drop precipitously.
A cruel and malevolent aura burst out and filled the air.
Yang Kai body slammed Ke Meng’s chest, unleashing the full might of his intrepid physique, knocking him into the nearby wall and pouncing towards him.
Blood splashed out as punches and palms rained down on Ke Meng’s back, causing his clothes to explode into dust in an instant.
Ke Meng wasn’t weak, but in a moment of defencelessness, under Yang Kai’s wanton bombardment, he was unable to summon any of his profound artifacts or display any of his polished Martial Skills, only becoming more and more muddleheaded as he suffered under the unceasing blows.
In the blink of an eye, Ke Meng’s body burst into a bloody fog that spattered red all across the power room in a thrilling explosion.
An ethereal figure, exactly the same as Ke Meng, stood in his original position.
Naturally it was Ke Meng’s Soul Avatar.
Even until now, he didn’t seem to have reacted to what had happened to him, just staring there blankly at Yang Kai.
From Yang Kai’s golden eye, an even more powerful suction force appeared, drawing Ke Meng’s Soul Avatar into the former’s Knowledge Sea.
Yang Kai’s eyes swept over the blood fog rapidly and in the next instant, his hand reached out and snatched the key to the shackles before tossing it over to Shen Tu.
“Open it yourself!” Yang Kai said before disappearing in a gust of wind. The next moment, tragic and chaotic cries rang out all over the power room.
Shen Tu shook violently, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.
He simply couldn’t believe what he had just seen.
When he first realized Yang Kai’s intentions, Shen Tu decided to accompany him despite thinking the later was insane, not even asking what Yang Kai’s exact plan was. Originally, Shen Tu thought Yang Kai was going to leave here temporarily and look for an opportunity to act.
As for whether Yang Kai would come back to help him escape, Shen Tu hadn’t thought much about it; after all, Yang Kai had already saved his life a couple of times now, asking for anything more would be ungrateful.
How was Shen Tu supposed to know this guy was even crazier than he had thought, actually daring to launch a sneak attack the moment he was freed?
However, what was most surprising to Shen Tu was that Ke Meng, a Third-Order Saint, had actually been killed so easily by Yang Kai.
How did he do it? How could he have done it?
Shen Tu held the key thrown to him by Yang Kai in his hand while staring dumbfounded at the bloody fog lingering in front of him, his heart tumbling and turning.
If it had been him who fought Ke Meng just now, who would win and who would lose was a tossup, so how did Yang Kai, a First-Order Saint, butcher him so easily?
Even if Ke Meng had his guard down at that moment, he shouldn’t have lost all ability to fight back given his cultivation realm and strength.
Everything happened so suddenly that Shen Tu was completely caught off guard.
He remained in place, too shocked to even move, forgetting all about his current situation, even forgetting to free himself from his shackles.
It was only now that he realized that Yang Kai was an extremely dangerous guy. If Yang Kai was able to kill Ke Meng in an instant, that meant he himself wouldn’t present much more of a challenge.
Shen Tu nearly gasped in alarm.
“Are you coming or not?” Yang Kai’s low voice called out.
Shen Tu suddenly returned to his senses and quickly used the key to unlock his shackles. In the next instant, numerous bolts of lightning suddenly spread from his body, each one distinct and lifelike, making it seems as though he was wrapped in a million lightning snakes.
These vivid lightning bolts wandered around his body before shooting outwards in every direction, lighting up the entire power room.
Shen Tu let out a hearty laugh, “Brother, your performance just now was outstanding. I deeply admire you!”
After letting out this laugh, Shen Tu’s figure suddenly vanished and, in the next moment, reappeared next to a First-Order Saint Purple Star cultivator.
This Purple Star cultivator was trying to sneak attack Yang Kai, but Shen Tu had easily captured him.
Violent thunder began to surge and the cultivator trembled fiercely as a massive amount of lightning poured into his body and soul, causing him to instantly lose all ability to resist.
A burnt smell filled the air as black smoke emerged from the top of the cultivator’s head. After Shen Tu let this man go, his charred body collapsed to the ground dead.
The power room was the heart of the entire Starship, therefore it was normally heavily guarded, with at least one Saint King Realm personally watching over it to ensure no accidents occurred.
But at this moment, it seemed that Purple Star was completely focused on Sword Union, so the various masters who would normally be stationed here had all been deployed as reinforcements, leaving behind only Ke Meng to oversee the situation.
Ke Meng was the first to die, and under Shen Tu and Yang Kai’s rapid and unexpected assault, the other Purple Star cultivators quickly fell.
Relying on his immense physical strength and the element of surprise, Yang Kai swiftly killed five cultivators and, after returning to the power room, discovered that only Shen Tu and him were still alive. The Purple Star cultivators who had realized the situation was dire and tried to run away had all been struck down by Shen Tu’s lightning.
“I’m finally free, hahaha!” Shen Tu shouted joyously, like a wild beast that had at last escaped from its cage.
“Where to next? You’re more familiar with this place than me, you lead the way,” Yang Kai said to him indifferently.
“No need to rush, let’s deliver Purple Star a big gift before we leave,” Shen Tu suddenly grinned menacingly.
Dashing to the middle of the power room, he sat quickly sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Releasing his Divine Sense, Shen Tu connected the power in his body to that of the central Spirit Array.
Yang Kai stared at him curiously but didn’t try to stop him, simply waiting and watching.
After spending so many days inside this power room, Yang Kai had also acquired a certain understanding of how this giant Starship artifact worked and knew what role the Spirit Array Shen Tu was currently operating played.
This was the central control interface for the Starship.
Shen Tu obviously wanted to make this Saint King High-Rank Starship take some kind of action.
The lines of the giant Spirit Array lit up and the Starship, which was parked somewhere in the Starry Sky, slowly re-oriented itself and came to a stop a moment later.
“Heh heh, I’ll let you all know today that this Shen Tu isn’t someone good to bully!” Shen Tu’s eyes shot open and a violent light flashed across them as he poured his strength into the giant Spirit Array beneath him.
In the next instant, the Starship trembled.
A massive beam of light, filled with destructive energy, shot out from the Starship and flew straight towards the chaotic battlefield.
At the same time, Yang Kai keenly felt the energy in the Saint Crystals placed around the power room drastically reduce, their original radiant glow fading rapidly and becoming dim.
The beam of divine light surged forward, causing all the cultivators from both Sword Union and Purple Star who were in the middle of their battle to come to a halt. Seeing the approaching earth-destroying beam, all of them became panic-stricken, screamed out in alarm, and pushed their flight type artifacts to their limit in an attempt to escape.
It was too late for a lot of them, the speed of the beam of light was so fast that before any of these cultivators could even blink, it was upon them.
The entire world suddenly fell silent.
The intense sounds of battle had all disappeared and those fortunate enough to have been outside the light beam’s range stared at the scene before them as if the apocalypse had just descended, none of them able to speak, or even open their mouths to breath.
The beam of light passed through the battlefield and soared off into the distance.
All that was left behind was an empty void, clear of even dust.
Only a moment ago, that space was filled with cultivators who were each displaying their own Divine Abilities and waving their artifacts in a desperate battle! But now, everything was gone.
It was as if they had never existed.
At least a hundred people were directly wiped away by the beam of light.
Inside the power room, Shen Tu laughed wildly, extremely satisfied with himself.
Yang Kai frowned slightly, thinking that Shen Tu’s act of vengeance had unjustly involved many of the Sword Union cultivators, but he chose to not say anything at this moment.
He didn’t have any friendship with Sword Union, and even He Zao and He Miao were just casual acquaintances he had met by chance.
“Done venting? If so, we need to leave quickly,” Yang Kai muttered, “Your little stunt will no doubt cause all those masters to return here immediately.”
“Ah, you’re right!” Shen Tu suddenly realized the implications of what he had done and hurriedly jumped up from the Spirit Array control centre before rushing out of the power room together with Yang Kai.
Inside the Purple Star Starship, there was only a handful of cultivators left, and because of the sudden firing of the crystal cannons, they had all become alarmed and were rushing towards the power room.
Shen Tu seemed to have a good understanding of the structure of this Starship and led Yang Kai through a series of more remote corridors.
Along the road, unexpectedly, they didn’t encounter any trouble.
“Where are we going? Is this the way to the Starship’s exit?” Yang Kai followed behind Shen Tu for a while before suddenly asking with a calm expression.
Although he was not too familiar with this place, he also had his own instincts and intuition and they were telling him that Shen Tu was actually leading him in a giant circle through the Starship rather than immediately heading to the hatch.
“The exit?” Shen Tu continued forward while concealing his aura, only glancing back briefly to ask, “Do you have an accurate Star Chart?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“How do you plan on leaving without a Star Chart?” Shen Tu chuckled, “Do you have a Star Shuttle?”
“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded, “But I heard that my Star Shuttle is broken and can’t store a Star Chart anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter, we just need to grab a certain individual and let him take us out,” Shen Tu said lightly.
“Who? If you’re just looking to capture someone, there’s a Second-Order Saint a few dozen meters to our left, you can just grab him,” Yang Kai proposed.
Shen Tu shook his head, “He’s no good, even if we catch him, we won’t be able to leave the Chaotic Abyss. You should know that it’s very easy to get lost in the Chaotic Abyss, my goal is not just to escape from this Starship.”
Yang Kai expression changed, suddenly understanding, “You want to catch the Chart Master on this Starship?”
“It really is much easier talking with a smart person,” Shen Tu grinned, “I’m looking for that guy right now.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“I have a general idea where he is, but whether or not we can find him there is up to luck.”
Yang Kai didn’t say anything more and simply followed behind Shen Tu quietly.
From his previous conversations with Shen Tu, Yang Kai had learned that Chart Masters were people who specialized in creating the Star Charts that cultivators used to accurately navigate the vast Star Field.
The Star Chart created by skilled Chart Masters would allow cultivators to avoid many potential dangers of the Starry Sky and smoothly reach their desired destination. As long as the Star Chart was extremely accurate, it didn’t matter how far one had to fly, they would arrive without error.
Essentially, the Star Charts produced by every Chart Master would be different; poor quality Star Charts were cheaper while more accurate ones sold at much higher prices.
The most expensive of Star Charts could cost tens to hundreds of thousands of Saint Crystals while the cheapest ones could be acquired for a few dozen Saint Crystals.
Outstanding Chart Masters were always sought after by big forces, and their status was highly respected. Regardless of their personal strength, wherever skilled Chart Masters went, they would be treated as honoured guests.
Starships often had a Chart Master standing by because they would often change their direction of travel and destination. When such a course change was made, a Chart Master was needed to map out an appropriate route.
Becoming a Chart Master was many times more difficult than becoming an Alchemist or Artifact Refiners, because the basic required of a Chart Master was that they understand the makeup of the entire Star Field, including the location of innumerable stars and the distance between them.
Chart Masters were the rarest existences in the entire Star Field, with any particular master only passing their knowledge down to a single successor rather than multiple disciples.
Because the nurturing of any Chart Master required dedicated and painstaking teaching from a current master.
This was an extremely time-consuming matter, so even the most excellent Chart Masters would only accept one or two apprentices because they would not be able to teach any more than that.
The foundations of creating Star Charts were all held tightly by famous Chart Master, it was basically their legacy and inheritance, not something they would easily pass to outsiders.
All sorts of information about the Chart Master flashed through Yang Kai’s mind, causing him to realize that this profession was quite daunting.
Inside a luxurious room aboard the Purple Star Starship, a short, sallow-skinned old man held a communication type artifact in front of himself and poured his Divine Sense into it, trying to contact Ke Meng in the power room, but no matter who he tried to reach, he received no response.
“What happened?” The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead and stomped his foot.
After a moment of hesitation, he hurriedly opened his door and prepared to go down to the power room personally to see the situation.
But just as he opened the door, he saw two youths emitting clear malicious intention flying towards his direction.
The old man didn’t think too much about this though and simply called out to the two youths, “You two, come here!”
Shen Tu, who was leading the way, let out a cry of surprise and said, “It’s this old man, he’s the Chart Master on this Starship! I saw him go in and out of the power room some time ago!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and followed after Shen Tu, quickly arriving beside the old man.
“What’s going on in the power room, why isn’t Ke Meng responding to this old master’s call?” The old man roared angrily.
Shen Tu just grinned back at him, revealing a gloomy smile as he said, “Ke Meng is dead, so of course he won’t respond to your messages!”
The old man’s expression filled with surprise at these words and suddenly realized that something wasn’t right. Just as he was about to turn back and return to his room, a lightning snake appeared from Shen Tu’s body and quickly wrapped around the old man’s body, binding him tightly.
The powerful lightning arc caused the old man’s body to go stiff and numb.
“Carry him!” Shen Tu looked around and saw that no one else as nearby before he turned towards a certain direction and sped off.
Yang Kai’s face became cold as he grabbed the old man tied up in the lightning rope and faintly said, “If you want to live, you’d better cooperate, or I’ll kill you!”
Although the Chart Master of this Purple Star Starship wasn’t young, his strength wasn’t very high, only reaching the Third Order Transcendent Realm, so it was easy for Shen Tu, and Yang Kai to capture him.
Ordinary Chart Masters didn’t possess high cultivations because they dedicated most of their time and energy to studying the mysteries of the Starry Sky and producing Star Charts.
This also caused them to not have any self-protection ability when they fell into danger.
“Who are you?” The old man asked sternly.
“Who we are is none of your concern. So long as you take us out of the Chaotic Abyss, everything will be fine, once we leave this place, we will naturally let you go, I promise you!” Shen Tu spun around and said flatly.
“Good, I’ll lead you away, but you must take me to the Starship’s power room first, otherwise we’ll all end up dead!” The old man hurriedly shouted.
Shen Tu sneered, “Do you think we’re idiots? We just managed to escape from the power room, and now that place is filled with Purple Star’s masters, are we supposed to go there and meekly accept death?”
“You don’t understand, naturally I have a good reason for insisting on going to the power room, this has nothing to do with you letting yourselves get caught!” The old man said desperately, “If you don’t take me there now, not only will we three die, even this Starship will be destroyed.”
“What do I care if this Starship can’t be saved?” Shen Tu’s snickered, taking pleasure in Purple Star’s misfortune.
“How can I convince you… There is a huge danger brewing outside that will soon sweep across the entire Chaotic Abyss, if we don’t act quickly, no one here will survive.”
Shen Tu came to a halt and turned back towards the old man, “What do you mean? Speak clearly.”
“Just look outside for yourself!” The old man didn’t answer but instead gestured towards the outside.
Shen Tu and Yang Kai both exchanged a glance and felt that this old man wasn’t simply being an alarmist, the two of them casting their eyes through one of the windows in the corridor in the next moment.
Outside, it was the same scene of massive and beautiful stars, but right now, the incredibly rich World Energy field seemed to have taken on a hazy quality, appearing somewhat like an illusory fog.
The powerful domains produced by the various stars also seemed to be fluctuating as well.
All the cultivators from Sword Union and Purple Star, who were originally heavily engaged in a battle to the death, had ceased all combat and were instead fleeing with all haste towards their respective Starships.
“What happened? They’re all returning now,” Shen Tu expression changed greatly, “It couldn’t be because of the crystal cannon barrage I just shot, right?”
Yang Kai looked at him faintly but said nothing.
Shen Tu seemed somewhat embarrassed and shrugged, “I didn’t expect things to turn out like this, I just wanted to vent some of my anger…”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with what you did. If it was, the Sword Union cultivators wouldn’t also be retreating but instead chasing after them; but right now, both sides are withdrawing. They should be aware of the coming danger,” Yang Kai turned his attention to the old man in his hand and quickly asked, “What is this danger?”
“A domain eruption! You can’t feel it from inside here, but all of those people are coming back because they sensed the drastic change in the energy domains of the Chaotic Abyss’ stars. None of them dares stay outside now, they should only want to return to their ships as quickly as possible to flee from here. If they’re too late, even if they hide inside this Starship, they won’t be safe!”
“A domain eruption?” Shen Tu’s face sank.
“The Chaotic Abyss’ greatest danger!” The old man explained hurriedly, “Do you think that the chaotic and disorienting energy fields here simply cause one to lose their sense of direction? You’re very wrong, the stars in the Chaotic Abyss contain unimaginable World Energy, and once the World Energy in the surrounding space reaches a state of saturation, exceeding the limit of what this region can withstand, the delicate balance they normally maintain collapses and all that energy explodes. As for what happens next, I’m sure you can both imagine, yes?”
Yang Kai and Shen Tu both gasped and went deathly pale.
“Can’t you understand!?” The old man yelled, his spit flying out, showing not the slightest awareness of being a prisoner.
“Do you understand?” Shen Tu asked quietly.
“Nonsense! This old master is a Chart Master. If this old master doesn’t understand what’s happening, who would?” The old man shouted and scolded Shen Tu.
“Since you saw this coming, why didn’t you stop the two sides from fighting? Isn’t it because of their fight that the balance between the fields was broken?” Yang Kai shot him a cold glare.
The old man quickly averted his eyes and awkwardly said, “I only noticed after they started fighting. This old master’s Stargazing Technique isn’t omnipotent, how could I have known things would become so dangerous so quickly?”
“Stargazing Technique?” Yang Kai’s brow rose.
“The technique’s Chart Masters use to study the mysteries of the Starry Sky. I’ll explain to you some other time, but right now, what should we do? This old guy doesn’t look like he’s lying,” Shen Tu hesitated.
If what this old man was saying was true, then all the effort he and Yang Kai had put into silently catching this old man was for nothing, once the Chaotic Abyss’s domain eruption occurred, there would be nowhere for them to run or hide.
As long as they stayed inside the Starship, they would at least have another layer of protection.
This was a Saint King High-Rank Starship after all!
However, with all of Purple Star’s surviving masters about to return to the Starship, staying here wasn’t exactly a good plan either.
“Your thoughts are quite sharp, aren’t they? You make the decision,” Shen Tu said to Yang Kai with an expectant gaze, seemingly hoping he would have some brilliant way out of this mess.
“What’s the status of this Chart Master in Purple Star?” Yang Kai asked suddenly.
“His position is extremely high!” Shen Tu looked towards the old man, “Grandmaster Wu Suo’s ability to create Star Charts ranks among the top three in all of Purple Star and is someone that the other major forces have constantly tried to win over.”
“Do you know this old master?” The old man looked at Shen Tu with clear surprise.
“I’ve heard of you,” Shen Tu grinned.
“Let’s go to the power room,” Yang Kai quickly said.
Shen Tu’s expression cramped and seemed to hesitate, but after carefully thinking about it for a while, he nodded and said, “Agreed, if what he said is true, going outside is no different from courting death.”
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai lifted up the Chart Master called Wu Suo and headed back to the power room.
The corridor outside the power room was overcrowded, with the cultivators who were outside just now battling and the ones who had stayed behind in the Starship all gathered around, wondering who it was that fired the crystal cannons a moment ago, not only killing many of their enemies but also many of their own people as well.
They were all enraged because, if their luck had been a bit worse, they might have been killed just now.
However, after seeing the situation in the power room, their anger suddenly froze up.
There was no one living inside the power room, Ke Meng and the dozen other Saint Realm cultivators had been killed by some unknown enemy.
Inside the power room, a middle-aged man in fine robes with his hands folded behind his back glared around with an angry expression, his pair of sharp eyes soon landing on two pairs of opened shackles, causing him to let out a gloomy snort, “Wastes!”
With his eyesight, it was natural for him to see how Ke Meng had died, and although he didn’t know exactly what had transpired, he could make a fairly accurate guess.
One of the cultivators who had been locked up in those shackles had launched a sneak attack, butchered Ke Meng, snatched the key, released his companion, and then swept through the power room. After killing everyone, these two rats had taken control of the Starship, then shot that crystal cannon barrage, causing the Purple Star cultivators to suffer great losses.
[Ke Meng, that waste, his death isn’t worthy pitying!]
The middle-aged man was infuriated.
Just as he was about to order his subordinates to search the ship for the escapees, a loud voice suddenly resounded outside the power room, “Who are you! Release Grandmaster Wu Suo immediately, or else!”
The middle-aged man’s eyes became gloomy as he looked up.
A cynical and arrogant voice soon echoed, “Make way, make way! Clear a path and don’t get any funny ideas, the moment you try anything, Grandmaster Wu Suo dies!”
A moment later, a group of three figures strolled into the power room.
Two strange youths walked in, one of them wearing a self-important look upon his face while the other wore an indifferent expression while tightly grasping Wu Suo’s shoulder, his Divine Sense and Saint Qi both covering the latter, ready to strike at any moment.
The middle-aged man’s eyes shrank as he shouted, “You dare come back?”
Although he had never met or even seen Yang Kai or Shen Tu, the middle-aged man was certain these two were the rats who had escaped from the power room and fired the crystal cannons, killing several dozen Purple Star cultivators in the process.
Glaring at them, the middle-aged man’s wrath soared towards the Heavens and he couldn’t wait to palm them to death to vent the rage in his heart.
Seeing the middle-aged man’s nearly materialized murderous intent, Shen Tu couldn’t help his neck from shrinking somewhat but he still maintained his aloof grin and snickered, “We didn’t want to come back.”
No fool would return back to the cage they had just fled from if it wasn’t the only option available to them. Shen Tu would have already escaped this place together with Yang Kai with Wu Suo.
“Grandmaster, you can rest assured. With me here, no one will dare to hurt you,” The middle-aged man turned to Wu Suo and comforted down.
“If any of you tried to make a move, I’ll immediately kill him!” Yang Kai’s Saint Qi and Divine Sense were already locked onto Wu Suo as he stared around indifferently.
“Little brat, you dare!” The middle-aged man’s face changed again, a faint hesitation appearing in his expression, clearly worried about harming the innocent while punishing evil.
On the contrary, Wu Suo, who was the one actually clutched by Yang Kai, waved his hands and hurriedly said, “Gui Che, put aside your grievances. I finally persuaded these two to bring me to the power room so there’s no time to waste. What’s most important now is for us to leave here as quickly as possible.”
Hearing him say this, Lu Gui Chen’s expression also became dignified, “The outside fields seemed to have undergone some kind of change. Grandmaster, what exactly is happening?”
“The energy fields are going to erupt, hurry up and steer the Starship away from here!” Wu Suo shouted before turning to Yang Kai, “Boy, if you want to live, take me to the control array.”
Yang Kai nodded and followed his instructions, bringing Wu Suo to a corner of the power room.
Shen Tu followed, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.
The Purple Star cultivators also began taking action under the command of Lu Gui Chen, starting up the Starship.
Over on Yang Kai’s side, he kept Wu Suo firmly under his control.
A Star Chart suddenly appeared in front of Yang Kai, a giant, beautiful, three-dimensional representation of the Star Field shrunk down countless times.
This massive Star Chart was stored inside the Starship actually came from the same source as the Star Charts stored inside Star Shuttles, but it was far more comprehensive.
Wu Suo immediately immersed his consciousness into this giant Star Chart.
He was the Starship’s Chart Master and was responsible for setting the Starship’s course. He could find the safest and fastest escape route for the Starship in the shortest amount of time.
Shortly after, on the giant Star Field map, a bright line was drawn by Wu Suo, the beginning of which was where the Starship currently was, and the endpoint where the Starship needed to go.
If no accidents occurred, the Starship would follow this route and sail out of the Chaotic Abyss.
After completing all this, Wu Suo let out a long breath and nodded to Lu Gui Chen.
Lu Gui Chen nodded back and quickly ordered the Starship to set sail.
“Three Saint King Realm masters, the pressure sure is big,” Shen Tu stood next to Yang Kai and silently observed Purple Star’s lineup.
Inside the power room, in addition to Lu Gui Chen, there were another two Saint King masters as well as many Saints.
He and Yang Kai were like lost sheep in the middle of a pack of wolves, surrounded on all sides. The slightest carelessness would spell their doom. It was only thanks to Wu Suo’s great status that the Purple Star cultivators didn’t dare act rashly.
“Do you have any ingenious plan for after this?” Shen Tu glanced over at Yang Kai.
“Nope, just taking things one step at a time and waiting until we leave the Chaotic Abyss to think about it,” Yang Kai shook his head.
Shen Tu sighed faintly, only feeling that his luck was the worst. He had only been flying close to the Chaotic Abyss when he was suddenly caught by the crew of this Starship and now he actually had to pass through this life or death crisis.
“How did these two people come in?” On the other side, Lu Gui Chen gloomily asked.
Liu Shan, who was standing next to him, grinned and said, “The weaker one was brought back by Bi Ya.”
“Bi Ya?” Lu Gui Chen’s gaze crossed the crowd and accurately landed on an enchanting woman, his eyes flashing in the next instant as a cold flash of Spiritual Energy rushed out of his forehead.
Amongst the crowd, Bi Ya screamed miserably and held her head, experiencing an unimaginably painful sensation, causing her clothes to instantly become soaked in sweat, exposing her exquisite curves for all to see.
Unfortunately, none of the Purple Star cultivators were able to appreciate this beautiful picture as they were all too anxious, none of them daring to even breathe heavily because they knew how terrifying Lu Gui Chen was when he was angry.
“I’ll spare your life for now, but once this crisis is averted, I’ll settle accounts with you!” Lu Gui Chen coldly snorted.
Bi Ya was filled with fear as her tender body shivered, quickly bowing her head, “Many thanks for Senior’s mercy, this subordinate will surely make reparations for this sin!”
Saying so, her beautiful eyes landed on Yang Kai, a burning hatred flashing across them!
She hadn’t expected that this seemingly insignificant young man would actually cause her so much trouble. If she had known this was going to happen, even if she had ten times the courage she wouldn’t have dared to bring Yang Kai back to Starship. She would have simply killed him back in the Chaotic Abyss.
She hated Yang Kai deeply and couldn’t wait to peel his skin and torture him brutally.
“Senior, the Saint Crystals don’t have enough energy,” Suddenly, one of the Purple Star cultivators reported.
Lu Gui Chen once again shot a cold glare towards Yang Kai and Shen Tu.
Shen Tu shrugged his shoulders indifferently, “That’s right, I shot that crystal cannon barrage, what are you staring at me for? If you have time to stare at me you might as well replace the Saint Crystals instead.”
The energy required to fire the crystal cannons was enormous, Ke Meng had used them twice before he perished and with Shen Tu firing them once more, it had nearly drained all the energy from the Saint Crystals inside the power room.
Now, if the Starship wanted to escape the Chaotic Abyss at full speed, the energy remaining in these Saint Crystals would obviously not be enough.
“It’s too late to replace them,” Lu Gui Chen took a deep breath and shouted, “All those above the Second Order Saint Realm are to provide power to the Starship.”
Many cultivators in the surrounding wore bitter and unwilling expression, but seeing the look in Lu Gui Chen’s eyes, they didn’t dare object, obediently sitting down in the place where Yang Kai and Shen Tu had formerly been imprisoned, grabbing the shackles and attaching them to themselves, allowing them to draw out their Saint Qi to supplement the energy of the Saint Crystals.
In an instant, sixty Saint Realm cultivators shivered, their hearts filling with remorse.
These cultivators continuously stuffed pills into their mouths while tightly gripping Saint Crystals in their hands to supplement their consumption.
Shen Tu grinned as he watched these Purple Star cultivators forced to bear the same pain and suffering they had subjected him to.
With sixty Saints now providing energy to it, the speed of the Starship increased dramatically.
However, in the next moment, a deafening humming sound rang out, and the Starship’s speed plummeted. Not only that, but some kind of massive, invisible force appeared and latched onto the Starship, making it impossible to move forward.
Under the influence of this invisible force, the Starship began to fly backwards at an increasing rate.
“It’s too late! It’s too late!” Wu Suo’s face went ashen as his body shook like a leaf in a storm, muttering unconsciously, “It’s all over.”
As soon as these words came out, the entire Starship seemed to lose control and began tumbling through the Starry Sky, knocking everyone off their feet and sending them smashing into the power room walls.
“Look outside!” Someone suddenly screamed.
Everyone turned their eyes to the window.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank and a sense of terror he was unable to suppress spread from the depths of his heart.
Outside, the unimaginable energy lingering around the massive stars was erupting, sending out visible ripples of light that were rapidly spreading across the entire Chaotic Abyss. .
The energy fields centred on these massive stars were all bursting, creating a chaotic chain reaction of explosions.
At the very centre of Chaotic Abyss though, there was a massive black hole that seemed to be capable of swallowing everything around it.
The Saint King-class High-Rank Starship, with everyone still on board it, was actually being drawn towards this black hole which now seemed like the giant maw of a great ominous beast ready to swallow them whole.
In front of this horrifying display of force, whether it was the Transcendents, Saints, or even Saint Kings, all of them realized in this moment their own insignificance.
Before this black hole, no one could guarantee they could survive.
Lu Gui Chen shouted out and tried to direct the Purple Star cultivators to stabilize the Starship, but it was all to no avail.
“It turns out that this is the true danger of the Chaotic Abyss,” At the critical moment, Shen Tu suddenly said to Yang Kai, “No wonder no one knows about this. After witnessing it, is there any other option other than to wait for death?”
“Wait for death?” Yang Kai glanced over at him and coldly snorted, “I won’t sit here waiting to die.”
“Heh heh, you’re not the only one. Hey… Isn’t that Sword Union’s Starship?” Shen Tu pointed outside the window and shouted.
Yang Kai looked in the direction he pointed and was struck speechless.
Purple Star’s Starship was being sucked into the black hole, unable to resist, and it appeared that Sword Union’s Starship was not fairing any better. This Starship was flying erratically, seemingly completely out of control.
As the Sword Union Starship tumbled and rolled, the seemingly solid materials that made up its hull were being continuously being peeled off and sinking into the black hole.
Yang Kai estimated that the Starship he was on was experiencing a similar fate.
The two Starships had originally fled in different directions, but neither of them had succeeded in escaping and were now both being drawn back.
If things continued on the way they were, the two Starships would likely collide before they were swallowed up by the black hole.
Such a disaster would absolutely bring about total destruction.
“Brother, best of luck to you, I hope you can survive this calamity,” Shen Tu said with a dignified look before he immediately sat down cross-legged. In the next moment, lightning arcs surged around him, wrapping him up in a kind of cocoon.
He had clearly noticed that the situation was critical and was attempting to withstand the coming collision by putting up his strongest defensive stance.
Yang Kai didn’t bother with him and even cast aside Wu Suo who was supposed to be his safety charm.
At this moment, the Purple Star cultivators had no time to attend to anything else as they were all feeling the threat of death. In this chaotic scene, no one would care about him.
Yang Kai’s expression became dignified as he watched Sword Union Starship’s rapidly approach.
The distance between the two Starships was getting closer and closer, just as they were about to collide, Yang Kai fully pushed his Saint Qi.
Yang Kai summoned his Silver-Leaf Saint Grade High-Rank artifact and transformed it into a defensive light halo tightly wrapped around his body while simultaneously displaying his Nine Heavens Divine Skills to their fullest extent.
Grand Heavenly Shields appeared all around Yang Kai, covering him in layers of overlapping protection.
Inside the Purple Star Starship, Yang Kai didn’t even try to conserve his Saint Qi, condensing one Grand Heavenly Shield after another, forming at least one hundred of them.
Of the Yang Liquid stored in his dantian, he had instantly consumed more than twenty drops.
He had then used his Demon God Transformation, filling his body with a malevolent aura and summoning his invisible Demon Crests in order to further enhance his vitality and physical defence.
He had done everything he could, and could now only meet fate head-on.
A Heaven shaking crash filled Yang Kai’s ears in the next moment, nearly deafening him while he simultaneously felt the Saint King Grade High-Rank Starship instantly tear apart and shatter into tiny pieces.
Screams filled the air as many powerful life auras all of a sudden vanished. The moment the two Starships had collided, the Purple Star cultivators had clearly suffered serious casualties.
Yang Kai felt like he was stuck on a small boat in the middle of the sea while a great storm whirled around him, his life in constant danger.
The Grand Heavenly Shields which he had erected for his protection rapidly began to crack and shatter, and within just two short breaths, all one hundred of them had been destroyed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yang Kai saw the Chart Master, Wu Suo, get ripped apart by the tidal forces and burst into a bloody fog, not even leaving behind any bones.
Yang Kai felt his own body being crushed and pulled apart all at once, as if the forces around him were trying to grind even his bones to dust.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The fragments of the two Starships whipped about in all directions at frightening speed, each of them carrying with them shocking and deadly force. Yang Kai soon felt something strike his head after which he immediately lost consciousness.
Inside the Chaotic Abyss, the two Saint King-Grade High-Rank Starships which collided broke up into millions of pieces of debris which, along with all the surviving Sword Union and Purple Star cultivators, were swallowed up by the huge black hole, leaving no trace they ever existed behind.
After a long time, the Chaotic Abyss’ turbulent energy fields gradually stabilized and became regular again; the huge black hole that had opened up in the Starry Sky also slowly disappeared.
When everything was over, the Chaotic Abyss became so calm that no one would have been able to imagine that just a short while ago, two giant Starships and hundreds of cultivators had fought a desperate battle here.
……
When Yang Kai woke up and opened his eyes, he looked up and saw a strange seven coloured sky. It was a beautiful yet otherworldly sight.
He tried to turn his eyes down to see confirm his condition, but he quickly discovered that even such simple movements were beyond his current ability. His entire body was in a state of paralysis where he couldn’t feel anything of it at all.
Circulating his Saint Qi, Yang Kai slowly began to move his hands and feet, allowing his blood flow to pick up and relieve his paralysis.
Gradually, Yang Kai began to feel pain from all over his body, as if he had been hit by a series of mountains from all directions, causing him to grimace in pain.
Suddenly remembering everything he had experienced just before passing out, Yang Kai let out a deep sigh, feeling extremely thankful to even be alive right now.
It was only then that he realized that he wasn’t being supported by anything and was falling down at an extremely fast speed.
Pushing his aching body, he somehow managed to turn himself over and see what he was falling towards.
As he turned over, Yang Kai saw pieces of the two Starships as well as a number of cultivators falling along with him. Some of these bodies had vitality, some did not, and there was also no shortage of broken limbs and chunks of flesh spread around as well.
Down below him, Yang Kai saw a continent.
But this continent was very different from any he had seen before, it was actually just floating mid-air, without anything supporting or holding it in place.
The size of this continent wasn’t small. Seeing it from several kilometres up, Yang Kai estimated that it was as big as the entire Great Han Dynasty.
The continent was lush and verdant, beautiful and refreshing like a spring day.
[What is this?] Yang Kai frowned.
He knew almost nothing about the Star Field, and what little he did know he had learned while chatting with Shen Tu in the power room over the past few days.
However, what he did know was that this floating continent was definitely not a star in the Chaotic Abyss.
Because he had seen the local stars in the Chaotic Abyss and none of them looked anything remotely like the continent below him.
The Purple Star Starship was in the Chaotic Abyss, collided with the Sword Union Starship, shattered into pieces, and was then swallowed by a massive black hole, so how did Yang Kai suddenly arrive at this floating continent?
Thinking about it, Yang Kai guessed that the massive black hole may have been something similar to a Void Corridor entrance and had transported him here.
However, this place didn’t look anything like a Mysterious Small World and much more closely resembled the Chaotic Abyss.
All around the huge floating continent, in every direction, was a seven coloured sky, and the air here was filled with incomparably rich World Energy that caused one to unconsciously feel relaxed and happy.
It was as if the rich World Energy that circulated through the Chaotic Abyss all gathered here.
Yang Kai pondered over these issues while simply letting himself continue to fall down, but a moment later, he quickly realized that his situation wasn’t good.
If he survived that disaster, some of the Purple Star masters must have as well.
During his brief moment of contemplation, others had also begun waking up around him, and sweeping his surroundings, Yang Kai quickly spotted Bi Ya.
Yang Kai swiftly hid behind a big piece of Starship debris and began looking for Shen Tu.
To his regret though, Yang Kai didn’t find any trace of Shen Tu, and couldn’t even be sure if he had survived the previous disaster or not.
In the sky, many people began flying about, waking up their comrades while rescuing those who were still alive but badly injured.
These people also spotted some of their enemies who were still passed out and subsequently let them sleep forever.
In some places, small-scale battles had broken out.
With the cultivators from Purple Star and Sword Union all in the same place. Naturally, they wouldn’t just let each other off.
Yang Kai took the opportunity to sneak away and try to find somewhere in this strange place to hide.
How could he have expected that just as he began moving, an angry and sullen shout would reach his ear, “Little bastard where are you trying to run!”
Afters Bi Ya opened her eyes, the first person she searched for was none other than Yang Kai.
Because of Yang Kai, she had been punished by Lu Gui Chen and suffered a Divine Sense attack that nearly left a permanent injury on her Soul. Naturally, she hated Yang Kai to death.
When Yang Kai moved, she had noticed him.
As she shouted, she summoned a Dragon Bone Whip into her luscious jade hand. This Dragon Bone Whip was clearly a high-grade artifact and immediately soared through the air like a great Azure Dragon, slamming towards Yang Kai’s head.
Yang Kai was uninterested in dealing with her and simply sent out a casual palm strike towards her Dragon Bone Whip, using the resulting impact to further accelerate himself and fly away
“Hmph!” A cold snort suddenly resounded next to him, causing Yang Kai to pale. Quickly glancing to his side, Yang Kai met eyes with the Saint King Realm master named Lu Gui Chen who had at some point appeared beside him.
He stared at Yang Kai indifferently, as if he was observing an ant, and then reached out his hand, calmly and easily grasping towards him.
His movements weren’t fast by any means, but Yang Kai found that in front of him, he was actually unable to muster any kind of resistance, as if the other side only needed a single thought to destroy him.
Yang Kai became panic-stricken.
The next moment, Lu Gui Chen seized Yang Kai’s neck and coldly asked, “Grandmaster Wu Suo?”
Before the Starship accident, the closest one to Grandmaster Wu Suo was Yang Kai. It was because of this that Lu Gui Chen had sought out Yang Kai personally; otherwise, how could someone of his status and strength possibly lower himself to perform such a menial task?
“Dead!”
Despite having already suspected as much, Lu Gui Chen’s expression still became gloomy upon hearing Yang Kai’s answer.
Now that their Purple Star cultivators had arrived in this strange place, the only hope they had of escape was their Chart Master, because only Chart Masters had detailed knowledge about the Star Field, making Wu Suo the most likely candidate to find a way to leave wherever they were now.
Having learned what he wanted to know, he instantly lost all interest in Yang Kai and casually tossed him over to Bi Ya.
“If there are any problems again, deal with it yourself!” Lu Gui Chen coldly snorted.
“Senior can rest assured, I will definitely drain every last drop of his vitality and let him die without a burial!” Bi Ya gnashed her teeth, her beautiful face twisting with madness like a venomous snake.
Saying so, her beautiful eyes filled with hostility as they glared towards Yang Kai, as if she couldn’t wait to start tormenting him.
Yang Kai face filled with bitterness but he didn’t say a word.
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of method Lu Gui Chen has used on him, but right now he couldn’t use any of his Saint Qi. Without his cultivation, no matter how sturdy his physique was, he definitely wasn’t Bi Ya’s opponent.
It wasn’t until now that Yang Kai clearly comprehended the huge gap between the Saint King Realm and the Saint Realm. On top of that, he figured that Lu Gui Chen shouldn’t be an ordinary Saint King Realm expert, clearly, he had very high attainments in this realm otherwise it would have been impossible for Lu Gui Chen to so easily suppress him.
Bi Ya grabbed Yang Kai and no longer paid any attention to the anything else around her, simply flying down towards the floating continent below.
Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the air of this continent and felt a sense of joy and relief from just having survived that terrifying disaster. Her full peaks heaved in an exaggerated matter. Her dress was also unconventional one with a wide opening in front, revealing a large amount of her jade white skin as well as her deep and inviting valley.
“How about we discuss this?” Yang Kai suddenly spoke.
“Little brat, don’t waste your breath”, Bi Ya smiled coldly, “No matter what, today you won’t escape, I’ll definitely eat you up.”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the front, “Sword Union also has a number of survivors who will soon arrive here, if you encounter them a fight is inevitable, I’ll help you kill them and in exchange, you don’t take advantage of me, how about it?”
“When did I ever take advantage of you?” Bi Ya seemed to become angry out of shame before she swept her eyes up and down him, sneering disdainfully, “Besides, who can a little First-Order Saint like you kill? You really overestimate yourself.”
“I was able to kill Ke Meng,” Yang Kai said lightly.
Bi Ya’s jaw dropped slightly as she stared at him with some shock, “Wasn’t Ke Meng just being too careless?”
She had obviously thought that Ke Meng was killed by Yang Kai because he was caught off guard, not because Yang Kai possessed greater strength.
“No matter what you say, I won’t believe you anyway. This Great Aunt has never been deceived by a man before, you are the first!” Bi Ya snorted, “So when the situation here stabilizes, Elder Sister will take good care of you, I’ll certainly not disappoint!”
Watching her clenching her teeth, Yang Kai noted that Bi Ya seemed to be the extremely vengeful type, much to his misfortune.
Yang Kai shook his head and stopped talking to her, instead focusing on examining his own condition.
After some investigation, Yang Kai was surprised to find that he had not received any serious injuries.
Because he had fused with the Unyielding Golden Skeleton of Great Demon God, his bones were abnormally sturdy. His skeleton hadn’t received any damage just now, but his five viscera and six organs had received some shocks and he had many bruises and scars from various impacts.
These were all minor injuries and with Yang Kai’s current regenerative and restorative abilities, even without taking any healing medicines, he would recover within half a day.
The real trouble was the seal Lu Gui Chen had placed on him. All the Saint Qi within his meridians had been locked in place and couldn’t be used. On the other hand, his Spiritual Energy had not been affected, probably because Lu Gui Chen had felt that Yang Kai’s strength was too low to warrant such serious treatment.
This gave Yang Kai a glimmer of hope.
With his Spiritual Energy accessible, he could still find a way out of this mess.
He wasn’t afraid of Bi Ya, it was only Saint King Realm masters like Lu Gui Chen he had to worry about.
When he had seen it from above, Yang Kai knew that the area of this continent wasn’t too big, and if he wasn’t able to somehow disappear without a trace, it wouldn’t be long before he would be tracked down.
Yang Kai hesitated as he weighed his options.
For the time being, he immersed his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea.
As soon as he entered his Knowledge Sea though, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar frowned.
Because he found that inside his Knowledge Sea there were around fifty new Spiritual Energy masses, each of which contained varying amounts of energy.
Yang Kai was startled.
But he soon realized that these Spiritual Energy masses were the remnant Souls from the cultivators who had died during the previous disaster.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation not only wipe out other people’s Souls, but could also draw in the remnant Souls left behind when others died nearby Yang Kai. These remnant Souls must have been pulled into his Knowledge Sea by Demon Eye of Annihilation while he was unconscious.
This was a truly unexpected harvest.
Lacking time right now, Yang Kai didn’t perform a thorough inspection of these remnant Souls suspended above his Knowledge Sea and only gave them a rough check.
Most of these Spiritual Energy masses belonged to Saint Realm cultivators, but among them, Yang Kai actually found one that had belonged to a Saint King.
Yang Kai paled slightly.
Even some masters in the Saint King Realm had failed to survive that disaster, fully illustrating how terrifying the collision between the two Starships was, as well as how deadly that black hole had been.
Everyone who was still alive now should rejoice that their luck was not as bad as this Saint King Realm master.
In order to avoid arousing Bi Ya’s suspicions, after performing a cursory examination, Yang Kai took back his consciousness from his Knowledge Sea. Those groups of Spiritual Energy could wait until later when he found a safe opportunity to absorb.
The insights into the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao of a Saint King Realm cultivator was something Yang Kai was looking forward to very much, wondering just what kind of improvements they would bring to him.
When he opened his eyes again, just as he had expected, Yang Kai found that battles had broken out all around him.
The Purple Star and Star Union cultivators fought one another in groups of three or four, the previous disaster not even giving them pause, instead only fueling the anger that pushed them to slaughter the enemy they saw as responsible for their ill fate!
Lu Gui Chen was locked in combat with a beautiful mature woman who possessed a noble and graceful aura; however, despite her temperate appearance, her strength was extraordinary, not inferior to Lu Gui Chen’s at all. The short sword in her hand gave off an incomparably sharp aura and every time she swung it, swift rays of light would rush towards Lu Gui Chen, flying in a myriad of formations and patterns. Clearly, her level of swordsmanship was not low.
Lu Gui Chen didn’t dare have the slightest negligence while fighting this beautiful woman, wearing golden armour of light on his body and grasping a short spear in his hands. The short spear exuded a potent energy fluctuation as it gave off golden rays, meeting the incoming sword waves blow for blow.
The two masters fought high up in the sky, the fallout from their battle covering a wide area that all the Purple Star and Sword Union cultivators stayed well clear of for fear of being affected.
Yang Kai’s eyes swept across the battlefield, trying to find some kind of opportunity, a moment later opening his mouth to say to Bi Ya, “The fight has already started, don’t you need to help?”
Bi Ya shot him a look over at him and giggled, “Do you want to find a chance to escape?”
“My cultivation has been sealed, how am I supposed to escape? You can rest assured, if you go out to fight, I’ll wait here patiently for you. I’m also quite interested in what a woman like you tastes like.”
“Is that so?” Bi Ya’s face suddenly glowed somewhat radiantly, becoming more beautiful as her red lips twittered and her twin peaks trembled lightly, putting on full display their amazing elasticity.
However, she put away her smiling face as quickly as she had worn it and glared at Yang Kai coldly, “Don’t even dream about it, I’ll never give you the slightest chance, I’d rather sit here watching than let you escape.”
“Why?” Yang Kai shook his head slowly, feeling frustrated.
Bi Ya had made up her mind to not relax her surveillance of him, leaving truly helpless.
Just then, two white streaks suddenly flew past, seemingly chasing a Purple Star cultivator together, but when they passed by Yang Kai and Bi Ya, they let out a startled cry.
Immediately, the two figures came to a halt and stared blankly at Yang Kai.
The older woman showed a surprised look, “How is it you?”
“It’s you two?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
These two women were the first people he had met after coming to the Star Field, He Zao and He Miao of Sword Union.
Seeing them, Yang Kai’s mouth curled up slightly, suddenly thinking that the situation wasn’t as bad as he had imagined.
“Since you’re here… that must mean that Sword Union’s forces found you, yes?” Yang Kai seemed to ask casually.
“En,” He Miao nodded heavily, smiling happily, “Soon after we separated from you, master arrived with the others and found us, but the Purple Star people were simply too hateful. They refused to give up and chased us all the way here, finally causing all of us to fall into misfortune, yet even now, they still want to keep fighting.”
“Why are you here?” He Zao was clearly much more mature and had quickly noticed that something was wrong.
Yang Kai was standing beside a Purple Star cultivator, and although he didn’t seem to have been exposed to any ill-treatment, his strength was clearly sealed.
He had obviously been captured by the other side.
On top of that, while they were speaking, this Purple Star woman was quietly circulating her strength, preparing herself to act at a moment’s notice.
“It’s a long story…” Yang Kai coughed awkwardly.
“You couldn’t be this loose woman’s… boy toy?” He Miao covered her small mouth as she showed a look of incredible shock on her cute face along with no small amount of disdain and loathing.
Yang Kai was stunned, not having expected even He Miao to recognize Bi Ya; it seems when Shen Tu had said that Bi Ya was a famous celebrity, he had not been exaggerating.
“Little girl, it seems you weren’t educated properly!” Bi Ya eyes flashed coldly, obviously angry that He Miao had called her a loose woman, “Didn’t your parents ever teach you to treat others with politeness and courtesy?”
“Hmph, who doesn’t know you in this Star Field? Aren’t you embarrassed to even speak about proper education? Do you have anything of that sort?” He Miao shot back, waving the glowing long sword in her hand as she shouted tenderly, “Elder Sister, there’s no need to speak any nonsense with her, let’s go!”
He Zao said nothing and simply gently nodded, sending Yang Kai a stealthy wink before she and her younger sister shot gathered their strength and rushed over.
Before the two sisters had even arrived, a bone-chilling Sword Qi like the frigid north wind descended upon the area, causing the surrounding earth to crack and sword marks to appear.
Bi Ya snorted, wielding her Dragon Bone Whip once more, causing the Azure Dragon phantom to reappear and soar towards the pair of sisters, blades of wind flying out from its body, seemingly trying to slice through He Zao and He Miao’s necks.
Instantly, the three figures became entangled.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai scurried away.
Bi Ya was only a Third-Order Saint, the same as He Zao, and although He Miao was slightly worse off, only a Second-Order Saint, with the two sisters working together, Bi Ya would obviously not be their opponent.
Therefore, Yang Kai wasn’t worried about He Zao and He Miao’s safety. Right now, the most important thing for Yang Kai to do was to withdraw.
His speed was extremely fast; although his Saint Qi was sealed, Yang Kai’s physique was incredibly strong, so it only took him a few short breaths to escape from the chaotic battlefield and find a well-hidden location. Once he was safe, he sat down cross-legged. While maintaining his vigilance of the surrounding, Yang Kai tried his best to circulate the Saint Qi in his body to break the seal Lu Gui Chen had planted on him.
The battle between Purple Star and Sword Union continued, both sides seemingly baring bitter hatred towards each other, neither of them willing to show weakness.
Cultivators from both sides continued to fall, littering the ground with fresh corpses.
Yang Kai sat and watched, and fortunately. During this time, no one came to find trouble with him.
Suddenly, when his gaze wandered over to a particular location, a strange look appeared on his face.
Over there was an old man in a blue robe with messy grey hair seemingly searching for something.
This old man was indifferent to everything around him, his complete attention focused on the various pieces of Starship debris around him. From time to time, he would pick up a piece of the broken Starship from the ground, knock it with his hand and nod lightly, his ring flashing in the next instant and the piece of debris disappearing inside.
A short time later, he had collected several dozen pieces of Starship; these fragments varied in size but were all manufactured from good quality materials.
What could be preserved in that disaster and at least the materials of the Saint King High-Rank are tempered.
While he was picking up the Starship pieces, he would sometimes mutter to himself and let out a laugh, seemingly very satisfied.
Such a strange person casually shuttling through the chaotic battlefield naturally drew many people’s attention.
But what surprised Yang Kai the most was that neither the Purple Star or Sword Union cultivators were able to approach this old man.
No matter who it was, before they could get close to him, they would be guided away by some kind of invisible force. Noticing this, the cultivators who went to find trouble with him quickly realized that this old man wasn’t someone they could easily provoke, causing them to hastily withdraw and not dare to approach him again.
And so, the old man was able to leisurely stroll about and collect the various Starship fragments.
Eventually, the strange old man finally caught the attention of the two forces’ real masters.
Lu Gui Chen and the mature beauty from Sword Union who were fighting high up in the sky simultaneously retreated, opening up some distance between them as they continued to stare at one another; however, they were also paying close attention to the old man down below.
The strange old man gave Lu Gui Chen and the beautiful woman from Sword Union an unusual feeling which caused them to become very concerned, so both of them had ceased their battle and were now silently paying attention to him instead.
“Yue Xi, you and I are old acquaintances, we both know neither of us is capable of easily defeating the other. Why not end our little battle here for today? I think that whether it is your or my people, they are in need of some rest to recover,” Lu Gui Chen waved his hand and addressed the mature beauty from Sword Union.
The beautiful woman named Yue Xi thought about it for a moment before gently nodding, “Good!”
“I knew you’d be reasonable,” Lu Gui Chen laughed, putting away his golden light armour and storing his short spear, knitting his brow in the next moment, “Yue Xi, I have a certain issue I need to discuss with you.”
“If you need to put out a fart just get it over with,” Yue Xi’s pretty face wore a look of impatience as she crudely spat.
Lu Gui Chen curled his lips, not minding her attitude, and stuck out a finger, saying, “Is this old man from your Sword Union? How come I’ve never seen him before?”
When he asked this, Yue Xi’s expression suddenly became weird and she asked back, “Isn’t he one of your people?”
Lu Gui Chen brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head.
The two people stared at one another for a moment before their eyes brightened, simultaneously saying, “He’s a native of this place?”
As soon as their voices fell, both of their figures transformed into streaks of light as they shot towards the old man who was still carefreely sifting through the Starship debris.
Where this place was and what kind of dangers existed here, neither Lu Gui Chen nor Yue Xi knew.
However, all of a sudden, right before their eyes, a native of this world had appeared!
Both of them naturally thought that whoever was able to grab this old man first would be able to monopolize the information he had, giving them an advantage over the other side. In this unknown place, information was the key to survival. This much was obvious to everyone.
So, without even saying a word, the two of them had taken action.
Two auras belonging to Saint King Realm masters spread out and competed with one another, sending out much stronger shockwaves than when they had been fighting just now, both of them obviously going all out.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi had indeed known each other for many years and were aware that their strengths were roughly equal, so when they rushed over to seize this old man, neither of them was willing to compromise in the slightest.
The old man had just picked up a piece of Starship debris and hadn’t had time to put it into his Space Ring when the two of them both reaching out and grabbing one of his arms, their auras pressing down on him, causing him to stiffen up, like he was too scared to even move.
However, in the next instant, his expression became strange and a look of interest flashed across his face. Even facing the suppression and fallout from the battle between these two Saint King Realm masters, he calmly and leisurely placed the Starship piece he had just picked up into his Space Ring.
This strange action immediately caused Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi to stare, both of them realizing that their situation was not good.
Being able to act so carefreely and completely ignore their confrontation either meant that this old man was a madman, or a master powerful enough to not put them in his eyes.
The latter possibility was much greater.
So Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi both immediately let go and tried to withdraw from this strange old man.
However, just as they attempted to escape, a powerful force emerged from the old man’s body, solidifying the area around him, trapping Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi in place.
The next moment, the two masters felt the Saint Qi in their bodies rapidly being drained away and pouring into the old man.
The two were horrified and Yue Xi even let out a panic-stricken scream.
As their strength passed, the old man’s face became more and more rosy, seemingly receiving great nourishment, even his white hair gradually became darker and glossier.
The old man flashed the two people a faint grin.
Suddenly, a terrifying aura burst from the old man’s body, and as it rapidly spread out, everyone couldn’t help stopping whatever it was they were doing and trembling in fear.
Near everyone’s ear, a burst of cries and howls resounded as a frigid wind wrapped around their bodies. From simply revealing his aura, this old man had let everyone present feel like they had been plunged into the deepest depths of purgatory and were experiencing a kind of spiritual torture that made them wonder if death wouldn’t be preferable.
“You two little things seem to look down on others a bit too much. En, this old master hasn’t bumped into such a lively and entertaining scene for many years, so this time I’ll spare your lives, but if you dare make such a mistake again, I’ll extinguish your souls!” Saying so, the old man sneered and shook his body lightly, sending out an incomparably powerful burst of power.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi both screamed and flew backwards like broken paper baskets. Both of them spat blood as they tumbled through the air, their complexion paling as their auras became feeble.
Simply being thrown off by this old man had nearly caused them to die on the spot.
When they finally managed to stand firm, both of them stared at the old man with utter horror.
Yang Kai’s eyes also nearly popped out of their sockets, hardly able to believe what he had just witnessed.
He had personally experienced how strong Lu Gui Chen was. When Yang Kai had faced him, he didn’t even have the ability to resist.
Lu Gui Chen was at least a Second-Order Saint King, possibly even a Third Order Saint King powerhouse.
Yet such a master, in front of this strange old man, was no better than a three-year-old child.
[What kind of cultivation does this old man possess?] Yang Kai couldn’t even imagine it.
“En, right, it’s rare that so many visitors come here. Let your people settle down. The more that dies, the more deserted this place becomes,” The old man thought for a moment before suddenly saying.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi both gawked at him for an instant before nodding quickly, “We will obey Senior’s instructions!”
After witnessing the astonishing strength of this old man, they didn’t dare disobey him again, because they knew that if this old man wanted to, he could easily kill everyone here in a flash.
His strength was not something they were capable of resisting.
“En, those who already died can’t be wasted, best to collect them,” The old man seemed to mutter to himself before waving his hand and summoning out a jet black flag which gave off a cold, gloomy aura. On this flag, there seemed to be countless faintly visible hum and beast figures. Each of these figures was clearly a Soul-Spirit Body, each one of which was extremely powerful.
They were all bound and shackled inside this flag and had seemingly lost their own consciousnesses, turning into bloodthirsty and vengeful spectres.
The big flag fluttered in the wind, sending out piercing cries and howls that rang throughout the world.
The semi-transparent Soul Avatars of the recently fallen cultivators suddenly appeared and were seemingly caught up in some kind of suction force which dragged them towards the flag.
A breath later, the dark flag drew in the Soul Avatars of some thirty or forty cultivators.
Just as if a stone had been thrown into the calm lake, the surface of the dark flag rippled, and the resentful spectres which were sealed within it suddenly began madly competing for these new Soul Avatars.
The sound of crunching and chewing lingered in the air, grating at the minds of those still living.
In the blink of an eye, the dozens of Soul Avatars belonging to the Purple Star and Sword Union cultivators were devoured and disappeared, as if they had never even existed.
The gloomy aura of the jet black flag became even heavier as a result.
“If anyone dares stir up trouble, I’ll collect all of you like this!” The old man wore a sinister grin as he swept his eyes over the crowd before putting away his dark flag.
Everyone went completely pale and none dared to respond.
After seeing the scene just now, who among them would have the courage to make trouble? Having their Soul devoured by evil spirits after they fell, this was more terrifying than simply dying.
Everyone immediately became well-behaved and restrained their strength.
“Find a place to settle down by yourselves then familiarize yourself with the environment. En, I’ll tell you now, there are no dangers here, but there are plenty of precious resources and World Energy. It’s a perfect place to cultivate. The fifty-kilometre radius around that mountain over there is off-limits, that’s where this old master lives. Anyone who dares to approach it… you should know the consequences!” The old man pointed to a mountain not far away and spoke at length, as if he hadn’t spoken for many years and couldn’t stop himself once he got started. After he finished, he drifted away and, before anyone even realized it, he had disappeared without a trace.
For a long time after he left, no one dared to move, all of them standing in place, the hearts in their chests pounding loudly as many of them gulped unceasingly.
Lu Gui Chen and Yue Xi glanced at each other across a long distance and for a while were speechless.
Soon after though, the two of them sat down and took out some healing pills and Saint Crystals to begin restoring themselves.
After an hour, the two of them stood up one after the other.
It was only after they saw their respective leaders stand up that the surviving cultivators from Purple Star and Sword Union dared to breathe out and gather around them.
“Yang Kai, Yang Kai…” Hearing his name called out from afar, Yang Kai stuck his head up and saw a slightly pale He Miao beckoning to him.
Yang Kai stood up and walked towards them.
A dozen meters or so away, Bi Ya ground her teeth and stared at him with obvious hatred, but she didn’t dare try to block his way.
The old man had said that whoever dared to cause trouble would have their Soul Avatar fed to his dark flag, Bi Ya didn’t dare annoy do anything that might annoy him.
“Many thanks,” Yang Kai arrived at He Zao and He Miao’s side and sincerely thanked them.
If, a moment ago, they hadn’t diverted Bi Ya’s attention, he wouldn’t have had a chance to escape and hide until the strange old man had shown up and displayed his invincible might.
“No need for that,” He Zao shook her head, “It’s what we owe you.”
“Who is the old fogey? He nearly scared me to death,” He Miao patted her milk-white bosom and muttered, her face still covered in fear.
“Master should have some idea,” He Zao said thoughtfully as she glanced over at the beautiful woman name Yue Xi, “In any case, since he has spoken, those people from Purple Star won’t dare act unreasonably again so, for the time being, we’re safe. Yang Kai, was your strength sealed?”
“En, it was something that Lu Gui Chen did,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Come with me, I’ll take you to see Master and ask her to help unlock that seal.”
“I’ll have to ask that of you two,” Yang Kai’s expression brightened.
“No need to be so polite,” He Miao smiled, finally seeming to restore her spirits a bit, “Before, if you hadn’t given me and Elder Sister those restorative items, we wouldn’t have been able to insist until Master saved us, we owe you our lives.”
“A minor matter,” Yang Kai faintly nodded, neither warmly nor coldly, displaying an attitude of a passerby who had simply done a bit of charity.
He followed He Zao and He Miao over to where the people from Sword Union had gathered and soon arrived in front of the mature beauty named Yue Xi.
Yue Xi of Sword Union was a middle-aged beauty with an abundant set of peaks, graceful waist, and shapely, slender legs. The white dress she wore complimented her looks perfectly and was adorned with the unique sword-shaped symbol of Sword Union atop her right chest. From top to bottom, her tender exuded a mature and dignified temperament.
The two sisters, He Zao and He Miao, led Yang Kai over to her and greeted her respectfully.
Yue Xi’s face still looked pale, and her white robes were stained red in many places. Hearing the two sisters call out to her, she simply nodded lightly before turning a suspicious look towards Yang Kai and asking with some slight vigilance, “What did you lead this Purple Star person over for?”
She had never met Yang Kai, so naturally, she assumed that Yang Kai was a cultivator from Purple Star’s side.
“Master, he’s not a disciple of Purple Star,” He Miao stepped up and held Yue Xi’s arm before pointing back at Yang Kai with a smile, “He was the one who gave Elder Sister and me those Crystal Stones and Pills inside the Chaotic Abyss. He’s called Yang Kai.”
“Him?” Yue Xi’s delicate brow rose slightly, seemingly somewhat surprised.
When she found He Zao and He Miao inside the Chaotic Abyss, she had heard the two sisters mention the bitter experience they had been through and she knew that if Yang Kai had not provided them with some restorative resources, the two sisters would have been too weak to carry on.
However, she still had some doubts about Yang Kai’s origins.
How could a little First-Order Saint run out to the Chaotic Abyss for no reason at all? Did he really have such boldness and skill?
Thinking so in her heart, Yue Xi didn’t show anything on her face, instead just saying lightly, “Young man, thank you for the care you showed my two disciples.”
“Senior is too polite,” Yang Kai nodded faintly, “It was just a little effort.”
“En. Before, you gave He Zao and He Miao some help in their time of need, so I’ll send you a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal as a thank you,” Yue Xi said so before motioning to a nearby Sword Union cultivator. When this cultivator came over and looked over Yang Kai, he couldn’t help asking, “Friend, where is your Space Ring?”
Yang Kai was stunned for a moment before he shook his head, “I don’t have such a thing.”
The cultivator turned to Yue Xi somewhat awkwardly. If Yang Kai didn’t have a Space Ring, he couldn’t hand over a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal.
Yue Xi frowned and said, “Give him your Space Ring, it’s nothing expensive in any case.”
“Yes,” The cultivator nodded reluctantly before he began taking out all of his belongings from his Space Ring and handing them over to one of his companions. After a while, he took the Space Ring off his hand and passed it to Yang Kai, “There are exactly one thousand pieces of Saint Crystal left inside, you can count it yourself.”
“I didn’t come here to ask for a reward,” Yang Kai said with a strange look.
He somehow sensed that this Yue Xi was eager to send him away, as if she was afraid of him sticking around.
He didn’t know why this was.
“What do you want?” Yue Xi frowned, her face showing a slightly disgruntled look.
The cultivator that handed over the Space Ring also grinned and encouraged, “Friend, a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal isn’t a small amount, I’m also delivering you a storage artifact, shouldn’t you be content?”
“I said I didn’t come here seeking payment,” Yang Kai also frowned, suddenly realizing that the other party seemed to think he was up to some kind of scheme and was using this favour as an excuse to get close.
This made him very upset.
“Master, it’s like this,” He Zao walked up and said, “Lu Gui Chen placed a seal on him so he currently can’t use his strength. We brought him here to ask for your help removing this seal.”
“You’re not able to use your strength?” Yue Xi looked at Yang Kai with surprise, using her Divine Sense in the next instant to confirm what He Zao had said and nodding, “I’ll have a look.”
Saying so, she stretched out her hand towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai didn’t move. Although the other person had some misunderstandings about him that made him a little unhappy, right now, lifting the seal on his strength was more important.
For this reason, he was willing to cooperate.
Yue Xi’s finger pointed towards Yang Kai’s forehead and a stream of energy flowed from its tip into him.
He didn’t know what, but Yang Kai suddenly felt a comfortable sensation. Everywhere this stream of energy passed became relaxed and his spirit also couldn’t help becoming calm.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s expression changed greatly, as if he had been struck by lightning, his body trembling as he hurriedly retreated several steps to avoid Yue Xi’s finger while directing a gloomy look towards her.
This woman… while sending her strength into him a moment ago was secretly trying to use her Divine Sense to break into his Knowledge Sea.
If he hadn’t responded quickly enough, his Knowledge Sea’s defences would have been breached and Yang Kai estimated that all the secrets in his Knowledge Sea would have been exposed to her.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, there was the Six Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, as well as his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea and the Demon Eye of Annihilation which had been integrated into his being. Normally, he could perfectly conceal all of these things, but once someone peeked into his Knowledge Sea, he wouldn’t be able to hide them.
Regardless of what Yue Xi’s true purpose was, her actions had already violated Yang Kai’s bottom line.
So he immediately avoided her.
Yue Xi’s pretty face flashed with surprise, seemingly not having anticipated Yang Kai’s senses to be so sharp, even able to detect her silent probing.
“Yang Kai, what happened?” He Miao saw Yang Kai’s expression and hastily inquired.
“It’s nothing, Senior’s cultivation is too high, so when her strength entered my body I couldn’t quite bear it,” Yang Kai explained casually. He didn’t tell the truth because doing so didn’t have any advantage for him.
Yue Xi was startled but quickly said with a smile, “I was careless just now, causing you some discomfort.”
“Master, can the seal in his body be unlocked?” He Zao asked with some concern.
Yue Xi shook her head and bitterly said, “If it was before, I could easily remove it, but I was injured just now by that old man, so there’s nothing I can do about the seal in his body for the time being.”
He Zao and He Miao suddenly showed disappointed looks, turning apologetic looks in the next moment towards Yang Kai.
“It’s fine if you can’t remove it,” Yang Kai said without any disappointment, reaching out and accepting the Space Ring from the nearby cultivator’s hand before cupping his fists to Yue Xi, “In any case, many thanks for Senior’s good intention and generous gift.”
Finished what he had to say, he turned around and left.
“Yang Kai, don’t be so anxious to leave. When Master recovers in a few days she will be able to help you,” He Miao shouted innocently, but didn’t get any response, causing her to frown slightly and mutter, “Why does he seem a little angry?”
“This boy is very suspicious,” The cultivator beside Yue Xi stared at Yang Kai’s receding back and said, “According to what two Junior Sisters said, he should have been wandering around the Chaotic Abyss, so how did he end up together with Purple Star? Him appearing here clearly means he was aboard Purple Star’s Starship. On top of that, he’s just a small First-Order Saint Realm cultivator, so why would Lu Gui Chen bother sealing his strength?”
“What are you trying to say?” He Zao glanced over at this man.
The cultivator smiled and said, “Isn’t it possible two Junior Sisters were deceived by him? Maybe he was originally a Purple Star cultivator and just pretended to meet you in the Chaotic Abyss to gather information about your whereabouts. I remember you two saying you actually ran into him twice, right?”
“What about it?” He Zao frowned deeply.
“Nothing much. Junior Sister shouldn’t be angry, I just wanted to wake you up to such a possibility. You have been cultivating beside Master most of your life and haven’t seen much of the outside world. The outside world is a much messier place than you imagine,” The man explained with a smile, seemingly just casually making a point.
“Elder Sister, could he really be a Purple Star person?” Hearing her Senior Brother talk like this, He Miao also became a bit suspicious.
“It doesn’t seem likely,” He Zao slowly shook her head. The two sisters had met Yang Kai twice before yet both times he hadn’t asked them about anything of importance and the second time he had even sent them a number of Crystal Stones and pills for free.
If he really was a Purple Star cultivator, there would have been no need for him to do any of this, all he would have needed to do was send word to Lu Gui Chen and the two sisters would definitely not have been able to hide until their Master had arrived.
It was for these reasons she didn’t believe her Senior Brother’s speculations.
“There’s nothing to lose by acting cautiously,” Yue Xi said.
“Master…” He Zao tuned a strange look to Yue Xi and wanted to say something but hesitated to speak.
“What do you want to say?”
“No, it’s nothing, Master should rest first,” He Zao swallowed down her words.
She originally wanted to ask her master if she really couldn’t lift the seal on Yang Kai’s body, but she just couldn’t bring herself to.
Looking at Yang Kai’s lonely figure, He Zao’s heart felt bitter.
Strictly speaking, Yang Kai had saved both her and her sister’s life, that wasn’t a favour a single Space Ring and a thousand pieces of Saint Crystal could offset.
Letting out a slight sigh, He Zao gave her sister and wink and the two of them quietly left.
After the two sisters had walked away, Yue Xi, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened her eyes and said to the cultivator beside her, “Wei Wu, pay attention to that youth’s movements. Don’t let He Zao or He Miao get too close to him, try to avoid having them make contact if possible.”
Wei Wu eyes lit up and he quickly cupped his fists.
Yue Xi’s beautiful eyes flashed as she whispered under her breath, “What was all of that about?”
The moment her Divine Sense stabbed into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, she had suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of fear, but because Yang Kai had shut off his Knowledge Sea so quickly, Yue Xi was unable to obtain any significant information about him.
She didn’t know what kind of secrets were hidden inside his Knowledge Sea.
However, his origins were even more worrisome now, so Yue Xi had to act cautiously, lest he deceives her two young disciples.
She understood her disciples’ character best. They were kind, open-hearted, and upright.
That youth had saved their lives, so they were definitely thinking about how to repay him, if she didn’t handle this matter well, it would definitely lead to problems.
Once Yang Kai had moved far away from the Sword Union group, he found a quiet place to sit down.
He felt that he should try to avoid approaching Yue Xi. This beautiful woman was far too overbearing.
With the Purple Star cultivators not daring stir up trouble, Yang Kai estimated that in the short run, he would be safe.
When his mind and body relaxed, he finally felt the true richness of this floating continent’s World Energy aura. Even though he wasn’t able to circulate his Saint Qi or Secret Art, the surrounding World Energy still flowed towards his body and penetrated into his skin, integrating itself into his physique and giving him a refreshing feeling.