After the artifact protecting her body was destroyed, the old woman’s aged physique was directly exposed to the puppet’s might, and as the giant hand tightened, the sound of cracking bones burst out.
After a brief struggle, the old woman realized she was unable to escape her current crisis with only her strength and a trace of panic and fear flashed across the depths of her eyes. Turning to Yang Kai and the others, she shouted, “Save me!”
But as soon as her voice rang out, a muffled bang occurred.
The old woman suddenly exploded, her blood splashing out through the air as her head fell from the sky, a look of great unwillingness still filling her face.
Although she had been on guard against this humanoid statue, the old woman never imagined that it wasn’t either a kind of mechanism or a part of the Spirit Array and instead a real puppet!
On top of that, this puppet seemed to be able to move independently without an operator, a completely unreasonable existence.
If Lian Guang had been here, perhaps he may have been able to see some clues, but the four who were here knew next to nothing about puppets, nor did they expect to see puppets operating inside these Ancient Ruins.
Moreover, this was no ordinary puppet. Being able to easily crush a First-Order Origin Returning Realm to death fully illustrated the enormous strength of this puppet.
The instant the old woman died; Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a resolute light as he stared at the round gateway between its legs. Sprinting forth at full speed, Yang Kai ignored the puppet’s reaction, not wanting to become entangled with it, only hoping he could leave from this place.
Yang Kai’s speed was extremely fast, but the response of the puppet was also extremely fast. After crushing the old woman, the statue’s red eyes fixed onto the approaching Yang Kai and a dangerous aura soon erupted from it. Sensing this dangerous aura, Yang Kai’s face changed, and he swiftly summoned his Purple Shield and activated its sandstorm ability to protect his body.
Faintly, Yang Kai saw a flash of light appear from the giant puppet’s hand and immediately after a thick shadow swept towards him.
Even before this shadow hit him, Yang Kai felt his breathing become laboured, as if the entire world was collapsing on him, giving him the illusion that he could not escape this blow.
Clenching his teeth, Yang Kai pushed the power of his Purple Shield to its greatest extent while at the same time condensing his Saint Qi to form a strong second protective barrier outside his body.
*Hong…*
With a great bang, the sandstorm was scattered, the Purple Shield’s proud defensive ability shattered under a single blow. The shield itself was impacted next and was knocked away by an immense force. Yang Kai next felt his Saint Qi protection break just before his body was struck, sending him flying uncontrollably.
His vitality tumbling, a mouthful of golden blood spewed from Yang Kai’s mouth, transforming into a cloud of blood mist.
*Hong long long…*
Yang Kai flew a thousand metres through the air before he crashed into a flower bed, bouncing a few times before he finally came to a stop.
Up until now, Yang Kai still had not seen exactly what the statue had hit him with, only knowing that in front of that thick shadow any kind of resistance or protection had been rendered useless.
Among the ruins of the flower bed, Yang Kai coughed up a few more mouthfuls of blood as he gasped for breath and forced himself to his feet through sheer willpower, a look of fear still lingering on his face.
He had never eaten such a big loss before, so the discomfort in his heart could easily be imagined.
If not for his Purple Shield taking the brunt of this blow though, his injuries might have been far more serious, but even so, Yang Kai found that his five viscera and six organs had all been shifted and his entire body felt like it was on the verge of breaking apart.
This both shocked and angered him!
Looking up, Yang Kai took in the situation and could not help gawking for a moment.
Right now, the puppet was still standing in the same spot, as if it had never moved, while Cai He and Du Si Si were standing just over a hundred metres from it, their faces deathly pale. It was as if the two of them had been struck by lightning as they stared in terror at the statue in front of them; however, the puppet itself showed no intention of attacking them at all.
Grasped in the puppet’s hand now tough, was a giant stick,
Calling it a stick was a bit inappropriate though as it was clearly some kind of powerful artifact; however, from appearance alone, stick was the most accurate description. This giant stick was jet black in colour, made from some unknown material, and was several dozen metres long and a couple metres wide. It was incredibly imposing.
Yang Kai immediately understood that it was this giant black stick that had struck him just now.
[Where did that thing come from?] A trace of suspicion flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes. There was no such thing anywhere near the puppet a moment ago; however, the moment Yang Kai tried to escape through the round gateway, he vaguely remembered seeing a flash of light from the puppet’s hand. Could the two things be related?
Even a thousand metres away, Yang Kai could feel the threatening aura from this giant stick. On this stick’s surface, there were some strange indecipherable characters engraved, identical to the ones they had seen upon entering these Ancient Ruins.
After coughing a few more times, Yang Kai spat out a last mouthful of blood before staring fixedly at the puppet, but soon discovered that it showed no intention to pursue him.
Only now did Cai He and Du Si Si seem to have recovered their wits, with Cai He turning his head to Du Si Si tremblingly and whispering, “Si Si, retreat!”
Du Si Si’s pretty face was completely white, apparently still in shock over the old woman’s death, turning her head to Cai He as tears leaked uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.
She was terrified!
Although she had encountered some dangers before today, this event was simply too shocking for her. The moment the old woman burst into a blood fog was witnessed by Du Si Si clearly and even now, the severed head of the old woman was lying on the ground. The old woman’s eyes were still spread wide and staring directly at Du Si Si, seemingly blaming her for not helping.
Such a tremendous mental shock caused Du Si Si to completely lose her ability to react, so she simply froze in place.
Even though she heard Cai He, she was unable to take a single step, fearing that if she moved, she would be the next to die.
Cai He saw this and new anxiety filled his face. Although the puppet seemed to only be concerned about guarding the gateway, there was no way to know whether it would suddenly strike out at them. Cai He certainly did not want to see the woman he was interested in die the same way as the old woman just had.
Gritting his teeth, Cai He’s body flickered as he rushed over to Du Si Si’s side, grabbed her, then fled without looking back.
Cai He didn’t stop until he arrived at the spot Yang Kai had landed, after which he collapsed to the ground a few metres away. This brief action seemed to have exhausted all his strength, and his teeth kept chattering in fear as he kneeled on the ground.
Du Si Si was not any better, the shock of recent events reducing her to a miserable state, her eyes still filled with fear and panic.
Although the old woman was just a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, while she was alive, she still gave these two young Array Masters some sense of security, but now that she was dead, leaving just three Saint King juniors behind, Du Si Si suddenly felt like there was no one here she could rely on.
Yang Kai’s expression was also extremely gloomy. He had been struck by that giant stick just now and had yet to completely regain his faculties. Fortunately, Yang Kai’s Golden Blood had extremely powerful restorative abilities; if it had been someone else who had taken that strike, they would likely need at least a few months to recover.
Swallowing a few healing pills, Yang Kai sat cross-legged and adjusted his breathing.
Regardless of what came next, his first priority was to stabilize his injuries, only after doing so could he begin thinking about how to leave this place.
Half a day later, Yang Kai opened his eyes and silently examined his condition.
Although his wounds had not been completely healed, they wouldn’t hinder his movements or his ability to fight anymore. Cai He and Du Si Si also seemed to have recovered slightly and their conditions were much better than before. However, Du Si Si’s eyes were still red and puffy while a gloomy expression filled her face.
Cai He’s state wasn’t as bad, but despair and helplessness were still apparent in his eyes.
This was not surprising though. Since that puppet was able to kill the Origin Realm old woman with a single blow and it was tightly guarding the door, Cai He didn’t think there was any way he or anyone else here could safely escape.
After glancing at the two of them, Yang Kai frowned slightly, but said nothing before standing up. Waving his hand, he summoned back his Purple Shield which had been blown away earlier. Catching this shield, Yang Kai checked it for a moment and found that it had a noticeable dent in it and a crack along its surface at least a finger-width wide. From the dim glow it was emitting, it had obviously lost a great deal of spirituality as well.
Seeing this, Yang Kai could not help shivering slightly. This Purple Shield was a defensive artifact Yang Yan had enhanced twice to reach the Origin Grade High-Rank. As the artifact that specialized in defense, its toughness was extremely high.
But even so, after a single hit from that giant jet-black stick, it had actually been reduced to such a state, highlighting just how terrifying the force behind that blow was.
Sighing slightly, Yang Kai put away the Purple Shield, preparing to have Yang Yan fix it once again after he went back. Glancing over at the huge puppet a thousand metres away next, Yang Kai paused for a moment before wearing a dignified expression and walking over towards it.
“Brother Yang…” Cai He saw this and his expression shrank slightly as he hurriedly called out, “What are you planning on doing?”
“Testing its strength!” Yang Kai replied.
“Testing…” Cai He looked dumbfounded and said in amazement, “Isn’t that a bit too hasty?”
He had witnessed the old woman’s tragic death at the hands of this giant puppet so naturally he wasn’t optimistic about Yang Kai’s chances; after all, according to common sense, Yang Kai’s strength should be much lower than that old woman’s.
“Are you trying to make trouble!?” Du Si Si, who had been staring out soullessly for some time now suddenly screamed, “It finally stopped moving, yet now you’re going to provoke it on your own? Do you want to kill all of us?!”
Yang Kai shot her a cold glare.
Du Si Si shifted her eyes, seemingly a little afraid to look at him, but still anxiously argued, “That Senior died, if you die too, what are Cai He and I supposed to do?”
Although she was arrogant and thought highly of herself, never placing other cultivators in the same generation in her eyes, the more people there were here right now the more at ease she felt. She did not really care about Yang Kai’s life, but she didn’t want to see him die here either because that would only make her feel less secure.
Yang Kai snapped back coldly, “Then what do you suggest we do?”
Du Si Si immediately lowered her head as she had no good answer to this question.
Cai He thought about it for a moment before smiling bitterly. When the old woman was still alive, the four of them had carefully searched this place and confirmed that there was no other way out except for the exit guarded by the giant puppet. If they wanted to leave here, they needed to pass through that gateway.
The only other option was to remain here and wait for Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters to come rescue them, but there was no guarantee that would ever happen. Whether Fei Zhi Tu and the others could even find this place was debatable, so doing nothing might just be akin to waiting here to die.
Rather than depending on hope, they might as well take their chances trying to escape. If they were lucky, they may be able to find some kind of weakness in the puppet they could exploit to escape from here.
Although such hope was thin, it was better than doing nothing.
Considering all this, Cai He’s expression became firm and he nodded to Yang Kai, “Brother Yang, I’ll accompany you. Although this Cai is not very good at fighting, two people sharing the burden is still better than one.”
Yang Kai, however, just slowly shook his head and said, “No, I am just going to test its abilities, I don’t need Brother Cai’s help for the time being. After learning more about that puppet’s strengths and weaknesses, we can come up with a plan to leave here together.”
“Very well, but Brother Yang, you must be careful!” Cai He exclaimed nervously.
Yang Kai nodded before turning around, raising his vigilance as high as it could go, then slowly approaching the puppet while Cai He and Du Si Si stood nervously and observed.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai returned in a disheveled state.
This test forced Yang Kai to use all of his methods, and thanks to his strength greatly exceeding those in the same realm as him, combined with a bit of luck, he was able to avoid taking any serious damage from the puppet. Only once was his body brushed by the statue’s giant stick, causing half of his clothes to shred and his body to go a bit numb.
Cai He and Du Si Si watched this battle from beginning to end, and when Yang Kai returned, both of their eyes contained a trace of awe, because the various probes Yang Kai had just made were all taken by risking his life. Many times, both were convinced Yang Kai would die, but no matter how desperate the situation was he always managed to find a way to survive.
After watching this life or death struggle for half an hour, the two of them were even more tired than Yang Kai, the one who was doing all the fighting. Both of their palms were drenched in cold sweat as they felt it had been an entire year since the fight began.
From this exchange though, the two of them clearly saw that Yang Kai was no ordinary Saint King Realm cultivator. The methods he displayed were both varied and powerful, exceeding even those or ordinary Origin Returning Realm masters.
Neither Cai He nor Du Si Si dared look down on Yang Kai anymore.
After returning, Yang Kai silently took out several healing pills and sat down cross-legged to meditate.
A day later, Yang Kai exhaled lightly and opened his eyes, a strong light flashing across their depths, seemingly fully recovered. Cai He and Du Si Si, who had been waiting nearby, saw this and quickly walked over with expectant looks upon their faces.
Yang Kai obviously knew what they were thinking and did not keep them in suspense, declaring firmly, “There’s an opportunity!”
Hearing this, Cai He and Du Si Si’s eyes lit up as a touch of joy appeared on their faces. Cai He quickly sat cross-legged in front of Yang Kai and asked anxiously, “Brother Yang, how do we get past that puppet? Just inform us and Si Si and I will do our best to cooperate.”
“Get past it?” Yang Kai smiled strangely as he stared Cai He in the eye, “We can’t get past it. You should have seen what happened when I tried just now. Although its build is massive, it is extremely fast and agile. If it was just me, I might have a chance to slip past it, but with the two of you, there’s absolutely no possibility of success!”
This was not Yang Kai underestimating them, but simply telling them the truth. Even with Yang Kai using his full speed and boosted by his Wind and Thunder Wings, he still had less than a fifty percent chance of slipping through the puppet’s blockade. He had experimented with this just now, rushing towards the gateway several times during the fight, but each time he had been forced back by the statue.
This puppet seemed to have extreme hostility towards any living creature that tried to pass through this gateway and went all out to kill anyone who tried!
Hearing Yang Kai say this, Du Si Si pretty face paled and she immediately shouted, “You can’t leave us here!”
She instinctively thought that Yang Kai planned to leave here without them.
Cai He forced out a smile and said loudly, “Si Si, you’re thinking too much, Brother Yang won’t do that.”
His words weren’t just meant to comfort Du Si Si, but himself as well, and while he said them, he quietly observed Yang Kai’s reaction, obviously a little worried Yang Kai might really do this.
Yang Kai did not try to explain himself either way. In all honesty, if he really was confident that he could slip past the puppet, he would have done so. That did not mean he intended to abandon these two here, though. If he was able to leave, he would have gone to look for Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters before returning to rescue them; after all, one person escaping and looking for help was better than three people being trapped here with no hope of survival.
Ignoring Cai He’s thinly veiled probe, Yang Kai simply continued his explanation, “If we want to leave this place now, we need to work together. With just my abilities, protecting myself is the best I can do, while being its opponent is completely out of the question.”
Cai He nodded repeatedly for a moment before asking, “Brother Yang, you just said that we can’t get past it, so what are we going to do? From the looks of it, that thing won’t leave too far from the exit.”
This was something Yang Kai had also confirmed while probing the situation. Once he got to within a hundred metres of the gateway, the puppet would immediately attack, but if he left this range, it would return to being an inanimate object.
Listening to Cai He’s question, Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Naturally we’re going to kill it!”
“Kill it…” Cai He parroted dumbfounded.
Du Si Si also gawked and retorted, “Are you insan…”
Before she could finish speaking though, she saw Yang Kai shoot her a cold glare and quickly swallowed down the rest of her words; however, her face remained sullen, clearly indicating she thought Yang Kai’s proposal was ridiculous.
“Since I dared to speak about this, naturally I have confidence in accomplishing it,” Yang Kai knew that if he didn’t explain things properly these two wouldn’t cooperate with him. The great power of this giant puppet and the scene of it killing the old woman had left a shadow in their hearts, making it impossible for them to summon the courage to oppose it.
“First, let us talk about its biggest shortcoming. That puppet only guards that gateway, so what lies beyond it must be too important for it to leave its post; however, we can use this to our advantage. Since the two of you are Array Masters… it should go without saying what we need to do, yes?” Yang Kai glanced at the two of them.
Cai He and Du Si Si’s expressions became thoughtful and both soon gently nodded.
This huge shortcoming of the puppet gave them ample time to arrange a large Spirit Array, and if they could coordinate this Spirit Array with Yang Kai, there might really be a chance for them to kill this puppet.
“Arranging an array isn’t a problem; moreover, we can arrange one specifically to limit that puppet’s speed. From what I have seen, while that puppet’s resistance to damage from various attributes is a problem, its speed is the most troublesome issue. If we can slow it down, it will become far easier to deal with,” Cai He stroked his chin slowly.
“You can arrange such a Spirit Array?” Yang Kai was overjoyed. It seemed that Cai He was thinking the same as he was. Puppets were different from living creatures, so there were some Spirit Arrays that, although powerful, would have no effect on it. Yang Kai’s original intention was to ask Cai He and Du Si Si to arrange a Spirit Array to dampen its speed, and Cai Hi had unexpectedly drawn this same conclusion.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult, I have the equipment to arrange the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array while Si Si should have the materials to arrange the Painting Earth Prison Array, right?” Cai He looked towards Du Si Si.
“En,” Du Si Si gently nodded, not surprised he knew about such details; after all, the Cai Family and Du Family both specialized in arranging Spirit Arrays, so it was normal for there to be some competition and intelligence gathering between them.
“How powerful are these two Spirit Arrays?” Yang Kai asked hurriedly.
Cai He quickly showed a proud look, “The power of these two Spirit Arrays is naturally immense. If they can be fully activated, even if a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master falls into it, their speed will fall dramatically,” Saying so though, an embarrassed look flashed across his face, “Unfortunately, with just mine and Si Si’s strength, we’ll only be able to display about half that kind of power.”
“Half…” Yang Kai frowned slightly. Seeing this, Cai He quickly followed up, “Rest assured Brother Yang, even at only half strength, these two Spirit Arrays will be able to display incredible might. They’ll be able to reduce that puppet’s speed by at least ten percent, possibly even twenty percent!”
“Ten to twenty percent, it’s a bit less than I was hoping for, but it’ll have to do!” Yang Kai nodded.
“But Brother Yang, even if Si Si and I used our Spirit Arrays to slow it down, how do you plan on eliminating that puppet?”
“En, you weren’t able to damage it in the slightest when you were testing it yesterday!” Du Si Si also hurriedly asked. This was a life or death matter so no one dared act carelessly after all, if they couldn’t coordinate and cooperate properly in the upcoming battle, there was a chance all of them would die.
Yang Kai showed a faint grin, “Although I wasn’t able to damage it, I was able to verify one thing.”
“And that is?”
“The reason that puppet can move autonomously without being operated by a cultivator is because there is some kind of Soul Wisp inside it!”
“Soul Wisp?” Cai He and Du Si Si asked curiously.
“En, you can think of it as a kind of Soul Clone. Have you ever observed Lian Guang operate his puppets?” Yang Kai looked at the two of them as he said solemnly, “Lian Guang inserts a wisp of his Divine Sense into each of his puppets that allows him to operate them. Although this puppet is much higher in grade than Lian Guang’s, the principle behind its operation should be similar; after all, puppets aren’t living creatures. If you want it to act, it needs to have something giving it commands! Since this puppet is not being operated by some external cultivator, it must have some kind of Soul Wisp sealed inside of it, but as to what exactly this Soul Wisp is, I can’t be certain.”
Listening to Yang Kai’s analysis, both Cai He and Du Si Si suddenly felt their confusion clear up. Before, both of them had simply been overwhelmed by this puppet’s incredible power and had not considered the issue carefully. Now that Yang Kai explained this to them though, the two of them immediately felt he made sense.
“So Brother Yang’s meaning is…”
“En, I don’t need to destroy this puppet, as long as I can find where the Soul Wisp is located and destroy it, the puppet naturally won’t be able to move anymore,” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed fiercely.
Cai He’s eyes also lit up as he nodded, “So that’s how it is. In that case, this approach might really be feasible!”
Compared to destroying such a solid puppet, finding and eliminating the Soul Wisp controlling it was naturally much easier.
“Then, do you know where that Soul Wisp is located?” Du Si Si asked.
Yang Kai’s face darkened upon hearing this question and slowly shook his head, “I’m not sure yet; however, there are a few suspicious places, which is why I need to borrow your strength to restrict its speed so I can investigate these locations to find where that Soul Wisp is stored.”
When beset by crisis on all sides, the most fearful thing was being unable to see any hope of survival; but now, after listening to Yang Kai, both Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s spirits rose because, if he was right, the three of them may have a chance to disable the puppet.
The haze which had covered the two young Array Masters’ faces was swept away and, after exchanging a competitive glance, they became very enthusiastic.
Without further ado, the three got to work. Because of Yang Kai’s previous probe, all of them knew the puppet’s exact range of movement so standing at a distance of just over a hundred metres, Cai He and Du Si Si began taking out a number of tools and materials from their Space Rings, infusing them with their Saint Qi and arranging them in specific patterns on the ground nearby.
As soon as these tools fell to the ground, they disappeared without a trace; even Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was unable to detect them.
While these two arranged their respective Spirit Arrays, Yang Kai’s eyes lingered on the puppet’s head, chest, abdomen, and a few others vital positions. These were the spots he felt the Soul Wisp, which was driving this puppet, might be located while he was fighting it earlier, but had been unable to confirm.
As long as he could identify the exact location this Soul Wisp was hiding and destroy it, the puppet should stop moving.
Yang Kai went over his plan again and again and ultimately felt that there was nothing wrong with it.
A short time later, both Cai He and Du Si Si nodded to one another, clapped their palms together, and let out a shout, “Start!”
The next moment, their Saint Qi seemed to form a kind of resonance with something in their surroundings which in turn harmonized with the World Energy within a several-hundred-metre radius around the humanoid puppet before quickly returning to normal.
Yang Kai looked around but was unable to see the slightest anomaly; however, that didn’t mean nothing had changed. Many Spirit Arrays, even when activated, couldn’t be detected from the outside. Only by entering such an array would one be able to see its effects.
“Brother Yang. Si Si and I are ready, you can begin at any time!” Cai He shouted.
Yang Kai gently nodded and said with a serious expression, “Then I’ll be troubling you two.”
“Brother Yang need not act so polite, you are the one responsible for the actual battle. Be careful, Si Si and I can only operate our Spirit Arrays to cooperate with your actions!”
“Don’t take this opportunity to run away,” Du Si Si’s expression changed a few times, clearly somewhat worried about how Yang Kai would act. If Yang Kai suddenly fled from this place while they used their Spirit Arrays to suppress the puppet’s speed, all her and Cai He’s efforts would go to waste.
Facing her mistrust, Yang Kai didn’t get angry; after all, she wasn’t familiar with him in the slightest, so it was only natural to have such concerns. Now that they were forced to work together, any disagreement or conflict may lead to unimaginable consequences, so he simply said lightly, “Rest assured, since I’ve decided to work together with you, I naturally won’t just ignore your wellbeing.”
Receiving this commitment from Yang Kai, Du Si Si smiled widely and said perfunctorily, “I was just joking.”
Yang Kai did not say anymore, instead taking a deep breath and staring at the unmoving giant puppet in front of him, his expression becoming solemn and dignified as his figure flickered and he charged forward.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai rushed into the large array arranged by Cai He and Du Si Si and found the scene before him suddenly distort. From Yang Kai’s perspective, he was now standing atop a shimmering clear lake, one that perfectly reflected his figure, but from its surface, he felt an invisible suction that seemed to be trying to restrain his actions.
Not only that, another invisible pressure was weighing down on him from all directions, similarly restricting his freedom.
The lake illusion at his feet was obviously an effect created by Cai He’s Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array while the invisible pressure he felt from the air should be the Painting Earth Prison Array arranged by Du Si Si.
[Seems these two have some good methods after all!]
Neither of these two Spirit Arrays were deliberately aiming at Yang Kai, but even so, the moment he stepped into them, Yang Kai felt his movements become sluggish. If these two Spirit Arrays were to be aimed at him, the suppression he felt would clearly be far greater.
Thinking this, Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a smile. For him, the greater the power of Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s Spirit Arrays the better since it meant the puppet he was facing would be even more constrained.
Moments after he stepped into these Spirit Arrays, the two Array Masters changed their hand seals as they adjusted the Saint Qi they were pouring into the barriers at the bottom of their feet. Suddenly, Yang Kai felt the suction force and pressure disappear and his freedom restored.
With the two Array Masters personally driving the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array and Painting Earth Prison Array, they naturally would not allow them to affect Yang Kai.
Yang Kai took another step forward, his foot-falls causing ripples to spread out on the reflective lake surface, while at the same time, the giant puppet, which had not been moving, suddenly flashed its red eyes and opened its mouth, spitting out a beam of red light straight towards Yang Kai in the next moment.
Yang Kai’s expression did not show any surprise as he quickly kicked off the lake and disappeared.
When he had been probing the puppet’s abilities before, he had witnessed it use this attack many times, so he was easily able to avoid it.
*Hong…*
The crimson energy beam hit the lake surface, but aside from a huge splash and some large ripples, the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array remained unaffected, allowing Yang Kai to relax slightly.
“Go!” Yang Kai shouted and the Firebird Artifact Spirit immediately appeared, spreading its wings several dozen metres wide as it rushed towards the giant puppet.
The giant jet black stick in the puppet’s hand immediately rose and smashed against the Artifact Spirit. As the giant stick passed through the air, it seemed to distort space itself and released a crushing pressure like an oncoming landslide, making its way pale.
In a single hit, the Artifact Spirit’s body collapsed, but the Artifact Spirit didn’t have a true physical form, so such an attack actually didn’t pose any threat to it. The scattered flames coalesced quickly and the Firebird soon reappeared, opening its mouth and spitting out a giant fireball that struck the puppet with astonishing might.
A violent bang resounded as the puppet was hit by this fireball, its giant body pushed back slightly.
After taking such a blow, the puppet seemed to become irritated as the red glow of its eyes deepened somewhat. Staring at the Firebird, it began waving the giant stick in its hand, immediately engaging in a fierce struggle with it. In an instant, a scene of giant stick after-images, beams of crimson energy, and scorching fireballs filled the sky.
These two strange beings fought wildly with one another, and while the Artifact Spirit didn’t fear the puppet’s giant jet-black stick, it did have to worry about the red energy beams it shot from its mouth. Once the puppet released these beam attacks, the Firebird had no choice but to dodge while looking for opportunities to counterattack.
Yang Kai was overjoyed to see this. When he had been probing the puppet before, his Artifact Spirit had also participated and now it seemed this puppet was holding a grudge against it. At this moment, the puppet was ignoring Yang Kai, focusing all its attacks on the Artifact Spirit. This lined up with Yang Kai’s intentions.
Seizing this opportunity, a golden thread shot out from Yang Kai’s hand straight towards the puppet’s left eye.
With a loud ringing sound, the indestructible Golden Thread hit the puppet’s left eye accurately, but after a few sparks, the Golden Thread was easily bounced back.
Yang Kai frowned slightly at this sight, but at that exact moment, a shout rang in his ear, “Brother Yang, watch out!”
As soon as he heard this, Yang Kai saw the puppet wave its giant stick and smash it down towards him. The murderous intent pulsing from this giant stick was so thick it almost solidified the entire space.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank, but just as he was about to dodge, he suddenly noticed that the mirror lake beneath his feet began releasing a strange energy fluctuation. Immediately, the calm, crystal clear lake’s surface became muddy and turbid. This mud rapidly gathered and transformed into a dragon’s shape which flew up and intercepted the giant stick.
At the same time, small wisps of light began appearing all around Yang Kai, like fireflies. At first, there were only a few of these wisps, but in the blink of an eye, they had covered the entire sky, like a swarm of locusts. These wisps of light then shot towards the giant stick, like maggots drawn to rotten meat.
Before Yang Kai’s eyes, the speed of the giant stick noticeably decreased.
The mud dragon rushing out of the lake hit the giant stick and was instantly scattered, but it succeeded in blunting the force of its attack in the process.
Yang Kai saw this and smiled happily.
What happened just now was obviously a result of the two Spirit Arrays, causing Yang Kai’s evaluation of the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array and Painting Earth Prison Array to rise once more along with his confidence in killing this puppet.
As long as Cai He and Du Si Si cooperated closely with him, the chances of them being able to escape this place increased greatly.
The giant stick was still crashing down towards Yang Kai, but with the hindrance of the two Spirit Arrays, he was able to dodge it without much effort. Commanding the Firebird with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai had the Artifact Spirit transform into a great blaze of fire that engulfed the puppet’s body and go all out to burn it down.
Yang Kai did not really expect the Artifact Spirit to be able to burn this puppet of course. Whatever material this puppet was refined from was impervious to fire and water, and swords and spears. Even though the Artifact Spirit had refined some of the Sun’s True Fire, its current firepower was still not enough to melt this puppet.
Yang Kai’s goal here was to use this special form of the Artifact Spirit to find the place where the Soul Wisp controlling the puppet was hiding.
The Artifact Spirit’s fire raged but the giant puppet remained completely unaffected; instead, without the Artifact Spirit to distract it anymore, it immediately began moving to target Yang Kai.
After just two steps though, the lake beneath the puppet’s body transformed into a great vortex, sucking in one of its feet, causing it to lose its balance and nearly fall over.
Yang Kai did not miss this opportunity and immediately pushed his Saint Qi violently, sending out a Heaven Covering Hand to strike the puppet’s head and further knock it off balance.
Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s two Spirit Arrays were greatly helping Yang Kai. Before, when he fought the puppet alone, he had constantly been in life threatening danger, but with the three of them cooperating now, Yang Kai no longer felt as much of a burden when fighting this statue.
As long as this situation continued, Yang Kai just needed to avoid the puppet’s attacks while using his Divine Sense in concert with the Artifact Spirit to find the hidden Soul Wisp. As long as he found it, Yang Kai could launch an all-out attack towards it and disable this puppet once and for all.
Trapped by the mirror lake vortex, the puppet was unable to move and Yang Kai’s Heaven Covering Hand accurately landed on its body with a thunderous bang. Under the force of this impact, the puppet, which was already unstable, fell directly to the ground.
Yang Kai hurriedly retreated two steps but didn’t attack again.
For him, the priority now was to keep the puppet occupied because, before finding the Soul Wisp which was driving it, any attack was meaningless.
Cai He and Du Si Si apparently knew Yang Kai’s intentions and increased the power of their Spirit Arrays, causing more eddies to appear on the lake’s surface and the wisps of light in the air to become more dense.
Restricted by the two Spirit Arrays, the puppet was unable to get up immediately and its red eyes continuously flashed with anger.
Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent as he observed the puppet, silently monitoring its condition through his Artifact Spirit while at the same time scanning it constantly with his Divine Sense.
Since there was a hidden Soul wisp inside of this puppet, it would definitely be emitting some kind of aura fluctuations, something Yang Kai could only find by relying on his Divine Sense.
Just as he was investigating the puppet though, a sudden change occurred and the entire lake suddenly became turbulent. The puppet saw that it couldn’t easily get up so it had begun waving its giant jet black stick around in a rage, smashing its surroundings aimlessly.
Such an attack wouldn’t cause any harm to Yang Kai, but when Cai He saw this, his face changed greatly.
The reason was simple, in order to maximize the power of their Spirit Arrays, the two young Array Masters had arranged their tools and equipment over a very narrow range, but now that the puppet was wantonly destroying its surroundings, once it damaged the framework of the Spirit Array, it would likely collapse entirely.
Not only that, the puppet’s wild attacks carried enormous force behind them, creating shockwaves that were affecting the Spirit Array’s stability. If the puppet was not stopped, even if none of the equipment which created the Spirit Array was damaged, it would still collapse in time.
Out of desperation, Cai He could only weaken the suppression of the Spirit Array to ensure it continued functioning. Next to him, Du Si Si was forced to make a similar choice, weakening the power she put into the Painting Earth Prison Array.
Neither of them had ever encountered such a situation and it unavoidably frustrated them.
The glowing wisps in the sky and swirling vortexes on the lake diminished in strength rapidly, and with the shackles binding it weakened, the puppet no longer waved its giant stick indiscriminately and instead got back on its feet. However, when it finally stood firm, it first stared at Yang Kai for a moment, then down at the mirror lake under his feet, revealing a thoughtful expression.
Immediately after, it opened its mouth wide and released a swarm of buzzing wasp-like creatures. Each of these wasps was only about the size of a fist, but they easily numbered in the hundreds. Gathering together in a group, these wasps circled the puppet a few times before swooping down towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank as he revealed a look of surprise.
This was the first time he saw that this puppet actually possessed such a strange ability. When he had tested its capabilities the other day, it hadn’t released these wasps.
Sweeping this swarm with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai’s face sank because he discovered that these wasps were all small puppets, each one exuding a strange aura.
Naturally, Yang Kai wasn’t about to allow these wasps to approach him, so he quickly condensed a long Demonic Flame sword in his hand and hacked towards them.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
An unexpected scene happened next. These wasps, which seemed to have extraordinary power, actually burst apart the moment Yang Kai’s sword waves struck them, as if they were frail and unable to withstand even the lightest blow. However, this only led to Yang Kai’s brow creasing even further.
Because these wasps hadn’t actually exploded as a result of his attack, rather they all self-destructed.
Each exploding wasp sent out powerful energy fluctuations while at the same time releasing a yellow mist into the air. This mist soon completely filled the surrounding space.
Yang Kai carelessly inhaled a bit of this yellow mist and immediately felt slightly dizzy. Sobering up immediately, he shouted, “It’s poison, hold your breath!”
As he shouted this warning, a jet black ball of Demonic Flame appeared in his hand and flew towards the yellow mist. Wherever this ball of Demonic Flame passed, the yellow mist was swept away. Although the yellow mist was quite toxic, it apparently was unable to resist the burning power of the Demonic Flame.
Cai He and Du Si Si breathed sighs of relief. When they heard Yang Kai shout just now, both of them had immediately tensed up, worried that the situation would spiral out of control, but after witnessing Yang Kai easily incinerate this yellow mist, they were able to relax and concentrate on operating their Spirit Arrays.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was unable to relax in the slightest as he continued to chop and slash the wasp-like puppets while burning the yellow mist released by them with his Demonic Flame.
Since this puppet had such a method, there was no way of knowing if it didn’t have stronger ones as well. Delay only invited complications, so Yang Kai secretly began feeling anxious.
The hundreds of wasp puppets were soon wiped out.
However, at that moment, Yang Kai’s complexion changed, immediately revealing a look of pleasant surprise because he received a message from the Firebird Artifact Spirit.
It had found the location of the Soul Wisp that was driving the puppet’s actions!
Just as Yang Kai expected, the hiding spot of this Soul Wisp was in the centre of the puppet’s chest. Because this Soul Wisp was constantly sending out orders to manipulate the puppet, under the constant investigation of the Artifact Spirit, it had finally revealed a trace of itself.
Light flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes as he sent out a Divine Sense command. In the next instant, the Artifact Spirit which had been wrapping the puppet in flames reverted to its Firebird form and flew up above the puppet’s head while spraying out a barrage of fireballs to attract its attention.
Simultaneously, Yang Kai focused his own attention on the puppet’s chest, took advantage of it being distracted by the Artifact Spirit, and rushed up right in front of it. Leaping up high, Yang Kai curled his fist and punched fiercely towards the puppet’s chest.
With a loud bang, Yang Kai was bounced back by a huge counter-force while the puppet’s chest remained unharmed, without even a scratch on it.
This punch was just a probe, not meant to do any real damage, so Yang Kai wasn’t surprised by this result. Narrowing his eyes, he quickly shouted, “You two, increase your Spirit Arrays to their maximum power, victory or defeat will depend on this next move!”
Hearing this, Cai He and Du Si Si no longer held back and fiercely pushed their Saint Qi to power their Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array and Painting Earth Prison Array to their limits.
In an instant, the wisps of light appeared in the sky again and the small vortexes on the mirror lake’s surface swelled in size. At the same time, a new mud dragon rushed out of lake and wrapped around the puppet’s limbs, shackling its movements.
In conjunction with the Firebird’s attack, the puppet immediately fell into disadvantage and began waving its giant jet black stick around aimlessly again.
This time however, Cai He and Du Si Si paid it no mind and only increased the suppressive force of their Spirit Arrays.
Yang Kai saw the speed of the puppet greatly slow down and a look of joy surfaced on his face. Lifting his Demonic Flame long sword, he leapt up and chopped down at the centre of the puppet’s chest once more.
Flames splashed out and Yang Kai’s sword disappeared, but still no damage was done to the puppet’s chest.
Cai He and Du Si Si witnessed this scene and couldn’t help feeling their hearts sink.
Although the two of them could use their Spirit Arrays to limit the puppet’s actions, if Yang Kai couldn’t break through the puppet’s defense, they would still fall short. The situation was already beyond their ability to control though, so they could only put all their hopes on Yang Kai and pray that he would have a way to succeed.
To their disappointment, however, Yang Kai actually created another black blade-like attack and chopped towards the puppet’s chest.
But in the next moment, both of them were startled because this blade-like attack actually left a shallow mark on the puppet’s body! Although this mark was small, it was the first real damage the trio had managed to deal to the puppet.
This naturally filled Cai He and Du Si Si with joy as they stared towards Yang Kai with looks of admiration.
Even if they hadn’t faced it directly, the two of them understood just how tough this puppet’s body was from all the previous attacks Yang Kai and the Artifact Spirit had launched against it. Even if an Origin Returning Realm master were here, they may not necessarily have a way to damage this puppet, but now it seemed Yang Kai could.
This meant that there was a chance he could cut open the puppet’s body and destroy the Soul Wisp hidden inside it!
As if they had seen the light of dawn after a dark night, their hearts filled with great anticipation for Yang Kai.
On the other hand, Yang Kai looked at that tiny mark he had made and couldn’t help frowning. Just now, he had used his Space Blade condensed from Space Force which, although appearing similar to a sword wave, worked on an entirely different principle.
Space Blade could be considered Yang Kai’s trump card, difficult to sense and capable of devouring anything it touched; however, even it was only able to cause this degree of damage to the puppet. If he wanted to cut into the puppet’s chest, he would need to hit that exact spot at least a hundred times with his Space Blade.
Could Cai He and Du Si Si hold out for that long?
It was not that Yang Kai didn’t have confidence in their abilities, it was just that this puppet was far too difficult to hold down. The giant stick it waved around randomly not only made it difficult for Yang Kai to attack it accurately, it also destabilized the two Spirit Arrays which were fettering it. If too much time passed and these two Spirit Arrays broke, Yang Kai couldn’t guarantee he could hit that spot on the puppet’s chest at all.
There was no point in worry about such things right now, so Yang Kai steeled himself and began sending out one Space Blade after another towards the mark on the puppet’s chest.
Silently, Yang Kai’s Space Blades continued to strike the puppet.
As time passed, the scar on the puppet’s chest gradually became larger, but Cai He and Du Si Si were paling much faster. The two of them were trembling as they powered their Spirit Arrays to their maximum potential, and although they continued swallowing restorative pills, they were still consuming Saint Qi far faster than they could recover it.
What made everyone more anxious though was that, after the puppet fiercely struggled for so long, the two Spirit Arrays suppressing it had become precariously unstable. Whether it was the swirling vortexes and the mud dragon produced by the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array, or the light wisps produced by the Painting Earth Prison Array, both were clearly losing strength.
As a result, the force holding down the puppet weakened significantly and the number of Yang Kai’s attacks that were able to hit their mark decreased accordingly, frustrating him greatly.
Compared with the anxiety and helplessness of the three of them, the puppet only grew fiercer by the moment. Then it waved its giant stick around so violently that even the Firebird was unable to get close to it, only able to send out streams of pure Fire Attribute Energy from a distance to attract its attention.
Inside the Ancient Ruins, in front of the round gateway, Yang Kai continuously released his Space Blades towards a certain point on the puppet chest while it was still being tied down by the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array and Painting Earth Prison Array. Suppressed like this, the puppet had no other recourse than to wildly wave its giant stick around.
As a result, even if Yang Kai often failed to hit the exact same point, after repeated strikes, a crack about palm length deep had been cut into the puppet’s chest. Unfortunately, this cut did not seem to affect the puppet in any way.
On the other hand, achieving just this had cost Yang Kai and the two young Array Masters a great deal of strength.
Cai He and Du Si Si had almost exhausted their Saint Qi to maintain the large formation, needless to say.
Yang Kai, too, was suffering from a heavy load releasing so many Space Blades in succession. Once or twice was not an issue, but as the number of Space Blades he sent out approached the thousand mark, his Knowledge Sea began drying up. If not for the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus constantly nourishing his Soul, this kind of overdraft would have already caused Yang Kai to pass out.
Even after stuffing another round of pills for restoring Spiritual Energy into his mouth, Yang Kai’s face remained as pale as paper. However, his eyes stayed fixed on the crack on the puppet’s chest as he continued sending out Space Blades.
Suddenly, a cracking noise resounded from all around him.
In the next instant, Cai He called out, “Brother Yang, we can’t hold it any longer!”
His voice was filled with an indescribable anxiety because the Spirit Arrays restraining the puppet were on the verge collapsing. Once these Spirit Arrays failed and the puppet regained its full speed, the trio’s actions this time would very likely end in failure.
Although they would still have a chance to escape even if that happened, given the puppet’s monstrous speed, whether he or Du Si Si would be able to escape its deadly wrath was highly uncertain.
Moreover, after investing so much effort and time into this plan, Cai He was naturally unwilling to fall short now.
Just as his words ended though, a louder crack rang out and in an instant, the countless glowing wisps of light which had filled the air around the puppet vanished, as if they had never even existed.
Beside Cai He, Du Si Si’s pretty face sank as she stared at the array control device in her hand. This Spirit Array had been given to her by the Elders of her family. Yet now, it had broken completely and could no longer be used.
The Painting Earth Prison Array she had arranged had failed before Cai He’s Spirit Array! This caused Du Si Si to feel both distressed and frustrated.
Without the assistance of the Painting Earth Prison Array, the vortexes and mud dragons generated on the mirror lake couldn’t restrict the puppet’s movements anymore and the puppet’s strength erupted in the blink of an eye, allowing it to rid itself of the several mud dragons’ entanglement. Finally freeing itself from the swirling vortexes, the puppet’s red glowing eyes fixed on the dazed Du Si Si. Seeing this, Yang Kai swiftly touched his Space Ring, summoning out a scroll-like artifact.
Pouring his Saint Qi madly into this scroll, illusionary mountain peaks flew out of it one after another.
Hundred Mountains Picture! Yang Kai’s only offensive artifact. Because in combat, Yang Kai was more inclined to believe in his own personal strength than the external power of artifacts, he rarely used offensive artifacts. It was only because of its unusual abilities that he had even bothered refining this Hundred Mountains Picture.
The entire time he had fought with the puppet, Yang Kai had not summoned the Hundred Mountains Picture, but now he had taken it out.
Suddenly, the air was filled with large and small peaks, with Yang Kai ignoring the stability of the artifact to forcibly summon almost forty of them all at once.
This was the absolute limit he could achieve currently.
As soon as these phantom peaks appeared, they flew towards the puppet, but by waving its giant stick around, the puppet managed to knock back all the mountains, not allowing a single one to get close.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed sternly as he sent out a command with his Divine Sense, moving all of the phantom peaks that had been blown away back again, but this time, instead of pounding towards the puppet, they formed a ring around it, sealing off all its escape routes.
“Explode!” Yang Kai grit his teeth and shouted.
As soon as he shouted this, all the large and small phantom peaks gave off a shocking energy fluctuation and released a dazzling flash of light brighter than the noon sun, causing Cai He and Du Si Si to be unable to look at it directly.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
A terrifying energy wave blasted out, as if the entire world was shaking apart. Fierce winds erupted and violently swept up Cai He and Du Si Si, hurling them off into the distance while at the same time blasting away all the Spirit Array equipment which had been hidden in the surroundings.
After this pulse of energy subsided, a tattered scroll-like artifact fell from the sky. Obviously, it was the Hundred Mountains Picture Yang Kai had just summoned.
But at this moment, the Hundred Mountains Picture had lost all spirituality and the pictures of mountains drawn on it had all disappeared. Before this scroll even hit the ground, it was reduced to dust.
The artifact had self-destructed!
Not every artifact had this kind of ability, but the Hundred Mountains Picture that Yang Kai obtained happened to be one of the ones who did by chance. The Hundred Mountains Picture had helped Yang Kai a lot since he acquired it and its grade was also quite good, at the upper end of the Low-Rank Origin Grade; however, in order to restrict the puppet’s movements, Yang Kai had no choice but to sacrifice this artifact. If he had not exploded the Hundred Mountains Picture just now, Du Si Si, who had been shocked stiff, would definitely have died.
When Yang Kai looked back at the puppet, he was stunned for a moment but quickly became overjoyed.
The puppet had been knocked to the ground by the Hundred Mountains Picture’s self-destruction and currently seemed to be disabled as it was no longer moving. At the same time, from the location of the crack on its chest, a strange red light was flickering.
The power of an Origin Grade artifact’s self-destruction was obviously extraordinary.
Steeling himself, Yang Kai immediately rushed forward and, in the blink of an eye, arrived beside the puppet. Leaping up, Yang Kai landed directly above the puppet’s chest and took aim at the crack he had opened, sending out one Space Blade after another.
At such a close distance, the puppet was unable to resist or dodge at all, allowing Yang Kai’s Space Blades to precisely hit their target, causing the crack to deepen at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A look of joy flashed across Yang Kai’s face as he felt that as long as he was given a bit more time, he could definitely pierce the puppet’s chest.
Yang Kai did not relax his vigilance though while wielding his Space Blades and continuously monitored the puppet’s movements. After twenty breaths, the puppet’s eyes suddenly flickered and a crimson light like that of an enraged beast burst flashed across them.
Yang Kai instinctually felt this danger, causing his hair to stand on end as he noticed a fierce wind approaching his head. Unwilling to give up now though, Yang Kai condensed a Space Blade onto his fist and punched down with all his might towards the crack.
Yang Kai’s fist and Space Blade hit the crack at almost the same time.
*Kacha…*
Hearing a cracking sound, Yang Kai’s eyes lit up as he sent a Divine Sense command to the Firebird Artifact Spirit.
The Firebird cried out sharply as it swooped down and rushed straight towards the open crack. At the same time though, the puppet’s giant hand, which seemed to cover the entire sky, swatted at Yang Kai.
Looking at this terrifying horrible palm, Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent as he did not even try to dodge. It was not that he didn’t want to evade, but that he no longer possessed the strength to even move. Currently, Yang Kai felt as if his head was splitting apart. Using his Space Blade so many times had put an incredible strain on his Divine Sense, so even his vision had gone blurry at this point.
However, there was no need for Yang Kai to avoid this blow.
In that instant, the Firebird Artifact Spirit rushed into the puppet’s body through the crack Yang Kai had desperately opened and immediately began incinerating its insides.
Red lights appeared all over the body of the puppet, like tiny snakes wandering about its surface, but soon these red lights disappeared and the giant palm came to a stop mid-air.
A crisp bird cry came out as the Artifact Spirit rushed out of the puppet and circled Yang Kai’s head before landing on his shoulder.
The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth twitched as a heavy look of fatigue appeared on his face before he fell to the ground and landed flat on his back.
On the other side, Cai He and Du Si Si, who had been caught up in the explosion of the Hundred Mountains Picture were a bit disheveled but had not suffered much damage. Struggling to their feet, the two of them saw that the puppet had frozen in place and exchanged a confused gaze, not knowing what was going on.
After releasing their Divine Senses to probe the situation, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. Although they did not know what Yang Kai had done, his life aura was still there which meant he was alive, and since that was the case, the puppet had definitely been defeated.
Apart from their excitement, both also felt some lingering fear.
Although they knew they were not a match for this puppet which was capable of instantly killing an Origin Returning Realm master, they had apparently still underestimated its toughness. Fortunately, Yang Kai’s strange attack had worked on it and, with their cooperation, they slowly but surely managed to grind away the puppet’s defenses and ultimately defeat it.
After experiencing this great battle, neither Cai He nor Du Si Si had any energy to talk any more. Cai He only yelled out to Yang Kai once to confirm he was alright, and after receiving a positive reply, the three of them fell silent and adjusted their breathing.
Half a day later, Yang Kai was the first to get up. He had consumed much of his strength, but as a high-grade Alchemist, he had countless restorative pills in his Space Ring. Coupled with his Golden Blood’s powerful restorative abilities, Yang Kai naturally recovered faster than the two Array Masters.
After glancing over and seeing the two Array Masters were still meditating, Yang Kai did not disturb them and instead jumped back onto the giant puppet’s body while stroking his chin.
This puppet was clearly not ordinary. Even the Lian Family could not possibly create such a monstrosity. In a direct confrontation, even a master like Fei Zhi Tu probably would not be this thing’s opponent.
Three Saint King Realm Juniors being able to bring this puppet down this time was mainly thanks to the two Spirit Arrays they arranged beforehand. Without the assistance of these two Spirit Arrays, Yang Kai would have had a difficult time just protecting himself, while destroying this puppet would have been impossible.
Aside from the crack on his chest, this puppet’s body was still completely unscathed.
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense, wrapped up this puppet, and attempted to store it into his Space Ring; however, when he attempted this, the puppet did not even budge. This surprised Yang Kai greatly.
It was not that his Divine Sense wasn’t strong enough, but rather that the puppet itself was too heavy to fit into his Space Ring.
Space Rings weren’t able to store everything without limit. If an item was too big or too heavy and exceeded the capacity of a Space Ring, it could not be stored inside one. There were also some special treasures, such as the Sun’s True Essence Yang Kai and Yang Yan took from the Corpse Cave that could not be stored either.
The Sun’s True Essence couldn’t be placed into a Space Ring because the heat it gave off far exceeded what a Space Ring could withstand. Once one tried, the Space Ring would be destroyed.
That was why Yang Yan spent a great deal of time and effort to refine a special storage ring for it.
Strictly speaking, the puppet in front of Yang Kai wasn’t too great in size, but since it couldn’t be put into a Space Ring, the only explanation was that it weighed far more than Yang Kai estimated.
Realizing this, a trace of surprise flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes.
Just when he was thinking about what to do next, Cai He and Du Si Si came over from where they had been meditating. Now that the battle was over, it was time to divide up the spoils. Everyone had seen how extraordinary this puppet was, so the Array Masters naturally didn’t want Yang Kai to reap all the benefits by himself and hastily ended their meditation to meet up with him.
“Brother Yang, this puppet is probably a work from ancient times and is of incredibly great value,” Cai He chuckled, his words carrying thinly veiled hidden meaning.
“En, if we can figure out how to operate it, it would become a massive boon,” Du Si Si’s beautiful eyes flashed with excitement.
Yang Kai stroked his chin as he looked at these two, not exposing their inner thoughts as he smiled and said lightly, “Are the two of you interested in it?”
Cai He laughed awkwardly while Du Si Si just bluntly stated, “Of course. Who would want to miss such a good thing? Even if it’s impossible to figure out how to operate it directly, studying it should still yield some information on how puppetry in ancient times worked. Others might not care, but I think Lian Guang would be incredibly interested in it.”
What she said held some truth. Such a puppet, regardless of its own value, had incredible worth as research material. If the Lian Family, known for their puppet techniques, heard about this thing, they would definitely go all out to acquire it.
“En,” Yang Kai gently nodded. Although Du Si Si had the demeanor of an arrogant young lady, after the three of them joined forces in a life or death battle, Yang Kai’s opinion of her had improved somewhat. Pondering for a moment, he followed up, “All three of us made great efforts in this battle, but there is only one puppet, how should we allocate it?”
Cai He and Du Si Si looked at each other awkwardly, unable to immediately come up with any good ideas.
Seeing these two act like this, Yang Kai chuckled lightly and proposed, “Good, I’m not that interested in this puppet so I don’t mind giving it up. In exchange, I want that giant jet black stick. The two of you can discuss who this puppet will go to; of course there is also the Space Ring that dead Senior left behind to allocate.”
After the old woman was crushed to death, her Space Ring had fallen at the feet of the puppet. Yang Kai had never had a chance to pick it up but now that actually came in handy as, together with the puppet and giant stick, there were three treasures to divide among the three of them.
No one knew the complete content of her Space Ring, but what was certain was there was a bottle of the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream in it.
“You want that stick?” Du Si Si glanced at the giant jet black stick and a trace of reluctance flashed across her beautiful eyes. To tell the truth, she also saw that the value of this giant stick was not under the puppet itself, so simply handing it over to Yang Kai was something she hesitated over. However, when she thought about what was inside the old woman’s Space Ring, her reluctance dissipated somewhat.
Cai He saw all this and quickly cut in, “Good, Brother Yang was also the main contributor in this battle, risking his life several times, so this Cai has no objections.”
With him saying so, what else could Du Si Si do?
Yang Kai nodded in thanks before walking over to the giant jet black stick. After thinking about it for a moment, he reached out his hand, placed it on the stick, then poured his Divine Sense into it to carefully examine it.
A short time later, Yang Kai’s expression changed and he poured a large amount of his Saint Qi into the giant jet black stick.
An incredible scene happened next. As Yang Kai infused his Saint Qi into it, the giant stick with a length of a couple dozen metres and a thickness greater than a man’s height actually rapidly shrank and became only a metre or so long in the blink of an eye.
Cai He and Du Si Si, who were negotiating over the puppet’s and Space Ring’s distribution, saw this and couldn’t help gawking for a moment.
Yang Kai nodded in affirmation when he saw this. The first time he saw the puppet, there was no sign of this giant stick at all, but after it crushed the old woman, it had suddenly appeared in its hand. At that time, Yang Kai wondered if this giant stick could freely change its size, and after trying it just now, he was able to confirm his guess.
Reaching out to pick up this black stick, Yang Kai’s face suddenly froze before revealing a look of pleasant surprise.
He found that he was unable to lift this stick at all, making him more certain that his decision to take it as his spoils of war was right. Whatever materials this stick was refined from were certainly incredible.
The puppet had been destroyed, and with the techniques and knowledge of Shadowed Star, it was impossible to repair it, so it was essentially useless. At most it could be exchanged for some Saint Crystals or treasures with the Lian Family. As for the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream in the old woman’s Space Ring… there was a good chance it was just a diluted byproduct. Yang Kai was almost certain that there was purer Life Revitalizing Jade Cream somewhere in that rockery.
Rejoicing in his heart, Yang Kai’s face remained indifferent as he used his Saint Qi and Divine Sense to wrap up this stick and move it into the special ring Yang Yan had refined for him.
This ring was even capable of storing the Sun’s True Essence and Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal, so it naturally had no trouble storing this strange stick.
While Yang Kai finished putting away the stick, Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s negotiations also concluded. Cai He walked over to the place where the puppet originally stood and picked up the old woman’s Space Ring while Du Si Si took out a bracelet-like artifact and tossed it up as her pretty face flashed a look of joy. Mid-air, the bracelet rapidly expanded until it completely encircled the fallen puppet. Silk like threads of energy then began shooting out from the giant bracelet.
These energy filaments swiftly wrapped around the puppet, soon making it look like a giant dumpling, at which point Du Si Si shouted, “Seal!”
The countless silk threads instantly began pulling the huge puppet into the bracelet and it had been completely secured in less than ten breaths. The strange storage bracelet then shrank back down and flew back over to Du Si Si’s wrist.
Everyone was happy with the gains they made.
Yang Kai also had no plans of eating everything up on his own. This time, Cai He and Du Si Si limiting the puppet’s ability to move really helped him a lot, so naturally Yang Kai wasn’t going to destroy the bridge after he crossed it.
As for which one of the three had gotten the best deal out of this, only the Heavens knew. In any case, after Cai He searched the old woman’s Space Ring, his face filled with joy, so obviously he was very satisfied with the result.
“Brother Yang, what should we do next?” It seemed that because of the previous battle, Cai He was now unconsciously treating Yang Kai as their group’s leader.
Hearing this, Du Si Si also turned her head and looked over.
Yang Kai pondered for a while before grinning, “Waiting here isn’t really an option, and since there’s only one exit, we have no choice but to go through it. What’s on the other side of this gateway, or what dangers we might face, are impossible to tell, but since this puppet was guarding it so tightly, there must be something good…”
Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s eyes both shined.
Yang Kai however quickly became solemn as he warned, “But where there are good things, there is definitely danger, so the two of you should prepare yourselves.”
“Naturally. So Brother Yang’s intentions are to continue exploring this place?”
“Yeah. No matter what, we need to find a way to leave these Ancient Ruins, at least.”
Regarding Yang Kai’s decision, the two Array Masters naturally had no objections so the three of them rested a while to completely restore themselves before Yang Kai took the lead and passed through the round gateway.
Through the gateway, Yang Kai suddenly found himself in front of a straight corridor.
After sweeping the area with his Divine Sense and confirming that there were no immediate dangers, Yang Kai began walking forward while maintaining a high level of vigilance.
The corridor wasn’t too long, only about a thousand metres in total, so it wasn’t long before the trio crossed it and arrived at another hall.
As soon as he entered this hall, Yang Kai’s eyes shrank as he looked towards the centre spot with clear surprise on his face and called out, “Elder Qian?”
Cai He and Du Si Si heard Yang Kai call out like this and couldn’t help smiling and quickly catching up with him. However, when they looked over in the direction Yang Kai was staring, bitter smiles filled their faces.
Over there, Qian Tong sat cross-legged, wearing an equally bitter smile as he stared back towards them.
Sitting beside Qian Tong was another middle-aged man who was a Second-Order Saint King. This man’s face was somewhat pale, clearly indicating that he had been injured. Yang Kai quickly judged that this person was the Artifact Refiner who followed Qian Tong to this place.
Fei Zhi Tu had said that Qian Tong hadn’t come here alone but had brought a Saint King Grade Artifact Refiner with him, hoping that through this exploration, this middle-aged man would be able to become an Origin Grade Artifact Refiner to replace Grand Master Ge Lin who recently died.
Next to Elder Qian and this middle-aged man was a Stone Tablet. This Stone Tablet was densely engraved with countless tiny characters. Even from a fair distance away, Yang Kai was able to identify these characters as the same unrecognizable ancient text they had come across multiple times since entering these Ancient Ruins. However, unlike all the other writing they had encountered, the characters on this Stone Tablet had a strange charm to them, almost as if one would gain some kind of enlightenment if they diligently studied them.
Most importantly though, around Qian Tong were a dozen or so puppets. Some of these puppets had humanoid appearances while others resembled Monster Beasts, but every one of them was radiating a thick malicious intent. Each of these puppets was clearly not affable and were currently eyeing Qian Tong and that Saint King Grade Artifact Refiner covetously; however, they currently showed no intention to attack and were simply surrounding them for now.
After probing these puppets lightly, Yang Kai felt the urge to curse.
Even if these dozen puppets weren’t as powerful as the giant one they had encountered before, the difference wasn’t great. It made sense that Qian Tong could only sit in place, not daring to act rashly; if he did, these dozen puppets would quickly tear him and the middle-aged Artifact Refiner to pieces.
“How did you get here?” Qian Tong’s voice was a little weak, but it didn’t seem he was in any kind of life threatening danger. Looking at Yang Kai and the other two young Array Masters though, clear surprise filled Qian Tong’s face.
“Elder Qian, these puppets…” Yang Kai didn’t answer immediately, instead concentrating solely on the dozen puppets.
“Don’t worry, they seem to only care about protecting this place. As long as you don’t come any closer, they won’t attack. As for this old master… en, with this Stone Tablet as a deterrent, they don’t dare to come close, so we won’t die any time soon.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s taut expression loosened. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he began explaining how Fei Zhi Tu had recruited them to launch this rescue operation.
Hearing that Yang Kai and the other two beside him had been invited by Fei Zhi Tu to help rescue him, Qian Tong expressed his sincere gratitude. The three Saint King Realm Juniors naturally replied humbly. After hearing that they had been scattered when passing through the black and white Space Array Gate, then had watched the old woman die a tragic death at the hand of the giant humanoid puppet, Qian Tong’s expression became gloomy as he seemingly blamed himself.
A short time later, after Yang Kai finished narrating his group’s story, Qian Tong frowned and asked, “So you don’t know where Old Fei and his group are now, correct?”
Yang Kai and the others shook their heads slowly.
Qian Tong laughed bitterly, “This time, this old master has wrongly implicated all of you. This place is a dead end; even if you return the way you came, I’m afraid you won’t be able to find a way back.”
“Then what should we do?” Du Si Si asked anxiously.
“There are only two options!” Qian Tong sighed heavily.
“What options?”
“Do you see the Space Array over there?” Qian Tong pointed his finger towards a certain direction. Following his finger, Yang Kai, Cai He, and Du Si Si saw an intact Space Array at the opposite end of the hall.
“That Space Array should lead to the outside world, so if you are confident in slipping past these puppets, you can try to escape through it; however, this old master doesn’t recommend trying this. Most of the puppets here are somewhat avoidable, but that wolf-shaped one’s speed is quite frightening. Even this old master isn’t certain he can outrun it.”
Yang Kai and the two Array Masters had already fought one of these puppets before so how could they have any thoughts of challenging another casually? Even if these puppets were not as overwhelming as the previous one, just the number of them in this place was enough to cause Yang Kai’s blood to run cold.
What’s more, although the Space Array was intact, it would still take some time to activate. That slight delay would be more than enough time for these puppets to swarm them.
Facing such a dire situation, how could they act rashly?
“Other than that, the only option is to wait. When Old Fei arrives, we can try to find a way out of this mess together,” Qian Tong saw the look of helplessness and despair on Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s face and couldn’t help comforting, “Rest assured, if the situation becomes dire, this old master will find a way to delay these evil creatures long enough for you all to escape.”
“No!” Cai He panicked and hurriedly objected, “Elder Qian must not! Shadow Moon Hall’s internal strife continues to escalate even now, so Elder Qian must return to help the Sect Master overcome the situation. If Elder Qian were to fall here because of us, then we three would forever be dishonoured. We cannot afford such disrepute.”
Du Si Si nodded firmly in agreement.
Qian Tong chuckled heartily as he shook his head, “It was only a method of last resort. Don’t worry, unless there is truly no other way, this old master won’t do such a thing, I also want to live a few more years.”
Only when he heard this did Cai He feel relieved.
With no way back and the way forward blocked, the three newly arrived Saint King Realm Juniors could only sit down cross-legged to meditate while sometimes chatting with Qian Tong to pass the time.
After chatting for a while, Yang Kai learned that the Stone Tablet was actually engraved with an ingenious Artifact Refining technique, and although no one could understand these ancient characters, if an Artifact Refiner simply meditated nearby and studied it, their comprehension of Artifact Refining would gradually increase.
This middle-aged man had gained a certain understanding of this profound technique now and had begun personally refining an Origin Grade artifact. Once this artifact was completely refined, he would become the next Origin Grade Artifact Refining Grandmaster of Shadow Moon Hall.
With the assistance of this person, together with Qian Tong’s methods and prestige, Shadow Moon Hall’s internal strife could be settled once more.
Time passed by as everyone grew somewhat anxious, all of them wondering what had happened to Fei Zhi Tu and the others as no trace of them had been seen for half a month.
After half a month of rest and recuperation, all the injuries Yang Kai and the two young Array Masters suffered in their battle with the giant puppet completely healed.
On this day, as Yang Kai was sitting in meditation, he suddenly noticed a strange energy fluctuation around him and immediately opened his eyes in surprise.
At the same time, Qian Tong also noticed this anomaly and released his Divine Sense to investigate.
Cai He and Du Si Si on the other hand failed to notice anything.
However, a moment later, both wore terrified looks because the hall they were sitting in suddenly began shaking violently, with dust and debris falling from the ceiling, as if the entire Ancient Ruin had become unstable.
“This is…” Qian Tong’s eyes widened, as if he had discovered something.
Yang Kai was also shocked. He did not know what Qian Tong had discovered, but he had clearly felt that this Ancient Ruin was now being flooded with pulsing Space Force.
Yang Kai had cultivated this strength, so he was very clear about its unique fluctuations.
A violent rumbling filled the air and everything around began heaving and shaking, as if the end of the world was approaching. The middle-aged man next to Qian Tong as well as Cai He and Du Si Si all began looking around in panic.
The dozen or so puppets that had been surrounding Qian Tong also experienced a change at this moment, all their red eyes flashing warily as they slowly retreated in fear.
This change had happened too fast, and before Yang Kai could investigate properly, the surrounding space filled with a kind of irresistible repulsive force, wrapping everyone’s body and making it difficult for them to even breathe.
But Yang Kai was not frightened by this and instead wore a happy look because he had experienced this feeling once before.
The current situation was exactly the same as the one he experienced when the Flowing Flame Sand Field was closed a few years ago!
[Could it be…]
Just as this thought crossed Yang Kai’s mind, the surrounding World Energy began condensing at a speed visible to the naked eye and a moment later a burst of radiant light filled the hall. After the flash high up in the air passed, the World Energy that caused it transformed into a giant hand.
Seeing this, Yang Kai brow lifted as his face filled with joy.
This hand formed from World Energy looked incredibly familiar and was no doubt the same female jade white hand that had appeared in the Flame Sand Field at that time.
However, this jade white hand was several times larger than the one from back then. At that time, this jade hand had wanted to expel Yang Kai from the Flowing Flame Sand Field but was blocked by the Star Emperor Token he had obtained by chance, allowing Yang Kai to remain inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field for six months after it had closed.
Having previously experienced this matter, Yang Kai naturally calmed down.
The jade hand soon reached down from above and grabbed hold of Yang Kai, squeezing him tightly.
During this process, Yang Kai did not attempt to resist at all. Glancing over and seeing Cai He and Du Si Si’s desperate expressions as they fiercely pushed their Saint Qi, apparently wanting to struggle, Yang Kai quickly comforted them, “Don’t panic, this will let us escape from this place.”
Just as he finished saying this, the jade hand holding him exploded into particles of light and Yang Kai felt a violent repulsion from the space around him. In a flash of light, Yang Kai’s figure disappeared from where he was standing.
After receiving Yang Kai’s reassurance, Cai He and Du Si Si both froze for a moment, allowing two jade hands to grab hold of them as well. After these two jade hands burst, they also vanished.
This scene also happened to Qian Tong and the middle-aged Artifact Refiner, as well as a gloomy-faced Fei Zhi Tu somewhere else inside the Ancient Ruins.
In the blink of an eye, no living person remained inside the Ancient Ruins.
Somewhere ten thousand kilometres outside Fallen Emperor Mountain, a figure strangely appeared, and after trembling and staggering slightly, the figure stood firm. It was Yang Kai, who was sent out of the Ancient Ruins by its unique World Principles.
At almost the same time as he appeared, several other silhouettes appeared around him one after another.
Everyone looked around and after seeing each other’s faces, Cai He shouted with joy, “Senior Fei, Senior Ning!”
Fei Zhi Tu’s eyes widened as he showed a happy look, “You also managed to come out?”
“En, I don’t know what happened, but we were suddenly teleported out of the Ancient Ruins and came here. What about Senior Wen?” Cai He suddenly discovered that the cultivator surnamed Wen was missing.
Fei Zhi Tu and Ning Xiang Chen both sighed deeply as their faces darkened.
Seeing this, the others immediately understood that the cultivator surnamed Wen had died in the Ancient Ruins.
“My old friend…” Ning Xiang Chen was also surprised when he found no trace of the old woman.
Cai He smiled bitterly, “That Senior also fell.”
Ning Xiang Chen was dumbfounded for a moment before he let out a sigh and smiled bitterly, “It was her fate!”
During this Ancient Ruins’ exploration, two Origin Returning Realm masters had died but all four Saint King Realm Juniors had managed to return safely, including Lian Guang who appeared unharmed; however, after spending these days suffering greatly together with Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters, his expression was now quite haggard.
“Old Ghost Qian, you’re not dead, seems your luck is as good as ever,” Fei Zhi Tu looked at Qian Tong and coldly snorted.
Qian Tong didn’t retort as his eyes filled with the light of remorse. Seeing this, Fei Zhi Tu, no longer made any sarcastic remarks.
Yang Kai and his group had been sitting in that hall all this time without moving, so naturally it was not anything they did that allowed them to leave the Ancient Ruins this time. As such, it only made sense that Fei Zhi Tu and his group had triggered something which caused the entire Ancient Ruins to expel them.
Although only Yang Kai had entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field among the people here, all of them had naturally heard some information about it, including the appearance of the jade white hand condensed from World Energy that sent everyone out.
The situation just now was exactly the same as when the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, so was there some kind of connection between the two? Not only was Yang Kai’s brow furrowed, the Origin Returning Realm masters also sank deep into thought. Of the people here, it seemed only Cai He, Du Si Si, and Lian Guang did not understand what was going on.
Just as Qian Tong opened his mouth to say something though, a sudden rumbling sound came from afar.
Suddenly, everyone’s footing became unsteady and their faces changed greatly as they stared in shock towards the source of the sound.
“It’s coming from Fallen Emperor Mountain?” Du Si Si muttered.
The direction of the sound was indeed from Fallen Emperor Mountain, and even though they were already ten thousand kilometres away, everyone could vaguely see traces of the mountain range and hear it rumbling, as if some great change had suddenly occurred.
One could only imagine how violent the movement over there was to produce such a violent sound.
And just now, all of them had been sent out of the Ancient Ruins, so could this sudden development be related somehow?
As everyone stared curiously, Fallen Emperor Mountain, which was ten thousand kilometres away, suddenly underwent another astonishing change as all the World Energy within tens of thousands of kilometres rapidly began flooding towards it.
The cultivators who were cultivating on Fallen Emperor Mountain all suddenly wore horrified looks as they hurriedly used their movement skills to try to escape to the periphery, but clearly, they acted a bit too late. Just as these people began to flee, an incredible Emperor Pressure suddenly descended upon them, one just as strong as at Fallen Emperor Mountain’s most central region.
Under this omnipresent Emperor Pressure, everyone could not help feeling like a majestic pair of eyes was looking down at them.
Under the gaze of these eyes, everyone felt as tiny as an ant and their movements stiffened to the point where even moving a finger was difficult.
Fortunately, this Emperor Pressure disappeared as quickly as it came, but when the cultivators who regained their freedom wanted to continue escaping, they were shocked to discover that all the World Energy within a hundred thousand kilometre radius had gathered around them in what appeared to be colourful bubbles visible to the naked eye.
Inside each of these bubbles was an astonishing amount of energy, enough to cause anyone who saw them to tremble.
A violent rumbling suddenly came from down below and the earth began cracking in a giant web-like pattern. Many cultivators fell into these cracks and were ruthlessly crushed to death by some strange power without even a chance to fight back.
In just a dozen breaths, most of the cultivators who were cultivating on Fallen Emperor Mountain died or were seriously injured as wails echoed through the air.
Only those cultivators whose strength was not very high and had already been in the mountain range’s periphery had luckily escaped.
Ten thousand kilometres away, Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong both stared forward with pale complexions. Despite being so far away and being unable to see the situation clearly, they were able to feel the powerful energy fluctuations coming from Fallen Emperor Mountain. Exchanging a glance, these two masters could clearly see the doubt and panic in each other’s eyes.
Before Qian Tong was even able to ask Fei Zhi Tu and his group what they had experienced, Fallen Emperor Mountain had undergone such a violent change. A moment later though, all these strange occurrences suddenly subsided and the rumbling sound swiftly vanished; however, an incredibly dangerous aura still filled the air.
It was like the calm before the storm, only increasing everyone’s anxiety.
World Energy was still flowing towards the centre of Fallen Emperor Mountain and even seemed to be increasing in speed now.
A moment later, a dazzling light burst from somewhere in Fallen Emperor Mountain, like a great thunderbolt across the clear sky, rendering all unable to look at it directly.
A Heaven-destroying-Earth-shattering aura filled the air, causing everyone to go pale.
When the light faded, the crowd looked over and could not help being stunned.
In the sky above Fallen Emperor Mountain, a palace-like building had suddenly appeared. This palace was simple in design but gave off an ancient aura as gold and silver runes flickered and flowed across its surface.
At the moment, this palace was flying up into the sky, not seeming to move that fast, but a terrifying Emperor Pressure that covered all Shadowed Star radiated from it.
“This is…” Ning Xiang Chen stared blankly at this palace and, as he suddenly seemed to remember something, his face changed drastically, a complex expression of surprise, excitement, and anxiety filled his face.
“Emperor Garden!” Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong exclaimed at the same time.
The few Saint King Realm Juniors who heard this all could not help showing looks of shock as their eyes lit up.
Yang Kai was no exception as he had long ago heard of the Three Great Forbidden Zones on Shadowed Star.
One was the Flowing Flame Sand Field that he had been to, its dangers needing no further explanation. More than ten thousand elite disciples from all the great Sects on Shadowed Star had entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field but more than half fell inside, and that was while the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s Flame Area had been dramatically weakened.
The Flowing Flame Sand Field’s opening always had such a survival rate.
The second Forbidden zone was the Emperor Garden which Fei Zhi Tu and the others had just labelled this floating palace.
According to rumours, this was the Starry Sky Great Emperor’s personal palace! This alone was enough to awe others.
As for the third one, it was Shadowed Soul Island, which existed somewhere on Shadowed Star’s Limitless Ocean!
The first Forbidden Zone was constantly present on Shadowed Star and would open once every few hundred years. Every great force on Shadowed Star was incredibly familiar with it, and every time it opened they would reap great benefits.
The second Forbidden Zone, the Emperor Garden, had never been entered by anyone and would only occasionally appear before disappearing soon after. Most cultivators on Shadowed Star had only heard of the existence of the Emperor Garden. While over tens of thousands of years a few people had seen it for themselves, it had always been in an illusionary state and no records of anyone ever having set foot into it existed.
As for the third, Shadowed Soul Island, it was a complete mystery. It was rumoured that anyone who entered Shadowed Soul Island perished, making it much more mysterious than the Emperor Garden.
At this moment, hearing Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong actually shout the words ‘Emperor Garden’, how could Yang Kai not be shocked? Quickly composing himself though, he asked respectfully, “Two Seniors, is this the rumoured Starry Sky Great Emperor’s personal palace?”
Fei Zhi Tu’s eyes flashed as he continued staring at the floating palace, gently nodding his head as he replied, “It should be. Although this City Lord has never seen it personally, it matches the records in the Sect’s ancient books exactly, but…”
“But what?” The several Saint King Realm Juniors stared at him.
“It’s slightly different from the descriptions,” Qian Tong frowned.
“Different how?”
Qian Tong pondered for a while before saying slowly, “I suppose there’s no harm in telling you. Since the Emperor Garden has appeared now, even if this old master does not say anything, this information will certainly spread out quickly and reach you. You should have heard some rumours about the Emperor Garden saying that it appears mysteriously and then disappears soon after. More than a thousand years ago, a Senior of my Shadow Moon Hall had the honour of witnessing the advent of the Emperor Garden and left records of it in the Sect’s archives. At that time, the Emperor Garden appeared silently and then disappeared silently, not alarming many people, but this time… I’m afraid at least half of the Shadowed Star’s population can see it.”
Saying this, Qian Tong showed a slightly bitter smile.
“Not only that, the Emperor Garden has always had an illusory appearance like a mirage, visible to the naked eye, but immaterial and ethereal, yet this time…” Fei Zhi Tu’s brow furrowed deeply as clear worry appeared on his face.
There was no need for him to explain further as everyone here could clearly see that the Emperor Garden in front of them was nothing like a mirage. Its image was so vivid it made one believe they could fly up and enter it.
“Was the Ancient Ruin we entered before actually the Emperor Garden?” Yang Kai’s expression flashed as he wondered out loud.
Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu didn’t reply, but judging from their complexions, they clearly agreed with Yang Kai’s conjecture. After all, moments after they had been expelled from Fallen Emperor Mountain, the Emperor Garden had slowly risen above Fallen Emperor Mountain. There must be some connection between the two events.
If the Ancient Ruins they were exploring just now were really the Emperor Garden, then it would easily explain why so many long-lost herbs and treasures had appeared. The Emperor Garden’s name was so renowned that it would be strange if there were not many good things inside it.
Thinking that they had entered the Emperor Garden and managed to leave alive, Cai He, Du Si Si, and the others could not help trembling.
Now though, since the Emperor Garden had appeared, they may have a chance to enter it once more.
As Yang Kai’s group conversed, the Emperor Garden continued flying upwards, but the strange thing was that no matter how high or how far it flew, they could all still see it clearly and it did not seem to shrink in size at all. The only thing that changed was the Emperor Pressure surrounding it slowly weakened.
“When the Emperor Garden appears, the Star Field will be thrown into chaos. The ancient books recorded this, but whether it is true or false remains to be seen!” Fei Zhi Tu murmured softly.
“No matter the case, Old Fei, you and I should go investigate it first. If the Emperor Garden has truly manifested this time, it may not be a good thing for us!” Qian Tong said with a worried look on his face.
“Yeah, even if you didn’t propose this, this City Lord would have,” Fei Zhi Tu nodded.
With the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters reaching an agreement, Qian Tong immediately urged the juniors to return to Heavenly Fate City as soon as possible and not involve themselves in this matter. Then, Qian Tong spoke a few words to Ning Xiang Chen, asking him to look after the Juniors before he and Fei Zhi Tu flew off in the direction of the Emperor Garden.
After they left, Ning Xiang Chen stood on the spot, his face sullen for a while before he eventually let out a sigh and said, “Let’s go back.”
He also wanted to visit the Emperor Garden, but after thinking of the Emperor Pressure being emitted from it, he had no choice but to give up such thoughts; after all, his strength was lower than Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu. Before he even got close to the Emperor Garden, he might be ground to dust by the Emperor Pressure.
Accepting this reality, he flew off together with the four Saint Kings and the middle-aged Artifact Refiner towards Heavenly Fate City.
On the way, Yang Kai could not help glancing back at the Emperor Garden suspiciously. The more he looked, the more puzzled his expression became.
He had seen a flying palace before, namely Meng Wu Ya’s Heavenly Palace artifact. It may be that this Emperor Garden was also a kind of artifact, but it was innumerable times higher grade than Meng Wu Ya’s Heavenly Palace.
On top of that, the owner of this artifact was definitely the Starry Sky Great Emperor as the Emperor Pressure emanating from it was impossible to fake.
Yang Kai was not puzzled about this, however, but rather because he felt that this Emperor Garden seemed to be missing something. But this was just a feeling and he was unable to tell what was missing.
Yang Kai quickly set aside this idea, not bothering to think about it any further; after all, this was related to the Emperor Garden, so even if he was curious, there really was no one he could ask to learn more.
On the way back, Cai He and Du Si Si asked Ning Xiang Chen some questions and soon learned that after the two groups had separated, Fei Zhi Tu’s group had repeatedly fought with a number of puppets, causing them a great deal of suffering and even resulting in the man surnamed Wen dying a tragic death.
Hearing all this, Du Si Si shot a grateful look towards Cai He.
If not for Cai He’s foresight, taking her hand back then and bringing her with him, she would have certainly passed through the white Space Array Gate with Ning Xiang Chen and the other masters, which would have undoubtedly been disastrous for her with her weak cultivation.
Lian Guang’s safe return should be taken as an exception; after all, he was proficient in puppet techniques so, at a moment of crisis, he could use his puppets to preserve his life. Du Si Si, on the other hand, didn’t have such an ability.
Although they had still encountered that giant humanoid puppet after entering the black Space Array Gate, the overall situation on that side was quite relaxed, with only a single battle needing to be fought.
On Fei Zhi Tu’s side, after fighting several dangerous battles, their group had entered an ice-cold chamber where they found an Ice Crystal Jade Coffin. There seemed to be a person lying inside this jade coffin, but before they could figure out who it was, they accidentally triggered some kind of Spirit Array.
What happened next, Yang Kai and the others already knew; the Emperor Garden’s World Principles repelled everyone, teleporting them ten thousand kilometres outside of Fallen Emperor Mountain.
It seemed that jade coffin was the root of this sudden development as Fei Zhi Tu and his group tripping the Spirit Array near it had resulted in all of them being sent out and the Emperor Garden appearing.
As for who was inside that jade coffin, Ning Xiang Chen couldn’t tell clearly. All he could see from that individual’s outline was that it was most likely a woman.
Hearing this, Yang Kai raised his brow pensively.
He had experienced this World Principle rejection twice now, and both times he had witnessed a flourishing jade white hand. That jade hand was obviously a woman’s hand. Now, an Ice Crystal Jade Coffin inside the Emperor Garden contained a woman who seemingly possessed no vitality. Were all of these incidents somewhat related?
Moreover, what kind of connection was there between the Flowing Flame Sand Field and the Emperor Garden? The more Yang Kai thought about it, the more confused he became.
Unable to make sense of any of this, Yang Kai simply shook his head.
In addition to these mysteries, Shadowed Star also had quite a few peculiarities to it. There were no Origin King Realm masters here, and even the highest grade of Alchemist and Artifact Refiner was merely Origin Grade Low-Rank. It seemed like there was some kind of suppressive force at work here that made it impossible to overcome these bottlenecks. Everyone being unable to escape these shackles made Yang Kai faintly feel there was more to this star than met the eye.
The journey back was uneventful, with only a few words exchanged the whole way. Several days later, the group returned to Heavenly Fate City and Cai He, Du Si Si, and Lian Guang said their goodbyes, while Ning Xiang Chen stayed and chatted with Yang Kai briefly before taking his leave.
Knowing what it was this old man had been thinking about, and taking into consideration the care Ning Xiang Chen had shown him along the way, Yang Kai certainly wouldn’t act stingy. Immediately, he told him that whenever he had time he could come to Dragon Cave Mountain as a guest, and if he wanted to repair his artifacts, to simply let him know.
Receiving this promise, Ning Xiang Chen was overjoyed and immediately thanked Yang Kai before hurriedly leaving. Apparently he had some preparations to make; after all, in order to properly repair his artifacts, it would be necessary to collect some materials. He couldn’t expect Yang Kai to also provide such things.
Standing outside Heavenly Fate City, Yang Kai looked up at the sky.
At this moment, Emperor Garden seemed to have stabilized and was suspended somewhere above Shadowed Star. Its size had still not changed, but the crushing Emperor Pressure had essentially disappeared, obviously because it was now very far from the ground.
Yang Kai didn’t know what Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong were planning on investigating, but he estimated that before long, all of the great forces on Shadowed Star would begin moving.
The Emperor Garden’s appearance was a matter of great importance, so no great force could afford to ignore it. When the time came, everyone would want a piece of the benefits, so there would definitely be some friction and conflict in the near future.
After observing for a while though, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly sank and became incredibly ugly.
He hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but now that he observed the Emperor Garden carefully, especially its placement, he noticed that it was hovering above Heavenly Fate City. Or more precisely, it was hovering just above Dragon Cave Mountain.
[Shit…]
Yang Kai almost couldn’t help cursing out loud. With the Emperor Garden floating here, although Dragon Cave Mountain was simply adjacent to the real prize, that would be enough to cause some unnecessary trouble. The masters of all the great forces on Shadowed Star would definitely come here to investigate, and Shadow Moon Hall would not be willing to provoke them, so even with Qian Tong’s protection, Dragon Cave Mountain may not necessarily remain safe.
With a hazy expression, Yang Kai stood in place pondering for a while before eventually stomping his foot and flying off towards Dragon Cave Mountain.
Worrying about this now was meaningless; in the first place, he didn’t have any way to get rid of the Emperor Garden. What he should be considering right now was how to strengthen Dragon Cave Mountain’s defences.
Silently cursing the Starry Sky Great Emperor in his head, Yang Kai quickly rushed back.
A short time later, Yang Kai arrived outside Dragon Cave Mountain’s protective barrier and took out the control token Yang Yan had given him. Pouring his Saint Qi into this token, a stream of light poured out from it and into the giant Spirit Array.
Instantly, a straight passage opened in the fog bank that surrounded the mountain. With a casual look, Yang Kai put away the token and walked inside. After he passed through it, the passage disappeared again and the entire Dragon Cave Mountain was once again shrouded in a fog bank, completely obscuring it from the outside world.
As soon as he entered, a few figures flew over to intercept him, but upon seeing it was Yang Kai, all of these people showed looks of joy on their faces and quickly cupped their fists to welcome him.
Yang Kai couldn’t actually remember the names of these people, only knowing they were originally disciples of the Hai Ke Family. After Wu Yi separated from her family and joined Dragon Cave Mountain, all these people, with their incredibly varied strengths, followed her here.
However, thanks to the amazing financial resources of Dragon Cave Mountain, everyone’s cultivation had improved greatly. Now, the leaders among this group were all Saint Kings, while almost everyone else was a Third-Order Saint.
This kind of cultivation in the outside world was nothing, but it was something the Hai Ke Family could only dream of cultivating in such a short time.
“Sect Master, it’s good that you’ve returned,” The leading Saint King Realm called out happily, but a hint of anxiety remained on his face.
Yang Kai frowned and asked, “Why do you address me as Sect Master?”
The leader grinned meaningfully and explained, “Young Lady Wu Yi said I will have to call you Sect Master when I see you in the future. She said that you will definitely found a Sect in time, so calling you Sect Master now shouldn’t matter.”
Yang Kai was struck speechless.
He indeed had the idea of founding a small Sect, not to develop some kind of great force, but rather to pave the way for his friends and family on Tong Xuan Realm. When the time comes, he would need to bring them out into the Star Field. At that time, they would need a place to stay, and given the number of people he planned to bring, forming a Sect was the most logical option.
He had never mentioned this out loud, but it seemed Wu Yi had taken notice and begun making plans.
Yang Kai didn’t dig any deeper into this issue, instead noticing the look of anxiety on the face of the man who spoke to him and asking, “What happened while I was out? Why do you all look so worried? Did the Xie Family stir up trouble again?”
Yang Kai almost took it for granted that the Xie Family would target Dragon Cave Mountain, so seeing the anxious looks on everyone’s face, he immediately felt some anger welling up.
Hearing this question, the lead cultivator quickly said, “No, no, a trivial Xie Family can’t pose any threat to our Dragon Cave Mountain. After Sect Master left, they tried to scout us out a few times, but after everyone they sent died without a complete corpse, they learned their lesson and didn’t dare try to break into our protective barrier.”
“Then why do you all look like this?”
“It’s… it’s…” His eyes darting around, it appeared that whatever this lead cultivator had to say was something quite difficult to bring up.
“Stop hesitating and explain!” Yang Kai’s face sank.
“It’s Young Lady Yang Yan!” The cultivator grit his teeth and shouted.
“Yang Yan?” Yang Kai’s complexion changed, “What happened to Yang Yan?”
“I don’t know, I only heard from Young Lady Wu Yi that Young Lady Yang Yan suddenly fell into a deep sleep a few days ago and has not awoken since. Young Lady Wu Yi and Miss Qian Yue have been trying to find a solution this whole time but…!” The lead cultivator couldn’t finish answering Yang Kai’s question before the latter disappeared without a word. With his First-Order Saint King Realm cultivation, this man wasn’t even able to tell how Yang Kai disappeared, causing a look of admiration and envy to fill his face.
Hearing that something happened to Yang Yan, Yang Kai had no patience to listen to a long explanation.
Since coming to Shadowed Star, he had only made a few friends, and even fewer of these friends could he truly open up to.
Yang Yan was one of his closest friends, and the weight she held in Yang Kai’s heart ranked first in Shadowed Star. Without her, Dragon Cave Mountain wouldn’t have been able to develop to such a scale. Without her, Yang Kai wouldn’t have so many artifacts in his possession.
Dragon Cave Mountain being able to reach its current glory was largely in part due to Yang Yan’s contributions. Yang Kai was able to cultivate with peace of mind all thanks to Yang Yan’s efforts.
In the beginning, this mysterious woman was refining Saint Grade artifacts to earn a measly few Saint Crystals at the Artifact Refining Pavilion in Heavenly Fate City. If not for a series of coincidences that resulted in Yang Kai bringing her back with him to assist with arranging a Spirit Array, the two of them might never have even met.
As time passed, Yang Yan’s importance to Yang Kai increased greatly, so now hearing that something was wrong with her, he naturally became anxious.
Releasing his Divine Sense, Yang Kai soon found that Yang Yan was in the loft where she normally lived.
At the moment, Qian Yue and Wu Yi were there too, one of them feeding Yang Yan a bowl of some kind of potion while the other sat cross-legged by her bed and poured their Saint Qi into her, attempting to wake her up.
The two women were in a state of sorrow and anxiety.
In a flash, a figure suddenly appeared behind them and Wu Yi’s and Qian Yue’s expressions both changed dramatically. The two of them were about to attack, but when they saw it was Yang Kai who had come, both of them smiled happily towards him.
Yang Kai didn’t waste any time talking to them as he focused his attention on Yang Yan. From a glance, he could see she was completely unconscious and extremely pale. Even in this kind of deep sleep, she seemed to be experiencing some kind of nightmare.
The Saint Qi in her body was also flowing irregularly, creating a kind of chaotic circulation.
Yang Kai quickly arrived at the bed, stretched out his fingers, and placed them on Yang Yan’s wrist while also releasing his Divine Sense to carefully inspect her condition.
A moment later, his brow furrowed as he removed his hand from Yang Yan’s wrist and asked, “What happened? When did it happen?”
Wu Yi and Qian Yue glanced at each other for a moment before the former replied, “Just four days ago she was perfectly fine. At that time I was helping her refine something when suddenly her complexion went pale and she whispered some words I couldn’t understand before directly fainting. I didn’t know what had happened, so I brought her to her bed, but since then she remained unconscious. We fed her the healing pills you left behind as well as pills meant to restore Spiritual Energy, but nothing we did was able to improve her condition.”
Four days ago? Yang Kai raised his brow thoughtfully. Four days ago was exactly when the changes in Fallen Emperor Mountain had occurred and the Emperor Garden had appeared. Why would Yang Yan’s sudden collapse coincide with those events?
What was the relationship between the two events? After thinking for a while, Yang Kai shook his head as he felt that his speculations were too absurd.
Fallen Emperor Mountain and the Emperor Garden were both related to the Starry Sky Great Emperor, so how could that have anything to do with Yang Yan?
“Yang Kai, what happened to her?” Wu Yi asked anxiously, concern filling her pretty face.
“I don’t know,” Yang Kai raised his eyes to meet hers, “Have Foreign Elder Chang and Foreign Elder Hao examined her?”
“En, but the two Foreign Elders were also helpless. Should we send her to Medicine Pill Sect for treatment?” Wu Yi bit her thin lip lightly and proposed. Although Medicine Pill Sect was famous for its Alchemy techniques, there was also no one on Shadowed Star who better understood Alchemy and medical treatment than masters. If they sent Yang Yan there, they might be able to help her.
Wu Yi came up with this idea a while ago, but since Yang Kai was not around, she didn’t act on it immediately.
“No,” Yang Kai shook his head, “Forget about how long it would take to bring her there, even if we did, we may not be able to have one of their Elder level characters act.”
“What should we do then?” Wu Yi was as anxious as an ant on a hot wok. In Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai was the hidden dragon who showed his tail but never his face, often in a state of secluded retreat or out on some adventure, so in his absence, everything about this place’s development and management had been handed over to her and Yang Yan. Yang Yan was also the one Wu Yi got along with best, so now seeing Yang Yan suffer like this, Wu Yi felt helpless and anxious.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to help her,” Yang Kai comforted, before casually explaining, “I just performed a check on her condition, and there appears to be nothing wrong with her physically. Since that is the case, the reason she’s remained unconscious obviously has something to do with her Soul. If I can break into her Knowledge Sea, I should be able to determine what’s wrong with her.”
“Then be careful, don’t hurt her.”
“I know, you should go out first!” Yang Kai waved his hand.
Wu Yi and Qian Yue exchanged a glance before the two both walked out with worried expressions.
In a blink of an eye, only Yang Kai and Yang Yan remained inside the loft. Seeing Yang Yan’s pale complexion, Yang Kai sighed slightly, stretched out his hand to support her head, then sat her up in a cross-legged sitting position facing him before slowly touching her smooth forehead with his finger.
Immediately after, Yang Kai closed his eyes and began pouring his Divine Sense into Yang Yan’s forehead.
Currently, Yang Yan was in a coma, so her Knowledge Sea had sealed itself off automatically. If Yang Kai wanted to break into Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea, he first had to break through her Knowledge Sea defences. Doing so may cause some damage to Yang Yan, but Yang had great confidence in his methods, so he was not worried about permanently harming her.
After all, after so many years of being nourished by the Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation far exceeded other cultivators in his realm.
A moment later, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar left his body and appeared outside a barrier inside Yang Yan’s mind. This barrier was Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea defence. At a glance, Yang Kai couldn’t help showing some surprise as he hadn’t expected Yang Yan to have such powerful protections around her Knowledge Sea even while in a coma. Yang Kai felt like he was staring at a strong, solid and thick city wall, one that would not allow him to go one step further.
Not only that, but there were also glowing runes flowing across this giant wall that gave off an uncomfortable aura.
Yang Kai frowned slightly. He found that he had underestimated Yang Yan’s strength. Since encountering this woman, Yang Kai had never been able to discover her true cultivation and had never taken the initiative to ask. Yang Kai had thought that she carried a special artifact that blocked others from investigating her, but now it seemed that her cultivation was actually much higher than expected.
Sure enough, she was a woman full of mystery! Yang Kai was not totally surprised and instead looked up at this great barrier with a grin. In the next moment, his Divine Sense burst out, forming a powerful Soul attack which he launched.
The runes on the wall flashed brightly as Yang Kai’s attack landed and was subsequently dispersed like a rock sinking into the sea, leaving no trace.
Seeing this, Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly as he increased the power behind his attack and began repeatedly bombarding the barrier. During this process, Yang Kai was careful, not only to ensure the effectiveness of his attacks but also to make sure he maintained absolute control so that he would not cause Yang Yan any harm after breaking through the barrier.
This was no easy task to accomplish.
The runes on the barrier shone continuously and several of them often flew out to meet and counter Yang Kai’s Divine Sense attacks.
However, Yang Yan was in a coma, so even though her Knowledge Sea defences were not weak, they couldn’t withstand Yang Kai’s persistent bombardment. After an hour, Yang Kai finally tore a hole in the great barrier.
Seeing this, Yang Kai smiled happily and was just about to rush into Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea when three beams of light suddenly flew out to cover this opening.
An elegant purple glow, a flawless white glow, and a deep blue glow.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed as he instinctively sensed great danger from these three glows. It seemed that if he didn’t withdraw his Soul Avatar, he would quickly face disaster, so he hurriedly retreated.
Looking back, Yang Kai could not help being dumbfounded.
These three brilliances turned out to be three differently shaped artifacts.
The purple glow was a dagger-like artifact whose image sometimes morphed into a twisting snake with vicious fangs which gave off a thick malicious intent.
The white glow was a loop made of pure white jade which seemed both big and small at the same time and gave off a terrifying restrictive force.
The last sky blue light was a profound looking seal. The azure light which radiated from this seal made Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar feel like a snowflake under the hot summer sun, melting away the Spiritual Energy which composed his Soul Avatar at an incredible rate.
Yang Kai paled.
Although he had long known that Yang Yan was a powerful Artifact Refiner and had many artifacts on her person for her own protection, he had not imagined she would have three Soul type artifacts this powerful in her Knowledge Sea.
And from the way these three artifacts moved, it was obvious they could act independently to protect her.
With the situation becoming troublesome, Yang Kai’s face became ugly.
Although he had successfully torn open a hole in Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea defences, if he could not resist the attacks of these three Soul type artifacts, he couldn’t enter Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea.
Judging from the energy fluctuations coming from these three Soul type artifacts though, it would be no simple matter to overcome them! If Yang Kai really fought against these three artifacts, either he would be injured or Yang Yan would be. Whatever the result, it was not what Yang Kai wanted to see.
With a solemn look on his face, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar hovered in front of Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea defences, not daring to act hastily.
But after delaying like this, Yang Kai saw Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea defences begin to repair themselves, and he estimated it would only be a few breaths before they completely recovered.
When that happened, all his previous efforts would have gone to waste.
The opening continued closing at an increasing rate, but with the three Soul type artifacts focused on him, Yang Kai did not dare move forward to launch an attack. Suddenly, however, Yang Kai thought of a solution.
Sending out a burst of Spiritual Energy, Yang Kai silently sent a message straight into Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea.
Finishing this, he watched nervously.
To his disappointment, Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea defences continued repairing themselves and had been completely restored in the blink of an eye, as if Yang Yan had not heard his call at all.
Just as Yang Kai let out a sigh and was about to give up this attempt, the city-wall like Knowledge Sea defences suddenly took the initiative to open on their own and the three artifacts silently flew back inside.
Yang Kai stood on the spot for a moment before noticing that this crack showed no signs of immediately closing. Overjoyed, his figure flickered as he rushed into Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea through this opening.
Yang Yan had really heard his call! Clearly, she had taken the initiative to open a hole in her Knowledge Sea defences to let him enter.
Yang Kai had only sent out that Divine Sense Message as a shot in the dark, not actually expecting it to succeed, but it seemed Yang Yan was not unaware of what was happening to her at the moment, but rather her Soul was deeply immersed in her Knowledge Sea and had no ability to react to the outside world.
Entering Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai stood mid-air and looked around, a trace of surprise soon flashing across his face.
Because he found that the situation in Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea was extremely similar to his own. The water that rolled below was like a sea of flames and extremely hot, even the sky was dyed crimson. Standing here was like standing in a furnace.
Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!
When Yang Kai brought back nine Flowing Flame Flying Fires from the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had given a couple of them to Yang Yan. Flowing Flame Flying Fires were precious treasures that could allow one to obtain a mutated Knowledge Sea, but after Yang Kai gave her these, he had not asked her about them again.
Now, it seems that Yang Yan had successfully refined them. Not only that, but her Conflagrated Knowledge Sea wasn’t much different from his own. Even if there was a gap in power between them, that was simply the result of a difference in accumulation.
After all, Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea had formed long before Yang Yan’s.
Inside this Knowledge Sea filled with tumbling flames, many transparent bubbles were suspended mid-air. These bubbles were filled with images of Yang Yan’s life experiences and the memories she had created over the years.
Yang Kai was not so crass as to intentionally spy on Yang Yan’s secrets; but he still noticed that many of these bubbles exuded a special kind of aura, something that surprised him greatly.
No such profound aura existed in his Knowledge Sea.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai put aside the doubts in his heart and looked up into the sky. Spotting what he was looking for, he quickly flew over.
Somewhere in the sky above this burning Knowledge Sea, a figure curled up into a ball, with her hands clasped around her knees and her long hair flowing down to her hips was wrapped in the inexplicable transparent energy barrier.
It was Yang Yan’s Soul Avatar!
At this moment, she looked like a baby in a mother’s womb, seeming somewhat vulnerable, her eyes closed tightly, her lashes fluttering gently.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai inexplicably felt a sense of sadness, causing him to frown. Even though Yang Yan’s Soul Avatar was without a wisp of covering right now, with every part of her body exposed to his eyes, he couldn’t feel even a single wicked thought, only a great impulse to awaken her and comfort her.