As everyone scanned with their Divine Sense, the Monster Beast, which appeared like a wild pig, also noticed them and instantly turned around to glare at them with its scarlet eyes.
The pig then immediately used its four hooves to propel its gigantic body so swiftly that a wild gust was whipped up. Filled with killing intent, the beast charged at the group.
“Xia Sheng, I’ll leave this Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig to you,” Gao Xue Ting announced in a calm tone.
“Then… this disciple shall go!” Xia Sheng also adopted a serious expression upon hearing this, kicking off the ground and charging towards the Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig.
He understood that Gao Xue Ting wanted him to have a fight against this Monster Beast so that she could explain in more detail, so he didn’t refuse.
The human and beast instantly drew within a hundred metres of each other.
However, Xia Sheng suddenly stopped and lowered his waist slightly as he stood where he was in a solid stance. With one hand in front of his chest, he palmed forward and shouted, “Chaos Origin Palm!”
Xia Sheng didn’t know if the Monster Beasts in this world had the same combat strength as those in the outside world, which was why he used a Secret Technique right from the start. He didn’t underestimate the Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig one bit just because it was only peak Tenth-Order.
“En, because we entered this world with only our Soul Avatars, a majority of the Secret Techniques and Secret Arts that we usually cultivate have no effect here!” Gao Xue Ting’s words suddenly rang in everyone’s ears.
Everyone nodded lightly in understanding.
Meanwhile, Xia Sheng’s expression changed slightly because when he used his Secret Technique, nothing happened at all apart from him making a pose for nothing.
When he heard Gao Xue Ting’s words, he instantly realized that he had made a major mistake. In just the blink of an eye, the Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig had closed to within ten metres of Xia Sheng.
Still, Xia Sheng didn’t panic from the danger and instead stretched out his hand to summon his artifact while shouting, “Don’t be so arrogant, you beast! Die!”
Gao Xue Ting once again spoke up at this moment, “Artifacts are also unusable because normal artifacts require Source Qi and a physical body to utilize.”
Right as she finished saying this, Xia Sheng shouted, “Oh crap…”
As he shouted, he instantly started running towards Gao Xue Ting while shouting in a panic, “Elder Gao, save me!”
Gao Xue Ting glanced at him coldly and chuckled in a cold tone, “You’re going too far with your acting. Although this Queen knows that you’re doing this because you want the others to better understand the wonders of this world… are you trying to insult your own intelligence or your Junior Brothers and Junior Sister’s intelligence? Hurry and kill it already!”
“As you command!” When Xia Sheng heard this he immediately turned around, waving his hand as he summoned a longsword artifact into it. This artifact emanated a strong Spiritual Energy fluctuation and was clearly a Soul-type artifact!
Xia Sheng poured his Spiritual Energy into the artifact before slicing at the Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig.
He didn’t use any extravagant technique or assume some elegant posture, he simply used his strength for a simple and direct hit.
His sword flashed as a howl of pain arose.
Energy furiously shot in all directions.
The Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig was directly sliced in half by the sword. Due to the momentum, the pig’s gigantic body still charged forward for a short distance before it suddenly collapsed on the ground.
Xia Sheng put away his sword and stood straight with an icy and cool expression upon his face.
There was no blood, nor was there any smell or gore. The Scarlet-Eyed Evil Pig simply laid there quietly on the ground as its body gradually vanished in front of everyone’s eyes. It seemed that it was transforming into energy that was vanishing into this land.
Meanwhile, at the location where half of its corpse had already vanished was a slightly yellow ball of light that was about the size of a pea.
Everyone couldn’t help but stare with astonishment. When they scanned with their Divine Senses, Yang Kai and the others’ expressions all couldn’t help but flicker.
That was because they discovered that this pea-sized yellow ball of light actually contained extremely pure Spiritual Energy which didn’t seem to possess any taint at all. It was almost unimaginably pure.
“This is a Soul Source!” Gao Xue Ting explained, “In this world, every living being has its own Soul Source, and if they are killed, their Soul Source will remain, allowing us to easily absorb it and strengthen our Souls.”
As she spoke, Xia Sheng was already dashing over as fast as he could towards the Soul Source as he then reached out for it.
It seemed rather strange, but when he held the Soul Source, it actually melded into his hand and merged with his body.
Xia Sheng immediately closed his eyes and showed an expression of great comfort. Sometime later, he opened his eyes again and shouted, “That was great!”
Gao Xue Ting calmly continued, “According to my calculations, a Soul Source like that is probably worth seven to eight days of cultivation in the outside world for all of you.”
Yang Kai and the others’ eyes all lit up upon hearing this!
A peak of Tenth-Order Monster Beast’s Soul Source dropped from its death was already so beneficial for them, so if it was an Eleventh-Order Monster Beast’s Soul Source… wouldn’t that be equivalent to a month or two worth of dedicated cultivation?
If one Soul Source helped so much, then ten would be equal to a year’s worth of effort, and one hundred Soul Sources would be equal to a hundred years’ worth!
One hundred years’ worth of hard work cultivating and increasing the strength of one’s Soul only required the Soul Sources of one hundred Eleventh-Order Monster Beasts? This seemed almost unimaginable.
“Don’t get too excited!” Gao Xue Ting poured some cold water on everyone at this moment. “Although these living beings will leave behind extremely pure Soul Sources after death, and these Soul Sources are easy for us to absorb, they’re still a type of foreign power rather than what you would gain from personal cultivation. This means that if you feel anything off in your own body, you must stop absorbing more, otherwise, your consciousness might become chaotic with unimaginable consequences!”
Everyone’s expressions calmed down as they realized that this type of absorption wasn’t limitless, it simply hadn’t been obvious.
“Of course, if you can find a Soul Jade, things will be different,” Gao Xue Ting spoke up once again.
“Soul Jade?” Yang Kai looked at her with an expression saying that he didn’t understand. The others all had similar expressions.
“That’s an object only produced in this world that is formed from the purest Spiritual Energy, and its appearance is similar to a type of jade. A Soul Jade can truly be absorbed without any worry! No problems will occur no matter how many of these you absorb!” Gao Xue Ting explained. “This Queen has entered this world a total of four times, but even up until now, I’ve only obtained one Mid-Rank Soul Jade. Even in this world, Soul Jades are extremely rare.”
After they heard this, everyone instantly understood that finding a Soul Jade depended more on luck than hard work.
“Apart from that, there’s also something called Soul Crystals in this world. Although Soul Crystals sound similar in name to Soul Jades, they’re completely different things.” Gao Xue Ting did her best to explain in as much detail as possible so that the newcomers to this world would have a better understanding. “You can think of Soul Crystals as the equivalent of Source Crystals on our side… Soul Crystals are the currency of this world and although they can also be used to cultivate, their efficiency isn’t very good!”
“Disciple understands,” Xia Sheng and the others nodded with serious expressions.
“This wondrous world has countless mysterious products, the majority of which are tremendously helpful for the Soul. You’ll naturally understand if you have the opportunity to encounter them,” Gao Xue Ting looked around and spoke in a calm tone, “Also, thanks to Xia Sheng’s fight just now, you should be able to tell that only Soul-type artifacts and Soul Secret Techniques can be used here! When entering the Divine Ascension Mirror, it is impossible to bring most of the items on our physical bodies; however, anything related to the Soul can pass through without a problem. All of you should check your belongings and ascertain what you have that you can use, so that you’re not caught unprepared by a powerful enemy!”
Everyone immediately started to check themselves after she spoke.
Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to scan himself and immediately found the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield that Gao Xue Ting had previously given him.
This was a Soul-type artifact, so it was only natural that it could enter the Divine Ascension Mirror World. Yang Kai only had to use a thought to activate it, causing a solid seeming layer of purple light to appear around his current body.
However, apart from this Soul-type artifact that could obviously be brought along with him, Yang Kai actually discovered some items that he never would have expected.
“The Soul Warming Lotus…” Yang Kai had a speechless expression as he looked over a certain part within his body where a seven coloured lotus bloomed. He thought to himself, [Although the Soul Warming Lotus isn’t an artifact, it’s related to the Soul, and it’s always been in my Knowledge Sea, so it’s natural that it was brought along, but…]
[Why did these guys also come along?]
Yang Kai was referring to the Soul Devouring Insects that he obtained long ago in Tong Xuan Realm.
He had obtained these Soul Devouring Insects many years ago, and due to his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea’s special attribute, he wasn’t afraid of these Exotic Ancient Insects and had even borrowed the Soul Warming Lotus’s effect to tame them and make them fight for him.
The Soul Devouring Insects had been kept in the Soul Warming Lotus’s illusionary seven-coloured island over all these years and they had become even stronger thanks to the Soul Warming Lotus’s nourishment.
Most critically, last time, outside Maplewood City, when Yang Kai underwent his Demon Transformation, the Soul Devouring Insects had rampaged once and at that time madly devoured the ancient demon’s Demon Qi in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea. The insects’ appearance changed greatly back then, becoming pitch-black, all of them giving off a feeling of wickedness and violence. It was obvious that they wouldn’t be good to antagonize.
At this moment, these countless Soul Devouring Insects had also come here together with the Soul Warming Lotus and were residing atop the Soul Warming Lotus as they were nourished within Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar.
Yang Kai’s face couldn’t help but darken when he found the Soul Devouring Insects.
This couldn’t be helped…
If these guys were exposed, Gao Xue Ting would likely soon connect them to the ancient demon, because Yang Kai had fought against Gao Xue Ting while in his demon form outside of Maplewood City. An Emperor like Gao Xue Ting would of course remember such a unique power.
It might even be that Gao Xue Ting would recognize Yang Kai as the demon from that day! Yang Kai really wouldn’t be able to explain himself if that happened…
After thinking of this, Yang Kai secretly resolved that no matter what, he couldn’t allow these Soul Devouring Insects to appear in front of Gao Xue Ting. Otherwise, the consequences would be dire!
After he finished checking the Soul Warming Lotus and Soul Devouring Insects, Yang Kai then saw something else in his Soul Avatar – something that he never expected to see.
“This thing… is also a Soul-type artifact? I never knew!”
Yang Kai was referring to a sword, a certain blade that he hadn’t finished refining, and in fact, hadn’t even used.
He never expected that it would enter the Divine Ascension Mirror and follow his Soul Avatar here!
This discovery shocked Yang Kai as well as gave him a pleasant surprise since he had possessed this blade for many years already. Now that he had this blade at his side, perhaps it would have some miraculous effect in a time of danger.
Although Yang Kai was thinking many things in his mind, his expression remained calm.
Gao Xue Ting glanced at him and inspected the defensive prowess of his Purple Sun Profound Light Shield, nodding slightly at what she saw.
She had given this artifact to Yang Kai not long ago, so it was already quite something that he had refined it to the point where he could control it as he pleased in such a short period of time.
After a while, Gao Xue Ting saw that everyone was just about finished with their self-inspections, so she mentioned, “Now I will be taking you all to a certain place. It’s the norm for the temple’s disciples to train at this place every time we enter this world. You all must obediently stay there and train. You absolutely cannot run around!”
“Yes!” Everyone responded in unison.
However, Xia Sheng acutely noticed something as he looked at Gao Xue Ting with suspicion, “Elder Gao, you’re not coming with us?”
Her words made it sound like Gao Xue Ting was only in charge of bringing everyone there, and that she wouldn’t actually stay with them.
Gao Xue Ting shook her head, “I have something else to do; however, you guys can rest assured that the training location isn’t too dangerous. As long as you guys behave, there won’t be any major problems.”
“Understood,” Xia Sheng nodded with a serious expression, “Elder Gao, please rest assured as well, as long as Disciple is here, he will ensure everyone’s safety.”
Gao Xue Ting glanced at him with a look of some praise and waved her pretty hand, “Let’s go!”
As she spoke, she flew off towards a certain direction.
Everyone hurried to follow her.
As they travelled, they would occasionally meet some Monster Beasts blocking the way. Whenever this happened, Gao Xue Ting would have one member of the disciples go down to fight and get accustomed to their own condition as well as the special traits of the living beings here.
The Dao Source Realm disciples were all elites among elites and could naturally adapt quite easily. One day later, everyone had almost completely lost their original sense of discomfort and were able to fight freely.
In general, their Soul Avatars could not display as much power as when they were in their physical bodies and they also had far fewer techniques they could use against their enemies.
This couldn’t be helped as they were currently lacking physical bodies and their normal artifacts. They were also unable to use most of their Secret Techniques when they fought and could only rely on Soul-type artifacts or pure Spiritual Energy attacks.
Thus, most fights in the Divine Ascension Mirror were simple and direct, without any overly fancy or complex techniques.
Yang Kai’s unusualness really showed itself here.
When outside, others would only pay attention to his cultivation, and to experts, a First-Order Dao Source Realm wasn’t even worth mentioning.
However, Yang Kai seemed to be rather different from everyone else in this world that Soul Avatars reigned over.
His Soul Avatar’s strength even faintly surpassed that of Xia Sheng’s, not to mention Xiao Bai Yi, Murong Xiao Xiao, and Chen Mu Ji.
Yang Kai was originally the one with the lowest cultivation level amongst them, but upon entering the Divine Ascension Mirror, he actually became the strongest and… it was impossible for him to conceal this fact.
This obvious contrast really astonished the others and they all became quite curious about just how he had cultivated his Spiritual Energy and how he managed to cultivate his own Soul to such a degree.
However, since they weren’t from the same Sect, they couldn’t really ask something like this as it was treading upon his personal secrets.
Even Gao Xue Ting couldn’t help but show some astonishment.
One day later, everyone saw a wide mountain range that extended beyond the horizon.
Gao Xue Ting had everyone stop at the foot of the mountains.
“These are the Heavenly Monster Mountains of the Divine Ascension Mirror World. There are countless Monster Beasts inside here, and you can feel free to hunt them once you enter and obtain Soul Sources to improve your Souls. However, this Queen must remind you all that there are some Monster Beasts within the Heavenly Monster Mountains that even this Queen cannot afford to antagonize. Thus, you shouldn’t enter too deeply into the mountains. As long as you remain in the outskirts… roughly 20,000 kilometres or so from here, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
Everyone’s expressions couldn’t help but become serious as they nodded to show that they understood what she meant.
“The Heavenly Monster Mountains doesn’t only have Monster Beasts, there are also some cultivators from the Divine Ascension Mirror within. If you see them… try not to interact with them; however, if you do come into contact, don’t reveal any information about the outside world. This is very important! Of course, apart from these, there are also the Soul Jades, Soul Crystals, and so on that I mentioned to you before… The Mid-Rank Soul Jade that this Queen obtained before was from the Heavenly Monster Mountains.”
Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up as they all began to roll up their sleeves.
“Also, our Soul Avatar cannot leave our physical bodies for too long, otherwise some unforeseeable consequences might occur. That is why you are limited to training here for only one month! One month from now, the stone room tokens will automatically activate the seal which will forcibly drag your Soul Avatar back to our world. That’s why you must properly make use of this time.”
“Elder…” Murong Xiao Xiao suddenly spoke up, “If we meet some danger that’s difficult for us to deal with… what should we do?”
“Escape!” Gao Xue Ting’s words were simple and direct. “If you can’t escape, then stall for time, stall until the one-month time limit.” She then glanced over at everyone with her beautiful eyes, “This is a trial. If you can’t surpass it…”
She furrowed her delicate brow slightly and didn’t say any more, but everyone knew what she meant.
Cultivators would always encounter all kinds of danger on their path, so everyone was already accustomed to this type of situation and didn’t have anything to complain about.
“Very good. This Queen has led you all here, and now the rest is up to yourselves. Go in,” Gao Xue Ting waved her hand at everyone after she said this.
Xia Sheng and the others exchanged glances before nodding and entering the Heavenly Monster Mountains.
Gao Xue Ting stood where she was until everyone’s figures disappeared from her line of sight. Only then did she flash away and fly in a different direction.
When she entered the Divine Ascension Mirror this time, not only was she responsible for leading the way for Xia Sheng and the others and explaining some common knowledge about this world to them, she also had a personal matter to attend to: refining one of her own Soul-type artifacts.
This Soul-type artifact had been with her for many years as she warmed it with her Emperor Intent and nourished it with her Emperor Qi. As such, it was now close to evolving into an Emperor Artifact.
An Emperor grade Soul-type artifact was a very rare treasure, with few in existence throughout the entire Star Boundary.
An ordinary Emperor Realm Master might have one or two Emperor Artifacts that they spent a great deal of effort on refining, but as for Soul Emperor Artifacts… the vast majority of Emperors would not possess such a thing.
If things succeeded this time, then Gao Xue Ting would possess a Soul-type Emperor Artifact, allowing her to fully focus on offence when fighting an enemy as she would no longer need to defend the gaps in her Knowledge Sea.
This would be a great boon to her.
The last time that she entered the Divine Ascension Mirror World, she happened to save the life of a local cultivator who was also at the Emperor Realm. At the time, that cultivator had been severely injured and was being hunted by a vicious Monster Beast.
When Gao Xue Ting saw this, she went up to help without any hesitation, and the two of them together managed to kill that Monster Beast.
That cultivator was extremely grateful for Gao Xue Ting’s kindness and invited her back to his Sect.
Gao Xue Ting also wanted to find out more about all sorts of information regarding the Divine Ascension Mirror World, so she agreed.
When Gao Xue Ting went to the Sect named Soul Grasping Sect, she learned then that the person she saved was actually the Sect Master.
The Sect Master of Soul Grasping Sect wasn’t a wicked person and treated Gao Xue Ting as an honoured guest since she had saved his life. Elder Gao was powerful and beautiful, so apart from having a cold aura, just about everything else about her was perfect.
This Sect Master thus treated Gao Xue Ting very politely and kept trying to flatter her in an attempt to win her heart.
Gao Xue Ting learned last time through idle chatter that there was a mystical place called Soul Gathering Lake within the Soul Grasping Sect and that this place was capable of helping her refine her Soul-type artifact.
Now, Gao Xue Ting was heading for the Soul Grasping Sect, because she wanted to ask the Sect Master to let her borrow the Soul Gathering Lake!
In Gao Xue Ting’s opinion, since she had saved that Sect Master’s life previously, there shouldn’t be any problems with this request.
…..
At the same time, in a certain location within the Divine Ascension Mirror World, there was a giant city that stretched several tens of thousands of kilometres in every direction, an incomparably large area. The city walls were several tens of metres tall and encircled the city like a well-armed fortress.
From a distance, a majestic aura seemed to overflow from this place.
The city was filled with bustling people to the point where many walked shoulder-to-shoulder along the busy streets.
Although this was a city within the Divine Ascension Mirror, it looked identical to cities in the outside world. There were streetside vendors, forests, wide streets, intersections, and an assortment of buildings.
This was the capital of Divine Ascension Country, Divine Ascension City!
Unlike the outside world where there were countless Sects and families, with each force managing their own territory, in the Divine Ascension Mirror World, it was the Divine Ascension Country that was in charge of everything.
All Sects and families were under the management of the Divine Ascension Country. Here, the Divine Ascension Country had unlimited authority and power over everything!
It was said that long, long ago, there was no Divine Ascension Country here and that this world’s structure was identical to the outside world, with Sects and families each having their own territory and ruling like kings.
But ever since the current ruler of the Divine Ascension Country appeared, all forces were united by them and the Divine Ascension Country came to be. Now, no one dared go against their command.
The current ruler was an astonishing genius with the ability to split the Heavens and shatter the Earth. There were also a large number of experts who swore fealty to this ruler and their achievements had all become the stuff of legend, stories all mothers taught to their children.
Under their rule, the entire Divine Ascension Country’s power rose daily, leading to a bright future!
Although this entire world was basically under this one person’s rule now, the appearance of the Divine Ascension Country had indeed managed to help people avoid lots of unnecessary slaughter and conflict, which was a wonderful achievement already.
At this moment, in the palace of Divine Ascension City, the Great General Zhou Dian, guardian of the Divine Ascension Kingdom, was busy fondling two beautiful women on his left and right as he enjoyed wine and a rowdy party.
Zhou Dian was someone who had a tough and sturdy build, a vicious appearance, and was nearly two metres tall, a full size larger than ordinary people.
He had followed the ruler of Divine Ascension Country in the early days and fought across the world, helping to establish the country with his blade. That was why Zhou Dian was rewarded as he deserved after the Divine Ascension Country was established and given the title of Guardian of the Country, meaning that he was beneath one person and above all others.
Currently, the Divine Ascension Mirror World had been at complete peace for the past hundred years and had no major wars for the past thousand years. As the guardian of the country, Zhou Dian was so bored that he was growing mold.
He was a master at the Third-Order Emperor Realm already, so he felt that continuing to cultivate didn’t have much meaning; as such, he started indulging himself in a life of debauchery.
Normally, he would stay in his palace and collect beautiful women from everywhere as he lived his life freely as he pleased.
Currently, a group of young women were singing and dancing beneath the throne, wearing revealing clothing as they danced, causing their beautiful figures to be faintly exposed. These women were really seductive as they sent flirtatious gazes and had expressions filled with desire. They all showed their most beautiful side to Zhou Dian in an effort to attract his attention.
Zhou Dian was holding various beauties of different types in his left and right hands as he drank delicious wine and ate spirit fruits… his expression was one of satisfaction and delight.
The Divine Ascension Mirror World had countless special products that couldn’t be found in the outside world. For instance, the spirit fruits laid out before Zhou Dian were a local specialty of the Divine Ascension Mirror World. Eating these would be greatly beneficial to the Soul so they were extremely precious and expensive, yet Zhou Dian was treating them as a regular fruit that he could feast on. It was quite a wasteful extravagance.
The sound of laughter, the sounds of seduction, the sounds of flirtation, and Zhou Dian’s loud laughter filled this palace.
Suddenly though, all the noise abruptly stopped.
All sounds seemed to suddenly be cut off by an invisible force.
An unimaginable pressure descended from the sky as a figure came in from outside.
Even without seeing that figure, the singing and dancing women beneath the throne could sense that a giant shadow had appeared behind them. This shadow seemed capable of devouring all of their light as they trembled in fear.
Zhou Dian also widened his mouth and stared at the figure with shock as it came in. A spirit fruit that resembled a grape fell out of his mouth, but he didn’t even notice.
The shadow seemed to be walking slowly, but it instantly entered the palace
Upon a glance, this figure was draped in a large pitch-black robe that enveloped it completely. It was also wearing a demon mask that looked vicious and terrifying!
It was impossible to tell if this person was male or female just from their physical appearance.
In fact, if this person walked around in the palace, at least ninety percent of people wouldn’t recognize them.
But Zhou Dian was different!
The moment that this person appeared, Zhou Dian immediately wiped his mouth as his body shook. Tossing away the two women that had been in his embrace, he hurried forward over ten metres to stand before this person. He then bowed with a serious expression and kneeled on one knee as he declared in a low voice, “The guardian of the country, Great General Zhou Dian, greets the Lord King!”
All of the dancing women wore expressions of astonishment upon hearing this.
Although they knew that the ruler was in this palace, not a single one of the women had ever seen him ever since they entered.
Normally, while messing around with Zhou Dian, they had also joked before to Zhou Dian that he should take them to meet the ruler so that they could see the astounding Master who almost single-handedly established the Divine Ascension Country.
But whenever this was mentioned, Zhou Dian would always change the topic and never agree.
But today, this legendary figure had suddenly appeared before them.
They were truly shocked and surprised by this.
Along with their shock and surprise, they also looked at this person with curiosity.
However, they couldn’t see any characteristics about their king at all. The ruler’s large black cape and demon mask obscured their face and figure completely. There wasn’t even a bit of skin exposed from this image.
It was also impossible to determine this person’s gender from their body shape.
In fact, looking for too long caused the women in the hall to feel dizziness and headaches, scaring them into hurriedly averting their gazes.
“Rise!” The person before Zhou Dian spoke in a light tone.
This was a raspy voice that sounded rather neutral, once again making it impossible to determine if they were male or female.
“Yes, Lord King!” Zhou Dian replied in a low voice as he stood up while continuing to bow slightly, looking at his Master with some wonder, “Lord King, what matter have you come to find this subordinate for?”
Ever since the ruler created the Divine Ascension Country, they had basically not asked Zhou Dian to do anything at all. Zhou Dian never expected that the Lord King would come to find him of their own volition and could faintly sense that something major was likely going to occur.
Zhou Dian quietly waited for the answer after he asked this.
However, the Lord King didn’t speak for a long time. Only much later did the raspy voice finally answer, “The Star of Calamity has appeared in the Heavenly Monster Mountains and has shaken the country’s fate. Great chaos is about to arrive!”
“What?” Zhou Dian’s expression changed as he called out in alarm, “Such a thing actually happened?”
He fiercely viciously gnashed his teeth while the cruelty that he usually kept concealed suddenly exposed itself as he grinned viciously, “Lord King, rest assured. Subordinate shall send someone immediately…”
“You go. Personally!” The Lord King interrupted him.
Zhou Dian was astonished to hear this, but he soon nodded, “Subordinate understands. I will definitely live up to the Lord King’s expectations!”
“Good!” The Lord King said lightly before turning around and leaving.
A moment later, they were gone.
A sentence wafted over from the distance at the same time, “Capture them alive!”
Zhou Dian cupped his fists towards the voice’s direction, “Understood!”
After that, he actually began to laugh out loud as he muttered in a cold voice, “Finally… I have something to do. I hope that this trip won’t make this General too bored!”
“Could you take me with you? I’d also like to see Sir’s amazing countenance in battle.”
“I want to go as well.”
“Me too! Me too!”
The women gathered around and kept chattering endlessly.
Zhou Dian laughed viciously as he looked around him. Suddenly, he coldly snorted as an invisible force spread out and knocked all the women away.
The beauties all fell down and started screaming in pain. Unstable lights flashed on their bodies, indicating that their Souls had been damaged severely.
“When men are working, women should stay put!” Zhou Dian declared as he strode out of the palace with large steps.
He was playing around intimately with these women just earlier, yet he actually treated them like this and cast them aside in the next. It could be seen that he was subject to shifting moods and had a cruel personality.
Not long after, Zhou Dian gathered his army and left the palace with great force as he headed towards Heavenly Monster Mountains.
…..
Currently in a valley of the Heavenly Monster Mountains, a peak Eleventh-Order Earth Tortoise was struggling in battle as several figures weaved around it.
Xia Sheng sliced with his sword, using it to send out blades of Spiritual Energy that cut into the weak spots of the Earth Tortoise’s neck. The Monster Beast instantly roared in pain from the strike and tried to withdraw.
Xiao Bai Yi’s Soul-Type artifact was similar to the artifacts that he used with his physical body, since they were all sword artifacts. Here, he was even using his Spiritual Energy to use the Secret Techniques that he normally used. Although it seemed a bit strange, the power was still significant.
The Spiritual Energy sword waves sliced over to block the Earth Tortoise’s path of retreat.
Murong Xiao Xiao had a serious expression as she skillfully wielded a long whip. The whip left many afterimages as all the attacks surrounded the Monster Beast and stopped it from moving. However, even though her whip seemed beautiful in its movements, it lacked murderous intent.
Meanwhile, Chen Mu Ji’s Soul-Type artifact was a flying sword. As he threw it with his Divine Sense injected in it, it stirred up astonishing winds as it kept whittling down the Monster Beast’s stamina.
Yang Kai wore the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield as he engaged in melee combat with the Earth Tortoise, his fists pounding as he unleashed a flurry of punches.
The five Dao Source Realm cultivators surrounded and attacked a Monster Beast at the peak of Dao Source Realm, yet they were actually unable to defeat it despite how long they’d been fighting.
This wasn’t Yang Kai and the others’ fault though, it was simply that the Monster Beast’s defences were too astonishing. The thick tortoiseshell seemed to be harder than metal and any time a truly threatening attack came, it would retract its four limbs and its head into its shell.
When the attacks slowed down, the tortoise would poke its head out and spit something that resembled a spray of energy balls. These energy balls formed a dense bombardment and were quite difficult for Yang Kai and the others to deal with.
Of the five people present, Yang Kai was the only one who possessed a defensive artifact that allowed him to engage the tortoise in melee combat. The other four didn’t dare to get too close, as they might die if they weren’t careful enough and got pelted by an attack.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the tortoise was extremely slow, Yang Kai and the others wouldn’t have bothered to fight it.
Still, such a Monster Beast helped everyone to soon understand their limits and weaknesses.
After a long fight, the Earth Tortoise’s surface flickered, seeming to indicate that it was reaching its limits. Xia Sheng shouted loudly as he and his sword attacked together from the sky, descending with the force of a meteor.
Xiao Bai Yi and the others also used their techniques on the Monster Beast together.
Upon seeing this, Yang Kai feinted and then retreated so that he wouldn’t get caught in friendly fire from everyone’s attacks.
“Hong hong hong…”
There was the sound of energy explosions that wouldn’t stop for quite a long time.
When the dust finally settled, the Earth Tortoise collapsed quietly on the ground and wasn’t moving anymore. In front of everyone’s eyes, its body gradually vanished and dissipated into this land, leaving only a small bean-sized ball of light.
The ball of light’s colour, brightness, and size were all incomparable to the one everyone saw from the previous Monster Beast.
This one was at the peak of the Eleventh-Order, after all!
However, even though the victory loot was right before them, nobody was in a hurry to take it. Instead, everyone stood where they were with furrowed eyebrows and contemplative expressions. Everyone seemed to gain something as their expressions flickered.
“In this place, our past combat experience… doesn’t seem to be very useful.” Xia Sheng was the first to speak.
“En.” Xiao Bai Yi nodded. “I think everyone’s noticed now that it’s difficult to fight because it feels like you’re being restrained!”
“Is it because we’re in our Soul Avatars…?” Murong Xiao Xiao considered it as she answered.
“Probably,” Chen Mu Ji nodded in agreement.
Since they were in their Soul Avatars, they were unable to use many skills and Secret Techniques that they were accustomed to using. They were also unable to use their typical artifacts, which naturally meant that everyone would feel uncomfortable during battle.
Additionally, these types of Soul battles were typically avoided by all cultivators as much as possible.
Normally, if the two cultivators were at about the same power level, they wouldn’t choose to fight with their Divine Senses because such a fight was far too dangerous. A moment of carelessness would be enough to lead to the loss of one’s consciousness or becoming an idiot.
However, they didn’t have the choice of being able to fight in other ways in this Divine Ascension Mirror World. In that case, many problems that they had never considered or happened upon, would now appear.
For instance, when they were attacked in the outside world, they could instantly cancel out the attack, or even counter it, by meeting it head-on with their own strength.
However, in this place, when a strong attack was launched at them, everyone’s first reaction was to dodge… so that their Souls wouldn’t get injured.
“It seems that there’s still much room for us to grow,” Xia Sheng wryly smiled as he added. “Let’s not think about it for the time being. This Soul Source…” He glanced at everyone before he stopped at Chen Mu Ji, “Junior Brother Chen, you take this one.” He then looked at Yang Kai and inquired, “Brother Yang, you don’t have any objections, right?”
“I have none!” Yang Kai shook his head.
Xia Sheng nodded.
Chen Mu Ji didn’t refuse. He thanked Xia Sheng and immediately took the Soul Source as he began to cultivate and absorb it.
Not long after, he finished absorbing the Soul Source.
Although it wasn’t too evident, Chen Mu Ji’s Soul’s strength had indeed increased slightly. It could be seen by the look of delight on his face.
It was a peak Eleventh-Order Monster Beast, after all. The person absorbing the Soul Source would be able to feel their own increase in Spiritual Energy.
“Let’s continue…” Xia Sheng said as he led the way forward in search of prey.
Two days passed by in the blink of an eye.
In these two days, Yang Kai and the others supported each other in the Heavenly Monster Mountains. They met many Monster Beasts, but they were able to safely kill these enemies each time. Under Xia Sheng’s leadership, the spoils of battle, Soul Sources, were divided up relatively evenly.
Yang Kai absorbed a total of nine Ninth-Order Monster Beasts, five Tenth-Orders, and two Eleventh-Order Monster Beast Soul Sources…
His Spiritual Energy was evidently stronger than when he first entered this place.
The others had also obtained good harvests.
For instance, Chen Mu Ji had the weakest Spiritual Energy among them, but his growth was evident for all to see.
There really were countless Monster Beasts in the Heavenly Monster Mountain. The beasts mostly roamed freely, so there was no need for the group to intentionally search for them as they were easy to find.
The group had no intentions of killing Monster Beasts that were too weak, since they wouldn’t gain much even if they did kill such beasts, and basically only targeted existences that were Ninth-Order and above.
Maybe it was because they were still only on the outskirts of the mountains, but they hadn’t met any Twelfth-Order beasts as of yet.
Of course, if they actually did meet a Twelfth-Order Monster Beast, they would only be able to run away.
As the group fought difficult battles over the past two days, their conditions also improved greatly. It was evident that they had acclimated significantly to this new world and if the five of them were to meet an Earth Tortoise again similar to the one they first encountered again, with their current strength and experience, they would likely only need half a cup of tea’s time to kill it.
In other words, everyone had become completely accustomed to this place and their Soul Bodies, along with the way of fighting required here.
As the group rested, Xia Sheng suddenly spoke up, “Everyone, I have a suggestion, but I don’t know if I should say it or not.”
“Is it to act separately?” Xiao Bai Yi had an expression of ‘I know exactly what you’re thinking.’
Xia Sheng smiled, “Xiao Bai really understands me best! Although it’s definitely safer for the five of us to work together, acting as a group like this is rather inefficient. Elder Gao said before that we only have one month in this world, and that the token’s seal will activate after that time and forcibly take us back to our world. It may be a long time before we are able to enter the Divine Ascension Mirror again, so we must properly take advantage of this great opportunity in order to treat ourselves!”
“Rather than acting together for safety, this Senior Brother prefers to act separately. Although there will be a certain amount of danger, our potential… isn’t it always forced out when we’re in danger?” His eyes shone with mysterious confidence and excitement, “If we keep growing up in a safe environment, it will be too late if we meet with actual danger in the future.”
“Actually…” Xiao Bai Yi suddenly spoke up with a slow tone, “I agree.”
His implicit meaning was that he had some worries about saying this idea out loud before.
“Separate?” Murong Xiao Xiao hesitated slightly, but she soon resolved herself and nodded, “Good.”
Xia Sheng saw that even she agreed, so he turned to look at Chen Mu Ji.
Chen Mu Ji smiled and said, “Senior Brothers and Senior Sister don’t need to worry about me. Although I have the lowest Soul cultivation here, I will do what I can based on my own strength. I’m still a disciple of the temple after all!”
“Very good!” Xia Sheng looked at him with satisfaction before turning to look at Yang Kai and grinning, “Brother Yang definitely has no objections here.”
“I’m fine with anything!” Yang Kai replied calmly.
It was a coincidental opportunity that he could enter the Divine Ascension Mirror to begin with, which was why he didn’t raise any objections or make any requests. If Xia Sheng and the others insisted on acting together, Yang Kai would cooperate, but since they were going to separate, he was happy to comply.
Of course, if he had to choose, he would prefer to separate.
There were many techniques that he didn’t dare to use when travelling together with Xia Sheng and the others, so the feeling of being restricted was quite bothersome to him.
“In that case, Senior Brother wishes everyone good luck…” Xia Sheng glanced at everyone with a serious expression, “Stay safe and return alive!”
“I’ll be leaving first,” Xiao Bai Yi was quite decisive, immediately setting off after it was decided that they would separate.
“Senior Brother, stay safe!” Murong Xiao Xiao then glanced at Yang Kai and Chen Mu Ji, “You two stay safe as well.”
“Sister Murong, you must also be careful!” Yang Kai smiled in response.
Murong Xiao Xiao nodded, her tender body flickering as she shot off in a different direction.
“I’ll be leaving as well then.” As Chen Mu Ji spoke, he stood up, nodded slightly at Xia Sheng and Yang Kai, then disappeared using his Movement Skill.
Soon, only Xia Sheng and Yang Kai remained.
Xia Sheng smiled as he looked at Yang Kai and asked, ‘Brother Yang, what direction are you going to choose?”
“That way!” Yang Kai pointed in a different direction from the others.
Xia Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly as he exclaimed, “You’re going deeper into the mountains… Brother Yang, you need to be careful. Elder Gao mentioned that there are many existences that even she doesn’t dare to antagonize in these Heavenly Monster Mountains.”
“I will also judge based on my strength. I won’t get greedy.” Yang Kai smiled.
“That’s for the best,” Xia Sheng nodded. “Then… this Xia shall take his leave. See you again when we leave this world!”
As Xia Sheng said this, he rose into the air and flew in a certain direction. His direction was also deeper into the Heavenly Monster Mountains, but different from where Yang Kai had pointed.
Xia Sheng’s figure soon disappeared.
Only then did Yang Kai slowly stand up, turn to the depths of the Heavenly Monster Mountain, and mutter in a low voice, “It’s time to let myself loose and do something big.”
…
At the same time, at the foot of the Heavenly Monster Mountains, a group of several hundred people arrived in grand fashion and stopped at an empty clearing.
This group was obviously a well trained military squadron, since even with several hundred people together, their formation wasn’t messy at all. They moved in an orderly fashion, and the several hundred people actually stood there without a sound. There was only a chilly aura that encircled them, like that of a hidden dragon that had just come out into the world to sit above the scattered clouds in the sky…
There was a large flag fluttering in the wind at the head of this squadron.
On the back of the flag was a vivid tiger descending the mountain. It showed fangs and a fierce aura that seemed like it was about to pounce out of the flag.
On the front of the flag was a large ‘Zhou’ character. The character was written with great energy that made it seem like a flying dragon.
This was the elite army of the Guardian of Divine Ascension Country, Zhou Dian’s subordinates.
At this moment, Zhou Dian was riding on a snow-white Nine Horned Dragon Beast. He wasn’t wearing any armour as he simply wore his regular clothes, but the murderous aura around him was still quite chilling.
Zhou Dian chuckled coldly as he looked at the nearby Heavenly Monster Mountains, “How nostalgic… the last time I came here was more than two thousand years ago. I never thought that I would return here again in my lifetime!”
As he talked to himself, not a single one of his subordinates dared to utter a sound.
A moment later, Zhou Dian suddenly shouted, “Lian Yan, Ban Qing, Yu Man, Yuan Qing!”
Four people stepped out together and cupped their fists in unison, “Subordinate is present.”
These four all possessed powerful First-Order Emperor Realm cultivations and were the four strongest warriors under Zhou Dian’s command. Zhou Dian had naturally brought them along since he was here on the King’s orders to capture the Star of Calamity in the Heavenly Monster Mountains.
There were three men and one woman.
Lian Yan had red hair that reached his waist. He looked rather ostentatious, and judging from the faint red light glowing on his body, his Spiritual Energy had some special attribute.
Ban Qing was short and had an ordinary appearance; however, he was highly skilled at assassination. Ban Qing was capable of getting close to even someone as strong as Zhou Dian for an attack if the latter wasn’t on guard.
Yu Man appeared to be about thirty years old and had a curvaceous figure. As she moved, a mature atmosphere seemed to waft from her. She had a high nose bridge that accentuated her elegant features and her alluring red lips caused people to have endless fantasies.
The last one, Yuan Qing, had cultivated some unknown Secret Technique or Secret Art that gave him a soft and shadowy feeling, and coupled with his feminine appearance, he was so beautiful that even most women couldn’t compare to him.
These four had greatly contributed to the establishment of the Divine Ascension Country. They had followed Zhou Dian to conquer the world since early on, and had rarely met any opponents throughout the land.
Even in all of the Divine Ascension Mirror World, they were considered famous Masters.
However, their strength was overwhelmed by Zhou Dian’s sharpness when they were in front of him.
“Go in four separate directions and search the mountains. You must find the Star of Calamity as quickly as possible, capture them alive, and bring them before the Lord King!” Zhou Dian pointed while announcing in a low voice.
“Yes!” The four of them accepted in unison as they immediately split the soldiers into four groups and swiftly disappeared into the Heavenly Monster Mountains.
Zhou Dian remained where he was by himself.
A cold wind blew past and caused Zhou Dian’s hair to flow in the wind. A long time later, he finally urged the Nine Horned Dragon Beast under him to go forward.
The Monster Beast he rode was Twelfth-Order. Even though it was in its early stages, it was still the equivalent of a First-Order Emperor in terms of strength. Even so, this beast could only obediently let Zhou Dian ride it.
Back in the day, Zhou Dian had spent a significant amount of effort and time in order to finally tame this Monster Beast.
Zhou Dian’s eyes mysteriously flashed with the desire to do battle as he looked deep into the Heavenly Monster Mountains. It was as if there was an opponent he was highly interested in who was waiting for him within the forested mountain.
…..
Yang Kai and the others naturally had no idea of what was happening outside as they trained in the mountains. None of them expected that a simple training session would cause such a massive commotion.
At this moment, Yang Kai was fighting against a Thunder Cyan Wolf in the Heavenly Monster Mountains.
This Monster Beast was only peak Tenth-Order, equivalent to the first Monster Beast that everyone met when they first entered the Divine Ascension Mirror World, but Yang Kai still wore a serious expression.
This couldn’t be helped, as it seemed this Monster Beast was somewhat different from others. It actually possessed the ability to control thunder.
The arcs of lightning flashing on its body had tremendous power that worried Yang Kai somewhat.
He was currently here in his Soul Avatar, rather than his physical body, so he wouldn’t heal that quickly if he received any injuries. Even though he had the Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai still didn’t dare to simply come into contact with such powerful lightning.
Luckily, he didn’t have any intentions of fighting personally.
When acting together with Xia Sheng and the others, there were many techniques that he couldn’t show, so he was quite limited in battle and felt quite awkward as he fought.
But now he was by himself, so he naturally had nothing else to worry about.
The Thunder Cyan Wolf also noticed that Yang Kai wasn’t easy to deal with. Still, due to its concern about the difference in power level, it only stayed a distance from Yang Kai while constantly baring its fangs and roaring in an effort to scare Yang Kai away.
Of course, Yang Kai wouldn’t do as it wished…
“Come out!” Yang Kai suddenly shouted.
As he shouted, his body shook slightly as he waved his sleeve. A patch of dense black dots suddenly emerged mysteriously.
The black dots weren’t numerous at first, but then they became uncountable in the blink of an eye. They gathered into a black cloud with astonishing speed.
The black cloud was the size of a table. Upon closer look, one could see quite clearly that this black cloud consisted of tiny insects that were almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
Soul Devouring Insects…
No, they should be renamed Soul Devouring Demon Insects.
Ever since they devoured a large amount of pure Demon Qi in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea last time, the Soul Devouring Insects had all become pitch-black. If the insects were individually magnified, they would all have terrifying appearances with threatening malevolent auras.
The insect cloud arrived with the sound of buzzing.
The Thunder Cyan Wolf obviously didn’t know what this black cloud was, but its natural instinct made it feel something was amiss. The wolf actually opened its mouth when it saw the insect cloud charging at it and shot out a bolt of lightning into the swarm.
The insect cloud was instantly shattered…
But soon, it reformed itself.
Meanwhile, the Thunder Cyan Wolf actually turned and ran after releasing that one attack. It had no intention of staying here.
“Go!” Yang Kai uttered a single word. In fact, there was no need for him to issue such a command, as the Soul Devouring Demon Insects’ instinct would already make them chase after their prey.
The insect cloud acted like maggots on rotting bones as it enveloped the Thunder Cyan Wolf. Even though the wolf wasn’t slow at all, the insect cloud caught up in an extremely short time. The insect cloud simply descended upon and completely enveloped the Monster Beast.
Pitiful howls instantly arose as sounds of pain kept echoing. The sounds were rather frightening to behold.
The insect cloud roiled and wriggled like a living being…
Yang Kai silently stood where he was and observed everything.
The Thunder Cyan Wolf’s aura was weakening at a rate that wasn’t fast or slow.
“The power is still a bit lacking…” Yang Kai mulled things over.
Although the Soul Devouring Insects had a special trait that countless living beings would be afraid of, Yang Kai’s Soul Devouring Insects had been raised from a very low level, and over the years he hadn’t invested a lot of effort into them. All he did was to place them in the Soul Warming Lotus’s illusionary treasure island and let them freely live and evolve by themselves.
Even though quite some time had passed and they had grown significantly, they still didn’t live up to Yang Kai’s requirements for the current level of battle.
A Tenth-Order Monster Beast was only at the level of an Origin King.
In the outside world, if Yang Kai personally attacked, he could win against such an opponent with a wave of his hand; however, when using the Soul Devouring Demon Insects, it actually required some time and effort to win.
However… this Divine Ascension Mirror World seemed to be a paradise for the Soul Devouring Insects to grow stronger in. If Yang Kai used this place well, perhaps the Soul Devouring Demon Insects would change massively in this one month.
At that time, Yang Kai would then possess another trump card, one that would be almost impossible to be on guard against!
Thus, Yang Kai made up his mind to use the special composition of this world and his remaining time here to properly raise the Soul Devouring Demon Insects!
While he was thinking so, the insect cloud started moving about at an even faster speed, while the Thunder Cyan Wolf’s howls gradually weakened and died down. Some time later, the wolf finally stopped moving.
Yang Kai saw things quite clearly. He discovered that the Soul Devouring Demon Insects were rapidly devouring the Thunder Cyan Wolf’s body…
All living beings here were Soul Avatars, after all, so they did not possess physical bodies. This meant they were the Soul Devouring Demon Insects’ favourite food.
If Yang Kai personally killed the wolf, then the wolf would lose most of its Spiritual Energy after its death, and that energy would return to this world, leaving only the Soul Source behind.
However, things were different if the Soul Devouring Demon Insects devoured the wolf instead. The energy that should have originally dissipated instead entered the Soul Devouring Demon Insects’ bodies and became a resource for them to become stronger.
The only thing that Yang Kai worried about was that he couldn’t afford to let the Soul Devouring Demon Insects also devour the Monster Beast’s Soul Source.
If that happened, then he really wouldn’t gain anything at all…
That wasn’t what he wanted. Strengthening himself was the most important thing on this training opportunity while having the Soul Devouring Demon Insects become stronger was only a secondary concern. Yang Kai knew quite clearly what was more important.
Thus, Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to issue a command to the insect cloud after some time.
The insect cloud was quite obedient. Perhaps it was due to staying in Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea for many years that they now carried out his orders obediently.
Once the insect cloud received the message, it immediately left the Thunder Cyan Wolf’s corpse and flew back into Yang Kai’s sleeve.
When he looked over, the Thunder Cyan Wolf had been almost completely devoured, leaving only a pea-sized faint yellow ball of light behind.
Yang Kai nodded in satisfaction as he walked over and absorbed the ball of light into his body.
Not long after, he set out again and proceeded forward.
As he travelled, he didn’t meet any Monster Beasts that were too strong. Every single Monster Beast became food for his insect cloud. Yang Kai simply needed to stand quietly by the side and obtain the Soul Sources left from the deaths of the Monster Beasts.
This was unimaginably easy!
This was another benefit of him acting alone. He didn’t need to spend too much effort in order to make gains. If he was instead together with Xia Sheng and the others, he never would have released these Soul Devouring Demon Insects.
And as time passed, Yang Kai gradually discovered something that he was interested in.
Basically, the Soul Devouring Demon Insects seemed capable of absorbing the strange energy of this world while staying in his sleeve in order to constantly strengthen themselves.
When he thought about it more carefully, this seemed natural.
The World Energy of this world was completely different from the World Energy of the outside world.
The outside world’s World Energy could be absorbed by a cultivator’s physical body so their cultivator could gradually become stronger.
However, the World Energy here could be absorbed by all living beings’ Soul Avatars in order to strengthen their Souls.
The Soul Devouring Demon Insects were naturally no exception. The World Energy that was present everywhere here was the most delicious food that they desired.
[This place is an absolute treasure!] Yang Kai was filled with excitement.
He gained tremendous benefits as he travelled.
In just two days’ time, Yang Kai managed to use the Soul Devouring Demon Insects to kill at least seventy to eighty Monster Beasts, which were all completely devoured by his insects. Of course, Yang Kai picked up all the remnant Soul Sources for free.
This helped his Divine Sense to become ever stronger and more solid, when he was already near Third-Order Dao Source Realm Divine Sense level. In fact, it even faintly seemed like it was reaching Emperor Realm Divine Sense level.
Not only was Yang Kai’s Divine Sense gradually improving, even the Soul Devouring Demon Insects’ growth was rather evident.
At first, the Soul Devouring Insects needed a cup of tea’s time to kill a Tenth-Order Thunder Cyan Wolf, but now the time required had been shortened by more than half.
The insects’ growth was even more obvious than Yang Kai’s.
Yang Kai was absolutely delighted by such a tremendous harvest. He felt more certain that it had been a wise decision for him to act separately from Xia Sheng and the others.
According to what Gao Xue Ting said, absorbing a single Tenth-Order Monster Beast’s Soul Source was the equivalent of cultivating hard for seven to eight days outside. Meanwhile, absorbing an Eleventh-Order Monster Beast’s Soul Source was the equivalent of cultivating hard for twenty days.
In just two short days, Yang Kai had benefited so much that it was the equivalent of him cultivating for three to four years.
Not to mention, he would have needed to use special Soul cultivation Secret Arts in order to obtain such results.
If he had stayed with Xia Sheng and the others, he never would have gained so much.
Still, he was the only one who could accomplish this.
This was because he had the Soul Devouring Demon Insects. He only needed to watch from the sidelines for every battle, and then he would scoop up the victory loot…
He didn’t need to use any energy at all, which meant he didn’t need to rest.
One day later, Yang Kai’s body suddenly shook slightly after he absorbed the Soul Source left behind from the death of an Eleventh-Order Monster Beast.
He couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
In that instant, he actually sensed some slight discomfort. This sense of discomfort had an unknown cause, but it was quite clear that he felt uncomfortable all over his entire body.
“Am I at my limit now…?” Yang Kai didn’t panic. He figured out the reason with just a little thought.
Gao Xue Ting had previously said that even though absorbing Soul Sources left behind from living beings here could swiftly strengthen one’s Soul, it also had its downsides.
When one absorbs to a certain extent, he would reach a state of saturation.
Once that happened, it would be impossible to absorb any more Soul Sources, as something negative might happen to his body.
Yang Kai had definitely reached that point.
He thought about it and felt that it was only natural. In less than three days, he had already used the Soul Devouring Demon Insects to kill more than one hundred Monster Beasts and absorbed all those Soul Sources for himself. Some of the Monster Beasts had even been Eleventh-Order. This number and speed were quite astonishing.
Yang Kai estimated that it was impossible for Xia Sheng and the others to even have a fifth of his harvest because he hadn’t needed to rest at all as he travelled. He simply needed to use his Soul Devouring Insects whenever he discovered some prey.
Meanwhile, Xia Sheng and the others would need to rest for a while after every single fight, so they would have much lower efficiency.
“It’s such a pity…” Yang Kai muttered to himself.
He originally had wanted to continue like this and have his Spiritual Energy reach the Emperor Realm. Once his Soul reached such a level, it would become much easier for him to cultivate in the future.
But since he was already at his limit in absorption, it couldn’t be helped. He could only slowly wait for his Soul Avatar to completely digest the Soul Sources that he absorbed over the past few days…
Nonetheless, Yang Kai didn’t slow down at all and continued forward at his original speed.
Although he was unable to absorb any more Soul Sources for himself, his Soul Devouring Demon Insects were still capable of growing, so it wasn’t a waste.
The deeper that Yang Kai went into the mountains, the more he noticed that the average Monster Beasts he met had stronger cultivations.
At first, when he had just separated from Xia Sheng and the others, he would still find some Eighth-Order, Seventh-Order, or even weaker Monster Beasts. He was naturally not interested in these Monster Beasts and ignored them all.
But as time passed, these weak Monster Beasts disappeared and were replaced by more powerful existences.
At Yang Kai’s current location, he no longer saw any Ninth-Order or below Monster Beasts. All Monster Beasts were Tenth-Order at the minimum!
According to Yang Kai’s calculations, if he went deeper into the mountains, it was likely that even Tenth-Order Monster Beasts would stop appearing before him.
At this moment, just as he was searching around for prey, a gust suddenly whipped up in the forest and caused the trees to shake. An usual pressure rapidly approached from the distance, while a strange sound entered Yang Kai’s ears.
He couldn’t help but adopt a serious expression as he focused on that direction.
*Hualala…*
It sounded like something was using tremendous force to smash the trees in this forest, causing them to topple in large numbers.
A moment later, a flash of purple light suddenly shot from the front with incredible speed.
“Hmm?” Yang Kai was caught by surprise because he discovered that the purple light object charging towards him was actually a small Monster Beast only about as big as his arm.
Although a Monster Beast’s strength couldn’t be assessed from its size alone, when Yang Kai scanned it with his Divine Sense, he clearly sensed that this Purple Squirrel’s level was only Ninth-Order!
Since travelling here, it had been quite some time since he discovered a Ninth-Order Monster Beast, because a Ninth-Order’s strength was no longer suitable to survive in this current environment.
Thus, Yang Kai was somewhat surprised to see this Purple Squirrel appear before him. He didn’t know how such a weak Monster Beast could survive safely in this region.
Still, its speed was truly quick. Yang Kai had discovered the Purple Squirrel and scanned its level in just an instant, but before Yang Kai could do anything about it, the Purple Squirrel actually darted behind Yang Kai with a whoosh.
As the human and beast passed each other by, Yang Kai saw quite clearly that the Purple Squirrel had a look of wonder flashing in its eyes as it kept looking at him. It was as if the Purple Squirrel had discovered something new and curious.
This was obviously a sign of the Monster Beast possessing sentience. The Monster Beasts that Yang Kai met before hadn’t possessed such intelligence, as those Monster Beasts simply carried out their own instinctive desire to feed and slaughter. Whenever a Monster Beast met Yang Kai, it would automatically attack him even if he didn’t attack first.
On the other hand, this little Purple Squirrel was obviously different from other Monster Beasts.
However, Yang Kai didn’t have the time to focus on the Purple Squirrel as he had to focus forward with a serious expression.
After all, there was something vicious pursuing this Purple Squirrel…
*Hualala…*
There were more loud crashing sounds of trees falling over, and right after, a large flat head suddenly emerged from the front. Sharp scales covered the top of this head and the scarlet patterns on its face gave it quite the vicious look. Its eyes were the size of washbasins and its vertical green pupils sent chills down the spine of anyone who saw them. This beat’s gigantic open mouth had a red tongue that kept flickering in and out as it hissed.
This was a gigantic python Monster Beast!
For some unknown reason, it had been chasing the Purple Squirrel all the way to Yang Kai’s location.
When it appeared, the python’s vertical pupils immediately focused on Yang Kai. After that, its body gradually revealed itself to be as thick as a human was tall. Raising its head up high, it kept spitting its tongue and glaring at Yang Kai with hostile intentions.
“You really know how to bring trouble to others…” Yang Kai turned around and gave a dark look towards the Purple Squirrel who was peeking out with its tiny head from behind a tree nearby.
When the Purple Squirrel saw him looking at it, it couldn’t help but retract its neck; however, it soon started sneaking peeks again. It seemed to want to see if Yang Kai was capable of chasing away the python.
“I’ll deal with you after I finish dealing with him,” Yang Kai chuckled as he turned around again to focus on the python.
He had no reason to give up on prey that had come to him, so he was prepared to fight.
The python seemed to sense that Yang Kai wasn’t easy to deal with, so it actually didn’t immediately attack upon appearing and instead glared down at him from above, its eyes flashed with an incredibly dangerous light.
Yang Kai scanned the python with his Divine Sense, causing his expression to become ever more serious.
He discovered that this python was the strongest Monster Beast he had met so far, its aura fluctuations comparable to his own. In other words, the python had also reached the peak of the Eleventh-Order. If the python had some more time, it would definitely rise to the Twelfth-Order, becoming equivalent to an Emperor Realm Master!
In this mirror world, strengthening the Soul was the only cultivation route since there were no physical bodies. Thus, as long as one’s Soul strength met requirements, then one could easily rise to the next cultivation level.
This python here had doubtlessly reached the threshold of the Emperor Realm.
After the stalemate lasted for a while, the python lost its patience first as its instinct to slaughter took over its movements.
The next instant, a green light flashed in its eyes as an invisible force shot towards Yang Kai.
A purple light instantly exploded from Yang Kai’s body as the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield appeared.
The light screen rippled fiercely under some kind of significant invisible force.
Soul Impact!
This was a Soul Technique that every Monster Beast here, no, every living being here knew how to use. By using one’s own Spiritual Energy as the foundation, one could send a strong shockwave out towards an enemy.
It was quite simple and direct, but also very powerful.
This attack would often immediately determine the victor of a battle, especially when there was a big difference in raw strength.
Yang Kai had met over a hundred Monster Beasts on the way here so far, and almost every single time, the Monster Beast would try to fight with this technique, so he had long since gotten accustomed to it.
The Purple Sun Profound Light Shield was at least a Dao Source Grade Soul-type artifact, so even though Yang Kai had yet to finish refining it and couldn’t use its full power, it still had good defensive strength.
Not a single Monster Beast had been able to break through this artifact’s defences.
However…
The python’s soul attack caused light to flash furiously upon the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield, almost shattering it. Yang Kai also staggered backwards for several steps as his expression darkened slightly.
As expected of a Monster Beast at the peak of the Eleventh-Order, even its opening attack was quite something.
Meanwhile, at the same time that the python released its soul attack, it also sent its steel whip-like tail straight at Yang Kai, kicking up a torrential gust of wind in the process.
All trees blocking the way were all snapped instantly, so it was clear just how powerful this tail strike was.
Yang Kai’s expression became serious when he saw this and naturally didn’t dare to take this attack head-on.
With a flicker, his body disappeared from where he stood.
*Kacha…*
Countless trees were snapped with a tremendous sound. However, the python’s attack did nothing. Not only that, it even lost track of Yang Kai’s whereabouts.
The python’s combat instincts made it somewhat uneasy as it kept spitting out its tongue at an obviously faster speed. Perhaps it sensed something as it suddenly raised its head and looked midair.
By the time it looked up though, Yang Kai was already descending towards its head as he shouted with anger, “You damn beast, take one from me as well!”
As he spoke, he also unleashed a similar Soul Impact as he gathered his own Divine Sense and transformed it into an invisible sword that sliced at the python’s eyes.
*Clang clang…*
There were two loud sounds that seemed like metal clashing against metal as sparks flew from the python’s eyelids.
When Yang Kai’s attack was about to connect, the python instinctually closed its eyes and caused the strike to fail.
However, buzzing sounds arose in the very next instant.
Yang Kai had already released the Soul Devouring Demon Insects in the moment that the python closed its eyes.
The black cloud surrounded by Demon Qi appeared and covered the sky.
The demonic insects swarmed with an unstoppable might.
When the Soul Devouring Demon Insects appeared, the python’s eyes actually contained a type of anthropomorphic panic similar to that of humans. It seemed to be really afraid of the demonic insects.
Meanwhile, the Purple Squirrel that was still hiding behind a tree behind Yang Kai was now trembling to the point where its eyes rolled back and it fell unconscious where it was.
It seemed that these Soul Devouring Demon Insects brought tremendous pressure to these two Monster Beasts.
This was only natural. Soul Devouring Insects were the bane of all Spiritual Energy. Apart from being afraid of certain types of energy like Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, it was rare to find something that could kill them.
Although Yang Kai’s Soul Devouring Insects originally had some weaknesses, those weaknesses had long since disappeared as the insects grew.
If someone wanted to kill these Soul Devouring Insects, they would need to have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea to counter them like Yang Kai did. Apart from this, other methods weren’t very useful.
In fact, Yang Kai didn’t know if even his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea would still be effective against them or not.
He was still able to control the Soul Devouring Insects mostly because of the Soul Warming Lotus.
Of course, the python and the Purple Squirrel would be afraid of something as abnormal as these insects.
When the black cloud descended, the python actually panicked and opened its mouth to spit out a verdant coloured mist that engulfed the swarm. At the same time, a terrible stench instantly spread everywhere.
“Poison Spiritual Energy!” Yang Kai was truly surprised as he watched this.
Whether the python obtained some sort of opportunity or was born like this, it was actually capable of turning its own Spiritual Energy into a powerful venomous mist. The python obviously wanted to use its special Spiritual Energy to deal with the Soul Devouring Demon Insects.
Not only that, the python had no intentions of staying here. After it spat out that venom cloud, it actually turned and ran while ignoring Yang Kai and the Purple Squirrel!
However, the python had obviously underestimated how abnormal the Soul Devouring Demon Insects were.
The pitch-black insect cloud came into contact and clashed against the verdant mist and actually began devouring it at a speed visible to the naked eye! In just three breaths of time, only the pitch-black insect cloud remained.
It seemed as if the entire venomous cloud had been swallowed by the Soul Devouring Demon Insects.
The poison mist was also made from Spiritual Energy, so it was delicious food to the Soul Devouring Demon Insects.
After the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had this snack, they didn’t linger and instead headed directly for the python. In just the blink of an eye, the insects swarmed the python’s head.
The python’s vision was completely blocked by the insect cloud and it began thrashing about violently like a headless flea.
Yang Kai silently watched for a while and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
This was because he discovered that the always victorious Soul Devouring Demon Insects were rather ineffective against this python.
The python was covered all over in dense scales, and even beings as tiny as the Soul Devouring Demon Insects were unable to break through the scales to devour the python’s body.
At this rate, it seemed that the Soul Devouring Demon Insects really wouldn’t be able to win unless they were able to break through the python’s defences.
Yang Kai suddenly had a flash of inspiration as he immediately issued a command to the Soul Devouring Demon Insects.
Controlling the Soul Devouring Demon Insects wasn’t as simple as controlling Stone Puppet Xiao Xiao, since the insects didn’t even have any sentience. Although Xiao Xiao’s sentience wasn’t very high, at least he could understand Yang Kai’s orders.
In comparison, it would obviously take a lot more energy and concentration to control these insects.
Still, at least the insect cloud was rather obedient, so Yang Kai only had to spend a little bit of effort to have them enter the python’s body through its nose and mouth.
Several dozen breaths later, the pitch-black insect cloud had completely disappeared. All that remained was the sound of buzzing that came from the python’s stomach.
The python seemed to be suffering unbearable torment and pain as it kept rolling around and thrashing on the ground, knocking over countless trees in the process.
However, there was no way for the python to deal with such an attack that came from within its own body, all it could do was wait for its own death!
As the python struggled, it seemed unwilling to simply accept its own death so it sent out Soul attacks into the nearby ground indiscriminately. Yang Kai had no choice but to withdraw slightly so as to not get caught up in this violent storm.
As time passed, the python’s body flickered between light and dark and its struggles gradually weakened.
Finally, the python raised its head straight up before collapsing listlessly, the light from its body also going completely dim.
Yang Kai calmly stood where he was and waited quietly.
A moment later, a hole suddenly appeared in the python’s body out of which countless Soul Devouring Demon Insects swarmed and flew back towards Yang Kai to return to his sleeve.
Only then did Yang Kai walk up and crouch over to look at the remaining python skin. This layer of python skin was as thin as a cicada’s wings, and the scales upon the snakeskin were composed of some unknown substance. Not only were the scales incomparably sturdy, even the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had no interest in them.
That was why the Soul Devouring insects flew out after they devoured the entire essence of the python.
If Yang Kai could take these scales with him, perhaps he would be able to craft some amazing Soul defensive artifact…
Yang Kai thought this as he reached out to collect the python skin; however, what he never expected was that the python skin actually broke apart like withered wood and completely shattered.
Yang Kai was truly surprised by this result.
After a moment, he reasoned that the python’s defensive power had been so amazing because of some special power of its own rather than its scales.
Since the python skin was now useless, Yang Kai naturally no longer needed to worry about how to take it out with him. Besides, he had no idea how he could take items from this world back to the outside world, unless it was a special item that he could absorb into his own Soul Avatar, such as a Soul-type artifact.
However, it wasn’t even known if there were Soul-type artifacts in this world, since everything here was created from a type of special Spiritual Energy. Even the mountains, land, and trees were made of this Spiritual Energy, so there were none of the precious ores that were required to refine artifacts.
Yang Kai turned back and returned to the Purple Squirrel’s location.
He was astonished to find that the supposedly unconscious Purple Squirrel had vanished at some unknown point.
This really surprised him.
It seemed that this Ninth-Order Purple Squirrel was alive because of more than luck.
However… Yang Kai scanned with his Divine Sense and immediately locked onto the Purple Squirrel’s current location.
The Purple Squirrel was hiding on the branch of a large tree, its small eyes shining with a kind of spirituality as it vigilantly glanced down below.
Just as it was focused on observing though, Yang Kai suddenly disappeared from its sight.
The Purple Squirrel’s hairs all instinctually stood on end at that moment.
“Heh heh, you thought that I wouldn’t be able to find you because you were hiding?” Yang Kai’s cold chuckle came from behind it, and before the Purple Squirrel could react, Yang Kai already reached out and pinched its neck to bring it before him.
The Purple Squirrel instantly began to tremble as its eyes were filled with fear and fright, timidly gaze up at Yang Kai.
“It seems that you don’t have any abilities apart from some speed and sentience,” Yang Kai said contemplatively while examining the squirrel. The squirrel should have used its other abilities if it had any already; however, it didn’t react even when being held so pitifully by the neck, so it obviously had nothing it could do.
But as Yang Kai was speaking, the Purple Squirrel seemed to suddenly think of something as it hurriedly stretched out with its paw to its stomach.
Yang Kai looked where it was pointing and saw something that really surprised him.
He discovered that this Purple Squirrel’s stomach had a pouch that seemed like it was formed naturally.
He was surprised yet again.
At this moment, the Purple Squirrel brought something out from this pouch. It was a spirit fruit that resembled a grape, one that was a deep purple and gave off a wondrous scent.
Yang Kai inhaled the scent and instantly felt refreshed. In fact, the discomfort that he felt from absorbing too many Soul Sources even seemed to lessen slightly.
His eyes lit up as he focused on the purple spirit fruit.
After the Purple Squirrel brought out this spirit fruit, it raised the fruit with both paws and extended its paws right in front of Yang Kai. Its expression seemed like it was saying ‘Sir, please accept this spirit fruit and spare my life…’ as it pitifully looked at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai could tell that this squirrel had even more intelligence than he had expected.
It was quite obvious that the squirrel wanted to use this spirit fruit to obtain his favour so that he wouldn’t attack it.
Yang Kai was instantly amused by this and smiled at the Purple Squirrel, no longer giving it a difficult time as he set it down.
The Purple Squirrel heaved a sigh of relief as it landed back on the branch. Still, it continued to hold the spirit fruit as it stood up and brought it before Yang Kai.
“Since you insist, I’ll accept this.” Yang Kai lightly coughed as he took the spirit fruit from the squirrel.
To be honest, he was quite curious about the spirit fruit. Although Gao Xue Ting mentioned previously that this world had many miraculous products with a lot of wondrous effects, Yang Kai had never thought before that this place would actually be capable of giving birth to spirit fruits.
This spirit fruit was something obviously greatly beneficial to the Soul.
Since he couldn’t take it out with him anyways, Yang Kai naturally gave up on that idea and simply tossed it into his mouth after a brief examination.
A few chews later, Yang Kai swallowed the fruit, instantly causing his spirit to perk up.
He could sense quite clearly that when this spirit fruit entered his stomach, it released a mellow energy that not only strengthened his Soul but also greatly eased the sense of discomfort he was feeling.
Yang Kai estimated that if he had another three or four of these spirit fruits, he could completely get rid of his body’s sensation of discomfort.
“This thing… do you have any more?” Yang Kai looked at the Purple Squirrel and used hand gestures to try and communicate with the little Monster Beast.
He didn’t expect that the Purple Squirrel actually understood him and quickly pointed one of its small paws towards where the dead python once was. It then pointed deep into the Heavenly Monster Mountains as it made chattering sounds.
Yang Kai furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before asking, “What you mean to say is… this python was guarding the spirit fruit, and it chased you all the way here because you stole one? On top of that, there are even more spirit fruits where the python used to live?
The Purple Squirrel nodded energetically upon hearing this.
“Then what are you waiting for? Lead the way!” Yang Kai waved his hand as he called out in a low voice with excitement.
The discomfort in his Soul not only prevented him from continuing to absorb Soul Sources, but it also affected his personal condition. It would obviously be a great help if he could get rid of this condition as soon as possible.
That was why Yang Kai was in such a hurry to find more of the purple spirit fruits.
One man and one beast flew quickly through the forests of the Heavenly Monster Mountain.
The Purple Squirrel led the way as Yang Kai followed closely after.
After the Purple Squirrel interacted with Yang Kai for a while and ascertained that he had no malicious intentions towards it, the squirrel no longer seemed to be afraid of him. In fact, the squirrel didn’t even try to escape, stopping along the way as it led him forward to ensure Yang Kai didn’t get lost.
It was obvious that the Purple Squirrel was going down a specific path as, along the way, they didn’t encounter any other Monster Beasts. It was unknown what type of ability the Purple Squirrel was using to avoid them.
An hour later, the man and beast arrived at a mountain valley.
The mountain valley was surrounded by tall peaks on all four sides and would be very difficult to find without being familiar with the area.
The Purple Squirrel arrived at a place near the entrance of the mountain valley before it suddenly stopped going forward. It waited for Yang Kai to arrive and then used its paw to point at the mountain valley before grasping its own neck with its paws as it acted as if it had trouble breathing and rolled its eyes before it collapsed on the ground.
“Hmm?” Yang Kai furrowed his eyebrows. “You mean to say that there’s something to watch out for in that mountain valley…”
The Purple Squirrel jumped back up again and nodded at Yang Kai.
“Let me see!” As Yang Kai spoke, he glanced towards the mountain valley for only a moment before he instantly understood what danger the Purple Squirrel was referring to.
This mountain valley was actually filled with dense green poisonous mist. This mist was identical in colour and form to the mist the large python had sprayed out earlier. However, the venomous clouds here took up far too big of an area, to the point where they covered everything in the mountain valley. It was impossible to see what was inside.
“I’m really curious…” Yang Kai smiled as he glanced at the Purple Squirrel, “Just what method did you use before to steal a spirit fruit from here…”
Since this mountain valley was covered in poison fog at all times, with the Purple Squirrel’s strength only being at the Ninth-Order, it should have been impossible for it to even enter, not to mention steal a spirit fruit.
However, the fact of the matter was that the Purple Squirrel stole a spirit fruit which caused the python to keep chasing it all the way until it reached Yang Kai.
Yet, the Purple Squirrel blinked and looked at him in confusion in response to Yang Kai’s question.
This time, it seemed that it didn’t understand…
“Stop acting ignorant!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, but he didn’t pry. Instead, he waved his sleeve and sent the Soul Devouring Demon Insects into the mountain valley.
The Purple Squirrel waited with an expectant look when it saw this.
It had witnessed quite clearly from the sidelines before how these Soul Devouring Demon Insects had devoured the poison fog before, so it knew that the green clouds in the mountain valley here would pose no problem.
As long as the venomous clouds were dispelled, it would be easy to obtain the spirit fruits inside!
What happened next was just as the squirrel expected. Everywhere that the pitch-black insect cloud passed by, the dense venomous clouds disappeared at a rate that was visible to the naked eye. The Soul Devouring Demon Insects swallowed all of Poisonous Spiritual Energy and used it to strengthen themselves.
In just one hour, all of the poison mist in the mountain valley was completely eliminated.
The Soul Devouring Demon Insects also seemed to benefit significantly from consuming this large amount of poison and happily buzzed as they returned to Yang Kai’s sleeve.
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai told the Purple Squirrel as he stepped into the mountain valley like it was his own backyard.
The Purple Squirrel also acted all grand and tough thanks to Yang Kai as it sauntered arrogantly into the mountain valley with its small legs…
“That must be the spirit fruit tree…” Yang Kai went directly to the central part of the mountain valley and soon found a lush fruit tree that was about as tall as a regular man.
Yang Kai had already noticed this fruit tree when he was observing from the mountain valley’s entrance, but he hadn’t dared to enter because the insect cloud hadn’t finished clearing away the poison yet.
The fruit tree shone with an unusual halo and there were also traces of a large being moving around the tree, which had likely been left behind by the dead python.
Yang Kai’s eyes instantly lit up when he scanned the fruit tree.
He discovered that there were five spirit fruits identical to the one that the Purple Squirrel gave him earlier on this tree.
As a Dao Source Grade Alchemist who had also obtained the inheritance of Gong Sun Mu, an Emperor Grade Alchemist, Yang Kai was even able to recognize the Extraordinary Treasure Lotus, yet he was completely clueless as to the identify these spirit fruits.
He could only conclude that this spirit fruit was a unique product of the Divine Ascension Mirror World, and that the outside world had never seen such a thing before.
Still, the spirit fruit’s effect was incredibly strong and was especially suitable for a cultivator like Yang Kai who was training here from the outside world.
He didn’t waste any time as he immediately took a fruit from the fruit tree and tossed it into his mouth and chewed.
Not only did his body’s discomfort significantly diminish, it also felt like his Spiritual Energy improved somewhat.
“Not bad at all!” Yang Kai took another spirit fruit and gobbled it up.
*Gudong…*
A sound came from the side.
Yang Kai glanced over diagonally and saw the Purple Squirrel half kneeling by his foot. Its eyes were round as it pitifully looked at Yang Kai. It was obviously the squirrel who had made the gulping sound just now.
“Even if you look at me with such sincerity…” Yang Kai tossed a third spirit fruit into his mouth as he spoke unclearly with his mouth full, “I don’t have any extra to give to you!”
The Purple Squirrel’s eyes instantly darkened as it lowered its head in a depressed manner.
“Ai…” Yang Kai sighed deeply, “Fine, I’ll give you one.”
As he spoke, he took the last two fruits from the tree and ate one before handing the other to the Purple Squirrel.
The Purple Squirrel instantly became energetic as its eyes lit up. It stood up straight and raised its paws to accept the fruit before carefully sniffing it a few times. It had a happy and satisfied expression as it then stuffed it into its stomach pouch and hid it like a treasure.
Yang Kai just ate four spirit fruits plus the one from the Purple Squirrel, so the discomfort in his body had disappeared completely. He even had a mysterious feeling as if he had just been reborn.
He glanced at the Purple Squirrel and chuckled, “Heh heh.”
The Purple Squirrel immediately covered its pouch with its paws as it vigilantly looked at Yang Kai, as if it was afraid that he would go back on his word.
“What type of person do you take me for?” Yang Kai coldly snorted with a serious expression, “Don’t look down on me little brat, how could I possibly take back something that I have already given away?”
The Purple Squirrel glanced at him, seeming to understand yet also not.
“Little guy…” Yang Kai was all smiles again as he looked at the squirrel, “Are you familiar with this territory?”
The Purple Squirrel fell silent after hearing this before it nodded.
“Then you lead the way. If we find something good again, let’s do like before and I’ll split some with you, okay?” Yang Kai had a friendly expression as he spoke alluringly. He even used an attitude of incitement as he patted the Purple Squirrel’s stomach pouch. “As long as you cooperate with me, I’ll fill up your pouch sooner or later.”
The Purple Squirrel’s eyes lit up after it heard this and instantly became excited, chattering away while nodding its head like a chicken pecking at rice.
Before Yang Kai could even issue any commands, the squirrel voluntarily ran forth and led the way.
Yang Kai arched his brow and followed closely after.
The Purple Squirrel was indeed quite familiar with the Heavenly Monster Mountains and seemed to know what places had good things hidden away; unfortunately, most of those treasures were being guarded by some powerful Monster Beasts just like with the python. The Purple Squirrel couldn’t possibly afford to antagonize these beasts, so it could only helplessly look at the treasures from a distance.
But with the powerful Yang Kai as its protector, it didn’t have to worry anymore.
It simply needed to take Yang Kai to the treasure’s location and let Yang Kai fight and kill the Monster Beast guarding the treasure. After that was the fun part of dividing the spoils…
Yang Kai meant what he said, and every time he obtained something good, he would give a portion to the Purple Squirrel. As for how much he gave, that varied from moment to moment.
In just two short days, Yang Kai and the Purple Squirrel swept countless Monster Beast nests within a ten thousand kilometre radius. Yang Kai obtained countless spirit fruits and Monster Beast Soul Sources, reaping tremendous benefits.
The spirit fruits that grew in the Divine Ascension Mirror World were basically all items that were useful for cultivating Spiritual Energy.
However, some were also harmful. Yang Kai accidentally ate one and ended up feeling quite dizzy. It took him some time to recover from his shock and if it wasn’t for him having a precious treasure like the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus in his body, that one spirit fruit alone likely would have killed him.
After all this, Yang Kai absorbed a lot of Soul Sources and his Soul Avatar once again started to feel discomfort.
This condition didn’t affect him too much, but it did mean that Yang Kai was no longer able to continue absorbing Soul Sources.
Compared to Yang Kai, the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had grown more as they devoured vast amounts of Spiritual Energy. Ever since they entered the Divine Ascension Mirror World less than ten days ago, the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had almost doubled in strength.
Yang Kai also faintly sensed that his Soul Devouring Demon Insects seemed to be evolving in some unknown direction. He could sense quite clearly that the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had become ever more vicious, cruel, and rebellious, sometimes even ignoring his orders.
He didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing.
Meanwhile, the Purple Squirrel’s stomach pouch was basically completely full.
The little guy was quite strange. Even though it obtained many good things, it never ate them, seemingly more interested in adding to its collection as it kept stuffing the spirit fruits Yang Kai gave it into its pouch.
Finally… its pouch became completely full.
The squirrel wasn’t large to begin with, so how large could its pouch possibly be?
Yang Kai finally had a great reason to take all the gains for himself.
The Purple Squirrel didn’t seem to mind as it continued to work hard and lead the way. It helped Yang Kai to sweep through the Heavenly Monster Mountains without missing anything.
Two days later, Yang Kai silently stood in front of the entrance to a cave as the Purple Squirrel crouched on his shoulder.
After being together for these two days, the Purple Squirrel no longer feared Yang Kai and even became somewhat friendly with him.
Currently, the man and beast had focused expressions as they listened intently to the sounds from this cave.
Pitiful screams kept transmitting from inside the cave. There were also occasional sounds of a giant creature crashing against the cave walls, which caused loud banging sounds as shattered stones poured down like rain.
“How violent!” Yang Kai exclaimed.
The Purple Squirrel nodded next to him.
Moments later, the movements from inside the cave started to die down and finally disappeared.
The Soul Devouring Demon Insects had evidently killed the Monster Beast within!
In this Divine Ascension Mirror World, any prey that was targeted by the Soul Devouring Demon Insects wouldn’t have a good ending.
Yang Kai confirmed that everything was safe before he entered the cave.
The cave was dimly lit, but that didn’t affect Yang Kai’s vision as he was currently a Soul Avatar. He etched everything in the cave into his brain after scanning it with his Divine Sense.
This cave wasn’t large or deep, but traces of a desperate struggle were left behind everywhere in the cave. It was evident that the master of this cave had been viciously tortured by the Soul Devouring Demon Insects and suffered greatly before its death.
Yang Kai actually didn’t even know what type of Monster Beast lived inside this cave, because by the time that he arrived, the Soul Devouring Demon Insects had completely finished devouring the Monster Beast without leaving even a speck of flesh behind.
Yang Kai’s current condition meant that he was no longer able to absorb Soul Sources, which was why he didn’t have the Soul Devouring Demon Insects leave anything behind.
After he took back the Soul Devouring Demon Insects, Yang Kai began to scan the cave’s interior.
After he scanned with his Divine Sense, he actually discovered nothing!
This cave didn’t have any spirit fruits or any other such treasures. It seemed to only be the resting spot for a Monster Beast.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed, but he didn’t pay it too much mind.
Not every powerful Monster Beast would be guarding a treasure, after all…
But just as he was preparing to leave, he suddenly paused and looked at a certain place inside the cave.
A strange item there had attracted his attention.
Yang Kai glanced at it for a moment and then walked over and bent down to pick it up.
Right when he touched it, his body suddenly trembled as his eyes flashed with a sharp light. At the same time, he took in a cold breath.
His unusual reaction really scared the Purple Squirrel, to the point where all its hairs stood up on end. It darted away from Yang Kai’s side as if trying to escape.
“This is…” Yang Kai kept touching the item in his hand as he used his Divine Sense to examine it.
Soon, he realized what this item was.
This item was shaped like a plate and was about the size of one too. Its body was pure white like jade and had no flaws.
Earlier, when Yang Kai scanned it with his Divine Sense, he didn’t notice anything about it apart from feeling that it had a strange shape. That was why he was interested enough to pick it up for a closer look.
However, he hadn’t expected that when he touched it, his Soul would react so strongly to it, even causing his Soul Avatar to tremble slightly.
At the same time, the white jade plate released a burst of pure Spiritual Energy that flowed into Yang Kai’s body, giving him a comfortable sensation like he was soaking in warm water.
This sensation made him feel incredibly relaxed all over.
If he had to describe it more specifically, this feeling resembled what he felt back when he combined Souls with Su Yan all those years ago.
“Soul Jade!”
Yang Kai exclaimed in astonishment as various random thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning.
Although he had never seen a Soul Jade before, nor did he know what one looked like, he was a hundred percent certain that this was the treasure he had heard Gao Xue Ting speak about a few days ago.
According to what Gao Xue Ting said, even in this Divine Ascension Mirror World, Soul Jades were rare treasures that one could only encounter by chance. She had entered this world four times already and had only obtained a single Mid-Rank Soul Jade so far, but even that Mid-Rank Soul Jade had benefited her tremendously.
Yang Kai didn’t know how to differentiate Soul Jade ranks, but he felt that the one in his hands was definitely better than Mid-Rank. It might be High-Rank or even better!
Soul Jades were the purest crystallization of Spiritual Energy in the Divine Ascension Mirror World and cultivators could easily absorb them to increase the power of their Soul without fear of any consequences whatsoever.
However, Gao Xue Ting had made them sound so rare that Yang Kai didn’t think he would be lucky enough to find one.
He never thought one would appear here!
“It’s so large…” Yang Kai was so excited that he couldn’t close his mouth while his face filled with some slight frustration. “Just how long will I have to absorb this?”
As he spoke, he was already trying to absorb the energy within the Soul Jade, wanting to try and see if it was as mystical as Gao Xue Ting had described.
A sliver of pure energy was extracted from the Soul Jade and flowed into Yang Kai’s body through his arms, instantly causing him to feel warm all over as his face flushed slightly.
As this energy poured into him, Yang Kai discovered that Gao Xue Ting had been correct in saying that absorbing energy from Soul Jades wouldn’t cause any harm to the body at all.
Currently, his Soul Avatar was in a satiated state and was unable to absorb any more Soul Sources left behind by Monster Beasts.
However, there was no obstruction at all in absorbing energy from the Soul Jade.
Yang Kai could clearly sense a terrifying amount of energy contained within the Soul Jade.
He couldn’t help but want to retreat here and absorb the Soul Jade energy until the one-month time limit was up.
If he really did that, Yang Kai calculated that by the time he left this place, his Soul would definitely reach the Emperor Realm! He might not even finish absorbing the Soul Jade’s energy by then, so he could definitely have the Soul Devouring Insects join in as well.
He had plenty of time and he could gain the most from absorbing this energy here!
However…
Just before he could do so, another force suddenly welled up within Yang Kai’s body. A seven coloured radiance suddenly illuminated the dim mountain cave with blinding light.
The rainbow light kept glowing and with a twist, Yang Kai suddenly felt his hand become lighter.
The Soul Jade… disappeared.
Yang Kai was caught off guard by this astonishing event, and with a shocked expression, he hurriedly scanned himself.
Soon, he located the Soul Jade in a certain part of his body.
The Soul Jade was actually enveloped by the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus as it quietly laid in the lotus flower’s centre.
But when Yang Kai saw it, he saw something inconceivable. The Soul Jade was swiftly melting like a snowflake under the sun and disappeared entirely soon after.
The Soul Warming Lotus absorbed every bit of energy from the Soul Jade without leaving even a little bit behind.
After it absorbed the Soul Jade’s energy, the Soul Warming Lotus’s colour seemed to get brighter.
Simultaneously, a gentle but seemingly endless power began spreading out from the Soul Warming Lotus, gradually injecting itself into Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar…
“This… just what is going on!?” Yang Kai was completely stunned and stupefied.
He had just discovered a High-Rank or even better Soul Jade, yet the Soul Warming Lotus had absorbed it without letting him have anything, only to then slowly return the energy to his Soul Avatar.
[Was this a good thing… or a bad thing?]
Yang Kai had no idea.
He lost the Soul Jade, which was obviously a loss for him, but the Soul Warming Lotus had absorbed it, rather than someone else stealing the Soul Jade. Right after that, the Soul Warming Lotus even slowly returned the energy to his body…
After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai felt that this was likely a good thing.
This way, it would be beneficial for both himself and the Soul Warming Lotus, and… even though the flow of energy from the Soul Warming Lotus was much slower, it was orderly and gradual so that he could slowly absorb and refine it to strengthen his Soul.
If he personally absorbed the Soul Jade’s energy, he might not be able to finish absorbing it in the remaining time, and if he tried to do so, he definitely wouldn’t be able to do anything else but hide in this cave.
But now, he no longer needed to consider the Soul Jade’s matter and could focus on his own affairs.
“This arrangement should be more beneficial!” Yang Kai announced with confidence.
After saying that, he turned to look all around him and found that the Purple Squirrel was staring at him with fear in a corner of the cave.
The Purple Squirrel hadn’t understood the strange situation just now, so it had immediately run away from Yang Kai. Now that it saw he was safe and even waving at it in a friendly manner, it slowly went over to him.
After it confirmed that there weren’t any problems with Yang Kai, it went up on his shoulder once again.
But for some unknown reason, it actually sniffed Yang Kai gently a few times and then had a look of confusion. It seemed to think that Yang Kai’s current scent was somewhat different from before.
After that, Yang Kai went around the cave again and carefully checked to make sure that he didn’t miss anything before he finally left.
He still had plenty of time, and wouldn’t waste it.
Right when he exited the cave, a whoosh sound came from not far away.
This was followed by a figure that suddenly landed before him.
Yang Kai was astonished and he instinctively used his Spiritual Energy to summon the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield. At the same time, he leapt backwards to open some distance with this newcomer.
He never expected that he would meet anyone else here.
The other person also obviously thought the same thing. When he saw Yang Kai, he also condensed his Spiritual Energy and looked over vigilantly.
The two men exchanged glances, with the unknown stranger furrowing his brow as he stared curiously at the purple glow on Yang Kai’s body.
Just as Yang Kai had expected, cultivators of this world didn’t have artifacts that they could use! That was because they lacked resources that could be crafted into artifacts.
Battles between cultivators here were all about competing with the strength of one’s Soul. They relied on Soul Secret Techniques and weapons crafted purely from Spiritual Energy!
Soul-type artifacts were incredibly rare to cultivators in this world, possibly not even existing at all!
After Yang Kai summoned the Purple Sun Profound Light Shield, it formed a layer of purple light around his body, and although it appeared similar to some kind of defensive Secret Technique, it was still fundamentally different.
This cultivator who suddenly appeared was a Third-Order Dao Source Realm Cultivator, not weak at all!
The other person was also on guard against Yang Kai as he checked him out.
Yang Kai identified the other man’s Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation quite easily by scanning with his Divine Sense. The other man appeared to be middle-aged, around forty years old, and had a steady and solid appearance, but currently, his eyes contained panic and fear.
Yang Kai was certain that the other party wasn’t hostile.
However… This was the first time that Yang Kai had met a cultivator from the Divine Ascension Mirror World, so he was naturally quite curious. Upon closer observation, Yang Kai discovered that the other man’s body was just like his Soul Avatar, a body made of pure Spiritual Energy.
[There really are so many wondrous things in the vast world!] Yang Kai couldn’t help but mentally exclaim.
“If you don’t want to die, then run away immediately!” The other man suddenly called out to him with a serious expression and a low voice.
“What?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow. The other man’s words were impossible for him to understand with no context.
However, the other man obviously was in no state of mind to explain, simply using his strength to rush towards a certain direction as he shouted again, “You won’t be able to escape if you don’t hurry.”
Yang Kai instantly felt an ominous premonition after he heard this and faintly realized that perhaps there was a powerful existence that was currently chasing this person, and that existence was obviously incredibly dangerous and vicious.
Considering all this, Yang Kai decided to immediately leave this dangerous location.
He was only here because Gao Xue Ting had brought him into this world for some training, so he had no interest in getting involved with this world’s great forces, cultivators, and the grudges between them. He was only going to stay here for one month, after all.
Yang Kai immediately started to take action as he thought of this.
However, something suddenly happened at that time.
A powerful pressure belonging to an Emperor appeared and descended from the sky. The pressure seemed almost tangible, to the point where one couldn’t help but mistakenly feel that the sky was crushing them.
Yang Kai’s body immediately became shorter and his expression turned extremely unpleasant.
At the same time, he saw from the corner of his eye a ghostly figure appear to the side of that other cultivator.
This figure wasn’t very tall. In fact, it was even rather short. Yet, Yang Kai hadn’t noticed this person at all before he appeared, as if he was originally there already but no one had detected him yet.
When this Emperor Realm Master of unknown origins appeared, a light flashed in his hand as a dagger-like weapon suddenly appeared.
This weapon was composed of Spiritual Energy, rather than being a Soul-type artifact.
The dagger shone with a chilly light as the Emperor Realm Master stabbed out before the fleeing middle-aged man could react.
Yang Kai felt his head going numb as he heard the soft sound of metal being inserted into flesh.
The Third-Order Dao Source Realm middle-aged man, who was trying to escape, had no time to react or defend himself as he was stabbed right through the chest.
In the outside world, this absolutely would have been a fatal injury since the injury was right through the heart. No matter how strong a cultivator was, he would likely die instantly if he suffered a blow like this, unless that cultivator had cultivated some type of Heaven defying Secret Art, or he used his powerful cultivation to suppress his injury. Only then would the cultivator barely manage to survive.
But in the Divine Ascension Mirror World, since the living beings didn’t have physical bodies, this injury wasn’t fatal even though it seemed to be serious.
The Emperor Realm Master immediately stopped moving after he succeeded with one strike. He coldly glanced at the middle-aged man with no emotion in his eyes, as if he was looking at a piece of wood.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man screamed in pain as he stiffly stood where he was.
Yang Kai glanced over and saw that the dagger still remained in the middle-aged man’s chest. Spreading from the injury was a strange energy that radiated in all directions as it gathered into a complex image that resembled a mysterious and powerful seal.
This strange power restricted the middle-aged man’s movements and prevented him from moving even one inch.
Strands of Spiritual Energy were leaking out from his injury, and it was evident that he was losing his strength. If this injury remained untreated, the middle-aged man would definitely lose all his Spiritual Energy.
He would then obviously die.
“Are you the Star of Calamity?” The Emperor Realm Master asked calmly after he succeeded in capturing the middle-aged man.
“Sir… what do you mean?” Although the middle-aged man was seriously injured from an ambush, he didn’t dare to get angry. He could only look at the Emperor Realm Master with a pleading expression as he asked in obvious confusion.
“Forget it!” When the short Emperor Realm Master heard this, he replied in a bored tone, “No matter if you are or aren’t, I’ll know once I take you to the palace for interrogation.”
After that, he decided to ignore the middle-aged man.
“Palace!?” However, the middle-aged man heard some unusual information from the Emperor Realm Master’s words. The middle-aged man widened his eyes as he stared at this Master, his expression fluctuating several times as he asked with difficulty, “May I ask… might Your Excellency be Senior Ban Qing?”
“Oh?” Ban Qing was surprised this time as he looked at the middle-aged man. “You recognize me?”
The middle-aged man couldn’t help but smile bitterly when he saw that Ban Qing didn’t deny it, “The four subordinates of Great General Zhou Dian, Guardian of the Country. Who wouldn’t know the four Vice Generals’ names?”
“Since there are four people, why are you certain that I am Ban Qing? Couldn’t I be someone else?” Ban Qing seemed to be in no hurry to deal with Yang Kai as he casually chatted with interest with his prey.
The middle-aged man answered, “Vice General Lian Yan has the obvious trait of having red hair. Vice General Yu Man is a woman. As for Vice General Yuan Qing… rumours say that Vice Commander Yuan is as beautiful as a flower with a countenance like white jade, and that ordinary women seem less beautiful than him… Since Your Excellency is from the palace and has such cultivation, I can’t think of anyone you could be apart from Senior Ban Qing.”
“Hahahaha!” Ban Qing suddenly laughed out loud, “As beautiful as a flower? So, that’s how people talk about Yuan Qing? I wonder what he’ll think if he hears this… En, your analysis is correct. This King is indeed Ban Qing!”
The middle-aged man gave up completely upon seeing Ban Qing finally admit it. He seemed to wither as he exclaimed, “Rumours never match up with the real thing. Senior Ban’s concealment and assassination techniques are truly outstanding!”
“Hmph!” Ban Qing coldly snorted with disdain, not caring about the middle-aged man’s flattery.
“However… Senior Ban, I have no grudge at all with you, so why…” Although the middle-aged man was unable to move, he still wanted to plead with Ban Qing to release him.
However, Ban Qing obviously didn’t intend to give him such a chance. Ban Qing had entered the Heavenly Monster Mountains under the command of Zhou Qian to capture the Star of Calamity that had appeared, so although he couldn’t kill people for no reason, it was no problem to seriously injure someone.
That was why Ban Qing reached out with his hand and clenched it in front of the middle-aged man before he finished speaking.
The dagger inserted in the middle-aged man’s chest suddenly released a flash of light, causing the seal which was suppressing the man to suddenly become stronger.
The middle-aged man reacted as if he was struck by lightning, his body shaking as he stiffly fell over, unconscious.
Although he wasn’t dead, he had fainted. Even if he woke up again, it was likely that he wouldn’t be able to restore himself to peak condition. Ban Qing’s blow just now had already damaged his foundation.
Ban Qing drew the dagger back into his hand having finished his task. He then turned around and coldly looked Yang Kai over.
Yang Kai was also thinking at a high speed at the moment…
Previously, he didn’t really understand what had happened, but now he could faintly figure out what was going on thanks to listening to the conversation between the two.
He even had some of his own guesses about the overall situation in this place.
The two of them had mentioned a palace in their conversation. This meant that the Divine Ascension Mirror World likely had a ruler at the very top.
Under the ruler was apparently this ‘Guardian of the Country’ whose name was Zhou Dian.
Under Zhou Dian were then four Emperor Realm Masters like the one in front of him!
Currently, these Masters should have all entered the Heavenly Monster Mountain to capture that so-called Star of Calamity…
The middle-aged man was either the capture target or an unlucky bystander. Yang Kai surmised that he was the latter, since judging by the middle-aged man’s words, he had no idea what that Star of Calamity was.
It was the same for Yang Kai!
Ban Qing and the others didn’t have any idea who they were trying to capture, so they simply spread out in a wide area to capture as many as possible. Anyone that they ran into definitely wouldn’t be able to escape.
‘I’m so damn unlucky!’ Yang Kai mentally cursed.
It was a rare opportunity to train in this world, yet he came across a conflict between the local cultivators here, and an Emperor Realm Master was the first to show up… Yang Kai really wanted to complain about his luck.
“Not bad, boy!” Ban Qing suddenly smiled and nodded with a friendly expression after looking at Yang Kai for a while.
“What are you trying to say?” Yang Kai asked in a heavy tone.
“This King was trying to say… Since you’ve already realized that you can’t beat this King, you decided not to flee. En, you’re an obedient one, so this King can allow you to suffer less,” Ban Qing then changed his tone to a much chillier one, “But if you don’t know what’s good for you, you’ll suffer the same fate as him!”
He pointed at the middle-aged man on the ground as he spoke.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but furrow his brow, remaining silent for a moment before saying, “This Sir…”
“Don’t talk to this King about being innocent or whatnot!” Ban Qing seemed to know what Yang Kai wanted to say, so he interrupted the latter and spoke impatiently, “This King is under orders, so if you really are the Star of Calamity, then just admit that you’re unfortunate. If you’re not the Star of Calamity, you’ll naturally be safe… mostly.”
As he said this, he stared at Yang Kai and asked, “Are you going to surrender yourself without a fight, or are you going to make this King act? Let me tell you beforehand that if you choose the second option, this King won’t guarantee that you’ll still be in one piece afterwards!”
“I see…” Yang Kai sighed helplessly due to the failure to negotiate successfully. He had a heavy expression as he asked, “Junior just has one question he would like to ask.”
“Say it!” Ban Qing responded in a cold and aloof tone.
“Earlier, I heard Sir and this… Brother’s discussion. Apparently, there are three other such existences as yourself, so I was wondering about those three…”
“They are leading teams to search in other locations right now. At this moment, the entire Heavenly Monster Mountains have been sealed off, so don’t even think about escaping. It will be meaningless.”