After he obtained Zhang Ao’s memories related to the Starry Sky, Yang Kai refined his Soul remnant directly.
In the process, as always, Yang Kai obtained Zhang Ao’s insights and understandings of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao.
His own comprehension was subtly enhanced, but not significantly improved.
As Yang Kai’s strength grew, the benefits he harvested from refining these Soul remnants were decreasing correspondingly; however, thanks to this particular method, Yang Kai had never had to worry about bottlenecks while he cultivated. As long as he could kill some high-level cultivators from time to time and absorb their sentiments, Yang Kai’s future cultivation path would be free of obstacles. Of course, this was all under the premise that his True Qi and physique could keep up.
With Yang Kai’s current comprehension, he wouldn’t encounter any kind of bottleneck before breaking through to the Third Order Saint Realm.
Collecting his thoughts, Yang Kai returned his consciousness to his physical body and slowly got up, preparing to inquire about current events when suddenly he heard Han Fei’s shout in the distance, “Who goes there?”
In the next instant, a blast of cold air erupted and the sound of something cutting through the air rang out. It seemed that Han Fei was pursuing someone or something.
Yang Kai frowned, walked out of his tent, and saw a lot of Ancient Demon clansmen gathered around, all of them staring off in a certain direction.
“Master!” Li Rong rushed over to ensure Yang Kai’s safety. Her hut had been set up next to Yang Kai’s for this explicit purpose, the two of them living no more than five meters apart.
“What happened?” Yang Kai asked, releasing his Divine Sense into the surroundings to examine the situation.
“It seems that someone has been spying on us for the past few days but we have so far been unable to find them. Han Fei apparently caught a trace of whoever it was and immediately gave chase.”
“Even you haven’t been able to discover their identity?” Yang Kai was amazed.
“En, that person’s ability to hide their aura is very profound, it’s almost as if they can make themselves completely invisible, shielding themselves from all our senses,” Li Rong’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Oh? Interesting,” Yang Kai grinned. Outwardly, Li Rong was only a Second-Order Saint, but her true strength was not inferior to that of a Demon General, yet even she was unable to track down this elusive enemy.
The only one nearby capable of such a feat should be the Monster Race Great Senior!
However, Yang Kai had already reached an agreement with him and it was impossible for that Great Senior to be so bored to run over here to spy on them.
Waiting for a while, Han Fei flew back, her expression dim.
“That person?” Li Rong asked.
Han Fei shook her head, “Their speed is too fast, and their movement skill is quite exquisite. I wasn’t able to catch up with them!”
“Did you manage to see what kind of appearance they had?” Yang Kai asked.
“It was a woman,” Han Fei frowned, “But her appearance was quite strange. All her clothes seemed to be tattered and her hair was a complete mess, almost like she was a lunatic. She never said a word. As soon as she discovered me, she immediately fled. Oh, right, I also didn’t feel any vitality from her, instead… there was Death Qi lingering about her!”
“Death Qi?” This time it was Li Rong’s turn to be shocked.
“En, it was definitely Death Qi, only someone who has already died would have such an aura around them!” Han Fei nodded.
Hearing all this, Yang Kai expression changed as his brow rose, his figure flicking, leaving behind an afterimage where he was previously standing, coming to a stop a moment later and asking, “Did her movement skill look like this?”
Han Fei nodded, “En, her movement skill gave off this kind of feeling, it was quite profound.”
“I know who she is,” Yang Kai stared off into the distance and sighed.
The several Ancient Demon Clan Great Commanders exchanged glances, none of them knowing why Yang Kai showed a low-spirited look.
“Master, is that woman an old acquaintance of yours?” Li Rong asked carefully.
Yang Kai shook his head, “I don’t know her, but she is related to me, she is Nine Heavens Holy Land’s previous generation Saintess!”
Yang Kai then told the Ancient Demon Clan’s leaders the story of Saintess Nan, surprising all of them quite seriously.
“Before death not killing one person, after death slaughtering millions…” Li Rong spoke thoughtfully, “She is somewhat similar to Coffin Slave Senior, but the opposite!”
Coffin Slave and Saintess Nan were both living corpses! It’s just that after death, one of them caused a massive number of casualties while the other never directly killed anyone. Both of them had a powerful obsession in their hearts which allowed their body to continue moving even after death.
Because she was a living corpse, Saintess Nan gave off no life aura, which was why Li Rong and the others had such difficult tracking her.
If they wanted to deal with such a person, the only options were to completely destroy her physical form or somewhat erase her heart’s obsession. Once this last will of hers was crushed, her dead body would naturally stop moving.
“I suppose it’s time to deal with this issue,” Yang Kai stated calmly.
Regardless of what she had become, Saintess Nan was still a member of the Holy Land, if Yang Kai allowed her to continue to roam free; it would only lead to a repeat of the troubles from a few years ago.
Moreover, her lingering presence did nothing for the stability of the Nine Heavens Holy Land.
Her appearing here at this time was obviously because she was tracking him, so as long as Yang Kai acted as bait, Saintess Nan would surely show herself.
Explaining his thoughts to the Great Commanders, Li Rong and the other Ancient Demon Clan Saints made no objections.
In order to ensure things went well, Yang Kai brought both Li Rong and Han Fei with him to a remote location in the jungle.
Saintess Nan was still a powerful Second-Order Saint, even if she was already dead she was not to be underestimated.
A hundred kilometres away, Yang Kai came across a mountain valley and stopped, swiftly sweeping his eyes over the area before nodding lightly.
Li Rong and Han Fei immediately hid and concealed their auras, lying in ambush.
Yang Kai walked leisurely into the mountain valley, picking a few spirit herbs he came across along the way. Unfortunately, he only found a few Heaven Grade and Mysterious Grade herbs, not even a single Spirit Grade item appeared.
It wasn’t until after he circled the entire mountain valley once that Yang Kai felt a sense of inconsistency.
It was as if someone was staring at him from nearby.
Turning his head in the direction he sensed this gaze coming from, Yang Kai saw Saintess Nan appear. Dressed in white, her hair dishevelled, swaying back and forth like an evil spectre, she faintly stared at him while maintaining a short distance between them.
Her white dress had been significantly worn due to the many fights she had been in as she had obviously never changed or washed them these past few years, giving her an even more ghastly look.
Yang Kai didn’t know when she had appeared and wasn’t even clear how long she had been staring at him, all he could tell was that there was a hint of tenderness and nostalgia which flashed across the depths of her eyes as she fixed her gaze on the Holy Master Spirit Ring on his hand.
The Holy Master Spirit Ring was a symbol of every Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land. The old Holy Master had also worn it on his hand before he died. Saintess Nan was the old Holy Master’s life companion, so when she saw this ring, naturally she would show some reaction.
However, the tenderness in her gaze quickly faded and was replaced with endless killing intent as she shot forward towards Yang Kai without so much as a word.
Before Saintess Nan even arrived in front of him, a huge pressure had already descended upon Yang Kai.
A giant sword appeared in the sky and slashed down towards Yang Kai.
Profound Heavenly Sword!
Yang Kai simply stood in place, not making any attempt to evade.
“World of Ice and Snow!” Suddenly, a cold yet melodious voice rang out from the jungle.
In an instant, the entire mountain valley’s temperature plummeted! With a crackling sound, a thin layer of ice quickly covered the lush vegetation while a sky blue barrier appeared above the mountain valley, sealing it off from the outside world.
The dramatic change in climate was accompanied by snowflakes falling from the sky.
These seemingly dainty snowflakes each contained an enormous amount of power and each time one fell it would explode in a burst of light, sending out an uncountable number of tiny attacks towards Saintess Nan.
The Profound Heavenly Sword was instantly crushed.
Saintess Nan, who had been rushing towards Yang Kai, instinctively stopped, leapt back and summoned a Grand Heavenly Shield to protect her body, a great spear then appearing in her hand which she proceeded to throw towards Han Fei’s hiding place.
*Xiu…*
Like it was breaking through space itself, the Heaven Punishing Spear instantly appeared in front of Han Fei, causing her eyes to bulge.
A chill rising from the bottom of her heart, Han Fei’s pretty face was immediately covered in her Demon Crests as she extended her jade hand and grabbed towards the approaching spear.
Red blood dripped from her hand as she somehow managed to block this strike.
At the same time, Li Rong has quietly arrived behind Saintess Nan. A red light blossomed as a huge flower appeared beneath Saintess Nan’s feet.
This blooming flower was quite beautiful, its petals gently rotating almost like a lotus platform as it sent out a strange energy wave that engulfed and drew Saintess Nan towards it.
The petals gradually began to close, trying to wrap up and trap Saintess Nan inside them.
A hoarse, nearly inhuman roar escaped Saintess Nan’s lips as her body flickered, leaving behind a fuzzy afterimage as she seemingly teleported a short distance away.
Standing firm, Saintess Nan directed a murky glare towards Li Rong and Han Fei, like a wounded beast.
Li Rong and Han Fei also gathered together, their eyes flashing with a mix of pity and dread as they looked towards Saintess Nan, both of them realizing just how difficult an opponent they were facing.
“You don’t have to hold back. Try to capture her, but if you can’t… destroy her directly!” Yang Kai faintly said.
“Yes!” Li Rong and Han Fei shouted together, both of them taking action again.
*Chi chi chi…*
Ice blades swirled about.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
Bright red flower petals danced through the air.
Two Ancient Demon Clan leaders joining forces to fight against the Second Order Saint Saintess Nan, naturally, there was no suspense.
The mountain valley had been surrounded by Han Fei’s barrier so Saintess Nan could not escape.
If not for them having scruples about her being from Nine Heavens Holy Land, Li Rong and Han Fei would have already beaten her.
Half an hour later, Saintess Nan was finally overpowered and bound by Li Rong’s red flower.
A brilliant red light burst out and when it faded, the flower petals seemed to have sunk into Saintess Nan’s skin, leaving behind petal tattoos all across her body.
Her True Qi had been sealed and her movements had been restricted. Saintess Nan had been caught.
Walking up to get a close-up look at Saintess Nan, Yang Kai, who had been entangled by her for several years couldn’t help feeling somewhat complicated.
The person in front of him, when she was young, was a peerless beauty. Even after she died, her face still retained its youthfulness.
But at this moment, she was now a dishevelled corpse driven only by the desire to slaughter.
If the old Holy Master was still alive and saw this scene, it was difficult to imagine what he might think.
In fact, if Su Yan or Xia Ning Chang ever ended up like this, Yang Kai would have felt more aggrieved than if they had just died.
Wanting to destroy her directly, yet somehow not able to bear doing so, Yang Kai eventually let out a sigh and said, “Take her back with us and watch over her carefully.”
He decided to hand over Saintess Nan to Xu Hui and the others to handle.
Li Rong and Han Fei glanced at each other and nodded gently, the former wrapping Saintess Nan in her Demonic Qi before both of them followed Yang Kai back the way they came.
Time passed by quickly and soon, it had been half a month. It was the date the Monster Race Great Senior had agreed to complete his withdrawal by.
The Ancient Demon Clan was packed and ready to go, just waiting for Yang Kai to give the order to move to the nine peaks.
Because of their relationship with Yang Kai, the Ancient Demon clansmen already saw the nine peaks as their new home, so it was only natural for them to be filled with expectations and curiosity towards what kind of paradise it was.
The crowd of Demons gathered together, pointing towards the nine peaks, whispering amongst themselves.
Yang Kai spread out his Divine Sense as he explored the situation of the nine peaks. Starting from last night, many Monster Beasts and Monster Race masters had been streaming out until now there were only a few living auras left.
Those who still stood among the nine peaks were the Alchemists and Artifact Refiners who originally belonged to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
A few years ago, Yang Kai and Great Senior had made an agreement to leave these Alchemists and Artifact Refiners behind to provide Alchemy and Artifact Refining services. Today, when the Monster Race left, Great Senior had kept his word and not tried to take these people away.
Yang Kai nodded, feeling that Great Senior had maintained his upright character.
A ray of coloured light glistened and flew towards Yang Kai, Cai Die’s pretty face and fluttering wings soon appearing before him. Sweeping her eyes over this crowd, her eyes quickly landed on Yang Kai as she spoke coldly, “My entire clan has left, you can return home now. Great Senior wanted me to pass a message to you, thanking you for providing my family with such a good opportunity to develop these past few years and extending you an open invitation to visit the Beast Sea Jungle!”
“Many thanks for your hard work, Ms. Cai Die, please give my regards to Great Senior and tell him I will definitely visit when I have time,” Yang Kai smiled and nodded.
“I’ve said what I needed to, goodbye!” Cai Die snorted, turned around, and flew off.
“That little girl… her temper is quite short,” Yin Ya muttered in a somewhat dissatisfied voice.
“Her strength is good though, higher than our own by a Minor Realm. She’s also quite pretty!” Xue Ji grinned villainously as he stared in Cai Die’s direction.
“Be careful how you speak. Remember that indiscriminate remarks only bring about trouble!” Li Rong reprimanded, “My clan has just reappeared in this world, try not to cause problems.”
Yin Ya and Xue Ji nodded quickly, expressing their understanding.
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai waved, leading the way.
The nine peaks were lush and verdant, filled with a beautiful and refreshing spring-like air. The Nine Peaks Spirit Array was also still operating, enhancing the ambient World Energy density.
The Ancient Demon Clan immediately took a liking to this place upon entering it, many of them glancing around excitedly.
The conditions and environment here were infinitely better than the ones back in that Mysterious Small World. Living here would no doubt feel comfortable for both their minds and bodies.
Many clansmen couldn’t help feeling like they were dreaming. Even if they had left that Mysterious Small World almost three months ago, they still found themselves wondering from time to time if they were actually still back in that world without a sun, moon, or stars.
The only way to dismiss these concerns was to immerse themselves in the excitement outside.
At the base of the central mountain peak, in front of the main hall Great Senior had been occupying, stood a few hundred people, silently waiting.
These people were none other than the Holy Land’s Alchemists and Artifact Refiners. These men and women had varying ages while the strongest among them was only a Second-Order Transcendent.
When Yang Kai led the thousand or so Ancient Demon clansmen over, the waiting crowd hurriedly bowed, “Greetings Holy Master. Holy Master has finally returned.”
“You’ve all worked hard,” Yang Kai gently nodded, “Having all of you work for the Monster Race for nearly three years was truly an unavoidable choice, please forgive me.”
“Not at all!” The most powerful and senior figure stepped forward and shook his head, “The Monster Race did not mistreat us; in fact, they were always quite polite. Holy Master need not concern himself over this matter.”
Yang Kai gently nodded, brightly calling out, “Since I have returned today, the Holy Land will also return to its former glory. Furthermore, from this day forward, anyone who dares trample on my Holy Land’s majesty and invade its lands will be swiftly destroyed!”
The group of Alchemists and Artifact Refiners all cheered excitedly.
The leading old man then turned his attention to the Ancient Demon clansmen and furrowed his brow. Although he didn’t understand why Yang Kai had brought this group of Demon Race people here, he knew well enough not to ask any question, setting the matter aside and instead asking, “What about Great Elder Xu Hui and the others? Why have I not seem them return as well?”
“They are already here in the Holy Land,” Yang Kai chuckled, “You wait here first, I’ll go retrieve Great Elder and the others.”
Glancing back, he said to Li Rong, “You all wait here too.”
Li Rong and the others nodded lightly.
Yang Kai’s figure flickered and a few breaths later he arrived in front of the Holy Tomb.
Lifting the Holy Master Spirit Ring on his finger into the slow on the giant stone slab and filling it with his True Qi, Yang Kai opened the hidden Void Corridor and stepped into it.
Inside the Holy Tombs, the thousands of disciples of Nine Heavens Holy Land all sat silently.
After spending a few years inside this dark and desolate space, everyone had gradually become accustomed to it.
Although some would occasionally become frustrated and impatient, the Elders and Saintess would quickly comfort them and settle the situation.
The Elders and Saintess continued to tell the others that the new Holy Master would surely return to bring them out of this place and that their most important task right now was to improve their own strength so that they would never again have to experience the shame of abandoning their home.
Xu Hui and the others regarded their failure three years ago as the greatest disgrace of their lives.
In recent years, all of them had spared no effort in their cultivation.
The Holy Tomb was the place where every generation of Holy Master and his Saintesses would enter secluded retreat to cultivate. Although the environment was harsh to inhabit, the World Energy was very rich.
Also, it was seemingly inexhaustible.
No cultivator who wished to quickly improve their strength would be willing to miss such a great opportunity.
Over the past three years, almost everyone had achieved significant growth, so besides not being able to leave, everything was actually proceeding in a good direction.
Thousands of people meditated silently, drawing the dense, nearly visible World Energy around them into their physiques, creating a spectacular scene.
Although there were so many of them, it was still deathly silent. Even if someone stood up and moved around, they would tread extremely lightly for fear of disturbing others.
In one corner, An Ling’er, who was also closing her eyes and cultivating, suddenly noticed an unusual aura suddenly appear inside the Holy Tomb. Frowning suspiciously for a moment, her eyes suddenly burst open in the next as she stood up and began looking back and forth, a pleasantly surprised expression filled her face.
An Ling’er knew this aura better than anyone because she was the one who first instilled Yang Kai with the knowledge of the Nine Heavens Divine Skills.
In that instant, she realized that Yang Kai had appeared nearby.
“Ling’er, what happened?” Yu Ying also opened his eyes and asked softly.
“He came in!” An Ling’er continued looking around and shouted.
“Who?” Yu Ying asked, in the next breath covering her mouth in shock and exclaiming, “You mean…”
An Ling’er nodded vigorously.
The dialogue between the two alarmed the other Elders, all of whom hurriedly opened their eyes and also began searching their surroundings.
A moment later, everyone’s eyes fixed on a certain spot.
From the direction they were staring, the all saw a figure approaching and although the lights here were dim and they could not see this person’s exact appearance. Upon feeling this newcomer’s familiar life aura, all of the Elders couldn’t help becoming excited.
“Holy Master?” Xu Hui trembled as this name escaped his lips.
“Is it really Holy Master who came in?” Cheng Yue Tong’s beautiful eyes stared at the approaching figure, not daring to blink.
After a short pause, the young man they had been longing to see appeared in front of them, a light smile upon his face.
“It really is Holy Master!” Xu Hui excitedly shouted, immediately bowing together with the other Elders, “Subordinate greets Holy Master!”
“No need to be so polite,” Yang Kai chuckled.
“You finally came!” An Ling’er looked at Yang Kai faintly, “We’ve been waiting for a few years already…”
As she spoke, her eyes became somewhat watery. During these seemingly endless days of waiting, many had inevitably had thoughts about being trapped inside this place forever. If it weren’t for Xu Hui and the other leaders appeasing them from time to time, the situation could have rapidly deteriorated.
“En, I’ve kept you waiting for too long, I’m truly sorry!” Yang Kai said seriously as he sincerely apologized.
“Holy Master is too serious…” Xu Hui’s leaked a few tears from his wrinkled face, not knowing what to say.
The disciples who were all meditating had also been awakened by the movements here, and as soon as they became aware of Yang Kai’s arrival, cheers broke out and soon spread throughout the entire Holy Tomb.
After letting them indulge for a moment, Xu Hui quickly quieted them down.
However, everyone still gathered around and stared silently, all of them wondering if Yang Kai was here to bring them out.
The several Elders also had similar expectations.
Yu Ying asked, “Holy Master, since you’ve come, does that mean that everything outside has been processed?”
“Yes, everything has been settled. The Monster Race masters have withdrawn already so it’s time to return home.”
Listening to him say so, everyone was overjoyed, all of them extremely eager to leave this place and return to the nine peaks.
“I’ll go open the exit while the Elders arrange the disciples,” Yang Kai said with a smile.
“Good,” Xu Hui nodded quickly and began organizing the others.
As they hurriedly prepared to leave, Yang Kai opened the exit and left with An Ling’er.
From inside the Holy Tomb, one disciple after another came out in an orderly fashion. Upon seeing the sky again after several years, many of them could not contain their joy and began shouting and cheering.
Outside the Holy Tomb, Yang Kai silently observed the exiting disciples as he pondering how he should explain about the Ancient Demon Clan to Xu Hui.
Although Yang Kai was nominally in charge of Nine Heavens Holy Land now, he wasn’t sure whether Xu Hui and the others would object to him settling a large group of Demon Race people here.
[If they were to strongly oppose, how would I be able to deal with it?]
“Your strength seems to have improved greatly again,” An Ling’er suddenly said, “What realm is your cultivation at now?”
“Third Order Transcendent Realm,” Yang Kai replied casually.
An Ling’er couldn’t help covering her mouth, her beautiful eyes flashing with shock as she stared at him.
She still remembered that when she first met Yang Kai, he was only a First Order Transcendent drifting atop the endless sea, yet in only four or five years, he had become a Third Order Transcendent, spanning two Minor Realms and now only a step away from the Saint Realm.
At that moment, An Ling’er suddenly believed the bold claim Yang Kai had made to her before.
He had said a long time ago that even if he didn’t become join Nine Heavens Holy Land, as long as he was given thirty years, he would still be able to stand on equal footing with the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land.
At that time, An Ling’er didn’t believe him, feeling his arrogance was simply higher than the sky, but now, An Ling’er had to believe him.
According to his current momentum, he could indeed achieve what he said he would.
In fact, he might not even need thirty years to reach that height…
After bustling about for half a day, all the disciples had come out from the Holy Tomb.
Confirming that there was no longer anyone inside, Yang Kai once again closed the Holy Tomb and gathered the Elders and An Ling’er together.
Seeming aware that he had something important to discuss with them, everyone remained silent and waited for Yang Kai to speak.
“There is something I must tell you,” Yang Kai brow furrowed, still sorting out exactly how to broach this matter.
“If Holy Master has something to say, please speak freely. We subordinates will certainly listen closely!” Xu Hui chuckled, not sure why Yang Kai was acting so awkwardly.
“As long as you don’t say you wish to leave the Holy Land and give up the position of Holy Master, we can promise you anything else,” Yu Ying interjected with a smile.
“En, en, exactly!” The Elders all nodded, obviously still somewhat concerned that Yang Kai would try to cast off his position just as he had attempted to do a few years ago. At that time, Yang Kai acted like a rouge, not displaying any of the poise a Holy Master should at all.
“I won’t,” Yang Kai laughed dumbly despite trying not to, quickly gathering his thoughts and saying, “Before I met all of you, I actually ran into a group of people. It was back when I was still quite ignorant and weak. That group had been imprisoned in a Mysterious Small World for some special reasons and they pleaded with me to find a way to save them; in exchange for freeing them, they pledged to serve me for the rest of my life.”
“Oh?” Xu Hui’s brow rose, “Making such a promise when Holy Master was still weak, if they weren’t speaking irresponsibly, then they must have recognized Holy Master’s potential, in which case they belong to?”
Xu Hui seemed somewhat uneasy. What lay in the heart of an individual was difficult, much less an entire group of people, so hearing Yang Kai’s words he couldn’t help probing.
“They were not speaking casually. During the years when all of you were hiding inside the Holy Tomb, I happened to save them and brought them out of that place just a few months ago. Since then, they have faithfully honoured their pledge and obeyed my commands.”
“This group of people is quite upstanding then,” Cheng Yue Tong smiled warmly, “Those who keep their word are trustworthy. So does Holy Master want to absorb them into the Holy Land?”
Cheng Yue Tong saying this enlightened the other Elders, all of them thinking this was a case, directing curious and somewhat expectant looks towards Yang Kai.
“They can’t be absorbed into the Holy Land… I just wish to have them settle down on one of the nine peaks. I don’t know if the Elders are willing to comply?”
“Can’t be absorbed?” Xu Hui’s brow furrowed but soon relaxed, “If they can’t be absorbed then so be it. Since they are Holy Master’s subordinates, living in the Holy Land is only a matter of course. The Holy Land is quite large, accommodating a group of people isn’t an issue…”
“En…” Luo Sheng and Meng Tian Fei also nodded, agreeing with Xu Hui’s sentiments.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to agree, I haven’t finished explaining everything yet. You should reserve your decision until after hearing all I have to say!” Yang Kai smiled and continued, “There are about a thousand people in this group.”
“Hm, that is certainly not a small number, but the Holy Land should have more than enough capacity to accommodate them,” Xu Hui nodded lightly, asking casually, “What kind of strength do they possess? How strong are their top masters?”
“There are five Saints!”
“Ah… what?” All of the Elder were instantly dumbfounded, An Ling’er covering her mouth in shock.
This group of people had promised to serve Yang Kai back when he was very weak, so Xu Hui and the others mistakenly thought that the strength of this group wasn’t very high; otherwise how could they have made such a promise?
All of them had assumed that these thousand people were some small Sect or family with a few Transcendents serving as leaders at most.
None of them had expected Yang Kai to tell them that there were actually five Saint Realm masters among this group!
That was only slightly fewer than the number of Saints Nine Heavens Holy Land had…
“Holy Master, are you perhaps kidding?” Xu Hui simply couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Does it look like I’m telling a joke?” Yang Kai’s expression became serious, “Three of them are Second Order Saints while two are First Order!”
Everyone was once against stunned silent.
Three Second Order Saints and two First Orders; although this was one fewer Saints than Nine Heavens Holy Land, if a conflict broke out between the two groups, obviously Nine Heavens Holy Land would be the one to lose!
Xu Hui and the others immediately understood why Yang Kai had unexpected asked for their opinions.
Without knowing for certain what the disposition of this group was, if a conflict occurred inside the Holy Land in the future, Xu Hui and the others wouldn’t be able to fight back.
The joy of leaving the Holy Tomb was suddenly replaced with deep concern.
“On top of that, they are not ordinary people…” As if thinking the Elders weren’t shocked enough already, Yang Kai finally brought up the most important concern, “They’re Demons!”
“Demons?” Yu Ying screamed.
Cheng Yue Tong’s pretty face also went pale.
Xu Hui didn’t say anything immediately, but anyone would be able to see the shock and inner turmoil he was experiencing.
Yang Kai saying all this had left him not knowing what to say.
“If you consider it carefully and decide you cannot accept them in Nine Heavens Holy Land, tell me honestly and I will find another place to settle them,” Yang Kai said faintly, not showing any intention to force them to agree, waving his hand in the next moment, “For now, we should first finish arranging the disciples. My telling all of you about this was simply to give you a chance to mentally prepare yourselves.”
Everyone stared towards Yang Kai, none of them making any moves.
“Don’t concern yourselves too much, even if they can’t stay in Nine Heavens Holy Land, I have a place to put them,” Yang Kai grinned, seeing the complex looks on all of their faces.
This was what he had expected would happen.
At that moment, Xu Hui seemed to wake from his confusion and wore a dignified expression, “Holy Master, I will only ask one question. Has this group of Demons truly submitted to you or could it be that in order to escape that Mysterious Small World they have temporarily deceived you and are just waiting for the right opportunity to escape from your control?”
“You don’t have to worry about this,” Yang Kai smiled confidently, “As long as I live they won’t dare betray me!”
The Elders were stunned by the firmness of Yang Kai’s response.
Xu Hui took a deep breath and nodded, “Then there is no problem. You are the Holy Master of the Holy Land, and you have complete authority over who to admit and settle here. The Elders and I are only here to advise you, we have no decision-making power! Holy Master seeking our council is already giving us enough face…”
Yang Kai grinned, sweeping his eyes over the others.
Luo Sheng, Shi Kun, Meng Tian Fei, Yu Ying, and Cheng Yue Tong all nodded. Although they obviously had some concerns, the looks they directed towards Yang Kai were filled with trust and goodwill.
“Then on their behalf I offer you my thanks,” Yang Kai nodded firmly, “Good, the Holy Land has nine peaks, they only need one. They will prepare their own living materials and will not burden the Holy Land. I will also ensure that they not cause any conflicts with the Holy Land’s disciples.”
“Which peak does Holy Master intend to settle them on?” Xu Hui asked.
“The peak where Reflecting Moon Pond is located.”
Because of the current state of Reflecting Moon Pond, that particular peak was now in a perpetual state of deep winter and everyone who had once lived there had moved away. It was the only one of the nine peaks that was completely devoid of occupants.
However, the Ancient Demon clansmen were all endowed with powerful physiques, so living there wouldn’t be an issue for them as long as they didn’t get too close to Reflecting Moon Pond.
Also, there were already houses and other facilities on that peak so there would be no need to build new ones them.
“They won’t have any complaints? Are you sure you don’t wish to have them settle on a different mountain?” Xu Hui couldn’t help but worry.
“There’s no problem, the environment inside the Mysterious Small World where they used to live was far worse than here, they’ll be more than satisfied,” Yang Kai chuckled.
“En…” Xu Hui didn’t say anymore.
After learning that the group of Demons had already arrived inside the Holy Land, Xu Hui immediately said he wanted to meet with them.
After all, everyone would be neighbours in the future, so even if they didn’t technically belong to the same force, they would be living together. Building a good rapport was essential to ensure future conflicts could be resolved smoothly.
Fortunately, both Nine Heavens Holy Land and this group of Demons were Yang Kai’s subordinates.
With such a common point, Xu Hui felt that as long as there were no major incidents, most issues could be worked through.
Leaving Meng Tian Fei and Shi Kun to see to the disciples, Xu Hui and the others followed Yang Kai back to the main peak.
The hundreds of Alchemists and Artifact Refiners stood around with the Ancient Demon Clan, silently waiting. Although Yang Kai had been gone for half a day now, the Ancient Demon clansmen had not caused any issues, most of them still just looking around curiously.
Acting as a host, Xu Hui immediately came forward and welcomed Li Rong and the others.
Li Rong and the other Great Commanders smiled and returned the courtesy, exchanging greetings for a while. After talking amongst themselves for a while, each of them discovered that the other party wasn’t difficult to get along with.
This was especially true for Xu Hui; he felt that Li Rong was quite reasonable and friendly, nothing at all like the arrogant and brutal Demons he was used to. She was more like a refined lady from some big family or powerful Sect.
Xu Hui’s mood immediately brightened.
Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong also soon got close to Han Fei. All of them were beautiful women, but Han Fei’s cultivation was higher than their own by a minor Realm and her temperament was both cold and noble. The two of them felt they could learn a thing or two from her.
Having found common topics of interest, the two parties soon immersed themselves in their own discussions.
Yang Kai had essentially been relegated to the background and was now idly watching.
After a while, Li Rong suddenly said, “Right, together with Master we captured a certain person a few days ago, she seems to be your Nine Heaven’s Holy Land’s previous generation’s Saintess. I believe Master called her Saintess Nan!”
“Saintess Nan?” Xu Hui exclaimed as he hurriedly looked around, “Where is she now?”
Li Rong lightly clapped her hands and immediately had a group of Ancient Demon clansmen bring over the bound Saintess Nan.
Seeing the previous generation’s Saintess’ miserable appearance, Xu Hui and the others couldn’t help wearing sad expressions.
An Ling’er was even worse off, tears freely streaming from her eyes as she rushed over and held Saintess Nan.
The previous generation Saintess and the current Saintess had very close ties. Saintess Nan had always treated An Ling’er as her own daughter, but after Saintess Nan died, she had personally killed the other three Saintesses, and if not for a stroke of luck, An Ling’er would have died at her hands too.
Seeing her again now, how could An Ling’er continue to suppress the grief in her heart?
Xu Hui wiped the corner of his eyes and turned his gaze away.
Li Rong and the others seemed infected by the mood and also let out slight sighs.
After a while, Yang Kai stepped forward and gently patted An Ling’er’s shoulder, “However you wish to handle Saintess Nan, I leave up to you.”
An Ling’er nodded as she continued to sob, slowly lifting up Saintess Nan and gradually walking off.
Being bound and sealed by a master like Li Rong, Saintess Nan wouldn’t be able to escape no matter how heaven-defying her abilities were, so there was no need to worry about any harm coming to An Ling’er.
The sun was gradually setting, but all of Nine Heavens Holy Land was still bustling with activity.
The several thousand Holy Land disciples returning from the Holy Tomb all had many things to do.
The Ancient Demon Clan followed Yang Kai and Xu Hui to the mountain where they would later be living.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
Exactly one month later, the flurry of activating inside the Holy Land gradually calmed down.
The mess left behind when the Monster Race withdrew had been processed and Nine Heavens Holy Land once again entered into a steady state of development. On the mountain where the Ancient Demon Clan had settled, rows of new and refurbished houses were neatly lined up, making for an exquisite sight.
As the Ancient Demon Clan was constructing their new residences, Xu Hui had made sure to provide them with any resources and assistance they required, earning him Li Rong’s sincere gratitude.
After spending more than a month getting along together, Xu Hui and the other Elders couldn’t help changing some of their preconceived notions and instinctual repulsion to the Demon Race.
They had found that this group of Demons who had chosen to serve Yang Kai, besides being from a different race with a different kind of energy flowing through their bodies, were, in every other way the same as themselves.
None of them had seen or even heard of any of them running amok or causing trouble and were instead very cordial and law-abiding.
Gradually, a peaceful coexistence formed between the Holy Land disciples and the Ancient Demon Clan.
Yang Kai was very satisfied with the current situation. This past month, he had not had a moment’s rest as he had to deal with a myriad of issues big and small regarding Nine Heavens Holy Land and the Ancient Demon Clan, causing him to feel quite exhausted and wishing he could clone himself to split his workload. He hadn’t even had a spare moment to communicate with the Divine Tree.
Now that he had obtained a stable foothold, Yang Kai wanted to let the Divine Tree out of the Black Book space.
However, considering the difficulty of doing so and the presence of the Ancient Demon Clan, he decided to put off this idea for now.
The Yang Attribute energy aura released by the Divine Tree was so potent that even the Ancient Demon Clan may be adversely affected by it. On top of that, even with Yang Kai’s current strength, trying to remove the Divine Tree from the Black Book space would likely completely exhaust his strength.
For now, the best he could do was to occasionally send his Soul Avatar into the Black Book space and spend some time with the Divine Tree to appease its loneliness.
During one of these visits, Yang Kai also learned from the Divine Tree that the two pitch-black round stones were still absorbing the essence from the rare ores he had piled up. By now, almost all the minerals and ores in the Black Book space had been consumed, leaving behind only a large pile of dust and impurities.
After such a long time, the meridian like traces on the surface of the pitch-black round stones had become far more prominent.
Yang Kai faintly thought there was something unusual about these two stones and couldn’t help wondering just what kind of change they would undergo after absorbing so much mineral essence.
One day, as Yang Kai was discussing some matters with Li Rong and Xu Hui, a Holy Land disciples suddenly entered the hall and reported, “Holy Master, there is someone outside the Sect who requests an audience.”
“What person?” Yang Kai knit his brow.
“Netherworld Sect’s Sect Master, Wu Jie!” The disciple responded.
“Wu Jie?” Hearing this name, Xu Hui pounded the table with his fist and shouted, “The nerve! This old master hasn’t gone to settle accounts with him for his previous offence yet now he dares to show up outside my Holy Land’s nine peaks? This time there will be no road to Heaven or path to Hell for him to escape! How many people has he brought with him?”
The disciple quickly answered, “Sect Master Wu is alone, but he seems to have caught two unfamiliar people and is currently holding on to them.”
Xu Hui coldly snorted, “He actually dares come here alone? Does that green bastard really think he can not place my Holy Land in his eyes? Holy Master, please permit this old master to teach him a harsh lesson!”
Yang Kai just smiled wryly, “No need, Wu Jie is an ally.”
Xu Hui was stunned, unable to understand why Yang Kai would say such a thing.
Three years ago, that hateful fellow had followed Zhang Ao and Cao Guan to crusade against the Holy Land. Naturally, Xu Hui still bore a deep grudge for this and couldn’t wait to peel Wu Jie’s skin, tear his flesh, and drink his blood to vent the hatred in his heart.
Yang Kai did not hurry to explain and simply said to the waiting disciple, “Go invite him here.”
The disciple bowed politely before leaving to complete his task while Yang Kai slowly explained the situation to Xu Hui.
After learning that Wu Jie had taken the initiative to make peace with Yang Kai three years ago and, in recent times, had actually followed him around and offered his assistance, Xu Hui couldn’t help furrowing his brow and muttering, “I had heard that Wu Jie’s forte was building and managing interpersonal relationships while accurately analysing the overall situation. It seems his reputation is well-deserved.”
“Him being able to show goodwill towards Master a few years ago proves his vision is better than most,” Li Rong smiled, “Not everyone can see the potential of Master, like that Zhang Ao and Cao Guan. They had only their own lack of foresight to blame for their deaths.”
“Zhang Ao and Cao Guan are dead?” Xu Hui was extremely surprised.
“Ah right, I have forgotten to tell you about that,” Yang Kai nodded offhandedly, “The leadership of Shattering Mystical Palace and War Spirit Temple have both basically been destroyed. By now, Wu Jie has probably finished handling their dismantlement.”
“Hmph, they got what they deserve!” Xu Hui still seemed somewhat angered and aggrieved, “This old master was still thinking about when to settle accounts with them, but now it seems there is no need for that. They got lucky, if they had fallen into this old master’s hands, I would surely have let them know what a life worse than death tastes like!”
Xu Hui cursed as he ground his teeth and clenched his fists.
Li Rong pursed her lips as she glanced over at Yang Kai, doing her best not to laugh.
A short while later, Wu Jie came in from the outside, still dressed in his trademark black robe, carrying with him two unconscious cultivators just like the messenger disciple had reported earlier.
Both these cultivators didn’t have a single scratch on them and simply seemed to be sleeping, their auras uniform and undisturbed, quite the mysterious sight.
Walking over, Wu Jie dropped the two unconscious men onto the floor and cupped his fists, “Greetings Sir Holy Master, greetings Senior Li… En, Great Elder as well.”
Yang Kai and Li Rong smiled and nodded while Xu Hui wore a gloomy look on his face and coldly snorted, obviously not happy to see Wu Jie, secretly thinking to himself that this person lacked honour and simply went where the wind blew, a sinister villain who was only concerned with benefits.
However, Wu Jie did not mind this reaction one bit.
“Have a seat!” Yang Kai gestured.
Wu Jie gently nodded and sat down at the table.
A pretty female disciple immediately served tea.
After sipping the tea for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “Sect Master Wu appearing here must mean you have finished processing those two Sects, yes?”
Hearing this question, Wu Jie couldn’t help grinning happily as he said, “I must thank Sir Holy Master for that. After a month or so of work, this Wu managed to absorb two thousand talented new disciples. The rest who only had average aptitude were given some cultivation resources and then dismissed. Now, within the surrounding thousand-kilometre radius, besides Nine Heavens Holy Land, only Netherworld Sect is left.”
“How much did it end up costing you?” Yang Kai chuckled.
“It didn’t cost much at all; after killing a few recalcitrant leaders, everything else was easy to handle,” Wu Jie replied casually.
“En, that’s certainly encouraging. It seems it is only a matter of time before your Sect rises. All that’s left is for Sect Master Wu to break through to the Second Order Saint Realm.
Wu Jie immediately looked awkward upon hearing this, smiling bitterly, “Sir Holy Master must not make fun of this Wu too much. What my aptitude is, this Wu is crystal clear, in this life, without some great opportunity, I’m afraid my current cultivation is my limit. “
“Seems you still have some self-knowledge!” Xu Hui snickered, his eyes filled with disdain.
Wu Jie let out a hollow laugh, knowing that Xu Hui was just venting his anger, quickly getting back to the discussion, “So my hopes will instead be placed on the next generation. In the future, Netherworld Sect will follow only Nine Heavens Holy Land’s lead, I only hope Sir Holy Master and Great Elder will show my Netherworld Sect some consideration in exchange for our loyalty!”
“We’re all one family, no need to act so humble!” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Xu Hui’s expression softened somewhat hearing this. Wu Jie, being able to utter such words as a Sect Master, had largely dispelled Xu Hui’s remaining grievances.
“Right, these are the cultivation materials collected from Shattering Mystical Palace and the War Spirit Temple. This Wu left behind thirty percent for himself while the remaining seventy percent have been brought over. Please feel free to inspect it, Sir Holy Master,” Wu Jie said as he took out a few Universe Bags and handed them over respectfully.
Xu Hui looked over questioningly towards Yang Kai and received a slight nod.
Standing up, Xu Hui walked over and accepted the Universe Bags Wu Jie had brought. Sweeping them with his Divine Sense, a joyful expression soon filled his old face.
The Universe Bags sent by Wu Jie were all full of valuable materials, and from the amount, it was easy to tell he had really only kept about thirty percent for himself.
The treasury of Nine Heavens Holy Land was currently empty, and just when they were in need of resources, Wu Jie had delivered them, giving Xu Hui the impression of receiving charcoal in a snowstorm.
Xu Hui was very satisfied and finally smiled, “Sect Master Wu is too polite, I hope that our two Sects will be good friends in the future and never again experience such unpleasant misunderstandings.”
“No no, Great Elder may rest assured that this Wu is not as short-sighted or petty as Zhang Ao and Cao Guan.”
“Very good!” Xu Hui nodded firmly, his attitude finally easing.
“En, there is one more thing I must report to Sir Holy Master!” Wu Jie’s expression suddenly became serious again.
“About these two people?” Yang Kai asked.
“Indeed,” Wu Jie nodded, “When this Wu came to the Holy Land today, I accidentally discovered a rather large number of people wandering around outside your nine peaks… they all seemed to be searching for something so this Wu conveniently grabbed two of them to inquire about their motives.”
“Could they be disciples that were expelled from Shattering Mystical Palace and War Spirit Temple?” Yang Kai asked suspiciously.
“No,” Wu Jie shook his head firmly, “These two are both First Order Transcendents. If they belonged to Shattering Mystical Palace or War Spirit Temple, this Wu would definitely have some kind of impression of them, but I have never seen either of them before.”
“Hmm… wake them up and ask them what they came here for,” Yang Kai suddenly felt a bit disgruntled. At this time, so many foreign cultivators linger around outside the Holy Land was definitely something he had to investigate.
Yang Kai smelled a conspiracy behind all of this, making him feel uncomfortable.
Wu Jie got up, walked over to the two sleeping cultivators, and gently tapped their heads. A moment later, the two people who were soundly sleeping leapt up, their True Qi surging as they swept their eyes around at Wu Jie, Yang Kai, and the others in the hall.
Seeing these two’s reaction, Wu Jie simply snickered and without even moving, pressed his aura down on them, causing the two men to instantly go pale as they realized the massive gap in power between themselves and Wu Jie. All thoughts of resistance disappeared and only fear and panic remained in their eyes.
One of them trembled as he managed to ask, “Who are you and why did you capture us?”
Wu Jie didn’t answer, his green glowing eyes staring menacingly towards the pair of now terrified cultivators.
It was only after thoroughly intimidating them that Wu Jie coldly spoke, “I have something to ask you, your free to answer or not to answer, but if you fail to satisfy me, I’ll strip your Souls from your bodies and search your memories myself. If you’d prefer to not suffer the pain of having your Souls torn apart, I suggest you cooperate honestly.”
“Strip our Souls….” The two Transcendent Realm cultivators shivered uncontrollably, all colour draining from their faces.
Their strength was not too low, so they naturally understood what kind of pain and suffering would accompany their Souls being forcefully searched. Such inhuman torture almost always resulted in one first going insane from the pain and then dying a miserable death. Generally, only the vilest of cultivators would use such means.
However, the man in front of them with his eerie green aura and ghastly eyes seemed to perfectly fit the description of an evil master…
The pair hastily nodded, “Please ask, whatever you wish to know, we will definitely answer.”
Wu Jie grinned wickedly, nodding in satisfaction before beginning, “Do you know where this is?”
The two cultivators both glanced at each other and nodded, one of them replying, “This should be somewhere inside Nine Heavens Holy Land, yes?”
“Correct, this is indeed Nine Heavens Holy Land; yet knowing that, you still dared wander around outside?” Wu Jie eyebrow slightly lifted, “Explain yourselves, what are you doing here?”
The other man quickly replied, “We came here to search for artifacts.”
“Search for artifacts?” Wu Jie frowned, “On the ground outside?”
“Yes.”
“Who told you there were artifacts out there?”
“A lot of people have been discussing rumours like that…” One of the men hurriedly explained. Listening to his story, Yang Kai quickly understood that some unknown party was spreading false information that after the war that was fought around Nine Heavens Holy Land three years ago, countless powerful cultivators had died and left behind many artifacts. This rumour had attracted a great many people who wanted to try their luck to see if they could pick up a treasure or two.
“There are a lot of people outside, are you all looking for artifacts?” Wu Jie asked.
“There are some who are looking for artifacts, others seem to be hunting for Monster Beasts… We heard that many Sixth-Order and Seventh-Order Monster Beasts had run over here from the Beast Sea Jungle. Those Monster Beasts are good sources of refining materials.”
The other man quickly added, “It seems that there are also some people who have come here to kill Demons. Word is the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land has accepted a group of Demons as subordinates and settled them in the nine peaks. Those people came here to clean up those vile Demons!”
“Depending on just you?” Wu Jie looked at this pair with utter contempt and no small amount of pity, “Since you have heard there are Demons here, did you not hear about what kind of strength the posses?”
“It’s said that there were only a few masters among that group of Demons, a small number of Transcendents at most…”
“Hahaha…” Wu Jie cackled wryly, nodding repeatedly, “Indeed, there aren’t many masters among them… En, only five or so.”
Naturally, he was referring to five Saint Realm masters, three of whom had reached the Second Order!
Wu Jie had seen with his own eyes Li Rong fight Demon General Xue Li to a standstill and well understood how incredible the Ancient Demon Clan’s combat strength was. They were not a force one or two big Sects could take on.
If someone really wanted to exterminate them, they would need to gather together at least three or four forces on the same level as Soaring Heaven Sect to do so, and that was only if they were willing to suffer massive losses in the process.
Relying on these pitiful weaklings to clean up the Ancient Demon Clan was akin to hoping a bunch of ants cold shake a mighty tree.
After questioning them for a bit longer and determining they knew nothing else of importance, Wu Jie knocked the two foreign cultivators out again.
Turning his attention back to Yang Kai, Wu Jie frowned, “Sir Holy Master, it seems like someone is deliberately spreading some unfavourable rumours about you while guiding these hapless cultivators towards Nine Heavens Holy Land.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, not knowing why but suddenly recalling the Human Race powerhouse called Wu Zheng he had met recently.
If there weren’t some high-level Human Race masters working behind the scenes, there was no way these false rumours would have spread out so quickly across the Human Territory and deceived so many people. Only someone with a certain amount of prestige could do this otherwise no one would believe such obvious lies.
Wu Zheng obviously had such capabilities.
“What is the mastermind behind all this hoping to achieve? He must know that these riff-raff can’t possibly bring any harm to the Holy Land,” Xu Hui asked curiously.
“Some people don’t want Li Rong and her clan to remain in Nine Heavens Holy Land,” Yang Kai snorted, “They don’t want to see us getting close to the Demon Race as they consider such actions a great shame for the Human Race.”
Wu Jie’s eyes narrowed, seemingly thinking of something, a moment later conjecturing, “What Sir Holy Master means to say is that the one inciting these cultivators to come to Nine Heavens Holy Land is hoping to force a conflict to arise?”
“Something to that effect,” Yang Kai nodded, “Once we take action, no matter who moves, they can shift all the blame onto Li Rong. At that time, the person behind all of this will use that as an excuse to lead the Human Race’s forces against Li Rong and her clan. If they attack Li Rong, naturally I will not be able to sit back and watch, but once I step in, it will mean involving the Holy Land. When that happens, the Holy Land will become enemies with the entire Human Race and will have no chance of survival.”
“Are they so sinister?” Xu Hui expression changed.
“En, truly a bunch of despicable villains…” Wu Jie pondered, “If it was any other force, having so many foreign cultivators wandering around right outside their door, they would definitely choose to immediately drive them off. This Wu believes that the ones behind all this have hidden some pawns amongst these people who will be responsible for fanning the flames the moment Sir Holy Master tries to expel them.”
Yang Kai glanced over at him and couldn’t help grinning, his thoughts aligning perfectly with the latter.
“Holy Master, how should we deal with this?” Xu Hui asked, seemingly understand that although the situation was current not so bad, if they waited too long, more cultivators who were deceived would swarm to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
This situation needed to be resolved as swiftly as possible.
Nine Heavens Holy Land had just managed to return to a steady-state of development, if a conflict with many external forces were to suddenly occur, it would definitely have a large negative impact on its future.
Especially now that Yang Kai had not yet fully matured.
“What does Great Elder think?” Yang Kai looked at him and asked for his opinion.
Xu Hui respectfully replied, “Subordinate thinks that we should first announce the truth of this matter to the cultivators who have been deceived so they can withdraw of their own accord. The rumours of artifacts being leftover from that battle are completely ridiculous. If such things really existed, how could my Holy Land have not already collected them? As long as they can’t find anything they will eventually leave. As for the Monster Race and Monster Beasts, they have already returned to the Beast Sea Jungle, if those people have the courage to hunt Monster Beats, they might as well go to the Monster Domain, there’s no need for them to idle around outside the Holy Land… As for the cultivators who came here to fight Demons, we can just deny the existence of Senior Li and the others, they can’t enter and inspect the nine peaks anyways. As long as Senior Li and her clan remain inside the nine peaks and waits for this storm to pass, everything should be fine.”
Xu Hui was reluctant to go to war right now, that much was obvious to Yang Kai.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai nodded and agreed, “Then we will first act in accordance with Great Elder’s plan, bring some people and tell those foreign cultivators who are idling outside the Holy Land to disperse; however… do not appear too accommodating or amenable, lest they think they can make like of our Holy Land. En, we must let the world know what fate awaits those who offend us! Entering our Holy Land’s territory without permission is more than enough reason for us to kill!”
“It is exactly as Holy Master says!” Xu Hui nodded firmly.
In the past, if these people had dared to wander freely outside Nine Heavens Holy Land, Xu Hui would have already sent them packing, how could he waste time speaking with them? Anyone who refused to obey would be immediately killed, but the current Holy Land was no longer the same as before, so Xu Hui had to act more prudently.
“Good, give them three days to withdraw a hundred kilometres from the Holy Land, anyone who dares to remain past that deadline is surely a placed agitator here to stir up trouble. Such people need not be reasoned with, execute them on the spot!” Yang Kai ordered.
“Yes, subordinate will handle this matter!” Xu Hui said and immediately retired, bringing along with him the two cultivators Wu Jie had brought over.
Li Rong’s beautiful eyes flashed brightly as she stared at Yang Kai, a slight smile forming on her lips.
She suddenly found that after only a few years, Yang Kai had finally shown the temperament of a leader.
Back when he had first been sent to Demon God Citadel by Coffin Slave Senior, he was just a wary young man, but now he was able to make appropriate judgements and issue decisive orders based on the overall situation.
This was something Li Rong was very happy to see, secretly feeling once more that the Ancient Demon Clan’s future would be bright under his leadership.
“Sir Holy Master, this Wu will also take his leave, there are still a great many things to attend to in the Sect. If Sir Holy Master ever has free time, know that you are welcome to visit my Netherworld Sect at any time!” Wu Jie asked to be excused.
“One moment, Sect Master Wu,” Yang Kai stood up.
“Is there something else, Sir Holy Master?” Wu Jie asked curiously.
“I want to take a look around Shattering Mystical Palace and War Spirit Temple and would like to request Sect Master Wu to lead the way.”
“Of course of course!” Wu Jie smiled.
“Li Rong, come with me,” Yang Kai called out.
“En,” Li Rong gently nodded, also standing up.
After leaving the palace, the trio transformed into streaks of light that flew out of Nine Heavens Holy Land like bolts of lightning.
There had originally been four forces which had occupied this region but now only Nine Heavens Holy Land and Netherworld Sect remained.
These four forces weren’t located very far apart, each one only two or three hundred kilometres from its neighbours.
Such a distance would only take a moment for the current Yang Kai to cross, let alone now with Li Rong using her Demonic Qi to carry him along.
Soon, the three arrived above a group of mountains that had a large number of palatial structures arranged around it.
“This is the War Spirit Temple. Among the three forces, it was the closest to the nine peaks which resulted in them receiving the most benefits from the Holy Land; unfortunately, Cao Guan was far too short-sighted and brought ruin to his Sect,” Wu Jie explained.
Yang Kai nodded as he swept his eyes over the scene down below. The buildings were all neatly arranged, like pieces on a chessboard, but many of them had actually collapsed and there were some places where dark red bloodstains remained.
This should be a result of when Wu Jie’s came here to absorb War Spirit Temple’s disciples and resources.
After watching this scene for a while, Yang Kai suddenly asked, “Are there still people here?”
Among the buildings of War Spirit Temple, a small number of cultivators were wandering around, seemingly looking for something.
“Oh, those are the disciple of my Netherworld Sect along with some disciples originally from War Spirit Temple, they are searching for anything of value we may have missed,” Wu Jie explained with a smile.
Yang Kai nodded before pointing down, “I want this place. After Sect Master Wu goes back, inform your disciples and subordinates to pay attention not to destroy it.”
“Yes,” Wu Jie nodded. Although he didn’t know what Yang Kai wanted to do with this abandoned Sect, he knew well enough not to ask.
Speaking less and observing more was the reason Wu Jie better understood the reality of his situation than Zhang Ao and Cao Guan.
“Let’s head to Shattering Mystical Palace.” Since there was nothing special of note here, Yang Kai immediately decided to leave.
Wu Jie once again led the way.
A moment later, nearly three hundred kilometres away, the three came to Shattering Mystical Palace.
“This was Zhang Ao’s site,” Wu Jie pointed to the ground below, “It is a better location than both War Spirit Temple and my Netherworld Sect.”
Yang Kai observed calmly and discovered that this place was truly quite good. Although nothing compared to the Holy Land’s nine peaks, it was still a rare cultivation paradise.
Shattering Mystical Palace establishing itself here was understandable.
“Sir Holy Master, this Wu still has many things to attend to, so I will take my leave now,” Wu Jie suddenly said after a moment of silence.
“En, feel free, Sect Master Wu,” Yang Kai nodded.
Bidding farewell, Wu Jie quickly left.
Looking at his disappearing back, Li Rong grinned, “Although this fellow looks a bit gloomy and evil, he’s actually quite good. But why was he so anxious to leave? It almost looked like he was trying to escape.”
“Because he knows what I want to do next…” Yang Kai chuckled, “If he wants to avoid learning too many secrets, naturally he has to leave.”
Li Rong was stunned.
“Let’s go have a look!” Yang Kai said casually before flying down.
Shattering Mystical Palace was spread out across a large area. Yang Kai and Li Rong landed in a stone forest in a slightly remote corner of the grounds. There were many stone pillars here, some high, some low, all of them scattered about seemingly randomly.
“Li Rong, where is that Blood Essence Stone?” Yang Kai turned and asked.
“I have it here,” Li Rong quickly took out the Blood Essence Stone and handed it over.
Previously, the Blood Essence Stone had absorbed a large amount of fresh blood, converting it into a kind of Blood Qi, but after healing all of the severely injured Ancient Demon clansmen, this Blood Qi had been exhausted so the Blood Essence Stone was no longer giving off any discernible energy fluctuations.
Holding this Blood Essence Stone, Yang Kai began looking around.
“Master, what are you looking for?” Li Rong observed for a while as well before thoughtfully asking.
“I’m looking for the gateway to the Starry Sky!” Yang Kai replied seriously.
“The gateway to the Starry Sky?” Li Rong gawked for a moment before quickly recalling the words Zhang Ao had said a few months ago just before he died, immediately understanding, “Does Master mean to say, there is a gateway to the Starry Sky hidden here?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, “I managed to spy on a few of Zhang Ao’s memories. He found this Blood Essence Stone in this stone forest, but I don’t know specifically where. Help me search this place and see if there is anything out of the ordinary, pay special attention to anywhere exotic ores appears.”
“Does Master really believe it is possible to enter the Starry Sky? Isn’t it just a legend…?”
“What do you think?” Yang Kai chuckled.
“I don’t know,” Li Rong slowly shook her head, “I was born and have spent my entire life inside that Mysterious Small World and until a few months ago had never even seen the sun, moon, or stars, but even so, I’ve always thought that the Starry Sky’s existence was a bit unrealistic.”
“Oh? Why?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“Because even the most powerful masters can only fly to around a height of fifty kilometres before an invisible force stops them from proceeding and pulls them back down towards the ground. Since no one can leave this realm, how would they get to the Starry Sky? Shouldn’t all the stories about travelling the Starry Sky just be legends?”
Yang Kai didn’t offer any objections to her argument, just grinning as he said, “Help me take a look. If we can find the door, I’ll take you to see that so-called legend.”
Li Rong’s eyes flashed, feeling like Yang Kai wasn’t cracking a joke and immediately nodded, “En!”
The two split up and began carefully combing through the stone forest.
This stone forest should have been regarded as a restricted area in Shattering Mystical Palace because Yang Kai was aware of many concealed arrays and barriers. These arrays were actually traps which, when triggered, would cause anyone caught in their radius a lot of trouble.
These Spirit Arrays should have all been arranged here by Zhang Ao.
However, with his extremely powerful Divine Sense, Yang Kai was easily able to find these hidden barriers, allowing him to move around unhindered.
After about the time it would take to burn a stick of incense, Yang Kai, who had so far not had any gains, knit his brow as he glanced around again; but just as he was coming to his wit’s end, he heard Li Rong call out from somewhere nearby.
His spirits arousing, Yang Kai quickly rushed over.
A moment later, he appeared next to Li Rong.
“Master, there’s something a bit strange about this place!” Li Rong pointed to a particularly large stone pillar which stood out from the rest, “I also found these things close by!”
Saying so, she handed over some loose gravel she was holding.
Yang Kai took these rocks and carefully observed them for a moment before smiling brightly and nodding, “It should be here.”
The gravel that Li Rong had found resembled something from the Starry Sky, and the shape and arrangement of the pillars in this place also looked somewhat similar to the blurry images Yang Kai had observed in Zhang Ao’s memory.
“However, there doesn’t seem to be anything special here,” Li Rong knit her brow in confusion.
“If it was so easy to see through, Zhang Ao wouldn’t have only inadvertently noticed the mystery here,” Yang Kai said as he walked up and began examining the largest stone pillar.
At first glance, aside from its larger size, this pillar looked no different from the others around it, but if one observed carefully, this particular stone pillar was much more solid than the ones in its surroundings. It was difficult to tell what material it was made of but it definitely not just ordinary stone.
After carefully recalling the scenes he had seen in Zhang Ao’s memory, Yang Kai reached out, placed his hand on the large stone pillar, and began pouring his True Qi into it.
Yang Kai’s True Qi disappeared as quickly as he poured it out, seemingly being swallowed up by the large stone pillar.
Yang Kai continued what he was doing for a while but the stone pillar remained unresponsive. Just as he was beginning to get impatient though, a faint humming sound rang out.
Yang Kai immediately leapt backwards and stood beside Li Rong, paying close attention to the scene in front of him.
*Weng weng weng…*
The large stone pillar trembled as if some invisible force was rocking it back and forth, soon causing the surrounding ground to rumble unstably.
A series of ripples visible to the naked eye began propagating across the surface of the large pillar.
These ripples intensified for and eventually concentrated at the centre of the large pillar, causing some unexpected changes to occur.
A glossy sheen which resembled a mirror began to spread out from the centre of the pillar as these ripples intensified.
When this mirror-like surface expanded to a certain limit, it shattered and a jet black hole, like the entrance to a deep cave, appeared in front of Yang Kai and Li Rong. It was like some giant beast had opened its maw, threatening to swallow them whole.
Li Rong couldn’t help feeling her hair stand on end.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was very excited. He could feel the unique aura belonging to the Starry Sky from this cave!
“Let’s go!” Without hesitation, Yang Kai pulled Li Rong and leapt into the black portal.
In the next instant, a huge pressure like a surging tide appeared from every direction, causing Yang Kai’s bones to creak and his physique to tense up as he hastily resisted this destructive force.
Li Rong also exclaimed upon feeling the intensity of this pressure and immediately used her Demon God Transformation.
Demon Crests surfaced on her pretty face, giving her a kind of wild beauty.
“Don’t be anxious!” Yang Kai chuckled, comforting her.
Li Rong’s pretty face blushed red as she gradually relaxed, her beautiful eyes only now sweeping around her surroundings, a look of utter shock filling her face as she did so.
Around here, there was only a vast black emptiness illuminated by distant twinkling stars. Even when she looked down, there was no ground beneath her feet, and all she could see was the same starry scene.
It was obvious that she was no longer in Tong Xuan Realm.
“Is this the Starry Sky?” Li Rong exclaimed.
“En, wonderful, isn’t it?” Yang Kai nodded lightly, withstanding the oppressive power of the Starry Sky in an extremely relaxed manner.
“From your current look, Master, it seems you have been to the Starry Sky before, yes?”
“I have been here once before. It was in the Starry Sky that I broke through to the Transcendent Realm!”
Li Rong’s eyes couldn’t help widening.
From the words Yang Kai had just casually spoken, she realized something important.
When her Master had come here, he had only been a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, so how was he able to withstand this strange Starry Sky force?
Li Rong estimated that without using her Demon God Transformation, under the ambient pressure of this place, even she would have difficulty supporting herself, while an ordinary Peak Immortal Ascension cultivator would be instantly ground into dust.
“However, the place I came last time seems to not be here,” Yang Kai looked around and concluded.
The last time he came to the Starry Sky, beneath his feet was a small blue sphere that, according to Di Yao, was actually Tong Xuan Realm.
But this time there was no such sphere. Without it as a reference, Yang Kai couldn’t tell where the portal in the stone forest had sent them.
Looking back, the Void Corridor to the Stone Forest was still there and from the aura fluctuations Yang Kai felt from it, he estimated it should be able to remain for a few days.
Relaxing upon confirming this, Yang Kai waved to Li Rong, “Follow me!”
Li Rong quickly kept up while maintaining her Demon God Transformation, inspecting her surroundings.
The legendary Starry Sky was a place only a few could set foot on, so Li Rong was naturally very curious.
Both of them were constantly releasing their Divine Senses, investigating everything in the hundred-kilometre radius around them.
“What is it that Master is searching for?” Li Rong asked after following behind Yang Kai’s aimless for a while.
“I’m looking for some asteroids,” Yang Kai explained, “The asteroids in the Starry Sky sometimes contain precious and exotic minerals and ores. This is a rare opportunity, so I want to see if we can reap some unexpected gains. Perhaps we might even find something as precious as that Blood Essence Stone.”
“Oh!” After knowing the goal of this trip, Li Rong also became quite enthusiastic.
We have hit the goal and there will be 17 Chapters this week. :O
Among the Starry Sky, there were many asteroids flying about. Where they came from and where they were headed, no one knew. They seemed to have existed since before ancient times, drifting through Starry Sky, waiting to be discovered.
Yang Kai even suspected that Tong Xuan Realm itself was nothing more an incredibly enormous asteroid.
After searching around the Starry Sky for an hour or two, Yang Kai and Li Rong had already found several asteroids of different sizes.
Some were as small as washbasins while others were as big as mountains.
After finding and shattering these asteroids, Yang Kai had naturally managed to harvest some rare ores, but the quantity and grade were not that high.
This time he had come to the Starry Sky first and foremost to verify whether the information in Zhang Ao’s memory was accurate or not.
However, since he was already here, naturally he didn’t want to return empty-handed.
Since the ores in the Black Book space had been exhausted, this was the perfect opportunity to collect some more.
Yang Kai was really quite curious about what would happen to the two pitch-black round stones after they absorbed enough mineral essence.
“Master, there seems to be a large asteroid flying over there!” Li Rong said via a Divine Sense message as she indicated a certain spot in the distance.
“I’ll be right over!” Yang Kai immediately flew in the direction she indicated.
Not long after, a house-sized asteroid came into view, its surface filled with scars and craters, seemingly having been worn and battered for many, many years.
Li Rong nodded to greet him before sending a light palm thrust towards the asteroid.
Her lush jade-white hand burst with a sensational power and instantly caused the huge asteroid to disintegrate into a cloud of dust, sending countless pieces of debris scattering in all directions.
Yang Kai’s eyes darted around quickly and soon caught sight of one piece of debris that was dark in colour than the others. Rushing over, Yang Kai caught this dark stone and after a quick investigation, sent it into the Black Book space, placing it next to the two pitch-black round stones.
Inside these asteroids there were many rare ores, all of which were incredibly hard and wouldn’t be destroyed even if some force was applied to them.
As such, breaking an asteroid was undoubtedly the most convenient and efficient way of finding treasures inside them.
Li Rong also collected one or two pieces of ore before flying over and handing them to Yang Kai.
“Is master collecting these in order to refine some artifacts?” Li Rong asked with a smile.
Although they couldn’t identify most of the ores they collected from the Starry Sky, simply judging from their innate properties, it was obvious none of them were below Spirit Grade, while many of them had reached the Saint Grade.
Any artifact refined with such materials would be excellent.
Li Rong seeing Yang Kai work so hard to collect so many of these ores naturally led her to believe he wanted to refine some powerful artifacts.
“En,” Yang Kai didn’t bother explaining, observing the surrounding area with his Divine Sense for a moment before his expression suddenly changed and he turned to squint in a certain direction.
In the tinkling starlight, Yang Kai vaguely made out a number of small black spots floating about a few dozen kilometers away in the direction he was staring.
“An Asteroid Sea?” After observing for a while, Yang Kai became overjoyed and quickly motioned to Li Rong to follow him over.
A moment later, a massive number of asteroids appeared before the two of them.
These asteroids appeared like a giant flowing river that stretched from one side of the vast Starry Sky to the other.
The number of asteroids in this Asteroid Sea was simply uncountable and varied in size from as small as a fist to as large as ten mountains.
Drifting through the Starry Sky silently, it was an impressive sight to behold.
“So many asteroids?” Li Rong was also stunned by this scene.
Yang Kai let out a great laugh, “Now there’s no need for us to search aimlessly.”
Saying so, he immediately flew into the Asteroid Sea while Li Rong smiled lightly and hurriedly kept up.
The two of them did not restrain themselves and quickly began breaking apart one asteroid after another. A strange fact about the Starry Sky was that there was no way to produce sound, so all communication had to be done via Divine Sense transmission. Therefore, even though they were wantonly destroying these asteroids, not a single noise was actually made.
Ores of all different shapes and sizes were collected by Yang Kai and stuffed into the Black Book space, each one of them an extremely rare and precious treasure that would be almost impossible to come across in Tong Xuan Realm.
If an Artifact Refiners were to be here to witness this scene, they would likely have already gone insane from excitement.
In order to find rare ores likes these ones, outstanding Artifact Refiners would sometimes travel all over the world simply to seek out a single piece.
Yet here, in the Starry Sky, there were so many of these rare ores just waiting to be harvested.
This kind of phenomenal wealth was now only made available to Yang Kai.
Li Rong was also seemingly infected by Yang Kai’s enthusiasm, a big smile appearing on her pretty face as she busied herself.
Most of the asteroids contained nothing of value, and after being broken simply dispersed in a cloud of dust, but with so many asteroids in this Asteroid Sea, even if the chances any individual one contained a rare ore was small, Yang Kai and Li Rong were still able to gain a large number in short order.
Amidst the dense sea of asteroids, Yang Kai and Li Rong flew back and forth leisurely.
Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, the pair arrived at the end of the Asteroid Sea.
“That should be enough for now,” Yang Kai said, preparing to head back.
In any case, the Void Corridor to the Starry Sky was inside Shattering Mystical Palace, so Yang Kai could return here any time he wanted to. There was no need to only harvest these materials only once.
“En,” Li Rong nodded, flying over and handing Yang Kai the last piece of ore she had just obtained.
At that moment, Yang Kai suddenly felt a faint energy fluctuations come from somewhere nearby inside the Asteroid Sea.
This energy fluctuation was quite unlike that of some ore and immediately caught Yang Kai’s attention.
Glancing over in the direction he sensed these fluctuations coming from, Yang Kai saw a dim flicker of light.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as his body flickered and disappeared, a moment later appearing next to where he saw the strange light. After seeing what the source of this faint glow was though, his expression couldn’t help becoming confused.
Reaching out and grabbing the object in front of him, Yang Kai quickly returned to where Li Rong was waiting.
“What did you find, Master?” Li Rong asked.
“This…” Yang Kai handed over what was found in the Asteroid Sea.
Li Rong took it and after carefully examining it, also revealed a look of amazement as she muttered, “Is this… an artifact?”
The object Yang Kai found amidst the Asteroid Sea was only about the size of a palm, its overall shape smooth, just like a long shuttle. It resembled a miniature boat and gave of a mysterious energy fluctuation.
Possibly because it had been left idle for so long, the energy fluctuations were both faint and intermittent, almost as if whatever was powering them had been nearly completely drained.
“I also think it is an artifact,” Yang Kai said with a serious expression, casting his eyes back towards the drifting Asteroid Sea, his brow furrowing deeply.
“But… how can there be an artifact here?” Li Rong asked, unable to understand what was going on.
The Starry Sky was a legendary domain that no one had ever been able to set foot into much less explore.
If not for the Void Corridor in the Shattering Mystical Palace, she and Yang Kai would never have been able to arrive here.
However, an artifact like this one appearing in a Starry Sky Asteroid Sea, and the implications that came with such a reality, were really quite thought provoking!
“The presence of artifacts means that there were once cultivators here… Which means it’s possible that there are people who have already explored the Starry Sky,” Yang Kai solemnly said.
“Is that even possible?” Li Rong shouted, “Even Great Demon God only yearned to achieve such a feat, he never actually accomplished it.”
“What if there are cultivators out there stronger than Great Demon God?” Yang Kai said faintly.
Li Rong beautiful face changed dramatically, filling with a look of shock, rendering her totally speechless.
Since ancient times, Great Demon God had been hailed as the world’s greatest master, never once surpassed! A character stronger than Great Demon God was something Li Rong really couldn’t even imagine.
Yang Kai gently let out a sigh, “I just spoke thoughtlessly, you don’t need to think too much about it; however, from the energy fluctuations inside this artifact, it’s quite obvious it is very old. Even if that supreme powerhouse existed, I’m sure he or she died long ago.”
“En,” Li Rong relaxed noticeably, letting out a sigh as she handed the long shuttle-like artifact back to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai continued examining this strange artifact for a while but was unable to determine much about it, “Can you see what grade it is?”
Li Rong shook her head, “I can’t, there is some strange energy inside it that, although seems like it will disappear at any moment, is actually blocking my attempts to investigate it. Master might as well take it back and study it; that should be the best way to figure out what exactly its function is.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded and stored the long shuttle-like artifact away, preparing to refine it once they returned.
The only artifact Yang Kai had currently refined and had some form of use left was the Silver Leaf artifact!
This Silver Leaf had been owned by Nine Heavens Holy Land’s previous generation Holy Master and was actually a genuine Saint Grade Top-Rank artifact. It was extremely useful for both attacking and defending. Refining this strange long shuttle wouldn’t be excessive.
An average cultivator would have at least two or three artifacts on them, with those possessing high status, wealth, and strength often possessing more.
Speaking of artifacts, Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and asked, “Do you and Han Fei have any artifacts?”
Li Rong smiled lightly, “Our Ancient Demon Clan originally had some artifacts, and their grades were not low, but over the years they have degraded quite severely. In any case, our clan’s biggest advantage is our physical strength, so we normally don’t use artifacts when fighting.”
“That said, having good artifacts is better than not; there’s always a possibility they may come in handy,” Saying so, Yang Kai took out several different artifacts from the Black Book space and handed them over to Li Rong, “Take these with you and have Han Fei, Hua Mo, and yourself refine whatever ones you find useful.”
“So many? And all of them are Saint Grade?” Li Rong was amazed.
Saint Grade artifacts were incredibly rare, each one worth more than an average city.
All of Tong Xuan Realm’s Saint Realm masters wished to possess a Saint Grade artifact, but only a minority of them actually did.
Most Saints still used Spirit Grade artifacts.
Saint Grade artifacts were similar to Saint Pills, the materials required to forge one were quite difficult to obtain.
However, the biggest challenge was finding an Artifact Refiner who was capable of refining Saint Grade artifact! On top of that, even if such an Artifact Refiner could be found, there was still a chance of failure.
Saint Grade Artifact Refiners were all famous figures in Tong Xuan Realm, each one highly respected and admired, but each of their schedules was also always full because there was a never ending stream of people begging them to refine Saint Grade artifacts.
Why did the First Under Heaven Alchemist, The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, always conceal his movements and wander about aimlessly?
It was because there were too many people trying to find him in order to request Alchemy of him. If he didn’t hide his whereabouts, he would never have a moment of peace from these annoying people. If that was a case, how could he spend any time teaching his young disciple?
However, Yang Kai had just casually taken out a few of these Saint Grade artifacts, each one capable of starting wars, and haphazardly handed them over to Li Rong, causing the latter to calm up in shock.
Li Rong couldn’t help wondering if Yang Kai had looted the Treasuries of several great Sects…
How else could he have collected so many Saint Grade artifacts?
Recovering from her shock a moment later, Li Rong did not stand on ceremony and accepted the artifacts from Yang Kai, carefully storing them away.
She knew better than anyone that the stronger the Ancient Demon Clan was, the more help they could provide to Yang Kai! These artifacts would greatly enhance her and the other Great Commander’s combat power.
“En, let’s head back!” Yang Kai quickly determined his bearings and began flying back the way they had come.
Although there was nothing to use as a reference in the Starry Sky, Yang Kai’s senses were very keen so he did not become lost.
After some unknown length of time, the pair once again arrived at the entrance to the Void Corridor and dove in. In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai and Li Rong reappeared in the stone forest inside Shattering Mystical Palace.
The surrounding pillars still pulsed with mysterious energy and the ripples on the large pillar were still pulsing regularly around the entrance to the Starry Sky.
Reaching out his hand, Yang Kai disrupted the ripples of energy and the Void Corridor quickly faded, sealing the entrance to the Starry Sky once more.
The world around them was once again restored to silence!
“Master, this place is very important, should we put up some kind of barrier around it to avoid others accidentally discovering or damaging it?” Li Rong asked.
“You’re skilled in setting up Spirit Arrays?” Yang Kai looked at her with surprise.
Li Rong smiled lightly, “I have some small knowledge of the field, although it won’t compare to a Grandmaster’s work, I can at least arrange something better than the original barrier which was placed here.”
“Good!” Yang Kai nodded. A moment ago, he was debating whether to send some people to guard this place, so Li Rong’s proposal was just what he needed.
Receiving Yang Kai’s permission, Li Rong immediately got to work arranging a Spirit Array around this place.
Aside from those related to Alchemy, Yang Kai had next to no experience with arranging Spirit Arrays or barriers. The most he knew about them was how to break them open by force.
Li Rong setting up this kind of Spirit Array was an opportunity for him to learn something new, so Yang Kai paid special attention to her as she worked.
Noticing this, Li Rong made no attempt to hide what she was doing and even spent some time explaining to Yang Kai the steps she was taking, allowing him to benefit greatly.
A few hours later, a concealing and barrier type Spirit Array had been arranged around the stone pillar formation, hiding it so well that even standing right in front of it, Yang Kai was unable to sense anything with his powerful Divine Sense.
“Fierce! If you have time, I’d like to learn some more from you about this field,” Yang Kai praised liberally.
Receiving such praise, Li Rong seemed to smile more radiantly than before as she nodded, “Master is too polite, this is just some trivial skill.”
“Let’s go back first,” Yang Kai chuckled. He was quite curious about the strange long shuttle-like artifact and was eager to refine it as soon as possible so he could discover its purpose.
The pair immediately flew off in the direction of the Holy Land.
Yang Kai and Li Rong returned to the nine peaks from Shattering Mystical Palace in short order, but before they could enter the Holy Land, Yang Kai noticed a large gathering of cultivators who were making a lot of noise in a certain nearby location.
Frowning, Yang Kai let Li Rong over to see what was going on.
As the pair approached closer, the voices became clearer.
It seemed like a crowd of people were shouting, an obvious tone of resentment apparent in their voices.
All of them seemed to be accusing Nine Heavens Holy Land of bullying and oppressing with the occasional personal insult being hurled towards Holy Land Elder Shi Kun.
Realizing what was going on, Yang Kai picked up his pace, arriving beside the disturbance a moment later, his brow furrowing as he called out, “What’s going on here?”
When he heard Yang Kai’s voice, Shi Kun quickly turned around and saw Yang Kai walking over together with Li Rong. Shi Kun’s expression immediately became serious as he cupped his fists shouted, “Greeting, Holy Master!”
“Holy Master?” The cultivators who were making noise just now suddenly went silent, all of them turning their eyes towards Yang Kai, wanting to see just what this new Holy Master of the Nine Heavens Holy Land looked like.
However, the instant they turned their heads around, all of their eyes were immediately drawn towards Li Rong.
Excellent style, noble aura, a true beauty with not only a majestic air but also an enchanting figure.
Her skin as white as snow, like the purest of jade, exuded a porcelain-like lustre; when these people saw Li Rong, all of them couldn’t help staring.
Suddenly, they weren’t interested in making noise or complaining, simply standing there dumbly as if their souls had been stolen.
Li Rong’s brow furrowed slightly as she coldly swept her eyes over this crowd of boorish men and let out a snort.
An invisible pressure was released along with the noise Li Rong made, causing everyone to pale as they suddenly felt like the beautiful woman in front of their eyes had suddenly transformed into a terrifying beast baring its fangs towards them.
All of these cultivators involuntarily averted their eyes and trembled as cold sweat began dripping down their backs.
Yang Kai glanced over at Li Rong and chuckled wryly.
If she always took such great offence to such looks being directed towards her, her future would likely be extremely tiring.
All the world’s people, whether they were male or female, were naturally drawn towards beauty. Stealing a few glances towards a beautiful woman couldn’t be more natural a reaction.
Li Rong had lived her entire life in Demon God Citadel where all her clansmen treated her with the highest level of respect, never daring to reveal any kind of impropriety; however, now that she had come to the outside world, she was bound to experience situations similar to the one just now more and more frequently.
“You should try to get used to it,” Yang Kai quietly comforted, Li Rong’s face blushing slightly as she too realized she had acted a bit over the top, gently nodding her understanding.
With her cultivation and identity, it really wasn’t appropriate for her to lower herself to deal with such a group of people.
“What’s the situation here?” Yang Kai asked Shi Kun again.
Quickly composing himself, Shi Kun replied, “Reporting to Holy Master, these people are cultivators who have been loitering outside our Holy Land’s nine peaks recently. I had informed them of the three-day reprieve Great Elder had granted them to withdraw from our territory and had just come to remind them that the deadline was fast approaching; however, they have so far refused to leave and have instead been accusing us of abusing our strength to bully them. Subordinate tried reasoning with them otherwise but was helpless to convince them.”
Yang Kai nodded and asked, “What about Xu Hui?”
“Great Elder has something to attend to and left this matter to me to process.”
As the two of them talked, the group of foreign cultivators gradually recovered from the terror Li Rong had inflicted upon them and one man in a yellow robe suddenly called out, “So you are the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land?”
Follow his voice, Yang Kai did not show any great reaction, nodding lightly as he replied, “Yes, what advice do you have?”
“I wouldn’t dare offer advice!” The yellow-robed man snickered sullenly and continued, “It’s just that we are only here to search for treasure and have no done anything to provoke your Nine Heavens Holy Land, so why must insist on driving us away?”
“Why?” Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “This is my Holy Land’s nine peaks, and you want to know why I want to drive you away?”
“We have not entered the nine peaks yet and have clearly remained outside your territory yet you still claim this land as your own? Aren’t you being too unreasonable?” The yellow-robed man sneered, “Although our cultivations are not high, do you think you can just bully us at will? I’ll tell you right now, no matter how lowly we may seem to you, we will not be intimidated by anyone!”
Saying so, the yellow robe man stepped forward and puffed up his chest, as if trying to make a grand display of his bravery.
His words provoked a lot of the surrounding people as well, causing the once quieted crowd to once again become rowdy, all of them denouncing Nine Heavens Holy Land’s tyranny and oppression.
Shi Kun shouted angrily, “If you don’t want to die, shut your mouths! How dare you act dissolute in front of the Holy Master?”
His words, unfortunately, were just like oil being poured onto a fire, causing the man in the yellow to shout even louder, “Do you see? This Elder of Nine Heavens Holy Land wants to kill us! Since ancient times, Nine Heavens Holy Land has always been a pillar of my Human Race’s forces. All the stories tell of the generosity and righteousness of Nine Heavens Holy Land, but now it seems those stories are nothing but lies! Unlike the recently passed old Holy Master, this new generation’s Holy Master’s disposition is cruel and unreasonable! If the upper beam is crooked, how could the lower beam not be too?”
“That’s right, I heard the new Holy Master colludes with Demons and has even brought a flock of those evil creatures into the nine peaks!”
These words caused another uproar as everyone began calling out and criticising Nine Heavens Holy Land, the looks they were directing towards Yang Kai turning more and more hostile.
The yellow robe man stood amongst the crowd and stared towards Yang Kai with a triumphant smirk upon his face.
Li Rong pretty face slowly filled with anger as she softly whispered, “Master, he seems to be challenging you!”
“Then he’s made a terrible miscalculation,” Yang Kai snickered before asking Shi Kun, “How long until the deadline Great Elder gave them?”
Shi Kun looked up at the sky and quickly said, “At most the time it would take to brew a cup of tea.”
Yang Kai nodded slightly before addressing the crowd, “I won’t speak any nonsense with you. If you don’t leave before the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, you die!”
See Yang Kai’s smiling face which didn’t look like he was cracking a joke, many people became afraid and couldn’t help retreating a few steps.
“What are you afraid of?” The yellow robed man shouted again, “They won’t dare to kill us! We haven’t done anything to harm their Nine Heavens Holy Land. Just because we’re nearby their territory they’ll kill us? If they really dare act so overbearing, the world will surely seek justice for us!”
“Good, this world is governed by principals and righteousness is on our side. How could they dare to kill us?” Someone echoed.
“If we retreat now, we will forever miss the opportunity to obtain those treasures! Clearly they want to drive us away so they can swallow all those treasures for themselves!”
…..
Yang Kai really didn’t speak any more nonsense and simply stood there with a calm smile upon his face, letting these people shout whatever they wanted to.
The cultivators who had originally intended to leave immediately fell into confusion, many of them halting in their tracks, preparing to wait and see what would happen before deciding their next course of action.
Subconsciously, many of them didn’t believe that a great force like Nine Heavens Holy Land would kill people without any justifiable reason, especially with the new Holy Master present.
“Holy Master, time is up!” Shi Kun suddenly said.
Yang Kai nodded and turned a teasing look towards the yellow-robed man as if he was staring at an imbecile.
Being stared at like this, the man in yellow robes couldn’t help feeling a chill shoot up his spine, feeling like he was under the gaze of a poisonous snake. Although fear was now creeping into his heart, he still tried to act strong and shouted, “What are you looking as you little brat? Don’t think that just because you are the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land you can do whatever you want, the only thing you have going for you is your luck! If father here had been taken a liking to by those Saintesses, he would no doubt be better than you!”
“Is that so?” Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a strange smile as she continued to observe this man for a moment before asking, “You seem to be quite certain I won’t kill you. I wonder, just who gave you such confidence that was the case?”
The man in yellow robes face changed as he shouted, “If you kill us here, what difference is that between those Demons of yours killing us? Once that happens, will there even be a place for you Nine Heavens Holy Land in this world?”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “That person told you that and you, like an idiot, just believed them?”
Saying so, Yang Kai suddenly showed an impatient expression as a cold chill flashed across his eyes, “A trivial First Order Transcendent, so what if you die? Do you think anyone will seek justice for a piece of trash like you?”
Yang Kai’s anger rang in his ear like booming thunder, causing the yellow-robed man’s body to tremble and making him hurriedly try to hide among the crowd as if instinctively seeking some sense of security.
But wherever he hid, the feeling that a sword was hanging above his neck and the aura of death followed him.
“If you dare attack me, you will regret it in the future!”
The yellow-robed man shouted hysterically.
“Are you threatening me?” Yang Kai grinned disdainfully, “Those who dare threaten me all have miserable ends!”
*Chi…*
The sound of something piercing through the air rang out and the yellow-robed man who was still trying to hide amongst the crowd suddenly felt like some strange force had drilled into his body. In the next instant, his body began to swell up like a balloon, his entire figure quickly inflating to an unnatural size.
His face dyed a bright shade of red, the yellow-robed man could clearly feel his five viscera, six organs, flesh, and bones all being crushed because of this strange force.
Unimaginable pain filled his entire body as blood overflowed from every one of his orifices.
In a state of pure panic, the yellow robed man had never felt more clearly that he was on the verge of death.
“Save… save me…” The man in yellow robes managed to squeeze out just those words before his eyes rolled back and became pure white as his figure twitched uncontrollably.
*Peng…*
A muffled sound rang out as the man in the yellow robe suddenly burst in an explosion of blood.
His flesh and organs flew out and dyed the cultivators nearby him a deep shade of crimson.
Having just witnessed this terrifying scene, all the foreign cultivators present shivered in fear, terror gripping their hearts.
The cultivators who had been loudly screaming just a moment ago now no longer opened their mouths or even looked towards Yang Kai, for fear that he would suddenly kill them too.
“This is the fate of those who dare to threaten me!” Yang Kai smiled lightly, as if his actions just now were not even worth mentioning.
Suddenly, Yang Kai expression became cold and gloomy, “If you came here solely to play, my Nine Heavens Holy Land will warmly welcome you, but if you’ve come here with ulterior, nefarious motives, don’t blame me for not showing any mercy.”
*Chi chi chi…*
Golden streaks of True Qi suddenly flew out, darting through the crowd and piercing several cultivators, sinking into the bodies in the blink of an eye.
Just like the yellow-robed man, these cultivators all began inflating, and when they reached their limit they burst, absolute fear penetrating all the way to their souls as they died miserably.
Seeing Yang Kai so decisively kill people, and seeing no signs of him planning to stop, none of the foreign cultivators who had gathered here dared to remain, all of them screaming in panic as they went all out to flee.
None of them wanted to remain anywhere near the nine peaks anymore.
Yang Kai waved his hand and a chain comprised of True Qi flew out, wrapping around a middle-aged man who was also doing his best to escape, quickly dragging him back.
The middle-aged man was shuddering uncontrollably and his face had long ago drained of all colour. He watched helplessly as everyone else besides him made their escape and immediately began kowtowing and begging for mercy.
“Just now, you were calling out quite loudly,” Yang Kai stared at him with an evil smirk.
“Sir Holy Master, forgive me! I won’t dare do this again, I’ll never disturb Nine Heavens Holy Land again! I beg of you, forgive me, Sir Holy Master!”
Yang Kai stared down at him disdainful and snorted, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you this time, but you must help me deliver a message!”
Hearing this, the man rapidly nodded, “Please say it, Sir Holy Master!”
“No matter who it was that incited you to do all this, go back and tell him, if he dares use such despicable means to irritate me again, I will definitely pay his Sect a visit and extinguish his entire family. No chicken or dog will be spared!”
The man’s expression became dull, immediately realizing that Yang Kai had long ago seen through their little play and quickly nodded, “I will definitely deliver Sir Holy Master’s message!”
“Get out!” Yang Kai scoffed.
The middle-aged man kowtowed once more before fleeing as quickly as he could.
Looking at the figure that the man fleeing, Shi Kun’s expression became somewhat dignified, “Holy Master, will this cause any trouble?”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a few clumsy mischief-doers. If they die, they die,” Yang Kai shook his head, “Next time you discover someone harbouring ill intentions towards the Holy Land outside our borders, once you’ve verified their purpose, kill them directly. There’s no need to act reasonable with them.”
“Yes!” Shi Kun quickly responded, his eyes gradually filling with excitement as he looked towards Yang Kai.
Shi Kun suddenly discovered that this Holy Master and the old Holy Master had very different personalities. The old Holy Master always acted prudently, taking the big picture into consideration before anything else, never doing anything that might bring the slightest harm to the Holy Land.
But this new Holy Master was different. He acted decisively and ruthlessly.
This kind of temperament very much suited Shi Kun’s appetite!
Sure enough, young people were more hot blooded; Shi Kun only hoped the Holy Land would also become full of vigor like this new Holy Master in the future.
The cultivators that were wandering around outside the nine peaks were just a bunch of rabble; Yang Kai didn’t even put them in his eyes. If he hadn’t coincidentally come across this scene, he would have even intervened.
After leaving instructions for Shi Kun, Yang Kai returned to the nine peaks.
Li Rong also asked to be excused, saying she had to distribute the Saint Grade artifacts Yang Kai had given her to her clansmen, allowing them to enhance their strength.
Holy Master Court!
This was the residence where the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land lived.
All previous Holy Masters had lived in this exquisite and magnificent palace complex, enjoying the best scenery and richest World Energy aura among the nine peaks.
Now that Yang Kai had assumed command of the Nine Heavens Holy Land, this place naturally became his residence.
In addition to him, there was only one other person who lived here, the Saintess An Ling’er.
According to the traditions of Nine Heavens Holy Land, the Saintesses would live together with the Holy Master. Everything about each Saintess was prepared for the Holy Master, even their strength and lives were all fostered for the Holy Master’s benefit.
Every Saintess was instilled with such thoughts from early childhood.
When Yang Kai came back here, he saw An Ling’er sitting outside in her private courtyard, her head resting listlessly on her hands, her eyes slightly red as they gazed off absentmindedly.
Yang Kai looked at her for a while but she didn’t seem to notice his presence.
It wasn’t until Yang Kai sat down across from her that An Ling’er awoke and quickly bowed, “Has Holy Master just returned?”
“Can you not act so politely?” Yang Kai smiled and poured a cup of tea for himself before looking at her, “Saintess Nan… how is she?”
Hearing Yang Kai mention this topic, An Ling’er seemed to become more low-spirited as she whispered, “There’s been no change…”
“What do you plan to do?”
“I want to try to resolve the obsession in her heart, but I have no idea how to go about doing so!”
Saintess Nan was a living corpse. The only reason she was still moving about was because of the powerful obsession she held; once this was resolved though, her body would naturally stop acting and she could finally be laid to rest.
According to what Yang Kai knew, the easiest solution to this issue was to directly destroy Saintess Nan’s body ending all troubles, but An Ling’er had deep feelings towards Saintess Nan so obviously she was unwilling to do this.
“Is there any precedent for that in the Holy Land’s history?” Yang Kai asked with a frown.
“There are!” An Ling’er dried her eyes, “The Holy Land’s ancient records have examples of it being done before.”
“Then have some patience. If you persist you should be able to find a solution.” Yang Kai comforted.
An Ling’er gently nodded, “I think so too…”
After a while, Yang Kai suddenly noticed that An Ling’er’s expression had become somewhat strained, as if there was something else she wanted to say but was hesitating.
Smiling, Yang Kai said, “You don’t have to act reserved around me. If there’s something you want to say, feel free, I’ll do my best to help you.”
An Ling’er’s face blushed slightly as she pursed her lips and whispered, “It’s just, the Elders, they’ve been asking…”
“Asking about what?”
“About… us,” An Ling’er’s face blushed even brighter as she managed to squeeze these words out, her eyes becoming somewhat watery as she wore a look of helplessness.
Yang Kai was stunned and took a moment to recover, soon putting on a bitter smile, “Why are they so concerned about that?”
“Naturally because they’re anxious…” An Ling’er laughed wryly, “You are the Holy Master of the Holy Land. All of them hope you can mature as quickly as possible to become a true peak powerhouse.”
Each generation’s Holy Master matured at an incredible speed by cultivating together with his Saintesses.
On top of that, every Holy Master eventually became a peak Third Order Saint.
The reason Nine Heavens Holy Land was able to endure for so many years and had such a resounding reputation in Tong Xuan Realm was closely tied to this fact.
“What are your thoughts?” Yang Kai stared at An Ling’er seriously
An Ling’er lowered her head, her hands gently clenching her dress as she whispered somewhat awkwardly, “We Saintesses were taught from young to obey all commands of the Holy Master, and to dedicate our everything to him. So, regarding these matters… whatever you decide, I’ll accept.”
An Ling’er’s reserved and obedient appearance was quite difficult for Yang Kai to simply brush off.
Each Saintess was a rare, one in a million beauty, and now that she was putting on such an expression and saying such words, it would be odd for any man’s heart not to be moved.
Even Yang Kai felt that in this moment, An Ling’er was quite charming.
Sighing slightly, Yang Kai quickly adjusted his face and said, “You told me before that we’re friends, right?”
An Ling’er nodded lightly.
“Then because we are friends, I will tell you the truth…” Yang Kai’s expression became solemn as he continued, “From the various encounters I had inside the Holy Tomb, I learned the secret behind why all the Holy Masters of the Holy Land were able to improve strength so rapidly.”
“What is it?” An Ling’er couldn’t help but become somewhat curious, although she was a Saintess of Nine Heavens Holy Land, this was one secret she really knew very little about.
“Each Holy Master can improve so quickly and always reach the peak of the Third Order Saint Realm by consuming his and his Saintesses’ vitality in exchange.”
“Consume their vitality?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded and explained carefully, “Everyone has a different degree of vitality or life essence. Those with strong vitality can live longer than those with weak vitality. Additionally, as one’s cultivation improves, so too does their vitality. The Holy Master’s core cultivation method, however, sacrifices that vitality and the vitality of his life companions in exchange for enhanced cultivation speed. That’s why every Holy Master, despite having amazing strength, is always short lived!”
An Ling’er couldn’t help covering her mouth in shock after hearing this secret.
“I’m not going to cultivate such a detrimental Secret Art. Neither will I allow you to cultivate it!” Yang Kai looked at her seriously, “Because I want to live a long life and because you are one of my friends, I don’t want to see you die young.”
An Ling’er’s beautiful eyes shimmered, seemingly quite moved.
“I don’t have many friends here, but you are definitely one of them, so I hope that in the future our relationships can remain the same. Holy Master and Saintess are just our external identities, but in private, I hope we can still interact freely like this. How about it?”
An Ling’er didn’t hesitate to nod.
Yang Kai truly wasn’t interested in the Secret Art the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land cultivated.
Enhancing one’s strength at the expense of their own lifespan was a complete mismatch of priorities. This was not how Yang Kai intended to pursue the peak of the Martial Dao.
As such, he had never planned to follow in the footsteps of the previous Holy Masters.
He had his own goals to pursue and methods to pursue them with.
However, in order to accomplish this, he had to obtain An Ling’er’s cooperation, so seeing her nod to his proposal, Yang Kai genuinely felt happy and relieved.
“But… what if the Elders ask about it?” An Ling’er couldn’t help worrying, “They seem quite anxious.”
“That old fogey really likes sticking his nose into other people’s business…” Yang Kai muttered without restraint. There was no need for him to even ask to know that it was that old fart, Xu Hui, was the source of this issue. Most likely he had been subtly urging An Ling’er to quickly begin cultivating with Yang Kai.
Listening to him say this, An Ling’er couldn’t stop herself from letting out a burst of laughter, brightening the serious atmosphere.
“There’s nothing else to do about it, if they ask, just tell them we’ve already begun cultivating together.”
“I’m fine with that… but we won’t be able to conceal the truth forever!” An Ling’er narrowed her eyes slightly, “You won’t have any problems. With your aptitude, even if you don’t cultivate that Secret Art, your growth will still be extremely rapid, but if I don’t break through for a long time, the Elders will begin to have doubts…”
“I can help with that!” Yang Kai grinned.
“How can you help me?” An Ling’er asked in confusion.
Yang Kai flipped his hand and summoned out a delicate jade bottle which he handed to An Ling’er as he explained, “Inside this is some special Spirit Liquid. Taking a drop of it every day will improve your constitution and allow your aptitude and strength to gradually increase.”
An Ling’er accepted the bottle somewhat suspiciously but upon opening the bottle and sniffing its contents, she suddenly felt as if her entire body was being refreshed, shocking her greatly as she stared brightly towards Yang Kai, “Is this really useful?”
“Of course it’s useful,” Yang Kai nodded, quickly adding, “Once you’ve used it all up, just find me and I’ll give you more.”
“Then I’ll gratefully try it. Thank you,” An Ling’er smiled, her short talk with Yang Kai lifting her spirits greatly.
After a little more idle chatter, An Ling’er left.
Yang Kai sent a Divine Sense message to Xu Hui and Li Rong saying that he was going to enter retreat for a while and not to disturb him.
After receiving their replies, Yang Kai left the Holy Master Court and went to the Holy Tomb.
The Holy Tomb was an excellent place to enter secluded cultivation. Besides Yang Kai, who possessed the Holy Master Spirit Ring, no one else could enter it so he wouldn’t need to worry about others disturbing him.
Arriving in front of the giant stone slab, Yang Kai pressed the Holy Master Spirit Ring into its specific slot, opened the Holy Tomb, and stepped inside.
The Holy Tomb was as dark and gloomy as always, with traces of the Nine Heavens Holy Land disciples still scattered about here and there. Although the environment wasn’t very good, the World Energy aura here was incomparably rich.
Looking around for a moment, Yang Kai soon chose a spot and sat down cross-legged.
Taking out the long shuttle artifact he obtained back in the Starry Sky, Yang Kai began examining it carefully.
He could feel that there was a mysterious power inside this artifact and that there were many intricate Spirit Arrays carved inside it, but without refining it, he wouldn’t be able to tell what this artifact’s purpose really was.
Focusing his attention, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and began proving the surface of the long shuttle artifact, studying its structure and composition, looking for a place to break through its shell and begin refining it.
In order to refine an artifact, the first step was to leave one’s Soul mark on it, only after accomplishing this could one begin to refine it.
After leaving behind a Soul mark on an artifact, a cultivator would be able to take it into their body and begin nourishing it with their own True Qi and Spiritual Energy.
Once it had received enough moisturizing, the artifact would begin to resonate with its user and would then become usable.
Even after taking an artifact into one’s body, it would still take some time before they could use its full power.
The reason cultivators would not easily change the artifacts they used was not only because of the long time it took to refine one but also because, over a long period of nourishing an artifact, a subtle connection between it and its user would form. Artifacts that had this kind of connection to their user could display more power in battle, promoting a cultivator’s overall combat strength.
Switching to a new, unfamiliar artifact, would eliminate this effect.
Therefore, unless their strength grew far beyond the level of artifacts they had refined, a cultivator would not choose to replace them.
Even if they chose to replace them, most cultivators would look for artifacts that matched well with their Secret Art and Martial Skills to refine.
Many cultivators would even look for materials and ask an Artifact Refiners to tailor-make an artifact for them.
Excellent Artifact Refiners could refine artifacts that perfectly complimented a cultivator’s unique characteristics.
Yang Kai had never concerned himself much with these matters though, mainly because he did not rely on the power of artifacts, only refining anything which he conveniently came across. He had never looked for materials to custom refine one from scratch to suit him.
This long shuttle artifact obviously had a master a long time ago, but that master most likely lost his way among the Starry Sky or had some kind of accident and perished, leaving it to drift aimlessly for who knows how long until it eventually found its way into the Asteroid Sea Yang Kai inadvertently discovered it in.
Sweeping his Divine Sense over it meticulously, Yang Kai soon found a very faint Soul aura inside the long shuttle artifact.
This was the Soul mark left behind by its previous owner.
Yang Kai first had to erase this in order to engrave his own Soul mark.
Examining this Soul aura for a moment, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling some slight amazement.
Although after so many years, the Soul aura inside the long shuttle artifact had become quite faint, Yang Kai could tell that its signature was actually still quite powerful.
The original owner of this artifact was no doubt at least a Third Order Saint Realm master.
Such a powerhouse actually falling in the Starry Sky caused Yang Kai to sigh.
Yang Kai once again realized just how terrifying the Starry Sky was. He had visited the Starry Sky twice now, but what he had seen was only equivalent to a grain of sand in a vast desert. He likely had not seen any of its real dangers at all.
Those dangers obviously included disasters even Third Order Saints were unable to withstand.
Focusing his thoughts, Yang Kai sent out a burst of Conflagrated Spiritual Energy into the long shuttle artifact..
*Chi…*
The faint Soul mark which remained inside the artifact was instantly erased.
Yang Kai then pushed his True Qi and Spiritual Energy, injecting them into the long shuttle.
This process was very time consuming and could not be rushed, so Yang Kai simply sat in place and steadily released his True Qi and Spiritual Energy to allow the long shuttle to become familiar with his own aura.
Gradually, Yang Kai’s True Qi and Spiritual Energy began to seep into the long shuttle, a sign it was starting to accept him.
Yang Kai felt a weight lift from his heart now that he knew this artifact was compatible with his True Qi. If it had instead repelled his aura, there was no way he would be able to refine it, no matter how hard he tried.
Yang Kai slowly took back his attention from the long shuttle artifact, allowing his True Qi and Spiritual Energy to continue automatically refining it while he sent his consciousness into the Black Book space.
Aware of Yang Kai’s arrival, the Divine Tree sent him a faint greeting, its mood seemingly somewhat gloomy.
“What happened?” Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling some concern and quickly asked.
“It’s nothing, I just feel somewhat lonely,” the Divine Tree responded, “It is just me here all the time, so when you’re not here I find myself spending my time in a daze.”
“Lonely…” Yang Kai’s face went black, suddenly realizing that the Divine Tree’s consciousness had grown to an extent he had not anticipated.
Before now, it would never say something like this.
“Sorry,” Yang Kai apologized, “I can’t bring anything with flesh and blood into this place or I would find a few companions for you… En, there actually used to be a Yin Yang Monster Ginseng here but it disappeared many years ago.”
“Yin Yang Monster Ginseng? What’s that?”
“A kind of World Spirit Treasure!” Yang Kai explained, his eyes lighting up as he said so, “Right, World Spirit Treasures have their own consciousnesses, I can look for some to accompany you.”
The Divine Tree was overjoyed hearing this and hurriedly said, “What are you waiting for? Please help me find a few.”
“Don’t be so anxious,” Yang Kai chuckled, “I have a small matter to handle right now and am currently in retreat, but I promise you that when I exit I’ll look for some companions for you. I’ll warn you now though; World Spirit Treasures are quite rare so it may take some time to find some.”
“Oh,” the Divine Tree couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed, but quickly recovered and cheerfully said, “I can wait.”
Yang Kai nodded and sincerely said, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find a few for you.”
“I trust you!”
“Have there been any changes in those two stones?” Yang Kai asked.
“No, they’re still the same, just absorbing the essence from the other ores, although their appetites seem to have grown quite a bit recently!”
“Oh?” Yang Kai was surprised and quickly arrived in front of the two pitch-black round stones and found that, as the Divine Tree said, since Li Rong and he found a large number of ores in the Starry Sky and placed them here the two pitch-black round stones had indeed increased the rate at which they were extracting mineral essences.
In just a few days, the pair of stones had already consumed as much as they had in the previous month.
Nearby there was a lot of gravel and dust impurities scattered about.
Examining them, Yang Kai could clearly see the mineral essences flowing out of the ores and into the two pitch-black round stones before disappearing.
As they absorbed these ore essences, the hue the two pitch-black round stones gave off grew in intensity and the meridian like lines on their surface became clearer and more coherent with a great deal more energy flowing through them.
“What are they? Why do they eat stones?” The Divine Tree asked curiously.
“Even if you ask me, I don’t know.” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders, “However, there’ll always come a day when we find out. Continue watching over them. If you notice any changes, remember to inform me promptly.”
“En,”
After chatting with the Divine Tree for a while longer, Yang Kai took back his consciousness from the Black Book space.
Time flew by and soon half a month had passed.
During this half a month, Yang Kai had been constantly sending his True Qi and Spiritual Energy into the Long Shuttle artifact, branding it with his own Soul mark. Slowly but surely, he making progress.
Yang Kai couldn’t tell what grade of artifact this long shuttle was but he knew it was not ordinary since it was taking longer for him to mark it than when he refined the Silver Leaf Saint Grade Top-Rank artifact.
However, after half a month, Yang Kai finally succeeded in portraying his Soul mark onto it, and with a single thought he took it into his body.
The next step was the long nourishing phase.
Only after he managed to produce a resonance with this long shuttle artifact would Yang Kai be able to figure out its purpose and utilize it in combat.
Fortunately, this nourishing process didn’t require Yang Kai to consciously act, all he needed to do was wait and after some time, the long shuttle would naturally resonate with him.
After taking the long shuttle artifact into his body, Yang Kai exited the Holy Tomb to see what the Holy Land’s situation was, soon finding everything just as he left it.
The Holy Land’s disciple, after the last incident, had all been working hard on their cultivation and even some of the Elders had made great progress.
The Ancient Demon clansmen were also coexisting peacefully with the original Nine Heavens Holy Land’s inhabitants under the constraints of Li Rong and the other Great Commanders.
The only thing that was of concern was cultivation materials.
Although Wu Jie had delivered a massive amount of supplies the last time he came, the thousands of cultivators in the Holy Land were consuming them at a rate faster than they could be replenished, so it was inevitable that at some point their supplies would be exhausted.
In the past, Nine Heavens Holy Land’s cultivation materials were all sought out by its disciples or given as tribute from the three nearby forces. The old Holy Master would also obtain some from the Monster Domain in exchange for Crystal Stones.
But now that the Crystal Stone mineral lodes had been unscrupulously mined by the Monster Race for three years, they had almost been exhausted and could no longer even supply the Holy Land’s own needs, so how could they take them to exchange for other necessary commodities?
Yang Kai took out everything he had no use for from the Black Book space but that would only ease the situation temporarily.
The Holy Land’s Elders spent every day recently worrying about this issue.
Seeing their appearances, Yang Kai couldn’t bring himself to ask them to help him seek out World Spirit Treasure.
All World Spirit Treasures, regardless of whether they had any use or not, were incredibly rare and valuable. With the dire state of their finances, how could the Holy Land purchase such items?
Yang Kai couldn’t come up with any good ideas so he simply tossed this issue to Xu Hui and the other Elders and secluded himself in the Holy Tomb again to cultivate.
Inside the Holy Tomb, the days flew by as Yang Kai immersed himself in studying the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao.
Occasionally, when he grew weary of cultivating, Yang Kai would refine some pills to ease his mind and body.
Yang Kai’s original purpose in studying Alchemy was simply to cultivate his Spiritual Energy.
Because the True Alchemic Way, which contained an enormous amount of information, had been branded into Yang Kai’s consciousness, in order to study and decipher it, he had to consume massive amounts of Spiritual Energy.
Gradually though, after absorbing a great deal of Alchemy knowledge and experience, he also embarked on this path.
Yang Kai never expected to travel far down this path but through numerous twists of fate, he was now a genuine Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, one of the most powerful in the entire world.
All of this was thanks to the True Alchemic Way!
However, the deciding factor in why Yang Kai continued to pursue Alchemy was because as he comprehended the Alchemic Way, it also helped him deeper his understanding of the Martial Dao as well as assisted him in developing his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.
Yang Kai had managed to use Alchemy as an auxiliary to comprehend the Martial Dao!
Therefore, while improving his cultivation and comprehension, Yang Kai also spared no effort to improve his Alchemy proficiency as well.
Unfortunately, after refining the Saint Grade Mid-Rank pill to release the Ancient Demon Clan, Yang Kai didn’t have many Saint Grade materials left to use.
At his current level, without refining Saint Grade pills, it was impossible for Yang Kai to improve his Alchemy technical and attainments.
After refining a few Saint Pills inside the Holy Tomb, Yang Kai used up all his remaining Saint Grade herbs, leaving him helpless.
Cultivation knew no years and when Yang Kai once again exited his retreat, three months had already passed.
The air around the nine peaks had undergone some subtle changes in this time though.
Inside the main hall, the Elders were holding a serious discussion, the atmosphere in the room quite solemn, so it wasn’t until Yang Kai physically entered the room that they noticed his presence, all of them quickly standing up and saluting.
“Please sit, I just exited today to have a look around, there’s no need for all these formalities,” Yang Kai gestured.
Everyone nodded lightly and sat down again.
“Holy Master has come at just the right time actually,” Xu Hui began, “We were debating whether to sell some of the valuables the Holy Land isn’t currently using and would like to get Holy Master’s opinion.”
“What are you trying to sell?” Yang Kai was surprised by this sudden proposal.
“There are some artifacts that are not being used as well as some Secret Arts and Martial Skills that belong to our Nine Heavens Holy Land,” Xu Hui replied.
“Why do you want to sell those?” Yang Kai swept his eyes around.
The Elders all blushed with embarrassment, none of them speaking up.
Yang Kai knit his brows, even more puzzled by their reaction.
Xu Hui smiled bitterly and explained, “The main reason is that many of the disciples who cultivated inside the Holy Tomb some time ago obtained various harvests and breakthroughs. In order to consolidate their current cultivations, they require a large number of resources. Unfortunately, the Holy Land’s foundation and heritage have taken a great deal of damage, so… There is currently a lack of materials. If we sell some of the treasures we are not actively using, we can alleviate the Holy Land’s financial situation greatly.”
“Holy Master, you must help us persuade Great Elder to stop, he actually wants to sell the Saint Grade Low-Rank artifact the old Holy Master bestowed him!” Yu Ying called out.
Yang Kai was dumbfounded, “Is the Holy Land’s situation actually that critical?”
“It is we subordinates’ incompetence!” Xu Hui said awkwardly, “However, as long as we can weather these difficult times, the situation will slowly improve.”
“No, this isn’t your fault,” Yang Kai shook his head and thoughtfully said, “A big part of this is related to the Demons I brought back with me. You’ve given them a lot of cultivation resources, haven’t you?”
Although Xu Hui never said anything about this, Yang Kai wasn’t blind.
Since the Ancient Demon Clan arrived in the Holy Land, they had never once lacked for supplies. Obviously, they had obtained them from Xu Hui.
The Holy Land could be self-sufficient, but the Ancient Demon Clan couldn’t.
They were unable to leave the nine peaks at all. Once they were discovered, it would cause a great deal of trouble. A thousand Demons, many of whom were incredibly powerful masters, obviously consumed a lot of the Holy Land’s resources.
Hearing Yang Kai say this, Xu Hui did not make any attempt to deny it and simply nodded silently.
“This is ultimately my responsibility.” Yang Kai gently nodded, admitting his fault in the matter, “I had not considered this issue clearly enough.”
After sinking into thought for a while, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly flashed as he asked, “Great Elder, I have something I need to ask you. After you and the other Elders reached the Saint Realm, did you acquire a habit of collecting various Saint Grade materials?”
Though slightly confused by this sudden question, Xu Hui nodded, “En, ever since entering the late stages of the Transcendent Realm, subordinate has been purposefully collecting some materials for refining pills and artifacts… All of that was in preparation for the day when I had gathered enough materials to request an Alchemist or Artifact Refiners to refine them into something useful.”
“I also have some collected materials,” Cheng Yue Tong nodded.
All of the other Elders gathered in the main hall nodded as well.
Because acquiring enough Saint Grade materials to refine something useful was not easy and generally took a very long time, most Transcendents would have a habit of collecting materials they needed whenever an opportunity arose.
“The materials all of us had collected over the years have been consumed already though… Unfortunately, even the full set of materials that took Elder Yu Ying ten whole years to collect in order to refine an Azure Cloud Pill were sold recently,” Xu Hui said.
“What’s the point in dwelling on that?” Yu Ying smiled lightly, “Which one of you hasn’t sold items from your collections?”
“It’s different for us….” Luo Sheng sighed, “None of us had a full set of materials collect, but you only needed to find an excellent Alchemist and as long as your luck wasn’t too bad you’d be able to obtain that Azure Cloud Pill which could have greatly enhanced your strength.”
“Exactly!”
“Don’t discuss such things in front of the Holy Master,” Yu Ying smiled wryly and said, “It only sounds like we’re whining about how poor we’ve become.”
The other Elders let out hollow laughs hearing her say this.
“Holy Master, why do you ask this?” Xu Hui asked curiously.
Yang Kai eyes shimmered brilliantly as he confidently said, “That is to say, most Transcendent Realm and above cultivators of this world have the habit of collecting materials, yes?”
“You could say that,” Xu Hui nodded lightly, still not understanding what this had to do with the Holy Land’s current situation, pausing briefly before saying, “However, it is useless to simply collect the appropriate materials since it is also necessary to find someone capable of refining them into a useful product. Elder Yu Ying hadn’t used up her set of materials because she had yet to find an appropriate master to refine that Azure Cloud Pill. High-grade Alchemists and Artifact Refiners are not easy to find and even if one does find one, there is always a risk of failure.”
“Very good,” Yang Kai grinned and declared confidently, “Since that’s the case, I have a way to alleviate the Holy Land’s current predicament…”
“Ah?” All of the Elder couldn’t help showing looks of surprise as they stared in confusion towards Yang Kai.
“Elder Yu Ying, I’ll be sure to get you that Azure Cloud Pill one day!” Yang Kai looked at her and smiled.
Yu Ying shivered slightly, her beautiful eyes filling with a look of anticipating.
Yang Kai suddenly announced, “Great Elder, use all the channels and relationships our Holy Land possesses to distribute an announcement saying that my Holy Land will be providing Alchemy services to anyone who needs to refine Spirit Grade Top-Rank and above pills. En, Saint Grade Top-Rank pills aren’t possible though, be sure to clearly state this point. Remuneration for every successfully refined pill must be Crystal Stones or spirit herbs of equal value to the refined pill. If the refining is a failure though, my Holy Land will provide compensation equal in value to the pill’s materials!”
Inside the main hall, all the Elders stared at Yang Kai with dropped jaws, all of them wondering what the Holy Master was talking about.
Seeing the reaction of Xu Hui and the others, Yang Kai couldn’t help but frown, “Is the cost too high?”
Xu Hui hastily recovered and smiled bitterly, “If you can guarantee the pill is refined successfully, such a price is not high at all! Many people spend a lot of time, energy, and money to collect a full set of materials only to have the person they ask to refine them fail once or twice. As such, it is not unreasonable to ask for Crystal Stones or herbs of the same value as the requested pill; on the contrary, such a price would be quite easy to accept for most.”
“Then why do all of you have such dumbfounded faces?” Yang Kai glanced around at the crowd.
“Holy Master…” Xu Hui’s face twitched slightly, “Our Holy Land does not have a Saint Grade Alchemist…”
Xu Hui even began to suspect that after spending so much time in retreat recently; Yang Kai had become somewhat confused, even forgetting such a basic fact.
Although Nine Heavens Holy Land was by no means a weak force in Tong Xuan Realm, it still didn’t have a dedicated Saint Grade Alchemist.
The main reasons were that such characters were simply too rare and that the Alchemist Guild generally did not allow such high-grade Alchemists formally join a single Sect.
Unless it was an Alchemist that the force themselves cultivated, only then would such an Alchemist not fall under the Alchemist Guild’s jurisdiction!
Unfortunately, Nine Heavens Holy Land had not been able to cultivate a Saint Grade Alchemist for many years.
“Just because we didn’t before, doesn’t mean we don’t now! Just begin spreading the word!” Yang Kai chuckled, not bothering to explain any further.
Xu Hui’s body shivered, seemingly thinking of something, “Does Holy Master mean that among those Demons…”
But soon he frowned, the Demon Race were not proficient in Alchemy because of the Demonic Qi in their bodies.
“The identity of the Alchemist isn’t something you need to concern yourselves with, just follow my orders.”
“Yes!” Seeing Yang Kai act so confidently, Xu Hui no longer asked anything and began making arrangements with the other Elders.
The last time Nine Heavens Holy Land fell into a crisis, no one stepped forward to help. Even now, they were the target of public criticism for colluding with Demons. However, neither of these points hindered them from disseminating information to the outside.
Each of the Elders had their own personal connections they had built up over the many years. Though they were not necessarily allies, spreading a simple message was nothing short of a breeze.
In the Holy Master Courtyard, Yang Kai was quietly feeling the various designs of the internal structure of the long shuttle artifact, trying to determine its function and purpose.
This artifact was quite unusual. Not only had it been quite difficult to refine and nourish, but it was also taking a long time to produce a resonance with.
It had already been four months since Yang Kai had become capable of taking it into his body, and since that day he had not stopped nourishing it with his True Qi and Spiritual Energy yet there was still not the slightest response from it.
The artifact itself had now been dyed with Yang Kai’s aura but it still refused to resonate with him, leaving him quite helpless.
Yang Kai suddenly sensed someone approaching and a moment later, Xu Hui’s voice came over, “Holy Master, subordinate seeks an audience!”
“Come in!” Yang Kai called out.
With hurried footsteps, Xu Hui quickly walked inside, a slightly strained look upon his face as he cupped his fists and reported, “Holy Master, there is someone here to request Alchemy from our Holy Land…”
“Oh?” Yang Kai’s lips curled into a grin, “Someone finally came?”
“En… finally indeed,” Xu Hui smiled bitterly.
Since the day Yang Kai made the Elders use their various relationships and communication channels to release the news, an entire month had actually passed, yet today was the first time anyone had actually come seeking Alchemy from the Holy Land.
The main cause of all this was that, although Nine Heavens Holy Land was truly world-famous, no news about them possessing a Saint Grade Alchemist had previous existed, so when people heard Yang Kai’s bold announcement no one believed it. To make matters worse, Xu Hui and the others had done as Yang Kai asked and announced that even Saint Grade Mid- Rank pills could be refined, making the whole thing sound even more questionable.
Such a proclamation was basically the same as saying there was at least one Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist in Nine Heavens Holy Land!
Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemists were incredibly rare in Tong Xuan Realm, their number countable with one hand. Each of these Grandmasters had world-shaking fame and it was well known that none of them had anything to do with Nine Heavens Holy Land.
To put it simply, no one believed an Alchemist capable of refining such high-grade pills exited in the Holy Land.
After an entire month, only one person had even shown up.
“Where is our first guest then?” Yang Kai rolled up his sleeves, appearing unusually motivated.
“We have brought him to the main palace’s reception room,” Xu Hui replied quickly.
“Good. Since it’s our first customer, I’ll handle the matter personally,” Yang Kai said, getting up and flying off together with Xu Hui towards the mentioned reception room.
“Did that person say what pill he wants refined?” Yang Kai asked along the way
“A Spirit Grade Top-Rank Soul Solidifying Pill…”
“Spirit Grade Top-Rank?” Yang Kai was slightly stunned, he had thought someone coming here specifically to ask for Alchemy services would at least want to refine a Saint Grade pill, but it turns out they only wanted a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill.
Yang Kai was inevitably somewhat disappointed.
However, when he thought about it, the Holy Land had yet to establish any kind of reputation in the field of Alchemy, so having someone come to make a request at all was a good sign. Immediately cheering up, Yang Kai prepared to welcome this first guest with the best hospitality possible.
One month ago, when Yang Kai learned of the financial predicament the Holy Land found itself in, he had this flash of inspiration.
If this was handled properly, not only would he be able to alleviate the Holy Land’s resource crisis, he would also be able to sweep away all the negative rumours about Nine Heavens Holy Land.
Most importantly though, Yang Kai could make use of this situation to help improve his Alchemy level!
This was his true goal!
It was truly too difficult to find and collect Saint Grade materials. By just relying on his own efforts, who knows how long it would take him to further improve his Alchemy skills.
However, most of the high-level cultivators of the world had a habit of collecting various herbs to refine high-grade pills they wanted. Inviting these masters to the Holy Land by offering Alchemy services was simply a win-win situation.
Since he had begun studying the Alchemic Way, with the exception of when he first started out, Yang Kai had almost never failed to refine a pill, which was why he made Xu Hui and the others release the bold statement that if the refining failed, the Holy Land would offer full compensation for the wasted materials. All of this was to attract customers to the Holy Land.
“A Soul Solidifying Pill…” Yang Kai muttered thoughtfully, “This customer must have a friend or loved one whose Soul suffered a severe wound.”
“Has Holy Master also studied about various pills?” Xu Hui looked at him in amazement. Determining the purpose of a pill after only hearing its name was not something Xu Hui could do.
“Just a little,” Yang Kai chuckled.
A moment later, the pair arrived at the reception room.
Inside the room sat a middle-aged man wearing a grey robe, seemingly somewhat nervous as he maintained a somewhat rigid posture.
To the side of the room, several pretty maids stood by.
The man had already been served a fragrant cup of tea, but it was obvious he had not touched it, his face conveying some anxiety as his brow furrowed with concern.
Yang Kai swept his eyes over the middle-aged man and quickly determined he was only a First Order Transcendent, immediately understanding why he had come to Nine Heavens Holy Land for Alchemy.
This cultivator’s strength was not too high and he did not wear any high-end artifacts on his body, it seems he was from some small family or Sect.
Such a cultivator wanting to collect the materials for a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill must have experienced a great deal of frustration and trouble as well as expended a great deal of his wealth.
If he were to use an unreliable Alchemist to refine the pill he wanted, once it failed, he would have to start this arduous process all over again.
However, Nine Heavens Holy Land was different. Xu Hui had already announced that even if the refinement failed, a full compensation would be offered, so there was much less to worry about.
It was mainly this promise of full compensation after a failure that attracted this man to the Holy Land.
Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the middle-aged man quickly got up and turned towards the approaching Yang Kai and Xu Hui, releasing an awkward laugh as he cupped his fists and bowed, “It is an honour to meet you, Great Elder Xu Hui.”
“En, there’s no need to act so politely. Please, sit,” Xu Hui behaved quite approachably. As a Second-Order Saint Realm master, speaking to a First Order Transcendent in such a manner was already extremely flattering.
His face flushing slightly with excitement, the man quickly sat back down before turning a curious glance towards the young Yang Kai.
Xu Hui hurriedly spoke, “All me to introduce you: This is the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, Yang Kai!”
The middle-aged man jumped back off the chair he had just stat on and with a look of shock and awe hastily exclaimed, “So it is Holy Master Yang… this one has heard so much about you.”
“All of it bad, yes?” Yang Kai joking spoke.
Some time ago, a lot of rumours about the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land colluding with the Demon Race and Monster Race had been maliciously spread out, so the Holy Land’s current reputation in the Human Territory was actually quite poor, with Yang Kai’s personal image being even worse.
The middle-aged man never dreamed Yang Kai would speak such words, a stunned look appearing on his face for a moment before he waved his hands in a flurry, “This one wouldn’t dare to…”
“It’s fine, I know well what kind of rumours are circulating outside… Good, let’s not discuss such things, we’re here to talk about Alchemy! How should I address this friend?”
“This humble one’s name is Lu Qing!”
“I heard that you want to refine a Soul Solidifying Pill. Have you brought all the required herbs?”
“Yes,” Lu Qing replied quickly, pulling out a small package from his bag and placing it on the table.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai was even surer of his previous guess, this man was truly not very well off.
It was easy to tell because he didn’t even have a Universe Bag, the herbs were actually carried on his person.
Yang Kai motioned to Xu Hui who quickly picked up the package and delivered it to Yang Kai.
Opening the package and carefully checking the herbs inside, Yang Kai nodded lightly, “These spirit herbs are not bad. They’ve obviously been handled carefully so their medical efficacies have not deteriorated too seriously; using them for Alchemy is possible. However, in the future, they should not be stored like this; at the very least some separate containers used to preserve their freshness should be prepared.”
Lu Qing smiled awkwardly, “What Holy Master Yang said is quite right, this Lu will pay more attention to this in the future.”
“However… the set of herbs you’ve brought is not complete…” Yang Kai calmly smiled, “There is no Solidifying Soul Grass, so if you rely solely on these materials, the Alchemy success rate will be greatly reduced. At most, there is only a thirty percent chance a usable pill can be refined.”
“Ah?” Lu Qing was shocked and looked confused, “That’s can’t be…”
“The person who gave you the list of herbs required for this pill must not have a very high Alchemy level,” Yang Kai said unceremoniously.
Lu Qing nodded, “It was a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist…”
“No wonder. Refining with these materials, even if you are lucky enough to acquire a usable pill, its efficacy may not be enough to cure your loved one or friend.”
“How did Holy Master Yang know…” Lu Qing directed a stunned look towards Yang Kai, shivering slightly as he stared.
“This pill has the effect of stabilizing and repairing one’s Soul,” Yang Kai said lightly, “Anyone who is familiar with such a pill will know what it is intended for. If I am not mistaken, one of your family members or close friends suffered severe trauma during a battle and is still unconscious, yes?”
A look of admiration and respect filled Lu Qing’s face as he nodded, “It is as Holy Master Yang said, the one who was injured was my son…. It has been almost half a year yet he remains in a coma. This Lu has spent every moment since then collecting these herbs and only recently managed to acquire them all. I was looking for an Alchemist to help refine them when I heard rumours about Nine Heavens Holy Land offering Alchemy services so I rushed over.”
“En, if you had sought out any other Alchemist, forget about success of failure in refining, he would most likely not even accept your request until you sought out a stalk of Solidifying Soul Grass…”
Lu Qing looked at Yang Kai nervously, for fear that he too would say this.
After all, it would only be a matter of course.
An Alchemist was only responsible for performing Alchemy, searching for the required ingredients was the responsibility of the one requesting for Alchemy.
“My Holy Land has Solidifying Soul Grass, there’s no need for you to search for one.”
Hearing this, Lu Qing was overjoyed and bowed his head once more, “Many thanks, Holy Master Yang, many thanks, Holy Master Yang!”
“A minor matter. Good, wait here for a moment, I will help you refine the pill you need. If there is no accident, half an hour to an hour will be enough,” Yang Kai declared before holding the package of herbs and leaving the reception room.
Now, there was only Lu Qing, Xu Hui and the maids who were standing off the side left in the room.
Xu Hui wore a doubtful expression.
Although he didn’t know much about Alchemy as he had never studied this particular field, he was experienced enough to know how hard refining a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill was.
Was it really possible to finish refining one in half an hour to an hour?
Where did the Holy Master find such a fierce Alchemist? On top of that, the Holy Master had declared with full confidence that there was no chance of failure. Was there really an Alchemist who had a 100% success rate of refining pills?
Xu Hui simply couldn’t understand.
As for Lu Qing, he was even more restless. He sat right at the edge of his chair as if he wanted to stand up and pace to ease the anxiety in his heart, but in front of Xu Hui he didn’t dare act so loosely.
Seeing his appearance, Xu Hui smiled and said, “There’s no need to be so nervous. Since my Holy Land released such a statement, even if the refining fails, we will certainly compensate for your loss so you can ask another Alchemist to help you. My Holy Land won’t go back on its word for a few spirit herbs.”
“No, Great Elder, this Lu didn’t mean…” Lu Qing quickly waved his hand to deny having such thoughts but he still failed to conceal the relief that appeared on his face after hearing Xu Hui’s words.
Knowing that even if this refining failed, he wouldn’t suffer any loss, he not so secretly felt that his decision to come to Nine Heavens Holy Land was indeed right.
Anxiously waiting, Lu Qing did his best to steady himself as he snuck a peek towards the room’s entrance every now and then.
Xu Hui no longer said anything and just silently sat.
Just over half an hour later, Yang Kai strode back into the reception room, an air of confidence swirling about him.
Seeing this appearance, Lu Qing and Xu Hui both wore excited looks, knowing that the Soul Solidifying Pill had been refined successfully.
“Holy Master Yang…” Lu Qing respectfully stood up and spoke, his voice still quavering slightly.
Yang Kai chuckled and calmly said, “No need to worry, the refining was successful, although there was a small surprise in the process.”
“A surprise?” Lu Qing’s expression immediately tightened, wondering just what this surprise Yang Kai was talking about was.
“Have a look yourself, I believe you’ll be quite satisfied,” Yang Kai handed over a jade bottle.
Respectfully accepting the bottle, Lu Qing opened it and instantly caught a whiff of an incredibly refreshing fragrance, his body and mind unconsciously relaxing somewhat.
“Hm?” Xu Hui was also surprised as he came over to take a look. He felt that this Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill seemed to be somewhat out of the ordinary.
For one, the fragrance it gave off was far richer than any Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill he had smelt before…
Looking inside the bottle, Lu Qing’s eyes suddenly bulged as his hands began trembling, gasping as he exclaimed, “This… this is…”
“Pill Veins!?” Xu Hui shouted, the pitch of his voice significantly higher than normal.
The two of them both lifted their eyes and exchanged a glance, each of them seeing the shock in the other’s gaze.
A Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill which had Pill Veins was no less valuable than a Saint Pill!
Still unable to believe his eyes, Lu Qing hastily poured out the pill from the jade bottle and placed it on top of his palm.
It was easy to tell that this Soul Solidifying Pill contained a medicinal efficacy that was extremely potent and all across its glossy, perfectly round surface were delicate, human like meridians, genuine Pill Veins which gave off a faint fluorescence.
On top of that, it was still warm, so Lu Qing was certain this pill had just been refined.
“Holy Master Yang, I… this… but… wha… ” Lu Qing flapped his mouth and spoke incoherently. He thought that simply being able to successfully obtain the Soul Solidifying Pill would be a stroke of good fortune, but now he had actually obtained such a pill with Pill Veins!
This result had greatly exceeded his expectations, causing him to be so excited he was unable to speak properly.
“It was just good luck that Pill Veins appeared,” Yang Kai chuckled, casually waving his hand.
“My son can certainly be saved!” Lu Qing shouted, tears leaking from his eyes.
“En, not only can your son be saved, as long as you get him to carefully refine this pill, in addition to his wounded Soul being healed, it’s quite possible he will experience some promotion in strength as well… En, if your son’s cultivation isn’t high though you must assist him in refining this pill as it contains the same amount of medicinal efficacy as a pill bordering a Saint Pill, so its effects will be quite potent!”
“This Lu will certainly take Holy Master Yang’s advice to heart!” Lu Qing beamed radiantly, seemingly already able to see his son recover while simultaneously strengthening his Spiritual Energy.
“Congratulations Brother Lu,” Xu Hui also offered his congratulations.
“Many thanks, Great Elder, many thanks, Holy Master Yang…” Lu Qing bowed deeply as he shouted.
A moment later though, Lu Qing’s expression became cramped as he stuttered, “This Lu only brought with him enough remuneration for a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill, I never anticipated that this pill would give birth to Pill Veins…”
His expression turning serious, he quickly followed up, “Holy Master Yang, Great Elder Xu Hui, this Lu swears to you that after curing my son, I will quickly gather the appropriate amount of compensation for this pill and return here!”
As he spoke, he took out the payment he had originally prepared.
Unsurprisingly, it was just some Crystal Stones.
Xu Hui shot a glance towards Yang Kai, deferring to his opinion.
Yang Kai smiled heartily and shook his head, “You are the very first guest to request Alchemy services of my Nine Heavens Holy Land. Instead of additional compensation, how about we strike a little deal?”
Lu Qing wore a respectful look and replied firmly, “If Holy Master Yang has anything to ask of this Lu, please feel free to speak, as long as it is within this humble one’s power, I will not hesitate to agree.”
“Relax, it’s nothing so serious. En, in fact, you don’t need to pay us anything, you can just take this pill…”
“Ah?” Lu Qing was dumbstruck.
Xu Hui also didn’t quite understand why Yang Kai was being so generous all of a sudden, but after thinking of something, a slight, knowing smile crept onto his face.
“Instead of payment, I have a favour to ask of you,” Yang Kai did not keep Lu Qing guessing, “After you leave my Nine Heavens Holy Land, I hope you can spread the news that my Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster helped you refine a Spirit Grade pill with Pill Veins. How about it?”
“Is that all?”
“That’s all!”
Lu Qing quickly adjusted his shocked expression and wore a serious look, “It would be my honour! Please rest assured Holy Master Yang, Great Elder, this Lu will do his utmost to spread word of this!”
“Very good, you should return quickly then so you can heal your son,” Yang Kai nodded with satisfaction.
Lu Qing was ecstatic, bowing deeply once more before swiftly departing.
Watching him leave, Xu Hui also nodded strongly, “A good start!”
“En, although a month late, it’s not a bad start,” Yang Kai agreed.
“However this time we’ve taken quite a loss. A Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill with Pill Veins… It’s a rare treasure. If we could have sold it instead, it would have been worth a lot more Crystal Stones,” Xu Hui said somewhat remorsefully.
A Soul Solidifying Pill was a relatively high-end Soul healing pill, many cultivators would be eager to obtain one because in battle, accidental damage to one’s Soul was not uncommon. If suffered such a wound, they would need such a pill to heal themselves.
There would have been no trouble selling such a pill; in fact, various cultivators would compete just for a chance to obtain it.
“Don’t be so short-sighted…” Yang Kai chuckled, “Once word of this spreads out, it will attract a lot of people here.”
“That’s also true. Holy Master is far-sighted, this subordinate is deeply impressed.”
“No need to flatter!” Yang Kai grinned.
Xu Hui also grinned meaningfully, his voice lowering in the next instant as he asked, “Holy Master… those Pill Veins, was it really just luck that they were born?”
“What do you think?” Yang Kai shot him a meaningful glance.
“Since Holy Master says it was, then it was,” Xu Hui knew not to ask any further, but that did not stop him from growing even more curious about the identity of the Alchemy Grandmaster hidden inside the Holy Land.
Actually only taking half an hour to refine such a pill, such attainments in the Alchemic Way were simply astonishing.
Xu Hui knew and had dealt with a great many skilled Alchemists, some of them even Saint Grade, but he still felt that none of these so-called famous Alchemists could achieve such a feat.
[Who exactly is this Grandmaster?]
Xu Hui wondered.
Five days later, another man came to Holy Land to ask for Alchemy services. Xu Hui learned from him that after hearing about Lu Qing’s experience, this man had come to the Holy Land to try his luck.
Surprisingly, his Alchemy request was quite consistent with Lu Qing’s, hoping to obtain a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill.
However, this time it was not a Soul Solidifying Pill but a life-saving Scarlet Blood Pill instead.
Xu Hui showed him to the same reception room in the Holy Land before sending the spirit herbs to Yang Kai.
Once again, after just half an hour, the pill was successfully refined.
The man departed in high spirits.
Yang Kai did not accept any compensation from him again this time, instead giving it to him with the same conditions as Lu Qing.
Three days later, a third person came to request Alchemy services from the Holy Land.
After refining the pill this man requested, one that gave birth to Pill Veins once more, Yang Kai offered him the same deal as the two who came before him, causing this customer to shout excitedly, claiming he had never even heard of such a high-quality pill with Pill Veins before.
Once again, another happy customer departed and began advertising for Nine Heavens Holy Land.
…..
A few days later, Yang Kai was sitting in a hall on the peak where the Ancient Demon Clan had settled, discussing some matters with Li Rong.
Suddenly, the sound of flapping clothes resounded and after turning to look in the direction of the noise, Yang Kai saw Great Elder Xu Hui rushing over. Before he even arrived, Xu Hui excitedly shouted, “Holy Master, some people have come to request Alchemy services!”
“Is that enough of a reason for you to act so excited?” Yang Kai was speechless.
Li Rong, who was next to him, also couldn’t help giggling lightly.
“Many people have come this time, five altogether and… there are actually two Saints among them. Those two seem to be here to request for Saint Pills,” Xu Hui hurriedly reported.
“Oh? Is there finally someone asking to refine a Saint Pill?” Yang Kai grinned.
The three pills he had previously refined for free, were all Spirit Grade Top-Rank. Two of those three pills had also given birth to Pill Veins, so his reputation was also quite resounding right now.
“Have they all been brought to the reception room?”
“Yes,” Xu Hui nodded.
“Good, let’s go see them,” Yang Kai smiled before bidding farewell to Li Rong and flying off with Xu Hui.
Inside the reception room, five cultivators were sitting on prepared chairs, each of them with a fragrant cup of tea placed on the table in front of them.
There were both men and women among this group of people, their strengths varying greatly as well. Two of them were First Order Saints, one was a Third Order Transcendent, and the final two were First Order Transcendents.
As they waited, the five people exchanged glances with one another, most of them seemingly strangers. Only the two First Order Saints seemed to recognize one another and exchanged greetings.
One of the two said, “Why did Brother Wen decide to come to this Nine Heavens Holy Land?”
The man addressed as Brother Wen smiled lightly and replied, “Naturally for the same reason as Brother Shang Guan.”
“So Brother Wen also heard those rumours and decided to come try his luck?”
“Of course! It is said that three people who needed to refine Spirit Grade Top-Ranks pill came here and that two of them actually obtained pills that gave birth to Pill Veins, while the other man obtained a pill of extremely high quality. Even the man who’s pill did not have Pill Veins apparently claimed that it had greater efficacy than one an ordinary Alchemist could refine! If such news is true, perhaps the Alchemist here can meet my requirements!”
“That news is certainly not fake…” Among the three people off to the side who were listening, a middle-aged woman suddenly spoke up.
The two Saint Realm masters turned their eyes to her and asked curiously, “How do you know?”
“Because the third person who came to ask for Alchemy services was my Senior Brother…” The woman grinned, “I even got to see the pill with Pill Veins he had obtained.”
The faces of the other four people in the room instantly filled with interest as they quickly asked for more details.
The middle-aged woman did not conceal anything and told them everything she could.
After listening to her, the two Saint Realm masters looked at each other, the one surnamed Wen thoughtfully muttering, “Then, is there really an extremely powerful Alchemy Grandmaster hidden here?”
“Three pills, two of them giving birth to Pill Veins. If it’s not just good luck, then it must be high skill, I just don’t know which it is. I wonder if this hidden Grandmaster will be capable of refining the Saint Pill I want…”
Yang Kai and Xu Hui soon arrived at the reception room where the five people were waiting.
The five people hurriedly got up, the two Saint Realm masters constantly looking towards Yang Kai, apparently not having expected the new, world-famous Holy Master, would be such a young man, a slight look of contempt flashing across their eyes; however, when they saw Xu Hui, their expression tightened up.
Xu Hui’s cultivation was higher than their own by a Minor Realm, a seemingly small gap but one they might never be able to cross in their lives; naturally they dared not act dissolute.
All five of them quickly offered greetings.
Yang Kai returned the gesture and motioned for them to sit back down before asking, “Are several friends here to request Alchemy services?”
The five nodded in unison.
“Good, kindly hand over the herbs you’ve prepared and report the name of the pill you need refined. The refinement will take a few hours.”
Seeing Yang Kai’s oh so casual expression, the five people couldn’t help narrowing their eyes slightly, none of them willing to make the first move.
Yang Kai glanced around at them and smiled, “What’s wrong? Since all of you have come here to request Alchemy, it can’t be that you haven’t even prepared the necessary herbs, right?”
“Naturally we have prepared the required ingredients, but… dare I ask Holy Master Yang, what kind of success rate does your honoured Sect’s Alchemy Grandmaster have when it comes to refining Saint Pills?” One of the Saints frowned.
“Would you believe me if I promise you a 100% success rate?” Yang Kai grinned.
The five people’s expression cramped up slightly, apparently not convinced. Even the middle-aged woman who had seen one of the Pill Vein pills was so.
No Alchemist in this world could guarantee a 100% chance of successfully refining a pill, regardless of how skilled they were.
This was simply the natural risk that came with Alchemy.
Unless these words came from the Old Man of Heaven’s Keep’s mouth, no one would dare believe them.
Was this new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land… just too young and frivolous? Believing so, several of the five guests present began to have second thoughts.
“What?” Xu Hui could see the looks of distrust and hesitation on the faces of these five and was inevitably somewhat dissatisfied, “Do you doubt the Alchemist of my Holy Land can refine the Saint Pill you wish to request?”
“I wouldn’t dare!” The man’s face changed, quickly forming into a frown, “It is just that gathering these Saint Grade materials was a long and difficult process, so if the refining were to fail, collecting them again will not be simple! Acting cautiously is only reasonable; please don’t take offence, Holy Master Yang, Great Elder.”
Yang Kai faintly nodded, “Acting cautiously is indeed understandable, but when you request an Alchemist to refine a Saint Pill, there is always a risk of failure. Naturally, that is true even here. However, I can assure you, asking my Holy Land for Alchemy carries the lowest amount of risk, and there is even a chance you may acquire some unexpected gains.”
“Pill Veins?” Hearing him, the five people’s eyes flashed brilliantly.
The middle-aged woman was the most decisive and quickly stood up, “Since no one else is willing to go first, I will. I’m not here to request a Saint Pill, just a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill, even if it fails, collecting the necessary materials isn’t too difficult. On top of that, since compensation for losses has been promised, there truly is no risk.”
Saying so, she took out the spirit herbs she brought.
The other four still seemed to be hesitating, apparently wishing to see what kind of skill this Nine Heavens Holy Land Alchemist possessed before making a decision.
Understanding their thoughts, Yang Kai didn’t pay them any mind, simply nodding and leaving together with Xu Hui.
The five people continued to wait in the reception room.
After half an hour, Xu Hui reappeared with an obvious look of pride on his face.
Seeing this look, the five prospective customers all quickly stood up and stared at him, wondering what the outcome was.
Xu Hui immediately tossed out a jade bottle and haughtily said, “See for yourself just what kind of level my Holy Land’s Alchemist possesses!”
Catching the bottle, the middle-aged woman hurriedly opened it and poured out a small navy blue pill.
In the next instant, exclamations sounded all around.
“Pill Veins!”
Pill Veins again!
This Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill really had Pill Veins, instantly increasing its value several-fold.
The middle-aged woman couldn’t help breaking out into a wide grin as she tightly held the pill in her hand.
The two Saint Realm masters also exchanged a glance, the look of shock apparent in each other’s eyes.
If the rumours were all true, then including this pill, the Alchemy Grandmaster hidden in Nine Heavens Holy Land had only publicly refined four pills.
All four of them were Spirit Grade Top-Rank.
Most importantly though, three of them had given birth to Pill Veins, something that was supposedly only obtainable by luck.
That meant that the chance of Pill Veins appearing here was almost eighty percent!
Ordinarily, even those world-famous Saint Grade Alchemists would have to spend a decade constantly refining pills for even one such pill to appear.
Yet here, in Nine Heavens Holy Land, pills with Pill Veins actually seemed to be the norm; how was this not a sensational matter?
“Hmph, Holy Master said that today the Grandmaster is in a good mood so if you’d like to request pills from him you should hurry. After a few hours, if the Grandmaster’s mood sours, he may not be inclined to refine anything,” Xu Hui ambiguously explained, a trace of smugness apparent in his voice.
“Great Elder, please ask your Sect’s honoured Grandmaster to help this humble one!” The four men no longer hesitated, each of them scrambling to hand over the herbs in their possession, fearful that the mysterious Grandmaster really would have a change of mood and suddenly refuse to refine any pills.
If this Grandmaster could so quickly and easily refine Spirit Grade Top-Rank pills that gave birth to Pill Veins, surely he could refine Saint Pills as well.
Xu Hui did not bother needling them anymore and simply accepted their herbs and the reward the middle-aged woman had prepared before calmly leaving the room again.
The Holy Land couldn’t continue working for free; now that they had advertised enough, it was time to begin collecting some compensation.
The middle-aged woman had honestly prepared an appropriate amount of remuneration, just enough to equal the value of the pill she had requested.
After an hour, Xu Hui returned again, this time bringing back two jade bottles with him and handing them over to the two Transcendents.
Although neither of these two pills had Pill Veins, the quality was still superb, so despite some slight regrets, the two Transcendents were both satisfied and paid the required rewards before taking their leave.
Only the two Saint Realm masters remained inside the room, both of them waiting anxiously. The two currently felt like they were sitting on pins and needles, each of them unable to help themselves from getting up and pacing back and forth from time to time, praying silently for Xu Hui to return quickly with the Saint Pills they requested.
However, they understood that refining Saint Pills was fundamentally different from refining Spirit Grade pills. There was a magnitude of difference in time and energy consumed to refine such pills, so acting anxiously was useless.
Still, restlessness was not something so easily dismissed.
A while later, inside the Holy Master Court, Yang Kai summoned in Xu Hui who had been waiting outside.
Walking into Yang Kai’s palace, Xu Hui immediately smelled a rich pill fragrance and couldn’t help looking around curiously.
He too wanted to know the identity of this mysterious Alchemy Grandmaster who was helping the Holy Land.
Unfortunately, no matter how he searched, he couldn’t find a third person anywhere.
“The pills have been refined, take them with you for now; however, don’t be in a rush to hand them over. Wait until tomorrow morning at least.”
Hearing this, Xu Hui paused to think for a moment before nodding lightly, picking up the two jade bottles while he asked, “Does Holy Master wants them to know refining Saint Pills is not so simple?”
Yang Kai just glanced over at him and grinned meaningfully, “I just want to let them know that doubting the level of my Holy Land’s Alchemist has consequences!”
Xu Hui couldn’t help smiling wryly but said nothing more, his eyes still darting back and forth across the room.
Seeing him not immediately leave but instead glance around as if searching for something, Yang Kai smiled and said, “Are you looking for the Alchemy Grandmaster?”
Xu Hui grinned sheepishly and replied, “If I may ask, Holy Master, since when did my Holy Land come to possess such a Grandmaster? Why is it that he is putting in so much effort to help my Holy Land tide over these troubled times? Regardless of anything else, as the Great Elder of the Holy Land, the least I should do is offer him my thanks.”
“Do you want to know who he is?” Yang Kai looked at him with a smile.
Xu Hui nodded firmly.
“Would you believe me if I told you the one who refined those pills was me?”
“Please do not joke like this, Holy Master…” Xu Hui said with a firm look of disbelief, “Holy Master is so young yet already a Third Order Transcendent, a true dragon among men with limitless future potential. Of this, this old master is thoroughly convinced. But if Holy Master says he is also proficient in Alchemy… Heh, this old master will certainly not believe. Every Grandmaster who is capable of refining Saint Pills has immersed his or herself in the Alchemic Way for at least a hundred years. Holy Master is far too young; even if you began studying Alchemy in your mother’s womb, it would be impossible for you to possess such Heaven defying means.”
“If you don’t believe me then get out!” Yang Kai spat disdainfully, not bothering to explain.
“Eh… ah, en,” Xu Hui was stunned, becoming even more curious about the identity of this hidden Alchemy Grandmaster, but seeing Yang Kai not want to explain, he did not push his luck and simply left.
The following morning, Xu Hui strode into the reception room.
The two First Order Saints who, from their red eyes, had obviously spent the entire night worrying, saw Xu Hui and immediately rushed up to him, eagerly asking, “Great Elder… how is it?”
As they spoke haltingly, looks of fear and nervousness filled their faces, deeply afraid that Xu Hui would deliver bad news.
Masters at their level of strength and status were generally well-off so they didn’t care so much about mere Crystal Stones.
But as one of them had said before, collecting so many Saint Grade materials was no easy task. Some of them weren’t purchasable no matter how much money one had and had required them to trek through mountains and rivers, combing the wilderness to find.
In fact, being able to collect a full set of materials was in no small part due to good luck.
If the refining failed, the Holy Land would compensate them, but that didn’t mean they’d give them an exact copy of the herbs they brought. The compensation spoken of would no doubt be in the form of Crystal Stones.
If they wanted to try again, they’d have to personally collect a new set of herbs first.
Seeing the looks of these two’s faces, Xu Hui inexplicably felt a hint of pleasure as he smugly declared, “My Holy Land Grandmaster’s took action personally, how could it possibly be anything but a success? I really don’t know what you two were so worried about.”
“That means……”
“Take it!” Xu Hui handed over the two jade bottles before brushing off his hands in an aloof manner, “If you ever need any other Saint Pills refined, come straight to my Holy Land, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied!”
The two Saint Realm masters hurriedly opened the jade bottles and poured out the pills inside, a look of shock and awe appearing on their faces as they liberally praised, “Your honourable Sect’s Grandmaster’s means are astonishing! The next time I require Alchemy services, I will definitely come here! Right, I have a number of friends who are currently in need of an Alchemy Grandmaster’s services, I wonder if it would be possible for the Holy Land to assist them?”
The other Saint also chimed in, saying he would recommend Nine Heavens Holy Land to all his friends and relatives.
Saint Grade Alchemists were too rare, and almost every one of them was the Manager of an Alchemist Guild branch in some major city. There were simply too many people who wanted to request such Alchemy services, so it was quite normal to have to wait several years before even being seen by one of these Grandmasters.
However, the situation around Nine Heavens Holy Land was completely different. Because the mysterious Grandmaster in the Holy Land was essentially unknown to the world, very few people had actually come to request Alchemy services from him, so as long as one did come, there was basically no need to wait at all.
Hearing that these two Saint Realm masters would recommend all their friends and family to come to the Holy Land to request Alchemy services, Xu Hui suddenly felt they were much more pleasing to the eye; putting on a hearty smile, he nodded, “Good, as long as they bring enough compensation, my Holy Land’s Grandmaster will happily accept their requests.”
“We will certainly spread the word,” The two men nodded, both of them carefully stowing away their respective Saint Pills before hurriedly flying off to tell the good news to their loved ones about this wondrous place.
Time flew by and one month had already passed.
Outside the nine peaks, a large crowded bustled about, creating a lively atmosphere.
All these Transcendent and Saint Realm cultivators lined up in a long queue, anxiously awaiting their turn as they curiously stared at the nine peaks, various different expressions filling their faces.
These cultivators had all heard about the mysterious Grandmasters in Nine Heavens Holy Land and had come here to request Alchemy from him.
Over the past month, more and more people had rushed to the nine peaks. In the beginning, only a few scattered groups of cultivators came to try their luck, perhaps only one or two people every three to five days showing up, but as these cultivators left with high-quality Spirit Grade and Saint Grade pills in hand, more and more people were drawn in.
Gradually, people began showing up every day, sometimes alone, sometimes in small groups.
The frequency of people arriving only increased after that until it finally became the current situation.
Now, outside the nine peaks, there were a few dozen Transcendent and Saint Realm masters waiting in line, forcing Elders Luo Sheng and Meng Tian Fei to lead a group of Holy Land disciples out in order to maintain order.
The Holy Land’s disciples were as courteous and welcoming as possible, setting up places for these guests from afar to sit and rest and providing some simple refreshments while they waited for their turn to receive Alchemy services inside the Holy Land.
However, if anyone dared act rowdy or fail to follow the rules the Holy Land had set out, no matter what kind of exalted status they possessed, they would be driven off without exception.
This was the policy Yang Kai had personally set and was one the two Holy Land Elders did their best to implement.
“How can it not be our turn yet,” One of the cultivators near the head of the line couldn’t help grumbling.
“Relax, we’ll be up next,” One of the man’s companion comforted, a look of anticipation on his face.
“En, don’t be so anxious! It’s just a few days wait here. If you went anywhere else, you may have to wait for several years!” A third person added.
“Fair enough,” The man who first called out nodded, his mood visibly improving as he chatted with a few people nearby, “I heard that Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster has not failed once since he began offering Alchemy services! Whether it was a Spirit Grade or Saint Grade pill, it would be refined successfully. Everyone who has come here has left greatly satisfied.”
“That’s not all, there were many who came here for Alchemy services that left with Pill Vein pills.”
“Is that true? Have some people really obtained pills that gave birth to Pill Veins here?”
“I also heard that there were many pills that gave birth to Pill Veins refined by this Grandmaster.”
“What about the payment then… did they ask for more when Pill Veins appeared?”
“Nine Heavens Holy Land seems to only ask for remuneration equal to the value of an ordinary pill, but if you offer them more, they won’t refuse!”
“Naturally we should offer more compensation to leave a good impression! That way, next time we come to ask for Alchemy services this will be smoother. Heh heh, I’ve specially prepared some extra Crystal Stones just in case my luck is good and I get a pill with Pill Veins.”
“This mysterious grandmaster is a true powerhouse… in order to achieve all this, he must at least be a Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, right? I’d reckon that besides the Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, he is this world’s greatest Alchemist.”
“I’d say there’s actually more than one Saint Grade Alchemist here…”
“Why do you say that?”
“Haven’t you noticed that the pace of Alchemy here is too fast? In a single day there are always at least ten pills which are refined, all of which are at least Spirit Grade Top-Rank with many of them actually being Saint Grade… can a single Alchemy Grandmaster really do that?”
“Do you mean to say that there are several such Grandmasters in this Nine Heavens Holy Land?”
When they thought about what this statement meant, everyone couldn’t help feeling shocked.
Saint Grade Alchemists were extremely rare, and every force in this world was desperate to have even one in their employ; however, very few forces were capable of cultivating such a Grandmaster. Even for these few forces though, their Saint Grade Alchemists normally had venerated statuses and would only work for their own Sect, never offering services to outsiders. What’s more, such Grandmasters would normally only take action once every few months, sometimes even going a year or two without refining a single pill, spending most of their time indulging in their own interests and studies.
On the other hand, for the past month, the Alchemy Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land probably didn’t even have enough time to have a sip of water much less enjoy the beauties of nature; it would not be an exaggeration to say he was a supreme benefactor to the world’s common people, worthy of worship and respect.
Such discussions actually happened frequently amongst the cultivators waiting outside the nine peaks, causing all of them to be thoroughly shocked by the immense heritage of Nine Heavens Holy Land.
The only thing that was regrettable was that the Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land would only refine a single pill per person.
However, it was ordinary for such Grandmasters to have some strange personality quirks so such a small thing wasn’t of much concern to most.
After a few more hours passed, a group of people suddenly emerged from the nine peaks. They weren’t many in number, exactly ten in total. These ten had varying cultivations, ages, and genders, but without exception, all of them wore bright, satisfied expressions on their faces.
“They came out, the group who went in yesterday came out!” Someone near the head of the line shouted.
Another man quickly called out to this group and asked, “How was it? How are the pills you asked for?”
Among the ten people who came out, one old man let out a hearty laugh unsuited for his age and proclaimed, “The Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land is truly worthy of his name! All ten of my friends here obtained the pills they asked for; there was not one failure! On top of that, the Saint Grade Low-Rank pill this old master requested actually gave birth to Pill Veins, hahahaha!”
Throwing his balding head back, the old man laughed riotously towards the Heavens without any trace of embarrassment.
The other nine people in the old man’s group couldn’t help directing envious looks towards him.
The ones waiting in line were all stunned by the old man’s words and after a brief moment of shock, all of them wished they could rush up to him and snatch this Saint Pill from him.
A Saint Pill which had given birth to Pill Veins was an extremely rare treasure that might not be seen once in a hundred years, its value was simply immeasurable.
However, upon noticing the old man’s cultivation standard, all these hot-headed ideas were instantly dispelled.
This old man was at least a Second-Order Saint Realm powerhouse.
“Good good, I wish all of you the same good fortune. This old master will take his leave now!” The old man was clearly in a very good mood as he called out to the crowd in a warm and friendly manner. Ordinarily, a master like him would not even spare the cultivators here a glance, much less speak to them, but today, it was as if he couldn’t help chattering on and on.
Saying so, the old man politely cupped his fists to Luo Sheng and Meng Tian Fei who were frantically trying to maintain the crowd’s order before quickly departing.
After the old man left, the people waiting in line seemed to wake from their daze, an even greater enthusiasm soon filling their faces.
“Elders, can you let us go in now? We have been waiting here for a few days for it to finally be our turn,” The man at the front of the line anxiously yet politely called out.
Luo Sheng and Meng Tian Fei exchanged a glance before nodding lightly, Luo Sheng quickly announcing in a serious tone, “The ten friends at the front of the line, please follow my Holy Land’s disciples to the reception room inside my Holy Land. When you get there, someone will be there to accept your Alchemy request as well as provide you with some small hospitality. The next ten, please move up and continue waiting!”
“This way please!” A Holy Land disciple at the front of the line politely gestured.
The ten cultivators at the head of the line suddenly felt their pulses race as blood rushed to their heads, pushing and shoving each other in their rush to enter the Holy Land, all of them disappearing into the nine peaks a moment later.
As for the rest of the people outside, they could only continue to wait anxiously.
The two Holy Land Elders also stood side by side, overlooking this exciting scene with great happiness.
“Brother Meng, do you have any idea where Holy Master found such an astonishing Alchemy Grandmaster? Also, don’t you think his level somewhat unbelievable?”
Meng Tian Fei shook his head wryly, “If you ask me, who am I supposed to ask? I also discussed this matter with Great Elder but even he has no idea where this mysterious Grandmaster came from or what he even looks like. The only thing we know is that he was a friend Holy Master made while wandering around outside.”
“Fierce… even able to make such a profound Grandmaster work for our Holy Land, the Holy Master’s methods are truly extraordinary!”
“Yes, thanks to the remuneration the Holy Land receives in exchange for Alchemy services, our finances have also been steadily improving; the disciples no longer have to worry about having enough cultivation materials. Heh, if the Grandmaster could help you and I refine some Saint Pills, it would be even better.”
“We shouldn’t worry about that, when the time comes, all we need to do is speak to Holy Master and I’m sure there won’t be any problems.”
“That said, from the looks of things here, I really don’t know when the Grandmaster will have time to spare for us…”
As they spoke, the two Elders turned their eyes towards the horizon, where they saw yet another batch of people flying towards Nine Heavens Holy Land.
There was no doubt in their minds that this group had also come to request Alchemy services.
After this group appeared, another would soon follow, and so on and so forth, causing the number of people waiting in line to increase faster than it decreased…
While the two Elders were both happy to see this, they also couldn’t help feeling a bit of distress as well.
There were a lot of people in this latest group, five people in total, but before they could even arrive, Luo Sheng had come forward to inform them of the rules and politely had them line up at the end of the queue.
Every day now, Luo Sheng and Meng Tian Fei, both of whom were genuine Saint Realm Elders, had actually had to personally welcome two or three waves of guests each, and as time passed by, this number only increased.
Just after they finished arranging this new group of arrivals, from the nine peaks, the two Elders saw Great Elder Xu Hui fly out.
Immediately, the two of them turned and greeted him.
A moment later, Great Elder Xu Hui arrived in front of the two Elders and cast his eyes towards the ever-growing lineup of people, a touch of amazement apparent in his voice as he muttered, “So many have come?”
“Yes, Great Elder, the Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster’s reputation resounds louder with each passing day,” Luo Sheng said with a slightly tired smile.
“That is a matter of course! A 100% refinement success rate is on the level of a legendary tale! In this world, besides my Holy Land’s Grandmaster, no one can boast of such a feat!” Xu Hui’s boasted proudly.
“What matter does Great Elder have to announce?” Meng Tian Fei asked.
“Good, I’m here to deliver a message from Holy Master!” Xu Hui nodded before turning and yelling towards the gathered crowd, “Friends, this old master is Nine Heavens Holy Land Great Elder Xu Hui. I offer you all kind greetings!”
Everyone quickly returned the courtesy, none daring to act the slightest bit dissolute.
Seeing the crowd’s reaction, Xu Hui’s expression brightened even further; never before had he felt so high-spirited as today, not even when the old Holy Master was alive.
Continuing on, Xu Hui announced, “In accordance with the command of the Holy Master, dare I ask if any of you possess World Spirit Treasures?”
Most people in line shook their heads, indicating they did not own such treasures, some of them soon whispering to each other, wondering why the new Holy Master was asking such a question.
World Spirit Treasures were extremely rare and difficult to come across. Many cultivators would live their entire lives never seeing one.
Because these strange treasures already possessed a certain amount of sentience, they were closer to living creatures than mere plants or objects, which allowed them to understand how to avoid danger by running or hiding.
As he observed the crowd’s reaction, Xu Hui chuckled and said, “You can rest assured that my Holy Land will not force any of you to hand over your valuable treasures for free. The Holy Master has said that no matter what grade of World Spirit Treasure it is, as long as anyone is willing to part with it, the Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster will refine three pills for them for free. Additionally, for those who choose to sell their World Spirit Treasures, they will be allowed to skip the line and have their pills refined immediately, and the Holy Land will also guarantee a successful refinement.”
Following this announcement, the crowd fell silent for a moment before a great uproar began.
In exchange of Alchemy services, the reward demanded by the Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land, while not excessive, was also not cheap. One had to prepare enough Crystal Stones or herbs to match the value of the materials used to refine the pill they requested.
This kind of price was something that could be afforded by most people.
Although Saint Grade materials were difficult to find, most masters who need them in the first place were not lacking Crystal Stones.
However, three pills worth of reward was indeed a great sum of money and more than enough to attract the attention of the crowd.
Someone in the line soon called out, “Great Elder, are there any limits on the grades of those three free refinements?”
Xu Hui smiled and shook his head, “There are no limits, it is even possible to request for three Saint Grade Mid-Rank pills!”
“Your noble Sect’s Grandmaster is indeed bold!” The man exclaimed, everyone else around him sharing his shock.
Although until now no one had actually asked to refine a Saint Grade Mid-Rank pill, it could be inferred from how Xu Hui was speaking that the Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster had full confidence in refining this level of pill.
“So, if you possess any World Spirit Treasures, please don’t conceal them; after all, this is a rare opportunity!” Xu Hui grinned and persuaded.
He didn’t know if there was anyone among this group that had a World Spirit Treasure, or even why Yang Kai wanted with such objects, but none of that really mattered. Since it was an order from the Holy Master, all Xu Hui had to do was carry it out.
At the end of the line, among a group of newly arrived customers, after hesitating for a moment, someone finally called out, “Great Elder, is there no limit on what kind of World Spirit Treasure it is?”
“Yes,” Xu Hui nodded , turning his attention to the man who just spoke.
The man wore a half awkward half-serious look and asked, “What if I only need to refine a single pill?”
“The two remaining opportunities will be recorded by my Holy Land so that whenever you wish to use them, you only need to come here in order to redeem them.”
“In that case…” The man’s expression became slightly anxious as he carefully took out a jade box from his Universe Bag and handed it over to Xu Hui, “Will this do, Great Elder?”
As he asked, a nervous and excited look filled his face.
This man was no more than thirty years old and his strength was quite low, only reaching the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary. With such a cultivation, the pill this man came here to request was definitely Spirit Grade Top-Rank.
Such a cultivator would normally not even be able to speak with a famous figure like Xu Hui, so it was only natural he would be somewhat excited.
Xu Hui raised his brow and accepted the jade box.
The man quickly said, “Great Elder must be careful, this thing runs quite fast. If you relax your guard it will definitely try to slip away. This humble one only managed to obtain it by chance a number of years ago, and to my embarrassment, I still do not even know what it is.”
“It’s fine!” Xu Hui smiled confidently, his powerful Divine Sense wrapping up the jade box, leaving no gap for whatever was contained within to escape through.
Many people stretched their necks to see exactly what this World Spirit Treasure was.
Even Luo Sheng and Meng Tian Fei both couldn’t help leaning in slightly.
The moment the jade box was opened, a faint yet soothing glow, similar to the gentle rays of the moon, blossomed.
As if detecting that the box had been opened, whatever was inside darted out, leaving behind a streak of pale white light.
Xu Hui chuckled lightly as he saw this.
With Xu Hui’s Divine Sense surrounding it, the light was only able to flit about inside a small range, appearing as though it was quite anxious.
After a while, the gentle light gradually condensed and a three-leafed spirit grass appeared.
This spirit grass exuded a weak energy fluctuation as well as a faint vitality. Its body seemed to be comprised of a kind of white jade, giving it a delicate, almost crystal-like appearance.
The three leaves looked supple and fresh, as if they had only recently been moistened by the morning dew.
“It really is a World Spirit Treasure!” Xu Hui’s eyes lit up as he gently nodded.
Xu Hui could tell at a glance that this spirit grass was indeed a World Spirit Treasure because it already possessed a faint consciousness.
“Does anyone know what World Spirit Treasure this is?” Xu Hui asked the crowd.
Most people shook their heads but one man let out a chuckle and replied, “Great Elder, this is a stalk of Shimmering Moon Grass. By absorbing the essence of the moon over many years it managed to give birth to a consciousness. Although it is classified as a World Spirit Treasure, it is apparently not mature. With only three leaves, I’m afraid it has no practical use. If it was allowed to grow for another hundred years or so, to the point where it had five leaves, its value would increase many folds.”
“Oh? This friend appears to be quite familiar with this,” Xu Hui turned a smile towards the man who spoke.
“Not at all! This humble one was quite interested in spirit grasses and spirit medicines and thirty years ago even aimed to become an Alchemist. Unfortunately, my aptitude was lacking and I was unable to step onto that path, instead choosing to pursue the Martial Dao.”
“I see!” Xu Hui nodded. An Alchemist’s understanding of spirit grasses spirit medicines was indeed deeper than most, so although this man failed to become an Alchemist in the end, his knowledge of herbs would not be comparable to that of ordinary people.
“Then… is this acceptable?” The owner of the Shimmering Moon Grass scratched his head nervously.
With someone coming out and declaring that this Shimmering Moon Grass did not have much practical value, he couldn’t help growing more anxious.
The promised reward was actually refining three pills! Could this Shimmering Moon Grass possibly be worth that much?
“Yes!” To his surprise though, Xu Hui smiled and nodded, “This old master said that no matter what grade or value it has, as long as it is a genuine World Spirit Treasure, we will exchange for it! Good, this old master will accept this Shimmering Moon Grass. Little brother, please come with me so the Grandmaster can help fulfil your Alchemy request!”
“Yes!” The man shouted, overjoyed.
He had only arrived here today. If he was forced to wait, it would be at least six or seven days before his turn arrived and he would have to pay an amount of Crystal Stones equal to the worth of the pill he wanted to refine upon receiving it.
Yet now, for a trivial Shimmering Moon Grass that he had absolutely no use for, he not only got to skip the queue, the Grandmaster would also refine three pills of any grade for him for free!
This meant that as long as he found the appropriate materials in the future, all he had to do was come to Nine Heavens Holy Land and he would be able to instantly acquire two Saint Pills.
If his luck was particularly good, the pills he requested might even be formed with Pill Veins. Taking such pills could even have a life-altering effect on his future.
Fantasizing about such things, this young man couldn’t help feeling that glorious tomorrow had opened up before him.
“Wait!” Suddenly, someone from the lineup of customers called out.
Xu Hui frowned as he turned his eyes towards the speaker, discovering that the other party was actually a Saint Realm master and unavoidably asking, “What advice does this friend have?”
“This one wouldn’t dare!” The Saint Realm master laughed, “I’d simply like Great Elder to wait a moment while I have a word with this little brother.”
Xu Hui looked at him for a moment before nodding lightly, “Please make it quick, the Holy Master is still waiting for this old master to report.”
“Many thanks, Great Elder!” The man quickly thanked him before walking over to the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator and speaking to him.
This Saint Realm master deliberately lowered his voice, causing everyone else around him to become suspicious, wondering just what was being discussed.
The owner of the Shimmering Moon Grass was quite nervous being called out to by such a powerhouse at first, but after hearing what this Saint Realm master said, he immediately became excited and began nodding repeatedly.
Seeing this, many among the spectating crowd quickly guessed what the two men were talking about.
A moment later, the Saint Realm master and the owner of the Shimmering Moon Grass finished speaking, seemingly having reached an agreement both of them were happy with.
Before Xu Hui could even ask the young man to follow him into Nine Heavens Holy Land, several other Saints rushed out and began speaking to him.
The scene immediately became noisy.
The owner of the Shimmering Moon Grass was now facing a dilemma. None of these Saints was a character he could afford to offend so, in a bout of desperation, he simply shouted, “Several Seniors, please make a bid, the spots will go to the highest offers!”
Hearing this, the few Saints gathered around immediately began making offers, none of them willing to let the others snatch up such a good opportunity.
Xu Hui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, suddenly understanding what the owner of the Shimmering Moon Grass was doing.
The Holy Land had promised to help him refine three pills of any grade for free.
Inspired by the first Saint who spoke to him, the young man decided to simply sell all three of these opportunities.
Three opportunities meant three different rewards, far more benefits than he could acquire by simply asking for his own pill to be refined.
Slowly shaking his head, Xu Hui did not intervene. The Holy Land had given him this opportunity, so how he used it was up to him.
A moment later, the Shimmering Moon Grass’s owner ran over and said with a big smile, “I apologise for making Great Elder wait so long, let’s go in.”
Xu Hui smiled back at him, “Were the benefits they offered you to your satisfaction?”
The man nodded vigorously, “Very much so! But… is this also alright?”
“Of course there’s no problem. The Holy Land only gave you these three chances. How you choose to use them is your own business.”
“Great! I’m so glad!” So many great benefits falling from the sky into his lap had made this young man somewhat dizzy.
These Saint Realm masters were reluctant to wait in line outside with everyone else, and the benefits they offered to the young man were not worth more than the Saint Pill they wanted to refine.
This was the same as giving the owner of the Shimmering Moon Grass the reward they had prepared for the Holy Land in exchange for that low level World Spirit Treasure.
For the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, this was simply the biggest opportunity of his life.
After leading this young man to the reception room and collecting the three sets of materials he had brought with him, Xu Hui immediately flew over to the Holy Master Court.
Inside one of the palace rooms filled with a rich pill fragrance, Yang Kai was sitting in meditation in front of a small pill furnace.
Xu Hui entered and explained the story.
Yang Kai gently nodded, accepting the herbs as well as the Shimmering Moon Grass before saying, “I’ll call for you when the refining is complete.”
“Yes!”
After Xu Hui left, Yang Kai put the Shimmering Moon Grass into the Black Book space before sinking his own consciousness inside it too.
A wisp of moonlight appeared inside the Black Book space and began acting somewhat panic-stricken, trying to find a safe haven to take refuge.
The Divine Tree looked at this newcomer curiously, its Divine Sense locked onto it as it observed carefully.
The Divine Tree’s actions only agitated the Shimmering Moon Grass even more, and after a moment, it plunged into the small pond of Myriad Drug Liquid trying to hide.
However, the instant the Shimmering Moon Grass entered the pool of Myriad Drug Liquid, it relaxed greatly and began absorbing it at a rate visible to the naked eye, its three leaves releasing a brilliant glow as it did so.
Seeing this, Yang Kai’s face went black and was just about to viciously pluck the Shimmering Moon Grass out of the Myriad Drug Liquid pond, but the Divine Tree somehow managed to beat him to it.
Wrapping the three-leaved grass up in an invisible Spiritual Energy, the Divine Tree hurriedly pulled it from the pond.
Immediately after, Yang Kai felt that the Divine Tree was using its divine Sense to communicating with the Shimmering Moon Grass.
Calming down, Yang Kai slowly wore a light smile.
After a short silence, the Divine Tree spoke, “I’ve already reprimanded it and will carefully watch over it to make sure it doesn’t misbehave again. However, this little fellow’s consciousness is similar to mine was before I met you and hasn’t fully formed yet, so communicating with it is somewhat difficult. Is this one of the World Spirit Treasures you told me about before?”
“En,” Yang Kai chuckled, “Take your time, as long as you persist you’ll one day be able to communicate with it smoothly. If I have an opportunity, I’ll try to find some more World Spirit Treasures for you so you can have more companions.”
“Yay!” The Divine Tree responded happily.
When Yang Kai recalled about the promise he made with the Divine Tree to look for some World Spirit Treasures to keep it company, he asked Xu Hui to make an announcement saying that anyone willing to part with such a treasure would be granted three free pill refinements, thinking he might get lucky and one day come across someone with a World Spirit Treasure.
What Yang Kai hadn’t expected was that one of the customers outside the Holy Land really had a World Spirit Treasure on him and was willing to part with it, a stroke of good luck.
After observing for a while and confirming that there were no problems, Yang Kai took back his consciousness from the Black Book space and began practising Alchemy again.
For the past month, he had been performing Alchemy, not taking even half a step outside this room.
Countless Spirit Grade Top-Rank and Saint Grade Low-Rank pills had been refined by him since then, none of which had ever failed.
The biggest reason for this phenomenal success rate was his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea which allowed him to have much greater control over the Alchemic Spirit Arrays inside his pill furnace. Using his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy also greatly accelerated the speed at which he could perform Alchemy.
With his current accomplishments in the Alchemic Way, Yang Kai was capable of refining a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill within a quarter of an hour and a Saint Grade Low-Rank pill within only half an hour.
With such speed, finishing ten pills a day was actually remarkably relaxed.
The rest of his time was spent restoring himself while meditating over the insights he obtained during the repeated Alchemy refinements.
In short, he was having fun!
There was not the slightest bit of annoyance or agitation in Yang Kai’s mood at all.
He now had an abundant supply of high-grade herbs to practice with, which allowed him to rapidly explore, test and prove his previous conjectures about the promotion of forming Pill Veins.
Yang Kai had now concluded that Pill Veins could indeed be artificially produced, but the process was by no means simple or easy. At the moment the pill was about to be successfully refined, numerous complex Spirit Arrays had to be portrayed, merged, and infused into the pill.
Once this process succeeded, Pill Veins would form and the pill would no longer lose any of its medicinal efficacies over time as long as it was stored properly.
Yang Kai could not produce Spirit Grade Top-Rank pills with Pill Veins at will, while, because the difficulty in executing this technique increased exponentially with each grade, an element of luck was still required to produce Saint Pills with Pill Veins.
In the process of Alchemy, Yang Kai was constantly using his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea but after an entire month of this, not only was he not feeling tired, Yang Kai even faintly felt that his Spiritual Energy had increased in both density and purity.
The sentiments he obtained from immersing himself in the Alchemic way also boosted his comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, allowing Yang Kai to further consolidate his foundation and improve his strength.
The Alchemic Way and Martial Dao complimented one another; making progress in either of these fields would lead to progress in the other, a truly gratifying experience.
Even without deliberately cultivating, Yang Kai felt his cultivation steadily making progress and if this kind of momentum was kept up, he felt it would not be long before he touched the threshold of the Saint Realm.
If he managed to come across some kind of opportunity, this process could be even further shortened.
The Third Order Transcendent was just a stone’s throw away from the Saint Realm.
Different from a True Element Boundary breaking through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary or stepping from the Immortal Ascension Boundary into the Transcendent Realm, entering the Saint Realm required crossing an even greater watershed.
The Thousand-Year Demon Flower’s medicinal liquid could assist a Transcendent in achieving this breakthrough, and Yang Kai still had two drops of it left from when he first visited the Starry Sky.
At that time, Yang Kai had condensed a total of six drops of this precious medicinal liquid, four of which were given to Cang Yan for his Martial Seniors back in Soaring Heaven Sect. The remaining two were still inside the Black Book space.
The Thousand-Year Demon Flower’s medicinal liquid did not have any side effects either, so Cang Yan and Fei Yu using it to break through to the First Order Saint Realm would not cause any flaws to appear in their foundation which may affect their future cultivation.
However, Yang Kai did not intend to use any kind of outside boosts to help him as he always felt that only by using his own strength to achieve each breakthrough would he gain the maximum amount of benefits.
Alchemy was the best auxiliary cultivation method. Yang Kai had obtained many insights and unexpected gains while studying the Alchemic Way, allowing his body and soul to obtain a kind of profound sublimation.
The days passed by.
Thanks to the astonishing Alchemy results it produced, Nine Heavens Holy Land’s name now echoed loudly throughout all of Tong Xuan Realm.
Some cultivators would spend months travelling tens of thousands of kilometres just to ask the mysterious Alchemy Grandmaster of the Holy Land to refine pills for them.
Outside the nine peaks, the lineup of cultivators seeking Alchemy services now stretched for miles with no less than a hundred people arriving every single day to join the queue.
The mysterious Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Alchemy achievements were nothing short of astonishing. From the first time he took action until now, he had not once failed a single refinement and had even produced many pills that formed Pill Veins.
Gradually, some people began comparing this hidden Grandmaster to The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep, wondering who would win if the two were to compete.
However, The Old Man of Heaven’s Keep was a legendary figure, one that even those of the Demon Race and Monster Race would treat with the utmost respect, a figure revered by every sentient being in Tong Xuan Realm.
With just this alone the Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land could not be compared.
As the Holy Land’s Grandmaster’s reputation spread, not just Spirit Grade Top-Rank and Saint Grade Low-Rank pills, but even Saint Grade Mid-Rank pills were confirmed to have been refined by him.
Each guest that visited Nine Heavens Holy Land to ask for Alchemy services left with a big smile of satisfaction on their face.
Every time a pill was refined successfully, the Holy Land would receive remuneration equal to that pill’s value.
These days, Xu Hui and the other Elders would always have big grins on their faces, as if all their previous worries and misfortune were nothing but a distant memory.
The Treasury of Nine Heavens Holy Land was now almost overflowing with Crystal Stones and a wide variety of cultivation materials.
This trend only accelerated after the mysterious Grandmaster changed his policy of only refining ten pills a day to refining twenty pills a day.
Many who came to ask for Alchemy services would not only provide compensation equal to the value of the pill they requested but would leave additional gifts as thanks.
Xu Hui now also began to wonder whether there was more than one Alchemy Grandmaster hidden in the Holy Land.
If that wasn’t the case, how could a single person refine twenty pills in a single day?
To accomplish such a feat, there had to be three Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemy Grandmasters at the very least! Xu Hui secretly speculated.
The Great Commanders of the Ancient Demon Clan were quite clear that the current prosperity of the Holy Land was Yang Kai’s handiwork; however, without Yang Kai’s permission, they didn’t reveal such secrets to Xu Hui and the others.
Now that the Holy Land had an abundance of resources, the Ancient Demon Clan had no need to run outside the nine peaks to seek for cultivation supplies, so naturally, they did not cause any trouble with the public.
Regarding the cultivation supplies provided to the Ancient Demon Clan, Xu Hui showed no ill-treatment at all; on the contrary, what was portioned for them was extremely generous. Whatever the Ancient Demon Clan needed, he would freely provide, earning him Li Rong’s gratitude.
……
Outside the nine peaks, there is a newly built stone pavilion.
There were several exquisite stone benches and stone tables inside this new building with a fresh pot of tea steeping nearby.
Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong sat inside the stone pavilion, watching the crowds lined up in the long queue, sipping tea while chatting quietly.
With so many guests coming each day to request Alchemy services, it was necessary to have at least two Saint Realm Elders posted to maintain order. Today was Elders Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong’s turn.
These two women had vastly different temperaments, but their graceful figures, full peaks, thin waists, long slender legs, and well-rounded bottoms were undeniably charming and added a splash of colour to the otherwise dull jungle scenery outside the Holy Land.
The customers who had come here and were now idly standing in line, extremely bored from all the waiting, couldn’t help directing stares towards the two beautiful female Elders in order to comfort their souls.
Noticing the strangeness of the various gazes upon them, though Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong weren’t exactly pleased, they were helpless to stop it. The most they could do was order the Holy Land disciples to circle the stone pavilion to somewhat block these prying eyes.
Although their job was supposedly to maintain order, in fact, there was rarely a need for them to do anything.
Most people who came here behaved extremely prudent and didn’t dare cut in line or stir up trouble.
Occasionally, when someone with an overinflated ego that wanted to take advantage of their own status or strength to try to act out, before the Holy Land’s disciple could even take action, the various masters who were patiently waiting in line would clean them up.
Most of the people who came to request Alchemy services here were Transcendents, but there was no shortage of Saints among them.
Provoking all of these powerhouses by trying to cut in line naturally never led to good results.
As such, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong only had to drink tea and relax in the stone pavilion while chatting, as if they were taking a leisurely break.
Near the end of the snaking line, a group consisting of two young women and a middle-aged man were.
The middle-aged man looked slightly impatient as he shot glances towards the front of the line from time to time and let out a slight sigh.
There were currently hundreds of people waiting in front of him, and the Grandmasters of the Holy Land would only refine twenty pills a day, so it would be at least a month before his turn came.
One of the two young women was also glancing towards the nine peaks, a complicated look upon her face.
After waiting in line for quite some time, the middle-aged man suddenly whispered, “Xuan’er, aren’t you acquainted with that new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land? Couldn’t you ask a favour of him so your father can have his pill refined faster? That Grandmaster belongs to Nine Heavens Holy Land so shouldn’t he obey the Holy Master’s orders?”
“I was only casually acquainted with him, there’s no deep friendship between us. How could I shamelessly ask him for a favour now? Perhaps he has even completely forgotten about me,” The young woman said with a forced, bitter smile.
Just after she spoke these words though, the other woman next to her couldn’t help snorting loudly as she muttered, “There’s not much friendship between you? Did I hear that wrong? Didn’t you and him…”
“Xin Yu!” The first young woman glared over at her companion, the latter raising her hands in surrender, “Fine fine, pretend I didn’t say anything, it’s your own destiny, you have the right to choose. Just don’t regret it in the future!”
The middle-aged man, seeing this, couldn’t help chuckling awkwardly, “Xuan’er, no matter what how brief your friendship was, there’s no harm in trying right? Regardless of anything else, that Holy Master used to be part of my Bold Independent Union, right? Surely he hasn’t completely forgotten his roots.”
“I told you before he was only visiting Bold Independent Union, why do you keep trying to say he was a Bold Independent Union disciple?” The young woman stamped her foot angrily, “It’s fine if you want to say such things in private but don’t make such claims in public or people will begin thinking we’re just shamelessly boasting.”
Listening to his daughter’s words, the middle-aged man couldn’t help smiling wryly.
Bold Independent Union was not a very strong force, with him actually being its top master, a mere Third Order Transcendent.
In Tong Xuan Realm, a force without a Saint Realm powerhouse assuming command couldn’t be taken seriously.
Therefore, this middle-aged man had struggled for years to break through into the Saint Realm; recently, he had an epiphany and at last saw hope of achieving this life-long dream, but because of a lack of aptitude, he was unable to fully grasp the mysteries of the Saint Realm. As such, he decided to find an Alchemy Grandmaster to help him refine a Heaven Spying Pill to see if that would be enough to allow him to take that final step into the Saint Realm.
After using up a great deal of money and manpower, he had finally gathered together the required materials but was unable to find a suitable Alchemist.
All of the well-known Alchemy Grandmasters were extremely difficult to contact, and each of their schedules fully booked for the next few years at most, so the middle-aged man found himself stuck in a dilemma, unable to even meet with an appropriate Grandmaster.
It was at that time that the reputation of Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster reached the man’s ear and he couldn’t help feeling like it was a Heaven-sent opportunity.
He knew his daughter had some friendship with the new Holy Master and he even suspected their relationship wasn’t so simple.
Unfortunately, no matter how he proper her, his daughter would firmly deny it.
As a last resort, he could only bring her along with him to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
The long snaking lineup outside the nines peaks came as quite a shock to the man, as he had not anticipated so many others would already be waiting for Alchemy services from the Holy Land.
After failing to persuade his daughter to use her connections again, he could only resign himself to wait in line.
At worst he just needed to wait for a month.
All things considered, it wasn’t too long, so he said no more.
Just then though, two people flew over, a young woman accompanied by a Third Order Transcendent master who seemed to be her escort.
As the young woman approached, a look of shock appeared on her face as she stared in front of her, covering her mouth slightly as she muttered, “So many people, are they all here to ask for Alchemy?”
The Third Order Transcendent beside her also swept his eyes over this lineup and nodded slightly, “Young Lady, on the way over, I heard many rumours about the supreme skill of the Alchemy Grandmaster here. Supposedly, he has not failed to refine a requested pill even once, and each product he produced is of superior quality. It is only natural that many people have been attracted here.”
“Fierce, just what did that bastard do to manage to recruit such an outstanding Alchemy Grandmaster?” The young woman grinned as she glanced towards the nine peaks.
“Young Lady, should we also line up?” The escort asked softly.
“Hmph, nonsense, we go in right now and find him. I’d like to see if he dares pretend to not recognize me!” The young woman snorted, puffing out her chest arrogantly as she continued walking forward, showing absolutely no intention of obediently waiting in line.
However, after only a few steps, she suddenly wrinkled her brow and turned her eyes towards the end of the line, a look of surprise flashing across her face before she wore a happy smile and walked over, “Yun Xuan, you’re here too?”
Yun Xuan, who was lost in her own thoughts, hadn’t even noticed this newcomer until she was called out to, but hearing her name, she quickly snapped out of her daze and turned her gaze towards the young woman who was approaching her.
“Shui Ling?” Yun Xuan called out in surprise, a happy smile appearing on her pretty face in the next instant, “How come you’re here?”
“I came to see that little bastard! I heard that he is now the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land. After not seeing him for only a few years, it seems that monkey has leapt from the branches and become a true dragon. Forget about informing me of something so important, he didn’t even send me a single message to tell me he’s still alive! He really knows how to make others worry about him; hmph, this time I’ll make sure he compensates me in full for all the anxiety he’s caused me!”
Hearing Shui Ling speak so freely and casually, Yun Xuan couldn’t help but grin, her mood improving noticeably.
“Are you here to request Alchemy services from the Holy Land’s mysterious Grandmaster?” Shui Ling’s thoughts turned, quickly guessing what Yun Xuan’s intentions in coming here were.
“En.”
“Since that’s the case, why are you just standing in line? Just go in,” Shui Ling said with a puzzled look on her face.
“No, but… everyone else is waiting in line, and…” Yun Xuan said, her voice growing smaller as embarrassment filled her face.
“What are you afraid of? Others might have to wait around but you… you’re not a stranger to him.”
“No, it’s alright, we’ll just wait here,” Yun Xuan hesitated.
Seeing her appearance, Shui Ling’s expression grew cold as she suddenly said, “Could it be that he just ate up and refused to pay? Even if he is the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, he couldn’t possibly be that shameless?”
“Don’t say that so loud!” Yun Xuan turned bright red and hurriedly tried to stop Shui Ling.
Several of the nearby disciples of Nine Heavens Holy Land who overheard her shot gloomy looks towards them, causing Shui Ling to spit out the tongue playfully, not daring to speak so rashly again.
In front of Yang Kai, she could indeed act unscrupulously, but demeaning the Holy Master in front of these Holy Land disciples would obviously earn her their ire.
“Xuan’er, this girl is…” The middle-aged man who stood behind Yun Xuan stepped forward and asked.
“Oh, this is the Little Princess of Water Spirit Temple, Shui Ling, I told you about her before.”
“So it is Young Lady Shui Ling!” The middle-aged man exclaimed, quickly cupping his fists politely, “This humble one is Bold Independent Union’s Union Master, Yun Cheng!”
“Nice to meet you, Uncle Yun!” Shui Ling smiled sweetly and returned the gesture.
“Water Spirit Temple’s Little Princess truly deserves her name. At such a young age you are already a First Order Transcendent, your future achievements will surely be astonishing,” Yun Cheng said after quickly sweeping his eyes over Shui Ling and noticing her true cultivation, secretly admiring Water Spirit Temple’s deep heritage.
Yun Xuan was older than Shui Ling, but her cultivation was actually lower. This was largely due to the difference in the strength of their respective forces. Without good resources, the growth rate of the younger generation would naturally be slower.
“Uncle Yun is too polite, I only just broke through and have yet to even stabilize my cultivation,” Shui Ling replied in a well-behaved manner, her long, silky, light blue hair gently blowing in the wind, attracting more than a few of the surrounding eyes.
“This is Ruan Xin Yu, my friend,” Yun Xuan introduced Shui Ling to the other young woman beside her.
Shui Ling nodded lightly, exchanging greetings with Xin Yu.
“Was I correct in hearing that Ms. Shui Ling intends to directly enter the nine peaks to find the new Holy Master?” Yun Cheng lowered his voice and asked.
“Yes, I’m an old friend of his. I haven’t seen him for several years and now he’s suddenly become the Holy Master… En, while I’m here, I intend to have him help me refine a couple of pills…. Does Uncle Yun want to join me? Yun Xuan is almost my friend.”
“Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?” Yun Cheng replied somewhat hesitant.
“Nonsense, unlike everyone else in line, I’m mainly here just to see him,” Shui Ling smiled.
“Then… this Yun will not be polite. Many thanks for allowing us to share Ms. Shui Ling’s good fortune!” Yun Cheng no longer declined, smiling broadly.
“Uncle Yun is too serious.”
Saying so, Shui Ling turned and walked in the direction of the stone pavilion, Yun Cheng hurrying to keep up.
Yun Xuan was still hesitating but with Ruan Xin Yu pushing her back, she had to obediently follow along.
Among the people who were still in line, many of them shot vigilant and even unfriendly gazes towards Shui Ling’s group.
The people waiting in line were all here to ask for Alchemy services and were naturally disgruntled towards anyone trying to bend the rules; however, without knowing the intentions of Shui Ling and her group, no one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out, all of them preparing to observe first before deciding how to proceed.
Shui Ling calmly entered the stone pavilion and explained her identity and purpose to Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong, causing the two Elders to knit their brows slightly.
Since Yang Kai assumed the role of Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, no one had come looking for him, so the Elders really knew nothing about his friends.
However, since someone had appeared claiming to be an old acquaintance of Yang Kai’s, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong did not display any intolerance, simply saying, “We have to ask the Holy Master about this first, would you mind waiting here a moment?”
“That’s fine,” Shui Ling gently nodded, secretly deciding to teach Yang Kai a good lesson for actually daring to make her wait outside after she travelled ten thousand kilometres to see him.
If this wasn’t bullying a person, what was?!
As she made plans to exact her revenge, a Holy Land disciple was sent into the nine peaks to relay the message.
A short while later, before the messenger disciple had even returned, another group of people arrived outside the nine peaks, and similar to Shui Ling and her group, these people did not line up at the end of the queue and instead came over directly to the stone pavilion.
This group of people was truly eye-catching, each one of them old with white hair, but the fineness of their robes indicated that none of them was an ordinary individual.
Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong both glanced at each other with surprise, wondering just who these people were.
The cultivations of these people was not high, each of them only a Second or Third Order Transcendent, without even a single Saint amongst them, but from the way they carried themselves and their innate demeanor, it was clear they didn’t put any of the masters standing in line in their eyes.
Arriving in front of the stone pavilion, one of the old men walked up and smiled to Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong, calmly asking, “Two young ladies, may I ask, is this place Nine Heavens Holy Land?”
The two Elders immediately frowned.
Though they were still youthful, it still could not disguise their level of strength as Saint Realm Masters
No one whose strength was lower than their own had ever dared address them so casually, even calling them young ladies, it gave them the unfavourable impression that this old man was simply trying to take advantage of his seniority to talk down to them.
However, from the way this old man spoke and the tone of his voice, it was clear that he was speaking naturally, without the slightest intention of disrespect.
Realizing this, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong did not dare act rashly, quickly standing up and nodding, “Yes!”
“And the master of this place is called Yang Kai?”
“En!”
“Then we’ve come to the right place, hah, thank goodness. Wandering across so many mountains and rivers is not good for these old bones!” The old man let out a relieved breath before calling out to his colleagues, “We’ve arrived! Take a rest for now!”
The other four old seniors wore smiles upon hearing this and relaxed.
“May I ask for your honoured names and what relationship you have with my Holy Land’s Holy Master?” Yu Ying asked softly.
“Hoho, just inform your Holy Master that a few old friends who share his profession have come to see him,” The old man did not report his name, appearing somewhat inscrutable.
Yu Ying’s brow wrinkled slightly further but after exchanging a glance with Cheng Yue Tong decided to not ask anything more, sending another disciple to relay this message to Yang Kai.
In their hearts, they were all curious. It had already been quite some time since the Holy Master arrived in the nine peaks yet he never had any guests, yet now, old acquaintances of his seemed to be appearing one after another.
[These people best not be lying to try to obtain Alchemy services!] The two Elders both thought to themselves, secretly observing these two groups of people who were claiming to be Yang Kai’s old friends.
Inside the stone pavilion, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong observed the two groups of people who had just arrived, claiming to be friends of Yang Kai. Secretly, they felt that it was possible for the first group, which had several beautiful young women in it, to have some kind of special relationship with the Holy Master, especially one of the young women who had a mature beauty to her yet also a kind of melancholy surrounding her. From time to time, this young woman would glance towards the nine peaks with a complex look upon her face, as if she had some kind of unresolved romance with the Holy Master.
The Holy Master was a young man after all, which young man didn’t have a few romantic encounters?
Thinking so, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong both couldn’t help chuckling.
As for the second group which was comprised of nothing but old folks, although their strength wasn’t high, the aloof, superior temperament they gave off was not something that could be faked.
These old people were definitely prominent characters.
A short while later, the two Holy Land disciples who had been dispatched as messengers returned, bringing with them the command of the Holy Master.
Invite them inside quickly!
“Hmph, seems he still knows his limits!” Shui Ling was quite satisfied, bowing to Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong politely before she and the trio from Bold Independent Union set forth.
The several old folks also gently nodded to the two Elders before following after Shui Ling’s group.
However, before they could go far, the cultivators who were waiting in line for Alchemy began making a fuss, one of them clearly unable to endure this and loudly calling out, “Two Elders, what are these people doing? Why is it that they can enter the nine peaks after only arriving here today? If it’s convenient, could two Elders please explain this to us?”
“That’s right!” Someone else immediately followed up, “We’ve all been patiently waiting in line here for many days, but they can actually enter the nine peaks right away. Isn’t that somewhat unfair?”
“Your Nine Heavens Holy Land’s name resounds loudly throughout the world, so bullying us Immortal Ascension Boundary and Transcendent Realm cultivators may not matter much. We clearly aren’t able to argue back, but in this lineup, there are quite a few Saint Realm Seniors. Even these Seniors are willing to abide by the rules set out by your Holy Land, yet now you intend to destroy those customs yourself? If so, even if we hold our tongues, do you think these honoured Seniors will agree?”
These words seemed to resonate with many people who were standing in line and the various Saint Realm masters in line all indeed wore displeased looks upon their faces at this moment as they stared towards Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong.
After coming here, they had all put down their own lofty statuses and obediently followed the rules set out by Nine Heavens Holy Land, waiting in line like simple guests.
Naturally, this scene of people skipping the queue made these masters feel a little uncomfortable.
This group of line skippers did not have a single Saint amongst them, yet they seemed to be receiving preferential treatment, it was nothing short of offensive.
Hearing these shouts, Shui Ling’s and the old folks’ group halted their steps and looked back.
Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong also realized the seriousness of the issue and knew if they couldn’t handle it properly, it was highly likely that the prestige and goodwill the Holy Land had finally managed to build up these past few months would be ruined, causing many here to have an unnecessary misunderstanding.
Wearing a gentle smile, Yu Ying stepped forward and announced, “Friends, please allow me to explain. These people are old friends of my Holy Land’s Holy Master, this time they have come here only to visit the Holy Master, not to request Alchemy.”
“Really?”
“Do I have a reason to lie to you?” Yu Ying replied with a forced smile.
In truth, even Yu Ying suspected these two groups were here to request Alchemy services from the Holy Land’s Grandmaster, but since the Holy Master had said to let them in, it was impossible that they were just casual acquaintances. Still, it had now become a troublesome situation with the Holy Land’s reputation at stake.
“If you say those few women are friends of your Holy Master, I can understand, they are similar in age to the Holy Master after all and him having friends in the outside world is only natural! But what about those old farts? How could it be possible they are friends with your Holy Master?” Someone amongst the crowd shouted.
This group of old folks were, first off, old, and second, low in strength. Each of them looked like they were struggling to pursue the Martial Dao but were restricted by their own poor aptitude.
There were many such people in this world.
Those who were in such a situation often sought out good pills in order to help them break through their current realms and prolong their lives.
Most people waiting in line thought this was the case.
Everyone turned their attention to the group of old people, and even Yun Cheng couldn’t help wrinkling his brow ever so slightly.
“Don’t you think you all are meddling too much in other people’s business? You should just wait patiently in line. Since Yang Kai invited this group of Seniors inside, naturally he has his reasons! Or what, are you just looking to stir up trouble? If I were you I’d think twice about shouting out accusations outside the Holy Land like this, lest you anger someone you shouldn’t and lose the chance to request for Alchemy services,” Shui Ling shouted out in an unrestrained tone.
Amongst the crowd, those who had just been shouting the most fiercely all shrank back upon hearing these words, trying to hide behind others, afraid their faces might be spotted and remembered by Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong.
Calling out just now was their way of venting their frustrations and had been done without thinking too much about it.
They also thought that Nine Heavens Holy Land was being unfair and that if they didn’t raise any objections right now, in the future, anyone who claimed to be Yang Kai’s friends could skip the line which would force them to wait even longer for their turn.
They felt all of this was unfair to those who obediently followed the rules.
“You little girl, you’ve courage is not small…” Among the group of old people, the one with a great rotund belly looked towards Shui Ling with a big smile, “Aren’t you afraid they’ll try to find trouble with you later?”
“What’s there to be afraid of?” Shui Ling smiled fearlessly, “Since you’re friends of Yang Kai that makes you this Young Lady’s friends too. Although you’re all much older than me, I can promise you that so long as I’m here, no one will are bully you! Otherwise, I’ll let Yang Kai clean them up.”
“Oh? You seem to have quite a good relationship with Yang Kai,” Another old man smiled meaningfully towards Shui Ling as he gently stroked his long beard.
“Well, something like that,” Shui Ling furrowed her brow, “Although that guy can be a bit of a bastard at times, the affection he has towards his friend and family is very strong, en, he’s still quite good in this Young Lady’s opinion.”
“En, you’re also quite good in this old master’s opinion!” The old man with the round belly smiled before turning to his fellow travel companions and said, “Old friends, what do you say, these people seem to think that we’ve come to Nine Heavens Holy Land to abuse some personal connections. If we don’t give them an explanation, it won’t be very good for Yang Kai’s reputation.”
“Then we’ll leave it to you,” The several old folks waved their hands casually, telling him to do as he pleases.
The fat man nodded lightly before turning to the crowd and shouting loudly, “Which one of you blind bastards dared call this old master an old fart? Show your face!”
Obviously no one came forward.
The fat old man seemed to have expected this and did not continue seeking any one person to pick a fight with, instead just pointing to himself and firmly declaring, “This old master’s surname is Chang, you’d best remember me!”
His appearance was arrogant and his tone without the slightest hint of politeness, as if he thought himself above everyone else here.
This caused many people to secretly sneer.
A mere Second-Order Transcendent cultivator facing this crowd of masters outside the nine peaks was really nothing much.
However, among those waiting in line, some of the more knowledgeable masters couldn’t help narrowing their eyes upon hearing this fat old man’s surname, the image of another rotund old man surnamed Chang appearing in their minds.
“Lightning Flash City’s Alchemist Guild branch manager, Saint Grade Low-Rank Alchemy Grandmaster Chang Bao?” Someone suddenly exclaimed.
“No wonder! No wonder he looked so familiar, it turns out he is the Alchemy Grandmaster from Lightning Flash City!”
“Why did he come here? Did he just say he knows the Holy Master here?”
“Who are those people travelling with him?”
……
The crowd which had a moment ago been silent suddenly began chattering loudly, many of those who had just been looking towards Chang Bao disdainfully hurriedly adjusting their expressions, putting on a respectful look.
No one dared despise a Saint Grade Alchemist!
Of the cultivators waiting in line, there were several who had visited Lightning Flash City before, hoping to meet Grandmaster Chang in order to ask him for Alchemy services; unfortunately, most of them had never even had the opportunity to speak with him.
Before the crowd could recover from their shock, the other old people around Chang Bao also reported their names.
“This old master’s name is Hong Fang!”
“Du Wan!”
“He Feng!”
“Kong Ruo Yu!” The only old woman gently shouted.
After all of these famous names came out, everyone present fell mute, too stunned to speak.
Shattered Star City, Three River City, Broken Moon City, Grand Boulder City. Lightning Flash City…
The managers from each of these five big cities’ Alchemist Guild branches had actually gathered together here.
Five Saint Grade Alchemists! This lineup was beyond luxurious.
No one dared let out a peep now, all of them staring dumbfounded towards these five people.
Everyone couldn’t help thinking for a moment that instead of Nine Heavens Holy Land, they were actually standing outside the Alchemist Guild’s headquarters!
After all, if that weren’t the case, how could there be five such Grandmasters all together in one place?
Du Wan smiled and stepped forward, “My fellow companions and I have come here today to visit with this place’s master, an old friend of ours. We hadn’t expected to create a misunderstanding, for that, please excuse us.”
“No no no, Old Man Du need not apologise!” Someone from the crowd immediately humbled himself and said.
The various Saint Realm masters here didn’t dare act dissolute in front of these five Grandmasters, all of them instead doing their best to show them the utmost respect.
Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong’s beautiful eyes also flashed brilliantly, finally understanding why these five, despite their lower cultivation, treated them like mere Juniors.
On top of that, the two Elders were extremely shocked by the words they just heard.
These five famous figures had actually come here to visit the Holy Master! Just the words ‘come to visit’ implied a great many things.
Only those of the younger generations who were seeking to meet their seniors would speak such words, but if that were indeed the case here, then…
Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong both felt their hearts jump into their throats.
“Yu Ying had eyes but failed to recognize five Grandmasters! Five Grandmasters, please forgive this one’s lack of courtesy!” Yu Ying quickly bowed her head in apology.
“Think nothing of it, your honoured Sect’s Holy Master won’t mind,” Du Wan chuckled, “We are not strangers to him.”
“Then please at least allow Yu Ying to personally escort five Grandmasters to see the Holy Master.”
“Elder Yu Ying is too polite.”
“Five Grandmasters, please!”
Du Wan and the others exchanged a glance before ignoring the still stunned crowd of cultivators waiting in line and following after Yu Ying.
When they walked over past Shui Ling and her group, Chang Bao couldn’t help smiling towards her and saying, “Little Miss, what are you still staring at? If you don’t start moving, we are going to leave without you.”
“Eh? Ah… en,” Shui Ling responded awkwardly as if her mind couldn’t keep up with the current situation.
Remembering how she had just shamelessly boasted about how since they were Yang Kai’s friends, that made them her friends, Shui Ling couldn’t wait to find a hole to crawl into and hide.
Such disgrace!
Fortunately, the five Grandmasters were magnanimous and didn’t show any intention of teasing her; otherwise, she really wouldn’t have any face to show the world for the rest of her life.
Following behind the five Grandmasters, Shui Ling felt as if she was drifting through the clouds, her feet was somewhat unsteady as she walked. Maybe it was due to her head trying to understand just how Yang Kai had actually become friends with these famous figures.
How great an honour that was?
A short time later, the two groups of people arrived at the Holy Master Court.
Yu Ying did not take them to the reception room but instead brought them directly here.
An Ling’er and Xu Hui immediately came out to welcome them, and after exchanging a few greetings, brought them to a grand hall and had several maids serve tea. Xu Hui quickly said, “Holy Master has said he will come as soon as possible. Please wait here a moment.”
“Good, if he’s busy we’ll just relax here for now!” Chang Bao waved his hand, looking for a reliable chair to sit down on as he gasped for breath.
Chang Bao was more than a bit plump, so he usually never left the Alchemist Guild branch of Lightning Flash City. If not for him wanting to find Yang Kai this time, he would never have travelled so far to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
After escorting these honoured guests to this place, Yu Ying bowed politely and took her leave.
Five Saint Grade Alchemists arriving all at once was nothing short of sensational, so when An Ling’er and Xu Hui learned of their statuses they did not dare show any neglect, acting incredibly humble and reserved.
However, the five Grandmasters were all easygoing and did display even the slightest aloofness, soon drawing both Xu Hui and An Ling’er into casual conversation.
Of course, Shui Ling and Yun Xuan’s groups both couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.
Shui Ling hadn’t expected that the old folks she casually met outside were actually five Saint Grade Alchemy Grandmasters, but after learning their true identities, she didn’t dare speak casually to them.
Yun Xuan and her group were even more on edge.
Bold Independent Union was not a big force. Them being able to even enter Nine Heavens Holy Land like this was all thanks to Shui Ling. In front of these five Grandmasters, Bold Independent Union’s Union Master Yun Cheng felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Tightly sealing his lips, he did he best not to interrupt.
Everyone here had a status that could be described as glorified, but what about him?
Being able to meet any one of them in person would ordinarily be a great honour, yet now there were actually so many of them gathered around him. Yun Cheng felt his stomach churn from the stress, not knowing what he should do or say.
Seemingly noticing their embarrassment, An Ling’er smiled and beckoned towards Shui Ling and Yun Xuan, bringing them to the side to ask them about their relationship with Yang Kai.
Facing this Nine Heavens Holy Land Saintess, Shui Ling and Yun Xuan both couldn’t help lowering their eyes slightly while cautiously choosing their words.
However, under the gentle guidance of An Ling’er, the atmosphere between them gradually relaxed and as they shared their stories about Yang Kai, light giggles soon came out.
After waiting half an hour or so, a heroic figure walked into the hall from outside.
Everyone immediately turned their eyes and smiled.
“Junior Yang Kai greets the several Grandmasters! Junior is greatly flattered that the several Grandmasters have come to visit!” Yang Kai quickly greeted him.
The five Grandmasters smiled and nodded, Du Wan calling out, “Don’t be so polite. In the past you called us Grandmasters, but now… times have changed!”
He didn’t say too much, but the meaning behind his words was apparent, at least between the concerned parties.
Yang Kai smiled and shook his head, “Old Man Du need not act so, Junior only has his current accomplishments thanks to the guidance of the several Grandmasters.”
Seeing his honest modesty, the five old Grandmasters exchanged glances amongst each other and couldn’t help smiling, feeling relieved that Yang Kai had not changed despite his great achievements.
“Hey, there are other people here as well. Aren’t you going to greet us too?” Shui Ling snorted.
As soon as Yang Kai arrived, Shui Ling relaxed because, of all the people here, she was the only one who truly knew him.
She had arrived in Tong Xuan Realm from Central Capital together with Yang Kai after having participated in the Yang Family Inheritance War and the desperate struggle against the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land.
Although Yang Kai was now the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, Shui Ling still regarded him as a close friend.
Yang Kai chuckled before turning towards her, “After not seeing you for a few years, each of you has become even more beautiful.”
“Hmph, your tongue is as glib as ever!” Shui Ling snorted, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.
Yun Xuan couldn’t help looking terribly embarrassed, her beautiful eyes unconsciously glancing towards and away from Yang Kai. Ruan Xin Yu by her side quietly whispered, “This is probably your last chance. If you don’t grab hold of him now, there won’t be a next time.”
Yun Xuan just continued glancing towards Yang Kai though, not saying anything, causing Ruan Xin Yu’s brow to twitch in frustration.
Silently thinking to herself that, if she was in Yun Xuan’s position, she would definitely not let go of Yang Kai. Now, he was very different from when they first met; back then, he was no different from a lost little kid from the countryside who had never seen the city, but now he was the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land. Noble status, great strength… okay looks, after finding such a rich marriage partner, how could she just shrug him off?
As long as she grasped on to him tightly, she would have no worries for the rest of her life!
However, this idiot Yun Xuan had absolutely no intention of even trying, annoying Ruan Xin Yu to no end.
“Junior greets Union Master Yun!” Yang Kai cupped his fists to Yun Cheng.
Yun Cheng’s body shivered greatly as wore a flattered expression, hurriedly getting up and returning the gesture, “Holy Master Yang is too polite, this one doesn’t dare accept such courtesy.”
His face becoming awkward, he quickly followed up, “Last time, my Bold Independent Union was led astray by the lies of those nefarious thieves and behaved somewhat impudently. I hope Holy Master Yang will forgive that transgression.”
“A minor matter, don’t mention it,” Yang Kai laughed, his expression relaxed.
Hearing this, Yun Cheng felt a great weight lift from his heart. He was really afraid that Yang Kai would hold a grudge against him for the previous matter. If that was the case, he wouldn’t have any face to remain here.
After exchanging greetings with everyone, Yang Kai found a seat and sat down.
“How come all of you came together to visit my Holy Land? Do you all know each other?” Yang Kai looked suspiciously around the crowd.
“Just a coincidence!” Chang Bao laughed, “We did not travel here together, we simply met outside the nine peaks.”
“En, I saw Yun Xuan outside and called out to her,” Shui Ling nodded.
“This really is a great coincidence. No wonder I had a feeling something good would happen today, it turns out that several Grandmasters and a few old friends were coming over to visit,” Yang Kai laughed, appearing quite happy.
During the conversation, Yun Xuan kept catching herself staring towards Yang Kai, only to hurriedly turn her eyes away in the next breath, her heart now pounding very hard.
As time passed, she felt that the distance between her and Yang Kai was getting bigger and bigger. When she last saw him, although he seemed to stand amongst the clouds, she could still at least see him if she looked up.
But now, Yun Xuan found that the young man in front of her had already ascended to a place she couldn’t even hope to reach.
Realizing this, her heart grieved, for she knew that in her lifetime there was no way she could ever catch up to Yang Kai.
Such a man was not someone a woman like her was worthy of standing by…
“Several Grandmasters coming to my Holy Land, is it simply to play or is there something you’d like to request?” Yang Kai lightly coughed, quickly asking about the purpose of everyone’s visit.
The five Grandmasters glanced around at each other and soon four pairs of eyes landed on Du Wan, obviously intending to have him answer.
Four against one, Old Man Du was helpless and with a bitter smile replied, “It’s like this… En, we heard that there is a skilled Alchemy Grandmaster here, so we decided to come here to visit.”
Yang Kai let out a somewhat strained laugh, his mouth twitching slightly.
The others here didn’t know who the mysterious Alchemy Grandmaster of Nine Heavens Holy Land was, but Du Wan and the other Grandmasters were different; after all, they had seen Yang Kai refine a Saint Grade Low-Rank pill which formed Pill Veins right in front of them.
At this moment, seeing Du Wan take such a humble stance cause Yang Kai to feel quite awkward, unsure of how to handle this situation.
“Good, if it is convenient, we would like to observe this Grandmaster’s skills and, if possible, study Alchemy with him…” Hong Fang followed up.
Yang Kai’s whole face was now twitching.
“If it is inconvenient then it matters not,” Du Wan saw Yang Kai’s strange expression and thought he was reluctant to agree, waving his hand as he said, “We do not covet the secrets of others, it is just that, in terms of Alchemy technique, very few are capable of teaching us anything, but now that one such Grandmaster has appeared, we thought we might as well try our luck. Yang Kai, although we’d like you to discuss our request with that Grandmaster. There’s no great rush, we can wait for an answer.”
“En, if that Grandmaster is willing to offer us a few pointers, naturally we will be happy, but if he does not, it is also fine; after all, us old guys are truly acting a bit brazen, seemingly trying to force someone to do something against his will,” Chang Bao comforted.
All five pairs of their eyes were now staring towards Yang Kai, wondering what answer he would give.
Even Shui Ling and Yun Cheng were nervously watching, not sure why but feeling that the atmosphere in the room had suddenly become a bit tense.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and adjusted his expression, “Several Grandmasters are too serious, my Holy Land’s Alchemist happens to be in need of someone to exchange with. The arrival of you Grandmasters is nothing but a boon to him. On behalf of my Holy Land’s Alchemist, I can accept your request, I only hope that, instead of a lecture, a mutual exchange can be had that will benefit everyone!”
“Really?” Chang Bao was so excited he couldn’t help shouting somewhat.
“Is that alright?” Du Wan also stared towards Yang Kai.
“Why not? There’s no disadvantage to accepting such a request,” Yang Kai laughed.
The five Grandmasters glanced at each other excitedly before turning a grateful look towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai agreeing to their request so easily was beyond their expectations.
On the way here, the five of them had all been quite apprehensive, thinking that this request of theirs was too bold, yet unable to resist the temptation of learning new and mysterious Alchemy knowledge, so they had all been psychologically prepared to be rejected by the time they arrived at the Holy Land.
Unexpectedly though, they had easily achieved their goal.
Naturally the five Grandmasters were pleasantly surprised.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go see the Grandmaster now,” He Feng said and stood up.
“There’s no need to rush!” Yang Kai laughed dumbly despite trying not to, “Several Grandmasters, please wait a moment.”
Saying so, Yang Kai turned to Shui Ling and the others, “What about you? Did you come here just to visit me or to request Alchemy?”
“If I said I came here just to see you, would you believe it or not?” Shui Ling asked with a big smile.
Yang Kai simply curled his lips.
“Good, I came here for Alchemy, hehe,” Saying so, Shui Ling took out a Universe Bag and tossed it directly to Yang Kai, stating her request without the slightest hint of politeness, “I want to refine three Azure Sky Pills, all the materials have been prepared, you can see if your yourself.”
Yang Kai caught the Universe Bag and quickly swept its content with his Divine Senes, nodding lightly, “Azure Sky Pills… How long has it been since you broke through to the Transcendent Realm?”
“Only about four months ago! That’s why I need these pills to help stabilize my cultivation realm,” Shui Ling replied, appearing somewhat distressed.
Shui Ling had broken through to the Transcendent Realm only four months ago, so she was still needed to consolidate her cultivation.
If she didn’t want to spend a long time meditating to comprehend the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, her only option was to use pills.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, sinking into thought for a moment before saying, “If you want to solidify your cultivation, one Azure Sky Pill should suffice. As for the rest of the herbs in your Universe Bag, they can be used to refine a couple of Soul Nourishing Pills to help enhance your Spiritual Energy, the materials for the two pills are similar.”
“Have you also studied the Alchemy Way?” Shui Ling was shocked.
“A little… I’ve been spending a great deal of time around the Grandmaster, so I’ve picked up a thing or two.”
“Then I’ll leave it up to you. In any case, I know you won’t mistreat me,” Shui Ling said, waving her hand casually towards Yang Kai as if him treating her was only to be expected, causing Yang Kai to go speechless.
“Why you… ” Yang Kai slowly shook his head before turning to Yun Xuan, his tone softening noticeably as he asked, “What about you?”
Yun Xuan seemed to be lost in thought so when she was suddenly called out to her tender body couldn’t help trembling slightly, immediately focusing herself and replying, “It’s my father who wants to refine a Heaven Spying Pill!”
“Heaven Spying Pill?” Yang Kai raised his brow before glancing over at Yun Cheng, a smile soon forming on his face, “So Senior Yun is going to break through to the Saint Realm?”
Yun Cheng smiled awkwardly and said, “I’ve caught a glimpse of those mysteries but am unable to fully comprehend them, so I wanted to come here and ask for a Heaven Spying Pill to see if it could assist me with that last step.”
“Good,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, “Because it is related to Senior Yun’s breakthrough to the Saint Realm, I will personally ask the Grandmaster to put in his best to refine the highest quality Heaven Spying Pill!”
Hearing this, Yun Cheng’s eyes shivered as a look of joy filled his face, “Then I must thank Holy Master Yang in advance.”
Saying so, he quickly shot a meaningful glance towards Yun Xuan.
Yun Xuan obviously understood and elegantly bowed, “Many thanks, Yang… Holy Master!”
Yang Kai faintly nodded, his expression becoming a bit complicated.
The others in the hall all seemed to notice the subtle atmosphere between these two and immediately became thoughtful.
Yun Cheng gave a forced cough before quickly handing over the required herbs.
Yang Kai received them before calling out, “An Ling’er, please keep these friends of mine company for a while. I’ll deliver these materials first.”
“En,” An Ling’er nodded smartly.
“Several Grandmasters, please come with me,” Yang Kai beckoned to Du Wan and the others.
Inside a separate building, a pill furnace was placed in the centre of a large room with various herbs laid out nearby, waiting to be refined.
After coming here, Yang Kai said, “Several Grandmasters feel free to sit where you like, Junior usually only engages in Alchemy here so there is nothing I can entertain you with.”
“No problem, you focus on your Alchemy, there’s no need to mind us, we just wish to observe your process. However much we can learn will depend on our own skills, there’s no need for you to intentionally teach!” Chang Bao quickly found a good spot and plunked himself down.
“Good, we all discussed on the way here that so long as you agree to our request, we would only observe and emulate!” Du Wan nodded lightly.
“Very well,” Yang Kai nodded. Performing Alchemy required all of his attention, so he really couldn’t spare any time to explain anything to the others. On top of that, Yang Kai had no experience lecturing others and had no qualifications to teach. Each of these five people was a powerful master who had been immersed in the Alchemic Way for over a hundred years and possessed their own unique knowledge and understanding of Alchemy. Rather than clumsily trying to explain the technical aspects of his Alchemy process, Yang Kai might as well just let them observe.
“Kid, do you have a history with that girl named Yun Xuan? Why did it look like she was staring at you so awkwardly?” Chang Bao suddenly asked with a grin, his eyes narrowing into thin slits.
“What are you saying? Do you have no shame at all you old fatty?” Kong Ruo Yu immediately shot him a stern glance.
“Heh heh, I was just asking…” Chang Bao teased.
Yang Kai just wore a bitter smile and nodded, “There was a little something… No, let’s not discuss this, I’m beginning.”
Saying so, Yang Kai took out the herbs brought by Shui Ling and prepared to refine the Azure Sky Pill and Soul Nourishing Pill she needed.
These two pills weren’t high in terms of level, only Spirit Grade Top-Rank, so Yang Kai was preparing to use them as a warm-up in preparation to refine the Heaven Spying Pill.
The five Grandmasters immediately stopped chatting and wore bright expressions as they began fixedly staring at Yang Kai’s movements, afraid if they blinked they might miss something.
Time passed by slowly.
Back inside the Holy Master Court’s hall, An Ling’er continued to chat with Shui Ling and Yun Xuan, the three of them emitting a harmonious atmosphere.
Just before the sun went down, Yang Kai returned.
The nervous Yun Cheng quickly got up and turned a stepped forward, his body trembling slightly as he was unable to hide his anxiety.
When he arrived in front of Yang Kai, the latter handed him a jade bottle and said, “This is the Heaven Spying Pill that Senior Yun requested.”
Yang Kai then tossed a jade bottle over to Shui Ling, “And this is your Azure Sky Pill and Soul Nourishing Pill.”
Shui Ling caught the bottle with a smile and opened it to look inside, crying out in surprise a moment later, “There really are Pill Veins! I thought the rumors outside were just wild exaggerations but it turns out they’re actually true!”
Among the three pills inside the bottle, the Azure Sky Pill which was used to stabilize one’s cultivation foundation had formed Pill Veins, making it far more potent and valuable than an average pill.
Shui Ling’s eyes lit up, full of excitement, obviously quite happy.
“The next time you need any kind of pill just come here directly, you’re always welcome,” Yang Kai said with a smile.
“Then I won’t be polite with you,” Shui Ling grinned, carefully placing the jade bottle into her Universe Bag before turning to look at Yun Cheng and asking, “What’s wrong? Why does Senior Yun look of out of sorts?”
At that moment, Yun Xuan and Ruan Xin Yu also turned to look at Yun Cheng only to see his hands shaking as his voice seemed caught in his throat. He wasn’t speaking and his face was constantly changing colour so it was understandable for everyone to be concerned.
“Pill… Pill Veins!” After a long time, Yun Cheng finally managed to squeeze out those two words, “A Saint Pill that formed Pill Veins!”
“Seriously?” Shui Ling was also stunned and quickly rushed over to have a look, soon laying her eyes upon the Saint Grade Low-Rank pill with tiny human-like meridians running across its surface.
Shui Ling was immediately dumbstruck.
The value of a Saint Pill which had formed Pill Veins was immeasurable.
For a moment she couldn’t help directing a look of envy towards Yun Cheng, thinking to herself she should have also brought along some materials to refine a Saint Pill.
In any case, she didn’t need to pay Yang Kai anything for these refinements and her father was also in need for Saint Pills.
“Congratulations Senior Yun, it seems your wish is within reach!” Shui Ling composed herself and said.
“Congratulations Union Master, on reaching the Saint Realm,” Ruan Xin Yu also quickly added.
“That’s not a certainty yet. Although such a pill is a rare and powerful boost, breaking through to the Saint Realm will still depend on this Yun’s efforts and luck… but regardless of what the end result may be, Holy Master Yang has my sincerest thanks.”
“Senior Yun is too polite,” Yang Kai smiled slightly, his eyes glancing over to Yun Xuan unconsciously, the latter nodding to him gratefully.
In her heart she was clear that Yang Kai must have put in a personal request for the Grandmaster to go all out, otherwise, how could it be so coincidental to refine a Saint Pill with Pill Veins?
With the pill of his dreams in hand, Yun Cheng had no intention of lingering as he could not wait to return to Bold Independent City, take this pill, and spy on the mysteries of the Saint Realm, so he immediately asked to be excused.
Yang Kai did not retain him.
“Then I’ll take my leave too, looking at you bustling about, it seems you don’t have time to accompany me so there’s no point in my hanging around,” Shui Ling thought about it and also said her goodbyes.
“I’ll see you out!” Yang Kai said.
“No no, there’s no need, this Yun cannot afford such…” Yun Cheng was shocked but before he could finish what he was saying, Ruan Xin Yu pushed him along and whispered, “What happens next is none of your business, let’s go.”
Hearing this, Yun Cheng immediately woke up, gave a big farewell to Yang Kai, and flew out of the nine peaks.
Shui Ling also shot a profound look towards Yang Kai before waving her hand casually, “If you have time, come to Water Spirit Temple and see me, don’t let another few years pass by before at least sending me a message.”
“Got it,” Yang Kai smiled and said.
In an instant, there was only Yang Kai and Yun Xuan left in the hall. Even Xu Hui and An Ling’er had at some point quietly slipped away.
“Let’s go,” Yang Kai gestured.
Yun Xuan gently nodded, walking out side by side with Yang Kai.
The entire way, no words were said. Yang Kai was racking his brain trying to think of what to say; although he indeed had intimate contact with this woman at one point, it really was only an unavoidable accident.
However, after taking her purity, wiping his hands of the matter and pretending he had done nothing wrong would make him no better than an animal, so for the moment he could only remain silent.
“I heard from the Saintess of your Holy Land that you haven’t taken her yet,” Seeing Yang Kai not say anything, Yun Xuan decided to strike first.
“She told you that?” Yang Kai was gobsmacked.
“There are many things that are easier to discuss between women,” Yun Xuan smiled, “Why? You are the Holy Master and she is a Saintess, isn’t it only natural for you to be together? Could it be you can’t take a liking to her?”
“Not taking a liking…” Yang Kai shook his head, not sure how to explain himself.
“In your heart there is already another woman!” Yun Xuan stated categorically.
Yang Kai could only admire this woman’s keen insight and made no effort to deny her charge, “Indeed.”
“Is she that splendid?” Yun Xuan asked quietly.
Images of Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang flashed across Yang Kai’s thoughts at that moment as a look of recollection appeared on his face.
Seeing this appearance, Yun Xuan smiled miserably and said, “Forget it, you don’t have to say anything… I already know the answer. Good, the matters between you and I, you don’t need to concern yourself with. In that situation it truly was unavoidable. From now on, I’ll just consider it a wonderful memory that I can cherish in my heart.”
Yang Kai opened his mouth and tried to speak but couldn’t help hesitating.
“Can you not show that kind of expression?” Yun Xuan muttered, the corners of her eyes becoming slightly damp as her voice trembled, “After taking me like that, did you think you had to take full responsibility? I never cared about that… so why must you?”
“Yun Xuan…” Yang Kai’s expression dimmed greatly as he stared at her, feeling quite helpless in his heart.
Yun Xuan wiped her eyes continuously but the tears refused to stop, dripping out like a string of pearls without end. Suddenly, after seemingly coming to some kind of resolution, she turned to the side, grabbed Yang Kai’s hand and bit it.
Her white teeth sinking into his flesh immediately caused blood to flow.
Yang Kai didn’t resist and simply staring at her silently.
Removing her teeth, Yun Xuan stared back at Yang Kai with a firm look upon her face.
“You hurt me once and I’ve hurt you once, now we’re even!” Suddenly, Yun Xuan released Yang Kai’s hand, swallowed the blood she had taken into her mouth and wiped what was left from her face before turning and walking away.
Her tears were still gently falling.
Her voice gradually floated back from afar, “You are a man with a heart of stone, so it’s best if you maintain your aloof status so that you remain as someone I can only look up to. If one day you fall from the clouds, I won’t let you off easily!”
Yang Kai smiled bitterly.
“You’re really heartless…” An Ling’er had at some point appeared and said as she stared towards the direction Yun Xuan left, “With her like that, even if both of you could not accept each other, couldn’t you have at least said a few sweet words to her?”
“That would only make things worse,” Yang Kai shook his head.
“I get that… but…”
Yang Kai glanced over at her, “That’s why I don’t talk to you about love, or else you’ll just end up like this in the future!”
“I, I won’t…,” An Ling’er turned bright red before hurriedly running off.
Turning around, Yang Kai headed back to the Holy Master Court to continue his Alchemy.
The five Grandmasters were keenly aware that Yang Kai’s mood seemed to have undergone some subtle changes and he was even making more mistakes as he was practising Alchemy, nearly ruining several batches of good materials and causing cold sweat to leak from their brows.
However, his dampened mood was soon swept away and Yang Kai regained his focus, flawlessly performing Alchemy and raising each of the Grandmasters’ expectations.
The sun rose and the moon set, in a blink of an eye, a few months had passed.
Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster’s reputation had now spread throughout the entire mainland, riding a seemingly unstoppable wave of popularity and worship.
Every day outside the nine peaks was incredibly lively, with a now seemingly endless river of people waiting in line for Alchemy services.
The Holy Land had gained an unimaginable amount of wealth and rare cultivation materials, enough to make even the richest of merchants jealous.
Xu Hui and the other Elders spent all day long laughing raucously.
Yang Kai and the five Grandmasters had now been sitting inside the Holy Court’s pill room for a few months without once leaving.
Every day, Yang Kai would refine exactly twenty pills, allowing the Grandmasters to observe everything from start to finish.
Shocked by the speed at which Yang Kai performed Alchemy, the five of them soon became obsessed with his exquisite techniques.
Refining twenty pills in a single day wasn’t a feat any of the Grandmasters here could achieve.
If it was just Spirit Grade Top Rank pills, each of the Grandmasters present could perhaps refine seven or eight in a day.
But refining Saint Pills consumed far more Spiritual Energy and True Qi, as well as mental and physical stamina, so each of the Grandmasters here estimated that even if they went all out, two would be the maximum they could produce before collapsing from exhaustion!
Yang Kai, however, only needed to spend seven or eight hours each day, to refine all twenty pills, sometimes even less.
The rest of the time was used by him to digest his accumulated insights as well as restore the strength he consumed in the Alchemy process.
The Grandmasters were now acutely aware of just how astonishing a role a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea could play in Alchemy.
When Yang Kai performed Alchemy, they observed and emulated, and when he was resting, they would gather around and discuss their various harvests, often getting into heated debates about the optimal use of different techniques or Spirit Arrays, nearly coming to blows at times.
Yang Kai did not interfere with them or even express his own opinions.
The entire reason he could perform Alchemy so quickly was because of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea, so many of the methods and insights he obtained and implemented were not suitable for the Grandmasters to use.
After many days of noisy discussion, each of the Grandmasters felt their understanding of the Alchemic Way and their Alchemy skills had undergone a significant improvement.
There were even times when the Grandmasters couldn’t endure just sitting idle and would ‘borrow’ materials from some of Yang Kai’s clients to practice with.
With the assistance of the five Grandmasters, Yang Kai’s job became even easier.
Now, Yang Kai basically did not ever need to personally condense medicinal liquid, as the five Grandmasters were constantly doing so in order to verify their new insights, all he had to do was combine the various purified medicinal liquids and form them into pills.
It was almost as if these Grandmasters had become Yang Kai’s assistants, but the Grandmasters themselves showed no signs of displeasure and were instead more than happy to repeat these menial tasks day after day.
Being able to have five Saint Grade Alchemists as assistants, in this world, it was likely no one had even imagined such a possibility.
As the reputation of its Alchemy Grandmaster rose, so did the reputation of Nine Heavens Holy Land.
Coming here allowed any cultivator to obtain a high-quality pill at a reasonable price, creating an immense amount of gratitude towards Nine Heavens Holy Land, especially because the time one had to wait for their pill as incredibly short.
By coming to Nine Heavens Holy Land, at most one would need to wait a month or two to obtain the pill they wanted; if they went anywhere else, the wait time would be at least ten times as long.
Once the news that five Saint Grade Alchemists, such as the famous Du Wan, had come to visit the Holy Land’s Grandmaster and had yet to emerge from the nine peaks, many people mistakenly began to believe that the mysterious Grandmasters in Nine Heavens Holy Land was the legendary Old Man of Heaven’s Keep himself.
Such rumours only further fueled Nine Heavens Holy Land’s rise.
It could be said that the current Nine Heavens Holy Land, besides not having a Third Order Saint Realm master to assume command, had become the most prestigious force in the land.
The name of Yang Kai, the Holy Master of the Holy Land, had also become world renown.
The Holy Land being revitalized and rising to even greater heights filled Xu Hui and the other Elders with an indescribable sense of pride. Just a few years ago, Nine Heavens Holy Land had been on the verge of collapse. The old Holy Master had passed away while the new Holy Master had yet to be found, and at the same time, Saintess Nan was causing great trouble outside, drawing the anger of countless masters towards the nine peaks.
At that time, Xu Hui thought that the Holy Land’s foundation would be destroyed in his generation and was thus feeling incredibly depressed as well as ashamed, ashamed to have ruined the tireless efforts of his ancestors.
Yet in less than half a decade, Nine Heavens Holy Land had risen to become the centre of attention for the entire world!
The cultivators of Nine Heavens Holy Land, from the Great Elder all the way down to the most common disciple, now held their heads up with pride.
This kind of pride in turn brought about a positive feedback, causing many disciples to cultivate even more assiduously, for fear that if their cultivations appeared weak, it would damage the Holy Land’s face.
Seeing the Holy Land thriving, Xu Hui felt that even if he died right this instant, he would do so without regret.
…..
One day, as Yang Kai was immersed in Alchemy, his expression suddenly twitched, as if he had noticed something odd, hastily stopping the motion of his hands.
Du Wan did not miss this change and quickly asked, “What happened?”
Hearing this, the other four Grandmasters also hurriedly cast their attention towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai smiled and shook his head, “Nothing. A few months ago I refined an artifact, but it wasn’t until just now that it produced a resonance. I was just a bit anxious to explore the mysteries of that artifact a moment ago.”
“I see!” Chang Bao nodded in agreement, “Then examine it all you want, the rest of us will help you finish up the pill refining here!”
“Is that okay?” Yang Kai was stunned. He had wanted to wait until he had finished the day’s pill refining quota before carrying out a thorough investigation of the artifact, but unexpectedly Chang Bao had made such a proposal.
“Of course it is,” Chang Bao grinned meaningfully, “We’re all Saint Grade Alchemists as well, or what, do you no longer have any interest in seeing our skills, little boy?”
“Nonsense, several Grandmasters offering their assistance is something I only feel grateful for, I was never concerned about the lack of you Grandmasters’ skills,” Yang Kai smiled.
Although during this time these five Grandmasters would occasionally refine a pill or two, they had never overstepped their roles as guests and actively provided Alchemy services for Nine Heavens Holy Land. Most of the time they would simply be observing, meditating, and discussing amongst themselves while refraining from actually performing Alchemy as much as possible.
Today’s Alchemy work had just begun, and in addition to the few pills Yang Kai had already refined, there were still more than a dozen left to finish. Even splitting them evenly amongst the five of them, each of the Grandmasters would need to refine at least three pieces.
Most of which were Saint Pills.
If they were to each refine three such pills, the five Grandmasters would likely thoroughly exhaust themselves.
“Seems you still know how to speak right, kid!” Chang Bao laughed, apparently quite satisfied.
“Good, we’ve been observing and studying for many days now, it’s time we truly test out what we’ve learned, always squabbling with these old fogies about what the correct path forward isn’t going to bring us any conclusions, so we might as well just start refining pills to see who among us is right and who is wrong,” He Feng also agreed with Chang Bao’s proposal.
“And that’s how it is, Yang Kai, just leave these dozen or so pills to us. We’ll help you refine them, just take your time and carefully examine that artifact of yours,” Du Wan waved to Yang Kai lightly.
“Good, then I’ll have to trouble several Grandmasters with this!” Yang Kai no longer objected and passed the task of refining the day’s pills to the several Grandmasters. Although the possibility of failure would go up like this, with the Holy Land’s current wealth, providing compensation was a simple matter.
After cleaning up what he was currently working on, Yang Kai stood up and went to another room.
Sitting down cross-legged, with a single thought, Yang Kai summoned out the small, long, shuttle-shaped artifact he had found in the Starry Sky and sank his consciousness into it, preparing to perform a thorough investigation.
It was this long shuttle artifact that just resonated with him.
Since he finished refining and taking it into his body, an entire half a year had passed. During that long time, with his mind immersed in Alchemy, Yang Kai had no longer paid any attention to this long shuttle artifact, but that did not mean his True Qi and Spiritual Energy had ever stopped nourishing it.
Taking so long to produce a resonance with this artifact greatly surprised Yang Kai.
Yang Kai still remembered how it took him only three months to refine, nourish, and examine the various uses of the Silver Leaf artifact.
The Silver Leaf artifact was a Saint Grade Top-Rank artifact though.
From this point alone, it was obvious that this long shuttle artifact was either far more complex in structure and function than the Silver Leaf artifact, or was of an even higher grade.
If that was not the case, it would not have taken so long to finish nourishing.
Today, if it had not produced a resonance with him, Yang Kai would likely have completely forgotten about it altogether.
Probing with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai immediately became clear about the internal structure of the long shuttle artifact.
Yang Kai’s expression soon became strange.
He found that the inside of this artifact was very different from what he had imagined. The Spirit Arrays portrayed inside it were not only not complicated, but actually appeared quite simplistic, even somewhat crude.
Even with the traces of erosion caused by the long passage of time, Yang Kai could still make out these Spirit Arrays fairly clearly but was unable to recognize them or what they were for.
After all, he didn’t know much about Artifact Refining.
The Spirit Arrays used for Artifact Refining and the Spirit Arrays used for Alchemy were completely different.
Vaguely, Yang Kai could guess the use of this artifact, but he could not be certain of anything without actually using it.
Pouring his True Qi into it, the long shuttle artifact, which was currently resting on his palm, suddenly emitted a golden glow, floated up from Yang Kai’s hand, and flew to the other side of the room.
Yang Kai’s expression immediately filled with excitement.
In that instant, he had nearly lost track of the long shuttle’s position.
This artifact already had Yang Kai’s Soul mark engraved inside it and had formed a connection with him, so in theory, he should be clearly aware of any of its movements like it was a part of his body.
But just now, he still felt like it had nearly disappeared.
The only explanation was that this artifact was incredibly fast, so fast, that Yang Kai’s senses were simply unable to completely follow its movements.
Looking at the long shuttle artifact which was hovering on the other side of the room, Yang Kai wrinkled his brow and tried using his Divine Sense to command it to move.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
The sound of something slicing through the air rang out as the long shuttle seemed to break through the constraints of space and instantly move from one position to another.
After experimenting with it a few times, Yang Kai’s eyes gradually filled with light as he felt he had uncovered the mystery of this artifact.
Reaching out, the long shuttle returned to his hand again.
Yang Kai once again carefully examined it.
His Divine Sense wandering back and forth inside the long shuttle, Yang Kai carefully examined every minute detail of it.
The long shuttle was quite small, but when Yang Kai sent his Divine Sense into it, it felt as if he was probing a vast space with no end in sight.
As he probed around, some basic information flowed back from the long shuttle into Yang Kai’s mind.
Flying Heavens Shuttle…
This was apparently the name of this artifact. Simply inferring from its name, Yang Kai had basically confirmed that this long shuttle’s purpose was transportation.
In order words, this was a special flight type artifact.
There were many different types of artifacts which came in all kinds of varieties, but in general, artifacts could mainly be divided into three categories: Offensive, defensive, and auxiliary. Of course, there were some artifacts that fit into more than one of these categories; for example, Yang Kai’s Silver Leaf was both an offensive and defensive artifact.
Depending on what kind of energy was required to drive them, artifacts could also be divided into ordinary artifacts which consumed True Qi, or Soul type artifacts which were powered by one’s Spiritual Energy.
The latter’s value was generally much larger than the former’s and was also significantly more difficult to refine.
Amongst auxiliary type artifacts, there was a special classification which was dedicated to transportation: Flight type artifacts. In general, a flight type artifact could reach speeds much greater than an ordinary cultivator of the same grade.
Yang Kai had also encountered a lot of different flight type artifacts, some shaped like swords, some like birds, some like carriages, etc…
However, this was the first time he had encountered one shaped like a long shuttle.
At first glance, this long shuttle looked like a miniature boat.
Inside the Flying Heavens Shuttle, there was no trace of any offensive type Spirit Arrays, which meant it had no attack power, and while there was a defence type Spirit Array, its strength was difficult to determine just by observing.
Yang Kai continued to probe inside the shuttle.
After reaching a certain depth, Yang Kai discovered something unusual.
Deep inside the Flying Heavens Shuttle, there was an empty space surrounded by many twinkling points of light. When his consciousness floated at the centre of this space, Yang Kai almost felt like he had returned to the vast Starry Sky.
This empty space was like a miniaturized model of the Starry Sky that had been placed inside the Flying Heavens Shuttle.
There were also a number of small thin lines connecting various different points of light together.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly, not sure what this strange space was for.
Following along one of these connecting lines, Yang Kai felt more and more that the Flying Heavens Shuttle contained a small model of the Starry Sky inside it.
However, what made him feel unsatisfied was that the line he was tracing broke at a certain point. Apparently, after drifting through the Starry Sky for so long, the lines in this model had become damaged, so Yang Kai could not figure out what the endpoint of this path was.
Shaking his head, Yang Kai continued investigating the Flying Heavens Shuttle until he determined there was nothing else to discover inside it before taking back his Divine Sense.
Although this artifact had lost a great deal of its internal information, it was still able to play its most basic role after being nourished for so long.
Driven by his curiosity, Yang Kai immediately got up and left the Holy Master Court.
Pouring his True Qi into it, the Flying Heavens Shuttle expanded rapidly, eventually becoming several meters in length and quietly floating in front of Yang Kai.
Yang Kai nodded his head in satisfaction upon seeing this.
Since flight type artifacts were meant to carry people, it was impossible its true size was only as big as his palm. Yang Kai didn’t know which Artifact Refiner had created this artifact but it was clear they had included a profound Spirit Array that allowed its size to be manipulated.
However, several meters seemed to be the upper limit. Eyeballing it, Yang Kai estimated that this Flying Heavens Shuttle was capable of carrying seven or eight people max.
Sending a command with his Divine Sense, the Flying Heavens Shuttle shrank back down to about two meters in length and a transparent blue hue emerged to cover it, forming a kind of protective barrier.
Yang Kai leapt up onto the shuttle and sat down, the blue light screen expanding to just cover him, leaving no gaps, as if it was tailor-made for him.
Excitement filling his heart, Yang Kai fully pushed his True Qi.
A blue light flashed and in the next moment, Yang Kai and the Flying Heavens Shuttle disappeared.
Atop one of the nine peaks, the Great Commanders of the Ancient Demon Clan were in meditative cultivation. Recently, Yang Kai didn’t have anything for them to do, so after obtaining a lot of cultivation resources from Xu Hui, all of the leaders spent their time tirelessly trying to improve their strength.
Suddenly, Li Rong’s brow furrowed and she awoke from her meditation, her tender body flickering and in the next instant reappeared high up in the sky, her beautiful eyes staring suspiciously towards a distant point on the horizon.
Immediately, Han Fei and Hua Mo also appeared beside her.
“Was that Master’s aura just now?” Han Fei also stared towards the horizon and muttered.
“En, it seems Master has gone out,” Li Rong nodded lightly, “But this speed… it’s too fast.”
Just as she finished speaking these words, Li Rong’s brow furrowed, “He’s already left the range of my senses.”
Li Rong was a Second-Order Saint Realm master, so the range of her Divine Sense was several hundred kilometers, but from the time she detected Yang Kai’s aura until now, only three breaths of time had elapsed, yet in that short a time, he had already left the scope of her sensation.
Such speed was simply astonishing, far beyond anything she had ever even heard of before.
“What do you think Master is going out to do this time?” Hua Mo asked in confusion.
“I don’t know.”
“Should we follow and escort him…” Hua Mo asked hesitantly.
“We don’t even know where he is anymore, how are we supposed to follow him?” Li Rong smiled wryly, “Forget it, at that speed, I’m afraid no one in this world could catch up to him anyways.”
Listening to her say this, Han Fei and Hua Mo also relaxed. If no one could catch up to Yang Kai, naturally he wouldn’t be in any danger.
Just as the three Great Commanders noticed Yang Kai’s sudden departure, outside the nine peaks, a large number of the cultivators who had come to request Alchemy services from the Holy Land also noticed something and looked towards the sky.
A moment ago, a faint pale blue streak had passed over their heads but by the time they released their Divine Senses to investigate this phenomenon, the streak of light had already disappeared.
This discovery stunned everyone.
Among the cultivators present, there were a number of very powerful masters, yet in front of this strange blue streak, all of them were rendered helpless.
Their faces paling slightly, many of them wondered just which great powerhouse had used such a profound method to fly passed them.
However, none of them could find any clues.
Midair, Yang Kai’s face was filled with joy as he could hardly believe what he was currently experiencing.
The scenery beneath him was flowing past him like a raging river, receding behind him rapidly. The speed he was currently travelling at was simply indescribable; it was exaggerated to the point where even his eyes could not keep up with the changing landscape. Every time he tried to focus on some landmark or landform, it would disappear behind him in the next instant.
The speed of the Flying Heavens Shuttle greatly exceeded his expectations.
Yang Kai’s personal speed was not slow, and if he used his Wind and Thunder Wings, even a Second Order Saint may not be able to catch up to him.
But the speed he was traveling at right now far, far exceeded that, surpassing the limits of this world, almost as if he was constantly tearing space.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai crossed hundreds of kilometres.
What was most unbelievable to Yang Kai though, was that the True Qi he consumed in order to activate and operate the Heavens Flying Shuttle was very small, and because of the protection of the blue light screen, he was essentially unaffected by the wind, allowing him to sit, lie down, or even stand up without the slightest discomfort.
Feeling a great sense of joy in his heart, Yang Kai not only didn’t stop but instead continued pushing the Flying Heavens Shuttle faster and faster.
Gradually, as he became more and more familiar with this artifact, Yang Kai was able to manoeuvre it freely even while soaring forward at lightning-fast speeds.
Yang Kai was ecstatic.
Watching the world flow backwards beneath his feet filled him with a sense of unparalleled freedom.
It was only after about half a day that this sense of excitement gradually calmed down and Yang Kai slowed his flight speed.
Scanning his surroundings, Yang Kai saw a land of ice and snow off in the distance, a scenery that felt oddly familiar to him.
Staring at this landscape for a while, his brow began to furrow slightly.
A moment later, as he continued moving forward, a huge city appeared before him.
Seeing this city, Yang Kai’s expression became even more amazed.
Arriving at the city after an incense stick worth of time, Yang Kai saw many streets and buildings he was familiar with.
Grand Boulder City!
He had actually travelled all the way to Grand Boulder City, which was a few hundred thousand kilometres away from Nine Heavens Holy Land!
Yang Kai’s expression fluctuated between disbelief and shock.
When he had last left this place in order to bring the Ancient Demon Clan to Nine Heavens Holy Land, it had taken him two whole months to complete the journey.
Of course, with the large number of Ancient Demon clansmen, it was impossible to travel too quickly, but even if Yang Kai was alone and moved at maximum speed, it would still have taken him around twenty or thirty days to reach the nine peaks from here.
But now, it had only taken him less than a day to return from there!
Strictly speaking, about ten hours had passed since Yang Kai left the Holy Land.
There was absolutely no comparison between the two.
At this moment, Yang Kai recognized just how terrifying the speed of the Flying Heavens Shuttle was and just how precious this flight type artifact really was.
With this artifact, it would be extremely convenient for him to go anywhere he wanted to.
Taking the artifact back into his body, Yang Kai landed nearby the city gates and walked to the Alchemist Guild branch.
Du Wan was obviously still back in Nine Heavens Holy Land right now, so only Ye Xiong, Mi Na, and Wu’er were left here in Grand Boulder City.
All of them were quite surprised by Yang Kai’s sudden arrival but they still happily welcomed him.
Yang Kai didn’t spend much time in the Alchemist Guild, spending only about a day lecturing Wu’er and Mi Na about Alchemy before gifting them a few basic Spirit Arrays and taking his leave.
Next, he went to Soaring Heaven Sect.
Currently, Yang Kai was the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, so he had very little time for leisure, or to travel long distances. Since he had accidentally arrived here now though, naturally he had to pay a visit to his Martial Seniors and Ancestral Founder.
When Yang Kai arrived at Serene Resplendent Peak and walked inside, he immediately came across his Martial Aunt Fei Yu, sprawled out across a stone table, her face dyed red, her clothes in disarray, exposing a great deal of her smooth jade white skin, with several empty bottles scattered about.
Fei Yu’s cultivated a Water Attribute Secret Art, so she was not just drinking alcohol for fun but was actually refining the alcohol into her body to enhance the potency of her True Qi.
Yang Kai had long ago noticed this, but he still couldn’t help feeling a sense of helplessness about her alcoholism.
Fei Yu was the same as always, showing no restraint with her words, causing Yang Kai to feel exasperated and embarrassed all at once, yet helpless to hit back while she sat back and laughed at him.
Cang Yan and the others also rushed over to meet Yang Kai when they heard he was back, eager to inquire about the group of Demons he had led away and to once again caution him not to be deceived or taken advantage of by them.
Once more feeling the care and concern his Martial Aunt and Martial Uncles had for him, Yang Kai felt his heart warm up.
From Cang Yan and the others, Yang Kai also learned that a lot of masters had come to Soaring Heaven Sect some time ago to ask Chu Ling Xiao about the Ancient Demon clan, many of them angrily clamouring for him to clean up his Sect by executing Yang Kai for colluding with the enemy.
Chu Ling Xiao didn’t even want to bother answering them and simply entered secluded retreat, refusing to meet any outsiders.
The masters who had come to Soaring Heaven Sect stayed for a while but seeing no hope of moving Chu Ling Xiao, after a while, they could only resentfully leave.
However, as Nine Heavens Holy Land’s reputation began to spread, no one came to bother Soaring Heaven Sect again, none of them daring to offend Nine Heavens Holy Land anymore, or else they might lose the chance to obtain Alchemy services from the mysterious Grandmaster.
Later, Yang Kai went to visit the Ancestral Founder, Chu Ling Xiao.
Knowing that Li Rong and her people were conducting themselves prudently, almost always remaining inside the nine peaks, Chu Ling Xiao nodded with satisfaction, but even so, he still warned Yang Kai against becoming lax with them, the same as his other Martial Seniors.
After spending three days in Soaring Heaven Sect, alleviating the fatigue he had accumulated from constantly performing Alchemy and cultivating, Yang Kai set off for the nine peaks again.
Over the past year, Yang Kai had almost always been improving his Alchemy proficiency, refining numerous pills every day without rest.
This time, after a coincidence brought him out of the nine peaks and allowed him to take a break, Yang Kai suddenly felt that his cultivation had improved and consolidated.
It was at this moment that Yang Kai realized just how important occasionally relaxing was; his accumulated sentiments and insights had only fully blossomed and allowed his strength to grow after this brief period of rest.
Less than a day later, Yang Kai returned to Nine Heavens Holy Land.
Just as he entered the nine peaks, Li Rong called out to him with her Divine Sense, “Master, that Monster Race woman wishes to see you!”
“Monster Race woman?” Yang Kai came to a halt, frowning for a moment before passing a message back, “You mean Cai Die?”
“Yes, her!”
“What is she doing here?” Yang Kai asked, confused.
“She didn’t say. If Master doesn’t want to see her, I can send her away,” Li Rong responded quickly.
“No need, I’m on my way.”
A moment later, Yang Kai appeared on the peak the Ancient Demon Clan was occupying.
Walking into the biggest palace, Yang Kai saw Cai Die, with her seven coloured wings on full display, sitting there silently like a statue, a cold and unfriendly look upon her face as if everyone here owed her a great deal of money.
Yin Ya and Xue Ji, who were also sitting in the hall, appeared somewhat awkward as they felt great pressure from her.
This ice-cold Monster Race master, although possessing an incredibly beautiful appearance perfectly highlighted by her seven coloured wings, was beyond Yin Ya and Xue Ji’s skills to conquer, and they knew it.
Simply sitting close to her sent chills up their spines…
Seeing Yang Kai enter the hall, Cai Die’s beautiful eyes finally moved, quickly settling on him.
Li Rong quickly nodded her head in greeting before whispering into Yang Kai’s ear, “She has been here for three days already yet she hasn’t moved from that spot at all. Even when we spoke or greeted her she would ignore us. She only spoke once when she arrived, saying she would wait here until you come back.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, “It’s been hard on you.”
Saying so, Yang Kai stepped forward, smiled and cupped his fists, “Ms. Cai Die.”
Cai Die nodded back, returning his greeting while maintaining her cold and unfriendly expression as she continued, “I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time.”
Yang Kai laughed awkwardly, silently grumbling that he hadn’t forced her to sit here like this. Keeping such thoughts to himself, he adjusted his expression and asked, “Is there something Great Senior needs of me?”
Cai Die bluntly stated, “Yes, Great Senior requests that you come to Thunder Tree Palace.”
“Has something gone wrong with your Beast Transformation Pond?” Yang Kai frowned; this was the only reason he could think of for why Great Senior would be looking for him.
“There’s no problem with the Beast Transformation Pond… Stop asking so much. Once you arrive at Thunder Tree Palace, Great Senior will naturally explain the situation to you.”
Yang Kai was dumbstruck, unable to respond for a moment as the Ancient Demon Clan’s nearby leaders all rolled their eyes.
Rather than Cai Die coming here to invite him, it was more like she was giving him an order.
Han Fei’s expression quickly became gloomy.
Both of them were cold beauties with similar temperaments while also possessing Second-Order Saint realm cultivations, so naturally, they repelled one another somewhat. Since long ago, Han Fei had not had a good impression of Cai Die and was just waiting for an opportunity to teach this little girl a lesson so she would learn to show proper respect towards Yang Kai.
Perceiving the rising tension in the air, Yang Kai quickly said, “Since Great Senior is specifically looking for me, it must be for something important. I should at least meet with him. Alright, Ms. Cai Die, please wait here a moment, I’ve just returned from the outside so there are some things I need to arrange first before we leave.”
Cai Die nodded slightly before no longer speaking.
“Master, allow me to accompany you,” Li Rong said immediately.
Yang Kai glanced over at her and although he felt that it was impossible for Great Senior to act against him, he quickly nodded and said, “En. Prepare whatever you need.”
Leaving the mountain, Yang Kai immediately rushed to the Holy Master Court.
When he last left here, Yang Kai hadn’t expected to actually be gone for several days so he was quite anxious to see how Du Wan and the other Grandmasters were doing.
For the past few days, all the pills coming out from the Holy Land had been refined by them.
Just after entering the pill room, Yang Kai saw the five Grandmasters sitting in front of their respective pill furnaces, a set of herbs placed next to each of them.
The five Grandmasters were all staring at a freshly refined pill in their hands, a silent and dignified aura surrounding them.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling worried and quickly asked, “Several Grandmaster, what happened?”
Hearing Yang Kai’s voice, Du Wan and the other Grandmasters all seemed to wake from their meditation and turned smiling faces towards him.
Yang Kai was stunned.
“Nothing happened. Us old fogies just discovered that our Alchemy skills have improved noticeably…” Du Wan smiled and explained.
“En, a truly significant promotion,” Chang Bao echoed.
“As such, every time we finish refining a pill, we take a moment to reflect on our various gains and mistakes,” Kong Ruo Yu said with a chuckle, “It was what we were doing a moment ago.”
“So that’s it…” Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that after several days of intense Alchemy the Grandmasters had been overwhelmed.
“Little brat, you may not be the best master, but we are some of the best disciples…” Hong Fang laughed, “Before now, whenever we refined a Saint Pill, we would need to invest at least two hours of time and would use up a great deal of True Qi and Spiritual Energy; but now, we can all refine Saint Pills in half the time while consuming far less of our strength. This is all thanks to the insights we’ve obtained from observing and imitating your Alchemy process.”
The other four Grandmasters smiled and nodded in agreement.
During these past few months, although they would occasionally engage in Alchemy, they had never engaged in a continuous round of pill refining, so none of them had understood how much progress they had made, but for these past few days when Yang Kai was out, they had taken responsibility to refine all the materials which were delivered to them.
After refining a few pills, they managed to confirm many of the gains they obtained from observing and emulating Yang Kai’s methods, and everyone discovered that their skills had noticeably improved.
Whether it was in the speed of refinement or the quality of the end product, both had seen a significant promotion.
Du Wan was even confident that he could now refine a Saint Grade Mid-Rank pill!
If he really was able to achieve this, it would mean he had ascended to the rank of Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.
Observing and emulating Yang Kai’s Alchemy process for a few months had brought them greater gains than decades of self-study, causing all five of the Grandmasters to be jubilant. These days they had spared no effort in Alchemy, maintaining a steady pace of refining twenty pills a day.
However, it took five of them working together to refine twenty pills each day whereas Yang Kai was able to refine twenty all by himself.
In regards to this point, the five Grandmasters had no choice but to admit their inferiority as well as marvel at the amazing boost an Alchemist would receive just by having a Conflagrated Knowledge Sea.
“Unfortunately, during these days, we have each had a few failures and wasted lot of good materials,” Du Wan commented, somewhat apologetically.
Alchemist not only took refining pills as their life’s calling but also saw medicinal herbs as true treasures that were not to be wasted if at all possible, so every failed refining was quite distressing to them.
On top of that, they had not once witnessed Yang Kai fail a refinement.
“It’s fine, the Holy Land is now so rich in materials that paying some small compensation here and there is not an issue,” Yang Kai smiled, “Several Grandmasters seem to have each harvested much.”
“Good, you’ve come back at just the right time, we were hoping to discuss something with you,” Du Wan smiled.
“If Grandmasters have anything to ask, please feel free to speak.”
“Could you increase the number of pills to be refined each day? You can still refine the original twenty pills while giving us the rest to use to refine. We’d like to continue observing your techniques here while also using some of the materials coming in to verify our findings.”
“En,” He Feng nodded repeatedly, “Such a chance is simply too rare, us old folks really would like to spend some more time here.”
“We were just worried you’d grown tired of us old fogies hanging around…” Chang Bao smiled.
“Nothing of the sort…” Yang Kai immediately shook his head and said, “It just so happens that I have something I need to attend to outside so I will be gone for a while. If it is alright with several Grandmasters, the daily twenty pills can be handed over to you to refine.”
“Oh?” Du Wan brow rose, “Going out again? Where are you headed this time?”
“The Monster Domain, the nearby Monster Race Great Senior has something he wants to speak with me about,” Yang Kai answered truthfully.
The five Grandmasters all exchanged slightly shocked looks, not quite knowing what to make of this but still quite pleased that Yang Kai had felt confident enough to tell them the truth.
“Then you should set out and come back quickly. We only came here to observe and emulate your Alchemy techniques, you can’t be thinking of just letting us work for free right?” Chang Bao joked.
“What nonsense are you spouting, after several months of observing and learning, this is a perfect opportunity to consolidate our gains,” Kong Ruo Yu smiled, “I’m quite looking forward to this actually. Boy, you don’t need to pay him any mind, just go take care of your business, it won’t be too late to return after you finish it.”
“En, but be careful, the Monster Race is still the Monster Race after all!” Du Wan warned.
“Good, then I’ll have to trouble several Grandmasters,” Yang Kai cupped his fists and bowed before quickly departing.
On his way over, Yang Kai had been wracking his brain about what to do with the Alchemy requests when he left. If he couldn’t convince the five Grandmasters to help him, he could only stop accepting Alchemy requests until he got back.
The five Grandmasters volunteering to help him was a big pleasant surprise for Yang Kai.
After finding Xu Hui and leaving a few instructions with him, Yang Kai returned to the Ancient Demon Clan’s peak and, under the leadership of Cai Die, he and Li Rong departed for Thunder Tree Palace.
Beast Sea Jungle, it was Yang Kai’s second time coming here.
Cai Die led the way without saying a word, her seven coloured wings fluttered softly yet her speed lightning quick.
However, Yang Kai was still able to easily follow her, not even seeming out of breath.
This fact surprised Cai Die. She was a Second-Order Saint so out of consideration for Yang Kai, who was still just a Transcendent Realm cultivator, she had initially flown slowly.
Seeing how he had no trouble keeping up though, Cai Die gradually increased her speed, hoping to get back to Thunder Tree Palace earlier so as not to keep Great Senior waiting.
But now, even though she was flying at nearly her top speed, Yang Kai was still able to keep up.
Cai Die was surprised, but due to her naturally cold disposition, she showed nothing on her face and simply continued flying forward.
[This little brat… he’s really quite strange!] Cai Die secretly thought to herself as she knew that no ordinary Third-Order Transcendent could possess speed nearly equal to her own.
No wonder he could become the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land and subdue so many Demon Race masters.
Originally Cai Die had thought Yang Kai had just gotten lucky, but now it seemed he possessed some real skill.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled slightly as he constantly looked around.
His movements naturally did not escape Li Rong’s notice so she quickly asked, “Master, did you discover something suspicious?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded, “The aura here is a bit weird!”
“If something is concerning Master, we can turn back,” Li Rong couldn’t help proposing nervously.
Yang Kai lightly chuckled and shook his head, “It’s not that the aura here feels ominous, it’s just that it is somewhat different from the last time I came to the Beast Sea Jungle, as for how it is different, I can’t say specifically…”
There was indeed something different about the ambient aura here, but even as he continued examining it, Yang Kai couldn’t determine exactly what had changed since before.
“Don’t worry too much, Great Senior is quite easy to get along with and a man of his word. The change in this place’s aura is probably related to why he suddenly wants to see me. As long as we see him, we should be able to get the answers we’re looking for.”
“En,” Li Rong didn’t say much but still urged, “If any danger appears, Master must not leave my side.”
“En en,” Yang Kai replied in a nonchalant tone.
He had many life-saving methods now: the ability to tear space, the Flying Heavens Shuttle, his Wind and Thunder Wings, his Saint Grade Top Rank artifact, even his dragon transformation and Demon God Transformation as well. If someone wanted to harm him, unless they could instantly disable him in one shot and rendering him powerless, Yang Kai was confident that no matter what level of master he was facing, he could at least escape.
Therefore he didn’t concern himself as much as Li Rong.
Flying forward all the way, after just two days, the trio arrived at the base of Thunder Tree Palace.
After arriving here, Yang Kai discovered that, as usual, countless Monster Race masters had gathered around, some of them in their beast forms, lying amongst the great tree’s roots while others in their human form were sitting atop the lower branches, closing their eyes in meditation.
“This is Thunder Tree Palace?” Li Rong raised her head towards the sky as she stared at the massive ancient tree before her, a clear look of awe apparent in her beautiful eyes.
Just like Yang Kai when he first came here, she was stunned by this ancient tree.
In order to grow to such a height, this ancient tree had to be at least ten thousand years old, in other words, it was from an era that even pre-dated the Ancient Demon Clan’s imprisonment.
This ancient tree seemed to naturally contain Lighting Qi, and from time to time a white arc of extremely pure lightning would leap from its trunk. The Monster Race masters who were meditating in the lower canopy were unaffected by this though and simply turned their eyes to Yang Kai and Li Rong.
Many of them nodded, indicating their goodwill.
When Yang Kai came here last time, he had resolved the problem with the Beast Transformation Pond, winning him their unanimous approval.
“Come with me,” Cai Die said before soaring up.
Yang Kai and Li Rong hurried to keep up.
Inside a treehouse standing atop the clouds, Yang Kai met the Great Senior again.
Great Senior grinned and welcomed Yang Kai’s arrival, motioning to him to sit down so they could talk.
At the same small table as before, Yang Kai sat opposite Great Senior while Cai Die and Li Rong both stood behind their respective leaders.
“You didn’t bring my Monster Race any practical commodities this time?” Great Senior asked with a smile.
“Do you need any? The Crystal Stone mineral lodes in the nine peaks were almost mined dry by you,” Yang Kai rolled his eyes. During the three years or so the Monster Race were occupying the Holy Land, they had unscrupulously mined the Crystal Stone lodes, all but killing the geese that laid golden eggs.
This was something Yang Kai was still quite annoyed about, like he had lifted a stone only to drop it on his foot.
“We don’t need them right now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t need them in the future. Crystal Stones are good things you can never have enough of. Also, my Monster Race’s territory doesn’t have any natural deposits, that’s why we have to obtain them from your Human Territory,” Great Senior slowly shook his head, “In any case, I heard that your Holy Land has recently acquired a massive amount of wealth, so much that you couldn’t possibly use it all up!”
“You even know about that,” Yang Kai was speechless, “That was all from refining pills… Forget it, next time I come I’ll bring some Crystal Stones and pills.”
“Good, I’m looking forward to it,” Great Senior grinned, thinking it was quite refreshing to speak with someone so straightforward like Yang Kai.
“What important matter does Great Senior have to discuss that required me to specifically come here?” Yang Kai suddenly wore a serious expression and asked.
“There really is something important I need to discuss with you,” Great Senior’s expression also became dignified. After taking a moment to arrange his thoughts, he first asked, “Kid, have you ever heard of Void Corridors?”
Yang Kai’s face went black, “Great Senior, are you messing with me?”
Great Senior’s mouth twitched slightly but still maintained his light grin, “I had to ask; then, have you encountered one before?”
Yang Kai nodded. Although he didn’t know about how it was for others, Yang Kai felt that he actually encountered Void Corridors quite frequently.
“Then this will be easier to explain,” Great Senior nodded and continued, “Recently, my Beast Sea Jungle has experienced a strange change, and that change is related to a certain Void Corridor!”
Yang Kai stared at him, not planning to interject.
“About three to five days journey from my Thunder Tree Palace, an unstable Void Corridor entrance has appeared! In fact, I have also encountered a Void Corridor before when I was young, it was connected to a Mysterious Small World that I spent some time exploring; however, the Void Corridor that appeared in my Beast Sea Jungle is very different from the one I previously saw…”
“How is it different?” Yang Kai asked.
“It’s very big, and it also gives off a strange aura,” Great Senior’s brow furrowed, “After its appearance, the aura of the entire Beast Sea Jungle changed. Did you notice it on the way here?”
“I noticed, I just didn’t know why this change occurred.”
“It’s all because of that Void Corridor!” Great Senior nodded, “Generally speaking, Void Corridors remain hidden and are difficult to find. Even if someone manages to find one and open it, it normally closes after some time. However, this particular Void Corridor’s entrance is very different. It suddenly appeared all on its own, and although it seems quite unstable, there are no signs of it closing.”
“Oh? That really is quite strange.”
“That Void Corridor is located on the border of this King and another Monster Race Great Senior, Earth Splitting Divine Ox’s, territories, so after it appeared the two of us investigated it together…”
“Earth Splitting Divine Ox?” Yang Kai called out in a slightly strange tone.
“What’s wrong, do you know him?” Great Senior asked.
Yang Kai shook his head, “I don’t know him, but I once studied a Martial Skill related to him.”
Saying so, Yang Kai used the Beast Soul Skill he hadn’t displayed in quite some time.
Along with a tiger roar and ox bellow, a glowing golden tiger seal and ox seal appeared.
With these two beast phantom’s appearance, the treehouse instantly filled with sweltering heat.
The two beast phantoms were completely condensed of Yang Kai’s pure True Yang Yuan Qi but seemed incredibly lifelike, their eyes containing a light of intelligence as if they were truly alive.
Great Senior was shocked and quickly waved his hand to put up a field to isolate this hot aura lest it burn down his treehouse.
“Heaven Shaking White Tiger, Earth Splitting Divine Ox?” Cai Die exclaimed in shock as she and Great Senior stared dumbfounded towards Yang Kai.
“This is a Beast Soul Skill I cultivated a long time ago,” Yang Kai explained.
“This isn’t just a simple Martial Skill… These are really Beast Souls!” Great Senior whispered, thinking for a moment before asking, “Did you encounter the remains of these two Monster Beasts?”
“En, they seemed to have fought a great battle and in the end mutually killed one another, the only thing left behind was their Beast Cores. When I absorbed and refined the power remaining in those cores, I was shown the scene of their battle. It was from that remnant memory that I managed to comprehend this Martial Skill.”
“Is that so,” Great Senior nodded in agreement, muttering, “There are true Souls contained within your Beast Soul Skill. There are some extremely powerful Monster Beasts who, when facing their death, condense their essence, Soul, and will into their cores. It seems like the two you encountered were my Monster Race’s Seniors. It’s a pity… The Heaven Shaking White Tiger and Earth Splitting Divine Ox have extremely noble pedigree amongst my Monster Race, even more so than this King’s. The White Tiger family seems to have become extinct while Old Ox is the last of his family, similar to This King.”
After listening to Great Senior’s remarks, Yang Kai understood just how rare and unusual his Beast Soul Skill was. Because he had not used it much recently, Yang Kai hadn’t discovered that the beast phantoms summoned by his Beast Soul Skill actually possessed their own unique strength and killing intent.
“Let’s set this matter aside and get back to the main topic,” Great Senior said, putting his expression back in order, “The Void Corridor is quite strange, so Old Ox and myself went in to investigate, hoping to find some benefits, but after we entered, we realized that it was actually far more dangerous than expected and a number of our subordinates were quickly killed… In the end, Old Ox and I decided to collaborate. But even with the two of us working together, we were unable to explain the mysteries hidden inside.”
“Was it so difficult?” Yang Kai was stunned.
“More than you can imagine. We did find some ancient writings inside, but you should know that my Monster Race does not use written words.”
“Were they Human characters?”
Great Senior shook his head and said, “They were Demon characters!”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed while Li Rong, who was standing behind him, couldn’t help revealing a look of interest.
“Neither Old Ox or I could read those characters so we didn’t dare act rashly; right now, he is guarding the entrance while I came here to find reinforcements.”
“So you came looking for me?” Yang Kai grinned, “Or rather, you were looking for Li Rong?”
“It’s good you catch on quick kid. The strange power that surrounds that place even causes Old Ox and I to feel nervous, what could you, with your strength and cultivation, add on? The lady behind you, though, may be the key to unravelling this mystery.”
Saying so, Great Senior directed his gaze towards Li Rong.