In the Flame Sand Field, where flying was impossible, to traverse five kilometres in an instant was incredible. Whatever secret technique Lu Ye used it was extremely profound, and apparently wasn’t exhausted yet as his aura quickly traversed another three kilometres.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling shocked by the seemingly endless methods Lu Ye displayed while a sense of dread also filled his heart.
He even made use of his Space Blade but still couldn’t cut down this enemy, allowing him to escape. Moreover, Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of artefact that strange black rod was, but just a casual wave of it had forced him to use two drops of Golden Blood to resist.
Origin Grade artefacts didn’t have such power, so the only explanation was that the short black rod Lu Ye used was an Origin King Grade artefact!
Did Flowing Cloud Valley have an Origin King Grade artefact? And how could it possibly have been carried by Lu Ye?
Although Yang Kai didn’t know why Flowing Cloud Valley would make such a decision, he had already made up his mind that he needed to kill Lu Ye while the latter was weakened. If he waited for Lu Ye to recovery, trying to kill him would only become more difficult.
With this in mind, Yang Kai was about to use his Wind and Thunder Wings to pursue Lu Ye when countless yells suddenly reached his ears, each one of them seemingly containing shock and panic.
Naturally these voices were from the elite disciples who were vying for the Red Candle Fruit.
Qu Chang Feng’s voice was filled with wrath while Fang Tian Zhong was shouting for someone or something to stop. Wei Gu Chang was calling out in alarm while Yin Su Die’s sweet voice was filled with shock. Apparently, some kind of serious accident had happened.
Immediately after that, Yang Kai heard a small bang, as if something had broken apart, and a red light actually shot straight from the battlefield towards the spot in the mountain valley where he was standing.
Yang Kai didn’t think much about it and simply reached out to grab whatever it was that was flying towards him because he felt this red streak of light was full of energy but not some kind of attack.
Instantly, Yang Kai felt warmth in his hand and a strong fruity fragrance lingered about his nostrils.
Yang Kai frowned and carefully observed the object he grasped, exclaiming in the next moment, “Red Candle Fruit?”
He hadn’t expected that after giving up any idea of competing for the Red Candle Fruit, this Heaven defying spirit fruit that everyone else was fighting over would simply fall from the sky into his hand.
Of course, the Red Candle Fruit in his hand wasn’t whole and looked as if it had been cut by some kind of weapon. Yang Kai was currently holding about a sixth of the entire Red Candle Fruit.
The tender flesh was exposed to the air and the rich fruity aroma was continuously wafting from it, causing Yang Kai to freeze in place for a while.
A moment later though, Yang Kai returned to his senses and quickly released his Divine Sense to track the movements of the others nearby, but after a quick check, he let out a sigh of relief. He found that these elite disciples were still fighting over the Red Candle Fruit at this moment. Though they weren’t trying to obtain the complete spirit fruit but the scattered pieces of it.
“You dare…” Qu Chang Feng roared angrily, but before he could finish what he was trying to say, he was struck by an attack and closed his mouth. Immediately after, the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect withdrew from the battle and in front of everyone’s angry gazes, calmly departed, disappearing soon after.
No one even thought of trying to make him stay. On the one hand, there were still other pieces of the Red Candle Fruit which had not been divided up, and on the other hand, this person was simply too strong, not someone one or two of them could defeat. Now that things had reached this point, who would try to take on such a thankless job? Everyone currently had their eyes set on the cut-up pieces of fruit.
And so, another chaotic scramble began.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai’s heart relaxed. Seeing the Red Candle Fruit’s medicinal efficacy quickly leaking though, Yang Kai once again felt aggrieved and began rummaging through his Space Ring.
This Heaven defying spirit fruit couldn’t be stored in an ordinary jade box, if one wanted to truly maintain its medicinal effects, they needed to use a wooden box.
Fortunately, Yang Kai’s Space Ring had some good Wood Attribute materials and he soon found a piece of Azure Spirit Wood. Using his Saint Qi, Yang Kai fashioned a simple wooden box and then placed the piece of Red Candle Fruit inside it, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
If he had known that this would happen, he would have prepared some good quality wooden boxes in advance so he wouldn’t have been so flustered.
Although the wooden box made from Azure Spirit Wood was decent, if the piece of Red Candle Fruit was left in it for too long, its medicinal efficacies would still leak out. Yang Kai needed to find some time to more permanently solve this problem.
But at the moment, he didn’t have time to do so and could only take some stopgap measures.
Unfortunately, after such a delay, his plan to chase down Lu Ye had to be abandoned, because the other party had already escaped from the range of his Divine Sense and it would not be impossible to find where he was hiding.
Outside of the mountain valley, the ownerless pieces of Red Candle Fruit were tossed about in a chaotic fight for some time before they were eventually divided up.
The few who managed to obtain pieces of Red Candle Fruit wore happy smiles while those who didn’t stamped their feet and beat their chests in indignation or sighed constantly as dangerous light flashed across the depths of their eyes. The ones who were worst off, were the eight fresh corpses which littered the battlefield. These corpses were each extremely miserable in appearance and it was impossible to tell just who had killed them in that tangled melee.
The scene had been so chaotic just now, with all kinds of artefact attacks and Martial Skills being tossed about. Everyone was going all out and had no time to pay attention to the situation of others, so although some forces had suffered losses and could still see their dead comrades in front of them, unable to determine who exactly was the one at fault, no one dared take any reckless actions. Those who had suffered losses simply had to choke down their broken teeth while stifling the bitterness in their hearts.
After everyone who had managed to obtain a piece of Red Candle Fruit stuffed it into their Space Ring, as if by prior agreement, they simultaneously rushed over to the mountain valley.
Apparently, they had seen a piece of the Red Candle Fruit fly over to this side and it wasn’t until now that they found time to search for it.
However, the red mist in the mountain valley was quick thick, making it basically impossible to search for anything by sight. As such, everyone began releasing their Divine Sense, but this soon led to one Divine Sense bumping into another, causing muffled snorts to ring out. Soon, everyone began limiting the range they released their over Divine Sense to avoid further conflict.
After searching for half a day, the red mist in the mountain valley had gradually dispersed, but no one was able to find the piece of Red Candle Fruit that had landed here, and everyone was now turning suspicious eyes towards everyone else. They all felt that apart from their own allies, everyone from every other force might have obtained the last piece of Red Candle Fruit and was simply feigning innocence.
Yang Kai couldn’t help cheering. He had still been thinking about how to leave the mountain valley after suddenly obtaining this piece of Red Candle Fruit, but with the red mist steadily clearing up it solved this problem for him. Now that everyone had come down and was searching through the valley, he could easily fish in the muddy waters.
Dai Yuan glanced over at Yang Kai secretly and frowned.
She recalled that Yang Kai was still immersed in his meditation while everyone else was vying for the Red Candle Fruit, so if a piece of it had flown over here, he was the most likely to have obtained it.
However, she didn’t have any conclusive evidence and it was impossible for her to think of betraying Yang Kai now, so she quickly took back her gaze and pretended as if nothing had happened.
Dai Yuan wasn’t the only one to have such doubts about Yang Kai, but no one could determine the truth of the matter, so although some wanted to question Yang Kai, knowing he was together with Wei Gu Chang, no one dared to make rash accusations.
“Ahem, everyone …” Li You Nan of Medicine Pill Sect, with a bitter smile on his face, suddenly stood up, cupped his fists and called out, “Please listen to what I have to say.”
Everyone looked at him. The great forces which had obtained pieces of the Red Candle Fruit wore vigilant expressions while those who hadn’t were completely indifferent; however, all of them wanted to know what Li You Nan was going to say now, so the scene quickly fell silent.
“The Red Candle Fruit is unlike other spirit fruits and cannot be kept in a jade box, and now that it has been cut into several pieces by that bastard, the pieces absolutely cannot be placed into ordinary jade boxes. If they are, the medicinal efficacies of these pieces will quickly leak out and I’m afraid that before you can even leave the Flowing Flame Sand Field, these pieces will have lost all their value and turned into ordinary trash.”
“They can’t be stored in a jade box?” Qu Chang Feng’s face changed slightly as he quickly pulled out a jade box from his Space Ring.
When this jade box appeared, many people suddenly showed greedy looks on their faces as they stared at Qu Chang Feng.
It seemed that being the favoured son of Heaven Battling Union really had good luck. In that chaotic snatching battle, Qu Chang Feng had actually managed to obtain a piece of the Red Candle Fruit.
Fang Tian Zhong, Yin Su Die, and a rough-looking brawny man also wore solemn looks as they all directed their eyes towards Li You Nan intently.
“If it cannot be stored inside a jade box, I assume you know what kind of vessel should be used, correct?” Qu Chang Feng asked politely.
Li You Nan showed a contented expression and nodded lightly, “This Li naturally knows.”
“Please enlighten us, Brother Li!” Fang Tian Zhong slightly cupped his fists.
Li You Nan grinned meaningfully and returned the courtesy, “I wouldn’t dare call it enlightenment, it is only that this Li has studied Alchemy since childhood and knows a little more about pharmacology than average. En, although I don’t mind sharing my knowledge with everyone, in the recent struggle, this Li’s Junior Brothers were seriously injured and some nearly died. As to who’s poisonous hand it was that dealt such blows, this Li has a fairly good idea, but let’s not bring such things up now…”
As he said so, he swept his eyes around, putting on a pompous act.
Everyone present knew what kind of scheme he was up to.
The several elites from Medicine Pill Sect hadn’t obtained anything in this competition, so Li You Nan clearly wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to gain some benefits, otherwise, he wouldn’t be making such a fuss about the injuries his Junior Brothers suffered.
In normal times, no one would dare wound a disciple of Medicine Pill Sect, but just now, in the scramble for the Red Candle Fruit, no one cared which Sect anyone else belonged to. Besides, none of the Medicine Pill Sect disciples had actually died down there and only some of them suffered some small wounds.
What’s more, eight elite disciples had fallen during this struggle, so compared to them, the cultivators from Medicine Pill Sect’s luck was already quite good.
Although they scoffed in their hearts though, no one said anything at this time.
Fang Tian Zhong frowned slightly, but in line with his usual forthright behaviour, he quickly declared, “If Brother Li is willing to inform this Fang of the proper storage method, after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes, Thunder Typhoon Sect will pay a million Saint Crystals as compensation!”
“A million… heh heh,” Li You Nan chuckled as he turned to look at Fang Tian Zhong and said, “Brother Fang thinks this piece of Red Candle Fruit is only worth one million? If so, then this Li will take his leave!”
“Five million!” Fang Tian Zhong’s look remained unchanged while he directly increased the price he offered by five times.
Li You Nan’s lifted foot dropped as he felt slightly tempted.
This time, his Medicine Pill Sect had failed to snatch the Red Candle Fruit, but if he could collect five million Saint Crystals from each great force that obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit, it would still be a great harvest.
What’s more, these cut up pieces of Red Candle Fruit weren’t really Heaven defying treasures anymore.
So at this moment, he was debating whether he should continue trying to raise the price.
While he was thinking though, over on Coloured Glass Sect’s side, Yin Su Die suddenly cast her beautiful eyes towards Dai Yuan and then her red lips wriggled a few times, seemingly saying something to Dai Yuan.
Dai Yuan’s brow furrowed and a look of displeasure appeared on her face, but she still answered back promptly.
The next moment, Yin Su Die’s coquettish face filled with a happy expression as she giggled lightly, “I wish several Senior Brothers good luck in your negotiations, little sister will say goodbye first.”
Saying so, she quickly left together with the other elites from Coloured Glass Sect.
The crowd was stunned, because just now, Yin Su Die had relied on her ribbon-like artefact to snatch a piece of the Red Candle Fruit, yet she had suddenly decided to leave without even obtaining the proper method of preserving it.
But soon, everyone realised what had happened.
Besides Li You Nan, an elite disciple of Medicine Pill Sect, there was also Dai Yuan who was familiar with the handling of spirit herbs! It seemed that Yin Su Die had learned some information from Dai Yuan, allowing her to leave so freely.
Holding such a precious treasure, Yin Su Die naturally didn’t dare to remain in this dangerous place for long.
Immediately, several people began staring at Dai Yuan with burning eyes as they wondered how to obtain the method of preserving the Red Candle Fruit from her.
Seeing this, Li You Nan knew that if he continued to bargain, those five million Saint Crystals would slip through his fingers. In his disgruntled mood just now, he had forgotten about the existence of Dai Yuan, and although this woman was from Coloured Glass Sect, due to some special reasons, she was extremely well versed in spirit herbs and Alchemy so she definitely knew how to properly store the Red Candle Fruit. Pushing down his annoyance, Li You Nan hurriedly nodded to Fang Tian Zhong, “Good, five million. I’ll take Brother Fang at his word!”
Fang Tian Zhong gently nodded, not showing any intention of going back on his word. Li You Nan quickly sent him a few words, after which Fang Tian Zhong thought for a moment before he silently led the rest of Thunder Typhoon Sect’s group away.
On the other side, Qu Chang Feng and the brawny man hesitated for a moment before also communicating with Li You Nan, both of them soon departing with looks of satisfaction on their faces.
“Let’s go too,” Wei Gu Chang grinned. He had also obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit. Although Shadow Moon Hall only had two disciples on the scene, him and Dong Xuan’er, their luck had actually been quite good. Originally Wei Gu Chang didn’t have any hope of obtaining anything in this struggle, but when that Star Emperor Sect disciple cut apart the Red Candle Fruit, he was actually close by and had immediately snatched a piece. The entire incident went off smoothly and simply, far easier than everyone else who had to literally kill others to obtain their pieces.
It was as if the bad luck he had been carrying since entering the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field had suddenly disappeared.
With Dai Yuan and Dong Xuan’er sharing a close relationship, obtaining the method of preserving this piece of fruit wouldn’t be an issue so there was no need for him to bother with Li You Nan.
“Brother Wei, please wait a moment!” Li You Nan saw that Wei Gu Chang intended to leave and hurriedly called out to him.
“What’s wrong? Does Brother Li have some advice?” Wei Gu Chang halted his steps and glanced back with a cold look on his face, secretly condensing his strength as he prepared to take action at any moment.
Seeing Wei Gu Chang look like he was preparing for a fight, Li You Nan immediately realised that the other party had misunderstood his intentions and quickly waved his hands, “Brother Wei doesn’t have to be so nervous. Although this Li and Brother Wei haven’t had many dealings in the past, this Li is not an underhanded person, Brother Wei should know this much.”
Hearing this, Wei Gu Chang slightly relaxed the vigilance on his face and gently nodded, “Brother Li’s manner, this Wei naturally knows, but… heh heh, this place is really not one to remain at for long.”
Saying so, he swept his eyes around seemingly unintentionally. All around, there were cultivators who had gained nothing in this scramble for the Red Candle Fruit, and many of them were staring at Wei Gu Chang, seemingly considering whether or not to act against him.
Seeing this, Li You Nan called out loudly, “Everyone shouldn’t act hastily. If the Red Candle Fruit was still whole, it would be worth fighting over, but now it has been cut into several pieces and Brother Wei has only obtained one portion. Provoking a powerful enemy for something so uncertain is not something anyone here should desire, right?”
Li You Nan speaking up for Wei Gu Chang, dispersing the surrounding danger for him, was something Wei Gu Chang found odd.
“Brother Li, I’ll only ask you this, can that piece of Red Candle Fruit’s medicinal efficacies allow an Origin Returning Realm master to break through to the Origin King Realm?” A young man in a white robe frowned and asked. Atop this youth’s chest was an embroidered white cloud.
This was the sigil of Floating Mist Palace.
“Brother Tang asks a good question,” Li You Nan nodded, “But unfortunately, this Li cannot give a clear answer, because this Red Candle Fruit is something this Li has only ever heard about; this is the first time I have seen it. I believe that even my Sect’s Elders cannot give a precise answer; however, the Red Candle Fruit by itself only provides a possibility to make an Origin Returning Realm master breakthrough, so now that it has been split into several parts, that possibility… I assume this Li doesn’t need to explain any more. Brother Tang should also understand.”
The Floating Mist Palace youth surnamed Tang frowned for a moment before nodding, “I see, goodbye!”
Having said so, he immediately left with the disciples of Floating Mist Palace.
The other cultivators saw Tang Yong of Floating Mist Palace give up on seizing the Red Candle Fruit and after sighing also chose to leave.
Soon, only those from Medicine Pill Sect and Shadow Moon Hall remained in the mountain valley.
Wei Gu Chang looked at Li You Nan with a smile. From beginning to end, he hadn’t said anything, but his expression said enough. He didn’t believe that Li You Nan would help him for no reason, he definitely had some ulterior motive; however, since the other said wasn’t saying anything, Wei Gu Chang wasn’t stupid enough to bring it up himself.
“Now can we have a decent chat, Brother Wei?” Li You Nan looked at Wei Gu Chang with a sense of contentment on his face, seemingly thinking he was quite skilful to be able to send everyone away with just a few words.
“If Brother Li has something to say, please don’t hesitate,” Wei Gu Chang nodded slightly.
“This Li would simply like to ask if Brother Wei has any intention to sell that piece of Red Candle Fruit?” Li You Nan got straight to the point.
“Sell it?” Wei Gu Chang’s eyes narrowed, “Does Brother Li want to buy it?”
“Exactly,” Li You Nan nodded sincerely.
Wei Gu Chang grinned meaningfully, “Didn’t Brother Li just say that this piece of Red Candle Fruit didn’t have nearly as much value as its complete form? I wonder why Brother Li wants to buy such a thing?”
Li You Nan shook his head and said calmly, “Even if the value of this Red Candle Fruit piece is not longer as great as before, it is still part of a Heaven defying spirit fruit that one may not see in ten thousand years. My Medicine Pill Sect has been studying various spirit grasses and spirit medicines for many millennia but now that such a rare opportunity has presented itself, if this Li does not make every effort to seize it, when I return to Medicine Pill Sect, the Elders will surely punish me. If I can buy this piece of Red Candle Fruit from Brother Wei and bring it back to the Sect so the Elders can study it, perhaps it will allow our level of Alchemy to surge. Of course, if Brother Wei is willing to sell this piece of Red Candle Fruit to me, this Li can guarantee that not only will we provide Shadow Moon Hall with enough Saint Crystals as compensation, on behalf of Medicine Pill Sect I can also guarantee that the Elders of the Sect will refine five pills for you for free!”
Wei Gu Chang originally had no intention of agreeing to the transaction, but after hearing the last condition, his expression changed greatly, and he couldn’t immediately refuse.
After all, the effects of the Red Candle Fruit were only rumours, no one knew if they were true. And now, there was even a chance that after being cut apart it was completely useless, but being able to obtain five pills from the Elders of Medicine Pill Sect was a truly valuable opportunity.
These years, the five Elders of Medicine Pill Sect rarely performed Alchemy, and each time they did they charged an enormous price.
Weighing the two options, Wei Gu Chang found it a bit difficult to decide.
But soon, he said, “Brother Li, even if this Wei doesn’t say it, you must know that this is not something I can decide on my own. If you are really intent on buying this piece of Red Candle Fruit for Medicine Pill Sect, I suggest you wait until after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes to let the Elders of your Medicine Pill Sect come to Shadow Moon Hall to discuss it in person. Anything the two of us say here is irrelevant.”
“Naturally I understand this,” Li You Nan saw that Wei Gu Chang wasn’t flatly refusing and sense that there was room for discussion, so he smiled happily and said, “Since that is the case, after the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes, I’m certain my Sect’s Elders will soon pay your Sect a visit.”
“That would be for the best,” Wei Gu Chang nodded with satisfaction. “If Brother Li doesn’t have anything else to say, this Wei will take his leave first.”
“En, very good!” Li You Nan smiled and withdrew.
After everyone else had left, Li You Nan’s smile gradually receded as he looked towards a certain spot in the mountain valley where a withered body that seemed to have died innumerable years ago lay.
This was, without a doubt, the Junior Brother he had sent to collect the Red Candle Stalk earlier, but now this Junior Brother had clearly suffered a vicious attack and died a miserable death. Worse though, his Space Ring was missing.
Li You Nan’s expression became quite gloomy, but he didn’t mention the matter of this Junior Brother and instead suddenly declared, “Let’s go, we must return to the Sect!”
“Ah? Senior Brother Li, you want to return now? But there’s still two or three months left before the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes,” A female disciple turned to Li You Nan and said with surprise.
“There’s no need for us to remain, the second layer Treasure Area had been completely dug through and the third layer is filled with crisis. I’m afraid that everything good has already been found, so what we must do now report to the Sect about the Red Candle so the Elders can make preparations to visit those Sects to purchase those Red Candle Fruit pieces.”
“En.”
Li You Nan sneered lightly, “Even if the Red Candle Fruit pieces were taken by them, in the end, they will need to ask our Medicine Pill Sect to help them use them. Regarding this kind of treasure, besides our Medicine Pill Sect, no one else knows much about it, so they definitely won’t use it rashly, leaving us an opportunity.”
After hearing what he said, the Medicine Pill Sect disciples who were upset about not being able to seize any benefits here threw away their depressed looks and began smiling broadly again, seemingly rejoicing in their Sect’s power and influence.
A hundred kilometres away from the mountain valley, in a desolate but well-hidden place.
A group of four came to a stop. Naturally, it was Wei Gu Chang, Yang Kai, Dai Yuan, and Dong Xuan’er. After leaving the mountain valley, Wei Gu Chang had been monitoring their surroundings with his Divine Sense constantly, maintaining the highest degree of vigilance he could as they travelled a full hundred kilometres without detecting any signs of pursuit before finally relaxing.
From beginning to end, Dong Xuan’er, Dai Yuan, and Yang Kai had all said nothing and hurried along in silence.
It was only here that Wei Gu Chang stopped, rubbed his Space Ring unconsciously, turned back, and asked, “Brother Yang, what are your plans?”
Instead of Dai Yuan, he first asked Yang Kai, and Yang Kai immediately understood that Wei Gu Chang suspected that he had obtained a piece of the Red Candle Fruit. It was because the two of them were in the same situation now that he was asking.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t reveal anything in his words or actions. Although he had a favourable impression of Wei Gu Chang, the Red Candle Fruit was too important so acting cautiously was for the best.
Thinking for a while, Yang Kai responded, “I have no definite plans, but I think I’ll try venturing further into the third layer to see if I can find something good.”
“Brother Yang plans to go even deeper?” Wei Gu Chang’s face changed slightly as he felt this idea was quite strange. According to this thought, if Yang Kai really obtained the last piece of the Red Candle Fruit, he would not want to take unnecessary risks like continuing further into the third layer, but Yang Kai actually said he had such intentions.
Not only did Wei Gu Chang find this strange, Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan also showed weird expressions.
Yang Kai saw this and knew what they were thinking in their hearts. Maintaining a composed look on his face, he simply said, “No one has ever entered the third layer Flame Area. Even the Heaven defying Red Candle Fruit appeared here, so perhaps further inside there are even better things.”
When Wei Gu Chang heard him say this, most of the suspicions in his heart disappeared and he thought that perhaps Yang Kai hadn’t obtained that last piece of the Red Candle Fruit, allowing him to act so uninhibitedly. Nodding slightly, he said, “Since Brother Yang has made such a decision, this Wei won’t say anymore. I’ll simply wish Brother Yang good luck and fortune! Xuan’er and I won’t remain here any longer, we will be leaving the Flowing Flame Sand Field as soon as possible.”
Wei Gu Chang’s choice didn’t surprise Yang Kai at all. The appearance of the Red Candle Fruit was too big of an incident, and anyone who had a piece of it on them wouldn’t be able to feel relaxed. Wei Gu Chang intended to bring it out from this place quickly and hand it over to the Elders of Shadow Moon Hall. Not only was Wei Gu Chang thinking so, Yang Kai assumed Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, Yin Su Die, and that brawny looking male were also planning on doing so. They wouldn’t even think of entrusting this task to others and would definitely take their pieces of Red Candle Fruit out of the Flowing Flame Sand Field personally.
This was also good news for Yang Kai. With the elites of these Sects leaving, there would naturally be far fewer people left in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, meaning he would face less competition from now on.
“Good, Brother Wei and Sister Xuan’er must surely be careful along the way,” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
Wei Gu Chang nodded before turning to Dai Yuan and asking, “Junior Sister Dai Yuan, how about you?”
“Me?” Dai Yuan smiled, “I didn’t obtain anything good since I came in, so naturally I’m not in a hurry to leave. I want to remain here and see if I can come across some good fortune in the coming days.”
“Since that’s the case, be sure to remain safe,” Wei Gu Chang would certainly not try to persuade Dai Yuan to leave with them.
Dong Xuan’er stepped forward and spoke a few more words to Dai Yuan before leaving together with Wei Gu Chang, both of them hurrying towards the outskirts of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
After the opening of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, one could leave at any point they liked, but ordinarily, no one would do so. After all, even if one’s strength was low, as long as they could find some Fire Spirit Beasts in the first layer Flame Area and kill them, they could harvest some Fire Crystal Stones.
However, the appearance of the Red Candle Fruit this time forced the young geniuses from the most powerful Sects on Shadowed Star to leave in advance, an extremely rare event.
After the figures of Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er disappeared from view, Dai Yuan quietly turned to Yang Kai.
Like Wei Gu Chang, she suspected that Yang Kai had obtained the last piece of the Red Candle Fruit, but now that he had actually chosen to remain here and even travel deeper inside, she wasn’t so sure of her guess.
While thinking about it, she saw Yang Kai suddenly turn to her and say, “Since things here have ended, I’ll be taking my leave. I hope Ms. Dai Yuan is blessed with good fortune in the days to come.”
“Wait!” Dai Yuan called out anxiously; she had never expected that Yang Kai would try to part ways with her so abruptly.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai held no ill will or disgust towards Dai Yuan. Although this woman’s face was unsightly, she was intelligent and pure of heart. During their brief time together, Yang Kai’s impression of her was quite good, but he didn’t know why after he made his intentions to leave so clear she had actually asked for him to stop.
Dai Yuan bit her red lips and a hint of hesitation flashed across her face before she said, “Junior Brother Yang, I also want to continue deeper into the third layer. I wonder if we can go together?”
“You want to travel together with me?” Yang Kai was stunned.
Although he didn’t know much about Dai Yuan, from the first time he met her, he could tell that she was a woman who liked to act alone, possibly as a result of her appearance. As such, Yang Kai had never thought that she would ask to accompany him.
This request made Yang Kai feel a bit awkward.
The reason he wanted to continue deeper into the third layer was to find a suitable place to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, so travelling together with Dai Yuan would interfere with his plans.
Seeing Yang Kai’s hesitant appearance, Dai Yuan also seemed a bit embarrassed, knowing that her proposal had put him in a difficult position; however, her instincts were telling her not to miss this opportunity to travel alone with Yang Kai.
What’s more, she really did want to venture deeper into the third layer. The third layer was very different from the first and second layers, and Dai Yuan wasn’t completely confident she could traverse safely on her own. If she went together with Yang Kai though, the two of them could at least look out for one another, increasing their odds of survival.
Therefore, even if she was embarrassed, Dai Yuan still gazed at Yang Kai with a sincere look while secretly praying that he wouldn’t simply reject her.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she was so anxious, she hadn’t asked anyone for anything in so long, it had always been her making her own decision regarding what she would do or where she would go. She had made up her mind to rely only on herself, but this time, she had to break her own rules.
After a while, Yang Kai’s furrowed brow loosened and with a smile, he nodded, “Alright, sure.”
Hearing this, Dai Yuan also smiled happily as gratitude flashed across her beautiful eyes.
“However, I must make some things clear,” Yang Kai’s expression became serious, “By now, I believe Ms Dai Yuan understands the situation of this third layer. If we really encounter some kind of trap or other danger I cannot handle, the two of us can only try to find our own solutions. If Ms Dai Yuan, unfortunately, falls here, don’t blame me for not helping.”
“Naturally,” Dai Yuan gently nodded, “If we really encounter inescapable fatal danger, it can only be said that this Dai Yuan’s luck is too bad.”
“En,” Seeing her readily agree, Yang Kai was satisfied and said, “One more thing, the reason I want to continue deeper into the third layer is that I have something I must do. When the time comes, I’ll have to separate from you, so we won’t be able to travel together until Flowing Flame Sand Field closes.”
Dai Yuan showed a hint of surprise, but quickly responded, “Does Junior Brother Yang want to use this environment to cultivate some secret technique?”
It was only natural for her to think like this because a similar environment to this place could not be found outside. Yang Kai needing to handle something here was naturally related to cultivation.
“That’s right,” Yang Kai nodded, “If you don’t have any objections, then we can go together.”
“Of course I have no objections,” Dai Yuan agreed. The two points mentioned by Yang Kai weren’t anything unreasonable so there was no reason for her to refuse.
“That being the case, I’ll have to ask Ms Dai Yuan to take care of me in the coming days,” Yang Kai grinned.
“It is this Dai Yuan who must thank Junior Brother Yang for his hospitality.”
After deciding, Yang Kai took out his Yuan Magnetic Compass, checked his directions, then headed deeper into the third layer together with Dai Yuan.
The heat of the third layer was fierce, and Yang Kai needed to constantly push his Saint Qi to resist the invasion of the ambient fire poison. Dai Yuan actually had it easier as her clothes seemed to be some kind of Artefact Armour, so she only needed to slightly activate it in order to create a faint blue halo around her body that would keep the surrounding heat and fire poison away from her.
Along the way, Dai Yuan was continuously shocked. Although from the first time she saw Yang Kai she knew that he had only been using his Saint Qi to resist the surrounding environment and was not wearing any Artefact Armour, witnessing it was still quite startling.
She didn’t know how much Saint Qi Yang Kai had squandered by acting this way, but even after so long he didn’t show the slightest fatigue.
Dai Yuan really wanted to know just how much Saint Qi Yang Kai had stored in his body that could allow him to spend so care-freely.
Fortunately, after walking for a day, Yang Kai proposed that they stop to restore themselves, making Dai Yuan feel he was at least somewhat normal.
Using Saint Qi in this manner yet not requiring a break to restore oneself would have truly been strange. Even though Dai Yuan was only slightly activating her Artefact Armour, she had lost a lot of strength, so even if Yang Kai hadn’t proposed a break, she would have taken the initiative to suggest one.
The two of them quickly found a quiet place and each found a suitable spot to sit in meditation.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t need to meditate to restore himself. The Saint Qi he was using to resist the heat and fire poison was like a drop in the bucket to him, what he really needed was some time to properly process the Red Candle Fruit piece he had obtained.
Although in the mountain valley he had hastily crafted a Wood Attribute box to preserve the Red Candle Fruit piece, his work at the time had been rushed and somewhat rough so it could not completely ensure that the medicinal efficacies wouldn’t slowly leak. Yang Kai took this opportunity to re-process it.
Two hours later, after handling it properly, Yang Kai left the Red Candle Fruit in his Black Book Space before getting up and walking over towards the spot where Dai Yuan was meditating.
Not long after, Yang Kai arrived in front of Dai Yuan. After this short break to restore herself, Dai Yuan’s condition had improved noticeably. When Yang Kai came over, she opened her eyes as she had detected him. However, instead of saying anything, a hesitant expression appeared on her face, making Yang Kai curious.
“Junior Brother Yang, my restoration pills have been used up, do you have any to spare? I can pay Saint Crystals for them.” As Dai Yuan spoke, a faint twinkle flashed across the depths of her beautiful eyes.
Yang Kai didn’t mind. Although at first, he found it strange that Dai Yuan had used up all her restorative pills, after thinking about it, he realised that she hadn’t anticipated entering the third layer where her consumption had dramatically increased.
Not suspecting anything, Yang Kai immediately took out a bottle of pills from his Space Ring and tossed it over with a light smile, “Don’t bother with the Saint Crystals, it’s just one bottle of pills.”
Dai Yuan caught it and with a look of gratitude nodded, “Then Dai Yuan will thank Junior Brother Yang for his generosity.”
“Alright, let’s continue forward,” Yang Kai said before taking the lead.
After Yang Kai turned around and started walking, Dai Yuan quickly opened the bottle of pills, glanced inside, and after seeing the contents, her tender body couldn’t help trembling as a look of elation filled her face.
When she raised her head and stared at Yang Kai’s back, her beautiful eyes flashed with excitement and enthusiasm. Immediately putting away these pills, without saying a word, she quickly followed after him.
The third layer Flame Area was indeed many times more precarious than the first layer. Although the environments of the two were similar, the dangers lurking in each couldn’t be compared.
When Yang Kai traversed the first layer, with the exception of the strange mountain valley where he was besieged by an unending stream of Fire Spirit Beasts that took some effort to solve, he had basically been able to wander about freely and hadn’t even needed to protect himself with his Saint Qi before he reached the second layer.
However, in the third layer, Yang Kai had to constantly push his Saint Qi to resist the ambient heat and fire poison. Not only that, but the strength of the Fire Spirit Beasts here was also far greater, with Seventh-Order and Eighth-Order ones constantly appearing from the cracks in the ground. Additionally, there were all sorts of strange barriers and Spirit Arrays.
The Fire Spirit Beasts didn’t pose too much threat to Yang Kai and Dai Yuan. As long as their numbers weren’t too large, the two of them could kill these beasts and harvest their Fire Crystal Stones.
However, after witnessing the ancient Spirit Array Wei Gu Chang and his group had fallen into, Yang Kai had been extremely vigilant of any place that seemed dangerous and did not easily dare to enter them. Once Yang Kai discovered such a place, if he could avoid it, he did, if he couldn’t, he would use his Demon Eye of Annihilation secretly to see through its risks.
Along the way, Yang Kai was constantly on guard.
Had it not been for his Divine Eye of Annihilation, this incredible Divine Ability which could see through all illusions, these past few days, he and Dai Yuan would have fallen into at least five ancient Spirit Arrays. These Spirit Arrays were extremely well concealed and were not something Saint King Realm cultivators could handle. If he had fallen into any of these formations, Yang Kai estimated that his fate would be quite miserable.
Because Yang Kai was secretly using his Demon Eye of Annihilation and had brought Dai Yuan safely through these dangerous places, this woman from Coloured Glass Sect hadn’t noticed anything and instead found herself doubting whether this third layer Flame Area was a bit unworthy of its reputation.
Unaware of the surrounding crisis, she simply followed behind Yang Kai in a relaxed manner.
Unfortunately, although the Demon Eye of Annihilation was one of Great Demon God’s supreme Divine Abilities, Yang Kai had only obtained and refined it for his own use after the fact, so it wasn’t omnipotent.
As such, Yang Kai and Dai Yuan fell into an ancient Spirit Array that even Yang Kai failed to notice eventually. When this formation was activated, the surrounding environment changed dramatically, the originally extremely hot area suddenly becoming bitter cold with icy winds howling around them and stinging snow whirling about the sky.
It was the complete opposite of their former environment.
Sharp icicles immediately stabbed towards the pair from all directions and dragons condensed from the harsh winds began appearing in their surroundings, spitting frigid breath filled with wind blades from their mouths. Dealing with this sudden barrage of attacks was quite difficult.
Fortunately, since Yang Kai and Dai Yuan were both Alchemists, one of them originally cultivating a Yang Attribute Secret Art while the other cultivated a Fire Attribute Secret Art, the pair’s Saint Qi was useful in resisting this particular Spirit Array’s attacks.
Even so, it took the two of them three days to break this formation and escape.
In the process, Dai Yuan suffered some injuries, and if Yang Kai had not rescued her at the critical moment, her wounds would have been significantly more serious. In such a place, where just moving about was dangerous, receiving grievous wounds was basically a death sentence.
After this incident, Dai Yuan no longer dared to underestimate the dangers of this third layer and even more carefully followed behind Yang Kai.
Yang Kai had also been injured, but compared with his restorative abilities, such minor wounds weren’t even worth thinking about. After escaping from the ancient Spirit Array, Yang Kai immediately brought Dai Yuan to find a small mountain where he opened up a hidden cave. The two hid inside this cave and, like wounded beasts, silently licked their wounds.
Only three days later did Dai Yuan recover from her injuries and the two set out again.
The various means Yang Kai demonstrated along the way, along with the combat effectiveness he displayed made Dai Yuan thoroughly understand that this First-Order Saint King was completely different from any other she had ever encountered. His true fighting strength wasn’t under hers in the slightest and he possessed many methods that left her in awe, and these were just the methods he was willing to show her.
No wonder the proud Wei Gu Chang was so polite towards him, he likely was aware of just how extraordinary Yang Kai’s abilities were.
Along the way, the pair encountered a number of extremely rare Fire Attribute spirit grasses and spirit medicines.
Whenever they found such a spirit herb, Dai Yuan would volunteer to collect it, displaying excellent harvesting skills and always preserving them in the most optimum way.
He didn’t know why it was so, but Yang Kai discovered that this woman seemed to be very interested in these herbs. After picking each one, she would begin rambling on and on about these spirit herbs’ properties, growing requirements, and uses in pills. She would also talk about condensing medicinal liquids, Alchemy techniques, and auxiliary Spirit Arrays freely, discussing all of these secrets as if she couldn’t wait to share them.
During this time, Yang Kai kept silent and only listened quietly.
Normally, he too would be interested in conversing with Dai Yuan about Alchemy. He could see that this woman was actually knowledgeable in the Alchemic Way, and although she wasn’t on his level, there was no harm in discussing such things with her.
Unfortunately, at this moment, Yang Kai’s mind was entirely focused on refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water and he wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter, so he simply brushed off the opportunity to have an Alchemy exchange with this woman.
Yang Kai’s silence made Dai Yuan feel a little disappointed inside and she even began to doubt whether her previous conjecture was correct. If this wasn’t the case, how could Yang Kai say nothing about these spirit grasses and spirit medicines nor show any excitement?
She even deliberately made some mistakes in her descriptions of these herbs, but Yang Kai never showed any intention to correct her, depressing her further.
Dai Yuan naturally didn’t try to take sole possession of the spirit grasses and spirit medicines she picked. She was well aware that without Yang Kai, it would have been impossible for her to arrive here, so whenever she divided up the harvest, she always took the smaller portion while giving the larger part to Yang Kai.
Regarding this, Yang Kai didn’t try to refuse. He didn’t have a deep relationship with Dai Yuan and was only cooperating with her to penetrate the third layer, so he saw no reason to reject these small benefits.
After the pair travelled ten days into the third layer, Dai Yuan began having difficulty continuing.
The intense heat in the air felt as if someone was constantly launching a Fire Attribute attack towards her tender body. Even with the protection of her Artefact Armour and her pink cloud artefact, Dai Yuan couldn’t help sweating profusely, causing her soaking wet robes to tightly cling to her body, exposing her mesmerising curves.
If not for the pink cloud camouflaging her figure, at this moment, her appearance would be quite indecent. Fortunately, it was only her and Yang Kai in this place, and Yang Kai was always walking in front, never showing any intention of turning his gaze back to her.
Every step forward consumed a tremendous amount of Dai Yuan’s strength and she couldn’t help trembling somewhat as a layer of black Qi lingered about her body.
This black Qi was the fire poison which permeated the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Dai Yuan couldn’t completely resist the fire poison here anymore and was slowly but surely being invaded by it, gradually worsening her situation.
At this point, thoughts of withdrawing began crossing Dai Yuan’s mind and she was beginning to regret travelling this deep into the third layer.
However, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She and Yang Kai had been traversing the third layer for more than ten days already; even if she wanted to retreat now, she wasn’t certain she could do so safely. She was now riding a tiger.
She could only stand firm and continue following behind Yang Kai without saying a word.
Although Yang Kai wasn’t in as poor a state as Dai Yuan, he was also by no means comfortable at this moment. His skin felt as if it was constantly being burned and the waves of heat and fire poison which were constantly pressing down onto him made it feel like he was being crushed by a wave of fire.
If it weren’t for his huge reserves of Saint Qi, Yang Kai would have constantly needed to find a place to restore himself.
As he led the way forward, Yang Kai was constantly using his Divine Sense to monitor Dai Yuan’s movements, so he was well aware of her difficult appearance, but he didn’t rush to help her either.
The environment here was extremely harsh, but by continuing to persist, one could use it to temper the purity and density of their Saint Qi, which was of great benefit to any cultivator.
Helping Dai Yuan to withstand the heat and fire poison here wouldn’t be difficult for Yang Kai, but if by doing so he made her lose an opportunity to become stronger, it would do her more harm than good.
As the pair travelled deeper and deeper, their speed continued to decrease, soon slowing to a virtual crawl as the environment around them became even harsher.
Yang Kai’s eyes gradually showed some excitement though because what he needed now was an extremely hot environment, so the worse things got, the better.
After observing his surrounding carefully, Yang Kai secretly estimated that as long as he continued forward another five days, he would be able to find a place where he could begin refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water.
The only troublesome thing now was what he should do with the woman following behind him.
Yang Kai hadn’t expected that after travelling this far, he had still not found a suitable place to separate from Dai Yuan and abandoning her now would be tantamount to killing her.
It seemed that now his best option would be to find an appropriate place nearby for Dai Yuan to stay while he refined the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. As long as the place he found was safe enough, it shouldn’t be a problem for Dai Yuan to stay there until the Flowing Flame When Sand Field closed and she was sent out by the World Principles here.
Just as Yang Kai was thinking like this, a weak shout suddenly came from Dai Yuan behind him. Yang Kai swept her with his Divine Sense and his complexion changed greatly, his body flickering to arrive by her side in the next instant.
This woman was truly an arrow at the end of its flight; the Saint Qi in her body had completely dried up to the point where she couldn’t even activate the protective effects of her Artefact Armour. The moment her Artefact Armour’s aura failed, a wave of heat had rushed in and overwhelmed her.
If Yang Kai hadn’t acted swiftly enough just now, Dai Yuan would have been instantly incinerated.
Dai Yuan couldn’t hold out any longer, and after Yang Kai picked her up, her beautiful eyes only blinked weakly before she fainted without a word.
She had overexerted herself to such an extent!
Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a wry laugh. He hadn’t examined Dai Yuan’s condition too carefully before, thinking that since she was still persisting, she hadn’t been pushed to her limit, so he kept walking forward.
If he had known her situation was this dire, he would have acted a while ago.
Dai Yuan’s body was incredibly soft and had an amazing elasticity to it. A seductive aroma also wafted from her body and, having fainted, the pink cloud artefact she was using to shield herself had also disappeared, exposing her soaking wet figure to Yang Kai’s eyes, causing him to feel a different kind of heat.
If not for the issues with her face, this woman would absolutely be a great source of calamity!
Shaking his head slowly, Yang Kai pushed his Saint Qi to form a defensive cover, protecting Dai Yuan’s body as he carried her and continued deeper into the third layer.
….…
Dai Yuan woke up slowly, but before she had even opened her eyes, she felt an incredible World Energy aura surrounding her body. Her body’s Saint Qi, which had originally been depleted, seemed to have been greatly restored at this moment and there was a fresh, pleasant scent with a hint of medicinal fragrance that was drifting past her nose.
“Purple Fine Jade Fruit!” Dai Yuan’s heart jumped. From this medicinal fragrance alone, she was immediately able to determine the source of the aroma. Opening her eyes quickly, she began taking in her surroundings.
Her beautiful eyes were immediately attracted to a bunch of purple, grape-like spirit fruits that were hanging from a kind of vine wrapped around a nearby tree. On this vine, there were actually several bunches of purple grapes, all of them sending out a rich fragrance.
“They’re not mature yet…” Dai Yuan showed a little disappointment. Purple Fine Jade Fruits were a genuine Origin King Grade Low-Rank spirit fruit. If they were mature, they would be giving off a rich purple light and look like of exquisite pieces of amethyst. Whether they were used in Alchemy or eaten directly, they were of great benefit to cultivators.
The rarest thing about this spirit fruit though was that it grew in clusters just like ordinary grapes.
So the moment she smelled this aroma, Dai Yuan immediately awakened; after all, this was a very rare treasure.
Taking a closer look, Dai Yuan suddenly found that there were traces of some grape clusters having been picked recently. After thinking about it, Dai Yuan immediately understood that it these had been harvest by Yang Kai. Thinking so, she also remembered how she had suddenly passed out.
Turning her head, Dai Yuan found Yang Kai standing not far from herself; however, for some reason she couldn’t understand, his expression seemed a little gloomy. He seemed to be quite disgruntled, and his brow was furrowed deeply, as if he was deep in thought, not even having realised she had woken up.
“Junior Brother Yang!” Dai Yuan slowly got up and called out.
“You’re awake,” Yang Kai turned his head and the gloomy look on his face converged a lot; however, his brow didn’t fully relax.
“Where is this…” Dai Yuan looked around suspiciously at her lush and verdant surroundings while breathing in the beautiful and refreshing spring-like air. In the distance, she could see a seemingly unending mountain range whose peaks towered up into the clouds. These clouds, however, weren’t ordinary clouds but were extremely rich and condensed World Energy. Just looking at it made one thing that they were standing on the site of a great Sect.
Dai Yuan was incredibly startled. The place where her Coloured Glass Sect was based was also a great paradise, but compared to the environment she was now seeing, it was completely inferior.
If a force was really to set up its foundation here, when its disciples cultivated, just how great of an advantage from this land would they acquire?
Was there really such a paradise in this world? Looking at the mountains, there seemed to be no trace of human activity, which meant that this place was essentially untouched.
Only when Dai Yuan looked up did she realised that the sky was still covered with a layer of red light that blocked out the sun, moon, and stars, a fact which made her feel somewhat puzzled.
“There’s no need to suspect, we’re still inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field,” Yang Kai said softly.
Dai Yuan frowned and seemed to understand something, asking, “Did we return back to the second layer?”
“Second layer?” Yang Kai glanced at her for a moment before a smile spread across his face as he shook his head, “No, this is the fourth layer!”
“What?” Dai Yuan called out in alarm, “The fourth layer?”
“Yup, the fourth layer Treasure Area!” Yang Kai’s said in a much more solemn tone.
“Ah…” Dai Yuan couldn’t help covering her delicate mouth. After recovering from her initial shock, her beautiful eyes trembled violently and she unconsciously murmured, “There really is a fourth layer Treasure Area…”
Yang Kai tilted his head and asked, “Did you know there was such a place?”
Dai Yuan gawked before shaking her head, “I didn’t, but I had some suspicions. Since there was a first layer Flame Area and a second layer Treasure Area, then after the third layer Flame Area, perhaps there would be a fourth layer Treasure Area. This situation just confirms my previous thoughts.”
Yang Kai heard her say this and simply nodded lightly.
Not only did Dai Yuan have such suspicions before, he also had them, but when Yang Kai really set foot here, his mood became extremely complicated.
Unlike Dai Yuan’s excitement and joy, as if she had just discovered a brand-new horizon, Yang Kai actually felt disappointed after his initial surprise.
Because he failed to obtain the environment he wanted most!
After Dai Yuan passed out a few days ago, Yang Kai had carried her as he continued forward, but just as the hot environment around him was about to meet his requirements, he stepped straight through the barrier separating the third layer and the fourth layer.
At first, Yang Kai also felt that arriving at such a good place wasn’t such a bad thing and began searching around for treasures; after all, he wasn’t in too much of a rush to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water.
But he was soon very disappointed because precious treasures and spirit herbs seemed to be extremely rare in the fourth layer; after searching for several days, the only thing of note he found was the Purple Fine Jade Fruit that had two ripe clusters.
This in turn made him feel enraged, as if he had been tricked or deceived.
Failing to find the environment he was looking for and with precious treasures being so sparse here, it would be strange if Yang Kai was feeling happy.
The only thing that pleased him was that after arriving here, he could finally part ways with Dai Yuan. Making up his mind, Yang Kai said, “Ms. Dai Yuan, I’ve checked the surrounding area over the past few days, there doesn’t seem to be any trace of Monster Beasts or Spirit Arrays, so it is quite safe.”
Dai Yuan paused for a moment, took in what he said, then smiled lightly, “Does Junior Brother Yang want to act alone?”
“En,” Having his thoughts seen though, Yang Kai didn’t try to avoid the subject.
“Is that so…” Dai Yuan gently nodded, “Alright, then I’ll stay here and search for spirit herbs. Since this place is so safe, Dai Yuan won’t trouble Junior Brother Yang any further.”
“Don’t mention it. En, then I will part ways with Ms. Dai Yuan here, I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Yang Kai said before walking off.
It wouldn’t be long before the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, so he had to pick up his pace.
Just after he set out though, Dai Yuan suddenly shouted, “Junior Brother Yang!”
“Is there something else?” Yang Kai asked back.
Dai Yuan bit her lip before saying with a slight smile, “In the future, Dai Yuan would like to pay you a visit to properly express her gratitude, would Junior Brother Yang be willing to welcome me?”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed for a moment before it relaxed and he calmly nodded, “Naturally, you can ask Wei Gu Chang about how to find me.”
“Good,” Seeing Yang Kai agree, Dai Yuan smiled and seemingly relaxed.
“That’s right.” Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and added, “Although the disciples from the great Sects should have all left already so none of them should be trying to reach this fourth layer, you should still be careful of that guy from Star Emperor Sect, I feel he might come here.”
“That man…” The image of the stern-faced man floated up in Dai Yuan’s mind and she said lightly, “If it’s that person, there’s nothing to worry about. The people from Star Emperor Sect never take the initiative to cause trouble. As long as I don’t disturb him, he shouldn’t concern himself with me.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and said no more, his image flickering for a few moments before disappearing from Dai Yuan’s view as it plunged into the rolling mountains.
“Why does he want to go deeper?” Dai Yuan waited until Yang Kai had left before mumbling to herself thoughtfully, “It seems that the secret technique Junior Brother Yang wants to cultivate is quite extraordinary.”
With her intelligence, Dai Yuan was naturally able to see that Yang Kai wanted to travel deeper to see if there was a fifth layer Flame Area. Even the third layer’s environment had failed to meet his requirements so he could only pin his hopes on there being a fifth layer.
Standing in place for a while, Dai Yuan couldn’t help smiling bitterly.
She had always felt that she was quite talented, and even if she couldn’t quite match up to Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, or the other young rising stars, she was still far stronger than an ordinary Third-Order Saint King. But now, compared with Yang Kai, she finally realised she had been sitting in a well staring up at the sky.
In this world, there actually existed such astonishing geniuses.
There was also the man from Star Emperor Sect who was an extraordinary existence. During the fight to snatch the Red Candle Fruit, Dai Yuan had felt frightened every time that stern-faced man acted, his combat effectiveness was simply terrifying.
Dai Yuan really wondered which one of these two would be stronger if they were to compete.
Across the rolling mountains, Yang Kai raced forward like a bolt of lightning. Although he was still suppressed by an inexplicable World Principle here and could not fly, without Dai Yuan slowing him down, he was able to use his Wind and Thunder Wings to dramatically increase his pace.
He didn’t have any intention to remain in the fourth layer. Although he knew that there might be some rare spirit grasses and spirit medicines here, it would be too time-consuming to find them.
Yang Kai wanted to quickly see if there was a fifth layer Flame Area. If there was, his primary objective for coming here could be achieved.
The mountain range here was enormous, and as Yang Kai raced through them, he could feel that the World Energy aura here was rich to an incredible degree, denser than any other Cultivation Star he had ever visited before, even faintly comparable to that of the hidden floating continent.
Clouds drifted between the mountain peaks like giant snow-white cotton balls.
Comparing this place to Dragon Cave Mountain, it was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.
Yang Kai’s eyes couldn’t help flashing with shock and desire, secretly thinking that if not for the Flowing Flame Sand Field being one of the Forbidden Zones of the Shadowed Star, this mountain range alone would be enough for all the great Sects on the star to fight a bloody war for.
Which of these great Sects wasn’t located on a cultivation paradise? Each of their headquarters would be established above a large-scale Earth Vein. Only such an Earth Vein could ensure a steady stream of World Energy for disciples to rapidly cultivate and allow a Sect to endure for thousands of years.
For example, as far as Yang Kai knew, beneath Nine Heavens Holy Land’s nine peaks in Tong Xuan Realm, there was a large Earth Vein which allowed its ambient World Energy aura to be so rich.
Soaring Heaven Sect was the same. Beneath its one hundred and eight peaks lay a vast Earth Vein.
The Ancestral Founder of any Sect would not choose to set down roots in a place devoid of World Energy. The first condition for choosing where to establish a Sect would be the existence of an Earth Vein, and the higher the quality it was, the better.
The rolling mountains Yang Kai was currently traversing would definitely be an ideal place to establish a Sect. As long as one allowed disciples of their Sect to cultivate in this paradise, they would grow far faster than ordinary cultivators.
Yang Kai was certain there was more than one peak-level Earth Vein running below this mountain range.
Unfortunately, this was inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, a place on accessible once every several hundred years for half a year, no one could establish a Sect here as no one could remain here for an extended period of time.
This reality made Yang Kai sigh with regret.
Although he was currently all alone, he had many friends and relatives back in Tong Xuan Realm. If one day he could go back and bring them out into the Star Field, this mountain range would be an excellent place to settle down. Of course, he would first need to have enough strength to protect this place, otherwise, it would only draw the calamity of extermination to him.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai put aside such thoughts from his mind and concentrated on rushing forward.
The mountains here were pristine and untouched, without even any birds or beasts. It seemed that in this fourth layer, the only living creature was Yang Kai.
Also, as he expected, even if there were spirit grasses and spirit medicines in this place, they were extremely rare, because as he ran forward, he never encountered any spirit herbs or even caught a whiff of medicinal fragrance in the air.
Ten days after Yang Kai entered this mountain range, as he was continuing to hurry along, he suddenly came to a stop, frowned, and listened carefully, his expression changing greatly a moment later.
He actually heard some loud noises coming from somewhere up ahead.
Had someone else arrived here even before him? A certain stern-faced man’s image flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he secretly guessed whether he had entered this place.
The sounds Yang Kai heard didn’t seem to be a result of battle, but rather someone constantly bombarding something. The violent energy fluctuation which spread out from up ahead carried great momentum with him even across a great distance.
Yang Kai immediately became curious. Since he entered this mountain range ten days ago, he hadn’t encountered anything of note, so someone in front of him making such wild movements naturally drew his attention.
Concealing his aura, Yang Kai quietly proceeded forward to see what was going on.
Although Yang Kai didn’t cultivate any kind of concealment technique, his Divine Sense was extremely powerful so as long as he shielded himself from outside perceptions with it, assuming the cultivation of a different party wasn’t too high, they shouldn’t be able to discover him.
As he quietly crept closer towards the source of the sound, Yang Kai was able to feel how terrifying the strength of this person was.
After advancing about ten kilometres, Yang Kai’s steps came to a halt as he stared towards the front with a look of shock.
A thousand meters in front of him, the disciple from Star Emperor Sect stood straight like a sword with a stern look upon his face. It was without a doubt the man who cut the Red Candle Fruit into several portions in front of everyone’s eye and at this moment, an astonishing Saint Qi aura was pulsing from his body. Yang Kai didn’t know what secret technique he used to do it, but this stern-faced man’s body was currently suspended a meter or so above the ground and his muscular frame was shaking slightly, his face extremely red as he madly poured his Saint Qi into a silver spear that he was stabbing fiercely towards the space in front of him.
However, what surprised Yang Kai weren’t the shocking methods this man was using.
While his methods were truly good, his silver spear seemed to multiply every time he stabbed it forward, each spear image carrying with it the power and momentum of a true flood dragon. If he were to face such a violent storm of attacks, Yang Kai had to admit that he could only try to dodge, otherwise, he would suffer no simple flesh wound.
But the space in front of this man seemed to have an invisible barrier, one that was completely blocking all the giant silver spear strikes. In the air, only faint ripples could be seen as they constantly spread out, neutralising all of these spear attacks with ease.
[Barrier! No, a Sect Defending Array!] Yang Kai heart jumped.
He had once served as the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, and when Nine Heavens Holy Land was being besieged by powerful enemies, he had personally opened the Sect Defending Array which protected the nine peaks, so at this moment it was easy for him to tell what exactly he was looking at.
There was actually a Sect Defending Array in this wild mountain range where there were neither insects nor birds! And this Sect Defending Array was incredibly powerful. No matter how the stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect attacked it, this barrier remained completely motionless and showed no signs of being damaged.
Yang Kai was startled.
The Flowing Flame Sand Field had existed for at least tens of thousands of years, and since it came into being, no one had stepped into its third layer and lived. The same was obviously true for the fourth layer and fifth layer, which could only mean that this Sect Defending Array had remained here, in this state, for at least a few tens of thousands of years.
If this Sect Defending Array’s defensive capabilities were still this strong after tens of thousands of years, it was difficult to image just how powerful it would have been all those eons ago.
Why was there a Sect Defending Array here though? This kind of thing was generally arranged by a Sect with massive human and financial resources.
Yang Kai’s gaze left the Star Emperor Sect disciple’s back and looked further ahead, his eyes narrowing as soon as they did.
Among the distant mountains, there were even denser white clouds and countless Spirit Mountains that were being shielded by this Sect Defending Array. Although Yang Kai wasn’t able to clearly see these peaks or their surroundings, he could see faint outlines of seemingly grand buildings and magnificent palaces through the rolling fog.
However, after looking more carefully, Yang Kai found that there was nothing there aside from this, only a continuous sea of clouds out of which the corners of some buildings would occasionally peak.
[There really was a Sect here!]
Just as Yang Kai was lamenting that this place could not be used to establish the foundation of a Sect, he discovered a Sect already existed amongst these rolling mountains, filling his heart with amazement.
Who could build a Sect in such a place though? What kind of people lived inside?
However, after thinking about it, Yang Kai vaguely felt something was wrong. This disciple from Star Emperor Sect was raising such a ruckus, so if there were anyone inside, they wouldn’t just stand by and watch.
It seemed that no one was occupying the Sect, it was just a ruin!
After understanding this point, Yang Kai’s heart clenched.
If this was truly an ancient Sect ruin and judging from the vague jade palaces that could occasionally be seen, a fairly intact one, if one could enter, they may be able to find countless treasures.
Anyone who could establish a Sect in this kind of place, and arrange such a profound Sect Defending Array, was not some obscure existence, how could there not be many wondrous treasures left inside?
“Who’s there?” A low shout suddenly rang in Yang Kai’s ears, waking him from his daze and at the same time shaking his Knowledge Sea, as if it had been struck by a sharp sword.
Yang Kai’s expression became cold and he quickly urged his Spiritual Energy to resist this attack that was trying to break open his Knowledge Sea’s defence. At the same time, his figure flickered and he disappeared from where he was standing, appearing again several dozen meters away in the next instant.
“Hmm?” The stern-faced man from Star Emperor Sect had stopped his attacks at some point and fallen to the ground, still holding his silver spear as he stared at Yang Kai in amazement.
Yang Kai laughed bitterly to himself, knowing that because he became a bit excited just now after discovering these Sect ruins, he had revealed himself.
Now that he had been discovered, Yang Kai didn’t bother trying to conceal himself and stepped out boldly. In any case, he didn’t have any malicious intentions towards this guy so there was no need for him to feel embarrassed.
“It’s you!” The Star Emperor Sect disciple called out in surprise. He had seen Yang Kai twice so far, once in the stalactite cave, and once during the Red Candle Fruit incident, but from beginning to end he had not realised just how deeply Yang Kai had hidden his strength. The Divine Sense attack he had just used was resolved by the other party with ease, demonstrating just how strong he was.
This made the stern-faced man re-examine Yang Kai, trying to see if he had hidden his cultivation realm.
However, what shocked the stern-faced man was that no matter how he probed, he couldn’t detect any trace of Yang Kai concealing his cultivation. It seemed that the other party really was just a First-Order Saint King.
After realising this though, he didn’t delve into it any deeper. He came from Star Emperor Sect, and was a rarely seen genius, so even if Yang Kai really was hiding his cultivation, he wouldn’t fear him, not to mention that this person might have cultivated some special concealing technique or be wearing a strange artefact that gave the illusion of him being a First Order Saint King.
He didn’t want to believe that Yang Kai really was just a First Order Saint King.
“Friend shouldn’t misunderstand!” Yang Kai knit his brow, “I simply heard some noise coming from here and came to take a look.”
Yang Kai explaining himself wasn’t because he was afraid of this stern-faced man, but rather because this man seemed like someone not to be provoked easily. Yang Kai was unwilling to get into a fight with him over some small misunderstanding.
To his surprise though, the other party just gently nodded, the vigilance on his face relaxing significantly, without showing any aggressive intent. This man even withdrew his silver spear.
Without asking anything else, the stern-faced man suddenly inquired, “What’s your name?”
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before reporting his name.
“Leng Qing!” The other party responded in kind.
Yang Kai frowned inadvertently. He didn’t believe that the other party would try to learn his name for no reason. This man had never said a word when facing Fang Tian Zhong, Qu Chang Feng, or anyone else, he was the type of Heaven blessed genius that wouldn’t put anyone in his eyes; however, he had actually introduced himself here, causing Yang Kai to become slightly vigilant.
Taking another glance towards the Sect Defending Array as well as the indistinct buildings inside, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed even deeper.
Sure enough, just as he was worried, the man named Leng Qing asked, “Are you interested in joining forces to break this Sect Defending Array?”
“Sorry, I’m not interested!” Yang Kai shook his head without hesitation.
Leng Qing was somewhat startled, seemingly not having thought someone in this world would actually reject his proposal. On top of that, was there really someone who could be so indifferent facing this kind of Sect ruins?
After his thoughts turned for a moment, Leng Qing said lightly, “Do you think the two of us have no chance of breaking this Shield Array?”
“Exactly, I don’t think there’s much hope, so I don’t want to waste my energy,” Yang Kai nodded frankly. When this guy had been attacking earlier, Yang Kai had also observed the Sect Defending Array’s response and fully realised how extraordinary it was. Additionally, this was just the outermost layer of this defensive array. Leng Qing’s fierce attacks just now hadn’t even been able to shake this barrier so Yang Kai didn’t believe him joining the effort would make a difference.
Of course, if he didn’t hesitate to use ten or twenty drops of Golden Blood all at once to create a massive explosion, it might be possible to break this kind of barrier.
But so, what if they could break this first layer?
Yang Kai was well aware that beyond this outer layer there were definitely more, and the further one penetrated, the more dangers they would encounter. Yang Kai wasn’t confident he could overcome all these barriers and even if he could, he didn’t want to spend the time doing so.
A Sect Defending Array that had remained intact for tens of thousands of years was not something to trifle with.
That was why he flatly rejected Leng Qing’s proposal without any hesitation.
“Why do you think I can’t break it?” What surprised Yang Kai though, was that this man who always wore an indifferent expression suddenly seemed to be annoyed when Yang Kai spoke so bluntly, a dangerous aura even slowly welling up from his body.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed, and he said coldly, “If you think you can break it open, feel free to do so. I’ll take my leave.”
Saying so, he turned around and left, a moment later disappearing into the forest.
Leng Qing stared at the disappearing back of Yang Kai, his expression somewhat tight. He didn’t know why, but this cultivator named Yang Kai didn’t seem anxious or fearful in the slightest when facing him. On top of that, Yang Kai gave him a somewhat dangerous feeling. Although this feeling only appeared for a moment, it was enough to put Leng Qing on alert.
This feeling only appeared when he was confronting truly powerful people; did that mean this Yang Kai had the ability to wound him?
Shaking his head, Leng Qing no longer thought about this matter and simply made a note to himself to ask the old monsters back on Star Emperor Mountain about if there was some powerful master in this world that could cultivate such a strange disciple.
After Yang Kai ran out twenty kilometres or so, he heard a loud rumbling sound from behind him. Apparently, the man named Leng Qing was attacking the Sect Defending Array again.
If others were willing to engage in such fruitless activities, Yang Kai wouldn’t stop them; in any case, the two of them had nothing to do with one another.
Originally, Yang Kai had reminded Dai Yuan to be careful if she encountered this cultivator called Leng Qing, but now it seems those worries were superfluous. As long as Leng Qing was attacking the Sect Defending Array here, it would basically consume all his remaining time. Dai Yuan on the other hand, who was searching for spirit herbs, wouldn’t stupidly come over and disturb Leng Qing.
Because of the obstruction of this Sect Defending Array, Yang Kai had to make a long detour. Occasionally glancing inside it, Yang Kai confirmed that all he could see were some blurry traces of buildings among the many Spirit Peaks.
Ten days later, Yang Kai was still able to feel the existence of the Sect Defending Array, filling his heart with shock.
The range cover by this Sect Defending Array had to at least be several thousand kilometres, which meant that this entire region was the extent of this ancient sect. It was conceivable just how astonishing this Sect had been tens of thousands of years ago and just how many disciples belonged to it.”
However, such a massive Sect was now completely empty, an extremely strange matter.
Along the way, Yang Kai didn’t have any gains, but after ten days, he finally managed to circumvent the area covered by the Sect Defending Array.
At the same time, on the horizon, Yang Kai spotted a faint red glow.
When these rays of light reached his eyes, Yang Kai’s spirits lifted greatly, and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning.
His guess had been right, at the deepest depths of this fourth layer there really was a fifty layer!
And that fifth layer was another Flame Area.
Yang Kai really couldn’t figure out what this Flowing Flame Sand Field was. After the passing through the first layer Flame Area, there was a treasure area, then another flame area, and so on and so forth. Thinking about it, if one were to look down from high above, they would probably see the Flowing Flame Sand Field as three broad, distinct, concentric flaming rings someone had tossed onto the ground.
Thinking so, Yang Kai’s heart jumped.
If this was really the case, then there should also be a sixth layer.
After gawking for a moment, Yang Kai couldn’t help chuckling. He hadn’t even reached the fifth layer yet, much less traversed it, yet he was already wondering about a sixth layer.
If possible, Yang Kai wanted to investigate his hypothesis, but the time he had left was somewhat short.
The further one went into the Flowing Flame Sand Field, the less space there was to move around in, and after just two days, Yang Kai found himself standing in front of the bright red barrier to the fifth layer.
Even before he entered it, Yang Kai could feel the oppressive heat in front of him and understood that it was incomparable to that of the third layer.
Yang Kai was delighted and, with a dignified expression, pushed his Saint Qi to form a protective cover over his body before stepping forward.
In just one step, Yang Kai seemed to have stepped into another world. Inside this place, fierce heatwaves crashed towards him from all directions. The Fire Attribute energy here was so dense it actually condensed into a physical substance, winding around Yang Kai’s body like a million tiny snakes.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt a stinging pain all over his skin. His entire body seemed to be on fire, and even the Saint Qi he was using to guard himself seemed to show signs of boiling.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed, and he hurriedly condensed a layer of Demonic Flame around himself.
However, even his Demonic Flames couldn’t completely resist the invasion of the ambient heat and the tiny snake-like fire auras fiercely fought against it, taking Yang Kai’s body as a battlefield, one side trying to invade, the other trying to block. An extremely fierce struggle ensued.
The Saint Qi in his meridians was literally flooding out of his pores, shocking Yang Kai greatly. Quickly pulling out two High-Rank Saint Crystals, Yang Kai held one in each hand and began rapidly absorbing energy from them.
With this rate of consumption, if he didn’t constantly supplement himself, the Saint Qi inside his body would soon run dry, and once it was exhausted, he would have to burst a drop of Golden Blood, transforming it back into Saint Qi.
On this trip to the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai had used several drops of Golden Blood, and realising its great power, he naturally didn’t want to waste it if there was another option.
Lifting his foot, Yang Kai stepped forward again, increasing his output of Saint Qi as he proceeded deeper into the fifth layer. The Saint Crystals in his hand were constantly being changed, and in just half a day, he had consumed over ten thousand of them, transforming them all into dust.
Only his intrepid physique could support such unscrupulous absorption of Saint Crystal energy, other cultivators with weaker physical bodies and meridians would have exploded themselves with such reckless actions.
His previously prepared restorative pills finally came in handy at this moment.
Yang Kai even used his Myriad Drug Liquid which had long sat idle in his Black Book Space.
Although this kind of consumption was extremely terrifying, Yang Kai wasn’t panicked at all. Even if he somehow ended up exhausting all of his Golden Blood, he could borrow power from the Divine Tree. The Divine Tree was still sleeping right now though as it was in the process of evolving, so unless absolutely necessary, Yang Kai didn’t want to disturb it.
A day later, Yang Kai was forced to stop.
Although the farther one went, the hotter the environment became and the more helpful it would be for him with refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, he had all but reached his limit. If he ventured any further, even he would be in danger.
Yang Kai furrowed his brow for a while and was just about to find a nearby place to start refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water when he heard a rumbling sound and felt the earth shudder violently.
Yang Kai’s face sank and, standing perfectly still, he ignored the damage he would suffer by doing so and released his Divine Sense to investigate his surroundings.
When Yang Kai extended his Divine Sense beyond his body, it was immediately distorted by the extreme temperatures, and although he only spread it out for a moment, his Divine Sense was still burned slightly.
This made Yang Kai’s expression contort in pain, but fortunately his Divine Sense was extremely powerful and with the Soul Warming Lotus constantly nourishing his Soul, this bit of damage could be ignored.
During his brief investigation, Yang Kai was able to locate a certain landmark several thousand meters away from his current position. Looking over in that direction, all he could see was a horrifying red eruption of heat coming from the ground. This burst of heat soared up into the sky like a soaring dragon and seemed as if it would burst through the red curtain covering the sky, but the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s barrier seemed able to perfectly disperse this wave of heat, scattering it evenly across its surface at the moment of impact.
An extremely pure Fire Attribute energy was being released from the place where the heat wave had appeared, and it wasn’t long before it swept across Yang Kai’s position. At once, the sand and stones in the fifth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field were blown away by this heat shockwave.
Yang Kai’s heart clenched as he stood in place and waited until this eruption finally subsided before arduously heading over towards its source.
After two full hours, Yang Kai managed to traverse the thousand-meter distance and found himself staring at a huge pit, his expression filled with doubt and uncertainty.
This was a massive hole in the ground, and standing at its edge and looking down, all Yang Kai was able to see was dark red lava that seemed to be flowing about like water. At this moment, while still roiling, had no semblance of its previous explosive ferocity. The Fire Attribute aura which escaped from the depths of this hole was quickly mixing with the air of the fifth layer and strengthening its ambient heat little by little.
Occasionally, some gravel would fall into this pit and disintegrate upon contact with the lava, making it clear just how terrifyingly hot it was.
It looked like a volcanic crater, but it was clearly not a volcano, because this giant hole was on flat ground and no magma was erupting from it.
Moreover, Yang Kai was keenly aware that there seemed to be countless tunnels extending out in all directions beneath this pit. Every now and then, one could even hear what sounded like regular breathing coming from down below.
The gears in Yang Kai’s mind started to turn and he soon blurted out a name, “Earth Lung Fire Pond?”
After speaking, Yang Kai was instantly stunned, seemingly unable to believe what he was looking at.
An Earth Lung Fire Pond was an extremely rare subterranean fire vein and it was the most prized geographical formation for Artifact Refiners. When an Artifact Refiner was engaged in their craft, they could take advantage of this underground fire vein’s extreme heat to help them temper and purify materials, saving them a great deal of time and energy.
However, there were very few Sects that could possess an Earth Lung Fire Pond. Yang Kai had not had much contact with many Sects on Shadowed Star and naturally didn’t know much about their secrets or heritage but he was fairly certain that on this star, there were absolutely not more than three Sects which possessed an Earth Lung Fire Pond for Artifact Refining.
One of the most recognizable characteristics of an Earth Lung Fire Pond was the faint breathing sound it gave off, as if it were a pair of lungs contracting and releasing air, making it easy for Yang Kai to recognize it at a glance.
Judging from the purity of the Fire Attribute aura being released from the Earth Lung Fire Pond in front of me, it was definitely of the highest quality. Any Artifact Refiner who worked here would be able to completely display their skills and maximize their efficiency, refining artifacts they wouldn’t usually be able to while greatly enhancing their final product’s might.
Many thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he stared down in pleasant surprise.
Although he couldn’t take this Earth Lung Fire Pond away with him, it was without a doubt the best place for him to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. He hadn’t been expecting to come across such a perfectly location. Originally, Yang Kai was planning to simply find a nearby spot where the heat was especially high to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, but now he decided to take at what was down below here first.
Although it was dangerous to dive into such a place, the great the danger, the greater the reward. If a cultivator wanted to advance, they couldn’t fear danger.
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s expression became firm but he also didn’t dare act recklessly. Pushing his Demonic Flames to their maximum, Yang Kai also took out his purple shield and used it to create a purple light halo and a miniature sandstorm around his body.
He didn’t stop here though. Yang Kai freely spend his Saint Qi to condense several dozen Grand Heavenly Shields around his body as well.
Only after completing these preparations did he take a deep breath and jump into the pit.
Mid-air, Yang Kai’s expression turned extremely solemn as he swiftly glanced around. Finding a good foothold in a certain potion, his figure flickered and he quickly descended to reach a rocky outcropping. Identifying another foothold, Yang Kai leapt out, repeating this process again and again as he descended into the giant hole.
*Chi chi chi…*
The lava down below was very unstable, and it bubbled up and burst from time to time, sputtering molten rock across the walls of the pit.
The lava here was much more powerful than the lava in the ancient Spirit Array Wei Gu Chang had previously fallen into.
Several spurts of lava slammed into Yang Kai, shattering his Grand Heavenly Shields on contacted. In the blink of an eye, the several dozen barriers he had put up around himself had been completely destroyed.
The sandstorm which formed the next layer of protection around Yang Kai was somewhat successful in sweeping aside these bits of lava while those that still managed to make it through were blocked by the layer of Demonic Flames around Yang Kai’s body. Seeing this, it allowed him to put down his worries and concentrate on finding appropriate footholds.
As he descended, Yang Kai continuously replenished his destroyed Grand Heavenly Shields.
About thirty breaths of time later, Yang Kai’s eyes brightened, and his figure flickered to the side, leaping directly into a hole in the rock wall.
As soon as he entered this cave, Yang Kai felt the heat around him decrease dramatically, as if it was being blocked by the invisible barrier. This phenomenon immediately drew Yang Kai’s curiosity.
Turning around and looking out, Yang Kai gawked in shock.
Because he saw countless caves on the opposite wall, all of which seemed to be roughly the same as the one he had entered and were obviously not naturally generated because numbers had been engraved at their mouths.
These caves turned out to be artificially opened.
With a little thought, Yang Kai immediately understood what all of this was about and quickly began investigating the cave he had entered.
This cave was quite deep, running at least a hundred meters into the rock. After walking down this long, straight passage, Yang Kai came to a spacious stone room.
The walls were adorned with strange lighting stones that despite having been here for countless years were still emitting soft light, making this stone room quite bright.
With these lights for illumination, Yang Kai began looking around this stone room while putting away his purple shield and dispelling his Demonic Flames.
The floor of this stone chamber was smooth and flat, and there was a massive Spirit Array engraved onto its surface. This Spirit Array still seemed to be intact and was conducting heat from outside towards the centre of the room.
In the centre of the stone room stood a huge tripod furnace that was engraved with coiling dragons and soaring phoenixes but otherwise seemed somewhat plain in design. At first glance, it was obvious that this furnace was quite old and after being baked with such intense heat for so many years, was bright red and exuded an extremely hot aura.
Yang Kai inspected it and soon determined that this furnace was actually an Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace.
Yang Yan used to use an Artifact Refining Furnace to quench materials, but since the birth of the Stone Puppet, she no longer needed to use it. Only occasionally, while refining high grade artifacts, she would use her furnace for the final shaping and adjustments.
Sure enough, when he saw such an Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai showed a look of comprehension.
When he saw so many openings in the stone walls across from him, Yang Kai had a guess in mind, and now that he had seen the situation inside this stone room, it confirmed his guess.
This Earth Lung Fire Pond was really a place where a great Sect’s Artifact Refiner performed Artifact Refining.
It wasn’t surprising that such a treasure land would be occupied by a Sect’s Artifact Refiners. The caves cut into the walls must have been created for Artifact Refiners to use.
And the unknown ancient Spirit Array drawn on the stone chamber’s floor must have been designed to extract the extreme heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond for Artifact Refiners to use.
[Amazing!] Yang Kai was speechless. The methods and means needed to create such an elaborate setup inside this Earth Lung Fire Pond was not something ordinary people could achieve. Without a doubt, an Origin King Realm master was involved in setting this up.The only regret Yang Kai had was that the Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace here had been damaged quite severely, with many parts of it having melted or warped. It seemed that it was unable to endure being heated so recklessly for so many years.
On the other hand, the reason the Spirit Array here was able to run for tens of thousands of years was definitely because the Earth Lung Fire Pond was constantly supplying it with energy.
Understanding this, Yang Kai turned his head to look around, his eyes soon landing on a stone table of sorts in the corner of the room. Although Yang Kai didn’t know much about Spirit Arrays, after being together with Yang Yan for so long, he had at least gained some general knowledge.
This stone table should be the control center for this stone room’s Spirit Array.
Walking over to the stone table, Yang Kai poured his Saint Qi into it and sure enough, the along with a loud rumbling, the Spirit Array went dim and ceased functioning, no longer drawing in heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond.
Yang Kai waited until the Artifact Refining Furnace had cooled down a bit before walking up and probing it more carefully.
However, after a quick inspection, Yang Kai was as disappointed as he expected to be.
After it cooled down, this Artifact Refining Furnace actually broke into pieces with just a light tap. Moreover, whatever material that was being quenched inside of it had already become useless slag.
This wasn’t surprising though. After being exposed to such high temperatures for so many years, even the most precious of materials would turn into scrap. If the Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace itself had been destroyed, how could the materials it was being used to quench have possibly endured?
But this was just one stone room. There were many others just outside.
Thinking that after stumbling into a treasures trove he couldn’t just walk out empty handed, Yang Kai began investigating the stone chambers one by one.
It took two days to explore at least three hundred stone chambers, but apart from obtaining some Artifact Refining tools and materials which were stored in these stone chambers, Yang Kai actually didn’t obtain much of note as all of the Artifact Refining Furnaces were essentially damaged beyond repair.
Gill: Bet you guys are hungry for more chapters ey.
13 Chapters this week!!!
In terms of Artifact Refining materials, Yang Kai had collected a ton.
Of the hundreds of stone chambers, not all were as empty as the one Yang Kai initially searched. Some of them contained large stacks of ores and materials used in Artifact Refining. There were also some unusual materials which had been preserved all these years without suffering any damage.
And the quantity of all of them was massive.
With hundreds of stone rooms, even if only one-tenth of them contained items, that was not a sum to be underestimated.
Yang Kai was only dissatisfied because the harvest was somewhat different from his expectations, at least, the harvest did not yield anything precious.
However, after searching through these stone chambers, Yang Kai noticed an interesting pattern. The deeper he went, the purer and more intense the fire aura gathered in each room.
This was easy to understand though, as naturally, the further down one went, the closer one would get to the source of the Earth Lung Fire Pond. When Yang Kai began refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, he would obviously need to pick a chamber as far down as possible.
Two days later, Yang Kai finally reached the deepest part of Earth Lung Fire Pond, where only two unexplored chambers remained.
These two artificial caves were built at an impressive depth and at first glance, were clearly meant for the Sect’s finest Artifact Refiners. The two entrances to these caves weren’t opposite of one another but instead, placed side by side. The openings both seemed empty, without significant difference to those above. But after searching through so many of these chambers, Yang Kai knew that without carefully exploring them, he wouldn’t be able to tell if there was something of value inside.
Hoping for some more gains, Yang Kai randomly chose the cave on the left and leapt inside like an arrow released from its string.
The next moment, Yang Kai appeared inside the long straight cave and after stabilizing his stance, began walking inside.
Surprisingly, this tunnel seemed to be a few thousand meters long. Yang Kai walked for quite a while, yet still did not reach the end. While surprised by this development, it also raised his expectations. Sure enough, this cave was built for the best Artifact Refiners in this Sect as it was clearly constructed differently. All that remained was to see if there was anything good left inside.
After walking a couple thousand meters deeper, Yang Kai suddenly saw a touch of soft white light illuminating up ahead. This light couldn’t be described as brilliant but instead gentle. It seemed to have some soul calming effects to it. When Yang Kai saw this white light, he couldn’t help but relaxing.
Picking up his pace again, Yang Kai rushed forward and soon arrived inside a huge stone room.
This stone chamber was more than ten times larger than any of the hundreds of stone chambers he had explored over the past two days and even though he was quite deep underground at the moment, Yang Kai felt the air here was still clean and clear, without the slightest stagnant taste. All in all, it was incomparable to the other stone rooms.
All of the other stone chambers, to varying degrees, had a gloomy, depressing air about them.
Around this stone room were eight fist-sized white orbs that were emitting the soft white light. Just basking in these lights was able to soothe one’s soul and quiet one’s mind.
Yang Kai raised his brow as he glanced around at these eight orbs before scanning the rest of the room.
However, after probing this stone chamber, Yang Kai let out a disappointed sigh. With how grand and magnificent this stone chamber was, Yang Kai had expected there to be many treasures inside.
How could he have known though that this stone room was like most of the others, completely empty. Except for the huge Artifact Refining Furnace at the centre.
The Spirit Array engraved in this stone room was still running, extracting the purest Fire Attribute energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond to heat this huge furnace unceasingly for tens of thousands of years.
When Yang Kai’s eyes landed on this Artifact Refining Furnace though, they immediately lit up and a grin appeared on his face.
He found that this Artifact Refining Furnace was still intact, completely undamaged!
He had previously found hundreds of Artifact Refining Furnaces in those stone rooms, but every single one of them had been transformed into scrap after being baked for tens of thousands of years.
There were even a number of Origin King Grade furnaces among them, which made Yang Kai particularly distressed.
But now, he had found an intact Artifact Refining Furnace here. No matter how it had survived all these years, what was certain was that this Artifact Refining Furnace’s grade was not low, at least Origin King Grade.
Only this grade of Artifact Refining Furnace had any chance of surviving all these years.
While Yang Kai rejoiced, he quickly began searching for the control panel for the stone room’s Spirit Array.
Unlike other stone chambers though, which only had one stone table serving as a control terminal for this Spirit Array. There were four such tables in this stone chamber. It took Yang Kai some time to completely shut down this Spirit Array completely.
Yang Kai hadn’t cultivated an Ice or Cold Attribute Secret Art, nor did he have an artifact with such an attribute, so he could only wait for the temperature in this Artifact Refining Furnace to naturally fall.
About a day later, the crimson halo surrounding the Artifact Refining Furnace gradually dispersed, and although it still looked hot, with Yang Kai strength, he was not afraid.
Quickly walking over to the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai swept it with his Divine Sense and found that it was as exactly as he expected. This Artifact Refining Furnace was really Origin King Grade, but the quality was so high he couldn’t judge its exact rank. From what he could see, it shouldn’t be any lower than Origin King Grade Mid-Rank. The Artifact Refining Furnace itself was about five meters tall and had a three leg, two handle design, but unlike all the previous Artifact Refining Furnaces Yang Kai had previously come across, instead of dragon and phoenix patterns, a strange bird was the only design emblazoned on its surface.
Yang Kai stared at this Artifact Refining Furnace for a while but couldn’t identify what this strange bird was. It looked somewhat like a phoenix, but also somewhat like a crane. It had a long beak, powerful claws, and three long tail-feathers that seemed both elegant and beautiful. All of this bird features were exquisitely defined and incredibly lifelike, almost as if it could leap out from the surface of this Artifact Refining Furnace at any moment.
Examining it carefully, Yang Kai reviewed all the information he had read in the ancient books in Zong Ao’s library, trying to identify what strange Monster Beast it was supposed to be, but when his eyes landed on this strange bird’s eyes, his brow furrowed.
For an instant, Yang Kai felt as if this strange bird was staring back at him.
However, when he looked closer, Yang Kai found that this strange bird was exactly the same as before, without a trace of vitality, which confused him.
But having sensed something a moment ago, Yang Kai didn’t dare act sloppily. Who knew if there was something unusual about this Artifact Refining Furnace? Intensifying his Divine Sense output, Yang Kai carefully inspected the interior of this Artifact Refining Furnace and quickly determined that there was nothing else but a pool of burnt materials within it, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
This Artifact Refining Furnace was an amazing find, not something to be missed. Alchemy couldn’t be performed in such a massive furnace, and since he obtained his Conflagration Knowledge Sea, he rarely used his Saint Qi to perform Alchemy. After his Saint Qi had transformed into Demonic Flame, he had completely ceased using his Qi to perform Alchemy.
However, this thing could be brought back for Yang Yan to use. Although she had the Stone Puppet and didn’t need to worry about quenching materials, the later steps in the refining process such as forging and engraving still required a good Artifact Refining Furnace.
Yang Yan had helped him a lot, going all out to arrange powerful Spirit Arrays and refine artifacts. The two of them also shared secrets like the Stone Puppet and Space Spirit Crystal lode, so even if this Artifact Refining Furnace was of Origin King Grade, Yang Kai would not be stingy with it.
Having made a decision, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense to wrap up this huge Artifact Refining Furnace in preparation to move it into his Space Ring.
At that moment though, an unexpected change occurred. The Artifact Refining Furnace, which had almost completely cooled down by now, suddenly began shaking and a mass of astonishingly hot flames burst out from it. These flames immediately began incinerating Yang Kai’s Divine Sense.
Yang Kai was incredibly shocked by this development and hurriedly took back his Divine Sense, but even so, he suffered a loss with almost half of the Divine Sense threads he had released being burnt to ash.
As his face paled, Yang Kai’s heart filled with astonishment!
His Divine Sense was composed of Conflagrated Spiritual Energy and was extremely hot. Even before discovering this Earth Lung Fire Pond, when he was probing the fifth layer, his Divine Sense hadn’t been destroyed this fast. Yet, the flames coming from this furnace were able to instantly incinerate it. Didn’t this mean that the flames coming from this furnace were countless times more powerful than those in the fifth layer?
Moreover, the flames that appeared seem both nimble and agile. After repulsing Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, they instantly vanished, as if everything just now had been some kind of illusion.
Yang Kai naturally knew this wasn’t some kind of hallucination though. With the splitting headache he currently felt, how could everything have simply been an illusion?
Before Yang Kai could even begin trying to figure out what had just happened, the strange bird carved onto the surface of the Artifact Refining Furnace came to life, its elegant body flew out from the Artifact Refining Furnace and transformed into a beautiful Scarlet Firebird. An astonishing heat fiercely radiated from this strange bird and after flying a small circle around the furnace, it dove straight towards Yang Kai.
With an expression that was a mix of shock and pain, Yang Kai exclaimed, “Artifact Spirit!”
Yang Kai immediately understood why the flames just now had seemed so nimble. He also realized that it wasn’t just his imagination that the bird was spying on him a moment ago, it actually was! Yang Kai hadn’t been able to detect it because this Firebird didn’t have a physical form.
It was an Artifact Spirit, an Artifact Spirit born from this Artifact Refining Furnace. Yang Kai didn’t know if it had originally existed together with this furnace or if it had slowly formed after being exposed to the burning heat of the Earth Lung Fire Pond for tens of thousands of years.
But remember that this was an Artifact Spirit of an Origin King Grade artifact, Yang Kai’s heart sank.
Yang Kai had fought many people and had seen various high-end and low-end artifacts, but never had he encountered an artifact with such a powerful Artifact Spirit.
Artifact Spirits were extremely rare existences to begin with.
Firstly, the conditions for them to be born were very harsh and it required a great amount of luck. Secondly, it took a long time for them to form. Any artifact with an Artifact Spirit was at least a thousand years old.
Once an artefact had an Artefact Spirit, the power it could display would dramatically increase.
Because of this, some cultivators had developed amazing methods to artificially create Artefact Spirits with Monster Beast spirits. After hunting down a powerful Monster Beast, they would use a secret method to extract its Soul from its body then seal it into an artefact. Then, with enough time and effort, it was possible to slowly transform this soul into an Artefact Spirit.
This method was extremely bloody and cruel, and the sacrificial process was incredibly inhumane. The Monster Beast spirit sealed inside the artefact would experience unimaginable torture during the process so even if the process ultimately succeeded, the artefact would inevitably become malevolent. However, there was still a massive gap between this kind of artificial Artefact Spirit and one which was created naturally. Although an artificial Artefact Spirit could still enhance the power of an artefact, it wouldn’t be so astonishing.
The success rate for this method was quite low and it consumed a large amount of time and resources, so no one except those who cultivated evil Secret Arts and had immense patience would try to artificially create an Artefact Spirit, not to mention that very few even knew how to.
The Artefact Spirit Yang Kai encountered this time was an orthodox existence, it wasn’t an evil artificial Artefact Spirit created by some cultivator. It lacked a malevolent aura, so it was clear that this Artefact Refining Furnace had given birth to it through a series of chance coincidences.
Although this Artefact Refining Furnace wasn’t an artefact used for battle, it was also not low-grade. The presence from this strange bird Artefact Spirit pressured Yang Kai greatly.
Seeing it dive towards him, Yang Kai’s entire field of vision was filled with fiery red, as if the entire stone chamber had been filled with an incomparably hot fire aura and nothing else could be seen.
Yang Kai could only silently hope that this spirit had only been born a short time ago and had not achieved true sentience.
As he quickly retreated, Yang Kai summoned his purple shield and madly poured his Saint Qi into it, creating a violent sandstorm around his body for protection.
However, as soon as this sandstorm appeared, the Scarlet Firebird spread its wings and whipped up an intense gust mixed with numerous scorching hot blades of flame that immediately broke open the sandstorm barrier.
The fierce wind fanned the intense flames, multiplying its power. This Firebird’s strength was dreadful and caused Yang Kai’s breathing to cease and his heart to clench. A Demonic Flame sword appeared in his hand and he slashed the air in front of him.
*Peng peng peng…*
A series of loud explosions rang out as the red hot blades were struck by the jet black sword, the two mutually annihilating each other, but the number of flame blades was unlimited while the sword waves Yang Kai could send out were not, so he quickly found himself at a disadvantage.
A casual strike from this Scarlet Firebird held such incredible might!
Yang Kai waved his hand and summoned the Hundred Mountains Picture, drawing out one of the peaks from inside it before sending it crashing towards the red storm of blades.
A look of disdain and ridicule flashed across the eyes of the Scarlet Firebird, and it beat its wings once more. The flame blades which had not yet been destroyed transformed into tiny fire snakes that flew around the Hundred Mountains Picture peak before continuing towards Yang Kai.
After seeing this kind of human-like expression, Yang Kai felt his heart sink as he cursed to himself.
This Artefact Spirit had not only achieved sentience, but its intelligence and cognizance had also reached quite a high level. Otherwise, how could it have shown such a look?
What’s more, since this spirit was born from an Artefact Refining Furnace, it was inherently proficient in Fire Attribute laws and methods. It was unwise to fight against it in this small stone chamber.
Yang Kai instantly decided to withdraw.
At the same time as he sent out a bunch of black fireballs, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense moved and he used his Yuan Control Mastery to shape these fireballs into a series of snake-like attacks to counter the Firebird’s onslaught.
The red and black snakes collided with one another, constantly biting and devouring each other, seemingly forming a kind of deadlock.
Taking this opportunity, Yang Kai retreated. He didn’t want to fight in this space against such an Artefact Spirit.
However, the Firebird’s thoughts were extremely sharp and it realized what Yang Kai wanted to do at a glance. Cocking its head back, the Firebird spat out a basin sized fireball and that contained a massive amount of Fire Attribute energy, causing Yang Kai’s heart to jump.
If he were to be hit by this fireball he would be seriously injured, if not dead, so Yang Kai hurriedly dodged.
The strange bird seemed to have known that Yang Kai would take such actions and the look of disdain on its face grew even thicker. The fireball flew past Yang Kai and burst apart at the entrance to the room; however, instead of the Fire Attribute energy dissipating, it transformed into a red-light curtain that sealed up the exit.
Yang Kai’s face sank!
The Scarlet Firebird unexpectedly wanted to trap him here.
Under normal circumstances, this kind of simple barrier wouldn’t be able to bar Yang Kai’s path, and with some slight effort, he could break through it. However, with the Artefact Spirit eyeing him covetously, how could Yang Kai have the time to break through this red light curtain?
Once he tried, it would only leave him vulnerable to the Artefact Spirit’s attacks.
“Damn bird, you brought this on yourself!” Yang Kai’s face filled with wrath, no longer thinking about retreating and instead fiercely pushing the Demonic Flames rumbling outside his body, transforming himself into a giant black fireball. The black flames seemed capable of burning everything in existence, even the light which touched it, making it basically impossible to see Yang Kai’s true face anymore.
Seeing Yang Kai become enraged, the look of mockery on the strange bird’s face disappeared as it seemed to realize it had made a mistake. The person in front of it was not some soft persimmon that could casually be pinched, and forcing him to remain wasn’t a wise choice.
However, it was just an Artefact Spirit. Although it had achieved a high degree of sentience, it wouldn’t think about such things too deeply. With a loud screech, it sent out an invisible attack that tore through Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea defences and directly impacted his Soul.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the water and flames tumbled chaotically. Yang Kai cursed loudly as he desperately suppressed the abnormal condition of his Knowledge Sea while simultaneously waving his hands to fill the stone chamber with black flames. The Demonic Flames poured out from Yang Kai’s body and soon occupied half of the room as they resisted the pure fire aura coming from the Scarlet Firebird.
The situation inside the stone room suddenly became quite strange, with half of it near the entrance filled with opaque pitch-black darkness while the other half was a sea of blisteringly hot red fire.
The two energies collided fiercely at the urging of Yang Kai and the Scarlet Firebird.
The entire stone chamber shook under the fierce collisions of energy, with the ground, ceiling, and stone walls constantly flickering with light as its defensive arrangements blocked the various explosive shockwaves.
Fortunately, this place was designed for the most outstanding Artefact Refiner of a great Sect to refine, so it had been equipped with numerous protective Spirit Arrays. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for a plain stone room to withstand the fallout from Yang Kai and the Artefact Spirit’s battle.
The black and red light continued to collide, both refusing to yield to the other.
Yang Kai’s expression was dignified, and the elegant body of the Scarlet Firebird was constantly twisting, a series of strange noises constantly escaping from its mouth.
This confrontation lasted an incense stick worth of time before the stone chamber returned to its former appearance. Yang Kai and the Artefact Spirit stared at each other from across the distance, both realizing that a frontal collision like this was pointless.
Yang Kai couldn’t have imagined that a trivial Artefact Spirit could actually fight him evenly! Yang Kai knew his own strength better than anyone; even if he were to encounter a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master, if the opponent was the slightest bit careless, he was confident he could severely injure them. As for whether he could kill such a master, that would depend more on his opponent’s means.
However, this Artefact Spirit was not inferior to him.
This was just an Artefact Spirit without a master, which meant it couldn’t even exert its full strength. If this Artefact Spirit was controlled by a master, Yang Kai was certain he wouldn’t be its opponent.
An Artefact Spirit wasn’t a true entity, it was an existence tied to an artefact and only through it could it display its completely might.
He was struggling so hard to fight a handicapped opponent, if he were to be facing this Firebird’s true power…
Just as Yang Kai was thinking so, his face suddenly changed, and his expression grew far more solemn. Not even hesitating, Yang Kai condensed over a hundred Grand Heavenly Shields in front of himself while at the same time summoning his purple shield.
The Artefact Spirit was showing a wild and violent appearance, and the Artefact Refining Furnace, which had silently been sitting at the centre of the stone chamber, was also humming audibly. Immediately, the Artefact Refining Furnace flew up into the air and began rapidly spinning, shooting out clusters of red hot flames that shot into the Firebird’s body.
Suddenly, the Firebird’s aura increased dramatically, and an oppressive feeling spread out from it.
Yang Kai’s face instantly went pale as he exclaimed, “Shi!”
This Artefact Spirit actually understood how to use Shi that only Origin Returning Realm masters could comprehend.
Didn’t Qian Tong say that Shi couldn’t exist inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field? Once a cultivator who had comprehended Shi entered the Flowing Flame Sand field, they would instantly be incinerated. It was for this reason that no Origin Returning Realm master could enter this place and why for all previous openings of this Forbidden Zone only Saint Kings had entered.
But when this strange bird used Shi, nothing happened to it.
Quickly, however, Yang Kai noticed that this power was only similar to Shi, and wasn’t Shi itself. This Firebird had manipulated the rich fire aura inside this stone room and taken advantage of the surrounding World Energy to display this profound method.
Worthy of a Fire Attribute Artefact Spirit, this Firebird was truly skilled at manipulating Fire Attribute World Principles, shocking Yang Kai greatly.
This was the second time Yang Kai had fallen into this kind of strange field. The last time was when he fought against Xie Hong Wen’s Origin Returning Realm guard outside Dragon Cave Mountain.
However, his opponent’s Shi back then was incomparable to the one he was currently facing. The last time Yang Kai was wrapped in Shi, although his actions became somewhat sluggish, he didn’t feel too much pressure.
Currently, Yang Kai felt extremely heavy and his bones were making creaking sounds as his legs threatened to give out. Even something as simple as moving his fingers was nearly impossible.
There seemed to be an invisible set of chains wrapped around him, locking him firmly in place, rendering him unable to move.
Even his Divine Sense and Saint Qi were locked firmly inside his body, making it impossible for Yang Kai to gather any strength!