The one who attacked first was Bi Xiu Ming, so Yang Kai naturally wasn’t planning to be merciful.
He had just saved this man’s life, but instead of showing gratitude, he had decided, for his own selfish reasons, to act against him. Keeping such a treacherous person around was only courting disaster.
On top of that, he had thoroughly ridiculed him before, which caused Yang Kai to want to kill him even more!
Yang Kai was not someone who let past grievances go. If someone tried to bully him, he would definitely return the favour!
Suddenly suffering such a big loss, Bi Xiu Ming no longer dared to underestimate Yang Kai and glared at him with resentment and fear. He tried to exert his full strength once more, but as he was gathering his strength, he was surprised to see Yang Kai push forward both his palms as ferocious Yuan Qi burst out.
Beast Soul Skill!
With two mighty roars, a crimson flaming White Tiger and Divine Ox appeared, and together with Yang Kai vigorously charged towards Bi Xiu Ming filled with killing intent.
Shocked by this sight, Bi Xiu Ming panicked and desperately tried to defend himself.
The two beast phantoms and Yang Kai ruthlessly attacked, and in less than three breaths of time a new gaping hole appeared in Bi Xiu Ming’s chest.
Blood splashed out as Bi Xiu Ming fell on his back. His eyes stared blankly into the sky with a look of shock and unwillingness adorning his face.
Yang Kai glanced around but could only see disbelief in everyone’s expressions.
The battle was over in the flash, but the end result was something that no one had predicted. A Separation and Reunion Boundary Eighth Stage cultivator had actually taken a True Element Boundary Fourth Stage cultivator’s life in an instant. The whole process seemed effortless for him!
Zi Mo and Leng Shan were even more shocked.
The two of them had spent quite some time with Yang Kai, but up till now they had never seen him really fight. Even when they had to deal with Monstrous Beasts, Yang Kai had only displayed combat strength slightly above an average Separation and Reunion Boundary Eight Stage cultivator.
All along the two women only thought that Yang Kai was relying on some special mystical skill which allowed him to gain control of their Souls.
So despite their fear towards his means, in their hearts they both looked down on his actual strength, thinking that he was just some small Separation and Reunion Eighth Stage cultivator, and not someone to really be taken seriously.
Many times, when Zi Mo and Leng Shan talked amongst themselves about this matter, their hearts would fill with bitterness.
While they had reluctantly been obedient to him, the two of them had always acted a little presumptuously with Yang Kai these days because of these very thoughts.
But now, Zi Mo and Leng Shan found that the two of them had severely underestimated this youth. His combat strength was simply amazing. Bi Xiu Ming was a True Element Boundary Fourth stage cultivator, and if Leng Shan really fought with him, whether she could win or not was a complete toss-up. Even for Zi Mo, if she really wanted to kill him, she would need to exert a considerable effort.
Being shown the difference between them, Zi Mo and Leng Shan’s hearts quivered, and for a long time they were unable to utter a sound…
However, in the end, everyone else around them was the same!
After killing Bi Xiu Ming, Yang Kai turned around and looked at his Junior Brother.
This man had been cursing non-stop, clamoring for his Senior Brother to waste Zi Mo, and when Bi Xiu Ming and Yang Kai were fighting, he had continued to spit out insults towards Yang Kai, with foul language constantly spewing from his mouth.
But now his mouth was shut tight, and he was silent as a mute.
Staring at Yang Kai in terror, his face suddenly became extremely pale when he saw Yang Kai turn eyes, filled with murderous intent and disgust, towards him.
Yang Kai dared to kill Bi Xiu Ming in front of everyone present, so clearly he wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter him too.
The two beast phantoms bared their fangs and immediately rushed toward him.
“No… Stop…” Desperately struggling to get up, he tried his best to flee.
However, with his dantian broken and his cultivation wasted, there was no longer a drop of True Qi in his body, so how could he possibly escape?
The White Tiger and Divine Ox instantly caught up and sank their fangs into his body.
Howls of pain and pleas for mercy rang out.
The Great Han Dynasty cultivators all trembled lightly. A few of the soft hearted ones even tried to speak, but in the end no words came out.
After less than a breath of time, the miserable cries fell silent. Bi Xiu Ming’s Junior Brother had been reduced to a bloody mess under the attacks of the two beast phantoms.
Casually sweeping his eyes over the crowd, Yang Kai remained silent and paused only a moment before he indifferently walked over to the side.
Zi Mo and Leng Shan glanced at each other quietly before they turned a complicated look towards Yang Kai. It wasn’t until now that the two women had a real sense of respect for this youth.
Even without mentioning Yang Kai’s strange ability to control their Souls, just that Heaven defying combat strength was enough to let them submit. If they had really engaged in a life or death struggle, Leng Shan was definitely not his opponent. Zi Mo might be able to resist, but even she wasn’t sure whether or not she could triumph in the end.
[I don’t think I could win!] Recalling the sudden burst of strength Yang Kai had just displayed, Zi Mo objectively evaluated her chances.
How does he cultivate? Why can a Separation and Reunion Boundary Eighth Stage fight with a cultivator across a Great Realm? Of all those who came here, which one was not an elite in their own Sect. Who didn’t have the ability to fight someone above their own realm? In the end, in front of the ability Yang Kai had shown, none of it was worth mentioning.
He was an elite existence amongst this so called group of elites!
Everyone here had the same thought. If he doesn’t fall before he truly matures, he would certainly stand amongst the top of the Great Han Dynasty!
“Thank you…” After a long silence, Zi Mo only quietly expressed her thanks.
Yang Kai turned his eyes to her and faintly grinned, “Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t fight him for your sake.”
Zi Mo expression suddenly went stiff, “Wha… You don’t mean you only killed him because he mocked you before, right?”
“En!” Yang Kai bluntly nodded.
Zi Mo’s jaw slacked for a moment before she smiled wryly, “A man who must settle his grievances! That certainly sounds like your character! But… you’re strength is really amazing, it looks like I’ve been underestimating you.”
“Oh, have you been charmed by my gallant performance? Would you like to commit yourself to me willingly now?” Yang Kai laughed wantonly.
Hearing him spit out this arrogant drivel, Zi Mo was suddenly reminded of all the unpleasant business the two had shared. Her expression instantly became cold, as she ground her teeth, “Sooner or later, I’ll make you pay!”
“Hahaha, you just said I’m a man who settles his grievances. Are you sure it’s a wise choice for you to curse me now?” Yang Kai teasingly shook his finger at her.
Zi Mo’s face looked like she had just bitten something bitter, but she didn’t dare to retort. If she kept pushing her luck, then who knows what might happen? If this brat got angry and decided to take her life, or if he decided he wanted to press himself onto her and deprive her of her purity, then she would really have no place to cry.
After a while, Yang Kai heard the sound of footsteps, so he looked over and saw the Great Han Dynasty group, led by Chen Xue Shu and Su Xiao Yu, slowly approaching them.
Yang Kai simply stood there and watched quietly.
Ye Qing Si smiled brightly, while the others who had some friendship with him didn’t show the slightest aversion. Only a few people who were less familiar had a trace on their faces.
Yang Kai had just killed Bi Xiu Ming and decisively executed Bi Xiu Ming’s Junior Brother. This ruthless cutting of weeds and pulling out roots initially made many of them uncomfortable, but in the end they were all people who were more or less stained in blood, so they all understood Yang Kai’s methods, and at the moment did not show any hostility, apparently having accepted his actions as reasonable.
Bi Xiu Ming and his Junior Brother these past days were constantly whining and dampening morale, so they were already quite unpopular, not to mention they had both acted far too despicably just now. The group could clearly distinguish between right and wrong here and naturally would not blame Bi Xiu Ming and his Junior Brother’s deaths on Yang Kai.
In this place, where one’s own life was constantly at risk, who would concern themselves with the deaths of strangers? For these two reprehensible people, their deaths were clearly in vain!
Chen Xue Shu and Su Xiao Yu both walked up to Yang Kai, and each handed over a big pile of Blood Beads, “These are all the Blood Beads from the previous fight, as well as the ones that Yao He and Yao Xi obtained from killing her Monstrous Beast’s, a total of eighty two, please accept them Brother Yang.”
Zi Mo’s thirty or forty Monster Beasts had been slaughtered without resistance, along with the beasts who were freed from Yao He and Yao Xi’s control which they had just killed. This battle had indeed yielded a huge harvest.
Yang Kai looked at him for a moment but eventually did not decline. He reached out and accepted all of these Blood Beads.
Although the Monster Beasts had been killed by everyone, if not for Yang Kai’s efforts in putting on such a good show, how could any of them have regained their freedom? Compared to these Blood Beads, being able to escape Yao He and Yao Xi’s control was a far greater gain. Moreover, after the battle, Yang Kai had also freely distributed healing pills to them, so giving these to him could be considered returning the favour.
“These are the Blood Beads of those four. All of them are condensed from True Element cultivators.” Ye Qing Si also smiled warmly and placed the four much higher quality Blood Beads into Yang Kai’s hands.
Watching Yang Kai harvest so many benefits all at once, many people were quite envious. However, no matter how jealous they were, no one made any effort to snatch them for themselves. None of them wanted to display an ungrateful attitude. Yang Kai glanced around at this scene and secretly nodded to himself and laid down his worries that there might be others like Bi Xiu Ming and his Junior Brother.
Chen Xue Shu nodded strongly before cupping his fists and bowing, “Thank you, Brother Yang for saving my life. This debt of gratitude shall forever be remembered. If there is a chance to repay you in the future, I will definitely not hesitate!”
More than a dozen people quickly followed and also cupped their fists.
Yang Kai also politely responded to the group’s sincerity.
No one mentioned the matter of Bi Xiu Ming’s death. Even if everyone here left here alive, none of them would even bother reporting such a minor incident. In this isolated world, someone dying was all too normal. As long as no one disclosed that it was Yang Kai who killed Bi Xiu Ming, then naturally his Sect wouldn’t come find trouble with him.
This fact was never discussed, but was tacitly understood by everyone here.
The atmosphere gradually became harmonious, and the original existence of some minor barriers and fear between them instantly vanished. The only awkward point was how everyone viewed Zi Mo.
If she were a Great Han Dynasty cultivator, all of them would simply smile and put down their grievances, and that would be the end of it. However, Zi Mo was a Tian Lang Dynasty cultivator, and had previously attack all of them, so the situation was far more complex. Even if some genuinely wanted to reconcile, many would still have some scruples.
It was natural that there would be some rejection towards a foreigner!
Zi Mo wasn’t stupid, so she understood this point clearly and quietly stood to the side by herself.
After chatting for a while, Yang Kai suddenly looked at Chen Xue Shu, “Brother Chen, is there something else you want to ask?”
Chen Xue Shu actions and appearance had lead him to conclude this.
The instant Chen Xue Shu heard this, he immediately burst into a wry smile, “We really do have another matter we’d like to ask about.”
“Go ahead!”
Chen Xue Shu reached out and covered his own dantian, “The insects inside us… are they still alive?”
Yao He and Yao Xi were dead, but the Soul Controlling Insects they had left behind were a big concern for the Great Han Dynasty cultivators. Li Xin Yuan from the Pure Heart Palace even had the one inside him drill into his dantian, causing it to break, so his Junior Brother Zuo Fang had to constantly assist him. Who knew who might be next?
Yang Kai turned to his eyes towards Zi Mo and silently inquired, but in the end Zi Mo just said indifferently, “Yes, they’re still alive inside your bodies.”
Everyone’s expression suddenly went bitter as they looked towards Zi Mo helplessly.
Yang Kai frowned as well before inquiring, “Do you have any way to remove them?”
“They aren’t Soul Controlling Insects I planted!” Zi Mo slowly shook her head and said, “However, there’s nothing for you to worry about, they will only absorb a tiny bit of your Yuan Qi in order to survive, and with no one issuing them commands they won’t actively try to harm you. Once you can begin cultivating your Divine Sense it will be easy for you to extract them, or if you can’t wait that long, once you go back to your respective Sects you can let one of your Elders do it for you.”
These were only the lowest order Soul Controlling Insects, so in addition to their fear of heat, one could use their Divine Sense to deal with them.
However, after she had said this, everyone was still frowning.
They were not sure if they could believe Zi Mo.
Moreover, even if Zi Mo was telling the truth, having a live insect latched onto your dantian which could possibly harm you would make anyone uncomfortable. If they were to engage in a life or death battle and the insect suddenly decided to move, they couldn’t begin to estimate how serious the consequences might be.
Seeing all of these people’s expressions, Zi Mo suddenly smiled mischievously, “If you want to remove the insects now, I may have a way, that is, if you are willing to let me try!”
Everyone’s face became even more bitter as they looked towards Yang Kai.
They really did not trust Zi Mo. In case this little Tian Lang bitch acted maliciously and gained control over them, then …
But if they did not agree, then all of them would have to live in constant fear of the insects causing damage to their dantians.
Zi Mo sneered, fully aware of what these people were thinking, before saying, “I can’t do anything, but my master can help you.”
“Your master…” Chen Xue Shu couldn’t help coughing awkwardly.
Yang Kai’s face also twitched as he bitterly glared over at Zi Mo.
“Brother Yang, so it’s true that she’s your maidservant?” Chen Xue Shu directed an envious look at him, which caused Su Xiao Yu to viciously pinch and twist him. Feeling a sharp pain in his side, Chen Xue Shu face grimaced, but he did not dare to say anything.
“She’s bullshitting! She can’t wait for me to die!” Yang Kai denied strongly as he snorted and frowned, “But I really may have a way. It’s just that I’ve not tried it on a person before.”
Yang Kai’s True Yang Yuan Qi was the Soul Controlling Insects’ nemesis, and now that they could no longer receive commands from Yao He or Yao Xi, as long as he carefully applied his True Yang Yuan Qi, then he should theoretically be able to force the Soul Controlling Insect out of their bodies.
Earlier Yang Kai had used this approach to extract a Soul Controlling Insect from the head of a Fifth-Order Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard, which lead to him learning the secrets of these insects.
However, the subject this time would be a human, so Yang Kai did not dare to act recklessly. All of the cultivators here were the young elites from their respective Sects, and the Soul Controlling Insects had been implanted in close proximity to their fragile dantians. Even a small mistake on his part could lead to serious consequences.
Seeing Yang Kai hesitate, everyone also felt uneasy.
“He can try it on me!” Pure Heart Palace’s Li Xin Yuan suddenly called out weakly, accompanied by a faint laughter, “In any case, my cultivation has been wasted, so allowing Brother Yang to practice his approach on me can be considered a boon for everyone.”
Zuo Fang immediately objected, “Senior Brother! Don’t talk like that, in the future there will definitely be a chance for you to repair your dantian, all you need to do is find the right medicine. Instead, I’ll volunteer to go first!”
“Junior Brother Zuo.” Li Xin Yuan shook his head and smiled wryly, “Your Senior Brother really has nothing to worry about. Even if Brother Yang fails then the worst that happens is that I’d die. Rather than living like this, death might be better…”
“Stop arguing! I’m not so sure it will work so let me ask her a few things first.” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow before reaching out and signaling Zi Mo to come closer.
“What now?” Zi Mo’s expression went sour but she still obediently came over.
Seeing her act so subservient only caused the Great Han Dynasty group to look more surprised. Did they really have a relationship of master and maidservant?
How was that even possible?
“Describe for me how I should accomplish this.” Yang Kai said seriously.
Zi Mo explained again and provided two options. Both of them were similar to how Yang Kai extracted the Soul Controlling Insect from the Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard but with far greater attention to detail. First he could use a strong pinpoint burst of True Yang Yuan Qi to instantly incinerate it, not giving it any time to react, or he could gently stimulate it so it would escape on its own. However, he absolutely couldn’t let it feel uneasy, because if it became desperate, it might really break someone’s dantian.
After listening to her full explanations, Yang Kai pondered for a moment before looking at the crowd and confirming, “Are you sure you want me to try?”
After glancing around briefly, everyone nodded.
“Good, I can only guarantee that I will make every effort to help you to resolve this issue but… the consequences will be your own to bare!”
Yang Kai did not wish to get caught in the mess if he failed.
Han Xiao Qi laughed softly, “Since that’s the case, we can only believe in you.”
Nobody here had any objections. Naturally they understood his intentions.
Yang Kai nodded and weighed his options for a long time before deciding to go with the second method. The first was quick and simple, but the drawbacks were harsh. If his control was not precise enough, then all he would end up doing was harm others.
Shifting his gaze to Li Xin Yuan, Yang Kai spoke solemnly, “I’ll try it out on you first!”
Li Xin Yuan smiled and nodded. Zuo Fang wanted to say something, but his Senior Brother signaled him to stand down.
Taking off his shirt and exposing his chest, the Ten Thousand Flower Palace’s four girls all blushed involuntarily, but none of them turned their eyes away for fear they might miss something and instead stared intensely at everything that was happening.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and placed it on Li Xin Yuan’s dantian. Taking a deep breath, he then completely immersed himself in controlling his True Yang Yuan Qi and gently poured a little bit of it into Li Xin Yuan’s body.
After what seemed like a long time, Yang Kai finally felt where the Soul Controlling Insect was idling, and then very carefully directed his threads of True Yang Yuan Qi towards it and cautiously surrounded it while observing to make sure it did not have any violent reactions.
Li Xin Yuan’s face suddenly flushed. He was now a waste, so the influx of Yuan Qi was somewhat difficult for him to bare, but he was a man with strong perseverance. So even though his abdomen felt like it was on fire, he still strongly grit his teeth and remained silent, but the veins on his forehead were clearly showing as sweat poured down his face.
Yang Kai looked at him and said seriously, “Brace yourself.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Kai pushed his True Yang Yuan Qi and wrapped the Soul Controlling Insect harder. The Soul Controlling Insect also began to struggle more intensely, which caused Li Xin Yuan to experience more and more pain, while his Junior Brother, Zuo Fang, stayed by his side and felt his heart leap into his throat.
However, soon after, the Soul Controlling Insect was forced out from its position near Li Xin Yuan’s dantian. Reaching this step successfully, Yang Kai finally relaxed his nerves a bit, and because he no longer had to act so delicately, Yang Kai increased the intensity of his True Yang Yuan Qi markedly.
After a few breaths of time, everyone clearly saw as a small insect protruding from Li Xin Yuan’s ribs. Yang Kai eyes flashed as he reached out his hand and drew out the Soul Controlling Insect. He extracted it quickly and then burned it into ash.
At the same time, Li Xin Yuan also involuntarily let out a deep breath and softly collapsed onto the ground.
“Senior Brother!” Zuo Fang was shocked and quickly reached out to support him.
Resting for a few moments, Li Xin Yuan finally weakly said while laughing happily, “It was definitely painful, but it feels good to be free again.”
Seeing him safe and sound, everyone felt like a boulder had been lifted from their hearts.
Yang Kai stood up and looked around, “Who wants to go next?”
“I’ll do it!” Chen Xue Shu shouted and then quickly sat cross legged in front of Yang Kai.
Having succeeded once already, Yang Kai naturally gained some experience and confidence, but Chen Xue Shu and Li Xin Yuan were not the same. This time the patient also had his own True Qi, so even if he tried to relax completely, his True Qi would involuntarily protect himself. This meant that Yang Kai could only increase the output of his Yuan Qi, but once again, after a long time, he successfully extracted the Soul Controlling Insect.
One by one the Great Han Dynasty disciples lined up, which made Yang Kai feel exhausted enough to collapse.
But after handling most of the group, only the few women were left.
Asura Sect’s Ye Qing Si, Water Moon Hall’s Feng Qian Hen, Reflecting Moon Sect’s Su Xiao Yu of, and the Ten Thousand Flower Palace’s four female disciples.
With the exception of the most enchanting Ye Qing Si, the other girls were all blushed red, and each of them looked around at the others while trying to hide their embarrassment.
The reason was simple. When Yang Kai extracted the Soul Controlling Insects, his hand had to be placed on the patient’s dantian.
The dantian was located in one’s lower abdomen, just below the navel…
Thinking of this, all of the girls suddenly felt ashamed.
Ye Qing Si smiled seductively, “I’ll go first! You little girls, why are you acting so shy? It’s not like he’s going to eat you.”
“Keke …” Yang Kai tried to act solemnly, “Please don’t flirt with me.”
The surrounding group of men also stared at him enviously.
Sitting cross-legged in front of Yang Kai, Ye Qing Si eyes shimmered as she elegantly smiled and boldly stared at him before slowly undoing the buttons on her clothes.
*Pluck… pluck…*
*Gulp…* The sounds of heavy breathing and nervous swallowing echoed about.
Ye Qing Si enchanting bulges were being revealed bit by bit. Seemingly like a fully ripe peach, her alluring face and graceful temperament gave off the unique temptation of a mature woman that was irresistible to any male.
Seeing her fiddle with the last button holding her top together, soon to expose the enchanting revelry which lay beneath, the excited pack of men naturally had their eyes fixed on her. Who would be willing to miss something so wondrous?
“Hahaha…” Ye Qing Si smiled flirtatiously. Not only did she not seem embarrassed, she was even throwing out teasing seductive laughter.
[This little temptress!] All the men standing around had hot steam blowing from their noses by now.
“Hmm?” Han Xiao Qi grunted as she glared at these drooling dogs, her face as cold as ice.
“You damn dogs, turn around and close your dog eyes this instant!” Su Xiao Yu cursed as she reached out her hands and covered her ‘respected’ Senior Brother’s eyes. Chen Xue Shu flushed a bright shade of crimson and obediently turned away, but his heart was filled with embarrassment and regret.
Ye Qing Si suddenly stopped all her actions as she smiled towards these onlookers, “You… are you sure you want to stay?”
“Hey…” Zuo Fang, Chu Jing Shan and the others suddenly wore a stupid grin, licking their lips, “We thought you wouldn’t mind.”
“Bullshit!” Ye Qing Si viciously shouted, “Letting you leave now is giving you some face, anyone who doesn’t have some self-knowledge, I’ll make sure to ‘educate’ seriously once this is over.”
“We’ll leave!” Zuo Fang helped Li Xin Yuan up and the men quickly scattered like beat dogs.
All of them let out a long sigh, deeply forlorn.
“Ah… don’t pull so hard…” Chen Xue Shu anxious complained as Zhou Ba firmly gripped his arm and dragged him along, “My precious Junior Sister is still there, I have to look after her…”
“You roll away!” Su Xiao Yu scolded him unceasingly.
Waiting for the male group to retreat a thousand meters away, and determining they couldn’t peek on them, the women here finally relaxed.
Yang Kai’s face remained calm and natural, staring towards Ye Qing Si and urging her, “Continue.”
A touch of red suddenly appeared on Ye Qing Si’s face as she took a deep breath, lightly grit her teeth, and then finished undoing her clothes.
Ye Han’s eyes went completely round. Her cute face felt like it was on fire, and she nervously asked, “Do we… do we all have to do this?”
Yang Kai nodded seriously.
Ye Han immediately covered her cheeks, “Is it possible to not undress?”
Yang Kai frowned before saying, “If you’re not afraid that something will go wrong, you can. However, if I’m in direct contact with your bodies, I can better control my Yuan Qi.”
This statement was obvious, having physical contact with someone was definitely better than being separated by a layer of clothes.
Han Xiao Qi’s lashes fluttered as she softly comforted, “Junior Brother Yang is a gentleman, what are you afraid of?”
Ye Han whimpered, “I’m not afraid of him, it’s just… I… I…”
Unable to finish, she quickly dashed into her Senior Sister Liu Qing Ru’s arms and buried her face.
To the side, Zi Mo was wearing a big devious smile while laughing meaningfully, causing all the women’s expressions to tense up unnaturally.
“You keep silent!” Yang Kai glared at her before stretching out his hand and placing it on Ye Qing Si’s smooth flat belly.
When their skin touched, Ye Qing Si couldn’t stop herself from trembling slightly, gently biting down on her lip, staring with her slightly wet eyes into Yang Kai’s, as if trying to see into the depths of his heart.
If one looked closely, they could see her exposed skin had also become slightly flushed.
Contrary to Han Xiao Qi’s prior words, Yang Kai was unscrupulous and shamelessly brushed his eyes over all of Ye Qing Si’s body like he was trying to burn the beautiful images into his brain all while his hands also never stopped carefully guiding his True Yang Yuan Qi into her abdomen.
“Little bastard!” How could Ye Qing Si miss the change in Yang Kai’s demeanor? His eyes were obviously wandering all over the place like some starving beast so she couldn’t help blushing bright red as she scolded him fiercely.
“I didn’t see anything.” Yang Kai laughed mischievously.
In reality he actually hadn’t seen anything, although her underwear was exposed, Ye Qing Si hadn’t totally removed her clothes, so even if Yang Kai tried his best there was still a layer of cloth separating him from the paradise within.
“Shameless!” Ye Qing Si ground her teeth so hard they nearly shattered, but although she sounded angry, she still wore a smile on her face as she carefully stared at Yang Kai.
She had never encountered a man who so brazenly took advantage of her before now.
“Pft, truly a gentleman…” Zi Mo spit out some ridicule while glancing towards Han Xiao Qi, the latter’s pretty face now completely dyed crimson.
Just now she had plotted to push the idea of being a gentleman onto Yang Kai to keep him in check, but she hadn’t thought he would simply treat her comments like a passing breeze. In that moment, Han Xiao Qi finally understood what Yang Kai meant when he had previously talked about a “man’s instincts.”
With a beauty before him, which man wouldn’t steal a few glances? If he was really completely indifferent, that would be odd.
Putting up an indifferent front while concealing dirty thoughts within would be even worse.
At the very least, he was being upfront with them without the slightest pretense.
Thinking till here, Han Xiao Qi let out a small sigh, [Haa… let’s just say it’s his reward for helping us!]
After a short while, a small bump emerged on Ye Qing Si’s waist just below her ribs. Just as Yang Kai was about to act, Ye Qing Si suddenly said, “You better be careful, if you leave a scar just wait and see how I’ll fix you up.”
“After everything you’ve been through recently you still care about such things!?” Yang Kai was suddenly struck speechless but still extra carefully made the incision to extract the Soul Controlling Insect, guiding it out and burning it to ash.
“Next!” Yang Kai turned around and stared at the princesses.
The girls all looked around at each other for a long time before Han Xiao Qi finally grit her teeth and walked forward with a beat red face, declaring, “I’ll go!”
As the Senior Sister to the other Ten Thousand Flower Palace girls, she felt like she was taking the lead.
Steeling her determination, she sat squarely in front of Yang Kai and in an orderly manner began to remove her clothes. Finishing in short order she closed her eyes and steadied herself for the battle to come!
See her finish her preparations, Yang Kai was no longer polite.
One by one, he completed his task.
Of the four Ten Thousand Flower Palace girls, Han Xiao Qi was elegant, Ye Han was innocent, Liu Qing Ru was sweet, and Hua Ruo Yin was serene. Each of them had a different temperament.
Coupled with Ye Qing Si being seductive and Feng Qian Hen’s intellect, it was like a parade of different beauties; Yang Kai was truly treated to a feast for his eyes.
Finally, it was Su Xiao Yu’s turn.
After she sat down and prepared to untie her clothes, Yang Kai suddenly reached out and stopped her.
“There’s no need!”
“But didn’t you say it was easier for you to control your Yuan Qi if I did this?” Su Xiao Yu asked softly.
“After gaining so much experience, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore.” Yang Kai explained.
Hearing this, Su Xiao Yu couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.
However, Yang Kai didn’t stop there; quickly tearing off a piece of cloth from his clothes and then blindfolding himself.
Seeing this scene, Ye Han suddenly cried out, “How come for Su Xiao Yu you’re covering your eyes?”
Yang Kai heard her voice and calmly replied, “She already has a man, if I don’t blindfold myself I’m afraid Brother Chen will try to challenge me to a death match.”
“Oh…” Ye Han thought deeply and nodded, “That’s certainly thoughtful of you.”
“What… did you think I’m some kind of pervert or something?”
The group of women all looked a little apologetic, each of them feeling like they had misunderstood Yang Kai just now.
But while feeling this pang of guilt, Han Xiao Qi face suddenly went ice cold, asking in a menacing tone, “Doesn’t that mean… you could have always been wearing a blindfold?”
In order to force out the Soul Controlling Insect it only needed him to place his hand on their dantian and push his True Yang Yuan Qi. Being able to see for a process that happened completely inside their bodies was completely unnecessary. Previously, she had not thought of this, but now, seeing Yang Kai do so, Han Xiao Qi was suddenly enlightened.
Not daring to answer, Yang Kai just sat there with a big awkward grin on his face.
Han Xiao Qi’s tender body began trembling uncontrollably.
The girls all looked at each other, immediately putting on “friendly” smiles before rushing forward and raining down divine punishment on this shameless pervert.
…
Half an hour later, the charming group of women walked over while talking and laughing amongst themselves. Chen Xue Shu was the first from the male group to dash over and quickly seized his Junior Sister’s hand, anxiously asking, “How was it, did anything happen?”
Su Xiao Yu calmed him down before carefully explaining what had transpired.
Listening to her explanation, Chen Xue Shu suddenly felt even more grateful to Yang Kai. Hearing how Yang Kai he had paid special attention to his dignity and face no doubt touched Chen Xue Shu deeply.
However, when he looked around to find him, he was suddenly stunned stiff, “Brother Yang, what…”
Yang Kai just smiled wryly and waved his hand, “Just a small injury, small injury…”
“Serves you right!” Zi Mo snorted as she enjoyed a moment of schadenfreude.
Great musical =))
Yang Kai didn’t pay her any mind, instead sending a thread of consciousness into his Universe Bag and quickly summoning two bottles of healing pills, handing them over to Chen Xue Shu.
“Brother Yang, what is this?” Chen Xue Shu asked in confusion as he reflexively received him.
“Something for you to keep in case of emergencies. In addition, if you encounter Wu Cheng Yi, don’t accept him back.” Yang Kai said solemnly.
“Why? What happened?” Hearing him mention Wu Cheng Yi, everyone quietly gathered around.
Having nothing to hide, Yang Kai simply explained what had transpired after the first time he had met them all.
Listening to his story, everyone’s expressions became quite ugly.
Zuo Fang cursed, “Damn it, I always wondered why Qi Jian Xing suddenly disappeared, but it turns out he was sent by Wu Cheng Yi to kill Brother Yang. When I asked him back then, all Wu Cheng Yi told me was that he had sent him to explore our surroundings and would return after a few days.”
Chen Xue Shu also shouted out in anger, “That scheming bastard, how could he be so vicious? For just a bottle of healing pills he actually acted so ruthlessly!”
Han Xiao Qi frowned, “Seems we were all wrong about him. If we had continued to follow him, maybe all of us would have become sacrifices already.”
For a bottle of healing pills, Wu Cheng Yi easily sentenced Yang Kai to death. It was obvious that he saw the group of Great Han Dynasty cultivator’s around him as nothing but pawns which could eventually be turned into Blood Beads; with so many people around him, all of them elites at the True Element Boundary, it would be more than enough for him to break through a few Minor Realms.
“The next time we meet him, Elder Sister will help you teach him a lesson!” Ye Qing Si, who came from the Endless Sea Islands, had no scruples about fighting a disciple from the Nine Star Sword School.
The cultivators from the Tian Lang Dynasty and their horde of Monster Beasts no longer in existed; only Wu Cheng Yi and Chi Xue with his Sixth-Order Monster Beast remained, but even with a Sixth-Order Monster Beast, Chi Xue wanting to deal with such a large group of elites on his own would be next to impossible.
In other words, the disciples assembled here, as long as they didn’t act separately, were an invincible presence in this isolated world.
However, Chen Xue Shu had gleaned some clues from Yang Kai’s speech, “Brother Yang, don’t tell me …”
Yang Kai smiled and nodded, “That’s right, I’m leaving.”
Everyone’s expression suddenly changed and Ye Han quickly asked, “You’re leaving? Why do you want to leave?”
Yang Kai only shook his head slowly.
Ye Qing Si stepped forward and asked seriously, “This isn’t about us beating you earlier, making you feel uncomfortable, right? If that’s the case then Elder Sister will let you hit her back in order to even the score.”
“Nonsense, I just have my own circumstances.” Yang Kai did not explain further.
Hearing him say this, a look of astonishment flashed across Zi Mo’s face while the others also guessed something, glancing back and forth between Zi Mo and Yang Kai hesitantly.
“Well that’s the case.” Yang Kai smiled and turned to Leng Shan, “You stay here with them.”
As he spoke he silently called out to Old Demon.
But receiving no response, Yang Kai knew that he must have placed a seal on himself in order to block communications with himself, so instead he continued speaking with Leng Shan, “Your Ghost King Valley and I have grievances, after all, I was the one who killed Jin Hao and Yu Cheng Kun, if you want to seek revenge for them, just come find me at High Heaven Pavilion.”
If it were ten days ago, Yang Kai would not have let Leng Shan live, but after going through so many ups and downs together killing her seemed a bit unreasonable.
On her side, Leng Shan’s eyes flashed briefly before she shook her head, “I won’t.”
Yang Kai smiled, “That’s good.”
Finished with the pleasantries, Yang Kai directed his attention to her forehead and pondered for a moment, “I’m afraid I can’t recover the gift I sent you right now, but once I reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary I’ll definitely be able to.”
Leng Shan nodded slightly, managing to squeeze out a smile, “I believe it won’t take you long!”
Naturally she knew that Yang Kai was talking about the seal he had placed in her Soul. While it remained, she would forever be his servant, her own life and death controlled by him.
In this regard, Yang Kai was not lying to her. It was only with Old Demon’s help that he was able to plant the seal in her Soul, and whether it was Zi Mo or Leng Shan, they had both sent a thread of their own Divine Sense to him, without which, Yang Kai as he currently was would never have been able to complete this process.
However, wanting to remove the seal now was no simple task; the two of them would have to rely on Yang Kai to willingly release them once he could cultivate his own Divine Sense.
“Ladies and gentlemen, one day we shall meet again, until then, I bid you farewell.” Yang Kai smiled and cupped his fists.
“Take care!”
Yang Kai turned around and disappeared like a falling star, Zi Mo silently keeping up.
After a long silence, Chen Xue Shu finally spoke up, “Haa… having that Tian Lang woman come with us wasn’t really a problem, Brother Yang is just worrying too much.”
But Ye Qing Si just wore a pleasant smile, “Can you guarantee that you can treat that Tian Lang woman like an ordinary comrade?”
Chen Xue Shu looked surprised for a moment before wryly smiling and shaking his head.
Up until a little while ago, Zi Mo had been mortal enemies with them; one of the Tian Lang cultivators who had planted Soul Controlling Insects in their bodies to enslave them, none of them would easily open their hearts to her.
If they had stayed, everyone would no doubt give Yang Kai some face and not make things difficult for her, but they would never drop their guard against her either. In the end, she was an outsider, so having her around would naturally be uncomfortable.
Yang Kai had certainly considered all of this and thus decided to leave with her.
“Leng Shan, is that woman really Brother Yang’s maidservant?” Chen Xue Shu curiously asked.
However, to his surprise, Leng Shan suddenly glared at him, grunted angrily and walked away, ignoring him completely.
“Did I say something wrong?” Chen Xue Shu was speechless, unable to understand why Leng Shan’s attitude towards him just now became so cold. Little did he know that his question was actually poking at her most humiliating trauma.
Walking through the jungle, Zi Mo stared at Yang Kai’s back with a complicated expression on her face.
Hesitating several times, she was ultimately unable to find the right words to speak.
A long, lingering silence floated between the two while Yang Kai, who was out front, would occasionally pause, frown, examine his surroundings, and then immediately dash off again in a new direction.
Zi Mo was like a shadow, tightly following behind Yang Kai, only a few steps away.
After a day or so of repeating these actions, Zi Mo finally could not stand the silence and suddenly came to a stop, her body not moving an inch forward.
Yang Kai kept traveling a few thousand meters before realizing something wasn’t right, quickly turning back to find Zi Mo still standing in place, staring at him with cold yet confused eyes.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai frowned, a tinge of displeasure appearing on his face.
“I also want to know what you’re doing.” Zi Mo tilting her head to the side as she threw out this question, softly following up, “In the end, there wasn’t any need for you to go that far.”
“Huh?” Yang Kai stared at her with puzzled eyes.
“Separating from those people! If you had stuck with them you wouldn’t have to worry about your own safety; the only people inside this isolated world besides us and that group are my Senior Brother and Wu Cheng Yi, but with that group’s strength and the numbers there would be no need to fear either of those two masters, so you separating from them wasn’t a smart choice!”
Yang Kai stared at her blankly for a while before an inexplicable smile bloomed on his face.
“You’re not thinking that I separated from that group solely because I was being considerate of your situation, right?” Yang Kai smirked.
Zi Mo’s face blushed slightly as she looked at Yang Kai and asked, “Didn’t you?”
“Hahaha, you think too highly of yourself.” Yang Kai sneered dismissively, “You’re a Tian Lang Dynasty cultivator, and before yesterday, we were still mortal enemies. Even if you managed to put up a good front, you never stopped wanting to take my life. You’re cruel and heartless, and I am certainly not righteous, so why would I suddenly care about your feelings?”
Zi Mo’s anger swelled up as her breathing became uneven, grinding her teeth before cursing, “Since you planted this damn seal on my Soul, when have I ever acted out against you1? I know you want to keep face, and that you’re unbelievably stubborn, but do you really need to act so ruthless!?”
It was the same that time with Bi Xiu Ming, although she knew he was annoyed by Bi Xiu Ming’s contempt and attitude, but part of the reason he acted like that was definitely for her sake as well. However, this pig headed man would rather die than recognize that, so Zi Mo decided to give him some face and kept silent about it, allowing him to keep up appearances.
But after all that had happened, he actually went so far to dismiss her and hide his motives. Was his face that important to him?
“Oh… you think the feelings between us have developed that far?” Yang Kai laughed wantonly, walked over, put his arm around Zi Mo’s waist, and gently pulled her towards him, his hand not behaving politely as it brushed across her skin.
Zi Mo quickly stretched out her hands and pushed on Yang Kai’s chest, bending her upper body as far backwards as she could. Feeling his big hands moving all over her lower back, her expression became dark as she frowned deeply, “What are you doing?”
“You just said I was ruthless, I’m only proving you right.” Yang Kai’s hands suddenly became more presumptuous.
“Let go of me!” Zi Mo’s face was no cold as ice as she shouted in protest.
Yang Kai grinned, no longer acting presumptuous and quickly released her.
Zi Mo instantly took a few steps back to open up some distance between them, staring towards him with extreme vigilance.
“Well, you’re not entirely wrong.” Yang Kai nodded suddenly, “Separating from them really was partly due to my concern about your situation …”
Hearing this, Zi Mo’s anger filled eyes couldn’t help flashing a touch of warmth and gratitude.
“How should I put this… right now you’re my maidservant, if you don’t have any face, then I would also lose face, right?”
The small bit of warmth in Zi Mo’s expression instantly froze over.
[One day, I’ll definitely kill this smelly man!] Zi Mo swore in her heart, feeling more anger and frustration than she had ever thought possible.
“However, that was not the main reason!” Yang Kai shook his finger mockingly.
“Then what is your main reason?” Zi Mo asked in an annoyed manner.
“I’m going to find Wu Cheng Yi!” Yang Kai face suddenly flashed with a trace of ruthlessness, “I want to kill him!”
Wu Cheng Yi had sent his Junior Brother to rob and kill Yang Kai; this was not something he was just going to let pass. One must settle their grievances; Wu Cheng Yi would need to pay an appropriate price for his arrogance.
However, in the end, he was an elite disciple from the Nine Star Sword School, and his position in the Sect was definitely not be low, so once they had left this isolated world, finding an opportunity to kill him quietly would be difficult. Therefore, Yang Kai wanted to solve everything here before that happened.
This was not an opportunity he could afford to miss.
Not to mention, Wu Cheng Yi also had to have more Brilliant Flame Liquid on him, just that alone was reason enough for Yang Kai to want him dead.
While the Brilliant Flame Liquid was no longer useful for him personally, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t useful for others. Unfortunately, if he acted together with the Great Han Dynasty group, even if they killed Wu Cheng Yi, it was unlikely that there would be enough Brilliant Flame Liquid to spread around.
This way though, Yang Kai could monopolize it all!
“You’re courage is not small, this Wu Cheng Yi being able to escape my Senior Brother proves that his strength is extraordinary. I don’t deny that you are also very strong, but do you honestly believe you can win against that guy?” Zi Mo stared at Yang Kai in shock, thinking to herself that this youth was really quite daring.
“Win or lose, we’ll have to fight to know.” Yang Kai spoke flippantly before sending a meaningful look towards Zi Mo, “Besides, don’t I have you to help me? What do you think I’m dragging you around for?”
Zi Mo beautiful face twitched in anger as she stomped her foot repeatedly, “You should just go die!”
[He’s definitely been scheming this all along!] Zi Mo was humiliated that she had felt even a little bit touched before.
“Hahaha!” Yang Kai laughed wantonly, reaching out and touching Zi Mo’s face, gently caressing her cheek, “Now, now. Don’t be so upset. After you spend some more time with me you’ll find I can give you many benefits. You may never want to leave after that.”
“Shameless! Absolutely Shameless!” Zi Mo cursed loudly.
Although she really felt that his words were shameless beyond compare, but it was undeniable that he also had many qualities that made him stand out amongst all the men she had ever encountered, and these points he would occasionally inadvertently display were very attractive, especially to women!
Knowing his true intentions, Zi Mo’s anger soon subsided as she let out a small grin, quickly asking, “So the pauses and observations you’ve been making were all attempts to find Wu Cheng Yi’s trail, right? So have you found any clues so far?”
“No,” Yang Kai shook his head. “It’s very simple for a master like him to mask his own trail.”
Pausing for a moment, Yang Kai continued confidently, “But as long as he is still here, I’ll definitely find him.”
“I think I can help with that!” Zi Mo laughed mischievously.
Yang Kai nodded, “That was my intention!”
Over the next few days, Yang Kai and Zi Mo both searched for the traces of Wu Cheng Yi while also searching for Monster Beasts.
Yao He and Yao Xi had together controlled more than a hundred Monster Beasts, but during the previous battle they had only beheaded thirty or forty, which meant nearly seventy had escaped; these were probably the only Monster Beasts remaining in this isolated world.
A few days later, the pair had only made a small harvest; using her Soul Controlling Insects Zi Mo had taken control of seven Monster Beasts. These beasts were then sent out to scout, greatly increasing the scope and efficiency of their search.
After a dozen or so more days, Zi Mo’s pack had increased to fifteen, and they at last discovered traces of Wu Cheng Yi.
One of the scattered Monster Beasts had suddenly been killed, so Yang Kai and Zi Mo quickly rushed over to its last known location only to discover remnants of Sword Qi from the battle.
“It was definitely Wu Cheng Yi!” Yang Kai understood that such vibrant Sword Qi was not something an ordinary person could display, only someone on the level of a Nine Star Sword School disciple would be capable of such a feat.
Not to mention that the one that had died was a Fifth-Order Monster Beast, being able to quickly kill it meant the strength of the other party’s Sword Qi was quite high.
Considering all the evidence, Yang Kai was almost instantly able to determine that the culprit was Wu Cheng Yi.
However, despite following the traces left behind, it was only half a day later before they once again lost Wu Cheng Yi’s trail.
Yang Kai frowned; it was the first time he felt so frustrated that he couldn’t yet cultivate his Divine Sense, causing this hunt to go so slowly. If he could use his Divine Sense it would not be the same, as long as his Divine Sense was strong enough he would have no trouble searching a radius of more than a dozen kilometers around him.
While Yang Kai was grumbling to himself, Zi Mo expression suddenly changed, quickly glancing towards Yang Kai, “My Senior Brother is nearby!”
Yang Kai also turned to look at her, “Chi Xue?”
“En. He’s together with a Sixth-Order Monster Beast, combined with his own strength, no one is his equal, if we meet him here, you will definitely die, we should avoid him at all costs!”
“Him being here… He must also be chasing Wu Cheng Yi.” Yang Kai recalled, when the Tian Lang Dynasty Sen Luo Temple disciples and their Monster Beast army confronted the Great Han Dynasty disciples, the only one with enough ability to escape was Wu Cheng Yi, the others were all captured, so afterwards, Chi Xue left alone with his Sixth-Order Monster Beast in order to pursue Wu Cheng Yi.
Since he and Yang Kai had the same ultimate objective, the two of them encountering each other was not surprising.
“It’s too late!” Zi Mo’s beautiful face went pale as she turned and looked toward the jungle, softly whispering, “Just wait there and don’t speak, I’ll deal with him, if he learns about the relationship between you and me, he’ll definitely try to kill you.”
Yang Kai looked at her with astonishment.
Zi Mo coldly snorted, “I’m just doing this for self-protection, don’t think so hard about it. If you want me to die, all it would take is a single thought, so I definitely can’t let you face mortal danger, lest in desperation you decide to take me with you!”
“Heh heh.” Yang Kai chuckled as glanced at her nervous face before turning towards the direction she was staring.
Shortly after, a giant Monster Beast sprang out from the jungle, the beast looked like a cross between a wolf and a tiger with a domineering stature, powerful limbs, and ferocious claws and fangs; it’s total length was more than ten meters, even several dozen meters away, this mighty Monster Beast was able to give Yang Kai a choking sense of oppression!
Sixth-Order Monster Beast! A true Sixth-Order Monster Beast!
When it appeared, the Monster Beasts standing beside Zi Mo one by one lowered their heads, like a pack of mice encountering a cat, all of them humbling themselves before it.
Sitting on the back of this Monster Beast was a young man wearing a purple robe, roughly twenty-five or twenty-six years old with sword like brows, a firm bearing and a cold penetrating gaze.
This was Chi Xue! His temperament was very different from Wu Cheng Yi. In comparison, Wu Cheng Yi was calm like a mountain, while this Chi Xue was more overbearing, but no matter who it was, they gave off a proud and arrogant aura.
Both of them were favoured Sons of Heaven, they had enough strength to act arrogant!
From his seat atop the Sixth-Order Monster Beast Chi Xue looked towards Zi Mo, not even bothering to glance towards Yang Kai.
The Sixth-Order Monster Beast eventually came to a halt about ten meters away from the pair.
“Senior Brother!” Zi Mo came up and respectfully greeted him but instead of a reply she heard the Sixth-Order Monster Beast growl towards her menacingly.
Seeing this Monster Beast’s reaction caused Zi Mo’s heart to jump, glancing towards her Senior Brother soon after only to find he was staring at her coldly as well.
“Yao He and Yao Xi died, what do you know of this?” After remaining silent for a long time, Chi Xue finally spoke, his sharp pair of eyes slightly narrowing, flashing a dangerous light, as if to warn Zi Mo that her answer would determine her fate.
Zi Mo felt a chill run down her back but still strongly declared, “I killed them!”
Chi Xue’s narrowed eyes suddenly shot open, angrily shouting, “You killed them?”
“Yes!” Zi Mo replied while secretly frightened.
“Tell my why!” Chi Xue demanded coldly.
“They killed my Monster Beasts, took my Soul Controlling Insects, and destroyed my threads of Divine Sense!”
Chi Xue frowned and gazed suspiciously at Zi Mo, “Why would they do that?”
Zi Mo just sneered, “Senior Brother already knows the answer to that question, why are you bothering to ask me?”
Chi Xue closed his eyes for a moment and nodded slightly, “Fine, they dared to move against you, so they must accept such a fate!”
Hearing this sentence, Zi Mo couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief; things would have become perilous if Chi Xue had taken Yao He and Yao Xi’s side. Fortunately, Chi Xue still wanted to maintain his Senior Brother’s appearance and didn’t indiscriminately punis Zi Mo.
“However, you alone couldn’t have killed them.” Chi Xue said with absolute certainty, “Who helped you?”
Zi Mo lightly bit her lip and remained silent.
Seeing her act this way, Chi Xue finally glanced towards Yang Kai, his face still filled with indifference, “You fighting with Yao He and Yao Xi, I do not care about. After we return I will inform Master impartially, but… if an outsider also intervened, you should know how to deal with things!”
“I know.” Zi Mo whispered.
“Good, kill him!” Chi Xue stretched out a finger and pointed at Yang Kai, coldly declaring in a tone that allowed no dissent.
Yang Kai’s heart jumped, secretly increasing his vigilance. He hadn’t thought Zi Mo’s Senior Brother would act so decisively.
Zi Mo raised her head, her eyes flashing a difficult light.
There was no way she could attack Yang Kai. If he wished it, as soon as she moved against him, he could sentence her to death. Unfortunately, Chi Xue’s attitude was extremely firm, and no matter how clever Zi Mo was,she could not think of a way to solve her immediate problems at this moment .
No matter which path she chose, one of these two monsters would be unsatisfied.
“I’m here now, there’s no need to keep him around. Why do you hesitate?” Chi Xue’s cold voice questioned.
Zi Mo’s pulse raced as her thoughts rapidly spun, knowing any further delay would not be possible.
After a brief silence, Zi Mo shook her head and smiled wryly, “I cannot kill him!”
Chi Xue’s eyes narrowed; his voice even colder than before, “Why?”
Yang Kai secretly sneered, waiting for Zi Mo to reply. Once she exposed their secret relationship, he’d give her an appropriate punishment!
“Because… because I’m in love with him!” Zi Mo eyes became firm, her cheeks slightly reddening, before adding, “I’m already his woman, so I won’t fight against him!”
Yang Kai was stunned as he stared at Zi Mo, he never expected that this woman would spout such an outrageous excuse.
Chi Xue’s face also cramped up as he gazed at Zi Mo sadly, gritting his teeth before asking again, “What did you just say?”
“I said I love him, I’m his woman!” Having already broken the jar, Zi Mo simply didn’t care about what was spilt, so her second time delivering these lines was a lot smoother.
Chi Xue showed a smile which was in no way smiling, “You’re saying you like a cultivator for the Great Han Dynasty?”
“Yes!” Zi Mo sneaked a peak at Yang Kai. Seeing his face look completely natural, like everything was as it should be, her heart couldn’t help feeling bitter, anxious to go up and slap his face a few times to vent her anger.
Although she knew that her excuse was ridiculous, she really couldn’t think of a better one right now, but did this damn man have to stand there looking so triumphant? Completely ignoring the pain in her heart.
Chi Xue expression sank as he turned his eyes towards Yang Kai. Taking a deep breath, “Sure enough, there’s no Soul Controlling Insect inside him! It looks like you’re not lying!”
Yang Kai face went cold, this casual comment from Chi Xue inadvertently revealed an important message, he seemed to be able to detect the existence of other people’s Soul Controlling Insects.
“Of course I didn’t lie to you!” Zi Mo painfully squeezed out a big smile.
“Good, good!” Chi Xue’s True Qi surged up along with his murderous aura, “Since you’ve discarded any shred of dignity you have, even allowing this Great Han Dynasty trash to defile your body, Senior Brother has no need to favor you anymore. When we go back, I will be report everything to Master. You should prepare yourself for the consequences!”
Zi Mo’s tender body trembled lightly, but she remained silent.
“As for him …” Chi Xue glared at Yang Kai fiercely, “Since you refuse to kill him, Senior Brother will do it for you!”
Finished speaking, the dozen or so Monstrous Beasts around Zi Mo suddenly stood up and bared their fangs towards Yang Kai, filled with vicious intent.
Yang Kai’s expression sank as he glared coldly at Zi Mo.
Zi Mo hurriedly explained, “Quickly run! Senior Brother’s Soul Controlling Insect is a higher order than my own, so he can affect my Soul Controlling Insects!”
[So it’s like that!] Listening to Zi Mo’s explanation, the anger in Yang Kai’s heart settled down, originally he had suspected that Zi Mo was secretly trying to move against him, but it seems that he was mistaken about her.
“Run away?” Chi Xue coldly snorted as the dozen or so ferocious Monster Beasts quickly surrounded Yang Kai.
Zi Mo’s face was pale and her brow dripped with sweat as she desperately tried to control her Soul Controlling Insects while anxious shouting at Yang Kai again, “What are you doing, why haven’t you left yet?”
However, Yang Kai remained fixed in place, gazing at the Sixth-Order Monster Beast that Chi Xue was riding.
Chi Xue sneered, silently issuing an order causing the dozen or so Monstrous Beasts to pounce towards Yang Kai. Zi Mo tried her best to control them but it was ultimately to no avail.
Yang Kai’s face became serious, his body flickering, has vanished from inside the Monster Beast’s encirclement as his Yuan Qi surged, in his left hand the White Tiger Seal, in his right the Divine Ox Seal, quickly fusing the two together.
A soft glowing light burst from his palm and flew straight to the Sixth-Order Monster Beast.
*Roar…* With a heaven-rending bellow, the Sixth-Order Monster Beast beneath Chi Xue roared while a huge wind, visible to the naked eye, burst forth from its mouth. Intercepting Yang Kai’s Beast Slave Seal, the violent energies clashing mid air before directly crushing the soft glowing light.
“Don’t be so presumptuous!” Chi Xue sneered dismissively, he didn’t know what the Beast Slave Seal was, only thinking it was some means of attack Yang Kai had cast, but when Yang Kai had struck just now, he had exposed his real strength.
Separation and Reunion Boundary Eighth Stage! Aware of this, Chi Xue only became more enraged.
If this person was really some Heaven defying genius from the Great Han Dynasty, Zi Mo liking him would at least be reasonable, but he had clearly not even reached the True Element Boundary, what qualifications did he have to let Zi Mo fall for him?
As her First Senior Brother, Chi Xue naturally felt ashamed, further fueling his determined to destroy Yang Kai.
“Kill!” Chi Xue disdained to personally intervene, waving his hand as he ordered Zi Mo’s Monster Beasts to rush Yang Kai again.
Yang Kai’s body flashed again, dodging the Monster Beasts’ onslaught while turning a deaf ear to Zi Mo’s cries, dashing forward as he flew straight towards the Sixth-Order Monster Beast.
Sitting on the back of his Monster Beast, Chi Xue sneered again and again as he watched, looking down on Yang Kai like he was some mere mortal, disdaining his futile struggle and resistance.
“Your Movement Skill is good, but you’re simply too weak!” Chi Xue offhandedly commented.
The Sixth-Order Monster Beast under him seemed to sense its master’s thoughts, opening its mouth again but this time continuously roaring. Accompanying each roar was a half-meter-long wind blade which rapidly flew towards Yang Kai.
However, Yang Kai still kept dodging, concentrating on moving towards the Sixth-Order Monster Beast, seemingly desperate to get closer.
As the distance between them continued to shrink, Chi Xue finally showed some interest. He found that he had still underestimated the speed of this Great Han Dynasty cultivator’s Movement Skill; Zi Mo’s Monster Beasts had no way of touching him, and even though his Sixth-Order Monster Beast was also attacking, in only a few short breaths he had managed to close to within twenty meters.
*Hmph!* Chi Xue snorted in annoyance, his eyes glaring angrily at Yang Kai.
At fifteen meters, the speed of this Great Han Dynasty cultivator once again shot up, leaving behind only an afterimage.
Chi Xue eye’s scanned his whole surroundings as his ears carefully perked up. Suddenly sneering, he struck towards his side with a vicious palm.
A violent True Qi burst forth as the palm strike whistled through the air towards the reappeared Yang Kai who seemed like he would take a direct hit from Chi Xue’s attack.
At the same time, a faint glowing light shot out again from Yang Kai’s palms and this time managed to sink into the Sixth-Order Monster Beast’s body.
Successful, Yang Kai hurriedly tried to intercept Chi Xue’s strike. Accompanied by a loud bang, Yang Kai’s body flew out like a paper kite, landing several dozen meters away.
“Hmph, waste!” Chi Xue spat, he now understood that this Great Han Dynasty cultivator’s desperate struggle to close the distance between them was all for the purpose of launching that strange glowing light towards his Sixth-Order Monster Beast, but although he had managed to hit it, his Monster Beast hadn’t shown any reaction, but rather this kid had taken one of his strikes and was now certainly seriously injured.
Hitting the ground, Yang Kai barely managed to land on his feet, staggering back several steps to stabilize his stance, taking a deep breaths to suppress his rioting blood, his eyes flashing a trace of amazement.
“Strong!” Yang Kai didn’t hesitate to praise.
This Chi Xue was worthy of an elite super-force’s disciple, even if he only hailed from a small side branch, his strength was not something an ordinary cultivator could match.
“Junior Sister, Senior Brother will give you a chance. As long as you kill him, I will say a few words to Master in your defence; I will even can help you conceal the fact that your innocence has been tainted so your position in the Sect will not suffer, or else, if such things spread out, it will become very difficult for you.”
Zi Mo shook her head without hesitation, “It’s impossible for me to act against him!”
Attacking Yang Kai was tantamount to digging her own grave, on this point Zi Mo was very clear.
“Good, since this is the path you have chosen, in the future, do not regret it!” Chi Xue’s patience had finally run out, slapping his Monstrous Beast mount, coldly staring at Yang Kai, “I do not know what underhanded means you used conquer my Junior Sister, but no Tian Lang Dynasty woman shall ever submit themselves to a Great Han Dynasty scum, so you must die!”
Done talking, Chi Xue simply waited for Yang Kai’s death, but after a moment, his expression suddenly changed, looking down in surprise towards the Sixth-Order Monster Beast he was riding.
Just now, he issued an order to this Monster Beast to launch a full offensive, but it had actually failed to respond.
[My Soul Controlling Insect is still there, how could this be?]
Suspicious of this situation, Chi Xue again issued his command, and indeed this time the Monster Beast responded, but instead of attacking Yang Kai, it bucked wildly and directly tossed Chi Xue off its back!
Tumbling mid-air, Chi Xue managed to land upright before staring towards his Monster Beast; at that moment it was actually also glaring towards him, a low growl rumbling from the depths of its throat, its eyes flashing an ominous light.
Chi Xue’s face went pale.
This Monster Beast which had been implanted with his own Soul Controlling Insect had somehow escaped his control, and worse off was now hostile to him!
“Ha ha ha!” Yang Kai let out a burst of rampant laughter.
Shifting his attention to him, Chi Xue recalled the most recent sequence of events and roared loudly towards him, “What did you do!?”
Thinking back to that odd light, Chi Xue had mostly guessed what had happened; this kid just now had desperately rushed him only to plant that glowing orb into his Monster Beast. It must have been some strange technique which somehow disrupted his control.
Otherwise, how could his own enslaved Monster Beast possibly turn against him?
Yang Kai’s wanton laughter continued as he swept away all his caution, spiritedly strolled forward and came up to the Sixth-Order Monster Beast’s side, reaching out and patting it as he looked back at Chi Xue, “What did I do, isn’t it obvious?”
Zi Mo jaw sank to the floor as she stared at Yang Kai in shock.
The more time she spent around him, the more mysterious Zi Mo found him. This strange youth seemed to possess strength and techniques far beyond her wildest imagination.
It wasn’t until now that Zi Mo understood how a few days before in their battle against the rampaging Monster Beast horde he had resolved her and Leng Shan’s crisis. At that time, although she knew that he had somehow been manipulating the situation, she was unsure of exactly how he had done so.
But now, Zi Mo finally understood. This youth… he had some skill which allowed him to control Monster Beasts!
Easily being able to control a Sixth-Order Monster Beast, with such a heaven defying skill, who was worthy in this isolated space of being his enemy? Even her Senior Brother Chi Xue had to take the great risk of sacrificing hundreds of Soul Controlling Insects, letting them consume one another in order for one of them to become a higher order Soul Controlling Insect, giving up control of several tens of powerful Monster Beasts in the process to finally be able to subdue this Sixth-Order Monster Beast in front of them.
Comparing the two, Yang Kai’s abilities were simply beyond unfathomable!
“How did you do this? My Soul Controlling Insect is still inside its body. This is impossible!” Chi Xue had completely lost his previous calm demeanor as he desperately tried to communicate with his own Soul Controlling Insect, but in the end the Sixth-Order Monster Beast simply refused to obey his orders.
“Nothing is impossible; I can only say that your insects are just too worthless!” Yang Kai contemptuously grinned as he stared at him coldly.
“Interesting!” Chi Xue’s expression suddenly lit up, like he had just encountered some new fun toy, staring towards Yang Kai with rage filled eyes.
“Kill!” Yang Kai only spat out a single word.
The Sixth-Order Monster Beast instantly dashed forward, sending out a flurry of sharp wind blades, forcing Chi Xue to activate his own Movement Skill in order to hastily dodge. Instead of clashing with the Monster Beast, Chi Xue shot up into the air, then, like an eagle striking from the sky, dove towards Yang Kai.
Although Chi Xue’s strength was impressive, he was still no match for the Sixth-Order Monster Beast, so his goal was only Yang Kai, as long he killed this little bastard, he would be able to regain control of the Sixth-Order Monster Beast.
So from the very beginning, Chi Xue struck to kill, his True Element Boundary Seventh Stage strength completely bursting out, producing an amazing destructive power.
Yang Kai’s face also became dignified; pushing the Yuan Qi in his body to the limit, not only not dodging the blow, but instead kicking off the ground and flying toward Chi Xue head on.
“You really are interesting!” Chi Xue grinned with delight.
“So are you!” Yang Kai roared out just as loudly.
While sparring verbally, the two struck out without any superfluous movements or fancy skill; this confrontation was a pure contest of power, both of them going all out.
Chi Xue used a certain kill strike again Yang Kai; determined to instantly win back control of the Sixth-Order Monster Beast.
In the face of such an assault, Yang Kai naturally did not hold anything back.
Their fists collided as a massive explosion rang out between them, a blinding flash of light blinding everyone present, the World Energy distorting around them, quickly followed by two muffled cries as the two separated.
Chi Xue flew back while Yang Kai fell like a meteorite.
Crashing into the ground, Yang Kai smashed open a small pit, quickly climbing up before spitting out a mouthful or blood whereas Chi Xue, after landing softly, had a slight tinge of red on his face but was otherwise unharmed.
In this round, Chi Xue had prevailed.
Even so, Chi Xue’s face flashed a look of utter disbelief as he stared at Yang Kai, but before he could fully assess how much damage he had done, a series of wind blades attacked him from behind.
Cursing endlessly, Chi Xue hastily dodged.
These were attacks from a Sixth-Order Monster Beast; he wouldn’t be able to take more than a few of them.
“You… I…” Zi Mo cried out as she fumbled for the right words.
“Just stand back!” Yang Kai shouted. He knew that right now she was very conflicted so he did not force her to help him, instead quickly activating his Movement Skill and dashing towards Chi Xue again.
Chi Xue expression sank. Not daring to stick around, he decisively turned and fled.
He had thought that Yang Kai was weak, so once he had taken his life he would be able to salvage the situation, but he had never expected his full powered strike to only cause some minor injuries to this little Separation and Reunion Eighth Stage kid.
With no way to quickly take Yang Kai’s life, his Sixth-Order Monster Beast falling into enemy hands, and his Junior Sister not able to help, why would Chi Xue stick around just to die?
Seeing Chi Xue flash a thousand meters away, Yang Kai naturally refused to give up, jumping on the back of the Sixth-Order Monster Beast and quickly chasing after him.
Her heart filled with hesitation, Zi Mo stood stunned for a long time before gritting her teeth and following behind.
Her life was still held in Yang Kai’s hands, how could she not care?
Through the jungle, three figures raced forward one after another.
Chi Xue was in the lead, moving with all the speed he could muster. Yang Kai followed closely behind along with the Sixth-Order Monster Beast, and a few kilometers back, Zi Mo, leading her Monstrous Beasts, struggled between wanting to keep up and wanting to escape, causing her pace to be neither fast nor slow.
While pursuing Chi Xue, the Sixth-Order Monster Beast would occasionally launch wind blades, mowing down trees hundreds of meters away like reaping wheat from the field, fully displaying its overwhelming strength.
After all, this Monster Beast was no weaker than an Immortal Ascension Boundary master!
Although Chi Xue was fleeing, his face showed no signs of panic; only a touch of anxiety occupied his brow, concerned that if this pursuit continued, eventually his True Qi would be consumed clean while the Great Han Dynasty cultivator didn’t have to worry about such issues. Once he became cornered, keeping his life would truly be difficult.
Little did he know, Yang Kai was also feeling anxious.
His Beast Slave Seal was incredibly powerful, but he had only ever used it on Fourth-Order and Fifth-Order Monster Beasts, never on a Sixth-Order Monster Beast.
Before this battle, Yang Kai had a rough idea of the Beast Slave Seal’s limitations and suspected it would be related to his cultivation level, but there was never an opportunity to verify this until just now.
Yang Kai was now a Separation and Reunion Eighth Stage cultivator, which was roughly equivalent to a peak Fourth-Order Monster Beast.
At his level, the Beast Slave Seal could easily control a Fourth-Order Monster Beast, and even a general Fifth-Order Monster Beast would be forced to submit, but in front of a Sixth-Order Monster Beast things were not so simple.
This Monster Beast was subconsciously fighting back against the implanted Beast Slave Seal!
For the moment it was still obeying his commands, but Yang Kai estimated that after an hour at most, the Beast Slave Seal would be crushed, and at that time the Sixth-Order Monster Beast would once again fall under Chi Xue’s control.
The situation was not good, the fight had to be resolved before this hour was up, or else the entire situation would return to square one!
Yang Kai was also uncertain if the Sixth-Order Monster Beast could be implanted with the Beast Slave Seal a second time, if doing so no longer had an effect…
Thinking till here, Yang Kai hurriedly issued orders to the Monster Beast.
Thankfully the Monster Beast was still well-behaved, and after receiving Yang Kai’s instructions its speed rose significantly as it gradually closed the distance between them and Chi Xue.
After a stick of incense, Chi Xue glanced back over his shoulder and immediately couldn’t help but curse!
His original thousand meters lead had actually has been cut in half; after another a stick of incense his pursuers would definitely catch up.
“What if I went there?” An idea suddenly flashed across Chi Xue’s thoughts, hesitating somewhat, unable to decide.
It was a mysterious region, a portion of the jungle completely wrapped in a strange white mist, thick enough to obscure one’s vision completely. Chi Xue had inadvertently found it several days ago.
At the time, Chi Xue had wanted to go in and explore, but the Sixth-Order Monster Beast seemed extremely frightened by that place, which in turn made Chi Xue faintly uneasy, causing him to give up those plans.
But now, with the enemy pursuit drawing ever closer and no chance to shake them off, Chi Xue decided it was worth a try even if there were unknown risks.
Against the Sixth-Order Monster Beast and that strange Great Han Dynasty cultivator whose combat strength far exceeded his cultivation level, Chi Xue was unable to compete, but that place was somewhere the Monster Beast feared so it certainly would not enter; if he could separate the two of them, Chi Xue felt he would have an opportunity to win.
Weighing his options, Chi Xue’s eyes flashed a cold light, then steeling his will.
Glancing about the surrounding terrain to find his bearings, Chi Xue suddenly turned toward the strange mist-shrouded region.
Nearly another stick of incense later, the distance between Yang Kai and Chi Xue had shrunk to just a few tens of meters.
They were now so close that not only could the Sixth-Order Monster Beast launch wind blades, even Yang Kai could make deadly strikes, both of them ferociously attacking towards Chi Xue.
If this continued much longer, Chi Xue would be overwhelmed, his clothes already cut up by their combined assault; it was only thanks to his bodies True Qi which had blocked most of the wind blade’s force that none of his bones had been broken and was instead just dripping a little blood.
Staring back at Yang Kai with utter hatred, a cold and provocative smile slowly emerged on Chi Xue’s face, suddenly changing direction again, dashing into a mist covered area of the jungle.
Naturally, Yang Kai pursued him.
But unexpectedly, when the Sixth-Order Monster Beast noticed the strange white mist ahead, it frantically stopped, causing Yang Kai who was completely focused on Chi Xue to fly off from the inertia.
Tumbling through the air several times, Yang Kai awkwardly fell to the ground, but before he had time to observe his surroundings a mournful wailing reached his ears.
It was Chi Xue!
He seemed to be suffering some kind of unbearable pain, causing him to let out those blood curdling screams.
Yang Kai’s expression also rapidly changed and in the next moment, a sharp pain suddenly burst forth in his mind. However, this pain was familiar; it was the same kind of pain he had experienced when Old Demon had tried to seize his body by destroying his consciousness.
Involuntarily, Yang Kai roared as he gripped his head, the veins on his forehead throbbing, a cold sweat dripping down his face while his entire body trembled.
“AHH!” Suddenly, an even more mournful and tragic howl than Chi Xue’s rang out.
It was Old Demon’s cries!
Old Demon’s screams rang out over and over again, full of panic and fear.
“Old Demon!” Yang Kai yelled as he gripped his head in pain, “What happened?”
“Young Master …” Old Demon’s voice trembled, “What is this damned place? Why is it attacking my Soul?”
Listening to his words, Yang Kai suddenly understood! No wonder the pain in his head felt so familiar, it was the feeling of his Soul being damaged.
Since a while ago, Yang Kai had been using a similar type of torture to deter Zi Mo and Leng Shan from acting against him, but now he himself was suffering the same kind of torment.
It was karma, good was rewarded with good while evil begets evil, all things would someday reach a balance.
Chi Xue leading him into this white mist wrapped patch of jungle was clearly a plot, but now he too was howling in pain only a few tens of meters away, evidently he did not know just how terrible this place was only to rush inside and find he could not bear it.
Now, with the two of them suffering continuous damage to their Souls, they simply didn’t have any spare capacity to fight.
“Young Master, you must quickly leave here! This white mist is too strange… it causes no harm to one’s body but it severely damages one’s Soul. Old Servant cannot stand it!” Old Demon strongly urged him.
Once he was a powerful old devil, but now he had been reduced to only a residual Soul without a flesh and blood body, usually he could leisurely reside within his Soul Breaker Awl, but falling into this strange mist shrouded place was like falling into hell, causing him unimaginable torment and pain, much greater than either Yang Kai and Chi Xue.
In this short period of time, Old Demon clearly felt the strength of his Soul weakening which cause him great panic, it was like feeling his existence being slowly shredded into nothingness.
“I know, hang on!” Yang Kai glanced around, catching a glimpse of Chi Xue also stumbling around inside the mist, trying to find out the way, but it was to no avail.
Gritting his teeth as he desperately endured the pain in his head, Yang Kai dashed back the way he had come, attempting to withdraw from here.
But after traveling a thousand meters, he found he was still surrounded by white mist.
Yang Kai’s blood went cold; immediately realizing how bad the situation had become.
When he had broken into this mist shrouded place, he had gone at most several tens of meters before the pain had begun, but now he was unable to find the way out! He couldn’t give up though, giving up would be the same as committing suicide!
“Old Demon … something’s wrong, I can’t find the way out!” Yang Kai expression became panicked as well.
Hearing Yang Kai’s words, the howling Old Demon began to feel despair, “Is this going to be Old Servant’s… final resting place? Old Servant is not willing…”
He had been sealed inside the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave for countless years until the barrier concealing it was cracked, giving him an opportunity to free himself. Although he later surrendered himself to Yang Kai, whatever the outcome he had at least managed to escape that place, but now being forced into this life and death crisis, Old Demon naturally aggrieved.
Yang Kai frowned, struggling to resist the pain in his head while scanning the terrain, frantically trying to find a way out.
There must be some kind of barrier around this place, otherwise he shouldn’t have had any problem leaving, but with Old Demon now incapacitated, and with Yang Kai himself simply unable find the source of the barrier, how could he hope to escape?
“I’m also starting to feel sleepy…” Yang Kai’s eyes drooped slightly as he began to stagger a bit.
“Bad, this is very bad, it’s a sign your Soul is being damaged, if this keeps up, Young Master’s Soul will likely be destroyed!”
Yang Kai face was gloomy. Pushing himself to endure all sorts of discomfort as his thoughts swirled.
Suddenly, a certain idea came to him, quickly shouting, “Old Demon, hide inside my Golden Skeleton!”
“Your Golden Skeleton? Oh…” Old Demon quickly understood and immediately moved his Soul into Yang Kai’s Unyielding Golden Skeleton.
After a brief moment, Old Demon’s laughter rang out, “Ha ha ha… Young Master, you Golden Skeleton is truly impressive, it can withstand the effects of this strange white fog, Old Servant is saved!”
Yang Kai smiled wryly, “You may be safe, but I’m still in danger!”
The Unyielding Golden Skeleton was like a vast bottomless pit, it could absorb any kind of energy he had come across so far. Yang Kai did not know what this white mist was, but since it was able to damage one’s Soul, it was certainly the manifestation of some kind of energy, so he had let Old Demon test whether the Golden Skeleton could block its effects, and sure enough it proved effective.
“Young Master, you must endure!” Old Demon cheered Yang Kai on. He now did not have to worry about being immediately erased, but if Yang Kai died here, he would also not be able to escape unscathed.
“Is there any way for me to place my Soul into the Golden Skeleton as well?” Yang Kai said as sweat dripped down his forehead, his fists tightly clenched as he trembled in pain.
“Young Master has not reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary …” Old Demon sighed and did not continue to speak, without reaching the Immortal Ascension Boundary, and without cultivating one’s Divine Sense, how could one transfer their Soul to a different location?
Yang Kai ground his teeth, making every effort to resist the pain from in his head as his Yuan Qi fluctuated chaotically.
The pain continued to build, causing him to feel a kind of vertigo hit him, eventually leading Yang Kai to stagger and fall to the ground, his Soul clearly suffering more damage!
If this pace kept up, it would not be long before his Soul really was destroyed and he would essentially cease to exist; therefore, he had to find a way to escape this calamity quickly.
Although the situation was grim, in this moment of great adversity, Yang Kai became increasingly calm. Taking advantage of this wave of dizziness abating slightly, he gathered all his willpower and spirit as he wracked his brain to find a way out of this crisis.
While Yang Kai was concentrating, he suddenly felt a cool sensation wash over his mind; this unexpected sensation was not an illusion but something which really happened.
Accompanying this cooling wave, Yang Kai’s consciousness also became clearer and clearer, his whole being feeling somewhat comforted, the pain in his head also quickly vanishing, like he was waking from a groggy stupor, feeling refreshed and even somewhat invigorated.
“Huh?” Yang Kai’s face filled with doubt, slowly standing up, carefully feeling the incredible changes he had just undergone, wrinkling his brow in confusion.
“Young Master?” Old Demon hesitantly called out.
Yang Kai did not respond, still immersed in the strange feeling he had just experienced, until a moment later, accompanied by a throbbing sensation, the same severe pain he had just endured returned once again to torment him.
This pain lasted for some time, until it had reached a certain level of intensity. At that point, the feeling of vertigo overwhelmed him again.
At the same time, a burst of cool spread throughout his mind, not only relieving him of his vertigo but also quickly alleviating the pain he was enduring
The situation was exactly the same as the one he had just experienced.
This time however, Yang Kai carefully felt the entire process, finally allowing him to gain some insight into what was happening.
The pain he felt was from the white mist attacking his Soul, the dizziness and vertigo a result of his Soul acquiring a certain amount of damage, but now, Yang Kai did not feel that his Soul had suffered any damage, instead he felt its strength had slightly increased because his perception seemed to have expanded a little bit, which was the simplest test of the strength of one’s Soul.
Although this increase was small, it was no doubt growth.
Yang Kai was suddenly overjoyed.
“Old Demon, this time your Young Master has encountered a great opportunity!” Yang Kai suddenly laughed heartily, but no sooner had he started laughing did he choke up, his hands clutching his head as his entire body began to spasm.
Yang Kai remained in such a condition for a long time before all of a sudden returning to a perfectly normal state, causing Old Demon to inquire curiously, “Young Master, what exactly is happening?”
“The Soul Warming Lotus is what’s happening!” Yang Kai replied mischievously. “It’s repairing the damage done to my Soul!”
Old Demon was stunned, suddenly realizing what was happening.
This old devil had been panic-stricken, unable to focus on anything else but survival, so he had not remembered about this until Yang Kai had just reminded him, finally come understanding what was happening.
When they had visited Hidden Island, Yang Kai had received a Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus; this thing was simply a godly treasure for cultivating one’s Soul. But since Yang Kai had not yet reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary, although he had indeed accepted the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus into his Soul, to this day he still could not find a trace of it.
However, now that Yang Kai was trapped in this strange place and his Soul had been damaged, the Soul Warming Lotus had naturally taken action.
While he possessed this supreme treasure, how could Yang Kai be frightened of this white mist?
The combination of the white mist and the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus created a cycle of destruction and repair, while in the process allowing Yang Kai’s Soul to slowly strengthen.
The only downside was this process was excruciatingly painful, not something just anyone could endure.
“Young Master is truly blessed by the Heavens; Old Servant knew all along that you would be fine.” Old Demon quickly spewed nonsense.
Yang Kai simply grinned; no longer worried about keeping his life, he sat down cross-legged and allowed himself to be enveloped by the white mist, entering a state of meditation.
Although this place was quite dangerous, it was also a good place to quench his Soul. If Yang Kai missed this chance, only the Heavens would know when he would again find such a rare opportunity.
So Yang Kai quickly made up his mind to stay here for some time. Although every time the Soul Warming Lotus repaired his Soul the enhancement he experienced was quite small, many grains of sand would eventually build a tower. As long as he persisted long enough, maybe there was even a chance he could cultivate out his Knowledge Sea.
Again and again experiencing this mind wrenching pain, it was only thanks to his unyielding willpower that Yang Kai managed to endure. After the pain came dizziness, and once the dizziness reached a certain level the Soul Warming Lotus would repair his Soul, the process was very slow, but Yang Kai was also contented.
This was a very time consuming process.
Half a day later, Yang Kai suddenly heard a round of mournful screams coming from nearby. Opening his eyes and glancing towards the direction the screams came from, Yang Kai once again saw Zi Mo’s Senior Brother, Chi Xue, rampaging about like a headless fly within the white mist. His appearance was a mess and his face was distorted in pain, randomly colliding with things while wantonly throwing his True Qi around, randomly unleashing all kinds of ferocious Martial Skills into his surroundings.
This man was clearly not as lucky as Yang Kai, who had the Soul Warming Lotus on him and did not have to worry about his Soul being damaged.
At the moment, Chi Xue’s mind had basically been destroyed. Even if he somehow managed to leave this white mist, he would still be nothing more than a mindless beast.
Yang Kai slowly got up and looked coldly towards Chi Xue, pondering for a moment, but eventually deciding to confront him.
Although there was no doubt in Yang Kai’s mind that Chi Xue would die eventually, he was still a True Element Boundary Seventh Stage elite, so the Blood Bead condensed after his death would naturally be extraordinary, not something to be missed.
Chi Xue had led Yang Kai into this white mist, intending to even the playing field against him, but the Heavens were cruel and all he ended up doing was digging his own grave. If he had known just how dangerous this white mist region was, he certainly would not have foolishly rushed in.
Slowing walking towards him, Yang Kai came before Chi Xue and punched out. Whether it was consciously or simply on instinct, Chi Xue responded with his own palm strike.
Yang Kai dodged sideways to avoid him while unleashing a Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast into Chi Xue’s body. Soon after a few muffled thuds could be heard as Chi Xue’s body flew out.
There was no doubt about this battle’s outcome; Chi Xue had already lost his mind, and was only left with his True Element Seventh Stage cultivation. Even with such might, he was unable to utilise even a fraction of his true strength, in less than thirty breaths of time Yang Kai ended his life with a heavy palm strike.
Collecting the newly condensed Blood Bead, Yang Kai once again sat down and continued the painful process of enhancing his Soul.
Since there was no sun or moon in this isolated world, it was difficult to tell just how much time had passed. Many times, Yang Kai had to simply guess how long it had been by his instincts.
After spending about half a month in the white mist field, Yang Kai successfully broke through to the Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage!
This was not just the results of his dedicated cultivation, but also due to him absorbing more than eighty Blood Beads. These Blood Beads were all acquired when he had killed Chi Xue.
Most of them were from Monster Beasts, but among them there were five which had been condensed from the essence of True Element Boundary disciples, each one containing vast amounts of pure energy.
After absorbing such a huge amount of energy, and then spending half a month in focused cultivation, it was only natural that Yang Kai’s realm had been promoted. While consolidating his Ninth Stage cultivation, he also laid a stable foundation for his nearing breakthrough to the True Element Boundary.
For this past half-month, Yang Kai had also been slowly adapted to the pain in his mind, eventually even being able to ignore it altogether. Although the pain itself still existed, it was no longer able to make any impact on him.
With the repeated destruction and repair, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense slowly became stronger, and the range of his perception expanded many times.
Experiencing this process for half a month, Yang Kai eventually began looking for a way out.
In any case, cultivating his Divine Sense did not need him to do anything in particular. As long as he remained within this white mist bank, his Soul would receive damage, and the Soul Warming Lotus would automatically restore it. Both staying put or moving around resulted in the same outcome.
After exploring his surroundings for several days, Yang Kai was still trapped within the white mist bank, unable to find where he came in, nor another way out.
The situation was beginning to look grim, and Yang Kai started to feel slightly anxious. Even after he used his Flaming Yang Wings to fly up, he could not find a way out of this strange place.
One day, as Yang Kai was exploring around, he suddenly became aware of some changes in the white mist around him. These changes were very subtle, and if he had not been checking carefully, he simply would not have noticed. He even discovered that this slight change was also thanks to his perception being significantly enhanced. If it was him from half a month ago, he certainly would have missed it.
Afterwards, Yang Kai began to thoroughly investigate this phenomenon.
After a long time, Yang Kai eventually determined that the mist surrounding him was actually slowly drifting towards a fixed position. Although he did not know why this was happening, after searching around here for so long, now that he had finally discovered something out of the ordinary, he was naturally eager to check it out.
Walking along the direction the white mist was flowing, as he moved forward, the pace at which the mist flowed became faster and faster, faintly beginning to feel like a light breeze, as if there was something which was absorbing the white mist in front of him.
Yang Kai silently raised his vigilance, pushing his Movement Skill lightly as he slowly approached the source of the anomaly.
A few breaths of time later, Yang Kai began to hear a subtle humming sound coming from in front of him, like the sound of wind flowing into a hole in the wall.
Focusing his senses forward in an attempt to amplify his perception to the limit, Yang Kai slowly closed the distance between the source of the sound and himself.
A short time later, Yang Kai stood in place, frowning slightly as he stared at a strangely shaped stone standing not far from his position, the surrounding white mist clearly flowing towards a small opening on its surface.
The hole in this stone was like its mouth, constantly inhaling the white mist.
Not sensing any danger, Yang Kai gradually relaxed, his demeanor slowly transitioning from vigilance to curiosity. Upon taking a closer look, Yang Kai was surprised to find that the stone itself was hollow, and that while the white mist was flowing into it from the hole at its top, another small hole at its bottom was where the humming sound came from; it was very peculiar.
Circling around the stone in interest, Yang Kai found that this stone was anything but ordinary.
The stone showed some traces of being attacked previously, however these were only light scratches, with no indication of it being cracked or chipped in any way.
These traces had clearly been left on the stone when someone had attacked it, and in order to come here, one would need at least a True Element Boundary cultivation, but a True Element Boundary cultivator’s attack had actually only been able to scratch the stone’s surface. Obviously, this stone was not just some common rock.
Any ordinary stone which suffered a True Element Boundary cultivator’s strike would be instantly turned into dust.
Considering for a moment, Yang Kai also decided to launch his own attack, sending out a strong palm strike, but the result was him not even being able to cause the stone to shake slightly.
Though he knew that this stone was certainly some kind of rare treasure, Yang Kai could only look at it. Such a big stone obviously weighed at least several thousand kilograms, possibly even more than that; it was undoubtedly impossible for him to take it away from here.
After letting out a long sigh, Yang Kai slowly squat down, deciding to investigate the small opening at the bottom of the stone.
Underneath the stone’s lower opening, which was constantly releasing the white mist absorbed by the hole above, was a soybean sized well, and within that well was a drop of crystal clear, amber-like liquid.
When he moved closer to this well, Yang Kai caught a whiff of a wondrous fragrance that made his entire spirit feel refreshed. The feeling was even many times stronger compared to when the Soul Warming Lotus repaired the damage to his Soul from the white mist.
[Treasure!] Although Yang Kai did not know exactly what this liquid was, it was definitely a Precious Treasure which could bring great benefits to one’s Soul!
Look at this single drop of liquid, Yang Kai’s eyes filled with desire.
Stretching out a finger, he carefully controlled his Yuan Qi in order to remove this drop of amber liquid from the well.
However, before he could celebrate his success, the surrounding white mist suddenly began to swirl about more than ten times faster than before, flooding into the hole at the top of the stone.
But this time, instead of the white mist flowing out of the lower opening in the stone, it was somehow all completely absorbed, with not a strand of it leaking out.
Yang Kai watched this all occur with great surprise.
Gradually, the soybean-sized well began to fill with a stage watery mist, and at the very bottom a trace of amber liquid began to condense
[Does this mean that the drop of amber liquid I just extracted is actually refined by condensing the surrounding white mist?]
Although this was just a guess, combined with what he had just seen, Yang Kai was almost certain his theory was correct.
Originally, he had wanted to preserve this drop of Precious Treasure, but now that he knew that more of it could be formed later, Yang Kai was no longer so concerned about this.
Pausing for only a moment, Yang Kai quickly threw the drop of amber liquid into his mouth and immediately swallowed it.
Tasting a sweet, nectar like flavour, Yang Kai clearly felt the amber liquid transform into a form of energy and flow into his dantian before completely ignoring his burning hot True Yang Yuan Qi as it traveled along his meridians, all the way up to his head.
Suddenly, Yang Kai felt like his entire body was floating above the clouds, an indescribable feeling washing over him, causing every fiber of his being to rejoice.
His mind suddenly felt many times clearer than it ever had before!
His tactile, visual, and auditory senses at this moment were all amplified greatly.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai could suddenly even make out the blades of grass over five hundred meters away.
In this mist covered place, Yang Kai could only see a few tens of meters ahead of himself originally, and even that was only vaguely, but now his vision had been directly enhanced tens of times over!
His hearing and tactile senses had also experienced similarly significant improvement!
Understanding that he had definitely just ingested an incredible thing, Yang Kai was not negligent, quickly sitting cross-legged, calming his emotions, and carefully refining the energy released from the drop of amber liquid.
As he continued to absorb and refine this energy, the benefits it brought him also became stronger. First of all, were the benefits it brought to his own body; Yang Kai could now clearly feel the influx of World Energy entering him from his surroundings, as well as exactly how it flowed and circulated around inside him through his five viscera and six organs.
After this initial rush had passed, a sudden bursting feeling occurred within Yang Kai’s mind; it was difficult to describe, like a tingling sensation. It felt as if an invisible barrier in his mind was itching, making him desperate to scratch it, yet Yang Kai frustratingly could do nothing about it.
One thing was certain; this barrier no doubt existed, and was blocking some part of Yang Kai’s perception.
This situation went on for quite a while until, all of a sudden, this strange barrier shattered.
The itching sensation was instantly replaced by a warm, comfortable feeling, causing Yang Kai to feel like his spirit had just undergone an incredible baptism and sublimation.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s original senses also underwent a complete evolution. It was like his entire range of perception rapidly contracted, then immediately burst and spread outwards.
With himself as the centre, Yang Kai could suddenly perceive his entire surroundings: the white mist which filled the air, all the individual plants, it was like he could see and feel all of it within his mind.
Within a radius two to three kilometers, there was nothing he could not sense.
Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of confusion appearing on his face as he quietly meditated.
After a long time, he began showing a strange smile as his eyes glimmered.
“Old Demon… I think I’ve just developed my Divine Sense…” Yang Kai said softly while in pure disbelief.
“What?” Old Demon replied in shock, “Are you feeling alright, Young Master?”
“No, it’s true, I really believe I’ve managed to cultivate out my Divine Sense.” Yang Kai’s smile gradually grew bigger, slowly explaining the changes he had just experienced.
As Old Demon listened, he became more and more amazed by Yang Kai, for a long time losing his ability to even respond.
“If what you say is true then… you certain have cultivated out your Divine Sense!” Old Demon’s voice was filled with both shock and admiration; being able to “see” everything around you with your eyes closed, if that wasn’t one’s Divine Sense then what else could it possibly be?
Before reaching the Immortal Ascension Boundary, a cultivator mainly relied on their perception to explore their surroundings; however, this kind of perception was somewhat vague and was closer to instinct than actually sensing things. This kind of instinct could also be strengthened by enhancing one’s auditory, visual, and olfactory senses to perceive changes in the surrounding atmosphere, thus allowing one to infer situations further afield than one’s direct environment.
Perception was not omnipotent, and it was actually quite easy for it to be mistaken, but for cultivators below the Immortal Ascension Boundary, it was the only method they had to gather unseen information.
However, once one reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary, everything was different. Once one became an Immortal Ascension cultivator and opened their Knowledge Sea, allowing their Divine Sense to explore their surroundings, everything around them became as clear as if one were looking at it with their own eyes.
Compared to something vague like perception, Divine Sense was undoubtedly more powerful, and this power was not only reflected in a cultivator’s ability to perceive an enemy’s movements, a powerful Divine Sense could also be used to attack others which was extremely difficult to prevent.
[But… reaching the Immortal Ascension Boundary is normally an absolute requirement in order to cultivate out one’s Divine Sense; however, Young Master’s realm is clearly still at the Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage!]
In between these two cultivation levels was an entire Great Realm plus a major watershed Minor Realm!
Even though he had seen Yang Kai defy common sense countless times already, Old Demon at the moment still found such a development somewhat unacceptable.
“Since Young Master has cultivated out his Divine Sense, have you also opened up your Knowledge Sea?” Asked Old Demon curiously.
“No…” Yang Kai responded, also quite puzzled by this, naturally he had some understanding about the Knowledge Sea and had just now carefully examined himself but he was unable to find any trace of his Knowledge Sea within him.
“How could that be?” Old Demon said, pondering for a moment before asking, “Young Master can you see what’s inside yourself, especially inside your brain? If you can see the Soul Warming Lotus inside yourself then that means you’ve already opened your Knowledge Sea.”
“I can’t see it,” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow greatly. “It seems I can only perceive the situation outside. I can’t sense anything within me.”
Yang Kai’s case was unique.
It was likely to happen only once in thousands of years, or perhaps an even longer situation; at only the Separation and Reunion Ninth Stage being able to cultivate out one’s Divine Sense, this was not something an average elite could do. That ability to fully utilize one’s Divine Sense was the defining characteristic of the Immortal Ascension Boundary, and in general, wanting to do so while still at the Separation and Reunion Boundary was simply impossible.
Moreover, while Yang Kai had indeed been able to cultivate out his Divine Sense, he had not yet managed to open his Knowledge Sea, which caused his situation to be even more peculiar.
One’s Knowledge Sea was where one’s Soul resided! It was also the intuitive representation of the power of a cultivator’s Soul. When a cultivator broke through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary, they gained the ability to cultivate their Soul, and the gathering of the myriad strands of their Soul eventually formed their Knowledge Sea.
The size and depth of one’s Knowledge Sea was proportional to the strength and intensity of their Soul and Divine Sense.
However, with regards to Yang Kai’s case, Old Demon did not know how to explain it.
“That drop of amber liquid, it should be the Soul Cleansing Dew that Zhou Wen mentioned before!” Yang Kai eyes shined as he declared with great certainty.
When they had first met by the Nether Mountain lakeside, Chen Xue Shu and Su Xiao Yu’s master, Zhou Wen, had once said that about thirty years ago some disciples had found two incredible treasures within this isolate world.
One was the Brilliant Flame Liquid, while the other was the Soul Cleansing Dew!
Attracted by these two Precious Treasures, more and more young cultivators began coming to this isolate world for life experiences.
After he had killed Qi Jian Xing, Yang Kai had accidentally obtained a few drops of Brilliant Flame Liquid, which allowed him to quench his Yuan Qi. Now, after chasing Chi Xue into this strange mist bank, he had found a drop of Soul Cleansing Dew. This was truly a great Heavenly fortune!
Even better though, was that he could get more than one drop of Soul Cleansing Dew!
Yang Kai turned around and examined the small well at the bottom of the mist absorbing stone. Seeing a few crystal clear amber droplets, thinner than his own hair, Yang Kai believed that as long as he waited for some time, another drop of Soul Cleansing Dew would eventually be formed.
Thanks to him possessing the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, a supreme treasure for cultivating one’s Soul, the persistent damage and repair of his Soul over the past half a month combined with a drop of Soul Cleansing Dew together created a miraculous opportunity, which allowed Yang Kai with his Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage cultivation to cultivate out his Divine Sense.
“Young Master, what is your range of Divine Sense, how far does it allow you to perceive from yourself?” Old Demon asked curiously.
“About two or three kilometers!”
Old Demon sucked down a cold breath before laughing again and again, “Young Master, your luck is too great! Your Divine Sense is far more powerful than an average cultivator who has just entered the Immortal Ascension Boundary. Rather, it is almost equivalent to someone at the Immortal Ascension Second or Third Stage!”
“I know!” Yang Kai said as he grinned from ear to ear.
“Good, for an average cultivator who has just cultivated out their Divine Sense, it is normally quite fragile, and even if they can spread it out freely, the farthest they can check around themselves is about a thousand meters, and only after slowly and painstakingly cultivating their Soul will they be able to expand the scope of their Divine Sense beyond that.”
Old Demon had a wealth of experience and knowledge, and although sometimes his memories were not completely reliable, the many things he knew and understood were still of great value.
Over the next little while he, carefully broke down and extolled the benefits and conveniences of one’s Divine Sense while Yang Kai listened attentively. The big silly grin on his face never once receded.
After cultivating out his Divine Sense, Yang Kai could more easily hide his presence and mask his abilities. As long as he did not take the initiative to engage them himself, it was no longer a problem for him to conceal either himself or his cultivation realm from anyone below the Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth or Sixth Stage.
Talking to Old Demon for a long time, Yang Kai’s mood swung from high to low several times.
Checking on the small well at the bottom of the stone again, the number of amber threads seemed to have increased a bit. However, the rate at which the Soul Cleansing Dew condensed was obviously quite slow.
Yang Kai estimated that it would take at least ten days to form a drop.
The white mist continued flowing into the hole at the top of the stone endlessly, and eventually gathered together and condensed into a drop of Soul Cleansing Dew in the bottom well.
The white mist attacked one’s Soul, but after it was refined somehow it became Soul Cleansing Dew which had great benefit to one’s Soul. Whatever kind of profound and mysterious changes that occurred inside the strange stone, Yang Kai simply had no way of figuring out.
However, in the end there was no real need to understand, as all he had to do was wait for the drop of Soul Cleansing Dew to form and then collect it.
“Old Demon, monitor this things for me, when the drop of Soul Cleansing Dew is finished forming notify me, I want to enter a meditative state and attempt to break through to the True Element Boundary!”
“Good. Young Master, please rest assured.”
Sitting cross-legged and closing his eyes, Yang Kai immersed his entire consciousness into himself, and then proceeded to burst a dozen drops of Yang Liquid stored within his dantian.
All of a sudden, the True Yang Yuan Qi flooded into his meridians, causing them to bulge and swell, while sending a feeling of soreness throughout his entire body.
Enduring this discomfort, Yang Kai remained silent and rapidly circulated his True Yang Secret Art as he absorbed World Energy from his surroundings, all the while doing his best to compress his True Yang Yuan Qi as his meridians throbbed slightly because they contracted and expanded over and over again..
After a long period of time, the True Yang Yuan Qi within his meridians finally began to show some subtle changes. His meridians themselves, after having been filled with so much Yuan Qi for such a long period of time, also gradually became larger and tougher than before.
As his meridians strengthened and enlarged, the speed at which he could circulate his True Yang Secret Art also increased, and further smelting and refinement of his True Yang Yuan Qi increased its purity bit by bit.
When the feeling of soreness in his meridians began to weaken, Yang Kai burst another five drops of Yang Liquid and then repeated his previous actions.
While Yang Kai was refining his Yuan Qi, the white mist surrounding him continued attacking his Soul, which lead to the Soul Warming Lotus continuous repair of the damage, thus creating another endless cycle of enhancement.
His Soul grew stronger slowly, which kept pace with the increase in purity of his True Yang Yuan Qi.
Almost ten days later, Old Demon woke Yang Kai from his closed retreat.
A new drop of Soul Cleansing Dew had finished condensing!
Once again Yang Kai carefully extracted it, but instead of swallowing it, this time he placed it into a bottle.
With this kind of Precious Treasure, generally one could only consume a single drop. The second time a cultivator tried to refine it, the effects and benefits would be significantly reduced.
This Soul Cleansing Dew was extremely precious, so Yang Kai did not want to frivolously waste it.
If he brought it back and then had it refined into a special cultivation pill, perhaps it could play some role once again.
Cultivation knew no time, this saying was not without truth. When Yang Kai began his retreat of bursting the Yang Liquid in his dantian, then expanding and compressing the True Yang Yuan Qi to rush into his meridians. He was trying his best to refine and purify his Yuan Qi in order to increase its potency, so he very quickly forgot the passage of time.
From time to time, Old Demon would wake him, then he would collect a drop of Soul Cleansing Dew and quickly store it in a bottle.
Once the bottle in which he stored the Soul Cleansing Dew had been half filled, a total of ten drops, Yang Kai began to feel himself approach the threshold of the True Element Boundary!
After nearly four months of retreat, without taking a single pill or absorbing any Yang Qi, using nothing but his willpower to continuously circulate his True Yang Secret Art and refine his Yuan Qi, Yang Kai finally took his first step beyond the Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage!
Although the main purpose of staying here was to collect drops of Soul Cleansing Dew, seeing how long it had taken him to reach this step, it was clear just how much of a watershed entering the True Element Boundary was.
Many cultivators spent their entire lives unable to transcend this limit and were left with only bitter regrets and silent tears.
However, layers of invisible shackles remained on his body, which seemed to block his Yuan Qi from achieving a final breakthrough in density and purity.
Yang Kai took a deep breath, and a light flashing across his eyes as they shot open.
His consciousness once again submerged itself into the Unyielding Golden Skeleton where he had stored the remaining Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew.
This was a Precious Treasure he had obtained alongside Xia Ning Chang in the Nine Yin Valley. Half of which he had previously given to Su Yan while the other half he had kept for himself to use in anticipation of this moment.
Extracting this remaining Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew from the Unyielding Golden Skeleton, Yang Kai gently guided it into his dantian.
Instantly pushing his True Yang Secret Art to its limit, he began refining the Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew, which caused a cool sensation to suddenly explode out from his dantian and spread at breakneck speed outwards along the entire lengths of his meridians.
*Kacha…ca…*
At a speed visible to the naked eye, all over Yang Kai’s body, from his clothes to his hair, a layer of frost appeared.
The Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew was a Precious Treasure specifically for purifying one’s Yuan Qi. It was even more effective than the Brilliant Flame Liquid. It was a crystallization of countless years of concentrated Yin Qi. Even Yang Kai, with his extremely hot True Yang Yuan Qi, had difficulty resisting the chill it contained.
However, in the end, heat was the nemesis of cold, so Yang Kai did not end up feeling too uncomfortable.
Stimulated by the Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew, Yang Kai’s True Yang Yuan Qi instantly clashed with it, and the violent reaction between the two opposing properties sent out shockwaves and ripples which spread throughout his entire body.
As the ripples propagated, Yang Kai’s True Yang Yuan Qi, which had previously reached a bottleneck in terms of purity, once again became purer!
As the chill gradually disappeared, deep from within the meridians of his body came the sound of his Yuan Qi freely flowing, like a crisp sweet sound of a mountain stream.
*Ka…*
The icy layer enveloping Yang Kai’s body instantly shattered into dust.
The Heavens and Earth discoloured as a violent World Energy swirled around him. It gathered together to a terrifying degree and then suddenly flooded directly into Yang Kai’s body.
The baptism which accompanied one breaking through a Great Realm had come!
Yang Kai trembled as all the pores throughout his body breathed in. His True Yang Secret Art hummed as it circulated madly in an attempt to accept all of this World Energy into his body.
The surrounding world and Yang Kai’s meridians formed a circle. Part of the World Energy flowed into his marrow, while some of it quenched his flesh. The rest of this energy, which Yang Kai should have been unable to absorb, was supposed to then return to the universe, but at that moment not a trace of it escaped as the Unyielding Golden Skeleton swallowed everything that remained, down to the last drop.
When a cultivator broke through to a new Great Realm, there would always be such a baptism, but how much benefit one could obtain was up to their own efforts and limits.
For an ordinary cultivator, no matter how amazing their aptitude was, the most they could absorb was thirty percent of this baptism. The most important role of absorbing this thirty percent was to temper the cultivator’s body so that their flesh and bones could withstand the corresponding upsurge in Yuan Qi, while the remaining seventy percent would soon dissipate into the atmosphere.
However, from his first breakthrough into a higher Great Realm until now, Yang Kai had always been able to absorb at least ninety percent of this baptism! And this time was even more astounding, as he managed to take in all one hundred percent of it.
Just how terrifying the Unyielding Golden Skeleton was could be seen at a glimpse.
As the World Energy disorder gradually subsided, Yang Kai’s aura also calmed slowly, eventually becoming the same as any ordinary person
Exhaling a long breath, Yang Kai opened his eyes as his entire being seemed to radiate.
[True Element Boundary!]
After cultivating for so long and enduring so many hardships, he had finally arrived at the True Element Boundary!
Once, the True Element Boundary was something he could only look up to, but at this moment, he too could finally stand tall as a True Element Boundary master!
In reality, the time it had taken him to reach this height was only two years.
Even if he counted the three years he had spent in languish before then, it was still only five years!
Anyone who could reach the True Element Boundary after only five years of cultivation would be considered a true Heavenly Favoured Genius no matter where they went.
Lightly clenching his fists and feeling the full extent of his newly obtained unfathomable and explosive strength, Yang Kai also perceived how the Yuan Qi flowing in his meridians had undergone a fundamental transformation. Compared to the previously ethereal and invisible fog-like Yuan Qi, his new True Qi was undoubtedly more solid and powerful.
What was flowing through his body now could no longer be called Yuan Qi, but True Qi!
These two forms of energy were simply not comparable!
Originally, Yang Kai had roughly seventy or eighty drops of the Yang Liquid in his dantian, but now he only had about twenty.
However, the energy stored within each of these was equivalent to the sum three or four of his previous drops! The power and lethality of the Martial Skills Yang Kai could unleash when using this new Yang Liquid would undoubtedly be far stronger than before.
After reaching the True Element Boundary, the potency of a cultivator’s True Qi could also be divided into nine different grades. The first grade was the highest purity, while ninth grade represented the most common! This division was not something which was coupled together with a cultivator’s realm, but was instead more akin to a measure of one’s innate constitution.
For a general cultivator, after their breakthrough to the True Element Boundary, if they did not have any auxiliary Precious Treasures to assist them in the formation of their True Qi, they would likely end up having a ninth grade rating.
Even if they had taken some kind of Precious Treasure to enhance the purity of their True Qi, normally the most they could hope for was for their evaluation to be raised to the eighth grade, but even this was enough to make most people smile from ear to ear.
As soon as one had acquired their True Qi, their combat strength would definitely be rise to a new level compared to when they were using Yuan Qi, but if they were to meet an opponent whose True Qi was of a higher grade than their own, even if their realm was slightly higher, they might not be their opponent.
One’s True Qi grade would also slowly increase as long as the cultivator continued to increase their overall strength.
But even if one cultivated to the Peak of the Immortal Ascension Boundary, if they had no other special opportunities, their True Qi would only be able to reach the third or fourth grade, with a select few masters being able to reach the second grade. As for reaching the first grade, that was something only legendary figures would possess.
It could be said that when a cultivator broke through to the True Element Boundary, the initial grade of their True Qi would be an indication about his or her future development, as this was the essential foundation of their life.
In order for a cultivator to be considered a true genius, when they broke through to the True Element Boundary the minimum requirement was to have seventh grade True Qi, with sixth grade True Qi being preferred. The higher the grade was at the beginning, the more hope there would be for them to reach the apex in the future.
Right now, Yang Kai did not know the exact grade the True Qi in his body had achieved, but he was certain was at least the sixth or seventh grade. It was impossible for his True Qi to be any lower.
Both the Brilliant Flame Liquid and the Nine Yin Yuan Condensing Dew were Precious Treasures specifically used to quench one’s Yuan Qi. Both of them were valuable and difficult to find existences, yet Yang Kai had used them both.
Coupled with his continued efforts in the Separation and Reunion Boundary to quench his Yuan Qi, when he finally formed his True Qi, naturally its grade would not be bad.
Looking up and checking his surroundings, Yang Kai couldn’t but be surprised for a moment.
“Old Demon, what happened?” Yang Kai asked in confusion.
He had suddenly found himself not surrounded by the white mist, and the stone that could form the Soul Cleansing Dew was also gone. All that was left around him was a barren landscape. Looking around, in the distance there seemed to be a lush jungle with a tall mountain range further off into the horizon.
“A few days ago there was suddenly a strange World Energy movement and then Young Master was suddenly here, but since Young Master was in the final moments of his breakthrough to the True Element Boundary, Old Servant did not dare to interrupt.”
Yang Kai wrinkled his brow for a moment before suddenly understanding.
It seems like he had been sent out of the isolate world.
Ling Tai Xu had said that once one had entered the strange isolate world for life experience there was no need to look for a way out because there simply wasn’t one. Only after a certain amount of time would one naturally be expelled. This period could be long or short, perhaps as long as two or three years or as quick as a few months.
Apparently this time it was about a year or so.
This life experience was now over. The only thing Yang Kai regretted was being unable to acquire more Soul Cleansing Dew. Since it only took about ten days to form a drop, if he had been able to stay inside the isolate world for a long period he might he would have been able to collect more.
But in the end Yang Kai was still quite satisfied. After all, he had still managed to collect a dozen drops.
Right now he should be inside Nether Mountain, the Great Han Dynasty’s one and only Forbidden Zone. When he had come together with Ling Tai Xu, they had met several ferocious and powerful Sixth-Order Monstrous Beasts along the way.
Now, in order to leave, he would only be able to rely on himself.
Looking around, he saw several trails lead left behind by other people as they had made their way out of Nether Mountain.
These survivors were elites within their Sects. Each of them possessed great strength. If they encountered a Fifth-Order Monstrous Beast they would easily be able to handle them, and even if they ran into a Sixth-Order Monstrous Beast, as long as its strength was not overwhelming, they would have no problem escaping.
“Young Master, something is strange about this place!”
“What exactly is strange?”
“If you fly up into the air you’ll be able to see!” Old Demon did not elaborate.
Yang Kai simply nodded and released his Divine Sense, and everything within a ten kilometer radius around him suddenly became clear in his mind. While Yang Kai had been in closed retreat to break through to the True Element Boundary, apparently his Divine Sense had also inadvertently been enhanced a lot.
Not aware of any danger or even any life in his immediate vicinity, Yang Kai activated his Flaming Yang Wings, flew up into the air, and turned around to look beneath him, and his eyes couldn’t help but shrink.
“Sure enough …” Old Demon sucked in a deep breath.
“This place… why does it seem like it has been intentionally flattened?” Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled.
Beneath Yang Kai was a several tens of kilometer radius barren wasteland that was completely devoid of anything living, and even the grass and trees had all been reduced to dust, and if one looked carefully, there were even traces of a palm print which extended kilometers in every direction marking the ground.
“Well, someone or something must have launched an attack here.”
“Who or what could have such tyrannical strength?” Yang Kai was clearly frightened by such a feat and such strength. It was simply unfathomable.
Ling Tai Xu and Meng Wu Ya were certainly amongst this world’s top masters, but Yang Kai estimated that even if they joined forces and used all their strength they would be unable to create such a devastating palm print.
Moreover, this palm strike was definitely not recently made. At the very least, half a year to a year had passed since it had appeared here, yet till this day, the land around it was still completely barren. It was difficult to imagine just how powerful and devastating this attack had been.
Unable to contain his shock for a while, Yang Kai suddenly remembered something. When Ling Tai Xu, Ghost King Valley’s Gui Li, and the Ten Thousand Flower Palace’s old woman had brought them into Nether Mountain, Ling Tai Xu had asked the old woman a question. Her response was that some kind of great change must have recently occurred in Nether Mountain, which caused many Fifth-Order and Sixth-Order Monstrous Beasts to rush to the periphery.
The timing matched with what the old woman had said. Was the master who created this palm print and the change within Nether Mountain related?
“We should not stay here!” Old Demon suddenly woke Yang Kai from his thoughts.
“Yeah.” Yang Kai nodded towards a direction, and began to flap his Flaming Yang Wings in order to fly outwards.
Before now he had not dared to use his wings in public because he had no way of efficiently investigating his surroundings, but now that he could utilise his Divine Sense everything was different. With his Divine Sense spread out, it allowed him to observe everything with a dozen kilometers at a glance, so naturally Yang Kai was no longer afraid of being spied upon.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai flew out of Nether Mountain.
Landing on the ground, Yang Kai checked his surroundings for a moment before determining his next destination, and he slowly began to walk in its direction.
“Young Master does not want to immediately return to High Heaven Pavilion?” Old Demon saw some clues and determined the direction of Yang Kai was heading was not the way back to High Heaven Pavilion.
“I’m not going to head back yet. First I’m going to visit Medicine King’s Valley!” Yang Kai said.
The Wordless Black Book’s fifth page had clearly instructed him to take a trip to Medicine King’s Valley, and though it had not given him much information on why he should. When he had originally received these instructions he had wanted to enhance his strength first before making the trip and had ended up being brought to Nether Mountain by Ling Tai Xu for life experience.
Now that his cultivation had reached the True Element Boundary, naturally he wanted to go see Medicine King’s Valley.
After his promotion to the True Element Boundary, whenever Yang Kai activated his Movement Skill it was much faster, which allowed him to travel a few thousand meters in the blink of an eye.
However, after a few activations, Yang Kai stopped and no longer rushed to use his Movement Skill because doing so consumed a large amount of True Qi.
Two days later, Yang Kai had travelled thousands of kilometers away from Nether Mountain.
But as he was walking along an official road, an uneasy feeling suddenly welled up in his mind. This feeling was not his own but was instead being conveyed to him by someone else far away from him.
Yang Kai was surprised for a moment before he turned to look in the direction the feeling had come from.
Faintly, he felt there was something unusual happening several dozen kilometers away.
Frowning, Yang Kai was somewhat puzzled. His Divine Sense was now only capable of sensing things a dozen kilometers away, so how could details of a situation several dozen kilometers away be transmitted to him?
“The brand!” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, as he finally understoodthe uneasy feeling that he had sensed.
When he had encountered Zi Mo and Leng Shan,he had placed a brand onto both of their Souls, so now several dozen kilometers from here, one of them must have encountered some kind of mortal danger, which had in turn been transmitted to him.
[Is it Zi Mo or Leng Shan?]
Thinking till here, Yang Kai’s expression sank as he rushed towards the other side.
Yang Kai’s assumption was not wrong. Several dozen kilometers away, Zi Mo was indeed suffering from the greatest danger she had ever experienced in her life. When she had left Yang Kai’s side her cultivation was at the True Element Boundary Sixth Stage, but after such a long life experience in that isolated world, she had achieved a breakthrough to the Seventh Stage.
Coupled with her distinguished origin, Zi Mo could be said to be a leader amongst the younger generation.
But now, she had fallen into a worrying situation and scrambled to cope with the attacks from the enemy she was facing.
Her abdomen had received a long wound, and her clothes had long been stained blood red. Her breath was ragged, and her beautiful face was pale. She was clearly in a bad state, but she still grit her teeth and refused to cry out.
When she was exiting Nether Mountain, she was unlucky and had suffered an attack by multiple Monster Beasts. If she had not quickly used her Soul Controlling Insects to control one of the Monstrous Beasts, she would have long been dead.
In that battle she had sustained numerous wounds, and even the Monster Beast she had managed to control had died.
Finally managing to escape, she had not gone far before she encountered an ambush!
She even knew who her assailant was. It was the one Yang Kai had been looking for, Wu Cheng Yi.
Wu Cheng Yi’s cultivation had risen to the True Element Boundary Eighth Stage! Although there was only a difference of a Minor Realm, one of them was uninjured and prepared while the other had just suffered wounds in battle, so caught off guard by this sudden fight, Zi Mo soon found herself at a disadvantage, and accidentally received a sword strike, which made her state deteriorate further.
As a streak of sharp Sword Qi approached, Zi Mo’s expression became serious, and she quickly called out a bronze shield-type artifact, pushing her True Qi into it for defense.
*Bang bang bang bang*, the Sword Qi wave violently struck the shield, and although Zi Mo remained unhurt, she was still knocked back several steps as her breathing quickened.
“As long as you hand over the method you use in order to enslave Monster Beasts, I’ll spare your life!” Wu Cheng Yi said indifferently as he lifted the sword in his hand, pointing its tip towards Zi Mo.
In the isolate world, Wu Cheng Yi had witnessed the strength of the Tian Lang cultivator’s enslavement Martial Skill and had quickly made up his mind to get his hands on it, so he prepared an ambush for Zi Mo in order to extract this Sen Luo Temple technique.
“In your dreams!” Zi Mo ground her teeth fiercely.
Wu Cheng Yi sneered, “I’ll give you one last chance to surrender; if you force me to catch you, I’ll make sure you beg for death! I think a lot of people would be interested in making a plaything of an exotic woman like you.”
A cold chill briefly flashed across Zi Mo’s eyes before she suddenly wore a seductive smile, “Perhaps you’re also interested?”
Unfortunately for her, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression remained cold as ice, “I cultivate the ruthless sword and shall not be tempted by cheap slut like you! So discard any schemes you may be thinking of using against me. Instead, I have a teacher who is quite lustful; I believe will be very willing to accept you!”
Zi Mo’s beautiful smile suddenly went sour as she viciously cursed, “Bastard!”
Zi Mo already had a deep impression of Wu Cheng Yi’s strength. He was indeed worthy of being called a rising star in this Nine Star Sword Sect. Just the fact that her Senior Brother Chi Xue, while riding his Sixth-Order Monster Beast, had spent more than a month trying kill him yet had never succeeded, proved that Zi Mo was clearly not his opponent.
Trembling as she tightly gripped her fists, Zi Mo whispered, “If I give you the beast slave technique, will you let me leave?”
“I only promise you’ll die without pain!” Wu Cheng Yi’s face remained cold.
Hearing this, Zi Mo’s face paled, as she desperately tried to hold back her anger and fear, “I give you what you want yet you still insist on acting so ruthless? Do you not even have a shred of humanity?”
Wu Cheng Yi only showed a gloating smile, “It is human nature to only respect the strong, why do I need to discuss what is humane with you?”
In the middle of his speech, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression suddenly became cold, and a glint flashed across his eyes as he released a few Sword Qi waves from his fingertips to attack the ground a few steps in front of his feat.
As soon as the Sword Qi waves had struck, a few bloody spurts of liquid flew up from the ground. They were the Soul Controlling Insects which Zi Mo had secretly released towards Wu Cheng Yi.
“Little bitch!” Wu Cheng Yi cursed, though he had been wary of this Tian Lang Dynasty slut up until now, he had not thought that she would have this kind of hidden hand. If he had not been wary enough and one of the those strange insects had made it into his body, he would definitely have suffered.
“You’ve brought this fate onto yourself, when I catch you I’ll start by slicing off your hands and feet, while keeping your alive so you I can listen to you scream and beg for death!” Wu Cheng Yi’s face filled with murderous intent, and he swung the sword in his hand as it released a glowing Sword Qi, which flew out like lightning towards Zi Mo.
“Bastard!”
Zi Mo cursed under her breath. Encountering this cold blooded Wu Cheng Yi had made her became quite helpless.
Making every attempt to dodge the incoming Sword Qi, Zi Mo flicked her hand in Wu Cheng Yi’s direction and sent a few strangely shaped flying blades towards him.
Wu Cheng Yi’s sword flickered, which caused small sparks to appear all around him as he accurately deflected all of her flying blades.
Zi Mo’s expression was bitter as she bit her lip. Though she managed to avoid having her vitals hit, she could not completely dodge the Sword Qi and wound up having her shoulder pierced.
Letting out a cry of pain, her shoulder soon spurt a touch of red.
Even though she had fallen into an absolute disadvantage, Zi Mo did not just sit back and wait to die. While she made efforts to distract Wu Cheng Yi, she quickly released all her remaining Soul Controlling Insects into the ground, with the hope that she would get lucky enough to have one of them make it into Wu Cheng Yi’s body, after which she could teach him an unforgettable lesson.
But after nearly suffering such a huge loss, how could Wu Cheng Yi possibly let his guard down?
Sending out waves of Sword Qi all around himself, he instantly crushed everything within a radius of a few tens of meters and killed all of Zi Mo’s Soul Controlling Insect in the process.
If one of these Soul Controlling Insects managed to make it into a human’s body, it was really powerful, and in the absence of heat it was completely fearless, but outside of a host, they were just simple insects. The Sword Qi Wu Cheng Yi had casually released was more than enough to destroy them.
Zi Mo was at her wits end. After her plot to use her Soul Controlling Insects had failed, she really had no other way to deal with Wu Cheng Yi. Just as she was about to despair, her eyes suddenly flashed a trace of surprise as she quickly looked behind Wu Cheng Yi. Her tired yet beautiful face instantly filled with a touch of joy and excitement.
This not so subtle change did not go unnoticed by Wu Cheng Yi.
With a faint unease welling up inside him, Wu Cheng Yi’s face suddenly became ruthless, so not ready to waste any more time, he swung his sword decisively to end things once and for all.
However, before his sword could fall, an ominous wind rapidly approached him from behind, which caused Wu Cheng Yi to deftly pivot and unleash a wide range slash to intercept the oncoming attack.
Sword Qi flashed, a fiery fist appeared, and the attacks from both sides collided and repelled one another with a loud explosion.
The new silhouette fell to the ground.
Wu Cheng Yi was also knocked back a dozen meters, but no trace of panic appeared on his face as he leisurely turned to look towards this newcomer, and upon seeing the other side’s face, he could not help sneering arrogantly, “So it’s you!”
“Hey hey, surprised to see me?” Yang Kai said sarcastically as he stared towards Wu Cheng Yi with great interest.
Earlier, when they were still inside the isolate world, Yang Kai had been trying to find Wu Cheng Yi in order to settle their grudge, but had instead ran into Chi Xue and ended up chasing him into the white mist and accidentally lost his opportunity.
But by some twist of fate he had managed to encounter him here. This was really a case of wearing out iron shoes to while searching only to find it inside ones house!
Calming the surprise in his heart, Yang Kai glanced over towards Zi Mo and showed a frivolous smile before teasing, “My Fair Beauty, you seem to be in a bad situation here!”
To which Zi Mo glared back at him and angrily replied “Hmph, if you had come just a bit later you’d have never seen me again!”
Meeting Yang Kai again after a few months, Zi Mo also didn’t quite know what to think. She had thought that in this life she would never face him again, and that she no longer had to worry about some other person torturing her Soul.
But now, it seems the Heavens had other plans and caused them to once again reunite. However, at this moment, Zi Mo was not concerned over her Soul being tormented, but was instead somewhat happy because, in any case, her life was now safe, andas for other things, they could be dealt with later.
Yang Kai tilted his head slightly as he examined her up and down and curiously inquired, “Aren’t you an elite disciples from the Sen Luo Temple, how did you end up so embarrassed like this?”
“You know shit!” Zi Mo viciously cursed, “Be careful of this guy, he is very strong, his True Qi is also much more potent and pure than my own.”
“He wouldn’t be Wu Cheng Yi if he wasn’t strong!” Yang Kai sneered.
As for how his True Qi was more rich and pure than Zi Mo’s, it was fairly easy to explain. Wu Cheng Yi had obtained a few drops of Brilliant Flame Liquid, a Yuan Qi quenching Precious Treasure. If his True Qi was not pure, it would be strange.
“I really did not expect you to be able to survive; your luck something to sneer at!” Wu Cheng Yi looked contemptuously at Yang Kai, the same way he had when they first met, his gaze was filled with cold disdain.
“Indeed, at least I am luckier than your Junior Brother who died so long ago.” Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly became cold as he stared daggers at Wu Cheng Yi.
“Hmph, since you know that I want your life, you should not have taken to initiative to appear in front of me! A person can’t always rely on luck to survive.” Wu Cheng Yi’s expression remained indifferent. The talk of Qi Jian Xing’s death did not bother him in the slightest.
“If you two boys are going to fight then why bother with all this nonsense!” Having just suffered so much at Wu Cheng Yi’s hands, Zi Mo hated him greatly, and now that Yang Kai had appeared, she suddenly became emboldened and was anxious for two of them to start battling to the death.
She was well aware of just how strong Yang Kai was. If they fought together, the two of them would definitely be able to suppress Wu Cheng Yi.
“She has a point!” Yang Kai nodded.
“I agree!” Wu Cheng Yi coldly snorted as he slowly raised his sword.
“I’ll attack from the front, Yang Kai you support me!” Zi Mo cried out.
“No, you support me!” Yang Kai said decisively. Done talking, he immediately rushed towards Wu Cheng Yi and launched a flurry of strikes. His originally calm aura suddenly radiated violent fluctuations.
“You …” Zi Mo’s eyes went wide with surprise, stunned by the overbearing oppression she felt coming from Yang Kai.
[He’s already broken through the True Element Boundary? Four months ago he was only a Separation and Reunion Eighth Stage, and even that realm was something he had recently promoted to. After only four months he actually managed to cultivate to the True Element Boundary? This kind of cultivation speed… isn’t it more than a little unreasonable?”]
But then thinking back, Zi Mo suddenly relaxed. She knew that this young man was nothing short of a monster. Him being able to break through this watershed shouldn’t be that surprising to her.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai and Wu Cheng Yi clashed countless times. Wu Cheng Yi’s sword images raged about while Yang Kai fists flew like lightning strikes. Their images flickered back and forth as one body covered in Sword Qi and one exuding Yang Qi fought to destroy one another.
As the World Energy swirled about, Zi Mo couldn’t help but squint. She was determined to help, but there was simply no way for her to intervene!
The two people before her were going all out without holding anything back. Their raging murderous auras clashed and blended together. Even if Zi Mo could find an opening to exploit, any aggressive action she took was bound to cause these two to instinctually launch simultaneous counterattacks.
How could she even think of interfering?
Yang Kai asking her to assist him was probably just him giving her some superficial face. Zi Mo’s only real option was to sit on the sidelines and watch as she didn’t even have the qualifications to intervene.
“Smelly man!” Zi Mo smiled wryly and then decisively floated away, deliberately opening up a thousand meter distance between her and the fight so as not get caught up in it.
Over the course of their exchange, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression underwent a dramatic change. His face showed shock and alarm. He had never dreamed that this little brat he had considered a total waste would have enough strength to fight on even terms with him. Flashing sword images struck violent fist pressures and blew each other apart. One side used ethereal sword technique, while the other exuded domineering might, and each one showed their own unique style. Yet, after many clashes neither could come out on top!
In less time than it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the two sides had already exchanged hundreds of blows, and their True Qi burst out in all directions. As the fight went on, Wu Cheng Yi’s mood became more and more solemn while Yang Kai’s grew increasingly violent, and his face filled with extreme excitement, like some kind of demon that had encountered a stripped naked stunning beauty.
*Peng…* With a loud bang, the two flew apart.
Wu Cheng Yi grunted as he flew back, and his mouth leaked a trace of blood.
Yang Kai had also been hit and suffered a bloody gash on his chest from Wu Cheng Yi’s sword.
Separating more than three hundred meters, the two stood steadily.
“Hahaha! Wonderful!” Although he had been injured and was bleeding, Yang Kai still let out a hearty laugh.
This was a real battle, a fight which made his blood boil, an epic struggle between two men trying to destroy one another. Although he hated Wu Cheng Yi and held a deep resentment towards him, Yang Kai was forced to admit that this young man was truly strong.
After all, this True Element Boundary Eighth Stage cultivator before him even had True Qi as pure and rich as his own!
“You are indeed strong!” Wu Cheng Yi stared deeply at Yang Kai, a touch of dismay in his eyes, seemingly reluctant to believe that this shitty little brat from a second-class Sect was able to compete with himself.
“Thank you!” Yang Kai grinned maliciously.
“I admit, before I had greatly underestimated you! It seems that my Junior Brother did not die because of some accident but instead died by your hand.” Wu Cheng Yi slowly spun his sword, and raise it once again.
“You sent him to kill me in secret; you should have considered that possibility.”
“So you admit it!” Wu Cheng Yi continued to spin his sword.
“Want to avenge him?” Yang Kai sneered.
“His death was his own fault, it means nothing to me! But since today you dare to fight with me, you will not leave here alive!” Wu Cheng Yi’s aura suddenly became violent as he coldly shouted, “The dignity of my Nine Star Sword Sect cannot be stained, the dignity of I, Wu Cheng Yi, cannot be trampled upon! Even the sons of the Eight Great Families are only allowed to look up at me, much less a no-name waste like you!”
“Sword Body!” Roaring, Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Qi suddenly burst out and formed into thousands of tiny sword blades, which endlessly circled around him.
This Martial Skill was exceptional at both offence and defence. Yang Kai had previously seen it when he had fought Qi Jian Xing, but when Wu Cheng Yi cast it, the aura it gave off was far stronger.
This dazzling Sword Body skill was an extremely lethal technique.
“Come accept your death, I’ll make sure it’s as painful as possible!” Wu Cheng Yi, like he had just taken some strange medicine, shouted excitedly. His sword was pointing straight at Yang Kai, and it emitted a cold domineering glow.
Having displayed his Sword Body, Wu Cheng Yi suddenly gave off a feeling of invincibility!
He stood there like an unsheathed sword, swirling flashes of light enveloped a radius of a dozen meters around him. His Sword Qi screeched as it tore through the air like it was trying to slice apart the world itself, and the ground around him was slowly ripped apart.
Yang Kai grinned fearlessly and also pushed his True Qi to its limit. A violent power gushed from his body as a strong feeling of oppression spread out around him.
His momentum continued to rise, like an explosion bursting forth, and rapidly rose towards some unknown peak.
Wu Cheng Yi displayed an aura of invincibility while Yang Kai’s aura displayed an all consuming madness. Even before they fought, they were already competing with their momentum, shaking the ground and whipping the winds around them. The two of them stood in the eye of this storm and stared down one another.
“Come!” Wu Cheng Yi roared. His face showed a ferocious expression that also held a trace of madness, as he slashed with his sword, sending out two razor sharp sword waves.
A cross shaped space in front of him seemed to be split apart as Wu Cheng Yi roared viciously. The cross shaped Sword Qi wave suddenly flew towards Yang Kai like an unstoppable meteor.
Yang Kai acted simultaneously and stomped down so hard the world around him trembled.
A terrifying force burst from the soles of his feet as the ground beneath him was split open. A series of cracks, like a giant spider web, spread out tens of meters with Yang Kai at its centre.
Like a bolt of lightning, he charged toward Wu Cheng Yi.
Instantly closing half the distance between them, Yang Kai sent out a devastating punch straight into the centre of the cross shaped Sword Qi.
In a flash, the cross shaped Sword Qi was crushed as Yang Kai continued forward unimpeded; his momentum was not diminished in the slightest.
Upon seeing this, Wu Cheng Yi’s pupils immediately shrank, and he was no longer willing or able to hold back the full extent of his sword techniques. He fiercely slashed out with his sword in rapid succession in an attempt to hack Yang Kai apart.
But Yang Kai agilely dodged most of these sword waves, while those he could not avoid, he directly broke with his fists.
Within three breaths of time, Yang Kai made his way in front of Wu Cheng Yi.
With his breath growing ragged from the overwhelming pressure bearing down on him, Wu Cheng Yi soon found himself completely suppressed. Unable to display the full extent of his strength, he swiftly made the decision to fall back!
“Where are you trying to run!?” Yang Kai grinned viciously and quickly chased after him. Wrapping his iron like fists in his True Qi, Yang Kai kept raining down punches onto his opponent’s body as Wu Cheng Yi responded with his ethereal swordsmanship to nimbly parry away all but a few of his blows.
Dazzling flashes of light appeared as sword skills clashed against heavy punches as waves of destruction spread outwards from their conflict towards the surroundings.
From the beginning, neither Yang Kai nor Wu Cheng Yi were moving slowly, but as time progressed the figures of the two became increasingly blurry and soon after completely blending together.
Loud bursts of noise constantly erupted wherever this blur appeared.
In just half a cup of tea worth of time, the pair had already exchanged an astronomical number of blows!
*Boom!*
With a loud explosion, the two entangled figures at last separated. Both of them flew back tens of meters before crashing to the ground, and each one of them opened up a huge pit upon impact.
*Xiu Xiu ..*.
Simultaneously jumping back up, both Yang Kai and Wu Cheng Yi who had just been knocked apart instantly raced forward and continued their battle.
A short distance away, Zi Mo continued to watch, not blinking an eye. Her beautiful face clearly showed an expression of shock.
She had never doubted whether Yang Kai would be able to preserve his life. She was simply marvelling at just how much his combat strength had grown.
“This smelly brat has already become this strong!” Zi Mo cursed under her breath. Her heart filled with complex emotions and a strange smile adorned her face.
When they had last separated, Yang Kai had been facing off against her Senior Brother Chi Xue and was clearly not his opponent. It was only after he finally managed to use his strange Martial Skill to gain control of the Sixth-Order Monstrous Beast that he was able to turn the tables.
However, upon meeting again, he could now fight on even terms with this Wu Cheng Yi.
If she were to compare their individual combat strength, Zi Mo believed that Wu Cheng Yi Chi was probably a bit stronger than Chi Xue.
The speed at which Yang Kai’s strength grew was something that caused deep feelings of admiration and jealousy within her.
Lost in thought for a moment, Zi Mo quickly noticed that Yang Kai and Wu Cheng Yi had already moved a few thousand meters away. Kicking off the ground, Zi Mo also hurried to keep up, as she extremely reluctant to miss a single moment of this intense battle.
Especially considering that these two were nearly the same age as her and were cultivators who were members of the same generation.
Finding some blood along the way, Zi Mo did not know whether it belonged to Yang Kai or Wu Cheng Yi. In any case, the two of them were both going all out, and it was clear that this battle would only end when one of them fell.
When Zi Mo finally caught up with them again, she saw the two standing some thirty meters apart glaring at each other.
Wu Cheng Yi’s face was livid. His original calm arrogance had long since been replaced by endless rage as his eyes trembled lightly, and he stared at Yang Kai in disbelief.
His face was slightly pale as a line of blood leaked from the side of his mouth. Apparently, he had received some minor injuries.
On the other side, Yang Kai’s body also had a number of sword wounds. His clothes were stained here and there with blood. Especially tragic were his two fists, which were full of small sword scars!
Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Body provided both offence and defence. If Yang Kai wanted to hurt him, he had to first hurt himself.
But regardless, he was still laughing like some kind of blood crazed demon.
Seeing him facing the sunset bathed in blood, black hair blowing in the wind, with his handsome face showing a fearless gin, Zi Mo couldn’t help blushing a deep shade of red.
“I started cultivating from the age of eight …” Wu Cheng Yi suddenly spoke. His voice was slightly hoarse and unsteady, “It has been fourteen years since then and from small to large, among my peers I have always been invincible. No one has been my opponent; no one has ever defeated me! Even those Heaven favoured sons from the Eight Great Families could not stand against me. With my sword in hand, none dare challenge me.”
Taking a deep breath, Wu Cheng Yi’s face suddenly became serious, “You are very powerful! To think a True Element Boundary First Stage cultivator could actually fight on par with me, I, Wu Cheng Yi today have been awakened, it is not that this world did not have other geniuses, it was simply that I was too ignorant!”
“Realizing the truth before you die, you should take comfort in that.” Yang Kai grinned.
Wu Cheng Yi only shook his head before coldly stating, “You really think you can defeat me? I’ve still not shown you my full strength!”
“Neither have I!” Yang Kai’s eyes stared coldly, and he immediately shot back. An inexplicable smile surfaced on his face.
Hearing this, Wu Cheng Yi’s eyes narrowed once more.
“Good! Then show me, let us see if it you who dies, or if it is I!” Wu Cheng Yi yelled, completely unhinged.
From small to large, Wu Cheng Yi had only ever been looked up to by his peers, only ever received praise from his elders. He was the Nine Star Sword Sect’s most treasured disciple. The one they had placed all their hopes upon. They had asserted that if Wu Cheng Yi could really grow up, the Nine Star Sword Sect would finally have the qualifications to enter the ranks of the worlds Ruling Sects.
Such a proud person had today suffered injuries from an opponent many realms lower than him, so how could Wu Cheng Yi accept such a fact?
It was Yang Kai who had first come here aiming at his life.
But now, even if Yang Kai wanted to stop, Wu Cheng Yi would never agree.
Between the two of them, a decisive outcome was the only option. One of would live, and the other must die! If Wu Cheng Yi did not fall, then Yang Kai would! Only the one who survived would be the real genius!
There could be no first or second place! In Wu Cheng Yi’s mind, only he was qualified to be the ultimate leader of the younger generation! Anyone who tried to encroach on his position would be his life and death enemy.
Finished his speech, Wu Cheng Yi’s crazed expression calmed down as an oppressive sword aura suddenly spread around him.
Zi Mo’s pretty face suddenly went stiff, and she hastily retreated. Only after moving back several hundreds of meters did she finally come to a halt.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s expression also took on a new seriousness.
“I only have one move left, if you can resist it then it is your win, but if you cannot… then you will die!” Wu Cheng Yi roared, his True Qi suddenly condensed into sharp blades and leaked out from all over his body, and even the Sword Qi which composed his Sword Body also suddenly collapsed.
He had given up on any form of defense and transformed all of his True Qi into a single attack.
In an instant, Wu Cheng Yi was surrounded by hundreds of Sword Qi blades.
All of these Sword Qi blades were composed of his True Qi. Each one on their own possessed a great hidden lethality and destructive power. With hundreds of such blades, regardless of who it was, their only option would be to desperately avoid them.
But Wu Cheng Yi was not finished; waving his sword once again, another hundred Sword Qi blades appeared…
Then another hundred appeared more…
Soon, the entire sky was covered with Sword Qi floating around Wu Cheng Yi, like the entire world had been transformed into swords.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and no longer dared to hold back. Reaching out, the Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure, the Asura Sword appeared in the hands.
The True Qi in his meridians retreated into his dantian and was instantly replaced by the energy from the Unyielding Golden Skeleton.
A Black gas filled with a thick murderous aura, that caused anyone who saw it to tremble involuntarily, gushed out from Yang Kai’s body.
The energy inside the Unyielding Golden Skeleton was a kind of evil energy. The exact opposite of Yang Kai’s usual True Yang Yuan Qi.
This energy was filled with an atmosphere of murder and destruction. It was very similar to the aura contained with the Asura Sword. Yang Kai had only intended to use these similar energies to maximize the power of his artifact, but to his surprise, when he held the Asura Sword and began drawing energy from his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, the Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure actually began madly devouring all the energy his Unyielding Golden Skeleton poured into it.
In an instant, the Asura Sword began radiating a mixture of red and black light!
This light was like a black hole as it burst forth, and it seemed to swallow up all the surrounding light and quickly drained the whole world of all its colour.
In the distance, Zi Mo actually felt like she had fallen into a dark abyss.
Even the radiance emitting from Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Qi also suddenly became faint.
*Zheng…*
The Asura Sword suddenly let out a piercing cry and sent ripples of sound and energy towards Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Qi, which caused those countless ethereal blades to resonate in response.
Trembling violently, these Sword Qi blades seemed like they were desperately trying to free themselves of Wu Cheng Yi’s control.
Wu Cheng Yi complexion changed, and he hastily stabilized his mind, as he tried to maintain control of his Sword Qi blades and not let the Asura Sword disrupt them.
Yang Kai on the other hand was equally stunned by all of this, but soon his eyes began flashing an excited light, as he continued to pour energy into Asura Sword. At this moment, he had gained an insight into this Heaven Grade Artifact and formed a vague connection between himself and the sword.
Now, the Asura Sword no longer felt like a weapon but more like a part of the body, an extension of his own flesh and blood.
The two opposing geniuses struggled to accumulate power for this final clash. Separated by dozens of meters, each of them stared towards the other; their faces filled with merciless determination.
On his side, Wu Cheng Yi summoned more than two thousand Sword Qi blades before finally stopping.
When the last few Sword Qi blades emerged from his body, all the blood from this Nine Star Sword Sect’s Heaven favoured son drained, and his face instantly became pale, as his aura drained rapidly. It was like in that moment he had become an ordinary person, one that lacked strength to even kill a chicken.
“This is my Nine Star Sword Sect’s Ultimate Martial Skill, Strike of Ten Thousand Swords!” Wu Cheng Yi coldly shouted. His face suddenly showed a touch of regret, “Unfortunately, with my current strength, I am only able to summon a little over two thousand Sword Qi blades! This attack contains every last drop of my remaining True Qi!”
As if responding to his words, Yang Kai tightly gripped his blood red sword and wore a fearless smile, “I do not know what this Martial Skill’s name, but I am certain its strength is not weak, prepare yourself!”
Watching all this from the side, Zi Mo couldn’t help spitting disdainfully.
These two were clearly anxious to slaughter each other as soon as possible, crush their enemy’s bones to dust and rip his corpse into ten thousand pieces. They had just been engaged in a life or death struggle, fighting all out, mercilessly trying to kill one another, but in the final moments of their battle, both of them had actually taken a moment to praise the other and remind each other to be careful.
[Men… they really are strange creatures.]
As a woman, a scheming manipulative one at that, Zi Mo understood that men were often even more arrogant than women. There were times that even in the face of death, they would refuse to discard their own pride!
It was Wu Cheng Yi’s pride that made him confident that his attack would crush Yang Kai, so he was not worried that what he said and explained to him would have any impact on the battle’s outcome.
Yang Kai’s pride was what stopped him from taking advantage of Wu Cheng Yi while he was preparing his attack, instead choosing to face him head on.
This was the way men fought!
As a woman… it just did not make sense.
Amidst his more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, Wu Cheng Yi suddenly moved.
At that moment, his appearance became very different; his image suddenly became dignified and solemn; it was not just a simple Sword Martial Skill, but an attack that he seemed to have practiced his entire existence for.
Assuming a stance with his sword, its tip began radiating light.
At the same time, the surrounding Sword Qi blades began trembling, emitting a humming sound as their sword aura seemed to pierce the Heavens.
All of a sudden, from the more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, half instantly disappeared, condensing down into only a thousand, and soon after, the number of blades halved again, leaving only five hundred … …
Three hundred Sword Qi blades… two hundred… one hundred… ninety…
As the Sword Qi blades stabilized, a faint sigh leaked from Wu Cheng Yi’s mouth, one that seemed full of regret and helplessness.
However, fter releasing this sigh, Wu Cheng Yi’s expression brightened, his face displaying a look of overwhelming confidence.
As his sword flickered, the ninety remaining Sword Qi blades shot towards Yang Kai!
Strike of Ten Thousand Swords!
Nine Star Sword Sect’s Ultimate Martial Skill. It had only ever been taught to those who made outstanding contributions to the Sect, and with Wu Cheng Yi being the only member of the younger generation who had learned it, it was quite clear how highly the elders of the Sect valued him.
This sword skill, if practiced to the Grand Accomplishment Stage, could create ten thousand Sword Qi blades and condense them into a single one. The resulting blade would have the strength to cut through the world, destroying mountains and rivers with a single slash. Unfortunately, with Wu Cheng Yi’s current strength, even though he had exhausted all of his True Qi, he was only able to condensed slightly more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, and ultimately could only condense that number down to ninety.
But despite only being able to display it to such an extent, this sword skill was still extremely powerful.
Zi Mo shivered. Even though she was more than two thousand meters away, she could still clearly feel the radiant sword aura piercing her to her core. The air around her felt like it had been transformed into a razor edge, cutting into her skin; it was like a million tiny mosquito were all biting her at once, causing her to wince in pain.
This sword skill… it was far beyond what she was capable of understanding.
If Wu Cheng Yi had used this Sword Skill to deal with her, Zi Mo was certain she would have been powerless to resist.
Shifting her gaze towards Yang Kai, she wondered if he had the strength to counter.
However, what she saw was Yang Kai’s figure completely obscured by black gas, almost all of his original features impossible to make out. The only thing that remained clear was his pair of scarlet eyes, which exuded a piercing light; these eyes were filled with madness while still remaining eerily calm.
This contradictory combination brought about a strange feeling of incongruity.
In the face of the ninety attacking Sword Qi blades, Yang Kai did not attempt to dodge, instead clenching his hand around the Asura Sword, exerting all of his strength into a single forward slash, causing all the Demonic Qi the Asura Sword had just swallowed to burst forth.
A wave of heart stopping explosions erupted with Yang Kai as the center. The Earth around him seemed to rend and tear, sending sand and stone flying about.
However, from the Asura Sword itself, no Sword Qi, no Sword Wave, nothing at all seemed to appear.
The profoundness of this sword strike had also exceeded the limits of Zi Mo’s imagination.
After unleashing this sword slash, Yang Kai straightened himself up. His mouth still showing a strange smile, he raised the red sword in his hand onto his shoulder.
His casual smile fully displayed his unbridled confidence.
Wu Cheng Yi’s pupils rapidly contracted. Although he had not seen any attack, his heart still filled with a strong throbbing, like he had just heard the call of death.
In the blink of an eye, the ninety Sword Qi blades released by Wu Cheng Yi had flown up to Yang Kai, but suddenly, a bowl sized dark void appeared mid-air.
This scene was incredibly strange; it was as if someone had accidentally spilled a drop of ink onto a picture of the sky.
The instant this dark void appeared it suddenly began to madly spread around, like it was trying to consume everything around it. With the strange black light covering everything in front of her, Zi Mo suddenly founder herself in the dark, unable to see anything around her.
Inside this endless darkness, she suddenly heard the sound of something bursting, like someone had just been struck by a blade of Sword Qi.
Zi Mo heart trembled, because the location she had heard the sound originate from was where Yang Kai had been standing, but before she could react, another burst of noise rang out from Wu Cheng Yi’s side.
After the sounds rang out, the Heavens and Earth once again became calm.
A long moment later, Zi Mo suddenly saw traces of light, everything in front of her gradually reappearing.
Looking ahead, the world was bright once more, the sun setting in the distance, dying everything from the horizon to earth beneath her a blood red shade of crimson.
From within her chest came a violent heartbeat, Zi Mo quickly looked around for Yang Kai, seeing him still standing in the same place, all the clothes on his upper body torn to shreds, revealing his indomitable figure.
It was not a particularly muscular image, but instead one that seemed full of explosive potential; she also saw more than a few bright red scars, which after a breath of time began gushing with blood.
These were wounds he had just received from the Sword Qi blades.
[Did he lose?] Zi Mo involuntarily covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes staring in disbelief. [How could such a strong, Heaven-defying man like him suddenly lose, just like that?]
Looking towards Wu Cheng Yi, Zi Mo saw him also standing exactly in the same position as before, as if everything that had just transpired never even happened, his body standing straight like a javelin, eyes filled with a free and uninhibited look.
His sword still held straight in front of him, his clothes gently swaying in the light blowing breeze.
A red spot on his chest slowly appeared, gradually expanding.
His lips trembled a few times, like he was desperately trying to say something, but ultimately he remained silent, his expression gradually becoming stiff.
The uninhibited and dauntless light in his eyes slowly faded, eventually become hollow and empty.
[He died!]
Zi Mo screamed to herself, suddenly feeling extremely complicated.
In the end, did they both perish?
*Cough cough…” Suddenly, from Yang Kai’s direction, a light cough rang out, causing Zi Mo to jump up in surprise; turning her gaze towards him, she saw Yang Kai supporting himself with the Asura Sword, his body trembling as he slowly collapsed.
“My Fair Beauty…” Yang Kai turned to look at her, his mouth still showing a light smile, “Can you come help me?”
[This smelly brat really didn’t die!] Zi Mo heart skipped a beat; her eyes darted about as she hesitated about what to do, eventually beginning to walk over towards him.
Crossing the thousand or so meters between them only took Zi Mo about twenty breaths or so.
As she directed a look towards Yang Kai filled with complex emotions, Zi Mo’s heart pounded.
If she were to strike now and kill him here…
The days of her needing to worry about the brand placed on her Soul would truly be over.
But once, when they were inside that isolated world, this young man had stood up in front of her and faced down that despicable Bi Xiu Ming and his Junior Brother. He had also risked his life to save her’s during the time they had been besieged by Monster Beasts. The memory of these events made Zi Mo hesitate to attack, not to mention this time, if not for his swift arrival, she would never have been able to escape Wu Cheng Yi’s grasp.
If she counted all of these instances up, this young man before her had already saved her life three times.
[Ai… what a headache…]
“Grab that thing on the ground for me!” Yang Kai said between his gasps for breath.
Yang Kai’s words suddenly interrupted Zi Mo’s thoughts. Looking down, she saw a small bag lying on the ground nearby and bent over to pick it up. Handing it to Yang Kai, she asked curiously, “What is this?”
“Nothing, just a little artifact.” Yang Kai chuckled, placing the Universe Bag into one of his pants pockets, beckoning Zi Mo over, placing his arm onto her delicate shoulder, and then resting more than half of his weight onto her.
“Bring me over to Wu Cheng Yi!” Yang Kai ordered.
Zi Mo angrily glanced at him, but still obediently brought him towards Wu Cheng Yi.
Arriving at Wu Cheng Yi’s side, Yang Kai reached out and began searching his clothes, a moment later finding and pulling out a small bottle that was half filled with liquid.
“Ha ha ha!” Yang Kai burst into laughter, his previous guess really not wrong. Wu Cheng Yi also possessed a bottle of Brilliant Flame Liquid, and it even contained more than the one he had acquired before.
“What is that?” Zi Mo asked as she watched somewhat helplessly, although she knew that this bottle certainly contained something good, she also knew that it was not likely she would be able to obtain any of it.
“I’ll tell you later!” Yang Kai said as he grinned happily. “First take me some place secluded, I need to heal!”
…
In the depths of the wilderness, in a cave dug into the side of a slope, the bare chested Yang Kai sat cross-legged barely on the ground.
During his battle with Wu Cheng Yi, the injuries he had sustained were actually not that heavy, neither the physical trauma nor the lingering Sword Qi were significant impediments to him.
What caused Yang Kai to enter retreat was instead the Sword Dao!
Wu Cheng Yi’s Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One Sword Skill had penetrated into Yang Kai’s body!
When he was holding the Asura Sword at that time, Yang Kai had suddenly understood the will of this sword.
After acquiring the Asura Sect’s artifact, Yang Kai had only used it once, the time when he had confronted Bai Yun Feng in the High Heaven Pavilion.
At that time, he had just finished refining the Asura Sword and was still not too familiar with it, so his awareness of it was only at the level of him knowing it was a heavenly slaughtering weapon.
But over the past year, the Asura Sword had been tempered by his Yuan Qi while residing within his dantian, slowly blending with him.
Until now, the two had finally become one.
This time, when Yang Kai used the Asura Sword, he discovered that it was not just a slaughtering artifact; it had also possessed a unique ability.
It could absorb and steal an enemy’s Sword Skills, allowing him to use them for himself!
However this effect only applied to Sword Skills!
During his last clash with Wu Cheng Yi, the Asura Sword used a lot of Demonic Qi from within Yang Kai’s Golden Skeleton in order to form a void which engulfed all the lethality from Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Skill, leaving behind only the Sword Dao.
So Yang Kai did not dodge, instead allowing his body to bear the full brunt of this Sword Dao.
But even if it was just Sword Dao, it still ended up piercing through Yang Kai’s body, so from an outside perspective he appeared to be heavily quite injured.
Sword Dao, it was like the spiritual embodiment of the sword, similar to a cultivator’s Divine Sense. Without a sword or Sword Qi behind it, Sword Dao alone was only an ethereal concept, unable to fully display a Sword Skill’s power.
At that moment, Yang Kai was absorbed in the feeling of Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Dao, trying to glean the mysteries of the Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One Sword Skill from it.
Once he succeeded, Yang Kai would be able to assimilate and use this Sword Skill. In addition to that, this Sword Skill’s rank was by no means low.
The Nine Star Sword Sect’s Ultimate Sword Skill, it was definitely a Mysterious Grade Sword Skill.
With the Asura Sword’s strange ability, it was no wonder it had become Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure; however, using the Asura Sword to steal a Sword Skill was also extremely dangerous. If any mistake was made during the process, rather than seizing the enemy’s ability, one would likely be struck by it instead.
Yang Kai did not act anxiously, slowly absorbing the insights he obtained into his mind, continuously reviewing all of Wu Cheng Yi’s actions and True Qi fluctuations when he cast his Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One. While he was in this state, the Asura Sword also seemed to release a joyous hum, the two of them, man and sword, forming a kind of resonance.
Meanwhile, Zi Mo stood at the entrance to the cave, bored, looking over towards Yang Kai every now and then with complex eyes.
Fiddling with her hair as she bit her lips, constantly considering whether to attack Yang Kai and kill this hateful smelly brat. Nevertheless, as she continued thinking about it, her determination would waver back and forth, causing her heart to feel like it was being tangled in knots.
After spending a long time in conflict, Zi Mo could only faintly sigh and turn away.
Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes, staring in the direction she disappeared as a light smile surfaced on his face.
“Young Master, just now that little girl directed some killing intent towards you, but for some reason she hesitated and finally gave up!” Old Demon took the initiative to remind him as he had constantly been vigilant of Zi Mo’s movements and had clearly been aware of her hidden thoughts.
“I know. She has made a wise choice.” Yang Kai nodded slightly and then re-closed his eyes.
Half a day later, Zi Mo returned with a lot of dry wood as well as some freshly hunted game.
Lighting a fire and roasting her catch, Zi Mo sat quietly next to the bonfire and warmed herself while she waited for Yang Kai to wake up.
Three days later.
Just as Zi Mo was cursing Yang Kai under her breath, a faint Sword Dao suddenly began floating around him, causing Zi Mo’s pretty face to instantly pale; jumping to her feet as she raised her vigilance, she quickly looked in the direction the Sword Dao was originating from.
In the next instant, her face showed an expression of shock.
The Sword Dao she had felt was actually coming from the place where Yang Kai was healing himself.
This Sword Dao was very familiar to Zi Mo, it gave off exactly the same impression as the one Wu Cheng Yi emitted when he had activated his ultimate sword skill, but now it was actually being reproduced from Yang Kai’s body.
Zi Mo gazed towards Yang Kai’s direction suspiciously, her brow thoroughly creased.
Gradually, the Sword Dao became stronger and stronger, the speed at which it was growing fast enough to be clearly felt, and after just a cup of tea worth of time, it was already powerful enough to make Zi Mo’s beautiful face pale slightly.
It was like the dead Wu Cheng Yi had suddenly resurrected and once again cast his earth-shattering sword skill!
*Boom …*
The cave in which Yang Kai had been meditating suddenly burst open; dust flew about as a silhouette emitting a tinge of red light leapt out from inside the explosion.
Zi Mo cried out in shock as she hurriedly retreated, landing a short distance away, she looked over and saw Yang Kai standing there motionless, his eyes still closed while in his hands was a blood-red sword type artifact.
His True Qi fluctuated rapidly as he radiated an aura of invincibility. The sword in his hands seemingly like an extension of his body.
*Zheng…*
The crimson sword suddenly gave off a piercing cry, and as the sound rang out, Yang Kai’s True Qi aura seemed to further intensify as a hundred Sword Qi blades began appearing around him.
Then another hundred blades appeared…
A moment later, Yang Kai’s surroundings had become a world of swords.
It was exactly the same scene as a few days ago, one that shocked anyone who saw it to their core.
Zi Mo gasped as she covered her mouth involuntarily, astonished beyond belief.
[On that day, Wu Cheng Yi had said that this Sword Skill was the Nine Star Sword Sect’s ultimate martial skill. How is he suddenly able to cast it?]
On top of that, the number of Sword Qi blades he was able to condense was significantly more compared to when Wu Cheng Yi had cast this sword skill. Even though that day Wu Cheng Yi had used every last drop of True Qi he had, he was still only able to condense slightly more than two thousand Sword Qi blades, but right now, Yang Kai had summoned around three thousand blades.
These three thousand or so blades were Yang Kai’s current limit, and doing so had already caused him great pressure.
With a wave of his hand, these three thousand Sword Qi blades instantly gathered together and merged, leaving behind only a hundred blades.
These hundred sword blades, each containing a huge amount of devastating Sword Qi, suddenly flew forward.
*Hong Hong Hong…*
The region in front of Yang Kai was instantly riddled with explosions, causing the Heavens and Earth to shatter!
His eyes still closed, Yang Kai carefully sensed all of this, his expression incomparably serious.
Nine Star Sword Sect’s ultimate martial skill, a Mysterious Grade sword skill, was truly powerful!
This attack’s instantaneous burst of power was no weaker than Yang Kai’s Star Mark, but at the same time, the amount of True Qi required to display it was also extraordinary. It was no wonder Wu Cheng Yi looked completely exhausted after only casting it once.
However, this Ten Thousand Swords Piercing One had many advantages over Star Mark.
This Martial Skill was composed of two parts, the first part being the use of True Qi to create Sword Qi blades, which themselves could be used as a powerful attack, but then a second step was taken to merge and condense these Sword Qi blades into a more potent destructive force. If one cultivated this Martial Skill to the grand accomplishment stage, they would be able to form a single world destroying blade!
Wu Cheng Yi had obviously not reached this step, while Yang Kai was also quite far off from it.
However, being able to learn this profound sword skill, Yang Kai was also very satisfied. At least, when he later used the Asura Sword, he would no longer have to be resigned to blindly hacking away at his enemies. Instead, he could also bring out this powerful sword skill.
Throughout this process, the True Qi within his body had also undergone some kind of change, giving Yang Kai some kind of new sentiment. Rapidly flowing within his meridians, Yang Kai’s True Qi felt like it had become as sharp as a sword, emitting a faint whining sound. Immersing himself in this feeling, Yang Kai’s face became solemn as he stood motionless.
Half an hour later, an invisible bubble suddenly burst out around him, causing Yang Kai to shiver, his eyes instantly shooting open.
True Element Boundary Second Stage!
With the benefits he gained from comprehending this Mysterious Grade martial skill, Yang Kai had managed to further increase his cultivation by a minor realm.
Smiling brightly, Yang Kai quickly put away the Asura Sword.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Yang Kai turned around to find Zi Mo staring at him, her gaze filled with confusion and curiosity.
Stopping a few tens of meters away, although her pretty face still flashed a calm, seductive smile, in the depths of her eyes there was also an unmistakable trace of vigilance and dread; just now, right in front of her, Yang Kai had achieved a miraculous breakthrough.
But this breakthrough was too strange; up until it happened, he had not shown any of the usual signs. Regardless, witnessing the blistering pace he cultivated at once again filled Zi Mo with admiration and envy.
After a long silence, Zi Mo only said, “Since you’ve woken up, I’ll take my leave.”
She did not ask Yang Kai why he had suddenly comprehended Wu Cheng Yi’s Sword Skill, as doing so would only bring her more harm than good. Zi Mo was a smart woman, naturally she understood how to open one eye and close the other.
“Where will you go?” Yang Kai tilted his head and asked with a smile.
Surprised for a moment, Zi Mo paused, smiled gently, and then said in a soft charming voice, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to return to the Tian Lang Dynasty.”
After speaking these words, she covered her mouth and spoke flirtatiously, “Why? Can’t I go home?”
“Of course you can’t leave.” Yang Kai grinned, saying in a manner that allowed no refusal, “After this you will follow me.”
Zi Mo was stunned, but somehow managed to keep up her smile, “How can I follow you? Don’t you know that I’m a Tian Lang Dynasty person; if I return with you to your Sect, everywhere I go, people will stare at me with unfriendly eyes. I’d rather not have to deal with that.”
“As long as you wear more conservative clothes you’ll look no different from an ordinary Great Han Dynasty woman. I insist. I could use a little maid to wait on me, things like pouring my tea and warming my bed.” Yang Kai said with a completely serious face.
The colour slightly draining from her face, Zi Mo forced herself to keep smiling, “Do you really mean that?”
“What do you think?”
Hearing something inside her snap, Zi Mo finally could not take it anymore, her smile gradually fading from her face as her eyes went cold and filled with endless hatred, grimacing as she cursed, “Are you also going to be so unreasonable? I kindly waited here for three days, took care of you in every way, but now that you’ve woken up, you still want to force me to be your maid? If I had known things would turn out like this I should have killed you while you were still recovering…”
Suddenly realizing that her real thoughts had leaked from her lips, Zi Mo quickly covered her mouth as she timidly observed Yang Kai reaction, letting out an awkward laugh, “I… I was just thinking about it, I wouldn’t really have tried to attack you… please don’t be upset…”
“Hahaha!” Yang Kai burst into laughter.
Hearing his wanton laughter, Zi Mo face became more and more dignified, biting her red lips as her eyebrows knit, she simply could not see through what was in Yang Kai’s heart.
“Well, I was just joking with you,” Yang Kai grinned mischievously. “Why are you taking things so seriously?”
“Joking with me?” Zi Mo’s pretty face became increasingly cold, grinding her teeth as she asked bitterly.
“En,” he replied, “I won’t take you back.”
“Do you have a woman waiting for you?” Zi Mo’s eyes suddenly flashed.
To her pointed question, Yang Kai only let out a silly laugh.
Seeing this, Zi Mo couldn’t help coldly snorting. Thinking back to when Yang Kai had acted so presumptuously towards her back inside the isolated world, a sudden bitterness rose up in her heart. Her courage suddenly being stimulated by these unpleasant memories, she gracefully stepped forward, tilted her head to the side slightly, walked up to Yang Kai and tightly pressed herself onto him, grabbing his arm and squeezing it between her proud peaks.
“I’ve changed my mind; I want to go back with you.” Zi Mo turned her eyes up and glared at Yang Kai defiantly. “I’d like to see what kind of woman can make you, this shameless man, so obedient.”
Looking down towards her, Yang Kai grinned with interest.
“You don’t dare?” Zi Mo smiled disdainfully.
“Girl, you should be careful when playing with fire!” Yang Kai said as an evil smile appeared on his face.
Zi Mo’s beautiful face twitched. Suddenly remembering everything she had experienced in that isolated world, she hurriedly separated herself from Yang Kai, like she was trying to avoid a poisonous snake or scorpion, grinding her teeth as her breathing became slightly ragged.
[I really don’t have the ability to compete with him. With this damn brand on my Soul, if I really provoke this big shameless wolf, then right here in this wilderness…]
“Hmph, I’m leaving. I pray that in this life I will never see you again. I pray that your woman dumps you so that you’ll be lonely for the rest of your life!” Zi Mo viciously spat.
“Wait!” Yang Kai said with a frown.
“You still want something?” Zi Mo’s heart jumped, she was extremely unwilling to stay with Yang Kai a moment longer.
But as she was watching him warily, Zi Mo saw Yang Kai take out a few bottles from his pants pocket, then from two of the bottles pour a drop from each into two new bottles before throwing them to her.
Catching these bottles, Zi Mo suspiciously asked, “What are these?”
“A drop of Brilliant Flame Liquid and a drop of Soul Cleansing Dew!”
Zi Mo was startled, glancing towards Yang Kai as a look of shock spread across her face.
Somewhat unable to believe the words he had just said, she quickly opened up the bottles and took a sniff.
“You’re giving these to me?” Determining that these two bottles really did contain drops of Brilliant Flame Liquid and Soul Cleansing Dew, Zi Mo held these Precious Treasures close to her chest, her hands grasping them very tightly.
Yang Kai simply nodded, “Compensation for all the times I bullied you.”
Zi Mo’s pretty face suddenly blushed slightly as she stared at Yang Kai, after a long time only managing to softly say, “You… it seems that I was mistaken… You’re not such a bad man after all…”
“What? Have you been charmed by me? It’s not too late to change your mind you know.” Yang Kai grinned.
“No!” Zi Mo shouted, her face suddenly becoming very serious, “Rest assured, I will only use these in secret and will not expose you. In the future, if you ever visit the Tian Lang Dynasty, make sure to come to the Sen Luo Temple to find me, I will be sure to entertain you well… heh heh heh…”
As she spoke this last sentence, Zi Mo gnashed her teeth in anger.
“Well then, you useless playboy, take care!” Zi Mo giggled, lightly turned her back to Yang Kai, activated her movement skill, and soon disappeared.
At last, she could finally escape Yang Kai’s control! Thinking so, Zi Mo felt like she had shed a great weight from her heart.
Although her Soul still bore his brand, with Yang Kai in the Great Han Dynasty, and her in Tian Lang Dynasty, what was there to fear? On top of that, once she returned to her Sect, she could simply ask her master to see if there was any way to lift this mark from her.
Staring towards the direction Zi Mo had disappeared, Yang Kai smiled for a while before he turned around and shot out like a meteor.
Quickly traveling to the place he had battled Wu Cheng Yi a few days prior, Yang Kai discovered that Wu Cheng Yi’s body had disappeared while nearby a newly excavated mound had appeared, it should be the results of Zi Mo dealing with things.
[This woman, she’s quite meticulous.]
A day later, Yang Kai arrived at a nearby town, spent some money to hire a carriage and informed the driver of his destination before entering a state of retreat inside the cabin in order to consolidate his new True Element Boundary Second Stage cultivation.
Medicine King’s Valley was a special Sect, with a heritage that stretched back thousands of years. It was a Sect full of Master Alchemists, and most of its disciples were also outstanding Alchemists.
Its combat strength was not strong, only slightly better than some second-class Sects, but far less than any first-class Sect.
However, its influence was far greater than any other force in existence.
As long as one was a cultivator, during their cultivation journey, they would always need to take some form of pill, and these pills could only come from the hands of an Alchemist.
For the Alchemist of this world, the Medicine King’s Valley held the status of being their holy land.
Any Alchemist, when it came to Medicine King’s Valley, would speak with great respect and admiration. Many who strove to be Alchemists would even set being able to study in Medicine King’s Valley, and gaze upon the Pill Saint’s legacy, as a lifetime goal.
The Pill Saint, the Medicine King’s Valley’s first patriarch, had long ago passed away, but the passage of time had not diminished his sacred position in the hearts of this world’s Alchemists. Rumor had it that the Alchemic Method had been created by the Pill Saint, who, using Medicine King’s Valley as a center, distributed it to every corner of the world, so that when cultivators became injured, they would be able to take pills in order to resume their practice.
Before the Pill Saint created the Alchemic Method, the world’s cultivators only knew how to find herbs and directly ingest them, which was simply a waste of resources!
Of course, this was just a legend, and any legend would always have points that were exaggerated, so one could not simply take it at face value.
But this legend did have some truth to it. The Pill Saint really had existed! His portrait hung in Medicine King’s Valley Forbidden Area. Even after thousands of years, it had never fallen, nor did it reveal any signs of weathering. This in itself was quite miraculous.
Although Medicine King’s Valley was called so, its foundation was not actually built in a valley.
Instead, it spanned a dozen mountain peaks, each one more than a thousand meters tall. These mountains were arranged in a circular pattern and covered a radius of hundreds of kilometres.
These few hundred kilometres all belonged to the Medicine King’s Valley.
Each of the peaks was home to many high-rank Alchemists, some of whom widely received disciples in order to pass down their inheritance. Others preferred to live in solitary penance and spent their time in the pursuit of greater alchemic knowledge. Their mountain residences contained several acres of herb gardens, which were planted with all kinds of spirit grasses.
Throughout the entire Medicine King’s Valley, there were countless alchemy materials.
In the centre of all the peaks lay a valley-like existence, which was quite different from the tranquil surrounding mountains. This valley was open all year round, and every day it was bustling and crowded. Cultivators came and went like an endless, stream-like carp swimming through a river.
The reason was simple: This valley was where a small town was built in order to allow the outside world to communicate with Medicine King’s Valley’s Alchemists.
If one wanted someone to concoct a pill for them, they would first gather enough materials, then come to this small town to find a disciple of Medicine King’s Valley. Medicine King’s Valley’s disciple didn’t accept gold or silver as payment, they would only accept one-third of the successfully refined pills.
It didn’t matter what rank of pill one came to Medicine King’s Valley to have refined, whether it was Common Grade or Heaven Grade, if the refining failed, there was nothing one could say, and in the cases where the pills were refined successfully, if ten pills were produced, three would be given to the Alchemist as his or her reward.
This method of compensation was nothing short of blatant robbery. Even a single Heaven Grade pill was extremely valuable. After one worked extremely hard to collect the required materials, not only would they have to bear the risk of failure, possibly ending up with nothing in the end, they would also have to surrender thirty percent of the profits.
But even so, this did not diminish the enthusiasm and determination of cultivators who came to seek Medicine King’s Valley’s Alchemy services.
The main reason for this was because here, the chance that an Alchemist would fail to refine a pill was quite low, and once the pill was successfully refined, the quality was also normally higher than if one had used an outside Alchemist.
So even if there were such harsh conditions, cultivators were still very willing to come here to request an Alchemist to refine pills for them. After all, it was still better than asking some outside Alchemist, and having them accidentally destroy all of one’s precious materials.
Medicine King’s Valley was so well known, it not only to attracted cultivators from the Great Han Dynasty, even masters from the surrounding countries would often come here to request the Medicine King’s Valley Elders to refine pills for them.
Medicine King’s Valley Elders did not often accept requests. Any time someone asked them to refine a pill, it would at least have to be Heaven Grade, or even Mysterious Grade, and the compensation to be given would also be greater than normal.
Medicine King’s Valley had ten Great Elders, each one occupying one of the ten highest peaks. Each of them was extremely skilled and possessed supreme achievements in alchemy.
Even most Medicine King’s Valley disciples would rarely see these old monsters, these Elder were all over sixty years old and were often in perennial retreat to research alchemy. Only if some particularly rare and expensive materials were offered as a reward would they come out and accept alchemy requests.
In the small valley town, there were shops everywhere, but most of these shops did not belong to Medicine King’s Valley, as over 90% of the world’s great Sects and Forces would set up a branch here.
Here, after all, was the center of this world’s Alchemist, so these forces would set up shops here in order to sell herbs, collect materials, inquire about foreign intelligence, so on and so forth.
However, Medicine King’s Valley itself remained neutral and never sided with any particular force, deliberately showing no favour to any Sect or country, for thousands of years maintaining an aloof and transcendent position.
In the valley town, fighting was strictly prohibited, and even though an endless stream of cultivators came here, inside this city no one dared disobey this rule.
Once anyone started fighting in the city, the people of Medicine King’s Valley wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. Others would be more than happy to slaughter both guilty parties.
But once they left this valley, no matter what kind of grudge it was, Medicine King’s Valley would not intervene.
So the inside thousand-kilometer radius and the outside were two different worlds.
In the mountains and the centre valley, it was lively and peaceful, but for a stretch of tens of kilometers outside the valley, one could see countless battles and deaths. These people had all had some kind of dispute inside the valley, but did not dare start a fight there and then, so instead came outside in order to settle their grudges.
On this day, a carriage from afar came to a stop about fifty kilometers away from Medicine King’s Valley.
The coachman caught his whip and shouted into the carriage, “Little brother, we’ve arrived at Medicine King’s Valley!”
“What?” Yang Kai immediately woke from his meditation, smiled happily, opened the curtain, and looked around but was suddenly stunned, “Where is this place?”
Surrounding him was an empty space; what Medicine King’s Valley? This was clearly the wilderness.
The coachman simply smiled at Yang Kai and said, “Little brother might not know, but the area outside Medicine King’s Valley is extremely dangerous, so we ordinary people dare not approach too close. Whenever there is a customer who wants to travel to Medicine King’s Valley, I can only bring them to this point. If I go any further, it would mean certain death.
Seeing Yang Kai frown, the driver noticed that he was unhappy, and so he carefully explained to him about Medicine King’s Valley’s situation.
After listening, Yang Kai gradually relaxed his brow, understanding that this coachman was really telling the truth and not deliberately ditching him here.
In the end, he stopped worrying about it. In any case, it was only several tens of kilometers further. Readily taking out a silver coin and tossing it to the coachman, Yang Kai activated his Movement Skill and calmly moved towards the distant mountains.
Although the driver had told him that the outside of Medical King’s Valley was very dangerous, it took seeing it for himself for Yang Kai to realize that it was actually far more serious than he had imagined.
As he approached the valley, after passing no more than thirty kilometers, he had already witness four or five battles. These people all had some kind of conflict inside the valley and had then come outside to resolve it.
Walking along the path, Yang Kai even saw a number of corpses still warm.
Seeing all this, Yang Kai was secretly speechless, but as an outsider he did not attempt to interfere in any way, and instead just quietly proceeded onwards.
All of a sudden, from somewhere behind him, a burst of angry shouting and fighting rang out, and the sound of fluttering clothes suddenly drew near.
Wrinkling his brow, Yang Kai turned back to see what was happening.
Just as he did so, he saw a girl wearing a long blue dress dash towards him. The girl was about sixteen years old and looked quite pretty, but at the moment her big round eyes were watery and full of panic, as she dashed forward as fast as she could.
Behind her there were six or seven figures in hot pursuit. Their faces were filled with murderous intent, and all of them had drawn their swords as they spat out various curses.
“Little bitch, stop right there!” An angry voice called out.
However, in response, the girl only ran faster.
“Quick, don’t let her enter the valley; once she’s inside, we’ll never be able to catch her!” Those who saw that the direction the girl was running lead to Medicine King’s Valley couldn’t help but exclaim.
Medicine King’s Valley strictly prohibited fighting. If this girl managed to escape inside, everything would be over!
In the blink of an eye, the girl rushed up to Yang Kai.
Seeing Yang Kai warily observing her, the girl grinned, revealing her pearl white teeth, then with all the strength she could muster, shouted, “Cousin, run away, what are you standing there stunned for?”
Yang Kai brow wrinkled as his expression became cold, but before he had time to react the girl had swiftly rushed past him, leaving behind only a faint fragrance.
“Shit, that little slut has a companion! Quickly, don’t let either of them escape! Kill the man, seize the woman!” One of the people chasing the girl shouted out in rage.
Like a pack of starving wolves, their pace quicken beyond belief.
“Fuck!” Yang Kai’s face filled with resentment as he viciously cursed. Not wasting any time trying to explain the situation to the people behind him, he instead turned and chased after the girl.
Whether it was the girl wearing a long, light blue dress, or the group of big men chasing behind her, their strength was not high. The strongest only had a True Element Third or Fourth Stage cultivation.
This level of strength wasn’t enough for Yang Kai to bat an eyelid. However, being drawn into such a troublesome matter through no fault of his own angered him greatly.
Pushing his Movement Skill, he rapidly shot forward, and in just a few breaths of time arrived beside the escaping girl’s figure.
The girl’s face showed a surprised expression as she glanced towards Yang Kai, only to see him grinning towards her with a grim evil smile.
“Cousin …” Yang Kai smirked as he cried out affectionately.
“Hehe…” The girl’s pretty face looked like she had bit into a bitter gourd. Her skin was instantly covered in goosebumps. She never imagined that this young looking Yang Kai’s speed would be so fast.
Before her awkward giggle ended, Yang Kai’s face became cold as he reached out his big hand to capture the girl.
The girl’s expression suddenly sank as she raised her slender palm to counter.
Yang Kai pushed his True Qi and met her palm head on.
The girl was knocked back and her speed reduced significantly. Before she could react, Yang Kai wrapped one hand around her waist while his other latched onto her wrist, immediately bringing the two of them to a halt.
“You… what are you doing, quickly run!” The girl shouted in panic as she saw the group of people chasing behind her rapidly approach.
Yang Kai coldly snorted, twisted his waist, and tossed her towards the group behind them as she let out a scream.”
“You…” The girl’s eyes flashed with shock, never imagining that Yang Kai would actually use such a trick.
Everything happened too fast. When she was thrown back, the girl didn’t even have time to react before falling flat on the ground.
When the group of people chasing behind her saw this scene, all of them became excited and rushed up to where their prey had fallen, instantly surrounding her.
“Little slut! Let’s see where you run now!” The group’s leader shouted in anger. His body exuded an Evil Qi.
The rest of his men were also smiling deviously, and several of them looked up and down the girl’s plump, feminine body. Their eyes flashed an unhidden obscene light.
Yang Kai saw everything, and upon seeing the look in these men’s eyes, his expression suddenly became cold.
[These guys… they’re definitely not a good bunch!]
The girl looked around resentfully as she bit her lip and shivered in fear while observing the burly men, desperately looking for a way to escape. Her strength wasn’t great, only Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary, and now that she was surrounded by these people, there was nowhere she could run.
With her big teary eyes she glared over towards Yang Kai and screamed, “You shameless bastard, I hope you die a horrible death, your soul destroyed, and suffer Heaven’s wrath…”
If it had not been for Yang Kai’s actions, she would have already escaped into Medicine King’s Valley and been safe. Thinking about this, the girl naturally felt wronged and angry.
Hearing this, Yang Kai lightly snorted then turned away!
Although he knew that this group of thugs were not a good sort, the girl’s actions had also made him furious, so he decided to give her a good scare.
Seeing him act so ruthlessly, the girl’s blood went cold.
A few of the thugs surrounding the girl also saw Yang Kai attempting to leave and signaled to each other with their eyes. Two of them quietly leapt out while thrusting their drawn swords towards Yang Kai’s backs.
These people felt that, regardless of whether the two kids were cousins or not, since he had already seen them here, there was no reason to let him live.
When the girl tried to call out to warn Yang Kai, a sword blade tip was pressed against her neck, which sent a shiver down her back and caused her to immediately swallow her words.
Both of the pouncing thugs were Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivators, almost the same state as the girl herself. Moving as fast as the wind, they soon came right up behind Yang Kai, and a cold light flashed as their swords slashed towards Yang Kai.
The girl couldn’t help but shriek as her pair of big round eyes squinted up causing her long eyelashes to tremble. At this moment she couldn’t help feeling regret.
She felt she really shouldn’t have dragged this unknown young man into her troubles. Just now, she had simply been too anxious about being chased. The thought had flashed across her mind and she had cried out, but she was only looking to ease the pressure she felt, not sentence him to death.
But as Yang Kai was walking forward, when the swords approached his back, his body suddenly drifted forward and magically avoided the two attacks, like he had eyes in the back of his head.
Turning around, Yang Kai lightly glanced at his two assailants as an evil grin slowly spread across his face, and an eerie laugh soon escaped from his lips.
This sudden change startled the two thugs, and a cold sweat emerged on their necks as they realized that the youth in front of them definitely was not weak. Roaring, they pushed their Yuan Qi and launched another attack towards Yang Kai.
Two fist shadows flew through the air, and before the two big thugs had time to react, they felt a strong force smash into their bodies and send them flying back.
As they flew, the pair coughed up blood before falling to the ground and died on impact.
“Jie Jie Jie Jie…” Old Demon cackled as he attacked, in that isolate world he could not play much of a role, so now that they had finally come out, naturally he wanted to show off his skills.
A black gas dashed out into the air and made its way into the two dead men before once more emerging.
When the group of thugs’ leader saw his two henchmen instantly killed, his expression also changed greatly. He tightly gripped the long sword he held against the girl’s neck and coldly shouted, “Kill him!”
The rest of the thugs couldn’t help gulping, but they still let out a vicious roar and ferociously charged towards Yang Kai.
“Jie Jie…” Old Demon struck again, which caused the group of thugs to cry out in surprise as this strange artifact darted to and fro. One of them engaged Old Demon’s Soul Breaker Awl, attempting to knock him down, while the rest of the group flew towards Yang Kai.
*Peng Peng Peng…*
Three muffled thuds rang out as the thugs who had just rushed Yang Kai involuntarily flew out, each of their chests were crushed and caved in.
Since the beginning of this year, Yang Kai had been fighting against numerous Elite Disciples from various Great Forces. These Elite Disciples each had the ability to fight and even kill ordinary cultivators who were two or three more Minor Realms above themselves.
However, these so called elites had all been thoroughly thrashed by Yang. Even the strongest of them all, Wu Cheng Yi, could not escape death at his hands.
After all that, how could these pieces of trash be Yang Kai’s opponents?
One person, one strike, none of them even had the opportunity to resist. Those who were weaker died instantly, while a few stronger ones simply collapsed on the ground after completely losing the ability to fight.
As the three bodies fell to the ground, Old Demon did not bother restraining himself, and immediately dashed over and consumed their Souls.
Old Demon’s previous opponent had not even had time to flee before he was caught by Yang Kai, a hand gripping his head before he felt a violent twist.
With a crisp cracking sound, the man’s neck was snapped and his body limply fell down.
Ignoring the body of this dead man, Yang Kai glared coldly at the burly man holding his sword against the girl’s neck and slowly stepped towards him. His True Qi rampaged outside his body, his clothes billowed even without any wind, and he looked just like a majestic Slaughtering God.
The girl’s mouth was now as round as a circle, utterly shocked as she gazed towards Yang Kai. She had never thought that this young man she had tried to drag into the muddy water with her would be so tyrannical!
He didn’t look much older than her, so how could he be so powerful?
As she watched, a deep sense of terror flickered across her big round eyes. Compared to this group of thugs who had been chasing her for these past few days, Yang Kai was far more frightening, like a blood-stained executioner.
He killed people as simply and easily as killing ants, and even his casual expression, from beginning to end, never changed in the slightest. His eyes didn’t even blink once.
Human lives were like dust to him, something he could casually brush aside.
With the girl being so frightened, how could the burly man restraining her not be?
Although he was a True Element Boundary Fourth Stage cultivator, at the moment his blood ran cold and his Soul had been petrified. He was very clear on his own henchmen’s strength. He could easily deal with any of them one on one, but it would be impossible for him to casually slaughter them all like this youth had just done.
“This friend, everything that happened here was just a misunderstanding!” This burly thug leader’s forehead dripped with cold sweat as he fearfully watched Yang Kai approach, letting out a stiff laugh, “There’s no previous grudges between us, so how about we end things here?”
Yang Kai simply remained indifferent, not saying a word.
“It’s true that I had eyes but did not see and was the first to wrong you, but you’ve already killed so many of us, is there really a need to be so ruthless?” The burly man pleaded again and again, never once moving his sword from the girl’s neck.
Seeing Yang Kai still unmoved, the burly leader knew that that negotiation was impossible so instead he resolved to be ruthless. His expression turned grim as he grit his teeth, “If you come any closer, I’ll run my sword through her neck!”
“Go ahead and kill her! You’ll follow right after!” Yang Kai’s pace didn’t slow in the slightest.
The burly leader was soaked in sweat. As the young man stepped closer, he felt like a giant mountain was slowly pressing down on him, stifling his breath. Pushing his True Qi nervously, the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly, which caused the girl to cry out involuntarily as she felt the cold blade slightly pierce into her neck and a warm wisp of liquid slowly drip from the wound.
“You think I won’t kill her?” The burly leader tried to threaten.
However, before he had finished speaking, Yang Kai eyes squinted and an invisible force burst forth from his mind straight into the burly leader’s Soul.
This was the power of his Divine Sense!
One’s Divine Sense was not only used to perceive the surrounding situation, but could also be used as a means of attack. Yang Kai had never attempted this before, but he took this slightly risky opportunity to give it a try.
As Yang Kai’s Divine Sense lashed out, the burly leader was momentarily stunned, and by the time he recovered all he could see was the youth opposite him rapidly approaching him and stretching out a big hand to seize his sword.
The burly leader let out a roar and rapidly pushed his True Qi, and ruthlessly tried to cut through the girl’s neck, determined to drag her down with him.
Yang Kai eyes flashed quickly as he launched a palm strike towards the burly man’s face while sweeping his foot towards the young girl, forcing her away from the path of the blade.
As the blade light flashed, the girl fell to the side with a few less strands of hair while the burly leader hurriedly dodged backwards, avoided Yang Kai’s palm and simultaneously dragged his sword out of his grip, leaving behind a long sound on Yang Kai’s other palm.
Yang Kai face remained serious and calm. Taking advantage of this opening, he clenched his bloody fist and sent a punch into the burly man’s chest.
[Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast!]
The thug leader was still a True Element Fourth Stage cultivator, so even though he had taken Yang Kai hit unprepared, he didn’t instantly lose all ability to resist. His sword slashed out, as he desperately tried to kill the enemy before him.
As the two fought, the Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast’s True Qi exploded inside his body with three loud thuds, which caused the burly leader’s face to suddenly become pale.
Old Demon did not miss this opportunity and immediately rushed in to assist Yang Kai.
After a dozen or so exchanges, the burly leader’s chest was smashed in by Yang Kai.
The light gradually faded from his eyes, and the burly leader’s face filled with bitterness as he muttered, “Monster…”
Old Demon laughed and sunk his Soul Breaker Awl into the man’s body, and then devoured his Soul. Then he immediately turned into black gas after and darted into Yang Kai’s body.
“Young Master, did you feel that?” Old Demon whispered.
“Yeah…” Yang Kai nodded as he used his True Qi to clean the blood from himself, “The Yuan Qi of these guys was very violent, like it was cultivated by some kind of evil Secret Art, or they had fallen onto the Devil’s Path.”
Cultivators at the Separation and Reunion Boundary would have two paths appear before them in their minds, so this state was named Separation and Reunion.
If they drowned themselves in the thrill seeking power, unable to suppress their raging emotions and desires, this was the so-called Devil’s Path! These people were generally more brutal, bloodthirsty, and violent.
There are many cultivators like this. The higher their strength, the more prominent their performance, and ultimately these people would step onto a different cultivation path than others. The people Yang Kai had just killed were an example of this case.
Compared with the orthodox cultivation path, no one could really make clear which method was better, but overall, the Devil’s Path was still normally frowned upon.
In this world, the largest gathering place for these Devil Path practitioners was the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land!
Within its range of thousands of kilometers, several Devil Lords gathered and everywhere you went there were Devil Path cultivators.
Originally, the High Heaven Pavilion Great Elder had given a promotion order to Yang Kai, which instructed him to go to the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land and behead a Devil Path cultivator whose cultivation realm was no lower than his own, but that was ultimately rejected by Yang Kai.
However, the question was… how did this young girl wind up provoking these people?
Brimming with suspicion, Yang Kai turned to look at the girl.
Just now, he had knocked her off her feet and caused her to fall to the ground, and until now she still had not stood up. Her face was filled with panic and fear, like she had received a terrifying shock, and her tender body still trembled lightly.
If things had gone even a little bit differently, she wouldn’t have gotten away with such a light injury. The sharp sword strike had cut off a lock of her hair and left a fresh red mark on her pale white neck, which she was still clutching till this moment as a fragrant sweat covered her body.
Noticing Yang Kai looking towards her, the girl’s heart could not help jumping as a look of terror spread across her face.
It wasn’t until now that she truly understood what kind of terrifying existence she had provoked. Seven or eight lives had been snuffed out by this young man in less than thirty breaths of time like he was simply cutting grass.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, frowned, walked over, and squatted down in front of her.
The girl’s eyes darted back and forth repeatedly as her long eyelashes quivered. Clearly, she was overwhelmed with fear.
Letting out a chuckle, Yang Kai poked her forehead with his finger and then inspected the fresh scar on her neck before saying, “It’s just a flesh wound, if you treat it well there won’t even be a scar.”
While talking, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a healing pill, then gently handed it to her.
Seeing this, a small smile emerged on the girl’s face, “I have my own pills…”
Since her vigilance was so high, Yang Kai did not insist and re-stowed his healing pill. Meanwhile, the girl timidly watched him to see if he had any hidden malicious intent, and only after a short time did she work up the courage to take out a bottle and remove her own healing pill.
“Just now, why didn’t you try to fight back?” Yang Kai frowned.
“I … I’ve never actually fought anyone for real before…” The girl replied with a light blush. Although she had definitely sparred before during her cultivation practice, at most, it was a match between friends, which never escalated anywhere close to a life and death struggle. Thus, when a long sword was held to her neck, she instantly froze up and didn’t know what to do.
Yang Kai looked at her carefully and found that she was really just a young tender maiden. Her dress was also quite luxurious, even though it looked somewhat strange, but that could not disguise the unique temperament she radiated. This kind of temperament wasn’t something someone from an ordinary, small force could possess.
She was certainly a young lady from some great family! No wonder a young girl only slightly younger than him had a Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivation, but no actual combat experience.
It was the result of her being pampered.
“How did you provoke these people?”
“I don’t know.” The girls suddenly said indignantly. “I had just run away from home… *cough* … I mean, I was playing outside, when this group suddenly came out of nowhere, chased after me, and tried to capture me. All of them were so hideous, it was really frightening.”
Yang Kai could not help but smile.
Seeing that he was so easy to talk to, the girl’s courage couldn’t help but grow. Staring at him with her big almond eyes, she smiled at Yang Kai and said, “And you, why did you throw me back like that, don’t you know how dangerous that was? If I had died there I’d definitely come back to haunt you, following you around every day to annoy you!”
Yang Kai looked up into distance. His eyes revealed a deep thoughtfulness before moving back to the girl’s face, and he bluntly stated, “Perhaps when you shouted just now you didn’t really have any malicious intent, but what would have happened if I had been some weak powerless person? If my luck was bad, I may have ended up as a corpse after getting caught up in the chaos.”
The girl shivered as a light flashed across her eyes, lowering her head she softly said, “I was wrong…”
But soon after she looked up with a wronged expression on her face, “However, aren’t you a bit too cruel? People say that you should help fellow travelers on the road, so with your great strength, what does it matter if I borrow it?”
Yang Kai chuckled but didn’t bother explaining.
Just now, when those few thugs had surrounded this girl, their eyes had flashed an obscene light which Yang Kai had natural seen, so his intention was to pretend to leave and secretly observe the situation before intervening, but he had not thought these people would immediately try to attack him. Since they didn’t let him go, he simply took away their lives, which resolved everything.
Standing up and ignoring the girl’s complaints and questions, Yang Kai casually activated his Movement Skill and dashed towards Medicine King’s Valley.
The girl stared blankly for a moment before she too stood up and quickly began traveling the last few kilometers to Medicine King’s Valley. She was afraid that if she lingered any longer, another group of wicked people might come out and try to stop her from reaching Medicine King’s Valley.
Chasing after Yang Kai’s figure, she soon reached the valley town, but the young man was nowhere to be found.
“He’s clearly not much older than me, yet his strength is so amazing. Which great family is he from?” The Girl muttered, and thought about it for a long time, but ultimately failed to come up with an appropriate candidate, which caused her much chagrin.
When he finally entered the town, a variety of medicinal smells wafted about, which caused him to feel relaxed and refreshed. Yang Kai casually strolled around town and soon discovered that, in addition to the inns and restaurants, every other shop was somehow related to either herbs or pills.
Ordinary and rare spirit grass, exotic fruits, and wondrous flowers were everywhere he went. There was a variety of herbs for sale. There were even many different types and species he had never heard of before that were scattered about in a dazzling array.
[Truly worth of Medicine King’s Valley!] Yang Kai praised in his heart.
Seeing such a scene, as long as one was an Alchemist, they would no longer be willing to leave. Alchemists had a special love and respect for herbs, so encountering a place with so many different and exotic medicines on display made it strange to be willing to leave.
In every shop, there were many who came in to browse around or bargain with the shopkeepers to purchase herbs.
There were also many Alchemists doing business, offering to help cultivators refine pills.
But the Alchemists in the valley town were actually all disciples of Medicine King’s Valley! Of the cultivators who came here to seek help from an Alchemist, most of them had been attracted by the Medicine King’s Valley name in the first place, so naturally they would not go looking for Alchemists from other forces.
Yang Kai strolled around for a long time and enjoyed all the new sights and scenes along the way, before eventually discovering that these Alchemists had their own hierarchy as well.
Their respective grades corresponded to the grades assigned to Precious Treasures, respectively, Common Grade, Earth Grade, Heaven Grade, and Mysterious Grade, each grade was further divided into Low, Mid, and High ranks.
Most of the Alchemists here were around Earth Grade, such as the one in the shop just in front of him who had a two-leaf silver flower on his chest that indicated that he was an Earth Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, which also meant that he had the necessary skill to refine Earth Grade Mid-Rank pills.
The flower petals corresponded to one’s Grade, while the gold, silver, and white colours corresponded to a High, Mid, and Low Rank respectively. Through the embroidery on an Alchemist’s clothes, one could easily tell what level he was.
Heaven Grade Alchemists were a very rare sight, and as for those of Mysterious Grade, there were none to be seen.
Only the Elders of Medicine King’s Valley were Mysterious Grade Alchemists.
In many shops, there were finished pills for sale. However, ordinary pills were of no interest to Yang Kai. Only Soul nourishing pills would cause him to stop and take notice.
These pills would not only allow him to cultivate his Soul, but would also nourish his Soul Warming Lotus, so that the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus could progress towards its ultimate Seven Coloured form.
Once the Soul Warming Lotus had evolved into its Seven Coloured form, the benefits he would receive would also greatly increase.
But the number of Soul nourishing pills was quite small, and their price was also many times more expensive than average pills.
A bottle of ten Earth Grade High-Rank pills was around five thousand silvers.
But a bottle of Earth Grade High-Rank Soul nourishing pills was at least thirty thousand silvers; a full six times as expensive!
Checking inside his bag, Yang Kai could only sigh and look away.
After strolling around for a long time and seeing the sky gradually grow dark, Yang Kai decided to find an inn to stay at.
At night, the Medicine King’s Valley’s town became even more bustling, so after having something light to eat at the inn, Yang Kai went out again to inquire about the latest news.
His original purpose in coming to Medicine King’s Valley was to see the Myriad Drug Pond, but the Myriad Drug Pond was a forbidden area within Medicine King’s Valley, so obviously it was not going to be easy to visit it.
After a few days, Yang Kai had toured around most of Medicine King’s Valley’s town to inquire about information, but in the end he had been left with a bitter taste in his mouth and a feeling of anxiety in his heart.
Medicine King’s Valley’s Myriad Drug Pond was located at the top of the Pill Saint’s Peak; however, not only was the Myriad Drug Pond situated there, the unchanging Pill Saint’s portrait was also hung inside. It was not an exaggeration to say that the Pill Saint’s Peak was the Holy Land of Alchemists in this world, and even the ordinary Medicine King’s Valley disciples could not approach it. Only the Valley Lord and Elders were eligible to gaze upon the Pill Saint’s portrait and study the profound alchemic mysteries he had left behind.
About the Pill Saint’s portrait, Yang Kai had heard many rumors, all of them in general were related to the inheritance of alchemic knowledge and skills. It was said that many Alchemists who gazed upon the Pill Saint’s portrait had gained solutions to the problems that had long confounded them, some even gained some form of alchemic inheritance, which lead many of them to reap great benefits.
For this reason, the Medicine King’s Valley was very strict in its protection of the Myriad Drug Pond.
With such a heavy guard in place, how could Yang Kai hope to get close?
The Myriad Drug Pond was not the same as High Heaven Pavilion’s Coiling Dragon Stream. Although the Coiling Dragon Stream was also a forbidden area, despite being incredibly vast it was also extremely dangerous, so usually nobody would approach it.
On this day, Yang Kai was wandering aimlessly around the town when he all of a sudden spotted a familiar figure.
Staring at the back of this person, Yang Kai let out a light chuckle.
Quietly following behind this person, a short while later, Yang Kai saw him enter into one of the town’s many shops.
Arriving before the shop, Yang Kai looked up at the plaque on the shop which read, “Dong Family Pill Shop”.
Upon walking into the shop, a shop hand immediately came up and warmly greeted Yang Kai, “Good sir, how may I help you today? Our Dong Family Medicine Shop has a wide selection of items for sale, whether it is alchemy materials or finished pills, we carry everything, all for sale at very fair prices. If good sir is searching for anything in particular, please feel free to have a look around.”
“I’m not here buy anything.” Yang Kai said as he shook his head.
“Uh…”
“I’m looking for the young man who just came in!” Yang Kai declared.
Hearing this, the shop hand’s expression immediately became vigilant, and he carefully examined Yang Kai again while maintaining his calm before asking, “May I ask how I should address this little brother?
Yang Kai smiled back at the shop hand and said, “Just tell him, a guest from High Heaven Pavilion is here to visit.”
The shop hand’s brow wrinkled slightly, but he still eventually nodded.
Turning around and disappearing into the back halls, it was not long before the shop hand re-emerged with a giant flattering smile on his face, “Little brother please come with me, my Young Master will see you right away!”
Yang Kai simply nodded.
Walking into the inner hall then up the stairs to the third floor, Yang Kai follow all the way until they reached a certain door. The shop hand then bowed and said, “My Young Master is inside!”
Finished guiding this esteemed guest, the shop hand then respectfully receded.
After all of this, Yang Kai proceeded to open the door and step inside.
Immediately seeing a slightly rounded face smiling towards him.
Dong Family, Dong Qing Han!
Right behind him were the Dong Family’s Wind and Cloud Dual Guards. The two old men stood there in silence. When their eyes met, they simply produced a simple bow and remained in position, as though they had gone senile and could only do so much.
By Dong Qing Han’s side sat a pretty young girl with a dignified temperament, daintily sipping a cup of tea. But as Yang Kai glanced towards her, their four eyes suddenly meeting, he was instantly stunned.
The girl was also shocked. Her face contorted wildly as her eyes stared towards Yang Kai, involuntarily spitting out the tea she had just drank, spraying it all over Dong Qing Han’s face.
‘What the hell are you doing?” Dong Qing Han said, his image as a refined older cousin in front of Yang Kai suddenly being destroyed by this young girl spraying his face with tea.
“It … it’s … it’s him!” The girl shouted as she pointed her jade like finger towards Yang Kai, her voice filled with shock.
Hearing this as he tried to wipe off the tea leaves from his face, Dong Qing Han frowned and asked, “What do you mean ‘it’s him’? Speak clearly.”
“He’s the man I ran into outside the valley, the one who grabbed me and threw me to the bad guys!” The girl quickly explained.
Dong Qing Han glanced towards Yang Kai then back towards the young girl, his slightly fat face flashing a look of amazement.
[Such a coincidence…]
Yang Kai was also puzzled. He did not expect this cheeky little girl would appear here, in this Dong Family shop, but seeing how she could sit beside Dong Qing Han at the same table, her status was certainly not low, could she be…
His brow twitching, Yang Kai faintly guessed this little girl’s identity.
“You dare appear in front of me!” The girl said as she remembered the feelings of frustration and helplessness she felt during their first encounter; now with Dong Qing Han and the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards as her support, she immediately felt emboldened, her row of silvery teeth gnashing as she glowered towards Yang Kai, thrusting out her smooth pretty chin proudly, without the slightest lady like demeanor, letting out a mischievous laughter, “Hee hee, how does the saying go, no path to the Heavens, no door into Hell, you coming here means you’re death!”
Although she said these words, but her face did not contain the slightest wrath or murderous intent, instead she was simply impishly staring at Yang Kai.
Grinning back at her, Yang Kai asked, “Is this how you treat your savior?”
As he spoke, he lightly knocked her on her head.
The girl’s big eyes squinted as she body shrunk up; quickly hiding behind Dong Qing Han’s back like a frightened rabbit, grinding her teeth as she glared towards Yang Kai, like a fox pretending to be a tiger.
“Enough with your impudence!” Dong Qing Han fat face shook as he loudly shouted.
The girl immediately followed up, shouting towards Yang Kai, “That’s right, don’t be so presumptuous!”
“I’m talking to you!” Dong Qing Han glared towards the little girl.
“Ah?” The girl stammered in shock.
“Towards the man who saved your life, you don’t even say thank you? Such an important guest has come yet you don’t offer any greetings, do you not have any decency!?” Dong Qing Han solemnly reprimanded her.
“I do not want to! If he hadn’t tossed me back that day, I would have escaped into Medicine King’s Valley!” The girl stamped her foot and pouted towards Dong Qing Han.
“Such disrespect. You get out!” Dong Qing Han angrily pounded the table.
The girl’s lips pursed and her eyes watered as she dashed out of the room angrily.
But before she left, she didn’t forget to glare angrily at Yang Kai one last time.
After the girl left, Dong Qing Han smiled wryly while shaking his head, sending a wink towards the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards. The two of them immediately released their Divine Sense, and a moment later nodded towards Dong Qing Han.
“Sit down.” Dong Qing Han waved.
As Yang Kai sat down and poured himself a cup of tea, he frowned and asked, “Just now…”
“Yan’er, you’ve met her before.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but smile, didn’t that mean the relationship between them really was older and younger cousins?
He had never imagined that what she had casually shouted that day would actually be true.
About Dong Qing Yan, Yang Kai had some faint impressions. However, the only time they had met was almost a decade ago, when she was still just a little girl tottering behind Dong Qing Han; after ten years, how could Yang Kai have recognized her?
“A girl experiences eighteen changes between childhood and womanhood…” Yang Kai shook his head wryly, not only did he not recognize her, she probably also couldn’t recognize him. Who could still recall all the memories of their childhood?
“Yan’er said a few days ago a youth only slightly older than her rescued her. I never imagined that person would turn out to be you.” Dong Qing Han also let out a long sigh, everything was just too much of a coincidence.
“It just happened!” Yang Kai shrugged, not trying to explain or take any credit. In the first place, the whole incident didn’t really cost him any effort and seeing how the person he ended up saving was his own cousin, naturally there was nothing else that needed to be discussed.
As the two young men spoke, Dong Qing Yan quietly snuck back holding a piece of ancient jade in her hand; this piece of jade exuded a wave of weak energy that spread out around her, creating a shield that hid all traces of her aura.
This shield was impeccable, not even an Immortal Ascension Boundary master’s Divine Sense could penetrate it.
In but a moment, like a stealthy cat, Dong Qing Yan had crept up to the door and began eavesdropping on her brother and that hateful man’s conversation.
Yang Kai’s attitude towards Dong Qing Han was quite relaxed and familiar, which naturally aroused her curiosity; on top of that, her brother had rarely reprimanded her so strictly, even directly telling her to leave.
Dong Qing Yan figured that the two must have something they needed to discuss in private, so her brother had deliberately scolded to send her away. Her interest having been peaked, she decided to listen in on them to figure out what secrets they were trying to hide.
As the sound of the conversation drifted into her ears, Dong Qing Yan lightly bit her lips as her pretty face flushed with nervousness.
Although she was tense, she also felt excited. Since long ago, inside the Dong Family home, she had relied on this ancient jade to eavesdrop of an untold number of secrets, so she had long ago become familiar with such activity.
“What are you doing here?” Dong Qing Han asked Yang Kai.
“I came here to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“I want to visit one of Medicine King’s Valley’s Peaks.” Yang Kai replied, going straight to the point, sipping his cup of tea as he looked towards Dong Qing Han, “Can you help me?”
“Which peak?” Dong Qing Han asked.
“The Pill Saint’s Peak!”
Hearing this, not just Dong Qing Han’s eyes narrowed, even the two aloof old men standing behind him also glanced towards Yang Kai.
Dong Qing Han smiled wryly, “There are twelve peaks in Medicine King’s Valley, ten of which are the residences of Great Elders, another one the Valley Lord’s retreat, and the final and primary one is the Pill Saint’s Peak. It is Medicine King’s Valley most forbidden area; if you wanted to enter any of the other peaks, I would have a way, but the Pill Saint’s Peak… I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.”
“Is there no way at all?” Yang Kai refused to give up, he also knew that the Pill Saint’s Peak was a special existence; if not so he wouldn’t have come to see Dong Qing Han.
He could not use the power of the Yang Family right now, but Dong Qing Han was different, as the eldest son of the Dong Family, its future successor, naturally he could make use of the Dong Family’s influence and connections.
Dong Qing Han frowned as he tapped his fingers on the table, a good while later only saying, “It’s not completely hopeless.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, “Let’s hear it!”
“In a little more than two months, there will be an Alchemist Summit. At that time all of the alchemists from all the world’s forces from small to large will come here, at that time, they will compete with each other in various alchemy competitions, and the top fifty alchemists will be given the chance to visit the Pill Saint’s Peak, study the Pill Saint’s portrait, and ponder upon the mysteries of alchemy; if you can become one these top fifty Alchemists, you can justifiably enter the Pill Saint’s Peak!
To this statement, Yang Kai rolled his eyes, “Do I look like an alchemist?”
Dong Qing Han shook his head, “Of course not… but this is the only way to enter the Pill Saint’s Peak unless… unless, you become an Elder of Medicine King’s Valley.”
Yang Kai could only wryly smile.
Neither of these two methods could be used by him, becoming a Medicine King’s Valley Elder was obviously impossible, and wanting to become one of the top fifty alchemists at the upcoming summit was even more ridiculous.
Yang Kai had never even been exposed to the Alchemic Path, seeking for the Dao of Alchemy. How could he suddenly stand above this world’s Alchemists? Only those with profound knowledge and achievements would dare to attend this Alchemist Summit.
Thinking over it, Yang Kai couldn’t help but frown.
“In addition to the Pill Saint’s Peak, if you want to visit any of the other peaks I can think of a way; in fact it’s not actually that difficult either.” Dong Qing Han also felt like he had lost face in front of this cousin of his; it was the first time he had asked a favour of him but the result was him ending up having no way to help so he couldn’t help being somewhat embarrassment.
“Not difficult?”
Dong Qing Han smiled, “In fact it’s quite simple, just find some valuable Precious Treasure, and then to ask a Medicine King’s Valley Elder to perform some alchemy for you, this way you can freely enter their peak; however, at most you’d only be able to stay for half a day, if you stuck around any longer, those Medicine King’s Valley people would boot you out. To say nothing of the Elders, even Medicine King’s Valley’s disciples have eyes way higher than the top of their heads, all of them are even more domineering and arrogant than you Eight Great Families’ sons.”
Yang Kai shook his head.
Only being able to enter for half a day would certainly not be long enough.
“If it’s not an urgent matter, then you should first go back and give me some time to think about if there are any other ways I can help you.” Dong Qing Han face suddenly became dignified as he wore a very serious expression, “I won’t ask what it is you want to do in the Pill Saint’s Peak, but I will say this, if you get yourself caught up in any trouble, don’t get my Dong Family involved in it.”
Listening to him say this so seriously, Yang Kai grinned, “What is it you think I’m going to do?”
“What the hell is there that you don’t dare do you little brat?” Dong Qing Han sighed deeply, “I can only help you think of a way. Even so, my ideas aren’t exactly foolproof.”
“Well, I know.” Yang Kai nodded.
Saying farewell to Dong Qing Hang, Yang Kai went back to his inn and began meditating, trying to think of a way to enter the Pill Saint’s Peak.
The meaning of Dong Qing Han’s last words to him had been quite clear, he also had no good way of allowing Yang Kai to enter the Pill Saint’s Peak, so he shouldn’t place his hopes on him.
As he was deep in thought, a knock suddenly came from his door, causing Yang Kai to wrinkle his brow, stand up and see who it was.
Looking outside, the one he found standing there was Dong Qing Yan with a shy smile on her face, “Hehe!”
She had no traces of hatred or hostility any more, just a hint of friendly curiosity.
“What are you doing here?” Yang Kai asked as he looked at her curiously.
“You really are here.” Dong Qing Yan took a deep breath and scanned the inside of his room before lightly coughing, “My brother let me come here to tell you he thought of a way to help you.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s mouth slowly revealed a strange smile, quietly stepping aside and saying, “Come inside first and we can talk.”
Completely unafraid, Dong Qing Yan casually strode into his room.
Looked around the house with great interest, Dong Qing Yan pursed his lips and said, “You live in this place you? It’s so small and dirty, it really isn’t fit for a … *keke*…”
Dong Qing Yan also knew that a Yang Family son’s identity couldn’t casually be discussed so she quickly swallowed back the words she was about to say.
“So your brother said he thought up a way?” Yang Kai looked at her with a big grin.
“En!” Dong Qing Yan nodded quickly.
“Did he tell you that himself?”
“Of course.” Dong Qing Yan’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly.
“Then why didn’t he come here to tell me personally?”
“Am I not doing just that?” Dong Qing Yan sat down on the bed, putting on her best innocent serious face, “My brother said that responsibility for this matter will solely be given to me because he has other important things to attend to outside Medicine King’s Valley, so there’s no need for you to go looking for him.”
Although Dong Qing Yan had said all this with a look of absolute confidence, how could Yang Kai believe her just like that?
“Really?” Yang Kai grinned strangely.
“Do you think I’d lie to you?” Dong Qing Yan straightened herself up and patted her chest, “Rest assured, I promise you that I can get you where you want to go!”
“Heh heh…” Yang Kai smile only became grimmer, his eyes staring at Dong Qing Yan.
Seeing this smile filled with evil and obscenity, Dong Qing Yan couldn’t help but feel a chill run up her back, quietly swallowed her breath before timidly saying, “Your laughter is scaring me.”
Yang Kai finally straightened up his face and no longer danced around the issue with her, “Tell me, how do you know about this?”
“What?” Dong Qing Yan stuttered, her expression looking quite unnatural.
“Know where I want to go.” Yang Kai squinted at her and shook her finger, “Don’t tell me that your brother told you, Dong Qing Han, would ever be so careless!”
In the Dong Family Medicine Shop, Dong Qing Han had told Dong Qing Yan to leave the room before he spoke with Yang Kai, clearly not wanting her to know Yang Kai’s true identity, so how could he decide to involve her all of a sudden?
On top of that, the two of them had spoken less than an hour ago; one hour earlier Dong Qing Han had been helpless to assist him, but now after such a short time he had suddenly come up with a way?
Then there was his little female cousin’s rapidly shifting eyes; what would be strange is if Yang Kai couldn’t see that something else going on here.
“My brother really did tell me.” Dong Qing Yan continued to insist.
Yang Kai simply laughed, reached out, grabbed Dong Qing Yan by the arm, and dragged her out.
“Wait… what are you trying to do!?” Dong Qing Yan stubbornly tried to resist, crying out in fright.
Yang Kai frowned, “You keep shouting and I’ll knock you out first!”
Dong Qing Yan quickly shut her mouth but her desperate resistance did not stop; however, with her strength being so much lower than Yang Kai’s, how could she hope to escape? In the blink of an eye she had already been dragged to the door.
“What are you going to do with me?” Dong Qing Yan whimpered towards Yang Kai.
“Take you back to Dong Qing Han, I’m certain he’s still around!”
“Don’t! I finally managed to sneak out; if you send me back I’ll be finished for sure!” Dong Qing Yan frantically begged.
Yang Kai grinned, “Then tell me, how do you know about my plans?”
“Okay, okay, okay! I’ll tell you!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai finally released her.
Dong Qing Yan glared angrily at Yang Kai as she rubbed her sore wrist and slowly fixed her disordered clothes before sitting herself back down on the bed.
“Remember, if you dare lie to me, I’ll immediately send you back to your brother.” Yang Kai declared.
“I eavesdropped on your conversation.” Dong Qing Yan admitted as she shyly glanced at Yang Kai, but upon seeing his expression darken, she quickly added, “I’m not lying to you, I really did overhear you while I was eavesdropping.”
Yang Kai smirked, “How did you manage that? You’re only a Peak Separation and Reunion cultivator, how could you avoid the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards’ Divine Senses?”
When he was talking to Dong Qing Han, the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards had constantly been monitoring the nearby surroundings, so if Dong Qing Yan was really eavesdropping, she would certainly have been caught by those two old men.
“Naturally I have my ways.” Dong Qing Yan said with a triumphant look on her face as she sat on the edge of the bed, her two legs dangling back and forth.
Seeing the look of distrust on Yang Kai’s face, Dong Qing Yan was quite unhappy, “I am the Dong Family’s Young Lady; how could I not have one or two self-defense artifacts … ugh…”
“Artifact?” Yang Kai’s brow slightly lifted, his face showing a look of surprise, what kind of artifact could allow someone to hide from and Immortal Ascension master’s Divine Sense? Not to mention the cultivation of the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards was no doubt around the top of the Immortal Ascension Boundary, probably around the seventh or eighth stage; being able to deceive them, the power of this artifact was really not small.
Noticing that she had leaked something she shouldn’t, Dong Qing Yan looked cautiously towards Yang Kai and whispered, “I’ll show it to you if you promise not to take it from me.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai was suddenly dumbstruck, but still silently nodded; after all, he was indeed quite curious about this so-called artifact.
Seeing him promise, Dong Qing Yan carefully removed the piece of ancient jade from her sleeve.
Yang Kai carefully examined this dark yellow piece of ancient jade color. At first it seemed to be a natural piece of jade, but there were some jagged lines on its surface which had clearly been engraved by someone.
When Dong Qi Yan channeled her Yuan Qi into it, Yang Kai was stunned to discover that all traces of her aura had instantly disappeared.
Dong Qing Yan quickly said, “Since you haven’t yet reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary and gained the use of your Divine Sense, you wouldn’t understand just how amazing this artifact is, but I really did not lie to you. I used this to hide myself from those two old men.”
As she was speaking, Yang Kai had used his Divine Sense to examine the area where she was sitting and found that, just as she had said, his Divine Sense passed right through her, finding nothing unusual, if had closed his eyes, it wouldn’t been like no one was ever there.
This artifact was definitely not ordinary!
“Put it away, and don’t ever expose it to strangers,” Yang Kai said seriously.
Dong Qing Yan giggled happily, “Of course I won’t do that, I’m not a fool!”
As she spoke she carefully stored the ancient jade.
“So, how much did you hear?” Yang Kai asked with a grin.
“Probably… almost all of it.” Dong Qing Yan stuck out her tongue.
“How much did you understand?”
“I know you want to go to the Pill Saint’s Peak; I also know… you really are my cousin…” Dong Qing Yan was also shocked; something she had shouted out randomly had turned out to be true.
“Earlier you said there was a way for me to get close to my goal, was that true?”
“Of course it’s true.” Dong Qing Yan nodded, her eyes suddenly flashing a mischievous light, “But now I don’t feel like telling you.”
Yang Kai suddenly understood, “You have conditions? Fine, name it!”
“Don’t let my brother catch me!” Dong Qing Yan quickly said.
Yang Kai frowned, he had long ago seen that this girl had snuck out of her home; Dong Qing Han appearing in Medicine King’s Valley was also probably because he had been chasing after her. Although he was technically related to her, in the end, this was a Dong Family internal matter, was it really a good idea for him to make a decision on his own?
A few days ago she was being chased by a group of evil thugs, if anything were to actually happen to her, would the Dong Family simply let it go?
“Cousin…” Seeing him pondering over things, Dong Qing Yan quickly put on a pitiful expression, lightly gripping Yang Kai’s arm as she pleaded, “It’s so suffocating and boring at home, I just wanted to go out for a walk. After a few days of playing outside I’ll go back, so don’t tell them, please?”
Yang Kai remained silent.
Seeing that pleading alone wasn’t enough, Dong Qing Yan decided to use her last straw, “If you don’t help me, I… I’ll tell everyone that you’re a son of Yang Family, and then we’ll see what happens to you!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help rubbing his forehead as he felt a headache coming on.
If someone else had threatened him like this, he would have immediately killed them, but obviously he couldn’t do that to his little cousin in front of him.
After thinking for a while, Yang Kai finally said, “I’m going to tell Dong Qing Han that you’re here.”
The Dong Family’s Young Lady immediately jumped up and started cursing, “You heartless meanie! Smelly cousin, I hate you!”
“Let me finish!” Yang Kai stared at her, “Even though I’m going to tell your brother, I’ll also let you stay here if you don’t make trouble for me.”
“Deal!” Dong Qing Yan head bobbed up and down like a chick pecking rice. “I promise you I’ll be good!”
Shaking his head helplessly, Yang Kai began preparing a letter.
Meanwhile, at the Dong Family Medicine Shop, Dong Qing Han was furious, “She escaped? How could that be? Did all of you grow up eating nothing but shit!? Even with so many 0f you on guard, in the blink of an eye she just vanished?”
In front of him were several Dong Family disciples with their heads bowed down like whipped dogs; all of them silent, wanting to cry but unable to shed tears.
[There’s no helping it, with only our strength, in the ultra crowded Medicine King’s Valley town, and with the Young Lady’s mysterious methods, as soon as she slips into the crowd she can basically disappear. What else could we do?]
Although all of them were thinking so, none of them dared to say anything.
“What are you all still standing around stunned for, each and every one of you is worthless, get out there quickly and start looking, if you can’t find the Young Lady then don’t come back, just find some back alley and chop yourselves up to feed the dogs, useless idiots!” Dong Qing Han roared angrily.
The group of disciples, having suddenly been granted amnesty, hurriedly scattered like frightened birds and animals, silently muttering in their hearts, [You damn little girl, come back quickly or we’ll all end up dead].
“Young Master, inside the Medicine King’s Valley, fighting is strictly prohibited. The Young Lady won’t be in any danger so you shouldn’t worry too much. Maybe after a little while she’ll come back on her own.” One of the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards said.
“I’m afraid she might leave the valley.” Dong Qing Han said helplessly, “That little girl is simply too ignorant of the ways of the world, she just experienced a major crisis but she’s already forgotten about it and run off again!”
A look of anguish and regret filled his face.
The two old men glanced at each other, but in the end said nothing more.
As he was stewing in annoyance, a servant arrived at the doors, bowed, and asked, “Who is the Dong Family’s son?”
Dong Qing Han quickly replied, “I am!”
“Greetings Young Master Dong,” the servant said in a flattering tone, “A young gentleman instructed me to deliver a letter to you.”
Dong Qing Han’s face filled with surprise, “Where is it?”
The servant swiftly handed over a letter.
Quickly opening and reading through it, Dong Qing Han finally put down the boulder weighing on his heart.
Signaling towards the Wind and Cloud Dual Guards, one of them came up and gave the servant a few silvers before sending him on his way. Looking back and seeing his Young Master’s brow unwrinkled, he couldn’t help but ask, “Have we found the Young Lady’s whereabouts?”
Rubbing his sore forehead, Dong Qing Han let out a deep sigh and whispered, “Indeed, she went to Yang Kai’s place.”
“He just wrote me to say there’s no need to worry.”
Back at the inn, Yang Kai opened up a room for Dong Qing Yan next door to him. This thoughtful arrangement greatly increased the Dong Family Young Lady’s impression of him, “Cousin is the best!”
On the second day, when Dong Qing Han came over to visit, Yang Kai briefly explained his situation again as she smiled back at him impishly; with Dong Qing Yan threatening him so, he didn’t dare try to force things, if his identity as a direct descendant of the Yang Family was exposed it would be no joke.
Stuck in this situation he could only go along with his little cousin’s whims.
Time flew by, and soon seven or eight days had passed.
During these days, Yang Kai spent most of his time cultivating. Although Medicine King’s Valley town had many cultivators, the Heaven and Earth aura was quite abundant, so it was still considered a good place to cultivate.
From time to time, Dong Qing Yan would drag him out play, and after a few days Yang Kai surprisingly found that this little cousin of his was actually an Alchemist, even if her grade was not high, just a novice Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.
She was the Dong Family’s first Young Lady, from small to large the family had spent a huge amount of effort and resources to cultivate her, whatever pill she wanted she could directly acquire it, so why would she need to learn Alchemy? Therefore, even if she showed a strong interest in Alchemy, she still had very little practical experience.
Now that she had come to Medicine King’s Valley, it was like directly ascending to Heaven, where everything around fascinated and amazed her.
Early one morning, Yang Kai’s door was knocked on and Dong Qing Yan excitedly rushed in, coming right up to him, “Cou…”
“What Cou?” Yang Kai stared at her and flicked her forehead.
Dong Qing Yan spat out her tongue, hastily straightened herself up like a noble lady, and commanded, “Escort Yang, accompany this Young Lady out for a trip!”
In the end, she was still the Dong Family’s first Young Lady. The Dong Family and Yang Family were in-laws, so if someone heard Dong Qing Yan call out Yang Kai’s name, they would certainly be able to guess Yang Kai identity.
So after some discussion, the two decided that Yang Kai would play the role of Dong Qing Yan’s guard.
Great Young Ladies who went out traveling would always have a few guards and servants around, so this identity was reasonable.
Looking outside for a moment, Yang Kai lightly refused, “You can go play, I won’t be accompanying you today!”
But Dong Qing Yan was not deterred and instead just le out a giggle, “Escort Yang, do you not want to enter that place anymore?”
Yang Kai’s expression instantly changed.
“Is today the day?”
These past few days, Yang Kai had constantly been asking her just how she planned to let him approach the Pill Saint’s Peak, but Dong Qing Yan had always refused to elaborate, saying that the time had not yet come, until today, which allowed Yang Kai to finally see a ray of hope.
“Do you want to go out with this Young Lady now?” Dong Qing Yan said with a haughty look of triumph on her face.
Yang Kai quickly stopped cultivating and got down from his bed.
In the town, Dong Qing Yan darted back and forth inside the crowds like a fish agilely swimming through a stream as Yang Kai, dressed up as a guard, carried various items in his hands. His expression was completely blank, as he quietly followed closely behind her.
Anyone who saw him would naturally assume he was Dong Qing Yan’s attendant.
Arriving at the eastern part of town, Dong Kai Yan’s cute little face flushed with excitement. Yang Kai could even hear the sound of her heartbeat coming from within her chest as she took a deep breath and clutched her hands in front of her, only managing to calm herself after a long time.
Looking around, Yang Kai discovered that there was a big crowd gathered here, and many of these people’s chests were embroidered with a kind of unique flower badge. Each of them had one, two or, three petals and were gold, silver, or white in colour.
These people, all of them were Alchemists.
Earth Grade Mid to Top-Rank Alchemists were the majority, but there were also many at the Common Grade. All together at least two hundred of them had gathered, creating an extremely bustling atmosphere.
At some point Dong Qing Yan had also taken out a rusty ornament, a single petal silver flower, and proudly pinned it onto her chest, as if she wanted to let everyone here know she was also a Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai whispered, faintly feeling something was not quite right.
“Just wait! Whether you can go to the place you want to will depend on what happens next.” Dong Qing Yan responded softly. Her cute face for once was filled with seriousness.
Yang Kai frowned. Closing his eyes he released his Divine Sense and began listening to the nearby Alchemists talk.
After a moment, his expression became awkward.
The reason these people had come from all corners of the world and gathered here was actually in order to worship Medicine King’s Valley’s Hidden Cloud Peak Elder Xiao Fu Sheng as disciples and study the secrets of his Alchemy techniques.
Yang Kai opened his eyes and looked towards Dong Qing Yan, asking, “Did you come here to become a disciple?”
Dong Qing Yan smiled, “Of course, Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple recruitment is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The reason I escaped from home at this time was precisely for this reason!”
As she said this, Dong Qing Yan looked piteously towards Yang Kai, “Escort Yang, you’re not going to go tell my brother are you?”
“I just want to know what relationship this has with my goal.”
“Hidden Cloud Peak is not far from your objective, if you can enter there…” Dong Qing Yan quietly implied.
Listening to this, Yang Kai’s brow twitched. Indeed, if he could enter Hidden Cloud Peak, then maybe he could find an to enter the Pill Saint’s peak, after all, the two peaks were only separated by two small hills.
“But I don’t understand Alchemy.”
Dong Qing Yan chuckled, “Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple recruitment notice clearly stated that even if you do not understand Alchemy, you would still have a chance. The only thing that matter is if you have the appropriate aptitude.”
“Mr. Yang…” Dong Qing Yan lightly clutched Yang Kai’s arm, “Since I’ve thought so much about you your situation, please don’t go tell my brother about this. Besides, if I can successfully worship Grandmaster Xiao as my master, it will be a great honor for the family, and even if father learns about it after, he will only praise me, so don’t do any thankless things.”
Yang Kai lightly said, “If you can succeed I’ll have nothing to say.”
“I’m sure I can.” Dong Qing Yan said, full of confidence. “For this day, I have done a lot of preparation. The only thing I’m uncertain about is if you can come too.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai could only shake his head secretly.
He had not thought the method Dong Qing Yan spoke about was actually this. And although this method was good, Yang Kai was not at all confident. After all, he had never even touched the subject Alchemy, so how could he pass a test created by this Grandmaster Xiao?”
But now that it had come to this, he could only grit his teeth and try. In any case, it was not like he had anything to lose.
As time passed, more and more Alchemists gathered. Each and every one of them were filled with anticipation, and similarly to Dong Qing Yan, their faces were filled with tension and expectation. Some of them even had expressions of reverence and worship.
It could easily be seen just how highly these people regarded the chance to worship Hidden Cloud Peak’s Xiao Fu Sheng as their master.
As Yang Kai listened to the surrounding conversations, he learned a great deal of things.
Xiao Fu Sheng was actually the most prestigious figure in all of Medicine King’s Valley. His achievements in the field of Alchemy were even greater than the current Valley Lord of Medicine King’s Valley. He was also one of the only Mysterious Grade High-Rank Alchemists in the entire world.
Above Mysterious Grade was Spirit Grade, a height which had never once before been reached.
Xiao Fu Sheng was a man obsessed with Alchemy, and although he occupied a Medicine King’s Valley peak, he had never accepted any disciples nor did he have a wife or children. His entire life had been dedicated to the pursuit of the Alchemic Path.
Within the Alchemist community, Xiao Fu Sheng held a position of unparalleled respect.
A few months ago, when word came out from Medicine King’s Valley that Grandmaster Xiao was going to recruit disciples, the entire world shook. Countless Alchemists began frantically rushing over. Each of them wanted to worship him as their master and inherit his mantle.
Both the Eight Great Families and the First-Class Sects also wanted to send their own prized Alchemists to attend, but they were all rejected by Master Xiao.
Finally today, in Medicine King’s Valley town, a unique test designed by Master Xiao himself would be held, and anyone who managed to pass would be granted the right to become a disciple of the Hidden Cloud Peak.
Grandmaster Xiao was not concerned with the background of his would-be disciples. No matter where you come from or from what kind of force, as long as you possessed the required aptitude, you would be allowed learn his Alchemic knowledge.
The only condition was that you could not be more than twenty years old.
So the Alchemist who had gathered here were all from the younger generation. Some of those who came, in order to apprentice in Hidden Cloud Peak, were even prepared to forego attending the upcoming Alchemy Conference.
Time continued to pass by.
While standing behind Dong Qing Yan, Yang Kai also continued monitoring the surroundings and secretly observed if anything was happening.
After a very long wait, a commotion suddenly arose from the crowd. The Medicine King’s Valley disciples had finally appeared.
These Medicine King’s Valley disciples were not direct disciples of Grandmaster Xiao, but were instead Alchemists from other Peaks who had been commissioned to handle the administration of today’s test.
Not far away, a platform had been set up in advance. It was around this more than ten meter long stage that all the Alchemists who had come to attend today’s test gathered.
Four Medicine King’s Valley disciples slowly made their way towards this high platform, headed by a middle-aged man walking forward in a proud and aloof manner. His chest was embroidered with a three petal golden flower, and his face was adorned with a serious expression, not disturbed in the slightest by the surrounding crowd, and his hands held a large pot of pills. A burst of noise suddenly erupted within the crowd.
“It’s Medicine King’s Valley’s Qin Ze, he’s only thirty five years old but has already become a Heaven Grade Top-Rank Alchemist!”
“He is the genius of this generation’s Medicine King’s Valley disciples; I heard he was even likely to become the next Valley Lord.”
“Shh, be quiet…”
Qin Ze soon boarded the high platform and placed the large pot of pills onto a table. The three other Medical King’s Valley disciples also came to a stop behind him.
Sweeping his eyes over the crowd, Qin Ze cupped his fists said, “Gentlemen, for Uncle Xiao’s disciple recruitment test, this Qin Ze will be your invigilator!”
The great importance placed upon Alchemists wherever they went caused all of them to have eyes on top of their head’s, coupled with them perennially being in retreat to study and perform alchemy resulted in many of them not understanding the subtleties of social etiquettes, such as bothering to greet other people.
As an Alchemist genius, this Qin Ze’s arrogant and detached demeanor was even more pronounced
After saying a few words, he simply turned around and removed the lid of the giant pot, allowing a strange medicinal fragrance to immediately spread out. As everyone present took a sniff of this aroma, each of them felt their spirits lurch.
“The test is very simple! These pills here are something my Uncle Xiao personally refined for today. Anyone who wants to become a disciple of Hidden Cloud Peak must swallow one of these pills and completely refine its medicinal effects. If you can do so, you will have passed the test. You may begin!”
Apparently finished, Qin Ze moved aside and allowed the three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples to step forward. Each of them watched the crowd with arrogant and indifferent eyes.
Of the hundreds of people gathered, no one dared to step forward and become the first to try.
Although what Qin Ze had said was indeed quite straightforward, everyone here understood that the test to become Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple would by no means be simple. Everyone now wanted someone else to go up first so they could observe. Who here wanted to become someone else’s stepping stone?
The Medicine King’s Valley disciples weren’t anxious, each of them just stood idly on the platform quietly waiting.
After a long period of time, someone finally gathered their courage and asked, “May I ask, what kind of pill is this?”
One of the Medicine King’s Valley disciples immediately sneered, “A poison pill!”
The crowd immediately went into an uproar.
Although they all expected Grandmaster Xiao’s test would not be easy to pass, this test was simply too different from the crowd’s expectations, wanting each of them to come up and willingly swallow a poison pill, how could this be considered a test? Everyone only had one life, and if they were to fail this test, this would be their burial place. How could such a thing be worth their while?
However, Qin Ze lightly said, “Although it is a poison pill, swallowing it is not fatal! But if your aptitude is not high enough to resolve its effects, you’ll be sick for three to five months at least.
Hearing that this pill was not fatal, many people’s nerves suddenly calmed. In the end, Grandmaster Xiao was still a renowned master; naturally he wouldn’t maliciously target their lives.
In front of this big pot of poison pills, the only ones who were likely to quit were those who had casually come here to fish in troubled waters.
But of those gathered, which one was not completely confidant in his or her own abilities? After a short while, someone finally jumped up onto the high platform and shouted, “I’ll go first!”
“Me too!”
With someone taking the lead, a lot of people were suddenly also willing to come up and try.
*Shua Shua Shua* Shortly after, more than a dozen people had come forward.
“Go ahead!” The Medicine King’s Valley disciples nodded.
Each of the dozen or so people who had come up walked over the pot, took out a pill, and placed it into their mouth.
“Please refine it completely!”
These dozen or so people who had swallowed the poison pill quickly sat cross-legged and began circulating their various Secret Arts.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of people in the audience stared towards them and carefully observed. Each of them hoped to gain even the slightest of insights that may help them pass this test.
After just ten breaths of time, one of the Alchemists who had taken the poison pill had their face go pale, and soon after his whole body also began to tremble and cold sweat appeared his forehead.
Gasps arose from within the audience. None of them had expected this poison pill Grandmaster Xiao had refined to be so potent.
As these gasps continued, three puffing sounds suddenly rang out from the stage, and soon a bizarre stench began wafting through the air.
It was that struggling Alchemist on stage inadvertently releasing several loud farts.
A lot of people who were standing close to the platform were caught unaware and inhaled a big mouthful of this stench, which almost caused them to vomit on the spot. All of them showed expressions filled with disgust.
The Alchemist’s pale face immediately turned bright red, not from the effects of the pill, but from the stench.
Under the watchful eyes of his peers, suddenly releasing three farts, such a result was obvious.
Seeing countless members of the crowd gazing towards him with looks of both pity and disdain, the Alchemist, who was now thoroughly embarrassed, hastily stood up, jumped from the high platform, panicked and fled like a stray dog.
“Hmph, having no ability yet wanting to participate in Grandmaster Xiao’s test, Truly overconfident!”
“You will bring shame to your grandmother! You might as well go back home now.”
“Which Alchemist was that? How is he going to live in the future?”
With the constant mockery stabbing into his back like thorns, this youth did not dare to stick around, and in the blink of an eye disappeared into the crowd.
The crowd had not yet recovered from this farce when from the high-profile two “thud” sounds suddenly came. As everyone turned back to look at what had happened, their eyes were greeted with the sight of two Alchemists who had swallowed the poison pills completely slumped over. Their eyes were unfocused, but they still maintained a posture of meditation, yet they were clearly unconscious.
The three Medicine King’s Valley young disciples only spared these two a single glance before coldly snorting, walking over, and kicking them down off the platform.
Their attitude was extremely arrogant and overbearing. It was like they were kicking aside two pieces of trash rather than people.
However, no one dared raise an objection. Prior to the test beginning, everyone had been clearly told that this was a poison pill refined personally by Grandmaster Xiao. If one was going to try participate they would have to be psychological prepared to be poisoned.
“They’re not dead!” Someone called out after going up and checking the breath of the two Alchemists who had failed, but it was also true that neither of them were moving and would not wake up no matter how much they were yelled or prodded at.
“It’s hot!” One of the remaining Alchemists on the platform suddenly cried out, every last piece of his exposed skin showing a blood red sheen, exuding a scorching heat. As steam began rising from his head, as he viciously tore at his clothes until his entire upper body was exposed. However, it seemed he was so hot he did not realize he was already half naked and kept clawing at his chest.
Dong Qing Yan’s pretty face flushed as she quickly covered her eyes.
A few cultivators soon jumped up onto the platform and dragged this suffering man down. These cultivators were likely from the same Family or Sect as this Alchemist and did not want to see him shame himself.
After less than thirty breaths of time, the first group of Alchemists to take this poison pill test was annihilated!
Everyone here had watched these unfortunate souls go through a strange and tragic myriad of poisoning symptoms, but this not dampen these Alchemists’ determination to enter Hidden Cloud Peak; in fact, it only further increased their enthusiasm.
These poison pills that Xiao Fu Sheng had refined were clearly all the same type of pill, but they could actually produce a wide variety of different effects. There was no doubt he was truly an amazing master.
Because of this, the group of Alchemists here could only randomly guess how they should refine Grandmaster Xiao’s poison pill.
As soon as this first group of people came or were forced down, *Shua Shua Shua*, thirty more went up.
As time passed, those who went up were continuously poisoned, falling unconscious, and embarrassing themselves. In the end, after more than two hundred of those gathered went up not a single one managed to pass Grandmaster Xiao’s test.
The whole test site was surrounded by gloomy atmosphere.
Amongst the latest group of Alchemists to go up and be poisoned, one of them that had his entire body go stiff as stone yet remain conscious cried out, “I’m not satisfied, I’m not convinced! How can just a single refining a puny poison pill measure my extraordinary aptitude? I demand to visit Hidden Cloud Peak and speak directly with Grandmaster Xiao, Grandmaster Xiao, please give this junior a chance!”
“Kick him down!” Qin Ze coldly replied.
One of the three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples walked over in front of this youth and coldly booted him off the stage.
However, despite being already kicked off the stage, the young Alchemst kept shouting, “Grandmaster Xiao, I am worthy to inherit your mantle, please give this junior a chance!”
“These people have gone crazy.” Yang Kai looked around and shook his head.
Dong Qing Yan quietly whispered, “It’s because you don’t understand just how prestigious Grandmaster Xiao’s position in the Alchemist community is that you can say that. Just look at that guy, even though he’s behaving so ugly and disgracefully, is anyone here ridiculing him?”
Hearing this, Yang Kai glanced around and found that there really was no one who was ridiculing him; most people were simply indifferent while the others wore looks of sympathy.
“Grandmaster Xiao in the eyes of us Alchemists is a supreme existence, and in order to worship him as a master, who would care about eating bitterness and losing face?” Dong Qing Yan said as she bit her lip, her face was filled with a mix of of tension and anticipation.
“Are you sure you want to go up and take that poison pill?” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “You’ve also seen those people’s reactions; just passing out and falling to the ground could be considered lucky, if you fail the test and you rip off all of your clothes in the process…”
Dong Qing Yan’s pretty face suddenly went pale.
“Well, there are a lot of young people gathered here. I think many of them would be happy to see that scene. Heh, the Dong Family’s Young Lady stripping off all her clothes, it’d make for a great after-dinner conversation.”
“That’s unlikely …”
“Even so, if you were to publicly put out a few farts…”
“Don’t say it!” Dong Qing Yan beautiful face contorted.
No matter which of these ugly performances it was, it was not something this little girl could accept. Were she to embarrass herself in front of all these people, it would undoubtedly become a permanent shadow that loomed over her life, and once it happened, she would never be able to raise her head in public again.
Turning a firm gaze towards Yang Kai, Dong Qing Yan gripped her little fists, “I know you’re trying to scare me so that I’ll go back to my brother, but even seeing everything that’s happened I still want to try this test. I prepared so much just for this single opportunity, and now that I’m here, how could I just give up so easily and go home?”
Pausing here for a moment, her voice gradually becoming a whisper and her face blushed a bright red, “If things really turn out like you said… please take me away quickly…”
Yang Kai slightly shook his head, seeing his little cousin’s determined expression. He knew that no matter how he discouraged her it would be to no avail.
All of a sudden a burst of noise rose up from the crowd, “An Earth Grade Top-Rank Alchemist! Isn’t he the genius Alchemist the Wang Family has been raising, Wang Qi Ren? He also came?”
“If he tries, maybe he really can pass Grandmaster Xiao’s test.”
“Good, we’ll finally get to see something interesting.”
“Look there, that Earth Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, he’s the young talent from the Xiong Family.”
“And him, another Earth Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist from the Chang Family.”
“The Alchemists from the various Great Families are finally coming out; this will be a good show.”
This group of young Alchemists were actually those who had been cultivated by the various Great Families. Each of them had come here hoping to inherit Xiao Fu Sheng’s mantle.
Up till now, the people who had gone up were just Alchemists from smaller unknown forces, so being unable to pass was actually to be expected. But now seeing these people about to try, many in the crowd became excited.
The crowd quickly became abuzz with noise, and as this sound drifted over to the ears of these ten or so Earth Grade Top-Rank Alchemists, their expressions couldn’t help but become slightly proud.
However, each of them maintained proper etiquette and calmly boarded the platform and then first paid their respects to Qin Ze one by one before walking over to the poison pill pot.
“After you, Brother Wang. Among us, only Brother Wang has managed to reach the Earth Grade Top-Rank, naturally you should be first.” The Chang Family’s young Alchemist said with a smile on his face, as he opened up the way. The others on stage also followed suit.
Wang Qi Ren smiled, cupped his fists, and said, “Many thanks, then this Wang will partake.”
Finished speaking, he turned and faced towards Hidden Cloud Peak and bowed before reaching out, taking a poison pill, tossing it into his mouth, and then sitting down nearby to begin refining it.
From his gestures, he was clearly extremely confident about passing this test, otherwise he would not have rushed to pay respects to Hidden Cloud Peak.
After all, that was Xiao Fu Sheng’s peak.
The three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples couldn’t help laughing to themselves.
So what if he was an Earth Grade Top-Rank Alchemist? In front of Uncle Xiao’s personally refined poison pill, even if it was a Heaven Grade Alchemist, if his aptitude was not good enough the end result would be the same.
[This Wang Qi Ren really thinks too highly of himself!] The three young disciples exchanged a glance and secretly sneered as they waited to see this Wang Qi Ren make a fool of himself.
A moment later, all the young Alchemists who had gone up this round had taken one of the poison pills and found a place to sit down.
As the youths onstage began refining these pills, the members of the audience down below all held their breaths. One by one they stretched their necks to get a better look, many of them felt even tenser than when it had been their turn.
These young Alchemists were indeed talents cultivated by great forces, and each of them had outstanding achievements and aptitude. Before now, those who had gone up had at best managed to last half a cup of tea’s worth of time.
But it was a full cup of tea’s time before the first one in this group showed a reaction.
The first to be eliminated was an Earth Grade Low-Rank Alchemist who suddenly began foaming at the mouth.
Soon after someone on the high platform let out a few loud farting sounds.
One after another, these great forces’ Alchemists gradually failed. This result left everyone in the crowd stunned.
None of the crowd gathered here thought these young talents weren’t worthy of their names, but instead they all felt that Grandmaster Xiao’s recruitment test was far more difficult than they had imagined.
After a stick of incense, Wang Qi Ren was the only one left on the platform. Everyone else had already made a sad exit.
Countless people felt their chests tighten. If Wang Qi Ren couldn’t pass this test, they really didn’t know if anyone amongst them could.
A moment later, Wang Qi Ren suddenly began to tremble and a whiff of black gas began to emerge from his eyebrows.
Seeing this, Qin Ze, who had been sitting there like a stone statue ever since the tests had begun, suddenly sat up, and his eyes flashed a faint light as he began to carefully observe Wang Qi Ren’s situation.
As time passed by slowly, the whiff of black gas became more and more obvious as it further condensed.
Suddenly, the black gas disappeared without a trace, and at the same time, Wang Qi Ren loudly coughed and vomited out a mouthful of black blood!
Cries quickly rang out from the crowd below. Wang Qi Ren’s reaction was the first of its kind during this test, so no one knew whether it was a sign he had passed or failed.
A few cultivators from the Wang Family immediately jumped up on stage and hurriedly came over to support Wang Qi Ren.
However, Wang Qi Ren waved his hand at them, and after struggling a bit, managed to stand on his own before turning towards Qin Ze with a trace of expectation on his face.
But to his disappointment, Qin Ze shook his head and sighed, “Failed!”
Wang Qi Ren’s expression suddenly went dark, but he did not give up, cupping his fists and asking, “May I ask respected senior, how can we pass this test?”
Qin Ze could see that this question was purely driven by alchemic curiosity, so he still patiently explained, “In fact, you were just one step away from passing, but unfortunately… you fell short!”
“Junior thanks Senior for his guidance!” Wang Qi Ren wore a wry smile and thanked Qin Ze before jumping down the platform along with his family Disciples.
Once again, everyone was annihilated.
Even the young genius Alchemist Wang Qi Ren had failed to pass Grandmaster Xiao’s test. This result was completely beyond everyone’s expectations.
After Wang Qi Ren left the high platform, for quite a while, no one dared to go up on stage.
With even these great family talents having failed, no one was confident that they could make it through Grandmaster Xiao’s test, and were afraid that going up would simply be disgracing themselves.
The Medicine King’s Valley disciples from beginning to end were not impatient, all of them simply stood around waiting.
When he glanced over at Dong Qing Yan, Yang Kai found her constantly clenching and releasing her two little hands, clearly very tense, yet her face still showed an eager expression even if it was mixed with a bit of unease.
An Earth Grade Top-Rank Alchemist had just failed, could she, a Common Grade Mid-Rank succeed?
“Sometimes, missing a single opportunity will be someone’s lifelong regret!” Yang Kai faintly whispered.
Hearing this, Dong Qing Yan’s tender body trembled. Turning to look at Yang Kai, her eyes flashed a thoughtful light before immediately became resolute; inhaling a deep breath, she declared, “En!”
Yang Kai smiled and, together with Dong Qing Yan, jumped up onto the platform.
Seeing someone still dare to take the stage, a round of voices suddenly stirred below, shouting a few words of encouragement, which caused Dong Qing Yan to smile shyly.
However in the next instant, these people noticed the ornament which was pinned to her chest.
“She’s just a Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist…”
“Her level is so low; she’s probably just another fool.”
“Poor little girl, even if she is a fool, how will she be able to show her face after this?
…
Listening to these words, Dong Qing Yan bit down on her lip and remained silent.
The three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples, however, still smiled at her. It seems that beautiful women were able to win favour no matter where they went.
“Young lady, if you please!”
Dong Qing Yan nodded gently, took a deep breath, and walked over to the pot. Pulling out a poison pill, she glanced back once at Yang Kai, silently consulting him.
Yang Kai nodded lightly and said, “Rest assured, I’ll observe you first.”
If Dong Qing Yan failed to pass the test, he would have to immediately bring her away. There was no way he could really allow her to disgrace herself in front of this crowd.
In addition, to the Medicine King’s Valley disciples, there were only Dong Qing Yan and Yang Kai on stage now, and since Yang Kai was dressed up as her escort, the Medicine King’s Valley disciples did not immediately ask him to leave.
Dong Qing Yan took a deep breath, put the poison pill into her mouth, and nervously swallowed it before immediately sitting cross-legged and running her Secret Art to refine the pill.
Yang Kai crossed his arms and stood nearby, straight as a javelin, vigilantly observing Dong Qing Yan’s every movement.
Half a cup of tea’s time later, she showed no reaction.
A full cup of tea’s time passed, yet she still did not show any symptoms.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but squint and secretly use his Divine Sense to sweep over Dong Qing Yan. He quickly discovered that the Yuan Qi in her body was now rapidly circulating and burning away some kind of debris in her meridians.
These pieces of debris should be the toxins that had been in the poison pill.
“Hey, this girl is pretty good; she’s managed to last for this long!” Someone in the crowd below suddenly called out in surprise.
Of the few hundred or so people who had taken this test already, in addition to a few of those Alchemists cultivated by Great Families, very few people had persisted for this long, and it wasn’t like no Common Grade Alchemists had come up before. It was just that them lasting more than ten breaths was already considered good, but Dong Qing Yan’s performance now had caused everyone to sit up and take notice.
“How did she do it? She’s definitely another Alchemy genius, possibly even greater than Wang Qi Ren.”
“I know her; she’s the Dong Family’s Young Lady Dong Qing Yan!”
“What, the Dong Family’s Young Lady?”
As everyone was chattering, a ray of black gas emerged from Dong Qing Yan’s brow and quickly became thick. Immediately after, this black gas disappeared back into her body and Dong Qing Yan quickly opened her mouth and spat out a visibly black breath.
At the end of this breath, Dong Qing Yan slowly opened her big round eyes.
For the first time, Qin Ze stood up from his chair, his face bursting into a big smile, repeatedly praising, “Good, good! Finally, someone managed to pass Uncle Xiao’s test!”
[Passed?]
Hundreds of people suddenly went silent, almost unable to believe their ears.
From the beginning until now, more than three hundred Alchemists from numerous forces, hailing from all over the world had come up and taken this test. Many of them had exceptional aptitude and were considered geniuses. Even Earth Grade Top-Rank Alchemists had appeared, yet all of them had eventually failed.
But now, a Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist had managed to pass? What kind of profound and mysterious ability did she use to do it?
Even Dong Qing Yan was also stunned stupid, blinking her big eyes blankly while staring at Qin Ze.
Yang Kai lightly coughed and said, “Young Lady, this Senior just said you have passed the Grandmaster’s test.”
“Uh… huh?” Dong Qing Yan still seemed like she hadn’t recovered.
Qin Ze’s previously cold and solemn look had now changed to a warm and friendly smile as he once again said, “Little girl, congratulations! You have passed this test! From now on, you are my Uncle, Xiao Fu Sheng’s, disciple! Wait… this Qin should be calling you Junior Sister now!”
After this third explanation, Dong Qing Yan finally reacted.
Suddenly jumping high up into the sky, crying out and weeping with elation, her hands clutched her face as her eyes immediately became red.
This happiness had befallen her all too suddenly, and she was clearly caught unprepared.
Helplessly puttering about for a long time, unable to find any words to say, Dong Qing Yan simply continued to shed tears of joy.
Only after she carried on like this for quite some time did she managed to barely compose herself and reply, “Yan’er greets Senior Brother Qin!”
To this silly little girl, Qin Ze laughed heartily, “Junior Sister is too polite! Uncle Xiao accepting you as his disciple is a blessing for our Medicine King’s Valley.”
As these two exchanged greetings, the atmosphere between them immediately became harmonious, which caused the crowd gathered below to wear looks of pure shock.
When had any of them ever seen Qin Ze of Medicine King’s Valley acting so friendly? Every time someone found him to perform Alchemy for them, he would have an extremely ugly expression on his face, as though they all owed him something.
But now, this fellow was laughing so hard every one of his teeth was exposed.
It wasn’t like he was somehow incapable of laughing with others. It was simply that before now he had never placed anyone else in his eyes.
“Now that Junior Sister has passed Uncle Xiao’s test, you will be immediately counted as one of our Medicine King’s Valley’s disciple, if you have no other matters to settle first, you can accompany me into Medicine King’s Valley, if there is something you wish to deal with beforehand, please inform me now.” Qin Ze said as he laughed happily.
Dong Qing Yan simply nodded. About her joining Medicine King’s Valley, she obviously had to inform the Dong Family, but after things had progressed to this step, she firmly believed that her brother would no longer try to stop her.
Her becoming a Medicine King’s Valley disciple would also bring a lot of face to the Dong Family. It was quite simple actually, no matter which force it was, as long as they belonged to this world, they would desire a good relationship with Medicine King’s Valley, and now the Dong Family’s Young Lady was the Medicine King’s Valley Grandmaster Xiao’s direct disciple. It was simply an incomparable position.
“Senior Brother, Yan’er’s guardian would also like to try.” Dong Qing Yan looked towards Yang Kai and said.
“Guardian?” Qin Ze frowned, having written Yang Kai off as a simple escort before, although he did not openly show disgust, the look of disdain in his eyes was quite obvious.
“Yan’er’s guardian has been protecting her since she was just a child, so…”
Qin Ze suddenly looked at her wryly, apparently misunderstanding that his new Junior Sister had a forbidden love for this ‘guardian’ of hers.
Without digging any deeper into it, he simply nodded and said, “Since he would like to try, then so be it, in any case, there are still a lot of Uncle Xiao’s poison pills remaining.”
Having already agreed, Qin Ze casually asked, “What level of Alchemist is he?”
At this question, Dong Qing Yan blushed even harder and said, “He’s not an Alchemist…”
“Not an Alchemist?”
“…” Qin Ze’s expression suddenly turned sour, sternly objecting, “If he has never performed Alchemy before why does he want to try now? Does he looking down on Alchemy as if it’s some kind of trivial matter? My Medicine King’s Valley’s isn’t some random place that one with no heart for Alchemy can casually join. Him being able to pass this test isn’t even worth considering.”
In response, Yang Kai simply looked at him and asked, “May I ask, did Predecessor Xiao ever state that someone with no experience in Alchemy cannot participate in this disciple recruitment test?”
To this, Qin Ze laughed loudly, “Indeed, Uncle Xiao did not say as such, but since you have never learned Alchemy before now, your future achievements on this path will naturally not be anything significant. If you aren’t willing to dedicate your life to the pursuit of Alchemy then this is not a place where you belong.”
However, Yang Kai remained unfazed, lightly countering, “According to what this junior knows, Grandmaster Xiao himself was twenty-six years old when he was first exposed to Alchemy. This junior is still only seventeen this year, nearly ten years younger than Grandmaster Xiao when he began learning.”
This was something he had overheard people talking about earlier.
To this point, Qin Ze frowned, his expression quite displeased.
Suddenly, some people in the crowd below began to curse, “Who the hell do you think you are you damn brat! how dare you compare yourself with Grandmaster Xiao!”
“Grandmaster Xiao is a Heaven sent genius, he was born for the Alchemist Path, so what if he was twenty-six years old when he began practicing Alchemy, even if he had been forty or five years old it would have been the same, how could a nobody like you hope to compare with him!?”
“Enough!” Qin Ze roared furiously, immediately causing the crowd below to fall silent.
Staring silently towards Yang Kai for a long time, he eventually gave a nod, “What you have said is not without reason. Since Uncle Xiao did not set any requirements about having to have practiced Alchemy beforehand, you are indeed still qualified to take this test. Go get yourself a poison pill.”
Yang Kai also gave a nod, and while the other three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples sneered, he reached out and swallowed one of the poison pills.
Nearby, Dong Qing Yan was looking towards him nervously, but Yang Kai just smiled at her then sat down and began refining the pill.
Circulating his True Yang Secret Art, a sweltering heat began to spread out around him, causing Qin Ze’s brow to prick up as he secretly nodded.
Although he still somewhat looked down on Yang Kai, after feeling his True Qi fluctuations, he also realized that this boy was not simple. Being able to reach the True Element Boundary at such a young age, this kind of aptitude was not something an average person would possess. If he did not distract himself by trying to learn Alchemy and instead concentrated solely on the Martial Path, he would not doubt have some achievements in the future.
[Even just a trivial guardian is so powerful? The Dong Family’s background is not shallow], Qin Ze thought to himself in surprise.
As soon as the poison pill reached his stomach, Yang Kai will felt it completely dissolve and pour directly into his meridians.
It was truly something personally refined by a once-in-a-generation master, this effect was simply too fast, not to mention Yang Kai with his True Element Boundary Second Stage cultivation, even someone who had just entered the Initial Element Stage, as long as they even slightly circulated their Yuan Qi, would effortlessly be able to absorb this medicinal essence.
As the poison flowed through his meridians, it was quickly refined and incinerated by his True Yang Yuan Qi, which made it completely unable to harm him in any way.
After he had completed a few rotations of his True Qi, Yang Kai felt the last of the toxins in his body completely disintegrate, while the remaining dregs rose up to his head and gatheed into a cloud of turbid gas in his mouth.
Startled by this, Yang Kai suddenly began feeling anxious.
When Dong Qing Yan had spent only slightly more than a cup of tea worth time to pass this test, it was apparently quite surprising to Qin Ze, if he were to achieve the same results after only a few breaths of time, it would no doubt set of a great storm.
[It’s too fast!]
Considering up to this point, Yang Kai quickly held his mouth shut, refusing to spit out the black gas, and continued circulating his True Yang Secret Art as if nothing had happened.
After a stick of incense worth of time, Yang Kai, who had been quietly circulating his True Qi, began moving some of the black gas and forcing it out of his forehead.
To those observing, there was now a sliver of black gas on Yang Kai’s brow.
Qin Ze was shocked.
This was clearly the sign that the final step of the test had arrived. Of the hundreds of Alchemists who had participated before now, only Wang Qi Ren and Dong Qing Yan had managed to reach this point; the former falling short, the latter finally succeeding.
How did this mere bodyguard do it?
Only a true Alchemy genius should be able to do this!
Qin Ze suddenly became nervous as he carefully watched Yang Kai with his heart stuck in his throat. Uncle Xiao had personally told him that for this time’s test, as long as he could find even a single suitable successor, he would be completely satisfied.
Now that Dong Qing Yan had already passed, if a second person were to also succeed… wouldn’t his old Uncle cry out in joy? If Hidden Cloud Peak were to obtain more than one successor, it was not hard to imagine it flourishing in the future.
Just as Qin Ze felt like his heart might burst from the tension, the wisp of black gas between Yang Kai’s eyebrows vanished. Qin Ze immediately held his breath as he intensely focused his attention.
Successor of failure would be decided in the next moment!
As he anxiously waited for a long time, Yang Kai showed no reaction. Then suddenly Qin Ze’s eyes went round as he shockingly saw a puff of black smoke re-emerge from Yang Kai’s brow.
[What’s going on!?]
Qin Ze was completely confused. The reaction of this boy in front of him was nothing like Wang Qi Ren’s vomiting of black blood, nor was it like Dong Qing Yan successful exhalation of black smoke. [How is it that the wisp of black gas moved back and forth from his brow? This is very different from what Uncle Xiao said the situation should be.]
As he mulled over this puzzle in his heart, the black gas once again disappeared.
However, before his nerves could settle, it once again emerged.
…
Qin Ze’s heart twisted every time the black gas appeared and disappeared. This kind of situation was simply akin to torture, especially since this result was still waffling back and forth between success and failure, toying with the emotions of everyone who was watching.
After this cycle continued back and forth a dozen times, the young boy in front of him suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a turbid cloud of black gas.
As soon as he spat out this black gas, the youth’s whole body seemed like it had lost its strength, his head hanging down with a disappointed look on his face.
[The hell! You finally decided to spit it out.] Qin Ze fiercely cursed in his heart, thinking that if he had to endure this much longer his heart might not be able to bear the stress.
But… how could such a thing happen?
Qin Ze frowned, was it that this youth’s aptitude could only barely meet the standard Uncle Xiao had set, causing him to linger between success and failure? [That must be it…]
“Senior Brother Qin…” Dong Qing Yan looked hesitantly towards Qin Ze, “How did he do?”
Shaken out of his stupor by this voice, Qin Ze laughed, “En, he did alright. Although his aptitude is not nearly as high as Junior Sister’s, this can still barely be considered a pass.”
[He also passed?]
These words suddenly made the crowd below feel dizzy.
Before now, so many people had gone up on the platform, but not a single one had been successful. Even Wang Qi Ren had failed and wound up vomiting a mouthful of black blood, but now a Common Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist passed. Although this rank of Alchemist was quite low, in the end she was still the Dong Family’s Young Lady. The Dong Family was by no means a small force, so them being able to cultivate such a talent was acceptable to most.
But her guardian passing as well?
This guy was just the Dong Family Young Lady’s attendant; such a person had also managed to succeed?
“Senior Qin, that little brat must have cheated somehow.” Some people began to clamour.
“That’s right Senior Qin, this bastard has never even performed Alchemy before. A completely unranked Alchemist, how could he have passed Grandmaster Xiao’s test?
“He must have used some underhanded means to do this, I am not satisfied!”
…
Qin Ze’s smiling face immediately cramped up as a dangerous light flashed across his eyes, so glaring towards the crowd gathered below he coldly snorted, “This is my Uncle Xiao’s personally refined poison pill! No one- I repeat- no one can avoid its effects. Even if it was an Immortal Ascension Boundary Master who had taken this pill. Without an appropriate aptitude for Alchemy, he would still be unable to bear it. If you are not satisfied, you can try it yourself, but those who dare question the results are slandering my Medicine King’s Valley and slandering my Uncle Xiao!”
As these words echoed throughout the plaza, the crowd fell silent.
“Fuck, a no-name servant who can’t even perform Alchemy managed to pass. I don’t believe it!” One of the Alchemists in the crowd gnashed his teeth and jumped up onto the platform.
Many others soon followed behind him.
A moment later, a large group of people were poisoned…
The giant medicine pot contained at least five or six hundred poison pills, but by noon all of them had been taken. However, in the end, only Dong Qing Yan and Yang Kai managed to pass the test.
There were many people who obtained the same result as Wang Qi Ren, managing to arrive at the final step but ultimately falling short. Each of them helplessly let out a sigh of regret.
It was clear to everyone now that Grandmaster Xiao had issued such a difficult test this time not to recruit disciples but to find a suitable successor.
At the end of the test, Qin Ze came over with a smile on his face, “Junior Brother, Junior Sister, would you like to go to Hidden Cloud Peak now? If Uncle Xiao were to learn that two people managed to pass his test, he will certainly be very pleased.”
Yang Kai remained silent and indifferent. His face was completely unchanged. His identity right now was that of a simple escort, so naturally he had no right to decide such matters.
Dong Qing Yan, on the other hand, smiled and said, “I’d like to first go talk with my brother.”
“Good, I’ll come with you. After you say your goodbyes, then we will proceed to Hidden Cloud Peak!”
Clearly he could not wait to bring them into Medicine King’s Valley.
On the third floor of the Dong Family Medicine Store, Dong Qing Han’s pudgy face was plastered with an awkward smile. News of Dong Qing Yan having passed Grandmaster Xiao’s disciple recruitment test had long since reached his ear.
Although he knew that his sister had been obsessed with Alchemy since she was a child, he had never dreamed she would be able to accomplish such a feat.
Worshipping Xiao Fu Sheng as her master! This was a wondrous opportunity that no one would refuse. But in the end, she was still just a little girl, and from the moment she was born she had grown up spoiled. Now, suddenly changing to a strange new environment, as her brother, he was worried about if she would be able to handle it or not.
However, the ship had sailed, so unless the Dong Family was willing to completely offend and break off all ties with Medicine King’s Valley, they would never even dream of trying to snatch Dong Qing Yan back from them.
The Dong Family severing relations with Medicine King’s Valley was clearly impossible.
As he smiled wryly again and again, the Wind and Cloud Dual Guard’s suddenly whispered, “Along with the Young Lady and Young Master Yang, another man is accompanying them, and he should be a steward of Medicine King’s Valley.”
Dong Qing Han was startled by this news and quickly got up, “Come with me!”
But before he could reach the door, the sound of footsteps on the stairs reached his ear.
Upon opening the door, he saw Dong Qing Yan break into a dash, nearly jumping up the stairs towards him.
“Big Brother, Big Brother, I did it!” Dong Qing Yan simply couldn’t wait to tell Dong Qing Han this good news.
Dong Qing Han however stretched out his hand and knocked on her head, swiftly reprimanding her, “What “I did it”! Something this important, yet you didn’t even discuss it with me in advance!”
Dong Qing Yan clutched her little head, but kept smiling, apparently not fazed in the slightest by this scolding.
Just as Dong Qing Han was about to continue, Qin Ze who had been following behind lightly coughed.
Hearing this, Dong Qing Han turned around and hurriedly cupped his fists, “This Junior greets Senior Qin!”
“En.” Qin Ze faintly nod before frowning slightly, “Young Master Dong, since your younger sister has passed this test, she is now a disciple of my Medicine King’s Valley, my Uncle Xiao’s Apprentice, and this Qin’s Junior Sister, although she is still a member of your Dong Family, you are no longer allowed to arbitrarily hit her!”
Dong Qing Han was stunned.
Qin Ze reluctantly continued to explain his reprimand, “Alchemy is a distinguished profession, and different from you fist throwing sword wielding bunch, their minds are important, do you understand? How would you compensate this world if you damaged her brain by striking her? Junior Sister Yan is an Alchemy genius, if her aptitude was in any way affected, do you think you could bear responsibility for such a loss? Could you bear my Uncle Xiao’s anger? Could your Dong Family bear my Medicine King’s Valley’s wrath?”
After being verbally beaten over the head like this, the once proud Young Master Dong could only lower his head like a whipped dog and desperately hold his tongue.
Qin Ze snorted and continued, “You just called me Senior, and Yan’er is now this Qin’s Junior Sister, so she is now also of higher seniority than you. How can you raise your hand against your senior… do you not even understand something so simple? Hm?”
This time, Dong Qing Han was completely dumbfounded, desperate to cry but unable to shed any tears.
[I was simply paying you the appropriate respect yet you didn’t even acknowledge me with a single word. I know you Medicine King’s Valley people are all important enough to justify your arrogance but… she is still my little sister! How can I not even be allowed to teach her a lesson? Not to mention that ridiculous justification you spouted.]
[On top of that, she had not officially worshipped into Medicine King’s Valley, if you really want to use your Medicine King’s Valley’s authority to justify your words, I’m afraid you’ll be in for some trouble!]
But although Dong Qing Han was extremely depressed over this, in his heart he was still quite happy with someone as prestigious as Qin Ze shielding his sister like so. Once she officially entered Medicine King’s Valley, she should not need to endure such bitterness.
“This Junior knows his wrong!” Dong Qing Han obediently admitted.
Qin Ze faintly nodded, “Good, I see Young Master Dong is not brainless; being able to admit one’s wrongs is a good thing.”
Hearing these words, Dong Qing Han’s fat face managed to squeeze out a stiff awkward smile. His expression was more ugly than if he had simply broken down and cried.
Ignoring him, Qin Ze turned and looked at Dong Qing Yan, “Junior Sister, please finish up your discussions with Young Master Dong as soon as possible, I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
Finished speaking, he went straight downstairs.
The only reason he had taken this little trip was to accompany Dong Qing Yan.
Once Qin Ze left, Dong Qing Han ground his teeth and glared at his little sister, “Well aren’t you a big deal, should I be calling you Senior Dong now!?”
“Hee hee…” Dong Qing Yan smiled sheepishly walked up, shook her brother’s arm, and softly asked, “About Daddy’s side…”
Dong Qing Han could only helplessly shake his head, “I’ll tell him, I don’t believe he will try to stop you.”
“En en, Daddy will definitely be proud of me.” Dong Qing Yan quickly nodded, suddenly putting down the boulder from her heart.
Turning to look at Yang Kai, Dong Qing Han whispered, “Once you’ve entered Medicine King’s Valley be extremely careful, and whatever happens, don’t even think of getting Yan’er involved!”
Of course he was referring to the matter of the Pill Saint’s Peak.
“I have a sense of proportion.” Yang Kai solemnly said.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan came downstairs.
Down below, Qin Ze and the three Medicine King’s Valley disciples had grown increasingly impatient, so once they saw them it was like someone had lit a fire under their asses.
Amongst Medicine King’s Valley’s Twelve Peaks, Hidden Cloud Peak was situated very close to the centre, only separated from the Pill Saint’s Peak by two small hills.
As one approached it and looked up, a rugged mountain path surrounded by lush green forests that led to the top of the peak was vaguely visible. The entire scene was extremely beautiful.
At the foot of the mountain, there was a stone upon which the three characters “Hidden Cloud Peak” were inscribed, giving off a vigorous and powerful air.
At the lower right corner of this monument, there was also an additional line of blood red characters.
When Yang Kai saw this small line of words, he couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback, “Trespassers will die!”
This line of brilliant red characters highlighted Medicine King’s Valley’s high-handed and extraordinary courage.
Only the people of Medicine King’s Valley would dare engrave such an overbearing declaration upon the entrance to their home.
Passing by the unguarded base of this mountain, Qin Ze led the crowd steadily upwards.
Dong Qing Yan and Qin Ze walked side by side, followed by three Medicine King’s Valley disciples with Yang Kai bringing up the rear.
The three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples gazed towards Dong Qing Yan with looks of envy, worship and even love; however, they still looked upon Yang Kai with disdain and were even too lazy to exchange a single word with him.
Alchemists were a group of unsociable and arrogant people. All of them had eyes on top of their heads.
Medicine King’s Valley Alchemists were also so!
Dong Qing Yan had an extraordinary background and was also a natural beauty, so obviously they would concern themselves with her. Yang Kai, on the other hand, although he had also passed Grandmaster Xiao’s test and had the qualifications to worship into Hidden Cloud Peak, in essence, he was still just an ordinary servant possessing low status. How could they degrade themselves by speaking to such a nobody?
Since there was no one to speak with, Yang Kai was also quite bored and chose to secretly observe his surroundings as they walked instead.
Dong Qing Yan, in contrast, was just like a newborn sparrow. Since arriving at the foot of the rugged mountain path, she had been twittering about non-stop. She was about to enter the centre of her heart’s holy land and worship a great senior expert as her master, of course she would be feeling expectant and tense.
Qin Ze was composed as usual, remaining silent most of the time, but when asked a question by Dong Qing Yan, he would still carefully explain things to her, not showing any signs of impatience.
Listening to the conversation between the two of them, Yang Kai also learned some things.
Xiao Fu Sheng had been the only Alchemist since several decades ago to inhabit Hidden Cloud Peak. In addition to him, there were only his two dedicated maidservants, and not a single other person lived there.
Additionally, these two maids were not cultivators but instead just ordinary people.
Xiao Fu Sheng was obsessed with Alchemy, had never married, and had never taken any disciples until this year, when he suddenly changed his mind and decided to recruit a successor.
This had led to today’s test.
“Why did Grandmaster suddenly change his mind?” Dong Qing Yan asked curiously.
Qin Ze’s expression went dim, and he did not immediately answer as he pondered for a moment before saying, “About Uncle Xiao’s thoughts, I dare not presume to speculate. This is something you should ask him about yourself.”
“Oh.”
The first half of the journey up Hidden Cloud Peak was not surprising. The sights were filled with rugged rocks and mountain forest. There were also some wild animals that came and went, such as rabbits and deer, but nothing dangerous of course.
But upon entering the upper half it was like stepping off the Earth and entering the Heavens. Rich World Energy swirled about, causing one to feel relaxed and happy. The mountain side was also dotted with exotic flowers that spread out as far as the eye could see, swaying gently in the wind; a dazzling sight to behold.
“So many herbs scattered about, does no one secretly come to pick them?” All the way up, Dong Qing Yan hadn’t seen a single person guarding this mountain, so she couldn’t help being curious.
“Who would dare?” Qin Ze coldly snorted, “Anyone who dares steal from Medicine King’s Valley will soon find themselves without their head!”
From this casual mention of murder, Dong Qing Yan could only stick out her tongue.
The herbs randomly growing upon the mountain were certainly not expensive things. Offending Medicine King’s Valley just for these was clearly not worth it.
Half an hour later, everyone arrived at the mountain’s peak. At the top, there was a row of houses. Their number was small, probably only seven or eight, of which more than half of them were newly built.
These should be the residences Xiao Fu Sheng had prepared for his disciple.
At this point, Qin Ze stopped and turned to the three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples, “You three wait here.”
Immediately, the three of them showed big grinning faces and begged, “Uncle Qin, please also allow us to go in?”
“What do you want to do there,” Qin Ze questioned unhappily.
One of the three with a look of longing on his face quickly replied, “Since we entered Medicine King’s Valley until now, we have only been able to pay our respects to Predecessor Xiao from afar, now that we are here… well…”
Qin Ze frowned for a moment before nodding, “Very well, but you are not to speak, Uncle Xiao does not like it when people disturb his home’s tranquility.”
“Yes, we promise we will not speak.” The three disciples immediately agreed.
Observing from the side, Yang Kai found that these three people looked incredibly happy and had traces of awe in their expressions, even Qin Ze also had a smile upon his face.
It seems that Xiao Fu Sheng’s position within every Alchemist’s heart far exceeded what he had imagined.
Even the disciples of Medicine King’s Valley were thrilled simply being able to meet him.
Under Qin Ze’s leadership, the group walked straight towards the row of houses.
But before they had gone far, two women emerged to receive them. These two women were great beauties. Their figures were outstanding, and their faces were charming. Both of them revealed warm yet modest smiles as they glanced towards these visitors.
These two beauties women at first glance appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
But in reality, they were both past forty.
This was well known because as early as twenty-five years ago,they had come to Hidden Cloud Peak to serve Xiao Fu Sheng, and twenty five years ago they were both around sixteen seventeen years old.
These two beautiful women were not cultivators but ordinary people, yet they had been able to maintain their youth and charm even more so than most cultivators their age, and all of this was thanks to Xiao Fu Sheng’s methods.
Seeing these two beautiful women approach, Qin Ze quickly cupped his fists, not daring to show the slightest disrespect and politely said, “My two ladies, please inform Uncle Xiao that the people he requested have been brought over.”
“There are two of them?” One of them beautiful pair, wearing a long white dress, looked at Dong Qing Yan and Yang Kai.
“Disciple greets these Elders!” Dong Qing Yan also understood proper etiquette, and together with Yang Kai quickly paid her respects.
The beautiful woman simply chuckled, “You may call me Aunty Xiang, this is Aunty Lan.”
Dong Qing Yan giggled happily and once again saluted these two.
Aunty Xiang nodded and said, “You do not have to be so anxious here, just treat this place like your own home. From now on both of you will be living here for a quite some time, if you are too cautious it will be uncomfortable for both you and us.
The other beautiful woman, Aunty Lan, also laughed and said, “When we first came to Hidden Cloud Peak, we were nearly the same age as you two, yet in a flash over twenty years passed.”
Seeing these two behaving so cordially, Dong Qing Yan’s tensed nerves gradually relaxed.
“Two mistresses, is Uncle…” Qin Ze patiently waited for their greetings to finish before respectfully inquiring.
“Master is currently practicing Alchemy, but the news from the Valley Town has long since been passed back here, so the four of you may leave. Once master finishes refining his furnace of pills, he will meet with them.”
Upon hearing this, not just the three young Medicine King’s Valley disciples looked sad, even Qin Ze appeared slightly disappointed.
“Then I shall leave things here to you!” Qin Ze quickly adjusted his expression, cupped his fists and led the three Medicine King’s Valley disciples back down the mountain.
When they left, the two women ushered Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan in, smiling as they helped arrange their accommodations.
For many years, Hidden Cloud Peak was only inhabited by Xiao Fu Sheng and the two of them. Xiao Fu Sheng was often in retreat to perform Alchemy, spending ten or more days without even showing his shadow, so the two women had only had each other for companionship. Now that Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan had come, they were naturally quite happy.
Hidden Cloud Peak was not like other Medicine King’s Valley peaks. There was nothing to pay attention to, and very, few if any restrictions. Everything was very free and relaxed.
Once they were done arranging Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan’s accommodations, the two beauties left them alone to get adjusted.
After three days on Hidden Cloud Peak, Xiao Fu Sheng still had not shown up, and only the two women would often come see Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan to carefully attend to their needs.
Three more days later, just as Dong Qing Yan was chattering, wondering when Xiao Fu Sheng would exit his retreat, a surge of World Energy fluctuations suddenly erupted not far away.
Yang Kai’s expression slightly changed as he and Dong Qing Yan exchanged a look and quickly rushed outdoors.
The two beautiful women had also come out and were patiently gazing towards a certain room.
Of course, it was the residence of Xiao Fu Sheng.
After a few breaths of time, the door opened and an all white haired white bearded old man of about 60 years of age emerged from inside the house. His face was calm and dignified, yet at the moment seemed to have a few additional wrinkles. In his hand was holding a golden yellow pill, which he rolled around in his fingers as he stepped forward and frowned.
Dong Qing Yan suddenly tensed up.
A great figure that she had long since idolized was now standing before her eyes. Her feelings were easy to imagine.
Yang Kai also carefully observed this legendary Alchemist and was surprised to find that his whole body did not emit the slightest traces of Yuan Qi fluctuations, like he was just an ordinary old man you could find anywhere.
But Xiao Fu Sheng was definitely not an ordinary person. At the very least, he was an Immortal Ascension Boundary master.
Yang Kai couldn’t help being impressed. Being able to converge one’s aura to such a level, this Xiao Fu Sheng was not simple!
“There’s no Pill Veins, no Pill Veins… without Pill Veins it’s useless.” Xiao Fu Sheng’s face showed a trace of disappointment as he mumbled about something several times in-between long sighs.
Yang Kai skimmed the pill in his hand and found that it was releasing a rich aura. Even from several tens of meters away he could clearly smell its fragrance. The whole body was perfectly rounded, and its colour was flawless. It was clearly a good Heaven Grade or higher pill.
But in Xiao Fu Sheng’s eyes this pill was now completely worthless.
“Master,” the two beautiful women greeted him as Aunty Xiang whispered, “The two juniors you were expecting have come.”
“Hm?” Xiao Fu Sheng suddenly woke from his stupor, readily throwing the pill in his hands to one of the beautiful women, then he turned and looked towards Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan.
“En. Very good, very good!” After walking around Dong Qing Yan a few times, Xiao Fu Sheng happily said.
At this time, Dong Qing Yan did her best to maintain a serious expression, not daring to move in the slightest.
Next, after circling Yang Kai a few times, Xiao Fu Sheng suddenly frowned, “You are also very good, but your murderous aura is too dense!”
Yang Kai was secretly surprised.
Carefully examining the two, Xiao Fu Sheng then asked, “Young ones, stretch out your hands.”
As instructed, Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan both held out their hands and Xiao Fu Sheng quickly gripped their wrists. Checking something for a long time, the old man’s face filled with a meaningful smile and a light flashed across his eyes, as he looked directly at Yang Kai and declared, “You faked your test results!”
Yang Kai was surprised for a moment but then immediately praised, “Predecessor’s insight is impressive.”
Dong Qing Yan on the other hand was dumbstruck but then quickly tried to defended Yang Kai, “He didn’t cheat, he took the poison pill in front of everyone and then forced out the black gas, how could he have faked his results?”
But Xiao Fu Sheng simply smiled and continued, “I’m not saying that his aptitude isn’t good enough, on the contrary, his aptitude is probably better than yours, but he deliberately delayed forcing out the black gas. Apparently he did not want to draw too much attention to himself.”
“Ah!” Dong Qing Yan was once again shocked.
Even the two beautiful women’s eyes showed a touch of wonder as they looked towards Yang Kai in surprise.
A grin emerged on Yang Kai’s face as he inquired, “How did Predecessor find out?”
Xiao Fu Sheng chuckled as he stroked his beard, “I designed the test; how could I not find out?”
From Xiao Fu Sheng’s simple explanation, Yang Kai immediately understood that the poison pill must have had some kind of hidden trick.
The method of refining those poison pills was not complicated. Even the required materials were not expensive, otherwise there would not be so many of them.
But the greatest effect of the poison pill was to test a person’s Yuan Qi purity.
Alchemists were also cultivators. Their bodies all contained Yuan Qi, but this group of people had set Alchemy as their main focus, and increasing their cultivation and strength was only a means to improve their Alchemic abilities.
After swallowing the poison pill, if one’s Yuan Qi was pure enough, they could completely refine and eliminate the toxins from their body, otherwise they would fail.
The purity of one’s Yuan Qi’s was related to many things, a cultivator Secret Art, Martial Skills, the pills they had consumed, their physique. All kinds of factors played a role.
Those Alchemists who had attempted this test, although Alchemy was their profession, because of various different experiences, their Yuan Qis had become impure, so they had not passed Xiao Fu Sheng’s test.
Since he began cultivating until now, Yang Kai had only ever used a single Secret Art, the True Yang Secret Art, so it was not surprising that the purity of his True Qi could meet Xiao Fu Sheng’s requirements.
Dong Qing Yan’s situation was similar, she had been cultivating a fire attribute Secret Art specifically chosen for her by the Dong Family and had now reached a cultivation of Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary. In order to prepare for her promotion to the True Element Boundary, the Dong Family had used a lot of Precious Treasures on her, so it was natural that her Yuan Qi would be pure.
Xiao Fu Sheng wore a wry smile and continued, “In fact, this Old Master’s poison pill was designed specifically so that 99% of all Alchemists would be unable to pass the test because they have not paid enough attention to their cultivation and the purity of their Yuan Qi. While they are refining pills, many Alchemists have to personally sample their creations, causing various medicinal effects to build up inside their bodies, eventually leading to their Yuan Qi becoming impure. But it might be a different story for those gifted talents who cultivate fire or yang attribute Secret Arts.
Yang Kai suddenly understood; no wonder the time it took to resolve the poison pill was even shorter than Dong Qing Yan’s, it was because of such a reason.
But of those who came to participate in Xiao Fu Sheng’s disciple recruitment test, who was not an Alchemist? Only cultivators like Yang Kai, who had ulterior motives, would even bother.
Clearly, Xiao Fu Sheng had some kind of difficulties with his successor already being an accomplished Alchemist.
Dong Qing Yan being able to successfully pass this test was likely due to the Dong Family not supporting her study of Alchemy. If she had grown up learning the Alchemic Path, this test would likely have ended in disappointment for her.
“About the Alchemic Path, many people are wrong, even this Old Master is wrong!” Xiao Fu Sheng let out a deep sigh, his voice mixed with loneliness and regret.
Yang Kai frowned suddenly and thoughtfully said, “Grandmaster, if what you said is true, wouldn’t it be better for you to find a child with the appropriate aptitude and train them starting from a young age?”
“A child…” Xiao Fu Sheng shook his head and smiled wryly, “This Old Master cannot wait that long.”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched as he looked towards Grandmaster Xiao with surprise.
The two beautiful women wore a look of sadness but remained silent.
Dong Qing Yan went pale, and hesitantly asked, “Grandmaster, you…”
Xiao Fu Sheng suddenly let out a chuckle, his expression carefree, “Well, it’s nothing serious. I’ll live a few more years yet, but in this lifetime I fear I will not be able to break through the Mysterious Grade Top-Rank and see just what kind of level lies beyond that.”
As he spoke, one could hear the longing and regret in his voice.
Shaking off this gloomy atmosphere, Grandmaster Xiao suddenly said high spiritedly, “Although I may be unable to accomplish this, I want to cultivate a Spirit Grade Alchemists who will one day break free of this world’s shackles. So I will be counting on the two of you!”
It was for this reason that Xiao Fu Sheng had suddenly decided to find a successor. His entire life had been dedicated to Alchemy, yet he had always been unable to ascend to the Spirit Grade, so how could he not have regrets?
However, in this world, he had an unparalleled understanding of Alchemy and also his own experiences on the Alchemic Way, so he was convinced that he could train a disciple who would no doubt one day surpass him!
Realizing Xiao Fu Sheng’s passion and determination, Yang Kai struggled for a moment before saying, “Predecessor Xiao, please forgive me, the reason this Junior came to Hidden Cloud Peak, in fact, was not to learn Alchemy.”
Xiao Fu Sheng wrinkled his brow at these words as he looked towards Yang Kai.
“My goal is to rise to the Martial Peak; if I were to try to study Alchemy as well, I’m afraid it would just be a distraction.” Yang Kai confessed with full sincerity. Him coming to Hidden Cloud Peak was only because he wanted to get close to the Pill Saint’s Peak.
Seeing Xiao Fu Sheng speak completely openly with them, Yang Kai did not want to deceive him. He certainly wouldn’t talk about wanting to sneak into the Pill Saint’s Peak, but he also could not learn Alchemy here, otherwise he would likely not be able to come and go freely.
Hearing his confession, the two beauties couldn’t help frowning as they directed slightly unhappy gazes towards Yang Kai.
However, Xiao Fu Sheng only smiled meaningfully and said, “Who says an Alchemist cannot stand at the Martial Peak?”
Yang Kai was suddenly shaken and fell into deep thought.
His first meeting with Xiao Fu Sheng had left a very deep impression on Yang Kai. Although he already had one foot into the grave, his fierce passion and his mentality of wanting to challenge just how high the Heavens were was something even many young people did not have.
In the end, Grandmaster Xiao did not let Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan immediately worship him as their master and instead asked them to live on Hidden Cloud Peak for a time.
For the next few days, the number of times Xiao Fu Sheng appeared was quite small, but when he did, Dong Qing Yan adhered to the attitude of a disciple meeting her master while Yang Kai would only call him as Old Xiao.
Although the two beautiful women were not very pleased with Yang Kai’s attitude and tone that day, both of them had excellent self-restraint and did not make things difficult for him, still smiling each day as they greeted him and taking meticulous care of his everyday needs while he was on Hidden Cloud Peak.
After spending a number of days like this, Xiao Fu Sheng called Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan to his house.
As they stood in front of Old Xiao, Yang Kai remained indifferent while Dong Qing Yan couldn’t help fidgeting a bit.
Xiao Fu Sheng faintly smiled and nodded repeatedly, “These days I did not teach you anything but was instead observing your characters. Although it takes time to see through people’s true nature, but this old master for better or worse has lived for many years and seen many people. Yan’er, you have a kind heart, much unlike many of the spoiled young ladies born into great families. If you inherit this old master’s mantle, I believe that in the future you will not commit any deeds unworthy of my name. If you are willing to, this Old Man will take you as his disciple.”
“Disciple is willing!” Dong Qing Yan hurriedly replied, her face filled with joy.
Xiao Fu Sheng nodded and then looked towards Yang Kai, “You on the other hand are a different story. Although you are young, you have suffered and endured much which has caused you to mature much faster than those of your generation. Your True Qi has been forged into a sharp sword along with your will, something that can only be achieved through taking many lives. But though your methods are decisive and ruthless, you are not someone who would slaughter the innocent!”
Yang Kai nodded silently, not trying to refute.
As people age, their eyes truly became sharp.
“You and Yan’er pursue different paths, so even though your aptitude is better than Yan’er’s, I will not insist and will instead allow you to make your own way. As such I will not take you as a disciple or teach you Alchemy.”
“Master!” Dong Qing Yan exclaimed, thinking her new master was going to expel him.
However, Xiao Fu Sheng waved his hand to stop her and smiled, “But… since you passed this old man’s test, it can be considered fate that you are here, so I will instead pass some other things to you and allow you to remain with Yan’er for the time being on Hidden Cloud Peak”.
“Thank you, Old Xiao!” Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling relieved. If Xiao Fu Sheng really wanted force him out, there would be very little he could do, so now that he knew he could stay on Hidden Cloud Peak, it was only natural for his nerves to relax.
This way, there were no longer any burdens holding him backs.
“This is a copy of a special Secret Art. The two of you take this and study it, but remember you can only cultivate it for an hour every day.” Xiao Fu Sheng handed both of them a set of exercises then close your eyes.
After accepting this Secret Art, Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan both left the house.
Half a day later, the two of them had familiarized themselves with this Secret Art and each had gone back to their respective houses to cultivate.
Yang Kai did not know what kind of Secret Art this was. It had no name, and its circulation path was quite strange. However, one fact was clear, it required one to simultaneously utilize 108 of the body’s meridians, a staggering number.
Yang Kai and Old Demon had gone over it together for a long time, but even with Old Demon’s profound knowledge, he could not decipher what role this Secret Art served, and was only able to determine that it was harmless to cultivate.
Xiao Fu Sheng did not have much time left, and now that he had finally received Dong Qing Yan as his disciple, naturally he wouldn’t try to harm her.
Thinking so, Yang Kai sat cross-legged on his bed, adjusted his breathing, and began to cultivate this unknown Secret Art.
Time rush by and in the blink of an eye an entire month had passed.
During this month, Yang Kai rarely had a moment of leisure. Each day he woke up early in the morning to greet the rising sun and cultivate his Unyielding Golden Skeleton’s Tempered Body Record.
After this he would focus on his own cultivation.
This caused each day to pass by very quickly.
During this time, Yang Kai repeatedly inquired about the Pill Saint Peak’s situation, but with no suitable reason and excuse to approach, he would often be shooed away before even getting close, leaving him feeling slightly helpless.
On the plus side, the two beautiful women on Hidden Cloud Peak were very good to Yang Kai. Every day they cooked delicious foods containing many medicinal benefits for both him and Dong Qing Yan. Their cooking techniques were truly superb. Even with simple materials, they were always able to prepare delectable dishes.
Dong Qing Yan’s feelings towards these two beautiful women also greatly increased over the past month. After all, they were all women, so they naturally felt comfortable around one another.
After one month of this bitter work, Yang Kai’s strength and cultivation did not grow much. The unknown Secret Art he was told to cultivate did not increase his True Qi at all, and there also didn’t seem to be any other effects. However, just as Xiao Fu Sheng had said, once he tried circulating this Secret Art for more than an hour, he would feel his True Qi suddenly become like boiling water, causing piercing pain all over his body.
Exactly one day after this first month, as Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan were eating breakfast, the two beautiful women hand them each a large basket.
“Aunty Xiang, what is this for?” Dong Qing Yan asked with a puzzled face as she reflexively accepted the medicine baskets and passed one to Yang Kai.
Aunty Xiang laughed, “Master has assigned a task to you two.”
“Really!?” Dong Qing Yan was very excited. All this time she had been here she had done nothing but cultivate, and Xiao Fu Sheng had not taught her a single bit of Alchemy, so she had been quite depressed.
The entire reason she had wanted to enter under an apprenticeship in Hidden Cloud Peak was to study Alchemy, but until now she hadn’t even seen the shadow of a pill, so she couldn’t help feeling uneasy, but now that her master had given her a task, naturally she couldn’t wait to put forward her best performance to gain her master’s approval and then take the opportunity to ask her own questions about Alchemy.
“What kind of task?” Yang Kai asked lightly.
“Master would like you to gather some herbs.” Aunty Xiang smiled and quickly listed the names of the herbs they were to collect while also describing their habitats and characteristics.
Yang Kai and Dong Qing Yan both carefully remembered all of this information before lifting their baskets and leaving their residence.