Yang Kai watched all of this and secretly nodded. The Bold Independent Union’s disciples weren’t weak either in strength or means, at first glance it was clear to him that each member of Yun Xuan’s team was a veteran of many battles and under her leadership, they formed a cohesive force that could not be ignored. Even with an absolute advantage in terms of raw strength and defence, a Sixth-Order Monster Beast was still instantly suppressed by these eight Immortal Ascension cultivators.
Ji Hong’s two-handed axe slashed at the back of the still rampaging Metal Devouring Beast, causing a loud bang and many sparks to fly, but only leaving behind a shallow mark on its armour.
“So hard?” Ji Hong was taken aback; the rebound from his strike caused his hands to go a little numb and a sour taste to well up in his heart. Quickly composing himself, he continued to use his axe artifact to attack.
*Dang dang dang dang…*
“Ji Hong, fall back!” Yun Xuan quickly ordered. Ji Hong’s actions had clearly completely enraged the Metal Devouring Beast and it was now staring red eyed towards him as a golden beam shot out from its forehead. This fierce and blinding energy blast barreled towards Ji Hong at frightening speed.
Seeing this incoming attack, Ji Hong’s face sank as he hastily placed his axe in front of him, just barely managing to defend himself.
Yun Xuan had already rushed over, the spear which she had Grandmaster Ma repair tightly gripped in her hands. Her tender body suddenly gave off a heroic image as her tiny sparks of lightning began emerging from her spear.
A phantom image of a great snake suddenly appeared on her spear, and the spear’s body itself seemed to transform into a real snake, causing a fierce aura to ripple through the air. Thrusting forward, Yun Xuan’s spear gave off a brilliant radiance as it slammed into the Metal Devouring Beast.
Disregarding Ji Hong’s attacks, the Metal Devouring Beast seemed to feel a sense of uneasiness as it let out a frightening roar, its aura becoming more dangerous as its eyes filled with violent madness.
Energy collected between its two horns once again and it quickly sent out an attack to intercept Yun Xuan’s spear.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The two attacks collided and a disordered burst of energy erupted, sending stone debris from the mine tunnel flying. A great rumbling sound echoed throughout the mine tunnel and there were even some signs of it beginning to crack.
Yun Xuan’s expression remained indifferent and fearless, waving her spear about skillfully, blocking or parrying the attacks of the Metal Devouring Beast.
The other cultivators had also taken the opportunity to attack and had begun pummeling the Metal Devouring Beast.
A strange energy suddenly spread from the ground.
*Pu pu pu…* A bunch of sharp spurs shot out from the earth just below the Metal Devouring Beast, causing it’s strength to deflate like a punctuated balloon.
Blood flowed from Metal Devouring Beast as it tried to escape, only managing to make it several dozen meters before letting out a sorrowful roar and collapsing to the ground.
From the side, one could clearly see a few bloody holes on its soft belly where it had been pierced by the earth spikes.
Yun Xuan’s team rushed in and swiftly cut off the two horns on the Metal Devouring Beast and then bound its legs, only then taking out some healing medicine and applying it to the beast’s wounds.
Everyone went about their work in an orderly fashion, not in any way flustered.
After everything was done, Ji Hong walked over and happily patted Yang Kai’s shoulder, “Brother Yang, enjoying yourself?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Until now, he had not taken action and had only been watching.
“This is just a simple mission, when you really join Bold Independent Union, your brother here will show you what a real fight is like.”
Yun Xuan took back her spear and shook out her hands, glancing over at Yang Kai and secretly nodding.
She found that throughout the day, this taciturn boy had always remained calm, and even when something unexpected happened, he didn’t show the slightest panic.
This discovery made Yun Xuan wonder about whether this was just his natural disposition or if he already had a great deal of worldly experience.
Clapping her hands lightly, Yun Xuan said, “Our traps have been used up so from now on, whenever we encounter Metal Devouring Beasts, everyone should be extra cautions and prioritize protecting yourselves.”
The team nodded firmly, their zeal and enthusiasm still at a fever pitch.
“Let’s go!” Yun Xuan waved her hand and walked forward.
The Metal Devouring Beast in the mine were all busy eating so they were all scattered about, most of them choosing to act alone while occasionally they would move about in groups of two or three. With the strength of the Yun Xuan’s team, catching them was quite easy.
As they advanced deeper into the mine, there were countless twists and turns, ramps and slopes, so the team made sure to record which path they had taken to avoid getting lost on the way back.
Yang Kai also began participating and in accordance with Yun Xuan’s orders, provided some small support, calmly attacking and defending in a stable fashion, causing everyone’s opinion of him to rise.
Even Yun Xuan couldn’t help re-evaluating Yang Kai.
She had originally thought he had come out from some remote countryside and was afraid that his combat strength wouldn’t be sufficient. Because of this concern, Yun Xuan had initially kept Yang Kai behind her and didn’t let him join the team’s battles, but after giving him a chance, he turned out to be surprisingly useful. At the very least, after he summoned his Bone Shield, he was able to block the charge of a Metal Devouring Beast head on.
This kind of frontal collision was something that even Ji Hong, who had the most brute strength of all her team members, couldn’t accomplish, yet Yang Kai did so with ease.
This ability was very important as it allowed everyone else on the team to focus on attacking.
After observing him block two such charges, Yun Xuan directly let Yang Kai with his Bone Shield act as the team’s blocker while everyone else launched attacks from the side or behind him.
Using this battle formation, Yun Xuan’s team’s efficiency shot up, bringing a smile to everyone’s face.
After half a day, the team stopped to take a break.
During this break, Yang Kai came over to Yun Xuan and said, “Ms. Yun, there’s something I don’t quite understand.”
“Oh?” Yun Xuan smiled back at him. Yang Kai’s performance today had earned her respect and she now really was thinking about how to get Yang Kai to join Bold Independent Union.
Any team that could have such a strong defensive specialist would be much safer when performing tasks.
“These Metal Devouring Beasts are all here to feed, right?”
“That’s right, why?”
“Brother Ji said that after they consumed enough minerals, they would process the raw ores in their bodies and then excrete the refined metals. This group of Metal Devouring Beasts have already been here for two or three months now but even after we traveled this far into the mine, why haven’t we seen any of their droppings?”
Yun Xuan was startled and after thinking about it for a moment, realized that what Yang Kai said was right.
The whole time they had been fighting she had never seen any refined metals anywhere.
Yun Xuan knit her brows as she didn’t know how to explain this, some doubts welling up in her heart.
The other members of her team heard this conversation and also wore confused expressions. All this time they had only been focused on capturing the Metal Devouring Beast so they had unconsciously overlooked this strange phenomenon.
“Maybe they have a specific place where they take care of their business, like a toilet!” Ji Hong suggested.
Yun Xuan’s face went slightly red but she nonetheless nodded, “It’s possible!”
“Then, if we were to find that place, couldn’t we harvest a large amount of refined metals?” Ji Hong thoughtfully stroked his beard.
Yun Xuan’s eyes flashed brilliantly. Capturing so many Metal Devouring Beasts this time would count as a great achievement and if on top of that they could find this mineral ‘storehouse’, the rewards they would receive would be incredibly rich.
Thinking about this bright future, everyone’s mental and physical fatigue was blow away and each of them once again became filled with enthusiasm.
“Then our secondary objective will be to search for such a place,” Yun Xuan, looking at their expressions, knew that they didn’t want to rest anymore and immediately issued this directive.
The rest of her team was obviously overjoyed and quickly got back on their feet.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, couldn’t help frowning slightly, thinking that there was something off about this situation, but with the little information he had he couldn’t form any reasonable hypotheses much less prove them so he chose to remain quite for now.
For now, whatever Yun Xuan decided, he would go along with.
As they continued into the mine, the number of Metal Devouring Beasts seemed to decrease so Yun Xuan’s team began spending more time scouting around for the refined mineral dump rather than fighting and capturing, unfortunately, they found nothing for their efforts.
As they continued their search, Yang Kai suddenly felt a trace of unease.
Suddenly thinking of a possibility, Yang Kai’s expression sank as he shouted, “Yun Xuan, there’s something wrong here!”
The team members, who were all excitedly searching for the metal dump, heard his voice and couldn’t help stopping, all of them turning puzzled looks towards him.
Yun Xuan frowned, “What do you mean?”
Yang Kai suddenly shouting gave her a fright and she quickly expanded the range of her Divine Sense, but after not finding anything out of the ordinary, she immediately became disgruntled.
When on a mission, one of the most taboo acts was to cause alarm for no reason. If one were to do this, their team members would begin to doubt their trustworthiness, and if trust was lost and a real emergency came up, it would put the team in danger.
Yang Kai didn’t answer; his warning just now was completely instinctual. Through a more in depth investigation of the surrounding area with his Divine Sense, he had noticed a powerful aura hidden deep within the mine.
From his experience, Yang Kai concluded that such a strong energy fluctuation could only be produced by a Transcendent Realm master!
A Transcendent Realm enemy was hiding nearby yet no one had discovered them yet, the fearfulness of this was obvious.
Sun Ying had previously checked the situation in the mine yet even he was unaware that there was another Transcendent here. That could only mean that Sun Ying wasn’t this master’s opponent!
Even Yang Kai himself hadn’t discovered anything up till now and could only conclude that the enemy had some frightening means of concealment.
“Well, what is it?” Yun Xuan’s asked again, a tinge of anger creeping into her voice.
“There’s some kind of danger in this place,” Yang Kai calmly said.
“Speak clearly.” Yun Xuan’s expression dimmed.
“There’s a very powerful master hidden below us, if you don’t want everyone here to die, we should leave now!”
“How do you know that?” Yun Xuan’s brow tightly wrinkled.
Ji Hong also came forward and sighed, “Brother Yang, you can’t joke about these kinds of things. How could there be such a hidden danger here?”
“I’m not making a joke,” Yang Kai shook his head seriously, but glancing around he noticed that everyone was giving him a distrustful look.
Yang Kai suddenly realized that his words really didn’t have any convincing weight behind them.
To an outside observer, he was just a young Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator. The strongest member of this team was Yun Xuan, who was a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary master yet she didn’t sense abnormalities nearby; naturally she wouldn’t readily believe his words.
Gently sighing, Yang Kai looked at Yun Xuan and said, “I only came here in order to return the favour I owe you. Right now, if you believe me, you’ll take everyone out of here. If you don’t believe me though, there’s nothing I can say to convince you.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?” Yun Xuan looked at Yang Kai coldly with a hint of disappointment flashing across her eyes, “I wanted you to join Bold Independent Union, but now it seems that’s not necessary. The actions of this team are for me to decide and are not dictated by others’ feelings, especially those of an alarmist.”
“I’m not trying to be an alarmist…”
“Then provide evidence. If you can’t, then don’t spout nonsense,” Yun Xuan spat coldly.
Yang Kai shook his head helplessly and indifferently stared back at Yun Xuan, “Then I’ll take my leave here.”
Saying so, Yang Kai turned around and quickly rushed out, not paying any attention to what anyone else thought.
“Hey, Brother Yang!” Ji Hong was shocked and called out to stop him.
“Let him go!” Yun Xuan shouted, staring at the disappearing back of Yang Kai as she shook her head.
Yang Kai’s performance just now was quite dissatisfying to her and didn’t reflect any of his previous calm. Yun Xuan felt that if such a person really joined Bold Independent Union, he would bring more harm than good, so her interest in recruiting him faded.
“Ha…” Ji Hong sighed as he looked at Yun Xuan, “Young Lady, him speaking with such confidence, do you think he really discovered something?”
Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes flashed before her expression dropped again, “Uncle Sun said that there was nothing to be wary of here, and I also didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, that kid is probably just making a fuss over nothing.”
“That is true!” Ji Hong nodded; he naturally had more faith in Sun Ying’s words.
Yang Kai’s figure quickly ran towards the mine’s exit, every step he took leaving a deep imprint on the ground and a long afterimage dragged out behind him. At this moment he had raised his speed to the limit.
He had clearly memorized the path they had taken to reach this point so even in this underground labyrinth he didn’t once get lost.
The hidden aura he had discovered with his Divine Sense was growing more powerful by the breath and was clearly preparing to take action.
Yang Kai had a clear understanding of his own strength.
With an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation, coupled with his Devil Transformation, he was invincible in the Immortal Ascension Boundary.
Facing a Transcendent, Yang Kai wouldn’t be afraid, but he also had no confidence in being able to beat one.
Before, when he had killed the Spider Mother, he had relied on trickery and the mysterious power of the Solitary Golden Eye in his Knowledge Sea while killing the Sect Master of Sen Luo Temple was only possible because his Bone Shield had absorbed a massive amount of void energy; neither scenario was due to his own strength.
There was a massive gap between the Transcendent and Immortal Ascension realms.
Additionally, the terrain here was not suitable for an explosive battle, once the mine collapsed, everyone here would be buried alive.
So when he noticed the hidden enemy, Yang Kai’s first thought was to leave here and make plans after.
Unfortunately, Yun Xuan didn’t trust him, which made Yang Kai feel very helpless.
Staying to argue would only be a waste of time, so Yang Kai decisively chose to leave.
[I hope I’m just worrying too much,] Yang Kai secretly thought. Bold Independent Union also had a Transcendent Realm master with them. Sun Ying wasn’t weak and in a fight he may not lose to the hidden enemy here.
At that moment, another strong energy fluctuation erupted; naturally it came from Sun Ying.
From the booming sounds and the shaking of the ground, Sun Ying had likely encountered the hidden enemy and began fighting.
Yang Kai’s face sank and he pushed his speed even more.
At the same time, the fierce vibrations of this battle were also noticed by Yun Xuan and her team.
Everyone’s face changed greatly.
“What happened?” Yun Xuan was startled.
Sun Ying had actually taken action!
He was a Transcendent Realm master of Bold Independent Union, him being here was simply to act as a supervisor. If there were no accidents, he wouldn’t take the initiative to fight and would only be responsible for monitoring the situation and arranging the barrier to prevent the Metal Devouring Beasts from escaping.
But such vibrations were obvious signs that he had been engaged in battle, which meant that either Ruan Xin Yu or Zhou Luo’s team had encountered an enemy they couldn’t handle.
[What danger could there be that Uncle Sun had to take action personally?] Yun Xuan didn’t understand what was happening, but she knew it definitely wasn’t anything good.
Thinking so, she suddenly remembered that Yang Kai had just warned them there was a hidden enemy here. Yun Xuan’s expression suddenly became complicated as she only now realized that he wasn’t being an alarmist but had really noticed that something was wrong.
The ground trembled fiercely and the sound of explosions echoed throughout the tunnels. The entire mine seemed to be becoming unstable and fissures were beginning to open up.
The fallout from a battle between masters at the Transcendent Realm was quite devastating.
“Young Lady!” Ji Hong shouted.
“Evacuate!” Yun Xuan didn’t dare stand around waiting, deeply regretting in her heart at this moment. If only she had known this would happen, she would have listened to Yang Kai’s warning and brought everyone out of the mine. If they had left with him, they would be in far less danger.
Issuing the order to withdraw, Yun Xuan’s body flickered and transformed into a streak of blue like that flew towards the direction Yang Kai disappeared.
Ji Hong and the others followed.
However, after only going a hundred meters or so, a terrifying bang erupted from the depths of the mine and immediately after, the mountain began to collapse. Numerous huge chunks of falling rock crashed down and sealed off all the tunnels.
Yun Xuan’s face turned ashen. Not hesitating in the slightest, she gathered all of her True Qi and began striking towards the ceiling, desperately trying to open up an escape route.
With the echoes of the original bang and the crumbling walls around him, Yang Kai’s expression sank as he knew that his worst fears had come true.
Sun Ying was not the opponent of the hidden enemy. In the previous collision, Yang Kai clearly felt the former’s aura sharply weaken and the destructive wave of energy that burst forth from the two Transcendents’ final clash had caused the entire mine to collapse. Silently cursing to himself, Yang Kai quickly summoned his Bone Shield and held it atop his head, the next moment feeling like the sky was raining down on top of him.
The number of impacts he suffered was endless and the weight that pressed down on his arms was getting heavier by the breath.
The collapse of the mine continued for the time it would take to drink a cup of tea and when everything stabilized, Yang Kai was barely able to support his Bone Shield. His teeth were clenched hard and his face was blood red, his muscles bulged as if they were about to explode under the strain.
He didn’t know just how much stone and dirt he was supporting at that moment but the weight was almost impossible for him to bear.
The only good news was that thanks to the Bone Shield’s defence, Yang Kai was basically uninjured.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai concentrated his physical strength and True Qi and pushed upwards.
A passage above his head was quickly being excavated.
After a short while, the pressure suddenly disappeared and Yang Kai sprang from the rubble and landed on the ground, the sun shining down on him and the crisp mountain air brushing past his nose feeling particular refreshing.
The sound of a great many birds fleeing into the distance soon reached his ear, apparently the mine’s collapse had disturbed all of the local wildlife.
Looking around, all that remained of the once tall hill was cracked earth and rubble that spread out for almost a hundred kilometers.
As Yang Kai quietly observed his surroundings, he saw some unstable places continuing to cave, causing some low rumbling.
There was no one else around, Sun Ying’s aura had yet to disappear but it was fading fast while Yun Xuan, Ruan Xin Yu, and Zhou Luo’s teams were all missing.
Yang Kai spread out his Divine Sense to investigate and soon, he discovered signs of life at a position about a kilometer away.
Quickly rushing over, just as he arrived, a burst of True Qi erupted from the ground, sending a few bits of rock flying about.
A moment later, from this small newly opened hole, Yang Kai saw a faint flash of electricity.
“Yun Xuan?” Yang Kai shouted, immediately hearing a faint voice respond, “En!”
Grinning, Yang Kai clenched his fist and slammed it down onto the place where the lightning arc had flashed, completely opening the passage, allowing a dirt covered Yun Xuan to emerge.
Right behind her, Ji Hong and a few others also appeared.
All of them had many black and blue bruises and some even had broken bones.
Even though all of them were Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, such a large-scale mine collapse was not something they could escape from unscathed. In fact, it was only thanks to Yun Xuan’s quickly opening up a path for them that all of them weren’t buried alive.
Once seriously injured and buried deep underground, even Immortal Ascension Boundary masters would certain die.
After coming out, everyone wore an expression filled with lingering fear, having just survived a life threatening disaster, each of them couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief and reflecting on how fragile life truly was.
“Pang Qi?” Yun Xuan turned around and scanned the faces of her team members, her pretty face suddenly paling.
Ji Hong and the others all lowered their heads, none of them daring to answer.
“What about others?” Yun Xuan muttered hoarsely.
Ji Hong opened his mouth to speak, but failed to form any words, his eyes slowly tearing up.
Yun Xuan’s tender body shuddered and she no longer asked, knowing that the members of her team she didn’t see here now would never appear again.
“Now isn’t the time to grieve, we need to leave!” Yang Kai said with a serious face, “Can you open the barrier set up by Sun Ying?”
Yun Xuan was still absent-minded at the moment, but after a moment she nodded gently.
“That’s good,” Yang Kai also breathed a sigh of relief.
The barrier set up by a Transcendent would require a lot of time to break open if they didn’t understand how to. Yun Xuan knowing how to open it meant they didn’t need to break it by force.
“But…” Yun Xuan hesitated.
“No buts, Sun Ying is dead!” Yang Kai shook his head, a moment ago he could still faintly sense Sun Ying’s aura, but now he wasn’t aware of anything.
Yun Xuan’s face tightened as she stared blankly towards Yang Kai, seemingly unable to accept what he had just said.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from below.
Everyone expression changed as they stared towards a spot a short distance away.
A moment later, two or three kilometers away from them, several people emerged from the ground lead by Zhou Luo and Ruan Xin Yu.
Yun Xuan was overjoyed and quickly shouted out to them.
When Zhou Luo and Ruan Xin Yu heard her voice, they quickly rushed over to them. When they arrived though, Yun Xuan noticed that all of their faces were ghastly pale, as if they had all witnessed something terrifying.
“Uncle Sun?” Yun Xuan asked.
“Dead!” Ruan Xin Yu replied.
“What happened?” Yun Xuan’s tender body shuddered again. Just a moment ago she was leading her team to capture Metal Devouring Beasts and was reaping a huge harvest, everyone was rejoicing, then all of a sudden this happened and Sun Ying had actually died. Such a massive change in fortune in such a short period of time was quite difficult for her to accept.
“We don’t know,” Ruan Xin Yu said despondently, “All of sudden something leapt from the shadows. Uncle Sun fought back, and then… and then this!”
It was obvious to everyone that she was still quite frightened. Sun Ying had died right before her eyes and many of the members of her and Zhou Luo’s teams had perished under the fallout from the two Transcendents’ battle. Only a few of them managed to escape
This unknown enemy had shaken her greatly.
“We have to leave, quickly,” Zhou Luo’s face was pale, none of his previous calm elegance remaining. Their Transcendent Realm Elder had already died, so if they continued to remain here, the only result would be death. Right now, all he wanted to do was escape.
The three teams originally had more than twenty members in total, but now less than half that number was still alive.
All of the Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators realized at this moment just how fragile they were.
Although everyone felt sorrowful about the loss of their friends, there was no time for them to mourn as the priority right now was to escape.
Yang Kai followed behind the survivors, not daring to release his Divine Sense too strongly because although the enemy that killed Sun Ying had yet to make an appearance, his instincts told him that a pair of eyes was still watching them closely.
This hidden gaze was seemingly calm and composed and even contained a hint of mockery, like a predator that was enjoying the scene of its prey desperately trying to escape.
Yang Kai’s heart sank when he realized this because it meant the trouble they were facing right now was bigger than he had initial anticipated.
But unable to judge the true strength of his enemy and unable to even locate their position, Yang Kai could only take one step at a time.
The survivors from Bold Independent Union were also incredibly uneasy.
*Xiu…*
A sharp whooshing sound flew past them, causing everyone’s face to tighten. Freezing up for an instant, everyone quickly and silently assumed a defensive posture as they stared around their surroundings.
No one say anything.
But a moment later, Ji Hong screamed, “Young Lady, Zheng Wu, he… he…”
Hearing this, the crowd all turned towards the young man named Zheng Wu and saw that his eyes had glazed over and his body had gone limp as he stood there absentmindedly, the vitality quickly draining from his body.
“Zheng Wu…” One of the others who had a good relationship with him called out, but he received no response.
After Zheng Wu’s shoulder was tapped by this youth, the former fell straight to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
“Ahh…” Ruan Xin Yu screamed, her hand reaching up and covering her lips as all the colour drained from her face.
“He’s dead!” Ji Hong’s eyes widened as he stared at this scene in disbelief.
Yun Xuan was also greatly frightened, her pretty face drained to a pale white as her eyes darted around, desperately seek for the enemy’s whereabouts yet getting nothing for her effort.
Zhou Luo also couldn’t help trembling in fear.
The man named Zheng Wu was a member of his team and was a strong Immortal Ascension Boundary Sixth Stage cultivator, yet right in front of the eyes of so many others he was silently killed and bore no sign of any injuries or wounds on his body.
This unexpected development cause a cold chill to shoot up everyone’s back.
Their hidden enemy being able to silently kill Zheng Wu meant that any of them could also easily be killed.
After realizing this fact, everyone suddenly began to panic.
“Keep moving!” Yang Kai’s expression darkened as he shouted.
A moment ago, he noticed a strange and sinister Spiritual Energy attack pass by.
That Spiritual Energy attack was so powerful that even he felt uneasy. Such a powerful Divine Sense attack from the hidden enemy was definitely capable of silently killing anyone below the Transcendent Realm.
If the enemy wanted to, they could take the lives of everyone here in an instant.
But they hadn’t done this.
Yang Kai could only think of one possibility for this and that was that their enemy had a twisted personality that revelled in watching their victims struggle and panic.
Such an enemy was very difficult to deal with! Yang Kai had to find some kind of flaw in the enemies plans; he didn’t expect to be able to kill him, simply escaping would be enough.
While he was pushing his brain for an answer, Yun Xuan finally regained her composure, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before waving her hand, “Let’s go!”
The small group continued forward and soon reached Sun Ying’s barrier. Originally, Sun Ying had arranged this barrier to completely encircle the mine in order to prevent any of the Metal Devouring Beasts from escaping, but now it had ironically become the barrier to their escape instead.
If they wanted to get out, they first had to bring down Sun Ying’s barrier.
Yun Xuan, Ruan Xin Yu, and Zhou Luo quickly joined forces to open the barrier.
But just after they began, another wisp of wind passed by.
*Peng…*
Just like Zheng Wu before him, another Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator fell lifelessly to ground.
With their Knowledge Sea completely destroyed, there was no way this person could survive.
Yun Xuan and everyone else shivered and didn’t dare make any movements for fear that the hidden enemy would target them next. In this environment, none of them could find any sense of security.
After waiting for a long time, nothing happened.
Everyone gasped for breath, glanced at each other, and then began opening the barrier again.
*Xiu…*
A third person fell.
Ruan Xin Yu suddenly began crying, her tears falling down like raindrop, her shoulders trembling as she whimpered, “What is happening, just who is it that’s secretly picking us off?”
Yun Xuan took a deep breath and despite her fear, still tried to maintain her calm, calling out the void, “Which respected Master is here? Please show yourself. We are disciples of Bold Independent Union and have only come here to execute a mission assigned to us by our Sect. If we have somehow offended you, we deeply apologize and ask you to please be broadminded.”
“Hehehe….* A string of silver bell-like laughter that seemed to contain an endless sense of charm suddenly reached everyone’s ears. Anyone who heard this sound, regardless of who it was, couldn’t help feeling a heat well up inside their body.
“Since you dared try to catch my Monster Beasts, you’ll have to pay an appropriate price,” The voice seemed to drift from place to place so none of them could determine where it was actually coming from , sometimes it seemed to be right next to their ear yet in the next instant it was far away.
Yun Xuan’s face sank even more as she desperately tried to put on a forced smile, “We weren’t aware that these Monster Beasts already had a master, if we had known…”
“There’s no need to explain, now I just want to have a little fun killing you. All of you, do struggle hard and give me some fun. hehehe…” The voice was soft and silky, stirring up the deepest most base instincts of any man who heard them, causing them to want nothing more in life than to find the voice’s owner and wantonly ravage them.
Yang Kai quietly circulated his Joyous Unification Art and quickly dispelled the fire in his body with a small sneer forming on his face.
He discovered that this hidden enemy really was as he thought a twisted person who enjoyed toying with her food. This kind of enemy was very dangerous, but also very arrogant, as long as he held out; she would definitely show some flaws.
What Yang Kai was most worried about right now though was if she would target him.
Once she tried to use her Divine Sense to attack him, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to conceal his real combat power and would instantly become her primary target.
Hearing this mysterious woman’s voice, Yun Xuan was dumbfounded and hurriedly shouted a few more words, but she no longer got any response; instead, a fourth Bold Independent Union disciple was killed right in front of her eyes.
A huge sense of panic spread throughout the survivors and Yun Xuan and everyone else sped up their efforts to open the barrier.
One after another, the cultivators fell down, and as time passed the hidden enemy no longer seemed content to kill one person at a time, sometimes taking two or even three at once.
The number of Bold Independent Union disciples plummeted, and the members of Yun Xuan’s team fell one after another.
Seeing the companions she had been together with for so many years slowly die one by one, yet never once being able to lay eyes on their killer, Yun Xuan couldn’t stop her tears from flowing out as unbearable pain filled her heart.
Ji Hong finally couldn’t handle it anymore, hefting his great axe in both hands over his head and roaring in anger, “Damn slut, show yourself! Or what, are you so ashamed of your ugly face you don’t dare let others see you!?”
The moment he spoke these words though, Ji Hong’s body shivered violently before freezing in place. Although he remained standing in front of the remaining survivors, his giant axe still lifted high, appearing akin to a great fortress that could shelter them from wind and rain. However, in a matter of seconds, his vitality had disappeared and Ji Hong had died.
“Ji Hong!” Yun Xuan cried out in agony.
Yang Kai shook his head as his expression became bitter, annoyed in his heart.
This big bearded man was simple and honest. Although somewhat lewd, but he treated others fairly and Yang Kai had a fairly good impression of him…
Sweeping his eyes over the crowd, Yang Kai discovered that only three members of Bold Independent Union remained.
He didn’t know if it was the enemy’s intention or not but the remaining three people were the three team captains.
With the addition of Yang Kai, that made four.
Having remained safe and sound until now was a pleasant surprise to Yang Kai and made him feel slightly lucky, but now that only these four people remained, if their hidden enemy attacked again, her target would likely be him.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai shouted, “Miss, don’t you think it’s about time you come out? Even if I die, I’d at least like to see who it was that killed me.”
“Are you insane?” Zhou Luo roared as he glared at Yang Kai.
This hidden enemy’s methods were cruel and merciless; she killed people like killing flies. Now that the barrier was on the verge of opening and they could flee from here, the last thing Zhou Luo had expected was for Yang Kai to say something so stupid.
Wasn’t this just adding fuel to the fire?
If she were to really appear… Just thinking about it caused Zhou Luo to tremble.
A few meters away, the air suddenly began to distort and a blurry figure strangely appeared, gradually solidifying.
Upon seeing this figure though, all the anger on Zhou Luo’s face suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a of pure infatuation, as if he couldn’t wait to throw himself to the ground and worship this woman.
Not only Zhou Luo, but even Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a hot light, his heart suddenly giving birth to a strange desire.
This young woman was incredibly beautiful, a shapely face with long supple black hair, a tight waist and rounded hips along with thin red lips, she was slender and graceful beyond words, and she gave off a somewhat soft and weak image, causing one to unconsciously want to care for and protect her.
Especially charming was her pair of clear, innocent eyes that seemed to draw in the soul of any man who saw them, shackling his heart to her.
Her skin was a soft white and gave off a delicate feeling. Her thin waist seemed tender while her hips were the perfect shape. Her twin peaks were neither too big nor too small, just the perfect size to accentuate her figure. She wore a one piece leather outfit that exposed her lower abdomen and lovely navel. She wore no shoes, allowing one to see her exquisite feet that seemed to be cared from the finest jade.
Zhou Luo’s eyes burned with desire and hot steam leaked from his nose as he stared at this woman, his breathing quickly becoming ragged.
Yang Kai on the other hand wore a cold expression as he became even more vigilant.
He had seen many beautiful women before, but even the bewitching Shan Qing Luo couldn’t suddenly eliminate all the anger and hostility in his heart simply by appearing before him.
But this woman could, the instant she showed her face, Yang Kai suddenly discovered that all negative emotions he had in his heart had vanished and all that remained was a desire to protect her.
His first instinct was that if such a weak yet beautiful woman had no one protecting her, she would soon fall into danger.
“A Charm Monster!” Yun Xuan cried out in alarm, her face instantly going pale.
Ruan Xin Yu also seemed to understand the true identity of this woman and her tender body couldn’t help trembling, a strange feeling of inferiority and self-deprecation suddenly welling up in her heart.
Charm Monster!
When Yun Xuan called out this name, Yang Kai was startled and realized that this woman’s identity wasn’t ordinary.
“What is a Charm Monster?” Yang Kai lowered his voice and asked suspiciously.
Although he had whispered this question, he couldn’t conceal his actions from this seemingly delicate woman, the latter turning a beautiful and enchanting gaze lacking any kind of impurity towards Yang Kai and softly smiling, “You haven’t heard of us Charm Monsters?”
Yang Kai grinned slightly and nodded, “Nope, I came from a small remote place and don’t know much about the outside world.”
“Hehe…” The Charm Monster giggled, “Interesting, I never expected there were still some people who hadn’t heard of us, en, let me see…”
Saying so, she placed one of her jade fingers onto her red lips, showing a face filled with a contradictory mix of innocence and enticement, capable of seducing any man who saw it, “Young man, your courage isn’t small, since you want to know, before you die, I’ll satisfy your curiosity. That little sister over there seems to know a lot about us Charm Monsters, she can explain.”
“Young man?” Yang Kai was amazed, “Just how old are you, miss?”
“A woman’s age is her greatest secret,” The Charm Monster smiled happily, her expression filled with a perfect balance of seduction and embarrassment; cause Yang Kai’s pulse to race.
This woman’s lethality towards men was even stronger than Shan Qing Luo’s.
Zhou Luo had already lost all control of his rational mind and could only stare towards the Charm Monster with a look of pure admiration.
When the Charm Monster glanced at him and saw this, she simply snorted, a thick meaning of disdain apparent on her face.
“Yun Xuan, what is a Charm Monster?” Yang Kai turned and looked at Yun Xuan.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Yun Xuan brow twitched as she shouted out in annoyance. Now, in this life or death crisis, this brat still wanted to learn more about this Charm Monster, this kind of sexual obsession was really awe inspiring.
“Since we’re going to die anyways, I’d like to at least know what it was that killed me,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
Yun Xuan looked at the Charm Monster in front of them and smiled bitterly, “Fine, since we’re dead either way, I’ll explain. Charm Monsters… they belong to the Monster Race and are a very high-ranking existence, each of them is born beautiful and has their own unique markings, whether it be an icy temperament, a bewitching smile, or a pure innocence. In short, Charm Monsters are the ultimate nemesis of all men, whether they belong to the Monster Race, Demon Race, or Human Race, no male can resist the enchantment of a Charm Monster.”
“Charm Monster’s physiques are different from other members of the Monster Race. Their bodies are relatively weak and they are quite few in number, so their rate of survival is actually quite low, but once they fully mature, they become terrifying enemies because their true strength lies not in their bodies but in their Souls! Compared to other cultivators in the same realm, a Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy is significantly stronger; Uncle Sun and all the others should have been killed by her Divine Sense attacks!”
As she explained, Yun Xuan glared towards the willowy girl in front of them and clenched her fists, a look of hatred blazing in the depths of her eyes.
The Charm Monster smiled and made no attempt to stop Yun Xuan from revealing her secrets, a gloating expression that was already declaring victory never leaving her face.
But hearing Yun Xuan’s explanation, Yang Kai’s heart jumped as he suddenly saw a chance to turn things around.
This Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy was definitely stronger than his own, so if he couldn’t somehow lure her into his Knowledge Sea, he could only count on his superior physical strength.
Yun Xuan just said that Charm Monster’s bodies were very delicate, and just from looking at the one in front of him, Yang Kai could tell it was true.
Concealing these thoughts as best he could, Yang Kai continued to listen to Yun Xuan’s introduction.
“I heard that Charm Monsters like to drink the blood essence of people,” Yun Xuan said, a blush suddenly appearing on her face.
Even Ruan Xin Yu’s expression became a little unnatural, a hint of pink appearing on her neck while crimson filled her cheeks, pupils flitting about randomly.
“Interesting taste,” Yang Kai smiled but suddenly became confused, “So why did she just kill everyone from Bold Independent Union?”
If she wanted to drink their blood essence, it would naturally be better for her to capture them one by one, so Yang Kai didn’t understand why she had instead slaughtered almost all of them.
“I don’t want just any blood essence,” The Charm Monster smiled and said with great meaning.
Yun Xuan’s face became redder and exuded a mature charm mixed with shyness that made her seem incredibly attractive.
“What she wants to drink is… the blood essence of men and women who are emotionally intoxicated…” Yun Xuan voice became as quiet as a mosquito.
Yang Kai was dumbfounded and hesitated to ask, “What do you mean?”
Yun Xuan stamped her foot and bitterly cried out, “Can’t you already understand what I mean?”
Saying so, she glared at him hatefully.
“No way…” Yang Kai’s face twitched as he turned to stare at the Charm Monster, “You’re tastes area really is too interesting.”
However, the Charm Monster simply giggled and ignored the bitterness in his voice.
Yang Kai’s expression became pensive for a moment before playfully grinning, “So what you mean to say is that before we die you need all of us to reach a point of ecstasy?”
“En,” The Charm Monster gently nodded, staring at Yang Kai with great interest, “What’s wrong, aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course I’m afraid!” Yang Kai readily admitted, but quickly continued, “But we humans have a saying, ‘Dying in the arms of a woman will let any man die without regret!’”
No wonder she had left the four of the them alive, specifically choosing two men and women, it turns out she had this idea all along, at this moment, Yang Kai finally understood.
He wasn’t a little kid, so although Yun Xuan hadn’t been explicit, he knew what this Charm Monster wanted.
The Charm Monster on the other hand was amazed, not having expected this little brat to have such an open-mind, lightly nodding her head in appreciation, “Good. Seeing how obedient you are I’ll reward you with a choice.”
“What kind of choice?” Yang Kai stared at the Charm Monster and smiled.
“Of these two women, you can choose which one you want to spend your last moments with!”
As soon as the Charm Monster said these words, Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu’s faces paled, both of them unconsciously turning vigilant eyes towards Yang Kai. Ruan Xin Yu even clutching her robes tightly while Yun Xuan’s tender body trembled in fear.
Although she had just explained the special interests of this Charm Monster to Yang Kai, when the time came for the act to be carried out she still couldn’t bring herself to accept it.
“Can I choose both of them?” Yang Kai asked with a smile.
“Hehe…” The Charm Monster let out a lovably giggle, she had never encountered such an interesting man before. At the point of death, he was still thinking about grabbing as many beauties as possible, “Your appetite isn’t small young man, but you can only eat one. Now choose, the other one will be given to that guy.”
Saying so, she pointed her finger towards the glossy eyed Zhou Luo.
Yang Kai put on a disappointed expression as he turned his eyes towards Ruan Xin Yu, a smug look appearing on his face.
Being stared at by him like this, Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help feeling like she had been stripped naked, unable to hide anything in front of Yang Kai’s eyes, immediately shouting at him angrily, “If you dare choose me I’ll kill you.”
“I’m going to die anyways, what do I care?” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and snorted, “But don’t worry, I’m not familiar with you nor am I interested in you, I prefer women who are more mature.”
Saying so, he turned his eyes decisively towards Yun Xuan.
Yun Xuan beautiful face changed paled, hurriedly cursing, “You bastard! At this time you dare have such despicable intentions; you still owe me a favour yet this is how you choose to repay me?”
“There’s no other way,” Yang Kai shook his head helplessly, “People must bow beneath the eaves. Even if I try to fight back or rebel, would that change anything?”
“A wise choice,” Charm Monster gently nodded, “Your Human Race has always been despicable like this. When your lives are threatened, all the wicked and evil thoughts you keep buried inside burst out, I’ve seen this too many times already.”
“You say that as if your Monster Race is above such worldly affairs,” Yang Kai sneered.
“We’re at least better than you degenerates,” The Charm Monster smiled slyly.
As the two bantered back and forth, Yun Xuan’s well rounded the chest heaved up and down as a look of struggle appeared on her face only to suddenly become calm and determined as she coldly shouted, “Even if I die, I won’t let you cheap animals feel any better.”
Saying so, she rapidly pushed her True Qi and her aura becoming dangerous, apparently intending on blowing herself up.
Yang Kai’s complexion changed but before he had an opportunity to move, the Charm Monster had already shot her unique Spiritual Energy into Yun Xuna’s Knowledge Sea.
In an instant, the cold and ruthless look on Yun Xuan’s face disappeared and was replaced by a fascinated expression that was staring straight at Yang Kai, an intoxicated light flashing across her blurry eyes that was mixed with traces of fear and resistance.
“In front of me, none of you should even think about committing suicide!” The Charm Monster coldly snorted, in the next instant looking at Yang Kai tenderly, “Good, she’s already been poisoned with my Spiritual Energy toxin, no female can resist it. Being able to enjoy such a good woman, young man, you’ve really won big. Don’t let me wait too long, start moving already.”
Yang Kai smiled lowly as he wore a lewd expression, “Can young miss help me with a little something first?”
The Charm Monster was obviously getting impatient and coldly asked, “What do you want?”
“Having a pair of spectators makes me a bit nervous, can you make them faint?” Yang Kai pointed his fingers towards Zhou Luo, who had basically been ignored by everyone up to this point, and Ruan Xin Yu, who was now completely frozen with fear.
The Charm Monster wrinkled her brow cutely and hesitated for a moment before agreeing, “Fine.”
Saying so, with a wave of her hand, a barrier that separated Yang Kai from Yun Xuan from everything else around them appeared, leaving behind only the two of them and the Charm Monster herself.
“There, now you don’t have to worry about being seen.”
“Good, and can you…”
“Enough!” The Charm Monster snapped, another pulse of Spiritual Energy shooting out from between her brows and submerging into Yang Kai’s mind.
In the next moment, Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea tumbled and a strange foreign energy began stimulated his Soul, causing his blood to boil and his heart to race, hot air leaked from his nose as his breathing became rough, his thoughts becoming blurred as his primal instincts became stimulated.
“Get started, let me see what kind of skills you possess!” The Charm Monster laughed happily, her big beautiful eyes staring at the play before her, her long scarlet tongue licking her delicate lips as she whispered to herself, “The blood essence of a man and woman at the point of climax is too delicious.”
Her base and low smile was filled with a cruel madness, her previous soft and gentle temperament instantly disappearing.
Yun Xuan’s breathing had also become heavy by now and her face was flushed bright red, an intense heat flowing through her lower abdomen as her slender legs clamped awkwardly, her balance crumbling causing her to fall to the ground.
Yang Kai also felt an unstoppable fire rampage through his body, the mature, seductive aura Yun Xuan currently emanated becoming an irresistible temptation to him, causing all his self control to crumble as he pounced upon her, locked his lips with hers, and began wantonly pressing himself onto her tender body.
As this erotic scene began heating up, even the Charm Monster’s breathing became slightly ragged as she spectated the battle taking place in front of her.
On the ground, Yang Kai and Yun Xuan tumbled and rolled, tangling together with one another, their clothes quickly becoming disordered.
Both of them had been poisoned by the Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy toxin. This Spiritual Energy toxin was incredibly potent and was so strong that even Yang Kai couldn’t totally resist it, let alone Yun Xuan.
As the two entangled, Yun Xuan’s consciousness gradually became clearer, the heat and desire within her body slowly being sated, the manly aura Yang Kai gave off tasting like the sweetest water her parched body desperately desired. Consciously or unconsciously she sought him out while her rational mind still struggled to resist, but when she wanted to make an effort to push him away, she found that her body refused to listen to her and her eyes couldn’t help glancing towards the Charm Monster who was excitedly staring at this amorous scene, causing Yun Xuan to cry tears filled with unwillingness.
Yun Xuan had never dreamed that such an absurd and ridiculous scenario, where she would be deprived of her purity by an unfamiliar young man, would ever occur.
Although she styled herself quite boldly and always had an aggressive and open attitude, she had never actually been with a man before.
The resistance in her heart grew stronger and stronger as every shred of sense she had left told Yun Xuan to fight back, that even if she were to die she mustn’t be defiled and used so.
Seeing her now scattered clothes and feeling the cold forest air against her bare skin, Yun Xuan stretched out her hand and tried to exert the last of her strength to slap Yang Kai away, but her arm lost power half way through and instead wound itself around his neck, holding him tightly and drawing him further into her embrace.
Her long slender legs also refused to listen to the pleas from her rational mind and slowly wrapped themselves around Yang Kai’s study waist.
Her rich, tender body closely pressing itself against Yang Kai’s caused a surge of joy that seemed to come straight from her soul to erupt inside her, causing Yun Xuan to cry out in a voice she never knew she could make.
Realizing what she had just done, Yun Xuan’s became even more embarrassed.
“Yang Kai…” Yun Xuan involuntarily sweetly whispered in a soft and intoxicated voice, causing her to want to find a hole to crawl into and hide.
Between her legs, a warm nectar began leaking out and staining the grass beneath her as a deep sense of emptiness that desperately sought to be filled overwhelmed her…
In the next instant, a hot, solid piece of iron suddenly intruded into her most intimate place and Yun Xuan couldn’t help but scream. Her tender body shivered and her jade white skin was dyed a faint red hue as she quickly realized just what had happened.
Now fully aware that trying to resist the Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy toxin was nothing but a dream, a tear rolled down Yun Xuan’s face as she slowly closed her eyes and gave up the last strand of resistance in her heart, fully surrendering her body to this new and unknown sensation.
A tearing pain came from the lower body causing Yun Xuan’s eyes to shoot open and a grunt to leak from her lips, tightly clutching onto Yang Kai’s back in the next instant with her hands, her nails leaving deep traces on his strong muscles.
Her flower had finally been completely plucked.
The initial sharp pain in her nether region quickly disappeared and was instead replaced with an endless surge and retreat of pleasure, the fierce, beast-like male above her not showing the slightest tender affection as he rampantly tried to occupy every inch of her body. Yun Xuan felt her consciousness fly away into the sky and her body and soul experienced a freedom and intoxication she had never imagined possible.
Biting down hard on her luscious lips, Yun Xuan now constantly leaked moans of pleasure and pain from her mouth as she gave all of herself over to the man in front of her.
Teardrops unconsciously leaked from the corners of her eyes and streamed helplessly down her cheeks onto the ground below.
Weakly opening her eyes, Yun Xuan stared up towards the slightly young face above her that was currently pressing down upon her and suddenly thought something was wrong.
This youth, whose eyes were bloodshot, had veins pulsing from his neck and forehead and who seemed no better than a wild animal that wanted nothing more than to devour the prey in front of him gave her a strange feeling. Although he seemed completely intoxicated and immersed in the deed, Yun Xuan still somehow noticed that in the deepest depths of his eyes there was still a cold, rational calm.
But before she had a chance to ponder over this uncoordinated feeling, a new wave of pleasure overwhelmed her body and she was once again submerged in the throes of passions.
“Good good, so delicious!” The Charm Monster’s face blushed as she slowly became intoxicated by the atmosphere. Gently stepping forward, it only took her a few breaths to arrive at Yang Kai and Yun Xuan’s side. Standing there, she stretched out a smooth, jade white hand and caressed Yang Kai’s strong back as if she was encouraging him, whispering into his ear, “Harder, just a little more!”
With this devilish voice floating into his brain, Yang Kai really began moving more aggressively, causing the Charm Monster to smile wickedly.
Time passed rapidly as the pair vented their desires and gradually climbed to a peak. Meanwhile, the Charm Monster’s demeanor became more focused, seemingly waiting for some critical moment.
As Yang Kai and Yun Xuan both reached a climactic apex, the Charm Monster suddenly made her move.
Her seemingly soft and boneless hand plunged into Yang Kai’s back like a hot knife through butter, piercing a hole straight through him and then continuing down into Yun Xuan and tearing open her lower abdomen.
Yun Xuan screamed miserably, tears streaming down her eyes as a flash of extrication washed over her.
The blood essence that mixed together and flowed from gave off a particular aroma that was absolutely intoxicating to the Charm Monster.
“It’s this… this taste… this flavour…” The Charm Monster’s tender body kept shivering as if she was experiencing a sense of euphoria, her legs tightly clenching up as some faint clear liquid dripped down her thighs. Closing her eyes she completely immersed herself in this feeling of bliss.
The bloodshot redness in Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly disappeared at that moment and was replaced with a eerie calmness.
Pushing himself off of Yun Xuan’s limp body like a spring, both his hands swiftly gripped the Charm Monster’s delicate arm that was still piercing his body and ripped with all his strength.
*Kacha…*…
The indescribably soft jade white arm was snapped in two, exposing flesh and bone to the as green blood sprayed from the Charm Monster’s freshly broken limb.
A different kind of scream pierced the air as the Charm Monster’s beautiful eyes shot open and her enchanting face twisted in agony, seemingly falling from Heaven to Hell in an instant, incredulously staring at Yang Kai in front of her as she staggered backwards, pulling her arm out from his back as she did.
Before the Charm Demon had time to stabilize herself though, a flash appeared before her eyes and the youth who she was just watching partake of a young woman’s innocence appeared in front of her, stretched out his hand, and mercilessly grasped her throat.
“Finally, you’ve let your guard down!” Yang Kai’s expression was cold, his eyes were cold, his entire aura was ice cold, so much so that the Charm Monster felt like as if her blood had frozen over.
Staring at the youth in front of her in horror, the Charm Monster found that his body had indeed been run through by her and that his blood was flowing out even now, but his movements were extremely steady and he wasn’t the least bit flustered. In his eyes, the Charm Monster saw a thick ridicule and contempt and suddenly realized that from the beginning this boy had never fallen under her control.
“Impossible!” The Charm Monster roared hysterically like a crazed woman, “There’s no way you could have resisted my Spiritual Energy Toxin!”
“Why is it impossible?” Yang Kai sneered, increasing the strength in his hands as he slammed the Charm Monster onto the ground.
*Peng…*
A sharp pain ran through the Charm Monster’s delicate body making it difficult for her to breathe.
However, even though her body was currently at Yang Kai’s mercy, the Charm Monster didn’t show any fear, only endless hatred.
A huge burst of Spiritual Energy shot out from her forehead and instantly tore through Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea’s defence, flooding it with violent toxin.
She wanted erase Yang Kai’s Soul with this blow in order to sooth the anger she felt from having her arm destroyed.
Receiving this blow, Yang Kai’s forehead wrinkled and his body trembled a few times, but he soon returned to normal.
“Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?” Feeling the feedback from when her Spiritual Energy pulse entered Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the Charm Monster finally showed a look of fear. Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, there was a blazing heat that was so intense it burnt through her Spiritual Energy toxin almost instantaneously.
“So it’s called a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea. Many thanks for your kind guidance!” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
Ever since he absorbed the Jade True Spirit back in the Central Capital, Yang Kai discovered that his Spiritual Energy had taken on a flame type attribute, similar to his True Yang Yuan Qi.
Moreover, his Knowledge Sea had changed. Some patches of the sea now had flames burning.
This change was completely unexpected and caught Yang Kai by surprise; there was no one around he could consult about it either, so until now he didn’t even know what this change was.
Listening to the Charm Monster’s panicked voice, Yang Kai suddenly felt that this mutation was probably a good thing for him.
The Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy contained a potent toxin, but his own Spiritual Energy was now comprised of burning flames which were far stronger than before.
“Don’t kill me, I can work as your slave!” The Charm Monster shouted.
Her physical body wasn’t as strong as Yang Kai’s, and her powerful Divine Sense and Spiritual Energy toxin had no way of harming Yang Kai, so she quickly understood there was no way for her to kill him in this situation, and if she didn’t beg for mercy, she would die.
“Recognize me?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Yes, we Monster Race members can offer our loyalty to members of the Human Race. As long as you nod, I can offer you my Soul brand and become your servant,” The Charm Monster quickly explained.
“No need, I’m not interested in having such a dangerous servant!” Yang Kai said ruthlessly, concentrating all of his True Qi into his fists and to the horror of the Charm Monster, viciously punching her beautiful face.
Perceived this life-threatening crisis, the Charm Monster screamed and unleashed all of her Spiritual Energy, shooting it into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea in a desperate last-ditch attempt to kill him.
However, Yang Kai remained un-phased!
*Hong…*
As if he had punched a watermelon, the Charm Monster’s head suddenly exploded, yet Yang Kai still felt uneasy and continued to relentlessly strike her until all the vitality had disappeared from her body.
Her physical strength was really too weak, otherwise, there would have been no way Yang Kai could so easily kill her with her Transcendent Realm cultivation.
A suction force emerged from Yang Kai’s head at this time and a massive Spiritual Energy remnant from the Charm Monster’s collapsed Knowledge Sea was pulled into his own.
Although the Charm Monster’s last offer had tempted Yang Kai, he knew that with his current strength there was no way he could completely enslave such a master, especially one that specialized in Soul cultivation.
The Charm Monster wasn’t the same as the severely weakened Old Demon, she was too dangerous to keep around, so Yang Kai decisively decided to end all troubles.
Coughing a few times, fresh blood flowed out of Yang Kai’s mouth.
Wiping away this blood, Yang Kai quickly took out some Myriad Drug Milk from the Black Book space.
His body had been pierced through and was quite heavily injured; fortunately, Yang Kai had managed to shift himself so his vital organs hadn’t been destroyed, or this blow would have been fatal.
With the help of the Myriad Drug Milk though, his injury should be completely restored within a few days.
Turning his attention to Yun Xuan, Yang Kai’s expression became a bit complicated. After hesitating for a moment, he walked over to her side where she was lying in a pool of blood.
Lying in the pool of blood, Yun Xuan’s eyes were wide open, staring up at the sky blankly. Her beautiful body was still fully exposed to the air and the gaping wound on her flat belly continued to bleed profusely, dying her pure white skin a dark shade of red, giving her a tragically enchanting look.
She was still breathing, and there wasn’t any immediate danger to her life, but Yang Kai was keenly aware that she had no wish to go on.
It seemed like everything she had just experienced had made her no longer wish to live.
Barely supporting his own weak body, Yang Kai slowly walked towards her, picked up his clothes and wore his pants before tearing his shirt in half.
Hesitating for a moment, Yang Kai still took out some more Myriad Drug Liquid and smeared it on Yun Xuan’s wound.
The touch of his fingers made Yun Xuan’s tender body tremble and she finally regained some of her composure. After glancing around slowly and taking in her current situation, a complicated light flashed across her beautiful eyes.
“I know what you want to say, but it’s best if you don’t speak right now, once I’m doing treating your wound, whether you want to curse or beat me I won’t fight back. After all, what’s done is done, but you can rest assured that I won’t pester or entangle you after this. It would be best if we both considered this to be a bad dream and when everything is settled, part ways!” Yang Kai’s said meticulously, seemingly thinking aloud.
Using half of his shirt to clean up the wound on Yun Xuan’s lower abdomen, Yang Kai then used the other half to bandage her up.
Yun Xuan wanted to resist, but she currently had no strength left in her.
Having just reached a peak she had never before experienced, her body was currently extremely sensitive, so when Yang Kai’s hand gently touched her, she felt a wave of pleasure and comfort radiate from her core.
This feeling made her feel incredibly shameful so she simply closed her eyes and wept.
After gently arranging Yun Xuna’s clothes, Yang Kai gasped for breath and collapsed to the ground.
Since he began cultivating, he had never suffered such a serious injury, and if at the critical moment he had not shifted his vital points, the Charm Monster’s last strike would probably have taken his life.
This time his plan had been extremely risky. After Yang Kai had listened to Yun Xuan’s description of the Charm Monster’s traits, he had quickly come up with the idea of tempting her to approach him and then launch a decisive attack when she lowered her guard.
He hadn’t expected that the Charm Monster would act so cautiously though, causing him to have to put on a much bigger show than he had planned to.
The place where he and Yun Xuan lay on the ground was still isolated from the outside world by the Charm Monster’s barrier.
After the Charm Monster’s death, the barrier around them had become significantly weaker, but Yang Kai strangely found that neither Ruan Xin Yu nor Zhuo Luo had made the slightest movement yet.
Pushing his True Qi slightly, Yang Kai broke open the barrier around them and upon seeing the state of Ruan Xin Yu and Zhuo Luo, he was suddenly relieved.
The Charm Monster was probably afraid that when she was absorbing Yang Kai and Yun Xuna’s blood essence, her other prey would take the chance to escape, so she had used some method to make the latter two faint.
“Rest for a while, they’ll wake up soon,” Yang Kai sighed.
Yun Xuan still lay there quietly sobbing, her tears streaming down her face, not paying any attention to Yang Kai.
Knowing she was not in a stable state right now, Yang Kai no longer spoke.
Yang Kai silently sat on the ground and circulated his True Qi to refine the Myriad Drug Milk’s medicinal efficacies.
This was the first time he had used the Myriad Drug Milk to heal his injuries and although he knew it was comparable to a Spirit Grade healing pill, Yang Kai quickly discovered that he had far underestimated its potency.
The throbbing pain in his lower abdomen quickly disappeared and was replaced with a slightly cool sensation and he could even physically feel his muscle and flesh re-grow and seal itself.
Taking advantage of this quiet interlude, Yang Kai pulled his Divine Sense into his Knowledge Sea and absorbed the Spiritual Energy remnant left behind by the Charm Monster.
Time passed slowly.
Half a day later, Ruan Xin Yu and Zhuo Luo revived from their forced sleep.
Seeming unable to figure out just what had happened and what their situation was after regaining consciousness, the two of them stared at each other in confusion.
A moment later, the pair finally remembered what happened before they were put to sleep.
Ruan Xin Yu’s expression immediately underwent a great change as she glanced down at herself and only after she discovered that her clothes were still intact, did she let out a sigh of relief.
Zhuo Luo looked around and upon catching sight of something his eyes shot open.
He found that not far away, the Charm Monster that had so easily killed over a dozen Bold Independent Union disciples and a Transcendent Realm master had died a horrible death, her once beautiful body beaten almost beyond recognition and her head completely broken open.
Yun Xuan sat a short distance away as well, her arms wrapped around her knees, a look of helplessness spread across her face, and although she was no longer crying, her eyes were thoroughly red and inflamed.
She was currently staring straight at Yang Kai who was meditating a few steps away from her.
“Yun Xuan, are you okay?” Zhuo Luo hurried to over and asked.
However, Yun Xuan didn’t even respond to his presence.
“What happened? How did the Charm Monster die? Did some passing master take action to save us?” Zhuo Luo continually asked several questions. This time he was certain he all of them would die, yet now he discovered he had survived, naturally Zhuo Luo was a little excited.
“Stop talking for a moment,” Ruan Xin Yu cut him off as her eyes narrowed, she had quickly noticed that Yun Xuan’s current state was somewhat off and quickly came forward, kneeling in front of Yun Xuan, biting her thin lip as she hesitated for a moment before softly asking, “Yun Xuan, can you tell me what happened?”
But Yun Xuan still said nothing and only kept staring at Yang Kai.
Yun Xuan’s dazed look suddenly made Zhuo Luo’s expression sink as he turned a cold glare towards Yang Kai.
“Ah, were you injured?” Ruan Xin Yu finally noticed the wound on Yun Xuan’s lower abdomen. Although it had mostly been healed by the Myriad Drug Liquid and was currently bandaged, the dried blood was still quite obvious.
“Injured? Let me take a look!” Zhuo Luo was shocked and quickly came over to inspect the wound.
Hearing these shameless words, Ruan Xin Yu shot a cold glare towards Zhuo Luo and snorted, signalling him in a not so subtle way to stand back.
Stretching out her hand and taking Yun Xuan’s pulse, Ruan Xin Yu whispered, “No obvious problems besides some slight weakness, but she should be able to recover with a few days of rest. Hm? What’s this strange scent?”
Ruan Xin Yu’s brow suddenly wrinkled. She smelled an unusual scent on Yun Xuan, it was a bit sour and quite unlike the iron smell of blood.
Listening to her say this, Zhuo Luo suddenly sniffed the air, and upon smelling a familiar odor, his expression became gloomy.
Glancing at Yun Xuan’s current state, then at Yang Kai’s bare upper body as well as the unrecognizable Charm Monster’s corpse. Zhuo Luo suddenly understood what had happened while he had been unconscious.
He was a veteran in this field and had already been with countless women, so while Ruan Xin Yu, who still had no experience in these matters, didn’t know what this scent was, he did.
His face suddenly twisting in anger, Zhou Luo’s True Qi began welling up uncontrollably.
“What are you doing?” Ruan Xin Yu said in a disgruntled tone as she stared at Zhou Luo, unable to understand why he had suddenly become angry.
Zhou Luo just stared gloomily at Yun Xuan and quickly said, “Yun Xuan, have you already been… tarnished by that little brat?”
Hearing this, the dazed Yun Xuan finally reacted, her tender body trembling slightly.
Noticing this sudden change, Ruan Xin Yu immediately covered her mouth and suddenly remembered what had happened before she was knocked unconscious. Yun Xuan and that boy named Yang Kai had already fallen under the Charm Monster’s control, and knowing the Charm Monster’s habits, she would definitely have caused something to happen between them.
The joy of surviving this disaster had temporarily made her neglect this point.
“Yun Xuan, is that true?” Ruan Xin Yu beautiful face paled as she whispered hesitantly; although she and Yun Xuan had some issues between them, in truth, she still respected Yun Xuan because of the latter’s identity was somewhat different from hers.
Yun Xuan’s tears began falling again as she buried her head in her knees and sobbed softly.
“Sure enough…” Zhou Luo almost went insane. He had been pursuing Yun Xuan for a long time now yet had never once earned her favour, yet now in this deserted wilderness, her beautiful body had been defiled by some unknown little bastard.
A huge sense of shame exploded inside Zhou Luo’s heart and his aura quickly became dangerous.
Coldly staring at Yang Kai who was meditating nearby, Zhou Luo smiled fiercely and began walking towards him.
“Zhou Luo, what do you want to do!?” Ruan Xin Yu exclaimed.
Zhou Luo sneered, “What do I want to do? Haha, what else can I do? This little brat stole Yun Xuan’s innocence, what do you think I should do? I want him to pay for that sin with his life!”
As he spoke, his pace suddenly quickened as he menacingly shot towards Yang Kai.
“Stop!” Ruan Xin Yu left Yun Xuan’s side, rushed over and grabbed Zhou Luo, “Don’t do this.”
“You still want to protect him?” Zhou Luo looked at Ruan Xin Yu sarcastically, “What does this little brat have to do with you? What reason do you have to protect him?”
“We haven’t figured out what happened yet, you just killing him like this doesn’t seem right, does it?”
“What else is there to figure out, Yun Xuan already admitted it!” Zhou Luo roared.
“And what does that have to do with you?” Ruan Xin Yu asked coldly, staring at Zhou Luo with disdain, “What exactly do you think you are to Yun Xuan?”
“Move!” Zhou Luo shouted furiously, unleashing his strength and shoving Ruan Xin Yu aside, “I truly am not anything to Yun Xuan yet, but I definitely won’t allow any other man than me to touch her! This little brat must die, otherwise I won’t be able to dispel the anger in my heart!”
Saying so, Zhou Luo threw out a punch filled with murderous intent straight towards the unsuspecting Yang Kai’s face.
“No!” Yun Xuan’s panic-stricken cry rang out from behind them.
Upon hearing this voice, Zhou Luo’s rage only increased and his determination to kill Yang Kai became even stronger.
He would send this brat to hell with a single strike.
Ruan Xin Yu, who was knocked off balance and had fallen to the ground, turned her head away, unable to bear what would happen next.
Zhou Luo was an Immortal Ascension Boundary Ninth Stage and had launched a sneak attack against an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage kid, how this would end was not difficult to imagine, not to mention the fact that his target seemed to be injured.
Just as this heavy punch was about to slam into Yang Kai’s face, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes and one of his hands clawed forward, grabbing hold of Zhou Luo’s incoming strike.
Zhou Luo’s violent momentum, like a gale that had just encountered a mountain, was instantly blocked.
Yang Kai didn’t move, only staring coldly at Zhou Luo in front of him as he grinned coldly, “Friend, what are your intentions?”
Zhou Luo was clearly stunned. The punch he had put all his strength behind being easily caught by a kid much younger and two Minor Realms below than him was a scenario he found difficult to believe.
His expression changing greatly, Zhou Luo suddenly discovered that he somewhat couldn’t understand this boy.
Since there are 8, Monday will be a double release.
If there are 9, Monday and Tuesday will be a double release.
Not sure if this is confusing or not. Some people keep asking about this in the comment section so I thought it would be good to explain this.
Also,
It is not a joke (I hope). The manga will continue on the first week of April.
Stunned for only a moment, Zhou Luo quickly came to his senses and roared, “I want you to die!”
Yang Kai sneered, “You want me to die? I’m afraid you don’t have the skill.”
“Empty boasts!” Zhou Luo leapt back two steps and summoned a trident-shaped artifact into his hands. When this artifact appeared, it gave off a cold murderous intent.
As he poured his True Qi into it, the trident hummed as a brilliant radiance emerged from its head. Instantly concentrating all of his strength, Zhou Luo threw the trident out.
The trident soared forward like a mighty tiger, its jaws opened wide to rip Yang Kai apart.
Zhou Luo obviously didn’t want to waste any more time with Yang Kai, he wanted to kill him as quickly as possible to relieve his hate!
Yang Kai snorted, his expression becoming cold and solemn, Zhou Luo directing such thick killing intent towards him for some contrived grievance had angered him greatly.
Yang Kai’s figure flickered and easily avoided the attack of the trident.
His entire strength erupting, Yang Kai’s momentum and aura instantly underwent an earth-shaking change, causing Zhou Luo to unconsciously tremble in fear.
With Yang Kai as its centre, an invisible pressure wave burst forth, sending a strong gust of wind rolling in every direction.
Yun Xuan stopped crying and stared at Yang Kai in amazement, completely shocked by this sudden transformation, even briefly forgetting everything she had just endured.
Even Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help gaping as she stared dumbfounded at this scene.
*Hong hong hong…*
Yang Kai stepped out rapidly, leaving a series of afterimages in his wake and rushed to Zhou Luo’s side in the blink of an eye. Under the latter’s stunned gaze, a violent burst of True Qi slammed into his chest.
With a pitiful scream, Zhou Luo was sent flying like a paper basket, a trail of blood spurting from his mouth, making for a miserable sight.
Yang Kai stared coldly but did not immediately pursue.
*Peng…*
Zhou Luo’s body fell heavily to the ground but he quickly climbed up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a cruel light flashing across his eyes, “Playing the pig to eat a tiger? You really are a despicable bastard!”
It was only at this moment that he clearly realised that Yang Kai’s true strength was far beyond what an ordinary Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator should possess.
Being able to heavily wound an Immortal Ascension Boundary Ninth Stage with a single blow was not something an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage kid should be capable of.
“Xin Yu, help me kill him.” After experiencing Yang Kai’s strength, Zhou Luo not only did not give up but wanted to pull Ruan Xin Yu in to help him as well.
Right now, he is not this kid’s opponent, but with Ruan Xin Yu’s help, it should be possible to beat him, right?
Even if Yang Kai was a rare freak, he was still just an Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator.
Zhou Luo was absolutely determined to take Yang Kai’s life today.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed a cold light; he did not kill Zhou Luo with his last blow because he still had scruples about offending Bold Independent Union. Yang Kai wasn’t willing to stir up more trouble than necessary, but he hadn’t expected that him showing mercy had caused his enemy to underestimate him.
Turning his gaze towards Ruan Xin Yu, Yang Kai saw that the latter has not recovered from her initial shock and still had a stunned expression on her face.
If this woman really agreed to Zhou Luo’s proposal, Yang Kai didn’t mind slaughtering both of them.
“Xin Yu!” Zhou Luo shouted again.
Ruan Xin Yu finally reacted, frowning deeply as she shot back, “Are you stupid? Why should I kill him for no reason?”
Zhou Luo face went from red to blue as he glared hatefully at Ruan Xin Yu, “Even you want to speak up for him? What? Did you also fuck him while I was knocked out?”
Zhou Luo’s rampant words immediately enraged Ruan Xin Yu as she angrily shouted, “Nonsense! Come to your senses Zhou Luo, stop making a scene.”
“Haha, making a scene?” Zhou Luo smiled wickedly, as if his previous insult was actually the truth.
At this moment, Yun Xuan stood up slowly and cast a faint glance towards Yang Kai, taking a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, “Zuo Luo, stop, if you dare attack him again, don’t blame me for being impolite.”
Zhou Luo froze up, a stunned look appearing on his face as he stared towards Yun Xuan incredulously. A moment later shaking his head, he muttered, “Really nothing but a cheap slut. As soon as your body was tainted by him, you also surrendered your heart?”
Yun Xuan became angry out of shame and coldly declared, “What happened just now is my business, I don’t need to discuss anything with you, I can handle my own matters myself.”
“Handle your own matters? Haha!” Zhou Luo laughed like a madman.
He had gone completely crazy.
His gaze gradually becoming hostile as he hatefully glared at Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu, Zhou Luo’s expression filled with distress and disdain and, as he reached out and summoned his trident back to his hand, he sneered, “Since you insist on acting so, then don’t blame me for not showing due respect! But first, I’m going to butcher this brat!”
Seeing him like this, Yun Xuan slowly shook her head, “You don’t have such ability.”
“Even you say that!” Zhou Luo roared. Yang Kai had just despised him so, and now Yun Xuan was saying almost exactly the same thing. Zhou Luo had never felt more humiliated in his life, grinding his teeth in rage as he shouted, “If that’s what you think, then open your eyes and see if this Zhou Luo has the ability!”
Saying so, a violent True Qi erupted and several plate-sized light balls suddenly emerged from his body.
“Not good!” Ruan Xin Yu’s beautiful face paled, “Zhao Luo’s lost it.”
This move was Zhou Luo’s most powerful Martial Skill and he would almost never use it, but at this moment, he had actually brought it out to face Yang Kai. Obviously, he had lost his ability to judge the situation and was acting purely based on his hatred and anger.
As she shouted, Ruan Xin Yu quickly retreated, lest she be affected as well, not forgetting to drag Yun Xuan away with her as she fell back.
Yang Kai remained silent and stood watching until the energy balls around Zhou Luo’s body completely formed, a dignified expression filling his faces.
He could tell that these energy balls contained a terrifying amount of power.
But he was not afraid!
The light balls suddenly flew out while Zhou Luo simultaneously threw his trident, the two attacks complementing each other to increase the lethality of this attack several times compared to the one Yang Kai had just dodged.
This attack contained the full strength of an Immortal Ascension Boundary Ninth Stage cultivator.
“Be careful!” Yun Xuan exclaimed, her face blushing red after she spoke. She didn’t know why she had just tried to warn Yang Kai. She felt that the relationship between the two of them, because of the experience they just shared, had become somewhat strange.
There was no doubt that she hated this boy who had taken away her purity amidst the previous chaos, especially because he was at least seven or eight years younger than her!
But she also couldn’t bring herself to watch him die!
Originally, Yun Xuan thought that if anyone was going to kill him it would be her, that way she could wipe away her shame and then commit suicide to end everything once and for all.
A mess of difficult and unpleasant emotions swirled about in her heart that somehow led to her being unable to bear seeing Yang Kai in danger and warn him.
Seeing Ruan Xin Yu glance at her oddly in the next instant, Yun Xuan couldn’t wait to find a hole to crawl into and never come out again.
“You…he…” Ruan Xin Yu’s womanly instincts ignited.
“Don’t ask me,” Yun Xuan was red from the top of her head all the way down her neck, her heart tossing and turning chaotically.
“En…” Ruan Xin Yu immediately chose to remain silent.
*Hong hong hong…*
Not far away, Zhou Luo’s attack had already hit its mark, and the energy it contained exploded, engulfing Yang Kai, leaving the latter path of escape.
The two women couldn’t help covering their mouths, trembling slightly at the sight.
*Pa pa pa…*
A rapid set of bangs rang out and the blast of energy was quickly dispersed in a series of explosions, quickly revealing Yang Kai’s figure.
He was completely unharmed, only the wound on his abdomen had opened again due to his rapid movements, causing his face to go slightly pale.
Zhou Luo couldn’t help taking a few steps back as he stared at Yang Kai in horror, muttering over and over again, “Impossible!”
No one in the Immortal Ascension Boundary could withstand his killing strike, much less do so and emerge completely unscathed, yet this brat in front of him had done just that.
“Nothing is impossible!” Yang Kai walked forward slowly, his expression incomparably ugly. His injuries were on the verge of healing but because he was dragged into this ridiculous fight, his condition had worsened once again. Naturally, he wanted to end things quickly, “I originally didn’t want to kill you, but looking back now, there was never any reason for me to spare your life.”
Saying so, his figure suddenly disappeared.
Zhou Luo’s eyes bulged as he sensed the approach of a deadly crisis, but before he could mount any kind of defence, he felt a massive impact on his chest.
The sound of bones shattering rang out like rice being poured into a pot.
Yang Kai’s figure once again appeared in front of him, but Zhou Luo no longer had the ability to move. All of his bones had been smashed while his five viscera and six organs had been pulverized. He was now nothing more than a sack of meat.
His vitality had been completely eliminated.
*Cough…* Yang Kai staggered two steps before managing to stabilise himself again, his hand covered in wounds as fresh blood flowed down his fingers.
Casting a glance towards the distant Yun Xuan, he found that this woman actually had a trace of excitement on her face. Whether it was happiness or not, he couldn’t tell. Shaking his head helplessly, he no longer paid any attention to her, hurriedly sitting down and continuing to heal himself.
“Yun Xuan…” Ruan Xin Yu, who had nearly lost her ability to think after everything she had just seen, hesitantly asked, “What should we do about this?”
“Do about what?” Yun Xuan asked softly as she gently gasped for breath. Obviously, she was still quite weak.
“He killed Zhou Luo.”
“Do you want to seek revenge?” Yun Xuan turned her head and stared at Ruan Xin Yu coldly, the latter clearly noticing a trace of hostility and vigilance in the other party’s eyes.
“That’s not what I meant,” Ruan Xin Yu quickly stated, “It’s just that even though Zhou Luo was an annoying bastard, he was still a captain of one of the Union’s teams. Him dying in front of us…”
“Haven’t enough people died today already? Zhou Luo was clearly in the wrong here, and now he’s dead and gone. This kind of trash, no one will miss him. Him remaining would have only brought more trouble to the Union, in the end. En, after returning to the Union, I’ll make a full report to the higher-ups, you don’t need to concern yourself over it.” Yun Xuan said faintly.
After half a day, Yun Xuan had somewhat managed to stabilise herself and, after reflecting on things, she no longer felt completely helpless. Although she was still lost and confused, she had at least regained her calm.
“You…you really…towards him…” Ruan Xin Yu’s look became ambiguous “What’s so good about him?”
Yun Xuan blushed again and muttered under her breath, “Don’t say any more.”
As she whispered so, she snuck a glance over at Yang Kai before quickly averting her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering as she did so.
“You get some rest, I’ll handle everything else here,” Ruan Xin Yu sighed and swept her eyes over the dead bodies and chaotic battlefield around her, rubbing her forehead as she felt a big headache coming on.
Yun Xuan nodded lightly and sat down, crossing her legs and closing her eyes while controlling her breathing.
Inside the forest, Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu leaned against a big tree, both of them feeling incredibly weak.
Yun Xuan was both emotionally and physically tired while Ruan Xin Yu was mentally and physically tired. Both of them took to resting against this big tree for quite some time before they gradually recovered.
There was still one big lingering question on Ruan Xin Yu’s mind though, and that was how the Charm Monster, who had easily killed Sun Ying, ended up dying in such a miserable fashion.
At that time, she was unconscious, and Yang Kai and Yun Xuan were concealed inside the Charm Monster’s barrier, so even if she was awake she wouldn’t have known what had happened.
After taking care of the aftermath around here, Ruan Xin Yu asked Yun Xuan about this.
Yun Xuan hesitated for a while before briefly explaining what had happened. Ruan Xin Yu was immediately shocked, of course, “He killed her?”
“En,” Yun Xuan nodded lightly, glancing over at Yang Kai who was still meditating not far away, a look of confusion flashing across her face.
“You’re kidding right?” Ruan Xin Yu quickly realized something wasn’t right, “Even if that Charm Monster’s body wasn’t strong, her Spiritual Energy is much stronger than an ordinary Transcendent. Before she died, if she had used any kind of Divine Sense attack, it should have been enough to kill him. What kind of ability does he have to be able to survive such an attack?”
“I don’t know,” Yun Xuan shook her head, “I only saw the scene where he killed the Charm Monster, I don’t remember anything else.”
“Then when you and him…”
“Don’t ask,” Yun Xuan’s face suddenly became awkward. Although she was poisoned at the time and her memory was quite vague, she would still remember some blurry images from time to time, and while her mind many not remember much, her body’s feelings were still quite vivid. Especially clear was the tearing pain she felt in her most private depths.
Remembering that one instant caused Yun Xuan’s face to blush red.
“He’s really a strange person,” Ruan Xin Yu seemed to have some interest in Yang Kai, “Only a trivial Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator yet capable of killing a Charm Monster. On top of that… even Zhuo Luo couldn’t take a single blow from him.”
Zhuo Luo was the captain of a small team in Bold Independent Union. Regarding his strength, neither Ruan Xin Yu or Yun Xuan were his opponent. Therefore, Yang Kai easily being able to kill him meant if he wanted to, he could also kill both of them.
“You’ve really picked up a treasure. If you can pull him into the Union…” Ruan Xin Yu’s eyes flashed as she thought about such prospects.
“Even if I could win him over, what of it? Ji Hong and all of them, they’re all dead…” Yun Xuan’s face sank, remembering how the team members she had been together with for over three years had all died, none of them having even seen their enemy before being cruelly murdered. She couldn’t help feeling a deep pain in her heart, “On top of that, I don’t know if he would even be willing to join Bold Independent Union.”
“If you don’t want to win him over, then let me try,” Ruan Xin Yu leapt up, an eager look of excitement appearing on her face, “So many of our members died, so there’s a need to do some recruitment.”
“You’re not allowed to have any ideas about him!” Yun Xuan immediately objected.
“Tch, such a fickle woman… You say you have no interest in him and don’t want to rope him in, but you also won’t allow me to try? What is this?”
“In any case, you’re not allowed!” Yun Xuan said seriously.
“Fine, fine, I won’t argue with you. Since you’re wounded right now, I’ll give you some face,” Ruan Xin Yu laughed.
Although the two of them had been at odds before, after surviving this life-threatening crisis, the bad feelings between the two of them had diminished significantly and their mutual grudge had basically disappeared, allowing them to interact far more harmoniously.
As the two were speaking, they suddenly heard a long breath. The two women glanced over towards Yang Kai and saw him open his eyes. Although his injuries hadn’t fully healed yet, his complexion was much better than before.
As if aware of their gazes, Yang Kai also glanced over at them, and when his eyes met with Yun Xuan’s, his expression became a little unnatural. As for Yun Xuan, she quickly averted her gaze as her tender body slightly trembled.
Remembering the fierce battle the two of them had fought; her entire body couldn’t help becoming somewhat hot.
Ruan Xin Yu obviously saw their reactions and faintly smiled, beckoning to Yang Kai as she called out, “Little Brother, come over here.”
Yang Kai coughed lightly and stood up, walking over to the two young women and sitting down in front of them, his expression calm and composed.
Ruan Xin Yu’s pair of beautiful eyes swayed as she glanced over Yang Kai’s naked upper body, a touch of admiration flaring up inside her. She had never noticed before but this young man’s physique was really quite good. His muscles were firm yet not bulky and seemed to contain an explosive power, so it was no wonder he had dared to lure the Charm Monster in close in order to find an opportunity to kill her.
“How is your injury?” Ruan Xin Yu asked.
“I won’t die,” Yang Kai grinned.
“Your body’s not bad,” Ruan Xin Yu said, throwing him a coquettish look.
Her overt actions obviously made Yun Xuan unhappy and earned her a gentle pinch.
Yang Kai awkwardly scratched his nose and began to say, “Yesterday…”
“Nothing happened yesterday,” Yun Xuan quickly interrupted him, trying to deceive both him and herself.
Hearing this, Yang Kai was stunned but quickly laughed, “That’s for the best.”
He thought this woman would cling to him and make a tearful scene but unexpectedly she reacted so calmly and indicated she didn’t want to bring up yesterday’s episode again. Her thoughts lined up well with Yang Kai’s intentions.
The event of yesterday was not something Yang Kai had done willingly, but under the influence of the Charm Monster’s Spiritual Energy toxin. Both of them were unable to help themselves, and Yang Kai also intended on luring in the Charm Monster, so he could only make the best of a bad situation.
Dealing with an enemy like the Charm Monster, if he couldn’t get close to her and get her to drop her guard, Yang Kai wouldn’t have been able to kill her.
“Hmph…” Ruan Xin Yu immediately became disgruntled and glared at Yang Kai, “Nothing happened? Do you intend on eating a meal and then skipping out on the bill? Yun Xuan saying so is barely acceptable but what about you? Do you not dare admit your own mistakes?”
“What do you want to say?” Yang Kai asked. The concerned parties were willing to let the matter drop yet now this Ruan Xin Yu suddenly decided to butt in, obviously this made Yang Kai feel a bit bewildered.
“I want you to take responsibility of course,” Ruan Xin Yu said crisply, “The innocence Yun Xuan protected for thirty years was robbed by you. Don’t tell me you don’t feel the slightest bit responsible?”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed as he looked at Ruan Xin Yu with great interest, “Weren’t you both enemies? Why are you suddenly fighting for her?”
Ruan Xin Yu simply sneered, “How I relate to her is none of your damn business. Right now, I’m standing up for her as a fellow woman. Helping her seek justice is only natural.”
“Are you also a virgin?” Yang Kai evilly chuckled.
Ruan Xin Yu’s face went stiff as she scolded, “Bastard!”
Raising her hand to smack Yang Kai across his face, she suddenly stopped and thought her actions weren’t quite right. She was definitely not his opponent so she could only retract her hand and gnash her teeth indignantly, blushing.
“Enough,” Yun Xuan interjected, “Xin Yu, this is my own matter, so I’ll solve it myself. You don’t have to say anymore.”
Ruan Xin Yu was helpless, shooting a hateful glare towards Yang Kai before turning her gaze away and snorting.
Turning her attention to Yang Kai, Yun Xuan’s beauty eyes clouded over somewhat as she stared absentmindedly.
After a long time, Yun Xuan finally said, “I want to ask you a few things, and seeing how I’ve just eaten such a big loss, I hope you can answer me honestly.”
“Go ahead. If I can, I won’t conceal anything!” Yang Kai gently nodded and replied frankly.
“Who exactly are you? What is your true cultivation?” Yun Xuan asked seriously. Obviously, she wanted to know more about this young man who had obtained her purity.
“As I told you before, I’m just a traveller from a very remote place. As to where exactly I’m from, I can’t describe it clearly. As for my cultivation realm, it’s exactly as you can see, Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage, I haven’t made any attempt to conceal this point,” Yang Kai replied truthfully, pausing for a moment before adding, “Well, my Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation isn’t quite the same as an ordinary cultivator. In the Immortal Ascension Boundary, I’m probably an invincible existence.”
“Shameless boasting!” Ruan Xin Yu snorted. Although she felt he was somewhat exaggerating, remembering his previous performance, he indeed had some impressive strength.
“What is your relationship with Shui Ling of Water Spirit Temple? Why does she care so much about you?” Yun Xuan asked again.
“My relationship with her… is not what you think. We can only be regarded as normal friends. The reason she cares about me is probably that I helped her when she found herself in a difficult situation.”
Yun Xuan gently nodded, seemingly satisfied with this answer, thinking for a moment before continuing, “Why did you insist on following us on this mission? Inside the mine, why didn’t you clearly state what kind of danger there was? Since you’re so strong, when my Bold Independent Union disciples were being killed, why didn’t you take action sooner and instead waited until… until… she dropped her guard.”
This time, as Yun Xuan asked, her tone gradually became somewhat excited.
However, Yang Kai just calmly shook his head, “You’re suspicious of my intentions, right? You suspect that I have some kind of ulterior motive for entering Bold Independent City. However, you can rest assured that everything I’ve told you is the truth. Deciding to follow you on this mission was really because I wanted to return the favour I owed you for delivering me that piece of Sky Cicada Jade, and now that I’ve saved your life, I’d say our debts are cleared. As for not warning you back inside the mine, if you recall, I did try to warn you, but you didn’t trust me and I couldn’t provide any evidence. If I had tried to say anything more you would have only become even more suspicious of me, so I decided to say nothing. In any case, our relationship wasn’t that close. We couldn’t even be considered friends, so the lives of your Bold Independent Union disciples were irrelevant to me!”
“Finally, regarding me waiting for the Charm Monster to drop her guard… If she didn’t show any opening, how was I supposed to kill her? If I had really tried to fight her head-on, I might not necessarily have been her opponent; you should have realized just how powerful her Spiritual Energy was. As for obtaining your innocence, although it wasn’t my intention, that truly was my fault, so however you want to beat or curse me I won’t object. In any case, what’s done is done.” Saying so, Yang Kai’s attitude became one of a dead pig that doesn’t fear boiling water.
Hearing his gruff dismissal, Ruan Xin Yu ground her teeth and wanted to curse, but also secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, Yang Kai had chosen Yun Xuan. If he had instead picked her, she would have been the one to suffer. Thinking so, Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help feeling some lingering fear.
Although she was quite optimistic about this boy’s potential, it wasn’t to the point where she would freely offer up her body to win him over. If such a thing had really happened to her, Ruan Xin Yu felt she probably would have tried to hack him to pieces with her sword.
In comparison, Yun Xuan’s tolerance was quite strong.
Yun Xuan was also quite upset. Obviously, she was the one who had suffered the biggest loss here, but now Yang Kai was the one putting on a wronged expression.
Taking a deep breath, Yun Xuan slowly calmed herself, and upon opening her eyes, she gave Yang Kai an indifferent glare.
“Yang Kai…” Yun Xuan muttered softly.
“Hm?” Yang Kai replied softly.
“You’re a real animal!” Yun Xuan’s said gently.
“En…” Yang Kai blushed somewhat awkwardly.
After such a big event where everyone who survived was physically and mentally exhausted, although they knew that the Metal Devouring Beasts that were buried below wouldn’t die so easily, whether it was Yun Xuan or Ruan Xin Yu, neither of them had any desire to dig them out right now.
Instead, Ruan Xin Yu took out a small Universe Bag and handed it to Yang Kai.
“What’s this?” Yang Kai asked, somewhat confused.
“Your spoils,” Ruan Xin Yu grinned, “While you were resting, I took it off of the Charm Monster, guess what was inside?”
Yang Kai paused for a moment before offhandedly saying, “Probably a bunch of valuable refined metals.”
“How did you know?” Ruan Xin Yu immediately felt like something was caught in her throat.
Yang Kai simply grinned, “The Charm Monster previous said that those Metal Devouring Beasts were hers. Since that was the case, then these Monster Beasts showing up here wasn’t an accident but the deliberate actions of the Charm Monster. She let them devour the Sun Tin Ore and then collected their refined products. Moreover, when we were exploring the mine, we never found any traces of refined minerals excreted by the Metal Devouring Beasts. Everything must have been collected by the Charm Monster and stored inside her Universe Bag.”
Yang Kai’s sudden analysis made Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes shine brilliantly.
Ruan Xin Yu also began seeing him in a better light, “You… I’d never have guessed it but it seems your wit is also quite sharp.”
Smiling as she followed up, “There’s a lot of refined Sun Tin inside that bag, if you take it and sell it all, you can earn a lot of Crystal Stones.”
Yang Kai thought about it for a while before throwing the Universe Bag back to Ruan Xin Yu and shaking his head, “You lost so much this time, after returning, you’ll need to offer Bold Independent Union some kind of explanation, so you should hold on to these things.”
Ruan Xin Yu smiled happily and accepted. She had also thought of this point but seeing how the Charm Monster was basically killed by Yang Kai single-handedly, she had still offered the battle’s spoils to him first.
Yun Xuan opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but eventually chose not to.
“We should leave here now, I’ll escort you two to a nearby town,” Yang Kai got up first. This sentence made Yun Xuan somewhat confused as she turned a slightly suspicious look towards him.
This place was on the border of Bold Independent Union’s territory. Two or three day’s journey was a small city that the group had passed on their way here.
Half a day later, the group of three left the forest and in a small nearby village, Yang Kai rented a carriage and let Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu sit inside while he acted as the driver and proceeded towards the city.
This bit of gentle consideration improved Ruan Xin Yu’s impression of him and even caused Yun Xuan to smile softly.
After the two women chatted idly for a while, Yun Xuan succumbed to her fatigue and fell asleep. Ruan Xin Yu, now bored, hopped out of the carriage and sat side by side with Yang Kai, resting her head on her delicate hand as she stared fixedly at Yang Kai who was himself concentrating on waving the whip.
“Why are you staring at me?” Being observed in such a manner made Yang Kai feel somewhat uncomfortable.
“I’m just thinking about who or what you are,” Ruan Xin Yu grinned, “You were injured so heavily, yet now you’re basically bursting with energy?”
“My resilience is just a bit better than ordinary people.”
“I noticed,” Ruan Xin Yu gently nodded, “Being young is good.”
“You consider yourself old?” Yang Kai laughed as he glanced over at her.
“Compared to you at least. I’m almost thirty years old, the same as Yun Xuan,” Ruan Xin Yu laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly.
“Between you and Yun Xuan, what happened? Previously you two couldn’t stand being together, but now you’re practically acting like family. Are all women so fickle?”
When Yang Kai asked this, Ruan Xin Yu fell silent, her pretty face flashing a trace of sadness.
Seeing this unexpected reaction, Yang Kai knew he had asked something he shouldn’t have and quickly shrugged, “If you don’t want to say it, just pretend I never asked.”
However, Ruan Xin Yu shook her head and muttered, “We really should have been one whole family… Do you know what Yun Xuan’s real status is?”
“I only know that her identity is not simple,” Yang Kai replied casually. Whether it was Grandmaster Ma from the Artifact Hall or the former Transcendent Realm master Sun Ying, both of their attitudes towards Yun Xuan were quite polite and accommodating, even somewhat respectful. If she was just an ordinary Bold Independent Union disciple, such a display would have been impossible.
“It’s really not simple,” Ruan Xin Yu quietly glanced back and upon seeing Yun Xuan still asleep, she quietly said, “Yun Xuan is actually the daughter of the Union’s current master!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help stared at her blankly.
“That’s right, Bold Independent Union’s Union Master.”
“Then why is she…”
With such an identity, Yun Xuan shouldn’t be out here in the forest completing missions, but instead be occupying some important position. On top of that, she didn’t have the demeanor that the young lady of a big force should have.
“She has her reasons,” Ruan Xin Yu took a soft breath, “I can tell you, but you have to promise not to spread it around.”
“Do I look like someone who likes to gossip?” Yang Kai gave her a blank look.
Ruan Xin Yu looked at him seriously for a moment before nodding, “Yun Xuan had a younger brother with extraordinary aptitude. Even at a very young age, he displayed talent comparable to any core disciple of a first-class Sect, but because of our Bold Independent Union’s special system, the Union Lord intentionally let him start from the bottom of the ladder, making him go out and participate in missions as part of a team just like any other ordinary disciple. He performed quite well, and from his initial position, he quickly rose to become a team captain who was highly respected by his team members.”
Seemingly remembering this sweet past, Ruan Xin Yu’s face overflowed with smiles as she rambled on about a few random anecdotes.
Although these things seemed irrelevant to Yang Kai, he didn’t interrupt her reminiscence.
“However, if you often walk next to the river, how can your shoes not get wet?” Ruan Xin Yu’s voice suddenly fell a lot, “On what was supposed to be a routine mission, the Young Lord unfortunately died, and his team was almost completely annihilated, with only one member barely managing to survive.”
“Yun Xuan loved her younger brother very much, so when he died, she blamed the Union Lord, saying that if it weren’t for his stubborn insistence that the Young Lord work his way up from the bottom of the Union, he wouldn’t have suffered such a fate. After that, Yun Xuan announced that she would discard her identity as the First Young Lady and like her young brother work her way up from the grassroots level of Bold Independent Union…” Ruan Xin Yu’s eyes were a little red as her voice gradually began to choke up.
Yang Kai remained silent and indifferent, not showing any outward changes in expression.
“She obviously made that choice in protest against the Union Lord and also to complete the task the Young Lord had failed to finish,” Ruan Xin Yu sighed, “Do you know why Yun Xuan doesn’t hate you for taking her innocence, even not showing any meaning of trying to hold you responsible?”
“Why?”
“Because when her brother died, he just happened to be twenty years old at the Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage!” Ruan Xin Yu smiled miserably and added, “Seeing you now, like this, alive and well, she simply can’t bring herself to hate you!”
Yang Kai gently took a breath and thought for a moment before asking, “The only survivor from her younger brother’s team was you, right?”
Ruan Xin Yu was dumbfounded, but soon nodded gently, “Your head is really quite good. En, I was a member of the Young Lord’s team and the only reason I survived was because he saved me, that’s why Yun Xuan and I were at odds. However, I know she wasn’t trying to blame me, she just couldn’t bear to face me, because every time she sees me, she can’t help thinking about him.”
“Were you in love with him?” Yang Kai grinned.
Ruan Xin Yu glanced at him and blushed, “Why would you ask that? It’s all in the past now.”
“Fine, then why are you telling me all this,” Yang Kai shook his head.
“You’re so smart, how can you not understand after everything I just said?” Ruan Xin Yu glared at Yang Kai hatefully, silently criticizing this little bastard for still trying to play dumb at this point.
Yang Kai put away his wry grin and wore a serious expression, only shaking his head and speaking after a long silence, “I won’t join Bold Independent Union. Nothing you say could persuade me otherwise. Although I sympathize with Yun Xuan’s experience, and I admire her persistence, I have my own things I need to do.”
“You bastard!” Ruan Xin Yu shouted, “After gaining such a big advantage you want to just walk away?”
“What kind of advantage did I get?”
“You have the gall to ask that? You and Yun Xuan… you…”
“What?”
“You know in your own heart,” Ruan Xin Yu was incredibly angry, not understanding how this young man could act so shamelessly, clearly knowing what she wanted to say yet pretending otherwise just to embarrass her.
“In any case, you need to take responsibility!” Ruan Xin Yu immediately played rouge, “If you don’t join Bold Independent Union, I’ll report everything that happened to the Union’s leadership and have them chase you down!”
Yang Kai suddenly turned to look at her and smiled grimly.
Ruan Xin Yu felt a cold chill run up her spine and couldn’t help clenching her fists, trembling as she asked, “What do you want to say?”
Yang Kai looked up at the sky and slowly muttered, “The moon is hidden, and it’s a good night!”
Ruan Xin Yu’s beautiful face went pale as she quickly recalled everything that had happened earlier. If this youth really wanted to silence her here, she wouldn’t be able to resist.
If he were to silence her here, in this vast wilderness, no one would be able to find her body.
Just as she was feeling afraid, Yun Xuan’s gentle voice rang out behind her, “You two… don’t make such terrible jokes.”
Ruan Xin Yu was stunned for a moment, and then quickly spat out her tongue towards Yang Kai before hopping back into the carriage.
A moment later, she emerged again, supporting Yun Xuan as the two of them sat together beside Yang Kai, breathing in the crisp night air.
“Do you really want to leave?” Yun Xuan asked Yang Kai, a trace of melancholy upon her face.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded sternly.
“Fine, Bold Independent Union is too small to accommodate someone like you, it’s for the best that you go out and see the rest of the world,” Yun Xuan tightly gripped her clothes, feeling slightly cold as she muttered, “Regardless, I should still thank you for this time.”
“Are you stupid?” Ruan Xin Yu stared at her incredulously.
“If it weren’t for him, Uncle Sun and Ji Hong’s deaths would have gone un-avenged and we would both be dead. Naturally, we should thank him.”
Ruan Xin Yu’s brow furrowed and had to admit Yun Xuan had a point. If there was no Yang Kai this time, everyone from Bold Independent Union would have been wiped out with no one ever knowing the truth.
“No need for thanks, I was just protecting myself,” Yang Kai shook his head.
Yun Xuan smiled and said no more, a while later whispering, “Xin Yu, help me back inside. It’s a little cold tonight.”
“En,” Ruan Xin Yu nodded and helped Yun Xuan get back into the carriage. Soon, a soft breathing could be heard coming from inside and Yang Kai looked back to see the two women sleeping in each other’s embracing, a look of calm upon their faces.
After three days of traveling, the group of three arrived at Raging Flame City.
Even before arriving at the city, Yang Kai felt a hot wind blowing towards him and even the ground beneath his feet seemed warm to the touch, The horses that drew the cart all shed sweat as they trotted by.
This kind of heat made Yang Kai feel very comfortable and he couldn’t help breathing in the local atmosphere.
The special environment of Rag7ing Flame City also attracted a large number of masters who cultivated Fire Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skills. No one knew why Raging Flame City was like this, but those who cultivated Fire Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skills all clearly felt that cultivating here was much more efficient than in other places.
It seemed like even the air here was infused with Fire Attribute Yuan Qi far denser than ordinary.
It was rumored that a huge magma river ran deep beneath Raging Flame City which had led to the creation of this unique environment, but rumors were only rumors and no one had yet been able to confirm this one.
Standing here, Yang Kai fully released his Divine Sense and could indeed detect a rich Flame Attribute Yuan Qi deep underground.
His original intention was to escort Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu to Raging Flame City and then leave; after all, there was a branch of Bold Independent Union in this city, so arriving here would mean they had essentially returned to Bold Independent Union.
But the two women insisted that he stay to rest before setting out again.
Yang Kai thought about it and eventually agreed. After all, his injuries had yet to fully heal.
Once their identities were confirmed and they entered Raging Flame City, Raging Flame City’s City Lord Ji Yan quickly came out to greet them.
Ji Yan was a First Order Transcendent, the same level cultivator as Sun Ying. Because he cultivated a Fire Attribute Secret Art, and his strength was quite good, he had been chosen as Raging Flame City’s City Lord and charged with protecting this place.
His presence here was a big boost to Bold Independent Union’s control in the region.
Ji Yan was a tall and burly man, and perhaps because of his Fire Attribute Secret Art, his skin was a bit dark with a hint of red. He had a bold and unrestrained appearance and laughed heartily as he personally brought Yun Xuan to the City Lord’s Mansion and arranged for a few maids to help them get cleaned up.
Ji Yan was shocked to learn about the terrible tragedy that had befallen the three Bold Independent Union teams and quickly inquired about the situation’s details.
Ruan Xin Yu and Yun Xuan seemed to have reached a consensus on the road and did not expose Yang Kai’s unusual strength, instead saying that a powerful master who had passed by had helped kill the Charm Monster and saved their lives.
This kind of consideration made Yang Kai very satisfied as he shot a grateful looked towards the two women.
He was quite worried that Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu would report everything that had happened, including his involvement. If they did, whether Ji Yan believed them or not, he would likely be forever tied to Bold Independent Union.
Fortunately, Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu didn’t sell him out.
Their explanations were also reasonable, and when Ji Yan inquired about the passing master’s appearance, Yun Xuan gave him a brief yet fluent description. Nodding lightly, Ji Yan declared that this unknown master would be listed as a benefactor of Bold Independent Union.
“I have to report all this to the Union’s leadership. Yun girl, you haven’t had time to recover from this shock so you should rest here in Raging Flame City for a while. When your injuries have fully recovered, I will personally send you back to the Union’s headquarters,” Ji Yan said before getting up and leaving.
Nearly twenty Immortal Ascension Boundary masters and a First Order Transcendent had been killed; naturally Ji Yan had to quickly report such a major event to the Union’s leaders.
“Are you satisfied with this?” Ruan Xin Yu snorted, glancing over at Yang Kai somewhat uncomfortably.
“En, very satisfied,” Yang Kai scratched his nose, “I’ll leave here as soon as my injuries are fully healed.”
“Go, go. The further the better,” Ruan Xin Yu thoroughly disliked Yang Kai by now.
Yun Xuan just shook her head and returned to her room, immediately lying down on her bed without saying a word.
Excusing himself, Yang Kai also returned to his room, sat down, and began circulating his Secret Art while examining the benefits he obtained from the Charm Monster.
The Charm Monster’s residual Spiritual Energy still contained a fair amount of her special toxin, but this was easily purified by Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea and Solitary Golden Eye, leaving behind only a large amount of pure Spiritual Energy and the Charm Monster’s insights into the Heavenly Law.
Incorporating these moods and sentiments, Yang Kai began to comprehend some of the changes that had occurred to his Knowledge Sea and Divine Sense.
Until now his Knowledge Sea did not possess any attribute.
Once a cultivator broke through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary, they would open their Knowledge Sea inside their mind and condense their Divine Sense. Most Knowledge Seas were roughly the same and did not possess a specific attribute; however, there were some people whose Knowledge Seas could mutate due to various opportunities and acquire an attribute.
For example, after Yang Kai absorbed the energy contained in the Jade True Spirit, his Knowledge Sea had acquired a flame attribute and become blisteringly hot.
Others could possess Ice Knowledge Seas, Lightning Knowledge Seas, or even Wind Knowledge Seas.
Such attribute type Knowledge Seas each had different strengths and weaknesses, but all of them were significantly more power and destructive than ordinary non-attribute Knowledge Seas.
Yang Kai even wondered if he would receive some kind of unexpected boost if he used his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea while performing Alchemy.
He had studied the many insights and experiences of various Alchemy Grandmasters recorded in the True Alchemic Way, but none of these Alchemists had possessed a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea so he currently had no reference to follow.
However, Yang Kai instinctually thought that using his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea for Alchemy would be more efficient and convenient than using his True Qi.
Mulling over this though for a while, Yang Kai eventually set it aside; after all, he was just getting started regarding Alchemy so now was not the time to perform wild experiments.
Only after he had enough experience in Alchemy could he begin to consider such matters.
While he studied these various insights, time passed by quickly and the wound on his lower abdomen began healing at a rapid rate.
The healing efficiency of the Myriad Drug Milk was simply extraordinary!
Three days later, when the moon was full, Yun Xuan hesitantly stood outside Yang Kai’s room, her jade hand reaching out half-way, unable to work up the courage to knock on the door.
As she was waffling back and forth, Ruan Xin Yu suddenly appeared beside her and smiled wryly, startling Yun Xuan.
“You scared me! Why are you acting so sneaky?” Yun Xuan’s face blushed as she held her well-endowed chest and shot Ruan Xin Yu a menacing look.
“I think the real question is what are you doing?” Ruan Xin Yu’s whispered ambiguously, “You planning a night assault?”
“Don’t say it!” Yun Xuan’s face became even redder, unconsciously remembering the spring scenery she had experience a few days ago, trembling lightly as she did.
Ruan Xin Yu spat disdainfully and snorted, “After so many years of holding on to your purity, now that you’ve finally lost it, you can’t help wanting to experience it again?”
“What are you saying?” Yun Xuan’s eyes spun as she tried to argue, “He’ll probably leave tomorrow, I… I just wanted to…”
“Now that you’ve crossed the threshold, what reason do you have to hold yourself back? In any case, you already let him get away with it once, one more time won’t make any difference, and who knows, maybe if you do this you can win his heart and make him stay here in the Union,” Ruan Xin Yu whispered sweet poison into Yun Xuan’s ear.
In fact, Yun Xuan really had such thoughts. Although she didn’t plan on stopping Yang Kai from leaving, but she naturally wanted the man who had won her innocence to stay by her side.
After so many years of hard work, sacrifice, and resentment, Yun Xuan was quite tired, and she had begun thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to find someone who she could rely on, but until now no one had been able to enter her eyes.
Coming here tonight was supposed to be her last attempt, but she hadn’t expected to suddenly run into Ruan Xin Yu and couldn’t help instinctually trying to cover her motives up.
Ruan Xin Yu quickly inspected the other side of the door and discovered that Yang Kai’s aura was calm and stable and was probably in meditation. Signaling with her eyes to Yun Xuan, Ruan Xin Yu silently encouraged her to seize the initiative and go on the offensive.
But by now, Yun Xuan was like a frightened rabbit, constantly shaking her head in panic.
She couldn’t understand what her heart wanted. Obviously she had been defiled against her will; however, she couldn’t bring herself to hate the young man who had attacked her, and even found herself desiring some kind of attachment to him.
These conflicting emotions made Yun Xuan feel both ashamed and embarrassed.
“If you don’t try tonight, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,” Ruan Xin Yu sighed lightly, “If not for your own future, do it for the Union. This man’s potential is enormous and he will definitely become a strong pillar of our Union when he fully matures.”
Saying so, Ruan Xin Yu’s voice became a little excited as she grit her teeth and said, “If you don’t go, then I will.”
“You? Why?” Yun Xuan stared at her, dumbfounded.
“Hmph!” Ruan Xin Yu straightened herself up and brushed her hair back behind her ear, putting on a look of a determined young maiden who inspired tenderness from those around her, “Don’t think I’m just spouting nonsense; such a good helper, even if you don’t want him, I do. For my future, at worst I just have to make a little sacrifice. In any case, I also need to find a man to marry, he’s a good choice, although he’s a bit young, he’s also quite mature.”
Yun Xuan couldn’t help muttering under her breath in disbelief, “Were you always so debased?”
Ruan Xin Yu’s face went bright red as she shot back, “What of it? Are you going in or not?”
Yun Xuan bit her thin lip and hesitated, the combination of Ruan Xin Yu’s hard and soft sell tactics caused her to waver.
After thinking it over for a long time, Yun Xuan finally nodded, shyly pushed the door open, and went in.
“Hmph, if I didn’t force you so hard, you’d never have made up your mind,” Ruan Xin Yu snorted, quickly concealing her aura and perking up her ears to listen to the movements coming from inside the room.
Inside his room, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly shot open and his arm shot out, grabbing hold of the person who had entered and threw them onto the bed, holding a knife hand to their chest as he glared coldly at this intruder’s face.
He thought someone had snuck into his room to attack him but upon seeing the face of his would-be assassin, Yang Kai couldn’t help looking stunned, “what are you doing?”
Yun Xuan did her best to act calm, her neck and face blushing a faint shade of red, not daring to look Yang Kai straight in the eye as she bit her lip and didn’t say a word. Only her eyes filled with a look of affection, giving away her inner thoughts.
Yang Kai was stunned, but as his thoughts quickly spun, he couldn’t help muttering in shock, “Don’t tell me you’re…”
Yun Xuan not offering the slightest resistance despite their awkward position made Yang Kai quickly realize the seriousness of the situation.
“So what if I am?” Yun Xuan suddenly became emboldened, reaching up and turning the pair over, exchanging places with Yang Kai. Pressing her hands lightly against Yang Kai’s firm chest as her well rounded bottom sat lightly upon his waist, Yun Xuan’s beautiful eyes gazed down into his, her face now bright red and her breathing somewhat disordered, “Last time, I was under the influence of the Charm Monster’s poison and didn’t get to feel anything, this time… this time…”
Halfway through, she exhausted her newfound courage and couldn’t say anymore, quickly taking back her hands and covering her face in embarrassment.
Yang Kai stared up at her, hot breath leaking from his lips as he couldn’t help swallowing hard, his breath also gradually becoming heavy.
“But, your injury…”
“It’s not an issue, I don’t know why, but this time I healed remarkably quickly,” Yun Xuan interrupted, slowly undoing her robes as she charmingly whispered, “If you don’t believe me, see for yourself…”
As she whispered so, a soul-stealing picture appeared in front of Yang Kai’s eyes.
“Since you’ve decided to deliver yourself, it would be rude to refuse,” Yang Kai said firmly, reaching up and tossing Yun Xuan over, pressing himself against her with great fervor.
Inside the room, only the moon bore witness to what happened, but outside the house, Ruan Xin Yu’s face was bright red as she listened to the strange, bone-numbing voices that leaked out.
After a while, she realized that eavesdropping like this was somewhat inappropriate, shook her head, and muttered indignantly, “Young people really can’t resist temptation!”
Saying so, she hurried back to her own room, blocked her ears, and calmed her breathing.
Although the night passed quickly, for Ruan Xin Yu, whose room was next door to Yang Kai’s, it couldn’t have passed quick enough. All night long, the ground tremble lightly, greatly disturbing her peace of mind.
Just as dawn broke, the movement next door gradually subsided and Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. Calming herself, she was about to finally get some rest, when the ground suddenly began to shake again.
“Still not finished?” Ruan Xin Yu wanted to cry but had no tears. She really didn’t think that the pair next door had such incredible strength and endurance, but just as she thought so, she suddenly realized that something was wrong.
Because the shaking this time was very different from the previous one. It was of an earth-trembling level that would send soul goose bumps. Furthermore, it felt as though a dangerous presence was approaching.
Ruan Xin Yu’s complexion immediately changed as she hastily exited her room.
As Ruan Xin Yu stepped out into the hall, the door next to hers also opened and Yang Kai and Yun Xuan appeared as well. The former wearing a dignified expression, while the latter had a look of satisfaction on her face. Yun Xuan also had a certain glow about her, like a spring flower that had just blossomed and been moistened by the early morning dew, making her appeared more radiant and beautiful than before.
Seeing this, Ruan Xin Yu couldn’t help feeling some admiration and awkwardness, but she knew well enough to not say anything, instead turning her attention to the distant horizon.
Over there, the whole sky appeared crimson, as if someone had dyed the Heavens in fresh red blood, and what’s more, this stain was rapidly expanding in their direction.
All of Raging Flame City was abuzz with activity as countless cultivators noticed this set out to investigate this strange phenomenon, many of them quickly paling.
“What’s happening?” Ruan Xin Yu’s beautiful brow wrinkled.
“Something is rapidly approaching from that side!” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed. Using his powerful Divine Sense, he noticed that a very dangerous and violent aura was moving towards Raging Flame city. This aura was so strong that he couldn’t help his heart from racing even though it was still so far away.
“Just what could possess such an imposing manner?” Yun Xuan muttered in shock.
“I don’t know,” Yang Kai shook his head.
Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, the sound of clothing flapped, obviously Ji Yan had called up all the masters in the house and was rushing over to investigate.
“I’ll go take a look, you stay here,” Yang Kai thought about it for a moment and then moved to catch up with Ji Yan, but Yun Xuan quickly caught his wrist and firmly said, “Let’s go together, it’ll be safer that way.”
Yang Kai frowned but didn’t argue back, allowing the two women to follow him.
The three youths quickly followed behind Ji Yan’s group and flew out.
A moment later, all of them arrived outside the city.
At this moment, many cultivators had gathered outside Raging Flame City, most of them in small groups of three to five people while a few larger groups had upwards of ten. Everyone stood mid-air, watching the horizon, waiting to see what exactly was happening.
Some of these cultivators were disciples of Bold Independent Union, but there were also many others from different Sects and forces who for a variety of reasons had been staying in Raging Flame City or had noticed the incoming anomaly and had caught up.
Everyone was whispering back and forth as they point towards the distant sky, guessing what this blood red vision was, but none of them really had any idea.
Amongst all those present, Ji Yan, who has a Transcendent, was undoubtedly the strongest, but even his brow was furrowed as his Divine Sense continuously scanned the area of in front of him, trying to glean some useful intelligence. After a while, his expression suddenly changed and became dignified.
“City Lord Ji, what is it that’s approaching,” Someone asked to Ji Yan.
Ji Yan shook his head and replied, “I don’t know, but everyone should raise their guard. If you cherish your life, your safest bet would be to leave this place immediately.”
Listening to the seriousness of his words, many people immediately used their Movement Skills to evacuate, but even more people chose to stay.
In many cases, danger represented opportunity. This time, although there were many unknowns, there was also a chance they could obtain some benefits and those who thought along those lines naturally wouldn’t be scared off by Ji Yan’s words.
What’s more, with so many people here, even if there was some danger, it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible to escape.
Seeing his persuasion not having much effect, Ji Yan didn’t say anything more and just waited quietly.
Glancing around, he suddenly noticed Yun Xuan’s group of three and quickly beckoned to them.
Yun Xuan smiled lightly and led Yang Kai and Ruan Xin Yu over to where Ji Yan and the city’s masters were.
“Yun girl, you’re still injured, you shouldn’t be out here,” Ji Yan said in a concerned tone.
“My wounds have basically healed, but thank you for your concern, Uncle Ji.” Yun Xuan smiled.
“Good, looking at your expression, you do seem to be much better than yesterday, your complexion is much more radiant,” Ji Yan smiled and nodded.
“Hehe…” Yun Xuan giggled somewhat awkwardly, “It’s all thanks to Xin Yu’s care.”
Ruan Xin Yu curled her lips playfully as she shot a glance towards Yang Kai.
“Is this a new member of your team?” Ji Yan looked over Yang Kai and nodded, “Not bad young man, follow Yun girl well and your path should be steady, just don’t disappoint her expectations for you.”
Yang Kai showed neither approval nor disapproval to this advice.
Yun Xuan, worried Yang Kai would say something that shouldn’t be said, quickly cut in and asked, “Uncle Ji, what exactly is going on?”
Ji Yan turned to look at her and lowered his voice, “I don’t know the exact situation, but whatever is approaching is no doubt dangerous, there’s also a number of masters that seem to be following whatever is giving off this evil aura.”
In fact, it was because he sensed the auras of these masters that Ji Yan was still able to remain calm.
If it was only the great evil aura that was approaching, Ji Yan would have already ordered the evacuation of Raging Flame City, because of the strength of this aura was far beyond his own.
“There are people following this person?” Yun Xuan was astonished.
Ji Yan gently nodded, “But what’s most surprising is that the two sides don’t seem to be fighting. The people behind seem to be waiting and observing while the owner of the evil aura in front isn’t showing any signs of aggression. I really can’t understand.”
Saying so, he couldn’t help shaking his head.
Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu both looked at each other and also felt the situation was a bit weird.
Yang Kai’s expression was calm and composed the whole time, a fact that surprised Ji Yan a little and secretly causing him to feel that this member of Yun Xuan’s team was a good seedling, at least his mental fortitude was excellent.
As time passed, the blood-stained covered Raging Flame City’s sky and the evil aura drew ever closer.
Soon, a small black dot was appeared in people’s view.
“What is that?” Someone exclaimed.
“It looks like, a person?”
Everyone stared at the black spot, but it was still too far away and the sky wasn’t very bright right now so no one could make out a clear picture of who or what was approaching.
Just behind the black dot, the auras of a few dozen masters could be felt, many of whom were at the Transcendent Realm.
Ji Yan’s expression only became more and more dignified.
A moment later, the black spot in the sky is finally became clear, and after seeing this figure’s true appearance, Ji Yan couldn’t help calling out in alarm, “The Coffin Carrying Man?”
When this name left Ji Yan’s lips, he suddenly realized that the situation was much worse than he expected.
Looking around, he saw many of the cultivators still gathered here show looks of excitement and leap into the sky to confront the Coffin Carrying Man.
Yun Xuan was also surprised and asked, “Uncle Ji, is that really the legendary Coffin Carrying Man?”
Even Ruan Xin Yu showed a look of shock, apparently not having expected she would suddenly meet a character that existed only in legend.
“It should be,” Ji Yan’s face was currently very unsightly, a stark contrast to the surrounding cultivators, “This aura, this strength, only he could possess them. Haa… I never thought the Coffin Carrying Man would suddenly appear here…”
After listening to the conversations of several people, and looking up at the Coffin Carrying Man in the sky, Yang Kai quickly realized why he had such a strange name.
Because on his back, he was actually carrying a coffin, a huge red coffin. A thick demonic aura that could only be given off by a powerful corpse pulsed from this Coffin Carrying Man.
The Coffin Carrying Man himself had a tall and burly build, his physique several times larger than that of an ordinary man. He didn’t seem to belong to the Human Race. He was more than three meters tall and his muscles were unusually thick; however, his body was covered in welts and sores while his facial features were all distorted, giving him a terrifying appearance. From the openings in his mouth, one could also see sharp, jagged fangs arranged in a crooked pattern.
His movements appeared very slow, and every step he took seemed to take an incredibly long time to complete, but each of his steps seemed to contain some kind of extremely profound law so despite his slow movements, his actual speed was extremely fast.
Yang Kai carefully observed the Coffin Carrying Man’s steps, but after only a few breaths, he became incredibly dizzy.
Ji Yan quickly shouted, “Don’t try to comprehend his Martial Dao, it’s not something you can understand.”
Yang Kai hurriedly took back his gaze, and nodded slightly.
Turning around, he quietly asked Yun Xuan, “Is this Coffin Carrying Man very famous?”
Yun Xuan glanced at him blankly and suddenly remembered that this Yang Kai seemed to have very little understanding of the world’s common sense and began explaining carefully, “He is a legendary existence and his name has spread across almost all of Tong Xuan. No one knows what his background is or why he carries that blood red coffin, it’s only because of his image that the common people began calling him Coffin Carrying Man. This is also my first time seeing him, but I heard that every ten years the Coffin Carrying Man would appear, and every time he appears he does so in a different place. He has left his mark on every corner of the Tong Xuan; however, since he is the one who has come, there’s no need to worry too much.”
“Why?” Yang Kai asked suspiciously.
“Because even though the Coffin Carrying Man has tyrannical strength and a terrifying aura, he never attacks people on his own initiative.”
“He never attacks others?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“En, it’s very strange. I don’t know what kind of rules bind him, but no one has ever seen him attack others. Not only that, but whenever the Coffin Carrying Man appears, he brings those around him some unexpected benefits.”
“What kind of benefits?” Yang Kai suddenly became interested.
“The Coffin Carrying Man will choose to stop somewhere at will, and once he stops, if people compel him, he will throw out a lot of artifacts, Martial Skills, Secret Arts, and pills. All of the cultivators you see gathered around him are waiting to acquire those things.”
Outside Raging Flame City, the Coffin Carrying Man quickly approached, followed soon after by several dozen powerful masters.
All of Raging Flame City’s cultivators were now outside the city’s walls waiting to see this legendary existence.
When Yang Kai heard Yun Xuan’s remarks about the Coffin Carrying Man, he couldn’t help feeling puzzled, “Why would he do something like that?”
“Probably as compensation!” Ji Yan said in a forlorn tone.
“Compensation? Compensation for what?” Yang Kai raised his eyes.
“Compensation for the devastation he brings to the place he stops at!” Ji Yan took a deep breath, a deep look of anxiety and worry on his face, “The place where the Coffin Carrying Man finally chooses to stop always becomes a wasteland with a radius of over a hundred kilometers and for the next ten years, nothing will grow there.”
Yang Kai was shocked.
Ji Yan rubbed his forehead, “I hope he just passes by and doesn’t decide to stop near Raging Flame City.”
If the Coffin Carrying Man were to stop so close to Raging Flame City, then everything around here would be destroyed.
Yang Kai finally understood why only Ji Yan was gloomy while all the other cultivators nearby had excited looks. Because he was the City Lord of Raging Flame City, naturally he didn’t want to see the region he was charged with protecting get destroyed.
As the two of them were talking, someone suddenly called out, “He stopped, he stopped!”
Ji Yan noticeably trembled and his expression became ashen.
The matter Ji Yan was most worried about had actually come true. No one knew what remote place the Coffin Carrying Man had come from or where he was going, but for now, he had decided to stop near Raging Flame City.
The disciples of Bold Independent Union next to Ji Yan also had ugly expressions.
“Uncle Ji…” Yun Xuan called out gently.
Ji Yan stared at the Coffin Carrying Man in front of him and didn’t immediately respond, a look of struggle and hesitation filling his face for a while before he finally let out a long sigh and muttered, “Go back to the city and inform all the citizens to immediately evacuate, taking only their most valuable possessions. Quickly!”
“City Lord…”
“Go now before it’s too late, I’ll try to delay things here for a while!” Saying so, Ji Yan flew out towards the group of masters gathered behind the Coffin Carrying Man.
Yun Xuan also had a bitter and helpless expression. Since the Coffin Carrying Man has stopped here, it meant that very soon, Raging Flame City would become a dead zone, which was a huge loss to Bold Independent Union.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai was still carefully observing this Coffin Carrying Man and the blood red coffin on his back. Though his Divine Sense’s probing, he quickly noticed a large amount of Death Qi and Corpse Qi emanating from this person, and the numerous wounds he had suffered appeared to be quite old. Most noticeable of all was he had no aura of life.
In other words, he should have died long ago.
However, the tremendous power hidden within him was enough to make anyone fearful.
As Ji Yan flew toward the few dozen masters, the Coffin Carrying Man slowly surveyed his surroundings with a dull expression, then, seemingly satisfied with the location he had chosen, suddenly fell straight down.
*Hong…*
The earth trembled violently and spider-web like cracks spread out from the point of impact. The Coffin Carrying Man quietly squatted for a moment, motionless, his eyes closed shut.
Many cultivators were stunned while others wore greedy looks on their faces, secretly circulating their True Qi, but deterred by strength of the masters who had followed the Coffin Carrying Man here, no one dared to rush in.
Ji Yan had already met these several tens of people and seemed to know quite a few of them, quickly exchanging greetings with them.
“Who are those people?” Yang Kai asked.
“They are masters from some of the nearby forces, Xu Qi of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, Second Order Transcendent, Zuo Xing of Profound Heaven Alliance, Third Order Transcendent, Yao Di of War Spirit Temple, Third Order Transcendent…” Yun Xuan used her eyes to point out several of the most powerful people from this group.
“I don’t know who the others are, but since they can appear together with these people they’re definitely not nameless individuals,” Yun Xuan gently inhaled, “They should all have gotten word about the Coffin Carrying Man appearing here and quickly came to investigate.”
“Are they also interested in the ‘compensation’ given out by the Coffin Carrying Man?” Yang Kai was amazed, there were several Third Order Transcendent masters amongst this group of people, Yang Kai couldn’t imagine why they would care about such small profits.
“They aren’t interested in the compensation the Coffin Carrying Man hands out, but the Coffin Carrying Man himself is a huge mystery. There are many people who want to uncover the mysteries of the Coffin Carrying Man.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, somewhat understanding.
Ji Yan was still respectfully discussing things with this group of masters; although he was the City Lord of Raging Flame City which was under Bold Independent Union’s protection, he was still just a First Order Transcendent. In front of these masters, he still needed to act slightly cautious.
After talking for a long time, Zuo Xing of Profound Heaven Alliance finally nodded, “Since that’s the case, we will wait for an hour. I trust City Lord Ji will also hurry.”
Yao Di of War Spirit Temple also nodded, “The Heavens are just, naturally we won’t act too unscrupulously, City Lord Ji can rest assured.”
“Many thanks!” Ji Yan gratefully cupped his fists, quickly turning around and flying back to the city to make the appropriate arrangements.
Many cultivators lived or resided in Raging Flame City, and most of them did not have very high strength. Once things got started here, none of these weaker cultivators would be able to escape.
For the ones who said they were willing to leave, there was nothing more to be said. As for those who refused, there was nothing Ji Yan could do. Although he was a City Lord, he couldn’t order around the cultivators that didn’t belong to Bold Independent Union.
An hour soon passed.
With the Coffin Carrying Man at its centre, a multi-layer encirclement had formed, everyone staring greedily towards the tall absentminded figure as if he was some rare and valuable treasure.
Ji Yan returned from the city with a heavy heart and upon seeing this situation, he couldn’t help sighing helplessly and shaking his head.
He had done everything he could do. The people who were still here would definitely not leave, so Ji Yan no longer tried to convince them.
“Yun girl, don’t stray too far from me, although the Coffin Carrying Man will not take the initiative to attack people, that doesn’t mean there won’t be danger,” Ji Yan sternly warned Yun Xuan.
From amongst the surrounding masters, Zuo Xing suddenly stepped forward, glanced around at the people eyeing the Coffin Carrying Man, and called out, “All of you have heard the legend of Coffin Carrying Man, right? Haha, today a rare opportunity has appeared, if you all don’t seize the chance in front of you, then we old masters will take the lead!”
Zuo Xing of the Profound Heaven Alliance’s called out to goad the other cultivators into action. Although most of them knew he didn’t have any good intentions, when they thought about the legends regarding the Coffin Carrying Man, many of them still couldn’t restrain themselves and began using their Martial Skills and artifacts to attack.
More than a dozen brilliant rays of light shot out towards the dull faced Coffin Carrying Man. Each of these attacks was a full force blow from an Immortal Ascension Boundary master, but when they reached their target, they were like stones being tossed into the sea. Only some slight ripples appeared in the air around the Coffin Carrying Man before stillness returned.
The Coffin Carrying Man also showed absolutely no reaction. His body didn’t have a single new wound and his eyes were still closed.
The dozen or so people who participated in this first wave of attacks hurriedly took a few steps back, but after waiting for a long time and still not seeing any reaction from the Coffin Carrying Man, they all became overjoyed and realized that the rumors they had heard were true. No matter how others attacked, the Coffin Carrying Man would not fight back.
Another series of attacks were launched and they quickly enveloped the unusually strong Coffin Carrying Man.
*Hong hong hong…*
With a series of fierce explosions, the earth was torn apart and the region around the Coffin Carrying Man was instantly fragmented. Chaotic energy that contained an unimaginable destructive power swirled about randomly.
Yet through everything, the Coffin Carrying Man still showed no signs of movement.
Soon, all the cultivators who had gathered round were attacking.
Finally, the Coffin Carrying Man slowly opened his eyes, a visible stream of steam spewing out of his nostrils as he appeared to gasp heavily. As he gasped, it seemed as though the entire world around him pulsed.
Everyone who was attacking couldn’t help slowing down their offensive, fearing that the Coffin Carrying Man would suddenly begin to fight back. Fortunately, even after receiving so many attacks, the Coffin Carrying Man still showed no signs of fight back, just standing there, a dazed look upon his face as he blankly scanned the crowd around him, seemingly unable to understand the situation he was in.
It wasn’t until now that Yang Kai realized just how terrifying the Coffin Carrying Man was.
“He’s a Saint Realm master?” Yang Kai turned to look at Yun Xuan.
“Yes!” Yun Xuan nodded.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank.
[A Saint Realm master had actually fallen into such a pitiful state, just what had happened to him? Life really is filled with unexpected events.]
“Why are those people still not acting?” Ruan Xin Yu asked, turning her eyes to the people from Bright Thunder Spirit Religion and Profound Heaven Alliance.
“They’re waiting!” Ji Yan sighed, “Breaking through the defense of a Saint requires a lot of effort, now that they had so many free helpers, obviously they are more than happy to sit back and watch; however, they should begin soon.”
As Ji Yan said this, the several dozen masters who had followed the Coffin Carrying Man here finally took action.
Yao Di of War Spirit Temple, who had been watching for a while, muttered, “En, we should also contribute, or else when others who heard about his appearance show up we won’t be able to control the situation anymore.”
“Agreed,” Xu Qi nodded lightly, “The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish and head home, we’ve been following him for almost a month now and my old bones starting to get a bit tired.”
“Good! Let’s begin!” Zuo Xing nodded.
The three powerhouses quickly reached an agreement so naturally the others around them didn’t raise any objections, each of them quickly summoning their artifacts and pushing their True Qi.
An overwhelming aura welled up from this group as many powerful artifacts and Martial Skills fell like meteors onto the Coffin Carrying Man. This storm of attacks was far more devastating compared to the hodgepodge offensive that had been occurring up till now.
*Hong long long…*
The earth cracked open and everything within a several kilometer radius trembled violently.
This kind of offensive finally caused some changes to the Coffin Carrying Man. A number of fresh wounds appeared and the old sores and welts on his skin began to pop and split, releasing a green gas from his body.
When these gasses appeared, everyone in the surrounding suddenly smelled the scent of death.
*Cilala…*
Wherever this green gas passed, the earth became lifeless and was instantly dyed a putrid shade of green.
Moreover, this gas spread at an extremely fast rate, almost like an explosion.
Some of the relatively close cultivators did not have time to dodge and were directly swallowed by this cloud of gas and before they could even scream, they were reduced to pools of mush; even their bones dissolving into liquid.
After this group of Transcendent Realm masters began attacking, in less than three breaths, more than a dozen unlucky cultivators were killed, either by the green gas or fallout from the battle.
And as the attack intensity of everyone increased, the amount of green gas emitted from the Coffin Carrying Man’s body also grew, spreading faster and faster!
Blood-curdling screams rang out one after another and many cultivators began using their movement skills to retreat or dodge this poisonous cloud.
Ji Yan waved his hand and wrapped up Yang Kai’s trio with a True Qi barrier before quickly bringing them a thousand meters away and a few dozen meters up from the battlefield. Casting a cold gaze down at the battle below, Ji Yan snorted, “Idiots! Did they really think that just because the Coffin Carrying Man doesn’t fight back there wouldn’t be any danger? “
Obviously, Ji Yan had some knowledge about what happened when the Coffin Carrying Man appeared, but not everyone was so well informed.
Xu Qi, Zuo Xing, and Yao Di did not cease their attack just because of the death of those cultivators; after all, the lives and deaths of those people had nothing to do with them, so they simply continued their assault, causing the green gas to spread faster and faster.
Soon, with the Coffin Carrying Man at its centre, a several kilometer wide area had been blanketed in green eyes.
Yang Kai quickly realized the cruelty of the world. For these high-level masters, as long as they achieved their goal, the lives of others were inconsequential.
As more cultivators were swallowed up by the green gas and melted into puddles of flesh and blood, many chose to retreat and, like Ji Yan, flew up into the sky.
Seeing their competition scatter, the group of masters became even more violent in their assault against the Coffin Carrying Man.
“Almost there?” Zuo Xing stared at the Coffin Carrying Man down below while continuing his attack, muttering to himself in anticipation.
“It should be soon,” Yao Di also nodded, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Sure enough, the Coffin Carrying Man below seemed to have suffered too much damage and finally began moving. His two unusually large hands slowly lifted up, and a harsh grating voice slowly leaked from his mouth, causing everyone’s ears to ring, “Take it… take it…”
This voice was like a helpless roar, filled with a deep sense of grief that caused people’s hearts to tremble.
In the sky above him, a glowing Spirit Array comprised of complex runes suddenly appeared. These runes were profound and mysterious and no one here understood what they meant.
But as soon as these runes appeared, the eyes of all the Transcendent Realm masters present flashed as they focused hard, seemingly trying to ingrain the structure of these runes into their minds so they could study them later.
Then, the runes flashed, and a ripple of energy propagated through the air, quickly followed by the emergence of many strange artifacts, pills, Secret Arts, and Martial Skills.
These artifacts, pills, Secret Arts, and Martial Skills appeared from the location of the Spirit Array’s runes, which allowed the surrounding cultivators to approximate their trajectory.
As soon as they saw this, the cultivators who were busily trying to escape suddenly cried out happily and pushed their movement skills even harder, chasing after these glowing treasures.
These things were the Coffin Carrying Man’s compensation for bringing destruction to the place he stopped, and although no one knew where he summoned these treasures from, everyone knew there were many good things among them.
A few of these rays of light also flew towards Yang Kai’s position. The disciples of Bold Independent Union all glanced towards Ji Yan, who gently nodded without a word.
The disciples Bold Independent Union were immediately overjoyed and flew out to intercept these lights to see if they could get any benefits.
Yang Kai remained where he was and watched indifferently, not having any interest in snatching these things, but Ruan Xin Yu and Yun Xuan both showed looks of interest.
When faced with mysterious unknown treasures, few people could remain indifferent, the two young women having some ideas was not unreasonable.
Soon, the strange treasures summoned by the Coffin Carrying Man were all snatched up, but under the fierce bombardment of the Transcendent Realm masters, the former continued mumbling the same two words while constantly summoning more items.
Just like a moment ago, a bunch of shining rays of light shot out. This time, Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu did not hold back anymore, jumping out of Ji Yan’s protective range and rushing towards some of these flying treasures.
Yang Kai simply shook his head, releasing his Divine Sense and slightly constraining the treasures the two young women were after.
Soon, the two women caught the unknown treasures and flew back, looks of joy upon their faces.
“What did you get?” Yang Kai asked with a smile.
“It seems to be some kind of Secret Art, but I don’t know if it’s useful to me or not,” Yun Xuan raised the thing in her hand, “The Coffin Carrying Man also tosses out many damaged and useless things.”
“That happens as well?” Yang Kai stunned.
“En, it seems that he has been hoarding these treasures for a long time, so some of them being damaged is reasonable,” Yun Xuan smiled lightly.
As the two were talking though, Yang Kai suddenly felt that something was wrong. Frowning, he turned his eyes down towards the battlefield but upon doing so his heart clenched up.
Yang Kai noticed through the thick green gas, the Coffin Carrying Man seemed to be staring straight at him, a look of excitement seemingly flashing across his dull eyes.
Everyone else also noticed the abnormality of the Coffin Carrying Man and even Xu Qi, Zuo Xing and Yao Di temporarily stopped their assault. Following the eyes of Coffin Carrying Man, everyone was suddenly staring towards Yang Kai suspiciously.
“Brother Zou, what’s going on?” Xu Qi asked with a frown, “What is he staring at that little brat from Bold Independent Union?”
“This old master isn’t clear. Is there something special about him?” Zuo Xing released his Divine Sense and swept Yang Kai quickly before shaking his head.
With this initial probe, he couldn’t discover anything special about Yang Kai.
In the air, all the bystanders who were hunting for treasures also realized something was wrong and turned to stare at Yang Kai.
Yun Xuan quietly asked, “Yang Kai, is he looking at you?”
“Probably!” Yang Kai nodded, a cold chill running up his spine as he answered.
All of a sudden being stared at by a mysterious Saint Realm master would unnerve anyone. Even Yang Kai was quite confused, he didn’t know what he possibly could have done to attracted the Coffin Carrying Man’s attention; from the very start of this event, all he had done was use a bit of his Spiritual Energy.
“Found… one…” The Coffin Carrying Man said in the same grating voice, his somewhat decayed mouth slowly curving into a terrifying grin, revealing his jagged and irregularly shaped teeth, seemingly laughing in a silent and horrifying manner.
In the next instant, the Coffin Carrying Man’s aura changed abruptly and his knees began to bend, seemingly accumulating power into his legs.
“What’s he doing?” Someone muttered.
In all the legends, the Coffin Carrying Man’s action had always followed a set routine, yet now he had suddenly began to make a series of inexplicable moves.
“Keep your distance from me!” Yang Kai hurriedly shouted. When the Coffin Carrying Man began to move, Yang Kai suddenly felt a tremendous sense of crisis, madly pushing his True Qi and activating his movement skill, attempting to flee.
*Sou…*
The Coffin Carrying Man also shot out, like an arrow from a bow, so fast that Zuo Xing and the other Transcendents didn’t even see clearly how he moved.
In the blink of an eye, the Coffin Carrying Man caught up with the escaping Yang Kai, grinned fiercely towards him, and lifted the giant red coffin off his back and opening it.
From the blood red coffin, an incredibly powerful suction force appeared and began pulling Yang Kai towards it.
Yang Kai face was ashen. Even though he was exerting all of his strength, he was completely incapable of resisting.
Before he could even come up with another plan, Yang Kai felt the world go black and was sucked into the coffin.
*Hong…*
The Coffin Carrying Man placed the coffin onto his back again, and before anyone could say another word, transformed into a green streak of light and soared towards the horizon.
From the time Yang Kai had shouted and tried to escape until he was captured and taken away, not even three breaths had passed, so when Zuo Xing and all the other masters finally came to their senses, the Coffin Carrying Man had already disappeared.
Everyone stood there, dumbfounded.
A moment later, Yun Xuan let out a scream and immediately tried to use her movement skill to chase after him.
Ruan Xin Yu grabbed her and shouted, “What are you doing?”
“Yang Kai, he…”
“I know he was caught! But think for a moment! Do you even think you can catch up?” Ruan Xin Yu shouted.
Hearing this, Yun Xuan became dazed before quickly turning to look at Ji Yan, “Uncle Ji…”
However, Ji Yan could only shake his head.
Nearby, the other Transcendents were equally stunned, and only after a long silence did Zuo Xing mumble, “Have any of you heard of a time when the Coffin Carrying Man captured someone?”
Most people around him shook their heads and said that they had never heard of such an event, but Yao Di slowly and thoughtfully said, “I heard that when the Coffin Carrying Man appeared ten years ago, he caught someone before vanishing.”
“Something like that happened?” Zuo Xing raised his brow, “What kind of person did he catch?”
“I’m don’t know, I only heard a rumor about it.”
“This is too strange…” Zuo Xing was confused and stared towards the horizon where the Coffin Carrying Man had disappeared, muttering under his breath, “What’s so special about that kid from Bold Independent Union?”
“We should just ask the people of Bold Independent Union,” Xu Qi glanced over Ji Yan.
After thinking about it, all of them rushed over to Ji Yan and began to ask about Yang Kai.
Unfortunately, Ji Yan knew nothing about Yang Kai, but although he was currently in a bad mood because Raging Flame City had just been destroyed, he didn’t dare offend this group of people and could only turn his eyes to Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu.
Yun Xuan currently looked like she had lost her soul and was incapable of responding at the time while Ruan Xin Yu didn’t have a deep understanding of Yang Kai, so naturally she couldn’t give them much information.
This only confused everyone further.
”Senior, the Coffin Carrying Man seizing him… what will happen to him?” Yun Xuan suddenly asked.
Zuo Xing slowly shook his head, “I don’t know, after all, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this happening.”
Xu Qi solemnly added, “However, even though the Coffin Carrying Man doesn’t attack others, it’s still very dangerous to be around him. The Death Qi and Corpse Qi he gives off can’t be resisted by ordinary Transcendents, let alone Immortal Ascension cultivators. There’s a good chance that kid is dead.”
Upon hearing these words, all the blood drained from Yun Xuan’s face.
“What’s your relationship with him?” Yao Di stared at Yun Xuan with an inquisitive gaze.
“He… we’re just friends,” Yun Xuan said forlornly. Thinking that Yang Kai was either dead or dying at this moment, she couldn’t help bursting into tears.
“Brothers, if it is convenient, why don’t you accompany me to Bold Independent City where all of us can sit down and carefully discuss what just happened?” Ji Yan thought about it and sent out an invitation.
Raging Flame City was ruined, so he had to go back to Bold Independent City to make a formal report, and these people were all masters from various nearby major forces, so using this occasion to forge some relationships with them would be good for the Union.
It also just so happened that everyone wanted to understand what was so special about Yang Kai, so they readily agreed to Ji Yan’s proposal. With those words, all of them travelled to Bold Independent City.
After an unknown amount of time, Yang Kai finally woke up.
With the scene he had just encountered quickly resurfacing in his mind, Yang Kai’s expression sank and he quickly and quietly sent out his Divine Sense to explore his surroundings, trying to figure out what his current situation was.
However, after extending a few hundred meters away, Yang Kai found that his Divine Sense was blocked by some kind of invisible force.
Wherever he was right now, it seemed there was a barrier preventing him from snooping.
Reluctantly withdrawing his Divine Sense he slowly opened his eyes and an orange glow appeared before him. Yang Kai found that he was being held in a stone room, surrounded by cold stone walls, and above him, a number of egg sized stones had been installed to provide a soft illumination.
Sitting cross-legged, Yang Kai began running his healing art only to discover that he was unharmed. In fact, not only did he not have any injuries, even his True Qi did not show any signs of being sealed, providing him with a minute sense of relief.
He knew that he was captured by the Coffin Carrying Man, but as to why a legendary Saint Realm master had suddenly targeted him was still a mystery to Yang Kai, making it hard for him to understand his current predicament.
Out of so many people, why had the Coffin Carrying Man caught him? From beginning to end, Yang Kai had only used a bit of his Spiritual Energy to help Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu collect a pair of treasures.
Frowning in thought, Yang Kai came up with a couple of theories, but he couldn’t be sure if his guesses were correct.
Sitting on the ground, Yang Kai steadied himself while quietly waiting.
He knew that since the Coffin Carrying Man had not sealed his True Qi, he had no ill intentions towards him and had captured him for a specific purpose; thus, Yang Kai was certain he would sooner or later come to see him. As such, Yang Kai decided not to act rashly until he knew what was going on.
Time passed slowly, and after quite a while, Yang Kai finally heard a pair of approaching footsteps.
Yang Kai opened his eyes and glanced around calmly.
“Coffin Slave Senior seems to have sent another person in. Apparently, the newcomer is a skinny young man. Who knows if he has any useful skill?”
“There’s no use worrying about it, our job is just to bring him out. In any case, I don’t have any expectations, if he really is useless, when the ten-year deadline comes, he’ll die and that’ll be the end of it.”
“En, but Senior Li seems determined to fulfill our ancestors’ long-cherished wish. On the other hand, Sir Chu is actually more progressive; in fact, there’s nothing wrong with staying here.”
“Hey, don’t say too much, the ears have walls. You need to be careful, if someone hears you say such things they may tidy you up.”
The voices of the two men were clearly heard by Yang Kai, causing his face to become a little weird.
At first he thought one of them was the Coffin Carrying Man, but now it seems like things weren’t quite as he expected.
A moment later, there was a creaking sound as the door to the stone room opened. Standing in the entranceway were two men, one tall and one short, both of them staring coldly towards Yang Kai.
Taking note of their auras, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly.
Yang Kai found that the auras given off by these two were very different from any he had ever encountered before. They were slightly gloomy and cold and had an evil and violent air to them.
If he had to make a comparison, their auras were somewhat like Old Demon’s or his own after he used his Devil Transformation but significantly thinner.
[Demonic Qi?] Yang Kai thought to himself.
Looking at these two’s appearances, they did seem a bit different from ordinary people, their flat noses and narrow eyes gave them a sinister impression and there were a couple of strange lines seemingly tattooed onto their faces.
Seeing these lines, Yang Kai’s expression became even more confused.
Because when he activated his Devil Transformation, he too would be covered in such black tattoos and Yang Kai clearly knew that these tattoos contained enormous energy.
While such thoughts raced through his mind, Yang Kai maintained his composure and simply stared back at these two quietly.
“Woken up?” The taller man chuckled, “Good, since you’re awake, get up and come with us, our Lord wants to see you!”
Yang Kai frowned but did not object.
These two men were only at the Fourth Stage of the Immortal Ascension Boundary, so with Yang Kai’s current strength, if he wanted to kill them, it wouldn’t require any effort, but Yang Kai did not intend to do anything rash until he understood his current situation.
The two men performed their duties strictly, one of them leading the way while the other bringing up the rear to ensure that Yang Kai, who stood between them, did not try to pull any stunts.
As they walked, Yang Kai secretly investigated his surroundings.
Once he exited the stone room, after walking down a short hallway, Yang Kai and the two men climbed a long set of stairs; apparently he had been held underground until now.
After a long time, the trio exited the stairwell and set foot onto the surface.
When he finally came out, Yang Kai glanced around and couldn’t stop his eyes from narrowing slightly because he discovered that the scenery here was somewhat familiar to him.
Although it appeared to be night time, there were no stars or moon in the sky, only a dark swirling chaos…
Yang Kai stared blankly for a moment.
In his life, he seen such a place twice before.
Once was when he entered the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave near High Heaven Pavilion, and the second time was when Ling Tai Xu sent him into the Isolated World inside Nether Mountain.
Both times he had entered such isolated worlds; the scenery was too similar to the one in front of him now.
In that moment, Yang Kai suddenly felt like he had returned to the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave or the Isolated World in Nether Mountain, causing his expression to drop slightly.
“What are you stopping here for? Keep moving!” The man behind him shouted somewhat impatiently.
Yang Kai’s brow frowned as he regained his composure and glanced around, quickly discovering that not far away there were many men and women who were staring at him curiously, pointing at him and whispering amongst themselves.
These men and women, no matter who they were, all had similar dark tattoos on their exposed skin.
[Who are these people?] Yang Kai wondered to himself.
Not losing his temper, Yang Kai once again started walking, quietly examining the crowds around him just as they examined him.
Soon, escorted by the tall and short man, Yang Kai entered a spacious hall inside a grand building. Yang Kai noticed that the architectural style of this building, whether it was the interior or exterior, was somewhat different from what he was used to seemingly somewhat bolder and more aggressive.
Inside the hall, there were a number of huge columns with intricate fierce images carved on their surfaces.
Sitting on the highest seat in the middle of that hall was a beautiful woman wearing an elegant dress. Her style was excellent and her demeanor was dignified while her aura was temperate. Although her body seemed tender and delicate, Yang Kai instinctively felt it contained a terrifying power than made him feel quite nervous. To either side of this woman were a number of other people who were quietly standing at attention while silently examining him.
When Yang Kai walked in, the eyes of everyone in the hall lit up slightly, even the enchanting eyes of the beautiful woman at the head of the hall seemed to flash a trace of anticipation.
Yang Kai was secretly quite puzzled because in this hall, he didn’t see the Coffin Carrying Man, which was very different from what he had expected.
He had thought that the Lord the two men who brought him here were talking about was the Coffin Carrying Man, so when the one who appeared before him was a beautiful, mature, noble woman he couldn’t help feeling surprised.
Also, Yang Kai noticed that no one in this hall had the characteristic black tattoos all the other people he had seen in this place so far had.
Standing beside the beautiful mature woman was a young, delicate girl who wore a long yellow dress. This young girl had a simply beauty about her and upon seeing Yang Kai, her pair of sapphire-like eyes stared deeply at him as she whispered to the woman sitting beside her, “Mistress, this is the one Coffin Slave Senior brought in this time.”
The mature beauty gently nodded, her red lips moving slightly, “It’s been hard on him. Did Coffin Slave Senior receive any injuries this time?”
The tone of her voice, similar to how she appeared, was gentle yet dignified, it seemed like her personality was quite temperate.
The young girls shook her head in response, “It’s just some minor skin trauma. Those Human Race people are so hateful. Just because it’s inconvenient for Coffin Slave Senior to fight back they arrogantly attack him. If not, Coffin Slave Senior could easily kill all of them!”
“En, we’ve forced a great deal of hardship onto Coffin Slave Senior,” The Beautiful woman sighed slightly.
The people around her also shook their heads solemnly, seemingly quite distressed about this matter.
The mature beauty quickly composed herself and then turned her attention to Yang Kai, gently asking him, “Human, what is your name?”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, although he didn’t quite understand what was happening, through what he had just heard and observed, he quickly realized that the people gathered here weren’t members of the Human Race, his brow rising slightly as he hesitantly asked, “Demon Race?”
Only people from the Demon Race or Monster Race would call someone ‘Human’ when speaking to them! Moreover, from these people’s bodies, Yang Kai could feel traces of Demonic Qi which was quite different from human True Qi.
The mature beautiful woman’s face flashed a bit of surprise, seemingly not having anticipated that this young man in front of her had so quickly seen through their identity, and even after knowing who they were didn’t show any signs of panic.
In the past, when Coffin Slave Senior sent some people into this domain, all of them had either plead for mercy, cried miserably, or tried to fight back against them. There had never been a case where they had remained so calm and indifferent like this young boy.
“You really are from the Demon Race!” Seeing the reactions of these people, Yang Kai confirmed his hypothesis, “Is this place inside the Demon Land? For what reason did you capture me?”
“Impudence!” The young girl couldn’t help shouting as she glared angrily towards Yang Kai, “Respond to my Mistress’ question and don’t ask any unnecessary questions! If you dare speak any more nonsense, I’ll pull out your tongue!”
However, to this threat, Yang Kai just chuckled.
“What are you laughing at!?” The young girl shouted even more angrily, “You think I’m just trying to frighten you?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded gently.
“You…”
“Good,” The mature beauty raised her hand and stopped the young girl from shouting any further, turning an interested look towards Yang Kai as she asked, “You’re not afraid at all?”
Yang Kai just shrugged his shoulders.
“Why did you think Guan’er was just trying to scare you?”
“It was obvious,” Yang Kai snickered, “You caught me but didn’t injure me or seal my True Qi or Divine Sense, and when I arrived here, many of you showed expectant looks. I don’t know what it is you all want from me, but I do know you need me for something. Therefore, since you want my help, you definitely won’t hurt me before even asking.”
Inside the hall, many people suddenly laughed.
The young girl named Guan’er also couldn’t help staring at Yang Kai somewhat dumbfounded.
Showing an elegant smile, the beautiful woman at the head of the hall nodded, “The Human Race’s reputation for cunning is really well deserved.”
Not knowing if this comment was meant as praise or disdain, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling slightly uncomfortable.
I know some of you really took the Manhua thing as a joke but it really isn’t.
Chapter 47 for the Manhua is here.
Happy April Fools~
The beautiful woman’s words sounded like appreciation but were in fact meant as a form of irony, so Yang Kai responded in kind, “The Human Race’s deceitfulness is only as well deserved as the Demon Race’s brutal fierceness.
“It seems your courage is not small,” The beautiful woman smiled helplessly, “Forget it, there’s no need to haggle of such trivial things. It’s easier to deal with smart people rather than idiots anyways. Good, since you’re so smart, do you have any guesses as to what we need your help with?”
“That’s the part I’ve been trying to figure out,” Yang Kai shook his head and replied honestly, “I don’t know what it is about me you that you took so much liking to that you actually let a Saint Realm master bring me here. If it’s convenient, could you explain it to me?”
Seeing Yang Kai speak in such a confident and relaxed manner, the beautiful woman’s interested in him became even stronger.
Deeply staring at Yang Kai for a while, the beautiful woman sat back in her seat and nodded gently.
Beside her, another beautiful woman with an icy temperament began explaining, “Your Spiritual Energy is different from ordinary people’s; that’s what drew our attention!”
“Sure enough…” Yang Kai smiled bitterly.
Yang Kai already had some guesses about this, because only after he used his Spiritual Energy did the Coffin Carrying Man begin paying attention to him.
“Do you have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?” Another old man which a long white beard asked, “If you don’t have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, Coffin Slave Senior would never have sent you into this place.”
At this point, denial was useless, so Yang Kai just nodded calmly, “Yes, I have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.”
Seeing him openly admit this, everyone in the hall showed some surprise, the mature beatify even staring towards Yang Kai with a look of anticipation as she asked, “Could you display your complete Spiritual Energy strength so we can see how much potential you have?”
Yang Kai frowned and thought for a moment before nodding, “Fine, but I still have some questions…”
“I can answer them for you!” The mature beauty readily nodded.
“Deal!” Yang Kai grinned and immediately released his Spiritual Energy.
In an instant, the entire blisteringly hot, as if it had been transformed into the inside of an active volcano.
Feeling this, the mature beauty showed a look of shock. She hadn’t thought that Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy would be so powerful and quickly had to use her own Spiritual Energy to protect the young girl beside her to prevent her from being affected. The icy woman and the old man also quickly reacted, using various means to protect the hall and the other people inside it.
After unleashing his full power for just a moment, Yang Kai quickly took back his Divine Sense.
The mature beauty, the cold woman, and the old man looked stared at him excitedly, like they had just seen a wondrous treasure.
“How unexpected, your Divine Sense is far more powerful than your cultivation would suggest, did you encounter some rare opportunity?” The beautiful woman speculated.
It was impossible under normal circumstances for a youth at the Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage to possess such potent Spiritual Energy, only a rare fortuitous encounter could explain this.
“That’s my business,” Yang Kai smiled faintly, “Can you answer my questions now?”
The mature beauty smiled slyly, “I can only tell you that we have no malicious intentions towards you. Not only that, but we assist you in your cultivation!”
Yang Ka’s eyes narrowed as he angrily asked, “You lied to me?”
The beautiful woman pursed her lips and giggled, “Deceiving others is a trick we learned from you humans.”
“I’ll remember you,” Yang Kai no longer said anything and just stared back at the mature beauty coldly.
As he said these words though, a very violent and cruel aura suddenly appeared and rapidly approached the hall.
Everyone inside the hall frowned, and even the mature beauty couldn’t help showing a helpless expression, as if she was not looking forward to seeing this newcomer.
Soon, a burly man with a thick chest, wearing only a pair of leather pants on his lower body, arrogantly strolled into the hall. He had a prideful look upon his face and his body exuded a thick malevolent aura. The first thing this newcomer did upon entering the hall was glance coldly towards Yang Kai before letting out a sneer and asking, “This is the human that Coffin Slave Senior sent in this time? He looks weaker than the last one. What use is such a waste?”
“Chu Jian, show some respect,” The old man shouted angrily.
The man named Chu Jian shot the old man a gloomy look before half-heartedly cupping his fist and bowing towards the beautiful woman at the head of the hall, “Greetings, Senior Li.”
The mature beauty nodded lightly, her expression indifferent as she responded in a composed tone, “Get up and take your seat!”
“There’s no need,” Chu Jian waved his hand, “I just heard that Coffin Slave Senior sent in another person so I decided to make a trip here to evaluate his worth, but now that I’ve seen him, I must say I am greatly disappointed. Senior Li, such a little brat, it’s better if we just kill him directly. Death ends all troubles, that way we can avoid giving our people false hope for the next ten years and wasting so many precious resources, sometimes, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Don’t tell me, after failing so many times, Senior Li still hasn’t learned such a simple truth?”
“Chu Jian, lately you’ve been acting more and more rude. Have you forgotten the rules set down by our ancestors?” The old man roared furiously as he openly began gathering his strength.
Chu Jian’s aura also became dangerous as he snorted and shot back, “I’m just telling the truth! Our clan’s fate should not be handed over to an unknown Human Race brat. Even without borrowing some outsider’s help, I will lead our clan and break free from this cage, Senior Li, what do you say?”
The beautiful woman’s brow twitched imperceptibly, but still barely managed to maintain her calm smile, “It heartens me to hear that Sir Chu Jian has such strong feelings towards our clan, it is truly a blessing for our people. Then I look forward to the day when Sir Chu Jian can achieve such a result and fulfil our ancestor’s long-cherished wish.”
Chu Jian grinned meaningfully, shot a dismissive glance towards Yang Kai, and muttered, “Human Race brat, you best be careful, you’re not in the outside world anymore, in this place, who knows when your life might be in danger.”
Saying so, Chu Jian turned around and left.
The faces of everyone in the hall were quite ugly.
Yang Kai’s thoughts turned quickly and sorted through the information this situation had provided him.
It seemed like because of Chu Jian’s rude visit, the people in the hall no longer had any interest in continuing the current conversation. The mature beauty waving her hand somewhat helplessly, “Guan’er, take him to rest.”
“Yes,” The young girl made a polite gesture before leaving the beautiful woman’s side and motioning to Yang Kai, “Come with me.”
Yang Kai said nothing and calmly followed her.
After Yang Kai left, the old man let out a deep sigh, “Senior Li, Chu Jian’s attitude is becoming more and more rampant. We should act now to solve this problem. Allowing him to continue like this will inevitably lead to trouble.”
The mature beauty showed a look of hesitation but eventually did not answer.
Seeing this, the icy woman also added, “Mistress, the more benevolent you are to him, the more arrogant Chu Jian will become, we should teach him a lesson now so he knows his place.”
“I’ll take your advice under consideration,” The mature beauty smiled bitterly, “There aren’t many of our clan left, if we really start something with Chu Jian, I’m afraid… Both of you go back for now, after I’ve thought things through I’ll send someone to notify you.”
“En,” The icy woman and the old man gently nodded; both of them knew that this beautiful woman hated the idea of causing civil unrest which could lead to the loss of their clansmen’s lives, causing both of them to feel even more resentful towards Chu Jian.
Over the years, as Chu Jian’s strength and influence had grown and he had started to have some improper ambitions.
Accompanied by the pretty young Guan’er, Yang Kai strolled through the stone city, occasionally bumping into one or two demons along the way. As they walked though, Guan’er kept muttering to herself, seemingly cursing under her breath.
Seeing this, Yang Kai suddenly asked, “That Chu Jian doesn’t seem to put your Mistress in his eyes, does he?”
“That bastard!” Guan’er angrily cursed, “He thinks he’s so great, all he is, is a greedy wolf who wants to snatch power. If it weren’t for Mistress’ tolerant heart I don’t know how many times he would have died by now.”
“En, a woman’s benevolence can sometimes lead to trouble,” Yang Kai agreed.
“You’re not allow to speak ill of Mistress, Mistress is the world’s gentlest woman!” Guan’er turned back and glared at Yang Kai.
“Good, I won’t say any more,” Yang Kai raised his hands, “But can you tell me now, where is this place? Your all capturing me, what exactly do you want me to do?”
Guan’er smiled brightly and giggled, “Before Mistress allows me to, I won’t tell you anything. Although your Human Race is sinister and conniving, I’m not a three-year-old child; do you think I don’t know your trying to casually pry information from me?”
Yang Kai smiled bitterly.
“However, you can rest assured that we really will not harm you. On the contrary, as Mistress aid, we will help train you, and if you can accomplish the task Mistress has for you, you will gain a lot of benefits.”
“You mentioned you’d train me before, but in what?” Yang Kai asked, “What matter do you need me to do that requires my Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?”
However, to Yang Kai’s questions, Guan’er didn’t say any more, firmly sealing her lips.
Not long after, upon bringing Yang Kai to a stone chamber, Guan’er said, “Go inside, from now on, this place will be your residence. You don’t need to worry about anything for now, we’ll prepare everything you require. En, although no one will be monitoring your movements, don’t even think about trying to escape, there’s nowhere you can run. This place is a sealed space, there’s no way out.”
Yang Kai stared at her indignantly.
Guan’er grinned back, “It’s useless to glare at me, I’m just carrying out Mistress’ commands. Good, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
In this way, Yang Kai was pushed into the stone room, and after she closed the door, Guan’er simply walked away.
After she left, Yang Kai reached out and tried opening the stone door and found that he really could open it and that there truly was no one was around watching him.
However, in this kind of sealed world, where he was completely unfamiliar with the terrain, Yang Kai knew there was basically no hope for him to escape.
He also determined that no matter where he fled, the beautiful woman he had just met with could easily capture him and bring him back.
Accepting his current reality, Yang Kai’s state of mind quickly became tranquil; closing the stone door, her turned around and started exploring his new home.
From a quickly glance around, Yang Kai discovered that this place was actually quite spacious and was even larger than grand hall he had just been in, there was also a distinct medicinal fragrance that lingered inside the room.
In one corner of the room, there were several large and small medicinal cauldrons.
The biggest of these was as large as a water tank while the smallest was only slightly bigger than his palm.
On the ground nearby, there was a large pile of burnt materials that were the result of failed pills.
Yang Kai frowned.
This room seemed to be an Alchemist’s residence.
Examining the cauldrons, Yang Kai discovered that each of them was actually a pill furnace used to perform Alchemy.
In another corner, Yang Kai found a long table piled high with what seemed to be a mix of ancient books and handwritten notes.
As time flowed by, and the sun and moon alternated, soon one month had passed.
On the first day of the new month, inside the huge stone room where Yang Kai lived, the pretty young girl Guan’er sat a few hundred meters away, bored, watching Yang Kai who was currently engaged in reading.
On the long table, there were hundreds of ancient books, but after this period of time, Yang Kai had basically read through all of them, and the ones he had finished stacked in a messy pile to his left while only a few he had yet to glance through remained on his right.
The previous knowledge contained in these ancient books has been deeply carved into Yang Kai’s mind.
Guan’er let out a light sigh, secretly thinking to herself that this Human Race boy was actually quite diligent, spending an entire month inside this stone room reading through all the ancient books piled up here with great enthusiasm.
Suddenly, the space nearby twisted, and a faint energy fluctuation came from her side. Standing up, Guan’er smiled happily and assumed a respectful posture.
Soon, from the small distortion, a mature and dignified woman gradually appeared, it was none other than Senior Li.
“Greetings, Mistress!” Guan’er quickly bowed.
“En,” Senior Li gently nodded before glancing over at Yang Kai in the distance, smiling as she asked, “How is his performance?”
“He’s quite interesting…” Guan’er replied honestly, “Very different from the humans that came here before.”
“Oh? How so?” Senior Li asked, slightly interested.
“He’s spent all his time studying those ancient books left by all the previous Alchemists and hasn’t taken a single step outside his room. He also hasn’t shown any irritable or urgent behaviour. Hehe, Mistress, do you think he’s perhaps a bit silly?”
Senior Li stared at Yang Kai deeply and slowly shook her head, her brow furrowing for a moment before her eyes suddenly lit up, “He’s definitely not stupid, but looking at him, he seems to be quite interested in the Alchemic Way, which actually saves us quite a bit of trouble. In any case, let’s go see him, since he’s behaved quite well so far, it should be alright to tell him some things.”
“Yes!” Guan’er answered quickly.
Two women, one old, one young, walked towards Yang Kai, and soon came up beside him.
Yang Kai however remained indifferent, still sitting in his chair, immersed in the ancient book in his hands.
Guan’er lightly coughed and called out, “Outsider!”
“Wait a minute!” Yang Kai responded faintly, not even lifting his eyes.
Guan’er was stunned and suddenly felt unhappy, “Senior Li has come to see you, quickly stand up and greet her!”
Yang Kai let out a light sigh, glanced over at her, and then lowered his eyes back down to his book and ignored her.
Guan’er couldn’t help feeling annoyed and was just about to reprimand him again when Senior Li raised her hand and motioned to her to let it go, smiling light as she stood their patiently and waited.
Guan’er ground her teeth but still obeyed, but her impression of this outsider plummeted a few notches. She wished to give him a few good slaps to teach him a harsh lesson.
Time passed quickly and Senior Li and Guan’er had soon waited for half a day before Yang Kai finally closed the ancient book in front of him and let out a long sigh.
“Finished?” Senior Li finally spoke in a soft tone.
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
“How is it?”
“Some gains!” Yang Kai replied.
Senior Li smiled beautifully, “It seems you really have some foundation in the Alchemic Way.”
Without a certain foundation in Alchemy, it would be impossible for anyone to understand these ancient books.
Yang Kai grinned, “You seem to have caught quite a number of people with Conflagrated Knowledge Seas before, then brought them here and trained them to become Alchemists… En, I now somewhat understand what it is you want me to do.”
This one month, Yang Kai had read all of these ancient books. Some of these books were left behind by famous predecessors who had deep attainments in the Alchemic Way while others were put together from the various experiences and insights of people who had suffered the same fate as Yang Kai.
They had been caught and sent here by the Coffin Carrying Man, and under the support and training of the members of the Demon Race here, they had toiled away to become Alchemy Grandmasters, but unfortunately, not one of them could satisfy the necessary requirements and all of them had eventually disappeared.
One month’s time was enough for Yang Kai to understand his capture’s intentions and his own situation which allowed him to completely calm himself.
As long as these people needed his help, he didn’t have to worry about his safety and would in fact gain many benefits instead.
“En, we have captured a lot of cultivators with Conflagrated Knowledge Sea for the express purpose of cultivating powerful Alchemists,” Senior Li frankly admitted.
“Why? Do you have some kind of problem you need an Alchemist to solve?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows, “Such as, refining some pill?”
Senior Li looked at him with amazement and after a long time, nodded lightly, “En, we need to refine certain pill, but not just any Alchemist can do refine the pill we need, it must be Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea. That’s the reason why you were caught and sent here.”
“Good, it just so happens I want to become an Alchemist, so if your conditions are right, I don’t mind helping you!” Yang Kai looked at her said in a businesslike manner.
“Shameless boasting!” Guan’er spat disdainfully, “Cultivators with Conflagrated Knowledge Seas are rare, but over the countless years, Coffin Slave Senior has also caught and sent us more than a dozen people, each of whom was an outstanding master, yet none of them were able to complete our request, what makes you so confident that you can succeed where they have failed?”
“That’s my problem, you don’t have to worry about it, and besides, you should be hoping I can succeed should you not?” Yang Kai smiled faintly.
“Indeed, we very much hope that you can succeed and free us from our long imprisonment so we can go out and see the outside world,” Senior Li gently nodded, a look of anticipation flashing across her eyes, “First allow me introduce ourselves, our ancestors had the honour of serving as The Great Demon God’s disciples and elite guard. However, at some point, our ancestors were sealed by The Great Demon God in this Independent Small World, and from that time we have not been able to leave.”
“The Great Demon God… and an Independent Small World?” Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Great Demon God is the supreme being of our Demon Race, the master of our ancestors!” Senior Li said with great reverence and respect, “As for the Independent Small World, it’s what the space we currently occupy is known as. According to legend, in ancient times, when extraordinarily powerful masters fought, they would often tear open space and create small isolated spaces; we refer to these spaces as Independent Small Worlds. Have you heard of this before?”
“I’ve heard of such places before, I just didn’t know they were called Independent Small Worlds,” Yang Kai nodded.
Apparently the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave and the Isolated world in Nether Mountain were Independent Small Worlds.
Suddenly realizing something, Yang Kai smiled strangely, “Since Great Demon God was the master your ancestors served, why where they sealed in this place?”
Senior Li smiled and shook her head, “Although there are some speculations about this in our ancient books, no clear reason was ever recorded; however, after so many years, what that reason was has very little significance. Now, our greatest wish is to leave this Independent Small World. Because of a certain problem with our physiques, we aren’t able to survive in the outside world, so we need a special type of pill to be refined in order to fix the defects in our bodies, and this pill is what we need you to refine.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded and asked, “What about the Coffin Carrying Man? He should be one of your people, why can he walk about outside and why does he carry that blood red coffin everywhere he goes?”
Senior Li’s expression suddenly became a bit dispirited as she solemnly replied, “You should be referring to Coffin Slave Senior. He is actually dead, but through a special technique, he is able to maintain a very limited degree of consciousness. He travels around outside seeking cultivators with Conflagrated Knowledge Seas in order to help us. As for his true identity, we don’t know, we don’t even know how old he is or when his mission began, only that in our oldest records he has always existed. The blood red coffin he carries is actually the seal of this Independent Small World. It can be said that Coffin Slave Senior is literally carrying the destinies of the thousands of members of our clan on his back.”
“You mean, if someone was to successfully rob the blood red coffin from him and destroy it…” Yang Kai suddenly had a terrifying thought.
“Then this world will collapse and all of us will be killed by the power of the void!” Senior Li explained.
Yang Kai was stunned and couldn’t help feeling a burst of chills, “Your destinies are completely out of your hands.”
“As is yours now,” Senior Li smiled lightly, “So in order to get out of here as soon as possible, you should work hard. I hope that you are indeed different from the others who came before you and can fulfill our wish.”
Arriving at this point, Senior Li suddenly asked, “That’s right, what grade of Alchemist are you now, what grade of pill can you refine?”
Yang Kai lightly coughed, “I can reluctantly only refine Earth Grade pills.”
The young beauty Guan’er couldn’t help but covering her small mouth, and even Senior Li looked at Yang Kai with an incredulous look.
From how Yang Kai had spoken and acted so far, always confident and composed, the two women had thought he was already a skilled Alchemist, but now it seems that this was not the case at all. This outsider was clearly just a novice when it came to the Alchemic Way, so both of them couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed.
However, Yang Kai just chuckled, “My teacher taught me that before I reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary, I was not to perform Alchemy, as such I just recently began my practical studies.”
“How long do you need to become a Saint Grade Alchemist?” Guan’er asked, “Only a Saint Grade Alchemist can refine the pill we need.”
“Shouldn’t be long,” Yang Kai grinned confidently.
“I really hope that that’s true, you have to accomplish this goal within ten years, otherwise… you’ll die!” Senior Li stared at him seriously, “It’s not that we want to impose a deadline on you after which we will kill you, but you should be able to tell that this world is filled with Demonic Qi, which is incompatible with the True Qi of your Human Race. Once you have been exposed to it for too long, you will inevitably influenced by the surrounding Demonic Qi and your consciousness will become more and more irritable and violent, eventually degrading completely. All of those who were sent here before by Coffin Slave Senior suffered such fates and we were forced to kill them.”
“You can rest assured that even if I stay here for a hundred years, the Demonic Qi here will not affect me,” Yang Kai sneered.
Not only would he not be affected, his Unyielding Golden Skeleton would even become stronger, it actually quite liked the surrounding energy here.
“Your confidence is certainly not small…” Guan’er looked at Yang Kai with disdain, “You humans always like talking big, but in the end you’re not as good as us demons!”
Inside the huge stone room, Yang Kai sat cross-legged in front of a water tank-sized pill furnace, slowly injecting his True Qi into it while concentrating on forming a simple Spirit Array.
After a while, the Spirit Array was successfully formed, and Yang Kai orderly put a series of herbs into the furnace while refining their medicinal essences with his True Qi.
Soon, these herbs were all refined into medicinal liquids and were gathered together into a single mass. Under the dual action of the Spirit Array and Yang Kai’s True Qi, this ball of liquid slowly underwent some subtle changes.
A faint medicinal fragrance began leaking from the furnace and Yang Kai become more and more focused.
A short time later, Yang Kai’s eyes shot open and his hands formed a series of seals while he rapidly injected his True Qi into the furnace. In the next instant, a round yellow-colored pill shot out of the pill furnace and was swiftly caught by Yang Kai.
The pill was still warm and after giving it a quick sniff and inspecting it’s quality, Yang Kai gently nodded.
Earth Grade Top-Rank!
With his current skill and experience, he could now easily refine Earth Grade Top-Rank pills.
Placing the finished pill into a nearby jade bottle, Yang Kai closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing for a moment before beginning this process all over again.
Inside the stone room where he lived, there was a big pile of herbs that had been provided to him by the Demon Race people here. With materials being provided to him freely, Yang Kai only needed to concentrate on improving his Alchemy skill.
Yang Kai didn’t show any signs of impatience or unease; even though he was sent here by the Coffin Carrying Man and although the task the beautiful woman needed him to complete wasn’t simple, Yang Kai still found this place somewhat comfortable.
Up until now, although he had wanted to study the Alchemic Way, Yang Kai had always been short on funds and was unable to buy the necessary herbs; his only real practical experience was the ten day period he had spent experimenting in Bold Independent City.
Now suddenly presented with such good conditions, being whole heartedly trained by these Demon Race people, Yang Kai was naturally not in a hurry to leave, not to mention even if he wanted to go he couldn’t.
He now knew that the mature beauty who had first greeted him who was called Senior Li, the beautiful woman with an icy temperament, the old man, and the annoying Chu Jian, were all Saints.
Faced with such powerful masters, Yang Kai wasn’t interested in disgracing himself by trying something stupid.
Now what he had to do was improve his Alchemy skills. Yang Kai not only found he enjoyed Alchemy, but by repeatedly using his True Qi to delicately portray Spirit Arrays and manipulate medicinal essences, his own strength and state of mind also improved as well, a very gratifying result.
The young girl Guan’er was responsible for monitoring Yang Kai’s movements so she would often sit in the same spot a few hundred meters from him and observe his progress.
Seeing Yang Kai successfully refine another pill, Guan’er couldn’t help smiling happily and clenching her fist, almost as if she was the one who had been the one to accomplish this.
When the air beside her began to warp, Guan’er was surprised for a moment before quickly composing herself.
A moment later, the beautiful Senior Li appeared, and this time she was accompanied by the icy woman and the old man as well.
“Greetings, three Lords!” Guan’er quickly greeted.
The three people gently nodded before turning their attention towards Yang Kai, the beautiful Senior Li asking, “How is his progress?”
“Very good,” Guan’er replied seriously, “It’s really quite surprising but he seems to be very talented in Alchemy. I can tell that before now he hadn’t had much experience performing Alchemy but in less than one month his skill has risen to the point where he can easily refine Earth Grade Top-Rank pills and in a few days, I believe he should be able to refine Heaven Grade pills.”
“Is he really so talented?” Senior Li’s beautiful eyes lit up, a look of expectation appearing on her face.
The last time she had come here and had a long talk with Yang Kai, although she was satisfied with his attitude, when she heard that he had only just begun experimenting with Alchemy, she couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.
Among the dozens of people who had come before Yang Kai who possessed Conflagrated Knowledge Seas there were a number who had never been exposed to Alchemy before. Those people, with no exception, after ten years, all had terrible achievements in the Alchemic Way.
As such, Senior Li didn’t expect much from Yang Kai at the time, thinking he would be like those people.
But now, after listening to Guan’er’s comments, Senior Li found herself pleasantly surprised.
This young boy seemed to be very different from his predecessors.
“Senior Li, if this boy continues to progress at this speed, within ten years, he may really be able to refine Saint Grade pills!” The old man caressed his white beard and gently nodded, his wrinkled face filled with a look of expectation.
“His performance is really reassuring, but right now, there’s still a big problem in front of us…” The icy woman cut in.
Listening to her words, both Senior Li and the old man’s expressions couldn’t help sinking.
“What problem?” Guan’er asked in confusion, glancing at the faces of the three seniors and realizing that there was some kind of difficult issue.
Senior Li smiled softly and replied, “It’s a matter of materials. The Mysterious Small World we live in is quite vast, but the materials produced are still limited, and after so many years of collection, the output is no longer as good as it once was. I don’t know if the materials we have on hand are enough to train him to become a Saint Grade Alchemist. If there aren’t enough…”
Guan’er suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem.
If this outsider wanted to continue raising his skills, he would need to use an incredibly large number of spirit herbs to practice. Only by accumulating vast amounts of practical experience would his Alchemy techniques reach the level they required of him.
The Demon Race believed in their physical strength, and because of the nature of the Demonic Qi within their bodies, they were basically unsuited to practicing Alchemy, so although they would occasionally collect herbs, they would normally just consume them raw and the benefits they obtained would be minimal.
Regarding this, many amongst the Demon Race were quite envious of the Human Race’s Alchemist, and they would also spend great sums of money to buy pills from the Human Race.
And so for countless years, the Demon Race people who lived here had collected and eaten a large number of herbs and although Senior Li had purposefully cultivated some herb gardens, the herbs they produced would still not be enough to fully cultivate Yang Kai.
“What should we do?” Guan’er was a little bit flustered. Now that they had finally seen a glimmer of hope, if all of their plans were to fail because they lacked enough raw materials, it would really be a pity.
“Can we let Coffin Slave Senior gather some herbs from the outside world?” Guan’er made a suggestion.
To her suggestion, Senior Li shook her head lightly, “Coffin Slave Senior has already passed on and only his remaining obsession to find those with Conflagrate Knowledge Seas allows his body to temporarily take action. We have no way of communicating other requests to him.”
The old man paused for a moment before angrily muttering, “Over the past hundred years, Chu Jian has never offered any herbs to Demon God Citadel, he should have a great many in storage!”
“You want him to ask him?” The icy woman’s eyes narrowed, “He won’t listen to you.”
“Senior Li is the Lord of Demon God Citadel, every member of our clan must heed her orders. If Chu Jian dares to ignore then he is guilty of rebellion!”
The icy woman just sneered, “He’s been rebelling for more than a few days now.”
Senior Li took a deep breath, her full chest undulating intoxicatingly for a moment before she let out a sigh, “Let’s set aside Chu Jian’s position for now, the herbs we have are still enough to support him for some time, we can discuss this issue again when it becomes a real problem.”
The icy woman and the old man both exchanged a glance and slowly shook their heads, thinking that Senior Li was being too lenient once again.
Her benevolence was quite a rare trait amongst those of the Demon Race.
“Guan’er, you continue taking care of him, if he has any requirements, as long as it is not too much, do your best to satisfy them,” Senior Li gave a command.
“En, understood,” Guan’er quickly responded.
The mature beauty glanced over at Yang Kai again but just as she and the two other Seniors were about to leave, Yang Kai seemingly sensed their gazes and turned his eyes towards them, grinning as he called out in a loud voice, “Perfect timing, I have something I’d like to ask you.”
Senior Li smiled lightly and together with the icy woman and the old man flickered and appeared in front of Yang Kai, softly asking, “What’s the matter?”
Yang Kai didn’t reply immediately, his eyes shifting back and forth.
The old man saw this and was quite dissatisfied, coldly shouting, “Human brat, take back your filthy eyes, otherwise this old master will teach you how to show proper etiquette.”
Yang Kai smiled awkwardly to this and replied, “I was just wondering what I should call you.”
Senior Li was stunned for a moment before she smiled gently, “My name is Li Rong.” Saying so, she lightly pointed to the icy woman and the old man and introduced them, “These two are Han Fei and Hua Mo, and of course you already know Guan’er, you can address us as Senior or by our names directly; after all, we are now a cooperative relationship.”
“Han Fei …” Yang Kai took a look at the icy woman and nodded gently, “Sure enough, a pretty name.”
Hua Mo’s expression couldn’t help becoming a little weird while Han Fei herself stared at Yang Kai coldly, “You’re not afraid of me? If those words were spoken by someone else with your pitiful strength, he’d be dead by now.”
No one had ever dared speak so flippantly towards her.
Yang Kai however just shook his head, “I just felt somewhat familiar with you.”
This time, the jaws of all the Demon Race people dropped.
“Don’t misunderstand, it’s just that I know another woman whose temperament is very much like yours, moreover, people like you generally appear cold on the outside, but inside… hehe,” As Yang Kai spoke, he couldn’t help thinking about Su Yan.
This bold evaluation seemed to greatly disturb Han Fei, her face flashing an unnatural look, but just as she was about to get angry, Yang Kai quickly changed the subject, “But I digress, let’s talk about business.”
“What do you want to say?” Li Rong asked.
“Since, as you say, we are now in a cooperative relationship, then I’ll get straight to the point. To be honest, I know that you’re still hiding some things from me, but here, I can study Alchemy without any worries, so I won’t ask you anything regarding what it is you’re concealing, everyone has their own secrets.”
Li Rong gently nodded, not denying Yang Kai’s assertions.
As the Lord of Demon God Citadel, she naturally wouldn’t explain everything to Yang Kai, an outsider. Concealing some things was only natural.
“However, if you want me to advance quickly, you’ll have to pay me a bit more; after all, no matter how comfortable you make things for me, I am still your captive. If I don’t take some more benefits, I’d feel somewhat uncomfortable,” Yang Kai grinned.
“You still want to snatch more benefits?” Hua Mo coldly snorted, “Human brat, don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch. Us not limiting your freedom is already showing you a great deal of respect.”
Hua Mo obviously didn’t like how Yang Kai still dared to bargain with them even though he was essentially their captive.
Yang Kai just smiled lightly though and replied, “Then maybe, when I become a Saint Grade Alchemist, when I’m helping you refine the pill you need, I can ‘accidentally’ make some mistakes.”
Hearing this thinly veiled threat, the expressions of everyone else in the room became bad, with Han Fei even sending a murderous gaze towards Yang Kai
“You dare?!” Hua Mo angrily roared.
However, Li Rong reached out and stopped Hua Mo, calmly turning her attention to Yang Kai, “Such matters are things to be considered far from now, and I believe that as long as we meet your requirements, there will be no need for you to do such things, yes?”
“Depends on my mood,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and assumed an indifferent posture.
“Name your requests then. I just mentioned to Guan’er that as long as your requests are not excessive, we will satisfy them unconditionally, and now, in front of you, I will make the same commitment,” Li Rong smiled slightly, not showing the slightest bit of anger.
Yang Kai glanced over at her and found that this dignified beautiful woman really had a quiet and gentle temperament. Her benevolence seemed to come straight from her soul. Moreover, she was a natural born leader, far more mature than Yun Xuan. Her eyes contained a wise and calm light that made those around her involuntarily feel a sense of comfort and intimacy.
When she spoke these words, the slight resistance and hostility in Yang Kai’s heart disappeared.
Smiling lightly, Yang Kai quickly spoke, “I want Conflagrated Knowledge Seas!”
Li Rong, Han Fei and Hua Mo’s look changed slightly but Li Rong quickly laughed to conceal this gaff, “Aren’t you already in possession of a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea? You suddenly asking us for Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, are you perhaps trying to be difficult?”
Yang Kai remained calm and stared towards Li Rong meaningfully, “Let’s not waste each other’s time, you know what I mean.”
The three Seniors suddenly went silent.
Seeing their silence, Yang Kai knew that there was a chance so he quickly struck while the iron was hot, “What use are the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas you have stored up? Do you want to cultivate your own Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea? Heh, I advise you to give up now, if I didn’t guess wrong, you should have already tried this and know what the consequences are. To put it simply, your Demon Race people’s physique is not suitable for Alchemy!”
“You seem to know a great deal,” Hua Mo was a little surprised. The things Yang Kai had just said were basically true, which meant he knew some of their most hidden secrets, a fact that nearly made him speechless.
“Thanks to the ancient book that were left here, there were quite a few hidden records included.”
“Hateful Humans!” Hua Mo gnashed his teeth, the ancient books that were left here had been checked by them extremely carefully to ensure that no information detrimental to Demon God Citadel was recorded in them, otherwise they wouldn’t have let Yang Kai so casually read them.
But apparently, some information that could only be understood by Alchemists was still left behind!
Li Rong eventually nodded, “Indeed, we do have a dozen sealed Conflagrated Knowledge Seas on hand. These Conflagrated Knowledge Seas are the legacy of the Human Race cultivators who were sent here by Coffin Slave Senior over our many years of captivity. Through some special methods we have preserved them in almost perfect condition.”
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed brilliantly when he heard this and unconsciously licked his lips, “I want all of them, if you give them to me, I will certainly fulfill your wishes!”
“It’s not impossible to give them to you,” Li Rong frowned slightly, “As you said, we have really had thought about trying to cultivate our own Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, but our Demon Race people’s physique, even if it is incredibly strong, for some unknown reason, is really not suited to Alchemy, so whenever one of our clansmen tried to refine one of those Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, their Knowledge Sea would quickly be incinerated and they would die.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and knew that his guess was right.
Being locked up in this Mysterious Small World for so many years, Yang Kai would never believe that these Demon Race people solely relied on capturing cultivator from the outside world that had Conflagrated Knowledge Sea to free themselves from their imprisonment. Obviously they had attempted to find alternative solutions but hadn’t made significant progress.
“Your Demon Race is interesting, your physical strength is much stronger than any other race, but why can’t you study Alchemy?” Yang Kai smiled, taking some pleasure in others’ misfortune.
“It’s only natural, because our physiques are too strong, if we could also become skilled in Alchemy, would there be any space for other races in this world?”
“Of course that doesn’t mean that no one from the Demon Race can be proficient in Alchemy. The most outstanding Alchemist in Tong Xuan Realm’s history comes from our Demon Race, even the Alchemy Grandmasters of your Human Race could only admit defeat before him!” Han Fei shot back.
“Oh? Was there such a character? Who was he?”
Li Rong slowly shook her head, apparently reluctant to say any more, bringing the conversation back to its original topic, “The Conflagrated Knowledge Seas we have left really don’t have much use to us, so if you want them we can give them to you, but can you guarantee that you can safely refine them and not die? If you die, we will be very troubled; after all, it is very difficult to find someone like you, on average Coffin Slave Senior takes a decade or so to find one.”
“Do you think I’m someone who acts recklessly with his life?” Yang Kai grinned.
Li Rong stared at him deeply and after a long time, nodded, “Then I will meet your requirements. I hope you don’t reach out for a yard after taking an inch again.”
“Happy doing business with you!”
Li Rong smiled, turned, and walked away, her soft voice gently drifting over as she left, “I will send the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas to you tomorrow.”
“Good!”
Han Fei stared at Yang Kai coldly and warned, “You only have ten years, if you can’t satisfy our request within ten years, I will let you experience what it means to live a life worse than death!”
This icy woman seemed to be holding a grudge for Yang Kai’s comments about her appearing cold on the outside but warm inside. Now being target by her, Yang Kai felt slightly helpless.
The three Saint Realm masters left, and even Guan’er quickly disappeared.
The next day, Guan’er brought a dozen or so containers made of fine white jade, each of them about the size of a fist, all of them wrapped in dense Spirit Arrays that formed some kind of elaborate seals.
Placing these dozen containers in front of Yang Kai, Guan’er coldly snorted, “These are the things you asked for.”
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed as he quickly picked up one of them, but just as he was about to use his True Qi to break its seal, Guan’er expression changed dramatically as she called out, “What are you doing?”
“Breaking the seal and absorbing it,” Yang Kai smiled brightly.
“Are you insane?” Guan’er shouted anxiously, “The owners of each of these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas were all Transcendents, their Knowledge Seas were all far stronger than yours, if you rashly try to absorb them, you’ll be burned to death just like the members of my clan that tried to refine them! Please tell me you’re joking!”
“I’m not joking!” Yang Kai shook his head casually.
“Isn’t there a safer way?” Guan’er asked urgently, “When you said you wanted these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas yesterday, Senior Li thought that you had a safe way to absorb them, otherwise she wouldn’t have given them to you so easily, if this was your plan all along, then…”
“This is what I was planning to do from the start. Now, if you don’t want to die, move farther away.”
“Wait, I’ll go get Senior Li, wait for her to arrive.” Guan’er hurriedly said, rushing out of the stone room, apparently wanting to report the situation to Senior Li so she could make a decision.
“Before Senior Li arrives, don’t act rashly!”
As soon as she spat out these words though, Guan’er noticed a blistering aura that unconsciously made her feel uneasy.
This heat was not something physical, rather, it felt more like her very soul was burning. This burning heat greatly affected Guan’er’s Soul, the pain was difficult to describe.
Her beautiful eyes going wide, Guan’er rushed out in a flurry, afraid that her Soul really would be turned to ash if she remained.
Looking back, she saw that the entire stone room had become a sea of red and the space seemed to warp from the intense heat. A cluster of visible flames quickly formed. This cloud of flame not only contained the remnants of a powerful cultivator’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, but also the residual thoughts and consciousness that cultivator left behind when they died.
However, this blistering heat that made Guan’er so fearful seemed to have no affect on the Human Race brat.
He simply sat in the same place, a look of excitement on his face.
Suddenly, a terrifying suction force seemed to emerge from his forehead and in the blink of an eye, all the power of the Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was swallowed up by him and disappeared.
Guan’er was dumbstruck as she stared at this incredible scene, almost forgetting to breathe.
The stone room was once again calm, but Yang Kai was seemingly not satisfied and quickly began unsealing all of the other jade containers.
Guan’er’s face went pale as she shouted out in alarm, “Lunatic!”
Guan’er hurriedly escaped from this place without looking back.
A single unsealed Conflagrated Knowledge Sea had already given her an extremely dangerous feeling. If several of them were to suddenly appear at once she definitely wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
A blast of heat erupted from the stone room a moment later and Guan’er, who was rapidly fleeing, was struck hard and nearly tumbled to the ground. By the time she had regained her balance, several people from Demon God Citadel, who had been alerted by this disturbance, had arrived.
Li Rong also appeared in a flash and asked solemnly, “What happened? Didn’t you just send him the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas we had in storage? Why did all of their seals suddenly fail?”
“The seals didn’t fail, he undid them himself…” Guan’er desperately wanted to cry but was unable to shed any tears, quickly explaining what had happened, “I tried to stop him but…”
“Is he courting death?” Even the normally calm Li Rong couldn’t help calling out anxiously before she charged into the stone room. Although she had agreed to give Yang Kai these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, she hadn’t expected Yang Kai who always seemed to composed to suddenly act so recklessly.
How could he possibly survive if he was to suddenly undo all of those seals?
But after rushing into the stone room, Li Rong couldn’t help staring in shock.
Because she found that the blazing heat she had felt a moment ago had suddenly completely disappeared and the human kid in front of her not only didn’t seem to have suffered any injuries , but was actually sitting there with a look of joy upon his face.
Obviously, in that instant, he had absorbed all of the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas she had given him.
Li Rong’s expression cramped as her brow furrowed, suddenly discovering that she couldn’t completely understand this Human Race boy.
More than a dozen Transcendent Realm masters’ Conflagrated Knowledge Seas was something even she didn’t dare contact easily, but this Human Race kid had actually drawn all of them into his own Knowledge Sea without any hesitation.
What exactly gave him the confidence to act so daringly?
Li Rong’s face kept changing, her brow wrinkling and relaxing, a look of puzzlement the only thing consistent.
This Human Race boy had dared to absorb more than a dozen Conflagrated Knowledge Seas into his Knowledge Sea and outwardly showed no signs of distress. The only reasonable conclusion was there was some secret hidden in his Knowledge Sea that could contain the damage these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas should have on him.
The mature, dignified beauty couldn’t help feeling somewhat curious.
Making a decision, with a wave of her hand, she erected a barrier around the stone room and then sat down opposite Yang Kai, stretched out her jade like hand, and delicately placed her finger onto his forehead.
In the next moment, a strand of Divine Sense was sent out from Li Rong’s Knowledge Sea and rushed into Yang Kai’s.
She wanted to see for herself what this boy was hiding.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, a blazing hot aura lingered and even the water down below seemed to be boiling as wisps of burning flame leapt about.
As Li Rong quietly glanced around at this Knowledge Sea, a great storm welled up in her heart.
She clearly felt just how tyrannical this boy’s Knowledge Sea was. Even though he was only a Human Race brat at the Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage, his Spiritual Energy was no worse than a peak Transcendent.
Although Yang Kai had previously demonstrated his Spiritual Energy in front of her, Li Rong now realized that at the time he had still been holding back.
The Human Race really was too deceitful!
Somewhere in the sky over the sea, a Soul avatar quietly floated, which was quickly identified by Li Rong as Yang Kai’s avatar.
Right now, in front of his Soul avatar, were a dozen or so flames which were no doubt the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas he had just absorbed. These Conflagrated Knowledge Seas each radiated a devastating power that warped the space around them, causing Yang Kai’s entire Knowledge Sea to look a turbulent, as if it was in danger of collapsing at any time.
Seeing this, Li Rong couldn’t help worrying.
“Senior Li, don’t you think it’s a bit inappropriate to spy on someone else’s inner secrets?” Suddenly, the Human Race’s Soul avatar turned its eyes towards where she was hiding.
Li Rong was stunned but quickly wore a helpless smile. She had thought that she could sneak into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea without being noticed because of the vast difference in their strength, but she hadn’t expected his Spiritual Energy to be so strong or for him to be so vigilant of his surroundings.
Since she had already been discovered, Li Rong didn’t bother hiding anymore and instead directly showed herself and lightly flew towards Yang Kai, waving her hand and saying sincerely, “Sorry, I couldn’t suppress my curiosity and wanted to see what method you had to safely devour these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas; after all, this is our Demon God Citadel’s investment in you, as the Lord of Demon God Citadel. So, do I not have some right to monitor how they are used?”
“Does Senior Li not trust me?” Yang Kai grinned.
“Somewhat. We have not yet reached a point where we can truly trust one another, and taking lessons from the past, acting prudently is reasonable,” Li Rong smiled back.
Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
“So, can you let me see your means? Rest assured, I will only observe quietly and will not bother you,” Li Rong proposed, obviously she was worried that when Yang Kai tried to refine these Conflagrated The Knowledge Seas something might go wrong. If that really happened, if she was nearby, she might be able to help him.
Although he was aware of her good intentions, Yang Kai still shook his head slowly, “Everyone has their own secrets. I believe Senior Li had no intention of spying on my secrets when you snuck into my Knowledge Sea so I didn’t immediately drive you out because Senior Li is a woman worthy of trusting. Now that we have reached this point though, please don’t force me to do something that would damage this fragile trust.”
To assimilate these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, he had to use the power of the Solitary Golden Eye.
The moment when Li Rong snuck into his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai had quickly concealed the Solitary Golden Eye and Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
These things were secrets he didn’t want anyone to know about, and as long as Li Rong didn’t deliberately pry into his secrets, she shouldn’t be able to find them.
Hearing Yang Kai give her such a high appraisal caused an unnatural look to appear on Li Rong’s face; after all, regardless of her intentions, she had still secretly intruded into his Knowledge Sea. Yang Kai’s praise made her feel awkward.
“Do you really insist?” Li Rong bit her red lips and asked, not willing to give up so easily.
Yang Kai nodded firmly.
Li Rong sighed and finally relented, “Good, then I won’t insist. Please be careful though.”
Saying so, a potent Spiritual Energy emerged from her Soul avatar and wrapped around the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas.
There was no hostile intent behind this move; she just wanted to help Yang Kai as much as possible before leaving.
Yang Kai also knew this and naturally made no attempt to stop her.
However, something shocking happened the moment she acted. All of a sudden, Li Rong’s Soul avatar trembled and the Solitary Golden Eye, which had been hidden by Yang Kai, actually took the initiative to show itself.
The Solitary Golden Eye then slowly opened, completely ignoring Yang Kai’s attempts to control it.
Faced with its endless majesty, even the incredibly powerful Li Rong couldn’t help trembling violently, as if her Soul avatar would collapse in the next instant.
When the Solitary Golden Eye appeared, it gave off a pressure that made any who saw it feel like kneeling down and worshiping it.
The dozen or so unstable Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, as if they were being stared at by a hungry predatory, all became quiet and clustered together, as if trying to find some sense of security in each other.
Li Rong stared blankly, as if the only thing reflected in her eyes was this golden eyeball.
Yang Kai’s expression also changed drastically as he desperately tried to communicate with the Solitary Golden Eye; however, he received no response at all.
A beam of golden light suddenly shot from the Solitary Golden Eye and engulfed all of the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, purifying all of their remaining impurities in an instant. But the golden light’s power didn’t decrease at all and continued forward, striking Li Rong’s Soul avatar in the next moment.
Yang Kai stared dumbfounded at this scene!
Li Rong’s Soul avatar was also motionless and very quickly faded and disappeared.
When Li Rong’s Soul avatar disappeared, the Solitary Golden Eye slowly closed. Yang Kai glanced over at it with an ugly expression.
After a brief moment, Yang Kai grumbled in discontent and ignoring the purified Conflagrated Knowledge Seas in front of him, quickly pulled his consciousness out of his Knowledge Sea.
Hurriedly opening his eyes, Yang Kai saw Li Rong sitting in front of him. At this moment, her eyes were wide open and her entire body was stiff, her jade white finger still gently poking his forehead. Sweat was dripping down her brow as if she had just awoken from a terrifying nightmare, her beautiful face now completely pale.
Sweeping his surroundings with his Divine Sense and noticing that the stone room was sealed off from the outside world, Yang Kai relaxed slightly.
The destructive power of the Solitary Golden Eye was abundantly clear to him so he knew that Li Rong’s Soul avatar had likely been instantly wiped out.
This woman was the Lord of Demon God Citadel, if she were to die right before his eyes, he wouldn’t have any way to explain it. Forget about studying Alchemy anymore or searching for Su Yan and Little Senior Sister. Han Fei and Hua Mo would likely chop his corpse into ten thousand pieces and avenge Li Rong.
Desperately trying to calm his nerves, Yang Kai carefully swept Li Rong with his Divine Sense but to his surprise she seemed to be unharmed!
Despite the frightened expression on her face, neither her Divine Sense nor her body appeared to have suffered any harm, it was just that right now for some reason her thoughts seemed to be in chaotic state.
[What happened?] Yang Kai felt confused.
Every time the Solitary Golden Eye exerted its power, it would easily purify any foreign Divine Sense that entered Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, leaving behind only the original owner’s sentiments and Spiritual Energy, but this was not the case with Li Rong.
Was her cultivation too strong compared to his own? Was there some other unknown reason?
Regardless, Li Rong was safe and sound, allowing Yang Kai’s mood to improve greatly.
Staring at the nearly unconscious beauty in front of him, Yang Kai’s aura slowly became dangerous.
Just now, Li Rong had definitely seen his Solitary Golden Eye, so the thought of killing her couldn’t help coming to Yang Kai’s mind.
But after a brief moment of hesitation, he slowly shook his head and gave up this idea.
Killing Li Rong would bring him more trouble than it was worth.
Sitting back again, Yang Kai let out a long sigh. There seemed to be a great deal of noise outside his stone room, the people from Demon God Citadel had probably noticed something was wrong and had begun to gather here. Yang Kai could also hear Guan’er’s voice from time to time, seemingly trying to call out to him.
Yang Kai turned a deaf ear to her calls.
Even after waiting for a while, Li Rong still didn’t react, so Yang Kai also ignored her and once again immersed his consciousness into his Knowledge Sea and began absorbing the purified Conflagrated Knowledge Seas.
Yang Kai had asked Li Rong for these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas because he saw some records in the ancient books that cultivators with Conflagrated Knowledge Seas could enhance themselves by devouring the Conflagrated Knowledge Seas of others.
Yang Kai had acquired his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea when he had refined the Jade True Spirit, so although its temperature was blisteringly hot, relatively speaking, it wasn’t too strong. If he could refine more Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, his own would undoubtedly become more powerful.
This would yield great benefits to Yang Kai with regards to his future Soul strength as well as his study of Alchemy.
So when he learned that Li Rong had more than a dozen Conflagrated Knowledge Seas in storage, Yang Kai was inevitably tempted.
The process of absorbing these Conflagrated Knowledge Seas was relatively simple and easy, and the effects on his Knowledge Sea were immediately apparent.
The patches of burning flame-like seawater became larger and denser, the power contained within them increasing several fold. Yang Kai’s current Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was now incomparable to the one he originally had.
This was a huge harvest and Yang Kai was quite satisfied.
When he pulled his consciousness from his Knowledge Sea once more, Yang Kai realized that Li Rong had already extracted herself from her abnormal state. Now, this mature beauty who always seemed so calm and wise was staring at him with a look of confusion on her pretty face.
When their four eyes suddenly met, Li Rong seemed somewhat frightened and hurriedly shifted her gaze.
“Are you alright?” Yang Kai asked.
Li Rong slowly nodded.
“Do you remember what you saw a moment ago?” Yang Kai solemnly asked.
Li Rong hesitated for a moment before nodding once more, but she immediately followed up, “You don’t have to worry, I won’t say anything regarding this matter.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai’s said with a curious expression.
Li Rong so anxiously saying this was almost as if she was eager to show good will towards him, which from Yang Kai’s perspective was quite odd, so he was somewhat at a loss as to what to say now.
“You don’t trust me?” Li Rong knit her brow, “I can swear an oath in the name of The Great Demon God that without your explicit permission I will not tell the second person about anything I just witnessed!”
Li Rong’s words and expression were completely serious.
Although Yang Kai didn’t know what it meant to swear an oath in name of the Great Demon God, he could feel Li Rong’s sincerity from her tone and demeanour.
[Was she scared by the Solitary Golden Eye? What other reason could the Lord of Demon God Citadel have for suddenly changing her attitude towards me by so much?] Yang Kai frowned and couldn’t understand.
However, this guess was also somewhat unbelievable, Li Rong was a Saint Realm master so her courage couldn’t possibly be so small.
Gently nodding, Yang Kai smiled, “Don’t be so nervous, I believe you.”
Li Rong couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, seemingly having a great weight lifted from her shoulders. After a brief moment, the dignified air about her returned and she continued, “I am well aware of your means now. Good. From now on, Demon God Citadel will provide your with all the support you need, you can be at ease while you continue to study Alchemy here, I will see to everything else.”
Saying so, Li Rong waved and dismissed the barrier around the stone room before turning around and walking out.
Just as she was about to leave, she glanced back and said, “Right, if you feel bored here and need a change of scenery, you can let Guan’er take you out, Demon God Citadel will place no limits on your freedom.”
“En, thanks,” Yang Kai’s eyes flickered.
After Li Rong left, Yang Kai shook his head. He was keenly aware that this mature beauty’s attitude towards him had undergone a dramatic change, and although she tried to hide it, this change directly manifested itself in her very demeanor.
Unable to understand no matter how he thought about it, Yang Kai simply didn’t bother trying anymore and decided to focus on his alchemic studies again.
Outside the stone room, as Li Rong strolled out, she couldn’t help stealthily glancing back a few times, a hint of excitement flashing across her eyes. Guan’er soon rushed up and worriedly asked, “Mistress, is everything alright?”
“Everything is fine,” Li Rong shook his head slightly before seriously saying, “Continue to take care of him.”
“Oh, en.”
Finished what she had to say, Li Rong’s tender body flickered and disappeared.
After the time it would take to drink a cup of tea, outside the deepest room of Demon God Citadel, Li Rong reappeared, quickly opening a heavy stone door before rushing inside.
This secret room was protected behind multiple barriers and contained the most valuable treasures in all of Demon God Citadel and only the Lord of Demon God Citadel was eligible to enter.
After Li Rong stepped inside, she walked over to a corner and took out a thick ancient book from one of the shelves. This ancient book had been left unattended for a long time and was covered in a thick layer of dust; however, Li Rong seemed to be in a great hurry and didn’t pay any attention to this, quickly brushing off this dust and then flipping the book open.
A moment later, Li Rong’s beautiful eyes fixed on a certain page inside the ancient book, attentively staring at its content, her breathing gradually becoming rapid as a look of excitement appeared on her face.
Only after a long silence did Li Rong put down the ancient book and close her eyes. Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she sunk into a deep state of contemplation.
Upon opening her eyes again, Li Rong had regained her composure and a determined light appeared in the depths of her eyes, seemingly having made some kind of important decision. Placing the ancient book back onto the shelf, she swiftly left.
The next day.
As Yang Kai was once again immersed in Alchemy, the door to the stone room was suddenly opened and, under the leadership of Guan’er, a large group of Demon Race people came in.
Yang Kai was startled by this sudden visit and couldn’t help feeling a bit confused. In that moment, his True Qi became unstable and soon, black smoke appeared from inside the Pill Furnace in front of him. The herbs he had been refining had been reduced to ashes.
Guan’er ignored him and instead directed these Demon Race people about the stone room.
Yang Kai stared at this scene for a while trying to figure out what was going on but as time passed his expression only became more confused.
He quickly noticed that these people hadn’t come here to make trouble; rather, they seemed to be here to tidy up and decorate his stone room.
A large comfortable looking bed was carried in by them and placed in the corner of the stone room while new tables and chairs were also brought in, still others put together an elegant incense burner nearby before finally, a group of pretty maidservants placed a number of delicious looking dishes and fine wines onto the table.
Soon, a delicate fragrance quite unlike the burnt smell of ash filled the stone room.
After this team of people finished furnishing and decorating, the originally cold and dreary stone room had undergone earth-shaking changes and now had a warm, welcoming feeling to it.
Yang Kai brow furrowed and his heart was filled with doubts.
When everything was done, Yang Kai beckoned to Guan’er, “Come over.”
Guan’er shot him a glance that seemed to be filled with unwillingness and narrowed her eyes slightly before asking, “What’s the matter?”
“What is all of this?” Yang Kai asked directly, motioning towards the various changes in the stone room.
“Senior Li ordered us to take good care of you.”
“Even if that’s the case, isn’t this a bit much? What reason do you have for doing all this?” Yang Kai asked warily. Demon God Citadel not limiting his freedom and providing him with Alchemy materials was already better treatment than Yang Kai had expected, yet now Li Rong was suddenly treating him like an important guest, naturally he was somewhat suspicious.
“That’s what I want to know,” Guan’er grumbled, looking Yang Kai over, “You mean despicable human, did you say something sly to Senior Li in order to trick her into treating you so well?”
“Do you think she’s someone who could be so easily swindled?” Yang Kai sneered.
“You don’t have the skill!” Guan’er yelled, “Anyways, don’t ask me, right now I’m just following Mistress’ orders and am just as confused as you are. In any case, the things here are yours to do with as you please.”
Saying so, Guan’er waved her hand and led this large group of people out.
After they left, Yang Kai began to inspect everything that had been delivered.
There were no problems with the food or wine; on the contrary, everything seemed to have been carefully prepared. Although Yang Kai didn’t recognize many of the ingredients used, he could feel the subtle energy fluctuations from these dishes. This food seemed to be able to quickly supplement both his physical and spiritual strength.
The large bed was also a high quality item. Once again, Yang Kai didn’t know what materials it had been crafted from, but he did notice a number of Spirit Arrays were engraved on it. If he were to meditate on it, the rate at which he could restore himself would increase dramatically. Last but not least, among some other miscellaneous items Guan’er had brought him, there was a number of Crystal Stones.
Were they really regarding him as an important guest? Yang Kai wondered as he held swept his eyes over the dozens of Crystal Stones in front of him.
Demon God Citadel’s people had been sealed in this Mysterious Small World for centuries so Crystal Stones should be a rarity for them, yet all of sudden Li Rong had actually given him a few dozen of them, this was clearly a massive loss.
[What the hell is going on?]
Thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai soon gave up and turned his attention to the food in front of him. After filling his belly, he sat on the bed for a while to restore himself before continuing with his Alchemy studies.
From then on, every day, Guan’er would bring him some carefully prepared food and drink, Yang Kai would indulge in these delicacies, meditate for some time, and then return to refining pills. Following such a routine, his proficiency in Alchemy rapidly increased.
After just two months, Yang Kai could now easily refine Heaven Grade Top-Rank pills even without relying on the assistance of a Spirit Array.
Li Rong would also appear from time to time to observe Yang Kai’s growth.
Yang Kai’s stunning rate of improvement greatly satisfied her, a warm smile becoming more and more commonly seen upon her beautiful face while a kind of radiant glow seemed to linger about her.
As long as Yang Kai maintained this rate of progress, provided with sufficient materials, it would only be a few years before he would be capable of refining Saint Grade pills.
This kind of growth far exceeded her expectations, so Li Rong was naturally happy.
However, Yang Kai was keenly aware that this beautiful woman seemed be somewhat fearful of talking to him face-to-face now. Every time she came to observe him, she would do so stealthily and always from a distance, normally choosing to consult with Guan’er rather than see him in person.
During these few months, Yang Kai also learned a lot about this Mysterious Small World while chatting with Guan’er.
This Mysterious Small World wasn’t small at all. Although the Demon Race people who are locked up here all technically belonged to Demon God Citadel, they were actually divided into four branches, each of which had their own leader.
Yang Kai had already met all four of these leaders; Li Rong, Han Fei, Hua Mo, and Chu Jian. All four of these individuals were powerful Saint Realm masters. Each of their territories was quite vast, so if one of them wanted to meet another, they would need to fly for at least half a day.
Among these four, Chu Jian had ambitions of replacing Li Rong and becoming the true master of Demon God Citadel. On the other hand, Han Fei and Hua Mo strongly supported Li Rong, forming a three-to-one advantage, so even if Chu Jian possessed great strength, his ambitions were basically impossible to fulfill.
Because the relationship between the leaders wasn’t harmonious, even the people of the four territories don’t see eye to eye. The citizens of Chu Jian’s territory were more militant but without any real enemies inside this Mysterious Small World, they had no choice but to suppress their violent impulses and cooperate, often leading to the citizens of the other three territories becoming victims of misdirected anger.
Although Li Rong and the other two leaders had repeatedly tried to control this situation, they could not contain it entirely.
The Demon Race had never been known for their calm or restraint.
Early one morning, after the people of Demon God Citadel woke up from a night of cultivation.
Outside Yang Kai’s stone room, Guan’er led a group of pretty maidservants who were carrying some delicious food, but before she reached the door, a young man suddenly blocked her path. This youth had a sharp nose and his eyes were somewhat narrow and sinister, letting out a great laugh he greeted her, “Ms. Gu Guan’er, good morning.”
Guan’er pretty face sank as she snorted back, “What do you want?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to say hello to you,” The young man laughed, “After not seeing you for a few months, Ms Guan’er has become even more radiant, have you perhaps made some progress in your cultivation recently?”
“None of your damn business.” Guan’er seemingly had great disdain for this young man, an obvious look of disgust apparent on her face.
“Now now, don’t speak such cold words; after all, we’ll be family one day,” The youth didn’t seem to care and continued laughing haughtily.
Guan’er face instantly became cold as she shot back in an icy tone, “Who’s going to become family with you? Can you at least try to hold back your shamelessness?”
“My father said that once I break through to the Transcendent Realm, he will ask Senior Li to give you to me, which means you’ll definitely be mine sooner or later, so what’s wrong with saying we’ll be family?”
Guan’er just sneered, “Senior Li will definitely not agree, so keep your fantasies to yourself.”
The youth curled his lips smugly and didn’t bother arguing with her anymore, instead staring at her and asking curiously, “What are you doing here?”
“That’s also none of your business, now get out of my way!” Guan’er pushed him aside and led the others into the stone room.
The young man frowned as he stared at the door to Yang Kai’s stone room for a moment before beckoning to someone nearby. Immediately after, a Demon Race man rushed over and asked politely, “What orders does Young Master have?”
“During my closed cultivation these past few months, what happened? How come there’s suddenly another human here?”
The man quickly explained about Yang Kai’s arrival, and even told the young man about the enviable treatment the former was currently receiving.
Listening to this, the youth’s eyes narrowed and flashed a wicked light, “You mean, Senior Li gave him several dozen pieces of Crystal Stone?”
Just as Yang Kai had speculated, because the people of Demon God Citadel had been sealed inside a Mysterious Small World for so many years, Crystal Stones were already a rarity for them.
Although World Energy here was not thin, only with the assistance of Crystal Stones during cultivation could the strength of the Demon Race people here rapidly improve. Over the countless years, Demon God Citadel had fewer and fewer Crystal Stones and now there were barely any left.
The several dozen Crystal Stones Li Rong made Guan’er give Yang Kai were the ones she had carefully preserved all these years.
So when he heard that Yang Kai had obtained so many Crystal Stones, Pan Lang was inevitably tempted.
“A trivial Human Race cultivator, what right does he have to possess so many Crystal Stones?”
“What does Young Master want to do?” The Demon Race man suddenly realized that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, “Young Master Pan Lang, you mustn’t have any improper ideas, Senior Li is very attentive towards this Human Race cultivator and has explicitly ordered that no one is to act against him.”
“Who said that I wanted to bully him?” Pan Lang coldly snorted, “Who here saw me bullying him?”
The Demon Race cultivator nervously scratched his head and thought about it, seemingly still quite hesitant.
Pan Lang once again glanced coldly towards the stone room as a wicked grin crept onto his face.
Inside the stone room, Yang Kai waited for Guan’er to direct the maids to put down the food before he unhesitantly sat down and began eating.
Guan’er spat disdainfully as she stared at him with a look of indignation.
She simply couldn’t understand why, since two months ago, Senior Li had seemingly become so attentive towards this Human Race cultivator. The treatment he now received was enough to make others mad with jealousy.
However, whenever she asked Senior Li, the latter would only shake her head and smile.
“You should just choke and die!” Guan’er licked her red lips and spat enviously.
Yang Kai in response just waved to her, “You should come eat together with me, there’s so much here I can’t finish it all.”
“Who would eat with you?” Guan’er mumbled bitterly before turning around and resolutely walking towards the door; however, although she tried to hide it, Yang Kai still heard the sound of her swallowing and couldn’t help but laugh.
Judging from Guan’er’s attitude towards him these days, he could tell that the food she had sent him were all good things.
Yang Kai also clearly felt that after eating these dishes his physique had undergone some subtle changes and was slowly growing stronger.
Soon, Yang Kai had wolfed down everything that was sent to him and the maids who had accompanied Guan’er cleaned everything up and left.
Yang Kai stretched lazily and rested for a while before, full of energy, plunging back into the world of Alchemy.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, while Yang Kai was still immersed in Alchemy, his expression suddenly changed and his ears perked up.
He heard some light footsteps outside as well as the sound of a few people breathing as the quietly approached his room.
Yang Kai’s expression suddenly turned pensive.
It had been a few months since he came here and although many of the Demon Race’s cultivators seemed to look down on him, no one had ever dared to make any trouble, so why was someone suddenly trying to stir something up now?
And there were a lot of them at that, seven in total, all of them Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators while the one who seemed to be their leader was actually a Peak Immortal Ascension master.
Perceiving all this, Yang Kai’s expression remained unchanged and didn’t show any signs of panic, continuing to steadily inject his True Qi into the Pill Furnace in front of him to refine the spirits herbs inside.
With a bang, the stone door was suddenly kicked open and seven people immediately burst in.
After they came in, they quickly closed the stone door.
Yang Kai looked up and glanced over at a young man with a sharp nose who stood at the front of the group and was snickering towards him.
His expression was scornful and contemptuous, and like most Demon God Citadel people, was clearly despising him. Yang Kai of course didn’t pay any attention to his attitude and just shook his head lightly.
“Hey, Pan Lang, this human kid is quite interesting, he doesn’t seem to be afraid of us at all,” One of the Demon Race cultivators snorted, somewhat surprised.
“Heh heh, he thinks that Senior Li will protect him, so naturally there’s no need to be afraid of us,” Pan Lang sneered and said, while striding towards Yang Kai.
When he arrived in front of Yang Kai, Pan Lang leaned over slightly and sneered right at his face.
Yang Kai however remained unmoved, still concentrating on injecting his True Qi into the Pill Furnace in front of him.
This blatant disregarded made Pan Lang somewhat annoyed so he extended his hand and slapped it onto the Pill Furnace, wantonly pouring his True Qi into it, instantly turning the herbs inside into coke.
“Human, you’ve got some nerve I’ll give you that,” Pan Lang’s mouth curled into a provocative grin.
“If you have something to say, say it, but don’t go wasting my herbs!” Yang Kai sighed lightly before turning an indifferent look towards him.
“The herbs here belong to my Demon God Citadel, they’re not yours,” Pan Lang shot back.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed, a hint of annoyance flashing across his eyes. This demon youth had obviously come here to deliberately make trouble so Yang Kai didn’t have any patience to deal with him, muttering in a low voice, “What the hell do you want?”
“Nothing. I just heard that you’re an Alchemist, right?” Pan Lang stood up and looked around. After seeing a couple of jade bottles nearby, he couldn’t help but smiling, “Are these the pills you refined?”
All of the pills Yang Kai had refined had been placed into these jade bottles. He didn’t take any for himself; after all, the materials were all provided by Demon God Citadel so he could improve his Alchemy technique which was enough compensation for him already.
Yang Kai didn’t mind handing over all of these pills to Li Rong if she needed them.
Moreover, all of these were Earth Grade or Heaven Grade pills so they weren’t particularly valuable.
But unexpectedly, Pan Lang seemed quite interested in them.
One of the Demon Race people behind him rushed over, opened one of the jade bottles, and sniffed it, a look of joy soon appearing on his face, “Not bad, these Heaven Grade pills are still of some use to us.”
Pan Lang nodded arrogantly and waved his hand, “Take them all.”
His followers were all overjoyed when they heard this and they quickly began collecting the jade bottles.
“These things are for Senior Li, if you take them now, how am I supposed to explain?” Yang Kai frowned.
“Why should I care how you explain? Whether you say you took them yourself of failed to refine anything useful and threw them away, just make up an excuse,” Pan Lang sneered, “Oh, not only do I want these pills, but I’ll also be taking half of everything you refine. You better comply or else… heh…”
A strong threatening tone was apparent in his tone.
“If this kind of thing came to Senior Li’s attention, wouldn’t you be in a lot of trouble?” Yang Kai smiled lightly.
“If you dare speak a word about this, I’ll teach you the meaning of dying without a burial,” Pan Lang coldly snorted. Seeing Yang Kai remain silent, he thought he was afraid of him and shook his head disdainfully, “Human, I also heard that Senior Li gave you a lot of Crystal Stones, hand them over now if you don’t want to suffer.”
Saying so, he stretched out his hand towards Yang Kai as if it was only natural.
Yang Kai gently nodded, slowly stood up, and said, “I understand, you’re really just here to cause trouble.”
“What about it?” Pan Lang sneered, “As a lowly human, what qualifications do you have to enjoy this treatment? I am Pan Lang, the future pillar of Demon God Citadel, only I should be able to enjoy such luxuries!”
“With just your pitiful strength?” Yang Kai shook his head before cracking his neck, “Alright, I haven’t gotten much exercise these past few months and it’s rare for someone to outright offer themselves up. I can’t very well disappoint your good intentions now can I?”
Pan Lang stared at Yang Kai with a stunned look and took a while to react, “Do you want to fight with us?”
Yang Kai nodded.
All of the Demon Race people seemed to have heard a hilarious joke and burst into laughter, Pan Lang even double over and pointed at Yang Kai’s while calling out to his followers, “Did you guys hear that? He actually wants to fight with us! A lowly human actually wants to fight against our noble Ancient Demon Clan, I really don’t know how someone so stupid managed to live until now!”
“Let me teach him lessons,” Behind Pan Lang, a burly Demon Race cultivator walked out and grinned fiercely, “Those from the Human Race have always been crazy and unable to recognize their own situation.”
“En, good, make sure it’s a lesson he never forgets!” Pan Lang sneered, his voice ice cold.
Although Senior Li’s attitude towards Yang Kai was quite generous, he was still nothing but a lowly human. Many of the Human Race Alchemists who had been here before had been taught harsh lessons by them and Senior Li had never spoken a word about it, as long as they weren’t killed it would be like nothing ever happened.
So, this time, these seven Demon Race cultivators were fearless, thinking that Yang Kai was the same as all the previous Human Race Alchemists.
The burly Demon Race cultivator pointed to Yang Kai before beckoning him with his finger and sneering, “I’ll let you make the first move!”
“Then you won’t be able to make one at all!” Yang Kai sneered.
As soon as his words fell, the stone room shook violently and before anyone could see what happened, the burly Demon Race cultivator was sent flying, quickly slamming into the stone wall several dozen meters away, creating a crater in it from which a number of large cracks extended as cracks appeared. The force of the rebound caused when this Demon Race cultivator hit the wall caused him to bounce off hard and hit the ground, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop.
The eyes of Pan Lang and the other Demon Race people shrank, their smiles all going stiff.
Turning back, they all began staring at Yang Kai with slightly solemn expressions.
The blow just how was not only fast but also powerful, almost on par with what their Demon Race cultivators could do.
“Seems you have a bit of skill,” Pan Lang muttered, somewhat shocked, looking over Yang Kai, not the slightest bit worried about his fallen companion, “No wonder you dare act so crazy.”
“En, good!” The others also nodded.
Yang Kai frowned as he stared towards the Demon Race cultivator who he had just sent flying.
He was quite clear about how much strength he had just used and had thought that this Demon Race cultivator would be instantly knocked unconscious, but Yang Kai found that this was not the case. The Demon Race cultivator that he had just beaten coughed a few times before staggering to his feet and although it was obvious he was in some pain, his predominant emotion right now seemed to be anger.
“How are you feeling?” Pan Lang asked.
The Demon Race cultivator traced the area he was struck a few times and quickly said, “A few broken ribs, but nothing serious!”
“If it’s nothing serious than continue, give him a bloody lesson, don’t let him look down on us!” Pan Lang snorted.
“That was my plan!” The Demon Race cultivator replied as his burly figure suddenly shot forward with incredible speed, instantly closing the distance between him and Yang Kai.
As his opponent approached, Yang Kai clearly saw that a number of dark lines suddenly appeared on his face, making him appear even more fierce and violent.
These lines were quite strange and appeared like snakes, climbing up his face. With the appearance of these black tattoos, the momentum of this Demon Race cultivator changed dramatically and his strength suddenly shot up.
Seeing this Demon Race cultivator undergo such dramatic changes, although Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent, in his heart he was actually quite surprised.
He had already noticed that many of these Demon Race people had such tattoos before but not all of them did. For example, he had never seen them on Li Rong and Guan’er’s skin. So what exactly were they?
But now it seemed like they weren’t simply a form of decoration but were rather some kind of special Martial Skill these Demon Race cultivators practiced and it was even possible for them to freely manipulate them!
More importantly though, once these tattoos appeared, the strength of the Demon Race cultivator would increase to a whole new level!
As Yang Kai’s opponent’s momentum shot up, Pan Lang and the rest of his followers let out a quite sigh of relief, sneers appearing on their faces as they prepared to watch Yang Kai eat a big loss, taking pleasure in his misfortune.
Yang Kai took a deep breath, but to everyone else’s surprise, did not evade and instead went for a head on collision.
Yang Kai did this deliberately to check just how much this Demon Race cultivator’s strength had increased.
*Hong…*
With a loud bang, a pressure wave visible to the naked eye burst from the two fighter’s point of collision. Yang Kai was thrown back and up into the air. However, it only took him a few rolls in the air to stop the momentum and stabilizing himself in the air.
The Demon Race cultivator was also forced to retreat, and although he desperately tried to hold his ground, he did not succeed, backing up more than a dozen steps before falling flat on his back, breathing heavily.
Pan Lang and his lackeys eyes all went wide, some of them even turning astonished looks towards Yang Kai.
Although humans rarely appeared in this Mysterious Small World, they knew that Human Race cultivator’s physiques were far inferior to those of their Ancient Demon Clan; in fact, even amongst all members of the Demon Race, none were comparable to the Ancient Demon Clan in terms of raw strength.
But now, in a frontal confrontation, their companion was actually not able to suppress this Human Race kid.
Pan Lang suddenly felt very annoyed and angered, “What are you doing? Can you not even beat a lowly human?”
The Demon Race cultivator who had been knocked down climbed up again, shaking his head, not caring about his own injuries and broken bones, muttering aloud, “This little brat’s body is very strong.”
“Are you saying his physique is better than our Ancient Demon Clan’s?” Pan Lang scoffed, “I’ll give you one last chance to prove yourself, if you fail again, then you’re not qualified to associate with me. From then on your status will be reduced to that of an ordinary clansman.”
“Rest assured, I will deal with him this time!” The Demon Race cultivator’s eyes became focused, the tattoos on his face one again undergoing some unusual changes, seemingly melting and re-arranging until they covered his entire face, almost like he was wearing a mask, his expression cold and unfeeling but his red eyes exuding a thick murderous intent.
His first two failures had already caused him to become enraged.
Yang Kai stood midair, staring back at his opponent with cold eyes while secretly becoming more and more surprised.
It wasn’t until now that Yang Kai really realized just how outstanding the physical strength of the Demon Race who lived in this Mysterious Small World really was. His opponent was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator, the same as him, but his ability to continuously raise his strength and momentum was simply astonishing.
From someone with this level of cultivation, if it were a human cultivator, Yang Kai could have made him not get up after the first hit, but now after two head on confrontations his opponent was still as mighty as a dragon and fierce as a tiger.
The physiques of the Ancient Demon Clan seemed to contain terrifying potential!
From the attitude and rhetoric of Pan Lang and his followers, Yang Kai also realized that these Ancient Demon Clan cultivators all had bloodthirsty and violent tendencies. Their companion’s ribs had been broken yet they not only didn’t show any concern, they instead repeatedly stimulated him, forcing him back onto the field of battle.
[The Demon Race is vastly different from the Human Race,] Yang Kai secretly thought to himself.
Once more, Yang Kai’s opponent launched an attack, the ground beneath his feet cracking under the force of his forward leap, his burly body disappearing for an instant before re-appearing right in front of him.
The speed approached the limit of what could be perceived with the naked eye.
Pan Lang nodded slightly, “Demon Crests’ second transformation, this human brat is definitely going to suffer!”
Just as he spoke these words, a loud bang rang out.
At that moment, the swift Demon Race cultivator’s foot at made contact with Yang Kai’s shoulder, the former’s expression gloomy, his eyes filled with hatred and unwillingness as he exerted all of his strength into his kick.
The floor around him for several tens of meters instantly transformed into dust, but Yang Kai remained unmoved, staring back at the attacking Demon Race cultivator indifferently. Under the latter’s astonished gaze, his ankle was grabbed and he suddenly found himself whirling around before being viciously tossed out.
The Demon Race cultivator let out a great shout as his Demonic Qi spurted from his body in an attempt to stop his uncontrolled flight, but before he could stabilize himself, he felt a stream of heavy impacts on his chest.
Somehow managing to turn his head, he saw that the Human Race brat he had been fighting had chased after him and was now pummeling him with a series of punches.
The fists came at him from every angle, creating multiple afterimages, making it impossible for him to predict where he would be hit next.
Worse though was that each punch that landed on his body would carry with it a stream of extremely pure and hot True Qi which was greatly suppressing his Demonic Qi!
*Hong Hong Hong…*
As the sound of explosions rang out, Yang Kai continued his unrelenting assault, all while wearing the same indifferent expression on his face, though inside he was secretly quite impressed with this Demon Race cultivator.
His assault would be difficult for a Human Race’s Transcendent to stand, but this Demon Race cultivator was actually capable of bearing it.
Even after the pair landed again, the Demon Race cultivator managed to retain his consciousness and was glaring back at Yang Kai incredulously, still tightly gripping Yang Kai’s clothes, a look that screamed he would sooner die than submit on his face.
Seeing this, Yang Kai sent another heavy punch to his enemy’s face.
This punch seemed to be the final straw as after a few teeth flew out, the Demon Race cultivator’s momentum finally dissipated as he fell over limp, the Demon Crests on his face quickly receding.
Yang Kai slowly stood up and gloomily glanced over at Pan Lang and the others who were standing not far away.
Even though their companion had been beaten into such a state, none of them showed any signs of trying to rescue him, as if they were all just there to enjoy the show.
However, whether it was Pan Lang or the other Demon Race people, there was a clear look of surprise on their face. None of them had ever expected this Human Race cultivator’s combat strength to be so strong and for his fighting style to be so brutal and blood, quite in line with their own.
“Interesting, it seems we’ve all looked down on you!” Pan Lang gently clapped his hands, “But you’ve only managed to win against the weakest of us, you won’t be so lucky in your next match.”
Saying so, Pan Lang gestured to another Demon Race cultivator behind him who immediately stepped forward.
“No need to make things so troublesome, all of you come together!” Yang Kai cracked his knuckles and said. He had immersed himself in Alchemy for a few months now and had not had a good fight for quite some time. Now that a fight had found him, he was practically itching to make trouble.
In truth, he enjoyed fighting!
Especially against powerful opponents, this feeling made Yang Kai feel like he was alive.
Pan Lang laughed in response, “We won’t bully you like that, if this was a life or death battle then it would be different, but all of this is just a little lesson, there’s no need for all of us to deal with a lowly human like you.”
“Is that so?” Yang Kai took a deep breath and no longer retained his strength, his own aura bursting out as his figure flickered and rushed towards the group of Demon Race cultivators.
A burning hot True Qi burst from his pores and under his precise and subtle control, struck all six of his opponents simultaneously.
Pan Lang instantly became enraged, “You really don’t know the immensity of Heaven and Earth!”
Now completely angered, Demon Crests appeared on the necks of all six Demon Race cultivators and quickly spread across their faces.
Despite their disdainful talk, Pan Lang and his followers knew by now that Yang Kai was not an easy opponent to deal with. Any bit of carelessness on their part would lead to their defeat, so all of them didn’t hold back.
What frustrated Pan Lang the most though was that the True Qi of this Human Race cultivator seemed to be able to restrain their Demonic Qi, allowing him to deal twice as much damage with half the effort whenever they clashed.
A great melee quickly unfolded and even though Yang Kai was surrounded and outnumbered, he showed no fear and was instead even more excited and aggressive.
Yang Kai had been suppressing his desire to battle for so long that if he didn’t find an opportunity to vent all the boredom and stress he had built up over the past few months, he was afraid he would suddenly one day lose control and pick an unnecessary fight.
As such, the provocation of Pan Lang and his lackeys was just what he needed right now.
All kinds of Martial Skills flew back and forth inside the stone room as Yang Kai thoroughly experienced just how strong the Ancient Demon Clan was. As time passed, the rumblings of battle slowly died down.
…..
When Guan’er pushed open the stone room’s door, her pair of beautiful eyes shrank as she glanced around at the wreckage in front of her, temporarily losing her ability to speak.
Over the past few months, Yang Kai had always behaved calmly and temperately, never showing the slightest signs of trying to escape or cause trouble, so Guan’er had naturally not needed to monitor him all the time.
She hadn’t expected at all that while she was away dealing with other matters something big like this would happened.
Seven members of her clan all lay sprawled out on the ground, each one of them in a tragic state, the stone room a complete mess as signs of battle and patches of blood could be seen everywhere.
“What happened?” Guan’er cried out and rushed in to investigate the situation of her people. When she examined them, she found that each of them was heavily wounded; the most seriously injured having had more than half of his bones broken. Such injuries, even for the extremely resilient Ancient Demon Clan, would take at least half a year to heal. Even the least heavily injured person here had more than a dozen broken bones and innumerable scars and cuts that were even now slowly dripping blood.
“Pan Lang?” Inspecting the last person, Guan’er couldn’t help covering her mouth in shock.
Looking up, Guan’er suddenly found out that Yang Kai was quietly sitting on his bed in a meditative posture, some traces of battle apparent on his body.
Although Guan’er felt Pan Lang was annoying and disgusting, these people were still members of her clan and Yang Kai was clearly the one who had injured them, as such, she naturally wanted to question him about this scene.
But before she could open her mouth to ask, Senior Li’s voice suddenly reached her ear, “Don’t disturb him, he seems to be in the middle of a breakthrough. Find some people and quietly carry Pan Lang away.”
“Mistress, what about…”
“I understand what took place here, Pan Lang and his friends were the ones who provoked him, this isn’t his fault!”
“I understand,” Guan’er nodded lightly before turning an interested look towards Yang Kai, a touch of surprise flashing across her eyes. From Senior Li’s tone just now, it seemed like he was the one who had injured Pan Lang and the others here.
Was this Human Race brat really so strong?
Also, some sad news. The novel’s ratings dropped below 3.9/5 on Novelupdates.
Inside the main hall of Demon God Citadel, the noble and graceful Li Rong sat upon her throne and stared down at a number of high-level figures of the Ancient Demon Clan.
This group was composed of many of the strongest and most powerful people below the four Demon Commanders.
An old man with a Third Order Transcendent cultivation had a face filled with anger as he loudly shouted, “Senior Li, that Human Race brat dared to attack members of our Demon God Citadel and heavily wounded all seven of them. He must pay an appropriate price for this!”
“Agreed!” Another Second Order Transcendent old man stepped forward and indignantly added, “A trivial human dares act so arrogantly, even after receiving so much of Senior Li’s kindness and obtaining many benefits from our clan he still isn’t satisfied and even viciously attacks members of our clan, we must teach him a harsh lesson so he knows his place!”
The rest of the crowd all nodded and spoke out in agreement.
The Ancient Demon Clan was a proud race and was also quite short tempered. The seven children of their families had been seriously injured by Yang Kai, the most badly wounded of them having nearly died on the spot and would require more than half a year to fully recover. Such an incident was incredibly shameful to them, and naturally they wanted to seek compensation from Yang Kai.
However, everyone knew just how attentive Senior Li was to this Human Race brat, so before they acted against him, they naturally had to seek her opinion; after all, she was the Lord of Demon God Citadel.
“Do all of you have such thoughts?” Li Rong swept her eyes over the crowd and asked softly.
“Yes!” The Third Order Transcendent old man at the head of the group nodded repeatedly.
“Why?” Li Rong sat up, her crystal clear eyes flashing a hint of coldness as she stared towards him, “Because the one who was injured was Pan Lang, your son?”
The old man was slightly taken aback by Senior Li’s tone but still nodded calmly, “That is one of the reasons, but more importantly this is necessary to preserve the honour of our clan!”
“Senior Li!” Another person interjected, “The impact of this incident is bad, many of our clansmen have already gathered outside that Human Race brat’s stone room, hoping to teach him a lesson. We know that he has excellent aptitude in Alchemy and provides a glimmer of hope for our clan, but many amongst our citizens don’t know that. If we don’t give him an appropriate punishment to preserve Pan Lang and the others faces, our clansmen won’t be satisfied!”
Li Rong smiled lightly in response, “My Ancient Demon Clan believes in strength above all else, if one of us loses in a contest and needs his Elders to take revenge, wouldn’t that really be a loss of face? If Pan Lang has the skill, he can take it back himself.”
“Though that should be the case, the people are quite agitated right now and many of them are displeased with that human brat…” The old man, who was Pan Lang’s father, suddenly said solemnly, “The mood of our clansmen needs to be considered.”
Li Rong took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment before asking, “What do you propose we do to punish him?”
“That’s simple,” Pan Bo said coldly, “Since he broke the bones of so many of our clansmen, we should crush his bones as well, blood and blood, and a tooth for a tooth!”
“Do you want his life?” Li Rong expression became cold.
Pan Bo simply smiled, “Senior Li can rest assured that I will not let him die so easily; after all, he still has great use for our clan. In any case, as long as his ability to perform Alchemy is not affected it shouldn’t matter.”
Li Rong slowly shook her head.
Pan Bo was startled and shouted, “Senior Li, our clan has been imprisoned here for countless years. You understand what kind of state we’re in. We have been shackled for far too long and now that some friction has appeared, it has ignited everyone’s desire to fight, if this is not handled properly, it is very likely to have adverse consequences.”
“For example?”
“For example, if someone is dissatisfied, they might choose to serve Chu Jian instead!” Pan Bo said as his eyes narrowed slightly.
Li Rong maintained her gentle smile but her aura suddenly underwent a massive change, her former tranquility transforming into a majestic pressure.
All of the Transcendent Realm masters in the hall felt their hearts clench as they hurriedly lowered their eyes. Only at that moment did they suddenly remember that Senior Li was able to become the Lord of Demon God Citadel not just because of her wisdom and benevolence.
Hidden deep beneath her kindness, Senior Li also had great strength and dignity.
Li Rong exposed her immense aura for just a moment before quickly taking it back, silently staring at the people before her for a moment before seemingly coming to some kind of decision and speaking, “I will handle this incident personally while all of you will be responsible for retraining your retainers. Additionally, from today onwards, if anyone dares to find the trouble that Human Race boy, I will personally send him to meet Sir Demon God!”
Pan Bo and others expression all changed drastically as they stared towards Li Rong in shock, “Senior…”
“Were my words not clear?” Li Rong coldly snapped.
“We will obey Senior Li’s orders!” Pan Bo quickly lowered his head.
“Good, you may go,” Li Rong waved and added, “Duan Ya, you stay!”
A Demon Race master who had been silent the whole time nodded and remained where he was standing while everyone else left the hall.
After they left, Li Rong smiled helplessly and muttered to herself, “That human brat…”
“Senior, what instructions do you have?” Duan Ya asked.
“From today on, you are to stand guard outside that stone room. If you discover anyone trying to act against him, kill them without mercy!” Li Rong firmly declared.
Duan Ya’s eyes flashed a hint of a surprise, seemingly not having expected Senior Li to actually value that Human Race kid so much, hesitating for a moment before asking, “What if Pan Bo and they…?”
“They won’t lower themselves to deal with a junior personally, but on the off chance they do… I’ll handle them myself.”
Duan Ya nodded slightly and respectfully withdrew.
Outside the hall, Pan Bo’s expression was bitter. He, like Duan Ya, couldn’t understand why Senior Li valued Yang Kai so much.
Even if he had excellent aptitude in Alchemy, it didn’t make sense for her to shelter him so strongly.
His son, Pan Lang, was a leader of the younger generation of Demon God Citadel and, in the future, was very likely to become one of its strongest pillars. This time, he was beaten so badly that seeking justice was only natural, so Li Rong’s decision had greatly disappointed Pan Bo.
“What’s going on? Senior Li seems to care a great deal about that boy,” One of them whispered what everyone was thinking.
“It couldn’t be that Senior Li, towards him…”
“Stop! Just how noble is Senior Li? How could she possible… towards a lowly human…”
“This matter isn’t that simple, Senior Li wouldn’t act like this for no reason. There must be more to this situation that we are unaware of.”
“But in any case, Senior Li’s handling of this matter is truly unfair.”
Pan Bo’s expression remained sullen as he sneered, “If Senior Li continues to act so, she will lose the support of the clan sooner or later!”
Everyone glanced around at each other, and although they were unwilling to accept this result, they didn’t immediately say anything.
Inside the stone room, an invisible aura spread out around Yang Kai as he slowly opened his eyes.
His True Qi and Blood Force both pulsed excitedly.
Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage!
While he was immersed in Alchemy these past few months, Yang Kai didn’t even notice that his cultivation had reached the critical point before breaking through.
Over the past half a year or so his Solitary Golden Eye had absorbed the sentiments and insights left over from a great many masters. It could be said that before Yang Kai broke through to the Saint Realm, he should have no bottlenecks, as long as his accumulation of strength could keep up, he should be able to smoothly break through again and again.
However, without the last battle, Yang Kai guess he would have needed another month or so before breaking through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage.
But a fierce and bloody battle had allowed him to break through a month in advance.
Fighting was really the best way to enhance one’s strength.
Investigating his surroundings with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai noticed that a great deal of Ancient Demon Clan people had gathered outside his tone room, each of the aura’s carrying a thick sense of danger as they eyed his house.
Inside the room, not far away from him, Guan’er was staring at him curiously, seemingly re-examining him, her beautiful lashes fluttering slightly as a light interest flickered across her eyes.
“You…” After seeing Yang Kai successfully break through, Guan’er ran over and smiled at Yang Kai, asking in a somewhat excited tone, “How did you beat Pan Lang and his lackeys into that state?”
Yang Kai laughed but didn’t answer.
“Was it really just you against all of them?” Guan’er showed a look of shock.
“Who else could there have been?” Yang Kai replied dismissively.
“Are you really so fierce?”
“What? Did you think I was weak?”
“I didn’t think you were weak, I just didn’t expect you to be so strong. How could a human… how could your body be so much stronger than our clan’s?” Saying so, her small hand reached out, seemingly wanting to feel Yang Kai’s muscles only to suddenly realize how embarrassing that act would be and quickly taking her hand back.
“You seem to be taking great pleasure in their misfortune, aren’t you?” Yang Kai looked at her with great interest, “Is there some kind of grievance between you and that Pan Lang?”
“It’s not that we have grievances, I just think he’s too annoying, always trying to get close to me. Now that you’ve beaten him so badly, I can finally relax for a while, so for that, I thank you very much, but… as an outsider, you’ve created some trouble for yourself now!”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled and thoughtfully glanced outside the stone room, “You mean them?”
“En,” Guan’er gently nodded, “Everyone gathered outside right now wants to drag you out and teach you a good lesson. No matter how strong you are, I don’t think you can confront so many of my clansmen at once.”
“I’d have to try before I knew.”
“Hmph, you’re certainly crazy enough, you humans… all of you can’t help bragging so arrogantly,” Guan’er sneered disdainfully but still reminded him carefully, “You should prepare yourself, right now Senior Li is meeting with the other Elders of the Citadel to discuss how to deal with this matter, if Senior Li doesn’t side with you, you’ll definitely be in for some pain.”
Staring at Yang Kai with a cunning look, Guan’er continued, “Because you helped me get rid of Pan Lang for a while, even if you end up injured, I’ll still take care of you.”
“Then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed!” Yang Kai grinned, “Because Senior Li seems to be on my side, isn’t that so, Senior Li?”
As he said so, he turned his head to look at a certain spot.
There, the air twisted and a moment later, Li Rong arrived. Having heard his words, her pretty face couldn’t help showing a trace of surprise before she shook her head wryly and walked over.
“You’re really quite laid back aren’t you,” Li Rong sighed.
Yang Kai just shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t blame my clansmen for being so excited, they’ve been repressing themselves for too long. There’s only one person here who isn’t a member of our clan and now you’ve badly beaten Pan Lang and his followers, obviously, those outside aren’t willing to let things slide so easily,” Li Rong explained softly.
Seeing Li Rong appear, Guan’er hurried saluted her.
However, the beautiful woman gently waved her hand, indicating that she didn’t mind, before turning to look at Yang Kai somewhat helplessly.
Yang Kai smiled and said, “If there’s resentment, there’s vengeance, if there’s a grudge, seeking revenge is natural. Your clansmen being worked up over this matter is only natural.”
“You’re not afraid at all?” Li Rong was amazed not seeing the slightest fear on Yang Kai’s face.
“There’s no reason for me to be afraid,” Yang Kai replied indifferently, “If Senior Li wasn’t prepared to intervene in this matter, you wouldn’t have appeared in front of me. Since you’re present now, it means that you will handle it, naturally I don’t need to be afraid because Senior Li seems to be quite good to me!”
Li Rong’s look suddenly became a bit unnatural, and Guan’er couldn’t help covering her mouth as she stared at Yang Kai in shock.
No one had ever dared speak such frivolous words in front of Senior Li, much less a little human brat, but not only did Senior Li not become angry, she instead wore an acquiescent expression.
“Might I ask why this is? What exactly is it that causes Senior Li to favour me so much?” Yang Kai cocked his head to the side and stared at the mature beauty in front of him curiously.
Li Rong lightly coughed, “Anyone who is sent here by Coffin Slave Senior, I will not treat him badly, because perhaps one day, this person will help set my clan free.”
These words were obviously only a half-truth, even Guan’er understood that, so how could Yang Kai not?
However, since Li Rong didn’t want to explain, Yang Kai didn’t push the matter any further. Think about it, Li Rong’s attitude had only changed to she had seen the Solitary Golden Eye in his Knowledge Sea.
Before then, although she hadn’t treated him poorly, it was only to the extent of a business partner, but now things were clearly different. Regarding every aspect of his daily life and his cultivation, Yang Kai could tell that Li Rong was sincerely trying to support him.
Yang Kai wasn’t arrogant enough to think that such a dignified and graceful lady would be interested in him; after all, she was a powerful Saint who had innumerable years of experience. By now, love and attraction were probably nothing but transient clouds in her eyes, so there must be some other reason, but the only thing Yang Kai could think of was that it had something to do with the Solitary Golden Eye.
Yang Kai just couldn’t understand why seeing the Solitary Golden Eye had had such a profound impact on her.
“In any case, your analysis is correct, since I’ve decided to appear here, I will handle this matter. You don’t have to worry about it. I have already told the Elders restrain the people so they won’t find trouble with you in the future, just remember not to stir up problems for no reason in the future. Just because I am protecting you this time doesn’t mean I will allow you to act impudently without consequence!”
“I never take the initiative to find trouble with others,” Yang Kai chuckled. Probably trying to cover up her previous gaff, this mature beauty was intentionally using a cold tone to warn him.
“That’s for the best,” Li Rong nodded lightly, no longer said anything, turned around, and walked out of the stone room.
A moment later, Yang Kai heard Li Rong reprimand the assembled Ancient Demon Clan outside and soon the crowd dispersed.
Guan’er rushed up to Yang Kai and spat out her tongue, saying with genuine admiration, “You really have some skill, but your arrogance isn’t proportional to your strength. You break through to the Transcendent Realm as quickly as possible, and it won’t be too late for you to act wildly then, hehe…”
With a big smile, Guan’er also turned around and left.
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, right now he was the one beneath the eaves, so he could only helplessly accept this situation.
He knew that in this damned place, besides a select few, all of the members of the Ancient Demon Clan regarded him as an outsider. If there wasn’t someone powerful sheltering him, he would die a miserable death sooner or later.
This time, Pan Lang came to trouble him and he was able to cope with it on his own, but if the next time it was a Transcendent Realm master? Or what if a Saint took aim at him?
Having considered all of this, Yang Kai had spoken without reservation towards Li Rong’s in order to determine her attitude towards him; he wanted to make clear once and for all to what extent she would protect him.
Fortunately, his guess had been correct. Despite her efforts to hide it, Yang Kai could tell that Li Rong fully intended to shelter him.
Regardless whether she had some ulterior motive for doing so, for now, Yang Kai had to use her identity and status to ensure his safety.
After pondering over everything for a moment, Yang Kai scratched his head and remembered he had forgotten to ask Li Rong about the so called Demon Crests.
This had been on Yang Kai’s mind for several months now. This issue had been of particular concern to him ever since he first saw these crests on one of the Ancient Demon Clan, but because he wasn’t familiar with anyone at the time, he decided to not ask unnecessary questions to avoid stirring up trouble.
But now that he was certain Li Rong was acting favourable towards him, he had a chance to explore this issue.
Yang Kai was very interested in the Demon Crests of the Ancient Demon Clan because when he used his Devil Transformation, he would experience a similar change, just far more exaggerated than the one Pan Lang had undergone.
Not getting anywhere on his own, Yang Kai simply decided to wait until Guan’er came back to find an opportunity to ask her.
Having made up his mind, Yang Kai set this issue aside for now and turned his attention back to improving his Alchemy skills.
…..
After Li Rong left the stone room and dispersed the crowd of people here to seek trouble with Yang Kai, a slightly vacant look appeared on her pretty face.
On that day, when she saw the Solitary Golden Eye and the golden light had swept over her, she felt a kind of resonance from her Ancient Demon Clan bloodline. After returning to Demon God Citadel, she had gone straight to the treasure chamber and checked the ancient books, quickly discovering a record that was very similar to her own experience.
It was for this reason that Li Rong’s attitude towards Yang Kai had changed so dramatically.
But over the past few months, through her secret observations, she found that things were not quite as she had thought. Although this human boy was mysterious and powerful in his own right, it was far from the extent she had anticipated.
[Was it really that?] Li Rong couldn’t make up her mind.
At this time, one of her clansmen came up and reported to her that Hua Mo and Han Fei had arrived and brought with them a large number of herbs.
Li Rong’s expression became happy once more as she walked in the direction of the main hall.
Because of Yang Kai’s rapid progress in Alchemy consumed countless herbs, what was stored in Demon God Citadel was not quite enough. Fortunately, the other territories also had also accumulated a large number of herbs over the years, so over the past few months Hua Mo and Han Fei had their subordinates collect them and they had finally come to deliver.
After seeing Hua Mo and Han Fei and receiving their collected herbs, the three Saints sat down and chatted.
“Senior Li, what about Chu Jian? Did he sent over any herbs?” Hua Mo asked.
“He did send some, but there were not many. Chu Jian said that the soil in his territory these past few years has been quite poor so not many herbs had been produced and he could only collect these few,” Li Rong rubbed her forehead.
“Only speaking nonsense,” Hua Mo coldly snorted, “There is a great mountain range in Chu Jian’s territory, how could there possible be no herbs there? He is becoming less and less respectful towards Senior Li these days.”
Han Fei is also coldly added, “He doesn’t place our clan’s future in his eyes at all, he just wants to rule over this Mysterious Small World. He’s really nothing but an ignorant fool!”
The two Great Commanders continued to point out Chu Jian’s recent arrogant actions while trying to pursued Li Rong to give Chu Jian a painful lesson so he would stay in line.
But as always, Li Rong just listened quietly and didn’t express any opinion on the matter.
After a while, Hua Mo and Han Fei both saw that their efforts were getting them nowhere and didn’t mention the matter anymore.
“Right, Senior Li, I just heard that human brat caused some trouble?” Hua Mo asked suddenly, “Senior Li has always been fair and just, how come you suddenly decided to speak out in favour of that outsider this time?”
Han Fei also looked at Li Rong slightly strangely. Regardless of what had led to Yang Kai and Pan Lang’s fight, who was right and who was wrong, since their clansmen had suffered losses, naturally the guilty party should pay a price, especially considering he was just an outsider, but Senior Li had actually intentionally sheltered him instead.
Li Rong chuckled, “You received word of this fairly quickly.”
Hua Mo waved his hand, “Everyone in the Citadel is talking about it, even if I didn’t want to inquire about it specifically I would definitely have gotten word of it.”
Han Fei’s spoke in her usual icy tone, “Senior Li, because of this incident, many of our clansmen have begun to express some complaints. Was it really worth it?”
Li Rong’s face suddenly became serious and her tone became solemn, “If my guess is correct, it is worth it!”
“Guess? What guess?” Hua Mo asked doubtfully.
“I can’t say for certain right now, I’m still in the process of observing, but I guarantee if you saw what I saw, you would definitely make the same choice. When everything becomes clear, I will inform you.”
Hua Mo and Han Fei nodded lightly, after associating with each other for so many years, they firmly believed in Li Rong’s vision and judgment. Since she had chosen to favour an outsider, she must have a compelling reason.
The trio talked for a while longer before Hua Mo and Han Fei left.
Although they were all people of Demon God Citadel, and each of them was a Great Commander, because the four branches were all based in separate locations, Hua Mo and Han Fei had to return to their own territories promptly.
The purpose of their trip this time had mainly been to deliver their collected herbs.
…..
After the incident where Pan Lang had come to seek trouble but was instead beaten up, most of the Ancient Demon Clan’s attitudes towards Yang Kai became increasingly bad, but Yang Kai was too lazy to deal with them, only concentrating on refining pills in his stone room every day. His Alchemy technique continued progressing rapidly and a large number of pills were produced every day. Simultaneously, his consumption of herbs was quite astonishing.
Yang Kai could sense that outside his stone room there was a powerful master protecting him from the shadows. Although this person had hidden himself very well, with Yang Kai’s many years of experience, he had slowly discovered some traces of him.
This person should have been sent by Li Rong to guard him.
Perceiving this, Yang Kai felt relieved.
On the other hand, his relationship with Guan’er had also become quite harmonious. This Demon Race girl seemed to be very curious about the outside world so when Yang Kai wasn’t busy, she would always pester him to tell her stories about the outside. These wonderful tales only seemed to increase Guan’er’s desire to see them though.
She also vigorously supported his efforts in Alchemy, hoping that one day Yang Kai would be able to refine Saint Grade pills and free her clan from its imprisonment.
Yang Kai also learned a lot about the Demon Crests from Guan’er.
According to Guan’er, their Ancient Demon Clan was a pure blooded and noble member of the Demon Race, incomparable to others of the Demon Race. Their Demon Crests were an innate ability and not something that could be acquired after birth. When they activated their Demon Crests, their strength would be increased and the more they comprehended and developed their Demon Crests, the greater this increase would be.
Pan Lang and his lackeys could transform their Demon Crests twice, similar to Guan’er herself. Yang Kai only knew of this because he caught a glimpse of her Demon Crest Pattern before.
After Guan’er, who was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Sixth Stage cultivator, activated her Demon Crests to their fullest, the intensity of her Demonic Qi and Blood Force reached a level equivalent to a Peak Immortal Ascension master.
Moreover, after activating her Demon Crests, many delicate deep green traces appeared on Guan’er’s pretty face, adding a completely different kind of beauty to her usual temperament.
As for masters like Li Rong, Han Fei, and Hua Mo, their Demon Crests were even more developed, as was the enhancement to their strength.
However, inside this Mysterious Small World, there were no enemies, so Guan’er had never seen any of the Great Commanders take action and had only heard rumors about their strength.
Inside Demon God Citadel, there were even special Martial Skills and Secret Arts developed specifically to compliment and cultivate one’s Demon Crests, a legacy passed down from the Great Demon God himself.
After hearing about this, Yang Kai expressed interest in borrowing these Martial Skills and Secret Arts, but Guan’er told him that these things were only available to members of her clan with extraordinary aptitude, even she had never seen them, so Yang Kai could only temporarily give up this idea.
Although Li Rong truly favoured him, Yang Kai knew not to push his luck too far. Right now, wanting to borrow the legacy Martial Skills and Secret Arts left behind by the Great Demon God was not realistic.
Shelving these thoughts for now, Yang Kai’s days continued on in an unremarkable fashion. Every day was spent either immersed in Alchemy, cultivating, or telling Guan’er stories about the outside world.
Time flew by and before he knew it, Yang Kai had spent almost an entire year inside this Mysterious Small World.
During this year, Yang Kai’s Alchemy technique had improved dramatically, and today, with the help of supplementary Spirit Arrays, he was able to refine Spirit Grade pills.
Medicine King’s Valley’s Xiao Fu Sheng’s lifelong wish that until now he had yet to achieve was actually accomplished by Yang Kai in less than a year of effort.
Yang Kai could only sigh helplessly at this fact, the world he was in was simply too different, so the ability he could display was also not the same. The attainments Grandmaster Xiao had in the Alchemic Way were definitely more profound than Yang Kai’s, but simply because of the limitations of the world he lived in, wanting to refine a Spirit Grade pill was nothing more than fantasy.
One day, after Yang Kai finished refining a Spirit Grade pill, he took a deep breath and meditated for a moment before suddenly opening his eyes, and staring towards an empty spot in the stone room and calling out, “Senior, can you I trouble you to call Senior Li? I have something I need to discuss with her.”
Duan Ya, who was hidden nearby, couldn’t help staring blankly when he found that this Human Race brat was staring right at his hidden place, the latter’s eyes not showing the least bit of doubt.
Duan Ya was dumbfounded.
Since the last incident between Yang Kai and Pan Lang, Duan Ya had followed Li Rong’s instructions and secretly protected him from the shadows, but now it seems that this boy was aware of his presence and could even accurately locate his position.
Yang Kai was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage kid while Duan Ya was a powerful Third Order Transcendent; the difference in strength between the two of them was immense, so how and when did he find him?
Many doubts swirled through Duan Ya’s thoughts but he somehow managed to keep his composure, quickly appearing from his hiding place and gently nodding towards Yang Kai before his body faded again and disappeared.
A short time later, the air beside Yang Kai distorted and a layer of ripples appeared. Soon after, the void itself seemed to warp slightly and Li Rong appeared.
Yang Kai revealed a look of interest. He noticed that every time this mature beauty appeared, she would do so in this fashion. It seemed like she had the power to step through the void and suddenly appear wherever she wanted to.
“I heard that you were looking for me?” Li Rong walked over and got straight to the point.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded.
“What’s the matter?”
“I need to supplement my True Qi.”
“Supplement your True Qi?” Li Rong’s brow furrowed slightly as she released her Divine Sense, but after quickly sweeping Yang Kai with it she couldn’t help asking in a confused tone, “Isn’t your True Qi quite abundant?”
With her strong cultivation, she was naturally able to perceive the thick and pure True Qi within Yang Kai’s meridians, as well as the destructive power it contained.
Moreover, this extremely pure Yang Attribute True Qi gave even her Demonic Qi a sense of oppression.
“No, no…” Yang Kai shook his head lightly, “The True Qi in my meridians is indeed abundant, but the True Qi in my dantian is running low, without True Qi, I can’t continue practicing Alchemy.”
“What do you mean?” Li Rong was even more puzzled, “If you need to supplement your True Qi, can’t you just cultivate? Why do you need my help with something so simple?”
Yang Kai smiled helplessly and replied, “My Secret Art is somewhat special, or rather my physique is somewhat special, I can’t supplement my True Qi by cultivating.”
The True Yang Yuan Qi in his body had always been obtained by absorbing naturally occurring Yang Qi or by refining some kind of Yang Attribute Precious Treasure and then condensing it into Yang Liquid which could be stored in his Dantian.
If he was to simply meditate and run his Secret Art, if he wasn’t in a suitable environment, all the World Energy he extracted from the air would simply be stored in his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, Yang Liquid would not be formed unless he cultivated in an environment with abundant Yang Qi.
Yang Kai couldn’t even remember the last time he had added more Yang Liquid to his Dantian and after such a long time, he only had a few drops left. If he couldn’t find a way to replenish his stock, he would sooner or later run out completely.
Without Yang Liquid to suppress the evil energy inside his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, Yang Kai estimated it wouldn’t take long for him to fall to the Devil’s Practices.
“What do you need me to do?” Li Rong still didn’t quite understand, but she had no interest in asking any more.
“Do you have any Yang Attribute Precious Treasures? I need something like that.”
“Things that have a strong Yang Attribute are incompatible with people of my Demon Race, do you think we’d keep such materials on hand?” Li Rong expression flashed a touch of disgruntledness, before immediately becoming somewhat suspicious, staring at Yang Kai with a distrustful look, “Are you trying to deceive me?”
“I have no reason to lie to you,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, “You really have nothing Yang Attribute related?”
“En, nothing.”
Yang Kai’s face went black as his brow wrinkled, “This is a big problem, if I can’t absorb Yang Qi to supplement my True Qi, I can’t practice Alchemy… You should have seen that I need my True Yang Yuan Qi in order to perform Alchemy.”
“Then what should we do?” Li Rong asked somewhat anxiously.
This Human Race boy was very talented in Alchemy, it had only taken him one year to reach the point where he could refine Spirit Grade pills. At this rate of growth, there is no need to wait ten years before he became capable of refining Saint Grade pills, but now, for this seemingly ridiculous reason, he was unable to continue studying Alchemy.
Li Rong didn’t know what kind of special Secret Art Yang Kai cultivated, nor what was so special about his physique, but seeing him speak so seriously she understood that he wasn’t just making things up.
Staring at Yang Kai, Li Rong couldn’t help feeling a bit bitter and helpless.
Her clan had been trapped here for countless years, and for that entire time, there one greatest wish had been to leave here and see the outside world, but now that they had finally seen hope of achieving this wish, it had seemingly been ruthlessly cut off.
Li Rong could almost imagine how disappointed the expressions of her clansmen would be when they heard this news.
After wracking her brains for a solution, Li Rong’s beautiful face suddenly lit up as she murmured, “We don’t have any Yang Attribute Precious Treasures in storage, but there is a place in this Mysterious Small World that might work…”
“Where?” Yang Kai asked excitedly. Without Yang Liquid, he would also be in a very difficult position, if he could no longer enhance his Alchemy skill, he would lose all value to the Ancient Demon Clan, at that point, no how much Li Rong favoured him, the only end he would have would be death.
Li Rong didn’t answer his question but instead frowned and thought about it for a moment before saying, “You rest for now, two days later, I will give you an answer.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Li Rong quickly left.
With his Yang Liquid running out, Yang Kai didn’t dare practice Alchemy anymore. Now bored, he decided to let Guan’er take him out to play in Demon God Citadel for the next two days.
Now that he thought about it, since he had first arrived in this Mysterious Small World, he had barely left this stone room, partly because he was not willing to show his face and draw the attention of the surrounding Demon Race people but mainly because he had been obsessed with the promoting his Alchemy skill, even frequently forgetting to sleep and eat.
Now that he suddenly had free time on his hands though, naturally he wanted to go out and stretch his legs.
Walking around Demon God Citadel, Yang Kai fully experienced the tendencies and tenacity of these Demon Race people. When they practiced their Martial Skills, these Demon Race people tended to do so by engaging in real combat, completely different from the way humans cultivated, this was a real life or death struggle.
Often both sides would end up bloody and beaten when members of the Demon Race cultivated.
However, because the Ancient Demon Clan’s physiques were strong and robust, even if they suffered from heavy injuries, after a short break, they would be able to continue fighting.
Yang Kai expressed both amazement and admiration to this.
In a huge square in Demon God Citadel, Yang Kai saw a tall and majestic statue.
This statue was of a grand figure, and although it had obviously been carved many years ago, it still retained a vivid and majestic aura. Every Demon Race person who passed by it would show a very respectful look towards it.
Looking at this statue, Yang Kai felt like there was some kind of mysterious hidden energy within it that resonated with his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, causing the evil energy inside his Unyielding Golden Skeleton to nearly erupt.
Yang Kai expression changed greatly as he quickly suppressed this, his face becoming pale and sweaty.
At that moment, there seemed to be a strange voice echoing in his mind, but when carefully tried to listen to, the voice suddenly disappeared, and I couldn’t tell it had been real or an illusion.
“What’s wrong?” Guan’er asked, she didn’t know what had happened to Yang Kai who had gone from acting light and carefully to nervous and exhausted in the blink of an eye.
“It’s nothing, it’s just been too long time since I last came out,” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed.
“You humans, your bodies are really too weak…” Guan’er laughed.
“Whose statue is this?” Yang Kai asked casually.
“This is our ancestor’s master, a statue of The Great Demon God!” Guan’er quickly became respectful as she paid tribute to this statue.
“The Great Demon God?” Yang Kai was shocked.
“Yes, isn’t it majestic? It’s said that when The Great Demon God was alive, my Demon Race dominated the world while your Human Race and the Monster Race were all just vassals of my Demon Race.”
“So fierce?”
“The Great Demon God was certainly fierce. His strength was unprecedented, no one was his equal.”
“Such a powerful character, where is he now?”
“I don’t know.” Guan’er shook her head.
“Then why did he seal your ancestors here? What kind of mistake did they make to warrant such treatment?”
“I don’t know…” Guan’er suddenly became a little bit angry out a shame and shot back, “Why are you asking all of this all of a sudden, so annoying!”