Seeing this, Yang Kai smiled bitterly; knowing that Yang Yan wanted to study this Spirit Array, his plan to quickly leave had been foiled and he could only resign himself to talking with Chen Shi Tao with a smile while waiting for Yang Yan to finish.
During the conversation, Chen Shi Tao naturally introduced her companions to Yang Kai with great enthusiasm.
The other young woman was someone Yang Kai had bet before as she had been part of Chen Shi Tao’s group in the Flowing Flame Sand field, Clear Sky Sect’s Lu Ying.
As for the other two, the male with bright eyes but lower cultivation was called Chen Fan Lei and was Chen Shi Tao’s younger brother. After listening to her introduction, Yang Kai suddenly understood why there were some subtle similarities between the two, it turned out they were blood siblings.
The last Third-Order Saint King cultivator was called Wang Yu Han.
To Yang Kai’s surprise, this Wang Yu Han and Chen Fan Lei were not disciples of Clear Sky Sect. The two of them belonged to Extreme Path Sect, which was a different force from Chen Shi Tao and Lu Ying.
However, cultivators who had friendships or familial ties would commonly travel together even if they did not belong to the same force, so Yang Kai wasn’t too shocked after learning this information.
However, the name ‘Extreme Path Sect’ sounded familiar to Yang Kai, as if he had heard about it somewhere before.
After some brief introductions, Chen Shi Tao smiled and asked, “Little Brother Yang, why are you here in Grand Burial Valley?”
Her voice was sweet and soothing, and combined with a mature temperament and outstanding looks, her natural appeal almost made her more attractive than Yin Su Die when she was using her Beguiling Technique. Yang Kai quickly noticed that the man named Wang Yu Han had some intentions towards Chen Shi Tao.
But when Yang Kai heard the words ‘Grand Burial Valley’, his face changed slightly as he asked hesitantly, “This is Grand Burial Valley?”
Chen Shi Tao was surprised by this reaction and immediately covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, smiling as she asked in amazement, “Little Brother Yang, you couldn’t have really inadvertently stumbled into this place without knowing what it was, could you?”
When Yang Kai had explained his presence before, Chen Shi Tao had naturally not believed his excuse; after all, this place was several days away from the outermost edge of Grand Burial Valley, so even if someone had wandered inside accidentally, they shouldn’t have arrived at such a deep place. However, Yang Kai’s reaction and expression didn’t seem fake, making her wonder if he had actually been telling her the truth earlier.
“Haha,” Yang Kai’s lips twitched, “I really didn’t know what this place was.”
After thinking for a while, he asked, “This is the Grand Burial Valley that was left behind after the Ancient Yang Sect was destroyed?”
“Yup,” Chen Shi Tao nodded lightly, pursing her lips as she smiled, “It seems that you’re not ignorant about this much at least.”
“En, I’ve heard some rumours about this place before.”
The reason why Yang Kai knew about Grand Burial Valley was that Dai Yuan had told him about it in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. At that time, while waiting for the Red Candle Fruit to mature, he had asked Dai Yuan about the disciple of the Star Emperor Sect, which had eventually led to this topic.
According to Dai Yuan, Grand Burial Valley was originally the site of a great Sect with power equal to Thunder Typhoon Sect and Heaven Battling Union called the Ancient Yang Sect, but over two thousand years ago, this Ancient Yang Sect had killed a disciple from Star Emperor Sect that had left Star Emperor Mount for life experience, thoroughly offending this behemoth. As a result, one month later, Ancient Yang Sect had been razed to the ground and its headquarters became this strange place known as Grand Burial Valley.
Moreover, Dai Yuan also said that since then, many cultivators liked to come here to look for opportunities, because it was rumoured that although Ancient Yang Sect had been destroyed, there is still a Secret Cave left behind where most of this former great Sect’s accumulated wealth was hidden. Such rumours were enough to draw in treasure hunters from all over the world.
However, there are many still active Spirit Arrays in this place and the Yin Qi was incredibly thick, so many who came here seeking wealth actually lost their lives instead and the so-called Secret Cave had never been found. Over time, fewer and fewer people came here to try their luck.
Whether the Ancient Yang Sect had truly been wiped out by Star Emperor Sect was true or false, there was no conclusive proof.
Dai Yuan had personally visited this place but hadn’t gained anything. Instead, her body had suffered the invasion of an unusual cold aura that took much time and effort for her to resolve after returning to Coloured Glass Sect.
Yang Kai recalled what Dai Yuan said at the time as his expression fluctuated.
If this was really the Grand Burial Valley, then he would need to increase his vigilance. The people who came here in the past were not just Saint Kings, there were even Origin Realm Masters who had explored this place and fallen as a result. Yang Kai did not dare act carelessly even if he was confident in his own strength.
Could it be that ancient map fragments Yang Yan possessed was leading them to the location of Ancient Yang Sect’s Secret Cave? Considering this possibility, Yang Kai’s heart jumped, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit excited.
If this was really the case, they would really be able to solve the current poverty-stricken situation of Dragon Cave Mountain. After all, the treasury of a large Sect would undoubtedly contain amazing wealth.
While thinking so in his heart, Yang Kai maintained a calm look on his face.
Chen Shi Tao and others seemed to see that Yang Kai was thinking about something but didn’t interrupt his thoughts. Only after a long pause did Yang Kai take a deep breath and cup his fists to Chen Shi Tao, “Many thanks, Sister Chen. If I had not met Sister Chen this time, my companion and I might still be ignorant of where we were.”
Chen Shi Tao giggled, “You’re really quite carefree aren’t you, not even inquiring about where you before diving in to explore? Fortunately, your luck is quite good. Entering this place is quite dangerous, even for an Origin Returning Realm masters.”
A look of rebuke flashed across her face as if she was blaming Yang Kai for not cherishing his life.
Yang Kai could only let out a hollow laugh.
Seemingly just remembering something, Chen Shi Tao asked Yang Kai with utmost seriousness, “Little Brother Yang, don’t judge this place by the dangers you’ve encountered up until now. This place was once the site of the Ancient Yang Sect, and these grounds are just the outer periphery, so the Spirit Arrays here aren’t too powerful, but if you go deeper inside, the barriers will become far more powerful and won’t be so forgiving like the one which trapped my group of four.”
“Sister Chen,” Wang Yu Han suddenly cut in, “This friend just inadvertently broke into this place, so how could he intend to go deeper? Telling him these things is useless.”
Chen Shi Tao’s brow furrowed slightly, not even turning to address him as she continued looking at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai said with a smile, “Since I now know that this is Grand Burial Valley, I will naturally not delve any deeper. En, I assume that you’ve come here for something important, so this Yang won’t delay you any further, goodbye!”
“Take care, Brother Yang!” Wang Yu Han smiled at Yang Kai, changing the way he addressed him to a friendlier one immediately, seemingly quite eager for him to depart.
Yang Kai shot him a glance out of the corner of his eye before curling his lips upwards slightly and calling out to Yang Yan and setting off together with her, his figure gradually fading away into the mist.
Looking at his increasingly estranged back, Chen Shi Tao opened her mouth and seemed to want to say something, but she eventually held her tongue, only letting out a sigh after he completely disappeared.
“Em, this Brother Yang indeed has some good luck,” Wang Yu Han nodded with a sneer, “Without knowing anything at all, he actually wandered into Grand Burial Valley. Fortunately, he ran into Sister Chen, otherwise, he wouldn’t even know how he died.”
“Senior Brother, you don’t seem to like him very much,” Chen Fan Lei asked in an almost naively honest tone.
Wang Yu Han chuckled, “It has nothing to do with like or dislike, I just can’t help looking down on people who rely solely on luck to survive. Senior Brother said before, luck can only get a person so far, next time, his luck might not be so good and result in his death.”
Saying so, he glanced over at Chen Shi Tao seemingly unintentionally, wanting to persuade her to agree with him, but Chen Shi Tao currently had an obviously unhappy look on her face, making Wang Yu Han feel extremely helpless.
Chen Shi Tao was naturally upset. It was quite rare to encounter a person like Yang Kai who carried a great destiny, so she had wanted to try inviting him to accompany them. After all, although the reason the four of them had come to Grand Burial Valley this time should not be too dangerous, there was always the chance of an accident happening. If Yang Kai was with them, they might able to rely on his luck to reduce this risk to a minimum.
How could she have known though that before she could ask, Yang Kai would depart. Wang Yu Han’s follow up only made her feel more annoyed.
“Ah, Senior Sister Chen,” Lu Ying, who hadn’t spoken until now, suddenly called out, “You forgot to ask where he came from again.”
When Chen Shi Tao heard this, her nose cramped and her rich peaks heaved up and down in exasperation.
Last time, she had wanted to ask Yang Kai about his origins, hoping it would give her more opportunities to become friends with him; however, after she had collected enough Saint Crystals, she found that Yang Kai had disappeared at some point and asking Chang Qi hadn’t produced any results. Chang Qi knew better than to disclose Yang Kai’s background clearly.
This was something Chen Shi Tao regretted deeply.
Now, after a rare coincidence had allowed her to meet him again, Chen Shi Tao should have asked Yang Kai clearly about his origins so she could pay him a visit later. If Wang Yu Han had not interrupted and distracted her, she definitely wouldn’t have missed this opportunity.
If she knew where Yang Kai lived at least, the next time Chen Shi Tao wanted to go out, she could have invited him to accompany her.
Rather than acting with others, she was more willing to work with Yang Kai, who was lucky.
Wang Yu Han constantly interrupting her conversation with Yang Kai and making her forget about this matter, annoyed her greatly, causing Chen Shi Tao to shoot him a harsh glare. However, the other side simply welcomed her gaze, and even put on a somewhat flattering appearance, causing Chen Shi Tao to quickly lose interest and wave her hand, “Let’s go, we need to find that Thunder Pond as soon as possible so Fan Lei can break through his bottleneck.”
Saying so, she set out again. Lu Ying naturally understood why Chen Shi Tao was so disgruntled right now and shot Wang Yu Han a disapproving glance before hurriedly following her Senior Sister.
Chen Fan Lei seemed a bit airheaded and did not notice anything wrong, just following after his sister happily while Wang Yu Han stood in place and glared in the direction Yang Kai had departed.
Although the Extreme Path Sect he and Chen Fan Lei came from was not a small force, compared to Clear Sky Sect it was still somewhat dwarfed, that was why he had long been interested in the sister of his Junior Brother. Chen Shi Tao had outstanding looks, especially her watery, enchanting eyes which seemed capable of capturing one’s soul. Every time Chen Fan Lei returned to his family home; Wang Yu Han would find an excuse to tag along so he could meet Chen Shi Tao. He wanted to appeal to her in hopes of moving her heart.
If he could really obtain this woman, Wang Yu Han would not only have a beautiful flower to accompany him in the future, perhaps he could even use her to enter Clear Sky Sect.
However, after meeting several times, and making clear his intentions towards her, Chen Shi Tao still did not show any favour towards him. Gradually, Wang Yu Han lost heart and no longer planned to get entangled with her again, lest he truly annoy her.
But the last time he chatted with his Junior Brother Chen Fan Lei, he accidentally heard some shocking news from him.
Chen Shi Tao now had a net worth in the millions of Saint Crystals and also possessed several high-quality Origin Grade High-Rank artifacts!
It seemed that she obtained these riches when she entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field. According to Chen Fan Lei, his sister had gotten extremely lucky and discovered a Saint Crystal lode, allowing her to collect a massive quantity of Saint Crystals. Later, although she had to turn over the vast majority to her Sect, she still managed to retain a hefty sum and the Clear Sky Sect Elders also rewarded her for her contribution with many artifacts and pills.
In particular, the Origin Grade High-Rank artifacts were given to Chen Shi Tao by the Great Elder of Clear Sky Sect personally!
Chen Fan Lei was not one to have hidden intentions and was seemingly born carefree. His relationship with Wang Yu Han was good, so he had not had any reservations speaking about this subject with him; however, the latter was a different story, and after hearing about her sudden rise in status and wealth, Wang Yu Han once again decided to aim for Chen Shi Tao.
The purpose of this trip was actually for Chen Fan Lei to use a Thunder Pond to help him break through a bottleneck he was facing in his cultivation, but when Wang Yu Han heard about this, he urged his Junior Brother to invite Chen Shi Tao along. Everything had gone smoothly; hearing that her little brother needed help breaking through his bottleneck, Chen Shi Tao, as a supportive older sister, naturally agreed to help, even bringing along Lu Ying from Clear Sky Sect as backup. All four of them met up outside Grand Burial Valley before entering this place together.
Initially, things were going well, but then their group had accidentally fallen into the reflecting barrier and been trapped for two days. It was then that the little brat named Yang Kai had appeared and seeing Chen Shi Tao pay so much attention to him, Wang Yu Han naturally became vigilant and even targeted him slightly.
But now it seems that his way of doing things had irritating Chen Shi Tao, so Wang Yu Han stood in place somberly for a moment before helplessly shaking his head and following after the other three towards the Thunder Pond while secretly pondering what method he should use to impress Chen Shi Tao and win her affection.
After a moment, he indeed came up with an idea, and one that he thought would go well, immediately smiling while he began looking for an opportunity to implement his new plan.
On the other side, after separating from Chen Shi Tao and her group, Yang Kai took Yang Yan back along the route they had travelled and only stopped after withdrawing a couple of dozen kilometres.
“This is Grand Burial Valley?” After listening to Yang Kai’s explanation, Yang Yan not only did not panic but instead showed a joyful, eager look.
“What do you want to do?” Yang Kai asked with a frown, suddenly having a bad premonition.
“It’s nothing. I was just thinking that if this is really the former site of a great Sect, it must be covered with many powerful barriers and Spirit Arrays!” Yang Yan’s beautiful eyes lit up with a strange light as she shot a look of excitement towards Yang Kai.
Gently rubbing his forehead, Yang Kai said, “Since we’re already here, I don’t have any intentions of just leaving, but what about the directions on those two map fragments? If it doesn’t point to the inner recesses, then there’s no need for us to take unnecessary risks.”
“Hehe, then I’ll have to disappoint you, the direction these fragments indicate really is towards the depths of this place, but you can rest assured that there is no barrier or Spirit Array in this world I cannot break. If there were people still living here tending to these Spirit Arrays, I wouldn’t be able to make any guarantees, but only dilapidated barriers that cannot display their full might remain now, so how could they pose any problems?” Yang Yan said with great confidence.
Seeing this, Yang Kai also felt somewhat inspire and nodded, “Fine. Since you’re so confident, let’s continued deeper and see if the place marked on the map fragments is the so-called Secret Cave of the Ancient Yang Sect. If it is, then we should be able to find enough riches to allow you to purchase any Artifact Refining and Spirit Array materials you want!”
Yang Yan’s eyes lit up and immediately began urging Yang Kai to lead the way.
The pair took a long detour so they would not run into Chen Shi Tao’s groups before continuing deeper into the ruins.
Chen Shi Tao was right about one thing though. Around the periphery, the barriers and Spirit Arrays they encountered were not very powerful; in fact, the strongest Spirit Array in the vicinity was likely the one that had trapped their group of four. However, all of these Spirit Arrays were easily dismantled by Yang Yan, taking anywhere from a dozen breaths to the time it would take to burn a stick of incense.
Yang Kai and Yang Yan could basically walk about unimpeded.
Five days later, the pair seemed to enter the inner reaches of Ancient Yang Sect, because here, broken walls and ruins could be seen everywhere. It seemed that there were once many, many buildings here but at some point, all of them had been destroyed.
The barriers and Spirit Arrays here were also much more powerful than before, so Yang Yan had to spend some time to carefully crack them.
On top of that, these Spirit Arrays were quite old, and some had become very unstable, causing Yang Yan to run into some unexpected situations when taking them apart. Yang Kai was responsible for her safety during this time.
Yang Kai originally wanted to search through these ruins to see if there was anything of value left, but he soon gave up on this unrealistic idea.
Grand Burial Valley had existed for over two thousand years and, during this time, countless cultivators had searched through this place, so even if there had been treasures left here at one point, anything good must have already fallen into other’s hands.
On this day, Yang Yan stared at a huge open space in front of her for a moment before suddenly raising her hands and taking out two strange-looking artifacts which quickly flew forward and seemingly disappeared into thin air.
Yang Kai didn’t find this strange though as he had witnessed similar scenes multiple times already. Standing behind Yang Yan, he quietly circulated his Saint Qi and prepared to act at a moment’s notice.
Yang Yan closed her eyes for a while but soon a smile appeared at the corner of her lips and she turned around to Yang Kai and said, “There’s a big Spirit Array here, I’m afraid it will take some time to crack.”
“Can we go around it?”
“No!” Yang Yan looked at Yang Kai imploringly, “Well, yes, we can go around it, but this is a rare type of Spirit Array and I really want to study and crack it. I told you before that as long as I keep arranging Spirit Arrays and Artifact Refining, I will be able to unlock more and more knowledge about these subjects from my memories, yes? This is a good opportunity then, because breaking through these Spirit Arrays benefits me just as much as refining my own Artifacts or arranging Spirit Arrays. Doing it this way will save us a lot of money and materials don’t you think?”
Yang Kai shook his head helplessly and asked cautiously, “Will there be any danger?”
“Absolutely not!” Yang Yan swung her head like a rattle.
“Alright… how long will it take you to crack it?” Yang Kai asked
“Two or three days. You can do whatever you like during that time,” Yang Yan spat out her tongue before immediately ignoring Yang Kai and immersing herself in studying the big Spirit Array in front of her.
Seeing her like this, Yang Kai didn’t go to disturb her and after thinking about what to do for a moment, he took out the Origin King Grade High-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace and in a flash made it expand to three metres or so in diameter.
Yang Kai sat down cross-legged in front of this furnace and sent his Divine Sense into it. Soon after, a high-pitched cry rang out and the Firebird Artifact Spirit flew out of the Artifact Refining Furnace, circled it a few times, then came to a hover just above it and began spraying out pure Fire Attribute energy from its mouth in order to assist with refining the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead inside.
Yang Kai did not remain idle either and actively poured his Saint Qi into the Artifact Refining Furnace to enhance its power while at the same time he split his attention to continue cultivating his Golden Blood Threads.
Whether it was cultivating his Golden Blood Thread technique or refining the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead, both were incredibly time-consuming processes so having found a spare moment now, Yang Kai was not about to waste it.
So, he didn’t object to Yang Yan cracking the Spirit Array here, if he didn’t have anything to do, he wouldn’t have agreed.
Time passed by, yet Yang Kai barely noticed. At some point though, while immersed in cultivating his Golden Blood Threads, a slight noise suddenly came from beside him, causing him to look up and see some fluctuating rays of light and a disturbance in the ambient World Energy. Yang Yan was smiling as she stood nearby, putting away the tools she had been using until now one by one.
A short time later, all the lights faded, and Yang Kai felt that something had disappeared from the open space nearby, immediately understanding that the large Spirit Array arranged here had been cracked by Yang Yan.
With a thought, he received his Artifact Refining Furnace and Artifact Spirit, got up, and asked, “Done?”
“En, let’s move on. I’m beginning to like this place more and more. Last time, I should have entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field with you. I heard that there were many Spirit Arrays there.”
“If you had come in with me, you would probably be disappointed. Although there were some barriers there, there weren’t many… En, I did see a giant ruin of an ancient Sect though, one that seemed nearly completely intact at that. It probably would have met your requirements.”
Yang Yan sighed, “Unfortunately I didn’t have an opportunity, and there’s no telling how many years it will be until the next time the Flowing Flame Sand Field opens.”
The two continued walking while talking.
As they continued deeper into the ruins, the Spirit Arrays and barriers they encountered really became much stronger and the time it took Yang Yan to crack them also grew longer, unlike in the periphery where she could dismantle them with ease.
Even so, Yang Kai could not help feeling quite shocked. Although they had been left unattended for many years, these Spirit Arrays were still the crystallization of a great Sect’s knowledge and resources, yet they were continuously being broken by Yang Yan. Yang Kai really wondered what the people who had arranged these barriers would think if they were to learn about this.
On top of that, Yang Kai noticed that each time Yang Yan deciphered one of these Spirit Arrays, she would wear a giant smile; obviously, she was gaining many benefits from this process.
This point alone made the trip they had taken worthwhile; after all, Yang Yan cracked these Spirit Arrays not only allowed her to unlock more of her memories, it also saved Dragon Cave Mountain a lot of money.
Although Yang Kai did not obtain anything, he also didn’t lose anything, and he could even take advantage of this opportunity to work on his own projects.
Yang Kai even secretly thought that if they weren’t able to earn enough Saint Crystals to buy materials for her in the future, he could always take Yang Yan out to look for similar places to let her crack Spirit Arrays.
With Shadowed Star being so enormous, there should be many places like this Grand Burial Valley.
Inside Grand Burial Valley, Yang Yan stood on the spot, looking at the two map fragments in her hands, her expression flickering, because these two map fragments had led her here but there were no further instructions beyond that.
Relying on just these two map fragments to reach this point was all thanks to Yang Yan incredible analytical abilities, but now she was unable to determine the final position they were guiding her towards, only that their destination was somewhere within the surrounding thousand-kilometre radius.
A thousand-kilometre range was neither big nor small, but it would be very time-consuming to find some kind of hidden location.
While the Spirit Arrays they encountered as they moved deeper did not bother Yang Yan, the Yin Qi had become extremely rich and resisting it was constantly consuming her Saint Qi. Thankfully, Yang Kai had huge reserves of Saint Qi in his body so he could cover for Yang Yan when she became exhausted. If this weren’t the case, the two would have had to retreat long ago.
“What should we do?” Yang Yan turned her head to look at Yang Kai. They had come so far already so she was naturally unwilling to just give up. If she tried diligently, perhaps she could find the ultimate destination marked on these map fragments, but everything would depend on Yang Kai’s opinion.
Yang Kai frowned and grumbled to himself. Although they hadn’t encountered much danger along the way, since two days ago, the Yin Souls that had attacked them had strength equivalent to ordinary Saint Kings, and some of those that had been absorbing the Yin Qi of this place for countless years had even begun to achieve a slight degree of sentience, making them far more difficult to deal with as they would immediately retreat if they felt they were in danger, then, after recuperating, would come back to attack again. Thankfully, Yang Kai’s strength was still far greater, allowing him to thoroughly destroy most of these Yin Souls otherwise the situation would have been far more troublesome.
Yang Kai was also beginning to vaguely sense that there were more dangers to this Grand Burial Valley than could be seen on the surface. After all, if there weren’t, there wouldn’t be rumours about Origin Returning Realm masters falling here.
After hesitating for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “If I say we need to go back now, would you feel unwilling?”
Yang Yan nodded honestly.
Yang Kai grinned and nodded back, “I am also unwilling, and since that is the case, let’s keep looking. In any case, it’s just a five-hundred-kilometre search radius, at worst we can just dig up the entire thousand-kilometre region.”
Hearing this, Yang Yan’s spirit immediately rose, and the pair immediately began scouring the nearby area.
One day later, Yang Kai paused suddenly and looked around in surprise. Yang Yan saw this and naturally knew that he had discovered something, so she immediately fell silent and waited. Only after some time did Yang Kai show a strange look and ask, “Do you smell something strange?”
“En, it’s like there’s a faint rotten odor in the air,” Yang Yan responded, obviously also having noticed this.
“So, it wasn’t just my imagination,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, a black fireball suddenly appearing in his palm and unleashing such intense heat that the surrounding space began to warp.
Swiftly, Yang Kai waved his hand and threw this black fireball towards a nearby dead tree.
This fireball was not very fast, but just as it was about to hit the seemingly unremarkable dead tree, a low roar suddenly rang out from it. Along with this bestial roar, and rich malevolent aura also erupted.
With a loud bang, the dead tree exploded into dust under the strong force erupting from inside it and a tall, abnormal figure suddenly appeared in its place.
A big hand suddenly stretched forward, covered in a light-yellow aura, and instantly intercepted the black fireball.
There was a loud sizzling sound the moment the pale yellow aura made contact with the black fireball, as if a handful of salt was sprinkled into a hot pan of oil. The yellow aura rapidly faded, but the Demonic Flame also grew weaker as a result.
A short time later, the pale yellow aura and the black fireball completely disappeared, leaving behind the strange tall figure in front of Yang Kai and Yang Yan.
After seeing the face of this person, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed as a look of shock filled his face while Yang Yan exclaimed loudly, “A Corpse Soldier!”
“Corpse Soldier?” Yang Kai turned his head to look at her curiously as this was the first time he had heard of such an existence. The tall, abnormal figure opposite him was clearly not a living person. Its face was shriveled and seemed devoid of any kind of moisture and its skin had sunk in, exposing the outlines of its bones. Two green eyes flickered like flames and its face was abnormally thin. Its appearance was quite terrifying and would cause anyone who saw it to shudder.
Most importantly though, Yang Kai was unable to feel any vitality from it, only a thick Death Qi and Corpse Qi. If not for this odd body emitting aura fluctuations on par with those of an average Third-Order Saint King, Yang Kai would really have thought it was just a corpse.
However, this corpse-like figure in front of him had just neutralized his Demonic Flame fireball with a single blow without taking any apparent damage.
The rancid smell that Yang Kai and Yang Yan had smelt was clearly being emitted by this figure but because it was hidden inside the dead tree a moment ago, it wasn’t so obvious.
“What is this?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
“You can think of him as a special kind of life-form!”
“A life-form?” Yang Kai’s brow rose, and he wanted to ask more, but the Corpse Soldier opposite them suddenly showed a strange expression, one that seemed similar to a grin but because of its shrivelled face looked particularly strange and ugly. Immediately, a hoarse voice came from its throat, “Ah, excellent. Two big supplements delivered themselves to me. En, and one is a fresh little girl with tender flesh, her flavour will certainly be scrumptious.”
Hearing this, Yang Yan shivered involuntarily and quickly hid behind Yang Kai.
The look of surprise on Yang Kai’s face quickly disappeared. Since Yang Yan said that this Corpse Soldier was a lifeform, then naturally it would possess sentience and it would not be surprising for it to speak. It was his first time encountering such a strange creature, but when Yang Kai thought about all the Yin Souls here, he was no longer surprising that this Corpse Soldier had appeared.
Also grinning, Yang Kai looked at him and asked, “You want to eat my companion?”
“Do you have any objections?” The Corpse Soldier looked at Yang Kai coldly, a dangerous light flashing across its green eyes, “Rest assured, you also won’t escape, I’ll be eating both of you.”
“You want to eat me too?” Yang Kai seemed to hear something funny, his face turning cold as he snorted, “I’m afraid your teeth will break!”
As soon as his voice fell, with the wave of his hand, Yang Kai condensed a black sword and immediately slashed forward, sending out an imposing black sword wave that sliced cleanly through the air.
The Corpse Soldier didn’t show any fear at all, instead releasing a hoarse laughter as he crossed its arms in front of its chest. The pale yellow aura from just before enveloped it once again as it met the sword wave head on.
Yang Kai’s gaze become colder but he didn’t make any follow-up actions, simply observing for the moment.
Yang Kai saw his sword wave strike his opponent’s arms head on, but this only resulted in the Corpse Solider being forced back a few steps and the pale yellow aura guarding him fade slightly. There was also a burst of crisp scraping noises, like metal clashing against metal.
“Corpse Soldiers have extremely strong physical bodies incomparable to cultivators in the same realm, not much different from defensive artifacts of the same level,” Yang Yan’s reminder came from behind.
“I see!” Yang Kai gently nodded.
“Little girl, you seem to know a lot about us. Kaka, boy you will be the first. I’ll take my time to enjoy her later!” The Corpse Soldier cackled again before rushing out, the jet black nails on its big shriveled hand extending and releasing a cold light as it clawed towards Yang Kai.
As it reached out, the sound of air being split rang out and it seemed as though it wanted to twist off Yang Kai’s head.
Yang Kai raised his hand and sent out a punch to greet this big open hand.
“Overconfidence!” The Corpse Soldier saw Yang Kai wanted to face him with just his fist and sneered, grasping with its claw-like hand as if it wanted to crush Yang Kai’s outstretched fist.
But to the Corpse Soldier’s shock, when it tried to crush Yang Kai’s seemingly frail fist, he discovered that it was actually incomparably firm, and even though he used at least seventy percent of his strength, he was unable to even cut into his opponent’s skin.
On the contrary, a huge force came from his opponent’s fist, causing his green eyes to shrink, and with a strange cry, the Corpse Soldier’s body flew out like a paper kite as a look of shock filled his face.
Yang Kai was also shocked as he was forced back a few steps. He felt an icy coldness on his fist and when he looked down, he actually saw five black finger prints on the back of his hand which were exuding a thick Black Qi. This Black Qi seemed to be alive and was constantly wriggling back and forth, trying to dig into his flesh.
“Be careful of his Corpse Qi, it’s extremely virulent. Once it invades your body it’s extremely difficult to get rid of,” Yang Yan’s timely reminder sounded.
Yang Kai’s face went cold as he changed the Demonic Flames in his body into a pure hot existence.
The squirming Black Qi seemed to meet its nemesis and after a burst of what sounded like wailing was ejected from Yang Kai’s hand and dissipated into the air.
Seeing this, Yang Yan finally calmed down. What made Corpse Soldiers difficult to deal with were their solid bodies and strange Corpse Qi, but since Yang Kai was not affected by either, there was nothing she needed to worry about.
Sure enough, seeing Yang Kai easily expel his Corpse Qi, the eyes of the Corpse Soldier who hit the ground rolling became somewhat hesitant.
Originally, in his mind, the Second-Order Saint King Yang Kai and Yang Yan were not his opponents at all. He would quickly defeat these two then devour their bodies to enhance his own strength.
This was not the first or second time he had done this, but this time’s Second-Order Saint King was different from those he had encountered before and seemed quite difficult to kill.
This made him wonder if he should continue struggling here.
While he was hesitant though, Yang Kai had no intention of letting him off. With a flick of his wrist, Yang Kai silently sent a golden silk thread flying over that swiftly struck towards the Corpse Soldier. This Corpse Soldier did not notice this golden thread until it was already upon him and with a loud roar it sprayed out a thick Corpse Qi from his mouth to intercept it.
In an instant, the thick Corpse Qi shrouded the golden silk thread, but what surprised the Corpse Soldier was that his normally formidable Corpse Qi simply had no effect on this thin golden thread. The golden silk thread also seemed to have spirituality and contained an astonishing amount of vitality. With a quick flick, it shook off the Corpse Qi and then proceeded to pierce straight through the Corpse Soldier’s abnormally sturdy body as if it was tofu.
The golden thread then coiled around the Corpse Solider a few times and bound him tightly.
This Corpse Soldier instantly became terrified, but before he could take any kind of defensive action, Yang Kai released a pitch-black blade-like attack towards him. This blade did not give off any kind of energy fluctuation but upon seeing it, the green flame like eyes of the Corpse Soldier bulged as he sensed great danger from it.
In a flurry, he twisted his figure and managed to avoid a hit to his vitals, allowing the black blade-like attack to instead land on one of his arms.
An incredibly strange scene appeared next though, as his arm silently fell from his body. There was also a small portion of his arm missing where the cut had taken place, so the wound on his body and the fallen arm did not match exactly.
Naturally, it was Yang Kai’s Space Blade.
Although the Corpse Soldier’s physical body was unusually strong, Yang Kai’s Space Blade was also incredibly powerful as it could swallow anything it cut into The Void. The small missing section of the Corpse Soldier’s arm had been forever exiled to The Void.
When Yang Kai observed this cut though, there was only a light green liquid that was leaking out and no trace of blood at all, appearing quite strange.
Even so, the Corpse Soldier seemed to have suffered serious harm and a mournful wail escaped from its mouth, Corpse Qi erupting from its body and quickly engulfing it.
Yang Kai was just about to finish it off, but a look of horror suddenly came over his face and with a hurried wave of his hand, the golden thread which was binding the Corpse Soldier flew back to him.
The Corpse Soldier had regained his freedom and from within his shroud of Corpse Qi, he glared at Yang Kai fiercely before grabbing the fallen segment of his arm and transformed into a yellow streak of light, escaping at a surprisingly fast speed.
Yang Kai stood somberly in place as he stared down at his Golden Blood Thread and noticed that it had been horribly contaminated with Black Qi.
Because he had only been cultivating his Golden Thread technique for a short time, Yang Kai was unable to display its full power; if he had been skillfully use it, this kind of contamination would never have occurred. Having been bound by the Golden Blood Thread, despite having incredible strength, the Corpse Soldier should have been easily killed by Yang Kai.
Flicking his wrist, Yang Kai withdrew the Golden Thread into his body and condensed his Saint Qi around it to purge the residual Corpse Qi. At the same time, he grabbed Yang Yan by her shoulder and chased after the Corpse Soldier as quick as lightning.
The confrontation between Yang Kai and Corpse Soldier was over in the blink of an eye, so Yang Yan had yet to even react before this enemy she regarded as quite dangerous escaped in a panic. Only after they were already pursing it did she come to her sense and begin explaining the origins of this Corpse Soldier to Yang Kai.
Through her remarks, Yang Kai realized that this Corpse Soldier was just a classification in a hierarchy of similar creatures.
Just like Yin Souls, Corpse Soldiers could only be born in environments rich in Yin Qi. When a living cultivator or creature died here, under a combination of chance and opportunity, its Soul and flesh would not just wither away but instead transform into a different kind of existence. This is what a Corpse Soldier was.
Of course, some Corpse Soldiers were not formed this way but were instead the result of a Yin Soul reaching a certain degree of strength and sentience and then seizing the body of a living creature. This would result in a Corpse Soldier-like existence.
Corpse Soldiers could also artificially be created through evil Secret Arts. On Shadowed Star, there were many Sects that possessed these kinds of evil arts.
However, in general, the formation of a Corpse Soldier was far more difficult than that of a Yin Soul. If the conditions were right, any disembodied Soul that didn’t disperse could transform into a Yin Soul. On the other hand, Corpse Soldiers required both the Soul and flesh body to endure after death and re-integrate with one another. This significantly increased the difficulty of a Corpse Soldier forming.
These creatures could roughly be divided into three levels, Hundred-Year Corpse Soldiers, Thousand-Year Corpse Generals, and Ten-Thousand-Year Corpse Kings!
Needless to say, Hundred-Year Corpse Soldiers had an extremely difficult time cultivating because they were essentially undead and could not easily absorb World Qi. As such, they cultivated many times slower than living creatures on average. It was not unusual for a Corpse Soldier that cultivated for a few hundred years to be inferior to an ordinary Saint King Realm cultivator.
However, the strength of a Corpse Soldier was far superior to others in the same equivalent realm. This was true all the way from the Initial Element Stage all the way to the Saint King Realm.
The Corpse Soldier Yang Kai encountered just now was an existence equivalent to the peak of the Saint King Realm. It had probably taken seven or eight hundred years of cultivation for it to reach this kind of level.
Once a Corpse Soldier was promoted to a Thousand-Year Corpse General, it would have power on par with an Origin Returning Realm master. As for a legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Corpse King, it would be comparable to an Origin King Realm master. It could even be said that a Ten Thousand Year Corpse King was far more powerful than an ordinary Origin King because the flesh body of a ten-thousand-year-old Corpse King was almost indestructible.
As Yang Yan explained all of this in detail, Yang Kai was secretly shocked.
He had never contacted such strange creatures before and had never even heard about them from anyone. He had honestly never expected that there would be such a weird form a life in this world.
However, Yang Kai was not an ordinary person and had seen many types of strange creatures before, so although he was a little interested in the indestructible body of a Ten Thousand Year Corpse King, after calming down, he didn’t show much surprise.
Along the way, Yang Kai did not know what strange means the Corpse Soldier used, but in a place some fifty kilometres ahead of them, it suddenly disappeared.
Yang Kai released his Divine Sense but could not find any clues besides a faint trace of Corpse Qi that had been leaking from the damaged body of the Corpse Soldier.
Following this trail of Corpse Qi, Yang Kai and Yang Yan arrived in front of a collapsed ruin and upon looking around, they discovered that within a range of a dozen kilometres or so, there were many crumbled buildings. Obviously, this place had been a core region of this Sect, otherwise there wouldn’t have been so many buildings.
“There are traces of Spirit Arrays here,” Yang Yan’s eyes stared at what appeared to be an open square nearby with bright eyes, a smile soon creeping onto her face, “But it’s just a simple Illusion Array, nothing difficult to crack.”
Yang Kai gently nodded and motioned for her to do her thing.
Yang Yan once again took out her strange tools, filled them with her Saint Qi, and threw them out, causing them to disappear in the next moment.
After a stick of incense worth of time, the scene in front of Yang Yan distorted and soon transformed from an open square to a completely different set of ruins.
Before Yang Yan could even put down her hands though, a strange blast of energy rushed towards her and Yang Kai from all directions, blocking all paths of retreat.
“A Nested Array!” Yang Yan called out in alarm. Yang Kai responded very quickly, pulling Yang Yan behind him and summoning his Purple Shield, madly pouring his Saint Qi into it and immediately creating a wall of yellow sand and wind around them.
It was the sandstorm ability of the Purple Shield.
The waves of energy attacks hit the sandstorm and were blocked by the wind and sand. Although these attacks did not completely disappear, their power was greatly reduced, making them far less ferocious than before.
Yang Kai constantly waved his hands, releasing multiple black fireballs to resist the remnants of these energy attacks.
Seeing this, Yang Yan calm down and hurriedly began surveying their surroundings. She had not expected that there would be a Nested Array here; after all, arranging such a series of concentric Spirit Arrays was quite difficult and also consumed a massive amount of materials. Even great Sects would not easily arrange this type of Spirit Array.
However, there was indeed such a Nested Array here, something which surprised Yang Yan and caused her vigilance to increase.
The attacks from the second Spirit Array were endless, and although they were not Heaven Destroying or Earth Shattering in power, they were enough to put Yang Kai completely on the defensive and even showed signs of overwhelming him in short order.
After a moment though, Yang Yan suddenly pointed to a small bronze gate in the ground smirked, “Hit that!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai did not hesitate to release his Space Blade.
In an instant, the Space Blade cut this bronze gate in half. A buzzing sound resounded all around and the attacks all quickly ceased.
After waiting for a while to confirm that no more attacks were coming, Yang Kai withdrew his Purple Shield and looked around.
He thought that the Corpse Soldier that had fled before would be hiding somewhere nearby, but there was nothing in sight, causing him a great deal of doubt.
“This doesn’t make sense. This Spirit Array would be very troublesome even for me to crack, but the Corpse Soldier disappeared as soon as it entered here. It’s impossible for him to be the master of this Spirit Array,” Yang Yan frowned deeply, obviously unable to understand what had just happened.
Yang Kai’s wore an uncertain expression as well as he hypothesized, “Could he have simply known a safe route through this Spirit Array?”
“Impossible,” Yang Yan shook her head decisively, “Unless he was an Array Grandmaster before his death, he wouldn’t be able to accomplish that even if he was far stronger. Of course, if he was a disciple of this Sect before he died, he might be able to control the Spirit Array here, but he is just a Corpse Soldier that cultivated for a few hundred years while the Ancient Yang Sect was destroyed over two thousand years ago, so it’s impossible for him to be one of their disciples.”
“Whatever the case, he must still be here,” Yang Kai grinned, “Not to mention, with this place being so well hidden, don’t you think it might be the place we’ve been looking for?”
“You mean, as long as we can find where he’s hiding, we’ll also complete our original objective?” Yang Yan suddenly remembered their purpose in coming here and asked excitedly.
“Maybe,” Yang Kai replied.
The two exchanged a glance before immediately beginning to search their surroundings.
After half an hour, the pair stood in front of a certain ruin. This place appeared unremarkable at first glance, but if one looked carefully, they would notice that unlike everywhere else, there were some slight distortions in space here.
There was another barrier here, but this one only had some concealment ability and no offensive power. Fortunately, Yang Yan had profound attainments in Spirit Arrays, otherwise, they might not have discovered it.
The more hidden the barrier was, the more Yang Kai affirmed his previous guess was correct.
After staring at this barrier for some time, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed and he waved his hand, summoning out the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace, tapping it with his finger, and lightning saying, “Go in and take a look around!”
With a light cry, the Firebird Artifact Spirit flew out of the Artifact Refining Furnace and plunged towards the barrier without the slightest hesitation. When the Artifact Spirit touched the barrier, the surrounding space shook for an instant before the Firebird disappeared entirely.
Yang Kai frowned for a moment, but after confirming that his connection with the Artifact Spirit still existed, he relaxed.
Standing on the spot, Yang Kai carefully reviewed the information passed back to him from the Artifact Spirit, his expression uncertain. Only after some time did he say, “It looks like we were right, this is definitely a Cave Heaven, and the World Energy aura inside is quite astonishing. It’s likely the place we are looking for.”
“Really?” Yang Yan was overjoyed.
“But… the Corpse Qi inside is also quite dense. It seems that more than one Corpse Soldier lives here,” Yang Kai said, solemnly dignified.
Yang Yan was dumbfounded and a look of hesitation appeared on her face. If there was only one Corpse Soldier, with Yang Kai’s strength, there would not be anything to fear, but if there were many of them, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to handle them all on his own. This situation required some careful consideration.
It took a while for Yang Yan to finally say, “Since this is the site of the Ancient Yang Sect, it means that these Corpse Soldiers appeared after its destruction. It is very likely that many of them were disciples of the Ancient Yang Sect and only because of some coincidences they became like this after they died. In other words, the most powerful existence here would be a two-thousand-year-old Corpse General, equivalent to a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm at best.”
“A Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master,” Yang Kai murmured with a look of contemplation.
If this was the case, he didn’t need to worry. He didn’t have the strength necessary to fight such a powerful Corpse General, but escaping together with Yang Yan wouldn’t be a problem.
After a moment of contemplation, Yang Kai made a decision and gently nodded, “Then let’s go in.”
If the only thing he noticed inside this place was the thick Corpse Qi, Yang Kai would surely have turned around and left. Although he wasn’t afraid of a Thousand-Year Corpse General, avoiding an unnecessary fight would still be for the best. However, in addition to the thick Corpse Qi, the World Energy inside was also extremely rich, so clearly there were some good things hidden inside.
He and Yang Yan had come all this way, so with their goal now right in front of them, naturally they were unwilling to just give up.
Saying so, Yang Kai released his Saint Qi and wrapped himself and Yang Yan within it before leading her forward.
After stepping into past the Concealment Array, the world seemed to spin for a moment and the scene in front of them changed dramatically. Yang Kai and Yang Yan now found themselves inside a cave-like place that seemed to have a faint wailing sound echoing through the air, causing one to shudder unconsciously.
Along the cave walls, there were many green fluorescent stones, emitting a somewhat ghastly light.
Inside this cave though, the World Energy aura was incredibly rich, and Yang Kai could even smell a subtle medicinal fragrance. His heart trembled as he realized that he and Yang Yan had really found the right place, those two ancient map fragments had really led to the Secret Cave of the Ancient Yang Sect.
Although the light in this cave wasn’t very bright, with Yang Kai’s cultivation, as soon as he concentrated some Saint Qi into his eyes, he could still see everything in front of him perfectly. At the same time, he quietly released his Divine Sense to monitor their surroundings. Yang Kai soon found that this cave had traces of artifact excavation. It seemed that it was a naturally formed several thousand-metre deep cave that was later processed to make it more spacious.
In the deepest depths of this cave, there were also many channels extending in multiple directions, but where each of these channels lead, Yang Kai didn’t know. Yang Kai traced one of these tunnels with a thread of his Divine Sense for about thirty kilometres before his face suddenly changed, a look of horror filling his expression.
“What did you find?” Yang Yan asked softly.
“Shh!” Yang Kai quickly raised his finger to his lips as he quietly withdrew his thread of Divine Sense, whispering to Yang Yan a moment later, “Corpse Soldiers, lots of them.”
Yang Yan beautiful face paled.
Yang Kai quickly added, “But they seem to be in a state of hibernation. We should be fine as long as we’re careful not to disturb them.”
“How many are there?” Yang Yan asked nervously with a pale face.
“I’m not sure, I only probed one of the channels down below and found seven or eight Corpse Soldiers, but there were at least a hundred channels down there. If every channel is the same as the one I probed, then…”
“This place is probably a Corpse Cave!” Yang Yan seemed to remember something and declared.
“A Corpse Cave?” Yang Kai frowned.
“En, there rumours of some special places that are able to easily give rise to Corpse Soldiers, and if Corpse Soldiers slumber in such places, they can more easily merge their Soul and flesh body to obtain sentience. If this is really a Corpse Cave, it’s a very dangerous place.”
“I don’t know if this place is a Corpse Cave, but the Corpse Qi deeper inside is indeed quite rich and the chill in the air is also extremely potent. Those sleeping Corpse Soldiers were also absorbing the Yin Qi in the air from what I could see.”
“If that’s so, this is definitely a Corpse Cave,” Yang Yan was startled and quickly muttered, “With so many Corpse Soldiers here, it’s likely that only part of them were disciples of the Ancient Yang Sect while another part were cultivators that were later killed and entombed here. It seems we’ve come to quite a terrible place.”
“Since we’re already here, there’s no point in thinking too much about it,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, and with a quick thought, a streak of flame flew over from afar and soon dove into Yang Kai’s body, disappearing in the next instant. Obviously it was the Artifact Spirit he had released to scout the situation before.
Seeing this, Yang Yan clenched her teeth and once again activated her necklace artifact. This time though, the concealment halo of this necklace not only wrapped around her, but also around Yang Kai as well.
In an instant, both of their auras disappeared.
The two exchanged a glance and nodded before quietly moving forward.
Since the Corpse Soldiers down below were in a deep sleep, they weren’t a cause for concern. The only thing that made Yang Kai a little worried was the Saint King Grade Corpse Soldier he had wounded before that was still hidden somewhere. Yang Kai also didn’t dare to freely investigate this place, so he was unable to find this wounded Corpse Soldier immediately.
As the pair passed by some of the tunnel offshoots, they clearly noticed a burgeoning Corpse Qi as well as some non-negligible noises coming from the inside, but these noises were orderly and rhythmic so it was obvious that without some great external shock, the slumbering Corpse Soldiers wouldn’t awaken.
Whenever passing by these tunnels, Yang Yan couldn’t help moving closer to Yang Kai, as if she was subconsciously looking for some sense of security.
Fortunately, Yang Yan’s artifacts were all superb and the two had plenty of preparation, so no trace of their auras leaked out.
While the two of them were continuing their exploration though, deep inside the Corpse Cave three skinny Corpse Soldiers were sitting cross-legged on the ground, circulating some kind of strange Secret Art that allowed them to inhale the surrounding white gas and strengthen their bodies.
These three Corpse Soldiers all emitted auras equivalent to peak Third-Order Saint Kings.
In a flash, another Corpse Soldier suddenly entered this passageway looking extremely disheveled. One of his arms had been cut off at the elbow, making him appear quite miserable.
As soon as he appeared, he was noticed by the other three Corpse Soldiers who opened their eyes to look at him. In an instant, six ghostly green eyes flashed.
“Oh, Brother Nie, how did you become like this?” One of the Corpse Soldiers saw his companion’s broken arm and asked in surprise, “Did you encounter some kind of danger outside?”
The eyes of the wounded Corpse Soldier flashed with anger as he grits his teeth and said, “I truly encounter some danger, and in a moment of carelessness, my arm was cut off!”
“Such a thing actually happened!?” The Corpse Soldier who had spoken just now called out in surprised, “After so many years, did an Origin Realm cultivator enter Grand Burial Valley? Did you run into such a master?”
“It wasn’t an Origin Returning Realm master, it was just a Second-Order Saint King,” The wounded Corpse Soldier said, seemingly a little ashamed, “This Nie let his guard down and was unexpectedly injured heavily.”
“Haha, Brother Nie must be joking. If we were still humans, such an injury would be very difficult to heal, but in our current state, a cut off arm isn’t even worth worrying about. As long as you use a bit of time and circulate your Corpse Qi you should be able to re-attach it in short order.”
“I’m afraid that Brother Nie’s injury can’t be healed so simply,” Another Corpse Soldier with long hair said in an unexpectedly pleasant to the ear voice after seemingly noticing something. This Corpse Soldier actually turned out to be a woman, and although her figure was somewhat distorted now, it was conceivable that before she died she was quite a beauty.
“Why so?” The Corpse Soldier who spoke previously asked suspiciously.
“If I’m not mistaken, part of Brother Nie’s severed arm is missing, right?” The female Corpse Soldier’s eyes flashed.
Hearing what she said, the other two sitting Corpse Soldiers took a second look and discovered that this was indeed the case. The broken arm brought back by the wounded Corpse Soldier was indeed missing a segment, almost as if his arm had been cut twice by some kind of extremely sharp blade.
“Could a Second-Order Saint King really be so powerful? Brother Nie, did you underestimate your opponent?” The female Corpse Soldier said with some meaning of blame.
“It’s not that this Nie underestimated him, it’s just that the power he used was too strange. I’ve never encountered a technique like that before,” The wounded Corpse Soldier recalled that black blade-like attack and even though he was already a corpse, he couldn’t stop himself from shivering slightly. If he hadn’t reacted quickly enough, he would likely have died again. After his last death, he had been brought back by the Corpse Soldiers inside this Corpse Cave and had to cultivate for a hundred years before regaining his sentience; he then spent centuries to achieve his current strength. If he died again, he would forever disappear.
“What kind of power?” The other three Corpse Soldiers felt surprised and quickly asked.
The wounded Corpse Soldier hurriedly talked about his previous encounter with Yang Kai, relaying every detail he could remember without any omission or exaggerations.
After listening, the female Corpse Soldier’s body shuddered slightly as she asked, “You mean, he cut your arm off with a black blade-like attack? And the attack gave off no energy fluctuations but was able to easily slice through your body?”
“En. After getting hit by that strange attack, a part of my arm simply disappeared,” The Corpse Soldier nodded repeatedly, his green eyes staring expectantly at the female Corpse Soldier as he asked, “Do you know anything?”
The female Corpse Soldier pondered and hesitated for a while before answering, “From what you’ve described, it sounds like your opponent was using Space Force.”
“What?” The other three Corpse Soldiers showed looks of shock, “Space Force? Are you serious?”
The female Corpse Soldier coldly snorted, “Did you all forget where I came from originally?”
The wounded Corpse Soldier was startled but quickly remembered and nodded, “I see!”
The female Corpse Soldier nodded lightly and continued, “Among Heaven Battling Union’s Elders, there has always been one who cultivates Space Force. I had the honour of seeing Elder Mo Xiao Sheng display such a Divine Ability once before, so I know more about Space Force than you, but…”
“But what?”
“If what Brother Nie said was accurate, this intruder’s attainments in the Dao of Space are too high. Even Elder Mo was not capable using Space Force to create a blade that could cut through an opponent’s body, so how did a mere Second-Order Saint King achieve this? That is why I said it sounded like he was using Space Force, but I can’t say for certain.”
“Hmm… I’ve also heard much about Mo Xiao Sheng, but all of that was from a few hundred years ago. I don’t even know if he’s still alive for that matter. If that little brat was really able to form a blade from Space Force though, it would be quite terrifying no matter the circumstances.”
“Is there any point in wondering about such things? Did you forget what kind of existences we are now? Sister Lan, I know you have some connection with Elder Mo, but if the current you were to appear in front of him, do you think he’d let you leave alive?”
The female Corpse Solider called Sister Lan heard this and her ghastly green eyes flashed, her mood becoming a bit unstable.
“Right, Brother Nie, when you returned, did properly cover your tracks?” The Corpse Soldier who spoke first asked cautiously.
“Naturally, and even if that person finds this place, he won’t be able to break the barrier protecting it. The defensive Spirit Array around this place was arranged by the Ancient Yang Sect. If we did not know the way to enter and exit it, we would never have been able to break through it. He’s just a trivial Second-Order Saint King, how could he possibly have such skill.”
“Fair enough.” The first Corpse Soldier nodded in agreement, sighing a moment later as if he remembered something, “I really don’t know whether I should be thankful towards the Ancient Yang Sect or if I should hate them. If not for them, I would not have died back then, but without them, perhaps I would have long ago passed on. Now that I have ended up like this, it’s… heh heh!”
Hearing these remarks, the other three Corpse Soldiers remained silent, but obviously, they felt the same way.
After a long silence, the female Corpse Soldier said, “Alright, let’s not think about such things anymore, it’s our four’s turn to guard this place for this decade, so just in case, let’s go take a look so that the Seniors don’t wake up and punish us for acting negligent.”
“Alright, I’ll go and check the situation out with Sister Lan, Brother Nie, you should use the Yin Qi here to quickly connect your severed arm. Although it will not be a perfect match, it is still better than nothing.” Saying so, this Corpse Soldier stood up and walked out with the female Corpse Soldier.
At the same time, inside another huge cave Yang Kai and Yang Yan had just snuck into, they were observing several empty wooden shelves in front of them along with various boxes that had been scattered on the floor. Yang Kai’s expression was horrendous right now and he was having trouble not cursing out loud.
He and Yang Yan had followed a faint medicinal fragrance all the way here and after carefully determining that there were no Corpse Soldiers sleeping inside, had rushed inside.
But how could they have known they would be greeted by such a scene?
This was the place where Ancient Yang Sect had stored its spirit herbs. There were at least several hundred rows of wooden shelves, each one with at least three levels that could hold a minimum of five or six boxes next to each other, but now, all these boxes were scattered about in an unorganized manner.
All of the boxes had been opened and whatever contents they once held were missing.
It was exceedingly difficult to find this place, and just when he was looking forward to reaping a huge harvest, this travesty had appeared in front of him; it could be imagined what Yang Kai’s current mood was.
There was no need to guess, these spirit grasses and spirit medicines must have been eaten by the Corpse Soldiers sleeping here.
Although consuming these spirit herbs like this was a great waste of their medicinal efficacies, it was impossible for Corpse Soldiers to perform Alchemy, so this was really the only option. In a sense, a Corpse Soldier’s cultivation method was similar to that of a Monster Beast.
However, after a careful search, Yang Kai still found the remains of some Fire Attribute and Yang Attribute spirit herbs. Such herbs were akin to poison to Corpse Soldiers who thrived on cold Yin Qi so naturally they had not swallowed them.
Unfortunately, all the boxes had been opened, and after so long, these spirit herbs had completely withered and became useless. This made Yang Kai furious and he even had the impulse to rush out and chop up all the Corpse Soldiers to bits to relieve his anger.
After a long, unfruitful search, Yang Kai and Yang Yan both sighed.
The spirit herb storage of a great Sect going completely to waste was enough to make anyone who saw it feel distressed.
Fortunately, in addition to this place, this Secret Cave had deeper levels, so the pair didn’t hesitate to continue exploring.
Shortly after the two left, the female Corpse Soldier and her companion stealthily appeared. Both Corpse Soldiers sniffed the air lightly before exchanging a surprised glance.
“It’s the aura of a living person!” The male Corpse Soldier whispered.
The female Corpse Soldier nodded in agreement, “Two of them at that. It seems the people Brother Nie met really managed to intrude.”
“Oh no, they must be headed for the ore and artifact storage, that place is where the Seniors are storing a vital material for their future plans!” The male Corpse Soldier glanced at the direction where Yang Kai and Yang Yan disappeared and whispered nervously.
The female Corpse Soldier’s eyes flashed and said, “Let’s follow them for now. If you and I can solve this ourselves, we should avoid alarming the Seniors, otherwise, once they learn we allowed intruders to get this far, we’ll be punished.”
Hearing her say so, the male Corpse Soldier shivered slightly, seemingly quite frightened. In the next moment, he nodded in agreement, “Okay!”
The two Corpse Soldiers circulated their strength to conceal their auras and quietly followed their prey.
Deeper inside the Secret Cave, Yang Kai and Yang Yan walked between another set of wooden shelves. As they waved their hands, various thick and thin ancient books on these shelves disappeared.
This was the storage place for Ancient Yang Sect’s Secret Arts, cultivation techniques, and Martial Skills.
Yang Kai did not have time right now to examine these ancient books closely and simply decided to collect all of them first.
However, from the titles of some of these ancient books, Yang Kai saw that there were a large amount related to Corpse Refinement, allowing him to understand why there were so many Corpse Soldiers here. The Ancient Yang Sect was a great Sect not inferior to Heaven Battling Union or Thunder Typhoon Sect, so it was normal that they had such secret books. Presumably, some Ancient Yang Sect disciples or Elders had cultivated these techniques which had allowed so many Corpse Soldiers to appear here two thousand years later.
There were many secret books and Secret Arts in this storage area, but they were still quickly collected by Yang Kai and Yang Yan.
After making sure they had not missed anything, the two of them continued deeper into the Secret Cave.
After a while, the two entered another Secret Cave and were greeted by a dazzling array of artifacts. Even with his rich net worth, Yang Kai could help but feel excited seeing this kind of wealth.
There were thousands of artifacts of all shapes and sized stored here. Weapons represented about ten percent of the total while the rest were discs, beads, various types of jewellery, flags, and other assorted designs. There were also many sets of Artifact Armour.
On the floor of this Secret Cave, there was a massive Spirit Array that seemed to be gathering the surrounding World Energy to maintain these artifacts.
The effects of this Spirit Array were quite good. Although more than two thousand years have passed, most of the artifacts stored here were still shimmering, so it was obvious that they had not lost their spirituality. Most were not at their peak, but they had been preserved well so as long as they were repaired slightly, there would be no issue using them.
Most of the artifacts here were Saint King Grade, with about twenty percent being Origin Grade.
The number of artifacts had Yang Kai in awe.
Exchanging a glance with Yang Yan, the two separated and began collecting with no trace of politeness.
In less than half an incense stick worth of time, this massive storage became empty.
“There’s still another Secret Cave.” After Yang Kai received these artifacts, his eyes drifted towards another passageway, a look of pleasant surprise filling his face.
He and Yang Yan had already passed through the Ancient Yang Sect’s herb storage, secret book archive, and artifact armoury, so what was left was a mystery, but obviously whatever lay beyond this passageway would not be of low value.
Not hesitating in the slightest, Yang Kai and Yang Yan continued deeper.
The two Corpse Soldiers who had been following them waited until they left before quietly appearing while glancing towards the direction they departed with gloomy eyes.
“What should we do? They’ve already entered that place. Even the Seniors can’t enter that place!” The male Corpse Soldier asked.
“What else can we do?” The female Corpse Soldier sighed, “Since the Seniors can’t enter there, naturally we can’t either. We can only wait here for now. The Ancient Yang Sect’s most precious treasure, the Sun’s True Essence, which is housed inside that room has a strong suppressive effect on us, otherwise, the Seniors wouldn’t be helpless to enter that place.”
“En, I’ve heard about that Sun’s True Essence. It is said that it is refined from the core of a Sun-Star. I really wonder what kind of master possessed such Heaven defying means to refine such a thing and how it then fell into the hands of the Ancient Yang Sect.”
“There’s no need for us to think about such matters. Moreover, although they’ve entered that place, with their cultivations, there’s no way they can take the Sun’s True Essence out with them, so we don’t need to worry,” The female Corpse Soldier sneered.
“Yeah,” The male Corpse Soldier also chuckled, “That Sun’s True Essence is not something that can be handled easily, perhaps those two will suffer a big loss and fall without us even needing to do any work. We should just sit back and watch the show.”
Thinking so, the two Corpse Soldiers relaxed and, after concealing their auras, quietly crept forward while waiting to see what would happen next.
Meanwhile, inside the cave, Yang Kai looked at the scene in front of him and almost couldn’t help laughing.
This place was actually a storehouse for Saint Crystals and various rare ores!
High-Rank Saint Crystals were piled up in several hills, each one several metres in height. Even a single one of these hills had at least three or four million Saint Crystal in it.
In other words, there were tens of millions of Saint Crystal stored here!
Yang Kai had been secretly praying that this trip would be able to solve the poverty-stricken situation of Dragon Cave Mountain, but now that wish had actually come true.
He and Yang Yan looked at each other and both saw the deep surprise in each other’s eyes.
Not rushing out to collect these hills of Saint Crystals, the two of them instead turned their attention to a certain jade pillar. This jade pillar was a pure snow-white colour and was exuding a profound chill that made this entire Secret Cave quite cold. It was clear at a glance that this jade pillar was an extraordinary treasure.
On top of this jade pillar were four Space Rings and a strange ore that was surrounded by a thin energy barrier.
Walking up to this jade pillar and examining it carefully, Yang Yan whispered in a solemn manner, “This is… It is! It really is a Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade!”
“Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade!” Yang Kai’s eyes bulged as he anxiously asked, “Are you certain?”
“This is no doubt about it. It’s a Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade, I wouldn’t mistake it for something else.” Seeing her confident expression, Yang Kai was naturally convinced, but for a time his eyes still flashed with surprise and astonishment.
Ice Jade was rare treasure, and Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade was extremely rare even among Ice Jade. If an Ice Attribute cultivation used Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade to refine a personal artifact, it would allow them to more efficiently transform World Energy and increase their cultivation efficiency.
But Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade’s uses didn’t end there. If an Ice Attribute artifact had some Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade added to it, it could increase its power by at least thirty percent and could even allow such an artifact to release a frigid aura that could freeze an opponent’s body and Soul. It was a supreme Ice Attribute treasure.
Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade was known as one of the Three Great Profound Jades, and a fist-sized piece of it would sell for a fortune.
With such a big piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade in front of him, how could Yang Kai not be surprised? But what truly shocked him was that this Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade was actually just a pedestal for the four Space Rings and the strange piece of ore placed above it.
The four Space Rings were unremarkable, and were probably just placed atop this pillar randomly, but the strange looking melon-sized ore was definitely a valuable treasure, otherwise it wouldn’t have been protected by its own barrier.
Yang Kai glanced at Yang Yan quietly and found that she really was wearing a dignified expression. While observing this piece of ore, she never spoke, as if even she didn’t know what it was, surprising Yang Kai greatly.
“Let’s take a look at these four Space Rings first,” Yang Kai waited for a long time but still didn’t see any reaction from Yang Yan so he made such a proposal and reached out to pick up the rings.
After sweeping the contest with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai gently nodded.
Unsurprisingly, these four Space Rings were half filled with Saint Crystals and half filled with rare ores. Needless to say, the amount of Saint Crystals was enormous while the ores were actually rarer and more precious than the ones stored outside.
Yang Kai tossed the rings to Yang Yan, who swept them herself and nodded happily, “Great, with these things, I can refine the treasure I’ve been planning to.”
“What treasure?” Yang Kai asked curiously, wondering just what kind of treasure Yang Yan was so focused on refining.
“It’s a secret for now, but when the time comes I may need to borrow your strength,” Yang Yan grinned and returned the Space Rings.
Yang Kai glanced at her but didn’t ask anymore. After putting away the rings, he turned his attention back to the jade pillar’s barrier and asked, “Can you open this?”
“I can!” Yang Yan gently nodded, “But are you sure you want to open it? I don’t know why, but I feel a dangerous aura coming from this thing.”
“You also feel it?” Yang Kai was surprised. He had thought it was just an illusion, but now Yang Yan’s intuition was telling her the same thing as his. Immediately, Yang Kai’s expression became solemn, anything that could make him feel a sense of unease just sitting in front of him was no doubt very dangerous, but at the same time it was obviously incredibly valuable.
Yang Yan didn’t speak as she continued staring at the melon-sized stone in front of them intently, only after some time nodding, “Let’s open it. I believe that even if it is dangerous, we should be able to defend ourselves. If we were to just give up after coming this far, it would be too much of a waste.”
Saying so, she took out her array breaking tools and got to work.
Seeing this, Yang Kai immediately became vigilant and condensed his Saint Qi, preparing to act at a moment’s notice.
After thinking for a while, Yang Kai released the Stone Puppet as well and sent it a command with his Divine Sense. The Stone Puppet immediately rushed to the Saint Crystals and other rare ores and began inhaling them.
The structure of the Stone Puppet’s body was truly mysterious. Although the Stone Puppet looked quite small, its stomach seemed to contain infinite space, and in the blink of an eye it had already swallowed half a hill of Saint Crystals.
Yang Kai had asked Yang Yan about this before, and from her learned that the Stone Puppet itself had an innate ability to devour ores and evolve. Most of the ore swallowed would be spit back out, but it would absorb part of them and their essence to enhance itself.
Additionally, the Stone Puppet would take on some of the characteristics of the ore it swallowed after absorbing them.
Coincidentally, among the first ores the Stone Puppet devoured after it was born were Space Spirit Crystals that contained large amounts of Space Force. It was probably because of this that the Stone Puppet’s stomach capacity had increased exponentially, otherwise, even if an average Stone Puppet had the innate ability to devour large quantities of ore, it would not have been so exaggerated.
The Stone Puppet devoured the Saint Crystals and ores extremely quickly so Yang Kai didn’t need to pay any attention to it, instead focusing his attention on Yang Yan’s actions.
The barrier covering the strange ore seemed quite complicated, and even though it was Yang Yan, it was taking her quite some time to crack it. Yang Kai was naturally concerned that something unexpected would happen, so he quietly released his Divine Sense to monitor their surroundings.
After an initial investigation though, he was quite surprised.
Just outside, in the Secret Cave that the two had swept clean a moment before, there were two faint Corpse Qi auras hiding themselves. Although they were concealed quite well, with Yang Kai’s powerful Divine Sense he was still able to detect them.
What comforted Yang Kai was that these two Corpse Soldiers were only equivalent to Third-Order Saint Kings, and they didn’t show any signs of aggression. In fact, these two were just staying in place, motionless.
As long as they didn’t interfere, Yang Kai was disinclined to manage them, so he simply pretended not to notice anything while silently monitoring their movements as Yang Yan continued her work.
For Yang Kai, as long as they could sweep away everything here, this trip would be a success. At that time, he could just take Yang Yan away with him by tearing space, so even if he alarmed the countless Corpse Soldiers here, he could escape with ease.
Before arriving on Shadowed Star, Yang Kai hadn’t dared to bring along another person as he tore space; after all, The Void was an extremely unstable and hostile environment, and accidents were likely to occur when transitioning to and traveling through it. He could cope with these dangers if he was alone, but he couldn’t guarantee he could keep another person safe if he took them with him.
But now, his understanding and comprehension of the Dao of Space had improved dramatically, so taking another person with him across a thousand kilometres wasn’t a problem anymore.
With such confidence, Yang Kai naturally was not afraid of anything.
The barrier that surrounded the strange ore atop the jade pillar remained radiant even as Yang Yan worked on it, but if one looked closely, they would notice that slight ripples were now occurring across its surface. At the same time, the barrier began stretching and contracting, sometimes expanding and sometimes shrinking, making for quite an odd sight.
This time, unlike with all the previous Spirit Arrays she had cracked along the way, Yang Yan’s expression was particularly solemn and a touch of red filled her cheeks, indicating she was somewhat strained.
As time passed, the light barrier began to distort more obviously, and even Yang Kai could tell that it was on the verge of breaking.
Suddenly, Yang Yan muttered seriously, “Be careful.”
As soon as she spoke these words, the barrier broke, and at the same time, a pure Fire Attribute aura that shocked both Yang Kai and Yang Yan greatly burst from the strange ore.
In an instant, the entire Secret Cave became blisteringly hot as the mass of Fire Attribute energy seemed to transform into a Fire Dragon and charged out.
Yang Yan’s face suddenly turned pale. Although she had somewhat anticipated things would quickly become dangerous, she hadn’t expected it would happen the instant the barrier broke. The Fire Dragon hadn’t even reached her yet but she already felt as if she was being melted.
Several defensive artifacts on her body automatically activated just as Yang Yan sensed danger, and several layers of defensive barriers appeared in front of her.
These artifacts were all Origin Grade Low-Rank and were tailor-made for her, so the protection they offered wasn’t worse than an ordinary Origin Grade High-Rank artifact.
However, the Fire Dragon approaching her seemed unstoppable, and the instant its pure Fire Attribute energy impacted the light shields in front of Yang Yan, they all evaporated and with a crisp crack, the two earring she was wearing shattered, along with a bracelet on her wrist while at the same time, the glow from the Artifact Armour she was wearing went dull.
These three layers of protection were unable to stop the approach of the heat wave and had all been burnt through as if they were paper. Some of her prided artifacts were even destroyed in the process.
The moment the three defensive artifacts Yang Yan had tailor made for herself were destroyed, she couldn’t help letting out a panicked scream.
At that moment, a huge hand grasped her shoulder and dragged her back. Simultaneously, a figure moved in front of her wearing a dignified expression. Solemnly, Yang Kai waved his hand and sent out two giant black fireballs to intercept the Fire Dragon.
Yang Kai had already changed the nature of his Demonic Flame from pure hot to pure cold, but the instant these fireballs impacted the Fire Dragon, they were annihilated.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed, and while he hurriedly retreated, a crisp cry rang out from his body. In a flash of light, the Firebird Artifact Spirit leapt out and grandly spread its wings, growing to nearly ten metres in width as it sprayed out a fiery red blast of light towards the approaching Fire Dragon. Unfortunately, even this intense attack was unable to halt the advance of the Fire Dragon, causing it not even the slightest of hindrances.
The Fire Dragon seemed like an unstoppable force, and every type of defence Yang Kai put up would be torn through easily.
The Firebird Artifact Spirit’s eyes flashed an almost human-like light as a look of horror filled its face, but immediately after, a violent determination filled its aura as it shrank back down and transformed its entire body into a ray of light that shot out to meet the Fire Dragon.
The dragon roared and the Artifact Spirit cried as the two clashed inside the Secret Cave in a blazing exchange.
After the Artifact Spirit rushed into the Fire Dragon’s body, it finally slowed its advance, but only a moment later, the Artifact Spirit let out a pained cry and fled back out of the Fire Dragon, swiftly disappearing into Yang Kai’s body.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed greatly.
He had already refined the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace so he could naturally sense the state of the Artifact Spirit. This Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace had been heated inside the Earth Lung Fire Pond for tens of thousands of years in order to form the Artifact Spirit, yet it had been severely damaged by the Fire Attribute Energy of this Fire Dragon. How could Yang Kai not be shocked?
The Fire Attribute energy the Artifact Spirit formed from was already extremely rich and pure, so what had this Fire Dragon been born from that it could cause severe trauma to the Artifact Spirit, which was of the same attribute?
However, although the Artifact Spirit was injured, the Fire Dragon seemed to have also been weakened greatly. Its colour had not only dimmed considerably but its size had also been greatly reduced. Even so, with a shake of its head, it once again rushed towards Yang Kai, as if vowing to never give up until it burnt him and Yang Yan to ashes.
On the other hand, Yang Kai’s expression became calm and a mysterious wave of power pulsed from his body. Reaching out with both his hands, Yang Kai seemingly grabbed the space in front of him and as he grits his teeth hard ripped it apart.
Instantly, a bottomless black hole that seemed capable of swallowing everything in existence appeared, and as Yang Kai continued pulling on it, this Void Tear continued to expand.
As soon as this Void Tear took shape, the Fire Dragon plunged inside it.
Space distorted greatly as the Void Tear became extremely unstable, as if it would collapse at any moment. Yang Kai snorted and, using all the Space Force he could generate, he reinforced this Void Tear so it would not instantly be destroyed.
After three breaths, the Fire Dragon completely vanished into The Void, and at the same time, this Void Tear fractured like the surface of a cracked mirror and broke apart.
Standing in place, Yang Kai gasped for breath while Yang Yan, who he had been shielding, shivered in fright.
But after the disaster had passed, Yang Yan seemed to think of something and as she stared towards the strange stone, her beautiful eyes trembling violently as she covered her mouth and uttered hoarsely, “Sun’s True Essence?”
Yang Kai’s face twitched, as if he had heard something unbelievable while his eyes flashed brilliantly.
What was strange, however, was that after the Fire Dragon was swallowed up by The Void, this thing that Yang Yan called Sun’s True Essence once again became plain and unremarkable. Yang Kai couldn’t even feel any burning power from it, as if it had become an ordinary stone people would flat out ignore if they saw it on the roadside.
However, there was no time to think about such things at the moment. Yang Kai and Yang Yan had snuck into this place secretly, and although they had been followed by two Corpse Soldiers, those two seemed to have no intention of blocking them.
But now, the violent exchange must have woken up the slumbering Corpse Soldiers.
Releasing his Divine Sense, Yang Kai’s face sank as he easily confirmed his guess. The Corpse Soldiers hibernating in the forked caves had mostly woken up, and many different Corpse Qi fluctuations were now rapidly approaching.
At the same time, a dull roar came from further underground. This roar was like that of a fierce beast and contained a potent, angry, malevolent aura. Just this roar alone caused Yang Kai’s Soul to vibrate and his eyes to go bloodshot as violent impulses welled up in his heart.
The Corpse Soldiers who were rushing over heard this low roar and, as if they had received some kind of order, returned a low roar of their own that echoed throughout the entire cave network. Immediately after, these Corpse Soldiers began racing over even faster than before.
In an instant, cries and howls that made one’s skin crawl rang out from all directions.
The Corpse Soldiers that had been secretly following behind Yang Kai and Yang Yan no longer hid themselves and stood openly at the entrance to the Secret Cave, glaring as they bared their cold, gleaming fangs.
Yang Yan saw all this and her heart sank, her face going completely white.
However, these two Corpse Soldiers didn’t seem to have any immediate intention to rush inside. Instead, they were just glaring at Yang Kai and Yang Yan while secretly observing the piece of Sun’s True Essence, their eyes filling with fear each time they glanced at it.
The originally peaceful Sun’s True Essence suddenly began emitting a terrifying fire aura the moment the Corpse Soldiers appeared; however, it didn’t release this Fire Attribute energy in any way, as if so long as the Corpse Soldiers didn’t approach, it wouldn’t act.
Seeing this, Yang Kai was overjoyed and quickly reached out to grab this piece of Sun’s True Essence. Releasing a massive amount of his Saint Qi, Yang Kai wanted to wrap up the Sun’s True Essence to put it into his Space Ring when Yang Yan hurriedly shouted, “Don’t!”
Yang Kai was stunned, but he immediately realized what was wrong. In the instant that his Divine Sense and Saint Qi contacted the Sun’s True Essence, they were incinerated, causing Yang Kai to stumble backwards several steps as he stared at this melon-sized object in terror.
He wasn’t able to move this Sun’s True Essence into his Space Ring at all.
Seeing this, the two Corpse Soldiers standing at the door unscrupulously showed a grin, the female Corpse Soldier even shouting, “Daring to break into our Corpse Cave and even having ideas about our Sun’s True Essence, just wait for the Seniors to come and see what fate awaits you.”
The male Corpse Soldier also taunted, “Now now, these two will soon become our companions! Sister Lan should speak a little more kindly; after all, we’ll all be family in the future.”
The female Corpse Soldier coldly snorted, “Why do I need to treat them politely? Transforming into Corpse Soldiers and obtaining sentience will take them at least a hundred years, if they’re even successful. If they fail to become one of us, they’ll just turn into our food.”
The male Corpse Soldier pondered a little and nodded, “Fair enough, there really isn’t any need for us to be polite with them.”
These two were openly mocking Yang Kai and Yang Yan, Yang Kai didn’t have any intention to respond to them. Since the other party didn’t dare to enter this place, he didn’t need to waste time killing them. On top of that, the fight just now had already alarmed the entire Corpse Cave and from these two Corpse Soldier’s conversation, it was clear that Corpse General level existences were on their way. The most important thing right now was to find a way to take away this Sun’s True Essence.
Yang Kai couldn’t help turning his eyes to Yang Yan, but seeing that Yang Yan was also in a state of utter frustration, he couldn’t help feeling his heart sink.
Yang Yan naturally knew a method of taking away this Sun’s True Essence, but it would require quite a bit of time and effort to implement. Wanting to use a Space Ring to carry this treasure was impossible, but as Yang Yan was trying to find another option, the same deep roar which had emanated from down below once again resounded and a terrifying coercion and pressure enveloped the Secret Cave.
“Third-Order Origin Returning Realm!” Yang Kai felt the force of this pressure and his face changed dramatically.
The situation here was quite different from what he and Yang Yan had expected. Previously, he and Yang Yan estimated that even if a Corpse General was present, it would at most be two thousand years old. Based on the difficulty of using Corpse Qi to cultivate, over two millennia, it would already be quite impressive if a weak Second-Order Origin Realm Corpse General had emerged.
So now that Corpse General equivalent to a peak Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master, only one step away from becoming a Corpse King, had appeared, how could Yang Kai not be shocked?
Thinking about it for a moment though, Yang Kai realized that the existence of this Corpse Cave had likely accelerated the cultivation of this Corpse General.
Even if Yang Kai used all of his means, it would be impossible for him to oppose such a powerful opponent, much less protect Yang Yan in the process.
[Was the only option to immediately flee?] Yang Kai looked at Sun’s True Essence and his face filled with unwillingness!
This was one of the most valuable treasures he had ever seen, and to him, it was even more important than the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, second only to his Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
Because he still had a number of drops of Profound Yin Sunflower Water, if Yang Kai was able to obtain this Sun’s True Essence and draw out the astonishing Fire Attribute Energy inside it, he could continue refining the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. The benefits of this were difficult to even estimate.
After refining Profound Yin Sunflower Water in the Earth Lung Fire Pond last time, Yang Kai discovered that doing so not only enhanced his physical strength and cultivation, but also the power of his Demonic Flame.
Right now, he could only pin his hopes on Yang Yan. If even Yang Yan couldn’t think of a solution, he could only withdraw temporarily.
Yang Kai was confident that even if this Corpse General possessed astonishing strength, it had no way to take away or use this Sun’s True Essence, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been left idle here for so many years.
As Yang Yan continued to wear a strained expression, seemingly unable to find a solution to this problem, the source of the malevolent pressure rapidly closed in. Soon, the approaching enemy closed to within a couple of kilometres and Yang Kai could now even hear its hurried footfalls.
Yang Kai sighed as he realized it would be too late if he didn’t immediately leave. Although ordinary Corpse Soldiers wouldn’t dare to get close with the Sun’s True Essence here, there was no way to know if this Corpse General that had cultivated for two thousand years would be subject to the same restrictions. If he and Yang Yan continued to linger, they would only be putting themselves in grave danger.
But before Yang Kai could speak up to suggest they withdraw, Yang Yan’s eyes suddenly brightened as if she just remembered something and hurriedly called out, “Xiao Xiao!”
Hearing her call, the Stone Puppet which had been devouring the piles of Saint Crystals and ores rushed over without hesitation. At this moment, of the dozen or so hill like piles of ores, the Stone Puppet had swallowed more than half.
After the Stone Puppet arrived, Yang Yan pointed at the Sun’s True Essence in front of them and asked softly, “Can you swallow it?”
The Stone Puppet’s seemingly always indifferent face showed a hint of hesitation and fear as its eyes flashed a dignified light.
The Stone Puppet had an innate ability to devour all kinds of ore and absorb their essence. Even Space Spirit Crystals could be swallowed effortlessly, but in front of this melon-sized Sun’s True Essence, the Stone Puppet hesitated.
Obviously, even for it, this thing was extremely dangerous.
Seeing this, Yang Yan showed a look of helplessness and didn’t try to force it. After all, for Yang Yan, although the Sun’s True Essence was truly invaluable, the Stone Puppet was equally irreplaceable. This little thing had repeatedly cooperated with Yang Yan to temper Artifact Refining materials, and she had already developed a deep affection for it. It was impossible for her to treat it like a simple tool now.
However, to Yang Yan’s surprise, after hesitating for an instant, the Stone Puppet suddenly let out a great roar and its body shone brightly as a series of mysterious glowing ruins flowed across its rocky Battle Armour.
The Stone Puppet’s aura underwent a rapid and dramatic change, suddenly giving off an incredibly sturdy feeling, as if nothing in this world could harm it.
Both Yang Kai and Yang Yan were dumbfounded, neither of them having expected the Stone Puppet to possess such an ability.
The mysterious runes only appeared for a moment before sinking into the Stone Puppet’s body. At the same time, its Battle-Armour-like skin now shimmered brilliantly and looked extremely powerful.
A crackling sound came from all the joints of the Stone Puppet, and under the stunned gazes of Yang Kai and Yang Yan, its tiny body grew to ten metres in height.
In a few giant steps, the Stone Puppet arrived in front of the Sun’s True Essence and stretched out its big hand, grabbing the rock with a dignified expression.
A terrifying ray of fire leapt out from inside the Sun’s True Essence and transformed into a fire snake that struck towards the Stone Puppet’s approaching hand. The Stone Puppet flashed a strange grin and used its giant hand to grasp this fire snake and seemingly easily crush it, scattering a dazzling light in all directions.
Even so, Yang Kai noticed that the Stone Puppet’s big hand had slightly melted, shocking him greatly.
Without the hindrance of the fire snake, the Stone Puppet directly grabbed the melon-sized Sun’s True Essence, opened its mouth wide, and swallowed it. In the next moment, a dull roar burst from Stone Puppet’s throat, as if it was suffering from unimaginable torture, and the surface of its body glowed a bright red light. The runes surfaced on its mighty Battle Armour again and rapidly began bursting, changing into a mysterious kind of strength that poured back into its body and suppressed the terrifying heat.
Completing all this, the Stone Puppet’s body shrank down again, and in a flash, it returned to its original look.
Without any hesitation, Yang Kai took the Stone Puppet into his Black Book Space.
He had previously experienced the horrifying power of the Sun’s True Essence so he hadn’t dared to put it into his Black Book Space at will, but now that the Stone Puppet had swallowed it, this was the natural choice.
What happened here was not missed by the two Corpse Soldiers standing at the door who had been constantly observing Yang Kai and Yang Yan.
Seeing this pair that had invaded the Corpse Cave actually possessed a method to take away the Sun’s True Essence, these two Corpse Soldiers could no longer stand idly by, so with a great roar, they charged into the Secret Cave.
The female Corpse Soldier’s fingernails released a dark glow as they extended and her hair shot out like snakes to grab Yang Kai.
At the same time, the male Corpse Soldier inhaled deeply before spewing out a cloud of Corpse Qi that flew over to engulf Yang Kai and Yang Yan.
Yang Kai just coldly snorted and with a flick of his wrist, a golden thread flew out towards the female Corpse Soldier while he simultaneously waved his other hand to release a black blade-like attack towards the male Corpse Soldier.
“A Space Force blade!” The male Corpse Soldier had already learned about some of Yang Kai’s methods from his companion, so the moment he saw this black blade which emitted no discernible aura, he was naturally terrified and frantically dodged. The female Corpse Soldier wasn’t as lucky and was directly penetrated by Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Thread which instantly restrained her in place.
With a single thought, Yang Kai transformed this single Golden Blood Thread into a golden net which quickly wrapped up the female Corpse Soldier in a blinding golden radiance.
“Impossible!” The female Corpse Soldier screamed out in shock, as if she had just witnessed something impossible. After the golden light faded, this female Corpse Soldier’s body had actually be cut into hundreds of pieces and scattered about across the floor.
After the male Corpse Soldier witnessed how his companion, who was equal in strength to him, was instantly killed by the other party, a terrified light flashed across his ghastly green eyes. He didn’t dare confront Yang Kai any longer and hastily fled towards the exit to this Secret Cave.
At that moment though, a tall and majestic figure wearing a blood red robe suddenly appeared in the entrance to the Secret Cave. Although this figure was still a bit thin, he resembled a living person quite closely. With a relatively normal looking face and the typical black and white eye colour, were it not for the intense Corpse Qi coming from him, this man could likely have passed for an ordinary cultivator.
As soon as he appeared, he eyes landed on Yang Kai who was currently taking away the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal. Noticing its escaping subordinate, this figure waved its fist towards him and the male Corpse Soldier who had just barely managed to escape Yang Kai Space Blade burst apart and was smashed into dust.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank as he witnessed this scene and shouted, “Corpse General!”
This figure was obviously the powerful Corpse General Yang Kai had sensed approaching, but the moment it appeared, it had instantly killed one of its subordinates, so it was clear to see it was quite enraged.
On the other hand, the Corpse General saw the Ice Jade Pedestal disappear and was unable to sense any trace of the Sun’s True Essence, so how could he not know what had happened?
Immediately, a low roar burst from his mouth.
Yang Kai trembled involuntarily and he suddenly felt as if he was being torn in two. At the same time, his Knowledge Sea tumbled violently, like it was on the verge of boiling over.
Yang Yan was in even worse shape. A halo of light appeared around her but shattered instantly, after which her small face went white and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Obviously she had received a serious injury.
“Return what you stole!” The Corpse General snorted and took a big step towards Yang Kai.
With no time to hesitate, Yang Kai flung out a dozen Space Blades and at the same time ripped open a Void Tear. Taking advantage of the Corpse General’s surprise, Yang Kai grabbed Yang Yan and rushed directly into The Void.
It wasn’t until that moment that the approaching Corpse General seemed to realize that something was wrong, and with a terrifying roar, he shot out a giant yellow Corpse Qi hand towards the Void Tear.
However, he was too late. By the time his Corpse Qi hand reached the tear, Yang Kai and Yang Yan’s figures had completely disappeared, and although this attack managed to affect the stability of this Void Tear, it still couldn’t stop them from escaping.
[Space Force!] The Corpse General was stunned, but in the next moment became furious, sending out an enrage howl as his face filled with unwillingness.
If it wasn’t for the other party having cultivated Space Force, how could he have allowed them to escape with such a massive gap in their strength? As long as he was given three breaths, he was confident he could grind these two intruders into patties and retrieve what they had stolen.
Shortly after, other figures appeared in Secret Cave, all of them looking around the now half empty room somberly. Each of these figures exuded an aura not inferior to the first Corpse General who had arrived here. They were all peak Origin Returning Realm masters, four of them in total.
Other Corpse Generals who were equal to Second-Order Origin Returning Realm masters also soon arrived, making the entire Secret Cave quite a bustling scene.
“Where’s the Sun’s True Essence?” One of the Corpse Generals dressed in azure robes glanced at the spot where the jade pedestal originally stood and asked.
“It was taken away,” The first red-clothed Corpse General who rushed here replied angrily.
“What? The Sun’s True Essence was taken away?” The other two peak-level Corpse Generals shouted in disbelief, “Was the person who came a peak Origin Returning Realm master? But just a moment ago I only detected a Second-Order Saint King.”
“It really was just a Second-Order Saint King. As for how he took away the Sun’s True Essence, I don’t know,” The red robed Corpse General replied.
“You couldn’t stop a trivial Second-Order Saint King? Junior Brother Long, did you rot after sleeping for so long?” The azure robed Corpse General looked at the former with a sneer.
The red robed Corpse General simply glanced over at this man and replied indifferently, “The other party cultivated the Dao of Space, and it seems his attainments in it are extremely high, allowing him to directly tear space and flee. Does Senior Brother Mo think he could have stopped him if he were here?”
“The Dao of Space?”
“Tore space?”
“Impossible!”
The other three Corpse Generals exclaimed, their eyes overflowing with shock.
“There are still some residual distortions in the space here. Whether I am telling the truth or not, you should be able to tell for yourselves.” The red robed Corpse General didn’t seem to want to explain any further and simply stopped talking.
The other Corpse Generals heard this and all released their Divine Senses to investigate. After a while, their expressions turning ugly. They were indeed able to sense a slight Space Force fluctuation, so it was obvious the red-robed Corpse General wasn’t lying.
The Secret Cave was quiet for a while as the four Corpse Generals whose strength was comparable to peak Origin Returning Realm masters did not know what to say. They did not immediately pursue Yang Kai; after all, this thief was capable of tearing space. Even if they possessed great strength, they might not be able to catch him. Only if they possessed a similar method to instantly cross great distances would they have a chance.
“The Sun’s True Essence was the key to our promotion to Corpse Kings, but now that it has been taken away, what are we supposed to do?” A white-robed Corpse General frowned and asked in annoyance.
“En, without the Sun’s True Essence, how are we supposed to continue our Corpse Refinement Art and reach the Corpse King stage, achieving immortal and indestructible bodies?” The final black-robed Corpse General asked, a fierce light flashing across his eyes, seemingly unwilling to just let Yang Kai escape.
“Indeed, even if he is proficient in Space Force, we can’t just let him go. I’ll go now and capture him,” The azure-robed Corpse General clenched his teeth, stomped his feet, and turned around, as if he really intended to pursue Yang Kai.
“Senior Brother Mo, could it be you’ve forgotten about Star Emperor Mountain? Although two thousand years have passed, if we leave this place at this time, it will draw those monsters’ attention. Furthermore, since that person is proficient in Space Force, will we even be able to catch up to him now?” The white-robed Corpse General quickly stopped him.
Hearing the name Star Emperor Mountain, the other three Corpse Generals couldn’t help narrowing their eyes, a mixture of fear and hatred flashing across their faces. The azure-robed Corpse General also stopped in place.
The white-robed Corpse General suddenly chuckled at that moment, “Although the Sun’s True Essence has been lost, that might not necessarily be a bad thing.”
“What?” The azure-robed Corpse General looked at him in amazement.
“Do Senior Brothers know why our Ancient Yang Sect put this piece of Sun’s True Essence here?” The white-robed Corpse General smiled meaningfully and asked.
“Does Junior Brother Kang know?”
The white-robed Corpse General didn’t explain right away but instead glanced over at the location where the Ice Jade Pedestal had stood and said, “I was never quite certain about this matter, but now I am at least eighty percent sure. Senior Brothers should take a look over there to see if they can feel anything.”
Hearing this, the other three Corpse Generals exchanged a glance before releasing their Divine Senses to carefully investigate.
A moment later, the three Corpse Generals all wore shocked looks, the azure-robed Corpse General even exclaiming, “Such rich Yin Qi! It looks like it has been sealed off somehow and is now only slightly revealing itself, but even so, the Corpse Qi here is far denser than anywhere else in the Corpse Cave.”
The red-robed and black-robed Corpse Generals did not speak but showed equally surprised expressions on their faces. Obviously, this rich Yin Qi was extremely important to them.
The three Corpse Generals quickly turned their attention back to the white-robed Corpse General, the azure-robed one asking, “Junior Brother Kang, you are the only direct descendant of our Honoured Master, do you know something? If so, don’t keep your Senior Brothers in suspense.”
“Yes, yes. Junior Brother Kang, although the three of us are older than you, how could we compare with your understanding of the Sect’s secrets? When the Sect was destroyed, all of us were mere Saint Realm cultivators. If not for Junior Brother bringing us here to hide, I’m afraid we would have long ago perished.”
Even the red-robed Corpse General, who seemed to be the most recalcitrant, turned to the white-robed Corpse General with a softened look, showing an expectant expression.
The white-robed Corpse General just chuckled lightly, “The matters of the past should be left in the past, the several Senior Brothers don’t need to care about them so much. The reason why I brought all of you here was because it was the Sect Master’s orders, a last-ditch attempt to preserve some of the Ancient Yang Sect’s heritage.”
When these words came out, the expressions of the four Corpse Generals all dimmed.
Although they had indeed managed to preserve the last remnants of the Ancient Yang Sect, the four handsome and heroic Sect Brothers had degenerated into such a state, so they couldn’t help questioning if they had actually fulfilled the hopes of their Sect Master.
After a moment of silence, the white-robed Corpse General composed himself and continued, “At that time, my strength wasn’t very high, and although my father was the Sect Master, I was not qualified to know many of the Sect’s core secrets. However, I once heard my father and mother talking about this Secret Cave, and at that time, they said that there was an Underworld Well Spring sealed here. “
“An Underworld Well Spring!” The three Corpse General heard this and could not help calling out in alarm.
“Indeed!” The white-robed Corpse General nodded solemnly, “In the past, we obviously wouldn’t have known what an Underworld Well Spring was, but I assume Senior Brothers all understand now, right?”
“Naturally!” The azure-robed Corpse General nodded with a dignified expression, “Underworld Well Springs are rumoured to be entrances to the underworld and are the most coveted Holy Lands for existences like us.”
“No wonder, no wonder a Corpse Cave formed here, it turns out there was actually an Underworld Well Spring!” The black-robed Corpse General murmured thoughtfully.
“In order to seal this Underworld Well Spring, one of our Ancient Yang Sect’s former Sect Masters somehow obtained a piece of Sun’s True Essence and used its scorching Sun’s True Fire to suppress it. This method on its own could be considered quite good, but in order to store the Sun’s True Essence absolutely safely, some later generation’s Sect Master spent a huge price to refine that Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal and placed it here! It could be said that this matter is one of the Sect’s biggest secrets that only the Sect Master and a few select Elders were eligible to know.” After the white-robed Corpse General finished, he smiled and said, “Although I heard a few words about this many years ago, I didn’t understand much about them. On top of that, with the Sun’s True Essence sealing this place, we were unable to even get close to it, so I never bothered telling Senior Brothers. I hope Senior Brothers won’t blame me!”
“Hahaha!” The azure-robed Corpse General laughed heartily before patting the white-robed Corpse General’s shoulder heavily, “How could Junior Brother ask such a thing? We four brothers are already family, how could we blame you? Not to mention, even if you had told us about this matter, there wouldn’t have been anything we could have done about it. En, but now it seems there really is an Underworld Well Spring here!”
“Indeed, just the Yin Qi which is leaking from the seal is already so strong, so if we were to completely open it, wouldn’t we be able to obtain endless benefits? With the help of this Underworld Well Spring, it should not be impossible for us to reach the Corpse King level, and this method is far safer than the Corpse Refinement Art we were originally planning to use.”
“Exactly. None of us have attempted to cultivate the last part of the Corpse Refinement Art, but having to rely on an item as dangerous as that Sun’s True Essence is really quite daunting. Originally, I didn’t approve of us continuing to try to advance our cultivation, but now, all our problems are solved. It seems we should be thanking that kid who took away the Sun’s True Essence.”
The red-robed Corpse General, who had been silent for a long, suddenly said thoughtfully, “I always wondered why the Sect practiced Corpse Refinement and why Elder Liu possessed several extremely powerful Corpse Puppets, but now it makes sense. It seems it was all because of this place.”
The several Corpse Generals pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.
The azure-robed Corpse General soon waved his hand, “Good, now that we know there is an Underworld Well Spring here, our first priority should be to find a way to break its seal. Presumably, without the Sun’s True Essence suppression, with our current strength, it should not be difficult to break this thing. Before we begin though, we need to make we are not disturbed by outsiders again, otherwise, if someone becomes aware of our Sect’s survival, word may reach Star Emperor Mountain’s ears.”
“That’s easy enough to solve, just let them go clean up the area. In any case, the outside world’s powerhouses don’t know anything about the situation here, as long as we don’t act too overtly there shouldn’t be any big problems,” The red-robed Corpse General sneered before turning his head to look at the large number of Corpse Soldiers and Corpse Generals that had at some point arrived here and were standing around in a dense formation. Each of these Corpse Soldiers and Corpse Generals had a rich malevolent aura and their green eyes, though eerie, were still filled with a sharp light, clearly indicating that they possessed a substantial level of sentience.
Several top-ranking Corpse Generals immediately issued a series of orders, after which the Corpse Soldiers and Corpse Generals began flooding out of the Corpse Cave in groups of three to five, all of them headed to clean up various important locations inside Grand Burial Valley.
While the four Corpse Generals were talking, however, a thousand kilometres away, a black crack in space appeared. This rough and crooked crack was clearly quite unstable. A moment later, a figure emerged from it, quickly followed by another.
Almost at the same time the second figure emerged, the Void Tear suddenly disappeared.
Yang Kai turned his head back to the closed Void Tear with a look of lingering fear.
Although he was able to successfully bring Yang Yan and flee a thousand kilometres away by tearing space at the last moment, the attack of the Corpse General in red still affected the stability of the Void Tear, nearly causing him and Yang Yan to become forever lost in The Void. If it were not for his comprehension of the Dao of Space having improved dramatically in recent years, even if he had been able to escape, Yang Yan would certainly have died.
Yang Yan was unaware of the danger she had just been in, but Yang Kai had a cold sweat dripping down his back as he secretly decided that the next time he wanted to bring someone else along with him using this method, he had to first reach a position where the enemy wouldn’t be able to interfere, otherwise the risk would be far too great.
Additionally, Yang Kai was not sure if it was his imagination or not, but before leaving the Corpse Cave, he felt an unusual aura coming from the place where the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal had stood.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai did not think too deeply about it. Escaping from a peak level Origin Returning Realm master was fortunate enough, and this trip had also resulted in a huge harvest.
There was not enough time to take inventory of his gains here though, so Yang Kai just checked on the Stone Puppet’s situation inside the Black Book Space for now. After confirming that it would be fine in the short term, Yang Kai wrapped Yang Yan in his Saint Qi, confirmed his bearings, and began heading for the outskirts of the Grand Burial Valley.
Yang Yan seemed to still be quite frightened by what had happened in the Corpse Cave, so along the way she did not say anything, just shivering slightly as she clung tightly to Yang Kai.
It was expected as she was naturally timid.
There was no danger along the way, only a few Yin Souls who were disturbed by the movement of Yang Kai’s Saint Qi; however, because Yang Kai was quite eager to leave and was travelling at great speed, no Yin Soul was able to pursue them for long and before he knew it, the two of them had already crossed half the distance to the valley’s exit.