Seemingly aware of Yang Kai’s arrival, Yang Yan slowly opened her beautiful eyes and glanced at him through the transparent energy barrier.
When their eyes met, Yang Kai felt startled.
Because at that moment, he was shocked to find that Yang Yan’s eyes were a little strange, involuntarily giving him the illusion that he was nothing but a small, humble ant in front of her.
But when he looked again carefully, Yang Yan had returned to normal, as if everything just now was his mind playing tricks on him.
After Yang Yan glanced at him, she closed her eyes again, her look not changing in the slightest. Yang Kai tried to call out to her several times, but never once received a response.
The next instant, Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea seemed to boil as an orange bubble suddenly appeared from below the sea of flames. This bubble slowly rose towards Yang Yan before bursting right below her. When this bubble burst, Yang Kai sensed some kind of strange energy pour into her Soul Avatar.
As soon as this happened, Yang Yan’s expression filled with pain, as if she was experiencing great suffering, her brow furrowing tightly as her tender body trembled violently, her arms clinging even tighter to her knees.
Yang Kai’s heart clenched as uncertainty and confusion filled his face.
He did not understand what had happened to Yang Yan, but at this moment, he finally realized the reason she was in this state was related to these bubbles in her Knowledge Sea.
[Didn’t these bubbles contain Yang Yan’s life experiences and memories? Why would they cause her so much discomfort?]
Suddenly, Yang Kai remembered something. Yang Yan once told him that no one had taught her about Artifact Refining or Spirit Arrays and that all her knowledge was innate, as if it had been buried in her subconscious and she could unlock them through studying Spirit Arrays and Artifact Refining.
Could it be that knowledge of these two fields Yang Yan had yet to master was what was sealed inside these orange bubbles? But where did this knowledge come from? Why would they be stored in her Knowledge Sea? Why would all of them suddenly become unlocked?
Yang Kai could not figure it out.
Yang Yan’s current situation was like she was forcefully accepting a massive amount of information, far more than she could immediately digest, resulting in her Soul Avatar closing itself off in her Knowledge Sea to protect itself.
Although all of this was just Yang Kai’s guess, he was certain they were correct.
If this was really the case, Yang Kai couldn’t help her unless he stole away some of the knowledge sealed in those bubbles to share the burden with Yang Yan, but this knowledge was Yang Yan’s wealth, so without her permission, Yang Kai would naturally not do this.
Doing so now would be nothing short of robbing Yang Yan.
Although she seemed to be suffering a little right now, as long as she could endure this, her gains would be unimaginable.
Understanding this, Yang Kai let out a sigh of relief. Now that he had found the source of the problem and it was nothing bad like he had imagined, he was naturally no longer worried.
However, for the time being, Yang Kai was not in a hurry to leave, planning on watching over Yang Yan’s Soul Avatar so he could intervene quickly if a real accident happened.
After making up his mind, Yang Kai whispered a few words to Yang Yan, informing her of his intentions, before immediately withdrawing a short distance and sitting down cross-legged in the air while carefully observing her condition.
Yang Kai did not know if it was an illusion or not, but Yang Yan seemed somewhat encouraged because he was close by. For some time after, the bubbles in Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea continued to rise and pop around Yang Yan, flooding her with all the information sealed within them when they burst.
Even though Yang Yan’s expression was filled with pain, her reaction seemed much better than before.
And as time passed and the number of bubbles that appeared decreased, Yang Yan’s expression gradually stabilized.
In a blink of an eye, about half a month passed. During this period, Yang Kai did not withdraw an inch or even close his eyes for a moment, paying constant attention to Yang Yan’s state at all times.
Finally, the last bubble rose from her Knowledge Sea and burst, and the information sealed inside of it was quickly absorbed by Yang Yan. When this was finished, the transparent barrier around Yang Yan’s body also broke and she slowly opened her eyes. Slowly stretching out her body, Yang Yan used one hand to cover her chest while the other blocked her most precious place. As she rose into a standing stance, her long hair flowed out widely despite there being no wind.
Her entire Knowledge Sea suddenly became calm at this moment.
Yang Kai stared blankly. This beautiful scene made him feel that Yang Yan was like an awe-inspiring goddess.
Until now, Yang Yan had always worn black robes that covered her completely, so even if Yang Kai had wanted to see her whole face, he had never had an opportunity. Now, although he had somewhat expected it, he was quite shocked at how attractive she was. If Yang Yan dressed better, she would certainly be able to drive countless men crazy for her.
While Yang Kai was staring, a dazzling light suddenly burst from Yang Yan’s Soul Avatar. Not only was this light blinding, it was accompanied by an aura that caused Yang Kai to pale slightly.
When that aura struck him, he could not help trembling.
[Emperor Pressure!] Yang Kai’s eyes widened instantly. He had experienced this kind of aura before in Fallen Emperor Mountain, so it was naturally impossible for him to mistake it for something else.
This strange Emperor Pressure disappeared quickly and, when the light faded and Yang Kai regained his sight, he saw Yang Yan’s Soul Avatar had donned her signature black robe and was currently staring towards Yang Kai with a somewhat apologetic look.
Seeing this, Yang Kai frowned slightly, stood up, and quickly flew towards her, sticking close as he swept his eyes over her a few times.
Yang Yan seemed to be the same Yang Yan he had always known, without any kind of change, but everything he had witnessed still caused Yang Kai to become suspicious.
“Are you all right?” Yang Kai asked after a long silence.
“En, I’m fine now,” Yang Yan brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at Yang Kai.
This smile was filled with immense self-confidence! It was a look Yang Kai had never seen on Yang Yan before. Until now, she had always seemed as timid as a mouse, only showing her confidence when it came to Artifact Refining or Spirit Array arranging.
“I’ve made you worry,” Yang Yan whispered gratefully.
“As long as you are alright, everything is fine. Wu Yi and Qian Yue were very worried, they had no idea what happened to you. En, since you’re fine now, I’ll take my leave.”
“En, you go first, I have to stay here for a while, there are some things I need to take care of!” Yang Yan bit her red lips.
Yang Kai looked at her and nodded, “Alright, just come out after you finish what you need to.”
Saying so, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and disappeared out of Yang Yan’s Knowledge Sea.
After Yang Kai left, Yang Yan’s face suddenly showed a complicated expression that made it impossible to understand what she was thinking. There seemed to be a haze covering her beautiful eyes, but after a while, she let out a gentle sigh, sat down cross-legged, closed her eyes and began sorting through all the information in her head.
Inside the loft, Yang Kai opened his eyes and glanced towards Yang Yan who was sitting cross-legged in front of him. Seeing that her face had become much rosier and her breathing was much smoother, Yang Kai understood that she really was out of danger. Right now, her Soul Avatar was simply immersed in her Knowledge Sea, so she wouldn’t regain consciousness for some time.
No matter what she suffered or what she obtained, Yang Kai did not try to ask. To him, as long as Yang Yan was still Yang Yan, that was all that mattered. If she was willing to tell him, she would do so on her own.
After carefully laying Yang Yan down on her bed and covering her with her bedding, Yang Kai left.
Outside the door, Wu Yi and Qian Yue were still anxiously waiting. Yang Kai had remained inside Yang Yan’s room for half a month, silent the entire time, so naturally they were quite worried.
They did not dare to disturb him at will, but that didn’t mean they weren’t anxious.
Hearing the door opening, the two women were overjoyed, and after seeing Yang Kai, Wu Yi hurriedly asked, “How is she?”
“Everything’s fine now, don’t worry. She will probably wake up in a few days.”
Hearing Yang Kai say this, Wu Yi and Qian Yue could not help exchanging a joyful glance and breathing sighs of relief.
“Putting aside Yang Yan’s matter, after the Emperor Garden appeared, has our Dragon Cave Mountain been affected?”
“You also know about the Emperor Garden’s appearance?” Wu Yi showed a trace of surprise. After all, the Emperor Garden had only appeared recently and during this period Yang Kai had been with Yang Yan, so it was quite strange he would have obtained this news so quickly.
The reason why Wu Yi knew about the Emperor Garden’s appearance was because news had come from Shadow Moon Hall.
But soon, Wu Yi sorted out her thoughts and replied, “There are more strange faces around the area, and the number of cultivators in Heavenly Fate City has also skyrocketed, but it hasn’t had much impact on our Dragon Cave Mountain yet. However, if things continue like this, that may not be the case for much longer.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly. What Wu Yi had said was exactly what he was worried about.
The Emperor Garden had coincidentally appeared right above Dragon Cave Mountain, attracting the attention of many foreign cultivators this past fortnight. As more time passed, more masters would arrive and at that time this place would be swarmed by many hidden dragons and crouching tigers.
“Elder Qian sent you a message a few days ago, would you like to see it?” Wu Yi quickly remembered and asked.
“Oh? What message?” Yang Kai looked towards her.
Wu Yi immediately took out a letter from her Space Ring and handed it over. Yang Kai took it, but after opening it, he found that there wasn’t anything written on it. However, this did not surprise Yang Kai as he quickly used his Divine Sense to scan it and soon collected all the information it contained.
The news from Qian Tong was quite simple. There were only two points. Shadow Moon Hall’s internal strife had subsided. It was not difficult to imagine that, since the other party only made a move after Qian Tong disappeared for half a year, they were quite wary of him. Now that Qian Tong had returned safely and brought with him an Artifact Refiner highly likely to reach the Origin Grade level, all of the internal turbulence had quickly been suppressed.
What’s more, now that the Emperor Garden had appeared, everyone inside Shadow Moon Hall didn’t have the liberty to fight anymore. The Sect Master had issued a firm command and the battle had ceased, with only a few people being disposed of to warn others not to act up.
With the end of this internal struggle, Qian Tong made sure to mention to Yang Kai that Shadow Moon Hall would not intervene in any way in the grudge between Dragon Cave Mountain and the Xie Family. He also said that the trade relationship between Dragon Cave Mountain and Shadow Moon Hall would be fully restored and that Shadow Moon Hall would lower its selling price on materials by an additional ten percent as an apology.
Seeing this, Yang Kai was very satisfied. Qian Tong was a man worthy of respect. Yang Kai risking his life to rescue Qian Tong had paid off. Without even mentioning the grievances between Yang Kai and the Xie Family, just the ten percent discount on materials purchased from Shadow Moon Hall would be of enormous benefit. From the speed at which Dragon Cave Mountain purchased materials, this ten percent discount would save them many Saint Crystals in short order.
The second piece of information recorded in this letter was about the Emperor Garden.
On that day, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu had joined forces to investigate whether the Emperor Garden had truly manifested or not, and although they were forced to retreat before they could get close due to the Emperor Pressure, they were able to confirm one thing.
The Emperor Garden before them was real, and not some short-lived illusion that would quickly disappear like its previous incarnations. This time, it had appeared before all of Shadowed Star’s cultivators, creating a shocking scene.
Moreover, after so many days, many Origin Returning Realm masters had gone to check the situation, but none were able to approach the Emperor Garden. On top of that, no one knew how to enter it even if they did manage to approach it. As the host of this place, Shadow Moon Hall had widely distributed invitation letters to all the great forces on Shadowed Star to hold a discussion about entering the Emperor Garden.
Qian Tong told Yang Kai that many masters from all over Shadowed Star had rushed to Heavenly Fate City in recent days, many of whom were Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators.
Although this was conveyed to him as simple information, Qian Tong’s meaning was very obvious. He was subtly telling Yang Kai to not cause trouble during this time.
Seeing this, Yang Kai raised his brow and grinned.
Even without Qian Tong’s causion, he wouldn’t try to stir up trouble. It was really not an appropriate time to be taking overt actions and Yang Kai still had many things to deal with, so he had already been thinking about using this opportunity to completely close off Dragon Cave Mountain and cultivate quietly for a while.
It wouldn’t be too late to worry about the Emperor Garden after it was investigated. If the masters found a way to enter the Emperor Garden, Yang Kai would naturally be willing to participate. The Life Revitalizing Jade Cream rockery needed to be investigated, and that Ice Attribute World Spirit was also important to the Phoenix Empress Inheritance. If the Ice Phoenix Remnant Soul was able to swallow that World Spirit, it would definitely bring it great benefits, which in turn would allow Su Yan to gain more benefits when she finally accepted it.
Thinking so, Yang Kai used his Demonic Flames to burn the letter from Qian Tong to ash before telling Wu Yi and Qian Yue to take good care of Yang Yan and handing over his damaged Purple Shield to them. Asking the two women to have Yang Yan repair the broken shield, Yang Kai returned to his cave mansion alone.
Yang Kai first took a look at the Red Candle Fruit which had been stored in the cave mansion and found that, under the nourishing effect of the Red Candle Stalk and the rich World Energy aura over the past few years, the Red Candle Fruit piece showed no signs of withering or losing its medicinal efficacies.
Back in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, choosing to prioritize this Red Candle Stalk had really been the right choice. Yang Kai didn’t know how the other great forces were preserving their Red Candle Fruit pieces, but even if they had astonishing means, he was confident that none were as good as the one he implemented.
This fruit piece was a rare treasure, and if refined into a pill it might help a cultivator break through the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm bottleneck and reach the Origin King Realm! Although Yang Kai couldn’t use it right now, there would always come a day when he could.
The Ten Thousand Year Incense fragrance lightly floated through the cave mansion, but its magical effects of calming one’s mood did not diminish in the slightest.
This tiny cave mansion was actually filled with countless treasures.
After checking up on all these precious treasures, Yang Kai returned to his regular room, sat cross-legged and sorted out his thoughts.
In any case, his top priority was to increase his strength. If those masters really found a way to enter the Emperor Garden, he would need enough strength in order to compete with Shadowed Star’s tyrants for the benefits inside.
Yang Kai didn’t believe he could break through to the Origin Realm any time soon, but increasing his cultivation realm wasn’t the only way to improve his strength, there were many other methods.
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s expression became firm and he waved his hand, laying out all of the spoils he collected during his latest outing.
This time, there weren’t many items harvested, but each one was invaluable. Not to mention the long-lost Life Revitalizing Jade Cream, the Spectral Cloud Array Plate was a powerful trump card. Yang Kai originally owned two artifacts, but during this trip he had detonated one while the other was severely damaged, lowering his overall combat strength greatly. This Array Plate happened to supplement his losses just perfectly.
As long as he refined it, it would provide him with a big boost in combat strength.
There was also the strange, giant, jet-black stick. Yang Kai had never seen the material this thing was made from, but the amount it weighed was truly astonishing. It didn’t need any fancy effects or to be wielded in any special manner, as long as one could swing it at an enemy, given its immense weight, it would simply be unstoppable.
Before overwhelming strength, nothing else mattered.
However, to his dismay, Yang Kai found that even when using his full strength, he was unable to use this stick as a weapon, causing him to sigh helplessly.
These three things were his gains this time, nothing more, nothing less.
Of course, Yang Kai had other things to deal with besides these three treasures.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai reached out his hand and summoned the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace into his palm. A crisp chirp resounded as the Artifact Spirit materialized, spreading its wings a dozen metres out across the cave mansion.
In the next instant, the Artifact Spirit shrank down and flew over to Yang Kai’s shoulders, landing on him before calmly preening its feathers with its long beak.
Yang Kai glanced at it and a smile appeared on his lips, immediately using his Divine Sense to communicate with it. After a moment, Firebird tilted its head at him before glancing down at the special ring on Yang Kai’s finger, a dignified yet excited light flashing across its eyes.
It was hesitant and fearful, but also extremely excited.
“If you don’t want to, you can refuse and continue to help me refine the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead,” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
As soon as he said these words, the Artifact Spirit turned into blazing flames and rushed towards the special ring. Yang Kai raised his brow as he sent his Divine Sense into the ring, causing a suction force to emerge from it and draw in the Artifact Spirit.
The Artifact Spirit ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation Yang Kai had just suggested. Seeing this, Yang Kai was very satisfied.
After a moment, the ring flashed and Yang Kai released the Artifact Spirit again. Only now, the Artifact Spirit’s body appeared slightly different from before, because there was a red fiery thread wandering about inside of it like a snake.
The Artifact Spirit let out a sharp tweet as the raging flames which composed its body seemed to be struggling against this crimson light, trying to refine and assimilate it.
Sun’s True Fire!
This special ring on Yang Kai’s finger contained only two things, one was the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal and the other was the Sun’s True Essence.
The last time the Artifact Spirit devoured a wisp of Sun’s True Fire, it had gained tremendous benefits and growth, but when fighting with the Ice Attribute World Spirit in the Emperor Garden, it had still not been the latter’s opponent, showing just how difficult it was to handle this Ice Attribute World Spirit.
Since Yang Kai had ideas about this Ice Attribute World Spirit, naturally he intended to enhance the strength and power of his Artifact Spirit, and devouring more Sun’s True Fire was the most effective and efficient way to accomplish this.
Of course, this method was quite dangerous, so he had offered the Artifact Spirit a choice and it had not failed to live up to his expectations. Its desire for the Sun’s True Fire exceeded its fear, and it had actively entered his ring to ingest a trace of it.
Having experienced this process once before, the Artifact Spirit’s performance this time was much better than back in the Corpse Cave. Although it seemed that its form had become somewhat unstable under the impact of the Sun’s True Fire, and the Fire Attribute Energy which composed its body was fluctuating unstably, at least it had not fallen directly into a coma.
Yang Kai smiled heartily as the Artifact Spirit returned to the Artifact Refining Furnace and began to assimilate the Sun’s True Fire.
He believed that when the Artifact Spirit re-emerged, it would become stronger than before.
After dealing with the Artifact Spirit, Yang Kai put away the Artifact Refining Furnace, picked up the Array Plate of the Spectral Cloud Array, and began carefully examining it.
When he obtained this Array Plate, he didn’t have time to take a closer look at it, and only through talking to Cai He and Du Si Si did he learn about its great value and that it was a long lost treasure. Now, after observing it, Yang Kai suddenly found that this Array Plate wasn’t made of any kind of metal or wood he could identify. It looked like a wooden token, but it weighed quite a bit more than that. It was roughly the size of a palm and there were many images of white clouds on its surface. If one stared at it closely, they would feel as if they were seeing a sea of clouds. Yang Kai sighed and quickly withdrew his vision before holding it in his palm, closing his eyes and using his Saint Qi and Divine Sense to refine it.
Array Plates were refined by Artifact Array Masters and were existences similar to artifacts, so the process to refine them was naturally the same. Moreover, an Array Plate could be completely refined without too much effort, making it an extremely convenient tool.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed by. During this period, Yang Kai had successfully refined the Array Plate and taken it into his body. Now, as long as he could comprehend the mysteries of the Spectral Cloud Array, he could instantly set up this powerful Spirit Array anytime, anywhere he wanted.
Yang Kai was very pleased with this unique treasure as it more than made up for the loss of his Hundred Mountains Picture, which he was forced to destroy.
At this moment, Yang Kai opened his eyes as he sensed something and found Yang Yan sitting in front of him, staring at the metre long black stick lying nearby.
Although she was still shrouded in her signature black robe, Yang Kai found that her expression was a little weird, as if she was deep in thought.
“When did you arrive?” Yang Kai asked in amazement.
Although Yang Yan also had a control token for the cave mansion’s barriers, Yang Kai not even being able to notice her arrival was quite surprising.
“A few days ago, but I saw you were refining that Array Plate so I didn’t disturb you,” Yang Yan replied casually before wearing a cheerful smile and pointing to the black stick on the ground, “Did you bring the Heaven Shaking Pillar back with you from the Emperor Garden?”
“Heaven Shaking Pillar?” Yang Kai frowned, but quickly realized something and asked in surprise, “Can you read these characters?”
There were three ancient characters on this black stick, ones that Yang Kai could not understand, but now that Yang Yan had called it the ‘Heaven Shaking Pillar’, he immediately made the association.
Yang Yan glanced over at him and snorted lightly, “What’s wrong with me understanding these characters? In any case, that Array Plate you refined before, was it also from the Emperor Garden?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded as he continued staring towards Yang Yan.
Realizing Yang Kai’s gaze was somewhat different from before, Yang Yan chuckled, “What’s wrong, you think I’ve changed?”
“That’s not it. Although I know you know a great many things, I didn’t think that would include this star’s ancient characters.”
“These aren’t ancient characters, they were still in use a couple dozen thousand years ago, it’s just that Shadowed Star experienced a great change during that time so these words became lost. This Heaven Shaking Pillar is a treasure, it’s actually composed entirely of Heavenly Crystal Profound Iron.”
“Heavenly Crystal Profound Iron?” Yang Kai raised his brow, his expression filling with shock.
Although he did not know much about Artifact Refining, Yang Kai was still somewhat knowledgeable about precious Artifact Refining materials, and Heavenly Crystal Profound Iron was one of the most valuable. It was a top-class Origin King Grade material and was rumoured to weigh an astonishing amount. A palm-sized piece could weigh ten thousand kilograms. Moreover, it was exceptionally hard, nearly impossible to destroy.
Adding a little of this material when refining an artifact could dramatically increase that artifact’s strength, giving one a powerful advantage in combat.
Yang Yan said that this Heaven Shaking Pillar was actually entirely refined from Heavenly Crystal Profound Iron though! This was nothing short of astonishing.
However, if this was really the case, it would explain this stick’s incredible weight.
“Was it very dangerous acquiring this?” Yang Yan asked with concern.
Yang Kai chuckled before briefly explaining about the battle with the giant humanoid puppet. After listening, Yang Yan nodded, “You made the right choice. Although that puppet is quite precious, its value is still far below this Heaven Shaking Pillar. You profited greatly. On top of that, only such a puppet can wield this kind of artifact.”
“Only a puppet can wield it? Alright then, I’ll just give it to you, if you melt it down you should be able to refine many artifacts with it,” Yang Kai’s brow twitched. Originally, he had chosen this giant jet black stick because he fancied the material it was refined from.
“Melt it down?” Yang Yan spat disdainfully, “Why should I melt it? I cannot refine this kind of artifact now, and there are many amazing Spirit Arrays portrayed inside it. Melting it is too much of a waste of Heaven’s precious gift. If we can just find the right person to use it, then…”
“Who can use it?” Yang Kai laughed, “Unless you can also refine a puppet like the one that originally wielded this thing that is.”
“Someone can use it though!” Yang Yan smiled mysteriously.
“Who?” Yang Kai’s brow rose. He did not believe that on Shadowed Star someone had the strength to freely wave this Heaven Shaking Pillar around. This thing was simply not designed to be used by human cultivators. Even a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master wouldn’t be able to use this artifact for long before their Saint Qi and strength would be completely exhausted.
“It!” Yang Yan pointed to a certain spot nearby. Yang Kai looked over in the direction she pointed and suddenly noticed the Stone Puppet looking towards him fixedly.
Seeing both Yang Kai and Yang Yan staring at it together, the Stone Puppet no longer concealed itself and using its hands and feet, like a little stone ape, it raced over to Yang Kai, it’s two eyes staring up at him fixedly.
“The Stone Puppet?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Just let it try and you’ll understand,” Yang Yan smiled before pointing her hand towards the Heaven Shaking Pillar and shouting lightly, “Xiao Xiao!”
Hearing this shout, the Stone Puppet looked at Yang Yan then over Yang Kai. After getting Yang Kai’s permission, the stone puppet walked over to the metre-long Heaven Shaking Pillar.
After a short moment, the Stone Puppet’s eyes flashed a joyful light as its hunched back straightened up and its hands pounded its chest a few times before it grabbed the Heaven Shaking Pillar.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank as he watched without blinking.
He clearly saw the Heaven Shaking Pillar, which he was unable to lift through normal means, being picked up by the Stone Puppet as if it weighed nothing at all. The Stone Puppet acted like a small child which had been given a new toy, its face filling with smiles as it held the Heaven Shaking Pillar appreciatively in front of it before swinging it around.
*Hu hu…*
A strong roar of wind rang out as the air within the cave mansion was greatly disturbed and a kind of tornado began forming with the Stone Puppet at its centre. The next moment, Spirit Arrays began flashing all around, creating barriers to block the fallout of this event.
At the same time, Yang Kai felt invisible blades of wind cut at his body, even going so far as to create scraping noises.
[This…]
Yang Kai was dumbfounded!
Back in the Emperor Garden, when the humanoid puppet waved this giant stick, its movements were not nearly as smooth as the Stone Puppet’s just now. This tiny Stone Puppet’s body contained such immense power that it was hard to believe.
Yang Kai realized that this Stone Puppet was not as simple as he originally thought. It seemed that other than quenching and refining Artifact Refining ores, it had other untapped potential!
Last time, in the Corpse Cave, the Stone Puppet had suddenly grown larger and swallowed the Sun True Essence before keeping it inside its body for several days. Without it, Yang Kai would not have been able to take away the Sun’s True Essence.
This little guy was truly full of surprises.
“Good, good!” Yang Yan’s eyes filled with brilliant light as she waved at the Stone Puppet, “Go play outside, if you keep waving it around in here all the Spirit Arrays will get destroyed and I’ll have to fix them. It’s too troublesome.”
Receiving this command, the Stone Puppet stopped its movements immediately and the whirlwind which had formed quickly dissipated. Immediately, the Stone Puppet opened its big mouth wide and swallowed the Heaven Shaking Pillar into its belly before diving into the earth and disappearing.
When Yang Kai sensed it again, it had already moved a dozen kilometres away.
Realizing the potential of the Stone Puppet once more, Yang Kai was excited. The reason was simple, inside his Black Book Space, there was another Stone Puppet egg. Unfortunately, he had not found another Blood Essence Stone, otherwise, it would have been born as well.
Over the years, this Stone Puppet embryo had maintained its strong sense of vitality, showing no signs of dying.
“Here’s your shield. You need to be more careful next time. Although I can repair it once or twice, if it’s damaged so badly repeatedly, I’m afraid it will reach a point where it can no longer be fixed,” Yang Yan said while handing Yang Kai his Purple Shield.
Yang Yan didn’t actually care about the shield but seeing this Origin Grade High-Rank defensive artifact so badly damaged, it was conceivable how much danger Yang Kai had been in, so this was her way of indirectly caring about him.
Yang Kai understood this and did not say a word, simply nodding vigorously before accepting the shield. Examining it silently, he found that it was as good as new, without the slightest defect, and happily put it away.
“Show me that Array Plate again,” Yang Yan held out her hand to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai did not hesitate to take out the Array Plate and give it to her.
Yang Yan stared at the Array Plate for a while, probing and examining it seriously before tossing it back to Yang Kai, “This Spectral Cloud Array Plate is very powerful. I’ll teach you how to manipulate it properly so that you can maximize its power in the future.”
Yang Kai’s expression brightened slightly upon hearing this. Yang Yan deserved her reputation as a Spirit Array Grandmaster, a single glance and she was able to recognize the Spectral Cloud Array inside this Array Plate. If it were some other Array Master, such a feat would have been impossible.
Even if she boasted like she was first under the Heavens, Yang Kai would not doubt her at all.
Yang Yan stretched out a finger, condensing a white ball of light at its tip before pointing it towards Yang Kai’s forehead.
Yang Kai did not move, allowing her to do whatever she wanted. A moment later, Yang Kai felt a slight jolt as a stream of information flowed into his mind. After a brief investigation, he found that this Divine Sense package contained a variety of subtle yet profound descriptions about the Spectral Cloud Array, causing him to be overjoyed. Originally, he was going to ask Yang Yan about this Spirit Array, but now she had taken the initiative to teach him about it, saving him the effort.
However, after using this method, Yang Yan’s face became slightly pale, seemingly suffering from some overdraft.
“Alright, you can study it yourself. There is a lot of chaos outside right now with countless cultivators coming and going. There is also no shortage of powerful masters. Dragon Cave Mountain has been completely sealed up according to your instructions. We can use this time to deal with our own matters. En, right, I’ll need to bring you some things over the next few days that I need your help with refining.”
“Got it,” Yang Kai nodded gently, but as he saw her turn around, about to leave, after hesitating for a moment, he called out, “Yang Yan!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Is there nothing you can tell me?” Yang Kai looked at her with a faint smile.
“Not now, I will tell you when the time is right!” Yang Yan narrowed her eyes slightly, a complicated expression filling her face before she turned back, opened the barriers, and left.
Staring in the direction she left, Yang Kai smiled slightly. No matter what happened to Yang Yan, she did not have any malicious intentions and was still his friend just as before, which was all Yang Kai wanted. As for whatever secrets she was still holding onto, Yang Kai would not ask.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai set these matters aside and began comprehending the mysteries of the Spectral Cloud Array.
Two hours later, Yang Kai had mastered the operation of this Spirit Array. All that was left was to test it out in battle, but even now he could not help feeling slightly awed.
This Spectral Cloud Array was worthy of being a lost ancient Spirit Array. Arranging it alone was extremely difficult and required the ability to refine the clouds in the sky. Such methods were incredibly shocking, and Yang Kai was clearly unable to understand or use this Spirit Array’s full power.
Back in the Emperor Garden, no one was operating this Array Plate so it was only able to display a small portion of its might, allowing Yang Kai and the others to break through it and resulting in him picking up a bargain.
Now, with Yang Kai’s strength and understanding of the Spirit Array, he would be able to bring out about thirty to forty percent of this Spectral Cloud Array’s might, but that was enough for now. With this Array Plate, Yang Kai’s combat strength has risen dramatically, and as long as it was not a master on Qian Tong or Fei Zhi Tu’s level, Yang Kai estimated he would have no trouble dealing with them. Of course, if he wanted to kill such a powerful enemy, it would mainly depend on what kind of strength and means the other party had.
Under normal situations, Yang Kai was confident he could now kill a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master in one-on-one combat.
After dealing with the Array Plate, Yang Kai picked up a jade bottle in front of him.
What was contained in this jade bottle was none other than the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream obtained inside the Emperor Garden! However, if Yang Kai’s guess was correct, this was just a diluted version of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream.
In order to verify his conjecture, Yang Kai opened the jade bottle and took a big sip without any hesitation.
If someone were to see Yang Kai doing this, they would likely hurl curses at him for his family-ruining practices. Life Revitalizing Jade Cream could extend the life of a cultivator and enhance their vitality. It was nothing short of a magical elixir that could rejuvenate one’s youth, something extremely attractive to any Origin Returning Realm master. A single drop could extend a cultivator’s life by a hundred years, yet Yang Kai just drank a mouthful of it. This was nothing short of a careless waste of Heaven’s precious gifts.
The taste was pure and even somewhat sweet, as if it was the freshest spring water from a mountain stream, and after this liquid reached Yang Kai’s stomach, it immediately transformed into a wave of pure energy that began flowing through his veins.
Yang Kai carefully felt the changes going on inside his body while showing a joyful look upon his face.
He found that his own vitality and Blood Qi were rapidly being strengthened, with his blood showing faint signs of boiling over. Soon, this massive influx of vitality reached a kind of limit and no longer had any place to go, causing Yang Kai’s face to flush bright red and making him feel like he would explode and die in the next moment.
However, Yang Kai was not panicked at all and instead began silently cultivating, using his Saint Qi to gather the erupting vitality in his body together.
As this vital energy gathered, so too did Yang Kai’s blood, all of its components and essence coming together, as if attracted by some kind of inexplicable force.
Time passed by and after roughly half an hour, Yang Kai suddenly heard a soft dripping sound in the depths of the mind.
Frowning slightly, Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to investigate his body and was shocked and pleasantly surprised by what he discovered.
He found that a new drop of Golden Blood had been added to his body!
Not the kind of ordinary, dull golden blood that flowed through his vessels, but the pure, orthodox Golden Blood that could be cultivated into a Golden Blood Thread!
Not much of this Golden Blood currently existed in Yang Kai’s body. When he first came to Shadowed Star, he possessed more than ninety drops, but after all these years, using some of it in combat, feeding some of it to the Divine Tree, and using it for various other reasons, the number of drops of Golden Blood had decreased to about half that number.
And since Yang Kai knew that his Golden Blood was of great benefit to the Divine Tree, he had been giving it a drop every few months. This was quite an expensive price to pay, but the results were also quite astonishing.
Now that he had his Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique, each drop of Golden Blood could be cultivated into a Golden Thread, but even if Yang Kai refined every drop of Golden Blood he had left like this, he would still only possess a couple dozen or so, which was far fewer than he planned for.
Although Yang Kai could supplement this Golden Blood all on his own through cultivation, each drop of Golden Blood required three months of accumulation to condense. This was something Yang Kai verified a long time ago.
Yang Kai never imagined this Life Revitalizing Jade Cream would allow him to condense pure Golden Blood in his body.
However, this was not difficult to understand; after all, Life Revitalizing Jade Cream was one of the Three Great Divine Waters and was originally meant to enhance the vitality of a cultivator. Yang Kai’s Golden Blood was essentially an extremely condensed mass of vital energy.
Composing himself, Yang Kai continued circulating his Secret Art, refining the efficacy of this Life Revitalizing Jade Cream.
After another half an hour, a second drop of Golden Blood was formed.
It was not until after the third drop of Golden Blood took shape that the efficacy of the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream disappeared completely.
A small sip of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream allowed him to condense three drops of Golden Blood, so with the amount he had left, Yang Kai figured he could condense another thirty or so drops. This would almost completely make up for all these years of consumption.
Yang Kai was overjoyed and immediately began drinking the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream bit by bit, continually refining it into Golden Blood.
He did not feel it was wasteful in the slightest. Life Revitalizing Jade Cream may be a life-saving medicine for those masters who didn’t have long left to live, but for him, creating more Golden Blood from it was the best use possible.
After taking it like this though, Yang Kai was even more certain that the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream he obtained was just a diluted product. The real Life Revitalizing Jade Cream must have more powerful effects than this and was surely hidden somewhere inside the Emperor Garden!
Considering all this, Yang Kai’s blood began to boil. If he could really enter the Emperor Garden and obtain that pure Life Revitalizing Jade Cream, he would never again have to worry about having enough Golden Blood. In fact, it probably would not be a dream to replace all of his blood with this kind of pure Golden Blood.
With the powerful vitality and restorative abilities of this pure Golden Blood, even if Yang Kai became grievously injured, he would be able to recover rapidly.
After two days, the entire bottle of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream had been consumed clean, but Yang Kai still showed an unsatiated look. But unable to ask for more, he took out a piece of Space Spirit Crystal, closed his eyes, and began absorbing the Space Force contained within it.
Quickly, half a year passed by.
Over the past six months, Yang Kai did not take one step outside his cave mansion, only doing three things.
First was cultivating the Dao of Space by absorbing the Space Force contained within Space Spirit Crystals, and the second was refining more Golden Blood Threads inside his body. By now, he had several Golden Blood Threads. Because of his previous experience, he had become much faster at cultivating them.
The number of Golden Blood Threads had increased, but his combat strength had not grown much. The main reason for this was that Yang Kai only had the first half of the Demon Blood Temple Secret Technique. How to manipulate and combine these multiple Golden Blood Threads was likely hidden in the technique’s second half.
Yang Kai was not in a rush though, as long as Demon Blood Temple still existed, he would always have an opportunity to deal with this issue. Refining more Golden Blood Threads in advance is still beneficial.
The third thing Yang Kai attended to during this six-month retreat was promoting the fusion between the Coloured Glass Bead and his Demon Eye of Annihilation. After previously refining the Coloured Glass Bead, it had transformed into a hazy halo which encircled the Demon Eye of Annihilation. The two different entities had the same effect, but merging them together proved to be somewhat difficult. Now that he had some time, Yang Kai naturally focused on hurrying this process along.
In addition to these things, Yang Yan had brought him a number of strange looking items and had him pour his Space Force into them three times!
Not only did these things range in size from big to small, they had all kinds of shapes to them, making it impossible for Yang Kai to know what they were for. He had asked Yang Yan once about what these items’ purpose was, but the latter just grinned and refused to answer, only saying not to worry and just pour his Space Force into them.
Yang Kai shook his head helplessly. He had originally wondered why Yang Yan specifically said she would need his help refining some items, but now he understood, there really was no one else other than him who could do this.
In his spare time, Yang Kai also refined some pills.
After all, there were several dozen people on Dragon Cave Mountain, and they all required pills to assist in their cultivation. If they bought all their pills from the outside, the expense would be too great, so Yang Kai just instructed Wu Yi to purchase the appropriate herbs which he then refined himself, saving a large amount of Saint Crystals. This also allowed Yang Kai to practice and improve his Alchemy skills.
Over the past half a year Yang Kai refined many pills, but to avoid raising too much of a fuss, he intentionally only refined ordinary pills. Only occasionally would he refine one or two that had Pill Veins.
Yang Kai found that with the growth in his strength, his Alchemy technique had also improved greatly. It was no longer difficult for him to refine Origin Grade Mid-Rank pills and he figured that as soon as he broke through to the Origin Realm, he would be able to refine Origin Grade High-Rank pills.
The Artifact Spirit had also just recently woken up. This was its second time awakening as Yang Kai had allowed it to swallow another wisp of Sun’s True Fire after the first time. Counting the previous one, the Artifact Spirit had now devoured three wisps of Sun’s True Fire.
The burning aura of the Artifact Spirit was now more than twice as powerful as when Yang Kai first received it.
While Yang Kai busying himself, the Artifact Spirit used its power along with its Artifact Refining Furnace to refine the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead for him, saving Yang Kai some additional effort.
On this day, Yang Yan brought a bunch of miscellaneous items for Yang Kai to inject his Space Force into.
Yang Kai had no complaints and did what she asked.
As he was doing this, Yang Yan informed him about the developments in the situation outside.
Because Qian Tong regularly sent people to deliver news, Dragon Cave Mountain was aware of the changes in the outside world.
Shadow Moon Hall had issued an open invitation to all the masters of all the major forces on Shadowed Star to discuss the matter of the Emperor Garden. After some discussions, it was agreed that a group of fifty top level Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters would attempt to approach the Emperor Garden in search of a way inside.
Fifty masters set out, but only half returned.
The other half had fallen!
This happened almost four months ago. When Yang Kai heard about this, he nearly bit his tongue in surprise. After some inquiries, he learned that these fifty masters accidentally triggered some kind of profound Spirit Array and were immediately suppressed by a surge in Emperor Pressure, rendering them defenceless as the flourishing jade white hand transformed from World Energy crushed them to death one by one. The half who survived had only managed to escape using profound Secret Techniques or by causing their precious artifacts to self-destruct to free themselves, otherwise they would have all been wiped out!
Learning from this costly lesson, no one dared to approach the Emperor Garden again. Even a powerful lineup of fifty Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters had no way to reach the Emperor Garden, let alone others.
However, the great forces did not simply give up and instead left behind some people to monitor the movements of the Emperor Garden!
Everyone guessed that the Emperor Garden had not yet officially opened. This guess was not without reason though; because of the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s precedent. Ordinarily, the Flowing Flame Sand Field was extremely dangerous and anyone who tried to intrude would be killed; however, after it opened, Saint King Realm cultivators could enter and explore it.
It was impossible to verify this hypothesis, but it had gradually been accepted by most people.
The masters from the great forces naturally didn’t have time to simply sit here and wait for the Emperor Garden to open as they had their own business and problems to attend to, so they simply left behind some people to monitor the situation.
Unfortunately, Shadow Moon Hall suffered much hardship after this incident.
They had invited all the parties to explore the Emperor Garden together, which was done out of good intentions, but suddenly, more than twenty Third-Order masters had died, damaging nearly every great force on Shadowed Star. With no other place to vent, the blame naturally landed on Shadow Moon Hall’s head.
Shadow Moon Hall’s good intentions had only given them trouble in this instance. If one or two great forces had accused them, they would not have cared, but with more than twenty blaming them, Shadow Moon Hall had no choice but to handle things with caution.
In fact, this kind of unfounded accusation was completely unjustified; Shadow Moon Hall knew it and the other great forces knew it too.
But who made the Emperor Garden float above Shadow Moon Hall’s territory? Everyone feared that Shadow Moon Hall would reap all the benefits due to their proximity, but no one said it out loud, instead using this incident to raise a fuss.
After some arguing and bargaining, the great forces on Shadowed Star reached a consensus, which was, even if the Emperor Garden opened, the masters from Shadow Moon Hall couldn’t enter it in advance and had to wait for the other great forces to arrive, otherwise they would face universal condemnation.
Although the current situation of Shadow Moon Hall wasn’t akin to walking on thin ice, it clearly wasn’t in a very good situation either; after all, it had just experienced a serious internal power struggle and was in need of time to rest and recuperate, so faced with this unfair proposal, they had no choice but to acquiesce.
Currently, Heavenly Fate City was completely overcrowded as the number of people left here to monitor the Emperor Garden was quite significant. All the inns in Heavenly Fate City had no open rooms, their businesses literally bursting at the seams.
Even some small families in the surrounding area had begun hosting one or more delegations from the various great forces.
Where there were more people, there were inevitably more conflicts; after all, the great forces on Shadowed Star by no means had only harmonious relationships. There were various rivalries and grievances between each of these forces, so when they all gathered, disagreements and fights naturally broke out.
Almost every day, cultivators died, all while the host, Shadow Moon Hall, adopted a policy of non-interference. As long as these foreign forces didn’t interfere with Shadow Moon Hall’s interests, they were content to remain a neutral party.
Inside his cave mansion, Yang Kai poured his Space Force into the strange contraptions Yang Yan brought him while listening to her update him on the situation outside, asking a question or two, which she promptly answered.
As the two of them were conversing, Yang Yan’s expression suddenly changed and she quickly took out a communication artifact from her Space Ring, sent her Divine Sense into it, then shot a somewhat ambiguous look towards Yang Kai.
“What happened?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“Someone is looking for you,” Yang Yan smiled and said profoundly, “A special friend.”
“Special friend?” Yang Kai’s face turned black. There were very few people he knew on Shadowed Star and even fewer he could call friends, so Yang Yan saying someone was looking for him confused him greatly. Even after thinking about it for a moment, he could not think of anyone who would suddenly come to find him. On top of that, when Yang Yan said it was a ‘special friend’, her tone was clearly a bit strange.
“Who?” Yang Kai did not bother guessing and simply asked.
“Dai Yuan!” Yang Yan replied with a smile.
“Her…” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed. If it was someone else who had come, he would have unceremoniously declared that Dragon Cave Mountain was closed and refused to see them, but since it was Dai Yuan then it was a different matter. She had given him her Coloured Glass Bead, which Yang Kai had obtained great benefit from. Additionally, Yang Kai had no idea if Coloured Glass Sect had discovered any clues about the Stone Puppet digging a channel from Dai Yuan’s peak to the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain last time, so this was an opportunity to quietly probe Dai Yuan about this matter.
Considering all this, Yang Kai stood up and said, “I’ll go have a look.”
Saying so, he walked outside.
A moment later, Yang Kai arrived at the entrance to Dragon Cave Mountain, took out his control token and poured his Saint Qi into it, causing a mysterious light to be emitted from it and open a large path through the protective barrier.
But before Yang Kai could step outside, he heard many voices and couldn’t help feeling suspicious. Could Dai Yuan have come here with a group? However, when he listened to what the people outside were saying, his face sank and he quickly walked out.
Currently, Dai Yuan silently stood outside Dragon Cave Mountain. If one were simply to observe her from behind, they would think she was a peerless beauty whose mere figure was enough to enchant others, making them sink into an inextricable reverie.
However, once one saw her face from the front, they would not be able to associate her with the word beauty.
Dai Yuan maintained the same image as before, her face filled with scars and pustules, giving her an extremely ugly appearance which she stubbornly refused to cover up.
Beside her, a group of more than a dozen cultivators wearing matching robes and with various cultivations were unscrupulously showing their disgust, pointing at Dai Yuan while several women were snorting disdainfully towards her.
These women were not too beautiful, but compared with Dai Yuan’s face, all of them immediately appeared more attractive, causing them to feel a sense of superiority.
“Hey, this Young Master is talking to you! Are you deaf or mute woman?” The leader of this group shouted out to Dai Yuan.
Dai Yuan glanced over at him lightly but showed absolutely no intention of answering.
This blatant disregard immediately annoyed the leader of this group and he quickly sneered, “Damn woman, just speaking to you is giving you more face than you deserve. Don’t think that this Young Master doesn’t dare deal with you because you’re a woman. Although you are the epitome of ugliness, you’re still a woman. This Young Master has given you face, so don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”
Dai Yuan’s brow furrowed and a trace of disgust flashed across her face, but she quickly regained her calm.
Before, if she had heard such an insult leveled against her, she would lose control and attack. This was simply because her appearance was her reverse scale. But now, after Yang Kai helped detoxify her, her appearance had been restored, and she was just using her pockmarked face as a disguise. Even if this group of people’s words were unpleasant to hear, she didn’t let it get to her.
“Senior Brother Hai, don’t bother speaking any nonsense with her, just seize her directly. Clearly, she came here to find someone so she must know the people inside. We’ve been waiting here for a few days now yet the owner of this place has yet to appear. They’re clearly not putting us in their eyes,” Someone from the crowd called out impatiently, his face filled with eagerness to fight.
“Oh? And who exactly am I supposed to put in my eyes?” A slightly mocking voice suddenly called out from inside Dragon Cave Mountain. As these words were spoken, the fog-like barrier split open, revealing a young man.
“Yang Kai,” Dai Yuan wore a happy expression as she quickly called out to him.
“Sister Dai Yuan!” Yang Kai gently nodded to her before glancing over at the other group of people standing outside and asking lightly, “Are these people with you?”
Dai Yuan shook her head and said softly, “They’re from Sea Heart Sect.”
“Sea Heart Sect? Never heard of it,” Yang Kai spat disdainfully. Although he still wasn’t familiar with all the various big and small forces on Shadowed Star, he at least knew about all of the relatively powerful and influential ones so, since he hadn’t heard of this Sea Heart Sect, it showed that they weren’t an important influence.
On the contrary, Dai Yuan seemed to be incredibly well informed about such matters, allowing her to see through the origins of these people from their robes alone and quietly whisper, “It’s a force from the Limitless Ocean. It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it.”
“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai nodded. The Limitless Ocean was extremely far away from here, and if not for the Emperor Garden sudden appearance, they would definitely not have sent representatives here.
“Are you the owner of this place?” On the Sea Heart Sect’s side, their leader swept his eyes over Yang Kai and with some surprise.
“Yes, I’m the master of this place!” Yang Kai grinned.
“En, since you’re the owner of this place, then we can talk,” The cultivator saw Yang Kai’s cultivation wasn’t very high, only reaching the Third-Order Saint King Realm, and inevitably felt somewhat contemptuous, speaking with a smug, prideful look on his face, “We are Sea Heart Sect’s disciples from the Limitless Ocean. This mountain is now requisitioned by our Sea Heart Sect! Go back inside and tell your people to clean it up and make room for us.”
This man wore an aloof expression, as if he was instructing his subordinates to do things, speaking without a trace of politeness.
Dai Yuan heard this and could not help wearing a strange look on her face, turning back to Yang Kai, wondering if these people regarded Yang Kai as the patriarch of the small family attached to Shadow Moon Hall.
Yang Kai also had this conjecture. Although he did not understand what was going on when he first came out, he now had a rough guess.
Now that Heavenly Fate City was completely full, many foreign cultivators could not find places to lodge, and as a result, some small families nearby were becoming targets. To conveniently monitor any chances in the Emperor Garden, it was only natural to find a good location.
Dragon Cave Mountain was located almost directly below the Emperor Garden, so its location was excellent and many people had set their sights on it.
As a matter of fact, since a while ago, many cultivators belonging to various great forces had taken a fancy to Dragon Cave Mountain and tried to enter it, but the protective Spirit Array here was incredibly powerful and seeing this, most groups had simply given up.
Others knew that Dragon Cave Mountain’s owner was a young man capable of killing Origin Returning Realm masters and who had a good relationship with Qian Tong, so they naturally steered clear. However, Sea Heart Sect was based on the Limitless Ocean, so it was inevitable that they did not know such local information.
Dragon Cave Mountain had many internal secrets and was constantly shrouded by various powerful Spirit Arrays, so not to mention Sea Heart Sect, even if representatives of Heaven Battling Union or Thunder Typhoon Sect came, Yang Kai would not give this place up. On top of that, these people had come forward and declared that this place was now theirs, as if letting them living in Dragon Cave Mountain was an honour that couldn’t be refused, a fact that Yang Kai found both funny and infuriating.
Requisitioning Dragon Cave Mountain for themselves, this Sea Heart Sect’s tone was simply higher than the Heavens.
Understanding all this, Yang Kai’s eyes turned slightly before he let out a chuckle and cupped his fists, “So these friends are from Sea Heart Sect, this one has long admired your Sect’s resounding name.”
This flattering comment caused this group of Sea Heart Sect disciples’ pride to inflate even further, thinking that their Sect’s reputation was so great that it had even spread all the way to Shadow Moon Hall’s territory. Their leader puffed up his chest proudly as he glanced back confidently at his Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters before turning to Yang Kai and saying with a smile, “There’s no need to act so polite, since you know we are from Sea Heart Sect, quickly prepare a proper place for us to stay. For the dozen or so of us here, it matters not, but when our Martial Uncle arrives you must serve him well. Martial Uncle’s temper is a bit poor, so if you cannot satisfy him, you should know the consequences.”
Saying so, the threatening tone this man used was quite strong, as if providing insufficient entertainment would result in disaster for Dragon Cave Mountain.
“Oh? Your Sect’s Senior is not here yet?” Yang Kai raised his brow.
“Naturally, Martial Uncle is currently resting in Heavenly Fate City and has sent us out to find a more permanent place to stay. Since we have now found such a place though, I will send word to him!”
Saying so, the lead cultivator took out his own Sect’s communication artifact and poured his Divine Sense into it.
Yang Kai didn’t make any attempt to stop this man, instead just looking on with a smile. After waiting for this man to put away the communication artifact, Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly and began speaking, “It’s not a problem to host your honoured Sect here. Dragon Cave Mountain has many spare lofts, beautiful scenery, and rich World Energy, so it should meet your requirements.”
“Heh heh, from the looks of it, your little hill does have a good World Energy aura, why else would do you think we decided to wait here for a few days?” The leading cultivator shook his head for a while before boldly declaring, “With the strength of our Sea Heart Sect, any small family nearby would definitely welcome us to stay with them. En, little brat, your luck is quite good, although my Martial Uncle’s temper is somewhat bad, he is also quite generous. If you can please him during our stay here, you will receive plenty of benefits.”
“Is that so?” Yang Kai replied in an excited and overjoyed voice, asking quickly, “Then seeing how you’ve traveled so far, why not let little brother here prepare a grand banquet for you all to help you recover from your fatigue?”
“Good, seems you know what you should do. It does not matter to us whether you arrange anything, but be sure to not disappoint Martial Uncle, his taste is very refined so if what you serve displeases him there will be consequences!” Seeing how using his Martial Uncle’s name was so effective, this cultivator immediately began making veiled threats and demands as such.
“Yes, yes!” Yang Kai nodded repeatedly, “Yes, dare I ask this friend, does your honoured Senior have any other interests or preferences?”
“Other interests?” The Sea Heart Sect cultivator raised his brow and smiled knowingly, “You mean…”
“Heh heh!” Yang Kai laughed meaningfully, as if he was a master of flattery and groveling.
Standing off to the side, Dai Yuan watched this whole scene in dumbfounded silence. She had never known that Yang Kai had such a side. She knew Yang Kai was mocking these people, but the other party was clearly unaware and only thought he was cowering before them, making for quite a funny dynamic.
“Good, good, good. Boy, you’re quite thoughtful,” The lead cultivator laughed, leaning in and whispering a few frivolous words to him.
Yang Kai raised his brow and nodded firmly, “Alright, such a matter is easy to handle. Dragon Cave Mountain may not have much to offer, but we do have many beautiful women.”
As soon as he spoke these words, the male Sea Heart Sect disciples showed joyful looks, their leader nodding, “Very good, but before allowing Martial Uncle to see them, I should first inspect these women of yours so as to avoid disappointing him.”
“Very good!” Yang Kai thumped his chest before quickly grabbing Dai Yuan’s arm and pulling her over, “Please take a look friend, how about this girl?”
Dai Yuan’s face immediately filled with shame and anger as she shot a vicious look towards Yang Kai. Although she did not hear what Yang Kai and this man had been whispering just now, seeing the loose look on both of their faces, how could she not understand what they were discussing?
Although she had now truly restored her stunningly beautiful appearance, she was still annoyed at being pulled into this farce by Yang Kai.
All of the Sea Heart Sect cultivators froze up as they stared at Dai Yuan. The smile on their leader’s face quickly collapsing as a cold light flashed across his eyes, “Boy, what kind of joke are you making? Can that thing even be counted as a woman?”
Dai Yuan’s pretty face grew colder!
“I’m not joking at all!” Yang Kai smiled lightly, “This young lady possesses peerless grace and talent, a true Heaven-blessed beauty, can’t you see?”
Hearing this, Dai Yuan’s eyes revealed even more anger, but on the contrary, her heart filled with happiness.
Others didn’t know her true face hidden behind her ugly visage, but Yang Kai was perfectly clear about it, so when he spoke these words, he had done so in a completely heartfelt manner, the smile on his face filled with sincerity.
“You don’t have any other women here?” The lead Sea Heart Sect cultivator asked hesitantly.
“We do have some, but they’re a bit inferior to her,” Yang Kai shook his head.
The Sea Heart Sect disciples froze up, their leader now feeling that something was wrong, his expression turning gloomy as he snapped, “Little brat, are you serious?”
“Do I look like I’m being serious?” Yang Kai’s mouth curled up into a grin as he stared back at this man.
Realizing that Yang Kai had been mocking him all along, with all the previous flattery and worship nothing but a show, this man roared angrily, “Boy, you court death!”
Saying so, he grabbed towards Yang Kai ruthlessly.
This man’s cultivation was also at the Third-Order Saint King Realm and he was an elite disciple of Sea Heart Sect, so he did not put someone like Yang Kai in his eyes.
As he grabbed towards Yang Kai, Saint Qi condensed on this man’s palm, causing the surrounding World Energy to twist fiercely and transform into a giant blue palm that was seemingly condensed from pure water.
Sea Heart Sect was based on the Limitless Ocean so its disciples naturally cultivated Water Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skills, taking advantage of their geographical location to obtain twice the results with half the effort.
This giant blue palm of water covered Yang Kai and Dai Yuan in an instant.
But in the next instant, a golden radiance suddenly flashed, seemingly cutting through the sky and, in the blink of an eye, the giant blue palm burst apart, as if it were a fragile bubble.
The lead Sea Heart Sect cultivator was overwhelmed and unconsciously shouted in alarm as he pushed his Divine Sense to activate an artifact.
The moment they clashed, this man found that Yang Kai was a little different from other Saint King Realm cultivators he had dealt with before and he quickly put away his contempt and urged the power of his artifact.
Suddenly, the golden light which had just appeared condensed into a thread and shot towards him.
This man’s reaction was not slow. Waving his hand, he sent out a burst of energy to intercept the golden thread, but unfortunately for him this thread seemed to have a mind of its own and easily avoided all his attacks before swiftly winding itself around him.
Feeling a deadly threat from this Golden Thread, the cultivator’s forehead instantly oozed cold sweat and he did not dare to move, simply screaming out “Stop!”
The Sea Heart Sect disciples behind him who were about to attack hurriedly withdrew their Saint Qi when they heard this shout, all of them staring blankly at the scene in front of them.
This Senior Brother Hai was the strongest Saint King in Sea Heart Sect. Normally, when sparring with his fellow Sect Brothers and Sisters, no one was his opponent. The Sect Master and Elders all lavishly praised him while his Juniors worshiped him with great respect.
But now, a young cultivator in the same realm from some small hill had easily managed to subdue their Senior Brother Hai Zhen.
The other Sea Heart Sect disciples stared at this scene in disbelief but quickly found that they were not seeing things. Their awe-inspiring Senior Brother Hai had indeed been entangled by some kind of golden thread; his life was no longer even his to control.
With Yang Kai’s current methods, handling a cultivator in the same realm was as easy as waving his hand.
With a slight snort, Yang Kai brought the captured Hai Zhen before him, raised his hand, and slapped him across the face.
*Pa…*
A crisp slapping sound rang out as Hai Zhen’s face twisted to the side and a mouthful of blood and some broken teeth flew out, his cheeks also visibly swelling up.
Seemingly stunned by this slap, it took quite a while before Hai Zhen recovered from his daze.
Yang Kai waved his hand, as if he were disgusted at being made to touch something unclean as he stared at Hai Zhen lightly and asked, “Do you know why I slapped you?”
Hai Zhen shook his head subconsciously.
*Pa…*
Another resounding slap rang out, causing Hai Zhen’s cheeks to swell further.
Yang Kai snorted louder and declared, “Because you had eyes but failed to see!”
Hai Zhen suddenly recovered and began nodding repeatedly, “Yes, yes, this Hai had eyes but failed to see and offended Your Excellency. Please show mercy, Your Excellency!”
“Heh heh!” Yang Kai chuckled lightly before lifting his hand and slapping Hai Zhen again, his expression remaining completely indifferent as he snapped, “Wrong, try again!”
After three slaps, even though Yang Kai hadn’t used extreme measures, Hai Zhen still felt dizzy, his eyes seeing stars, and his nose and mouth were dripping blood as he shouted, “This Hai did not know his place and coveted Your Excellency’s property!”
“Wrong!” Yang Kai slapped him again.
By now, the dozen or so Sea Heart Sect disciples were completely dumbfounded while Hai Zhen felt dead inside. Yang Kai said he had eyes but failed to see, so his first thoughts were obviously about the two issues he had just mentioned, but the only response to his apology was another slap. Regardless of how he thought, he could not think of what other mistake he had made while this whole time he was being helplessly suppressed by Yang Kai’s Golden Thread. Worse, this disgraceful scene was playing out right in front of his Junior Brothers’ and Junior Sisters’ eyes; after this was over, what face would he have left in Sea Heart Sect?
As his thoughts churned quickly, whether by luck or coincidence, Hai Zhen’s wits finally kicked in and he quickly shot a glance over towards Dai Yuan as he shouted, “This Hai’s eyes were blind and were unable to see this young lady’s Heaven-defying beauty and grace!”
When Dai Yuan heard this, her face inevitably turned slightly red. Although the other party wholeheartedly did not believe the words he just spoke, it still made her feel somewhat bashful.
Yang Kai raised his brow and grinned, “Good, good. it seems your two eyes aren’t completely useless after all. If they had failed to see again, I would have had to dig them out!”
Hai Zhen dripped cold sweat. Although he felt so disgusted he wanted to die, he still vigorously praised Dai Yuan as a world destroying beauty, as if her ugly pockmarked face was the most radiant continence he had ever seen, weaving words of adulation most would find difficult to even conceive of.
Listening to all these, even Yang Kai felt his skin crawl slightly.
“Yang Kai!” Dai Yuan stomped her feet, unable to bear this situation any longer. Although she knew Yang Kai was just looking for excuses to punish this man, hearing all this false praise was quite awkward for her.
“I know,” Yang Kai gently nodded, but just as he was about to release Hai Zhen, he suddenly frowned and turned his eyes towards the sky.
In the direction he was staring, a streak of light was quickly approaching this place. Before this person arrived, their Divine Sense swept the area and after seeing what was happening, a great shout rang out, “Who dares to shame my disciple!”
This voice was filled with anger and a trace of force even impacted Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea when he heard it.
Yang Kai just coldly snorted, condensing his Spiritual Energy to offset this shockwave.
Hearing this voice, Hai Zhen, who was still entangled by the Golden Thread, was overjoyed, and shouted, “Martial Uncle, save me!”
From this cry, Yang Kai immediately understood that the person approaching must be the Origin Returning Realm Elder from Sea Heart Sect he had been hearing about. Heavenly Fate City was only a few dozen kilometres away from Dragon Cave Mountain, so with a message being sent a short time ago, it was not strange for this master to arrive so quickly.
However, Yang Kai was not afraid; in fact, he had been waiting for this Origin Returning Realm master to arrive so he could settle this issue once and for all.
Staring in the direction of the approaching man, a strange smile appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he condensed an invisible blade of Spiritual Energy from his Knowledge Sea and shot it towards the other side.
Since the other party wanted to use their Divine Sense to attack him, Yang Kai naturally felt it rude to not return the gesture.
The streak of light which was rapidly approaching suddenly staggered and a low shout rang. Trembling slightly, the light streak surrounding the approaching master trembled and seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Although the one who was coming was a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master, under Yang Kai’s Divine Sense attack, he had still suffered a small loss and now had a suspicious look on his face, no longer rampantly approaching Dragon Cave Mountain but instead doing so vigilantly.
He had just received a message from one of his Sect’s disciples that they had found a good place to stay and the owner had submissively welcomed them. He had just thought it was a small family and had flown over with great interest, but the sight which greeted him was an embarrassing scene.
In the blink of an eye, the Origin Returning Realm master from Sea Heart Sect arrived at Dragon Cave Mountain and revealed his figure.
Yang Kai glanced at him and found that this man gave off a powerful image, if not an imposing one. He had a sturdy build and long red hair, accompanied by a somewhat flat nose and concave eyes. This man had a fierce and somewhat malicious look about him overall.
Sweeping his eyes over the scene in front of him, this newcomer’s eyes shrank, and anger filled his heart.
Although strong dragons don’t challenge local snakes, his Sea Heart Sect was considered a strong force on Shadowed Star so, after travelling so far just to witness his disciple in such a miserable state, he immediately questioned angrily, “Boy, what’s the meaning of this?”
When he said this, he stared straight at Yang Kai, a cold, coercive light flashing across his eyes.
Although he had suffered a small loss just now, when he discovered Yang Kai’s true cultivation, he was not afraid, subconsciously believing this boy had used something like a powerful artifact to achieve the last strike he made. With his Origin Realm cultivation, dealing with a mere Saint King was child’s play, all he needed to do was use his Shi to suppress the other party.
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai grinned at him, seemingly not caring in the slightest about his coercion, remaining calm and relaxed.
“Why did you attack my disciple?” The red-haired cultivator asked sharply.
“Why?” Yang Kai smiled lightly and glanced over at Hai Zhen whose face was black and blue, swollen all over, “Your Excellency, why not just ask your disciple to explain?”
The red-haired cultivator frowned before glaring fiercely at his disciple, quickly snapping, “Tell me what the hell happened here. If you were the one who wronged him first, don’t blame this old master for not involving himself; however, if it was others who first shamed you, although my Sea Heart Sect’s base is in the Limitless Ocean, we are not some soft persimmon that anyone can pinch.”
These words were spoken quite meaningfully, and when Hai Zhen heard them, his eyes quickly lit up and he immediately wore a despondent expression, leaking tears and snot as he cried out, “Martial Uncle must see, we were simply following your instructions to find a suitable place to lodge when we came across this place. I wanted to have a polite discussion with the owner of this place to negotiate an appropriate price to rent some rooms here, but how could I have known these people would act so unreasonably? Without any provocation, he suddenly attacked. Caught off guard, Disciple was captured by this scoundrel and then humiliated by him, forced to speak words contrary to my beliefs and convictions, causing me such great shame I can only wish for death! I beg Martial Uncle to seek justice for me!”
Yang Kai stared at Hai Zhen in amazement, discovering for the first time that this man really had no sense of shame. With his miserable appearance and the forlorn tone he cried out in, it was as if he had suffered unimaginable shame and torment.
Although Yang Kai was angered by this farce, his expression remained calm and only a light sneer appeared on his face.
The red-haired old man heard this and the cold light in his eyes became more profound, asking in the next moment, “Did you inform him you were all disciples of Sea Heart Sect?”
“Yes, disciple made sure to state our origins, but he didn’t put our Sea Heart Sect in his eyes at all,” Hai Zhen replied with a sad face, continuing to speak a stream of slander and embellishment, thinking that now that his Martial Uncle was here, he was perfectly safe.
“Great!” The red-haired old man took a deep breath before suddenly turning his eyes to Yang Kai, questioning aggressively, “Little brat, do you have anything to say?”
“Naturally not,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, his expression somewhat strange, “Your Sea Heart Sect’s Secret Arts and Martial Skills don’t seem to be worth much, but your ability to speak nonsense and reverse black and white is truly impressive!”
“Little brat, you dare to insult my Sea Heart Sect!?” The red-haired old man was infuriated and almost could not stop himself from immediately attacking. Although he understood that any force which was situated so close to Heavenly Fate City must have some connection to Shadow Moon Hall, with the latter being suppressed on all sides by Shadowed Star’s great forces, he figured that if he taught this boy a lesson, it wouldn’t raise any fuss. According to his estimations, Shadow Moon Hall would not make things difficult for his Sea Heart Sect for a few unimportant people.
Even if he used this opportunity to seize this Dragon Cave Mountain, presumably Shadow Moon Hall would remain silent.
“Bringing contempt upon oneself yet trying to blame others?” Yang Kai coldly snorted as he turned to stare at Hai Zhen and said, “Do you think I don’t dare to kill you?”
“Ah?” Hai Zhen noticed murderous intent in Yang Kai’s eyes and his expression changed dramatically.
“Little brat, you dare!” The red-haired old man also felt something was wrong and quickly released his Shi to enveloped Yang Kai, trying to limit his movements and save his disciple.
Yang Kai simply shot this old man a contemptuous glance before clenching his fist, causing his Golden Thread to flicker and a faint slicing noise to ring out, his actions as swift as the wind, not affected by the red-haired old man’s Shi at all.
Demon Blood Temple’s Secret Technique could cut through Shi, so the Golden Blood used by Yang Kai, which was a more powerful variant, naturally had such ability as well. How could the red-haired old man possibly hinder it?
The Golden Thread cut into Hai Zhen’s body a dozen times in an instant, after which Yang Kai withdrew it, allowing Hai Zhen to stand on his own in a daze, unable to figure out what had just happened.
However, in the next moment, his face changed dramatically as he looked down at his body and found thin lines of blood flowing out from all over it. This blood continued flowing out steadily until all of a sudden it burst forth like a fountain.
With a clatter, as if a mirror had been broken, Hai Zhen collapsed to the ground in dozens of pieces of minced meat.
A bloody smell filled the air and witnessing this horrifying scene caused the dozen or so other Sea Heart Sect disciples to go pale, with a few of the more timid women turning away and vomiting.
The red-haired old man’s eyes instantly bulged as he stared at Yang Kai in disbelief. It seemed he had never imagined this little brat would act so decisively and ruthlessly.
As for Yang Kai, at first, he didn’t intend on killing these people, only wanting to teach them a harsh lesson to deter others from having ideas about Dragon Cave Mountain, but the way the situation developed, with Hai Zhen and this red-haired old man so blatantly confusing right and wrong, Yang Kai’s murderous intent had been roused.
As such, Yang Kai could not be bothered trying to negotiate a settlement here. A trivial force from the Limitless Ocean was nothing he needed to take seriously.
After the tragic death of Hai Zhen, the red-haired old man was naturally livid, his fiery hair blowing outwards despite there being no wind as his murderous intent soared to the Heavens. Gritting his teeth, he called out menacingly, “Little brat, this old master will make you pay for this in blood!”
The one who died just now was Sea Heart Sect’s top disciple, making the loss quite significant. This red-haired old man had been ordered to remain near Heavenly Fate City to monitor the movements of the Emperor Garden and Hai Zhen had been left in his care so the latter could gain some life experience here; however, before being able to accomplish anything significant Hai Zhen had been tragically killed. After returning to the Sect, this old man would suffer severe punishment.
After all, Hai Zhen was a direct descendant of the Sect’s Great Elder!
“Daring to act dissolute in my Dragon Cave Mountain? None of you will leave here alive!” Yang Kai’s expression became stern as murderous intent burst from his body. Killing one or killing a dozen made no difference to him, but the deterrent from killing everyone here would clearly be stronger, making it less likely others would try to ‘requisition’ Dragon Cave Mountain in the future.
“Oh, it’s so lively here!” Just as Yang Kai and the red-haired old man were about to act, a voice filled with surprise called out from afar and soon after two streams of light quickly appeared on the horizon. At the same time, two powerful Divine Senses belonging to Origin Returning Realm masters swept the area.
Realizing the strength of the approaching party, the red-haired old man’s expression became gloomy and he glanced over.
Yang Kai raised his brow, revealing a surprised but somewhat understanding look.
“Senior Brother, Senior Brother Yang seems to be fighting with someone,” After the first voice called out, a second, melodious female voice followed up.
“En, Senior Brother noticed, but I really wonder which blind fool actually dared come to provoke Dragon Cave Mountain. Too interesting.” The male voice quipped, seemingly taking pleasure in another’s misfortune. The red-haired man heard this and could not help feeling his heart clench. Was there some reason this Dragon Cave Mountain should not be provoked?
Wasn’t this place just some small family force attached to Shadow Moon Hall? The red-haired old man frowned. He was no fool though, so he immediately withdrew his murderous intent while putting on a solemn expression.
A moment later, the two streams of light had flown over and as their glow faded, two figures appeared.
One of these figures was an imposing and heroic-looking young man with sharp eyes. Being stared at by this young man, the red-haired old man could not help feeling chills shoot up his spine, causing the unease in his heart to grow stronger. Beside this young man was a beautiful young woman who stood shoulder to shoulder with him, the two of them looking very intimate. Obviously, these two shared an uncommon relationship.
After the newly arrived young woman’s pair of beautiful eyes looked around, she revealed a curious look.
Upon seeing Dai Yuan standing behind Yang Kai though, this young woman called out in pleasant surprise, “Big Sister Dai Yuan, you’re here too!”
“Xuan’er!” Dai Yuan returned the smile.
“Brother Wei!” Yang Kai laughed as he cupped his fists to the young man. The ones who had come were amongst the few friends Yang Kai had made on Shadowed Star. They were Shadow Moon Hall’s top disciples, Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er.
“Brother Yang, long time no see!” Wei Gu Chang replied spiritedly.
“En, it’s been a few years since we last met, but I didn’t expect Brother Wei and Sister Dong would already have broken through to the Origin Returning Realm. Congratulations!” Yang Kai sincerely said.
After returning from the Flowing Flame Sand Field last time, Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er had entered secluded retreat in order to prepare to break through to the Origin Returning Realm. Now that Yang Kai was meeting them again, it was obvious these two had successfully arrived at the realm.
And from the momentum and Saint Qi fluctuations being emitted by these two, their cultivations had obviously been completely consolidated, otherwise, they would not have come out from Shadow Moon Hall like this.
Dai Yuan had also told Yang Kai she would be entering secluded retreat to prepare for her own breakthrough to the Origin realm, but for some reason, she had now appeared here. Recalling this, Yang Kai shot a glance over towards Dai Yuan but found that she was simply holding hands with Dong Xuan’er and chatting intimately. Because they were whispering, he wasn’t able to hear what they were saying. Dai Yuan’s face was clearly blushing as Dong Xuan’er smiled brightly and cast her eyes towards Yang Kai.
All of them, however, were completely ignoring the red-haired old man and the other Sea Heart Sect disciples as if they were nothing but air.
Receiving such treatment, the red-haired old man naturally became livid, but after observing Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er for a while and recalling how Yang Kai had addressed these two, his complexion changed slightly and he solemnly cupped his fists, “May I be so bold as to ask, is Your Excellency Shadow Moon Hall’s Wei Gu Chang?”
Hearing this, Wei Gu Chang glanced over and nodded lightly, “En, it is this Wei. What advice does Senior have?”
Although in terms of age, Wei Gu Chang was much younger than the red-haired old man, because their cultivations were the same, he didn’t need to act too polite so he only responded flatly.
“I wouldn’t dare!” The red-haired old man was stunned. Wei Gu Chang might have only recently broken through to the Origin Returning Realm, but if one were to ignore that, his name had become famous across Shadowed Star. With Wei Gu Chang’s aptitude and talent, he would no doubt become one of the dominant characters of Shadowed Star in the future!
Offending him now would definitely lead to trouble in the future.
After determining that the young man he was dealing with was Wei Gu Chang, how could the red-haired old man dare act dissolute? Just from the previous chatter he witnessed, the red-haired old man could tell that Wei Gu Chang and this boy who owned Dragon Cave Mountain were quite close. Realizing this, the red-haired old man knew it was impossible for him to avenge his disciple’s death, but simply choking down this insult made him incredibly uncomfortable, not to mention the damage that withdrawing here would cause to Sea Heart Sect’s dignity.
For a moment, the old man hesitated, uncertain of how he should proceed.
At the same time, he was violently cursing to himself. If not for Hai Zhen having eyes but failing to see and provoking such a person, how could he have been put in this awkward situation? If the one who had killed Hai Zhen was from some small family force, the old man wouldn’t have any scruples in killing the offender.
But now, there was essentially no hope for revenge, and whether he himself could withdraw from this situation unharmed was no longer in his hands.
“Brother Yang, what happened here? Why are there so many people gathered around?” Wei Gu Chang asked, “Is there going to be a fight? This Wei just broke through recently and hasn’t had an opportunity to test out his new strength. If you have such an opportunity available, why not allow me to take it?”
Wei Gu Chang’s remarks only caused the red-haired old man’s expression to become uglier.
“Haha,” Yang Kai laughed, “It’s no big deal, just some people coming here to requisition my Dragon Cave Mountain.”
“Requisition?” Wei Gu Chang raised his brow, a deep sneer appearing on his face, “Such boldness! Who are these people who want to take over this treasured land? I think they should first ask this Wei for his opinion.”
Saying so, Wei Gu Chang turned his eyes to glare at the red-haired old man, making no effort to hide his malicious intent.
The red-haired old man was startled by how rapidly the situation was deteriorating, but understanding what needed to be done, he quickly cupped his fists and said, “Nephew Wei misunderstands, this old man’s disciple simply misspoke before. There are no problems here, everything is just a misunderstanding!”
This old man knew when to advance and when to retreat, speaking such words without any sign of distress or resentment on his face. It was as if he didn’t care at all that his Sect’s top disciple had just been killed in front of him.
“A misunderstanding?” Wei Gu Chang, however, wasn’t prepared to just let things end here and swiftly pointed to the broken corpse on the ground, “This misunderstanding seems to be a bit big, how else could someone have died here?”
The red-haired old man’s eyes shrank and his face began twitching slightly as he said, “Nephew Wei may rest assured, that blind fool’s death isn’t worth pitying. This old master will have his disciples clean up this place so as not to stain this treasured land.”
Wei Gu Chang’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the red-haired old man, and only after a long silence did he chuckle and turned back to Yang Kai, “Brother Yang, what do you think?”
“Since it’s all a misunderstanding, there’s no need to take things any further; however, such a misunderstanding better not happen again, otherwise, there might be undesirable consequences,” Yang Kai stared at the red-haired old man with a smile.
“This old master will take Your Excellency’s words to heart and properly educate his disciples in the future,” The red-haired old man nodded. Seeing Wei Gu Chang and Yang Kai not show any intentions of further discussion, the old man instructed his disciples to clean up Hai Zhen’s remains before all of them cupped their fists and departed quickly.
Looking at this group’s disappearing backs, Wei Gu Chang frowned and muttered, “Brother Yang, be careful of this fox. Someone capable of enduring such humiliation will not give up so easily.”
“I know, I’ll deal with it when the time comes,” Yang Kai grinned, not caring about this incident in the slightest.
“This Wei didn’t intend to stop Brother Yang from acting just now, but you should know Shadow Moon Hall’s current situation. If some people were to use the conflict that sparked here as an excuse to make trouble for Shadow Moon Hall…”
“I know, Brother Wei doesn’t need to worry,” Yang Kai certainly understood what he meant. In fact, if Wei Gu Chang hadn’t arrived just now, Yang Kai would have certainly slaughtered everyone from Sea Heart Sect, even if he knew doing so would cause problems for Shadow Moon Hall. Any small conflict right now would certainly be blown up into a big conflict with all the great forces around engaging in shadowy intrigue. But since Wei Gu Chang had come and inserted himself into the matter, Yang Kai had to sell him some face.
“Enough about this, please come in first,” Yang Kai chuckled, waving his hand to open a channel in Dragon Cave Mountain’s barrier before leading Wei Gu Chang and the others inside.
As soon as they stepped inside and felt the rich World Energy aura around them, Wei Gu Chang could not help taking a deep breath and praised liberally, “Brother Yang, your Dragon Cave Mountain is truly an amazing place. The World Energy concentration here is so high that it’s comparable to best locations in Shadow Moon Hall atop the Earth Vein intersections.”
“Brother Wei is too polite. Dragon Cave Mountain’s territory and population are so small, how can they be compared with Shadow Moon Hall? The aura here is just right for helping a few dozen people cultivate.”
“The scenery here is also good. Senior Brother and I often talk about coming here to relax for a few days, I don’t know if Brother Yang would welcome us, though,” Dong Xuan’er pursed her lips and smiled.
“Haha!” Yang Kai laughed heartily, “Was that a subtle hint from Sister Xuan’er? If you were to come, how could I reject you? Dragon Cave Mountain’s doors will always be open to you.”
Dong Xuan’er heard this and her pretty face couldn’t help blushing slightly, spitting out her tongue playfully to cover her embarrassment in the next moment.
Just as Dong Xuan’er was feeling slightly awkward, she suddenly saw something and couldn’t help calling out in surprise.
Wei Gu Chang also spotted this strange phenomenon and asked curiously, “Brother Yang, you actually have a sapient tree here?”
What they saw was obviously the Yang Attribute Divine Tree. The Divine Tree had been living on Dragon Cave Mountain since Yang Kai brought it out from his Black Book Space, and although it didn’t possess traditional limbs, moving about wasn’t an issue for it. As a result, sometimes it would migrate from place to place, taking root in different locations to enjoy different sceneries. Using its roots as legs, the Divine Tree was able to walk around at a moderate pace and was currently in the middle moving.
On the thick trunk of the Divine Tree, there was a withered face, and although it was quite a weathered, old-looking face, its features were very distinct.
This was a clear sign it had gained a high degree of sapience.
Seemingly hearing these voices, the Divine Tree paused and looked over, rustling its leaves for a moment before extending two branches from its canopy over to Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan.
Held by these branches was a golden yellow fruit that gave off a lovely fragrance. The old face on the Divine Tree’s trunk smiled amiably as it offered these gifts.
“This…” Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan glanced at each other, both showing surprised looks, but soon reached out and accepted these fruits and offered their thanks.
Yang Kai was also extremely surprised by this scene. It was the first time he saw the Divine Tree doing such a thing, and while he was shocked inside, he was also extremely happy. It seemed the Divine Tree’s sapience was becoming more and more complete, which in turn indicated its evolution was going well.
After the Divine Tree sent out these two fruits, it continued its walk by slowly moving its roots forward.
Wei Gu Chang failed to stifle his laughter as he commented, “This sapient tree actually discriminates between men and women? Why do these two get a gift but I don’t?”
As soon as this remark came out, everyone burst into laughter.
In the end, this was just a minor interlude. Although the Divine Tree’s fruits weren’t anything special, since it was the first time Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan had received a gift like this, they naturally treasured it.
Yang Kai soon shook his head and continued leading this group of people forward.
At the same time, outside Dragon Cave Mountain, the Sea Heart Sect group, led by the red-haired old man, all wore extremely gloomy looks on their faces. They had thought that with the arrival of their Martial Uncle, they would be able to avenge the death of Hai Zhen, but things had turned out far differently from their expectations. Suffering such humiliation, all of them were naturally quite unhappy and the atmosphere around them was clearly quite depressing.
Suddenly, another Origin Returning Realm master appeared in front of them, rousing the red-haired old man’s anger. He had humbled himself in front of Wei Gu Chang, not daring to act presumptuous, but how could he not be upset now that someone dared block his path all of a sudden without so much as a word?
If he hadn’t noticed that this newcomer had no malicious intent, the red-haired old man might have directly attacked in his anger.
“What important matter does this friend have to go so far as to bar our way?” The red-haired old man forcefully held down his anger and asked in a cold tone.
“Please be at ease, Brother Cui, I’m a friend, not an enemy,” The man smiled slightly.
“You know my origins?” The red-haired old man heard this newcomer address him by his surname and could not help becoming somewhat vigilant.
Of course, this issue extends to groups and gangs as well. You can also see this in drama shows.]
“En, although Sea Heart Sect is situated far away on the Limitless Ocean, it is not a weak Sect, so this one has heard a thing or two about it. On top of that, in Sea Heart Sect, there is only one Elder with fiery red hair, so naturally I knew you were Brother Cui,” The cultivator in front of the Sea Heart Sect group explained in a calm and relaxed manner.
After hearing such compliments, the red-haired old man’s look eased, but he did not relax his guard and continued to ask, “And who are you?”
“My surname is Xie!” The man smiled profoundly.
“Surnamed Xie? What business do you have with me?” The red-haired old man frowned.
The cultivator surnamed Xie’s brow wrinkled slightly, but after thinking about it for a moment, he tentatively asked, “Brother Cui has travelled far to come here. How many days has it been since you arrived?”
“It’s only been three days, but what does that have to do with you?” The red-haired old man was confused by the seemingly erratic line of questioning the other party was following. This man was not explaining himself clearly, or even giving his full name, making him seem all the more suspicious. This, in turn, caused the red-haired old man to become somewhat impatient.
“So that’s how it is. Presumably, Brother Cui didn’t carefully investigate the various forces located around Heavenly Fate City yet, yes?” The cultivator surnamed Xie seemed to understand something and smiled lightly.
The red-haired old man coldly snorted, “What of it? Speak clearly damn it!”
The man surnamed Xie chuckled, “Please forgive me, Brother Cui, but it now makes sense why your disciples actually went and pulled the tiger’s whiskers atop Dragon Cave Mountain.”
“Pulled the tiger’s whiskers?” The red-haired old man narrowed his eyes, “Atop that small hill? Are they worthy?”
The man surnamed Xie said lightly, “If this Xie told Brother Cui that the owner of that hill has a close relationship with Elder Qian Tong, is rumoured to have ties to City Lord Fei Zhi Tu, and killed a First-Order Origin Realm cultivator with his own hands, would Brother Cui continue looking down on him?”
“What?” The red-haired old man suddenly paled, his expression becoming somewhat hesitant as he muttered, “Are you serious?”
“This Xie doesn’t need to lie to you.”
“Even so, that brat killed my Sect’s top disciple! He must pay for this with his own blood!” The red-haired old man tried to put up a strong front while secretly feeling anxious inside. Although the information this man surnamed Xie just gave him was very worrying, there was no way for him to not seek revenge with things having reached this point.
If he could not achieve this, there was no way he could return to Sea Heart Sect.
“Haha! This Xie was hoping Brother Cui would have such sentiment,” The man surnamed Xie laughed as a sharp glow flashed across his eyes, “I’ll be honest with Brother Cui, the Origin Realm master who died at that brat’s hands was from my Xie Family, so we have an absolutely irreconcilable grudge with that brat!”
“Oh?” The red-haired old man raised his brow in surprise, seemingly understanding something all of a sudden as he swept his eyes over the cultivator in front of him and hesitantly asked, “In Shadow Moon Hall, there is a Deacon named Xie Li. Could Your Excellency be…”
“Xie Li is my cousin!” The man surnamed Xie smiled lightly.
Hearing this, the red-haired old man was overjoyed and did not dare continue acting in a standoff manner, cupping his fists politely and bowing, “So it is Brother Xie, this Cui has been disrespectful.”
“Pay it no mind!” The cultivator surnamed Xie waved his hand carelessly, continuing intimately, “Might I assume Brother Cui has been tasked with monitoring the movements of the Emperor Garden along with your disciples and is currently searching for a place to stay nearby? If so, why not come to my Xie Family’s residence? Although my Xie Family is not a big family, we still have plenty of well-tended courtyards that I’m sure we can make available.”
“That sounds great! Then we’ll be imposing on your honoured family,” The red-haired old man smiled happily. He had been worried that he would not be able to find a good place to settle down nearby, but now someone had actually come to invite him into their home. On top of that, it seemed that this new host of his had a profound resentment with the boy who owned Dragon Cave Mountain. As someone who shared a common enemy, it was natural for this man surnamed Xie to reach out to them; after all, the enemy of one’s enemy was their friend. Although the red-haired old man also understood that this man surnamed Xie was trying to take advantage of them, he did not particularly care.
“Brother Cui is too polite; you and your disciples are more than welcome at my Xie Family. Let us talk while we walk, this one has always been interested in visiting the Limitless Ocean but has never had a chance to go. Perhaps Brother Cui has some interesting stories he could tell,” The cultivator surnamed Xie invited.
“Please!” The red-haired old man politely nodded before leading the dozen or so Sea Heart Sect disciples towards the Xie Family residence.
The man surname Xie was quite an elegant speaker and chatted fluidly with the red-haired old man along the way, weaving a web of stirring stories while expressing just the right amount of interest and longing for the scenes of the Limitless Ocean, immediately making the red-haired old man open up to him as if they were old friends.
After chatting for a while, the red-haired old man started to inquire about Yang Kai. After learning that he truly had Qian Tong’s backing, his face could not help becoming slightly gloomy. If this was really the case, the difficulty of seeking revenge definitely wouldn’t be small.
Moreover, the Xie Family was also a peripheral force related to Shadow Moon Hall. Would blatantly acting hostile towards the Dragon Cave Mountain be an issue as well?
Seemingly realizing the concerns in this red-haired old man’s heart, the cultivator surnamed Xie immediately told him that Shadow Moon Hall had decided to not intervene in the grievances between the Xie Family and Dragon Cave Mountain. This news greatly heartened the red-haired old man and he felt that deciding to go to the Xie Family was the right decision more and more. As long as Shadow Moon Hall didn’t interfere with the Xie Family and his Sea Heart Sect’s strengths combined, wouldn’t it be easy to destroy a small hill?
Thinking this way, the red-haired old man could almost imagine the scene of him shredding Yang Kai’s corpse into ten thousand pieces.
……
Meanwhile, on Dragon Cave Mountain, inside a relatively large loft, Yang Kai welcomed Wei Gu Chang and the others. After everyone had taken their seats, Wu Yi personally brought out a few plates of spirit fruits and served them fragrant tea before respectfully withdrawing.
“Brother Yang, please accept this Wei and Xuan’er’s sincerest gratitude!”
To Yang Kai’s surprise, Wei Gu Chang suddenly stood up again and bowed deeply to him along with Dong Xuan’er.
“Brother Wei, what is this for?” Yang Kai was stunned and quickly got up to hold them up.
Wei Gu Chang grinned, “This Wei has lived his entire life never humbling himself to anyone from Shadowed Star’s younger generation. Even Qu Chang Feng and Fang Tian Zhong are not worthy of having this Wei bow. Brother Yang, you are the first and the only one I sincerely admire.”
Yang Kai frowned for a moment but quickly understood why Wei Gu Chang was acting so solemnly here and hurriedly waved his hand, “Brother Wei need not do this. Rescuing Elder Qian recently had little to do with me. The specific process must have been explained to you by Elder Qian so you should know I simply followed City Lord Fei around the Emperor Garden. In the end, if City Lord Fei and the others had not accidentally triggered that ancient restriction, perhaps I would still be trapped back there.”
“Perhaps, but I know for a fact that if not for Brother Yang, Cai He and Du Si Si would definitely have died inside that place. If those two had fallen inside the Emperor Garden, their families would resent my Shadow Moon Hall so, regardless of anything else, I and Xuan’er should thank you.”
Hearing him go this far, Yang Kai did not try to argue any more as doing so would only make him appear insincere. On the other hand, when Dai Yuan heard this conversation, she could not help turning a surprised look towards Yang Kai, seemingly never having expected him to have already entered the Emperor Garden.
“I only regret that Xuan’er and I were both consolidating our cultivation at that time and were unaware of the outside situation. If not for us accidentally hearing some people gossiping about this matter after we went out, we might still have been ignorant of these events,” Wei Gu Chang’s face flashed a low-spirited look. Although he was not Qian Tong’s direct disciple, but rather the Sect Master’s, after so many years of receiving his favour, Qian Tong held no less weight in Wei Gu Chang’s heart. Learning that Qian Tong had fallen into danger yet knowing he had not done anything to help made Wei Gu Chang feel a deep sense of guilt every time he thought about it.
“The Seniors of Shadow Moon Hall were only acting out of concern for both of you. So soon after you two broke through to the Origin Returning Realm, before you even had time to consolidate your cultivations, how could they possibly tell you such news and risk disturbing your state of mind? Enough about this though, Brother Wei. Might I ask why you’ve come to visit all of a sudden?” Yang Kai quickly changed the subject when he noticed the atmosphere turning gloomy.
“It’s nothing important really. We’re just here to deliver an invitation,” Wei Gu Chang chuckled as he nodded to Dong Xuan’er.
The latter understood and quickly withdrew a golden invitation from her Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai.
“An invitation you say? Could it be an invitation to Brother Wei and Sister Xuan’er’s most important celebration?” Yang Kai chuckled as he asked meaningfully.
Dong Xuan’er immediately blushed brightly, spat out her tongue, and ran over to Dai Yuan’s side, seemingly too embarrassed to continue this conversation.
Wei Gu Chang, on the other hand, wore a big grin and said, “Unfortunately not, but there will certainly be a chance in the future. When that day comes, Brother Yang will, of course, receive an invitation. The invitation we’re here to deliver today still isn’t something an ordinary person can obtain, mind you.”
Yang Kai raised his brow slightly and looked down only to mutter in surprise, “Treasure Trove Pavilion?”
“Yes, it is an invitation from Treasure Trove Pavilion,” Wei Gu Chang returned to his seat and took a sip of the fragrant tea before slowly explaining, “This invitation is to Treasure Trove Pavilion’s upcoming auction; does Brother Yang have any interest in participating?”
Yang Kai did not answer immediately. The last time he had participated in the Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction, his gains were not small and he was also somewhat interested in this upcoming event, but he didn’t think it was necessary to go either. Rather, he was wondering why Treasure Trove Pavilion had suddenly decided to hold an auction and what implications this action had.
“Oh, they’re hosting it in Heavenly Fate City again?” Yang Kai was even more surprised now. According to what he knew about Treasure Trove Pavilion, they were the biggest merchant and commercial alliance on Shadowed Star, focused on doing business to accumulate Saint Crystals. Their auctions were held once every few years to a decade, but each time the location would change as they rotated through the major cities in the various great force’s territories.
It had only been a few years since the last auction was held, yet they were planning to host another, and in Heavenly Fate City, no less. Obviously, this was breaking with their previous practices. According to precedence, it should be at least another hundred years before this grand auction was held in Heavenly Fate City again.
“Naturally, it’s going to be held in Heavenly Fate City. All the great forces on Shadowed Star have their attention focused here because of the appearance of the Emperor Garden, so if Treasure Trove Pavilion chose Heavenly Fate City as the location to host its auction, no one would disagree,” Wei Gu Chang chuckled.
Hearing this explanation, Yang Kai nodded in agreement. The cultivators gathered in Heavenly Fate City were more numerous than the hairs on an ox, with all forces big and small being represented. Taking advantage of this opportunity to hold a grand auction was a natural move.
Moreover, although the Emperor Garden had indeed appeared, it was temporarily impossible for anyone to enter it and no one knew when it would open, so many cultivators were already planning ahead and trying to find ways to enhance their strength. When the Emperor Garden opened, they all hoped to rush inside to obtain a rich cup of soup. Under these circumstances, an auction would surely attract a lot of guests.
After all, when Treasure Trove Pavilion was taking advantage of the Flowing Flame Sand Field opening last time, their auction had been a massive success, so obviously, Treasure Trove Pavilion was hoping for a repeat performance.
As for why Treasure Trove Pavilion would specifically send him an invitation, it was not difficult to guess.
After all, in the auction a few years ago, all the final auction items had been brought by Yang Kai. Others may not know this information, but Treasure Trove Pavilion certainly did. Not to mention, with the financial resources shown by Dragon Cave Mountain, they were completely qualified to participate in this auction.
“This invitation was personally made by Senior Yan Pei, who gave it to Elder Qian, who in turn ordered us to deliver to you. If Brother Yang has the time, you should participate,” Wei Gu Chang laughed.
Hearing that this invitation was from Yan Pei himself, Yang Kai immediately recalled a somewhat sinister-looking old man and asked, “Could it be that Senior Yan specially asking you to deliver this invitation was because it’s not just an invitation? Is there something else as well?”
Wei Gu Chang scratched his cheek and shook his head with a wry smile, “Xuan’er, I told you Brother Yang was too smart and even if we didn’t mention it, he would certainly realize.”
Dong Xuan’er also smiled bitterly.
Yang Kai looked at Wei Gu Chang and said, “Brother Wei, just say it, you and I are not strangers.”
Wei Gu Chang hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Senior Yan did give me another message to pass along, but I wasn’t planning on mentioning it. However, since Brother Yang has asked, I will just say that Senior Yan hoped you could provide a few items for the auction’s finale!”
“Final auction items?” Yang Kai parroted with a stunned voice before sneering wryly, “What does he think this place is, an inexhaustible treasure-trove? How could I possibly have so many final-auction-worthy items?”
Wei Gu Chang shrugged helplessly. This was truly what Yan Pei had requested, and if not for Elder Qian and Yan Pei having a good relationship, Wei Gu Chang would not have come to deliver such a message, so he simply said, “I’ll report back to Elder Qian that you have no more treasures here.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded. In truth, this place really was filled with a great many incredible treasures, any of which could be used as a final item in the upcoming grand auction. Even if he did not take out one of these precious treasures, all Yang Kai would need to do was ask Yang Yan to refine a few Origin Grade High-Rank artifacts so he could fulfil the requirement.
The Emperor Garden had appeared, so presumably, Origin Grade High-Rank artifacts would be highly sought after.
However, Yang Kai understood the truth of great wealth inviting criticism. The few items he had casually brought out last time had stirred up an incredibly heated competition between all Shadowed Star’s top forces. If he were to do so again, he would attract unwanted attention.
He did not even allow Yang Yan to sell her artifacts without permission, so how could he do something as foolish as exposing his true wealth?
“However, Brother Yang, you really should participate in this auction as there may be some good things you’d like to obtain,” Wei Gu Chang laughed heartily before saying, “The following pages of the invitation in your hand list some of the more precious items that are being auctioned.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai heard this and suddenly found himself somewhat interested. Flipping through the invitation, Yang Kai soon found that what Wei Gu Chang said was right. These pages were filled with exquisite pictures and descriptions of some of the most valuable items being auctioned.
There were good artifacts, pills that could increase one’s cultivation, powerful Secret Techniques, and rare and valuable materials.
Yang Kai browsed through these items one by one and was secretly surprised by Treasure Trove Pavilion’s ability. This great force was worthy of being the biggest commercial alliance on Shadowed Star. It had only been a few years since the last grand auction, yet they had already managed to collect so many treasures. This really made one wonder where they had acquired all these treasures.
Unfortunately, although there were indeed many good things listed on this invitation, nothing really caught Yang Kai’s eyes. It was not a problem of value or rarity; it was simply that Yang Kai had no use for any of these things. Whether it was artifacts, pills, or Secret Techniques, he already had more than enough, so naturally, he felt disinterested in this auction.
However, when he arrived at the last page and saw the treasure which was listed there, his expression suddenly changed as he stared at the picture fixedly, a trace of surprise and joy flashing across the depths of his eyes.
Although this change of expression happened extremely quickly, Yang Kai still failed to conceal it from the others present. Seeing this, Wei Gu Chang chuckled, “It looks like Brother Yang really found something good that he currently needs.”
“I have indeed. I never expected Treasure Trove Pavilion to even be able to take out this kind of treasure!” Yang Kai openly declared as he did not feel the need to conceal this fact in front of the people present. Carefully putting away the auction invitation, he asked, “When will this auction start?”
“A month from now, and the location is the same as last time. Has Brother Yang decided to go?”
“Such a grand event naturally shouldn’t be missed!” Yang Kai chuckled and nodded.
“Then, this Wei will look forward to seeing you there,” Wei Gu Chang also showed a happy expression. In any case, he had to attend this auction, so he naturally felt it was better to have like-minded friends to accompany him.
Next, Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er had a long chat with Yang Kai.
After all, none of them had seen each other since they entered retreat to break through. Only a few years had passed and Yang Kai was now a Third-Order Saint King, likely not far away from breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm as well. Both Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er had just finished crossing this stage and were not stingy with explaining their experiences, allowing both Yang Kai and Dai Yuan to benefit greatly.
Especially Dai Yuan, who listened with extreme interest while asking a few questions about particular details she didn’t immediately understand. Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er patiently answered any questions Dai Yuan and Yang Kai asked, not concealing anything.
Half a day later, the two Senior Brother and Junior Sister took their leave. Before setting off though, Dong Xuan’er invited Dai Yuan to come to Shadow Moon Hall for a time, the latter naturally agreeing.
After the Shadow Moon Hall pair left, Yang Kai turned to Dai Yuan with a smile.
The latter, however, shot him an angry glare as her ugly facial features suddenly distorted. In the next moment, a completely different face appeared in front of Yang Kai.
Creamy white skin with gentle crescent eyebrows, eyes that shimmered like stars, a dainty nose, and fine red lips. It was not an exaggeration to describe her as a Heavenly beauty.
This abrupt change in appearance stunned Yang Kai. Dai Yuan gently brushed her hair back behind her ear and demurely chuckled, “Does Junior Brother Yang think this look is more appealing?”
Yang Kai put on a serious look and shook his head, saying, “One’s external appearance is inconsequential, whether one is ugly or beautiful is an inherent trait that is gifted by their parents. What is most important is internal and intrinsic.”
Dai Yuan was deeply stunned and was preparing to nod in agreement when Yang Kai suddenly declared solemnly, “But you’re not wrong that your current look is more appealing; after all, everyone loves beauty.”
Dai Yuan was instantly filled with indignation as she shot a wicked glare at Yang Kai, her peerless face distorting once again and being replaced by the former pockmarked ugly continence.
Just now, she had felt deeply touched by Yang Kai’s words, but he had gone and ruined that sentiment completely before she could even digest them properly.
Yang Kai lightly coughed, knowing he had severely annoyed Dai Yuan and quickly changed the subject, “Right, Sister Dai Yuan coming here so suddenly, do you need my help with something?”
“What? Do you think I only come here when I need something from you? Could it be that I cannot just come here to say hello? Am I not welcomed here?” Dai Yuan snorted as she continued glaring at Yang Kai.
“That’s certainly not what I meant,” Yang Kai knew he had once again misspoken and suddenly found himself at a loss for what to say.
However, Dai Yuan soon grinned and said, “I’m kidding. Do you think you are the only one who can make fun of me? To be honest, I really did come here to ask for your help.”
Yang Kai’s look finally relaxed and he quickly declared, “If I can be of help, Sister Dai Yuan only needs to ask.”
Dai Yuan nodded and spoke frankly, “I need an Origin Condensing Pill!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai showed a look of understanding.
Dai Yuan still explained though, “Originally I was planning on breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm after a long secluded retreat, but now that the Emperor Garden has appeared, I cannot afford to wait that long, so I need an Origin Condensing Pill to assist me. This shouldn’t be a problem for Junior Brother Yang, should it?”
“Naturally,” Yang Kai smiled confidently. Him being an Alchemist was a secret only known to three people on Shadowed Star, Wu Yi, Yang Yan, and Dai Yuan. The first two knew for obvious reasons while the latter knew because Yang Kai had used his Alchemy skills to help detoxify her.
With Yang Kai’s current methods, refining a trivial Origin Condensing Pill required little effort.
Dai Yuan wore a delighted smile and said, “I have all the materials ready. I’ll be troubling Junior Brother Yang.”
Saying so, Dai Yuan took out several sets of herbs necessary for refining an Origin Condensing Pill from her Space Ring. Yang Kai nodded and accepted the herbs before quickly saying, “Rest here for today, I’ll bring you your Origin Condensing Pill by tomorrow.”
“En,” Dai Yuan nodded happily.
Refining an Origin Condensing Pill was truly a simple matter for Yang Kai, only requiring an incense stick worth of time to complete, but he still said he would bring it to Dai Yuan tomorrow personally.
Dai Yuan had no objections and gave her thanks.
Chatting for a while longer, Dai Yuan informed Yang Kai that there were many people stationed in Heavenly Fate City from Coloured Glass Sect to monitor the changes in the Emperor Garden, and that her Junior Sister Yin Su Die was among them.
Yin Su Die, like Wei Gu Chang, had successfully broken through to the Origin Realm, but she had only done so recently and was still in the process of consolidating her cultivation. It also seemed that she had ill intentions towards Yang Kai, which Dai Yuan thoughtfully warned him about.
Hearing this, Yang Kai wore a strange look upon his face as he tapped the table with his finger, immediately concluding that Yin Su Die had concealed the matter about their fight and even him killing a Coloured Glass Sect disciple when he last left Coloured Glass Sect.
This was good news for Yang Kai. Yin Su Die willingly covering up that incident was something he was happy to learn.
Then, however, Dai Yuan seemingly casually mentioned the accident that had befallen Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain, causing a bit of cold sweat to drip down Yang Kai’s back as he faced a meaningful stare from this woman.
Fortunately, she did not seem to have any interest in continuing this topic, just mentioning it before moving on.
After finally managing to take his leave, Yang Kai stood in front of his cave mansion with a contemplative look upon his face.
Yang Yan mysteriously appeared beside him a moment later, frowning as she said, “From her tone, it seems she knows something.”
“En, others might not be clear, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know; after all, the Stone Puppet entered Coloured Glass Mountain from her Thousand Illusion Peak. Although I concealed the tunnel it dug, she might have discovered something if she investigated carefully. Moreover, since she cultivates that Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, she may have been able to learn something from examining Coloured Glass Mountain itself,” Yang Kai postulated.
Although he did not know what the truth was, he was fairly certain about his speculations. The reason why Dai Yuan knew there was something wrong inside Coloured Glass Mountain was largely in part due to her practising that particular Secret Art.