“If this friend is willing to come to my Spirit Religion and serve as an Honoured Guest, my Spirit Religion will offer very generous conditions,” Duan Hai said sincerely. Although he was a Transcendent Realm master and at least a generation older than Yang Kai, he still didn’t hesitate to affectionately call him friend.
“Brother Duan might as well explain what kind of treatment he is prepared to offer so that little friend Yang can make his own decision,” Old Man Du knew that Yang Kai was ignorant about these matters so he purposefully made this remark to assist him.
Duan Hai wore a forced smile and replied, “Old Man Du, since he is your person, of course I will not mistreat him.”
Staring towards Yang Kai seriously, Duan Hai continued, “My Spirit Religion will provide you with all the necessary spirit herbs. Any pill you refine, you can take 20% of its value as a reward, and that is, if the value of a pill you refine is worth one hundred Crystal Stone, my Spirit Religion will give you twenty Crystal Stones as payment.”
Old Man Du expression changed slightly and quickly nodded.
Yang Kai, who was observing closely, noticed this and realized that such treatment was probably quite good.
“That is only the most basic condition. My Spirit Religion will provide you with the most comfortable Alchemy environment and will do its best to meet any of your other needs. As long as it does not harm my Spirit Religion benefits, anything can be negotiated. How about it?”
When Duan Hai finished, he turned his eyes towards Yang Kai expectantly and waited for his reply.
To be honest, the conditions he proposed were already quite generous, and the payment of 20% was far greater than what would normally be offered. Even if it was a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist being hired as an Honoured Guest, they would not receive such a percentage.
If Yang Kai had any other requirements, he could also discuss it with him.
Yang Kai brow rose slightly and thought about it for a while before turning to Old Man Du and soliciting his opinion, “What does Senior think?”
“The conditions are quite good,” Old Man Du told the truth, “But whether you agree or not, everything depends on your own wishes.”
“Since it is a friend of Old Man Du… there should be no problem,” Yang Kai grinned. He had already been thinking about hiring himself to a force and with the recommendation of Old Man Du he could feel at least a bit more relieved.
Duan Hai was overjoyed as a big smile appeared on his face, “Friend is really easy to speak with.”
“However, the conditions have to be changed,” Yang Kai shifted the conversation.
“Please,” Duan Hai said respectfully.
“20% of the sale price… I don’t need, I’ll only take 10%!” Yang Kai raised a finger.
Duan Hai and Old Man Du were both stunned, but neither of them interrupted, waiting for the follow up. Yang Kai taking the initiative to give up some of his benefits obviously meant he had something else he wanted to ask for.
“In exchange, I hope that your Spirit Religion will help with a matter. Rest assured this matter will not bring any harm to you.”
“What matter?” Duan Hai asked.
“When the time is right, I will naturally inform you. Also, I hope Bright Thunder Spirit Religion will not limit my freedom in any way. If I wish to leave, I hope I will not encounter any obstacles.”
“Of course,” Duan Hai nodded quickly, “My Bright Thunder Spirit Religion already has a number of Honoured Guests. Whether these Honoured Guests wish to stay or go is completely up to them, my Spirit Religion never interferes.”
“I’m happy to hear that,” Yang Kai laughed.
Duan Hai immediately showed a joyful look, “Then, is it settled?”
Yang Kai nodded firmly.
Old Man Du smiled and said, “Congratulations Brother Duan. In fact, this old master very much doesn’t want to let this little friend leave, but little friend has his own ideas so this old master can only reluctantly see him off.”
Duan Hai quickly proposed with deep meaning, “Old Man Du, if you’d like, why not come to my Spirit Religion as an Honoured Guest as well?”
“Don’t you think your appetite is a bit too big?” Old Man Du laughed, “You even want to hire this old master?”
“A Saint Grade Alchemist, which force wouldn’t want to hire one?”
“I’m afraid you can’t afford the price,” Old Man Du smiled lightly.
Duan Hai’s smiled bitterly, “Fair enough.”
Shaking his head slightly, he quickly turned to Yang Kai and asked, “When would it be convenient for this friend to leave?”
“I can depart at any time.”
“How about now?” Duan Hai obviously didn’t want to wait, causing Yang Kai to smile somewhat dumbly and nod.
“Good, important matters should not be delayed, let us be off,” Duan Hai said, quickly standing up.
“En, give me a moment to say goodbye to a friend,” Yang Kai said, also getting up and walking out to find Mi Na. The two of them had gotten along well these past few months so naturally he had to tell her before he left, otherwise he would appear too unfeeling.
Inside the room, Duan Hai and Old Man Du sat quietly.
Suddenly, Old Man Du said in a low voice, “Duan Hai, don’t say later that this old master didn’t remind you, this little friend should not be an ordinary person. While he resides in your Spirit Religion, don’t mistreat him.”
Duan Hai was stunned to hear such a comment and hurriedly asked, “What does Old Man Du mean?”
Du Wan just slowly shook his head though and said nothing more, leaving Duan Hai confused.
A moment later, Yang Kai returned after bidding farewell to Mi Na; he had no need to pack anything as all his belongings were in still in the Black Book Space. As Duan Hai led him out of the Alchemist Guild, Mi Na reluctantly waved goodbye to Yang Kai. After spending a lot of time with him, her Alchemy technique had improved at a pace far greater than when her Master taught her, so naturally she was reluctant to see him go.
Duan Hai waved his hand and wrapped Yang Kai in his True Qi before the two quickly took off and flew away from Grand Boulder City.
Along the way, Duan Hai’s attitude towards Yang Kai was very cordial, kindly explaining to him the various features and strengths of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.
In order to make Yang Kai feel a sense of belonging quickly, Duan Hai naturally spared no effort to praise Bright Thunder Spirit Religion and from his words, Yang Kai learned quite a bit about this force.
Near the Snow Mountain Range, there were more than a thousand large and small peaks, and Bright Thunder Spirit Religion occupied one section of them.
After about an hour’s flight, the two came to the site of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.
Landing atop one of the bigger mountain peaks, the air felt a bit chilly but overall the area was green and lush, with a rich World Aura circulating. From the base to halfway up the mountain was a vast field of herbs that filled the air with a strong medicinal fragrance while from halfway up to the top there were a number of simple residences.
Duan Hai quickly said, “This place used to be the residence of an Alchemist Honoured Guest of my Spirit Religion, but he resigned as an Honored Guest a few months ago, so right now this place is unoccupied. How is it? Would Honored Guest Yang like to live here? If you feel that this place is too simple, I can arrange for accommodations elsewhere in my Spirit Religion where the atmosphere is livelier.”
“No need, here is good,” Yang Kai nodded, quite satisfied with the location. He wasn’t interested in socializing and having many people around would only be distracting, so being further from the crowd was more relaxing to him.
Hearing this, Duan Hai smiled and nodded, “Honoured Guest Yang really is focused on studying the Alchemic Way, I also originally thought you would prefer to live in a more populated place.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai stared at him curiously.
“Generally, our Honoured Guests prefer to live where the crowd gathers as they are chasing wealth, power, and fame. These kinds of people, my Spirit Religion has never been too concerned about, but someone like Honored Guest Yang who wholeheartedly strives to improve himself will certainly have great achievements in the future and will inevitably be paid attention to by our Spirit Religion,” Duan Hai said with a smile, “Right, this is an Honored Guest’s token. Please bring it with you at all times. As long as you have this token, you can walk freely in my Spirit Religion, with the exception of a few forbidden areas that is.”
Saying so, he handed a dark coloured token over to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai accepted it and looked it over briefly before storing it away.
“I will send someone to assist you later. If you have any needs, you can inform me through them or allow them to handle it for your directly.”
Yang Kai nodded slightly.
“Honoured Guest Yang, if this is nothing else, this one will take his leave first,” Duan Hai asked Yang Kai politely.
“For now, I have nothing else to ask.”
Duan Hai nodded slightly before activating his movement skill and quickly departing.
After Duan Hai left, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and explored the surrounding area.
This mountain peak was not too high, but also not too short, about two thousand meters in total. Standing at the top of the peak, surrounded by white clouds, it was just like floating in a fairyland.
[This place really isn’t bad,] Yang Kai thought to himself with a smile on his face.
According to Duan Hai’s words, from now on, before he resigned as an Honoured Guest, this mountain would belong to him. Of course, the spirit grass and spirit medicines on the mountain were the property of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.
Yang Kai first walked around the mountain, examining the expansive herb garden, soon discovering that these herbs were all healthy and growing prosperously and didn’t need him to personally tend to them. Obviously there were other people responsible for their care.
Atop the mountain peak, there was a rich and pure World Aura that was very suitable for cultivation.
After checking out his own peak, Yang Kai began wandering around the nearby mountains.
Among the nearby peaks lived a number of Honoured Guests of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, each of them an Alchemist, so they had many common topics of discussion. After learning that Yang Kai was actually a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, those Honored Guests were quite surprised, many of them even showing him looks of awe and respect.
Yang Kai also learned a lot about Bright Thunder Spirit Religion from his chats with them.
In general, this Sect was a decent one. Just as Duan Hai had told him before, the treatment of Honoured Guests here was generous. If an Honoured Guest wanted to leave, they would not try to strong arm them into staying and instead see them off courteously.
Moreover, every Honoured Guest would be assigned a dedicated helper, and those helpers, without exception, were all young, beautiful women.
As they spent most of their time in secluded study, these Alchemists naturally had need of such distractions to help them relieve their stress. These helpers were sent by Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to assist these Alchemists and to meet any ‘other’ requirements they might have.
These helpers also willingly accepted this task and could even be said that there was fierce competition within Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to become a dedicated servant of an Honoured Guest.
After all, Alchemists had distinguished identities, so gaining the favour of or even becoming married to an Alchemist was naturally something these young beauties hoped for. At the very least, these mountain peaks were amongst the best places to cultivate in the Sect. In the more crowded regions, with so many people gathered together, the World Energy was obviously less abundant whereas here it was the exact opposite. As long as one cultivated here, their strength would improve rapidly, and by being close to an Alchemist, one could also not be lacking useful pills as well.
This abundance of benefits naturally aroused people’s interest.
Yang Kai spent two or three days touring around his new residence and had visited with a lot of his peers, mixing in with them fairly well. He also obtained a much better understanding of how Bright Thunder Spirit Religion operated and just how grand and wealthy a force it really was.
The forces back in the Central Capital were really incomparable to it. Not only was there a massive gap in terms of the pure cultivation realm of the masters here, whether it was the concentration of World Energy, material wealth, Secret Arts, or Martial Skills, this minor Sect from Tong Xuan Realm was far ahead of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families by multiple grades.
Recognizing this gap, Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel a bit listless.
Three days later, Yang Kai finally returned to his new home.
When he came to his peak though, his expression changed slightly because he realized that a new aura had appeared in one of the previously empty houses.
[Has the helper Duan Hai said would come arrived already?]
After a closer look, Yang Kai’s expression couldn’t help becoming awkward because he found that this newcomer’s life aura was familiar to him.
Only thinking about it for a moment, he quickly made his decision, walked to the house, and pushed open the door.
A slight yelp was heard as the one who was meditating in the house was obviously startled, quickly jumping up and turning towards the door with a look of vigilance, but upon seeing Yang Kai’s face, she was dumbfounded and called out involuntarily, “Why are you here?”
“We meet again,” Yang Kai smiled back at her.
Never had he anticipated that the assistant Duan Hai would send him was actually the woman he met in the Snow Mountain Range, Ji Meng.
The golden robes she wore couldn’t hide her attractive figure, the magnificent height of her chest, or her long, shapely legs. Her ponytail of soft, supple, black hair flowed down behind her, stretching all the way to her thin waist and round hips, giving her a youthful and radiant look.
Ji Meng stared at Yang Kai with a surprised look, seemingly never having expected to see this person again.
All of a sudden, her look changed as her eyes darted about wildly, hurriedly asking, “How come you’re here? This isn’t a place you can just casually show up!”
“Huh?” Yang Kai was stunned.
Ji Meng acted swiftly, rushing over to his side and pulling on Yang Kai’s clothes, “You aren’t one of my Spirit Religion’s disciple, and this peak is reserved for one of my Spirit Religion’s Honored Guests. You need to leave quickly, if he sees you here, I’m afraid it won’t be good for you.”
“An Honoured Guest?” Yang Kai revealed a weird smile, “What kind of Honoured Guest?”
Seeing Ji Meng like this, Yang Kai realized that she knew nothing about his identity or arrival and had only been told to wait here for the new ‘Honoured Guest’.
“Apparently he’s a Spirit Grade Alchemist, and his background seems to be quite profound. Elder Duan ordered me to attend to him,” As she spoke, Ji Meng noticed that Yang Kai still hadn’t moved and didn’t show any signs of leaving, so she inevitably became anxious and shouted, “What are you still standing around for, do you want to die?”
“Is it really that serious?” Yang Kai smiled even more interestedly.
“It’s very serious! Entering the residence of my Spirit Religion’s Honoured Guest, any Spirit Religion disciple can immediately put you to death! What are the disciples guarding the mountain doing? How could they have let you in in the first place?”
“Then why aren’t you attacking me?”
“Why should I attack you? You’re so strange! In any case, you need to go, quickly, before he comes back, if he sees you there, it will be troublesome.”
Saying so, she actively walked over and began pushing Yang Kai towards the door, her face filled with worry.
“You being so anxious to drive me away, is if because you’re afraid that Honoured Guest will have some kind of misunderstanding seeing us together? Are you sure that person’s a man?” Yang Kai asked teasingly.
Ji Meng’s face went red as she quickly shot back, “What does it matter to you, are you so bored you have to meddle in my affairs?”
“I was just asking casually,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and chuckled, “I heard that the assists your Bright Thunder Spirit Religion send to serve Honoured Guests have to meet all the requirements of those Honoured Guest, and there’s a good possibility of becoming intimate and even getting married in the end. Aren’t you worried that this Honoured Guest is some bald old man?”
Ji Meng’s tender body couldn’t help trembling, a bit of panic flashing across her eyes as she shook her head, “No, Elder Duan said that this person isn’t old, or else I would not have agreed to come here in the first place. Although I don’t know what kind of person he is, but I at least know he’s not some old man. You’re really hateful, why are you slandering others for no reason?”
Yang Kai stared at her deeply before nodding slightly.
“What was that for?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Fine, whatever, just leave. Don’t force me to take action against you!” Ji Meng grumbled; Yang Kai pestering her endlessly was really beginning to annoy her, so her tone became somewhat impatient.
“Good good, I’ll stop here, for now,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, losing interest in continuing to tease her, reaching into his shirt and pulling out the token Duan Hai had given him before he had left and handing it to Ji Meng, “Do you recognize this? It seems Duan Hai really didn’t tell you much.”
“An Honoured Guest’s token?” Ji Meng couldn’t help covering her mouth as she stared at Yang Kai in amazement, “How come you…”
Suddenly, her beautiful eyes flashed a complicated light as she wore an expression of disbelief and shouted, “You couldn’t be the new Honoured Guest, could you?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, casually taking back the token.
Ji Meng was dumbstruck; she had been waiting here for two whole days, constantly wondering what kind of person this new Honored Guest was, and how much older than her he would be, but never had she dreamed it would be Yang Kai. Forget about how much of an old man he was, Yang Kai was actually even younger than her!
“Greetings, Honoured Guest!” Ji Meng’s hastily adjusted her face and respectfully welcomed him.
“No need to act so polite,” Yang Kai shook his head, seeing Ji Meng suddenly become so respectful after learning his identity made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
“I’m so sorry, I had no idea you were the one Elder Duan mentioned… I thought you had secretly snuck in, I really didn’t know…” Ji Meng hurriedly tried to explain.
“No need to explain,” Yang Kai glanced at her and smiled before turning around a walking inside.
Back in the outer room, Ji Meng stared blankly, desperately wanting to cry but unable to shed any tears. She had hoped to leave a good first impression on the new Honored Guest, but little had she thought that not only was that impossible, she actually had a terrible relationship with him in the first place.
Thinking about how she had just inadvertently revealed her true intentions here, Ji Meng was filled with regret, wondering what he thought of her now, afraid he saw her as a cheap woman who would resort to any means to gain benefits.
…..
Bright Thunder Spirit Religion headquarters.
Inside one of the side halls, Duan Hai, who had just sat down, had not had time to settle in before he heard someone hurriedly walk in.
Duan Hai looked up and laughed, calling out, “Junior Brother Xu!”
“Senior Brother Duan, how did the matter I told you about go?” Xu Qi quickly asked, an obvious hint of anxiety in his voice.
Duan Hai smiled happily, “Doesn’t Junior Brother usually not pay much attention to our Spirit Religion’s matters? How come this time you seem so anxious? However, this time you really gave me some good news and thankfully I did not fail in my mission and successfully brought that person over.”
“Really?” Xu Qi exclaimed joyfully.
“Naturally, he has already arrived in my Spirit Religion three days ago. Right now he should be settling in on one of the mountains reserved for Honoured Guests. I have also sent a female disciple with excellent looks and aptitude to serve him, so I believe it won’t be too long before he develops as sense of attachment to this place,” Duan Hai said, standing up and walking over to a nearby table, pouring a cup of tea for Xu Qi and thanking him, “Junior Brother, this time, thanks to you, my Spirit Religion has managed to win over an excellent seedling. He will definitely have great use in the future, I’ll be certain to report this merit to the Religion Master who I’m sure will reward you handsomely.”
Xu Qi expression became slightly strange hearing these words, not showing any signs of happiness, causing Duan Hai to be slightly confused, “What? Is something wrong?”
“Senior Brother Duan, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t request you personally invite that youth here because of his Alchemist identity.”
“Really? Then why?”
Xu Qi quietly released his Divine Sense and after sweeping the surrounding area to insure they were alone, motioned for Duan Hai to come closer.
Seeing him act so cautiously, Duan Hai couldn’t help becoming slight serious as well, quickly realizing there was more to this situation than meets the eye, leaning in close to listen.
“Because of the Coffin Carrying Man!”
Duan Hai’s trembled slightly before he turned a blank stare to Xu Qi.
After a long time, he lowered his voice as well and asked, “What do you mean? What does he have to do with the Coffin Carrying Man?”
“I don’t know if Senior Brother remembers the last time I went out I accidentally encountered the Coffin Carrying Man?”
“Of course I remember.”
“I followed the Coffin Carrying Man along with several others and eventually came to Raging Flame City in Bold Independent Union’s territory. There, the Coffin Carrying Man stopped; as for what happened afterwards, Senior Brother should have heard.”
“If I recall correctly, the Coffin Carrying Man captured a disciple of Bold Independent Union and then disappeared.”
“In fact, he wasn’t a disciple of Bold Independent Union. Afterwards, we found out that this person’s origins were unclear and that he just had some small friendship with two female disciples of Bold Independent Union. However, the important point is the one who was taken away by the Coffin Carrying Man, is that new Honored Guest Senior Brother Duan just brought back!”
“What?!” Duan Hai complexion changed greatly, “Is it really him? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”
Xu Qi shook his head, “To be honest, I also thought I was mistaken. When I saw him in Grand Boulder City that day, I could hardly believe my eyes, but after observing him for a while I am 100% certain that he was the one taken away by the Coffin Carrying Man.”
“How is that possible?”
Everyone thought that those seized by the Coffin Carrying Man would only have one end, death, but rather than dying, Yang Kai had now appeared in perfect condition, naturally drawing Xu Qi’s attention.
“Senior Brother, you also know what the Coffin Carrying Man means. There are rumors that the Coffin Carrying Man guards a shocking treasure that can bring a force enough wealth and treasure to allow it to grow into a true behemoth. Since this person can survive after having been caught by the Coffin Carrying Man, perhaps he knows something about that treasure. At the very least, he’ll know the location of the Coffin Carrying Man’s hiding place. If my Spirit Religion can successfully obtain that treasure, we can sweep away the Soaring Heaven Sect, Luo Sheng Sect, and Ancient Moon Heaven’s Cave and eventually rise to a dominate position in this world!”
“That’s only a legend though…” Duan Hai slowly shook his head.
“But it’s worth a try.”
“He’s a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist though!”
“What? Seriously?” This time it was Xu Qi’s turn to be shocked.
“En, and Old Man Du of Grand Boulder City is very attentive towards him. Before he left with me, Old Man Du intentionally reminded me to not be negligent towards him, saying that his origins may be extraordinary!”
“Even Old Man Du appraised him so?” Xu Qi was stunned, “But according to the information we dug up more than a year ago, although his origins weren’t clear, they shouldn’t have been anything important.”
“Because his origins are unclear, they are worth paying attention to!” Duan Hai said solemnly.
Xu Qi also seemed to have been splashed with cold water at that moment, the eagerness in his expression converging rapidly. When he thought back about the information he was able to collect about Yang Kai before, he also suddenly discovered several questionable points.
“I’ll let Senior Brother decide what we should do next. Whether we vigorously cultivate him into one of our Spirit Religion’s future pillars or stake everything on a single roll of the dice, Junior Brother will listen to you,” Xu Qi no longer persuaded, but instead handed over the decision to Duan Hai.
Such a young Spirit Grade Alchemist was truly a rare talent, and after just managing to invite him here, if they were to offend him, it would be a great loss for their Spirit Religion.
Duan Hai nodded slightly and waved.
Xu Qi nodded, got up, and walked out.
After Xu Qi left, Duan Hai closed his eyes and sunk into contemplation, his brow knit tightly and his expression somewhat hesitant.
The legends about the Coffin Carrying Man had circulated throughout all of Tong Xuan Realm for countless years, and there were countless rumors about him. However, many masters believed that at the very least, the Coffin Carrying Man hid some kind of shocking secret in the blood red coffin he carried that was worthy of their attention.
If that wasn’t so, how could so many Transcendent Realm masters waste so much time trailing the Coffin Carrying Man just for the chance to spy on this mystery?
It had been almost a month since Yang Kai came to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, and he had gradually begun to adapt to life here.
When Ji Meng came last time, she brought many herbs to Yang Kai from Duan Hai, which the former then used to refine pills each day. Of course, Yang Kai didn’t dare refine too many so as not to draw any unnecessary attention, maintaining a pace more in line with an ordinary Alchemist, two or three Spirit Grade pills per day.
The rest of the time he spent on cultivation or digesting the mysteries of the True Alchemic Way.
After spending a month getting along, Yang Kai noticed that Ji Meng was becoming more and more cautious around him, always wearing a hesitant and nearly fearful look on her face, far from the casual and unfettered appearance she had in the Snow Mountain Range.
In fact, most of the time she just shut herself in one of the other rooms and would only come to see Yang Kai when absolutely necessary.
Yang Kai was busy with his own affairs so he normally didn’t pay any attention to her either which resulted in Ji Meng feeling even more awkward. Sometimes she wanted to go to Yang Kai to talk and improve their relationship, but she just couldn’t bring herself to act so boldly.
On the first day of the new month, while Yang Kai was meditating, there was a knock at his door.
“Come in.”
Ji Meng pushed open the door and stood in the entryway, bowing politely, “Honoured Guest.”
“Do you need something?” Yang Kai smiled as he glanced over at her.
“Today is the day for this month’s pill collection, I need to deliver the pills that you have refined during this past month to the Spirit Religion’s headquarters,” Ji Meng answered softly, this was one of the tasks Duan Hai had sent her here to complete. Every month, the Alchemist Honoured Guest’s helpers would collect the pills they had refined during this time and then send them to Duan Hai for use within the Spirit Religion.
Yang Kai nodded lightly and took out the pills he had refined this past month and tossed them over to Ji Meng.
Ji Meng accepted them and thanked before gently biting her lip, as if hesitant to say something she had on her mind.
Yang Kai saw this and casually remarked, “I heard from the other Alchemist that as long as they give permission, their assistants can take a few pills from themselves, is that really the case?”
Ji Meng nodded lightly.
Yang Kai smiled lightly and nodded, “Then take five pills and make use of them yourself.”
Although the materials used for Alchemy here were all provided by Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, it was not uncommon for Alchemists to fail in refining pills now and again, thus wasting some of the raw ingredients.
As such, how many pills an Alchemist refined each month was really only known by the Alchemist themselves and their assistant.
As a result, before delivering each months pills to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, it was possible to play some small tricks like this, as long as it was within the realm of what the Spirit Religion deemed reasonable, these Alchemist Honoured Guests could choose to retain a small number of pills to help their assistants cultivate. This not only benefited their assistants but also improved the latter’s impression of the former, encouraging them to be more attentive in their duties.
This was an open secret and Duan Hai was also clear about it but he never made any attempts to interfere.
Because the small portions of pills privately retained by these Alchemists were ultimately used on disciples of the Spirit Religion and the aptitude of the women sent to serve these Alchemists was generally good, Duan Hai even hoped that this practice would take place, allowing these seedlings to quickly grow into pillars of the Sect.
Yang Kai had learned about this when he had chatted with the other Alchemist a month ago.
Hearing Yang Kai say this, Ji Meng couldn’t help feeling overjoyed and quickly thanked him, “Many thanks, Honoured Guest, I will make good use of these five pills.”
She was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage cultivator, so these five Spirit Grade pills could bring her immense benefits.
Yang Kai said no more on the subject, simply informing Ji Meng about how many pills he had refined this month as well as their grades and usages before sending her to deliver them to Duan Hai.
Ji Meng bowed gratefully once more before quickly leaving the mountain.
Back in the Spirit Religion’s headquarters, Ji Meng reported the number and grade of the pills Yang Kai had refined and handed them over to Duan Hai, the latter nodding in approval.
But when Ji Meng was about to take her leave, Duan Hai called out to her.
“Is there anything else, Elder Duan?” Ji Meng asked.
“What do you think of him?” Duan Hai suddenly asked a question that made Ji Meng pause.
“He’s alright, though he is somewhat taciturn and doesn’t like to communicate with others, I’ve stayed by his side for a month now but he hasn’t said more than ten words to me.”
“You haven’t even spoken with him?” Duan Hai was amazed, “Then towards you has he…?”
Ji Meng’s face went bright red but shook her head lightly.
Duan Hai’s brow wrinkled and grumbled somewhat unhappily, “You should be clear about the purpose of sending you to serve him. These Honoured Guests are the roots of my Spirit Religion’s ability to grow and develop; however, they are still just Honoured Guests and can leave at any time. You must firmly grab hold of him and allow him to willingly join my Spirit Religion and if possible, officially become one of our disciples!”
“Disciple understands,” Ji Meng bowed deeply.
“Can you complete this task? If you can’t, I can always send someone else, my Spirit Religion doesn’t lack beautiful woman.”
“Disciple will not fail Elder’s expectations,” Ji Meng clenched her teeth and replied.
“Good, go back. I look forward to your performance,” Duan Hai waved.
With a heavy heart, Ji Meng departed. After she left, Duan Hai shook his head and turned his eyes to Xu Qi, who had been listening to the conversation, “Junior Brother, it seems that this person really does not intend to settle down in my Spirit Religion. When I brought him here, he had even indicated as such. Otherwise, a young man like him wouldn’t possibly be so indifferent to a beauty’s temptations.”
“This just shows he has his own insistences and goals, this kind of person is always steadfast and assertive and is not easy to control,” Xu Qi also sighed.
“But he also mentioned that when the time was right he would need our Spirit Religion to help him with a matter. I just wonder what it is he wants to ask of us…” Duan Hai was puzzled.
“How does Senior Brother plan to proceed then?”
“Go back and check again, send some people to Bold Independent Union to carefully investigate his background. Such a young Spirit Grade Alchemist… I really can’t bring myself to decide!”
Xu Qi nodded in agreement, if it was at all possible, they wanted to avoid offending Yang Kai and would prefer to be on good terms with him.
After Ji Meng returned, Yang Kai clearly noticed that she was somewhat depressed and had a lot on her mind.
However, Yang Kai didn’t ask anything, it was normal for a woman to have some issues she worried about, and asking her about it would only drag him into her affairs, giving him unwanted trouble.
Although the relationship between Old Man Du and Duan Hai gave him some degree of comfort, Yang Kai would not be stupid enough to wholeheartedly believe in Duan Hai. During his time here, he had also quietly been investigating Bright Thunder Spirit Religion in order to determine if they were trustworthy enough to ask for help in his search for Su Yan and Little Senior Sister’s whereabouts.
If things didn’t work out here, Yang Kai would not hesitate to leave.
He definitely couldn’t go back to Bold Independent Union; too many people had seen him being taken about by Coffin Slave Senior, if he was to really appear in Bold Independent Union’s territory, he would definitely draw unwanted attention.
Sudden, a sharp pain in his shoulder blades erupted and the hidden power of wind and thunder rampaged wildly. Yang Kai was woken from his meditation by this pain but before he even opened his eyes, an intoxicating fragrance wafted past his nose.
Opening his eyes, he was stunned to see Ji Meng standing at the edge of his bed, faintly gazing towards him, her beautiful pair of eyes flashing a complicated light.
“What are you doing?” Yang Kai asked.
Ji Meng’s face was dyed slightly pink and she seemed a little flustered, but she quickly calmed down, grit her teeth and slowly leaned over, sitting her well rounded bottom onto the edge of bed as she squeezed out a reluctant smile and whispered, “Are you not tempted at all?”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai stared back at her strangely.
“What do you think?” Ji Meng stared at him with a sullen yet charming look, boldly reaching out and taking hold of Yang Kai’s hand, bringing it to her milk-white bosom.
“Are you serious?” Yang Kai felt an amazing fullness along with an incredible elasticity and couldn’t help feeling slightly dazed.
He had not expected Ji Meng would suddenly act so boldly.
On the palm of his hand, amidst the sea of tenderness a small hard bulge also slowly appeared.
Ji Meng’s breathing became somewhat heavy and her cheeks went from light pink to bright red as her eyes unconsciously drifted towards Yang Kai’s lower body, her little hand trembling slightly as it reached out. Exhaling a fragrant breathe she whispered, “All the disciples sent to serve as assistants to Honored Guests are prepared for this, so you Honored Guests can do with us as you please.”
Yang Kai pinched her small hand and frowned slightly, “Is this your own intention or Duan Hai’s order?”
“Does that matter?”
“Ji Meng, this isn’t who you are, why embarrass yourself like this?”
Ji Meng stared at him dumbly before clenching her jaw and shooting back, “Even in this situation you’re so indifferent, are you really a man?”
Yang Kai smiled casually, “Whether or not I’m a man, do I have any reason to prove it to you?”
“Last time in the Snow Mountain Range you said if we survived you’d prove it to me,” Ji Meng leaned in further, the womanly scent from her body lightly floating about, stimulating one’s primal desires.
“I don’t like women who act so coquettish, but if you want to play with me, I can satisfy you,” Yang Kai grinned slyly.
“Then let’s play!” Ji Meng stared at Yang Kai bitterly.
Yang Kai’s smile became even wickeder as he reached out and pulled Ji Meng over, tossing her over onto the bed and climbing on top of her, his big hand covering her proud peak suddenly exerting more pressure.
“What are you doing?” Ji Meng was shocked. A moment ago, this bastard had been completely indifferent to her yet now he was acting like such a beast, it really was too much for her to adapt to.
“What you want,” Yang Kai laughed villainously.
“Then you have to promise me one thing first!” Ji Meng said hurriedly, being massaged by Yang Kai so suddenly, her pupils became slightly blurry as she called out to him temptingly, her body temperature rising as a healthy pink glow dyed her pure white skin.
“What?”
“After you take me, you have to join my Spirit Religion and become my Spirit Religion’s disciple!”
“And if I say no?”
“Then we will wait until you are able to make that decision. By that time, you can call on me whenever you want. You can do whatever you want as well.”
Listening to her bargain back and forth with him, Yang Kai’s enthusiasm suddenly plummeted and a frown appeared on his face, lifting himself up and pushing her away, faintly saying, “It’s late, you should go back and rest.”
Ji Meng stared at him with a look of disappointment and resentment.
She realized that she had been too anxious.
A mix of complicated emotions stirring inside her, Ji Meng got up and quickly arranged her messy clothes before slowly leaving.
After she left, Yang Kai smiled lightly, thinking that after she had suffered such a loss, this woman wouldn’t act so arrogantly in front of him anymore.
Regarding Ji Meng, Yang Kai actually had a decent impression of her, feeling like she was relatively frank and upright, unafraid to speak her mind, but now it seemed like it was not suitable for him to have too deep a connection with her so as not to be entangled by her in the future.
Time passed by and Yang Kai had now been in Bright Thunder Spirit Religion for two months. These two months were neither long nor short but Yang Kai had still yet to determine whether he should entrust Bright Thunder Spirit Religion with the task of finding his Senior Sisters.
Throughout his investigations though, he discovered that Bright Thunder Spirit Religion had participated in a number of shady activities so he was somewhat less inclined to believe in them.
After handing over the pills he had refined this month to Ji Meng, Yang Kai was surprised when she returned soon after with a message, “Elder Duan wants you to see him in the Sect’s headquarters.”
“Oh?” Yang Kai’s brow rose slightly, “What for?”
“Elder Duan didn’t say,” Ji Meng shook her head, “He just told me to ask you to see him as soon as possible. Apparently he had something important to consult you about.”
“En, alright,” Yang Kai nodded. Duan Hai had never met with him ever since bringing him here, but as the Great Elder of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, he definitely had a lot of things to attend to, so Yang Kai hadn’t cared.
“Can we leave now?” Ji Meng asked.
“Might as well,” Yang Kai didn’t have any reason not to go so he simply nodded and flew off together with Ji Meng in the direction of the Sect’s Main Hall.
This was the first time Yang Kai had visited Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s headquarters, so he was unfamiliar with the route. Naturally, he needed Ji Meng to lead the way. After flying for a while, the pair eventually arrived above a bustling area.
Looking down from the sky, there was a group of buildings below with a large number of cultivators wearing golden yellow robes walking to and fro, many of them were also flying, seemingly in a rush.
Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s core region seemed to be teeming with activity with countless cultivators and masters emerging one after another.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai couldn’t help offering some silent praise in his heart.
Bright Thunder Spirit Religion was by no means a big force in Tong Xuan Realm. It couldn’t even be considered top notch within the local region, that honour belonged solely to Soaring Heaven Sect, which was helmed by a powerful Saint Realm master. Luo Sheng Sect and Ancient Moon Heaven’s Cave were also considered stronger than it as well.
Amongst the four big forces in the Snow Mountain Range region, Bright Thunder Spirit Religion was actually the bottom most existence; however, it’s heritage was still quite good, at least several times more outstanding than any force from the world Yang Kai came from.
As Ji Meng landed directly in front of a magnificent building, Yang Kai took out his Honoured Guest token and showed it, causing the disciples on guard duty to hurriedly cup their fists and bow respectfully. Seemingly never having seen such a young Honoured Guest before, Yang Kai was drawing frequent surprised glances from the surrounding crowd.
“You should be able to find your way from here, Elder Duan is waiting inside you there,” Ji Meng gestured.
“You’re not coming too?”
“I’m not qualified to go in,” Ji Meng stammered slightly.
Yang Kai nodded slightly, “Then wait her a moment for me, we’ll go back together.”
“Good,” Ji Meng said happily.
Walking up the stairs and into the building, after a while, Yang Kai eventually came to a large hall with its doors wide open, so he calmly walked in.
Duan Hai was waiting inside, and seeing Yang Kai arrive, he quickly smiled and stood up.
“Elder Duan,” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
“Honoured Guest Yang, it’s been two months since I last had a chance to speak with you. Have you been well recently?”
“Well enough.”
“Has my Spirit Religion’s disciple not been serving you appropriately? If Honoured Guest Yang is not satisfied with her, I can send you a replacement. I will certainly satisfy any need you have.”
“No need, Ji Meng is just fine,” Yang Kai shook his head.
“As you wish,” Duan Hai smiled and asked Yang Kai to sit down. A disciple quickly offered tea and after enjoying it for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “I wonder what instructions Elder Duan has to summon me so suddenly?”
“This one wouldn’t dare!” Duan Hai quickly waved his hand and wore a modest look, “I have no specific reason for summoning Honoured Guest Yang this time, it’s just that every Honoured Guest that comes to my Spirit Religion is precious and spending some time becoming acquainted with them is something I should do.”
Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent, knowing that Duan Hai was simply looking to build some kind of relationship with him in order to further rope him into Bright Thunder Spirit Religion as all major forces would use this routine.
“I heard once that Honoured Guest Yang doesn’t intend on staying long in my Spirit Religion. Could it be that Honoured Guest Yang has some important matter he needs to attend to?” Duan Hai asked with a smile, “If that is so, Honoured Guest Yang need not be polite, just say the word and my Spirit Religion will do it’s best to assist you.”
“When the time is right I certainly won’t be polite,” Yang Kai replied lightly.
“En, good,” Duan Hai gently nodded, “Right, Honoured Guest Yang had once said on more than one occasion that when the time is right you would ask my Spirit Religion for a favor, dare I ask when that time might be?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“I understand,” Duan Hai laughed frankly, “It looks like Honoured Guest Yang does not have much attachment to my Spirit Religion and possibly even holds some distrust towards us.”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he stared deeply towards Duan Hai. He couldn’t help raising his vigilance after Duan Hai’s spoke such meaningful words.
“If it were possible, this Duan truly hoped that Honoured Guest Yang would join my Spirit Religion and become one of our core disciples,” Duan Hai expression suddenly sank , his tone becoming solemn, “But it appears Honored Guest Yang has no such intentions, so this Duan must use some other means to inquire about your secrets!”
Saying so, Duan Hai tapped his foot gently on the floor.
Suddenly, with Yang Kai as the center, a series of Spirit Array lines lit up and spread out. These Spirit Array lines quickly contracted and sunk into Yang Kai’s body.
Yang Kai complexion went pale as he hurriedly tried to circulate his True Qi.
But the moment his True Qi began revolving, a sharp pain came from his meridians, like there were hundreds of millions of ants biting them, causing him to shudder violently and the strength he had just gathered to instantly collapse.
“Elder Duan, what’s the meaning of this?” Yang Kai didn’t panic and simply stared coldly towards Duan Hai while carefully examining his own situation.
Duna Hai simply shook his head in disappointedly, a look of hesitation surface on his face as he coldly replied, “My apologies, Honored Guest Yang. In truth, this Duan actually would have preferred not to do this. Being able to attract such a young Spirit Grade Alchemist is definitely a huge good fortune for my Spirit Religion, but unfortunately you have no intention of joining my Spirit Religion, thus even if I was to try even harder to convince you, the chances of winning you over are too slim.”
“Hahaha,” Yang Kai laughed, “Elder Duan, have I done anything to harm your Bright Thunder Spirit Religion?”
“You truly haven’t, but as I said, this Duan is also helpless,” Duan Hai shook his head heavily.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed. Although he didn’t understand the reason for it, the fact that Duan Hai had set a trap for him was a fact.
The reason he had come to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion in the first place was entirely because of Old Man Du, so did this matter have anything to do with the latter?
Thinking about it, Yang Kai turned his attention to the screen behind Duan Hai and said coldly, “Can this friend also come out and talk? Hiding yourself now doesn’t have any further meaning.”
Yang Kai faintly felt that Duan Hai’s suddenly change in attitude towards him had a lot to do with the person hidden behind the screen.
Hearing this, Xu Qi was shocked, he hadn’t expected Yang Kai’s senses to be so sharp, but now that things had reached this point, he simply decided to show himself.
After seeing Xu Qi’s face, Yang Kai suddenly understood.
This person, he had seen him before.
Outside Raging Flame City in Bold Independent Union’s territory, this man had been amongst the crowd of masters following the Coffin Carrying Man.
No wonder he felt the name Bright Thunder Spirit Religion sounded familiar, it turns out he had heard about it previously from Yun Xuan.
At this moment, Yang Kai suddenly felt enlightened.
The root of everything was the Coffin Carrying Man incident.
“So that’s how it is!” Yang Kai smiled bitterly. Tong Xuan Realm was so vast, he hadn’t expected that the moment he came out of the Mysterious Small World someone would already have their eyes on him.
At Raging Flame City, there were only a few people who had witnessed the scene of him being taken away by the Coffin Carrying Man, who would have thought one of them would show up today?
Even if Yang Kai was more vigilant, this kind of coincidence couldn’t have been avoided.
“En, Honored Guest Yang understanding is for the best, you should also know that you are currently under the affects of my Sect’s unique sealing technique. Don’t try to break free, the more you use your True Qi, the more pain you’ll have to endure,” Duan Hai stared at Yang Kai somewhat regretfully, “This Duan does not want to embarrass you any further, as long as you cooperate with us, I promise we won’t harm you!”
Yang Kai sneered, “Elder Duan, taking such actions, aren’t you worried Old Man Du will investigate and hold you responsible?”
Duan Hai shook his head, “Although Old Man Du is optimistic about you, if he inquires about you, I can offer him any number of explanations. Honoured Guest Yang need not worry himself over such issues.”
Yang Kai felt his heart unclench slightly, knowing that Old Man Du should have no knowledge of this matter.
If even Old Man Du had been involved in this plot against him, Yang Kai could only admit that he was too stupid.
Sensing Duan Hai and Xu Qi’s cultivations, Yang Kai chose to hold down his temper and endure for now.
Both of these two were Second Order Transcendents, so even if he were to exert his full strength, it would still be impossible for him to escape from here. What’s more, Yang Kai knew he was currently in the very heart of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, so there were no doubt, countless other masters, nearby. With his True Qi sealed right now, rashly taking action would only make the situation worse.
“Can I ask, why did Elder Duan wait until today to act against me? You could have done this the moment your brought me here,” Yang Kai asked, trying to stall for time while he searched for some way to escape.
Duan Hai reluctantly shook his head, “It is just as this Duan had said, I am very optimistic about your future and would have preferred not to take such actions. Old Man Du also told me that you have a strong background, but after two months of dedicated persuasion and observation, I concluded that you will leave here sooner or later and that unlike what Old Man Du said, you are just a little brat from some remote backwater.”
“So Elder Duan no longer had any scruples?” Yang Kai sneered sarcastically.
Duan Hai neither agreed nor disagreed, “Honored Guest Yang, I won’t speak anymore nonsense with you. The reason why I did this is just because I want to know the secrets of the Coffin Carrying Man. What happened to you after he seized you? How did you escape from his clutches? Where was he hiding when you finally managed to flee from him? If Honoured Guest Yang can tell me these things, I promise to let you go.”
“I don’t know,” Yang Kai laughed and flatly said, silencing the witness to the crime was even Yang Kai would do in this situation, naturally it was impossible for him to believe Duan Hai’s ‘promise’. Since Duan Hai dared to do this, he would make sure to clean up all lose ends. As long as Yang Kai kept his mouth shut, these two wouldn’t act rashly and he could buy himself some more time, but the moment he told them what they wanted to know he would definitely die.
“Senior Brother, there’s no need to pointlessly bargain with him, a little Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary brat, just let me use my Soul Searching technique to directly dig up the secrets in his Knowledge Sea,” Xu Qi came over and said coldly.
Duan Hai let out a faint sigh, “Honored Guest Yang, as you can see, my Junior Brother is not as good-natured or patient as I am. If you don’t want to become an idiot because of his Soul Searching technique, you should simply cooperate with me and save yourself some pain.”
The two men played out this carrot and stick farce to a tee, trying to use a combination of threats and enticement to break down Yang Kai’s psychological defenses so he would obediently tell them what they wanted to know.
Although the act of searching another’s Soul could allow one to spy on some of their memories, it was not a comprehensive technique, so Duan Hai and Xu Qi did not want to use this method to deal with Yang Kai if they could avoid it.
They needed Yang Kai to take the initiative to cooperate. Moreover, in their view, Yang Kai had come from some remote backcountry and was quite young, so his will certainly wouldn’t be too strong.
However, after actually trying to implement their plan, they quickly discovered that Yang Kai was a difficult bone to gnaw, completely intractable and unwilling to compromise in the slightest. No matter what threat or enticement they offered, Yang Kai refused to say a word about the Coffin Carrying Man’s secrets.
For Duan Hai’s part, he was actually being quite truthful; he really wasn’t willing to offend such a promising young Alchemist. Initially, he had wholeheartedly wanted to absorb Yang Kai into Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.
As long Yang Kai officially joined the Sect, Duan Hai would have plenty of opportunities to inquire about these secrets from him.
But after fully understanding that Yang Kai had no such intentions, Duan Hai immediately decided to seize the initiative.
In any case, Yang Kai would leave sooner or later and may never be of any use to his Spirit Religion, so there was not much harm in offending him.
“Why are you looking for the Coffin Carrying Man in the first place? What kind of benefits are you hoping to obtain from him?” Yang Kai stared at Duan Hai and asked.
Duan Hai frowned but only hesitated for a moment before replying, “It is said that the Coffin Carrying Man guards a terrifying secret, and whoever can grasp that secret can control tremendous power.”
Yang Kai chuckled, there would be no wind in the house without a hole in the wall, Duan Hai obviously knew next to nothing about what kind of secret the Coffin Carrying Man was guarding, but in a certain sense, his words weren’t wrong.
The Ancient Demon Clan was indeed a tremendous force, but this clan was not something just anyone could control.
“Honoured Guest Yang, if you know something, could you disclose it to us?” Duan Hai stared at him with a burning gaze.
In response though, Yang Kai once again just shook his head, “You’re asking the wrong person, I really don’t know anything.”
“Senior Brother!” Xu Qi apparently had really run out of patience, calling out angrily as he shot a meaningful look towards Duan Hai.
Duan Hai nodded slightly and said in a heavy tone, “Honoured Guest Yang, pardon our offence.”
Xu Qi grinned fiendishly and walked over, muttering in a cold tone, “Since you refuse a toast then you must drink a forfeit, once this old master’s Soul Searching technique is applied, it’s quite possible your Soul will be destroyed and you will turn into an idiot! Pray your luck isn’t so bad.”
Yang Kai showed a look of panic on his face at just the right moment, causing Xu Qi’s expression to become became more and more self-satisfied.
Stepping in front of Yang Kai, Xu Qi stretched out his hand and placed it on top of Yang Kai’s head, his Second Order Transcendent Spiritual Energy gushing out.
In an instant, Yang Kai’s look changed.
Yang Kai had thought this would be an opportunity. Although his True Qi was sealed and he was no match for Xu Qi in terms of cultivation, if it was a contest of Spiritual Energy, Yang Kai was confident he wouldn’t be inferior to anyone.
As long as Xu Qi’s Soul dared to break into his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai could instantly make him pay with his life. Great Demon God’s Demon Eye of Annihilation couldn’t be resisted by Saint Realm masters much less Xu Qi who was merely a Second Order Transcendent.
Once he killed Xu Qi and then used his Demon God Transformation, there was a chance he could break through the seal that was binding him. Then with only Duan Hai, a Second Order Transcendent, blocking him, Yang Kai was confident he could escape.
But when Xu Qi started, Yang Kai found that his opponent’s Soul did not intrude into his Knowledge Sea and instead, Xu Qi’s Spiritual Energy intertwined with the surrounding Spirit Array and formed an invisible vortex that created a huge suction force which was directly trying to pull his Soul out of his Knowledge Sea.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the scene was turbulent, waves rolled and everything became extremely unsettled.
An unspeakable pain erupted and Yang Kai’s expression immediately twisted, blue veins on his forehead popping up as teeth ground fiercely.
Pain inflicted on one’s soul was more than a hundred times stronger than the pain inflicted on one’s flesh.
“Hm?” Xu Qi was also slightly surprised, sneering dismissively, “Don’t bother trying to resist, the more you resist, the more you’ll suffer, just let go of your Knowledge Sea’s defences and let me extract your memories, that way you won’t have to endure this kind of pain.”
Contained within his words, there seemed to be an invisible force that was trying to break down Yang Kai’s will and force him to obey.
Perceiving this, Yang Kai became even more vigilant.
“Foolish stubbornness!” Xu Qi became angered and increased the output of his Spiritual Energy, causing the suction force to grow even stronger.
Although Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was comparable to a Transcendent’s, there was still a gap between him and Xu Qi, and there was also Duan Hai staring at him from close by, so even if Yang Kai continued to resist with all his might, he would eventually lose.
Quickly considering all this, Yang Kai gave up resisting and instead actively sent out his Spiritual Energy, changing it into an invisible attack that shot towards Xu Qi.
Seeing this, Xu Qi laughed contemptuously, “Don’t be so presumptuous!”
“Junior Brother, be careful!” Duan Hai’s face suddenly changed as he cried out. At that moment, he noticed a blazing hot aura filling the air. This heat gave him a terrifying sense of crisis, forcing him to hurriedly retreat and open up some distance between him and Yang Kai.
*Hu…*
A bolt of scalding hot energy shot through the void and Xu Qi’s smug expression instantly stiffened, his face contorting in pain as he gripped his head and screamed pitifully.
“Conflagrated Divine Sense?” Duan Hai’s eyes went round as he stared at Yang Kai in disbelief.
The shrieks of pain only lasted for a moment before Xu Qi again composed himself.
A moment ago, he had been caught off guard and was thus wounded by Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Divine Sense; fortunately for him, his Spiritual Energy was stronger than Yang Kai’s, otherwise his life would have been in danger.
Even so, Xu Qi was still covered in cold sweat.
He had nearly brought about his own destruction!
“Honoured Guest Yang, do you actually have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?” Duan Hai’s expression became incomparably complex as he stared at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai remained indifferent, a look of hatred and hostility filling his eyes as he glared at the two men before him, not saying a word.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Duan Hai face was filled with grief and annoyance, “If you had said you possessed a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, I would never… bah…”
Grumbling so, he slowly shook his head and sighed.
If he had known that Yang Kai was an Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, Duan Hai absolutely would not have offended him so easily simply to seek the secrets of the Coffin Carrying Man from his mouth.
After all, these secrets were all just rumors and legends. Whether the Coffin Carrying Man truly guarded some amazing treasure only the Heavens knew, Duan Hai was also just gambling.
On the other hand, a talented Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was an immense, tangible asset!
The world’s greatest living Alchemist, The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, had only achieved his current fame thanks to his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!
Whether it was amongst Humans, Demons, or Monsters, The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep held supreme prestige; anyone who met him treated him with the utmost respect and courtesy.
If they had known Yang Kai also possessed a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea like The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, Duan Hai would have exhausted every possible means to win him over, using whatever method at his disposal to let him join Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, even if he had to directly hand over the position of Great Elder, Duan Hai would have readily agreed.
What an Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea represented, every master in Tong Xuan Realm knew.
At this moment, Duan Hai was filled with regret and frustration.
“Senior Brother, what’s done has been done, trying to settle things peacefully with him now is unrealistic,” Xu Qi stared at Yang Kai angrily. He had just eaten a small loss and did not dare to use his Soul Searching technique again, a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was not something he could easily touch.
Duan Hai stared at Xu Qi coldly, a strong desire to slap his Junior Brother to death welling up inside him!
Back then, when he had successfully invited Yang Kai to be an Honoured Guest of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, Duan Hai had been in an exceptionally good mood, thinking to himself that Yang Kai had a bright future ahead of him and feeling determined to cultivate him well. It was only because of Xu Qi’s incitement and persuasion that he had taken such rash actions for some uncertain profits.
Now that things had reached this point, there really was no possibility of resolving their grievances peacefully.
“I didn’t know he had a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea,” Xu Qi’s expression also slowly became depressed, “If I had known…”
“There’s no need to say any more,” Duan Hai shook his head and turned his attention back to Yang Kai, “Honoured Guest Yang, you won’t forgive our actions today, will you?”
“Let me go and I’ll pretend none of this ever happened, how about it?” Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a mocking arc.
Duan Hai slowly shook his head and stretched out his hand, sending out a few strands of True Qi that transformed into ropes that bound Yang Kai, solemnly saying, “Then pardon our offence once more.”
Inside a dungeon cell, Yang Kai sat imprisoned.
This dungeon was construction from a special type of ore that had a mysterious energy flowing through it while the walls were covered in exquisite runes that flickered every now and then.
This cell was strong enough to hold Transcendent Realm masters, so Duan Hai and Xu Qi weren’t worried about Yang Kai suddenly escaping.
Yang Kai tried several times to break through the seal that was restricting his True Qi, but each attempt ended in failure; using his True Qi was so painful it was simply unbearable.
Although his situation was bleak, Yang Kai did not become flustered.
He had experienced worse situations than this before and had even had several bushes with death, but every time he managed to find an opportunity to save himself and had grown stronger after overcoming such adversities.
A chance to survive would eventually present itself; Yang Kai firmly believed this and only had to wait for that opportunity to arise.
Moreover, Duan Hai and Xu Qi did not want to kill him. After learning that Yang Kai had a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, their attitude towards him also changed subtly.
Perhaps they now didn’t know what they should do with him, they were reluctant to kill him, but keeping him alive was also a big problem.
For a few days, Yang Kai lived in this dark dungeon, unable to see the sun or moon.
On this day, with a heavy sound, the door to the dungeon was opened, and a light shone in. Yang Kai blinked and stared towards the door, his expression suddenly becoming confused.
A tall, beautiful figure walked in slowly from the outside and approached his cell, her beautiful eyes staring towards Yang Kai with a complicated look.
Ji Meng!
After a long silence, Ji Meng squatted down and put down some things she had been carrying with her, softly saying, “I brought you some food. Although these things may not be necessary, I prepared them attentively so their flavour should be quite good.”
“Did Duan Hai tell you about my matters?” Yang Kai stared at her curiously, an unreadable smile adorning his face.
“En,” Ji Meng nodded.
“What does he want you to do?”
“Persuade you!” Ji Meng replied in a low voice, “In Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, only I am somewhat familiar with you, so only I could come.”
“Then what do you plan on doing?”
“Persuade you!”
“Good, since you’ve come personally, I suppose I can only choose to compromise, go tell Duan Hai that I agree to join Bright Thunder Spirit Religion,” Yang Kai chuckled.
Of course, Ji Meng just shook her head lightly, “Your words are so cheap that only three year old children would believe them. If you can’t fool me then obviously Elder Duan won’t believe them.”
That’s also the reason why there are a few comments down below before the actual date posted.
The chapters were all set to private and I was a little too busy with my Great Grandma’s birthday. (She’s 82 and my grandma is 59 – in case you are wondering.)
Inside the dungeon, Ji Meng faintly stared at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai laughed back at her, “Since he won’t believe me easily, how does he plan on winning me over? I can promise him anything now, but that won’t stop me from reneging on those promises the moment I leave here.”
“En, so I need to do something to ensure you keep your word,” Ji Meng smiled reluctantly, “I am a disciple of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, the Sect raised me so I must contribute to it, I hope you don’t blame me.”
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly.
He didn’t have any grounds on which to accuse or blame Ji Meng, but from his perspective, this woman now had to be counted as an enemy.
And regarding his enemies, Yang Kai had never been soft-hearted.
Seeing the coldness in Yang Kai’s eyes, Ji Meng felt bitter in her heart and softly advised, “Why do you insist on doing this? Although I don’t know what Elder Duan wants to obtain from you, as long as you are willing to cooperate, he will certainly not mistreat you, from the fact that he has simply imprisoned but has not tortured or killed you should be enough to prove his sincerity”
“He truly is sincere,” Yang Kai snickered sarcastically.
“Won’t you please compromise? If you compromise, whether it is you, Elder Duan, or me, there will be advantages,” Ji Meng continued her attempts to persuade him.
“Oh, there are advantages for you too?” Yang Kai spoke curiously, “Has Duan Hai promised you some attractive benefits?”
Ji Meng didn’t answer, instead just taking out a green jade bottle from her sleeve and opening it, allowing a faint white mist to escape from it.
Ji Meng waved the jade bottle lightly and the white mist quickly flooded the dungeon cell, enveloping Yang Kai.
Yang Kai stared at her vigilantly and held his breath, but the white mist still passed through his pores and penetrated his body.
Vaguely, Yang Kai felt that something was not right, his blood flow became faster and more turbulent while his heartbeat was stronger than before, there even seemed to be a faint haziness coming over his mind.
Ji Meng blushed and explained, “This is the Seven Emotions Six Pleasures Mist, a potent aphrodisiac.”
“What do you want to do?” Yang Kai laughed, “Are you planning on forcing yourself on me then using that as an excuse to control me?”
A beautiful woman using an aphrodisiac to for a man to sleep with her, it really was a ridiculous story.
“En, Elder Duan said that as long as I can have a child with you, you can leave this place,” Ji Meng replied to Yang Kai faintly.
Yang Kai’s face sank as he instantly understood Duan Hai’s sinister intentions.
He knew he couldn’t control Yang Kai, so he had come up with this trick.
Even a cruel tiger will not abandon its cubs, as long as he held Yang Kai’s child, Duan Hai would need to worry about Yang Kai not obeying him.
Although this kind of investment wouldn’t yield any benefits in the short term, Duan Hai could afford it.
A moment later, the white mist had been completely absorbed into Yang Kai’s body and gradually, his eyes became red and his breathing became heavy as he stared aggressively towards Ji Meng outside the cell.
Being stared at by him like this, Ji Meng couldn’t help blushing shyly, squirming slightly, her whole body feeling somewhat uncomfortable, but she didn’t make any moves yet, still waiting for the drug to take full effect.
“Do you like me? Are you willing to entrust your life to me?” Yang Kai strived to maintain his rational state of mind as he stared towards Ji Meng coldly.
“What I feel for you is far from what you could call love,” Ji Meng slowly shook her head, “We are nowhere near that close, but it shouldn’t be a bad choice to entrust myself to you. You’re an Alchemist with a bright future while I am just a Common Disciple of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, if I want to rise above my current situation, I can only choose to rely on someone powerful like you.”
“You think too highly of me,” Yang Kai grinned fiendishly, “Even if I want you now, perhaps I won’t be good to you later. Maybe I’ll just hit and curse you whenever I see you!”
Ji Meng’s tender body trembled, a forlorn look flashing across her face, “I can also accept that.”
“How disappointing,” Yang Kai shook her head and muttered under his breath, the last trace of respect he had for her shattering in that instant.
“You shouldn’t be able to resist anymore, right?” Ji Meng bit her lower lip and called out gently, “Elder Duan, open the door.”
Suddenly, there were a few faint flashes of light on the cell door and a whole in the barrier keeping Yang Kai in opened. Ji Meng walked inside slowly and then leaned down on top of him.
With an intoxicating fragrance filling the air and with a beautiful woman offering herself up to him, Yang Kai’s face seemed to show signs of madness as the light in his eyes flickered like that of a wild, starved beast.
Seeing this, Ji Meng was a little scared, but she firmly resisted the discomfort in her heart, closed her eyes, and pressed her red lips towards Yang Kai’s.
Her mood in chaos, Ji Meng slowly closed her eyes as her face blushed bright red.
Just before their lips met though, Ji Meng suddenly let out a muffled yelp and her eyes shot open.
Before she knew what was happening, Yang Kai’s hand had grabbed her neck, his eyes were calm and his breathing was steady, no longer showing any signs of intoxication.
His gaze was filled with disgust and disdain and his expression was cold and callous.
“Women should have more self-respect,” Yang Kai muttered icily.
Ji Meng struggled and quickly freed herself from Yang Kai’s grip, hurriedly darting out of the cell, gasping for breath as she stared towards Yang Kai with incredulity.
“I’ve been exposed to too many women who cultivate Seduction Techniques, wanting to use a trivial aphrodisiac to confuse my mind, your methods are a bit too disappointing, Elder Duan,” Yang Kai sneered as he stared in a certain direction.
Outside the dungeon, Duan Hai, who was using his Divine Sense to monitor the situation, had his expression sink.
“Yang Kai, I…” Ji Meng opened her mouth, stammering as she tried to explain herself.
“If you don’t want to die, get the hell out!” Yang Kai stared at her indifferently, without the slightest trace of warmth.
Ji Meng suddenly became somewhat absentminded, struggling for a while before she eventually lowered her head and quickly left.
“Senior Brother, isn’t this little brat a bit too strange? The Seven Emotions Six Pleasures Mist I arranged can even cause Transcendents to lose all sense of reason, how can be he be perfectly fine?” Outside the dungeon, Xu Qi showed a surprised expression.
Duan Hai on the other hand just looked sullen as a deep sense of frustration came over him.
Yang Kai so steadfastly resisting them made him feel somewhat helpless.
“Senior Brother, we might as well take him to the Wind Eye!” Xu Qi proposed in a low voice.
“The Wind Eye?” Duan Hai frowned, “Do you want to wipe away his Soul with the power of the Wind Eye?”
“Exactly!” Xu Qi nodded, “From the looks of things, we really have no way to get him to talk, so we might as well directly wipe his Soul clean. Even without mentioning the memories he has of the Coffin Carrying Man, just being able to obtain his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea will be of big use to us. If we can preserve it and allow one of our people to refine it, perhaps one of our Spirit Religion disciples will be lucky enough to obtain a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea…”
Duan Hai’s eyes lit up as he carefully considered it, soon feeling that this method was indeed feasible.
With such a plan in mind, Duan Hai didn’t hesitate and nodded firmly, “Then we’ll do that, but in order to use the Wind Eye like this, we should first inform the Religion Master.”
“It won’t be too late to inform the Religion Master after we succeed, and once we do, he’ll certainly be nothing but happy.”
“En, very well, you make the preparations and I’ll go bring out that little brat,” Duan Hai waved.
Xu Qi nodded, and with a look of excitement on his face, flew away.
After spending a moment thinking outside the dungeon, Duan Hai pushed open the door, walked inside, and grabbed Yang Kai.
Yang Kai just shot him an indifferent glance before closing his eyes again.
“Honoured Guest Yang, since you fail to appreciate kindness, then this old master will not give you any face,” Duan Hai said while flying towards the Wind Eye.
Yang Kai grinned in response, “Where is Elder Duan planning to take me now?”
“My Bright Thunder Spirit Religion has several profound heritages; we are now headed to one of them. The Wind Eye is an accumulation of wind energy and many of our disciples who cultivate Wind Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skills choose to cultivate nearby to it in order to comprehend the mysteries of the wind. In addition to the Wind Eye, my Bright Thunder Spirit Religion also has a Thunder Eye which is similar in nature. Even this old master doesn’t dare to approach either of these eyes too closely because the power they exude is not something humans can resist; inside the Wind Eye, even a Third Order Transcendent’s Soul can be wiped away.”
Yang Kai’s face sank, suddenly realizing the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
“It’s not too late now for you to regret. As long as you give Ji Meng a child, I will admit that you are a disciple of my Spirit Religion and will definitely provide you with the best cultivation resources and environment in the future,” Duan Hai made one last attempt to persuade, “What do you think?”
“Forget about it!” Yang Kai shook his head while secretly sighing, considering whether or not he should take advantage of this opportunity to display his Demon God Transformation, break free from Duan Hai’s grasp, and flee.
However, still deep inside his enemy’s territory, Yang Kai didn’t have much confidence he could successfully escape and once he failed, he would never have a second change to try.
While hesitating, Yang Kai felt that there was suddenly a different kind of energy permeating his surroundings.
Naturally it was wind energy!
As he felt this rich wind energy, Yang Kai felt a throbbing sensation from his shoulder-blades that carried with it a sense of pain and excitement.
Yang Kai’s expression changed but he quickly suppressed while he stared with rapt attention towards the distance.
Up ahead, there was a huge visible vortex that was slowly rotating that was formed completely by natural wind energy; the closer one approached it the stronger that energy became.
“Spectacular, isn’t it?” Duan Hai’s face showed a proud look, “It is because of the Wind Eye and Thunder Eye that my Bright Thunder Spirit Religion put down roots here. These two places are listed as restricted areas of my Spirit Religion and with the exception of some talented disciples, no one can set foot near this place. Those disciples who cultivate here can achieve twice the results with half the effort.”
Yang Kai nodded secretly, this kind of Heavenly Manifestation was truly spectacular. This wasn’t something man had created but was instead some kind of natural phenomenon that had coincidentally formed and persisted for many years uninterrupted.
As Duan Hai explained, the two quickly approached the Wind Eye’s location.
Xu Qi was already waiting there and upon seeing Duan Hai bringing Yang Kai, he quickly said, “Senior Brother, the disciples who were cultivating here have all been dispersed, we can begin at any time.”
Duan Hai slowly nodded before turning his gaze towards Yang Kai, “Honoured Guest Yang, this is your last chance, once you enter the Wind Eye, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
“There’s nothing left to be said,” Yang Kai sneered.
“Seeking your own end!” Xu Qi coldly snorted.
Duan Hai let out a long sigh and nodded, “Very well, you leave me no choice.”
Saying so, he dashed forward with Yang Kai and soon, the two approached the centre of the Wind Eye. Even someone as strong as Duan Hai had to furiously circulate his True Qi in order to resist the negative side-effects of the Wind Eye.
For those that are unable to read on Patreon, do check that your transaction has been processed. This month had a large number of declined payments.
Anyways, shameless promotion, try reading My Amazing WeChat. I’m translating that one directly. Only a few chapters out right now and I want some feedback to know if I should continue. Thanks.
Duan Hai came to a stop approximately a thousand meters from the Wind Eye’s core, glanced over at Yang Kai and was about to open his mouth when Yang Kai suddenly turned to him and shouted, “This time, if I survive this, I will definitely take my revenge against your Bright Thunder Spirit Religion!”
Duan Hai’s face went cold and no longer hesitated, throwing Yang Kai into the huge Wind Eye.
At the last moment though, Duan Hai wasn’t sure if his eyes playing tricks on him, but when Yang Kai’s figure disappeared into the Wind Eye, the latter seemed to have a sneer on his face.
Xu Qi quickly followed and landed beside Duan Hai, staring towards the Wind Eye with excitement.
“Senior Brother, are you still worried about something?” Xu Qi asked suddenly.
“En,” Duan Hai nodded slightly, “I still can’t forget about what Old Man Du said before…”
“That brat shouldn’t have any kind of formidable background, if he did, with the situation reaching this point, he would definitely have reported it to us. He’s not a fool after all. Old Man Du must have been mistaken,” Xu Qi advised.
“En, fair enough,” Duan Hai smiled faintly, “But it is true we have destroyed a rare talent, so it’s important we think up a way to explain this to Old Man Du.”
“If anyone asks about him, we can just say he’s in retreat. Given the identity and status of Old Man Du, he would rarely, if ever, pay a visit to our Spirit Religion personally. After a few years, when things have settled down, Old Man Du will also forget about this person.”
“I suppose so,” Duan Hai sighed slightly, “In any case, we’ll need to wait a few days. This little brat’s Soul is extremely strong, at least comparable to an ordinary First Order Transcendent’s, even inside the Wind Eye, he should be able to support himself for a while. Once his Soul has been purified, we’ll collect it and spy on his hidden secrets.”
“Agreed. We’ll do as Senior Brother says,” Xu Qi replied excitedly.
However, only an hour or so had passed since the two threw Yang Kai into the Wind Eye when Duan Hai suddenly frowned, turning around and staring towards the distance, “How come there’s a disciple approaching?”
Xu Qi also wore a dissatisfied expression, “I already announced that this place would be temporarily closed off so no one should arbitrarily have entered, is this disciple deaf or blind?”
Saying so, he impatiently muttered, “I’ll go have a look.”
Duan Hai nodded slightly.
Xu Qi activated his movement skill and a moment later returned with an odd look upon his face, saying to Duan Hai, “Senior Brother, Religion Master is summoning you, that disciple just now came to deliver the order.”
“Religion Master?” Duan Hai heard this and couldn’t help feeling startled, hurriedly composing himself and nodding, “Very well, I’ll go see what Religion Master needs, you wait here.”
“Please feel relieved, Senior Brother, I will strictly guard this place.”
Duan Hai quickly left and after wrapping the messenger in his True Qi, soared towards a certain peak of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion; naturally this peak was the residence of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master. This was a quiet place with rich World Energy, the best cultivation environment in Bright Thunder Spirit.
“Did Religion Master say anything to you about why he suddenly needed to see me?” As he sped along, Duan Hai asked the disciple.
“Disciples doesn’t know, Religion Master only said to summon Great Elder to see him as soon as possible,” The disciple replied respectfully.
“Has Religion Master finally broken through to the Saint Realm?” Duan Hai suddenly remembered a possibility and asked excitedly.
“Not likely, disciple did not feel any of signs one would expected from such a breakthrough.”
Duan Hai couldn’t help feeling puzzled, wondering what kind of urgent matter had come up that would require the Religion Master to suddenly summon him.
Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master, Xia Cheng Yin, was a powerful Third Order Transcendent master; however, he had encountered a bottleneck which had halted his cultivation at this level for the past hundred years, unable to comprehend the mysteries of the Saint Realm. For more than a decade, he had constantly been in secluded cultivation and he would only come out once every few months to half a year and even then he would not always speak with Duan Ha, yet now he had urgently summoned him.
[Could it be because of that little brat’s matters?]
Duan Hai’s suddenly though, his heart clenching up for a moment before relaxing again, thinking to himself that such a scenario was too ridiculous and he was simply too nervous, no longer asking anything and simply speeding along with the disciple who came to summon him.
Atop a mountain with the most abundant World Energy in Bright Thunder Spirit Religion stood a solitary palace constructed of the finest gold and jade that gave off a magnificent aura.
This was the place where Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master Xia Cheng Yin lived.
At that moment, Xia Cheng Yin sat at the head of a table with a big smile upon his face as he enthusiastically welcomed two people. Even if these two had interrupted his retreat, Xia Cheng Yin did not dare to show any unhappiness and instead treated both of them with great courtesy and politeness.
After offering these two guests wine and fruit, Xia Cheng Yin asked, “Old Man Du and Brother Cang Yan arriving together is truly an honour for my humble home.”
“Religion Master Xia is too polite, bothering you while you were in secluded cultivation really makes this old man feel embarrassed,” Du Wan replied apologetically, smiling reluctantly as he reached out and picked up a spirit fruit handing it to Mi Na who was standing behind him.
Mi Na had also come together with Old Man Du this time and was curiously looking around, as if she was searching for someone or something.
Xia Cheng Yin carefully observed his unexpected guests while secretly harbouring many doubts. He didn’t know why Old Man Du had suddenly decided to pay him a visit and had even come together with Soaring Heaven Sect’s Cang Yan. Silently making plans in his head, he laughed frankly and said, “Old Man Du is the one being too polite, obviously Old Man Du is more than welcome to visit my Bright Thunder Spirit Religion any time he wishes! Forget about if I am cultivating, even if I was dead, I would certainly climb out of my coffin to welcome you with a grand banquet!”
Du Wan wore a forced smile and didn’t say anything. With his identity as a Saint Grade Alchemist, he really didn’t need to act politely towards Xia Cheng Yin.
Although Xia Cheng Yin was Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master, a mere Third Order Transcendent was truly not qualified to exchange greetings with Old Man Du.
Xia Cheng Yin then glanced over at Cang Yan, who sat there silently, and felt a big headache coming on.
Although Old Man Du had an extraordinary status and could not be seen by ordinary people, his temperament and demeanor were quite amicable so he was not difficult to interact with, but the madmen from Soaring Heaven Sect were another story all together. Xia Cheng Yin couldn’t think of any reason why this troublesome fellow had suddenly come to his Spirit Religion.
If couldn’t be that someone from his Spirit Religion had offended him, could it? If that was really the case, then Xia Cheng Yin had to prepare himself for things to become difficult.
Soaring Heaven Sect’s four madmen each had Third Order Transcendent cultivations and were all comparable to Xia Cheng Yin in strength; on top of that, there was their Saint Realm Ancestral Founder behind them as well. It could be said that even throughout all of Tong Xuan Realm, Soaring Heaven Sect was a big force, stronger than Bright Thunder Spirit Religion by several times.
If they offended such a force, Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s only end would be total destruction!
Even if it was just in single combat, Xia Cheng Yin couldn’t guarantee he could beat Cang Yan.
Gently coughing, Xia Cheng Yin asked, “Brother Cang Yan, recently, could it be that someone from my Spirit Religion had no eyes and accidentally offended you?”
“No,” Cang Yan cherished the words like gold and simply responded so.
“Then may I asked why Brother Cang Yan…” Xia Cheng Yin brow wrinkled slightly as he turned his gaze towards Old Man Du and asked.
Old Man Du laughed and replied before he could finish, “There’s nothing for Religion Master Xia to worry about; this time, I came with Cang Yan to handle some important matters.”
“If Old Man Du has anything to ask of my, please don’t hesitate!” Xia Cheng Yin’s expression became serious.
“We’re here to find someone.”
“Find someone?”
“Good, a young Spirit Grade Alchemist. Your Grand Elder, Duan Hai, should know where he is. Two months ago, Duan Hai recruited him from my Alchemist Guild to serve as an Honored Guest of your Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.”
“So that’s it,” Xia Cheng Yin suddenly realized why these two had requested to meet Duan Hai the moment they arrived here. Apparently, Xia Cheng Yin had been on edge for no reason. After understanding the cause of this incident, Xia Cheng Yin couldn’t help but relax, smiling as he nodded, “This kind of minor matter is no trouble at all, since he is my Spirit Religion’s Honoured Guest, Duan Hai will surely treat him with courtesy and not harm him in any way.”
“It’s best if that is true, I have been looking for him for almost two months now,” Cang Yan nodded with satisfaction.
Over the past two months, Cang Yan had searched through all of Grand Boulder City for Yang Kai relying only on the vague image his Martial Ancestor had given him but hadn’t found anything. Finally, by complete coincidence, he had asked around the Alchemist Guild and finally understood that Yang Kai was no longer in Grand Boulder City.
Cang Yan was quite annoyed when he learned this. His Martial Ancestor had asked him to do such a small task, yet he had failed to accomplish it after two whole months, so he immediately blamed all of this on Bright Thunder Spirit Religion for taking Yang Kai away. Although he didn’t say this out loud, Cang Yan still gave off a cold aura and anyone could tell from his harsh gaze that he was in a foul mood.
“Soaring Heaven Sect’s heritage is strong, how can there be a lack of Spirit Grade Alchemists? Brother Cang Yan, if you’ve come here intending to snatch someone from me, this Religion Master can’t agree,” Xia Cheng Yin smiled and shook his head. He had no malicious intent in saying so, but he had to show such an attitude.
Hearing this, Cang Yan simply replied coldly, “I’m not here to grab him from you, it’s just that my Martial Ancestor wants to see him!”
Xia Cheng Yin’s courage suddenly deflated.
Du Wan also shook his head and sighed, feeling slightly annoyed.
Although he had long guessed that Yang Kai had a very powerful background, he had not expected that even Soaring Heaven Sect would pay attention to him. When Cang Yan came to the Alchemist Guild to inquire about Yang Kai, Old Man Du couldn’t wait to find a hole to crawl into.
If he knew that Yang Kai had a relationship with Soaring Heaven Sect, how could he have recommended Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to him.
Doing so was really far too stupid.
It seemed that Soaring Heaven Sect had some kind of connection to this little brat’s Master, so when their Ancestral Founder learned Yang Kai had come out for life experience, he had wanted to look after him a bit, or at least that was what Old Man Du thought secretly to himself.
“Why hasn’t he come yet, how can be so slow?” Mi Na finished the spirit fruit, stared at the door, and pouted with dissatisfaction.
Xia Cheng Yin just laughed lightly, “Little girl, don’t worry, Duan Hai should be here soon.”
“Who wants to see Duan Hai, I want to see Yang Kai. That bastard is so cruel, leaving me all alone in the Alchemist Guild, this time I must teach him a harsh lesson!” Mi Na snorted cutely.
Xia Cheng Yin’s lips twitched but wisely said nothing.
“Mind your manners!” Old Man Du saw Xia Cheng Yin’s embarrassment and quickly reprimanded Mi Na, who proceeded to pout even more.
At that moment, an aura quickly approached from afar.
“He’s here!” Xia Cheng Yin smiled.
A moment later, from outside the door, Duan Hai’s voice called out, “Religion Master, Duan Hai has come as ordered.”
“Enter,” Xia Cheng Yin shouted.
Duan Hai replied firmly and walked inside. Just as he was about to salute though, he suddenly saw Cang Yan and Du Wan sitting nearby.
Duan Hai’s heart clenched up once more and couldn’t wait to turn around and leave.
Cang Yan appearing here was very unusual. As one of the four madmen of Soaring Heaven Sect, Duan Hai had a good understanding of this man’s brutal methods and powerful cultivation. Regarding this man, Duan Hai had always maintained a respectful distance.
However, Old Man Du being here as well brought him even greater surprise.
Du Wan was an extremely rare Saint Grade Alchemist. For more than a decade, he had stayed in Grand Boulder City but had almost never left the Alchemist Guild branch. Each of the four major Sects nearby had extended him warm invitations, hoping he could give their Alchemists some pointers, but besides Soaring Heaven Sect which had succeeded merely twice in their efforts, whether it was Luo Sheng Sect, Ancient Moon Cave Heaven, or Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, Old Man Du had never graced them with his presence.
Of course, what Duan Hai was really worried about was the fact that he brought Yang Kai back to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion from Du Wan’s place.
Just now, Xu Qi had said to him that someone of Old Man Du’s status was unlike to ever visit Bright Thunder Spirit Religion in person, but only an hour later Du Wan had appeared in front of him
Duan Hai’s heart pounded as he tried his best to maintain his composure, somehow forcing out a big laugh as he stepping forward and politely bowed, “Greetings, Old Man Du.”
He then turned to Cang Yan and cupped his fists, “Brother Cang Yan.”
Du Wan nodded slightly in response while Cang Yang said nothing.
Xia Cheng Yin quickly picked up the conversation, “Elder Duan has worked hard, sit down.”
Duan Hai took a seat, his expression a bit unnatural because Cang Yan of Soaring Heaven Sect’s pair of sharp eyes had been staring at him the whole time, an aggressive light flashing across them, making him feel a bit uneasy.
As if realizing Duan Hai’s inner turmoil, Cang Yan’s glare became even more intense.
Letting out a dry cough, Duan Hai asked, “May I ask what matter Religion Master has summoned me for?”
“Nothing important,” Xia Cheng Yin smiled, “Old Man Du and Brother Cang Yan just came here to find someone in our Spirit Religion.”
“Find someone?” Duan Hai’s uneasiness grew even stronger, his face twitching slightly as he forced himself to keep smiling and asked, “Who might they be looking for?”
He had a premonition things were about to become bad.
“The young man you brought here from the Alchemist Guild two months ago,” Du Wan said in a friendly tone.
Duan Hai desperately wanted to cry but was unable to shed any tears while in his heart he was cursing Xu Qi’s eighteen generations of ancestors, saying that a man of Old Man Du’s status would never come to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion. A powerful sense of helplessness overcame Duan Hai.
Although he was greatly flustered inside, Duan Hai didn’t reveal anything on his face as his thoughts turned quickly, trying to find a way to resolve the immediate problem.
“Elder Duan?” Old Man Du quickly noticed that Duan Hai seemed to be somewhat disturbed and quickly asked.
“Eh, ah…” Duan Hai quickly adjusted his expression.
“How has my little friend been since coming to your Spirit Religion?” Du Wan asked with concern.
“Very good, I have sent a young female disciple with excellent aptitude and good looks to attend to any of his needs these past two months. Honored Guest Yang has also produced a lot of high quality Spirit Grade pills for my Spirit Religion.”
“En, naturally, in some places, little friend Yang’s understanding of the Alchemic Way and his techniques are far superior to even this old master.”
As soon as this was said, Xia Cheng Yin and Cang Yan both stared towards Du Wan in shock.
“This old master isn’t exaggerating. The truth is, I believe little friend Yang’s Alchemy technique was taught to him by an incredibly powerful master.”
Duan Hai face nearly drained of all colour. From the words of Du Wan, he realized that he had made a big mistake. [How did that little brat really have a strong background? Which top Alchemist was he the disciple of? Otherwise, how could Old Man Du have given him such a high evaluation?]
In an instant, Duan Hai felt his hands and feet go numb as cold sweat dripped down his back.
“Is this Honoured Guest so incredible?” Xia Cheng Yin also showed a look of interest, “Being able to hire such an outstanding character, it is my Spirit Religion’s good fortune indeed! Duan Hai, you must not be negligent with his treatment, offer him the very best conditions, otherwise, Brother Cang Yan might very well snatch him from us.”
The corner of Duan Hai’s mouth twitched violently as he let out a strained laugh and nodded, “Subordinate will do his best.”
“En, where is he now? Old Man Du and Brother Cang Yan both wish to see him. Duan Hai, quickly invite him here,” Xia Cheng Yin wore a look of anticipation, very much wanting to see Yang Kai, wondering what kind of person he was to receive such high praise from Old Man Du.
Duan Hai’s forehead couldn’t help leaking a drop of sweat as he sat in place, not moving.
“Why are you just sitting there?” Xia Cheng Yin asked slightly unhappily.
“Religion Master…” Duan Hai’s expression cramped as he stammered with great difficulty, “Right now… I’m afraid… it’s slightly inconvenient for him to come here.”
“Why isn’t it convenient?” Cang Yan, who had not spoken since Duan Hai’s arrival, suddenly asked coldly, his expression extremely unfriendly.
Duan Hai trying to shirk responsibility like this in such an unnatural tone made Cang Yan quickly realize something wasn’t right, focusing a sharp glare on Duan Hai as he coldly interrogated, “It couldn’t be, he’s had some kind of accident?”
“No, no, he hasn’t been involved in any kind of accident,” Duan Hai quickly waved his hand, “It’s just, it’s really not convenient for him to come here right now.”
“Duan Hai!” Xia Cheng Yin’s expression also became somewhat disgruntled, “What are you trying to say? Old Man Du and Brother Cang Yan traveled all this way specifically to see this Honoured Guest, how can you stubbornly refuse them? This is not how my Spirit Religion shows hospitality.”
“Religion Master…”
“Where is he now?” Xia Cheng Yin asked impatiently.
Knowing that trying to avoid the subject any further would only make things worse, Duan Hai grit his teeth and replied, “The Wind Eye.”
“Why would he be at the Wind Eye?” Du Wan’s expression changed dramatically.
Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Wind Eye and Thunder Eye, naturally Du Wan had heard about them. The two restricted areas were holy lands for those who cultivated Wind or Thunder Attribute Secret Arts or Marital Skills, but what would an Alchemist like Yang Kai need to visit the Wind Eye?
“Earlier, he said he wanted to refine a pill with the help of the power of the Wind Eye, so I brought him there,” Duan Hai’s mind flashed, thinking up a good excuse.
Cang Yan turned his eyes to Du Wan questioningly.
Du Wan nodded slightly in response, “It’s possible, some Alchemists can take advantage of the powers of Heaven and Earth to perform some special Alchemy techniques, often allowing them to gain twice the result with half the effort, but doing so requires profound skill and methods. Little friend Yang’s abilities are really worthy of praise.”
Duan Hai couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief, realizing that the random excuse he came up with was at least somewhat reasonable.
“Since he is currently making use of the Wind Eye, perhaps you two would like to stay a few days in my Spirit Religion while we wait for that Honoured Guest comes out?” Xia Cheng Yin asked Old Man Du and Cang Yan.
Old Man Du smiled lightly, “This old master doesn’t mind, Cang Yan, what’s your opinion?”
“I want to see him now!” Cang Yan declared firmly, his expression indifferent as he spoke this unreasonable request without any hesitation.
Xia Cheng Yin laughed awkwardly, “Brother Cang Yan, you must have heard that the Wind Eye and Thunder Eye are both restricted areas of my Spirit Religion. Outsiders are not allowed to step inside them, and if we were to all suddenly show up there, it may disturb that Honoured Guest’s Alchemy. Why not wait a few days instead?”
“What bullshit restricted area!” Cang Yan sneered disdainfully, in the next moment fully releasing his Divine Sense, obviously not willing to speak any more nonsense with these two from Bright Thunder Spirit Religion. After searching for a moment, he stood up, shot out of the palace, and flew directly towards the location of the Wind Eye.
“Hey, Brother Cang Yan!” Duan Hai was shocked and wanted to stop him but he was a step too late.
“This uncle really has an anxious temper,” Mi Na, who feared that the world would not be chaotic, saw Cang Yan fly off and showed an excited look, quickly urging Du Wan, “Old Man Du, let’s go too.”
Du Wan shot a glance over at Xia Cheng Yin and saw that the latter’s expression was quite unpleasant. Cang Yan not giving him any face had obviously made him somewhat annoyed, but since the former was already gone, it was pointless for him to get angry so he just nodded and said, “We might as well all go take a look.”
Saying so, Xia Cheng Yin also stood up.
“If so, then I’ll thank Religion Master Xia in advance,” Du Wan apologized.
“Old Man Du is too polite,” Xia Cheng Yin naturally dared not accuse this Saint Grade Alchemist.
And so, this group of people hurriedly pursued Cang Yan quickly towards the Wind Eye.
Duan Hai’s face was, by now, a pale shade of white, as his mind was a complete mess. He thought that he could delay things for a day or two and then use that time to escape from Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to avoid this disaster, but he hadn’t expected to fall short at the last moment.
If he tried to leave now, it would only draw more suspicion towards him.
Behind Xia Cheng Yin and Du Wan, Duan Hai’s mood was complex as he thought to himself that he had quite possibly made a grave mistake.
A short time later, everyone arrived at the location of the Wind Eye, Cang Yan landing first.
Staring at the floating whirlpool filled with rich Wind Attribute energy, Cang Yan couldn’t help revealing a hint of dread. Such concentrated destructive power was enough to cause even him to shrink back slightly.
Glancing around the surrounding area and not noticing any trace of Yang Kai, Cang Yan’s expression quickly became ugly.
Xu Qi, who had been standing there the whole time, was somewhat shocked, unable to understand what was going on. After seeing Xia Cheng Yin and Du Wan though, Xu Qi’s heart jumped, quickly pretending to be calm and stepped forward to politely greet them, asking Duan Hai in the next moment, “Senior Brother, what’s all this about?”
“Old Man Du and Cang Yan are here to observe Honoured Guest Yang’s Alchemy,” Duan Hai replied casually.
Xu Qi blinked a few times and instantly understood the deeper meaning behind Duan Hai’s words.
As fellow brothers, the two of them had worked together for many years, and although they couldn’t say they understood everyone the other was thinking without any words, this brief eye contact and set of simple words had allowed Xu Qi to understand what Duan Hai really wanted to say.
“Where is he?” Cang Yan turned his head and stared gloomily towards Duan Hai.
Duan Hai opened his mouth but didn’t know how to answer, quickly turning to look at Xu Qi, “Junior Brother, where is Honoured Guest Yang? When I left a moment ago, wasn’t he right here?”
Xu Qi understood immediately and replied, “He entered the core of the Wind Eye, saying it was more convenient for him to perform Alchemy there.”
“Entered the core?” Everyone’s cried out in shock, their expressions going pale.
“How could he enter the core?” Old Man Du’s lips trembled, “Forget about him only being at the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary, even if he was a Third Order Transcendent, entering the Wind Eye’s core would still be a death sentence! How could you let him do that!?”
Xu Qi smiled awkwardly and replied, “I couldn’t stop him, Honoured Guest Yang said not to worry and that he had his own method of protecting himself.”
“This…this…” Du Wan wore a look filled with anxiety.
Cang Yan on the other hand didn’t say anything, releasing his powerful Divine Sense again, piercing it into the raging Wind Eye, a moment later letting out a painful roar and stumbling back a few steps, his face pale.
He wanted to use his Divine Sense to explore the inside of the Wind Eye and inevitably suffered some damage as a result.
Cang Yan’s eyes flashed as he turned to stare coldly at Duan Hai and Xu Qi, “Did he enter on his own, or was he thrown in?”
Xia Cheng Yin frowned and angrily said, “What does Brother Cang Yan mean? Do you think my Spirit Religion’s Elder will harm an Honoured Guest?”
Cang Yan smiled coldly, his eagle-like eyes glaring towards Duan Hai and Xu Qi as his aura became dangerous.
Duan Hai and Xu Qi didn’t dare return his stare, shifting their eyes away awkwardly.
Du Wan also noticed this and his old face couldn’t help sinking, seeing Duan Hai continuously try to avoid responsibility really was suspicious.
The people here were all powerful and experienced masters, naturally none of them was an idiot; although Duan Hai and Xu Qi sang the same tune, the lie they had woven was by no means perfect, everyone had seen some clues by now.
“What exactly happened?” Xia Cheng Yin’s expression became sullen as he questioned the two Elders coldly, “Brother Cang Yan is accusing my Spirit Religion of impropriety, so you two should give me a clear explanation and rebuttal!”
“Religion Master, please understand!” Duan Hai shouted, “Honoured Guest Yang’s Alchemy skill is outstanding, we could not favour him enough! How could we possibly harm him?”
Xu Qi also chimed in, “That’s right, it really was he who wanted to enter the Wind Eye, I strongly discourage him but he simply wouldn’t listen!”
Cang Yan’s mouth twitched a few times before putting on a false smile, “That would be best, otherwise, your Bright Thunder Spirit Religion should prepare for its complete destruction.”
Xia Cheng Yin shot him a cold stare, “Brother Cang Yan, this is my Spirit Religion’s territory, please take care how you speak.”
“Enough,” Du Wan snorted. After learning that Yang Kai had entered the Wind Eye, Old Man Du was feeling particularly unhappy, but he knew that regardless of what the truth was, Yang Kai was currently in real danger. What’s worse, he was the one who recommended Yang Kai to go to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to become an Honoured Guest in the first place.
“What’s more important now is to confirm little friend Yang’s safety; Cang Yan, what did you sense just now?” Du Wan turned to look at Cang Yan.
“He’s still alive, but his aura is a bit chaotic, nothing like it should be if he was performing Alchemy,” Cang Yan replied succinctly.
Du Wan’s face became even uglier, shooting an unfriendly glance towards Xia Cheng Yin, “Religion Master Xia, it seems that entrusting him to your Spirit Religion was not a wise decision. If he is lucky enough to survive this incident, I will be bringing him back to Alchemist Guild with me. I trust Religion Master Xia will not raise any objections.”
Xia Cheng Yin’s face contorted somewhat but still nodded. With Du Wan saying so, even if he tried to retain Yang Kai, the likelihood he would succeed was almost zero; glaring at Duan Hai and Xu Qi, he ground his teeth and shouted, “Such a good deed you’ve done! Even unable to look after a single Honoured Guest, I don’t think my Spirit Religion needs such ‘competent’ Elders!”
“It was his own…” Xu Qi still tried to argue.
However, Duan Hai just shook his head and sighed, feeling that everything was now beyond his control.
If Old Man Du and Cang Yan had come a few days earlier, this situation wouldn’t have ever occurred, but they just had to arrive right after he and Xu Qi took action. Was it their own luck that was too bad or was Yang Kai’s fortune just that good?
Everyone stood around watching, none of them speaking, the atmosphere quite strained.
Xu Qi and Duan Hai’s eyes continuously met, both of them well aware of how just how thorny a situation they had gotten themselves into.
That little brat would definitely not be able to leave the Wind Eye alive, the question now was if he was to die, what would Du Wan and Cang Yan do?
They really didn’t know why Cang Yan was even here; this whole situation seemed to have nothing to do with Soaring Heaven Sect.
Meanwhile, inside the Wind Eye, Yang Kai was currently enduring a great deal of pain, the omnipresent wind blades constantly slicing into his body, quickly shredding his clothes and dying him in blood.
With his True Qi imprisoned, Yang Kai couldn’t use it to protect himself from these wind blades and could only rely on the strength of his flesh to insist.
Instead of rushing to use his Demon God Transformation though, he was focusing all of his attention on his shoulder blades where the Wind and Thunder Wings he received from Han Fei back in Demon God Citadel resided as they seemed to currently be undergoing some unexpected changes.
The rich Wind Attribute energy in the surroundings was constantly being channeled into his body and absorbed by the Wind and Thunder Wings.
Fierce waves of pain erupted constantly, causing Yang Kai’s face to twist in agony.
The Wind Qi he was absorbing was rampaging inside his body, tearing apart his flesh, causing every part of his physique to ripple.
Through all the pain and hardship though, Yang Kai grit his teeth and did not utter a single sound, allowing the Wind and Thunder Wings to swallow the surrounding Wind Qi.
He faintly felt that this was the opportunity he was searching for that would truly allow him to refine the Wind and Thunder Wings!
Han Fei and Li Rong once told him that they didn’t know where this pair of Wind and Thunder Wings came from or who the original owner was and only after many twists and turns did it fall into Han Fei’s hands. Also, no matter how many times they tried to refine them, neither of them had succeeded.
When Duan Hai and Xu Qi brought him to the edge of the Wind Eye, Yang Kai felt the Wind and Thunder Wings transmit a vague sense of yearning to him, so he had not made any attempt to resist and simply allowed Duan Hai to throw him inside.
Now, it seemed his gamble had paid off.
The dust-laden Wind and Thunder Wings seemed to have been greatly moisturized by this environment and were showing signs of coming back to life, the speed at which they swallowed the surrounding Wind Qi increasing with every passing moment, reaching a point where even Yang Kai’s powerful physique couldn’t withstand the side effects.
As his flesh was constantly being destroyed, the Wind Attribute energy continued flooding into him like a raging torrent.
Not daring to hesitate, Yang Kai quickly took out a drop of Myriad Drug Milk from the Black Book space and swallowed it.
A moment later, a warm sensation appeared in his abdomen and quickly spread throughout his body.
The powerful restorative properties of the Myriad Drug Milk and the destructive power of Wind Eye both battled one another inside Yang Kai’s body, forming a kind of excruciating tug of war.
As Yang Kai’s body was constantly being torn apart and then repaired, it became tougher and more robust.
After enduring this cycle of destruction and restoration over and over again, Yang Kai gradually became numb to it and no longer felt any pain.
Simultaneously, the Wind and Thunder Wings swallowed the surrounding Wind Attribute energy at a horrifying speed. On Yang Kai’s left shoulder, there seemed to be some kind of invisible vortex that constantly drew in the surrounding Wind Qi, filling the Wind and Thunder Wings, and as more Wind Attributes energy was drawn into them, they became more and more energetic.
From the outside, it appeared like there was a small whirlpool inside the huge swirling Wind Eye. This small whirlpool was like a bottomless pit that was slowly drawing in the surrounding Wind Attribute energy and swallowing it.
The people outside who were at first concerned about whether Yang Kai was dead or alive now all wore amazed expressions, wondering how such a change had come about.
The Wind Eye was a restricted area of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion as well as one of its foundations. Since it was first discovered, it had already been countless years and over these centuries, innumerable disciples who cultivated Wind Attribute Martial Skills and Secret Arts had practiced here. And while all of them obtained many benefits from this place, no matter how many people absorbed the Wind Qi here, the Wind Eye never showed any changes.
But now, everyone here could clearly feel that the Wind Attribute energy that filled this place was slowly been consumed and was rapidly decreasing in density.
This discovery made the several members of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion pale.
If the Wind Eye was weakened, it would be a huge loss to their Spirit Religion.
“Duan Hai, did Honored Guest Yang say what kind of pill it was he wanted to refine?” Xia Cheng Yin now believed the words of his two subordinates and thought that the changes in the Wind Eye were related to Yang Kai’s Alchemy.
“He didn’t say,” Duan Hai grit his teeth and replied.
“Old Man Du, what do you think?” Xia Cheng Yin turned to look at Du Wan.
Du Wan’s face was quite gloomy as he muttered, “There is no pill that needs to consume such a huge amount of energy, this isn’t like Alchemy at all, rather, it seems like he’s cultivating!”
“Cultivating?” Xia Cheng Yin’s expression froze, “He entered the Wind Eye to cultivate? Isn’t he only at the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary?”
“Don’t ask this old master, I don’t know any more than you do!” Du Wan shouted, apparently quite disgruntled because of Yang Kai’s current situation.
Xia Cheng Yin looked awkward and dared not say anything more.
The destructive power inside the Wind Eye made it impossible for any of them to release their Divine Sense to investigate, so all they could do was wait quietly.
As more time passed, the small vortex within the Wind Eye seemed to gradually grow larger and even showed signs of beginning to devour the Wind Eye entirely. Even the Wind Attribute energy in the surrounding region was not as dense as it was before.
“Religion Master, at this rate, the Wind Eye will be destroyed!” Duan Hai screamed hurriedly.
Xia Cheng Yin’s complexion became pale as he stared at the Wind Eye without saying a word. How could he not understand what the consequences would be if this situation continued? If the Wind Eye was destroyed, it would be the equivalent of destroying a large part of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s foundation.
“I humbly request Religion Master to allow me and Junior Brother Xu Qi Junior to stop this disaster!” Duan Hai took the initiative to say.
“How do you plan on stopping it?” Xia Cheng Yin glanced at him strangely.
“Our only option now is to quickly kill Honoured Guest Yang inside the Wind Eye, he must have used the excuse of performing Alchemy to ruin the foundation of our Spirit Religion!” Duan Hai lied through his teeth, trying to turn this disaster to his advantage.
“Little friend Yang is not such a person!” Du Wan coldly snorted.
“You can try it if you dare!” Cang Yan also stared at him with a thick murderous intent.
“This is my Spirit Religion’s internal matter, isn’t Brother Cang Yan overstepping his bounds?” Duan Hai questioned in a disgruntled tone.
“This old man will not permit any reckless behaviour here, if little friend Yang encounters any accident as a result of your actions, this old man can guarantee that no Alchemist will ever refine pills for your Sect from now on!” Du Wan stared deeply towards Duan Hai.
Duan Hai suddenly felt a big headache.
He could still barely ignore Cang Yan’s aggressive attitude, but Du Wan’s words were not something dismiss. Given Old Man Du’s status, he could really accomplish what he just said. With a single order from a Saint Grade Alchemist, all the Honoured Guest Alchemists would not hesitate to cut all ties with Bright Thunder Spirit Religion and never return.
“Old Man Du, please calm your anger, Duan Hai was simply speaking thoughtlessly,” Xia Cheng Yin hastily stated, angering a Saint Grade Alchemist would bring about severe consequences.
At that moment, the huge Wind Eye underwent a noticeable change, and the once small vortex that had appeared inside it suddenly expanded.
A huge energy fluctuation erupted, almost knocking everyone off balance, forcing them to use their True Qi to stabilize themselves as they all turned their full attention back to the Wind Eye.
Inside the Wind Eye, Yang Kai suddenly felt the seal Duan Hai had planted on him shatter, and the True Qi which had been locked inside his meridians once again began rapidly circulating.
Not only that, the his flesh and blood around his shoulder blades began throbbing intensely, as if something was trying to break free from them.
He had experienced this feeling once before when he first obtained his Flaming Yang Wings.
His state of mind relaxing, not showing the slightest signs of fluster, Yang Kai let out a long breath and allowed these changes to take place without resisting.
*Hua…*
In the next instant, a pair of grand, beautiful wings suddenly unfurled behind Yang Kai. As it opened, all the pressure he felt inside and outside his body instantly vanished and was replaced by a kind of joyful sensation of freedom.
The Wind Attribute energy swirling around him no longer seemed capable of injuring him and instead gave Yang Kai a strange feeling of intimacy.
This nimble Wind Attribute energy lingered around Yang Kai and gave him the illusion that he had integrated himself into the wind itself.
Shifting his gaze to his side, Yang Kai’s eyes flashed.
He discovered that his Flaming Yang Wings had undergone a noticeable change as well.
The wing on his right side, as always, burned like a raging fire.
However, the wing that stretch from the left side of his back now not only contained his blazing hot True Yang Yuan Qi, but also a swift and sharp Wind Qi, causing both its shape and form to become more dazzling and breathtaking.
The remaining Wind Attribute energy in the Wind Eye continued flowing into Yang Kai’s left wing and he could clearly sense that it was rapidly becoming more powerful. As he swung his wings, the wind around him swirled and whipped, quickly transforming into massive wind blades that rushed towards the centre of the Wind Eye with incredible momentum.
These swirling wind blades not only contained the wind’s swiftness but also the burning heat of Yang Kai’s True Yang Yuan Qi; the combination of the two complementing one another and multiplying their destructive power.
Inside the restricted area of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, where the Wind Eye was located, a loud bang suddenly rang out and immediately, the surrounding World Energy became chaotic. Almost all the Spirit Religion disciples heard this disturbance and couldn’t help turning to stare in its direction, wondering what exactly had happened.
Soon, a violent wind blew outwards from the direction of the restricted area, uprooting trees and collapsing buildings. Everything within a radius of fifty kilometers of the explosion became a complete mess.
Many Bright Thunder Spirit Religion masters wore shocked expressions, an icy chill shoot up their spines.
As for those who were inside the restricted area, they were even more stunned when they felt the destructive power that was bursting forth from this natural formation.
The power that erupted from the Wind Eye not only contained blades of sharp Qi but also an invisible energy which sheared away at one’s Soul.
All of the energy which was normally contained inside the Wind Eye was exploding outwards at that moment.
None of the masters closest to the Wind Eye had expected that this disaster would suddenly befall them.
Duan Hai and Xu Qi both let out pitiful cries as the Soul destroying winds impacted them, causing their Knowledge Seas to become turbulent and their consciousnesses to become unstable and hazy.
Xia Cheng Yin didn’t dare show any neglect, immediately displaying his own means to guard his Soul.
Cang Yan first thought was to protect Old Man Du and Mi Na and give them a chance to retreat, but when he glanced over, he saw Old Man Du not show any signs of panic as he quickly took out a cyan stone and pour his True Qi into, producing a cyan coloured light barrier.
“Cang Yan, come inside!” Old Man Du waved to him.
Cang Yan quickly rushed into the light barrier and as soon as he did, the pressure on his Soul disappeared.
“Refined Bluestone?” Cang Yan’s eyes lit up as he uttered the name of this cyan stone, “Old Man Du’s heritage is impressive!”
“Now is not the time to say this,” Old Man Du smiled bitterly, “The wind blades are coming.”
Cang Yan nodded lightly and didn’t dare lower his guard, quickly gathering his strength and intercepting the wind blades that were approaching.
He knew that this cyan light barrier created by the Refined Bluestone could only resist attacks against one’s Soul and had no defensive effect on physical and Qi based attacks.
Cang Yan had also heard some rumors about Refined Bluestone and knew that it was incredibly expensive as it was a product from the Starry Sky that could defend against Divine Sense attacks of Saint Realm masters. It could be said that as long as one possessed a piece of Refined Bluestone, they wouldn’t need to worry about ever receiving injuries to their Soul.
Unfortunately, this treasure had a low resilience, meaning it could only be used a few times before it would crumble into dust.
Old Man Du taking it out at this time was also because he had no other option. He was a Saint Grade Alchemist, but not a Saint Realm master; in fact he was just a First Order Transcendent. On top of that, Du Wan was immersed in the study of the Alchemic Way all year round so his actual combat strength was basically equivalent to a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator.
“Old Man Du!” Xia Cheng Yin cried out urgently, as he struggled to make his way towards them.
Old Man Du frowned for a moment but eventually nodded lightly, increasing his True Qi output and expanding the light barrier allowing Xia Cheng Yin to squeeze inside.
With two Third Order Transcendents working together, the managed to completely shield Old Man Du and Mi Na behind them from all the incoming wind blades.
Duan Hai and Xu Qi were now both completely dazed by the Soul damaging winds, stumbling around like headless flies trapped in the violent storm and both of them were soon covered with bloody scars. Seeing this, Xia Cheng Yin anxious called out, “Old Man Du, can you let them in too?”
“This old man is also helpless, if I increase the output of power any further, I’m afraid this small stone will break,” Old Man Du slowly shook his head.
Knowing that Du Wan is not lying, Xia Cheng Yin could only sigh dejectedly.
Duan Hai and Xu Qi were both Elders of his Spirit Religion, he naturally couldn’t bear to see them buried in this place while he hid safely behind this light barrier. Unfortunately, all Xia Cheng Yin could do for them was try to offset as many wind blades that were approaching them as possible while constantly calling out to them in an attempt to stimulate their consciousnesses.
However, his efforts were futile, when the power that should have been contained within the Wind Eye suddenly erupted, Duan Hai and Xu Qi, two Second Order Transcendent masters, were completely incapable of resisting and both collapsed in pools of blood only a moment later. Although they were still alive, if they were exposed to this strange wind for too long, their Souls would sooner or later be sheared off completely.
Xia Cheng Yin was anxious but there was nothing he could do to help them now.
Suddenly, after a violent pulse of energy, everything suddenly calmed down, as if that final explosion contained all the remaining power of Wind Eye.
The cyan stone in Old Man Du’s hand also seemed to sense its mission was complete at that moment and shattered into dust that fell through his fingers.
“Yang Kai!” Mi Na suddenly shouted in surprise, pointing her jade finger towards the front.
Everyone couldn’t help feeling shocked when they heard Mi Na’s cry, all of them turning their eyes in the direction she was pointing only to see a scarlet Yang Kai. Although his body had innumerable wounds, his expression was still light and carefree. Another strange point was that his fresh blood seemed to radiate a terrifying destructive energy.
Cang Yan’s eyes narrowed, grinning slightly as he silently smiled.
The appearance of Yang Kai was quite consistent with the vague image in his mind, which means that the person his Martial Ancestor was looking for was him!
“The Wind Eye?” Xia Cheng Yin was dumbfounded, he discovered quickly that the Wind Eye which had existed since before the founding of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion had now disappeared.
There was not even a trace of Wind Attribute energy here anymore.
This realization turned Xia Cheng Yin’s face ashen.
The Wind Eye was essential to the prosperity of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, without it, all the future disciples who cultivated Wind Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skills would no longer be able to take advantage of it to comprehend the mysteries of the wind.
“Can’t you put on some clothes you bastard!?” Mi Na cupped her hands over her mouth and called out, her face blushing bright red as she swept her eyes over Yang Kai’s impressive figure.
Seemingly awakened by Mi Na’s shout, Yang Kai slowly blinked and turned his head towards her.
Immediately, his brow furrowed slightly, as he discovered four people standing there, the familiar Old Man Du and Mi Na, and two others he didn’t recognize.
However, these two strangers undeniably gave him greater pressure than Duan Hai and Xu Qi, meaning they were definitely stronger.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yang Kai suddenly spotted Duan Hai and Xu Qi lying in a pool of their own blood and sneered menacingly.
His figure flickering, Yang Kai suddenly arrived in front of Duan Hai and Xu Qi at a speed several times faster than he was previously capable of.
“So fast!” Cang Yan and Xia Cheng Yin couldn’t help but exclaim. At that moment, the two of them seemed to have faintly felt a burst of swift Wind Qi. What’s more, despite their extremely high strength, both of them almost lost track of Yang Kai’s figure when he moved.
Before the two masters had even finished calling out, Yang Kai had already unleashed a decisive strike to Duan Hai’s neck.
With a snapping sound and a splash of blood, Duan Hai’s head flew out.
Seeing this, Xia Cheng Yin nearly went crazy.
Looking at the head that still had a pained expression on its face fly through the air, Xia Cheng Yin couldn’t turn his eyes away for a while, never had he imagined that a person his Spirit Religion had hired to be an Honoured Guest would actually kill his Sect’s Grand Elder.
Moreover, he had acted without the slightest hesitation.
“Hm?” Cang Yan secretly smiled a little as he stared at Yang Kai appreciatively, snickering under his breath. He found that this brat, whom his Martial Ancestor had tasked him to find, matched his temperament.
Seeing Yang Kai’s murderous intent not decrease at all as he turned to start at Xu Qi, who was currently unable to put up the slightest resistance, Xia Cheng Yin roared, “Boy, you dare!”
As he shouted, he shot out like lightning towards Yang Kai.
No matter what, he couldn’t let Yang Kai kill two of his Sect’s Elders right before his eyes.
Cang Yan grinned meaningfully and also shot out, arriving in front of Xia Cheng Yin in a flash.
“Cang Yan, what do you mean by this?” Xia Cheng Yin glared at Cang Yan as he coldly questioned; although both of them were Third Order Transcendents, facing Cang Yan, he wasn’t confident he could prevail in a direct conflict.
“I have no other meaning, but if you want to hurt him, you have to go through me first,” Cang Yan replied faintly.
“He has nothing to do with your Soaring Heaven Sect, Cang Yan, don’t go too far!” Xia Cheng Yin’s face twisted, shouting out somewhat hysterically.
“Little friend Yang, please show some mercy!” Du Wan also hurriedly shouted, bringing Mi Na with him as he rushed towards Yang Kai.
Upon hearing Old Man Du’s shout, Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, quickly examining Xu Qi’s current state, his determination not wavering but still reluctantly standing down for the moment.
Soon, Old Man Du and Mi Na arrived beside Yang Kai, Old Man Du sighing softly as he direct a complex stare towards Yang Kai.
During the time he had spent at the Alchemist Guild, Yang Kai had given Old Man Du a very good impression, not like an ordinary reckless youth who flaunted their strength and status, but now he couldn’t understand why this mild mannered boy had suddenly decisively tried to kill two Elders of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.
“Old Man Du,” Yang Kai greeted indifferently before nodding lightly to Mi Na.
Mi Na’s neck was dark red, shooting a glance towards Yang Kai before pursing her lips and quickly averting her eyes again.
Yang Kai thought nothing of her reaction and instead turned to stare at Cang Yan. He didn’t know why this person would suddenly help him as he had no memory of ever meeting him before. Naturally the two of them had no prior friendship.
While observing the situation, Yang Kai also took out a set of clothes and put them on, his movements calm and collected.
Xia Cheng Yin was also no longer arguing with Cang Yan and instead just glaring at Yang Kai with hatred. Although this youth may be a rare talent in Alchemy, it was also an indisputable fact that he had just killed Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Great Elder; no matter what the circumstances were, Xia Cheng Yin had to seek justice for Duan Hai.
“Little friend, what is this all about, if it’s convenient, can you tell me?” Old Man Du inquired in a dignified tone.
“These two wanted to harm me and threw me into the Wind Eye in an attempt to wash away my Soul,” Yang Kai explained it faintly.
“Bullshit, as far as I know, you are an Honoured Guest Duan Hai personally invited to my Spirit Religion, why would he and Xu Qi suddenly want to kill you?” Xia Cheng Yin obviously couldn’t accept such an explanation.
For no reason at all, how could two Second Order Transcendent masters have ill intentions towards a little brat?
“Who are you?” Yang Kai turned to look at this person indifferently, feeling a palpable hostility and resentment from his stare.
Old Man Du coughed, “This is the Religion Master of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, Xia Cheng Yin!”
Yang Kai gently nodded, his doubts abating somewhat before turning to look at Cang Yan, “And this is?”
“Soaring Heaven Sect, Cang Yan!” Cang Yan took a step forward and introduced himself.
“Do we know each other?” Yang Kai smiled at him temperately, his attitude neither warm nor cold.
“No,” Cang Yan smiled, “However, I have something to ask of you.”
“Something to ask of me?” Yang Kai’s asked curiously, shooting a glance towards Du Wan who quickly said, “Cang Yan has no malicious intentions towards you, I can guarantee this!”
“Alright. We can discuss about your matter later,” Yang Kai nodded to Cang Yan.
Noticing the confidence and indifference Yang Kai spoke with, Cang Yan smiled even wider.
[This little brat really fits well with my own temper! Ha Ha!] Cang Yan chuckled in his heart.
After killing a Great Elder, he was able to face Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master without the slightest trace of fear.
[Having such courage even in this situation, what exactly was this little brat’s background?] Cang Yan thought as he sized up Yang Kai thoughtfully.
His Martial Ancestor had asked him to find this person and he had spent two months doing so, causing Cang Yan to feel somewhat depressed and annoyed, but at this moment, he suddenly felt that these two months were worth it.
“Little brat, if you don’t give me an explanation today, don’t dream of leaving here in one piece!” Xia Cheng Yin’s complexion change from red to blue as he grit his teeth and angrily shouted.
“What more do you want me to explain?” Yang Kai smiled, “I think I made things clear already.”
“That’s just your side of the story, do you think this Religion Master will just smile and believe you?”
Du Wan knit his brow but still kindly asked, “Little friend, is what you said really the truth?”
Yang Kai nodded sternly.
“Then why? What advantage would they gain by throwing you into the Wind Eye to wash away your Soul?” Du Wan asked carefully, knowing that this time, if he couldn’t give Xia Cheng Yin a reason he could accept, it would be impossible for the latter to let things go.
Yang Kai hesitated, as if he was unwilling to answer.
If anything related to the Coffin Carrying Man was revealed, it would be extremely detrimental to him.
“Little friend can rest assured, if what you said is the truth and you weren’t in the wrong, this old master can guarantee that you will leave here unharmed. Cang Yan will also lend his assistance,” Du Wan said, glancing over at Cang Yan.
Cang Yan was even more straightforward, “Even if you are in the wrong, no one can hurt you in front of me.”
Yang Kai looked at him curiously, really unable to understand why this stranger was so adamant about trying to protect him.
After a long silence, Yang Kai turned to Xia Cheng Yin with a cold look and muttered, “Bright Thunder’s Religion Master, is it? If I can prove that Duan Hai and Xu Qi acted with intent to harm me, how do you plan on compensating me?”
“Compensate you?” Xia Cheng Yin eyes went red, “You killed my Great Elder and then expect me to compensate you? Are you not mistaken, little brat? Now we should be discussing how to make up for my Spirit Religion’s losses!”
“He only has himself to blame, this time, if it weren’t for my luck, I would have died inside the Wind Eye. Me killing him is only natural.”
Du Wan nodded, “If it is true that Duan Hai and Xu Qi conspired to kill little friend Yang, their deaths aren’t worth pitying. Religion Master Xia, what do you think? It was this old master who recommended little friend Yang enter your Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, this old master naturally has a responsibility to maintain his interests and security.”
Du Wan’s tone was calm, but anyone could hear that he was not happy.
As a Saint Grade Alchemist, it was a rare occurrence for him to recommend a rising star to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, but now Yang Kai had actually encountered such misfortune. This incident would bring great damage to Old Man Du’s prestige and face.
Although Xia Cheng Yin was angry, he didn’t dare vent his frustrations in front of Old Man Du, nodding as he said, “What Old Man Du said is fair, if this is really the truth of the matter… there’s no need for outsiders to intervene, this Religion Master will clean up his Sect personally and give Old Man Du a proper account!”
Du Wan nodded with satisfaction and turned back towards Yang Kai, “Now little friend, can you explain everything?”
“I still insist on compensation!” Yang Kai smiled slightly, “This matter can’t be settled so casually.”
“This Religion Master has given Old Man Du face, but what do you count for? Don’t overestimate your own worth!” Xia Cheng Yin glared at Yang Kai resentfully, wishing he could immediately pound this insolent brat into meat paste.
“I agree with you!” Cang Yan nodded repeatedly to Yang Kai, “If Religion Master Xia doesn’t compensate you appropriately, within one month I will let his Bright Thunder Spirit Religion disappear from this world permanently.”
“Uncle, really knows how to talk!” Mi Na said to Cang Yan with a look of excitement and respect on her face.
[Uncle…] Cang Yan’s mouth twitched slightly, his expression sinking somewhat, unable to completely maintain his cold indifferent demeanor after suffering such an unexpected attack.
Yang Kai on the other hand only became more doubtful as he stared towards Cang Yan, really unable to understand what this master’s intentions were, but now was not the time to get to the bottom of things, for the moment Yang Kai could feel that this person was truly well-meant towards him, allowing him to feel relieved.
“Cang Yan!” Xia Cheng Yin clenched his fists, his True Qi surging up as he glared at Cang Yan coldly.
“You wanna fight? I’m more than happy to accompany you,” Cang Yan sneered dismissively.
“Please have some patience you two,” Old Man Du said helplessly, having no choice but to play peacemaker in this situation, “Religion Master Xia, this old master also hopes that if what little friend Yang said is true, you can offer him some compensation.”
“Old Man Du also has this intention?” The hatred in Xia Cheng Yin’s eyes increased once again, hesitating for a moment before somehow managing to mutter, “Good, this Religion Master can accept his impolite request, but Old Man Du, if we find out that things are not as he said, then don’t blame me for not giving you face.”
“As you like,” Du Wan nodded lightly, turning back to Yang Kai once more, “You can speak freely.”
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before wearing a helpless expression and replying, “The two of them wanted to collect my Knowledge Sea!”
Saying so, Yang Kai released his Spiritual Energy slightly and followed up, “Because I have a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!”
Everyone else became dumbstruck, almost unable to believe what they had just heard.
However, feeling the blazing hot aura in Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy, they had no choice but to believe him.
Old Man Du’s eyes gradually brightened, even becoming somewhat excited as he stared towards Yang Kai as if he had just discovered an incredible treasure.
Cang Yan was also showing signs of excitement. For a master at his level, there were very few things that could disturb his mood, but when he learned about Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, he nearly lost his self-control.
Laughing wildly in his heart, he now understood why his Martial Ancestor had let him search for this little brat, it turns out he was an Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea!
Didn’t that mean he was at the same starting line as the famous The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep? That also meant he might one day reach the same height as The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep? A man widely admired by Human, Demon, and Monster Races alike!
Conflagrated Knowledge Seas were rare existences, and even if one or two cultivators who had Conflagrated Knowledge Sea appeared now and then, it was not guaranteed they would also be proficient in Alchemy as these two traits weren’t necessarily mutually associated.
Xia Cheng Yin was also dumbfounded as he stared towards Yang Kai, his face filled with annoyance and remorse.
“I told Duan Hai that it was impossible for me to remain in Bright Thunder Spirit Religion so he and Xu Qi plotted to use the power of the Wind Eye to extract my Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, that’s the truth,” Yang Kai faintly explained.
Although this was not the most fundamental reason, it was also part of reason Duan Hai and Xu Qi acted against Yang Kai this way, so technically he wasn’t lying.
As he couldn’t disclose information about the Coffin Carrying Man, Yang Kai could only expose his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.
“So that’s how it is,” Old Man Du nodded slightly, after feeling Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, naturally believed his words. Taking a deep breath, Du Wan turned to look at Xia Cheng Yin and said, “Religion Master Xia, what else do you want to say? Or could it be that you still don’t believe what little friend Yang said?”
“I have nothing to ask,” Xia Cheng Yin slowly shook his head as he stared at Yang Kai in a complicated manner. If he continued to make things difficult here, he would only end up offending both Old Man Du and Cang Yan, that was something he couldn’t afford.
Moreover, this Yang Kai was very likely to become an exceedingly influential character in the future, if he were to thoroughly offend him now, Bright Thunder Spirit Religions future days may not be peaceful.
“En, very good,” Old Man Du nodded with satisfaction, his expression quickly becoming solemn, “Today’s events should only be known to those present here, if anyone dares to leak any news of it, don’t blame this old master for being rude to him.”
“Agreed,” Cang Yan and Xia Cheng Yin both nodded firmly.
A Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was a rare treasure that would draw covetous eyes from all over the world, once word of its existence leaked out, it would only lead to countless troubles.
*Xiu…*
Together with a swift breeze, Xu Qi’s vitality disappeared, causing Xia Cheng Yin’s eyes to flash, never having expected Yang Kai to act so decisively. Unfortunately for him, even if he was angry, there was nothing he could do about it.
“Good, now we can talk about my compensation,” Yang Kai grinned.
Xia Cheng Yin’s face twitched slightly, but despite feeling extremely unwilling inside, he had no choice but to ask, “What compensation do you want? As long as it is something my Spirit Religion has, I can comply, but don’t try to force my to offer something I am not capable of, you must ask for something I can achieve.”
“Naturally,” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “I want to go to the Thunder Eye to cultivate, so I must ask Religion Master Xia to open the way.”
As soon as this statement came out, everyone once again stared at him in astonishment.
“Go to the Thunder Eye?” Xia Cheng Yin was somewhat stunned, “You also cultivate a Thunder Attribute Secret Art?”
“That’s my business, does Religion Master Xia want to pry into my private affairs?” Yang Kai shook his head.
“Is the disappearance of the Wind Eye related to you?” Xia Cheng Yin watched Yang Kai vigilantly.
“Possibly, possibly not, I’m not entirely sure.”
“Does that mean, if you go to the Thunder Eye, will it also disappear?”
“It shouldn’t, please rest assured, Religion Master Xia.”
Inside the Wind Eye, Yang Kai had intentionally stimulated it, breaking it from the inside which had led to its ultimate destruction. At the time, Yang Kai had just wanted to seek revenge, if he hadn’t done this, the Wind Eye wouldn’t have disappeared; of course, the Wind Eye would definitely be much weaker than before.
“Does Religion Master Xia want to go back on his word? If so, you’ll have to ask if I agree,” Cang Yan looked at Xia Cheng Yin aggressively.
“The Wind Eye and Thunder Eye are the foundations of my Spirit Religion. Now that one of them has disappeared, very likely because of him, how can I so easily allow him to visit the other? Do you take this Religion Master as a fool?”
“If you intend to comply, then comply, but even if you don’t intend to comply, you must comply!” Cang Yan sneered, grabbed Yang Kai, and flew off.
“Cang Yan, don’t go too far!” Xia Cheng Yin shouted furiously and quickly pursued.
“Haa…” Du Wan sighed deeply, looking helpless, hesitating for a while before also following after them with Mi Na in tow.
Cang Yan’s speed was so incredible that Yang Kai could barely open his eyes, only able to vaguely see the surrounding scenery retreating backwards. After less than the time it would take to burn half a stick of incense, the pair arrived at the location of the Thunder Eye.
Here, there was still a large number of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion disciples gathered, cultivating quietly while feeling the ambient Lightning Qi in the air.
The stronger the disciple was, the closer they were to the Thunder Eye, and while the weaker one was the further away they sat.
Floating in the sky was a huge vortex of lightning that was constantly shooting off and drawing in sparks. The sound of thunder continuously burst out as the surrounding atmosphere was filled with violent Thunder Attribute energy.
When Cang Yan arrived here with Yang Kai, the Spirit Religion disciples who were in meditative cultivation all woke up and showed expressions of surprise and amazement as they looked up at them.
“Kid, are you sure you want to go in? This place is no joke, one misstep and your entire Soul will be blown away,” Cang Yan warned as he stared at the raging Thunder Eye with a dignified expression.
The violent energy contained within the Thunder Eye was stronger than that which was inside the Wind Eye. Cang Yan had dared to release his Divine Sense to spy on the Wind Eye, but he did not dare do so with the Thunder Eye.
Comparing the two, the Thunder Eye was definitely more dangerous.
“Bright Thunder’s Religion Master is pursuing us, please let me go in, Senior,” Yang Kai glanced back and saw Xia Cheng Yin rushing towards them, the latter’s face filled with a mix of anxiety and rage, howling towards them to stop.
Cang Yan obviously didn’t put Xia Cheng Yin in his eyes as he grinned and casually said, “You’re a strange one kid. Good, I’ll help you; however, don’t you dare die, or I’ll have no way to explain things to my Marital Ancestor!”
Having said what he needed to say, Cang Yang tossed Yang Kai towards the Thunder Eye.
Cries of shock rang out from all the surrounding Bright Thunder Spirit Religion disciples who saw Yang Kai disappear into the Thunder Eye, all of them wondering how this brat had offended Cang Yan, causing the latter to throw him to his death.
Xia Cheng Yin arrived a moment later, but was helpless to do anything but watch.
Inside the Thunder Eye, when Yang Kai first came in, he felt tremendous pressure, many times stronger than what he had felt inside the Wind Eye.
The power of lightning instantly surged through his entire body, causing all of his hair to stand on end and his Soul to tremble fiercely, his skin soon giving off a scorched smell.
Taking another drop of Myriad Drug Milk, Yang Kai quickly sat down inside the Thunder Eye and while ignoring his own injuries, allowed the Wind and Thunder Wings to extract the Thunder Qi around him.
After his previous experience, Yang Kai was much more relaxed, understanding exactly what it was the Wind and Thunder Wings were craving.
From Yang Kai’s back, at the position of his right shoulder blade, as expected, a huge suction force erupted, rapidly pulling the surrounding Thunder Attribute energy into his body.
*Hua…*
As Yang Kai’s wings opened once more. Wind danced freely to his left, while lightning arced back and forth on his right.
Yang Kai soon entered into a meditative state as he comprehended the mysteries of thunder and lightning.
Outside the Thunder Eye, the Bright Thunder Spirit Religion disciples had all scattered as Cang Yan and Xia Cheng Yin engaged in an earth shaking battle. It wasn’t until Old Man Du caught up and came forward to mediate that their fight ceased.
It was not easy to decide a victor in a contest between two Third Order Transcendent masters, but just from observing the two of them, Xia Cheng Yin was obviously in worse shape than Cang Yan.
If the battle had continued, undoubtedly Xia Cheng Yin would have eventually lost.
After realizing this, Bright Thunder’s Religion Master decisively took advantage of Old Man Du’s intercession to draw back.
As time went by, the small group of people outside the Thunder Eye noticed that the Thunder and Lightning Attribute energy in the surrounding atmosphere was gradually weakening. Even the most intuitive manifestation of this, the amount of lightning strikes falling from the Thunder Eye, had become noticeably sparser.
Xia Cheng Yin’s expression turned incredibly ugly.
Today, two Elders had died, the Wind Eye had been destroyed, and the power of the Thunder Eye was severely weakened. The only question now was whether it would disappear entirely like the Wind Eye.
The loss to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion was simply incalculable!
One day later, the intensity of the Thunder Eye was less than half what it originally was. By now, Xia Cheng Yin’s eyes were completely bloodshot as he stared at the Thunder Eye like a crazed beast, his resentment nearly palpable.
Although Old Man Du felt like destroying the foundation of a Sect was somewhat immoral, thinking about how Duan Hai had tried to kill a young genius he had recommended to him, he still chose to say nothing.
Inside the Thunder Eye, Yang Kai took a deep breath and suddenly opened his eyes as sparks of lightning flashed across them.
After one day of absorption, he realized that the Wind and Thunder Wings had perfectly integrated into his body.
From this moment on, this pair of wings had truly been refined by him and become a part of his strength.
The wings behind him were still filled with blazing hot Yang Attribute energy, but the left half now also contained sharp Wind Attribute energy while the right half contained wild Thunder and Lightning Attribute energy.
Wind, Thunder, and Yang Qi all came together to form a strange kind of balance while undergoing some subtle changes. These three different attribute energies were no longer in their most elementary forms; they combined into something new. The power of wind and thunder now containing a burning heat, creating a kind of Flame Wind and Flame Lightning, multiplying their lethality compared to ordinary wind and thunder.
His Flaming Yang Wings had not been completely replaced by the Wind and Thunder Wings.
The only thing that Yang Kai had difficulty with was determining what exactly this pair of wings was; it was somewhat like an artifact, but also somewhat like a Martial Skill.
However, what was undeniable was that Han Fei had sent him a big gift!
The reason why Han Fei and Li Rong failed to refine the Wind and Thunder Wings was likely because they had not had an opportunity like the one Yang Kai experienced.
Everything was a coincidence, but it still subtly felt like an inevitable result.
Withdrawing his Wind and Thunder Wings, Yang Kai stepped out from the greatly weakened Thunder Eye.
The group who had been waiting outside for a long time now saw Yang Kai coming out and couldn’t help smiling. Xia Cheng Yin also breathing a sigh of relief.
In the end, the Thunder Eye did not disappear, and although it was not as powerful as it used to be, it was at least intact.
Staring at Yang Kai, Xia Cheng Yin felt extremely complicated, annoyance, hatred, and doubt all swirling about his thoughts.
“Kid, you sure surprised us!” When Yang Kai appeared, Cang Yan immediately laughed, “Kid, your aura has changed a lot, did you reap a big harvest?”
“En, something like that,” Yang Kai nodded slightly, “Although my cultivation hasn’t increased, sensing the mysteries of thunder took some time. Sorry for making you wait.”
“Little friend Yang is too polite,” Du Wan smiled and shook his head.
“Since you’re done here, let’s go,” Cang Yan waved.
Yang Kai shot a glance over at Xia Cheng Yin, who although still looked sullen, eventually didn’t say a word or try to stop them from leaving.
With Cang Yan here, even if Xia Cheng Yin wanted to stop them he couldn’t. The losses suffered by Bright Thunder Spirit Religion over these past two days was already big enough, if he were to now completely offend Cang Yan and end up in a conflict with Soaring Heaven Sect, Bright Thunder Spirit Religion really wouldn’t be able to afford the consequences.
Soaring Heaven Sect’s four madmen were each no worse than him. Once a fight started, Bright Thunder Spirit Religion would definitely be destroyed.
Xia Cheng Yin had no choice but to swallow this insult.
“Religion Master Xia, many thanks for your hospitality this time,” Old Man Du nodded to Xia Cheng Yin.
“Leave, I won’t see you off!” Xia Cheng Yin took a deep breath and closed his eyes, unwilling to watch anymore.
Cang Yan just coldly snorted and wrapped Yang Kai, Du Wan, and Mi Na in his True Qi before soaring off into the sky.
After they left, Xia Cheng Yin’s face twisted as he stared at their fading backs for a moment before suddenly activating his movement skill and flying towards where the Wind Eye was formerly situated.
He still had numerous doubts about Yang Kai’s story. At that time, Du Wan was watching closely so he had not pressed the issue, but now that he had a chance, he naturally planned to investigate further.
Although Xu Qi and Duan Hai had been dead for a day, Xia Cheng Yin still had confidence he could gather some of their scattered Souls together and spy on their memories to unravel exactly what kind of grudges they had with Yang Kai.
Arriving at the spot where the two Elders died, Xia Cheng Yin quickly chanted some profound words while circulating a mysterious energy.
A moment later, a barrier encompassing the surrounding thirty kilometer radius formed. Xia Cheng Yin had to blockade this area in order to collect the broken fragments of Xu Qi and Duan Hai’s Souls.
He believed that given the strong cultivation of these two, even though their bodies had died, their Souls would not have been completely dispersed so quickly.
However, what made Xia Cheng Yin depressed and even more doubtful was that no matter how he tried, he couldn’t gather the slightest bit of residual Spiritual Energy. It was as if the two Elder’s Souls had been completely erased, surprising him greatly.
…..
Above Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, a group of four people flew forward.
When they passed by a certain mountain peak, Yang Kai inadvertently glanced down and saw a tall, beautiful woman standing there.
The other party seemed to also notice him, her beautiful eyes flashing with a guilty light as traces of amazement and sadness flickered past her face.
Suddenly, she leapt up and used her full strength to try to chase after them, her pretty face filled with anxiety.
But how could her speed compare with Cang Yan? After a few breaths, she had fallen out of sight.
“Hey, you big bastard, there was a young miss chasing after you just now,” Mi Na suddenly shot Yang Kai an accusatory look.
“Oh, where?” Yang Kai feigned ignorance.
“Trying to play dumb?” Mi Na snorted, “She called your name, I’m sure you heard. Did you thoughtlessly have your way with her only to abandon her after? Hmph, I didn’t think you were such a beast, but now it seems I should keep my distance from you in the future.”
“Can you not make wild accusations? I’m nothing if not a gentleman, I wouldn’t do something like that,” Yang Kai replied seriously.
Mi Na spat disdainfully, obviously not convinced.
She had stayed inside the Alchemist Guild for a long time so her desire for gossip was stronger than most. Not having caught wind of Yang Kai’s salacious scandal, obviously she was not about to let the subject drop so easily.
Yang Kai ignored her though and instead turned a puzzled look towards Cang Yan.
Even until now, he didn’t understand why this person had helped him for no reason, not even hesitating to offend Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master in the process!
After hesitating for a long time, Yang Kai finally asked, “Senior, can you tell me why you helped me? What advantage does any of this bring you?”
Cang Yan glanced at him as they continued to fly forward, a smile slowly appearing on his cold face, “You’re quite vigilant.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded forthrightly.
Old Man Du chuckled, “Little friend Yang doesn’t need to be suspicious of Cang Yan. Although I admit recommending you go to Bright Thunder Spirit Religion was wrong, this time I can guarantee that he will not act disadvantageously towards you.”
“I naturally believe Old Man Du’s words,” Yang Kai gently nodded, “But that still doesn’t clear up my confusion, since Senior does not have any malicious intentions towards me, can you tell me what reason you have for assisting me?”
“There’s really nothing for me to tell you, I’m just completing the task assigned to me.”
“Task?” Yang Kai was surprised.
“En, I can’t tell you anything else, you’ll have to figure that out when we reach our destination; after all, I don’t know much either.”
“Who gave you this task?”
“My Martial Ancestor.”
“Soaring Heaven Sect’s Sect Master?” Yang Kai was dumbstruck.
Cang Yan didn’t answer, only continuing to fly forward. Yang Kai asked him a few more times but never received any response so he could only give up, turning to Old Man Du instead and asking, “What kind of person is Soaring Heaven Sect’s Sect Master?”
“A Saint Realm powerhouse,” Du Wan replied, “As to which Order he is, I’m not certain. When you meet you might as well ask him yourself.”
Cang Yan suddenly came to a stop at that moment and said, “Old Man Du, let’s separate here, I need to bring him back to the Sect as soon as possible!”
“Good,” Du Wan gently nodded, turning to look at Yang Kai and saying, “Little friend Yang, this time I have caused you to endure some unpleasantness, this old man is truly sorry, just know that the Alchemist Guild’s doors are always open to you, if you are free, please do stop by to say hello.”
The kindness and sincerity in Old Man Du’s voice gave Yang Kai a warm feeling in his heart and he nodded, “This was not Old Man Du’s mistake, Old Man Du doesn’t need to take it to heart. En, I will definitely visit the Alchemist Guild in the future.”
Old Man Du showed a faint smile before saying to Cang Yan, “Give my regards to your Martial Ancestor, this old man is getting on in years so I won’t be visiting him this time.”
“I will certainly deliver Old Man Du’s sentiments,” Cang Yan replied firmly, “We’ll be taking our leave then.”
Saying so, he took Yang Kai and shot off in a different direction.
“Yang Kai, remember to come back soon!” Mi Na called out to Yang Kai as she waved goodbye.
Soaring Heaven Sect was one of the four major forces in the vicinity of Grand Boulder City.
However, although they were called the ‘four forces’, in reality, the other three Sects were not comparable to Soaring Heaven Sect. Whether it was in terms of heritage or the level of masters, Soaring Heaven Sect was far ahead of the other local Sects.
There were no Saint Realm masters in Ancient Moon Cave Heaven, Luo Sheng Sect, or Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, but it was rumored that there were at least two such powerhouses in Soaring Heaven Sect.
Beneath the Saint Realm though, Soaring Heaven Sect had four famous Third Order Transcendents.
These four all had tyrannical strength, and Cang Yan was one of them.
But in the eyes of the uninformed, Soaring Heaven Sect was on the same level as the other three forces because it had very few disciples, inferior to forces such as Bright Thunder Spirit Religion by several fold.
Yang Kai was carried the whole time by Cang Yan and was constantly asking questions about Soaring Heaven Sect as they traveled.
Cang Yan seemed to be a person who cherished words like gold, but to Yang Kai’s inquiries he still responded patiently.
At the same time, Cang Yan was also observing Yang Kai.
Why his Martial Ancestor had asked him to find this boy, Cang Yan was also confused.
Half a day later, when they were approaching Soaring Heaven Sect’s borders, Cang Yan suddenly paused and stared forward with a suspicious look, seemingly having discovered something.
Soon, Yang Kai also noticed that a powerful aura was rapidly approaching them. This aura was no weaker than Cang Yan’s, but unlike Cang Yan’s imposing pressure, this new aura felt softer, like the slowly flowing water in a vast river.
Yang Kai couldn’t help showing a curious expression and didn’t ask much, simply deciding to wait quietly and observe.
A moment later, a blue light appeared over the horizon and quickly flew over, stopping just in front of Cang Yan. When the blue light faded, a beautiful woman dressed in an unusually bold fashion appeared in front of Cang Yan.
This beautiful woman’s skin was snow white and her eyes were pure and watery, seemingly containing ten thousand kinds of charm. There was a tiny black mole at the corner of her mouth which only added to her appeal.
On her face was a lazy smile, and her upper body’s robes were quite messy and exposing, revealing her pair of round, white half-moons and the deep valley between them that seemed to unconsciously draw people’s eyes. As for her lower half, her skit had an extremely long slit which reached almost all the way up to her hips, allowing one to see the whole length of her slender legs, including her tender white thighs.
Yang Kai was dumbstruck and couldn’t help staring for a moment.
The beautiful woman didn’t evade his gaze, nor show the slightest bit of shyness, instead turning a glamorous smile towards Yang Kai as she too began evaluating him with an interested look.
Cang Ya’s brow wrinkled, “Fei Yu, how did you come out, didn’t Martial Ancestor punish you with half a year of confinement? Don’t tell me you snuck out.”
“I didn’t sneak out,” Fei Yu replied curtly as she lightly bit her lip. In the next instant, without even seeing how she moved, she suddenly appeared in front of Yang Kai and extended a jade hand, gently lifting Yang Kai’s Chin, “Where did you find this little brother? Why does he look somewhat familiar?”
Yang Kai didn’t quite know why but he felt his hair stand slightly on end at that moment.
Cang Yan quickly pulled Yang Kai behind him, like a mother hen guarding its newborn chick, blocking him from Fei Yu as he frowned, “Don’t make trouble, this is the person Martial Ancestor is looking for.”
“Martial Ancestor?” Hearing this, Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes flashed brilliantly as she pondered, “Why does Martial Ancestor want to see him?”
“I don’t know,” Cang Yan shook his head, “But he’s not your toy.”
“Fine,” Fei Yu frowned slightly and muttered impatiently.
“Enough about that. Why aren’t you staying quietly in the Sect and have instead run out here?”
“Martial Ancestor sent me out,” Fei Yu giggled, “If I didn’t receive an order from the old man, how could I dare to go out?”
Suddenly, her beautiful eyes flickered as she said, “En, Martial Ancestor told me to redeem myself with good works, saying that if I can resolve this problem he will cancel my half-year confinement.”
“What matter do you need to solve?” Cang Yan asked curiously, but the moment these words left his mouth he felt the impulse to slap his own face, raising his hands and waving them, “Forget I asked, I’ll be returning to the Sect first. You carry on.”
“Don’t go!” Fei Yu swiftly grabbed Cang Yan’s arm, smiled warmly and said, “Since you asked, naturally I should tell you.”
Saying so, she didn’t dare give Cang Yan an opportunity to refuse, happily explaining her assigned duty.
Roughly a hundred kilometers outside Soaring Heaven Sect, it seemed a disciple had found a hidden cave. There was a barrier set up around this cave to conceal it so it should have been a blessed land that some powerful master had left behind many years ago. The disciple couldn’t break open this barrier so he had quickly returned to the Sect and gathered together a group of Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers, a dozen people in total, to open up and explore the blessed land, hoping they could find some opportunities. But unexpectedly, there was a hidden trap in the blessed land, and before any of them noticed, they had all been incapacitated.
All the disciples who had entered were attacked by a swarm of Exotic Ancient Insects called Soul Devouring Insects. When this news was sent back to Soaring Heaven Sect, the Sect Master had dispatched Fei Yu to handle it.
“Soul Devouring Insects?” Cang Yan’s expression changed greatly, “Wasn’t that Exotic Ancient Insect supposed to be extinct?”
“Who knows,” Fei Yu shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know which despicable bastard left these troublesome bugs near our Soaring Heaven Sect, but if I find his bone, I’ll definitely trample them into dust!”
“Martial Ancestor sent you to handle this matter, but what are you planning on doing? This isn’t something that ordinary cultivators can deal with, even if it’s you, if you’re not careful, your life might be endangered.”
“En,” Fei Yu wore a pitiful expression that could make anyone who saw it sympathise with her as she whispered, “Therefore, Cang Yan, you have to help me.”
“How am I supposed to help you? I don’t have any method to handle this kind of Exotic Ancient Insect.”
“You cultivate Fire Attribute Secret Arts, you should be able to incinerate them.”
“Do you think flames created from True Qi can burn them? You must be dreaming,” Cang Yan coldly snorted, but as he said these words, he suddenly glanced over at Yang Kai, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.
“But no one other than you can help me! Those two bastards Li Wan and Fei Jian went into hiding the moment they learned I had accepted this task! Hateful!” Fei Yu gnashed her teeth.
“I also should have hidden from you,” Cang Yan muttered, feeling a big headache. Had he only known in advance he would not have spoken to her in the first place. After spending so many years together with this woman, Cang Yan couldn’t even remember how many times he had been deceived by her appearance and roped into dangerous situations like this.
“It’s too late,” Fei Yu glared at Cang Yan coldly and declared, “If you want to help me, then just help me already, but even if you don’t want to help me, you still have to help me!”
Cang Yan sighed, “It’s really not a convenient time for this, I have to bring this kid back to see Martial Ancestor as quickly as possible.”
“You’ve been searching for him for two months already, who cares if you wait another day or two. Just come with me to take a look, if we really can’t handle the situation, I won’t make things difficult for you,” Fei Yu continued.
Cang Yan’s brow wrinkled, seemingly weighing this decision carefully. Seeing that there might be hope, Fei Yu quickly struck while the iron was hot, continuing her attempts to persuade him.
After a long time, Cang Yan nodded slightly, “Good, I’ll help you out this time, but… whether we can ultimately succeed, I can’t guarantee.”
Fei Yu was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly, “I knew you wouldn’t abandon me! You’re the best! Li Wan and Fei Jian, the two bastards, they should just go die in a ditch somewhere.”
“However, can I make a request?”
“What request?”
Cang Yan coughed lightly, “I remember fifty years ago, you brewed a batch of Thousand Safflower Wine, right?”
Fei Yu elegant face sank, gritting her teeth as she muttered, “Do you make a habit of remembering things from fifty years ago?”
“I always keep good things in mind,” Cang Yan nodded slightly, replying in a natural tone, “En, if we succeed, give me half of them.”
“No! I crossed the whole continent in order to collect the thousand different rare flowers to brew that Thousand Safflower Wine before waiting fifty years for it to ferment! Even I haven’t had a sip of it myself, yet now you open your mouth and demand half of it from me? I take back my words, you’re no better than Li Wan and Fei Jian! No, you’re even worse! If that’s your price, I’d rather not have your help at all!”
Yang Kai stared blankly at this beautiful woman, faintly thinking that this so-called Thousand Safflower Wine seemed to be more important to her than her own life.
“You brewed twenty bottles at that time, even if you give me half, you’ll still have ten jars left!”
“At most I can give you one bottle, don’t even dream you can get half a jar more.”
“Eight bottles!”
“One!”
“Five!”
…..
After an intense round of bargaining, Cang Yan finally could only pinch his nose and accept, “Fine, one bottle, one bottle.”
“That’ll depend on your performance!” Fei Yu spat disdainfully, curling her lips into a grin, “If you can’t help, I won’t give you a single drop.”
Saying so, she suddenly turned her gaze towards Yang Kai, “Smelly brat, what are you smiling about, you think this is funny?”
“No, but it is interesting,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, seeing these two Third Order Transcendents quarreling like this, the obvious friendship between them, it unconsciously gave him a warm feeling.
It had been quite some time since Yang Kai had experienced such a feeling, ever since he came to Tong Xuan Realm, he had always felt somewhat isolated and alone.
“Let’s go, where is that blessed land?” Having reached an agreement on price, Cang Yan was not willing to waste any more time.
“Follow me,” Fei Yu said, leading the way.
As this beautiful woman flew forward, her perfectly rounded hips swayed back and forth in a kind of hypnotising rhythm, enchanting one’s heart as her exquisite jet black hair danced lightly in the wind, revealing her slender white neck that seemed to be crafted from the finest porcelain.
“Don’t stare at her, if you’re not careful, she’ll dig out your eyes,” Cang Yan whispered into Yang Kai’s ear.
“For just that?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“Not long ago, because an Elder from Luo Sheng Sect had an obscene glint in his eyes as he stared at her, she…” Cang Yan didn’t say anymore but instead made a chopping motion with his hand as he glanced towards Yang Kai’s lower half.
Yang Kai’s face instantly went black.
“That’s why Martial Ancestor gave her half a year of solitary confinement,” Cang Yan nodded, “Actually, despite the flirtatious way she dresses and acts, she’s actually still…”
Before he could finish his words though, a delicate jade white fist landed on his face, sending Cang Yan flying over a thousand meters.
The air around Fei Yu seemed to freeze as an ice cold light flashed across her face as she stared towards the miserable Cang Yan, snorting as she scolded, “Do you think I’m deaf?”
Yang Kai couldn’t help gulping while secretly worrying about Cang Yan.
“Little brother, come here, you can travel together with Elder Sister.” Fei Yu suddenly smiled and rushed over to Yang Kai and waved her hand, not waiting for him to answer before directly wrapping him in her True Qi and flying off.
Being pulled close and involuntarily sniffing the enchanting fragrance that lightly wafted from this beautiful woman, Yang Kai’s face became slightly unnatural, but he wisely kept a serious expression on his face, not daring to show the slightest signs of impropriety.
“Don’t listen to that bastard’s nonsense, he’s just slandering me,” Fei Yu whispered as she exhaled a warm breath laced with a unique scent of flowers, tickling one’s heartstrings, “It doesn’t matter if you take a look, Elder Sister won’t punish you for just that, I’m quite gentle.”
Cang Yan, Fei Yu, and Yang Kai landed halfway up a lonely mountain peak and after spending a moment carefully examining the surroundings, the two Third Order Transcendents honed in on their target.
Yang Kai also faintly noticed that there was some kind of subtle energy overflow at the position Cang Yan and Fei Yu indicated.
However, even up close, Yang Kai couldn’t see any difference between it and the surrounding area. If he didn’t know any better he would swear it was just an ordinary piece of land.
“It should be some kind of camouflage, and it’s quite ingenious at that, no wonder so many people hadn’t discovered this place even after so many years,” Cang Yan revealed a solemn expression as he looked around.
“The Spirit Array probably degraded after such a long time which allowed the Sect’s disciples to inadvertently discover it,” Fei Yu also agreed, “Let’s go, we shouldn’t waste any more time.”
Cang Yan stamped his foot on the ground and spread out a scalding hot aura, after which Yang Kai quickly noticed some mysterious glowing runes on the ground.
These runes seemed to be floating within the earth like tadpoles in a pond, struggling for a moment before being burned to ashes under Cang Yan’s technique.
Cang Yan cultivated a Fire Attribute Secret Art, so his True Qi flames were extremely potent, and with his Third Order Transcendent cultivation, it was naturally easy for him to crack this old, damaged, concealing Spirit Array.
A dark hole appeared on the ground, only big enough for one person to enter or exit at a time.
Fei Yu didn’t say anything and jumped straight in, disappearing in the next instant.
Cang Yan waved, “Go in.”
“I’m going in as well?” Yang Kai was surprised. He had thought he would be waiting outside for Cang Yan and Fei Yu to finish; after all, with over a dozen Soaring Heaven Sect disciples having met tragedy inside, this was definitely a crisis ridden place, if he were to recklessly follow these two masters, the only thing he would accomplish would be to slow them down.
“Of course you’re going in,” Cang Yan smiled meaningfully, “This time I’m afraid we’ll have to rely on you.”
“Rely on me?” Yang Kai became even more confused, “Senior must be joking.”
“I’m not joking at all. If it was just me here, I would never have agreed to Fei Yu’s request, but with you here, things are different. Good, once you enter you’ll understand.” Saying so, Cang Yan directly threw Yang Kai into the hole.
With that said, Yang Kai was helpless and could only quietly circulate his True Qi and gather his strength while increasing his vigilance.
This hole seems to be quite deep, and Yang Kai fell for almost as long as it would take for a stick of incense to burn before finally touching solid ground again. Standing firm, he quickly sidestepped and Cang Yan soon landed as well.
“So slow!” Fei Yu pouted, somewhat dissatisfied.
Cang Yan said nothing, summoning a bright fireball above his head, illuminating their surroundings.
“It really is a blessed land. I wonder which Senior’s secluded Cave Mansion this was!” Feeling the rich World Energy inside this place, Cang Yan’s eyes shined.
Fei Yu also seemed somewhat encouraged, “Since it’s a blessed land, there must be treasures as well.”
“Most likely!” Cang Yan nodded, “Let’s go.”
Saying so, he took the lead, with Fei Yu and Yang Kai following closely behind, all three of them on high alert.
As they walked forward, Fei Yu suddenly approached Yang Kai and whispered quietly into his ear, “Don’t use your Divine Sense to investigate, the favourite food of the Soul Devouring Insects in this place is Spiritual Energy, once your Soul and Knowledge Sea become infested with them, you’ll die just like the dozen disciples who first came here.”
Yang Kai’s expression became solemn as he quickly nodded, suddenly thinking of something, “Since all the disciples who came to search this place suffered misfortune, how did you receive news of them, did one of them manage to send a message before falling?”
“No,” Fei Yu shook her head, “It was my Martial Ancestor that discovered their situation. With Martial Ancestor’s supreme strength, he can monitor everything within a five hundred kilometer radius.”
Yang Kai was shocked.
Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor was truly awe-inspiring. Yang Kai’s current Divine Sense was also quite powerful and allowed him to perceive things within a hundred kilometers of himself, but the further away he tried to investigate something, the more Spiritual Energy he would consume and the less clear his perception would be. On the other hand, Soaring Heaven Sect’s Marital Ancestor was able to clearly sense and investigate anything within five hundred kilometers of his position, the gap between them was as far apart as Heaven and Earth.
Cang Yan suddenly stopped, because in front of him there was a cultivator dressed in Soaring Heaven Sect’s robes lying face up on the ground, his eyes dull and unmoving. Sweeping his eyes over this disciple, Cang Yan slowly shook his head.
This person was obviously dead.
Fei Yu no longer whispered to Yang Kai, her pretty face also becoming dignified as she summoned a bell-shaped artifact and poured her True Qi into it, forming an invisible protective barrier around the two of them before immediately following behind Cang Yan.
This bell-shaped artifact was clearly a Soul type artifact and was at least Spirit Grade. As soon as this artifact was activated, Yang Kai felt like he was being soaked in a warm pool of water, his whole body relaxing somewhat.
“Be careful not to stray too far from me. With your limited cultivation, once those Soul Devouring Insects target you, you’ll die,” Fei Yu warned solemnly.
Yang Kai nodded sternly, not daring to show the slightest bit of carelessness.
Because Cang Yan was confident in his strength, he took on the role of leading the group. From time to time, they would meet one or two Soaring Heaven Sect disciples, most of them already dead; however, there were still a few who were simply unconscious, their faces showing signs of struggle.
These comatose disciples were all fed some pills by Cang Yan as the trio passed through.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the group of three suddenly came across a large bronze cast door.
The moment the trio arrived in front of this bronze door though, a black fog suddenly burst forth from it. This black fog, which was composed of countless tiny objects that could not be clearly seen by the naked eye, immediately rushed towards the three people.
Cang Yan’s complexion changed dramatically, hastily retreating as he sent out a blast of scorching hot True Qi. Unfortunately, this blast of True Qi unable to incinerate the black fog it and was only capable of slightly impeding its momentum.
“Soul Devouring Insects!” Fei Yu cried out, her beautiful face also paling slightly, hurriedly pushing her True Qi, sending out a barrage of water arrows into the black fog.
“How can there be so many of them?” Fei Yu’s voice was slightly unsteady, continuing to attack as she called out, “Cang Yan, we need to retreat!”
Although she and Cang Yan were both Third Order Transcendents and could be considered powerful masters, facing this swarm of Exotic Ancient Insects, their abilities were still somewhat insufficient.
In this situation, all they could do was escape from here and report back to their Martial Ancestor.
Cang Yan however didn’t panic, falling back to Fei Yu and Yang Kai’s side as he stared at the rapidly approaching black fog, shouting out to Yang Kai, “Burn them with your Divine Sense!”
Yang Kai was momentarily stunned but quickly collected himself and sent out a burst of Spiritual Energy towards the swarm.
*Hu…*
A blistering hot aura filled the air as a burst of flames exploded in midair, easily incinerating the black fog that had left both Cang Yan and Fei Yu incapable of resisting.
“A Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?” Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes flashed brilliantly as she turned a surprised look towards Yang Kai.
She had not expected this young man to actually be the possessor of a rare Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.
“Without a card to play, do you think I would have accompanied you here just to die?” Cang Yan snorted, a gloating look appearing on his face.
Yang Kai on the other hand was completely focused. After seeing that his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea was actually the nemesis of these Exotic Ancient Insects, his anxiety faded completely, stepping forward towards the sealed bronze door.
He could sense that hidden inside this door there were still countless tiny lives.
They were obviously more Soul Devouring Insects.
This bronze door was no doubt the source of the dozen Soaring Heaven Sect disciples’ misfortune.
Under the continuous assault of Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Divine Sense, these Soul Devouring Insects didn’t have any chance to escape back into the bronze door and were all burned to death.
Seeing this, Cang Yan and Fei Yu both wore joyful expressions.
Sometime later, Yang Kai took back his Divine Sense and nodded to the two, “They should all be dead now.”
“Good job, little brother!” Fei Yu swayed her hips mesmerizingly as she walked over and patted Yang Kai’s shoulder intimately, “Elder Sister especially likes young promising kids like you. In the future, we must get better acquainted.”
“Haha…” Yang Kai let out a hollow laugh.
Cang Yan also came over and stared at the closed bronze door, an adventurous light flashing across his eyes.
Since this was likely and ancient cave mansion of some great expert, there was bound to be some treasures beyond this bronze gate.
“Do you want to go in and take a look?” Cang Yan turned to ask Fei Yu.
“After coming all this way, we can’t just turn back without investigating, right?” Fei Yu grinned.
Yang Kai’s eyes flickered before decisively saying, “I’ll wait for you here.”
Cang Yan and Fei Yu both turned to stare at him curiously, but Yang Kai quickly explained, “There may be other traps inside; me coming with you will only slow you down.”
“Fair enough,” Cang Yan nodded, “Then you wait here, we’ll be back soon.”
“Be careful, don’t let your guard down,” Fei Yu sincerely urged.
Yang Kai nodded, after which Cang Yan and Fei Yu pushed open the bronze door and rushed inside, soon disappearing.
After they left, Yang Kai slowly stepped in front of the bronze door and stared at it, his mouth slowly curling into a grin.
Releasing his Spiritual Energy in a clever manner, a moment later a black flog once more emerged from the bronze door.
The Soul Devouring Insects weren’t all dead!
Yang Kai was well aware that Cang Yan and Fei Yu did not dare to release their Divine Senses in this environment so he took advantage of this to successfully deceive them.
He didn’t know why Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor wanted to see him, or what the latter had planned for him, but Yang Kai realized clearly that in the Tong Xuan Realm, his own strength was currently too weak. However, these Soul Devouring Insects which could even force Third Order Transcendents back could act as a powerful trump card for him.
Perhaps he was acting somewhat overly suspicious, but Yang Kai still had to make some plans for his future regardless.
This was also why, even though he knew perfectly well that there would be treasures hidden behind this bronze door, Yang Kai had not gone to seek them and instead had elected to collect these Soul Devouring Insects. On top of that, he was not willing to provoke any kind of dispute between himself, Cang Yan and Fei Yu.
If they obtained any treasures and didn’t apportion him anything, Yang Kai would definitely feel somewhat uncomfortable. At least this way, what he didn’t see or know about, he wouldn’t be upset over not obtaining.
Continuing to emit Spiritual Energy, Yang Kai carefully guided the Soul Devouring Insects into his Knowledge Sea.
Soul Devouring Insects were living creatures, but unlike the Yin Yang Monster Ginseng, they couldn’t be stored inside the Black Book space.
Under the influence of Yang Kai’s Spiritual Energy, these Soul Devouring Insects seemed to have become incredibly obedient, all of them orderly flying into his Knowledge Sea as he wished.
Yang Kai expertly controlled the Spiritual Energy contained in his Knowledge Sea, preventing his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea from injuring his new ‘guests’ before placing them all on island formed by his Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus.
Inside Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, this was the only place where there was no burning flames, and it was also the most suitable place to house the Soul Devouring Insects.
Soul Devouring Insects fed on Spiritual Energy, and the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus was constantly emitting a gentle yet indescribably pure Spiritual Energy, nourishing Yang Kai’s Soul.
As soon as these Exotic Ancient Insects landed on the five coloured island, they immediately fell in love with this place and were longer willing to leave.
This result was not within Yang Kai’s calculations, but it was by no means a misdemeanour.
As long as he could carefully tame and control these Exotic Ancient Insects, not only would they not cause any damage to him, Yang Kai could even use his unlimited supply of Spiritual Energy to cultivate them, strengthen them, and use them to confront his enemies when need be.
Receiving the Soul Devouring Insects added another powerful card to Yang Kai’s hand.
Although his physical body and cultivation were still only at the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary, not even having reached the Transcendent Realm, if it came down to a pure confrontation between Souls, Yang Kai now felt that he wouldn’t even fear Saint Realm masters.
His Conflagrated Knowledge Sea and the Soul Devouring Insects could be used to handle external threats, and although the Solitary Golden Eye could only display its might internally, any overconfident master that rashly rushed into Yang Kai Knowledge Sea would never return.
Having acquired this additional layer of protection, Yang Kai felt slightly more relieved.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai did not immediately sit down to cultivate but instead walked back along the path they had entered from.
He wanted to collect all of the Soul Devouring Insects still attacking the surviving Soaring Heaven Sect disciples’ Knowledge Seas.
Of the original dozen or so, only four or five were still alive, and if they were left as is, they would certainly die. Even Soaring Heaven Sect’s Marital Ancestor may not be able to do anything about their situation.
Although Yang Kai was essentially acting in his own self-interest, if he succeeded, he would still be saving their lives, which would no doubt earn him some favour with Soaring Heaven Sect’s masters. It was a win-win situation.
With nothing to worry about, either way, Yang Kai acted decisively.
Beyond the bronze door, after Cang Yan and Fei Yu rushed inside, they had searched the entire cave mansion for hidden treasures.
Both of them had some gains so they were obviously quite happy.
“Cang Yan, I suddenly thought of something. Marital Ancestor sending me to handle this task me just now and then my running into you and that little boy… is all of this really just a coincidence?” Fei Yu seemed to have noticed something and spoke her doubts as the pair continued searching for treasures.
“It really shouldn’t be a coincidence,” Cang Yan nodded, “Martial Ancestor probably wanted to use this opportunity to find out what that kid’s disposition was.”
“Did you know from the beginning?” Fei Yu looked at Cang Yan with a sweet smile.
“Naturally, as soon as I heard about the Soul Devouring Insects, I understood Martial Ancestor’s intentions. Soul Devouring Insects can only be dealt with by those with Conflagrated Knowledge Seas, so how could it be a coincidence that I just happened to be bringing back a person with such a rare Knowledge Sea mutation?” Cang Yan quickly said, “If it weren’t for me bringing him back, Martial Ancestor would never have sent you to deal with this situation.”
“If that’s so though, it would seem like Martial Ancestor isn’t that familiar with that little boy, but then why did Martial Ancestor ask you to find him?”
“That’s what I want to know. Two months ago, Martial Ancestor suddenly summoned me and told me to find him. After that, it took me quite a bit of effort to track him down,” Cang Yan’s brow knit slightly, “Moreover, I’m certain that kid doesn’t know Martial Ancestor.”
“Strange, but Martial Ancestor has always been unpredictable,” Fei Yu curled her lips meaningfully, “However, even though you already understood the idea of Martial Ancestor, you still dared to bargain with me for advantages. You’re too shameless! Don’t even dream of getting that bottle of Thousand Safflower Wine.”
Hearing this, Cang Yan’s expression turned bitter.
“A Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, interesting…” Fei Yu muttered with a smile.
“He’s also a Spirit Grade Alchemist,” Cang Yan suddenly added.
Fei Yu’s tender body trembled, “Really?”
“I think that may be the reason why Martial Ancestor asked me to find him. This kid’s future is boundless; I’m really looking forward to seeing if he can stir up a storm throughout all of Tong Xuan Realm, becoming an existence no less renowned than The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep.”
“If that’s the case, then I really should try to get closer to him. Such outstanding geniuses are incredibly rare,” Fei Yu said in a rare dignified tone, it was only now that she realized she had still been somewhat looking down on Yang Kai.
“Also… I have a feeling his potential is far from just that. There are a lot of mysteries surrounding that kid. Judging from his current performance, if he was to receive dedicated training, he would likely overwhelm all the young talents from the top forces across the realm and quickly become Tong Xuan’s most dazzling star.”
“Someone who could attract Martial Ancestor’s attention is certainly not ordinary,” Fei Yu agreed.
The two masters secretly decided that before Yang Kai fully revealed himself to the world, they would definitely establish a good relationship with him. When he was able to summon the wind and rain in the future, there would definitely be benefits for them.
Roughly one day later, Yang Kai saw Cang Yan and Fei Yu re-emerge from the bronze door.
Both of them wore big smiles on their faces; it seems their harvests weren’t small.
When they saw Yang Kai sitting cross-legged, quietly waiting for them with five Soaring Heaven Sect disciples lying down nearby, Cang Yan and Fei Yu couldn’t help showing amazed expressions.
“En, I was idle anyways so I tried to scatter the Soul Devouring Insects in their Knowledge Seas, I didn’t expect it to actually be so easy. They should be able to fully recover after a year or so of cultivation,” Yang Kai explained
“Impressive,” Cang Yan’s eyes flashed brightly as he complimented.
Earlier, he and Fei Yu could only give these disciples some pills to temporarily alleviate their conditions because they had no idea how to go about saving them. They had thought there was no hope for these disciples but now, unexpectedly, Yang Kai had given them a big surprise.
“Elder Sister is liking you more and more,” Fei Yu smiled warmly, “Good, you are these disciples’ saviour, in the future, you don’t have to worry. Elder Sister will not treat you unjustly.”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, indicating it was just a minor matter, “How did things go on your end?”
“Good,” Cang Yan showed a faint smile before suddenly pulling out a number of items and showing them to Yang Kai as he said firmly, “This is everything I and Fei Yu found inside; unfortunately, most of the treasures had already turned to dust after such a long time. In any case, take a look, if you want anything, feel free to take it.”
“I also have a share?” Yang Kai pointed at himself and asked in surprise.
“Of course you have a share. Do you think we would horde everything for ourselves?” Fei Yu giggled lightly, “If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have even been able to pass this door, let alone search for treasures. You also saved several of our disciples. For this trip, you definitely contributed the most.”
“Then I won’t hold back,” Yang Kai smiled faintly, turning his attention to the items laid out in front of him.
Cang Yan and Fei Yu glanced at each other and nodded secretly, both of them thinking this kid firm character while being neither servile nor arrogant.
If it was some other junior, in front of the two of them, they wouldn’t dare act so. Instead, they would certainly choose to give up these immediate interests in exchange for leaving a good impression on both of them.
When he needed to act, he acted decisively!
In front of Yang Kai were five things, three artifacts, a Secret Art, and a black fist-sized stone.
This was indeed everything that Cang Yan and Fei Yu had found inside, they hadn’t concealed anything.
Among the three artifacts, one of them was Spirit Grade Top-Rank while the other two were actually Saint Grade, their values immeasurable.
Even masters like Cang Yan and Fei Yu had never owned Saint Grade artifacts.
The Secret Art was also a rare treasure, actually reaching the Spirit Grade Top-Rank.
After examining these five items for a while, Yang Kai’s eyes finally fixed on the black stone. The stone was round and he couldn’t see what kind of material it was comprised of. Yang Kai poured his True Qi into it but there was no reaction, he also tried probing it with his Divine Sense but couldn’t glean anything from it once again.
“What is this?” Yang Kai asked the two masters.
Both Cang Yan and Fei Yu shook their heads, they also knew nothing about this stone, only that it had been placed in a very covert location, so they had conveniently brought it with them.
“Then I want this,” Yang Kai said with a smile.
Cang Yan frowned and said sternly said, “You should choose an artifact to defend yourself. Although you can’t use Saint Grade artifacts as your cultivation level is too low and may even harm yourself if you tried to, but this Spirit Grade Top-Rank artifact is still quite good.”
“That’s right, you don’t have to be so modest,” Fei Yu was also confused, wondering how this boy’s personality had changed so much after acting so decisive just a moment ago.
She was somewhat uncomfortable seeing this.
Choosing a stone that none of them knew how to use, it seemed like he was intentionally suffering a loss.
“I’m not trying to act modest!” Yang Kai laughed, “Since even you two can’t see what this thing is, it can only mean one of two things, either it’s worthless or it’s priceless, if I choose it, there’s a chance I’ll gain even more than you.”
“You want to gamble?” Cang Yan somewhat disapproved, “The benefits that one holds in their hands are the only real benefits.”
“True, but the very fact that it is here means you intentionally brought it out, which indicates there’s a great possibility of it being something valuable. The two of you aren’t blind after all,” Yang Kai smiled and grabbed the black stone, “I have no need for these artifacts and I can’t use this Secret Art, so I might as well take this.”
“Since you insist, we won’t say anymore, if some day you discover you’ve lost this bet, don’t come crying to us,” Fei Yu snorted and no longer tried to dissuade him, quickly carving up the other four items with Cang Yan.
Each of them took one of the Saint Grade artifacts and then divided up the remaining Spirit Grade Top-Rank artifact and Secret Art.
Having reaped a full harvest, Cang Yan and Fei Yu were both exceptionally happy.
“Let’s go, Martial Ancestor must be waiting for us,” Cang Yan said, grabbing two unconscious disciples and taking the lead.
Fei Yu also grabbed two, before turning to Yang Kai and grinning, “The last one is yours. I specially reserved a beauty for you. Don’t worry too much, she should be an unpicked flower. Feel free to take full advantage of this opportunity while she’s still unconscious.”
Saying so, she gave him a sly smile, silently egging him on.
Yang Kai laughed dumbly despite trying not to, carried the last female disciple of Soaring Heaven Sect on his back, and followed after Cang Yan and Fei Yu.
On their trip back, all three of them showed their movement skills and quickly returned to the outside world.
After taking a moment to find his bearings, Cang Yan simply flew off towards the direction of Soaring Heaven Sect without saying an extra word.
Yang Kai and Fei Yu hurriedly kept up.
After an hour or so, the three arrived above a huge mountain valley. Taking a look around, there were many scattered houses below as well as a good number of cultivators going about their business.
Although the cultivators here weren’t as numerous as they were back at Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, Yang Kai quickly noticed that the overall strength of each individual cultivator was stronger.
The World Energy aura here was also rich to the point where it was nearly tangible, like a river that flowed through the valley. The moment Yang Kai arrived here and took a deep breath, he immediately felt comfortable and relaxed.
The mountain valley was enormous to the point that Yang Kai, who was floating high up in the air and looking down, couldn’t see the end of it, surprising him greatly.
Instead of calling it a valley, it was more appropriate to describe it as a concave plain.
Around the valley, there were a hundred mountain peaks that towered high into the sky like blades. These mountains were filled with birds, beasts, spirit grasses, and spirit medicines, exuding a rich vitality.
These mountain peaks seem to be randomly scattered around the valley, but upon closer inspection, Yang Kai felt that there was something special about their arrangement. The distant World Energy seemed to be attracted by some kind of invisible force and passed through the surrounding hundred mountain peaks and flowed into the valley, nourishing the cultivators, beasts, and plants that resided within.
Cang Yan and Fei Yu both secretly nodded to each other once more.
Yang Kai being able to so quickly notice the mysteries of this place clearly indicated his vision was extraordinary.
“These hundred peaks are the foundation of my Soaring Heaven Sect,” Cang Yan explained.
“Oh? Do they serve some kind of profound purpose?”
“Indeed they do,” Cang Yan gently nodded, “You should also be aware that the outside World Energy is gathering towards the sect, this is because of the Hundred Peak Spirit Array. The hundred and one peaks here act as nodes for this grand Spirit Arrays! What’s more, only half of these peaks were naturally formed.”
“What about the other half?”
“They were created by Martial Ancestor,” Cang Yan grinned.
Yang Kai’s eyes trembled as he exclaimed in shock, “Your Sect’s Martial Ancestor is incredible.”
“Naturally, when one’s strength and cultivation reaches a certain height, they become capable of boiling seas, raising mountains, and even plucking the stars themselves. Rumour has it that there are supreme masters capable of leaving this realm and traversing the Starry Sky in order to seek out the incredible resources and opportunities scattered amongst the stars.”
“Traversing the Starry Sky?” Yang Kai couldn’t help showing a brilliant look, as if a grand door in front of him was slowly opening, allowing him to spy on a profound mystery he had never even dreamed of before. His eyes flashing a brilliant light, he opened his ears and listened carefully to every word Cang Yan was saying.
“En, traversing the Starry Sky!” Cang Yan nodded repeatedly, “You saw the strange cyan stone in Old Man Du’s hand a few days ago, right? That was a product from the Starry Sky; it doesn’t exist in Tong Xuan Realm. That stone is incredibly valuable, it’s a pity it was ultimately destroyed.”
“The Starry Sky has an innumerable variety of medicinal herbs and ores, many of which actually even exceed Saint Grade; there are also giant beasts with the strength that exceed that of Saint Realm masters, even the smallest of which is bigger than my Soaring Heaven Sect’s entire valley.”
Yang Kai’s jaw dropped slowly, a look of amazement and disbelief appearing on his face.
What Cang Yan had just told him, was simply too incredible.
“Well, this is only what the legends say. As for what the Starry Sky actually looks like, nobody knows! No master has ever managed to successfully travel the vast Starry Sky and return to tell the tale,” Cang Yan rubbed his nose and added.
Yang Kai was stunned for a moment but soon laughed and nodded, “Even so, your Soaring Heaven Sect’s Spirit Array is still amazing. Where I’m from, such a wondrous formation even existing would be inconceivable.”
“Where you’re from?” Cang Yan was intrigued.
“En, I’m from a small, remote backcountry that’s far, far inferior to here,” Yang Kai explained vaguely.
“I see,” Cang Yan nodded slightly. “The Hundred Peak Spirit Array is truly a magnificent accomplishment. Even throughout the entire Tong Xuan Realm, few Spirit Arrays are its equal. This Spirit Array doesn’t just gather the surrounding World Energy, if the Sect ever encounters a great disaster, the Hundred Peak Spirit Array can also play a defensive role; of course, no one dares to invade my Soaring Heaven Sect, so I have never actually seen the Hundred Peak Spirit Array fully open before.”
“Enough idle chatter you two, hurry up,” Fei Yu interrupted the two men’s conversation impatiently.
“En, I’ll finish introducing Little Brother to everything around here later,” Cang Yan said in a friendly manner, he had already decided to build a good relationship with Yang Kai.
Cang Yan no longer spoke about these matters and instead led Yang Kai and Fei Yu down towards the valley.
Perhaps because the World Energy here was so rich, when one looked down at this place from the sky, everything seemed somewhat illusory, like a light fog was enveloping the entire valley, adding a layer of mystery and danger to it.
A moment later, the group of three landed.
As Cang Yan leisurely strolled forward, the Soaring Heaven Sect disciples that met him along the way all bowed and greeted him respectfully. These cultivators were all quite strong, most of them have at least broken through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary. The aura surrounding these disciples was thick and solid, clearly, they were much stronger than average cultivators in the same realm and stage.
Yang Kai silently expressed his admiration.
Each of Soaring Heaven Sect’s disciples had vigorous yet well-restrained auras, their vitality, physique, meridians were all extremely solid while their True Qi was dense and potent, their combat power was obviously not to be underestimated.
After handing over the five disciples they had rescued to some disciples to take care of, Cang Yan led Yang Kai to a relatively remote courtyard and said, “You can stay here for now, after I report to Martial Ancestor, I’ll come and find you.”
“I don’t need to see your respected Martial Ancestor now?” Yang Kai frowned, he had thought he would immediately be meeting Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor.
After all, Yang Kai had many doubts in his heart, so he was quite anxious to meet this Saint Realm master and clear up his own confusion. But from Cang Yan’s words, obviously, he would have to wait for some time.
“When Martial Ancestor summons you, I’ll lead you to see him,” Cang Yan smiled and didn’t say anything more, turning around and departing casually.
Fei Yu turned her eyes to Yang Kai and gently consoled him, “You don’t need to worry yourself, it’s impossible for Martial Ancestor to have any malicious intentions towards a little boy like you, if that were really the case, he wouldn’t have specially sent Cang Yan out to find you. Good, let me give you a gift for you to pass your time with.”
Saying so, she suddenly threw two things to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai instinctually caught them and found that they were actually a pair of shackles made from some unidentifiable stone material.
“What are these?” Yang Kai examined them and, to his surprise, couldn’t discover anything extraordinary about them. They weighed less than half a kilogram each and there was no trace of any Spirit Arrays engraved on them or any kind of energy stored within them. It really seemed like an ordinary toy.
“Try pouring your True Qi into them, remember to pour in as much as possible!” Fei Yu instructed.
Yang Kai nodded unsuspectingly and quickly poured his True Qi into the two stone shackles.
In the next instant, he suddenly felt an incredibly heavy weight pulling down on him, causing him to fall forward and nearly plummeted to the ground.
After tumbling unsteadily through the air, Yang Kai somehow avoided embarrassing himself.
*Hong Hong…*
With two muffled thuds, the two shackles fell to the ground and smashed open two deep pits.
Yang Kai paled slightly, a surprised and shocked look appearing on his face.
Hearing an enchanting burst of laughter to his side, Yang Kai slowing turned his head and saw Fei Yu giggling happily.
“You tricked me?” Yang Kai knit his brow as he stared at this beautiful woman.
Because he felt that this woman had no malicious intentions towards him, Yang Kai naturally hadn’t thought much about things and had thus been successfully pranked by her. These two shackled were obviously not ordinary toys, but instead, valuable tools.
“Elder Sister is just teaching you a lesson, don’t readily believe anyone,” Fei Yu giggled lightly.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and nodded, “I have indeed been taught, aunty is quite a sinister character.”
Fei Yu’s laughter came to an abrupt end and her pair of beautiful eyes immediately flashed a dangerous light as she glared angrily towards Yang Kai.
Suddenly, from a nearby treetop, a burst of laughter rang out.
Fei Yu whipped around and pushed her hand forward, sending out a water dragon towards the man hiding in the tree.
“Just try laughing again and see if I don’t rip your mouth from your face!” Fei Yu stared at the man coldly.
The man shrank his neck, and he didn’t dare to laugh again, pointing his finger out and releasing a burst of light towards Fei Yu’s Water Dragon, smashing it before he too shot off like a bolt of lightning and disappeared, his voice passing over from far away, “Kid, if you want to live a bit longer, stay away from this crazy woman. The farther the better!”
“Li Wan, today is the day of your death!” Fei Yu’s tender body flickered and immediately chased after the retreating figure.
All Yang Kai could do was stare blankly.
[Another Third Order Transcendent master!]
The man who just appeared had been hiding right next to him yet Yang Kai didn’t even notice his presence, his method of concealing his presence was perfect.
Although it was only a glimpse, Yang Kai also saw the face of this man, his build was short and thin, as was his head, atop his mouth was a distinctive mustache that gave his face a particularly nefarious look. In short, he was a master who left quite a memorable impression.
On their way here, Cang Yan had told Yang Kai that Soaring Heaven Sect had four Transcendent Realm Third Order Protectors, of which he and Fei Yu were two of them.
This Li Wan should also be one, and as for the remaining one, Yang Kai had yet to meet him.
However, Yang Kai now faintly realized that these four all had their own fields of expertise.
Cang Yan specialized in fire, Fei Yu in water, and Li Wan’s forte should be either speed or explosiveness. From the explosion the latter created a moment ago, Yang Kai could naturally sense how tyrannical his power was.
Standing there for a while, with no one coming up to disturb him, Yang Kai’s expression became slightly weird.
He arrived at this extremely powerful Sect through a strange series of events that he had no control over, but for some unknown reason, this place made Yang Kai feel somewhat disquieted.
However, now that he was here, he didn’t think too much about it because there was really nothing he could do about it. He could only place his hopes on Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor, hoping the latter could dispel his doubts.
His eyes flashing, Yang Kai turned his attention to the two strange shackles that were currently lying in pits of their own making in front of him, reaching out and picking them up.
The moment he lifted them, Yang Kai was surprised to find that these two shackles no longer possessed that terrifying weight and instead weighed at most half a kilogram now, just as they had when he first received them from Fei Yu.
Of course, the fact that they had weighed a tremendous amount only a short time ago was a fact, the two giant pits being all the proof Yang Kai needed to know he hadn’t imagined it.
Frowning for a moment, Yang Kai slowly poured his True Qi into the shackles.
In the next instant, Yang Kai’s brow relaxed and as he expected, with the addition of True Qi, the two shackles became significantly heavier, causing his arms to tremble lightly from exertion.
As he continued to pour in his True Qi, the weight of the shackles also increased.
Even before Yang Kai fully pushed his True Qi, he found that he was somewhat unable to hold up the two shackles. By now they weighed at least five or six thousand kilograms.
The ground around where Yang Kai was standing suddenly trembled and spider-web like cracks began spreading from his feat. Obviously, the earth here couldn’t withstand the tremendous pressure.
After understanding the function and method of use of these shackles, Yang Kai wore a joyful expression, suddenly feeling that Fei Yu had really thrown him a valuable gift. Not only would these shackles give him something to fiddle with to pass the time, but it would also allow him to exercise his physique.
Soaring Heaven Sect, inside a secluded room.
Cang Yan stood respectfully and reported to his Martial Ancestor about the things that happened after he had found Yang Kai.
After hearing that Yang Kai killed Duan Hai and Xu Qi right before Xia Cheng Yin’s eyes, Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor’s eyes couldn’t help shining, revealing a deep smile.
Later, when Cang Yan reported to his Martial Ancestor about what transpired inside the ancient cave mansion, the latter couldn’t help asking in surprise, “He has a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?”
Cang Yan’s brow rose slightly as he asked, “Martial ancestor didn’t know?”
“En, I didn’t,” The old man slowly shook his head, “My intuition simply told me that this matter could be resolved by him, so I sent Fei Yu out just as you were returning.”
“Has Martial Ancestor really never met that kid before?”
“En, I’ve never met him, but… he has some connections to this old master!”
Cang Yan looked confused as he apparently couldn’t understand what kind of connection there could be between Yang Kai and his Martial Ancestor.
“Good, besides the two of us, Du Wan, and Xia Cheng Yin, is there anyone else who knows about him having a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea?” Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor asked lightly.
Cang Yan’s expression became solemn as he nodded sternly, “Yes, a little girl from the Alchemist Guild knows and on the way back, Fei Yu also saw it.”
“I understand, you’re dismissed.”
“Disciple will now take his leave!” Cang Yan stepped back, turned around, and left. Once outside the secluded room, Cang Yan unconsciously turned his gaze towards the direction of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion and a cold; callus grin slowly crept onto his face.
…..
Yang Kai stayed in Soaring Heaven Sect for two days. During that time, only Fei Yu came to see him once. As for Cang Yan, Yang Kai had no idea where he had gone, and obviously, no one else came up and called out to him.
Fei Yu had actually delivered him a bottle of Thousand Safflower Wine, saying that it was a thank you gift for his help back in the ancient cave mansion.
This beautiful woman was somewhat unconventional. When she came to see Yang Kai, she was clearly drunk, her face and long slender neck dyed an intoxicated shade of red, giving her a particularly tempting glow.
“Don’t drink too much at once. With your small build, you won’t be able to handle it,” Fei Yu smiled as she put down the bottle of Thousand Safflower Wine before disappearing somewhere.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but smile; he didn’t even have the opportunity to ask her anything about the current situation and could only put the bottle of Thousand Safflower Wine into his Black Book space before continuing to walk around his courtyard slowly.
From a bystander’s perspective, he was just pacing around freely, his speed neither fast nor slow; however, if one looked closely, his muscles were all fully tensed, as if his body was bearing some kind of tremendous pressure.
But what was even stranger was that wherever he stepped, he left no traces behind, everything seemed completely ordinary.
Three days later, Cang Yan suddenly appeared beckoned towards Yang Kai, “Martial Ancestor wants to see you.”
Yang Kai smiled happily and quickly walked over.
He had too many questions he wanted to ask, and he also wanted to know what kind of person Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor was.
Before they had gone very far though, Cang Yan stared at him strangely and asked, “Are you nervous?”
“No,” Yang Kai shook his head.
“Then why is your True Qi always surging? And your physique seems to be drawn taut… no wait…” Cang Yan’s expression suddenly changed as he stared at Yang Kai deeply and inquired, “Did Fei Yu give you her Primordial Shackles?”
“So these things are called Primordial Shackles?”
Cang Yan nodded lightly, “The more True Qi you pour into them, the heavier they become, how much weight are you currently carrying?”
“Somewhere between four and five thousand kilograms.”
“Kid, you’re really a strange one,” Cang Yan was shocked, “Have you also practiced body cultivation?”
“En, I have.”
The Unyielding Golden Skeleton’s Tempered Body Record was a Secret Art dedicated to the development of physical strength so now even though he was carrying an additional four or five thousand kilograms, Yang Kai could still move about unhindered. Besides feeling a little unnatural, even if he was walking around casually, he wouldn’t leave any kind of noticeable imprints on the ground.
Cang Yan silently expressed his admiration, he had also tried out Fei Yu’s Primordial Shackles before and understood them well. When he thought about when he was at Yang Kai’s cultivation realm, he couldn’t help thinking he wouldn’t be able to perform as well having to carry so much additional weight.
[But Yang Kai is an Alchemist. Why was his physical strength so intrepid?] Cang Yan thought.
Alchemist are normally immersed in their studies of the Alchemic Way all year round and spend very little time on cultivation, so basically, all Alchemists possess lower than average combat strength. When an ordinary cultivator and an Alchemist in the same cultivation realm fight, the one who suffers defeat is almost always the Alchemist.
However, earlier, Cang Yan had watched as Yang Kai killed Duan Hai and Xu Qi, and dove into the Wind Eye and Thunder Eye to cultivate some mysterious, so the former faintly felt that this kid seemed to be more than just a Spirit Grade Alchemist with a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea. At the very least, he was not a simple character.
Sometime later, Cang Yan came to a small out of the way house and stopped, turning to Yang Kai and saying, “Go in, Martial Ancestor is waiting for you inside.”
Yang Kai nodded slightly, took a deep breath, and strode forward.
Entering the house, he turned a corner and entered into a solitary room deeper inside. The candlelight seemed to be swaying in the faint breeze, as if it could be snuffed out at any time.
The illumination in the room wasn’t bright but that could not conceal an old man with a thin body and snow white hair who was silently sitting cross-legged. This old man gave off no aura and appeared as tranquil as an ancient well, as if he was just an ordinary mortal.
But Yang Kai still stared blankly for a moment for he knew without a doubt that this was Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor; carefully sizing him up, Yang Kai cautiously but firmly stepped forward.
Arriving in front of the old man, he cupped his fists and bowed politely, “Junior Yang, greets Senior!”
The old man slowly opened his eyes and stared at Yang Kai, soon smiling as he commented, “Excellent aptitude, steady will, and a bold and courageous temperament. Good, nowadays, such young people are a rare sight.”
“Senior’s praise is too generous.”
“En, sit down!”
Yang Kai sat cross-legged on the futon in front of him, but upon taking a seat, his expression tightened as he smelled a faint bloody scent lingering in the air.
“I know that you have a lot of questions, but there’s no need to be anxious, first open the package in front of you and have a look,” The old man said with a smile.
Yang Kai looked down and saw a small box in front of him; there were obvious fresh blood stains on it so there was no doubt it was the source of the bloody scent he had just smelt.
Yang Kai frowned slightly, but didn’t hesitate and proceeded to open the package. Upon seeing the contests though, his hand shook slightly before he turned his eyes towards Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor in surprise.
It was a human head!
Moreover, it was actually Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master, Xia Cheng Yin’s head!
“Before you have grown up, no one should reveal the existence of your Conflagrated Knowledge Sea,” The old man smiled and said.
“Many thanks Senior for taking action!” Yang Kai hastily expressed his sincere gratitude.
Originally, Yang Kai had been planning to quickly break through to the Transcendent Realm and then silence this remaining witness, but he had not thought that Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor would actually take the initiative to help him clean up this matter ahead of time. This allowed Yang Kai to put down a great burden that was weighing on his heart.
At that time, Yang Kai really had no other choice but to reveal the secret of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, because in his view, information about the Ancient Demon Clan and the Coffin Carrying Man absolutely could not be revealed.
“A minor matter,” The old man just lightly shook his head.
With his strength and means, killing Bright Thunder Spirit Religion’s Religion Master, a mere Third Order Transcendent, was indeed a minor matter. Before Xia Cheng Yin had even responded, his head had already been separated from his body.
“Senior,” Yang Kai sat in a respectful manner and solemnly said, “May I ask, why have you done all this? Why did you send Cang Yan to look for me? Why did Cang Yan take such good care of me? And why are you even willing to kill Bright Thunder’s Religion Master? I don’t believe we’ve ever met, have we?”
“Heh heh,” The old man chuckled, “This old master doing so, naturally there is a reason, en, first of all, this old master is called Chu Ling Xiao. After hearing this, have you understood anything?”
Yang Kai’s expression changed, faintly realizing something as his eyes stared towards the old man, the vigilance in his gaze gradually melting and being replaced with a bright light.
“It seems you have some idea but are still not sure, then let this old master show you some evidence,” Chu Ling Xiao smiled and suddenly stretched out his hand, sending a pulse of energy into Yang Kai’s body.
Before Yang Kai could react, the sound of a clinking chain rang out inside the chamber.
A shining golden chain had suddenly strangely appeared above Yang Kai and flew over to Chu Ling Xiao.
“The Devil Sealing Chain!” Yang Kai called out in surprise.
This was the evil suppressing artifact he had acquired beneath High Heaven Pavilion’s Coiling Dragon Stream. Since he obtained it, Yang Kai had used it twice, the first time being when he killed Demon General Meng Ge’s Soul Clone in the depths of the Evil Cavern.
The second time was beneath the Central Capital, where he used the Devil Sealing Chain to deal with Demon Lord Yang Bai.
After the death of Yang Bai, Yang Kai had taken back the Devil Sealing Chain and not used it since.
But now, the Devil Sealing Chain was summoned out by Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial Ancestor!
“This thing belongs to this old master!” Chu Ling Xiao smiled as he said to Yang Kai.
The last remnants of confusion in Yang Kai’s eyes faded and he finally understood everything.
Yang Kai scratched his head lightly as asked the old man hesitantly, “Ancestral Founder?”
Chu Ling Xiao nodded lightly, “This old master didn’t expect that after a few hundred years someone from that world would arrive on Tong Xuan Realm. You must have encountered a lot of hardship, you’ve worked hard.”
“I haven’t suffered much hardship, many people have assisted me on my journey here,” Yang Kai’s was subtly excited as he looked at Chu Ling Xiao, feeling a sense of warmth and comfort, as if he had returned home.
“If so then that’s for the best,” Chu Ling Xiao sighed slightly, “A few hundred years ago, this old master also traveled to that side, so I know just how barren that place is, you being able to arrive here is really quite surprising.”
“Then, was High Heaven Pavilion really founded by Senior?” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed brilliantly.
“En,” Chu Ling Xiao nodded, “I established the Sect using my own name. Originally, while I was pursuing a Demon General, I crossed a Void Corridor and arrived at your world. After fighting him there, I finally managed to scatter his Soul but was unable to destroy his physical body, so I could only use the Devil Sealing Chain to bind and seal it in a deep ravine. I then founded High Heaven Pavilion so there would be someone to stand guard over that Demon General’s body. After a couple dozen years had passed, I determined that the last remnants of that Demon General’s Soul had finally dissipated and then I found my way back here,” Chu Ling Xiao explained, asking curiously in the next moment, “Time has passed by so quickly. Are you one of High Heaven Pavilion’s current disciples?”
“Yes.”
“Good, good, you being able to obtain the Devil Sealing Chain means there is some fate between you and I,” Chu Ling Xiao smiled happily, pausing for a moment before asking, “What is the situation like on that side now? Is the Sect still alright?”
“Everything over there is fine now, but a few years ago the Sect was nearly wiped out.”
“Oh? It seems this old master was too irresponsible with the Sect he created. Tell me about it.”
Yang Kai spoke about how he joined High Heaven Pavilion and all the various events and trials, big and small, he and Sect had overcome these past few years. Having not been able to be so open with anyone for so long, Yang Kai did not try to conceal anything. After all, the old man with a gentle temperament and kind smile in front of him was not just Soaring Heaven Sect’s Martial ancestor, he was also the Ancestral Founder of High Heaven Pavilion. Yang Kai naturally did not need to hide anything from him.
Chu Ling Xiao also listened with great interested; seemingly quite concerned with the successors of his legacy he had left over on that side.
When he heard that High Heaven Pavilion’s current Sect Master had become a Second Order Transcendent, Chu Ling Xiao couldn’t help smiling brightly.
He knew just what the conditions of that world were like. Anyone being able to break through to such a realm must have extremely good aptitude and natural talent.
When Chu Ling Xiao departed, he hadn’t left much behind, only a single Universe Bag; the very same one Ling Tai Xu had given Yang Kai and which was currently in Su Yan’s hands.
“It turns out you were from one of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families. When this old master was over on that side, I had heard much about their strength,” Chu Ling Xiao nodded lightly.
“There’s no comparison between them and this side though,” Yang Kai shook his head, any random force here was stronger than all of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families combined.
“How did you come to this side?” Chu Ling Xiao asked curiously.
Yang Kai went on to describe how he had found a Void Corridor with Shui Ling and made the subsequent trip here.
“Water Spirit Temple, good, this old master has heard about them, a Sect that specializes in Water Attribute Secret Arts,” Chu Ling Xiao nodded slightly, “You’ve indeed worked hard to be able to arrive at this step.”
“This is just the path this disciple has chosen,” Yang Kai replied righteously.
“What plans do you have for the future?” Chu Ling Xiao kindly asked.
“Nothing for the time being; however, there are two people I want to find.”
“Who are you looking for?”
“My two Senior Sisters, they also crossed over to this side,” Yang Kai replied.
Chu Ling Xiao smiled and nodded, “What characteristics do they have? I can let the Sect’s people help pay attention to any news about them.”
Yang Kai quickly described the features of Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang, adding on after, “Strictly speaking, they are actually four people I am looking for. In addition to my two Senior Sisters, there is also a Devil Lord who possessed the body of the Demon General Ancestral Founder sealed in High Heaven Pavilion all those years ago.”
“A Devil Lord?”
“Ancestral Founder can rest assured, he shouldn’t be a member of the Demon Race, it’s just that his cultivation techniques are somewhat evil. He has helped me a lot and I consider him my friend. He calls himself Old Demon, as for his real name, he’s never mentioned it before.”
“Old Demon? I’ve never heard of him, but I’ll believe in your vision, and the last one?”
“An old foggy name Meng Wu Ya, he’s a very mysterious person.”
“Meng Wu Ya?” Chu Ling Xiao expression changed dramatically, “Did you say Meng Wu Ya?”
“Does Ancestral Founder know him?”
“I do know someone named Meng Wu Ya, but I don’t know if it is the same person, what does he look like?”
Yang Kai quickly described the appearance of Meng Wu Ya. Chu Ling Xiao’s expression became weird as he murmured, “Is it really him? He was supposed to have died already but now it seems that old fox is alive and kicking and also escaped to that side.”
Yang Kai was also quite surprised, “Ancestral Founder seems to be quite familiar with Treasurer Meng…”
“I am indeed familiar with him, I’ve even fought with him several times, but there’s no hatred between us, both of us were just exchanging pointers. That guy… en, he’s a tough character to handle. About two hundred years ago, he and the Demon Commander fought a great battle after which he disappeared. We all thought he was dead.”
“He and Ancestral Founder fought one another?” Yang Kai’s eyes couldn’t help bulging, “What realm had he achieved that he could exchange moves with you?”
“The Saint Realm obviously,” Chu Ling Xiao was surprised by Yang Kai’s reaction, “Why? What’s wrong?”
Yang Kai mouth twitched a few times before he managed to reply, “Several years ago, when I first met him, his cultivation was only at the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary. When we last separated though, his strength had risen to somewhere around the Second or Third Order Transcendent Realm, but his full strength still seemed to be suppressed by some kind of seal.”
“Ha ha ha ha!” Chu Ling Xiao burst out into laughter, “That old fox got what he deserved, he must have been struck by the Demon Commander’s Profound Heavenly Seal, a powerful three layer seal, and from what you’ve described, it seems he’s already unlocked the first layer of the seal. It’s quite a feat he managed to escape from the Demon Commander with his life in that kind of state. It seems his luck is as good as ever.”
Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked, unable to accept this new information for quite some time.
It was no wonder he always felt that Treasurer Meng was surrounded in mystery, it turns out he was actually a top-level Saint Realm master. Lifting the first layer of the seal binding his cultivation had allowed him to restore his strength to the Transcendent Realm. If he could lift the second layer of restrictions, he will be able to return to the Saint Realm, and if he managed to break through the last layer of the seal, he would definitely return to being an apex master even by Tong Xuan Realm’s standards.
“You’ve brought me some good news,” Chu Ling Xiao said happily, “But it wouldn’t be easy to find him. When he fought with the current Demon Commander, the latter ate a small loss. The Demon Race is quite vengeful, so before that old fogey’s strength is completely restored, he won’t easily show his face; after all, he is also a famous character. Once the Demon Race become aware of his return, it will be difficult for him to escape their pursuit.”
Yang Kai was stunned.
“I’ll let the Sect’s people pay attention to news about the movements of your two Senior Sisters. If we learn anything, I’ll let you know. You are also a disciple of my Soaring Heaven Sect. From now on, you can stay here with peace of mind, no need to feel restrained, just treat this place as your own home.”
“Disciple understands,” Yang Kai took a deep breath and nodded firmly.
After learning that this old man was the Ancestral Founder of High Heaven Pavilion, Yang Kai truly didn’t feel he was an outsider.
Fortunately, Chu Ling Xiao had sensed the faint presence of the Devil Sealing Chain and thus found him, otherwise, Yang Kai would still be a homeless wanderer.
“Cang Yan,” Chu Ling Xiao called out.
Cang Yan, who had been waiting outside the door, immediately came in, “Disciple greets Martial Ancestor.”
“En, take care of your new Martial Nephew.”
“Disciple understands.”
“Right, Ancestral Founder, disciple has something to request,” Yang Kai suddenly spoke.
“Oh, if you have something to ask, feel free to speak.”
“For certain reasons, I need to quickly improve my proficiency in Alchemy, so I would like to ask the Sect to provide me with some herbs to concoct pills.”
“Let Cang Yan arrange it, this is also a good deed for my Soaring Heaven Sect!” Chu Ling Xiao smiled and nodded.
Yang Kai volunteering to perform Alchemy for the Sect was something Chu Ling Xiao was more than happy to see.
After bidding farewell to Chu Ling Xiao, Yang Kai and Cang Yan left the secluded house and Cang Yan gave Yang Kai a curious look, “Are you from that other realm?”
“Yes.”
“No wonder I’ve never heard of you before. I always wondered how such an outstanding young talent like you could be completely unknown, but now I understand. Good, from now on we are all one family. Martial Uncle will definitely take care of you, if anyone dares to mess with you, Martial Uncle will help you to exterminate his whole family,” Cang Yan grinned.
Yang Kai’s face went a little black at this terrifying comment which was made in such an offhanded manner.
When he returned to his temporary courtyard, Yang Kai discovered a red-faced Fei Yu lying down lazily on a bench in the corridor, her exquisite curves and tall peaks clearly outlined by her thin, messy robes, simulate one’s fantasies.
She had a bottle of wine in her hands and was drinking happily.
“Drinking again,” Cang Yan slowly shook his head and whispered to Yang Kai, “Your Martial Aunt here doesn’t behave like a woman at all, all she does is drink all year round, and I bet no one will want her for her entire life.”
Before he had finished voicing his thoughts, Fei Yu’s wine bottle flew over towards him. Cang Yan caught it, sniffed, and muttered in dissatisfaction, “Not your Thousand Safflower Wine?”
“Hmph,” Fei Yu got up and squinted at Cang Yan, “There’s no share of my Thousand Safflower Wine for a jerk who enjoys slandering me behind my back.”
“But you promised me before,” Cang Yan grumbled.
“I already gave that bottle of Thousand Safflower Wine to this little brother.”
“Gave it to him?” Cang Yan stared blankly at Yang Kai before breaking out into a flattering smile, “Martial Nephew, you see… Martial Uncle worked hard for two months searching for you, shouldn’t you offer me some thanks as a show on sincerity?”
Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “I want to keep good things for myself.”
Cang Yan blinked for a moment, apparently not having thought Yang Kai would actually flat out refuse him.
Fei Yu, on the other hand, frowned slightly as she asked suspiciously, “How did it suddenly become Martial Nephew? Did this little brother join our Soaring Heaven Sect?”
“Strictly speaking, he has always been a disciple of our Soaring Heaven Sect.”
“Oh, what happened?” Fei Yu was quite surprised as she stared curiously at Yang Kai.
Cang Yan gave a brief explanation of what had just happened, causing Fei Yu to suddenly rejoice, “So that means I’m also this boy’s Martial Aunt?”
“En,” Cang Yan nodded.
“Haha, it seems we’ve picked up another Martial Nephew,” Li Wan said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, his head not even reaching past Yang Kai’s shoulders as he crossed his arms and examined the latter from top to bottom like a wise old soul, his eyes fill with bright light as he nodded slightly, “Not bad.”
“Greetings, Martial Uncles, Martial Aunt,” Yang Kai cupped his fists.
The three people glanced at each other and laughed, Fei Yu smiling even more brilliantly than before, obviously feeling very happy.
All of a sudden, Li Wan declared, “Good, I think we should celebrate Martial Nephew’s recognition of his ancestors and return to his roots.”
“Good idea!” Cang Yan nodded in agreement, continuing, “I think Serene Resplendent Peak would be the perfect place to hold a celebration.”
“No!” Fei Yu’s complexion changed rapidly as she hurriedly tried to object.
However, Cang Yan had already used his movement skill to fly away, his voice travelling back from afar, “I’m going to hunt for some fresh meat.”
Li Wan had similarly disappeared as he said, “I’ll go find Fei Jian. We can’t let him miss out on the celebration.”
In the blink of an eye, only Fei Yu and Yang Kai were left behind.
The beautiful woman bit her lip as she stared off in the direction Cang Yan and Li Wan disappeared, cursing under her breath, “You bastards!”
After scolding them for a while, she smiled helplessly and shook her head, “They just want to get their greedy hands on my Thousand Safflower Wine, a group of shameless men.”
Sighing, she then turned to look at Yang Kai and said, “Let’s go, if I don’t give them what they want this time, they’ll just squat on my Serene Resplendent Peak and bother me until I give in such a headache.”
“Am I going too?” Yang Kai was still a little dumbstruck.
“They’re taking advantage of your name to do all this, of course, you have to go,” Fei Yu nodded, swiftly reaching out and grabbing Yang Kai’s collar before flying off with him towards a mountain in the distance.
As soon as she flew up though, Fei Yu suddenly felt an intense weight dragging her down, her pretty face cramping up as she quickly increased her strength to compensate.
Shooting a glance towards Yang Kai, Fei Yu knit her brow and asked, “Are you wearing my Primordial Shackles on your body?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Stop injecting your True Qi into them, it’s too difficult to fly like this,” Fei Yu gave him a dirty look. Just now, she had almost embarrassed herself.
Yang Kai silently chuckled and took back his True Qi, the speed of the pair suddenly increasing a lot.
After a brief flight, the two arrived atop a beautiful mountain peak.
This mountain peak was exceptionally beautiful, with crystal clear streams that flowed towards towering waterfalls that cascaded down into the valley down below. The mist which scattered about shimmered in the sunlight like bright stars in the night. Everything here exuded a feeling of natural harmony.
Fei Yu brought Yang Kai past the lower streams and stopped just below one of the great waterfalls, landing atop a wide plateau in front of a cave halfway up the mountain.
Yang Kai took a deep breath in and felt his body and mind relaxing before quickly discovering that there was actually no one else around at all.
“This is Serene Resplendent Peak, the place where I live. Each of us four Protectors have our own peak. Their places are always lively but I prefer peace and quiet, so I live here alone. Come with me.” Saying so, she led Yang Kai towards the cave.
The interior of this cave was spacious and clean. Inside the belly of the mountain, a number of stones rooms were excavated and all the walls were lined with brilliant stones that gave off a gentle light.
Here, there was not even a whiff of foul odor, instead; there was a just a touch of alluring fragrance.
Yang Kai gazed around in appreciation and surprise. He had thought a woman like Fei Yu who was so addicted to alcohol would definitely not have a dwelling that could be described as ‘feminine’, but the truth was her home was actually filled with elegance and refinement.
“Little Martial Nephew, if you’d like, afterwards you can live here with me. Martial Aunt has grown somewhat bored with the constant loneliness,” Fei Yu commented suddenly, perhaps cracking a joke, or perhaps not, Yang Kai wasn’t sure.
“Me, live here?”
“En, I arranged a place for you in the valley before because I didn’t know your origins, but now, since you’re my Soaring Heaven Sect’s disciple, you are free to choose a mountain peak to live on, and since you will be often studying Alchemy, you will need a quiet and comfortable environment, right? My place is perfect then; Cang Yan and their side is crowded every day so there will definitely be more people there disturbing you.”
“The conditions here really are excellent,” Yang Kai nodded earnestly.
“Think about it, Martial Aunt’s offer is serious,” Fei Yu smiled with a healthy glow upon her face like that of a fully ripe fruit.
After touring around the mountainside for a while, Fei Yu led Yang Kai to a large open space.
Fei Yu had been grumbling earlier that Cang Yan, Li Wan, and Fei Jian were just a group of bastards after her Thousand Safflower Wine, but the moment she arrived here she still began enthusiastically arranging tables and chairs before taking out a few bottles of her specially brewed Thousand Safflower Wine as well as some fragrant spirit fruits.
Just after she finished setting the table, there was a rush of footsteps approaching from afar. In the next moment, Cang Yan, Li Wan and another man with a tall, thin build, appeared.
“I seem to smell some delicious wine!” Li Wan’s two thick eyebrows bounced in a wretched manner as he sniffed the air in an exaggerated manner.
Cang Yan beside him carried some Monster Beast Yang Kai had never seen or heard of before on his back with a valiant expression.
After seeing the bottles on the table, both of them showed an understanding smile as they licked their lips and complimented, “Fei Yu is truly a generous lady.”
Fei Yu’s complexion became cold as she snorted loudly, “One bottle per person, quickly drink it down then get the hell out!”
“Enough, enough!” Li Wan nodded quickly before reaching out and grabbing the bottle, apparently quite reluctant to let it go.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai was quietly taking a look at the third newcomer. This man should be the last of the four Protectors of Soaring Heaven Sect, which meant he should also be a Third Order Transcendent powerhouse. Yang Kai quickly became aware that the aura this person gave off was quite different from Cang Yan’s oppressiveness, Fei Yu’s softness, and Li Wan’s insidiousness; this person seemed to give off a feeling of sharpness.
The opposite party also seemed to be observing him and after a moment, suddenly grinned, “Is this our newly arrived little Martial Nephew?”
When he grinned, Yang Kai almost couldn’t stop himself from laughing.
Because this person’s smile was actually so crooked.
Originally, Yang Kai had felt that Li Wan had a wicked enough appearance, but compared to this person, even Li Wan’s looks seemed somewhat soft.
These two masters from Soaring Heaven Sect were seriously distinctive.
“Junior Yang Kai greets Martial Uncle!” Yang Kai cupped his fists respectfully.
Fei Jian nodded lightly before suddenly assuming a posture of nocking an arrow and drawing a bow.
*Weng…*
The world seems to shiver as the surrounding World Energy suddenly stagnated.
Yang Kai eyes instinctively shrank; at that moment, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis, like he was being stared at by a poisonous snakes, unable to dodge or evade the coming strike.
Cang Yan, Fei Yu, and Li Wan all remained silent, just watching Yang Kai with interested smiles.
Fei Jian’s index finger twitched and suddenly, an invisible attack shot straight out towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s eyes bulged as he frantically pushed his True Qi and sent out a punch towards the incoming strike.
*Hong…*
A burst of energy erupted as waves of True Qi rippled through the air, but Yang Kai still stood tall, not falling back a single step.
The four Protectors all smiled brightly.
Fei Jian grinned and nodded, “En, not bad, Cang Yan told me that your strength was much stronger than an average Peak Immortal Ascension cultivator, but I didn’t believe him at the time. It seems I was mistake, my Soaring Heaven Sect has indeed added an outstanding talent.”
“Does Martial Uncle specialize in archery?” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed.
Fei Jian nodded frankly, “Yes.”
Fei Yu came over and whispered into Yang Kai’s ear, “This guy is a real sinister fellow, he never fights people from the front but instead hides in the dark. No one can hide from his arrows. If you want to learn the ways of sneak attacking and assassinating your opponents, you should ask him for advice.”
Yang Kai nodded. He understood that Fei Jian’s attack just now was only a test and had no hostility or malice behind it; however, even then, his strike had almost been beyond Yang Kai’s ability to resist.
Each of Soaring Heaven Sect’s four Protectors was not to be underestimated.
“It’s a matter of one’s heart,” Fei Yu suddenly smiled and said with profound meaning.
“Hey, stop spreading nonsense,” Li Wan muttered unhappily.
“Alright alright, enough. I’ve waiting for this Thousand Safflower Wine for fifty years, so let’s drink already,” Cang Yan stepped forward and picked up a bottle, popping it open and taking a big swig, his face instantly blushing red as he praised loudly, “Good wine.”
Seeing Cang Yan’s ardent reaction, Li Wan and Fei Jian couldn’t help rushing over and joining him.
Yang Kai also sat down and picked up a spirit fruit, slowly eating it while he watched these four masters straightforward and unrestrained behaviour, suddenly feeling a touch of warmth inside.
These four Martial Seniors were clearly a close knit group, and their occasional disputes only seemed to serve as catalysts to enhance their bonds as brothers and sisters.
After three rounds of wine, no one was able to keep up appearances anymore, all four of them not showing any of the majesty Transcendent Realm masters should have.
Fei Yu, whose skin was now a dyed a health shade of red, suddenly shot Yang Kai and drunken look and threw him the bottle of wine she had been drinking and grinned, “Little Martial Nephew, you have a drink too.”
Yang Kai took it, glanced over at her suspiciously, but still didn’t hesitate to gulp down a mouthful.
Oddly, there was no strong taste of alcohol, instead only a rich yet mellow fragrance lingered on his tongue, but before Yang Kai had time to offer his praises for this concoction, a burning sensation erupted from the pit of his stomach and began spreading like a raging fire.
Yang Kai expression changed dramatically as he suddenly felt like his entire physique and all of his meridians were trembling, like a fierce, invisible torrent was flooding through every part of his body. In an instant, Yang Kai could no longer control himself, his body going stiff before he keeled over onto his back and passed out.
Fei Yu’s had moved faster than the eye could see and snatched the bottle from Yang Kai before it hit the ground.
The four Third Order Transcendent masters all exchanged glances before suddenly bursting into laughter together.
After a good laugh, the four of them began drinking again, none of them paying any attention to Yang Kai anymore.
…..
When Yang Kai woke up again, his surroundings were quiet, Cang Yan and the others had already left, leaving behind only a mess of dishes and bottles. As for Fei Yu, she was lying sloppily on a chair nearby, her head resting comfortably atop her jade arm as she stared at Yang Kai with a drunken look.
“You’re up?” Fei Yu smiled lightly.
Yang Kai’s face was still dyed red but he managed to nod slightly.
He hadn’t expected the so-called Thousand Safflower Wine to be so overbearing, he had only drank a mouthful but the energy it contained was still massive.
“How do you feel?”
“Very good, apparently,” Yang Kai examined himself quickly and soon discovered that his True Qi was now flowing faster and smoother than before and that his physique and meridians had become tougher and more resilient.
“That’s good. That bottle of Thousand Safflower Wine I gave you earlier, you can only drink a mouthful of it three times a month, if you drink any more, it’ll do more harm than good. I’m going to sleep for a while, feel free to make yourself at home,” Fei Yu said, still maintaining her gorgeous smile, pausing for a moment before adding, “Right, I told Cang Yan and those two that you’ll be living here on Serene Resplendent Peak. Later, they’ll send you some spirit herbs for you to practice Alchemy.”
“Got it,” Yang Kai responded lightly.
The next moment, Fei Yu closed her beautiful eyes and her breathing became slow and even. Apparently she had spent quite a bit of energy guarding Yang Kai while he was passed out.
After meditating for a while to completely absorb the residual medicinal efficacies left in his body, Yang Kai got up and began cleaning up the surrounding mess.
Two hours later, Fei Yu gradually woke up and without caring about her image, bent and stretched herself freely in front of Yang Kai, yawning as she inadvertently showed off her lithe body and exquisite curves.
“Follow me, I’ll take you to a place you can cultivate,” Fei Yu beckoned to Yang Kai before turning around and walking off.
The deeper the two proceeded into the mountain, the denser Yang Kai felt the World Energy became.
Not long after, a stone chamber illuminated by brilliant light crystals appeared in front of Yang Kai.
This stone room’s walls, floor, and even ceiling were completely inlaid with Crystal Stones. These Crystal Stones seemed to be arranged in the form of some kind of Spirit Array which caused the surrounding World Energy to continuously gather towards the stone room. Yang Kai felt particularly comfortable in this environment and even without consciously circulating his Secret Art, he could feel World Energy pouring into his body through his pores.
This was, quite simply, a cultivation Holy Land.
Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and soon found that this stone room did not just have a single layer of Crystal Stones, but at least a dozen or so, making each node of this Spirit Array at least half a meter thick.
Using so many Crystal Stones to create such a stone room, this expenditure was nothing less than astonishing.
Looking around the stone room in front of him, Yang Kai was thoroughly shocked.
“What do you think?” Fei Yu asked.
“Is this the place where you usually cultivate?” Yang Kai noticed some certain traces throughout the stone room. These traces were naturally left behind by someone who regularly sat here in meditation year after year. “If I use this place, what about you?”
“I have no use for this place temporarily,” Fei Yu smiled and said, “Perhaps when I can realize the mysteries of the Saint Realm I’ll have need of it again.”
Fei Yu and the other three Protectors had all reached the peak of the Third Order Transcendent Realm but were stuck comprehending the mysteries of the Saint Realm. Before they reached a high enough level of understanding and overcame this mental barrier, they would be unable to break through to the Saint Realm.
If all four of the Protectors could break through to the Saint Realm, the strength of Soaring Heaven Sect would increase dramatically!
“You don’t need to have any psychological burden, this stone room is idle in any case,” Fei Yu smiled and said.
Yang Kai nodded, “Then I won’t polite.”
“Here, you don’t have to worry about anything, just cultivate in peace. If you feel bored, you can come out and look for me, I’m usually around Serene Resplendent Peak. If you can’t find me, you can go seek out one of those three, they should be able to teach you many things,” Fei Yu urged him gently before quickly disappearing.
Cang Yan sent a large number of herbs to Yang Kai the following day and the latter immediately began diligently performing Alchemy.
When he grew tired from Alchemy, Yang Kai would meditate and rest for a while, restoring his spirit before once again continuing to refine pills.
Serene Resplendent Peak was truly a quiet place. There was only Yang Kai and Fei Yu on this entire mountain, and while Yang Kai was performing Alchemy or cultivating, Fei Yu would never bother him, allowing him to completely relax and immerse himself in his efforts.
All three meals Yang Kai ate each day were prepared from rare Monster Beast meat and medicinal herbs, providing him with massive nutritional supplements, although with Yang Kai’s current cultivation, he could go months or even a year without eating anything, Fei Yu still insisted on sending him this food every day.
These meals would be placed in front of his door every day and if Yang Kai needed it, all he had to do was take it.
Occasionally, when Yang Kai left the stone chamber, the four Protectors would get together and share with him their own insights and understanding of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao.
Here, Yang Kai felt a deep and meticulous care he had not previously experienced.
Soaring Heaven Sect provided him with the best possible environment for both cultivation and Alchemy.
For all of this, Yang Kai was incredibly grateful; although he knew that part of this was due to his own aptitude and his identity as an Alchemist, it was still the truth that his four Martial Seniors really were good to him.
Several months later, Yang Kai’s Alchemy skill had once again improved and he had even successfully refined a Saint Grade Low-Rank pill without the help of a supplementary Spirit Array!
This brought him one step closer to his goal.
During these past few months, Yang Kai had spared no effort to refine a large number of pills for Soaring Heaven Sect. The sheer number, quality, and grade of these pills shocked his four Martial Seniors greatly.
Originally, they had only know Yang Kai was certified as a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist by the Alchemist Guild and hadn’t thought much about it, so one could imagine their surprise when he continuously refined Spirit Grade Mid-Rank and Spirit Grade Top-Rank pills.
On top of that, many of the pills Yang Kai refined even had Pill Veins!
The four Protectors quickly realized the seriousness of this situation and after some simple deliberations, Yang Kai’s existence and abilities were quickly listed as one of Soaring Heaven Sect’s highest level secrets. Soon after, Fei Yu almost became Yang Kai’s exclusive bodyguard and atop Serene Resplendent Peak, she was never far from his side.
Yang Kai only met with Fei Yu several times over this period, but every time he did, this beautiful woman would inevitably be drunk, as if her greatest love in life was drinking. Every time she drank, she would display none of the style a Martial Aunt should have and would often entangle Yang Kai in her revelries, making the latter not know whether to laugh or cry.
Afterwards, when Fei Yu woke up from her drunk stupor, she wouldn’t remember a thing about her embarrassing performance, so Yang Kai was helpless to stop the cycle from repeating itself.
Occasionally, when he went out to relax, Yang Kai would visit Chu Ling Xiao and listen to his teachings.
Since he began cultivating, Yang Kai had always been forging his own path and never received formal instruction from anyone. There was a great difference between having someone enlighten him about the Martial Dao and groping around on his own was.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had acquired the Demon Eye of Annihilation which allowed him to absorb the insights and comprehensions of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way of the masters he killed, benefiting his understanding greatly.
The only thing that made Yang Kai feel somewhat depressed about was that although Chu Ling Xiao had asked people to inquire about Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang, there had thus far been no news about them.
Tong Xuan Realm was incredibly vast; searching for two people amongst this sea of people was undoubtedly more difficult than looking for a needle in a haystack.
One day a few months after his arrival, while Yang Kai was practicing his Alchemy, he suddenly heard a set of soft footstep outside his door.
Naturally it was Fei Yu.
She had never bothered Yang Kai while he was performing Alchemy but now she had deliberately made some noise to alert him to her presence so it was obvious she had something important to discuss with him.
Yang Kai did not pause the movements of his hands, focusing on the task he was performing, and an incense worth of time later, he took a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill out of his furnace.
Storing the pill into a jade bottle, Yang Kai stood up and opened the door to the stone room; looking at Fei Yu who was waiting out, he quickly asked, “Does Martial Aunt have a matter to discuss with me?”
“Did I disturb you?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
“That’s good,” Fei Yu let out a light sigh of relief before continuing, “Cang Yan is looking for you, he’s outside.”
“I’ll go greet him then,” Yang Kai said and hastily walked out.
A moment later, Yang Kai saw his Martial Uncle. This time though, not only was Cang Yan present, but so too were Li Wan and Fei Jian, the expressions on each of their faces somewhat dignified.
Yang Kai glanced around at them curiously, wondering what had happened to cause these three to suddenly seek him out with such stern faces.
“Martial Nephew.” Seeing Yang Kai appear, Cang Yan greeted him.
“I heard that Martial Uncles were looking for me?”
“Have a seat first,” Cang Yan waved.
Once everyone took a seat, Yang Kai waited quietly for his Seniors to speak.
After a brief silence, Cang Yan asked, “Martial Nephew, not that your Martial Uncle is suspicious of you, but I must ask you to confirm, what grade of Alchemist are you now?”
From Old Man Du, Cang Yan knew that Yang Kai was a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist.
However, his performance during his brief stay in Soaring Heaven Sect far exceeded that of a mere Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist. Refining Spirit Grade Mid-Rank and Top-Rank pills constantly indicated that Yang Kai’s true ability was far greater than Spirit Grade Low-Rank.
Old Man Du would not lie to Cang Yan, so the only possibility the latter could think of was that Yang Kai had hidden his true abilities when he took the Alchemist Guild’s test.
Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes flashed suddenly as she stared towards Yang Kai and let slip, “A few days ago, I remember you even successfully refined a Saint Pill!”
Hearing this, Cang Yan’s complexion changed greatly as he unconsciously asked, “Is that true?”
“En,” Yang Kai took that Saint Grade pill out and replied, “My luck was good; the pill was refined successfully.”
Cang Yan took it quickly and examined it carefully, unable to help himself from feeling somewhat excited, “Can you even refine Saint Grade pills now?”
“I should be able to,” Yang Kai nodded. When he refined that Saint Pill he did not use a supplementary Spirit Array or the Myriad Drug Milk and only relied on his own skill.
Spirit Arrays could increase the success rate of Alchemy and the Myriad Drug Milk could improve the quality of a pill.
If both of these boosts were also counted, Yang Kai could easily refine Saint Grade Low-Rank pills.
“Doesn’t that mean you’re a Saint Grade Alchemist now?” Li Wan exclaimed.
Everyone else also wore astonished expressions.
“Reluctantly so. But I still mostly consider myself to still be a High-Rank Spirit Grade Alchemist,” Yang Kai replied modestly.
The four Protectors all sucked in a deep breath as the glanced around at each other, Fei Jian flashing his crooked teeth in a grim smile as she shouted, “We may have hope yet!”
“Indeed!” Cang Yan also nodded repeatedly.
“Do Martial Uncles and Martial aunt want me to help you refine a pill?” Yang Kai asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” Cang Yan replied, “First of all, Martial Nephew, have you heard of the Thousand Year Demon Flower?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
Wrinkling his brow for a moment, Cang Yan suddenly smiled awkwardly, “Right, I forgot that you came from that world so you not having heard of it is completely normal. Regarding Tong Xuan Realm’s current situation, you should know that the Human, Demon, and Monster races form a delicate three-way balance, yes?”
“En, I know at least that much,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
“Human Territory, Demon Land, and Monster Domain, these are the names given to each of the regions occupied by the three races, with the Human Territory being the largest and most widely occupied, followed by the Demon Land, and then the Monster Domain. There is also a neutral zone which stands in the middle of all three of these territories.”
Yang Kai had heard about this from Shui Ling when he first arrived on Tong Xuan Realm.
“In the neutral zone, there is a place called Ascending Heaven Cliff! It is an incredibly tall mountain atop which the only Thousand Year Demon Flower resides. This special flower only blooms once every thousand years, and even then only for two hours of time before it begins to wither.”
“What profound use does the Thousand Year Demon Flower possess?” Yang Kai keenly grasped the key to the problem and asked.
“For you, nothing. In fact, for most people in this world, it has no use at all, but for the four of us, it is incredibly precious.”
“It can help us understand the mysteries of the Saint Realm. With the assistance of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, we will have a good chance of breaking through our current bottleneck and ascending to the Saint Realm,” Fei Yu said with some excitement.
Yang Kai couldn’t help showing a shocked expression.
“However, because of the special nature of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, a skilled Alchemist is required to condense its medicinal liquid when it blooms. The minimum grade of Alchemist required is Spirit Grade Top-Rank.”
“So you need my help for this?”
“Exactly!”
“The Sect should have Alchemist more skilled than me thought, right?” Yang Kai asked, slightly confused.
Soaring Heaven Sect was an incredibly powerful Sect and possibly had a true Saint Grade Alchemist in its employ. But even if the Sect did not have a dedicated Saint Grade Alchemist, there would definitely be a few Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemists. These Alchemists were no doubt much more experienced than Yang Kai.
“That might be the case, but those people are all Honoured Guests of the Sect and this trip will be very dangerous, so they won’t necessarily agree to accompany us. On top of that, even if their Alchemy techniques are superior to yours, their combat prowess is definitely worse.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded, “What Martial Uncle means to say is that there will be many people after the Thousand Year Demon Flower, right?”
“More than you can imagine!” Cang Yan’s expression became solemn as he sighed slightly, “As this opportunity only comes about every thousand years, people will naturally be paying attention to the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s situations. Since we can receive news that it is about to bloom, others naturally can as well. As long as one hopes to break through to the Saint Realm, they will definitely fight for this chance.”
“Martial Nephew, this time will really be quite dangerous, if you don’t want to go, we won’t force you,” Fei Yu looked towards Yang Kai and said sincerely.
“I’ll go!” Yang Kai smiled and replied immediately, “If it can help Martial Uncles and Martial Aunt break through to the Saint Realm, no matter what kind of dragon’s den or tiger’s cave it is, I definitely have to go!”
Fei Yu’s beautiful eyes shimmered as she smiled towards him gratefully.
Cang Yan and the others were also moved.
“Good kid, Martial Uncle has not cared for you in vain!” Li Wan laughed.
“Then you prepare yourself, we’ll leave five days from now, we still have plenty of time so there’s no need to feel rushed,” Cang Yan declared.
Yang Kai quickly nodded.
The three men quickly left. In order to cope with the upcoming journey, they had their own preparations to make.
“This time, whether or not we succeed, I must thank you,” Fei Yu said softly.
“Martial Uncles and Martial Aunt have looked after me a lot, this is something I should naturally do,” Yang Kai shook his head.
Fei Yu stared at him calmly, seemingly wanting to see thought his true intentions, smiling brightly after a long silence, “I’m going to take a bath, do you want to join me?”
Yang Kai’s face immediately became black, “Have you been drinking again?”
“Hmph, no fun at all!” Fei Yu curled her lips mischievously, her tender body flickering before she quickly disappeared.
Yang Kai could only shake his head. His Marital Aunt’s unrestrained behaviour was very difficult to deal with, and she would often say some astonishing things that would leave him at a loss for words.
Over the next five days, Yang Kai didn’t make any special preparations and was instead continuing his usual routine of pill refining as always.
Five days later, after putting everything in order, Yang Kai walked out of the stone room and met Fei Yu who was waiting outside. Seeing him appear, she smiled warmly and gently beckoned to him.
“What about Cang Yan Martial Uncle and the others?” Yang Kai asked.
“They’re all waiting outside.”
Leaving the cave, Yang Kai saw Cang Yan, Li Wan, and Fei Jian standing under the waterfall, staring up at it somewhat excitedly.
Seeing Yang Kai appear, Cang Yan and the others didn’t waste any time, nodding briefly before immediately setting off.
The four Transcendents all soared up into the sky, flying ahead at a relaxed pace with Yang Kai quickly following behind them.
Sweeping Yang Kai with their Divine Senses, Soaring Heaven Sect’s four Protectors all couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised.
This was because they found that Yang Kai had still not taken off the Primordial Shackles Fei Yu had given to him a few months ago; even at this moment he was still wearing them while burdening himself with several thousand extra kilograms of weight
On top of that, he even seemed to have completely adapted to this situation and showed not the slightest bit of disturbance on his face, as if he was in his natural state.
[This kid’s physical body is really more akin to a monster. He is likely to be even stronger than those of the Demon Race!] All four of them involuntarily thought.
Not long after their departure, Cang Yan suddenly came to a halt and turned his eyes towards a certain spot down below. At the same time, Yang Kai also heard a pair of voices calling out to them from the ground. Looking down, there was a white-haired old man stroking his beard while staring up at them while next to him was a young woman who was waving her arms towards them.
“It’s Old Man Du!” Cang Yan looked surprised and waved, “Let’s go down.”
As he landed on the ground, Yang Kai once again saw the Alchemist Guild’s Old Man Du and Mi Na. After seeing Yang Kai, Mi Na immediately rushed up and started complaining, “You bastard, didn’t you say when you had free time you’d come to Grand Boulder City to see me? Why have I not seen you for so many months now then?”
“Ah… Er, I was a little busy and forgot,” Yang Kai replied awkwardly.
“Really? Or did you perhaps think my Alchemy skills weren’t as good as yours and so you disdained to meet with me?” Mi Na narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms, and asked in an accusatory tone.
“Nothing of the sort!” Yang Kai quickly waved his hand, “I really was just busy with things.”
“You better be telling me the truth. If I find out you’re later that your lying to me, I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!” Mi Na snorted before saying proudly, “I’ll have you know I’m also a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist now just like you! So don’t be too proud, if you’re not careful I’ll overtake you before you know it.”
Old Man Du smiled as he watched this scene play out, his eyes flashing suddenly as he gently said, “Mi Na, Little Friend Yang is different from you.”
“What? Different how?” Mi Na asked, somewhat puzzled.
“Little friend Yang must be at least a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist now, right?” Old Man Du stared at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai scratched his head awkwardly before cupping his fists and replying, “Sorry Old Man Du, I wasn’t completely honest with you back at the Alchemist Guild. Actually, I was a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist a few months ago.”
The look on Old Man Du’s face changed slightly as he looked at Yang Kai with a bit of shock. Mi Na on the other hand couldn’t help covering her mouth in surprise, an absent minded look appearing on her face as if she had become somewhat dazed.
“So it’s like that,” Old Man Du chuckled and nodded, “It seems this old master underestimated you. Little friend Yang does not need to pay it any mind, you being able to honestly tell this old master now makes me very pleased.”
“How did Old Man Du know that I am now a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist?” Yang Kai asked.
“Cang Yan and them are traveling with you to Floating Clouds City, yes? Alchemist traveling there now must at least be Spirit Grade Top-Rank,” Old Man Du smiled.
Cang Yan expression changed hearing this, “Is Old Man Du also headed there?”
“Indeed, this old master was actually waiting for you here. The road is long so this old master wanted to find a few bodyguards to accompany him,” Old Man Du said half-jokingly half seriously, “But you can rest assured, this old master going there is not for the upcoming blossoming of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, I just want to take Mi Na out for some life experience to broaden her horizons. This little girl doesn’t know the immensity of Heaven and Earth and thinks her aptitude in Alchemy is first under the sun, I believe this trip outside will benefit her greatly.”
“Old Man Du, I don’t think like that at all,” Mi Na objected in a somewhat wronged tone.
Before she met Yang Kai, Mi Na really did have eyes atop her head. She was quite young but still qualified as a Mysterious Grade Top-Rank Alchemist a few months ago, and Old Man Du and her master Ye Xiong had great expectations for her, cultivating her as the heir to the Grand Boulder City’s Alchemist Guild branch.
However, when she met Yang Kai, Mi Na suffered a hard blow and redoubled her efforts, but now, a few months later, Yang Kai had already become a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist, yet she had actually dared to brag to him about her small breakthrough.
Thinking about all of this, Mi Na’s pretty face blushed bright red and she couldn’t wait to find a hole to crawl into to avoid the eyes of these people she had just embarrassed herself in front of.
Old Man Du just laughed though, “The Thousand Year Demon Flower is about to bloom, so I believe there will be a lot of powerful Alchemists traveling to Floating Clouds City. This is a rare, once in a millennium event, this old master doesn’t want to miss it. If you don’t mind, how about we travel together?”
“Old Man Du is too polite,” Cang Yan waved his hand, “Since we are all going to Floating Clouds City, we may as well all go together, that way each of us can take care of the others.”
Old Man Du smiled and nodded gently.
After some quick discussions, the four Soaring Heaven Sect Protectors pushed their True Qi, wrapped up Old Man Du and Mi Na, and flew off together with them.
Seeing Mi Na’s somewhat listless appearance, Yang Kai also felt a bit guilty, quickly calling out to her, “Are you alright?”
“No! You’re too much!” Mi Na pursed her lips and shot him a glare.
“I’m too much?” Yang Kai was taken aback by her sharp response.
Mi Na nodded repeatedly before suddenly wearing a stern look and declaring, “But don’t get too full of yourself. As Old Man Du said, as long as I can keep working hard, I’ll catch up to and surpass you one day.”
“Do I look full of myself?” Yang Kai asked helplessly.
“Although you don’t show it on your face, you’re actually quite proud of yourself in your heart.”
Yang Kai stared at her blankly for a moment before shaking his head and sighing, “Your thoughts are quite dark.”
The others in their group of people saw these two juniors noisily arguing with each other and couldn’t help smiling; it seems this long journey wouldn’t be so dull after all.
Soaring Heaven Sect was quite far from their destination, Floating Clouds City; even with Cang Yan and the other’s great strength, they would have to spend at least a month on the road.
And that was only the case if they travelled at full speed.
Fortunately, there was still a lot of time before the Thousand Year Demon Flower was expected to bloom, so Cang Yan and others weren’t flustered.
Alternating flying and resting, Yang Kai finally had an opportunity to experience just how vast and prosperous Tong Xuan Realm was. On this continent, there were countless large and small forces, and every day, many of these forces were destroyed, yet like spring bamboo shoots after the rain, no matter how many were cut down, new ones would spring up to take their place.
Moreover, as they hurried along, their group encountered several other batches of Transcendent Realm masters heading towards Floating Clouds City. These teams of Transcendent Realm masters, without exception, would have an Alchemist amongst them.
Originally, when they met such a group, everyone would become vigilant and hastily avoid one another.
As time passed, and they got closer and closer to Floating Clouds City, the smell of danger in the air grew stronger. Cang Yan, Fei Yu, Li Wan, and Fei Jian were now constantly on alert, always paying attention to the safety of Yang Kai, Old Man Du, and Mi Na.
Twenty days after they set out, Yang Kai’s group witnessed a battle between Transcendent Realm masters.
The two parties were almost equal in terms of number and strength, so the battle was quite intense with dazzling Martial Skills and artifact attacks streaking across the sky.
The result of this battle was not witnessed by Cang Yan and the other as they didn’t have so much free time to intervene in other people’s disputes. The four Protectors simply took Yang Kai, Old Man Du, and Mi Na around the battlefield and avoided getting involved.
After this first battle, Yang Kai and his group witnessed an increasingly frequent number of fights between Transcendent Realm masters until almost every day they would see traces left behind of great battles that had been fought.
According to Cang Yan, these masters who were rushing to Floating Clouds City were already fighting like this to eliminate potential opponents.
Yang Kai’s blood ran cold as he gradually understood just how great the temptation of the Thousand Year Demon Flower was to these Second and Third Order Transcendents.
However, what puzzled Yang Kai was that even though this was a grand event that attracted the attention of Human, Demon, and Monster race powerhouses alike, he had yet to see a single Saint Realm master.
When he asked Cang Yan about this, the latter smiled and said, “Saint Realm masters won’t be interfering in this matter. It is an unwritten rule. The Thousand Year Demon Flower is only useful to Transcendents who are trying to break through to the Saint Realm. Whether they are Human, Demon, or Monster, if one wants the Thousand Year Demon Flower, they can only fight for it with their own ability.”
“That’s only one of the reasons,” Old Man Du suddenly interrupted, “There’s another, more important one.”
“Oh? Please enlighten us,” Cang Yan seemed surprised, obviously he wasn’t aware that there was a deeper reason behind this unwritten rule.
Yang Kai and Mi Na were also eager to hear about this and listened attentively. Such secrets were always very attractive to young people.
“The Thousand Year Demon Flower apparently isn’t native to Tong Xuan Realm,” Old Man Du quickly said.
Fei Yu’s thoughts revolved quick as she called out in amazement, “Is it from the Starry Sky?”
“Good, it is said to be so,” Du Wan nodded lightly, “It is said that a great many years ago, a seed fell from the Starry Sky onto Ascending Heaven Cliff. Afterwards, a plant that no one had ever seen before slowly grew there and after an entire millennium, it blossomed and was inadvertently obtained by a common man, after which the entire world came to know of its magical effect. Once the news spread, it set of a great stir among all three great clans. Saint Realm masters who were rarely seen all travelled to the Thousand Year Demon Flower to help their Third Order Transcendent juniors break through to the Saint Realm. After the second millennium, many Saint Realm masters participated in the contest for the Thousand Year Demon Flower and ultimately a Human Race master emerged victorious and boarded the Ascending Heaven Cliff, but surprisingly, when that master reached the summit, the Thousand Year Demon Flower withered the instant after it blossomed.”
“Why is that?” Everyone in the crowd couldn’t help revealing a puzzled expression.
“Nobody knows why exactly, but since then, there have never been any Saint Realm masters intervening in the battle for the Thousand Year Demon Flower. Once the aura of a Saint appeared, the Thousand Year Demon Flower will not bloom, so those who go to Ascending Heaven Cliff now are basically all Transcendents.”
“Is something so strange really true?” Li Wan muttered.
“The products of the Starry Sky cannot be explained by common sense,” Old Man Du slowly shook his head.
“Old Man Du, has anyone really travelled the Starry Sky?” Cang Yan knit his brow and asked, “Although I’ve heard many stories about the Starry Sky, it’s as if no one can actually confirm what kind of place the Starry Sky really is.”
“This old master isn’t clear either,” Old Man Du smiled faintly, “According to the Demon Race, the Great Demon God, their greatest ancient master, successfully entered the Starry Sky. Even among the Human Race and Monster Race such rumours exist, but whether or not it’s true, no one knows.”
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed but he did not interject.
Although he knew that Great Demon God had not broken through the Starry Sky and was already dead, he knew such things shouldn’t be discussed easily. Between the Human, Demon, and Monster Races there seemed to be a completely irreconcilable hatred where each of them couldn’t wait to exterminate the other two, so obviously no one was willing to admit someone from a different race had succeeded where theirs had not.
Soaring Heaven Sect and Old Man Du were both quite good to Yang Kai, but if they knew he had a relationship with the Ancient Demon Clan, they would most likely try to convince him to betray if not exterminate them!
Yang Kai didn’t wish to see such a scene.
During his stay in Demon God Citadel, Yang Kai had received much care from Li Rong and Han Fei and he felt that the Ancient Demon Clan was worth his trust and respect.
After their chat, everyone rested.
Late that night, as their dying campfire was providing only some scattered light in the wilderness.
Mi Na snuck over to Yang Kai’s tent and woke him from his meditation. Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and looked at her suspiciously.
“Follow me,” Mi Na whispered before walking off towards the dark forest nearby.
Yang Kai got up and followed her.
A thousand meters or so out, beneath a big tree, Mi Na sat down, her back to the trunk, patting the spot next to her, signaling Yang Kai to also sit down.
“What’s the matter?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“Nothing much, I just wanted to chat with you. If we talk over there we’ll disturb them,” Mi Na smiled and said.
“What do you want to talk about?” Yang Kai plucked up a long stalk of grass and rolled it about his fingertips casually.
“Nothing in particular,” Mi Na stretched out her arms and legs, assuming a relaxed posture before she turned and asked, “Who did you learn Alchemy from? Why is it that you’re even younger than me yet already a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist?”
“If I told you that I learned everything through self-study, would you believe me?” Yang Kai smiled faintly.
Mi Na snickered lightly, apparently not believing his explanation.
“Then I can’t help you,” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders.
“Old Man Du said that the master who taught you must be a top-level Alchemist, one much more skilled than even he is.”
“Fair enough.” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Yang Kai’s True Alchemic Way was something left behind by the Great Demon God. It could be said that Alchemy really was something he had learned through self-study, but it was also fair to say he had inherited his knowledge from the Great Demon God.
“Regarding that person, Old Man Du very much wants to meet him,” Mi Na said hurriedly after hearing Yang Kai’s words, “But Old Man Du also understands that such masters don’t show themselves easily, much less provide guidance to outsiders.”
“Heh heh…” Yang Kai chuckled. Old Man Du wanting to see this imagined masters of his was understandable to Yang Kai, most likely the former’s Alchemy skills had reached a bottleneck. As such, he wanted to receive some pointers from a higher ranked master in hopes that it would spark some kind of epiphany which would allow him to break through his current bottleneck.
Old Man Du’s trip to Floating Clouds City this time probably also had such a purpose; after all, there would be a great many powerful Alchemists gathered there.
“If there is an opportunity, can you introduce Old Man Du to your master?” Mi Na turned towards Yang Kai and asked sincerely.
Yang Kai fell silent and did not speak for quite some time.
This request, he really had no way to fulfill it.
“Is it not possible?” Mi Na saw him fall silent and subconsciously thought her request was a bit too excessive, becoming confused as to what to do now.
“En, the person who taught me Alchemy, is already dead.”
“Ah…” Mi Na covered her small mouth and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s alright…” Yang Kai shook his head.
At that moment, the pair’s faces both changed dramatically as they focused their attention on a spot in the night sky. A mass of Spiritual Energy that radiated a thick malicious intent was rapidly approaching them and in the blink of an eye arrived in front of Yang Kai and Mi Na.
Facing this critical situation, Mi Na hurriedly summoned a number of artifacts to protect herself.
Her combat experience was incredibly thin, but her response was still quite fast. Although she was in something of a panic, she still managed to fully protect herself in an instant.
Yang Kai glanced over at her frantic behaviour strangely before turning his gaze back towards the void, his eyes gradually becoming cold.
He felt that this mass of Spiritual Energy was a bit strange and seemed to be different from a Divine Sense attack one would normally release.
As he thought about it though, this mass of Spiritual Energy actually swept past Yang Kai and Mi Na and in the next moment rushed into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea and disappeared.
”Yang Kai!” Mi Na’s beautiful face paled as she called out in shock.
Yang Kai’s pupils became blurry as he sat in place, not moving.
*Shua Shua Shua…*
Attracted by the burst of noise, Cang Yan quickly rushed over and asked worriedly, “What happened?”
Just a moment ago, he also felt a burst of Spiritual Energy an immediately rushed over after hearing Mi Na’s cry, but upon arriving he found nothing.
Mi Na was badly frightened and quickly said what had happened.
“Seizing a body?” Li Wan’s face changed, suddenly becoming aware of the truth of the matter.
Obviously a master had suffered a mortal wound somewhere nearby and then abandoned his body. That master’s unbound Soul must have coincidentally come across Yang Kai and was now attempting to take over the latter’s body for his own use.
“Seizing one’s body, is it…” Fei Yu pursed her lips and giggled, “In that case there’s nothing to worry about.”
Cang Yan also relaxed and nodded lightly.
Li Wan and Fei Jian both just snickered.
“You… how come none of you seem worried at all?” Mi Na was so anxious she could barely keep herself from crying; she too understood this was a case of body seizing and what the consequences of this could be. If things went poorly, Yang Kai’s very Soul may be destroyed.
However, the four masters from Soaring Heaven Sect not only didn’t seem worried, they were even grinning mockingly, like they were taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune, which greatly confused Mi Na.
Old Man Du smiled faintly and comforted, “Mi Na! Just be patient.”
“But Old Man Du, they…” Mi Na stamped her foot angrily.
“Little friend Yang’s body won’t be seized, did you forget about his special trait?” Old Man Du said meaningfully as he lightly tapped his head.
Mi Na thought about it for a moment before suddenly understanding, “That’s right, this bastard’s Knowledge Sea is…”
Old Man Du nodded slightly, “As long as it wasn’t a Saint Realm master’s Soul, little friend Yang will be able to easily handle it, all we have to do is wait.”
“This poor guy really has bad luck, of all the people he could choose, he just had to pick little Martial Nephew. If it was me, I would have chosen this tender, soft skinned little girl instead,” Li Wan smiled dreadfully.
Mi Na glanced at him and snorted angrily, “So old yet so rude!”
“Hey, I’m still very young!” Li Wan immediately became disgruntled.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai’s Soul avatar’s mouth curled into a thin smile as he stared at the Soul that had become trapped and helpless the moment it invaded.
This guy had wanted to devour Yang Kai’s Soul and seize his body, but the instant he broke into this scalding how Knowledge Sea, he realized something was wrong.
It was as if he just stepped out of purgatory straight into the depths of hell!
All around him was a burning sea of fire. The scorching aura made him scream out in pain as his Soul was slowly roasted, it was a type of suffering he had never even dreamed possible before now.
“If you don’t want to die, show yourself right now,” Yang Kai said indifferently.
The mass of Spiritual Energy shook slightly and soon a clear Soul avatar appeared in front of Yang Kai, it’s face twisted in agony as it grit its teeth and stared at Yang Kai in fear and terror.
This person seemed to be fifty or sixty years old, but his Soul strength was only at the level of a Second Order Transcendent. In other words, when he was alive, he should have been quite a powerful master.
“You have really bad luck,” Yang Kai shook his head and snickered sarcastically.
Perceiving Yang Kai’s hostility, the man endured his pain and let out an awkward laugh, “Little brother, this is all a misunderstanding; it’s not at all what you think.”
“Oh really?” Yang Kai grinned, his Knowledge Sea becoming more turbulent as the intensity of the flames increased.
“Please allow me to explain,” The man screamed.
Yang Kai turned a deaf ear to his pleas though, since this person wanted to seize his body, naturally Yang Kai had no reason to be polite.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Knowledge Sea rushed towards the invader’s Soul, wanting to incinerate it in one fell swoop.
“Wait, wait, if you let me live, I can tell you a secret.”
“Not interested,” Yang Kai shook his head, his expression as cold and ruthless as ever.
“It’s related to your safety!” The man shouted desperately.
Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly, calming his turbulent Knowledge Sea somewhat as he stared at this person’s Soul avatar deeply, a moment later saying, “If you’re just stalling for time, or if you lying to me, I won’t just kill you, I’ll let you suffer a fate worse than death.”
“I wouldn’t dare!” Seeing that Yang Kai did not immediately try to kill him, the man couldn’t help calming down slightly, quickly continuing, “Are you also going to Floating Clouds City?”
“What of it?”
“If so, you’d better go turn around right now, there’s a large group of masters up ahead who are hunting those traveling to Floating Clouds City. Several groups have already been wiped out by them, including my own. We were all on our way to Floating Clouds City, but now all of us dead, only my Soul managed to escape…”
“How many people do they have?”
“A dozen or so, and a number of them are Third Order Transcendents, moreover each one of them is extremely brutal and vicious.”
“Not a small number,” Yang Kai muttered to himself.
“It’s like that, so… little brother, you see… I told you the truth, can you…” The man pleaded miserably but in the depths of his eyes there was still a smoldering vigilance; if Yang Kai still decided to attack him, he would immediately go all out and try to drag him down with him.
This kind of threatening gaze was normally enough to scare most people off, and he believed that Yang Kai, whose realm was much lower than his own, would certainly not make things difficult for him.
Yang Kai however just showed a faint smile and stared at him.
The man’s heart suddenly jumped and he was about to launch a last desperate struggle when suddenly, a burst of golden light struck him.
In an instant, this person’s Soul was completely purified.
After absorbing the energy from this Soul remnant, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes.
Glancing around, Yang Kai noticed that everyone in his group was currently staring at him curiously.
“It’s him alright,” Li Wan slapped his thigh and laughed, “That guy really has bad luck.”
“Are you alright?” Fei Yu asked kindly.
“I’m fine, but it seems we have a small problem,” Yang Kai shook his head and told them about the information he had just acquired.
“A dozen?” Cang Yan raised his brow, “There certainly are a lot of them.”
“En, if you didn’t accidentally obtain this information, we would have walked right into their trap. That might have been a little troublesome,” Fei Yu nodded lightly.
“So, do we take a detour?” Mi Na asked faintly.
“Why should we make a detour?” Li Wan grinned menacingly.
“Ah… Then how are we supposed to get passed them?”
“Let’s rest up first and then continue on our way. If they don’t come to provoke us, we won’t bother with them, but if they dare attack…” Cang Yan’s aura suddenly changed, his eyes becoming sharp like a sword, his whole body radiating an ice cold killing intent.
He knew no fear!
He was even quite looking forward to it!
Li Wan and Fei Jian were the same, and even Fei Yu, who was a woman, was no exception.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed as he secretly thought that his four Marital Seniors from Soaring Heaven Sect were really a group of fighting madmen.
NinjaScans is trying to resume posting the manga one chapter per day. For those who are concern about the release rate.
In the quiet wilderness, a small group walked forward silently.
Cang Yan led the way, Li Wan and Fei Yu brought up the rear, and Yang Kai, Mi Na, and Old Man Du were sandwiched in the middle.
With the exception of Mi Na, everyone else looked calm and indifferent, as if they were oblivious to the danger they were approaching.
As they continued walking, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly flashed.
He was surprised to discover that Fei Jian had disappeared without a trace. This Third Order Transcendent master had managed to vanish without Yang Kai even noticing despite being only a few steps apart.
The night wind blew, the towering trees swayed back and forth, and the leaves rustled eerily, as if there were ghost and demons brushing past them in the darkness.
Mi Na was so scared her pretty face had completely paled and she unconsciously moved towards Yang Kai and leaned against him, looking for a sense of security, her pair of beautiful eyes darting back and forth nervously.
Sensing her uneasiness, Yang Kai firmly grasped her hand, allowing Mi Na to relax a lot; however, she made no attempt to distance herself from him either.
Cang Yan’s mouth slowly curled into a subtle grin, seemingly enjoying this thrilling situation. Li Wan and Fei Yu, who were at the back of the team, also wore aggressive expressions as they scanned the area, as if they couldn’t wait to start something.
Old Man Du, as an experienced Alchemist, maintained his usual calm, unflustered appearance.
Obviously he had great faith in the strength of the four masters from Soaring Heaven Sect.
Suddenly, a burst of strange laughter came from all around, like the howling of a ghost, gloomy and dreadful. At that moment, the night wind seemed to become stronger and colder.
Soon, several more laughing voices began ringing in their ears, trying to disrupt their hearts and weaken their concentration.
However, the three masters from Soaring Heaven Sect were completely unperturbed and continued walking forward without any pause.
Half an hour later, the wicked laughter gradually faded. The other party seemed to have noticed that this little trick wasn’t enough to cause Cang Yan and the others to panic, so they had stopped wasting their time.
“Not even daring to show your faces, just a bunch of cowards,” Cang Yan muttered discontentedly, he thought there would be a big battle when he first entered this region and his blood was boiling in anticipation, but the opposite party didn’t seem to have any intention of immediately attacking and were instead playing tricks on them and probing their reactions.
This made him quite disgruntled.
“Li Wan, go take a look,” Cang Yan said.
Li Wan grinned fiendishly and his small body suddenly disappeared into the darkness.
A short while later, a sad and shrill scream rang out from the forest, giving people a creepy feeling.
These screams didn’t last long, obviously this poor soul had been killed before he had time to react.
The next moment, another scream could be heard from a different direction.
Yang Kai’s eyes flashed. He could tell that these screams came from two different locations at least a few thousand meters apart. In such a short period of time, accurately finding the hiding places of these two people and killing them, Li Wan’s great strength was obvious.
After a brief silence, Li Wan calmly returned and shrugged his shoulders to Cang Yan, “Two First Order Transcendent trash, not even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth.”
Saying so, he licked his lips and showed a not satisfied expression.
Hearing this, Mi Na’s eyes rolled back and she fainted directly.
“This little girl… isn’t her courage a bit too small?” Li Wan was struck speechless.
Yang Kai shook his head and gently held Mi Na against his shoulder.
Fei Yu smiled tenderly and explained while trying to hold back her laughter, “She thinks you actually ate them.”
Li Wan’s face went black and realized how his ambiguous words could be misconstrued. He wanted to defend himself but the one with the misunderstanding was already out cold so he could do nothing but grumble in annoyance.
The team continued to move forward, but probably because Li Wan had just killed two of their group a moment ago, the enemy party became more vigilant.
After two more hours, nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
However, Yang Kai could still sense a vague hostility in the air, indicating their opponents had yet to give up.
Once their group relaxed their guard, the other party would not hesitate to kill them all.
After waiting so long though, Cang Yan had finally lost patience and suddenly stopped, staring around with a cold glare as he shouted, “Since you’ve all already decided to kill us and seize our treasures, you should just come out and fight with us. If you want to keep hiding like timid rats we’ll just take our leave.”
All around it was quiet though, no one answered.
Cang Yan slowly shook his head and looked disappointed before taking out a long sword and waving it, leaving a cut several tens of meters long on the ground beside him.
Yang Kai’s eyes shrank as he instantly recognized this long sword. It was one of the artifacts that Cang Yan and Fei Yu acquired back in the ancient secluded cave mansion.
“This is a Saint Grade artifact. To be honest, I haven’t had time to refine it yet, don’t you want it for your own? If you can kill me, this artifact is yours, act fast, Saint Grade artifacts are rare after all,” Cang Yan said lightly.
“I also have one,” Fei Yu, apparently fearing the world would not be chaotic, quickly added, also summoning out a Saint Grade artifact.
After two yet-to-be-refined Saint Grade artifacts suddenly beings summoned out, in the next instant, countless Divine Senses flooded over like locust to probe them.
At that moment, Yang Kai swore he could hear heavy breathing and feel greedy stares all around him.
“Hey, when did the two of you manage to get Saint Grade artifacts?” Li Wan squinted his eyes enviously, “How come I never knew?”
“A few months ago,” Fei Yu smiled, turning her eyes to Yang Kai, “We got them on our way back after picking up Martial Nephew.”
“The Heavens are blind, why didn’t I have a share?” Li Wan cursed and yelled.
“There were only two, so Fei Yu and I each took one; however, Fei Yu also got a Spirit Grade Top-Rank artifact.”
“Give it to me!” Li Wan quickly ran over to Fei Yu and stretched out his hand.
“What about Fei Jian?” Fei Yu frowned, appearing somewhat awkward.
“No need to bother with him, he only uses bows anyways.”
“How about we do this, I’ll give that artifact to whoever kills the most enemies,” Fei Yu smiled and proposed.
Li Wan clapped his hands and nodded, “Great idea, I’ve already killed two.”
At that moment, from all around, numerous figures shot out like lightning, all of them trying to snatch the two Saint Grade artifacts.
With the three masters on this side all noisily discussing some irrelevant nonsense, the surrounding enemies apparently thought now would be the opportune moment to strike.
A sharp light flashed past Cang Yan’s eyes as the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
Each of the approaching figures was emitting the powerful aura of a Transcendent and moved with extreme speed; in the blink of an eye, all of them had arrived in front of the two Saint Grade artifacts.
Countless hands reached out to grab for the artifact.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
Several whooshing sounds rang out in the dark and Yang Kai faintly saw a number of golden streaks flash through the night sky out of the corner of his eye.
Blood spattered, and all the cultivators who had rushed forward to seize the Saint Grade artifacts flew out from the resulting impact, each of their bodies having a new fist-sized hole that pierced from back to front.
On top of that, these holes, without exception, were where their hearts once were.
Before these cultivators hit the ground, their life auras had already disappeared.
One shot, one kill!
These Transcendants never even knew where this sharp attack came from.
Li Wan expression changed dramatically as he rushed over, shouting angrily, “Fei Jian, you sinister bastard, if you have the ability, stop sneaking around and fight up front like a man instead of shooting people in the back!”
Fei Jian did not respond, instead just sending out more arrows filled with destructive energy from various dead angles, reaping his opponent’s lives before they even had a chance to respond.
Yang Kai quickly released his Divine Sense towards the direction the arrows had originated from in an attempt to find Fei Jian’s hidden position, but discovered nothing.
A look of shock filled his face as he suddenly realized just how strong this Martial Uncle is.
The battle was over before it even began. After ten breaths of time, Li Wan managed to kill another enemy master before the scene suddenly became quiet again.
Only a thick smell of blood filling the air remained, filling everyone’s nose with the scent of iron.
The only noise around was the sound of swishing clothes as a number of enemies who had still been hiding up until now were hurriedly escaping.
They also understood that these four from Soaring Heaven Sect were not targets they could handle.
From beginning to end, only two people had attacked yet they were able to all but wipe them out, if all four of these masters had taken action, the consequences would have been even steeper.
A massive amount of Spiritual Energy gathered towards Yang Kai’s head and after a quick examination he discovered that these dead enemies were all First or Second Order Transcendents with not even a single Third Order.
Seeing this, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit regretful. A Third Order Transcendent would already have some insights into how to break through to the Saint Realm.
These insights were something Yang Kai wanted.
His understanding and sentiments regarding the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao were all concentrated on the period before breaking through to the Saint Realm, so until he reached that height he would encounter no bottlenecks. But as to how to break through to the Saint Realm, he was currently clueless.
Although back in the Ancient Demon Clan’s Mysterious Small World, he had killed Chu Jian and obtained his Second Order Saint Realm insights, Yang Kai’s understanding of the Saint Realm was still quite shallow.
Yang Kai needed to absorb the sentiments from the Souls of many masters in order to gain a true understanding of the path ahead.
Meanwhile, Cang Yan and Fei Yu took back their artifacts.
“Idiots, how could I not have already refined this Saint Grade artifact?” Cang Yan sneered and took the artifact back into his body.
Li Wan walked back with a look of frustration on his face, sighing heavily as he grumbled under his breath.
Fei Jian also reappeared finally, like a ghost, showing a big crooked smile as he held out his hand towards Fei Yu, “Give it to me.”
Fei Yu smiled and placed the Spirit Grade Top-Rank artifact she had previously acquired into Fei Jian’s hand.
From start to finish, Li Wan had only killed three people while Fei Jian had taken out six, the winner of this match was undoubtedly Fei Jian.
Yang Kai also let out a long sigh. Although this time’s battle looked very relaxed, he also knew that only masters as strong as these four from Soaring Heaven Sect could accomplish such a feet.
Perhaps if it were other Third Order Transcendent’s victory wouldn’t have been so easily obtained.
Moreover, Yang Kai even more felt the massive gap in strength between each Order of the Transcendent Realm. Before the Transcendent Realm, each Great Realm was divided into Nine Stages, and the gap between each Stage was quite small.
But the Transcendent Realm was different. First Order, Second Order, Third Order, each step forward represented a massive leap in strength.
This group of hidden enemies had failed to recognize the gap in strength between themselves and the four Soaring Heaven Sect Protectors and had become blinded by greed due to the Saint Grade artifacts.
After this battle, the road seemed to become quite peaceful and as they traveled farther, fights became less common. These masters’ objective in coming here was ultimately the Thousand Year Demon Flower, so after eliminating the weak, no one was willing to stir up conflict with the strong before the Thousand Year Demon Flower had even blossomed.
Everyone understood that fights between true masters would only lead to others reaping the fisherman’s profits.
A whole month after they left Soaring Heaven Sect, Yang Kai’s group finally set foot on the neutral territory at the heart of Tong Xuan Realm.
The so-called neutral territory was an area where the Human, Demon, and Monster Races coexisted, a sight that could not be seen anywhere else.
As soon as he set foot on this piece of land, Yang Kai noticed a few unusual energies flowing through the air.
Here he could sense clear traces of Demonic Qi which he was already familiar with as well as another type of Qi he had never encountered before, it should be Monster Qi. Demonic Qi and Monster Qi could not be absorbed by Human Race Masters, but they were the powerful energies that the Demon Race and Monster Race needed in order to cultivate.
After arriving here, Cang Yan and the others became more vigilant.
The neutral territory was, in a way, more chaotic than anywhere else in Tong Xuan Realm. The slightest carelessness could lead to catastrophe.
Traveling forward a few more days, everyone finally came across a towering mountain peak that ascended above the clouds.
A dozen or so kilometers outside this mountain lay the destination of their group’s trip: Floating Clouds City!
Cang Yan’s pace picked up a lot as he led the group forward, and after half a day, everyone arrived at Floating Clouds City.
After paying enough Crystal Stones, the group of people finally entered the city.
The moment they stepped into the city, Yang Kai clearly felt Cang Yan and the others relax.
Du Wan smiled slightly and explained, “Once one enters the city, they will be safe from danger. Floating Clouds City is jointly administered by all three Great Races and the City Lord is always a Saint Realm master, so no one dares act recklessly here.”
“Which race does the City Lord belong to?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“This old master isn’t clear; Floating Clouds City changes its City Lord every three years. The master from the Human, Demon, and Monster Races decide who will hold the post of City Lord though a Martial Arts competition. It is because they select the City Lord this way that the tranquility of the city can be guaranteed. If one race was always held the position of City Lord, the other two races would certainly object.”
Cang Yan smiled and added, “As far as I know, the current City Lord is a master from the Demon Race, but don’t worry, because it’s related to the stability of the Three Clans, he won’t act unreasonably, that would throw the whole realm into chaos.”
“This old man and Mi Na are going to head to the Alchemist Guild here. Cang Yan, what about you?” Du Wan asked, “Would you like to come with us?”
“No thank you,” Cang Yan shook his head. Alchemists were a group of guys with eyes atop their heads, they didn’t care one bit that they were from Soaring Heaven Sect. If they were to enter the Alchemist Guild, they would no doubt suffer many disdainful looks and sneers. Worse, given Cang Yan’s hot temper, he may cause a falling out between them. If that really happened, even Old Man Du would be hard pressed to resolve things amicably.
Glancing over at Yang Kai, Cang Yan said, “Little Martial Nephew, if you want to go, you can follow Old Man Du. When the time comes, I’ll come find you.”
Mi Na also chimed in, “That’s right, you’re also an Alchemist, and it won’t be a problem if you come with us.”
She obviously wanted to stay with Yang Kai and continue learning Alchemy from him.
“You’re quite direct, little girl; do you perhaps like my little Martial Nephew?” Fei Yu grinned and teased.
Mi Na’s face went red, “Don’t talk nonsense, I wouldn’t like this bastard.”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded by this exchange and couldn’t stop himself from laughing lightly, eventually shaking his head, “No thank you, I’ll be staying with Martial Uncles and Martial Aunt for now.”
Du Wan gently nodded, “Then this old man won’t insist. Little Friend Yang, come here for a moment,” Saying so, he gently beckoned to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai walked over hesitantly, “What instructions does Old Man Du have for me?”
Du Wan smiled faintly before reaching into his Universe Bag and pulling out a small box with a mirror on top, “This is something I obtained many years ago; it should be of some use to you this time. En, it’s probably best you use it as soon as possible.”
“What is it?” Yang Kai looked curiously at the small box.
“You’ll understood when you see it,” Old Man Du smiled mysteriously before leading Mi Na towards the Alchemist Guild.
After Old Man Du and Mi Na left, Cang Yan turned around and said, “Let’s also go, we need to find an inn to stay at.”
Fei Yu snuck over to Yang Kai and whispered, “What did Old Man Du give you?”
“I don’t know.” Yang Kai shook his head.
Inside a certain inn, Cang Yan booked two rooms. Floating Clouds City’s inns were packed full of guests due to the upcoming blossoming of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, so managing to get two rooms in a single inn was quite difficult.
After some brief deliberations, it was decided that Fei Yu would stay with Yang Kai while the other three took the other room.
Yang Kai had no objections. In any case, he was used to living with Fei Yu. Although Fei Yu was a woman, there was a big generation gap between them, so Yang Kai naturally didn’t feel bothered by this.
After all the hurrying about, everyone finally had a chance to settle down.
Yang Kai sat down and took out the mirror box Old Man Du had given him, a somewhat confused expression upon his face.
He hadn’t expected that the moment they entered Floating Clouds City, Old Man Du would give him such a gift.
“Open it and take a look. I’m also quite curious what Old Man Du sent you,” Fei Yu smiled lightly.
Yang Kai nodded and was about to open it when he suddenly smiled wryly and said, “If you’re curious you might as well come take a look.”
In the next room, Li Wan and Fei Jian, who were listening in, suddenly wore awkward expression. Li Wan snorted and walked out, muttering indignantly, “This little Martial Nephew doesn’t know how to preserve his Martial Uncles’ face. I need to teach him a lesson in manners.”
Fei Jian didn’t say anything and simply hurried to keep up.
Cang Yan just shook his head, a hint of helplessness on his face, and followed behind his fellow brothers.
Inside the room, after everyone gathered, all of them stared towards the mirror box in Yang Kai’s hand, obviously wanting to know what was inside.
Under their gazes, Yang Kai opened the mirror box and found a thin as a cicada’s wings sheet.
This sheet was made from some material Yang Kai had never seen before and was slightly cold to the touch. There were some places on it that had holes cut out and at first glance, it resembled the peeled skin from a person’s face, a somewhat gruesome image.
“So that’s it!” Cang Yan expression changed, “Old Man Du’s insight is truly sharp.”
“Is this thing used to disguise one’s appearance?” Yang Kai also understood the function of this thing.
“Put it on and have a look,” Fei Yu urged.
Yang Kai nodded and covered his face with the thin mask. The next moment, he felt something stretch across his face and penetrate into his skin while giving off a cool sensation.
He didn’t know what his current appearance was, but from the changes in the expressions of his Martial Seniors in front of him, it was obvious that his current face was definitely quite different from before.
“This…” Li Wan’s jaw dropped, a look of disbelief appearing on his face.
Fei Jian’s eyes also bulged.
“Is the change really that big?” Yang Kai smiled helplessly.
“See for yourself!” Fei Yu waved her hand and condensed a mirror out of water in front of Yang Kai. Looking into that mirror, Yang Kai was instantly startled.
The face in the mirror was that of a complete stranger, moreover, it had a completely different style from his own. To put it bluntly, this face was pretty, with skin as white and flawless as a woman’s.
“Who is this gigolo?” Yang Kai expression dimmed, stretching out his hand and pinching his face, the image in the mirror perfectly responding to his actions.
“Impressive!” Cang Yan couldn’t help complementing, “This artifact is really a treasure, not only can it modify your appearance, even your life aura has changed!”
“With this, we don’t need to worry about you exposing your identity,” Fei Yu smiled, “We really need to thank Old Man Du, he’s solved a big headache for us.”
Since Yang Kai was going to Ascending Heaven Cliff to condense the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s medicinal liquid, it would be difficult for him not to be noticed by others, and if his performance was too outstanding, it would definitely draw unwanted attention.
Fortunately, this artifact that Old Man Du gave him solved this problem perfectly.
With a simple disguising technique, Cang Yan and the others would be able to change Yang Kai’s face as well, but such a disguising technique would still easily be seen through by masters on their level, and it would not be able to camouflage Yang Kai’s life aura.
But now, they didn’t have to worry about any of this.
Even if Yang Kai’s performance was incredibly eye-catching, he would have to worry about being stared at afterwards because the one the world would be searching for would not be Yang Kai’s original appearance.
“Old Man Du really has a lot of good things,” Cang Yan sighed, last time Du Wan had taken out a cyan stone that could only be acquired from the Starry Sky and this time he had easily put out a high grade disguising artifact, Alchemists were really a group with amazing levels of wealth.
Especially high-level Alchemists; most times, if they wanted anything, they didn’t even have to act personally, as long as they put out a message, many powerhouses who wanted the request Alchemy services from them would do their best to fulfil this request.
Whether it was the former cyan stone or this disguising artifact, they should have been rewards Old Man Du received in exchange for performing Alchemy over the years.
“Little Martial Nephew’s new look is really pleasing to the eye,” Fei Yu smiled tenderly, “Martial Aunt really likes this kind of face.”
Although Yang Kai’s former appearance wasn’t ugly, it wasn’t flawless like his current one. Years of fighting and strenuous hard work had given him a fierce and valiant look, one appropriate for a seasoned warrior, wild and heroic.
But now, he was incredibly handsome to the point where it was world shaking, this kind of flawless visage was the type that could win the favour of any woman in the world.
Yang Kai’s expression was indifferent though, and after thinking about it for a moment, he quickly circulated his True Qi and focused on his face. In the next moment, his appearance squirmed slightly and the mask he was wearing took on a slightly different look.
“En, perfect,” Looking in the mirror, Yang Kai nodded with satisfaction.
“Why did you change it? You looked so handsome before. This isn’t bad either, but it’s not as good as the previous one,” Fei Yu pursed her lips and complained.
“Not having the slightest flaw is the biggest flaw,” Yang Kai shook his head. “This appearance is more natural.”
Listening to him saw this, Fei Yu thought about it and nodded after a moment, agreeing with Yang Kai’s point of view.
“Good, we really need to thank Old Man Du for this one day, with this artifact in hand, we can really let loose,” Cang Yan said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Tomorrow, I’ll go to Ascending Heaven with Li Wan and Fei Jian to check out the situation. It shouldn’t be long now so I think there will be many people making such a choice. Having the lay of the land in advance will allow us to make better preparations. Fei Yu, you stay here in the city with little Martial Nephew and pay attention to his safety. Although Floating Clouds City is relatively peaceful, it doesn’t mean it’s completely safe.”
“I know.” Fei Yu nodded sternly.
After a brief discussion, everyone went back to their own rooms.
Yang Kai didn’t remove the disguising artifact from his face, but instead kept it on in order to familiarize himself with it.
When the night fell, in the sky over Floating Clouds City, one old and one young man suddenly appeared. The old man was somewhat hoary-haired and plain clothed while the young man next to him was at most in his early twenties; however, the latter’s eyes were nimble and smart, curiously glancing around the noisy Floating Clouds City.
The old man also stood mid-air and swept his gaze around, a faint glow appearing in his aged eyes after a while, seemingly silently recalling some long lost memories of this place.
“Master, is this Floating Clouds City?” The young man asked as he sized up the crowds down below with great enthusiasm.
“En, the name of this city hasn’t changed, but it seems many of the people have. After a thousand years, as I had expected, there are so many changes” The old man sighed.
“Then the mountain over there is Ascending Heaven Cliff, yes?” The young man shifted his gaze towards the towering mountain peaks nearby.
“Indeed, the Thousand Year Demon Flower blooms atop that peak,” The old man nodded lightly, “Yao’er, this time I’ve brought you here mainly for the blooming of the Thousand Year Demon Flower. You have been following me since you were just a baby, cultivating diligently among the mountains and streams, so you are somewhat ignorant of how to behave in society. When we enter the city, make sure not to cause troubles and beware of sinister intent from those around you.”
“Disciple understands,” The young man nodded respectfully. “Teacher, you also once condensed the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower. Can you tell me more about what the situation was like back there? I’m very curious to learn about it.”
The old man showed a faint smile, “I can’t describe it clearly to you, but you will understand once you experience it. Good, let’s pay a visit to the City Lord here; I recall that the current City Lord should be the descendent of one of this old man’s old friends.”
“Walk slowly, Master,” The young man who was called Yao’er diligently supported the old man as the pair stepped forward through the air.
Many people in the city look up curiously as this old and young pair, but none of them paid them much attention in the end. After all, there were too many cultivators coming and going from Floating Clouds City. The old man looked old and withered, as if he would die at any moment, but simultaneously he exuded the aura of a true master.
Inside the City Lord’s Mansion, one master from each of the Human, Demon, and Monster Race sat.
City Lord Ao Gu was a master from the Demon Race, while Vice City Lords Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao belonged to the Human Race and Monster Race respectively; all three of them were Saint Realm powerhouses.
Every three years, one master from each of the Three Clans would compete and the winner would become the new City Lord while the other two would hold Vice City Lord positions. Together, they would be in charge of Floating Clouds City.
At this moment, the Three Clans masters were discussing an important matter. The Thousand Year Demon Flower was about to bloom, and Floating Clouds City was becoming overcrowded, so they needed to deploy more security personal to guard against any chaos which might occur, lest it bring trouble to Floating Clouds City’s peace.
Moreover, during this critical period, they had to ensure there were no Saint Realm masters within a hundred kilometer radius of Floating Clouds City.
The Thousand Year Demon Flower was the symbol of Floating Clouds City and the foundation of its prosperity. Every thousand years, as the time of the Demon Flower’s blossoming approached; many people would come to pay homage to Ascending Heaven Cliff. This influx of people brought many benefits to the city.
Because of this, these three were treating the situation very seriously. Making sure that when the time came for the Demon Flower to bloom, it would not be disturbed by the aura of any Saint Realm master.
As they were talking though, a Monster Race guard hurried in and cupped his fists respectfully, “City Lord Ao Gu, there is an old man outside the mansion who requests to see you!”
“An old man?” Ao Gu frowned and waved his hand impatiently, “I won’t see him, ask him to leave.”
The guard however didn’t immediately depart, hesitating for a moment before saying, “But Sir, he said that he knows Senior Ao Si, and said that I must hand this to you.”
Ao Gu’s expression changed dramatically as he quickly stood up and said, “He knows my grandfather?”
Furrowing his brow, Ao Gu asked, “What is this thing? Give it to me.”
The guard hastily offered a small token which Ao Gu quickly snatched after only a single glance, his expression undergoing another earth-shaking change, his brow wrinkling deeply as he was trying hard to recall something, a moment later putting the token away and turning to Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao, “Brothers, pardon me for ending things here for today, it seems I must meet this individual.”
“City Lord need not be so polite,” Zhou Liang nodded lightly.
After Ao Gu left, Jin Jiao stared at the door thoughtfully, a moment later saying, “Brother Li, since this old man is acquainted with Ao Gu’s grandfather, doesn’t that mean he must be around a thousand years old?”
Zhou Liang gave him a curious glance, “In this world, aren’t there a number of old monsters around that age?”
Jin Jiao grinned meaningfully and continued, “There are indeed many, but masters who have relationships with Ao Gu’s family aren’t many. I don’t know if Brother Li noticed that what the guard took out was Ao Gu’s family’s highest level token. Only those who have made huge contributions to his family are eligible to hold them. As far as I can remember, Ao Gu’s family to date has only issued three such tokens, two to Demon Race masters who now belong to their family, and one to a Human Race master.”
“The one who has come is from the Human Race!” Zhou Liang concluded as he did not feel a strong Demonic Qi from outside the mansion.
“This issue is quite big then,” Jin Jiao’s expression deepened.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know of any Human Race master that could possess Ao Gu’s family’s highest level token?”
Zhou Liang thought for a moment before quickly replying, “To be able to receive such a token from Ao Gu’s family, this Human master must be truly extraordinary.”
The Human, Demon, and Monster Race’s divisions ran quite deep; the Three Clans basically did not interact with each other except for in the neutral territory. Ao Gu’s family was also not a small force. Any Human Race master that could make a huge contribution to such a family must possess a supreme status and identity.
“Brother Jin, I happen to know some rumors regarding this, if you are unaware, how about I inform you?”
Jin Jiao glanced around before moving slightly closer to Zhou Liang and whispered a few words.
Hearing these few words though, Zhou Liang’s expression changed dramatically, “Are you serious?”
“Indeed,” Jin Jiao nodded firmly.
“If it is really him…” Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao only exchanged a single glance before neither of them could sit still anymore, both of them quickly standing up and chasing after Ao Gu.
Outside the City Lord’s Mansion, Ao Gu hurriedly rushed over. After seeing the old man in front of him, he was dumbstruck and only recovered after quite some time. Hastily cupping his fists and bowing, he respectfully said, “Junior Ao Gu did not expect that it was truly old Sir who had come and was thus negligent in welcoming old Sir. Please forgive this Junior.”
The several guards outside the mansion almost had their eyes pop out of their sockets.
The Demon Race was known for the savageness and no master from the Demon Race would ever bow to others easily, this was a well-known matter, but now, Ao Gu had completely acted outside their expectations. None of the guards present had ever seen their City Lord greet any powerhouse so humbly and respectfully.
Moreover, this master was Human!
Just what kind of status did this old man have that could allow their City Lord to willingly assume the position of a junior and bow his head?
All of the guards instantly found themselves at a loss.
The old man however just smiled lightly, “I have not seen you for many years, the young man from back then has really grown up, it’s quite commendable that you still even remember my appearance. En, good, how is Ao Si now?”
Ao Gu’s expression sank somewhat as he replied low-spiritedly, “My grandfather died nearly a hundred years ago.”
Hearing this, the old man sighed slightly, “My old friends have already departed, leaving behind only my old bones, haa…”
“Senior is too modest; Senior’s continued existence is the good fortune to the Human, Demon, and Monster Races.”
“Heh heh, growing old isn’t always a blessing,” The old man slowly shook his head.
“This little brother is…” Ao Gu’s gaze landed on the young man beside the old man suspiciously.
“Junior Di Yao greets Senior, I am Master’s disciple!” The young man respectfully performed a Junior’s greeting as he reported his identity.
Ao Gu’s eyes immediately lit up as his expression became excited, “Has Senior accepted a disciple?”
The old man nodded, “My time is quickly approaching, so I decided to find someone to pass down my legacy to. This child’s aptitude is good, so I kept him by my side in order to teach him.”
“Young man, you are very lucky, being able to worship a character like Senior as your Master, I’m afraid that no one in this world would not envy you,” Ao Gu replied solemnly.
After a quick examination, Ao Gu also noticed that this young man named Di Yao was actually not human, but was instead from the Monster Race!
It was just that the Monster Qi inside this youth’s body was perfectly hidden, if the gap in their strength wasn’t so massive Ao Gu would not have been able to tell.
Ao Gu secretly nodded in praise, thinking that this Senior’s heart was truly open-minded; born a Human, yet actually receiving a Monster Race youth as his legacy disciple, this would be impossible for almost anyone else. Perhaps, in this Senior’s mind, there was no difference between Human, Demon, or Monster in the first place, they were all simply living beings of this world.
It was also because of this Senior’s unique viewpoint that he could gain the respect of the entire world.
At this moment, Ao Gu felt a profound sense of respect.
As they spoke, Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao also rushed out of the City Lord’s Mansion and arrived in front of the old man, cupping their fists and bowing, “Greetings, Senior.”
“You two should be Vice City Lords Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao of Floating Clouds City, yes?” The old man smiled slightly.
“Senior’s eyes are indeed sharp,” Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao straightened their backs and replied heartily, seemingly quite flattered that such an important master actually recognized them.
“En, very good,” The old man nodded repeatedly, “Under your three’s jurisdiction, Floating Clouds City is very prosperous, it seems that you have put in a lot of effort. If there were more people like you in this world, able to abandon the barriers which separate the Three Clans, it would truly be good. A time when the whole world can live as one family, this old master doesn’t know whether he will be able to see such a scene in his lifetime.”
“Junior will definitely work hard towards such a future,” Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao quickly stated, “Although we do not dare say anything about the outside world, but in this Floating Clouds City, Senior can definitely witness such a scene.”
“Hoho, then this old master looks forward to it,” The old man smiled lightly.
“Senior, let us talk inside,” Ao Gu hastily invited the old man into the City Lord’s Mansion, as if he wasn’t willing to let Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao continue monopolizing the conversation with this profound master.
The old man nodded slightly and strode forward with the help of the young man named Di Yao.
Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao also hurriedly kept up, thinking about whether or not to take this opportunity to ask this Senior to refine them some Saint Pills.
Inside the mansion, Ao Gu threw a banquet for the old man and Di Yao, serving many fine wines and rare spirit fruits along with numerous other delicacies.
The old man only tasted a few spirit fruits before stopping while on the other hand, Di Yao gorged himself as if his belly was a bottomless pit.
Zhou Liang and Jin Jiao also put down their status and identities and frequently toasted with Di Yao.
After three rounds of wine, Ao Gu asked, “Senior, have you come this time for the Thousand Year Demon Flower?”
“En,” The old man nodded lightly, “But you can rest assured that I will not break the existing tradition or harm everyone’s interests. My most important reason for coming this time is to allow this youngster to see more of the world.”
“We naturally trust Senior’s character,” Ao Gu nodded repeatedly.
Given this old man’s present status, if he really needed the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s medicinal essence, he only needed to say a few words and no one else would compete with him over it. At that time, the Thousand Year Demon Flower on Ascending Heaven Cliff would undoubtedly land in his hands.
“My coming here today is not for much, I just wish to ensure the safety of my disciple. This old master doesn’t want to worry about finding another legacy successor.”
“Senior can rest assured that in Floating Clouds City, Junior swears upon his life that no one will harm little brother Di Yao!” Ao Gu replied firmly.
“Then I shall be troubling you. En, in exchange, I can help you three people each refine a Saint Pill.”
As soon as this statement came out, the faces of Ao Gu and the others lit up, each of them exchanging a joyous glance before hurriedly making their request.