[A Beguiling Technique!] Light flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes. It was the first time he learned that this Yin Su Die actually used Beguiling Techniques, and from what he could tell she was quite proficient in them. No wonder she seemed to exude an unusually powerful charm every time he saw her. It turns out it was because she cultivated Beguiling Techniques.
Listening to Yin Su Die saying this, Dai Yuan’s expression sank as she shouted, “You were monitoring me?”
Yin Su Die brushed her hair carelessly and said with a laugh, “How could Senior Sister ask such a thing? Little Sister was only worried about Senior Sister. Last time, Senior Sister went out without saying anything or telling anyone, not even Honoured Master knew about it, so it’s only natural that Little Sister had some people pay attention to Senior Sister’s whereabouts. When I received word that Senior Sister had returned safely a moment ago, I was naturally overjoyed. Not just Little Sister though, Honoured Master was also very happy to hear Senior Sister had returned and even said she wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
“Honoured Master…” Dai Yuan’s face flashed a complex look and seemingly became uninterested in arguing with Yin Su Die anymore, simply asking, “Instead of staying on Hundred Butterfly Peak you actually ran all the way over here for some idle chatter?”
“Must I have some other reason to visit?” Yin Su Die replied lightly, her eyes then suddenly lighting up, as if she remembered something, and quickly said, “That’s right, there is something good I need to share with Senior Sister! Honoured Master has asked Grandmaster Xiao to refine an Origin Condensing Pill, and although the first two furnaces were, unfortunately, failures, Grandmaster Xiao said that the next refinement should have an eighty percent certainty of success. At that time, Little Sister will have to enter retreat to break through to the Origin Returning Realm so I won’t have time to come chat with Senior Sister anymore. If Senior Sister feels lonely, how about letting Little Sister arrange a few maids to accompany you?”
The innocent smile on her face seemed to imply that she was simply thinking about Dai Yuan’s feelings while trying to be a good sister.
But anyone could hear the self-satisfaction and pride in her words.
“An Origin Condensing Pill…” Dai Yuan nodded indifferently, “I must congratulate Junior Sister then.”
“En, it was all thanks to Senior Sister who retrieved several stalks of Emerald Silk Grass from the Flowing Flame Sand Field. If not for those, no Origin Condensing Pills could be refined. Unfortunately, Little Sister wasn’t as lucky and didn’t manage to find a single Emerald Silk Grass!” Saying so, she shook her head and sighed, seemingly quite distraught.
Dai Yuan’s lips suddenly curled into a sneer, not caring at all that the Emerald Silk Grass she worked so hard to find had actually been used on Yin Su Die and instead just said, “Is that all? If so, then Junior Sister should return. Since you are preparing to break through to the Origin Returning Realm, you should, of course, make appropriate preparations, otherwise, if you were to fail, it would surely disappoint Honoured Master’s efforts.”
The smile on Yin Su Die’s face disappeared and was replaced by a cold glower.
She hadn’t even attempted to break through yet but Dai Yuan was actually implying she would fail. Although it was only a few casual words, it was still a rather uncomfortable barb.
“Senior Sister has guests to entertain, so I won’t see you off!” Dai Yuan ignored Yin Su Die’s glare and directly asked her to leave.
However, Yin Su Die didn’t have any intention of just letting things go. Seeing how her nettling of Dai Yuan had no effect, she swept her beautiful eyes around and actually stared at Yang Kai, asking with a smile, “This little brother seems familiar, have we met before?”
Yang Kai wore a startled expression upon being spoken to. He hadn’t expected that just after arriving in Coloured Glass Sect he would actually be dragged into this Senior Sister, Junior Sister dispute, but not caring either way, he grinned and replied, “Yes, I’ve met Sister Yin several times now. This one has long admired Sister Yin, but unfortunately, I am just an unknown man. Sister Yin should not mind me.”
Yin Su Die heard him say this and a smile blossomed on her face as a light giggle escaped her lips, apparently quite satisfied with Yang Kai’s flattery.
Dai Yuan, on the other hand, frowned as she looked at Yang Kai strangely. As for Yang Yan, she simply stood to the side without saying or doing anything, as if she didn’t even exist.
“En, I remember now, you were the one together with Wei Gu Chang at that time. Since when did you come to know Senior Sister though?” Yin Su Die’s voice suddenly became soft and melodious. Others might not have noticed anything, but when Yang Kai heard these words, he felt like the blood in his veins began flowing faster, as if Yin Su Die’s sweet voice was whispering directly into his ear and invisible hands were gently caressing his cheeks.
“I met her in the Flowing Flame Sand Field,” Yang Kai nodded and answered very cooperatively.
“I see, but since Senior Sister invited you here as a guest, it seems your relationship is not simple,” Yin Su Die made a thinly veiled probe, but before Yang Kai even had a chance to respond, she smiled even more charmingly and a strange light flashed across her eyes, one that seemed to penetrate into Yang Kai’s mind. Exhaling an orchid scent, Yin Su Die continued to ask, “If Little Brother doesn’t mind, how about coming to visit my Hundred Butterfly Peak? Although my Hundred Butterfly Peak is not near here, it’s scenery will surely not disappoint.”
Yang Kai’s eyes glazed over for a moment before his face flushed abnormally and he began nodding vigorously, “Sounds amazing, I couldn’t ask for anything more!”
As he spoke these words, the corner of his mouth seemed to leak some drool and a lustful look appeared on his face.
“Yin Su Die!” Dai Yuan suddenly snarled, knowing that Yang Kai should have been affected by her Junior Sister’s Beguiling Technique. Pushing her Saint Qi fiercely, Dai Yuan glared dangerously at Yin Su Die, as if she would attack if the latter didn’t immediately withdraw her technique.
“What’s the matter?” Yin Su Die glanced over innocently at Dai Yuan while continuing to send out an invisible aura filled with ten thousand kinds of charm towards Yang Kai.
At that moment, two jets of hot air spewed from Yang Kai’s nostrils and he dashed forward, arriving in front of Yin Su Die in the blink of an eye. Immediately, both Yin Su Die and Dai Yuan were stunned, and under their astonish gazes, Yang Kai grabbed Yin Su Die’s two jade white hands.
In that instant, Yang Kai gripped these two delicate hands violently.
Seemingly grasping the most important treasure in his life, Yang Kai refused to let go, his eyes exuding a terrible fiery colour as the temperature of his body rose significantly.
Yin Su Die froze up and Dai Yuan was equally dumbfounded!
When Yang Kai rushed over, Dai Yuan and Yin Su Die both wanted to block him, but neither of them were able to, and by the time they had recovered from their initial surprise, Yang Kai had already caught Yin Su Die hands.
Feeling sharp pain from her hands and seeing the madness in the eyes of the boorish man standing in front of her, Yin Su Die became furious and rapidly began condensing her Saint Qi, but in the next moment, she calmed down and with watery eyes, she leaned into Yang Kai and whimpered, “You’re hurting me…”
“Ah?” Yang Kai was shocked, and a look of extreme guilt appeared on his face, but his hands still continued to stubbornly grasp Yin Su Die’s, and no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t free herself. Kneading her delicate and soft hands with an obsessed expression, Yang Kai continued to call out, “There there, it doesn’t hurt anymore, does it? I happen to have time now. How about we go to your Hundred Butterfly Peak now? Your Senior Sister is fine in any case, there’s no need to stay here!”
“Hehe…” Yin Su Die let out a hollow laugh. Although she wished to slap Yang Kai away, she actually strongly suppressed the anger in her heart, the strange light in her eyes growing even stronger as she tried to withdraw from Yang Kai’s eyes.
“Didn’t you just invite me over? What are we waiting for?” Unexpectedly, Yang Kai began urging her even more forcefully, seemingly unable to wait to go back to Hundred Butterfly Peak with her.
Seeing this, Yin Su Die’s complexion changed and she was no longer willing to act patiently, circulating her Saint Qi through her hands, she finally broke free from Yang Kai’s grasp and took advantage of this opportunity to flutter a dozen meters away, hiding her two small hands in her sleeves so others couldn’t see them, but having been clenched in Yang Kai’s grasp for so long, they certainly weren’t in good shape.
Glaring at Yang Kai, who still seemed to be caught in her Beguiling Technique, a cold light flickered across Yin Su Die’s eyes.
However, in a flash, Dai Yuan came between her and Yang Kai and said coldly, “Junior Sister, please leave.”
Yin Su Die clenched her teeth and took a deep breath, her rich capital heaving mesmerizingly before she snorted lightly, “Senior Sister, don’t forget to go pay your respects to Honoured Master, she has been thinking about you since you left. Little Sister will take her leave.”
After she finished speaking, she narrowed her phoenix eyes slightly, glared coldly at Yang Kai for a moment, as if to engrave his appearance into the depths of her soul before stomping her foot and departing atop her Star Shuttle.
Only once she was a good distance away from Thousand Illusion Peak did Yin Su Die take her hands out of her sleeves to check them, a single look causing her beautiful face to grow icy.
Her two beautiful two jade white hands which had just moments ago could be described as flawless now had large ugly bruises on them! She didn’t know where that smelly man had come from, but it was obvious he didn’t know the first thing about showing tender affection. He had actually used so much strength against her. This time she had gone to steal wool but ended up being shorn, even unable to launch a counterattack. It really made Yin Su Die want to scream. Bearing a grudge against Yang Kai in her heart now, she was already thinking about how to seek revenge.
Atop the stone platform on Thousand Illusion Peak, a group of three people stood silently. Yang Yan and Dai Yuan staring at Yang Kai’s back while Yang Kai himself stared in the direction where Yin Su Die disappeared, a look of regret upon his face.
After a while, Yang Kai sighed leisurely and slowly shook his head. Turning around though, he saw the two women staring curiously at him and asked, “What? Are there flowers growing on my face?”
“Weren’t you affected by her Beguiling Technique?” If Dai Yuan couldn’t see through what happened by now, she would have lived in vain all these years. How was Yang Kai’s expression now the slightest bit confused? His eyes couldn’t have been clearer.
“Beguiling Technique?” Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a sneer, “She picked the wrong person to target.”
“Then you…” Dai Yuan’s eyes flashed as she smiled and shook her head, “Your courage isn’t small, actually taking the opportunity to take advantage of her. If she had seen through you, she would definitely not have let you off.”
“Did she see through me though?” Yang Kai chuckled.
“Thank you!” Dai Yuan suddenly expressed her gratitude and sincerely thanked him. She knew that Yang Kai wouldn’t do such a thing if he hadn’t noticed the disagreement between them.
Yang Kai waved his hand and snorted lightly, “There’s no need for you to thank me. She was the one who acted first, I simply fought back!”
Yang Kai wasn’t interested in intervening in the grievances between these two apprentice sisters. This trip was mainly for the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain, helping Dai Yuan was only because Yin Su Die had dared to use her Beguiling Technique on him. If they weren’t in Coloured Glass Sect, Yang Kai also wouldn’t have let her off so easily.
Dai Yuan smiled meaningfully next as she asked, “How was the taste?”
Yang Kai’s cheeks blushed slightly red as he said with a laugh, “Not bad, not bad at all, worthy of Shadowed Star’s famous beauty, her skin was excellently maintained, soft and delicate to the touch.”
Seeing Yang Kai offer a frank admission, Dai Yuan could not stand it for long, snorting dismissively before turning around and leading Yang Kai and Yang Yan into the tunnel.
Once inside, Dai Yuan put out her hand and injected her Saint Qi into a panel on the wall, causing the jade token that had previously disappeared to reappear. Immediately after, the flat stone wall that had opened silently closed.
“Please come with me,” Dai Yuan said lightly as she led Yang Kai and Yang Yan deeper into the mountain.
After moving forward roughly a thousand metres, a large cave appeared, one that was several thousand metres in diameter. It was as if the entire Thousand Illusion Peak had been hollowed out, but what was odd was that this cave didn’t show any signs of artificial excavation. Yang Kai looked around and was surprised to discover that this cave really was naturally formed, and high up above, there were many thick and thin dark red columns that looked like pointed cones. These cones appeared quite threatening and would be quite dangerous should they ever fall.
On the cave floor though, there were similar pointed red columns going up from the ground, making it look as if this cavern was a complex and chaotic stone forest.
“A Natural Spirit Array!” Yang Yan suddenly called out in surprise after she swept her gaze over these red columns, her eyes shining brightly as she began to fidget anxiously.
“Sister Yang Yan’s eyes are truly sharp,” Dai Yuan also stopped and looked back at Yang Yan with admiration, explaining a moment later, “Yes, there is indeed a Natural Spirit Array inside this cave of Thousand Illusion Peak, but it only has some weak bewildering and illusionary effects.”
Yang Yan continued to look around for a while before asking, “Did someone modify this place’s Natural Spirit Array?”
“En, it was the person who previously lived on Thousand Illusion Peak…” As soon as Dai Yuan said this, her eyes became somewhat dull, but this quickly passed and she continued, “That person knew a little bit about Spirit Arrays, so they were able to slightly modify this Natural Spirit Array to not only have a hallucinogenic effect but also some power to resist enemy intrusions.”
“Can I examine it?” Yang Yan asked, seemingly interested in this Natural Spirit Array.
“Nonsense!” Yang Kai shouted immediately, scolding Yang Yan.
This place was Dai Yuan’s private sanctuary, her home, so how could the protective Spirit Array here be examined by an outsider? This was a great taboo.
However, Dai Yuan just smiled lightly and said, “Junior Brother Yang doesn’t need to worry. Since Sister Yang Yan is versed in Spirit Arrays, it is normal for her to be interested in this thing; after all, there aren’t many naturally formed Spirit Arrays. Sister Yang Yan can examine this Spirit Array all she likes. It just so happens that I am not very proficient in Spirit Arrays so since the Senior who lived here passed away, although I lived here later, I am actually unable to control this Spirit Array and only know a safe way to enter and exit it. If Sister Yang Yan can decipher how this Spirit Array functions and teach it to me, I would actually be quite thankful.”
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai’s expression cleared up. Since Dai Yuan intended to draw support from Yang Yan’s strength, he did not try to stop her anymore, simply turning to Yang Yan and asking, “Is it possible?”
Yang Yan snorted disdainfully and did not answer, instead just grabbing the edges of her black robe and dashing off into the red columns, her figure soon disappearing.
Yang Kai could only smile bitterly, knowing that his questioning of Yang Yan’s ability had made her angry.
On the other hand, when Dai Yuan saw Yang Yan act with such confidence, she secretly began looking forward to the future.
“Let’s go, don’t worry about her, in any case, we’re already inside your domain, when she’s finished studying this Spirit Array she’ll naturally come out on her own,” Yang Kai smiled helplessly at Dai Yuan.
“Good,” Dai Yuan did not have any objections and continued to lead Yang Kai through the red columns.
Not long after, the two crossed this large cave and entered another passageway through the mountain. Walking a short distance, the pair arrived at a stone chamber.
As soon as he entered this stone room, Yang Kai was shocked by the strong pill and medicinal fragrance in the air. There were also six large and small Alchemy Furnaces placed in various locations.
Seeing this, he suddenly remembered that Dai Yuan was also an Alchemist!
While traversing the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Wei Gu Chang had told him about it and it was also the reason why Dai Yuan recognized the Red Candle Fruit.
However, since she had asked Yang Kai to come here, her Alchemy grade should not be too high. Yang Kai was aware of this, but he knew not to mention it.
“I’ve shown Junior Brother Yang something embarrassing. The things here must not be able to enter Junior Brother’s eyes,” Dai Yuan said with a smile.
“Nonsense, Sister Dai Yuan’s cave mansion is quite spectacular, Dragon Cave Mountain doesn’t have anything comparable,” Yang Kai said with a laugh.
“Junior Brother Yang…” Dai Yuan suddenly called out softly as she stared into his eyes, “Does the outside world really have Origin King Grade Alchemists?”
Yang Kai glanced over at her with some surprise, suddenly discovering that many people on Shadowed Star seemed to be interested in the outside world. He had been asked such questions more than once or twice since arriving on this star.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai nodded, “En, the outside world does have Origin King Grade Alchemists. Although I have never met one myself, I have heard about them. There are also Origin King Grade Artifact Refiners, Origin King Realm masters, and even Star Master powerhouses.”
“Star Masters!” Dai Yuan eyes twinkled, “The legendary cultivators who managed to refine a Star Source and become the master of an entire star?”
“Yeah, but there should be very few of such people. I’ve heard that refining a Star Source is extremely dangerous and most Origin Kings don’t dare attempt it easily as there is a risk they could perish in the attempt.”
“So it’s like that…” Dai Yuan smiled and immediately said cheerfully, “If there is a chance, Dai Yuan would like to ask Junior Brother Yang about the wonders of the outside world. At that time, I hope Junior Brother Yang will not refuse.”
“Sure, when there is time, I will certainly not conceal anything!” Yang Kai agreed refreshed. Although he didn’t know much about the Star Field, he had still spent some time in the outside world, so he knew far more than the natives of Shadowed Star. Speaking about some minor issues would not be a problem.
Dai Yuan did not ask anything more immediately and instead quickly arranged a room for Yang Kai to rest in before asking him to adjust his condition for a few days while she went to see her Honoured Master.
After all, when Dai Yuan left Coloured Glass Sect last time, she didn’t tell anyone, and Yin Su Die had just run over to tell her that her Honoured Master wanted to see her, so naturally Dai Yuan couldn’t keep her waiting for long.
Yang Kai simply waved his hand and let her go.
A short time later, Dai Yuan left Thousand Illusion Peak and disappeared into Grand Crystal Mountain Range.
When he was certain Dai Yuan had left, Yang Kai opened his eyes from his meditation and a sly light flashed across them. Waving his hand, a short figure appeared in front of him.
Naturally, it was the Stone Puppet, who stood there looking at Yang Kai with a stern look, as if waiting for instructions.
“Do you know what to do?” Yang Kai asked.
The Stone Puppet tilted its head for a moment before nodding.
“Good, I’ll tell you the location. Remember, if there is any danger, or any possibility you’ll be discovered, return immediately, don’t alarm anyone!” Yang Kai told him carefully before extending his finger to touch the Stone Puppet’s forehead.
A faint green point of light appeared at Yang Kai’s fingertip which was resting on the Stone Puppet’s head. This green pint of light was formed from Yang Kai’s Divine Sense contained the exact position of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain.
Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain was Coloured Glass Sect’s most precious treasure, so the protective Spirit Arrays around it would undoubtedly be strong, so although Yang Kai was quite confident in the Stone Puppet’s ability to sneak in, there was still a change something would go wrong so he warned it seriously.
He did not want to lose a partner like the Stone Puppet just to steal little Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass.
Since it was born, the Stone Puppet had worked diligently and tirelessly, where else would Yang Kai find such a good assistant?
The green light filled with Yang Kai’s Divine Sense quickly slipped into the Stone Puppet’s head and disappeared. The Stone Puppet stood there innocently for a moment, seemingly digesting the information contained in this Divine Sense package. A short time later, the Stone Puppet’s eyes circled once before its body shook and it burrowed into the ground and silently vanished.
By the time Yang Kai noticed it was gone, the Stone Puppet had already burrowed a thousand metres into the ground, and after a short pause it dashed off in the direction of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain.
The Stone Puppet had an innate talent to move through the earth, so underground there was nothing that could hinder its movements.
After releasing the Stone Puppet, Yang Kai immediately reached out closed the small hole in the ground, erasing any trace of it before continuing to silently meditate.
Thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai still had no idea what Dai Yuan wanted him to do, but with her personality, it should not be something too difficult for him. Even if it was something troublesome, Yang Kai could always refuse. In any case, his primary objective for coming here had already been achieved; all he needed to do was wait for the Stone Puppet to return. After understanding all this, Yang Kai immediately felt at ease.
Three days passed but Yang Kai did not see a trace of Dai Yuan.
Yang Yan, on the other hand, popped up, her eyes glowing with excitement. It seemed that she had profited greatly from studying the Natural Spirit Array in the grand cave. Yang Kai did not ask anything though because he wouldn’t understand even if he did.
With Dai Yuan still not back, Yang Yan simply occupied the room next to Yang Kai’s to rest in.
After waiting for another two days, Dai Yuan finally returned to Thousand Illusion Peak.
However, what Yang Kai found strange was that Dai Yuan seemed exhausted, and the expression on her face was quite dispirited. Her eyes were also slightly puffy and red, making it obvious she had been crying. Even though she forced herself to appear cheerful, it could not completely erase the gloominess between her brows.
Yang Kai did not know what happened to Dai Yuan for her to end up in such a state, but it apparently had something to do with her Honoured Master. After all, Dai Yuan had gone to see her Honoured Master before, only to return five days later in this miserable condition. It was incomprehensible.
After Dai Yuan returned, she first went to Yang Yan to talk. A short time later, she obtained a token from Yang Yan and her mood instantly improved.
Yang Yan had not only deciphered the Natural Spirit Array outside Dai Yuan’s secluded home, but she had also improved its power by thirty percent, increased its functionality, and added a control mechanism. All of this made Dai Yuan extremely happy while at the same time she was shocked by Yang Yan’s prowess with Spirit Arrays. After this incident, her relationship with Yang Yan seemed to become extremely close, as if they were real sisters.
This confused Yang Kai greatly and made him realize that a woman’s thoughts would forever be beyond his understanding. On the road here, the two of them had been like old bottle gourds, not speaking a word to each other for an entire month, but now, because of a single Spirit Array, they were suddenly behaving in an incredibly friendly manner.
Men could not act this way.
After Dai Yuan returned, Yang Kai naturally began to ask her about she wanted his help with, but Dai Yuan still seemed to have some reservations, only asking Yang Kai to wait a few days while she made some preparations. After she finished getting everything ready, she would tell him everything.
Listening to her saying this, Yang Kai no longer forced the issue and waited quietly.
A few days later, Yang Kai was sitting in meditation, cultivating his Golden Blood Threads and using his Saint Qi in conjunction with the Artifact Refining Furnace and Scarlet Firebird in front of him to refine the dragon bone and Dragon Bead.
Although he knew refining the dragon bone and Dragon Bead required a long period of time, if Yang Kai had a spare moment, he would actively urge the power of the Artifact Refining Furnace to speed up the process.
He was very much looking forward to what the dragon bone and Dragon Bead would look like when the refining was finished.
As he was urging his Saint Qi, however, Yang Kai heard a knock at his door. Opening his eyes, Yang Kai slowly retracted his Saint Qi before taking a deep breath to calm his strength. A moment later, he reached out and took the Artifact Refining Furnace back into his body before standing up and walking over to open the stone room’s door.
Dai Yuan stood outside the room, and for some reason seemed to be fidgeting somewhat nervously.
When she felt a residual heat inside the room, she gave Yang Kai a surprised look, instinctively thinking that he was performing Alchemy, but there was no pill or medicinal fragrance in the air, making her somewhat confused.
Setting this puzzle aside, Dai Yuan asked softly, “Can I come in?”
Yang Kai nodded and stepped aside. After Dai Yuan walked in, he closed the door then sat down at the stone table across from Dai Yuan and asked, “Are your preparations complete?”
“En,” Dai Yuan bit her lower lip lightly and nodded.
“Then we should start,” Yang Kai smiled slightly, “But before that, isn’t it about time Sister Dai Yuan tells me what exactly she wants me to help her with?”
“I’ve come here this time to tell you that,” Dai Yuan glanced at him, her eyes exuding a clear and bright light but her cheeks blushing slightly.
This surprised Yang Kai somewhat, making him wonder just what kind of difficulties Dai Yuan wanted to discuss that would cause her to behave this way.
Dai Yuan sat on the edge of her seat, fidgeting nervously as her small hands clenched unconsciously. Only after a long silence did she git her teeth and say, “Actually, I asked Junior Brother Yang to come here to help perform a detoxification on me.”
“Detoxify?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, a look of surprise appeared on his face, “Is Sister Dai Yuan poisoned? I really could not tell. What kind of poison has Sister Dai Yuan been exposed to, please tell me, perhaps I will know how to refine the appropriate detoxifying pill?”
“There is no pill to detoxify the poison I am suffering from,” Dai Yuan hearing this, shook her head bitterly.
“Oh?” Yang Kai immediately became interested. When Dai Yuan asked him back in Dragon Cave Mountain, she did say that her request was related to Alchemy, and detoxification certainly fell into such a category; however, Dai Yuan had now said that there was no appropriate detoxifying pill for her condition, indicating that whatever poison she afflicted with was quite extraordinary. Naturally, this would raise Yang Kai’s curiosity.
Perhaps because he was an Alchemist, Yang Kai was always interested in learning more about herbs and pills.
“What I am suffering from is Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Toxin!” Dai Yuan admitted with a completely solemn and serious look.
“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Toxin…” Yang Kai was stunned, “Isn’t Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass your noble Sect’s greatest treasure? I heard that is a profound Artifact Refining material, but I’ve never heard about it being toxic. How did you become poisoned by such a thing?”
Yang Kai was now very curious because what Dai Yuan had just told him was too incredible.
Although he did not know much about Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, he was certain that this Artifact Refining material itself wasn’t toxic.
“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass is indeed not toxic,” Dai Yuan smiled bitterly, brushing her hair behind her ear before continuing in a low voice, “But what if someone were to ingest it?”
Yang Kai’s face changed slightly as he stared straight at Dai Yuan, his eyes narrowing.
“Junior Brother Yang does not need to suspect; I have indeed swallowed unprocessed Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass for some time now. Ever since I reached the Saint Realm, I have been taking small amounts of it!” Dai Yuan smiled mirthlessly.
“How could that be?” Yang Kai gawked. This woman had been ingesting an Artifact Refining material for many years, how was that different from courting death? Why would anyone do such a thing? And over such a long period of time at that.
“Naturally there is a reason for this,” Dai Yuan seems to have anticipated Yang Kai would react like this so she didn’t show any surprise and simply continued to explain, “Because my Secret Art is the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art. This cultivation technique was created by the Ancestral Founder of my Coloured Glass Sect explicitly because of the existence of Coloured Glass Mountain. In almost every generation of Coloured Glass Sect’s disciple, there will be someone who cultivates this Secret Art, and for the current generation, that disciple is me. In order to cultivate this Secret Art, one needs to regularly ingest Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. “
“Heh, such a strange Secret Art, it doesn’t seem like a good thing,” Yang Kai smiled with a facade.
“En, but for the Sect, it is indispensable. Thousand Illusion Peak has always been used as the place where those who cultivate this Secret Art live, hence its name.”
“The last person who lived here also cultivated this Secret Art?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“Exactly. I grew up beside her since childhood, and this Secret Art was also taught to me by her. She should be regarded as my true master.”
“And her ending?” Yang Kai sneered, “I assume it wasn’t good, right?”
Seemingly because of Yang Kai’s question, Dai Yuan recalled something, and her expression immediately dimmed.
Realizing he had been insensitive, Yang Kai wanted to apologize, but just as he was thinking about how he should comfort her, Dai Yuan smiled and said, “That was her fate. Since she chose this path for herself, she should not have any complaints about It. However, before achieving at least the minor accomplishment stage of this Secret Art, no one can unleash its full power, and over time they will build up toxicity in their body. Eventually, it will reach a point where it can no longer be expelled and advancing further will become precarious. This is knowledge I have acquired from my predecessor and my own life experience. Now, if I want to break through to the Origin Returning Realm, I first need Junior Brother Yang’s help to resolve the Coloured Glass Toxin accumulated in my body over the years, otherwise, I will die!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, somewhat understanding now why she had run millions of kilometres to Dragon Cave Mountain to ask for his help.
However, Dai Yuan had said that before achieving minor accomplishment in this Secret Art, no one could display its full might, something that made Yang Kai realize that the last time he saw Dai Yuan take action, she was not actually using her full strength.
As a number of thoughts flashed across his mind, Yang Kai suddenly seemed to realize something and turned a surprised gaze towards Dai Yuan, “Is your cultivation using this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art related to the collection of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass?”
Coloured Glass Sect requiring someone from every generation cultivate such a dangerous Secret Art must be for an exceptionally important reason, otherwise it would be too much of a waste.
As for what was most important for Coloured Glass Sect, Yang Kai could only think of collecting the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass!
Hearing Yang Kai’s question, Dai Yuan’s complexion changed, and she quickly waved her hands, “Junior Brother Yang, such things cannot be discussed!”
“Ah, I’m right?” Yang Kai’s expression became strange.
Dai Yuan smiled bitterly but didn’t try to deny it again, nodding dispiritedly as she said, “En, I cultivate Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art precisely because it is a requirement to harvest Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. I won’t lie to Junior Brother Yang, since the last Senior who lived here passed away, no one from Coloured Glass Sect has been capable of harvesting Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, and only when I reach the Origin Returning Realm will I be able to. This is one of the Sect’s most closely guarded secrets. What we are discussing here absolutely cannot be said to another soul, otherwise the consequences will be dire.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded hurriedly. His unintentional words had touched upon a great Sect’s core secrets, causing a little cold sweat to drip down his back.
But… Since Dai Yuan was so important to Coloured Glass Sect, why was she essentially ostracized? Shouldn’t she be given the best cultivation resources, cultivation environment, and guidance from the Sect’s Elders?
It seems that there was more to this that he did not know! Yang Kai secretly guessed.
“The last Senior who lived here was a Heaven defying genius. She collected and studied all the experiences and insights the many Seniors who cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art before her and finally developed a safe way to expel the Coloured Glass Toxin. Once successful, one will not need to fear Coloured Glass Toxin anymore. Reaping the benefits of her efforts, I am extremely grateful to her. Unfortunately, by the time she developed this method, the poison had already permeated her body completely and she could no longer resolve it.
“And this solution, it requires someone like me?” Yang Kai asked.
“En, it must be performed by an Origin Grade Alchemist, and this Alchemist must also posses exquisite skills with the control and fusion of various medicinal efficacies. One of the reasons I looked for Junior Brother Yang was because the pills you refined were all incredibly high-quality products, with a number of them nearly forming Pill Veins. The requirement for skill is absolutely not a problem for you.”
Although he had been praised as so by Dai Yuan, Yang Kai still felt a bit puzzled. Although his control of medicinal efficacies was indeed quite good, the five Origin Grade Alchemists from Medicine Pill Sect could not possibly be bad; after all, they had been practising this craft for hundreds of years at least. So, for Dai Yuan to come seek his help instead of that of Medicine Pill Sect, there must be some other reasons.
He did not rush to ask though because he knew that Dai Yuan would definitely explain to him.
Seeing Yang Kai’s intently listening appearance, Dai Yuan smiled and continued, “If it were simply about finding a qualified Alchemist, it wouldn’t be too difficult. The true problem was with gathering the materials needed for this detoxifying method.”
“Oh? What kind of materials are required?” Yang Kai asked.
“There are many, but the previous Senior who lived here spent many years on this and managed to gather ninety percent of what was required, including the most difficult to find, the Yin Pond. My Senior spent a lot of energy to move this Yin Pond back to Thousand Illusion Peak from the place she discovered it. This was the reason I needed Junior Brother Yang to come here with me, because this Yin Pond cannot be moved again, otherwise, I wouldn’t have troubled you so.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, finally understanding why Dai Yuan had insisted he come with her to Coloured Glass Sect. Yin Ponds were an extremely rare treasure. They only formed in places where there was a high density of Yin Qi gathers, which almost always meant that they formed in dark, gloomy locations. Even if a Yin Pond formed, it was useless for most cultivators, but for those who cultivated cold, evil Secret Arts, Yin Ponds were a cultivation treasure, because the pure Yin Qi contained within it could allow such a cultivator to rapidly increase their strength.
Yang Kai had heard of Yin Ponds before but had never seen one with his own eyes.
“Because Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass cannot be suppressed by any of the five main elements, if one wants to expel Coloured Glass Toxin from their body, they need to use a medium like a Yin Pond. By mixing the medicinal efficacies of a number of precious spirit herbs with the water of a Yin Pond, then pouring that medicinal liquid into my body, I will theoretically be able to expel all the Coloured Glass Toxin,” Dai Yuan explained softly.
Yang Kai nodded while listening. With his Alchemy skills and knowledge, although he did not understand the exact process, he felt that this method should be feasible.
After pondering for a moment, he asked, “Since that Senior had found the necessary materials and even managed to move a Yin Pond back to Thousand Illusion Peak, why did she not try to detoxify herself in the end?”
“Because she still lacks one vital component,” Dai Yuan smiled bitterly, “She was unable to obtain a Blood Invigorating Mushroom!”
“A Blood Invigorating Mushroom?” Yang Kai was shocked, “The Blood Invigorating Mushroom, which is used to refine the Blood Mushroom Pill, which is said to be able to bring one back to life from the brink of death?”
Shock filled Yang Kai’s face, as if he had heard something incredible.
“Yes, the Blood Invigorating Mushroom which is used to refine the Blood Mushroom Pill!” Dai Yuan gently nodded, extending her hand and summoning a delicate wooden box onto her palm. Opening the wooden box, a baby fist sized spirit mushroom appeared before Yang Kai’s eyes. This mushroom was quite misshapen and had a multitude of dark red veins on its surface, like there was fresh blood flowing through them. It exuded a pungent scent which bristled one’s nose.
Yang Kai took it solemnly and gently stroked it with his hand, probing it carefully for a while before nodding, “En, it is indeed a Blood Invigorating Mushroom, and its medicinal age is at least three thousand years, moreover… it seems to have been picked recently. Is it from the Flowing Flame Sand Field?”
“Sure enough, Junior Brother Yang was able to see all its details,” Dai Yuan smiled slightly, “I must give my thanks to Junior Brother Yang for this too. This Blood Invigorating Mushroom was something I obtained in the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s fourth layer.”
Yang Kai expression changed as he thought that Dai Yuan’s luck was quite good. Precious treasures and spirit herbs were incredibly sparse in the fourth layer. Yang Kai had travelled across it twice yet the only things of note he managed to harvest were a few strings of Purple Fine Jade Fruit. On the other hand, Dai Yuan had found this Blood Invigorating Mushroom, and it just so happened to be something she desperately needed. It seemed that after he left, Dai Yuan had spent a lot of effort to find this Blood Invigorating Mushroom. Perhaps searching for this Blood Invigorating Mushroom was the main reason she wanted to travel with him to the fourth layer.
After all, with it, she could finally achieve her greatest wish.
“What are you going to do with this Blood Invigorating Mushroom?” Yang Kai closed the box and returned it to her as he asked.
Dai Yuan silently stroked the wooden box in her hand a few times before sighing, “I won’t lie to Junior Brother Yang. Although this detoxifying method was created by the last Senior who lived here, even she was not certain it would succeed because the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Toxin has already penetrated my entire body. Expelling all of it would damage my foundation and dying in the process is not impossible. This Blood Invigorating Mushroom is meant to guarantee that I can at least survive.”
Yang Kai frowned, “If so, wouldn’t it be better to refine it into the Blood Mushroom Pill?”
“The Blood Mushroom Pill…” Dai Yuan laughed bitterly, “Since Junior Brother Yang is an Alchemist, you should be clear that the Blood Mushroom Pill is an Origin Grade High-Rank pill. Can the Alchemists on Shadowed Star even refine such a thing? If we were in the outside world, Junior Brother Yang’s proposal might be reasonable, unfortunately… or, is Junior Brother Yang an Origin Grade High-Rank Alchemist? “
“No!” Yang Kai shook his head. Right now he was an Origin Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, but if he put all his effort into refining a pill and was not concerned about the loss of herbs, there was some small chance could refine an Origin Grade Mid-Rank pill. Refining an Origin Grade High-Rank pill, however, was impossible, so after pondering the issue for a while, he said, “What I mean is, if you aren’t in a hurry, you may wish to wait for some time. Acting hastily might not be for the best, you may be able to find a safer method in the future or find someone capable of refining the Blood Mushroom Pill!”
He did not dare to say that he would refine it himself. Although Yang Kai felt that within a few years he should be able to become an Origin Grade High-Rank Alchemist, he could not go around making irresponsible guarantees like that.
“I can’t wait,” Dai Yuan shook her head bitterly, “If I could wait, I wouldn’t have sought out Junior Brother Yang so anxiously. Because I cultivate the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, when the concentration of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Realm in my body reaches a certain point, my cultivation must increase to match it. At most, I can only delay for another six months. Half a year from now, whether I am willing to or not, I must attempt to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. If I succeed, I will have a chance to survive, but if I fail, with my current cultivation, I will not be able to suppress the Coloured Glass Toxin in my body and will die. Although taking the Blood Invigorating Mushroom directly will dramatically reduce its effectiveness and is truly a waste of Heaven’s precious gifts, at present, it is my only option.”
“There’s really no other way?” Yang Kai frowned.
“None!” Dai Yuan smiled gently, “Many thanks for your concern, Junior Brother Yang, but since I have decided to do this, I have already prepared myself. No matter whether this detoxification will succeed or not, I must try. All the Seniors who cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art before me did not even have such a chance, so I cannot complain.”
Yang Kai sighed softly and ceased tried to dissuade her, instead just nodding, “Since you have already decided, then so be it. Just tell me what you need my help with, I will definitely go all out.”
When Dai Yuan heard this, she was filled with joy and gratitude, “Then I will offer my thanks in advance to Junior Brother Yang. I’ll inform you now about the detoxifying process. Please listen carefully. After we begin, I won’t have the spare energy to respond to any questions you might have.”
“En.”
Then, Dai Yuan began describing the detoxification method to Yang Kai. Of course, this method and its details were formulated by Dai Yuan’s Senior from the Coloured Glass Sect and they improved upon until she died. As Yang Kai listened, he could not help feeling a sense of admiration towards this Coloured Glass Sect Senior as this method was quite ingenious.
However, as she was explaining the various steps involved in this detoxifying method, Dai Yuan’s face was constantly blushing bright red and her eyes would often shift uncomfortably, her voice going from high to low, highlighting her restlessness. Even though she knew that this was not the time to be feeling shy, she couldn’t stop herself, and the innocent yet flustered look that filled her eyes added a unique charm to them.
Yang Kai finally understood why Dai Yuan had been reluctant to tell him the details of her request before now. It turned out that this detoxifying method required quite a bit of intimate physical contact.
Dai Yuan blushing constantly was understandable considering all this. Any woman would have such an expression when facing a man and telling him how to press and inject various medicinal liquids into her body.
After all, if they went through with this, it was inevitable that some awkward moments would occur.
Although Yang Kai had not met Coloured Glass Sect’s Grandmaster Xiao, he was fairly certain that the other party was an old man, otherwise, Dai Yuan wouldn’t have said that asking him was inconvenient.
Among the five Grandmasters of Medicine Pill Sect, four of them were also old men; only one was an old woman.
Compared to having to ask these old men, Dai Yuan would rather choose Yang Kai. Fortunately, Yang Kai was an extraordinary talent that could reluctantly be considered a brave and heroic-looking young man, so Dai Yuan’s feelings of rejection were somewhat weaker. Of course, if it were possible, she would have preferred to ask the female Grandmaster from Medicine Pill Sect; after all, between two females, things would obviously be less troublesome.
However, she could not afford to pay such a big price.
Yang Kai’s musings on the subject almost completely matched with Dai Yuan’s worries. Her becoming an Alchemist in the first place was probably because she wanted to carry out this detoxifying herself.
Unfortunately, she did not have time to raise her Alchemy level high enough. She was currently just a Saint King Grade Alchemist, and that would not be of any use in this situation.
While Dai Yuan’s face showed much embarrassment as she explained, Yang Kai’s face remained indifferent. He did not show any superfluous emotion and simply listened attentively, refusing to miss the slightest detail. Seeing Yang Kai’s performance, Dai Yuan also gradually relaxed and began seeing him as a professional. Currently, her relationship with Yang Kai was somewhat similar to that between a doctor and patient.
With such thinking, Dai Yuan’s expression gradually became tranquil.
Over the next day or so, Yang Kai actively asked questions whenever they came to key points in the process. Dai Yuan naturally understood this and would answer him in detail.
One night later, Dai Yuan finished her explanation and Yang Kai had completely committed the detoxification method to memory and understood what needed to be done.
“Has Junior Brother Yang remembered everything?” Dai Yuan looked at him and asked. Although she hadn’t rested for an entire night, she didn’t show any signs of sleepiness, instead seeming even more energetic than when they had started, probably because she felt some excitement about approaching what would be the most important moment in her entire life so far.
“I’ve remembered it all!” Yang Kai nodded lightly before casting a thoughtful glance at Dai Yuan, pausing for a moment before saying, “Your mood is a bit unstable right now, you should rest and adjust yourself for a bit. How about we begin two days from now?”
Although Dai Yuan couldn’t wait to start right away, since Yang Kai had said so, she was not in a position to object. Nodding her head, she mentioned a few small details with Yang Kai before getting up and returning to her room.
After Dai Yuan left, Yang Kai sat on the stone bed in the room and rubbed his chin for a while. A short time later, he waved his hand and brought out a number of herbs from his Space Ring.
Immediately after, Yang Kai summoned his Alchemy furnace and pushed his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy, wrapping up the different spirit herbs and rapidly condensing the medicinal liquid inside them.
Two days passed by rapidly and when Yang Kai opened his eyes from his meditation and swept his surroundings with his Divine Sense, he discovered Dai Yuan standing outside. After two days of restoration and adjustment, her mood had become tranquil and all traces of joy and sadness had disappeared from her face. There was no urgency in her aura as she stood outside, waiting patiently for Yang Kai to come out.
Yang Kai smiled lightly when he saw that Dai Yuan had adjusted herself appropriately and quickly got up, walked over, and opened the door.
Dai Yuan noticed this movement and raised her eyes to meet Yang Kai’s, smiling lightly as they did.
“Let’s begin!” Yang Kai gestured. Dai Yuan nodded and led the way.
Passing through the massive stone chamber with the Natural Spirit Array, Dai Yuan led Yang Kai to separate tunnel. This tunnel gently spiralled down into the depths of the mountain; stairs were cut into the ground though so it wasn’t difficult to descend. On both sides of this tunnel were numerous luminous stones that gave off a soft radiance.
As Dai Yuan descended these stairs Yang Kai said nothing, but he did release his Divine Sense to investigate down below.
After descending to a certain depth, Yang Kai suddenly felt a cold chill in the air. This kind of cold wasn’t solely the result of low temperatures, but rather a spiritual chill that caused one’s skin to crawl. This phenomenon was a result of highly concentrated Yin Qi.
It seemed that the Yin Pond Dai Yuan mentioned was at the bottom of this tunnel Yang Kai thought to himself.
Naturally, this kind of coldness couldn’t cause any trouble to Yang Kai; even without pushing his Saint Qi, he could easily resist it with his flesh body alone. The same was also true of Dai Yuan. Although her physique wasn’t as powerful as Yang Kai’s, her Third-Order Saint King cultivation wasn’t for show. On top of that, the Yin Pond had been here for many years so presumably Dai Yuan had visited it countless times in preparation for the detoxification and gradually adapted to it.
The further down the pair went, the stronger the feeling of coldness became.
After half an incense stick worth of time, Dai Yuan finally had to circulate her Saint Qi to protect her body, releasing a faint light barrier that surrounded her figure.
Sometime later, bright light appeared before Yang Kai and Dai Yuan and the pair arrived at a large stone room. This stone room was completely empty, but if one looked around, they would notice that a thick, cold aura permeated the air as eerie white wisps floated about randomly.
The stone walls of this chamber were covered in white frost and the temperature here could only be described as frigid.
In the middle of the stone chamber, there is a small pool less than ten metres in diametre out of which plumes of visible Yin Qi wisps were escaping.
Yang Kai’s face changed slightly, “Sister Dai Yuan, is this Yin Pond a thousand-year Yin Pond or a ten-thousand-year Yin Pond?”
Dai Yuan seemed to know what Yang Kai wanted to ask and replied with a smile, “According to my Senior, this Yin Pond is somewhere between five and six thousand years old.”
Yang Kai frowned, “The innate chill in a Yin Pond this old is not something you can withstand, are you sure you want to continue?”
Yin Ponds were categorized by their age. Yang Kai hadn’t heard Dai Yuan describe this Yin Pond in detail, but assuming it wouldn’t be too dangerous for her to immerse herself in it, he hadn’t asked anything. However, such an old Yin Pond would likely turn Dai Yuan into a frozen sculpture the moment she entered it.
Dai Yuan smiled slightly, “Please don’t worry, Junior Brother Yang, I have done plenty of preparations and merged the essence of many Fire Attribute and Yang Attribute herbs into this Yin Pond’s water to temper its cold power. On top of that, I am an Alchemist myself and have cultivated a set of Fire Attribute Secret Arts, so as long I am careful, there shouldn’t be any problems, not to mention… if I don’t continue now, I can only sit waiting for death. If it Junior Brother Yang in my situation, what choice would you make?”
Yang Kai fell silent, knowing that Dai Yuan had been forced into this situation and had no other choice, so he no longer tried to dissuade her.
“Junior Brother Yang may rest assured; I have left a letter in the room where I normally meditate. If something unexpected happens this time and I fall, you can take the letter to my Honoured Master. The letter explains everything we have discussed and are about to attempt. After seeing it, she will not embarrass you. My Honoured Master is Great Elder Gong Ao Fu, if you go to Myriad Crystal Peak, you will be able to find her!”
This conversation which sounded like a last will made Yang Kai feel a little bit uncomfortable, but he still nodded and said, “Understood!”
Dai Yuan smiled and nodded before motioning, “Please follow me.”
A moment later, the two arrived beside the Yin Pond. Yang Kai looked inside and discovered that the water in this pool wasn’t very deep, only about a metre or so in total, but what was noticeable was that it didn’t have the slightest impurity in it and was completely still, allowing one to peer through it as if it didn’t even exist. It seemed like pure, ordinary water, but if someone who cultivated a Yin Attribute Secret Art were to see this stagnant pool, they would undoubtedly be ecstatic and try to obtain it at any cost.
This Yin Pond’s effects on such a cultivator would simply be too great, no less than some top-class precious treasures or rare elixirs.
Looking closer, Yang Kai noticed traces of a Spirit Array arranged around this Yin Pond. It was probably a Spirit Array left by the Senior who moved this Yin Pond here to bind and stabilize it.
Dai Yuan pointed to a place nearby and said, “Please sit here, Junior Brother Yang. This will be the optimum location for us to cooperate.”
“Alright!” Yang Kai nodded, immediately moved to the indicated position, and sat down cross-legged.
“Is there anything left to prepare?” Dai Yuan asked, but seemed to be talking to herself as she turned to stare at the Yin Pond with a somewhat complex look. After a moment, she smiled again and said, “Junior Brother Yang, no matter what happens next, Dai Yuan would like to sincerely thank you. You are the only one who has been willing to help me these past two decades and the only friend I have made during that time.”
Saying so, with a serious look upon her face, she cupped her fists and bowed elegantly to Yang Kai.
Twenty years…
Yang Kai brow twitched slightly. It seems that Dai Yuan’s situation in Coloured Glass Sect was a bit different from what Wu Yi’s previously managed to inquire about. The outward changes may have only happened ten years ago, but they clearly started more than ten years before that.
Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er must have become friends with her before that point so they couldn’t be counted.
Yang Kai waved his hand lightly, “Sister Dai Yuan is too polite. This matter is only a slight effort for me. En, take this bottle of medicinal liquid.”
Saying so, Yang Kai handed her a jade bottle.
“This is…” Dai Yuan took the Jade Bottle and looked at Yang Kai curiously.
“This is a medicinal liquid I concocted myself. Although I can’t refine the Blood Mushroom Pill, if you take this bottle of medicinal liquid together with the Blood Invigorating Mushroom, it can stimulate its efficacies an additional ten or twenty percent. It should have some use for you. At my current Alchemy level, this is the best I can do,” Yang Kai said with some slight regret.
The Blood Invigorating Mushroom was extremely rare, and the Blood Mushroom Pill was very difficult to refine. The value of a Blood Mushroom Pill was definitely not under that of an ordinary Origin King Grade pill, possibly even more so than some, because a Blood Mushroom Pill could bring a cultivator back from the brink of death. This kind of life-saving pill was the most valuable treasure for cultivators who constantly risked their lives.
It was truly a pity he was unable to refine such a pill at his current level and could only use this kind of shoddy method to somewhat stimulate the medicinal effects of the Blood Invigorating Mushroom.
Over the previous two days, Yang Kai had spent much of his time preparing this medicinal liquid.
When Dai Yuan heard his explanation, she wore a look of surprise and unconsciously tightened her grip on the jade bottle. Without even checking its content, she joyfully thanked Yang Kai, “Many thanks for Junior Brother Yang’s efforts. Dai Yuan will certainly live up to your expectations.”
At this moment, she felt that asking Yang Kai for his help was the best decision she could have made, because even if she went to Grandmaster Xiao of her Sect or invited one of the Medicine Pill Sect Elders, they would definitely not have taken the initiative to concoct this bottle of medicinal liquid to help her.
With this bottle of medicinal liquid, her chance of success had instantly increased by at least ten percent, how could Dai Yuan not be happy?
“I’ll be troubling Junior Brother Yang!” Dai Yuan put away the bottle of medical liquid and said solemnly to Yang Kai and before waiting for his response, she spun around and dropped her robes, leaving her in only her undergarments.
Seemingly having prepared for this moment as well, her undergarments were all black and although they outlined her exquisite figure, they were as unrevealing and plain as possible.
That said, a crimson glow still adorned her face. Not willing to remain in such an embarrassing state for a moment longer than necessary, Dai Yuan’s figure flickered as she jumped directly into the Yin Pond.
Without the slightest splash of water, the moment Dai Yuan entered the Yin Pond, she let out a groan as a look of pain flashed across her face. The Yin Pond water also seemed to be stimulated by the invasion of a foreign body and immediately began to roil up, creating a white mist that seemed to come to life and spread towards Dai Yuan.
*Kacha…*
With a crisp crackling sound, a thin layer of ice quickly began forming on Dai Yuan’s tender body; however, Dai Yuan quickly circulated her Secret Art and began releasing a blazing heat from her skin, dispersing this layer of ice.
The white fog, however, did not retreat and instead began spread more and more fiercely towards her. Dai Yuan finally could not bear it any longer and let out a pitiful cry as a multi-coloured light erupted from her body.
This light was incredibly strange. Rather than saying it was a single light halo, it appeared more like tens of thousands of individual rays all being released simultaneously. Yang Kai head suddenly ached and he felt as if his soul had been shaken. His Knowledge Sea also trembled slightly and a kind of invisible pressure descended upon him, making his thoughts become slightly sluggish.
Coloured Glass Divine Light!
Yang Kai was shocked by this but quickly steadied himself and focused his attention on Dai Yuan’s body.
Although he had long heard Yang Yan say that the Coloured Glass Divine Light from Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain had the effect of suppressing Souls, he had never expected that it would actually be so mysterious. This suppression was virtually impossible to guard against.
According to Dai Yuan, Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass could not be suppressed by any of the five elements, and now Yang Kai was experiencing this firsthand. The light emanating from Dai Yuan’s body directly penetrated his Knowledge Sea defenses and was even able to somewhat suppress his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy.
Fortunately, Dai Yuan had not deliberately been targeting Yang Kai and Yang Kai himself was not an ordinary cultivator. So, although he was a little shocked initially, he was immediately able to resist the influence of this Coloured Glass Divine Light and subsequently release his Conflagrated Divine Sense to envelop Dai Yuan.
Currently, Dai Yuan was experiencing severe pain, causing her already disfigured face to warp into an even more unsightly appearance. However, what Yang Kai found surprising was that her entire body was covered in pockmarks and pustules, completely opposite to an ordinary beautiful woman’s smooth and delicate skin.
Even after disrobing, Dai Yuan’s black undergarments had concealed much of her bare skin from Yang Kai’s sight, but after she entered the Yin Pond, these thing coverings became soaked and clung tightly to her figure. At the same time, Yang Kai was covering her with his powerful Divine Sense, so he immediately discovered this issue.
It seemed that besides her two exposed hands, which seemed to be carved from the finest jade, the rest of Dai Yuan’s body was just like her face, nothing short of unsightly.
The side-effects of this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art were simply too great! Yang Kai immediately understood that it was Dai Yuan’s special Secret Art that had caused her to become like this.
“Junior Brother Yang…” Just as Yang Kai was slightly distracted, Dai Yuan grit her teeth and shouted tremblingly.
Yang Kai came back to his senses when he heard her voice and nodded, “Let’s begin!”
In the next instant, Dai Yuan completely opened an acupuncture point on her chest and madly began drawing the Yin Pond’s water into her body. When the frigid cold water poured inside her chest, Dai Yuan shuddered uncontrollably, but she still clenched her teeth tightly as her lips went purple and gazed fixedly towards Yang Kai with her beautiful eyes.
Yang Kai did not say a word, poured his Conflagrated Divine Sense into Dai Yuan’s open acupuncture point, and immediately began forming several sets of Alchemy Spirit Arrays inside her body.
“Conflagrated Divine Sense!” Dai Yuan’s eyes bulged in surprise. She had not expected Yang Kai to possess a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea. According to her original plan, Yang Kai would need to press his hands onto her chest to carefully infuse his Saint Qi into her body, treating it like an Alchemy furnace and using the various medicinal efficacies contained in the Yin Pond’s water to refine then expel the Coloured Glass Toxin.
When discussing the details of this method before, Yang Kai had not disclosed that he possessed a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, but at this moment, Dai Yuan wasn’t the slightest bit dissatisfied, because since this was the case, Yang Kai wouldn’t need to have any intimate contact with her body.
This shocked her and also put her at bit more at ease; after all, she was an unmarried, innocent young woman. Being touched all over by a young man she wasn’t in love with was naturally not something she wished for.
Just as such thoughts were flashing across Dai Yuan’s mind, centred on her chest’s open acupuncture point, a six-centimetre-wide circle of her skin was flooded with a swirl of the Yin Pond’s water. Under the control of Yang Kai Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, the medicinal efficacies contained in this water were incorporated into Dai Yuan’s flesh, causing an uncomfortable ache to spread from her chest. Dai Yuan’s breathing instantly became laboured as it felt like something had suddenly blocked the flow of her strength in that spot.
Under the effects of the Spirit Arrays Yang Kai had portrayed, however, the various conflicting medicinal efficacies in the Yin Pond’s water blended, then forced a thread of strange glowing material out of Dai Yuan’s chest.
This glowing thread-like object did not dissipate in the Yin Pond though and instead began swirling about without the slightest hindrance.
Soon, another similar thread was forced out, and as time passed, more and more filaments were driven from Dai Yuan’s body, causing the entire Yin Pond to take on a strange luminescence.
After half an hour, Dai Yuan felt the feeling of suffocation in her chest suddenly disappear and her blocked Saint Qi began circulating again. The frigid chill which had originally been difficult for her to resist also no longer caused her any discomfort.
Dai Yuan was overjoyed and could not care about anything else, quickly releasing her Divine Sense to examine her chest.
There was no more Coloured Glass Toxin in the parts of her physique, which was centred on the previously open acupuncture point and her skin had finally been restored to its normal state, taking on a rosy, jade white complexion with none of the previous ugly, pitted areas remaining.
Because she was still soaking in the Yin Pond though, there was a bluish tint to her flesh from the cold, but that could not cover the stark contrast this portion of her body had with the rest of her figure.
Dai Yuan’s eyes nearly teared up and under the trembling of her emotions she almost allowed the Yin Pond’s water to pour into her body unchecked.
“Stabilize your mind and don’t get distracted, you can inspect yourself all you want after everything is finished!” Yang Kai’s firm shout entered Dai Yuan’s ears in the next instant, waking her from her surprise. Glancing over and seeing Yang Kai sitting cross-legged nearby, still pushing his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy into her body to blend the medicinal efficacies for the procedure, his expression calm and steady, not showing the slightest trace of embarrassment, Dai Yuan calmed down, nodded, and opened another of her acupuncture points to draw in the Yin Pond’s water.
Yang Kai immediately coordinated with her, not daring to hesitate!
Under the intense scrutiny of his Divine Sense, although Yang Kai was able to see every part of Dai Yuan’s body, equivalent to her standing in front of him completely naked, at this moment he had not the slightest stray thought, instead focusing all of his attention on meticulously urging the efficacies of the Yin Pond.
Dai Yuan had mixed a large number of herbs into this Yin Pond over the years so it was not difficult to resolve the Coloured Glass Toxin in her body, the tricky part was fusing these medicinal efficacies into Dai Yuan’s physique at a rate she was able to bear.
Fusing the medicinal efficacies into Dai Yuan’s body was not too troublesome as she was an Alchemist as well. So, when Yang Kai used his Conflagrated Divine Sense, she only needed to cooperate with him.
However, Yang Kai could do nothing about the speed at which they proceeded as that was completely dependent on Dai Yuan’s own willpower.
The Coloured Glass Toxin had penetrated deep into her body, so every time a part of it was is expelled, not only were the toxins removed, but part of her vital energy was as well. Doing this once or twice was not an issue, but as it was done more and more, Dai Yuan’s life would increasingly be at risk.
The reality of the situation was unfortunately as brutal as they had expected. Every time the toxin was forced out of a section of Dai Yuan’s body, it would take at least a stick of incense worth of time, so after half a day, less than one-fifth of her body had been purified, but Dai Yuan’s aura had already begun to fluctuate and her complexion had grown as pale as paper.
Fortunately, Dai Yuan had fully prepared for this. Taking out some pills from her Space Ring, she tossed them into her mouth and was able to restore some colour to her face.
Seeing this, Yang Kai also slightly slowed down the movement of his hands, giving her enough time to refine these pills.
However, Yang Kai and Dai Yuan did not dare to waste too much time; after all, Dai Yuan experienced enormous consumption for every moment she remained immersed in the Yin Pond. As such, after just a short break, the two began the detoxifying process again.
As time passed by, more and more of the Coloured Glass Toxin in Dai Yuan’s body was expelled, but Yang Kai’s expression only became graver.
He could not see whether Dai Yuan could overcome this challenge, because even now, she was beginning to overdraw her vitality and was barely maintaining her bodily functions and cooperating with Yang Kai on the detoxification. This was not a sustainable situation, and once she could no longer endure, Dai Yuan would definitely die.
Even if she managed to insist, Dai Yuan would end up a convalescent for a long time afterwards.
However, there was no turning back now; whether it was Yang Kai or Dai Yuan, they had no choice but to finish the detoxification one way or the other.
Seemingly feeling the concern in Yang Kai’s gaze, Dai Yuan, who was even now struggling to support herself, suddenly opened her eyes and forced out a smile that was uglier than a grimace and said, “I can handle it, so Junior Brother Yang does not need to have any scruples, please act fully!”
Yang Kai look became solemn, and after feeling her determination, he nodded silently and pushed his Conflagrated Divine Sense even more forcefully, forming a new set of Spirit Arrays inside Dai Yuan’s unguarded body, drawing in the Yin Pond’s water, and cleansing her physique with the medicinal efficacies.
Dai Yuan released pitiful screams again and again, her voice extremely bleak, as if she was suffering inhuman torture.
Another day passed by, and most of Dai Yuan’s body had been restored to its original state. Under the investigation of his Divine Sense, Yang Kai confirmed that she had the capital ordinary women could only dream of. Her skin was jade white and had a mesmerising tenderness to it, while her figure was nothing short of astonishing with rich curves in all the right places, even her pockmarked face had transformed into an alluring vision. Besides her complexion being slightly blue, there was no trace of her former, unbearable appearance and all that remained was a stunning beauty that could ignite a fire in any man’s heart.
Combined with her severely weakened and fragile state, Dai Yuan currently appeared incredibly charming.
Yang Kai had long expected this though, so he was not surprised and continued to focus on the task at hand.
At a certain moment, Yang Kai took back his Conflagrated Divine Sense and shouted vigorously, “Quickly swallow the Blood Invigorating Mushroom!”
Dai Yuan was barely conscious now, her pair of beautiful eyes dull and glazed over. Currently, she only knew how to unconsciously cooperate with Yang Kai’s movements and was relying solely on the obsession in her heart to persist.
Nevertheless, after hearing Yang Kai’s shout, a touch of clarity returned to Dai Yuan’s eyes and she swiftly took out the wooden box containing the Blood Invigorating Mushroom from her Space Ring, opened it, and swallowed the contents. Immediately after, she took out the jade bottle Yang Kai had handed her and drank down the medical liquid it contained.
When these precious medicines entered her abdomen, Dai Yuan’s conditional finally began to improve, the paleness on her face was quickly replaced with a strong crimson blush as the blood in her veins began to rapidly circulate. The massive amount of vitality contained in the Blood Invigorating Mushroom began coursing through her body, rapidly restoring the vital energy she had lost.
Yang Kai did not wait for her to completely refine the Blood Invigorating Mushroom’s medicinal efficacies before wrapping her in his Conflagrated Divine Sense again.
Success or failure would depend on these final moments. If Dai Yuan’s will was strong enough, she should have a thirty percent chance of making it; if not, she would exhaust her vitality completely and fall.
Dai Yuan understood this better than anyone else and immediately began fully cooperating with Yang Kai.
In an instant, the entire Yin Pond became turbulent as its water madly flooded into Dai Yuan’s body, causing her figure to be enveloped in layers of thick white mist while strange glowing filaments were constantly forced out of her physique.
Thousands of metres below Thousand Illusion Peak’s summit, beside a ten-metre-wide Yin Pond, Yang Kai sat cross-legged, his brow slightly furrowed as he stared at an unremarkable looking grey bead he was playing with in his hand.
Dai Yuan’s detoxification had been completed, and by the Heaven’s grace, she was able to survive and purge all the Coloured Glass Toxin from her body. Currently, she was in a comatose state, but before she fell completely unconscious, she had suddenly opened her mouth and spat out this small bead and told Yang Kai it was a Coloured Glass Bead, then passed out.
Yang Kai brought her out of the Yin Pond, used his Saint Qi to dry the frigid water from her body, then draped his robes over her before settling down nearby.
If possible, Yang Kai wanted to carry her back to her room to rest, but with Dai Yuan currently only wearing tight fitting undergarments, picking her up and holding her close was a bit inconvenient.
There didn’t seem to be anything special about the bead in his hand, and could have been written off as worthless by those who only casually saw it, but as Yang Kai carefully observed this bead, he discovered to his amazement that its interior contained thousands of rays of multi-coloured light that perfectly matched the Coloured Glass Divine Light he had seen before. These rays of light were even capable of suppressing his Divine Sense and penetrating his Knowledge Sea defenses to shake his Soul.
Yang Kai immediately understood that this seemingly ordinary bead was an extraordinary treasure.
Although Yang Kai had not personally seen Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass before, he could tell that the formation of this bead must have something to do with the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass that Dai Yuan had been ingesting to cultivate her Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art. However, after thoroughly inspecting it, Yang Kai discovered something quite strange. While this bead was somewhat like an Alchemy pill, it also had properties resembling an Artifact Refining material. It seemed to be an existence that was situated somewhere between these two, making it difficult to classify.
As he was holding this Coloured Glass Bead appreciatively, Yang Kai expression suddenly changed, and he quickly glanced over towards Dai Yuan who was still lying nearby.
Dai Yuan’s long eyelashes had just fluttered slightly, and her delicate jade fingers seemed to have flexed. Obvious signs that she was about to wake up.
Looking at her completely unrecognizable face, Yang Kai could not help letting out a sigh of admiration. Before purging the Coloured Glass Toxin, Dai Yuan’s appearance had been quite unsightly, but now she had become an extraordinary beauty, even slightly superior to Yin Su Die.
Yang Kai was not confident that if she had such an appearance before she entered the Yin Pond, he would have been able to maintain a completely calm state. Thinking about it carefully, he felt that his heart would have been at least a bit unsteady; after all, what man would be able to remain completely indifferent when facing such an alluring woman when she was nearly naked.
A short time later, Dai Yuan opened her eyes and began to stir, quickly discovering that she was currently very weak.
“Since you’re awake, quickly adjust your breathing, your current state is quite frail,” Yang Kai lightly encouraged.
Hearing this, Dai Yuan moved her gaze and quickly found Yang Kai sitting close to her, looking at her with a smile. Seeing him, she tried to say something, but did not have the strength to form the words.
After discovering that the robes Yang Kai had previously been wearing were missing and that there was something covering her, Dai Yuan’s beautiful eyes flashed a trace of gratitude and security, immediately closing her eyes again and silently circulating a healing art.
Two hours later, Dai Yuan slowly sat up, and after properly dressing herself, she took out many restorative pills she had prepared in advance from her Space Ring and began swallowing them while continuing to meditate.
Another day later, Dai Yuan exhaled deeply and opened her eyes again. This time, her beautiful eyes were full of vitality, and it even seemed that her cultivation had grown. Although her face was still pale, it was no longer moribund; if she continued to meditate, it would only be a matter of time before she completely recovered.
Getting up lithely, Dai Yuan walked over to Yang Kai and bowed deeply, “Dai Yuan thanks Junior Brother Yang. If I had not had Junior Brother Yang’s help this time, I am afraid I would have already fallen. Dai Yuan will never forget Junior Brother Yang’s life saving grace.”
Yang Kai also stood up and shook his head with a smile and said lightly, “It was thanks to your own efforts that you managed to pass through this ordeal, I did not do anything.”
Dai Yuan shook her head slowly, “Junior Brother Yang thinks too highly of me, I know that if I had not sought out Junior Brother Yang but instead asked Grandmaster Xiao or one of the Elders from Medicine Pill Sect, I would definitely not be standing here now. If nothing else, the bottle of medicinal liquid Junior Brother Yang gave me must have been refined from many precious herbs, yes? Without that bottle of medicinal liquid, I would not have been able to endure the last few hours of the detoxification.”
Dai Yuan had clearly felt that after taking the Blood Invigorating Mushroom and the bottle of medicinal liquid, her lost vital energy had been greatly restored, and as time passed, it continued to be supplemented.
It was precisely because of this that she was able to persist until the end. Otherwise, she would have fallen halfway through.
Taking the Blood Invigorating Mushroom directly would not have produced such an effect. If it had been the Blood Mushroom Pill Dai Yuan had taken, such a result would not be unexpected, but simply consuming the Blood Invigorating Mushroom without refining it at all could not achieve this. As such, it was obvious that this long-lasting effect was due to the unknown bottle of medicinal liquid!
Although Dai Yuan did not know what the medicinal liquid Yang Kai gave her had cost him, she was clear that it wasn’t something ordinary. Yang Kai did not even mention this though, showing the depths of his generosity, but how could Dai Yuan not be concerned about it?
Hearing her say this, Yang Kai did not try to deny or confirm anything.
What Dai Yuan did not know was that although the bottle of medicinal liquid had indeed cost Yang Kai a lot of precious spirit herbs, the most important ingredient was actually a drop of his Golden Blood. Yang Kai’s Golden Blood contained an enormous amount of vital energy, which was naturally the best supplement for Dai Yuan’s damaged vitality.
“Regardless of the process, Sister Dai Yuan ultimately succeeded, something worth celebrating! En, congratulations!” Yang Kai let out a laugh as he changed the subject.
A charming smile blossomed on Dai Yuan’s face as she turned around and gazed at her peerless appearance reflected in the calm Yin Pond water, her beautiful eyes flashing a clear and vibrant light.
Yang Kai stood to the side without disturbing her, allowing Dai Yuan to savour the joy of regaining her original beauty.
After a while, Dai Yuan suddenly reached out and waved her sleeve, causing her mesmerizing reflection in the Yin Pond to ripple and disappear.
Immediately, Dai Yuan circulated her Saint Qi and under Yang Kai’s stunned gaze, the beautiful appearance she had just regained reverted back to the ugly pockmarked one she had just rid herself of!
Seeing this, Yang Kai could not help frowning slightly.
All women wished to be beautiful, and Dai Yuan was no exception. If that were not the case, she wouldn’t have lost her calm when the Heaven Battling Union disciple had taunted her so back in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, nor would she have revealed such a strong look of nostalgia just now.
However, since she had done this, she must have her own reasons. Yang Kai did not ask anything, but feeling a bit curious, he used his Divine Sense to sweep her face and was amazed to discover that he couldn’t see any flaws in this disguise. It was as if Dai Yuan’s face had really reverted to its former ugly appearance.
This surprised Yang Kai quite a bit; after all, he had seen Dai Yuan’s true face just now with his own eyes.
Although Yang Kai had not asked anything, Dai Yuan took the initiative to explain, “Junior Brother Yang may laugh if he likes. I simply think that now is not a good time to reveal this matter, so I can only conceal it for the time being. It won’t be too late to inform my Honoured Master about this after I break through to the Origin Returning Realm.”
“Sister Dai Yuan has clearly considered this matter carefully,” Yang Kai nodded in agreement before immediately asking, “May I ask Sister Dai Yuan what the use of this bead is?”
Saying so, he took out the Coloured Glass Bead and held it up.
Dai Yuan looked at the Coloured Glass Bead and smiled lightly, “Right, I was only able to take out this bead and didn’t inform Junior Brother Yang about its uses. En, in a sense, to me, this bead is somewhat similar to a Monster Core from a Monster Beast!”
“A Monster Core?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“En, because the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art was created based on how Monster Beast’s cultivate. Junior Brother Yang should know that some Monster Beasts have an innate ability to devour various minerals, extract mineral essence, and then store them in their Monster Core, right? Cultivating the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art imitates this process by taking Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass into my body and producing this bead.”
Yang Kai was truly surprised by this revelation, but quickly realizing a certain point, he hastily asked, “If that is the case, now that you’ve lost this bead, won’t it have a negative effect on you?”
“There is indeed some negative impact, but it’s nothing serious. While it is analogous to a Monster Core, it is not as vital to me as a core would be to a Monster Beast. As long as I have enough time and enough Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass, I can continuously produce such beads.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai felt relieved while secretly thinking to himself that the master who created this Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art was really a Heaven defying genius. A Secret Art that actually allowed a cultivator to produce a bead similar to a Monster Beast’s Core in their own body. It was no wonder when he was investigating it, Yang Kai had felt it was like an Alchemy pill while also resembling an Artifact Refining material.
Dai Yuan looked at Yang Kai with a smile and exhaled an orchid scent as she continued, “Although this Coloured Glass Bead is important to me, having it or not will not affect me greatly. On the other hand, it will be extremely useful for Junior Brother Yang.”
“Oh? I hope Sister Dai Yuan can explain clearly!” Yang Kai looked at her curiously. He had been investigating this Coloured Glass Bead for quite some time but had yet to figure out what exactly he was supposed to do with it. He had planned on asking Yang Yan, but now that he heard Dai Yuan say this, it would obviously be easier to get an explanation from her.
“If Junior Brother Yang can refine this Coloured Glass Bead, perhaps you will be able to comprehend some of its mysteries; after all, it is formed from concentrated Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass essence. If Junior Brother Yang can comprehend the mysterious of the Coloured Glass Divine Light, it will allow you to obtain a powerful technique to use in battle. With Junior Brother Yang’s aptitude, and the assistance of this Coloured Glass Bead, I would estimate you have an eighty percent chance of success.”
“Coloured Glass Divine Light!” Yang Kai expression brightened. Before, when he was helping Dai Yuan with her detoxification, he had suffered a small loss from this Coloured Glass Divine Light, clearly illustrating the power of this strange multi-coloured light. Ordinarily, without cultivating the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, no other cultivator had any chance of comprehending how to use Coloured Glass Divine Light, but with the help of this Coloured Glass Bead, such a feat might be possible. Yang Kai was naturally overjoyed to learn this.
Gill: 13 chapters this week!!!
(forgot to add this as I was feeling a tad sick soz)
If this was really the case, this gift from Dai Yuan could not be underestimated!
“Junior Brother Yang need not worry, this Coloured Glass Bead is different from the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass I took, it has no toxic side effects. If Junior Brother Yang carefully refines it, there should be no problems. This is the compensation I promised Junior Brother Yang before. Dai Yuan has no other things of real value as all my resources have been spent on preparing for this detoxification. I hope Junior Brother Yang will not refuse.” What Dai Yuan did not tell Yang Kai was that this one Coloured Glass Bead was the result of her diligently cultivating the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art for more than twenty years. Although she had now reached the minor accomplishment stage in this Secret Art and could condense another Coloured Glass Bead, doing so would take several years of effort.
Yang Kai grinned, “I am very satisfied with this reward, Sister Dai Yuan is too considerate.”
Saying so, he put away the Coloured Glass Bead before turning to look at the nearly drained Yin Pond and said, “Since this matter has been settled, we should head back up.”
“En, after so many days of delay, Sister Yang Yan must have grown anxious,” Dai Yuan smiled lightly and led Yang Kai back up to the main cave. It seemed that because she had restored her original appearance, every movement Dai Yuan made now contained a kind of innate charm, completely different from her indifferent aura from before, a fact that secretly surprised Yang Kai.
Not long after, the two returned to the upper cave where they separated and returned to their respective rooms.
After taking out the Coloured Glass Bead and playing with it for a while, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed as he had just thought up something, a grin slowly appearing on his face. At that moment though, the door to his stone room was pushed open and Yang Yan, wrapped in her trademark black robe, walked inside.
“Is everything done?” Yang Yan asked.
“En.”
“Good, then we should leave,” Yang Yan seemed a little anxious but did not ask about what Dai Yuan had wanted Yang Kai to help her with.
“What happened?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Nothing happened, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to remain here for too long. Xiao Xiao has been gone for seven or eight days now so it’s about time for him to come back. Being too greedy may cause unnecessary troubles.
Yang Kai thought about it for a moment and felt what Yang Yan said made sense, nodding in agreement, “Alright. Then, we’ll leave in the morning.”
Although they were still inside Thousand Illusion Peak, Yang Kai could investigate the situation outside with his Divine Sense. It was the middle of the night right now so leaving would be inconvenient so he could only wait for dawn before setting out.
After reaching an agreement, Yang Yan also returned to her room to rest.
After a peaceful night, Yang Kai immediately informed Dai Yuan about his intention to leave. Although Dai Yuan enthusiastically invited Yang Kai to stay a few more days, hoping to discuss their shared interest in Alchemy, with Yang Kai having a guilty conscience at the moment, how could he continue to linger? Seeing that there was no way to persuade him, Dai Yuan reluctantly agreed and personally saw Yang Kai and Yang Yan out of Grand Crystal Mountain Range.
On the way, Dai Yuan told Yang Kai that after taking a few months to fully recover, she would enter retreat to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. Once she succeeded, she would visit Dragon Cave Mountain again to thank him in person!
Yang Kai naturally agreed.
While the two were talking, a thunderous sound suddenly spread across the entire Grand Crystal Mountain Range and immediately after, a beam of multicoloured light shot up into the sky. Even though they were thousands of kilometres away, the group of three were still able to see this beam of light clearly.
“Coloured Glass Mountain!” Dai Yuan’s expression changed dramatically as she stared towards the beam of multi-coloured light and exclaimed. The spot where this beam originated from was obviously where Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain was situated. Seeing this situation, it seemed that the grand Spirit Array arranged around Coloured Glass Mountain had become unstable, allowing Coloured Glass Mountain’s Coloured Glass Divine Light to break through.
Yang Kai’s face also changed slightly as he and Yang Yan exchanged a knowing glance, the two of them having a myriad of thoughts flash across their minds. But soon, Yang Kai restored a calm expression and asked, “Did something happen with your noble Sect’s Coloured Glass Mountain?”
“En, I don’t know exactly what’s happened, but it seems that the barrier surrounding it was somewhat triggered. Junior Brother Yang, I originally wanted to send you all the way, but it appears I will not be able to accompany you any further. Since I cultivate the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, I must immediately head out. I will have to say goodbye to you and Sister Yang Yan here!”
“Since such a big event has occurred in your noble Sect, Sister Dai Yuan truly should respond promptly. We’ve already arrived at the edge of Grand Crystal Mountain Range, so as long as Yang Yan and I follow the path, we shouldn’t have any problems leaving,” Yang Kai gently nodded.
“Thank you. One day, I will surely patronize your Dragon Cave Mountain. At that time, I hope we can have a long discussion,” Dai Yuan smiled apologetically before her tender body flickered and transformed into a stream of light, returning along the path they had just flown at a very fast speed.
After her figure disappeared, Yang Kai pulled Yang Yan’s hand and shouted, “Let’s go!”
The two also summoned their Star Shuttles and quickly took off. Although they did not know what had happened, Yang Kai was certain it was related to the Stone Puppet, so how could they foolishly remain any longer?
After all, there was an accident when he had retrieved the Stone Puppet last night.
Fortunately, they had decided to leave today, otherwise with such a development happening right now, Yang Kai and Yang Yan would have had a hard time trying to leave Coloured Glass Sect. With Dai Yuan acting as a guarantor, he wasn’t worried that any harm would come to them inside Coloured Glass Sect; however, if any kind of clue had been left behind that could trace back to them, the Coloured Glass Sect would definitely not let them go, no matter how Dai Yuan advocated for them.
At the same time, beside Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain that Yang Kai had seen from afar before, dozens of Origin Returning Realm masters were on high alert. Among them, there were at least ten Third-Order Origin Realm masters, all of them releasing an incredible momentum.
Half of these masters were shuttling back and forth around Coloured Glass Mountain, constantly pouring streams of pure Saint Qi into a translucent energy barrier. Receiving so much Saint Qi, this great barrier fluctuated visibly and released a series of big and small ripples that gave off a strong suppressive power. These ripples were gradually suppressing the Coloured Glass Divine Light that was shooting up into the sky back into the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain. As for the remaining Origin Realm masters, they all had their Saint Qi condensed as they stared solemnly at the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain, preparing to act at a moment’s notice.
“What happened!” A booming voice suddenly resounded as an old man with a thin figure, silver hair, and a long beard appeared beside Coloured Glass Mountain.
Many Origin Returning Realm masters saw this old man and immediately cupped their fists, “Greetings, Sect Master!”
This old man was the Sect Master of Coloured Glass Sect, Gong Xing He.
Gong Xing He just waved his hand, motioning for everyone to dispense with the formalities as he turned his gaze towards a pair of Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters who were rapidly flying over.
The man appeared middle-aged and had an imposing stature. Although it was impossible to tell his exact age, the vicissitudes which permeated his eyes clearly indicated he was not young. As for the woman, she had the appearance of a beautiful middle-aged woman with a slender figure that while a bit older was still quite charming.
The pair arrived in front of Gong Xing He and respectfully greeted him.
“Elder Ma, Elder Du, the two of you have been defending this place for years, what happened just now?” Gong Xing He looked at them and asked with a solemn expression.
The middle-aged man surnamed Ma and the beautiful woman surnamed Du exchanged a quick glance before the man cupped his fists and replied, “Reporting to Sect Master, the situation is like this. Last night, for some unknown reason, Elder Du suddenly felt that the grand barrier below Coloured Glass Mountain seemed to show some signs of loosening. I immediately sent the Mountain Quarrying Beast to investigate, but soon after I unexpectedly lost contact with it. Even now, it has still not responded to my attempts to communicate with it or returned on its own. Then, just now, the Coloured Glass Divine Light suddenly erupted. The two of us believe that a section of the barrier underground has been damaged, otherwise this kind of matter could not have occurred.”
“The barrier has been damaged?” Gong Xing He frowned, quickly asking, “This has not happened in hundreds of years. Every few years we stabilize the Spirit Array and barrier, so how could it suddenly have become damaged?”
“This…” The man surnamed Ma hesitated for a while, unable to offer an explanation.
Seeing him behave like this, Gong Xing He naturally knew that inquiring further would be pointless and instead turned to the beautiful woman and asked, “Elder Du, do we only have one Mountain Quarrying Beast available?”
The beautiful middle-aged woman smiled bitterly, “We indeed have more than one Mountain Quarrying Beast, but only one is capable of withstanding the intensity of the Coloured Glass Divine Light close to the Coloured Glass Mountain’s barrier, the others aren’t mature enough yet. These beasts were purchased specially from Myriad Beast Sect for the purpose of guarding Coloured Glass Mountain but Myriad Beast Sect has not given us the complete method to cultivate and control them.”
“So, we have no way of finding out what happened to the barrier below Coloured Glass Mountain in its current condition?” Gong Xing He immediately looked displeased.
The man surnamed Ma and the beautiful woman surnamed Du hung their heads down without saying a word.
“Do we have any idea what could have caused this?” Gong Xing He asked again.
The two Elders’ expressions became even more awkward.
Seeing this situation, another Elder nearby said, “Although we don’t know if the barrier was damaged as a result of some natural phenomenon or if it was damaged artificially, the most important thing right now is to suppress the outbreak of the Coloured Glass Divine Light. If we allow things to continue like this, the entire Spirit Array might collapse, and we might lose this treasure mountain. While we suppress the outbreak here though, we must thoroughly investigate all the outsiders who entered Coloured Glass Sect recently. If this was not some kind of accident, it may be related to one of these outsiders.”
“Yes!” A number of others immediately agreed.
Gong Xing He pondered for a moment before turning to look at the Elder who had spoken just now and nodded, “I leave it to you to investigate the outsiders in the Sect right now, don’t allow any of them to leave Coloured Glass Sect but also don’t embarrass them. If it really was one of them, they must have been after the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass. Good! I want to see just who has the guts to try something so audacious!”
“Yes!” The Elder received this order and immediately went to work.
Not far away, when Yin Su Die overheard all this, she suddenly smiled and quickly chased after this Elder, seemingly wanting to report something.
At the same time, another graceful young woman wearing a gorgeous dress walked up to Gong Xing He and said, “Sect Master, please restrain your anger. In fact, there is another method besides the Mountain Quarrying Beast to investigate what has happened with the barrier down below.”
Seeing this young woman speak, Gong Xing He squinted slightly before nodding, “Fu’er, explain. What other solution do you have?”
The young woman smiled and said, “Did father forget? Among my disciples, there is one who has cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art.”
The young woman and Gong Xing He shared a father-daughter relationship, but both were Third Order Origin Returning Realm masters. This situation was not uncommon on Shadowed Star though, because the Third Order Origin Returning Realm was the limit a cultivator could achieve here. As such, within many great Sects, multiple generations of the same family, as well as many Masters and Disciples could have the same cultivation.
From the way Gong Xing He addressed this young woman and from the words she spoke, it was apparent that she was the one Dai Yuan mentioned to Yang Kai, Gong Ao Fu of Myriad Crystal Peak.
“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art…” Gong Xing He heard these words and could not help a trace of fear from flashing across his eyes. The other Elders present were also the same, all of them seemingly remembering something with complex expressions.
“You mean the Junior who currently lives on Thousand Illusion Peak?” Gong Xing He’s eyes quickly returned to normal and he asked lightly.
“Yes.” Gong Ao Fu nodded.
“Where is she?” Gong Xing He asked.
“It seems that she’s already on her way here, probably because she noticed the situation,” Gong Ao Fu turned her head towards a certain direction where an azure streak of light was quickly approaching.
After waiting for a moment, the azure light arrived in front of everyone and a graceful figure revealed itself.
However, when everyone saw the face of this figure, many strange expressions appeared.
The one who had arrived was naturally Dai Yuan, but obviously having anticipated that many of the Sect’s Elders would already be here, she didn’t show any signs of panic and greeted Gong Xing He with a calm expression, “Thousand Illusion Peak disciple Dai Yuan greets Sect Master!”
Gong Xing He gently nodded but did not say anything.
Dai Yuan next saluted Gong Ao Fu and the other Elders who had gathered.
Gong Ao Fu Dai frowned slightly as she used her Divine Sense to sweep Dai Yuan, suspiciously asking, “Yuan’er, what have you been up to these past few days? Why does it look like your vitality is slightly damaged?”
Dai Yuan bowed her head and replied, “Disciple had a slight accident while cultivating, but it has not caused any lasting harm. Many thanks for Honoured Master’s concern.”
Although her words were polite, Dai Yuan’s expression was completely indifferent, as if she was only making the appropriate replies without any emotion behind them.
Seeing this, Gong Xing He knit his brow slightly, but not caring about her attitude, he quickly asked, “Your Honoured Master said that you have a way to investigate the situation below Coloured Glass Mountain, is this the case?”
“Investigate below Coloured Glass Mountain?”
“Yes, we suspect that the underground barrier has been damaged, but we are unable to tell if it was some kind of natural occurrence or if it was done intentionally, so we need to check it. Is there any problem?”
“The Sect raised and nurtured me, so now that I can be of use to it, Dai Yuan will naturally cooperate!” Dai Yuan replied faintly.
Hearing this, Gong Ao Fu opened her mouth and seemed to want to say something, but thinking twice, she simply said, “Since that is the case, investigate the situation and report back to us.”
“Disciple understands!” Dai Yuan did not hesitate, immediately closing her eyes and circulating her Secret Art. Soon, Coloured Glass Divine Light identical to the one bursting from Coloured Glass Mountain burst from Dai Yuan’s body, the only difference was the light from her was less than a millionth in intensity. This halo of Coloured Glass Light surrounded Dai Yuan for a moment before suddenly condensing into a ray that shot into the ground below Coloured Glass Mountain.
Seeing this situation, many Elders who had never witnessed the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art in action showed looks of interest. Because Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain could not be suppressed by the five elements and also had the effect of restraining Spiritual Energy, even if their cultivation realms were much higher than Dai Yuan’s, they were unable to use their Divine Senses to investigate the situation below Coloured Glass Mountain.
But now, Dai Yuan, who was just a Third Order Saint King, was easily able to accomplish this feat, stimulating their curiosity.
Naturally, they understood the dangers of cultivating the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, so while they were curious about its effects, none of them had any intent to practice it, most of them soon just waiting for Dai Yuan to finish her investigation.
Sometime later, a ray of light shot up from below Coloured Glass Mountain and rushed into Dai Yuan’s tender body.
Seeing this situation, the gathered Elders of Coloured Glass Sect looked to Dai Yuan and waited for her answer.
However, Dai Yuan kept her eyes closed tightly, as if she was perceiving something. It was only after quite a while passed that she opened her eyes and bowed, “Reporting to Sect Master, Honoured Master, the barrier beneath Coloured Glass Mountain has indeed been damaged, and nearby where the damage is there seems to be the corpse of a Monster Beast. It looks as if this Monster Beast touched the barrier and was killed by it, damaging it in the process.”
“A Monster Beast?” The beautiful woman surnamed Du was shocked and could not help asking, “Could it be the Mountain Quarrying Beast?”
“It can’t be,” The man surnamed Ma also looked puzzled, “The Mountain Quarrying Beast shouldn’t have damaged the barrier. It has already performed many investigations around the mountain and never once had any trouble, why would it suddenly make such a grave mistake?”
The beautiful woman surnamed Du looked at Dai Yuan and asked with a faint smile, “Martial Niece, could you have been mistaken? The Mountain Quarrying Beast was specially purchased from Myriad Beast Sect to be used here and should not have broken the barrier.”
“I can’t be certain what happened, I only reported what I was able to see. If Elder Du does not believe me, you should find some other ways to investigate the situation.” After Dai Yuan said a few words, her face became quite pale. Using the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art just now had exhausted her greatly.
The beautiful woman surnamed Du smiled with embarrassment and did not say anything more. If they had a way to check the situation carefully, how could they have needed to use Dai Yuan’s ability? It was more so that since she and Elder Ma had been guarding Coloured Glass Mountain when this problem had occurred, they would inevitably have to bear some responsibility.
“Since it was the fault of the Mountain Quarrying Beast, this issue isn’t complicated. What we need to do now is patch the Spirit Array. Since the barrier underground has been damaged, we need to find some way to repair it remotely or compensate for the breakage,” Gong Xing He flashed a thoughtful look on his face but did not ask Dai Yuan any further questions.
“Father… Since this problem was caused by the Mountain Quarrying Beast, should we still investigate the outsiders currently inside the Sect?” Gong Ao Fu glanced over at Dai Yuan when she asked this question, apparently having heard from Yin Su Die a few days ago that Dai Yuan had brought guests back with her.
“I’ll leave responsibility for this matter to you!” Gong Xing He waved his hand before turning around and flying off, his figure quickly disappearing.
After the Sect Master left, many Elders could not help secretly breathing a sigh of relief. Elder Ma and Elder Du soon exchanged a glance, the former saying, “Although according to the investigation by Martial Niece Dai Yuan, the barrier was not damaged by an outsider, something about this situation feels slightly off. Elder Du has been cultivating that Mountain Quarrying Beast for more than thirty years and has never made any mistakes, yet this time there was an accident. Perhaps there is something more to this incident we are not aware of yet.”
Everyone who heard this naturally understood that these two were trying to deflect responsibility. If this incident was the result of an outsider’s meddling, the responsibility borne by Elder Ma and Elder Du would naturally be lighter. As such, Elder Du immediately took the initiative to launch a thorough investigation.
Elder Ma could not feign lack of involvement and naturally cooperated fully with Elder Du to check all the outsiders who had recently arrived in the Sect.
On the other side, Dai Yuan came over to Gong Ao Fu with a pale face and bowed politely, “Honoured Master, disciple will take her leave now.”
“En, good, you’ve worked hard. The damage to your vitality this time has not been light; Before you reach the minor accomplishment stage in the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, you must avoid using the Coloured Glass Divine Light as much as possible. Return to Thousand Illusion Peak and take a good rest for the next few months. Take this bottle of Hundred Gauze Pills, it should be able to help you restore some of your lost strength.” Saying so, Gong Ao Fu threw a bottle of pills to Dai Yuan.
Dai Yuan took it, expressed her gratitude, then departed respectfully. Gong Ao Fu asking her to take a few months to recuperate was exactly what Dai Yuan wished for. She originally intended to spend several months recovering her strength before attempting to break through to the Origin Returning Realm.
While the Coloured Glass Sect Elders busied themselves repairing the grand Spirit Array around Coloured Glass Mountain, Dai Yuan returned to Thousand Illusion Peak. Once there, she headed straight to the room where Yang Kai had been living.
Standing inside this room and looking around, Dai Yuan’s beautiful eyes flashed a touch of uncertainty.
After a brief hesitation, Dai Yuan pushed her Saint Qi and released the Coloured Glass Divine Light from her body again, condensing it into a ball she then sent underground. Closing her eyes, Dai Yuan carefully investigated the situation down below before suddenly shivering slightly as a look of shock appeared on her face, murmuring under her breath in the next month, “It really was you!”
She had noticed earlier when she was exploring the situation with Coloured Glass Mountain that a small tunnel had been dug beneath it. On top of that, the interior of Coloured Glass Mountain seemed to have been hollowed out somewhat and a great deal of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass was missing.
However, while following this small underground tunnel, Dai Yuan was shocked to discover that it actually led off towards Thousand Illusion Peak!
Although the entire tunnel had been deliberately covered up, there were still some slight traces left behind. Under the Coloured Glass Divine Light’s investigation, these traces became quite noticeable.
Shocked at the time, Dai Yuan did not dare to report everything she had seen because she vaguely felt that this matter might have something to do with Yang Kai. At that time, it was just a hunch, but to make sure there were no accidents she pushed the blame for the incident onto the Mountain Quarrying Beast. However, Dai Yuan could tell that the Mountain Quarrying Beast had not been killed by the barrier at all. Instead, it looked as if it had been patted to death by some kind of blunt object.
Now that she had returned to Thousand Illusion Peak and investigated, Dai Yuan was immediately able to verify her suspicions.
Beneath the room where Yang Kai had been staying, there were identical traces of a small tunnel leading towards Coloured Glass Mountain.
In recent years, Dai Yuan had only received two guests on Thousand Illusion Peak, Yang Kai and Yang Yan, so it only made sense that this was their doing.
Dai Yuan did not know what kind of magical method Yang Kai had used to dig a tunnel from here to Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain then extract a large amount of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass completely undetected, however, she knew if this matter ever came to light, Yang Kai would be hunted down Coloured Glass Sect. His method of collecting Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass without using the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art was something the Elders of the Sect would not be willing to let go of.
Fortunately, only Dai Yuan cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, so even the Sect Master wouldn’t be able to discover anything was amiss unless the entire Coloured Glass Mountain was moved. Having pushed the blame onto the Mountain Quarrying Beast, Dai Yuan was confident that Yang Kai wouldn’t be subject to any doubt.
At this point, Dai Yuan felt strangely calm in her heart as she decided to bury this matter permanently and not tell another soul about it. She even took some time to completely erase all traces of the small tunnel deep underground leading to the room where Yang Kai had lived.
Yang Kai hadn’t thought that Dai Yuan would actually have a method to uncover his little scheme. He thought everything had gone smoothly with no one being the wiser.
Before he and Yang Yan left, Yang Kai made the Stone Puppet destroy the underground tunnel, but both of them had apparently underestimated the power of the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art and the Coloured Glass Divine Light.
At this moment, Yang Kai and Yang Yan were already a hundred thousand kilometres away from Grand Crystal Mountain Range and were flying towards a certain destination.
But Yang Kai still felt a slight sense of discomfort so with a solemn look he released his Divine Sense to investigate the situation nearby.
“Why do you seem on edge?” Yang Yan asked with a frown.
“En, when the Stone Puppet returned, it mentioned it encountered a strange Monster Beast. Although it was only a Sixth-Order Monster Beast and the Stone Puppet instantly patted it to death, the change in Coloured Glass Mountain must be related to this. I don’t know if that Monster Beast was able to pass any information back to its master. If it did, we need to pick up our pace.”
“Xiao Xiao killed a Monster Beast?” Yang Yan exclaimed; she had only just learned about this matter.
“It should be a Monster Beast specially raised by Coloured Glass Sect. I don’t know what species it was, only that it was able to ignore the barriers under Coloured Glass Mountain. It was probably released by the Elders of Coloured Glass Sect to investigate the underground situation. Fortunately, the Stone Puppet acted swiftly and killed it before it had time to react; otherwise, I’m afraid things would have become troublesome…”Just as he said these words, Yang Kai raised his head and stared up ahead, narrowing his eyes slightly.
“What happened?”
“Someone is coming this way,” Yang Kai squinted as he continued to stare forward, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.
Yang Yan also looked in the direction Yang Kai was staring, but she was unable to discover anything. However, knowing that Yang Kai was different from ordinary people, she wasn’t surprised that he sensed something she couldn’t and simply asked lightly, “Are they after us?”
If someone was pursing them from Coloured Glass Sect, they should have appeared behind them, so why were they coming from the front?
“It’s Yin Su Die! It seems they really are targeting us,” Yang Kai smiled bitterly.
Yang Yan thought about it for a moment before suddenly saying, “Coloured Glass Sect must have a Space Array that is connected to the nearby city, otherwise this situation would be impossible. What should we do?”
“What else can we do? If we try to avoid them it would be like admitting we’re guilty,” Yang Kai shook his head; he decided to pretend he hadn’t discovered that some people were approaching and prepared to openly meet them.
Because he found that Yin Su Die, while not alone, wasn’t accompanied by an Origin Returning Realm master, Yang Kai wasn’t afraid to meet her.
At a position a few hundred kilometres ahead, Yin Su Die and two other Third-Order Saint King cultivators were flying towards Yang Kai with a faint trace of satisfaction apparent on her face. Before, when she heard the Sect Master order a thorough investigation of all the visitors to the Sect, Yin Su Die rejoiced; after all, she had suffered a small loss when she used her Beguiling Technique on Yang Kai a few days ago, allowing him to take advantage of her and stirring up a great deal of resentment in her heart.
Without even mentioning this though, Yang Kai being a guest of Dai Yuan alone was enough to stimulate Yin Su Die. She had been worried that she would be able to find an opportunity to make trouble for Yang Kai, but such an opportunity had actually presented itself much faster than she anticipated.
She was quite interested in what kind of relationship Dai Yuan and Yang Kai shared and what purpose she had for inviting Yang Kai back to Thousand Illusion Peak this time.
However, how could Yin Su Die have imagined that this so-called thorough investigation of all outsiders was just loud thunder with light rain? When she had reported to the Elder in charge of this investigation that Yang Kai was just a Second-Order Saint King, they had immediately lost any interest and didn’t have any intention of sending out a pursuit team. However, the Elder also seemed to understand Yin Su Die had her own motives for this so they didn’t prevent her from taking some people to chase after Yang Kai.
As such, Yin Su Die recruited two relatively strong helpers then used Coloured Glass Sect’s Space Array to travel to a city roughly one hundred thousand kilometres away.
Of the two cultivators Yin Su Die brought with her, one of them had a burly figure and bulging muscles which he exposed with his sleeveless robes named Hou Jian. This man looked like a great bear that possessed immense physical strength and constantly had a malevolent look upon his face, giving him a cruel impression.
But when this menacing man looked at Yin Su Die, his face filled with tenderness, and when he spoke to her, he also deliberately lowered his voice, seemingly afraid he would frighten this beautiful woman.
The other man Yin Su Die recruited, named Luo Min, wore refined robes and had a dignified face, giving him an intelligent and handsome appearance. At this moment, a light seemed to flash across the depths of his eyes as he continuously scanned his surroundings searching for something. With his pair of eyes, nothing within a radius of a hundred kilometres could escape his vision.
“Junior Brother Luo, have you found them yet?” The burly man suddenly glanced over at the other person and asked, “You’ve been looking for so long yet haven’t discovered any clues yet, are you even trying?”
“What are you implying?” Luo Min heard his burly companion’s question and immediately wore a displeased look upon his face, “They left Grand Crystal Mountain Range some time ago, and although we managed to get in front of them, who knows which direction they went? If Senior Brother Hou doesn’t feel relieved, you can try searching for them yourself. I heard that Senior Brother has recently put a lot of effort into cultivating his Divine Sense, this is a good opportunity to see the results of your training! It seems Master even rewarded Senior Brother with a bottle of Clear Spirit Pills, so presumably Senior Brother’s Divine Sense is much stronger than before, yes?”
Listening to the ridicule in this Junior Brother Luo’s voice, Hou Jian’s face immediately became gloomy. His Secret Art didn’t pay much attention to the growth of his Soul and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it was his biggest shortcoming. As his strength had grown, this shortcoming had become more and more obvious and some time ago, he had been forced to start single-mindedly cultivating his Spiritual Energy.
Now that this sore spot had been pointed out by his Junior Brother, and in front of the beauty he was pursing no less, Hou Jian couldn’t help feeling annoyed. The two of them, as fellow brothers, usually didn’t have any kind of friction between them, but now, in front of Yin Su Die, a kind of rivalry inevitably arose.
Seeing the face of the burly Hou Jian became dark, as if his anger was about to erupt, Yin Su Die quickly said, “Two Senior Brothers, please don’t quarrel. This time, I asked both of you to come out because I needed to borrow both of your strengths. Senior Brother Lou cultivates the Farsight Spirit Eye Technique which is necessary to find the people we’re looking for, but after finding them, Senior Brother Hou’s strength is necessary to capture them. Two Senior Brothers both know about the incident with the Sect’s most precious treasure, the Coloured Glass Mountain, and understand that the Elders suspect that it may have been caused by an outsider, yes? That man surnamed Yang leaving right at this moment is clearly suspicious, so we absolutely cannot let him escape.”
Yin Su Die didn’t show any annoyance at being competed over by these two men, even seemingly enjoying them clamouring for her attention, but right now, tracking down Yang Kai was her top priority, so she spoke to persuade them.
Hearing this, Hou Jian expression became somewhat more serious, seemingly taking Yin Su Die at her word and asking, “Then, was that incident really some kind of plot that brat set up?”
“I don’t know,” Yin Su Die smiled and shook her head. “But this matter is of great importance. Anyone who is even slightly suspicious can’t be let off. We must capture him and bring him back to the Sect Elders. Afterwards, it will be up the Elders to decide if he is guilty or innocent!”
By saying it was all the Elders’ orders, how could these two men refuse? However, Yin Su Die’s rhetoric was only able to confuse the muscle headed Hou Jian while the Luo Min thought otherwise. He clearly knew there was more going on here but he didn’t dare expose this truth.
For him, looking for someone was just a trifling matter; the important thing was that doing so allowed him to please Yin Su Die.
“Good good good, Junior Brother Luo, look again carefully, once you find that little brat, Senior Brother will make sure to capture him. Hmph, daring to have ideas about our Coloured Glass Mountain, I must see if this brat has the guts!” Declaring so, Hou Jian flashed a terrifying grin.
Just as Luo Min was about to make another snide comment, he suddenly glanced in a certain direction and shouted, “I found them!”
“Where?” Yin Su Die wore a look of happiness and hurriedly asked.
“That way, they’re coming towards us!” Luo Min pointed his finger and said with confidence, “It’s exactly as Junior Sister described, a young man and a woman with the woman wearing all black robes. It’s definitely them.”
“So it seems.” Yin Su Die smirked.
“Interesting, they’re actually coming right to us!” Hou Jian struck his chest and shouted, “Senior Brother will go on ahead, Junior Brother Luo, you protect Junior Sister. This won’t take long!”
When Luo Min heard this, he knew that his Senior Brother was trying to grab some credit; after all, he had been the one to discover them, so if he went forward to capture them now, Hou Jian would have come along for nothing. Nevertheless, Luo Min felt it was a good opportunity to enjoy some time alone with Yin Su Die so he didn’t bother objecting, smiling and saying, “Senior Brother Hou is still so impatient. Good, Junior Sister, let’s take our time. Presumably, by the time we arrive, Senior Brother Hou will have finished up everything; after all, how could a trivial Second-Order Saint King raise any fuss?”
Yin Su Die eyes flashed slightly, seemingly thinking of something, but quickly nodded as if nothing happened and said, “That’s true. Fortunately, I asked Senior Brother Luo to come along this time, otherwise, it would have been quite troublesome to find these two.”
“Junior Sister is far too polite, if you ever have a need for Senior Brother’s help in the future, all you need to do is ask and Senior Brother will surely not refuse. Junior Sister’s Myriad Crystal Peak is also not far from our Swift Bird Peak, so if another day Junior Sister has time, it would be Senior Brother’s honour to receive her. Senior Brother promises to provide the finest of entertainment should Junior Sister decide to visit.” Luo Min took this chance to send out an invitation, expressing as much admiration and affection as he dared to.
Hearing this, Yin Su Die let out a giggle and gave him a perfunctory answer. Although Luo Min understood this, just seeing Yin Su Die smile at him and being able to listen to her silver-bell-like laughter was enough for him to become somewhat absentminded. In the next instant, he shook his head slightly and focused his blurry vision as he felt a chill in his heart, understanding that this Junior Sister of his had once again made progress in her Beguiling Technique. He had also heard that as long as Grandmaster Xiao finished refining an Origin Condensing Pill for her, Yin Su Die would be able to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. Now, it seemed those rumours were true.