Yang Kai wore a strange look as he stared at the burly man with an indifferent expression who had flown over and intercepted them.
This burly figured was naturally Hou Jian who had been recruited by Yin Su Die, but what Yang Kai didn’t understand was why this man had rushed over all alone while Yin Su Die and another cultivator seemed to be taking their time catching up.
Hou Jian looked Yang Kai up and down, and after confirming that the aura fluctuations coming from him were indeed those of a Second-Order Saint King, the corners of his mouth curled upwards, revealing a look of disdain. However, when his eyes glanced over at Yang Yan, he could not help showing some surprise.
Hou Jian had not expected this woman wrapped in black robes to actually have such an extraordinary appearance. What was stranger though was that after being stopped by him, this man and woman did not show any signs of panic, both of them actually remaining perfectly calm.
What was most confusing for Hou Jain though was that he could not see Yang Yan’s true cultivation. When he tried to use his Divine Sense, it seemed to pass right through her body, as if she did not even exist.
This made Hou Jian’s expression become somewhat serious as he subconsciously regarded Yang Yan as a more powerful cultivator than Yang Kai.
Hou Jian had mainly come here targeting Yang Kai and naturally had no interest in Yang Yan, so after a brief investigation, he withdrew his gaze and focused his attention on Yang Kai.
“Greetings, friend!” Yang Kai took a step forward and cupped his fists, “Is there some reason you have blocked my Senior Sister’s and my path?”
“Some reason? Heh…” The burly man let out a chuckle, “Are you surnamed Yang?”
“I am.”
“Did you just leave Grand Crystal Mountain Range?”
“Yes!”
“Very good, this Hou is looking for you, little brat!” Hou Jian’s face went cold, and he shouted firmly, “Daring to have ideas about my Sect’s Coloured Glass Mountain, even damaging the barrier protecting it, I’d like to see how you try to escape!”
Hearing what Hou Jian said, Yang Kai was completely shocked, subconsciously thinking that his good deeds had been exposed, but after thinking about it for a moment, he felt that something was wrong. If he had really been exposed, there would not have just been three Saint Kings chasing after him. Coloured Glass Sect would have at least sent out a few Origin Realm Masters to ensure he was captured.
But if he hadn’t been exposed, why did this guy sound so sure he was guilty?
How could Yang Kai have known that this burly man surnamed Hou had just listened to Yin Su Die and assumed she had told him the truth?
Not showing any anxiety on his face, Yang Kai let out a laugh, “This friend must be joking. I came to Grand Crystal Mountain Range at the invitation of your noble Sect’s Dai Yuan and was her guest for only a few days. How could I have had any ideas about Coloured Glass Mountain?”
“Dai Yuan?” Hou Jian immediately gawked and he asked in surprise, “Do you know Dai Yuan? And she actually invited you to be a guest?”
He wore a dumbstruck expression on his face as he asked this question, as if he had just heard something completely unbelievable.
“Of course! I have no reason to lie about this. You can go back to Thousand Illusion Peak and ask Sister Dai Yuan, she will surly confirm what I’ve said.”
“Ask Dai Yuan…” Hou Jian’s face flashed a fearful expression for a moment, but he quickly waved his hand in the next moment and declare unreasonably, “Don’t spout nonsense brat! No matter what you say now, you will not be able to escape. This Hou has been entrusted to capture you so that is what I will do. As for what you’ve done or whether you’re guilty, that has nothing to do with me, I’m only responsible for bringing you back to face judgement!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai grinned widely, “So what this friend is saying is that you’ve no intention of allowing me to pass?”
“Hmph!” Hou Jian coldly snorted, “That’s how it is!”
As soon as he spoke these words, Hou Jian condensed a dazzling light on his fist as a fierce aura burst from his body. Leaping up into the sky in the next moment, Hou Jian soared like an eagle before abruptly turning around and swooping down, his right hand taking on a cold, metallic appearance as he palmed towards Yang Kai’s head.
Suddenly, with Yang Kai as the centre, everything within a hundred metres seemed to freeze, and as this palm approached, it was like the entire sky was collapsing downward. The atmosphere became heavy, making it difficult to breathe or even stand. Yang Yan, who was standing behind Yang Kai, even let out a gasp as her tender body slightly trembled.
However, a light burst from Yang Yan’s body in the next instant and freed her of this suppression. At the same time, her figure quickly retreated a thousand metres, escaping the range of Hou Jian’s attack.
Seeing this, Hou Jian was quite surprised, obviously not having expected Yang Yan to break free of his technique so easily. Although he did not know what that flash of light just now was, it was no doubt created by some kind of powerful artifact.
Although the power of this artifact was clearly quite good, Hou Jian still didn’t put it in his eyes, so after only a slight hesitation, he put more strength into his palm and continued to press it down towards Yang Kai while roaring fiercely, “Kneel down!”
He wanted to suppress Yang Kai with a single blow so that Yin Su Die, who was watching, could witness his strength.
This was a rare performance opportunity, so how could Hou Jian miss it?
When this palm was just ten metres away from Yang Kai though, a sneer appeared on the latter’s face as he stared straight back at this unreasonable man indifferently.
As soon as Hou Jian acted, Yang Kai was able to see that he wanted to use his great physical strength and vigorous Saint Qi to end this battle decisively. If it had been any other Second-Order Saint King Realm cultivator facing such an attack, they would certainly be panicking right now, but how could Yang Kai even place this fool in his eyes?
The pressure from Hou Jian’s technique alone would be able to crush any ordinary cultivator, but against Yang Kai it had no effect at all. Waving his hand casually, Yang Kai easily disrupted the heavy pressure, causing it to rapidly distort and then shatter like fragile glass.
In an instant, the mountain like pressure disappeared.
At the same time, Yang Kai figure, which had been shrouded in the shadow of his opponent’s palm, suddenly blurred, and vanished from sight.
Hou Jian’s face changed dramatically when he saw this, never having expected that a mere Second-Order Saint King would be able to escape the control of his pressure field. What’s more, after breaking free of the pressure field, his opponent had actually disappeared, with Hou Jian unable to even detect a trace of his aura.
Hou Jian became frightened as he immediately understood he had kicked an iron plate. While searching for some trace of Yang Kai, he suddenly felt an oppressive and dangerous aura coming from above him.
“Not good!” Hou Jian shouted to himself as he whipped around sharply to discover that Yang Kai had reappeared above his position and was now looking down upon him coldly, like a dragon flying over Nine Heavens overlooking an ant, causing Hou Jian to shudder unconsciously. Yang Kai immediately sent out what looked like a casual palm strike, but in Hou Jian’s eyes this palm appeared to cover the entire sky, making him feel like it was impossible to avoid.
Hou Jian did not dare hold back, hurriedly condensing as much of his strength as he could in that moment and lifting both his hands up high, as if he was trying to hold up the Heavens themselves. At the same time, a bright light shone from his body as he summoned out a metallic Artifact Armour.
Simultaneously, from the centre of his forehead, Hou Jian released a spinning cone of black light that shot out to intercept the world covering palm Yang Kai had released.
Hou Jian was an elite disciple of Coloured Glass Sect so even caught off guard, he was still able to make this many moves, fully demonstrating his great strength.
But even after all this, the unease in Hou Jian’s heart did not decrease, nor did he feel the slightest sense of security.
Under Hou Jian’s astonished gaze, the black cone-like weapon he had shot out struck the giant palm print and immediately grew dim, revealing its original shape.
It turned out to be a powerful spindle-like offensive artifact, but as soon as it was struck by Yang Kai’s Heaven Covering Hand, it was blown away and appeared to have suffered catastrophic damage.
Immediately after, the Heaven Covering Hand fell onto Hou Jian without further hindrance, causing his arms to buckle and his metallic Artifact Armour to crack. A single breath of time later, this Artifact Armour completely shattered.
Hou Jian grit his teeth hard and released a ferocious shout, pouring all the Saint Qi he could into his arms and punching out countless fist shadows to intercept the still approaching palm print.
Yang Kai saw this and simply snorted coldly, pushing his Saint Qi harder as he increased the power of his Heaven Covering Hand by another thirty percent.
The innumerable fist shadows rushed into the Heaven Covering Hand and disappeared like clay oxen wading into the sea, not even causing any waves before they were devoured without a trace.
Hou Jian complexion paled. Although they had only fought for a mere three breaths, he already understood that he was completely not worthy to be the opponent of this man his Junior Sister Yin was looking for!
While he understood this in his heart, Hou Jian only showed a look of unwillingness on his face.
Before Hou Jian could take any further action though, the giant palm broke through is resistance and impacted him directly.
With a thunderous bang, Hou Jian’s body plummeted through the air and slammed into the ground, opening a giant pit upon impact. The Heaven Covering Hand did not just disappear though and instead continued to ruthlessly press down towards Hou Jian.
The earth shook once more and a giant palm print spanning a nearly thousand-metre area was carved into the ground. At the very centre of this palm print, Hou Jian knelt on one knee, his hands still lifted upwards as his entire body convulsed.
Hou Jian’s thick arms were covered in blood, giving them a horrifying appearance, and his clothes had been almost completely shredded, revealing most of his burly body. With both his arms bent into unnatural shapes, it was clear the injuries he had received were not light.
Even in such a state though, Hou Jian continued to stare stubbornly at the slowly descending Yang Kai, a mixture of panic and hatred flashing across his eyes.
On the other hand, there was a trace of surprise on Yang Kai’s face. He had not thought that this man could withstand his Heaven Covering Hand. It seemed this man’s burly body was not just for show, his physique was clearly quite intrepid.
Seeing Hou Jian’s hate-filled eyes, Yang Kai’s brow lifted slightly. Landing in front of his opponent, Yang Kai lifted his foot and pressed it onto the opposite party’s shoulder while flashing a dangerous grin.
Hou Jian’s face went pale. Although he knew what Yang Kai was going to do, he was too gravely injured right now to even move much less resist, so all he could do was wait for the inevitable.
Under the uneasy gaze of the Hou Jian, a powerful force suddenly impacted his shoulder. This force instantly overcame any resistance he could muster and pressed Hou Jian into the ground. His face being shoved into the dirt, Hou Jian was embarrassed, but no matter how he struggled, Yang Kai’s foot pressing on his shoulder remained as heavy as a mountain, rendering him unable to move at all. Even covered in dust, the crimson glow on his face from indignation was apparent.
A thousand metres or so away, Yin Su Die and Luo Min who had finally arrived witnessed this unbelievable scene and could not help doubting their eyes.
The two of them had followed behind Hou Jian at a leisurely pace, and although they seemed to be chatting casually, both had witnessed the entire conflict between Yang Kai and Hou Jian.
Of course, this short exchange of blows could barely even be called a fight.
Hou Jian had charged forward in an imposing manner, sent out a powerful strike, and shouted arrogantly for Yang Kai to kneel. Yin Su Die and Luo Min had clearly heard all this but instead of Yang Kai being the one on the ground now, it was their companion who was having his face pressed into the dirt.
Yin Su Die and Luo Min were naturally clear that among Coloured Glass Sect’s Saint Kings, Hou Jian’s strength ranked among the top ten; but such an elite disciple had actually been defeated in a single blow by Yang Kai and was being suppressed to the point where he was unable to even fight back. How could Yin Su Die and Luo Min not be shocked?
None of the Saint Kings in Coloured Glass Sect could achieve such a feat.
Didn’t that mean that this Yang Kai was far more powerful than all the elites in their Sect? Luo Min’s complexion went slightly pale as he nervously swallowed. He considered his own strength and imagined if he had been the one to go forward instead of his Senior Brother Hou, quickly estimating that his end would not have been much better.
Being defeated was one thing, but the key point here was that this loss had happened in front of Yin Su Die. Worse, Hou Jian had been arrogantly boasting just moments ago so the embarrassment he was suffering right now was even greater. Presumably, Hou Jian would not have any face to continue pursuing Yin Su Die in the future. Realising this, Luo Min secretly took some pleasure in Hou Jian’s misfortune.
Yin Su Die was also learning for the first time how powerful Yang Kai truly was. Although she had met Yang Kai a few times before, she did not have any kind of deep relationship with him, so how could she have known that a small unknown character like him would possess such strength?
Perhaps even Fang Tian Zhong and Qu Chang Feng would not be Yang Kai’s match. Moreover, he seemed to have a close relationship with her Senior Sister Dai Yuan.
Thinking so, Yin Su Die was not discouraged in the slightest and instead had a different kind of light flash across her eyes. As she stared at Yang Kai, she covertly whispered to Luo Min, “Senior Brother Luo, you see that woman in black robes over there?”
“En, what is Junior Sister thinking?” Luo Min Zhe Yan glanced over at Yang Yan
“Can you quietly capture her?” Yin Su Die smiled lightly, as if she was asking about some trivial matter.
Luo Min’s face changed slightly. Although he wanted to strike his chest and agree right away, seeing the scene in front of him, he hesitantly said, “Junior Sister can see the current situation, even Senior Brother Hou isn’t that surnamed Yang’s opponent, so how am I supposed to capture that woman right in front of his eyes? Also, he does not seem like an affable fellow, if attacking that woman enrages him, the gains won’t be worth the cost.”
“Senior Brother Luo may rest assured. Since Junior Sister has proposed this, naturally I have my own arrangements,” Yin Su Die smiled slightly, “While I keep him occupied, Senior Brother Luo just needs to take the opportunity to seize that woman.”
Even hearing this, Luo Min still hesitated to agree.
Seeing this, Yin Su Die pretty face sank slightly, but light soon flashed across her beautiful eyes as she thought of something and said, “Senior Brother Luo, I know what you’re worried about but I only need you to capture that woman. So long as you don’t hurt her, that man won’t have any reason to find trouble with you later. Not to mention, Senior Brother Luo, although you are not his opponent, with your Flowing Light Escaping Shadow, even if he attacks could he catch you? Can Senior Brother Luo really not satisfy Junior Sister’s little request?”
Contemplating Yin Su Die’s words, Luo Min pondered for a moment before nodding, “Fine. Since Junior Sister thinks so highly of Senior Brother, just leave that woman to me. However, Junior Sister, you must be careful. That surnamed Yang does not seem to be an ordinary person, you must make sure to not suffer a loss at his hand.”
Luo Min seemed to be greatly confident in his Flowing Light Escaping Shadow, so even after witnessing Yang Kai instantly force Hou Jian onto the ground in defeat, he still agreed to Yin Su Die’s request.
Yin Su Die let out a peal of enchanting laughter and nodded, “If Junior Sister fought him head-on, I would surely lose within ten moves, but how could I give him such a chance?”
Luo Min turned his head and glanced at Yin Su Die upon hearing this only to discover that a faint halo of light was being emitted from his Junior Sister. This halo of light didn’t have any kind of aura to it, but the moment Luo Min saw it, his mind shook and it seemed as if his Junior Sister’s body was now exuding an overwhelming attraction, pulling directly on his soul, making him unwilling to move his eyes away from her, as if he couldn’t wait to be drawn in and submit his entire being to her.
Luo Min was dazed for a moment but quickly bit his tongue to extricate himself from this attraction, cold sweat dripping from his forehead in the next moment as he turned his eyes away. He didn’t dare gaze at Yin Su Die again as he realized that his Junior Sister’s Beguiling Technique had improved far more than he earlier estimated, to the point where he had no confidence in resisting it should he be targeted by her. This boosted Luo Min’s confidence in Yin Su Die greatly.
At that moment, Yang Kai, who was still stepping on Hou Jian’s shoulder, suddenly looked over towards Yin Su Die and Luo Min, as if he had only just now noticed them. Smiling widely, he called out, “Sister Yin, what a coincidence! To actually meet you here, it seems we share a bond of fate.”
“Bond of fate, hehe…” Yin Su Die covered her mouth and smiled, a bewitching light flashing across her beautiful eyes as she exuded a seemingly infinite charm and said, “We do seem to share some fate, but this time is not a coincidence. I deliberately used Coloured Glass Sect’s Space Array to travel to the nearby city in order to find you.”
“You came to look for me?” Yang Kai raised his brow slightly, feigning surprise, “What for? Does Sister Yin have something she needs from me?”
The smile on Yin Su Die’s face faded and was replaced with a sad one, “It’s nothing so important, I just wondered if Little Brother forgot about the agreement with me from the other day? Didn’t you say that you would come to visit my Myriad Crystal Peak when you have time? Now you have suddenly decided to leave without even saying goodbye… could it be that Senior Sister Dai Yuan didn’t provide you with an appropriate reception? If so, please allow Junior Sister here to make up for it. Senior Sister Dai Yuan is not fond of communicating with others and can be somewhat difficult to get along with. I hope Little Brother can be forgiving and not haggle over such small matters.”
Saying so, Yin Su Die really bowed in apology, cleverly displaying just enough of her astonishing assets in the process as she also cast her eyes towards Yang Kai elegantly, exuding a kind of charm that seemed to pull directly on one’s soul.
In response though, Yang Kai put on a flattered appearance and quickly waved his hand, “Sister Yin is far too serious. Sister Dai Yuan’s entertainment wasn’t lacking in any way, it is just that Junior Brother has some important matters to attend to, so it is inconvenient to remain in Coloured Glass Sect for a long time. That is why I departed so anxiously.”
While appearing completely at ease on the surface, Yang Kai was silently sighing with relief. As soon as Hou Jian appeared, he had charged Yang Kai with breaking the barrier around Coloured Glass Mountain, but now Yin Su Die was not even mentioning it. It seems the Stone Puppet had not been exposed, so Yang Kai no longer had anything to worry about.
“So that’s how it is!” Yin Su Die nodded her delicate chin lightly before lifting her jade white hand and gently brushing her hair behind her ear, exposing her dainty pink earlobe and saying with a smile, “Little Brother, before we speak any further if you don’t mind, could you release my foolish Senior Brother? It seems that there was a misunderstanding between him and you just now, but Little Brother has given him an appropriate punishment already, so can you let him off with just that?”
“He is your Senior Brother?” Yang Kai wore a startled look before putting on an apologetic look, “So he is also a disciple from Coloured Glass Sect. I was wondering who this blind fellow who suddenly appeared and started looking for trouble with me was, even attacking without asking anything. Since he is Sister Yin’s Senior Brother, naturally I will return him to you!”
Saying so, as if he was just casually sweeping his foot, Yang Kai kicked Hou Jian’s abdomen.
A cracking sound rang out and Hou Jian’s complexion, which had been bright red with embarrassment, suddenly went white as he flew through the air towards Yin Su Die.
Yin Su Die pretty face changed slightly, apparently not having thought Yang Kai would act so ruthlessly. Although that kick seemed to have been delivered lightly, judging from the sound just now, it was likely that more than half of her Senior Brother Hou’s ribs had been broken by it. This kind of injury, while not heavy, was certainly not light either and would take at least three of four months of bed-rest to completely recover from.
Yin Su Die’s eyes flashed with a trace of irritation, secretly annoyed that Yang Kai did not sell her any face at all. Waving her jade white hand lightly, she condensed a kind of pink cloud in front of herself.
When Hou Jian’s body hit this pink cloud, it was as if he had sunk into a ball of cotton and all the force from Yang Kai’s blow was resolved, allowing him to land without suffering any further injuries.
Yin Su Die raised her hand once more, placing it on Hou Jian’s shoulder and spinning him about. After everything was over, Hou Jian was calmly standing beside her, but his complexion was pale white, and he could not wait to find a hole to crawl into and disappear.
What made him most uncomfortable was that Yin Su Die did not even spare him a glance, completely ignoring him after helping him land, leaving him to stand there awkwardly, unable to utter a single word.
On the other side, when Yang Kai saw this scene, he could not help feeling a bit of surprise. A moment ago, he had poured a significant amount of Saint Qi into Hou Jian’s body, but Yin Su Die was able to resolve it without any difficulty. It seems that this woman was not as simple as she appeared; since she was able to become the leader of Coloured Glass Sect’s younger generation though, it was natural for her to have some means.
“If there’s nothing else Sister Yin has to say, this Yang will take his leave,” Yang Kai decided not to tangle with this woman; after all, she was the head disciple of Coloured Glass Sect, so there was no way he could kill her. If Yang Kai continued to engage with her, he was the one who would inevitably suffer a loss, so he decided to leave immediately.
Listening to Yang Kai say this, Yin Su Die giggled coquettishly before saying, “Please don’t be in such a rush Little Brother! Junior Sister came here this time especially to invite Little Brother to visit Myriad Crystal Peak. Junior Sister is quite curious about Little Brother’s relationship with Senior Sister Dai Yuan. If possible, I’d very much appreciate it if Little Brother can come back with me. Little Brother must know that Senior Sister Dai Yuan does not communicate with others in the Sect, even Junior Sister has difficulty having a good conversation with her. On the other hand, Little Brother is the first guest she brought back in the past two decades. Not only am I curious about this matter, even my Honoured Master has taken an interest in it. Junior Sister has actually come here to request Little Brother come back on my Honoured Master’s orders.”
“On your Honoured Master’s orders?” Yang Kai looked at Yin Su Die with a smile, seemingly pondering for a moment before replying, “It is not that I wish to refuse Senior Gong’s invitation, but this Yang truly has some important matters to attend to that cannot wait. Would it be acceptable for this Yang to pay his respects to Sister Yin’s Honoured Master when he visits Coloured Glass Sect in the future?”
“In the future… who knows when that future date will be. Junior Sister thinks that instead of waiting, it would be best for Junior Brother to accompany me back today,” Yin Su Die did not back down and instead became much more forceful in her words to Yang Kai, seemingly implying she would not relent no matter what.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly; the other party pestering so incessantly had naturally made him a bit disgruntled. It seemed that this matter could not be settled so easily, but thinking about it carefully again, Yang Kai realized he was being naive. Since Yin Su Die had chased him all this way, it was naturally impossible for her to simply give up and retreat.
Letting out a light sigh, Yang Kai asked solemnly, “If I insist on not following you back?”
“You want to refuse?” Yin Su Die giggled as she looked at Yang Kai with interest, exhaling an orchid scent as she said, “I’m afraid that decision is not one Little Brother can make.”
As soon as her voice fell, Yang Yan, who was standing about a thousand metres from Yang Kai, suddenly let out a shout, as if she had encountered a sneak attack.
Yang Kai eyes instantly became cold as he quickly turned around to look.
He didn’t know when it had happened, but a male cultivator wrapped in a bright white light had at some point moved to capture Yang Yan, but he had clearly failed in his initial attempt and was instead repelled by one of Yang Yan’s defensive artifacts. At this moment, this male cultivator stood in place with a deep frown on his face, his hand still stretching out in a grasping position, seemingly competing with a fiery red light being emitted from Yang Yan’s body.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he immediately recognized that this male cultivator was the one that had been following Yin Su Die.
Hurriedly turning his head back to look behind Yin Su Die, the figure that had been standing there a moment ago had mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind only a white glow that was rapidly dissipating.
Yang Kai was genuinely shocked!
He had no idea when this man had left Yin Su Die’s side and gone off to sneak attack Yang Yan. The secret technique cultivated by this man was obviously quite unusual and was even capable of deceiving Yang Kai’s sharp senses.
It was conceivable that if Yang Yan had not been wearing so many artifacts she had personally refined, this man’s sneak attack would have succeeded. If Yang Yan had been captured, Yang Kai would have immediately fallen into an extremely passive situation, and even if he did not want to, he would have had to follow Yin Su Die back to Coloured Glass Sect.
After realizing he had fallen for the other party’s scheme, Yang Kai became furious. Ignoring Yang Yan’s situation, his eyes flashed a sharp light as he glared coldly towards Yin Su Die.
The artifacts Yang Yan had on her were all outstanding, and although Yang Kai did not know the exact number she was wearing, he was confident that no Third-Order Saint King would be capable of even touching her.
Even an ordinary Origin Returning Realm cultivator may not be able to seize Yang Yan, that was how outstanding her self-protection ability was.
The moment Luo Min attacked Yang Yan, Yin Su Die also acted against Yang Kai. With the sweet, crisp, silver bell-like laughter, the pink cloud she had summoned once before appeared again, this time transforming into a large pink mist barrier that completely enveloped Yang Kai.
In the next moment, Yin Su Die exhaled a fragrant breath into this pink mist barrier. The pink mist barrier immediately tumbled as if it had come alive while the sounds of delightful music and tender laughter echoed throughout it.
As soon as these voices came out, the originally pale Hou Jian who was standing behind Yin Su Die immediately blushed red as his blood boiled and his eyes filled with burning fire as he stared into Yin Su Die’s Beguiling Technique obsessively.
Seemingly feeling his fiery gaze, Yin Su Die frowned, turned around, and smacked Hou Jian’s head, causing his glazed over eyes to once again restore their clarity.
“Compose yourself! Disgraceful!” Yin Su Die snorted disapprovingly, causing Hou Jian’s face to turn even redder.
He had embarrassed himself twice today so, in the future, he would not have the face to lift his head in front of Yin Su Die. This Beguiling Technique had not been aimed at Hou Jian, so with his strength and cultivation, it shouldn’t have been difficult to resist, but having been injured by Yang Kai, causing his Saint Qi flow to become unsteady and his mood to swing wildly, Hou Jian had actually failed to maintain a clear state of mind.
Hearing Yin Su Die’s harsh rebuke just now, Hou Jian felt his heart sink and his only thought now was to return to Coloured Glass Sect and enter an extended retreat.
“There will be a place where Senior Brother Hou’s strength is needed later, so focus on recovering for now!” Yin Su Die saw Hou Jian’s embarrassed look and quickly offered some words.
After hearing this, Hou Jian’s eyes flashed, and a stern look returned to his face as he restrained his embarrassment. Nodding once, he sat down cross-legged and took out a few bottles of pill from his Space Ring, pouring them into his mouth and swallowing them before taking out two High -Rank Saint Crystals, holding them in his palms, and circulating his Secret Art.
Seeing this, Yin Su Die showed a slight look of satisfaction on her face while continuing to manipulate the pink mist barrier in front of her, enhancing the power of her Beguiling Technique.
Inside the pink mist barrier, Yang Kai stood still and observed his surroundings. The place he was standing had changed dramatically. Originally, it had been a vast wilderness, but now Yang Kai actually found himself standing inside a grand palace.
In front of him right now was a huge pool filled with crystal clear water that carried strong scent of wine that seemed to penetrate directly into Yang Kai’s nose.
Beside the pool, there were more than twenty young girls in revealing dresses who were dancing playfully. Each of these young girls had a soft waist, graceful figure, overall outstanding appearance, but none of them were the same, all of them having their own particular charm. Some of them boldly sent Yang Kai’s passionate gazes while others shyly avoided making eye contact.
Some of them had chilly auras, making them appear like cold, inviolable goddesses.
Others were bold and flirtatious, showing off the amazing fullness and elasticity of their twin peaks and milk white bottoms as they twirled about enticingly.
Still others wore shy, innocent looks that would elicit feelings of pity from even the coldest of men.
A soft, melodious music filled the air which in conjunction with the dancing poses of these beautiful young girls gave people the illusion that they had arrived at the most glorious flower garden, involuntarily pulling on their hearts as they were drawn in by these alluring sights and sounds. It made one wish to immerse themselves in this paradise and never leave.
Yang Kai, however, just stood on the spot and looked at everything around him indifferently, not showing even the slightest interest in the young dancing girls.
After suffering such a big loss using her Beguiling Technique to deal with Yang Kai last time, Yin Su Die apparently had not learned her lesson and was attempting to use the same strategy again. It was hard to imagine what she was thinking.
However, this Beguiling Technique did have some impressive features to it. If it was an ordinary Saint King Realm cultivator standing here, they would definitely have their mind thrown into chaos. But Yang Kai’s Soul and Divine Sense were astonishingly powerful and this was not the first or second time he had dealt with Beguiling Techniques, he could even be called an experienced expert in this field, so looking around at this scene filled with flaws, how could his mind be shaken?
Yin Su Die also seemed to realize that Yang Kai had not fallen into confusion and after a while, she changed her tactics. The pink mist barrier suddenly roiled and the expressions on the more than twenty young girls who had been singing and dancing gleefully just now all changed and became filled with sorrow and sadness, the music filling the air also slowing and becoming more somber.
With this sad music in the background, these young girls seemed to transform from enchantresses to abandoned young women filled with sorrow and dissatisfaction.
Their originally neatly arranged clothes also instantly became thinner and clung to their tender bodies more tightly, emphasizing their full curves and flat abdomens, even causing the fragrant grasslands between their long delicate legs to become partly visible. If Yang Kai was willing, obtaining them would be as easy as lifting his hand.
The temptation of this situation, compared to the previous happy revelry, immediately rose to a whole new level!
Yang Kai frowned for a moment but soon grinned widely. He was planning on taking decisive action just now but after thinking about it briefly he actually withdrew his Saint Qi and folded his arms, assuming the position of an amused observer, preparing to appreciate Yin Su Die’s Beguiling Technique as if it were some kind of show.
After half a cup of tea’s worth of time, the pink mist barrier transformed again, and Yin Su Die increased the power of her Beguiling Technique for a second time.
When the fog settled, the previously grieving girls had become completely naked and were now entangled with one another like water snakes, exposing their beauty to the air in pairs or groups of three or five. Each one of them was exhaling a rich orchid sent as they brushed against their partner’s lips and bodies, wrapping them arms and legs around one another as they explored every inch of each other, leaving nothing to Yang Kai’s imagination.
Yang Kai’s eyes bulged slightly as he watched with great interest.
This was the first time he had witnessed such a scene, and although he knew it was all just an illusion, that did not diminish the impact it made. At the very least, Yang Kai had some reaction to it, his blood flow accelerating quite a lot.
“Not bad. Not bad at all!” Yang Kai nodded lightly, seemingly quite satisfied.
He did not have any intention to immediately break this Beguiling Technique and instead was actually enjoying it leisurely; after all, it wasn’t a scene one could usually appreciate.
A cold snort suddenly rang out as it seemed Yin Su Die became somewhat angry out of shame. In the next instant, all the entangled young girls overflowing with erotic auras had their expression warp into ones filled with hatred. It was as if all of them had transformed into poisonous vipers who were glaring at Yang Kai maliciously, their beautiful eyes all exuding an icy light.
When Yin Su Die coldly snorted, the young dancing girls all directed undisguised hatred towards Yang Kai and charged him while, at the same time, the pink mist barrier welled up and engulfed him.
Inside the concealing mists, these girls fluttered back and forth like butterflies, their bodies gradually blurring until they disappeared without a trace while the melodious music also became dissonant filled with murderous intent. This assault on Yang Kai’s senses was specially aimed at shaking his heart and disturbing his mind.
At the same time, the pink mist seemed to come alive and tried to silently penetrate Yang Kai’s body through his pores, affecting his judgment and the circulate of his Saint Qi.
Yin Su Die realized that her attempts to confuse Yang Kai were futile and immediately changed to a more aggressive approach.
She didn’t expect to be able to defeat Yang Kai like this and was only planning on delaying him long enough for her Senior Brother Luo to catch Yang Yan.
Inside the pink mist, Yang Kai’s expression became solemn as black flames burst from his body, covering him in a scorching hot aura. The pink mist that had been trying to invade his body was incinerated the moment it came in contact with these flames.
However, this pink mist seemed to be able to regenerate infinitely, so no matter how much of it was burned away by the Demon Flame, it continued to flow towards Yang Kai.
From inside this pink mist, vague figures continuously launched sneak attacks towards Yang Kai. Naturally, these vague figures were the beautiful young girls who had disappeared a moment ago. They would appear from Yang Kai’s blind spots, making them impossible to guard against, and send out pink ribbons that wrapped around him tightly.
Yang Kai remained unharmed for the moment, but the pink ribbons which were binding him were quite strange, completely unaffected by his Demonic Flames.
This point caught Yang Kai’s attention, and upon observing these ribbons closely, he discovered that these pink ribbons were not actually illusions created from the fog but rather an Origin Grade Artifact Yin Su Die had summoned at some point. It was just that the colour and shape of this artifact matched perfectly with her Beguiling Technique, making it difficult for Yang Kai to tell immediately tell what was real and what was fake.
On top of that, these pink ribbons were able to restrain the circulation of Yang Kai’s Saint Qi, causing the layer of Demonic Flame protecting his body to rapidly weaken.
A tender laughter echoed from in all directions, making it impossible to distinguish where the source was, and immediately after, the pink ribbon tightened greatly, seemingly wanting to completely wrap up Yang Kai like a giant dumpling.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, grabbed one of the ribbons wrapped around his arm, and fiercely yanked on it, instantly dragging a beautiful figure out of the pink mist bank.
Without even waiting for this figure to get close, Yang Kai’s other hand clenched into a fist and punched out towards this tender body.
A pitiful scream filled the air as the tender body of a young girl exploded into a blood flower which rapidly disappeared from Yang Kai’s vision and merged into the pink mist, causing its colour to become slightly thicker.
Seeing the effectiveness of this method, Yang Kai instantly spun like a top, exerting all his might on each ribbon, dragging all the young girls at the other ends screaming towards him.
Demonic Flames burst from Yang Kai’s hands and smashed towards these illusionary figures, raising a series of ghastly screams as these young girls burst into blood mists and instantly disappeared.
The moment all these illusionary girls were destroyed, Yang Kai seemed to hear Yin Su Die snort.
It seemed that his actions just now had caused some damage to Yin Su Die, who was the source of this Beguiling Technique.
Yin Su Die had indeed received a bit of backlash from her Beguiling Technique being forcefully broken like this. She had not expected Yang Kai to be so ruthless and not show the slightest hint of tender affection.
For other men trapped in this Beguiling Technique Bewildering Array, even if they knew that these young girls were fake, they would find it difficult to ruthlessly slaughter them, allowing Yin Su Die to gain some time to exhibit the next step to her technique. This next step not only had the function of restraining an enemy, but also had an extraordinarily strong killing power. Yin Su Die had figured she could stall Yang Kai for at least as long as it took to boil a cup of tea.
But Yin Su Die had not anticipated that Yang Kai would completely disregard the beautiful young girls who had been created by her Beguiling Technique and cleanly slaughter them, disrupting her plans while also causing her to suffer some backlash.
Although the backlash was not strong and wouldn’t affect her combat capability, Yin Su Die’s beautiful eyes still filled with a ruthless colour as she called out sharply, “Senior Brother Hou!”
“Yes!” Hou Jian, who had been meditating behind Yin Su Die to restore himself, heard her call and immediately got up, his figure flickering as he charged into the pink mist.
At the same time, Yin Su Die’s Divine Sense moved, and a number of graceful figures once again appeared in the large mist bank surrounding Yang Kai. These figures however were different from the last ones as each of them was holding a different weapon, each of which were exuding a not weak energy fluctuation. There were even some figures wearing glowing Artifact Armour.
Yang Kai could not help but feel stunned for a moment.
Although he looked down on Yin Su Die for twice trying to use her Beguiling Technique to deal with him, he also knew that this woman would not be stupid enough to keep repeating the same mistake again and again. He had just smashed these figures with ease a moment ago, so why had she suddenly summoned more of them?
What drew Yang Kai’s attention most though were the weapons these newly emerged figures held in their hands.
Just as he was feeling some doubt, one of the young girls next to him waved a small fan in her hand towards Yang Kai.
This little fan wasn’t very eye-catching, only having some birds and beasts embroidered on it.
But when this fan was waved, the sound of beast roars immediately rang out and a black light suddenly flew out from its surface, transforming into several large and small Monster Beasts.
These Monster Beasts were the same as the embroidered pictures on the small fan, and after they appeared, the fan itself became completely empty.
There were more than thirty of these Monster Beasts, some of them as big as buildings while others were as small as ordinary snakes, and as soon as they appeared, they all rushed directly to Yang Kai.
“An illusion?” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed but his expression soon took on a look of shock as he condensed a Demonic Flame sword in his hand and released a series of slashes.
In an instant, the more than half of the thirty Monster Beasts descending upon Yang Kai were splint into halves by the sword waves, but some of them were more flexible than the others and avoided this attack and pounced onto their prey. As for the Monster Beasts that had been split apart transformed into clouds of Black Qi, gathered together, and actually reappeared, seemingly unharmed.
However, if one looked closely, they would notice that the colour of these reconstituted Monster Beasts was significantly dimmer than before.
In a blink of an eye, Yang Kai was surrounded by a dozen Monster Beasts and one of them, which was the size of a small building and modeled after a Qilin, lifted its giant front claws and pressed them down towards Yang Kai.
Before these claws even fell, a suffocating pressure enveloped Yang Kai, seemingly trying to press him into a meat patty.
Yang Kai didn’t dodge though, and in order to verify his guess, he actually punched upwards to meet this attack head on.
A fist wrapped in Demonic Flame impacted the claw of this giant Monster Beast and knocked it flying, but at the same time, Yang Kai was forced back a few steps. The other Monster Beasts took advantage of this opening and pounced upon Yang Kai.
Seeing this from the outside, Yin Su Die wore a smug smile on her lips, but this smile went stiff just as fast as it blossomed.
Inside the pink mist, this group of Monster Beasts which had piled onto Yang Kai were themselves enveloped in a black light, releasing pitiful wails as they were blasted out in all directions.
“They’re not illusions! Amazing, it seems the top disciple of Coloured Glass Sect has some good methods!” Yang Kai’s appraising voice called out.
Only now was he able to determine that the fan and these Monster Beasts were not mere illusions. The fan was an artifact, and the Monster Beasts it released were a part of its power, both of which were tangible existences. Not only this fan though, it seemed all the weapons the girls were holding were real artifacts.
Inside this pink mist, only the young girls themselves were created by Yin Su Die’s Beguiling Technique, existences that straddled the line between real and illusionary.
“Little Brother should stop struggling pointlessly and obediently come with me!” Yin Su Die saw Yang Kai was more difficult to deal with than she anticipated and shouted coldly.
“If you want me to follow you, you first need to have prove you have the skill!” Yang Kai sneered, and as soon as his voice fell, his figure flickering, disappearing from its original position in a crack of thunder.
The instant Yang Kai’s figure reappeared though; a flash of light pierced towards him. Although this flash of light was extremely fast, Yang Kai could still clearly see its true appearance. It was a dagger-like artifact that had been thrown by one of the illusionary girls towards him with near perfect timing.
Yang Kai roared angrily as he stretched out a hand covered in burning hot Demonic Flame and grabbed this dagger.
With a cold snort, Yang Kai pushed his Saint Qi fiercely, causing his Demonic Flames to completely envelop the dagger.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, this dagger, which was a genuine Saint King Grade High-Rank artifact, melted like a snowflake under the sun.
In a flash, this dagger had been reduced to a molten metal and slipped through Yang Kai’s fingertips.
Now that he had determined that these artifacts were all real, Yang Kai naturally knew what to do. Yin Su Die pestering him endlessly like this had annoyed him greatly, so he was planning on teaching her what fate awaited those who crossed him.
When they saw this Saint King Grade artifact so easily destroyed, the expressions on the faces of the remaining young girls changed to shock. Perhaps they were connected to Yin Su Die’s mind so they would reflect her expression at the moment.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yang Kai grinned and struck towards these girls.
In the next instant, cries of surprise sounded out, and the girls all spread out, urging the power of the artifacts in their hands to simultaneously attack Yang Kai.
It had to be said that Yin Su Die’s Beguiling Technique was unique and powerful. With this strange technique, she could easily defeat cultivators in the same realm without ever facing them directly.
Unfortunately, the one she was now trying to use this Beguiling Technique on was Yang Kai.
Firstly, Yang Kai’s Soul was far stronger than average cultivators in the same realm, so he would not easily be manipulated, and secondly, Yang Kai had cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art so he had a natural resistance to Beguiling Techniques.
A burst of screams rang out as the girls inside the pink mist barrier were slaughtered by Yang Kai.
Yang Kai wasn’t actually targeting them directly as they were all simply illusions manifested by Yin Su Die, so even if he did kill them it would achieve nothing. Instead, Yang Kai was targeting the artifacts these illusionary girls were carrying.
There were more than twenty Saint King Grade High-Rank artifacts in total. The fact that Yin Su Die could collect this many high-rank artifacts and even use all of them at once was quite surprising because although it appeared that this illusionary girls were the ones manipulating them, Yin Su Die would have first had to refine these artifacts before that was possible.
Collecting and refining more than twenty artifacts must have taken Yin Su Die a great deal of time and effort, so if they were all destroyed, she would undoubtedly be distressed.
Sure enough, after seeing five or six of the precious Saint King Grade artifacts she had painstakingly refined being melted into slag by Yang Kai’s Demonic Flame, Yin Su Die’s anger soared as she ground her teeth and screamed, “If you destroy any more of my artifacts, I’ll make you pay!”
Hearing her frustrated scream, Yang Kai’s mood became more carefree as he spun around to face another of the young girls standing next to the wine pool. This illusionary girl was holding a long whip that let out a flash of lightning each time it was cracked. Among the more than twenty artifacts, it could be ranked in the top three in terms of power and value.
The price of such an artifact was certainly not low, and if it were to be destroyed, Yin Su Die’s mood would surely worsen.
Yang Kai rushed towards this girl immediately, his figure flickering a few times before suddenly appearing in front of her. This illusionary girl’s senses were connected with Yin Su Die, so she immediately noticed Yang Kai’s attack and her pretty face was filled with panic. The long whip cracked as it struck towards Yang Kai, releasing a blue flash of lightning.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, and made a sweeping motion with his hand, releasing a wave of Demonic Flame that neutralized all the lightning, causing it to disappear without a trace.
Yang Kai then reached out his other hand and grasped towards the air ruthlessly.
The series of whip shadows that had just been blotting out the sky instantly solidified as it was caught by Yang Kai. The Demonic Flames on his palm burst forth and the long whip’s glow quickly grew dim. At the rate it was losing its spirituality, it wouldn’t be long before this whip was destroyed like the other artifacts before it.
At that moment, a dream-like whisper brushed Yang Kai’s ear. This whisper seemed to contain an infinite charm and it swiftly slipped into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
Yang Kai’s Saint Qi circulation was instantly disrupted and the intensity of the Demonic Flames covering his hand rapidly weakened.
Simultaneously, an extremely burly figure suddenly emerged from the wine pool. This figure was abnormally tall, with muscles as strong as forged iron, and two eyes like those of a fierce beast that were glaring hatefully towards Yang Kai. In this figure’s hand was a kind of broken blade, one that was obviously cutting into its wielder’s hand. Strangely though, there was no blood dripping from the wound opened by this broken blade, instead, it seemed the blood which should have been leaking out was being absorbed by the broken blade, dying it a crimson colour.
A bloody smell thick enough to make others nauseous quickly filled the air.
This burly man was none other than Hou Jian who was previously injured by Yang Kai.
At some point he had obviously snuck into the pink fog barrier and hidden himself in the wine pond. With Yin Su Die coordinating with Hou Jian, even Yang Kai wasn’t able to notice him until he attacked.
While Yang Kai’s attention was attracted to the long whip artifact, Hou Jian saw an opportunity and immediately launched a sneak attack.
The broken blade Hou Jian held, released a crimson sword wave as he swung it ruthlessly towards Yang Kai’s waist. At that moment, Hou Jian was releasing a thick murderous intent as a cold grin crept onto his face.
Hou Jian had suffered a big loss at Yang Kai’s hand and understood that this young man was extremely powerful, but since he dared to rush out at this time, Hou Jian was naturally completely confident in his ability to win. His source of confidence was the broken Origin Grade High-Rank artifact he was wielding. It was an evil artifact that Hou Jian had picked up during one of his trips outside for life experience and was twenty or thirty percent more powerful than an average artifact.
Normally, which his current cultivation, Hou Jian didn’t dare to use this artifact; after all, if it were used too many times, the evil aura inside it would likely begin to affect his personality.
But today he had been humiliated again and again and all that was on Hou Jian mind right now was saving face in front of Yin Su Die, so how could he care about such trivial consequences now? As such, he had immediately summoned this artifact in order to kill Yang Kai.
His timing was quite good. Yang Kai’s concentration had just been disturbed by Yin Su Die and also had his attention focused on trying to destroy the long whip artifact. So even if Yang Kai’s strength was outstanding, he wouldn’t be able to easily avoid this sneak attack.
As long as he was hit by this sword wave, he would definitely die!
Yang Kai was naturally able to notice the strangeness of this broken blade and for the first time showed a dignified expression. Just as he was about to dodge though, the girl who was standing in front of him manipulated the long whip in her hand to entangle Yang Kai.
Before Yang Kai could escape, he was bound in place while at the same time, lightning flashed from the long whip as the power of this artifact was stimulated to the fullest.
Bolts of lightning crackled and flooded Yang Kai’s body. Facing this situation, Yang Kai’s face grew cold and gloomy as he pushed his Saint Qi fiercely, releasing a surge of flames from his body that burned down the long whip.
In an instant, the long whip was destroyed and broken into countless pieces that fell to the ground, but this momentary delay was enough for the blood-red sword wave to arrive in front of Yang Kai, making it impossible for him to evade!
Facing this blood-red sword wave that was about to cut his body, Yang Kai calmly summoned his Purple Shield and injected his Saint Qi into it. A purple halo flashed from the shield as a series of runes lit up on its face. These runes rotated rapidly and soon leapt out from the shield, transforming into a giant illusionary shield that blocked the path of the approaching sword wave.
*Hong…*
With a loud bang, the blood-coloured sword wave landed on the light shield, causing it to explode, but at the same time the blood-coloured blade was repelled.
Seeing this, Hou Jian’s expression was dumbfounded, as if he hadn’t anticipated Yang Kai would actually possess such an excellent defensive artifact, one that was even capable of resisting his killing blow!
He had greatly underestimated Yang Kai’s depths.
When the Purple Shield was first refined, it was just an Origin Grade Low-Rank artifact, but after being enhanced once by Yang Yan, it had been upgraded to the Origin Grade Mid-Rank. Later, inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Yang Kai had used the Purple Shield to fight against the Artifact Spirit, resulting in its spirituality being greatly damaged. After bringing it back, Yang Kai had Yang Yan enhance it a second time, resulting in today’s Purple Shield already being an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact.
Its defensive capability was even more outstanding than before.
Being an Origin Grade High-Rank artifact as well, the Purple Shield was naturally able to block the strike of Hou Jian’s broken blade. If this hadn’t been the case, Yang Kai wouldn’t have summoned it out with such confidence.
After blocking the bloody blade, Yang Kai took back his Purple Shield and stared straight at Hou Jian with a stern look, a sneer soon creeping onto his face.
How could Yang Kai have missed the strong murderous intent the other party had released during that strike just now.
This man had already decided to kill him!
If they just wanted to bring him back to Coloured Glass Sect, Yang Kai wouldn’t have taken things too far, but now…
Waving his hand, a scroll-like object appeared in front of Yang Kai who wore a fierce grin. In an instant, the illusionary shadows of several mountains rushed out from this scroll. When these shadows rushed out, they immediately expanded to the point where they covered the sky before pounding down towards Hou Jian with incredible force.
Hou Jian’s face changed drastically and he could no longer care about anything else, hurriedly pouring all his strength into the broken blade, allowing it to wantonly consume his blood as he lifted it up high and slashed out.
A blood-red sword wave impacted the bottom of the approaching phantom mountain and split it in half, causing the broken pieces to fall away from Hou Jian. The earth trembled on this series of impacts as several giant pits were created.
However, Yang Kai had used dozens of phantom peaks this time, each successive one bigger than the last, so how could Hou Jian defend against all of them?
Hou Jian only managed to defend himself for three breaths before his strength was completely consumed and he powerlessly watched the approaching mountain peak press down on him. Hou Jian’s face became ashen as his gaze became hollow.
He was certain that he would die in the next moment! Instantly, he regretted following Yin Su Die out here.
At that moment though, the pink mist in the surrounding as well as the grand palace and wine pool all suddenly twisted and disappeared. The figure of Yin Su Die appeared in front of the Hou Jian like a ghost, her usual charming expression replaced with solemn on as she lifted up a white bead that released a soft light in to the surrounding.
When he was hit by the light from this bead, Yang Kai suddenly felt his murderous intent decrease and his mood become tranquil. Even his desire to ruthlessly kill Hou Jian faltered.
However, in an instant, Yang Kai dispelled this hesitation as he stared at Yin Su Die coldly.
He knew that the reason why his will had suddenly weakened was related to the strange bead in her hand.
Yin Su Die on the other hand stared at the bead in her hand for a moment, seemingly looking for something, but she soon wore a happy smile as she called out to Yang Kai tenderly, “Do you really want to do this? You won’t regret it?”
When she spoke these words, she stood in front of Hou Jian, completely disregarding the illusionary mountain peaks above her, seemingly unafraid of death.
After Yin Su Die asked this, she showed no further signs of resistance, her tender body seemingly delicately blowing in the wind.
But the look on Yang Kai’s face changed greatly as he stared at her, immediately waving his hand and retrieving the phantom mountain peaks that had been smashing down towards her. Even the Hundred Mountains Picture was tightly grasped in his hand.
He gazed incredulously in the direction of Yin Su Die, his eyes filled with tenderness as his lips trembled a few times before finally whispering, “Su Yan?”
At this moment, the one standing in front of Hou Jian was no longer Yin Su Die but rather the woman that Yang Kai longed for deep in his heart, the beauty who appeared in his dreams every night and had enchanted his heart and soul.
His expression immediately solidified as infinite longing filled his mind and tenderness that could melt even the coldest ice flashed across his eyes.
The opposite Su Yan also looked at him with the same kind of infinite tenderness, but imperceptibly, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, as if he she had just heard a stranger’s name, changing her appearance ever so slightly.
Just when she thought that Yang Kai had been thoroughly confused by herself, his expression suddenly became ice cold and all the tenderness in his eyes disappeared, replaced with a thick disgust and anger.
Seeing Yang Kai’s look change, Yin Su Die realized that the situation had taken a turn for the worse, immediately reached out to grab the pale and bloody Hou Jian in an attempted to escape.
But before she could even move a step, Yang Kai’s low voice suddenly sounded, “Blossoming Lotus!”
Yin Su Die’s tender body, which was still facing Yang Kai, suddenly stiffened as she saw the vague vision of a lotus bud appear in his eyes. This vision was incredibly beautiful and exuded a soft seven coloured light, instantly attracting her completely attention, making it impossible for her to look away.
In the next instant, this lotus vision suddenly disappeared from Yang Kai’s eyes and strangely appeared in Yin Su Die’s Knowledge Sea.
[Soul Skill!] Yin Su Die’s face changed dramatically as she comprehended what had just happened, but as she tried to raise her defences, she noticed that the Spiritual Energy in her Knowledge Sea was rapidly being drained towards a certain location. It seemed that a huge vortex had appeared and was absorbing her Spiritual Energy. At the source of this attraction though was the ethereal lotus bud she had just seen.
Yin Su Die groaned as her vision was completely covered by the slowly blooming seven coloured lotus. For every petal that unfurled, the Spiritual Energy in her Knowledge Sea decreased, as if it were the nutrient required for it to blossom.
Yin Su Die was terrified and hurriedly tried to defend her Soul, but no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to slow the speed at which her Spiritual Energy was being swallowed.
In the blink of an eye, the greater part of her Knowledge Sea had dried up! But the lotus blood had only slightly blossomed.
If blossoming only a tiny bit had consumed so much of her Spiritual Energy, would her Knowledge Sea be completely drained once it fully bloomed? At that point, even if she did not die, her Soul would surely suffer a grievous wound, something that couldn’t easily be healed.
At this point, Yin Su Die’s face suddenly paled. She had not expected that Yang Kai would really dare to kill her, and for a time, her beautiful eyes flashed a deep regret and pleading, becoming incredibly pitiful.
*Peng…*
Yin Su Die fell to the ground, her tender body covered with dust, no longer exuding any of her previous charm. At this moment, her face was pale white and she behaved as if there was a vice gripping her head, causing laboured gasps to escape her lips and large drops of sweat to drip from her body, soaking her clothes in the blink of an eye.
She could not even beg for mercy!
The pain she felt from having her Soul drained out was harder to bear than any pain she had suffered before, but all Yin Su Die could do was grit her teeth and stubbornly defend the last vestiges of her Knowledge Sea.
Even so, she knew that once the seven coloured lotus fully bloomed, she would meet her end.
*Sha sha…*
The sound of footsteps leisurely approaching reached Yin Su Die’s ear. Barely managing to turn her head in the direction of the sound, she saw Yang Kai’s gloomy staring down at her coldly, no trace of emotion in his eyes at all.
Yin Su Die opened her mouth and tried to say something but failed to vocalize any words.
Yang Kai then snapped his fingers.
The seven coloured lotus blooming slowly in Yin Su Die’s mind suddenly stopped opening and soon disappeared into a scattering of light.
Seeing this, Yin Su Die’s expression relaxed as she quickly examined the situation in her Knowledge Sea. A brief glance was all it took though to fill her with terror again. Her Knowledge Sea was almost completely dried up. If Yang Kai had not stopped his secret technique just now, the consequences would have been dreadful. Even so, if Yin Su Die wanted to completely recover, it would cost her a significant amount of time and resources.
From beginning to end, Yang Kai had only used his Blossoming Lotus for three breaths.
During these three breaths, the burly man who had originally been protected by Yin Su Die was unable to understand what had happened, only further realizing that this time the three of them had really kicked an iron plate.
Seeing Yang Kai not paying any attention to him, Hou Jian glanced over at the extremely disheveled Yin Su Die and steeled his heart, condensing his Saint Qi as he prepared to flee.
He did not have the ability to care about Yin Su Die.
But the moment his body move, a figure flashed in front of him, and an indifferent Yang Kai blocked his path.
Hou Jian’s mouth went dry as he stared at the figure in front of him, his eyes overflowed with horror, not daring to move.
Yang Kai simply pointed his finger at Hou Jian and sent out a blast of Demonic Flame that punched a hole directly through his left chest. The burly man couldn’t even muster the will to resist, stumbling backwards a few steps while covering the hole where heart once was. A look of utter disbelief flashed across his face before his eyes grew dim and he collapsed to the ground, the black Demonic Flames wrapping up his body and quickly burning his corpse to ash.
After finishing this, Yang Kai figure blurred and returned to Yin Su Die.
Yin Su Die was still gripping her head with both her hands and panting heavily. It seemed that the Blossoming Lotus Yang Kai used on her had caused her such a heavy injury she was unable to even move.
Beside her, a delicate white bead had fallen to the ground.
Yang Kai glanced over at this bead, reached out, and pulled it into his hand. Although he didn’t know what this bead was, he was certain that Yin Su Die had used it just now to probe his mind, allowing her to use her Beguiling Technique to make it appear like Su Yan was standing in front of him.
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Kai tightened his grip and condensed a rich Demonic Flame to melt this bead down, completely destroying it.
Regardless of what this bead was, or how precious it might be, Yang Kai was not willing to let it remain.
After incinerating this bead, Yang Kai stared coldly at Yin Su Die and said indifferently, “Did you think I wouldn’t dare to kill?”
Fright flashed across Yin Su Die’s eyes and she did not dare to respond.
The scene just now of Yang Kai killing Hou Jian was seen clearly by her. She realized that what she had done just now had touched her opponent’s psychological bottom line, otherwise Yang Kai would not have acted so ruthless. Given his strength, the first time Hou Jian attacked him, Yang Kai could have killed him if he wished.
The woman named Su Yan must be especially important to him, otherwise how could things have become so serious so quickly?
Realizing all of this, Yin Su Die felt a deep sense of regret. If she had known Yang Kai’s strength was this tyrannical, how could she have run out here to embarrass herself?
“Do you think I won’t dare kill you?” Yang Kai asked again.
“You can’t kill me…” Yin Su Die said haltingly, “My Senior Brother should have succeeded by now, you need to consider the safety of your companion.”
“Succeeded?” Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a sneer as he waved his hand, releasing an extremely slender ray of light just like a golden silk thread that shot off towards the distance.
A moment later, the panic-stricken shout of a male cultivator rang out and a flash of light appeared mid-air, revealing Luo Min’s figure.
After Yin Su Die inexplicably collapsed and Hou Jian had been killed, it seemed Luo Min realized the situation was beyond saving and immediately used his Flowing Light Escaping Shadow secret technique to escape. But before he could get far, a strange golden thread chased after and swiftly broke his technique. No matter how he tried, Luo Min could not escape from the pursuit of this gold thread and in the blink of an eye, was captured by it.
This golden thread was naturally the Golden Blood Thread Yang Kai had been cultivating for the past year or so, an existence similar to an artifact.
Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Thread was derived from Demon Blood Temple’s Demon Blood Thread secret technique. Yang Kai had been wanting to test the power of his Golden Blood Thread, so he had quickly displayed it here. Now seeing how the Golden Blood Thread had easily captured Luo Min and rendered him unable to escape, Yang Kai felt that all his effort was worth it.
Waving his hand once more, the Golden Blood Thread that bound Luo Min dragged him back over to Yang Kai.
Yin Su Die’s expression became extremely gloomy upon seeing this.
Just now, she had engaged in a battle with Yang Kai even though she knew she would lose because she was confident that her Senior Brother Luo would be successful, so she hadn’t paid any attention to the situation with Yang Yan, only instinctively thinking the latter had been captured.
But looking at it now, Yin Su Die immediately realized her thinking had been too naive.
When Luo Min was captured, Yang Yan in her black robe also walked over. Looking at her appearance, besides being a bit frightened, she was completely unscathed, even her black robe did not have any wrinkles. It was a mystery how she had resisted Luo Min for so long without suffering the slightest loss.
“Succeeded was it? Have you woken up yet?” Yang Kai sneered.
Yin Su Die’s face went from blue to red, wishing she could find a find a hole to crawl into and hide. At the same time, she glared coldly at Luo Min, secretly blaming him for being useless.
Luo Min was also full of bitterness. He had not expected Yang Yan to have so many artifacts on her, each of which possessed great power. While he was attempting to capture her, the other party had not fought back at all and just passively defended herself. But no matter how he attacked, he was unable to break through Yang Yan’s defenses, so now, after being captured by Yang Kai, he really did not have the face to look at Yin Su Die.
Seeing Yin Su Die fall silent, Yang Kai coldly snorted and launched a palm strike towards Luo Min, pounding him into the ground and breaking many of his bones. This single blow had caused Luo Min very heavy injuries.
But even in this condition, Luo Min was feeling quite lucky, because it seemed Yang Kai did not intend to kill him.
Acting together with her two Senior Brothers, Yin Su Die had thought it would be easy to bring Yang Kai back to Coloured Glass Sect, but the result was actually one of them dying here while the other two had suffered grievous wounds. Seeing Yang Kai still staring down at her coldly, Yin Su Die suddenly realized that she had made a big mistake.
“Even if I fought against the entire world, she would willingly stand behind me, never barring my path or asking if I will regret,” Yang Kai suddenly said some inexplicable words to Yin Su Die, the corners of his mouth rising into a sneer as he snorted, “A cheap woman like you actually daring to transform into her likeness, you really court death!”
As soon as these words fell, a jet black ray shot into Yin Su Die’s tender body from Yang Kai’s hand.
Yin Su Die beautiful face lost all colour as she felt the hand of death reach out for her, two tears involuntarily falling from the corners of her eyes.
These black Demonic Flames had just now easily burned her Senior Brother Hou’s body to ashes, and now they had actually been shot into her body; how was she supposed to survive? What surprised Yin Su Die though was that these Demonic Flames weren’t hot like she imagined, but extremely cold. As soon as they entered her body, she shivered involuntarily and the Saint Qi in her body began to freeze, a layer of frost soon appearing on her pale skin.
“I won’t kill you this time! But if you dare act against me again, I’ll give you a fate worse than death!” Yang Kai coldly snorted before waving his hand and retrieving the golden thread which had bound Luo Min.
Under the complex gaze of Yin Su Die, Yang Kai turned around and led Yang Yan away.
Only after the figures of Yang Kai and Yang Yan had disappeared for a long time did Yin Su Die and Luo Min dare to move. Although both of them had suffered greatly, neither had fatal injuries. Luo Min had many broken bones in his body, but overall he was still able to move; on the other hand, Yin Su Die’s injuries were more severe. The damage to her Soul and the frigid chill permeating her body made her feel very uncomfortable.
“Junior Sister Yin… are you okay?” Luo Min stood forced himself to his feet and asked with concern, reaching out his hand as he spoke, seemingly wanting to help Yin Su Die up.
“Do I look like I’m fine?” Yin Su Die’s pretty face twisted in anger as she swatted away Luo Min’s hand and staggered to her feet. Her hair and clothes were in a state of chaos and she was covered in dirt, her beforehand exquisite image completely destroyed.
Luo Min knew that she was blaming him for his incompetence, but even if he was angry about this inside, he didn’t dare to say anymore.
However, if he had known that surnamed Yang was so powerful, he would never have agreed to accompany Yin Su Die to intercept him. How was that any different from seeking destruction? Fortunately, that surnamed Yang did not seem intent on killing him, otherwise, he would currently be accompanying his Senior Brother Hou to the next life.
Luo Min hadn’t figure out why Yang Kai had only killed his Senior Brother Hou though, was it simply punishing one to warn the others?
“Junior Sister, shouldn’t we find a hidden place to rest first? We’re not too far from Myriad Beast Mountain so their disciples should pass by here quite often. If they were to see us in this state, it would become troublesome,” Luo Min asked Yin Su Die gently as she fixed her clothes. Although Yin Su Die was currently quite angry with him, he did not dare ignore her wellbeing. After all, if he were to really abandon her, after going back, he was the one who would suffer.
Hearing this, Yin Su Die’s expression lightened somewhat as she nodded, “Yeah, let’s find a place to heal first. Moreover, we need to discuss how to explain what has transpired here to the Sect Elders before returning.”
Luo Min was startled for a moment but soon nodded, “It is as Junior Sister says.”
The two of them then supported each other as they dragged their injured bodies to a well-concealed spot nearby to meditate and heal.
…..
Several thousand kilometres away, Yang Yan followed behind Yang Kai without saying a word, both of them using their respective Star Shuttles to fly towards a certain direction. As she stared at Yang Kai’s back, Yang Yan didn’t know why, but she felt as if it was revealing a desolate and lonely air. Since separating from Yin Su Die and her group, Yang Yan had noticed a change in Yang Kai’s mood. He now seemed to be in quite low spirits and his mind was obviously elsewhere.
Yang Yan didn’t step forward to disturb him though, instead just following behind him quietly.
She knew that Yang Kai becoming like this was somehow related to the last secret technique Yin Su Die had displayed and the woman whose name he had called out.
After a whole day and night, Yang Kai, who had been rushing ahead, suddenly came to a stop and landed on a nearby hill. At this moment, the lonely aura coming from his back suddenly disappeared.
Yang Yan controlled her Star Shuttle to land beside Yang Kai and observing his profile, she found that he had indeed returned to normal. Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, she shifted her eyes slightly and asked, “Who’s Su Yan?”
“Why do you ask?” Yang Kai turned his head to her and asked back.
“Just curious,” Yang Yan smiled, immediately understanding that Yang Kai was reluctant to say more; but even if she didn’t ask this question or get any kind of response, she could still guess that this Su Yan must be the most important woman in Yang Kai’s life.
While Yang Yan did not ask anything more, Yang Kai actually wore a smile and began talking, “She is my real Senior Sister, different from the fake Senior Sister you are.”
“Then you’re…” Yang Yan’s smile faded, as if she had just learned something serious, a curious look appearing on her face.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded calmly, “But I don’t know where in the Star Field she is now.”
“She’s not on Shadowed Star?” Yang Yan was startled.
“No, arriving here was a complete accident for me. As for her, she entered the Star Field earlier than me, but I don’t know where she went.”
“Is that so… are you worried about her?” Yang Yan asked softly.
“I am worried, therefore I want to find her as soon as possible, but I don’t even know when I’ll be able to leave Shadowed Star,” Yang Kai sighed sadly, “For now, all I can do is cultivate as quickly as possible. When I grow strong enough, I’ll have a chance to leave Shadowed Star and enter the outside world to search for her.”
Yang Yan’s eyes turned, as if she wanted to say something, but after thinking carefully, she swallowed the words back down and waved her hand, “Let’s not discuss this anymore, you seem quite sad when you do. En, I was meaning to ask actually, why didn’t you kill those two just now? Could it be you couldn’t bring yourself to kill her because she was a woman?”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “If I could, I would naturally have killed them, but Yin Su Die’s status in Coloured Glass Sect makes things difficult. If I was to really kill her, Coloured Glass Sect would definitely not let me off. More importantly, before pursuing us, those three definitely informed others about their intentions; without such worries, I wouldn’t have minded silencing them all.”
“If that’s the case, you shouldn’t have killed any of them then,” Yang Yan frowned secretly. She had witnessed all of Yang Kai’s battles with Hou Jian and Yin Su Die and felt that there were only two appropriate choices, either kill none of them or kill all of them. Killing just one person obviously didn’t have any benefit.
Yang Kai smiled, “I killed him because he wanted to kill me, nothing more!”
As for Coloured Glass Sect’s reaction, Yang Kai didn’t care too much, at worse he would become enemies with them; after all, one of their disciples died at his hand. However, Hou Jian’s status was obviously not as high as Yin Su Die’s, so even if this incident created some trouble for Yang Kai, it would not be on the level of all Coloured Glass Sect’s Elders would be after his head. If Coloured Glass Sect really wanted to seek revenge, they would only send a small number of people after him. With the current defensive strength of Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai didn’t fear a small raid.
In any case, he already had a grudge with the Xie Family, so adding one or two more enemies wouldn’t change his situation much.
Besides, which great Sect didn’t have a number of disciples encounter accidents or even die each year? If these Sects always sought trouble with others because their disciples died, they would not be able to develop themselves.
As such, Yang Kai didn’t worry about killing Hou Jian much.
During this battle, Yang Kai not only got to test out his Golden Blood Threads, but also the power of the Soul Skill derived from his Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
The Blossoming Lotus was a Soul Skill Yang Kai comprehended after the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus evolved.
The first time he used it, Yang Kai was able to instantly incapacitate Yin Su Die.
However, although the power of this Blossoming Lotus technique was extremely powerful, the load it placed on him was also great and the amount of Spiritual Energy it consumed was also significant. Yang Kai thought about the pros and cons for a moment and decided that this Soul Skill should be reserved for critical situations.
Currently, Yang Kai had his Space Blade, Blossoming Lotus, Golden Blood Thread, Demon Eye of Annihilation, and hot and cold Demonic Flame along with the Hundred Mountains Picture, Purple Shield, Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace and Artifact Spirit, so even if he was just a Second-Order Saint King, he was confident he could compete with an ordinary Origin Returning Realm master.
As for whether he would be able to win such a battle, that would mainly depend on his opponent’s cultivation.
There was also Leng Qing of Star Emperor Mountain and Lu Ye of Flowing Cloud Valley that Yang Kai wasn’t certain he could kill in a head-on confrontation, especially the former who gave him quite a strong feeling of danger.
Naturally, this kind of matter was just a feeling as the two hadn’t actually fought yet.
After sifting through some of these thoughts, Yang Kai suddenly asked, “Where are we now?”
“You’re only asking that now?” Yang Yan snorted, “Why didn’t you think about that yesterday when you were rushing around all depressed?”
A trace of embarrassment appeared on Yang Kai’s face. After being affected by Yin Su Die’s mysterious technique yesterday, although there was nothing physically or mentally wrong with him, it had still sunk him into a kind of dazed, nostalgic state, and it was only after a day of adjustment that his mood had recovered.
Yang Yan saw this and simply laughed lightly, “Fortunately we didn’t deviate too much from our original route; we probably added three or four hours to our journey at most.”
“That’s good,” Yang Kai gently nodded. For this trip, he and Yang Yan had not only wanted to visit the Coloured Glass Sect, but also take care of another matter. If this wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t have been necessary for Yang Yan to come along in the first place.
“But before that, should you release Xiao Xiao and see how much Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass he swallowed?” Yang Yan suddenly proposed excitedly.
Although Yang Kai summoned the Stone Puppet back the night before, for the sake of safety, neither of them dared to check the results of their heist. Now that they finally had the time and opportunity, Yang Yan naturally couldn’t wait to see how much Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass they’d obtained.
Seeing this, Yang Kai nodded slightly before releasing his Divine Sense and investigating their surroundings. After confirming that there was no one within a few-dozen-kilometre radius, he summoned out the Stone Puppet with a wave of his hand.
In the sky above a huge mountain valley that seemed to span several hundred thousand kilometres, Yang Kai and Yang Yan stood observing the thick, rolling clouds down below and frowned as they felt the abnormal chill in the air.
Even without delving into it, Yang Kai could tell that this chill would not be easy to resist, and from time to time he could hear something similar to howling or shrieking that was not just the wind. It was enough to make normal people shudder.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Yang Kai watched for a while before turning his head to look at Yang Yan.
“En, although I don’t know the specific location, if these two map fragments are pieced together, the path they create definitely leads to this place,” Yang Yan looked at the two map fragments she was holding before examining the surroundings and nodding once more.
“This will be bit troublesome then,” Yang Kai frowned.
The reason why he had brought Yang Yan out on this trip was precisely because of these two map fragments, one of which was originally owned by Yang Yan. How she obtained it, Yang Kai never asked. As for the other fragment, it had once appeared in the Treasure Trove Pavilion auction in Heavenly Fate City and was later obtained by Yang Kai after he killed an Imperial City Sect disciple called Meng Hong Liang in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
When these two map fragments were pieced together, although it was still impossible to obtain any precise coordinates, one could still make out some vague clues.
These map fragments obviously had a long history and should hide some valuable secrets, so once one could figure out where it led, they may be able to obtain great benefits. Dragon Cave Mountain’s resources were essentially depleted, and Yang Kai refused to allow Yang Yan to continue auctioning off artifacts, so she decided to take this opportunity when Yang Kai was going to visit Coloured Glass Sect to search for the location pointed to by these map fragments in the hope that she could find a way to resolve their poverty stricken situation.
After checking the amount of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass swallowed by the Stone Puppet, the pair had rushed to this place. It had taken a full ten days before they finally arrived at this massive mountain valley. Yang Kai called it a mountain valley because he could see some mountains at its edge, but such a massive valley was something Yang Kai had never witnessed before.
At first glance, it almost looked as if some powerful expert had split the ground apart to create this valley. The coldness of the air inside was also quite uncomfortable. This was already the case at the periphery, so it was easy to imagine that inside the environment and danger would only be worse.
“Do you know where this place is?” Yang Kai asked. If he was alone, he wouldn’t be worried about anything, but Yang Yan was currently accompanying him, and although she had superior self-protection ability, if they really encountered great danger, Yang Kai wasn’t confident he could keep her safe, causing him to hesitate somewhat now.
“I don’t know. Shadowed Star is too big so how am I supposed to recognize every single area? However, it does not look like there is any kind of settlement in the surrounding region,” Yang Yan shook her head.
Yang Kai felt quite exasperated hearing this comment. It was easy to see this place was not suited to live in, why would Yang Yan need to point it out?
Wanting to find someone to ask about the situation here was likely impossible as the last time the two of them had seen people was six days ago when they passed through a small city.
“Since we are already here, let’s just go in and see. The final position marked on the map fragments is still uncertain, but I don’t want to let them go to waste completely,” Yang Yan saw Yang Kai’s hesitant appearance and couldn’t help urging him.
Yang Kai glanced at her and pondered again for a moment before nodding, “Okay! But you must follow closely, don’t get further than ten metres from me.”
“I know!” Yang Yan spat out her tongue before pulling her black robes tightly.
The two no longer hesitated and dove straight into the mountain valley.
The moment they entered, a thick cold air came at them from all directions, causing Yang Yan to shiver subconsciously. However, in the next instant, hot Fire Attribute Saint Qi burst from her body, dispersing the chill and allowing her to return to normal.
Yang Kai naturally would not care about the cold as his physique was powerful enough to passively resist it.
Looking around, it was obvious that this place was incredibly barren and desolate. It was difficult to see any trees and there were only occasionally some patches of grass growing here and there. The entire mountain valley was filled with a cold, dark aura, and the eerie sounds of howling constantly flooded one’s ears. Gusty winds blew back and forth, brushing against Yang Kai and Yang Yan’s bodies, sending a chill straight into their Souls, making it somewhat difficult to resist.
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai shouted lightly as he led Yang Yan forward, passing along the road. However, besides the uncomfortable environment and the occasional strong winds, there did not seem to be any real danger here, offering Yang Kai a pleasant surprise.
One day later, the pair had already advanced three thousand kilometres and were currently standing in front of some scattered ruins, feeling a bit confused.
Obviously there had been a building here at some point, but it had long ago collapsed. The years had also not been kind and much of this ruin had been completely flattened and worn down, some of the stone surfaces even having been polished to a mirror finish by the high winds.
“Oh!” Yang Yan suddenly noticed something and hurriedly ran over to a nearby broken wall, slowly walking around and examining it after she arrived.
Yang Kai did not stop her because under the investigation of his Divine Sense, he couldn’t find any signs of danger nearby.
After a while, Yang Yan walked back with a thoughtful look upon her face.
“What did you find?”
“A barrier,” Yang Yan quickly said, “This seems to have been the site of a long-lost Sect. There are traces of Spirit Arrays and barriers here, but they’ve all been destroyed. It seems that we’ll have to be more careful as we advance. Generally, the protective Spirit Arrays of a Sect become stronger as one proceeds further. We probably didn’t encounter anything up until now because we were still outside the borders of this ancient Sect.”
Listening to her saying this, Yang Kai nodded immediately and asked, “Where do we go now?”
Yang Yan took out the two map fragments and examined them for a moment before point in a certain direction, “That way!”
Yang Kai continued leading the way immediately and just as Yang Yan had suspected, along the road, the pair really encountered some remnant barriers and Spirit Arrays. However, these Spirit Arrays were not even worth mentioning in Yang Yan’s eyes. With her reminder, Yang Kai was able to easily avoid most of these barriers while the ones that could not be avoided were broken by Yang Yan.
None of these barriers or Spirit Arrays could last longer than three breaths in front of Yang Yan’s skill.
But Yang Kai didn’t show a single look of joy, his expression only growing more solemn the longer that passed. This was obviously the site of an ancient Sect, but even so many years after it had been destroyed, these barriers and Spirit Arrays were still functioning. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how powerful this Sect had been at its height, and such a Sect would not have arranged poor quality protective Spirit Arrays to defend itself.
Whenever Yang Yan was breaking a barrier and Spirit Array, Yang Kai would protect her from the side; then, after she broke a barrier, Yang Kai would lead the way again. The two of them worked together and cooperated exceptionally well.
At this moment, Yang Yan finished dismantling a small Illusion Array and clapped her hands happily. Just as she was about to say something to Yang Kai though, his face went cold, and he rushed over to her side. Grabbing her by the shoulder, Yang Kai placed Yang Yan behind himself as he pushed his free hand forward.
A scorching black flame was released from his palm.
This palm seemed to hit thin air but strangely, a howling scream suddenly rang out, one that contained a mysterious power, similar to a Soul Skill, that rushed towards Yang Kai and Yang Yan’s Knowledge Seas. However, this attack was quite weak and couldn’t even breach the pair’s Knowledge Sea defenses so they easily repelled it.
Even so, Yang Yan’s complexion went pale. She had not noticed any danger until the attack hit her, so naturally she was quite terrified.
When she peeked around Yang Kai to see what had happened, Yang Yan saw that some kind of illusory figure had actually been caught in his grasp. At this moment, Yang Kai’s Demonic Flames were illuminating the blurred features this figure which showed a very painful look, squirming as if it was being burnt alive.
“Yin Soul!” Yang Kai and Yang Yan blurted out almost at the same time, both of them exchanging a glance with each other as they felt the temperature around them drop slightly.
Yin Souls were incredibly special existences that were formed when the Soul of a creature of cultivator did not dissipate after its warm body died.
Generally speaking, such Souls wouldn’t be able to exist for long periods of time as without a body to contain them, they would soon dissipate and become part of the ambient World Energy. Only if a Soul were preserved inside a suitable artifact could it find a suitable physical body in short order could it survive.
However, could it be so easy to refine such a Soul artifact? Seizing another’s body was also extremely dangerous, if one was careless, they might instead be swallowed by the body’s original host. For example, when Old Demon wanted to seize Yang Kai’s body, he had wound up being controlled instead and forced to obey Yang Kai’s orders.
But there was another situation where a Soul would not quickly dissipate, and that was when their host body died in a special environment.
This giant mountain valley was one such environment. The chill and Yin Qi which permeated this place was incredibly rich, so Souls that were released here would dissipate at greatly reduced speed, and if there was enough opportunity, a disembodied Soul could actually transform into a Yin Soul.
Of course, after being transformed into a Yin Soul, this Soul would lose all be sentience and become a malicious ghost that could only act on instinct to survive.
Yin Souls formed like this were incredibly aggressive and would see any living creature as an enemy. They also straddled the line between the corporeal and incorporeal, making them exceedingly difficult to eliminate if one didn’t have a suitable Secret Art or artifact.
After Yang Kai’s Demonic Flame transformed into a pure Hot Attribute, it was equivalent to the burning rays of the sun, making it the perfect nemesis to this Yin Soul, allowing him to easily grasp and kill it. Had it been another cultivator here, they would not have had such an easy time.
In fact, Yang Kai had dealt with these kinds of creatures before. Many years ago, when he dove into the Evil Cavern in the Ash Grey Cloud Evil Land, the Evil Spirits he encountered were similar existences to Yin Souls. At that time, he was able to collect a lot of Evil Spirit Essences after killing them, but unfortunately, no such thing remained after he destroyed this Yin Soul.
After entering the giant mountain valley, Yang Kai had wondered whether Yin Souls would exist here, but until now he and Yang Yan hadn’t encountered any, so he didn’t think much about it.
What caused Yang Kai to frown though was that since there was one Yin Soul here, it meant there would undoubtedly be a second, third, and so on.
Looking at Yang Yan’s complexion, she apparently thought of this as well, and her expression became uncertain.
As if to verify the pair’s conjecture, as soon as Yang Kai eliminated this first Yin Soul, from beneath the ground in all directions, wisps of frigid aura visible to the naked eye began sprouting up, seeming to have been roused by the death scream of the Yin Soul Yang Kai had killed.
These frigid auras varied in opacity, from almost invisible to as thick as fog, but no matter their density, all of them squirmed momentarily before transforming into a Yin Soul. Without exception, these Yin Souls lacked clear features and some were even missing limbs, all of them appearing extremely strange.
Seeing this, Yang Yan immediately activated her Artifact Armour and in a flash, a fiery glow enveloped her body. On the other hand, Yang Kai just lifted his hands and released ten jets of Demonic Flame that swiftly penetrated the surrounding Yin Souls.
Although there was quite an intimidating number of Yin Souls, all of them were apparently weak and simply collapsed after a single blow. Every Yin Soul touched by Yang Kai’s Demonic Flame quickly evaporated, leaving no trace behind.
Yang Yan was quite relieved when she saw this and after composing herself, she took out a disc-shaped artifact and activated it with her Saint Qi.
In the next moment, a large halo of red light was formed, centred on the disc-shaped artifact. As this light halo expanded, it actually dispelled the ambient chill in the air and the Yin Souls caught in its radius were quickly destroyed, all of them screaming pitifully as they melted.
The red light halo spread out a thousand metres before it ran out of energy and faded; however, the dense swarm of Yin Souls within this radius had all been vanquished.
Yang Kai was stunned, quickly turning to stare at Yang Yan in amazement.
“Hehe, my newly refined artifact isn’t bad, right?” Yang Yan smiled back at Yang Kai happily.
“En, it’s very suitable for this kind of situation, but if you were facing a single opponent that is stronger, its strength would be insufficient,” Yang Kai’s vision was quite sharp and immediately saw the shortcoming of this artifact.
Hearing Yang Kai say this, Yang Yan pouted, “I have other artifacts that can be used against single opponents, it’s just that I’m disinclined to fight with others, hmph!”
Having the flaw in her artifact pointed out by Yang Kai seemed to make her unhappy.
Yang Kai scratched his cheek and said lightly, “Let’s go. Although these Yin Souls are quite weak, there may be stronger ones as we proceed further. We can’t be careless.”
And so, the two immediately continued forward.
This Sect ruin was quite strange. There were many Spirit Arrays still functioning as well as many Yin Souls that had spawned. On the following road, Yang Kai and Yang Yan encountered barriers and attacks from Yin Souls several times, but all these were solved by Yang Kai and Yang Yan easily, so they didn’t encounter any real danger.
The pair explored the mountain valley for several days, with Yang Yan checking the map fragments more and more frequently as time passed. It seemed that as they approached their destination it became more difficult for her to determine the correct position.
One day, while Yang Yan was checking the map fragment, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed and he released his Divine Sense in a certain direction. After a while, a look of surprise appeared on his face as he muttered, “There are other people here.”
“Other people, like who?” Yang Yan asked, startled.
“I’m not clear, but there are only four of them, two Third-Order Saint Kings and two Second-Order Saint Kings. It seems that they’ve been trapped in some kind of barrier.”
“Do you want to check it out? Perhaps they’ll be able to tell us where this place is,” Yang Yan suggested.
According to Yang Kai’s original idea, since the two of them had come here to treasure hunt, naturally, he wasn’t willing to complicate the situation. Regardless of who these people were, or what danger they had encountered, Yang Kai had no intention of interfering, but just now, under his Divine Sense’s investigation, two of the life auras from this group gave him a familiar feeling, as if he had encountered them before.
This unavoidably made him curious, and hearing Yang Yan’s proposal, he nodded and said, “Ok, let’s quietly take a look without exposing ourselves.”
“En,” Yang Yan naturally had no opinion.
The pair rushed quietly towards the unknown group’s location. Yang Kai Soul was incredibly powerful, so as long as he suppressed his aura by wrapping himself in his Divine Sense, he wasn’t worried about being discovered by cultivators in the same realm.
As for Yang Yan, she activated a necklace artifact she was wearing and was instantly shrouded in a thin energy barrier that appeared like flowing water. In the blink of an eye, her figure faded from Yang Kai’s vision and nearly disappeared, leaving only a faint outline behind. Even when he used his Divine Sense, Yang Kai was unable to detect her aura, so unless someone stood extremely close to Yang Yan and saw her with their own eyes, it would basically be impossible to discover her.
Realizing this, Yang Kai nodded lightly.
The unknown group of four were at least thirty kilometres away from Yang Kai and Yang Yan’s position and were only detected by Yang Kai because he dared to release his Divine Sense indiscriminately in this kind of place.
After an incense stick worth of time, Yang Kai and Yang Yan arrived atop a small hill and looked curiously towards this group of four.
The pair saw an empty field with a dome-shaped light curtain covering a range of about three hundred metres down below. From afar it almost looked like a giant overturned transparent bowl was lying on the ground with four cultivators trapped inside. Each of these four was facing a different direction and was on high alert. Light flashed around these four as each of them used their Saint Qi to operate artifacts they were holding. Two of them were focused on attacking the light curtain.
Although each attack these two launched could shake the light curtain, a moment later, this barrier would actually rebound their attacks towards the four trapped cultivators.
The remaining two from this group needed to use their defensive artifacts to resist the rebounded energy after their companions attacked so that they didn’t wind up injuring themselves.
This team of four was quite skilful actually and it was obvious at a glance that they were familiar with one another, but no matter how hard they tried, it seemed they were unable to break this hemispherical light curtain in short order. It was impossible to tell how long they had been trapped here, but from the unsteady fluctuations of their Saint Qi, it was apparent they had consumed a great deal of their strength.
“Oh, it’s actually a barrier with reflective properties, interesting,” Yang Yan’s eyes lit up as she seemed to take an interest in the dome-shaped barrier.
On the other hand, Yang Kai was frowning slightly as he stared at an enchanting young woman among the group of, muttering with a strange expression, “It’s her!”
Previously, Yang Kai had felt that two of the life auras here were familiar, which was why he agreed to come take a closer look, but he never expected it to actually be this woman.
The young woman he was seeing now was none other than Chen Shi Tao of the Clear Sky Sect. Yang Kai couldn’t say he had a deep relationship with this woman; in fact, they could barely be considered acquaintances, having interacted only briefly in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. However, this woman seemed to have identified him as a person of great destiny. At that time, she had extended an invitation to him to act together, but before Yang Kai could refuse, they had encountered Chang Qi who had been chasing down the Dragon Soul. As a result, she had gotten lucky and followed Yang Kai to an underground Saint Crystal lode.
Later, Yang Kai departed from the underground Saint Crystal lode in advance, leaving only the small group from Clear Sky Sect and Chang Qi to mine Saint Crystals there.
However, judging from the gains Chang Qi made, the group lead by Chen Shi Tao must have also reaped significant benefits. With several people working together, they had to have harvested at least a hundred million Saint Crystals while not taking any risks.
Furthermore, Yang Kai had obtained his Dragon Bone, Dragon Bead, and Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree from that Saint Crystal Lode, so it wasn’t impossible that Chen Shi Tao and her group obtained other treasures there as well.
From a certain perspective, she really had benefited from Yang Kai’s luck at that time, allowing her to have such great gains.
Yang Kai never expected to encounter Chen Shi Tao in this kind of place though. Of the two familiar auras he felt just now, one belonged to her while the other belonged to another beautiful woman who had been part of Chen Shi Tao’s group at that time. This young woman was a Second-Order Saint King and was currently one of the two responsible for defence.
“You know them?” Yang Yan tilted her head and asked softly.
“Barely,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Do you want to help them?”
“No,” Yang Kai shook his head decisively, “This woman is somewhat troublesome, so I don’t want to get involved with them. The situation they’re in also doesn’t seem to be that dangerous; judging from the state of that barrier, they should be able to break free in a day or two.”
“But I want to study…” Before Yang Yan could finish her words, her eyes suddenly narrowed as she turned away from Yang Kai and stared in a certain direction.
Yang Kai turned his head back at this moment and a helpless expression filled his face.
Because in the direction he was looking, there were several Yin Souls flying over, seemingly attracted by the disturbance here. Worse, if they continued on their current course, these Yin Souls would pass right by the hill where Yang Kai and Yang Yan were hiding.
Yang Kai immediately became annoyed and quietly pulled Yang Yan’s hand to retreat.
But the moment Yang Kai tried to withdraw, the group of Yin Souls seemed to sense his movements and all turned to look in his direction before wailing loudly and rushing over menacingly.
Although the concealment techniques Yang Kai and Yang Yan were using made them all but impossible to discover by Saint King Realm cultivators, as far as these Yin Souls were concerned, as long as it was a living creature, no concealment technique mattered.
Seeing this, murderous intent flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes as he reached out and seized the nearest Yin Soul before releasing a wave of Demonic Flames to incinerate the others.
These few Yin Souls were not powerful, and their attack was easily repelled by Yang Kai, but as a result of having to defend himself, Yang Kai’s figure was exposed and noticed by the group of four nearby.
This group of four was startled and quickly directed a vigilant look towards Yang Kai, only to see him standing there with a helpless and awkward expression.
Of those four, the two males naturally had grim looks upon their faces because they were currently trapped inside a barrier and there was a separate pair of cultivators sneakily watching them from the outside. Such a situation would naturally cause suspicion as suspecting Yang Kai had some kind of nefarious purpose here wasn’t unreasonable. As such, both of them stopped their movements and directed wary glares towards Yang Kai.
On the other hand, the two women, after seeing Yang Kai, just gawked, but soon, Chen Shi Tao and the other beautiful young woman recalled who this familiar looking young man was.
Although it had been almost two years since they separated, how could Chen Shi Tao forget this man who had brought her such great benefits? Immediately revealing a look of joy, she waved her jade white hand and shouted, “So it’s you.”
The other beautiful young woman smiled lightly at Yang Kai, a look of delight filling her face.
Yang Kai felt a headache as he decided to feign ignorance, showing a surprised look and asking, “You are…”
Chen Shi Tao covered her mouth and smiled coquettishly, fluttering her lashes as she asked, “Could it be Little Brother Yang doesn’t recognize me? This Young Lady is Chen Shi Tao of Clear Sky Sect, we met each other in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.”
“Flowing Flame Sand Field?” When the two men beside Chen Shi Tao heard this, they could not help frowning slightly as they re-examined Yang Kai.
After all, anyone who could survive the Flowing Flame Sand Field could not be taken lightly. The two of them had missed the opportunity to enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field for various reasons and after learning about the massive harvest Chen Shi Tao and her team had reaped, they had felt a deep sense of regret. Their understanding of the Flowing Flame Sand Field also came from stories Chen Shi Tao had told them, so both felt that any cultivator that could return safely from it was worthy of their attention.
However, after realizing that Yang Kai was just a Second-Order Saint King, one of the two men spat disdainfully and promptly began ignoring him. He figured that the reason Yang Kai was able to return alive was because he had only wandered about the first layer.
The other male’s cultivation was lower, but he appeared quite full of spirit and was even staring at Yang Kai with interest.
He was the same as Yang Kai, a Second-Order Saint King, so naturally felt a bit of competitiveness.
Seeing Chen Shi Tao showing such a familiar look, Yang Kai felt the situation become more troublesome. When he last encountered this woman, Yang Kai deeply realized that she was a source of stress, but he had underestimated her sense of familiarity. Seeing her greet him so enthusiastically, Yang Kai really had no choice but to smile and nod, “So it’s you, I remember now.”
“So you’ve finally remembered me, for a moment I thought Little Brother Yang hadn’t put me in his eyes and really forgotten about me, hehe…” Chen Shi Tao seemed very happy and smiled charmingly despite still being trapped inside a barrier, her playful laughter stunning the other three in her group greatly.
Hearing her say this, Yang Kai could only laugh along with her.
After giggling for a while, Chen Shi Tao suddenly looked at Yang Kai elegantly and asked, “Right, Little Brother Yang, why have you come here?”
“We stumbled upon this place by accident and felt it was a little strange so we decided to come in and explore. We sensed some movement from this place a moment ago and came to investigate; however, we didn’t know what was happening, so we concealed ourselves. Please don’t blame us for acting cautiously!” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
“Stumbled upon this place…” Chen Shi Tao smiled as she looked at Yang Kai deeply. Although she naturally did not believe Yang Kai’s words, she didn’t ask anything more, her eye rotating slightly as she changed the subject, “Since you’ve come here, could I ask Little Brother Yang for a favour?”
“What kind of favour?” Yang Kai felt his brow twitch as he knew he could not avoid the coming trouble.
“Could you attack this barrier with your companion from the outside? This barrier has the ability to reflect attacks so it is quite troublesome for us to break from the inside, but if you attack from the outside, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment as he turned silently to Yang Yan; the latter gently nodded to him.
Yang Kai then nodded, “Of course.”
Chen Shi Tao pretty face filled with happiness as she said, “Many thanks, Little Brother Yang. After we get out of trouble, I will be sure to express my gratitude.”
“It’s just a minor matter, Sister Chen need not be so polite!” Yang Kai waved his hand before asking the group of four to stand back a bit and taking out his Hundred Mountains Picture, summoning several phantom peaks and smashing them towards the barrier.
Yang Kai did not use his own Saint Qi because he didn’t want to expose too much in front of outsiders. The Hundred Mountains Picture was just an artifact, so others would not be able to judge much from him using it.
The phantom peaks smashed down violently, and just as Chen Shi Tao had expected, the rebound effect of the barrier did not activate. It seems that only those trapped inside would have their attacks reflected back at them while those attacking from the outside wouldn’t encounter such a situation.
Under the attack of Yang Kai, the dome-shaped barrier soon became creaky and its glow dimmed. Judging from the rate at which it was weakening, it would likely break in about a cup of tea’s worth of time.
Seeing this, Chen Shi Tao and the other beautiful young woman could not help feeling cheerful. The four of them had been trapped here for two days already, and although they could forcibly break this barrier in another day or two, it was naturally much easier if they had help from someone on the outside, allowing them to escape from this damned place.
It was at this time that the male Third-Order Saint King suddenly whispered, “Sister Chen, are you familiar with this person?”
Chen Shi Tao heard this and after considering how to respond for a moment, honestly nodded and said, “I am not too familiar with him, I just met him twice in the Flowing Flame Sand Field; however, he’s quite an interesting person.”
“Interesting?” The male cultivator was shocked, wondering what the meaning of Chen Shi Tao’s evaluation was. Just when he was about to inquire more carefully though, the other young man spiritedly asked, “Sister Tao, just now you said he was also in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, right?”
“En, I met him in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Oh… he is actually a Second-Order Saint King now. The last time I saw him, he was just a First-Order Saint King. It looks like he had some good opportunities inside,” Chen Shi Tao’s eyes brightened as if she had discovered something surprising.
“A First-Order Saint King actually dared to enter Flowing Flame Sand Field, he really must not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth!” The male cultivator who had spoken first snorted coldly and scornfully said, “Him being able to live must all be due to luck, I bet he only wandered around the periphery of the first layer.”
For some unknown reason, this person seemed to look down on Yang Kai greatly, and although this was only their first meeting, he was intentionally disparaging him in front of Chen Shi Tao.
Chen Shi Tao however just smiled and shook her head, “He didn’t just wander around the periphery of the first layer, he at least reached the second layer as that’s where I met him.”
“He broke through the first layer?” The male cultivator looked surprised. After all, he heard many people say that crossing the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s first layer Flame Area was not too difficult, but there were still many dangers. Those with weaker or impure Saint Qi, such as poorly prepared Second-Order Saint Kings, wouldn’t be able to overcome these dangers and reach the second layer, so how could this brat, who was just a First-Order Saint King at the time, have the ability to break through?
He did not believe it.
“Naturally. Junior Sister Lu Ying was also present at the time, so if you do not believe me, you can ask her,” Chen Shi Tao pointed to the other beautiful young woman standing beside her.
The beauty called Lu Ying’ nodded repeatedly, confirming that Chen Shi Tao wasn’t lying.
“But… Senior Brother Wang is right about one thing, his luck is really quite good,” Chen Shi Tao smiled deeply.
“His luck?” The cultivator surnamed Wang heard this and slowly shook his head, “Luck is not strength, Junior Sister Chen. Haven’t you heard that counting on luck only leads to disaster? If everything in life was decided by luck, there would be no need to cultivate at all.”
Chen Shi Tao immediately showed a disapproving look, and seeing this, the cultivator surnamed Wang turned to the other male and asked, “Junior Brother Chen, do you think your Senior Brother’s words are unreasonable?”
“No, Senior Brother’s words makes sense,” The man with the same surname as Chen Shi Tao, and who even looked a bit similar to her, didn’t hesitate to agree with his Senior Brother’s words; however, he still looked at Yang Kai with a smile and asked Chen Shi Tao, “Sister Tao, could he be the guy you mentioned last time?”
“En!” Chen Shi Tao gently nodded.
“So it’s him! In that case, we should really become friends with him.”
He had clearly obtained information about Yang Kai from Chen Shi Tao and just like her, he had become interested in Yang Kai.
Seeing the appearance of these two people, the cultivator surnamed Wang snorted softly but no longer said anything.
Outside, Yang Kai’s brow twitched slightly but his expression remained indifferent.
Although the voices of the people inside were extremely low, with the strength of his Divine Sense, how could he not have heard them? Listening to the content of the conversation this group of four caused him to secretly complain to himself and made him feel like being curious was not always a good thing. He had come here just to quietly investigate but had wound up doing free labour while also drawing the ire of a complete stranger.
However, since these four people had appeared here, Yang Kai estimated that they had some important reason, otherwise they would not have come to such a strange place. Perhaps after escaping from this barrier, they would not want to become entangled with him and would look forward to him leaving as quickly as possible.
Hoping so, Yang Kai immediately relaxed a lot and increased the power he put into his Hundred Mountains Picture.
After the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the giant phantom peaks finally overwhelmed the barrier trapping Chen Shi Tao’s group and with a crisp sound, it began to shatter.
Seeing this, Yang Kai took back the phantom peaks, stowed away the Hundred Mountains Picture, and stood waiting in place.
A moment later, Chen Shi Tao’s group emerged from the broken barrier with smiles on their faces and walked over to Yang Kai.
A delicate fragrance reached Yang Kai’s nostrils as Chen Shi Tao arrived in front of him, smiled happily, and said, “Many thanks for your assistance, Little Brother Yang, this Young Lady is extremely grateful.”
“Sister Chen is too polite, such a trivial matter isn’t worth mentioning,” Yang Kai quickly waved his hands and was just about to take his leave when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Yang Yan silently rushing out to examine the broken barrier, as if she was seeking something.